Chapter 12
6th Day of Early Autumn 768 n.c
I woke, with Karalin hovering over me, an empty potion vial in her hand and a relieved expression on her face.
A quick glance to the side revealed that we were back in our room near the top of the tower, it was still dark outside.
"What happened?" I croaked, the slight movement sending shafts of pain down my side and across my back.
"You almost died, you fool," she exclaimed, relief dampening the anger in her words. "By Mithras! What made you think that fighting that… that thing in hand to hand combat was a good idea? You're a blasted wizard, not a warrior!"
I chuckled and winced, "Couldn't let it get to you."
"Mithras help me!" she sighed, throwing her arms up in the air. "How am I meant to help you get Shard back if you are so determined to get yourself killed?"
Her mention of Shard brought home the possible consequences of the situation I had placed myself in, "Sorry." I apologised and she huffed a little.
"How did I get back here, what happened before I blacked out?" I asked again.
"I think I killed the last of the plainsfolk… things, just as you did…" she explained. "You had put up that ball of darkness around you, so I couldn't see your fight, but when that disappeared all I saw was you lying on the ground with a giant spear sticking up out of you and the Commander nearby with your sword stuck in his chest. I ran down to you and made sure he was dead, you were still breathing, but only barely. Just then a group of soldiers came running down, they must have heard the commotion, they didn't know what to do. I don't think that they were aware of what was going on down there, but all they could see were dead demons, dead plainsfolk, dead guards and us. I told them to get the spear out of you and carry you back up here, where I could get some healing potions into you. It was a very close thing, I think you drew your last breath as I poured the first one in," she gestured to an area next to me where I could see three other empty vials. "And I kept going until you woke," she looked over her shoulder at the door. "We're locked in here now, until they can send word to the Commander of Fort Arthguard for instructions.
"Thank you," I told her. "For bringing me back. I suppose that there's nothing to do now but wait?"
She nodded and gave me a pointed look, "And rest."
"Yes," I agreed.
I decided to pull out the rune scheme I had transcribed for the girdle of masculinity / femininity and look over it. It looked almost perfect and I could vaguely understand how everything worked. It should be an easy thing to enchant, although it would require quite a bit of power, the power would be exhausted once activated, allowing me to regain it. I had no idea whether I could just transcribe it onto any old belt, however, and I wondered if I might need some sort of special leather. It would be worth giving it a try, but I had no desire to test it on an unwilling participant.
I looked over to see what Karalin was doing and seeing that she was sleeping soundly, decided that I should do likewise. I drew an alarm rune on the ground inside the door, lest someone try to sneak in while we slept and was very soon after sound asleep myself.
We both woke when the alarm rune activated and I rolled off my bed prepared to deal with whoever was opening the door. Thankfully it was only a few guards carrying food, the light streaming through the windows showing that it must have been some time after Celestine's rising. The guards were nervous as they opened the door, the alarm sound must have startled them, but they entered the room slowly and bowed to me.
"My Lady," he greeted me. "We have some breakfast for you and your… uh… maid servant."
Despite the nature of our apparent detention, I was still apparently recognised as a noble and all the respect and deference that came with it. The guards brought in the platters of food and laid them on our bed.
"Do you know when we should expect word back from the Commander of Fort Arthguard?" I asked.
"Should be sometime around Celestine's height, My Lady," he answered. "The ship left at first light once the Tennerwan stopped and they should have arrived by now."
The guards left us alone to eat and returned a little later to collect the platters, now devoid of the berries and pancakes that they once held.
After breakfast, Karalin and I kept ourselves occupied as best we could while we waited for news of our fate. I read through Malkarov's books of rune schemes, while she worked on fixing the feathered flights of her arrows and repairing and sharpening the points. She had a bundle of shafts ready to be fletched and fitted with heads, which she had just begun doing when there was a knock at the door.
I looked at Karalin, wondering if the guards had learned their lesson after setting off the alarm previously, and called out, "Come in."
An older man wearing a red tunic and trousers under a surcoat of scaled armour entered, his hair was white but he looked as strong and healthy as any of the best soldiers in this fort.
"My Lady Askilain," he greeted me. "I am Commander Lessik Kizet of Fort Arthguard. I received some very disturbing news from a soldier who came across the lake so soon after the end of Tennerwan that I thought that the plainsfolk must have invaded in the middle of the night. Even worse was the news that he told me. If you would accompany me to the Commander's quarters, I would ask that you illuminate me as to the events of the night."
"Of course, Commander," I agreed, and we put away the things we were working on and followed him down the stairs into the room we had eaten dinner the previous night with Commander Fosse. Commander Kizet pulled out the chair for me to sit, which I did, and noted that he did not do likewise for Karalin; who didn't seem too fussed and happily pulled out her own seat.
"Please," the Commander asked. "Relay to me the events of yesterday, from your arrival."
