CHAPTER 16 – THE WOLF
Titus reined in his pony to ride alongside Athene, all the better to converse. She had managed to maintain an on-going conversation with the cold-hearted man since they rode out after the meal break.
‘I don’t mean to pry,’ she said, ‘But from what you said earlier, I sensed that you were in some way pained by your past. I’m afraid I only have two skills in life; one is that I am a damned good cook – my mother saw to that and the other is that I am a good listener. My mother used to say that a problem shared eases the pain.’
‘I need no priest or agony aunt to confess to - my past has already provided me with far too many dark memories deeply ingrained up here,’ he tapped his head. ‘So you are too late for that my dear, but enough of this and listen to my next words… Keep on riding towards that woodland over there,’ he nodded to the east.
‘Will you stop with that?’ Athene snapped back, she quickly held her tongue realising that Titus really could infuriate her with just the slightest look or word, even when she was trying to play nicely. She later apologised for her prying.
‘No, I think a change of plan is needed,’ replied Titus. ‘We have been watched over this last league. Head over to the tree line that parallels this path and for God’s sake don’t stare towards it,’ he hissed.
‘Once we move into the tree line our paths should meet and we will find out who has been following us. I hope for your sake it is not that fool that I left alive in the shrine. Perhaps it’s just some members of the local tribe whose land we happen to be crossing, but either way, if they cross me they will end up dead. Now keep up your conversation with me to make it look as if we haven’t noticed them.’
‘The fool’s name that you are referring to is Corvus,’ replied Athene, her attitude beginning to show through again. It was almost impossible for her to maintain an attitude of civility towards this killer. ‘King Corvus and these are his lands that you ride across now, so I guess that actually makes you the trespasser here.’
His open laughter filled the air, seeming to wash away Athene’s harsh comments, she looked at him confused.
‘Actually, Athene, a long time ago most of these lands used to belong to me. I originally came from these lands before you were a twinkle in your mother’s eye and many years later I returned and conquered them, so it is in fact you and Corvus who are the trespassers. Perhaps this Corvus is some distant blood-relative of mine? He was quite handsome don’t you think? So it could well be a possibility.’
He stroked his chin line and eagerly awaited her reaction.
She bit her lip to stop herself responding. He was so full of himself she thought and also full of something else. As she reached the tree line his boastful words spun in her head. What if his words were actually true? Was there nothing this man had not done before? She decided not to ponder too much on his words, for they were most likely shallow and she was pretty sure he was just saying these things to wind her up. Since she had pressed her conversations with the killer she had the growing perception that he had just been toying with her like a cat with a mouse, perhaps he had guessed the reasons for her chatter and was merely baiting her with impossible claims for his own amusement.
Titus suddenly called out towards the tree line in the Nordheim tongue, speaking fluently and with perfect pronunciation.
‘Unstring your bows and show yourselves.’
The breeze carried his words to the rustling bushes. Slowly two figures emerged from the tree line. From their appearance, both men were from Croweheim – probably trappers or hunters from the look of their more-than-adequate winter clothing and the string of rabbits hanging across the back of the youngest one. No armour was visible and, although they both carried bows, no arrows had been notched. Nordheim warriors typically wore their armour over their padded clothing to keep the cold metal further from their skin, unlike some Tanarian men of the warmer climates that she had known who wore their thin chainmail vests under their cloths to conceal their protection and purpose.
‘Hello friend, by ‘Kraken’ it’s good to see some normal folk walking this land again.’ The elder of the men shouted out. ‘Do you have any news of what has happened to the land? I was out hunting with my son when the world turned mad. You two need to be careful, there are strange beasts everywhere.’
Titus studied the two figures in silence; they appeared genuine and were without doubt local hunters. Evoking the Nordheim God of war’s name ‘Kraken’ brought back to him distant memories of the real man rather than the myth.
Athene, not understanding the Nordheim conversation had interpreted Titus’ silence as a prelude to something sinister and she whispered to him.
