Crisis of Faith by Benjamin Medrano (z-lib.org)

by Unknown

  Their plans had ended in a disaster, and a more ambitious man would likely have tried to finish the job, Bane knew. Umira was in prison, and as far as he could tell, Alexander and Erin were both dead, which only left him in the city. He could have tried to act himself, but despite that Bane had decided against it. He wasn’t going to throw good money after bad, and the locals were on guard now. No, it was time for him to leave.

  He did rather hope that Alexander had gotten out, though. He’d liked playing chess with the man.

  Chapter 42

  “Welcome back!” Phynis exclaimed, and Nadis’s jaw almost dropped as the queen practically threw herself at Amethyst, who laughed, staggering as she caught the monarch.

  Moments later Sapphire and Opal hugged the queen and their companion, and Nadis blinked, then looked toward the back of the room, where Sistina was standing, watching with a smile. Not that that lasted long, as Diamond approached and hugged the dryad, giving her a gentle kiss, which the dryad readily returned.

  “Ah, Your Majesty, we do have company,” Desa said, looking rather embarrassed, though she likely should have been after her greeting by Isana. It had been slightly more reserved than Phynis’s welcome, but not by much.

  Nadis had begun to wonder if there was something in the water in Beacon that caused women to form romantic relationships. Even if many of those who had were former victims of Kelvanis, and elves tended to be more open about such relationships, the sheer number of them struck her as odd.

  “Oh, be quiet, Desa. I missed them, and I can ignore protocol if I want to. I am the queen, after all,” Phynis replied, letting go of Amethyst and squirming out of the embrace to give Topaz a brief kiss. “Besides, we’re going to go to perform the ritual in a bit. Oh! What did you think of the lift?”

  Nadis winced at the memory, as the way the ground had lurched when the lift started moving hadn’t exactly pleased her, but it was Elissa who spoke. “It was… loud and creaked a lot. On the other hand, I suspect it saved us about half an hour of climbing the city, if not more, so I shouldn’t complain.”

  “Always complaints,” Sistina said, looking upward and sighing. “Will fix. Have to decide how.”

  Nadis did smile at that since she was starting to get used to the dryad. However, she focused a little, frowning. “You mentioned the ritual… are you talking about Medaea?”

  “That’s right. I asked Albert to provide one of his recording devices, since I imagine you’ll want to have that on hand, and he was rather grumpy about not being able to join us. Apparently, those adventurers who helped in Westgate are rather high-ranking, on the whole, and he had to be available to meet them,” Phynis said, smiling as she added, “I’ve been busy coming up with rewards for them since they assisted so admirably. Tyria is waiting in Sistina’s cavern, so we’re going to have to go there if we’re going to watch it.”

  “In her cavern?” Diamond asked, pulling her attention away from Ruby and Sistina, her eyes widening. “But… is there a lift for that, too?”

  “I’m afraid not. Why?” Phynis asked, frowning.

  “Well… I hate to say it, but I’m not sure that Elissa or Nadis are up to the hike,” Diamond said, looking at Nadis as her cheeks flushed.

  “Wait just a moment. Shouldn’t we be the ones to decide that?” Elissa asked, frowning. “I’m a former adventurer.”

  Nadis added quickly, “Besides, how bad could it be, compared to climbing the mountain?”

  The better part of an hour later, Nadis regretted saying anything. Her legs were practically on fire, and they’d barely reached the bottom of the winding staircase. Worse, from the way Phynis and the Jewels were talking, there didn’t used to be any alcoves to stop and rest along the way, which was a terrifying thought.

  Elissa didn’t look to be in much better shape, though her assistants were worse off than she was. The human wiped her forehead, then spoke softly. “Apparently I need to exercise more. Goddess, I thought I was in better shape than this!”

  “It isn’t my fault that you decided to slack off,” Tyria said, smiling at them, her arms crossed in front of her as she appeared from nowhere. The goddess’s voice was something of a surprise and caused Nadis to jerk upright.

  “No, it isn’t,” Elissa agreed, looking up at Tyria with a smile, still leaning against the wall. “I just thought I’d been better than I obviously have. That is a long walk.”

