Azra of the Burning Sands (Genesis Project) (6 page)

‘You have a knack, Azra, I have to say... maybe a special power... for finding those things you need to find when you need to find them... it’s like you have a Guardian Emahra or something...’

-Ahaki, to Azra, a decade ago, while hunting for the infamous Dark Wystral, Grimstar

SALLOCK – BAZRA DESERT – HALLI

S
tepping into the courtyard filled with Archways, Azra causally noticed that it was, bright, clear day. He had managed to transport himself here using his usual method, without any fuss. Apparently the Sorcerer hadn’t really cared to keep Azra cooped up inside Jarridon – until the time of their meeting – by laying any enchantments to prevent such a thing.

That worked just fine for Azra

The short aide for Ahaki was stepping out of her house. He looked and saw Azra. A look of mild surprise crossed his face, and he ducked back into Ahaki’s house.

Azra frowned.

Moments later, Ahaki exited her home, led by her aide Nid.

She walked quickly across the way and rushed up to Azra.

‘Azra, it’s good to see you alive. You managed to withstand the attack?’

‘The city still stands.’

‘There is something else in your voice... What happened?’

‘The Sorcerer captured Princesses Kia.’

‘Your niece? This is
terrible
news. Come to my house, we’ll talk.’

‘While I appreciate the offer, I have come on business.’

Ahaki looked slightly put off. ‘I haven’t discovered if there is a traitor among us. Not yet anyway.’

‘That’s why I’m here. I intend to find out myself.’

‘I urge you not to be hasty.’

‘What? You don’t think I’d keep it civil?’

‘Yelling at councillors hasn’t yielded you positive results in the past.’

Azra cracked a small smile, and said, ‘I have no intention of doing anything near so rash. I’m just going to have a look around. I’m sure you have no objections to that. I am still allowed to be here aren’t I?’

‘So long as you don’t get in any fights with Wyzards from Hallon.’

‘I don’t start fights.’

‘No, you just finish them. Yes, I know, you’ve said it before...’ Ahaki thought for a moment. She turned to her aide and said, ‘Nid run back to my home and fetch my staff.’

‘Yes, my lady.’

Nid bowed and quickly rushed across the courtyard to her house.

Azra looked at Ahaki curiously.

‘I’m coming with you,’ she cleared up.

‘You don’t need to, you know.’

‘I know. But I want to hear the details of what you find, and also how the Sorcerer captured your niece.’

Azra saw Nid exit Ahaki’s house and run back their way. When he reached them, he handed the staff to Ahaki.

‘Thank you, Nid,’ she said. ‘You are dismissed for now.’

‘Yes, my Lady.’

Nid turned and walked casually towards the tower.

Ahaki and Azra started towards it themselves.

‘The Sorcerer used a curse the likes of which I’ve never seen before. It was designed to trigger a redirection in the Archway it was cast on, whenever someone demonstrating a high enough level of Mahgical energy stepped through. Eldron explained his theory to me. It was like the Archway gained the same ability the Hyper-Wormhole-Cannon’s have, to just fling their contents in a direction without the need for a receiving Gate.’

‘Kia’s not a Mahgic user is she?’

‘No,’ Azra frowned, ‘but her Mark of the Protected apparently was powerful enough to trigger it.’

‘That’s a worrying development. If he has such a curse, then the Archway system may be in jeopardy. None of our Wyzards would be able to use them.’

‘Only if he is in the area. It seems to be only a short range thing. I summoned the court Wyzards from the capitol and they were able to come and go without incident.’

‘Did he have a chance to get near the Archway?’

‘No. He cast whatever it was while still outside the walls.’

‘You checked the Archway yourself?’

‘I was concerned that it had been tampered with by him, so yes. But most spells aren’t near as precise as his, instead designed to kill anyone that uses the Archway, or to redirect it to a receiving Archway somewhere else on the world. The nature of this spell made it impossible for me to see. Or so I tell myself.’

Ahaki put her weathered hand on Azra’s shoulder. ‘There was nothing you could have done. We just need to find a way to get her back now.’

