Читать книгу The Chronicles of Articia; Children of the Dead - K.D. Enos - Страница 7

After one particularly tough training session with the weapon master, Alec was rather sore and did not envy that his sister still had to attend additional classes. After Ava cleaned up, she was going to be heading right up to Brendan's tower with Tristan to train in the magical arts. "Are you sure you have enough energy left to go to class today, Ava?" he asked.

"I am actually very excited about class today, Alec. We are not specifically learning anything about the magical arts today. We are talking about the history of magic and where it began," Ava exclaimed, "I can't wait to get started!"

"You are obsessed, Ava," Alec retorted. Ava just smiled shrugged she ran off to her room to clean up for class.

…

Dominic and Tristan ran into Ava at the bottom of the tower stairs. "Dom, are you coming to class today?" Ava asked.

"Yes, father suggested that it was important for the future king of Articia to understand its history," Dominic responded as he rolled his eyes, "especially after the events of this year's festival. Anyways, I have never been in Brendan's tower before and I am curious."

"Hey, wait for me!" Alec called. Ava looked back and smiled. "I thought you hated classes, Alec."

Alec caught his breath and responded, "Well, you made it sound so interesting, and with Dom and Tris here, I didn't have anything else to do for the next couple of hours."

They climbed up the tower stairs into the main chamber of Brendan's study. The round room had four windows facing out to the major Artician compass points. Brendan's tower was the largest of the castle's four towers. It measured thirty feet from the north to the south windows. A staircase, just offset from north window, circled up to another level that housed Brendan's private quarters. None of the royal children have ever visited or been invited to Brendan's private chambers.

Hanging from the stone supports, that held the up the staircase of the circular tower, were many tapestries, each depicting a part of the history of the kingdom of Articia. Brendan's desk was just beside the southern window and was piled high with parchments and books.

The center of the floor had soft baglike chairs for the students to sit in. Ava had asked once about the design of the chairs and Brendan had told her that he had read about them in the castle's archives. The documents described chairs filled with beans, though why someone would waste food to make furniture confused Ava. Brendan used the down of a many young fowl to fill his "bean" chairs and this made them very comfortable.

"Please take your seats and we will begin," Brendan announced. He waited for all of his students to be seated, and chuckled when he saw Dominic and Alec take two of the seats uncomfortably. It was the first time either had tried to sit in the soft chairs and both of them squirmed until they found just the right angle.

Brendan walked to the edge of his desk and started to speak. "I am going to start at the start of time. In the beginning, there was the void. The lands and the sky did not exist. Darkness ruled until the goddess Adara came into being with a burst of light."

"Adara did not always exist?" Ava questioned.

"No," Brendan replied. "Before her, there was only darkness. But the void could not persist on its own and Adara came into being to balance the overbearing darkness with the light," Brendan said as he walked over to a scale he used to weigh out his magical and scientific potions and powders.

"The balance is now the sole responsibility of Adara's consort, Aris. Aris came into being because of the need to balance the light and the darkness. The symbol of the god Aris is the scale." Brendan pointed to the device on the table. "It is the charge of Aris to maintain the balance of darkness and light. For without darkness, we would not fully appreciate the light."

Alec had not known that the goddess Adara and the god Aris did not always exist. He was starting to understand why Ava was so interested in history.

Brendan continued. "Soon after Adara brought light to the void, our land began to change. Plants and animals began to appear in response to the light. Eventually humankind came to the land that we now call Greater Articia."

"Did the land have a different name before it was Articia?" Alec asked.

"No, it was just the land," Brendan replied. "Humankind did not give the land a name until it stopped wandering. Let us continue. The first people were nomadic. They never settled in any region but lived off the land wherever they went. Adara did not interfere and only watched as the people developed into a civilized society." Brendan sat in the chair in the middle of the room.

"Then the darkness of the void revolted against Aris and disrupted the balance of darkness and light." Brendan paused here with a look of concern on his face. "The cataclysmic rift corrupted the land and some believe that this caused some of the beasts of the world to change. The old legends say that darkness corrupted humankind until they became goblins and demons. Those legends also state that some of the animals were corrupted as well and became the imps and the wolug."