  “True, it is. I’m fortunate that I don’t need to take it, as with wings that would be decidedly uncomfortable,” Tyria said, glancing at the shaft and pursing her lips. “On the other hand, I wouldn’t expect Sistina to make it any easier in the future. Making it difficult to get here is a good way to keep herself safe. This is practically the heart of the dungeon, after all.”

  “Root might be a better term,” Topaz said, looking depressingly energetic in Nadis’s opinion. “She’s a tree, after all.”

  “Heart, root. Both work,” Sistina said, sniffing softly. “Is mine. I share it.”

  “For which I am very thankful,” Phynis said, smiling at the dryad. “If you hadn’t, I don’t think Irethiel’s plan would’ve failed.”

  The murmur of agreement that Nadis heard startled her, and she glanced over at Felicia, whose eyes were a bit wide. After a moment, Nadis spoke nervously. “If you don’t mind me asking, why is that? Zarenya told me how Sistina destroyed Irethiel, in vague terms, but why do you think Sistina turned things around?”

  Phynis looked at Sistina, pursing her lips as the queen thought. It was Diamond who looked most likely to answer, but in the end it wasn’t.

  “Without Sistina, I wouldn’t have questioned my new path. I would have fought Sifaren, and it would have fallen,” Tyria said, her voice soft as she looked at Nadis, then at the Jewels. “Without her, the Jewels would have remained in the service of Kelvanis, and their power is immense. It was they who knew I’d been captured, and a great deal of information which proved crucial may never have fallen into the hands of Sifaren and Yisara. Furthermore, the assault which captured Jaine Yisara wouldn’t have lost the majority of their reinforcements and might have been even more successful. Sistina’s actions were like those of a pebble setting off a rockslide. One after another, they built on themselves into a torrent that ended with the destruction of Irethiel.”

  Nadis considered that, opening her mouth, then shut it again, a little stunned as she looked at Sistina. The dryad looked back at her, then sighed, murmuring, “Just made sense. Caught breath? Want this done.”

  Nadis thought for a moment, then bowed her head slightly, conceding the point as she murmured, “As you say.”

  The others led the way toward the end of the tunnel, which was blocked by a curtain of vines. Tyria simply vanished, stepping through the wall, something that disconcerted Nadis a little, but none of the others seemed to so much as bat an eyelash.

  When she stepped into the cavern, Nadis stopped suddenly, her eyes opening wide as she took it in, her mouth opening, then just hanging there. Beside her, Elissa had also paused, looking around for a few moments before the human spoke, shock in her voice.

  “I… did not expect this,” Elissa said, looking around slowly. “No dungeon I’ve even been in has been this… this…”

  “Beautiful?” Nadis suggested, her shock somewhat overcome by amusement at Elissa’s reaction.

  “Yes, that,” Elissa agreed.

  It was true, though. Nadis had seen exquisite gardens in Yisara’s capital, particularly those maintained by some of the nobility who wished to flaunt their wealth, but none of them even slightly compared to what she saw before her.

  The cavern was lit by a warm glow, almost like the sun itself, and Nadis could see that the source of the light were large orbs set into the ceiling, yet they were almost easy to overlook, when compared to the vegetation before her. Trees with vibrant purple blossoms the size of her hand lined a stone path, while glittering flowers of every color adorned bushes along the way. Many of the plants were common, but nea
rly half of them were magical in some way, and the way they were laid out looked carefully planned to Nadis.

  Above all, though, was the tree. The white-barked tree stood nearly two hundred feet tall, its branches barely short of the ceiling itself, and fronds of green and gold swayed in a gentle wind around it, making it look like a weeping willow, at least after a fashion. If it weren’t for the motes of golden light hanging in the air around it, in any case.

  “We’ll be heading to the pond,” Phynis said, gesturing in the direction of the tree. “It’s near her tree, at the base of a small hill, there.”

  “I see. So, you lived here?” Nadis asked, feeling a little incredulous at the thought, but she started forward as Sistina led the way along the path, and Tyria appeared, flying in the direction of the tree. “This is… is incredible!”

