Seth
Seth and Maya had talked late into the night, even as they made camp at the edge of Hector’s barrier, so they had gotten a late start the next morning. Although the subterranean Marzett residence had not been far from Hem Academy, it was nearly midday when they reached the shadow of the titanic silver tower. Maya marveled at the sight of the school while Seth basked in its reminiscent glow. Breaking their reverie was a cluster of fellow spellwarriors in chain mail combat gear who had begun to file out of the tower’s massive ebony doors. What, are we going to war?
The impromptu parade had lasted nearly ten minutes, during which time Seth was certain that the building had been emptied. As many people as there were standing between him and Hem Academy now, he was sure that even the students must have been outfitted for this mysterious ceremony. The last to exit, were the ten academy elders. Seth spotted Karian Maloran, the Grandmaster of the order at the very end of the queue, accompanied by three templars. When the full force of the Hem Order had come to a complete stop, the Grandmaster and three templars approached the bewildered recruit. He could find little comfort in his gentle smile or his usual aura of reassurance because he was focused on the templars. One of them, a giant woman with short, steel-grey hair and leathery tan skin had begun to speak.
“Seth Midas, I am--”
“I know who you are, Matilda the Bear.”
She and the Grandmaster were paradoxes of their respective orders. Although they were each the supreme commanders of two bitterly rivaling units, they were somehow happily married. Of course, this was always regarded a secret which Seth only knew because his mother was Karian’s cousin.
“Good, that should save us time,” she responded in a dialect characteristic of Galean immigrants. “We are all pleased to see that you’ve survived. Now we have some questions for you.”
All evidence seemed to point to this reception being for his benefit, but the idea had seemed so surreal that he had a hard time believing it. He had come to ask his own questions of the elders, but now Templars had taken an interest in his ordeal. How interesting his life had become since the case of the useless prayer charms. That couldn’t have been what this was about, was it?
“Okay, I’m ready to talk. But… what’s going on here?”
“You’ve missed a lot recently,” Karian said gravely. “Prince Jonathon was assassinated last night and we’ve just received word that Princess Esther has fallen dead at her own party.”
“But that’s not what I wanted to speak to the boy about,” Madam Maloran said sharply.
“My dear, you were the one who told me these events might be related.”
“Related how?” Seth asked.
Matilda ignored his question and said, “Tell me about the night before you went into your coma in your own words.”
Seth had been so overwhelmed by everything that seemed to be happening all at once that he had barely registered the deaths of half of the royal family. He was beginning to feel frustrated by the couple playing tug of war with his mind, but he was far from uncooperative. The templars listened to his story without comment. When he had covered his failed attempt to break his curse, Matilda raised a hand to stop him.
“That will do. You’ve told me what I need to know.”
Master Karian and the templars held a brief and whispered conference while alternating glances at Seth. When they returned to his side, Matilda spoke once more.
“These ‘Dark Walkers’ you speak of are familiar to me,” she said with a growl. “They are called maulans, foul man-beasts who served Maula in her Wave of Death.”
“I’ve heard the stories. So, what, are we looking at another Wave of Death?”
“That is what we’re assuming,” Karian said with a nod to the assembled spellwarriors. “The timing of the royal family deaths is an important detail. The last time Maula roamed this world, the royalty of both of our founding nations were targeted.”
Seth nodded to show he understood. “If that is the case, I am ready to join my brothers and sisters in sorting this out.”
Husband and wife exchanged a rapid glance before Karian said, “You will not be joining us.”
Before Seth could muster his objection, Matilda added. “Your path is a different one. You will be coming with me to the city of Gyanda.”
That revelation did nothing to make him feel better. He fought valiantly for his creed, but it was hopeless. When Grandmaster Maloran gives an order, he rarely changes his mind. So, within moments, Matilda barked at her subordinates to prepare a sky rug and Karian took him aside.
“Seth, I know that asking one of my own to cooperate with the templars may not seem fair, but this is not a punishment. No matter where your journey takes you in the coming days, you are still a member of the Hem Order.”
Seth nodded, but only mumbled in reply.
