7.1 BLACKED DOGGED: In which Tikum and Amburukay discover something weird in Mount Laon- An old man complicates things- And finally, a dark plot unfolds

  Mount Laon was enchanted. About that, there can be no doubt...

  The verdant forest around it boasted a flourishing number of exotic flora, carpeting everything in hues of green and yellow. Unfamiliar flowers dotted the side of the path, rising higher from the spiked vines and weeds underfoot– most of them with a poisonous tint. An array of strange fauna also crawled through and flew above the place, making curious calls with each other. Though it was not a symphony of cries, still there was an eerie harmony between them. In the shade of the ancient trees and the thick grasses, shapes and shadows would take pause– their luminous eyes glistening like dying stars, never revealing their true self from any outsiders.

  In many ways, the active volcanic mount was one of the most idyllic place in all of Buglas. From afar, it presented tranquil vistas framed by the blue horizon of the great island. One may even say, that it was a slice of paradise in the untamed region, but its serene and mysterious facade soon cracked as a throng of timawan outsiders trespassed its domain, traversing through its narrow and vine-ridden trails with their carabao steeds and leaving a cloud of dust on their wake.

  The lowing deep pitch of the mounts and the chattering of men grew ever more slightly as they marched on through its old forest, nearing the end of their journey and finally finding the whereabouts of the Lord of Manghihiwit. It was a long traverse and a bit overdue but their leader, the sorceress pushed through, urging her mount onward to her goal. The clip-clop of hooves died down as Amburukay raised a hand, signalling the rest of the trailing carabao carvan. Seeing her, the Ulayan soldiers halted quickly at the middle of the rough road wary of the strange place they were now in.

  As the procession paused, Tikum Kadlum squirmed in his sleep. The cart he was on wasn't the most comfortable place, but fatigue had softened his disagreeable side. He made an irritated sound, caught between a sigh and a curse in his slumber. The Black Dog was having a very unpleasant dream. But unlike his stay in the Dream realm this was different. He felt as though he had no control with this one– like it already had its ending written by the devatas for him. Suffice to say, he felt as though he was fated to fail by the very gods he worshiped, such luck for a man like Tikum. Fortunately, the hollering of the timawas as they started their roll-call coupled with the sound of the sudden protest of their agitated mounts awakened the Black Dog, abruptly ending his macabre meeting with the Lord of Dreams. Tikum didn't like the feeling of helplessness that his dreams brought him but in a breath, he forgot the ill-omens from the land of sleep as a most strange feeling alerted him.

  "Where the fucking hell are we?" he said as he rubbed his eyes, still unsure of the source of his discomfort. He quickly scanned their surroundings, repeating the same question. But Amburukay ignored his query. There were better things to do for the manghihiwit, leaving Tikum to find out for himself.

  Situated between sloping vast meadows, the path they took was the shortest route to their destination. But by far, it wasn't the easiest since the air started to thin out as they gained elevation. And as they ascended, it became more and more laborious. Fallen trees and debris on the rough road halted their progress, delaying them further. To Amburukay's recent memory, it was one of the arduous journey she had taken. The fact that every corner could mean that they could unceremoniously face their former master, Sri Kihod, only added to the difficulty. Good thing no strange affair happened from Ulay to Mount Laon's base. They did come upon a parade of flaming spirits on the way a couple of nights ago and a night before that some of the timawas reported seeing a sigbin scrambling above a bluff to observe them. The creature, with its goat-like features and impossibly long clawed-limbs bolted when Ambu ordered to loose a couple of arrow volleys near it. Apart from those, the journey had no fanfare.

  But after riding their carabao mounts for two days in rough and unforgiving terrain some of the Ulayans were already grumbling. Even at that moment, a low murmuring in the timawas' rank grew. They did not want to climb the home of the Exalted One, Kang Laon. They simply did not want anything to do with the god of time himself.

  Understandably, most of the timawas were the superstitious kind, opting to believe in the dark stories about the volcanic mount where the old god resided. Compounding with that, was the fact that when they asked for directions most of the local residents that lived near the foot of Mount Laon attested to the truthfulness of all the mysterious happenstances in their little part of Buglas.

  As time went by, some of the Ulayan men grew impatient, expressing their fears more and more. Some even daring to openly say their disdain towards their given mission as they drew closer. But Amburukay ignored them. She already heard the many stories about the gods' abode. Most were tall tales. Unfounded and untrue.

