Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

"You are sure this will work?" Irwin asked as he looked at Dianor.

"Not sure, but it has a high likelihood of getting most people there in time and alive," Dianor said.

They were standing on the massive wall beside the gate, looking down at the people streaming out of Coulwater Tower. They were all carrying as much as they could while guards flanked them on each side. Greldo, Twintin, and the others stood with them while Lamia and Gawarn stood a short distance away. Seeing her look his way, Irwin forced a smile. Lamia just nodded before looking back at the throng of people.

She looks old, Irwin thought as he watched her for a short moment before focusing back on the people below.

They had only shared a few words after Greldo had gotten them, but even from those, he could sense she was very different from what he recalled. The happy, always smiling girl was gone, replaced by a calm young woman with a slight sadness in her eyes. Still, the way she kept leaning into Gawarn and the way they shared looks told him everything he needed to know.

I'm happy for you, Irwin thought as he watched Lamia stare at the long line of malnourished people fleeing the tower. With a sigh he focused on his surroundings.

Besides them, the rest of the walls and gatehouse were abandoned. All of the guards were below to keep the long stream of people moving and help carry children and supplies.

"Thousands will die," Indoubtor said from the side.

Irwin flinched, knowing Indoubtor was right. There were too many weak and old people who wouldn't survive a forced march across the plains, even with the few wagons helping those who needed it most. Worse, the slowest ones might not even make the trek. Although it was faster than he had even thought possible, it had still cost nearly an hour to get the first stream of people moving.

"Shut up," Greldo snapped, and Irwin looked up to see his friend glare at Indoubtor. "You would have sacrificed all but a handful for your own gains!'

"It was the best way to guarantee our survival," Indoubtor said. "What else was I to do? Runoff on some idiot mission to find a world? And now what? You are just bringing them to some other unstable world! Fools!"

Irwin didn't react, nor did any of the others. The lanky-man, who he now knew was called Semeus, stood beside Indoubtor, arms crossed and a disgusted look on his face.

Irwin inspected him a bit, wondering why Dianor had been so adamant about letting him go. He was nothing but a low-rank helper of the Grinwron Trade Federation with barely any future potential. He had a single amethyst soulcard and was still working on his second one. The one he had was what allowed him to create the spectral hands that he could control with his thoughts, with a second part that allowed him to lock the use of anything below soulcards.

Useless, Irwin thought as he shook his head.

As dangerous as they had seemed at first, Ambraz didn't have a single good word to say about the cards. The range was limited to under a hundred feet, and they became weaker as they got further away. Worse, Semeus could only use the card for a short time. His current heartcard, which provided his barrier, was probably more useful!

"Now that you have your people moving, can I finally be released?" Semeus asked, glaring at him.

Irwin didn't answer but turned to Dianor, raising an eyebrow.

"As I told you before. If you want to be released, you will need to make yourself useful to us," Dianor said calmly. "You came here with nefarious purposes, and you will need to make up for that."

"In the few hours you will remain here?" Semeus snapped angrily. "How do you-

Irwin turned away, blocking the next rant from the soulcarded man. It was time to leave. Dianor would remain behind for a while, at least until he could return. He picked up Tanya's prison and began carrying her down the staircase. Greldo and the others followed him, with Eergrim and Izebret guiding and guarding Indoubtor.

"Pretty surprising how fast Dianor and Twintin got all the guards to do what we wanted," Greldo said as he grinned.

"Except for those that we had to lock up," Irwin replied as he thought about the dozens of guards that they couldn't trust.

"Yeah," Greldo said with a shrug.

"Are you really alright with staying here to keep things moving?" Irwin asked as they reached the muddy cobblestone below. A constant chatter and clatter of people moving came from the wide-open main gate.

"I'll be fine. Go and bring Tanya and the others to Basil, then start moving people," Greldo said with a grin. "Now, I'm going to keep an eye up top. Just to make sure our new friend doesn't make any deals that he shouldn't."

