“A stone of power is a relic from a bygone era. Well known in lore, but existing as myth. The wise Mage would do well to let them remain unfound.” Lord Creswell, Assassins Guild.
“But do not despise the lore that has come down from distant years; for oft it may chance that old wives keep in memory word of things that once were needful for the wise to know.”
Celeborn, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“You can not hide, I see you. There is no life after me. Only death.”
Sauron, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
This is another short story for this months
Dragon Stone: High Elf
Long and long did the Amanuensis remain locked in his prison of ice. His upper chamber and library ripped from the Keep and hurled out of time in a conjurors bubble. Enough to drive any normal man mad. During his interment he wrote many Letters. Notes, should escape be possible, lest his memory of events in the tower atrophy. Knowledge he might need to rectify the time flaw responsible for events that placed him in exile.
His one line of hope was an ability taught by an elf. How to link minds. To use the flickering of flames to divine a path to seek out others. Offering brief exchanges to glean anything that might unlock his gaol or shed light on why he was there.
As days passed, if days they were, his parchment pile grew ever larger. They were discovered millennia later, depending on your chronomantic reference frame, deep in the Vault by a scholar and pieced together into one mighty tome entitled “Letters of the Amanuensis.”
This represented a book demonstrating how to unlock worlds. One reason access to it was restricted. It also spoke of power stones. Entries relating to these had been redacted. As Scribe I am one of the very few to know it’s contents in entirety. To expose the words in full would jeopardise existence as we know it.
I can, however, reveal pieces, vetted by the Key Masters, in order that generations to come remain mindful that history often repeats through neglecting its lessons.
“The Council erred. We betrayed one species and should have waged war on man swiftly. Fresh from victory to strike them from the world too. History would then have no record but ours to hide the shame which leaves us skulking like moles in the under earth.”
Closing statement of Xalordyn Landirthir to the Dökkálfar War Council.
The wizard divined the end of days for his company several days earlier. It had come to him while seated on a log studying the flames of a campfire in the midst of night. In them he saw the Elite fall. The fate of these warriors did not concern him.
It had been agreed at the Council of Kings that rite of passage would be bought with living flesh. The mage could escape whilst blood flowed and, if the Gods willed it, leave him on the border of forest and Badlands. Sorcery would not be needed and he could pass out of the Barrow Woods unseen.
Thereafter was beyond the control of Men and others would need to take up the burden. Shadows were falling and this world was all but lost.
It had almost worked. As he neared the line between tree and grass, four wraiths grew from the decayed undergrowth blocking his path. They stood in formation, sword hilts clutched in front of them with blades pointing upwards.
Shards of cloak trembled in the breeze drawn off the plains. So near and yet so far. Confrontation was unavoidable this time. Drawing himself up his mind filled with fire. The shades issued hollow screeches and raised their swords as the wizard transferred the conflagration inside into two fireballs that fled from the fingertips of each hand striking the front two square on.
Unlike the Elite’s steel the sorcerers flames caught, engulfing the lead revenants. Such was the heat that incineration was brief and complete. Two blades fell into the earth and turned to dust.
The remaining undead separated, but failed to consider assault from the rear. Arrows tipped with flame hit them from behind. Both wraiths dropped their swords and sped off into the deeper forest before the fire consumed them.
Cautious, the wizard edged forwards. He knew the unseen archers had marked him out and suspected the Dökkálfar. It was their border. At least it was below the wastelands in subterranean caverns and citadels hiding from the sun.
From a leather pouch beneath his cloak the wizard drew out a pendant. Black polished obsidian within a band of pure silver and inset with a stone of emerald seamlessly conjoined, a Dragons Eye.
It felt ice-cold and throbbed in his palm. Fingers closed around the stone and he looped the silver chain around his wrist. He could feel skin freezing to the surface. Always the same pain of frostbite until his grip weakened whereupon the warm glow of life returned leaving his flesh unscathed.
Nothing stirred ahead, but this, he knew, meant they were awaiting him just beyond the tree line. Dark shadows of the under earth living in eternal shame at their role in the desolation of the surface world above.
Extract from “Letters of The Amanuensis – Elven Lore”
“The Dökkálfar live in dark places beneath the plains or, like dwarves, in mountain tunnels and citadels. Rarely do they venture above ground unless the storm of war is gathering. They are secretive and long-lived. Few know they exist and many ascribe them to myth and fantasy. This is a mistake.”
Ynshael Faeroris, Elven High Caucus.
