Gods of Shadow and Flame

by M. H. Johnson

  Jess smiled and turned to her companions. "Well, as it appears I have at least some students interested in continuing our lecture. Let us proceed, shall we? Have a care, you might find yourself feeling suddenly disoriented as we enter our beloved maze. No one else to join us?"

  No one else came forward, and Jess nodded to the mostly seated gentry. “I thank those of you who have joined our impromptu lecture so far, and hope you all enjoy the culinary delights of our master chefs.”

  With that, Jess and her companions made their way sedately to the entrance proper, and Jess sensed her friend's shudder, Rulia locking gazes with none other than a cool-eyed Agda de Calenbry, positioned like a queen bee surrounded by courtiers at her own private table.

  Jess grimaced. Her mother knew. There could be no doubt. Somehow, she knew exactly who Rulia VonBurg truly was.

  15

  Rulia could feel Agda de Calenbry’s heavy gaze upon her still, even as she strove to catch up with her companions, at that very moment entering the maze proper. Upon stepping across the threshold she felt her stomach lurch, the exotic scent of roses becoming ever more intense as the light overhead shifted, somehow becoming greener, richer, as if dappling the ground through endless unseen foliage far overhead.

  It was as if they had set foot upon a path leading to a different world entirely.

  "By all the gods, Lady Jess, what inspired you to create such a marvel? What lost magics did you tap into?" Julien looked lost in a waking dream, his reverent gaze fastened upon a smiling Jess as they sedately walked along the complex winding affair of endless rosebushes, Rulia beginning to feel queasy, her sense of direction whirling within her head before being lost entirely, dead certain they were somehow moving through spaces that had no defined point on any map she could imagine.

  Suppressing an anxious chill despite the beauty surrounding her, Rulia was eerily certain that they were twisting in on themselves even when the path appeared straight and true.

  It was endless. Rulia's heart started to hammer, a cold bolt of panic welling up within her, suddenly terrified that space itself had twisted in ways hideous and unseen, leaving them trapped in this endless monster of a maze.

  She took a ragged breath, gazing down at her own trembling hands, clenching her fists tight, desperate to reign in her mounting terror. As impressive as the rose maze had looked from the outside, there was no way it could be this vast. Something was horribly wrong.

  “It was love, Julien,” Jess uttered softly, everyone turning to gaze upon Jess questioningly. “To answer your question about what had inspired this maze. No awful magics, no lost arts, just the most beautiful dream of a sanctuary, wondrous and true. A place of peace in a world gone mad, where happiness and beauty were wonders every soul could partake of.”

  Jess smiled warmly at Julien, and Rulia felt her heart begin settle, her mind at ease. Somehow, under Jess's benevolence, she knew she was safe, even here in this madly twisting maze. "It was love that inspired the creation of this garden. A work of life and art that brings peace even to me when I wake up screaming in the depths of night, grateful that I can gaze upon a sea of flowers outside my windows, opening their petals wide to the moon, bringing peace to my soul, no matter how bad the dreams get. It is a gift I would give others as well."

  Julien slowly nodded, even as Jess's hand gently clasped Rulia's own.

  “True love. The greatest gift any one of us can ever hope to find.”

  Rulia was left breathless, captivated by a gaze she felt melting even the fierce determination pushing her onward even now, past exhaustion, into the heart of her enemy’s lair. Near swooning, she felt herself braced by strong, steady arms, even as she heard Julien call out in sudden alarm.

  “I am okay,” she quickly assured him, surprised to find that she was. Safe and secure in the arms of a girl she still adored; falling, quite unexpectedly, into yet another soul searing kiss.

  “By the gods I missed you,” Rulia said some breathless moments later, snug upon the lush grassy ground in the safety of Jess’s protective arms, wanting nothing more than to sail away into gentlest sleep, safe in her lover’s gentle embrace.

  “And I you.”

  Words so soft and sweet, words that made her heart glow with sudden hope. Rulia smiled, blinking away sudden tears, holding her lover desperately close.

