Chapter 1
That Sinking Feeling
____Vintor stood in the arena. He was the champion. He had never lost a fight or ever come close to losing one, until now. There was a young man shorter than most. The young man was about 5 feet tall, and had a shock of black hair that was unruly, and seemed to want to go in every different direction. He stood holding a sword with a black hilt and a sliver blade that curved a slightly at the point, which now stood poised at Vintor’s throat. He had dropped his blade, but doubted that would save him, for he fought Torkus the merciless. Who had never left an opponent alive. "As I said it won't matter." Vintor wasn’t able to think up anything to say in response to the unexpected statement or at lest nothing coherent as he dealt with his neck bursting in extreme pain.
_____Torkus growled and stared into the mirror at the blood dripping down his face. Then looked at the razor in his hand it had a smudge of blood on it. He growled again and chunked it across the room at the door it clunked in the door right next to Siren’s face, except it wasn’t siren standing in the doorway. The figure had sliver hair tinged with blue and it was a man wearing a white and black cloak line with gray fur. He had piercing sliver eyes that seemed to be whirlpools of quicksilver. Torkus growled out “Who the bloody hell are you?”
____“It doesn’t matter"
____“Then what the hell do you want?”
____“You killed my friend and I’m here to-“
____“Kill me right” Torkus growled this out and started to draw his sword "That will be harder than you think”
____“-tell you to think before killing someone. Just because you have nothing to live for doesn’t mean every else has nothing to live for too. Remember that before you consider killing someone again” he said this emphasizing every word with out changing his tone or raising his voice and yet each word fell like a blacksmith’s hammer onto red-hot metal.
____“Who are you?” Torkus asked his voice rasping. He out still feeling each as a hammer’s blow from this stranger’s little oratory.
____The stranger smiled a little and said, “Just call me the Raging Drakthor.” And with that he was gone. Torkus stood there unbelieving hand still poised to draw out his sword, then just fell onto the floor hands dropping to his sides, and sat there absorbing what had just happened. Tovram Daleon Dekar had been here. The legend. The man who had killed The Lord of Chaos, Lord Cedric of the Celladonieon.
_____He had no clue to how long he sat there on the floor, blood dripping down his check till it dried and stated crusting. Siren burst in and shouted “What the hell are you doing just sitting there, you got a fight in a less than half an hour hurry up and get ready!” This jolted Torkus out of his reverie and he spring into the action of washing his face and getting ready to fight.
_____Torkus walked into the arena. The crowd cheered deafeningly at his entrance. He was a favorite. Few every bet on him losing him. He had told Siren to bet That he wouldn’t kill his opponent this time. The odds for that were something like 100 to 1 on that. He looked at his opponent. The Ivory Shadow. He was called this because of the white cloak he wore and the fact that he could disappear into the shadows with surprising ease. Not someone you would want to fight in a night match. He lunged at Torkus, dagger blade pointing backward dagger arm flying out behind. Torkus waited until the last moment still observing his opponent the whole time then ducked under the Dagger blade, and moved to the right. The ivory shadow compensated for this dodge by switching her dagger hold so the blade was up front and reversing the momentum of her arm, and swinging at him. Again Torkus ducked under the blade and dodge this was going on for at lest 10 dagger thrust before the crowd was able to recover form its startlement enough to whisper and wonder to each other why Torkus the merciless was or seemed to be running away or avoiding fighting. Finally he stopped dodging and grabbed the arm instead of ducking under it. And twisting it he got the dagger form his grasp and held it to the back of his neck. “What do you have to live for?” he asked.
_____The Ivory Shadow replied softly “To find my fiancé who turned his back on his village in his time of need who I fear is lost forever......” With that the Ivory Shadow turned around Torkus stared straight into the eyes of Kerris Vorin, who would have been his wife.
_____“….and to ask him why he betrayed our village to the slavers…..?” finished Kerris her voice threatening to break down into sobs .
_____Torkus couldn’t think to answer her between the shock of seeing her again, and the deafening roars of the crowd calling for the death of the Ivory Shadow. “but they said—I didn’t know—but—they lied……..” was all he was able to murmur in answer. Then he shook his head and blocked out the crowd. “ It was an accident.”
_____“You call destroying our village an accident...!” her voice fading away into anger. They just stood and stared. The crowd getting more and more agitated as it waited for the kill.
_____“Yield” was the last word spoken between them, before Torkus suddenly moved bashing the pommel of the dagger between her eyes.
_____A hooded man wearing a white cloak with an indistinguishable black shape on the back, nodded as he watched Torkus carry his opponent out of the ring. Then stood up form his seat in the arena and proceeded to leave. As he left another figure wearing a black cloak who was also hooded come up beside him and wrapped an arm around his waist and said "So did he learn his lesson?"
