World's End

by Will Elliott

  ‘Because of the magic in the air?’

  ‘Because of this world’s time. Time varies from world to world in ways difficult for us to fathom. This world’s time is something created and imposed by the Dragon-god. Our haiyen friends say that Otherworld is affected by the same design of time. Your home world, Eric, is a prison world as much as this one. And it has the same gaoler. The Dragon-god guards the doorstep of your world, so that a more free reality may not enter.’

  ‘Call me Shadow, not Eric.’

  ‘You’re not Shadow,’ said Sharfy, as one would speak to an imbecile. ‘Shadow’s not you. Shadow’s your ghost. How come your ghost and you are alive at the same time?’

  ‘People accept me because they think I’m the same “Shadow” of their tales and myths. They’ve heard for years that Shadow will come from Otherworld to bring an age of peace and abundance. They’ll listen to me only if I am known as Shadow. That’s what you’ll call me, especially in front of Aziel. Got it?’

  ‘That is wise. We shall next meet within the castle,’ said Domudess, addressing both of them with a low bow.

  So Sharfy and Eric flew north aboard Case, meaning to go straight to the castle’s high towers. Eric had not counted on the swelling masses of people gathered on the roads as they got near. Sharfy grabbed his shoulder and pointed. ‘Look, dead dragons. Take us down. Let’s see em. We need to know who killed em.’

  Teams of men hauled thick ropes looped around three large corpses, dragging them along the road. From the sky it was plain to see they wouldn’t get much further before the road was completely blocked by the crowds ahead.

  Going down there was very nearly a mistake. When the people saw a winged creature descend on them, weapons came quickly to hand. It was lucky none beneath had bows or slings. ‘It’s Shadow!’ someone said. ‘That there’s a drake, not a dragon.’

  The group spoke the greetings Eric was accustomed to receive when he stopped at villages and cities. They backed away from the dragon corpses to let Eric and Sharfy see them. All three were larger than Dyan, although two of them were not larger by much. The third was at least double Dyan’s size. ‘None of these are from the Eight?’ said Eric, and felt immediately foolish for the laughter his stupid question brought. He heard Sharfy groan behind him. He’d never felt like less of a lord than he did then.

  A burly man held aloft one of the dragon’s severed heads by the horns, although the head looked too big to be lifted by one man. He strode forwards and dropped it at Eric’s feet. Its eyes still looked very bright and alive. ‘We’ve had trouble, as you see,’ the man grunted, wiping sweat away with a huge meaty arm. ‘I am Huldeel, chieftain of our village.’

  ‘What village?’ Sharfy said.

  ‘In the lowlands of River City. The name of the village does not matter, for it no longer exists. We began to rebuild it when River City was liberated, after your very visit, Shadow my lord. Do you recall? When you flew in with news that Vous had left the castle.’

  ‘I remember.’

  ‘We hung the last of our overseers high on the walls that same day, Tempest toss their ashes. Our rebuilding work went well. We’d just got a taste for peace when the sky began to fall and these very dragons beat our village to splinters. They had help from another, a smaller dark-coloured beast which we didn’t see again, but whose face we’ll not forget. It is well you’ve come, Shadow my lord, although you must take care with your drake. Your people are at war. Yet again, at war. Our enemy’s no man nor mage this time, and by now we all know it. You know it too, or so we hope, Shadow my lord. The sight of your drake did us ill.’

  ‘They been eating you?’ said Sharfy.

  ‘More than that besides,’ said the man, steel in his eyes. ‘Slaying us for sport. Carrying off our women and children for we know not what cause. Biting our men in half, good men of honour. They seemed to make games of the killing which I’ll not speak of. We’d not have made it here but for the aid of a god.’

  ‘Where you going to take em?’ Sharfy nodded to the dead dragons. ‘Invia see em, might be trouble.’

  ‘We have “trouble” already. We’ll take these bodies to the castle. We have heard that people from all the cities gather there, with grudges forgotten. We shall form a new army and go to war. Join us. All who hear our story will surely join us. We’ve no fear. We’re not alone in this war. The gods fight the beasts with us! These bodies we will show to all fighting men, so they know that the beasts can be slain.’

