The coldness of the stone sucks the very warmth from his body. Not for the first time has he questioned the logic which made him leave his friends behind. At the time, all he could think of was vengeance. Those that took his love away from him had to be made to pay and he knew that as long as he continued to travel with James, that was unlikely to happen.
For a long time, every day was torment for him. Each morning a renewal of his loss and every evening a lonely time spent mourning what no longer could be. At first he sought out and executed ranking members of the Empire’s forces. His first victim was some officer in a small town not too far from where he left the others behind.
He had ridden into town, eyes red and swollen from his grief. When he saw the officer appear out of a doorway, his vision turned even redder. Not caring about who would see him he leaped from his horse and approached the man. The officer noticed his approach and turned to greet him, but instead was only greeted by the point of one of Tinok’s knives. A quick thrust and it was over, the officer never even had a chance to defend himself. It was murder, pure and simple.
He bent over and carved a heart with two dots upon the man’s forehead. To this day he still doesn’t know why he did that, but ever since, it became his calling card. Whenever he killed another of the Empire’s officers and nobles, a similar design was carved into their foreheads as well.
The first year he spent as a loner, moving from town to town, staying on the fringe of society. Not being able to speak the language was a definite handicap at first. But after awhile he began to pick up on it.
That’s when he began to hear rumors and stories of a great mage who was wreaking havoc among the Empire’s cities and citizens. Each time he heard the tale, the story would grow. A grin would come to him, for he knew that his friends were still alive. And better yet, hurting the Empire.
At the end of winter and before spring began, he started accumulating people of like mind. First one, then another learned of him and sought him out. Each wanting to work to hurt the Empire. Some were common thugs and murderers who saw him as a chance to strike back at the government that had hurt them so bad. Others were more along the lines of those who wanted a change. They were tired of the way the Emperor and his army controlled everything. How the average person had little chance to improve their lot and so forth.
So by the time summer came along, he had a band following him numbering two score. He had thought that by this time he would have been captured and killed. Only reason he can think of why they didn’t spend more resources in trying to capture him was that there was another they wanted more. James was playing merry hell with them and they wanted him bad. What forces were sent looking for him were either easily avoided or destroyed.
Then came the news that Black Hawk, infamous leader of men that he was, had resurfaced. Not only that, but with a band of men was actually pushing the Empire’s forces back. He wouldn’t have credited the story except along with the news of Black Hawk came the tale of how the mage had joined with him.
That was when he began to go after bigger targets. Armories, workshops, things like that. No longer satisfied with skirting the fringe and taking officers unawares, his force began planning attacks and sowing dissent. Which only brought more people to him. At one point his force numbered over three hundred men.
But then came the day when he made his mistake.
He was leading his band to a small town where they planned to make a raid for supplies. Stealing food and other necessities has been the way he kept his force supplied. What money they may come across tends to be spent on other things, like women.
The town was a nexus for local herders and growers, those that were able to coax something to grow in this type of climate. Earlier, he had sent a man ahead to scout the town who returned with news that the storehouses were filled to capacity. Needing food badly, he turned his force and headed straight toward it. What he didn’t realize was that he was riding into a trap.
Though he didn’t know it at the time, a smart young officer had been put in charge of hunting him down. And after several months of pursuit, this officer had learned his habits well. So well in fact that he had the storehouses at this town stocked, spread the word of the food stored here, and waited in the hopes Tinok would take the bait. Which of course is exactly what he did.
When his force rode in and began laying siege to the town’s guards, soldiers boiled out of the neighboring buildings. Out numbered, Tinok’s force was quickly decimated. Only a handful managed to escape. One of those lucky few was Tinok himself.
Now on the run with a much larger force hot on their heels, they fled. Despite the cunning he had developed during his time as a marauder, he was unsuccessful in losing them. Then the inevitable happened, their horses became fatigued and were unable to outrun their pursuers.
Tinok decided to make a last stand at an old stone farmhouse they stumbled across. From the relative safety of inside its stone walls, he and the four others who had made it that far with him watched from the windows as the enemy soldiers surrounded them.
The officer in charge gave them the opportunity to give up peacefully, but that was something none of them was willing to do. Replying in a less than humble attitude, Tinok cast aspersions on the officer’s family tree and told him what he could do with his offer of surrender.
On three sides of the farmhouse were windows where they could keep an eye on what the enemy was doing. The fourth was solid stone containing neither door nor window. He and the others kept a constant vigil.
Tinok watched as the soldiers began massing a large pile of wood a hundred feet from the front door. They quickly had the pile of sticks and dried bushes stacked quite high. An hour, maybe two passed after the pile was completed and the enemy sat there and waited. Then, about the time it was growing dark, four riders appeared with bulging satchels tied behind their saddles.
When the riders stopped and began opening the satchels and removing the contents, Tinok began to understand what they were about to do. For inside the satchels were small bladders that the Empire used in transporting lantern oil. He looked on in growing fear as the pile of wood was lit.
Again, the officer in charge came to stand before them and said for them to surrender or be burned out.
