Rise of the Darekian's, The (6 page)

People stopped what they were doing to gaze upwards, as waves of red, blue, yellow and green
light rippled across the clear sky above, like party streamers swaying above them. Shopkeepers left their stores, workers downed their tools, children stopped their play, and even the palace staff, king, and queen were drawn by this strange phenomenon. Nothing like this had ever been seen before, and as more people watched the brighter, the colours appeared to become, the reds and yellows overlapping to give new waves of orange then that itself gave forth other shades. This show of lights captivating and entrancing all those that gazed upon it, once seen it appeared to keep the viewer hooked, as fish would be on a line, unable to escape. For over half an hour the waves swung across the sky, colours fluctuating in the most awesome lightshow ever seen.

Overlord of Darekia, Fenlor
, stood over a large burning fire. Encircled around were his twelve most powerful priests, all kneeling, and chanting. Taking his dagger, he made a large incision down the inside of his lower arm, letting the fresh blood drip down into the flames. Each of his priests, in turn, placed a fresh human heart into the flames. Once the circle had completed Fenlor once more drizzled his own life force onto the fire, before the circle of priests repeated their procedure.

A single red circle of light eventually appeared seemingly drawing in all the other waves, and whilst
enlarging it lowered itself over the city. Perpetually entranced, the people still looked in awe at this remarkable spectacle, unable to pull themselves away. The red circle continued to grow in size, still pulling in all the other waves of light from around it and still giving the impression it was lowering itself, spreading itself over the buildings below, as if a giant shroud of red light was hovering just above. Once at about a hundred feet, the huge red circle started pulsing, like the appearance of a beating heart, and still the citizens of Hamalin stood below, unmoving in their delight at what they were witnessing. Appearing as if everything in time paused for a few seconds, the light fell across the city covering the entire area, strangely not extending past the walls, but just within them. Then with a bright burst and explosion of luminosity, it vanished.

As the chanting grew louder, reaching its crescendo, Fenlor felt weakened by the loss of his own blood. Drawing his dagger out once more, he walked behind each priest in turn. Slashing
each of them across the throat and pushing them forward into the flames, giving their lives to his cause. As the last throat was cut, and the last body slumped forward, a huge cloud of red smoke shot upwards, and Fenlor slumped to the ground. The deed was done.

Those within the city fell w
here they stood, decomposing at an alarming rate, not even feeling or even realising their lives had ended; such was the speed of their aging. Where just a few seconds earlier people had stood, nothing showed but a few bones and remnants of their clothing. Everything touched by the red light appeared to be affected, not just the people perished, but even animals unfortunate enough to be outside when it had struck. Luken quickly awoke and sat upright, something had woken him, he could feel his pulse thumping, and he quickly looked around his room, but only saw his young son curled up beside him. "Come on sleepyhead, you had better wake up or you won't sleep tonight" he said softly, as the boys big brown eyes flickered open at the sound of his father's voice.

Noticing his head pain had completely gone, Luken felt strange, refreshed and invigorated, full of energy he felt like a dammed river ready to burst out when he heard a scream. Quickly rushing to the door of his room and opening it, he peered down the corridor to see the source of the noise. A serving woman sat hunched in the hallway sobbing, he quickly ran towards her noticing it was Dareen as he approached, "whatever is the matter" he asked with a genuine caring tone to his voice. Between
sobs, the elderly woman glanced up, "oh your highness at least you are safe, it was horrible, gone they are all gone..." she broke down again. Gently helping her stand he walked her slowly to his room, where Taylor had dragged a chair over for her to sit on. The young boy then went to the table and gently filled a glass with water from a jug that was kept their, then kindly proffered it to the woman.

