“He covets her,” Melek continued. “And if you remain here, he will have her.”
Gewey let out an anguished cry. “I will not let that happen! I will kill him first! Do you hear me? I will rip him limb from limb!”
“Yes,” Melek coaxed. “You will. We will. We will make them all pay.” He relaxed his grip. “But first we must escape.”
Gewey took a deep breath and renewed his efforts, his desperation to save Kaylia and his desire to please Melek both raging. But even now, he was still unable to make any progress.
This time it was Melek who shouted out in frustration. “Have you not heard me? Is your mind completely addled?”
Startled by the outburst, Gewey lowered his eyes in shame. Melek’s discontent pained him. He desperately wanted to make him proud. But no matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t able to.
“I....I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I’ll try harder.”
A strong, self-assured woman’s voice carried over the wind. “You’ve tried hard enough, Gewey Stedding.”
Both he and Melek spun around. From out of the choking dust appeared a young woman dressed in the robe of a novice from the temple of Ayliazarah. Her flaxen hair fell carelessly about her shoulders, and her sharp eyes and flawless ivory skin were matched in beauty by her graceful movements. She approached with confident strides.
“Who are you, human?” demanded Melek.
“Does the mighty Melek not know?” the woman replied mockingly. “Is this not your domain?”
The howl of the mad spirits rose in intensity. The woman frowned. “And to think those poor souls didn’t understand their true power in this place.” She shot a fiery gaze at Melek. “For that you will pay, beast.”
“Silence, woman!” roared Melek. The landscape changed in an instant. Towering flames and razor sharp rocks sprang up from the ground, while surges of searing hot air blasted them from all directions, sending Gewey stumbling back.
The woman laughed. “Is that the extent of your power, Melek?” She waved her hand and the land transformed once again, this time into a green meadow dotted with multicolored wildflowers. “Much better. Don’t you think?”
“H...How…” Melek stuttered. “What are you?”
“Melek is thinking that I would be a better tool to use than you, Gewey,” the woman said. “But whatever he has told you, it is a lie. He means to escape Shagharath and then rule heaven and earth alone. No matter what you think, he is not your ally.”
Gewey took a menacing step forward. “Melek is the only one who has ever told me the truth.”
The woman was not impressed by his display. “Is that so? I am shocked at you, Gewey Stedding. So easily taken in by this charlatan.”
“That is enough!” shouted Melek. He crossed the distance to the woman in only a few steps, his hand reaching out to grab her.
The woman’s fist shot out just before he made contact, crashing into Melek’s jaw and knocking him flat on his back. He landed with a loud thud. After laying there in shock for a few seconds he scrambled to his feet, staring at her in stunned disbelief.
“Do not touch him!” Gewey cried out, rushing forward with rage set on his face.
Just as he reached her, the woman’s body turned to mist. With nothing solid to grasp hold of he passed right through, his momentum causing him to stumble and fall to one knee.
“I can see that Melek has been hard at work on you,” she remarked with distaste.
Confusion and fear ran through Gewey. Rising up, he quickly took a few steps back.
“How is this possible?” hissed Melek. “You are human. You should not be able to–”
“This is your prison, Melek,” she snapped, cutting him off. “Not mine. Nor that of any other mortal soul. Here, you are the weak and we the strong.” She closed her eyes and listened to the cries of insanity. “If they had only known, you would never have been able to drive them mad.”
“Melek tried to help them,” argued Gewey.
The woman huffed. “Is that what he told you? And you believed him?” She looked closer at Gewey and scowled. “But of course you did. He has poisoned you with his deceit and bile. He hoped to make you his slave, and from the look of it, he has very nearly succeeded.” She cast a sideways glance at Melek. “He tortured them out of pure malice, and for his own sick and twisted pleasure – tortured them until they were driven mad. They never knew that in Shagharath they are far more powerful than he. And the irony of it is, Melek had no idea that the humans he so despised and tormented were the very ones holding the key to his freedom.”
“You lie!” shouted Melek, his face red with fury. “Mortals are weak and useless. What power could they possess?”
“And yet a mortal knocked you down as if you were nothing more than a small child,” the woman jeered. “A mortal turned your nightmarish realm into a place of beauty.” She raised her arm in a grand sweeping motion to indicate the landscape she had brought forth. “And a mortal will now undo the evil you have visited upon her friend.”
“Your friend?” said Melek. He gave a sarcastic snort. “You are no friend to Darshan.”
Gewey could only stand and watch. His mind was clouded, and though he dearly wanted to come to Melek’s defense, he did not know how. Whoever this woman was, she could easily overpower him.
The woman gave Gewey a kind smile. “I am a friend to him. Though he may not recognize me as I appear now.” In a flash of light, the form of the young and beautiful woman transformed into the old and sturdy frame of Maybell.
Gewey gasped, eyes wide.
“Yes,” she said in her familiar voice, spreading her arms. “It is me.”
“But you…before...you were...” struggled Gewey.
She completed his sentence for him. “Beautiful?”
Gewey could only nod.
“I was not always an old woman,” she explained. “And here, I am able to look however I choose.” In another flash of light, her younger self returned. “And now I choose to be young once again.”
