Destiny Read online

  Viktor Zólyomi:

  Rider of the Black Horse

  Part V: Destiny

  http://www.rideroftheblackhorse.co.uk

  Disclaimer: All names and occurrences in this story are entirely fictional. Any similarity with actual people or places is purely coincidental. Story, characters, and artwork concept (map and cover art) are copyright Dr. Viktor Zólyomi, 2011, all rights reserved. All graphics (map and cover art) are copyright Juliana O. S. Medeiros, 2011, all rights reserved. The character Irea was adapted in this story with permission from creator Juliana O. S. Medeiros. Kindle edition published in 2012.

  For my mentor Jeno and my beloved Juliana,

  and for the song Memento Mori

  1

  Contents

  Prologue

  Unlikely allies

  Wasteland

  Unforgiven

  The streets of Ashkel

  Reasoning

  Confrontation

  The mapmaker

  In the cage

  The Purple Star

  Prisoners

  Calculations

  The thrillseeker

  The innkeeper

  Breaking the illusion

  Sparkles in the sky

  The reflection

  The demon and the murderer

  The Time of Retribution

  The Death Knight

  How do you kill someone who is already dead?

  The clock is ticking

  Fort Ayne

  Land of dragon-kind

  The dead man

  Desolation

  The Eleventh Hour

  Destiny

  Memento Mori

  And then there was silence...

  Checkmate

  Epilogues

  Cast of characters

  Inspirations

  Prologue

  Ghost of the past

  Somewhere in Arghard, present day (17 hours after Twilightfall)

  He's dead. He died. Over a year ago. Yet, he stands before me...

  Jason Vogan. The man who plunged Ess'yer into war by assassinating the members of the Supreme Council. The man who opened the way for my people to take revenge on the lessers. The man whom I hired to be the one to make the Council fall. The man who failed me. The man, who in the end did exactly what I wanted for his own personal reasons...

  When I met him two years ago, I didn't know who he really was. Doorn, he called himself. He was the most feared assassin of Arghard. Over a thousand people supposedly died by his hand in just seven years. No-one ever escaped him. He was like a myth, a legend. Death incarnate...

  He seemed like the perfect choice... I hired him to slay the Council. He went all the way to the very gates of Re'Cas, to Gatestown. Once there, he destroyed Gatestown, burnt it to the ground, and then vanished without a trace.

  My spies told me all about what had happened. They told me everything they could find out. How shocked I was to learn the truth of what he was...

  He was no mortal man. He was a half-demon, child of the Destroyer, the Demon Lord Th'Mesh, and he fought Councilor Jenathar in Gatestown. It was their battle that lead to the destruction of the town. There was some personal issue between them, it would seem. Knowing the Councilors, it may be that Jenathar meant to use the half-demon as his pawn, or perhaps steal his power, who knows...

  Days after the incident, all Ess'yer spoke of him. Though only as the man who destroyed Gatestown. None spoke of his demonic origins, the Council seemed to have tried to keep it a secret. The Council sentenced him to death and leaflets bearing his portrait were all over Ess'yer. But he was gone. Without a trace. However, his reputation remained...

  Everyone in Ess'yer knew what he had done in Gatestown, even if not the whys and the hows. I chose to take full advantage of that fact, and that after having seen the leaflets we knew what he looked like. I sent my agents to Ess'yer, masking themselves in the illusionary image of Jason Vogan, to instigate a rebellion. Each one of them stood out in front of the crowds and told them about how he meant to end the tyranny of the Supreme Council. Those fools fell for it easily! A year passed and my agents rallied so many peasants behind them, that we were nearly ready to begin the revolts we had planned.

  Then, the unexpected happened. Something that made us stay out of the events that would follow. Something that plunged Ess'yer into war and chaos without our own further involvement. Something that allowed us to just watch them weaken themselves with their petty struggles, and wait until they become so vulnerable that we could take them with ease...

