How Black the Sky

by T J Marquis

  A narrow stair wound up around the inside of the wall, and everyone followed Ess up it. There was no guardrail, and the drop off the side of the stairs was sheer. Pierce supposed it didn't matter much to Ess, since she could levitate.

  He'd always thought wizard's towers funny things. So much of their real estate seemed to be dedicated to looking imposing, looking forlorn and creepy, or just sitting empty, full of shadowy nooks where failed experiments could lurk. Ess likely had a favorite workshop or lab, and possibly an apartment for sleeping, unless she was one of those wizards who'd outgrown the need for physical implements, or nuisances like sleep.

  Indeed she led her guests to a spartan sitting room adjoining a darkened laboratory full of the gleams of glass and the hazy glow of shaded gemlamps.

  "So what have you been up to lately, Ess?" Axebourne said as everyone took a seat. "We caught a really good job and were thinking we'd stay retired this time, before the kid here came crashing into Nux."

  "I've been blowing things up in Barren Alzor," said Agrathor. "Feels nice. You wouldn't believe how resonant the ground is there."

  "I'm glad you all have been well," said Ess. "Things have been quiet here too." Her liquid orbs swirled about to rearrange themselves as she sat in a high-backed wooden chair. "Mostly I've been working to master the Tenth Indispensable Skill."

  "Ah," said Scythia. "Folding. Dangerous stuff, Ess."

  "Truly," Ess agreed. "Dangerous but necessary. I have not grown so far simply to fizzle out on the Ninth Skill."

  "Dedication's always been your middle name," said Agrathor.

  Wouldn't her middle name be..." Pierce held up his hands, thinking across the words to find the right one, "Master?"

  Ess chuckled again. Pierce guffawed.

  Axebourne said, "The Second to the First Great..." he trailed off and sighed. "The Second is just her title, man."

  "I forsook my true name when I took the vows of Study," Ess said to Pierce. "Axebourne's tongue tires from repeating the whole thing, so he just likes to call me Ess."

  "Ess is prettier anyway," Pierce said.

  Agrathor rattled his armor against his ribcage and everyone looked at him. "People... The invasion?"

  "You never were one for pleasantries were you Agrathor?" Ess said.

  "We are men of action!" he bellowed proudly. "And women!"

  "Well Axebourne is, and I know I am," said Pierce, "but how do you..."

  Scythia held up a hand to stop his chattering and leaned in to whisper, "He meant we are men and women of action, Pierce. Not that you all like women," she dropped her voice further, "though he once did have a love."

  "Surely that was before..." Pierce began, not whispering back. Scythia put a hand over his mouth.

  "Hold, man," she said, "unless you fancy another black eye."

  Pierce started, then held his tongue. She was right, he should think before thinking thoughts about Agrathor. The skeleton man did seem to have hangups.

  The conversation had gone on without them. Axebourne had told Ess about the expected attack on Grondell.

  "I can lay trapwards around the perimeter of the city wall," Ess said. "Axebourne, you should take command of the garrison. They may wish to resist at first, but when they see us all together again, I think they will submit."

  "I don't fancy an altercation with Grondell's officers, Ess," Axebourne said, "but you're probably right. Things'll go smoother if I can get direct control."

  "I'll take the high ground," Agrathor said, "and rain lightning down upon them until their charred." He grinned.

  "Can you cast it beyond the city wall?" Ess asked. "It will do no good to defend the city if you burn it down."

  Agrathor shrugged, his bones creaking. "I'll do my best. Range has been pretty good, but I'll admit I don't know specifically how big Grondell is."

  Scythia looked thoughtful. "We are assuming a standard city siege," she said. "But the strangeness of Kash's plan implies some new tactic. Kash may have flying cavalry we haven't yet seen, which would explain his sudden confidence. What if they come down from above? "

  "Or below," said Pierce.

  Agrathor scoffed. "You been to Grondell, kid? Whole place is built on a granite mesa. Nobody's undermining that wall."

  Pierce didn't argue, but he had a feeling.

  "They may have found a way to fold in," said Scythia, questioning Ess with her eyes.