_____The man replied with a laugh "Seems so, but i don't know if he will survive it. I think i may add him to my book."
_____"My dear husband how can you call it a book its just a couple drawings and a bit of writing." she said giving him a sardonic grin. Even though he couldn't see it under her hood, he knew for her tone that she was.
_____"Exactly dear wife, if it is every to truly become a book i need more drawings and bits of writing". She just laughed and laid her head on his shoulder as they kept walking.
_____"You both Know it will start soon, don't you?" asked another figure that had just joined them inexplicably was there. Except unlike the others he was not cloaked or hooded. He wore simple tough leather armor tailored to his unique form. His head was quite simalar to a Komodo Dragon except for a ridge of small sharp spines starting halfway up its back that continued on down his back to the tip of his tail, and the keen intelligent brightness reflected form his eyes.He was completely covered in dull green scales.
_____The figure in the black cloak gave a slight start at the sound of his voice, but the other figure didn't even twitch "Yes it will start soon won't it true brother of my blood brother?"
_____"Yes, it shall blood brother of my true brother. Are you prepared?"
_____He sighed "As I'll every be."
_____His wife chuckled "My dear husband you may have lost your fangs but unlike a snake you also have claws"
_____"True, true, but if I'm not a snake then what am I? And lets hope they don't find out till its too late."
_____Torkus sat on his bed head in his hands trying to defeat sleep. For every time his eyes closed he saw her eyes as if someone had glued a picture of them to the insides of his eyelids. Her brilliant green eyes speaking to him accusingly "Why not just kill me it would be so easy for you. After all isn't killing your job now?". He dug his finger nails into his face. He wished his fingernails were claws so he could gouge out his eyes to rid himself of her brilliant green eyes or just rip his face off. Just end it all. "Wait I have a sword don't I?" flicked across the abyss of his mind. He rose his head slowly his eyes all the while flicking back and forth to study his room no his prison .For that is what it really was he thought bitterly. A prison. He could leave it yes but there was no point he could only go down to the bath hall and lavatory. He wasn't allowed anywhere else though he probably could kill several guards before they finally tossed him back in here and took his sword. Wait that’s right his sword, where was it? His tied eyes roamed aimlessly around the room searching for it. It was quite squalid. Just a bed in the corner to the right of the door on which he sat, a table, several chairs and a few books which he had carelessly scattered over the left side of the small room, and a mirror on the wall opposite the door with a table under it which had a wash basin and assorted shears and razors for cleaning up his face and cutting his hair.
_____His eyes wandered back over to the haphazardly scattered chairs finding his sword leaning on a chair near the door. Now only if he could muster the strength to get up and walk over to his sword. He could.....What impale himself upon its blade? Use his body as a fleshy sheath? Yes he could then he would no longer see her accusing green eyes. Oh what a joy that would be no longer being taunted by those malevolent green orbs. Yes that is what he would do. Use his heart as a sheath for his blade. It would work and the eyes, Oh those evil eyes would be gone. No longer giving judgment he didn't want to hear. Judgment he refused to believe. Judgment he wouldn't hear nor believe because it wasn't-couldn't be true. Oh how easy it would be to just end it once and for all. To depart this mortal coil and let someone else feel the false judgment of those beautiful malevolent emeralds of eyes. They would no longer be there when he closed his eyes. They would be gone. Yes gone once and for all. Those accusing orbs of malevolence would no longer tau-
____Siren walked into Torkus's room her blue hair drawn back into a ponytail for the day. Her light blueish green eyes lit with smug satisfaction at having practically tripled her assets with a single bet of only 10,000 on Torkus not killing The Ivory Shadow, the odds had in fact been not 100 to 1 but 200 to 1 because he was the only slave in memory that had so far killed all of his opponents after 30 fights.
____Torkus sat on the edge of his bed. He didn't respond at all to her entrance, not even with a quick flicker of his eyes in her direction. His face was drawn and weary. His eyes were bloodshot as if he hadn't slept for days. His fingers curled and stabbing into his cheeks right below his eyes with his chin resting on his palms. His eyes where glued to his sword and crazed he looked as if he was about to kill him self or everything in his sight. She started to reach out towards him with her hand then thought better of it and stopped. "Torkus, something wrong? You look like your about to kill yourself." she said trying to make it sound like a joke but even to hear it sounded pretty mirthless and her laugh was half-hearted.
_____Torkus gave a mental jerk as his suicidal thoughts were interrupted. And let go of his face. "Huh..what..Oh. No I'm just very....very...tired......" his voice fading into a sigh. He turned his head towards her "I know you didn't come in here just to check up on your prized killer. So what do you want?"
_____His voice was soft and hard to hear and laced with so much exhaustion Siren knees nearly gave out just from hearing the sheer amount of it .She shook off the tiredness and responded with a grin "Hmp. Prized killer hardly, well maybe a prized slave. But anyway I came to tell you have a fight at mid-morning tomorrow. So you best get some sleep."
