Chapter 57

The following morning after a superb breakfast, Darras was training with Erren, going over staff work along with sword and blade training. It was then that Erren turned, frowning, telling Darras they had a visitor.

“Not a welcome one, I take it?” Darras asked.

“No, but not in the same class as my brother, at least,” Erren sighed as Darras suddenly found all the sweat that had soaked his clothing gone, along with the clothing and he was now wearing the soft cotton daywear that he used when not training or going on a mission.

“Who is it?” Darras enquired.

“Szavona, the goddess of sleep.”

“Ah yes. Isn’t she the one who fawns over your brother?” Darras chuckled.

“Yes. As she will be unaffected by any actions he takes, plus, she is ... revered by the creatures of the night in Ventris.”

“Can’t think why she’d visit, unless she’s bringing a message.”

“Same here. We have very little in common, as my work doesn’t impinge on hers either.”

They made their way to the pergola area with Darras (correctly) guessing that Erren was manipulating time so they could be there and ready for their visitor. Two glasses of chilled wine were waiting for them as they took their seats before a woman phased into view on the lawn.

“At least she didn’t do your brother’s silly door trick,” Darras chuckled sotto voce, making Erren smile.

“True, but that’s just him showing off, despite the fact it wouldn’t work if I didn’t permit it.”

Szavona’s avatar was a tall willowy woman, pale skinned and clothed in flowing colourless tones that simply looked drab and uncared for.

“This is a surprise, sister,” Erren greeted the woman.

“I bring a message from our brother, otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” Szavona replied in an almost emotionless voice.

“Has he become so lazy that he can’t do his own errands?”

“What and how he acts is no concern of yours, sister,” Szavona replied indifferently.

“Unless it impinges upon my mandate from dad, which he continues to do.”

“The Allfather has not intervened. Your point is moot.”

“Yet.” Erren replied, causing Szavona to at least look slightly nervous. “Now, let’s hear what he has to say.”

“It is simple, release the Witch Lord or his agents will kill your pets in Rachtelin.”

“I don’t have the Witch Lord, Torgillon does,” Erren replied calmly. “Also my people in Rachtelin are perfectly safe from these shadow scales our brother is fond of using. Nor are the King’s Council in any position to act against them either.”

“Torgillon?”

“Yes, they asked my Darras to lead a team to obtain the man and hand him over,” Erren explained, not mentioning the interrogation she and the other allied gods had put the man through. “So, I cannot hand over that which I do not have and should our brother attempt to carry through his threats I have my Darras to deal with them.”

“He is but one,” Szavona replied seemingly indifferently.

“And so is the first one leading your brother’s efforts against my Erren,” Darras replied, making Szavona’s avatar start in shock. “He uses allies, as do I. After all, I could not capture the Witch Lord so easily without them.”

“Be quiet, mortal,” Szavona hissed, showing real emotion for the first time. “Your prattlings are meaningless to me.”

“Truth is meaningless to you?” Darras shrugged. “That actually explains a lot about the idiocy I’ve had to deal with these last two years.”

“I said, be quiet!”

“You do not command here,” Erren advised, eyes twinkling with mirth. “Darras’s points are valid. Our brother acted against my mandate. I produced a cure and he doesn’t like it.”

“I will inform him of the whereabouts of the Witch Lord,” Szavona replied stiffly, clearly very offended.

“Also inform him that I know of the whereabouts of a lot of his shadows and if he acts against me and mine in Rachtelin I will act accordingly,” Erren replied before Szavona simply faded away.

“Well done, my love,” Erren finally spoke after a long silence. “You confirmed a dread we gods had been feeling since the appearance of the Dragonoid.”

“I thought it worth trying as I know that your avatars often react physically to surprises,” Darras replied, squeezing Erren’s hand.

“Yes, we do. We do indeed.”

“It does explain how the various creatures used can use transfer circles,” Darras opined.

“Yes. And a few other things as well, such as the insane Thenarronian tactics they used at the beginning as in trying to fight to the death,” Erren nodded.

“Thank goodness they were so tactically inept.”

“The work you did amongst the dark kin will have been an unpleasant surprise for it too. Still, we’ll need to be careful now as despite its errors it will not be stupid.”

“Yes, and we don’t know where it is either,” Darras nodded.

“Hmm, I doubt it will be in a place like this, created by my brother. It’s more likely to be Ventris, in a cave, commanding from afar.”

“Working at arm’s length?” Darras enquired, having dealt with more than a few in higher command in the beginning of the war with Trenicha who generally thought of troops as pieces on a shogi board.

“Very much so. Though trust me, meeting it face to face would be a difficult fight as they are physically very strong and very fast,” Erren replied thoughtfully. “What I suspect it will be doing is using a throne of command to enforce its will on its subordinates.”

“Throne of command?”

“An enspelled item that is a stationary magic item used to focus the power of a ruler at a fixed point. Its throne is normally 5 feet wide, 5 feet long, and 10 feet high, although specific dimensions vary considerably,” Erren explained using the measuring units Darras was familiar with.

“And it enforces its will with that?”