  “Yes, I lived here, though I’m afraid it went through some, um, renovations after we left. And after Irethiel torched part of Sistina’s gardens,” Phynis said, glancing around and blushing a little as she hesitated, then added, “I think she got rid of the vegetables and other fields that Lily used to feed us, and not many of the plants used to be this magical. She’s trying to revive some of the plants that were lost in the Godsrage, I think. Either way, all of the houses are gone, too.”

  “Aside from your private room, you mean,” Diamond interjected, and the queen blushed brightly at that.

  “Private room?” Elissa asked, raising her eyebrows. “Is it an actual room, or…?”

  Phynis hesitated for a few seconds, then spoke, a hint of embarrassment in her voice. “Sistina… made a room for me, under a hill. It’s just a bedroom with an attached bath, but I have the only key. It’s nice, and one of the first gifts she gave me, after I gave up my claim to Sifaren’s throne.”

  “Ah, I see,” Elissa said, smiling gently as she glanced at Sistina, then murmured, “She really does love you, doesn’t she?”

  “Yes, she does. Even if she can be frustratingly closemouthed at times. We’re trying to get her to talk more normally, but it’s a struggle,” Phynis said, and there was a snort from ahead of them.

  “You try losing all sense of language and memories, then growing as a tree for several thousand years, and see how well you do at getting used to speech, hm?” Sistina retorted, the change to her speech startling after the short answers she’d given before. The dryad wasn’t done, though. “I think I am doing excellently after just a few years, thank you.”

  “And… then she just says things like that,” Ruby murmured, while the other Jewels giggled softly. “I don’t think we’ll ever understand her.”

  “If you say so,” Nadis said, a smile creeping across her face as she took in the easy affection between them, Phynis, and Sistina. It was certainly odd, but she wasn’t going to argue.

  Soon enough they came into sight of the pond, and Nadis blinked at the sight of the gazebo on its edge, as she could see Tyria there, along with someone else she hadn’t expected. Two someones, in fact.

  “Is that Jaine and Lirisel?” Elissa asked, beating Nadis to the question.

  “Yes, it is. Jaine really wanted to be here, and I thought Lirisel deserved it as well. They’ve been setting up the recorder and such,” Phynis explained, nodding toward them and the goddess.

  “And pilfering starfruit,” Sistina added, letting out a somewhat wistful sigh.

  Nadis laughed again, though she had to wonder what starfruit were, since she’d never encountered them before.

  “Your Majesty, we’re ready when you are!” Lirisel said, once they were close enough, and the priestess curtseyed deeply as she added, “Everything is prepared, save for Sistina’s part.”

  “Not that there was much to prepare,” Jaine added, a brilliant smile on her face as she looked at Elissa and Nadis, then mimicked Lirisel’s curtsey as she added, “I’m glad to see the two of you safe!”

  “The grace of the goddess protected us,” Nadis said, though she blushed when Tyria glanced at her with an arched eyebrow.

  Fortunately, Sistina distracted everyone when she ignored the byplay and walked over to the edge of the pond, bending down to touch the water. A shimmer of magic pulsed through the chamber, then the surface of the water simply… stilled. Another tap of her finger sent magic outward again, and Nadis watched as a circle of metal slowly drifted up out of the water, breaking the surface as it came to rest on top of the water, not a drop beading on top of the metal.

  The circle itself was shocking, though, as it was made from adamantine, one of the strongest metals in the world, and it was a perfectly forged circle, yet still had thousands of tiny runes carved into the metal. Nadis recognized a few of the runes, but it was so far beyond her that she didn’t know where to even begin to decipher what they were for.

  “Sistina… I thought you said that changing Tyria back was simple,” Topaz said, her tone dry. “That doesn’t look simple to me.”

  “Want to make mistakes?” Sistina asked challengingly, looking at Topaz.

  “No, of course not!” Topaz replied quickly.

  “Then took precautions. Was given more time, did it right,” Sistina replied, taking a step out onto the water, which held her like it was solid ground. “Is simple. Is still magic.”

  “What does that mean?” Nadis asked, unable to restrain her curiosity.

  “It means that even simple things can go awry if you aren’t careful,” Tyria said, stepping out onto the water, testing it with one foot before nodding and approaching the circle slowly. “Transforming me might be simple. Getting the exact result I want… that is far more difficult. Like shaping clay into a bowl might be something any child can do, but only a master of the craft can make a masterpiece, except for the occasional lucky beginner.”