Smiling at the young boy, and thanking him she tried to continue, "the lights your highness,
I did not go out and watch them. I had loaves to bake, but I let the others go outside, just by the door mind and there they stood fixated, then boom, a flash of red, and ..." she paused, took a deep breath then said "I watched them shrivel up, disintegrate and that was it, gone." Luken was not quite sure what was going on, but why he did not know, he strapped his sword around his waist, "Taylor please stay here and look after Dareen for me." The little boy nodded with a little hesitation, "don’t worry I will be back in a few minutes I just need to see what is going on." With his newfound energy he quickly exited down the corridor looking for someone, anyone, continuing he broke into a jog, turning and heading towards the treasury, he knew someone would be there; it was guarded every hour of every day without fail. As he had correctly assumed, six guards lounged around a doorway, though they quickly stood, and looked shocked to have been found acting so lax. "How many are you?" Luken asked the first man, "Just us six and the same again inside the treasury room itself, your highness," he said. Luken thought for a second, "right you four come with me, something has happened and I need to find out," then without even waiting, he turned and ran, the four men struggling to keep up.

He made his way to the main entrance, pushed open the doors which to his amazement were little more than rotten timber, he stopped, squeezing his finger and thumb against the once sturdy entrance, only to see it crumble in his hands. The men with him looked as dumbfounded as he did; outside their confusion was even more apparent. They stood looking around; "look
," one said pointing down to their feet, at several piles of what looked like old bones and a few bits of decomposed rag. Luken could hear the sound of horses, the sound they gave when in panic, and he hastily darted across the yard, kicking several piles of bones in the process. He quickly deduced the reason for the horses cries, as he noticed the stables themselves, the walls were cracking and already some of the ceiling had collapsed in. Without thinking he went to open the doors only to have them fall entirely apart as he tried, covering him and the four men in bits of rotten wood.

Running in he opened as many stalls as he could, and with the help of those with him, starte
d leading the frightened creatures, including his own out into the yard. Returning several times they emptied the building of animals just as the entire west wall fell inwards bringing the entire building to a crash. Dust flew up, but that did not stop Luken, he realised something terrible was happening. The people were gone, and the buildings for some reason he had not fathomed, were decomposing in front of his eyes. Ordering the men with him, one to fetch the others from the treasury, along with any chests they could carry; the other three he sent off to different places around the palace, see if they can find others, and grab what they can, then get out. Running back down the corridor to his room he noticed a large crack appearing along one wall. Inside he ran straight to a worried little boy, "sorry Taylor I was gone longer than I said," grabbing a couple of pillow cases from his linen closet, handing one to the young boy, "take this and put as many of your clothes in as you can, and as quickly as you can." He started filling his own, a couple of blankets, some personal items, and anything he thought may be useful.

Walking at a quick pace, Luken, Taylor and Dareen made their way back outside, but exiting via the kitchens, grabb
ing bundles of food as they did. Several loaves of bread, a wheel of cheese, fruit and some cuts of meat. In the yard there now stood a few more people, and with the palace still standing, for now, he ordered as many as possible to go through the side door, food from the stores as well as blankets, pots and pans, as well as sending two men to collect weapons from the armoury. The yard was starting to fill, not with people, but with piles of all sorts of stuff. Several carts and wagons were still usable, having been stored in outbuildings, though they only got these out just in time before one came crashing down. Once he was satisfied it was not safe to re-enter the palace, he looked around the yard, amazed at what they had amassed in just a short space of time. He noticed Dareen was not the only servant to have been spared, several others were grouped together, comforting each other as each told their own story of what they had witnessed.

Apart from the dozen treasury guards, twenty elite palace guards stood together as well as about forty
General soldiers, which fortunately for them had been resting in the barracks. A loud crash turned their attentions to the palace gates, the huge intricate ironwork fell from its position hitting the ground. The cobbles themselves appeared to crumble as it landed, the once hardwearing stones breaking up as if they were chalk. The city was clearly no longer a safe place, and slowly they gathered what they could, loading the carts and wagons, and headed initially for the market square. Here they could optimistically gather a few more supplies, if they had not already been destroyed. Asking Dareen to keep Taylor safe, Luken mounted his horse, and after splitting the guard up into small groups, they set off in different directions around city with instructions to see if anyone else survived. The elite guard were given the task of collating supplies, "amass as much as you can, anything you think we may need," he told them. All had specific jobs, and all were to look out for any wagons and carts, the more of those they could find the more they would be able to salvage.