Irwin nodded, and with a final goodbye, Greldo disappeared into the shadows.

Irwin nodded as he looked at Lamia, Gawarn, Izebret, Eergrim, and Indoubtor. "Let's go."

Indoubtor gritted his teeth. "Why am I to come? Just kill me if you are bringing me to some shard-damned world!"

Irwin grinned, wondering how Indoubtor was going to think about the world when he finally saw it.

Let's just hope Daubutim can handle him, he thought.

It took them a short while to move out of the gate, but the throng of people were more than willing to make way for them. Outside, Irwin began jogging, then running, increasing his pace until the others shouted they couldn't keep up.

At this speed, they were nearly flying along the column of people, and it took them only a few minutes to pass the lead and sprint towards the hills. Long streams of people were still moving from the camps, but the first had reached the hills.

A good while later, they reached the hills, and everyone besides Gawarn, Izebret, and him was out of breath.

Slowing to a walk, Irwin walked past the line, looking ahead for where Basil came walking towards them.

Dozens of carded-workers were working on a rough slope into the mountains while thin, malnourished, and stumbling people made their way up. Some seemed barely able to keep their eyes open, keeping each other on their feet with sheer will and determination.

Basil reached them, staring wide-eyed at Tanya's glowing cage. "What is that?" he asked.

Irwin grinned as he put Tanya down. "That's the trick they had planned to capture me with. Luckily, Tanya here managed to block it for me. She is going to need to be carried through the portal because it will be almost a day before the cage dissipates.

"Is it some sort of carded skill?" Basil asked as he prodded the cage of light.

"Yes," Irwin said as he cracked his shoulders. It wasn't really needed, as he barely noticed anything from the trip, but it still felt good. "Can you carry her?"

Basil turned to Tanya. He frowned, wrapped his arms around the cage, and lifted it with a grunt. As he did, his eyebrows shot up, and after a few moments, he put her back down.

"I can get her there," he said. "But how, by Gelwin's beard, did you carry her all the way here while running?"

Irwin grinned as he tapped the side of his head beside his silvery eyes.

Basil stared at him before turning to the others. He visibly ignored Indoubtor, focusing on Lamia. "Lamia, how have you been?"

"Hello, Basil," Lamia said calmly. "It's good seeing you again. I'm alright… glad to be back."

"Yeah… it's been a while," Basil said, smiling sadly.

"Basil, I need to head back and start bringing people back and forth," Irwin said quickly as he took a step back. "Can you take care of all this?"

"Sure, but listen," Basil said, glancing at Indoubtor before ignoring him again. "You need to hurry. Daubutim sent a message while you were gone, and I've been keeping track. We have less than three hours left."

"I'll do my best," Irwin said as he looked at the others. "I'll be back before the time is up. Keep an eye out for Nyzir and other nasties?"

"Just go, we will be fine," Basil said.

Irwin nodded, then turned and jogged away. It took him a few moments to get clear of the mass of people crowding around him, and then he started sprinting.

"You wouldn't happen to have a trick to get these people all here in two hours or faster?" he shouted as he padded his pocket.

"No. Your plan is also the best I could come up with," Ambraz shouted from his pocket.

Irwin sighed as he headed back to the distant Coulwater tower.

Fine, let's hope the wagon can take that speed, he thought.

It took him only a short while to reach the tower, leaving a trail of dust and cracks in his wake. A lot of people stared at him in passing, but he ignored them. There was little he could do, and he had something more important to do. As he reached the gate, there was a single large wagon with four charbulls standing ready. The wagon was loaded with people, and an older man with stringy hair was looking at him with distrust.

"You took your time!"

Irwin grinned as he walked beside the wagon, padding the massive charbulls as he passed them. Their smell of burned wood overpowered the stink of the stream of people.

"Are you ready?" he said.

"I am, but are you sure you can do it?" the older man grunted.

Irwin summoned his flame, covering the four bulls in a thick coat of it. The massive black beasts let out grunts of pleasure, and one turned its head around, staring at him with sparkling eyes.

