Shield of the Gods (Aigis Trilogy, Book 1)

by S. M. Welles

  The soloist played with channeled excitement, and the crowd watched in pregnant silence. (Tuhkuhtuh-dah! Tuhkuhtuh-dah! Tuhkuhtuh-tuhkuhtuh-dah-dah-dah!) He was joined by another quint player in the same rhythm after he repeated the line. They broke off together and were taken up by another section playing a variation of the rhythm. Each section of the band took their turn, and once they all had played, rejoined on the quint’s original rhythm, shouting a continuation of their chant. The energy of this all-percussion band pulsed in the air, in people’s minds and in their feet. Soon the whole arena was clapping in time with the music.

  The drumming calmed to a lull and the clapping died with it. The solo heart-beat rhythm resounded and picked up its pace again, much faster than the first time. People began clapping with it, faster and faster, as the whole band joined with their countermelodies all at once. The audience’s clapping went so fast, they turned it into applause and cheers.

  The lead musician stood up suddenly with his arms crossed like an ‘x’, still holding his drumsticks. He waited, then snapped his arms into a ‘y’ as the last beat sounded. There was a brief pause, then the lowest bass drum tapped out the heart-beat, just once. The director dropped his arms. Thunderous applause took over.

  As the opening band hopped offstage, the main meal vanished, only to be replaced by a delectable variety of cakes, cookies, puddings and pastries, along with wines, milk, teas and water. Soon the stars had crept out into their fullness without anyone at the party noticing, while the moon started its journey over the southern horizon. More music was played by smaller groups throughout the evening, and once Din’s people began to show signs of sleepiness, he concluded Esisumet. He jumped into the air above the stage.

  “My people,” he began solemnly, “the time has come for me to discuss the coming war.”

  A wave of shock and a series of gasps filled the arena, and people began speaking in rapid Scondish. It didn’t take much imagination for Roxie to guess at some of their questions: “War? What war? Against whom?” Roxie glanced around nervously at everyone sitting around her. Din was telling them a secret that no one but she and Aerigo were supposed to know. She looked to Aerigo for comfort, hoping that he’d hold her in his secure arms, or something like that. Instead, he only glanced at her, then jutted his chin in Din’s direction. Roxie put an elbow on the table and plopped her cheek in her hand.

  “I’m sorry to deliver such horrible news after a wonderful day, but to keep you in the dark completely goes against my better judgment. Another god has declared war in the form of prophecy, and now I’m one of many gods required to gather one thousand warriors, unless I want to lose you all too this brash god named Nexus. Nexus is a god without worlds and mortals of his own. He wants both badly, but, due to the laws ruling the divine realm, he can’t simply take or make what he wants. But now he’s found a way that will put him on a path to getting what he wants.

  “All these warriors are going to fight in the war and deny Nexus what he doesn’t deserve. However, if all one thousand of my warriors are lost, then all of you will be at the mercy of an evil god. You will no longer be my people. In simplest terms, the goal is to win without losing too many lives. I do not wish for that. Still, our best hope against having to participate in this war at all is those two Aigis right there.” He pointed at Roxie and Aerigo.

  People shifted on their benches to get a better look at them. She put her arm down and sat up straight to better accept their hope-filled gazes.

  “Somewhere hidden deep in the cores of their beings lays the power to save us all,” Din said in a charged voice, and dropped his arm. “They are our best, if not only hope. Yet fate is fickle. We must prepare for the worst and hope for the best. We’ll be ready to fight this war if we must. If we must. I’m looking for five hundred of you to add to my growing roster—five hundred of you willing to defend yours and countless other worlds. I force no one to fight. Who will volunteer?”

  A few dozen hands shot in the air from all around the arena. Slowly, more and more joined in. One of them was Yayu’s.

  Aerigo shifted in his seat. “Put your hand down,” he ordered under his breath.

  “No,” Yayu said, his arm still held high. His face was full of determination. He looked like he’d already made up his mind.

  “Leave the fighting to me, Yayu,” Aerigo said a little louder. “This isn’t your fight.”

  “It is now, Aerigo,” Yayu said calmly. “Didn’t you hear Din?”

