Raw VI is well underway! It’s about 1/3 finished as of right now, and I’m on track with a late March release.
Here is chapter one.
The second chapter can be viewed here on my Patreon if you are a 1$/month Patron.
The third chapter, and subsequent chapters, can be viewed here if you are a 3$/month Patron.
“Did you know?” Jak asked as he picked up the Star Crystal.
“That he was a magic-user? Yes,” the old warrior replied quietly.
Jak laughed bitterly. He stood and held the crystal up to the pale sunlight, studying it briefly.
“I’ve never seen one so powerful,” the warrior said.
“Neither have I,” Jak lied, placing the crystal securely in one of his pouches. He turned to face the older man. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Brentak, tribemaster.”
“Well, Brentak, tell me: what was your role to your former tribemaster?”
“Body guard and advisor. Technically I was the Guide. I relayed the tribemaster’s wishes to the rest of the tribe,” Brentak replied.
Jak listened carefully as he looked out over the mountainside village. He listened for lying, for any untruths the man might be inclined to speak.
But Brentak’s voice was steady, his stance sure.
“I get the impression that there was more to it,” he said finally.
“Yes.”
Jak turned to face Brentak finally, studying the man. He was large and built, his body made of slabs of muscle. He had an air of efficiency, even though the hair in his beard was mostly gray and wrinkles gathered at the corners of his eyes and mouth.
He was old, but he still stood straight, and his movements were quick and decisive.
Jak imagined he would be a formidable foe.
It was obvious that the others respected him and looked up to him, relied on him even. While Jak had been doling out orders and asking questions, getting a general sense of the situation and, for the moment, ensuring that Tolvar on the island knew the war was over, at least with his tribe and the elves, they had all looked to Brentak to speak for them.
“I’m going to be relying on you Brentak,” he said after a long moment. “I’m not going to be like your old tribemaster. I cannot stay here and watch over everything. I have another tribe to run, I have an entire island to bring peace to, other villages to talk with, maintain alliances with.”
“You speak with them personally?” Brentak replied, a small amount of surprise breaking through his calm.
“I do. I spend as much time away from my village as I do in it. Sometimes more. I ensure that the important things get done by doing them myself. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I killed your idiot tribemaster. So...what else did you do? You want to tell me something.”
“Yes. I served as a...guardian, between Toval and the rest of the tribe.”
“How so?” Jak asked, curious despite everything.
Brentak looked uncomfortable for the first time, casting a quick, unhappy glance at the dead man beside them. “He wasn’t always like this. He was scared in the beginning, he became tribemaster young. But I helped him. Guided him. He grew into a decent leader, but he was too taken with whims and anger and, later, hatred. And greed.”
He sighed mournfully. “I did what I could, but at some point I learned that he only heard what he wanted to. And he grew vengeful with those who told him what he did not want to hear. I should have killed him at some point, but...I couldn’t. He reminded me of his father, for better or for worse, and his father was my best friend. When he died, a piece of my heart died with him. I couldn’t let that go.”
Slowly, he looked out over the mountainside. “And we all suffered for my weakness.”
“That won’t happen again, will it?” Jak asked.
Brentak’s eyes returned to his own, filled now with a kind of cold, hard strength. “No. It will not. If I feel that you are leading us to our doom, I will challenge you. I know you will kill me, but I will challenge you.”
Jak nodded. “Good. It should be that way. And you won’t have to. This island must come to peace, or we will all die.”
Brentak nodded. “I see that now.”
“I’m not sure if you do,” Jak murmured. “You know the Barrens?”
“I have heard of them,” he replied. “We all have. That is the Tolvar legacy.”
“They are growing. And they will keep growing unless we find some way to fix Uzek’s Transgression.”
Brentak sneered unconsciously at that, but it came and went quickly. “Uzek,” he murmured.
“Do you know anything that might help us? Is there anyone who might know what exactly happened?”
