Erik And The Dragon ( Book 4) (11 page)

Tatev nodded happily. “Done.” He plopped four more of the large coins out onto the table and then scooped up The Infinium. “I’ll take this one with me, the rest can be delivered to Fort Drake.”

“As you wish,” the lady replied.

Tatev walked back to the door and then stopped abruptly. “Whatever happened to Asusa?”

“I don’t know,” the woman replied. “I never saw him again. I thought about him often, of course, even after I married and settled down. You never do forget your first, I suppose,” she said longingly. Then she smiled. “But, I have had a good life. I have a family, and that never would have been possible with him.” Then she waved and disappeared around the corner again.

Tatev silently wished her farewell and went down the stairs. He had already forgotten about the vagabond from before. His eyes traced the symbol on the book’s cover and he could barely hold his excitement in.

“No money eh?” the drunkard growled. The man stood blocking the stairs. Tatev looked around. He was too high up to jump comfortably, and the man was too close to escape back up the stairs. The drunk pulled a knife. “Hand over your coin, or I’ll gut you like a fish, book lover!”

Tatev did the only thing he could think to do. He cocked back with the thick book and swung hard, connecting with the man’s face and knocking him back down the stairs. The knife fell from the drunk’s hands as he tumbled down to land on the ground with a
thawuump!
The drunk groaned, but made no move to get up.

“Knowledge is power, brother,” Tatev said with a shrug.

*****

Erik helped Lepkin move the pack mules onto the large, hefty barge. Neither one of the animals wanted to get onto the boats, so Erik pulled on the guide rope while Lepkin pushed from behind. In the end it took a small spark of lighting to each mule’s rump from Lady Dimwater to get them onto the boat.

“You have to know how to convince them,” she told Erik with a wink.

Erik rubbed his hands together, trying to stifle the stinging in his palms from the coarse guide ropes. He moved aside so Lepkin and Dimwater could board the barge. He smiled when he saw the two of them interlock their fingers and walk hand in hand.

“Even amidst all the darkness of the raging storm, there is light and beauty in life,” Marlin said as he walked up and placed a hand on Erik’s shoulder. “You have done very well to make it this far,” the prelate said. “Very well indeed.”

“There is still a lot to do,” Erik said modestly.

Marlin nodded. “That there is, but look at them,” he said as he gestured to the pair. Erik saw them whispering to each other and even from behind could catch glimpses of their wide smiles. “This is why we fight. Not for glory, or honor, or some vain hope of having our adventures written down and immortalized by some worshipping bard, but for love.”

Erik nodded and put a hand to his father’s ring that hung on his chest from the leather thong. “And for family,” Erik added.

“Family is love,” Marlin said. “A different name, but the same concept.” He stepped forward, dragging Erik along with him as he snaked his arm across Erik’s shoulders. “One day you shall see for yourself, and it will become all the more clear for you.”

Erik turned his head up to look at Marlin. “Have you ever been in love?” he asked.

“Once, a long time ago,” he said.

“What happened?” Erik asked.

“She moved away,” Marlin replied. “We were only fifteen at the time. Her father uprooted their family in search for better work, and I never saw her again.”

“You were fifteen?” Erik asked skeptically.

Marlin nodded. “We wrote each other a letter or two, but the distance made it impossible to keep up for long. Eventually she stopped answering my letters.”

“Why didn’t you go and try to find her?” Erik asked.

“Let’s just say that her father didn’t like me much,” Marlin replied. “Thought I was too rebellious and ornery. Actually he called me ‘ungodly’ once and chased me with a stick when he caught me kissing her.”

“You?” Erik asked. He tried to imagine Marlin, the Prelate of Valtuu Temple, as an unruly romantic, but couldn’t even imagine it with a straight face. “I bet he would die now if he knew what you have become.”

Marlin pulled his arm back and motioned for Erik to sit down on a wooden bench near the front of the barge. “I suppose he would.”

