by Skyler Grant
“How do I keep from being consumed?” Walt asked.
Silver frowned at the question and pulled out a small hand-mirror from her robes. It shimmered in the same way as the larger one in her throne room. A deft finger tapped at the glass and she peered inside it as if seeking an answer.
“Was my question not expected?” Walt asked.
“I can spy on the strands of fate, but you are now a hole torn in the fabric. You are beyond destiny and beyond salvation. You will be consumed, wholly and completely. I am sorry,” Silver said.
Walt tipped his head and went back to eating his soup as if nothing unexpected had been said.
“Nothing useful from me. What is to become of me in this existence?” Yve asked.
“You’ll find all you ever wanted and more. You shall see sights of wonder and be a legend on countless worlds. You’ll love and lose and love again. You’ll have children as you always wanted and be so very proud of what they become,” Silver said.
Yve didn’t say anything, but I could see her eyes glistening.
That left just me with a question to ask. I might have asked about the Nine, or Elsora and Ashera. If she truly were an Oracle there was much that she knew.
“I’m missing something and I don’t know what. I feel like it is staring me in the face and so frightfully important, but I don’t know what it is,” I said.
“Not really a question. Look at me, King Liam, look into my eyes,” Silver said.
I did as she asked. It’s odd to stare into the eyes of a stranger, but in some ways she really wasn’t a stranger at all. The face might be unfamiliar, but still if I let myself slip past that it was like staring into the eyes of a lover. It was disconcerting and disturbing, and not terribly helpful.
“Whatever it is, I’m not seeing it.”
“You will soon. I can wait until you do. When you come to understand, when you find it valuable and are grateful, I might have my lands?”
“Swear your loyalty,” I said.
“I swear it, Majesty. You shall find me both faithful and loyal in your service,” Silver said.
“Then should that day come, you shall have your lands,” I said.
The rest of the night passed pleasantly. I did wind up finding my way into Silver’s bed. She was a lover who knew all that I intended before I did it.
In the morning, rested and in good cheer, we left the castle.
Before long, we came across fortifications that hadn’t been there on our journey to the castle. Bolt throwers and crossbow turrets pointed in our direction. They were manned by three smallish pigs in power armor. This was becoming a theme.
Chapter 30
“New employees,” squeaked one of the pigs. “For wanton destruction of property we must insist you vacate these lands.”
“Who makes all that armor? We know the company armorers are terrible at what they do,” Yve said.
“Gold?” I said. I didn’t have any better guesses.
“They’re cute. I don’t want to kill cute things,” Yve said.
“You’ll get to make barbecue jokes, it will be great.”
“It’s no fun when the pigs talk,” Yve said.
I guess she did have a point. That did make it grim.
“Did you guys build all this overnight?” I asked.
“Building services. We’re very good at what we do,” said another of the pigs.
A breeze picked up, rustling through the trees, and one of the bolt turrets tipped over.
“Was it meant to do that?” I asked.
A pig rushed to right the turret. Now that I got a better look at the fortifications they did seem rather fragile. For that matter their power armor looked like some sort of pipe that had been split down the middle and wired together.
“The sign of a good fortification is how quickly it can be taken apart and reassembled,” another pig said, putting the best spin on it possible.
A guard tower groaned and fell over in front of us, boards scattering in all directions.
“Behold! The great building attack!” exclaimed one pig, gesturing dramatically.
“I just want you to know, even though I am sure they pose no threat whatsoever, I’m still totally up for killing all them,” Ashley said.
Good to know her sociopathic tendencies hadn’t gone away.
“I’m not setting them on fire. But I might burn the buildings, because I’ve always wanted to do that,” Yve said.
I’d kind of always wanted to go all wild dervish of destruction on a barricade. Especially now that I had exceptional strength. I didn’t do nearly enough bashing apart of buildings, and throwing the occasional enemy through a wall didn’t really count.
“Don’t hurt the pigs. Destroy everything else if you want,” I said.
Yve set to work blasting the turrets with fire. I toppled over a few walls with some quick kicks. Ashley spent a minute or two pretending like she didn’t care and then pushed over a tower. Even Walt got into things breaking apart some poorly assembled catapult.
In the end we were surrounded by debris, much of it on fire, and three very peevish-looking pigs.
“Look what you did,” said the first pig.
“You kicked and you burned,” said the second pig.
“And tore our fort down,” said the third pig.
“We totally did that. Send the bill to Elsora Damos, Castle Sardonis,” I said. It seemed diplomatic.
The pigs began to converse amongst themselves in loud whispers.
There was a green flare of light and Malachite blinked into existence. She was wearing what looked to be green motorcycle leathers.
“What is it with you and armored, incredibly cute animals?” Malachite asked.
“We’re trapped in the dumbest expansion pack ever. Thanks for leaving us alone against those dwarves by the way,” I said.
“You’re alive. Are the dwarves?” Malachite asked.
“I got my armor half-eaten away when one exploded into an acidic cloud,” Yve said.
“So you enjoyed sauntering around half-naked through what were probably several major battles. I know you guys, you were fine. Diamond wants to chat. I guess she’s done with your thing.” Malachite lost interest and wandered over to study the pigs and make ‘d’aww’ sounds.
