Ancient Prophecy (8 page)

“Okay, Jenneva,” conceded Alex, “but keep an eye on him. I feel trouble coming from Egam and keeping the two Princes apart is enough of a problem.”

Alex woke everyone up and they had a quick breakfast, mounted the unicorns and set out for the pass. Alex and Kaz took the lead at a moderate pace. Tor Pass was also different than the one in Alex’s Universe. It was considerably wider than he remembered. As he was looking at the peaks that lined the pass, he saw a huge shape flying above. He pulled slightly on Kaz’s mane and the party halted. Alex pointed skyward and everyone looked up.

Soaring overhead of the path they were heading for was a huge reptilian form flying in circles.

What is that, Kaz?

That is Gorga, the dragon. The way he is circling would indicate that he is ready to swoop down for food. Gorga is evil and kills elves and unicorns for his food. He is very old and has taken many of my people.

Are there many of these dragons in your land?

Only Gorga and Wyka. Wyka is a good dragon. She does not eat elves or unicorns, although she sometimes will steal elves’ animals when she is very hungry.

Gorga lazily swept down out of the sky to some spot that was out of sight of the group.

Whatever Gorga is eating must be already dead. When Gorga attacks the living he does not waste time circling, but attacks swiftly.

Alex started the group moving again and when they exited the pass he saw the remnants of a small village. He headed for the village and dismounted. The village had been very small, probably not more than twenty elves, but Alex could tell from the remaining bodies that Gorga did not kill them. He might be feasting on the bodies, but he doubted that the dragon used arrows to kill his prey.

Alex walked around the village and stopped by the bodies of a young elf woman and her infant. Both had arrows in their backs and Alex felt his rage boiling. Prince Rigal came over and placed his hand on Alex’s shoulder and Alex pushed the elf’s hand off and twirled to face the elf Prince.

“I don’t care about your policy of not killing elves,” Alex shouted. “When I catch up with these butchers, they will die! I don’t care if they are your long, lost brothers or not.”

Prince Rigal stepped back a bit. “Alex, I was coming to tell you the same thing. No one can be allowed to commit such atrocities. In fact, I wanted to ask you if we could change our path to follow them. The trail is not hard to spot. It appears that there are many of them, but they are on foot and should be easy to track.”

Alex stared into the elf’s eyes and nodded. “First, we must bury the villagers. Gorga will have to turn elsewhere for his next meal.”

Quickly, the villagers were gathered and buried. The party mounted the unicorns and set out to track the killers. The unicorns set a furious pace and within an hour they had found their prey. They halted on a hillside and looked at the battle in the valley below. About fifty dark elves were attacking another village. This village was larger and had around a hundred people, but it was a farming community and didn’t appear to be defending itself very well.

Alex hastily came up with a plan of attack. Jenneva would veer out to the west and Egam to the east. The magicians would attack the two flanks while the two Princes and Alex would charge through the middle, turn around and charge back through the line. Alex hoped only that the villagers they had come to help wouldn’t kill them.

At Alex’s signal they charged, screaming loudly. The attacking dark elves thought, at first, that some of their companions were coming to help because of the unicorns, but when Alex started swinging his sword and dark elves started dying, confusion took hold of the attackers. Alex killed six elves on his first pass through. The Dielderal elves did not expect Alex to turn and charge again and his second pass was just as successful.

When Alex turned again he could see that they were ready for him this time. He also saw the two magicians hurling fireballs from the sidelines.

“Just before we reach their lines this time, jog to the right and take out the enemy alongside of the one that you were charging. When we get through, we dismount and fight on foot. The unicorns will be able to double our numbers.”

They charged as directed and once again the killers were surprised. By the time they dismounted, there were only a handful of the dark elves left and they were running for their lives. Alex and the two Princes brought out their bows and fired at the retreating elves. Kaz and the other two unicorns charged after the retreating enemy and struck them down.

