Chapter 16
A tall man materialized from the darkness at the top of the stairs as Jenner led Kae back down the tower stairs. Kae’s hand jerked to the hilt of his sword. Even his separated self had failed to notice this man. It was unnerving, disturbing even, how the man’s sudden appearance, resembled that of the shadowy stranger back at Za-xayek. This man’s hair was dark blue, but once he emerged out into the light Kae could tell he wasn’t an Ulnath.
“Soin,” Jenner said his voice soft and weak. Clearly he too had been rattled by Kae’s revelations.
Soin inclined his head, his mystical eyes just as somber as Jenner’s. “I can take the Protector to get something to eat, considering what he just told us we will have a lot of work to do, your advice and council will be more useful than mine.”
Jenner nodded. “I understand. Kae, please go with, Soin.” He hurried up the stairs, back towards the meeting hall, leaving Kae alone with the stranger.
“There is no need to fear me,” the Shadow Mage said.
“I’m not afraid of you,” Kae countered, hoping the lie wasn’t too evident in his voice. The man had little human presence and the shadows lashed around him like whips before fading into his clothing, like they were a part of him, like he was formed of shadow. Perhaps that was the reason Kae had not noticed him in the tower room before.
“Come, lets walk,” the mage offered and descended the stairs.
Kae followed a step behind. While he had little reason to distrust Jenner, the same couldn’t be said for this shadow mage. The way he had appeared was just a little too similar to Ulnath magic.
“We’re leaving the tower?” Kae asked, posing it as a question, hoping Soin would realize what he was getting at.
Clearly he did, for the mage replied, “Food supplies are low in the city, we have had to ration them to such an extent that the kitchens of the royal tower are empty. During the Battle of Ebulon much of the food reserves were burned or stolen and with winter upon us, there was little land left suitable for growing new crop.”
Kae could see for himself the ravages that the battle had taken on the city, and the fact that even food was scarce seemed even more ominous. But he had promised that refugee he would ask for help from Ebulon. He remembered what the refugee had told him, that there was no harm in asking, and Kae held onto that. Help didn’t seem likely though.
“In a valley not far from here, I came across thousands of refugees. They had first fled the Orc Confederation and now the Red Army, and many of them are starving. They need help if they are to survive.”
Soin nodded very heavily, clearly burdened by such a reality. “If we had food to spare we would have handed it out to them after the Orc Confederation went back into the Rainlands and began attacking elf settlements there. But we simply don’t have any food to give away. We hardly have enough to feed our own people and soldiers. Our king is a merciful and just man. In the past, he often traded with the other human kingdoms, even sent rations to struggling allies. But in those days, Ebulon was much stronger.”
Now Kae was the one to nod with heaviness. “The Battle of Ebulon was one of the bloodiest battles I have ever been apart of.”
“It was slaughter on a scale this city had rarely seen before,” Soin replied.
They’d reached the courtyard in front of the tower and the mage paused to take in their surroundings. Kae followed his gaze. The harsh noon sunlight revealed that some parts of the city were mere relics, frail and decaying, like no one had lived within them for several centuries.
“When you and the 50 other protectors came to lift the third entry point I was grateful to see you,” Soin said. “Without your help it would have been overrun.”
Kae was about to nod when the words struck him deeper, causing him to stop walking. Soin was quick to notice this, looking back at the young man with his mystical eyes. “You saw us fighting during the battle?” Kae asked.
“Indeed I did, it was my responsibility to watch over the third entry point and report back to King Yadi about what occurred there.”
Kae was uneasy about hearing this. The battle was chaotic but he was certain that if he had seen this Soin there he would have remembered. This could only mean that Soin had watched from the shadows, just like the Ulnath who had offered Rhaldan the soft bed.
Cautiously Kae followed Soin once more only staying two steps behind now, his hand ready to grasp the sword if the need arose. No one crossed their path as they traversed the city. Ebulon felt so empty to the point it felt haunted. It didn’t help either that this emptiness reminded him a little too much of Za-xayek.
“I must admit it is a little unnerving to think men of the same cloth as those Protectors are now cooperating with the Ulnath,” the mage continued.
Kae agreed, he hated the idea of it, he hated how Rhaldan was exploiting his fellow Protectors and he hated Rhaldan. But the line of thought made him want to ensure the message he had brought to this city was properly heard.
Now walking alongside Soin he said, “The Ulnath plan to attack this city using the otherworld forces as their army, which includes Protectors.”
A long worrying breath left the lips of the shadow mage, it sounded not quite natural and more like a bizarre whistle.
“Unfortunately it was only a matter of time before those orcs found a way to attack us in great numbers, I just wished they hadn’t chosen such an opportune time,” the mage said. “As you doubtlessly noticed, Ebulon is hardly ready for another battle. But these orcs must have seen that and are using it to their advantage.”
“Orcs?” Kae asked. “No, they are the Ulnath and look nothing like orcs.”
“The Ulnath are orcs,” the mage said simply, but perhaps noticing Kae’s confused look continued quickly. “The Ulnath are the oldest of the orc tribes. This world is positioned where the shadows of every single world intersect and it was created by a group of gods who had secretly traveled the other worlds and recreated their favorite race.”
“One god recreated man, one recreated the elves, one recreated the orcs and so on. When they were finished, the gods wanted to know which tribe was the most loyal and so shone the light of their power upon the newly created world. The light was immense, and it was a test to see who was truly loyal to them. The orcs were the first to look away and so they spent the most time wandering the darkness beyond the light. While many of their brethren became twisted and disfigured, the Ulnath clung to the old ways and so with the exception of their skin turning a pale green, they maintained most of their original appearance. And this is why they do not look like the orcs you remember defeating on your first visit to Ebulon. I understand your confusion Kae. They are a much different kind of darkness to any other orc tribe of this world.”
