The Godling Chronicles : Bundle - Books 1-3

by Brian D. Anderson

  Aaliyah smiled sweetly. “This is beyond your power.” She closed her eyes. “Tell Nehrutu that I am sorry. Tell him I only did what I had to do. Tell him...I...”

  Gewey lifted her head and cradled it in his arms, tears flowing freely down his face. Her body grew limp as life slipped away. Throwing his head back, he let out a primal scream. The sand all around them exploded and the earth trembled.

  As the ground settled, Gewey closed his eyes and allowed his spirit to drift to her. The light inside Aaliyah was dimming, and the warmth of her spirit growing colder. He could not bear to see her fade away in such a manner. Without consciously willing it, he suddenly found that he was drifting skyward. From above, he could now see himself holding her limp body in his arms. It was the first time he had ever viewed his human form in such a way. The scene threatened to shatter his heart. He could see his own life force burning brightly, while hers flickered and finally vanished.

  Then, as if from far away, he heard the sound of a child’s laughter. At first there was only one, but then another and another joined in, until he could hear dozens of mirthful infant voices all laughing at once. Not in a clamor of incoherent sound, but in the purest of harmony. Gentle at first, they grew louder and stronger until the sound surrounded him with magnificent wonder. In between each sweet voice, the tinkling of tiny bells increased the harmony. A wave of joy washed over Gewey, causing his heart to swell with unmeasured happiness. It was as though bliss were tangible - a treasure that one could possess.

  He gazed back down at his body still holding Aaliyah's. He appeared the same, but her body was now surrounded by a million tiny points of light twinkling and swirling in rhythm with the laughter. The lights moved closer and closer together until they began to take form. At first it wasn't clear, then slowly he realized it was the figure of Aaliyah. She glowed and shimmered with the light of a thousand stars. Her face beamed at him as she drifted away from her body.

  Gewey reached out. It was then he felt a burning on his breast. He looked down and could see only a specter of Gerath’s medallion still hanging around his neck. Heat upon heat burned into his spiritual flesh until he thought he could bear it no longer. He tried to scream, but no sound came from his lips. He could see Aaliyah above him, drifting further away. Her spirit was fading. He called to her. At the sound of his voice, she stopped.

  In that instant, he understood.

  He concentrated on nothing but the sounds of laughter. Within moments they started to take on a physical form, appearing as a shimmering mist that surrounded everything. It was everywhere. Gewey could not believe he had never seen this before. He knew this was the spirit of the flow. The very soul of the earth.

  Reaching out to Aaliyah's spirit, he shepherded it carefully back into her body. He then drifted down into his own. As he did so, the laughter grew distant, and finally faded away altogether. He looked down at Aaliyah. Almost imperceptibly at first, her chest moved up and down as life returned. He reached into her with the flow, and this time there was no resistance. The poison was gone. He allowed his energy to run through her, slowly at first, then more and more until he could feel her strength returning.

  “That is enough, Gewey.”

  Her voice shocked him back into reality. She was smiling up at him, gently stroking his arm.

  “How do you feel?” he asked, brushing her hair away from her face.

  “Thanks to you, I feel alive,” she replied. “But weary, all the same. I should rest until morning I think.” She squeezed him tight, then nestled her head in the blanket. “You felt it, didn't you?” she whispered. “The spirit of the earth.”

  “Yes,” said Gewey. “It was beautiful. Like nothing I could have ever imagined.”

  “I wish I could have seen it.” She sighed, and promptly fell into a deep, restful sleep.

  Gewey watched over her until the dawn broke, keeping the chill night air around them warm. When she awoke, the sun was just peeking over the horizon. She looked at him and scowled.

  “You have not slept,” she scolded, though not convincingly.

  Reaching into his pack, Gewey took out his flask and a piece of flatbread. He gave these to her. “I'm fine. I've lived with less sleep before. And after traveling a swifter pace.” He was remembering his journey from Valshara to the house of Theopolou.

  “Still, what you did for me could not have been easy,” she countered.

