William Wilde and the Sons of Deceit

by Davis Ashura

  After putting the bikes away, William pointed. “There’s everyone else.”

  Mr. Zeus, Jason, and Jake were heading toward the Main Stairs of Cliff Spirit. They must have never left the village because Serena couldn’t recall seeing them on Sita’s Song.

  William called out, and Jake heard him. He signaled the others to a halt, and they waited.

  Jake spoke when Serena and William reached him. “You saw what happened?”

  William nodded. “Jeff Coats was murdered by Evelyn Mason.”

  Jake’s mouth momentarily dropped open in shock. “What?”

  “Who’s Evelyn Mason?” Mr. Zeus asked.

  “A mahavan,” William replied.

  “You’re sure it was her?” Jake pressed. “How? Why?”

  “The why doesn’t matter,” Serena said, and explained what they’d seen at the riverbank.

  Mr. Zeus sighed. “At least we have the beginnings of an army if Sinskrill ever attacks us.”

  “They will attack,” Serena said in distraction. She already had her mind focused on what she needed to do to keep Selene safe.

  William eyed her in concern before addressing Mr. Zeus. “Why don’t y’all head on out?” he suggested, his North Carolina drawl leaking a bit more than usual into his voice. “I’ll tell you everything I know when I get home.”

  Mr. Zeus’ worried gaze shifted from William to Serena and back again. He must have settled whatever matter troubled his mind because he gave a sharp nod and led the others down the Main Stairs.

  Serena watched them leave. “We’ll have to train harder than ever.”

  William smiled. “Isn’t that my line?”

  “You were right,” Serena replied. “All along, you were right.” Speaking the words hurt less than acknowledging her own stupidity. She’d been a fool, playing and laughing, thinking her life so wonderful while danger closed in on them.

  William’s smile faded. “What do you mean? About doing nothing but work?” He shook his head. “No, I wasn’t. Part of why I said and did that was because of the anger. It was the only way to take my mind off of it.”

  “The reason you were right doesn’t matter.”

  “Yes, it does.” William exhaled heavily. “I’m guessing a lot more people will want to join the training now, and they’ll do it because you were right about our lives here.”

  Serena frowned. “A bit apropos of nothing,” she said. “I understand the more people joining part, but how was I right?”

  “Because people will fight to protect their lives here. They won’t let it die without a fight.” He took her hand and held her gaze. “Because a life without joy isn’t a life worth fighting for.”

  Serena’s cold, hard knot of anger loosened a little, and she couldn’t help but smile at his words. He’d thrown her own sentiment back at her. Nevertheless, despite the slight unclenching of her fury, her resoluteness—her determination to defend what was hers—didn’t fade in the slightest.

  William gave her hand a squeeze. “We should tell Selene and Fiona what’s happened.”

  Serena squeezed his hand in response and gave it a gentle tug. She wanted something she couldn’t name and somehow he understood. William pulled her into his arms and she rested her head on his shoulder.

  “Do you think Fiona, Selene, and I can spend the night at Mr. Zeus’ home?” she asked.

  William kissed her forehead her in response.

  Adam Paradiso gave a brief bob of his head to Gerald Fine, the mahavan guarding the entrance to Shet’s Throne Hall, before pushing open the double-doors leading inside. He paused within the room’s entrance, as his eyes needed a few seconds to adjust to the darkness.

  He glanced back when the doors swung shut of their own accord and faced forward again. In front of him stretched an aisle of onyx amongst a sea of white marble that made up the rest of the floor. The black stones formed a passage between a forest of gold enameled columns, and the pillars ascended from the floor. They held up a ribbed ceiling containing stained-glass images and mosaics from Sinskrill’s holy book, Shet’s Council.

  Adam didn’t bother scrutinizing them. He’d studied the scenes plenty of times and by now had them essentially memorized. He didn’t need to view them again. Instead, his focus remained on his brother, who sat upon the Servitor’s Chair and waited for him at the far end of the Hall. Above and behind Axel, Shet’s empty throne squatted like a toad atop a raised dais, and farther back loomed the grotesque, six-armed statue of their Lord.

