Chapter 1
Ben Fragin
Many white and fearful faces looked out of the numerous foggy windows inside the Alkin castle. What they were looking at was a cloud shaped like a skull stretching out from the Vinter castle from across the ten mile long bridge. Its gaping mouth stretched open as if it was being tortured and its empty eye sockets had lighting flashing inside of them. A moaning sound filled the air and light flashed inside of its mouth, unleashing water from its maw that splashed drearily on the bridge below.
Many miles across the bridge on the very top of the twisted towers of the Vinter castle stood two black robed figures, their hands stretched out and dark words seeping from their lips. As they spoke the skull reacted likewise, doing their bidding like a slave, pouring water on the bridge below. The bridge which was stone black was stretched gate to gate over a vast chasm, on the left end of the bridge was the Vinter's castle, a cruel complicated castle that was littered with small black windows that had a cross design on them that were just big enough to point a crossbow through and skewer a enemy with a flaming arrow. It was a nonsensical piece of art work; in the center of the castle the keep was shaped like a hand with a tower on each finger, and in the palm of the hand was a great bonfire that was always kept burning as if to taunt the Alkin's across the bridge whose castle was built with intent on keeping enemies out of the huge gate. And clustered around the gate was fourteen towers, seven on each side of the bridge. Its battlements where square and strong and could easily deflect siege towers and ladders from any foe.
It was exactly the same picture of battles lost, won and fought and still being fought as it had been for thousands of years, but all of that was about to change in a way that you couldn't even imagine.
¨ ¨ ¨
Ben fragin pushed back his shoulder length brown hair from his face. "This is the day. Tonight we go across the bridge," he said to himself. He looked about his room. The cold stone walls sparkled as light streamed through his window and reflected off water droplets that had collected on the surface of the stones.
The fog of sleep was heavy. He usually didn't feel this tired in the morning but he was up late talking with some of his masters. He grabbed the glass of water on his nightstand and took a long deep gulp. The sensation of water trickling over a dry throat always made him feel good. Ben peered up at the upper bunk. His roommate had already gotten up. "Wonder why he didn't wake me up?" thought Ben.
He stumbled out of bed and proceed to get dressed. He went over to the small stone indentation on one side of room where all his clothes where kept. He grabbed his favorite outfit, a black tunic with red trim and a pair of black pants as well as his leather boots.
Once he was dressed he walked over to the window and peered out.
The Alkins castle across the bridge was just a silhouette. The sun rising behind the castle gave it a very pleasant appearance; its boxy shape beautifully defined in the sunrise.
"Tonight I'll be in that castle," Ben thought. He wasn't afraid, but he was a little stressed because he knew very little of what he was going to do there. "Hopefully my confusion will be cleared up in a couple of hours," Ben thought as he strapped on his sword.
He took one last look at the mirror, made his bed and went over to the wooden door. He stopped and paused, and turned around. "I may never see this room again," thought Ben as he proceeded to go out the door and into the hallway.
Ben walked slowly down the dark hallway which was lit by flaming torches that lined the wall. Every couple of feet was a wooden door where at least two students slept.
Ben walked until he came to the stairs that led to the courtyard. He grabbed a torch and climbed down. Ben always hated going down the stairs even with a torch which provided very little light to begin with. "When they built these stairs they could have put some windows in" Ben said to himself as he immerged from the bottom of the stairs.
He swung by the kitchen grabbed some bread and cheese and headed to master
Vissils study. He pushed through the door to Vissils study and quickly sat down. Vissils study was a dark room lit only by a fire which seemed always to be low on wood.
Hanging on the walls where all kinds of ornate weapons and at the very end of the study was a shelf full of different vials of multicolored liquids. The only people in the room besides Vissil was Zerk Gother a strong willed, black haired rival of Bens, and Madle who Ben didn't know very well but had gotten along with in the brief encounters he had had with him. "You're late Ben," said Vissil
"Sorry, my roommate didn't wake me up this morning like he usually does," replied Ben.
"I expect you won't make the same mistake again," replied Vissil with a calm expression on his face.
"Don't worry, I won't" said Ben a little sheepishly.
"Sure," sneered Zerk Gother from across the room.
