Valanti approached the town of Lestil slowly with a little confusion. Most of the towns he visited were either quiet with most of the residents at home, or bustling with activity. But on this day, all of the citizens of Lestil were gathered at the temple. Valanti could not recall any holidays or rites that were observed on the fifth day of the second moon. Most holidays called for celebration, or fasting. No known holidays called for an entire town to pray at the same time in the same place. Valanti rode past the pub. Closed. His horse walked past the baker. Closed, and no smoke rose from any of the chimneys of the homes. Only the temple at the center of town seemed to have any signs of life save for the occasional dog bark. The temple loomed over the small village. It stood with a tall stone bell tower, and was made of some cheap stone made to look like marble. The rest of the town was composed of smaller thatched roof buildings. A handful of the more expensive dwellings sported wooden shingles.

As Valanti neared the temple, a couple of stableboys ran out to greet him.

“They’re all waiting for you inside. We’ll take care of your horse for you,” the taller of the two said.

“They’re waiting for me?” Valanti asked.

“The prophet said you would come, and we’ve been waiting for three days.”

“Why?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. Please, sir, we’re just ordered to take your horse.”

Valanti sighed and could see that the boy was sincere. He climbed down from Trouble and handed her reins to the stableboys. They led her off toward the stables. Valanti exhaled and watched his breath drift off with the cold wind. He trudged slowly toward the temple, and the snow was halfway up to his knees.

Every head turned to the doorway as Valanti entered the temple. Everyone looked at him with a look of awe, or fear. Valanti’s footsteps echoed as he walked down the clearing made for him.

“So, I hear you’ve been expecting me,” Valanti said stopping in the middle of the temple. The temple was silent for a long moment. A priest of the goddess Nesil whose name means “hope” stepped forward and bowed before the tall wizard.

“Our prophet said you would come. That you would bring trouble, and we should pray. She would tell us no more,” the priest stammered for a moment. “Tell us why you have come. We beg you to tell us the prophecy is false, so that we can have faith in the wisdom of wizards once more.”

Valanti approached the altar where the priest stood. “What prophecy have you heard? Did some false prophet tell you I came to bring harm?” He looked about the room taking command. “I came to help you, and I bring a message of warning to you all. The plague is heading this way. Trinstil and Eoleine have already fallen. The council has ordered all cities east of the river Mas Riol to be evacuated to East Gate garrison.”

Murmurs spread throughout the temple hall. The people seemed even more afraid than before.

“Silence!” the priest called. “The prophecy rings true.” The people turned their attention to the priest. “She said one would come to tell of dangerous things. She told us you would try to help us, but in the end we will be doomed by your magic! The people of Trinstil and Eoleine died from the madness because Nesil was angry with them. Nesil looks after us because we are faithful. This is why she sent us a prophet.”

“Let me see this prophet. Let her tell me in her own words.” Valanti paused. “Priest of Nesil, if what you say is true I will readily give my life to save your entire village. Please, I beg you. Let me speak to the prophet.”

Valanti’s stomach was in a knot, and his mouth was dry. In all his life he had never seen anyone escape the fate of a true prophecy. Sometimes men couldn’t even escape the fate of a false prophecy out of fear it might be true. This had to be a false prophecy. Valanti knew he would never harm an innocent life.

“Very well, you may see her, but only if she chooses to come forward of her own free will. After all, she has seen what you will do to us. It is her right to be afraid.” All of the crowd began to look around waiting for what would happen next.

A young beautiful woman stepped up to the altar and bowed before Valanti, and then before the priest. The crowd gasped. It was customary to bow before the priest, and occasionally an important diplomat. Even then, one bowed to the priest first. She moved her long red hair behind her pointy ears and let her tiara show.

“I’m sorry for what the scion must do,” she said as she met Valanti’s cold blue eyes.

The wizard met her gaze with a stroke of fear in his eyes. He could tell that her tiara was no fake. A beautiful amethyst jewel in the shape of an eye was set in the middle right between her two green elven eyes. It was infused with the power to protect her mind’s eye. If a prophet did not wear this, she would go insane with visions of the fates of everyone around her. She had to be a prophet, otherwise the gem’s magic would kill her.

“A wizard,” she began, “will come with trouble at his side. The angels will soon follow to claim the hearts of men. With only a few words he will claim the lives of all, but Nesil will save their souls.”

