by Robert Brady
Then Shela, Lee and Chesswaya entered through the pavilion flap.
“The sick are much better, the horse included,” Shela informed us, then took in the room.
“What?” she asked.
“Oh, no,” Lee said.
Chesswaya remained quiet.
“Just getting a few things straight,” I said, not taking my eyes off of Jack.
He turned to Lee and Chesswaya. “He wants to take you away from me,” he said.
Nice. He must think he has a real hold over them, and after a pretty short period of time.
Lee frowned. Chesswaya regarded him, then turned to Shela.
“Can you continue my training?” she asked.
Shela nodded. Jack’s jaw dropped.
“That isn’t what father said,” Lupennen said to Chesswaya. She turned to him. “He warned that Jack should stop trying to turn us against him, not that we had to leave.”
“Was he trying to turn you against him?” Shela asked Lupennen.
Lupennen didn’t even look at Jack. “He was more subtle than that,” the young man said, “but he and Vedeen have been making it clear that we are weapons, that these weapons were meant to be used against the One, and that father is the One.”
I turned back to Jack.
He was clearly shocked at the betrayal. I have to admit, I was, too. I didn’t think that Genna’s child would have any reason to ally himself with me.
Every time I heard the ‘other side’ talking about opposing the One, it gave me a little nudge, like I wasn’t hearing that right. I knew the verse:
“On Fovea, on Fovea, find a noble young and old,
A foreigner among his kind
A hero, fate foretold
One who fights as does the Sun
Waits in a sacred place
A guardian will bring you there
With a devil born and raised”
“Through Fovea, through Fovea, over you shall watch
One who eludes prying eyes,
With one who can’t be touched.
So shall they come together
Heroes of the land
Together to oppose the One
While all apart they stand.”
Oppose, not fight or stop. The weapons aren’t ‘terrible’ or ‘awesome’ or ‘invincible.’ They do things like ‘watch over.’ In fact, it seemed more like their purpose was to be found than anything else.
In fact, the one that ‘fights as does the sun,’ doesn’t really fight, because the sun doesn’t fight.
“You kids need to ask yourself what you’re doing, if you want to side with him,” Jack said.
Played that card too fast, I thought.
“Asking ourselves,” Chesswaya said, finally looking at Jack, “is what Vedeen has tasked us with. How will we ask ourselves the right questions, holed up away from the world?”
Lee nodded.
“We’re back for the caves,” I said, stepping away from Jack. I looked at the two girls.
“One of you should remain here, in case the warriors need more –“
“Not going to happen,” Jack said.
“Need more help,” I finished, looking back at Jack.
“I’ll stay,” Chesswaya said.
“Shela can stay, if he’s so concerned,” Jack said.
“I don’t think I’ll be separated from the Emperor,” Shela said.
“Then you can both stay here,” Jack argued.
“I’m collecting my kids,” I said. “I’m their father, and I have a lot to offer them.”
“War, death, abandonment,” Jack said. His face was getting red.
“You’d do well to stop pushing that,” I told him.
He clearly wanted to say more, but he didn’t. He turned on his heel and went out of the pavilion through the flap.
He’d blown it, and he knew it. He would head back to the caves and get his ‘big gun,’ the Druid, and he’d be ready to send us away when we returned.
If he wanted to do that, he’d left the wrong group of kids behind.
***
It was an hour before we could follow Jack, and that was a hell of a lead to give Little Storm. He might be the slowest of the three horses in the straight-away, but that did not, in fact, make him slow.
We pounded out the trail, now becoming more familiar. Little Storm’s tracks were plain as day, but they covered another caravan, and that was strange because none had come through the camp, and that camp was alongside the only road to Myr.
Kendo might be shipping supplies, but to where? Gharf Bendenson, as far as I knew, was held up in Vol with what was left of his army, and they’d likely be looking to Kendo for support.
Once again I nearly missed the break in the trail that led to the caves. Lupennen pretty much tipped me off to it by changing his speed as we neared it, and I joined him. I lead us down the trail because, if there was anything nasty waiting for us, then I wanted to be the first one to face it.
I was wishing that I had my armor. Of course, one call to Shela and I would, but then I would have to put it on as well, and that wasn’t going to happen in an emergency.
I had to think that, if I came into that camp looking for a fight, I’d find one. I’d convinced three of them with just words – that would be my best bet with the others.
We found our way to the clearing between the caves, and found Eric and Nina standing in it, waiting for us.
Eric could just stand in front of the cave mouth and there wouldn’t be a thing I could do.
I approached him until I was about ten feet away, then I reined in Blizzard and I dismounted. The stallion pawed the earth – the cold and the running had his heart pumping, doing what he loved best.
Eric looked me right in the eye. His sword was over his shoulder where he could draw it easily, just like mine.
“Jack says you’re coming to take us away from here,” he informed me.
I smiled a half-smile and shook my head. “Jack likes that lie,” I said, “because he thinks it will make you feel threatened and cling to him.”
