Birth of The Mortokai Read online

  BIRTH OF THE MORTOKAI (PART ONE)

  THE FIRST CHRONICLE OF DANIEL WELSH

  By

  D G Palmer

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  BIRTH OF THE MORTOKAI

  First edition. August 1, 2019.

  Copyright © 2019 D G Palmer.

  Written by D G Palmer.

  Also by D G Palmer

  The Chronicles of Daniel Welsh

  Birth of The Mortokai

  Standalone

  The Choices Of Man

  Watch for more at D G Palmer’s site.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Also By D G Palmer

  Dedication

  Prologue

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  33

  About the Author

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  A final word

  Sign up for D G Palmer's Mailing List

  Also By D G Palmer

  To Sugarplum for giving me that final push to get this book over the line

  Prologue

  The smoke and vapours from the cauldron rose wistfully into the rafters. Shadows danced on the walls, as the fire it rested on crackled and spat. The flames licked the sides of the silver gilt kettle as its contents violently bubbled away.

  The bulbous boiler was exquisitely crafted. An intricately designed gold relief depicted a hunt; wondrous creatures being chased by what looked like men on horseback. It had seen countless use over its long lifetime, a fact supported by the tell-tale marks, the blackening of its underside, and the watermark around the rim, suggesting the many concoctions that had been brewed up within its depths.

  The pyre beneath the cauldron was the only source of light within the musty, stone-clad room, which had no windows or doors. The organic nature of the flame, which seemed to give life to the inanimate objects around it, moved and swayed, and the dark shadows it projected cavorted with it.

  Suddenly, the very air began to shimmer and a small hole opened in the void. It widened rapidly until the portal was large enough to allow a man clad in dark clothing to step through. He waved a hand nonchalantly and the portal vanished behind him.

  Gydion strode purposefully toward his cauldron. His dark grey robes swung back and forth loosely around his arms and legs. In the darkness its hood hid all but his pointed black beard. He looked into the large pot and breathed the distinctive aroma deep into his lungs. Satisfied with the state of the mixture, Gydion opened his robe and from a hidden pocket withdrew three bundles: flowers of oak, flowers of broom, and flowers of meadowsweet. He tossed these final ingredients into the brew and watched as a large plume of white smoke wafted into the air. The acrid smell that had prevailed was quickly replaced by the sweet, fragrant smell of the blossoms, which prompted Gydion to nod his hooded head in approval; it was time.

  He pushed the embroidered sleeves of his robes away from his hands, revealing more of his sinewy forearms. Holding his hands out in front of him, his fingers extended as far as they could reach, he began to recite powerful arcane words. Runes appeared, one by one, on the ground around the cauldron and pulsed a brilliant green. His eyes were closed as he concentrated on each word that passed his lips. All he had done before would be for nothing if he made a mistake in casting the spell.

  Gydion began to create intricate shapes and patterns with his hands, as the conjuration continued unabated. A light shone from within the cauldron, growing brighter and brighter, as if in tandem with the mage’s voice, which became louder and louder, his casting of the spell becoming more insistent.

  Without warning, everything stopped. Gydion ceased casting and straightened his sleeves. The runes disappeared. The fire died down and eventually extinguished itself. The only aspect remaining in the room to suggest any sorcery had taken place was the light shining from the cauldron. The light, though dimmer than it had been during the spell cast, was still bright enough to illuminate the chamber.

  Suddenly something stirred within the cauldron. Inch by inch, what looked to be an auburn-haired teenage girl rose from the depths of the bulbous pot. When she finally stood fully erect, she opened her green eyes for the first time and looked around, taking in her surroundings. When her gaze finally rested on Gydion, she gave him a warm smile of daughterly affection. His response was to remove his hood and look at her sternly with his dark eyes. They held an unimaginable amount of wisdom, garnered from hundreds of years of study and from seeing the many realms. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and the few speckles of grey hair in his beard did little to betray the true age of the mage.

  He scrutinised her with an examining look, almost boring into her very being. When he was satisfied with his investigation, Gydion softened his face and gave her a small smile. ‘How do you feel?’ he asked gently, as he held out his hand for her to take. She did so happily and stepped out of the cauldron. The solution dripped from her body and she left wet footprints as she padded on the hard stone floor.

  ‘I feel cold,’ she replied stoically. ‘And wet.’

  ‘Of course,’ he stated with a slight chuckle. ‘Just a moment.’ With that, he held out his hands, palms facing upwards, and quietly recited a spell. As he finished speaking, a delicate, red silken gown appeared and he handed it to the appreciative girl.

  ‘Thank you, Father, it’s beautiful.’ She smiled as she held up the vestment before slipping it on over her head.

  ‘What do you think of Trinity?’ Gydion suddenly asked her.

  ‘What?’

  ‘For a name,’ he replied. ‘Where we are going, you’ll need a name so that you might blend in. I was thinking of Trinity Evergreen.’

