by C S Vass
“If you’re really so proud why don’t we go up to Sandra Redfire and you can tell her everything that you’ve done?”
“Because Sandra Redfire is not going to rule here for much longer. The days of duke’s and duchesses are gone. The days of the kings are dawning again.”
“You’re a lunatic.”
“There’s a place for you among us,” Rodrick said as if he hadn’t heard her. His voice was urgent, even pleading. Whatever else was going on Fiona knew he truly wanted her to join him. “Smiley was a boot-licker and as greedy as they come. But worst of all he worked in service to the Empire. Oh, and he was also a fool. He was going to double-cross you. You see, Smiley knew where I was all along. I was working with him.”
“I have some very serious doubts about that,” Fiona said. Why would Smiley work with Rodrick?
“Let me explain. You see, we paid him with gold stolen from the Merchant’s Guild after we robbed it two years ago. Surely you remember? Smiley was feeding us information about the Empire while lining his own pockets. That was one way we were able to evade capture. You see, this is why we’re destined to win Fiona. They don’t have values. They don’t believe in their cause. We do!”
“And what is your cause?” Fiona spat. “You’ve betrayed your post, your leader, and your city. So why don’t you tell me what you believe in?”
“The Vaentysh Boys.” He said it so immediately, with such conviction, that it sent a chill down her spine.
“And what of your convictions, little sister? What do you believe in? I have my answers but from where I’m standing you look as lost as a baker in a battle.”
The question was a kernel of doubt in her stomach, and suddenly Fiona’s mouth felt dry. Was it possible that Rodrick had a point? She worked so tirelessly to find her brother but she still didn’t know what might come after. Especially since her best hope of leaving Tellos was a corpse in a chair. She thought of the vision the Beast showed her, of Rodrick’s dead body.
“What of Donyo?” she asked, trying to change the subject. The room was growing cold. “Where is he?”
Rodrick smiled. “That’s alright, you take as much time as you need to think over that question. It’s an important one after all. As for your friend, he remains unharmed for now. I know the drunk means a lot to you so I spared his life as a courtesy.”
“You do see how insane this is, don’t you?” Fiona asked. “You do see that this can’t possibly end well.”
“I have the Tome Vaenti, Fiona. Do you know what that means…yes, you do. I can see it in your eyes. You’re not a fool like the rest of them. You understand the power that I control. And I also have this.”
He reached into his shirt and pulled out a dusty scroll.
“Your first good idea of the evening. You should write a strongly worded letter to Sandra Redfire if you find yourself unhappy with our current government institutions. I think you’ll find it much more satisfying than conspiracy and betrayal.”
“Mock me all you want Fiona. I know you’ve heard the architect has been up to some secret plot. This is the fruit of his labor.”
Fiona arched an eyebrow, uncertain if she should believe him. “Very well. What is it?”
“A magic scroll meant to thwart my efforts. He must have uncovered it while digging through the sewers long ago when he helped construct the passage to the Moonwood. It’s ancient Vaentysh writing, but the magic of it had long gone out. Until Donyo repaired it.”
It was so unbelievable that she snorted. “Are you trying to tell me that Donyo Brownwater, master drunk of Haygarden, is some sort of mage?”
“Far from it,” Rodrick admitted. “But he didn’t need magic to work on this. Just logic and math. There are calculations and formulas on here that even I can’t begin to understand. It is not a magic of power, but a magic of the ancient philosophers. But even if I don’t understand how he did it I know what this scroll does and I don’t need to understand more than that.”
“What does it do?”
“It’s supposed to create a magical portal to an inaccessible world. One that could contain even the most ancient and powerful magical forces. One that could contain, say, the Tome Vaenti. He thought to use this to take my toy away, you see. But as with most magic this one has a profound weakness. In that weakness I will find my greatest use for it. For all the magical power this scroll possesses, it is simple parchment. You see, Fiona, it burns.”
Rodrick uttered a single incomprehensible word and a ball of fire appeared in his hand. It consumed the scroll with savage fierceness and then puttered out of existence without leaving so much as a pile of ash behind.
