Temple of the Traveler: Book 02 - Dreams of the Fallen Read online

  Dreams of the Fallen

  Book Two of the Temple of the Traveler

  Cast of Characters

  Map of the Northern Empire

  Valley of the Final Temple

  Chapter 1 – The Question that Must Be Answered

  Chapter 2 – Eve of Battle

  Chapter 3 – Scout versus Scout

  Chapter 4 – Pandemonium

  Chapter 5 – While the World Sleeps

  Chapter 6 – Southern Politics

  Chapter 7 – Question Two

  Chapter 8 – The Walls of Sleep

  Chapter 9 – Lighting the Fire

  Chapter 10 – Three the Hard Way

  Chapter 11 – The Emperor’s Court

  Chapter 12 – Anna of Tamarind

  Chapter 13 – Antechamber to the Halls of Eternity

  Chapter 14 – The Way of Air

  Chapter 15 – In the Dark

  Chapter 16 – The Mantle

  Chapter 17 – Dispossessed

  Chapter 18 – Stopping to Weed the Garden

  Chapter 19 – The Architect

  Chapter 20 – Red Sails in the Sunset

  Chapter 21 – Reunion

  Chapter 22 – Protocol

  Chapter 23 – The Mice Will Play

  height="0" width="0">Chapter 24 – The Balanced Rock Chapter 25 – The Basement

  Chapter 26 – What Now?

  Chapter 27 – Four Days in One Place

  Chapter 28 – Idiot Savant

  Chapter 29 – Trust

  Chapter 30 – Crossroads

  Chapter 31 – Funeral for a Friend

  Chapter 32 – The Thirteenth Guest

  Chapter 33 – A Tall, Dark Stranger

  Chapter 34 – Ladies’ Underwear

  Chapter 35 – Reconnaissance

  Chapter 36 – Ghost Story

  Chapter 37 – The Shaft

  Chapter 38 – The Crystal Grotto

  Chapter 39 – The Wedding

  Chapter 40 – Heading North

  Chapter 41 – Brutal Honesty

  Chapter 42 – The Fall of Zanzibos

  Chapter 43 – Orchard

  Chapter 44 – The Panther’s Tale

  Chapter 45 – Into the Valley of Death

  Chapter 46 – The Dawn’s Early Light

  Chapter 47 – Reversals

  Chapter 48 – The Final Door

  Chapter 49 – Transformation

  Chapter 50 – Facing Nightmare

  Chapter 51 – Meeting

  Chapter 52 – The Last Battle

  Epilogue

  Dreams of the Fallen

  Book Two of the Temple of the Traveler

  By Scott Rhine

  Amazon Edition

  Copyright 2012 Scott Rhine

  Book One of this series is entitled Doors to Eternity.

  Thanks to Tammy, my faithful first reader.

  To my line-editor Katy Sozaeva, who thought it was worthwhile, despite its length.

  To Weston Kincade and DJ Feldmeyer for more edits and proofreading.

  And to Bill Vance, one of our fallen.

  Cast of Characters

  Kingdoms

  Bablios – a small, fertile kingdom in the southeast known for its wine and the Great Library.

  Intaglios – country to the northwest, known for its swamp-gas lights and intrigue.

  Kiateros – the fallen, mountainous kingdom of the far north, known for its mines and forges.

  Mandibos – country to the east known for its cattle and grain.

  Semenos – country to the northeast, known for its trees.

  Zanzibos – the large country to the southwest, bordered by desert to the west and plague lands to the south.

  Followers of the Traveler

  Brent – a twelve-year-old newly apprenticed to Jotham.

  Calligrose the Traveler – the writer of the six holy books, the messenger of the gods, silent for the last 49 years.

  Jotham the Tenor – historian from the Great Library of Eskelon, half Imperial.

  Nigel the Actor – a wandering rogue who recites plays and trades news for his room and board.

  Owl – a wandering gravedigger who knows how to care for the dead.

  Tashi the Sheriff – the head of the military arm of the Temple of the Traveler. Missing large chunks of his memory. Student of Jotham.

