The Lost Princess of Aevilen

by D. C. Payson

  “What was in these?” Julia asked.

  “Religious artifacts, artworks, legal manuscripts,” Balyssa replied. “There were even some old weapons and personal items that belonged to Aevilen’s heroes.”

  Julia looked at the empty cases and imagined them with their contents, like a display at a museum but illuminated by the multi-colored light of the library. “Sad that all that history is now lost.”

  “That was their aim: to strip Aevilen of its past. A people disconnected from their past are less likely to honor the gods of their ancestors, less likely to fight to preserve their culture and way of life. By destroying religious shrines and old monuments, by forcibly moving people away from old family homes and farms, the Party made subjugating the people of Aevilen easier.”

  Julia shuddered. “Frightening.”

  As they came around to the far side of the column, Balyssa pointed to a large, metal panel at the head of the library. “That’s it,” she said. “I believe that that mural hides a doorway to a secret archive.”

  “Really?” said Julia, walking up to it to get a better view.

  At the mural’s center were seated versions of the Goddess and Shaper, she with her ivy covering and floral, wreath crown, and he with his massive beard and shin-high boots. Their hands were extended, palms up, in the same sort of formal greeting Julia had seen Alana perform, though their heads and eyes looked straight ahead at the viewer. To the right and left of the figures were panels engraved with ornamental text, and across the top of the mural, in the same script, ran a line of words inlaid with silver.

  It was a beautiful work of art, but nothing about it suggested that it might conceal a door.

  Julia stretched her arm up to read the words running across the top. As she traced the letters, her necklace grew warm, and a Rokkin voice came to her:

  “Aevilen’s Future Is In Our Hands.”

  She shifted her attention to the panel at left, reaching out a hand to trace its words. She heard the same Rokkin voice:

  “Passion United With Reason.”

  Julia shook her head, confused. Why does Balyssa think that this is a doorway?

  She moved to the right and ran her hand over the final panel’s text:

  “Informed Always By Truth.”

  She shook her head again then turned and shrugged. “It looks like artwork to me. I don’t see any keyholes, latches, or knobs. Just religious iconography and some text.”

  “Did you read the words?” Balyssa asked.

  “Yes, I did. Nothing special, just things like ‘The Future Is In Our Hands’ and stuff like that.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Interesting?”

  Balyssa nodded. “Yes. The Rokkin have been known to use hidden mechanisms to lock doors. ‘In our hands’ may reference the statues themselves. Perhaps they conceal a hidden switch or lever.”

  “Do you really think that’s possible?” Julia asked.

  “I do.”

  Julia raised an eyebrow. “Uh, I guess I’ll check again.”

  She stepped forward and looked more closely at the mural, probing the surface of the artwork for signs of hidden latches or unusual protrusions. When she got to the arms of the Goddess, she felt them give way ever so slightly to her touch. She pushed again, and, sure enough, the arms moved again. After a few tries, realizing that she wasn’t getting anywhere, Julia also tried pushing on the Shaper’s arms; those, too, moved slightly. But no matter how she manipulated the statues, nothing changed. The mural remained a solid, metal surface in front of her.

  What are you hiding …

  As she stepped back, her eyes were drawn to the text blocks on either side. She moved in front of the left panel and ran her hands over the words again.

  “Passion United With Reason.”

  “What are you hiding,” she repeated aloud as her eyes ran up and down the panel.

  She placed a single finger in the first word, and slowly traced it out.

  “PASSION.”

  And then the next: “UNI—”

  Suddenly, as she was tracing and hearing the final part of the word, the metal moved slightly under her finger, shifting backward into the mural. Intrigued, Julia pushed hard against the word with both thumbs, to no effect. She explored the metal with a single finger again, and in a few spots on the right side, the pressure from her finger caused the metal to shift backward. She grabbed hold of two ornamental protrusions on either side of the word and pulled. The word, with an inch of metal plate on all sides, slid forward. She pulled again, and the metal plate came free, slipping from her fingers and falling to the floor with a loud clang.