  His brother shifted in his Chair, an uncomfortable-appearing leather seat framed in noble, purple wood. Shet’s Spear lay across Axel’s lap, and while his thick-set features might have been inscrutable to some, Adam knew his brother too well. Axel brooded with impatience.

  Adam approached, bowed low to his brother and straightened. “I have news from the pilgrimage to Arylyn,” he began.

  Axel leaned forward. “Tell me what you’ve learned.” His face remained unreadable, but his grip tightened upon Shet’s Spear. Adam could sense that tension and excitement suffused the Servitor’s being.

  Adam held out a satellite phone, the clever means by which Brandon had suggested they communicate. The young mahavan had had Evelyn Mason dream the notion to her parents. A short trip to the Faroe Islands, and Adam had returned with a satellite phone. Brandon had obtained one for his own use in some port where Deathbringer had stopped during its long voyage back to Sinskrill.

  “I can call them if you wish,” Adam said.

  Axel waved the phone aside. “Summarize what Brandon told you. If I deem it necessary, I’ll call him myself.”

  Adam dipped his head in understanding. “Brandon, Evelyn, Samuel, and Preeti spent most of the past month on Arylyn. The island sits in the tropics, a paradise, warm, lush, and soft. Larger than Sinskrill, with remnant Memories from various sithes of elves and creches of dwarves.”

  Axel stroked his chin. “The magi waste their lorasra maintaining these Memories.”

  “They have five raha’asras,” Adam reminded him. “Apparently, I did not kill Jake Ridley as I thought. He survived, and Arylyn obviously has the lorasra to waste on the Memories.”

  The Servitor merely grunted, but Adam could tell Arylyn’s wealth of raha’asras bothered him. “Go on,” Axel ordered.

  “A single village by the name of Lilith houses some seven thousand magi.”

  Axel sat up straight, shock evident on his face. “Seven thousand? You’re certain? They have that many when we have little more than one thousand mahavans and drones in total?”

  Adam nodded. “I pressed Brandon on this point, but he was adamant. However, he also said that only thirty or forty of them have any training as warriors. The rest lead peaceful, indolent lives.”

  The Servitor leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “Continue.”

  “A long valley is the source of most of their food. Janaki Valley is its name. Brandon advises that if we burn their crops, we can inflict heavy losses upon them by robbing them of their food.”

  Axel wore a mocking smile. “How? By starving them? They live on an island surrounded by fish in the sea, and they likely have fruit trees growing wild throughout their island paradise. Burning their crops will accomplish nothing.”

  Adam had come to the same conclusion, but wisdom dictated he keep quiet. It was better for his brother to ferret out the flaws and merits of a plan on his own. Doing otherwise risked Axel’s wrath since the Servitor did not like anyone outshining his intelligence. The last secondus who had done so had been hurled from the Judging Line.

  Axel steepled his fingers once again. “Tell me more. What of the enemy? You know the ones of whom I speak.”

  “Rukh and Jessira,” Adam said. “Those are their names.” He hesitated. He knew of a way to learn more about those two, but he also didn’t want to broach the topic even though he knew he had to. “Perhaps Lord Shet will know more of their nature if he were to learn their names.”

  Axel eyed him with
a suspicion. “Are you so eager to speak with the Lord again?”

  Adam forced his face to stillness and suppressed a surge of sudden nervousness. “I did not mean to overstep my authority,” he said, choosing his words as carefully as if he edged through a minefield in the Far Beyond. “I had thought you could relay the information.”

  “Of course,” Axel said, still eyeing him with vague distrust. “But I will not be the one to meet with him next time. It will be you.”

  More anxiety spiked like a stiletto through Adam’s heart. Meet with Shet? He mentally groaned. He’d rather put his hand on an anvil and have a blacksmith hammer it flat. Nevertheless, he kept his face composed. “Yes, my liege.”

  Axel’s suspicious mien faded, and his visage grew distant. “Do you think this Rukh and Jessira truly battled Shet’s children on some distant world? When last I spoke to Shet, he said they probably did so.”

