The Sword Sworn - 4. Chapter 4: The Meddler's of Fate

Garrett's head was pounding and his chest hurt like mad. He felt like he'd just been gutted with a sword. He couldn't remember a whole lot; just that he'd been in a fight and people were dead. He wasn't even sure he cared to remember, he just wanted to the room to stop spinning.

The sound of feet and heavy breathing somewhere close to him frightened him. He reacted in a split second; harnessed power and gathered the air and earth within his grasp, launched himself to his feet in a split second.

"Garr-" the words were cut off as his hand latched around someone's throat. He could feel their esophagus moving under his gloves as instinct had him force the person to their knees. A frightened squeak gave him pause. He loosened his hold around the person's throat; tried to focus but couldn't. He was so flipping dizzy and the pain he was in was not helping any.

"Garrett!" the words snapped from a different voice. A thick hand latched itself around his wrist and squeezed, tried forcing him to let go. "Garrett, Let Go... We are your friends. Focus Garrett."

The voice was familiar to him, gravelly like rocks, soothing. It was Caolin, a burly brown haired, brown eyed youth who'd had, as far back as Garrett could remember, more interest in working in the forges located throughout the various areas of the city then he did in wielding the magic that he possessed.

"We're you're friends, Garrett... c'mon mate, let go of Jeb..."

"Jeb..." Garrett gasped. Released his grip and mumbled an apology as he sank back to his knees.

Garrett closed his eyes. "C'mon mate, drink up. I've never seen anything like what you've done, not even from a Master Mage. You must be famished," Caolin mumbled. Garrett felt the neck of a water skin being held to his lips. Caolin tilted it a moment later, allowing the precious liquid it contained to trickle down Garrett's throat. Garrett grasped Caolin's wrist a moment later, tilted it farther and drank deeper as the dizziness began to subside.

"C'mon Caolin, don't give him too much. We have very little water as it is and I have no idea where we are," a feminine voice sounded out a moment later.

"If it stops him from killing us, give him all he needs," Jebediah croaked out a second later. Nervous laughter answered his quip.

"Sorry Lauris, but if he needs it, I'm with Jeb. He seems to be the only one who knows where we are, and I bet he's the only one who can get us out," Caolin answered in turn. "Now eat this."

Despite his want for more water, Garrett allowed Caolin to remove the water skin from his lips. A dried biscuit was given to him a second later. Garrett ate it, along with the next two that a couple of other students handed to him.

"We really should let him eat his own supplies," Lauris replied when she noticed that others were holding out food to give Garrett.

"He doesn't have any. I already looked," another youth answered. Garrett thought his name was Tobias but he was too hungry to find out for sure.

It was after the dizziness stopped that Garrett decided to feel stupid. In his efforts to do what the first voice haunting him had said, he hadn't thought to bring his own food or water, much less eat before he took off on this hare-brained jaunt that had brought him to wherever the hell they were.

His appetite sated for the moment, Garrett got back to his feet. Relieved that the dizzy spells he had been subjected to appeared to have abated; Garrett looked around at his surroundings, curious to find that they were in a stone room, round in shape. It almost looked like the Mage Tower in Ganentide.

"Well, what now then? We appear to be trapped," a voice whispered. Garrett glanced briefly at the speaker but paid it no mind when it appeared that they were speaking to someone else. He went back to investigating the Tower room.

The lit torches revealed the carvings on the upper portions of the wall; massive creatures in flight with men and women on their backs. Something within him identified them, Ganath. They looked more like dragons to him, personally. But, the dragons were only a legend, a myth spoken of by elves and dwarves. Even if they had been alive, they were long since dead.

A draft brought stale air into the room, forced him to sneeze. Leaving off his investigation of the carvings on the wall, Garrett followed the draft and almost stepped into a hole in the floor that was hidden in darkness. Garrett shivered; reminded of the darkness that he had just spent an eternity in. He grabbed a torch from the wall and lowered it down into the rather large hole.

The torch light revealed very steep, winding stairs that went farther than he could make out within the limited light cast by the torch. He shivered again. If he had fallen he most likely would have broken his neck before he'd ever gained the chance to stop himself and do anything about it.

