Beyond War
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- For other uses, see Beyond War (disambiguation).
Beyond War is a novel by Boyd Robertson.
Contents |
[edit] Setting
The events of Beyond War take place in an alternate universe, similar to ours but possessing small differences, such as the presence of magic. The multiverse theory is central to the story's plot. See the map of Sayants.
[edit] Story
[edit] The Battle of Arkon
The story begins with a battle between two nations: Giart, a large, rich land power, and Spiarn, a smaller, clan-based warrior nation, both fighting over a city called Arkon, which is build around a bridge over the River Tarren, the boundary between the two countries. Both are on the same continent of Sayants, which is on an unnamed planet existing in the universe the story unfolds in. Leading the Army of Giart is the story's central character, Tomas, who holds the ancient sword, Manzorus. During the battle, he finds a strange object: a small silver ring on a delicate necklace. He puts it on and continues with the battle. After winning the battle, he is recalled back to Giart's capital city, Giartar, by King Tobar. Upon arriving at Giart he finds that Tobar is dead and has been succeeded by his son Prince Jerrimer, a violent drug addict. Jerrimer orders Tomas arrested. He is thrown in prison and tortured for two days. Later, Jerrimer interrogates him, and Tomas deduces that Jerrimer's drug use has sent him insane, and that he now sees himself as a "Messiah" with only one goal - uniting the world under him. Tomas does not know why Jerrimer has decided to eliminate him, and questions him on this, but Jerrimer leaves, ordering Tomas to be publicly executed. At the execution, as the axe comes down on his neck, the ring that he had found during the battle (which had proved impossible to remove) sends out an extremely powerful shockwave, killing the executioner and incapacitating the surrounding crowd. Tomas stumbles free but soon succumbs to shock and collapses.
[edit] Boyar
He awakes in Lharn Forest, a large forest some distance from Giartar. Standing over him is the story's other central character, a unusual, eccentric and bald young man in monk's robes and carrying a staff, who introduces himself as Boyar. He explains that the article around his neck is of critical importance and that Tomas must come with him. He also tells Tomas that the chain on the necklace is bound magically to his soul, and removing it will result in Tomas's death. Only a powerful sorcerer can remove the chain safely. Boyar reveals that he is such a sorcerer but refuses to remove the chain unless Tomas helps him. Tomas, at first angry and confused, reluctacntly agrees.
Boyar takes Tomas south to Mar, a lawless haven of crime and hedonism, where he explains that his "contact" is waiting for him. The "contact" turns out to be a beautiful but strange young woman named Eva. Boyar explains further that there are three other rings (which he calles "Glyphs") scattered around the continent, and all four of them must be found and bought to Eva before his "competitors" find them. Tomas, thinking his debt to Boyar repaid, asks for the Glyph to be removed, but is refused again. Boyar tells him that on his own Tomas will be found quickly by Boyar's "competitors" and will be in great danger - his only choice is to stay with him and Eva.
While preparing to leave to the east, Tomas sees his former bodyguard and good friend Taiwa, a huge, black-skinned giant, being sold into slavery. Torn between saving his friend and avoiding the authorities, he offers to buy Taiwa. However, being flat broke, he is forced to enter a brutal gladiatorial match in one of Mar's many public arenas. During the fight he faces off against a skilled slave gladiator called Sly. He defeats Sly in such an entertaining fight that the crowds throw gold coins into the arena. With these new funds Tomas purchases both Sly and Taiwa, and immediately frees them. Faced with life on his own, Sly agrees to travel with the other five to the east.
[edit] Rulat
They arrive in a country called Rulat, an ally of Giart. Boyar tells them that the second Glyph is in the possession of Ilesha, the daughter of King Tymm. When asked how they are to take the ring fom the princess Boyar simply shrugs. While travelling to Ruwee, the capital of Rulat, they encounter a young man fleeing Rulati soldiers. The group hides, but Boyar steps in and incapacitates the soldiers in an impressive display of skill. The grateful young man introduces himself as Jayon, a highly skilled archer, who possesses several magical gem arrowheads, which can be used to affect his arrows. He explains that he was fleeing from capture because he had recently been discovered in Princess Ilesha's bedroom after a midnight tryst. He had escaped from the capital but was being pursued to the port city of Zimmarway when the soldiers had caught up with him. Boyar realizes that this is their way to get to Ilesha.