  She mused over the name. ‘Trinity Evergreen?’ She said it slowly and then quickly as if trying to get a feel for it. ‘Yes, I like it. Where will we be going?’

  ‘Lady Rhiannon has tasked me with finding a deserter who is in a vision she has had. I, however, am tasking you with finding someone else, and we will find these people on the Earth realm. Now, we must go to the library, as there are many things that you will need to learn while we search for our respective missing persons.’

  ‘Yes, Father.’ Trinity nodded as she followed Gydion through the portal he had just conjured. Within seconds, they and the portal had vanished.

  1

  Daniel Welsh was running for his life. That was the feeling he had deep down inside. He could feel his heart pounding rapidly and his blood rushing through his body as it went into survival mode. ‘Fight or flight,’ that was what it was called; he had seen it on a wildlife programme on National Geographic. His mind was a little distracted at that moment, but he was sure it was about the Serengeti, or could it have been the Masai Mara? Either way, it had involved a pride of lions hunting a herd of gazelles. It was how the body reacted to a threat; turn and face it or turn and flee from it. He was more than happy to choose the latter, as he pumped his arms and legs as fast as he could because he knew what the consequence would be if he slowed down. He was not looking to be that gazelle anytime soon.

/>   The ‘lion’ that was chasing him down right now was Bobby Brinkmeyer, captain of the school rugby team and his two cronies, Jack Thompson and Willis Jeffries. Daniel was astonished at how fast he was for a big guy. If he kept running in a straight line he would be caught in no time. He needed to take some evasive action.

  The wind blew into his face as he sprinted down roads, in between people, and past shop fronts. Daniel could feel his sunglasses bouncing up and down on his nose, and they threatened to fly off at any moment. The strings on the hood of his jacket were pulled tight to make sure it was secure during his rigours, just as he always had them when he was out in the sunlight, to protect himself. Doctors had told his parents when he was younger that because of his albinism, he was more susceptible to the sun’s ultraviolet light. His skin and hair were as white as ivory. Not only could he burn more easily, but the chances of him developing skin cancer were increased. The sunglasses he wore were to protect his yellow eyes from the photosensitivity they had due to the lack of melanin pigments.

  He could understand why they called him Ghost Face, but it did not mean that he had to like it. It had just gotten too much for him, all the teasing, the bullying, being the butt of all the jokes. It had been going on for so long. He thought that when he’d turned sixteen, and left high school for sixth form, that things would be different. But his tormentors had followed him. When Daniel first told his parents all about it, his mother had told him to just ignore them and they would get bored and eventually move on to their next victim. His father, however, had told him that bullies did not like to be confronted and that he would have to stand up to them one day. Today had been that day, but things had not gone as he had hoped.

  Daniel’s weekday had begun as it always had, with him waiting at the corner of the gates to his sixth form college until the last minute, when everyone else had gone to their classes. He stood against the wall trying as hard as he could to be inconspicuous and invisible. Sometimes he felt that it was actually working, especially when two girls walked right past him without even taking a sideways glance. He wished it could be like that always, with nobody taking any notice of him. Where he would be regarded as normal.

  He had one last quick look around the grounds before making his way inside. The halls were empty, as he desired, with just the faint sounds of learning coming from rooms as he passed them; pupils umming and ahhing their way through queries, while tutors droned through text unenthusiastically.

  When he reached room 9, he stretched out his hand to open the classroom door, but he hesitated when he heard Bobby’s American voice answer a question posed to him by his tutor, Mr. Dram. Daniel was about to walk off and head towards the library, his only true refuge at school, when he heard the hurried footsteps of someone running down the hall towards him. He turned just in time to see Trinity Evergreen rush around the corner and come to a panting halt in front of him.

  She had transferred from another school only two weeks ago and from the first time he had seen her, Daniel had been taken by her glistening eyes, which were as green as her name suggested. Her floral aroma wafted past his nose and he couldn’t help but inhale it. He didn’t think she heard him do it as she flicked her auburn-coloured tresses forward and then back, before sliding an Alice band through her hair to keep it out of her oval-shaped, demure face. He noticed that her English rose cheeks were more flushed than usual, which, he reasoned, was probably due to her run just now. Today she had a small gold hoop in the left side of her nose where usually she had a diamond stud. The white floral maxi skirt she wore flowed around her legs as if she were walking through a meadow on a spring morning, and her gladiator sandals showed off the deep purple, glitzy nail polish she had on her toes.

  ‘Phew!’ she exhaled, ‘I’m not the only one late.’

  Daniel was struck dumb by the fact that she had spoken to him. ‘Uh huh,’ was all he could reply, his mouth slightly open in a shocked expression.

  ‘Well?’ she smiled, as she grabbed his arm. ‘Are you going in or not?’ She opened the classroom door and literally dragged him stumbling inside.

  ‘Well, well, well,’ Mr. Dram said. ‘So nice of you to join us, Ms. Evergreen, and you, too, Mr. Welsh. Just because you two are the brightest in the year doesn’t mean you can turn up to classes whenever you want.’

