The Journal of Renault, Bishop of Valor
Chapter 13
After another prolonged rest, I think I'm finally ready to get back into writing this series. When our bishop last left off, he had just reached Niime's cottage and was preparing to make his way to Edina with Canas as his guide. Now it's time to enter the second half of this series!
As always don't forget to favorite and review for more!
For once, I had managed to sleep the night without another Nergal-infused nightmare. In fact, I had no dream last night. Just an empty shade of nothingness as I slept. It was rather strange, but at the same time it was very welcoming. Almost…pleasurable, like a warm meal beside the fireplace after a long and exhausting day, or the view of the sun setting over the horizon. I haven't felt this sort of pleasure since I had made a deal with Nergal all those years ago, and yet there was a sense inside me that I couldn't shake. A sense that those nightmares would return.
After Canas and I had our breakfast, we bid Niime farewell and began the long trek towards Edina. Even by horse, the journey would more than likely take a day or two, perhaps longer if we found ourselves in trouble. Canas opted to walk the journey, stating "Walking always clears the mind. The feeling of the earth beneath my feet, the rhythm of my legs moving back and forth, it's very relaxing."
And exhausting for long periods of time, I thought to myself.
"So Renault, why exactly are you seeking Archsage Athos?" Canas piped up.
"I don't think you would understand, dear boy," I replied coldly yet honestly.
"Try me. I've heard many peoples' reasons. Knowledge, power, some even seek sanctuary in his temple."
I sighed heavily. "You're a shaman, yes? Surely you know the path one takes to become a druid?"
"Indeed." Canas's tone changed suddenly. He sounded more serious than before, when he spoke with a peppy and bright voice. It was as if I had triggered a memory of his, like whenever someone mentions Nergal to me. "Unlike your fellow priests and bishops, we shamans devote our entire lives studying ancient and forbidden magic. Some go deeper than that, studying the world we live in and its nature, and how to manipulate or influence it to their whim. But there are those that dive into territories that we strictly keep boundaries for. Take necromancy, for example. Necromancy is strictly forbidden to be taught by anyone of our speciality, yet the secrets of the art are not lost. And those who are clever enough to unearth these mysteries-"
I swiftly interrupted him. "What do you know of dark druids?"
"Dark druids?" Canas replied, eyes wide in disbelief. "How does a priest know of dark druids?"
At that moment, I felt my chest tighten, almost as if I was facing the repercussions of upsetting him with the mere mention of dark druids. Now it all came down to one choice: do I really tell this boy, the son of Niime for the love of the gods, that I helped Nergal? Or do I lie? No, it wouldn't be right. Yoder and Bishop Bell have always insisted that I stay honest, regardless of the situation. Honesty can hurt, but none more so than a lie. That is what I've always been taught. I cleared my throat and prepared for what Canas would say.
"I worked with one," I sighed. "A man named Nergal. I'm not proud of it, and I deeply regret it, but it's true. When I was still a soldier, I had a very close friend that was killed in battle. He meant so much to me that I was willing to do anything to bring him back. In my haste to do so I sold my services to Nergal. I've seen and done things that even a shaman like you would find reprehensible. He took my friend and perverted his corpse into something…inhumane. Eventually, I ran from him and became a priest of the Saint Elimine Church. Only now…it feels like I'm simply running back to him. But I have a better purpose now. I wish to see Nergal pay for what he did to my friend. That's why I seek Athos." And in that moment, the weight on my chest lifted and I could breathe easy again. I looked back toward Canas, who had a blank expression on his face. Was he even listening to a word I said?
Finally, after a long silence, Canas spoke. "Dark druids excel at manipulating one's mind to their benefit, almost as much as they excel at taming the most powerful and devastating forms of ancient magic. It is why we are taught that those who take the path of the dark druid cannot be saved, and thus cannot be there are very few who have turned down that path, and it sounds like Nergal was one of them." He paused. "You still see him in your dreams, do you? Haunting your every step?"
"Yes. But how-"
"The magic of the dark druids can leave a lasting imprint on those foolish enough to fall under their spell. Nightmares, hallucinations, the list goes on. You're quite lucky to have survived as long as you have with him. Many people have been driven to madness by the power of dark druids, sometimes with deadly consequences."
Not another word was spoken after that. For many miles, we traveled in complete silence.
Soon the two of us came to a point in the road that Canas was all too familiar with. "Calahadra Pass," he said. "Just as my mother warned of." I dismounted the horse and took a good look at our surroundings.
"We need not go in there unless we must," I reminded him. At the same time, looking at the exterior of the cave it didn't seem like much of a threat. It seemed much wiser to take the long road through the mountain than around it. But if Niime was correct, which she had a strong tendency to be, Calahadra Pass would prove to be too dangerous. "Let us take a quick rest here Canas, then we can decide which path would seem wisest in our current situation."
"I would hold on to that thought right now, Renault."
"And why is that?"
"I have a feeling we're being watched…"
He was right, we were being watched. As if the words that came out of Canas's mouth were a jinx, a knife whizzed behind us both and struck our horse in the neck. With a painful cry, the horse fell to the ground, seriously injured and bleeding from the wound in its neck. Canas and I scoped our surroundings, trying to find where the knife came from. Canas took it upon himself to blast one of the nearby boulders with a shot of Flux, sending a figure flying backwards.
