The Summoned
The Seeker
The Light Plane: Nexus of Summoning
They had spent the remainder of that day, as well
as a good deal of the next, burying the bodies of the caretakers that had
been slain. Rachel threw herself into the work, nearly exhausting
herself. It was, after all, her fault these men were dead.
She had killed them. That she had been under Norax's command while
she did so was no excuse, at least, not to her. So she gave the caretakers
a proper burial, as a way to begin reparations for what she had done.
Elayna was the one who suggested a ceremony.
Her father had taught her some before he passed on, but not all.
Elayna's incantations were mainly ritualistic and had no magical base.
A few - mainly to consecrate the ground in which the unfortunate caretakers
were now interred - required very elementary spellcasting. The burial
rites took little time at all, compared to a formal funeral. For
this Elayna apologized, but it was good enough for the rest of the party.
What little of the day remained was spent in discussion trying to figure
out where the group would venture next.
"I think that we should go back to Darren's keep."
Paul suggested. "The Seeker makes frequent visits there... or at
least he did, before he went off on his quest. When he returns, he's
bound to go there. He can open this nexus and bring us to Asa."
Leo, for one, was beginning to feel a little skeptical
of the Seeker's ability. Paul was claiming all sorts of abilities,
but if the Seeker were so powerful, wouldn't he have taught his apprentice
more than the had? Paul seemed to know very little about powerful
magic. Granted, he was good in a fight, but still, Leo had his doubts.
Nonetheless, he agreed with the idea to go to Darren's Keep. Voicing
this, he added "I hadn't told you, any of you, about my reason for coming
to the Light Plane. I was not merely fleeing death at Norax's hands.
I came with a warning for one of your kings. Hopefully, Darren has
passed this warning along to him. The warning is a simple one.
After conquering the Dark Plane, as he has, Norax's plan is to move his
troops into the Light Plane, and subjugate this land as well."
This statement was greeted with silence. Everyone
had assumed that Leo had left to save his life. This told another
tale. They might not even have to go to Norax. Norax had been
planning all along to come to them.
After a pause, Leo continued. "Both my spies
and King LePaige's agree - Darren's kingdom will be the first hit by Norax's
onslaught. This because it is closer to the Nexus, less heavily defended
than other nearby regions, and will give him a tactical advantage - placing
him in between LePaige's kingdom and any resupply routes that could come
from the East."
"LePaige?" Paul spoke up again. "He
has spies in the Dark Plane? Why? How did that happen?
I thought everyone here was ignorant of extraplanar events!" Paul
seemed confused by this - though he was probably just surprised that there
was an operation going on that he didn't know about.
"When my spies found out about Norax's plan, I sent
a messenger to the Light Plane to spread the news. I know he traveled
a great deal, as it was nearly a year before he came back. When he
did, he told of only one person who had been willing to help them - LePaige.
I didn't even know he was a king until I arrived here - I thought him a
general. Whenever Norax's troops were not in control of the Nexus,
which was not often, LePaige would send supplies, and sometimes even men,
through. When the last of my troops were captured, I knew that I
had one more task to carry out - I had to warn LePaige."
Silence again filled the space between them.
Finally, Elayna spoke up.
"I want to stay here and wait for Asa." she said
simply.
"Elayna- " Leo tried to explain, but was cut off
immediately by the child's reply.
"No! First we lost Jamie, and then we lost
Asa! If we keep abandoning each other, there's going to be nobody
left!"
Leo's revelation had given some extra momentum to
Paul's eagerness to leave. "Elayna, I'd like to stay here and wait
for Asa too." he spoke up. Leo looked a bit surprised. "But,
chances are, Norax and his army are going to come through that Nexus before
Asa does. And the three of us are no match against an army."
Elayna looked frustrated, but was unable to come
up with a counter argument. As much as she'd like to kill Norax the
moment he stepped through that gateway, he'd more than likely send a large
amount of heavily armed soldiers through before he made a personal appearance.
And Elayna could only do so much damage before she was subdued....
Reluctantly, she agreed with the plan to go to Darren's keep.
Rachel had been silent during the discussion, as
well as most other times. Now, she spoke. "I know not where
I will go from here. I had little purpose before Norax brought me
away from my simple life, and I have no purpose here, trapped in another
plane." she shook her head. "No purpose, save one. I
must find Norax, and make right the wrongs he has inflicted upon me and
others." After a pause, she asked "Will your paths and that of Norax
cross again?"
Leo nodded grimly. "Yes, they will.
With or without Asa, Norax is coming to this plane, and I intend to meet
him here."
"Then I wish to come with you."
Paul spoke once more, his eyes suspicious.
"He will simply order you, as he did before, to obstruct our path.
I cannot see how that would aid us or you."
Rachel reacted calmly, especially in the light of
such an accusation. "I promised him my obedience, that is true.
But only once. He had the right to hold me to one task only, and
then his control over me would be gone."
