by Thomas Green
Leena stared at her, petrified.
Zerae gave it a moment to settle in. “Did you notice anything strange about him?”
“Which part? The one where he doesn’t follow any rules of Limbo and bends it to his will without effort or the one where he knows everything about the Void?”
Zerae inhaled from the cigar. “I mean the part where you feel you know him despite never meeting.”
“I had that too. The moment I saw him, I felt as if I had known him for my whole life.”
“Do you think you can spy on him he visits my soul chamber?”
Leena shook her head. “What he does with Limbo is beyond what I considered possible. He uses the same techniques and methods as I do, but he does it with ease… as if he had done it for thousands of times.”
Zerae narrowed her eyes. “How many years of practice would you need to do what he does?”
“A thousand years? Probably more.”
Zerae clicked her tongue. “Nothing lives for over a thousand years since the soul falls apart before that. At least that’s what you and Sibyl told me back when we were young.”
Leena shrugged. “And I still believe that. But, there might be a being which is not bound by this limit, a being with a soul formed in the way that it never collapses upon itself.”
“A being that continues to exist despite the flow of time.” Zerae frowned. Why does that sound like the foundation of what it would mean to be a God? Since she had more pressing issues to attend to, she banished the thought. Her plan to create a refuge for her sisters was almost complete, and she could think more of Lucas when that was done, when the path to their civilization’s survival was paved. The last step was to find a way to descend her sisters into the chasm.
***
They mounted their beasts and flew toward the Chimera Chasm. Within the light of the moon, the abyss opened before them in a few hours, yet by its side sat a circular palisade the size of a small village.
They landed a half-a-mile north and approached on foot. By the palisade stood men dressed in black uniforms, looking down at them.
Zerae stepped forward. “I am Zerae Hellwind, the War Leader of the Sil Haen and I need to speak to the leader of this encampment.”
The men look at each other and then focused on them. “Astril?”
Astril jumped in her skin and shouted. “You weren’t supposed to say that!”
Zerae pierced her with a glare. “Is there something you would like to tell me?”
Astril scratched the back of her neck. “Maybe. I haven’t decided yet.”
Zerae’s face hardened. “I thought you promised you wouldn’t lie to me.”
“Omitting information isn’t lying!”
Rage burst through Zerae, stopping her from caring how the argument would make her look. “It is!”
Despite them hearing nobody approach, a male cleared his throat next to them. They turned to see a tall man clad in armor, his hair, cloak and cape the matching color of tar while his eyes shone bright blue amidst his pale face. He smiled at Astril before he spoke in a deep, alluring voice. “To what do I owe the pleasure, Legion Slayer?”
Astril frowned. “You did that on purpose.”
He laughed and turned to Zerae. “I am James, the commander of the Skullraiders, which makes me the leader of this encampment.”
Zerae narrowed her eyes. “I had heard that name before. Let me guess, Jack Carlyle told you I plan to use the chasm for something, so you brought your men here to build a fort to make sure I have to deal with you once I come to do what I need.”
“In essence, yes.”
“That also means you want something from me.”
“Let us talk inside.” James motioned toward the gate. His men opened, and they followed him. Zerae stared at the insides of the encampment, for it was the most organized place she had ever seen. Everything had its place, perfectly prepared and respected by everyone. Not a single item, a person or an animal dared disobey this order.
James led them to a large tent that featured a robust table, a cot, four chairs and a small cabinet with bottles and glasses. Without a word, Astril went to the cabinet to grab a bottle of brown liquid, pouring them each a drink as they sat down by the table.
Zerae drew a cigar, letting Astril light it up before she inhaled the calming smoke. She pierced James with a stare. “So?”
A smile split his face. “Jack told me of your plan to stash away your captured warriors, and I couldn’t help but notice the opportunity. Have you met Lucas yet?”
“What makes you think I should have met him?”
“No other man in the Order could approve an arrangement like this.”
Finally, someone puts it straight. Zerae nodded. “I have.”
He toyed with the glass sitting on the table. “Excellent. Since you have started dealing with the Dreamwalker, you are doomed to dance with us in our war for the rest of your life so we may speak straightforwardly—”
“What war?” Zerae interrupted him.
“The war for the Throne of Heavens. I know it makes no sense now, but the moment you realize who the Dreamwalker is, it will. In any case, I need a large favor from him.”
Zerae wasn’t sure what to think about him being even more blunt about her lack of worth than Salazar. She kept her face neutral. “From what I had gathered, obtaining such a favor is exceedingly difficult.”
“I am aware.” James smiled. “Yet I believe you have a chance to succeed, unlike Salazar or me.”
Zerae stretched her neck. He knew something she didn’t, and that it did not please her. “And what would that something be?”
“I do not have the liberty of saying. You will have to get that information from the Dreamwalker himself if you desire it.”
Zerae raised an eyebrow. “Suppose I accept, what do you offer me?”
“I will handle taking your people from the Order’s hands, delivering them to the bottom of the chasm, and I will give you something that will help your civilization survive this conquest.”
“And what would that something be?”