  Tatters – a tramp apprenticed to the gravedigger Owl.

  House Kragen

  Bunji – a southern mercenary who betrays the Kragen family to save his own life and get rich.

  Drasnir – one of Kragen’s knights who owes favors to Tumberlin.

  Humi – the half-Imperial concubine of the wizard Kragen, a diver known as the Lady of the Deep.

  Morlan – Kragen’s chief Imperial bodyguard, made mute.

  Navara the Ferret – chief inquisitor and whip of Kragen.

  Kragen – Imperial Lord, underworld kingpin, and head wizard at the Temple of the Unseen. Murdered by the Brotherhood of Executioners.

  Necrota the younger – a ki mage, cousin of Vlekmar

  Tumberlin – an Imperial wizard apprenticed to Lord Kragen, able to travel out-of-body as a shadow.

  Vlekmar – senior ki mage, cousin of Necrota

  Executioner’s Guild/Tamarind Pass

  Anna the Brewer – Baran the smith’s fiancée, an indentured servant.

  Ashok Togg – an armorer and merchant, Baran the smith’s father.

  Babu – backup swordsman. A comedian who befriended Tashi. Deceased.

  Baran Togg – a smith who carries the magical sword, the Defender of the Realm.

  Dhagmurna – the guildmaster, Nerissa’s husband.

  Kirak Togg – Baran the smith’s older brother.

  Nerissa – noblewoman, wife and guiding force behind the guildmaster, Tashi’s adopted sister.

  Southerners

  Borchart – King of Bablios in name, but fonder of wine than ruling.

  Khalid – the Prefect of Bablios, head intelligence officer, de facto ruler.

  Onira – captain of an ill-fated company of the King of Zanzibos’ Scouts, sent to deliver an insulting message to Kragen. Now governor of Barnham.

  Pinetto – an astronomy student turned wizard, friend of the smith.

  Sajika – a female spy who blames the smith for ruining her cover, member of the Bablios secret police, and newest ambassador to the court of Kiateros. Likes Pinetto.

  Teldana – a count guarding the lands on the road to the capital of Zanzibos.

  Zandar – King of Zanzibos, whose family owns the silver mines.

  Northerners

  Beryl the Wise – the priest of Semenos, on Sandarac’s council.

  Garad – the General of Semenos’ army, on Sandarac’s council.

  Ginza the Keeper – the sergeant of arms in Sandarac’s council, aided Tashi in reaching the City of the Gods.

  Harkan – an old priest who starts the heresy that the god Semenos is female.

  High Gardener – the head of the church of Semenos.

  Hisbet the Viper – the head of the Intaglios Intelligence Service, on Sandarac’s council.

  Jolia – the tall, half-Mandibosian consort of Sandarac.

  Kasha – a skilled knifeman in the Kiateran vanguard.

  Lavender – elder sister of Renald, self-proclaimed Queen of Semenos.

  Legato – the son of Lugwort, a rogue and carouser, heir to the Obsidian Throne of Kiateros.

  Lilith – a handmaiden of Zariah, wanted for the crime of poisoning.

  Lugwort the Jeweler – the next official king of Kiateros, in exile.

  Ninua
– Legato’s translator and code expert.

  Penceworth – a silk merchant from Reneau.

  Renald – boy King of Semenos, puppet of the High Gardener.

  Sandarac the Pretender – self-proclaimed emperor of the north, an Imperial unable to walk.

  Sarajah – a former slave girl with pale-green eyes, possessed by Zariah.

  Serog the Dragoness – guardian of the Temple of Sleep.

  Simon the Architect – a famous builder near Reneau.

  Sophia – Simon’s youthful wife.

  Urgot – the Intagliosian High Priest of the Sacred Flame.

  Vinspar – an Imperial scholar from the Inner Islands, on Sandarac’s council.

  Yondir – an Imperial Lord sent to a remote post for indiscretions.

  Zariah the Seeress – the high priestess of the Temple of Sleep, a daughter of Serog.

  Historical Figures

  Akashua – the last warlord of Myron, a marquis who retired in protest.

  Archanon – the archfiend Tashi inadvertently released from his servitude.

