by John Kerry
“You’re not understanding what I’m trying to tell you. What do you think this demon will do if the portal gets destroyed and Sammy isn’t on the other side of it? Bearing in mind that it’s on a quest for power and Sammy has an abundance of it?”
“How will it find her?” Mehrak asked.
“How did the tall thin demon find Sammy before? How did it keep finding her? In the Fungi Forest, at Honton Keep, at the Fifth Azaran Fire Temple. Ramaask used it to hunt her down and it found her every time. This thing will too. The magi wanted to train you to fight Ramaask, and now they want to train you to take on this demon. I can’t protect you forever. The demon will overpower us, and it will take you for itself. I want you gone not only for your own safety, but for ours too.”
–FORTY-THREE–
HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE SAMMY?
Mehrak tried to calm her down, tried to tell her it didn’t matter what Hami had said, and that they’d figure something out, but his words lacked conviction. He knew nothing about how powerful she was supposed to be, or what kind of perceived threat she represented. He realised then that he didn’t really know an awful lot about her or the place she came from.
She was different to how she’d been the last time she came to Perseopia. Older, obviously, but something else. Her childlike optimism had gone, some amount of happiness too. But it was more than that. Part of her was missing. Like it had been shed between her leaving the last time and returning to Perseopia again. Mehrak couldn’t place exactly what that something was, but the absence in her was disconcerting.
“The magi might’ve already shut the portal down before we get there,” Mehrak said, hopefully.
Sammy was perched on the edge of the kitchen bench with her head in her hands, staring blankly at the floor. “Do we have to go to the mountains? Can’t we run away instead? I’ll stay in Eggie and live with you.”
Mehrak wasn’t sure what to say to that. “You know you’re welcome to live here …” he said, and trailed off.
Sammy lifted her head. “But?”
“I still have to rescue Gisouie. Whatever happens between us, I could never see her hurt or in danger. When she’s safe we can talk to her.”
“And if she says I can’t live here?”
“We’ll deal with that situation if it arises.”
Sammy got up and walked slowly towards him. She narrowed her eyes as she stared into his. “Do we have to save her?”
“Sammy?”
She sighed and carried on past him. “I hate that you’re married.”
Mehrak held out his hand to her, but she didn’t take it. “Do you want me to talk to Hami?”
Sammy picked up Victa’s lightning staff from where it had been leaning against the wall and took the stairs down and out of the cottage.
When the back door hatch slammed, Mehrak went to find Hami again.
He was on the front balcony watching Sammy walk towards the fire pit.
Mehrak watched with him. The pit had been dug deeper than usual in order to conceal the fire light from a distance. Sammy stood on the edge with her back to Eggie, but her body language was clear. She kicked at a loose stone in frustration, then wandered away out into the darkness.
“Hami,” Mehrak said as he joined him at the railing.
“You’re not going to talk me out of it,” Hami said by way of greeting.
“She doesn’t want to go.”
“She’s too dangerous to stay.”
“Is she? I think you’re making excuses.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Because you like her.”
Hami’s jaw set. “I think you misunderstand …”
“There’s no misunderstanding. I see the way you look at her. You feel guilty about having feelings for someone so soon after your friend’s sister died.”
“Her name was Jamileh.”
“I’m sorry you feel such guilt. But sending Sammy home won’t make everything right.”
Hami’s eyes burned and Mehrak inched back, but no attack came.
“Go ahead.” Hami became distant. “Turn it around on me if it makes you feel better. You clearly aren’t trying to keep Sammy here for your own selfish reasons.”
A flash of light preceded a concussive boom out in the darkness, followed by the pattering of pebbles as they rained down.
“Sammy!” Hami yelled. “That staff is not a toy!”
They stood in silence a while. Hami’s eyes were vacant.
Mehrak wasn’t sure where to go from there. “Whatever happens, it’s got to be Sammy’s choice,” he said at last, figuring that was the only thing left to say.
Louis turned his head to the west. Hami followed his unseeing gaze out into the darkness.
“We know what Sammy wants to do …” Hami said, then trailed off.
“What?” Mehrak asked.
Hami gripped the railing. “That stupid girl!”
“What?”
“She’s given us away.”
Mehrak looked out into the darkness. There was nothing there.
Below, Louis signed: Antelopes. A moment went by and then: Greenbucks. Magi.
While Mehrak was still processing what Louis had signed, Hami dragged him into the bedroom. “If Sammy and I are captured, will you still go to the snow base? You’re not going to abandon your wife, are you?”
Mehrak mustered all his indignation. “What sort of person do you take me for?”
“I know you’re an honourable man, but I also know you want to keep Sammy in Perseopia.”
“Yes, but I’d never …”
“You must carry on to the portal. If Sammy and I don’t make it, it’s down to you to shut it down.”
“But …”
“Mehrak.” Hami held him at arm’s length. “Sammy’s just ruined her chances of returning home and in the process has jeopardised the realm, too. Our only way out of this is for you to convince the magi you’re ignorant of my plans so you get to go free. The fate of Perseopia is now on your shoulders. Will you do it?”
