CHAPTER 39 – TOWEROCK

Not even more than halfway through the day they saw the city in the distance. From this far away, it resembled one massive castle. As they got closer, the intricacies spread out into a city. That is the way it was with the ancient founder cities like Towerock and Castle Ark. It took them the rest of the day to reach the ruins of Towerock and passage south, but they were finally here. Approaching the city limits, they did not see many people. In fact, there were few lights from any campfires.

“I don’t think I am going to find any answers here.”

“You made it sound like a bustling city.”

“I must have been mistaken.”

“What could we possibly find here?”

As they turned the corner, they saw Excelsior kneeling down beside his faithful canine, Orion, and Bridger fondling his mandolin, blatantly expecting Mitakahn and Anilithion’s arrival.

“My Gods! This is unbelievable!” yelled Mitakahn as he ran over to them, “You have no idea how good it is to see you three.”

“You too, brother,” replied Bridger.

There was only one other prince that attended the school, Bridger Callister, one of Mitakahn’s closest friends. Bridger stood just as tall as Mitakahn, yet his nimble build, combined with his clear blue crystal eyes made his senses more acute and advanced than any of the other students. Bridger’s father was ruler of the Stag Kingdom, a kin known for their adept prowess and divine gifts of long life.

“How was the road here?” greeted Excelsior with a question.

“Forgiving. I assume you both heard what happened to me.”

Bridger nodded his head sympathetically.

“You should have let me deal with those bureaucratic sycophants.”

Mitakahn moved the conversation forward with a question, “How did you know we would be here?”

Cawww!

Chronis swooped down from the battlements. The silver-tailed hawk hovered before Mitakahn and then landed on his shoulder.

“That marvelous bird of yours,” answered Excelsior.

“Oh, so you have met Chronis,” said Anilithion as he shook Excelsior and Bridger’s hands and greeted Orion with a cordial bow. The noble dog bowed back, but really just gave himself a disguised stretch.

“I can’t believe he found you,” said Mitakahn.

“Not just that, but when he met up with Bridger and I, he flew in from the south. There is no doubt in my mind that he went to round up the others before us,” furthered Excelsior, “they will most likely meet us further down the road.”

“How does it even know who we are, Mitakahn? I have never seen anything like this before,” said Bridger.

“None of us have,” said Anilithion, “Mitakahn, this bird is truly extra-ordinary.”

“You don’t know the half of it!” said Mitakahn.

“I would not be so naïve as to blame chance for bringing this bird to you,” said Excelsior.

“No, there has to be more at play here,” Bridger rubbed his chin, and began deliberating with Excelsior, “This is divine intervention, no doubt. There is no other rational explanation.”

Meanwhile, Chronis had flown off of Mitakahn’s shoulder landing right in front of Orion; and the four men watched as Chronis and Orion interacted with each other, a giant dog greeting a tiny shiny hawk. The confrontation was anything but hostile, it was more curious. Orion bowed his brown furry head low to sniff the peculiar bird, and Chronis hopped around in short spurts examining Orion. The four onlookers could not help but smile and laugh at this adorable encounter. Chronis let Orion sniff the top of his head.

They quickly settled down around the fire to get some rest before starting their journey south in the morning. Bridger played his mandolin quietly, giving the flames a story.

“Of all the things to take with you on this quest, you brought your mando.”

“To not bring my music would be to not bring a part of me. Plus, you never know when a mandolin might come in handy.”

“Prince Bridger is known for his musical talents throughout the Woodlands,” said Excelsior.

They laughed as Bridger sang his retort, “With this mandolin I can strike a chord, with the same precision I wield my sword.”

Bridger brought the melody low and slow. He was gesturing for someone to sing or entertain. Anilithion looked around. He seemed to recognize that he needed to do something. He saw Bridger’s prompt but struggled with the context. “I’ve always wondered…why do they call it the Epitaph Road?”

Mitakahn smiled. Excelsior stood up from his relaxd position leaning on Orion’s leg. He nodded his head at Bridger who reset the harmony in a more upbeat tone. “Let me tell you about one of the oldest wonders of the world by going all the way back, even past my ancestors who built it.”

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THE LEGEND OF RAPHAEL AND RANOSAUR

Gods are seldom tasked with easy decisions. They could no longer interfere with the fate of man, so they left MagnaThora. They knew they could not leave the human race entirely to their own devices. In one of his last acts as rulers, the gods created the demigods; a Phoenix to rule the mountains and skies, a Sea Lion and Sea Serpent to rule the vast ocean deep, and a Wolfe to rule everything in between.

It was no surprise that the first community of humanity to develop was the tribe around the great Grey Wolfe. Members of the original Wolf Tribe, when putting their faith to prayers, could unleash their inner wolf, over-developing their senses and abilities and in some cases even shapeshifting into wolfmen. There was a problem, not all of the followers could feel these godly effects. The Grey Wolfe was cultivating too large of a following.

