by G. D. Penman
They left in silence, both absorbed in their own thoughts.
The conspirators finished their plotting by the time that Lucia entered the room. Everything fell silent as she approached. The nobles who were the most timid literally threw themselves on the ground at her feet. The others still bowed deeply. In their lives they had experienced very brief audiences with the Beloved of Negrath. To be in the presence of an Eater in the flesh was enough to throw some into religious ecstasy, and others into a sin-fuelled panic.
She greeted them graciously as they approached her, whether they were weeping or smiling or quaking in terror. There seemed to be no order in which they came to her so it fell to Kaius’ rather limited knowledge of the city’s noble houses to inform her who had been in Negrath’s favour, and who was of limited usefulness. He was constantly hovering around her and it began to irritate her even more than the obnoxious people that she was trying to play nice with. Eventually she laced her arm through his and they walked together. She ignored his initial stiffening and eventually he seemed to relax into the contact. He was a re-assuring coolness at her side.
The Pontifex sat separate from the rest of the nobles, sitting around the furthest end of a long table that had been pushed to the side of the room. When it seemed that nobody else was approaching her and the Pontifex were not moving she pulled away from Kaius and went to greet them. It was all just a performance and she had been on the stage since she could walk. The Pontifex froze in indecision. They could not decide if they should rise to greet her or fall to their knees in supplication, so they remained frozen at the table. She picked up a chair from the side of the room, set it in the midst of them and sat down. The whole room was silent and echoing. She put her hands flat on the table’s surface where everyone could see them and smiled.
The effect was instant, a full half of the Pontifex went pale and the others looked greener. She spoke softly so that they all had to lean in to hear her. It was an old tavern trick but it did wonders. “You were trusted with a duty to care over the people of Negrath.”
She saw Kaius tense as she spoke, waiting for the hammer to fall and the uproar to begin. She turned her full, wide-eyed attention to the men and women around the table, “Now they are untended. I need you, brave bearers of truth. I need you to spread the news of my coming. I need you to let the people know that while their old master has passed away from them, I will protect them now.”
She moved her hands to cover those of the two Pontifex nearest to her, one of them fainted and the other trembled. Solemnly Lucia said, “I will protect all of you now.”
There was a good deal of supplication after that and Kaius faded more and more thoroughly into the background, observing and making what polite conversation that he could muster. His eyes moved always, searching for the assassin's dagger, or the sudden attack from outside but drifting always back to her. Not staring but observing. Her bearing had obviously changed since he found a scared girl in a cave but it was more than just the act. Her physical posture had changed, her shoulders now drew back further and as well as becoming slimmer around the chest and waist she was becoming taller.
It took several viewings to realise it. Spaced out over the course of her meetings with the various noble houses and alliances, he doubted that she would realise before her head started scraping the door-frames. It would be a sensitive subject and he was glad to avoid it for now. He called the two Chosen from outside and set them to watch over the proceedings. He knew them from before the change. They had begun their time in the Halls of Steel just as he had left, but they looked at him with nearly the same worship that they directed to Lucia. He expected no inklings of betrayal from them. Distracted as she was with the dozens of supplicants, Lucia did not even notice him leave until the sudden tug of his called speed alerted her, but there was no time to investigate. The show had to go on.
He stopped first at the lowest point of the tower and dragged the blackened door from its frame. He walked into the roasting heat and pitch darkness timidly at first, but soon called a tiny spark of flame that illuminated everything. He crept across the ashes and the crust of dried flesh and skin until he reached what had been Negrath. The heat must have ruptured the creature from the inside. Its rotten and crispy parts were splayed open to reveal the depth of the decay.
Kaius lowered his head to the dead beast's side and deadened all of his senses bar hearing. He heightened his hearing well past the usual levels of safety and tolerance. He could hear the servant's whispers upstairs and the stone contracting as it cooled. He could not hear a sound from inside Negrath. He let his senses return to more human levels and looked properly at what he had wrought on the world for the first time. He squatted and put his head in his hands and gasped for air. He took that time and let his prized mind run through the meaning of all the things that he had already done in the name of Lucia. He composed himself as much as he could, called speed, and fled.
There was no official caste in the city that dealt with the dead, but there was a place for them. Tunnels coiled beneath the city. The earth was supported by twists of shattered ribs and, deeper still, there were smooth bored tunnels through the stone. Alcoves had been chipped away over the decades in the stone and in the bone. Most bodies lay scattered in the streets to be picked over by scavengers until rot set in. Those few lucky ones who had money and foresight enough paid to have their corpse dragged down into the cool catacombs where they were interred among their ancestors. Kaius crept down the tunnels in his bare feet.
There were candles flickering down here. A ridiculous extravagance anywhere else in the city, but here they were dribbling yellow and reeking things. Nobody questioned who did the work down here, stripping off the clothes for resale, sorting the bones for easy storage and rending the fat into those candles. Deep beneath the city, close enough that heat now rose into the chamber from Negrath's tomb, there was a corpulent banquet laid out. Five dead lay spread out across the table. Rescued from decay to sate a strange palate. The party was just beginning to gather down there.
