by Sam Ferguson
Kamal shook his head. “No.”
“No one?” Reu pressed.
“I never spoke of it to anyone,” Kamal said.
Reu nodded and rubbed his face with one hand, smushing his cheek and then resting his chin in his palm. “You must never speak of it to anyone,” Reu said.
“I won’t,” Kamal said.
“Swear to me,” Reu demanded. “Swear to me with an oath that you will never reveal what you saw that night.”
“I swear by the hair of my head, that I will never speak of it to anyone,” Kamal promised.
“If you break that oath, I will exile you from the mountain,” Reu warned with a shake of his index finger. “Understand?”
Kamal nodded, but then he realized that he was not yet exiled. He looked to Reu and then asked, “Am I not to be exiled now?”
Reu sighed and shook his head. “If I did that, then I would only have Gauer to speak with and keep me company.” A wry grin overtook his stern features, softening his face. “I enjoy that idea about as much as you would, I suspect.”
“Are we all right?” Kamal asked. “If there is anything I can do to repair the offense, I will do it.”
Reu shook his head. “It is enough that you have both kept it secret, and promised to continue doing so. Besides, I think you learned a lesson from it that even you did not expect.”
Kamal nodded. “Not all knowledge is to be discovered. Some secrets should remain such.”
Reu offered his hand. Kamal took it and the two of them shook, signaling that the rift was repaired. The dwarf chief then pulled Kamal in close and spoke in a hushed tone. “There is one more thing I must ask of you,” he said.
Kamal nodded. “Anything.”
Reu glanced over his shoulder. “What you saw was not exactly an approved ceremony, do you understand?”
Kamal nodded.
Reu returned the nod. “Do not ever attempt what you saw. Should you do so, you would put yourself, and others, in grave danger.”
Kamal said, “I promise, I won’t.”
Reu then escorted Kamal out of the mountain himself and wished him farewell. The other Krilo had already departed long before, so Kamal made the trip home alone. As he walked through the grassy valley he found an apple tree and went to it. The fruit wasn’t ripe, but he liked to pick and eat the small green apples. He enjoyed the sour taste far more than the sweet flavor ripe apples attained later on. He sat down at the base of the tree, enjoying the shade from the sun, and bit into the apple. This one was particularly sour and made his face pucker.
Just the way he liked it.
He thought back on that night two weeks prior. No matter how many days passed, it still sent a shiver down his spine every time he thought about it. The room had been emptied, and more than that, the doors had been closed and locked. Kamal had worked the doors for several minutes before finally getting the lock to open. Then he had peeked inside to catch a glimpse of what was going on. He had expected the rumors about Reu eating from his wife’s plate to be true, but nothing could have been further from the truth.
Reu had been standing in the center of the large chamber, dressed in black and green robes that appeared to have the symbol of a serpent on the back. He had been holding a book, and speaking strange words. Kamal had snuck inside and sat just around the other side of a column to hide himself while he discovered what truly happened at the end of every feast.
The dwarf chief read from two pages in the book, and then he bent over and set it on the ground in front of him. Next he picked up a vial of silvery dust, which he poured in a circle around himself. He then went to a platter that had been left behind that was still filled with venison. He took it and set the platter in the center of the circle. Then he spoke another set of strange words. That was when he had seen the most terrible thing of his life.
Kamal watched as above the circle on the floor, a black hole ripped through the air. Through the hole stepped an immensely large figure. His feet were shod with burning coals. Ash fell from his feet as he walked, but the being exhibited no pain. His legs were massive, muscular limbs that were each larger than Kamal’s waist. Next the being grabbed onto the edge of the hole with a decaying left hand from which skin hung loosely, partially exposing the long finger bones. The arm itself was still encased in skin, though it appeared pale and dead. A hooded vest covered the being’s torso and head.
“Khefir,” Reu said respectfully. “I herewith present my offering, as usual.”