  “What was that?” Balyssa asked.

  Julia reached down and picked up the plate from the floor, holding it up for Balyssa to see. “The words detach.”

  “What is that word you’re holding?”

  “It says ‘United.’”

  Balyssa pored over the mural, trying to make sense of this new clue. “Try changing the order of the words. What are the other words on the panels?”

  “The panels say ‘passion united with reason’ and ‘informed always by truth.’ I’m not sure how those phrases could be rearranged … ”

  “‘Passion united with reason’ speaks to the combined influence of the Goddess and Shaper on Aevilen. Passion is in her sphere; reason in his. ‘Informed always by truth’ may refer to this library, or to the commitments made by the Rokkin and Humans when they made this place. But you’re right; the words do not seem misarranged. There must be something here, though.” She paused, then she stepped back and smiled. “I trust in your blessings, Julia. I will let you focus. Focus and believe, and surely all will be revealed.”

  Julia reached up and ran her hand over the banner text again. “Aevilen’s Future Is In Our Hands.” She looked down at the heavy, iron plate in her hand. This strange puzzle-door, if it was a door at all, seemed like a dubious test of her patience more than anything else. But as she looked down at the strange script, she was reminded of the intuition that had drawn her attention to the panels earlier.

  Focus and believe.

  Putting the metal piece on the floor for a moment, Julia placed her hands over the central figures of the Goddess and the Shaper. She closed her eyes and very deliberately ran her fingers over the contours of the statues, aware of every twist, turn, and bulge in the metal. A few times, she thought she heard whispers in the back of her mind, but they remained unintelligible. Slowly, though, her experience began to change, her mind becoming more attuned to the will and intentions of the artist long ago. She felt momentary impressions of his devotion to the Shaper and of his respect for the Goddess. And then, deeper down, she felt something so brief and fleeting that she wondered if it were real. For a moment, Julia became aware of the connections between the parts on the mural, her mind flashing the panels, the banner bar, and, finally, the hands of the deities themselves.

  “The future of Aevilen is in our hands!” she exclaimed.

  Her heart racing with excitement, Julia reached down and picked up the metal piece from the ground and carefully placed it into the outstretched hands of the Goddess. A moment later, she heard a soft ‘click’ sound from inside the mural. She then looked over at the Shaper.

  Now what do I put in yours?

  Julia ran her hand along the right panel again, trying to remind herself of its words.

  “Informed Always By Truth.”

  It did not take long for her to find the pair; it was the only word that could make the phrase fit the spirit of this shared land and monastery. She plucked it from the right panel and delicately dropped it into the Shaper’s hands.

  United Always.

  For a second, nothing happened. Then, the Goddess’s and Shaper’s arms began to drop, followed by the sound of moving cogs and gears. There was a loud pop, and then, starting from just below the banner text and running down the center of the mural, Julia heard bolts being vi
olently pushed out of place, one by one.

  Clang.

  Clang.

  Clang.

  Clang.

  Clang.

  When the sound reached the bottom, Julia knew that she had solved the puzzle. “I-I think we’re in,” she said, staring at the mural.

  “Excellent,” said Balyssa, coming forward again. “Open it.”

  Julia pushed gently with a single hand. The center of the mural split in two, swinging open to reveal a short corridor in front of them. It was very dark and seemed to lead to a small room lit only by a single, narrow column of bright, white light from above. As Julia entered, the floor at the room’s center began to shift, a mechanical contraption rising into the light.

  “What the … ?” Julia said, shuffling back into the library.

  “Do not worry, it will not harm you,” said Balyssa.

  Julia watched as the section of floor rose up further and split into four pieces, each piece using a reflective surface to redirect the light from above. The pieces tilted, and no sooner had they fallen into place than a complete network of prisms and mirrors revealed itself throughout the room, replacing the earlier darkness with a shimmering light. Julia stared back at Balyssa in disbelief.