  “Come with us.” She was surprised to hear her lips utter those words. Teasing, traitorous lips, saying far too much, the vulnerabilities of the heart laid bare.

  Jess's gentle sigh was melancholy. "I am sorry, dear one. But I cannot. For the gilded cage I have always feared has already snapped me up tight between bars of delicate rose. Despite whatever odd prestige I may have garnered here, my family will be the ones forced to pay a terrible price if I dare to displease the powers that be."

  Gently, she placed Rulia’s head in her lap, and Rulia allowed her, utterly relaxed as Jess gently stroked her hair, trusting her completely.

  “I know,” Rulia sighed. “I just, well, you know.”

  Jess's lowered her lips once more. Rulia let out a breathless gasp, tingling with renewed desire. "Stop that, dearest Jess, for we do not even have the cloak of water between us and my companions now."

  Jess’s husky laugh sent delightful shivers rippling through her. “As if I cared about such things.”

  Her lover's playful smile turned positively wicked. “Let the world see, my dearest Rulia. Let your companions see, for all that I sense that they’d far rather spend such precious time pleasing themselves.”

  Julien flushed. “Lady Jessica, I assure you...”

  “Oh Julien, shut up.” Lord Killen clasped the younger man to him with a fierce kiss, Julien sighing and sinking into the older spymaster’s still powerful arms.

  Gently, Jess playfully twirled locks of Rulia’s golden hair about her fingertips. “Rulia?” she gently asked. “Just assure me of one thing.”

  Sensing, perhaps, the gravity underneath her lover's sultry gaze, Rulia slowly lifted herself up, facing her as a friend and an equal.

  “Ask away, dearest Jessica.” Her words were solemn, even formal. Instantly, Lord Killen gripped Julien’s arm in sudden warning, the two subtly flowing away from each other, regarding the tableau unfolding carefully.

  Jess smiled, nodding her approval. “Very good, my Rulia. For though I can well guess the answer already, sensing not a shred of malice from you, old oaths and rituals must be observed. Do you, Elonia, also known as Rulia VonBurg, have any malicious intent against myself, my garden, or my family?”

  Rulia blinked, surprise quickly muted to the most solemn assurance as she firmly shook her head. "Absolutely not, dearest Jess. If there was a single person in this world I thought I could love as more than family, friend, or arrangement of convenience, it would be you. I would never wish to do anything to cause you or your loved ones injury." Her gaze locked upon Jess's own. "And it is my hope, dearest Jess, who tends to her garden with such incredible devotion, that you in turn would never find yourself spearheading any conflict against those I love either."

  Jess smiled. “Thank you, my Rulia. I had no doubt, but the question needed to be asked. And fear not. I am not quite so malleable a pawn as some would like to think.”

  Jess reached out, gently stroking an expectant Rulia's cheek. “My final question will, I hope, be equally easy for you to answer. It involves the artifact you and your companions so fervently hope to catalyze.”

  As one Rulia and her companion’s froze. Heart racing, Rulia was suddenly painfully aware of just how vulnerable they were, here in the heart of Jess’s power. Lord Killen began to curse bitterly even as Rulia reached back to squeeze his arm so hard he hissed, desperate measures instantly forgotten.

  Jess’s smile was almost apologetic. “Of course I know about the artifact, dear Killen. Were it otherwise, I would never have been present to intervene in the attempted assassination of the girl we both recognize as among the world’s greatest treasures.”

 
; Rulia couldn’t help but blush at the compliment, as precarious as she knew her situation was. “Jess, please understand...”

  Gently, Jess raised her hand, and so regal did she appear, here in the heart of her power, that her simple gesture was all that was needed to silence Rulia instantly.

  "I know that you, like any loyal daughter, are doing all within your power to rescue your family's home, to protect it from the calamity that may well ensue with the war we both know is to come. My question is simply this: Do you have any intention at all to use this artifact for any purpose other than protecting your family's lands? In other words, dearest Rulia, I would know if the artifact you would summon shall be used as a shield to protect and save your people, or as a sword to butcher my own."

