This is the short story that started me on the path that I’m right now. Some of these characters will show up in the novel exactly as written, but more than likely they won’t. This particular take on the story just didn’t work for me in the form of a longer novel, so I started all over. But the short story’s still good!
At about noon a man and a boy walked into the small dusty town. The sun assaulted their faces and the sand broke against their black cassocks like water against a sheer cliff. The boy was carrying a backpack and a waterskin, with a sword strapped to his side. He was sweating profusely. His lean and short frame didn’t help him deal with the heat, and his short black hair was of no help. He was possibly seventeen years old, but his blue eyes had the look of someone advanced in years, a depth that offset his youth. He was far too old for his age. This wasn’t the case of the man next to him, who showed no signs of age at all, except for his long white hair and beard. He had no food, water, or sword. Not a bit of him showed signs of perspiration. He walked on, welcoming and overcoming the heat all at once. He was a mountain, unshakable.
Very few people were outside that day, and they were all old, resting from the heat under porches and on steps, smoking on pipes at least as old as the people who smoked them, which could have been ages. But on seeing the man every person rose and bowed to the white haired visage. The man tilted his head in return, but didn’t return the bows. The wind blew, kicking up dry dust and forcing it to dance wildly. The man stopped, dead in his tracks, and swayed with the wildly flaying wind. As the boy watched the man smiled and took several deep breaths. The man gestured to the boy, who approached. “Augustine, could you please find us a place to stay for the night? Only get one bed. I trust you still have our money”, the man said smoothly.
Augustine bowed. “As you wish, Master, but it doesn’t look like there’s anymore than one inn. The town isn’t that large, and the sand is blocking my view.”
The man nodded his head in assent. “You’re right, it’s the only inn in this town. Please take care of it. But remember! Only one room. I’ll wait out here, I’m enjoying the wind.”
Augustine bowed again, and walked across the street into an old two-story house, which had a sign on it. The sign read “One Last Round”, depicting a mug of frothing ale on it, worn from age and sand damage. It was even hotter in the inn because of the visitors, who were apparently having a good old time. They clamored and sang to old bar tunes whose lyrics really shouldn’t have reached Augustine’s ears, who bristled at the genuine crudeness in them. The bar was directly across from the door. An unshaven slob of a grouch dwelt behind it. “What c’n I get ferya, young’n?” He weezed, the smell of beer stronger than his body odor, but not by much.
Augustine tried not to show his revulsion for this place as he swallowed something bitter back down. “If you please, sir, my master Telos-”
That’s as far as he got. The grouch interrupted. “Telos? Telos?? Could it be? Tell me yer weren’t kiddin’!”
Augustine stared, slackjawed. How did this unwashed thing know Telos? “Y-you know him?”
The big grouch jumped (or shuffled, rather) over the bar. “Know him? He saved the whole damn town ten years ago, young’n! Know him? The town’s named fer him, along with all the little tykes ever since! Where is he?” The man’s eyes had widened from his normal slits to what most people’s eyes are normally sized. He had a huge grin on his face.
“He’s right outsi-” Augustine was bowled over by the inhabitants of the bar, all not-so-vaguely smelling of beer. The mass of human flesh rushed out of the bar and surrounded Telos, like water surrounding a rock at high tide. They sang in hoarse and tuneless voices:
Our Saviour has come once again
Every year like he promised
He’ll stay forever in Ten!
Telos grinned, hair shining in the bright noon day sun. The wind had subsided. “That’s right, this is the year! The end of our seperation! How can I possibly stay away any longer?”
Augustine’s jaw dropped, shocked and unable to keep composure any longer. “We’re staying here? But-but what about my training?” Telos banished the thought with a casual wave.
“Don’t worry about your training. You won’t be staying. I’ll stay here, if you can call it that.” Telos winked at Augustine. “Don’t worry, you’re going to be just fine.”
Augustine stared for a moment, turned, walked back into the dirty thing known as a bar, and slumped at a seat. He motioned a young blonde girl in a serving apron towards him. “One round, if you please”. Telos watched, shrugged, and continued to laugh with the oblivious crowd, who were around as ants swarm on their queen. When he came in with the crowd he looked at Augustine, (who ignored him) shrugged, and then went to the far end of the bar with some of the men. They had pool cues. Augustine kept drinking.
The young blonde approached him. “Everything all right, sir?”, she asked anxiously. She may have been twelve, possibly thirteen.
Augustine rolled his eyes at the question, and smiled bitterly. “If you can call being told by your mentor whom you gave up a good life to follow that you’re no longer in his service then alright, yes! Everything’s perfect. As a matter of fact it’s so perfect I’d like another round to celebrate.” He sighed, and then leaned back in his chair.
The young blonde moved closer, and put her grimy hand on his shoulder. “Where were you before?” She sat down at a seat adjacent to him, her eyes all ears.