Mehrak nodded, barely aware of what Hami was talking about. He steadied himself against the bed. His chest was constricting and his guts were turning to water. It was as if his life was ending, and in some ways it was.
He was losing Sammy again.
–FORTY-FOUR–
BUSTED
The Marzban around the fire pit shielded their eyes as the greenbucks came springing into camp and the magi ignited their staffs, illuminating the surroundings in stark white light.
Until that moment, Hami had never tired of witnessing a platoon of battle-ready greenbucks coming in to land. It was an impressive sight and ordinarily a relief, as it typically signified back-up. This time was different.
The magi took their time interrogating everyone. Mehrak, for all his faults, put on an excellent performance and was spared for his efforts, along with Narok and the Marzban.
Hami couldn’t have been a wanted man, they’d explained, because Master Piruzan wouldn’t have let him go if he was. Mehrak’s indignity worked. Although it was probably his tears that sealed the deal. Real tears for the loss of Sammy. Hami had never got on with Mehrak, but he felt genuinely bad for the guy. He was contentious and meddling, but underneath it all, he was a decent human being. Hami knew that after they’d gone, Mehrak would do everything in his power to close the portal like he’d promised.
The magi confiscated Hami and Victa’s lightning staffs, then transferred Sammy to the back of Kouros’s greenbuck. Hami climbed onto the back of Zand’s.
The remaining crew of Golden Egg Cottage watched them depart. Louis, Mehrak, Leiss, Narok, Eva, Calven and Indomit. All there one moment, then the greenbucks took to the air and they’d gone. It was unlikely Hami would see any of them again.
The magi had been on their way to Ameretat to defend the monument when Sammy gave Eggie’s position away. Now he and Sammy found themselves headed there to
o. Most likely they’d be held in a cell while his brothers fought the demon. If they won the fight, Sammy would be taken to the Grand Master in New Ecbatana, and he would be transferred to the garrison to await trial. If they were unsuccessful and the citadel was compromised, they’d likely wind up dead.
They travelled in semi darkness. Some of the brothers had their lightning orbs low, to give enough light for the greenbucks to see by, but not enough to draw attention to them.
Hami caught sight of Sammy every few jumps. Kouros and Zand’s greenbucks weren’t quite in sync so she would be bouncing alongside him one moment, then gone the next.
They stopped often for Sammy to empty her stomach. Hami recalled how awful jump sickness had been for him when he’d first learn to ride. Sammy was doing admirably, considering. Most recruits complained more than she did. She looked miserable, though. And he guessed that was unlikely to be purely sickness.
She didn’t eat a lot when they made camp that night, and sat for most of the evening in silence, staring at her hands in her lap.
I tried to keep you hidden, Hami spoke in her head.
I know, she replied. Then she disconnected from him.
They came from downwind.
Whoever these people were, they’d discovered Behnam, Ghobad and the horses before he’d sensed them, and now they came without stealth, not bothering to conceal their approach.
Behnam had Ghobad raise his eyes from skinning the rabbit so he could use them to guide him to his horse. He picked up his staff and walked shakily to the animal. When he reached it, he took hold of the reins and placed one foot in a stirrup in preparation for escape. Then he turned Ghobad’s gaze to the forest.
He heard the heavy footfalls before Ghobad saw them. One karkadann and two Marzban riders. Their lanterns dazzled the guard’s eyes so Behnam raised the man’s hand to shield them.
The beast was battle-ready and laden with supplies and camp equipment, the Marzban were dressed in navy fatigues. One man, one woman. Ragged and weary as if they’d ridden straight from a fight.
“You’re a long way from the Keep,” Behnam said.
“We’re on our way back,” the woman replied. Then, “You’re a magus.” It wasn’t a question.
“You’ve been fighting at the Cataclysm.” Behnam took his foot from the stirrup and dropped the reins. “You fought with Hami.”
The Marzban looked to each other, at Behnam’s back, and then at Ghobad who sat by the campfire, mute.
“I’m Hami’s partner,” Behnam said.
The man spoke this time. “Principal Hootan lost his partner in Aratta. He was captured and …”
“I was.” Behnam turned to face them. He saw the puzzlement on their faces via Ghobad as they looked at him and the blood-stained bandage covering his eyes. “I was not treated well,” he said by way of explanation. “But my companion here looks after me. He guides me where I need to go.” He paused. “Is Hami … okay?”
“He was when we last saw him,” the woman said. “But then, he was just about to cross the Kuchak Sea in a gastrosaur caravan.”
Behnam felt tears soaking into his bandages. He wondered at the fact that his tear ducts had somehow survived the blunt trauma that had blinded him, even though his eyes hadn’t. Then he realised none of that mattered because Hami was alive. He allowed himself a smile.
“He’s heading north, then? Heading for the mountains?”
The Marzban looked at each other again. They were no good at deception, these two, the answer was plain on their faces.
“And what of Ramaask?” Behnam knew the answer but he wanted it confirmed.
“Dead,” the woman said without hesitation.
