Hemlock And The Wizard Tower (Book 1) (33 page)

His plans
were
laid,
and
had been laid by
Zaringer
before him. 
He judged that those plans would come to fruition
in
his lifetime, if all went well.  He also judged that i
f all went well, the concept of his
"
lifetime
"
would be
one
quite beyond normal human experience.

Still, he
was
uneasy. 
His prescient visions
had
led him to expect
a
hidden descendant of a powerful bloodline
to
have
emerge
d
, but
had not suggested that the figure would be
an ov
ert enemy of the Wizard Guild.  He also hadn't expected her to be
aided by his principal enemy within the Guild.

Falignus felt a familiar feeling then; that he
needed to know more. 

In order to achieve the visions, Falignus
needed to walk
a dark
pat
h that Zaringer had shown him many years before,
even though that path frig
htened him to his core.  He was aware that he walked
the path of the
dead–or of the undead–in order to realize
knowledge
attained
at the
cost of life and soul.
It was a great, dark power that Zaringer had taught him, and it seemed to Falignus to have eroded whatever force that
connected one to the virtuous part of their being
.  It was the most simultaneously thrilling and terrible sensation that Falignus had ever known.

Yet the information
that he had
gained
had been
extremely
valuable in enabling the realization of his ambitions;
before him
it had been equally valuable to Zaringer,
and
before Zaringer it had been valuable to a number of
wizards
who dared to practice the forbidden art
.  Each one of them had ultimately succumbed to the temptation of the prescient power, and it had
eventually
rendered them
all into
something other than human.

Falignus shuddered
at the thought
.

But
Falignus
had been identified by Zaringer as
a member
of
a
unique
bloodline.  That made him different
, Falignus thought
.  If an
yone could resist the corrupting power of the prescience,
Falignus had felt that
it had to be him.

He wore
a look of
grim determination on his face as
he
moved away from the window and
toward
the alchemy tools
, which were in position on the alabaster table
.  He
then
distilled a tincture
,
and
withdrew
a monkey from
one of the
cage
s
.

The creature was abnormally docile, yet Falignus
stunned the creature with a blow to the head and then placed it in a bath of the tincture, which hissed and burned
around the
creature’s body.

He
then
dr
ew
forth a blade
,
and with a practiced incision,
drew
the beating heart from the creature.  Flinching only for a moment, he placed the still beating organ into his mouth,
as
blood
flowed
down his chin and over his garments.

The visions
took
him.  The world
became
non–
corporeal,
manifesting in the context of a
spiral
of
dimensions that he
was able to
perceive and
to
understand only when under the influence of the dark ritual.

He
saw
plans within plans and actions
and reactions
moving along
hundreds of dimensions;
the multiplicity of every person and space spread out before him like an infinite array of
motion
.  He
saw
all
potential timelines for the City
,
which were so vast in number that he had to look for patterns in their multitude in order to locate items of interest
.  Some things
were
clouded to him, as
they
always
were (for reasons that he did not understand)
.

Still, he
perceived
what he sought
after
.  He
saw
who H
emlock was, who she had become and
who she might
further
become.  He
then saw
Gwineval
,
and some of his actions and sympathies.  He
was able to see
Safreon fully for the first time, having never noted previously the many subtle dimensions of power
that were
exercised by this individual.  He
saw
a
Griffin
in possession of something: something that was hidden from his sight. 
This vision
frightened him.  The
location
of the Griffin
was
vague and hard to pin down. 
Falignus could see that it
had some crucial part to play
in the fate of the City
, yet
he
was not able to
determine
the
what, how or when
of that part
.

He
saw
a Witch enraged and plotting revenge against the Tanna
Varran
s.  He
also
sensed that the Tanna
Varrans were contemplating war
, after dreaming of peace for so many years.

The visions started to fade. 
He once again perceived the table and the now sizzling and blackened corpse of the monkey. 
He glanced
down
at his hand and
saw
bones surrounded by ghostly flesh. 
Stricken by terror at the sight, he closed his eyes hard and then opened them again.  His hand looked normal again, but was wracked by an excruciating pain.
 
As the pain in his hand lessened, he became conscious of h
is body
,
and a powerful ache that throbbed within it
.