  But she also knew that Kang Laon was one of the first gods of Buglas and was usually seen as a nurturing deity, he was not all-to welcoming to those who visit his strange domain. And Mount Loan was strange indeed. Strange enough that any normal man without the sharp senses of a buruhisan can still feel the ambient magic flowing around them.

  Amburukay cast a tracing spell with a gesture and a word– the kind of enchantment that worked well in finding magic-users like her former master. As she did so, the Ulayan timawas shared the grisly tales they heard from the locals in hushed voices, all mostly acquired from mad but venerable wanderers that crossed their path. While some from the usual gentlemen vagabonds and occasionally from respectable charlatans along the way. Suffice to say, most of their tales were the unpleasant variety. Not good stories to spread around any camp fire, for they were stories of people getting lost in the mountain for days and returning to find out that their families and relatives had already died out. Or worse, tales of young men out to get fire wood and returning home an old senile shell of their former selves.

  Time flowed differently in the peaks of Mount Laon and the people say, it's because of the Exalted One's doing. The god of time simply had too much of it to spend. But Amburukay wasn't fazed at all. One thing was on her mind and that was to save Ukok. And the stories weren't all bad, she thought. There were light-hearted and hopeful ones as well, like the tale of the dragon atop the mountain that granted wishes if one collected all the seven crystal balls made from the pure essence of the deity, Lisuga. But if she was to be honest, none of the darker tales rattled the manghihiwit as she made her search for Sri Kihod. Nowadays, few things truly scared her.

  Amburukay stayed silent and began to prepare herself for another stronger spell to cast. She did not need to worry about the arcane since she also knew her way when it came to magic. She rolled her eyes as the Ulayans' expressed their hesitancy to their captain, a gruff middle-aged man named Ulisong.

  Amburukay paused, things would be more complicated if they all decided to postpone their mission. Time, after all, was of the essence for her. She pretended as though she wasn't eavesdropping, waiting for them so she could react. Then, a thought came to her mind, what would she do if all their men decided to desert and go back home to Ulay?

  She cursed silently.

  The manghihiwit did not like the idea but she could scare them herself if they hesitated. Intimidation was still an option. Fear was a better tool than nothing. Sometimes even better than respect. Perhaps they would obey her if they knew a thing or two about her dark talent. But their Ulayan leader, Ulisong, kept it to himself, opting to order his men to form a small picket line to safeguard their provisions instead. A laudable virtue, thought Amburukay as she went back to work, glad that she didn't have to tell them off. The manghihiwit then closed her eyes and chanted to finish the scanning spell. With a wave of her hand, she cast her magic in a wide circle around them. Next, Amburukay concentrated, diving in the depths of her consciousness to find the true silence. She needed it to filter out a trace of used up magic from Sri Kihod.

  Suddenly, she opened her eyes. Living magic was thick in the air. It was the kind that only a devata could exude.

  It was a surprising sensation, since before they reached this place magic seemed to be losing its potency. It was in fact, fading in most parts of Buglas and the greater portion of Vijayas itself. Just as Sri Kihod said a long time ago, it would wane and the time for the Age of the Arcane to end would come.

  She knew that it was one of the reasons her former master tried to consolidate all the power in his domain. Gathering all the buruhisan's in one island to protect them was his brilliant solution. In theory, it was workable. Together, all of them could possibly find a solution to their common problem. But it didn't work. Putting manghihiwits in one place was not the wisest thing to do. It was like expecting feral rats trapped inside a banga to not kill and eat one another when hunger came. And oh, they broke the clay jar itself too. In a manner, they did eat themselves and then in the process, tore half of an island with their wayward magic.

  This place on the other hand, seemed to contradict his master's prophetic declarations. Mount Laon was still a font of magic. Here, it was palpable even in the smooth rocks scattered around the side of the road and even in the very tip of the blades of grasses nearby. Magic was also there flowing with the shallow stream. It was there with the dancing leaves blown over by Kaptan's soft breeze.

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  Amburukay uttered a mantra and opened all her buruhisan senses. The technique was for finding a way to tap Gadlum's magic but this time, she intended to use it as a gauge to measure magic. She breath slowly. She was right. She could feel it on her skin, a subtle tingle, as some of the magic sipped out of their surrounding. It reminded her of the tales of Young Vijayas told to all buruhisan children upon reaching the right age when their magic finally blossomed.

  A time when the name of this region of the great archipelago was new and the land was not yet populated by mortal men. It had masters of a different race then, not by greedy datus of course, but by countless great clans lead by tamawos and their nobler ilk, the dalaketnons.