How many times had his mind scrolled these words? It was a name he knew from deep in time, acting as a distraction to take him off course. The mention of it hurt. Why he was uncertain, but it made him forget the present and dwell in self pity. He drew a deep breath.
It required a change of tack. Something in the pages of parchments had drawn attention. Another Dragon Stone existed, this one emerald. What is it this Wizard seeks? Oracle if he remembered correctly. The dream girl lost under a spell cast by the abomination himself.
A Sorcerer that rode the Barrow Woods, survived the wights and lived beyond the realm of Dökkálfar to walk, but why? What was he searching for?
If The Black lived on with it’s stone intact, then were there more? Was The Emerald still there? Were others hiding in the shadows?
Distracted again. Something was interfering with his concentration. He suspected an elf. It was always the same when her name entered his thinking. He forced his gaze to focus on another.
Xalordryn Landirthir, Warlord turned Councillor it seemed if the closing statements had been accurately transcribed. Seeking atonement for the death of a species in a forgotten war spent on a world few believed existed.
Absolution is more than mere apology and kind words. He fixed his gaze on the two candles flickering on his desk and his mind opened a connection.
Xalordryn.
“Sorceror.”
I am no conjurer Elf.
“You come from The Keep. None leave there as mere mortals. Word spreads fast.”
The Keep is spent.
“As in fallen?”
Aye.
“How?”
That is an answer I am still searching for.
“Don’t think we had anything to do with it. Once fooled by a defiler that lied does not make us concubines of his purpose.”
You know more than first appears. The Wizard?
“One of yours. His passage was free.”
One of ours? Are you certain?
“He bore the sigil and carried a stone of the dragon.”
Which Order?
“Mage.”
Was there a name?
“No.”
ENTRY PAUSED
The Amanuensis stood gazing across the snow field from a balcony he once shared with the arch Mage, Eldred Mortain. That was before the Keep fell.
One of ours, he pondered this gazing across the ice. A Mage travelling incognito. Risking all, traversing the barrier between what was and what is. He wields the Emerald Stone and seeks an Oracle. Shed the lives of part of the Kings Ward and The Elite to escape the wights.
No, not the actions of those from here.
He turned and leaned back on the stonework. From here in the past maybe. Now? Was it not Mortain himself that had said “Scratching through time to affect events is possible, the hard part is knowing how.”
He stared through the window and back into the Library. Now, the past is dead. Everything that was, crumbled in ruin. Orders extinct or cast across worlds trying to make good their lots. Fragmented and desperate, leaving him locked inside the highest most point of the Tower. Alone and bereft of memory.
Xalordryn, former warlord, described a defiler, a trickster. What were the odds on this being the Cloaked Man, Physician or Necromancer?
Was it coincidence his own reach travelled to places rich in tragedy? Were these events simultaneous across all time and worlds? Triggering at specific points culminating in the death of a child in an inert world ruled by science and physics.
And now the trail was leading to Elves and an unknown Wizard. He returned to the flames.
Elf.
“Amanuensis.”
The defiler, what did he look like?
“I never saw him, nobody did. He came at night in dreams spreading death, speaking in riddles and blaming all races, but ours.”
You had a choice then. Die honourably or live as traitors.
“It was never a choice. The Witch that followed would have killed everyone. Child, baby, male, female, cripple, aged. It mattered not. Us or them.”
I know of this daemon.
“You should, the Wizard said he was one of yours too. An abomination was his exact word.”
Then all worlds are at risk.
“Given another chance. We will fight to regain our honour.”
That is something we all must do now.
ENTRY TERMINATED
Travesty across all. Their nemesis is the same across all worlds. The Necromancer. Riddles, lies and beguiling deceit. Follow or face extinction.
A vague memory surfaced. The prophecy of the crow. Her again, and the dwarf. Were not Delalande and Cresswell searching that out? It faded as fast as it formed.
But what would anyone do? Protect their loved ones or see all perish. Genocide of another, or of your own? An impossible choice and one nothing should be faced with. He had been harsh. Little wonder The Black seethed in anger.
Why Dragon kind though? What purpose does that serve?
Perhaps a feint. To turn others against each other. Create wars by seeding the reason elsewhere. Mass slaughter to distract another infiltration.
The child that died is key. Why such a small thing when slaughter abounds everywhere? Something doesn’t feel right.
Dark Elves considering alliance to a common cause, a Blacksmith interred with The Black’s Stone, a Mage seeking the Emerald and an Oracle. Transgressions through time by the Paradox Man, a Witch Queen turned, Assassins and War Monks abroad.