“Tell me. What can I do? Must this come to pass? I am not capable of this crime, this, this atrocity,” Valanti said.

She closed her eyes, and a tear trickled to the ground. “It’s no crime, but mercy. It is too late to save these people. There is nothing to be done. Before the sun rises you will kill everyone in this temple, and by your hand thousands more will fall.” She cried.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Please forgive me,” she said as she took his hand and locked her eyes to his.

Valanti’s mind was transported from the temple. He hovered above a tall skinny figure riding a white and brown spotted horse. The figure’s short black unbrushed hair drifted in the wind, and he raised a staff toward a dam. Fire began to swirl around the staff, and shot forward to the base of the dam. Water began to seep through, and stones began to shake. The figure turned the horse and Valanti saw what he suspected. He saw himself fleeing from the dam as the river forced itself free of its former prison. Valanti found himself hovering higher over the scene, and saw entire villages, and cities flooded from the river. Men, women, and children were all displaced from their homes.

The vision changed, and he saw himself yelling at a familiar friend in blue robes, Jaye Aeotiv. His other self begged the man for mercy, but Jaye shook his head. He pointed a finger toward Valanti and a bolt of lightning shot out.

Valanti was jolted back into reality, and the prophet bolted into a rear door leading up to the tower.

The people of the temple began to yell, cry, and gossip. The priest of Nesil had a difficult time keeping the mob organized. Many started to leave the temple, but found the front doors to be locked from the outside. Some began to chant for the death of the wizard. There were a minor few that fell to their knees and prayed to the goddess Nesil.

Valanti reasoned with himself as the room spun about him. The voices and angry faces blurred into one sound, and one image. Prophecies are always misleading. They never occur as they sound. They never happen as they appear in visions.

“Kill me!” Valanti called out. “Kill me now before this prophecy comes to pass!” The mob grew silent.

“Gladly,” a short, round blacksmith said as he drew a knife and started toward Valanti.

“No!” the priest said moving in front of Valanti. “Who are we to interfere with the will of Nesil?”

The blacksmith looked down and shook his head a moment. “You brought us all here. You locked us in here. You want us dead!” He stabbed the priest and let out a howl as if he were an animal.

Others in the temple began to accuse one another of different crimes and misdeeds. The madness had come upon them just as Valanti had warned. The wizard ducked under the mob and ran up the stairs through the doorway where the prophet had gone. He found the prophet at the top of the tower looking out at the countryside.

“What is going on here?” Valanti asked.

“They are here,” she said looking around. “I can see them. They thrive on fear.”

“Who? I don’t see anything.”

“You know what you must do to save these people,” she said trying to hold back sobs as tears streamed from her eyes. “Nesil knows I don’t have the courage, and so I gathered them here for you by her command.” She screamed, “Get off! Get off!” The prophet swatted at the air, completely convinced something was after her.

The madness has taken her.

“Help me…” she begged as she fell to the floor.

Valanti didn’t really think much, but shot is open palm forward toward the prophet. A cone of ice swirled from his hand and flew just behind the prophet. An ice sculpture formed just behind her.

Valanti stood before the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. It was an angel with wings that stretched twice her height. Her arm reached out toward the prophet, and her face was maniacal.

“Now you see what I see,” the prophet said, “I never thought anyone else would ever be able to see them.”

“What are they?”

“You call them the plague, or the madness. Nesil calls them beautiful demons. They feed on fear, and take control of the mind of a host. They usually escape when the host dies, but if they are unable to find a new host they perish. You have to kill the host before the demon can escape.”

“I can’t...”

“If you don’t destroy this temple, and all these people, the demons will spread to other cities even faster than they already are. You must!”

“What is your name? I must know the name of the prophet who Nesil sends to command this of me.”

“Celeste, first prophet of Nesil.”

Valanti searched within himself for power, but he knew there was not enough.

“Nesil will provide,” Celeste said sensing the source of his hesitation.

He closed his eyes and ice shot from his palms into the floor of the tower. The entire tower frosted over, and eventually the temple with it. After only a few moments the entire temple was frosted with ice. The inhabitants below were all frozen solid, and ice sculptures of demons stood all over the temple.

What have I done? Valanti’s eyes grew heavy and he collapsed to the ground.

Jaye Aeotiv read a letter silently to himself while Lady Odrey waited and examined her nails. Jaye’s blue robes flowed gracefully around him as he approached Lady Odrey. He shook his head in disbelief, and handed a letter back to her.

