by Davis Ashura
“He isn't,” Li-Drill protested. “If he were dead, then why did Mother cry out as She did? The words She said at the end—She spoke of this man, this Human. She promised to kill him the next time She met him. She wouldn't have done so unless he still lived.”
“The Human may have survived, but you all saw how he scurried to the Outer Wall to escape Mother's wrath,” Li-Torq said. “Do you truly wish to bargain the future of the Baels on this man we don't even know?”
“We do know him,” said Li-Guile, one of the Vorsans from the Eastern Plague. “Choke told us, and Mother just confirmed it. It's the name of the First Father.”
The gathering erupted in tumult.
“Silence!” Li-Boil shouted. “The First Father died two thousand years ago. He is gone. His time is past. He is not suddenly reborn in order to save us. Remember: Mother called him 'false Linder Val Maharj'. He can't be the First Father.”
“I heard the terror in Her voice,” Drill challenged. “She doesn't believe this man to be Her Father, someone two thousand years dead, but nevertheless, She is fearful of him.”
“Only because Mother's mad,” Torq said with a dismissive snort. “No matter how sane She may appear, Her insanity still lurks beneath it all.”
Boil held up his hands for silence. “All I'm saying is that we should be cautious. We shouldn't pin all our hopes on a hero to come and save us. It's a fool's wish. Instead, we should focus on what we know. There are Baels and Bovars within Ashoka. They have to be our first priority. Protecting them. Beyond that, while we will do as little as we can to further Mother's ambitions, never mistake one simple fact: out here we're on our own, as we've always been.”
“Devesh walks with us,” Grist said. “We shelter in His embrace and love, as we always have. According to our teachings, He is enough to overcome any hardship.”
“Of course,” Li-Boil said in a soothing, smooth voice. “Devesh is the first and last. His will can achieve anything.”
Grist heard the condescension in the SarpanKum's voice.
Pebbles mounded against Ashoka's wall like gathered hail. Those were the images cycling through Lienna's mind as She tried to understand how it was that Her storm of stones had penetrated Ashoka's Oasis. As She considered the matter, Her mind bent to the notion of rain and hail. Hail and rain. One a liquid, and the other a solid. Both able to pass unimpeded through Ashoka's Oasis.
How, though? That was the key.
Lienna mentally frowned. Was it something to do with speed alone? She pondered further. Perhaps so. It made sense. After all, the boulders hurled by Her children's siege engines, if launched at a low enough trajectory, were able to roll through the Oasis and batter the wall.
'Batter' was perhaps too fine a word to describe what actually occurred. The Chimeras flung their stones and some struck the wall but rarely did any visible damage. Still, as She'd once told her SarpanKum, Li-Boil, like the slow labor of water and wind, the hurled rocks would tear down Ashoka's Wall. And with Lienna's help, the work would now go quicker—many months rather than many years. But if the Anchoring Stone were damaged, such a time would be measured in days.
Lienna mentally grimaced just then. A few nights back, She'd finally heard from Her treacherous Human, Hal'El Wrestiva. He'd finally agreed to mar Ashoka's Anchoring Stone if Lienna would simply leave him in peace. He didn't want Her reaching into his dreams anymore and tormenting him.
It was an understanding Lienna had grudgingly accepted, been forced to, in fact. Time was slipping away. Her sanity was slipping away. It wouldn't last the years or even months it would take to breach Ashoka's Oasis. Even now, She could sense its dread claws reaching for Her.
But if Hal'El kept his word, then Ashoka's Oasis would fall, and it would likely do so swiftly, suddenly, and unexpectedly.
Lienna sighed, setting aside Her incipient hope. So much relied on the word of a liar. Who knew if Hal'El would actually carry out his promise?
In the meantime, She needed to learn to throw a rock in a manner that would breach Ashoka's Oasis.
Lienna put practice to Her thoughts. She launched boulders and pebbles into the air. Over and over again, She did so, studying the height from which they fell: their movement, their speed. Eventually, She came to understand that it was all about speed. If thrown too hard, the rocks rebounded from the protection Her Father had placed around Ashoka. But if the stones were thrown just a little lower, a little slower . . .