The old man grunted, shaking his head. "Never seen anything like it," he muttered before snapping his rains. The massive charbulls began moving, slowly at first, but within moments, they sped up to a speed nearly on par with a hand-carded's sprint. The wagon was thudding and bouncing on the ground behind it.

Irwin was about to ask if everything would be fine, worried the wagon would shake to pieces, when he saw the wide, crooked-teethed grin on the old man.

"I hope you can keep this up for a while!"

Irwin looked at the massive line they were passing and sighed. He was never going to be able to get everyone away, but he was going to try his very best.

--

"How many are through?" Greldo asked.

"Two-thirds," Basil replied. "The youngest, fastest, and strongest are all through. What's left are the oldest ones. Many gave their food to their children and grandchildren, and… well…"

Greldo sighed as he watched the third wagon bounce across the plains towards them. It would reach them in ten minutes, and that would be the final one.

"I'll get the rest in," Basil said. "Then we will all go and start guarding the other side."

"Alright, I'll go and release the chain on Semeus," Greldo said.

"I still wonder about that," Basil muttered.

"Me too," Greldo said.

He vanished, and Basil looked at Irwin, running towards them along the wagon for a few moments. Then he walked back to the portal. The area was now a spacious, torch-lit chamber with a straight path leading to the staircase, and people were constantly streaming in. Dozens of guards stood near the sides.

Basil looked at the people staggering on beside him, eyes gleaming as they stared at the portal.

"Captain?" one of the guards said as he reached them.

"It's time to go to the other side," Basil said. "I'll wait till Irwin and the others return.

One of the guards looked at him before looking at the staircase on the far side. "What about…" he whispered.

"We did what we could," Basil said, burying his own weary sadness. "Never think we didn't. Now get back and warn the others."

The guards nodded and walked to the head of the column, jumping the line and vanishing in the portal ahead of the weary-looking people.

A short while later, Irwin came stumbling towards him, looking like he was going to fall over at any moment.

"I never thought I'd see you tired," Basil said.

"I'll be fine in a short bit," the hulking smith said, looking up at him. His silvery eyes were dull and empty, and Basil saw a glimmer of the small, scrawny kid in the way he looked at the people walking past them.

"There's nothing you could have done," Basil said as he stepped beside him.

Irwin didn't respond but leaned against the wall as they waited. It didn't take too long before Greldo appeared in the shadowy entrance. His silver eyes were nearly as dull as Irwin's.

"So…" he said as he stopped before them.

"Now we leave," Basil said, taking a deep breath as he looked at the line of people. "We will wait on the other side."

"I wish we knew what he's got planned," Greldo muttered.

They stood there for a few more minutes before Basil clapped his hands, causing the two young men to start and look at him. He could see their hesitation, more so with Irwin than with Greldo. He knew the feeling from personal experience many, many times in the past. Now, it was nothing but a faint pain that he knew how to handle.

"Move," he said, waving at the portal.

Irwin stared at him for a moment, then nodded and wearily walked towards the portal. As they passed the people, Basil saw a few furtive, worried glances. They had been quietly walking up until now, but those who came from the back were seeing the final guards leave. He knew what they must think, and he wasn't surprised at the first shout from behind.

"Are you leaving us behind?"

There was a hushed silence, and Basil pushed the two hesitating young men forward. He was glad they didn't resist, as he was pretty sure that he'd not be able to shove Irwin anywhere.

"I'll take care of this," he said. He waited beside the portal, seeing Greldo disappear and Irwin take one final look before sighing and vanishing. Then Basil turned to the people behind him. He knew what he was about to do might cause panic and chaos, but according to his estimate, there were less than ten minutes left.

Everyone that makes it through after me is one more, he thought.

"The portal will remain open for another ten minutes," he shouted, knowing full well what his words would do. "Get through as fast as you can!"

He saw a stunned shock run through the mass of people, then he turned and jumped through the portal.

Good luck.

