The Gods Returned -- Chapter Two

Aylander was beside himself with amusement when Thaddeus returned to their camp.  He gave no outward sign of it, of course – doing so, for him, would have taken a large part of the fun out of it – but, due to the bond he, Thaddeus, and Zoe shared, Thaddeus could read it effortlessly.  Which, when Aylander sensed Thaddeus’s irritation at his brother’s jocular mood, and then immediately gave off a stab of irritation of his own, was why Thaddeus couldn’t help but grin at him.  The death glare – and subsequent turning of the back – that Aylander met the grin with made Thaddeus chuckle.
    “You should go easier on your brother, you know,” Zoe said.
    Thaddeus looked at her and raised an eyebrow.  “And why is that?” he asked.
    Zoe folded her arms across her chest, meeting Thaddeus’s raised eyebrow with one of her own.  “Don’t you already know?  We’re supposed to be the ‘Three Who Are One,’ aren’t we?”
    Thaddeus felt a slight flush creep into his cheeks.  “That was too much, wasn’t it?” he asked.
    “Maybe a little.”  Zoe grinned.  “At least Garrold didn’t soil himself.”
    “I’m surprised he hasn’t tried prostrating himself before us, yet,” Aylander said, turning back toward the conversation. 
    “I think he knows better,” Thaddeus said.  “I hope so, anyway.”
    “And what if he doesn’t?  What if he makes the mistake of treating you like an actual god?”
    Thaddeus frowned.  “I am an actual god.”
    “Are you?  Are any of us?  Yes, I did think I was a god, and I certainly feel much more powerful than I ever have, before, but I can still die.  Gods are supposed to be immortal, Thaddeus.  We aren’t.  No, whatever it was that came down and helped Zoe and I restore you?  That’s the real god, and the sooner we come to terms with that, the better.”
    “Aylander may be right,” Zoe said.
    Thaddeus looked at her.  “What do you mean?  Surely you can see the implications of what’s happened to the three of us are.  We are supposed to head up a new Divine Council.”  He turned back to Aylander.  “And as for us not being immortal?  The last Divine Council wasn’t immortal, either.”
    “Do you think they knew that?” Aylander asked.  “The same way that we do?”
    Thaddeus almost told him that of course they knew, but then stopped himself.  What if they hadn’t known?  At the end, of course, when the Demon Lords had been slaughtering them, they’d known, but what if, before that, they hadn’t?  What if they’d been so sure of their immortality that they’d allowed it to make them complacent?  What if that certainty was what the Demon Lords had exploited in order to all but wipe them out?  “I don’t know,” Thaddeus admitted, at last.
    “No, you don’t.”
    “So, what should we do about it?” Zoe asked, looking at Aylander.
    Aylander looked back at her.  “I wish I knew.  I do know, however, that we are not gods.”
    “Maybe not,” Thaddeus said.  He gestured off to the left, toward Garrold’s camp.  “To them, though, we are.  And, somehow, I think that gives them hope.  We shouldn’t take that away from them.”
    Aylander raised his eyebrows.  “I never said we should.  I just think that, for the time being, we need to be careful about what we assume about ourselves.”  He paused, his look becoming more pointed.  “And about what weaknesses we decide to show to others.”
    “What are you suggesting?  Do you mean I should allow Garrold to address me like I’m superior to him?  I’m – we’re – supposed to be helping him, not treating him like someone who is subject to our will.”
    “Gods are supposed to help mortals,” Zoe put in.  “That’s why people pray.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that the people praying believe that they are subject to their god’s will.  It merely means that they recognize their god can do more than they can.  Which, given the abilities the three of us now have, certainly applies to us.”
    Thaddeus regarded the other two in silence for a moment.  Then he smiled and shook his head.  “Listen to you two,” he said.  “It’s only been two days since whatever happened to us, and you’re already taking things better than I am.”
    “Well,” Zoe said with a smirk, “I was a Cleric.”  She nodded at Aylander.  “And he was a Sword Priest, once upon a time.  I think that gives us a more philosophical viewpoint on some things.”
    Thaddeus smirked back.  “Aren’t philosophers supposed to be mad, though?”
    “Indeed,” Aylander said.  His eyes glowed green, and his voice became the same unified voice Thaddeus had used on Garrold.  “But we’re in good company.”
    That made all three of them laugh.
    They resumed packing up their camp.  They all knew they needed to get moving – Thaddeus most of all – but none of them had any idea where to go.  After Hel had taken what she wanted from Thaddeus’s mind, she and the other Demon Lords had vanished.  At first, Thaddeus had thought they’d simply gone back into the Sundered Halls to plan their next move, but, as his new powers had begun to manifest themselves, he’d discovered that he could send magical probes into the Halls of Twilight, of which the Sundered Halls were a part.  One probe he’d sent had revealed the Sundered Halls to be empty, but had given him no clues as to where the Demon Lords might have gone.  Of course, if his memories had still be intact – particularly those parts of them he had absorbed from the Hidden King before killing him – Thaddeus would have had some idea of where to look.  The only thing left of those parts of his memory, though, were echoes, placeholders that told him nothing more than they had once been there.
    “So, have you given any more thought as to where we should go?” Zoe asked.
    “You know I have,” Thaddeus said.  “I’m still as much at a loss as I was, before.”
    Zoe looked at him and frowned.  “I remember something,” she said.  “Something from a dream I had right after I put your soul back together.  I think it might be important.”
    Thaddeus raised his eyebrows.  “The vision you had of Mother Catharzen?”
    Zoe nodded.  “There was a shelf bursting with scrolls in her chamber.  Thaddeus, you were actually in her chamber, right?  When you opened the box that held Adarion’s amulet?”
    “That’s right,” Thaddeus said.  “And I think I do remember seeing the shelf you’re talking about.”
    Aylander joined them.  Their campsite was now largely clear.  “What are you two talking about?” Aylander asked.
    Thaddeus looked at him.  “Not to put too fine a point on it,” he said, “but I think we’re going back to the Mountains of the Moon.”
    “Why?”
    “There’s a shelf in Mother Catharzen's chamber,” Zoe said.  “A shelf full – more than full – of ancient scrolls.”
    “You think those scrolls might be able to help us find out where the Demon Lords have gone?”
    “It’s possible,” Thaddeus said.  “Even if they don’t, though, there’s probably something useful in them.  They are, after all, more than three thousand years old.”
    “Written history, aside from a few scattered myths and legends, only goes back about three thousand years,” Zoe said.  She looked at Thaddeus.  “You’re sure the scrolls are older than that?”
    “Positive,” Thaddeus said.
    “Then that’s where we have to go.”
    “Indeed,” Aylander said.  “Besides, I want to get a look at Mother Catharzen’s chamber for myself.”
    “As do I,” Zoe said quietly.  “There’s a corpse there I have to bless.”
    Aylander looked at her.  “A corpse?”
    Zoe gave him a sour look.  “Don’t get any ideas,” she said.  “Not until I’ve gotten a chance to bless her, anyway.”
    “Don’t get any ideas?” Aylander said, trying to sound shocked.  “What do you think I am, some kind of Necromancer?”
    “No,” Thaddeus said, smiling, “but you are the God of Death.”
    Aylander looked at him, but said nothing.  He did return Thaddeus’s smile, however.  Then the three of them vanished.

