Songs of the Eternal Past- Complete Trilogy

by C S Vass

  “So don’t tell me about breaking the laws. There is only one law, the law of divine justice. Haygarden has defied that law for some thirty years. So if you’re looking for a cause to the misery you see around you in this shit-hole of a city, look to your leaders. The ones who led the people here off the cliff of chaos like so many sheep following a mad shepherd. It is Haygarden that caused this. I’m simply here to restore order.”

  Panic was creeping into Fiona’s chest. She truly couldn’t breathe now, and Smiley still wasn’t letting go. There was an implacable rage carved into his face. Fiona had always assumed that if he ever tried to hurt her, she would be able to take him in a fight and run, but he had overpowered her so easily.

  When tears were streaming down her face, he finally relented. She dropped to the floor like a rag-doll, choking and sputtering.

  “I’m glad that we have an understanding now,” Smiley said coldly. The emotion that had swept over him passed as quickly as a sudden storm. “We need results from you, Fiona. Your brother is a master at evading our agents. He’s been doing it for so long. The simple truth is you stand a better chance of finding him than we do. Perhaps you haven’t been inspired in the right way. Maybe you don’t care about gold. Maybe you don’t care about getting a passport and leaving Tellos. That’s your business.”

  “I’m doing the best I—”

  “I wasn’t finished!” Smiley snapped. “It’s time to make sure that you’re properly motivated to see the success of our endeavor. If we don’t see some results from you soon, then it’s not just going to be your neck on the line. Maybe you’ll find the drunk dead in the streets, his body covered in weeping wounds. Or maybe that guard captain will hang from a tree. Who knows, there are so many possibilities. I’ve even heard whispers of a fine young woman you used to be acquainted with named Sasha Rains. She’s no fighter, from what I heard. It would be so simple if she just…disappeared.”

  “You’re a monster,” Fiona said. She looked at him with pure hatred and hated herself even more for ever agreeing to work with him.

  “Monsters are sometimes necessary to restore order when the land is plagued with chaos. You would be wise to remember that, Fiona. You may find that one day you yourself have to do something monstrous. However, I understand that Rodrick Sacrosin is going to be a difficult fish to net, even for you. As such, if you’d like to buy yourself and your friends a little more time, there is another way you can be useful.”

  Fiona rose to her feet and massaged her throat. She wondered if she should try to kill him then and there and just flee. But he was so much stronger than she had expected, and she was scared of him.

  “Your new friends in the Forgotten are of interest to some of my comrades. Among the Forgotten there is a woman, a vicious killer who goes by the name of Aiyana. Bring me her head, and perhaps we can work out a way for us to…shake hands and part ways.”

  “You’re lying,” Fiona said at once. “You want me for Rodrick. What’s keeping you from going back on the deal if I really go through and kill this woman?”

  Smiley laughed. “Nothing at all. But because you don’t get to make the rules, you’re really in more of a place where you simply have to choose among your best potential options. We’ll be seeing each other soon, Fiona. Don’t forget. Her name is Aiyana.”

  Hours later Fiona still could not find sleep. She had paced around her house a dozen times and debated going outside but she didn’t want to make herself vulnerable to the Tellosian agents that were following her. She was mad enough to scream. She never should have returned to Haygarden, and now that she had the few people she still cared about were in danger because of her.

  A soft knocking on her door tore her from her thoughts. Who would be coming at this hour of the night? She slid the demon-pommel blade from its sheath and slowly approached. Fiona cracked the door open and gasped.

  Sasha Rains was standing outside, tears streaming down her face and a black bruise enveloping the left side of her head.

  Chapter Ten

  “Sasha!”

  Fiona was utterly stunned. She could not have been more caught off guard if the old dead Duke Redfire had strut into her living room juggling dragon-skulls and tap-dancing.

  “What happened to you?”

  “May I come in?” Sasha asked meekly.

  “Of course,” Fiona said. Her instinct was to embrace Sasha, but she stopped herself. After everything that had happened, how could she? But then the moment passed and Fiona felt ashamed that she hadn’t hugged her old friend, especially in the condition she was in.