  Lord Killen blinked, surprised by the phrasing of the question, dipping his head in cautious approval for Jess’s choice of words. “Well put, my lady. Very well put indeed.”

  Rulia’s smile was one of heartfelt relief. In all sincerity she answered. “My only goal, the one my companions and I would risk our very lives in the hope of accomplishing, would be to save my family’s sacred lands. To protect our Domain and all the people within who entrust us with their very lives, even as war would rage across the continent.”

  Solemn forest green eyes gazed pleadingly into sky blue ones. “I swear to you, angel of my heart, my only goal is to save my land. To shield it from horrors that would otherwise engulf it. I desire no sword to slay thousands of conscripts from any nation, friend or foe, compelled to arms by masters cruel and cold. Rather, I would protect my lands from any and all incursions. And in a perfect world, the artifact would protect all sides of this conflict from slaughter, at least upon my family’s ancestral lands.”

  Jess gave a solemn nod of approval. Her smile was heartfelt. “I sense the truth of your words.” With that she rose to her feet with queenly grace, lifting her lover up as well.

  “Come, my Rulia. To the heart of my garden we go.” And gently taking her hand, Jess hesitated no longer in guiding her bemused companions to the very heart of her wondrous maze.

  16

  Rulia gazed in awe as they reached what could only be her paramour’s innermost sanctum, a giant, open roofed cathedral with vastly huge and wondrously blossoming rose bushes arcing towards the shimmering heavens high above. The very air was alight with color and a pristine fragrance that left Rulia breathless, shivering with wonder. Utterly entranced by the gentle rainfall of rose petals drifting down so gracefully at that very moment, each petal twirling like a ballerina in miniature as it glided softly through the air to land upon the rich, petal covered ground.

  “By all the angels above, what a marvel,” Julien whispered breathlessly, Lord Killen nodding in accord as he gazed silently on, he himself at an utter loss for words.

  "Jess! By all the gods, Jess, how did you forge such an incredible masterpiece as this?" Rulia froze. Her heart lurched in her chest with a dizzying frisson of excitement and awe as she finally caught sight of the pillar of translucent stone in the very center of the cathedral of roses. The pillar throbbed with a soft, multihued light, in perfect time with the sudden flush of gentle heat she felt from the artifact about her neck.

  Slowly, with utter reverence, she pulled out the crystalline key, gazing bemusedly at its gentle rainbow pulse of color, so in tune with the stone before them. She blinked then, surprised to see her lover gazing at the key with a look of utter captivation, as if she were drawn to it, unable to pull away.

  Jess's shaking hand slowly lifted to touch it, before she abruptly yanked it away, flashing Rulia an apologetic smile. "I am sorry, my Rulia. For some reason, your key captivates me." She shook her head, gazing fondly at her lover. "But that is not why we are here. We are here for you to do what must be done."

  With that, she gently gestured toward the pulsating crystalline stone, pulling a unique artifact of her own that Rulia had first thought a buckler, securely fastened to Jess's belt with its leather backstrap, yet on closer reflection could as easily have been a hand mirror, for all that its handle was quite oddly shaped, tapering to an abrupt point, as much a spike as a mirror handle.

  “An odd mirror, my Jess,” Rulia managed to say at last.

  Jess nodded solemnly. “An echo, I think, of a certain other mirror of sacred import, though not native to this land.”

  Rulia blinked, gazing at the mirror in Jess’s hand with a look of profound awe. “You mean?”

  Jess nodded solemnly. “It appears to be a gift for me from our sojourn through Faerie, much as I assume your own artifact is.”

  Rulia smiled. “Correct, my Jess. And it looks like your mirror is a work of art in its own right. I have never seen such fine filigree.”

  Jess gently stroked the frame, constructed of a metal Rulia could not even guess at. “The mirror does indeed possess secrets of its own. Words in an ancient language, giving counsel that few could bear the weight of understanding. Scenes in the filigree of the journey you and I both shared together, what seems like a lifetime ago.”

  Rulia nodded her encouragement. “Well, what does it say?”

