The Accidental Archmage: Book Eight (Where Titans Walk)

by Edmund A. M. Batara

  Amazingly, Asag didn’t badger the mage with questions, or even attempt to ask them. Though Tyler could see the rock deity staring at Kapnos from time to time, again with that faint, crazy smile. A grin which reminded the mage of the expression of that madman in a particular horror movie involving the caretaker of a hotel. It was an upsetting image. The mage reflected that either the demon recognized a kindred spirit or was thinking of a way to get Kapnos to be destructive. At least Khaos had told Tyler about the limitations of such elder gods. Otherwise, the mage wouldn’t be able to sleep and, instead, spend his time watching the unpredictable Asag. He laid out his bedroll and prepared to take a nap, only to find Kapnos approaching him.

  “Finished so soon?” he asked the boy.

  “Not yet. But Thyma’s all tired out. She’s mortal in that form and subject to all your failings. But I learned a lot,” whispered the boy excitedly. “I can’t thank you enough. So much has changed. I would go and help my brethren if I could, but I am tethered to this plane and subject to imperatives I couldn’t break.”

  Kapnos looked at what the mage was doing.

  “Resting. I guess I have to do the same to keep up appearances,” said the elder deity.

  “Wait here. I’ll see if I could find an extra bedroll for you,” replied Tyler.

  Opportunely, Tyndur had a spare. Not really an extra one since the einherjar used a pair to accommodate his extra bulk. When the mage returned to the boy, he found Kapnos looking at the lamp of Thanatos.

  “Oh, Thanatos had visited you. I haven’t known him long enough. Only during the time I was awake. One really couldn’t talk with someone who’s deathly scared of you. I know he’s family. Nyx too, but they seem to avoid me for some reason,” sadly said the boy in a low voice. “Only Hades talks to me.”

  You think? thought Tyler. Who wouldn’t be terrified out of their wits in your presence?

  “But you don’t need that trinket now. My presence is enough,” continued Kapnos, taking the bedroll from the mage. “Can I lay this out beside you? It’s been a long time since I slept beside somebody, even a mortal.”

  Nightmares! screamed Tyler’s brain.

  ***

  Tyler glanced at the Oracle who was also preparing to sleep. Then he asked Kapnos if he preferred staying with his niece. After all, it was a rare opportunity to be with family, roughing it, and bonding in the open. The boy beamed a beatific smile and immediately agreed that it was a good idea. Then he rushed off to Thyma. The mage hated himself. But he was sure about the nightmares. Staying close to Kapnos would certainly trigger horrible dreams. God knows he needed the peaceful rest. It’s not the lad’s fault, Tyler concluded, but he’ll avoid inadvertent forays into terrible nightmares as much as he could. Stealing a glance at Thyma, the mage saw the Oracle throwing him a murderous glance. She must have determined the true nature of the boy, or at least suspected it, though Tyler doubted if she’d tell the others.

  As the mage prepared to relax, he thought about such powerful entities – deities and elder gods. There appeared to be a correlation between the physical form they adopt and how they think and act. Khaos was terrifying and looked omniscient in his ethereal shape. Yet, when he transformed into a boy, very human proclivities and insecurities came into the fore. Then Tyler thought about the other deities he had met – Zeus, for example – who, in many ways, thought and acted human. Some were more savage than the usual cretinous bastard, that Tyler admitted. The mage doubted that the god would have the same personality if he was in his natural state as an energy form. He would be more formidable and powerful, yet just a mass of magical force.

  If he was correct, then deities adopting human guises were highly susceptible to mortal failings in judgment and discretion. Athena, with her rumored hunger for amorous liaisons, was another case in point. He doubted if a being of pure magical energy would enjoy sex as much as she did in her physical form. Even the stupidity of Ares appeared to be born out of an immature intellect and an unbalanced psychological state. By comparison, humans were shaped by their experiences in the natural world and by social interactions. From birth to one’s grey years, lessons were continuously learned, and mortal minds shaped by such experiences. Deities and other beings of magic didn’t have that benefit.