"Well, that door appears to be locked, but I can't say for certain. The inner bar is up though. I can't get close enough to take a look, really," Another voice whispered.

Garrett frowned, wondering why the hell everyone was whispering. He even looked up. By all appearances they didn't seem to be under any threat. Aside from the lack of any way out, and the unfortunate event in which he had almost killed Jebediah; they actually appeared to be quite fine.

Although, if something were to try and kill them, especially with magic, they'd have a rather easy shot at killing the others with a well timed fireball, seeing as his companions were all lumped together in a group.

"What door?" Garrett asked instead though, curious. He hadn't seen a door.

"The door that is right over there. It's been covered by a rather sturdy portcullis; can't seem to find any way to raise it," the same voice replied, his voice cracking.

Garrett blinked and resisted the urge to laugh. He recognized that voice now. It was Aric, a poor lad who's mother and father were seamstresses in Avau-de-cogn, the largest city that lay south of, and closest, to his home, west and north of Ganentide. Pulling the torch out of the hole, Garrett followed Aric's pointing hand and found that there was indeed a large bronze door covered by a metal portcullis. There also didn't appear to be any way to raise it, that he could see.

"Well... gather your things then. Down the hole we go," Garrett finally decided. He suited his own words to action, gathered his pack up from the ground and strapped it over his back. He just needed to find his staff and he'd be ready to go. Only, after several minutes of searching, he couldn't find it anywhere.

"Has anyone seen my staff?" he finally asked.

"Shhhh!" several voices whispered in response, causing him to glance at the others in concern.

"What?" He asked. "We're alone, and quite safe right now. Why are you all whispering anyways? Scared of the dark?" he asked.

"Yes," a couple of voices responded. Garrett thought about it a moment, realized that they did indeed have a perfectly good reason to be afraid of the dark, considering that two of their...

He swallowed the lump that rose in his throat.

"Does anyone know the names of the two that died in that fight?" he asked quietly.

Aside from the sudden shifting of feet, silence was his answer. He looked at his companions, realizing that he only knew scant handful of them. If he took them down that hole, would he get the chance to know the rest of them?

There was only way to find out.

"Right then, half of you lot grab one of them lit torches, make sure you grab a couple more that aren't lit. The wall seems to be full of them," he stated quietly. Then he continued looking for his staff.

"Why are we grabbing torches?" Tobias asked. He sounded like he was going to panic because he asked the question again, this time of everyone. "Why does he want us to grab torches?"

"Because, as soon as I find my bloody staff, we're going down a deep, dark hole," Garrett answered, distracted as he continued to look for his staff.

Silence met his announcement, but he didn't notice it, nor did he notice Lauris grab hold of Caolin's ear so she could pull him up onto his tip-toes.

He did hear her whispered question though. The amplification within the room was perfect.

"Who put him in charge?"

"Owww. Take it easy, will ya?" Caolin answered.

She had asked a good question though. Who had put him in charge? He couldn't remember the answer. So he answered the only way he could.

"No one, if you or anyone else wants to stay here, go ahead. I, however, am leaving. That means going down a dark hole. Do what you want. Now, has anyone seen my bloody staff?"

"Uhm...yeah," Aric whispered. Garrett gave him an expectant look. Aric shrank from his gaze though and hid behind Lauris, much to Garrett's consternation.

Becoming impatient, he finally asked, "Well, where is it?"

"Uhm..." Aric finally pointed toward a portion of the room that Garrett hadn't inspected yet. Garrett fairly ran over there, anxious to get his hands on his staff. But fate didn't quite work out for him that way; he ended up stepping on something and felt it roll beneath his feet. It sent him sprawling onto his back. He heard the others laughing. The laughter seemed to ease the tension in the air that he hadn't noticed before. He even let out a couple of chuckles. It felt good to have something to laugh about.

That was, until he sat up and reaching out found that it was his staff he'd fallen over and his staff was broken in half, the other half of it lay a few feet away.