______His eyes lost all life and just kinda glazed over as he said "So I need to kill someone else......." then so low she almost didn't hear him with so much sadness in his voice she almost thought he was about to start sobbing "....So her green eyes are right I am just a killer....." he finished this with a bitter laugh. He dropped his head into his hands, gave a final bitter laugh and was silent. No shaking of the shoulders or sobbing noises just silence, nor did any water fall from between his splayed fingers.
_____Siren asked "Are you sure you're all right? Sure you don't need a drink or something....? Torkus?............................Torkus?" she touched his shoulder. He didn't move but she heard slow shallow breathing. He was sleeping. She stood for a moment staring at him. After awhile she decided to leave him be and left the room closing the door silently behind her.
_____She turned away from the door, coming face to face with a beautifully young woman of emerald eyes. She didn't look older than Torkus. Though Torkus seemed to have aged in decades rather than hours over the past 5 hours. Siren simply said "Who are you?" beyond any kind of startlement after seeing Torkus appearing to be contemplating suicide, even thought she didn't believe it, and winning two million gold when only betting ten thousand.
_____"Kerris, I used to be Torkus's fiancée, before..." her eyes hardened into cold unforgiving emeralds ".....the slavers come and destroyed our village. I think I may have been to hard on him in the match toda...." Kerris's voice just faded into a cruse as she realized what she just said. She let out a sigh of frustration as Her eyes filling with concern she asked "...Is he okay?".
_____"So the Ivory Shadow is a woman, don't' worry I wont' tell. And no he isn't I don't no whats wrong with him but whatever it is its in his mind."
_____"Its the village he probably blames him self for it being destroyed if he hasn't changed form the Torkus i grew up with that would probably be it. He had said he would never let anything happen to the village...."
_____"Wait so the slavers enslaved a whole town......." murmured Siren, thoughts clicking into place like the tumblers of a lock in her head.
_____"Yes, so what does that have to do with anything....?"
Chapter 2
Memories and Some Cigarettes
_____Torkus floated in a vortex of memories. Memories swirled past him or he past them, he know not. At first there seemed to be no order to the memories whirling paths they just seemed to be swirl haphazardly around, but as he watched he noticed that there seemed to be levels and that this vortex was shaped very much like a funnel or a whirlpool with each descending level forming smaller and smaller rings of memories. He tried to crane his neck down to see if he could see the bottom most ring of memories, only to discover he had no neck to crane, in fact he had no substance or mass at all. So his attempt to crane his neck only resulted in the equivalent of his spinning vision very fast as if a pole had been thrust through his midsection and a giant hand had set him spinning around the pole, and very sickeningly too. Torkus would have upchucked if he had any had mass to do so with. Finally his movement slowed down enough that he had a slowly revolving view of this whirlpool of memories. He could see a definite floor, and several more rings of memories. He was just about to tumble down into the ring right below him when he collided with a memory.
_____Torkus walked into the arena and looked around at the mob seated in the stands, which resembled nothing more than a huge circular stairway descending towards the dirt he stood upon. They where cheering as he and his opponent, Vintor the reigning champ in the arena or at lest for now, entered in the dirt floor at the center of the arena.
_____Vintor was far form his prime, as the streaks of gray in his hair showed, but was not any less deadly because of this. Torkus wasn’t worried, not because he was sure he could beat him, but because he didn’t weather he died or not only weather he won.
_____Torkus stopped within 6 ft of Vintor and crouched down yet to have drawn his blade. Vintor on the other hand had his blade out and ready and wearily studying Torkus. Torkus suddenly exploded into motion spinning around and lunging as he began to draw his sword using the centrifugal force to both increase the length and speed of his lunge and the force and speed of his sword slash. None so far had been able to block this move, some had survived it but they hadn’t lasted much longer. So the sudden clash and bone grinding vibration traveling up his arm caught him completely off guard.
_____His right hand felt as if all the bones in it wore grinding together, the intense pain causing him to drop his sword. But he still landed in a roll and came up facing Vintor while clutching his hand. Vintor had blocked it. Amazing, but it didn’t matter, Torkus thought as he dropped his now useless right hand and let it and his right arm hand limply at his side.
_____”Your good to have blocked that, ” Torkus said as he stood and drew out his scabbard and held it as if it were a sword. ”but it won’t matter your can’t win” because if you do what do I have left? Torkus finished inside his head.