  Rush jobs at being human. It’s a but a theory, but I’ll bet Thor’s balls on it, as Tyndur would say, thought Tyler.

  But if the mage was right, then he was several steps nearer to understanding how the deities think. Such insight would serve him well when the time came. He still had a lot of blank spaces in the grand puzzle, but Tyler believed he would eventually get to know the real players and their different games. The mage knew the acquisition of power was at the core of such plots, but the details would be more apparent once one knew how the schemer thinks. The Norse god of mischief might be one of the exceptions. Tyler believed a desire for vengeance for real and imagined offenses accompanied the crazy deity’s lust for dominance. As to which of the two was the real driving force in his madness was still a question yet to be answered. But even how Loki’ spun his intricate web of intrigues could be surmised once his way of thinking and real motivations were unlocked.

  Or the bastard could just be merely deranged down to his last neuron, then there’s no way to determine how deep that rabbit’s hole goes, he reflected.

  ***

  After a few hours, the mage was awake, courtesy of a gentle shaking from Kobu. Tyndur apparently gave everyone about four hours rest. The company’s meal awaited, prepared by the ranger and Astrid. Kapnos merely looked on as the group ate.

  At least he doesn’t eat while in that guise, thought Tyler. That would break open the whole “lost soul” excuse.

  After the meal, the mage called Kapnos over and asked about the stronghold and the general area. The boy answered that right now, the company was in the northwestern direction of the entrance. Unless Tyler was thinking of rushing the fortress’s gates, it would be best if the company moved straight ahead and disregarded the road. Kobu immediately countered that they didn’t know anything about the terrain past the incline. It could be impassable and result in a waste of time. The boy merely smiled and said it had the perfect angle and ground for stealthily approaching the waiting hold. The land was flat, though numerous large boulders were scattered around, providing ample cover for their approach.

  If Kapnos said it was flat, then it will be, smiled Tyler inwardly. The entire domain is him, after all.

  “Guards?” asked the exile. Meanwhile, the einherjar had joined them.

  “Most of the garrison had left to join the battle. Though I seem to notice a preponderance of a certain emblem among those left in the castle,” said Kapnos.

  “Each major Titan faction must have its own symbol or mark. It would help if we could determine that group. Though I wager it must be that old bastard’s private army,” snarled Tyndur.

  “I don’t think so,” replied the boy. “I am not that familiar about armies and warriors, but the mark they had is not the same as that on the flag flying above the fortress.”

  Tyler called the Oracle over and asked Kapnos to draw the design he saw on the ground.

  “Typhoeus. Typhos. The father of monsters. The unseen finger of Kronus,” said the Oracle when she saw the symbol.

  “Unseen finger of Kronus?” asked Tyler. It was another of the numerous perambulations of the twisted family history of the Greek pantheon.

  “Blame Hera. It was her fault,” replied Thyma. “One of those stupid decisions. She wanted to get back at Zeus and got a pair of terrifying embryos from that Titan. Well, she eventually made up with Zeus. But forgot that duo of monsters which grew into Typhoeus and his mate, Echidna.”

  But Tyler found the story too convenient. Hera forgetting an instrument of destruction meant for her husband? She didn’t fucking remember that she commissioned a pair of nuclear weapons set to detonate? If so, then the most destructive Titans were indeed the Unseen Fingers of Kronus. It would have b
een simple for the Titan to cast a spell which made Hera forget about those pair of nukes. For an individual who didn’t have any compunctions about castrating his own father, Ouranos, the deity seemed capable of trying to plant the seeds of an elaborate attempt to destroy Zeus. Kronus might have plans against his son during that time. Or it could have been his way of providing some insurance. Tyler idly wondered if Hera’s action actually sparked the Titanomachy.

