Chapter 04: Path's Crossed

Chapter 4: Path’s Crossed

 

Alora awoke and exited the guard’s chambers, using her persuasive ways, she had abstracted information about Gorec, and she sighed.  “My beloved has escaped, and is looking for Lyra and Dyorn.  This is the perfect time for me to express my love for him, and warn the Andros’ about my fathers plan.”  She ran straight into the throne room.

Kagain did not notice his daughter enter.  He was keeping himself busy trying to seduce one of his maids.  “Come on, my dear, retire to my chambers with me.  As emperor of Dragonia I need someone with….”

“Father.”  Alora interrupted, giving the maid time to leave.

“Alora, my love, what is it you are after THIS TIME!”

“Just to tell you that Gorec has escaped, and is most likely going to warn Dyorn and Lyra about what is happening.”

“WHAT!!!”  Kagain screamed, and jumped to his feet.  When he landed the whole castle shook.  “Guards!  Seize the prisoner Gorec and bring him here.”  The guards ran quickly to the prison, only to find Gored had vanished into thin air only hours ago.

“Milord!  Gorec has vanished, there is no sign of him.”

“Damnit!  How could a little runt like him escape me!  It is impossible!”

“Maybe, father, there is more to Gorec than meets the eye?”

“Yes, ‘tis possible.  JACE!”  Kagain bellowed for Jace time and time again, before he finally remembered.  “Of course he will not come, he is not here.  Alora, my dear, I have a job for you.”

“Yes sire?”

“Find Gorec and drag his a*s back here at once!  Understand?”

“Yes father.”  She ran out of the throne room, and started to make her arrangements to leave.

 

As all was happening at Castlelake Dyorn and Lyra were encamped on the border of the Lake of the Dead.  “We are almost there love.  Do you remember our plan?”

“Yes, you distract Brell’s minions and I have one chance to embed my dagger anywhere on Brell.”

“Good.”  They both quickly quieted, having heard rustling in the trees.  Dyorn rose to his feet, and drew his Dark Blade.  He started to feel the power of the Berserker flooding into him.  “Who’s there?”  His voice was deeper, and his eyes had a tint of blood red.

“It is I.”  Gorec stepped out of the woods.  As soon as he appeared Dyorn dropped the sword, and returned to normal.  “Now Dyorn, you wouldn’t attack a friend?  Especially one who just so happens to have some vital information for you.”

Dyorn and Lyra rushed Gorec, embracing him tightly.  “We have so many questions, but this is the most important, why have you come?”  Lyra was the first with any questions, or first to find her voice.

“I carry bad tidings, thought I wish I carried better.  Please, sit.”  They all sat, and Gorec drew in a breath.  “Kagain had escaped the very night he was imprisoned.”  Lyra gasped, and Dyorn looked steady on, his hand grasping the hilt of his sword.  “Worse yet, he has captured Castlelake…”

“WHAT!”  Dyorn roared, causing birds of all typed to fly away in terror.

“With a legion of spiders.”  Gorec resumed his story, ignoring Dyorn’s comment.

“I should have known!  It was Kagain that wanted me dead.  That is why he sent that damned letter!”

Alora stepped into the camp, startling them.  “Yes, father had that letter sent.”  Everyone leapt to their feet, and in a second Alora felt the cold of steel against her throat, as she entered the camp.  “Good evening.”  She barely managed to choke out

Dyorn swung his other hand, a dagger quickly found her heart, and pressed insistently against her chest.  “Why are you here?  What kind of business do, or would, you have with us?”

Alora stayed cool, even with the cold steel of Dyorn’s blades poised ready to kill.  She knew one move and the sword would slice through her neck like butter, and the dagger would quickly find its way to its target.  “I came here to warn you, Dyorn.  My father has…”

“Taken Castlelake as his?”

“Why yes!  How did you know?”

“Gorec has informed us.”

“I see.”  Her gaze had shifted to Gorec, and a small smile was produced.  “I was supposed to find you and return you, since Jace is off tracking Wuith.”