“How did you get here?” asked Gewey. He took a nervous step forward.
Melek snarled and spat on the ground.
“The same way that you did,” she replied.
“But why?”
Maybell sighed. “To save you, of course. Why else would I come here?”
“Don’t listen to her, Darshan,” cried Melek. “She is here to trick you. To turn you against me.”
“You’re half right,” admitted Maybell. “I am here to turn him against you.”
Gewey stepped back again. “I’ll not turn on Melek. He has shown me the truth. He is my…”
He wanted to say ‘friend’, but a different word came out.
“Master.”
Maybell’s face tightened. She folded her hands in front of her waist. “We cannot move forward until I undo this.” She shut her eyes and lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Gewey. This is going to hurt.”
As Gewey stiffened, Maybell vanished, only to reappear behind him an instant later. Before he could move she had wrapped her arms around his torso and held him tightly. At first he struggled with all of his might, at the same time shouting out every curse he could think of. It was futile. Her strength was far beyond anything he could have anticipated. He quickly realized that he was helpless.
Melek, understanding what she was doing, charged in and lashed out with a barrage of blows. But Maybell was unaffected. It was as if she was made from granite, and Melek glass. He withdrew after only a few seconds, his fists bleeding and bruised.
“Release me,” Gewey commanded. The sight of the injured Melek fueled his anger.
“As you wish,” whispered Maybell.
She opened her arms, allowing Gewey to crumble to the ground. He tried to stand, but a pain instantly shot through his gullet. He doubled over as wave after wave of searing hot spasms caused him to cry out in agony. Then, a final great wave rose up, forcing him to begin emptying his stomach. The air was immediately filled with the sick
ly sweet smell of wine. But the moment any of this touched the grass, it instantly turned thick and black. Again and again the poison within him spewed forth until Gewey could no longer hold himself upright. He toppled over, the putrid bile still flowing from his mouth.
Maybell turned to face Melek. “And when he is himself again, I will show him what you really are.”
“Know this, mortal,” he hissed back at her. “When I am free from this place I will send your spirit to the depths of oblivion. But not before I strip you of your reason and force you to experience terrors such as your limited mind can scarcely conceive.”
Maybell laughed tauntingly. “Were you this boorish and crude before you betrayed your children and your maker?”
Melek sneered. “Again you speak of things of which you know nothing.”
“I know that you showed Gewey his father,” she retorted. “But I also know that you showed him only a part of the story. But understand this: I can see everything that you see. You cannot hide what you are from me.”
Gewey had at last stopped vomiting and was struggling back to his feet. The thick ooze covered his shirt and trousers, and was smeared across his face. Maybell pointed to a spot behind him where a tiny stream had suddenly blinked into existence.
“Clean yourself,” she said. “Melek has shown you what he wanted you to see. Now I will show you the rest.”
With glazed eyes and skin devoid of color, Gewey did as instructed. Maybell waited patiently while Melek paced back and forth, seething and sulking. When Gewey returned he looked much recovered and more like himself.
He managed a weary smile and embraced Maybell fondly. “You shouldn’t have come here. I don’t think I can get us out.”
“You needn’t worry about that,” she replied. “It is I who will get you out. But first there are things to do.”
“What things?” he asked.
“Do not listen to her, Darshan,” said Melek. “She is not who she says she is.”
“Your lies no longer work, Melek,” said Maybell, waving her hand dismissively. “Gewey knows who I am.”
Gewey scrutinized Maybell for a short time, then turned to Melek. “This is Maybell. I have no doubt of that. But I don’t understand. Why would you show me all those things if they weren’t true? What was there to gain?”
Maybell cut in before Melek could respond. “He showed you the truth, Gewey. But only a part of it.”
“And you can see these things too?” he asked.
“Yes,” she affirmed. “And were you to spend enough time here, you would learn to see them as well. All beings carry within them every memory, from the moment of their birth, right through to their final breath. It lives deep inside us where few can see or touch. But here, these memories are a part of what we are. Over time your perceptions would change and you would see them as I do now.”
“So Gerath really did hate me?” asked Gewey. Without Melek’s poison coursing through him, his anger was now mild. “That’s what my memories are still telling me.”
“Of course not,” she replied, smiling.
The meadow faded and Gewey found himself inside a spacious tent. Standing in the center were three people that he recognized at once: Gerath, Ayliazarah, and Basanti. In Gerath’s arms was an infant bundled in a soft cotton blanket. He was smiling fondly at the baby, but with a profoundly mournful look in his eyes.
“You will see that Darshan is delivered safely,” he said, not taking his eyes off his son.
Basanti bowed. “He will come to no harm. I will send for Felsafell and have him escort my maid to Hazrah.”
“No,” said Ayliazarah. “He must be taken immediately. We cannot wait for the hermit.”
“Then I will escort her myself,” offered Basanti.
Ayliazarah shook her head “It would be better if you stayed. There must be as little attention as possible drawn to the child, and your absence would be noticed. Send only a few trusted followers. And only those who will remain silent. No one must know that we were here, or that you ever had contact with this child.”