  Ess considered this, but shook her head.

  "I think not," she said. "I would have seen others folding as I practiced it myself. And it's very unlikely Kash could train a significant portion of his forces to do it. Not in a thousand years could he teach as many soldiers. No, I believe the Tenth Skill is safe from the hands of the common soldier."

  Scythia nodded, accepting her friend's assessment. "Yet I have a strong intuition concerning this matter," she said. Her circlet gems were pulsing lightly again. "They will try something new."

  "What is folding?" Pierce asked.

  "Were you never educated, kid?" Agrathor asked incredulously.

  Pierce shrugged. "I had a couple tutors back home, but they kept quitting 'cause I wouldn't stay in one place long enough to have a lesson. I remember a few things about Convergence Theory though. Never felt like I missed much."

  "Ho!" said Agrathor. "Too good for the Glorious Path, eh?"

  "No sir," said Pierce. "Just never thought simply knowing all the details was the important part. You get all stuck on that, you never feel anything, you stop trusting your instincts."

  "Wisdom in this lad!" Axebourne beamed. "It's just like I always said, isn't it darling?"

  "Axebourne was never much of a scholar either, it's true," said Scythia.

  "Prefer to learn by experience," Axebourne said. "Figure if the Blacksmith put his mark on me, that's all I gotta worry about."

  "Exactly sir," Pierce said. "Trust him. He said he'd take us down Glorious Paths. Nothing I can do would stop that anyhow."

  "So folding," Ess reminded everyone. "Folding, Pierce, might better be called 'pinching', or perhaps even 'tunneling'. The Skill is to bring two distant points of space together, as if you were folding a cloth, and then trade your current position for a new one."

  Pierce was quiet, taking that in.

  "That's awesome!" He exclaimed. "Think what you could do in a fight!"

  "What she's done," Axebourne said appreciatively. "You do not want to meet this woman in battle."

  Ess remained humble, but said, "It is quite an experience, Pierce. If you ever have the desire to trod the Path this far, you will see."

  "I mean, wow," he continued. "I could fold down to the Underlands..." Ess nodded. "Or out past the Chasm, finally see what's there..."

  Everyone shook their heads at this.

  "No one makes it past the Chasm, kid," said Agrathor.

  Pierce shrugged. "Someone will, maybe even Ess."

  Ess favored him with a look. "I appreciate your vote of confidence," she said, "but not even The First has done this thing. It is said the banshees can snatch a person even as they fold." She shook her head. "It is too dangerous to even try."

  Pierce remained dubious. "I don't know about all that," he said. "All I know is when there's something I'm reaching for, no matter how bad things get, I push through. And unlucky as I am, I haven't died yet." The others shared glances at this. "Seems like Overland should think the same way. Everyone wants to know what's across the Chasm, so why don't we just push 'til we find it? If it's what the Blacksmith wants, we'll get there someday."

  "Suppose that's true," said Agrathor thoughtfully.

  No one argued further, and conversation turned back to preparing for the attack.

  Pierce found it interesting that though Ess was clearly the most accomplished member of Gorgonbane, and though Axebourne constantly sought his wife's opinion and approval on tactics and strategy, it was ultimately Axebourne's satisfaction with the plan that brought matters to a conclusion.

  They would assume command of
Grondell's forces, and prepare for siege as well as they could.

  After the conference, the party split, and everyone was seen to their rooms.

  Pierce's dorm room was as spartan as the rest of the tower. He lay back on a narrow bed, soaking in the faint light of a half-shaded gemlamp.

  His brain was wasting its time.

  Here they all were, on the verge of an invasion from the Underlands, and suddenly he was taken with a girl. Her face was already burned into his mind. He could trace its silhouette in the random shadows on the walls, in the natural grain of the tower's bricks. When he closed his eyes, Ess's white-painted eyelids gleamed like beacons in the dark.

  He considered taking a stroll down the stairs, just in case she was out and about. Even one look...

  Fool, he thought. Why not just jump in the Chasm? She might as well be the queen of Overland, why would she want you?

