A Voice in the Darkness

Carn recounts the story of his life to Mutt.

34.

A Voice in the Darkness

 

I was born many centuries ago - just how many years I really don’t know.    The world was a much different place then.    The human nations were still being fought over and built and the Elven people were still split into fractions after the great Elven war.   

I was born an Elf - but back then there were many bands of Elves that didn’t think of themselves as members of a greater race.  

They were just Elves.    My mother had been a victim of the Elven war.    Her family had lived in a make-shift camp - sort of a refugee camp-  on the edge of the southern part of what is now called the Faesidhe Forest.

The Faesidhe were very aggressive about controlling the forest and had made war with the other Elves who lived there, running them out of their villages.    But they did other horrible things too.

My mother was raped by a Faesidhe soldier and so when they had reached the refugee camp, she was pregnant with me.

As I was half-Faesidhe, when I was born, I wasn’t exactly one of her people in the refugees’ eyes.   She never completely recovered from giving birth to me, for she was very young.    When she died, her parents hated me, though they wouldn’t admit it.

Oh, they reared me, out of love of their daughter, for they knew I was still her son, but they saw the Faesidhe soldier as well.

So I spent many years in a rather cold environment with few friends among the Elves.   

When I was still a young boy by Elven standards, we were visited by a kindly old human who we all thought was a wizard.   He looked the part, with a long white beard and a wooden staff.   He wore the green and brown clothes of a human Ranger, and yet he certainly didn’t seem like a typical Ranger.    We were on good terms with the Rangers, as they too were not fond of the Faesidhe, and so we allowed this old man to stay with us.

His name was Eleazar Korbin and he told us after a few days of staying with us, that he had been sent to us by God to teach us the craft of singing magic.

This was long before Yesh came to Synomenia, and everyone - humans, Elves, Dwarves and all other races--- didn’t know much about the nature of God.   We knew he had servants who watched over the races and who would come from time to time with messages or instruction to help, and Eleazar was one of these Watchers.

The Elves were both awed and more than a bit terrified of him, for he had a great power about him.    But he was an extremely kind man who particularly loved children and those who were misfits, and his great charisma drew everyone into loving him.

 

I was an outcast boy and Eleazar quickly befriended me.    He knew I was not loved among the Elves and he decided that I would become his first disciple.     My grandparents readily agreed to this, as now I would  no longer be their responsibility.  

Eleazar began to train me in the art of singing magic.   I took to this very well and he was greatly pleased with my grasp of it.    Those who practice this art are called Bards.   Nowadays the term has been given to anyone who tells tales and sings ballads in taverns or a king’s hall, yet originally it meant those who did that, but who could cast spells as well.    A bard could heal with song, inspire courage in battle, protect the innocent and even enchant people, animals and objects, through song.

Eleazar greatly helped the Elves in that refugee camp in the months that he was with them, and when he at last departed, he took me with him.   His mission was to bring the bardic arts to all the races of Synomenia that would embrace them.  

At that time, this meant mostly the human nations and the scattered Elven groups, though we did visit Hammerforge once.   The Dwarves were fond of the songs, but not the magic, so we didn’t get much interest.

Eleazar slowly gathered a group of disciples who travelled with him.   There were probably 15 to 20 of them, and their numbers would vary as some would come and go.

As I was the first of his disciples, I became more of an assistant to him after a few years of traveling with him.   I actually taught some of the other disciples their songs and spells.

Looking back, it was the happiest time of my life.    For about 12 years I travelled with him.   As I was an Elf, I aged much slower than the human disciples, so I had much more time to learn.

We travelled all over this continent, and it is much more vast then the lands of the Southern Empire and Northmarch.    Most of our time was spent in this part of the world, though and after 12 years of traveling with Eleazar, he told me that I knew as much as he could teach me.

He decided that we needed to visit the Faesidhe Elves, as he was supposed to bring the bardic arts to them as well.   We had not visited them before this, as they were still aggressively persecuting all the races that infringed on their territory.

Not only did they want complete dominance of the Faesidhe forest, but they also had a buffer zone of about half of the area of what is now Northmarch.   Yet Eleazar decided that we should visit them and bring the arts to them.

To prevent any of his other disciples from being put in danger, he released them all to go to their people and continue his work.   Then, the two of us made our way into Faesidhe territory.

