One Cycle of Darkness: The Second Neoluzian War: Book Iv

By Christopher J. Farmer

In One Cycle of Darkness, book four of The Second Neoluzian War epic fantasy series, the Orc armies commanded by the wicked Orc dictator Arkan Spiritstrike have destroyed the dark elven city of Balenwood in Frontentia as their conquest of the lower lands continues unabated. The very dangerous 8th Orc legions commanded by the feared General Deathpox the Culler, now moves to cut off the dwarves of Carpallachia from providing assistance to the other endangered peoples of the land.

At the salon castle, David Parr and his companions have unlocked the secret location of the great necromancer Termaplix using a combination of information that they have gathered in the land since the human stranger arrived in Neoluzia and a gift from Queen Tara in the Dagger of Sight. However, with the destruction of Balenwood and the pending Orc attack upon the light elven city of Oakmantle, David Parr's decision to remain in Neoluzia forces his widening involvement in the war and the demands placed upon him from those that face the darkness of the enemy from the north.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Aug 22, 2005
• ISBN: 9780595812202

Christopher J. Farmer

Christopher J. Farmer is a national security expert specializing in revolutionary theory. His intense writing style explores complicated security issues in a fictional setting that humanity faces in this new century. He resides in Connecticut with his family.

Book preview

One Cycle of Darkness

The Second Neoluzian War: Book IV

Copyright © 2005 by Christopher J. Farmer

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Contents

Introduction

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Neoluzian Terms

The collapse of the secret chamber deep inside the unknown mountain from where it was built by wizards from sutars past has left me fearful of our chances to succeed against this new Orc threat. One single Orc necromancer has felled every single master wizard and apprentice wizard at our disposal. By Gaeit’s will alone, the human stranger was rescued by Navon of the Veiled Institution once again and brought back to us at the Salon of Enlightenment intact. The wizard Navon has remained silent about what happened in the ancient den and what I was not able to see firsthand because Plaxico stole our group away before Navon and Lord Parr could escape on their own. Something happened deep inside that wizard den that troubled Navon and he remained ominously silent about what occurred there.

Two moons have passed since this event and in these moons I have had to make decisions about the defense of the land to support Queen Vannex. General Divis has attached a personal guard upon me now—four paladin soldiers now watch over me and I have no privacy. I have always detested guards because when guarded by others there is no opportunity to observe the community alone—to ponder the community. Even now they sit outside the door to my personal chambers and I can hear their armor scratching along the stone corridor when their hands grip the sheaths of their swords to stand proudly as other council members pass by them to see me. This is the change that I have expected, when the leaders of the land are forced to work together to face the Orcs and in this uncertainty they have placed a higher value upon my life than others in the salon castle—simply because I was selected by my human comrades to represent them here after I decided to retire from teaching philosophy for the salon guilds.

The terrible news of the destruction of the dark elven city of Balenwood that was channeled to us by the human paladin Appaddox struck Lord Parr in a desperate way—an unexpected way—as it did the rest of us collectively. I have retraced the decisions that we have made here at the salon in regards to the defense of the land and although our security posture could not reasonably have allowed us the resources to dispatch a military force suitable to defend the dark elves of Balenwood, I feel an inner measure of catastrophe, a strong sense of failure about the fate of the dark elves, as if it were the fault of the council itself that led to the annihilation of Queen Tara’s people. This shall occur again, this feeling of powerlessness, and it overwhelms me so. In my chambers here in the high tower of the castle writing this journal, I reflect about what has occurred with great sadness and uncertainty for our future in this land.

The three dark elves that journeyed here with me from Oakmantle remain with the human stranger, barred under heavy guard from leaving the castle by Queen Vannex’s orders, and are now fixed with The Protectorate in the healing sage guild’s quarters. In the short moons that I have come to be acquainted with the human stranger, I find him to be quite mysterious and in possession of a power that is yet to be explained. I caught a glimpse of this power last evening when the shocking news of the Orc attack in Frontentia settled from the morning revelation by the paladin Appaddox’s channel to us. In The Protectorate, the sage healers were still tending to the wizard adepts that were poisoned by the Orc necromancer in the secret wizard den—all had small injuries, but were sickened by the magic nonetheless. The human stranger was standing alone on a balcony outside the castle and the dark elves that accompanied him to the salon were in another isolated location within the guild area comforting each other. I watched as the groups in The Protectorate moved about the guild tending to their comrades and then I found the human stranger on the balcony with his hands gripped firmly on the atlantanar rail looking below at the paladin encampments that have formed to defend the salon. He stared at the camps of paladins and other soldiers and his eyes moved across their formations with a dangerous silence as if he were familiar with them. Lord Parr’s hands gripped the rail on the balcony with such firmness that I could hear the flesh in his palms grind against the cold metal. There was an anger building inside of him and when his eyes caught mine briefly I could have sworn that they were glowing faintly with an atlantanar hue. I could feel this anger while I was apart from the human stranger and it was the most unnerving feeling that I have ever had before. Lord Parr was fighting this emotion on the balcony and it was not until the dark elf Tonee moved to him carefully that I felt the energy projected by Lord Parr fade. The human and the dark elf hugged and then I turned my attention again to the activity of the healing sages.