Khefir reached up with his rotting hand and pulled back his hood. Kamal’s heart jumped when he saw Khefir’s yellow skull. Black orbs looked down to Reu and then to the platter of venison. Long, coarse white hair rustled in the evening wind behind Khefir’s skull. Khefir’s jaw bone freely moved and clicked as he spoke.
“I accept your offering,” Khefir declared. He stretched forth his hand and pointed to the platter. A hunk of venison flew up to meet the bony hand and Khefir put the meat into his mouth and chewed. It was a disgusting affair to watch. The meat was ground up between the teeth and mashed around inside Khefir’s mouth. Kamal was thankful that enough of the hooded cloak hid Khefir’s throat so he did not see whether the meat fell into the god’s stomach or not.
“I trust it is to your liking?” Reu asked.
Khefir nodded slowly. “Icadion has cursed my body, but for now I still maintain some of my senses. The meat is pleasing.”
“We defeated the Tarthuns,” Reu said.
“Yes, I know,” Khefir replied grimly as he took another, smaller, bite. He chewed and swallowed before speaking again. “I was able to collect many souls for Hammenfein from the slain Tarthuns.”
“And I trust Nage was able to collect the souls of the fallen dwarves?” Reu asked.
Khefir nodded. “She took most, though some came with me.”
Reu’s shoulders slumped at those words. “Was it absolutely necessary?”
Khefir nodded again. “Nage takes the souls of the righteous, and I take the souls of the wicked. It is a simple process.”
Reu then sat and waited while Khefir devoured the remainder of the meat on the platter, which only took a few minutes, for Khefir was not particularly graceful with how he consumed the venison. Afterward, Reu offered Khefir a tankard of ale, which the god eagerly accepted and drank.
Kamal surmised that the god must not be entirely rotting like his hands and arms, otherwise ale would have fallen through him and onto the floor along with the masticated venison. Still, it was highly unnerving to see one of the gods of Hammenfein in the dwarf domain.
Kamal knew that the brothers Hatmul and Khefir had remained behind when the other Old Gods had removed themselves from Terramyr and retreated to Volganor, but to see one in person was to look upon death itself.
Scholars and priests debated whether Nage still came to Terramyr to collect the souls of the dead, for the rainbow bridge was supposed to be closed. However, no one argued whether Khefir still roamed the world looking for the souls of the wicked. Stories and rumors of seeing him at funerals or on battle fields were the kinds of things that even grown adults whispered in hallowed tones.
Still, there was no escape now. Kamal would not be able to leave the chamber without Khefir catching him. He would have to watch and wait until the god left the chamber of his own accord.
Khefir stroked the front of his robes and let out a satisfied groan and handed the empty tankard back to Reu. “It is not often I find a mortal willing to entertain me, and rarer still to find one who can prepare food or ale as well as dwarves.”
Reu bowed. “How is she?” he asked when he stood straight again.
“Your wife is well,” Khefir said. “She has received the good souls from the last battle that Nage collected. They now dwell in the plane of the dead, along with your ancestors and other just souls.”
Reu nodded. “Yes, I know that, but…”
Khefir let out a laugh. “As many times as I come to talk with you, you always have the same questions
. Is she all right? Is she doing well? As if something exciting would take place in the plane of the dead without you.”
“I know,” Reu said. “I get nervous,” he added.
Khefir nodded. “I have that effect on most mortals,” he replied. “However, don’t concern yourself with me. You are an honorable sort. I am certain that when the time of your death approaches, Nage shall be the one collecting your soul. She will lead you to the plane of the dead, and then you will have peace. Until then, I shall come as often as you ask, and provide meat, of course.” Khefir’s jaw clicked and Kamal wondered if the god would have been smiling had he had cheeks.
“Can I see her?” Reu asked.
Khefir nodded. The god turned to his left and drew a straight line in the air with his bony finger. A visible line of gold appeared and then widened into an oval. Khefir reached his hand inside and spoke words that Kamal couldn’t hear. Then, when he pulled his hand back, a beautiful dwarf woman was holding his hand of bone and walking out from the portal.
“As always, I can make her whole for an hour only, and then she must return to the plane of the dead,” Khefir said.