The Gods Returned - Chapter One

For the first time in days Garrold watched the sun come up. He was standing on a slight rise on the western side of Gelevan Gorge – what had once been the Baron’s camp was now his, and his army, despite being battered by the battle that had taken place here two nights before, had grown to nearly twice the size it had been – feeling himself revived as the first light of the new day touched the land. And, he saw, it wasn’t only him that felt revived – the land seemed reborn under the sun’s glorious glow, and even the scars of battle appeared to fade. It was like spring had come for a second time, along with all of its promise of life and new growth. Garrold took in a deep breath – the air was fresh, holding no smell of smoke or death – and smiled. Then he turned away, the smile fading as he looked to the west.

The Darkness still filled the western sky, hanging like a pall over the lands of the Royal District, which were still in the clutches of what remained of the Order of the Crimson Serpent. The fight to retake those lands wouldn’t be easy – not even with all of the new mages Garrold had under his command. Despite having lost the leadership of the Demon Lords – a thing Garrold still didn’t understand, despite what had been explained to him after the battle – the Twisted Sword Priests of the Order were bound to hold on tenaciously to what little they still controlled. And what about the minds of those still in their grasp? The longer the Order held on, the less likely those minds could be freed. Already, Garrold had had to oversee the executions of those who couldn’t be brought back. It was not something he looked forward to having to go through, again – especially not on any kind of large scale.

There was a ripple in the air beside Garrold and Thaddeus appeared. He was alone, this time – a fact which Garrold found himself thankful for. The last time he and Thaddeus had spoken, Thaddeus had been in the company of Zoe and Aylander, and speaking to him had been like speaking to all three of them. Being in the company of all three of them was something Garrold was going to need time to get used to, but being in the company of just one was a little easier for him to handle. It probably helped that that one was Thaddeus, the only one of the three Garrold had dealt with prior to their . . . transformation. Ascension might actually be the better word, he thought, and wondered for a brief moment if the concept of blasphemy meant anything to the new gods that, it seemed, now walked the land.

