“Do you remember anything from Aidan’s castle?” Athala asked.
“I…uh,” I tried to remember. It was hazy. “We were fighting and I think we were winning and then he said something and it’s kind of hazy after that.”
“He put you under a bewusstseinskontrolle-spell,” Athala clarified. “It was not as strong as a soldier’s, but strong enough.”
“Wait…he did what?” I felt my skin crawl.
“Ya,” Athala nodded somberly. “He ordered you to kill me.”
Despite the excess of energy coursing through me, I suddenly started to feel weak as the vague hazy memories began to come into focus. I recalled Aidan speaking his command and suddenly my will was totally subverted. I remembered…
“Oh, Athala,” I said looking at her, “I’m so sorry.”
Athala gave me a weary shrug. “It was not you.”
“But I could have killed you!”
“Unlikely,” Athala gave me a half-hearted smirk, “not unless I let you.”
As much as my pride rebelled against the idea, that was probably true. “Why didn’t you kill me?” I asked, suddenly surprised that she hadn’t.
Athala’s blue eyes flashed with anger at the question. “I would not take your life unless it was the absolute last resort!” she retorted. “You know you are all I have and I will not lose you if I can at all help it!”
I was taken aback by her passion. Athala was cold, calculating, and brilliant but generally displayed the emotional range of a goat. In truth, I didn’t know how much I meant to her, always assuming I was little more than a tool to her; that’s how she’d explicitly regarded everyone else. But her expression, her words, and of course the kiss had me thinking maybe I meant more to her than just a sword; maybe she saw me as a person. It made me question how I saw her.
“I put you under a schlafe-spell,” she explained, refocusing my thoughts. “I kept you under as long as I could but…well…” she trailed off. I didn’t need to hear the rest.
“I was out of ideas when she appeared,” Athala gestured to the goddess. “She told me how to break spell. I did not fully believe it would work,” she confessed, “but I did not have a choice.”
I sighed, looking at the goddess. “I supposed I really do owe you my life,” I commented.
“Indeed you do,” Olympia confirmed with a nod. That made me feel a whole lot better.
“What is the bargain you made?” I asked Athala.
“In return for your life,” Olympia answered, “she has sworn herself to my service.”
“You…what?”
“It was the only way,” Athala said confidently. “Besides, I was already enslaved to a god; I just did not know it.”
“Huh?” I was thoroughly confused.
“It turns out my magic was never actually mine but Natas using me,” Athala briefly explained. “He was the real one in control of my magic, not me. For that matter, he was the one in control of me.”
Her words were laced with a deep bitterness and a barely controlled fury. I couldn’t blame her. Athala’s entire world, disturbed as it was, had been piece by piece torn down. She’d been abused and tortured and for what? Not to become a mighty sorceress, but a psychopathic deity’s puppet? That she was still sane was a minor miracle.
“So what?” I turned to the goddess. “She’s supposed to exchange one master for another?”
“All but the One serve someone,” Olympia answered calmly. “Even I serve someone. The best we can hope for is to choose the best master we can and I am the best you could wish. I will not ask more of you than you can do and in service to me, you will be protected from Natas. While his servants can still physically harm you, never again will his power be able to touch your mind.”
“And what do you get out of this arrangement?” I demanded. She made sense but I was not about to trust any of these crazy gods.
“I get my champions, the protectors of my people,” Olympia answered.
The plural was not lost on me. “Hold on!” I said, raising my hand. “I’m part of this?”
“I did save your life,” Olympia pointed out. “According Alkite customs, your honor demands that you repay me in kind. Since you can obviously never save my life, I will be content with you saving my people.”
Dread filled me as I realized she was right. Whether I had asked to be saved or not, I did owe her a life debt. Until either I saved her life, which obviously wasn’t going to happen, or carried out some similar task, I had to serve her. To ignore a life debt especially to a goddess, was the greatest shame possible.