  He started it all. At first, all we heard was that the Council had disappeared, and rumors of the total destruction of Re'Cas surfaced. In time, my agents reported that the real Jason Vogan had returned, and that he had killed the members of the Council. Then, he did the unthinkable.

  He killed his own father. He killed a Demon Lord... Then, he died.

  At least, that's what my agents claimed. They claimed they were very certain that he did not survive. Yet, here and now, Jason Vogan stands before me, looking very much alive. Dressed in the colors of death and blood, wearing black pants, black boots, and a red tunic. A black hooded cloak adorned with a red-black pentagram rests on his shoulders, with the hood thrown back. A curved bladed sword rests in a scabbard on his belt.

  He looks at me coldly, with no emotions visible in his eyes. The black furred horse beside him seems calm as he pats the animal's neck. I wonder if that horse can sense how many lives the assassin has taken throughout his life...

  The real question is, what is he doing here? Were my agents wrong and he never died? If they were right and he died, how can he be here?

  `I was told that you died, assassin...' I tell him. He simply nods.

  `You weren't lied to.' he says shortly.

  `How is it you're here then?'

  `I don't truly know.' he says, and then he silently looks to the distance. Like he is thinking hard on something.

  `I was called.' he continues after a while. `A path was shown to me. An opening through which I could return to Arghard. I chose to return, and now I am here.'

  `Return? From the Afterlife? So, you're a ghost now?'

  `Call me what you will.' he replies, facing me. `I myself don't really know what I am.'

  `Who called you here? Who brought you back?'

  `I do not know.'

  `You don't know?'

  `No. I found no-one waiting for me when I returned. You are the first to come my way.'

  `I see. So, you just came back to give life another try... Or did you return for some unfinished business?'

  He doesn't reply. He just stares into the distance with an emotionless face, silently. Like he is remembering something.

  `You wouldn't understand...'

  I frown, and think back to what Zack told me earlier. About the ghosts of my slave soldiers. He claimed, that dozens of the dead soldiers returned and tried to kill him. Now that I've encountered Jason Vogan, I'm starting to think he wasn't lying...

  If he wasn't lying about that, maybe he wasn't lying about the rest, either...

  What if it's all true? What if it's true that the Afterlife is trying to swallow Arghard, and that the stone he wants is the means through which this is somehow happening?

  Speaking of which...

  `Have you seen a transparent, cube-shaped stone, assassin?' I ask. Jason Vogan looks at me with cold eyes as he replies.

  `Why do you want it, Dragon Queen?'

  `Maybe because it's mine. I told you, I dropped it.'

  `It's not yours. Where did you get it?' he asks strictly. Finally, at least a vague spark of emotion in his voice...

  But I don't like being refused!

  `I took it from the owner of this sword.' I tell him, as I raise Zack's weapon in
my hand. `If you don't give me the...'

  `Did you kill him?' he asks, staring at the sword.

  `Ha! I should be so lucky... No, that bastard is still alive.'

  `Where is he?'

  `What do you care?'

  `Tell me where he is. In exchange, I will give you the stone.'

  Well now... This is certainly interesting... He knows Zack, and he wants something from that cursed black magician. What did he say about the stone? That it wasn't mine?

  Wait a minute...

  Where did Zack get that stone?

  He never told me. I am sure he stole it from someone. Perhaps Jason here knows the previous owner of the stone, and he wants Zack to tell him the whereabouts of this someone.

  Yes, could be...

  If so, I am sure Jason is very eager to find Zack. Well, so am I...

  `Tell you what, assassin. Let's make a deal. Give me the stone now, and I will take you to Zack. However, you will need to help me with that.'

  `Where is he?'

  `First, tell me where we are.'

  He looks at me like he doesn't know if I am serious, but then he replies without even a frown.

  `This is the forest of Enyth. I believe we are northeast of Ashkel.'

  What?!

  `In Ess'yer?! I am in Ess'yer?!'

  `Yes.' he says, nodding slowly.

