Book 6, Chapter 32: A Decision, A Reckoning
The rider in front of me held a torch aloft, guiding our way, for the canopy was high above and thick, making the forest floor sparse and open. We raced over wide ferns and tall, spongey moss and by high, wide, imposing trees, some so large a wagon could pass through them. They seemed full of endless time, in our path silent and stern, pillars of living wood rising up out of sight.
The first few hours we rode hard and fast. As I was ever chasing the light, the trees brightened ahead of me, dark shadows as I passed. After a time, the person guiding me and I caught up to Gyges and Cresida, standing hear their horses. Gyges passed his torch to Cresida, then began to fiddle with the ropes on the saddle that kept the second and third horses attached.
The rider looked back, saying, “Let’s also change to fresh horses.”
We dismounted, I did the same as Gyges, untying the ropes, moving a fresh horse to the lead, wondering how tired the one carrying me must be. The armored men, I guess, would tire them out faster. Still, not much of a break as she had to trot along behind us.
I wondered if I was tired. After all, I hadn’t slept indoors in ages. It was like I’d forgotten to check in on my body. Just go, go, go, try not to die, avoid the monsters, hide behind the shields, drop as many of the enemy soldiers as possible. Sigh.
Yeah, a little tired. Legs sore. Shoulders and wrists, too, from using the bow for hours. “Hey,” I said to the captain, “where’s Talaren?”
“Up ahead.”
“I haven’t seen him yet.”
“We’re keeping him up front.”
“Is that safe?”
“Surely the safest place.”
“From the enemy soldiers, yeah, but I was thinking more about those monsters.”
“Trust a woman to worry about things long out of sight.”
I just nodded. If not those monsters, possibly indigenous ones. Perhaps worse from the Others. I knew Gyges wasn’t very helpful, not a great military commander, but it still felt frustrated I couldn’t convince these people about the coming horrors. Actually, he was a terrible military commander, having just lost his entire army and all the lands it protected. I suppose it wasn’t really his fault. Kinda mine. I didn’t apologize, though.
Cresida yawned. Parts of her dress had black splotches on them. Probably blood from the battle. I just hadn’t been paying attention until now. She caught my gaze and shrugged. Yeah, I thought to myself, you’re the couple I’d give a baby to if I had that power.
They rode off, the torch-bearer mounted and waited on me. Patting the new horse, I said, “Sorry big guy, I guess we have to move now.”
I let the horse take the lead while loosely keeping an eye on the torch ahead, losing myself in thought, trying to ignore the dancing shadows in my periphery. Talaren. Once I secured my political standing in Laemacia, I’d have to organize an expedition with him out. Sooner would be better than later. If I were the Others, trapped in that prison, I’d be shoring up my power, trying to break out. As they’d already sent out creatures, more were coming, possibly soon.
I’d have to check through the books the successive Laemacian royals had collected over the years, to see if any were histories, if any had information about the Temple and its terrible secrets. This line of thinking made me realize I knew almost nothing about the nation, its customs, laws, religions. All I really knew was that they made lacquer, raised war rhinos and wore real pants with belts.
Why oh why did my kingdom have to be the one with hose?
The trees seemed to be getting larger, the ground cover sparser, and all I could focus on was that torch. There were too many problems! How could I fight against otherworldly powers without any of my own? How could I overcome all this war, these politics, and get these people to work together? And what would happen when Serce, the nuns, or anyone, anyone at all, discovered I was just as human as they were?
Focusing on breathing, crouching lower in the saddle, I put my hands on the horse’s neck to feel its warmth, its muscles contracting, rippling, releasing, the steady pace it kept up.
The hours went by, dawn rose before we switched to our third horses and continued on. No one spoke, not single file as we were, nor when we walked the horses, gave them rests and water, taking our own, and not when we finally broke through the forest to enter grassland, nor when the path widened, becoming a rough road. Just riding, pausing, and more riding. At some point, I took a bit of dried and salted meat out of my pack and chewed quietly.
