Fire And Ice (Book 1) (22 page)

             
“What Stemis did was not proper, and I want you to know that I had no knowledge of it beforehand.”              

“I know that,” Coran assured him.  His father would have told him no matter what the King wanted.

              “If you do not wish to marry her you will not have to do so.”  Oran did not make idle statements.  If Coran wanted out of the betrothal, his father would make it happen.

             
The thing was that Coran had time to think between visits.  What he thought about was the first choice he was supposed to make, that and the betrothal.  After getting nowhere he finally decided on one thing.  What decided him was the thought of Katelyn marrying anyone else.  He didn’t like that idea at all.  “No.  Leave it the way it is for now.”

             
Oran gave him an inquisitive look.  “Are you sure?”

             
“I am.”

             
“Very well.”  The Lord of Tyelin stood.  “I will come by and see you again when I can.”

             
“Thank you.”

             
Oran nodded as he departed.  

              The next morning Coran felt well enough to test the strength of his legs.  Being confined was starting to get to him and he looked longingly out the window at the sky.  Using the bed and furniture for support he crossed the room several times before sitting down to rest.  After a lunch of soup he set out on a mission to find his clothes.  He checked the dresser and the wardrobe but they were empty.  He began to have some suspicions at that point.  Someone was seeing to it that he did not leave his rooms before he was ready.  Feeling defiant he staggered out into the sitting room and took a chair in nothing but his under clothes. 

             
It was not long before Katelyn came to check on him.  She took in his lack of attire and blushed.  “You should not be out of bed yet.”              

“If I have to stay in that room another day I will go crazy,” he grumbled.  “I want to ride a horse and practice the sword.  I want out of here.”  Until that moment he did not understand his own feeling of growing frustration.  He did
not like feeling weak.  It was not something to which he was accustomed.

             
She nodded in sympathy.  “Tomorrow, I promise.  I will take you down to the gardens and we can walk.  Just give it one more day?”

             
He nodded, unable to deny her when she obviously had his best interests at heart.  He endured the rest of that day and another restless night.  He was not recovered yet and he knew it, but he was not made for laziness.

             
He rose from the bed expectantly.  Today he would leave his prison for the first time.  He waited with as much patience as he could muster.  An hour went by and still he waited.  Two hours went by and he was starting to get a little worried.  It was not like her to be late.  He slipped his legs out from under the sheets and off the bed.  He stood up and took a few testing steps.  He felt good. 

             
That was when Katelyn came in.  She was breathing heavy as if she had been running.  “I am sorry.  Mother wanted to talk to me and it took longer than I expected.”  She smoothed the front of the light blue dress she wore. 

             
“Did you bring my clothes?” he asked.  He didn’t even wonder what took so long to talk about, not after spending hours waiting in a hall in Westhaven.

             
“You did not see them?  I had them put in the outer room earlier.”  She went out and came back in carrying a pile of clothing.  “Let me help you.”

             
“I can dress myself,” he told her and she laughed.  She let him do it, but she didn’t leave.  After he put on the white, long sleeved shirt and black pants she held out a coat for him to wear.  It was black with silver around the cuffs.  He shrugged it on and saw a silver hawk on the left breast.   The coat was new, he wondered where it came from..

             
As if reading his mind she answered.  “I had it made for you.  I think it looks good.”

             
One coat was as good as another.  “Where are we going today?”

             
Her smile wilted away.  “I should have told you right away.  If you can go for a walk than you can see my father.”  She mimicked her father’s stern face.  “That is what he said,” she told him unhappily. 

             
It had to come sooner or later.  He might as well get it over with.  “Then let us see what your father wants from me this time.”   

             
He felt more like his old self as they made their way to the council chambers where the King was waiting for them.  Coran moved slowly, but without assistance.  Katelyn laid a hand on his arm, but it was not to support him.

             
When they reached the chambers the King was not alone.  Oran, Margery, Gelarus, and Queen Anne were with him.  Alys was there, standing by the window along the opposite wall.  They sat around the long oak table on carved, high backed chairs. 

             
Coran noticed another man there as well.  He recognized Martin, Commander of the Knights of Soros.  That was the order of warriors whose loyalty was unwavering to whoever sat on the throne of the sun.  Not to the throne, or to Summerhall, but to the person on the throne.  Coran hadn’t seen the man since leaving for Tyelin.  He remembered that the young man was a captain at the time.  He was young even for that position and that he was made commander at such an age spoke highly of his abilities.  Coran gave a respectful nod to the brown haired, clean cut man, who returned it in kind.   

             
“Please have a seat,” Stemis began.  He waited for Coran to take the chair between Margery and Katelyn, who sat down after him.  She probably watched to see if he would stumble with the chair.  “We have waited to talk about certain things until you were well enough to participate.”  Stemis looked tired.  His eyes had dark circles underneath them.  “Gelarus, you said that Coran was attacked.  Who attacked him?”

             
The wizard was sitting beside Oran who was on the King’s left.  “I cannot be sure, but with the power needed to do what was done, I can make a good guess.”

             
“Then please enlighten us,” Stemis told him.

             
“As you may know, the number of people able to touch the power in nature are very few.  Of those, the number who are actually trained to use the power is much smaller.  Those who have the power to do something like this are even fewer.  My first thought would have to be a rogue wizard.  Anyone of that ability would be known to me, and the few I do know of would have no reason to attack Coran.”  Gelarus went on in his lecturing voice.  “A wizard from Daes Shael is certainly a possibility, but again, why?  I must, therefore, acquiesce to the one answer that makes the most sense.”  He sounded reluctant to state it now.

