Michael Manning - The Line of Illeniel

The old blacksmith grinned, “Can’t fix stupid son, and maybe you shouldn’t try.”

They spent several hours after that, gathering up the bodies and pieces of bodies. They discovered that the still moving flesh was dangerous yet, but luckily Royce had a surplus of tongs and iron bar-stock in his smithy and they used those to move them. When they had finally created a single pile they used more lantern oil and some deadwood to create a funeral pyre. Nothing would be left of the things that had attacked them.

Once all was said and done the town of Washbrook had lost two men, David Tanner being the first. The second man, Seth Colburn, had gone down during the rush to save Dorian and had died before he could be rescued. From the rough count they made of the enemy it appeared they had dismembered and burned almost twenty eight of the undead. Several had escaped at the end when the fight turned against them.

It was a victory, but a small village like Washbrook could hardly afford to lose anyone and the families of those lost would be mourning for a long time to come.

I rose early the next morning, anxious to check the books in the library once more. I knew I had little time before we would have to return to Washbrook and this would likely be my last chance to examine the writings left here… unless I learned to create a matching teleport circle when we got home.

I started searching the shelves for anything I might find regarding the creation of such circles and by chance I got lucky. A slender volume proclaimed itself to be ‘ A Definitive Guide on the Creation and Maintenance of Teleportation Waypoints’. It looked to be just the thing, although the author seemed a bit self-important. I set it aside to bring with me on the trip home.

Having accomplished my primary goal I rewarded myself with some time reading ‘ The History of Illeniel’:

Those powerful enough to speak to the earth came to be called ‘archmages’ and the arts they employed were fabled to be so great that no modern scholar can rightly credit the truth of the stories about them. The ‘shining gods’ of humankind were young and weak in those days and wizardry so common that few sought to worship them. The gods of the She’har, now called the ‘dark gods’ were powerful but malignant to humanity. The loss of their people left them estranged from the new world and they descended into madness.

The wizards of those times learned to be wary of the dark gods even as they shunned the new gods. None would treat with the dark gods and few paid heed to the shining gods. Mankind controlled its own fate. Things might have remained so had not one young wizard, Jerod, of the line of Mordan given into greed and lust for power.

Jerod had been born to power but was not strong enough to speak to the earth. His jealousy of the existing archmages is part of what led to his downfall and his betrayal of humanity. At that time two archmages were alive, Gareth of the line of Gaelyn, and Moira of the line of Centyr. There were rarely more than two or three archmages alive at any time in history, so this was not uncommon.

Jerod had fallen in love with Moira of the Centyr, but she had eyes only for another, an unremarkable mage from the line of Illeniel. The details of their unfortunate love triangle did not survive the dark times that followed but it is known that Jerod gave in to the temptations of the dark god, Balinthor. Promises of power beyond that of the archmages seduced young Jerod. Believing that greater power might woo the archmage Moira he summoned the dark god and opened his mind to him.

I paused for a moment, thinking, until yesterday I had never heard mention of ‘archmages’ and I couldn’t help but wonder how they differed from the other wizards of the time. The repeated references to the ‘voice of the earth’ also intrigued me. I could sense Penny approaching so I set the book aside, in the stack I planned to bring with us on our journey.

“Good morning,” she said from the doorway.

“Morning,” I replied. “I guess we should start getting ready to leave.”

“Breakfast first.”

That sounded like a wonderful idea, except we didn’t have any food. If there was anything left in the pantry I wouldn’t trust it to be edible after so many years. “Hmmm, I wonder how we should manage that?”

“There is someone at the door,” announced the disembodied voice of the house. I really needed to learn the rules regarding how the enchantments built into the house worked.

“Who is it?” I asked. There was a short pause before the voice replied.

“He says his name is Marcus Lancaster,” the voice supplied.

“Wait until I get down to the front door, then let him in.” I hurried downstairs. Not long ago I would have simply let him in immediately. Now that my friend was a vessel for a goddess I wasn’t sure of his motives. The door opened up as soon as I approached. “Good morning Marc,” I said as soon as I saw his face.

“Mort this house is amazing! The door just talked to me,” he responded. He looked and sounded like the friend I had always known.

“Yeah I know. I’m still getting used to it myself.”

“Can I come in?” he asked.

I suddenly felt a bit bad. I had unconsciously remained in the doorway, my body language relaying the message that he might not be welcome. “I’m sorry, right this way. I’d offer you breakfast but we don’t have any food at the moment. We were just sorting that out actually.” I stepped back and motioned him inside.

“If you’re hungry I know a place where we can get some good bread and sausages,” he stepped in and the door closed itself behind him.

“That sounds wonderful, but we need to talk about some things first,” I gave him a hard stare. “I thought you came to Albamarl to find a wife, not…” I motioned at the plain robe he wore.

“I did. Life has a way of catching you by surprise sometimes. I never thought I would be chosen by the Lady of the Evening either,” he shrugged.

“Your father was not pleased.”

“I can understand that, but he’ll come around in time. I have a higher purpose now. He has other children to fill that role,” he looked around. “This house is interesting! I couldn’t see such things before, but every piece of this place is filled with magic.”

“Is she inside you now?”

“She’s always there, filling the empty parts of me. I was very unhappy Mort. I just didn’t realize it because I had nothing to compare it to… now when I look back I can see just how empty it was,” he smiled as he said this, but it didn’t reassure me.

“So I’ve lost my friend to a goddess.”

“No! I’m still me! I will always be your friend. I’m just a little bit more than I was. I’m complete now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still need my friends. You’re just as much a part of who I am as you ever were.” He seemed very earnest. “I do have some things to tell you however. The goddess sent me with several messages for you, and none of it is good.”

I sighed, “How did I know you were going to say that?” I had yet to receive good news from any of the divine beings I had met. Of course I had only met two so far. “Let’s eat first; I may not have an appetite after your news.”

Half an hour later I was seated at an outdoor cafe with Penny, Rose and Marc. I had actually never even heard the word ‘cafe’ before that day so it was an educational experience. Who knew a city could be so large that some people could make a living doing nothing but cooking for strangers? In Lancaster the closest thing to it was the tavern, and they only sold food at certain times of day, their primary business was selling ale.

They served us black tea, a heavy brown bread and spicy sausages. I heartily approved. Once we had mostly finished I looked at Marc, “I suppose you might as well get on with the news, I don’t think I can eat any more.”