This is the way it was, the quiet voice said, before the Alaoreum River roared free of its banks the first time, consuming Borran Kiosk and his army. Pay attention, Brother Tohl. There is something to be learned here, and the tapestry of magic that has rent the night there and to which you are linked has opened this window of opportunity.
Yes, Lady.
Excitement thrilled through Tohl, but dread kept pace with it. Borran Kiosk had always been recognized as Malar's tool. The Stalker possessed particular hatred for Eldath's followers as well as the druids who followed the ways of Silvanus.
Borran Kiosk walked into the marshlands.
Heart beating at the back of his throat, Tohl followed. His courage came from his belief in Eldath and the powers of the Quiet One, for he had little confidence in his own abilities. He could think of no reason why he had been singled out for this experience, but he couldn't forego it.
Only moments later, Borran Kiosk stopped. The undead army gathered around him.
For the first time Tohl realized that the battle had been devastating for Borran Kiosk's minions as well. Several of them were missing limbs. At least two dozen zombies trailed the pack by dragging themselves through the muck with their arms, their lower bodies or legs missing.
Borran Kiosk spoke in an arcane tongue Tohl couldn't understand.
Listen, the quiet voice urged.
I can't understand, Lady.
The harsh words and rolling consonants gave Tohl a headache that he knew owed part to the magic the mohrg commanded.
Listen, the quiet voice insisted.
An abrupt change occurred inside Tohl's head. He felt a sickening lurch, then Borran Kiosk's horrid voice came as if from a long distance away.
'— now find ourselves hunted by every city or nation along the Vilhon Reach,' the mohrg told the undead grouped around him.
Tohl knew that the words he heard didn't come from the undead creature's mouth, not with the thick, obscene tongue writhing in there.
'Perhaps,' Borran Kiosk went on, 'our efforts to secure these lands for ourselves and for Malar will fail.'
There was no response from the crowd.
They were mindless, the quiet voice whispered into Tohl's mind.
Tohl took the goddess's word for it, for he had never seen an undead for himself.
Borran Kiosk, the quiet voice said, was-and remains-jealous of all those who live. That hatred drives him to destroy life.
Remains?
Patience, Brother Tohl, all will be made clear to you, then you must take action.
Of course, Lady.
Tohl pushed aside his curiosity as much as he was able and concentrated on the scene before him.
'The thrice-cursed Emerald Enclave is choosing to involve themselves in my affairs,' Borran Kiosk declared, 'but I am prepared for them.'
He reached into the tattered cloak he wore and drew out a small leather bag. Improbable though it was, the mohrg opened the bag and shoved his whole arm inside. There was a momentary pause, then Borran Kiosk pulled his arm back out. His hand gripped a small, shiny, red jewel that glowed even in the dim light provided under the leafy canopies.
'I have found a means to defeat the druids,' said Borran Kiosk, 'as well as to bring the whole of the Vilhon Reach to its knees.'
His hands worked with surprising speed, dismantling the jewel into several pieces.
I don't know what that is, the quiet voice replied to Tohl's unspoken question, but I can feel even from here, through you and across the years separating this place, that whatever Borran Kiosk has contains great power.
Trembling in ill-contained fear, Tohl felt trapped as he gazed at the mohrg. Even with his limited ability to sense the magical nature of the world through his ties to his chosen goddess, he could feel something… wrong… about Borran Kiosk's prize.
'I cannot yet bring forth the powers held in these devices, but the time will come. Malar has given me his blessings, and I know I will be made triumphant.'
Borran Kiosk took a step forward, sinking knee-deep in the muck and the mire of the marshlands. The pieces of the jewel glittered in his hands in the dank shadows.
'I have carried this for years, assembling it over that time. Now, with the Emerald Enclave abandoning their neutral position regarding the fate of the civilizations of the Vilhon Reach, I am in danger. So I call upon you, my lieutenants, to carry what I no longer dare to possess.'
Five shambling mockeries of human beings stepped forward from the undead army around the mohrg. Four of them were men, one was a young woman with long, dark hair. She could not have been dead for long because she was intact and unblemished. The four men had been dead much longer and showed the worse for wear.
'The druids pride themselves on their knowledge of the cycle of life,' Borran Kiosk said. 'They untangle the webs of life and seek to address a balance that only they can see.' The mohrg approached the first of the men. 'But Malar has given me the seeds to disrupt the work of the druids. I can tear apart the fabric of their existence, and I will, as soon as the power I need grows larger.'
'Malar has been kind to you,' the woman said in a clear voice that carried across the watery land.
'Malar has been kind to us all,' Borran Kiosk agreed, 'but he is a most demanding god. We will succeed in this endeavor on his behalf or he will see to our eternal destruction.'
'What would Malar have us do?' another zombie lieutenant asked.
'Guard that which I am about to give you,' Borran Kiosk said. 'Guard it until my return. I have one final battle which needs to be fought.'
'We will go with you,' the zombie woman said.
'No.' Borran Kiosk shook his head. 'We can't afford to lose that which I am about to give you. You must stay here.'
'Then give us what you will, Borran Kiosk.'
Borran Kiosk turned to the zombie that had spoken. 'Prepare yourself.'
The zombie stood before the mohrg with its arms loose.
Without hesitation, Borran Kiosk held one of the jewel pieces in his fist. He mouthed words that couldn't be translated by whatever spell Tohl was under. A lavender glow surrounded Borran Kiosk's hand. When the brightness leveled off, the mohrg rammed his fist into the zombie's chest.
Tohl quavered and grew sick at the sucking, oozing sound Borran Kiosk's fist made inside the zombie. He controlled his stomach with effort.
A moment more and Borran Kiosk withdrew his hand. The jewel piece glinted within the obscene recesses of the zombie's chest.
'What I have given,' Borran Kiosk said, 'you will defend.'
The zombie bowed its head. 'What you have given, I will defend.'
The undead creature pulled its broken chest back together, then it tore the ragged breeches it wore into strips and used them to bind its chest.
In quick succession, Borran Kiosk implanted the jewel pieces into the other zombies, including the female one. All of them repeated the litany the mohrg spouted, and Brother Tohl knew it had to be part of a binding spell.
Lady, I thought all of Borran Kiosk's minions weren't capable of thinking.
As did I, the quiet voice agreed. It's apparent there were things about Borran Kiosk that we didn't know, but they are known now.
If this has all happened before, why didn't you know about it then?
Brother Tohl, there are mysteries even unto the gods.
The declaration was unnerving, made more so because the quiet voice said it with such calm. All of his life, Tohl had believed in the virtuous strength of Eldath. To hear that the Quiet One didn't know everything was almost
