The Cor Chronicles: Volume 02 - Fire and Steel (16 page)

* * *

Cor sped, with Keth on his heels, to the grounds Rael used for training the Dahken. He had been sitting with the Chief Architect to determine which and how many rooms in the keep would be allocated to the Dahken when Keth burst into the room. Cor didn’t understand what Keth meant by Geoff’s blood ghast attacked Dahken Rael; he only knew he needed to get there quickly. As they approached, he could see great throngs of garrison soldiers and laborers surrounding something or some scene. Those in the outer rings parted readily for the Lord Dahken, but he had to push his way through those close to the middle who fought for a better view.

As he finally reached the center, he stopped dead in his tracks, a cold sick feeling running through his gut. Most of the Dahken were gathered here, most of them crying, and on the ground were Geoff and Dahken Rael. A huge gash was rent through Rael’s armor, starting over the right shoulder down through the breastplate. The man’s steel reflected red in the sun, and drying blood covered the ground underneath him. Geoff sat on the ground to Rael’s right, on his knees with his legs tucked underneath him, and he fiercely gripped Dahken Rael’s right hand. As Cor approached dumbly, he cast his shadow over the pair, and Geoff looked up squinting into the sunlight. The young man, boy, was also covered in blood, though none was his, and streaks of tears stained his face.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know how…” Geoff said weakly, his voice trailing off.

Cor knelt to Rael’s left and quietly placed his hand on the man’s forehead and closed the dead man’s eyes for the second time. He then closed his own eyes and bowed his head silently for several long moments, whether in prayer or thought one could not be certain. Cor then sighed softly and stood, his hands on Ebonwing and Soulmourn who sang softly to him. It was odd as they only did this in time of danger, but that thought would not occur to him until later.

“Take Dahken Rael to his quarters for now,” he said to some of the nearby soldiers. “Bring Geoff and Dahken Keth to mine. I wish to speak with them, Geoff first.”

And he stalked off, leaving the crowd to murmur as his commands were carried out. As the men collected Dahken Rael and gently carried him away, Keth stared down at Geoff and the blood soaked dirt. Geoff coolly returned the gaze, tears still running down his face, but Keth saw no sorrow in his eyes. He saw nothing there at all, except a small glint of satisfaction.

Cor paced his rooms tensely, annoying Thyss to no end. The sorceress had slept late, as usual, and was only just rising when Cor stormed in and told her Rael was dead. She showed surprise, but that was all; Cor knew the two hadn’t ever come together in any way. The polite knock came at his door while she still dressed, and he ignored it. Moments later a second, more forceful at the door drew his ire.

“Wait outside gods damn you!” he shouted.

When he was ready, or rather when Thyss was ready, Cor opened the door and admitted the blood and tear stained Geoff, closing the door on Dahken Keth and several soldiers. Still fuming, he pointed to a chair in the corner of the room while he collected his thoughts and calmed himself.

“What happened?” Cor eventually asked, once he was certain that he would neither shout nor cry.

“I’m not sure,” Geoff answered sullenly.

“Start from the beginning, and leave nothing out.”

“I… I overslept and missed the beginning of training,” Geoff started haltingly. The Lord Dahken had a dark look on his face, but Geoff continued. “I had too much to drink last night. Keth says I probably drink too much. I was talking to him while Dahken Rael started with Marya. It was fine at first; you know, the usual, the same wounding that we all went through from Dahken Rael. The second time he struck her, I wanted to stop him. She’s just a little girl! But then I felt feint and blacked out.

“I started to realize I was attacking Dahken Rael with a huge sword, and I thought I was dreaming. It was strange. I saw everything, but it was strange and dizzy. I could feel the vibration of my sword in my hands as I fought him.”

“When did you realize it wasn’t a dream?” Cor asked, his tone calmer, softer.

“When I heard Dahken Rael’s voice calling to me, telling me to stop. He said the blood ghast was me; that I could stop it, control it. But I couldn’t! I couldn’t…” Geoff cried, covering his face as tears again welled up in his eyes.

Cor’s anger dissolved completely, and he looked at Thyss; even she looked concerned, even sympathetic to the young man.

“I don’t see that you can be blamed for this; it wasn’t your fault,” Cor said as he dropped to one knee. He placed both of his hands on the young man’s shoulders. “I will not lie to you. I am furious at Rael’s death, but I think the blood ghast appeared because you felt the need to protect Marya. And protecting your weaker sister is nothing to be ashamed of.

