World's End

by Will Elliott

‘Because the dragons have descended, and their sleeping Parent may be aware of it,’ said Domudess, striding towards her until his way was blocked by an armed bodyguard, surely little older than sixteen and looking scared to death. Domudess smiled at him kindly. He added, ‘Such shaking may continue. The haiyens say the Dragon shall not wake, but I feel otherwise. Within the coming days, you would be wise to depart the castle. All of you. To those here with mage eyes, have you examined the airs? Do so now.’

  Eric did. He had heard much of the power of the airs within the castle, and had seen for himself the wild twisting sheets of colour outside it, back before the dragons had taken him and Aziel up into the skies. But now … ‘There’s nothing,’ he said.

  ‘Indeed. Something has reclaimed all the airs’ magic. Can you guess what force that is?’

  ‘Well, it’s probably not Loup,’ Eric said.

  ‘Mage of the Realm to you,’ said Loup.

  ‘It is the work of the Dragon-god, drawing all nearby magic to itself. It is awakening. It is a guess, but I believe it to be correct. No one alive today has lived through such an event except the dragons themselves, and they do not recall the last time fondly. What frightens them should most assuredly frighten us. None of us knows what shall happen, nor how long the process of awakening takes. At any moment? Or will it be years? Or am I wrong, and the Dragon-god merely turns about in restless sleep?’

  ‘Why leave the castle?’ Eric said. ‘Is it going to erupt from the ground beneath us?’

  ‘It may.’

  ‘No!’ said Aziel. ‘I am not leaving.’

  Far Gaze said, ‘Eric. I have been trying to convince her lordship—’

  ‘Ladyship!’

  ‘—of a very different course of action, regarding which she is just as reluctant. That we allow people inside the castle. She feels the food stores will be ravaged, that she herself will be ravaged, and her mandate to rule will be ignored by a screaming mob.’

  ‘The mandate the dragons themselves provided?’ said Domudess mildly.

  ‘I have told her that the mob will more likely befriend her if she extends her hand to them,’ said Far Gaze. ‘If they are kept out, they will get louder, hungrier and angrier.’

  ‘He also claimed he’d been to the South and seen the gods there,’ she said. ‘Am I supposed to believe that?’

  ‘He has been there,’ said Domudess. Aziel laughed at him. ‘May I ask why convincing Aziel of the best course is seen as necessary?’ said Domudess.

  ‘That’s why,’ said Aziel, pointing at Faul, who still hadn’t turned away from the window.

  ‘Aziel, a quiet word?’ said Eric.

  The pair of them walked away from the rest of the group. He said, ‘Listen. Shilen lied to us – do you know that yet? The dragons have been eating people out there. Whole cities full of people. Sharfy saw it, so did most of those people gathering down there. What’s more, Shilen knew it would happen. Last time I spoke to her, she said the Favoured ones are still safe from the dragons. She’s lied so much already, how do we know even that much is true? I never understood what she meant, Aziel. She hinted but didn’t say it outright. She meant anyone not Favoured is fair game. Maybe we all are. You and me included. Maybe the Favoured just get eaten last.’

  He paused for breath, surprised to find she actually seemed to be listening. He went on, ‘We also have to be very careful of the Invia. They’re snatching people right outside as we speak, taking them to the dragons. What’s more, they’re not afraid of coming here, inside the castle. They’re not our friends, Aziel. Maybe one or two of the Eight are on our side, and maybe not. They sure aren’t stopping the others from killing people. In fact you could call what’s happening a war – those people outside are calling it that. If you and I are really running things here, we need to get a handle on all this real quickly. Those people down there, they’re about to take up arms and march off to fight the dragons. I’ll bet there are rousing speeches going on right now.’

  ‘Let them march,’ said Aziel.

  He was briefly speechless. ‘Do you know what you’re saying? We have to listen to the haiyens. They know how we can make ourselves hidden from dragons. They’re willing to teach us.’

  She raised a palm to quiet him. It was the gesture of a wise and weary queen, not the girl Aziel had so recently been. ‘I know what the tall wizard is going to say,’ she said, ‘about how we can survive the dragons. A summary of the idea was already presented to me. It’s not going to work.’

  ‘It works, Aziel. I’ve seen it work. Listen to me. Siel vanished from Shilen’s sight.’

