Aglanthol 1 - The Legend of Khaalindaan - 12. Chapter 12

The wizard Neldor entered the place. He stood upright with a determined look on his face. Neldor was dressed in a black cloak with a hood. He held out a long sword. Qildor could not say where the wizard had suddenly come from. Neldor looked frightening and Qildor was uncertain if the wizard had come to help or rather wreak havoc himself.

Neldor made an imperious gesture with his hand.

"You two go and take care of the sender of the energy ball. He must not tumble to the ground," Neldor commanded.

Qildor and Magath gazed at Neldor. The wizard shot them a piercing look.

"Do what I say. The man must not fall. Else the energy will return to him. This must not happen," he said urgently.

Without paying any more attention to Qildor and Magath, Neldor moved in Gwyn’s direction.

Qildor and Magath finally ran to stabilize Dran’s body. Dran’s body was stiff and cold and his look was empty. Qildor felt as if he touched a dead body. Nonetheless, he followed Neldor’s command. And Magath, totally scared, just followed Qildor’s example. They saw Gwyn in the distance. She still held Norlorn’s sword in her hands. The blade was glowing red. Khaalindaan’s energy tried to free itself from the grip. Norlorn’s sword was still powerful. Gwyn’s power, however, was fading. The old woman started to tremble.

Neldor approached Gwyn. He threw his own sword away and then stood behind the old woman. The wizard straightened. He focused. And then he reached out his arms and placed his hands on Gwyn’s wrists. The wizard and the woman stood like in a tight embrace, four hands now holding Norlorn’s sword.

Neldor spoke to Gwyn and then he placed his hands on the hilt of the sword. Gwyn drew back her scorched hands and let her body drop to the ground. Neldor made a step back and raised Norlorn’s sword higher while he started a dark and mysterious chant.

Magath instantly ran to help Gwyn. Dran’s body almost fell to the ground. Qildor struggled to stabilize it. He embraced the man from behind.

Neldor’s chant grew louder. The blade in his hand was glowing red.

Khaalindaan’s energy tried to escape from Norlorn’s sword more forcefully. However, when it realized that it was not able to escape Neldor’s grip, Khaalindaan’s energy turned to attack the wizard. This was the moment Neldor had been waiting for. He dropped Norlorn’s sword and Khaalindaan’s energy instantly escaped the blade.

"Drop his body," Neldor shouted.

Qildor did what the wizard commanded. Dran fell to the ground and Qildor crouched beside him.

Khaalindaan’s energy hesitated. His host had fallen. However, Khaalindaan’s spirit hesitated for only the split of a second. It sensed a skilled and far more powerful host. The white energy ball shot in Neldor’s direction.

Neldor stood still. He closed his eyes and he focused his mind on a powerful magical symbol. The wizard Neldor was ready to complete his task and accomplish the mission that the wizard Norlorn had started a thousand years ago. Neldor raised his arms.

"Khaalindaan!" he called out loud.

Khaalindaan’s energy reacted instantly and penetrated the Neldor’s body.

Magath had meanwhile carried Gwyn away from the place of the fight. He was sitting on the ground, his arms wrapped around the old woman. Gwyn had closed her eyes. Magath knew that she was close to death. He stroked Gwyn’s hair and did not pay attention to Neldor.

Dran’s body was lying on the ground. Qildor was certain that the man was dead. Suddenly, however, Dran opened his eyes. His eyelids flickered and his breathing was ragged. Qildor looked at Neldor for a second, and then he attended to Dran.

Unnoticed by the others, Neldor lowered his arms. He picked up Norlorn’s sword from the ground and then hit it against a rock forcefully until the blade broke. Neldor dropped the hilt of the destroyed sword and then walked away. He took his own sword and put it in the sheath. Then he walked up to three men and the woman.

Qildor and Neldor exchanged a look.

"I absorbed his energy," Neldor said calmly.

Qildor opened his mouth, but Neldor interrupted him with a gesture of his hand.

"Later," he said brusquely.

Neldor knelt down and examined Dran’s pulse and the man’s eyes. Then he moved over to Gwyn. The old woman opened her eyes slightly. Neldor touched her forehead and looked at the woman’s scorched hands. He rose to his feet.