_____Vintor looked at him incredulously “Your going to kill me with a scabbard?”
_____Torkus just laughed and crouched and spun as if to do the spinning lunge again. He grinned as he saw Vintor put up his sword and prepare to block it with the flat of his blade as he placed his forearm against he opposite side to brace for the impact. But Torkus didn’t lunged he kept on spinning till he faced Vintor again and slid straight past his feet, swiping the out from beneath Vintor with the sheath as he slid past. He let go of the sheath and rolled over and dug his fingers into the ground to stop his moment then lunged forward pushing off the ground with both legs and his left arm. He scooped up his blade which was laying where he’d dropped it a little to the left of Vintor. He then stood up and walkover to Vintor who was just getting up and placed the tip of his sword on the man’s throat.
_____He paused a second to say, “ As I said it won’t matter” before thrusting his sword thru Vintor’s throat.
_____He was back in the whirlpool tumbling down to the next level, it seemed as if he picked up a little speed but if so it was to small to tell for sure. There were more memories whirling about on this level than it had seemed like from above. When he saw the bottom of the whirlpool, he thought he saw some one sitting in a chair looking up at him. But that couldn’t be right he had no substance so what would some one be seeing if they looked at him. Nothing? Or was he visible and just didn’t know it? He puzzled over this for a time, but whenever he tried to look at the bottom of the vortex again he couldn’t quite make anything again. He saw another drop to the next ring down. He collided with another memory.
_____The noise was deafening, the mob screaming, cheering, catcalling, or jeering as he and his opponent entered the arena. He immediately focused on his opponent so as to have a way to block out the noise of the mob. His opponent was short, with red hair, green eyes, plain face, and he wielded two light axes. Torkus drew his blade and lunged at his opponent with a simple waist-high left-to-right slash. The man blocked the slash with his left hand axe and slashed with the right-handed one. Torkus let his knees give way falling to the ground the axe just barely missing his head; the man was overbalanced and nearly fell. Torkus hauled his sword back behind him. Then drag it forward with as much force as he could muster. The sword slashed straight thru the man’s legs. Torkus kicked the man’s feet out from beneath him in a quite literal manner the feet flying away, blood spurting everywhere. The man fell on top of him, he managed to squirm out from beneath the man. When he was finally standing panting, he lifted his blade above his head and then brought it down swiftly and severed his head blood splashing onto his face and onto his clothes. He stared at the blood pooling on the ground as he heard the deafening cheers of the mob. Blood dripping down his face as if it were tears.
______Torkus was again tumbling through the starry whirlpool of his memories. This time he collided with another memory almost the instant he reached the next ring.
______Torkus stood in a stone room it’s walls full of weapons and weapon racks along with tables with various assortments of weapons there was everything from axes to halberds to daggers to swords to scythes. But the only weapon he cared for was a simple looking blade slightly curved for about a foot as it reached its point. The hilt was made of a black metal with a dark gray leather wrap for gripping. “So I can have any weapon form this room that I want?” he asked turning towards the blue-haired woman who had just rescued him form rotting forever in that dismal cell.
_____She laughed and answered ”Yes, old Drax owes me a lot and anyways he never uses any of them anymore.”
_____Torkus walked over to where the plain blade was and picked it up griping it by the hilt, and feeling the old familiar texture of leather under his hand as he drew the blade. And held it up the blade was sliver but he could tell it was only sliver in color, probably some form of steel or another. He heard the tell-tale scarping of a blade being drawn form a metal sheath and spun blade in right, scabbard in left. He held the metal sheath horizontally at head level, with blade limp and at his side.
_____He faced a man with dark hazel eyes, and hair practically the same shade of dark brown. His face was made up entirely of hard angels not a soft plane on it. He wore a red jerkin with a sliver thorn bush in the center of it, underneath this he wore fine chain mail armor. He had a regular sword held in his left hand with a shield strapped to his right. Torkus could notice nothing else as the man attacked swinging his sword at Torkus’ unprotected right side. He dropped into a crouch the sword whistling over his head and swiped the man’s feet form under him. As he stood he was suddenly falling backwards as the man’s foot had hooked around his ankle. His head cracked onto the hard unforgiving stone of the floor.
_____It was extricating at first, but shrink to a dull throbbing almost immediately. He tried to stand. But when he lifted his head pain shoot through it again cause him to fall back down again. He got to his hands and knees slowly, only to be greeted by a swift kick to the jaw when he finally got there. He dropped to the floor and heard a whistling noise, such as a blade would make when cleaving the air. He rolled to the left, but not soon or fast enough. He felt the man’s blade skin his left arm as he rolled. A sharp pain erupted on his left side as he crashed into one of the weapon racks scattered about the chamber. Several of the half-staffs it held clattered to the floor.
_____Torkus grunted in pain as he got up to his hands and knees, this time he wasn’t greeted by a kick instead “How did you get in here?”.