  “Actually, it was.” He tore off a piece of bread. “Though I'm not sure I could do it again.” He remembered the medallion and reached to his breast. It was gone. “The gift I received from Gerath showed me how.”

  Aaliyah touched his chest where it had once hung. “Such a sacrifice.”

  Gewey smiled. “Not really. I don't need it anymore. The power that was in the medallion now lives inside of me. I can feel it there.”

  “That’s amazing. How does it feel?”

  He shrugged. “It's hard to explain. It’s not much different from when I touch the spirit of another person, just many times more intense. It lacks the negative emotion and uncertainty of the mortal spirit. When your spirit left your body – in a way - I could kind of see you joining with it. Do you remember?”

  “No,” she said sadly. “I truly wish I could. I remember fading, as if falling asleep. Then waking up in your arms. I knew you had found a way to save me.”

  Her words brought a blush to Gewey’s cheeks. But barely had Aaliyah spoken them when she jumped to her feet, listening intensely. Gewey heard it too. Footfalls, barely audible in the sand even to Gewey's heightened senses, were just about to crest a nearby dune.

  “An elf,” Aaliyah whispered.

  “Better than the Soufis,” said Gewey, relieved.

  Then, from over the top of the dune, Weila appeared.

  “Perhaps not,” said Aaliyah.

  As Weila descended the sandy slope, Gewey could see the intensity in her expression.

  “Where is my son?” she demanded, before she was even half the way down.

  Gewey opened his mouth to speak, but Aaliyah cut him off.

  “He fell in the Dark Oasis,” she said, lowering her head.

  Weila's hand slid toward the knife on her belt and hovered just above it. “He was not to enter that evil place. You swore an oath to me!”

  Aaliyah told her about the wolves, and Pali’s reason for continuing on with them.

  Weila spun around, clenching her fists. “Did he die well?”

  “He died bravely, expelling the evil from the Black Oasis,” said Aaliyah in a reverent tone. “Because of his courage, your people need not fear entering that place ever again. It is there that his spirit rests, kept safe by the life force that dwells within.”

  “And how do you know this?” she asked, her voice wavering. “Did you see it?”

  Aaliyah told her of their battle with the Vrykol, and what their spirit had told them. “He is safe. This I swear.”

  “You swear nothing,” she spat angrily. “You swore to protect my son, and yet his body is rotting in the jungle of the Black Oasis. Keep your oaths to yourself.”

  “It's not her fault,” said Gewey. “It's mine. I was unable to protect him. I tried, but I couldn't reach him in time.”

  She sneered at Gewey. “Arrogant human. What could you have done? A weak member of a weak race who...” Her words trailed off. She closed her tear-filled eyes. “I am sorry. I should not have said that. I did not mean it.”

  “No need to apologize,” said Gewey. “I understand your pain. I have lost those close to me as well.”

  “Unless you have lost a child of your own, you cannot ever understand.” Her tears fell freely onto the sand. “I do not know how to bear such pain.” She rocked back and forth, weeping.

  “You could journey to the Black Oasis,” said Aaliyah gently, once Weila’s sobs had lessened. “You can see for yourself where his spirit resides. Now that the evil is gone, it is safe.”

  Weila wiped her eyes. “I may, in time. But for now I must i
gnore my pain and do what I came here to do. You are to accompany me to see the Amal Molidova. She has sent me to retrieve you.”

  “I am sorry,” said Aaliyah. “But we are in need of haste. Our people await us.”

  “You will not leave the desert unless she allows it,” said Weila coldly. “Your presence is not an option. The Soufis are gathering in vast numbers, and she will see what role you have played in all of this.”

  “We have nothing to do with it,” Gewey protested.

  “Perhaps,” said Weila. “That will be for Lyrial to decide. Do not try to run. You will be cut down before you reach the shore.” She motioned for them to follow. “And don't think your powers will save you. I know what you did to the Soufis, Aaliyah. Their burned corpses are a testament to what you are capable of.”

  Gewey started to correct her, but a stern glance from Aaliyah silenced him.

  “We will comply,” said Aaliyah. “How far must we travel?”