"Oh no…" Canas muttered. He turned to me and shouted "Come on! Into the cave, quickly!"
Before I could ask him what was going on, several other figures hidden in cover jumped out at us. We turned quickly toward the entrance of Calahadra Pass and ran as fast as our legs would let us. Once inside, Canas casted Flux once more, sending a pile of rubble careening down on the entrance. We kept out our attackers, but at the cost of trapping ourselves in.
"Canas," I huffed. "Who the hell were they? They didn't look like soldiers."
"They're not," Canas replied grimly. "They're members of the Black Fang."
"Black Fang? Who are they?"
"All that time with Nergal and you never knew about the Black Fang?" He paused to light a torch and ushered me to follow him down the dark, dank path of the cave. "They're a gang of well-trained assassins originally formed under a man named Brendan Reed. However, he doesn't run them anymore, Nergal does. Or so I've heard, I only learned of these rumors from defectors and spies."
"They must have been sent to kill me."
"It would make quite a bit of sense, given what you've told me. Careful of the skeletons on the ground now as we go along. They may look dead, but the dark magic inside this cave has given them the power of life."
Any other person would have thought that Canas was joking, but I trusted him. The air inside the cave felt cold and sinister, much like Nord's dungeon or Nergal's laboratory. Several bones were scattered across the misty floor of the cavern, and the familiar scent of death hung in the air. I remembered what Niime had said about the men who traversed here before, how none of them made it out alive. I clutched my staff in one hand and my Divine tome close to my chest with the other, hoping I wouldn't have to use either one right now. But it became very apparent that sooner or later, I would have to defend myself from the agents of darkness. That moment came far too soon as without warning I heard soft chittering from all around me. Canas heard it as well and gulped. "We need to move quicker now," he said desperately as we both picked up the pace. The sound followed us deeper and deeper into the cave, growing closer by the minute as more and more skeletons rose up from the floor, weapons in hand. We were stopped suddenly by a duo of skeletons rising from the dead in front of us, and looked around to see that we were surrounded.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Canas gulped as the undead soldiers closed in on us. Standing in a defensive stance, we both readied our tomes to blast away the intruders, but then a sharp roar coming from one pathway forced the skeletons to start retreating slowly. "It just got worse."
"What was that?" I whispered.
Canas took a deep breath and tightened his defenses while backing slowly towards the pathway the skeletons were blocking. The silhouette of something rather large and fierce began to turn the corner of the adjacent pathway. "Unhuman," he replied.
"A what?"
"Manakete."
"A Manakete? In this cave?"
Before Canas could answer, the beast turned the corner sharply and began staring us down intently. I had heard tales of dragons and dragonfolk, but never have I actually seen one with my own eyes. It was quite frankly the most menacing beast I had ever seen. Its eyes were illuminated even in the darkness of the cave, and focused on the two of us. As it looked at us in hunger, it growled menacingly and flicked its forked tongue. Canas and I began to slowly shuffle towards the exit, and I whispered to him, "Canas, when I say run, run." The beast snorted loudly and inched closer to us, the ground vibrating with every step the dragon made. As it began to open its mouth, I shouted "Run!", and the two of us bolted for the exit. I could feel a hot trail of fire chasing us both down the tunnel, and the deafening shriek of the beast that followed. The tunnel seemed to wind for ages, and at the end of it was a solid wall of rock.
"It's a dead end!" Canas exclaimed.
"Oh no it isn't," I replied, preparing my tome. "I have an idea." I explained to Canas that we should blast the wall with magic to create a hole. While risky, it was our only chance of escaping the dragon. Canas nodded and the two of us stood side by side, taking turns blasting the wall in front of us with magic. Little by little, the rock was chiseled out, but as we drilled the hole in the wall we failed to realize that the beast was almost upon us. I turned around and saw the shadow of the dragon inching its way around the corner, and urged Canas to hurry things along. Too late. The dragon came around the bend, and prepared to exhale its fiery breath from its maw. I looked up and noticed something rather useful: a large stalagmite directly above the dragon's body. With a well-placed shot of Divine, the stalagmite fell with a mighty thud, directly onto the dragon's head. The beast stirred slowly before falling forward, unconscious.
"Good shot," Canas remarked, "but I reckon that it won't stay asleep for long. We must get out of here."
I nodded and continued to blast away at the wall alongside Canas. Soon we noticed a sliver of light peeking through, and with one final blast of Flux from Canas, the way in front of us was cleared. We rushed out into the open air, finally freed from the dangers of Calahadra Pass. I sighed in relief, thinking we were never going to make it out alive. As I recovered, I looked towards Canas to see him grinning with delight. He pointed outwards towards a settlement nearby and said, "That, Renault, is Edina. From the looks of it, it seems they finally completed the bridges to Missur as well. You won't need to board a ship to Arcadia after all. Come on, we can get some rest and replenish our inventory."
As we began to make our way towards the village, I thought of the beast we had encountered. I thought about the surprise attack by the Black Fang, and everything else that had happened to me since I left the church. It was all starting to become too much for me to handle, both physically and mentally. But then I realized something.
My journey was only halfway done.
And with that, another chapter is done! I will continue to try and provide more chapters and more content in the foreseeable future, so stay tuned!