Princess of Wisdom: An Epic Fantasy Series (Wisdom Saga Book 2)

by W. C. Conner

  Looking back to those around the fire, he said, “We heard crashing past the point at which we ran across this one and saw movement of something between the trees but were unable to catch it.” He looked toward the undulating column. “They could have come from but one place.”

  “That is where they came from, Roland,” Thisbe said, forgetting propriety for the moment. “When they emerged from the column they ran at those of us near the fire, though it was clear they did so accidentally rather than purposefully. In any case, the one you dragged back with you took a swipe at Angela after she drew its attention by standing up as they emerged. Its poisoned claws raked her back. It was Patrick who saved her life.”

  Roland looked to where Patrick sat hunched over his fire with his hands held out before him, warming them and apparently ignoring what was happening across the roadway from him.

  “The two creatures were quite different,” Thisbe continued. “The one that came through first was smaller than the other and had the face and body of a handsome man. It was nothing like this one. It was obvious that this one was chasing the other.” She indicated the dead creature which had short horns and a marked reptilian look about the face despite the hair covering its head and body.

  “My lord,” volunteered one of the soldiers who had observed the scene, “it happened very much the way she saw it except the one that got away was a woman. Dressed as she was in naught but what she wore at birth, there could be no doubt that she was a most beautiful and sensual woman. I swear it ‘pon my mother’s grave.”

  From across the road, Patrick’s voice could be heard and Roland turned toward him. “It was both and neither,” he called. “It was a pleasure changeling, a creature which appears to whoever beholds it as their image of perfect beauty. It was created to please the physical wants of those it serves. It is one of the few gentle creatures within Styxis’s world.”

  Roland cocked a speculative eyebrow toward Patrick. “I take it my son took no harm,” he said to no one in particular.

  “He is asleep in the tent, my lord,” Thisbe replied, dropping back into the proper etiquette to be used when others were around.

  Roland nodded, then turned and crossed the road to stand before the wizard. “The Princess Caron and I owe you our thanks for the life of Angela, Patrick,” Roland said. The wizard did not look up, but nodded his head in acknowledgement of Roland’s words.

  “I know that you are bound to maintain a watch for your mistress,” Roland continued, “and I would not be disposed to invite you to join our party, but I will instruct Angela to see to it that you share our food at each meal time.” Again, Patrick nodded his acknowledgement of the words, and Roland returned to his own side of the road.

  “Angela,” he said, “see to it that Patrick receives a full ration of whatever food is prepared at each meal. He has shown there is still some spark of humanity in him and deserves this much from us.”

  She smiled toward Patrick who looked up briefly to catch her eye before ducking his head to the fire once more.

  “Saddle up, gentlemen,” Roland said as he mounted his horse. “We need to track down this other creature. Leave behind a sufficient guard to protect the encampment and to dispose of this creature. The rest of you, follow as soon as you are able.” He touched spur softly to his horse which started slowly in the direction the creatures had gone, accompanied by the two soldiers who had ridden out with him earlier. The others would catch up to them soon enough and he wanted the time alone to think.

  Across the way, Patrick watched the three of them disappear around the bend of the road. You will not find her, Roland, he thought, and even if you did, you would not recognize her. She knew her life was forfeit when she crossed the boundary but she came anyway. She came both to see beauty and to bring beauty.

  50

  After an hour of flying, Caron became aware that Plaisir’s sensuous stroking of her mind had tapered off, then stopped altogether.

  Is there a problem? she asked.

  No. Quite the opposite. Your world, he sent, it is as beautiful as you said it was.

  How do you know this?

  My sister, the one who carried you previously, has passed through the boundary.

  I am sorry that it is winter in my world, Caron sent, for the colors are few and pale compared to the spring and summer and fall.

  Yet they are beautiful.

  As she finished, a part of what Plaisir had said popped into her consciousness.

  Don’t you mean your brother? Caron asked. You have always talked about your brother.