"Bloody hell, Aric. You broke my staff!" he snapped out, no longer amused. His words brought the laughter to a halt as he stood up, ready to confront Aric.

"No, I swear! It was already broken. I tripped over it, same as you! When I looked at what I'd tripped over I kicked it away. Found the other half a few feet away. I swear it!"

Garrett's grip tightened on his staff in a stranglehold as he felt his temper boiling over. But the whole thing was wrong to him. He wouldn't have normally gotten so mad over something like this. Hell, he'd tripped over the bloody thing thousands of times. It should have been a relief to him. But it was his only link to the Mages of Ganentide.

His companions had given up their link to the Mages. They had chosen to be exiled from the Mages Tower. He had chosen to run from the Mage Tower. Was it fair of him to condemn Aric for something he believed not to be his fault? Was it fair of him to even get angry over the breaking of something that he should have been willing to give up?

The only answer he could come up with was: No.

His temper abated abruptly. He let out a breath; found that Aric was still clamoring out excuses.

"It's alright mate. I believe you. It's fine. No worries. Let's just get the bloody hell out of here; this place is starting to give me the creeps."

Garrett still couldn't quite let go, though. He wrapped one half up with a strap attached to his pack and swung the weighted, heavier end around in his hand, testing it's balance. It would work as a club, for now. Grabbing a couple of unlit torches from the wall, he tied those to his pack with another strap and moved toward the hole.

It was when he was ready to make his descent into the hole that he realized most of the others still weren't following him; only Caolin and Jebediah appeared willing to descend the steep stairs with him. It also appeared that Lauris objected to this, because she was pulling hard on Caolin's hand. Caolin's other hand was held firmly in one of Jebediah's hand. Jebediah was standing on the other side of Caolin, looking like he objected to Lauris's treatment of Caolin.

Garrett was momentarily startled by that. He'd heard that some lads shacked up with other lads, even with their sword sworn, if they were both males, but he'd never seen it personally, except for the more common male-female pairings that happened amongst them. The whole thing didn't bother him, though. Not really. He'd just never considered it before, seeing as he had never really gotten close to anyone.

"Uh-hum," Garrett coughed, startling the three of them enough that they let go of each other. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes!" Lauris snapped, taking him a-back with her tone. "We need to elect a leader, and we need to figure out our other options besides descending into a deep, dark hole where who knows what is down there!"

She stopped talking then, looked at Garrett expectantly to see if he had any objections to what she was saying. Garrett didn't really, aside from the fact that he was becoming more and more uncomfortable within that tower. He felt the need to get going. He just didn't have any clue as to where he was going.

"Suit yourself then," he replied.

"Great. Now, I say..." she turned around and looked at everyone else so she could address them.

Garrett didn't bother sticking around to hear whatever it was she wanted to say. He lowered the torch enough that he could find the rungs within the hole and, grasping hold with one glove, hop-jumped his way down them until he landed on the first step. He let go of the rung and thrust the hand holding his torch out in front of him but paused, suddenly unsure that this was a good idea.

A foot stepped on his head a second later. "Oww," he whispered in response, but moved obligingly down the stairs until he was out of the way.

"Sorry Garrett. Hurry up Caol, before she notices we're missing." He heard Jebediah whisper a second later.

"I'm coming Jeb. Don't get your knickers in a twist, will ya."

"Hahah," Jebediah whispered sarcastically, jumping the last three rungs to land with a thump on the top of the stairwell.

"No seriously, getting your knickers in a twist makes it harder to get em..."

Garrett coughed into his hand, doing his best to muffle the sound. The sudden twist to the conversation had his face burning and, considering the fact that it had recently been burned, that made him extremely uncomfortable. It didn't help matters any when Jebediah stepped into him and wrapped an arm around his waist while staring up the rungs at Caolin in an admiring manner. Garrett went to move away but Jebediah's arm wrapped around him even tighter. Caolin's feet finally hit the landing and the look he cast when he saw how his...whatever Jebediah was to him, just made Garrett want to curl up and die.

"What?" Jebediah whispered at that look.