“Valanti was my best student, and one of my closest friends. He would never slaughter an entire village,” Jaye said.

“He is not the first wizard to become susceptible to the madness,” Lady Odrey said without a hint of emotion in her cold voice which was uncommon for a human.

“This report must be mistaken.”

“Two survivors said the man called his horse Trouble. Do you know anyone else with a horse named such? If you ask me, I’d say he’s always been a rebellious one. Why are you in such denial?”

“You think he has been infected with the plague?” Jaye had to rationalize how his friend could come to cause such violence.

“It’s worse than that,” she said. “Not only does a massacre follow when a wizard goes mad, but it seems that the madness spreads even faster.” She turned around to face a map laid across her office desk. There were red lines drawn on it, and dates written down next to cities.

“Every city Valanti visits seems to be completely destroyed within a day of his arrival. Even other wizards that have become infected haven’t caused this much destruction. They move about erratically and eventually die of starvation. He appears to be moving from city to city in a calculated manner,” she said.

“I will find him. If I cannot cure him I will deal with him myself.” Jaye shook his head. The news was almost too much to bear.

“One of the Knights will accompany you,” Lady Odrey said with a look of concern. “Starting tomorrow all wizards must be accompanied by a Knight of the Fallen Star.”

“Isn’t that a bit extreme?” Jaye threw his hands up.

“People are terrified. Look at what just one wizard can do.”

“Valanti isn’t just any wizard,” Jaye shot back. “I’m not even sure how he is capable of doing any of this. No wizard is that powerful.”

“The common people don’t know one wizard from the next. They need to feel protected. The deed is done, and the vote was unanimous.”

“Very well.” Jaye bowed. “I’ll be ready tomorrow morning.”

Jaye did not sleep well. Valanti was as good as dead if he had the madness. Maybe there is a cure. Just maybe Valanti can be spared, and live in exile. Alive.

The whole business about the Knights was troubling as well. They were trained to combat magic after the wizard Alexander caused a rebellion just 200 years ago. They were imbued with some sort of mysterious magic from a fallen star. The power made them nearly immune to other magic and it could not be used by wizards. The thought of every wizard being followed around by a Knight was discomforting. Knights were trained to restrain, subdue, and destroy wizards; even the mundane commoners were afraid of them. Jaye knew that his leadership was needed now more than ever. He had to appear strong, and unconcerned about the entire situation. He trained many of the wizards of Klanorah back when he was an instructor at the abbey. Now he was a member of the council of sages that advises the senate. That morning he wrote a letter to encourage his peers to be kind to their new companions. He wrote that the entire arrangement was only intended to be temporary, and warned against speculation about it becoming permanent. Jaye felt like a puppet.

There was a knock at the door to his study, and a stout youthful human clad in chainmail entered the room without invitation. He bowed slightly as Jaye stood to greet him. Jaye couldn’t help but stare at the man’s onyx jeweled headband that identified him as a Knight of the Fallen Star. The Knights all wore thin headbands with an onyx jewel at the center. Nobody was certain why they all wore them, but there were all sorts of stories about them.

“Oh, you’re an elf. They didn’t tell me that,” the man said.

“Is that a problem for you?” Jaye asked.

“No, no. It’s just I would’ve expected… well, it’s just easier for humans to ascend political rank.” He paused a moment. “You must be very skilled to be in your position.”

“Wizards are different. We don’t have rules as the aristocrats. You have a name?”

“Alistair”

“I hope we both survive this,” Jaye said as he extended his hand.

Alistair shook Jaye’s hand as well. Jaye caught a glance of a curious tattoo on his forearm of a bird with a cross on its chest. It was about the size of a coin.

Where have I seen that before?

“We have a lot of work to do. The search for the fugitive is your own task. I am authorized to assist if necessary, but I am to let you lead the investigation,” Alistair said.

Fugitive? Valanti can’t really be guilty, can he?

“Yes… yes. They made it very clear to me that your job is to babysit me.”

“I wouldn’t call it that exactly.” Alistair smiled. “We can be partners in this investigation. Just give it a chance.”

“Let’s just call it what it is. You’re to kill me at the first sign I become infected with the madness. Just keep to yourself, and I’ll do the same.”

“Suit yourself, but it’s a long journey without conversation.”

