by D. C. Payson
Thezdan was about to respond when Lothic raised his hand. “Of course,” he continued, “your father would have said that the path of the Eo does not allow for the exchange of duty for safety. Very well. We will go find Domin, but we will have to be very careful.”
Thezdan looked back at Lothic, seeing the resolve of a Guardian Prime. It was a side of him he hadn’t seen since the Trebain. For once, Thezdan did not bristle at the mention of his father; instead, he felt a quiet pride that the man before him, the one Eobax had trusted over all others, could see the Guardian legacy in him.
Thezdan reached out and clutched Lothic’s shoulder. “Thank you, Lothic.”
Lothic saluted. “Of course, Eo.”
Thezdan banged gently against the side of the cart. “Scylld, we’ve had a change in plans. We’re going north. Our trip has gotten more dangerous. Be still on the roads, but also be ready to fight.”
A rumble came from the back of the cart, causing some of the grain on top to bounce around. It was all Thezdan needed to hear.
“We are ready, Lothic,” he said. “Goddess protect us.”
Thezdan and Lothic climbed up onto the cart and took their seats on the driver’s bench. A familiar crack of the reins put the cart back in motion.
“Let us hope that she can,” whispered Lothic as he pointed the borum in the direction of Riverstride’s distant, looming spires.
“Stop! Stop!” Julia shouted as she sank to her knees by the monastery gates. She panted, exhausted from the difficult climb up the mountain road.
Engar rushed to her side and helped her to sit. He offered her a drink from his pouch.
Julia took a swig and lay back against a gateway pillar. “Thanks,” she said between breaths. “Just give me a second. I’ll be fine.”
Balyssa stopped and watched Julia and the two Guardians as they rested. “It would be best if we kept going.”
“Do not push the girl too hard,” Entaurion replied. “This is a tough trek for nearly anyone, and we have kept a very demanding pace.”
“Tell me about it,” said Engar as he took a big drink from his pouch and leaned against the wall.
Entaurion smirked. “It would be easier if you switched those two heavy hammers out for a bow.”
“And then, instead of being tired for a moment, I would be weak all the time!” Engar replied.
“How strange to see the two of you show so little respect for the sacrifice of a Guardian Eo,” Balyssa interjected. “Do you not know what happened here? Do you not know that this is the place where Eovaz returned to the Spirit Winds?”
Engar and Entaurion fell silent.
After a moment, Entaurion came forward and stood next to Balyssa. “I’m sorry. I was told as a child about Eovaz, but I didn’t know that this was where he fell.”
Balyssa pointed toward the library tower. “I watched from that window as Eovaz fought alongside the Order of the Key monks to keep the invading forces at bay. He was very skilled, but in the end, he could not resist so many.”
“This is a remarkable place,” said Entaurion, his eyes catching sight of the two great statues of the Goddess and Shaper. “To think that men could once carve stone like that … ” He turned toward one of the old, dried trees emerging from a nearby building. “And tend trees for centuries until they were like living sculptures.” He looked down at his own hands, rough beyond their years from hunting and foraging among the forest thickets. “What happened? What has become of us?”
“Do not despair, young Guardian,” said Balyssa. “I have walked this world in service of the high and most beautiful Dancer for centuries. There are ebbs and flows to all things: to seasons, to lives, to eras. In periods of plenty or scarcity, happiness or sorrow, good or evil, the seeds of the other are inevitably sown. You are right to say that much has been lost, but it is not irretrievably lost; we are not yet beyond hope.”
Julia made her way over to Entaurion and Balyssa. For her, the sight of the monastery library elicited anxious memories of her arrival. “Why are we here, again?” she asked.
“Because there are important things hidden here that you can help uncover,” said Balyssa. “You need not be frightened.”
Julia scanned the compound, taking in the jagged landscape and abandoned buildings. “I can’t help it,” she replied. “This place frightens me.”
“You will be alright,” said Engar, gently clutching her shoulder. “Entaurion and I will see to that.”