  What other twisted dark stories from the past had been hidden as entertainment and lies? weighed the mage. Do ancient grudges or the results of such hatreds still run their venom through the games of these so-called deities?

  A touch on his arm interrupted the flow of his thoughts. It was Kapnos.

  “Are we ready to go?” asked the boy, excitement shining in his eyes and tone.

  The mage couldn’t help but smile. His gaze swept over the company and Tyler was struck by the diversity of its present complement. The mage was surprised by his own reaction. He had been with his friends for a long time, and yet it was only at that moment that the young man realized how weird the company appeared. A mysterious samurai exile, possibly a warlord. An einherjar presently not of Asgard, one who disliked his own pantheon. A human ranger gifted with incredible abilities. A demigoddess aspiring to be a Valkyrie, yet of Greek and Norse origin, with the Greek gods of the four winds as her brothers. An ancient dragoness. A demonic rock deity who loved creating disorder and mayhem, yet with a bizarre and distinctly benign attitude at times. Another demigoddess carrying the essence of Gaia within her. Finally, add an avatar of Chaos disguised as a boy.

  The mage also had his wards and Kobu’s large company of battle-hardened warriors left to guard Viracocha’s temple for the time being. Tyler hoped to give them their own homeland on the island granted to him. Yet that plan demanded appropriate precautions against any future inhabitants being held hostage by the whims of those who gifted the Archmage with it. He also had the loyalty, or at least the willingness to help, of other races – that proto-Indian culture, the dwarves, and those giants found in Aztecha lands. The mage promised himself that he’d strengthen the bonds with all of his allies when time permits. Acting as a one-man fire brigade wasn’t conducive to coming up with a cohesive plan to guide such goodwill toward a broader coalition. Yet Tyler was sure that he’d find the time and more friendly groups. He had barely explored the world, after all.

  Tyler reflected that Banna really should be on his priority list. It was presently nearer to them. Such proximity gave added weight to the argument that he settle his business there first. It was a more logical plan than immediately proceeding south after Tartarus. More importantly, he had already delayed visiting the dying rogue Elder, the sole remaining Follower of Zin. That was assuming the mage would survive what was waiting for him in this dimension. It was a thought which led the mage to a fleeting glimpse of the commitments he had already made – to the entity which made up the Barrier to the Void Lands, for one. That one was a real headache. Up to now, he couldn’t think of a way to free the pitiful being without endangering the rest of the world. His musings went to the dragon race of Adar counted among his friends – or servants, if one were to think of the ring of Ares instead – but Tyler understood the enormous responsibility that nation carried. Their appearance at Hedmark was an exception and a measure of the mage’s desperation. Prying them from their eternal watch would only result in an impossible problem that would eventually land in his lap.

  At least, I seem to make friends as well as enemies in my travels, grinned the mage. And never could my imagination come up with this eclectic assembly.

  He knew the companions had their individual motivations in following him. But he didn’t mind. Except for Thyma and Gullin, the rest had fully earned his trust. They’re family, as far as he was concerned. Even that insufferable Asag was now included in the definition. What Tyler now feared was the uncontrollable rage that would inevitably erupt if anything happened to members of the core companions. That included the recovering Asem. But everything was trumped by his concern for his beloved. If anything happened to Eira, then all bets were off.

  Tyler wouldn’t give a shit if he reduced Adar to lifeless rock in his furious vengeance. Everything and everyone could go to their respective hells.

  Chapter Nine

  Into the Breach

  For a vaunted and fearsome fortress, the stronghold of Iapetus looked boringly baffling. It had the form of a rectangular box with square stone structures in the middle. Crenelations dotted the walls, but the battlements appeared empty, except for a few flags fluttering in the blowing wind. Around the fortification was a huge moat, filled with fiery geysers. Just before it were numerous outsized cheval de frise – wooden frames that had long, sharp stakes. They were nominally anti-cavalry barricades, but also useful for channeling attackers into kill zones, or in the case of Tartarus, helpful in deterring monstrous roaming creatures. The ground was also peppered with the unmistakable signs of pit traps. Tyler didn’t doubt that interwoven into the deadly gauntlet were magical killing spells.

