This bubble was huge. Whoever had crafted it was quite adept with extradimensional energy.
“Greetings, godling,” a hissing voice said from my left. I spun and found one of the featureless nirrin facing me. This one wore a fine red and silver robe, with the hood up. I recognized him from when I Glimpsed Sakave sentencing Croatoan to death. “My name is Harliss. I am authorized to speak to you on behalf of my Lord Sakave.” When I didn’t respond or move, Harliss continued. “I apologize for bringing you here so suddenly and without warning. However, I feared you would not be amenable to meeting with me. I assure you I bear you no ill will, and this place”—he spread his arm to encompass the mossy walls—“is a place of truce and diplomacy. A place of peace.”
My knee-jerk reaction was to rip Open a portal to someplace that didn’t have oxygen and let this guy get sucked out into a vacuum. But, if it was possible to solve the conflict with Sakave via diplomacy, that was definitely the better way to go. I spread my hands. “I will not be the one to break the peace,” I said.
Harliss’s shoulders relaxed. Sadly, he didn’t recognize my Godfather quote. “I am pleased to hear this. If you would follow me, we can speak in comfort.” He turned and walked down the boggy path. We left the cavern and emerged into open space. Swamp spread all around us, dead trees and grasses dotting the landscape. While my Reeboks squished and schlorped with each step, Harliss seemed to glide an inch above the ground, the hem of his robe not even looking remotely soiled, let alone caked with filth like it should be. I followed Harliss for about two minutes. There were rats skittering around in the bog, and I took control of a couple of them, looking through their eyes as we moved. Their noses told me there were no other nirrin in the bubble.
We rounded a large rock, and I saw a vine-covered dome rising out of the swamp. It was about the size of a small house, with oval windows that reminded me of eye sockets. “Jesus,” I muttered. “It’s the Legion of Doom.”
“Pardon?” Harliss asked.
“Nothing,” I said, waving my hand. I didn’t feel like explaining the Super Friends cartoon to Harliss. The rats I’d taken control of skittered up the sides of the building and promptly died. The connection between us was severed so quickly that I missed a step and stumbled, splashing myself with muck. What the hell? “It’s an interesting design,” I said, futilely trying to wipe grime off my pants.
“Indeed,” Harliss agreed. “It is a testament to my lord’s power. Only those whose lives he wishes to continue are allowed to touch it.”
I stopped.
Harliss put up his hands. “I assure you, this is no trap, Vincent Corinthos.”
“Just the same,” I said. “I won’t be going in there.”
Harliss shrugged. “That was not our destination, anyway,” he said. “It is here.” He pointed into a copse of dead trees with broken branches. There, a small pavilion made of deadwood and creeper vines blended perfectly into the surrounding landscape. Harliss waved his hands, and two stumps rumbled up from the ground, the grime and bark peeling away from them until they were perfectly smooth and clean stools. A wider stump popped up between them, going through the same process until it was a sufficient table. Harliss looked pleased with himself.
Xavier had mentioned that the nirrin had limited control over dimensional energy and plants. But this was it? Honestly, I wasn’t impressed. I can do stuff a thousand times cooler than that on the Bright Side. I took a seat. “So, what did you want to speak with me about?”
“My Lord Sakave was most interested to learn that the Urisk still live,” Harliss said. “You understand that they were his favorite people, his chosen.”
I tipped my head at him. “And you nirrin aren’t jealous of the Urisk?”
Harliss shook his head so violently I thought it might pop off. As it was, his hood flapped about like a plastic bag on the freeway. “Not at all. We nirrin were proud to serve alongside the Urisk. They were an amazing force to see, champions of everything Sakave stood for. It would be wonderful to have them back, it is something we have sung songs of for centuries.”
“I see,” I said. “And so you’re asking me to give you back the Urisk?”
Harliss nodded. “That is the ultimate goal, yes. However, we have learned that the Urisk may have been… what is the word… tampered… yes, tampered with, since we last saw them. They do not behave as they once did. Their minds have been changed.”
How in the hell did he know about that? “You are well informed,” I said.
Harliss nodded again, and spread his hands in what I guessed was supposed to be a sheepish manner. “We must gather information for our lord. We understand that you have a connection to the Urisk, that they worship you as their god now. Understand, Vincent Corinthos, that Lord Sakave does not bear you any ill will. If anything, he is grateful that you have cared for his favored people so well in his absence.”
“Uh huh.”
“Lord Sakave would like to reward you for your devotion to the Urisk. He needs you to remove the barriers that have been placed in the Urisk’s minds. Simply restore them to their original state.”
“So re-activate their bloodlust, appetite for murder and sadism?” I asked.
“Precisely,” Harliss said, completely missing my sarcasm. “Once the Urisk have been returned to their proper disposition, Sakave can take the realms much more quickly and with less loss of life.”
“Less loss of nirrin life, you mean,” I said. Damn. I really tried to keep my mouth shut. I’d managed for almost five whole minutes. That really was a record for me. Stuff like this was the reason that Megan was the diplomat, and I… well, wasn’t.