The day dragged on and on and I wished we’d been under the cover of the forest instead of the open plains. Moving along, mosquitoes weren’t an issue, but flies in the hot sun was. I batted them away when we had to go slow. At least, I told myself, I wasn’t wearing armor, but the dress was hot enough.
When sunlight came to an end, so did our journey for a time. The lead riders had stopped at a small copse of poplars, had stripped their horses of saddles and saddle bags, and finally let them rest.
After leading my horses to a creek running along the trees, letting them drink their fill, I took them to a fresh spot with lots of green grass and stripped off their saddles and packs, too, then joined the rest of the group. On this side of the trees, they’d started three small fires and were dumping grass into the flames, creating lots and lots of smoke.
“Is that wise,” I asked Cresida, standing beside her.
She leaned over, saying, “It’s to get rid of the biting flies.”
“Won’t the smoke tell anyone following us where we are? Not to mention the fires.”
“You can’t see smoke at night.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s true. The fire doesn’t reflect off it at all.” I rolled my eyes in the dark, “And you certainly can’t smell the smoke.”
“They’d only be close enough to us if they wiped out the remaining Laemacians.”
“That’s my worry.” As they added wood to the fires, the flames rose, brightening the greyish-yellow smoke and lighting the area up.
“You think that’s possible?”
“It really depends. I didn’t like that captain’s tactics. He was too reactive rather than predictive.”
“From what I’ve seen, you don’t like any captain’s tactics.”
“It’s the company I’ve been keeping lately.”
She gave me a bit of a glare, but said, “Well, soon you’ll have many new captains to deal with.”
“Maybe. I’m, ah, beginning to doubt Serce told me the truth. None of these soldiers, nor the ones at the battle, deferred to me as they would an empress.”
She tilted her head, “The emperor? Lie to you?”
“I need to talk to the mage. Give me a moment.”
“Oh, if you think I’m leaving your side now, you’ve got hay inside your head.”
“What? Yeah, ok, I guess. I’m just going to ask him about magical . . . stuff.”
“Maybe I’m interested in magical stuff.”
“Come along then.”
Cresida nodded and annoyingly followed me to Talaren, who was standing near the closest fire and watching a soldier toss various grasses atop it.
Tapping him on the shoulder, I said, “Hey, I need a word.”
“Yes, my lady?” He faced me, paused, and asked, “Should I call you my lady or is something preferable, such as ‘Your Holiness’ or ‘Your Divinity?’”
“Honestly, you should go with damned fool of a girl.” He gave me a blank stare. “It doesn’t matter, I need to talk with you. Away from the soldiers.”
“As you wish.”
He and Cresida followed me over a bit, nearer the horses. I thought about starting another fire, but it probably wasn’t a great idea. I did slap whatever landed on my neck though. He was looking at me expectantly, so I said, “It’s about the mages, the spell they cast to contain me.”
“I wasn’t there. Can you describe it?”
“About five hundred of them – I counted later, sorry – formed a large circle around me, then, uh, kind of caused the air to shimmer, going slightly blue, and I suddenly lost my divinity.”
“I see. That’s a rare and difficult spell. It contains the powers of a god, goddess in your case, but the cost is far more than we can produce magically. It therefore requires many mages to work together, and even then, drains our lives away if we produce the effect too long.”
“That would explain why they died.” One by one, I thought to myself, they fell around me. They’d pleaded with Grand Magister Tye to hurry up, but he told them to continue. And they died just as he finished stealing my essence. I wondered, now, whether that was calculated on his part. For there would be no one left to challenge his powers.
“You didn’t kill them?” asked Cresida, eyes wide. “And here I thought . . .”
“Not intentionally, Cresida. Though I would have and wanted to.”
“Just by resisting,” said Talaren, “you contributed to their deaths. If that comforts you.” He crossed his arms. I knew he didn’t like most of those people and had different philosophies about magic, which is the main reason I hadn’t ended his life when I first discussed this with him, but I couldn’t imagine that he also wanted his fellows killed.
