The Halo Of Vakh (BOOK 1)

FIENDISH CROWN

Harfen Parr turned around, his hands crossed behind his back and eyes cold. The fire made each and every contour of his face stand out. He started to slowly circle the table.

"Ward Thane," all eyes circled to look at the knight, whose face was mottled with bruises and cuts. Arcturus saw him pale slightly when Parr came to a stop behind his seat. "Brief the council. Tell them how Bones escaped your clutches."

The words 'Tell them how you failed.' lay beneath the smooth cadence of the words.

"She has allied herself with a Draedechian, Sire," Ward Thane's voice trembled only lightly as he spoke. "We followed her out of Medlar. I tried to take away her will as she was crossing the river. Tried to drown her."

Arcturus' blood ran cold. They needed that woman alive. They had no use for her cold lifeless corpse. He saw the tightening of the muscle around the sovereign's mouth. Saw the chill creep into his eyes. He said nothing and Thane continued.

"She survived. I felt it when she broke free of my control. We lost her after that, Your Majesty. The next time we saw her, it was a few hours ride away from the Vakhor territory. She was being accompanied by someone, Sire. Someone with Draedech. They attacked us. Together. We shot her twice before they plunged straight across the treeline and beyond the Vakhor border."

Then the woman was as good as dead. A chill went down his spine. He knew who it was that would leave the table with their head detached.

"But it was the strangest thing, Sire," Thane continued and frantically turned around, sensing the rising danger behind him. A prey snatching at the last moments of calm. He leapt out of his chair and fell to his knees, a pleading note seeping into his voice. "The woman. The Vakhor descended upon them like hounds from hell, and I saw a shield of pure blinding white cover them, Sire. It repelled the Vakhor and they shrank back shrieking like the banshees of Smyrces. We did everything, Sire. Everything."

Parr looked down at the ward with steel in his eyes. He whipped around once again and Thane kept kneeling, not daring to move.

"The Vakhor," Parr began. "Interesting creatures aren't they?"

Silence was the only answer.

"Some believe they are demons," Parr continued, pacing the length of the hall. "Some say they are the troubled souls of the dead. All of them foolish thoughts of meagre minds. Tales weaved over the centuries. The Vakor were always there. Long before we dropped into Afsan. Long before the Arranoa took the throne.

"It was Zardan Tyll, a Borskalle, one of the strongest Draedechians of his age, who travelled beyond the southern kingdoms and found the land of Vakh. Saw the creatures. They say Zardan was fierce. Had such a strong lust for blood, riches and the misery of others that the Vakhor thought them as one of their own. He put the Vakhor under an enchantment, one that would last beyond his death. It tied the Vakhor to the Borskalle. They became our allies. Their lands were only a safe haven for us. Any other man was burnt from the inside out, till only their blackened bones and ash remained."

Arcturus had never heard of that before. He had thought that they were demons unleashed as a punishment for their sins. He looked around. It seemed everyone except a few members of the Bench of Philosophers were hearing this for the first time.

"There was an artefact created by Zardan," Parr said. "The Halo of Vakh, he called it. A powerful object. Zardan passed it down and it went from son to grandson, daughter to granddaughter, till it was lost. For years, none of the Borskalle knew where it went. For the past thirty one years no one knew of its whereabouts."

No one dared to interrupt. They listened with rapt attention, trying to understand why they were being told this. On the floor, Thane shifted a bit, his head still bowed, body tense as if waiting for some strike. The king continued.