El-Vador's Travels (47 page)

When
they reached the bottom of the building, Brother John nodded his head
at the hooded figure as if some kind of ceremony was being observed,
then continued to lead the way down a final flight of stairs. Without
a word their previous guide handed him a torch and then stepped
aside.

They
made their way down the stairs even further, he couldn’t recall
how much deeper he went, it was several minutes before they reached
the bottom, only for El-Vador to find a long hallway stretching out
before him. Beyond that lay the doors to a single room, Brother John
led them there.

The
room was dark and filled with shadow. There were no torches here and
El-Vador was somewhat hesitant in reigniting his sight lest such a
display of power cause a disturbance in his guide.

Brother
John made his way into the room and then finally turned to face the
Elf.

'Come
forward.' the man said, his voice sounding nothing like before.

He
felt a chill, though the room was far from cold. The air itself was
electric, filled with a power he could actually feel. He felt an urge
to soak it all up, to imbibe it thoroughly and then strike out
against his enemies.

'As
you are aware, I am Brother John of the Scarlet Brotherhood,' he
said. El-Vador remained silent at the reintroduction.

'I
alone will determine your usefulness to us,' Brother John explained,
his voice showing no signs of the joviality from before. 'Should the
power you have displayed against the Orcs be of no use to us, I shall
dispose of you.'

El-Vador
said nothing, he knew that the stakes would be something along these
lines the minute he realised he was trapped in this strange land.

The
man fixed his eyes on El-Vador. 'You are no friend of the Orcs, that
is clear.'

It
wasn’t a question, but El-Vador felt compelled to answer
anyway. 'They butchered my family, I will destroy them.'

Brother
John nodded, as if the Elf had been describing what he had eaten. 'It
will not be Orcs that you will be fighting with the Brotherhood.' he
paused. 'Does that bother you?'

'That
depends upon who it is you wish me to fight.' El-Vador said. He
wasn't entirely sure that he liked where this was going, but he knew
there was little he could do about it currently.

'Why
did you declare war on all of the Orcish race? Would not the ones
that attacked you have been enough to sate your vengeance?'

'The
Orcs that hewed my family to pieces were ordered to do so by others,'
El-Vador replied sharply, forgetting his position for a time.

Brother
John remained silent, as if he waited for a further explanation.

'Killing
those who massacred my village would only bring more of them upon us
in retaliation,' El-Vador continued, trying to make the man respond.
'I needed to take more definitive action, to end the threat to my
people once and for all.'

'My
sources indicate that there was a huge explosion in the mountains,'
Brother John said. 'People from many places heard a sound like a
thunderclap from the north. We know of the Elves though, they are a
relatively peaceful people and incapable of generating such force.'

El-Vador
could feel the words slowly drawing him out. 'Your sources speak
truly,' he replied.

'I
have no doubt that they do.' Brother John either hadn’t noticed
or didn’t care about the tone of El-Vador’s reply. 'That
is why you have been brought here, young Elf.'

El-Vador
was beginning to realize that his observations of the smiling man
from before had been far more accurate than he had anticipated. 'You
know that I have power and you seek to use it.'

Brother
John gave him a smile, but it was cold and calculated. 'Yes, Elf. You
have power, and we wish to gauge just how much.

'You
have seen many battles but you have not experienced the true war that
is being waged unseen. While Orcs and Elves and men and others seek
to dominate each other by strength of arms alone, the hidden powers
of this world fight an ongoing struggle for true dominance over all.'
He paused for a time, letting his words sink in before continuing.
'You are a pawn in this hidden struggle, El-Vador. You have been
watched since your descent from the mountains, we believe that you
wield power enough to join our ranks in time. I am aware that we have
only scratched the surface of your gift, it will take much tutelage
in order to determine the full extent of your potential.'

He
didn’t speak again for several seconds, but he studied El-Vador
intently with his piercing gaze. The Elf did not ask how Brother John
knew his name, the man clearly had his ways.

'You
have touched upon your power in the past,' he said, 'but only through
us can you truly learn to unleash it.'

El-Vador
felt his head slowly tightening, as if forcing assent. The voice was
not explicit in its demands but he could feel it silently pressuring
him into agreeing with the unspoken offer that Brother John was
providing. Somehow this detour from the Orcish lands was paramount,
he just wish he knew why. 'I accept your offer, Brother John, I wish
to learn under the Scarlet Brotherhood. Teach me your ways.'

'Our
ways are a harsh path to take for any of your kin,' he warned. 'Your
choice binds you to the Brotherhood and all of the consequences
therein.'

El-Vador
was certain now that he had said that, more so than anything else,
this was a decision he had to make. 'I live with the consequences of
my actions, Brother John. This is simply another action for me to
live through.'

Brother
John nodded, almost as if appreciative at the words. 'You must forget
your petty feud with the Orcs for a time, there are greater matters
to attend to in this life. After a time you may come back and deal
with your former nemesis, though by then they would hardly be a
concern for you.'

El-Vador
had no desire to abandon his sworn vengeance upon the race that had
murdered his family, nor did he think that he would ever consider
them beyond concern. The man before him clearly didn't understand the
depths of his desire for retribution. Nevertheless, he needed to play
along with the man's words, lest he be called out for his lack of
commitment to whatever cause the man was espousing. 'My feud with the
Orcs will be forgotten in time. My focus will be upon my studies.'

Brother
John nodded approvingly at the lie. 'Then I welcome you to the
Sanctuary of the Scarlet Brotherhood, El-Vador of the mountains.'

My time amongst the
Brotherhood is one that must be briefly touched upon through sense of
necessity, for through their teachings the basis of my current power
was formed. It took many years to unlearn the lessons that they had
taught so ineffectively compared to the finesse I now possess.

