War Against the Realm

by Sherri Beth Mitchell

  Dalton waved a hand at her comment. “Not to worry. Scars such as these should be worn with pride.”

  “I still want to know where you got that ability,” Quentin said. Had so much changed in the days since he’d been gone?

  Zander cleared his throat. “I believe it’s my fault. I used some of my magic to brand him as I did the King and Queen.” When several heads turned to him quizzically, he added, “That is how they are able to change their form.”

  “Well, that explains a lot,” Grant mumbled to himself.

  “I asked this of him,” said Dalton. His eyes found Geldin’s and held them. “I felt strongly that I could benefit the army in some way by doing so.”

  Geldin’s eyes twinkled. “Yes, and you did. You saved the Queen’s life.”

  “For which I am grateful,” Silvia put in.

  “Forgive me for interrupting, but I was concerned about something,” Frero chimed in. He looked over at Emaree as his face reddened. “I mean no disrespect, milady, but if the other witches find out you are here will they not come for you? Is it possible that today’s assault was because they were hunting for you?”

  “There is no doubt they are angry and looking for her, seeing how she knows much of the mountain they dwell in. Yet the witch who came with Eerich today did not seem to be looking for anyone. She was taunting us and distracting us so the Hound could attack our queen,” Quentin said. “Emaree did not seem to be on her mind.”

  “I am afraid that Frero is right, though,” said the prince. “If they figure out she is with us, which they undoubtedly will at some point if they do not suspect it already, they will come after her, and it won’t be a pretty sight.”

  “That is a problem which already seems to be solved,” Aldoa said quietly. “Emaree lift up your arm.”

  The young woman did as she was told and showed everyone her beautiful bracelet and the threads leading to the ring. “I was told this would protect me from them. So far, it has seemed to work. As Quentin has stated already they were not looking for me earlier and Saris would have certainly felt my magic near her.”

  “So…what is that you’re wearing?” Silvia asked. “Did you make it?”

  Emaree glanced at the goddess, uncertain of how to answer. Aldoa smiled sweetly at her.

  “It’s all right, child. I will tell this story, for it goes back much farther than you have been alive.” Her eyes sharpened as her eyes met each person in the circle. “This is the reason I have ordered this meeting. This story is an old one, but one that is untold in its entirety and therefore untouched by ears and the gossip which follows. The water around us should keep us safe from anyone, god or human alike, listening in.”

  Silvia noticed that Firayis had said nothing and was staring off into space.

  “Hundreds of years ago there were two handsome souls who fell deeply in love with each other. The man wooed the woman until her eyes saw none other than him. Their love was pure and untainted and could light the darkest of nights. Yet this love was envied by one whose heart was full of hatred and evil: the God of the Dead. He sought to win the attentions of the woman, who was beautiful beyond all measure. Her heart, however, could not be swayed from the man she had sworn her love to. This angered Eerich to no end and he steadily plotted against the man. One day the man became trapped in a cage of thorns and was unable to escape. Eerich hit the man hard, and knocked him unconscious. Whilst the man slept in the Coma of the Gods, his woman searched and searched for him. Her voice was worried, for he had never been gone from her for so long. Days went by, and then weeks. Eerich had started visiting her, expressing his condolences. He claimed the man must have run off and was not ready to commit to such a woman as herself. She did not believe his words, for they sounded well-thought out. But as the weeks turned to months without her love, her heart slowly began to hearken to the god’s words. She was not so quick to turn her ear away from Eerich, and their conversations began to lengthen.

  “After a year had gone by, she began to lose hope of ever hearing from her man again; the god suggested that maybe he had died. Sadness stole her heart, and she wept uncontrollably. Eerich made sure he was there to comfort her. So distraught was the woman from her pain, that she could not even raise her head. If she had, she would have noticed that her surroundings had gradually been changing. When at last she lifted her tear-ravaged eyes, she saw with horror that she was in Eerich’s bedchambers in the Underworld.

  “Confused, she asked why he had brought her there—for she would never have gone willingly. He explained that he only wanted to make her happy, and that her being so close made him happy as well. But her mistrust in the god was great, and she had seen firsthand the evil he had done in the past. She looked around, panicking when she didn’t see an escape route that didn’t lead into a maze of tunnels. Her fear and panic were so great that they tangibly reached out over an incredible distance and jolted her love awake. Sensing her distress, he pulled at her with all of his might, his soul calling out to hers. Right before Eerich’s eyes, she disappeared, and she reappeared moments later in her love’s arms inside his prison. So happy was she to see his face that she could do nothing but hold him tightly. Though still trapped inside the cage of thorns, he quickly set about making love to his woman, for it had been long since they had known one another. The intensity of their love was so powerful that it broke the cage into pieces. Afterwards, she told him of what had happened, and of Eerich’s strange behavior. The man told her that Eerich had trapped him in the cage, and that he was sure the god would be coming to look for her there.