  Eutheron – the fallen goddess of the plague lands.

  Bagierog – a Dawn creature with the head of a black panther.

  Myron – the last Emperor of his dynasty, precipitated the Scattering.

  Map of the Northern Empire

  Valley of the Final Temple

  Chapter 1 – The Question that Must Be Answered

  After escaping the emperor’s dungeons, Tashi climbed to the City of the Gods, on the peak of the Holy Mountain. The ruins spread across a mile of overgrown plateau littered with bricks of mysterious, black glass. During the day, anyone could leave offerings to the twenty-one immortals from the Dawn race. After sunset, no mortals could survive inside its walls due to a lethal sound known as Nightfall. Using a magic coin to guide him to the e of a precipice where the mountain had been sliced away, Tashi found a staircase that was suspended in midair. Because he reached this place, the gods were required to grant him a request. The sky thundered with their anger, but the tuning-fork artifact he carried protected him against Nightfall.

  Nothing on the plateau moved. Tashi could no longer hear the wind, but clouds streaked by above him. The City of the Gods was now dimly lit from all angles, with no sun to be seen. He felt suspended in a single moment. A portal rippled into existence at the top of the stairs, covered by a hazy veil. Tashi caught a glimpse of an endless hallway lined with marble and the silvery-white spirit-metal sesterina. This was one of the famous Doors to Eternity, where magic leaked into the world of men.

  Tashi presented himself boldly, placing his right foot on the bottom stair. He had the symbol of the sheriff sect, three crossed swords, tattooed prominently on his olive-skinned forehead. His black hair was close-cropped and hid no part of the mark. Nor did it hide the scar over his right temple from the wound that would’ve killed him if Jotham the priest hadn’t healed him. Due to years of martial-arts therapy, the injury hadn’t impaired Tashi’s fighting ability, but his memory was incomplete.

  A white, porcelain mask pushed through the veil. Blue flames were visible through the gaping mouth and eyeholes of the mask—this was the fire god Intaglios, current head of the pantheon. The voice of the god was formal and without emotion, as if he were an actor reciting from a script. Every aspect of this encounter resembled a stage production. “You have climbed the Stairs of Supplication and reached the center. What boon do you desire?”

  “The question which must be answered,” he replied.

  The mask nodded. “Once per lifetime per village the question is allowed. This is a dangerous weapon. Only you can have this answer; you may not share it with another mortal soul nor communicate it through writing. With these conditions, do you still desire to ask this for your boon?”

  “I do.”

  “Who shall answer your question?”

  Here Tashi faltered. He wanted to ask about the Traveler, the only god who didn’t have his own kingdom and didn’t feed off the life energies of his people. Forty-nine years ago, the Traveler stopped speaking. He couldn’t, or wouldn’t, reply.

  The sheriff wasn’t sure he could trust any of the other gods. The only Dawn creature who’d been helpful was the disguised one who’d sent him on this quest, the one who’d given him his second fatal wound. A dwarf wizard had saved Tashi that time. “The giant who guarded the Spirit Shrine.”

  The mask didn’t move, but the voice diminished as he deviated from the script. “I need a name.”

  The sheriff squeezed his eyes shut and gripped the tiny model temple on the string around his neck. This enabled him to call forth the wisdom of past abbots, including the name of their guardian spirit, the one fond of tricks. “The archfiend Archanon.”

  Thunder struck the summit again, leaving the plateau in darkness. Only the burning anger of Intaglios lit the scene. “This has never been done. Let the Assembly bear me out.”

  Technically, priests of the other gods would stone someone for even speaking to one of the Fallen. However, that mattered little to Tashi, who was already under a deaththe ence by the Brotherhood of Executioners, the emperor, and the wizards of House Kragen.

  A chorus came from behind the veil. “There is nothing against it in the Law. We would allow this if he can offer good cause.”

  Tashi explained, “Archanon tried to avoid a debt owed to me and the Traveler, but I suspect he hasn’t found the results easy to bear. I’ll release him his debt completely if he answers me fairly.”