As Brendan completed the word wolug, the hair on Ava's arm rose. She began to feel very uncomfortable. "Why did some of the humans become goblins and demons?"

"It was said that those who did not have innate magical ability before the enlightenment became goblins and those who did have innate magical ability became demons. We all know of the goblins, but few of us have ever seen a demon up close," Brendan said, "and let's hope none of you ever gets the chance." The mage sat back in the chair at his desk and turned to the students. "The imps act as servants to the sorcerers. They are attracted to the dark magic that the sorcerers perform. The imps can be rather nasty if you do not have the necessary magical skills to counter their innate spell-casting capability," Brendan warned.

"Recently, through our interactions with the elves of the Vale, we learned that all of these dark creatures were not specifically corrupted by the darkness but were thrown out of a mystical place in another world called Eden. We also learned that the darkness enticed the banished beasts to pass through the rift into our world. The worst of these creatures is the wolug."

"I have never heard of a wolug. Are they not common?" Alec asked.

Dominic and Tristan looked at Alec with surprise. They had not realized just how sheltered their younger siblings were from the dangers of the world.

"They are not common," Brendan replied, "and they represent the worst of the dark beasts. They look much like the wolves of the forest, but they are much larger than and as black as the night. They are fearful creatures with a poisonous bite. Some of you may have heard stories about them. They are more commonly known as the steeds of the goblin riders."

"The goblins ride the wolug!" Ava gasped.

"Yes, but not all of the goblin riders have wolug mounts. The goddess has blessed our world with balance so the wolug are very few in number. Most of the goblin riders ride on wild wolves," Brendan replied. "Only the worst of the goblin clans ride on the wolug, and even then only once."

"Why is that?" Alec asked.

"The wolug are so vicious in battle that they tend to kill as many of their riders as they do enemy men and their allies. Most of the goblin riders do not leave the battlefield alive," Brendan stated. "The dark beasts came into this world when the balance of light and darkness was disrupted. The goddess Adara intervened and rallied the dwarves of a world of magical metals to come to the aid of humans to counter the threat that the goblins presented. Many elves also journeyed here from Eden in their great hunt and pursuit of the demons." Brendan paused.

"The elves hunt the demons?" Ava asked.

"Yes, the elves are the sworn enemies of the demons. One of the books from the other world that we have stored in the archives describes the elves in detail and on that world; the native humans called them angels. But they have always had but one desire - to rid the domain of demonkind," Brendan explained.

"How does the goddess keep the wolug in check?" Ava asked.

Brendan smiled. Ava was his best student and she rarely missed the nuances of his instructions. She had surmised that the blessing of the goddess that kept the goblins in check was not just a special blessing.

"The goddess Adara knew that to defeat the wolug would require an alliance with a beast of significant power. She visited many worlds before she discovered the answer to Articia's woes. In a world where no humankind dwelled and the balance was shifted in favor of the more goodly beings was a special breed of stallion-like creature called by the name destri." At the sound of the name destri, Ava's heart soared. The mention of this creature touched her magical senses.

"The destri is the most noble and intelligent beast of its world and the goddess Adara was pleasing to them because of the goodness of her light." Brendan paused briefly. "They were honored to send some of the most courageous of their race to Articia to fight against the darkness. One thousand destri came on a pilgrimage to Articia during the early days of the first war against the darkness.

"When the forces of light had been assembled in Articia, the goddess came to humankind. The humans were an infant society and had no organized rulers or territories. They were almost completely nomadic like the ruffians of the northlands today. Adara spoke to them of the battle of the light and dark. The nomadic tribes were suspicious of the goddess for she had not made herself known to them prior to this gathering. Then, one single act of courage changed the hearts and minds of the nomads. A young girl stepped forward carrying a shield too large for her to effectively use and dragging a sword too heavy for her to lift."

"Heather!" Ava responded.

"Yes," Brendan replied. "The first warrior of Articia was Heather of the North. She was the first of the humans to take a stand against the rising darkness. The nomad warriors of the tribe all laughed at the young girl, but Adara smiled at her and looked toward the rest of the men. She foretold 'This young girl is the bravest of your tribe and will be favored in all she does. She will be a queen in Articia.'