Garrett coughed and tapped his leather glove wrapped hand against Jebediah's hand, startling the boy enough that he finally let go.

"Oh... Sorry... I got roaming hands. Sometimes I just can't..."

"Right... you two sure about coming with me? Lauris seems to want to be in charge," Garrett interrupted, not wanting to know any more about Jebediah's roaming hands.

"Yeah, we're sure. The sooner you get Caolin and me away from her the better. You know she was actually making plans to move into a log cabin with us, once Caolin got it built, that is. Didn't even talk it over with us first. She just..."

"Uh. Right. On we go then," Garrett mumbled, brushing away Jebediah's talkative nature with a bit of surprise. He'd never heard Jebediah talk so much before in his life.

"Just one thing first, Garrett," Caolin's gravelly voice interrupted. A large hand clamped down on Garrett's bicep, had him wincing in pain. Caolin had grabbed hold of a blistering part of his arm. Garrett swore he felt a blister burst under Caolin's grip.

"Oh. Sorry mate. Ye alright?" Caolin let go of his arm.

"Yes! What?" Garrett gritted his teeth against the pain and looked directly into Caolin's eyes.

"Look, it's not something me and Jeb advertise but...is this goin' to be a problem?" Caolin asked. The hand gesture he made between himself and Jebediah made it clear that he was talking about their relationship.

Garrett inhaled a moment and then exhaled. "Look, I don't care who's shagging who around here. It doesn't matter to me. It's between the two of you. The only way it's gonna be a problem is if either one of you is forcing the other into this. Now, I'm sorry, but I'm not sticking around here a moment longer. I have to go," Garrett hissed out. He wasn't sure why he was bothering though, he didn't care if Lauris heard him or not. Except it seemed important to Jebediah that she not notice they were missing. Garrett didn't know what that was about. Quite frankly, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

He just needed to leave. Considering the conversation over, he turned and began his descent down the stairwell. The only thing letting him know the other two were following was the sound of their footsteps.

The stairwell was steep. Steeper then Garrett had originally thought, but by leaning against the damp wall he and the others managed to avoid slipping down the stairwell with its very narrow steps. The only thing that let him know he had made a good choice in using the stairwell as a means of escape; besides his instincts, was the gust of cold wind that reached them about an hour into their descent. Other than the draft, there was nothing of interest happening. That boredom was perhaps the number one reason that Garrett let out an excited whoop when the stairs finally ended and they found themselves in a cold, drafty hallway, even if the hallway was as dark as the stairwell and, most likely, just as unending.

"Keep it down will ye?" Caolin asked. He looked backwards and gave the stairs a nervous look.

"Better yet, can we just keep going before she catches up to us?" Jebediah asked instead. He suited action to his words. Grabbing the torch from Garrett's hand he moved forward into the corridor. Caolin followed after, practically stepping on Jebediah's heels in his hurry to get away. Bemused by the entire thing, Garrett stared back at the stairs himself. He was almost curious enough to ask what exactly was going on between the two of them and Lauris.

Another draft blew through the corridor. The corridor started spinning. He almost thought he heard words in the wind. He cocked his head to the side and attempted to listen.

Hurry. Can't hold...

The corridor stopped spinning just as the wind died. He looked about and became aware of the fact that he was definitely alone now. He spotted the light of the torch further ahead; saw it stop suddenly. The corridor branched off there. He didn't know how he knew it. He just did. He hoped they took the left hand turn; not the right. A shiver ran up his spine. He broke out into a run; suddenly alarmed.

"You guys!" He shouted, "Don't go right!"

It was too late. He saw their light head off in the right direction. A wave of nausea swept over him. He almost stopped in his tracks but something warned him he needed to hurry. He hit the wall of the branching corridor at a dead run; pushed himself off it and spun to the right. The other two were well ahead of him. What was up ahead? Why was he starting to panic?

"It's a dead end," he heard Jebediah say.

"No it's not. It's a door. Lookie, there's the lever,"

"Do you think we should?" Jebediah's voice murmured.

"Sure, why not."

Because... why...

