Halman and DarkBlade attacked the first six hellsouls, knowing that hundreds more were running towards them. Gunta stepped forward and pulled his sword. The six hellsouls were quickly dispatched, their empty cloaks falling to the street.
“Gunta, go,” commanded DarkBlade. “Make it swift, friend. There will be too many to fight in a moment.”
Gunta did not argue. He grabbed the rope as it was dropped back down from the balcony.
“I foresee a problem,” Halman said as they watched the hellsouls charge around the corner in front of them. “Who will protect the last of us?”
“I will tell you after Gunta and you succeed in pulling up the rope with me hanging on it,” answered DarkBlade. “Go.”
There was no time to argue with DarkBlade’s stubborn stand. Halman turned and ran to the rope as he sheathed his sword. He grabbed the rope and started climbing. He heard the sounds of fighting below, but he dared not look. DarkBlade backed towards the rope as the horde of creatures approached. He swung viciously at the first to reach him, the creature’s head flying to one side before turning to smoke.
“Grab the rope,” shouted Halman.
DarkBlade swung two more times before freeing his left hand from the hilt of the two-handed sword. He reached up and wrapped the rope around his left wrist several times before shouting that he was ready. As he felt the rope start to rise, DarkBlade slashed out with his sword, slicing two hellsouls across their midsections. The hellsouls died, but were not vanquished. Their bodies fell to the ground, tripping those behind them. The hellsouls shrieked and lashed out with their short swords. DarkBlade felt numerous sword hits on his boots before the rope was pulled beyond the reach of the creatures.
After DarkBlade reached the balcony, the party hurried down to the library where Caldal was placed upon the table. LunarSigh immediately focused on the poisoned hand while Lyra cast general healing spells. Temiker and Axor crowded around the table and aided in the healing.
“Will he live?” Eltor asked softly as he watched the mages.
“He has four of the best mages in the world working on him,” Marak smiled encouragingly as he looked at the slash mark on Eltor’s shoulder. “He will be fine. You need have no worries for Caldal. What about you? I see you also took a hit.”
“The armor that you gave me protected me,” replied Eltor. “I apologize for all the trouble that Caldal and I have caused you. You have been generous and honest with us at all times, and yet we have been ungrateful. I promise to behave better from here on out. I am sure that Caldal will as well.”
“Apology accepted,” smiled the Torak. “As for Caldal, he appears to be more skeptical than you are. He will learn the truth eventually. I suppose he is a bit like Mistake was in the early days.”
Hearing her name mentioned, Mistake nudged MistyTrail and nodded towards the doorway. Mistake and MistyTrail tried to slip out of the room. Emperor Marak strode purposely towards the door to cut them off. He grabbed each of them by the shoulder and stopped them from leaving.
“Some elves have more explaining to do than others,” the Torak said harshly. “Why are you within the city walls?”
“It is my fault,” admitted Mistake. “I guess I felt left out by being made to stay outside the city. I also wanted Caldal and Eltor to see this library. I know that the truth about the elves must lie in here somewhere.”
“Another day would not have been such a hard burden to bear,” scolded the Emperor. “You endangered a lot of people with this foolish plan of yours. I want you to think about that. DarkBlade was moments from lying on that table beside Caldal. Or worse, he might not have been fit for the table.”
“I am sorry,” sobbed Mistake as she turned to gaze at DarkBlade. “I won’t do it again. Ever.”
Emperor Marak shook his head and chuckled inwardly. “I will believe that when I see it,” he stated. “Spend some of your energy going through the books here. It will keep you out of trouble.”
Caldal started to stir and the Torak let go of the elves. He walked to the table and stared at Caldal. The elf opened his eyes and looked up to see many faces staring down at him.
“He will be fine,” smiled LunarSigh. “The poison did not have a chance to spread far. I have removed it. A little rest and he will be good as new.”
“I have something,” Wyant said excitedly. “This volume speaks of Vandegar. Evidently, Vand set up his own kingdom in opposition to Angragar. He created a massive temple and declared that the gods had accepted him as one of their own. He claimed to be a god.”
“That has been already mentioned,” declared the Torak.
“But there is more,” continued Wyant. “He enabled priests in his name and sent them into Angragar to gather the people of King Regis. He made many prophecies during this time. All of them dealt with the fall of Angragar. With each prophecy, more citizens of Angragar left the city and moved to Vandegar until Vand’s city was actually larger than Angragar.”
“I never heard of city ruins near the temple of Vandegar,” frowned Rejji. “I heard that it is located near a lake on a vast desert plain. Nobody has ever mentioned a city being anywhere near the temple.”
“When Vand had stolen all of the people that could be scared into leaving,” continued Wyant, “he tried to attack the city, but he was repelled. He actually tried numerous times. King Regis would sometimes attack his armies while they marched across the mountains. Vand was never successful in breeching the walls of the city. It is said that this incensed Vand to the point of madness.”
“He keeps getting worse,” sighed Temiker. “It is as if he had a mental illness of some kind.”
“Or just couldn’t stand the taste of rejection,” scowled Emperor Marak. “He sounds like one who is overly impressed with himself.”
“His new religion suddenly turned very dark,” Wyant said. “He started human sacrifices and the drinking of human blood. Those who tried to turn away from him became victims. It was forbidden to say anything against Vand. The slightest misstatement meant death.”
“I believe your analysis is correct, Marak,” nodded Lyra. “It may be a way to distract him. Vanity is his weakness.”
“Exactly,” agreed the Torak. “Now we must find some way to use it against him.”
“It was around this time that Vand started building his secret navy,” continued Wyant. “He sent spies into Angragar and spread rumors that the elves would attack Angragar. After the rumors were spread, he prophesized the same thing. He said that the gods would cause the elves to attack Angragar for turning their backs on him. It gained him nothing. Those who had stayed in Angragar no longer believed a word Vand said.”
“The elves would never attack without provocation,” interjected Eltor. “I bet Vand used his navy to make it look like the elves attacked.”
“Not exactly,” Wyant shook his head. “He made one more prophecy before things heated up. He said that after the elves attacked, the gods would slay every last person left in Angragar. Those that refused to confess their foolishness and immediately bow to Vand after the elven attack would be crushed by the gods in a very painful way.”
“This man is sick,” snarled Temiker. “His whole life is devoted to hatred.”
“Eventually,” nodded Wyant, “Vand sent his armada to sea. His ships hoisted the flag of Angragar, not Vandegar. With the false flags flying, they mercilessly attacked the elven coastal cities. While Vand knew that he could not defeat Angragar, he knew that the elves could. He was right. The elves attacked Angragar with vengeance. The only thing that saved the city was the unexpected surrender by King Regis. Rather than fight the elves, he gave up and submitted. When he spoke to the elves, they began to understand how Vand had engineered the whole thing. The elves agreed to leave in peace, but it was too late.”
“Why was it too late?” asked Axor.
“The last prophecy that Vand had issued caused fear among the people,” explained Wyant. “Once the elves had begun their attack, all of Vand’s word rang true with the citizens. When the elves stopped the barrage, the people fled the city. In the end, there were only a few thousand left in the city, and many of them were Vand’s spies. King Regis gathered the few hundred remaining citizens that still worshipped Kaltara. He planned to march them out of the city and call upon Kaltara to destroy Angragar. That is the end of the tome.”