  Curse you, Zack! How am I supposed to get back to you now?!

  I sigh and look back to the place where the Teleport Gate closed up. Nothing. It hasn't reopened. Now isn't that just wonderful... What am I supposed to do now? I can't just fly over the Dire Sea. That fight in Ighttur-wor left me too weak for that...

  `Can you reopen that Teleport Gate?' I ask, turning back to Jason. He shakes his head.

  `I do not have that kind of power, and I do not even know where it was leading.'

  `To Draconia.'

  `Draconia?' he asks slowly.

  `Yes. I have to go back somehow. I need you to help me with that. You see, I have business with Zack, too, not just you. So, take my offer. I will lead you to Zack, if you take me back to Draconia and you give me the stone.'

  He looks away, staring into the distance. After a brief silence, he turns back.

  `Why do you need me? Why can't you go back on your own?'

  `Because I can't teleport. No-one can. Gateways and Teleportation Gateways are the only way to travel through magical means in Arghard now. Ever since Zack did something stupid and brought a seemingly everlasting twilight to our world...'

  He glances up to the sky, and watches it for a while. He stares at it like he was watching a familiar sky, with no sign of amazement on his face.

  `Do you know why that is, Dragon Queen?' he asks finally.

  `I know what Zack told me. Whether any of that is true, is anyone's guess...'

  `Tell me.' he says, looking at me with his cold eyes.

  `Very well. But I'm warning you, this is going to sound insane...'

  `Whatever.'

  `Alright... I warned you.' I tell him, and I begin to tell him Zack's insane little fairytale.

  Unlikely allies

  Somewhere in the forest of Enyth, present day (17 and a half hours after Twilightfall)

  As I finish telling him what I heard from Zack, I wait silently for his reaction. He doesn't speak. He just stares up at the sky. In silence.

  `I told you... It's insane, and I can't begin to wonder how Zack came up with such lies.'

  `They're no lies...' he says. Then he turns to me and opens his palm, revealing Zack's stone.

  `Take it.' he says. I glance at him with surprise and suspicion in my eyes. Slowly I step closer and reach for the stone.

  He does not pull it away. He lets me take the stone from his palm, and then he watches as I examine it.

  The stone has the shape of a perfect cube. Flawless, with not a scratch anywhere on its surface. Completely transparent, and I have no idea what it's made of. One of its sides is faintly glowing. As I turn the stone, the glow shifts from one side to another, such that the glow always faces a specific direction.

  `Interesting little trinket, isn't it? It's marvelously flawless, possibly the most well worked stone I have ever seen...'

  `Whatever.' he replies. I look up at him. His eyes still lack any visible emotions.

  `You seem to know more of this stone than I do.'

  `I thought I did.'

  `You thought?'

  `Last I saw this stone, it was black, and had special powers. Those are gone now. But I still sense great power within it. Whatever it is.'

  Why don't you try and start making some sense, damn you?!

  I sigh.

  `This is not getting us any closer to our goal... You said you think Zack was telling the truth. What makes you think so?'

  He looks up to the twilight sky.

  `The twilight.' he says. `It is the icy breath of the world of the dead. I am surprised you do not recognize it. You have been dead, too, as I know.'

  `I was dead, yes. But I spent my time in the Plane of Fire, until I was allowed to return. I have never seen the Afterlife.'

  `If the walls between our world and the Afterlife do vanish, then you will.'

  Curses! That lowdown bastard... This is all his doing, his carelessness! I should kill him just for this, not to mention everything else...

  But he claimed he could undo it. If this is for real, I must make him fix it before I kill him. If this is for real...

  `Zack claimed he knew a way to stop it, but he refused to tell me the details.'

  `Where is he?'

  `In Draconia.'

  `I know. You told me. But where within Draconia?'

  `I will guide you there, don't worry. But you need to help me get across the Dire Sea.'

  `Just what do you expect me to do?'

  `I don't know.' I tell him, gritting my teeth. `Maybe... get us a ship?!'

