Mark of the Fool

Chapter 398: Links in the Chain of Destiny

It was the same time the Ravener came back, Paul said, shaking his head. Turned eighteen that very day and thenthat eveningwe heard that the Heroes were marked and a new Ravener cycle was starting.

Alexs eighteenth birthday was the same day the Ravener came backthe day the Heroes got marked? Drestras brows rose.

Oh yeah, Peter said. Was a nasty coincidence, that. Glad he got out when he did. I dont know if ya know this, but he and his sister have had enough bad in their young lives with what happened to their folks in that fire, and all. The poor lad had been working himself to the bone for a nice future and then bam, the day hes grown to the law, is the day all hell breaks out in Thameland. So, its good hes finally catching a break and now things are going his way for a change. Howd you meet them?

Silence followed.

Everything alright? Paul asked. Are more monsters coming down the tunnel?

Hm? Drestra shook her head. No, I was just thinking. Anyway, I can confirm that hes doing well. Hes studying at the university in Generasi. Hes gottenpowerful with magic. Her mind crawled over the times shed seen him cast spells. He even made a golem.

Oh, Paul said. Thats nice, I suppose. Er, whats a golem, Peter?

How should I know? Peter hissed. Well, good to hear hes getting all fancy. Maybe hell come back to Alric, set up some kind of wizards tower and help folks in town with his magic.

Oh, come on, Peter, Paul said with disdain. You know half the young folk who learn a bloody trade dont come back to Alric. Do you really think a fancy wizards going to come back? Thatd be fooli He paused, then suddenly broke into laughter.

You know whats funny, Drestra? He asked.

The Sages mind continued turning over memories of when shed first met Alex, Theresa and their friends. In truth, she liked Theresa the most of their groupthey had a lot in commonbut Alex was the one who got her to open up about things shed buried for months.

Her frustrations.

Worries.

All of her desires, when it came to ending the war once and for all.

All had come pouring out like someone had punched a hole in a full rain barrel. It was like hed known exactly what to say to her.

After we met the Generasians, she thought. The stress of everything seemed a little easier to bear. I got along better with Hart and Cedric. We even started working more like a team, its not perfect, but were not working against each other either. And, when Alex was around giving strategy suggestions, we really fought well together. Its true that he and his friends were trained by Baelin, butit was almost like a missing piece was slotted into place.

Drestra, you alright? Paul asked.

Hm, yes! the Sage pulled her mind back to the present. What..what was so funny?

Heh, well, you know, the guard from Alric chuckled. Maybe you had to be there, but I remember telling that boy: Act the fool long enough and youll get the fools mark, and I was pointing right at that ugly face on the Fool statue in the fountain in town. Could you imagine if that had happened?

He snorted. About to go to wizard university and then he loses his chance because the Fool cant do magic? Itd be a tragedy. Shit, I wouldve felt terrible. You know, maybe thats not as funny as I thought it was.

Nice going, Peter, the other guard muttered. Now, quit flappin your jaws. Look.

He pointed to a symbol carved in the stone wall ahead lightly illuminated by Drestras forceball. Theres the marker from the first survey team. Were down as as deep as they made it before the monsters got too thick to fight through,

The guard clapped down his visor. From here on, weve got no idea what well find. Best be on our toes.

Yeah, Paul agreed. Dont wanna end up dead down here in the dark like those monsters.

Dont worry, Drestra said. Ill protect you.

Alex and Theresa had shown how far theyd go to help her people, even risking their own lives, so she wasnt about to let anything happen to folk from their hometown. She had a duty to them.

And so the trio went quiet with the Sage fixed on their surroundings.

She needed her focus, but try as she might, her thoughts drifted back to Alex Roth. All of Cedrics musings about something being off with him came back to her.

Cedric kept saying how he found it odd that the chitterer dungeon seemed to focus on Alex, didn't he? I remember some talk about that. But, him being the Fool doesnt make sense? He can cast magic. He built a golem. Ive seen him fight

She hesitated.

Had she seen him fight?

She remembered their first battle together, the one above the two dungeons in Greymoor. Their fight with the cultists and demons patrolling Crymlyn Swamp when theyd grabbed Llyworn and Rhodri to question them. And the tail-end of the fight against that greater demon Zonon-In in the Skull Pits.

Her mind sifted through details of each fight, carefully.

She startled at a revelation.

Didhas he ever cast a combat spell that you saw? She brought to mind every memory of him spellcasting that she had. Ya, he did. He used those potions to make things fly around and rip themselves apart. butthats not really a combat spell is it?

The more she thought, the more she realised: shed never actually seen him cast force missile, or any fire or lightning spells, or any direct combat spells for that matter. In three battlesall deadlyhe hadnt cast a single combat spell once?

Why not?

As a matter of fact she thought back to the times shed seen him. I dont remember him ever carrying a weapon? His whole cabalall his friends carry weapons. Even Isolde has her dagger. He looks like a fighter, hes all muscle, hes got all that strength, and hes fast too. Yet he doesnt even have a short sword to defend himself with?

