Knight: Tracks of Darkness Page 5

was inhabited by every foul perversion of the creator’s ninety-nine names. Jurel, fearing what the spider would do to Horace, wasted no time hiding and bounded straight for the spider’s trail. He gave chase, persecuting the spider, while all her minions gathered together to attack him. Jurel fought with knives made from the essence of a fallen star. The nightmare feared him and the bite of his menacing blades.

  Then, the lord of nightmares arrived, a black demon-dragon of surpassing power. The nightmares rallied to him and smote Jurel Forlorn to the ground where he was thought dead. But unbeknownst to the enemy, Jurel’s fall was a ruse. And just as they made to prevail upon him, Jurel gathered his power and unleashed a wave of unspeakable sorrow upon them, and in their despair, the nightmares fought against one another, seeking a speedy death and release from their incredible grief. Jurel Forlorn evaded the lord of nightmares and found a great web deep below where lava was hot on his face, and there below Horace suffered greatly in the spider’s web. With his knives he cut Horace free, but in his state, Horace did not have the strength to stand. Jurel Forlorn reluctantly suffered the man to ride on his back, and he raced on his fours for the surface with the spider and all her remaining daughters giving chase. The spiders persecuted and nearly captured them, but the light of the forest of Manzil kept the spiders at bay. One daughter burned to ash in the light, and Jurel Forlorn kept running through the forest with Horace the desert arrow on his back.

  Day 12

  How the Vizier defended the king from assassins.

  While the heroes and villains of the age battled the spider in Nür, our faithful Vizier kept a diligent watch over their sleeping bodies in Omeneir. Surrounding the King’s castle walls, the people of Omeneir held a candlelight vigil. They held hands, sang songs and offered prayers for their ailing king. The army raised their banners and streamers, blasting horns and trumpets in his honor. News spread through the dreaming world of the King’s plight; ambassadors, ministers of state and delegates from other nations visited to demonstrate their devotion and support. The city of Omeneir bustled day and night with activity. In no other moment in the history of man was there such unity among those who drew breath in Eos.

  The Vizier, upon learning that the heroes and villains arrived at the forest of Manzil, stood up and announced their progress to the people. With his words, the Vizier assuaged all their fears. Suddenly, the Vizier turned, and a hooded figure made an attempt on the King’s life. The Vizier paralyzed the assassin with a snap of his fingers and tossed him out of a window with a simple wave of his hand.

  The castle was overrun with mysterious assailants. All the king’s royal guard and attendants were slain. The doors and bridges leading to the castle were barred and guarded against any attempts to rescue the Vizier.

  But the Vizier did not need rescuing. His eyes lit up with power, and with a magnified voice he warned the intruders, saying, “This night you will breathe your last breath in this land. Locking yourself within these castle walls with the Vizier as your adversary is a grave error on your part. Now I will close my mouth and pursue you until you are dead.”

  A thick mist issued forth from the Vizier’s hands and he spent the entire night hunting the assassins from one room to the next, from the castle’s tallest spires to her deepest dungeons. All the while the King slept soundly.

  Day 11

  How the Vizier uncovered and foiled a plot to assassinate the King.

  The next morning, the Vizier barred the door to the King’s chamber with magic and set a heavy guard in front of the door. Royal archers dotted the rooftops. His most talented apprentices patrolled the halls with enchanted swords made by the elves. Confident in the castle’s security, he strolled into Omeneir clad in his finest silk robe and a matching conical hat. Many people came to him to offer their gratitude for his efforts. He walked the entire city, visiting her observatories, bathhouses, universities, and the great library. Men and women sought him out to converse with him and to offer him food and drink. Delegates and ambassadors took his hand and embraced him. As the sun made her westward journey, the Vizier entered the coliseum and enjoyed the games. He visited taverns where patrons made toasts to his good health and fortune. Finally, he visited the great cathedral to the unknown god, where men and women gathered to praise the ninety-nine names of the creator.

