Tales of Cobardon

Chapter XXIII

Trevan

He gasped, opening his eyes to find a reptilian head staring back at him with relieved eyes. Demzan was dead, he remembered and he had killed his brother. They had all escaped this living hell: Demzan, Bavolan, Arthur and his three sons. He had none of those people who had shaped him, made him! He had no family. He was alone among all the million cold humans on Cobardon. It was all gone. Joy would soon become a foreign word to him. This inhuman creature is relieved on my life, no gladness. What was there to live for? Demzan — his last touchstone to sanity — was taken from him by ... Raguela! The petty, squabbling gods had taken his family away. A sudden realisation hit him like a mountain — the petty, squabbling lords had taken away the families of hundreds of thousands. To his eyes, any reason for killing the family members of half of Cobardon's was brainless. 

He lurched up while the snakish creature tried to stop him. The creature's one hand went up to hold Trevan back, who flung his gaze towards the creature and glared. Strangely, the creature let Trevan go. Trevan took in his surroundings for the first time — it was a majestic tent littered with extravagant furniture. There was no other human within except him. The scabbard was tossed in a corner; he strapped the scabbard to his hip. Trevan slowly took steps towards the tent flap when a sharp voice spoke from behind him, "Remember, you killed Oskcopa!" "NO! I killed Demzan!" 

The silence was blaring, thrusting thoughts of Demzan again and again into his head. He paused, a step away from the flap, stumbling due to the pounding by his grief. He would never see Demzan and all because of ... Raguela! Raguela! She had to possess me! Why was there the destructive hatred for Oskcopa? Nothing had come from this except misery to everyone except Raguela! She would pay for it! The immortal would die for it!

He gathered and picked himself up, any strength was granted to him by the raging fire of hatred! He clenched his right fist and raised the flap of the tent with his left hand while stepping out. 

It was a terrific sight — the lone tent was built upon a plateau, which stood higher and above a massive stretch of Barren Lands. A crowd of tens of thousands of people stood below, their eyes fixated on him. He looked further away to see people were drinking from the rivers, which were poisoned. Barren Lands was not its usual arid, ochre yellow but it had a very faint tinge of green to it.

Trevan heard the reptilian creature approach out of the tent. It said with a sibilant voice, "My majesty, god of ..." it paused, expecting an answer. Suddenly, it all made sense. His teacher, Nukaton's words came back to him: 'one sure way to rise to immortality is to kill a god. But for an immortal to become a god, he/she needs worshippers.' 

Trevan brought his right hand closer to his face, palm facing upwards, as he opened the fist. A coin was sitting on his palm. He tossed the coin in the air, unsheathing his sword. "... Luck!" he answered while slashing the coin in two with his shining sword. 

The creature faced the crowd and roared, "All hail king of Cobardon. All hail God of Luck!"

A chant went up crashing through the masses. Trevan felt a feeling of unease grow within. He swiftly turned around and marched, stiffly and quickly, into the tent. So many worshipers, still no one who cared for him! He crashed to the ground in the dark tent, blackness closing around him.

He had to serve Demzan with his vengeance!

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Merisa

An infuriated aura wrapped Trevan, who was staring at the map of Cobardon laid in front of them. Around the map stood: Her, Trevan, Benz and Nameless. A week had passed since the clash of the gods; three days had passed since Trevan became conscious. She felt it a sufficient waiting period to prod the king for answers. 

"What is the life count," Trevan inquired, raising his head to look towards her. "It is near 10,000, majesty. All the survivors emerged out of the rivers." Trevan muttered, his eyes glimmering distant, "Kill every human on Barren Lands except me."

"What!" exclaimed Benz. "Last words of Robert," Trevan said while shrugging. "That explains everything," stated Nameless. The creature was about to begin elaborating when Trevan interjected, "I am not an idiot. I understand: the soldiers were in the rivers which don't fall under Barren Lands. If Robert would have had something more precise then the desert might have flung stones into the rivers to kill the people in the water too. But, he wasn't precise. The wording does matter a lot."

Nameless added, "It also explains my life. I am not human, so I lived." "As we are on that matter, why did I not glimpse you if you were alive?" Trevan asked. "I knew it was a war of good tools and I didn't want to be anywhere near it. Also, there was meant to be a survivor, who would have to coronated with haste if Cobardon was not to fall into chaos again. I teleported to Napemol, the closest fortification to Barren Lands. There, I convinced the local, remaining sentry to follow me. They were not light-headed fools and understood the consequences of a delay. Thus, we hurried to here." 

"Ohh for Loshpel's sake, don't explain everything like we are two-year-olds," Merisa said snorting at the creature. "Now, I understand Benz's and the creature's living," Trevan determined, "but how do you live? Demza..."

"... had finished me!" she completed the sentence. "Indeed, he had. So, I sought the answer to the mystery. It was quite difficult to spot, but with some time I started understanding. The answer lied in the weapon of choice. Demzan killed me, only me, with a special dagger. A dagger Demzan assumed to be a dagger of time." 

"It was!" Trevan retorted, slight anger visible in his tone. "It had been. The knife had a history, though. It was last used by Robert and by recent accounts Robert would have met Niuba to forge the pact. With some research, I found out that Robert had met Niuba the very day he was killed. I am led to believe he offered Rulerstead's dragon's heart to call on the meeting. The dagger had been in the strong influence of Niuba's aura. Normally in such a situation, the blade inherits properties that allow the weapon's wielder to send any enemy to death with just one blow. Alas, it wasn't the case this time. The dagger of time had belonged to Robert and then in Death's aura, it had turned to the dagger of timely death! It seems, as per fate, that my death is not yet due. Thus, my last death had been untimely and I was returned from the gates of death. A horrific experience, whose memories, fortunately, I don't recollect. Yet, I know the journey to the gates of death is filled with terror." She seemed to have drifted into her thoughts, trying to give shape to memories that had been tucked into an unreachable corner of her mind.

"I have decided," Trevan declared to the other three. Merisa snapped out of the murky trance, still a little hazed. Trevan pointed while speaking, "Lopelanzec, Dupark and Napemol are without any gentry. Thus, I want Lopelanzec smashed to ruins by the next week's eve. Too many gloomy memories are housed by that castle. Confiscate all the dragons of the Dupark and block any trade to there. The people of Dupark will slowly leave, without any choice. I expect the castle to be a ghost-town within a month. Any people left shall be killed. Reduce the army size of Napemol by half. 20 percentage of the city should also be bulldozed, with the people of theirs having no permission to build any new structure."

Trevan paused for a breath and continued, "Start building new settlements around the Tower. Barren Lands should prosper soon and we shall take full advantage of it. " "Lastly," Trevan said while figuring a crude circle with his finger at the centre of Cobardon, "From above the Eye to below the Barren Lands, till Mount Quombar. Make every gentry, estate and castle swear fealty to Wingbearer."

Benz ejaculated with surprise, "but Wingbearer was the face of the rebelli..." "It is an order!" roared Trevan. Benz, slighlty offended, grimly nodded in acceptance. 

This is quite a mystery, Merisa divulged into her thoughts, while rubbing her forefinger and thumb across her chin. She had decided — she would get to the bottom of this mystery too!