But the big warrior was shaking his head. “No. Our control and eventual outlaw of magic was not done completely out of hatred. Everyone who knew what happened that day in any real detail either died there at the Transgression, or disappeared elsewhere on the island.”
Jak frowned. “What do you mean? Where? Who?”
“I don’t know where,” Brentak replied. “But for some years after, our most knowledgeable magic-user remained by our side.”
“I thought that was Uzek.”
“No. Uzek was powerful, yes, but it was Rall who knew just about everything about magic. He was old even when I was young. He knew old secrets. He had a tribe within a tribe. His inner circle. His...Revek.”
“Revek?”
“That is what they called themselves. The Revek. They served magic, studied it, twisted it. He grew more secretive, more obsessive. I eventually learned that he was still playing with death magic, even after we agreed to forbid it. I almost killed him. I should have. But he was very powerful, he and his inner circle. We settled on exile, but in reality, they chose to leave. I have no idea where they are now, or even if they are still alive.”
He paused, then looked at Jak more intently. “But you say the Barrens, they grow?”
“Every day. Slowly, but surely. They will eventually consume the whole island. An island of death, where no plants will grow, and sickness will reign.”
“I did not know that,” he whispered. “How can we stop it?”
“That’s precisely what I’m trying to determine right now. That was why I did this: so we could stop the fighting and focus on the saving and the healing. And now I must turn my attention to the karn.”
“I do not believe you will succeed with them as you have here,” Brentak muttered.
“Don’t be so sure. You are aware that the embyr control the karn, control their minds? Force them to fight?” he asked.
The warrior nodded. “Yes. But I also know that the others fight of their own free will.”
“Not all of them. I have made a lasting peace with some of them. Dozens and dozens of karn live among my people, your former brethren and some elves as well, in Avat’s Forest. We do not fight. We share meals and caves, hunt and battle together, as friends.”
Brentak stared at him for a long time. “I will have to see it to believe it,” he said finally.
“I will gladly have you see it. But tell me of your war with the karn.”
He sighed. “It goes poorly. You know of our villages?”
“I know Fair Field, obviously. I know that Wetstone is nestled up against the northern edge of the central lake.”
“Shadow Lake,” he said.
“Interesting. I know of another two villages, farther east, towards the embyr’s territory.”
“The first is Gather Village. That is where our food here mostly comes from. They hunt, they fish, they forage, and bring back the excess here. Otherwise, we would not survive. Farther is the Verdant Valley, and Verdant Village. That valley is lush with life, overflowing with it. And with slate, clay, good trees, everything we need to survive. It is also too close to embyr villages. We fight the karn constantly there. Sometimes they make it to Gather or Wetstone. They have many, many karn. They have been breeding them.”
Jak shook his head, horrified at the thought. Being mind-enslaved was bad enough, but that?
He had to end this as quickly as possible. His mind was already working. He’d been thinking in the background of all this on how to end the conflict with the karn, and he thought he had an idea. It was an unstable one, and relied too much on luck, but after everything, it was all he had to go on.
“I have an order for you to carry out,” Jak said.
Brentak straightened up. “Yes, tribemaster.”
“Send a runner to Verdant. Tell them to abandon it. Take as much as they can carry and flee to Wetstone and Gather. Reinforce there.”
“But...the karn will have it then.”
“I know, but not for long. I believe I can find a way to end the embyr’s control over the karn. And once I do that, I can unite the karn and bring us all to peace. Then we can retake Verdant.”
Brentak looked dubious. “How long do you think it will take? The cold days approach. Even now, I’m not sure if we have enough to survive them…”
“Not long,” Jak replied. “I understand your concern, but the karn have clearly bled you nearly dry. How many have you lost against them? Against the elves? Against my own tribe? How many did Toval send to their deaths?”
“Too many,” Brentak muttered bitterly.