Tinok glanced at the others. They all understood what was about to happen, and Tinok’s chest swells with pride as his men to the man refused to surrender. Tinok shouted defiantly out to the officer saying they would rather burn than surrender. The officer replied that he is more than happy to comply.
Before the onslaught of fire, the officer positioned half a dozen crossbowmen outside of each window and door. He knew that at some point they would have to come out. Once they were in position, he called for the riders. They came with torches and used the now flaming pile to light them. Other riders came and were handed a single bladder of oil each. Then, the onslaught began.
Three riders with bladders rode fast for the farmhouse and threw the oil filled bladders at the windows. Tinok and the others tried desperately to prevent the bladders from coming through, but when they did, a flight of bolts flew through the windows at them. One of his men cried out as a bolt struck him in the neck. Two of the three bladders successfully made it through and smashed open on the floor of the farmhouse.
Right behind the riders with the oil came the riders with the torches. Just as the ones before them did, they threw their burning brands through the window. Two of the torches were successfully blocked, but one made it through and landed onto the oil covered floor.
Whoosh!
The oil on the floor ignited and fire spread across the floor just as another set of riders came with more bladders of oil. Distracted by the burning oil within the farmhouse, they were unable to prevent the others from coming through. Two of the bladders broke open on impact, increasing the already fierce fire burning across the floor. The third remained intact upon impact. Sitting in the fire as it was, it didn’t take long before it exploded.
The oil contained within the exploding bladder flew in all directions. One of the men with Tinok was unfortunate enough to be in close proximity to it. He screamed in agony as the burning oil hit him and began to burn.
Coughing and rasping, he and the two remaining men decided to go out fighting. Kicking open the door, Tinok raced out with knives in hand. Behind him the other two had their swords drawn as they charged the soldiers to sell their lives as best they could.
No sooner did the door slam open than six crossbows released their deadly projectiles at the escaping men. One went down with two bolts in him, the other gets hit in the leg and continued on. None of the bolts hit Tinok and he saw the crossbowmen twenty feet before him. With a cry, he sprinted for them.
Regular soldiers quickly moved to protect the crossbowmen and he was soon surrounded with armored men. He managed to drop one of them with a lucky strike before he was struck on the back of his head and knocked unconscious.
He and his man that was struck in the leg with one of the crossbow bolts were tied and thrown across the backs of two horses. For a week they were taken across the desert until they arrived at what they learnt was the city of Cyst. All of their belongings but their clothes were taken, including the necklace he had given Cassie shortly before she was killed. That more than anything else took the fight from him. His mind burned for revenge, but his heart just felt like ashes.
He was sure slavery would not be his fate, rather the hangman’s noose. After what he and his men did, there could be no other fate for them. The first day he and Esix, the sole remaining member of his band, waited in apprehension for someone to come and tell them what was going to happen to them. But no one did.
They remained in one of the slave pens in Cyst for a week, maybe two. Time lost meaning after the first several days as one merged into the next. Each day they waited for the hammer to drop, yet their waiting was in vain for no one came to them. Until one day a man in armor came and took them. No word was given as they were escorted from the pen.
Neither one of them understood the significance of the man in armor at the time, simply that everyone including the slavers treated him with utmost respect. Tinok thought that some of them held back barely controlled fear while in his presence. He too could feel something about the man, whether from the man himself or due to the reaction of the others, he wasn’t sure.
As he waited for other slaves and prisoners to be gathered, Tinok noticed an insignia on the man’s armor. Three dots with lines running between them yet not touching them. Later he was to come to know that the insignia marked the man as one of the dreaded warrior priest’s of Dmon-Li. Terrible fighters who wield the power of their god with terrible strength.
He, Esix, and fourteen others were loaded onto two wagons and taken west. Before the end of the first day, a wall of fog appeared from out of the distance ahead of them. It grew larger the nearer they came to it and it didn’t take Tinok long to realize the fog was to be their destination.
The other slaves in the wagon with him grew nervous and fearful when they came to the realization as had Tinok that they were heading for the fog. He heard one of them call the fog the Mists of Sorrow, and from others he learned that it held a fell reputation.
Tinok watched the fog grow ever closer. Then all of a sudden it was all around them. One minute it was over a hundred yards away, and the next it was encompassing them. A man sitting next to him began having hysterics and was struck on the back of the head. Knocked out, the man’s screams and pleas were silenced as he fell against Tinok who was on the verge or losing it himself. Not wanting to be struck like the man next to him had been, Tinok kept a tight reign on the fear fighting to take control.
The fog now surrounding them dampened all sound. Even that of their horses’ hooves upon the ground was barely heard. Cold and clammy, it felt like it was trying to suck the warmth from you. It didn’t take long before the cold seeped its way to his very core. Teeth chattering, he wrapped his arms around himself in an attempt to keep warm. The others in the wagon with him did the same.
He’s not sure when it happened, but at one point the shadow of some beast passed through the mist not too far away. It was the size of a horse yet ran along the ground like a dog. There for a moment before disappearing back into the fog.
“What was that?” Esix asked him.