Thaddeus raised his eyebrows, and Garrold knew at once that his thoughts had been read. “Worrying about blasphemy, Your Grace?” Thaddeus said. He laughed, and Garrold felt himself flush.

“I’m sorry,” Garrold said, biting back the urge to address Thaddeus as my Lord. Formality of that sort, Garrold had already learned, was something that neither Thaddeus, nor his two companions – who were, apparently, no less than his wife and his brother – could tolerate. “This is all so new to me. Being in the presence of a god, I mean.”

Thaddeus chuckled. “I understand. Being a god is still new to me, as well. I know I explained to you, before, that gods – at least, mortal ones, like Zoe, Aylander, and I – are just another type of mage, but that doesn’t mean being one is something you just get used to right away. This is something that’s going to take time for all of us to figure out, I think.”

Garrold looked at Thaddeus for a moment. Did the man – was he a man, anymore? – even realize what he’d said about mortal gods? Gods, as Thaddeus had said, were supposed to be no more than a superior type of mage. Did that mean there was something beyond even them? Garrold had heard the rumors, of course – that something had come down on the night of the battle, and that, when it had gone, Thaddeus had somehow risen from the dead – but he hadn’t witnessed any of it, and so didn’t know how much of it was true. He could have asked Thaddeus, of course, but the thought of doing so seemed rude. One did not question gods, after all.

“Your Grace, may I say something?” Thaddeus asked after the silence between he and Garrold had gone on for a while.

“Of-of course,” Garrold stammered in response.

“You need to stop worrying about offending me. Divine I might have become, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to strike you down for saying the wrong thing. After all, I’m still mortal. I can still die. So, if you have something you need to ask me, or if I’m doing anything you feel is wrong, please speak your mind. If nothing else, it’ll save me the trouble of having to read it.”

“And what if I need to speak my mind with Zoe? Or Aylander? Will they be as magnanimous in their responses?”

Thaddeus smiled. “Naturally.” His eyes suddenly glowed green, and, when he resumed speaking, his voice had become an uncanny blending of Zoe’s, Aylander’s, and his own. “We are, after all, the One Who Is Three and the Three Who Are One.”

“I don’t know if that helps very much,” Garrold said, laughing weakly.

Thaddeus’s eyes returned to their normal color. Still smiling, he reached out and put his hand on Garrold’s shoulder. “I understand, Your Grace. I’m sure things will get better with time.”

I hope so. “Of course.” Silence passed between them, again, for a time as they stood gazing out at the Darkness in the west. “So,” Garrold said at last, “I’m sure it wasn’t our mutual discomfiture at your changes that you came up here to discuss.”

“No, Your Grace. I’m afraid it isn’t. I came up here to let you know the three of us will be leaving soon.”

“Where will you go?”

“We need to follow after Hel and the other Demon Lords. They’re after something they can’t be allowed to possess.” Thaddeus looked at Garrold. “And don’t bother asking me what. Beyond knowing that they’re after something, I can’t remember anything about what it is. Hel ripped that knowledge from my mind before she killed me.”

“So you were brought back from the dead?” Garrold asked.

Thaddeus looked away and shook his head. “I don’t know what happened,” he said. “Not really. It feels like I died and was brought back, though, and thinking of it that way is the only way I can wrap my mind around it.”

“How is that even possible? What brought you back?”

“Zoe and Aylander did the lion’s share of the work, but not even they could have done it without help. And whatever helped them bring me back is what changed them, as well. It changed all of us, made us into what we’ve become. But I have no idea what it could have been.”

“With the three of you gone, will my forces alone be enough to retake the Royal District?” Garrold asked. “Can we destroy what’s left of the Order of the Crimson Serpent on our own?”

Thaddeus smiled. “The Order’s already been destroyed,” he said. His eyes flashed blue, and his smile grew into a grin. “They just don’t know it, yet.” The air rippled, again, and he was gone.

Garrold didn’t know if Thaddeus’s answer had been a yes, or not. He hoped that, in the case it hadn’t been, Thaddeus wouldn’t abandon them when the time came. He hadn’t before, of course, but, back then, he hadn’t been a god, yet, either.

You need to have a little faith, Your Grace. It was Zoe’s voice he heard, and there was something about

 it, about how the touch of her mind against his felt, that made Garrold smile. In both us, and in

 yourself. 