Gorec jumped.  “Jace is tracking Wuith?”

“Of course, father needs him to…to do some business.  Why should that startle you?”

Everyone turned and looked at Gorec.  Lyra was the first to understand why Gorec was startled, except for Dyorn who had always known.  “Well, Gorec, if Kagain is looking for you, after Dyorn and I defeat Brell you can see him.”

Alora turned to Lyra, then to Dyorn.  “If defeating Brell is why you are here, it will not be easy.  He is immune to almost every spell, or weapon produced.  Plus, the knowledge that you were coming, he is prepared.”

“We are prepared as well.  We will have no problem defeating him.”  Lyra put out, on their behalf.

“Your dagger will not pierce his armor.  Only a strong empathy spell can make him lose the armor.  That is why I could be useful.  Of course, Gorec could be more of a help.”

“How do you know all this, Alora?”

Her attention turned, once again, to Gorec.  “I looked into it.”

“And why tell us?  Your father wants us dead, do you not agree?”  It was Dyorn’s time to give Alora the third degree.

“My father recently killed my fiancé, and I am after revenge.”

“We see.  Well, tomorrow, we all go after Brell.  That way we can return to Castlelake without delay.  Now, everyone sleep.”  Dyorn and Lyra went into their tent, leaving Alora and Gorec alone.

Gorec looked towards Alora, noticing the strange look in her eyes.  “Why do you keep looking at me that way, milady?”

Alora nearly jumped out of her skin hearing Gorec refer to her as ‘milady”.  “Well, good sir, for a long time I have adored someone but have not had the chance to tell him.  When I do, I lose all concentration in his beauty.” 

“Well, it seems to me that you should tell me the lucky sir’s name, and I shall tell him for you.”

“If I told you his name, then I would not need you to tell him.”

“Pardon?”  It took Gorec a moment to understand what she had said.  “So, by telling me the name of the man you love, you tell him?”

“Precisely.”  Alora looked away her face pure red.  She was sure that by now Gorec thought her a fool.

Gorec chuckled.  “I have admired your beauty for a while now, Alora.  Now, since you have said something, I shall proclaim my everlasting love for you.  Dear, sweet Alora.”

Alora leapt from where she sat, and wrapped her arms around him tightly.  “Oh, Gorec, I love you!”

 

Dyorn and Lyra slipped their heads back into the tent.  “Well, Dyorn, must say you never say that coming.”  She smiled, wrapping her arms around him.

“I must say, love, I never would have guessed.”  They both chuckled, and settled to bed.

 

Gorec only gave a small smile, his arms slipping around her, as he kissed her lightly.  “I thought as much.”  When Alora unwrapped herself from Gorec, all she could do was smile.  “I supposed you have no tent?”

“No milord, I wanted to get here as soon as I could.  The quickest way I knew was by flight.”

“Well, than I shall not have you sleeping out under the stars.  You will join me in my tent.”

“Thank you.”  Her smile only grew, thinking of how happy she would be by morning.

“First, though, I would like to know why exactly your father is tracking Wuith, I mean me.”

“He needs a powerful magic sacrifice, to make Dragonia and Entantium one place.

“Is that the only reason he is searching for me?”

“Well, of course, why else would he be after you.”

“I do not know, Kagain is a strange man, and no one in their right mind would want to investigate into that evil dimension he calls his brain.”  Gorec thought, it was just strange how much trouble Kagain went through to find him.

“You know father is very greedy especially when it comes to power.  He would stop at nothing to control Dragonia, or Entantium.  If he controlled both, there is no way to determine what he would become.”

“He would become a completely cold-blooded monster!  We cannot let that happen, we must help Dyorn and Lyra defeat Brell, and your father, any way possible!”

“Gorec, do you believe it is possible for us to defeat Brell in time to return to Castlelake before my father completes his spell?”

“Of course, remember, your father needs me to complete the spell.  Without me, then it will not happen.”

“He only wants you to make the spell last forever!  He needs any sort of magical sacrifice to complete the spell.”

