by Gwynn White
“Uh, yeah, well, okay then. The forest fire chased us all away from the regular entrance to Marbeht at the southern tip of the Draekhen Mountains so what we are doing is circling around to the west and coming in from that side.”
“So you are taking us through Miaga?”
“Yes, Mistress.”
Ellora reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose, wondering where in all the dark pits of Charonyde her mind had been. How had she allowed them to be lead here? What had she been thinking? She shook her head as if she could shake away the cobwebs that had been clouding her mind ever since the Goddess had reclaimed her. And, once cleared, the guilt set in. How could she have allowed this? She closed her eyes, took a deep calming breath and kept her face a mask of serenity. Above all else, they can never know what lies within this marsh. Their only chance of survival lies in their total complete obedience to her commands because if the awoke what slumbered within its depths there would be no escape.
Jogli scratched his head with one hand, while guiding his horse through the marsh with the other. The name Miaga Marsh trigged a memory about something Wizard Vail had told him once, but he couldn’t quite remember its details or importance. However, it nagged at his enigmatic sense of imminent danger. This mental warning system had kept him from harm many a time in Thonevrond. Even the first time he’d met the wizard it zinged through him, warning him to stay away. But a hot meal, a real bed and a job offer as the sorcerer’s apprentice had smothered its cautionary foreboding. He pursed his lips, at the thought. He should have listened to it. But, at the time, anything had seemed better than living in the gutter. Now, though he wasn’t so sure. But, if he could get free. If his plans worked…
The squishy sound of the horse’s misstep into a boggy morass, and a listing of his saddle to the right, snapped Jogli back to the present, and the wizard’s command to return immediately and as quickly as possible. The subliminal command and its threat of punishment for failure left him no other option than this route through the marsh. It would cut off at least a week’s worth of travel even if the forest at the foot of the eastern side of the Draekhen Mountains were still not aflame. The thought of the fire, brought his warning sensor alive again and he struggled to remember what Vail had said about the marsh. Something about it being sentient, alive, part of the depths of Charonyde, but still a living being.
He shook his head, confusion causing it to ache as he strained to remember what he needed to know. And, his confusion triggered his memory.
That’s it. The wizard had not really seemed to know exactly what lie within Miaga Marsh. He described it as a living, sentient being with a mind not a brainless slug, but one that belonged neither to the Goddess nor to Athgaard. Vail only seemed certain that it possessed a spirit, and that evil lay at the center of its being.
Jogli remembered another thing the wizard had said, “Stay away. Do not enter the Miaga Marsh.”
He jerked his horse to a dead standstill and looked around. As far as he could see marsh, swamp and a miasma of dead and dying bushes, trees, rushes and grasses surrounded him. Beneath his horse’s hooves, lay a narrow, too narrow for Jogli’s liking, path. But, Jogli had no idea where it led. Did it led to the heart of the evilness that Vail warned him about, or did it lead to the eastern entrance to the Draekhen Mountains and the precipice that led to Marbeht? As much as he hated having Vail inside his head, Jogli knew he had no choice. Stretching out his mind, opening the enchanted irises of his magical eye, he reached for the wizard’s consciousness knowing that only more trouble that what he now experienced awaited him. But, as he figured his choices were die now or die later. He chose to live a little longer.
Ellora fought back the guilt that lay like a heavy fog within her heart and mind in order to clear them both for the Goddess’ instructions. But, that also worried her as she thought back to her years of training to become the High Priestess of the Goddess and all the knowledge she received. At the time, the Goddess’ vague explanations of the Miaga Marsh hadn’t bother her. After all the Goddess knew all things, and there had been so much to learn. The Goddess’ rather oblique commentary on Miaga Marsh hadn’t made much sense back then, but Ellora shrugged it off trusting that the Goddess would make it clearer later on in her training. Only, she never had.
The Goddess mentioned it as being “other.” Not part of her creation not controlled by or of Athgaard and Charonyde. The Goddess had simply said it was “other.” A frown creased, and then she raised a hand to cover her mouth in astonishment. Her wide-eyed stare of disbelief changed to eyes that narrowed with suspicion and betrayal.
She told me all of creation came from her. She told me that all of creation bowed to her. That all obeyed her will and command, so how can there be something “other?” Something that she didn’t create and doesn’t control? Did she lie to me? Has she been lying to me about other things?
Ellora knew that her service as High Priestess formed a unique bond to the mind of the Goddess, and her self-questioning did not escape the Goddess’ notice. I am here. I am all. I am in command. That is all you need to know. I will guide you safely through Miaga if you follow my commands.
Ellora shrugged. Yes, Goddess. I will do your bidding.
But, before she could respond to the Goddess’ guidance, a scream that told of unspeakable horror and pain shattered her connection with her goddess. The man’s dying shrieks of pain rose from the tail end of the group where Bydern rode rear guard. Ellora had taken the lead once she came to her senses, and his cries crawled up her spine like spiders on her skin making her shiver with uncontrolled fear. They captured her mind and held it with evil imaginings that not even the hells of Charonyde could produce. The horses also affected by the fear, the visions and the pain-filled screams, bolted in a blind charge that not even Christol’s power could stop.