  Jess tilted her head, brows furrowed as if searching for the words.

  “Opaque to those who lack the will to see,

  True to those with the courage to feel,

  Opener of doorways beyond the mortal coil,

  Gift to those who would know themselves,

  Burning all pretense away.

  Beware, fallen angel,

  Lest you would tremble at the wailing of your own lost soul.

  Crushed by a weight that knows no bounds,

  Bound by a truth that compels,

  Eternally.

  Beware, risen queen,

  Lest the terror of your awakening shatter all pretense,

  Forced to face tears of tortured innocence,

  Your final doom before you.”

  Rulia blinked. “Ye gods, Jess. I’ve never had an odd bit of poetry make me feel as if someone had walked past my grave before.”

  Jess’s smile became forlorn. “The original language would leave you dumbstruck, your soul shrieking from horrors long since past. Far better I only say the translation, yet still the words remember, and your soul feels the memory.”

  Lord Killen hissed. “Dark magics indeed, Lady Calenbry.”

  Jess shook her head. "Hardly dark, Lord Killen. It is based on a language of principles and intentions. A language of truths so potent that most mortal souls, tied as they are to the endless cycle of death and rebirth, are unable to bear the weight of words so steeped in eternity."

  Rulia gazed oddly at her lover. "By the gods above, Jess, how do you even know that?"

  Jess smiled sheepishly. "When I was reading the inscription to my family, they were rendered speechless. Literally. Frozen in their tracks, as if lost in a moment of time. They did not recall a single word said. Twilight had to explain to me what had happened."

  Lord Killen gazed oddly at Jess. “But how is it that you are able to understand and speak this language of intentions, as you put it?”

  Jess shook her head. “In truth? I’m not sure myself. A gift from the Faerie Queen, perhaps? To better understand the gift of my mirror?”

  Julien gazed at the hand mirror in utter fascination. "Dearest Jessica, is that, perhaps, an echo of the Mirror of Truth from your fable? If I gaze upon its surface, what will I see?"

  Jess shrugged. "In truth, good Julien, I have absolutely no idea. I can only say that when my sister gazed upon it, her expression was one of confusion replaced by utter horror. She cried for the rest of the day, curled in our mother's arms, apologizing for transgressions we had forgotten about long ago."

  Jess quirked a sad little smile. "She has ever been just a bit more thoughtful, compassionate for everyone who calls this sanctuary home, but that could be as much from her own trials endured as the mirror itself. She is otherwise fully recovered, her old self again, thank the gods. Yet still, my mother pales at the though
t of gazing into its surface, saying she is well aware that she sacrificed her grace long ago for the sake of keeping us all safe in a corrupt world. Even my father, the most virtuous man that I know, refuses to gaze into its depths. For as worthy and just as the causes he fought for were, he has, by his own account, far too much blood on his hands for any save his king and the angels above to forgive.”

  Jess gazed thoughtfully at the mirror, eyes intently locked upon its opaque surface. "When I look upon it, all I see is a swirl of black and white that spins ever faster the more I gaze within its murky depths, eventually giving me a headache if I don't look away." She shrugged. "Twilight says I'm being foolish for no good reason when I gaze upon it for too long. But you, my friends, are welcome to take a look, if you have a fancy."

  Lord Killen hastily backed away, raising his hands in emphatic refusal. “No need on my part. I, like your father, am well aware that my hands are stained deep and dark with the efforts I have expended in protecting dear Rulia’s family.”

  Julien barked a dry laugh. “I don’t need any Faerie mirror to tell me that I’m a bit of a fop who has done nothing significant with his life.” He then gazed at his friends, oddly breathing a sigh of relief. “Though I’d like to think this crazy mission counts for some good. At least enough to earn my father’s approval, if not your enchanted mirror’s.”

  All present laughed at the jest, even as Rulia smiled and shook her head, also refusing. “I promise when all is said and done, if you still want me, I mean, if you still want me to gaze within your mirror, I will do so, and bear whatever it has to show me. For now? The needs of my home must come first.”