Upon entering Ruwee, they disguise Jayon and sneak into the palace. Tomas notices that Boyar seems unusually edgy and quiet - he has still not revealed the nature of the Glyphs, his or Eva's background, or the identity of his "competitors". They enter the palace successfully and slip past the guards, no mean feat considering the size of their party and Taiwa's rather non-stealthy profile. They happen upon a personal meeting between King Tymm and his daughter as he consoles her over the loss of Jayon. Tymm, upon seeing them, calls for the guards. Boyar sees a black shape flashing past the window and shouts for everyone to get down. A huge, maevolent figure - Boyar's "competitor" smashes through the wall, pinning Boyar to the wall. He screams for the group to run, and they do, snatching the Glyph from the terrified Ilesha as they do.
The huge, black-cloaked figure, whose face is covered by an eyeless hemet and hands are fitted huge, clawed gauntlets, throws Boyar out of the window. Boyar recovers and begins to flee across the rooftops down toward the bay of Rulat. The thing chases him and destroys several buildings in the process. By this time, Tomas and the others have reached the harbour, and hijack a fishing ship. They are barely away when Boyar leaps off the wharf and lands onboard. He magically summons a huge gale of wind to blow the ship out of the bay and into the fearsome currents beyond. However, the thing returns, and attacks the ship. Boyar's spells prove ineffective, but he magically auguments of Jayon's arrowheads, and tells him to shoot the creature, before collapsing. When Jayon complies, the thing falls from the sky into the water, and a massive explosion detonates underwater. The wave from the blast pushes the tiny fishing boat out of the bay and into the merciless currents.
[edit] The Truth
Sometime later, Boyar awakens aboard the boat. Tomas and the others demand an explanation. He tells them the real truth: The Glyphs are not from their universe. Neither is the girl Eva.
Boyar and the huge flying thing (which Boyar calls Gazkell) are both members of an ancient race called the Tatziks, who disappeared from the face of the earth over five thousand years ago. Boyar and Eva are therefore obviously not human. He explains further that six thousand years ago the Tatziks were at war with a fearsome race called the Adasfaghkal. At the height of siege of Guartarnor (modern-day Giartar) Boyar was instructed to escort the Tatzik's ruling trinity, the Triumvirate - one of which was Tomas's distant ancestor Alox the Great - out of the falling city. During the escape one of the soldiers with Boyar, a Tatzik named Janos, turned on him and the Trivirate. Enhanced by Adasfaghkal magic, he killed two of the Trivmvirs and wounded Boyar. Alox, who wielded Manzorus, badly disfigured Janos before being mortally wounded himself. Boyar managed to blast Janos off the edge of a huge ravine, which closed up by seismic action some time later. While dragging the dying Alox out of the city, Boyar was set upon by Adasfaghkal soldiers. As he was about to be killed, the most extroadinary thing happened: a huge hole opened in the sky above their heads. On the other side was Eva's world, where a war far more extreme than Boyar's had been raging for over a billion years. Lacking any other names for them, Boyar named Eva's side Angels, and the other side Demons. A Demon (again lacking any proper name - Boyar named him "Amerioss", which means "fire" in Tatzik) had managed to construct a weapon powerful enough to obliterate the Angels. The weapon was composed of four small siver rings, made of the condensed "souls" of deceased Angels. When he used them, however, they were powerful enough to rip a hole between universes, and by freak chance, that hole had appeared over Boyar's head, six thousand years ago. The force used to create the hole created a sort of suction that drew both Eva and the four Glyphs into it, ejecting them out the other side. Eva originally possessed the form of a bolt of lightning in a vaguely human form. However, when she entered Boyar's world, she changed form, apparently unwillingly, into the shape of a young woman. Boyar theorises that this is because Eva is foreign to this universe, she is forced to change in order to obey the different laws of physics and relativity that govern his universe. The Glyphs, too, change form, from tiny, super-bright specks of light into the metal rings they are now. Alox, seeing the portal closing, realized that the magical energy that comprised the edges of the hole would be transferred into kinetic energy if the portal closed. The explosion would powerful enough to destroy nearly every atom of matter in the universe. Immediately Alox cast a containing spell around the portal, which had scaled down to microscopic proportions. Taking the small force-field orb, he hid it, before dying some time later.
