“This is definitely the way in,” said Miss Zahna, who—as far as Millicent could gather—was some sort of traditional healer, and, being a Virago, albeit an inexperienced one, the natural leader of the party.
I could do that, thought Millicent and remembered childhood dreams of marble halls and faithful servants.
“How do you know this is the way in?” asked Ingar.
“Magic.”
Millicent raised an eyebrow. Not just healer, but some kind of shamanic practicioner. She leaned forward a little. This was a rare opportunity to gather folklore from Beyond the Pale.
“Well then why don’t you magic the thing open?” said Ingar.
“Hmm, I suppose it’s come to that,” said Miss Zahna. “Flip should do it.” The girl drew a knife and started scraping the stone, gathering the resulting powder in a little fold of leather.
“What are you doing?” asked Torstag.
“Making tea,” said Miss Zahna.
“What the fuck?” said Ingar.
“Flip is a 2nd Circle Spell,” said the girl. “That means doing it as a Ritual. I make the tea from the door, I become the door, it does what I want it to do.”
Millicent stalked over to where her handbag hung on a cleft stick along with their other belongings—something about avoiding ants, she recalled. She rummaged for her notebook then stopped.
This wasn’t about ethnology or folklore; this was about her own survival.
She turned away and carefully negotiated the slope down to ground level.
Miss Zahna was still scraping at the stone.
“Will this take long?” asked Torstag.
“All day,” said Zahna. “It’s a difficult spell. And I’ll be mentally fatigued until I’ve slept the night.”
“What if more bounty hunters come?” hissed Torstag.
“Then,” said Miss Zahna, without looking up, “You can hit them with your sword.”
“Or Gronchard and his Flying Tooth Garden?”
Zahna shrugged one bony shoulder.
Were these young people fugitives? Millicent’s brow furrowed. That put a different complexion on things.
Torstag turned to his friend and put a hand on his arm. He spoke low voiced, but not so low that Millicent’s keen ears did not pick up the conversation. “Ingar. You’re supposed to be a Burglar.”
“Yes,” hissed Ingar, “that’s how I know there’s probably no trap there.”
“Probably?” said Torstag.
“Why don’t you try,” said Ingar. “Hit it with your sword, since you think that solves everything.”
You are Virago Level 4.
Form 2.
Performing Virago at Level 6.
Millicent’s Voice again. Whenever it started talking about her being a Virago, men started looking at her. Perhaps this was a bad idea. She reached for her pills, then instead manoeuvred down the slope to join the others. “What on Earth is going on?”
Ingar said, “What are you doing Miss Millicent? It’s not safe for you.”
“Don’t be silly,” she said.
Result = 6 -1 (Luck) -3 (Target Will) = 2.
Effect = Tentative Practical Response.
The red-haired youth tilted his head. “Well I suppose if you stayed back…”
Amazing, thought Millicent. She should have started really listening to her Voice earlier.
“Bad idea,” said Torstag. He waved, shooing her. “Sorry Miss Millicent, this really isn’t safe.”
Unlock Quell +1?
“What? Oh…” Her Voice often said that whenever she had any kind of confrontation.
Besides, despite what her doctor said, saying yes to her Voice usually had good results, especially with Maelstrom and Amorous Impunity, which had kept her in lovers and out of any sort of lady’s trouble for a good twenty years.
Oh, go on then.
Virago, Quell+1 unlocked at 2/6 Grasp.
Using Quell+1 2/6, cost 3 Potestas. 3 out of 6 Potestas remaining.
She turned her gaze on Torstag. “I am quite old enough to look after myself.”
Result = 6 (Performance) + 3 (Feat) +1 (Luck) -3 (Target Will) = 7.
Target is Marked.
Effect = 0.
Torstag shrugged.
“With respect, Miss Millicent,” said Miss Zahna. “That was not entirely true when we found you.”
Level 1 Virago.
Yes, I do remember.
