The cynic in Sorial wondered whether Justin’s dying words had been intended to bait the trap, but he decided that was unlikely. It was probable that, by the time he lay on the brink of extinction, Justin had forgotten about the little “surprise” left for the unwary in Vantok’s temple. And there was in fact a tome called The Balance of All Things. It was currently in Alicia’s custody, waiting for a time when she could regain her composure enough to study it in detail. In moments like this, Sorial felt a deep sense of inadequacy. If only he could read…
Myselene gave a touching eulogy to honor her fallen subject and Rotgut, who had been named Carannan’s successor, spoke at length about his association with the duke. Grizzled soldier that he was, Rotgut nevertheless wept unashamedly during his reminiscences. Alicia clung to Sorial throughout the ritual, her tears soaking through the thin material of his robe. At times, he could feel her trembling. Lavella sobbed as well, although not as brokenly as Alicia, and even Lady Evane showed evidence of grief.
After the ordeal was over and Carannan had been buried in a small plot in his favorite garden, Sorial and Alicia retired inside the mansion. It wasn’t long before a messenger arrived with a royal summons. Sorial hated leaving Alicia alone at a time like this - it seemed too much like desertion - but the queen had requested his presence and he knew she wouldn’t do that if it wasn’t important. So, after receiving assurances from his wife that she could survive a few hours without him, he made his way to the palace. Along the way, he noted how quickly a veneer of vitality was returning to Vantok. This wasn’t “normalcy” but at least the people walking the streets didn’t look beaten and fearful. The arrival of a huge merchant caravan carrying foodstuffs and beer on the previous day had done wonders to bolster spirits and refresh hope.
The queen met him in the newly cleaned private audience chamber. This was Sorial’s first time here since his return to Vantok. It was strange to see Myselene occupying the ruling seat instead of Azarak. Everything else was the same. The queen didn’t rise when Sorial entered, although he suspected she might have done so if not for the pregnancy. After a servant poured a goblet of wine for the newcomer, Myselene waved him outside so she could be alone with Sorial.
“How is she?”
Sorial sighed. “Hurting but healing. Ain’t much I can do except hold her during her darker moments. She’s got so little experience with grief. Aside from Vagrum, she ain’t never lost anyone close to her. Certainly not anyone as close as Carannan. And for him to die when he did, after surviving so many other things…”
“How about you? I understand you knew him since you were a boy.”
“I met him when I was working in the stable but won’t say I got to know him till I started at the mansion. I considered him a good man and a friend, but so many good men and friends have died that I’ve learned how to cope. I know that sounds cold.”
“It sounds like what a leader would say. People in our position aren’t allowed the luxury of normal grief. Azarak’s death cut me like nothing I’ve ever experienced but I couldn’t show it. It’s strange - I didn’t even realize how much I cared for him until he was gone. That revelation alone was crushing, but the people needed me to be strong. So I cried alone at night, my face buried in my pillow, when no one could see or hear me.
“We’re a lot alike, you and I. We’ve both lost most of the people close to us. In a different world, we might have been well mated, as we demonstrated in our short time together. We’ve both learned how to manage our pain and find a way to draw strength from it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes wish it could be different. All my life, I wanted to be a queen. Now… I never thought it would be easy, but it’s so different from what I imagined. I almost envy Alicia’s mourning. You and I don’t get to indulge ourselves in such basic human emotions.
“Anyway, I won’t keep you long. In case you haven’t heard, I ‘gave birth’ this morning. Or at least that’s what the general population has been informed. A girl named Princess Kara. Mother and daughter are well, although it was an exceptionally difficult delivery and it may be some time before I’m ready to present the baby to the citizenry. How long remains to be seen.” Saying this, she rose and rounded the table to stand next to Sorial. She took his hand in hers and placed it on her belly.
Sorial didn’t try to pull away and, after a few minutes of stillness, he felt something move - a quick, sharp kick. His daughter. The child he would be unable to acknowledge. The girl who would never know him.
“How long before you leave us?”
“I don’t know. First, Alicia needs to decode the book. Once that’s done, we’ll have to put together a plan of action.”
“And then?”
He couldn’t lie to her any more than he could to himself. He had made peace with his fate and he didn’t think it included settling down in Vantok and living out the rest of his life as Myselene’s wizard. She already knew that, of course, but he had to say the words. “Alicia will take over the post once I’m gone. I’m worried about her, though. First her father…” Damn it, why did it have to be him! “She’ll need all the support she can get.”
“She’ll have it. She’ll be as my sister. She can live in the palace and Kara will be hers to raise. Through your daughter, she’ll have a connection to you. But are you sure that… will you have to make the ultimate sacrifice?”
“I don’t know. Obviously, if there’s another way, I’ll take it. I suppose we won’t know for sure until we try whatever it is we’re supposed to try. We don’t even know what that is yet.”
“If you need anything…”
“Thank you. But I suspect you asked me here for another reason.”
Myselene’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “The merchant who arrived from Basingham… I offered to buy his entire stock, which I plan to distribute on a needs-basis throughout the city. To do that, however, I need more funds than the pittance available to me at the moment in the treasury.”
