The Fettered Prince

Prologue

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. Not since Zaphiel had died. Some called him the Eternal One, others called him God, but there were three who called him friend. He was gone, and the golden age of man had gone with him. Fearsome winged beasts roamed in perpetually smoky valleys and the threat of war hung with a smothering thickness over the great nation of Aescelle. Power hungry tyrants, driven to madness by unseen forces staked divine claim over lands once free, and over the helpless people therein.

In the keep of one such tyrant, the smell of blood hung thick in the air, threatening to choke the three remaining survivors as they took in the destruction that stained the walls and furnishings of the once beautiful throne room. They took no enjoyment in the death around them, though they each wondered if maybe they should have. After all, these were the corpses of bad men, weren't they? And shouldn't one take joy in ridding bad men from the world?

That was what bothered Tallon. What was shaking him to his core as he met lifeless eyes everywhere his gaze wandered. Taking joy in such an act would assume he knew for certain these men were evil, and that he and his compatriots were doing the right thing.

“There's only one left,” a voice to his left said softly. “It's time, you know it has to be you.”

He looked to the voice, seeing Phang's eyes deep in concentration, focused at the mass of energy that swirled violently as he held it to the floor with a net woven of pure light.

Tallon swallowed the moral whirlwind in his throat and tightened his grip on the slender blade that hung loose in his hand. He nodded, tearing his gaze from the rash of bodies to the cleft stone wall that sat behind the overly ornate throne. With a strong and determined stride, he made for the opening, noting the garish details on that damned chair. He'd once called its owner a friend, but those days were in the past. A fact he'd told himself a dozen times since entering the keep that afternoon. Tallon still wasn't sure he'd managed to convince himself.

That chair. The gemstones on the thing could feed a village for years, yet here they were. Did truly good men hoard treasures in the likes of this? No, he told himself. These were bad men. And bad men needed to die.

The light from the throne room faded with each step he took into the dark passage. His quarry wouldn't be far ahead. The man would have fooled himself by now that he could face Tallon and live. Or rather that accursed rock he held with him as he fled would be convincing him of that with all its power, for it knew only conflict. It yearned for it, needed it.

“Shadrick!” He called into the darkness, fragments of the sound echoing back to him, creating a corrupted symphony to his ears. “Your honor guard is dead. There is no one else coming to save you.”

Tallon slowed his steps, listening for anything after the echo of his own voice faded. Passages such as these were often built by paranoid rulers who wanted an easy escape if need be. This particular path curved back and forth just enough where any occupant, or invader, would not be able to see more than a few paces in front of himself. Small alcoves dotted the cramped hallway, not big enough to make camp in, but large enough to conceal a foe in waiting. The flickering lanterns on the wall left shadows in the corner of each one. An easy ambush for someone who didn't know better. Fortunately, Tallon did.

As much as Tallon took no particular joy in it, he had a certain proclivity for hunting difficult prey. With each step deeper into the darkness he took, his master’s words ran through his mind. You mustn’t forget the possibility in tracking a dangerous target, that there is always a possibility he has made you the prey.

“Never put yourself in a position to let the tides turn against your favor.” Tallon mumbled the remainder of the statement aloud and slowed, feeling the hair on his neck stand on end.

Steel flashed at the corner of his eye and he fell to one knee, hearing the honed edge cut the air inches above his cheek. He rolled backward, raising his own blade to guard a secondary strike from his opponent. Shadrick had trained with him for much of their youth, learning from the same quartermaster that had taught Tallon. With an upward glance, he caught Shadrick's eyes, not recognizing the man who glared back at him. Shadrick, lips curled into a snarl, struck once more, forcing Tallon into an awkward stance in order to parry the attacking blade.

By the time he'd regained his balance, the man had vanished again. Shadrick had always been a cunning fighter, while Tallon tended to face his opponents down with a pressure that some had described as relentless. He stood with a curse, and sheathed his sword, its blue gemmed pommel glowing as he whispered inaudibly. The gem's light quickly faded, lending itself to his power, albeit only temporarily. The reserve had taken him months to gather into the small stone, and he wasn’t intent on losing it on this day.

Once the last of the gem's light passed through his lips, he winced, struggling to adjust to the sudden increase of acute physical senses he'd just been granted. The darkened corners of the alcoves were hidden to him no more, the once soft torchlight now threatening to blind him. Each strand of fabric on the sleeves of his shirt irritated him like so many digging barbs.

We are hunting today? A voice from within whispered to him. The gemstone's essence had free roam of his mind while he borrowed its power. I haven't had a hunt in too long, Tallon.

He didn't answer.

“You knew we would be coming, Shadrick.” He called out again, stepping forward, unsheathing the sword, almost as if feeling compelled to do so. “You knew you could only keep this up for so long, but that stone,” Tallon shook his head. “I'm willing to bet that stone has been telling you all sorts of enticing lies.”