_____Torkus croaked out “W-What?” in reply as he coughed. His hand slowly inching across the floor.
_____”I said how did you get in here?”, the man replied.
_____”Someone let me in.” he replied his hand still slowly inching across the cool stones of the floor.
_____”Who?”
_____Torkus’ hand closed on one of the half-staffs that had fallen of the weapon rack he had crashed into. Torkus lunched it at the man’s feet as he stood and started to run towards the man. Who almost fell as it hit his legs, hard, but retained his balance and punched forward with his shield at Torkus, except Torkus was no longer in front of him but spinning on his right foot around the left side of the man. He realized his mistake, as did this, the man held his sword in he left hand. As the blade slashed towards him he placed his left foot down and lifted his right just narrowly avoid a fatal slash across his chest by spinning but still not fully escaping harm as the sword grazed the middle of his rib cage on his right side. But he kept on right on going despite this crouched down scooping up his sword from where he had dropped it. And with out knowing why he kept on spinning using his moment and the centrifugal force of the spin to lunch himself like an arrow towards his opponent, spinning and all. He flashed past the man on his right side and they both went crashing to the floor albeit the man a little softer. Thankfully he hadn’t hit his head Torkus thought as he tried dot figure out what had happened. Why the sword had cut right through the man rather than acting like a piece of wood and simply knocking the breath out of him.
____ He looked down at the sword he held in his hand, its sliver blade shinning, he held it crosstree perpendicular to his arm. He had hit the man with the broad side of the blade instead of the sharp edge. Oh well not that it mattered he thought as he approached the man who was bent over wheezing trying to get his breath back. He raised the sword an-
____”Torkus drop the blade.” Said Siren as she came out from behind a weapon rack she had be hiding behind during the confrontation. He opened his hand and let the blade fall with out realizing he was doing it.
____The man wheezed out a cruse at Siren “If you knew the damn intruder why did you let me attack him?”
____”Did I say this man was the intruder?”
____He wheezed out another cruse, “Well if you wanted me to fight the kid you could have just told me.” He said as he finally stopped wheezing. “Anyway who is he? He’s good.”
____Siren laughed “ A slave I just got for the arena. I hear you can make a lot of money on the betting and if your slave wins the tournaments. I was just stopping by to get him a weapon.”
____”Your always thinking of how to line your pockets aren’t you?”
____”Your father is lucky that statement is false” her voice hardening at the insult.
____”Sorry. Your almost always thinking of how to line your pockets with more gold. Also that’s one of my dad’s favorite weapons. You should probably ask him face-to-face if you can take it. Though I doubt he wouldn’t let you.”
____”Speaking of which, do you think you could ask him for me? I need to be on my way. I have to register Torkus in the Arena.”
____He heard the man sigh as he said, ”Fine, but you know my father would really like to visit with you.”
____”Thank you, and I know I’ll get around to seeing him sometime soon. And while you’re at it could you also get Torkus patched up? You seem to have scratched him up a bit.”
____The man sighed again “Fine. But you owe me.”
____Torkus hadn’t really been paying attention to their conversation much instead he had picked up his blade, found the black metal scabbard. And after checking the sliver length of the blade for nicks or scratches and finding none he sheathed it and started looking at the weapons around the room more closely.
____”Hey, Torkus come here lets get you over to the infirmary.” came the rough voice of the man. He turned, noticed that Siren was gone. Shrugged and started towards the man. ”So your Torkus? Well you’re a good fighter.” He said giving him a rugged grin. ”If you ever get in a tight spot and need some help fighting. Come see me here. Just give the desk clerk my name and whosever on duty will send you to me or let me know.”
____Torkus laughed, “What’s your name?”
____”Captain Corvas Draxis of The Bloody Blades Brigade of The Sliver Thorns Mercenaries ” replied Old Drax’s son with a grin. Torkus laughed.
____Again the whirlpool of memories was swirling around him. He wondered how long he had been here. If the memories counted it had been nearly ei-
____He stared at his surroundings, his suffocatingly bleak surroundings. His arms and legs were chained to the cold, damp stonewall he leaned against. His bruises, the salvers had given him them before they had tossed him into this decrepit cell, still stung. He hadn’t eaten in…..how long ago had it been since he’d eaten? He didn’t know.
____Footsteps. Where those footsteps, or was his mind playing tricks again? He listened again. Yes. He was sure. Those were footsteps, he wasn’t hearing things. Wait those were footsteps, but what was that? He listened trying to discern what the other noise he heard was. What was it? He couldn’t’ make it out it was to faint. To whispery. Whispery….whisper. Could that be it voices….? But why…? He waited and listened. For awhile all he could make out was the whispery noise and the footsteps getting closer. Closer, closer, closer. There it was voices! But what were they saying…? He strained to hear them but couldn’t make out more than a few words. Hardly enough to piece together a whole conversion. Closer. Closer. Then in front of the cell. Still he could not hear their words. Or at lest he couldn’t when they were whispering.
