Of Men Made Gods Read online

Chapter Five

  A Duel

  LIGHT CAME STREAMING through the high windows of the Hall of Gathering. Its golden touch made tier upon tier of marble seats gleam in dazzling brilliance, warming the stone seats which were made by long dead people who wished to remind their descendants that a place of power should always be thought of as a burden. Yet, in brazen negligence of that reminder most of the hall members had grown the habit of making their slaves carry cushions to pad their privileged piece of marble.

  Sitting on his own padded seat, Avon watched as people around him took their places. He watched with satisfaction the fruits of the efforts he had made after meeting with Elizo last night. The hall was full, and some of his friends were the ones who had made sure it was so. He was taking no chances today. He had called in all his favors, some even he barely remembered himself, to make sure almost all the usually absent Hall members came.

  This morning the place was not filled with the usual murmur of light hearted conversations, instead it was the little groups of tense and hushed conversations that reverberated off the stone walls to reach distant parts of the hall as incomprehensible echoes.

  He knew what they were talking about. The news of the late Eaelom's passing had reached the whole city like a water drop in a dry land, and was greedily received by its inhabitants as swiftly as that water drop would disappear into the thirsty earth.

  Most people in Tricuta received the death as normal news of an old man dying, which let them forget for the time being the usual updates of the frightening war that seemed to get closer by the day. And a few despairing souls saw it as only another disaster that marked the beginning of the end, for they had thought only the legendary man could have led them down the right path to flee the darkness that would soon engulf everything they held dear. But all were in agreement that it was odd to have the gathering in a day which should have been used for mourning alone.

  Snippets of conversation reached his ear, as those around him carelessly commented on the rumored appearance of his old friend today. An action they unthinkingly, and loudly, viewed as callous. Yet, instead of getting angry at their badmouthing Elizo, Avon only felt a burning guilt ride through him as he sat silently.

  Although he hadn't been the one to call the meeting today, he felt like he was doing something wrong. Wanting to ease his stifling conscious, he said, "Should I've gone to his house first before coming here?"

  "Yes," came the prompt reply from beside him. "No," followed a second later as his wife seemed to debate with herself, "I don't know."

  "Thanks," said Avon, a smile sneaking up his face, "at least now I know I'm not alone in my confusion."

  "Oh, but you are," said Caenphis, watching the people in the hall as she spoke seriously. "I don't need to know what to do since I'm not his friend."

  "Hmm," he said, sounding an acknowledgment of the sad fact.

  "In any case, does it really matter now?" she asked, turning to him for a moment. "I remember your father used to say 'Walking backwards does no one good'."

  Hearing the saying, which his father had told him was another of the wisdoms their people had picked up while searching for a new home, made Avon's smile get softened with a hint of sadness. Trying to not to think of his long gone father and his recently deceased friend, he went over his plans for the day.

  By the time he returned from his sudden plunge into his own schemes, all in the hall had quieted down as the golden doors before them opened. Leaving his seat like everyone else, he watched as an old woman stepped into the hall to take the place of the old Master of the Hall. He recognized her immediately.

  Rhisy Merana, one of the most distinguished people alive in Tricuta. She had been a close friend to the late Eaelom, there were even rumors of a much closer relationship between the two. But it was not as a friend or as a lover that she now took the most prestigious seat in the land, rather it was as Mistress of the Temple, a title second only to the one she was donning now. Until a new Master or Mistress of the Hall was elected, she would hold the seat of her dead friend.

  After the ritual openings of the gathering were finished, a man moved to the middle of the hall to call out the name of the first speaker.

  While looking at him unroll the scroll he held, Avon felt a reassuring touch as a familiar hand was placed on his tightly gripped ones. Turning to look at his wife who knew that he had scheduled to speak first today, he tried to push back the unease he felt. Yet, it was not his usual bout of nervousness that tightened his heart now. So, he was still more than a bit nervous when the man in the middle of the hall began calling out the ritual words which he knew would end with his name.

  "Let the Stars shine wisdom on your thoughts as you now open your hearts to Druid Eaelom!"

  There was stunned silence as the golden doors opened again and out came Elizo. He looked unfazed in his white robes as the weight of hundreds of eyes fell on him mercilessly.

  "Wha..?"

  It was only after a moment that Avon realized the small sound had escaped his own lips. But before he could say anything more, the white robed man began speaking.

  "I've heard rumors of my works have been circulating in the city since yesterday," said Elizo, looking at the men and women gathered in front of him. "Rumors I'm now here to tell you are completely true."

