“They’ll be here by the end of the week,” said the woman. “With a force that outnumbers my valkyries ten to one. And you say you won’t stand with us?”
Hal hesitated. He glanced around, expecting Jessa to appear and fill him in.
“Have you nothing to say for yourself?” snapped for the woman. “I saved you. I lost good warriors, saving you. And I brought you back here, to help you recover. And now, you’d rather chase after a myth of the Elders than stand by my side?”
“I’m sorry,” said Hal. He wasn’t sure what else to say. It was Jessa’s memory, but he wasn’t at all equipped to handle it.
“So am I,” whispered the woman. “You betray me, and you betray Eklidia.”
He hadn’t been on guard, and when the elf thrust her dagger into his stomach, he felt more confusion than pain. She let go of it, leaving it there as though to serve as a reminder of whatever it was he was supposed to be apologizing for. Hal grimaced, feeling ashamed for leaving himself so open, even if it wasn’t real.
“Try again,” whispered Jessa.
“You have to tell me what’s going on, first!” snapped Hal.
“Her name is Lady Alira,” said Jessa.
Oh, wow. So helpful.
The dagger was gone, and Hal was looking out into the dark of night from the balcony. He looked over at Lady Alira, trying to remember her words from his last attempt.
“They’ll be here by the end of the week,” she said. “With a force that outnumbers my valkyries ten to one. And you say you won’t stand with us?”
“I’ll stand with you,” said Hal. “Sure. Let’s fight together.”
Bright light flashed, and the scene froze. Jessa stood next to the unmoving Lady Alira, shaking her head back and forth.
“That’s not the solution you’re looking for,” she said.
“Would you care to give me a hint about what is?” asked Hal.
Jessa just smiled. “Try again.”
Hal did try again. And again, after that. He was unarmed, but quickly figured out that he could catch Lady Alira’s attack if he was quick enough. He’d turned the dagger on her, keeping the wounds he inflicted nonfatal, and then attempted to flee into the hive.
Lady Alira’s valkyries tracked him down and killed him without fail. The hive was as confusing as what Hal remembered of the structures from his time in the Upper Realm, and he wasn’t looking forward to attempting the trial enough times to mentally map it out.
Jumping from the balcony, as Hal quickly discovered, would always result in at least one broken bone. There were also guards on the exterior of the hive’s perimeter that intercepted him before he could ever make it far.
“Try again,” whispered Jessa.
Hal was scowling as he stood on the balcony. He listened to Lady Alira’s slow breathing, heard the inhalation of breath just before she spoke.
“I’m the Heart Holder,” said Hal, in a serious tone. “I know that some decisions I make might seem reckless, or stupid, or even callous to others. But I do have a plan, and I am trying to act for the greater good.”
“And I’m not a part of that?” asked Lady Alira.
What was it that Jessa had said about the second trial? Hal needed to learn about the path he walked. Jessa hadn’t given him any details about who Lady Alira was other than her name, but for him to be there, on the balcony of her bedroom, suggested that they were friends, or at least had been.
Maybe more than friends…
Suddenly, it all clicked into place. Lady Alira’s hot, irrational anger. The frustration she felt about being abandoned. Hal stepped toward her on the balcony, his heart pounding at both the presence of the beautiful woman, and the presence of the dagger hidden in her dress.
“Of course you’re part of it,” whispered Hal. “A part of it which I care for deeply.”
He let one of his fingers touch the bottom of her chin, tilting her face up to meet his as he moved his lips in close. His words and actions didn’t feel false, not in the context of the memory, and especially given Lady Alira’s reaction. She shuddered as he kissed her and fell into his embrace.
“This isn’t a fight we can win,” whispered Hal. “Leave your hive. Not forever, but for now. We’ll be in a better position soon. I promise.”
Again, he wasn’t sure where what he was saying was coming from, but it felt right. As though a part of Jessa’s memory was acting through him. He kissed Lady Alira again, and then they were both moving, almost stumbling with clumsy steps into her bedroom, their attention still locked on one another.
She knew where her bed was and pulled Hal onto it and onto her. He pawed at her dress, pulling her breasts loose and moving to bunch the fabric up around her waist. She was naked underneath, and Hal had just started to pull his pants down when bright light flashed, and the scene froze.
“She was my lover,” whispered Jessa. “One of many.”
Hal chuckled and stood up from the bed.
“Sorry,” said Hal. “One thing led to another. You know how it goes.”
“I harbor no more jealousy in death than I did in life,” said Jessa. “You found the answer. Love and hate are not discrete in our hearts. You must learn to show people how to choose one over the other. You must learn to bind them to you through love, and forgive them and yourself for hate. It is a choice between creation and destruction.”
“What happened with her?” asked Hal. “And what was she talking about?”
Jessa’s eyes shifted from him to Lady Alira, who was still frozen, half-naked and splayed out on the bed.
“She saved me,” said Jessa. “I was searching for something on behalf of Emperor Ostellious. An ancient mechanism created by a dead race known as the Elders. I thought it the key to saving our people, but I faced dangers every step of the way toward finding it. Lady Alira sacrificed many of her valkyries to rescue me from captivity amongst the maug.”
