How Black the Sky

by T J Marquis

  The pie mocked him, lashing his tongue. Pierce speared it, again and again, jabbing the hog's meat that swam in its filling. Who would win, and who would succumb to the will of the other, yielding?

  Pierce sweated, stared down that final, excruciating bite, and Axebourne casually finished his meat-pie and started asking Sugar about where to get a good mount nowadays.

  "Well," she said, "old Wolf Runner is still set up by the market. Good stock, but big prices."

  "As always," said Axebourne. "What about Osterak?"

  Sugar shook her head. "No, he moved out to Grondell a couple years ago, took the whole family with him, and all those beautiful yellow-coated bloodhoofs. Hey, you might try Deathgripz, she's new in town, but I've been hearing good things."

  "Deathgripz," Agrathor said flatly.

  "Yep," said Sugar.

  "Deathgripz, with a 'z,'" he said again.

  "Yeah, hon', you got no ears?" said Sugar.

  "Probably thinks the 'z' makes it sound cooler," Pierce said. He shrugged. "Kinda doez."

  "Deathgripz it is," said Axebourne. "Bet it'll make Wolf Runner jealous if we see her first." He smirked.

  "You gonna finish that, kid?" Agrathor asked, waving a hand at Pierce's last bite of meat-pie.

  Pierce belched a little and considered giving it to the bone-man. Where had Agrathor's pie gone anyway?

  "No. Um, yes sir, I've got to finish it." He looked up at Sugar. "It's delicious ma'am, just really hot. It's almost... addictive?"

  Sugar beamed and spun on her heel to grab a fresh pitcher of mead. "You can do it, boy," she said. "You keep burnin' that tongue, you get numb to it like my little brother."

  Pierce took a deep breath and scarfed the last bite. He was so full that food and drink were piling up into his throat, but he'd jump into the Chasm if that hadn't been the best pie of his life.

  Deathgripz had replaced her hands with gem-powered, mechanical ones that each sported a second opposable thumb, and were symmetrical. Other than that, Pierce thought she was kind of cute. Her skin was pale and her dark hair was untamed. Her face was angular like Scythia's, but not as broad, and she had deep-set green eyes that seemed to be perpetually half-lidded.

  Her stables were clean and orderly, like the rest of Cypha, and she had several grooms bustling about to care for the various breeds of animal she had in stock.

  Her voice was lower than Pierce would have expected.

  "Gorgonbane plus one," she said. "It's my lucky day." Her expression didn't indicate excitement, but neither did she sound sarcastic. "What are you in for?"

  "Something that won't try to chew on me," said Agrathor, grinning.

  Pierce blinked. Had Agrathor just joked about his ailment? He imagined the skeleton man socking himself in the face for it and chuckled.

  "Shut your mouth, kid," Agrathor said. Pierce paid him no mind.

  "Nothing canine," Deathgripz said. "Got it. I reckon you'll all want an equal gallop? Which means we need four of a similar stride and stamina. I think I can do that. How heavy are you, skeleton? The rest I can gauge."

  "Three hundred fifty pounds," Agrathor said, looking to one side.

  Deathgripz lifted one eyebrow a slight bit but said nothing. She turned and gathered a few grooms to get on the hunt.

  "Three hundred fifty?" Pierce asked Agrathor. Scythia and Axebourne looked surprised too.

  "Don't ask me," said Agrathor, shrugging. "Lost all the flesh, kept the mass. It never made sense to begin with, what happened, so I don't bother to wonder anymore."

  "Fair enough," Pierce said. "Don't think I would either. So where does your food..."

  Deathgripz had returned and said, "I'm recommending raptorions for the boys, but you, lady, I think you can handle the bloodhoof."

  Scythia looked flattered. "I'm not much of an equestrian, but..."

  "Well it's not a horse," said Deathgripz flatly. "Anyone ever told you it was," her eyes flicked over to Wolf Runner's stables, "they were lying."

  "Not a horse," said Agrathor. "Huh. I never knew. It's a good thing we came to you, then, isn't it?"

  Pierce finally got it. Aggie thought the young woman was cute, too. The skeleton was flirting.