"At hearing this, the rest of the nomadic warriors stood and committed to the fight because they were unwilling to be seen as less brave than a girl-child. Despite this initial stand, it took many years for the forces of good to organize into an army. Many skirmishes occurred across the land before humankind was organized into city-states." Brendan adjusted in his seat to stretch out his legs. "During that time the humans became more battle savvy and learned to work with the otherworldly races.

"The destri had never been ridden before and had no understanding of the man-mount relationship such as we have with the horses of our world. It took many years for humankind and destri to come to an 'understanding' in regards to mounted combat."

"Who was the first man to ride a destri?" Tristan asked.

"Ah, you make an interesting assumption, Prince. It was not a man or a woman who first rode a destri. It was a small child. Though no one recorded whether it was a boy or girl," Brendan said, smiling.

"It was very early in the first war of power when the destri arrived on Articia. They came through the rift very close to a small village of equestrians. These villagers were comfortable with the wild horses that had always existed on Articia but none had seen a horse of such grandeur and size as the destri." Brendan put his hands on his knees as he leaned forward in his chair. "When the destri strode over to meet the villagers, the leader lowered its head and bowed to the villagers. A small child confused the greeting as an invitation to mount. So the child, excited for the opportunity to ride, scrambled up on the back of the huge horse."

The royal children laughed at this, but Brendan raised his hand to silence them. "Normally this would have been a great indignity for the noble horses, but their leader was amused and surprised by the innocent bravery of the young child. The destri stood as the child grabbed its mane and the mount took off to give the child the ride of its life.

"It took many years for humans and destri to forge a relationship where rider and horse were comfortable companions." Brendan sat back up straight. "When a human was selected by a destri to be its rider, they began a lifelong relationship. Only the most honorable warriors were selected by a destri."

"Did all of the kings of Articia ride destri?" Dom asked.

"No, my Prince, not all of the royal family are selected by a destri," Brendan replied, "In fact, very few have been selected."

"Why is that?" Ava asked.

"Because, Ava, the destri are independent and highly intelligent creatures. To be the mount of a king is to subjugate to the king. So, very few kings have ever had a destri as a mount."

"The cavaliers ride the destri. Are they cavaliers because they ride the destri or are the destri only selecting the cavaliers as riders?" Alec asked.

"Well, young Prince, there's the dilemma. That is almost as easy as answering the question, which comes first, the chicken, or the egg. Perhaps it is just easier to say, it depends." Brendan smiled.

"That's not an answer," Alec replied with a bit of a frown.

"No, my young Prince, it is not. But you have to get used to the fact that you will not always get the answer for which you are looking." Brendan said with a sigh. "Sometimes answers come as part of a journey."

Brendan stood and walked across the room to pull the curtain on the western window. The sun was now past peak and shining in his eyes, making it difficult to see his students. He turned back to his seat and continued his lesson. "The first war of power was long and arduous. Humankind had not yet learned the ways of magic or steel because the elves and the dwarves had not yet taught them those ways. So humans brought the best weapons they had at that time, mostly clubs and crude spears, and stood alongside the more experienced elven and dwarven warriors to face the hordes of the darkness. Many men, dwarves, elves, and destri were lost in the first war but they prevailed. From the fellowship of battle was born the symbiotic relationship we have today with the dwarves and the elves.

Articia's first hero and king was created by the first war of power, Calum the First, and as the goddess Adara had predicted, he chose as his queen the now grown Heather of the North."

Ava smiled at this, knowing that she would soon scour the castle library to find the historic tome that told that story.

"During that war the dwarven smiths forged many steel weapons for the humans to use in battle." Brendan pulled out a magical dagger that was clearly dwarven forged and passed it to the students to examine. "Humankind was very protective of their master weapon forgers and the dwarves yearned to forge better weapons for the human warriors, who truly appreciated the craft of the dwarves.

"The elves were more elusive and private. They interacted with only the most gifted humans. In the early days of the rift, it was discovered that some of the humans had innate magical abilities, with varying levels of power." Brendan thought back to the days of his schooling in the magical arts by the elves, and smiled. "The elves were more comfortable dealing with Artician's who the goddess blessed with magical abilities."

"What do you mean?" Dom asked.