“Fine,” I growled, folding my arms over my chest. “What exactly do you want us to do to protect ‘your people’? Who are these people, anyway?”
“While I am technically tasked with all of mankind, I have always had a special affinity for the Eisenberge. I am not sure why but there is something about the mountains that attracts me,” she said. “The people have suffered far too long under Katrina’s thumb and it is long past time that they be free.”
“You’re telling me that I’m now your servant and then you tell me my task was to do what I was doing anyway?” I was incredulous.
“Essentially.”
“Are there any added bonuses?” I asked sharply. “Are you going to make me a sorcerer too?”
“No,” Olympia shook her head. “Sorcery is fundamentally a violation of the very laws of existence, laws I am sworn to uphold. I cannot violate them, even for my greatest servants.”
“So how can Athala use magic?” I asked.
“I cannot,” Athala answered. “Swearing my service to Olympia will cut me off from Natas and thus from the source of my magic.”
I wanted to strangle the goddess. “Let me get this right,” I said through gritted teeth, “you want us to continue the suicide mission we were already on, except that now you’re going to make it infinitely harder? How are we supposed to beat a sorceress without sorcery?”
“You would never have beaten her with sorcery, Zimri. Natas would never have allowed it,” Olympia pointed out. “And do not think I am sending you like helpless sheep before the dragon. I will give you the tools that actually have a chance at defeating her: science.”
“Science?”
“Science is understanding the laws upon which the world was designed to operate. The better you understand how the world works, the better you can repurpose those laws for your own uses,” Olympia explained. “For example, how Athala learned to use the oil of the vanishing pheasant to make an invisibility potion and cloak.”
“I told you that was not magic!” Athala interjected.
“Indeed not,” Olympia concurred. “Magic, on the other hand, is bending and twisting the laws of nature, unlike science which redirects them. Despite, however, what Natas would have you believe, magic cannot break those laws; only twist them and there are limits to how far they can be twisted.”
“Point being?” I prodded.
“Science can untwist magic,” Olympia stated. “If you fight magic with science, science will ultimately win. Magic will burn itself out and nature rebels against it, desiring a return to equilibrium. There is no spell that cannot be defeated by a proper understanding of science.”
“Even the tod-spell?” I snorted derisively.
“Even the tod-spell,” she nodded. “The tod-spell simply steals the life spark; all you have to do is put it back.”
I had no clue what that meant but Athala looked thoughtful so I assumed it meant something to her.
“What I am offering, in addition to your life, is the tools you need to defeat the Sorceress once and for all,” Olympia said. “All I ask is that you serve me in protecting and guiding these people.”
“Why now?” I asked. “You’ve had a century to find a hero or two so why are you just now getting around to it? Have you been busy somewhere else or what?”
For a moment, a flicker of sadness and anger passed over Olympia’s face. “Do you really think you are the first
I have chosen?” she asked. “You are not. Others have gone before you and have failed.”
That didn’t exactly make me feel any better about this. “What makes you think we’ll succeed where they failed?” I questioned.
“Because you have each other, for starters,” Olympia answered. “The others all worked alone or duplicated the other’s strengths and weaknesses. But you compliment each other in ways I have not seen in an eon. That is why I need both of you. Athala has the affinity for the natural world scarcely seen while you have an understanding with people. They follow you, Zimri, they look up to you.”
“I’m no leader,” I rebutted. Truth be told, I’d gone to great lengths thus far in my life to avoid being a leader.
“You are and you cannot avoid it,” Olympia countered. “Why do you think Sennacherib specifically asked you to go? Do you think it was just because of how much you care for his daughter? No, it was because he and Lord Omri and your parents and Ariadne all see that leadership in you. So do I. Trust me when I tell you that Shama’im was loathe to give you to me. He wanted you to be his champion but I have greater need of you.
