by John Kerry
The first guard had gone now, consumed by the black mass. The crabmen followed him in. Corded tentacles of liquid smoke slithered in and out of each other, growing as more bodies entered.
The bodies kept coming, dropping onto the mountaintop below, then crawling or dragging themselves onward. Hami jumped back as a karkadann pitched itself over, narrowly missing taking him with it as the edge collapsed, sending an avalanche of rubble down the slope.
Humans and animals alike were entering the black mass, becoming consumed by it. The oily liquid tugged at their bodies, tearing limbs apart, pulling off skin and re-grafting it together. Ripping, moaning and crying accompanied the whispering voices.
Then they stopped.
The few that had already fallen to the mountaintop below kept going, heading towards the heaving mass of smoke, shell, flesh and fur. Those that hadn’t made it to the Cataclysm edge remained where they stood. Stationary, expressionless and unseeing.
“We should get out of here,” Narok said.
His voice seemed strangely out of place in the stillness. Hami waited, he’d caused this, he was going to see what happened next and record it for the brotherhood and commit it to memory. He could do that for them, at least.
The tentacles of liquid smoke continued to slither over and around each other inside the oily black mass, breaking bones and tearing flesh apart. The bodies whimpered and cried as the mass grew. Then it was morphing, forming a shape and standing up.
Two glowing red eyes opened near the top.
Hami had seen enough. “Okay. Let’s go,” he said as he ran to Narok’s karkadann, Indomit. He leapt onto its back, landing behind the general, and they were off.
They fled towards the Fungi Forest with Eva in pursuit, galloping through the trance-like crowds of crabmen, knocking them down and crunching them underfoot. The creatures made no protest as their bodies were destroyed, didn’t flinch from the karkadanns’ paths as Narok and Eva ploughed through them.
They tried to avoid the bodies of other Marzban where they could, but in the darkness they were near impossible to spot in time. Like the crabmen, they stood their ground as their fragile bodies were pulverised by the weight of the giant mammals.
The karkadann soon left the last of the resurrected bodies and emerged into the centre of the plain where the battle had taken place. There were no dead remaining, only miscellaneous body parts.
They kept going, heading for the Fungi Forest. Fear driving them onward.
It wasn’t until they reached the forest that Hami remembered that Sammy and Mehrak were still inside the fire temple.
–EIGHTEEN–
THE REUNION
Hami was struggling to rationalise what he’d seen. What he’d done. The series of events he’d set in motion by his actions.
He’d done it to save Behnam. To absolve himself of guilt for killing his best friend’s sister. To put one small thing right in this broken and corrupt realm. If another magus had been captured, would he have done anything different? If his judgement hadn’t been impaired? It was true that he’d been spurred on by the notion of saving his friend, but the objective had always been to lure Ramaask out of Aratta. To destroy him and save Perseopia. Hadn’t it? It wasn’t an entirely selfish plan. Behnam was a convenient excuse to rush the objective through to completion. Not that it would’ve carried weight with the brotherhood. Given the opportunity, they’d have dithered, considered options, and then deemed the plan too risky.
He should try to put it behind him. It was done now, and he’d have to live with the consequences. All that mattered is where he went from here.
The Temple of Paths thing with Sammy, that was unexpected. He still couldn’t get his head around the fact that she’d found it. It was such an unlikely scenario. And yet she’d used it, somehow. He was pretty certain about that now. He wasn’t convinced before, but he’d had time to reflect on it and there was no other explanation for the sensation he’d felt.
He wondered where she was now. If she’d chosen the right portal pearl.
He desperately wanted to see her again and his thoughts turned bitter at the prospect that she’d truly gone.
Mehrak had helped her. That pathetic little peasant had sent her back to the Mother World and Hami would get the blame for it. Mehrak could remain in the bowels of the mountain for all he cared. This was his fault. Let him find his own way out. Or not. He wasn’t Hami’s problem anymore.
The brotherhood would see this mess as his fault. He’d lost the girl and initiated the apocalypse. His career as a magus was over.
That wouldn’t stop him rescuing Behnam, though. But first he’d return to the Fifth Azaran to observe the corpse monster. He still had a responsibility to the brotherhood. The magi had to know the extent of the disaster he’d caused if they were to have any chance of combatting it, with or without his help. He’d transmit whatever information he could, then he’d leave the Cataclysm and the network before they arrived and arrested him. He’d have to go into hiding. Perhaps find a small village near the boundary to live out the rest of his life in obscurity.
Hami walked to the edge of the Fungi Forest.
The Marzban Sasan was leaning against a mushroom, watching the fire temple with a telescope. He was one of two other surviving Marzban they’d found on the way back to the forest. A quiet, straight-faced individual with an impressive moustache. The other, Rougetta, was a tall, gangly woman. She was currently at the top of a high mushroom, using it as a vantage point, while Narok and Eva swept the surrounding forest for straggling crabmen.