We came in from the south, where the southern part of the Faesidhe forest becomes the Octeuli Swamp - or the ‘Shambling Glades’ as the humans now call it.

The swamp was then overrun with Trolls and they would sometimes raid the communities nearest to the swamp.

We came upon one such raid, as they were attacking a southern Faesidhe village.    When we arrived, a group of the nasty creatures were beneath a tall tree, attempting to get a group of six Faesidhe children who had climbed it to escape them.

At once we began chanting charming spells to lure the Trolls away and it worked on all but one of them.   I think this Troll was perhaps deaf - I don’t know for certain- but while I led the others away to the swamp, he suddenly bolted toward Eleazar and before I could intervene, he had the master in his talons.   He nearly tore his head off with his teeth.

The Faesidhe said that I sang the most powerful fireball that any of them ever had seen, when I saw that Eleazar had been killed by the Troll.    I don’t remember it, only that the fireball completely incinerated the Troll - as well as Eleazar’s body and the charmed Trolls that I was going to lead away.

I was completely grief stricken at his death, especially as I felt that I had dishonored him by accidentally destroying his body with the spell.

I can’t help but feel that the Fireball spell that I experienced back in King’s Reach was just payment for my over zealous casting against the Trolls.

Well, the Faesidhe were probably over-awed of me after seeing the power of the spell.

It seems that the King of the Faesidhe, Celathon Fannithal, was visiting this village during the Troll raid and his son, Elolmorin, was one of the children that Eleazar and I had saved by our intervention. 

 

So I was - at first- well accepted and even honored by Celathon.   He had me accompany him back to his capital - which is now what is called ‘The Clearing of the Ages’.    To reward me for saving his son and heir, he gave me royal license to teach the Bardic arts to a handful of noble children that he selected.

Now, this was something that Eleazar did not allow, as he felt that only those who felt drawn to the arts should be taught.    You can’t just train any person to be a bard.    But it became quickly apparent to me that Celathon would not allow me to do it the way that my master had taught me.

So I did the best I could, and honestly, the six students were all somewhat gifted in the craft, but not really enough to ever become good bards.    Except for one, that is, and that exception was none other than Celathon’s younger sister, Sialia Fannithal.  

She was a young woman - the age that a human would call a ‘teenager’ when she became one of my students.   Celathon probably wanted one of his family included, so he could know what I was teaching them.   But Sialia was a very strong willed young woman, much wiser than she should have been at her age.   

Sialia was absolutely absorbed with learning the art and would follow me around like a duckling would her mother, observing and listening to everything I said and did.   But she would not tell her brother anything she had learned and this infuriated him.

 

Sialia was certainly the most talented student that I had even seen.   Eleazar would have been enchanted with her quick learning and ability, for the girl had the most beautiful voice that I had ever heard.    When she sang, everyone would stop and listen.    Even the birds would seem to stop singing to hear her song.

But it wasn’t just her voice; Sialia was remarkably charismatic, which made her a perfect candidate for a Bard.    She was indescribably lovely as well.    Everyone who knew her was intoxicated with her.   I guess I was as well, for I was about her age, though I honestly was somewhat terrified of admitting any attraction to her.  

She was the sister of the King and highly sought by many Faesidhe suitors.   I knew I would never measure up to their standards, so instead I focused on just teaching her to be the best Bard she could be.

She was so easy to like, too.   Spirited and sometimes fiery, but also gentle and very kind.    She was far different from her brother.   Celathon was arrogant and proud of his station, and while he was determined to secure a safe kingdom for his people, much of his determination was to gain power for himself.

He was loyal to his family, however, and dearly loved his sister, though they would often argue.   She alone could oppose his will and not suffer any consequences.   I was told that their mother, Baella, still lived in seclusion within the royal palace, but had lost all desire to live following the death of her husband and soulmate, Nitthum.  

She had turned control of the Faesidhe people over to her son and simply locked herself away from everyone except her son and daughter.   But even her relationship with her son became strained, due to his oppression of the Inion Sidhe and aggressive persecution of the other Elven races.

