Time to put an end to this madness! He walked through the back door and saw the game mistress standing with her back to him. He unsheathed his sword, leapt forward, and stabbed her in the back by driving his sword through her heart, without piercing through the skin of her chest.
What did you do? Why did you kill her?
Wait and watch.
In the ambient darkness, with all eyes on the game, no one saw what had happened. The game mistress jerked and froze. A low gurgling moan rose from the back of the room, from behind the dark veil. All the players and the audience stopped and listened as the moan grew steadily, while the crowd behind the veil scampered out, screaming in horror.
“What’s going on?” yelled one of the spectators. He rose to his feet and everyone else followed. The gurgle streaming from the back of the room had become a soft wheezing sound.
Ahiram, still standing behind the game mistress, saw her slump and heard her ragged breathing. He saw her cough up blood, seemingly at the point of death. Have I made a mistake? Slowly, her breathing stabilized and she steadied herself. Ignoring the stunned players and spectators, she turned around and gazed at Ahiram with an inexpressible look of surprise and relief.
The game mistress, alive and well, removed the Arayatian tube from her neck and breathed a deep sigh of relief. Astounded and frightened, the spectators drew away from the table. Several men and women in the crowd staggered back.
“Impossible!” a woman said. “No slave of the Arayat can free herself.”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the game mistress said with a strong voice, “I am sorry to interrupt the game. To compensate you for your troubles, every gamer here today is free to leave Metranos. You may leave as you walked into this room.” She snapped her fingers and the six players stood with their bodies restored to the state they were in when they started the game. It was not what Ebaan had promised them, but it was far better than the state they were in a moment ago. They looked at her with eyes of relief and deep sadness, for they knew what would happen next.
“Better to die than to be a prisoner here,” the old man whispered.
“I am ready,” the armless woman said. “I’ve been ready for a long time.”
The players bowed before the game mistress, who then quietly said, “I release you from Metranos.” Slowly, they vanished from view.
She released them from Metranos, which means … Ahiram then understood the implication. They return to the real world, suddenly aged, and so… they will die.
“This game room is closed until further notice,” she added, addressing the crowd. “Please proceed through the door and avail yourselves of other games. I am sorry for the inconvenience.”
Muttering and uncertain about the turn of events, the audience silently filed out. Once the last person had left, the game mistress closed the door and turned to face Ahiram, who was still waiting in the shadows.
“Hello, Ahiram,” she said, removing the veil from her face.
“Hello, Ebaan,” replied the Silent. “Nice to meet you at last.”
“Ignore small, innocuous details and they will do to you what water, unseen, does to steel. They will eat your defenses like rust eating the finest blade, and kill you when you least expect it. So, if you do not want to die with a look of surprise on your face, study the facts, then study them again, and, most of all, do not ignore small, innocuous details if you wish to live and see another day.”
–From the instructions of Tanios, Master of the Silent.
Whaaaaaaat?
Sheheluth, be quiet.
Slowly, the features of the woman changed. Her thin hair thickened and became curly. Her skin lost its pallor and looked healthy. Her face elongated slightly and her eyes grew larger. Her nose thinned and her cheekbones became more pronounced. She smiled, and her smile was radiant.
It’s her! She’s here! I thought she was locked away in the Arayat in some secret place. I thought killing Ebaan, or whoever that man was, would free her!
You were wrong, Sheheluth. Now stop talking, you’re distracting me. “So you know my name then,” Ahiram said.
“Your name is reverberating across the Arayat. It’s hard to miss. Please follow me.”
They went to the back of the room and stood before the one Ahiram had known as Jin, then as Ebaan, but who was neither. The real Jin must still be with her sisters, Ahiram thought. The man’s breathing was ragged, his eyes glazed, and his skin had turned the color of jade.
“Who is he?” asked Ahiram.
“His real name is Ianor. He’s a prince from Ophir.”
“What’s happening to him?”
“What happens to every soul condemned to the Arayat when it reaches the end of its impossibly long life. It is absorbed by the Spell World and seeps inside the Pit down to the city of the dead. It’ll be a slow, painful, breakdown, until his body is fully absorbed by the Spell World.”
Ianor raised a supplicating hand. “Help me,” he whispered. “Help …” His flesh began melting into a puddle of viridian green liquid.
“We need to step back,” Ebaan whispered.
The puddle burst into flames. Ahiram looked away. The fire roared for a brief instant and died out, leaving behind a faint outline of a human silhouette. Ahiram gazed at the remnants of Ianor and imagined him trapped inside the Arayat, in a world of ceaseless suffering. He shuddered. “Can the Arayat be destroyed?”
She looked at him. “What a strange and disturbing question to ask. I don’t know what the answer is, but it would take a force greater than the Pit to destroy the Arayat.”
“What a pity.”
“Pity?” she snapped. “This man was sentenced to the Arayat for a murder he committed. When I saw him, he had been in the Spell World for almost one century. As crazy as it may seem, I fell in love with him and gave him my heart. I physically exchanged my heart with his and took his curse upon me to save him. But he didn’t love me. He tricked me and tied me to the Arayat where he has tortured me for the past three hundred years. Three hundred years! He used me, used my powers to create this monstrosity, to enrich himself. Pity? No! Justice. He has what he deserves. Let’s go!” she added. “There is nothing left to see.”