Reu nodded excitedly.
Golden sparkles erupted around the dwarf woman and then she changed from a slightly translucent being to a corporeal one. Reu hugged his wife and the pair shared a bout of happy laughter.
“I will leave the two of you,” Khefir said. “As always, thank you for the hospitality. I do enjoy venison so.”
The two dwarves thanked the god and he went out through the same portal he had entered. Then Reu and his wife went to the table. She ate while the two of them talked. Kamal watched them for the entire hour, marveling that such a thing could be done. As far as he had known up until that night, the plane of the dead was a place where the dead roamed in a state of rest, but unable to fully enjoy the afterlife.
Some books he had read on the subject stated that Nage collected the souls of the good still, but could no longer take them across the rainbow bridge to Volganor because Icadion had sealed the way from Terramyr, so she led them instead to a spiritual plane that was connected to Terramyr, and yet not part of it. Other books claimed that the plane of the dead was Terramyr itself, but that spirits could not usually be seen or interact with those still living.
There were many debates on the subject, but there were two points that always seemed constant regardless of which historical text Kamal read. The first was that Hammenfein, or hell as some called it, had never been sealed off from Terramyr as Volganor had. Therefore, the souls of the wicked were still actively collected and thrown into Hammenfein to meet a punishment that correlated to their deeds while in the flesh. The second point was that if there was a plane of the dead, it was impossible to interact with it. No wizard had ever successfully opened a portal to it or communed with the dead as far as any of the scholars amongst the Krilo were concerned.
Yet here they were. Not only was Reu’s wife talking with him, but they were kissing, holding hands, and eating together. For that hour, it was as if she had never left.
Then, when the time was spent, a great blue light descended upon Reu’s wife and the two kissed good-bye as she slowly faded back into the plane of the dead. Kamal could see no physical pain in her features, but Reu’s profound sorrow after she had departed ripped Kamal down to his core. The mighty dwarf chief, a slayer of scores of Tarthuns, a fearless hero, was openly sobbing with his head on the table and the fingers of his right hand tracing the space where his wife had just been.
That had been when Kamal had left.
That had also been the point when Kamal realized that he had discovered something that was better left as a secret.
Even had Reu never found out, Kamal would not have shared this knowledge with another soul for as long as he would live. Weys had been disappointed when Kamal had not followed through with his promise to tell his brother what he discovered, but eventually his younger brother let the subject drop after seeing how much it disturbed Kamal. Of course, the knowledge would surely end the debate on the existence of the plane of the dead, and revealed a kinder side to Khefir that had never been described before, but the knowledge came at too great a personal cost to reveal to the world. Kamal would much rather forget what he had seen.
Kamal teared up even now, sitting under the apple tree two weeks after the fact, just at the thought of Reu’s grief when his wife had returned to the plane of the dead again. The young Krilo wiped his eyes and finished his small, sour apple, and then continued home.
When he arrived at his village, he saw a group of young men reading off to one side of the short stone wall, and another group kicking a leather ball around a field on the right. He walked past all of them and continued down the dirt streets of Toelvug. As with all things the Krilo took part in, the city was orderly. The streets were all straight, some running north to south, and others east to west. This created a perfect grid system for their city. Houses and other building had been erected with a mixture of wood and stone, all of them nicely fitting inside the allotted squares that made up the city blocks. There were nearly one thousand Krilo living in Toelvug. All of them had a function to fill for the people, and all of them had enough food and other necessities to survive and live comfortably. Unlike what Kamal read about the other races of humans, the Krilo did not strive to amass wealth, and so they gave freely of what they had.
Their lives were run as neatly as their streets. There were no thieves among them. A murder was something only talked about in scholarly circles as an example of a depraved act of a lunatic. The Krilo had a peaceful and plentiful life. They were free to pursue higher levels of learning, and many of the adults were so well learned, that they began to experiment beyond the borders of known mathematics and other subjects.
Kamal would be like them one day. Perhaps by the time he was forty he would be educated enough to go into the experimental laboratories, or at least that is what his father had told him many times. Kamal enjoyed learning very much, but even now as he thought of the two groups he had passed entering Toelvug, he had to wonder if there wasn’t something more.