Both Marzban had been waiting at the edge of the forest with Harz and one of his men, Jokram. They’d given chase to the fleeing crabmen, followed them to the forest, then had held back for reinforcements. Hami, Narok and Eva were the only ones that had turned up. Unsurprising, considering what they’d been up against.
Hami held his hand out for Sasan’s telescope. The guard handed it over.
The congregation of dead creatures was too far away to see properly. They needed to get closer. As much as he wanted to leave the area before the magi got there, he couldn’t allow them to run into this debacle without at least letting them know what they were up against.
Narok and Eva returned from their recce and gave the all clear.
At least the living crabmen had gone.
Hami gave the nod and leapt onto Indomit, landing behind Narok. Harz boarded his chariot with Jokram. Eva climbed onto her karkadann, and Sasan and Rougetta climbed onto a third rider-less karkadann they’d found near the edge of the forest.
They set off slowly across the plain. Hami planned on getting close enough that they’d have a clear view with the aid of the telescope, but plenty far enough that they wouldn’t be seen in the darkness of the plain.
As they neared their position, a flurry of lava pterodactyls erupted from the Cataclysm. A swirling vortex of dark wings spiralling up into the air. They took to the skies, circling around the assembled dead.
Hami snatched up the telescope and leapt from Indomit. He landed into a forward roll, then up and back onto his feet. He got the telescope to his eye in time to see the swirling mass of flesh and gaseous liquid crest the ridge of the plain. Smoke unfurled from it, rushing along the ground through the legs of the congregated bodies. Then the indistinct shape raised itself up on two legs, turned to its right and lumbered north along the Cataclysm edge, dragging itself forward.
The army of dead creatures turned to their left in unison, falling in alongside the undulating core of liquid darkness that contained the corpse monster. The pterodactyls swarmed above in a whirlwind of leathery wings.
Hami set off towards the Fifth Azaran at a slow jog. The others followed.
By the time they reached the Cataclysm, the army of dead creatures had moved on.
Hami surveyed the area. It was much as it had been after the mountain had first fallen, with nothing more to be seen.
“The magi wil
l be here soon,” he said. “I’m going to meet them. Narok, can I take Indomit?”
Narok paused. “Can’t you tell them whatever you need to over the magi network?”
“I want to talk to them in person. I’m worried about a breach in the network,” he lied.
“But …” Narok was stalling. He didn’t want to hand over Indomit’s reins. “Shouldn’t we rescue Sammy and Mehrak first? Surely that’s more important.”
Narok was right. He wouldn’t have questioned Hami if he’d asked for one of the other karkadann. He should’ve known how protective Narok was over Indomit. Now if he made excuses about leaving Sammy and Mehrak, they’d know something was up. Still, the magi wouldn’t be here for a while. He’d have to be quick, but this was okay. It was good, in fact. He could put his mind to rest that Sammy had truly gone and he’d be doing the decent thing by rescuing Mehrak. Not that the guy deserved it, but it was one less death on his conscious. Then he’d go. There was time.
The smoke demon had pulled down a large quantity of earth and rock when it had dragged itself up over the ridge, but Hami would still need to shift more to make a decent ramp to get Louis and Golden Egg Cottage out.
Hami stood there, distracted by what he’d done and the emptiness of what lay ahead. He was so tired. His efforts may have brought about the end of the realm, but all he wanted to do was lie down and sleep. Then a sensation came to him. Faint. The merest flutter of feeling, barely a thought.
Sammy. She was still here! Could she still be down inside the mountain?
Narok interrupted him then. “Another one of our guys made it! Look!” He pointed.
A Marzban riding a karkadann was approaching from the south, following the edge of the Cataclysm towards them. Hami didn’t care. He needed to reach Sammy.
“Wait,” Narok said. “It’s … Calven?”
Something in Narok’s tone stopped Hami and he turned to watch the Marzban draw close.
The guard was wearing the standard issue purple uniform and pink turban, not the navy combat fatigues worn by the Marzban that Hami had brought with him, and his karkadann was pulling a cart.
Hami gasped as he recognised the sensation of two people he knew. Neither of them should be at this location right now. His heart raced and a cool sweat beaded his forehead. He staggered towards the karkadann and cart. It couldn’t be.
“Calven?” Narok said as the Marzban pulled to a stop. “What are you doing here?”
Then Sammy climbed out of the cart.
–NINETEEN–
RETURN TO THE TEMPLE
Hami was just as she remembered him. Not a day older than when she’d left. The dark, tangled hair to his shoulders, the lean corded arms and intense stare. A young man’s face with eyes that had seen too many terrible things. But there was hope in there too, an intensity that hadn’t been diminished.
He faltered when he saw her. The hope vanished and he looked as if his world was crashing down around him. The drop of his shoulders, the air leaving his lungs. Everything he knew was wrong and his brain would be desperately trying to catch up with what he was seeing.
Around him, only four Marzban remained sat atop three of the thirty karkadann they’d left Honton Keep with. And Dirty Santa was on his chariot. She’d forgotten about him. He and one other member of his gang had survived. Everyone else that had been with them, along with all the crabmen, had gone. Dead, she presumed, although bizarrely there were no bodies present.