Yet, in spite of her doubts, her feelings of betrayal and loss of trust, Ellora could only turn to the one source of power she held. “Goddess, help us,” she shouted, even as she wondered if the Goddess could help her in this place.
Chapter Ten
Jogli had grown accustomed to hearing screams of pain coming from within the walls of Marbeht, and he tuned them out the same way he tuned out the cook’s continual humming as she baked. However, the horror he heard in the dying man’s scream crawled across his flesh like the hundreds of maggots he’d seen eating away at one of Vail’s discarded human experiments. He gagged at the memory of the horror of those screams brought to mind, but his horse bolted, racing away from the terror it heard in blind fear.
He clung to the animal, his fists curled tightly in its mane, praying to whatever god or goddess might exist that he made it safely through Miaga Marsh. Yet, even as he prayed, he knew his chances were almost nothing without Vail’s help. Turning his mind inward, away from his fear and the terrors hidden in the marsh, he attempted to contact the wizard, showing him an image of his location, and asking for guidance. He did not expect an answer, and he received none.
Vail’s philosophy was: learn from your mistakes; master your magic, before you become its slave. He’d heard it with every crack of the whip - with ever jab of the hot poker, with ever skin flaying incision of the knife. Jogli’s last failure, not controlling the dragon that started the forest fire and turned his troops to ash, resulted in a particularly painful lesson in learning to control his magic.
The horse jumped over something, and Jogli spared a brief glance at his surroundings. Just marshland as far as he could see in any direction and what the horse jumped over remained as much a mystery to him as it probably had been to the horse. He tried to pull back on the reins, but the horse refused to respond. For a second, Jogli got the impression that the horse knew where it wanted to go. His magical eye clouded with uncertainty and fear at the thought. Jogli did not know what lived within this marsh, but he knew he did not want to meet it. He pulled on the reins again, and again the horse ignored him.
I get more response from the stupid animal if
I was a horsefly biting his ass. Or, if I could magic him into obeying me.
And, that’s where the heart of the problem lay, and always had. Jogli wanted nothing to do with magic. His or anybody else’s. He’d seen too much evil done with magic in Thonevrond, and all he desired was to be free of it. He wanted a normal life with a small cottage, some land to till, and to feel the joy of watching both his children and his crops grow. Yet, he knew his stunted humpbacked body would never gain a wife, and the wizard would never release him. Freedom would never be his, yet it called to him, and he yearned for it with all his heart.
He could be free if he tore out the magical eye that connected him to the wizard. But that meant being both crippled and blind. If his horse hadn’t already been charging through the marsh parroting one a racehorse spurred with hot irons, Jogli’s shivering at the fear of living crippled and blind in street gutters once again would have triggered another blind charge. He reached up a hand to rub the tension away from the back of his neck, only to notice that his horse had slowed to a gentle trot. The wizard’s apprentice looked up and found himself staring into the face of the Goddess’ high priestess. Shock, surprise, terror and relief combined to overload the poor man’s senses. His magical eye rolled back in his head, and toppling off his horse. He landed face first in the marshy swampland of Miaga.
“Did you know he was following us?” Ellora asked
“No. When you said calm the horses and bring them back, that’s what I did.”
“Interesting. Well, I guess we better have a little talk with Vail’s apprentice and see exactly what he is doing here and why he is following us. Stephen, would you mind rolling him over and waking him up. But, not before you tie him up.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“By, the Goddess’ flame, how many times have I asked you not to call me that. Please, I am still Ellora. I am still your friend, aren’t I?”
Stephye smiled, his eyes sparkling with merriment. He loved irritating Ellora and the easiest way was to call her Mistress. She’s always so serious about everything, he thought. Not like Riesa. He smile turned to one of those lovesick grins see in those cheap plays they hold in the pub theaters. But, he couldn’t help it. He loved Riesa as much, more than, he loved irritating Ellora. It was a good thing they were all good friends otherwise with Ellora’s power now out of control he might look like some of his efforts of making toast looked, burnt to a crisp and not worth feeding to the birds.
Christol looked at her with eyes that expressed all his emotions, and he knew Ellora could see his love, his passion, his devotion, and his faithfulness with one quick glance. “Always,” he said at last in answer to her question about friendship, “and so much more if you would allow it.”
Ellora pulled her gaze away from his eyes. Looking down at the marshy swampland around them, she quickly changed the subject as she spied Jogli’s still unconscious form. “Wake him up, but blindfold and tie him up first. Then we will question him and find out what he is doing in this
Christol and Stephye lost no time in doing as Ellora asked, and Jogli, groggy and trussed up like a Harvest Day turkey was more than willing to talk.
“Why were you following us?” Ellora demanded of her captive.
“I wasn’t. I was just obeying orders.”
“Orders? You mean Vail’s orders?”
Jogli almost sneered, but then stopped himself as he remembered the power his questioner held. “Who else?”
Ellora raised her eyebrows at his tone, but let it pass. She usually received more respect, but she knew she wouldn’t get it from Vail’s assistant. “And, what exactly were those orders?”