‘Please, don’t kill them.’
He whispered back. ‘Hush your noise woman or I may have to.’
‘Is there safety anywhere? Perhaps from where you have come?’ called out the father.
‘I think you may now find safety back at the town of Croweheim.’ replied the Su-Katii. ‘I have heard that all the unaffected survivors from this cursed magic that has plagued your land are now massing there, but I’m afraid we are not heading that way, so unfortunately you’ll have to make your own way there, but I’m sure you know these lands better than us.’
‘Thank you for the information. My son and I fled that area before, when the strange ones began to roam the land and we have been living rough ever since. If you need any assistance with crossing this land, I’ll gladly lead you to where ever you are headed. To be honest it’s just nice to see a human face again,’ said the elder man.
‘I’ll let you into a little secret, old man.’
Titus smiled sardonically at the man.
‘We ride directly into the eye of the storm to bring an end to this evil that now stalks the land and it will be far too dangerous for you and your son. Go back to Croweheim and rebuild your lives.’
The elder hunter looked Titus up and down apprehensively, unsure if this stranger with perfect Nordheim pronunciation was joking with him, his eyes finally rested on the two fine swords that hung from Titus’ belt.
I think you are right, we’ll be on our way now, but please before our departure, we have been fortunate to some degree. It would appear that the beasts have scared the smaller animals from the ground and we now have a bumper catch of rabbits. Please take one with you, for some fresh meat on the road ahead, wherever you may be headed. They are best stewed if you have a pot, or maybe your helmet would do, I’m sure your beautiful wife will know what to do with it.’ Titus struggled to keep the smirk from his face.
‘I would starve or die of food poisoning if I left the cooking to my wife. My friends, if you are looking for some good advice, never marry a foreign woman, they are pleasing to the eye, but harsh on the ears. As for her cooking; well let’s not go there.’
The three men gave a short laugh and prepared to depart.
Titus whispered across to Athene. ‘They have you to thank, I let them leave with their lives in exchange for some fresh food, which I expect you to cook tonight in gratitude for my mercy.’
Titus spoke again in the thick Nordheim language. The younger hunter unhooked a large rabbit and slung it over to Titus who deftly caught the dead animal. With a short wave and a word Athene understood as a farewell, the two disappeared back into the trees. Pleased with the thought that Titus had finally listened to her, but suspicious about the parting laughter, Athene put it from her mind as she was already starting to slaver over the thought of the fresh meat, and how she was going to prepare and cook it for the two of them.
After the two parties had left to go their separate ways Athene looked across meaningfully at the arrogant-looking Su-Katii.
‘I see you even managed to laugh about something?’ she said sarcastically.
‘Yes we did, I told them that I was going off to save their insignificant lives and I think that they believed it.’ he said shaking his head at the stupidity of the two hunters.
‘Thank you for not killing them, perhaps you have an ounce of humanity inside you after all,’ Titus began to fidget in his saddle seemingly annoyed at her comment, after a short huff he curtly replied.
‘I don’t kill everyone that I meet you know. After all they were just a couple of hunters caught up in this stupid war. I expect that when they arrive back home they will wish that I had killed them, as soon as they discover that they have lost everything, I can tell you Athene I understand that pain.’ His voice revealed a croak of emotion in the last sentence.
Her eyes sparkled as she realised that she might have found a chink in his armour to work on.
‘If you are indeed – or rather, were, Lord of this land, then why let your people suffer and die from this evil magic?’
‘Because Athene, once you have abandoned yourself, it is very easy to abandon others,’ he answered from his heart. She gauged that she had him on a roll now and was ready to exploit her advantage.
‘What can cause a man to abandon everything?’ asked Athene now genuinely interested in the conversation and hoping he would reveal more.
‘Pride and overconfidence, I would say for starters.’
‘How so?’ Athene enquired softly.
