Halcyon Rising_Bastion of Hope

by Stone Thomas

  “This is amazing,” I said with my mouth still full. “Biddy, I could kiss you.”

  “Tongue please,” she said.

  “It’s a matter of speech,” I said.

  “We’ll see,” she replied.

  When everyone had finished Biddy’s batch of sweet rolls, baked in the temple’s fire, we gathered at the front doors.

  “On three,” I said. “One… Two…”

  Megra kicked the doors open and threw a force bomb. A wave of dark purple energy swept through the open area, forcing the mob of angry men and two cretins backward. Before they could even land on the cobblestone street, we were off.

  The streets were abandoned except for the occasional accursed male. I shoved a few of them aside to clear a path, and many in our group pushed and kicked to keep these guys from laying hands on any of our party.

  Many of us were tired and injured, but most were armed. With items thrust and thrown, we stuck together in a tight group that beat our attackers back as we moved quickly through the city’s street.

  I wished we could have taken the warring men with us. They didn’t deserve to stay locked inside their own anger by the power of Duul’s curse. The only true way to free them now would be to put Duul in his place and eradicate the vile creatures that he sent to every corner of the world.

  That was daunting. I went back to thinking about that sweet roll to take my mind off the looming impossibility of saving the entire world.

  “In here,” Biddy said, pausing at the destroyed entrance to the weapon shop Cindra and I had explored earlier.

  “He’s no help,” I said.

  “Leave him to me,” she replied. With a brisk step inside the shop she yelled, “Pfeffpeter!”

  The shopkeeper stood up from his hiding place behind his desk. He still had weapons ready in both hands. “Are you here to loot the place, Biddy? You look like looters.”

  “You paranoid asshole,” she said. “We’re not looters. Give us what you can before the invaders wipe you out.”

  “You have gold,” he said, “use it!”

  She walked over to him and pinched his ear. He bent sideways and started to whimper.

  “Pfeff,” she said, “whose parents brought him to the temple on his seventh birthday for a premonition?”

  “Me,” he said.

  “And what did Sajia tell you?” she asked.

  “That the gods smile on generous men,” he said.

  “Have you been a generous man?” she asked, not once loosening her grip.

  “No,” he said. “Go ahead, take what you need.”

  “Good boy, Pfeff,” Biddy said. She finally let go of his ear.

  “It’s not too late to come with us,” I said. Pfeffpeter just shook his head.

  Many in the group swapped out their weapons for nicer ones. Pfeff walked toward me and Cindra with the bow she had inspected earlier.

  “Make sure you take this,” he said, handing her the bow and the hip quiver she had admired. “If I’m being generous, I should do it right.”

  She gave him a kiss on the cheek and equipped her new gear. “And for you,” Pfeff said to me, “a pair of bracers might help. They’ll cover your arms for added protection, and they’ll also hide that curse for the time being. I’d give you a spear too, but my polearm selection isn’t what it used to be and I’m taking the Orry Halberd for myself.”

  “I’ll skip the kiss on the cheek if you don’t mind,” I said, reaching a hand out for his and shaking it. “Would you mind if I took these too?” I held out the pair of high-heeled boots Cindra had picked out for Mamba.

  “Oh,” Pfeff said. “Battle heels. They have a +3 to Strength and +4 to Vivacity. They also accentuate the calves and rear end nicely. I have some gowns in the back if you’re…”

  “They’re for a girl, Pfeff,” I said.

  “I knew that,” he said. But then he winked, which made me think that he didn’t know that.

  “Thanks all the same,” I said. “What about you?”

  “I think I’ll set out on my own after this,” he said. “I’ve equipped so many adventurers over the years, I want a taste of the excitement for myself.”

  “Good luck to you, Pfeff,” I said.

  We turned to leave the shop with our new gear. I felt stronger than ever now, even if my spear was still bent.

  With a few more force bombs to clear the road ahead, we left the city gates behind and approached the portal gate.

  I put a hand on the stone arch and spoke. “Halcyon.”

  Nothing happened.