What her Voice called “Virago Feats”—an odd choice of word that made her think of circus performers—appeared to work on most men and a very particular type of woman that could be entertaining for a night or two, but never ever on other Viragos. However, Millicent had been here before. She grinned. “You have me there, Miss Zahna. However, I shall only really be safe once I have returned back to the Pale, which will only happen once you are done here. So, let me help you—please?”
Miss Zahna’s eyes narrowed.
“Perhaps Miss Millicent will remember something?” said Torstag.
Zahna nodded.
Millicent raised an eyebrow. “Remember?”
Before Miss Zahna could respond, Ingar cut in, “There’s no hidden catch or opening mechanism.”
“Well of course,” said Millicent. “Otherwise I would have found a way in—though the Gods alone know why I should want to. Are you quite sure the door isn’t simply sealed?”
Miss Zahna shook her head. “It has to be possible for a solo avatar to get inside. That’s the nature of these tombs.” She turned to Millicent. “What does your De—the voice in your head say?”
Millicent flushed. “I don’t want to talk about…”
But the voice was saying something, something very specific. She took a pace forward, coughed and addressed the door. “Open up, for I am Millicent nee Lintar nee Frontisia nee…” The names went on for a while. Just as her voice grew horse, she reached a crescendo: “…nee Rasinta the Ice Queen!”
With a squeal of ancient hinges, the stone door swung up until it stuck out at right angles like the roof of a particularly stark portico.
Cool air gusted out of the void beyond.
Millicent stumbled toward the darkened threshold.
Ingar grabbed her arm. “Wait.”
Relic Structure. Surge.
Sensation flooded through her.
Potestas restored and boosted.
Vitality restored.
9 points of advancement available.
Quell +1 3/6 secured. 6 points remaining.
Select an 11th Virago Feat.
And Millicent found herself treading the carpets of a rich palace, contemplating the pictures.
She paused at one entitled, Sacred Orgy, but then noticed the one next to it, which was even more lurid, for all it had fewer participants.
Yes, that was perfect.
Tsunami +1 unlocked at 2/6 Grasp. Secured. 2 points remaining.
Select a 12th Virago Feat.
Now for something more practical…
Brush Aside unlocked at 2/6 Grasp. Advanced to 4/6 Grasp.
You have secured 11 Virago Feats. 14 are required to secure Level 5.
Her Voice seemed to take a deep breath.
You are Millicent, Human Warlock, Middle Aged, Outgoing, Forceful, Hedonistic, Self Hating.
Potestas 12 of 6. Will 3.
Vitality 5. Toughness 2.
Virago 4: Maelstrom +1, Amorous Impunity, Tsunami +1, Icestorm, Commanding Presence +1, Quell +1, Eye of the Tornado, Sweep Along, Brush Aside 4/6.
Scholar 4 (Learned): Erudition, Research, Debate, Locate, Conservation, Restoration, Source Criticism, Read Old Imperial, Read Gorlakian Runes, Read Squamafian, Identify Art, Identify Architecture.
Skills include: Mountaineering 3, Shooting 4.
She opened her eyes to find she was now standing a good few feet from the entrance.
Torstag was staring past her through the tunnel. Ingar, however was all-but hopping from foot to foot.
“Is something the
matter?” asked Millicent, sweetly.
Ingar flushed delightfully. “Hang on,” he said, “I’ll be back.” He plunged off up into the jungle.
A moment later there were chopping sounds.
Miss Zahna’s eyes twinkled. “You just surged, Miss Millicent.”
“Oh is that what that was?” said Millicent, fanning herself. “But what does it mean?”
“It means you were involved in creating this tomb,” said Torstag.
“I would think,” said Millicent, “I might remember doing that.”
“You did,” said Miss Zahna. “All that ‘Open up for I am Millicent nee…’”
“Oh, balderdash,” said Millicent. “I don’t believe in reincarnation.”
Zahna shrugged.
“Right,” said Ingar, crashing out of the jungle. He now held a freshly cut branch.
“You appear to have wood, young man,” said Millicent.