  The mask tilted. A bell chimed from the other side. Intaglios vanished, leaving total night in the courtyard. An indeterminate amount of time later, Tashi heard someone being given the bum’s rush. The figure of his deceased friend Babu tumbled down the floating staircase. After dusting off his uniform, the pie-faced mercenary snapped his fingers and said, “Light!” However, divine displeasure dampened his efforts and nothing appeared.

  Turning to Tashi in the dark, the shape-shifted Archanon recited, “I can reveal nothing forbidden by the gods but will answer to the best of my ability. Ask your question, seeker.”

  “Actually, I have three,” said Tashi.

  “What?” bellowed the voice of Intaglios from beyond the Door.

  Archanon smiled. “Agreed. To this, I bear witness; he has died legally two times by the ancient guidelines. Thus, the wording of your offer gives him the right to three.” Whispering, he added, “I know the rules too, you insufferable bastard.”

  Intaglios rumbled. “He would close the Stairs of Supplication for another three generations? We have loyal followers who need our guidance.”

  Tashi wasn’t cowed. “I can stay here indefinitely. If you don’t honor your word, no one will ever use the Stairs again.”

  Sounds of thunder deafened both momentarily, and the mask vanished.

  Archanon waited for a lull and said, “The law’s on his side. Shall we record that Hot Head continues to interfere with due process?”

  Silence.

  The form of Babu grinned and rocked, amused at some private joke. Taking the silence as permission, the fiend clapped his hands. Suddenly, the two were sitting by firelight. “Go ahead. Make them good ones, because we’ve both just made an enemy.”

  Tashi held up a hand. He wasn’t as wise as his teacher, but he knew how to manage his own limitations. “Any official question I ask will begin with the word ‘question’ and its number. No question or comment I speak without that designation is to be taken as official. Since you’ve sworn to answer a question completely and to my understanding, the discussion will be just to clarify. For reasons you’re aware of, I’m a little slow and wish to prevent misunderstanding among those witnessing.”

  Archanon nodded.

  Tashi took a deep breath. He hadn’t planned on asking this but couldn’t help himself. “I need to know how much I can trust you. Question one: Tell me all you can about how you became an archfiend in the service of the Traveler.”

  The form of the mercenary put his finger to
his lips. “Perhaps it would help if you told me what you already know about fiends. This will make my task much easier. There are things that I can’t say, but if you prove you know them already, or can guess them, I can reference them freely.”

  Tashi nodded, staring into the campfire. “From my master’s teachings, I know that this city was one of your largest and best designed. It had religious significance. Of all your people, only a few hundred ascended to become the People of the Dawn, feeding directly off life energy from the sun. Of those, only a few dozen became immortal. Then, seven of those set themselves up as gods by feeding off men. Osos became ruler of all by becoming the first to feed off the other Dawn people. Those who didn’t make the transition to gods were divided into angels and fiends depending on who they supported. We assume archfiends and archangels are used to keep the others in line. People were never supposed to see them, but there are a few obscure references in the mysteries. Men have also been known to run across the odd starving or mad fiend wandering the waste places.”

  Archanon spit into the flames, causing a crackle. “I could fit everything your precious teacher thinks he knows into a thimble and still have room for my finger.”

  Ladling out a bowl of stew, he brought it to the sheriff. Tashi took the offering but didn’t eat because he didn’t want the distraction. “Our cities were all well-designed. Most never grew above a few thousand. For reasons of optimum employment, power efficiency, and ecology we never got too big. This high place was an exception, drawing an extreme concentration of people because of its ideological value. It was a place of pilgrimage and ultimately a rallying point for the persecuted.”

  “You were born into some sort of minority?”

  “Not born; I chose. This city was a shelter for our ‘minority’. It became a showcase, a cultural icon, and eventually a killing box. Less than one percent of our race survived the war. After that disaster, we made a set of absolute rules to prevent anything like that from happening again. Everyone who wanted to remain part of our society had to swear. Oaths are quite binding to our kind. Those refusing the oath had certain behavioral conditioning branded into them by the rest of us. It drove some to the madness you mentioned, yet this was necessary for civilization.”