“I don’t know,” he replied. Glancing to the warrior priest leading them, he’s at least somewhat comforted by the knowledge that their captor isn’t reacting to the beast’s presence. Which meant there was no immediate threat from it. “Could be something like a watchdog,” he guessed.
“Maybe,” agreed Esix.
If it was a guard dog of some kind, the possibility of escape from wherever they are going began to seem unlikely. Tinok kept scanning the fog surrounding them while they continued to roll through and saw the beast several more times. At least he hoped it was the same beast. One they may be able to deal with should they get away. More than that and it’s a fool’s hope of ever getting out of here.
They rolled on through the night without more than minimal breaks to feed and water the horses. Tinok dozed on and off until he and the others in the wagons were taken out to answer the call of nature. None strayed too far from the wagons, the thought of facing what is out there kept them from even thinking of trying to escape. Once done, they were reloaded back onto the wagons and they resumed their progress through the fog.
Through the night and most of the next morning they were taken further into the fog. Finally, a dark shadow began to form ahead of them in the fog until they drew close enough and discovered the dark shadow was in actuality a large stone building.
How large the building may be couldn’t be seen due to the denseness of the fog. A large black wall was all they saw before it disappeared into the fog. Made of massive stone blocks, it looked very strong and impregnable. To the surprise of Tinok and the others, the warrior priest led them directly to the imposing stone wall.
The warrior priest stopped and dismounted when he reached the wall. Coming forward, he stopped and stood motionless before the black wall. With neither movement nor speech, he stood there like a statue until a grinding noise came from within the wall. Suddenly, a section began receding backward into the wall and then slid to the side. It revealed an opening wide enough for a wagon to pass comfortably and tall enough for a mounted rider.
Returning to his horse, the warrior priest mounted then began leading them into the dark edifice. One man in the wagon behind Tinok’s began screaming incoherently and tried to break free from his bonds. Yanking at the chain connecting his manacles to the eye ring in the bed of the wagon, he tugged at it furiously.
One of the riders escorting the wagons rode to the side of the wagon and struck the man on the back of the head with a club. The impact knocked him into the bed of the wagon and stilled his cries. Tinok continued glancing to the wagon but didn’t see the man get up. Fearing he may be dead, he looked to the other prisoners. Fear was in the eyes of every man in the wagon.
“What is this place?” Esix asked.
Tinok just shook his head.
Then their wagon rolled into the opening. If they thought it was cold out in the mist, within the opening it was absolutely frigid. Dark and cold, the tunnel extended into blackness. As they moved further away from the opening, the light from outside began to fade. When the last rider was within the tunnel, Tinok again heard the grinding noise of the block returning to its place within the wall. The light completely faded away as it moved once more into position.
They rode in complete darkness for several minutes, the clip-clop of the horse’s hooves and the creaking of the wagon wheels were the only sound. Then the wagons came to a halt and a light appeared to dispel the darkness. Not a bright light, just enough to be able to see that they were in a large room.
The warrior priest dismounts and disappeared into one of the archways leading from the room. Tinok and the others remained seated in the wagon, unsure what to do or what their fate may be.
All of a sudden, a small creature appeared in the air before Tinok. It’s scaly, somewhat man-like form was bent over as if from carrying too much weight. Red eyes aglow with an inner light stared from its gnarled head at Tinok as it hovered there before him.
Tinok returned its gaze as others in the wagon began taking note of the creature. Several men made the sign to ward off evil which had little effect. Reaching up his hand to touch it he almost grabbed the creature before it vanished, and then it reappeared before another man at the other end of the wagon.
More of the creatures began popping in and staring at the men in the wagons. Then from the archway the warrior priest exited through, footsteps could be heard. A moment later, the warrior priest appeared and with a gesture to the guards that had accompanied them, he had them begin unloading the prisoners.
Their chains were unlocked from the wagon’s eye rings, then were taken out of the wagons and lined up on the cold stone. The iciness of the floor sent shivers up into Tinok. Once all the men were gathered, they were made to follow the warrior priest. Moving through the archway, he led them through another dark tunnel.
The same faint light which was present in the room behind them seemed to follow their progress. The light was rather unnerving as there was no discernable source for it. It just was. Dozens of the creatures that had appeared before them in the wagons now began popping in and out. They took a look for a short time then disappeared.
At the end of the tunnel, they came to a room with four pens used to hold men and were divided among them. Tinok and Esix were put together in the same one. All this time, neither the warrior priest nor the guards accompanying him have spoken a word.
Once all the men were within the pens, the warrior priest gave them a final once over before he left. The guards followed him out and soon Tinok and the others are left alone in the pens.
How long ago that was, Tinok is no longer sure. The small creatures have been a constant menace as they continue popping in and out. Food is brought to them by hooded men, who despite their attempts to engage in conversation, remain quiet. Both Tinok and Esix have tried to get a good look within the hoods but there isn’t sufficient light with which to see.
Thinking back on his life, he now regrets his decision to leave Jiron and the others. Fate has led him awry it seems. How he wishes to be able to see the face of his friend one last time before the end. For he feels that his end is approaching.