  “There are plenty of other people who can fight in your stead. It doesn’t have to be you that fights.”

  “This is my choice, Aerigo. Not yours.”

  Aerigo’s eyes burned red. The people around them flinched. A few even gasped, but Yayu remained undaunted. Aerigo surged to his feet, knocking the long bench and everyone sitting on it backwards with his calves. Roxie fell onto her back and was given a view of the starlit sky. She twisted to her hands and knees, then helped put the bench back in place. Everyone was staring at them. If Aerigo and Yayu were embarrassed, neither of them showed it. Roxie felt embarrassed for them instead.

  Yayu stood at his full height, six-and-a-half feet tall with the help of his elongated feet, looking ready to fight. Aerigo glared at him with his burning eyes, then suddenly stormed off, muttering something about being tired of losing friends to wars.

  Roxie and Yayu started at each other, perplexed, then hurried after Aerigo.

  PART THREE

  Chapter 19

  Druconica: The Strong Ones

  “Hey, Aerigo! Where ya goin’?” Yayu asked, chasing after him.

  Roxie murmured a good-bye to Yayu’s family as she passed them. She wanted to get to know them better, talk to Issa some more, and get a bigger taste of Sconda’s culture. But the need to take on her task came before her social wants. The smiles melted from their faces as they waved farewell.

  Aerigo began jogging once he was clear of the tables, heading straight for Ormolu. Roxie and Yayu followed in silence as they jogged under the stars, over grassy hills and sections of track, and between homes and larger structures. Tree frogs and night creatures called out to each other, and the air felt chill so far away from the fires and thousands of warm bodies. They slowed to a walk outside Yayu’s home, the beads clicking and swinging as they slipped in.

  “Can’t y’wait ‘till mornin’?” Yayu. “For a proper good-bye…”

  “To be honest, Rox and I should have left sooner. I’m sorry.”

  “Where ya off to, then?”

  “Druconica.” Aerigo ascended the ladder to the loft and began collecting his belongings.

  “Isn’t that the world where—?”

  “Yes,” Aerigo said in a tight voice. He reached over and grabbed his boots, as well as Roxie’s.

  “Why doncha train somewhere else, instead of—?”

  “Something tells me that she and I should go there for reasons besides the training. Thank you for everything, Yayu. You’re a great friend, and you have a wonderful family. Keep them close to you and if Rox and I can’t stop the war from starting, don’t die in it. If things turn out well, Rox and I will return as soon as we can. I apologize for having to leave you like this.”

  “Just remember to think in years, not decades,” Yayu teased half-heartedly.

  Aerigo said, “Rox, go take a quick bath while I pack for the both of us.” He tossed down some clean clothes and Roxie caught them.

  “Do ya think you’ll ever come back to Sconda?”

  “I don’t know,” Aerigo said, then climbed down the ladder and set his own boots and clothes down. He crossed to where the jaws of the drogue hung. “Here.” He waved Yayu over, then put one hand on Yayu’s shoulder and the other on the wall, fingers spread. He closed his eyes and bowed his head. Yayu gasped and tried to shie out from under Aerigo’s hand, but was locked in place. Smoke began to rise from under Aerigo’s hand. Ten seconds later, he let Yayu go.

  “What on Sconda was that?” Yayu said, rubbing his shoulde
r, which now had a red mark on it in the shape of a big hand.

  Aerigo peeled his hand away from the wall to reveal a print of his hand burned into the wood, black and singed with brown around the edges. “I may not be able to return during your lifetime. I’m sorry.” He headed towards the loft again. “Rox, go bathe.”

  Roxie hopped into motion and began to undress once she was standing before the tub. She wished she could keep her racing clothes as a memento, but her backpack didn’t have any extra space for them. She slipped into the lukewarm water and put the scrubbing stone to use. The Oromo River had done the bulk of the work on the dirt, so she scrubbed at her sadness and emotional conflict but couldn’t seem to reach the brick in her stomach. Everywhere she went, she was leaving behind wonderful people, including her only family. What was her grandmother doing now that she was alone? How could Tucker be sufficient company for her? Had she cried again? Roxie found that she missed Luis and his family as well. The couple had almost been like surrogate parents, or at least cool ones, and they had been the first people she’d voluntarily protected. What were they thinking after almost losing a cruise ship to havoc caused by aliens? And now she was about to leave behind Yayu, another caring father figure during the last two weeks. How could Roxie ever feel cheerful again, without him around?

