The Hunted

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

As Tor groggily sat up once more, the bearded old man let out a piercing whistle. As the final note drifted into silence, the other members of the party appeared from the undergrowth around the glade.

"Well, I guess it’s time for introductions then! Or do you want to sleep a bit more first?" the old man asked in his rich, powerful voice.

"G…Get away from me, you kidnappers! How dare you enter the house of God and perform such misdeeds of evil!" replied Tor fearfully.

"Oh dear. He's really got the wrong end of the stick Thoris! This is going to take a while isn't it!" the weasel faced man stated humour fully with a bellow of clear laughter.

                                     ***

Meanwhile, in the Empire fortress of Dakotar, the great studded iron gates clanged open. Troops in Empire uniform paraded the great stone battlements as hundreds of Cavalry riders rode out to the crescendo of trumpets and military horns. A deep steady drum beat thumped through the darkness as the ten thousand soldiers of the Ninth Eagle followed the horses. Their huge ranks glinted black and silver in the dim torchlight as thousands of pikes stabbed the air. The coarse shouting of men-at-war cut the dark silence of the night like a knife through butter.

Up on the mountain top above the towering bastille of evil, a man dressed in plain travellers clothes rode away. He knew enough.

                     ***

"Hear me out please, Tor. Listen to my story before you do anything reckless like trying to escape. Maybe after this you won’t want to escape."

"Yeah, right! How do you know my name anyway, it’s not like I told you!" Tor said in a panicked tone.

"Calm down. All will be explained." Thoris paused for effect. "Long ago, back in the dawn of time, the Gods came together and created our universe. When the Universe began, so did the Great Design. In the centre of the Universe, the heart of the Great Design was born. This planet is that heart. And the Gods came to this planet and shaped it to their plans. And then they came back to the Green Vale, where they first came to earth, and breathed life into the earth itself. And on that day the Earth was born. For century after century, the Gods continued their creation and added species after species, plants and animals alike. And all creature had life, for the Gods were pure and it pained them to destroy a life.

But slowly, over time, the first God who came to Earth, Kytor, became corrupt and twisted. His creations became more and more evil, as the God himself grew crueller. He gave himself a new name: Chaos and built up an army of his darkest creations: the dragons, to rid the world of his brothers. His Dragon Army was but two hundred strong, yet this was enough, for all know that dragons are the darkest champions of evil and almost invincible in battle.

And Ballor, Romanus and Aragan came together to plan their defence. The three pure brothers summoned all of their powers to create each of them a weapon of purity, a weapon that knew no evil.

And Ballor created the humans, a design that went soon astray, as humans are of divided minds and owe no allegiance to their creator. Many joined Ballor but yet more joined Chaos. And so Romanus, created metals and showed the humans how to use fire so that they could wield weapons of iron and steel.

But it was Aragan who had the greatest creation. He laboured long and hard for many years in his secret mountain retreat until he was ready to finally create his weapon of utter purity. He amassed his full power and spirit and fashioned a sapphire of unearthly beauty. He poured into it his spirit and his power and his purity as a whole and the jewel was blessed for ever more. And for its keeping he entrusted his three disciples of power.

But when the battle of the Gods began, Aragan saved the power of his Orb, for he knew that its wrath was terrible and that it had been ordained for a far greater purpose. And in his great wisdom he foretold that it must be wielded by a mortal of pure blood, and that only when the world was in its darkest age, would this wielder be born of the purest lineage. And as the forces of Chaos destroyed the forces of purity, Ballor, Romanus and Aragan withdrew from this world in all but spiritual form as they could no longer bare to be among all the pain and death. Ballor entrusted his high priests with the keeping of men, whilst the servants of Romanus were set the task of organising a retreat for the surviving forces of the pure three. And as the form of Aragan left Earth, he entrusted his foremost disciple, Thoris, to find and safeguard the descendants of the line that would one day give birth to the true wielder of the Orb. And with that final task, the last of the pure trio left Earth."

Despite vowing to himself that he would not listen to his kidnappers, Tor had by now become interested in the story. He had heard it many times before, but the rich, commanding tone of the man called Thoris gave for a wonderful tale.

"Go on. I’m listening." Tor told the man.

"Alright, alright. Let a man have a breath of air and a sip of ale would you!" he replied. "But I should warn you first that you won't have heard this part of the story."

And with that he took a sip of his ale, a deep breath of air and continued his age old tale.

"And when Aragan disappeared, his three disciples of purity fled from the scene of carnage that was the Battle of a Thousand Tears. For their God had ordered them too, and though it pained them so, they knew it was for the Greater Good. They fled to the mountain towers that were their homes and there they studied their scriptures and their writings for a clue to discover the lineage of the Orb. And finally, as they despaired, for they could find no hint, Thorgrin, Second Disciple of Aragan, came across the Codex of Light. And in it they discovered the whereabouts of the line of the Orb:

"and he who is the wielder of the weapon of the light shall be from northern grit and dwell where the clouds meet land. He who assists the creator will be born by the glade of life. And so his line will dwell on the tower of flint, at the highest place. And they shall be marked by a star of pure light."

And so Thoris journeyed to the Northern Mountains, near the Green Glade, where he found the line at a village at the top of Mount Flintstock, where he dwelled in secret for centuries upon centuries, protecting the line of the Orb from the shadow of Chaos. And, as the codex did state, each of the line was marked by a pure white birthmark in the shape of a star.

But one cold winter, the servants of the Dragon God were far from content with their warm, safe halls and instead longed for blood. For a while their hunger was sated by the leftovers of the human sacrifices made to Chaos, but soon they longed once more for blood spilt in fierce, desperate violence. And so Chaos sent them forth to wreak terror and havoc on his Empire to ensure that his conquered people remained submissive. And so the Winter of Dark Shadows began.

And in the midst of the killing, the mountain-top village was destroyed in great bloodshed. Thoris could do nothing as he knew that this massacre was meant to be, as the Codex stated: "But one day this shall pass, and the spilt blood will be the herald of the coming of the heir. And so this shall come to pass."

And so Thoris waited for the carnage to end. And when it did, he knew that there would be a sole survivor: the orphaned child of the line of the Orb. And so he searched the remains of the village until he came across a baby, swaddled in white cloth, and with the star of his lineage upon his palm. Thoris took the baby and fled the scene of death. He placed the baby in the care of an orphanage, until it was time. Time... For a revolution!"

"That was all very interesting, but I don’t see what that has to do with me." Tor said curiously.

" YOU are that boy. I... I am Thoris."

Hey guys, thanks for reading! Can I please have some constructive critiscism? Also, can I please have some votes to help me along the way. Special thanks to Watty_Supporter for being my first follower and helping to promote my book.

Quick notice: I am about to start on a new book, a murder mystery, and new readers would be welcome.