-The Summoned-
Dacono
The Light Plane: Craft's Plateau
Asa ran into the hut a moment later, his breath
suddenly knocked out of him by what he saw. Elayna was screaming,
holding onto Jamie. The corpse of Robert Craft lay in the center
of the room. Asa had never known this man, but it was plain by her
reaction what Elayna's relationship to him had been. He only hoped
that she hadn't witnessed whatever had caused the man's death.
Elayna shuddered, sobs racking her body as she held
onto Jamie. Jamie merely sat there, holding the child. A lone
tear trailed down Jamie's cheek, but Asa could see no other reaction.
His own reaction was slightly more evident. After struggling not
to pass out altogether, he staggered out of the hut and threw up.
After some time Jamie, carrying a sleeping Elayna,
walked out of the hut and glared down at Asa.
"We're leaving." She said.
"But-" Asa began to object.
"I said" Jamie cut him off angrily. "We're
leaving. She's asleep right now, and she really doesn't need to be
around that" Jamie nodded toward the hut "any more. And frankly,
neither do I. Let's go." With this she began walking toward a worn
path leading downward. After pausing a moment to glance back at the
hut, Asa followed.
"Where are we going?" Asa asked, winded from keeping
up with Jamie and carrying the party's pack at the same time.
"Dacono." Jamie answered curtly.
Asa followed for a few more minutes before speaking
again. "It's... getting late. Are we going to get there in
time?" In fact, it was already late. The last rays of the sun
had slipped below the horizon while they were still up on the plateau.
The mountains were behind them now, and while he found it easier to walk
on grass than on stone, he was no less tired.
"Yes," Jamie sighed, frustrated with Asa's idiotic
questions. "we will get there in time. It's no more than half
an hour's walk from here. Now be quiet!"
Obediantly, Asa lapsed into silence.
Forty five minutes later, Jamie, Asa, and a still
silent Elayna passed a sign saying only "Dacono".
Asa knew something was wrong. Even at this
hour, someone would be walking the streets. Not a light shone in
the town of Dacono, not a person moved about its streets. It appeared
completely deserted.
Jamie looked about angrily, still not saying a word.
She walked up to what appeared to be an inn and knocked loudly on the door.
There was no reply.
"How long has it been since you were last here?"
Asa asked quietly, hoping not to anger Jamie further.
"Two and a half months." She replied, moving to
the next building and knocking loudly. "But I don't think that's
enough time for the whole population to die off. Someone's got to be here."
She moved to the next building but before she could knock the door opened
of its own accord and a man about Asa's height sprang out.
"What are you trying to do, get yourselves killed?
Get in here!" He practically pulled Jamie into the house and Asa
dodged in after, not at all eager to get killed or get separated from the
rest of his group.
The inside of the house was lit dimly by candlelight.
The man finished lighting a few more and then turned back to the group.
"First of all, my name is Paul DeLocke. Second of all, I'm going
to have to ask you to put out those torches. I don't want any more
light in here than neccessary. Let the thing think nobody's here."
Asa extinguished his torch and did the same for
Jamie's.
"Thank you." Paul said. He looked to Jamie.
"There's a bed in the far room there. You can put your daughter there
for the night." Without comment Jamie left the room. Paul turned
to Asa. "Really, this time of night is not the time to move your
family around. That child's lucky she didn't get hurt. You're
lucky you're not dead."
Jamie reappeared, walking purposely toward Paul.
"What's going on here?" She asked. She had overheard Paul's comments
to Asa and decided not to let him think any different. "We come down
from the mountains to find a place in this town and it's like there's nobody
left!"
Asa opened his mouth to point out the fact that
they were not a family, Elayna was not his daughter, and they weren't trying
to find a place in the town. Jamie glared at him and he shut it quickly.
Paul wasn't watching Asa at the time. His
attention was given solely to Jamie. "You haven't heard? No,
I don't suppose you have. There's a monstrosity attacking this town.
Some undead horror. It returns every night and starts killing.
Not even my magic is strong enough to defeat it. I tried! If
it knew I was still here, I'd be dead in very little time. If my
master were here, then we would stand a chance."
"Woah... you're a sorcerer?" Asa interjected.
Paul turned his head to look at Asa.