“Athala has the knowledge and skill but you have a wisdom tempered by a sense of right and wrong that she needs. Athala needs you to point her in the right direction, to be her conscience. You see past what logic says should and should not be possible. Together you blend the human and technical, the emotional and rational the way they are supposed to be. Alone, neither of you could succeed but together, with my guidance, I believe you will succeed.”
“But no guarantee?”
“Death is the only guarantee in life,” Olympia responded flatly. “It will be difficult and you may not survive. But serve me and I will give you the greatest chance you could have.”
“Zimri, she is right,” Athala said matter-of-factly. Turning to the goddess, she knelt. “Olympia, goddess of the mountains, I pledge my service and life to you.”
I blinked in surprise. Athala never bowed to anyone.
A subtle, amused smile creased Olympia’s face as she reached down and touched Athala’s shoulder. “I accept your service, although that was a bit melodramatic.”
Athala flushed. “Am I free?” she asked.
“Reach for the magic and see,” Olympia encouraged.
Athala’s eyes narrowed in concentration as she reached out for the magical power. For the briefest of moments, her irises flickered red before settling back to their normal blue. Letting out a pent-up breath, she sighed.
“I cannot,” she declared with far more relief than I expected. “Thank you.”
“I always take care of my own,” Olympia nodded. “Zimri?”
Both looked expectantly at me. I was still trying to process what had just happened. Somehow, Olympia had blocked Athala off from magic. Given what little I was starting to understand about it, that was probably a good thing but it felt like I’d just lost a sword. Regardless, both were clearly waiting for me to swear my service to Olympia. I sighed,
“For the record, I don’t like this,” I grumbled. “But I also have no choice. You did save me and free me from the spell so I must swear my service to you until I have paid you back in kind. My life is yours, mistress.”
“Gladly I accept your service,” Olympia gave a slight nod.
Awkwardly we stood there, not sure what to do next. I’d expected some sort of magical wave or feeling or something but so far as I could tell, nothing fundamental had changed. No, that wasn’t quite right. I knew something had changed; I was in the service of a goddess’s whose existence I hadn’t believed until a few minutes ago. What that meant, I had no clue.
“So, uh, now what?” I asked.
“Now you put your leadership to the test,” Olympia said cryptically.
“I…what?”
“Titan!” Adler burst in suddenly. “Oh, Zimri, you are awake. Are you going to kill us?”
“No, don’t be ridiculous,” I said standing. “What’s going on?”
“Lord Aidan’s coming with an army! He is going to kill us all!” Adler declared.
“Remember your oath,” Olympia’s voice whispered to me as she disappeared.
Chapter 36-Zimri
Quickly throwing a shirt on, I followed Adler, Athala, and Titan into the kitchen area where Rolf, Liesl, and ragged looking person waited.
“Zimri!” Liesl broke into a tired smile. “You are up and looking well, relatively speaking.”
“Feeling much better and far too rested,” I answered. “Aidan has an army marching this way?”
“Ya,” Rolf nodded somberly.” Raban saw them while he was hunting this morning.”
The other man nodded, exhaustion evident on his face. “I knew they were coming here and ran as fast as I could to warn Rolf.”
“How many hours behind you?” I questioned, my mind starting to race. “Which direction?”
“Southeast, from Lord Aidan’s castle,” Raban supplied. “I do not know how many hours behind me. Maybe three or four?”
“They will not be here until morning,” Athala added in her flat voice.
Raban noticed her for the first time and went even whiter, stepping back. “You-you are her!” he gasped. “The sorceress’s apprentice from Gletcher!”
Athala just rolled her eyes. “We are all on the same side here,” I diplomatically said, hoping to calm things down. “So we’ve got eight or nine hours before they come?”
“Something like that, ya,” Athala nodded. “It should be enough time for us to get away.”
“Of course you would leave,” Adler snorted. “You kick the hornet’s nest and leave us to suffer the sting.”
