The Godlost Land

by Curtis, Greg

  “Yes?”

  “Griffins, a pair of them have returned High Priestess, and one is carrying a bow!”

  The soldier blurted it out excitedly, and there was a strange emotion in his voice. Not just the usual sense of dread, but something else – hope. Whatever this was he thought it could save them. And maybe she suddenly realised, it could.

  She didn't know how or why a griffin could be bringing her a bow. But surely only a high priest or priestess could command a griffin to bring her one. Or better yet the Goddess herself. Could it be?

  “Show me!”

  Instantly the soldier took off, running back up the stairs he had just run down and as quickly as she could she gave chase. It was something that still wasn't easy for her. Her years in the cage had robbed her of so much strength and vitality, and it was coming back only slowly. Midland Heights with its endless stairs was a challenge for her.

  But when she managed to catch him two terraces up and saw the griffins standing there waiting for her, the ache in her legs was immediately forgotten.

  The two beautiful creatures stood there proudly, understanding nothing of what they were carrying but everything of obedience. Obedience to their true mistress, Artemis. She could see that in them so very clearly. They were doing as they had been instructed and that was all that they cared about.

  But it was the longbow the male was carrying that truly caught her eyes. She could only see glimpses of it as his body covered it, but those glimpses spoke of the Goddess in a way that little else could.

  Erislee ran to him, heedless of the weakness of her legs. That didn't matter any more. Neither did the soldiers all around staring at her. Not even the war masters who pelted her with questions. Nothing mattered save the gift she had been brought. Erislee went down on her knees before the Huntress' companion and untied the bow. And then in one glorious moment it was free and in her hands.

  “Artemis be praised!”

  Holding the bow in her hands Erislee felt the touch of Artemis more clearly than she ever had before. The weapon was a gift. A gift given so that her divine will could be continued. And Erislee knew that she held the fate of all her people in her hand and maybe the end of the war as well. It was a longbow of fantastic power, a weapon of war, and one thing more than even that; it belonged to Artemis. It wasn't the longbow she normally carried in the heavens, but it was close. A copy, but somehow more than that. Much more. The magic contained within it was fresh and clean, pure and strong. Impossibly strong. It was the Goddess' magic, alive and strong in her hand. Close as it never had been before.

  “Thank you Goddess! And thank you Harl Elder Fire!”

  She knew it was his handiwork. She didn't know how he could have crafted it – this was a weapon that had needed the touch of the Goddess simply to shape – but she knew it was his handiwork. Just as she knew there was still one thing to do.

  Erislee went down on her knees, the longbow in her hands before her.

  “Artemis, I bless this weapon in your name and I praise your wisdom and mercy for bringing it to us.”

  It was all she needed to do. Blessings in Artemis' temple were simple things, but then hunting was a very simple thing. It wasn't like the temple of Prometheus where the priests might ramble on for hours about seemingly unimportant things. Or the temple of Apollo where there might be hours of history lessons and collected wisdom. This was Artemis' wisdom, and the weapon was just that; a weapon. It's only function was to bring down its quarry quickly and cleanly.

  And the time for that had come.

  Erislee climbed the steps to stand on the rampart of the nearest wall looking out over the valley, and then she pulled an arrow, notched it, and started hunting her quarry. They weren't hard to find. Not when the sight could somehow bring the face of her first prey so close that she could almost reach out and touch him.

  Tyriole the Grand was the first she saw, seated in some sort of armchair that he'd obviously had carried with him into the campaign. What sort of madness she had to wonder, was that? Arrogance and self indulgence to the point of true insanity! But if the armchair wasn't enough to convince her of that, there were the dozen servants with him. Soldiers too. One soldier was bringing him a goblet of wine while another tended to the fire in front of him and a third held out warm robes for him.

  Something about the ancient white haired, long bearded wizard sitting there in his armchair – or was that a throne – reminded her of a spider. He was the queen and the others were all trapped within his web.

  But not for long.

  Erislee loosed the first arrow and less than a heartbeat later watched as it slammed home into the wizard's chest, tearing right through his heart and sending him and his chair flying backwards. Tyriole had just long enough to realise that he'd been hit, for an expression of complete horror to appear on his face, before he slumped down in his seat, dead. And as if that wasn't enough, he exploded into flame moments later.

  She notched the second arrow even as the soldiers all around Tyriole were just beginning to yell, and looked for her next target. Immelda the Red wasn't far away. Also on the far side of the valley, she was perhaps only a couple of hundred paces away from where Tyriole lay burning, and just becoming aware of the chaos. But she as yet had no idea what was happening, and as she stood there yelling orders at the soldiers around her, Erislee loosed the second arrow.

  It slammed into the middle aged wizard's chest and threw her to the ground so brutally that bones surely broke from the impact. But the mistress of steel and fire wouldn't have cared. She was dead by the time she hit the ground. Unlike Tyriole though she didn't explode, but instead slowly started burning. But then fire was her calling and she was built of it. Still, dead was dead, and as her broken body lay there, blood pooling over the green grass while flames leapt for the sky, Erislee knew it was so.

  That left only the last, Harriss of the Mist, a wizard of illusion and sky. He was harder to find, hiding behind a cloak of shimmering air. Obviously he'd realised they were under attack. But then while he knew that something bad was happening and was taking precautions, he didn't know what it was. And he certainly didn't realise that a skilled hunter could pierce his illusion. Or that he was being hunted. The arrow plunged perfectly through his chest as well, sending him flying through the air as if one of his minotaurs had tossed him and then pinned him to a tree. After that he too hung there, dead and she knew that the battle was over. A heartbeat later he too was burning.