  “Just then, a great roar rendered the countryside silent. The woman looked at her lover in fear and told him that Eerich was coming for her. The man knew that the God of the Dead would not let her leave if he caught her. Using his powers, the man gave his lover one last kiss and sent her up in to the stars, where she has remained ever since. The man faded away into hiding, never more revealing his presence to Eerich.”

  “How can a mortal send someone into the stars?” Cambry asked.

  Lord Firayis spoke up. “Because I am no mortal,” he said softly. His gaze met everyone else’s candidly. “When you love someone that much, you will do anything to protect them.”

  “Wait,” Dalton said. “The woman you loved…was it the goddess, Chin?” He remembered all of the stories which said that she had been the one-time prisoner of the God of Evil.

  Firayis nodded. “Yes, it was her.”

  Sir Grant spoke up. “But I thought she has been spotted once in a great while in various places? How can she do that if she is in the stars?”

  “She does not physically come down from the stars,” said Aldoa. “It would be too dangerous for her. But she can project her image and powers from afar, and this is something she has done recently. The bracelet that Emaree is wearing was a gift from my sister to ward off the witches in Rohedon’s Realm. This was given to her right before we left Nillias.”

  Firayis looked at Emaree anew, but when his eyes saw her bracelet he stood up quickly and walked over. He touched the soft fabric which held the bracelet and the ring together. “Do you know what this is, child?” he asked.

  “Some sort of expensive cloth?” she guessed. “I am not sure.”

  He shook his head. “It is much more precious than that, my dear. The reason this bracelet is so powerful in protecting you is because it is made from her own hair. I would know it from anywhere.”

  “You know me so well.”

  Firayis whipped around to see a glowing ball of light appear behind him. In moments, it had elongated into the form of a beautiful woman with long chestnut brown hair. She smiled at the God of Dreams and touched his face.

  “My sweet Firayis…how I have missed you,” she said.

  His face went slack with shock. “My love, you cannot be here! If Eerich finds you back here, he will try and take you again!”

  Chin smiled. “I am not here long—it is too dangerous for me here. I saw the extent of Eerich�
��s anger when I was pulled away from him. He will kill me when he sees me, Firayis. My immortality can end by his hand.”

  “I won’t let him,” Firayis growled.

  “None of us will, sister,” said the God of War as he stood up.

  Chin turned her brown eyes upon her brother and sister. “I have missed you two more than you know. But I cannot stay here while Eerich still lives.”

  “What are you saying?” said Aldoa. “Surely we can watch over you and keep you safe so that you can stay here with us!”

  The goddess’ expression was proud, and yet held a sadness in it no one could have imagined. “I know that you would try. Yet I am unable to come back for good…unless Eerich is dead.”

  “Dead?” said Aldoa.

  Chin smiled. “I know it is not what you wanted to hear. But Eerich has grown into a very dangerous god, and his vengeance is too great for him to keep the kind of power that he has. He must be stopped. There is no other way for me to return.” She looked back at Firayis. “And I do wish to return…I want us to spend time with our daughter.”

  “Our daughter?” he questioned.

  Chin gestured towards Emaree. “I kept her inside my belly for as long as I could. But I was tired, and she needed to live outside of me. I put her in the care of a family of farmers, who promised they would take care of her.”

  Emaree stared at the goddess, flabbergasted. “Those…those were not my real parents? You’re my mother and father?”

  Chin nodded, and Firayis felt a tear go down his face. “I am a father?”

  The Goddess of Humanity cocked her head to the side as though she heard something. “I can feel Eerich stirring—he knows he feels my presence somewhere. I must go now. You have to defeat him, Firayis.”

  She leaned over to kiss him, and disappeared.

  The circle sat in silence as the mortals took in what they had just witnessed. Firayis was staring at Emaree and gripping her hand.

  “I did not know you were of my blood, or I would have taken you in as a babe,” he told her. “I will take care of you now.”

  She tried to smile, still trying to take in that she was the child of gods.

  “Well that was a bit…unexpected,” Geldin said. “But while we are here there is still one more matter to discuss.”

  All eyes turned to him as he gazed at Silvia.

  “What are we going to do about your husband?”

  Silvia opened her mouth to respond, but Zander interrupted.

  “My Lord Geldin, I thought you had said we could not light fires?”

  Geldin’s head whipped about to look in the direction the old man was pointing in. Through the wall of water, there was no mistaking the firelight flickering on the other side. “So I did,” he said.

  But as they looked at the fire, they noticed the silhouettes of figures moving quickly in front of it…almost like they were running.

  Geldin stepped closer to that side of the water wall. “Damn it—we’re under attack!”