Six thousand years passed, and the Tatzik empire vanished. Boyar does not tell how it vanished or how he had survived. He then tells them that around eight hundred years ago, Janos had risen from the earth, a twisted, insane soul trapped inside a destroyed body, and rechristened himself Gazkell, which in Tatzik means "Risen One". Somehow he learned of the Glyphs and of their ability to open holes between worlds. He fixated his corrupted mind on finding the four Glyphs and using them to escape this world. When Jayon points out that perhaps Gazkell leaving this world wouldn't be such a bad thing, Boyar explains that Gazkell has no knowledge of how the rings work, and if he managed to activate them, he would certainly do it wrongly. The result would be an explosion powerful enough to rip a hole between every universe in existence, essentially destroying everything that exists. Boyar explains that's why they need to find the rings and bring them to Eva before Gazkell does: because Eva can "neutralize" the power of each Glyph. Jayon gives her the ring he took from Ilesha and she does so, reducing it to a harmless piece of metal. Jayon then asks why they don't simply stop the quest now: Gazkell cannot now possess all four rings. Boyar counters by saying that if Gazkell can't get four, he'll get three. Three rings activated wrongly together would create an explosion big enough to destroy the entire planet. Two rings, enough to destroy most of the continent. One will be enough to wipe out a city. All result in the deaths of thousands, if not millions of innocent people, something Boyar cannot allow to happen.
As the group digest the enormity of this news, Boyar summons a small one-directional storm, which begins to blow them across the Great Sea to Spiarn, where the third Glyph is located. Boyar says he is not sure where in Spiarn the Glyph is, and has no idea of the location of the last one. He says he will very willingly tear up every inch of ground and seabed on the entire continent to prevent Gazkell obtaining the Glyphs.
[edit] Spiarn
They arrive at the east coast of Spiarn - a barren cliff. They abandon the boat and swim to shore, climbing the cliff, and without any food or other supplies, set out to Mohton, one of the two capital cities of Spiarn. However, they are suddenly attacked by Gazkell again, who knocks Boyar off the cliff into the raging waters below. Gazkell slaughters Jayon, Sly and Taiwa and is about to kill Eva when Tomas attacks him with Manzorus. Gazkell flees at the sight of the sword and leaves Tomas and Eva alone on the cliff face, surrounded by dead bodies, without a guide or supplies. Tomas, overcome by grief, falls to his knees and weeps. Eva, however, has different ideas. She transforms, exploding into a huge figure of lightning and radiance. With a wave of her hand she resurrects Taiwa, Sly and Jayon before collapsing back into Tomas's arms, once again in human form.
Dazed, with Eva unconscious and Boyar missing, the group once again sets out to Mohton. Halfway there, they chance upon the scene of an execution - a Spiar warlord, a man equipped with metal gauntlets inscribed with the same characters as Manzorus, is bound and kneeling, about to be executed and guarded by over twenty Spiars. Once again Tomas is torn between saving a life and continuing with the quest. Something tells him he must intervene, and the group surprises the Spiars, defeating them. They free the man, who is at first hostile. After a brief scuffle with Tomas, the man introduces himself as Chi'Sall, a Spiar clan leader, ordered dead by the treacherous alliance of the Spiar Emperor For'Staa, and Or'tizz, the leader of a rival clan. However, this news fades into insignificance when he reveals that he is wearing one of the Glyphs around his neck, completely unaware of its power. The group is shocked further when he tells them that King Jerrimer of Giart possesses the fourth and final Glyph.
For Tomas, this is two goals in one. He can kill Jerrimer for destroying his life and save the world in the same move. He realizes that Jerrimer will be in Giartar, the most invincible fortress on the continent, and surrounded by hundreds of troops. Using all his military skill, he formulates a plan to attack Giartar and seize the Glyph from Jerrimer's corpse.