  Daniel made his way to his usual chair at the back. It's not that I'm brighter than everyone else, he thought to himself, having this photographic memory just means I can retain information indefinitely. Is that true intelligence? The ability to regurgitate facts and figures at will? That’s all it takes to pass exams; they’re merely a test of how much you can remember throughout the year. Unfortunately for me, I remember everything I’ve read. Would it be enough in the real world? Probably not, unless I intended to make a career out of participating in general knowledge quizzes.

  Trinity took her seat in the front row. She turned and smiled at Daniel just as he took off his shades and pushed his hood off his head. He briefly smiled shyly back at her before getting down to his work. She shuffled in her chair as she too knuckled down to her assignment.

  Time passed and the buzzer finally sounded to signify the end of the lesson. The familiar sound of chairs being pushed back and scraped along the floor could be heard all around the college. It was lunchtime, and everyone was rushing to find out what was on the menu and also to get a good seat for themselves and their friends.

  Daniel didn’t usually bother with lunch. With all the students in that giant hall at once, any bullying would be under a microscope and, ultimately, intensified. He always compared it with what it must have been like to witness an execution at the Coliseum; bloody, messy, and with all the onlookers baying for more. And then there were all the stares. Hundreds of eyes trained on him, watching every move he made, every mouthful he took. That’s why, to avoid the unwanted attention, ordinarily at this time Daniel could be found hiding himself away in a corner of the library with a book and eating a chocolate bar. It was his sanctuary. This all too frequent practice of missing meals was the major contribution to his slim physique. He was glad that physical education was no longer on his curriculum; at least he avoided having to hear the skeleton jibes or have boys trying to play his ribs like a xylophone as he changed into his gym kit.

  Daniel broke from his usual routine and ventured into the dining hall for one reason: Trinity Evergreen. He wouldn’t describe what they had shared as ‘a moment,’ but she had spoken to him, and only tutors ever said more than two words to him. She had also spoken with a smile, and the tutors never did that. His expectations weren’t high; he just thought it would be a welcome change to have a study partner that actually wanted to study with him and not study him.

  It had been a while since he had last been in here but things didn’t seem to have changed much, including the menu. Daniel picked up a tray and walked along the counter. He took a plate of what looked like Beef Stroganoff with roasted vegetables but smelled like something completely different. After adding a carton of drink and a bowl of dessert, Daniel paid at the till and then turned to look for a seat.

  The sea of heads was unnerving to Daniel and the cacophony they were making, as they each raised their voice to be heard, was making it hard for him to hear his own thoughts. He inched his way down the aisle, his head bowed, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone and draw attention to himself. But no one seemed to be taking any notice of him, as if he wasn’t even there. Then he had a sense that someone was staring at him and he couldn’t help but glance up.

  Trinity was smiling at him with an even bigger smile than she had given him in the classroom. He looked back at her and she was all he could see; it was like everything else had faded to grey and she was the only bright spot in the hall. A smile crept across his face.

  Slowly Daniel made his way to the table where Trinity sat alone. Thoughts of what he would say to her ran through his mind, but before he had a chance to implement any of his ideas, the New Age girls, who had be
en walking from the opposite end of the aisle, rushed to fill the empty seats.

  The smile that had been on his face vanished and Trinity couldn’t hide her look of disappointment as the lonely figure of Daniel walked past. That look quickly turned to one of concern as she saw Bobby creeping down the aisle. Her misgivings were proved right when he shoved Daniel hard in the back, sending the much lighter boy staggering down the walkway as he tried desperately to keep his balance. He might have been successful if someone hadn’t stuck out their leg and tripped him.

  Daniel lay sprawled out on the floor in his Beef Stroganoff. The howls of laughter were deafening. The only person he imagined not laughing was Trinity. He hoped so anyway. He just got up and ran out as fast as he could without bothering to look back to check.

  It wasn’t until he had reached the lavatories that he stopped. He could feel the tears burning in his eyes as he sat down in a cubicle. Tears of anger directed at that American oaf and his goons. Tears of frustration at being taunted and ridiculed about something he couldn’t change. Tears of embarrassment at being made to look a fool in front of Trinity.

  He pulled off some toilet paper and tried to clean himself up the best he could. He had already decided that there was no way he was going to attend afternoon lectures after this.

  ‘Daniel, are you in here?’

  The sound of Trinity’s soft voice made him freeze. As much as he wanted to, he was just too embarrassed to speak to her right now, so he kept quiet. He heard the banging of the doors to the other cubicles as Trinity started to check them one by one. Finally, she approached the one Daniel was in and sniffed the air. ‘You can try and hide all you want. I know you’re in there. I can smell you. I can smell that...that stuff on you.’

  He looked down at the brown mess on his shirt. ‘Great, just great,’ he said under his breath, and then he spoke through the door. ‘What are you doing here, Trinity?’