A deep rumble sounded within the corridor. Panicked cries sounded the alarm as Jebediah and Caolin backed away from the door in a hurry. They ended up tripping over their own feet in the process. Garrett was practically on top of them. He almost stepped on Caolin's head. He leapt over him though; felt another blister pop. He landed in cold water that was ankle deep and rising quickly. He spotted the lever that one of the boys must have pulled. Grabbing hold, he pulled down with as much force as he could muster. The lever wasn't going anywhere!

"Garrett! Ya need to..."

Garrett held onto the handle and dropped all his weight onto it, pulling his feet up against the wall in the process. He needed more strength! Power flooded into him; made him feel stronger. Using his feet he pulled harder. The bloody lever broke in his damn hands!

"...push up..."

He fell on his ass and landed up to his chest in water that rose up to his chin in seconds. They were going to drown!

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Bright flashes of blue, orange, red, black and grey lit up the dark clouds and revealed to her that the violent storm she travelled through was easing up. The storm marked the coming end of her journey. A second later the storm dissipated completely. She was standing on a soft beach that led right back into empty air; the storm and ultimately into the void. Calling the area off the floating land-mass was rather funny to her. She considered the entire area the void. The only thing was real was the beach and the lands beyond it. Lands that didn't belong in the void anymore then she did. They belonged in Arathea; a world habituated by Men, Dwarves and Elves. A world running rampant with trolls, goblins, orcs and, the mere thought of them made her swallow against the natural hatred she began to feel, even wyverns. It was a world that as far as knew had forgotten all about her kind and their partnership with the Elementalists.

Elementalists that were dying. All because the elders of her kind had forgotten what it was to have a mad elementalist running loose in the world. Her kind had forgotten the reason for their partnership with the humans, elves and even the dwarves. The worst part was that the other Houses did not care that House Andegeth was dying. "It's justice," they said. Justice. Bah. What did they know of justice; they had been the ones to...

She swallowed hard. She was getting angry. Angry because she had failed; the others would tell her that ‘they had said so'; they would mock her for even thinking of trying. At least she had been willing to try; it was more then she could say for anyone else.

But, and here her head slumped at the thought, trying and succeeding were two different things. Sure, she had tried. She had tried and in the end, she had failed. She had failed because others had interfered with her plans and that truly angered her. Her anger renewed, she looked around for the closest target to take it out on. Her eyes fell on a small four foot boulder that had to weigh at least 2000 stone. She launched into a run and leapt into the air. Pouncing on it a moment later she dropped her feet to the beach and picked it up. She spun and with as much strength as she could muster she hurled it through the air. She watched it arc and start falling...right at someone's head.

At least whatever idiot it was that had decided to take a walk on the beach that day had the presence to move out of the way before he found his head crushed by a boulder. She watched it hit the ground with a loud, satisfying thud before it split in half and abated her temper. She gave her near victim a glare and turning on her feet, stalked up beach and toward the path that led through woods and into the City itself.

Her would-be victim stared at her back and watched her until she disappeared from view.

"Well," he remarked to the empty air next to him, "Saryna Ganath is in a foul mood. I take it she failed?"

The sand swirled into the air a moment later and calmed down after a behemoth of a beast landed next to him. :Aye. She seems to think so, at least:

"And those of House Andegeth?" the black haired youth asked as he turned. Pale-blue eyes met the Dragon's eye that was the size of his head.

:She doesn't know yet. She will find out shortly:

"Be interesting to see what she does with no Lord of House Andegeth to open the gates," the youth remarked, unperturbed. "Why is she so interested in the fate of House Andegeth anyways?"

:Those of House Andegeth have built a compound past the city walls and in the woods. They plan on using it for training; they will choose whomever is strongest as Lord. They have planned well in the event of her failure. I'm much more interested in seeing what she does when she finds out that others have ventured into the world as well and taken some of its youth: the dragon remarked, ignoring the question that was actually asked.

"Aye, that will be rather interesting. The day of Choosing is within two weeks time. It'll be the first such event in almost five thousand years; the city is becoming full. I take it that's due to the other Houses following Andegeth's example?"