  The lethal snares weren’t really an issue to the mage. If it came to the need for a tank to ram through everything, he had Asag for that job. The field was child’s play for one who could survive being swallowed by Kerberos. The problem was the attention such an approach would attract. Tyler reflected that Iapetus clearly didn’t leave anything to chance, even in Tartarus. The mage wondered about the exterior defenses. Such preparations only existed when one expected an assault. It couldn’t be Tyler and his motley assembly. As far as he knew, the Titan didn’t know they were in the area. Another Titan faction, perhaps? The Punishments? Soul refugees?

  Even as he thought about it, the mage realized he needed to know what was happening inside. The absence of guards on the parapets worried him. It looked and smelled like a trap. He glanced at Kapnos. But what he thought of wasn’t unexpected of a soul or disembodied spirit. Calling Kapnos over, he asked if the boy could look around the stronghold. Getting inside wasn’t a problem, the mage said. He had Asag and his power over stone to do it.

  “That’s all? I could do that,” said the boy. Then Kapnos pointed at the field of defenses. “Don’t worry about that. There will be a channel through that field for us to pass through. I’ll even open an entrance in the wall.”

  “Thanks,” grinned Tyler, yet the us reference floored him. Khaos really considered himself part of the unfolding adventure. The avatar of Chaos disappeared.

  “Handy ability,” said Kobu at his side. “Though I am still debating if you’re cursed or blessed, sire. Unlooked-for assistance comes when least expected, and yet problems also drop by on a regular basis.”

  “My life, Kobu. Though I thought you wouldn’t notice,” chuckled the mage.

  “Oh, the company had learned to expect it, sire. They even look forward to the next occurrence. Tyndur gets bored when no new threat arises,” chortled the exile.

  “There’s still a lot to do and a long way to go, my friend,” replied Tyler.

  “I know. Strange lands, beasts, and experiences. More entertaining than my mercenary days. But I guess those hunting for me won’t find me for a while. Fortunately, they’d be still up on Adar, waiting and searching,” commented Kobu, looking at the sky.

  “I guess when the time is right, we’ll have to go back to your homeland, and set things right,” smiled the mage.

  “It would be of the highest honor if the Archmage decides to accompany this lowly mortal,” bowed the man, his voice formal.

  “Oh, stop that, Kobu. You should know better by now, and lowly, you definitely are not. Of course, I’ll go, and I doubt you’d be able to prevent any of the rest from coming along too. Even Asag,” said Tyler. “I am not sure about the dragoness and the Oracle since their presence in the company is temporary, but you’ll have the rest of us.”

  Kapnos suddenly appeared at their side. The boy looked confused, something which, in turn, bewildered Tyler.

  �
��What’s wrong?” he quickly asked the boy.

  “There appears to be some trouble inside that place. They’re fighting each other. The confused situation merely emphasized my lack of understanding of matters and schemes involving deities or similar powerful creatures. It’s a perplexing state of conflict,” Kapnos answered thoughtfully, his attention focused on the ground. What he witnessed clearly disturbed and confounded him.

  Kobu stared at the mage immediately. Tyler didn’t know whether the exile was reacting to the ongoing fracas inside the stronghold or the words of Kapnos. The mage could only surreptitiously place a finger on his lips as he glanced at Kobu. Fortunately, Tyndur had left after the boy vanished, saying he had to see the company’s assault preparations.

  “Did the warring groups wear the same emblem?” asked the mage as a flash of insight arose in his mind.

  “Oh, no. Two marks represented the contending groups. One side wore the sign I drew on the ground before, and the other is the same as what appears on the flag above the fortress,” replied Kapnos.