The Gods Returned - Prologue

Dariven still remembered when he had first cast the spell that encased him in ice. It had been four thousand years ago, during the fall of the last Divine Council. He’d waited to do it, wanting to be certain Magnus had been turned before committing himself to something that might never end. But had Dariven ever been truly certain Magnus had been turned? Magnus had certainly behaved as if he had been, seeming to take great pleasure in slaughtering those of the Divine Council who hadn’t been able to escape – which, as things had turned out, had been all of them save Adarion, who, like Dariven, had fled into the Halls of Twilight and then concealed himself. Unlike Dariven, however, Adarion’s concealment had been powered by his Divinity, and hadn’t required him to seal himself inside of something Hel couldn’t touch. And, because the spell that had encased him had left him all but immobile, Dariven had had the last four thousand years to wonder if he’d misjudged the true strength of Magnus’s character.

Then Thaddeus Alvarem had come. Dariven had known at once that Thaddeus was a Battlemage – and even, perhaps, a budding Nightslayer. By the time Dariven had encountered Thaddeus, Thaddeus had already done much to prove himself worthy of the title, even going so far as releasing the Demon Lords from their prison in the Sundered Halls so that they might finally be defeated once and for all. It had disappointed Dariven, then, when he’d learned why Thaddeus had entered the Halls of Twilight – he had been looking for a way into the Abyss Between the Halls in order to try and rescue friends of his that had been lost, and he’d been so absorbed by the task that he had allowed himself to be ambushed by three Demon Lords.

Dariven shouldn’t have been able to intervene, but, for reasons that, at the time, had been a mystery to him, he had, and the Demon Lords had fled. As he’d confronted Thaddeus following the Demon Lords’ flight, Dariven had learned something startling – Thaddeus had an air of Divinity about him. Thaddeus hadn’t yet begun to suspect the truth about himself – he’d needed something that would give him the spark to harness his Divine nature – and, all at once, Dariven had known that, unless Thaddeus found and rescued his friends, that spark would never come. And so Dariven, doing another thing that should have been impossible for him to do, had cast Thaddeus – who was, indeed, a Nightslayer, much like Dariven, himself, had once been – into the Abyss, knowing that, if Thaddeus failed, all would be, at last, truly lost.

More time had passed – Dariven wasn’t sure about how much, as time flowed differently in the Halls of Twilight, and, reputedly, even more strangely in the Abyss. And then, he’d felt something change – a shift in the magical field that he’d been certain hadn’t happened in millennia. The spell he’d encased himself in had fallen away at the same time, and, for a long moment, he’d simply stood there, utterly stunned by what had happened. With the falling away of his spell, he’d been able to sense something new, something that had, at the same time, also seemed incredibly old. He’d known what it was, of course – hadn’t he felt something similar when he’d first encountered Thaddeus, even if what he’d felt, then, had just been a foreshadowing of what he felt, now? – and the knowledge had made him smile.

It seemed that, once again, gods walked the land. Gods. Not just one, but three. Were these three to become the nucleus of a new Divine Council? Or, as prophecy had once foretold, had the time finally come for the gods to walk the land unfettered? Was the Reforging, at last, at hand? Either way, Dariven had new masters to serve. His purpose had been reborn.

Dariven left the Halls of Twilight. After four thousand years of being encased in ice, he felt, quite

 literally, like a new man. 

Introducing The Gods Returned, the Second Novel of the Nightslayer Chronicles

The time has come, my friends, to introduce the next part of the journey of Thaddeus and his friends.  For those who don't remember where we left off, Thaddeus, Aylander, and Zoe had just been touched by something that turned them into gods.  Thaddeus is back from the brink of death, having had an all but fatal encounter with Hel, the Mistress of the Demon Lords.  Hel has gone on in search of what she calls the Key -- the Key which will open the Gate.  

Garrold has achieved a major victory in securing his place as the Magister of the newly reborn Torvaran Empire, and has even been able to bring his former enemy, the Baron of Blanchart, into his camp as one of his new Council of Mages.  There is still much darkness to be fought, however, before Garrold can truly claim victory is his, as the remnants of the Order of the Crimson Serpent are marshalling their forces in the Royal District of the former Kingdom of Voranar.  

In this book, Thaddeus must find a way to stop Hel, and Garrold must find a way to defeat the Order of the Crimson Serpent once and for all.  I have already written almost a third of the book, and will start posting chapters on here as soon as I get a chance to go over them.  I hope you all are looking forward to reading it as much as I have been enjoying writing it!