  How had Aerigo been able to put up with this so well for the past three thousand years? Roxie scrubbed her collection of pinprick-sized scabs on her shin and knees that started itching the moment she noticed them. How did one who lived for ten thousand years watch person after person, friend after friend, die of old age, or something worse, and still find reason to be happy? Sure, Aerigo got pensive and distant at times, but at least his company was comforting.

  Better to have love and lost, than to have never loved at all. Grandma had said that to her back when she’d asked about how Grandma had handled losing Roxie’s parents. Loss was a part of life, but how much loss could one mortal handle over the span of thousands of years? It was already hard enough to leave living people behind. Roxie turned her attention to her hair, carefully undoing Issa’s handiwork, then dunked her head and massaged her scalp before getting out.

  She donned her clothes from Phailon, thinking fondly of Rooke and Gem, then balled up her racing outfit and plopped it near the glowing coals. She picked up her boots, which had been set by the bathroom entrance, and sat on one of the couches.

  “I won’t be long in the bath, Rox,” Aerigo said. “I’m going to wash our clothes, too.” He grabbed his change clothes and disappeared between the beads.

  Yayu was staring at the handprint on his wall. He brought one hand to it and touched it with a finger. He froze just like Aerigo had when he had the vision of the phoenix and flaming tree.

  “Are you okay, Yayu?” Roxie worked on one boot, her deft fingers strapping and clipping the buckles.

  Yayu looked at her with teary eyes. “Aye, I will be. Aerigo gave me a precious gift.” He turned back to the black handprint on his wall. “Memories.” He touched the scorch mark and his body stiffened again.

  Roxie finished buckling her second boot, then slouched against the couch as Yayu let go of the handprint.

  “Now’s the time to give you the name I thought of for you,” he said. Yayu walked up to the couch Roxie sat in. He put his fists on his hips, yet his eyes didn’t match his forced smile. “It’s a ceremonial name, like the ones we’re given by the priest at birth. I’ve picked the name ‘Ashama-lae’ for ya. It means ‘woman of strength.’”

  “Thank you. It sounds very pretty.”

  “You may not think you’re strong, but I know you are. You’ve proved it to me in all kinds of ways, and you will again, with everyone you meet.”

  Strong. That reminded her. “Yayu, I’ll be right back. I need some alone time.” Roxie got up and headed out the doorway before Yayu could finish his question. The night engulfed her with its dark calm and its many stars doing their best to sparkle cheerfully.

  Aerigo had never straight up told her that she wasn’t human, or at least not entirely human. No wonder she didn’t fit in back on Earth. Still, even after being on two other worlds, she still didn’t feel akin to anyone but Aerigo. Where was she supposed to be from? Did it matter anymore? Probably not, since she was a proper Aigis now. It would be nice to know, though.

  Roxie wandered in circles around Yayu’s home, then moved off to circle nearby homes, not wanting to stray too far in case Aerigo was feeling more urgent than she hoped.

  People were trying to kill her. How was she supposed to react to that? In movies, characters just shrugged or laughed off their near-death experiences. Daio wasn’t funny; he was odd, though. He did and didn’t want to kill her, which made no sense. The spies weren’t funny either. They made her feel unsafe everywhere, even as she walked around Ormolu. Maybe she’d just have to shrug them and the whole war thing off as well. But how? She wasn’t a trained soldier. She’d lacked the courage to let any of the recruiters who went to her high school enlist her. Now she was needed to help stop a war before it started. How the heck was she supposed to do that? Did Aerigo even know? What was all this training supposed to add up to?

  Roxie felt her eyes sting with tears. She stopped walking and willed herself not to cry. Crying wouldn’t make the impending war go away, or stop people from trying to kill her. Besides, no one cared if she was scared, not even Din or Baku. They were all waiting for her and Aerigo—just two people—to achieve something no one else in the universe could.