“Ten-foot pole,” he said, flushing. “Long and light but not too whippy.” He frowned at it. “It makes sense now I have one my hand.” He approached the door.
Millicent shielded her eyes from the daylight and peered within. Firewood was heaped up beyond the door. No, not firewood, bones. Bones and black-eyed skulls. “There appear to be human remains,” she said.
“Probable trap,” said Ingar. “Stand back.” He positioned himself to the side of the door, then poked the ten-foot pole around corner into the passage and prodded the floor.
Something clicked. A bronze grating swung down and crashed into place, filling the entrance like a cat flap from hell. Long spikes protruded from the armoured back of a corpse that had been fresh perhaps forty or so years before.
It was literally a nightmare come true.
Millicent shuddered and set her jaw. She was damned if she was going to scream.
After a moment, Miss Zahna said, “I think we know what happened to Lintar.”
“That’s me!” said Millicent, speaking over the rush of blood to her ears. “I dreamt this. I was creeping inside then, slam! I…What is happening to me?”
“It’s a Tarpit Tomb,” said Zahna. “Watch. It will reset.”
With a creak, the bronze grille swung back up from the doorway.
The armoured skeleton slid off the spikes, clattered onto the floor just beyond the threshold.
Millicent flinched. “Is that me?”
The spiked grille reached the ceiling with a clunk.
“See?” said Zahna.
A patch of floor gave under the skeletons weight. There was another click. Once again, the bronze grille slammed back down. This time the lower edge clipped the corpse and kicked it out into the jungle.
It landed in pieces at Millicent’s feet.
As if in a dream, she knelt and touched the skull.
“Brace yourself,” said Torstag.
“Pardon?”
“If you touch the remains of a past avatar, you get a surge,” said Zahna. “Just like when you opened the door.”
They all stood around waiting.
At length Millicent stood up and brushed down her skirts. “You said it was me.”
“They all are,” said Torstag. “And you should have surged.”
“Perhaps another avatar took the surge,” said Zahna. “Remains aren’t like structures. They run out.”
Millicent considered the pile of bones where it lay in the dark. The hairs stood up on the back of her neck. “Are all of them me?” “How?”
Miss Zahna asked, “What are grave goods for?”
“Grave goods?” Millicent straightened and turned to tower over the girl…except they were—annoyingly—the same height. “To ensure a good afterlife, or so I read.”
“So it’s a form of sympathetic magic,” said Zahna.
“Why yes,” said Millicent. Where was this going? “If you put it like that.”
“Hang on,” said Ingar. “What’s sympathetic magic?”
“Well…” began Miss Zahna.
Millicent got there first. “A magical ritual which depicts the desired result as closely as possible. Make a doll of your enemy, stick pins in it. Make a model of your house, fill it with coins.”
“I was going say, backwards art,” said Zahna.
“That’s certainly more succinct,” said Millicent. “So where does this take us?
“What if the afterlife took place not in some heaven, but through being reborn in the Many Realms?”
“Reincarnation, you mean,” said Millicent. She thought for a moment. “Yes, logically—if sympathetic magic worked—the grave goods would affect the next life…”
“Bury a man with a sword,” said Zahna, “he’s reborn as a warrior.”
“But that’s just superstition.”
“So,” said Miss Zahna. “Suppose you wanted to make sure the next you would get that sword?”
“Well then,” said Millicent, too curious to resist the girl’s attempt to take the lead, “you would leave a note to yourself.”
“How would you do that?”
“Oh, you couldn’t, could you…?” Millicent didn’t like being back to bottom of the class. “But you could hope that your new self would feel the pull from the remains of your old self…Oh…” She tilted her head to peer into the tomb. She shivered despite the heat of the jungle. “I’m buried in there, aren’t I?” she said. “But why the traps?”
“You tell me,” said Miss Zahna.
“To protect your treasure,” said Millicent. “Of course! You’d expect your new self to remember them, like I remembered the…spell to open the door.”