  “Here, sit down,” Fiona said. “I have some hot water. You like green teas—oh, I only have black.”

  “It’s fine,” Sasha said, sniffling. “Whatever you have is fine.”

  Fiona poured the boiling water into two clay cups and sat down next to Sasha while a storm of emotions churned within her. The girl she had known was completely stripped away. Sasha had grown a lot in two years. She was still very beautiful, with the same heart-shaped face. She still had curly auburn hair though now it was much shorter than when she had last seen her. But her hazel eyes were different. They seemed so much older and held none of the brightness that they had two years ago.

  “Thank you,” Sasha said in a voice so low it was almost a whisper. She sniffled as she sipped her tea.

  There was an awkward pause. Fiona felt bizarrely as if she were watching herself and Sasha from above.

  “Well, this certainly isn’t the way I thought we’d have our reunion,” Sasha said with a sad smile.

  “No, it’s not. Are you going to tell me what happened? Or did you just come here an hour before dawn to sip tea with me in silence.” Fiona gestured to the bruise across Sasha’s face.

  A pained look crossed Sasha’s face. “Well, I don’t know how quite to say it so I suppose I’ll just say it. I left.”

  “You left?”

  “I left Reggie.”

  “He did this to you because you left him!”

  “Well…no, actually this was from a few days ago. I had hoped it would be a bit better, but circumstances really forced me to act a little earlier than I would have liked to.”

  “Sasha, tell me everything.”

  Sasha nodded. The steam from her tea floated into her tear-stained face. “It’s been a bit of a rough two years. You see, after everything that happened Reggie just—he changed.”

  Fiona nodded, understanding dawning on her. “He didn’t take well to his father’s exile, did he?”

  “No. No, he didn’t. He was such an ambitious man. We were still allowed to stay in Haygarden of course. Sandra never blamed him for the actions of his father. But he became politically insignificant. We weren’t welcome in Sun Circle, and so he took up meaningless post after meaningless post in the Leaf District. I thought it was going to be okay. We were comfortable after all.”

  Sasha’s eyes were almost closed as she talked, and Fiona couldn’t help but notice the dead monotone voice she spoke in.

  “It started with the small things. He was just so nit-picky. So critical of everything I did. The food. My clothes. My friends. He started insulting my friends a lot. He would tell me terrible things about them. In hindsight I suppose he was trying to keep me isolated from them. Of course I didn’t see any of it at the time. I just said that it was a temporary lull. After all, the poor man had essentially lost his father.”

  “Sasha there’s never an excuse—”

  “I know,” she said quickly. “I know, Fiona. Trust me. I know.”

  “I’m sorry. Of course you do. Go on.”

  “The first time he hit me was about a year ago. Honestly I think he was more hurt by it than I was. He apologized so profusely, said he didn’t know what came over him, he had been drinking. Surely it would never happen again. You know, I really hate to admit this because it’s so embarrassing. But truthfully, I was happy that he did it. He turned into a new man afterwards, or rather, he turned back into his old kind self. Fo
r a little while anyway.”

  “It didn’t last.”

  “No, it didn’t. About six months after that, just when I was starting to feel sure the ugly days were behind us, there was some bit of bad business. I don’t even know, something about a caravan being lost in the Lordless Lands. In any case, he blamed my father, and then blamed me.”

  “Couldn’t your father have helped you?”

  Sasha sighed. “He was just blind to it all. My father was furious when Lawrence Downcastle’s treachery was revealed, almost called off the whole marriage. I had to use every trick in the book to beg him not to. You know he only approved of Reggie because of the good family name. After everything I did to convince him not to cancel the wedding, I couldn’t bear to tell him that it was a mistake. Do you understand?”

  Fiona smiled sadly at Sasha. “Of course I don’t understand. That doesn’t mean I don’t care. What would I know about a father’s approval of my wedding?”

