by T J Marquis
And if she didn't, well, he would still fight by her side.
"What I can't figure out," Agrathor was saying to Ess, "is where those greater Monstrosities came from. You can't just hide something that big. Especially that last one..." He trailed off thinking about it. It really was mind-boggling, Pierce agreed.
"They must be something from deeper in the Chasmic depths," Ess said, "from places I've never been."
"Could he have other forgemasters, Sev?" Agrathor asked the big grey man. "Could there be other teams working on the Monstrosities that you didn't know about?"
Sev shrugged. "It is possible, master Agrathor. But not likely. I have never known there to be secrets kept between forgemasters. And anyhow, the Monstrosities are not built. They are harvested."
"They're plants?" Agrathor said incredulously.
Sev gave out something like a chuckle. "Many believe they are like the undead, that we forgemasters construct them from those killed in battle or otherwise. How we would then cause them to grow to such impressive statures, I could not imagine."
"So what are they?" asked Ess. "I, too, have never understood."
"They are born in the ground, like plants I suppose, or the crystals that grow in the deep caves of the earth. We find them, excavate them, and train them for their chosen tasks," Sev said.
"So they are creatures," Pierce said. "I mean, they have life."
"Such as it is," Sev said. "But what life they have is not complex. It is trivial to fill their minds with imperatives and procedures. It is easy to teach them to feel anger and hatred toward one's enemies. Or so I am told. I have never trained one myself."
"Alright," said Agrathor. "So they are grown and harvested. But still, wouldn't you have known about the larger breeds? If you say Kash is so forthcoming about his plans, why would he not share this information with you?"
"That, I cannot say," Sev answered. "Yes, the Underlord is open with his ideas and goals, but I did not mean to suggest to you that he tells us everything. Would a lord discuss the dinner menu for a feast with the town's blacksmith? Perhaps if one had known to ask, Kash would have shared details concerning the new Monstrosities. How can one know to ask, though, when such plans are beyond or outside of one's station?"
"Fair enough," said Agrathor. "Might have been nice for us if you did know though."
"Indeed," said Sev.
"So either he sought these things out," said Ess, "or found them by happy accident. They must be as easy to control as the smaller ones, so of course he saw fit to capitalize upon their great power. Why use them to invade, though? It seems that he has used a combination of structural durability enchantments with the great height and strength of the ultra-Monstrosity -"
"I surely hope there's only one," Agrathor interjected.
"- to literally push portions of the Underlands up to the surface," Ess continued. "That has its own implications on our cosmology, but let's set it aside for now... Why not just tear all of Overland down? And why even do that? There is little on our small continent that amounts to more than what he already controls. We have the sun, but beyond that I can think of nothing else he would desire strongly enough to make the conquest worthwhile."
"It has to be the people," Pierce said. "Whatever his goal, he must need slaves or subjects to see it through."
"That is a good thought," said Ess. "It may be that he simply desires a greater empire. Someone to build monoliths in worship to his name. Human slaves to carry precious materials from the far reaches of the world back to him in his fortress."
"He wouldn't be the first madman to harbor that simple lust," said Agrathor. "But there's something to the supplanting of one city with another. Especially the Temple with his Testadel. I can't say what that something is, but it's just too specific an action not to have a meaning to him."
"You can ask him when my hands are at his throat," Scythia said lowly. It was the first time anyone had heard her speak in hours. She ceased her march and sighed.
"Alright," she said, "you've made your point."
"Who?" asked Pierce.
"Yeah, I sure didn't say anything,' said Agrathor.
Scythia looked at each of them in turn. "All of you. You didn't have to say anything, surely you know that."
Ess nodded.
"My grief is far from sated," Scythia said, "but we need a plan. Kash himself is the heart of the machine. Even setting my husband's death aside," she had to take a moment to breathe deeply, "and that of the First, this invasion must be stopped. If possible, we must also eradicate his holds on the surface. The sheer power of that ultra-Monstrosity shows us how dire the situation really is. Given time, Kash could dismantle or supplant the entirety of Overland if he wished."
"Good to hear you talking again, Scythia," Agrathor said. "What do you propose?"
"We have to figure out where we are, and get back up to the Underlands," Scythia said.
Pierce started. He should have thought of it, but his mind had been drawn to other things. Namely he was still trying to work out what felt wrong about the assassination atop Chasmverge. Meanwhile, Scythia had worked out something vital that should have been obvious to everyone else.
"Up to the Underlands," Pierce said. "We've been here for hours, and there's still no moon."
"Ess, can you fold someplace familiar and tell us where we are?" Scythia asked.
Ess shook her head. "It is a peculiar Skill, which requires knowledge of both origin and destination. I cannot use the power to leave this place since I do not know where I am."
Scythia nodded, thinking.
"We got thrown down from the surface," Scythia said, "but I've never known or heard of the Underlands being quite this dark. The moon is always in the sky. That foul giant must have brought us down even lower."
"I had no idea there was anything lower," said Agrathor.
"I don't think anyone did," said Scythia. "Unless the forgemaster knew?" She looked to Sev.