Kae saw that as an understatement. The orcs he remembered were savages, not nearly as sophisticated as the Ulnath. Although they were just as sadistic.
“So the orcs lost the favor of the gods early on, then?” he asked.
“The god who created the orcs was furious that they had turned away from the light so quickly,” the mage explained. “As for the other races, they too eventually turned away from the light, but had looked at it long enough to retain the favor of the gods that created them. The very last person to look away from the light was a man called Itio. He looked at that powerful light so long that he went blind, and never looked away.”
“That’s some devotion. Was he rewarded?” Kae commented. History lessons bored him for the most part. But this one was one he could relate to. Duty, honor and loyalty. Only, hadn’t he just thrown all that away by coming to Ebulon?
The mage smiled. Unlike the smiles of the Ulnath it was a gentle welcoming gesture. “Yes, because of this devotion the gods decided to grant him the power of the call. What that means is that his bloodline, and his bloodline only, holds the power to communicate with the other worlds.”
“So Yadi is a descendant of this Itio?” Kae’s betrayal of his oaths to the Protec
tors couldn’t be so bad if it was in aid of one favored by the gods.
The mage nodded. “Precisely, Itio was the first of Yadi’s bloodline.”
“And the Shadow Stone, the thing the Ulnath seek, is that part of Yadi’s inheritance too?”
“No, the Shadow Stone is merely a myth,” the mage replied. “There are thousands of stories that speak of it, many saying it was either lost or destroyed, or that it perhaps never existed at all.”
Kae doubted that. The Ulnath didn’t seem like fools and the few times he had overheard them speaking about the Shadow Stone they always did so in whispers, like someone speaking of a sacred secret. What annoyed him now is that he hadn’t heard them speak of where the stone was supposed to be specifically. A part of him cursed himself for not sticking around longer at Za-xayek, maybe if he had he would now posses such knowledge.
“The Ulnath seem quite convinced it is real,” he said, willing the mage to understand just how dire this message was. “And they mean to use it to destroy Ebulon.”
Though, if the mage was right, Rhaldan would be quite disappointed that all his plotting and scheming had been in vain. A small bubble of joy erupted in Kae’s mind at the thought of the Head Priest so sorely disappointed.
“I believe it was the Ulnath themselves that started the myth of the Shadow Stone long ago,” the mage explained. “The legend states it was actually the Ulnath who, 100,000 years ago convinced Queen Ebuwin, an ancestor of king Yadi, to build the Tower of Ebulon as a sign of strength to all the other cities of the world. The city is named after her, you know?”
“Why would a queen take the advice of the Ulnath?” Kae asked.
“Ebulon was the first great city of man and was constantly under attack by other human tribes, who were desperate to live within its walls. There came a time when a massive confederation of human tribes banded together in order to take the city. Heavily outnumbered, Ebulon was on the brink of collapsing when an army of 300,000 Ulnath came to its aid. The city as well as the Ulnath themselves suffered staggering losses. They lost all but a handful of the troops they had sent, but because of the Ulnath’s aid the city was saved. Legends claim that the Ulnath had helped the city in a bid to gain favor with the gods once again, hoping that by saving the descendent of Itio they would accomplish this,” the mage elaborated. “The Ulnath even went so far as to share their knowledge of shadow magic with the Ebulon mages, magic that Ebulon Mages still use to this day. However even these deeds were not enough to grant them favor with the gods. In their anger upon realizing this, they tried to take control of Ebulon. But by that time they were too few in number and Queen Ebuwin was able to force them out of the city.”
If nothing else, this explanation eased Kae’s fear that Soin was actually an Ulnath, since he now knew why his magic resembled the Ulnath’s so much. “Were these Ulnath part of the last attack on Ebulon? I don’t remember seeing them there.”
And Kae was certain he would remember them if he did.
“They were not here then. Even the other orcs fear the Ulnath and want little to do with them.”
Having been around the Ulnath himself he couldn’t blame the other orcs for their fear.
When Soin stopped it took Kae a moment to realize why. The wind brought the sounds of training and soon his eyes were drawn to a group of men and women doing drills close by. He had been too immersed in what the mage was telling him to realize where Soin had been taking him.
Soin looked at a short man, and he approached immediately. Likely he was a servant of some kind.
“Sir Soin, how may I be of assistance?”
“This is Kae, he has traveled long and far to bring aid to this city, he needs something warm to eat. Please take him to an eating hall and prepare some stew for him.”
“Of course, Sir Soin.” The little man replied before turning and being on his way.
Turning to face Kae Soin said, “My apologizes Kae, while Regent Jenner is wise, I too must be ready to give advice to the king whenever he needs it.”
“Wait, Soin!” Kae began, worried the man would disappear in a cloud of shadow. Patiently Soin waited for him to speak. “That large group of refugees that I passed on my way here. If you bring them to Ebulon, the city’s walls would be strengthened.”
It was more than his desire to help the refugees that made him say this. If even other orcs feared the Ulnath, what chance had a weakened Ebulon of defeating them?
For a long moment Soin just stared at him, nothing on his face betraying his thoughts.
Finally Soin spoke. “You may have a point. I will speak to the king of it.”
And then he vanished into shadow.
All this talking with no action could get them all killed sooner rather than later, Kae was sure. And he hadn’t come here to argue with kings and mages. He came to help them survive.