The villagers ran out and surrounded their unexpected saviors. The villagers were unsure of whether the strangers were there to help them or they had arrived to attack the dark elves so that they might have their own way with the villagers. Prince Rigal greeted the villagers and showed the Medallion of Prince Geltim. The villagers were confused and unsure of what the medallion meant, but they gathered that they had nothing to fear from the strange party.

The villager leader asked the strangers to his house while the village men gathered the bodies of the slain. Alex demanded that Prince Rigal get assurances that the unicorns would be treated with respect before he agreed to the meeting. The village leader looked curiously at the unicorns and after some discussion agreed to hold the meeting outside so that the unicorns could attend.

Prince Rigal explained the purpose of their journey and their capture by the dark elves and the discovery of the destroyed village. The village leader did not know what to make of their discussion regarding other Universes and he had little knowledge of who Prince Geltim was. He was deeply saddened about the destroyed village. He explained that the fair elves avoided the unicorns because they were thought to be in league with the dark elves. He was quite surprised to learn that was not the case.

The villager leader was very thankful for their rescue, but he was clearly uncomfortable in the presence of a dwarf, a dark elf, unicorns, humans, and most of all, magicians. The other villagers were quite curious about this strange assortment of beings that they had never seen before, but they were also afraid enough to maintain a very healthy distance from the group.

“Why are the elves fighting each other,” Alex asked.

“It has been this way for many years,” answered the village leader. “Long ago, the elves were attacked by dwarves and the King sent his son, the Prince, to drive them off. The Prince was never heard of again, so the King ordered each village to train a group of men as village protectors. Prince Gordana was put in charge of all of these village units. Several years later, the dwarves came again and Prince Gordana gathered all of the village protectors and chased them over the mountains and battled fiercely with them, killing many evil dwarves.”

Prince Tergota clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. It bothered him deeply to sit and listen to this portrayal of dwarves being evil.

The village leader continued. “They stayed north of the Sithiarimer for many years trying to track down and kill all of the dwarves. The King ordered Prince Gordana to return home, but the Prince refused to leave as long as a dwarf existed. King Elisar threatened his son with banishment if he did not return. Eventually, King Elisar died and his son, Prince Alderon, assumed the throne. Prince Gordana still refused to return, but claimed the throne for himself. Soon, the two Princes clashed over the leadership and Elderal was split into two nations, Elderal and Dielderal. The fighting has continued to this very day.”

“The first son of King Elisar, and brother to Prince Gordana and Prince Alderon, was Prince Geltim,” declared Prince Rigal. “This is his medallion. The dwarves did not kill Prince Geltim or his followers. The elves moved somehow to a different Universe and set up a new nation. I am his descendant and bearer of the Medallion.”

The village leader was shocked as Prince Rigal’s statement struck him. He leaned forward and examined the medallion with shaking hands.

“And I am the descendant of the dwarves that Prince Geltim chased,” declared Prince Tergota. “I am from King Arak, son of King Frakis of Lanto, whose journey through your lands was meant for peace, not conquest. We, too, ended up in this new Universe thinking that Lanto had been destroyed by the elves.”

The village leader looked at one of the young warrior elves that had been sitting off to one side of the meeting and the elf rose and left the meeting. The village leader ordered refreshments for everyone and extended an offer to the group to spend the night in his village. The meeting continued late into the evening and Alex began to get a clearer picture of how the events that Jenneva mentioned had unfolded in Elderal.

Egam had another fitful night, tossing and turning and calling out names. At one point during the night Jenneva woke Egam and tried to find out what was bothering him. He was shivering and sweating and didn’t seem to realize where he was.

“Egam,” asked Jenneva, “what is bothering you? Are you sick?”

“I do not quite understand what is happening, Jenneva,” he answered. “I see visions of things that I have never seen in my lifetime. Creatures calling out to me in hate and fury. I sense a great danger coming, Jenneva, but I cannot identify it.”

“Is it this Alutar?” queried Jenneva.

“Yes,” replied Egam. “He knows my name and has some score to settle, yet I know him not. He is the embodiment of evil, a destroyer of all life. And he wants me. He pursues me and I know that I must find and destroy him before he finds me. Yet I know that I cannot destroy him.”