‘Oh what the hell, I suppose we have plenty of time to kill on our journey before we pass the Gate and I hand you over at our rendezvous. The mighty Titus is now reduced to babysitting missions. Yes, I was once a Su-Katii Lord, but in a very different time now long forgotten by most, the order was a little different then, it stood for honour and pride,’ Athene held her tongue this time.
‘Or so I thought. We were truly the shining knights of our age. Being one of the chosen few meant that from the early age of eight I was in a perpetual cycle of training with the Order and eventually the service of the War God Hadrak. He truly is an immortal, not like some of the other names that get bandied around now days. He exists in a different dimension to our own, a dimension that can be reached from our world, but only accessible via the Pillars of Justice on the Isle of Cardus. They say he is all-knowing, watching the actions of men and passing judgment on the course of nations through his right arm – the Su-Katii knights. However, the truth of the matter is, that he is a prisoner, trapped in a dimension of time just out of sync with ours, never ageing, as a punishment for a long-forgotten crime. He just remains trapped in the rift and cannot die by blade or age. It is the ultimate punishment.’
‘So not really much of a God then, powerless and a convict,’ commented Athene.
‘I think that given the choice I would be devoting my time of worship to those who imprisoned him, as they are obviously the ones with the true power,’ she added quickly, noticing that she had judged his contempt of Lord Hadrak correctly. He did not even raise one of his annoying eyebrows at her harsh comment.
We have plenty more time to kill, so just to bore you further here is the full history lesson. Over a thousand years ago there was a great earthquake that wrecked the lands, and once the dust had settled from the devastation on the small Isle of Cardus, a large Vortex like Rift was revealed behind a fallen cliff-face - it had been hidden for untold years and led to the God-King’s prison. You are just a young woman, so I would not expect you to know its location, I’ll explain simply for you, Cardus is just off the western coastline at the furthest point where Aristrian lands merge into the expanding marshes and meets the Tanarian border. Anyway, I digress from the core of my story to lessen the facts for your understanding.’ Athene could feel her anger brewing within her and now began to regret her inquisitiveness.
‘A young and inquisitive knight eventually plucked up the courage to pass through the crackling magic Vortex, after first throwing a cat through the rift to see what would happen. A few seconds later it returned, thin and emaciated but alive. Nervously he passed through the menacing rift and discovered it to be a portal to what he later described on his return, as a large temple residence stuck in another plane of existence, one with a eerie red sky.
A week had passed before his return and he told of the God-King’s lavish hospitality and how he had been his guest for several months, surviving on the many fruits that grew from the surrounding grounds and water from a single fountain – we eventually came to understand that time passes differently on either side of the portal. The God-King was so overjoyed at having human company again after the millennia of solitude, that he held a series of great feasts. Food and wine were ferried into the rift for celebration. People could party for weeks and then return with hardly a night gone by. That was before the fight. We revert to behaving like animals when we drink and inevitably a fight broke out, daggers were drawn and blood was spilled. After one such fight, a young man lay dead and the God-King commanded everyone to leave immediately. He did not want his home to turn into a temple of blood at the time. However, amazingly, when the body of the fallen man was returned through the rift and back to his own time, he awoke in the same state that he had entered, alive. There was no trace of a wound on his body and amazingly he could even recall all the events that had passed within the rift up to his death. Don’t ask me how such things can be, I still have trouble comprehending it now, so leave such matters to the magicians I say. The young man went on to have several more knife fights after his boastful stories of returning from the dead and seemed to acquire quite a taste for it. From that day onwards we discovered that inside the rift and temple we could learn from our experience and, through death, our experiences could be taken to the extreme. I can assure you Athene; you’ll never make the same mistake twice when you experience death as the result of your wrong action.