"Think whatever you want, Zerk, but I remember when you…"
"Enough!" snapped Vissil, cutting off Ben. "Let's talk about your fate. As you very well know you three students will be heading across the bridge to the Alkins castle in an attempt to better understand the military setup of our enemies. You will be leaving tonight"
"How will we get across the bridge?" asked Ben.
"I already have that arranged. A rope will be attached to my personal tower and the other end to the Alkins tower, the far left one next to their student quarters. You will be strapped into a harness and will slide across," replied Vissil.
Ben’s lips cracked a smile. "That's ridiculous" stated Ben.
"This mission must not be taken lightly. You will be very different men from what you are now. We've taught you how to kill, desensitized you to violence, and made you the ideal servants for the Lord Strene. It is your destiny to do this. I have helped train you since you where brought to this castle from a very tender age, Ben, and know you well, I think you're ready for this mission."
Ben looked down and studied a knot in the wooden table. The fibers of the rings of wood gradually getting bigger as the neared the edges of the knot. "Is there any way to know if I'm ready for this master. I'm only nineteen and can't even seem to get up on time," said Ben, looking up and peering over the table to Madle and Zerk. They had been oddly quiet. Usually, Madle would have chimed in by now. "Maybe Vissil already told them all of this," thought Ben.
"The key to surviving this is following orders, Ben. You must follow my commands to the tiniest detail." Having said that, Vissil jumped up and shouted, "Ben, kill them!"
Madle and Zerk both jumped up and grabbed weapons. Madle pulled out his hunting knife and Zerk ran over to the wall and grabbed a battle axe which was hanging there.
"What's going on?" Shouted Ben. He could feel adrenaline rushing through his body and his heart pumped so hard he could almost hear it.
Zerk was the first to act. He ran and jumped onto the table and in one fluid motion jumped yet again, swinging his axe down, intending to split Ben in the middle from head to midsection. Ben didn't have time to pull out his sword, so he grabbed a nearby chair and threw it at Zerk, sending him crashing into the wall to Ben's left.
Ben turned around just in time to see Madle's knife approaching his neck. He grabbed Madle's wrist, and the two struggled to gain hold of the knife. Ben jerked Madle to his right, slamming him up against the wall. Then he pushed Madle into the shelf, sending glass bottles crashing down on Madle's head. One of the bottles shattered splattering red liquid all over him.
Ben whipped out his sword and turned to face Zerk who had recovered his axe and was charging towards him. Ben grabbed the table and pulled it in front of him. Zerk's axe slammed into the table, embedding into the wood. Zerk pulled on the axe trying to remove it from the table, but to know avail. Ben kicked the table over and the axe's handle slammed into Zerk's face knocking him to the floor. His head hit the stone floor with a loud crack and he didn't move again.
Ben whipped around to face Madle, but only saw a red puddle of steaming liquid that appeared to be Madle's remain
s.
"Why did they attack me!" shouted Ben.
"For only one reason, because I told them to," replied Vissil. There was a loud knock at the door. "Let me take this" said Vissil.
Ben closed his eyes. He didn't know what to think. "If Vissil doesn't explain I'm going kill myself" thought Ben.
"Like you'd be able to kill me, Ben," said a familiar voice in a mocking tone.
Ben opened his eyes slowly. Standing across the room stood Zerk and Madle completely unscathed and in different clothes than they had been wearing earlier. Ben spun around just in time to see what he thought was Zerk's body and Madle's remains disappear into a cloud of black smoke. He turned slowly back to Vissil.
"Why did you do that!" shouted Ben, still in disbelief.
"I had to know whether or not you could be trusted to handle the most startling situations in an appropriate manner. Pick up the chairs and sit down," replied Vissil, gesturing towards the mess Ben had made. Ben reluctantly sheathed his sword and picked up a chair. His heart was still racing and his limbs where shaking from the fight. He set up a chair and plopped down heavily into it and let out a long sigh.
"This is ludicrous, this is going to be much harder than I thought." Thoughts like this raced through Bens mind as he waited for the others to find chairs. Vissil walked over to the wall, rang a bell and then sat down. Once all four where sitting, Vissil began to talk.
"Ben, we will discuss what just happened later, and I assure you, it was necessary. Now I will do the talking and you will not ask questions until I'm done. Clear?" The three students nodded their heads and Vissil begin to talk again. "Tonight you three will go across the ten mile expanse that separates our two castles by a rope which will be stretched across from my personal tower to the Alkins far left one. " Vissil was interrupted by a servant running in and setting a map of the Alkins castle on the table.