Harliss stiffened. “Lord Sakave does not wish to cause death. It simply becomes necessary when the denizens of the planes resist his laws. If they would simply accept those laws, there would be no issue.” Harliss held up his hands. “I fear we are straying off topic. Lord Sakave has a generous offer to make to you. Restore the Urisk and return them to him, and he will give you this.” Another stump burst from the ground, this one with a hollow depression at its top. Nestled in the depression was a faintly glowing cube of silver metal. It was about the size of a Rubik’s Cube, but as he handed it to me, I nearly dropped it; it must’ve weighed forty or fifty pounds. I used telekinesis to hover it a few inches above the table.
“This is celestial metal,” Harliss said, nodding to the cube. “Lord Sakave has mines filled with it. We understand you are searching for this material. Sakave will give you all that you desire, he will give you the elemental plane where this metal can be found, should you wish. All you need to do is return the Urisk to him, whole and renewed.”
I swallowed. Hephaestus had told me I’d need about fifteen pounds of celestial metal to repair the Rosario. This was more than enough for that. Hell, this might even be enough to give Cynthia an adult-sized body. Herb could be healed, and I’d finally be free of that damned promise. And if I returned the Urisk to Sakave, they wouldn’t worship me anymore, and those fractures in time and reality could heal. All my problems gone because of this little silver cube.
I’d like to say that I flat out refused Harliss, that I slammed the cube into his face and then set fire to the pocket reality I was in, but I found myself actually considering his proposal. And that made me angry. Angry because here I was, acting like a damned Olympian, when I’d sworn never to behave like that, never to put myself above my followers.
I let the celestial metal drop onto the table, where it cracked the wood. “No,” I said, breathing hard.
“No?” Harliss seemed genuinely confused. “I do not understand. Our source said this metal was important to you.”
“And do tell,” I said, barely keeping my temper, “who was your source?”
Harliss’s blank features didn’t change, but his posture suddenly became guarded. “Our sources are our own
, Vincent Corinthos. Do not push me.”
“Don’t push you?” I said, exasperated. “You drag me into a swampy pocket dimension, tell me to revert the Urisk to a feral nature, and essentially say that you’ve been spying on me, and in exchange, you’ll offer me material baubles. And all I have to do is aid some extradimensional megalomaniac on his psychotic mission for universal conquest.”
“You will not speak of our Lord Sakave like this,” Harliss snapped.
“I just did,” I said. “Sakave is a monster. And guys like me, you know what we do? We stop monsters. If your asshole lord wants in on this world, or if he wants the Urisk, he has to go through me first. You just have him try. You have him try, and you see how things work out for him.” I was snarling by the time I was done. “And let me tell you one more thing, Harliss. If you featureless freaks grab me off the street one more time, I will unmake you. If you think what happened to the Urisk was bad, wait until you see what I can do to the nirrin. How do you fancy the idea of being turned into venomless garden snakes?” I was completely bluffing on that last part. I had no way of effecting such a change unless we were on the Bright Side. But I was willing to bet that Harliss didn’t know that.
His eyeless gaze was unsettling as he regarded me. “I fear I am doing a poor job of negotiating this scenario,” he said. “Master, forgive me, but I must request your assistance.” A moment later, a pair of glowing purple eyes bloomed on Harliss’s face.
“Godling,” he said, in the voice I recognized from Ashgate.
“Sakave, I presume,” I said.
He nodded. “You trouble my children, Vincent Corinthos. They fear you.”
“Nothing to fear if they leave my realm alone,” I replied.
Sakave-Harliss shook his head. “Your realm is chaotic. There is no law.”
“Yes, there is. Good people work to define what’s right and fair, and others enforce those laws. People who break those laws are punished.”
Sakave-Harliss laughed. It was a mirthless sound. “Punished? I have scryed your realm, seen what you consider punishment. People are made to spend time in cells away from their lives. Then, after a certain number of years, they are released into the world to commit crime all over again. This is not how laws are enforced. Your laws are mere suggestions; they have no teeth.”
“They are fair,” I countered. “Our people are mostly good. And they do not live in constant fear.”
“Is that so? There is no crime here? No one does violence against their neighbor? There is no fear at all?” Sakave-Harliss asked. “My people have no locks on their doors. My people need no weapons. My people do not fear the dark of night. And that is because they know that those who would steal from them or do them harm have already been killed. They are completely safe and secure. Can you honestly say the same?”
“Your people may not fear each other, but I’ll go out on a limb and say they fear you.”
He chuckled. “One of your own once penned ‘It is better to be loved and feared. But if you cannot be both, then be feared.’”
Jesus, this guy was quoting The Prince to me. “It’s not a good way to rule, Sakave. You want to do that with your home world, fine. That’s your thing; I’ve got no business there. But I won’t stand by and let you impose your will here. You don’t have the right.”
He shook his head, a sad expression on his face. “Time and time again, I have heard this same argument. Some idealistic champion stands up to me, a person who has the respect of his people, a person who could likely rule on his own, impose his own laws, if only he would let go of his naïveté. You and I are not that different, Vincent Corinthos. You imposed similar laws upon the Urisk, did you not?”