  ‘It might work for you and me. Explain it to that crowd and it will sound like surrender. They will pull us limb from limb. We have not had time to put a structure in place to protect us from them.’ She gave him another weary look. ‘Actually, we had enough time. You insisted instead that the stupid mob out there was to be well fed, before all else. So, that is what our administrators have been doing, since you set a great number of them loose. Distributing food and other goods. We have no army. I have a few hundred volunteers on the lower levels, whose loyalty to us we cannot gauge. They are not mind-controlled. You wouldn’t allow such a thing. Assuming they fight for us to their very deaths against the mob outside, they would be trampled in a minute or two. We are probably finished. The half-giants are all we have. Even though they are each worth several men apiece, they are now far outnumbered. They do my bidding – some of it I should say, and only if my instructions suit them – because I have made them an offer. One which anyone else in this room can match. Although few can better it, since the half-giants have received everything they asked for.

  ‘Shilen’s and the dragons’ endorsement is the only claim to this throne I have. You heard what the wizard said, just now. He has already begun to take it away from me.’ She smiled helplessly. ‘So. If the mob outside insists upon fighting the dragons, we cannot stop them, nor should we want to. If we stand in their way, be assured we are the first they’ll trample. The best thing you could do is go out there and tell them now is the time to fight, then if they’re lucky the gods might step in to help them. But I know you won’t tell them that.’

  Eric was surprised to find he’d underestimated her grasp of things. He said, ‘You know we can’t trust Shilen from here on? She only put us in charge in the first place because she didn’t know how long till the dragons would come down from the sky. She wanted all the humans to be well-managed and busy until they came. You and I were supposed to be so busy fighting Kiown that we’d never consider how we might deal with the dragons, if and when they came down.’

  ‘That doesn’t matter now. Do you see why I asked the half-giants to kill you, Eric? I tell you this here and now because it is certain to come out, sooner or later. They refused to do it. And there is no longer a point in killing you, since your damage is done, so you may relax. There will be no attempt on your life – not on my orders, at least.’ He didn’t want to betray that he was shocked to hear this, even though he’d suspected something of the kind … but he knew his shock showed. She saw it and laughed bitterly. ‘You grew up in Otherworld as a peasant, working and playing games. So you played games here when you were put on the throne. I grew up watching lords. They were evil lords, I see that now – just look at the mess they left for us. But at the very least, they took power seriously.’

  ‘So does every tyrant who ever lived. I just didn’t want to be a tyrant, Aziel. I didn’t come here to rule anything or anyone.’ But he felt the pang of guilt she meant to inflict, and he did not at first understand why it was so powerful. He had been indulgent aboard his pet drake, treating the world as his own private amusement park. Taking none of it seriously, never seeking wise heads for advice. The whole thing was a farce. He’d seen that right away: the idea of his lording over human beings at the behest of a dragon. He’d be a puppet at best, perhaps even a traitor to his own kind. But he hadn’t for one minute acted to make it otherwise, to move people out of the cit
ies, to anticipate any of the things that had come to pass. While he’d played around, lives had indeed been at stake upon his decisions. And now, people were dead because of it.

  It suddenly hit him: he had blood on his hands. The blood of many people. How many? A dozen, a hundred, or more? He thought of the way he’d spared Kiown’s life at the tower top, and the fact he’d behaved as if that deed had been a permanent mark of his decency which nothing else could erase or mark over. How self-righteous that had made him feel. Now he felt sick.

  Aziel was silent. She seemed to watch all this play through his mind, to read it on his face. She put a hand on his shoulder in consolation, though her expression showed no pity. ‘Real rulers also look forwards when there is crisis,’ she said. ‘However futile it is, look forwards now. If I am to remain here, in charge, it will only be because you say so. You are “Shadow” to those people. I need you now more than you need me. But you owe me this throne, since your foolishness has all but removed it from us. So, from now on …’

  She didn’t finish, for at that moment the castle shook again. It went on much longer this time, and no one stayed on their feet except Faul, who clung to the window sill. ‘EASY!’ she bellowed, as if her voice could halt it. Aziel grabbed Eric by the arm and held on for dear life as they slid into the wall. When the shaking stopped he said, ‘If that keeps up, Aziel, maybe we really can’t stay here.’