--

Irwin stood at the edge of the square, the clear cool air of Eluathar a stark difference from the musky scent of the hills around Esterdon.

"Are you sure?" he whispered, looking at Daubutim.

"He said I had to close the portal," Daubutim said.

As calm as he looked, Irwin heard the slight tremor in his friend's voice, and he couldn't blame him. Panicked-looking people were pouring out of the portal, running from it as if Nyzir were on their heels.

What did Basil tell them? Irwin thought.

He focused on Daubutim. "And he's really not coming?" he asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"He said he couldn't," Daubutim whispered. "Three minutes and twenty-one seconds left. I have to start now."

Irwin took a deep breath, then followed him to the portal. They circled around it, and Daubutim stared at the scribbles on the side.

"What will happen to the people inside the portal?" Gredo asked, standing with them.

Daubutim looked up. "The portal will close from the other side, and this side will remain open until everyone is through."

"I guess that's something," Greldo said.

Daubutim knelt, starting to change the symbols. "Two minutes, fifty-four, fifty-three, fifty-two," he whispered.

Irwin listened to him slowly count down as he continued changing the symbols. He saw the guards on the other side ready themselves while Basil was covered in full golden armor.

"Twelve," Daubutim said as he rose, staring at the final symbol, then he shoved his foot through it.

The entire array he'd changed glowed brightly for a split second, then the symbols began fading as if someone was wiping them away. Within a few seconds, they were gone. There was no sign of anything happening to the portal, but Irwin knew what this meant.

He looked around at the towering trees and the roads leading away to the different cities and towns to be.

"I wonder what Gelwin is doing," he whispered.

--

A tremor ran through the mountains, and the sorcerer's towers shook and trembled while the side of one of the mountains crumbled. It slid down amidst a deafening racket, taking with it landmarks that had dotted the mountainside for hundreds of years and longer.

The highest tower, standing in the center of a pattern unfamiliar to all but the lone inhabitant of that tower, glowed. A chair stood in the center of the highest room, filled with bookshelves that were swaying, books thudding in the ground. Two glowing cards hung before it, one projecting a map in the air before where it hung. Tiny white dots were scattered across the four continents, while a large cluster of white was centered on the map on a small peninsula.

Although Irwin and the others thought the Peninsula was the only place with survivors, there were more than enough people for the normal contingency plan.

"I wish there was more time," Gelwin muttered as he looked at the map.

His voice cracked, nearly breaking from age, while his skin was slowly turning gray and mottled. The only thing remaining as it had been was his eyes, brown and deep and sharp.

A shadowy figure stood beside him, and he looked up.

"The towers are ready," a dull, emotionless voice said.

"Good. Give me the card," Gelwin said as he looked at the second card hovering before him. It was the last one of its kind that he knew of, and he'd saved it for this final occasion.

The shadowy figure bowed, walked to the card, and took it without hesitation. Instantly, the shadowy hand began glowing, and tiny motes began drifting away. The figure gave no complaints as it walked back to Gelwin, who raised a shaky hand. The back of it was yellowish like old parchment, with gray and greenish mold slowly growing up from below the sleeve. Gelwin took the card, which seemed almost too heavy, as his hand instantly lowered back to his lap.

The tiny card began glowing brightly, and Gelwin sighed as he raised the card above his right hand. A soft shimmer of light glowed from below his skin, and then three card slots, one empty, appeared. Gelwin lowered the card to the third slot, and as it snapped above it, he sighed and looked around.

"I hope they will find an entrance to the library fast," he muttered.

The card disappeared in his hand, and a pulse of white energy exploded from within the ancient sorcerer as his head snapped back with a crack. His eyes began glowing as he slowly rose up from his chair, his body pulled up as if by invisible threads.

Glowing white symbols appeared on the walls, and where they appeared, bookshelves were blasted away.

If anyone had been outside, they would have seen white symbols covering the other towers, glowing brightly.