"Not yet. I'm just an apprentice so far.
Like I said, if my master were here, we would have no trouble. He's
a far more powerful mage than I."
"Your master... Who would it happen to be?" Jamie
asked.
"The Seeker." Paul answered, saying no more.
Merely that was enough.
The Seeker was the most powerful mage who lived
on the light plane. Second only to his trainer Peacekeeper, he had
traveled to all corners of the plane and, it was rumored, had even traveled
to the other planes. That he had been habiting a small town training
an apprentice was nothing short of incredible.
"The Seeker is your master?" Asa asked, instantly
disbelieving the claim.
"Yes. But he is not here now. He hasn't
been here for quite some time.... I sometimes worry about that old man.
But of course he's always all right. Except this time..." he trailed
off.
"This time what?" Jamie asked. It was a good
thing that Jamie had spoken up. Asa couldn't trust himself to speak.
Hearing Paul's causal reference to the greatest sorcerer of his time as
"that old man" combined with his incredible claim to begin with had angered
him more than he had even realized.
"This time... something's wrong. He looked
edgy before he left, and he said he was going to confront someone, and
that he might not be back for quite some time. I don't claim to have
the ability he does, but I could swear that there's something happening
in the world. Something's going on, and I don't think he wants to
be around for it. At least, that's the impression I got."
Asa had, by this time, regained his composure.
"How do we know that you're really a student of the Seeker?" he said.
Paul laughed lightly. "Just look around!"
he said. Asa, having been more curious about the man than his surroundings,
looked around the room for the first time. Books lined shelves on
every wall. A table in the center of the room was littered with staves,
wands, scrolls, potions and less identifiable magical implements.
One book lied open on the edge of the table, almost falling off.
Paul made a gesture, and the pages began turning themselves, disturbing
the dust that had settled over the entire table. The pages turned
with more rapidity until the book closed itself with an audible noise.
The title read "Planeskeeper's Legacy".
Planeskeeper's Legacy. The information instantly
came to Asa. A book of untold age, passed down from generation to
generation by a small group of wizards. Each had assumed a title
that reflected their abilities. Planeskeeper had been the first,
the one to create the book, and inside were the secrets of his group, the
key to the most powerful magic known to exist since the Great Fall.
Only the members of this group had the book, and the Seeker was widely
known as one of the last. That it would be here in the possession
of Paul meant one of two things. One, that Paul had killed the Seeker
and stolen the book, in which case there wasn't a whole lot anyone could
do about it, or Two, that Paul was telling the truth.
"So you are an apprentice of the Seeker..." Asa
said almost reverently.
"Yes. And not even I can dispose of this meanace.
But I will not abandon my town and her people. You are welcome to
stay the night here, but you may wish to leave tomorrow. The thing
will not come out during the day, and that is when many of the townspeople
have made their escape. There are rooms on the second floor.
I am afraid that it is late and I am growing tired." He smiled wanly.
"I hope you will not think me rude if I put off the rest of our conversation
until tomorrow."
"Not at all." Jamie said, which is the exact opposite
of what Asa was going to say. Asa wanted to grill this man and find
out everything he could about Seeker. But Jamie was right- they needed
rest. Especially him. Summoning one creature a day was enough
to tire a person out, and he had gone on to do more strenous activity afterward.
Paul left the room.
Jamie smiled and walked over to Asa. "Asa,
this town is under attack by some undead monstrosity. Do you realize
how much they would reward us if we were to get rid of such a meanace?"
Asa was tired to the point where it took a few seconds
for Jamie's meaning to sink in. "Wha- what? What are
you saying? You heard him! His magic can't overcome the thing!
How are we supposed to kill it? Jamie, do you want us to die?"
"Just because he's apprentice to the Seeker doesn't
mean he's any good!" Jamie countered. "Besides, what if it's not
magic, but steel that hurts that thing?"
"Then the warriors of this town would have already
got it." Asa said, not at all awake enough to argue.
Jamie waved away Asa's complaint. "Asa, there's
you're ability. I'd never seen a summoner before you appeared at
my bridge. Until then, I had thought that there were no more.
And yet, here you are. That thing out there hasn't faced a summoner.
Asa, tomorrow night we're going to go out there, and we're going to free
this city."
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