  ‘There’s nowhere else to go,’ she said flatly. ‘Not for me.’

  ‘What about … what about the high valley behind the castle? I was there when I first came. It’s near what they call the Entry Point.’

  Domudess evidently heard him. ‘As it happens, I had that very place in mind,’ the wizard said, picking himself off the ground and striding over. ‘The stairways are difficult to find, but I shall try. Before you leave this place, order your workers to empty the warehouses. There is no point letting the food rot there uneaten as the castle becomes too unstable to dwell in.’

  ‘So, we will go and sit on the grass?’ Aziel said with rising anger.

  Domudess shook his head and slowly produced from his pocket a little leather bag. Aziel stared, not understanding. ‘My tower is contained within this bag,’ said Domudess. ‘I shall reconstruct it, and watch events from there. You are both invited to join me. Although in that place, there are no lords and ladies, only guests. And in that place you are not to wear your dragon charm.’ He looked at Eric. ‘Nor are you.’

  ‘I can’t get rid of it,’ Eric said. ‘I throw it away and it comes back. Aziel’s is stuck to her skin.’

  ‘Then you may not join me in the tower.’

  ‘SO THAT’S WHY IT’S SHAKING,’ Faul’s voice boomed from the window.

  ‘Why, Faul?’

  ‘IT’S THAT STUPID GOD OUT THERE. IT’S MAKING THE BIG SLEEPING DRAGON NERVOUS. WHICH GOD IS IT? TEMPEST? LOOKS LIKE A BUNCH OF TREES, ALL TIED TOGETHER.’

  50

  THE TEACHER OF MANY ARTS

  They rushed to the windows either side of Faul. Far Gaze said, ‘That’s not Tempest. That god is from the South world. I saw it with my own eyes. Unless her ladyship would care to correct me?’

  ‘Enough from you,’ Aziel snarled at him. ‘I will have you ejected and beaten till your bones are splinters.’

  ‘EASY, YOU TWO,’ said Faul. ‘WHAT IS IT AND WHAT’S IT DOING?’

  None could say. A hush had fallen outside. Indeed some calming influence seemed to exude from the god, powerful enough for them to feel it where they stood. The god – known by the haiyens as the Teacher of Many Arts, among other names – stood tall above the milling crowd. But after a couple of minutes it vanished, and the crowd’s murmuring voice resumed.

  It was not long before a messenger arrived from the lower floors with news. A thin young man of no more than eighteen stood panting from the long climb through the castle’s levels. ‘A new Spirit introduced itself,’ he said when he’d caught his breath. ‘Its name is … it’s something I can’t pronounce.’

  ‘FAT LOT OF USE THAT IS,’ said Faul, stomping towards him. ‘YOU RAN ALL THE WAY HERE FOR THAT?’

  ‘No, ma’am.’ The young man backed away from her with wide eyes. ‘It said it has things to teach. And a message for those of authority in the realm. That’s … that’s not exactly what it said, but that’s the best way I could think to say it. The message … well it’s more a feeling which I have to put into words for the Spirit.’ He looked at them helplessly.

  ‘Tell your message to me in private,’ said Aziel.

  ‘Are you sure, Lady? Everyone down there heard it. It wasn’t just me. All those people know what it said.’

  ‘Then you may as well tell us all,’ said Domudess. ‘Does the half-giant agree?’

  ‘SHE DOES. SPEAK UP, BOY.’

  ‘The Pendulum has stopped swinging, that part of the message was clear. I don’t know what that means, with your pardon, Lady.’

  ‘What else?’ said Aziel.

  The young man battled for words. ‘I’m sorry, Lady, the way the Spirit spoke, it kind of seems like I’m trying to remember a dream for you. That was the main part: they stopped the Pendulum. Who I can’t say, nor what it means. O, there was something about, the higher powers dare not cross now. Something else too, about Valour being killed. That part’s sort of strange to me, Lady … something about cycles? Cycles, killing Valour. Along with an army who travelled with him.’ Nervously, he added, ‘I don’t know what all this means. It can’t mean Valour the god, Lady, for he’s just myth, as I was taught. Maybe you know what to make of it …?’

  ‘Maybe we do,’ said Domudess. ‘Did the god of the South say no more?’