I had been there perhaps half a year when the first appearance of the White Fruit on the Great Faesidhe Tree occurred.   Celathon had ordered  the elimination of  the Inion Sidhe, who were the guardians of the tree, and most had fled from the Faesidhe, though Celathon kept four of the fae ladies chained in a cell across from the tree, with a spell of silence around them so that they could not escape by magic.

When I first arrived, I was not aware of the Inion Sidhe captives, for they wouldn’t speak of them or reveal where they were kept.   Yet when the great tree produced white fruit, Celathon did not know what that meant.   He was forced to ask the four captives.   But when he opened their cell, he found all four in a state of trance.   They each could not be revived, but seemed to be in some sort of dream-like state. 

They kept uttering a list of eight names - over and over again, and all of them had the same eight names.    No matter what he did, they would not say anything more and Celathon kept tight control over who knew of the names that the captives uttered.

Sialia did not like the women being locked up and often argued with her brother about that.   This was the one issue where they had the most heated arguments and her mother, Baella, agreed with her stance.   Celathon would not relent, however and finally, in desperation (and against the King’s expressed wishes) Sialia told me about them.

But she also told me another thing.    Both of our names were on the list of names that the Inion Sidhe women chanted over and over again.   As was her mother’s name.    She felt it had something to do

with the White Fruit and after consideration, I agreed.

She theorized that perhaps we were supposed to eat a piece of the White Fruit, and this made sense as there were eight pieces of fruit out of all the fruit on the tree, and the Inion Sidhe ladies were chanting eight names.   

The Faesidhe tell the story differently - they tell that the Inion Sidhe were still free at this time and that Baella knew she was dying and so asked that a White piece of fruit from the tree be given to her daughter.   Their story is that the Inion Sidhe agreed and also gave her one too, but that it did not keep her from dying.   But they have falsified the tale to hide their treatment of the Inion Sidhe.    The handful of Inion Sidhe that remained there were in chains and were not in a position to give the fruit to anyone. 

 In truth, the Inion Sidhe chanted the names of those who should receive the fruit while in a trance and so they did not have any say in the matter, as they did not know what they were doing..

 

Sialia thought that perhaps if all those named by the Inion Sidhe were to eat one piece of the fruit, then maybe the ladies would be restored to their senses.    So as soon as the fruit was ripe, one night Sialia went to the Great Tree and plucked all eight pieces.    Then she delivered each piece to those who were named.   

All of them - except me- had been Faesidhe people.    When she gave her mother the piece of fruit destined to be hers, Baella ate it, and seemed to grow stronger.   Yet several days later she died in her sleep.  She had lost the will to live after her soulmate Nitthum had died.   But on the night that Baella ate the white fruit, it looked hopeful to Sialia.  

She delivered mine last and I was very hesitant to eat it, as I did not want to anger Celathon.

But Sialia was very persuasive and she ate her piece first.   Finally I began to eat mine and was almost finished when Celathon and his guards stormed into my quarters.   

He was livid with rage and at first accused me of stealing the fruit.   But Sialia confessed and passionately defended her actions, since she had given the fruit only to those who had been spoken of by the Inion Sidhe ladies - including their mother, Baella.    She told her brother then that it was wrong and evil to imprison them and that the tree was theirs to minister to and protect.   

Celathon was so angry that he raised his hand to slap her and would have done so, but I grabbed his wrist and tried to soothe him with my words.

I had very limited effect upon him, but he did calm down enough to allow me to speak to him.   I spoke for nearly an hour about the importance of fairness and freedom for the Inion Sidhe and how his father - Nitthum- would have responded if he had known how harshly his son would treat the protectors of the Great Tree.     

Celathon fumed at me, but did not say anything, for by then I was greatly respected  - and feared- by the people.

When the meeting ended, nothing really changed, but it did break the spell that was upon the Inion Sidhe captives.   They spoke the next morning and told about the meaning and the power of the white fruit and verified that each piece was meant for specific people.

Celathon was quite angry when he learned this.   He did not mind his sister eating a piece of the fruit, nor his mother, but he thought I was completely unworthy and that he should have received a piece.

But then Baella died and Celathon forgot (for a time) his anger and jealousy toward me, as he was overwhelmed with grief at the loss of his mother.

For a while, things calmed down some, but when the white fruit failed to appear the following year, he began to grow more and more anxious for it, as he began to see it as a verification of his right to be king.   