He shook his head. "If the Underlord were to keep anything from his people," said Sev, "it would be something as earth-shaking as that revelation."
"Makes you wonder how deep the world does go," said Pierce. Everyone looked at him.
"You'd have fun finding out, wouldn't you kid?" Agrathor asked. "While the rest of us just worry what things worse than Monstrosities might crawl up from the Chasmic depths."
"And why it would go so deep," Pierce said. "I guess that would be Ess's domain."
"I've only ever considered notions of Skill and ability," Ess said, "never subterranean geography."
Pierce was beginning to get a picture in his head. The world as a series of layers, shells within shells, condensing downward. Expanding upward? He knew it was pointless, but he spoke the words anyway.
"What if there's more above Overland?" Pierce said. "What if what we call the surface, really isn't?"
"Now don't go making up new myths just for the fun of it, kid," said Agrathor.
"Just thinking," Pierce said. "We would be someone else's Underlanders."
"A strange and humbling thought," Ess acceded.
"Kash found out about this lower level," Pierce said. "Maybe he discovered a higher one too. Maybe he needs a foothold on Overland to push up even further."
"This is all beside the point," said Scythia, uncharacteristically impatient. "Whatever arcane knowledge Kash has gained, he is harming innocent people. We have to stop him."
No one disagreed with that.
"So we have to find a way back up, even if we're wrong about this being a third layer of the earth," said Scythia.
"We must find a convergence," Ess said. "If they connect the first two levels of the earth, surely there will be some here as well."
"Can't you just fly up and see if we're right?" Pierce asked.
"Gravity asserts itself exponentially as I rise," Ess said. "Within a few thousand feet it would become far too taxing."
"But wait," said Scythia, "if there are convergences here, why has no one ever
discovered they could travel down from above?"
"A puzzling observation," said Ess. "Perhaps the machine does not function the way we have always assumed. I would say it is worth discovering for ourselves. The knowledge will be world-altering."
"I say," said Pierce, "we track down that ultra-Monstrosity..."
"Don't say it, kid,' Agrathor groaned.
"...and climb it," Pierce finished. "Honestly I'm surprised we can't hear it stomping around, if it's still on this level, and not down lower. We all must have been unconscious for some time."
"I believe we were," said Ess. "And Pierce's idea is unconventional, as usual, but not without merit."
"Are you kidding?" Agrathor said.
"Convergences do not make a sound. The giant will make quite a loud one, if we can get near enough, and if it is still on this theoretical third level, and not back in the Underlands."
"It's true," said Scythia. "These are the only options we have, it seems. We might as well pursue both of them at once, since the procedure will be the same."
"And what's the procedure?" said Pierce.
"Well," said Scythia, "Ess is airborne, so she can search around us all in a spiral. Each of us carries a light, so we can spread out in a wide formation as we move inland. As long as Ess is in your sight, you should be in formation, and she can let any of us know if we wander."
"You can feel the convergences when you're near," said Agrathor. "And we'll hear the giant if it comes within range. You're right, Scythia, it should work."
"Anyone have anything to add?" Scythia asked. No one did. "Let's get to it then. No need to stop and rest - we don't have food or water anyhow."
The four earthbound companions formed up in a cross shape, with Scythia at its head. Pierce got what everyone agreed to call the east point. Ess floated up above them, illuminated by her glowing spheres and circling around her comrades slowly.
Pierce kept his ears open, set his nerves to listen for the faint hum of a convergence, and let his mind wander.
The world was of three layers. He was certain of that much now. The notion had exploded in his mind, and he felt a strong surety that there were more than three. His imagination had expanded, and he had no trouble seeing the possibility of an endless number of nested shells stretching out beyond what everyone had thought were the highest heavens.
This meant so many things.
It meant that the sun was inside the level that Overland was on. It meant that not every level was subject to the lateral restrictions of the Chasm. It meant that the resources of the world were far less finite than people had always assumed. It meant that the people of Overland had wrongfully assumed themselves to be the pinnacle of the Blacksmith's creations. There were things of far greater power below, and might be things innumerable in variety above.
Not long ago, before Pierce had begun to train himself with adventures, he had worried to himself that Overland and the Underlands would someday be dry of adventure for him. Now he could see new possibilities. He could see that even one more layer to the world, whether above or below, would give him something to discover, and probably things to fight, for the rest of his life. He would never be bored.
He felt a slight pang of guilt at the joy and excitement these thoughts brought him as he walked along. All of Gorgonbane was still mourning the death of their leader, and yet Pierce could feel joy so soon? Was that okay? He certainly wouldn't speak of it out loud.
In a small way, though, he realized that Axebourne was still alive somewhere, for that is what their religion taught. He had been completed, refined, tested and tempered. He was ready for the Glorious Paths, and certainly would not begrudge Pierce the happy expectations of his own journey down to find them for himself.
Even legends had to rest, eventually. It was hard for all of them, to stop, to admit the exhaustion their bodies imposed upon their minds. Pierce thought he could go on a little further, but Ess insisted that everyone stop for a time. Agrathor stood sleepless watch as the others lay on the hard, dry ground.