“She does know you pretty well,” Walt said.
“Quiet Death-hand,” Yve said.
“Are you really okay with that thing eating you—consuming you?” I asked Walt. It didn’t seem like the best time for a deep conversation, but our ride appeared completely obsessed at the moment.
“I once wanted nothing more than to lose all the dangerous little parts of myself. Now I know I’m eventually going to lose them all. I’m not happy about it, but I’m not as miserable as you’d think,” Walt said.
“We’re all going to die. Well, except maybe Yve. It sounds like you’re going to have a hell of a good run,” Ashley said.
“Yeah. If she was telling the truth,” Yve said.
Malachite returned looking in much better spirits. “Those guys are awesome. They’re going to remodel Opal’s house while she’s away.”
I gazed around at the flaming ruins.
“I don’t know if that is the best idea,” I said.
“Don’t worry. I got that. Opal is a total bitch. You guys good to bounce?” Malachite asked.
Malachite did seem to know how to have fun with any situation. I admired that about her.
“Let’s go,” I said.
The world shimmered green and we were off.
Chapter 31
I recognized where we materialized. The Inn at the Crossroads. Malachite had built this entire realm somehow, a great inn that stood at the juncture of multiple realities. It was usually the final stop before reaching the Silver City and a convenient meeting place for any travelers making trips on the Silver Road.
Diamond and Tiger were having drinks at one of the tables. They were wearing motorcycle leathers too, Diamond’s in white an
d blue, and Tiger’s in orange and black.
“You guys have a theme going on,” I said.
“Liam! Dude, you missed it. Totally badass. Post-apocalypse biker gangs with like these armored battle wagons,” Tiger said.
“Boys,” Diamond said.
“Liam had armored pigs,” Malachite said.
“What is it with him and the armored animals? Wasn’t it goats you told me about last time?” Diamond asked.
“Bears,” Malachite said.
“Really sucky expansion pack,” I said. It was a line that hadn’t gotten a response from Malachite, but Tiger laughed. I liked Tiger, not nearly enough people laughed at my jokes.
Diamond gestured, and a medallion with a perfect diamond appeared in her hand. “These are a pain in the ass to make. Do not use it too soon. Smash it when you want it to activate and you’ll stop all inter-planar travel or teleportation magic in your area for about half an hour.”
“That is it?” I asked.
“Liam, this is meta-level magic. Yeah, you get half an hour. Be smart about it and it will have to be enough, because you aren’t getting another until you do a lot of sucking up and buying me presents,” Diamond said.
“Thank you,” I said and accepted the medallion, tucking it away in a pocket.
“Not that Liam is done being nice. Your family owes me and I want to collect,” Ashley said.
Diamond flashed her a smile. “Oh yeah, for the dagger? Sorry, Mom has been busy. We’re actually in four wars now. Not like, the tiny ones—we’re in like three hundred tiny ones—but four real inter-planar armies on our doorstep.”
“How is that going?” I asked.
“They can’t breach the city while Mom is there. It does mean she can’t leave home though,” Diamond said.
“I don’t know and I don’t care. You owe me. Your family owes me and I want to collect,” Ashley said.
Tiger frowned and straightened up.
“Ashley. I know what you want, but that kind of power is dangerous and those sorts of weapons usually come with a nasty price attached. We’ll find you one that is safe to use, but you need to give me time. Don’t push this,” Diamond said, very measured and serious.
“I’m pushing,” Ashley said, meeting Diamond’s gaze.
“Liam, talk some sense into her,” Diamond said.
“The God we’re about to face spent several years torturing her. He broke her body and her mind, and the desire for vengeance consumes her. Ashley isn’t going to back off from this,” I said.
“Shit,” Tiger said.
Diamond made another of those gestures in the air and a dagger appeared in her hand. It had a blade that looked as if it were made of copper, the hilt oddly shaped as if not made for human hands.
As Ashley accepted the knife from Diamond there was a whispered sound of some sort of croaking that rippled through the air.
“The debt is repaid. That will achieve what you need it to do. I don’t know what else it will do and I am not going to fix it when it goes bad. It’s a nasty and ugly piece of work, but it is all I have,” Diamond said.
“Thank you,” Ashley said.
“Not the appropriate reaction at all,” Diamond said.
The air pulsed and I felt a flash of white hot anger burning through me. It was dizzying, but brief.
A young woman had arrived in the center of the room. I didn’t recognize her, although the blue eyes were familiar and she wore leathers much like the others.
Tiger was instantly out of his chair and in a defensive stance. Not a friend then.
“I heard you were looking for me. You should know better,” the new arrival said.
“Wrath. We weren’t looking for a fight,” Diamond said.
“Then you really picked the wrong sister,” Wrath said.
Wrath stepped forward, drawing a saber from her waist, and took a swing at Tiger, who dodged the blow and didn’t attempt to return one of his own.
“Careful guys. She’ll have the Right of War,” I said.
Diamond gestured and a layer of icy armor covered her frame. The air began to ripple and warp in places.