There were nobles there, less important ones that did not have to attend the new Eater. There was a plenitude of them in fact, and far fewer merchants and commoners. Spaced out among them, having made a slow and dangerous trek through the few pitch-black tunnels that extended beyond the city's walls, were the true savage ghuls. They shook and quivered like Chosen who had called speed. Their skin was cracked and dry, their eyes were sunken and dry. There was a restless energy as they all gathered, looking out upon the feast that had been laid before them. Pontifex Arlia emerged from an alcove in her full regalia with her arms spread wide in greeting.
The religious leader had fallen into deep disfavour among the proper nobility after her faux-pas at the last feast of Valerius, but here she was still loved. Here she still demanded respect. She said to the gathering, “On this strange occasion we are gathered. At the changing of our times, we gather to worship as only we can. Let us partake of our sacrament and remember the Eater that has passed. Let us feed and give thanks for the Eater who rises.”
The words were barely out of her mouth when the gathered ghuls fell upon the fresh meat. Arlia shrugged and sated her own cravings, tearing flesh from bone with her bare hands.
The sounds echoed along the tunnels until they reached Kaius' ears. He did not call his steel before he entered the chamber. There was no need, his face was well known to the nobility in attendance and theirs were smeared with human blood. Only the ghuls from outside the city tried to run, but they barrelled into the others in attendance. Kaius held up his hands calmly showing his peaceful intent and for a short moment Arlia knew hope. Perhaps this new Beloved would be more kind to those of their persuasion. She met his gaze and the hope fluttered and died in her heart. He crossed his arms and gave the gathering a smile,
“Let us talk.”
Another feast was laid out, far above the interrupted one and for a more refined taste. Lucia sat at the head of the table, chatting cheerfully
with a few noble women that had an interest in songs and history. Their new-found favour was delighting them and they quickly became accustomed to the strange resonance of her voice. Their areas of expertise had never found them much in the way of acclaim under the old rulers, who had pleasures that were more direct. Kaius slipped back into the room after his long absence and it was all that Lucia could do not to jump up.
She lost all track of the conversations around her for a moment and when the women realised and glanced around a couple of them giggled behind their hands. Lucia discovered to her relief that she could no longer blush. She gave Kaius an imperious nod and tried to regain her composure. She took the conversations in a drastically different direction, hoping to rattle the women, but they were more than up to the task. Kaius circled the table, leaning down to whisper some comment to a lesser noble. There was a ripple of conversation in his wake, excitement and the outward appearances of happiness followed him.
Darkness swept over the land once again and, as much as the commons had wailed over the rising sun so much more did they despair at nightfall. Kaius had to rush back up the tower and bellow out reassurance while the party raged on inside. Alcohol had circulated and some of the guests were drifting out of the main room to indulge in marginally more private pleasures together. Lucia looked on it all with thinly veiled disgust. She walked through the room with Kaius on her arm and an abiding distaste for all of her new people. When she caught a glimpse of one of the girls who had earlier been discussing the finer points of string instruments ducking under a table with a salacious wink to the delight of her companions, it was too much for her. Lucia leaned into Kaius and whispered, “Have we done enough to win them over yet? Can we leave?”
Kaius gave a barely perceptible nod and they drifted out of the room. Without the sun filling her up with power, Lucia shuddered with every drain now as her newly Chosen called speed or strength as they went about their orders. It made her nervous to begin with but she quickly got a feeling of the depths of the well that she could now draw upon. It would take more than this to deplete her, it would take more than all of them drawing on everything to drain her entirely. The two of them walked up the spiral stairs and they needed no torch between Kaius' night eyes and her faint warm glow.
They came to the chambers of the Beloved and pushed inside without comment from their Chosen guards. Servants had been over the room and it was much more presentable with the majority of Valerius' belongings removed. Clearly some dressmaker had been talking because the servants had been replacing the wall hangings and bed covers with black silk.
The only remnants of the cream colour scheme were the scrimshawed walls themselves. Candles were lit around the room in brass holders, pure and white ones, made from real wax. When Kaius shut the door behind them, they took a long moment to enjoy the silence. The city still bustled outside, their troops feet could still be heard echoing from the top of the walls, the party downstairs was still a whooping and liquid sounding riot, but when they pushed away their senses to the very edge of humanity, it was silent. Lucia smiled at Kaius openly for the first time since they began meeting with her nobles. He tried to return the smile honestly but he had to force it now that they were in the bedchamber and anxiety was churning inside him. She strolled over to the bed and flopped back across it giggling and exhaling all of the day's worries. In a flurry, she said, “This is actually working. We are going to make it. Those people are horrible in general, but in person they are just people, you can talk to them. Every time I spoke to one of them like an equal you saw their whole world changing. This is amazing. This is everything I could have hoped.”
Kaius walked to the bed with leaden steps and maintained his smile, “You did amazingly well. I believe that you have won many of them over.”
She sat up suddenly with a sharp toothed grin, “Yes, I did! I was amazing. I am amazing!”
Without having to construct comforting words this time his answer came easier, “You certainly are.”