“Donyo is going to be angry if he’s sober enough to remember making that.” She was desperately trying to keep her calm, but if what Rodrick had said about that scroll was true then something tragic had just happened.
“Haygarden is going to fall to me the way barbarians of this land fell to the Vaentysh kings so long ago. By right of conquest. That scroll was the only thing that could stop me. It was meant to destroy the Tome Vaenti, but now this sacred text is here to stay and with it I will wield the powers of a god.”
Rodrick opened the Tome and began chanting rhythmically. Fiona didn’t know what was happening, but she could feel the presence of a powerful magic, something old and dark that scared her to her core. A fleeting bizarre image of some ancestral sea demon flickered through her mind as quickly as the brief light of a struck match.
Acting on instinct she immediately reached inside herself for the manjeko, and the world turned grey.
* * *
Reality swarmed angrily around her. Rodrick was frozen in place, but the outline of his body was shimmering with a strange light, as if everything else in the room was real but he were only a mirage. She took a step forward and found that it was as difficult as if she were walking along the bottom of the ocean floor with iron boots.
“Fiona!”
She turned, and the Beast was there, staring at her with his hungry red eyes.
“No! Not now! Not now!” She was pleading, but to her surprise she realized he did not have his usual cocky and calm demeanor. He looked downright terrified.
“Fiona, listen carefully! Rodrick is crafting a powerful magic that he does not understand. He’s going to open a portal to the Black Swamp of Morrordraed. He must be stopped right now! Should that link be established, beasts which have been sealed in the swamplands for aeons will be released. This is about much more than Haygarden. They’ll flatten all of Tellos in an instant and move on to consume other worlds. It will be a catastrophe on a level totally incomprehensible to you!”
“Help me! What do I do?”
“I’ve temporarily slowed him with the true manjeko, but he’s pushing through it. We only have a few moments. Fiona, you’re not quite ready for what I’m going to suggest. By all rights we should have spent years together before even considering this. But we’re out of time.”
“Then spit it out already!” she shouted. There was a loud humming that filled the room. It started as a soft note, but quickly increased in its intensity until it sounded like a dozens swords were shrieking against each other.
The Beast stared at her and Fiona realized with surprise that the look he was giving her was one of total hatred. At last he spoke.
“I can’t subdue him with the manjeko because I’m not a part of your plane, and you can’t because you’re not strong enough to wield the true manjeko yet. It would rip you apart in an instant if I gave it to you. There’s only one solution.”
Fiona’s heart was throbbing so hard that she felt like it was trying to leap up her throat and out her mouth. They were not playing training games any more. Whatever the Beast was about to suggest, he not only didn’t want to do it, but actually hated her for being the reason he had to.
“We have to merge. A tricky bit of spell work, but one that I can pull off. If we do that, then you’ll have my power and I’ll be able to fully exist on your plane. Toget
her we’ll be able to stop Rodrick before he can create his portal with the Tome Vaenti.”
It was so ludicrous she actually laughed. “What does that mean? We merge? I get your red eyes and pointy ears and you get my tits? Tell me what you’re talking about!”
He shouted in frustration as the screeching around them picked up to hellish levels. “We have to decide fast. I won’t sugarcoat this. It means a significant piece of each of us will die, and a new being will be born in our place. You needn’t worry, I am highly capable of working the minute details. You will keep your body and your consciousness, I will sacrifice those totally so you don’t have to. You’ll gain my power, but the merging is uncertain. Parts of you will likely be destroyed. Fractures of your memories and emotions, fractures of your personality and your morals; what are those weighed against the coming apocalypse your brother will unwittingly unleash on us?”
She felt like she was going to be sick, like her body was trying to stun her into unconsciousness so she wouldn’t have to think about something so horrible. How was she supposed to agree to shattering herself? Hadn’t Rodrick already shattered her enough?
The shimmering light around Rodrick grew stronger. His chants were louder and more consistent. Most worrying of all the Tome Vaenti was glowing with a venomous yellow light, a color Fiona had never seen when inside the world of the manjeko.