“Not particularly but thank you all the same. Ok, so the reason I asked you about this was not to make me feel better or remind you that all your friends are dead, but to ask if you can replicate the effect. If those others, uh, the otherworldly beings escape the Trap, can we stop them this way?”
“Five hundred of people with my abilities couldn’t stop you and I am but one man. I don’t see how it’s possible. Surely, you can, though.”
“There’s no way to amplify your powers?”
“If there were, others would have figured it out by now.”
“Right.” I walked a bit away, turned around and walked back, then repeated that. Pacing. What else was I going to do? “We need something Talaren. All we have now are harsh words.”
“We have you and you are a goddess.”
I looked up at him too quickly. “There are three such beings in there.” Four, I did not say, if you counted my probably very angry brother. Or maybe not, maybe he was just drunk on his mead and passing the time. Hard to say. The problem is, he feared those Others, too. He implored me to not speak our names, nor our father’s. I froze then. “Damn!”
“What is it?”
“I spoke the name of my father’s horse.”
Talaren asked, “Your father’s horse?”
“My brother . . . I was told not to speak the names of any of the, uh, gods I know. And I invoked my father’s horse to bear me.” Sadness overcame me and I worried for Sleipnir – did I consign him to a horrible fate? No, I couldn’t imagine it, he could cross the empty space between worlds. But what, then, did I give them?
“You have a brother? Is he here? Perhaps he can help us.”
“Let’s not count on that. We need options. We need a solution. If you can’t neutralize their powers, can we seal up the prison? Talaren, I don’t want to go there with only hope on our side.”
“The library and the temple are key. Many runes are woven into the architecture. If I can find a book on them, perhaps I can figure out how to strengthen them. Failing that, I could try to use magic as much as possible, draining them. But I am one mage and I don’t think it’s enough.”
That gave me pause. “The deaths of the mages is what weakened their prison?”
“Rather, it strengthened them. Every time one of us uses magic, we syphon it from them. With so many of us, they could not build up the reserves to escape. I believe their prison is weakening because they attack it.”
“Then it should already be broken!”
“Why do you believe that?”
He didn’t know, probably couldn’t imagine time from a deity’s perspective. “Time in the Trap isn’t linear like it is here.” Bending down, I grabbed some grass, then held my hand up, dropping them one by one, “Here, each blade falls downward. The words coming out of my mouth leave but once.” I shook my head, “We don’t experience time like you do. Our time is more like,” I turned around, arms outstretched, “your concept of space. It’s open, you can go backwards and forwards, up and down. Talaren, they’ve had more, much more than enough time to escape the prison if building up their strength was the only requirement.”
“Ah. Forgive me, this is information I could not know. Then it has to be the runes keeping them trapped.”
“Or my brother.”
“He’s in there with them?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you bring him out when you escaped.”
Looking at the ground, I kicked something. Shook my head. Wrapped my arms around each other. “I was supposed to. Destroy the Temple, let him out. But I couldn’t. I . . .” Morry came to mind then, Brin and Tread, my friends. They mattered to me and if I let my brother escape, he wouldn’t care. He’d try to restore my memories and then those friends, none of the people on this planet, would matter to me. Assuming he didn’t go around starting wars and joining in. I couldn’t see why he’d protect the prison, given that he’d wanted to leave. “What if it’s not him? Then it’s the runes, glyphs, magical wards, that sort of thing?”
“It’d have to be. Yet, I am struck by what you said earlier about time. It passes by differently inside?”
“Not just inside, but for us as living beings. We don’t experience time the way you do. Though sometimes we get trapped in only one time dimension.”
“And you are, now, experiencing time differently?”
Talaren got a head tilt. That question took me off guard and was very, very frustrating. “No, I’m experiencing time as you do. Currently. Right now. For the moment.” I gestured to my body, running my hands down it, “As this girl.”
“Ah, I see. What I was thinking was that the time differential itself is the source of, or part of, the barrier keeping them imprisoned. It’s possible that sensing a world through time as you’ve described is an impediment to escape. The mages who set up the prison must have known more about your kind than I do, and they must have taken time differences into account.”