Eric was suspicious. I didn’t blame him. He’d spent most of his time opposing me and his reward for it was a membership in a group that he probably didn’t want to be in, and then a scar from his younger brother, whom he’d become pretty good friends with if Shela was to be believed.
“You’re Daff Kanaar,” I informed him. “I can’t make you do anything. Beyond that, you’re my son, Eric. I missed out on the first part of your life. I’m not going to come in and pretend now that I have power over you.”
He squinted at me, deciding how much he believed, I’m sure.
“Nina,” I said, “What did I do when you said you had to go?”
“You let me go,” she said. He took Eric by his upper left arm and looked up at him.
“I told you,” she said. “He loves his family – in fact, his love for his family is the stuff of songs.”
“His love for her is,” Eric said, pointing at Shela, who was still sitting on Blizzard.
That was his sore spot. He’d made that point before. His mother had died, waiting for me to come back to her, even after she heard the songs about Shela and me.
“I wish I’d known what happened with your mother,” I said to Eric. “Your life would have been different.
“But that’s not what she wanted. There is nothing to change that now. If you’re done with me, as much as you can be with that mark on your chest, then I’ll have to understand.”
He nodded.
He wasn’t happy, but he might be less unhappy, and for this situation right now, that was a huge victory.
“I have to get my armor,” I said. “Is that OK with you?”
He nodded again. “It’s your armor.”
I wanted to clap him on the shoulder but I didn’t. This was a victory and I needed to be happy with it.
I helped Shela down, then Lee with her fox wrapped up in her cloak with her, and Lupennen. We tied up the horses with their t
ack still on, and we headed into the cave mouth, Eric and Nina with us.
Inside the fire was roaring. There were about 12 men in white and brown robes, keeping back to the shadows, and Jack and Vedeen standing in the center of the cave. The fire had been stoked to blazing, Vulpe, Nanette and Thorna, and Dagi were there, Dagi with her shield and sword at her feet.
She stood up, grabbed up the shield and sword, and advanced on me.
“Where is my sister?” she demanded.
“Tending the sick, as she was trained,” Shela answered for me.
“Jack says you left her there, and that you’re coming to collect the rest of us!”
I looked at Jack, then back at her. “Did he?” I asked.
“Do you believe him?”
She thought about that.
Lupennen stepped up. “Jack has been retelling that story,” he said, “hoping to find someone who’ll believe it.”
Again, total surprise. Where was this support from Lupennen coming from?
Dagi regarded him. “You believe this one?” she demanded.
“I was there,” Lupennen said. “I saw our father tell Jack to stop trying to influence us, and I saw Jack’s reaction. You know that Jack and Vedeen have been trying to convince us that we will have to fight our father.”
Dagi looked at Vedeen, then back at me.
I just stayed quiet. Lupennen was doing a fine job.
Vedeen didn’t feel that way.
“You’ve heard the prophecy,” she said. “You know what it says, what the weapons you bear were created for.”
“To oppose the One,” Vulpe said, standing up.
“If the One is father,” he continued, “which may be, or may not be.”
“No one waits upon the Emperor,” Lupennen said.
“The whole world – “Jack began.
But Dagi shook her head. “No, I’ve considered that, too,” she said. “His enemies attack him. They scheme behind his back. When he takes action, they react. They never wait.”
“You don’t understand,” Vedeen informed them.
This was the most frazzled I’d ever seen her, which I had to think meant that they’d come up with something that she hadn’t considered.
“If you want to come with me, you can,” I informed them. “One thing I’ve been spending my time on is collecting the best library that Fovea has ever seen. I have books going back to the Cheyak. That’s all open to you.”
Vulpe regarded his brothers and sisters. Dagi did the same.
I think Lee had already made up her mind, and I knew Lupennen had.
“We’re with you,” Eric said. Beside him, Nina nodded.
“We need to see our father,” Nanette said.
“No!” Vedeen insisted. She took a step forward.
Shela raised a hand white with power. Lee backed her up, doing the same.
That’s when Jack did what I’d been waiting for him to do.
“Ave Maria,” he began. “Gratia plena.”
Vedeen’s eyes opened wide. Shela and Lee both took a step back.
The worship of Mary is central to the Catholic Church. Jack had to believe that this was the most powerful worship that our One God had to offer.
But as I said before, I had a Congregationalist Pastor, and he loved Latin.
“Pater noster,” I countered, singing the words rather than just saying them. “qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tutum!”
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name!
The words caught Jack like a slap in the face.
“Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in muleribus,” he continued, but his voice shook.
“Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra!” I sang.
Nina screamed, grabbing at her temples. Eric took her around the waist and fled the cave, Nantar’s daughters after him. Shela and Lee both fell to their knees, Lee’s fox running around her in a circle. The Druid made some sort of symbol in the air in my direction, but it exploded before she could finish it.
The very ground shook. Rocks shook from the ceiling. The men in brown and white robes advanced on me, some bearing staves.
“et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus!” Jack continued, but he was faltering, his face red, sweat collecting in his beard.
