White Mage

by Jolie Jaquinta

  Chapter 39

  Parley

  The warm fluid of the operational sphere flowed in and out of Bianca's lungs, slowing her breathing by inertia alone. She had disconnected completely from the Ævatar and hesitated to reinstate any connection. She imagined it was a twisted mass of limbs, timber and masonry in the lower city.

  A crystal flickered to life with Lilly's face on it. “Need...” began Bianca. “Turn on vortex energy” she managed to gasp out.

  Lilly's face was expressionless. “We...” She hesitated. “We did. As soon as Grave Keeper showed up.”

  “What...” said Bianca, trying to get up against her bonds.

  “It blew,” said Lilly. “Miasma had to be resurrected. Eadwyn is... gone.” Lilly looked as close to crying as Bianca had ever seen. “Goatha is trying to pick up the pieces. But it's not going to work. Not today at least.”

  It took a moment. But then it sank in with Bianca. “We're finished,” she said, slumping in the contoured seat.

  “No.” Another crystal lit up, with Queen Jesca's face. Her mouth was a thin line. “Gwendolyn will be joining you shortly.”

  “Gwendolyn?” asked Bianca. “Has she finally chosen a side?”

  “Not exactly,” said Jesca. “She named a price. I met it.” She looked at Bianca grimly. “She just wants to sound out the other side.”

  “The other side?” said Bianca. “She's going to see what the gods offer and take the highest bidder?”

  Jesca shrugged. “Perhaps. But I rather doubt they will be cooperative.”

  “And we're going to facilitate this?” said Bianca, incredulously.

  Jesca shrugged again. “I do not see that we have much choice.” The glared to one side and looked back. “These used to be her friends. Her comrades in arms. I think she wants to give them one last chance before she becomes the instrument of their downfall.”

  Bianca snorted. “I hope you are right.”

  “So do I” said Jesca. Then she just looked very tired.

  “Initial transfer complete,” said Lilly. “We should have enough mana now to repair the Ævatar.”

  “Then I'll leave you to it,” said Jesca, and her crystal went dark.

  “Gwendolyn has advanced us some mana from her personal store,” said Lilly to Bianca's questioning stare.

  “How kind of her,” said Bianca, voice heavy with sarcasm.

  “I'll start synchronization from the ground up,” said Lilly. “I don't want to overwhelm your nerves. I'll add in your hearing. You'll probably need it to follow the negotiations.”

  It was a little tricky. The healing was best cast through the Ævatar itself. However it was dangerous for Bianca to attune herself too much while it was in such a damaged state. Fortunately a squad had arrived on the scene and was physically and magically clearing the rubble it was embedded in.

  The final stages were interrupted by another face in the crystals. “My truce has been accepted,” said Gwendolyn. She was as inscrutable as always. Bianca stared at her impassively. “They will be arriving here shortly.”

  Bianca felt a wave of warmth pass over her.

  “Systems nominal,” said Lilly. “Thank you.” Gwendolyn inclined her head.

  “Activating,” said Bianca, shortly.

  She focused back on the Ævatar and found herself in a small crater. Smashed tenements surrounded her. The squad had retreated into one of them. Curious faces protruded from the more intact ones. She righted herself and moved to one side. Gwendolyn appeared, floating before her. Bianca raised her hand and Gwendolyn stood in the palm.

  The breeze picked up and the clouds descended. The icy breeze solidified and Sky Father stood before them, arms crossed on his chest. He glowered, looking disapprovingly at them. From behind him stepped The Water Bearer and took his right side. She was dressed in the formal robes of her priestesses and carried her water jug. She stared intently at Gwendolyn. From a crack in the ground came a dark smoke, which quickly condensed into The Grave Keeper. He was dressed in an all-encompassing grey robe, drawn down over his face. His scythe was strapped to his back, where it glinted.

  “You command the power lodged under Gerakovouni?” asked Sky Father, accusingly.

  “Do you not know me, Iowerth?” asked Gwendolyn.

  “You threaten to aid these blasphemers with the treasures of the giants?” he asked.

  “I have no agenda or interest in the dispute between the gods and people of Romitu,” said Gwendolyn.

  “What is your agenda, then?” growled Sky Father.

  “The one we all once shared,” said Gwendolyn. “To rid the world of the Ancient evil that plagues it. That which our masters were slave to, which killed the flower of our age. That which the magic both you and they wield was created to fight. We barely spanked them back then before turning on ourselves, as you and they do now. But they are still there, slumbering. I have not forgotten and swore vengeance. What say you?”