“This can’t be happening,” she moaned. “There has to be another way!”
“No! I can’t touch him when we’re here. He’s protected by defensive magic, most likely from the mage Downcastle. Even without that, it’s all I can do to slow the wheels of time in your world long enough for us to merge. Fiona, if you don’t do this…”
The Beast shook his head with a look of total disbelief. “I can’t make you. If you resist, or even if you’re not totally committed then the feat of magic required will be too great while I try to deal with Rodrick as well and I’ll be destroyed. But where will that leave you?”
It will leave me whole. It will leave me with the dignity to live as myself until whatever demons come through that portal kill us all. But I will at least die the same person as when I was born, not some mutant abomination.
Hot tears of anger welled in her eyes. This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t supposed to be what a battle was. She had put in the time, studied the martial arts, and become an exceptional warrior. Now that she was in a position to challenge her brother and reclaim the honor of her family they were changing the rules on her.
“Fiona!” The Beast shouted. “I need your answer!”
There was a whirlwind around them now, and a deep resounding groan. Something old and evil from beyond the bones of the earth. She remembered swimming. There were demons in the water. A titan sea beast large enough to consume the world.
“FIONA!!!”
The world was ripping apart. She didn’t understand it, but she could feel it. Rodrick’s whole body was a burning yellow light, white hot to look at. At any moment he was going to combust.
“Do it!”
The Beast nodded. There was still hatred in his eyes, but gratitude as well.
He immediately began chanting to himself, and gesturing wildly with his hands. His fingers were bending in ways that made Fiona feel sick. They swam over each other, contorting into the most bizarre and intricate patterns she had ever seen.
“When I hand it to you, you must take it without hesitation and bring it into your body. Just like you did with the manjeko. This will be much harder, but you must do it. Everything is lost if you falter.”
“I’m ready,” Fiona said, but of course that was a lie. There were tears streaming down her face. This was it.
The ball of energy appeared slowly, a swarming wrath-red globe of fiery magical essence. As it formed the Beast seemed to disappear. He became more and more translucent until Fiona was sure she wouldn’t be able to see him at all if his red eyes hadn’t remained. Then they faded too.
“Now.” The voice came from nowhere.
Fiona seized the orb with both hands and immediately knew it would have been easier to grab a burning log from a fire. She didn’t scream, there was no energy to waste on anything but grappling with the magic in her hands. It was perverse, wrong. The Beast didn’t want to go inside of her any more than she wanted him to. She was forcing this raw power against its own will, and it was burning her alive.
Yet she persisted anyway and wasted no more energy on her emotions than she did on her screams. Her hands cracked and blistered with each passing second and Fiona was worried that this would destroy her before she would ever be able to wrestle the thing inside of her. She pushed harder and reached into her own manjeko for strength. The world bubbled over into chaos. She was losing her vision even as Rodrick’s portal formed.
Then something shifted. The orb was halfway inside of her and without warning it seemed to just die. It fell into her stomach as easily as if she had simply dropped it onto the ground. But…what was happening? She had expected horrible pain, or simply to be obliterated, or gain some new memories. At the very least she expected to feel powerful. But the grey world of the manjeko was falling away from her.
Rodrick had also stopped his chanting. Whatever magic he was working with the Tome Vaenti had ceased. She felt weak, so weak that she fell to her knees. What was happening?
Rodrick laughed, a slow chuckle at first, then louder.
“I’m so proud of you, Fiona,” Rodrick said. There was wild euphoria in his eyes. “They told me I was a fool, that you would never be brave enough to meet this challenge. But I knew all along. The blood of Vaentysh kings runs in our veins, and I knew there was no way that you would back away. It’s all over now.”
“What…”
She couldn’t find the words to ask. She wasn’t sure what it was she wanted to know. Was she as powerful as the Beast now? She mostly felt nauseous and sleepy.
“This is the most important day of our lives, Fiona,” Rodrick said. “I never would have been able to do it without you.” He walked towards her slowly, with open arms as if to embrace her. The look on his face was pure bliss, and his eyes were red as blood.