  Sasha chuckled at that. “I suppose you’re right. It was a bit of a silly question. In any case, things just kept getting worse. There was even a time I thought he might kill me. Donyo found out, actually. He gave me a lot of encouragement, and when there wasn’t any of that to be had he would at least drink with me.”

  “The man’s never failed in that regard.”

  Sasha laughed. “Certainly not. But Donyo also encouraged me to get out. He has been doing so for months.”

  “So what happened? Why tonight?”

  “Nothing happened, and that’s exactly why tonight. Tonight was the most normal night I could have picked. There’s no reason for Reggie to be suspicious. With any luck he won’t realize I’m gone until late tomorrow.”

  “Sasha, that’s so horrible. All of it. I can’t believe that Reggie—”

  “Let’s not,” Sasha said. “I understand my situation is bad. But I didn’t come here for a pity party. I came here because Donyo told me it was the safest place I could be, and to see you, of course.”

  Fiona quickly avoided that last comment. “Why not leave earlier, Sasha? Why let yourself go through all of this? I mean, if it was just a matter of getting out of bed and walking out the door….”

  Sasha scowled. “I’m sure you would have had no problem doing that. Let me guess. If it were you, there would have been a fight to remember. If you had one black eye he’d have had two? Would you pull a knife and tell him you’d take his balls if he raised a fist to you? I’m not you, Fiona, and you’re not me. So don’t try to lecture me! I loved him, and I still do. This is complicated and hard, and I just destroyed my family so I don’t feel like sitting here—”

  “I’m sorry,” Fiona interrupted. She felt shame coil in her stomach, ever tighter. There was so much shame these days. “That was out of line. Of course I don’t understand. I’m proud of you for leaving.”

  “Thank you. That was all I wanted to hear.”

  “Excphellent! Knew yeh’d showuup!”

  Both women spun their heads around to see a red-cheeked Donyo Brownwater smiling from ear to ear through his salt-and-pepper beard.

  “Good gods,” Fiona moaned. “This is still my house, Donyo. You should at least knock.”

  “We didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention,” a childish voice said. Shifter emerged from behind Donyo, face shrouded in the shadow of the low-hanging purple hood.

  To Fiona’s surprise Sasha rose and took Donyo’s hands in her own. “I owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude, Donyo. Thank you.” She leaned and planted a small soft kiss on his cheek, causing his face to erupt into a burning bright red.

  “I’m glad you’re here already,” Shifter said to Sasha. “Now we’re just waiting for one more.”

  “One more?” Fiona said as she rose. “What are you talking about? You can’t just hold meetings in my own house without telling me.”

  “We’re telling you now,” Donyo said cheerfully. Fiona was about to scold him when Martin Lightwing arrived, looking sheepish.

  “Hello,” he said lamely. He couldn’t quite meet Fiona’s eye.

  “What exactly is going on here?” Fiona asked.

  “We have matters of state to discuss,” Shifter said simply.

  “I’m not part of a state, and I don’t want to be part of your matters. There’s enough on my plate as it is right now.”

  “That’s too bad,” Shifter said. “Because you don’t have a choice. Now everyone, sit down.”

  * * *

  So it was that the room grew quiet, and they gathered around. Fiona knew it would be pointless to try to get them all out now that they had assembled, so all there was to do was let this meeting get over with as quickly as possible.

  Shifter stood alone in the center of the room, which seemed to darken as the godling spoke. “Before we can discuss the true business at hand, we need to discuss the state that I find you all in. To my great disappointment, each one of you has succumbed to your natural human weakness in more ways than one. I’m not here to argue about that, or even to fix it. All I can tell you is that your city has needed you, and all of you have failed it.”

  Donyo snorted loudly. “Sounds like you’re speaking to the wrong crowd then, godling. If we’re nothing more than a pack of miscreants and failures, then you would be better trying to right the wrongs of this city with a different group.”

  “I’ve made no mistakes.” The godling’s voice cracked like a whip, and for a brief moment Fiona thought that she could see two burning lights shine under Shifter’s hood. “You are the ones I want to speak with. I’m simply warning you that if you continue to give into your own despair, then hope is lost.”

