Elements of Glory: The Princess of Nothing

’Never think you know where life is taking you… forge your trail, reach for your goals, but trust nothing; it can all change in the blink of an eye, and you’ll never see it coming…’

-Thaddeus, to John and Samantha, a cycle ago

It took Ratikgurr longer than he’d expected to traverse the forests of Weral, and find the Dead Man’s lair. Through his journey, though he’d not met any of the terrible creatures that inhabited the forest, he’d run into choking vines, and killing plants. He’d defeated them all easily enough, however, they, and the regular overgrowth, had impeded his progress greatly.

It took him a whole night, and then the morning and afternoon, to find the Dead Man’s lair. What little light had been in the forest was fading away, as night settled in again. Ratikgurr wasn’t afraid though. He did not fear the dark, or the monsters in Weral. He had more power than all of them.

The Dead Man’s lair was a muddy cave, covered in forest growth, in the side of a small hill. The gaping maw of the cave looked like an open mouth of some ancient golem, prepared to swallow anyone who dared enter. Ratikgurr walked into the cave without hesitation. It smelled of roots and clay. The orb on the end of Ratikgurr’s staff glowed with black light as he strode into the cave, down a long, grim, corridor, and into a dim, brick-walled, chamber that had only a few twisted wooden chairs in it, set around a blood red carpet.

The walls, though brick, were smooth, and rounded, almost like the inside of a bubble. The bricks were pale like sun-bleached bones, and they were smudged with grime, rust, and worse.

Sitting in the centre of the crimson carpet, in the middle of the room, playing with little white sticks, was a boy, pale and ghastly, dressed in tattered clothing, making him look like some beggar child from the great metropolis’s of the Seven Kingdoms. The child looked up with inky black eyes and stared at Ratikgurr. Lifting one hand awkwardly, the boy stiffly beckoned the Wasgician over to him.

Ratikgurr stayed where he was. ‘I seek the Dead Man,’ he announced, ‘we have business he and I.’

The child continued to eerily beckon Ratikgurr toward him.

‘I am the Dark Master, Ratikgurr,’ the Wasgician announced boldly. ‘Bring me the Dead Man this instant!’

The child stood up and Ratikgurr felt himself smile, but rather than hurrying off to do the Wasgician’s bidding, the child slowly walked toward him. Ratikgurr held out his staff, knowing how folly it would be to let the child touch him. He, like his father, was a leech.

’You will stay where you are, or I will destroy you,’ Ratikgurr warned, the orb on the end of his staff glowing a little brighter.

The child continued to walk forward.

Ratikgurr spoke Gemgic darkness, and, with a blast of power, the child was hit in the midsection and launched, like a rag doll, across the room. He crashed into something in the darkness and the room became very quiet.

’Not very kind of you, Ratikgurr,’ a voice hissed in his ear. He turned quickly, shocked that anyone was able to sneak up on him, and found that he was looking into the corpse-face of the Dead Man. The Wasgician backed away from the thing, the monster’s evil aura stronger than he’d ever felt it in the past.

‘Though, I must admit,’ the Dead Man went on, his voice a choked rasp, ’the boy does need a good beating now and then.’ The Dead Man cracked his neck by leaning it quickly to the left and the right, and walked to one of the twisted chairs in the room. He sat down and beckoned Ratikgurr to sit too.

The Wasgician hesitated, but obliged. He sat in a chair across from the Dead Man and looked to his left, at another chair. In the dimness he noticed what looked like a Wasgician’s staff standing next to the seat.

‘Taking up the art of Wasgicians now?’ Ratikgurr asked, looking menacingly at the Dead Man.

‘Nothing of the sort,’ the Dead Man replied, ’that belongs to a… friend…’ He grinned, and Ratikgurr knew what kind of friend he meant.

‘Just a fool who wandered into your forest?’ Ratikgurr laughed.

’Something like that?’ the Dead Man said. ‘So, what can I do for the Dark Master, hmm?’

’One of the Elements, I believe, is in the Lands of Weral, carried by an inept Wasgician. I want it.’