“Go back to sleep, Egam,” soothed Jenneva. “He will not harm you here. Tomorrow we will ask questions about this Alutar and who he might be.”

In the morning the village leader welcomed the visitors to a large breakfast and Egam was missing. Alex went to look for him and returned shortly.

“Egam has left us to travel on his own,” Alex stated.

“What do you mean?” asked Jenneva.

“Kaz says that Egam and his unicorn left during the night,” answered Alex. “Just before dawn, his unicorn returned with the message that we should not follow Egam. Egam said that our paths lie along different roads and we should continue with our mission.”

“Perhaps the dwarf should have accompanied him,” stated the village leader. “It would make claiming your throne much easier if you didn’t bring a dwarf into Elderal.”

Prince Rigal jumped to his feet, dark fury in his eyes, and with clenched jaw berated the village leader. “Do you mean Prince Tergota when you say ‘the dwarf’? The dwarf that risked his life to save your elf village from other elves? It grieves me to see brother killing brother, but it bothers me even more when we turn against our friends because we fear what someone may think of them. I fear that we may have overextended our welcome here and it is time to leave.”

Prince Rigal turned and stormed off in the direction of the unicorns. Alex followed quickly.

“Prince Rigal,” commented Alex, “I think the young warrior that left the meeting last night may have been sent ahead as a messenger. I did not see this as a problem before, but now that I see the village leader thinks you are here to claim the throne, we may be facing troubles on the rest of the trip. I imagine there are those in power that would try to stop you from reaching the city of Elderal.”

“Yes,” admitted Prince Rigal, “especially if I am seen as one of the Dielderal and riding a unicorn through the countryside. We must be away swiftly.”

Alex signaled the others to get ready to leave. “At least with the unicorns we will be able to overtake the messenger,” he added.

“Don’t be too sure, Alex,” retorted Prince Rigal. “The elf runners are fast on their feet and they will hand off the message to others. The message will continue its journey day and night, while we will have to rest along the way.”

The party mounted their unicorns and set out for the city of Elderal with great haste.

Dalgar was finding it easier than he had imagined getting recruits for the Black Devils. His stories of having been in Mordac’s Inner Circle and having spoken personally to Sarac guaranteed him large audiences. Of course, the fact that most of the Black Devils from Cordonia had not arrived in time to be destroyed by the Rangers also helped.

The gold he was spreading around also made it fairly easy to build the Servants of Sarac. Cordonia was a country devoid of many of the traditions held by the rest of the countries on the continent. Here people were encouraged to try new professions rather than follow in their father’s trade. As a result, there were many people engaged in professions that they did not really have the training for. Dalgar preached that Sarac would chose a candidate for the Presidency who would best serve the Cordonian people and that the chosen candidate would make all Cordonians rich beyond measure.

He chose selected recruits to receive good fortune as examples to the potential followers. He found a shoemaker who was barely surviving and convinced him to join the Servants of Sarac. After he had convinced the man, he had each of his Black Devils go to the shop and buy a pair of shoes. The man had more business than he could ever hope to have and all of his friends and neighbors signed up to join the Servants of Sarac.

Dalgar traveled around the country similarly convincing hundreds of individual merchants who, in turn, brought in thousands of followers. Occasionally, he would hear of disgruntled people who were impatient for their success after joining the party and he would bestow some small measure of prosperity on them to keep things rolling. Twice he had to return for more gold, but Sarac seemed quite pleased with Dalgar’s performance and gave the gold freely. Dalgar also managed to squirrel away enough gold to make himself rich regardless of which way the election went.

Dalgar’s organizational skills were fairly good and he arranged a structure of regions. Each region had a leader who would take care of the organization for several towns and cities. The region would have a delegate to the Council, which Dalgar chaired. Dalgar taught the regional delegates how to hold disruptive demonstrations and instructed the delegates to organize protests against President Suarez, who was the leading contender for the Presidency.