“You know not of what you speak, traitor.” Shadrick's voice echoed off the cramped stone walls. “You can't honestly hope to steal Nehyash from me, not after what she’s taught me. Your feeble mind would be driven mad if you held the knowledge I do now.”

Tallon's enhanced hearing traced the origin of the sound back from the way he'd come. How did he get back there? Whirling on his heel, he turned and swung his sword in a wide upward arc, met with only air. He needed to focus. Shadrick was no match for him in dead-to-rights combat, but jumping at shadows in an unfamiliar arena was sure to get him killed. He scanned the area, quietly taking in every detail, before stopping, breath catching in his chest. At the corner of an alcove he'd passed on his way in, he caught a glint of steel in the torchlight, shrouded in tendrils of darkness. The tip of a sword, one wielded by a tainted hand.

Focusing on the man's location, he could pick out the sound of elevated and panicked breathing. Shadrick was scared. An image of his past flashed briefly in his head, he and an adolescent Shad standing over a shattered decanter, the same rhythm of terrified breath. Tallon standing there beside him, providing reassurance to his guilt stricken and scared friend. His father had been a cruel one.

You've known him a long time, it's a shame we have to hunt him.

“Not. Now,” Tallon said through gritted teeth and shook the unwelcome memory from his mind. The gemstone's presence withdrew almost shamefully. He knew he shouldn't be too hard on the stone, as it was only acting within its curious nature, but the thing had a habit of distracting him at the worst times. “You and I need to have a talk about privacy when we're done here, my shining blue friend.”

He stepped forward on quiet feet, inching toward the opening that hid one of his oldest companions, and removed a coin from the pouch at his belt. Drawing from the same energy that enhanced his senses, he imbued the coin with a burst of momentum. The coin struggled and vibrated in his grip, and only when Tallon released, tore itself from his fingers and flew straight forward into the edge of the alcove, wedging itself into the stone and sending a spray of chips and dust outward from the site of impact.

Shadrick jumped from the alcove and swung reflexively at the noise, his blade clanging against the stone. The man turned, but not before Tallon was upon him, an upward strike ripping him from waist to shoulder, followed by a cry. The man he once knew wouldn't have fallen for such a simple trick. He stumbled backward, holding onto his sword by only the cross guard. A look of pained confusion crossed the victim's face as he fell to one knee.

“I am sorry brother,” Tallon knelt and laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. “I am solely to blame for you ever putting hands on that accursed thing, but you must return it to me, Shadrick.”

“I will,” he breathed out weakly. “I will--”

Tallon breathed a sigh of relief as Shadrick laid a hand on his forearm, he had hoped this would end with dignity, the man before him deserved that. The weak grip strengthened.

“I will never let you take her from me!” he shouted, slamming Tallon back with the force unfitting a dying man.

Tallon stumbled, recoiling as he looked down at the wound he'd wrought on the man's torso only moments ago. Tendrils of darkness stitched him back together, leaving a hardened scar where his blade had cut flesh. Shadrick grabbed his sword and lunged toward him, the dark energy evaporating from his skin at a hectic pace. He used the momentum and rolled the man over him, scrambling to his feet and just missing a piece of the darkness that lashed out at him like a thrown knife. With a curse, he returned the gemstone's energy to its home on the sword's pommel and immediately began whispering a new command.

With the final word of his recitation, the light again drained from the gem, this time flowing to his arms, swirling around him in mists of blue. The reaction caused the muscles to burn as the energy fed from his own life force.

Yes, Tallon, today our prey will know no quarter!

The gemstone's inquisitive demeanor was gone, leaving only an unending hunger in its place.

Tallon jumped forward, the blue mists trailing him as he closed the distance between himself and his prey. He stabbed with his sword, the mists rushing to cover the blade, severing one of the dark tendrils that guarded Shadrick.

The man stepped back, face awash in shock, raising his own weapon to defend against a flurry of blows from Tallon that arrived with a supernatural speed.

“I told you,” Tallon yelled between metallic clangs of steel on steel, “you knew how this would end!” More blows, until he landed a side swipe at the man's ribs. Blue fire burned away at the clothing and singed his flesh, batting away the darkness that attempted to mend the open wound. Another opening. Another pained hit to his friend's shoulder followed by a stagger. The smell of burning flesh tainted the air as his gemstone fed upon the man. Attempting to use the opportunity, Tallon swung downward in a sweeping overhead arc, but was stopped by a writhing mass of blackness that formed over the man's head.

Shadrick screamed. And Tallon became aware of his own life essence being drained away by the gemstone's energy. The dark shield must have exacted a massive toll on his opponent. He wouldn't have the energy to fight much longer, let alone keep breathing.

“It's killing you, Shad!” he yelled while pulling his sword away from the encroaching black mass. “Don't you see that?”