Pierce stole occasional glances at Scythia. She sat, cross-legged, facing what they'd assumed was inland. She did not nod or sway in the slightest, still as a rock.
Something startled him - a presence. A gap in time opened in his mind. He'd fallen asleep.
"Sorry, Pierce," said Ess, putting a hand on his arm. She knelt down beside him. "I heard you muttering and thought you were awake."
Pierce shook away the cobwebs and sat up. "What's up?" he asked. "Time to go?"
Ess looked around. The only light came from a single one of her orbs, but Pierce could see everyone else still in their former positions.
"Not quite yet," Ess answered. "No one is getting much rest, but this time was needed. Today was a hard day."
"You're telling me," he said, cracking his sore back. "Feels like I got sat on by a Monstrosity."
Ess smiled.
"Your tenacity in the face of dire odds is very endearing, Pierce. It has been a pleasure getting to know you."
"You say it like you think this is the end," Pierce said.
Ess shrugged. "It could be. In our line of work, many days could have been, no?"
"Well, yeah. I've never been this low though."
"Alright, no more bad jokes," she said. "That is the only one you are allowed."
"Too bad," he said. "They're the only kind I've got."
"I disagree," she said. "You have been nothing but pleasant since you joined us."
Pierce shrugged. "Makes things easier, doesn't it?"
"It does. Your demeanor, those bright eyes - they are... magnetic."
Ess kissed him. Her move surprised him. It was masterful, full of grace, sweeping away his mind and his emotions like the waters of Flood Day. The fulness of her lips completed his, and he received the kiss hungrily.
Ess pulled back, and Pierce saw only the faintest impression of her face in the dark. Her white-painted eyelids glistened with the orange light of her orb. Before anything else could happen, Pierce dove back into her, arms drawing her close, lost in her thick robes. He felt her embrace, but couldn't feel her touch through his armor. He knew it must be awkward, but he had no intention of letting the moment go.
He explored her lips, her tongue. His hands begged him to wander but he kept them pressed against her lower back. Losing himself, he broke contact and kissed her cheeks. He'd been staring at them for days, imagining this. He felt them tense with a smile. He moved to the corner of her eye, that dark portal he'd so often wished to inhabit. He brushed her brow with his lips and kissed her forehead like a precious thing.
Ess put two fingers under his chin and drew his mouth back down to hers for one final kiss, then pushed him away gently. Pierce's heart and mind raced with frantic desire. Had he done something wrong?
"I've never -" he started, but she put a finger to his lips.
"It was lovely," Ess said. "But small servings leave the sweetest of aftertastes."
He couldn't see her smile, but he heard it. Something in him almost whined as she stood and moved away. He retained enough of his manhood to keep himself from begging like a puppy.
Ess floated into the darkness, her form limned by faint orange light. Pierce melted to the dry ground in euphoria.
He didn't fall asleep again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Scythia of Chasmreach
Thoughts of Axebourne kept Pierce company once the rush of Ess had ebbed away.
In just this span of days, the Cleaver had proven a worthy mentor, a shining beacon of good humor and better character. Pierce hesitated to allow himself thoughts of father figures, because that would mean thinking of his own. But he couldn't deny the sensation was there. Axebourne was simply a good man.
Which made it all the more difficult to watch Scythia deal with his death. She'd settled into warrior mode, leading the rest of them along in Axebourne's stead, stolid and reasonable, but her yellow eyes were far too bright and communicative. Pierce saw the pain, th
e red veins and the dark circles underneath. She was devastated by this.
Pierce almost pitied the enemy who had chosen to poke this particular mother dogran.
Pierce recalled Axebourne's admiration for his wife. Their short time in the fallen Grondell seemed an age ago now, but a rare moment of quiet while marching through the middle of nowhere kept playing in his mind.
They hadn't seen town or traveler in days, and Pierce had grown bored as usual. So, he'd sidled up next to Axebourne and caught the big man's attention.
"So, sir, I was wondering," Pierce said.
"Yes?" Axebourne said as he scanned the empty horizon.
"Well everyone hears all the tales about Gorgonbane, and you figure they're mostly true..."
Axebourne pulled a deep frown that made Pierce smile.
"... or all true, but maybe missing some details? You've filled in some of the gaps for me, and I'm thankful, but, I wondered if you'd share something I might never have heard before."
"Ho!" Axebourne bellowed. "The boy requests a tale, dear wife! How about we extoll the greatness of Scythia of Chasmreach?"
"Please don't," she said, but there was a hint of a smile on her face.
"She says that but she loves hearing my voice," Axebourne chortled. "She'll humor us, at least."
Axebourne cracked his knuckles as if that would help to warm up his vocal cords.
"So, have you heard the one about the Battle of Westchasm?"
Pierce nodded. Scythia had single-handedly held a chokepoint on the approach to the big town, sparing it a surprise assault by a band of brigands.
"Hmm, okay. How about the Sacking of Gunte?"
Pierce nodded again. Scythia had somehow infiltrated a troll fort called Gunte. She'd blown apart the gatehouse locking mechanisms and let a small mercenary army in to avenge raids on the nearby towns.