by Kate Sander
"Fear is a great weapon," Eris mumbled to herself.
"She is ready for you," Roald said to Malin.
Malin bowed and approached the huddled, twitching mess. "You will go and find Senka. You will kill her," she said to her. "You will not stop until this is accomplished or you die. Is that understood?"
Eris backed away to the door. This seemed so wrong. Tomo was looking at Malin's eyes, nodding, cheek destroyed, loose tooth hanging from her mouth.
"Kill me," Tomo muttered. The last real thought with her own voice.
"I won't do you that honour," Malin said, mistakenly thinking that Tomo was talking to her.
Eris knew she wasn't. The Empress of Blood was begging Eris to kill her to avoid being a slave.
Eris slowly backed out of the tent door. This wasn't what she wanted.
"That's it," Malin said. "That's it. You will find Senka and kill her, then kill yourself."
"I will find Senka and kill her, then kill myself," Tomo repeated back in a dead voice.
Eris couldn't take it anymore. She turned and fled the tent.
"FIND HER!" Malin shouted in the tent. The shout barely reached Eris as she was running so fast. Away. Nothing, no family, no power, was better than what was going on here.
She dodged and ducked the Worthless as their arms stretched out to catch her. Eris had to make the tree line a few hundred meters away. That was her only chance.
"FIND HER AND BRING HER BACK!" she heard Malin scream.
Eris fled from the only mother she'd ever known.
.
16
Tory
"Calmly," Monk Oh said beside her. "Focus. Clear your mind. Let the energy of the Remiel line up with your own."
Tory listened. Breathing slowly, gently, she cleared her mind and stared at the red stone she was holding in her hands. Her eyes went dull as she focused on the center of the stone.
"Mind blank," she muttered. "Mind blank."
"It is hard to make your mind blank while you’re talking," Oh said in her ear.
"Ha ha," Tory said, breaking her focus and looking back at the young monk. "It's also hard to focus with you talking so much."
Oh smiled at her. "Time for a break, I think. Tell me, did you feel anything?"
Tory thought about it. "Yes. I think I felt the power, if only for a second."
"Good! Then you can find it again," Oh said. He offered her a hand to help her stand. Knees sore from the long meditation, she gladly took it. Oh led her through the door and walked beside her in silence through the halls of the Monastery.
Tory had learned enough to give Oh some time to process his thoughts, so she walked silently beside him, taking in the beauty of the stone carved walls and dark wood.
"The power of the Remiel is really just in you. The Remiel helps you focus your own power. Remember that." Oh said. "You're the person in charge. You are the power. Not the Remiel. It just allows you to hone and focus the power."
"So, could I use any stone?"
Oh laughed, "Perhaps, after years of work and dedication. The Remiel is tied to your bloodline. It allows you to unlock powers that would be nearly impossible to unlock with any other object."
Tory nodded. "How did the Remiel come about?"
"Ah, a wise question. You will have to see for yourself. Someday, when you're ready, the Remiel will show you."
"Seems annoying, asking a stone for an answer."
Oh smiled and led her to a door she'd never been shown, refusing to acknowledge the quip.
"What's in there?" Tory asked.
"I am obviously going to show you," he said, "or I would not have brought you here. This is why this monastery exists."
He opened the door to an empty stone room, lit by torches lining the wall. "Hello," he said to a guard standing inside, perfectly still. Tory jumped when he said it, there'd never been a guard anywhere in the monastery. The guard nodded back to Oh.
"Step where I step," Oh said softly. "This room is not what it seems." He grabbed a lit torch on the wall beside the guard.
Tory nodded. Oh stepped twice to the left in the brightly lit room then walked straight ahead. Tory followed, and, through a nauseating trick of the eye, the torches and lit room disappeared showing them a dark stone bridge stretching over a massive black cavern.
"We use a series of mirrors that reflect a room above the door," Oh said softly, voice echoing in the cavern. "It ensures that no one knows where the bridge is unless they are shown first."