When he arrived home, he opened the door to his square, two-story home and slipped inside. His father was sitting in a high-backed wooden chair and his mother was sitting at the dining table sipping a drink from a tin cup. Kamal’s brother, Weys, was practicing his handwriting in Common Tongue on a chalkboard pinned to the far wall.
“You were asked to stay behind?” Kamal’s father asked telepathically.
“Yes sir,” Kamal replied aloud with a nod. He knew his father would prefer to have the conversation privately, using a telepathic connection only between the two of them, but for now Kamal had to try to speak audibly. Inside a telepathic connection, emotions would flow freely between the two of them. His father would feel his discomfort, and that would ignite a more in depth probing, which Kamal could not allow if he was to keep his promise to Reu.
“What did Reu wish to talk about this time?” Kamal’s father continued to converse telepathically.
Kamal kept his thoughts from flowing to his father, choosing not to reciprocate the telepathy. He felt his stomach churn a bit as he realized the awkward position he was now in. On the one hand, he had promised not to tell anyone. On the other, lying was an egregious sin amongst the Krilo people. “I had offended Reu, by accident,” Kamal said aloud.
His father nodded his head slowly, as if now he understood why Kamal had not responded through the mental connection.
“Did you offer to make amends?” his father asked out loud, his tone calm, yet stern.
Kamal nodded eagerly. “I did, and Reu forgave me.”
“What was the offense?”
Kamal took in a breath. “I went into a room I was not supposed to,” Kamal said cryptically. “I didn’t mean any harm by it, and Reu understands that I was just curious. He forgave me, but forbad me from exploring like that again.”
Kamal’s father grunted and adjust his reading glasses
. “I see. Well, better not to poke your nose where it doesn’t belong. Glad to hear things are worked out. You know, one day you will be in charge of relations between our people and the dwarves. It is good to learn about them, but let them have their secrets. All peoples have their peculiarities.”
Kamal nodded. “Yes, father,” he said. His father then went back to reading and crossed his legs. Kamal wondered if perhaps there were other Krilo as adept at skirting the truth as he was. He then went to the bread box and pulled out a roll and sat at the table with his mother. She didn’t say much, but she offered him a warm smile between sips of her drink. He hadn’t noticed it before, but there was a strip of paper on the table in front of her with some complicated mathematics scrawled across.
He knew better than to engage her in conversation whenever she had a math problem like this. Once, she had tried to work out a single formula for over a month. She didn’t speak to anybody, hardly slept, and only ate one meal a day until she figured it out. She never mentioned what the formula was for, but she had seemed ecstatic once she finally had her answer. She had run all the way down to the mathematics hall in the middle of winter wearing nothing more than a house dress as she waved the paper in the air.
Being overly expressive was usually frowned upon, but in the case of discovering something new, the rule was often softened for those who had spent the effort trying to discover new principles.
Kamal was smart, but not like his mother and father.
He finished his roll and then went up the wooden steps to the second floor and entered the room he shared with Weys.
“Don’t forget to rehearse your Taish!” Kamal’s father called out from the floor below.
Kamal sighed and took out a large, green book and sat on his bed as he opened it to the red ribbon a third of the way through. Learning to read Taish, the language of the elves, was not so bad. He could understand it well enough. It was writing it that was the tricky part. The runes they used were so delicate and complex that he hadn’t succeeded in mastering any of them yet. He could draw symbols that were close, but close was not good enough for a Krilo. Foreign languages were to be learned perfectly, just like every other subject a Krilo was given. While amongst themselves they could communicate perfectly well telepathically, if the Krilo wished to devour the histories and knowledge of other races, which they most certainly did, then they would have to learn foreign languages. Taish was always the most respected foreign language after Common Tongue. Common Tongue would allow them to converse with most other people, but Taish would open immense stores of elven knowledge and was highly regarded as a sacred knowledge, as it was the first language created by the Old Gods.