A soft, pulsing whine began as the symbols began pulsing, and inside the central tower, Gelwin's body hung in the air above what remained of his chair. His robes were tatters, and symbols like those on the walls covered his body, which pulsed in unison with those on the walls.

Only a few splinters remained on the bookshelves, and the only thing that hadn't changed was the map that hung in the center of the cards. With each pulse, some of the white dots vanished from the map, while a rumbling came from the surrounding mountains. Cracks appeared all over as if the world itself disagreed with whatever was happening.

The entire process lasted for only a minute, but when the pulsing finally stopped, a distant rumbling and roaring sounded around the mountains. A glowing orange covered the distant horizon, and a plume of dark soot rippled into the air, slowly spreading out.

A thin, skeletal body lay in the central tower. Unmoving, its naked, mottled skin showed none of the pale symbols remaining while cracks appeared on the walls. Within moments, they branched and spread out, and with a dull, hollow rumbling, the tower crumbled into a heap.

--

A strangled gasp rang through the library, followed by ragged breathing.

"Even once per millennia is still too much," Gelwin whispered as he lay back in his chair.

His entire body was shivering, but as he lay there, his previously thin gray hair began slowly growing thick. A thin sheen of brown appeared, while his parchment-like skin became slightly younger.

"I wonder how many survived this time," he whispered before gasping for breath.

It took a long while before he sighed and looked at his hand. It looked far younger than he could recall having seen it in a long, long time. It was a shame he couldn't enjoy it for a bit.

"The price we pay," he whispered as he raised his hand.

There was a burst of light from the air before him, then a ball of colors appeared, spinning around for a few moments before stretching out and changing into the figure of a brown-bearded, much younger version of Gelwin. Its eyes were muddled and uncertain, and it was looking around.

Gelwin sighed, and a brown robe appeared around the younger version of him.

"Your confusion will clear up soon, and the memories you need will come," Gelwin said as he looked at his younger version with an appraising glance. His own body was still shivering, but he knew that would stop in a few hours, after which the aging would begin again.

His younger version nodded slowly, clarity starting to appear in its eyes.

"Which one am I?"

The voice was smoother, less cracked than Gelwin's.

"Number twelve," Gelwin said as he stared at the soulclone, the pinnacle of his combined soulcards.

It had been so long since he'd last seen one that he could barely remember the last time, and he examined the body. It was a real body, with one soulcard and room for six more handcards. Weak in a fight, but not for what he had made it for. His soulcards gave him only a few abilities, but what they did was near the pinnacle of what he knew could be done with body doubles. It was the only reason he was still alive, and likely the last one at that.

His clone shook his head as if he didn't understand what he'd just heard. It took a few moments before its eyes cleared up even more, and it gasped.

"That means tens of thousands of years have passed! And they are still hunting us?"

"Far more, and they are," Gelwin said, smiling as he remembered how he'd felt when he created the final soulcard, so long ago. How young he had been!

"Now, get out of the library before issues arise. You will find all you need to know in my- … in your room."

The younger version looked at him, seeming ready to ask more questions. Then it shook its head and sighed.

"Did eleven find a world, or did he scatter them?" he asked.

"He scattered them," Gelwin said before pointing at the door. "Leave, twelve."

The younger version of him looked at him for a moment, then turned and left.

Gelwin followed him...or it? He had never managed to completely get to grips with that until twelve left the library. As soon as he did, Gelwin felt the momentary rejuvenation of his body halt. Taking a look at his hand, he guessed it was roughly sixty. A bit too close for comfort, but with some tricks, he could conceal the change.

As the lingering pain left him, he pictured the faces of Daubutim, Irwin, and the other young ones who had managed to leave.

He wished he could go there and help them, but he had long ago decided that the reason their hunters always found them might be because he and the others had been tagged somehow. It was why he wouldn't tell his younger self what was going on and leave him to find the largest group of the survivors of Giard. No, number twelve would be gone within a month, and there was no way Irwin and the others would return before then.

Good luck, young Daubutim, he thought.