by Heath Pfaff
“How old are you?” Haley asked, her voice full of wonder.
“Years stop having meaning after a certain time. We are ancient by human standards.” The male from behind answered. “We have been together, guardians of the Wellspring, since we discovered it thousands of years ago. We will still be its guardians after humanity has come and gone, thousands of years from now.”
“All those thousands of years and you have no bonds, no friends, and your life is all about servitude to the Wellspring? That sounds terrible.” Haley’s response summed up what Xan was thinking himself pretty well. He considered himself a loner, but his life was nothing compared to what the Unth had done to themselves.
“All of your people decided this was what they wanted to do with their lives?” Xandrith asked. “None of you wanted to be what you were before?”
“When we first settled these mountains the Unth were much like you are now.” The lead male spoke. “We came here to find a home for our people that would be secure and free of raids from the warring kingdoms of our time. We built a city among these peeks, and we lived well despite the harsh climate. We mastered our environment, but then we discovered the Wellspring. We were magically gifted, though not greatly so, and we recognized the potential the Wellspring contained. We knew it was important, possibly dangerous if controlled by the wrong entity. In time we learned how to use a small portion of the spring’s power, and with that power came clarity.
“We had to protect the Wellspring. Many of our people agreed, but some did not. Some of those who did not agree left, but others lived out their lives in the city and eventually succumbed to time. Those of that remain are from those early days, the people who chose to serve and protect the Wellspring. The rest of our people vanished into the turning of the years. Those who did not accept the Wellspring, and who did not choose to leave, were poisoned by the power given off by the spring.”
The female spoke up quickly. “The Wellspring does not kill out of malice, but those who do not properly join with its power grow sick over time. Years of exposure destroyed the old Unth’s ability to breed, and eventually killed the elderly.”
“That sounds terrible.” Haley’s voice was low.
“This history has allowed us to become what we are now. We are the guardians of the Wellspring. That is our purpose.” The male from behind spoke. None of them seemed distraught or disturbed by their history, though Xandrith felt a little of both himself. The Unth had given up their society to become servants of an ancient magic and it had so warped them that they didn’t even understand what they had given up. They had gained immortality, but he couldn’t imagine living forever in such a dreary existence.
The Wellspring wasn’t only a source of magic. It was also dangerous. Xandrith didn’t understand exactly what the Wellspring was, or how it worked for those who could use its power, but it was clear that the power it imparted came with a steep price. Had the god-like creatures that shaped the world also succumbed to the emotional degradation of the Wellspring? It seemed possible. They hadn’t ever encountered so much power before, and their obsession with that power had eventually led to the death of one and the partial imprisonment of the other.
“Have you ever considered what the Unth would have become without the Wellspring?” Xandrith asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
“Not in countless years.” The leading male answered quietly. If there was any sign of regret in his voice, Xandrith couldn’t identify it.
This rare conversation lapsed into silence in the wake of such a bleak answer. Xandrith looked over to Haley and found the girl looking back at him, an expression on her face that spoke volumes about her feelings regarding the story the Unth had told. She was as troubled by it as the assassin was, maybe more so. The Unth were prisoners of their own making, and they had been so for such a time that they couldn’t really remember what it meant to be free.
The Wellspring was a threat. A growing conviction was building up inside the assassin. If the opportunity arose he would destroy the Wellspring, or bury it so deep that no one ever found it again. It wouldn’t be enough to just kill the god-thing. The Wellspring was the true source of their trouble. It might well be the source for all magic in the world, but where there was magic there was corruption. The Order of Mages had been a testament to that fact before Xan had even heard of the god-things. Of course he was getting ahead of himself.
He already had one impossible goal before him. He had to kill a god, and he assumed that doing so was going to be difficult. Even once they reached this wall that the Unth were taking them to, Xandrith had to figure out how he was going to wade through a horde of trolls to find the bone dagger, which seemed impossible too. Then he’d have to kill the god-thing. He’d been avoiding thinking about it all with fervid passion.
At one point, before they’d met the Unth, he’d imagined that the mountain people would help him make his final stand against the troll god. In his head it had been an epic battle with the Unth willingly sacrificing down their lives to hold off the trolls while Xandrith plunged the bone dagger into the heart the god and freed the world from its awful tyranny. Then he had actually met the Unth, and that whole idea had been abandoned quickly. The Unth were barely willing to take him to the trolls, let alone help him fight them back. How could two people pierce an entire horde of trolls, recover an ancient relic, and then kill a god while amidst its followers?
Well, at least Xandrith was an assassin. These were the kind of things he was supposed to be good at. He was a bit out of practice, but this was the way one got to be the best in their profession. Challenges. Haley was just an apprentice, but she was very skilled. It would be a great learning experience. Xan wasn’t even certain that anyone had ever assassinated a god before. If they succeeded Haley would have credibility as an assassin very quickly.
Xandrith chanced a quick glance at his young companion. Her fox face was still locked in a somewhat neutral expression, but the assassin could spot the emotions she was trying to hide beneath the surface. He was so experienced at hiding those emotions himself that they were evident to him on his young companion. He was happy she was with him, but at the same time he would have given a great deal for her to be anywhere else at that moment. False bravado aside, Xan was fairly certain they were going to die horribly.