Navon of the Veiled Institution approached shortly thereafter and nodded to me with respect. He told me that we did not have much more time to awaken Darius before the darkness in the land grew out of control. He would not be specific with me, unfortunately, but the wizard said that he understood why Tamica did not want Lord Parr brought to our world by Darius because of a new revelation. When I asked him to explain, he promptly refused but appeared to be very worried. He simply demanded quietly that Parr be confined to the castle until he could reestablish contact with his wizard guild, if that were even possible now as he explained to us before.

Plaxico asked me about the incident with Lord Parr and the strange feeling that I had in The Protectorate. What was the most troubling portion of the event was that I could not adequately explain the feeling because I had never experienced such pure anger before. I was never a warrior or paladin and was never involved in battle, but the feeling that came upon me when I stood a distance away from the human stranger while he was on the balcony cannot be anything other than anger. Or maybe it was anger and a desire for revenge. It was a desire to avenge the dark elves, and the human stranger stood on that balcony and fought against it for several hours. Something was overwhelming him—some type of force—and it was touching everyone else. Today I shall pressure Navon to explain to me what he knows about the human stranger and why Lord Parr is having this new difficulty in our world so unexpectedly.

—Lord Bodan, Council Member, Neoluzia 1153

The Rime

When set together,

You have stood to carry us,

To give us light,

In the darkness,

That we may live through another night,

And find our way home.

Introduction

The Spardune Valley, Neoluzia 22

Eight cycles had passed since the end of the War of Cleansing but the two riders on horses moved with a stealth not seen since the Orcs previously traversed the human lands under the command of the wicked Orc general, Irongloat the Merciless. The pair of riders were humans, father and son, and this unexpected journey brought them far away from their home together with urgency. So much had changed since the war ended a short eight cycles ago—the politics of lower Neoluzia became hostile to those that had saved the land. When King Isaih passed from Neoluzia unexpectedly seventy moons ago, the new leadership collective at the Salon of Enlightenment issued decrees to confiscate all magical weapons, magical artifacts and placed rules on mobility which all the populations of the land were required to follow as new primary rules of law. The populations of lower Neoluzia embraced the new rules issued by the salon because everyone was wounded during the War of Cleansing even if those wounds were not outwardly visible to others.

The horses that carried the riders embraced the summer air as they sprinted across the harvested fields and sutars of fireflies sparkled in its open spaces. The lead horse that carried the older human slowed under the permanent Neoluzian moon when he pulled on the reigns of the large animal and his son urged his own horse to a trot and pulled closer to his father, the horses pleased and panting from the run.

We have been riding for hours and the horses are fatigued, father. We should dismount for a moment and allow them to rest. Could we stop long enough so that you can explain to me why we have moved here in the dead of night?

You shall understand soon enough why I have brought us here together, a location that I did not think that I would ever see again in my lifetime, Barak said and turned to face his son’s glance from the saddle. The human paladin gripped the sheath of his feralyte sword and his thick leather armor sparkled from magical properties imbued upon it from the dwarven forges before the war. Barak turned from his son’s glance and breathed deeply, lowering his head in troubled thought. The horses that carried the pair trotted in place slightly with excitement as if they could hear something in the distance that the two humans could not. The human paladin raised his eyes and scanned the shadowy darkness of the field but did not move his horse away from his son. The youth quietly stared into the endless fields in the thick of night, lifting the hood from his black robe and judged his father curiously. He was drawn from a very sound slumber by his father to mount the horses and then ride to this location without any reason for doing so and this had never happened before since he returned to his family from the Salon of Enlightenment when the wizard guild disbanded.

During the war we would camp at times very close to this location as the lines between our armies and those of the Orcs fought over the very land that we stand upon now. How quiet and serene it is here. During the war we were afraid to go to sleep at night because of Irongloat’s patrols. You never knew when an Orc magic user would suddenly appear to attack or an Orc infantry regiment would descend upon us. The land itself does not pay attention to these things. Even though the danger has ended from cycles past, I should feel differently about these plains but I have no choice but to reflect in my memory about the war just by being here again. Barak said slowly. Your uncle was killed just beyond that large oak tree. He pointed to an old growth oak tree that had survived the war a distance away.

They say that Tomer was a hero during that battle, father, as you were, the youth smiled with pride.

Barak smiled and his eyes flashed in memory, I once saw your uncle Tomer cast down ten Orcs single-handedly. If he were alive today he would not allow the politics of the land to turn against those that have saved her from the Orc invasion.