The demigod gathered his tribe and howled before the moon. Clouds parted and split, dividing the moonlight. Amongst the hundreds of people two were selected, two brothers. Ranosaur and Raphael walked with the Grey Wolfe. He told them of the godsplan and their roles. Their faith was strong. He gave them both separate surnames: Ranosaur Towerock and Raphael Highcastle; and lordships over the Wolfe’s tribe, splitting it in two. All those who could unleash their inner wolf would remain in the forest with Raphael, for the others was a miracle that would last forever.

A slice of the Wolfe’s divinity sacrificed to bestow an eternal gift. The day they left the forest Ranosaur woke up thinking it was all a dream, evidence of otherwise snuggled up next to him. The brown and white furs on the bed camouflaged the pup at first. Ranosaur picked him up and cradled the furry lad. He was not alone, from that morning on, every member of the Canine Tribe would be born with a puppy to grow up with and become lifelong companions. The canines flowed with the wolf god’s blood making their lifespan seven times the span of a normal dog, extraordinarily inept to their companion’s instincts, and so big they could rival horses as mounts.

Ranosaur took his tribe, now paired with their canine partners, and journeyed west. Upon the roaming fields of the great MagnaThoran western frontier Ranosaur found true significance along with his people. Something about being with the dogs unleashed a primal need to be nomadic. It took a long time before roots were put down and Towerock was founded, but that did not make the canine tribe any less prominent than their brothers in the forest. When the time finally came to rally for war their rolling cavalry was second to none.

● ● ●

Excelsior continued, “As everybody in the world knows the Wolf Kingdom was destroyed by the back-wrath of an ancient covenant. Their brother kingdom built the Epitaph Road in effigy to their fallen kin. The road connected the world of MagnaThora just as the Crucifire King did. You may hear old wanderers call it the king’s road.”

Anilithion shook his head in agreement. He had heard the legend of the first houses many times before, but he never knew how deeply they connected to today. Then Excelsior told them something they did not know.

“Since its creation, the Epitaph Road served not only as the path between kingdoms but also their oldest form of communication. The grey stone of the road is actually quite malleable. It is better on your feet, allows you to walk longer, and you can carve into it. Most of the messages are anonymous because how could any recipients know where to look?”

“They could tell where the message is the next time they cross paths,” answered Anilithion.

“Well then he would just give him the message right there.”

“Oh wow, I guess you are right about that.”

“It could be a secret message they could not speak in public,” Mitakahn retorted for Anilithion. His younger cousin did not possess the experience as he did for these micro-debates.

Excelsior had no problem bringing it right back around, “That would fall under the aforementioned anonymous category.”

It might have been a technicality, but his friends mastered that art amongst many at the academy. The art of the technicality, Mitakahn always thought he could rise above it during their friendly conversational duels and more often than not was proven wrong. Mitakahn was willing to let this one go since Excelsior was kind enough to entertain them with his storytelling. After all, he was doing such a great job. It got later into the night and Bridger had put the mandolin away as things quieted down.

“Mitakahn, may I be forthcoming with you?” Bridger insisted.

“By all means, my friend.”

“This is going to be good,” Excelsior mumbled.

“I feel as though you are tracking down the wrong lead. We should not be focused on what you saw in a vision. We should be focused on what killed Theomitus. If no one ever knows what it was then what will stop it from happening again?”

“Paradoxia…”

“What?”

“Trust me when I say I feel like that all the time. Even though I have already forgotten a lot of what transpired in his final days, one thing I will never forget is the lack of answers. We spent months talking to all kinds of healers, mediciners, and anyone with any hint of a possible cure however unlikely. My parents’ chambers reeked of toadroot tea because some old grandmothers’ tale said it fought against disease.”

“I trust you.”

“We exhausted all of our options and there was still time left to watch him wither away.”

“It’s okay, Mitakahn. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s important you all know this. Things got desperate in the family. I saw sides of my mother and brother that I want to forget. There were harsh truths dealt to me. I tried…I…there was one time I tried to talk to him about what we should do when he was gone.”

“He did not say much. I was barely able to say the words outloud. Who can be strong enough to admit their own death? It was humiliation at its worst. He said he wanted Axion to find happiness and he wanted me to finish the academy. By that time his mind was almost completely lost, or else he would know that can never be an option.”

Bridger exchanged glances with Excelsior.

“There were never any leads to track down from the illness. Here I have something. Echo gave us Demascus, and Excelsior already knows the contact.”

“He was a close mentor of mine.”

“There is a thread here. I just can’t see it without all of the pieces.”

“And you think that one of those pieces is the Carbon Terra?”

“All I know is it’s a diamond amongst a collection of gems called the Incapsulate Impernum. If we find the diamond it might point us in the direction of the sword.”

“And the Crucifire Sword will save your kingdom from certain doom.”

“It’s a start.”

“As crazy as this sounds, we are with you Mitakahn.”

“Good because if I found out anything in my recent travels, it’s that I am going to need all the help I can get.”