  Axebourne had adopted a shallow frown. "Now I've ridden a bloodhoof before, you know. I think I can certainly..."

  Deathgripz shook her head, dark, wild hair flopping back and forth. "Not this one, man. He hates men."

  "What about skeletons?" Agrathor said. Pierce wanted to tell him to dial it back. Girls could always tell when you wanted their attention, and it always meant getting ignored instead.

  Right on cue, Deathgripz turned away again to speak with her grooms. They'd returned with the raptorions, and Pierce chose his the second he saw it.

  Most raptorions had unique scale patterns and color palettes. The one that caught his eye had intertwining swirls of yellow and green down its back, like vines laced with candlelight. Her eyes were bright and alert, and her clawed toes were twitching with the readiness to gallop.

  "That one," Pierce said, pointing. "Please."

  Deathgripz looked at Axebourne, as if she knew he was paying. Or maybe she thought he was Pierce's father, though their skin and hair were different colors. Axebourne nodded.

  "She's yours," said Deathgripz. "You know how?"

  "I've ridden a few times, yeah," Pierce said. "Not afraid of falling."

  "Nah, she won't throw you. Might bite, if you do something stupid, but they don't usually take off any limbs." She scanned him from top to bottom, sizing him up. "You'll be fine."

  "Now see here," came an agitated voice from behind the party. "I just don't believe it! You come to this little girl before me? How many mounts have I sold to Gorgonbane, huh? How many?"

  "Enough to retire on, I'd wager," said Axebourne.

  "And not one today," said Agrathor, sounding annoyed. His green eye flames flashed. Wolf Runner halted mid-step. He held up both hands. They only had five fingers each.

  "Not meaning to give offense, Sir Agrathor," Wolf Runner said. He turned his head toward Axebourne. "Just kind of thought we had a thing. A relationship, you know?"

  The old stable-master was wrinkle-faced and silver-haired, the top of his head mostly bald, hair grown long and tied back. His pale green eyes looked jealous.

  "Perhaps we're just giving someone else a turn," Scythia said.

  "Or maybe we don't like you anymore," said Agrathor, stepping toward the man. Wolf Runner fell back a pace.

  "Agrathor," said Scythia. The skeleton man reversed his step.

  "Look, old man," said Deathgripz. "You ain't gonna beat my price, so you might as well just head on back to your stables. They may have meant to make you jealous by coming here first," she said knowingly, "but they didn't know I've got connections, and you don't."

  Wolf Runner scowled at her, then glanced at Agrathor, saw the flare in his eyes, and softened his face.

  "Alright, then," he said. "At least give me a fair haggle. How much for this group?"

  All heads turned toward Deathgripz.

  "A thousand for each raptorion, three for the bloodhoof," she said casually.

  "I...how do you..." Wolf Runner stammered. "I can't beat it," he murmured, turning on his heel to slink away in defeat. "I can't. I don't know how she does it," he muttered.

  Deathgripz finally smiled, a tiny thing that bent the corners of her mouth and squinched the ends of her eyes slightly.

  "I'm giving 'em to you at cost," she said conspiratorially. "Figure if Gorgonbane is out and about after all these years, must be something big going on."

  Axebourne pursed his lips, then tilted his head and looked appreciative. "You wouldn't be wrong, miss. We thank you."

  Deathgripz shrugged. "Saved one of my cousins once, you did. Gorgon over in East Fell River, turning everyone to stone. I wasn't alive yet, but Moms told me all about it. You hear lots of stories about Gorgonbane, you know, if you're not in it."

  Pierce nodded - it was true.r />
  Axebourne paid the young woman and told her to drop by Sugar's for a free pie later. Meanwhile, the grooms brought out Scythia's bloodhoof. Pierce had never seen one in person before.

  The creature had a lethal beauty like no beast Pierce had ever seen. Its body was built somewhat like a large deer, coat a waxy yellow, with a fluffy white tail. Its head, too, was deerlike, but sat at the end of a long, sinuous neck with a white stripe down the spine. Two small, sharp horns sat between its ears, and its hooves had a natural blood-splashed pattern on them, as its name advertised. Its eyes were bright and yellow, like Scythia's.