Still grinning wildly she held out her hands, nodding, “Yes I am.”
Carefully displaying his indifference, Kaius raised his hands to meet hers. She laced her fingers between his and spoke softly, “Everything is going to be alright Kaius. There is nothing to be afraid of anymore.”
She tilted her head to one side, looking at the smooth lines of his face, already restored by a single day's healing. She tightened her grip on his hands and pulled him down until their lips touched. She kissed him softly but he did not move. He didn't flinch or pull away but he did not kiss her back. She let go of him and leaned back quickly. He was staring past her with an empty expression. She murmured, “Kaius?”
He drew away and said, “I am very sorry. I thought that you were... I thought things would be different. I understand now.”
He cupped her face in both hands and kissed her with all of the passion that he could fake. Now she was the one who lifted her hands and pushed him away, “What are you doing. Do you not want this?”
He froze again and almost imperceptibly shook his head. She rolled her eyes and lolled back on the bed groaning, “Well I have made a fool of myself as usual.” She glanced down at him with an awkward grin, “Is there some other girl you have your eyes on? Who should I be jealous of?”
He shook his head again then with a tremor he whispered, “I don't like these things. I do not want these things.”
Immediately she was sitting up again and grasping at his hands, “Oh my sweet boy I am so sorry. I didn't want to make you feel bad, quite the opposite. I just think that you are amazing too.” She stopped and frowned, “If you didn't want to then why did you...”
“Because you wanted to. I was just trying to please you.”
She snorted in a very unladylike way. “Fine pair of fools we are, Kaius. You never have to do something that you don't want to do. I will never make you do something that you don't want to do. Do you understand me? Do you understand that I am not like the monsters you had to bow down to before?”
He met her gaze with damp eyes, “I am truly beginning to understand now.”
The night stretched on. The party downstairs ran its course after several cart loads of liquor and whores were consumed and enjoyed. The nobles drifted off to their houses surrounded by a loyal retinue of guards. The servants scurried around righting the damages that the festivities had wrought. Up above them all, at the top of the tower, two people sat and spoke softly, sharing the stories of their lives and drawing closer. They were interrupted very briefly when the screaming outside began anew. They both rushed to the balcony but stalled when they saw the cold circle illuminating the world. Lucia whispered, “How many more big, glowing things are we going to find in the sky this week?”
Kaius shrugged, “However many they hid I suppose.”
They stared up at the moon and she took hold of his hand. He did not flinch away from her now.
“How many more ways can the world change?”
Kaius squeezed her hand, “It can change as much as we make it change.”
Chapter 15: The Tightening Noose
From the depths of the woods the sound of breaking stone echoed out into the returning dark. The solid slabs of the moss-covered dolmen shook and split. From amidst the tangled roots first one, then two gigantic hands emerged to part the earth. Walpurgan clawed her way up out of the earth, the cracks in her dull grey skin already glowing, but suddenly blazing bright when the moonlight struck her. She ascended through the woods, growing taller with each step until she towered over the ancient, petrified oaks. Her eyes reflected the silvery light of the moon and her silhouette vanished into the glow. She strode through the woods and into a clearing that her servants had spent a sweltering day clearing. By the time she reached her assembled owl riders, the huge birds reached only to her knees.
She spread her arms wide and let out a booming laugh that rippled across the translucent grass at her feet. The owls were pinned in place by her mental domination but even they wer
e uncomfortable. There was a great deal of shuffling feathers and shifting from one foot to the other. Her foot soldiers were already assembled outside the forest and preparing to march. She had been ready to move since before the sunrise. War was an inevitable part of living among the Eaters of the Gods, but the forces being mobilised here represented the entirety of Walpurgan's armies. Her lands stood undefended as she gathered her troops for the long march to the old seat of Negrath's power. The moon's light suffused her and her dwindling reserves once again filled up with power. It did not matter what happened to her lands now. It did not matter what happened to the people of the forests that she had claimed as her own. All of them could be replaced with this power returned to her. Anything was possible now.
With barely a thought she reshaped the tapestries of power that had sat so long unused over her body, expanded them once more to encompass her full girth and through a cunning twist here and a clever word there she gave to herself the shape of an owl, albeit one far larger than the others, and lacking a harness. It would not do to arrive at her prey too soon, but it would be necessary to scout ahead to find a roost for her winged legion. With a thunder of wings, the owls and their riders took flight. The Strangled Forest was abandoned.
Out on the plains an army marched in the sun, shielding their eyes with wide brimmed hats that the camp followers were frantically weaving from long grass. Amongst them, in a shimmer, moved the Chosen applying lash and harsh words to keep them in formation. At their flanks, great beasts of steel walked. These cunning constructs of the Marked were filled with desperate, blinded Chosen following their orders without thought. Many of the Chosen in the field longed for such freedom. At the rear of the columns was a great beast constructed from living sheets of steel. A palanquin for the Beloved of Vulkas. The beast walked on four legs. It had a hunched back and curving horns. No mortal alive had seen one, but the Eaters remembered them from the days before the dark as cattle, indulgently kept for meat.