  But she had smiled when he spoke, hadn't she? She had chuckled at his stupid joke about her middle name. What if there were more to that?

  Sure, he thought, and any minute now she'll just walk right in here and fall into your arms. In her nightgown. Or just pants and a shirt... Yeah, something normal...

  His thoughts were running away with him, and he jumped when Ess did come by his open door.

  "Pierce Boonswadled?" she said lightly from the hall.

  "Come in," he said. "What's going on, Ess?"

  The wooden door creaked as it opened further, and Pierce sat up in his bed. Ess stood in his doorway.

  "I was simply making the rounds," Ess said. "I wanted to make sure everyone was comfortable."

  "Hey, the shower was great. I think I've only ever had one or two hot ones."

  Ess laughed, like morning birdsong.

  "And you do get used to them," she said. "I remember apprenticing in Grondell at the Temple. They softened us up with cool air and hot water, then turned everything off four days before evaluations."

  "Oh that's cruel," Pierce said.

  "Ingenious!" Ess said. "Those were some of the hottest days that year. You cannot even imagine the smell."

  Pierce made a show of sniffing his own armpit.

  "I think I can."

  Ess wrinkled her nose playfully. "Maybe you need to go back in for another wash? To this day, many of my old classmates think the First himself brightened the sun, just to torture us. But it was a good lesson. The victor of the battle never counts on circumstances being ideal."

  Pierce saw visions of his latest escapades.

  "That is very true," he said.

  "Well, like I said, I just wanted to check in. My servant Rook will be wandering about, and I'll probably be up late working," Ess said. "So just let him know if you need something in the night."

  Pierce bounced his eyes off her lips. Did she notice?

  "Thank you," he said. "I think I'll be okay.

  Ess gave a nod and turned to float silently down the hall.

  What if I need you?

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The Road to Grondell

  The road to Grondell led through a dense forest dark and wet enough to remind Pierce of the Underlands. He shivered and felt the need to wash. Then he puzzled at himself. Though his time in that subterranean realm had not been pleasant, he found he was not loathe to return to it. In fact, a part of him was excited that this adventure might deliver him there again.

  Maybe I'm too brash, he thought. Do the others think I'm just a stupid kid, letting my imagination run off with me?

  They hadn't argued much with him when he'd defended the possibility of using the Skill of Folding to cross the Chasm. Did that mean that he'd affected their opinions on the matter? Or were they just dismissing him, refusing to discuss further in an effort to end his prattling?

  He'd been aware for some years now that he talked a lot. That he tended to wander down mental rabbit trails, often leaving other people behind. In general he found others were annoyed by this, and when he remembered, he apologized, but often he was too engrossed in his thoughts to do so. They were like a flood, lapping at a river's banks, seeking new paths across strange lands.

  Now that he knew about folding, he really might consider studying the Glorious Paths in earnest. Could he just skip to the Tenth Skill? Or was there some fatal trap along the way that required mastery over a preceding Skill? He'd encountered his fair share of booby traps in the wild reaches of Overland, traps that could have been circumvented by the throw of a switch or the deciphering of some ancient clue. None had yet killed him. Would skipping Skills be the thing that finally did him in?

  Or maybe he could just learn really, really fast. Sometimes, things just came to him, especially physical skills. Growing up, the very week he learned to play hurtball with the other boys, he rose in their ranks to be team captain. It just came naturally to him, unlike careful learning and study.

  It did occur to him in passing that formal education could be another adventure, however tame, waiting for him to conquer it and claim its spoils.

  Maybe there'll be time someday, he thought.

  "Now is the time for action," he said aloud.

  "What?" Agrathor asked from astride his raptorion.

  "Oh, I was just thinking about trying scholarship again, when all this is over," Pierce replied.

  Agrathor grunted, or made a sound kind of like a grunt. "If we live."

  "Oh I doubt anything could kill you, sir, if that gorgon..."

  "But I don't want to be alone here!" Agrathor bellowed. "What would I do if Kash won and everyone else died? Join him? Keep trying to kill him? Bah." Once again, Pierce had aggravated the skeleton man, and he pulled his mount up ahead to join Axebourne and Scythia.