Luken and the two guards that rode with him noticed the figure of a boy
, sitting on the ground with his knees pulled up to his chest. He was sat outside the remains of a building that had already succumbed to the terrible fate, and was little more than a pile of rubble. Getting down from his horse, and approaching the boy, "come on, we need to go" Luken said helping the boy to his feet. "I was in my room, and I heard crashing, I came out to see what was going on, and everyone was gone...and this..." he pointed at the pile of rubble. Luken got back on his mount and helped the boy up to sit behind him. "I am Luken, what is your name?" he asked glancing over his shoulder as they moved off. "My name is Levin" came the frightened reply. He thought that was a name he had heard mentioned recently, and it took a few seconds before he realised where, "You would not happen to be the same Levin that Jak Corley has been telling me about, from Lanber?" Continuing riding, still looking for other survivors, the two continued their talk, with Levin confirming who he was and explaining he had seen a few others roaming aimlessly along the street, not ten minutes before Lukens arrival.

Chapter 6.

By evening, as the daylight was starting to fade Luken gave the order, and a rag tag group of men women and children, horses and a long line of wagons and carts followed their prince westwards, out of the city walls and across the bridge which spanned the River Deet. The bridge appeared completely unaffected by whatever had caused the city to crumble away, as did some of the barges tied up on the riverside. Making a short way, up a slight hill, they all stopped to look back at the once great city of Hamalin. The noise of buildings crashing down could still be heard, as the sound reverberated around them.

In
total, they had rounded up over five hundred people, but when considering the population of the city had been greater than ten times that amount, it proved to be a sorry small number. Luken hoped he had not left anyone behind, he worried, perhaps a small child scared and hiding away or perhaps a baby that had been sleeping, they had not time to look in every house, some had already fallen whilst they had been searching. In fact, about one hundred of their number was made up of children, a dozen of which were just babies. Found in their cribs, their mothers nowhere to be found. A number of these children, ironically, they had discovered at the orphanage. The master there had locked all the children inside while he and the other staff stood outside watching the lights, which ultimately saw them perish, and by sheer chance, all the youngsters kept safe.

They decided not to travel too far, with darkness quickly encroaching and making travelling with such a group somewhat difficult
, they decided to set camp. After making sure all the younger members of the group were all fed, blankets were distributed and the few tents they had were erected. They utilised some of the crates that stored vegetables, padding them with blankets to use as cribs for the babies, and these were placed in the small white canvas dwellings. Everyone else had to make do with being open to the elements, though thankfully for them, the ground was dry and the spring night was mild. Luken had asked the soldiers to take shifts to patrol around the perimeter of their camp, before finally slumping down on the floor next to a very worried and confused looking Taylor. He put a comforting arm around the small boy, "come here" he said giving him a hug, and having had nothing to eat, the pair quickly consumed the bowls of stew that had been made by some of the women, whilst they had been setting the camp.

Luken made sure Taylor was comfortable and warm enough, before asking Dareen once more to keep
a watchful eye on him, before moving off and sitting with two others seated by a nearby fire. One of the men, a tall middle-aged man and well built, wore the tunic and colours denoting he was an officer in the elite palace guard. These soldiers had proved themselves, and excelled in combat and survival.  The other man wore a more standard uniform, with two stripes indicating him to be an officer of the General guard. "Your highness, I am General Thomas Skalton of the Elite Guard. Do we have any idea, what by the gods has happened today?" he asked, "I am afraid I have as much idea as you General" Luken replied, fidgeting trying to get himself remotely comfortable. The three talked, and threw around ideas as to what to do and where to go, before it finally struck Luken, that they all now looked to him for guidance. Despite the others, he was fairly certain being far more knowledgeable in logistics, and organising civilian and military matters, they always run each suggestion via him. He supposed as a prince of the realm everyone would look to him to see them through these disastrous times. Not yet eighteen years of age, already with an adopted son, and now he had over five hundred homeless people, many of them children, and each one of them would be looking to him to lead them.