He sought for a way to somehow control the tree.   Perhaps through magic, he thought, he could ‘force’ the tree to produce the white fruit.

His wizards could not figure out a way to do this, and this only fuelled his hatred of me, as he felt that I had encouraged Sialia to challenge his will with the distribution of the White Fruit.

 

He knew that the Great Tree came through solid rock from a cavern beneath and through his wizards, he learned of the Underdark while they researched the underground world.    I’m not sure how he contacted them, but Celathon managed to make contact with Drow from the noble house Ar’Grumet and learned that their wizards were masters of the dark arts, especially the summoning and manipulation of demons.

For a while Celathon brooded and schemed.   I had grown in popularity amongst the Faesidhe and was beginning to change their attitudes toward other Elves and races.    Sialia was constantly at my side, which of course gave me greater credibility.  She was so beautiful - she was all that was good and pure of the Faesidhe people and I knew that I was deeply in love with her.

Yet I knew Celathon would certainly not approve of any relationship with his sister, and I also knew that a wonderful girl like that deserved the very best life and husband.    I was just a half-breed orphan who had sworn to continue the work of Eleazar and that would one day take me away from the Faesidhe people.

I did not wish her to have to leave the people and the forest that she deeply loved.     So I kept my feelings for her to myself, though I could not keep the joy I felt being around her from flowing from me.

Celathon did not speak to me again for months and I did not know that he had hatched a scheme with the wizard of Ar’Grumet to rid himself of me forever.

He waited until Sialia was away, attending a cousin who was giving birth in a village some miles away from the Clearing of the Ages.

A message was sent to me that Sialia had been attacked on her way to the village by a band of Trolls who had somehow infiltrated the village, and she was close to death.   I was told that she was asking for me.

Of course I hurried with the royal guards, but as soon as we were a short distance from the village, I was struck on the back of the head.

When I awoke, I was in a terrible place.    It was dark and the heaviness of evil filled the room.   Later I learned that I was in the wizard’s study of Diabicus Ar’Grumet, the Master Wizard of the Drow House Ar’Grumet.    I had been brought to the Underdark by an unknown route, but now I suspect it was through the Faesidhe trash chute which opens up into the Underdark.  

I had been unconscious for nearly a week; kept comatose by magic until they reached the city of Velkynche’el, deep in the southern end of the Underdark.

When I awoke, I found myself bound in a magic circle next to a pentagram in which there appeared to be nothing.    But I could sense there was something terrible imprisoned within the pentagram.   It was the demon Mazzikim’ruhin.   He had been tricked into imprisonment by Diabicus and was desperate for release.

Around me was the Drow wizard, his apprentices and one of Celathon’s trusted wizards to verify that all had proceeded as Celathon had paid to have done.

The wizard said something to the unseen demon trapped inside the pentagram and at the time I didn’t understand what they were saying, but later I learned about it all.

 

It was a sort of geis spell - or a series of spells- and it was the demon that cast it - upon me and upon himself- as conditions of his release from the Pentagram.    Celathon and Diabicus had set up the ‘contract’ with Mazzikim’ruhin.   Each of the conditions had to be kept or the contract would be broken and the demon would be expelled back to Hell.

Mazzikim’ruhin did not desire returning to the place of eternal torment, so he allowed himself to be bound by the terms of the geis.

 

The demon would be freed if he agreed to these things.    First, Celathon, his family and his Kingdom, as well as all in House Ar’Grumet, would not be harmed in any way by Mazzikim’ruhin or any sent by him, in retaliation for the imprisonment and binding with the geis.    If the demon harmed or tried to kill any of the Faesidhe royal family or any of their blood descendants, he would be cast immediately back into Hell.   The same terms applied to the Drow noble house.   Diabicus would receive greater arcane power for his part of the agreement.

Secondly, that I would not be killed by Mazzikim’ruhin.   Celathon feared that since I had received one of the white pieces of fruit from the Great Tree,  if he had me killed, he might not ever be allowed to eat a piece of his own.   He also figured that this was his justice for my consumption of the fruit - I would have immortality, but it would be one of torment.

