Bound in Darkness

by Jacquelyn Frank

  “I believe in fact. He is a god, you are a mortal.”

  “I am immortal. I am strong. I am protected.” He touched the talisman.

  “He is a god,” she repeated.

  “What does that mean?” he asked her. “Do we even know what it means to be a god? Do we even know what limitations they have? What true strengths? Do we know anything about them? I know they cannot hear all of us at all times. I know they could not take my immortality away from me when I stole it for myself. They have limitations. I will find out his weaknesses and I will win. I have to win,” he said softly, kissing her cheek. “I have every reason in the world to win.”

  She gave him a wan smile and nodded. “You are right. There is a good chance you will be victorious. Meru would not have sent you for the cuff and the ring if she didn’t believe that. But she is using you to help sway the war between the gods into the favor of Weysa’s faction. She doesn’t care if you live or die.”

  “I think she does. Anyway, we will see. But that is tomorrow…and your night is only beginning.”

  She lifted her chin, setting her jaw stubbornly. “You are right,” she said then, more strongly. “You are strong enough to beat him. I believe in you. And I will not waste the time we have together crying like a woman.”

  She pushed him off her, hearing him chuckle as she rolled him to his back. She slung her leg over him so she was straddling his thighs and he saw a devilish gleam in her eyes.

  “Now I believe it is time to make you cry.” She took his hands and spread them out to his sides. “Don’t touch,” she warned him.

  He chuckled. “Turning the tables on me?”

  “Yes.” Her gaze held a world of passionate promise. Maxum closed his eyes for a moment to try and gird himself against the prospect of Airi on a mission to seduce him. He was already seduced, didn’t she know that? Everything else was just a bonus.

  He opened his eyes and watched her do her worst.

  Maxum walked into the temple of Meru with a heavy heart. Airi was standing by his side, supporting him to the last, and doing it without any tears. Those tears the night before had been her last, and he knew she wasn’t even fighting to hide them. She believed in him. She would believe in him to the end. She feared for him, but she believed.

  Maxum went to the temple’s offering stone, whereupon a variety of objects was laid, given as offerings to the goddess from those supplicants that were trying to win her assistance in their lives. Most often it was women who longed to bear children for their husbands, or pregnant women who wanted a specific sex for the child or for the child to come out healthy. She was the goddess of all things fertile, so even farmers came and made offerings to her in hopes that their fields would grow ripe and healthy that season. Those took shape as sacks of grain or freshly butchered animals. At the end of the day Meru’s mems would take the offering and use them to feed themselves or clothe themselves, so that nothing went to waste. By supplying the well-being of Meru’s mems, the supplicants were doing Meru a great favor. In this way their prayers could be answered.

  Or so it was believed. Maxum didn’t really know how often such requests were answered. He imagined that if Meru had to answer every single prayer that went up to her every single day all over the world, she would quite exhaust herself. But it was a known fact that many prayers went unanswered. When they went unanswered the supplicant could only assume it was against a god’s wishes. Or perhaps they had not prayed hard enough. Or that they had in some way done something to displease the gods. There was a lot left open to interpretation. A lot an average mortal did not have an answer for. All they could do was guess and listen to the Songs of the Gods as guidance to what the gods truly wanted from them all.

  But as he stood before the altar Maxum was forced to wonder if it was more than a matter of a god’s wishes or temperament. That perhaps it wasn’t in their power at all to do the things the supplicants asked of them. He hoped this was the case because it meant there was weakness to be found. That they were not all-knowing and all-seeing. They were not all-powerful. He had already proved the all-seeing part to himself…and the all-knowing. Now he wanted to prove they were not all-powerful.

  He looked to the left and right, checking to see if the room was cleared, then he lowered himself to a knee and began to pray.

  “Meru, I have come to do what I promised to do. Come to me and we will begin and end this thing. I beg you to hear me and to adhere to your part of this bargain.”