“Thanks, Engar,” Julia said. She was grateful to the Guardians; their presence certainly made her feel safer.
Balyssa began walking up the path toward the library. “Come. We have much to do.”
Julia looked through the collapsed walls and open doorways of the buildings they passed. She saw into charred interior spaces that revealed small hints of the pre-Revolutionary past. There was a broad, metal basin, perhaps used for washing; a wood and metal chest, partly burned, standing in a corner; and, in one particularly long house that had been nearly completely destroyed, two rows of rectangular, stone slabs set against the walls at regular intervals, the bunks that the inhabitants had once used.
“Why did the Party attack this place?” she asked, imagining what it might have been like when hundreds of monks inhabited it.
“They destroyed as many of the religious sites in Aevilen as they could,” Balyssa replied. “I grieved to see the shrines to my beloved Dancer defiled, along with countless others celebrating the Goddess and Shaper. This monastery, in particular, was special enough for them to risk significant losses to their army at the hands of the Sylvan. I once thought it was because they were chasing princess Elleina. I now believe that they destroyed this place because this is where Aevilen’s Champion rests.”
Balyssa’s pace slowed as she approached the threshold mosaic set in the road. “Engar, Entaurion, may I ask you to give us some privacy again?”
Engar and Entaurion looked at Julia for direction.
Julia nodded reassuringly.
Entaurion patted Engar on the back and led him to one of the scorched buildings below. They sat down against a wall to wait.
Balyssa knelt down and placed a hand against the mosaic. “Stone has great memory. It cannot see like the leaves, but it will hold its message for eons if it has been carved or arranged.”
Julia knew where Balyssa was leading her. “I remember reading a carved stone wall when I first came here. So that was like what happened with the trees, right?”
“Yes. Your necklace gives you power in both the Goddess’s and the Shaper’s domains, as I said earlier. These stones fall in the latter.”
“Can you read what they say?”
“Only partly,” said Balyssa. “The ornamental script is an early one, long out of use, and many of the words are archaic, their meanings forgotten or changed. This is why you are so important. You are not just reading the words when you touch them; you are experiencing them. In doing so, you are able to understand them in the same way they were understood by their original authors centuries ago.”
Julia looked to the mosaic below their feet. Her eyes were drawn to its center, to the symbol that matched the centerpiece of her necklace and the thick, blue letters that had inspired a feeling of dread that first day.
“There’s something about this mosaic,” she said, thinking out loud. “Something very serious. It bothered me the first time I saw it.”
“That’s not surprising,” Balyssa replied. “The text follows later forms of the Code that I’ve seen. When you look at the mosaic, you are probably seeing sacred law.”
Julia dropped to her haunches and placed a finger against a block of text at the left side of the mosaic. As she began to trace the words, she could feel her necklace grow warm against her chest. A moment later, she heard a voice, though this one was far deeper than she had expected.
“The Fifth Principle: Seek Excellence. The Goddess and the Shaper exalt achievements that are the fru
its of great effort, patience, focus, and skill. Pursue excellence in all your labors.”
“This one is the ‘Fifth Principle,’” Julia relayed. “There was something strange about it, though … The voice I heard was very deep, and it spoke without any inflections. It didn’t sound like a man.”
“Then it was Rokkin,” said Balyssa. “That means that the mosaic was laid by Rokkin hands. It is strange now to think of man and Rokkin working so closely together, but I believe that there are many other works in this monastery of Rokkin origin.”
Julia looked back at the mosaic and placed her finger against the blue tiles at the center. She traced the words slowly, still feeling an unsettling intuition as she looked at them.
“We Shall Protect Aevilen and its Champion, and We Bind Ourselves to this Purpose with the Forces that Bind Us.”
“Bind ourselves with the forces that bind us?” Julia repeated in a whisper. “What does that mean?”
She began retracing the words:
“We shall protect.”
Suddenly her ears detected something new. An anomaly.
“Aevi[pitter]len [pat]and [pitter] its,”
The sound was faint, but growing louder by the moment.
