History of Mardon Castle - 14A
Monday, January 25, 2010 (12:21:29)

Posted by TerishD

History of Mardon Castle
Chapter Fourteen
Part 1

Axiste could tell that he was not the only one in his group that had noticed the unusual situation. He did not believe that the prisoners had recognized the problem, as their glances for chances of possible escape still bounced around and their complaints were still only mumbles of perceived mistreatment. Not all of the kevalla soldiers had noticed, and those that had seen the movement of a trailing creature had not made any signal of alarm. Axiste considered such slightly positive as he noticed the three human soldiers. They had seen, signaled each other of the threat, and moved with their bodies tensed as if prepared to act. Axiste thus moved to speak to one of them.

“Sergeant Beshaub, what about that crocodile disturbs you?”

The man moved close and kept his voice down, which Axiste could only assume was done so as not to trouble anyone else. “You have seen it too?”

“I have noticed it following us for some time.”


There is supposed to be a calm before a storm, but one still knows that it is coming.


History of Mardon Castle
Chapter Fourteen
Part 1

Axiste could tell that he was not the only one in his group that had noticed the unusual situation. He did not believe that the prisoners had recognized the problem, as their glances for chances of possible escape still bounced around and their complaints were still only mumbles of perceived mistreatment. Not all of the kevalla soldiers had noticed, and those that had seen the movement of a trailing creature had not made any signal of alarm. Axiste considered such slightly positive as he noticed the three human soldiers. They had seen, signaled each other of the threat, and moved with their bodies tensed as if prepared to act. Axiste thus moved to speak to one of them.

“Sergeant Beshaub, what about that crocodile disturbs you?”

The man moved close and kept his voice down, which Axiste could only assume was done so as not to trouble anyone else. “You have seen it too?”

“I have noticed it following us for some time.”

“Oh, I have noticed it too, and it just doesn’t seem right. I saw my share of illusions in the recent war, Lord Axiste, and I don’t trust that crocodile at all.”

Those were the words that the elder kevalla expected to hear, so he had a response prepared. “This is not some foreign land, Sergeant. While we of Mardon will fight with each other, we don’t use illusions and deception. Tactics and subterfuge is one thing, but duplicity is something else. If we attempt to appear as something else, it is only to learn.”

The soldier chuckled, then looked to his human companions to see if they had been eavesdropping. Seeing that a nearby kevalla soldier smiled upon having eyes look to him, the sergeant asked him if he had seen the crocodile. Getting a nod in response, the human turned back to Axiste to ask what he thought about the reptile.

The elder kevalla answered, “I believe that it is exactly what we want it to be.”

“And what is that?”

“We are taking these men to Kaervel to see if he can remove their lycanthropy. If they were cursed by normal magic, then the mage probably can. If they were however cursed by other lycanthropes, or some foul reoccurrence of the vile process that creates their kind, then we will need to take them to Helshain. I however believe that the great druid has come to us.”

The large reptile suddenly wavered as if it had sunk beneath a clear pool. Instead of its image being distorted however, it contorted from being a crocodile to being a kevalla walking with a large staff. As the druid advanced, Axiste smiled to the soldier, then moved to make a greeting.

Helshain spoke first, “You have ever been perceptive, Axiste.”

“Something that you and my father taught me.”

“I am honored that something I taught actually got learned, but I then wonder why others did not gain the lesson.”

Axiste felt a need to move the conversation beyond any opening chatter. “Helshain, I have two men who are cursed to change into wolves and kill. We did not intentionally keep them alive, but you should be aware of the persistence of their curse to keep itself able to spread.”

“I believe that I am beginning to learn. All my life I have worked with this land. There was no druid when I was growing up. I however watched and listened to things more quiet, more subtle, and more deadly than almost any of the intelligent races. What I spent time and perseverance to learn, I then worked to teach to others. While I have worked to earn a place of respect, I never stopped using what I learned to gain an even deeper understanding of this land. I now believe that I have been deceived.”

Helshain smiled as he looked around and realized that all of the men were watching and listening to him. “I grew up in this land, and learned from this land. I thus have been teaching all how to survive in this land. I heard of the curse, but never saw any indication of the curse – only things as they have been and, I was taught, how they were to be. I now believe that I was preaching what the curse to this land wanted me to teach.”

The druid pointed off into the distance, and statements of cheer sounded upon seeing a pegrog. The rise of land was not large, but the group did not number that many. They thus felt that even should it rain, which all had looked to the sky and decided that it would, they would have a dry place to rest. Helshain allowed the men around him to lead the way, giving him a chance to walk in the midst of them so all could hear his words.