The young knight who initially entered the rift became in later years the ‘Su’ of the Lands, a position that we now know as a Baron. He quickly realised the potential of the Rift as a training ground where a student can have as much time as he needs, to learn and hone their skills from the ultimate lesson. A deal was soon struck with the God-King and Baron Suna would supply women, exotic food and fruits through the portal for Lord Hadrak’s pleasure, in exchange for twenty places at the temple in which to train his men.’ Titus laughed.
‘What’s so funny?’ questioned Athene.
‘For all of his earthly enjoyment it transpired that the so called God-King was sterile - some God. Although he obviously still craved all the gluttony of the palette and earthly pleasures that had been denied to him over the many years. The Baron selected sixteen men from his personal bodyguard – the Katii Guard. The other slots went to his most trusted generals and himself, forming a total of twenty positions. They fought like demons throughout the day and when the ultimate lesson was reached the body or sometimes parts of a fallen body, were ejected out from the rift, then the jolly fellow would casually stroll back through the portal from the dead and get back about his training.’
‘Were you one of the original founders?’ Athene asked.
‘No, I was down a generation from the originals,’ he replied.
‘The order was formed into a school for the finest talents in the land, but even with their amazing combat prowess they occasionally overestimated their ability and fell in battle, leaving a new slot to be filled. I was captured as a youngster on a raid into Nordheim. I fought everyone that tried to turn me into a nice obedient slave-boy. In the end they were just going to give up on me and feed me to the wolves, but the commander liked my fighting spirit and in later years, after enduring the Su-Katii regime, I returned back as Lord of these lands that are now known as Nordheim.’
‘My God,’ gasped Athene. ‘You must have had a hard upbringing to rise from being a slave to a commander.’
‘As they say in the Temple – you need to die a thousand times before you learn how to live and I can tell you I certainly know how to live.’
They rode on silently for a while, watching the red sky in the distance as the sun descended, she tried to absorb his words, starting at last to believe his tale.
‘I guess being robbed of my childhood would have also made me bitter,’ she mused.
‘No Athene, you misunderstand, it is not that which I hold in contempt. My curse was that my skills and ability far surpassed my fellow knights. I had soon become so good at reading every movement of an opponent that I was constantly deployed by my superiors in endless wars. If they needed a land conquered they just sent me, my hands have helped to forge most of the Nations that are now considered ‘Great’ today. I was never really interested in the command of men so instead they just used to stick me in the front rank of an army and then tactics wouldn’t matter. I would slaughter any who opposed me and drive the enemy from the field. My reputation was legendary and many times the enemy would simply capitulate on seeing my war banner, before any blood was spilled, such was my reputation at the time. Eventually none had the gall to stand against me, so you see I can also save lives as well as take them. On occasions when I would return from battle, I used to be so cocky and full of my own invincibility that eventually the inevitable happened and I ended up coming to blows with a fellow Su-Katii who thought that I was all talk and no metal, the fool dreamed that he could better me. We both decided that the only way to settle our differences was a dual outside the temple, which under Su-Katii law was forbidden. Our code stated that a Su-Katii may only fight a peer inside the temple rift, but one of us had to go. My boasting was not ill-founded for I am still here. But unfortunately that duel sealed my fate within the order. I was soon invited to attend the temple to atone for my deed in front of the God-King. But his intention was clearly to make an example of me, and for my disobedience I was sentenced to be ejected from the order, humiliatingly whipped, then made to serve two years as a blacksmith’s apprentice to relearn my skill of patience. I was to be kept on the Isle of Cardus where they could keep a close eye on me and assign me any dirty jobs that required my unique talents. With a carrot waved under my nose they hinted that with time I may be able to earn my way back into the fold. I was not about to take their worthless words lying down. Hell, what a fight, I cut my judge’s head cleanly from his shoulders, as my reply. With twelve of the order present for the sentencing it was quite a battle, they didn’t stand a chance. Three of the Su-Katii had to come back through the temple rift twice after I continued to cut them down, Lord Hadrak had kicked their dead bodies through the portal entrance to get them back in to help contain me. I even struck Hadrak himself, but my weapon bounced harmlessly from him, but he still felt the pain of the blow.’ He smiled to himself.