  It was indeed a fertile paradise free from humanities selfish agenda. A wondrous period, some would argue, where myriad of creatures from great tikbalangs, amalanhigs, kafiris, aswangs, tik-tiks, and amomongos roamed the cold moonless nights. A far off time, when the ever-changing moon itself still had its six companions, an age when the purple stained sky was fit for a bakunawa to soar through and devour the twinkling stars with its other titanic kin. It was when the land was full of riches; of gold and other precious stones. It was when the entirety of Vijayas itself still held arcane powers in its brown soil.

  A forgotten era, she thought. A time long-gone and could never be regained, for all must change– the new must become the old as they say. But somehow not for Mount Laon. It somehow forgot to change since the place was still a great reservoir of arcane energy. Somehow it ignored mutability and treated it with disdain– ageless, now and until the end of time, Amburukay hoped. She opened her palm to soak all of the magic in. Unlike the Ulayan men, Amburukay saw the strangeness of Mount Laon as something positive. Although limited for the moment, she knew how to use and control complex magic, and it was not odd for her to make use of it here. But there was still the feeling of otherness in Mount Laon that she couldn't attribute to the god's powers. Then, she realized what it was.

  The Bone Gate, she thought. It was mixing with Exalted One's ambient energy. Someone was already trying to open it. She sensed a pang of fear inside her as the thought of Ukok came to mind. But she reminded herself that the eclipse was still far off. The black sun still hadn't rose, she still had a chance to rescue Ukok.

  Amburukay calmed herself. Worrying would do her no good. She delved deeper in her dark sorcery, trying to find out how the phenomena worked. And then, she felt a hint of unfamiliarity as she studied it further with a simple reactive spell. But for a while, she only had her questions for company. How could malignant magic coming from the realm of Gadlum be in harmony with the Nature god's pure aura? She shook her head at the notion. It was simply bizarre how potent it was combined haphazardly. Her spell rebounded and gave her the result she was dreading. There was indeed another powerful manghihiwit near by. If it was Kihod's then she and Tikum better think of a way of beating his master soon.

  Amburukay puzzled over how Sri Kihod did it. After all, the manghihiwits' main source of power were the wells of Gadlum and its dark aura. Using arcane rituals as ancient as the land of Vijayas, a competent sorceress could carve lines towards the channels of energies and tap into the wells. With the steady supply of magic, an imaginative buruhisan can do anything from simple evocations to higher levels of conjurations. Then, the buruhisan may shape it -an art that Amburukay excelled in. But all of it did have some limitations. For one, Gadlum's dark aura was a dangerous source for its chaotic nature– often a cause of insanity for its users. For another, the dreaded dark rot, an almost incurable condition acquired after extreme use of dark magic. Amburukay of course could attest at how painful it was, for not long ago she suffered from it. She clenched her fist. What was more unnerving about it was the change that the rot brought with it. A transformation no one would want even for their vilest foe. But years ago she heard rumors from a hermit and found out that the magical disease was reversible.

  So, the Lady of the Darkness Night traveled all around Vijayas not just to seek her daughter but also to find a cure. She wandered to countless kenadatuans, searching far and wide. Even reaching Irong-Irong and the unnamed settlements east of Bo-ol. But only few had any idea of the rot and its antidote and most of them were long gone. Back to the mud, as they say. So, with a heavy heart, she went back to find her daughter instead, fearing that she only had a few years left to spend time with her. And all of it made her a more desperate woman. A more determined woman as well and Amburukay regretted nothing.

  The magic she was weaving reacted with her emotions, sending a flash of pain back at her. She doubled her focused as she tried again. Her encounter and eventual defeat to Sri Kihod was, in a way godsend, since all the stains from the rot were erased when her master took all her magic. So, there was in fact a cure. She would've celebrated with this result, but magic was of great use to her. And Amburukay didn't like how things unfolded after Kihod de-fanged and declawed her by severing her channels to Saragnayan's realm.

  Her defeat made her feel defenseless. Almost useless to a point. Imagine having something you depended on taken away from you in a blink of an eye. It was like having one of your hands cut off. Or both. But things were changing now. Her buruhisan senses was well aware of it. She was closer at regaining her full power as a manghihiwit. And Amburukay could not wait to sling a hex towards her master.

  Vengeance was close at hand, she thought. She will save Ukok in time. And in the end, pay all her debts.

  She drew more aura. Not long from now they'll figure out the specifics of Sri Kihod's grand plan. Not long from now, they will thwart it. She swore to the devatas that Sri Kihod will pay with blood. But something behind her made a noise, cutting her line of thought.