I related to him our arrival, and the strange feeling that I had upon setting foot through the gates of Fort Plainsguard. I described our meeting with Commander Fosse, with the way he mentioned his concern that something would happen that would force the nobility to act. I next talked to him about the guards bringing plainsmen through the gates after extinguishing the lights in the courtyard and the increase in the strange feeling around the middle of night. I told him how that increase in the feeling prompted us to go and investigate and what we discovered when we opened the basement door. When I detailed the Commander's invocation to Irin and the effects of it on both him and the plainsmen, Commander Kizet took in a sharp breath.
"What sort of god is Irin?" he asked me. "Is that a foreign god?"
"Very foreign," I told him. "Irin is the chaos demon of wrath, pride and anger. It is an outsider, from outside even the plains of existence upon which our gods dwell. It is more powerful and less understood… and understandable than our gods. Commander Fosse was completely beholden to it, he may not have even really been human anymore when we met him."
Commander Kizet's eyes widened as I continued my story, with Karalin taking over and filling in the gaps of my knowledge during the battle. The Commander listened patiently, with a growing horror. Once I had finished, he continued asking questions.
"What is the likelihood that there are still worshippers of this… demon in the Fort?"
"I could not tell you that," I confessed. "The feeling of wrongness is definitely much lower, but I cannot be sure what the soldiers know. Those who were on the walls knew enough to extinguish the lights, but were they just following orders or did they know all? Likely only those soldiers who were killed in the basement were influenced by Irin, but there could be others who are and were just not present."
"Is there some way to recognise them?" Commander Kizet asked.
"I could feel the wrongness when I stepped foot in the Fort, but that was likely just because of the acts that the Commander was performing. I'm not sure that I could recognise the corruption in an individual soldier unless they were well and truly influenced by the demon. You could show individuals a picture of Irin's symbol, the gold talisman in the shape of a closed fist with a ruby set into its wrist and see if they recognise it?" I suggested.
The Commander nodded and sighed, "I'll do that. I shall likely have to write off to the King to request an entire change of guard but in the meantime I will be taking command here and leaving my second in command in charge of Fort Arthguard." He sighed again, "I'm not sure that I will be sleeping easy tonight." Taking a deep breath, he continued, "I'll write you a letter of introduction for Captain… Acting Commander Trithan and I'll put you on the next ship out. I understand that is where your journey was taking you?" He asked and continued when I nodded, "If you feel that sense of wrongness in my fort, I'll authorise you to take whatever action you need to in order to root it out, this I will also write to Acting Commander Trithan. I thank you for your service to Allarth, Sharein Askilian." He paused and after a moment's hesitation, added, "and Karalin."
"It was a danger to the entirety of Mithras, Commander," I said. "Not just Allarth. I could not let it continue. But, you are welcome."
Karalin nodded with a smile.
"Well," the Commander nodded. "If you would like to gather your things, I'll have this letter of introduction finished and we can get you on the next ship out of here. Thank you again."
"Thank you, Commander." I said as we rose out of our chairs.
We quickly packed our things in our room and were escorted down to the docks and the waiting ship by the same guard who brought us breakfast that morning. The Commander met us there to give us the letter and we were soon on a boat crossing Lake Arth and heading towards another altar.
Travelling by boat was a very interesting experience for both Karalin and me. Although neither of us had ever stepped foot on one before, or seen one, both of us had heard of them. Sister Terra had once told us in class about how boats used to come down North River, through Easthaven and all the way to Castlemere. These boats used to ship food and goods up to the dwarves in the Irongap Mountains and bring back jewellery and metal goods. This was of course, a long long time ago, before the relationship between dwarf and man soured. One of Sister Terra's books featured a boat journey as well, from the west coast of Carn to far off fantastical lands. The boat captain, whose name was Jorge, was an interesting character. He spoke with a very strange accent, unlike those of Carn or Allarth, and had bright reddish orange hair. He wore a woollen coat and linen trousers but absolutely nothing on his feet, which were calloused and dirty on their soles. He also spoke using strange words to the sailors of the boat, words that confused me until I realised that he was talking about parts of the boat or the actions that he wanted them to do. The boat cut through the water despite the wind blowing seemingly from ahead of us with a direct course towards the right hand side of the island. He allowed Karalin and me to stand at the front of the boat, a place which apparently kept us out of the way of most of the sailors working around the boat. The feeling of the wind in our face was exhilarating. We watched as Arth Island and Fort Arthguard got closer. The fort itself was of a similar design to Fort Plainsguard except for two great walls that stretched out to the north-eastern and south-western ends of the island. These walls ended at two large round towers that, as we got closer, seemed to be topped with catapults and ballista.
Soon, a jetty appeared ahead of us and the boat slowed. Sailors threw large hemp ropes out to soldiers waiting on the jetty, who tied them around large stone pylons. The sailors then pulled the boat in next to the jetty and tied off the other ends onto the rail on the side of the boat. A gangplank was lowered that allowed Karalin and me to descend onto the jetty.