  “Hope for what?” Martin grumbled. “We’re not living in the days of the revolution. All we can do is manage as best we can and live our lives. There is no war for us to fight.”

  “For now,” Shifter agreed. “But that is likely to change very quickly. You’ve all buried your heads, but at least the old man is sentient enough to know what’s going on.”

  Fiona was about to ask who the godling was talking about, but Shifter continued before she could.

  “In case you’ve forgotten, two years ago I shattered the barriers sealing the magic of the Moonwood under the city. Since then, the balance of nature has been thrown into chaos. Or at least it should have been. Things have not been nearly chaotic enough.”

  “Not chaotic enough?” Donyo choked. “Are you trying to save this world or destroy it?”

  “Not all chaos is bad,” Shifter said roughly. The hearth yawned open behind him. Fire crackled and licked at the stones. “Some chaos is necessary. The great forest fires of the southern woods leave the ground fertile and ripe to bring new life. The storms of Morrordraed obliterate the swamplands, yet the nutrients they sweep into the land are essential for the life of the ecosystem. It should have been such with the magic of the Moonwood upon its release, but it hasn’t been.”

  “I don’t understand,” Sasha said. “What are you saying? That there should be even more magical chaos than there is?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Shifter said. “But the Empire, in its endless quest for order, has worked hard to capture as much of the magic as possible. Since the Awakening the Empire has unquestionably come out on top in the new balance of power. For every one sorcerer or mage that Haygarden has developed they have one-thousand. And it isn’t just the humans. Many godlings have been recruited into their plans as well.”

  “It’s to be expected,” Donyo said. “Of course the Empire will seize what power it can.”

  “Yes, the Empire has acted in accordance with what’s best for its own survival. My problem is that Haygarden has not. While Laquath ceded certain holdings in Tellos, they have turned their attention towards forging strong alliances with the various clans, confederacies, and kings of Morrordraed. They have protected themselves. Haygarden has not.”

  “So we’re a city of morons,” Donyo said. “I’m sure you’ll be hard-pressed to find somebody here
who disagrees with that assessment.”

  “Why do you care?” Fiona burst out.

  “I don’t,” the godling replied bluntly. “But the old man does, and I am in his debt.”

  “Old man?” Sasha asked.

  “Lord Hightower,” Martin said. “He’s the one instructing you, isn’t he?”

  “He is,” Shifter said. “Lord Hightower has sacrificed more than any of you realize to try to preserve this city. He has asked me to help him, and it is for my own reasons that I have agreed. He and I have a certain history that goes back long before any of you were born. So I am simply paying a debt to him, but to do so I need your help. I don’t think anybody here would dispute that the lot of you owe a similar type of debt to me. Am I wrong?”

  Though nobody could see the godling’s face Fiona knew that whatever eyes were under that hood were peering into each of their own hearts. A few moments of silence passed. “That’s what I thought,” Shifter said. “So what I need is for you all to stop wallowing in the personal tragedies that have plagued you for the last two years and do right by Haygarden.”

  “Perhaps that’s easy for a godling to say,” Fiona burst out. “But I have my own agenda. I’ve made it clear, to each of you, abundantly clear in fact, that I am not simply a servant of Haygarden. I left here two years ago for one reason, to find somebody who destroyed my life. Every day I spend here makes me realize that it was a mistake to come back.”

  To Fiona’s surprise she realized that she was standing up and breathing heavily. Everyone was looking at her though she couldn’t quite make out the expressions on any of their faces. That was when Shifter pointed a finger at her.

  “You, Fiona Sacrosin, have made worse mistakes than any of us. I won’t condemn you for doing what you feel you have to, but when you barter with the Empire, when you barter with the Forgotten, you are bartering with the agents of death. It will not end well for you.”

  “What?”

  “No!”

  “Fiona!”

  Accusation came from all sides. She could feel it all around her as if she were in the center of a tornado of blame.