by Philip Blood
Hydan presented a page with some official looking text on it and as the guard looked at it, Hydan made sure it said, and showed the right seal, to be just what the man thought he should be seeing.
The guard looked at what had been ‘Ten potatoes’ earlier like it was the ruler of the planet’s official seal, which is what it was at this point.
“I see; this is highly irregular!”
Hydan sniffed, “Fine, call a necromage out here and we will verify this swiftly. I’m waiting.”
The guard nodded and started to turn to call to another soldier, but that’s when Hydan muttered, “It will be very amusing when he turns you into a rock and rolls you down this hill, but I can wait.”
The man had his hand up, and mouth open, but suddenly he snapped his mouth shut and handed the paper back to Hydan, “Proceed.”
“Really, you don’t want to call someone? I can wait,” Hydan said, crossing his arms.
“No, you may go,” the man said sheepishly.
Hydan sniffed one more time, folded his grocery list, and then said to us, “March up the road and double-time it!”
Toji gave him a really dirty look, but we started shuffling faster up the road.
I muttered to Hydan, “Don’t overplay the role.”
“Oh, I’m barely getting started!” he exclaimed exuberantly.
Myrka spoke softly when no one was near, “And what are you going to say if a necromage actually shows up and sees your Glyph?”
“I will show him my right profile, and if you keep your heads bowed down he won’t see yours!” Hydan noted, without a care in the world.
We just kept going, the further we got up the road the fewer we would have to fight to get to the stairs is the way Myrka figured it.
The military loves their checkpoints, so we were accosted three more times before reaching the bottom of the stairs, with the same basic results. However, now we were faced with a higher ranking officer, a major, and ‘Captain’ Hydan was going to have a harder time bullying him into acquiescence.
“What do you have here, Captain?” he demanded, already holding out a hand for Hydan’s orders. Hydan handed him the grocery list.
The Major gave it a perfunctory look and then said, “I will need to get corroborating orders. Whom is it who gave you these soldiers?”
“Whom indeed? That is a question which is difficult to answer,” Hydan noted.
The saeran Major started getting blue in the face, and I knew this wasn’t going to go well.
“Well, you WILL answer it, Captain!” he exclaimed.
Hydan continued, thoughtfully, “I mean, who are we all, in the grand scheme of things?”
The Major looked perplexed, “What are you babbling about?”
“Well,” Hydan said as if relishing his answer thoroughly, “Who assumes there is someone beyond me, which is a perception very hard to prove!”
“You will answer…”
“All right, I’ll do my best. For there to be a ‘whom’, who gave me these orders, one could assume, from our senses, there are other minds, I mean, the truth of this belief is so manifestly obvious and self-evident as to need no justification on the part of the person who believes it.”
Now the Major was a dark shade of blue, “What, you fool!”
“Well, even a fool, if you would consider one, could claim you have hands, feet, and a body, not to mention a head, which likely has a brain inside, and that there are others, similarly equipped, who enjoy the same experiences as they do. Therefore, the fool would believe there are others of whom could give out orders.”
“I order you to tell me who sent you…”
“Well, you are entitled to believe there is a ‘who’, certainly, without any other explanations. But does this really prove the existence of other minds which can give such orders? Perhaps we should delve into this deeper, mind you.”
Suddenly the guard clutched at his chest and slowly collapsed.
“A little help here!” Hydan called out, “This man, if he exists, may indeed be having a seizure, or not, I can’t really prove either one.”
When help arrived and the Major was carted off, Hydan gestured to the stairway and said, “I believe this is our cue to start our march up these stairs!”
As I passed Hydan I said, “What did you do, give that guy a heart attack?”
“Well, he does not have a human heart, Nicholas, he has two separate dual pumping organs called groms lower down, in his midsection, not to mention a manual pumping system in his thighs for more flow during exercise, but he did have a problem in his cortex which was causing a short of some kind, I really do believe.”
“You are much scarier than I first believed,” I noted.
