and brought you here to the good people of the town of Briarwood, who tended to you until I returned, as I have many tasks to complete. Upon seeing your wounds, I summoned one of the best and most discreet healers I know, Pyne Calandon of Noordlindian, and told him to look after you and answer your questions as best he could. Then, I departed for the city of Calenfalas, where Javril, the head of my lodge, was to be found. I felt that if I were to learn more of your situation, he would be the one to tell me."
"Well, what did this Javril have to say?" asked Gideon.
"Javril could not answer several of my questions. It seems the decisions and orders came from the Inner Circle of the White Council. That means only a chosen few know why you were brought here. I was instructed that Lord Nimmeral, who is the head of my order, the Tauri and grand master of the White Lodge, or Lord Talmor Arangûl, the corthrondal of Andrim, would share with you the details of your situation. I have not been able to speak to either of them recently, but rest assured that you shall in time."
"You mentioned that we were in danger, Ragan," said Gideon, his mind in a whirl of apprehension. "What did you mean?"
"Well, as I've said," grunted Ragan with a tone of hopelessness, "I fear that I've been followed, as the gorghuans' attack and Sorgoth's interference have proven, even with all my precautions—thought shields, mystical barriers, and other attempts to hide my trail. No doubt, agents of Dormas the Dark One spotted me when I left the Calenfalas region. I can feel their dark presence even now. These lands are none too safe. It is possible that scouts have been sent to investigate my business in these lands. We must leave tonight so as not to endanger the lives of these good people for harboring an old archmage and his traveling companion."
"Leave?" asked Gideon. "Why? Where are we going?"
"Eventually to the ancient Pool of Tetherin," replied Ragan somberly. "Bathing in the pool will adapt you to our gravity and likely benefit you in other ways. We will stop in Mindon, one of our major cities, for I will need to get some other necessities for you."
"Why are you doing this, Ragan?" asked Gideon.
"Because it is my responsibility as a Tauri to look out for wanderers such as you and teach them" was the wizard's reply.
Gideon looked at Ragan curiously for a moment and then decided not to pursue the issue.
Several hours later, they were ready to leave the town of Briarwood. Ragan had saddled two strange beasts and was preparing their satchels with equipment for travel. Gideon stepped outside and studied these new animals.
They were birdlike animals and reminded him of large, transmogrified ostriches, but upon further observation, he thought them more similar to the diatryma of prehistoric Earth.
"The elaxes are normally wild," explained Ragan, noticing Gideon's curiosity. "However, they were domesticated for riding purposes long ago. If you hold these guide straps attached to the head harness, you can give them directions. We also have horses on this world, but because of the rocky terrain we will encounter three days hence, I decided you should learn to travel by elax."
"You expect me to ride one of these things?" asked Gideon in fearful anticipation. He did not ride well, and the elax looked difficult to handle.
"Yes, I expect you to ride it," replied the wizard somewhat sarcastically. "Unless, of course, you don't mind being toted on the back of my elax as baggage."
Reluctantly, and somewhat awkwardly, Gideon climbed onto the beast.
Ragan then told Bessa that for their own safety, they should tell anyone who would inquire about them that they had never been there.
Gideon bade a heavy-hearted farewell to the Valora family. Although he had known them for only a few short hours, he liked them and was sorry he had to leave. He did not want anything to happen to them, especially since they had been so nice to him.
"Perhaps I will stop here again in the future, Bessa," he said. "Thank you for everything. Good-bye."
Then, with Ragan guiding his elax by the harness straps, he waved farewell to the Valoras, and the two travelers proceeded down the stone roads that led west.
After about three hours, Gideon's backside began to ache.
"Ragan," he moaned between jolting strides, "this pace is killing me. Can't we stop and rest? I mean, how far is it to this Tetherin anyway? Will a five- or ten-minute rest stop hurt?"
It seemed like every other word that left his lips came out like a hiccup because he was bouncing up and down on the elax's back.
"That is normal and to be expected from someone who does not ride often. We do need a rest, but we will take it a little later on. Can your posterior wait until then?" asked Ragan, smiling slightly.
"I guess it can hold out another ten minutes or so, but not much longer."
He felt heavier and was doing his best just to keep from falling off his mount. To keep his mind off his aching buttocks, he decided to ask some more questions of his traveling companion. After all, Pyne had told him that Ragan would answer all his questions. He decided, after a moment, to address a question that had been bothering him since it was brought up.
Gideon spoke with some loudness as Ragan had moved ahead, "Ragan, you mentioned something about the Dark One. Who is that, if you don't mind my asking? This Dormas guy?"
"Do not speak that name so loudly, heedless of its implications," growled Ragan as he spun violently in his saddle to face him.
Gideon balked.
"I am sorry, young one. I momentarily forgot that you are unaware when it comes to the ways of this world and its fears. Forgive my outburst. The uttering of that vile name fills me—and all free folk—with disgust. The Dark One I was referring to is Dormas, the rebel lord of Errada. He is what you might call a greater power or deity.
"Long ago, when this world was young, after the Eternals finished creating the multiverse, the Erradans returned to the key world of Illúmaril. Then the Lords of Errada were united. They created many of the beasts and races that still exist on this world, and when it was their time, the Erradans awoke those first races of Illúmaril from their sleep. Dormas was one of those creators. At the time, he too was 'of the light.' Nevertheless, even the core of the most pure can be rotted with the proper temptation. Such was Dormas's destiny.
"Dormas's temptation was an unquenchable thirst for power, and it was this that drew the attention of the entity Sorgoth. This powerful vile entity of the void persuaded Dormas with visions and promises of power and turned him against the other Erradan lords.
"The ruler of the Lords of Errada then, as now, was and is the wise and noble Adon, who, though elected king, had no more power than the other Eternals.
"Dormas hated Adon because his own power was far superior to that of his ruler, and he felt that might and knowledge should make the ruler. Since he could not openly challenge Adon for the crown, Dormas sulked in his halls, twisting and manipulating the structures that make up life."
"Genes?" asked Gideon excitedly. "You mean he was a genetic engineer? A scientist?"
"In one sense," said the wizard after a moment's thought. "Though his methods were far different from anything you would have learned on Earth. In the course of time, he created many things, though some were unnatural, abominations that he hid in the deep cave systems under the world, where they still wait to be freed. Eventually, through his own sources, Adon and some of the other Erradans discovered Dormas's coveted secrets and called him to council.
"'Dormas, my brother,' he said, 'I understand that you are perverting the blessed matter of life that the Lords of Creation gave to us for safekeeping and are twisting it into things so tormented by their deformities that they are mad. Why do you do this, my brother?'
"And Dormas scorned him by saying, 'Do you not know, O Omnipotent One?'
"However, Adon