  ‘The Minors, maybe,’ said Sharfy. ‘You seen the one I seen? At Athlent? Huge. No one’ll kill that. Not even gods.’

  ‘There was one of the Eight at River City,’ said someone in the crowd. ‘I saw it. People got away. Some said it was guarding the place from other dragons. I’ll not credit that, but it slew no one.’

  ‘I saw that very dragon. It did not guard our village from these,’ said Huldeel, striking the dragon’s head with his boot. ‘Nor did it stop the Invia stealing away with our people.’

  ‘Tell me what happened,’ said Eric.

  ‘A great flood of people began the trek from our city and from its surrounding lands, as soon as the skystone began to fall upon us. The rain of heavy stones killed some of them. As the good man says, the great dragon who came to our city did no harm, not by itself. But it was huge and terrible to behold, even from the distance at which I saw it. All in the city who saw it fled. As they fled, Invia came in great numbers, carrying people off west. We know not what became of them. They fought, and slew some Invia at great cost. These dragons you see then came to our village and ruined it. We let them have the place and fled but they followed us.

  ‘We went underground as long as we could, for we’d had commerce with groundmen near there. But their passages grew too small to pass so we had to surface. The children alone kept on underground. We’ve no idea if they made it to the castle or not. When we surfaced, the same dragons came at us again. They watched us for miles, taking one or two of us at their leisure. We heard screams but did not see what they did. We could not fight them. One of them knew magic and it did things I’ll not speak of.’

  ‘How’d you kill em in the end?’ said Sharfy.

  ‘Something helped us. We know not what.’

  ‘It was Vous,’ said someone from the crowd.

  ‘I’ll not credit that,’ said Huldeel. ‘But it was surely one of the Spirits. I’d guess Wisdom. It used such magic as kept the dragons spellbound. Illusions of the dragons appeared on each side of the road. Each illusion was just the same as the dragon it copied, but larger. Far more beautiful too, it must be said. We ourselves were spellbound awhile. The dragons, more so. They could not look away from these visions of themselves. We could see them battling to try and pull away. I have never seen such beauty; there, I’ll say it. And I’ve naught but hate for the foul things and all to do with them.’

  ‘They sang,’ said another from the crowd.

  ‘Aye, they did. I’ve never heard its like. Stillness fell on us – we were all taken in it. Only Uon was not so taken, for he’s deaf as wood. He cut one of their heads off while it stared at its likeness. Even then the others did not stir. They went into a kind of dance, I swear it. Slow and swaying. But I stirred.’ The look in his eyes said clearly it was he who’d cut off at least one of the dragons’ heads himself. ‘So that’s our tale. Tell the people we’re all one now, Shadow. No difference of the past is worth a pit devil’s turd. If the Arch still lives, he’s a chance for penance now, if he’ll but slay one of those beasts. If he dies in the trying I’ll tip a drink to him, whatever the past.’

  ‘He is gone,’ Eric said.

  ‘Fine. But tell the people of your realm: all who can are trekking here to join our fight. Tell them a war’s upon them. Road talk says all cities are lost and unsafe to go to. They took Esk; they took Athlent as your man here says. They’ll take all the realm. We’ve only each other now, all of us are brothers and sisters.’ The village chieftain grabbed Eric by the shoulder. ‘Th
e people will hear you. If you’ve weapons in that castle, pass them out. Tell the people to fight!’

  ‘I won’t,’ Eric said. ‘Maybe you haven’t seen the dragon called Shâ. I saw it slay a thousand war mages all by itself. Easily. They didn’t even hurt it. I’m not going to send anyone off to fight it, nor the other Major dragons. This will be hard for you to hear, but this is not a fight for us. Get to safety and stay there. Get inside the castle. There is room there for many people. No dragons dare come there.’

  ‘Word travels back that the giants let no one in,’ said someone in the crowd.

  ‘I’ll see what I can do about that,’ said Eric.