“I did not,” I said sharply.
“Really?” If Harliss had eyebrows, I was sure Sakave would’ve just raised them. “From what I have learned, the Urisk who break your tenets are denied an afterlife.”
“They’re not automatically denied an afterlife,” I snapped back. “Just like any other religion, if they’re questionable, they get judged.”
“And if they are deemed unworthy,” Sakave continued, “they cease to exist. No chance at redemption.” I stared at him. He chuckled again. “You do understand the importance of order, godling. You understand the importance of law. Why resist me so? Work with me. Help me understand your people, and I will ensure that the laws we create will be fair.”
Normally, at this point, I’d make some snarky crack that would lead to a fight. But I decided to take a different approach. It might still wind up with me getting in a fight, but at least I could say I’d tried.
“Sakave, what happened to your mother and aunt was horrible. And while nothing’s going to bring them back, you did make your world a safer place. For a time. Now you’ve gone too far. You’re assuming you know what’s best for everyone, for all people. That’s not the case. Maybe our laws aren’t as strict as yours, and our realm not as orderly, but our people have the ability to choose. They know all actions have consequences, and they need to be aware of that. If you take away a people’s free will, you’re effectively preventing them from ever growing.”
Sakave-Harliss took a moment to smooth his robe and then folded his hands on the table. “I have heard that speech before, too, Vincent Corinthos, and many times more eloquently. You and I have reached an impasse. I believe you will come around to my way of thinking. However, I feel our time here is no longer productive. I will return you.”
“Don’t bother,” I said, standing up. “I’ll show myself out.” Sakave-Harliss rose with me, and I telekinetically flicked the octahedron into a pocket of his robe. He swatted at the spot, likely thinking it was one of the oversized beetles that was buzzing around the area. With that, I reached out, found the extradimensional thread that stitched up the bubble dimension, and unraveled it.
I was back on the street a moment later. The dirty air of the city was a welcome change from the decay of the swamp I’d just been in. I took a huge lungful of it and let it out slowly. I was mad at Harliss, mad at Sakave, but mostly, I was mad at myself. For a second there, I’d actually considered taking the easy route, actually thought about selling out my followers, and it made me sick. I was going to do everything I could to protect the Urisk, and I would fight to stop Sakave with my last breath.
I rubbed the grit from my eyes. Today had been exhausting, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I was running on fumes, but I didn’t have time to sleep, not yet. The octahedron had started sending out pings. Time for some recon.
I couldn’t spy on Harliss from my office; HQ is warded against extradimensional gateways. The Bright Side was out, too, because I didn’t want to risk Harliss and his pals seeing my peephole and then somehow reverse engineering a passage to the Urisk. That left my apartment. I portaled into my bedroom and stopped when I saw the Commander Courageous action figure standing atop my dresser. I picked the toy up and stared into the Commander’s lifeless plastic eyes for a moment. All the time that he’d been advising me, he’d been telling a younger version of himself what to do. Was I going to have to do that? Would I find my own Anisa Amulet and learn how to Open a time portal where I could communicate with myself via a gift my father had given me when I was a kid?
I pushed the thoughts aside. No time for them now. If I didn’t stop Sakave, there was a good chance we’d all be dead before I got the chance to talk to my past self. And the only way I was going to be able to stop Sakave was to learn more about what he was up to. I opened a tiny portal about fifteen feet above the octahedron’s pings. I was looking down on Harliss, who was seated inside a dimly lit room. The glowing purple eyes were gone, and the nirrin’s featureless face was tightly drawn, as if he were agitated. Going by the ocular socket-like window facing the table, he was inside the Hall of Injustice or whatever the hell that weird building was I’d seen in the swamp. It looked like
a conference room, with more stump furniture. A lone figure was seated across from Harliss.
Treggen. Son of a bitch.
I strained my ears to catch what they were saying. I didn’t dare move the peephole much closer for fear they’d notice it. Luckily for me, though, Harliss was upset and had raised his voice.
“You said he would take the bargain,” Harliss snapped.
“I said no such thing,” Treggen replied, his voice even. “I said that celestial metal was important to him, and likely the only thing that would tempt him. Corinthos is idealistic at his core. I told you this, which was why I advised you to kill him rather than attempt to bribe him.” Well, it was nice to see that Treggen’s attitude toward me hadn’t changed.
“Sakave is not one to waste resources,” Harliss said. “Vincent Corinthos could be a useful and powerful tool.”
Treggen shook his head. “Forgive my saying so, but you are being terribly naïve. Corinthos will never side with Sakave. He is the idealistic archetype who will go down fighting for his beliefs. This is what draws paranormals to worship him. And while other members of the supernatural community may not revere him, many of them hold him in high regard or are afraid of him. He is not to be taken lightly, as I have learned.”
“Yes, he thwarted you yet again when you attempted to reclaim the Urisk yourself.” He drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “And you lost ten nirrin in the process.”
Treggen leaned forward on his elbows. “That wasn’t my fault. I told you what happened to the strike team you sent with me. The minute they set foot inside of the phasilion, they all dropped dead.”
Fractures: Caulborn 4 Page 17