  “Yes,” Sistina agreed, nodding and smiling as she pointed at the circle. “In the center. Will start ritual once you are.”

  “As you wish. I believe that’s the cue to start recording, Lirisel,” Tyria said, and she stepped into the middle of the circle. The faint anxiety on her face startled Nadis, but she supposed even deities could be nervous.

  Lirisel moved back to the gazebo, where a recording device had been set up, Nadis noticed. She also saw a large sack under the table, but she didn’t dwell on it, instead turning back to watch Sistina and Tyria.

  Tyria settled herself in the middle of the circle, taking a deep breath, then nodded, swallowing hard before she spoke softly. “I’m ready, Sistina.”

  “As you wish,” Sistina replied, nodding gravely in return. Then the dryad leaned over to touch the circle… and she began singing.

  “What?” Elissa murmured, looking almost taken aback as Sistina straightened, her voice rising in wordless song, and with each note the dryad sang, a different rune on the circle lit up. “What is she doing?”

  “It’s… something I’ve read about,” Phynis said, her voice quiet as she watched the circle with an unwavering gaze. “Marin, Sistina’s first life. She was the one who discovered that it wasn’t the words that allowed someone to invoke magic, but specific tones. Words aren’t required… and she studied music to learn the control needed to decipher what magic truly was, how it was put together.”

  Elissa inhaled sharply, but Nadis decided to ignore her, instead focusing on the scene before her eyes. The circle was lighting up faster and faster, and she could feel mana building in the air like a storm, enough to make Nadis shiver. Only now did she realize what it must have been like to be in the chamber when Irethiel died, and only now did she truly believe that Sistina might have been able to kill her. Knowing that she had wasn’t enough, not even close to enough. This, though… it was power which Nadis had never felt from any mortal, not even the dragon that had tried to kill her a few days earlier.

  Sistina’s singing continued for a minute, then two, until at last Nadis saw only a few symbols were left, and she tensed, worry and anticipation twining in her stomach. A part of her had to wonder, would it really work? Then the last symbol lit, S
istina fell silent, and a column of light erupted upward from the circle.

  The light should have blinded her, Nadis realized after a moment, yet it didn’t. It was an incredible white that blazed brightly, enveloping Tyria entirely, and causing her clothing and hair to ripple upward as if in a high wind. Yet Tyria looked down… and smiled as the light seeped into her body, and she began to change.

  First to change were her wings, which lost the faint purple hue that had imbued the feathers, changing into a glorious white almost as bright as the pillar. Then all the goddess’s body seemed to change into light itself, something which Nadis couldn’t quite describe, yet was glorious as well… and little by little, she came back into focus. First were her eyes, which glowed brilliant sapphire, like the deepest blue of the sky on those days when Nadis felt like she could fall upward and be swallowed by the sky. Then her hair returned to what Diamond had shown them, gold as spun sunlight, yet somehow even more vibrant than before.

  As the goddess’s body came into focus, though… not much had changed, yet at the same time everything about her had. Instead of the somewhat sharper edges of Tyria, she was softer, somehow more benevolent, and Nadis’s breath caught at the sight of Medaea as the goddess’s brilliant smile lit up the chamber, and her clothing began to settle once more. No longer did she bear the gemstones that had been forced on her by Kelvanis, and her clothing wasn’t purple, but rather white accented by crimson and gold, and at last the pillar of light slowly faded to nothing.

  “My goddess…” Nadis breathed, and slowly she fell to her knees, reverence rushing through her.

  At the same time, a pulse of power rushed through the chamber, and Nadis saw Medaea blink, then look at Sistina, smiling wryly as she spoke, her voice almost even more radiant than before. “I supposed that’s one way to generate a light node, Sistina. Thank you, for all of this.”

  “It was not intentional. A pleasant surprise, perhaps, but not intentional,” Sistina replied, glancing down at the water, which Nadis realized was now glowing itself. “And where there is light, there is also shadow. You are welcome, Medaea. Are you ready to break the bond between us?”