  I fiddled with the carved idol embedded in the arch’s peak and tried again. “Halcyon.”

  Still nothing.

  The attackers we had evaded from Landondowns spilled out of the city now that they had recovered from the bomb blasts. They charged toward us.

  “Halcyon,” I repeated. “Halcyon, Halcyon, Halcyon, Halcyon, Halcyon, Halcyon!”

  The name started to feel clumsy and meaningless in my mouth. Our group started to murmur.

  Something had gone wrong. Either Mamba didn’t get the portal mages back to Halcyon, or Avelle hadn’t figured out how to reconfigure the portal network yet.

  The attackers kept coming. Then Akrin popped into view. He blasted the whole lot of them with silver magic. They reappeared at the doors to the temple much farther down the city road.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “For what?” he asked. “I’m here to stop you.”

  +29

  Akrin’s silver boots touched down on the grass and he strolled toward us.

  “You can’t just take these people away from me,” Akrin said. “That wouldn’t be fair or fun. We should play for them. Winner takes all.”

  “This isn’t a game,” I yelled. “There’s a war on. People are fleeing for their lives. Don’t you have a city that needs defending?”

  He sighed. “It’s true, Roseknob’s energems won’t work without me there, but my guards are strong, and I have a top notch head priest. No offense to any of you. Besides, I have a feeling time is on my side.” He winked and I didn’t know what for.

  “Don’t be so serious,” he continued. “Life is a thrilling race to the finish line, and I always finish first.”

  “Sajia must have loved that,” I said.

  “Pardon?” Akrin asked.

  “Nothing,” I said.

  “When the gods want a game, they get a game,” Akrin said. Two pellets of silver magic pulsated in his palm. I wasn’t sure how far back my own timeline he would send me if I didn’t indulge him.

  He threw his spell to the ground and those magic marbles rolled for a bit before landing at my feet. They grew into the shape of four-foot-tall men with no arms and blank faces.

  “En passant,” he said. “Don’t underestimate my little pawns.”

  Cindra had stood off to the side this whole time, lost in the shining mirrored eyes of the god of games and time. “You look like a man that plays for higher stakes than just a handful of injured citizens.”

  “You’re more than a handful,” he said.

  “If you were trying to build your city,” Cindra asked, “would you stay here and round up as many souls as you could, or would you take a group like this and leave for good?”

  “Ridiculous question,” Akrin said. “I shall stay until I have every person alive safely in Roseknob. It’s the only winning strategy.”

  “You think our strategy is poor,” Cindra said. “Interesting.”

  “So that’s it then,” he replied. “You are here to build and recruit.”

  Cindra shrugged. “We think we can build a bigger city than yours this way.”

  “Don’t taunt him,” I whispered.

  “Which city is it?” he asked. “Bloomderry? Newleaf? Bell Hill?”

  “Halcyon,” she replied. “It’s new, you’ve probably never heard of it.”

  “A new city?” he asked. “And you think you can grow it larger than well-established Roseknob? I like these o
dds.”

  “Then send us on our merry way,” Cindra said.

  “Fine,” Akrin said, “but I want a proper game with your deity as well when I make an official visit. Who is it?”

  “Nola,” I said. “Goddess of—”

  “Deal,” Akrin said. “Now you’ll walk to Halcyon from here.”

  “How is that a deal?” I asked. “You were supposed to use your blimey timey powers and send us home.”

  “I need you to commit to walking home and not looking back,” he said. “Then I can send you along your timeline. The past is easy enough, but the future is tricky. If you all die of dysentery on the way, I can’t do anything about that. Kidnapped by elves, you’ll find yourselves in a prison camp. Caught in a snowstorm and forced to eat your fellow party members, you’ll lose a week’s time and then find someone’s toes between your teeth. If, however, the walk will be uneventful, I can get you to your destination now.”

  “So we walk, and at some point…” I said.

  “You’ll be home. You won’t even have to click your heels,” he said, pointing at the shoes I carried for Mamba.

  “These aren’t mine,” I said. “I’m holding them for someone.”