  "It's beautiful," Scythia told Deathgripz. "I don't think I've ever seen its equal."

  "Hard to part with, too," said the stable-master. "But worth it. With all you've done for the people of Overland, you deserve it."

  "You do us much honor," Scythia said, with a small bow. "We won't forget it."

  The mounts were saddled and acquainted with their new masters, and the little party rode them back through town to stable them at Sugar's.

  Pierce was moon-watching late that evening when Sugar came out onto the veranda that wrapped around her tavern.

  "You the only one up, cutie-pie?" she said. Pierce started out of his reverie.

  "Yes ma'am," he answered, glancing over with a smile. "At least out here."

  "Ma'am," she mused. "I reckon it has come to that."

  Sugar joined him in looking up at the moon.

  "Ever wonder what keeps it up there?" she asked.

  "Kinda just figured it's sticky," Pierce said. "Crawls across the sky like a slug."

  "But what would it stick to?" Sugar asked quizzically.

  Pierce furrowed his brow at her. "The ceiling?"

  "Ceil..." she said, "Huh. Looks like just a bunch of open space to me. That's what teacher said anyhow, way back when. All blackness."

  "Is that what they say in school?" Pierce asked.

  Sugar laughed heartily. "Well yes. Didn't you go?"

  "For a while," Pierce said, but didn't offer more.

  "Ess might know," said Sugar. "I figure you're going to pick her up next. You should ask her for some lessons."

  Pierce perked up. "Ess - the Second?"

  She would be the fourth member of Gorgonbane - the second-most powerful mage in Overland.

  "You think she'd teach me?"

  "Well there won't be much time, from the sound of things," said Sugar. "But it can't hurt to ask. I'll send her one of my pies to butter her up for you."

  She winked.

  Pierce felt the urge to hug her - she was just that kind of person. Sugar beat him to it, stooping to embrace him where he reclined. She was soft and smelled of spices and sweets.

  "You take care of my little brother now, okay?" she spoke into his short dark hair. Then she stood again. Her eyes were misty. "Or it's poison in your pie next time, got it?"

  Pierce smiled. "Yes ma'am."

  CHAPTER SIX

  The Second

  The moment her old comrades decided to seek her out, she knew. They were as yet far away, so perhaps her long meditation would be complete before the time came to join them.

  She sat, legs folded, her body suspended above the dais at the zenith of her tower. Brackenverge's eight spires looked down on her from even higher up, the wind whistling across their tips. Below, gigatoads sang their songs in the squalid marsh beyond the walls around the tower.

  She'd inherited Brackenverge from the First Great Master of Convergent Reality Theory, back when he'd initially gained that title. It was a place to train, to experiment, to close oneself off from the distractions of the outside world and perfect one's craft to the utmost. With such deep exploration the First had achieved his Mastery, and the Second intended to do it as well.

  She took a moment to gauge the distance of her friends' Intention Signal. Yes, she should have more than enough time to complete her current exploration of the Chasmic depths before she had to surface again. The Second folded back into the Chasm. She had to discover what the Underlord had learned.

  The towering keep that Scythia had called Brackenverge cast a long shadow over the hilly sward to the west, and Pierce followed the three legends along the shaded road leading to its gates. The tower had a great sense of age - huge stone blocks chipped and eroded, covered in moss, with long fissures running up the tower's outer surface. Yet it seemed in no danger of collapse - in fact it had a kind of healthy orange glow. Pierce thought it might be fun to climb.

  Pierce and the legends rode their mounts through the keep's open gates and down a long brick path up to the tower's great doors. They dismounted and looked up.

  The Second to the First Great Master of Convergent Reality Theory, or 'Ess', as Axebourne had called her, was already on her way down from the top of the tower, gliding foot by foot through thin air. She wore fine robes of a dusty magenta that drooped down over her hands and covered her feet. Seven orbs of ethereal liquid floated in a loose formation behind her head. Her face was obscured by shadow and the hood of her robe.

  "Ess!" Axebourne called up to her. "It's like you knew we were coming!"

  "Always does," Agrathor said, grinning.

  At last Ess's feet touched the ground, and she strode forward to greet her old comrades.