“Oh my…now we seriously have a problem.”  Gorec was at a loss for words.  “Come, my dear, we should be to bed.  Dyorn and Lyra need our help more now than ever.”

“I agree.”  Gorec and Alora went into his tent, and both quickly fell asleep, leaving the camp dark, and quiet.

 

Late into the night, a dark form stepped into the camp.  The form looked around his dark, sightless; eyes long forgotten in his age he was trying to sense something or someone.  “Interesting Dyorn Andros, the second strongest mage in all of Dragonia has married a Ciencaster woman, Lyra to be exact.  Her skills as a sorceress have traveled all around the world, I have heard legends of her in Entantium, her family must be proud.”  He stopped, and turned to the tent Gorec and Alora were.  “Gorec Anubis is here?  Of course, Dyorn and Gorec have been friends their whole life it only makes sense.  Gorec being the most powerful mage, even at a young age, it is only natural for those two to be acquaintances.  What is this?  Alora Blackturner among the ranks of Light?”  He stopped, and puzzled.  “This is not good, Dyorn and Lyra themselves would have been a challenge add Gorec it is trouble, but to put Alora in the ranks, I am doomed!”  Brell, as he had just shown himself to be, thought.  Finally he had formulated a plan; a sinister grin crossed his lips of crimson.  “If one of them are unable to fight, or fights for me, this shall be easy!”  He quickly stepped into Dyorn’s tent, and after a few chosen words he had vanished completely.

A moment or two later Lyra opened her eyes, her eyes were somehow different, they were pitch black, and utterly useless, exactly like Brell’s.  “This was too easy, now to sleep, I have to try to deceive Dyorn, Gorec, and Alora tomorrow.”

Dyorn, half-awake, heard Brell.  “Lyra, dear, please return to sleep, we have a struggle ahead of us tomorrow.”

Brell did not know what to do, but he did his best to be Lyra.  “Understood, love, good night.”  Dyorn went back to sleep, and Brell sighed.  “I must sleep, I do not know if it is this body, but I suddenly feel like resting, something that I have not done for many a century.”  Lyra, rather Brell, laid back down and slowly fell back into blissful sleep.

 

Gorec stirred in his bed.  He quickly awoke.  “What in the world was that?”

Alora, asleep for the most part, looked to Gorec.  “What was what?”

“I felt a presence in the camp, one that was full of darkness.  I had never sensed a being that cold not even your father is that cold hearted.”

“That can not be true.  There is no one that is more evil than my father…except…” She trailed off, worried, and now very sure of who it was.

“Except who?”

“Gorec, we are here to destroy Brell correct?”

“Yes, that is the main idea of this, why do you ask?”

“Brell has a more brutal nature than my father would ever think of.  My father has some heart, Brell has nothing.”

“You mean that presence that I just felt was Brell?”

“Yes, there is no question about it.”

They both sighed.  “We must warn Dyorn and Lyra.”

“No, let them rest, they will have more of a challenge tomorrow than we will have thought at first.  Now that Brell knows that we are here, there is no telling what he will do to be ready for us.”

“I see your point Alora, but what is there for us to do?  Brell has been here; he knows our numbers and our powers.  We know nothing of him.  Is there any way we can help Dyorn and Lyra?”

“I am afraid there is no way to help them, if there was my father would not have sent the letter to them, he knows there is no way for them to destroy Brell!  Why else would he have chosen Brell to be the man they must fight.”

“Your father is a twisted man, Alora.  Is he so greedy that he would have Dyorn and Lyra killed, just so he can have the throne of Dragonia?”

“I am afraid so.”  Alora sighed.  “I am sorry that I ever bore the name Blackturner.”

“Do not worry Alora, your father will be stopped!  Dyorn and Lyra will make sure of that!”

“I know…that is what I am a bit afraid of.  We need to rest, Dyorn and Lyra will need out help more than every tomorrow.”

“Yes.”  They both fell into an uneasy sleep.