The Punishment Of The Gods (Omnibus 1-5)

by Jake Yaniak

  'I wish that this never happened,' Daryas said, 'What end is worth this death?'

  'Perhaps an end in which our happiness is not concerned. But that makes it no less worthy an end. What I have learned, and what has taken me the longest to learn, is that we have not been made for the sake of our own happiness. I too, Daryas, wish things had been otherwise. I wish I could have lived in the opulent world of Bel Albor for all eternity, loving my dear wife and son, enriching myself through the labors of mortal men. But in the end that world was swallowed up by the sea.

  'The will of the Eternal One is like a mighty wheel that rolls across this earth. Those who make themselves a part of that wheel, and ease its passage will find themselves, if not happy, at least righteous. Those who set themselves against that wheel will be ground to powder beneath it. It isn't fair, Daryas, of course, but nobody ever said the world was fair.'

  'It should be fair,' Daryas quipped.

  'Should? For what? You know as well as I that such words cannot be used lightly. Justice has its purpose, and that purpose is the survival of mankind. But mankind has a purpose too, and that transcends even justice. Justice is the concern of man to man, but the Eternal One owes us not even the next breath, let alone equality and satisfaction.

  'But let me speak of your earlier question,' Rahdmus said, as though he had just remembered something. 'You say that you wish that things had gone otherwise. Indeed, so do all men. But that is the work of their imagination alone. You know as well as I that the same cause creates the same effect, time and time again, and with such consistency that men, by understanding such causes, can make for themselves engines, tools and weapons of war. Who would trust in the sword at their side if it could not be counted upon to act against their enemies in the same manner each time? If it were not for the consistency of causes and their effects, who would dare shoot an arrow from a bow. How would one know that the shaft would not just as soon find itself shot through their own heart as their enemy's? We trust material things to behave themselves, and to do so without even the slightest alteration.

  'Take the example of the heavens above, and consider their emptiness. In Lapulia, where the magicians dwell, it is taught that the void of the heavens and their dead vacuousness proves that man is a mere accident; something unimportant and meaningless. But remember that all these things, the stars, the world, and everything else, must have at one time or another, some cause of their being. Now, to have the effect we see, I mean, for the world to be, that cause had to be just exactly as it was and no different. Had it been different, who knows but that the world would be different or even that the world could not have been at all. In order to have the world, then, you must leave the cause just as it is. To take away the void of the heavenly realms, then, is to take away their cause, which, in turn, is to take away the world. To have a world at all it might be necessary to have the deathly silence of the black heavens.

  Who knows what all these deaths mean? Who knows what the suffering of the world may be meant for, and what might be lost if were to take it away. Casting aside the world we cast aside also the future, which no man can judge. Have a care, Daryas, when you wish for things to have been otherwise than they are; you can never guess what might be changed. We are much like the pigments of a painter, Daryas, and I imagine the pigments, as they are ground up and mixed together with great vigor, understand their purpose no more than we. But the discomfort of the pigments makes the painting no less beautiful and the colors no less useful in the end.'

  Chapter V:

  The Stage is Set

  Strangers in the Daunrys

  So thoroughly had the men of the Galva army dismantled their settlement in Ram-u-Nar, that even after the war, the men of Ramlos never discovered the exact location of their encampment. This, more than anything else, frustrated the King to no end. 'How could they have survived the mountains and hidden themselves away in our own land for so long a period?' Scouts searched the land, but found no trace of their lodgings. They came to Ram-u-Nar at last, but there was no evidence of them to be found there. The scouts could not say one way or another whether it had been the place in which they had for so long taken up refuge. To further complicate matters, Dynamis had sent ten men into Heyan, ere their departure, to find men of little means who would be willing to take up residence in that land. By the time the governors of Amlaman undertook to investigate the region, it had been taken over by a great many paupers and peasants along with their families.