‘The Wasgician?’ the Dead Man asked coyly.

’The Element,’ Ratikgurr replied.

’Oh, yes, we do have that,’ the Dead Man said, leaning back in his seat, lacing his gnarled white fingers together in front of him.

Ratikgurr grinned. This was going to be much easier than he thought. ‘Good, then you will hand it over to me.’

‘No,’ the Dead Man said calmly, ’I don’t think so.’

’What?’ Ratikgurr growled. ’Are you a fool? Do you know with whom you tangle?’

’You have reminded me on every occasion we’ve done business, Ratikgurr, and I have obliged willingly… despite my secrets.’

’Secrets?’ Ratikgurr asked. He was astonished that anyone would dare keep secrets from him.

’Of course I’ve not obliged out of fear… never out of fear, just as I never obliged your brother out of pity, and for the tributes he gave me.’

‘My brother?’ Ratikgurr snarled. ’My brother’s dead.’

‘Oh, no,’ the Dead Man smiled. He laughed. ’Well, actually, he probably is now… I let him leave with a little life.’

Ratikgurr blinked. Wilth had died twenty-two cycles ago, after he lost control of the Elements of Glory and the creatures they’d released into the Weral Kingdom!

There was a tingling sensation at the back of Ratikgurr’s neck. He turned quickly to look toward the Wasgician’s staff across from him. He’d not recognized it before, but it was Wilth’s staff, there was no mistake.

My brother… he killed my brother!

Slowly Ratikgurr turned back to the Dead Man, and he narrowed his eyes. Despite what the Dead Man said, the Wasgician was confident in his power. ’I will destroy you for this!’ He stood up and pointed his staff at the Dead Man.

The Dead Man stayed where he was, and smiled. ‘Your part has been played, Ratikgurr,’ he said, all calm. ’You helped release him, and he was grateful, and he let you have your fun for a time, bringing all the Northern Kingdoms in line for him. Also, you initiating the search for the Elements of Glory has brought those that were hidden into the open, and one has been awakened, and, like I said, we have it… We will do what must be done, and the others will follow. You have done very well, but… it is done now. Your part is finished in his plan.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Ratikgurr growled, and out of his peripheral vision, he saw the Dead Boy emerging from the shadows, walking toward him, humming a soft, dead, tune.

’You’ve been a tool, Ratikgurr, for one who is far, far greater than you could ever hope to be. Your powers, that you thought you gained over the yetons, were given to you by him.’

Instantly the light in Ratikgurr’s staff faded and the chamber dimmed considerably. The Dark Wasgician felt his heart starting to hammer in his chest, and fear washed over him. His confidence was quickly sapped and he started to shake.

‘You feel it now, don’t you,’ the Dead Man said, smiling, ’what all mortals feel when they are near me?’

Ratikgurr dropped his staff and tried to run, but he couldn’t move. His limbs wouldn’t obey. Then he felt a small hand take his arm in a vice grip. He looked down and saw the Dead Boy looking up at him with this hollow eyes. Ratikgurr felt that it was harder to breath. Soon he was gasping, struggling, and he grew weaker and weaker.

’Play,’ the dead boy said in the most haunting voice Ratikgurr had ever heard.

‘He said I should take it all,’ the Dead Man told Ratikgurr, standing from his chair and stepping toward the Dark Wasgician. ’I think I may enjoy this even more than your brother, as I’ll enjoy wielding what little power you actually had.’

’Play,’ the Dead Boy said again. Ratikgurr’s eyes started to roll back, and his legs gave out, but before he fell to the floor, the Dead Man seized him about the neck.

The worst pain Ratikgurr had ever felt in his long life, burned through his body. He wanted to scream, but all that came out was a small gasp, as he felt his life leaving him, being drawn into the Dead Man.

The Dead Boy looked up at his Father, then looked back at Ratikgurr, and, with those empty eyes and blank face he opened his mouth and let out a shrill, painful, scream.

The darkness that followed was all consuming.