“Cham[pat]pion [pitter],”
Julia popped her head up in alarm. “I think something’s coming!”
Balyssa turned toward the front gate. “Are you sure?” she asked. “I do not hear anything.”
Julia placed her hand against a roadway brick behind her, and sure enough, the pitter-patter sound of an approaching animal came through again. “Yes. It sounds like a horse. Maybe a dog.”
For the first time, Julia saw a look of concern come over Balyssa. Balyssa tilted her head forward, trying to hear the sounds Julia described. Suddenly, the electric energy in her eyes pulsed violently, and she ran down the valley toward where Entaurion and Engar were sitting.
“Rise! Rise, and be ready!” she shouted toward the two Guardians.
Engar rose first, his hand instinctively reaching for one of his hammers. “What is it?” he shouted back.
“Something approaches!” She suddenly stopped in her tracks and pointed. “There!”
Engar spun around. Just coming through the front gates, not more than 200 yards away, was an enormous, black wolf with a thick, white mane. It was easily taller than a man at its shoulder, and it ran with its mouth agape, showing the sinister white and red of its teeth. Churning toward them at tremendous speed, it inspired the terror of a nightmare made real.
Engar shuffled backward, transfixed, fumbling to draw his hammers. Entaurion ran up the path toward Balyssa as he worked to unsling his bow.
“Engar! Focus!” cried Balyssa.
Engar regained his wits and hopped over a nearby collapsed wall. He grabbed a large rock from the ground and waited. He could hear the beating footsteps of the wolf getting closer and closer. Then, as it came into range, he leaned out of the doorway and shouted, trying to draw its attention.
The creature didn’t seem to notice. Its gaze was fixed on Julia.
Julia’s necklace burst to life, flashing brilliant, blue light. She screamed and turned to run.
Entaurion notched an arrow and dropped to one knee. “Please, Goddess,” he whispered under his breath. He faced the wolf and let his arrow fly.
A moment later, the arrow found its mark in the creature’s front leg, splintering the bone above its paw. The creature let out a pained howl and fell. Engar saw an opening and rushed forward from the doorway, heaving his rock at the wolf’s head. It struck but missed its target, glancing off the creature’s shoulder.
The wolf rose to its feet; now Engar had its attention. Reaching down, the wolf grabbed the lodged arrow with its mouth and snapped it off at the wound. It locked stares with Engar and unleashed a hellish roar that pushed Engar backward.
It was then that Engar saw the otherworldly, red light emanating from within the creature’s eyes. “Goddess save us … ” he whispered.
“Engar! Up here!” Entaurion shouted, snapping Engar from his trance.
Engar turned and saw Entaurion standing amid the columns of one of the sacred buildings. He pushed off and ran as fast as his legs could take him up the valley toward where Entaurion waited. He could hear the wolf running behind him, getting closer with each step.
Entaurion notched another arrow and drew back his bowstring. “Down!” he shouted.
Engar leapt into a forward roll. He heard the hiss of the arrow as it whizzed by overhead and an angry growl from the wolf as the arrow lodged somewhere in its body. As he came out of his roll, the wolf roared again. Engar fought to keep his balance, waving Entaurion inside as he sprinted toward the building. Reaching down, he drew one of the hammers from his belt; this would be his only chance.
With all his energy, Engar burst forward and swung his hammer at one of the thin columns of the building. It met the stone with a tremendous thud, fracturing the rock. He pivoted and swung in the other direction, a huge chunk dislodging from the column’s center. The wolf lunged forward as debris began to cascade around them; Engar raised his hammer in defense. The wolf’s mouth collided with the shaft, its teeth stopping only inches short of Engar’s throat. The weight and momentum of the massive creature hurled Engar through the air, his body crashing into the front wall of the building. The world seemed to spin around him as he gasped for breath. The last thing Engar saw before passing out was the building’s façade collapsing, the great wolf howling as the stones fell around it.
“ENGAR!” screamed Entaurion. “ENGAR!”
