"Forsaken: Part 2 Dangerous Company"

"Forsaken: Part 2 Dangerous Company"

by;fernand jiro

Terien rode as quickly as he was able in the impossible weather. By the time the first rays of dawn were creeping their way across the horizon he was miles into a sprawling forest that lay far to the north of the castle he had just left. He was forced to slow down as the forest rolled on into the foothills of a mountain range. The ground became rockier as he continued, and the occasional jutting boulder was seen more and more frequently each minute. Before another hour was past he halted at clearing that ended in a smooth rock face. Above him the tallest of the mountains loomed up, its jagged peak standing out sharply against the grey sky. Terien dismounted and walked forward, gently laying his hand on the rock surface.


“Elneral.” He said softly, and instantly the formerly impenetrable surface melted away to reveal a tunnel that sloped gently upward into the mountain. 


Terien focused his mind carefully and with a flick of his fingers he created a globe of light that hovered in the palm of his hand. He swung back into the saddle and rode quickly into the entrance of the tunnel, increasing the crimson rays that sprang from his palm as the entrance disappeared silently behind him. It was several minutes before the first guard hailed him.


“Halt! Who goes there?” The voice reverberated off of the walls, sending soft echoes rippling up and down the walls. 


“Don’t waste my time.” Terien replied without even bothering to glance in the direction of the outcropping where he knew the guard was watching him. He knew that even his elfin eyes would see nothing but the grey stone. “You know perfectly well I was expected.” 


“Ah, it’s the wandering Elf,” Breal’s voice rippled down to him from his hidden perch, “So you survived another one eh?” 


“Try not to be too disappointed.” 


“It’s not me you should be worrying about. The Counsel is awaiting you as we speak.” 


“You would think they would be patient enough to let it wait until morning.” Terien growled as he urged his mount on down the passageway. 


He frowned to himself as he reflected on the various outcomes of his upcoming meeting with the Counsel. None of them seemed good…not because he had done an insufficient job but because the Counsel simply was never satisfied with his work…or anyone else’s come to think of it. They were the leaders of the Forsaken, a band of men (and one elf) that sought to quietly monitor the destinies of the surrounding kingdoms. Though few knew it the Forsaken were by far the most powerful organization of political and military power in the known lands, and they had been so for almost three hundred years.


They mostly consisted mostly of hard men with unknown and buried pasts most of whom had nothing left to lose. If they were not already criminals or outcasts from their homelands (or both) then they were now simply for joining the Forsaken. There were only two things that everyone had in common who sought to become one of the Forsaken; a drive of either power, vengeance, or both and not a single one was afraid of death. The Counsel was the most dangerous of this lot simply because they were cunning enough to hold their positions without being killed and replaced. Nevertheless, Counsel Leaders were frequently changed.


Terien was one of the very few who was not afraid of the Counsel no matter who was leading it. He had been working for the Forsaken for longer than any of them had been alive and he knew how to handle the Forsaken members and keep his neck intact at the same time. And most importantly he was invaluable right now; he had made sure of that. Even the most power hungry-or worse, desperate- of the members would not risk sacrificing their objective for personal gain simply because anyone who did so was immediately charged with betrayal and most often killed. It was probably the only thing that had held the group together for so long. At the moment Terien was very much a part of that objective which simultaneously guaranteed his safety and earned him the hatred of most of the members. But Terien didn’t care. He was used to walking the fine line on the edge of disaster. He certainly wasn’t afraid to flirt with danger.


Eventually, Terien emerged from the tunnel and rode into the white city of Torn. The entire city was located in a deep crater at the peak of the mountain that was invisible to the outside of the range and impossible to get to except through the long abandoned elfin tunnels. Far above him he caught a faint glimpse of the fading moon, shining all the brighter after the past several days of cloudy skies. The silver light glinted off of the marble paths and majestic buildings that made up the city. Once this had been a home to the elves and had been filled with green plants, beautiful statues, and breathtaking architecture. The architecture still remained somewhat but nothing now grew to balance the volumes amount of grey and white stone. It was only a faded shadow of the magnificence it had once been. Now it was hard and grey and old though it still held a sad, slumbering beauty of its own.


Terien wasted no time in riding to the center of the city where the Council Chamber of the Forsaken was located. He spotted the glowing light that streamed from the windows of the circular center chamber long before he reached it. The guard hand been right then, they were waiting for him. He dismounted quickly and tossing his reins to a waiting stable boy as he made his way to the inner Chamber.


The muted murmur of voices halted abruptly as Terien pushed open the door and strode into the room. His face was a mask of deceptive calm as all eyes turned expectantly toward him. Trained as he had been in how to be invisible in a crowd he always found it awkward to be the center of attention, but that was something that he was not about to let them find out. He betrayed nothing as he made his way to the center of the large, circular room and made a short bow to the members of the Counsel. He stood, relaxed but alert, and waited for Vayrual, the current counsel leader, to address him first. His hand rested loosely on the hilt of his sword where his finger absently toyed with a tiny scratch on the tip of the hilt- an old defect that had been inflicted on one of his first assignments.