  Nonetheless, a great store of weapons had been left hidden in that region, and to this Dynamis now hastened. At his side was Forge Collesirne and Aoder the huntsman, and several other strong men of Noras. It was evening on the fourth day of the month Indest that Dynamis and a small band of his companions returned to Ram-u-Nar in the guise of peasants. There they purchased a carriage from those who now lived there and some provisions. They then went to a certain cave that they had very cautiously hidden from sight and brought from there a great many swords and daggers and other light armaments, all of which had been purchased in Heyan, not forged in Noras. 'We will not be waging war, my friends,' he told his companions. 'For this reason we must leave behind us all insignias of our homeland and garb ourselves as men of Heyan. We have come without the leave of Cheftan Biron, my father, and we must not pretend to be acting under his direction. Noras is not prepared for a war. We are here to help the son of Biron, and that alone is our purpose.'

  When they had taken what weapons they could fit in their carriage, they covered them up with food and clothes and slipped quietly from that territory, making their way slowly to the west. There was a crude trail leading from Ram-u-Nar down toward the forest of Heyan in the northwest. This they followed until they came to a place where the trail was hidden from view by trees and bushes. There they met several other men of Noras, and distributed the weapons as evenly as they could. In the end, however, they came up one blade short. 'I will go without,' said Revere, who had also just arrived. 'A sword would be wasted on me. Besides, my knife was not made in Noras, but in Titalo. It would not, therefore, be a bad thing at all should it be found among our corpses.'

  'You speak as if we hadn't a chance, Revere,' Dynamis said.

  'As do you, my lord,' Revere laughed. 'Otherwise, you would not take such care to conceal our identity. It is the privilege of human beings, to plan for many outcomes - even the worst.'

  'Indeed,' Forge said with a nodding head, 'and it is also his privilege to pray for the best.'

  As they started on their way Dynamis remained in place for a moment, considering how different was this man Revere, who had once betrayed them. 'Now he will march to his death with no promise of reward?'

  Though Daryas had said nothing at all to his brother, Dynamis could tell that the dreams and the voices that troubled him had only intensified since the end of the war. Lady Marima had attempted to find a suitable girl for him to wed, hoping his resolve and his despair might be lessened. But he would have nothing to do with her suggestions. He met one of the girls, but he was so sullen and gloomy, and so tormented by the voice of Evna that she left Peiraso almost in tears, saying to her guardians, 'I should cast myself into a river headlong after one week of marriage to such a lamentable man!'

  Dynamis perceived that it was only a matter of time before Daryas took his leave of Peiraso. Knowing his state of mind, Dynamis took great pains to prepare for his departure, though he said nothing to his brother about it. To this end he sent Forge and Revere and many other men of Noras into the west to prepare for their coming. 'Daryas will go to the Nunnery of Agonistes, to take away the Princess if he can. The people of Amlaman will not part with her easily. We will make sure that either he makes his escape, bringing his love at last to Noras, or that he dies not alone nor unavenged.'

  'And take heed,' he said with great care in his voice, these lands crawl with the spirits of the dead. At times they will pass through you, like a cold wind through an open window, at other times they will look down upon you
from the trees through the eyes of beasts and birds. Some live in the very stones upon which we tread. Legend says a great terror lives in the stream that is called the Meretris, which passes through the Nunnery of the dark god, whither we hasten.'

  'Is this all true, my lord,' Forge said with a hint of fear in his voice. 'You know that I fear no man. But spirits! What can a man do to a spirit?'

  'It would be as well to ask, of course,' Revere said skeptically, 'what could a spirit do to a man?'