“You’ll find that most of us sages prefer it that way.”

Jaye walked away toward the door. He grabbed a satchel of papers and headed toward the stable. Alistair kept up with him, and Jaye’s elven ears could barely take it. Everything about Alistair was loud. His voice was loud, his sword’s hilt banging against his chain leggings was loud, and every step of his boots was loud. Even turning his head was loud. Jaye began to doubt the legends of armies being surprised, and destroyed by lightly armored troops in the dark of night.

Jaye knew the stable was near as the smell of livestock filled his nostrils. The nobility didn’t care much for it, but Jaye began to recall his old adventures on the road. The smell of the stable was the gateway between adventures. The stable was always the first, and last place to visit. He was partly excited to be back out on the road, but knowing he had to capture his friend was sobering.

Jaye’s horse, Ebony, was already waiting for him when he arrived. She was black from head to toe. Jaye wasn’t the most creative when it came to naming his horses. He always named them according to their color. He always said, “A wizard’s mind doesn’t have spare room to remember names. It’s just a waste of space.” He secured his satchel to her and climbed atop.

Alistair fumbled with a few lines in attempt to tether a donkey to his steed. Eventually Alistair climbed aboard his light brown horse after sorting it all out. Alistair was a sight to be see. He looked part soldier, and part merchant. His donkey was loaded with enough supplies to move a small family across the continent, and his horse had even more bags. Jaye gave his own satchel a glance, and shook his head.

“Is that all you’re taking?” Alistair asked.

Jaye nodded and rode on outside of town. Alistair followed, and the rattle of cookware followed closely behind on the donkey. Everything about Alistair was loud.

They traveled east for two days without much chatter. They passed a few merchants, and even some patrols without incident. They set up camp near a small pond off the main road on the third night. Jaye studied Alistair carefully each night. Alistair spent at least two hours each night neatly setting up a fire pit, tent, chair, and even scouted out a place to hang food a ways from camp. Jaye usually looked about for simple materials to make a lean-to, and slept on a bedroll. After Alistair finished setting up camp that third night, he presented a fishing pole, and proceeded to fish in the pond.

“Of course you have a fishing pole,” Jaye teased.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you don’t exactly pack light.”

“Knights of the Fallen Star are taught to be prepared.” He cast the line out.

“Indeed.”

They had fish for dinner, and even Jaye had to admit it was better than nuts. They didn’t sleep for very long that night. Jaye always erected a field around the campsite that should alert them of any creatures larger than a rabbit entering the area. However, he couldn’t cast such a powerful spell every single night without draining himself. He chose a spot off the main road, and covered their tracks so he could recuperate his energy without much threat of bandits.

Jaye woke up in the dark of night with the blade of a knife at his throat.

“Shh!” a voice whispered, “stay still, and you live. Move, and you die.”

Jaye could see the fire still burning. That idiot was supposed to put out the fire.

“How many of you are there?” Jaye heard someone ask Alistair.

“Just the three of us,” Jaye answered before Alistair could speak.

“Three? There’s only two of you,” the knife-wielding figure said.

“Oh, Tristan was off hunting. He’s usually back by morning.”

“Who hunts at night?”

“A nightgazer was stalking us. He went to deal with it,” Jaye answered.

“Liar,” the figure responded, and pressed the knife a little.

Jaye didn’t have the energy for any amazing spells, but he did have the energy to play a good ruse. Nobody in their right mind would go out to hunt a nightgazer. Nightgazers hunted in packs, and it took several men to take down a single one. Jaye closed his eyes and created an illusion of multiple nightgazer howls off in the distance. At the tail end of the howl he added a yelp.

“Boss, I don’t think we should stick around here,” the other voice chimed in.

“Stand your ground.”

The howling continued. Alistair took the opening and knocked the other bandit off his feet. Jaye could see his assailant’s hand quiver, and rolled out from under the knife at the same time. The lead bandit ran away, and Alistair already had the other in a headlock.

“Nice thinking,” Alistair said.

Jaye nodded, and looked closely at the bandit. “Tell your friends that a wizard and a Knight of the Fallen Star are traveling this road. I’ve shown you mercy tonight, and I don’t want to see you again.”

The bandit attempted to nod from within the headlock. Jaye got a good look at his brown eyes, bent nose, and the scar that ran across his cheek. He wouldn’t forget the face.