  Balyssa gestured forward. “The Rokkin are quite good at making dim spaces bright, aren’t they?”

  “Yeah,” said Julia, awestruck as she took in the illuminated room. It had an oval shape perhaps twenty-five feet long by forty feet wide, with a high-domed ceiling supported by two smaller versions of the pillars in the main library. Eight elaborately carved bookcases holding large books ran along the perimeter on either side. But it was what lay beyond the light-directing apparatus that most caught her attention: a huge, iron door inlaid with gold and silver.

  “Could that be it?” Balyssa wondered aloud, hurriedly making her way to the door. “Is this the Champion’s Gate? I think we’ve found it!”

  Unlike the mural from before, this was unmistakably a door. It featured a triptych of figures and scenes: the first panel, on the left side, showed a human woman with a golden crown standing in front of a walled town; the second, in the center, showed a Rokkin with massively thick limbs and a golden beard standing before a high-backed throne; and the final panel showed a Sylvan, a gold and silver headdress-like object atop his head, sitting against a tree. Running horizontally through the door’s middle, bisecting each of the figures, was an iron braid with a giant, circular lock in the middle. The lock was inscribed with a ring of silver words.

  Julia ran her finger over the words, soon hearing a Rokkin voice: “Our Unity Will See Us Through.”

  “What does it say?” Balyssa asked.

  “It says ‘our unity will see us through.’”

  Balyssa smiled. “It makes sense! Julia, you’ve done it! This has to be the Champion’s Gate! Aevilen’s salvation lies just beyond this door! As I told you before, the Rokkin and Humans each received a piece of the key to open it. Those pieces will have to be unified to function. But … ” Her smile faded as she surveyed the triptych again.

  “But what?”

  “The door shows a Sylvan, too. I was not aware of a Sylvan piece.”

  “If I’m going to speak with Nain I could ask about it,” Julia said.

  “Yes, he would know. This gives you even more reason to speak with him. You must go as soon as possible.”

  “And what exactly would I ask him? Do you think he’ll know about this doorway?”

  “Blessed Sylvan like Nain can live longer than a thousand years. He will know.”

  Julia pursed her lips. “Alright … but what about the last piece, the Rokkin one? What happens if they won’t give it to us?”

  Balyssa shook her head. “I do not know much about it. Judging by the size of the hole in this lock, it’s larger than I had thought. And if the Senior Elder will not give it to us, then we will have to find a way to take it from him. Domin used to be an Elder; he can unlock the door.”

  “Wait, what?” said Julia, startled by the suggestion.

  “Hopefully it will not come to that, but we cannot let anything stop us.” Balyssa came around and stood in front of Julia, staring deeply into her eyes. “You must always remember the stakes. This gate is the only path to victory. If we fail, the Still Lord will consume all that the Creator gods, in their beneficence, brought into being here in Aevilen. Afterward, when the Still Lord’s army has grown even stronger from the slain left in its wake, the lower continent will be invaded. Many, many more will die a permanent death, outside the cycles of the Spirit Winds. Eventually the whole world will fall, and there will be only stillness. Oblivion. This is what we face. You must be willing to take any action or make any sacrifice in order to prevent that from happening. Life, even with just a handful of survivors, can begin anew. But should the Still Lord prevail, there is only the final end: nothingness.”

  Balyssa’s words hung in Julia’s mind like the ring of a dissonant bell. She looked into the bottomless, black pupils of Balyssa’s eyes, the surrounding purple irises crackling with energy, and felt like she was falling.

  “Go,” said Balyssa, breaking her stare. “Retrieve the key pieces and bring them back to the monastery. I will remain here and research the key and the Champion. I expect some of these volumes to be recent enough for me to read and understand; even if not, I should be able to piece some information together. Once we have opened the Champion’s Gate, if my strength permits it, I will send you home. Work quickly; we do not have much time.”

  Julia remained frozen from their encounter, watching Balyssa slowly make her way over toward the bookcases.

  “Go, Julia,” said Balyssa calmly, without actually looking at her.

