The Mazari

Prologue - Shadow

        The night was young and there was not a single Chorran soul in sight. It was a silent evening in the city of Izatel, as it was every single night. The occasional barking of hounds and grunting of the villagers broke the silence. But it would be different if this were five decades ago, during the war against the Mazari.

If it were still during those days, guards would fill the streets, the Chorrs would be restless and several Ulterion soldiers would guard the walls of Izatel. Fifty years ago, Izatel was the only untouched sub-city of Chorra left. After the fall of Revandor and Haugoberth, the leaders of Chorra gathered the mightiest Chorran fighters of each of the fifty houses. They were then known as the Ulterion, guardians and soldiers to serve the chief numina of the Chorrans, Ulteros. The Ulterion fought against the Mazari, a faction made up of Chorrans who are staunch believers of the old-gods. They were branded as heretics and infidels by the Chorran lords who have found renewed faith in the numina. This of course angered the Mazari and with the leadership of their tribe-king, Magon Draz, they laid siege to the new Chorran cities. The Mazari invaded and controlled the towns of Kalkava, Kathan, Tulk, Kalimeg and Faur’Tur within a week and a month later they ravaged the major cities of Revandor and Haugoberth. The Mazari failed to enter Izatel, the remaining towns of Sor’Freko and Anoho and the capital of Chorra as they were met by the more organized and better armed Ulterion soldiers led by Eldarik Tyro.  Magon Draz fell in the battle of Izatel at the hands of the mortally wounded Eldarik who then died an honourable death.

But that was fifty years ago. After the death of Draz, the Mazari fled into the forest that separates the Chorran and Hark territories. Starting that day there was peace and the Chorrans live through uneasy days of halcyon not knowing when or where the Mazari might strike again. The moon was bright tonight and its light shone over the ivory buildings of Izatel. A Chorran sentry illuminates his lantern and begins his shift. Armed with two short blades, he peeks between the crenellated walls occasionally looking for any signs of invaders or danger. But there was no danger that night, nobody thought there would be; and that’s where everyone went wrong, that’s where the silence got broken.

A shadowy figure crept around the walls. Armed with an array of tools, he carefully scaled the white vanguard of Izatel. Nobody knew he was there, nobody bothered to look either. The guards spent most of their nights on a corner either drinking some sort of intoxicating drink or gambling on any sort of game. Sometimes the guards gambled and drank at the same time.

The figure knew this of course; he studied the movement and activity of the guards in advance and found out that they all gathered at a point near the corner walls. If he heard the clanging of coins and stone and the guards’ laughter he simply avoids that place. He pulled up his rope and dropped it to the other side of the wall. And as easy as that, he was in.

Consulting his rough map of Izatel he made his way above the roofs of the city. His target was an Ulterion captain living in an elegant home near the heart of the city. Like a feline the dark invader dashed above the ivory abodes swiftly and silently and as he reached the middle of Izatel, he silently entered his target’s home. There were several rooms in the abode, yet he expertly managed his way around the house and dodging all the guards in the process. That is if any of the guards were awake at all.

The invader found the Ulterion captain sleeping in his bed. Beside the bed was a bust of Ulteros. The invader awakens the captain and stood next to him.

The captain awoke and recognizing the figure, and his fate, closed his eyes and uttered “Ulteros will punish you.”

The figure reached for his dagger and stabbed the Chorran captain in his heart, killing him instantly. The assassin then dipped his fingers on the pool of blood and ran them over the figure of Ulteros. He exited through the window he whispered with a smug look in his face “The Mazari lives once again.”

The figure stealthily escaped through the same route he took coming in and before anyone knew about the captain’s fate, the shadows have already hidden his assailant.

The moon was bright tonight, and its light shone over the ivory buildings of Izatel and the dried dark blood over Ulteros’ face.