  There was no response, so he tried again.

  For the better part of an hour he prayed to a goddess who had apparently turned a deaf ear to him. But he had come too far to give up now, so he persisted. A mem entered the altar room and came to ask them if there was some guidance she could offer. Airi politely declined the invitation. The mem looked perplexed, but she left them to their prayers and went about her business.

  It was just turning into the noon hour when Meru suddenly appeared, her rich wheat-colored hair arranged wildly about her shoulders, her body dressed in a dress of flowing white fabric.

  “I have heard your prayers,” she said, moving quickly to him, “and we have coordinated our attack. Weysa’s faction will keep the other gods from interfering in your battle, but the rest is up to you.”

  “I am ready,” Maxum said.

  “Are you?” she asked. “I do not think you fully understand the ramifications of what you are going to be doing. The responsibility to the world should you win.”

  “I know the world would be better off without pain and suffering.”

  “There you are wrong. For we must have pain and suffering in order to appreciate what goodness is. In order to appreciate what pleasure is. A world cannot function without pain and suffering.” Meru turned to Airi. “You should know that most of all. For I think you will feel great pain and suffer great loss if he leaves you.”

  “I will,” she said, but her voice was strong. “But he will not leave me…and I will not leave him. I wish to watch the battle.”

  “A war between gods is no place for a mortal. You would most certainly be killed.”

  “Airi, no!” Maxum cried at the same time.

  “I will not be able to sit here never knowing what has become of him! I must see this for myself. I beg of you, please!”

  “Perhaps,” Meru said after a brief moment, “there is a way. I will turn you into a tree on the edge of the field and you will witness the entire battle, but no one will know you are there. But be warned, if I should fall or die or be taken captive, I will not be able to turn you back again. And also, as a tree you will be vulnerable as any tree might be to being bent or crushed. If the battle should be taken near you you could be severely harmed or damaged…or even killed. But otherwise, you will have full view of the entire field and the entire battle.”

  “Yes!”

  “No! Airi, no! I cannot battle knowing you are that close by!” Maxum said, his upset clear in his tone. His anger a tangible thing. “I won’t have it!”

  He knew it was the wrong thing to say even as the words were leaving his mouth. Airi’s entire being bristled with anger and stubbornness.

  “I will not just sit by waiting like some warrior’s wife who has sent her husband off to the wars and might wait months to learn what has become of him. I am not made that way! I will be by your side through this thing.”

  “But as a tree that cannot move or defend itself? Think, Airi!” he implored her.

  When he put it like that she bit her lip anxiously. “Then what do you suggest? For I will not allow you to go off without me!”

  “There is another way,” Meru said. “The ring of invisibility. You can give it to her so she may watch and remain out of sight, yet be able to move quickly and defend herself if necessary. However, you will be giving up an advantage by giving it to her rather than wearing it for yourself.”

  “No! Maxum, you need the ring for yourself!”

  “Airi…it is the only way I will allow you to be there
,” Maxum said grimly.

  Airi was torn. Was it so important that she be there that she would be willing to take away this crucial advantage?

  “If it helps you to choose,” Meru said, “the ring will only be good enough to use once against Sabo. The moment you betray yourself he will be able to strip away your invisibility.”

  “That once could mean the difference between winning and losing,” Airi said.

  “No. The fight will last much longer than a single blow. It will be a very small advantage,” Meru said.

  “Then it is settled. You will wear the ring, Airi.” Maxum reached to pull her close to his body and pressed a fierce kiss to her lips. “You are right. You should be there. I will take great strength from knowing you are there with me. But only if you are invisible to detection, otherwise Sabo could use you against me. You must promise me that you will not betray your location for any reason. You will remain silent no matter what happens.”

  “Maxum…I will not allow myself to become a weapon to be used against you. I will be your strength. I will be there for you, should you need me.”

  “It is done then. Give her the ring. The other gods of Weysa’s faction have gathered and we are to meet on the field of battle with the other gods immediately.”