Part of this condition was that as long as Celathon, Diabicus or I lived, Mazzikim’ruhin could not be cast back to Hell - unless he broke the condition by attacking us, the Faesidhe royal family, or a member of House Ar’Grumet.   But if he kept these agreements and did not harm us, and if at least one of us - Celathon, Diabicus, or I- lived, then he would remain here in Synomenia.    It was a carefully planned spell, to keep the demon from trying to figure out a way to kill us.

I was connected to the demon by magic - I would heal from any wound -  even those that would normally be fatal- but I would regenerate very slowly.    Several times over the centuries I was ‘killed’ but I slowly, painfully, regenerated.   One time it took me nearly three years to recover where I regained consciousness.   But during this nightmare time I hovered ghost-like over my slowly regenerating body, feeling great pain at the slow process as well as the torment of being - in effect- a disembodied spirit.  

Only Mazzikim’ruhin could end my life, but if he did so, he would cast himself back to Hell.   It was an ingenious spell. 

 

Worst was that my form would be changed from that of an Elf to the form of a Bugbear.   They selected this form as both the Faesidhe and the Drow find Bugbears repulsive, though the Dark Elves use them as servants and guards.    They wanted a form that would not be accepted by any Elven or human community, yet due to my true nature, I would not fit in within a Bugbear community.    I would not be able to tell anyone who I really was, and the times I have tried - until today- I was unable to utter the words.   

Only by the banishment of the demon would my true form return to me - or so I thought.    There is another way, but I am prevented from speaking of it, as that part of the curse is still in effect.

 

When the demon finished binding both of us to the conditions of the geis, I changed immediately into a Bugbear.    Ar’Grumet took me then as one of their Bugbear slaves.    I wore a chain around my neck with a silence spell cast upon it so that I could not use my bardic magic to free myself.

I did not know what Celathon told his sister about me, but the demon revealed it to me in the form of nightmares, for sometimes Mazzikim’ruhin would haunt my dreams to torment and taunt me.

I learned that Celathon told her that a Drow raiding party had come to the Clearing of the Ages and had carried me off, along with the four Inion Sidhe women.   Celathon had them killed and their bodies buried secretly to give credibility to his story.

I am told that Sialia nearly died from grief.   I hope that was just an over exaggeration, but I have heard it several times.    She never married and for 2,000 years she served the Faesidhe as their Great Bard.   She was the Mistress of the Great Tree and was greatly revered by them.

I lived in the Underdark for over 200 years, and then managed to escape during a war between Veklkynche’el and a neighboring Drow city.   I made it to the surface, but I found that I wasn’t accepted in any civilized community.    I wandered from place to place, hiding and stealing food when I could.

There were several times when things got better for me.   I served as a mercenary in one of the Southern Empire’s Auxiliary Legions for nearly 20 years, until they purged themselves of all ‘monsters’.     Usually I could find a bit more acceptance around the largest cities such as Aeropolis, so I would try to haunt them when possible.   

It was a horrible life to lead.   I never set foot in the Faesidhe Forest again, until a few days ago.   I also really didn’t have any friends until I met you, Mutt.   

Anyway, I now know that Sialia finally learned of my true fate from one of Celathon’s descendants and she went to the Underdark looking for me, though it had been nearly 2,000 years since I had been taken there.

That is how she was imprisoned by Ar’Grumet and forced into slavery and prostitution.   Oh, Mazzikim’ruhin sent me plenty of nightmares about that.    Duke Eleazar was named for my master, Eleazar Korbin, as I spoke often to Sialia about him.   

Apparently Mazzikim’ruhin was dispelled from this world when he attacked one of Duke Eleazar’s children, as they are  -- by blood- descendants of Sialia and thus the Faesidhe royal family.   As Duke Eleazar’s father was a member of House Ar’Grumet, then an attack on him or any of his children would also void the geis conditions set up by the Drow wizard.    Thankfully none of Duke Eleazar’s children were killed.     

I went to confront Mazzikim’ruhin when he was in the form of the Dragon, hoping that he’d kill me and by doing so, would have cast himself out of this world.    In the end, it still worked out, though honestly I would have much rather died and be released from this form.   

I guess that is my entire tale.   You are the first ever to hear it, my friend, and I ask that you do not share it with anyone.   I will tell it again, I am certain, but only when the time is right.    If it ever is right.

 

Reviews

[Elina]

"...as now I would be no longer their responsibility." You may want to switch "be" and "no longer."