  As Hall members all around started to buzz with excitement at hearing a man who had broken the law admit his actions so openly, Avon sat confused. 'What in the darkness are you doing?' he thought silently, watching his old friend closely as he waited for the trap that he was sure to come next.

  After letting the murmur go on for a small time, Elizo gestured for silence. And, eager to hear more from the self-incriminating man, the people in the hall swiftly gave it to him. "I've broken the law for I see it as the only way for us to survive," he began, his softly spoken words slowly wrapping around his audience. "Power is the only thing that has kept our civilization safe throughout our history. It is the only thing that has kept our enemies from ever coming against us. Yet now we stand on the brink of destruction, and the only power that would keep us from it is forbidden us by our own laws; laws that were made by our ancestors in time of safety.

  "Our legends tell us they exist to keep us from evil. They tell us of the atrocities that were the result of ancient ones who had tried to use the magic arts that are now forbidden. They tell us of the horrifying follies of the magicians who had dared to control magic that was beyond their meager powers. But I say we are stronger than our forbearers. I say we can learn from their mistakes if we have the time to study the evil our ignorant tales speak of. We only have to choose if we see this as the moment of our obliteration or as the dawn of a new age for our civilization."

  He stood silently for a moment, his face showing he was not done speaking as he collected his thoughts. "I know you do not believe what I say," he said, finally continuing, "I know mere words cannot show you the possibilities I see so clearly. That is why I'm here today. I'm here to buy the time for our future with my life if necessary."

  Avon sat stunned as he heard the last part of his childhood friend's speech. He knew what the man was going to say next, but he couldn't believe it. A distant part of him connected all the odd things he had noticed last night, and made sense of them now in a blinding speed as the rest of him tried to take in what he was hearing.

  "If there is anyone who does not accept my actions," began Elizo, moving on with a steady voice as he said a variation of the words of an ancient rite, "speak now and accept my right to challenge you or forever hold your tongue."

  As the crowd erupted in a dull roar of excited conversation, Avon felt a small fire of fury start to burn inside himself. Everyone in the hall knew this kind of challenge was only practiced nowadays by hot-blooded young initiates. 'Does he think this a joke?' he thought silently, feeling his anger grow as he whipped himself into self-righteous indignation.

  The last time a challenge had been called between two Druids being almost fifty y
ears ago, the Hall members were in equal parts puzzled and trilled that the old rite was being voiced right in front of them. In the sudden pause, the story of that last duel was recounted to those around them by some of the oldest Druids who still remembered it. But even in their vague recollections, the aged men and women spoke only of a clash of forces that had ended with a surrender and not the ancient tales' bloodletting that Elizo was boastfully claiming he was willing to go to.

  When the initial fury that had engulfed his mind had subsided enough, the first thing Avon felt was a grudging admiration for his old friend who had audaciously placed the answer to the single most important issue of their whole land in a simple combat's result. 'I can't believe I'm doing this,' he thought, starting to get up from his seat while the last of his anger was replaced with a reckless excitement. But before he could fully get up from his seat, a hand halted him.

  "Avon...," said Caenphis in a loud whisper while apprehension clouded her face.

  "It's alright," said Avon, unable to stop it as his lips were pushed apart by an uncontrollable grin. Yet seeing the still lingering concern on his wife's face, he tried again to ease her mind as he said, "Nothing is going to happen. I'll make him yield in a breath or two, so don't worry."

  Caenphis simply looked at him instead of answering.

  "Anyone who remembers us as young men knows my power is greater than his by far."

  With none of the apprehension that shone from her face having diminished, his wife said, "That is what worries me."

  Not knowing what to say, and hating that the uneasiness was starting to infect him too, Avon simply smiled what he hoped was a reassuring smile before he stood up.

  Silence moved like a wave from him in a circle, as first those who were near and then those who were far turned their attention to him. Waiting only until the people had quieted down enough for his voice to be heard, he spoke the words that signified one's acceptance of the ancient rite. "I speak!"

  Elizo, who had been about to turn away, only nodded in reply while his face showed nothing of what he truly felt.

  Despite his best efforts, Avon was still feeling the slightest of worries as he moved toward the open floor of the hall. Thoughts like 'Why would Elizo call for a challenge if he knows I'll defeat him?' and 'Is there something I'm missing?' whizzing through his mind unexpectedly, he walked away from the woman who had sparked them in him. But as soon as he reached the floor, all he could think about was the coming duel.

  Nine Druids circled the floor, laying down the spells of the shield that would protect everyone from the stray magic of the coming combat. Soon after Avon had passed between two of those Druids, Elizo joined him in the space where they would be holding their duel. It wasn't much later that the shield was completely up. The two men inside it felt the dwarfing power of the combined nine high magicians as soon as the last of their spells took shape. The thing was fully transparent, only momentarily shining in a pearly light just before it fully formed to become invisible.

