The Summoned
Council at the Keep
The Light Plane: Darren's Keep
Asa looked at the enormous castle that loomed in the distance, not being able to conceal his awe. Jamie smirked at him. "Heh! The country boy over here's never seen a real city."
"Sure I have." Asa protested weakly, not convincing anyone. "It's just that this is so... huge!"
Leo, who was riding up front with Celeste, glanced back at the poor outlander. If the sight of Darren's keep spooked him so, what would the sight of the Nexus do? Or the bastions at Naogon? Or Norax's tower itself? Leo shook his head, hoping that Asa would never have to see any of those sights. He would find a way to help him. Leo's actions were, he decided, the least that he could do. He could get to Norax when the other was not expecting him, and save both one man and an entire plane from a hideous fate. It would atone for his inability to defend his people against Norax's army.
Paul, who was bringing up the rear, was not paying attention to the conversation. In fact, he was paying attention to very little of what was going on around him. He was busy worrying about the Seeker. Paul was certain that the man could find him if necessary, but so far he had received no sign. Seeker had said that the mission he had departed on would be dangerous, but Paul had never thought that the wizard might not return. He was now thinking that exact thing. Paul knew that his training was not complete. Without it, he was not a planeskeeper. The book, contrary to popular belief, held no power and told no secrets. The true power of a planeskeeper laid in the training, and Paul knew he was not ready. Besides, the old man meant something to him. The Seeker had saved his life, and had given it a meaning beyond the senseless bloodshed that lay deep in Paul's past.
Elayna walked next to Jamie, who was keeping pace with Celeste's horse. Elayna had said very little during the entire trip. She, like Paul, was busy thinking. Most of the time, it was thoughts of her father that dominated her mind. Robert Craft, a kind cleric who had harmed nobody. Robert Craft, who would no longer sing to his daughter, no longer help her in her craft. Robert Craft, who was gone forever. There were tears slowly flowing down her face, but she hadn't noticed. Occasionally, she would take note of the conversation around her. Jamie, her protector, was always saying something interesting. The others she did not know so well. She supposed that she knew Asa best out of the rest of the group. She hardly knew him, but the burden he was carrying was heavy. He had been summoned by Norax.
Norax! The thought carried bitterly through Elayna's mind. Where before there had only been a sad emptiness inside her, there was now a burning hatred. How she hated that name: Norax. She hated him not for the atrocities that Leo had described, or for his act against Asa. Her reason was simpler than that.
Norax had taken her father away. Elayna grinded her teeth. How she hated him... How she longed for the day that she could do something about it... She knew what she wanted... she knew what would quench the hatred within her. Norax must die. And she would be the one to do it.
None of these things were on Celeste's mind as she rode next to Leo, heading toward the enormous keep. She was admiring the night, thinking that her luck must have taken a turn for the better. After all, she had met Leo- who seemed a charming enough person- and her old friend Jamie. Things were good, she decided. Then again, if what Leo said was true, things might not be so good. She averted her train of thought from that possibility. Everything would be fine, she decided.
Three guards from within the keep rode out to meet them, saluting Leo even though it was completely unneccessary to do so. They escorted the small party into the safety of the keep, closing the city gates behind them.
Asa's first reaction was one of complete shock. The place had looked large from the outside, but it was even more massive than he had thought! It was late afternoon, and people were milling about the streets- more people than Asa had seen in a lifetime. Darren's Keep could probably house three or four cities the size of his hometown, he thought with a silent awe. A few people glanced in his direction, but most ignored him. He turned to Jamie. "You're from here?" he asked incredulously.
Jamie nodded in a self-satisfied manner. "Yes sir, from this very keep. I wonder if my old room is still here. Or maybe even... nah." she said. It had occurred to her that her parents might still live here, but that was a very long time ago, and they were ancient even when Jamie was growing up. No, they would not be here, she thought with a mental sigh. "I wonder who remembers me..." she said out loud.
Celeste dismounted from her horse, which was immediately led away by one of the guards. "Everyone remembers you! Well- not everyone. Old Harris has passed on, you know. A few others left."
"Harris is gone!?" Jamie said. Harris had been her fighting instructor. He was an odd man. If he were not such a well-known and respected warrior, he would have been ridiculed for having a female student. That sort of thing was unheard of in Darren's keep, as well as most other places she had ventured. And now the old man had passed on. Jamie felt a fleeting bit of sadness for him.
Leo dismounted as well, and turned to face the rest of them. "I shall see about getting us shelter, and inform Darren of my decision to accompany you." He looked toward Celeste. "I shall return m'lady. In the meantime, I am sure that they wish to see the many sights of this castle..." Leo trailed off.