Had Lienna still a physical form, She would have offered a shark-like grin. How had She not seen it before?
“Because You are a simpleton,” Mistress Arisa answered. “A dullard doesn't begin to describe the depths of Your idiocy.”
“Give over this plan,” Mother advised. “You have murdered far too many as it is. For what You've done, Your soul will never wash away clean.”
“Then You shouldn't care if I dirty it even further,” Lienna said in reply.
“Your soul is as bright and pure as the first snow on My highest, holiest mountain,” Mistress Arisa declared. “Though You gall Me with Your lack-wit stupidity, Your service cleanses You of all sin.”
“My work is holy,” Lienna declared to Mother. “And Your words are empty threats.”
“So be it,” Mother said. “How could Your Father and I have spawned such evil from the bosom of Our love? You were loved once,” She continued. “Now who is there to love You?”
Lienna smirked. “I have the love of all who are important: My children, the animals of Arisa, the fish in the sea,” She declared. “But what of You? Who is there to love You? Where is Father to console Your constant sorrow?”
“Where is He indeed,” was Mother's enigmatic reply.
Lienna felt a stab of concern. She had convinced Herself that the scent She sensed of Father's Jivatma had been an illusion, but what if it wasn't?
Before She could ask about it, Mother was speaking again. “How did We not see how sick was Your mind?” Mother said, sounding sad. “Had We known the extent of Your delusions, We would have helped You. So much suffering because of Our ignorance.”
“So much suffering amongst the most innocent because of Your lack of compassion,” Lienna countered. “Or do the animals not deserve protection from Your Human parasites?”
“Is that why You killed Us?” Mother challenged. “Is that why You murdered Us and trapped Me here with You? Devesh's singing light summons Me home, and yet I cannot answer His call. What greater evil can there be than that?”
Lienna was about to reply to Mother's words, but something about them troubled Her. There was a hint in there, something important. A hidden meaning. She pondered them . . .
Understanding came in a flood. Two millennia ago, Lienna had killed Her Mother and Her Father. That was 'Us'. But now Mother asked why She was trapped in Lienna's mind. That was the 'Me'. Which meant Father was not trapped within Lienna's mind any longer. He truly was reborn.
“Where is Father!” Lienna demanded in a shout.
There was no answer.
“Do you think the SarpanKum is right?” Li-Dox asked. “I don't.” In the weeks since the Fan Lor Kum had laid siege to Ashoka, he and Li-Quill had become good friends, and Dox valued the other Bael's judgment. “We both saw the Human battle against Mother, and She did cry out in pain. We should find a way to speak to the SarpanKum and let him know. And I also think we should become less competent in our aim at Ashoka's walls. We should be throwing the stones so most of them simply bounce off the Oasis.”
Quill didn't reply but instead, he simply stared at Dox with a weighing expression. It was as though the older Bael was deciding whether he should speak or remain silent. The soundlessness stretched, and Dox grew uncomfortable beneath Quill's unblinking gaze.
“Mother did cry out in pain, and we should work less effectively at bringing down Ashoka's walls,” Quill finally said in agreement, “but I advise you to be cautious. Do not question the wisdom of the SarpanKum.”
Dox stared at Quill in puzzleme
nt. “I don't understand,” he began. “The Senzunes teach that we must continually question what we are taught. It is the only way any of us can reach true understanding.”
“These aren't the birthing caverns,” Quill cautioned, “and the SarpanKum isn't interested in instructing you or hearing your questions. He only wants your loyalty—nothing more, nothing less.”
Dox's frown deepened. “But—”
“Don't let anyone else hear your thoughts,” Quill hissed. “Only those of whom you are certain.”
A tremor of fear worked its way down Dox's spine. It was said amongst the brothers from Continent Catalyst that the Baels of the Eastern Plague of Continent Ember had fallen far from the ideals of fraternity, that they had grown selfish, prideful, and deceitful. It was also said that this overbearing sense of self had in its greatest advocate the SarpanKum himself.