"We must carry them down to the woman’s house," he said. "There I will see to them."

Qildor felt tempted to reply, but he refrained from any response. The wizard knelt down at Dran’s side once more.

"You need to carry him on your back," he said to Qildor.

Qildor took a deep breath. Dran was not a big man. But he wondered if he was able to carry the man all the way back through the snow. However, he did not object to Neldor’s words.

Magath had just listened. He had not said a single word. He lifted Gwyn up and held the fragile woman close to his chest.

"Ready," he said in determined voice.

Neldor gave him a nod and then helped Qildor. Qildor bit his lip at the weight of the man on his back. He nodded at Neldor.

Neldor turned around and walked through the forest, following Gwyn’s traces. Magath and Qildor walked as steadfast as they could. However, when they had reached the edge of the wood, their muscles already hurt and sweat covered their foreheads. But Neldor moved ahead without a rest. Qildor and Magath clenched their teeth and followed Neldor down the hill. Finally, they reached Gwyn’s house. Neldor opened the backdoor. Qildor and Magath carried Dran and Gwyn inside.

Neldor spotted blankets on the wooden bench. He took them and spread them on the floor. Qildor laid Dran on the blankets and Magath laid Gwyn on her bed. The old woman moaned. Magath stroked her forehead softly.

"I’ll be back in a minute," Neldor said.

He hurried outside, but soon returned with a saddlebag in his hands. Neldor took various items out of the bag. He asked for water and a bowl. Magath saw to it. Neldor mixed water and herbs and then he poured the drink down Dran’s throat. The man coughed and rolled his eyes. Dran was only semiconscious and he did not respond to Neldor’s words. After a few minutes, Dran calmed and his body relaxed. He had fallen asleep. Neldor watched Dran’s face for a while, and then he rose to his feet.

"He will sleep for at least one day. He won’t remember anything when he awakes," he said. "No serious harm was done to him, luckily. And it is better that he forgets about what has happened to him."

Qildor and the wizard exchanged a long look. Qildor did not dare to ask. And Neldor did not explain a thing. The wizard went to Gwyn. Magath was sitting on her bed. He stood and stepped aside when the wizard approached.

Neldor examined Gwyn. He spoke to the old woman in a calm voice. Gwyn looked at the wizard and did not turn her eyes from his face. Neldor prepared a paste from his herbs and covered the woman’s forehead, her temples, and her hands with it. He bandaged Gwyn’s hands and her head. Then he asked for a mug. Neldor poured water and herbs in it. Gwyn drank the drink readily. She soon drifted to sleep as well. Neldor rose to his feet.

The wizard looked at Qildor and Magath who stood motionless in the room and watched him.

"I will stay with her and feed her until her hands have healed," he said.

Qildor and Magath just kept looking at him.

Neldor placed his items on the wooden table. He glanced at Gwyn’s map briefly. Then he looked at the two men again.

"The man will sleep for a day. He will not remember anything. Take him to your house tomorrow," he said to Magath. "There he shall awake. Tell him he was on his way to the village and he had an accident in the forest. Make up something that he will believe and that will not raise his suspicions."

Magath nodded.

"What about Gwyn?" he asked.

Neldor looked at Gwyn’s bed. The woman was sleeping.

"She absorbed too much of his energy. I took it from her. She’s not obsessed by it. But she has injuries that will heal only slowly. And I cannot make her forget the incident," he said.

"Will she be able to live with it?" Magath asked gravely.

Neldor gave him a nod.

"She will. The woman is strong. She would have absorbed Khaalindaan’s energy by sheer force of will. I don’t think she would have given up. But this would have killed her," he said. "Khaalindaan’s energy would have ceased to be, but the woman would have not survived the intrusion."

Neldor gave Qildor and Magath a serious look. Then he sat down on the wooden chair and started to study the map. Qildor and Magath looked at Neldor for a second, and then they exchanged a bewildered look. Magath straightened.

"I go over to my place and get more blankets and food," he said. Magath turned abruptly and left the house. He needed alone time.

Qildor walked over to Neldor and sat down on the wooden bench.

"Time for your story, Neldor," he said.

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