The servant quickly ran out. Vissil continued talking. "Using very careful calculations we have decided that the best place for the other end of the rope is the Alkins far left tower right next to the student quarters. My tower is several hundred feet higher than theirs, so the rope will have a downward slant. You three will be attached to harnesses and will slide over the expanse to the Alkins tower".
Vessel grabbed a black stick and pointed to the map. "Here is my tower," he indicated a small but high tower along the outer wall of the Vinters castle, "and here's the Alkin tower the other end of the rope will be attached to." Vissil pointed to a tower on the Alkins castle. "This is where you will slide to.
"Now I'm going to tell you something that very few in this castle have knowledge of: what you saw earlier was not a figment of your imagination, Ben. It was something the Lord Strene has been searching for for many years. You three are fully aware of the mining operation that has been going on for decades down below the castle." The three nodded their heads with vigor. Vissil contained talking and the students listened eagerly.
"Exactly one month ago we found what we where looking for. An Alkin slave broke his pick on the corner of a crystal and went to his master to get a new one and told him how it had broken. The slave master immediately investigated the crystal and identified it as the Perthain crystal.
"Now it's time for some history. Our ancestors when first building this castle thousands of years ago knew of the crystal power and knew that with it they could rule the entire universe. So they placed it on the very top of the castle in a stone hand similar to the one that exists their now. With its power they built a bridge across the chasm and connected it to the Alkins front gate. They had a superior army and where preparing to march across the bridge when a man by the name of Rugard, an Alkin spy that had infiltrated our ranks, using magic and other methods, blew the wrist of the stone hand up.
The Perthain crystal came crashing down and smashed through the castle and buried itself deep into the ground, destroying much of the castle with its decent into the earth.
Our race has never been the same, never capable of destroying the Alkins, our hated enemies. Many attempts where made, and some almost destroyed them, but always at the last minute they would devise some plan to save their race. We've been in a stalemate for the last five thousand years, until now. The Perthain crystal has many properties that are unknown to us, but we do know how to fundamentally use it. I used it today on you, Ben."
Zerk smirked and Ben gave him a icy glare. "Continue master," said Ben through gritted teeth.
"The Lord Strene was immediately notified of the crystal's finding and left his throne room for the first time in exactly a hundred years and descended into the mines.
The Lord Strene smashed a hole in the crystal with his bare hand and out of the hole came clouds of black smoke. The smoke assaulted him and he stood in the same place for over a week fighting the smoke. Finally he overcame its power and gained control. Lord Strene returned to his throne with a great chunk of the crystal, which he had broken from the large mass buried at the bottom of the mine, and the smoke which was now under his control. Yet another week passed, then Lord Strene called all of his magicians and advisors to gather for a meeting. I was one of the magicians at the meeting. I can't tell you everything that transpired at that meeting but I can tell you some of what I learned about the Perthain crystal and how to use it."
Vissil reached inside of his cloak and removed two small black bags. "For starters this is a piece of the legendary Perthain crystal," said Vissil, as he removed a chunk of crystal from one of the black bags and set it on the remains of the table. The shard of crystal looked as if it had been a piece of a glass window that had shattered and appeared to have very sharp edges.
"May I touch it?" asked Ben, curiosity burning in his heart. Vissil gave him a nod and Ben gently picked it up. The crystal was an unnatural black that some how reflected light. The dim fire was entirely visible in certain places in the crystal where it produced a perfect reflection. Ben handed it to Madle who peered at it with interest for several moments and passed it to Zerk, who took a quick glance at it then laid it on the table.
"Now I will explain the properties of this crystal," said Vissil. "It is a conductor of energy, supernatural energy, that comes from the Perthain crystal, which is filled with energy it sucks from the world. The Perthain crystal can only hold so much energy, so the
Lord Strene does not give these to everyone. This small shard of the Perthain stone is full of energy that comes from the bigger crystal that resides in the ground. It is transferred to this shard by Lord Strene who is in complete control of the huge crystal under the castle.
He acts as the means by which energy comes to this shard of the Perthain crystal. He gets his energy from the big piece of crystal and passes it to the smaller ones," explained Vissil.
Ben against his better judgment interjected with a question. "What can we do with the energy once it's inside of this shard?"