B
rother
John had departed some time before, to where El-Vador knew not.
Apparently his presence was required and from what little he knew,
the man was embroiled once more in the struggle against an invisible
enemy. El-Vador had remained behind at the Brotherhood Sanctuary
beneath the earth to learn the ways of the Brotherhood at the hands
of others, but he couldn't help but ponder how Brother John could
render judgement upon him if he was never there to observe. His first
lesson began the next morning, at the feet of Brother Manilus
himself.

'The
origin of the Brotherhood is as old as time itself,' the Brother of
the Sanctuary explained to his newest apprentice. 'In order to fully
wield the power within you, a complete understanding of our history
is necessary.'

In
the absence of Brother John, Brother Manilus had taken over teaching
duties. The man wore the typical loose-fitting crimson robe, his hood
drawn back to reveal a bland and unremarkable face. It bothered
El-Vador that such a powerful man could so easily be lost in a crowd.
Had he been tracked by such a figure all this time?

El-Vador
knelt before him, still clad in an identical robe that Brother John
had bestowed upon him.

'Brother
John tells me you come to us as a raw recruit,' Manilus noted. 'He
says all that you know of power has been self taught.'

'I
have done this alone,' El-Vador lied.

'Yes,
it is impressive that you caught Brother John's attentions so swiftly
through your actions.'

The
Elf remained silent, did the man know he had been told a falsehood?

'What
have your studies told you of this Sanctuary?' Manilus finally asked.

'The
Brotherhood recruits gifted individuals in order to utilise their
power against the ongoing threat from the other side.'

'Correct,'
Manilus replied. 'Though somewhat lacking in historical context.
There is no other Sanctuary like this, so persons selected for such
study as we offer are rare indeed. This Sanctuary is both the living
embodiment of the Brotherhood and our ancestral home,' Manilus
explained. 'So secluded are we from the world outside that none have
yet discovered our location, there has been no need for any other
base of operations.' He paused and slowly extended his arm, waving it
about him as if demanding that El-Vador gaze upon the stone walls and
glean some hither-to-unseen knowledge from their surface.

'This
structure is a focal point for all of our power, as it has been for
many thousands of years. Few now living will ever attain complete
mastery over the depths of energy that can be tapped from it.' he
pointed a bony finger at the Elf now, jabbing his robe as if in
challenge. 'Do you feel that you could be one of those people? Can
you not feel the energies around you longing to quench your thirst
for greater power?' The man paused and let out a shuddering sigh.
'Great things are expected of those we introduce into the
Brotherhood, do not fall short of our estimation.'

Over
the inestimable time that surged on, El-Vador devoted himself
entirely to learning and knowledge so that he may better utilise the
power within him. He discovered that his fellow initiates had been
scouted for many years prior to their acceptance within the Sanctuary
of the Brotherhood.

At
first El-Vador found this troubling, that he had been selected so
swiftly indicated that there was something different about him and
left him open to both targeting and lofty expectations. After a time
he discovered that it wasn't such a disadvantage after all.

Of
all the recruits he had spoken to, none of them had ever given
indication of being guided by some other voice. Their thoughts were
their own and their manifestations of power were weak in comparison
to his. He had assumed that they would all be similar to him, now he
found that he was unique in ways that the others couldn't begin to
fathom.

For
the first time he was being taught to truly use his abilities rather
than simply be a clueless vessel for the voice inside him. He didn’t
have to worry about any of the other recruits, with the right
training he would soon surpass all of them.

Most
of his general knowledge of power came from the teachings of Manilus,
though some of the other Brothers gave more specific lessons. Of
Brother John there was still no sign. Usually these lessons were done
alone, as El-Vador's exponential rate of learning was hampered in a
group scenario. Recruits were encouraged to learn at their own pace,
driven by the knowledge that to fall behind their peers would be a
grave error indeed.

In
order to receive training from a Brother it was required that he
solicit their attentions. Over the last few weeks he had been able to
build up an effective working relationship with Brother Manilus and a
number of the other Brothers simply because of his level of
improvement. Every Brother wanted to be associated with his rise and
take credit for his learning. Little did they realise that in his
heart he owed them and this Brotherhood nothing for his abduction.

The
increasing proficiency with his power did garner detractors amongst
the other recruits, but they were beneath El-Vador's attentions, so
focused was he on his goal of accumulating enough power and knowledge
to destroy the Orcs utterly.

When
he wasn’t learning from the Brothers, he was studying the
ancient records that they kept within their archives, gleaning as
much information as he could from the dusty tomes and scrolls on the
history of the Brotherhood and the utilisation of their power.

Many
of these scrolls were historical records recounting ancient battles
or glorifying the deeds of ancient Brotherhood attacks against the
unnamed others. By itself the information had little practical use,
but he could see each individual work for what it actually
represented: a tiny piece of a much larger puzzle, a clue to a much
greater understanding.

The
archives supplemented what he learned from the Brothers. It gave
context to abstract lessons. El-Vador felt that, in time, the ancient
knowledge would be the key to unlocking his full potential. Though
silent since he had arrived in the Sanctuary, he felt the presence of
the voice agreeing with his assessment.

He
practised his meditations and exercises daily, often under the
watchful eye of Manilus. After only a few weeks he had surpassed
roughly two thirds of the recruits in his mastery of the power.
Though he was still wary of being susceptible to attacks from any and
all who would be jealous of his new-found abilities.

For
all his training and all his skill, El-Vador knew that the power did
not come from within him, that it was the voice allowing him this in
order to complete some unknown goal. For all the mastery and control
he exhibited, his destiny remained entirely out of his hands.

There were times
when my skills were tasked, there were other times when they were
not. It was the latter that was far more important when the former
came about.