“Then you must help me get to the portal before Hami makes the second worst mistake of his life.”
“This isn’t our war any longer,” the man said. “The magi have asked enough of us already.”
Behnam grinned. “I believe I can convince you.”
–FORTY-FIVE–
THE SKY CITADEL
Sammy had never felt so belly sick. She wasn’t typically prone to motion sickness and hadn’t suffered it while travelling in Eggie, but bouncing across Perseopia on a greenbuck was something else. The rapid acceleration when the creature jumped, the gradual slowing, stopping, dropping, then harsh deceleration as they hit the ground. It was causing her guts no end of trouble. She hadn’t been able to stomach much of anything after leaving the others behind and she’d spent the time in between in a daze of sickness and dizziness. But that was the least of her problems.
She missed Mehrak. She no longer cared that he was married. She just wanted to stay with him and Louis. To have adventures with them. And if she’d kept her emotions in check and resisted firing off the lightning staff, she still could’ve been. Hami, for all his good looks and bulging muscles, wasn’t much company. Each time they stopped for the night, he would try to talk to her, to make her feel better, but he was socially awkward and never said anything that helped.
It took two long days of rollercoaster sickness before they saw the Naziarabad Monument. A brilliant white thread connecting the heavens to the earth.
“Why have we stopped?” she asked Hami when they made camp that night. “We’re nearly there.”
“It’s not as near as you think,” he replied. “Another day at least.”
“It doesn’t look that far away.”
“That’s because it’s so large. It stretches from this world to the next, up through the smog … And now that black cloud. Whatever it is.”
“How long did it take to build?”
“No one knows.”
“No one?”
“It was discovered by a traveller in the first century. At the time, people believed that angels had created it. Others said that the column was created by Yima when he sealed Perseopia from the Mother World. At the top is a staircase. Some say you can climb it to the Next World.”
“The Next World?” Sammy had heard of that place before, but she couldn’t place where.
“Where angels live,” Hami explained. “The place you go when you die.”
It was after lunch the next day when they reached the outskirts of the vast encampment that surrounded the monument’s base. The column had grown larger throughout the day as they’d got closer. Perfectly straight, brilliant white and shimmering. It wasn’t hard to see why the people that discovered it believed that divine beings had created it. Sammy had been sceptical at first, but she was beginning to believe the same thing. She’d seen images of skyscrapers on the internet, but this thing was on another level.
The greenbucks touched down and jogged to a stop. Kouros jumped off, helped Sammy down, and led the way into the sprawling city of temporary canvas residences surrounding the column.
As they wove their way through the tents, it became clear that the whole site was comprised of many separate camps. Each formed a distinct suburb with its own variety of tent and branded with its own banners. Different attire went with each camp and the citizens of each. Some were dressed in matching uniforms of luxurious cloths that suggested royal guards. Some campers wore basic infantry uniforms, and others were formed of ragtag groups in mismatching clothes.
And everyone carried a weapon. These people were fighters, called to the monument to defend it against the encroaching monster. Perseopia versus the demon.
As Sammy walked and her sickness faded, some of her earlier despair seeped back in. And yet it was mild compared to what it had been. In this hive of bustling activity, it was easy to be distracted from the loss she was feeling for Mehrak and Louis. The people here were unified in defending the realm. There was an overwhelming sense of hope and camaraderie in the air. Camps were mingling with each other, joking and sharing rations, and it was infectious.
And then there were the animals that accompanied these disparate people. The large majority were horses. But there were other creatures, exotic beasts that you’d never get
back home.
The bandits had brought silverskins, the same silvery, sharp-toothed horses that pulled Harz’s chariot. Some fighters had brightly coloured ostrich-like creatures with hooked beaks. There were giant warthogs and karkadann dotted about the place. But it was the royal-looking dudes that had the most awesome creatures. They rode dinosaurs. They were two-legged and lightly feathered in white and black. A pair of them were sparring by knocking the domes of their heads together. Heads that must be almost solid bone due to the force they were bashing them together with, and Sammy could practically feel her teeth rattle each time they came together.
She was beginning to feel more hopeful. Mehrak wasn’t lost, she knew where he was heading and she wasn’t leaving Perseopia any time soon. They’d find each other again. Somehow. The magi couldn’t imprison her forever. She hadn’t done anything wrong. And in the meantime, she’d make the best of her current situation. Perhaps she could even use her new found magi abilities to fight the demon alongside these other people.
“Nice hair!” called a lean woman with a shaved head. She winked at Sammy and held up a large mug. The glazed look on her face suggested that the beverage in her hand probably wasn’t her first. The others in her party held up their drinks too, took long draughts, then cheered. Sammy couldn’t help but smile.
The encampment took the remainder of the day to cross and all the while the monument dominated the skyline above the tents. An endless white pillar from earth to heavens, shimmering with almost ethereal pearlescence, with birds circling at the top, thin slithers of white drifting lazily beneath the black sky.
The campsite closest to the monument consisted of a ring of tents surrounding a herd of greenbucks hitched to a post in the middle.
Sammy was led into the centre through a gap in the tents.