It made no sense. His entire group carries weapons, some more than one, or they use battle magic. How come he only carries potions, ropes and tools?

And has he ever hurt anything directly, anything that Ive seen. I dont think Ive even seen him wound somethingwait. Those potions, they rip things apart. Thats definitely using a weapon. And the Fool cant fightor hurt living things. Or use magic for that matter!

She shook her head, trying to stop the stream of contradictory thoughts running through her mind.

Alright, there were some odd, suspicious things going on with Alexlike him seeming to appear before everyone else whenever they were teleportedbut, it was a historical fact that the Fool couldnt use spellcraft, divinity, or fight.

And Alex fought.

Shed also seen him cast spells.

And thats why youre being crazy, Drestra, she told herself. Being distrustful like Cedric was after you first went to the encampment. Put this idiocy out of your mind and focus. Youre down here to look for clues, not focus on silly coincidences, like Alex being born on the same day as you and the others. Lots of people are born on the same day.

She chuckled softly. In the end, it's a historical fact, she thought. Alex cantbethe Fool.

Her steps slowed.

Her breath did too.

The Fool was useless. The Fool couldnt fight, use spellcraft or divinity. That was a historical fact. A historical fact. A historicalfact? But where did she get that fact from? Who was spouting that truth?

The church, she thought. It came from the church. Theyre who said the Fool cant use spellcraft, divinity or fight. Ive never met any Fools. Arent I here looking for clues because the churchor Uldaris hiding things?

She re-examined her assumptions.

All of them.

What if what she knew about the Fool was wrong? Orif not outright wrongthen incomplete? What would that mean?

Let me think about this. Leaving all the Fools limitations out of it. Peter and Paul said Alex had his birthday on the day the Ravener came back. So, what does he do? He, Theresa, his sister and Brutus immediately get out of Alric. Get out of Thameland.

She frowned, thinking back on what the guards had said.

Theresas family left after Alex and their daughter? Why? Why wouldnt they travel together? Theres safety in numbers, and Theresas a warrior. Shouldnt they have been travelling together to protect each other? But, no, he and she left first. And then what happened?

Her frown deepened, thinking back to the story Cedric told when shed first met Alex at the Generasi encampment. Cedric went to the Cave of the Traveller by himself. He killed the horde of Silence-spiders that were gathering there and hunted for the last one. Then he met Alex, and the others.

Moving through the dark, she tried keeping her mind on where they were heading while listening for threats, but a part of her brain was hooked on solving the puzzle now.

She couldnt let it go, not just yet.

Then Cedric left them, met up with us, and we came back together, she thought. The dungeon core was already destroyed when we got here. There were worker Silence-spiders, but they were all dead. Burnt to a crisp.

She recalled the scorch-lines Claygons fire-gems left when he fired them. Werent they similar to some theyd seen in the Cave?

But Claygon didnt exist then, Peter and Paul didnt even know what a golem was, and they definitely wouldve mentioned him if hed been around. No one misses Claygon. So maybe something else happened to those spiders. We thought it was the Travellers power destroying the dungeon, but the armys been here for months and she hasnt done anything to help them, even when they were attacked by beast-goblins and the like.

The Sage took a deep breath. Suppose I was the one who was marked as the Fool and lived in Alric and wanted to get away from Thameland. Suppose I knew that the priests had a barrier over the land that stops Ravener-spawn from leavingand can also detect a Heros Mark. What would I do?

The answer came immediately.

If I was desperate, which I would be, Id try and leave through one of the portals in the Cave.

Things were adding up.

Certain other things might be explained.

Banning the priests from going into the Generasians territory, she thought. If someone on the research team was the Foollike Alexthen a ban would make Greymoor the perfect place for them to hide, thats if he was mad enough to come back to Thameland. If I was the Fool, Id be long gone: even if I had to hide in the Irtyshenan Empire.

She felt the Travellers mana above as they continued through the dimly-lit tunnel.

And lets say Alex is the Fool and he did come through the Caveif he found dungeon core remains and took them with him, then thatd explain why the Generasians started the expedition in the first place. All this time, no ones been able to understand how they knew that dungeon core remains were valuable. But thisthis fits.

Still, in the end, all she was doing was thinking of different scenarios in the dark, when she shouldve been paying attention to their surroundings. She had to put it aside for now.

But she had reached a decision.

No more secrets, she thought. Im tired of them. Im going to get him alone and ask him directly the next time we meet and Ill watch his reaction. Thats the only way Ill know for sure. And if he is the Fool, thenIll is the Travellers mana getting stronger?

Hold on for a second, Drestra stopped and raised her hand for Peter and Paul to do the same.

What is it? Peter gripped his sword. More monsters?

No, she said. Something else. Im sensing a familiar mana near here.

Isis it the Travellers? Paul asked.

Yes, but weve been heading deeper underground and away from her shrine for a while now, she said.

Focused on her mana senses, she stepped forward.

There was no mistaking it.

And the further down this tunnel we go, the stronger it is. Were getting close to something.