  "Welcome back to Brackenverge, dear friends," she said in a velvety voice. Immediately Pierce knew he was done for. He could listen to that voice all day long. He might not register the words, admittedly, but he could listen to it. "I see you've brought something of import with you."

  Pierce blushed and said, "Ma'am, I'm not that important, but thank you for saying..."

  Ess turned her head toward him, "I meant the news you carry, young man. I can sense it, though I cannot read what it is."

  As she spoke, she lowered her hood, and Pierce knew he was really done for - Ess was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Actually, she was more a young woman, looking to be a few years his junior, but he knew that wasn't possible.

  Her features were soft and neotenous, with large brown eyes and regal lips. Her skin was jet black, the area around her eyes painted white. He wanted to be a gentleman, but he couldn't help wondering what she'd look like in real women's clothes - that billowing robe was infuriatingly mysterious.

  Ess smirked playfully at Pierce and said, "Careful, child. If you let your eyes go too wide, they may fall out."

  "And then I'll start looking like Agrathor over here," Pierce commented absently, mesmerized by the fullness of Ess's lips.

  Agrathor began to growl lowly, but Axebourne put a hand on his arm and said, "Peace, man. Can't you see he's lost his mind?"

  The skeleton man didn't respond, but he backed down.

  Ess chuckled melodiously at Pierce's thoughtless jibe and he smiled like a dog given praise.

  "So who is our newest member?" Ess asked.

  Axebourne tilted his head to the side. "Huh, hadn't thought of it that way. He'd need to do the initiation."

  "Whoa," said Pierce, his attention finally pulled away from Ess. "I'm in Gorgonbane now? Why didn't you guys tell me?"

  "Hey, settle down, boy," said Agrathor. "We don't recruit without a vote. Not to mention you have to complete a mission. Ess knows that. Let's hear it! I vote against."

  "Now Agrathor," said Scythia smoothly. She didn't have to finish the rebuke. Agrathor clamped his jaws shut with a click.

  "I did assume," said Ess. "I am gathering that things are afoot that hold greater import than keeping to old traditions?"

  "Indeed," said Scythia. "Pierce Boonswadled has news of an invasion. Kash has found a way to circumvent the convergences, it seems."

  "We're not clear on the details," said Axebourne. "At all... But that's our best guess."

  "Hey hold on," said Pierce, looking to Scythia. "You're giving me my title too? By the Path, this is awesome! Though I'm not sure about Boonswadled."

  "You'll take what you can get, boy!" Agrathor chided. "And you're not a member yet."

/>   "Just trying it on for size," Scythia smiled. "Axebourne and I had been discussing your great luck."

  "Luck?" said Pierce. He'd never considered himself so. He thought back to all the close calls he'd ever had, the insane situations he'd found himself in most recently. It felt like he was constantly in trouble. That didn't sound like good luck. "Yeah, no, I'm not lucky."

  "Friends," said Ess. "Please, let us focus and understand the plot that enshrouds us."

  "Yes, you're right," said Agrathor. "Forget about the kid."

  "If Kash can invade Overland by some means other than a convergence, we must not only defend it, we must also discover his knowledge, and moreover, the source of that knowledge," Ess said. "It seems to me that would be of far greater importance than merely foiling his plans. Come inside. You shall rest your feet, and we will put our heads together on this matter."

  An autonomous servant appeared, unbidden. It was a dusty humanoid of brass and stone, and its eyes shone with a dull orange light. Pierce wondered at it - you didn't see many automata around nowadays, not since the disastrous defections in the Alban wars.

  It silently took the reins of Gorgonbane's mounts, and led the beasts off to the stables. Pierce patted his raptorion affectionately on the snout as it left his side.

  Ess led her guests through the mighty doors of Brackenverge, which opened of their own volition at her approach. They were heavy doors too, made of plates of steel riveted together, several feet thick. A giant could have fit through the entryway. Pierce went through last, and he jumped as the doors slammed shut behind him. He flashed back to the stomp-jogging of the Monstrosity.

  The tower's bottom floor was wide open, devoid of furniture. It might have been welcoming in a former age, with benches and tables and vases of flowers. Now it was bare, damp with humidity, and lit by small orange gemlamps bolted to the stone walls.