"When one has innate magical abilities, one gives off a colorful aura. This aura tells much about the nature of a person's magical abilities and whether he or she is leaning to the light or the dark arts," Brendan replied. "The elves relied on this aura to measure our intent. They have a long history of being deceived by those with dark intentions, so they find it hard to trust beings they cannot easily read."

"I have never seen any auras around anyone," Tris commented.

"Not all of the magically gifted humans can, Tristan. Only Adara understands this mystery. Some of Articia's practitioners have this ability and some do not. We surely do not know why the goddess has bestowed her gifts in such a random fashion," Brendan replied. "For some reason, all of the elves are blessed with the ability to see auras. It was probably born of their eternal fight against the darkness.

"The elves' magical ability has always been innate. They do not need to use phrases or gestures to bring about their power." Brendan adjusted in his seat again. "The elves' ability is also common in the demons that came from the rift. It is thought that in the world, from which they came, demons and elves had similar power and it was carried with them to our world."

Brendan reached back to his desk and pulled out a book. "Humankind does not have this innate ability. In the early days of the first war of power, the elves brought many unknown things to Articia, including tomes written in the language of that world." Brendan put the book he had selected on his lap and continued. "Many were written in a language the other world called Latin. It took us many years to learn the nuances of that language, mostly because of its dangerous nature."

"It is dangerous because when you speak it aloud, it initiates magical ability," Ava responded. "Yes, Ava," Brendan confirmed. "But not for all, only for those blessed by the goddess with special power. Even then, not all Latin incantations work for all because innate color represents each magical art. The natural elements of air, water, fire, and earth represent each sect. Some practitioners have the additional ability related to what the elves call the natural forces of sight, sound, light, and power. Only the phrases of that ancient language that describe those elemental or physical effects create magic on our world."

We also discovered additional abilities associated with the healing arts." Brendan opened the book and looked out at the class. "But some of the most interesting books were not written in Latin but in a language they called En-Glish. Very few of these books made the journey through the rift with the elves, but one of their history books did and gave us great insight into the bravery of the people of the other world as well as the tragic nature of their life."

Brendan flipped through the pages of one of the books from his desk and again spoke to his students. "This book represents the history of the other world as recorded by William the Spear, from the land of Shakes." Brendan then started to read from a passage of the book called King Henry V.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,

or close the wall up with our En-Glish dead!

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man

As modest stillness and humility;

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,

Then imitate the action of the tiger;

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.

At the reading of the words, Ava's heart was soaring. It was a story of a pending battle engaged by great warriors. She was definitely going to have to learn the language of En-Glish so she could read all of this history.

"This passage is from the history of one of the other world's kings." Brendan paused. "His name was Henry." At the drop of that name, he had all of the young nobles' attention.

"Is my father named after the Henry from these books?" Alec asked.

"Many names that we use today have come from the history books of Eden, the world of the elves. There were many Henrys in the history of the other world. I was not near when your father was named by his parents, but it is possible he was named after one of the Henrys from the history of the elves."

"There was more than one Henry?" Tris asked.

"Yes, based on this recorded history, there were at least eight kings named Henry. Please, let us go on. We learned many other things about the people of Eden, but not all of their history translated well. At times they had points in their history that we would feel was rather nonsensical. Here, let me give you an example." Brendan flipped through the pages and read some more. "This is also recorded by William the Spear of the land of Shakes, in a story he called Much Ado about Nothing."

Love me! Why, it must be requited. I hear how I am censured: they say I will bear myself proudly, if I perceive the love come from her; they say too that she will rather die than give any sign of affection. I did never think to marry: I must not seem proud: happy are they that hear their detractions and can put them to mending.

They say the lady is fair; 'tis a truth, I can bear them witness; and virtuous; 'tis so, I cannot reprove it; and wise, but for loving me; by my troth, it is no addition to her wit, nor no great argument of her folly, for I will be horribly in love with her. I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have railed so long against marriage:

but doth not the appetite alter?

A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age. Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humour? No, the world must be peopled! When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married. Here comes Beatrice. By this day! She's a fair lady: I do spy some marks of love in her.

Ava giggled at the end of the story, though her brothers were a bit uncomfortable from the telling of it. It was clear to Ava that this was a history describing the courting of a woman by a man. Though she thought it odd to record such a history at all, it must have been important to the other world to keep this kind of record. Maybe it was the history of how a king and a queen met.