He would have succumbed fighting the changes.

With every last gasp of his soul, Barak whispered after pausing to think about his son’s words. His son opened his mouth to speak but then closed his eyes and lowered his head, allowing his father the personal memory of the war. Tomer would readily approve of the action that I now take.

The young man peered in the direction of the old oak tree in the moonlight and studied it while thinking of his uncle. Tomer was a very powerful and loyal man that had earned the respect of the human communities through his actions before the War of Cleansing. When the Orcs invaded the human areas from the north through the Fear Wastes, Tomer traveled south and took command of a human paladin company and swore allegiance to General Yugon before he later died in battle. Tomer fought directly against Irongloat the Merciless and his wicked legions and performed valiantly as the men who stood with him moved against the darkness to protect their families, their homes, and their honor. The memories of his uncle were filled with regret that he could not say goodbye to Tomer. In war, the loss of loved ones unexpectedly was common and nearly all the survivors experienced this inescapable form of personal sorrow.

Father again I ask you, why have you taken us to this place? The young man questioned silently. Did you feel a need to come here because of what occurred in the war with you and Tomer?

The older human shook his head in disagreement and dismounted from the horse and his son did the same, adjusting his dark robe when he stood on his feet and stretched. Barak shifted in his magical leather armor and dropped the reigns of his horse and the animal began to nibble in the tall grass where it tried to grow again in patches from the previous harvests.

"When King Isaih died, those that were self-chosen to replace him and the salon council have made some dangerous decisions that have expanded upon the intentions of what Isaih wanted to do when the War of

Cleansing ended. I was privy to King Isaih’s declarations and those agreed to by the king’s council, but after his death the king’s ideas that had limits placed upon them by reason became very unreasonable due to the motivations of others."

What do you mean, father?

Barak turned to his son again and sighed with sorrow, When wars occur they can be fought for narrow reasons that everyone agrees to at the beginning. This is what draws men together to fight in armies for kings. Sometimes the reasons that men gather to fight can change rapidly when the war ends, surprising everyone involved. When the very people that we defended in the War of Cleansing agreed collectively to the sudden changes that were piled onto King Isaih’s original ideas, this forced the rest of us to accept them as well or risk another war. King Isaih did not declare these changes before he died—they came afterwards by others that were not in power during the war. The people embrace them because they are willing to do anything to forget the danger and destruction of the War of Cleansing. They have surrendered the original ideals of the war and replaced them with dangerous post-war ideas in their stead. The uncertainty at the end of the war opened up this possibility and no one saw it coming except those that had planned to do it by surprising everyone else that was caught unaware.

You mean that those that thought they would lead at the end of the war were replaced by new leaders that no one knew about? The young man asked.

Sort of, Barak replied softly. King Isaih had a long-term plan for the lower lands politically. Sure, the king created the Rules of Mobility and he also instituted new laws that required the confiscation of magical weapons and new restrictions on the use of magic as a whole, but it was not until the king died that his ideas were used by others for much more dangerous purposes.

Who are these people that you speak of?

They were lurkers, individuals that never truly held power in the past but yearned for it. Before the war no civilized group would ever allow them to seize power but they have unexpectedly achieved power politically over all in the lower lands because their seizing of power was forceful and unexpected. They formed a group of likeminded individuals at the end of the War of Cleansing and even though this group was small initially they found support from several of the guilds at the salon castle and it was in this support that allowed them to suddenly seize power over the rest of us. That is why I have brought you here to this empty, lonely field, because I fear that even though we won the War of Cleansing, a new war could possibly emerge from these changes and there will be nothing that we can do to stop it from starting. I fear for your personal safety, and since your mother passed during the war, taken up by Gaeit herself, I must now make this decision on my own.

Why would you be concerned about my safety?

I am concerned about your safety because there is a rumor that magic users are disappearing in the land and no one knows where they are going or have gone to. Some of my comrades have witnessed the paladin guild under orders from the Salon of Enlightenment rounding up wizards and their apprentices. I do not want to take the chance that they will come during the middle of the night and try to take you away from me. Barak smiled warmly to his son.

Where are they taking the wizards that they are rounding up? Why would they come for me? I didn’t fight during the War of Cleansing. It makes no sense. I was an apprentice but I didn’t fight during the war and have never used the great magic to harm anyone or anything, for that matter. They have nothing to fear from me.

They fear you because of what you have been taught, Barak placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. They fear you because with the knowledge you possess you could teach others the great magic and the new rules initiated by King Isaih would be much more difficult to enforce if you began to gather apprentices and teach them to be magic users.