  Ah, there is something about us that Styxis and her subjects know, but that you, of course, could not, Plaisir responded. We were made to pleasure others. In that function, we are whatever the beholder finds as beautiful. To you, we are the ideal man. To some others, we are the ideal woman. We are what are called ‘pleasure changelings’. We were created for this.

  Thus your name, then, Caron sent.

  It is what we do, Plaisir replied.

  How do you see yourselves?

  At the risk of losing your trust, he said, we consider ourselves as female, for we work for the pleasure of all. We find our pleasure in your pleasure.

  That explains a great deal, Caron sent. However, while you have not lost my trust, it does make me feel uncomfortable that my mind was caressed so intimately by another woman.

  We are not women, Plaisir said. We are female inside. Outside, as I said, we are whatever you see as beautiful. If you were the type of woman who preferred other women, you would have seen me as the vision of your ideal woman. No matter what it is you see, we are as aggressive or passive as you wish us to be. It is what we are. It is what we do.

  Caron digested this revelation for several minutes before realizing what Plaisir did was nothing more nor less than certain unfortunate women were reduced to in her world. The difference was that Plaisir was not exploited as were so many of those who provided sensual pleasure to others. As he had told her many times, “It is what we do.” It was very simply what they were.

  You said your sister has passed through the boundary. Why did she do it?

  She went so we could all see this world of color and love you told us of. It is something we did together, and even though she will die on your side of the boundary, she went.

  “She will die?” Caron cried aloud.

  She gives her life willingly, Caron. On this side of the boundary, we are immortal, but outside of our world we will age as you do and we will die. But we have learned of love from you and we have found that is what we felt in our protection of the daughter of the demoness. My sister stole Styxis’s baby from the demon Gulak and carried her through the boundary, away from this world. We have carried her to a place where she might learn of this perversion of yours which you call ‘love’ that Styxis fears.

  You have, indeed, learned of love, Caron sent gently to the beautiful creature to which she was tethered. There are even many in my world who could learn of love from you. It makes me very sad to hear that she must die on my side of the boundary.

  Death as you know it might not be the worst that could happen to her, Plaisir responded. It is the last act of life before passing to the other side. In this place we will never gain the peace that comes with that passing.

  How can something as beautiful as you exist in this wicked place? Caron asked.

  It is what we do, Plaisir said as if that was answer enough in itself, and there is now a promise of a spring with color in our world.

  Why could you not come? Caron asked, feeling desperate at the thought of leaving her behind.

  I must not, came the answer. My sisters and I must remain on this side and do what we can to hide from Styxis the knowledge that her daughter has been taken across the boundary. Our sister on the other side knows that she will eventually die, but she has the child – we have the child, if you will, for the decision to do this was made as one. We will miss forever that part of us that crossed to your side, but we will be
content that the baby lives.

  Caron said no more throughout the remainder of the journey which lasted less than another hour, so swiftly did the changeling fly. Her mind tried desperately to make sense of all that had happened. Would the avatar have acted differently if it had known of the rescue of Styxis’s baby from the demon? It had sounded so thoroughly defeated in its last thoughts to her before they saw one another for the last time as they stood before Styxis. Was that just an act, or did it really feel discouraged? Was its vow of love for Styxis real, or was he doing it as part of a pre-conceived plan?

  The boundary approaches, Caron, Plaisir sent. I must descend here for the growth is too thick for me to fly into it. I will accompany you to the boundary and, perhaps, take a peek out to see your world with my own two eyes.

  I wish that there was no evil; that there was no Styxis to threaten our world so that you could come and go as you wished, Caron sent.

  There will ever be a Styxis just as there will ever be a Caron or Caron’s wizard, Plaisir replied. Without evil, good would not have a name, but perhaps one day there will be a balance such that the two may coexist without the death and destruction the two have always generated.

  Our wishes sound like the birthday wishes of a child, Caron sent, but it’s unfortunate such birthday wishes cannot come to pass.