“We will honor Dahken Rael. We will entomb him as was the Dahken way before and as will be again. You can most honor him by learning to control the ghast. Geoff, go now to your room and rest.”

Cor regained his feet and opened the door. Geoff slowly stood and walked outside into the sunlight; he appeared exhausted, slumped and sullen. He absently gazed east as he walked away. Cor motioned for Keth to enter and related to the young Dahken everything Geoff told him. Keth could add nothing to the story but suspicions that he kept to himself.

“I should have helped Dahken Rael. Together we could have beaten the blood ghast,” Keth said after several minutes of silence between them.

“How can you be sure? Rael was fully armored and ready for battle, and you had nothing but your sword,” Cor argued. “Geoff could have just as easily killed you both. Even if you are right, you would have killed Geoff. Is that a better outcome?”

“As opposed to Dahken Rael dead?” Keth questioned incredulously. “Yes, I would rather that. Geoff has never proved himself in our eyes.”

The statement brought about more fury from Cor than he had ever known. How could Keth, who was essentially a brother to Geoff, say such things? Cor howled his anger, or perhaps it was his grief. He reached down, and in one fluid motion, gripped the underside of the solid oak desk he had learned to keep for administrative issues and upended it, flung against a stone wall. The action and the power of it, shocked Keth into silence, and even the unflappable Thyss leapt to her feet in alarm.

“You will not say such things!” Cor screamed at the younger Dahken, and he brought his face within inches of Keth’s. “Geoff’s ghast attacked Rael because he felt he was protecting Marya! I will not condemn him for such a thing!”

Seeing Keth and Thyss’ reactions, Cor quieted himself, turned his back and forced himself to calm. After several deep breaths, he slumped into the heavy oak chair that matched his now damaged, perhaps useless desk. He sat quietly for several minutes, staring ahead at nothing in particular.

“I have told Geoff that he must learn to control himself, but I don’t know how to help him with that. We must learn together I think. In the meantime, we must build a tomb for Dahken Rael. I will discuss it with Thom. Dahken Keth, you must now teach the Dahken.”

Keth again sat stunned into silence, for one by the sudden change in Cor’s demeanor, but also for this development. “Lord Dahken, I believe that should be your place. I am so new to it.”

“No, it must be you Keth. The power of my blood came to me with no teachings from anyone, Dahken Rael only helped me to better recognize it. However, you had to work at it, and you are still growing in strength. The Dahken can learn with you. Besides, by now they know you better than me. I intimidate them, but you are their brother. I see no better choice.”

Keth stood and said, “Then I can only hope to honor both you and Dahken Rael.”

The two men took each other’s arms, and Dahken Keth left to contemplate what to do next.

* * *

The stonemasons built Dahken Rael’s tomb in just over a day; Cor had made it very clear that this project was of the utmost importance. Dahken Rael would be interred as he had before, as all Dahken had before, in a granite tomb roughly ten feet in every dimension. The door was made of solid oak, almost a foot thick and banded with iron multiple times. To Cor’s knowledge, the Dahken tombs had always been in catacombs beneath their castles or towers, but it would be different now. Construction on the keep had barely begun, and there were no catacombs of which to speak. Instead, a suitable site had been chosen just a half mile south of the fort, and it was situated on a tall hilly rise, well away from the mountain river that fed Fort Haldon its fresh water. Dahken Rael’s tomb would be the first placed, and as such was at the apex of the hill. Other tombs would eventually be built around it descending downward, hopefully later than sooner.

Rael had been placed in repose upon his bed, the room sealed and guarded that none would enter with less than Lord Dahken Cor’s presence. The battered remnants of his shield and the shattered pieces of his sword were laid out beside him with care. His body still wore his damaged armor, and that was how he would be entombed. His only other belonging, a journal that he began upon his rebirth, resurrection, lay at his feet, and all of these effects would be go with him.

The weather on the day of his funeral was in stark contrast to the day’s grim deeds. Sunny with only a few fluffy white clouds, a warm wind blew from the west over the hills and mountains, but the warmth of the sun and wind brought no cheer to the hearts of those involved.