That is silly! When the War of Cleansing ended I left the wizard guild because the guilds disbanded. King Isaih ordered this. I have been living with you since then to care for the farm. Father, you know that I have stayed with you for almost seven cycles and everyone in the region knows personally that I am no longer involved with the wizard guild. I am now a farmer as you are. They know that you need me since mother died. You do not mean to flee the Spardune Valley just because of a rumor from the paladin guild of old that the Salon of Enlightenment is kidnapping members of the old wizard guild, do you?

That is precisely what I mean, Barak replied.

Father, we have nothing with us! How will we survive? We have no food and no grain for the horses and we are heading west into the open plains where there are no towns before us and no place to seek shelter. Where are we going?

Barak turned away from his son and slowly lifted his head to stare into the Neoluzian sky and the ever present moon glared down upon them both. The older human paladin gripped the hilt of his feralyte long sword again and closed his eyes in prayer. Barak’s son had no idea that they had already arrived at the predestined location that the paladin led them to. His son did not understand that the new politic of the world was a dangerous reality that soon forgot the efforts of those that sought to defend the land during the War of Cleansing. It didn’t matter that his son was a former member of the wizard guild at the Salon of Enlightenment. The new leadership cell at the Salon of Enlightenment was only concerned with confiscating the old magic and containing it. The only way that the old magic could be contained is if those that understood the old magic could also be controlled. Barak could use limited forms of magic that he learned as a paladin at the Salon of Enlightenment such as the channeling magic which most paladins mastered before they were sent to the trials to be branded into the paladin guild. The paladin saw firsthand exactly how dangerous human magic users could be during the war but his son never used the great magic in his presence. His son kept the great magic a very closely guarded secret and never once betrayed his oath to the wizard guild at the Salon of Enlightenment once it moved to the castle from the razed city of Flamedegen. His son was loyal but the new leadership cell at the Salon of Enlightenment did not concern itself with loyalty in this new age. Barak was pleased that his son did not participate in the War of Cleansing directly but that did not lessen the danger that his son potentially faced from those issuing the new instructions at the salon. He could not take the chance that they would come for his son as the magic channel he received from a dear friend and informer at the salon itself earlier in the cycle had warned him about.

" We are not going anywhere. I have brought you to this field where your uncle is secretly buried because this is where we shall meet those who shall take you from me to protect you—to do what I cannot. I will not be able to defend you from those loyal to the salon and those that have accepted the many decisions of the new council to quarantine all of the magic users in lower Neoluzia. The War of Cleansing is over but the new war against all magic itself has only just begun."

The youth gasped and his eyes flashed to the sky. In the distance a bright ball of white light began to travel closer to them and as it traced across the sky the young man took his father’s hand and his eyes began to water because he understood what was about to happen. Barak hugged his son tightly as the magical ball of light lowered to the ground a short distance away and then the gate spell opened with the sound of thunder and the sound of breaking glass. His son was crying then and he gripped his father’s armor tightly.

The collapse of the gate spell flashed with bright white light that trailed across the plains and in its midst stood three powerful wizards, two human and one elven, that had saved the land during the War of Cleansing. Barak took his strong arms and forced his son to release his grip over him and then the elder paladin turned to face the three wizards as they approached silently towards them.

Father, what does this mean?

"The future is uncertain and I cannot protect you from the changes in the land. When you were younger, the land needed you as a magic user and that was your destiny. Your training in the great magic was your gift of Gaeit herself. The survivors from the War of Cleansing fear you even though you mean them no harm. They do not understand what they do. They have no cause to fear you or the other wizards but as I have already told you, the survivors that are not magic users have banned the use of great magic in all the land. The only way that I can ensure your safety is if

I task what remains of the wizard guild from the War of Cleansing to secure you, to protect you and care for you."

I will be leaving you?

Barak leaned back slightly and breathed deeply with sorrow. The three wizards paused in the distance, sensing that there was a disturbance with the communication between father and son. The human wizard that stood in the center of the group that had just arrived by the magic gate paused and then raised a hand to quietly signal to the others that traveled with him to stay behind so that he could approach Barak and his son alone. The wizard wore a white robe and he held a force stone that throbbed with pulsating white light. As the wizard closed he placed the glowing stone underneath his robe and the light from the magic gem was replaced with the moonlight of the permanent Neoluzian moon that floated overhead and shone across the land.

Son, leave me for a moment. I need to speak to the wizards alone. Barak instructed.

Yes father, the young man replied and then moved a distance away and lifted his eyes with inner excitement at the silhouettes that he believed he recognized from a friendship in the past that he missed dearly. He felt his eyes water slightly and then he closed them as he took the reigns of his horse while awaiting his father’s pending commands.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice. I used the magic charm that you gave me to contact you when my son left the wizard guild at the Salon of Enlightenment. You predicted the tension that is now present in the land and I fear for my son’s safety. There are rumors that powerful magic users from the past are disappearing. I cannot ignore these rumors because of my son’s history with the wizard guild of old. Although he was never