Engar groaned. There was not a part of his body that didn’t hurt, and Entaurion’s voice sounded like an out of tune horn blaring in his ear.
“You’re alive! You borum-brained fool, you’re alive!”
Engar opened his eyes and saw Entaurion standing over him. The room was dark. Only a narrow stream of light beamed in from nearby.
“Get up!” Entaurion commanded, heaving against Engar’s arm. “We have to go!”
Engar sat up and clutched his head with his free hand. “Where … ”
“Now, Engar, now!” repeated Entaurion. “It’s still outside! We don’t have time!”
Engar rolled to his knees and tried to stand. Entaurion saw him begin to topple, and he slipped under Engar’s arm to support him.
“What … what’s … ” Engar mumbled.
“That fen wolf is still outside. That noise is the sound of it digging through the rubble. I was barely able to pull you inside the temple before the columns came down!”
Engar cracked a smile. “You’re stronger than I would have guessed,” he slurred.
“And you’re heavier than I would have guessed,” Entaurion grumbled as he strained to hoist Engar up the first few stairs of a grand staircase leading to the second floor. “I sent Balyssa and Julia ahead. Hopefully, they’ve found a way out.”
They were halfway to the top when they heard Julia’s cry out, “There must be a way out of here! Come on!”
“That doesn’t sound good,” said Entaurion. “Come, Engar, we have to catch up.”
Engar grunted, trying to propel himself along.
At the top of the staircase, they faced a long corridor with a brightly lit room at the end. Engar and Entaurion followed Julia’s voice, arriving at a conservatory with a glass ceiling that offered a view up to the afternoon sun and sky. The whole room was bright green from the thick ivy that covered the walls and the moss that blanketed much of the floor. There was a persistent trickling sound from a circular fountain at the room’s center that sent water out across a network of channels carved into the floor. On a dozen pedestals arranged around the fountain were the remains of potted trees that had been planted and carefully sculpted, but they were now withered and dead from neglect. Watching over it all, at the very head of the room, was a human-sized statue of the Goddess seated on a flower petal throne.
Julia and Balyssa were
pacing around, looking for a doorway or stairway hidden under the ivy.
“You have spent time in the monastery; don’t you know the way out of here?” Entaurion asked Balyssa.
“I have spent time here, yes, but I have never been inside this temple. It would have been inappropriate,” Balyssa replied.
“What do you mean?” asked Entaurion, frustrated.
“This is not the time!” said Balyssa. “Julia, come read this!”
Julia looked over at Balyssa and saw that she had found a carved block of text behind a patch of ivy on the wall. She rushed over, adrenaline coursing through her body. She ran her finger along the words, and a man’s voice came to her:
“May these trees reflect our Meditations and our Prayers to the Goddess, she of ever-true and ever-changing beauty.”
“There’s nothing here!” Julia exclaimed, pulling away from the wall. “Just religious words!” She looked around the room again, hoping to feel an intuition of the sort she had felt in the past. Nothing.
Entaurion lowered Engar down against the front wall and hurried to join Julia and Balyssa. “What do we do?” he asked, his eyes scanning the room.
“Keep looking,” said Balyssa. “There must be something here.”
Julia went down the wall looking for hidden switches or passages. “Should we go back to the entryway?” she asked frantically. “Maybe there’s another way out over there! Or a connection to the library!”
Just then, Entaurion looked up and saw a possible way out. He ran back to Engar and took a hammer from his side.
“I knew this day would come,” Engar teased weakly.
“Save your energy, Engar,” said Entaurion as he smiled at his friend. “And besides, it’s not what you think.”
Engar shot his hand forward and grabbed the dagger concealed in Entaurion’s belt. “It’s a trade, then,” he whispered as he drew the dagger out, revealing its long, curved blade.
“Don’t get too comfortable with that,” said Entaurion. “I’ll be back for it in a moment.” He moved into position midway down the wall. “Move over toward the statue, quickly!” he called to Balyssa and Julia.
