Vincent Trigili - The Enemy of an Enemy

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Yesterday they all started packing up to flyto your ship, and I told them that the first twenty-five was reallysufficient. Then they just quoted a treaty reference to me andsaid, ‘The time has come.’ I could not get them to stop packing up,and I didn’t want to make a fuss on your wedding day, so I let themgo.

“I had not heard of this treaty, so I spentmost of last night researching it, and I was surprised at what Ifound. Apparently the Dark Knights were not part of the ZalionianEmpire at the time of the merging with the our Empire. They had aseparate agreement. Vydor, this agreement dates back over threethousand years and supersedes anything that would be in effecttoday.”

Zalith entered the room at this point, butdid not say anything. I could see something was eating at him,though. After a brief greeting to Zalith, the captain continued,“This treaty clearly states that they have their own government,and serve the Empire only until the return of the one who will leadthem to victory over darkness.”

“I am surprised such a treaty even exists,” Isaid.

“So was I, and I checked thoroughly. Nothinghas been done to change its terms in all this time. It seems theEmpire figured enough time had passed that, whoever the ‘one’ was,he was dead and not coming back,” he said.

“This is very interesting, but how does thataffect us today?” I was sure I knew what he was going to say, butdid not want to jump the gun and insult Zalith if I was way offbase.

“Vydor, they believe you are the ‘one’, basedon some ancient prophecy,” he replied.

“Somehow I knew you were going to say that.What do you know of this prophecy, Zalith?” I asked.

Zalith seemed relieved to finally be able tospeak and said, “Vydor, the prophecy just predicts that you willcome, and how we will know you when you come. The first sign isthat you will come from a foreign people, but earn respect inbattle as one of our own. The second sign is that you will rise upsix others from your own people who will follow you withoutquestion or hesitation and will also be greatly honored in battle.Once you come into your power you will lead the armies of lightinto a great battle in a faraway place against the greatest army ofdarkness ever seen. There is also an obscure reference to beatingan ancient power in a place out of time, but I know nothing aboutthat. There are many other signs like these, and they all point toyou, Vydor.”

“A demon out of time? Such as in jump space?”I asked.

Zalith’s eyes went wide, “You actually didthat?”

“Yes, Zalith, a demon that has hunted myfamily for countless generations. With the help of my Council ofWizards we were finally victorious, thus ending the disease thathas plagued my family almost to extinction,” I answered. Before Isaid that I would never have thought a Zalionian could go pale, butnow I knew better.

“I do not really know what to say in the faceof all this. The treaty clearly states they are not under mycommand, but only serve out of mutual benefit until the ‘one’ … Iguess you … returns,” said the captain.

“Well, Captain, at least this explains whathappened just before I called you,” I said.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Their commander came up here and swore theloyalty of the entire squad to me,” I said.

“Then I guess they are yours now. It reallyis a wise move. You need a crew on that ship in case we find abattle waiting for us,” he responded.

“Zalith, are you happy with this?” I asked. Icould not figure out what he was thinking, but he was obviouslygreatly torn over something.

“Vydor, not only am I happy about it, I amproud of them for following through on an ancient promise. I almostwish I could join them,” he said. “All Zalionians hold dearly tothat prophecy.”

I thought about it for a minute, then said,“Zalith, I need you on the Dragon Claw as my officialrepresentative and to take care of the Zalionians who are stillpart of the fleet. The Empire needs our help, and I need you tospearhead it in the Navy.”

He smiled and said, “It will be a great honorto serve you in that way, thank you.”

The captain looked at me and said, “You areturning out to be a great leader, Vydor. I am proud of you.”

“Thank you, Captain, but we have morebusiness to attend to. I have just learned that we will be jumpinginto a hot battle zone. The sorcerers are amassing their forces andplan to strike now before we have time to raise up an army ofwizards to face them. Are there any fleets nearby that you can callon for help?” I asked.

“The Phantom’s fleet could probably make itin about twelve hours. They are the closest,” he said.

“We do not have the time to wait for them.Let them meet us at the battle. If they arrive after the fightstarts, that could work to our advantage,” I said.

“I agree. If the sorcerers are stillgathering power then we dare not let them have any more time thanwe have to. I will also shorten our jump a little so that we havesome extra time to recover from the jump before rushing in,” hesaid.

“Captain, you must understand that everythingis at stake here. Call in all who can make it. If the battle dragson long enough for them to reach us we will definitely need them,”I said.

“I will have to delay our jump, probably byan hour, so that we can prepare the fleet for this. Do not worry,Vydor, we will win, no matter what they bring against us. I havenever lost a battle or war yet, and I do not plan to startnow.”

With that I wrapped up the conversation andcalled all the wizards to meet me in the Crystal Room. Once insidewe each took our official positions, and I said, “There is muchto discuss. You heard some of it when I spoke to the captain, butthere is more you must know. First, let me give you my memory ofthe meeting with Mantis.”

I looked around at each of them as theyreviewed it. Long gone was the ragged-looking group that I hadfound last year. They no longer bore the effects of the stress ofconstantly hiding and fighting underground for months at a time.They all looked strong and vibrant now. The power each of themradiated was immense. Soon they had absorbed the memory and werewaiting for me to talk.

“I have learned much since then. You heardsome of it during my chat with the captain, so let me go back andfill in the details. I will start with the identity of the darkspecter that we just defeated; he was the embodiment of a cursecast on my family line by the very first grandmaster sorcerer inthe hope of preventing my birth. His power came from my anger andfear, and his destruction was brought about by your love andsupport.”

“So then, he is gone for good?” pipedup Kellyn.

“Yes, Kellyn, we won.” I responded.That brought great joy to the room. It was our first great victoryas wizards, and there was nothing like complete and total victoryto cheer a team. Once the room was settled again I continued, “There is a lot more to cover, starting with what I was shownabout the future. When we come out of the next jump the largestarmy of darkness ever created will meet us. It will be made upalmost entirely of spirits, demons and other creatures from thedarkest and foulest abyss. This massive fleet will be outnumberedalmost three to one.”

I just let that settle in for a minute. Noone said anything while they visualized what that might look like.Then I continued with the bad news. “I foresee a death tollamongst the forces of light greater than that of any previous warin the entire realm. I cannot see who will live and who will die.You may or may not want to believe in the prophecy that Zalith toldus about, but the key is that our enemy does believe it, and theybelieve I am the one to fulfill it. Their plan is to wipe us outbefore we can reach full power.”