Falignus
felt somewhat relieved because
he had accomplished his goal.  H
e
now knew
where Gwineval and Hemlock were.  He
also
now understood who Safreon was and how he had engaged
and befriended
Gwineval.  He
had also learned
that the Witches were
now
distracted with a possible war
with the Tanna Varran tribes
. 

Still, the
clouded
vision of the
Griffin
renewed his feeling of unease
.  It showed
him
that parts of his plans were still shrouded in uncertainty.

…

The Chamber of the King was sizable, and laid out in an odd, tiered arrangement.  There was a middle level, where Hemlock, Safreon, Gwineval and Merit now stood, flanked by many chairs, which were empty.  To their upper left was a higher level, the floor of which was sloped and lined with additional seats.  To their right was a lower level, which was an open floor. 
The hall was decorated with ornate
carved
scrollwork and painted in regal but muted
hues of
gold
and red
.
 
The woodwork contained many images of snakelike dragons and men
,
and the symbol of the open hand seemed to be an overarching theme.
 
Hanging lanterns adorned the ceiling at odd intervals, and wall sconces released a pungent but pleasant smelling incense odor into the chamber.  Directly in front of them was the throne of the King of the Tanna Varrans.  Taros Ranvok had confirmed that he was the King of all of their towns, of which Tor Varnos was the largest.  Seated in the intermediate space, at the front of the chairs on the middle tier, closest to the throne, were two score Tanna Varran elders.

The
King was dressed in more subdued colors than he had been at the welcoming ceremony they had witnessed earlier that day.  He now wore a simple brown robe, with a black sash about the waist.  The elders were all dressed in gray robes with black sashes. 

All eyes turned toward the four Outlanders who were joined by Taros Ranvok.

"I am Pan Taros, King of the Tanna Varran people in exile.  Welcome to Tor Varnos – the principal settlement of our people."

Safreon bowed in response and the other three followed his lead with Merit even managing a shallow bow.

"You are a curious group: a man, a young woman, a Wizard beast and an iron gnome.  This group might almost be comical were the circumstances of your visit not so grave.”

"Taros Ranvok, my son, has recounted to me the events that led you here.  He has described how you apparently unleashed the Mathi in ignorance and then sought to make amends for that act by slaying the beast.  Fear not, for my Son has owned up to his part in your actions."

Hemlock noted that Taros Ranvok tensed visibly at that remark.  The Elders murmured amongst themselves and their faces wore looks of disappointment.

The King cleared his throat."I do not know if you know of our ways, Outlanders.  We have been a violent people throughout our history.  Our people made war against an ancient Empire when they sought to walk the path of peace. All of the other free people of that realm rose up against us and we were defeated by them.  We fled to a distant part of the Empire where we then fell under attack from the Witches.  Then the great separation came and our new homeland was shorn from the Empire and bound to the City.  We feel that this was a curse brought down on us as a result of our former malice.  I have since led a new movement of pacifism within our people.  Guided by these new principles, we have been able to make peace with the Witches.  Though this land is cursed, we have learned to follow a brighter path.  We now work for the redemption of all beings.  We have learned to practice the art of compassion, even for our enemies.

"Our young, however, seem to question the merit of our new values.  Taros Ranvok is not unique in his views that the old ways were not evil and that we should fight our enemies rather than engage them in dialogue and negotiate peace with them.”

"
I have heard of your City and the people there.
 
They prey upon each other like animals.
 
The rich live on the backs of the poor, who work at the point of a sword.
 
The
wizards
have created and enforce this system.
 
Since you are from the City, I am not surprised at the actions you took against the Mathi.
 
I am surprised that you are here, however.
 
I would like to hear your direct account of the reasons for this.
"

Safreon took a step forward and began to speak
.
 
"
We are from the City and much of what you say is true.
 
We are no strangers to violence
,
but
we
only resort to it when there is no effective alternative
.
 
I personally strive to promote
liberty and
justice
in the C
ity, and to a greater or lesser extent, all
of my companions are walking that
same path.
 
We came to these lands quite unexpectedly, having escaped under duress from the City and a conflict with the
wizards
.
 
You will note that my companion, Gwineval, is a Wizard himself.
 
He helped us to escape them
,
for we have shown him that an alternative exists to their unquestioned power.