“And the two of you…?”
“We loved each other,” said Jessa. “Of course, I loved many, often and openly, as all Heart Holders do. But our love was fierce burning in the time in which we were together. This was the moment in which I discovered that love is a weapon, a sword with dual edges, which we must hold onto with the utmost care.”
Hal nodded, sensing the truth in her words. The trials hadn’t been what he’d expected, but he felt like he was learning from them, regardless. Learning lessons that perhaps were long overdue.
CHAPTER 22
Hal was standing in a field, on a still, sunny day. There was a small village in the distance, showing a few signs of a recent battle, but relatively unscathed. A phalanx of elven warriors marched ahead of him, with a captain who was looking in his direction, waiting for something. It took Hal a couple of seconds to realize that the elf’s attention wasn’t aimed at him.
“Recheck the houses for any stragglers.” The voice came from behind Hal and to one side, from an elf dressed in a regal black and gold robe. “Bring them along if you find them.”
The elf grinned at Hal and gestured a hand toward the village.
“Will this suffice, Heart Holder?” asked the elf.
Hal was getting a little sick of Jessa thrusting him into her memories without any context.
“I assume it will,” said Hal, unsure of what he was supposed to be talking about.
“Emperor Ostellious!” shouted the phalanx captain. “This one tried to make a run for it!”
The captain was dressed in bronze armor, which covered only his abdomen while leaving his arms and legs bare. He dragged a young human boy into view, no older than five or six. His face was dirty, his clothes disheveled, and his cheeks were gaunt from malnourishment.
“Put him with the others,” said the Emperor. “Come, Heart Holder. Let us not belabor this any further.”
Several bodyguards flanked Emperor Ostellious and Hal as they moved forward, walking up a slope to the top of a nearby hill. Hal was on guard for the next threat, or whatever form the trial would ta
ke. He wasn’t ready for he saw, looking down into the valley below.
A massive pit had been dug into the earth, revealing a white crystal pillar the height of a hundred-year-old oak and wider around the middle. Less than a third of it was above ground level, and deep in the pit, Hal could see the sparkle of a huge glitterdust chain connected to the base, leading back into the ground and likely off somewhere far distant.
It was a mesmerizing sight, but what stole Hal’s attention were the people. Mostly humans, with a few maug men who looked to be captured warriors thrown into the mix. They were arranged in a circle around the pit. Elven valkyries and warriors stood behind them with their weapons drawn. The implication was clear, and it brought a lump to his throat.
“We have sacrifices in place at five of the other lift crystals,” said Emperor Ostellious. “We’re still in the process of unearthing the crystal anchor, but if the translation of the tablet you brought my scholars is accurate, it shouldn’t even be necessary.”
“Sacrifices…” repeated Hal.
“Taken from only from the violent races, rest assured,” said Emperor Ostellious. “My soldiers at the other crystals know to wait until the sun is directly overhead before acting, though I suspect that it will still work even if the blood does not touch the pillars simultaneously.”
Hal shook his head. “These are the people from the village?”
He knew the answer to the question without needing to hear it, but saying it out loud helped the pieces fall more clearly into place.
“It’s their own fault,” said Emperor Ostellious. “This is Eklidia, our homeland, our empire, and yet the humans and maug attempt to settle across our border. They raid our defenseless towns. They enslave us and take our women. They view us as a weak race, Heart Holder. You know the depth of their hate as well as any of us.”
“What’s the point of this?” asked Hal. “This won’t stop anything. This will just perpetuate the cycle. And these people are innocent.”
“They are not innocent,” said Emperor Ostellious. “We can judge them for the sins of their fellows if they can judge us for the length of our ears.”
Hal rubbed his temples. The warriors had drawn their weapons and were moving them into position to slice through the necks of their captives.
“Was this not your intention, Heart Holder, in bringing me the knowledge of these artifacts?” asked the Emperor. “This will save our people. We’ll be safe, and separate. We’ll be able to go our own way.”
Hal didn’t say anything. The Emperor raised a hand, and he saw the executioners below him tense and draw back their weapons.
“No!” shouted Hal. He tried to pull the Emperor’s hand down, but it was already happening. Bodies tumbled into the pit, blood spilling forth from wounds given with the intention of releasing as much of it as possible.
Some of the children were cut more than once, and then thrown against the crystal pillar, their bodies leaving streaks of blood as they slid down the length of it. It didn’t matter if it was reality or a memory. It made Hal sick to his stomach and brought a tepid sweat to his forehand and palms. He fell to one knee, shaking his head as he watched the crystal begin to pulse with a deep, purple light.
“This was enough!” shouted Emperor Ostellious. “You’ve done it, Heart Holder! You’ve saved us!”
The ground began to shake. It wasn’t the heavy, rumbling shaking of an earthquake, but something more controlled, almost rhythmic. The soldiers by the crystal pillar let out shouts of surprise as a line split through the earth, running almost directly to the pit they’d dug. The pit filled with the bloodied bodies of innocent men, women, and children.