And I am no nearer escape or The Vault.
We are losing badly.
His staff kicked up dust and ash wherever it fell on the approach to the falls. Dusk was upon the shadow of the mountain. Beyond, the sun began to ebb leaving the clouds to brood in the onset of night. There were no stars to see here, no howl of living beast or rustle of leaf in the wind. No trout topping for an afternoon hatch or hawk hovering looking for voles or mice.
The wind blew though. Strong, cold and unforgiving. With it came sounds that belonged in the forest wall where revenants held sway that did not countenance the living to pass. In the distance something crashed in the water. Behind he felt things watching and awakening as the day became night.
“The dead and foul creatures of the underworld rise as the sun sleeps.”He remembered the words spoken by Xalordryn as his eyes locked onto the dragon stone. “Pray your wards are strong and fire breathes at the threshold of your refuge.”
As light began to fade it seemed the trees leaned ever closer, dipping their dead branches in an attempt to ensnare those that passed below. His breath began to fog as the cold crept from the lake and bled into his bones.
Moving swiftly he reached the foot of the rock face and turned toward the base of the watery cascade. Hewn in the stone was a weathered set of steps almost invisible unless eyes were looking. Lichen encrusted and spattered with moisture and spray from the descending torrent.
Easy to miss and easier to slip and tumble downwards to be sucked into the deeps at the base of the cliff. For a moment he paused wondering how many unfortunates lay hidden in the depths, how much steel and bone rested in the mud watched over by whatever vile beasts now swam beneath the foam.
Above a rock dislodged and he heard it tumbling downwards, vying against the tumult of water. Close but not destined to end his days this time. A timely reminder that reflecting on the past was not a luxury he could afford right now.
Descending, the gloom thickened as the stairs wound back and beyond the curtain of water into a cavernous chamber that looked back at him like some dark empty eye socket.
There are few that know this elf under another name.
I read through all the comments that came before mine.
RE: pantsing, plotting, and forgotten notes – I can relate.
RE: your story – your replies helped me better understand this piece as I struggled to figure out what was then, now, and not. You write all these different planes (time and space) so seamlessly. This post delivered what I already knew about your tales – the world is vast and built with such detail. What an amazing imagination.
Do your story ideas ever come to you in a dream?
One reason I find it hard to actually continue the book writing! The world build as a concept has been in my head for a very long time. I’m using BB to dip into it here and there developing back story. That’s where the detail firms up. Day dreams do find me drifting through it yes. Not had any actual night dreams about it though…as far as I can remember. Could be the antagonist has visited now and then though!
My trick is to become the Amanuensis. That enables me to think on his plane. Seeing him in the void and not seeing past events as past but current. Occurring simultaneously with his “present.”
If I can harness that with a virtual set of rules and politics between each world and race then it (I think) creates a better believability. It’s also me writing what I actually like to read in a way that I want to read it.
I will say that when writing in this world I do zone out and don’t actually follow the writing of words until later. I see the story pictorially as it unfolds. My science background enables me to see bigger pictures rather than one bit at a time. That was a realisation that occurred at Uni when I did biochemistry. I couldn’t revise individual pathways until I saw a poster in a seminar which showed how they all joined up and the interconnections each individual piece contributed to. After that it was easier to think and extrapolate things forward.
In other words I see all arms of the world build and how they lock together. A push here changing something over there kind of thing.
‘Harder’ to start. Oh yes, I know that one!
For the whole year now there are two different stories in my head, littered with false starts, I might have to consider that anathema to all ‘pantsers’….. Giving priority to…The Plot!😱
That’s the pansters nemesis. Plot requiring thought rather than just write and see what happens. I’m at the point where significant notes are required and as a pantser this is highly problematic 😳
How very true Gary.
Do you find the notes have a very short shelf-life?
Some which I unearth from years back are met with a ‘What was I thinking of???’
No idea lol. I’ve never actually made any. The concept alone puts me off trying 😂
Pantsing in its most pure and creative form 👍👏
Can’t say I’ve made many notes to date. Unless a book and a half of back story posts counts haha. Thing is it’s daunting. World maps and such like with genealogy for characters so you don’t make holes in timelines and plots. I get stuck on an interview Martin did on GOT. About book 3 he realised he needed to create history and log everything as his cast list was getting too big. He said what he had was the tip of an iceberg whereas Tolkien had the monolith below it supporting LOTR. Kind of sums it up well 😳
That’s an aspect well worth bearing in mind. I have a feeling the ‘dates’ in my books don’t quite add up. I cheat, though, by making the Linear aspect of time variable, thus a day in one part might be longer or shorter than a day somewhere else, and this has been going on for so long society has unconsciously adjusted to it.