Chapter Twenty
Fiona swayed in and out of reality as if she were in a dream. She felt light, drunk even. It took her a moment to realize that Rodrick was hugging her. “Come on, Fiona. You didn’t think I was so arrogant, did you? You didn’t truly think I would meddle in those dark forces? Well, perhaps meddle, but I know my limits.”
Tears fell silently down her face. She was so, so tired. She had absorbed that raw bloody orb expecting to return with unbelievable strength, but now she just felt like curling up and sleeping.
“Shh, it’s alright. Let me explain, sister. It all begins two years ago. I knew you were tracking me down, and that you wouldn’t rest until you caught up with me. Killing your old headmaster was a serious mistake on my part, and I’m sorry for it. The rest of the Vaentysh Boys were ready to underestimate you, but I knew better. I knew we wouldn’t be safe with you roaming the Lordless Lands. Once we found out that you were searching for a way to obtain the manjeko, all of my worst fears were confirmed.
“Of course I had absolute faith that you would overcome the trials required to obtain the manjeko. The other Vaentysh Boys still hadn’t learned their lesson. Very foolish of them. So, I decided to pursue a little magic on my own in order to give you time without the distraction of fighting us. You see, the others wanted to kill you. But I knew that if we gave you a chance you would prove yourself and be ready to join us, stronger than ever.
“So I brought them to Morrordraed. Downcastle prattled on and on about how it wasn’t worth the risks. Heh, that’s all the bastard ever really did. Every step of the way he warned of our recklessness. It was a fancy bit of linguistic maneuvering that ultimately did nothing more than demonstrate his cowardice. But still, many are drawn to his reputation even if the depletion of his powers as a soundmage turned him craven. I knew I could make use of that reputat
ion while throwing any spies off my own trail.
“When I knew that Hightower was getting close to uncovering my plans I let it leak that Downcastle had acquired some skill with portal magic. That way nobody would know that it was I all along who held the true power. Morrordraed was hard on the Vaentysh Boys, but after many trials and a few nasty encounters with zombies, rusalka, and other creatures I have no name for we acquired the Tome Vaenti.
“I never did intend for Sun Circle to find out that the Tome was our objective, but somehow they did. I suspect Hightower has kept a much closer eye on us than I would have liked to admit possible. Sandra immediately set Donyo to work to devise a counter-measure. He concocted that impressive bit of mathematical magic on the scroll I burned that would have sent the Tome to another dimension. The man was never given proper credit for his brilliance by Sun Circle, and should he come around to our way of thinking there will be a place of honor for him in the new world we create.
“But still I held most of the cards. My enemies knew of the Tome, but not my true intention. They thought I sought to release the monsters of the abyss upon Haygarden, but the Tome Vaenti is a powerful piece of magic written up by our ancestors. There are many things that it can do, as I’ve demonstrated tonight. We’ll get to that soon.
“But you still almost ruined it all, Fiona. Think of the irony! After I constantly warned everyone of the danger you posed. After I constantly calculated your abilities and was so certain not to underestimate you, you nearly destroyed my ambitions. I fully expected you to eventually obtain total control of the manjeko. I thought that when I started the process to open the portal tonight—that was a complete and total bluff, by the way—then that vile creature from the netherworld you’ve been in communication with would simply reveal himself to try and stop me. Instead he tried to merge with you, which would have been devastating.
“That was ludicrous of you, Fiona. Your blood is sacred, and you would have essentially destroyed yourself had you merged with that creature and I would have simply been forced to kill you. But lucky for you, I saved your life tonight. The result for me is essentially the same, perhaps it will even be better. Time will tell I suppose. Fiona, it is I that has merged with the Beast. Thanks to the magical powers of the Tome Vaenti I have his power, and he even did me the kindness of destroying his consciousness so that my mind has been left uncorrupted. Now I have the manjeko. Understand, Fiona, this is not the toy that you’ve played with over the last week. What I have is the real true sight, an ability not seen in Tellos for generations.