Dox had heard the whispers, the rumors, the innuendo, but he'd always dismissed them. How could the SarpanKum, the one judged to be the finest arbiter of Hume's teachings by his brothers, be himself opposed to the very teachings he was sworn to uphold? It was madness to believe so.
But then there was Quill's warning. Dox trusted the Bael. They were kindred spirits, both young, both Juts, and both the last, living members of their crèches. “Are you someone of whom I can be certain?” Dox asked hesitantly.
Again, Quill was silent, offering that same weighing expression, but after a long period of time, he gave a brief nod.
A clear, dignified mind weathers turmoil more readily than one that is trapped in panic and stupidity.
~To Live Well by Fair Shire, AF 1842
Jessira stared in consternation at the giant siege towers lurching fitfully toward the Outer Wall. There were two of them, and from atop the structures, at a height that actually overtopped the Outer Wall, boulders were being launched. Most were turned aside by the Oasis, but every now and then, a stone would sneak through. Those would smash onto the Wall walk and splinter into razor-sharp shards that were flung out in all directions. Most such fragments just caused deep scrapes and cuts amongst those caught in the blast wave, but some of the rocks managed to crush a few unlucky warriors beneath their falling bulk.
Ashoka's response to the attack was, thus far, proving impotent. Every boulder lofted by the city's catapults at the siege engines was thrown aside by the Queen, and every fiery bolt meant to set the rumbling Chimera towers aflame was snuffed out by Her wind.
“Incoming!” someone shouted.
There was a pause in the activity as everyone snapped their attention to the sky. Jessira sighted the large stone as it accelerated through its descent. It impacted many dozens of yards away with a booming crash, but thankfully, no one was injured.
Jessira sighed with relief, and immediately after the debris was cleared away, the crews manning the catapults nearby to where the boulder had struck returned to their work. They continued their frenzied but fruitless assault on the tower while other warriors stood beside them, watching for rocks raining down from the enemy.
Jaresh, Farn, Rukh, and Jessira—after the assault on the Pheds, she'd convinced the commanders to keep her and Rukh together—were amongst the latter. They stood as an island of relative quiet amongst a cacophony of furious sound: the snap of windlassed ropes ripping out to their full length, the Queen's shrieking whirlwind, and rocks cracking like thunder against the obdurate strength of the Outer Wall. Overlaying it was the acrid stench of burning pitch and smoke and a sensation of heart-pounding adrenaline and fear.
“What happens when those things reach the Wall?” Jaresh asked.
Jessira glanced his way. “I imagine a whole bunch of Chims will make our lives very busy,” she replied.
“I don't see how we we're supposed to stop those things,” Farn complained. “Everything we've tried, the Queen disrupts. The Chims are coming whether we want them to or not.”
“That won't be good enough, warrior,” Marshall Tanhue said, coming up alongside them. “I don't want to hear talk of defeat before the battle has actually begun. We have to find a way to stop those towers. We can't let the Chims gain a foothold on the Wall. Think on it. Or at least hold heart that we'll repel these Chimeras.”
Farn flushed at the rebuke. “Yes, sir!” he said.
Meanwhile, Jaresh's brow was furrowed in thought. “Once the forward edge of those towers is within the arc of the Oasis, the Queen won't be able to protect them anymore. And if the catapults can't knock down those towers, we'll have to fight our way into them and figure out a way to destroy them from the inside.”
“That's not much of a plan,” Jessira noted.
“It'll work,” Rukh said, sounding confident. “Like Jaresh said, when the ramp opens, we fight our way in. But we won't just stand there looking for something to do. Instead, I say we toss in as much pitch as possible to the bottom of the tower and set it alight.”
Jaresh eyes were suddenly bright with enthusiasm. “The tower will draw the fire up like a chimney.”
“It'll burn those fragging things to sticks and ashes,” Farn said, looking more confident. “I like it.”
Jessira had listened to Jaresh and Rukh's plan, and while it might work, she realized there might be a simpler way to destroy the tower. “What about a stone-splitter?” she asked.
