"About a hundred miles from here the mountains of the Kraag Range begin," Gerald started to explain as he talked briskly along the simple road which ran through the heart of the village, "Those mountains are criss-crossed with the tunnels of an ancient gnome kingdom. Yes; once the gnomes were a forced to be reckoned with but that was before they fragmented into petty tribes and arguments. The gnomes then – as they are today – were masters of magic. It is rumoured that deep in the darkest heart of the Kraag Range there is a library of magical scrolls larger than any in the entire world."
"Greater even than the library in the College of Light Shadow?" asked Aaralon as the two mages turned the corner to take the path out of the village.
"Don’t be silly boy!" snapped Gerald, "There’s no such place. The College of Light Shadows is nothing more than a myth. If you want to be a real mage you should put such folly out of your mind now. I don’t want to hear such nonsense again. Understood?"
"Understood," said Aaralon while managing not to smirk.
"We’re not going to the Kraag for the library anyway," continued Gerald. "Well. Not directly. This is not some magical looting expedition. We’re going to close a portal – or better still, stop it from opening in the first place.
You see; the Queen’s Seers have each had dire prophecies. Each one of the three virgins have dreamt that the decaying and untended scrolls leak their magic dangerously, that this magic is merging and forming together and that before the next new moon the result will be a shadow portal.
"Shadow portals are real. They’re a connection between this realm and the upper demonic realms. We can’t risk such a portal opening up. If one did open then the Kraag Range could become invested by demons."
Was this a coincidence? Aaralon mulled over the chances. Was this why Sareth had sent him here? He had to deal with a shadow portal and perhaps with demons. It was true he knew demonology, summoning, binding and dispelling – but he had barely practised the basics before being expelled from the College.
"HEY! Wait!" someone interrupted Aaralon’s thoughts with their shouts. Frowning Gerald turned to see who was rushing out of the village after them.
It was Pel.
|