____”So this boy is your best fighter?” the voice sounded extremely incredulous and sarcastic.
____”Yes.”
____”He doesn’t look like much.” Again the sarcastic voice.
____”Yes, but that didn’t stop him form killing half of the men I told to watch him.”
____”Your joking that boy in there killed them? With what? His fists? The chains you used to shackle him?” came the reply dripping in sarcasm.
____”Actually both.”
____-ght. No now nine or eight and a half. He was tumbling faster. Faster than before the memory. Were going through the memories making him go faster? Tumbling downward now. To where? The next ring down. Yes to the next ring down. Now he was on it the next ring. Tumbling. Tumbling. Tumbling. Will This ever stop? he wondered. What is this place. Where am I? In my mind? Yes, but where in my mind? I’ve never been in this place before. And the memories. Why am I remembering these things? Why?
____He was shackled and chained. Striped of anything and everything that had mattered to him. The village was gone. The villagers were dead or enslaved. And now....NOW. They were hitting him. Beating him because he wouldn’t do what they told him to. These guys had some nerve to do that. He felt the pain lance through his back as the whip hit it. He wasn’t going to take this any longer.Whistling. The whip slicing through the air as it speed to his back. Spinning he caught the whip in his shackled hands and tugged. The man fell forward within reach of his feet. He lashed out. Feet smashing down onto the man’s skull. Then suddenly another pain lancing through his back. Another whip. No several whips. Fine, they wanted to play that way he would kill them all. He would kill them all. He lashed out with the chains they had shackled him with. He embraced the fog spreading through his mind. The mist of anger. The cloud of hate. It swelled form the back of his brain encompassing him. Stealing all of his free will. And it felt so good. He gave into it. He stopped fighting it, this storm of rage that seethed and boiled through his thoughts. He gave himself to it. Let it infuse every fiber of his being. He felt and heard its whispers and caresses, which promised him power. He gave his will to it. Let it take him as its servant for the power it promised. The power to strike back at these imbeciles. These fools who sought to subjugate him. To take the last thing he had left form him. They died one-by-one, or at lest the ones who didn’t run died.
____Tumbling faster and faster around and down the vortex.
____They had lied. Some how the other men had followed them and were now burning the village. And there was nothing he could do but watch as they burned it to the ground. He struggled, try to free his arms so he could do something anything. But all the got him was a mouthful of dirt as the man holding him down got tired of his squirming and smashed his face into the dirt. Still he didn’t stop he struggled harder. Until finally the man got tired of smashing his face into the dirt and smashed the back of his head with his hand. Sweet blissful oblivion swelled up to consume him as his face hit the dirt.
____The void again.
____Who were these people who came armed to his people’s forest? Who? He moved in closer to get a better look. They were all wearing swords, or some other type of blade. And armor? Why armor? It only got in the way when fighting. Slowing you down or chafing. He moved closer. Out to far on the tree branch. It snapped with a deafening crack. Depositing him in an undignified heap on the ground. They were all looking at him. The strangers he had been following for the past hour.
____”Who are you?”
____He turned to see the leader of the group had asked that question. There was a dangerous look in his eyes. But he was not scared. He was one of the best warriors of the village. ”Who are you?”
____”I asked first”
____”But I will get an answer first.”
____The man gave this boy who was challenging his authority a second more comprehensive look. ”hmp. You got allot of nerve kid but alright. I’m David. You are….”
____”Torkus.”
____”Torkus are you form the village that around here?”
____Something was wrong. Torkus didn’t know what it was. But something was wrong. And he didn’t know what it was, or how to react. He decided this man with the dangerous glint in his eyes was a threat to the village. But he didn’t know what to do to get rid of him or to get back to the village to warn it without leading the man there. “…….”
____”Hmm I see you don’t trust. Well that enough tells me your form the village. Can you show me where it is?”
____He didn’t know what to do. He thought fast but couldn’t think of anything. He had to get back to warn the village of …..what……? So far the only thing off about these people was that they were armed. But so were some of the merchants. But it wouldn’t hurt to be careful. “Yes…..but only you none of your men.”
____”hmm That’s hardly fair how do I know you won’t kill me the instant you have me off in the forest?” then so low he could barely hear him “So you are suspicious little devils, the man wasn’t lying.”
____”Then I won’t show you where the village is.” The man finally settled for having 2 of his men with him.
____Back in the vortex he was sure he would have been crying if he could. But he couldn’t so instead he just tumbled further and further around and down the whirlpool of his memories. He saw another memory approaching. He wondered bitterly if it was another recollection of one of his many failures.
____He-
____No he wouldn’t remember that. He couldn’t remember that. That part of him was dead. Again he looked around himself he was closer. Much closer to the bottom of the vortex. He wondered what awaited him at the bottom of this formless void. He crashed into another memory.