“Let him go,” Jaye said.

“Really?” Alistair asked.

“Yes.”

Alistair did as he was told, and the bandit ran away.

They traveled all the way to Lestil without further incident. The entire town was abandoned, and the temple was still wet from the melted ice.

Bodies laid all around the temple. Most of them were blue or purplish. Nobody was brave enough to come near the town to bury the dead.

“So he just froze them all to death?” Alistair asked.

“You read the report.”

“Yes, but this… this is different.”

Jaye shook his head. “There were only two survivors, and they traveled along the main road. A patrol came to confirm. They also traveled on the main road. We need to find the tracks of just one man that left this town.”

“But, why did we come here? We already know the direction he is traveling from the other towns that were also attacked.”

“Yes, but I want to see where’s he’s been. This is an investigation. We need to see if he’s working alone.”

“But the witnesses—”

“What about them? One wizard cannot do this. Not even Valanti Kaltoz. Even if he could do this there is no way he could walk away. It took nearly the rest of my reserves to simply cast that illusion on the bandits. He would’ve passed out for days.”

Alistair did not protest further, and the two looked around the small town for clues. Alistair was the first to spot a trail moving westward out of the town. There were small footprints in the mud, and two lines alongside them.

“There are some small footprints here,” Alistair said.

Jaye looked over the tracks for a moment. “I think this is what we’ve been looking for.”

“These aren’t a man’s footprints, but probably those of a woman dragging off the dead to be buried.”

“Or they could be the tracks left by a woman transporting an unconscious wizard. This could mean that he wasn’t working alone,” Jaye added.

The tracks went on for several hours through light forest. The sun was setting, and Jaye began to worry about where they would set camp. He could scare off some bandits with imaginary nightgazers, but the real things were something to be feared by even a wizard. Occasionally Alistair would look behind only to mutter something to himself. Ebony even protested with the occasional sigh about pressing onward into the thickening forest. The tracks led them to a secluded log cabin with a brick chimney. There was no light, and most of the cabin had been reclaimed by the forest. It was certainly clear that whoever left the tracks had stopped in the cabin.

Alistair peeked into each of the windows as he made his way around to the back of the cabin. When he made his way back to the front he tapped on the door. There was no answer. Alistair drew his sword, and slowly opened the door. It was already too dark to see inside. The sun’s last light barely peeked through the trees. The air grew cold, and mist swirled about the forest floor.

Jaye provided a lantern, and Alistair entered slowly. Something scurried away from the floor to a hole in the ceiling as the darkness retreated from the single-room cabin.

“Was that a rat?” Alistair asked.

“I didn’t get a good look at it, but rats can’t fly.”

“It was probably only a bat then.”

Jaye shook his head.

“Well, what is it?”

Jaye did not answer, but looked around the cabin. There was no evidence of Valanti, or anyone else having stayed in the cabin. A nightgazer howled in the distance.

Alistair looked at Jaye with a grave expression.

“The horses,” Jaye said.

The both ran outside and hurried to remove the saddles and packs from the horses. Jaye finished first, and gave Ebony a nice slap on the rear. The sound of her trot faded in the distance.

Jaye assisted Alistair with his horse, and they sent her off into the night as well. The donkey had already run off on its own with all of Alistair’s gear.

“That donkey of yours is good as dead with all that junk,” Jaye said.

“Maybe he’ll have a chance.”

“Maybe.”

“We’ll have to get up nice and early to go find the horses,” Alistair said.

“Ebony is trained to come back on her own.”

Jaye didn’t say anything else, but went inside the cabin and began to dig through some scrolls while Alistair spent most of the evening looking out the cabin windows in the direction of the nightgazers.

“Have you ever seen a live one?” Alistair whispered.

“Yes.”

“Are they as bad as they say?”

“Only if you they find you. Keep quiet.”

The howls were right outside. They sat silent in complete darkness after Jaye quenched the lantern’s flame.

The nightgazers scratched the side of the cabin. A claw larger than a man’s head came through the window and fumbled about knocking over old trinkets. Alistair clutched his sword, and Jaye began uttering an incantation under his breath.

The door burst open, and some moonlight leaked in bouncing off the mist. A black creature larger than a dog, but smaller than a horse crept into the room and snarled. Its two barbed tails flicked from side to side hitting the door frame. It sniffed about the room while drool dripped from its mouth.