Father Dagon trotted his horse away from the fallen city, leaving the once great
capital crumbling to the ground. Each building erupting into its own cloud of dust and debris as it fell. Only several hours had passed and the icon of Corlan, its heart of trade and wealth was now little more than a graveyard filled with rubble. Its grandeur now little more than crumbling stones, and its people perished, now just an accumulation to the particles of earth being blown by the spring breeze. Finding a small clearing, the elderly man dismounted and tied his mount up to a nearby tree, before sitting down on the grass. Holding his smooth stone pendant in his hands and slowly feeling its warmth, he heard his master's voice, 'Tell me, what has happened?' With fear in his voice Dagon replied, "Master, they are all gone, the city has fallen, and its citizens have all perished with it. What could have caused such a monstrous act Master?"

Dagon listened, 'I thought Fenlor would try something, the planet alignment sought to incr
ease any magic he may have cast. Thus, it will have bought to fruition our young disciple, but something on this magnitude must have cost him many sacrifices, and bought himself to the brink of his own destruction. I have seriously underestimated what he is capable of'. "But Master, I fear the one you speak of is gone, the city is collapsing and I saw no living thing alive within" Dagon replied. 'Fear not Dagon, our young friend is still alive I can sense that much, though I am still unable to reach him, you must go with haste, I sense he is moving westwards from the city. Explain to him what he is, as awkward as it will be I will have to communicate through you.'

"Master, if as you say he lives, then there will be others, may perhaps the small boy I hear he has taken in is still with him
." There was a pause, 'a child you say? Dagon what of the soldiers that were sent north, do they still follow the invaders?' "The half cohort master, still moves in search of those who pillage and burn," 'Then you must ride with haste to these soldiers, I sense they are a day's ride north of your position. You tell who ever leads them of the catastrophe which has fallen their great city, tell them their prince survives and they are to make haste to find him. I will try to guide you to his position; meanwhile I will try to contact the child you have spoken of. Now go, we have no time to waste', and with that the link was broken and the stone within his fingers cooled. Remounting his horse Father Dagon turned northwards and galloped up the dirt track into the darkening night, the hooves of his mount thumping hard on the ground. For nearly fifty years, he had lived and spent days, week's even months doing little, now he had so much to achieve and so little time to accomplish it.

Captain Jak Corley rode ahead of his men as they stopped for the night to make c
amp. The last few days had been very frustrating; they had always turned up too late to the farms and villages, which had marked their route. By the time they arrived buildings were little more than smouldering ruins, corpses would litter the ground, carrion now for the hordes of black birds that pecked at their cold flesh. Not just men who had perished trying to defend their property, but these invaders were indiscriminate to who they slaughtered, and such was often the case that women and children were found, not just killed but almost hacked to pieces. Such was the savagery of these killings it was often difficult to distinguish which body parts belonged to which corpse. As was the right thing to do, the captain always made sure those that had succumbed to such an end, were buried with some dignity.  Eventually he knew they would catch whom or whatever was doing these most heinous of acts, and then he would see them pay for every innocent life they had destroyed. Each time he came across such acts as these, his resolve was determined even more, lesser men could have broken from the mere sight of dismembered children, but Jak Corley now rode with a single goal, he had sworn several times that he would not rest until such justice had been done.

Luken had reluctantly agreed with
General Skalton to having a personal guard allocated to him. Although he was certain that his mother and father had both been lost with the city, he was sure his older brother Caldar still lived. He had earlier shed a quite tear for the loss of both his parents, and although it was never a close loving relationship he had had with them, the loss of both had caused such great pain in his heart. Caldar, although he probably was not aware was technically now king, but to ensure the royal line, it was deemed Luken should be careful, and hence now had two guardsmen with him at all times.