He followed her back into the main room where she straightened two chairs. “Please sit.” She stretched and smiled with deep contentment. “It’s soooo good to be free at last from that blood-sucking tube. I finally feel alive. I cannot thank you enough for what you did for me! But time is not in your favor and we must make haste. Tell me, how did you find out? It’s been so long, people forgot that Ebaan was a woman.”
“He made two mistakes.”
“How unusual. He is … was... so very careful.”
“He was careful. But you can be careful and still make mistakes. When I first met him inside Metranos, he asked me to kill him. He wanted me to drive my sword through his heart.”
She nodded. “Your sword would have severed the tie between Ianor and I. The Arayat would have swallowed me, and he would have been free. He knew your sword could do what no other weapon can achieve, so he brought you here and tried to convince you he wanted to die.”
“Initially I was confused. Why bring me here to ask me to kill him? I could have done that while we were still outside Metranos. It would have been easier than having to bring me all the way here. Why the added complication?”
Ebaan nodded. “That’s simple. The exchange of body parts does not work outside of Metranos. It’s part of the … power I possess. Had you killed him outside, he would not have survived. But how did you know he was not the real Ebaan?”
“I didn’t at first. But then he told me the rules of the game. I confirmed with him that you had the power to set a winner, and I mean any winner, free from Metranos. I think he was so enthralled by the game, he didn’t pay attention to what he was actually revealing to me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“When he revealed himself as Ebaan, he asked me to kill him because he couldn’t set
himself free from Metranos. So he, the powerful Ebaan, overlord of Metranos, had a game mistress tied to the Arayat who could set anyone free, but he couldn’t do the same? That made no sense.”
Ebaan nodded. “In the end, his arrogance was his downfall. What a waste. He had centuries to overcome this vice and turn it into a great virtue, instead, he chose to indulge his senses and disregard the lives of others. Let him burn in the frozen fire of the Pit.”
Ahiram winced. “I wouldn’t wish the Pit on my worst enemy.”
“That’s because you haven’t suffered enough,” Ebaan said.
“True, but I lost someone that no centuries can give me back, and I still wouldn’t wish the Pit on anyone.”
Ebaan scoffed. “So what would you do? Forgive him and release him from Metranos? Is that it? After all the pain he inflicted on me? Never!”
Ahiram nodded solemnly. “You’re right Ebaan. I don’t think I could do that.” He smiled. “I suppose I shouldn’t question you when I don’t have all the answers.”
His candid smile disarmed Ebaan’s anger. “It’s good to know you’re still seeking answers. Come back to me when you know more. I shall want to have this conversation with you again.”
Ahiram nodded. “I will. I promise.”
“Here’s what I don’t get though: how did you know that my heart, beating in his body, kept me alive, and that his heart beating in me kept him alive? When did you realize that exchanging hearts in the Arayat preserved the link between the hearts and their donors?”
“Sheer luck, you might say. I couldn’t stand by and watch Body Parts, so I left and wandered into a game room where I played Interrogation.”
Ebaan gasped. “You didn’t! That game is impossible to win without losing half your life.”
“Actually, I won without asking any questions. I took the second option, the one where you are granted a wish before you ask a question.”
“What second option? There is no second option in Interrogation, and no granting of wishes.”
“But that’s what happened to me.”
“Was there a crowd in the room?”
“No, it was deserted. It was just the game master and me.”
She gazed at him silently for a long time. “Remarkable,” she finally muttered. “Truly remarkable.”
“What?” asked Ahiram.
“You managed to invoke a benign raayiil.”
“A what?”
“A raayiil is a creature that is part dream, part vision from the Arayat. There was no one in that room except for you and this strange vision.”
“Are you sure? It felt so real.”
Ebaan shook her head. “No game room is ever empty. The only chairs in Metranos are in game rooms. Folks will wander into a room just to rest, not necessarily to play.”
“So there was no real revelation and no real game in that room, then?”
Ebaan shook her head slowly.
Hearing this, Ahiram was proud to know that he had figured out who the real Ebaan was without outside help, and yet disappointed to know he did not win a real game. “Well anyway, after talking to this raayiil—or myself, as you say—I knew who the real Ebaan was.”
Ebaan kept a straight face. Inwardly, she was amazed and frightened. She could not fathom how Ahiram had managed to summon a raayiil. “I owe you my life and my freedom.”
“What will you do now? Will you keep Metranos the way it is?”
Ebaan detected the veiled threat. A thin smile relaxed her worn-out features. “You don’t have to worry. I will change it, but slowly. It must be done imperceptibly, or else the crowd will riot, and the Temple will be alerted and start meddling in my business.”
“Metranos could be made to serve a good cause,” he offered. Ahiram shared his idea with Ebaan. “I know it sounds crazy, but that’s why it might work.”