:Part of it is because the City Awakens. Another part of it is because yes; the other Houses follow Andegeth's example; mostly because of Saryna. They feel that her actions have given permission. But they do not follow Andegeth's entire example. They will grant the selected ones a chance to choose:

"But they do not give them a choice of staying within the world of their birth, I presume?"

:No. Despite Saryna's views, the Elders of the Clans have not forgotten. The Mages who have sprung up in the aftermath of our exile will not be happy with how many of their young have gone missing; nor will they be happy when they find slim pickings for their version of our Ceremony this year:

"Hrm. I shall remember to offer my apologies if I'm ever given the chance. Tell me Laerenz; has he chosen yet?"

:No my friend. He has been given the choice; I sense he has yet to choose. Are you sure you want House Andegeth back? Especially with him involved?: the dragon asked, a hint of disdain entering his mind-voice for the first time.

"Ah my friend," the youth replied, patting the dragon on his snout, "that is the difference between myself and Garl, I know how to forgive and although it has taken me five thousand years to do so, I have chosen to learn from my mistakes. Besides, I will be more closely involved then I was before."

:The Council of Lords will not be happy; especially with his involvement:

"It doesn't matter. They have ruled for far too long. It is time they remembered that there is an Emperor; even if he does sleep," the youth said, a hint of humor entering his voice for the first time during the whole conversation. "As for him, that was the bargain that was struck. He agreed to it; and so did I when I aided him. His wishes will be honored. Besides, the agreement was accepted," he remarked quietly.

:As you say than: the dragon remarked quietly.

The young man nodded quietly before he turned and looked out past the beach and into the storm-scape. Clouds boiled in the sky as far as he could see above, in front and below him. It was, as far as he could tell, a mess of pure and utter destructive power. He had to admire Saryna though, being the first of the Ganath to have the courage to go through it. He took a step and then another until he was standing at the very edge of the gently sloping beach and peering over its edge into nothing.

:Do we go back?: the dragon asked quietly as he carefully maneuvered next to the young man; his own massive head and neck peaking out over the edge.

"Not yet, my friend," the youth replied. Then, as he did everyday for the past two hundred years, "Tell me, do..."

:Aye. As far as they concerned, he still sleeps:

"Good. Keep it that way for a while longer."

The dragon's neck undulated up and down like a limp straw being shaken for a moment; his version of nodding in agreement.

The youth leapt onto the dragon's forearm and pulled himself to the dragon's back; then ran up the dragon's large, massive, long neck. He poised gracefully for a moment on dragon's head before diving off completely and into the void.

The first strike of thunder and lightning flashed into view, echoed within his ears.

:And you go where?: the dragon asked his final question, sounding unhappy that he was being left alone.

Saryna has studied the history books. She feels that the Imperial House was in error. I don't need you to tell me that's her reasoning behind her actions. But she doesn't know everything. No one does except those who were there that day. The House of the Emperor must get involved now. Saryna has awoken the child's power; he has been presented with one choice. For all intents and purposes, he will accept that choice. The past must not be repeated and our own honor kept. I have made another choice. In the past it would not have been a choice; it is a choice for me now. Saryna will not understand, not at first. I suspect that none will understand. But it must be done, the youth replied into the dragon's mind.

:The youth is in danger, as are his companions:

I know, Laerenz. No worries; Garl guides him for now; he is as eager for the bargain to come into fruition as I am; although I must admit that I suspect he won't be happy with my presence.

:As you say, then. The wind speed your journey:

And the wind yours, Laerenz.

A flash of multicolored lightning struck out from the skies and into the youth then. When his eyes recovered from the bright flash; the dragon noted that all signs of the young Lord were gone. With a sudden flash of fire that heated the sands of the beach; even turning some of it into glass, the dragon disappeared. In the dragon's place stood a young man bearing a remarkable resemblance to the first young man. Pulling out a cloak and draping it about until it completely covered his naked body, Laerenz pulled the hood up and took to the air; utilizing magic common to all of the Houses; usually by the more advanced House Soldiers. The back of his cloak marked him as the Guard Master for the Imperial House.