“A what?” the Marshall asked in confusion.
“A stone-splitter. In order to build Stronghold, we—the OutCastes, I mean—had to carve out the heart of a mountain. We learned to carve stone without the need for a chisel and a hammer. A stone-splitter. It's not a common Talent, but if one of them puts his hands on the tower, he could split a large chunk of it—”
“And the other side would simply fall over from the unbalanced weight,” Farn finished.
“Is there a stone-splitter amongst the OutCastes?” the Marshall asked.
“Just one.” Jessira replied.
“Then send for him,” the Marshall ordered.
“Actually, the stone-splitter is a woman,” Jessira corrected. She hesitated a moment. “One of the Kummas can reach her more quickly than I,” she said. “I can give the messenger her name and description. Perhaps one of them can send word?”
“On a horse, you'll be just as fast,” Rukh said.
The Marshall didn't respond at first. Instead, he studied Jessira through judging eyes before nodding shortly thereafter. “So be it,” he said, turning aside to one of his aides and snapping out orders.
“You don't want to go and fetch the stone-splitter,” Rukh said. “Why?”
“You know why,” Jessira replied.
“You think I might do something stupid without you by my side,” Rukh said with a faint smile.
“You're guaranteed to do something stupid without me by your side,” Jessira replied with an answering smile.
Rukh shook his head and laughed.
The leading edge of the siege towers were little more than an arm's length from the Outer Wall. They were well within the border of the Oasis—beyond the protection of the Queen—and Ashokan weapons fired upon them. Boulders pounded into the structures, fiery bolts set them alight in places, and arrows picked off unwary Chimeras.
Unfortunately, the towers had been stoutly built. They took the impact from the hurled stones without apparent damage and the fires were quickly doused. In addition, now that both siege engines were inside of Ashoka's Oasis, they were able to better utilize their own throwing engines as well. More and more rocks began raining down on the warriors manning the Outer Wall. Some of the stones also fell upon Ashoka's catapults.
All the while, the towers crept closer.
“Where is that stone-splitter?” Farn growled, even as he fired off an arrow before ducking behind a merlon.
“It doesn't matter what's holding her up!” Rukh shouted over the tumult all around them. “We need to form a Quad.”
“No!” Jessira disagreed vehemently. “Every time we Annex, you barely survive. You're always the one that the construct sacrifices for
the benefit of the others.” She gestured to Jaresh and Farn. “They can do what they want, but the two of us are staying out of it!”
“We'll be more effective in a Quad,” Rukh protested even as he recognized what she meant. Each time he and Jessira had been Annexed together—at Stronghold, against the Virtuous, and a few days ago, while escaping Suwraith—the construct had always set him at point, the most dangerous position. And he'd almost died in every one of those battles.
“We might be more effective when we're Annexed, but I won't accept one if it means that you're to be sacrificed for everyone else's survival,” Jessira said. “We sit it out.”
Rukh was prepared to argue further, but a glance at Farn and Jaresh's blank expressions shut his mouth with a click. “You two are already Annexed, aren't you?” he asked.
Both men turned as one to Rukh. “We are Duo,” they announced.
Rukh gave a sour grimace to Jessira. “We can still Annex with them.”
“We can, but we won't,” Jessira said. “And if you're as astute as the rest of the city believes you to be, you won't even think of forming a Triad with them.”
Rukh was preparing to do exactly that, but a hardening of her expression quickly changed his mind. He knew better than to go against Jessira when her decision was so firmly set.
“Get ready!” Marshall Tanhue shouted, interrupting their conversation. “As soon as their ramp falls, I want whatever's inside filled with arrows and Fireballs.”
Of course, it wasn't hard to guess what the inside of the siege tower contained. From the short distance away, calls of nearly every breed of Chimera could be heard: Baels, Tigons, Braids, and Ur-Fels. The only sounds missing were those of the Balants. Rukh reckoned the elephant-sized Chims simply couldn't make the climb up what was likely a narrow set of stairs within the tower.
