The Tree of Black and White (The Shadowdancer Chronicles, Book Two)

Chapter Ten

Stale air touched his nostrils as the first waves of consciousness washed over his body. How long had I slept? he wondered. The stench found him then, an aroma that meant only one thing. They were here. They had returned. He pushed himself off of the cold rocks and looked at his surroundings. There was no light in the cave, but then again there never had been. Before moving out of the opening in the rocks he ran his hand over the stone etching once more. The tree, the curse that had dampened the magik of the realm, was somewhere south of the wall; of that much he was certain.

            The tale was as old as time itself. Alador, in all his glory; in all his malevolence, had tired of the struggle between the Fae and the Vorai. He found a tree, the lone tree in the world that would act as his resting place, as his refuge. He cast his power, his hate, upon the forsaken tree, and in doing so—in casting out his legacy—he dampened the magik of the realm. He was a selfish god, a broken god. He created the world, but had grown tired of it more than once, hence the creation of the Fae; of the Vorai. It weakened him, every time he intervened. When he finally realized that both of the creatures he had created would overwhelm humanity, that everything he built would be destroyed by someone other than himself, he cast himself down upon the world. It was an act many would call altruistic, but Amon knew the truth. Alador was simply too prideful to allow someone else the glory of destruction. However, the Fae foresaw his conflagration and, before the multa volde was cast, they cursed the Vorai, diminishing their powers...effectively crippling them.

            The multa volde created a fissure in the Araj; a deep, undying fissure that would forever weaken the remaining effects of magik. The tree was the key. The tree would give him the power that he required to kill the Seeker, the very power of Alador. The tree was the only thing that mattered.

            Amon's robe dragged the floor as he moved over the jagged rocks. The first one was in the next opening, sitting on a rock. His skin, at least the skin that still remained, was mottled and gray. The smell grew stronger the closer Amon crept. The creature's head turned in Amon's direction. Its dead eyes opened, but Amon was not quite sure what they could see.

            "What did you find in the marsh?" Amon questioned.

             The creature stared at him for a long moment as if the words were a puzzle he was piecing together. "We found...descendant. Slow to talk...destroyed two before restrained." His voice was garbled, broken. He paused as if he couldn't find the words.

            Impatient, Amon moved closer to where the creature sat. "What did you find?"

            "Her mind...cluttered. Her thoughts...incomplete," the creature struggled with the words.

            "Where?" Amon demanded. "There must be a location. Something, anything that we can use to find the tree!"

            The creature did not answer immediately, as if it somehow enjoyed its master's turmoil. "There was...tree, in visions."

            "Where?" Amon commanded. His composure near its limits. "Damn you, where?"

            "Siost," the creature growled. "There is...tree...Siost."

            "Siost," Amon repeated, little more than a whisper. "Siost."

            It instantly made sense. Amon's eyes searched the surrounding rocks, but he knew that what he was looking for could not be found in the cave. He laughed to himself at the simplicity of it all. The Panthosi had damned Siost centuries ago. They had labeled it a heathen city, cursed for reasons unknown to the world. The Moon Gods could not be worshiped alongside Alador, not if their reign was to remain uncontested. And, if Siost was indeed the resting place of Alador's power, then the tree would be there as well. The tree would be there.

            With new resolve, Amon turned back to the creature. "We leave for Siost at once, alert the others," he ordered.

            Finally he had located the tree. Finally he knew where the power lay. Finally he would destroy the Seeker once and for all.