  Maxum handed her the ring and she slid it onto her thumb and instantly disappeared from sight. She reached out and took his arm so that he would know where she was. He bent to kiss her lips blindly, and she met his mouth with desperate hunger. Then, in the blink of an eye, the temple melted from around them and they appeared in a golden field full of wildflowers and lined with large oak trees. Here it was not winter, but instead felt as though it were a warm, sunny day.

  Maxum gave her a little shove toward the edge of the field and she quickly followed his suggestion. She hid between two of the massive oaks, using them as protection against what was about to come.

  There, in the field before her, stood six magnificent beings. Beautiful people who seemed larger than life. These were the gods of Weysa’s faction, she realized. The warrioress dressed in full armor must be the goddess of conflict, Weysa. The rest of the gods were also dressed in armor, including Meru whose armor appeared magically before Airi’s eyes.

  She could guess at the identities of the other gods. Hella, the goddess of fate and fortune, was deemed to be a little on the mad side, something about being able to see all those pasts and presents at once having made her a little unbalanced. She appeared to be talking to herself, even though she was holding the hand of another male god. She assumed this was the god Mordu, her husband. For what went better with fate and fortune than love? The god of love held his wife’s hand and patted it gently in comfort. Airi swallowed. What good would a madwoman do in a war of the gods?

  That left Lothas, the god of day and night, and Framun, the god of peace and tranquility unidentified. But it was almost too easy to identify Lothas because his hair was half the gold of daylight sun and half the black of night. One of the males was decidedly taller than the other, although both were extraordinarily tall. Framun, it appeared, was the taller of the two.

  That was when the opposite side of the field began to fill with gods, each winking into existence in the blink of an eye. She recognized Xaxis, the god of the eight hells, right off as their leader. He was a stocky god, with black hair and eyes the color of burning embers. By his side, her hand held tightly in his, was a statuesque blond goddess who reeked of power and strength. She immediately assumed this was the goddess Kitari, the queen of all of the gods. Maxum had told her that it was believed that Kitari was, in fact, a prisoner of Xaxis’s…that she fought against Weysa’s faction against her will. And yet he had brought her to be by his side in this battle. He must at least have some confidence in her.

  The only other god she could identify was Diathus, the goddess of lands and oceans, because other than Kitari she was the only female on Xaxis’s side. She thought the god with the hard, angry eyes might be Jikaro, the god of anger and deception, but she couldn’t be certain. That left Grimu, the god of the eight heavens, and Sabo.

  “So, Weysa,” Xaxis boomed across the field, “at last you have decided to stop cowering from us and finish this battle once and for all!”

  So this was why it had been easy for them to arrange this battle. Xaxis had thrown down the gauntlet himself some time ago. As far as he knew she was merely taking him up on the offer.

  “This battle will end,” Weysa said, “and when we are victorious you and yours will come to heel and behave yourselves from now on!”

  “What is this little man doing here?” Diathus cried pointing to Maxum. “We had a deal, little man! You were not to raise your sword in Weysa’s name!”

  “And so I am not,” Maxum said. Oh gods, he looked so small compared to all these stately creatures! “I want no part of your war. I want Sabo.”

  The god she assumed was Sabo released a little chuckle, almost as though he were shocked the mortal had dared single him out. As if it might just be a fine joke. Then he leaned forward to peer at him.

  “You!” he cried out, a sudden rage singing through him. “Who let you out?”

  Diathus cringed a little. “I’m afraid that was me. I didn’t know he was going to be such a bother.”

  So Maxum was right. They were not all-knowing. Otherwise Sabo would have known he was free all this time.

  “I will put you back under the ground where you belong!” Sabo growled. Then he was launching himself across the field at Maxum. With battle cries, the other gods surged forward across the field and clashed in the resounding sound of god-made weapons. Airi ignored all of the others and fixated solely on Maxum.