  “You come here speaking of allegiances that don't exist and calling me by a name I have never heard of,” said Sky Father, with rising anger. “You babble about some nebulous force and ask for our help. What nonsense is this?”

  “Are you that dense, Iowerth?” asked Gwendolyn, showing a trace of indignation. “Do you really have no memory? I would have thought you would have left some sort of back door open to the forgetting curse.” Sky Father fumed but gave her no answer. “Aeron? You were always two steps ahead of the rest.”

  The Grave Keeper shifted, considering. Eventually his voice came, thin and distant. “I am familiar with the limitations of our memory.” Sky Father glowered at him. “And so I keep excellent scribes and historians. Does that constitute a 'back door'?”

  Gwendolyn smiled and nodded a small bow to him.

  “I think you probably speak true,” he continued. “As it may solve a very old mystery.” Both gods now looked to him. “The records attained from the very oldest of souls make frequent mention of the number 'One Hundred and Forty Four' as an accounting of the gods. But the most careful name lists of the time only offer up one hundred and forty three. Are you, then, the hundred and forty fourth?”

  Gwendolyn smiled and bowed lower. “You prove again your knack, Aeron, of not putting down puzzles all else felt impossible. I am, indeed, of the same order as you. But when it came to swear Iowerth's oath, I declined. I forsook godhood, but retained my memory.”

  The Grave Keeper's sleeve stirred and he seemed to be scratching his chin. “I should love to compare notes,” he murmured. “Someday.” He then returned his hand to his chest. “But that is only of academic interest to our discussion today.”

  “You will not take up the old cause with me then?” asked Gwendolyn, disappointed.

  “You presume too much on an association long past” said Grave Keeper, coolly. “Even if I did remember, even if it was with fondness, your offer would have to prove profitable in the present time and present circumstances.”

  “Did you ever wonder how it all started?” asked Gwendolyn. “You. Everyone. Everything. Where did it all come from?”

  “We killed the giants,” said Sky Father. “And fashioned the world from their bodies.”

  Gwendolyn looked at him skeptically. “Then who, oh mighty Sky Father, made you?”

  “Gods arise naturally,” said The Water Bearer, speaking for the first time. “When worshipers have a need, that need is addressed in the form of a god. We've seen this even within our 'limited' memory.”

  “Same problem, Olwin,” said Gwendolyn. “If that is the case, who made your worshipers?”

  “I don't care,” said Sky Father. “What matters is here and now. What matters is the blasphemy being perpetrated by these upstarts.” He shook his fist, indicating the Ævatar. “I have no time for these abstract ponderings. By your own claims you defied me long ago, and now come asking me to serve you. I am the supreme head of the supreme pantheon of gods. I serve no one.”

  Gwendolyn smiled slightly. “Do you really wish me
to be an enemy?”

  “If you aid our enemies, you make yourself our enemy,” rumbled Sky Father.

  “You said you have no interest in our dispute,” said Grave Keeper, quickly. “That you just request aid against whatever this 'Ancient Evil' is that doesn't seem to have troubled anyone in my records. The power you have sequestered under Gerakovouni is significant, but it does not surpass ours. The New Romitu have no power left at all. I would think that you need us more than we need you and that choosing opposition to us is not a wise course.”

  Gwendolyn regarded him. “I refused godhood in return for memory. I have spent that time studying this 'New Magic'. I have learned much, and am capable of much.” She paused. “Quite capable.” She broke her gaze and waved her arm indicating the Ævatar. “These 'New Romitu' have studied it but for a fraction of the time I have. And yet they have been... quite inventive with it.” She crossed her arms and looked at Sky Father. “You may be concerned with here and now. But I am patient. I have pursued my goal for a long time. It will be a long time yet before I realize it. It is quite clear that they are progressing, and you are stagnating.” She inclined her head. “I am not here just trying to advance my own interests. I'm trying to save you from yourselves.” She then smiled broadly, but not brightly. “For old times’ sake.”

  “Impertinent worm!” bellowed Sky Father raising both fists. “I did not come here to be mocked! Not by a would-be god who has manipulated these into serving you and your ends. I damn you! I damn your followers! I will obliterate you all into dust and the world will forget your names!”

  He drew breath to hurl more imprecations at her but Gwendolyn was already shaking her head. “You were always bombast,” she said sadly. “This truce is over.” She disappeared in a shower of sparkles.