  By nightfall, the Vizier returned to the castle with the names and precise locations of those who conspired against his King and wished him harm. By the shaking of the hand, and by friendly embraces, and by the offering of food and drink, and by toasts made to his health, and by enjoying the games, and by visiting those engaged in worship, the Vizier discovered them all. The Vizier charged his apprentices to go forth and exact justice upon them. There were no women among those who betrayed the king. The Vizier’s apprentices spent the rest of the night seeking these men out with the sword and beheading them. Death by magic, the Vizier deemed, would be too swift and merciful for traitors.

  Day 10

  How Mav’ric solved the riddle of the forest and found a way into the dream city.

  For two days, the companions were lost in the forest of Manzil. The trees and rocks and streams all appeared to conspire against them, waylaying them at every turn. Master On Darai became exceedingly wroth, and in his anger he drew his black sword, the one that burned with ill will and hatred, and he cut down every tree that came across his path, even unto the eldest among them that held ancient knowledge gathered and stored therein by the elves. The entire forest seemed to cry out in anguish. Kalaitos joined Master On Darai, uprooting trees and killing every manner of foul or creature that called the forest home.

  Mav’ric knelt beside a fallen tree and placed a hand on its scorched bole. He closed his eyes and communed with it, taking its ancient knowledge into his mind. He swooned as though intoxicated with strong drink, and when his eyes were opened he found a path through the forest. Every tree he touched he learned something new and incredible. And then, a revelation dawned upon him. Mav’ric had already known these things; the knowledge lay dormant within him, waiting to be awakened. He had known all along why he was born.

  The spider needed to be destroyed forever and cast back into the pit of unbeginning. This was his singular life purpose. And if he failed, nobody else would be able to fulfill this divine task. “Why do gods need men to fulfill their tasks?” The spirit of Manzil asked him. And Mav’ric smiled, knowing full well the answer to the riddle. He answered, then, saying, “By giving the task to mortal men, the gods demonstrate how small and miniscule evil truly is.”

  With a renewed sense of purpose, Mav’ric was led by the forest to his friend Horace and also Jurel Forlorn, who wore a frightful appearance like a lion god that fell from grace. Mav’ric begged for Jurel’s forgiveness, and together, the three of them followed the one path into the dream city.

  Day 9

  How the spirit of the forest vomited the villains out into the dream city.

  The forest of Manzil could suffer the presence of the villains no longer. Master On Darai and Kalaitos laid waste to the land, setting the great trees aflame and killing everything that moved and breathed. After a time, the villains enjoyed what they were doing and made sport of it. They blasted all the names of the creator as they wrought havoc. They laughed at all the blood on their hands.

  Then, Manzil herself awoke from her slumber after hearing the urgent cry of her blessed forest. She felt the pain of all the living things that thrived under her care. She took the form of a giant bear with golden fur and a crown of splendid jewels. Master On Darai and Kalaitos attacked her as one, but her power was too great. She swatted their weapons aside with a paw before swallowing both of them whole.

  She made a tour of her forest, extinguishing the flames, breathing life into her forest again, restoring the ancient trees and setting the rocks back in place. She encouraged the crystalline streams to flow and divide where they were divided, and she beseeched the trees to bear fruit once more. The forest became
more beautiful than it ever was.

  Manzil strode to the very edge of a sheer cliff overlooking the dream city and there, she vomited the villains out into the city where they could trouble the forest no longer.

  Day 8

  How Mav’ric, Horace and Jurel approached the city and rallied the dreamers and dream born against the spider’s deathless horde.

  On the eighth day, the Vizier was sure the King would not last the night. The King’s body convulsed and he cried out in his sleep. His nose dripped with a foul, purple liquid that the Vizier did not recognize and took great care to catalogue.

  And then, unexpectedly, the King smiled.

  For in his dream Mav’ric boldly approached the beleaguered city with the Riverblade pulsing in his right hand. Fires raged throughout the city and smoke billowed out from every spire and tower. Jurel raced ahead of Mav’ric and smashed down the southern wall. A great battle ensued therein, where Horace leapt from one crumbling building to the next, and with his bow he rained arrows down into the king’s enemies. With Horace watching over him, Mav’ric waded into the enemy ranks and made broad swaths with the Riverblade, rendering the deathless to ashes. Jurel Forlorn attacked as a lion