Augustine sniffed, and wiped his eyes and nose with the back of his hand. “I was living as a comfortable life as a mage’s apprentice, set to become one of the finest magi in the north.” Augustine’s voice rose, quivering with emotion. “I didn’t have to choose this!”
“Why did you do it, then? Why go with Telos?” the girl asked.
Augustine looked at her for a moment, and leaned forward, lost in thought. He spoke after a minute. “He saved my sister from a shade.”
The girl gasped. “He did what??? I didn’t know Telos was that powerful! How blessed your sister must be for having Telos save her!” she got a dreamy look on her face as she said the words.
Augustine smiled weakly. “Monica’s all right now, but before she was disposessed she killed my… our…parents.” The blond immediately snapped out of her twelve year old fantasy in horror. Augustine grimaced. “Yeah, she’s currently in an asylum. There was nothing more I could for her. Telos had saved her, and I knew someone that powerful was worth following. His way seemed a lot better than the way I was going, so I asked him to take me as his apprentice.”
“You asked him?” the girl shrieked. “No one asks a paladin for apprenticeship! He chooses.”
“That’s what he told me too, as well as other things.” Augustine said triumphantly. “He told me I was too young, too forthright, and had too much anger for seeking the type of life that he led. He told me what I’d have to give up. It wasn’t pretty.”
“I’d think so, it’s a pretty hard life”the girl admitted. “That’s why so few people choose it and such. And you were a mage already. Those people live like kings!”
“Oh yes they do. To be a paladin I’d have to forfeit my inheritance to the next in line, give up my title, land, freedom. Sex even.” Augustine laughed. “The last thing was a little harder to give up than the others, I’ll have to admit.”
The girl sighed, rolling her eyes. “You fellas are all the same. You’re-what’s the word?”
“Enamored?” Augustine asked, grinning.
“No, obsessed!” she shouted back, laughing as the happiness shot into her jade eyes. “You treat sex like it’s the best thing to ever happen to anyone, which is silly.” She giggled as Augustine opened his mouth to reply.
And then the sun went behind a cloud, the door slammed open, and the world stopped.
A hooded figure, hunched from what might be old age, shuffled in, moaning and whining faintly as naturally as someone breathes. The leathery skin on his hands was as gray as a corpse. His face was unknown because the hood on his head completely covered his face. Patiently walking behind the hunchback was a tall blond man. He was dressed in a brilliant red satin suit, which had a curious blue highlight in the sun that streamed through the door. His blue eyes, clouded over in an unnatural way, flitted around the room, and came to rest on the girl seated next to Augustine. He smiled, and his eyes grew cloudier. The girl’s response was to grow pale. “What’s your name, sweety pie?” he asked, his eyes going completely white as his grin widened.
“Chloe”, she whispered, growing even paler.
“Let her be, Mikel”, said another man who had strode confidently into the bar. He was at least six and a half feet tall, solidly built. He was dressed in black fullplate, and showed no signs of sweating from the incredible heat. Four gems were inscribed into the chest of his fullplate. He winked at Chloe, and pulled out a money bag. “Miss Chloe, could you please give us two glasses of wine and an ale for our stooped friend? He doesn’t like wine, it vexes him.”
Without a word Chloe turned her back and whispered to the bartender, who was just coming back downstairs after going up with Telos to look at some of the new furniture he’d bought. He listened to Chloe’s request, poured the drinks, and slid them down to the three figures, who were seated at the bar by now. Augustine couldn’t help himself. He glared at Mikel, who suddenly stared back. He grinned openly at Augustine, eyes clouding again. “And what’s your name, handsome?” Augustine quickly looked away.
That’s when the hunched figure screamed, jumped the bar, and landed on the fat barkeeper. He threw back his hood, revealing grayed skin with pupil-less yellow eyes. He bit into the barkeeper’s face, and had at it. Augustine jumped out of his chair, sword drawn, but found that he was unable to move any further. Mikel’s palm was oustretched, forcing Augustine still. “Don’t you love magic?” Mikel asked, his white eyes adding to the mocking grin. “C’mere, handsome.” Mikel reversed his hand and flicked his fingers towards himself. Augustine’s feet swiftly rose off the ground as he flew toward Mikel. With a jerk Augustine stopped flying and hung middair. The man in black mail was standing, arm raised. Mikel frowned. “Tartarus, why are you trying to ruin my fun? I wasn’t going to hurt him at all. I was just going to have fun with him, and then with that lovely girl Chloe.”
“And then the dog outside?” Tartarus asked sarcastically. Mikel replied with a grin. “You disgust me”, Tartarus said with a smile.
“Only because you like what I do.” Mikel replied. “So why did you try and stop me?”
“Just trying to remind who’s in charge here, and it’s not you. This attack, though amusing, has been entirely unwarranted.” Tartarus looked over the bar, chuckled, and maneuvered Augustine into position to look at the scene behind the bar. “Take a look at Malo’s handiwork, boy.”