“I suspect so. The first ones used them to control their people into uniformity.”

“Would it affect me or others if we faced it ... the creature on the throne that is?”

“No. You follow me, I would not permit it, that at least I can promise,” Erren replied.

“So, who did they worship, as I doubt it was your brother?”

“Colanthus, though at that time he was worshipped as the god of destiny, not the god of war,” Erren explained. “I was at that time worshipped as the goddess of the sky.”

“So, Colanthus was dominant then?” a puzzled Darras asked.

“Only amongst the first ones as a people, not in how we gods rank ourselves. My power is not based on the numbers of my followers, unlike some other gods.”

“Take it you were perturbed with the path they were taking?”

“Not really, their destruction and path were more or less foreordained. They were incredibly rigid in their path and thinking.”

“So, just waiting for them to go and to start again?” Darras chuckled.

“In a sense, a lot of it was having to deal with Colanthus’ delusions of grandeur and my brother’s attempts to make them fall and nothing to rise in their place,” Erren giggled. “Doriel was glad to see them gone, they were a bane on her followers and would wipe them out if they discovered them.”

“Pelegard didn’t seem to like them either.”

“No, he didn’t, as the god of mines at the time his position was almost usurped by our brother tempting the first ones to worship him instead.”

“And then they wiped themselves out?”

“Yes, a multisided magical civil war as my brother’s manipulations in the background caused major tensions to rise to the point where one duel caused a massive cascade of genocidal violence ... and then mother stepped in to cleanse the planet and restore the resources.”

“No survivors?” Darras asked.

“None ... well, until now,” Erren replied with a grim smile.

“Yes,” Darras nodded. “Any plans for me?”

“I’ve been keeping an eye on the manipulations of a shadow in the city of Kursalle,” Erren replied. “Until recently it was merely a nuisance, but now it’s moved into the machinations of city politics and causing issues for the young reforming King.”

“Just the shadow?”

“Only if you’re feeling merciful. City councillor Megrave is not a pleasant character, greedy and venal in nature, but hasn’t crossed any boundaries that would cause his soul to be rejected automatically,” Erren elaborated. “Though I doubt it would pass the final weighing of the Allfather.”

Darras did not ask Erren to explain further as he knew the judgement of the gods as such was multifaceted and depended on a lot of factors, all of which were taken into account by the enigmatic Allfather when giving a final judgement. Though what happened after judgement Erren didn’t know.

On arrival, Darras found Kursalle, the capital of the kingdom of Hurinass, was a busy seaport. It was Human run, though not insular as the source of its wealth was trade and the merchants’ guild influenced the city council to not take sides with anyone and to sell to all who would buy. This had finally put them at odds with the young King, recently enthroned, and who had a reforming zeal.

“So, he wants a moral code to be followed and, if necessary, enforced?” Darras asked Erren.

‘Yes. The merchants’ guild, however, sees it as interfering with profits as they are mostly Darmelans, though not as ruthless as their Fordelian brothers as I’m mostly worshipped here away from any business-related endeavours.’

“Surprised the shadow hasn’t attempted to kill the King.”

‘I doubt it will get close enough. King Manthus is not stupid about the nature of the city’s politics and so is well guarded.’

“So it’s just stirring up trouble to prevent any law the King enacts from being enforced?”

‘Yes, successfully too, much to the young King’s chagrin.’

“And if I remove it the opposition will fall apart?”

‘Yes, the only thing keeping a united front is Megrave’s meddling.’

Darras soon found the inn recommended by Erren and paid for his room and studied a map given to him by her detailing the various places of interest in Kursalle.

“The shadow takes his security seriously,” Darras commented.

‘The shadow knows about you, so yes, he does, ’ Erren replied with a hint of a smile in her tones.

“Doubt it will save the thing as I suspect they aren’t fully aware of all my capabilities as yet.”

‘No, not yet.’

“Was I observed?”

‘Not that I could tell.’

Once he had a good idea of the street layout Darras set off to hunt his quarry whose house lay in the walled area of the merchants’ quarter, though currently access was not restricted. Even so, Darras was carefully observed by several guards, though not interfered with as he went exploring. Inside he found the streets to be clean and beggar free, unlike the area he’d just passed through. The houses were also of better quality, if gated away behind high walls, often enough with some sort of large retainer in a gatehouse keeping an eye on things.

As ever though, there was a tradesman’s entrance to the houses accessed by a back alley that was still wider than most of the streets in the rest of the city. Though again most seemed to have a watchful guard in place.

“Not going to be easy,” Darras murmured.

‘So I’ve noticed, ’ Erren confirmed.

“Wonder if there are places he visits that might be less security conscious?”

‘The city council building ... perhaps, ’ Erren suggested.

“I’ll take a look.”

Darras made his way out of the merchants’ quarter and towards the centre of the city ... though to his sensibilities it was little more than a medium sized town. He swiftly found the city council building and discovered access would be easy enough, though getting at Megrave would be limited, as, other than the meeting chamber, Darras could not guarantee his presence anywhere else in the building.

“They do appear to be somewhat paranoid about just anyone having access to them,” Darras chuckled quietly.