As they camp several miles from Giart, Eva suddenly awakens, and goes into Tomas's tent. Without a word, she passionately embraces Tomas, and the two make love. Lying next to her, Tomas ponders if he is doing this all for the right reasons. Is he really trying to save the world - or is he simply trying to kill Jerrimer out of revenge? He knows that if he kills Jerrimer he will be able to take the throne of Giartar - Jerrimer is the last of his line, and Tomas, as High General of Giart, could assume the throne. As he ponders this, Gazkell flies several hundred metres overhead, waiting for the time to strike.
[edit] Giartar
In the mighty fortress of Giartar, Jerrimer hosts a feast to celebrate the new alliance he has just forged between Giart and Spiarn, his previous enemy. Giart's alliance with Rulat has deteriorated due to Princess Ilesha's refusal to marry Jerrimer, part of his plan to bring the East under his control. The night of the feast marks the beginning of a new alliance between Spiarn and Giart against Rulat, and the entire Southern Army of Giart has been assembled at Giartar, in preparation of an invasion of Rulat. They leave on the night of the feast. The Emperor of Spiarn, For'Staa, and his deadly accomplice Or'Tizz, are both present at the feast, and have bought a sizable contingent of elite Spiar guards with them. Jerrimer, of course, plans to betray them both and seize control of Spiarn for himself. For'staa and Or'Tizz plan to kill Jerrimer after the army leaves and seize control of Giart. Or'Tizz also plans to kill For'Staa after this happens and take the two thrones. It is into this network of plotted betrayal and intrigue that Tomas, Chi'Sall and Sly sneak, hidden inside a cart of onions pulled by Taiwa. Eva and Jayon climb onto the roof of a tavern not far from the Inner Gate of the city, and prepare for their attack.
The plan is to free a group of Spiar prisoners, the remainder of Chi'Sall's clan, all of which are due to be publicly tortured and executed the next day as a spectacle to the civilian population. The group will then split - Chi'Sall and the Spiars will keep the guards busy while Tomas, Sly and Taiwa kill Jerrimer and take the Glyph from him. After the Glyph is neutralised, Chi'Sall and his clan will leave for Spiarn, leaving Tomas in Giartar. However the presence of For'Staa and Or'Tizz and their company of elite guards is unknown to the heroes, and their plan does not cover one thing - Gazkell.
As the army marches off toward Rulat, the group spring their trap, ambushing several Giartar guards and freeing the Sall Clan. The attacking force continues further into the Citadel, until they meet Or'Tizz at the head of the Spiar guards. A ferocious and bloody battle breaks out, during which Jerrimer emerges from the citadel, high as a kite on combat drugs, sending him into an insane, bezerk fury. The drugs boost his reflexes and make him almost invincible in combat. He wears the last Glyph around his neck, unaware of its power. Tomas attacks him and a terible duel ensues. Meanwhile Chi'Sall attacks Or'Tizz, who was instrumental in the deaths of his friends and family, and violently kills him. For'Staa escapes, but is ripped to pieces in a horiffic scene by Gazkell.
Tomas and Jerrimer's duel is broken up when a burning building collapses in between them. Tomas's brief respite is interrupted when Gazkell suddenly attacks out of the sky, knocking him off his feet. Gazkell, his desire for the Glyph around Tomas's neck overriding his fear of Manzorus, prepares the killing strike. However he is struck from behind by a blast of magical energy, blowing him off Tomas and into the burning building.
Boyar is back.
Gazkell emerges unscathed from the inferno, now fixated on killing Boyar. The two Tatziks clash and their devastating magical battle takes them out of the city and to the top of Mount Nur, the mountain overlooking Giartar. After a climatic fight, Boyar burns Gazkell to death using balefire, an act which severely burns his own arm. Wounded, but not finished, Boyar jumps down from the mountain, back into the city.