  Sabo plowed into Maxum at full bore, and Maxum hit the ground. They skidded to a stop, churning up a furrow of dirt in the tall grasses. Sabo stepped back away from Maxum, seemingly surprised that he had not been injured by the attack.

  Sabo swung his sword high and with a crushing blow struck at Maxum. Maxum parried with Weysa’s Champion, but it wasn’t enough to keep Sabo’s sword from striking him at his neck. When Sabo pulled the sword back and saw Maxum was not injured he said, “What’s this? You are immortal, not invulnerable!”

  “It would appear you are wrong about that!” Maxum ground out as he launched himself at Sabo, swinging Weysa’s Champion hard. Sabo went to parry him but was clearly shocked when he didn’t have strength enough to block it completely. Maxum’s sword struck him in the collar and drew first blood.

  So. A god could bleed, Airi thought with wonder and more than a little relief. If a god could be wounded, then maybe he could be weakened. Maybe Maxum could win after all!

  Maxum was thinking the very same thing. Renewed hope surged through him as he attacked Sabo in earnest. As he struck several brutal blows with Weysa’s Champion, Sabo lunged forward and caught hold of him, grappling with him, each with a blade a hairsbreadth from the other’s neck. Then, suddenly, Sabo released him, jerked back away from him and laughed.

  “Missing something?”

  Sabo held up the cuff. He had snatched it from Maxum’s arm. Maxum had been tricked into letting him too close. How had he known what the cuff could do? Why hadn’t Maxum used it from the start?

  Damning himself, he knew it was over. As long as Sabo had that cuff his head was as good as gone from his neck. It would be nothing for Sabo to slow down time and then divest Maxum of all of his protective talismans.

  “Oh, don’t worry, little man,” Sabo said wickedly. “I have no intention of using this until I’m good and ready. First, I will fight you as you men do, to prove to you the might of a god has no need for such trickery. Yes…I think I will toy with you for a little while. That will please me.”

  Maxum was grateful for the god’s hubris which had him tossing the cuff carelessly to the ground at his feet. He had no intention of putting it on and using it himself! But then, as Sabo bore down on him, Maxum realized he didn’t need the cuff. His strength was beyond anything he had ever known.
His prowess with the blade he wielded was a thing of beauty. Something that Maxum could respect even as he faced it down.

  For the better part of an hour the two traded blows in equal measure, neither wounding the other, neither making way. Then Maxum struck again, drawing blood a second time in Sabo’s thigh.

  Roaring with pain and outrage the god stood back and growled out, “You may be invulnerable to a blade, but you are not impervious to pain!”

  He reached out and gripped the air as if he were gripping Maxum around his throat. Maxum cried out as a look of sheer agony crossed his features. He sank to his knees and screamed out again.

  “That’s right, little foolish man, I am the god of pain and suffering! I will show you pain you have never known! You think you have suffered thus far? It has been nothing compared to what I am going to do to you now!”

  Maxum had never known such agony. He had thought the pain of being crushed and pulverized for endless hours of endless years had been a pain beyond all others, but Sabo was proving to him that it had been a drop in the bucket compared to what could be. What would be, if he lost. If he lost this battle he would be taken from Airi’s side and made to suffer in ways he could not imagine. And through that Airi would suffer too.

  No. He had promised her he would succeed, that he would come out of this alive and well. That they would have a future together. He would not break that promise to her.

  Meanwhile, on the sidelines…

  No! Airi cried silently, knowing she could not shout out. She had promised Maxum and right now it was crucial she did not split his focus. But…

  She looked to where the cuff lay forgotten on the ground. It was right in the middle of the battlefield. She knew that if Maxum were to have any chance at winning, he would need that cuff.

  Her mind made up, she ran out onto the field. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her legs pumping madly as she dodged fighting godly opponents. She skirted around Maxum and Sabo, refusing to watch Maxum writhe and suffer, staying focused on her task.