“You’d like me to fatten your purse?”
“Precisely. Uncut gems are fine. Just make sure there are enough of them to dazzle even the most greedy of merchants. Not only do I want this one to go away with empty wagons but I want him to be so happy that he’ll return as quickly as possible and spread the word of our largess.”
“I’m at your disposal, Your Majesty. Until I depart for regions as yet unknown, I remain Vantok’s faithful wizard.”
* * *
“Fucker!” yelped Alicia, jumping up from her chair, overturning it in the process. The startled mouse scampered across the table in front of her, fleeing for safety.
Once it was out of sight, she turned to her husband, who was lounging on the nearby bed. Her green eyes flashed dangerously. “Damn it, stableboy, I thought you said they were all gone.”
“Mostly gone.”
“Mostly? Are they or are they not ‘creatures of the earth.’“
“They are… sort of. I mean, I can send thoughts to them, but they don’t always obey. They’re like you - communication don’t always mean action. Do fish always listen to you?”
“If I tell a damn fish to stay out of my bedroom, the fish will listen.”
“You don’t have a stream in your bedroom, so it wouldn’t have much of a choice.”
She shot him a withering glance then sat down again. “Make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Under his hood, Sorial smiled. The mouse had in fact been perfectly obedient. The more distractions he tossed at Alicia, the more adeptly she coped with her loss. Time was the best healer and two weeks wasn’t nearly enough of it, but there were other things he could do to help. Stoking her annoyance toward him diverted emotional energy from other, less productive outlets. Having The Balance of All Things to study was also a balm. Perusal of it required one-hundred percent of her concentration.
A little while later, Sorial was dragged from a light slumber by his wife’s insistent command of “Wake up!”
After a little grumbling, he open
ed his eye to find her sitting next to him, showing more energy than she had exhibited since her father’s death. He sensed the cause without her voicing it. “You figured it out.”
She nodded. “If you know what you’re looking for, it’s all there. Justin knew where to point you. This is the framework of what he was planning although, without information from the Yu’Tar Library, it would be meaningless gibberish.”
“What does it say?” Sorial was too tired to engage in a game of riddles and conjecture. It was one thing to do it in the middle of the day but quite another in the small hours between midnight and dawn. He wasn’t getting much sleep as it was; he needed the little he could steal.
“It tells us what Justin thought was the way into the Otherverse. Unfortunately, it doesn’t say whether he was right or not. The Balance of All Things includes excerpts from diaries purportedly written by Altemiak after Malbranche made his attempt. The language is cryptic but, if it’s genuine, it gives the recipe of what Malbranche did and, presumably, the procedure Altemiak later used. This is what Justin was going to try. But if it’s a fake, using it is a death sentence.”
“Wonderful,” muttered Sorial. He had been hoping for something less ambiguous. Then again, if it had been straightforward and easy, he supposed it would have been done countless times before.
“You’ll be happy to know we were mostly correct in our assessment of what’s necessary to force open a gateway. A synchronized burst of all four elemental magics should destabilize the portal sufficiently to allow someone to pass all the way through, riding the matter-transformed energy back to its source. Unfortunately, there’s a consequence to this we didn’t foresee: any portal subjected to this kind of stress will become inactive. Portals are designed to function only to transmit; forcing one to receive will cause a catastrophic failure.”
Sorial absorbed the information. “Perhaps that explains why so many of the city portals are dead.”
“I thought it was because people destroyed them following mass deaths after the gods took back magic. After people died trying to become wizards, the portals were torn down to prevent additional deaths.”
“That’s the story. Think about it, though. Do you believe a bunch of angry men with pick-axes and sledgehammers could destroy a portal? The stonework around it, yes. But the actual portal? It would still exist, perhaps hovering in mid-air.”
“I suppose that makes sense. So you think the scarcity of portals could be the result of previous attempts made by ancient wizards to access the Otherverse?”
“Yes. Regardless of whether the attempt succeeds or fails, it appears to cost a portal, and there weren’t that many to start with. Now, there are only three left.”
“That we know of. I wonder whether there might not be another one or two somewhere in an unexplored corner of the world. Kosterbus had a theory connecting seasons with portals. He came to the conclusion that there were likely twelve. We know only of nine. That leaves three unaccounted for.”
“If all the portals were destroyed, would that be the end of magic?”
“It would be the end of wizard creation,” said Alicia. “But of magic? I think the energy would find some other way through. Our universe and the Otherverse are too closely linked for the barrier to be impermeable. But with no wizards to wield it, it becomes irrelevant, except as a path by which something could reach across to this world from the other.”
“Exactly what we’re trying to prevent, and the reason why there will be soon be two known active portals instead of three.”
“Any preference which one should be sacrificed?”
“Havenham,” said Sorial. “Ibitsal is more centrally located and you’ve got a travel-point established there. I ain’t even sure where the third one is. Somewhere farther south in The Forbidden Lands, near the east coast, I guess. I think that’s the one Justin used so if we could figure out where he was hidden all those years, we’d be close. But that’s too time consuming a process. It could take seasons to locate, if not years. My successor can worry about finding it.”