“When you humans returned with your talk of restoring this land, I felt you to be in error. I had not grown up feeling the land to be cursed. The land that I knew was the land that those before me had known. The lessons I learned were thus about how to keep the land as it is. I did not feel the land to be cursed, but only displaying one extreme of the variety of life.”

Axiste listened to the druid, but he watched the others. A number kept their focus on the prisoners, even as they continued to focus on the words. The three human soldiers however passed signals to each other. Axiste thus set his attention to Sergeant Beshaub when he spoke to the druid.

“You saw something, didn’t you.”

“Yes, I have been seeing ghosts. While I continually pay attention to the world around me to learn of things that most consider me too distant to know, what I have been seeing has been more than subtle movements in the water, smoke in the air, and sounds traveling through the ground. Spirits from the past have risen before me to speak threats about things happening. I know Kaervel now keeps a man walking a patrol along a short distance of wall that he has excavated. I know that a ship is moving to Lake Nemistry.” While the druid’s voice dropped in volume, the words were spoken with power. “I know the land is rising up to resist those that work to remove the curse.”

Axiste felt a need to reply, “Surely there are spirits that are rising to help the cause.”

“That is what bothered me.” Helshain had looked to Axiste to say that, but his eyes moved to look at the others as he continued to speak. “I believe in a balance. There is good in our land, definitely, but evil has its place as well. We need food to eat and give us energy to do what we feel is best, but we must kill to get it. I thus began to question when only voices against the removal of the curse spoke. What I learned scared me.

“Those spirits from before the curse had gone on to their appointed places. They are not among us. Those spirits from after the curse however have not all gone to their graves properly. Just as evil energies can animate those once living to move about doing acts of cruelty and violence, some spirits were bound by the curse of this land to propagate through our ground and spread corruption. Between this swamp that we know, and the land our ancient ancestors once knew, are many feet of defiled soil. The food we eat was grown in this evil taint, and thus our bodies become susceptible to being dominated by forces many work to keep themselves separate from.”

Sergeant Beshaub asked, “Are you saying that we cannot win?”

“No, but I am letting you know the severity of the challenge before you. I however am also letting you know that it is a good fight.”

Helshain moved to the prisoners and began working some spells. All watched understanding that they were witnessing a grand feat. When it was finally done, the prisoners had fallen asleep and the druid appeared fatigued. As he moved to sit, he stated a conclusion.

“I also want you to know that I will give what aid I can. Most will be my usual separate manipulation of the rhythm of the land. If you need me, I will work to support you. If you don’t see me present however, do not believe that I am not active in this battle.”

Sergeant Beshaub declared, “No great battle can be fought by only one person. Lord Axiste, tell Kaervel that I have transferred my allegiance to Helshain.” As the druid tried to dismiss the help, the sergeant said, “I have fought against curses for four years, and have come home to fight one more. I thus am committed to this fight, and I have experience that you need if you are truly going to resist the evil that you say rises against us even now.”

Helshain replied, “My ways are not your ways.”

“You spend time with children, surely you can spend time with me.”

The eyes of the druid now moved about as he declared, “Okay, but none other. The sergeant will learn that I travel this land. If he finds my struggle to be more than I can oppose even with his aid, I will then allow him to take on others.”

One of the other human soldiers asked, “How heavy do you believe the fighting will be?”

“I cannot say, but I know that there is a fear of what is being done.” Axiste saw the druid look to him as he said, “Those of you going to Kaervel, tell him to keep up his effort.”

He replied, “I have found him rather committed.”

“I remember him being a rather playful lad, and I wished then that he would hurry up and face reality. When I met him again a short time ago, I found myself scared that Kaervel had lost all the joy of his youth. I however now find myself realizing that I am the one that needs to face reality. When all this is over, I am promising myself to return to Kaervel and trade jokes with him.”

One of the kevalla soldiers said, “That, Helshain, will be a strange sight.”

“Yes, but joy is a part of life. It is something that should be seen in me.”

Axiste said, “I believe that you also, like Kaervel, hold yourself responsible for the loss of your lady.”

The druid nodded as he replied, “Yes, and I understand the satisfaction in working to prove that there are higher ideals within me – that the evil I feel responsible for allowing to dominate to not be a revelation of how I truly see myself.” He looked at those around him as he said, “Your children will think of me as a happy person, I promise.”


A ship comes to where it suspects to find trouble.