Celeste smiled brilliantly. "Well, what do you say?" she asked them. Asa nodded, attempting to comprehend the sheer enormity of the place he was in. He would have to know his way around if he didn't want to get lost. Jamie shrugged. She didn't really care- avoiding those others who knew her was her main priority. Besides, she already knew the place. Paul nodded, thinking of the library that such a keep might have. Magical research was never out of the question. Elayna didn't say anything, but she intended to stay near Jamie. She didn't like this place very much- it was noisy and it smelled of something she couldn't identify. If this was the city, then she would like very much to stay home.
Leo walked off in one direction, while Celeste directed them another way. She smiled as she pointed out the various sites: The Hero's Plain tavern, named after the fields to the west, where a great battle occured. According to Celeste, this was where "Leo will most likely get you lodging for the night". The great library, which Paul and Elayna both took special interest in, was Celeste's next stop. Asa had glanced around for a while, but the elderly man who maintained the place informed him that there were no books about summoning, and why should he want to study such an obscure field anyway? Next, Celeste took them up on the battlements and some of the parapets surrounding the city. Guards waved at her as she passed, and gave the rest of the group a wary eye. The guards knew her, she explained, because her father was one of the advisors to the king. Not that this mattered to her, she went on. She couldn't care less. The last stop of the grand tour was the palace itself. They weren't allowed inside, she said, because of Leo. His warning had not exactly motivated Darren to war, but his guards were taking some extra precautions. Celeste could enter, but the rest of them couldn't. "And that" she concluded "is the grand tour. Of course there's more, but it's getting late and Leo should be back soon. I can show you all the rest tomorrow."
The group waited for fifteen minutes, talking idly among themselves, before Leo emerged from the palace. "Ah, Celeste has brought you here. That is good, as it is a large city, and I would not want to have to wander it searching for you. His Highness has managed to pursuade a local innkeeper to keep us for the night. In fact, he offered to house us for the entire week, but we do not have that much time. We will probably depart tomorrow..." he stopped, looking toward Asa. "Is that acceptable?"
Asa didn't have an immediate reply. Leo had reminded him of something that he had tried to consciously ignore: Asa was the reason for this voyage. He, a simple villager from the outerlands, had dragged all of these people away from their lives, simply so he could do what he had to do. Pushing all these thoughts aside, he spoke. "I- I suppose so...." Asa was not at ease with this role at all. He preferred Jamie's leadership- she knew where they were going and always seemed to have a plan. Asa didn't want to lead- he had no idea what was happening.
Leo nodded. "Very well then. We should probably retire for now. In the morning, we will meet in the library to discuss our next moves.".
It was almost morning when Asa was woke by the commotion outside of the tavern. A large gong was ringing and people were shouting. A few screams punctuated the night. Jumping out of bed, putting a few clothes on, and grabbing his staff, Asa ran down the stairs into the Hero's Plain tavern. Celeste had been right- the owner of the tavern had been all to happy to put up the adventurers for the night. As Asa ran into the center of the tavern, he spotted Jamie and Leo standing outside the door. Paul stumbled from the stairway that Asa had just vacated, looking about for a cause of the clamor. Guards ran by outside, yelling for everyone to stay indoors. Jamie turned, spotted Asa and Paul, and motioned for them to come outside.
"Look at that." Jamie said simply, pointing to a spot in the sky. The sun had not yet risen, and Asa couldn't see a thing. Suddenly, a speck detatched itself from the sky and dove downward, quickly becoming a distinct shape. It swept by the guards, the torchlight glinting off of it giving only a brief impression of its substance. Wings with razor tips, claws, and teeth seemed to be its major features, though the glimpse Asa received was so swift as to leave doubt in his mind. Bowmen had taken up stations, trying to shoot it down, but so far none had struck. Three guards were motionless on the ground, apparently having been attacked by the thing.
"What?" Paul said as he moved outside. Asa watched the thing soar into the sky again. Paul was still looking around. "I don't see anything."
"It just went up there" Asa said, pointing toward the sky. Paul looked, and was about to say something, when Jamie spoke up.
"Asa! Do something! Get rid of that thing!" she demanded angrily. It was upsetting her that the thing wouldn't stay on the ground long enough for her to hit it. At least Asa could do something about it.
Asa closed his eyes and concentrated on summoning an air elemental. Speaking a word of command, the air in front of him began to come together, bringing dust up into it as it did. Asa reopened his eyes and saw it, standing there, as the thing from above dove once more.