The shaking abated as the ground underneath their feet rose higher, creating a cliff that spanned the entire length of the horizon. A few soldiers were on the wrong side of it, and called up in panic, as though there was anything anyone could do to stop what was happening. The ground rose higher until it was completely free of the surface, the crystal pillar continuing to pulse as though pumping the blood of the innocents to a new purpose.
“You bastard!” Hal gripped the Emperor by the scruff of his robe. “It doesn’t end here! This was only the beginning!”
It made so much sense, in retrospect. The Upper Realm was filled with slaves, too many of them given the level of sophistication the elves had achieved with their crystal technology. Hal had never stopped to question why there’d been so many, and what use they’d serve on a floating province that would justify the resources they required.
He’d known that it had been some form of crystal magic that kept the Upper Realm aloft. He’d known that crystals drew on life essence, in the same way gemstones drew on emotional essence. He’d never put the pieces together, until now.
The Upper Realm sacrifices slaves to keep itself afloat.
“Guards!” shouted Emperor Ostellious. “Seize him! Heart Holder, you’ve gone too far!”
Hal punched the Emperor in the face as hard as he could. He drew his hand back and punched again, knowing that it was pointless. It was just a memory, a fleeting dream of events that had already taken place. He slammed his elbow into the Emperor’s chin and then seized the elf by the neck, throttling him as the guards closed in with drawn weapons, shouting for him to stop.
The scene froze. Jessa placed her hands over Hal’s and slowly pulled them back.
“Let me try again,” said Hal.
Jessa shook her head.
“You reacted in much the same way I did,” she said. “You’ll find no peace in exploring the alternatives here than you would in the dreams you have of your family’s deaths, and how you could have done things differently.”
The mention of his family, of his father and Lilith, only added to the weight of his despair. Hal sat down, feeling tired, and so very small.
“You understand now why we suffer,” whispered Jessa. “I have suffered for so long. I know you suffer too, Halrin. I can see into you, and I chose this trial for that reason.”
“What… am I supposed to do?” asked Hal. “How many people does it even take to keep the Upper Realm in the air? How many humans and maug have died, all because of this ancient war and how it ended?”
“I am responsible for it,” said Jessa. “I carry the weight of their deaths with me.”
She looked at him, her face full of shame, sorrow, and doubt. Was this really his trial, in the end? Or was it hers? Hal squeezed her hands and pulled her to him. He hugged her tightly, and then kissed her on the lips.
“I’ll help you,” said Hal. “We might not be able to save the people who have already died, but maybe…”
Maybe we can put things right in the world.
CHAPTER 23
Jessa returned them both to her sanctum. She didn’t say anything, and Hal took a few minutes to compose his thoughts. He’d been sent into the memory crystal to unlock it, on the assumption that it held knowledge critical to the Empress and the Upper Realm. The Empress had been correct, but probably not in the way she’d anticipated.
“The Emperor mentioned an anchor,” said Hal. “He said that there was some type of anchor underground that he was trying to dig up, in addition to the crystal pillars that lifted the Upper Realm into place.”
“The anchor is the location on the surface that the crystal lifts resonate against,” said Jessa.
“It’s vulnerable, isn’t it?” asked Hal. “If I found the crystal anchor… There would be a way to use it to bring down the Upper Realm?”
Jessa hesitated before slowly nodding.
“There is a way,” she said. “But I suspect I am the only entity, alive or dead, who understands how it might be achieved.”
“Was this what you’ve been waiting for?” asked Hal. “Was this why you committed your memory and spirit into the crystal? To continue to exist in some form, for long enough to find a Heart Holder who’d carry out your will?”
She didn’t answer right away.
“My will is not to doom Eklidia,”
she whispered. “It is not to see my people dead. They’ve made mistakes, as any race has. I just wish to see things returned to the way they were. There can be no true peace or balance between the races when one looks down on the rest from up high.”
Hal nodded slowly, considering her words. He was left with a choice. Was it worth it to take advantage of the vulnerability when it could potentially run the risk of exacerbating the war with the Empress? If he tried and failed, then what? The Empress would take revenge against her hostages, and possibly even go after Laurel directly.
I don’t have a choice. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t get as much help as I can.
“Is there anything else you can teach me?” asked Hal. “You were a master of the heartgem, but none of the trials you put me through seemed to have anything to do with it.”
“I’ve taught you all that you need to know,” she whispered.
“No, you haven’t,” he said, trying to keep the annoyance from his voice. “You said that you’d be able to help me push further with my power, past a Ruby Trance. To reach Ascension.”
Jessa moved in closer to him, until her breasts were pressing against his chest.
“Apply your emotions, Halrin,” she whispered. “Take what is yours.”
He scowled at her and shook his head a little. “Does that even mean anything?”
She answered by kissing him, and he could feel her emotions, along with the lingering essence woven into the fabric of her realm. It was a seductive, powerful thing, and he had to fight the urge to rip her silk gown open.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll… think about what I learned in the trials and remember what you said. But I need to go back, now.”
He hesitated, wondering if he should ask her again if there was any way for her to allow others into her sanctum. He decided against it, figuring that if he carefully explained to Tessianna what he’d experienced of her memories, it would probably be enough.
Eternal Palace (Sexcraft Chronicles Book 4) Page 12