  “Go on,” he said. “And remember, no looking back.”

  We started to walk into the distance, hoping with each step that Akrin would transport us home.

  “You were working him,” I said. “Here I was thinking you were swooning over that shiny jerk.”

  “I’m no fickle-hearted floozy,” Cindra said. “Eye of Beholding still takes a while to kick in, but I’m in it for the long game.”

  “Always on your toes,” I said. “Thank you for staying sharp.”

  “Oh, Arden?” Arkin yelled. I struggled to keep walking without turning toward him. “I can’t have you sneaking back in here and stealing people from me. Whatever interest you had in this broken portal gate, forget it.”

  A smash of stone behind me told me all I needed to know. Landondowns had just lost its connection to the portal network.

  Then, without warning, a brilliant silver light descended on all of us.

  +30

  One second, I walked through the open field outside Landondowns as the god of passing time taunted me from behind. The next, I was on a dirt path in the woods walking toward the front gates of Halcyon.

  I spun around, half expecting to see Landondowns behind me, but no. We had left that city behind. Whether it was a split second ago or two weeks ago, I couldn’t clearly tell.

  Biddy walked beside me. “The portal gate,” I said. “Without it, everyone in that city is doomed.”

  “No,” she said. “Akrin is a fool, but now that he knows the game is on, he’ll do everything he can to get those people to safety inside his own city. You and your girl here did good.” She smacked my ass again.

  I guessed, at her age, she just didn’t give a flying—

  “Leader Arden!” a harsh, lilting voice called from ahead. Flanked by two gi-ants was Ess, her four arms crossed before her armored chest. “My children hunger and my patience wears thin. Your chow woman insults us by diminishing rations with no end in sight. You will lift these restrictions or we shall feast on your flesh!”

  “Not this again,” I said. “Ess, you need to chill out. We have a room full of spikey ‘meditation beds’ under that bridge if you need a little nap.”

  “I will nap in a nest of your blood-wet bones, leader Arden,” she said.

  “I love you, too, Ess,” I said. She snarled at me, then signaled to her gi-ant children to carry her back into their tunnels below Halcyon.

  I was playing it cool, but I was terrified. Not of Ess, at least not yet. I was afraid of what had happened to Mamba and the farmers. They should have been back by now. There should be an estimate for when we’d have food and the rationing would end.

  The ground began to rumble. I put an arm out to halt our march toward Halcyon. It was another fifteen minutes of walking, less if we ran. Then a skeletal creature erupted into the sky to our right.

  “Larry!” I yelled. I had never been so happy to see a bonersnake. “Everyone, stay here a moment.”

  I pushed through the trees that lined the dirt path to Halcyon and brushed aside the bushes. Not ten paces from the road were fields where there had been woods. The farmers were here alright, and they had been working. Hard.

  “Arden,” Mamba said, twirling as she walked toward me. “Larry’s helping to plow. Look at what we’ve grown!”

  Sprawling fields were laid out before me, full of green.

  “Master Arden,” a farmer said, stepping carefully across rows of plants. “I’m Grucio, the most veteran farmer among us. I’m pleased to report that the ground responds well here to our fertilizing magic.”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” I said. “How long before harvest?”

  “Harvest is over,” he said. “We’ve had a small animal ravage our crops. There’s nothing left.”

  “Gi-ants?” I asked. Was Ess setting me up?

  “No,” Grucio said, “goblins. They’re all over the place now. Halcyon is utterly infested with them.”

  As I peered at the rows of empty crops, I saw small green shapes moving among them. They hid behind large leaves and scampered beneath bushes.

  I ran my fingers through my hair. “If we don’t fix this soon, we’ll all starve,” I said. “And that’s the best case scenario. How long before we have another harvest on the way?”

  “We aren’t just farmers by occupation,” the man said. “We are agricultists by class, specialized in speeding the growth of the plants we tend. If we pool our abilities together, we can have a small harvest by sundown. We stopped working the earth when it became clear that we were only feeding the enemy.”