Calven cleared his throat. “General Grotta? Sir?” His voice cracked. “The magus told me to bring her to Hami …”
Narok was staring at her. “I don’t understand,” he said to no one in particular, ignoring Calven’s question. “She went into the Fire Temple.”
Hami’s eyes didn’t leave hers for a moment. “You’re … older.”
“I’m two years older,” she said. She walked towards the giant temple on the fallen mountain. The shimmering golden dome, the minarets. “I was inside the Temple of Paths when this happened,” she said. “I remember the tremors, the ground tilting. All the pearls fell off the shelves when the mountain slammed to a stop.” She gazed up past the dome into the darkness above. “Did the sky go black when Ramaask died? I thought it would’ve gotten lighter.”
“You shouldn’t have come back,” Hami said.
“Did you actually kill him?”
“What are you doing here?”
“I thought you’d be pleased to see me. Wasn’t I supposed to be trained as a magus?”
Hami approached her, he leaned in close and took her arm. “How did Mehrak figure out how to get you into the secret part of the temple?”
Sammy pulled away from him. “He didn’t figure it out. I did! And you can take your hands off me! I’m not the same little girl you could intimidate last time.”
Hami’s hand shot back like he’d been burnt. “I … I didn’t …”
“You did and you should feel sorry for it. You used me and you’re upset I figured out how to escape.”
Hami shook his head. “I never meant …”
“Yet despite how badly you treated me last time, I’ve done you a solid.”
“Sammy, I – You’ve done me a what?”
“I saved your pal, Victa,” she said. “I even brought him here to you.”
“Victa …”
“The magus,” she said. “He’s in the cart.”
Hami walked round to the back of the cart. His face remained passive but he was breathing hard. He steadied himself on a corner like he was about to collapse.
“We patched him up as best as we could,” Calven said. “But he’s in a lot of pain. Sammy said we should bring him to you.”
Hami nodded. “You did right.” He moved further round to Victa’s head and held his hand over the young magus’s forehead. When he finally removed his arm and turned to Sammy, he’d gone pale.
“You were the recruit Victa went to pick up?” he said. “You appeared on the network …”
“Yeah, I heard an enrolment whisper, apparently. Victa said that’s why he came to find me in the forest. But then we got attacked by crabmen and he got his legs chopped off before I could save him.”
“You saved him?”
“Well. He got a couple of the crabmen, I suppose. I killed the rest. Then I went to get help and found a Marzban outpost. Calven went back to collect Victa, brought him to the outpost and patched him up. I persuaded him to bring us both here. He’s actually supposed to be on leave. I told him you’d reimburse him for his holiday. So he gets the time back. That’s okay with you isn’t it, Narok? I mean, General?”
The question seemed to catch Narok by surprise. “Yes, I’m sure we can work something out.”
Sammy winked to Calven to let him know matters were sorted.
“How did you know to come here?” Hami asked.
“I figured out the portal pearls, didn’t I? I’m not as stupid as I look.”
“I never said you were …”
Sammy waved his apology away. “One of the Marzban that swapped over with Calven at the outpost said you were at Honton Keep with a yellow-haired girl, a man and a gastrosaur. It wasn’t too hard to figure out I’d come back to the same moment I’d been here before. Although it took me a while to get my head around it.”
Hami’s eyes widened. “That’s why there were no other ripples in the barrier around Perseopia, and why it was larger than normal. You and your previous self arrived at exactly the same time.” Hami became silent a moment before going on. “This means the portal pearl on your midnight bracelet is time and date specific. But why this exact time? Were you brought here to prevent all this happening? Or were you sent here to cause it?” He glanced at her warily. “And who else is here? The fluctuation was three times larger than the one when Ramaask arrived, which means that your bracelet is only ever used three times. We know you’ve used it twice already. Theoretically, there could be a third version of you here …
Or else there’s someone else.”
“Borzin arrived at the Keep several days ago with a boy he’d found in the Fungi Forest,” Eva said.
“Borzin found a boy?” Hami asked. “Why was I not told?”
Sammy shrugged. “I heard about him.”
“Who is he?”
“We don’t know,” Calven said. “Borzin found him in the Fungi Forest not far from the outpost. Creepy-looking kid.”
“Was he like Sammy?” Hami asked.
Sammy raised an eyebrow. “I’m not creepy.”
“He had yellow hair,” Calven said. “That’s all I know. Borzin took him to Honton Keep with him. He would have arrived at the Keep just before you did.”
Hami was quiet for a time, then turned to Sammy. “You figured out which portal pearl takes you to the Mother World?”
“Of course,” she said.
“And you got home okay?”
“It was like I’d never been gone. It took me back to the exact moment I left.”
“That makes sense. The pearls of portal paths won’t be time specific. Only in as much as they’ll return you to the same time you left.”
“Hold on,” Sammy said. “If the battle has only just finished, and my past self just left, then Mehrak is still down there in the fire temple!” She ran to the edge of the Cataclysm. “We need to rescue him!”