  ‘Some things, sir, but I don’t recall too well. Its voice sounded like bursts of wind going over all of us. When the Spirit faded out, it took a lot of people with it. It kind of seemed to ask a question to everyone at once, sir. About who would like to come and learn some things. Not many people did, most were afraid, I suppose. But those who vanished with it, they wanted to go. Maybe a hundred people or more.’

  ‘What sort of things did it wish to teach?’ said Domudess.

  ‘Something about the dragons, sir. That’s the other thing, there’s fighting down there between people and the half-giants guarding the entry-ways. I should’ve mentioned it when I first came in.’

  ‘If that’s all, you may go,’ snapped Aziel. She glared at Domudess when the messenger had gone. ‘They deliver messages from the chamber too,’ she said. ‘Such as, peculiar wizards ask the questions and give the orders. Do you people never think about how we are perceived by the mobs out there? Such things matter!’

  ‘They have other things to consider at present, Aziel, I would venture,’ said Domudess. He began to say more but instead went quiet, staring at something out in the hall.

  Following his gaze, Eric was astonished to see a large group of haiyens had gathered out there. There were more here than he’d ever seen in one place, including several of the taller ‘travellers’, and others dressed in garments more elaborate than the usual dull-coloured travelling robes. All of the haiyens stood silently gazing in. Their mood was almost palpable: sombre, sad.

  Far Gaze, Eric and Domudess were the only ones who’d so far noticed the haiyens’ arrival. Domudess caught Eric’s eye and whispered: ‘Keep the others busy, something is wrong,’ then he quickly strode out there and shut the door behind him.

  *

  It was only a minute or two before the wizard returned. Through the door behind him Eric saw the haiyens were gone. Domudess was grim-faced. ‘The haiyens are leaving us.’

  ‘What? Why?’ said Eric.

  ‘We have betrayed them. They are abandoning us. They will wait now until we destroy ourselves, or until the dragons destroy us. Then they will come to dwell here, if the lands are liveable. They were going to teach us ways to build homes that the dragons would never see. Now they won’t do it. At last they have come to my understanding, that trying to teach humanity is a futile tas
k.’

  ‘Who betrayed them?’

  ‘Someone brought … a summoned presence here, to Levaal North. To Elvury City. And it has grown too large now for them to kill. It has … become near enough to the size and power of a god, that they would need a huge gathering of haiyens to slay it … and they cannot all come at this time, or there will be no one to protect their own lands from the lost haiyens.’

  ‘How did this happen?’ said Far Gaze.

  Domudess looked around the room as if he could not really see it. ‘The presence had dead organic matter all through Elvury City to collect for itself. Human bones, Tormentor bodies. The arts the haiyens have taught us to deal with dragons … are of no effect against those beings. Perhaps other presences have been brought here too. Someone has betrayed us. Someone has dealt with the lost haiyens. That is the one thing our haiyen friends could not easily forgive.’

  ‘It was Kiown,’ Eric said. ‘He was at Elvury. I saw him there.’ All eyes in the room turned silently to him. He quickly regretted speaking.

  ‘You … saw this being brought here?’ said Domudess, breaking the heavy silence.

  ‘Well, no. I didn’t know what Kiown was doing there. He said he wanted that city as a base. I said he could have it, since he would have killed me then and there if I hadn’t.’

  ‘You didn’t feel a need to tell me of this?’ said Aziel, shaking her head in disbelief.

  ‘Why do the haiyens hold us responsible for what Kiown did?’ Eric said to Domudess.

  Far Gaze answered, ‘The haiyens are a whole, a collective. You could almost say there are no individual haiyens, for each is only part of one large whole. It may be they see us the same way.’

  ‘It is not just that,’ said Domudess. ‘It took only one of us to fly to the home of their lost ones. One man’s decision. Now a great swathe of our realm is unsafe for them … and for us. When the summoned entities grow strong, they can connect good haiyens into the collective of lost ones. The haiyens may decide they can risk trusting us again, but it will take time. More time than we have. You have no idea how wonderful are the things they could have taught us.’ Domudess wiped a tear from his eye. He went to the door, paused there. ‘In grief, it slipped my mind. Eric, the haiyens bore a message for you too. They said it was their last word of advice to us, for the present. You must make of it what you will, for I have no light to shed upon it. Their message was: Let them.’