  A second later, the Mistress of the Temple stood up from her chair and approached the edge of the shield. "May the light of the Stars fall upon the victor and thus show the true path for us all!" she called out in a raised voice, before turning back to her seat.

  Once the temporary Mistress of the Hall sat down, the man who had opened the gathering brought drown his ceremonial staff on the hard marble floor, signaling the start of the duel.

  As soon as they heard the harsh sound of staff meeting stone, both Elizo and Avon spoke the traditional spell that opened a magical combat. The magic was a simple thing that insured both participants started at the same time, so all it did was make the men glow in a white light that seemed to come right out of their very own flesh.

  Finished with the light spell, the first thing Avon turned his mind to was getting up his shields. In blinding speed, the words flew off of his tongue and the air around him crackled as the invisible barriers took shape. And even as most of his mind was occupied in creating the last of his shields, a part of him was feeling completely free and happy for the first time in days. The sheer power that was coursing through his veins and the knowledge of the danger he was in, however small and unlikely it was, filled him with an almost forgotten boyish giddiness.

  When he was done with his barriers, most of Elizo's shields weren't all up yet so it was with only a stunning spell that Avon lashed out. But right before the spell connected, his opponent moved; dogging defeat by a hair's breadth. The sudden movement from a man of such size should have been funny to all watching if not for the deadliness of the circumstances and the amazing control of the action that hinted at ease rather than clumsiness.

  His second attack was more dangerous and time consuming, but Elizo used the brief reprieve only to finish his shields. Though, when Avon loosed it in a gush of red that lit up his own features for a moment, the man escaped again.

  The shield surrounding them shimmered into visibility for a moment as the stray spell hit it, making only a thrumming sound that reverberated with its spectacular strength.

  'It's as if he knows what I'm going to do,' the thought wandered into his mind unexpectedly, and he quickly let it wander out, not even taking a moment to dwell in its impossibility.

  But before he had formed his next offensive spell, the attack came.

  At first Avon could only feel a spell had been loosed though he couldn't see what it did. Then he watched, uncomprehending, as Elizo extended his unremarkable hand in front of him before pulling it back in a clenched fist with a smooth, controlled speed.

  The brutally elegant magic took his breath away for a stunned moment. He could distantly hear the crowd in the hall as they reassured each other what they had just seen had truly happened. His mind still in a dazed state, Avon let his senses confirm what he already knew. No magician had ever been able to craft a spell that had no physical connection with his own body, yet it had happened now.

  The power of the spell was even laughably minuscule compared to his defensive one it had shredded through. His primary shield was completely destroyed by the magic that had come from behind it, from his own side.

  Annoyance, tinted with a bit of admiration for the Druid before him as well as joy for getting the chance to learn a new thing, clouding his mind, Avon noted the unusual spell for further study later before starting to weave his next attack. Learning from his previous mistake, this time he crafted five different spells at the same time. Eyes aglow with magic, he unleashed his power and felt satisfaction ooze into his concentration as all his spells connected on his opponent's shields; a result that made him get his own gasp of surprise from the magicians around them as they saw his terrifying strength.

  The shields were only capable of giving a few moments of cover in the monstrous onslaught, but, oddly enough, Elizo seemed to not be trying to strengthen them up. The man's hand moved before him frantically as he crafted a spell none in the hall had ever seen before.

  Too late, the feeling that something was wrong rang in Avon's brain as his opponent's shield began to crumble one by one with more ease than even his immense power could account for. Just when the last shield fell, his suspicions were proven right as a violet light shot through all his spells and came right for him.

  Blasted off his feet by the incredible force, Avon felt himself slam into the shield formed by the nine Druids. Forgetting even to panic, he numbly felt as his instinct directed his power to his own shields to launch him back from the magic consuming barrier.

  'Did he just use my own power?' he thought distantly, trying to recover from the knowledge that if he had been only slightly slower his shields would have dissolved and he would have made a possibly fatal contact with the barrier behind him.

  'It doesn't matter now,' a part of him whispered, asserting control before the panic he had avoided up to now engulfed him. Though, even in that whisper, he couldn't help but feel the slight inklings of fear for the first time since the duel started, as he realized the possibility
of defeat was treacherously close to becoming a certainty.

  'It's time to end this.'