“Nonsense, I’m just here to see the world!”
We started climbing and climbing. The stairs were very well formed, beautiful in many ways where soldier’s boots hadn’t worn them down, but they were endless.
We climbed for what seemed like an age, passing several other soldiers, who were generally sitting on the stairs, not going up or down at this point.
When we got near the last thousand or so steps we were accosted yet again.
“And where do you think you are going?” a guard captain spoke.
“To the top!” Hydan exclaimed.
Just as the other saeran officer started to scowl, a saeran, a flight of steps higher, turned, and I saw the drawn skin of a necrosoul, and then the dry shape of a nautilus on his cheek, it was a necromage.
I immediately lowered my head, and muttered to Hydan, “Mage, above us.”
Hydan kept right on talking to the Captain but turned naturally so his left cheek would be hidden from anyone above us.
The necromage called down, “What is going on there, Captain?”
The Captain already had Hydan’s false paper, and replied, “Three deserters, sent to die up at the top of the stairs.”
The mage snarled, “Throw them off the stairs.”
Hydan immediately protested, “Wait, I have orders to take them to the top, where they are to lead an attack, alone.”
The necromage snarled at him, “Shut up, Captain, or you will be thrown off the stairs with them. They have been punished with the climb to their inevitable death, why does it matter how they die? I don’t want more debris thrown down to clog these stairs, and cause possible other deaths, nor do I want their slippery blood. Toss them from the stairs, NOW!”
“I bet you just want to see someone falling to their death, don’t you?” Hydan asked.
The necromage’s milky eyes narrowed at this insolence, “Yes, Private, and I don’t mind if that person is…”
“Yourself?” Hydan asked innocently, at which point the stairway under the necromage broke. It cracked along what seemed like a natural fault, and suddenly let loose.
He had been standing on stairs more to the right of us, and above, so he and the debris fell past us without mishap.
The necromage snarled and started to slow his fall, likely making himself lighter like Hydan had done before, but I saw Hydan concentrating, and one of the larger pieces of stone, which was falling from above, clipped the necromage in the head. He was suddenly falling like a tumbling leaf toward the ground far below.
“By the Silent Mother, that was unlucky!” Hydan noted happily.
The soldiers were gaping at the whole falling body thing, and a few of them were trying to avoid the smaller pieces still crumbling when Hydan started us moving again.
It was the other Captain who recovered first, just as Myrka was passing him on the stair.
“Hey!” the Captain said, but that’s when Myrka’s hip seemed to sway a bit and knock the Captain back. He grabbed for another man, who had his step break under his foot as well. Both fell screaming toward the bottom.
We kept climbing stairs, and all the other soldiers were looking at the suddenly faulty and treacherous stairs under their feet carefully, and ignoring us almost completely.
Soon we wer
e above all of them, and that’s when stones started to fall from the castle above.
“Incoming!” Hydan exclaimed, and stepped in front of us all.
The stones which would have hit us seemed to bounce unnaturally and cleared our heads.
Then Hydan called out to the castle.
“We are mages of Abal, who oppose the Island Witch! We come in peace, and seek refuge from the soldiers below.”
All of our uniforms changed to the royal blue of the loyal saeran army.
A few soldiers below saw this, and some of them started getting out bows.
Myrka turned to do battle, with Toji right behind her.
I stepped up next to Hydan and exclaimed, “Mother! It is Nicholas! I have come home; please don’t drop any more rocks on your son!”
Some of the soldiers reached Myrka, and she started killing them swiftly. She was a terror to behold, and many of the soldiers on the stairs below looked at their falling comrades with fear, hoping they wouldn’t have to face the girl dealing death from above.
Arrows started to arrive, but they just dissolved as they got to us. Hydan was standing below me, so none of them reached me anyway.
It took a few minutes, but then the door above creaked open slightly, and we worked our way forward, killing soldiers below as we worked our way up. It took over an hour, but eventually we were inside and the doors closed again. Then we heard rocks starting to fall and the screams of the remaining enemy soldiers outside as they fell, were crushed or beat a hasty retreat.