  Julia turned toward the doorway. After a few steps, she picked up her pace to a jog, never pausing to look back. Then, as she neared the grand staircase and caught sight of daylight coming in through the main doorway below, she ran. Her legs carried her down the stairs at a breakneck pace.

  She was stuck in a divine contest of incomprehensible scale and consequence. And it was becoming clear that she had to follow the arduous, dangerous, and potentially cruel path down which Balyssa was leading her. She had no choice, not really; choice had always been an illusion.

  Julia burst across the threshold and out of the library. Entaurion stood to greet her. He quickly realized that something was wrong. He rushed toward her, and she fell into his arms.

  “Did she harm you?” Entaurion asked, keeping his eyes on the library and waiting for Balyssa to emerge.

  Julia shook her head against his chest. “No,” she said as she fought for breath. “No … ”

  Entaurion took a half step back and gripped her gently by the shoulders. “What’s the matter? What happened?”

  “I can’t … ” She shook her head again.

  “Can’t what?” Entaurion pressed.

  Julia felt her necklace warming. For the first time, she resisted its influence, her trust shaken. But the longer she resisted, the more broadly the warmth spread until finally she gave in, allowing it refocus her. “I had hoped that this was it,” she said quietly. “That I was going to come here, find the gate, and get sent home. But it’s just the beginning! Now so much is riding on me, and I-I still feel so confused, like I don’t even know what’s going on! I don’t know if I can do it, Entaurion. I just—”

  Entaurion reached up and pulled his hood back, letting it fall to his shoulders. He looked at Julia and brought his arm up in a Guardian salute. “Whatever destiny has in store for you, you will not have to do it alone. We Guardians will be with you as long as you are here, no matter the stakes.”

  “He’s right,” called Engar from the ground. “I have a few more limbs left to give in your service. I am ready.”

  Julia smiled, some of her spirit and confidence returning. In these Guardians—and in Thezdan—she had found courageous and loyal companions. It comforted her to know that no matter how lo
ng the road ahead might be, she could count on the Guardians to be with her to the end.

  “Thank you, Engar, Entaurion,” she said. “It’s hard for me, but I’m lucky to have you guys.” She looked off into the distance, spotting the sun still several hours above the horizon. “Maybe we should go so that we can make it back by night. Besides, I’ll feel better after someone’s looked at Engar’s arm.”

  “I’ll be alright,” said Engar, standing up under his own power.

  Entaurion chuckled. “As I said, tough as the iron he forges.”

  Balyssa watched from the window of Julia’s arrival room as Julia, Engar, and Entaurion made their way out of the monastery.

  “Oh, my most beautiful and beloved Dancer,” she whispered to the sky in the Eternal Tongue, “Hear me, marvel of all the gods, the ancients, and the creatures of creation: I near the day of my redemption!”

  She spun around and headed back toward the hidden archives. The day had gone better than she had hoped. But there was still much to do, and she had precious little time.

  Thezdan’s eyes burst open. He lurched forward in the cart, reaching for his sword. “Julia!” he shouted, panting.

  “Quiet, Eodan!” Lothic scolded in a whisper-shout. “Waellin is just ahead!”

  Thezdan’s body was covered in sweat, the nightmare shaking him even now that he was awake. The beast had seemed so real … those eyes, with the unnatural, evil, red fire burning inside them …

  “Are you alright?” asked Lothic, sensing something was wrong.

  Thezdan swallowed hard, still struggling to regain his breath. “A too-real dream. I fear something has happened to Julia.”

  “Do you sense that she’s alive?” asked Lothic, suddenly concerned.

  Thezdan closed his eyes for a moment, and somehow knew that she was. He nodded. “Yes, I think so.”

  “Those may be the Whispers, Eodan. You may be bound to her in the way the old Guardians were to the Vorraver queens and kings they served. What you are feeling is likely what she herself felt. She must have been in danger. If she is alive, she is likely safe for the moment, but we’d best hurry.”