  They landed and Caron disentangled herself from the flying harness. She stood rubbing her arms and stretching her shoulders as Plaisir wound the harness into the neat little package it had been when they first met.

  I now realize that I dare not cross the boundary, Plaisir said. I would not want to return, and I have as yet my two sisters here upon this side.

  Caron stepped forward and embraced him.

  Thank you for everything you and your brothers have done – or your sisters, or whatever you are. For what it’s worth, you have shown me true love and I, in my turn, have come to love you.

  That means everything to us, Caron, he returned. Thank you.

  With that, the beautiful creature that was Plaisir turned and spread his wings. After one long look backwards to Caron, he raised his hand in farewell and launched himself into the sky, swooping once over her head before turning and speeding back in the direction of Styxis’s Blackstone.

  She watched as he became smaller and smaller until finally she was no longer able to pick out his pin-point sized image in the sky.

  With a great sigh and a shudder of apprehension and uncertainty, she walked toward the black undulating tube that was Styxis’s side of the boundary.

  Patrick stood suddenly as he sensed movement within the boundary and stepped back when a rippling of its surface announced the passage of something or someone approaching it.

  Caron’s image appeared indistinct as the ripple continued, then the princess stepped through and looked him full in the eyes. “You may tell your mistress that I am safely returned to my own world,” she told him coldly.

  He nodded, then spread his arms and sent a bolt of red energy through the wall. He smiled grimly and turned back toward the encampment on the other side of the road. “It is done,” he called loudly.

  At the shout, Thisbe and Angela emerged from the tent with Alexander being held close against Thisbe’s chest. Rather than running to greet Caron, however, they stopped and stared past her in wonder.

  Turning to see what it was they were staring at, she saw an undulating tube of dense blackness rising within the column. It was as if a finger of coal black smoke was being drawn up a transparent chimney. It became thicker and thicker, then tapered off until it appeared as if it was no more than the gray wisp of smoke that rises when a candle is extinguished. As the last of the darkness disappeared, the column shimmered and began evaporating from the ground up.

  Thisbe realized suddenly that Patrick still stood where had had been. Styxis had left him behind. But, of course she would, Thisbe reasoned. That is the way she works. That is what she is.

  Angela had watched closely, dreading what might happen to the wizard who stood alone before the now rapidly evaporating column. She watched as he diminished in stature until the thirteen year old Allen stood in Patrick’s oversize clothes, looking uncomfortable at the stares of those on the other side of the road.

  Crossing to him before the others could gather their wits to act, Angela wrapped her arms around the youth who had now saved her life twice. “You have survived it all,” she whispered in his ear.

  “Wait for me, Angela,” he said in return. “I will marry you one day.”

  Angela did not break her embrace but hugged him closer still.

  Caron stood rooted to the spot where she had been at Patrick’s shout, watching transfixed with the others as Patrick became Allen. At the end of the transformation Wil’s words sent to her at Three Oaks before she departed for the boundary column with Allen came back to her. “The key for the two of us is that no matter what happens, no matter what you see or hear, you must believe in us.”

  And Plaisir’s words sent to her shortly before they had landed near the dark side of the same boundary column tumbled along right behind them. “...there is now a promise of a spring with color in our world.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “Forgive me, Wil,” she whispered.

  In the stone cottage in the Old Forest, Aimee was asleep in her bed and Wil sat alone in the little kitchen. His eyes were red from fatigue but his mouth was set in a thin smile of triumph as he spoke to Caron with his mind. His voice sounded loudly in her head for the first time in weeks, causing her to flinch with its intensity. You need never ask forgiveness of me, Caron, he sent. I know how difficult it has been for you, but you are the only person in this world who could have done what needed to be done. In truth, it is I who must ask your forgiveness, for I knew the subterfuge I played upon Styxis would also play upon you. It was necessary that you believed the avatar was Allen so that when the time came, you would be asked to turn your back on someone you cared for. Had you known the avatar was Patrick your reaction would not have convinced Styxis.