He decided to check on Taylor, who still slept soundly, Dareen sitting beside him and the light from the fi
re showed her tear stained face. "Hey, what's up, come on we must be brave for those we care for Dareen" the young prince said softly to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry your highness" she sniffed, "no need to be sorry Dareen, we have all reason to grieve. I as much as most, but I know I must remain strong so that the likes of my son are kept from harm." Not till after he walked away, did he realise he had already started on the task of trying to give hope to the people, it may of only been Dareen, but he was certain she would not be the last he would have to try and give reason for them to push on.

Slowly walking around the camp, the fires spread out, each w
ith small groups huddled around. Though it was not a chilly night, sitting around the warmth of a fire always seemed to be comforting in some small way. He noticed other groups, more dark shapes huddled on the ground, those of sleeping children. He realised he was probably not the only one to lose his parents, nearly every child they had rescued, were now orphans themselves. The women and a few of the elderly men saw that each sleeping child had been fed and had the warmth and protection of a blanket. The few tents were home to the youngest of the escapees. One child, he was told was barely more than a few days old, and fortunately they had seen fit to bring along several large pots of milk, though he knew another source would have to be quickly found. Without the dark coolness of the storage rooms most of the fresh goods they had bought with them would perish within a few days, the milk would certainly last little more than another day before going off. Yet another problem the people would seek for him to solve, the list of which seemingly growing by the hour.

In the
morning, Luken and his officers had made the decision to move towards the town of Forwich; here he hoped they could try to rebuild some sort of future. Forwich was not a large town by any means, but with any luck, he assumed big enough to cope with the sudden influx of so many refugees. For now though, the traumatic events of the day had taken its toll and so he returned to where his son lay, kissing him gently on the head before lying down beside him, pulling his blanket over him sleep came quickly.

He was awoken by a small hand shaking him, "Father, wake up, he wants to talk to you" said the voice of the boy looking down at him. "Taylor, who wants to talk to me, everyone is
asleep," he said quietly. The darkness was still shrouding the surrounding area, the campfires having died down to little more than piles of glowing embers. The young boy shook him again, as he tried to close his eyes, "the man in your dreams, the one who tried to talk to you, he says his name is Sandred." This got Luken sitting up, though even more confused, how Taylor could know of the man that had so haunted his dreams of late, that voiceless face that talked to him without any words. Taylor shuffled over so he sat against his father, "Sandred says he apologises for having to utilise me as a go between, but he cannot comprehend the reasoning as to why he is unable to link in communication with you." Luken sat there with the look of total awe, shock and amazement on his tired face; those were certainly not the words of his six-year-old boy.

The young prince was not really quite certain what to do or say, now not only did he have the remnants of a city to worry about, he was now faced with his young son hearing a voice speak in his mind. In an effort not to worry the boy
, he thought for now to play along and see what materialises, "tell Sandred, hello, and maybe ask what he wants?" he said in a whisper as not to awaken any others sleeping around them. Taylor replied in his own soft whisper, "He says he can hear your words when you speak them to me, though he is unable to reply in your mind despite numerous efforts of late to do so." Taylor paused a little nodding and smiling as if listening, "he says he wants to help us, he says you have much to learn Father and he wants me to help you."

They talked for a little while longer, mainly on the reasons why this man who spoke
through his son wanted to help. They learned he was from the Isle of Kelan, a place where stories spoke of an impenetrable fortress, which housed a great and powerful wizard. A man so powerful, that he sought to lock himself away from the world. These had always been nothing more than fables, though Luken was quickly made aware that perhaps there was after all some truth to them. However, this wizard was apparently not as powerful as his legendary status would have people believe. "He says he needs rest now father, and he will speak further in the morning," Taylor said bringing the ever-lengthening list of questions Luken had thought of asking to an abrupt end.