“Do you ever regret it?” Erik asked. “Not going after her I mean.”

Marlin thought for a while before answering. “I think about what might have happened if we had run away together. We talked about it, you know, before her family departed. But there isn’t much use in daydreaming about the past. If you spend too much time looking behind you, you’ll just trip yourself up in the present and miss the opportunities of the future.”

Erik started to ask where the
girl went, what she looked like, or what her name was, but Tatev arrived just then and flopped down beside him on the bench.

“You will never believe what I found!” Tatev exclaimed.

Marlin and Erik turned to see a thick, blue leather bound book with a golden symbol on the front.

“Is that what I think it is?” Marlin asked.

“Yes!” Tatev squealed excitedly. “The Infinium!”

“Wait,” Erik said as he turned back to Marlin. “How do you know what it looks
like?”

Marlin traced his finger over the golden symbol. “This is written with magic,” he explained.

Heavy boot steps approached and Erik looked up to see Master Lepkin and Lady Dimwater standing in front of them.

“The Infinium?” Lepkin asked.

Tatev nodded sheepishly. “I was going to ask for your permission to read it for him, of course, but I got excited when I saw Marlin and wanted to tell him first.”

“What is it?” Erik asked, noting the sour expression on Lepkin’s face.

“I don’t think he needs to focus on that for now,” Lepkin said tersely. “The knowledge in that book will not help him against Tu’luh, and that is what we must concentrate on.”

Tatev frowned, but did not back down as he normally did. He stood up, face to face with Lepkin and looked the warrior dead in the eyes. “I disagree,” he squeaked. “The Infinium may not be entirely
relevant, but it is relevant insomuch as it has information which can help Erik answer why Tu’luh showed him the visions at Valtuu Temple. It will help him understand the four—”

“Not another word,” Lepkin said sternly. “He doesn’t need to know about that, not yet.”

“If this book will help me understand the four fireballs that Tu’luh showed me, then I want to know,” Erik said quickly. “I want to know what they are.”

Lepkin arched a brow and slowly turned to face Erik. “Why?”

“Because Tu’luh said that without Nagar’s Secret, this world would be doomed. If that is true, and these four fireballs are destined to come, then I need to know that what I am doing now is worth it. I need to know that we are doing the right thing.”

“Slavery to Nagar’s Secret would be worse,” Lepkin said.

“I want to believe that,” Erik said. “And I do, for now. But I need to know for sure.” Erik sighed and slumped his shoulders.

“What else?” Marlin asked. “Go on, tell us what else is on your mind.”

Erik looked up with tears in his eyes. “So many have already given their lives,” he said with a cracking voice. “If we are to fight Tu’luh, and destroy the book, then I want to know why these fireballs will come. I want to know if we can stop them.”

Lepkin’s hard face melted away into an expression of shock. He folded his arms and leaned back from Erik for a moment, cocking his head to the side and studying the boy. Lady Dimwater wrapped her hands around Lepkin’s thick right arm and leaned in slowly, whispering something into his ear that Erik couldn’t hear. Lepkin nodded and looked back to Tatev. “Very well, Tatev, you have until we reach the falls to study the book with Erik.”

Tatev nodded. Lepkin and Dimwater walked away.

Marlin patted Erik on the back. “I am going to go and sit with them,” he said. “Good luck with the research.”

Tatev let out a relieved sigh when everyone was gone. He sat down quickly and his hands were shaking. “I thought Lepkin was going to eat me!” he said under his breath.

Erik laughed and sat down next to Tatev. For once he was actually looking forward to talking with the man. “So, this book can tell us about the fireballs?” Erik asked.

The curly red-headed man nodded enthusiastically, instantly forgetting about his nerves and wiping a palm across the front of the book. “The first thing you should know, is they are not fireballs. They are men, or something like men.”

Erik screwed up his face. “Men?” he asked. “What kind of men appear as fireballs?”