“To get back to Marbeht as quickly as possible.”
“And?”
“And nothing,” Jogli said. “This was the quickest way back.”
Ellora shared a look with Christol. The look said they both knew this was not the complete truth. “Christol see if you can get one of the horses to give Jogli a little nudge with its hoof.”
“Of course, High Priestess,” he answered.
Jogli began to shake as the sound of hoof beats came closer and closer. He shivered in fear when the horse blew its hot breath down the back of his neck.
“Are you sure there isn’t something you might have forgotten, Jogli?” Ellora asked.
“Well, maybe I might have forgotten something.”
“And that would be?”
Jogli hesitated his fear of Vail competing with his fear of the High Priestess. They both used magic, they both were lethal, and now they both wanted the same thing from him, Christol. He couldn’t decide which one he should trust if either of them were trustful. But, the High Priestess scored higher in this area than Vail did in Jogli’s memory, so he decided to negotiate.
“If I tell you, what will you give me in return? He asked.
“Your life,” the High Priestess answered.
“You’re bluffing,” he countered. “High Priestesses never kill people.”
Ellora snarled in silent recognition of a fact that everybody knew and did nothing to help her. “Your freedom.”
“Can you free me from Vail and the use of magic? I want magic out of my life forever.”
Ellora sat back on her horse, her hand covering her mouth in shock at Jogli’s bargain, and his goal that was exactly the same as hers. “Jogli, she said, “you are aware that there is only one person in Mithlonde who can remove your magic.” It wasn’t a question for she knew Jogli possessed almost as much knowledge about magic as she did, and maybe even more since he worked for the Wizard Vail.
“Yes, I know. Maura is the only one who can do it, and you are the only one with enough power to get me there.”
“In that you are correct. So what you are asking is that I help you get to Maura and convince her to remove your magic. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“And in return you will guide us safely through the Miaga Marsh?
“Yes.”
Stephye and Riesa listened closely to the bargaining, and both were wondering what Ellora would do. She also wanted to be free from magic, and once turned her back on the Goddess in order to be free. It was only Riesa’s lack of proper training, and a raging forest fire that forced Ellora to resume her place as High Priestess. If she and Jogli succeeded in getting their magic removed by the witch, Maura, it would mean that Riesa would become High Priestess again. Something, neither Stephye nor Riesa wanted because it would mean the end of their plans for marriage and a family.
“Well, Jogli,” Ellora said, tapping her horsewhip against her boot to add a little more drama and threat to his situation. “I don’t think you are offering us enough to risk Maura’s den and her dragons. You see the Goddess is already guiding us through Miaga. So you really have nothing to offer me.
Jogli blew out a breath between gritted teeth and made a decision. “I can tell you about Miaga Marsh. About what it really is and I can tell you what the wizard really wants.”
A hard smile played across Ellora’s beautiful face turning it ugly and mean for a second, and Christol as well as Stephye and Riesa knew that the Goddess controlled Ellora.
“I see. Tell me what you know about this swamp.”
“It’s alive. It’s a living being the same as you or me. It is not controlled by either the Goddess or Athgaard, and it is evil.”
Ellora leaned back in her saddle, thinking. She just learned more from this servant of Vail than she had learned in all her years of service to the Goddess.
“And you are not afraid of Miaga Marsh?”
Jogli hesitated before answering, and when he did, he only shrugged. “My entire life with Vail is full of danger what is one more.”
“True. Now, what does the wizard want and why?
“He wants Christol, and he wants him to control the dragons so he can take Mithlonde away from the Goddess.”
Ellora’s glare intensified, becoming as hard and clear as diamonds. “You have a deal as long as you remaine
d blindfolded so Vail cannot see us coming, and so long as you help us get through the Halls of Marbeht to his inner chambers.”
“I can do this if you will uphold your end of the bargain.”
The eyes looking down on Jogli now were soft with understanding and sympathy. The Goddess left and Ellora now controlled her own self again. “I promise you I will. I will travel with you personally to Maura’s Den and we will speak with her together as I also seek what you seek.”
If they had been actors in a morality play, Christol, Stephye and Riesa shook their heads, and with grim expressions turned their mounts to follow Ellora.
“Christol, would you find some dry clothes for Jogli, and spread out some of the supplies amongst the other horses. When he has changed, ensure that he is mounted and securely tied to the saddle. I trust him, but I don’t trust him that much.”
“Yes, Priestess.” And, under his breath he muttered, “No good is going to come of this. I don’t know how I know it, but this is going cost her more than she is willing to pay.”
Ellora either didn’t hear his muttering or chose to ignore it for she simply said, “Christol, please, I asked you a hundred times not to call me that.”
He turned to face her as he was redistributing supplies and said, “But that is who you are.”
Looking at her hands, she realized that fists of anger hung from her arms, and for the first time in her life, she wanted to kill something. Realizing what she was thinking, large tears streamed down her face. Riesa rode over to her best friend and put her arm around her as best she could from horseback.
“What’s wrong Ellora? Why are you crying?”
“Riesa, I don’t know what is happening to me. I am changing into something or somebody who isn’t me and I do not like this person.”