“And did your last self—we say avatar—remember the trap?” Zahna indicated the corpse.
“On balance, looking at the available evidence—”
“Her corpse, you mean,” put in Miss Zahna.
“—-no she did not,” said Millicent. Now a wave of nausea went through her. “Oh Gods she is me.”
“So what happens when the tomb contains two sets of remains, all of the same person?”
“I suppose the pull doubles.” Millicent winced. It was suddenly hard to think.
“Indeed,” said Miss Zahna, way too cheerfully. “And so a third avatar comes. Does this avatar remember the trap?”
“Bugger,” said Millicent, catching up. “I’m not the third, am I?”
Miss Zahna shook her head. “If a grave determines the status of the next avatar through sympathetic magic, what happens?”
“Each avatar is born into metaphorical traps and dark places…” Millicent didn’t like where this was going. “They are increasingly ill equipped to deal with the tomb. You called it a tarpit, didn’t you? An animal gets stuck in the tar, its distress cries attract a predator, that gets stuck and dies. Scavengers come. They get stuck…”
“So help us clear this one of your remains,” said Miss Zahna.
Millicent regarded the girl. “What’s in it for you?”
“An item from the treasure will aid me on my quest.”
“Hmm,” said Ingar. He was contemplating the corpse. “It’s not exactly what you’d call safe, is it?”
“Nonsense,” said Millicent. “It will be a fabulous…adventure.” She winked.
Using Sweep Along, cost 1 Potestas, 11 of 6 remaining.
Current Form 5. Performing Virago at Level 9.
Result = 9 (Performance) +2 (Feat) +1 (Luck) -3 (Target Will) = 9
Effect = Purposeful Practical Response (Cost 4) + For a Watch (Cost 4)
A delicious blush appeared behind Ingar’s freckles. The boy straightened his shoulders and squared his jaw. He grinned. “Sure. What’s a bit of danger to a Warlock, eh?”
“Let’s get our kit,” said Miss Zahna.
Together they scrambled back up to the camp.
Torstag stooped to pick up his armour. “Somebody help me get this on.”
“I will,” said Miss Zahna. “Who’s going to carry the rope?”
“That’s the Burglar’s job,” said Ingar. “Am I th
e only one with an everlight?”
“No…” began Miss Zahna.
As she watched the young people equip themselves, a stone seemed to settle in Millicent’s gut.
You are Self Hating.
You have incurred Issue “Guilt at Using People” at 1 Hardening.
Damn! Another issue! She’d only just gotten over the delightful “Feeling Ugly on the Inside”. The damn things kept popping up as quickly as she nailed them down. The worst of it was—given the circumstances—that this particular issue would be hard to discuss with her Dr Joyeous.
It was unfair anyway! The boy was clearly part of some quest. It was his own choice, wasn’t it?
Wrestling with Guilt at Using People 1/6, cost 3 Potestas 6 remaining.
Will 3 Negated
You have Hindrance, “Feeling Guilty.”
Millicent sighed. This was going to become inconvenient.
Chapter 37: Dark Awakening!
“I am Rasinta the Ice Queen!”
Who said that!
A clang echoed through the stone chamber.
She opened her eyes and somewhere in the dark, parchment crumpled.
She was not hot, not cold, but nor was she numb.
Another clang.
She flexed her fingers. Again parchment crumpled.
Had some animal slipped into her chamber? Was she in peril from an assassin? And, how was it she felt so calm?
There was no quickening of the pulse, no urge to gasp in fear.
Why was her heart not hammering in anticipation of the fight!
But then, if an assassin had come, she would be dead by now.
“Slave! Light the lamps!”
As she spoke, some animal emitted a hollow croaking, drowning her voice.
And the word soul thief came to her.
She did not fear the soul thief any more than she did the assassin; rather she welcomed her…which on the face of it seemed strange, though perhaps since she could not remember her own name, the soul thief had been and gone.
The Jungle Tomb of the Ice Queen (The Flying Tooth Garden Book 1) Page 23