  Pierce was slowly getting a better grip on Agrathor's demeanor. At first, he'd thought the man a warrior's warrior, brutal and professional to a fault. He'd thought Agrathor had just been giving him a hard time to put Pierce through his paces, initiate him. With each passing day he saw more and more that Agrathor was a truly passionate man, fiercely dedicated to his friends and his calling. Pierce was beginning to think that when anything touched on his meatless condition, the man's anger stemmed not so much from feeling insulted, but from being reminded that he had lost a vital connection to the rest of humanity - his flesh.

  Pierce silently pledged to be more sensitive toward the man's loss.

  He was still thinking over how he would tackle life as a skeleton when the bandits attacked.

  There were few things a person could attempt in Overland more foolish than trying to rob Gorgonbane, but Pierce had to hand it to these bandits - they started with a pretty good plan.

  First he heard the whistle of darts shooting through the air, and all the raptorions squealed in pain and surprise as several darts hit each of them at once. Pierce's mount, who he had named Gash, turned its head toward him with a look of pleading, just before its eyes glazed over and it crumpled beneath him in sedated slumber. Pierce leapt free and immediately scanned the forest around them for threats. All the raptorions were down, but Axebourne and Agrathor were both on their feet, falling together into a two-sided defensive stance, weapons drawn. Pierce pulled down his faceplate and edged up the road to join them and form a triangle.

  Scythia's bloodhoof, Nova, had bleated when the darts hit it, but it showed no signs of collapse, or indeed of injury. There were no darts embedded in its hide. Must be tough. Scythia spurred it into a patrol pattern around the three guys.

  Ess had no mount - she had simply been levitating as they travelled - and had risen up into the forest canopy to do reconnaissance.

  A second volley of poisoned darts flew in from all sides, and this time Pierce saw them actually bounce off of Nova's hide. Amazing. He felt a few careen off his armor too. When next he saw Agrathor, several feathered missiles had become lodged in between his few exposed bones. His flame eyes swelled in anger.

  "Five on the northeast, seven to the southwest!" Ess called from up above. Darts and arrows were flying up at her from
the brush below, but some strange force caused them to fall in an arc before their velocity should have been exhausted.

  "I am loathe to call the lightning," cried Agrathor. "It does not seem necessary or prudent to burn the forest down."

  "You speak true, friend," Axebourne returned. "Ess, cut off their southern retreat. Agrathor, take the five. Scythia will cover the northward road."

  "And me, sir?" Pierce asked. A dart flew right at his face and he deflected it with his blade.

  "Come with me, we'll take the seven."

  Pierce nodded and the group broke up. Ess sent her orbs every which way, providing destructive cover fire for her comrades. Pierce watched one of the orbs crash through the trunk of a tree, splitting it at the point of impact. It swung down from above, fibers holding until the treetop impacted the ground. Someone in the underbrush screamed.

  "One down!" Ess called.

  The shadows flared blue as Agrathor released electric rage on the other side of the road. The bandits ahead of Axebourne and Pierce ceased firing their darts and stepped out of hiding. Two dropped down from branches above.

  They were dressed well for bandits, in clean leathers and holding polished swords and axes. This must have been a lucrative stretch of road for them. Not today.

  Axebourne signaled that he would take the left flank - there were four men that way. This left three for Pierce. Axebourne reached his prey first. One of them tried to dodge around a thick tree to get behind Axebourne, but the big man planted a vicious standing kick in the tree trunk that ripped fiber from fiber, almost as clean as if it had been chopped with the world's sharpest axe. Thousands of pounds of living wood slammed into the bandit's body and the tree fell down on top of him.

  "Two!" Axebourne bellowed. He grinned at the next three. They fell back several paces, widening their formation.

  "You guys should probably leave!" Pierce called to the three bandits in front of him.

  One stepped forward instead and swung a single-edged claymore at him. Far too slow. Pierce sidestepped and brought his blue blade up swiftly, severing the man's hands at his wrists. His heavy sword clattered to the ground and he cried out in shock, falling to the ground and clutching at his wrist stumps.