“I know this may be hard for you to believe now, so I will give you something to assure you of my esteem.”
Before the young Midas could ask for clarification, Karian whispered something to one of the other elders. Thus, the elder spellwarrior darted away and returned within seconds. There was a teenage girl with a short, stocky frame and long, wild brown hair trailing in her wake. She was dressed in plain leather traveling clothes instead of any armor or academy uniform. She looked confused, but positively excited to be standing where she was.
“You will take an apprentice as all full-fledged members of our order eventually do,” Karian explained as he gestured toward the girl. “This is Samantha Desmond. You will protect and guide her throughout your journey. If she truly has the potential to pass the muster that you did, I know you’ll be the first to tell us.”
Seth nodded, a little dumbfounded. Admission to Hem Academy was only granted with the recommendation of an existing spellwarrior. So without a mentor, Samantha Desmond would never get a chance to join the order. It was considered a rite of passage for all spellwarriors to eventually be trusted with such a charge, but he hadn’t expected to be assigned an apprentice so soon.
“Nice to meet you,” Seth said, his utter bemusement failing to foil his courtesy completely. Samantha had parroted his words in a squeaky voice and her face flushed with embarrassment.
Finally, the templars announced that the sky rug was ready. So Seth, Maya, Samantha and the three templars sat down on the gently floating carpet and within moments, they were off.
***
Seth had waited until they reached Gyanda to ask any questions. But as the other templars dispersed, Matilda had insisted that they get to the Grand Temple first. The secrecy was starting to bother Seth, but everyone who knew the first thing about the Templars’ Grandmaster knew better than to prod her; she was known as The Bear for a reason. So, Seth had taken this time to get to know his new friends better.
Maya had followed Seth around in wonder since they had left Hector. He knew that everything they saw together would be a new experience for her, but he didn’t expect her to be so intoxicated by it all. With little practice to her credit, Seth had found her to be an awkward conversationalist, though nothing she said had been wrong to the point of bothering him. In fact, every little unusual quirk of hers simply amused him. She was chatty when the mood called for it, but she was quiet when she wanted to be. What really took getting used to was that she had taken to holding his hand frequently since the first time he offered it to her. Still, if anyone was going to do that, it might as well be the one woman who could conceivably do so and live.
Samantha, who said she preferred to be called Sam, was a different story, as he came to find out when she learned to speak through her euphoria. She seemed very intelligent, but so disinterested in everything around her save her new master. She bombarded him with questions that he would have considered far too complex at her age. The young apprentice seemed to know more than any outsider should about the Spellwarriors’ culture and was already fluent in the sole Grade 1 spell book she possessed. She couldn’t do any of the spells yet, but she was eager to learn how. Frankly, she already seemed to be more of a spellwarrior than he had been as an apprentice. Well, she’ll be easy to mentor at least.
They reached the long marble steps that heralded the path to the grandest of the four Grand Temples. Tall braziers lined the entire way up and they were now standing under a thirty-foot tall arch of blue gold that hoisted a single torch. Maya, of course, was left breathless by the Chaotic temple’s majesty, but Matilda held out her hand when she made to follow.
“You two are to wait here. Midas and I will be entering the temple alone.”
Sam bitterly objected, but Maya seemed to be content with standing where she was.
“You’ll come back, though?” She had asked Seth.
“Of course I will,” Seth replied with a nod.
“Great! Then we’ll see you later!”
Maya then took Sam by the hand and dragged her off, leaving Seth and Matilda alone to ascend the long path to Ragos’ temple. When they were inside, the young spellwarrior was dumbfounded. The walls were lined with ancient weapons and faithfully restored banners depicting the sigils of clans that predated Resta’s founding. He somehow noticed that the banners were arranged in such a way that they all faced another banner representing a clan that had historically warred with their own. Even though these grudges were long forgotten, Ragos had long enjoyed the spectacle of war and his followers always honored both the victors and losers of such conflict.