  'Do not scoff, Revere, and do not fear overmuch, Forge,' Dynamis responded. The spirits of the dead can indeed be a danger, but they oughtn't be feared more than the living, for their powers, uncanny though they be, are not greater than our own. But at times the greater devils will take up residence within some beast of prey. When I first parted with Daryas on that fateful night when first he went to the Nunnery, I was followed for quite a while by a dark shadow. I made great haste, but still I could not evade it. At last I came to an open place, where I expected the creature would leave off its pursuit. But much to my surprise, the beast came out after me, and indeed, soon overtook me. It was an immense wolf with glowing eyes of red. I turned upon my horse and faced him. The size of the horse alone would have scared away any other wolf. But this creature just stared at me as one unafraid. He approached me in the darkness slowly and with great malice in his eyes. I could almost sense his hatred. Hatred, I say! One would have expected to sense hunger, or bloodlust or some other brutish motive. But hatred is a sentiment born by rational creatures, not animals. At any rate, he was not to be driven away by anything I could do.

  'At last, when he drew so near that I could smell his foul coat of fur, I drew the Conjurer's blade, at the sight of which the beast perked up his ears for an instant and then fled into the night with amazing speed.

  'We go into the heart of the devil's kingdom, my friends,' Dynamis concluded, 'Beware!'

  Whispers

  Even as Daryas and Rahdmus took the mountain road through Coronan and into Ramlos, and as Dynamis with his men made their way to Sten Agoni, strange voices began to manifest themselves to Lyris, who yet remained in Peiraso, the home of Cheftan Biron. At first she ignored them, thinking they were signs of exhaustion. She soon found herself quite troubled by them, thinking them to be the sign of madness. But after several days had passed she concluded that she was being tormented by spirits.

  She grew restless and suspicious, and would often be found haunting the halls of Peiraso with a candle and a dagger, with her eyes filled with fear. Lady Marima took compassion on her, and brought her, in the middle of the night, down to the kitchen, where she was given something warm to drink.

  'A madness comes over me, I fear,' she said, with great sorrow. 'Then I shall be broken of body and mind alike.'

  Marima poured her a cup of tea and gave her some bread that had been baked that evening.

  'A time there was,' Lyris said with a quaking voice, 'when I was a Marshall of Olgrost. But now I can lift neither shield nor spear, for my bones, though they have mended, are not strong as they once were. Now devils have come to take away my mind.'

  'War brings so much sorrow to the young,' Marima said with great compassion in her voice. 'But I do not believe that you have ought to fear from devils while you rest in Peiraso. This is the house of Biron, and no evil spirit can easily enter this place.' She put her hands upon Lyris' fingers and said, 'Rest, and fear not the voices, for they cannot harm you while you are within these walls. It may be, even, that they only vex you for your benefit. It has long been believed by the people of the forest, that spirits come to us sometimes with messages of help and at other times for their own comfort. Resist not the voice, and see what comes of it. But no spirit can do to you any evil in this place. The light of the stars, even that holiest of Astral Lords, rests upon our roof at all hours, though the sun hides them during the day.'

  The mention of the stars seemed to comfort her, and she was brought back to her room. As she lay herself to rest, Lady Marima opened up the window, letting the gentle starlight enter more clearly.

  By the time she turned away from the window Lyris was in a deep slumber. She slipped away quietly, leaving the girl to her dreams.

  As soon as the lady of the house had shut the door, Lyris opened her eyes and there beheld a glowing being, like a child in stature, but like a god in radiance. 'Who are you?' she asked, no longer afraid.

  'I am Duri,' he answered.

  'Why do you trouble me?' she asked him.

  'I had failed you before, when more strength was in my hands, but now, I can do nothing, and so I weep here every night.'

  'But how can you have failed me? For what do you owe to me in the first place?'

  'I was the companion of Natham, and I left him out of selfishness, and was not there to be his eyes and ears, though I knew he would have need of me.'

  'Explain yourself, please, for I do not understand what you are telling me.'

  'I abandoned him to his fate, even as I pursued my own ends in the distant east. The lords of Marin took great advantage of him, and with many lies they caused him to slay innocent men. Had I remained beside him this might have been prevented, for I could have discovered their deception.'

  'Do not weep on account of that, Duri,' Lyris said, 'Marin would have waged its war without his aid. Naught could have prevented what came to pass. A little different we can make our fates, but we cannot alter their course entirely.'