“Exactly. I know you are most familiar with fighting, with taking by force, but as I just proved, there is another way. I could have waged war on this village, killing everyone here, and losing dozens, maybe hundreds of my own people in the process.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No, I didn’t. Because I want to preserve life. There will always be a need to fight, always the struggle of survival, but we need not wage it against each other. I have proven we can work together, make it easier, safer.”
Brentak still seemed uncomfortable.
“I know this isn’t easy for you. I don’t want to force you to do my bidding, Brentak. You strike me as a smart and honest warrior whose concern for his people outweighs his concern for himself. So, as one warrior trying to watch out for his people to another, I am asking you to trust me. Because I need your help with this. And the decisions that we make over the next few days will determine if they live or die,” Jak said, gesturing to the village below them.
Brentak stood staring at the village for a long moment. His expression might have been carved from stone.
Slowly, it softened, very gently, almost imperceptible.
He turned back fully to Jak and straightened up to his full height.
“I will do as you ask, tribemaster.”
“Thank you, Brentak. And whatever excess was being stored in there,” he said, gesturing now to the caves he had found Toval in, “give it to the people. Feed them. Heal them. Shelter them. I got the impression Toval was keeping a lot to himself.”
“He was,” Brentak said quietly. “And I will. What will you do?”
“I must speak with my own people. But I will send help. It’s obvious that this mountainside is no longer habitable. If they stay here during the cold days, too many of them will die. So, I will go put together a group to come bearing supplies to help them survive for now, and I will find them other places to live. Safer places.”
The warrior nodded. He hesitated, briefly.
“A question?” Jak asked.
“Yes...do you truly think you can make peace with the karn?”
“I do. Once I find a way to break the embyr’s hold over them, Talon will help me unite them.”
Brentak’s face lit up with surprise and joy. “That old miserable bastard is still alive?!”
“He is...do you know him?”
“Yes!” He laughed and shook his head. “We fought. More than once. He...is an honorable karn. I never thought I would grow to respect a karn, but...I would much like to see him again.”
“I’m sure he’d like to see you. I’ll tell him of you.”
“I would appreciate it greatly.”
“All right, I have to go now. Get them used to the idea of leaving the mountainside, living elsewhere on the island, and, if at all possible, living alongside elves, magic-users, and possibly karn.”
“That last part will be difficult, but the first? We have known that this mountainside is dead for a few seasons now. Many are ready to leave. Many hunger. They will be sorry to leave, but not that sorry. Though, you should address them.”
Jak nodded. “That’s a good idea.”
He focused as he stepped back over to the Blood Stone, where the curved sheer wall of rock would help carry his voice to the others in the village below. His mind kept wanting to go in other directions. There was so much to do!
He noticed several people looked up immediately as he stepped into place.
“My new tribemates!” he called, and then everyone looked up at him. “I must depart to other parts of the island. As I have looked out over this village, the truth has been revealed to me: this village will not bear you through the winter. We must find new land for you live in. I will speak with the other tribes, and we will find safe places for you and your families to live and weather the cold days! While I am gone, Brentak will speak for me. Prepare yourselves! I will return!”
It sounded so strange, hearing his voice echoing over the village like that. He worried briefly about how the villagers would take it, but another cheer of ‘Tribemaster!’ sounded.
They seemed happy.
He could understand that. This place was bleak. It looked stripped, barren. There was hardly any plant life. Everything was rock and mud.
Once it had been a happy home, but no longer.
Now, they needed to adapt and make hard changes, just like everyone else on the island.
Jak walked back over to Brentak. “Their lives are in your hands while I’m gone,” he said.
He didn’t want to cut it so fine as to outright tell him that, but just as he was asking for trust, Jak was also putting a lot of trust in the old warrior.
“As it has been for many seasons,” Brentak replied easily. “Don’t worry, I will handle them well. We know each other, we trust each other. And they are happy. We’ve been aching for change for many seasons now. And it has finally come.”
Jak nodded and clapped him once on the shoulder, then began making his way down through the village.
The man was right.
For better or for worse…
Change had come to them all.