“A book that will teach you how to win a war.”
“A book?”
Astril kicked Zerae under the table to make her look at her. “Accept it,” she whispered in a tone that did not allow discussion.
Zerae stared into her eyes, dead, and lifeless until they changed to the regular lively expression she always had. Zerae turned to James. “I accept.”
He reached to the cabinet to pull out a leather-bound book, handing it to Zerae.
She peered at the cover to read the text etched above the symbol of a rose. ‘The Art of War’ Written by The Forsaken Prince. Inside, she saw black letters on white pages, one like another with pictures and diagrams woven into the text. “This is from the times of the Old Kingdom, isn’t it?”
He laughed. “Yes, the printing press of today is silly compared to one of the times past.”
Zerae shook her head, wondering how often she would get to meet a living legend like him. James Laen’Ash, the Forsaken Prince, was the man who caused the Upheaval, the war that led to the death of three-quarters of the continent’s population and the extinction of dragons. Why was he dealing with her? Her mind put the pieces together within an instant. “You don’t need the favor from the Dreamwalker for something in the future, you need it now. You did something to him, didn’t you? Something that makes you do your hardest to avoid his wrath when he finds out.”
James smiled. “Astril used to say you are insufferably good at catching people lying. I see what she meant.”
Yet Zerae failed to catch Astril. In any case, this was a ten out of ten deal for her while she would get the truth later. But she could not stop her curiosity. “So, what did you do?”
“I killed Archbishop Nashimaeal.”
Zerae spat the drink from her mouth. The death of Archbishop Nashimaeal was the origin of the Order’s Holy War. The man before her was the reason her entire civilization wa
s facing potential extinction. And he threw it in her face to make it clear he was not someone she could ever dare betray. If he could manipulate the Palai Order into a holy war, wiping out the Sil Haen would have been trivial. The legend of the Forsaken Prince was not overblown by any means.
He reached for the bottle and refilled her glass, wearing a pleasant smile.
Zerae peered at the book, realizing how priceless it was. And that the symbol of the rose etched on its cover was beyond familiar. “I have seen this symbol of the rose on the former gates of Voidspire. Why?”
“It is the emblem of house Laen’Ash. Voidspire was once the city I called my home.”
Laen’Ash, the bloodline of the kings of the Old Kingdom. Zerae decided she knew enough not to sleep for the next week. They arranged the details, and Zerae led the girls back to their mounts.
Before they took off, Zerae let Leena lit up her cigar and stepped before Astril, piercing her with a murderous glare. “I will offer you the chance to tell me the truth without me holding it against you.”
Astril smiled awkwardly. “What do you want to know?”
“Your history with James and his raiders.”
“There’s not much to it. In the ten years when we went to explore the world, I ended up joining his troupe.”
Zerae raised her eyebrow. “What did you do there?”
“The usual stuff.”
“Like?”
Astril scratched her head. “Raiding towns and convoys to steal gold, mostly.”
Zerae almost believed her. “And?”
“And catching slaves to sell to the Slaver Union. But that doesn’t exist anymore, so it doesn’t count!”
Zerae shook her head. “What about the nickname, the Legion Slayer?”
“We may have had some smaller fights when I served under James… and I killed a bit more than my fair share of whoever tried to stop us.”
Zerae rubbed her chin. “Is there anything more you would like to tell me?”
“No.”
And so Astril lied to her again. This explained neither the soulless gaze of her eyes she sometimes had nor why over two hundred warriors stepped aside when she fought Alicia’s guards. But Zerae was in no position to pursue this. As much as it pained her, she needed Astril more than anyone or anything, so arguing with her would have been stupid. After all, she was her lover, her strongest warrior, and her effective right hand. She could not afford to sow discord between them. Not before this ridiculous search for the Goddess was over. “I will take your word for it. We will sleep in the saddle, for we need to reach Sibyl as soon as possible.”
“Sibyl?” Astril and Leena shouted at the same time.
“What?” Zerae arched her eyebrow. “The Dreamwalker wants something in the north, and I have already sold two of his favors without having any.”
19
Lucas
Lucas had long lost the count of how many snake demons they had killed as they advanced through the tunnels. With Raven being wounded to the point where he could barely fight and Zoey refusing to use her aether, the honor of ending the snake demons fell onto his shoulders. He did not mind.
Days of carnage later, the ranks of the demons dwindled, and while some attempted to follow them, they ran out of the lives to spare. Their group arrived at a side of a massive column within a mountain, the crater of a dead volcano that gazed up into the sky while sinking into an endless abyss below.
Lucas withdrew a rope from his soul chamber to tie it around his waist before he tossed it to Zoey to do the same. “We climb back to surface here.”
Zoey pierced him with her misty blue eyes. “You never stop, do you?”
He arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“You spend the entire day fighting and the whole night dream walking, every day and every night. I had seen fanatics, but you are taking it to a different level. Why?”
He shrugged. “Because I believe in something and I am not willing to abandon it for the mere reason of things not going according to plan.”
She sighed and turned to help Raven tie the rope around his waist. “I knew someone like this once. She had the same drive, and she also crushed everything that crossed her path without a shed of doubt or mercy.”
