Part 1 (1/2)

Book of Shadows.

Will Elliott.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.

Domudess: a wizard.

Gorb: a half-giant.

Shadow: a mythical being.

Stranger: a magician of some kind Stuart Casey, aka Case: a changed man Mayors' Command:.

Anfen: former First Captain of the castle's army.

Doon: Faul's nephew, killed by Kiown Eric: a journalist (and fan of Superman comics) who went through the door Far Gaze: a folk magician Faul: a half-giant.

Lalie: an Inferno cultist Loup: a folk magician Lut: Faul's husband.

Sharfy: one of Anfen's band Siel: a low-level happenstance mage.

Tii: a groundman.

Castle: Arch Mage/Avridis: Vous's advisor, confidante, and overseer of 'the Project'

Aziel: Vous's daughter, imprisoned in the castle; heir to rule, in theory.

Blain: a Strategist.

Envidis: a Hunter Evelle: a Hunter Ghost: a conglomerate of five personalities housed in Vous's mirror (and other gla.s.s surfaces) Kiown: a Hunter.

Tauvene: First Captain of Kopyn.

Thaun: a Hunter Vashun: a Strategist Vous: the Aligned world's Friend and Lord Council of Free Cities: Erkairn: Spokesman of the Scattered Peoples.

Ilgresi the Blind: mayor of Elvury Izven: mayor of Yinfel Liha: mayor of Faifen.

Ousan: mayor of High Cliffs Tauk the Strong: mayor of Tanton Wioutin: Advisor to the mayor of Tsith G.o.ds/Great Spirits:.

Nightmare: young G.o.d Valour: young G.o.d.

Wisdom: young G.o.d Inferno: old G.o.d.

Mountain: old G.o.d Tempest: old G.o.d.

Dragons: Dyan: a Minor personality Ksyn: one of the eight Major personalities.

Sha: one of the eight Major personalities Tsy: one of the eight Major personalities Tzi-Shu: one of the eight Major personalities.

Vyan: one of the eight Major personalities.

Vyin: one of the eight Major personalities.

OUTSIDE OF TIME.

1.

There are horse hooves thudding on the Great Dividing Road. Their beat is fast, urgent. The world has the soft blurred edges of a dream, the deep purple twilight seeming to filter through water. Fragments of memory like broken possessions float in a dark pool but do not break through to its surface. There is just the beating of hooves: closer, closer it comes.

The man's heart, recently still, now beats in time with that sound. He groans. Warmth flushes through his cold flesh, beat by beat, until it reaches his stiff cold fingers. He cannot remember a thing, not a cursed thing: not his name, not how he came to be here in a pool of dried blood. His hand goes to his belly, his hand remembering something his mind does not. Then to his neck.

A light approaches from the south, comes close, swallows him, then heat is was.h.i.+ng over him in pulsing waves. Above him is a rider on horseback, who pulls his steed to a halt. It hurts to look at the rider directly. The steed has silver barding which glows jewel-bright. Halted or not, the man can still hear the hoofbeats thudding down. 'Who are you?' he says hoa.r.s.ely.

A voice, quietly commanding, answers, 'I am Valour. You are reprieved.'

Blooming light flares brightly about the G.o.d, filling all the world. The man feels for a long time that he is floating in it, laughing, forgetting everything and knowing only joy until the G.o.d speaks again to drag him back to the Great Dividing Road and the pool of dried blood. 'Hear me,' says Valour. 'There shall be no second reprieve, if again you fall. Not for you, nor for any other. I have altered the world itself to return your mortal life. I cannot do so again, lest my creator rise in wrath. Do you understand?'

'I do, my redeemer,' he says though he does not understand. He tries to see the G.o.d's face but cannot find its features in the light. He can feel Valour's gaze upon him, cold and warm at once.

'Stand again. You are a warrior, not a servant.'

He staggers to his feet. 'For what purpose do I live, my redeemer?'

'Act as you will: with freedom, till death take you. Take you it shall. But I say this: do not serve the brood. Come what may. Whether I leave this land or remain.'

'But, my redeemer ... why would you go?' The thought fills him with profound sadness.

'The brood wish to be free, for we Spirits to be gone. The day will come when I must ride to war. I do not know my future.' The light about Valour begins to withdraw.

'Wait! I love you dearly. Stay with me! I do not understand your words, my redeemer.'

'Then hear this. There are two great Dragons, not one. Now they are naked before each other. Ours still sleeps, the far one is awake. They bend their thoughts to war. The Conflict Point is World's End, where stood the Wall. Where the Great Road meets its twin.'

Valour tosses to the ground a chest-panel of plated metal. It lands with hardly a sound. Atop this he drops a sword, sheathed. 'I give you a part of myself,' says Valour, 'so that part of myself remains, if I am sent away. I cannot better aid a mortal man than this. You will take this sword, this armour. If you find a steed, tell it my name and it will serve you. Do not serve the brood. For the Pendulum has begun to swing. Hear me? The Pendulum has begun to swing.'