“I only see a gutless, mortal worm.” he replied quietly with a voice that no longer belonged to him.

That was it. His friend was gone.

Tallon gasped as his own gemstone pulled from him to block a low striking whip of darkness. He needed to end this, and fast. With sheer force of will, overcoming the gemstone's desire to feed on him, he drew the entirety of its power into his blade, covering it in a near blinding sheen of blue. He sidestepped another jab from Shadrick's blade and pushed forward, situating himself behind his prey, grabbing him by the neck.

Hunt him! The gemstone cried out. You have earned your prey, Tallon!

Without time for hesitation, he plunged the glowing hot blade into his victim's back, causing the dark entity that was controlling his old friend to burst out of him violently. The passageway went pitch dark as the energy howled and searched for somewhere to go. It was agony for the power of a stone to be without a host. The force pushed against Tallon, but with his own gemstone's power inside of him, it found no hold. He felt around the corpse at his feet until he found the jagged edges of wicked stone. He removed it from the pouch at Shadrick's side and held it above him, recoiling as the storm rushed into it with a hungry fervor.

Soft torchlight returned as the last of the darkness was contained. It screamed at him unintelligibly from inside, speaking an ancient tongue he didn't understand. He placed the stone into a satchel of his own and returned the furious blue mist around his sword back to the gemstone, before then enchanting the satchel with another whisper. Its surface glowed a faint blue and while he no longer felt the overwhelming sense of power inside of him, he was also free of the parasitic draw on his life, leaving him utterly exhausted.

“Can you keep it contained?” Tallon asked.

She is not happy at all. Nehyash. I think she really wants out of this bag—well, she's calling it an accursed cage, and she's calling you many foul names.

“Do not, under any circumstances, let that happen,” he breathed, sheathing his sword, hopefully for the last time on this accursed day.

–

Tallon leaned on the gilded throne after having emerged from the hidden door in the stone, sickened anew by the essence of death in the air.

“Do you have it?” the larger of his two allies asked fervently.

He responded with a nod.

“And you remain in control?” Phang took him by the shoulders.

A second nod.

Phang stared him down with intensity before creasing his cheeks in a smile, followed with a strong clap on Tallon's back. “You see, Klaugh, I told you the boy could do it.”

“I never said he couldn't” the woman replied with a forced grin, which quickly faded. “You both understand your duty? This power can't fall into another Aescian's hands. They're not strong enough to hold it.”

Tallon and Phang exchanged glances before nodding in the affirmative.

“Where will you go?” Phang asked, his gaze shifting between Tallon and Klaugh. “I know of a place in--”

“No.” Klaugh raised a hand between them and shook her head slowly. “If this has any chance of succeeding, we must endeavor to not seek each other out hereto forth.”

“They feed off each other.” Tallon muttered, still regaining his composure from having stabbed his childhood friend through the spine. “We have to stay as far away from each other as possible.”

“Sounds like a lonely eternity.” Phang scoffed and strode to the windowed wall of the throne room which overlooked Shadrick's modest serfdom. A few soldiers lay dead outside the keep but otherwise the streets were empty. If he'd taken the time to focus, he would see the terror stricken eyes of lowly peasants peering from behind the perceived safety of their doors and thatched walls.

“This task was never meant to be anything but a heavy burden, and we took it on ourselves to bear it anyway,” Klaugh stepped next to the larger man and placed a hand on his shoulder. “History won't remember us, but if we do this right, they'll be able to carry on still.”

“We used to protect these people.” Tallon turned away from his brother and sister, the sense of death surrounding him finally winning over his constitution. He retched onto an open spot on the floor. “How do we know this was the right thing to do?”

He wiped his mouth and turned back to them, his cheeks wet of sweat and tears. Inside, he told himself that his lamentations were meaningless. The deed was done, and it was not within their power to turn back the hands of time. He found himself unable to convince himself of his own lies. Phang and Klaugh turned to join him, both of them enveloping him in a group embrace.

Are you sad, Tallon? We could go on a hunt if you'd like. His gemstone's normal demeanor had returned, which managed to give Tallon some measure of familiar comfort among his despair.

“I am sorry brother,” Klaugh said into his shoulder, only serving to bring Tallon back to the moment he'd killed his friend. “I know you do not relish this task, but know that it has been laid upon you by His Grace personally.”

“Zaphiel trusted us and guided us here.” Phang said in a reassuring manner. “He wouldn't have laid this upon us unless he knew with certainty that we would succeed. We've been blessed every step of our great journey, and our blessings will continue until his great Return.”

Tallon nodded and forced a weak smile, breaking away softly from his brother and sister. He looked them both in the eyes, doing all he could to imprint their faces into his memory, for he knew deep within himself they would never meet again. Without a word, he turned to leave Shadrick's empty keep. There was nothing else they could say to him. He knew Zaphiel was dead. Their god was dead, and he wasn't coming back.