The dock at Fort Plainsguard had barrels and crates piled up, but the jetty at Fort Arthguard had nothing loose sitting on them. The jetty was formed from large stone blocks, likely set in place using magic. The jetty jutted out from the castle a short distance, before hooking across twice the distance it stuck out. Our boat had docked on the island side of the cross piece, where there were no waves.
A soldier, who looked to be in charge of the jetty, stopped us and looked at me expectantly.
"Sharein Askilain and Karalin to see Acting Commander Trithan." I told him.
"Aye," he said, turning and walking towards the castle. "Follow me."
We followed him into the large castle, which seemed to have been designed in a similar manner to the Fort Plainsguard, though obviously for a different purpose. While Fort Plainsguard was obviously designed to prevent attacks coming from the Plains, with less defence behind, the walls of Fort Arthguard seemed to be built just to enable movement between the large towers that contained the great siege weapons. Unlike Fort Plainsguard, there were no banners or flags flying on the towers or above the walls. The windows had, rather than the glass of the other fort, heavy wooden shutters. It all made the outside areas of Fort Arthguard a very empty place. Once inside the castle, it was a different matter. Large banners hung down the walls and a huge tapestry depicting a sea battle decorated one wall of the entrance hall.
On one side of the tapestry was the wall of the fort, with soldiers firing arrows and a wizard with glowing staff raised. The sea stretched out along the bottom, at the right hand side flat but with waves rising up closer to the wall. On the water were long flat boats. Shirtless men in the boats were either rowing or shooting arrows at the defenders of the fort. Bodies floated in the water.
Karalin and I had both stopped to examine the tapestry and neither of us noticed that we had been joined by anyone else until the soldier who had greeted us upon arrival shifted with a clink of metal and announced, "Sharein Askilain and Karalin to see you Acting Commander."
I turned quickly to see a young man wearing a blue tunic and blue trousers, with a badge sewn onto the breast depicting a horse with a fish's tail holding a trident. He was clean shaven, with a ruddy, pock-marked complexion and his sandy blonde hair was cropped short.
I fished the letter of introduction out of my vest and presented it to him. He almost snatched it from my hand and pried apart the wax seal. I watched him as he read through the message and saw the colour drain from his face. His mouth opened in shock, but he kept on reading. His eyebrow raised and he glanced up at me, his forehead creased, but quickly returned to the missive. Finally, he let out a sound somewhere between a hum and a grunt.
"Acting Commander Trithan, low noble of the House of Trithan," he introduced himself.
"Sharein Askilain, daughter of Aloise Corranna of Ildra, Apprentice Wizardess of Carn and Karalin, Ranger of Carn." I returned.
I didn't know whether or not I should incorporate 'low noble' into my introduction, but figured Allarthian's could translate into arithan easily enough. Indeed, it only took a moment for his eyes to squint a little in thought, then widen in realization on where I 'fit in'.
"Sharein," he said after a moment, "Do you sense any of the… wrongness that Commander Lessik mentioned in his letter?"
I shook my head, I hadn't felt anything since we had left Fort Plainsguard, "No, Acting Commander. Nothing."
He let out a breath and visibly relaxed, "Is the rooting out of this, evil, your entire purpose in coming here?"
"No, I was actually wishing to visit an altar on this island, a smooth black stone altar." I told him.
He let out a surprised 'oh', "Are you perchance a follower of Anshar?"
"No," I said, shaking my head, "What makes you ask that?"
"Many people who serve here have witnessed a figure near the altar and I am no exception. It was only in my first year serving at Fort Arthguard, a body had washed ashore after the Tennerwan the night before. I was sent out to collect it with two other soldiers. I saw her standing by the altar. She was cloaked and hooded in black and despite being only a short distance away in full sunlight, her face was shrouded with shadow. She spoke to me also and it was thus she introduced herself." he recounted with a shudder. "The thing is, that one of the soldiers with me swore that it was a masked man who introduced himself as 'Adara' and the other says that they saw nothing there."
"It is a place sacred to many gods, but one power in particular. You likely saw either the deity you were expecting or the one you might be most responsive to. Should a dwarf visit the altar, I would not be surprised to hear them say that they saw Alviss or Vestri there."
Alviss and Vestri were the Dwarvish gods of Death and Darkness, respectively. Both lesser powers of Tenebrae.
"Well, if you are just wishing to pay your respects then I can hold this boat and have you back before the Tennerwan, if that is your wish?" he offered.
"Thank you, but no. I may not be in a fit state to travel afterwards. Is it possible to have a room prepared for us? If you have one, of course." I asked.
"Of course!" he assured me, "Do you wish to go to the altar straight away?"
I nodded, "The sooner the better."
I was very eager to see the altar, to see Shard. Through all of the distractions on the way, seeing her again was always at the forefront of my mind and now, so close, I could almost feel her with me again.
"Markin! Torvel! Please escort Lady Sharein Askilain and her servant to the black altar!" he ordered two nearby soldiers before turning back to me, "I hope your visit will be enlightening, Lady Askilain. If there is anything further you need, please don't hesitate to ask."