The bridge was only a few feet wide and it stretched as far as she could see. Her sight couldn't be trusted, however, as the monks apparently had tricks up their sleeves.
"This cavern was discovered a thousand years ago," Oh stepped onto the bridge and walked forward confidently. "It guarded a small cave, accessing it is difficult from the other side. Inside, the first monk discovered something amazing."
"Not listening," Tory said through gritted teeth. She placed a foot on the bridge and slowly leaned on the bridge, testing the weight. It held. Taking a deep breath, she started taking small, hesitant steps, being careful to follow Oh. "Trying not to fall to my death."
"It's not the fall that kills you..."
"Yes, I know. It's the sudden stop. Your humour is not appreciated right now," she said, breathing deeply trying to steady herself. "Don't look down, don't look down..."
"We are almost there," the wise monk said. "The distance is not as far as it seems."
A few more steps and they were on the other side. Tory turned cautiously to stare at the side from which they came.
"Well that's embarrassing," she said as her heart rate lowered. The other side of the bridge was a mere fifty feet away from their current ledge.
"All a trick of the eye," Oh said warmly. "It gets the best of us the first few times. Shall we carry on?"
"What are you guarding? What needs so much protection?"
"Legend tells," Oh said, "that this book will end all wars. It's called the Book Of All." He led her through another doorway and side-stepped a hidden pit lined with spikes. "Discovered over a thousand years ago, guarded by an ancient mummy in traditional clothes, the book is said to tell an ancient secret held by our ancestors. No one can read it, and legend tells of someone who will come who can. Someone, perhaps, not of this world."
"A Zoya," Tory breathed.
"Indeed, in the last hundred years with the appearance of the Zoya that is what we have thought."
"They told us Zoya have been around longer than that," Tory muttered. “That they’ve have been around for thousands of years."
Oh took three steps to the left and knocked twice on the stone wall. A piece, indistinguishable from the rest, opened silently outwards.
"Yes, many tribes have legends of folks who are... better than everyone else. Your legend melded with Zoya when they appeared. They used to be called Gods."
"We don't believe there are Gods," Tory said, walking through the door behind him. "Too many Kings and Queens of Solias likened themselves to Gods. We only believe in the spirit realm. And what we can see and touch."
"Ah, but you believed in the Zoya before you'd ever met one."
Tory had nothing to say, which wasn't a problem because she was rendered speechless by the majesty of the room. Lined with torches and monks praying, the cave was adorned with beautiful tapestries depicting epic battles and monsters.
"Are these... Gods?" Tory asked as she circled the chamber, careful of her footing so that she didn't step on a kneeling monk.
"Yes, these tapestries have been kept here for thousands of years. As has that book over there." Oh gestured to the center of the room. A book of brown leather with frail yellowed pages was sitting on an altar. The pages looked as thin as rice paper, like they would disintegrate with the slightest disturbance.
"That book was found in the chamber a long, long time ago. The mummified body was given a proper burial. We took over his sacred task. We think the book survived because this cave protected
it."
Tory ventured closer. The pages had writing in neat little lines across the entire page. It was thick, thousands of pages long.
"What does it say?"
"No one knows," Oh said. "A monk once saw a prophecy while on the ayewaska. He said that someone from another world would come and be able to read it and the answer would end all wars. So we've waited."
A gong rang from somewhere deep in the mountain. A low, throbbing sound. The monks hopped to their feet and brandished weapons from deep inside their robes. They looked gravely at each other then gave Tory a pointed look before fleeing the chamber.
"What was that?"
"We are under attack," Oh said. "Someone has found the monastery. We must hurry."
Tory nodded and the adrenaline of battle started rippling down her back. "I need to get my bow. How much time?"