The altar itself was arranged on an amphitheater that might have been, itself, as large as the temple he frequented back home. Two-thousand pews filled the room and the customary statue of Ragos was over fifty feet tall. The whole thing made for a humbling sight, but a terribly long walk. When they finally reached the altar, Seth’s feet had begun to ache, but he realized that he was in the last place in the world anyone should complain about something like that.
The High Priest who stood in front of the statue was cut from the same mold as Matilda. Same leathery skin tone; same tall, bony, muscular frame; and same appraising glare. He might have guessed the two were related, but when he spoke, Seth was sure that he was a native Restan.
“Is this the boy?” he demanded.
“Yes, your holiness,” Matilda said respectfully. “He is the one cursed with the shadow of Maula. It is just as you said.”Whatever the priest had been seeing in his hawk like staring contest with Seth, he didn’t seem to approve. “You’re sure?”
“Yes, sir,” Matilda replied adamantly. “It is the same as with my son.”
The mention of the templar’s son implausibly made the priest smile. Seth knew that she and Master Karian had three sons, but he had never heard that one of them had been cursed.
“How is young Gyanda doing?”
Bellarose’s jovial expression fell into a stoic mask. “No one’s seen him since he was expelled.”
Seth winced as he recalled the expulsion in question. His second cousin had went to Hem Academy as well and, though he wasn’t much of a fighter, he had excelled in the magical aspect of his studies. That was until he had been suspended for fighting. Back when Seth was still an apprentice, he’d heard some bullies had been picking on him and he had killed them all-- in addition to several bystanders, including templars--in a rage.
The High Priest sighed and turned to look at Seth. “It’s too bad. I would much rather believe he was the one Ragos meant.”
Matilda shook her head. “I do not think he would want to see us right now. He unjustly blames the gods for what happened.”
Patience had always been the hallmark of the Midas family’s values, but his was not limitless. He was tired of being led around on a chain. After everything he’d been through, he simply could not abide them changing the subject when he was so close to something important.
“Help with what?” Seth roared. “I’ve been poisoned and trapped in a coma after watching a friend DIE, and now I can’t touch another godsdamned person without killing them. So in case you haven’t noticed, I have a lot on my mind right now. So would someone please, oh please, tell me what the fuck is going on here?”
“Midas! That is no way to--” Matilda grunted, only to be cut off by a laugh from the priest.
“Hm. You’ve got a lot of anger in you, boy,” the priest declared. “Perhaps Ragos will have some use for you after all.”
A frigid chill had run through his body, quelling his steaming temper.
“Midas,” the templar commander murmured weakly. “The reason I brought you here is because Father Maximus has requested your presence. According to him, you might be the new champion of Ragos. If so, you must follow the path of the hero Nicholai.”
“You mean according to Ragos!” the priest grumbled petulantly. “His divine grace told me so himself. And he wants to talk to you too, champion.”
“This is beyond belief,” Seth grumbled. “I’m not a priest. How am I supposed to talk to Ragos?”
“You don’t talk! You listen!” the priest snapped.
Seth rolled his eyes. “Fine, how am I supposed to listen?”
“You will be trained by Father Maximus,” Matilda explained. “When you are ready to fulfill your duty, you will join the other divine champions and send Maula back to Fadal where she belongs.”
Seth did not like what he was hearing. Why must he train in a temple like some templar while his brothers and sisters were fighting who knows what? He feared for them all, what with the appearance of maulans and the recent royal tragedies. He had been about to leave when he remembered that this mission had been given to him by Karian. Even if he was there at the templar’s insistence, disregarding her and Father Maximus would violate the Hem elders’ orders. Reluctantly, he was forced to give in and start his divine training. Before he could begin, however, Matilda pulled him aside.
“Midas, there is one more thing I must tell you before I leave you to your training. You heard me mention that my youngest son was cursed by Lady Maula just as you were. The same is true of yet another of your kin; a Serene priestess named Adamora Maloran. It is likely that you may encounter one or both of them at some point. If you do, be careful because the nature of their curse is different from yours. They may be compelled to act on her behalf, even if they are not loyal to her.”
Great. Now I have to watch my back around my own family.
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