They rode throughout the day, stopping briefly around midday to eat jerky and somewhat stale bread. In the afternoon, they turned off the road and headed cross country to the south, and they continued until the sun disappeared over the horizon, which was late this time of year. Cor was certain they had traveled a good many miles, and he had of course never seen this part of Aquis. They made their camp near a small stream and dined on yet more jerky and stale bread. Rael refused to make a fire for cooking, saying that they didn’t need the warmth at night this far south, but Cor somehow thought he had other reasons.
The next day, they hadn’t yet stopped for lunch when Cor finally felt the impact of what happened. He had seen violence and blood, and he’d killed a man not too long ago. But never had Cor imagined to see those he loved so brutally slain before his eyes, and he was powerless to prevent it. He began to cry.
“What is wrong?” Rael asked without even looking at him.
“I want to go home,” sobbed Cor in response.
“At points in life, we all want to go home. It is not possible for you,” Rael said, making no apologies.
Cor quieted and forced his weeping to stop, but it blended into a coughing attack, one of the worst he had had in a long time. The mix of coughing and crying kept him from talking anymore, and he bent over in the saddle, coughing blood into his hand. Rael put a hand on Cor’s shoulder to steady him. Eventually, the coughing passed as it always did.
“I remember you,” Cor said after some time. “You came to our home a few years ago.”
“Yes, and that night you ran away,” Rael responded. “I realized too late that you had left, and I tried to follow you, but I was too far behind.”
“I saw you at the docks when Naran’s ship sailed out.”
“Cor, I am taking you somewhere safe,” Rael said, “and I will teach you how to use the power in your blood. When you are ready, you may go where you wish, return home and become a farmer should you decide.”
“Who sent the man who killed my parents?” Cor asked.
“I do not know, but the mark I removed from his shoulder is the mark of the Loszian lord he serves. I will find out, but one must be careful with such inquiries. What will you do when I find out?” he asked Cor.
“I’ll kill him,” he replied quietly.
“I am sure. Vengeance is normal, human, but it is also dangerous.”
“The priests told me vengeance is a sin,” said Cor, “that Garod doesn’t recognize revenge against those who have wronged you.”
“And yet,” answered Rael, “they think nothing of waging war with Losz and slaying its people. Would you have killed that Loszian?”
“Yes,” Cor replied quietly.
“Have you ever killed a man?” Rael asked.
“Yes, a few months ago. My captain took us to Katan’Nosh. I saw a Loszian there, and he saw me. He sent another ship to chase us down, to take me back to him. We fought.”
“You should assume that the man who murdered your parents was an agent of the same Loszian. If he is a lord, he is also a sorcerer,” Rael said, his voice somewhat distant as he thought. “So your travels across the Narrow Sea has made you a man of action, but it is more important that you are educated so that you know what action you should take.”
“The Loszian sorcerers are charlatans, worshipping evil and untrue gods, aren’t they?” asked Cor after a few minutes of silence.
“What you believe is what most Westerners are taught to believe. The truth is there are no charlatans, no untrue gods. All of the gods exist, some are evil, some are good, but they all exist. When we reach Sanctum, I will teach you all of these things.”
“Is Sanctum a city?” asked Cor.
“No, at least not anymore,” answered Rael, “but it is where I live. It is where you will live while you come to understand who you are. Beyond that, your path is your own choice.”
They did not stop for lunch; on their way, they passed a grove of wild apple trees, and Rael picked a good number of the fruits. They ate while continuing to ride. They rode for two more days, and Cor began detect the familiar scent of the sea on the air. Gulls and other birds swept through the air, making their familiar cries. The land here seemed somewhat rocky, and the dirt had a sandy quality to it. They topped a hill, and Rael pointed into the distance.
“Sanctum,” he said.