‘I have a way. I am to have a meeting with him tomorrow, at the Zharin Raider’s strong hold. He said he needed my help, and, in exchange for that help, he would grant Kia her freedom.’

They reached the entrance way to the tower. Ahaki knocked on it once with her staff. The door swung silently inward. They stepped through, and the door closed behind them, with only a soft thud.

‘You believe him?’

‘I have reason to believe that Princess Kia was not his real goal. He’s looking for something, and he seems to think my looking for it would draw less attention than him looking for it directly.’

‘And you’re going to go ahead with this?’

‘What choice do I have? The Princess is captured, and if I cannot get her release, then my brother-in-law, King Hadrian, will lay siege to the fortress and retrieve her by force.’

‘Does he have the forces to spare? I mean, he is at war with Hallon and King Shanta.’

‘He’ll find the men.’

‘It could weaken his hand in the war.’

‘That’s
another
reason why I can’t fail. If he does strike at the Sorcerer, it could cost him the war,
and
his daughter. What reason would the Sorcerer have to keeping Kia alive at that point?’

They stood in the middle of a vast room at the base of the tower. It had a domed ceiling. The walls were made of the same rusty coloured brick as the wall that surrounding the fortress. The floor had a mosaic in tile, showing the crest of each of the major nations that were, or had ever, used Sallock. The seal of the Zhakim Empire was the centre seal; theirs being the power that originally built the fortress before a great cataclysm claimed their empire and reduced them to a small reclusive nation on an island, in the ocean far to the west. Few had ever visited them since. The seal was a silver star, with a faint blue triangle as the backdrop.

At the time of the cataclysm, the Wyzards of Zhakim had all withdrawn from Sallock, taking with them many of the great secrets of the early age, and all information on the cataclysm. To this day, the Wyzards of the other kingdoms were still in the process of trying to discover what was behind the cataclysm, which had taken place five thousand yehvs earlier.

The rest of the seals were arranged in circles around the centre seal, some intersecting other long dead kingdoms, but none as mysterious as the Zhakim Empire. When new kingdoms began or rose up from the ashes of the old, a new crest would be added to the circles. So far, the seals took up about half the floor space.

Alcoves around the main hall had various important artefacts from the history of the world, each enshrined in many layers of enchantments to keep them safe and unchanging. There was a set of stairs in one of the alcoves, leading to Sallock’s seldom used prison. On the other side of the chamber there was a staircase leading up, to the rest of the tower.

Azra and Ahaki walked to the centre of the room and stood on the seal of Zhakim. Ahaki raised her staff and tapped it on the ground.

The two of them vanished with a flash.

They reappeared in the room above the hall. It was a smaller room, with several staircases and hallways branching off of it. This room was far more lively than the hall bellow, with Wyzards and apprentices walking about, doing their duties and killing time until they found something better to do, or someone else found something better for them.

Azra and Ahaki looked around, and Ahaki spotted someone she recognized.

‘Let’s go talk to someone, Azra. He may be able to help us with at least one of our questions.’

A man in an almost shimmering blue robe, wearing a cloth cap, and sporting a neatly trimmed, black, beard, was talking to someone Azra already recognized. The man he was talking to was Councillor Meridon, previously of the Kingdom of Hallon, and a Master of the Fire Aspect just like Azra, though nothing like Azra.

Meridon saw them walking toward him, and his expression hardened into a look of distant professionalism.

Ahaki stopped next to the two Wyzards, and Azra stood behind, looking at Meridon.

‘Meridon, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I was hoping to borrow Mister Reso for a moment.’

Meridon regarded Ahaki with a nod. ‘Not at all Councillor. Kont and I were just finishing. I have business to attend to back in Hallon before I return here and meet with my Apprentice.’

Meridon gave a nod to Ahaki and walked off.

Kont Reso turned and looked at Ahaki and Azra, smiling.

‘Councillor Ahaki, to what do I owe the pleasure?’ he asked brightly.