Wrath growled and rushed at Diamond, but with a flicker Wrath was suddenly across the room where she went crashing into a table.
“Good to be cautious. Don’t move, the air is filled with traps,” Diamond said.
I could see what she and Tiger were doing. It was smart. You couldn’t directly engage anyone with the Right of War, because in any direct struggle of skill or force they’d win. Tiger had avoided her blows, but hadn’t engaged. Diamond set traps without targeting Wrath directly.
Wrath howled in fury, picked up a table and spun around, throwing it in our direction. It too vanished after a moment, heading in an entirely different direction. It teleported three more times, before smashing against a wall.
“Do you want me to use the medallion?” I asked.
“We don’t want to trap her, Liam. Trapping her would be extraordinarily bad,” Diamond said.
“You’ve put a lot of thought into this,” I said.
“Our mother is a killing machine forever challenging us. You pick this sort of thing up. It’s useful that we have some practice fighting those with her Gifts,” Diamond said.
Wrath had tried to reach us through sheer fury alone. The tavern was much the worse for her efforts, but we remained untouched.
“If she has the Right of Travel, why doesn’t she just teleport herself right to us?” I asked.
Diamond winced. “Thanks, Liam. Maybe keep it to yourself next time?”
Wrath vanished in a blur of red.
Diamond sketched glowing blue lines through the air with a finger, complex runic structures appearing and fading from view.
I’d expected her to reappear at once, but a minute passed as Diamond sketched and there was still no Wrath.
“Did she give up?” I asked.
Malachite explained, “Just because I’m a total badass, don’t think traveling is easy. Zeroing in on a location like this takes time and she blinked out blindly, which means she could have wound up anywhere.”
“And there we go,” Diamond said, finishing the sketch on a last rune and looking proud of herself.
“You sound like you just did something really cool,” I said.
“Reflective warding and a return of intent. This is going to turn her on herself for awhile. Unstoppable objects meets unstoppable object, it’s going to be explosive,” Diamond said.
“Destroy my inn and you’re building me a new one,” Malachite said.
“I put in a dampening layer,” Diamond said, defensively.
“Malachite, get them out of here. Ashley, we should talk more sometime. Just because I gave you that knife doesn’t mean you have to use it,” Diamond said.
“But it can kill him?” Ashley asked.
“Yeah. It will do that. It’s what else it might do that’s the problem,” Diamond said.
Malachite grabbed a hold of us and the world shimmered green.
We arrived in a void of featureless black with a small pedestal in the middle.
“Malachite?” I asked.
“One moment,” Malachite said, frowning as she walked to the pedestal and traced her fingers in a bowl of water.
I waited. What else was I going to do?
“Sorry. This place is a sort of an anti-trap device of mine. A bit of defensive magic I have up when someone hijacks one of my jumps. To protect me, before it happens I get yanked to this bubble reality to give me time to prepare,” Malachite said.
“So we’re walking into a trap?” I asked.
“We are—or you are. It’s this God of yours, I assume, splitting us up. When we leave here you’re going to get dumped there and I’m being diverted elsewhere—sent straight into some serious time dilution,” Malachite said.
“Is there anything you can do?” I asked.
“Sort of. It’s a trap designed to take me out of play for a few months, on a world with tim
e moving at a crawl. Knowing what I’m going into I can have another transition prepped and ready the instant I get there. But you’ll be on your own for a few days. You know you’re probably going into a fight, so you can get ready.”
That was good advice and as much as could be hoped for. I checked and made sure all my armor bindings were tight. I drew Intemperance. Yve was getting her own sword ready and Ashley had her daggers out, the new blade remaining sheathed at her waist.
“Everyone good?” Malachite asked.
Nods all around. The world once more blazed green around us.
As she’d explained, Malachite wasn’t with us, and we found ourselves materializing inside an enormous coliseum. The stands were filled with cheering crowds. Yeah, we were about to have a fight.
Chapter 32
“Welcome to our challengers! This round we have King Liam, ruler of the Twelfth Moon and the Bringer of Autumn. Give him a hand, ladies and gentleman, for coming all this way,” said an announcer’s voice coming from all around us.
I raised a hand and the crowd cheered all the louder.
“Do any of our deity friends have any idea what is going on?” I asked.
“Yvera says this is the arena where all the adventurers get sent to die,” Yve said.
“I guess he decided to stop offering the hand of friendship,” I said.
“Once a consort of our very own beloved Veros, now a ruthless assassin! Welcome Ashley the Last Remorse!” said the announcer.
“I finally get a title and it’s a stupid one?” Ashley asked.
I kind of liked it. It was catchy. Better than Bringer of Autumn.
Ashley too took a bow and the crowd cheered again.
“A master performer enters the arena. Yve Garland. Once a simple computer program hungering for love and understanding. Later she would go on to lead a rebellion against her own siblings in pursuit of freedom. Now human and having lost the love that once defined her, she wanders worlds. Give it up for the sister of Veros, the Heart’s Flame!”
“That one was pretty good,” I said.
“I like it,” Yve said.
“Bonded to a terrible artifact of incredible power that consumes his very life and his soul, let’s hear it for… The Death-Hand!”
