Thy Light Relumed » The Prophet Mouse

Most of the buildings in Subito had either been levelled or damaged severely; brick walls and distance from the castle were the only things that spared Koshos' shop from complete destruction.

Litam saw plenty of ruins, but didn't see any beasts as he walked toward the tower, Koshos two steps behind and constantly looking back. Just about every fibre in Litam's body was screaming at him to dart into the nearest hole he could find; that it was madness to go toward such a place.

But the village was quiet and the smoke had since moved on. The glow from within the tower was as bright as when he had first seen it. He pressed on, the fear within him growing more and more with each step. He tried to ignore it—after all, it seemed almost certain that the pretario beans wouldn't need him anymore, so what else could he do?

Litam reached the foot of the tower and froze, unable to go farther, a numbness spreading over him as fear started to take its toll.

What if I go up there and there's something waiting for me? I'm staying right here—you go look! he said, crossing his arms defiantly at Koshos, trying to look braver than he felt.

Vhatever did this had the power to destroy the castle, Litam, but the damage is done. I doubt anything is left up there to hurt us, Koshos told him. To emphasize her point, she crossed her own arms to mirror Litam's and lowered her head to glower down at him. Ve vill go together.

Litam flattened his ears and stepped back from her, embarrassed. He turned toward the tower again, but as his foot came down a door slammed in one of the nearby hovels, making him leap back. Koshos looked over at the source of the noise.

There may be others who are injured. I vill go seek them out. Continue, Litam, and do not cower like a vilde mouse, she said, walking off back into the shattered village.

The door to the tower had been blown clear off its hinges and was lying in shambles several feet from the entrance. Litam manoeuvred over it and into the darkened stairwell within the tower. He stepped on something that crunched underfoot. He cringed at the feeling and looked down at it, but the tower's interior was too dark for him to see what he had placed his foot on.

He took a deadened torch from the wall, its form outlined softly by the firelight that crept in under the door. Scraping the worn-down cone against the floor, the mouse tried to relight it. A shower of sparks and a burst of light atop the torch brought an uneasy smile to his face. Now able to see, Litam looked down again. His eyes widened in horror as they saw what he had stepped on.

It was a soldier's skull, blackened from heat and crushed partly into powder. Trailing down from it were the bones of a neck and spine, a complete ribcage, a pelvis and limbs.

Litam's heart skipped a beat and he barely made it out of the tower before he threw up; he tripped over the skeleton and scattered it, kicking the jawbone out the door with him. He had never seen death before, let alone stepped on it. He wretched all over the cobblestone path before the tower, and when he was finished he did it again. He kneeled there for a few minutes, the vomit seeping into the ground, before standing and slowly, shakily entering the tower once more.

Litam looked at the skull again. Lying near it were the other bones, jumbled up, crushed, or shattered. Knocked out of position, they no longer shocked the mouse. They were just objects now, without life in them. Carefully, the young mouse stepped over an ulna, and made his way toward the top of the spire.

The tower stretched on endlessly. No matter how many stairs Litam climbed, there always seemed to be more. finally, he reached a landing. There were more bones here, charred like the others. These were already jumbled, however, and some were warped out of shape. Litam nudged one tentatively with the side of his foot, and it crumbled to dust immediately. The mouse shivered.

Leave here.

Who said that?

Leave this place, and your life will be spared.

Where are you?!

OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT…

It repeated, louder and louder, but Litam shook his head clear and took a defiant step forward. The voice, no doubt a product of Litam's fear, died away instantly. He took another step, a snub in its own way, and then he climbed higher. But the stairs soon became jagged, rising at impossible angles or even dropping down. The tower itself seemed to want to hold Litam back.

The mouse knew the tower wasn't really built like this. He had climbed it from time to time as a kit, spending many mornings basking in the sunlight on the roof. Why was the tower so twisted on the inside, when the explosion did not leave a mark without it?

Magic.

He believed in that, at least.

finally, the stairs ended and Litam came face-to-face with a padlocked, chained, and bolted door. From the crack beneath the door came more green light.

He pulled at the knob, but the door did not budge. Groaning, the mouse turned to start back down the tower again. He had barely begun to descend when he saw Koshos on her way up to meet him.

I thought you were outside looking for others? Litam asked. She had made better time than he had, despite his head start.

I vas, she replied sombrely, but there vas no one else.

Litam blinked. No one at all? Jajma? Shallel? You couldn't find any of them?

No, Litam, Koshos looked down at her feet.

Litam quickly changed the topic. This door is locked, Koshos. This is as far as we can go. Let's get out of here.

The raccoon shook her head, took a deep breath, went back down some of the stairs, and then barrelled toward the door. With a crash, it was reduced to splinters.

Litam stared.

And with all the courage the mouse could summon (not much), he walked in.

As he stepped in, he was overcome with the foul smell of burnt flesh put out by a body on the ground.

The green was coming from a wide… Litam wasn't sure what it was, but it looked to be some sort of oversized crystal ball, hovering in midair in the centre of the room. Within it sat a clearly defined image of two uncut red gems, both of which seemed to circle each other within the confines of the orb. As they moved, they drew closer together, as if tugged at by some shared force. Litam's whiskers twitched and the fur on his neck prickled: there was evil magic in the air, stinging his nose like the smell of air after a spark.

He inched around the crystal ball, around the charred husk that used to be a beast. He paused and looked down. Some of the beast's clothing remained on the corpse, dark blue and gilded with runes and symbols.