Cor looked in the direction indicated and saw a crumbling stone edifice eclipsing the setting summer sun. It was a small castle, gray with age, with a crumbling outer wall that was completely breached at one point, and the keep and tower did not seem to be in much better condition. The castle had no wall on two sides, as it was perched on a rocky promontory overlooking a cliff. Beyond the cliff stretched the Narrow Sea.
As they approached, they joined a disused road that came from the north and lead straight to the castle. Cor could hear the sound of great splashes of water in the distance as they climbed the steep hill leading to the castle’s gate. A rusted portcullis lay to one side just past the portal; it was so ancient and weather beaten that the iron bars seemed to be literally dissolving. They dismounted inside the curtain wall, and Rael led his horse to one side to let the animal graze while he filled a trough with water from a well. The buildings inside the wall looked very little different from the outside; they were mostly stone and dilapidated, and none of them had intact doors.
“Cor,” Rael called from the well. “Look around carefully, but do not go into any of the buildings without me. Most of them are dangerous.”
Cor walked the grounds warily, not going near any of the buildings. Besides the keep and its tower, he counted six buildings, none of them very large. As he made his way through the yard, he found a stone wall roughly two feet in height wrapping around the back of the keep, and as he approached it, he realized he was looking over a vast blue body of water.
“I suppose you are used to the sea, more so than me. When we have some time, I will show you how to reach the beach and the water,” Rael said, causing Cor to jump as he had no idea the man had come up behind him. “Cor, do not go very close to that wall. It is old and waiting to crumble. Follow me inside, and I will show you where you can sleep.”
He led Cor to the stone keep, but they entered a small door in the side of the building rather than the large double doors at the front. Rael explained the front of the building was not safe, and he also warned Cor to never venture upwards into the tower. During horrific storms that occasionally made land, the tower often sounded as if it may crash down at any moment. He showed Cor the larder, where he may help himself to any food or drink he found there, and several other rooms, including a large study. The study was full of books and scrolls, many of them obviously ancient with dust, and a large oak table stood in the middle of the room on a silk rug that crumbled to dust as it was tread upon. On one side stood a large stone fireplace that clearly had been used more recently than most of the castle.
“If you are hungry,” said Rael, “help yourself to something to eat. Can you read Rumedian?”
“What is Rumedian?” Cor asked; he had met many peoples in his years at sea, but never a Rumedian.
Rael sighed, “You can read Western, yes? Good, I have to find some volumes for you.”
Cor watched as Rael moved about the shelves and decided to head to the pantry while the man looked through the shelves. The room was rather cool and the air dry, and he found it well stocked with aged cheeses, preserved meats, a random assortment of fruit and stale bread. He chose some of this at random, ignoring the barrel of apples; he felt like he had eaten a hundred apples in the last few days, and he returned to the study, food in his arms.
“Please eat in the larder,” Rael said without looking up. “At the least, do not bring food or drink into this room. The texts in here are too old and valuable to risk exposure to an accidental spill.”
After eating, Cor returned to the study to find Rael waiting for him. He had selected seve
ral tomes and set them in a stack, and he was writing on blank parchment.
“Do you know what a Dahken is?” Rael asked without looking up from his writing.
“No.”
“In the days before The Cleansing,” Rael said these last two words with no small degree of bitter sarcasm, “you would have been found years ago. There is much for you to learn, and we will start tomorrow, but now let me show you where you will sleep.”
He took Cor to a small room. It contained two buckets, one of which Rael filled with water, a candelabra with three new candles and a new cotton mattress. There were several folded wool blankets next to the mattress, and a rug made of animal skins covered most of the floor.
“I know it is not late, but the last few days were hard. Get some sleep Cor.”
Rael turned and left the room. Cor sat down on the mattress, finding it quite soft and looked around the room blankly, and he lay back slowly, the cotton mattress wrapping itself around him. He knew he should feel something, anger or sadness perhaps, but he didn’t even understand how this had all happened. Cor drifted off to sleep, and on some level he expected to wake up in the morning to his mother’s face; unfortunately, he didn’t.