  'I thank you for your kind words, Lyris,' Duri said with a bow. 'Truly you are worthy of the great love Natham had for you.'

  A tear dropped from her cheek, 'And I bore such love toward him as well,' she said as she wept.

  Duri looked uneasy for a moment, and then said, 'Would that I might weep once more, even as you do.'

  'Can spirits not weep then?' she said with surprise.

  'We can feel the pull of sorrow, but not the pangs; we can know suffering, but not feel it. Passion is a gift to those bound to flesh.'

  'I am glad to have met you, Duri, friend of Natham. But do not be troubled on account of what came to pass. For I saw with my own eyes the change of his body from what it was to what it ought to be. I saw him shining like the stars of heaven, to which I am convinced he has been elevated.'

  'Thank you, my lady,' Duri said.

  'But what was it, Duri, that led you into the east?'

  'It was my mother. Malia, the Queen of the Merkata, beside whom I have stood for many thousands of years, never knowing who she was. A great disaster overtook her, and in that moment she called out, of all things she might have called out, my name, though I never thought that she knew it. When I heard her speak that name, I remembered that which we spirits are prohibited from remembering, and how we had been betrayed by one who ought to have died in our stead, but who abandoned us to our fates. My mother poured all her soul into my rescue, but in the end I was washed away by the crashing waves that ripped soul from flesh, even as all the other spirits were in those days. She, however, after all the strength that was in her had been spent, lived on, if life one may call it. Always at her side I have stood, though I never understood what it was that drew me to her. When I heard her scream her last, calling me by my name as though she loved me, I could not restrain myself, but went immediately back to Vestron to discover what had happened there. But alas, the Merkata clan is no more; Fhuhar has swallowed them all alive; and my mother's ambitions with them.'

  'I am sorry that after all you have suffered,' Lyris said compassionately, 'you have not come to find your comrade still living. But be at ease; he is well nonetheless.'

  'It is not only for his sake that I have come,' Duri said. 'There was one whose involvement in your predicament was very significant, but whose origin and purpose I was never able to discover. He dined with Marin some time before you were taken away from Marin to be the prize of that foul Cheiftain. There was a familiarity and at the same time a nobility about him that perplexed me. I was hoping to find him in this land. But Na
tham cannot help me now, nor I him.'

  'There is a man,' Lyris said as all weariness left her eyes. She sat up straight in her bed and rubbed her eyes with her hands. 'There is a man called Rahdmus, who I thought myself to have recognized upon my arrival in this house. But he was very aloof, and spoke only a little to the brother of my beloved. He would see neither the lord of the house nor Dynamis, my betrothed. He left not long ago, but whither he went I cannot say.'

  'I am indebted to you, then,' Duri said with a final bow, 'for now I know that my coming here has not been in vain. Farewell, daughter of Marin, and may the gods of heaven smile upon you. We shall not meet again in this life, nor will I ever trouble your dreams again.'

  'If I understood this earlier today I would have been overjoyed,' Lyris answered. 'But now, having seen you and learned your tale, I can only receive these words with a heavy heart.'

  Smoke on the Mountain

  Daryas and Rahdmus entered into Ramlos on the very same road by which the goblins had ascended to the heights of Coronan. 'This path was the work of my own hands,' Rahdmus told him, 'I did it in secret from the King of Amlaman, who would not have willingly lent his aid to such an endeavor. 'Always we meant to cripple your fierce clan; which speaks much to the fear men have of the Galvahirne, even here in the west where all else concerning the Noras is unknown. I had a healthy fear of them, I thought. But when I met your brother upon the mountain, it was clear that even I had underestimated the strength of Galvahir. I will say this also, that among mortal men it is more common for men to deteriorate and for races to weaken over time. But the Galvahirne are unique in that with each generation it seems they grow more vigorous, more powerful, more virtuous, and more wise.'