____Torkus stared as they placed the tombstone and buried the empty coffin six feet in the dirt. They hadn’t been able to find to the body. He looked over at the grave next to this one. His father’s grave, and past that his mother’s grave. He had never known his mother. She had died giving birth to him. But he had Known his father, And he had known his Bother even better. Fore it had been his bother who had raised him when their father had died. Torkus had been ten at the time. His bother 17. Now seven years latter both his father and his bother were dead. He stood there staring at the graves for along time. Hours. It had started to rain when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head, his ebony locks plastered to his face. ”Hello Kerris.”
____Her emerald eyes staring in concern at his face ”Torkus please come in side don’t stay out in the rain.”
____He gave a bitter laugh “Why not perhaps I’ll catch my death then I can be laid to rest with the rest of my family.”
____”Torkus please don’t say things like that.” Her eyes were big and she looked as if she was about to burst into tears.
____”I’m sorry Kerris.” He turned and started walking back to the Town house we everyone else was gathered.
____”Torkus promise me something.”
____”What?”
____”That you won’t die fighting”
____He gave a bitter laugh” I promise I won’t die fighting Kerris.”
____The void then memory again.
____Today was the day he got his first sword. Not a wooden or blunt practice sword but a real, sharp, metal one. His brother would be giving it to him. He looked over out the window at the rising moon. If his bother didn’t get here soon they were going to be late to the ceremony. Or perhaps his bother had decided to go straight there after his patrol instead of here to pick him up. He looked out the window again, he would be late if he didn’t leave soon. He sighed and figured that his bother was probably meeting him at the town hall. He hurried out the door and run to the town hall. It was quiet there were no sounds of merry making as there generally was at a ceremony. Everyone was crowded around Torin the man who had been out on patrol with his bother. He looked up as Torkus entered and said “Torkus your bother…….is…dead.” Torkus stood dumbfounded the only thought passing through his mind, then who will give me my first sword?
____Spiraling around the vortex, he could no longer recognize anything coming into his sight. Everything was blurry as if he was looking at it through water….or tears. The only thing coming to mind how can I cry if I have no body. The only thing he wanted to do was to get out of this cursed vortex of memories so that he would have substance again. So that he could cry, let the water flow from his eyes down his checks and to the floor. And as he thought this he also realized that this was the first time he would have cried for his bother’s death…in fact it was the first time he had ever really felt like crying in his whole life…He hadn’t cried as he watched the village burn. He hadn’t cried when his bother died or at his funeral. He hadn’t cried when his father died or at his funeral…why hadn’t he ever cried before…or even felt like crying before?
____His vision was clearing. When he realized this all thoughts of tears were swept form his mind by the first thing he saw…He hadn’t been seeing things before there was someone sitting in a chair looking up at him. He only had an instant to see this before he was swept away by his momentum.
____He tumbled through rings too fast for him to count or even see if he did all he was certain of was that he was moving a lot faster. He was close to the bottom now he was sure of it.
____It was a marvelous day…for a funeral that is. The sun was covered by an oh-so-thin layer of clouds that were depositing a light drizzle on the over one. Torkus moved his view of sight form the morbid sky to the even more morbid sight before when he felt his bother elbow him. He didn’t want to look at it though so instead he stared at the hole it would be lowered into. Next to the hole it would soon be lowered into, lay another grave, this one belonging, or at lest everyone said it did, to his mother. But as far as he was concerned he didn’t have a mother. He had never met the person that was buried there so how could she possibly be his mother? He realized his eyes were wondering back to the sky because he felt his bother’s elbow digging into his side again. He gave a mental sigh and finally looked at the casket in which his father’s corpse was to be entombed in. He didn’t recognize the man lying dead in the casket.
____The dead man’s eyes were closed and he had his arms crossed over his chest. His hair was combed neatly out of his eyes, black with flecks of gray. It wore a neat finely crafted black cloak with matching shirt and britches. And it was lifeless. He knew it was his father’s corpse, but for all the world he could say that he man laying dead in that coffin was his father. Fore his father’s hair was never combed, it was always unruly and in the way of his eyes. He rarely wore anything that was finely crafted and never wore anything that matched, unless it matched the underbrush and allowed for blending in with the greenery. And last his father had never been lifeless.
____As he finished with his observations so did the ceremony and they closed the casket and lowered it into its hole, and preceded to put six feet of dirt atop it. Everyone was standing and leaving, but his bother hadn’t moved so Torkus continued to sit there waiting for his bother to move.
____Why hadn’t he felt like crying then..? He knew the answer even as he said this it was because he hadn’t-couldn’t except that his father was dead. That was why he had never cried he had never truly excepted that they were dead or that it was gone. He realized he had pretty much viewed his life as a never ending nightmare that he would some how wake up from.