"They will just be starting up the mountain," Oh answered. He dashed out of the room and Tory followed. "I will meet you at the top of the tower. We have a little over ten minutes before they get here. We must get ready." He led her quickly through the booby traps. The bridge seemed like an easy obstacle versus the impending attack.
They reached the hallway.
"How many do you have?" Tory asked.
"Maybe a hundred."
"Well, I've faced worse odds. Any traps that we can devise?"
"We have the high ground. We can set boulders to release," Oh said.
"You're way too nice," Tory snapped. "What about the oil from the kitchens?"
Oh blanched.
"Good," Tory said. "Bring it to the ramparts and light it on fire. We need to give these bastards a warm welcome. I need to go get my bow."
"In all my years, no one has found the monastery," Oh muttered. "How did this happen?"
"Easy," Tory yelled, dashing down the hallway, "Someone is a traitor."
Leaving Oh to his job and to organize the monks. Tory got the feeling that though they had practiced in martial arts quite a bit, actual bloody battle was something they had little experience with. "Good thing you're a general," she muttered as she dashed through the monastery. Many monks looked scared and clutched their weapons tightly, unsure of where to go.
"Find a place by the gate," she yelled as she passed. "We will kill them before they cross the threshold."
She didn't have time to see if anyone was listening. Instead, she ran to her room and shouldered open the door. Her bow was exactly where and how she had left it. Given to Senka by the Queen of Solias, all those years ago, it was made of beautiful oak and green leather. She'd unstrung it during her crossing of the tundra. Carefully, but quickly, she strung the bow and grabbed her arrows. Only ten left. She needed more, and quickly.
Running through the halls, she stopped a monk who was running down the ramparts. "Armoury," she gasped.
"By the great hall," he answered.
No need to thank him, he was already gone. The monks were trying desperately to remember where they were supposed to go in case of battle. Some of them were becoming leaders and the chaos of the initial warning was ebbing. Tory skidded to a stop in the busy great hall and looked around desperately.
There were monks going in and out of a particular door, so Tory thought she'd try there first. Shouldering her way through the crowd, she made it to the door as the gong struck once more.
"They are getting closer," a monk yelled to the crowd. "Grab your weapons and go to your positions. We protect the book at all cost!"
A feeble cry from the rest of the monks was the answer.
Tory burst into the armoury and realized that it was almost empty. She managed to grab a handful of arrows and a sword that still had an edge but was terribly balanced.
It would have to do. She'd stolen a weapon before during battle. Today would be nothing new. She made it to the top of the rampart that was erected over the gate that led to the great hall. Oh was there, waiting for her with a torch and barrels of oil from the kitchen. There were maybe fifty other archers lining the wall. Wind whipped through Tory's hair and the cold air and snow circled and danced. Hell of a time for a blizzard.
"Shit weather," Tory said.
"Indeed."
"How many do the scouts count?"
"We don't know," Oh said. "After the gong rang the second time, none of the scouts returned."
"Damn."
Echoes of snarling reached her ears through the snow, carried by the wind.
"Any idea who they are?"
"My best guess is the Ampulex," Oh said.
An arrow flew out of the blizzard. Tory sidestepped and it clanged harmlessly off the back wall.
"They are here," she yelled over the swirling snow. "Get the oil ready! Once they make contact with the gate, you light them up. Archers with me."
Drawing her bow off her shoulder, she carefully placed an arrow and drew back. There would be no blind shooting today. With a limited number of arrows, each one had to hit.
"Steady," she called to the other archers who had followed her lead. The snarling grew louder.
"Steady."
In a snap, the weather cleared resulting in an eerie calm. No snow, no wind. Just two armies facing each other on the side of a mountain. There were hundreds of humans scrambling up towards the gate. They moved on all fours, like animals, clawing and twisting over each other, desperate to get to the wall. Mixed in with the snarling human mass were a few people, well-armed and dressed in black and purple armor. One of the armed soldiers held a horn to his lips and blew. The snarling mess of humans stopped their charge, waiting and panting.