Ebaan chuckled. “Let’s talk when you’re ready to act.”
It was Ahiram’s turn to bow. His idea was anything but conventional, and he was glad she was willing to consider it.
“Is there anything else I can do for you?”
Tell her you must see the girl with the medallion, Sheheluth instructed.
What girl?
In the name of all that is good and true, can’t you do something without asking twenty questions?
“Three things,” Ahiram said, responding to Ebaan’s question, “First, I have a few acquaintances who want to see people released from the Arayat. Can you help them?”
“Domnina, Jin, and Lilith?”
“And Oriana. You know them?”
“Ianor shared everything with me. He took pleasure in humiliating me. They were his accomplices, and they poisoned you.”
Ahiram shrugged his shoulders. “Most likely they were duped as well. They didn’t know he was a false version of Ebaan. They did it to free the people they cared for. Could you please send these people over to them?”
She chuckled. “There you go with your forgiveness thing again.” He did not answer. She gazed at him for a long time. “I don’t understand your logic, but if you ask, it will be done. What else?”
“Can you remove this medallion from my arm?”
She examined his arm and shook her head. “This magic is very different from the Temple’s. I have seldom seen it before. I could try, but the results would be unpredictable. What I can do, however, is buy you time. I can slow its progress and give you four weeks.”
“How can I remove it?”
“You have three options: force the tajèr to take it out, become his willing slave, or amputate your arm.”
Ahiram sighed. “As I suspected.” He showed her the waterskin he had filled before they entered Metranos. “This water, is it from the Arayat?”
“Yes, indeed, and it’s a highly potent poison. In fact, it’s not water at all. It’s distilled curses.”
“Can I take it back with me?”
She looked at him quizzically. “Yes, but be careful how you use it.”
He smiled ruefully. “Thanks. I think that’s it.”
Tell her about the girl with the medallion.
“No wait, one more thing. There’s a girl here with a medallion …” his voice trailed off because he did not know what else to say. This sounds ridiculous, Sheheluth.
Be patient.
Ebaan’s eyes brightened. “That’s indeed a brilliant idea.”
Ahiram frowned, uncertain how to react. He understood that Ebaan read more into his words than what he meant to say. Sheheluth, what is Ebaan talking about?
“Follow me,” Ebaan said with a renewed energy. “This could work, and if this works, it will definitely be a first. It’s certainly worth a try.”
What will work, what am I supposed to do? What is she talking about?
With a wave of her hand, Ebaan opened a portal and led him back into the large room where throngs of people were filing out of the Arayat, while a group just as numerous was entering. The queues were running non-stop and Ahiram felt his chest constrict.
One of these days, I will end this, he thought.
As long as today is not that day.
Sheheluth, get out of my head!
You’re the one talking to me.
“Follow me,” Ebaan repeated, and they went down a flight of stairs onto the platform that ran the length of the large room. Midway through, she opened a concealed door, and they stepped inside another room with a table, two chairs, and a bed. A young girl was sitting on one of the chairs, her hands folded in her lap. She did not react when they walked in but kept staring at the white wall behind them.
“What’s wrong with her?” Ahiram asked.
“She is affected by the vanishing, a strange magical disease that attacks mostly children, but adults can be affected as well. What’s different in her case is that she is still here. She has not vanished. Do you know why?”
Ahiram shook his head, and then froze. “This medallion … the one she’s wearing … It looks just like the one I lost.”
“That medallion is what’s keeping her from vanishing,” explained Ebaan, “but as you can see, she is in a sort of in-between state, neither vanishing, nor truly present. You can help her, Ahiram.”
“Me? How?” Ahiram was still shaken. His medallion, the one he lost on the beach, was around this young girl’s neck. It looks just like mine, but if it really is, how did she get it?
There’s no time for this now. Heal her! You need to leave Metranos soon or else you’ll miss your meeting with the dwarfs.
Ahiram took a deep breath. “What should I do? How do I heal her?”
“This has never been attempted before,” Ebaan said. “Since the medallion is helping her, perhaps if you somehow boost the power of the medallion, it might bring her back?”
“You think so?”
“Nothing is certain. No one truly knows. However, if you do nothing, she will inevitably vanish, that is sure. So there is not much to lose and everything to gain.”
Ahiram shook his head dubitatively. “Let’s give this a try.”
He walked over and crouched in front of the young girl.
“How long has she been in Metranos?” he asked.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Ebaan explained. “Paradoxically, the vanishing is protecting her from the time distortion you’re experiencing in Metranos.”
Ahiram gazed into the young girl’s clouded eyes. “What’s her name?”
“Vily,” Ebaan said.
“Well, Vily, I don’t know if you can hear me, but if you can, I hope you’ll understand that I’m here to help you. I hope what I’m about to do won’t harm you, but if it does, please forgive me.”
He called the Letter of Power by name, and it appeared in the palm of his hand.
Don’t just touch the medallion with the thing in your hand, said the voice in his head, it’ll sap your energy. First, connect with the star.
The Wretched Race (Epic of Ahiram Book 3) Page 27