Tatev paused tentatively with his index finger hooked under the cover. “We don’t actually have a word for them exactly. We know only what they are called in their tongue.”

“Which is what?” Erik asked.

“Cherusaphi,” Tatev whispered quietly. “But we don’t say their name very often, even amongst ourselves,” he added quickly.

“So what should I call them?” Erik asked.

Tatev slowly opened the cover to reveal the first page. Erik looked down and saw four images. Each one was like a man, except a tall, slender pair of wings extended high into the air above them. Each man sat upon a horse made of fire, and each held a great sword in their right hand and a skull in their left hand. The librarian ran his fingers over the image. “We call them the four horsemen,” he said.

Chills ran down Erik’s spine. He glanced around him, half expecting to find a specter watching him. Nothing was there. He saw Lepkin and the others sitting on the other side of the barge, but the sight of his friends did little to assuage the fear that gripped his soul.

“So the fireballs I saw were their horses?” Erik asked.

Tatev nodded.

“And they will come to attack us?” Erik asked. “How can four men destroy a whole world?”

Tatev closed the book and sighed. “It is difficult to explain in short,” he said. “What do you know of Terramyr’s creation?”

Erik shrugged. “The old gods created it, and everything in it.”

Tatev nodded. “With the help of the Ancients,” he added pointedly. “That is why Tu’luh is so bent on stopping these horsemen.”

“What do you mean?” Erik asked.

“The four horsemen are said to come from somewhere where even the old gods themselves cannot go. They wield power that not even the gods can fathom. No one knows who sends them on their errand, but it is said that once they are sent the end is unavoidable.”

“The end?”

Tatev turned to Erik and nodded. “They are sent to kill worlds. They strike at the very heart of the world, and kill it as easily as a warrior might kill a sleeping baby. They wield not only weapons, but famines, pestilence, and great magic.”

“And they are coming here?”

Tatev pushed his spectacles up onto the bridge of his nose and nodded solemnly. “They might.”

Erik leaned back on the bench and looked around him. There were several other men on the dock, preparing the barge to travel, and the barge master himself had finally arrived, barking orders and ensuring his cargo was all in order.

“Where is Lepkin?” the
barge master called out to Erik and Tatev. The two of them pointed to Lepkin and the barge master trudged on, barely acknowledging their help with a slight nod. “You bring enough food for your mules?” the barge master asked.

Erik watched the man for a moment and then turned back to Tatev. “Why would the horsemen come here, do they destroy worlds just because they can?”

“Oh, no, not at all,” Tatev said quickly. “According to everything I have ever read and heard about them, they are sent to destroy worlds that have become too corrupted. Some higher council sends them in an attempt to maintain order.” He slowly opened the book again and flipped to the first page of text. “That is why the Ancients came to the Middle Kingdom,” he said wistfully. “In the beginning, the Ancients came to Icadion, the All Father, and asked for permission to reside in our world. The All Father allowed this, and the Ancients in turn vowed to help establish a place on Terramyr where they might guide and watch over the mortals that the old gods would put in their care.”

“I thought the Ancients created the dwarves in the middle kingdom,” Erik said quickly. “I was reading with Al and the book said…”

“Quite right,” Tatev confirmed. “They did, along with some of the other races soon thereafter, but they were not the first creatures in all of Terramyr. Those were simply the first members of the Blessed Races to live in the Middle Kingdom. The Ancients then helped establish the kingdom itself, and swore to watch over and guide all who lived in the Middle Kingdom.”

“Until the battle in Hamath Valley,” Erik said.

Tatev nodded. “The interesting thing, is that Tu’luh was one of the original dragons to come to the Middle Kingdom. I have read a lot about the Ancients, and I know that there were several who all came to Icadion during the creation period. Not all of them are named, of course, but there are several dragons that are named in the ancient annals. Tu’luh is among those that are named specifically as having spoken directly with Icadion.”