             
“What is it?” Stemis prodded.

             
“Little knowledge survived the last Great War, in Midia at least, but enough was written in the first century of Summer to give us some ideas of what happened and who was involved.  The invaders who came from across the Eastern Sea had their own wizards, and still do I suppose.  There they are called Maji.  The senior, most powerful of the Maji are called the Majin.  The Majin lead and train the Maji, along with the more numerous ni-Maji.  The ni-Maji are like the people here who have some abilities with Naturus but not enough to be wizards.  The most powerful of the Majin is named the Ra Majin.  It is my belief that only the Ra Majin would have the necessary power to do what he did to Coran.”

             
“Then we have our proof to take to the others.  That the Easterners are involved,” Stemis said excitedly. 

             
“Proof enough for us, but what evidence do we really have?” Oran pointed out.  “Something that happened in a dream?”

             
“It was more than a dream,” Gelarus stated.  “But you are correct in the fact that we have no proof to show anyone.”

             
Stemis looked like he wanted to respond, but they all knew that both Oran and Gelarus were right. 

             
“Could the people of the East have actually returned?” the Queen asked in her warm, motherly voice that Margery had inherited.  Only now it was touched with a panic.  “What do we even know about them, or the lands they come from?  And why are they here?”

             
Gelarus cleared his throat as he prepared to speak.  “Now the Ancients flourished under the kind rule of the Gods until one decided he no longer wished to be a guide for his people, but be their ruler in all things.  The other Gods did not approve but did nothing until it was clear that the Dark God would not be satisfied with just ruling his own people.  He longed to rule over all the world.  The other Gods united against him and imprisoned him in a mountain.”

             
Coran recognized the story.  It was usually reserved for holidays or times of spiritual reflection.  It was supposed to be a tale of how his people came to be here and why.  

             
“Long did the dark God seek a means to break free, and he finally did.  He found a new source of power, an evil power that made him strong enough to break his bonds.  He opened a gateway to Hel.  With his new powers the dark God continued his work of conquest.  The other Gods once again faced him and a desperate struggle began.

             
“The details are long lost to time, but in the end the dark God was defeated, not killed or imprisoned for he was too strong for that, but he and his people could no longer continue to fight.

             
“The destruction that had been wrought by a war between the Gods themselves was so great that they knew it could never happen again.  Most of the Ancients had been killed, and many a god with them.  So by agreement the fate of mankind would be decided by men, and by Champions chosen of the Gods themselves.  These Champions would be picked from the new race that had emerged from the Ancient’s seed, the third race of men.

             
“Now in a new age, the Third Age, the remaining Gods took it upon themselves to guide the races of man, so they each chose a people with which to be joined.  Nortia of the white hair chose the Northmen, Dios of the sun the Midians, Ithan chose the Ithanians, She’al and Sha’elt, the twins, each chose half the Karands, and the one now known as the Destroyer chose the Makkurans.  The Gods, all save the leader of the Makkurans, led their people west, across the great sea to new lands untouched by the shadow of the Destroyer.  Ever since that time the Destroyer has sought to conquer these new lands, and complete his dreams of domination.  He bides his time beyond Makkura, the land of Shadows, at the heart of his power.  He waits in Morrindor, near the gate itself.”                           

             
At the mention of Makkura, Coran recognized the name.  Not from the tales that everyone knew, but from the dream.  For some reason the part where he was Gethmon came back to him, and the attackers were called Makkurans.  He was sure of it. 
How could I possibly know that?  What did that man do to me
?                

“Are you all right?” Katelyn was leaning towards him and talking softly, so as not to disturb the others who sat in worried silence.  It was one thing to hear the tales of the past, where details could not always be believed, it was another to know that some of them might be true and about to reappear in the present.

              He was grateful for her discretion.  “I am okay.  I just remembered something, that is all.”

             
She frowned.  She didn’t believe him, but at least she did not make an issue of it here.

             
“Why is everyone so stunned?” Stemis chided them all.  “Have none of you heard the talk in the streets?  The people are whispering of the return of the darkness.  They believe.  If anything else happens they will start thinking that the Destroyer himself is coming for us all.”

             
His statement was greeted with silence.  Even Stemis seemed to realize what he had said.  No one wanted to ask Gelarus if the Destroyer was real or part of the tales.  That would be too much for anyone to deal with right now.

             
Thankfully, Devon broke the uneasy silence with his usual casualness.  “I would like to know who this Ra Maji character is.  It might help if we are going to kill him.”  He glanced around the table.  “I take it we will have to kill him, won’t we?  I mean you seem to be saying that he will be in charge of any attack, if there is one.”

             
“Ra Majin,” Gelarus corrected him.  “Yes, he will be their leader, but he will not be easily handled.”

             
“Fine, I will take Coran with me.”  Devon smiled and everyone chuckled at his attempt at a jibe.  It even elicited a small smile from Gelarus, before the wizard’s face became serious once more. 

             
“This is all very interesting,” Stemis said from the head of the table.  “But we still have no proof to take to the others.  We also need to know what we will be facing, and how many.  We must find out when he will attack.  Will it be before winter or will he wait until spring?”  No one commented as he continued.  “Then there are the other nations.  Some will not believe without proof.  We must send someone to find out more.”