“I think I understand the reason for the war, although it seems an extreme solution to a problem.”
“Using a demonstration of power to achieve full loyalty from the other wizards? I can understand why Justin would need that. It would be ugly if someone committed a betrayal by not using their power at the critical moment.” Attempting to penetrate into the Otherverse represented a leap of faith. If one of the wizards held back, it would mean death for the person making the bid. Sorial recognized why Justin hadn’t wanted him or Alicia to be involved in his endeavor. The Lord of Fire never would have been able to trust them sufficiently.
Alicia considered. “That may have been part of it. Conquering the world is a good way to achieve the kind of allegiance Justin would need to feel comfortable. But there’s more. At the moment when the wizard passes through, the Otherverse is open to our universe and is subject to an inrush of forces - chaos and order in particular. If there’s a gross imbalance, it can have a ripple effect. Too much chaos in our universe and it will filter through and destabilize the Otherverse. The same thing would be true if there’s too much order. Justin was using his war to achieve a balance - the chaos of battle and the imposition of order in the aftermath. He never would have gotten it perfect but he hoped to create a close enough equality that it wouldn’t substantially impact the Otherverse when he made his crossing.”
Sorial let the enormity of what he was hearing sink in. “So all the death, all the destruction wasn’t really about uniting the world under one ruler or establishing the dominance of a cabal of wizards. It was about imposing balance? All the pain and suffering for that?”
Alicia nodded.
With Justin’s motives laid bare, it turned out that Ferguson had been in a crib when it came to using men as pawns. So much sacrificed simply to establish a state that would make passage into the Otherverse easier, with no consideration of the human consequences… On a real level, Justin had been a monster and this was the first time Sorial had seen it.
“If we act quickly, we can use the climate Justin established for our purposes. I know that sounds callous but it’s better than chancing the vagaries of natural equilibrium. That’s what Justin didn’t trust. He wanted to be in control of as much as possible. He overreached and it was his downfall.”
“I wonder where he got the idea.”
“Maybe he arrived at it on his own. Or maybe he read about it. There are hints in The Balance of All Things that Malbranche and Altemiak fomented something similar in their day. I’m sure if we cross-checked dates with regular histories, we could determine if there was a war. It’s immaterial, though, and not really worth the effort. Maybe something for a lazy Winter’s afternoon in the future. There are a lot of books in the temple I want relocated to the palace library where access will be easier.”
Sorial didn’t say anything but it eased his spirits to hear Alicia talking about a future. It was important to him that her aspirations extended beyond Havenham, even if the same was unrealistic for him.
“Why not me?” she asked suddenly. It was plain from the timber of her voice that this was something she had considered at length. “You’re the Magus Prime. You have more power and control than I’ll ever have. Why don’t you let me make the attempt at the gateway instead?”
“Because you’re younger and fresher than I am. Because I’m the Magus Prime, it’s my responsibility to take this risk and not delegate it. And, most importantly, because we’ve got a replacement candidate ready for earth but not water. There ain’t no reasonable argument that supports the idea of your going in my stead.” Sorial wondered if all those straightforward, rational reasons were excuses. The most basic truth was that he valued Alicia’s life more than his own. Given a choice, he would prefer life to death but he was willing to sacrifice himself so she could continue.
“Sometimes your capacity for logic can be infuriating,” said Alicia, her voice subdued. “You can go back to s
leep now. I’ll see whether the rest of the book has additional details to offer. It’s not as if we have a foolproof plan to follow. And I’d feel more comfortable knowing this was derived from the genuine ramblings of Altemiak rather than the mad speculation of an impostor.”
* * *
Alicia proclaimed the baby to be adorable. Sorial wasn’t as sure. It was red, wrinkled, and not at all impressive. Of course, he had little experience with infants. Occasionally a mother had brought one to the inn for an overnight stay but rarely had they come within sniffing distance of the stable. In all of his nineteen years, Sorial had never touched a baby, let alone held one - a task that was now expected of him. The prospect terrified The Lord of Earth.
The added complication was that Kara was his. That wasn’t supposed to matter; as far as the world was concerned, she was the daughter of Azarak and Myselene, the true and rightful heir to the throne of Vantok and quite possibly Obis, depending on whether Myselene had additional children and how she elected to divide her kingdom.
There were only five of them in the room, including the child. In addition to the queen, Sorial, and Alicia, only Myselene’s maid, Nymia, was present. The young woman stood quietly in the background, almost invisible. Many people spoke freely in front of servants, assuming them to be inconsequential, but Sorial knew differently. Care was therefore taken not to reveal the truth of Kara’s parentage. Nymia was a true and faithful woman but, if she some day came under duress, she couldn’t reveal secrets she didn’t know.
At the moment, Alicia was cradling the baby, rocking her gently and cooing to her. “Her northern roots are apparent,” she said, carefully phrasing the comment. Kara was entirely a child of the North. Myselene’s father had been from one of the oldest, most respected houses in Obis and her mother had been a Syrene princess. Sorial’s parents had also hailed from beyond The Broken Crags.
Shadow of the Otherverse (The Last Whisper of the Gods Saga Book 3) Page 53