I suspect one author whose work might not bear that sort of examination is Bernard Cornwell with Sharpe. The fellow does seem remarkably peripatetic for the late 18th early 19th century British army 🤔
The bigger the story the more chance of continuity errors type of thing. You can guarantee some reader will willingly take those to task in reviews haha.
The society thing is why governments sleep walk from one fiasco to another. Not many seem able to think outside the box anymore.
Sad but true Gary, too much narrow thinking on all sides.
Caught and held by the imagery and the atmosphere on this extract of wider and deeper narrative. There is a tension between what should be unreality and yet the feeling all is taking place just one step beyond a border we can’t see.
I do like the richness of detail, encompassing deeds done and those to be taken on, the extracts of histories and the swirling dances weaved by the differing races, groupings and individuals.
“Perhaps a feint. To turn others against each other. Create wars by seeding the reason elsewhere. Mass slaughter to distract another infiltration.
The child that died is key. Why such a small thing when slaughter abounds everywhere? Something doesn’t feel right. ”
Those lines carry a weight of implication.
There it is. The whole dread laid bare for all to see. Dreams becoming all too solid.
Motivating and encapsulating Gary
And that is exactly how I feel trying to keep up with who’s when and where Roger!! My aim is to try and make it seem to the Amanuensis that past is present (so to speak). The events might have happened but to him they are still unfolding through time and other parallel worlds.
The Letters of the Amanuensis all include sections as set out in this one. They pick excerpts and are interspersed with lore of the Dragon Stone story arc.
Often these lead to the child. She is central to the main story arc. That book is written in full too. Most of the characters in that one appear in his thoughts… the paradox man and witch queen being two more.
Also at the end I added the post more or less for you. It’s why the Amanuensis calls Yish, Yish. He can’t pronounce her real one!
That’s a powerful project Gary to work with Time as a fluid entity moving like water pouring out on flat surface, thus moving in numerous directions to seek it own levels.
There is certainly an atmosphere redolent with opportunity and menace, folk moving obliquely and are they really in control?
And thanks for addition😃.
Keep up the good work
Good way to sum it up Roger. I like that analogy very much!
Might be easier to map it out that way too haha. It’s an interesting concept though. The present being influenced or manipulated by distant future.
Makes it harder to know quite where to start mind. Although a few battles back I did drop a part of the start from chapter 2.
The feeling in this story is certainly surreal, yet more akin to a nightmare than mere dream! I did amuse myself with the reference in the first paragraph how the Amanuensis was in a situation that would drive any normal man mad. Various ideas of ‘not normal’ flitted through my mind. After that the dark and dismal established itself and prevailed, from the wraiths to the dust and ash near the falls. There was an interesting contrast how the deep memory of the elf’s name ccaused distraction in the present, and later it’s observed how the past is dead. Perhaps the past is not so different from the wraiths, resurfacing occasionally to intrude on the now. Lots of mind wrapping as usual with all these time convolutions, making for another another deep and intriguing read!
Thanks Abe. These transcripts often get me into a muddle of time points. It’s been explained elsewhere that it’s a sort of Groundhog Day existence. It’s why he make notes. If he goes out of the door that should take him into the Keep he ends up back in his own library. His only escape is because of his ability to reach out across time. This was gifted to him by Yish and built into the conjurors bubble by the mages who trapped him. There’s another excerpt where Yish tells him how to escape one too, but as yet the keys to unlock it have not yet been found by him. The concept of the past being dead I find intriguing. We live the now, but if futures are written then to an observer there we are long dead. If one could use chronomancy then again dropping into the past makes that point real and alive.
The link at the bottom also reveals what Yish is actually called. Very few can actually pronounce her elf name so it became the pet name for her by the Amanuensis, who by now I assume you know was her lover.
Yeah, I figured out their relationship some time ago in another one of your stories. 🙂 The observation that ‘History does not make destiny’ certainly can’t be taken at face value, but it could appear that way to someone who visited from the future.
I thought you would have, although her full name hasn’t been mentioned before the link at the bottom.
Also true re history. The lack of learning from it makes repetition inevitable. Sad really that politicos fail to consider this point really.