  Letting go of every one of his inhibitions, Avon pulled almost all of his mighty power and started to craft a spell he had made only once in his entire life. Absently, he watched as the man in front of him began another of his alien magic, his mind entirely lost in his own work. When he was finally done, he had to leash his spell in case he truly hurt his opponent. Still, when his attack came, it held power most of the magicians around him had never seen in their entire life.

  Both his hands were lost in the white light that streamed out of them, a blinding light not unlike the glare of a noon day sun's center. The air before him became visible in the sudden haze that surrounded him. The shield around the two Druids shivered as the nine magicians strained to hold it in place. Yet when the concentrated beam leapt from his hand, Elizo hadn't even brought up a shield to meet it.

  Faced with the decimating force coming for him, the man's only response was to put his right hand before him, palm out in a ridiculously ineffective looking halting gesture. But when the white beam met that open palm the unthinkable happened. It simply stopped, the power simply disappearing as it met the hand which erupted with golden runes upon contact with the monstrous light.

  Gaping at what had just happened, Avon silently watched while Elizo closed his other hand on the beam of radiance. As the golden runes bloomed on the second hand too, the man in front of him began to drag the line of power as if it was a physical thing.

  A mad voice jabbering inside his mind that no one could touch magic, he tried to accept what his eyes were telling him was truly happening. A moment later, sanity returned and Avon tried to think of a way to fight off the unknown spell. His first thought was to let go of his own one, though he could not do it in all the ways he knew how to. Unable to find anything else to do, he simply let go of the leash on his own spell and began channeling almost all his power down the beam of light that still flooded out of his hands. But the immense power only made the man before him stagger a little.

  In retaliation for the sudden blast, Elizo firmed his grip on the magic between his hands before giving it a sharp tug towards himself. Though the Druid hadn't seemed to put that much force in his sudden motion, Avon's response was spectacular.

  Lifted off the floor as if his considerable mass was forgotten for the moment, he was swept towards his opponent swiftly before landing a few feet before him. He was still trying to stave off the panic that threatened to overwhelm him when he began to be dragged forward and he lost his footing. The urgency of the moment helping him to clear his head, he tried to study the spell that trapped his own power as he scrambled to his knees.

  From an early age, Avon had always found magic to be easy to understand. He had always been able to ferret out the workings of most spells with remarkable ease. One of his instructors had even told him he had that rarest of talents which most magicians only dreamed of, the ability to feel magic itself. So, it was a bit surprising for him to find that the spell he was trying to understand was completely foreign to him.

  Yet he continued his work without losing hope. As ever, the thought of defeat seemed unbearable to him more than anything else.

  He was almost right before Elizo when he discovered his first breakthrough. Vaguely hearing as the man he was kneeling in front of began to speak a new spell, he worked like he had never worked in his life before. 'I'm not going to be defeated like this,' he whispered to himself in his mind, as he dissected the unknown spell.

  Yet, another idea sprang up in his mind just after his self-encouraging thought had come to him. Voicing that idea, a part of him silently asked, 'Why isn't he calling for me to yield?'

  But even that thought was swiftly swept aside as he finally figured out the magic that kept his power imprisoned. Not wasting any moment on satisfaction, he continued his work as he tried to find a way to defeat the spell. This time though, the problem was easy to solve and he was beginning to direct all the power he had left into his counter spell when his head was suddenly jerked upward by an invisible force.

  Looking at Elizo's face now, Avon started to utter the spell he had created moments ago. But before even half of the first word had left his mouth, a blurry motion passed right before his face interrupting him.

  Confused, he watched as the man before him, his one-time friend, brandished a knife made completely out of magic right before his own face which seemed to hold a sadness that Avon couldn't understand.

  A breath later, his dazed mind realized there was a sharp stinging sensation coming from his neck. It was at this moment that he finally noticed the dark red liquid crawling down the impossible blade before him. Just like that, he felt his own spell crumbling as Elizo's hold on it finally disappeared and all his own strength seemed to seep out of him.

  His mind absently noting that he was now lying face down on the cold marble floor, he faintly heard a woman scream. And even as he was on the brink of unconsciousness, he knew that sound of anguish came from Caenphis alone.

  He felt a detached regret that he couldn't answer her cries as he knew none would. Just before falling down, he had seen some of the faces of the Hall members. He had seen anger, fear, shock, and more emotions playing on the different planes. But fighting with those expressions he had seen only one thing in each and every one of them. Written on each of those pieces of flesh, he had seen the doom of them all; greed.

  Not caring much as he sensed consciousness slip away from his grip, Avon, the last descendant of Lucifio Lamourn, blessed savior of the Danu, exhaled his final breath while he watched his life fluid creep towards his one open eye and felt the stone floor warming up with the heat of his own blood.

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