Myrka sheathed her poniard with a flourish, and said, “You see, I could have taken them all!”
“Your confidence is impressive, but eventually, they would send enough necromages to wear you down,” a woman’s voice said in an echoing sound.
We were in a large entry hall, and there were rounded, curving staircases going up to either side, with a passage on this level going straight between them. Above on the balcony between where the two stairways met, was a woman in a white gown, with a tiara on her head.
“The White Enchantress, I presume?” I asked.
She nodded, and then said, “And you are?”
“This is Hydan, Friare Third, Myrka, Tarvos Fourth, Toji, Bakemono Fourth and I am Nicholas, Sivaeral Third! They tell me I am your son,” I said boldly.
She stepped forward and what I beheld on her left cheek changed everything, it was the stylized slashes of the Albus House spider Glyph, not the nautilus Glyph of the Sivaeral House.
I swallowed and she said, “And I am Finnabair Albus, Second of House Albus, The White Enchantress. As to being my son, well, we shall see.”
Chapter Fifteen
Some lie about who they love
Some lie about the truth
Some lie to save their lives
Some lie about their youth
I've lied about most everything
-Elton John
Servants came and showed us to apartments set aside for each of us. We were told to dress for dinner in one hour. After we rested and cleaned up, servants showed us to the dining room.
This turned out to be a vast chamber, with a long table which could have seated forty guests but was only set for five. The White Enchantress sat at the head, and as we approached the lady stood, and gestured to our seats, naming each of us and pointing to where we should sit. My seat was to her right, with Hydan on my other side. Toji would be seated across from me, with Myrka next to him.
When she sat so did we.
Finnabair clapped her hands, and servants brought in the first course. We spoke as we ate, and our hostess started the conversation.
“I suppose you have many questions, particularly you, Nicholas.”
I swallowed a very trite reply, and went with simply, “You have no idea, lady.”
Finnabair is beautiful as far as saerans went, her features just seemed to flow in pleasing lines and colors, so I said, “You are the second Albus Second I have met in my travels, are all Albus woman so beautiful?”
She smiled and nodded her head to me at my compliment, “Our race is generally pleasing to the eyes, but we vary as any race does.”
“Excuse me for being surprised,” I continued, “But I was led to believe my mother was a Sivaeral sorceress, though still a Second, and yet, if you are my mother, then you are an Albus, and this confuses me greatly,” I said touching the nautilus Glyph on my cheek.
She only smiled, while taking a drink from a goblet; I think to give herself time to think about her reply.
Then she said, “First of all, I am responsible for the false rumors as to my House. Of course, to maintain these rumors, I have had to become a recluse for several centuries.”
“And why did you maintain this ruse?” I asked.
She smiled cryptically, “Why indeed?”
She hadn’t answered my question yet, instead, she said, “And, why do you believe I am your mother?”
Here I had to swallow; my source was Medrod, the evil leader of the very soldiers besieging her castle, which didn’t make him a very credible witness to this information.
So I replied, “I grew up on Earth, without my real parents, and when I discovered I was a mage, I came seeking my parents on my birth-world. These three mages have been helping me achieve my goal. Along the way research at Poseidon showed I might be the son of Oberon Sivaeral, but he convinced me he is not my father.”
She watched me intently with her dark saeran eyes and then said, “And, back on Earth, how did you discern you are a Sivaeral Third?”
I answered, “Actually, if I understand how this works, one of your sisters told me.”
“Oh, which one?” she asked.
“Fiona Albus,” I replied.
She raised an eyebrow fin. “Fiona? Really. She has been away from our world for a very long time, no doubt embroiled in many plots, as is typical of my family.”
Hydan smiled; which Finnabair noticed and said, “I will get to you, Friare.”
He just nodded, seeming unconcerned; of course, Hydan almost always seemed unconcerned.