“Huh.” I couldn’t help but stare at him. Yeah, ok, so my body was fifteen, but I sure felt older up until this very moment when I realized I was not that bright. The kid who sits at the back of class. Damn! Why didn’t I work this out sooner? He’d told me – my brother had told me! – that the only way for me to save him, the only way to enter and leave the trap was for me to be human. And that’s why my former thousands of years old self had given up everything, memories, experiences, body, to cross endless voids to be here as a little girl. I spoke slowly, “Yeah, Talaren, that tracks.”
“Tracks?”
“Makes sense. Holy crap. Ok. Alright, yes, so the Others are trying to move from three dimensions of time to one and it’s very difficult for them. And deal with the magical runes holding them in place.” My mind racing, without thinking, I said, “Should it be that difficult for them?”
“What’s that?”
“Nothing!” I was thinking like a human. One dimension of time, but we can imagine more. Why would it be difficult for them to go from open time in all directions to linear time? It’d be like learning how to live on a piece of paper and navigate being flat and then going further and living on a single piece of infinitely thin string where you can only go forwards. Like original video games but without the jumping. Meanwhile, the punishment part of the Trap would use theirselves against them, maybe even destroy them as it could not with me.
Cresida took a hold of my hand, jolting me out of my thoughts, “Cayce?”
“If they weren’t sending monsters here, I would think the Temple would hold them indefinitely. So, Talaren, I think they’re testing their prison and learning how to overcome it. I’m worried it will only hold them for so long.” And then I realized how the runes were constructed and berated myself for not realizing it sooner, given how often it was carved into my back. “It’s the runes. They’re not in one dimensional space, but in multiple.”
“Wouldn’t that be easy for them to figure out then?”
“I don’t mean each specific rune is. I mean different wards would require moving into different dimensions of time, but they wouldn’t know which from the beginning. Add consequences, like punishments, booby traps or whatever, and that would make unraveling them slow going and painful. Talaren,” I said, walking forward and putting the hand not held by Cresida on his shoulder, “you have to figure out a way to reinforce those. And build new ones!”
“The answers can only be found at the Temple. Without their library, I am lost.”
“Then, we have to get there as quickly as possible. Except that it’s likely held by the enemy forces now.” I sighed. “Unless you’re willing to ride ten days with me to my army, we have to go to the Laemacian capital.”
“If the emperor wants my power, he has no choice but to muster a force to take that temple. Therefore, it will save time if go to Pasgardae.”
Cresida squeezed my hand, “Even though the soldiers don’t think of you as empress? What is Emperor Searcian going to do with you?”
“He wants me to marry him. I suppose that’ll mean endless courtship until I agree. I sure hope it doesn’t involve,” I sighed, “torture. Probably not, Serce has always been charming and kind to me.”
She shook her head, “For a goddess, you’re a bit on the slow side.”
“I know, I know. I’ve been beating myself up about that all night long.”
“Only all night?”
“Just out with it.”
“We’re going to Laemacia, not as honored guests, but as Serce’s prisoners. I think you know that already. And you’re apparently the princess of Nevarrelund. I think he’s going to ransom you back or demand lands for your freedom.”
Talaren, his hands clasped together, said, “I don’t understand why you aren’t using your powers now. Surely they have returned since the battle with the mages.”
It had to happen sooner or later, but I had no idea how to respond to that. And if Talaren was questioning my divinity, even knowing I bested his mages and melted their castle, Serce probably didn’t believe in it one bit. And that would mean he’d have very human plans for me. I shuddered. Various answers came to mind, that forcing them to do what I want would remove their free will, that the world has had enough of deities influencing it, that I was desperately holding the Others’ Prison intact, but they all rang hollow to me, especially given the conversation we just had.
I decided not to answer, instead saying, “Talaren, when Serce returns, you have to convince him the danger is very real. If he is going to confine us in the capital, even to protect us from the enemy, we have to get through to him just how endangered his world is. We need an army to get to that Temple.”
He nodded at me, but I could see the judgement in his eyes.
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