  ‘Leave the dragon bodies here,’ said Sharfy. ‘Or take one to all major roads. A body at one, a head at another. Can cover six roads. Dragons will see it’s a warning, come no closer.’

  A murmur of chatter rippled through the crowd, some of it angry. ‘And just who are you?’ said Huldeel to Sharfy.

  ‘Do what he says,’ said Eric. ‘The roads in are blocked. You won’t get much closer to the castle than you are now. Don’t fight any Invia you see, unless you absolutely have to. This will sound strange, but fighting the dragons is the worst thing you can do. There are other ways to handle them.’

  The whole group of them seemed stunned to silence for a moment. ‘Our children climb through dark tunnels below the ground. Many of these men about me watched their women carried off, could do naught about it. If you mean to preach surrender …’ Huldeel bent and lifted the dragon’s head again, grunting at the effort. ‘And if those gathered at the castle have been through what we have, or anything like it, then my holding this head aloft shall have more sway with them than any crown, any throne and any title.’

  A murmur of strong agreement swept through the crowd. Sharfy caught Eric’s eye with a look that said: It’s time we left.

  Eric said, ‘I feel the same way you do. And if it were possible to fight them I’d agree. But trust me on this: there’s a better way.’

  ‘What way is that, Shadow my lord? We are listening.’

  Eric did not know how to explain it. He knew how the haiyens’ advice would sound to these men. Had he not seen Siel employ the power of it, making herself invisible to Shilen, he’d have doubted it himself. ‘All of us will be taught the way to hide ourselves from the dragons. The new people of Levaal South – the people known as haiyens – will teach us, if we will allow them to live here among us. We will build a new world, one where we live among the dragons, hidden from their sight. We will be invisible as the winds are to them. There will be no more wars between us. Our new cities shall be hidden from them too, built with arts the haiyens will teach us.’

  The group looked at him like he was a madman, or worse. ‘Tell me, good sir,’ said the village chieftain, ‘why is it you choose to ride a drake? A drake is kin to dragonkind. Is it not?’

  ‘Not all dragons are—’ Eric began, but Sharfy yanked his arm. Reflecting on what he’d been about to say, he was soon thankful for it. When they got aboard Case, he flew away from there much faster than he usually flew.

  49

  THE LORD AND LADY

  It was hard to tell how many thousands made up the crowds milling about the castle. People had come from every city but the southernmost ones. Their angry rumble seemed to have morphed into one great voice with a common complaint. When Case flew over them some screamed, thinking a dragon had come to a place they’d believed they were safe. Case headed for Aziel’s old bedroom window, ignoring Eric’s instruction to take them down near the steps … he had wanted to tell the half-giants to allow people inside.

  But before they reached the window something caused an eruption of angry cries beneath. Sharfy pointed out the Invia diving down from the clouds into the throng of people, diving just as birds would dive to catch fish. Some Invia came up from their dives and flew away with struggling people in their arms. Others did not make it back to the sky. The loud otherworldly shriek of their wails sounded four separate times.

  ‘See?’ said Sharfy, triumphant.

  ‘I told you, goddammit, I believed what you said. Since you have all the answers, how the hell am I going to keep these people calm now?’

  ‘Shouldn’t be calm. It’s war.’

  Eric got off Case’s back and climbed through the window. He saw no point arguing, but Sharfy was wrong – this wasn’t ‘war’ at all. It wasn’t even hunting. It was just farming … farming human beings like penned animals. Shilen had known this was what waited, once the dragons got free. Surely she’d known all along. Eric said, ‘Serious question. If you were lord, Sharfy – and maybe you should be – how would you make those people out there believe what the haiyens have told us?’

  Sharfy leaped from Case’s back onto the window sill with no regard at all for the distance he’d fall if he slipped. ‘Wouldn’t try. I don’t believe em.’

  ‘Why not? You saw what happened when Shilen came. Shilen didn’t see Siel at all. You saw that it worked.’

  ‘That’s just how she acted. Tricks. Just tricks. S’what dragons do. She tricked you too. Remember?’

  A voice from across the room surprised them both. ‘Our task is not going to be easy, Eric. Or Shadow, as you have rightly said I should call you.’ Domudess stood with his head stooped to avoid the top of the door frame.

