Black wizards - Douglas Niles [0]
Moonshae 2 - BLACK WIZARD
Douglas Niles
What as gone
King Kendrick of Corwell was one of the four kings of the Ffolk who dwelled upon the Moonshae Islands. Corwell, along with the Kingdoms of Moray and Snowdown, owed fealty to Callidyrr, for Callidyrr was home to the king of Callidyrr, who was the titular High King of all the Ffolk.
Tristan Kendrick, Prince of Corwell, had studied some of the arts of kingship very diligently, swordfighting and military science in particular. However, he was less interested in the more mundane aspects of rulership, such as economics and agriculture.
Robyn, the king's ward, had been raised as his own daughter, but her interests lay beyond the castle. She showed a proclivity toward the woodlands and all things natural.
In the twentieth year of the prince's life, Kazgoroth the Beast rose from its fetid bog to threaten the kingdom of Corwell. Walking the land in a number of guises, it recruited allies and sought its one goal: the disruption of the Balance so crucial to the Ffolk – and the very isles themselves.
Forced into battle, Robyn found herself wielding potent druidic magic – earthmagic that was the legacy of the mother she had never known. Tristan fought the Beast and created an army to defeat Kazgoroth's minions. In the process, he found the Sword of Cymrych Hugh. This legendary weapon, lost for centuries, allowed him to slay the Beast and served as a symbol of the lost unity of his people.
At the same time, Tristan and Robyn found their relationship changing, growing as a long-dormant love for each other awakened inside them.
But Robyn could not ignore her legacy, and so she went to study under her aunt, Genna Moonsinger, the Great Druid of all the Moonshaes. Tristan remained in Corwell, enjoying the accolades of victory, and swiftly growing bored.
We resume their story one year after the death of the Beast…
Prelude
The plane of Gehenna was a bleak and oppressive realm, hostile to mortal life. It was a world built upon a vast, unending mountainside, sloping steeply always, never reaching a bottom or a summit. Gouts of steam erupted from the mountainside, and rivers of lava flowed across it, sizzling through long cataracts, collecting in bubbling pools.
Such was the domain of Bhaal, murderous god of death.
A seething, angry god, Bhaal thrived on bloody, violent acts. He grew in strength as his worshippers spread across the worlds, slaying in his horrible name.
Bhaal sought vengeance.
A minion of the god had been killed nearly one mortal year ago, but an eyeblink to the god. Kazgoroth was neither Bhaal's most powerful servant, nor his most favored. But he was slain by a mortal, and the man who dared strike a minion of Bhaal's might as well strike at the god himself.
The bloodlust of the god began as a simple hatred – a desire to see this mortal, and those who aided the man, slain. Bhaal anticipated their deaths with grisly pleasure.
But the man was a prince. And he was the beloved of a druid. His woman carried her own power, and she served a goddess who was foreign – and thus, hateful – to Bhaal.
And so Bhaal's need for vengeance evolved and grew into something far more terrible than any plot for murder. The prince was a leader of his land, and the druid was a caretaker of that land. It seemed fitting to Bhaal that not only the mortals, but their land itself, should die.
The god had a powerful tool for wreaking this vengeance. Bhaal's minion, Kazgoroth, though slain, was not entirely gone. One fragment of the Beast – its heart – remained, clutched desperately by one of its former servants. Bhaal took careful note of the Heart of Kazgoroth. He would have a use for it soon.
Yes, he decided. The land of these mortals would become a land of death – a nation ruled by the dead, over the dead. No living thing would mar it.
Thus was dealt the vengeance of Bhaal.
* * * * *
"Enter."
The assassin looked around sharply but could not see the source of the hissing voice. Nevertheless, the stone wall before him slipped open, revealing a corridor even