  “Please get started on another harvest,” I said. “I’ll take care of the goblin problem.”

  “Of course,” Grucio said, “but I have to warn you. Spending down all of our action points will leave us spent out. We won’t have another shot at a sizeable harvest for some time after that.”

  “So I have one shot at this goblin menace before Ess becomes a gi-ant pain in the ass,” I said. “You don’t suppose goblins eat gi-ants, do you, Grucio?”

  He looked a little uncomfortable at the suggestion. “I wouldn’t know, Master Arden.”

  “Of course not,” I said. “Why would anyone know the answer to a question like that? Keep up the good work and I’ll do what I can.”

  “Mamba,” I said, “I got you a gift.” I handed her the boots from Landondowns. “Would you see if your snakes can scare the goblins away from the fields, at least for the time being.”

  “Thank you!” she said, kissing me on the cheek. “And yes, but then I’ll have to tell Larry to sleep. He’s one snake too many.”

  “That’s fine,” I said. “We’ll upgrade your snake control limit after I’ve gotten everyone settled in.”

  I pressed back through the woods and rejoined our small group. I didn’t want to break the news to them just yet that we had no food and up to two pest problems — more if I counted adventurers and a rabid lawmonger.

  As we entered the gates that led to Halcyon, Nola’s temple door sat ahead. It was no stone slab this time, but an iron wall of polished metal on hinges embedded in the surrounding rock. Even better, a small chain hung by its side. I pulled the chain, ringing a small bell inside the temple.

  Two metal doors parted down the middle to let us in. Standing in the doorway before us was a lionkin man with his arms held straight down his sides.

  “Welcome back to Nola’s temple after a 16 day, 7 hour, and 8 minute absence,” he said. “To the other 33 of you, welcome here for the first time.”

  The twolf pup bounded toward me and leapt against my leg. “I missed you too, boy.” I picked him up and carried him back into the temple.

  A strenuous gust of wind came toward us from Nola’s altar as a blinding yellow light erupted to the sound of a bugle. When the brightness subsided,
Nola stood before her altar while air blew uncontrollably. She stood, her legs apart, her hands by her knees, trying desperately to keep her robe from blowing up over her face.

  What?, she asked as the wind died down. Flourishes are hard!

  Biddy approached the altar slowly. Nola held both hands out, palms down, and Biddy met her hands with her own. The old woman’s eyes started to tear.

  “You broke your mother’s heart when you left home,” she said.

  “I know, Biddy,” Nola said, “but it was time. Every goddess leaves the nest one day. I just wish we hadn’t been fighting when I set out on my own.”

  “Your mother didn’t just forgive you,” Biddy said, “she envied you. Few gods have had the courage to speak against the empire. I want you to have something.”

  Biddy tugged the gold chain that hung from her neck. A small gem popped out from between her breasts and she took the necklace off. She dropped it into Nola’s hand.

  “This is an Amulet of Sage,” she said. “It’s how your mother shared premonitions with me when she chose to.”

  “This is too rare a gift,” Nola said.

  “Nonsense,” Biddy said. “It’s too important a tool to reject. You’re young, Nola. Your powers will strengthen over time, but don’t neglect the importance of your psychic projection. This stone is your inheritance. Wear it with pride.”

  Nola bit her lip and looped the gold chain around her neck like a choker necklace so that the small clear jewel sat against the base of her neck.

  Arden, she said. With this stone, I should be able to communicate more clearly with you, and across greater distances. When I have a premonition, I can choose to share it directly into your mind.

  We need to know when Duul will come for us, I said. Can you share that with me now?

  Nola closed her eyes for a moment. No, she said. I’m out of action points for now. I spent too many of them looking for the moment that Biddy would get here.

  Biddy?, I asked. What about me!

  Hey, she said, I have to think about morale around here. You’re not the only one that likes sweet rolls. She switched back to normal speech, likely because the travelers from Landondowns were starting to mutter, confused by the extended silence. “When I saw you all arrive in a vision last night, it looked like it would take you weeks to trek back from Landondowns. Yet, here you are, the next morning.”