A sorcerer.

Although he didn't really know much about the occult arts, he had heard stories about sorcerers sacrificing innocent beasts in attempts to cast their spells. To think one was living—had lived—in his own city!

On the desk at the edge of the room was a sheet of parchment covered in writing: the runes were visibly enchanted, glowing a vibrant orange. Litam picked it up and tried to interpret it.

It was in the old tongue. He winced. Koshos, I can't read this. Can you translate it?

The raccoon, still eyeing the orb, hadn't noticed the desk or what was on it. I can try, she replied, taking the page from Litam. As she read it, her ears flattened against her head and worry spread across her face.

What does it say? Litam asked nervously.

Do you know the legend of Letimpra's resurrection? No, you vouldn't—Jajma told me that you never pay attention during your lessons.

Simply put, she tried to steal from Shalyon. He caught her, and Selassei fought vith her vhen she tried to run. She tore the Evil One into a thousand blood-red pieces and scattered them across the Vorld.

If these pieces vere ever to be joined together, Letimpra vould ally vith Kveilaz and destroy the Vorld! That parchment is, I am certain, a sorcerer's spell. It calls for the restoration of two of the pieces, the ones inside that crystal ball. And vhat's vorse is that this is not the first pairing: it is vone of the last.

You must be joking! began Litam. Letimpra is just a legend. She's not —

Oh really? Then how vould you explain vhat is right in front of you? Koshos snapped, gesturing at the crystal. This is the doing of her minions, Litam. Do not fool yourself into thinking otherwise.

That is the beginning. If she is completely rejoined, it vill mean the end of the Vorld itself! Jajma vas right, your studies have fallen far behind.

Somehow, even though it was all just a myth, it scared Litam most of all. He swallowed heavily, asking: What are we supposed to do about it? You're telling me that these things will kill us, and we can't do anything to stop it.

That is not vhat I said, she replied sternly. You are taking the vorst of my vords and not hearing vhat I am truly saying. Ve have two of the pieces right here. Ve must find a vay to destroy them, or all vill be lost! Shalyon has seen it fit to give us this task, and ve must not fail him—everything now rests upon our shoulders.

Litam's thoughts were racing with a thousand different disaster scenarios, but he slowed down enough to nod, his ears flat against his head and his nose aquiver.

A faint noise, almost at the very edge of perception, caught Koshos' attention. She lumbered over to the arrow slit and peered out. Litam dragged himself along and looked past the lower edge of the window at what had caught her attention. Smoke had rolled into Subito again, shrouding the buildings in a black haze. Though Litam couldn't see anything, he could still hear the faint sounds in the distance: clanks, stomps, crunches and crashes.

It was an army.

As the legend went, Kveilaz, being the driving force behind wars, had an army of his own, made of hundreds of reptilian monstrosities. The soldiers always attacked in a magical shroud of darkness, making them very difficult to defeat in battle: how can you fight an enemy you can't see?

We've got to get out of here! Litam said. I don't think they're here to clean up the mess; I think they're here to collect the pieces!

There is no vay out of here but down the tower, and below lies that army. Perhaps that sorcerer, She gestured at the corpse, had an escape spell made. Those who serve Kveilaz are doomed to die vhen they are no longer useful to him. I doubt not he vanted to avoid such fate as that.

Koshos… Litam started. He was going to tell her that they didn't have enough time; that it would be futile to find out how he planned to escape; that nobody in the world could puzzle their way out of this; but he couldn't come up with a better plan. What are we going to do about that… thing? If we leave it, they'll get it!

I do not know, but if ve do not try to escape, they vill kill us and take the pieces anyvay. She started shuffling through papers on the desk, throwing over her shoulder whatever she didn't consider useful.

An inkwell (or was it a talisman?) hit the crystalline globe and vanished in a flash of light that flooded the interior of the orb. Litam saw there an empty plain, and settling in the dust of that plain was the just-tossed talisman (or was it an inkwell?).

Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Koshos?

The green light went out and the tower crumbled in on itself before the advance guard. Halt! ordered Leader Kri'vis, then turned to the saurian beside him. Pnan'g'lor, do you see what I see?

Sir? The tower is gone, sir.

That is correct, but what does it mean?

The heavily scarred saurian's blackened heart skipped a beat. A beast has gone through the portal, and the spell has broken, sir?

That too is correct, his leader said, almost thoughtfully. And when a beast goes through a portal, what results?

The portal shrinks, sir?

That is correct. Shortly afterward, the portal disappears entirely, and do you know what that means for anyone trying to follow through it?

They can't…

Very good! His voice could have passed for cheerful.

Sir?

With a swift movement of his claw, three soldiers grabbed Pnan'g'lor and dragged him off, the saurian protesting his innocence and his loyalty to Kveilaz with the last of his breaths.

Kri'vis spoke slowly, making sure that the full gravity of his words was clear: Git'ni'gor, you will take his place. His order to torch the fields slowed us down and cost us dearly. That damned fool of a rat was able to kill eight of my soldiers before an arrow struck him! I hope he lived long enough to feel the fire consume him.

If your actions hurt us as his did, I will boil off your giblets and bind my journals in your hide. I will enchant your heart so that you feel the pain of its removal for the rest of eternity. Is this understood?

The newly promoted saurian, shrouded in the darkness that would forever cloak him, smiled. Perfectly, he said. His sharp, crooked teeth would have glinted if there had been light enough for it.

2. Into The Castle