Four bore Dahken Rael upon their shoulders, Lord Dahken Cor and Commander Thom under the dead man’s armored torso and arms, Dahken Keth and Geoff under Rael’s legs and lower back. The stiffness of death still held Rael somewhat, making the going easier. Behind them came Thyss who carried Rael’s useless shield and Marya who carried a silver tray. A burgundy satin sheet lay on top of the tray, weighed down against the playful wind by the pieces of Rael’s shattered longsword. The rest of the Dahken trailed behind Marya, as well as a good many of the soldiers who had come to know the fallen Rael.

They carried him from the Dahken barracks up and down the rolling hills to the south of Fort Haldon until they reached the tomb that would hold his body. To Cor, the climb up the hill approaching Rael’s final resting place seemed far more arduous than the previous half mile, and as he looked up the sloping hill at the gray, granite tomb, it struck him how little it matched the warm spring day and cloudless sky behind it. On the farm, a day like this reminded one of life, new and vigorous, but this felt like the harsh, somber reality of death.

The heavy door had been left open, and an amount of dust and loose dirt lay on the stone floor within a few feet of the doorway, blown into the tomb by the near constant breeze. A blank stone slab of granite, almost three feet tall, made up the eastern wall, and this is where they laid Dahken Rael. As Geoff and Dahken Keth filed out of the tomb, Cor separated Rael’s legs slightly, and here Thyss placed the pieces of his shield. Last, Marya laid the silver tray with his broken sword and its shards on the floor directly next to the slab.

Lord Dahken Cor shot a last hard look at his dead friend, mentor, and the huge gash in his solid, steel plated torso. More than once, Cor had torn Soulmourn through solid steel, but the force necessary to rip through ten inches of steel, flesh and bone still awed him. He doubted that Dahk would bring His son Rael back to Rumedia again. Cor silently ushered Thom and Marya from the tomb and pulled at the door behind him. Though immensely heavy, it closed easily and silently on well oiled hinges to boom loudly when it shut. Two Rumedian glyphs forged of steel were mounted on the door.

Cor locked the door with a heavy iron key; the lock was simple and would not keep out determined intruders. It needed only to keep out curious onlookers, the weather and wild animals. He turned to see the gathering, those that had followed. Some cried, mostly the children, while others stared at the ground quietly. Yet others watched Cor as if expecting something from him. In his life, Cor had rarely been at a loss for words, but this was one exception. With nothing to say, no words to offer, he simply and silently walked down the slope back toward Fort Haldon. Thyss and Thom fell in behind him, as did some others.

Dahken Keth chose to stay for a while in consideration of the tomb, as if the granite itself might provide him some insight. He thought of Geoff, but Keth did not see him amongst those who remained, nor had he gone back with Cor. Widening his search, Keth found him sitting halfway down the eastern side of the hill, staring toward the Spine. Keth had seen Geoff looking to the east for months, and for just a moment he felt envious, for he had never felt his blood call to him as Cor and Rael had talked about. He knew Geoff would be leaving soon, going to the gods knew what.

13.

Aidan, Lord of Byrverus, sat his ponderous bulk at a ponderous table in one of the temple’s large dining rooms, gorging himself on all manners of food available to one of his position. No one had the privilege, or misfortune, of supping at the same table as the fat lipped priest, and nor would they after seeing the grotesque manner in which he sated himself. Pork, chicken, beef, and duck - no kind of meat was ever absent at his table, and he ate better at each meal than most of his subjects did in a week.

Such was the advantage of power. As Lord of Byrverus, Aidan lived in the temple next to the palace, and he was at the top of the ecclesiastical food chain, only behind the queen. All of the priests and priestesses of the city deferred to him in the end, and his was the largest share of all the tithes that found their ways into the temples’ coffers. After all, the temple required great amounts of coin to maintain such an edifice. While he technically wielded no more power than the Lord of Martherus, or other of Aquis’ great cities, he controlled the capital, which in his mind was the key to one day controlling Aquis.

Aidan technically answered directly to Queen Erella, and she generally allowed him the freedom to run the city and its surrounding lands appropriately. In actuality, he answered to her accountants and advisors far more often than the queen Herself, especially Palius. In deference to Garod, Aidan would never wish any harm on the old man, but he was most definitely an aggravation. Of course, Palius’ death was now a forgone conclusion, and Aidan, always one to take pity on others, hoped he passed smoothly and without incident.