  That was Patrick? she asked, incredulous.

  Well, if that’s Allen that Angela is hugging, then it must be Patrick who is enjoying Styxis’s embrace.

  Wil, you are diabolical, Caron sent.

  There was no response for several moments and Caron thought perhaps she had managed to insult Wil when his thought suddenly returned.

  Say “hello” to our daughter, Caron, he said. She’s learned a lot in the past few weeks.

  Hello? Caron sent.

  Hi, Mommy, came the childish voice within her mind.

  She can send her thoughts?

  I think you’ll be impressed with the little witch we’ve made, Caron, Wil sent. You and I did very well indeed.

  Mommy come see us?

  Caron looked at the beautiful son that Thisbe had placed into her arms while she was communing with Wil and her daughter. Smiling down at Alexander who had calmed down as soon as he saw her dark, dark eyes, she answered her other child. Yes, Aimee, Caron sent gently. Mommy will come see you soon.

  The thundering hooves of a large group of mounted men brought Caron’s thoughts back to her surroundings and she looked up as Roland galloped around the turn in the road at the head of his troop of soldiers. He did not see Caron at first for his attention was on the spot where the boundary had been.

  Reining his horse to a skidding halt, his gaze dropped first to the young wizard still standing in Angela’s embrace, then toward the encampment. Upon seeing Caron, he vaulted from his horse and ran up the slight rise to where she stood.

  Her eyes lit up as he came and she stepped forward eagerly into his embrace. “Don’t hurt our son,” she said, laughing joyfully as he held her head between his hands and kissed her repeatedly on her eyes and her nose and her cheeks and lips.

  He stopped a moment and pulled back to look into her eyes. “You have done what you set out to do?” he asked.

  She nodded, then looked toward Allen who now stood talking quie
tly to Angela.

  “With the help of a very brave young wizard,” she said. “It was Patrick who accompanied me into Styxis’s world, Roland, not Wil.”

  At the question on Roland’s face she explained. “What you saw emerge from Allen’s tent that day was an avatar, a construction made from the talisman and Patrick’s body to look and sound and think like Wil. I knew that Wil was still unable to leave the Forest and that I would be traveling with an avatar, but even I believed the avatar had been made of Allen and the talisman. It was a necessary subterfuge so that I would react the way Styxis expected when the avatar offered himself as a sacrifice in return for which she would remove the darknesses, causing the boundary between our worlds to be closed to her forever.”

  Roland was watching her face closely as she talked. The shadow of what she had experienced showed in the faint circles beneath her eyes. “Was it horrible for you?” he asked.

  “Her world is a dark and vile place,” Caron answered, “yet even in that place there exists a bud of hope for change. There are gentle creatures even there. One of them came through the border not long ago.” At the look in Roland’s eyes, she stopped.

  “We chased two creatures that came through the barrier,” he said. “One of the two attacked Angela who was healed by Patrick – at least, that’s who we thought he was at the time. It later attacked me and threw itself on my lance in the attempt.” Her heart skipped a beat as she waited for him to finish. “We were unable to track the second one. Its footprints disappeared as if it had been lifted into the sky.”

  Caron smiled. “She did disappear into the sky, Roland,” she said. “She is a winged creature who came to see color and to experience love.”

  She did not tell Roland of the treasure Plaisir had carried across the boundary. She had determined to tell nobody but Wil of it when she saw him. Though she felt guilty at the thought of it, she felt more guilty still that she would never tell Roland about Aimee. She belongs to Wil and me, she thought as she looked at him, and it would only hurt you to know. I love you too much to do that to you. She wound her free arm around Roland’s neck and drew him to her as she realized she did love him that much. She tilted her head back and pulled his mouth to hers, giving him one gentle kiss after another. At last she pulled away from him.