Distant voices drifted down the cave towards Xan, distracting him from his contemplation of the future. He focused his attention forward and spotted what was clearly light from the outside world spilling into the tunnel ahead of them. They were finally arriving at their destination. They had reached the wall.
Xandrith squinted into the dull light of the outside world as they emerged into the open for the first time in hours. The snow had cleared, or wasn’t falling this far up the mountain, but the sky was still gray and the wind was still violent. Xandrith’s tattered cloak whipped around his body, flapping in the breeze like the wings of some giant bat. He didn’t particularly have time to notice however, as his attention was fixed on the Unth’s ‘wall.’ It sprawled above, a twisted, twining nest of jagged crystal like that which the Unth themselves were encased in. It was impossible to tell how thick it was, but the crystal itself was thick enough that though partially clear in places, it was still impossible to see through. It had a vague pink tinge to it that was only visible in areas that were particularly clear and deep.
At first glance Xan thought the wall would be jokingly easy to climb. It was covered in ridges and angles that any fool could easily use as a handhold, but upon closer inspection Xandrith realized that the edges of the crystal were as sharp as any knife he’d ever owned. One wrong handhold and a person could slice all their fingers off or carve off a foot. The Unth wall was horrifying in the deceptive simplicity of its nature. The assassin had never seen anything like it, and he was glad of that fact. This was a wall that might well keep him out, or at least make him seriously rethink his normal strategy of entrance.
From the ground at the base of the w
all it was difficult to tell just how tall the structure was, but Xandrith guessed it was twenty times as high as he was tall, if not more. It stretched as far as he could see both to his left and right, though he could detect a curvature that meant it probably came back around on itself.
The female Unth, the one they’d originally met, and the male who had been following them took this opportunity to depart. They didn’t bother to mention where they were going, or what business they were about. They simply departed wordlessly, heading back down into the cave through which they’d just exited. Xandrith noted their departure, but his attention was still fixated on the wall.
“This is remarkable.” He finally managed to say.
“We grew it in the early years after joining the Wellspring. It goes all the way around and under our city. The crystal, once set, is nearly unbreakable.” Xandrith almost thought he heard pride in the Unth’s voice, but it might have just been his imagination.
“Can we get on top?” Haley asked, a spark of excitement in her voice. Despite everything, she still had some of her childish exuberance left.
The Unth nodded. “The forward camp is near the top. That is where you will be staying while you are with us.”
“Wait, the camp is on the wall?” Xandrith asked, shocked. “How wide is the wall?”
“The camp is in the wall. It keeps our forces near where they must defend.” The Unth explained as he led them towards a particular place in the wall.
“How did you carve space out of the crystal?” Xandrith’s curiosity was getting the better of him. For all that he didn’t much like the Unth, they had managed some incredible achievements.
The Unth’s answer surprised Xandrith. “The walls were grown, and the rooms inside the walls were shaped during the growing.”
The staircase that had been grown into the side of the wall was a practice in design elegance at the cost of artistry. The steps were perfect and stable, but there was no aesthetic grace to the design. Xandrith was hardly a discriminating art critic and he could tell that the stairs were as plain as they could possibly be while being grown from magic crystals.
“There are sculptors who would kill to work with this material.” He said, touching the smooth wall that ran next to the stairs. “Those same sculptors would probably kill themselves if they saw how dull this staircase is.”
“Function is more important than appearance.” Their Unth guide commented.
Xan nodded. “I don’t disagree. I’ve always been taken by the elegance of functional simplicity, but it is surprising to see something so carefully crafted also be so unadorned. Human designers always decorate what they work on, especially when it’s something that’s such a massive undertaking. I believe it’s a mark of pride in their work.”
“You mistake our dedication to function as a lack of pride.” The Unth’s words surprised Xan. “We are not without emotion. We are indeed proud of what we have achieved. This wall will stand as long as the Unth live, and maybe beyond that. We are proud of that, but our pride never interferes with our purpose.”
“You say you don’t lack emotion, but you don’t seem to possess empathy.” Xandrith pointed out. “You speak of the loss of your families as though you’re indifferent, and the loss of our friends didn’t trouble you at all.”
“I understand that the loss of your friends is deeply upsetting for you.” The Unth said. “We do not feel attachment to people or things, but we did once. Everything we feel is in relation to our goal to protect the Wellspring. If something threatens the Wellspring we are enraged. If we achieve something that makes the Wellspring safer, that fills us with a sense of pride and accomplishment.”
Xandrith cringed inwardly. The Unth really were slaves to the Wellspring. They even seemed to understand their servitude but it didn’t bother them. The assassin found this unsettling. He could think of nothing to answer the Unth’s statement with so he let the conversation pass into silence, killed by the revelation that their hosts were little more than mindless minions. If the Unth were minions, did that mean that the Wellspring was sentient? That was a troubling thought.