Asa stood for a moment, waiting for the elemental to take action. It remained standing. Why isn't it moving? he thought to himself. The looks on the other's faces mirrored the same question. Was Asa losing his ability?
A white flash of energy lanced out of the crowd and struck the monstrosity as it dove, sending it slamming into the ground. It screamed hideously and then burst into flames too bright to look at. When the light abated, the thing was gone.
Jamie spoke first.
"What the hell was that!?" she demanded loudly. As though in response, a short man dressed in wizard's garb emerged from the crowd, looking at the place where the creature had landed. He looked at the place for a moment, and then looked at everyone else. The entire crowd watched expectantly. This, apparently, was the originator of the bolt of light.
"It's dead!" he proclaimed triumphantly. The crowd cheered while Paul and Asa looked on. Asa was staring at his elemental, wondering why it hadn't acted. Paul was shaking his head and mumbling "what happened?". A few guards walked up to the wizard, who smiled and walked with them in the direction of the palace. The crowd began to disperse slowly. Leo shook his head and walked back into the tavern. Jamie followed, then Asa. A moment later, a still confused Paul reentered.
"Well..." Leo started. "That thing was probably one of Norax's beasts. He's been known to let them loose in order to demoralize the places that he's attacking or planning to attack."
"It worked." Asa said, glancing at the elemental that had followed him in. "My elemental did nothing." Asa spoke a hushed phrase, and the air that made up the elemental disappated. The dust it had been supporting fell to the floor. "I'm feeling less than adequate, how about anyone else?"
"Not me! I could have taken it if the damn thing had stayed on the ground." Jamie said, as though daring someone to defy her.
Paul shook his head. "What are you talking about! I didn't see anything!"
The rest of them just looked at him. Leo spoke up. "It was dark, and even I didn't get a good look at the thing. But surely you must have seen the light when the monstrosity perished...."
Paul shook his head. "I saw the light, but I wasn't looking when you say that the thing died. I was looking at Asa's elemental,and trying to figure out what was wrong with it."
Asa sat down at a table, feeling a fresh wave of fatigue overtake him momentarily. Summoning had become easier for him, but it was still tiring. The rest of the group followed his example and sat down at the same table.
"Has anyone seen Elayna?" Paul asked, glancing around the table.
"She's asleep in my room." Jamie replied. "Thank goodness she didn't have to see that- I don't know what the sight of another one of Norax's creations would have done to her."
Leo nodded his agreement. "Well, we're up a little earlier than we had planned, but this is as good a time as any to go over our plans." Everyone else edged a little closer to the table, glad to have a plan of action at last. Leo continued. "We will journey to the Nexus, to the south of here. It is about a two-day ride from this castle, if what I've been told is true. There, Asa will open it so that he can travel through it." Leo looked at Asa, who nodded his understanding. "The rest of us will follow. If possible, we will all enter at the same time. Together, the three of us should be enough to overcome Norax."
"Three?" Asa spoke up. "there are five in our party... who exactly is going to fight Norax?"
"We can't bring Elayna along." Jamie said. "I don't want her anywhere near that plane. She's in enough danger as it is. If it weren't for the fact that I don't really trust anyone around here, I'd leave her at this keep. We'll bring her as far as the Nexus, but I don't want her going with us to fight Norax."
"Well said." Leo stated. "Asa, the other person who will not be fightng Norax is you. He will have control over you. Hopefully, our appearance will be suprise enough that he will not be able to exert that control until it is too late. Otherwise, Asa, we will be fighting against both Norax and you...."
"Why can't I just open up the Nexus and send all of you through?" Asa asked, looking for a way out. He did not like how all of this sounded. On some level, he already knew that the situation was near hopeless. He didn't like being reminded of it, though.
Paul spoke up again. "Asa... the closer you get to the Nexus, the more drawn toward it you will feel. By the time that you reach it, you won't be able to help yourself. You will step through of your own accord. But instead of just you, Norax is going to get to see all of us." he grinned slightly. "Together, I think that we can win."
Jamie decided that now was a good time to speak. "Yeah Asa. After all, you've got me on your side. We're bound to win!" She leaned back in her chair, lacing her hands behind her head in a gesture of superiority. She looked over at Leo. "So, when are we leaving?"
Leo didn't know what to make of Jamie's attitude, so he just answered the question. "We will gather our supplies and meet here in five hours. King Darren has granted us the use of some of his horses, which will greatly speed our quest. After we have supplied ourselves and received our steeds, we will leave."
Asa swollowed, trying to ignore the sudden feeling of doom that seemed to overcome him. Tomorrow, he would be riding directly toward Norax, and slavery. He shivered, though the room was not cold at all.
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