“We’re not leaving,” I turned a sharp glare on Athala. “One, Adler’s right; we got them into this and so we owe them our defense,” I explained, preempting Athala’s protests. “Two, we still need to deal with Aidan before tackling the Sorceress.”
“Katrina.”
“Huh?”
“Her name is Katrina,” Athala restated. “Not the ‘Mistress’ or the ‘Sorceress’ but Katrina. She is a human being, not a mythical monster and I suggest we start thinking of her as such.”
The room fell silent as I gave Athala a curious look. There was something different about her. She’d always been angry but now there was a focus to her anger, a determination I hadn’t seen in her before.
“Right,” I continued. “The point is, we have to deal with Aidan and we will.”
“How?” Adler snorted, a hint of helplessness in his voice.
“We fight,” I answered confidently.
“With what army? With what weapons? And against a sorcerer? What are we supposed to do against that?” Adler protested.
“I will deal with Aidan,” Athala declared, eyes blazing with a restrained fury.
I had no idea how she was going to defeat a fully-powered sorcerer without magic but I wasn’t going to doubt that look. Besides, Olympia seemed to believe that somehow not using magic was an advantage. Insane as that seemed, her tricks had managed to break Aidan’s spell over me so maybe there was something to it.
“And the armed, trained soldiers?” Alder said.
Quickly I did the mental math. “There should be roughly four hundred soldiers, right?” I asked Raban.
“I did not stay to get a good count but that sounds about right,” he answered.
“How many men in this village?” I turned next to Rolf.
“Maybe a hundred-fifty,” he shrugged.
“My point exactly!” Adler exploded, glaring daggers at me. “You should never have come here and you certainly should never have gone after Aidan! You have killed us all!”
“We aren’t dead yet,” I shot back, returning the glare.
“You are right,” Adler’s eyes turned treacherous. “We might save ourselves by turning you over to Aidan. Show him we had nothing to do with this.”
The room again fell silent. Titan’s glare was deadly while Rolf and Liesl looked sick but none of the
m spoke against the idea.
“That would not save you,” Athala broke the silence.
“How would you know?”
“Because it would not save you from me and I am far more forgiving than Aidan,” she explained. “I grew up with him, fought against him, and I know him far better than any of you. Even if we were to run, he would still burn this village to the ground and execute every last one of you.”
“Not that it would matter,” I added. “My mission is still to save the princess, even if that means fighting you.”
Adler’s hard visage softened to despair. “So we are truly doomed.”
“Not while you still live,” I declared. “I’ll grant the odds are long and there’s a good chance we could all die. But ever since I stepped foot in the Eisenberge, there’s pretty much been a good chance that I’ll die every day yet here I am. Athala and I have snuck past a thousand soldiers at Black Falls Castle, we survived two weeks exposed on the Berge Wiese, we fought our way out of Wiese, killed a dragon, raided Aidan’s castle, and even managed to undo a spell.”
“You failed at Aidan’s castle,” Adler remarked.
“The point is,” I said, ignoring him, “Athala and I have made our life these last couple of months defying and beating the odds. We should be dead a dozen times over yet here we are. We will beat the odds again. There’s a good chance we’ll get slaughtered by Aidan’s soldiers, but it’s a certainty if we do nothing. And if we win, for the first time in almost a century, you will be free. Free of Aidan, free of Katrina, free of all of it. Your lives will finally be your own.”
“At least until the Mistress sends another sorcerer and army to enslave us,” Adler growled.
“Only if you let her,” I countered. “Why should you stop here? Take Aidan’s castle and his armory. Take the Immergrün. Take Wiese. This isn’t just a fight for survival, this is a first step towards freedom.”
“We are just a bunch of farmers, shepherds, miners, and smiths,” Rolf spoke for the first time. “Defending this little village will not change anything.”
“The world does not change with grand battles,” I said. “It changes by people taking the first tiny steps and then taking another and then another until suddenly they are in a very different place. This is that first step.
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