____Suddenly he was falling. He slammed onto hard solid ground. His restoration of substance had been so sudden that he didn’t even realize it. He pushed him self up off the floor to see a man sitting in a large cushioned chair. With a table between it and another large cushioned chair. On the table sat assorted pipes and a small dish for dumping the ashes for a pipe into. Along with this were assorted boxes of leaves of tobacco and ground tobacco. Form the heat at his back he could tell there was a fireplace behind him.
____The man looked up from the leaf of tobacco he had been examining. The smoke form the cigarette he was smoking forming a wreath around his head. ”Took your damn sweet time getter here didn’t you, Torkus?” Torkus was stunted this couldn’t be this was impossible…and yet here he was. He would have accepted it except that he didn’t look exactly as he remembered. There was a scar on his left check that hadn’t been there the last time he had seen him, and he was older than when Torkus had last seen him. “What cat got your tongue or are you too high and mighty to say hello to your dear older brother?” continued Raiden with a grin, when Torkus didn’t respond.
____”But…how…Gerard said you were dead…… is this a dream?”
____” ’fraid so. But, it think its much more than just a simple dream. Hold out your hand.”
____”What…why?” still slightly dumbfounded he did so.
____Raiden grabbed it, took the cigarette he was smoking out of his mouth, and ground the burning end into the palm of Torkus’ hand.
____He let out a yowl of pain as he jerked his hand back. Holding it in his other hand he asked, “What the hell was that for?”
____”First, you were acting like you were in a stupor. Second, I thought maybe this was your dream and I’m tired of being a character in it. And third, I was bored.” He finished with a grin. Raiden ignored the glare Torkus gave him, as he lit another cigarette and put the leaf of tobacco in his hand on the table.
____Torkus sighed asking “So if you didn’t die what happened?”
____Raiden laughed “The long and the short of it was we came across some men, had a disagreement about how to deal with them, it escalated into a fight, I got wounded, mind not bad enough to die but near enough, I ran off into the forest, got lost, passed out from blood loss, was saved by a bunch of bandits, and then I was given the choice of dieing or joining them.”
____Torkus laughed as he sat down in the other chair. ”My brother as a bandit, I would never have imagined that.”
____”To tell the truth it was a hell of a lot better than guarding the village. Speaking of which how is the shitty little place?”
____Torkus balked, spurting “The village?!?”
____”Yes, the village. You didn’t like it much more than I did. So quit your balking and tell me.”
____Torkus’ tone turned grim, ”It’s gone. Burned to the ground. Everyone is-Almost everyone is either enslaved or dead.”
____A glint of something flashed across Raiden’s eyes ”Let me guess Gerard isn’t?”
____”I haven’t the faintest clue. Why?”
____”Never mind. Let me guess your blaming yourself for the village getting destroyed?”
____”Yes.”
____”Don’t it wasn’t your fault”
____”But if I hadn’t lead the slavers there it wouldn’t have happened.”
____The thing glinted across Raiden’s eyes again. Torkus wasn’t sure but he thought it might be guilt ”Torkus believe me it would have. There was nothing you could have done to stop it. It was going to happen.”
____”What…why?” He was sure of it now that was guilt flashing through his bother’s eyes.
____”Because they were the men me and Gerard found, and I’m guessing Gerard cut a deal to save his own skin.”
____”What do you mean, there were over fifty of them when I found them and if they were the same why didn’t they capture the village then?”
____”Because, they were just five of them then but they had most likely been sent to see if there really was a village they could enslave there. Its more my fault for not killing them when I had the chance” Torkus fell silent, having no response to that. Raiden just sat smoking his cigarette, drowning in guilt. The silence was tangible.
____Finally Torkus said “So then Gerard is really the one at fault, not us.”
____”That’s a nice way of putting it. I suppose. You’ve changed brother”
____Torkus laughed and said, “So have you, brother.” As everything around him started to fade.
____”Time stands still for neither man nor god.” started Raiden laughing.
____”Nor shall it march backwards for them.” finished Torkus laughing. That had been one of their father’s favorite sayings.
____”Brother, where are you?”
____” In some city, I’ve been to busy wallowing in self-hatred to find out the name, but it does have several arenas. I know because I’ve fought in most of them.”
____”That’s not much to go on but I’ll see if I can find you.”
____One of the things he noticed, as the dream faded, was that one of the boxes of tobacco, was sliver-gray and emblazoned with thorns. ”It also has the headquarters of a mercenary group, The Sliver Thorns.” And then he was gone.
____Raiden sat staring at the chair his bother had recently been sitting in. He spat out the remainder of his cigarette and pondered his bother’s last statement as he lit another one. A group of mercenary’s called the Sliver Thorns. He had heard that some where before…But where? Well he could easily find out which city the mercenary group’s headquarters where located in. Well looks like I’ll be traveling again soon, he thought..