Paul nodded his understanding. "I was unaware
that you could put such limitations on a summon."
"You can. You can put any limitation that
you wish. I only hope that your friend did something of the sort."
"It wasn't his debt." Leo interjected.
"One of his ancestors had promised Norax fealty. At least, that is
what we believe."
Rachel did not reply to that. Instead, she
looked away, not wanting to say what she knew was true: Asa didn't
have a chance of surviving.
There was an uncomfortable silence that lasted longer
than it should have before Paul broke it. "If Norax has no further
control over you, then I see no reason that you should not accompany us."
"Thank you...."
The Dark Plane: Norax's Tower, Dungeon
Shivering, Asa looked toward the little square of
light that offered his only view of the outside world. How long had
he been in this cell? At least a few days since the last time Norax
had visited. After that, Asa had seen nobody at all. Except
for the dungeon keeper, who had showed up on a more-or-less regular basis
with food and water - neither of which had appeared very healthy at all.
And now he was sick. He had chills, his head hurt (though not as
much as when he had confronted the Nexus, thank goodness), and he was sick
to his stomach every time he even tried to eat of the food he was given.
He had wrapped himself in the grime-encrusted blanket that he had discovered,
but it hadn't helped at all. He wondered vaguely if Norax were poisoning
his food. But then why go through the trouble of bringing him here
in the first place, if only to kill him?
Asa's wonderings were cut short when the door swung
open, silhouetting the form of the dungeon keeper.
"Get up, you. Someone wants to see yeh." he
said, gruffly. Asa shakily got to his feet and walked toward the
door to be greeted by the two heavily armed guards that were waiting outside.
"These men here'll show yeh the way." the keeper grumbled before shambling
off down the corridor.
"Come with me, you." the one to Asa's right said,
in a tone of voice that demanded compliance. Asa, even when not sick
or summoned, would be no match for this guard in as close quarters as they
were in. So he followed the guard who told him to, while the other
guard followed Asa.
Norax's Tower had a great deal of stairs, Asa found
to his dismay. Of course, just a flight was an exhausting experience
in his condition. But the guard behind him continually pressed what
felt like a fairly sharp blade to his back, and that was motivation enough
for him to keep going. After what seemed an interminable time, the
guards stopped having him climb stairs. Instead, apparently for variety,
they began marching him down the hallways. Asa found himself wondering
what was going on. Was he going to see Norax? Before, Norax
had come to him.... In his fever-muddled condition, he had neither
the endurance nor the mental capacity to reason any further. After
yet another interminable time, they came to what seemed to be a nondescript
door, little different from any other he had seen lining these hallways.
One of the guards knocked lightly, turning away from Asa. Asa saw
the somewhat frightened look that the guard had displayed anyway, and wondered
again if Norax were not behind that door.
"Come in!" An annoyed, scratchy voice screamed
from the inside. "Come in already! Damn you, if I have to open
that door myself...."
Asa's guard opened the door extremely quickly and
shoved him inside, themselves following slowly after. Asa felt relief
that Norax wasn't in here. He also felt apprehension - whoever this
person was, the guards were deathly afraid of him.
The guards' tormentor was not even as tall as Asa.
A gaunt, wrinkled old man, he appeared as though he would drop dead at
any moment. He moved frantically around the room, gesturing madly
as he spoke, his thin and brittle white hair flying in every direction.
"Ah, good, you have brought him to me! Now
I don't have to incinerate you! No, I think I'll just settle with
changing your blood into acid. Get out!" he screamed. "Leave
me with him!"
The guard that had been poking Asa in the back left
immediately, but the other wasn't so bright.
"But sir, what if he-" he stopped talking,
cut off by the old man's glare. A second later, he had left under
his own power, and he thanked his deity for that.
Once the guards had left, and his door was shut,
the old man seemed to suddenly relax. With a sigh, he collapsed into
an ornate chair at one end of the room. "The poor souls" he said,
probably referring to the guards. "I needn't even use any fireworks
to frighten them. Such superstitious fools...." he said this gently,
his voice nowhere near the high-pitched screech he had been speaking in
earlier. His attention turned to Asa. "Oh, but you're sick.
Here, let me see what I can do." He turned to a cabinet, and pulled
out a vial of a greenish-grey fluid. "Here, drink this."
Asa, not quite sure of what was happening, drank
the fluid to avoid angering the old man - just in case this new personality
was a facade. A moment later, he felt suddenly warm, and the headache
and nausea had left him.
"Good, good." the man put the vial into a
round container of some sort, and then turned back to Asa. "You're
feeling better now?"
"Yes, thank you." Asa managed to say, his
voice somewhat weak. "Who are you?"
"Oh, someone's probably already told you about me.
I'm Janus Natchek, one of Norax's most powerful wizards."
Asa shook his head. "My apologies, but I've
been trapped in a cell ever since I came here."
"Yes, of course. You don't know me by that
name anyway. I'm much better known under my other alias. You
see, my given name is 'The Seeker'"
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