Tomas and Jerrimer resume their duel, Jerrimer's drug-enhanced reflexes and strength pitted against Tomas's determination and skill combined with the sentient mind inside Manzorus. The fight is violent and bloody, Tomas eventually forces Jerrimer's sword out of his hands and impales him with Manzorus. Jerrimer, not dead yet, strikes Tomas hard enough to send him flying. He then pulls Manzorus out of his belly and demonstrates complete control over the magical sword. He explains as he walks toward Tomas, blood pouring out of his guts, that they are actually related - Tomas's mother was King Tobar's half-sister. This is why Jerrimer can control Manzorus: he carries Alox the Great's bloodline. It also explains why Jerrimer decided to have Tomas eliminated - if he ever discovered that he was next in line to the throne after Tobar's death, he would surely assassinate Jerrimer in the same manner that Jerrimer assassinated Tobar. Tomas replies that he does not seek power madly as Jerrimer does - he's come back, not to seize the throne of Giart, but to put Jerrimer out of his misery.
Jerrimer charges madly at the unarmed Tomas at this insult, but overestimates his control over Manzorus. Tomas calls the sword back to him, and it flies out of Jerrimer's hands into his, and explodes into balefire. Jerrimer can do nothing but scream as the superheated blade cuts him in half. His Glyph, badly damaged, spins into the air and shatters, the fragments of it riddling Tomas's body. The general falls to his knees, mortally wounded, then collapses lifeless onto the ground.
Eva, having entered the battle and seeing this, runs to his side, and transforms, healing his wounds instantly. However, Tomas remains lifeless. The battle ends, with Chi'Sall's clan victorious over the rival Tizz clan, and the Giartar Guard all dead or routed. Boyar lands from the jump off Mount Nur, and sees Eva cradling Tomas's body, sobbing. He realises that he is partly responsible for Tomas's death, and kneels next to his body, attempting to console Eva.
However, their mourning is interrupted when a tiny, glowing ball of light detaches itself from Manzorus's hilt, and floats into the air. Boyar realises that it is the tiny magically-contained transdimensional portal that Alox the Great had sealed, in this very spot, six thousand years ago. He then realises that the portal is being re-opened from the other side, and the magical forcefield can not contain it for long. Boyar disables the field, and the portal opens once more, in the exact same position it did before. Through the hole comes a huge, flaming figure, similar to Eva, but replete with flames and shadow instead of lightning and light. Seconds after the figure enters the universe, it changes form, just like Eva did, but into the shape of a young man, clad in black as a diametric opposite to Eva. Boyar realises that this is Amerioss, and prepares to attack him, but is stopped by Eva. Amerioss asks Eva to "come home" with him, but Eva refuses. Boyar questions her, and she reveals that she and Amerioss are the transdimensional equivalent of lovers, despite being on opposing sides of a billion-year war. Boyar realises that Eva has woven her own story to cover her own agenda, just as Boyar did to hide the truth from Tomas. Amerioss asks again, but again Eva refuses, saying that she has found new purpose in this world, and motions to Tomas. Enraged, Amerioss partially transforms and seizes Eva, dragging her back toward the now-closing portal. Eva struggles and transforms as well, but is rendered unconsious by Amerioss. AS Boyar struggles to magically hold the portal open, Tomas bolts into life and hurls Manzorus into Amerioss's head, sending him howling back through the portal. Huge, lightning-like figures appear through the portal, and take Eva back through with them. Unable to struggle any longer, Boyar collapses and the portal closes. Instead of destroying the world, however, the portal simply vanishes. Boyar, lying on his back next to an alive and conscious Tomas, simply laughs as he realises that he was wrong about the destructive nature of the portal, and the entire quest has been for nothing, and he says that it has truly gone beyond war, and into madness.
[edit] Epilouge
Tomas, as the last of Tobar's bloodline, becomes King of Giart. Chi'Sall leaves to Spiarn as promised, taking his warriors with him. Tomas releases Taiwa from his service, telling him to find his enslaved family. Sly stays in Giart as a military advisor to Tomas. Jayon leaves for Rulat with Taiwa to ask for Princess Ilesha's hand. Boyar, now seemingly lacking purpose now that Gazkell has been eliminated, decides to travel the continent and the world, helping those that suffer. After exchanging one last wave to Tomas, he disappears over a hill, gone, but not forever.