“I will see it done,” she replied.
“I should take him myself,” said Gerath.
“You know that is not possible,” objected Ayliazarah. “You must return right away.”
Gerath tore his eyes away from his son and looked hard at Basanti. “The half-man, Lee Starfinder, son of Saraf. He will be my son’s protector?”
“As you commanded,” replied Basanti, dropping her chin to her chest. “I cannot tell you the details. But know that I have arranged for him to be well cared for…and well loved.”
Basanti’s words struck Gerath. He squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. “I would speak to Ayliazarah alone.”
Basanti bowed low and hurried out.
“I do not trust her,” said Gerath. “She speaks to Pósix.”
“You should have included Pósix in your plan,” said Ayliazarah. “She would have supported you if only you had confided in her.”
“No,” said Gerath. “Only you can know of my true intentions. My mistreatment of my son has kept the others from becoming suspicious, but I cannot risk betrayal.”
His words pierced Gewey. He glared furiously at Melek. “You knew this? You knew that the way he treated me was all an act, yet you still let me believe he hated me?”
Melek met Gewey’s anger with calm silence.
Gewey started to move toward Melek, but Maybell stopped him.
“Be careful,” she warned. “He may not be a match for me in this place, but he has been here for a very long time. Do not underestimate him. Leave such things to me.”
She gave Gewey a sinister smile.
Gewey nodded and returned his attention to the scene.
“Perhaps I will betray you,” said Ayliazarah. “You know how I feel about your plan.”
Gerath managed a small laugh. “If you were going to betray me, you would have done so already.” He looked at his son. “No. I’m afraid that my love for Darshan is rivaled only by your own. And you know this is the only way.”
“Yes. I know.” She touched Gerath’s cheek with the tips of her slender fingers and traced his aspect. “I never thought you capable of such devotion, brother.”
“Nor did I. Though I have had mortal children, I never fully understood the bond that mortals share with their offspring,” said Gerath. “But then the Creator called on me to be a father. To give life to my own kind.” He looked at Ayliazarah in obvious agony. “How could she do this to me? She must have known. How could she not? Why would she ask of me the one thing that would tear my heart to pieces? Does she test me? Or does she simply not care?”
Ayliazarah slipped her arm around Gerath’s waist. “I understand. For the first time, I too have questioned her wisdom and compassion. But we must remain steadfast and strong. Though we cannot see her design, I must stay true to my maker and believe that she loves us.”
Gerath nodded. “I know you are right.”
In spite of his words, there was a glint of defiance in his eyes as he continued. “But should harm come to my son, I will tear down creation to have my vengeance. Only banishment to Shagharath will stop me.”
“And I will be by your side. But we must not dwell on such evil thoughts. Events have been set in motion and we must see this through.”
“I am grateful for your friendship,” said Gerath. “I have often wondered why you were not chosen to parent this child.”
Ayliazarah laughed. “Because you are far stronger than me. I would never have been able to give him up, and all would turn against me.”
Gerath stared at Darshan with loving eyes for several more minutes. Finally, he called for Basanti and handed over his son.
“I know you are Pósix’s creature,” he said. “And I do not expect your loyalty. But if you can find love in your heart for this child, you will not speak of where he has been taken to Pósix, should she ever ask.”
“I will not speak of it,” she assured him. “If Pósix eve
r learns of where the child is, it will not be because I have told her. You have my promise.”
Gerath scrutinized Basanti for a long moment before nodding his acceptance of her word.
“Come,” said Ayliazarah. “There is little time. We must go.”
Gerath touched the face of his son, then leaned down and kissed his brow. Darshan cooed and shifted in his blanket. A second later, in a flash of blue light, he and Ayliazarah vanished.
Basanti held Darshan close and sat down on a pillow. “Pósix already knows,” she whispered, tickling Darshan’s tiny chin. “And she is the reason you will succeed.”
Gewey was smiling, his eyes wet with tears ready to flow.
“So now you see,” said Maybell. “You have never been unloved or unwanted.”
“Yes,” said Gewey. “Thank you. Thank you for showing me this.”
“You needed to understand that you are not merely a tool of the gods,” Maybell told him. “Or a means to an end. And I suspect there is more yet to discover once you have returned.”
She took his hand. “Now for the last. To banish any doubt, you shall witness the fall of Melek and the depths of his madness.”
“I don’t need to see that,” said Gewey. “I believe you.”
“Yes,” said Maybell. “But you will one day be faced with a decision. And you need to know how to decide wisely.”
“And this will help?”
Maybell shrugged. “I’m not sure. Perhaps. This was not a part of the plan when I arrived. But my instincts tell me it will be important later.” She grinned impishly, her young body contrasting with the wisdom in her eyes. “Call it an old woman’s intuition.”
The world changed again. This time Gewey found himself standing at the base of an immense marble statue that he recognized immediately to be of Gerath. A few yards away stood Melek and a breathtakingly beautiful woman with bronze skin and auburn hair. He knew that this must be Melek’s wife, Ustrea. Gewey was reminded of Kaylia for a moment, and the pain of her absence shot through him.
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