sitting at a desk secured to the wall and he was writing in a logbook. He looked up as Gideon entered.
“Finelen, it’s good to see you. I liked that you wrote on occasion to let me know discretely of your further adventures,” Ross said as he rose to shake Gideon’s hand and clasp him on the back in greeting. Captain Ross was a vigorous man with Alor lineage; he had blue eyes and brown hair. He wore a captain’s uniform with his shirt partly unbuttoned as he had been relaxing in his quarters. Like Gideon, he had been augmented by the pools of transformation but in slightly different ways.
“I’m glad you enjoyed the few letters I wrote. I had to be careful in my wording of things,” Gideon said, as Ross smiled and nodded. “You look no worse for wear; I think in the last letter I got from you, you mentioned you were attacked by some Urshkaar, Victor.”
“Yes, it’s a good thing the Urshkaar are not that frightening,” Ross replied. “That, and I have a good crew and also the physical augmentation I got from the Pool of Anthir on the edge of Orloon Province and mental augmentation from the Pool of Saltheryn in Ophidia helped a great deal when I have to physically fight any foes or resist mental attacks.”
“I know what you’re saying. The special waters of the Pool of Tetherin have helped me a great deal too. We have both had our share and more of problems. So how did you get this particular field trip?” asked Gideon.
“It was up for bid like most of the others, and I have, on occasion, done services for the university. Of course, Tyl University is good for reimbursement for damages. I was thinking of an overhaul to install faster motivators,” Ross said. “By the way, I heard that Ragan the Red, Osric the Green, and Anila the Indigo will be instructing. Now, if you ask me, that’s more Tauri than is needed for a field trip. There must be some Tauri ‘business’ involved.”
“Are you saying this class trip is a pretext for something else?” Gideon asked.
“Aye, that’s what I am saying,” Victor replied. “I recently got the travel plans, and it includes some low, and for me, perhaps, a bit too-close flybys near the Crystal Peak Mountains, and a particular section of the Vale of crystal before we land.”
“I’ll ask Ragan, since I’m more familiar with him,” Gideon said. “You may be right. The last time I saw a few Tauri like Ragan and Osric together they were battling Darkspawn.” As Gideon finished, the first officer Fiona poked her head in the doorway.
“Your classmates and a few Tauri are arriving,” she stated. Gideon nodded and spent a few more minutes with his distant cousin and then headed to greet his friends. The blue-eyed balding human second officer of the Wayfarer, Lieutenant Zull, whom Gideon had met before, was helping the other students, and Fiona was helping the three Tauri get settled.
Some of Gideon’s classmates with whom he was friendly joined him on the deck. There was Rektar from the Earth giant race. Rektar was relatively young but older than Gideon. He was about twelve feet tall and strongly built and had light-to-medium brown-colored eyes. Another of his closer classmates was Lyndra, who was a human girl from Khand, a satellite city of Taros. She had green eyes and reddish-brown hair; she was fairly adventurous and liked to go on most field trips. Another friend Gideon had made while at the Tyl Academy was a Bashann named Panx. Bashann resembled a fusion of something manlike with the larger jungle or savannah cats. Although not quite as large as a full-sized earthly lion or tiger the Bashann were larger than most menfolk or Alor.
The other students settled in a few groups proctored by a master instructor from Tyl Academy or one of the three Tauri. After they were underway, it would be a few days’ travel before arriving, even with the Wayfarer’s fast speed. During the evening meal, some of the students, who were now only a few months away from journeyman status, were talking about joining an order. After asking Captain Ross about working with some of the militant orders, he said, “I’ve supported a few different orders’ missions, and they usually pay well and, normally, they provide good educational opportunities.” Those interested also briefly asked Gideon about the Order of the Platinum Griffon.
“So far I like it,” Gideon answered. “I get to do and see a lot of things I would not otherwise have been able to.”
Lessons were conducted onboard, including introductory information on the Vale of crystal. “It is known that during the first War of Dominion that Lord Dormas brought forth a great army,” Tauri Osric the Green explained. “Dormas had also created many creatures and darkspawn in the Underthaurnan. While others he had gathered as allies from other dimensions or had acquired via a pact from Sorgoth.” Gideon noticed Osric spoke the name of the Great Lord of Chaos with disdain.
“That army moved to several places and caused many problems for the Alor in the ancient days,” continued Osric. “Dormas and his generals had become bold and decided to cross lands that were temporarily in the control of the Lords of the Balance. It is said that Lord Tar’thos, Keeper of histories and Lord of Balance, was contemplating in the vale when the creatures and entities of Chaos beset him. He asked them to leave, but they did not. The attacks onTar’thos were futile, as the entity in theVale was a precept of a greater entity. As Dormas brought more creatures across, the world was put in jeopardy. Eventually, Tar’thos decided that this imbalance should be corrected and he caused matter and time to flow differently there.”
“The result is that the Vale essentially crystallized, not only those who were crossing the Vale, but those who would later enter,” Ragan added. “The entrance of so many of the forces of Chaos to Illúmaril was disruptive, and Tar’thos acted to preserve the Key World of Illúmaril.”
“Dormas was unaffected by Tar’thos, as he was protected. Dormas was able to free only a small part of his Darkspawn army; although, from time to time, it is said a Valharri is able to extricate one or two of the greater demons or entities,” Tauri Anila the Indigo finished. “Later, the Vale became a place of danger and a prison for those who would tarry there too long.”
After several hours, when he could get Tauri Ragan alone, Gideon asked, “Is there some other reason why three Tauri are going to the Vale? I could see one, but three? I hope you’re not all here to guard me.”
“No, not actually to guard you, and yes, we do have some Tauri business to conduct. You may assist if you like,” archmaster Ragan replied.
“I realize that sometimes ‘Tauri business’ is somewhat secretive. I learned that your order tries to root out dark forces for the good of the community, but what is really going on?” Gideon asked. Ragan nodded and looked as if he sensed someone might be scrying him.
“We believe that some Urshkaar archmasters and grandmasters, and perhaps at least up to four Valharri, may be involved with occasional recent attempts to restore some of the Darkspawn frozen in the Vale of Crystal,” Ragan replied. Gideon nodded and agreed to help the Tauri in some way.
Eventually, Wayfarer stopped near Alende, a town on the safe border of the Vale of Crystal. The entire region was not affected; roughly a third of the area near the mountains was dangerous to stay in for long, as the residual of the spellweave thatTar’thos used could have the same stasis effects on those traveling the affected region. The town of Alende was small, with only several thousand people. Many were farmers and some seemed to Gideon to be more like rangers that watched for some kind of trouble. After splitting the students among the Tauri and the two master instructors from Tyl, the groups set off to explore. They would discuss what they had found the next day. Gideon teamed up with Lyndra, Panx, and Rektar, with Tauri Ragan as their instructor.
After moving through the dense woods, they came into an opening, an extensive gray-hued glade with scattered trees and other shapes as far as they could see, and they felt a sensation of power. Gideon felt it as they moved through the woods and got closer. When their group arrived, they could almost see the still-active spellweave hanging over the region.
“We can stay only a few hours, lest you succumb to the weave. I have some resilience, but I have my time limit as well,” Ragan said, as they moved into the glade and deeper into the Vale of Crystal. To Gideon, it appeared that