  Chapter Twenty-One: Holes

  Vyto had watched Queen Silvia walk off with mixed feelings. His eyes kept getting drawn back to the hole in the ground. He knew the queen would ask for guidance from the gods when given the chance, but who was to say the gods would give it? Or worse…what if they said to forget about Gordy? He couldn’t do that. Gordy had been there for him ever since the two-headed beasts had attacked not far outside of Lystia. Gordy wouldn’t abandon him, and he would not abandon Gordy. That wasn’t how friendship worked. He looked off into the distance at the campsite. It was very dark, with only the stars to light the thousands of men and women below. Yet even in the dark he could see the strange wall of water rising into the night around the meeting the queen was attending. The magic within the army was beyond his knowledge and constantly surprised him.

  With a heavy sigh, he took off the vest he wore over his shirt and undid his sword belt. The gaping pit in the hillside taunted him as he made sure his boot daggers were secure. He placed a knife blade crossways in his mouth for easy access and dropped to his hands and knees. The ground was still warm from the day and the dirt soft underneath him. He entered the cave slowly, his ears on the alert for any sound within the ground. The heart inside his chest beat furiously, but he forced himself to stay calm as he maneuvered his way forward. The odd, sickly smell grew stronger as he moved further in.

  At first there seemed to be only one long tunnel that slowly wound its way down. The sounds of the night faded behind him the further he went until it was eerily silent. The tunnel stayed the same width and height for the most part, and only seemed to thin out where there were large rocks protruding. These he couldn’t see, as it was dark as a night with a new moon inside the earth; but his hands felt them just fine. It was just past one of these rocks that the tunnel branched off into several directions and the walls began to light up with some sort of strange glow. He discovered himself to be in what looked like a round antechamber with five tunnels leading into the blackness beyond him. A nervous panic tried to overtake him, but he pushed it down. He would not fail in this mission. He was going to find his friend…dead or alive.

  Vyto removed the knife from his mouth; his grip on it was so tight it hurt his knuckles. He took a few deep breaths, steadying his nerves.

  “Gordy!” he whispered loudly. He waited for what seemed like eternity.

  Only silence answered him.

  He said a quick prayer to the Parent Gods and decided to try it in a much louder voice.

  “Gordy!”

  Faintly, oh-so-faintly, he heard an answer: “Here!”

  The voice was a little ways off and sounded more like a child than a grown man. But it was the only lead he had. He chose the tunnel he believed it to have come from and whispered into the blackness loudly.

  “I am coming for you! Wait there!”

  His knife resumed its position in his mouth as he scrambled forward as fast as he could. Oddly enough, there were not a lot of big rocks where he was crawling; there were plenty of pebbles and such, but nothing which would scrape him as he went along, and the walls were smooth. He wondered why that was so, but kept on going. The stench by now had thickened, and it was hard not to gag. The walls here had the same glow, though somewhat fainter.

  A minute later he whispered into the tunnel again. “Where are you? Are you close?”

  “Over here,” came the voice again, and Vyto knew this time that it was indeed a child.

  He followed the sound of the voice and rounded another curve in the tunnel. He nearly screamed like a girl when a hand reached out and grabbed at him.

  “Please help us!”

  “How many are you?” Vyto said quietly.

  The child was peeking around a rock, and said, “There are two of us, but the man is not awake.”

  Vyto breathed a sigh of relief. It had to be Gordy with the boy.

  “Okay, I’m going to get you out of here. What happened to you?”

  The boy sounded tired and frightened. “I snuck here with the army but I got scared when they began to fight. I ran down the hole and got afraid when I heard someone come after me. Then I saw one of the monsters, and the man saved me by holding his hand over my mouth so I wouldn’t scream. We were trying to find our way out but I think he hit his head on something.”

  Vyto’s mind was stuck on one word. “What do you mean you saw a monster?”

  “They live here in the tunnels,” the boy whispered. “Please help us get out.”

  “I will,” he promised. The child was small and would be easy to get out. In the low light, he barely saw the body of the man with him, and tried to determine where the man’s arms were. As he did, he felt the man’s curly hair; between that and the man’s body size, he was sure he had found his companion. Thank the gods!

  “Okay, here is what I need you to do,” he said to the boy. “I’m going to have to pull him along the tunnel. I need you to push his feet while I pull him so that we can try and move faster. Can you do that,
boy?”

  “My name is Kaul, not boy,” the child retorted.

  Vyto rolled his eyes in the dark but smiled just the same. “Can you do that, Kaul?”

  “Yes, sir, I can.”

  “Good. Then let’s go.”

  Vyto grabbed Gordy under the arms, making sure the unconscious man was lying on his back and began to scoot himself back up the tunnel slowly. It was difficult at best to pull Gordy, even though his friend was a bit on the thin side. He also knew that Kaul wouldn’t be able to push much to help him. He had given the boy that task to give him something to concentrate on so that he would not be afraid.

  Bit by bit, they slowly began working their way back up the tunnel. When they got near the antechamber, he thought he saw the light on the walls moving. “What in the Dark Moon…” he muttered.