“Panem nostrum quotidianum, da nobis hodie,” I sang. I could feel the power swelling inside of me, the draw on elements I had no understanding of. I felt the power of the hills around me, their ability to crush, to weather the elements.
I felt the god War’s attention, and He was not pleased.
I drew His sword, and I cut one of the robed men in half with it, barely feeling the pull on the blade. Two more advanced and I cut them apart, the sword passing through the staves that they tried to throw up in defense.
Vedeen was on her knees. Jack was continuing the Ave Maria, but I couldn’t hear the words over the earth shaking. Lupennen and Dagi were both standing there, watching. He still seemed cat-curious, she was caught between fear and outrage.
“et dimittenobis debitanostra scut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris,” I sang.
“and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
I wasn’t in a forgiving mood.
The sword burned red as it cut through two more of the men in brown and white robes, and the rest fled. I heard a horrible grinding in the hill above us – I couldn’t estimate how many tons of dirt and stone lay above us, but I didn’t think I was going to be digging my way out of here if I dropped it on myself.
“Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed lebera nos a malo!” I said.
Something exploded deep in the cave. I could hear screaming. Finally Dagi ran and scooped up her older, smaller brother, her sword and her shield, and beat a hasty retreat for the cave exit. Lee and Shela followed right behind them, arm-in-arm, supporting each other.
“Quia tuum est regnum, et potentia, et gloria, Aeternus et umqua!” I sang. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever! Tears streamed down my cheeks – the passion of the words, the power that cycled through me, the new appreciation for what I was saying running through me.
I didn’t see my armor, but frankly I could afford more if I had to. Bill had fallen to his knees and Vedeen had her hands on his shoulders. I turned on one heel and I fled the cave. It was up to Vedeen and Jack if they wanted to follow me.
The cold and the sun hit me like a hammer when I exited. My wife and most of my kids were collected in the center of the clearing between the caves. Lupennen and Eric were calming the horses, not just the two that we’d ridden here but others that I had to think were associated with my other children.
Lee had her hands up before her, a look of supreme concentration on her face, the fox at her feet, pressed up against her leg. She was focused on the hill, I could only imagine that she was holding it together.
I ran free. I heard coughing behind me, and then saw Vedeen half-carrying Jack out, the latter doubled over.
Nanette and Thorna ran to them and pulled them clear, then Lee dropped her hands.
The cave collapsed with a puff of dust out of the mouth, looking like a dying dragon. Sparks from the fire mixed with some of the wood and possessions left inside.
I looked at the wreckage, at the people around me, and their expressions. Jack had used this power on me months before, but he’d tipped his hand. This is what happens when you bring a superior technology into the battlefield. You lose control of it, and you find it used against you.
“Amen,” I sighed, finally.
From deep inside the darkest recesses of my mind, I heard the words, “Amen, indeed.”
As I said, War was not pleased.
Chapter Nine
Amen to That
I recognized Lee’s horse, Singer, and Vulpe’s Marauder as they were unloaded from one of the other caves. Chesswaya and Dagi had their own horses, as did Eric and Nantar’s daughters. Nina normally rode on the
back of Eric’s heavy-set, Andaron stallion. She’d done the same with me – she didn’t like to ride, although she could and she was actually very good at it. As light as she was, she wasn’t that much of a burden on a stout horse. Seeing as Chesswaya hadn’t come with us, Nina took that horse and rode next to her husband.
Vedeen and Jack held back with the remains of their robed followers. I wanted to think that these were Druids, however they didn’t act the part and, I would think, a group of Druids could have held the cave together without Lee’s help.
The fact that she could do that really impressed me. She’d grown significantly in her power in a short period of time. Being on the run could drive you to expand yourself faster than normal – I knew that if I knew anything. Her mother kept shooting her looks, regardless.
“You’re making a mistake,” Jack said, stepping forward with his arm around Vedeen’s waist. There was a bloody mark near his scalp – a rock must have hit him from the collapsing ceiling. He and Vedeen were covered in cave dust – I had to think that I was, too.
“Do you want another taste of what you just got?” I asked him.
“You do not understand the power you unleash,” Vedeen warned me.
“I understand it,” Shela said. “Your man wields a hammer, mine will as well.
“Don’t start what gods might have to finish.”
Vedeen looked pretty frazzled. I thought she might know more about this than the rest of us. If that were true, then I knew who would know more than her.
“We go where we will,” Eric informed Jack. “You brought us here because you said you had secrets to show us. We’ve seen them. You had a prophecy to teach us and we’ve learned it. We made no promise to stay after that.”
“You haven’t learned everything we have to teach,” Vedeen argued, looking up at Eric.
“It’s you who has more to learn,” Lee told her. “I think now there are yet more questions you need to ask yourself.”
“Stay, then,” Jack said to her. At this point, one would have likely seemed a victory to him. “Teach us, learn with us.”
“I think not,” Dagi said. She looked at me, then back at him.
“My sister and I have wondered long about this father,” she said. “I will seek his answers for now.”