  “It is an eight-day journey,” Weila replied. “But we will get there much faster.”

  “How?” asked Gewey. The idea of more than two weeks’ delay did not sit well.

  “You shall see.” Without another word, Weila headed west. Gewey and Aaliyah looked at each other, then followed her.

  The heat of the day was nearly unbearable, but Aaliyah thought it best not to use the power of the flow to cool the air. Weila was in pain at the loss of Pali, and she certainly didn't want to make matters worse by offending the woman’s beliefs.

  By midday they had nearly exhausted their water, though Weila had not even opened her flask, and her pace was steadily increasing. A few hours later they saw a small rock formation at the base of a large dune. As they neared it they could make out an opening just big enough for a single person to pass through.

  “We are here,” said Weila. Just inside the opening was a steep staircase leading into the dark depths of the earth. “Mind your feet. These stairs are treacherous.”

  Gewey had to duck to enter the opening, and quickly found his feet hanging awkwardly over the edge of each step. Within seconds, the light from the entrance was gone; total darkness surrounded them. The air was stale and dusty, and the corridor was barely wide enough for Gewey to squeeze through. They descended for several hundred yards before the stairs finally ended, bringing them into a narrow hallway. This twisted and turned for nearly half a mile. Eventually, Gewey could see a soft light ahead.

  As they drew closer, he realized that the light was coming from the walls of a rough, rounded, natural enclosure around twenty feet in both height and diameter. At either end of this, a tunnel disappeared into the distance. Thousands of tiny blue crystals were embedded into the rock, each giving off a faint light to illuminate the cavern. The floor was smooth and polished, clearly made so by the hands of skilled craftsmen, although right through the middle of this smooth surface was a trail of gritty sand that spanned the cavern and disappeared into the entrance of both tunnels. The closer Gewey looked, the more this sand appeared to move and ripple.

  “That is how we will travel,” said Weila. She moved to the far right end of the cavern where a number of curved disks, roughly four-feet in diameter, were leaning against the wall. She grabbed three and gave one each to Gewey and Aaliyah.

  “I don't understand,” said Gewey.

  Weila reached in her belt, pulled out a copper and tossed it on top of the sandy trail. At once it came to life, flowing like a swift river into the tunnel. “This is the Blood of the Desert. We will ride it to the Waters of Shajir.”

  Gewey and Aaliyah stared in wonder as the sand settled. Gewey bent down to feel it, but Weila quickly snatched him back.

  “Do not touch it,” she warned sternly. “It will pull you in and drag you down into the depths of the earth.” She placed her disk on the floor just beside the sand. “This is a slithas. We will ride atop them.” She motioned for them to place their disks beside hers.

  Gewey closed his eyes. He could feel the flow raging all around him. He was tempted to let it in, but resisted. “This place, did your people build it?” he asked.

  “It was here when we arrived,” Weila replied. She took some leather strips from her belt and lashed the slithas together through tiny holes along the edge. There are many such as this scattered throughout the desert, though only a few are safe to use.”

  “And the ones that aren't?” asked Gewey.

  Weila pushed the slithas into the Blood of the Desert. Again it came to life. “They lead to a great vortex in the center of the desert. If you go there, you will not return.” She put one foot atop the lead slithas. “Now be ready.”

  Gewey took the center, and Aaliyah the rear. Weila nodded sharply and they all jumped aboard. They barely had time to sit before the sands grabbed the slithas, flinging them forward. Such was the force, the staff and bow strapped to Gewey's pack jammed into his kidney, sending a shockwave of pain through his body.

  Almost immediately they were through the tunnel and the glow of the crystals was replaced by darkness. After Gewey's eyes had adjusted, he turned to Aaliyah. She was sitting, legs crossed and eyes closed.

  “Have you ever heard of a place like this?” he asked.

  “No.” She folded her arms and sighed. “But it is truly wonderful. I can feel the power of the earth here like in no other place I have ever been. Even the jungles of my home seem dead and dreary by comparison.”