"Give us the book," the man called. "Give us the book and we spare your lives to devote to the great King and Queen of the Ampulex."
"What is with these people?" Tory called. "Why are they acting like this?"
"They are the Forsaken. They refused to bend knee to the King and Queen, so the great Queen Malin made the choice for them."
Tory aimed. "No surrender?" she asked Oh.
Oh looked scared and determined. "No surrender."
"Good." Tory breathed out and released the arrow. She'd aimed well and caught the soldier with the horn right in between the eyes. He fell to the ground. The Forsaken fell on him, tearing and biting.
Another horn blew. The army of Forsaken changed their focus and dashed to the door.
"FIRE," Tory yelled. The monks listened and most aimed true. Oh lit a barrel of oil on fire and dumped it on the thrashing mass below him. Screams of pain reached them, but the Forsaken didn't quit. They crawled over each other and threw themselves at the wall.
Tory fired a few well-aimed arrows, but there was no hope. They would break down the gate, by sheer body mass and willpower.
Grabbing Oh's hand, she pulled him away from the edge. "We need to go guard the book," she said. "They are going to break through."
"Go," a monk said, firing an arrow. "Protect it. It's been an honour."
Tory nodded and pulled Oh away from his brothers back into the monastery. They passed the great hall. Arms and hands were already making holes in the gate. The remaining fifty or so monks were chopping them off at the door, but it didn't stop these Forsaken. They screamed in pain and kept coming.
"What did they do to them?" Oh gasped at the carnage.
"I don't know. But I promise they will pay," she said. She pulled him away from the grisly sight and they dashed away.
Guard the book at all costs.
17
Tory
They slammed through the door of the chamber and darted across the bridge. Oh guided them quickly through the booby traps and they finally stopped when they entered the chamber of the book.
"How did they find us?" Oh gasped. "What are those things?"
"I think they are people," Tory said through deep breaths. "I saw one dressed in the same outfit as you guys. He was right at the front."
Oh shook his head. "No one would betray the monastery."
"Maybe they didn't know they were betraying you. Or they didn'
t have a choice. You send any spies out into the world."
Oh stopped to think. "Monk Tsu," he gasped. "No. He was too good to get captured. And he'd kill himself before divulging where we are..."
"You heard what that asshole said," Tory snapped. "They don't give them a choice. That woman, she can turn people into that. She takes away their choice." Tory spat on the ground. "They must be pure evil. That's the only way."
"They have to be Zoya," Oh said. "And if they're Zoya, there's another way..."
Screams echoed, carrying in the dark chamber, interrupting his thought.
"What way?' Tory asked.
Oh took off out the door. "We must protect the Book at all costs," he called to her. "Follow me."
"What way?" Tory called from behind him. "Oh, stop. How do we defeat the Zoya?"
He didn't listen. Instead, he ran for the base of the bridge. Screams were approaching. Five monks scrambled through the door across the chasm and ran across the bridge.
"The Ampulex," one said through a bloody face as he collapsed in Oh's arms. "They've taken the monastery. They are being led by Monk Tsu. They're coming. They know where the book is kept.”
"Is this all?" Oh asked.
"Everyone else is dead."
"Then we make our stand here."
"THEY'RE COMING-” a guard’s scream cut short across the bridge.
A growling, rabid noise reached them. A monk skidded around the corner. White eyes with blood running down his chin, he bared his filed teeth. Growling, his tattered and ripped robes billowed around him. Other growls echoed from across the cavern. The Forsaken monk began to charge across the bridge.
They were coming.
"Take the book and run," Oh said to Tory. "There is another door that locks from the outside. Use it. Take the stairs down."
"But then you won't be able to escape."
Oh took a small dagger from inside his robes. "This is my sacred duty. Take the book and run."
The six remaining monks smiled at each other. They nodded and at once they charged the grizzled, less-than-human attackers.