‘I’d like to introduce you to Baron Azra Hemnoth, of the Kingdom of Hallon. We’ve got a few questions that we think you could help with,’ Ahaki said, gesturing to Azra.

Kont stuck out a hand, and Azra shook it.

‘Baron, how good to meet you finally. I’ve heard so much about you.’

Azra frowned, and asked, ‘From Meridon?’

Kont smiled even more broadly, and said, ‘But of course! He didn’t have much nice to say though. He said you were brash, irrational, hot headed, egotistical, and a great deal more.’

Azra felt himself seething.
‘And?’
he asked.

‘And
I decided it would be best to meet you in person before I drew any conclusions. I’m not one who takes others words at face value. Words are such interesting things, void of any meaning except for what we assign them. So in your case,’ Kont stepped back and gestured at Azra, ‘I chose not to assign any meaning to Meridon’s words until I met you.’

Azra relaxed a little. ‘And what do you think?’ he asked.

‘Too early to tell my good sir. Now then, what can I do for you?’ Kont asked.

‘I understand you’ve just finished a stint up on the Hyper-Wormhole-Cannon,’ Ahaki said, ‘and I might have some questions for you.’

Kont nodded. ‘Yes, I did just return. I enjoy working up on the HWC and seeing the world stretched out below us. Of course, I would like to see the other side of the world. But, as you know, the HWC remains fixed over
this
half of the world.’ Kont’s face became a little more serious. ‘As for your questions, I suspect I may know what brought them up. I’ve heard there’s a certain Sorcerer stirring up trouble near your end of Anita, Baron.’

‘How would you know that if you just got back from the Hyper-Wormhole-Cannon?'

Kont looked wounded. ‘Well, I was just talking to Meridon after all, a Wyzard in good standing of the court of Hallon, currently at war with your own Kingdom. Plus, it was the Councillor here that got the information to warn you of the attack in the first place.’

Azra was about to say something, but Ahaki raised a hand and he stopped.

‘Kont, did you notice anything out of the ordinary while you were on the Hyper-Wormhole-Cannon? We’re unsure how the Sorcerer got here, and you were up there.’

‘Nothing really caught my eye, no.’

‘No ships? No unplanned activations? Nothing?’

‘Not a thing councillor,’ Kont replied, 'Just the usual traffic from beyond the Anciantos' worlds. All searched of course.' 

‘Hmmm,’ Azra said rubbing his chin. ‘Well, thank you anyway Kont. If you recall anything, maybe you would be so kind as to tell me?'

‘I would be delighted. Now, I must be off. I have to get back to my Queen. She’ll have some work for me now that I’m back down on the planet.’

‘Farewell Kont,’ Ahaki said.

‘Farewell Ahaki, and to you too Baron, good luck in your travels,’ Kont said with a bow.

‘Thank you,’ Azra replied.

Kont walked off and they watched him go.

‘What an odd man,’ Azra said.

‘Kont’s unique, but he generally likes to help people.’

‘I can’t quite help shake the feeling we just didn’t ask the right questions.’

They were silent a moment. Then Ahaki asked, ‘So, where to now Azra?’

‘Let’s check out the library. I should know what kind of fortress the Raiders have.’

‘You’re the Governor the desert holdings of the Kingdom of Minna, and you don’t know about your biggest threat?’

‘The Zharin Raiders hadn’t been a major concern until now. They had usually attacked Hallon, not us.’

‘Any idea why?’

‘Yes. Long ago the Zharin were slaves of Hallon. They had been for some generations, and it was at that time that Hallon’s borders were at their largest, stretching deep into the Bazra Desert. However, a leader rose up in the Raiders, who lead a rebellion in which the Raiders escaped into the more inhospitable parts of the desert, where Hallon didn’t want to follow. They hated Hallon for their enslavement, and spent the next fifty yehvs attacking their holdings in the desert, pushing them more and more back until they had almost been driven entirely from the desert. Now Hallon just has some cities and fortresses on the desert side of the North Tranten Mountains.’