  Roxie believed Aerigo when he’d said they were the last two Aigis. Din had inadvertently backed up his words back at the celebration. So… why were they the last two? Aerigo had said something about it on the cruise ship, but she’d forgotten it. Still, that meant that a god was afraid of her. A god for crying out loud! If a god feared whatever power she, an Aigis, held without having even met her, then maybe she did stand a chance. Nexus must’ve been the reason why all the other Aigis were dead and gone. She just needed some time and more training. Her family, Yayu, Rooke and Gem, and everyone else were in need of protecting. She would find the power within herself to give Nexus a reason to be afraid.

  Roxie headed back to Yayu’s home, full of resolve.

  Once the two Aigis had stuffed their backpacks with Scondish food and tea, and were ready to leave, Yayu hugged Roxie goodbye and promised to convey her farewells to the rest of his family. He shook Aerigo’s hand and they exchanged a wordless look full of sorrow. They were saying goodbye forever.

  Aerigo held one hand in front of him, his fingers spread, while Roxie held onto his other hand. Sconda and Yayu fell out of focus, as if Roxie were looking at him and his world through rippling water. And then he was swallowed up by darkness.

  The new world of Druconica exploded into view as Roxie fell to her hands and knees. Her pack felt ten times heavier than it had on Sconda. She tried to stand, but couldn’t lift her hands off the rocky ground. Her arms quavered and sweat beaded on her forehead. “A little help, please,” she said, forcing the words out. Aerigo grabbed an arm, helped her upright and pulled off her pack. She clung to his shoulder to keep herself standing. “What’s wrong with this place? I feel so heavy, but you’re not having any trouble at all.”

  “I’ve been trained to withstand it,” Aerigo said. “Druconica’s gravity is much stronger than other worlds. You’ll adapt in a few days.”

  “Goodie,” Roxie said unenthusiastically. This part of Druconica reminded her of the Grand Canyon, except it looked squished down under gravitational stress. The rocks were ebony black, ribbed with maroon. A sulfurous residue could be seen and smelled, and stunted flora hung in clumps only in the highest places, where the wind brought fresh air. The canyon stretched for miles upon miles in every direction. “Where to now?”

  “To Mount Azriel,” Aerigo said, pointing toward the tallest peak in a range of mountains along the distant horizon. “We’ll reach there in a few days. Maybe longer because you’re not used to the gravity.”<
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  Roxie let out a groan. It felt like it would take forever with gravity gnawing at her as if all her limbs and joints were anchored to resistance training bands connected to the center of the earth. She wanted Aerigo to just carry her the entire way. “What time is it on this world?”

  He gazed behind them at the pale sky. The sun was nowhere to be seen, except for its last rays lighting up the barren landscape behind them. “After dusk. Let’s go.”

  Roxie tried to stand on her own. It wasn’t as hard now that she was expecting the added force, but the intense gravity was determined to bring her to her knees. She took a deep breath.

  Aerigo shouldered both packs and led them down into the canyon. They slid as they descended the rocky slope, and Roxie was thankful for having boots instead of sneakers. The trip down left them dirty and scratched, yet they pressed on under the darkening sky.

  The moon peeked out over the rim of the canyon from time to time, providing them with enough light to see where they were going. It also turned the rough canyon walls into giant shadows looming over them, giving the place an eerie feel. The chirps and screeches and calls made by the night creatures kept Roxie’s heart-rate up and her eyes aglow. She half-expected one of the shadowy walls to break away from the rest of the canyon and fall on top of them and swallow them up.

  No breeze ran through the deeps of the canyon, and there was nothing to retain what heat the day had poured into it. Roxie started shivering as she forced one foot in front of the other. She had worked up a decent sweat, which made things worse as it cooled. But Aerigo’s pace didn’t relent. She fell to her hands and knees every so often, exhausted, but Aerigo urged her to get up and not give in to fatigue. She complied, with his helping hand, and they continued their passage. However, once the moon was almost directly overhead, her vision began to swim and her balance wavered. She stopped to collect herself.