  ‘Call me whatever name you want,’ said Eric. ‘It hardly matters now. We’re being attacked by Invia. People aren’t safe even here at the castle. There won’t be time to teach them the haiyens’ arts now. So what are we supposed to do?’

  Domudess smiled at him sadly. ‘It may be there’s nothing we can do. You and I know that raising our consciousness is a way to avoid dragons, and to avoid Invia. To avoid all the pain and death these people are soon to march towards. It is a simple thing to practise, but impossible to teach those not willing to learn, especially in such a short time as we have. Your valiant companion has seen the effects and does not believe what his own eyes showed him. I am old, one of the oldest men alive. You are young, Eric. To you, this helplessness is a new feeling. I have watched humanity all my life. I am no longer surprised, no longer even disappointed. They are what they are.

  ‘If you go to that balcony and address the crowd, you may tell them either truth or lies. Neither truth nor lies will change things now. Or you may stay here, away from them, and leave them to have what they insist upon. I do not know which course is best. That is for you to decide. I am here for a similarly futile cause, only because I promised our haiyen friends I would try. They too are new to the futility of trying to change humanity. Somehow, when speaking with them, I too forget that it is futile.’

  Eric said, ‘I’ll tell them the truth. The myth about Shadow may be the only thing which gives them a chance to believe it. I just don’t know how to say it.’

  ‘Say that the haiyens have taught us a way to stay hidden from the dragons, a way to ascend out of their perception altogether. One must bring positive energy into one’s mind, and it’s nothing to do with the magic in the air which mages use. They may do it simply by thinking and feeling positive things, by banishing all fear, even the fear of death. In the haiyens, this does not translate into what we describe as love. In them, it brings more a kind of peaceful awareness, a harmony with their surrounds. In us it looks and sounds like love, and in fact that may be what it is.

  ‘But, to say to stirred men, many bearing wounds from dragons and from Invia who serve dragons … to tell them they must love the dragons? That they must bear in their hearts no hate or fear, that they must hold no desire to hurt them, that they must find admiration and understanding for that mighty and advanced race … and cling only to that? I feel it is not possible for them to accept. They will react as did Tauk the Strong. As I knew he would react.’

  Domudess planted his hands upon the doorway’s frame and held on tight. It seemed he knew with three seconds’ warning that the castle would shake itself, for that’s what happened. For a minute or more
the floor seemed like shuddering liquid. Sharfy fell face-first into the wall and was very lucky he wasn’t tipped the other way – straight out the window. The drake leaped off the sill in panic, belching a gout of flame which singed Sharfy’s hair.

  ‘How peculiar,’ Domudess said mildly when the shaking eased to a halt. ‘The haiyens have told me they have ceased the Pendulum swing, and that the Dragon-god will not waken.’

  ‘Is that what that shaking was?’

  ‘I suspect so. The Dragon may wake regardless of the Pendulum effect; it may not wait for the influx of foreign gods. It may rise just to police its escaped brood, given how the brood are behaving. If it does, I do not know what will happen to us. Nonetheless, we must continue as if the future has a place for us. Come. We shall speak with Aziel, whether or not she listens. She can do no worse than pick up a sword and try to run us through.’

  ‘Don’t rule that out.’

  To Eric’s surprise, Far Gaze and Loup were already in Aziel’s chamber. Eric had forgotten all about his ‘Mage of the Realm’.

  However busy Aziel had been with other things, she’d found time to decorate the large room with artworks, finery, tapestries and hangings of deep red and gold. They had heard her raised voice well before they entered the chamber and now she rounded on them, looking for all the world as though she’d gladly bite them. Faul stood like a dozing statue at the room’s lone window, not bothering to turn about as they came in. She’d surely seen what went on outside with the Invia … Eric wondered, remembering the rage she’d flown into when one was killed on her land, whether she felt as much sympathy for the creatures now.

  ‘And where have you been?’ Aziel snarled at him. To Domudess she said, ‘If you want to remain in this chamber, prove your worth. Why did the castle shake?’