Brendan closed the book and put it back on his table. He started to address the young nobles again. "Our knowledge of this story and all of the things we have discussed today we have because of the rift that we believe was created by the darkness. Some things have been good for us, like the arrival of the elves and these written works. It is unlikely that humankind would have ever become the civilized society that we have today without the battle of light and darkness. The trials and tribulations of those days forced the nomadic groups to organize into nations.

Other effects of the opening of the rift have not been good for the people of Articia. One of the deadliest things to come from the rift is the birth of the plague in our lands. Before the rift opened, humankind had never experienced illness that affected such a large number of people. It was discovered early that the plague only occurred when the rift was aligned to our world."

"The rift is not always opened?" Ava asked.

"No, Ava," Brendan replied. "The rift is always open; it is just not always on our world."

"The rift moves?" Alec asked, somewhat perplexed.

"No, Alec, we do," Brendan responded.

At this, the children of the nobles were intrigued.

"How is that possible?" Dom asked.

"As we started to form as a nation and the dwarves and the elves interacted with us more frequently, many new mysteries were open to us. We discovered that the star that warms Articia is a fiery ball of flame. And the world that we now stand on circles around it."

"Well, everyone knows that!" Alec retorted.

"Well, my young Prince, everyone did not always know that," Brendan replied. "In fact we knew nothing about our world when we were nomadic. We understood the seasons and the hunt and we knew we lived and died. The people knew very little about the world around our heads. We knew nothing about the objects that moved above us in the sky. Nevertheless, we learned, and we discovered. Some of the mages studied the stars and learned that they too were fiery balls of flame very far from us that could have many worlds like ours. We made maps of the sky and matched the movement of the seasons. It was then that we realized that we moved, and the rift did not. As our world moves around the fiery ball, the rift stays in place and we move away from it. The rift is aligned with our planet for only a day, once a year."

"So our land is affected by the plague every year?" Ava asked.

"Thank the goddess, no, Ava," Brendan responded. "It is not fully understood why, but the mages believe that there are other worlds, not just at other stars but in other places. The elves call these other places the Endless Domain or the Ethos. Under the tutelage of the elves, the mages also came to understand that time may not pass equally on every world in every domain. This is why the rift does not always bring a plague; the plague returns only when our world is perfectly aligned to the world that it comes from."

"So how often does it align?" Alec asked. "The last plague occurred when my father was a boy."

Brendan raised his eyebrow at Alec's question. He had not expected that the young prince would be so interested or so insightful. Maybe he should suggest to the king that Alec attend more of these sessions. "You are right, Alec, it was recent. However, it is not a regular pattern, as your question suggests. The mages who study the stars discovered that we do not revolve around the star in a perfect circle. It has more of a shape like an egg from fowl. In addition, they believe this is true for the other worlds as well. The rift sometimes brings us to other worlds. One of these worlds is that of the destri."

"We can still visit the destri world?" Dom questioned.

"No, Dom, the destri have requested that we do not bring the darkness that afflicts us to their world," Brendan responded. "But they do occasionally move back and forth between the worlds. They somehow know when and where the rift will form and when it is close to their world. They do not share with us when it is going to happen. This is probably for the best since we would be tempted to visit. We are after all a very curious species."

"Does the rift touch worlds other than the world of the destri and the world of the dwarves and elves?" Ava asked.

"That is a great question, Ava, but unfortunately I cannot answer that. The rift does not always form in the same place. We have not been able to predict its pattern. Maybe after a thousand more years of study the answers will be found, but for now we try to estimate."

"So when have they estimated the next alignment to occur? When will we have another plague?" Dominic asked with some concern.

"They believe it will be sometime between now and ten summer seasons from now," Brendan replied.

"That's kind of vague," Tristan stated.

"Sorry, Prince, it is the best they can do with the information we have. The magical arts are not always precise." Brendan stood up and walked toward the door. "Well, our time is up for today. We can continue this subject area in a couple more turns of the sun." Brendan finished speaking and opened the door to the tower. "May a good day befall you all."

The royal children, clearly disappointed that they did not learn more of their land's history, left Brendan's chamber for the end-of-day meal.