  “This is where the power that you steal comes from,” said Weila, with a tinge of disgust. “The desert is filled with such wonders. If my heart were not so heavy, I would tell you about them.” She covered her face with her hands and shuddered. A moment later she heaved a sigh and wiped her eyes. “I know that it was not your fault that my son perished, Aaliyah. You made the only choice you could. If the wolves attacked, then it was due to dark forces. They are not evil creatures by nature. I would not have had Pali left alone in the desert.”

  “I thank you for your understanding,” said Aaliyah. “And I hope you will journey to the Black Oasis. I believe seeing what has become of it will help to heal your heart.”

  “Perhaps. But for now I must mourn.” She noticed the bow and staff Gewey carried. “You did not have those when we first met. Is that what you were after?”

  “It was,” Aaliyah affirmed. “The Oasis guarded these things. They were what drew the evil there. It wished to possess them.”

  “Is that why the Black Oasis is now safe?” she asked. “Because it no longer has anything to protect?”

  “Yes,” Aaliyah replied. “At least in part.”

  “Then Pali died for a worthy cause.” More tears fell from Weila’s eyes.

  “Your son died fighting at our side,” said Gewey. “He could have stayed within the temple, but chose to face the evil that had invaded your land. To me, that alone is worthy of pride.”

  “You are wise for one so young,” said Weila. A smile crept upon her lips. “To die fighting alongside one’s friend is worthy. But to face evil when it is easier to hide - that is even more so.” She touched Gewey's arm. “Your words are a comfort to me, when I thought none could be found.”

  Hours passed as the slithas sped along, twisting and winding through the bowels of the desert. The disks appeared to guide themselves, with no actions required from Weila. Gewey had never spent so much time beneath the surface, and soon he’d lost all track of time and direction.

  As they continued, he noticed the air changing from time to time. It would grow warm and dry, then later cool and moist. Gewey tried to imagine what lay above them that would cause this. Occasionally, they passed through a section of tunnel with the glowing blue crystals dotting the walls. It was then that he could feel the flow really intensify.

  There is so much I don't know, he thought. So many mysteries.

  As if reading his thoughts, Aaliyah said: “I could spend a lifetime learning about this place.”

  “You could spend many lifetimes and never learn all the wonders of the desert,” remar
ked Weila.

  Finally, Gewey looked ahead and saw the glow of another cavern rapidly approaching. Weila crouched on her slithas; Gewey and Aaliyah did the same.

  “We are traveling faster than you may realize,” said Weila. “You will have only one chance to get off. If you miss it, you will end up in the vortex. Just jump when I do and you will live.”

  Unnerved by the idea of being swallowed by a vortex of sand, Gewey allowed the flow to enter. The world slowed and his heartbeat calmed. When they reached the cavern Weila jumped. Gewey and Aaliyah followed just in time. Even with the power of the flow raging through him, he still very nearly lost his footing as his boots struck rock.

  Much to Gewey’s relief, the passageway leading to the surface was a gentle, upward slope. Hours of sitting had caused his legs to cramp and twinge. But what the passage lacked in depth, it more than made up for in length. He guessed that they walked for at least a mile before reaching the surface. As they emerged, he could see the stars of the night sky shining in the heavens.

  The landscape had changed from endless dunes to flat, tightly packed sand, with patches of coarse, brown grass and thorny bushes scattered about. On the horizon, the silhouette of jagged mountains blackened the sky. Gewey had seen his father’s map of the desert when he was a child. He would bring it out when he told him stories of the fire lizards.

  He gasped out loud in amazement. “We’re at the other end of the desert. How...?” During their passage, it didn't seem as if they had traveled anything like long enough, or fast enough, to have come this far.

  Weila cracked a smile. “I told you. The desert is full of wonders.”

  She led them east along a well-trodden trail. Only a few miles ahead they could see a bright blue light, the same hue as the crystals in the caverns, cutting away the darkness.

  “When we arrive, you must be silent until I speak with Lyrial,” said Weila. “She will take the death of Pali no better than I.”

  “Why is that?” asked Gewey.

  Her face was hard and dark. “In human terms, she was his wife.”

  A cold chill shot down Gewey's spine. “I see.”