  Adam started. He hadn’t considered such a possibility. “Truly?”

  The Servitor eyes narrowed in thought. “It would make sense. Only someone with the skills to battle a demigod could have defeated me.”

  A flash of emotion passed across Axel’s face, and Adam didn’t miss it. It was fear, and upon witnessing it, he couldn’t entirely hide the shock on his face.

  His brother chuckled. “In some cases fear is not something to be denied. I fear those two, and I am wise to, especially because I believe Shet is correct. Those two defeated his children. They defeated me. They’ve earned my respect and my fear.”

  “I still don’t understand why they’ve come here. Shet said they battled his children on some other world, so why come to Earth?”

  Axel made a dismissive gesture. “Who can know?”

  Adam offered the only explanation he could imagine. “Perhaps they were exiled from their world?”

  “Supposition.”

  “It’s also likely,” Adam argued. “Why else leave their home? To protect ours from Shet?” He snorted. “I believe in many things but not in selfless heroes.”

  Axel chuckled. “Is there anything else?”

  Adam took a deep breath. There was one other thing, and his brother wouldn’t like it. “Evelyn murdered one of Arylyn’s farmers and plucked out his eyes.” He spoke softly, knowing he had to tread softly here since the hot-headed Rider’s inclusion in the pilgrimage to Arylyn had been his decision.

  No one could ever know why he’d chosen her, especially since she had done exactly as Adam had hoped. She’d recklessly killed a magus, and the people of Arylyn now knew of Sinskrill’s presence on their island. They were forewarned, and perhaps Axel would now put aside this mad plan to attack the magi.

  Axel hissed, and his eyes glowed with anger. “Idiot! She will be punished for her incompetence. Let Brandon know. Let her know. I want her stewing in her fears the entire journey back to Sinskrill.”

  “Yes, my liege.” Adam answered while a distant part of him pitied Evelyn. She would suffer for her stupidity, but then, such was the fate of the stupid.

  Axel resumed his reclining repose upon the Seat and steepled his fingers once more. “Matters advance as I have foreseen,” he said. “I want us ready to sail as soon as possible. Forty magi, even with this Rukh and Jessira, won’t mean anything against our hundreds. We’ll burn Lilith to the ground.”

  Adam wanted to grind his teeth in frustration.

  FULFILLING FATES

  June 1990

  * * *

  A squirrel paused in her scratchings, and while her simple mind understood the fear of foxes and the terror of stooping hawks, this danger was something different. Her nose quivered, and her tawny fur twitched. The squirrel took an uncertain step toward an acorn lying like a lure on the ground only a few feet away. The nut rested in the sunshine, on the edge of a glade in a world made strangely quiet. The squirrel listened. Leaves rustled, and the earth shook. Peril approached, and the squirrel darted away, rushing to the safety of a nearby oak.

  From the forest burst five people. They never noticed the squirrel or the other animals of the forest who rushed away from the glade. Work occupied their minds.

  “Form a trip-line here,” William ordered. “Karla, get on it. Five inches high and five feet of ice-slick grass behind it. Keep it hidden. We might get lucky and take out a few mahavans if they charge through.” He addressed Daniel. “I need you on shield works.”

  Rukh, one of those who’d entered the glade, silently observed Red Team. The small unit commanded by William included Daniel, Jason, and Karla Logan, and while they dashed about, Rukh remained quiet. His purpose here was to do nothing more than observe. Later on, after the battle’s conclusion, he’d meet with the members of Red Team and offer critiques. Until then he’d simply watch.

  The Reds—the magi in this exercise—drilled against the Greens—the mahavans—a much larger group of fifteen with Jessira as their observer. Both teams wore governors. Rukh and Jessira, in addition to their roles as observers, would call out injuries and deaths during the running battle.

  Thus far, the Reds and Greens had been at it for fifteen minutes. William’s unit had steadily retreated through the high-mountain forest close to Rukh’s cabin, but they couldn’t fall back any farther than this glade, which was meant to represent Lilith.