Their Unth guide led them to a room high above the mountain floor. The room had a fireplace that was already burning and a single large bed. Other than that there was a desk and a small box for storing items. The room had no other decoration in it at all.
“You may stay here for a few hours. We will come and get you later and take you to the top of the wall. Do not leave this room without an escort or you will be killed.” The male Unth droned off his directions before turning and leaving Xan and Haley alone in the strange crystal room. He pulled the door shut behind him, and Xandrith heard the distinct sound of a lock engaging. They weren’t taking any chances.
“It’s awful rude of them to make us share a room.” Xandrith grumbled.
“I don’t really want to be alone here anyway.” Haley commented, unhooking her belt so that her axe fell to the ground before she jumped into the bed. “Oof!” She groaned as she hit the surface of the bed. “Great, it’s almost as hard as the ground.”
Xandrith let out a plaintive groan. “Well, it makes sense that the Unth wouldn’t particularly worry about comfort.” With no one around to judge him other than Haley, who he was pretty comfortable with, Xandrith limped his way to the bed. His recently broken leg hurt so much that he felt he might never be able to walk on it again. He’d spent a great deal of energy pretending it was fine. He fell onto the nearly rock solid bed at her side. “Oh, you weren’t exaggerating.”
Haley rolled over on the bed so she was facing Xan. She reached up to her mask and pulled it off, tossing it on the ground near her axe. Her eyes were glassy, and her face was strained with the effort not to cry. Xandrith put an arm around the girl and pulled her close to him.
“It’s alright.” He told her. It wasn’t alright, of course. It might never be alright again. Haley began to cry, her body shaking against his side as she wept nearly silently. Xandrith couldn’t find his own tears, though he wished that he might so that he could stop the pain that was building up inside of him. The pressure in his chest was unbearable. He felt as though he might die at any moment.
“It’s alright.” He repeated the empty words again.
Xandrith’s sleep was broken by a gentle shaking of his shoulder. He started awake despite the gentleness, unaccustomed to being woken by someone else. Haley was kneeling over him, her eyes turned to face the doorway. Xandrith turned to see what she was staring at and was startled to see one of the Unth standing a few feet away, just inside the door of their room. They were difficult to tell apart since they lacked hair and didn’t wear regular clothing, but Xan still thought this one was different than the ones that had accompanied them to the wall.
He pushed himself up from the bed and to his feet, uncertain how long he’d been resting or how long the Unth had been waiting for him to wake. Haley was putting her fox mask back in place over her face and refastening her weapon belt. She kept her eyes on the Unth the entire time.
“You should have woken me when you arrived.” Xandrith told the Unth.
“I was to let you sleep as long as you needed before showing you to the wall.” A female voice.
“It didn’t occur to you that we might find it strange to wake up and have someone staring at us?” Xan asked out of curiosity more than any true resentment.
“This was the best way to insure that I was available for you when you were ready to go.” She explained calmly.
“What if we had been making love when you came in?” Haley demanded angrily.
A slight flush rose in Xan’s cheeks and he laughed nervously. “Well, no, that wouldn’t have happened. We’re not like that. I mean, we don’t ... I don’t. Not Daisy, damn it, I’m too old to be ...”
Haley laughed, a sincere, warm sound that made Xandrith feel like a fool. “I’m only joking, Xan.”
“I wouldn’t have stayed if my presence would have interfered with your intimacy.” The Unth,
who didn’t seem to fully grasp the situation, replied to Haley’s question a bit late.
“It wouldn’t have!” Xan snapped, then seemed to realize what his hasty answer meant and quickly added. “…because we wouldn’t have been intimate because we are not romantically involved.”
The Unth didn’t seem to care. “Are you ready to see the top of the wall?” She asked.
“Yes, the wall. That would be good.” Xandrith said quickly, flustered and eager to get out of that conversation.
“Follow me.” She turned as she spoke and opened the door, leading the way back out onto the landing in front of the living area. Xandrith followed Haley out the door, giving her a wide clearing so as not to create any further misunderstandings.
The Unth walked quickly up a flight of stairs that opened onto another landing of living space, and then up another set of stairs. The stairs made Xandrith’s leg start to ache again. Xan gave an audible sigh as they cleared the last of the steps and walked across the top of the wide open walkway along the top of the wall. It was impressively massive, and from on high Xandrith could hear the sound of thousands of troll voices floating through the air. He feared what he would see when he reached the outside edge of the wall.
His fear was well warranted. Before the Unth wall stretched a horde of trolls beyond Xandrith’s imagining. It blackened the mountainside stretching as far down the slope as the eye could see, filling every crevice and every fissure in the landscape with a mass of tents, siege weapons, supplies and trolls of a vast array of sizes and shapes. Xandrith looked down the wall and could see piles of dead bodies at the base of the wall, and a few dead on the wall itself that appeared to have failed while attempting to climb the Unth barrier. A field of crystal spikes spread from the base of the wall all the way down to the very front line of the troll forces, and more dead were hanging from that grim field of macabre trees.
“How long have they been here?” Xandrith asked in a small voice.