Augustine threw up. Malo had completely chewed through the barkeeper’s face, leaving only teeth marks and bone. He was starting on the stomach when Augustine threw up. He looked up at Augustine and tried to scream, but it came out as a croak. “It’s mine! It’s mine! All mine! There isn’t enough here, especially for you!”
Tartarus laughed even harder than before, dropping Augustine at his feet. Augustine tried to get up, but found that he couldn’t, Tartarus was still holding him down. Tartarus smiled at him. “You know me, don’t you boy? Almost everyone does.”
“You’re Tartarus, one of the bigger bastards to inhabit our earth.” Augustine replied coldly.
Tartarus clicked his tongue in disapproval.”My my, such language from a paladin’s apprentice! Speaking of which, where is your master?”
“I’d rather die than tell you!” Augustine snarled.
Tartarus’s eyes shone. “Oh, death I can definitely assure you of. But if you don’t cooperate with me we’ll make sure your death will be much slower, longer, and more pleasant for Mikel, Malo, and I. Oh the despair! It’ll be glorious! Now, where’s your master?”
“Right here.” Tartarus whirled around to look down on Telos, who was standing in the doorway. Telos had a calm expression on his face. “What are you doing here? You have no right to be attacking these people. You’re here for me, let’s keep it that way.”
Tartarus laughed heartily. “My old friend, my pupil”, putting a hand on Telos’ shoulder (which was calmly pushed off), “We were looking for you, and we found you too! Right at the spot! So many old injuries that must be…amended.”
“I have no personal offence to discuss with you.” Telos said. “Now will you please leave everyone else alone?”
“Nothing against us?” Mikel laughed sarcastically. “We made sport of your last apprentice, Rylo. He was such a handsome young man, and then our friend Eros castrated him.” Telos stiffened at that name. “Oh yes, Eros is still around, draining blood as always. Oh, and did Malo eat Rylo? Oh, that’s right…”Mikel grinned, “he did. How could you forgive him? I know I didn’t.”
Telos stiffened, and then his muscles relaxed. “If I come with you right now, will you leave these people alone? It’s our argument, not theirs.”
Malo’s bloody face popped over the bar. “None for YOOUU!” Malo flew into the wall behind him, cracking it with the strength at which he flew. Telos hadn’t moved.
The barkeeper started and stood up, face and stomach intact, breathing heavily. “What in the blue he-”
“Hell had nothing to do with it, Boris.” Telos said, a slight smile on his lips.
Tartarus’ eyes darkened. “Always had to be the goody two shoes.” Telos shrugged, grinning.
With a cry Augustine jumped up and smashed the nearest chair into Tartarus’ head. “You’ll never take him! I-” lightning lanced from Tartarus’ index finger, slamming Augustine through the wall behind him. The smell of ozone and burnt flesh quickly pervaded.
The next few seconds were a blur. Mikel couldn’t budge. Malo still hung against the wall. And Tartarus found himself on his knees, staring down the blade of a hotly glowing longsword. Telos’ face was twisted into a horrible scowl. “Leave. Them. Alone.” he commanded. And with that the sword vanished. Mikel finally moved away from Telos, eyes finally locked on someone for more than two seconds. Malo slid down the wall and dropped to the ground, a trail of blood following him. All three blackguards glared at Telos, who walked out the door of the inn. All three got up and followed him.
Augustine came to. He had no idea how long he’d been out, but he wasn’t injured. He didn’t have a headache from being shot through a wall with a bolt of lightning. Then he noticed that Telos was gone, as were the blackguards. Panic gripped him. He was outside the bar, among the wooden rubble. He looked out to the edge of town, and way out in the desert he saw four figures, two of them in black.
As he started a hand appeared on his shoulder. It was Chloe, eyes red from crying. “You’re-you’re going after them, are you? What can you do?”
Augustine started walking. “My life means nothing without him, so I may as well die too. He saved my sister and he saved me. I owe him more than I can possibly repay.” With that he broke into a dead run. He couldn’t think of anything else. He’d find Telos, and they’d leave this ugly place, and he’d keep training, and everything would fine, and he didn’t leave the Order of the Magi for nothing, and-
The silent explosion knocked him over. It may as well have stopped his heart.
The place where the found had been was untouched by the explosion. There was no residual heat, no sign that anything that occurred. All traces of the four men were gone, vanished like a puff of smoke in the wind. Augustine couldn’t think clearly. His reason for living could not be dead. No! A bright light materialized behind him, and Augustine turned around, only to be blinded instantly. It was like looking to the sun. Out of the impossible brightness came a voice that was familiar…and yet not so familiar… “Thank you, Augustine. I’m so sorry that the road ahead will be difficult, it’s my fault. Please forgive me. If you stick with it, you’ll be alright.”
The light vanished. Darkness came upon Augustine. What had just happened? He felt woozy, dehydrated to the point of unconciousness. At least the earth is soft. He thought as he fell to the ground, and darkness completely took him.
