Free The Cor Chronicles: Volume 02 - Fire and Steel by Martin V. Parece II Page A

the direction they had come, and he saw the lone figure, a man, standing in the road. He had also turned in his tracks and stood staring at the mounted pair. Cor could see little about him, as he wore a heavy wool cloak used by many travelers during colder weather, and the cloak had a hood that hid his features well. The man was not large, but Cor was sure he was built solidly. He stood like a fighting man, and Cor thought he saw a glint of bluish steel underneath the robe.
    “I have come far, Dahken Cor, much further than you,” came a distant but familiar voice from beneath the hood.
    “Who are you stranger, that we seek each other?” Cor asked, slowly walking his horse toward the man. He drew Soulmourn; he was not sure why, but something about this man unnerved him.
    “I am not sure of my name, but I am sure that we are no strangers, Dahken Cor, and certainly we are not enemies.”
    The man reached his hands to his hood and pushed it back over his head. He then pulled the robe’s ties at the neck, allowing it to fall to the ground, revealing an armored countenance. He was middle aged with shoulder length hair that appeared to have recently gone gray. He was unshaven, but very little growth was on his face, and his eyes were gray, cold and hard. He wore full plate armor that oddly reflected the sunlight blue, and strapped to his back were a large shield and longsword. The man’s face and hands were as gray as the dead, as gray as Cor’s.
    “This cannot be,” Cor whispered. He dropped from his horse and sheathed Soulmourn. “You were killed. I saw it. I carried you back to Sanctum and entombed you below.”
    “Yes, I did die, and I became one with Dahk. Adrift in a sea of blood, I knew nothing, but He has caused me to return to this world,” the man paused for a moment, studying Cor’s open mouthed, bewildered look. He then asked in an almost childlike fashion, “Who am I?”
    “You are the man who saved my life. You are Lord Dahken Rael, my teacher, my friend.”
    “Yes,” the man whispered, memories flooding into his eyes. “That was once my name, but I think now I am only Dahken Rael. You… you are Lord Dahken Cor.”

5.
     
    The ride back to Byrverus was full of explanations and stories. Cor of course introduced Thyss and told Rael everything that had happened to him after the battle on the road that connected Sanctum and the port town of Hager. He included as much detail as he could remember, from the vision Soulmourn had shown him, to the dreams involving Lord Dahken Noth, to his journey into Losz and so on. Rael listened and responded rarely, his face stoic and impassive throughout the entire narrative, and he had little comment, even regarding Thyss. Cor explained that he had found his parents murderer, at least, the lord whom was responsible, and that Taraq’nok collected Dahken for some master plan to take over the whole of the Loszian Empire and the Shining West. Cor took his revenge and somehow managed to get the Dahken back into Aquis, most of them at least. After several hours of storytelling, he finally explained his latest meeting with the queen and his ideas for the future.
    “I do not understand your plans though,” Rael said. “I understand building a new home for us and rebuilding the Dahken, but why the alliance with Aquis and The Shining West? Why are you so determined to destroy the Loszian Empire?”
    “Their empire is an affront to freedom, to free will,” Cor answered. “I will not allow it to exist any longer than it must.”
    “Is the West any different?” Rael asked. “They change history and control their populace through their religion.”
    “But at heart, they’re good people Rael.”
    “I still do not understand, but then it is not my place to understand,” Rael conceded. “You are Lord Dahken now.”
    “How about this for a reason, then. Most of the Loszians kill Dahken on sight, even as soon as they’re born.”
    “I suppose that is reason