She turned back to me, and said, “And so, Oberon told you he is not your father, but how did this lead you to believe you are the son of The White Enchantress?”
I shrugged, “Well, again, from what I understand from my nautilus Glyph, I have to be the son of a Sivaeral Second, in order to be Third of this House, and you were rumored to be one of three Sivaeral Second sorceresses.”
She nodded.
“But now you see I am of House Albus,” she stated.
I nodded and took a deep breath, “Which means you are not my mother.”
She smiled warmly, “On the contrary, Nicholas Sivaeral, I believe I AM your mother.”
That stunned me.
But then Toji spoke, “How is this possible? No mage can fake a Glyph from another House!”
“No,” Finnabair agreed, “they cannot fake it, though if their Archimage has not confirmed their House, and they believe with all their heart they are of another House, then that Glyph might manifest. However, in this case, that is not true, for Nicholas is of House Sivaeral, just not of the Third Tier.”
Toji tilted his head, “But this makes even less sense. If you mated with a lower Tier, then Nicholas would bear your Glyph from House Albus… unless he thought his parents were of House Sivaeral!” he suddenly noted with excitement.
“Correct, but incorrect;” Finnabair noted with a smile, “I did not say my mate is of a lower Tier, he is of a higher Tier!”
Hydan frowned, “But that would mean Nick’s father was…”
“The Archimage of House Sivaeral!” Finnabair stated.
Toji’s eyes widened, “That would explain his Sivaeral Glyph, for then you would be the lower Tier, and Nicholas would have gotten his House from his father… but that would make him.”
“A Second, not a Third, of House Sivaeral,” Finnabair announced.
I was stunned, but I finally said, “So you really are my mother?”
&nb
sp; “Yes, Nicholas,” she said warmly.
“And my father is a prisoner of Medrod and Morgain.”
Finnabair nodded, “How did you know that? Your father’s imprisonment by that Dokkalfar sorceress isn’t common knowledge. I have kept it from the people so they would have hope, and of course, I have hoped to free him some day.”
I shrugged, “Medrod told me while I was his prisoner, which is how I also found out you were my mother.”
She just raised an eyebrow fin at this revelation.
“Congratulations, Nicholas, you are the most powerful mage of our group now,” Hydan noted.
“Which brings me to you,” Finnabair stated, looking at Hydan. “What brings a Friare on such a dangerous mission?”
“Entertainment, I just love a good show, and this is the best I’ve ever found! There have been chickens, snogfish, and maidens in distress! I’ve tasted brandy and beer. Nick has been captured and escaped. We have run into evil ghosts and guardian shades, necrosouls and necromages. We’ve fought battles with evil, and fooled the enemy. We’ve flung ourselves over, swam under and now climbed up walls. I haven’t had this much fun since my brother got me drunk, kidnapped me as a child and left me alone on Elysium with a bunch of Angels as a joke.”
“He got you drunk when you were a child?” I asked.
Toji answered me, “On Nibiru they serve what Earth humans would call 200 proof alcohol in their baby bottles.”
Hydan just smiled and took a deep drink from his goblet of the red wine like brew being served.
Finnabair hadn’t taken her eyes off of Hydan, but she said, “I believe no more than one word in ten out of your mouth.”
Hydan laughed, “That, from an Albus? I believe one word in a hundred from you.”
She ignored that and then got Myrka’s and Toji’s stories out of them, one at a time.
Finnabair turned back to me, “So, my son, why, after all these years, have you returned to find your real mother?”
I looked at her and replied, “Well, first off, I’d like to know why you left me on Earth with foster parents?”
Finnabair looked away for a moment and then said, “Nicholas, I didn’t abandon you on Earth, until a few moments ago I had no idea where you had grown up. You were stolen from me when you were but a baby, and I have looked for you ever since. I have lived much of my life on Abal simply because you are of House Sivaeral, so this was the most likely place you would be, or to which you might eventually return, and I was right.”