Raven cleared his throat. “What happened to her?”
Sadness flashed through Zoey’s eyes. “She destroyed herself in the process and ended up abandoning all she had built and everyone who cared about her.”
“Including you.” Lucas smiled and leapt onto the wall of the crater, catching his fingers into the cracks of stone, climbing up.
Zoey shook her head and followed him while Raven did his best not to be dead weight at the end of the rope, without success.
Hours later, Lucas’ muscles burned while he panted, but he reached the summit. A mighty wind slapped his face the second he peeked over the edge. Lucas swung himself up, planted his legs into the stone and pulled the rope until both Zoey and Raven surfaced.
With their eyes squinted from the blinding brightness of the day, they gazed at the mountain, atop which they stood, and the endless forests surrounding them, enjoying the fresh air of the outside.
Zoey turned to him, her eyes narrow. “Why can’t I shake the feeling us being here isn’t a coincidence?”
Lucas pointed downward where hundreds of nests covered the dead volcano. Inside each nest lay at least two malformed eggs. “I don’t do coincidences. We are here to burn Kayleanne’s attempt to recreate her demons.” He motioned his hand, and a barrel appeared next to him. “If you want to help, we need to pour whale oil over all the nests.”
She shook her head. “I thought you were bluffing when you said you have a history of burning children alive.”
Lucas grinned. “I don’t need to bluff. Plus, I wouldn’t count these as children, since they are demons pulled out of the Void, anyway.”
Raven shrugged and grabbed the barrel, so Lucas made two more appear.
Zoey stared at him, eyes wide. “Elaborate.”
“For a demon prince, it takes a lot of time and strength to create an adult demon, so when they need to remake their forces, they make them small, knowing they would grow to their full size within months.” He lifted one barrel and descended the mountainside toward the nearest nest to pour the whale oil over the eggs.
She followed him. “You know far too much about this.”
He shrugged. “And?”
She stretched her neck. “I don’t think I have the words to formulate it. In essence, you used Limbo to locate and pick off their demons in small numbers, which forced them to gather them into large forces. Yet at the same time, the large force requires their attention not to go wild in their own lands, keeping the demon princes busy while you attack their vital infrastructure, like this place.”
He poured a trail of oil between the nests as he kept drenching the mountainside in whale oil. “You seem to have strung it together.”
“I wouldn’t say that. I also get the part that herding them stops them from protecting places like this, but I know I am missing something… something that connects whatever you are doing here to the war in the south.”
Lucas stopped, turning to her with his cold gaze. “Be careful of how much you dig into this topic, spy, for you may find your lifespan shortened.”
She raised an eyebrow, showing no sign of fear. “That was an interesting way to threaten me, but no, I don’t think so.”
“How come?”
“No matter how I analyze it, you should have gotten rid of me back in the forest where we met. Yet you did not, and the only explanation I can find is that there is a reason for you not to kill me. I could think of two reasons, one is that you plan to feed me false information for the time when I eventually report back to my leadership and the second one is that there is something that makes you not kill the Sil Haen.”
Oh, you are so good at this I might even keep you around. Lucas laughed. “Which one do you think is true?”
&
nbsp; She narrowed her eyes. “Both, especially since you are the only non-Sil Haen I have ever seen capable of soulstepping. From everything I know, you shouldn’t exist.”
“Yet here I am.” Lucas soulstepped another barrel for Raven and himself. A dozen barrels later, they poured the oil over all the nests. “I suppose I can do the honors.”
Zoey and Raven both nodded, their faces pale.
Lucas chuckled. “What’s wrong? Did you realize you don’t feel nearly as bad as you think you should?”
Zoey kept staring at him as if he was a ghost. “Yeah. I still can’t wrap my mind around what we are doing, but I don’t feel bad. Hell, I’m more worried about washing myself and getting something decent to eat instead of these thousands of eggs burning.”
Lucas laughed, but not maliciously. “To be evil is a lot easier than people think.”
“Funny you say that.” Raven’s pierced him with a glare. “Are you evil?”
A playful smile split Lucas’ face. “Depends on the perspective.”
Raven sighed. “Exactly. When I was younger, the good, and the bad seemed easy to tell apart, yet now I am not so sure I can tell the difference.”
Zoey clicked her tongue. “On the other hand, I have a hard time finding a perspective where you aren’t evil, Lucas.”
“Me too.” Lucas flicked his wrist, and a steel contraption appeared within. He opened the contraption, and it produced a flame upon a click.
Zoey’s eyes widened. “What the hell is that?”
“Another little something that shouldn’t exist.” Lucas ducked and put the flame to the trail of whale oil, sending a burst of fire up the mountainside. He clicked it close and motioned his hand to make the contraption disappear.
As they watched the flames spread, putting the entire mountain ablaze, Zoey turned to Lucas. “Did you show me this to mess with my head?”
He nodded, wearing a cheeky grin. “In any case, we need to move.”
“Where?” Zoey asked.
“South. I have someone to meet in these woods.”