  `Other than some orcs, no sane ship crew will cross the Dire Sea. Even if we find a ship that would take us across, a ship is too slow. The shore is also too far. We have little time left. If you truly want to stop this, we must use a faster means of travel.'

  `If I truly want to stop it? Don't you?'

  `I don't care.' he says coldly. Well now... Not quite the response I expected. Then again, he's a cold hearted assassin, so whatever. Besides, I am still not convinced that there is any threat at all...

  `Fine then.' I tell him, frowning. `You don't care that this world could be consumed by the Afterlife, and I don't believe that it could happen. Yet, the fate of Arghard may very well be in our hands. How ironic...'

  `Sarcasm will not help you reach Draconia in time, Dragon Queen.' he says, almost like he is berating me. But he says it so coldly, that I doubt he really cares...

  `Well, what will help?' I ask.

  `The only way is teleportation. We must find a Teleportation Gateway.'

  `You don't say... Do you know where to find one, assassin?'

  `I might. There have been rumors for many years that the Supreme Council had a secret arcane laboratory hidden somewhere in Ess'yer which housed a Teleportation Gateway powerful enough to open a Teleport Gate to Draconia.'

  `Rumors, huh?'

  `Yes. Rumors.'

  `You say we have no time to waste and you want to go chase rumors?'

  `There may be another way, but this is the quickest, if the laboratory does exist. I can easily find out whether it exists.'

  `How?'

  `Ashkel is nearby. I know someone there who should know. If this place exists, he will even know its location.'

  `Good. Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!'

  He slowly nods, and then takes a look around in the clearing. Then he climbs on the back of his horse and slowly begins walking on horseback.

  Strange. I thought I saw him glance long at one of these trees...

  I look at that tree, and examine it. Interesting... There are two runes carved into the trunk of the tree. Elven runes... I believe the first
one means love, and second one means forever. Well now... Elven runes?

  I stare into the distance and think back to the time when Zack came to me with his offer to kill Voi'Shek. I recall Flora, the elf girl who was in his company. I spoke to her. He's helping me out, that's all. This is what she replied when I asked her why she was hanging out with Zack. Helping her out...

  When I fought Zack and Daniel in Ighttur-wor, she was there, again. Locked in one of those magical cages.

  I remember, when I spoke to her in my citadel, she had an amulet in her neck, which had a black stone in the center. It looked a lot like this transparent stone... Jason said, the stone used to be black... That may have been this stone... Although... I think I saw the same amulet around her neck in Ighttur-wor as well... Then this stone must be something else. Unless...

  Unless Zack stole her amulet and replaced it with a fake so she wouldn't notice! That would explain how Zack acquired the stone, and it would be very much typical of Zack...

  I remember, that my agents claimed that when Jason destroyed Gatestown, he was in the company of Aaron Chraem and an elf girl. That when he killed the Council a year later, he was once again in the company of an elf girl...

  `Are you coming?'

  I am startled by the voice of the assassin. I look towards him. He is sitting on the horse, waiting.

  `Yes.' I tell him, nodding. Carefully I place the stone in my gem pouch, and I walk towards him.

  Now I think I know why he wants to see Zack so much, and ask him where he got the stone... And he doesn't even know who else is waiting there besides Zack...

  Excellent! It's always good to be able to surprise someone who could potentially become an enemy...

  Suppressing a smile, I address him as I walk beside him.

  `Where did you get the horse?'

  `He was wandering around the forest nearby. Wolves attacked him. I fended them off, and he's been staying with me ever since.'

  `Awww... How sweet. The boy and his horse. I hope he's fast...'

  `I think so.' he says, not even briefly replying something to my mocking comment, or even frowning about it. It's unbelievable how emotionless this man is...

  `Then make him ride as fast as he can.'

  `He will not let you sit behind me.' he says, turning to me, as his horse shakes his head and nickers. Clearly, the animal doesn't like me. Perhaps he senses what I am. No matter...