  "Is everything okay?" Tikum popped his head up, staring at Amburukay who was clearly in a deep trance. Draped in white malong with a red sash on her hip and caped with her tattered black robe, the Lady of the Darkest Night was no way less threatening. Even now, when she was his ally.

  Tikum gingerly walked closer, white bandage all over his body. He didn't want to ask again for fear that he may rouse her irate side. He settled a spitting distance away from the manghihiwit.

  "Look." Amburukay pointed a finger half a league away.

  Tikum squinted. He could only see the trees thicken farther ahead as they got closer to the foot of Mount Laon. It was not out of the ordinary in Buglas but there was something in the air that Tikum could not point out. It was like a subtle nagging sensation under his skin. Like a crawling mass of maggots on an open wound, he noted. He studied his surroundings, keeping his fear in check. Up ahead, the forest itself was quickly becoming foreboding by the breath as wreaths of mist crawled underfoot. Farther still, fog had come out of nowhere and it seemed to approach them in a most insidious manner.

  Amburukay cursed under her breath. It reeked of mysterious magic.

  Tikum stared at her, gauging her sudden reaction. Then, he readied himself. It did not look good. What did she notice? The Black Dog sighed, as the all-too familiar feeling of self-preservation grew inside him.

  "What is it?" he said.

  "A disturbance of some kind-"

  "Is it that bad?" said Tikum, adjusting the bandage on his arm. He made sure it didn't get in the way when he drew his blade out.

  "You know that nothing good really happens to us." Amburukay glanced back at him with a knowing look.

  He edged away from her. "Well, that's fair. So?"

  "I sense magic in the air."

  "Well, it must be Sri Kihod. Were getting close."

  Amburukay's brows furrowed. "No. Something else. I'm not even sure if its human."

  "What do you mean something else?"

  Amburukay made short gestures with her hands, constructing chain wards as she walked to face the mist. "Is it not obvious to you," she said as the fog grew and spread, roiling towards their direction as though it was sentient and hungry.

  Terror got the better of Tikum when he spoke, "That's getting too close!" It made his voice squeak and falter.

  Amburukay, on the other hand, stood firm. "Warn the others," she said, wearing a look of despair. "I'll hold it back as long as I can. I'll try–"

  And as if on cue, the fog from afar seemed to thicken with each breath, forming into a great white wall, flowing through the roots of the trees and crushing them with its weight. As it got closer, it rose higher like some invisible hand was directing it towards them. By the time Amburukay could brace herself and break it with her spells, it was already too close.

  It smashed around her hastily-made barrier, curtaining everything with white writhing smoke. Her own version of an awog chain shimmered as the fog flowed around it. To Amburukay's surprised it grew stronger as it enveloped them, constricting around the magic wards like the Bako na Sawa before it devoured the moon. She threw another spell in the air with a gesture and a word and purple light washed down all over them, strengthening their little sanctuary.

  The score of timawas from Ulay drew close to Amburukay, their faces full of fear. The wards she made formed a glimmering circle, temporarily holding the ominous fog and protecting them from whatever controlled it. But the dark magic behind it seemed too strong. The wards sent sparks flying as the whirring sound of opposing powers grated at them. Outside their sanctuary, roiling smoke constricted around their circle and the smell of burned ozone followed.

  Their captain, Ulisong spoke first, "What is happening? What did you do?"

  "It wasn't me." Amburukay turned towards him. "Great sorcery is involved here." Her voice was almost a whisper, not wanting to inform the fog's conjurer of her next move. All the Ulayans' did not need anymore telling though. They already had all their weapons out and ready, awaiting her instructions. She took a blade out herself for good measure. "Great and very old magic." She turned to the captain and the veteran nodded. The manghihiwit nodded back as they all face outwards it, careful not to go any further out of her shining barrier and in the thick, white fog.

  Amburukay slowed her breathing. She and Tikum would need to help each other out. Yes, she could fight magic with magic but she needed all her concentration on maintaining their little sanctuary. There were things her magic could not do all at once. With all this men, communication would be essential. Good thing Tikum was good at bossing people around. He could pick up her slack and help the captain of the timawas to mobilized his men. Still, it would be a handful to command all three dozen man all at once. For a moment, she pitied Tikum. But only for a moment.

  Amburukay smiled. Surely, if anyone could do it... it would be Tikum Kadlum. Speaking of the Black Dog, she turned to her husband...

  "Shit," she said when she realized that Tikum Kadlum was no longer at her side.