"You are able to do many things outside of the rules of our world," replied Vissil, not at all annoyed by Ben's question. "This is a very advanced subject that is not easy to understand, and it will be necessary for you to pay close attention. Am I real?"
The question was obviously aimed at Ben. He pushed his hair out of his eyes and rested his hand on his chin for several moments before replying. "Define real. After my surprise this morning, I doubt I will ever know when someone is actually real".
"Good answer. Real is what you perceive is real, not necessarily what is real. Like this morning. Now for the other bag." Vissil reached over the table and grabbed the other bag, undid the tie and pulled out a small bottle. The bottle was about half a hand high and covered in strange writing the neither Ben, Madle or Zerk could understand. The contents of the bottle, barely visible through the foggy glass, appeared to be a black cloud of smoke darting back and forth and occasionally poking the wall of glass that imprisoned it. The bottle's black contents where secured by a red cork, which Vissil tapped his finger on.
"The contents of this bottle contain liquid matter. W
e use this to construct images that also have the ability to move and touch their surroundings because of the presence of matter. It is by this method that I created the images of Zerk and Madle this morning".
"Master," interjected Madle, "this makes this morning fully clear to us, but what does this actually have to do with our mission?"
"Hold your tongue. If you let me speak, then you will understand. Now I will tell you, from start to finish, your mission. After the rope is attached from my tower to the Alkins, you will slide across at about midnight, tonight. You will be carrying your weapons, and one of you will be carrying this shard of crystal and this flask. After you land, you will go to the door outside of the Alkin student quarters. This one right here."
Vissil pointed to a small section on the Alkins castle. "As you know, you will land very close to this." Gesturing to the tower where the three were going to land. "It's a very short walk from where you're going to land to these quarters, once you get there you must contact me, and I will tell you what to do. You will contact me through this."
Vissil stood and grabbed a stone ball off the shelf above the dwindling fire.
"There are two of these. I have one; you'll have the other. All you have to do to contact me is breathe on it." He rolled it across the rough table to Madle. "Now breathe on it."
Madle inhaled and then breathed a steady stream of air over the ball. While he was doing this, Vissil pulled out a similar stone ball from his cloak and breathed over it. Madle's eyebrows jutted up with surprise as Vissil's face became visible in the stone ball. It was a foggy image, but still recognizable. "Sound can be heard through this, as well. So you can communicate with me completely, no matter where you are or how far away. Ben will be in charge of all the devices I send with you three. Keep them very safe. After you land and get to the door, contact me! Then I'll tell you how to do literally everything you need to accomplish your mission".
"Are we done?"
"Yes, Ben, we're done. I'm not permitted to tell you any more than what I just did.
Meet me at my tower a half hour before midnight. Dress warm and don't bring anything except your weapons."
"You're not going to tell us any more about the Perthain crystal or the flask or how they fit into our mission?"
"No I'm not . . . "
A loud crash and the sound of running solders interrupted him. Vissil rushed over to the door and threw it open. "What was that?" he shouted.
A castle guard shouted back, "There's been a student uprising on level forty-five, the level just below us. They were opposed to the torture of some Alkin spies and, because of their disagreement with their masters, where going to get punished. But instead of facing their punishment, they've decided to rescue the spies and hide them in their room. And were going to kill the whole batch of 'em for their treachery. We could use some help if you can spare it; they've gotten pretty violent down there."
Zerk was already unsheathing his sword as the guard spoke. Ben didn't like meddling in matters such as this, but, from the sound below him, he could tell that they needed help.
"I'll go," he said, drawing his sword. "You coming, Madle?" He replied by shrugging and walking in the opposite direction. Ben and Zerk ran down the hallway. The sound of men yelling and crashing led them to a scene of chaos: a line of about twenty solders, shields and swords out, opposing a group of students of about equal size. A large student with two swords stood yelling at the guards, who in return yelled back. Ben had difficulty interpreting the conversation, if you could call it a conversation. A guard grabbed the horn hanging at his waist and blew it, silencing everyone.
A red-clad troop Commander stepped forward and shouted to the students that opposed him. "This is your final chance drop your weapons, and you'll be slaves for the rest of your lives. Continue fighting and die!"
None of the students responded.
"So be it. Forward, kill them all!" And the clash began.
The Omen of Hope
Darby Laird