“Welcome back Terien, “ Vayrual said, his voice as smooth and calm as ever. Vayrual had been a leader of the Counsel for the past ten years which was a feat not often made. That alone spoke volumes for his resourcefulness. He was a pleasant looking man, disarmingly charming, and he had a habit of letting his eyes drift halfway closed when he was listening to someone speak. They were like that now though his gaze glittered shrewdly underneath as they regarded Terien. “Please, tell us the outcome of your latest mission.” 


“King Vear is dead, as ordered.” He replied, careful as always to let no emotion taint his voice, “Everything went as close to the plan as could be expected.” 


One of the older members of the Counsel, a woman just barley forty with vibrant green eyes and a rather disturbing fascination with daggers leaned forward in interest.


“What exactly did not go as planned?” She asked. Her voice was smooth and betrayed no hint of anything beyond mild curiosity. But Terien was not fooled. He had dealt with her before and knew that she was one of the shrewdest, and on occasion the most ruthless, of the Counsel. She had more reason that any of them to hate the humans that they opposed. 


“Somehow, Vear’s sister, the lady Seril, foresaw the death as it occurred.“ He replied. 


“There was a witness?” Vayrual’s voice was sharp. “It seems that I underestimated your skill, elf. Some of us were beginning to think that only you could pull this off without a hitch. It seems we must have been mistaken.” 


Terien resisted the urge to bristle. “There was no one in the room at the time, Lord Vayrual.” His silky voice rolled off of his tongue betraying nothing, “When I say she foresaw the death, I meant something quite more disturbing. The Lady Seril saw it not with her eyes but in a dream.”


A murmur of surprise rippled around the room. 


“How is that possible? “


“But her blood is not strong enough!” 


“Are you certain that it was at the same moment?” 


“You must have been mistaken.” 


The last remark came from a man on Vayrual’s left with golden hair and ice blue eyes bored into Terien as he stood in silence to the many questions that had erupted around him. His name was Ren and in the past he had never bothered to hide the fact that he mistrusted Terien, and in turn Terien was just as blunt to him about his own dislike of the reckless young human.


“Silence!” Vayrual raised his voice above the clamor and the voices immediately died away. “Speak up, Elf, and tell us what happened. Quickly and thoroughly. And the next one to interrupt gets a dagger in his throat. Understood? Good,” A pleasant half-smile slid back into its place on Vayrual’s face as he settled more comfortably into his chair, “please continue.” 


Terien shifted his attention back to Vayrual and methodically began to convey to the counsel the events that transpired earlier that evening. When he had finished there was a brief pause as the Forsaken considered the report.


“Well, well, well. It seems that the young tramp may be becoming a threat after all.” Vayrual purred in his deep voice. “Pity, that. She could have been useful. Ah, well.” He sighed and shifted lazily in his chair, “Suppose we’ll just have to kill her too.” 


“If you had half the intelligence you claim to have you would have killed her before you left.” Ren made no attempt to conceal the scorn in his voice. “You have now wasted considerable time and energy and made things increasingly difficult for the Forsaken.” 


Terien bristled underneath his mask of calm. “I had no reason to take her life. We still do not know if she is a threat or not.” 


“She obviously has enough power to clearly see events as they happen. Who knows what else she may be able to learn now that she knows what she can do? And you stand there and tell me that she is not a threat?” Ren laughed in a cold, humorless tone. “Tell me Terien, did you even consider the implications of what you refused to do? Or have you simply forgotten what the Forsaken are trying to accomplish?” 


There was a short silence at the belligerence of Ren’s harsh words. All eyes turned to Terien to see what he would say. 


“Yes,” he said finally, “I did consider the implications of leaving her. And I agree that there is a possibility that she may eventually become a threat that must be neutralized. But my current mission was to make sure that she was placed on the human throne for political reasons that this entire Counsel agreed upon. Killing her would have eliminated a potential, and I emphasize potential threat. But it also would have thrown the entire country into anarchy and that is exactly what we don’t want. Or have you forgotten what the Forsaken are trying to accomplish?” 


He allowed a touch of sarcasm to leak into his voice at the last sentence and had the satisfaction of seeing Ren’s jaw tighten in anger. But before he could retort Vayrual spoke agan. 


“Easy boys, save the insults for the ones we want dead,” he said, “I enjoy a good fight as much as the next guy but unfortunately we are a bit short on troops at the moment.” He nodded briefly in the elf’s direction, “You may go. Your purpose is served...for now. The Council must now debate the new situation at hand.” 


Terien bowed again without a word and strode from the room. 


Outside he paused on the step, steadying his burning anger. His gaze turned east to look at the first rays of sun that were climbing slowly from the horizon, and he let it stray over the delicate patterns of light as his thoughts carried him back to the night before.


I did right in leaving her to live, but will it matter in the end? Would she have been better off dead after all? He wondered. And then, as always, one thought sprang to the front of his brain. Is it even my place to decide who should live and who shall die? What gives me the right to make that choice?


But, as always, he didn’t have an answer. He shook himself free of his musing and started away through the city, losing himself among the many drifting shadows.