‘After an hour of hard fighting they managed to get lucky and bring me down.’ He paused with his story, considering if he should tell her the last and more embarrassing part, then continued.
‘…I slipped on a crushed peach of all things and then they were all upon me in a second.’
‘But what was the point of it all - if you cannot truly die in there? Was it a test?’ asked Athene.
‘No. It was a punishment for slaying another of the order but perhaps they were trying to gauge the true extent of my skill. I think that my ability made them nervous for I surpassed them all.’
He paused sucking in the cold air. ‘Did you know that I had a wife and a son once Athene?’
‘No I didn’t,’ she replied.
‘My body was kept within the temple as a reminder to those who would dare to disobey the Su-Katii code. I was quartered and thrown into an old barrel, hidden away in some forgotten corner of the temple, or so the legends of my deeds that I have since heard, suggested.’ His hand instinctively grasped his sword pommel and the old fiery rage burnt again in his eyes. Athene gently reached across and touched his shoulder and the fire instantly disappeared from his eyes.
‘How did you get out?’
‘Honestly, I don’t know. Perhaps the God-King decided to release me or someone accidentally threw an old barrel out of the rift, who knows? What I do know is that the punishment had been extremely effective. I had been entombed in the temple for around eight hundred years, never aging, whilst my remaining loved ones and family in the outside world died of old age. There was just the trace of a tremor in his voice as he uttered the last sentence. This was the closest that the ancient warrior could come to displaying his emotion at his immeasurable loss.
‘How long have you been free Titus?’
She questioned him instinctively trying to change the subject from his loss, although she found it almost unbelievable when this brute spoke of such tender things.
Several years now and I’m still trying to understand this new world that I have returned to, but my fighting skills are still in demand, except now I fight for personal gain rather than the Order.’
‘You know it doesn’t have to be this way, Titus. I mean with me.’ she locked eyes with him and again touched his arm.
She carefully watched for any sign of reaction to her words.
‘I must admit Athene, since we left the shrine together, I have found a strange inner peace come over me and you are the first person that I have opened to. I must apologise for my lack of skill at kidnapping you, but this is a new skill to me. Perhaps your mother was indeed correct or perhaps you are a sorceress after all.’ He shook her hand from his arm, ‘I will endeavour to make sure that you understand your boundaries, we may talk but you will not escape me or persuade me otherwise from my assigned mission.’
He then muttered to himself. ‘Perhaps if I can clear all of this anger from my mind I could master this sabre and exact my vengeance.’ Noticing his blazing eyes and talk of revenge, she decided not to push for her release any further. But instead changed tack by investigating his words further. ‘What’s so special about Tress’s old sabre?’
‘Ah, that’s the Tyranny of Wizards’ first name then? You have already witnessed its ancient powers back in Croweheim, or did you really think that your Henrick could stand against me in battle for more than a few seconds without magical aid.’
‘I don’t understand,’ she admitted.
‘No, nor did I at first,’ he said. ‘But I have replayed this in my mind many times since and I think that I have now worked it out. When I picked up Tress’s sabre during the fight, its magic feeds on the blade-wielder’s emotions and ability or perhaps even state of mind and projects them at everyone around it. The weapon contains an unusual magic that would only permit someone with a singularly clear and focussed state of mind to be able to use it effectively. As a Su-Katii I learned the ability to harness the power of many enchanted weapons, but none as complex as this. Perhaps it could even instil terror into an opponent with the right focus of emotion. I still carry far too much anger inside me to consider its use and have already been stung by it once. Someone with my considerable skills - projecting them back into an opponent would be dangerous; it would probably get me killed. But perhaps with time it may yet find some use and a new purpose in my hands.’
Athene merely nodded absorbing every word that he spoke.
‘Now, let’s pick up the pace whilst there is still a little light.’