  This would be the site of the final clash, and while Rukh didn’t expect the Reds to win, so far, William had performed far better than expected. His original five-man group, now four, had whittled the Greens down to ten. The odds still weren’t with the Reds, but they’d done well. William had done well. Ever since the raha’asras had rid the young man of his crippling anger he’d progressed far and progressed fast.

  Karla, who had been kneeling as she carried out William’s command, quickly rose to her feet, dusted off her pants, and strode to William’s side. “Trip-wire’s ready, sir.”

  “Good. Go help Daniel with the shield works.”

  Karla snapped off a salute, and Rukh smiled. She was one of the more recent additions to the Ashokan Irregulars, but she too, had progressed far and fast. Everyone had. The dedication of the magi, the four hundred additional folk who had enrolled in the defense force after the murder of Jeff Coats, had taken Rukh by surprise. He hadn’t expected so many to volunteer, and he certainly hadn’t expected their dedication and intensity. At times, he found himself amazed by it. In this, they resembled his Kumma brethren, for whom battle had been a way of life.

  Of course, their skill lagged far behind their desire, but over time that, too, would improve.

  Rukh waited at the edge of the glade, arms folded as he watched the preparations unfold.

  William called out more orders. “Jason! Get me a line of shield works there and there.” He pointed. “Don’t worry about making them thick. I only want them tall enough so they look the part. If it works, it might trick the Greens and funnel them into a straight-ahead charge.”

  Threads and weaves blurred across and through the ground. The sulfur stench from crackling braids of Fire filled the glade, along with the rustling of Earth, the hissing pulse of Air, and the rushing of Water. Dust drifted on the breeze, and the small forest meadow, once pristine and green lay ruined, pockmarked, and torn apart.

  Rukh frowned at the waste, but what other choice did they have? The Irregulars had to train. They had to learn to fight. Later, they’d do their best to restore what they’d destroyed.

  A sound came to him, and he peered into the forest. Greens approached, and Rukh silently applauded Ward Silver, their commander. He’d sent scouts, and they moved carefully, slowly, and quietly. Rukh smiled. They’d learned caution. Good.

  William must have noticed their nearby presence as well. “Hurry up,” he warned the others.

  “Almost there, sir,” Daniel replied. “Done!” He scooted back to where the rest of Red Team hid behind an overlapping series of bulwarks.

  The world seemed to further quiet when three members of Green Team stepped farther into the glade. They momentarily studied the bulwar
ks placed throughout the ruined area before slinking back into the forest.

  Seconds later, the rest of the Greens pushed out of the trees, and Rukh nodded to Jessira, who trailed them.

  Three Greens apiece went after the false bulwarks flanking the Reds’ main shield wall. The other four raised moving shield walls of their own, and rocks cracked as more dirt and stone flowed out of the ground.

  While the Green warriors advanced toward the two false shield walls, Rukh noticed William whispering something to Daniel, who nodded in reply. His interest piqued, and he stared intently at the Reds, wondering what they had planned.

  A hissing band of white wrapped around William’s shoulder and down into his forearms. He thrust out a hand, and a rushing bolt of Air blasted into the right-hand bulwark, exploding it into the oncoming Greens. Though they huddled behind their own shields, several of them took blows.

  “Marcus, broken arm,” Jessira called. “Daniella, a concussion. You’re both out.”

  The other false bulwark also exploded, and the Greens approaching it fared no better. Lien, reckless as usual, always thinking to attack, had moved outside the range of her earthen shield. Her aggressiveness cost her. She took a blow to the chest and was deemed killed in action.

  It left the Greens with seven warriors and the Reds with four. Rukh pursed his mouth and wondered if William could actually pull this off.

  Ward shouted orders and the Greens advanced. Two of them stumbled over the trip line and went down. Jason blistered one with a sizzling line of fire while Karla held down the other fallen Green with a braid of Earth and finished her off with looping line of Water.

  Jessira called out the injuries. “Urban, Suzanne, you’re out.”

  Five against four. Rukh eased forward, interested to see how the rest of the battle would play out.

  Daniel stepped out from the shield wall. He prepared to unleash an attack but Ward took him down with a shotgun blast of pebbles.