  Three Circle wizards gone, and Erislee knew a moment of satisfaction at the kills. They had been quick and clean just as they should be. But she also knew what was coming. She also knew that with three Circle Wizards dying at once this time that it would be far far worse.

  “Take cover!”

  She yelled it out at the top of her voice and then when people stopped and stared at her she yelled it again. Still, most didn't listen to her. But they all jumped when the far side of the valley suddenly started hurling orange fire balls into the sky. Then the ground started shaking violently and everyone ran for cover as fast as they could. They didn't know what was happening but they knew it was bad.

  More fire burst free from the far end of the valley, spreading out like a flood and instantly covering the chimera in their tens of thousands. They screamed and panicked and ran, but there was no escape, and most of them quickly fell and disappeared into the lake of fire.

  Hail started falling. Huge chunks of ice as large as a man's head, that crashed down everywhere. Some fell in the mountains, some in the valley and some in the city, and soon Erislee found herself running and dodging wayward hail stones herself. The more so because every hail stone that crashed exploded and sent shards of ice flying in all directions. Some of them were sharp and cut her. Others were just heavy. Still, when they smashed into people it was like being punched. More than a few of her soldiers went flying.

  By the time she'd made it into a building lightning was dancing across the entire mountain range, blinding them all
and leaving a tang in the air. Meanwhile any of the chimera that had survived the fire and the hail were running and screaming. She could see them from the doorway where she was standing, a carpet of ants streaming across a slice of bread, save that they weren't running in any one direction. They were running in every direction. Some of them were actually running towards the lake of fire that still covered half the valley and though she couldn't imagine it she suspected some would actually run right into it.

  Then the first thunder clap hit and she knew things were only going to get worse. She knew it because the thunder wasn't in the air. It was in the ground. And each blast sent soldiers and chimera flying. Flying high into the air only to come crashing down on their companions. That must have been a signal of some sort because the lake of fire suddenly started to spread, and soon it wasn't covering half the valley; it was covering all of it. A league across and a league wide! That wasn't a lake any more. That was an ocean. The odd thing though was that she didn't feel hot as she peeked through the doorway at the fire only a few hundred paces away and a few hundred below her. She was freezing cold. The hail was covering the ground, bringing the temperature down until it felt like the middle of winter.

  For a while Erislee wondered if she'd done something diabolically stupid. If she'd doomed them all to a painful death. But the longbow had been sent to her for a reason and she had to trust in the Goddess.

  In time it became apparent that the fire wouldn't rise up any higher and she knew that at least they weren't going to burn. But many would be hurt and killed by the hail. She knew that even as she watched soldiers in their hundreds pouring out of their make shift shelters in the lower levels of the city to run for higher ground They were stampeding up the stairs and a number of soldiers were hurt and killed as a result. In addition, every so often another would fall to an ice stone or get swept off the stairs by an explosion of ice. Many more however, made it to shelter.

  Then, as loud as it was the thunder grew unexpectedly worse. A series of massive explosions in the ground shook the entire city and made the buildings tremble with fear. Some of them crumbled before her eyes as a result of the violent shaking. But that was nothing compared to what she could see happening on the far side of the valley where the disaster was centred. There, where the three wizards had died, the mountains themselves were collapsing. Huge avalanches of rock were sliding down the mountains and bringing with them not just trees but entire forests. And where they hit the valley floor they disappeared into the lake of fire and vanished without trace.

  It didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon. Avalanche after avalanche slipped down the distant mountains while the lightning and hail crashed down all around and the lake of fire swelled, For a while she wondered if this was the end of the world?

  But finally someone did do something. Someone had realised that this catastrophe had to be fought, and Erislee watched as a whirling mass of dust laden air suddenly came screaming down from the mountains behind them, chilling them with its bitter cold, and then rushed on down into the valley. And as she watched the hail and the lightning being pushed away from them by the wind she understood. It was Dina, using her magic to try and protect them from the worst of the disaster. But what even she could do against this nightmare Erislee didn't know.

  The battle of the elements continued for what seemed like ages. Maybe it was only ten minutes or so in the real world. But in her head it felt like centuries were passing. Centuries of fear and danger. Of world shattering destruction. And then finally the last part of the disaster unfolded. The sky turned black.

  She remembered having read about that in Marni Holdgood's reports. But this was so much worse than the commander had described. The sky had turned completely black and the only light anywhere was that coming from the ocean of fire filling the valley below. People cried out with fear when they saw it, and she nearly joined them. It was as though the world had just ended and the sun had died. And when the huge blood red rents appeared in the blackness above them, it seemed as though they had just opened a doorway to the underworld and something massive was trying to claw its way in. But at least the lightning and the hail had stopped falling. They were almost through the worst of it. Or at least that was what the commander's report had said. Erislee clung to that hope as she stood there staring into the abyss.

  In time the tears in the sky started stretching out wide as if someone was pulling them apart, and the baleful red glow covered the land for as far as the eye could see. It was a terrible light to see the mountains in. But the thunder was lessening all the time and the ocean of fire was starting to burn low. It seemed that they really were coming through the other side.

  But it took time. After the death of Alenda Goldeneyes she understood it had been only a few minutes before things had returned to normal. This time it was a good half an hour before they could see any blue sky above. When it finally appeared however, it was a sight to bring joy to her heart. To everyone's heart.

  People started clapping when they saw it, and in time cheering. And little by little the cheering turned into screams of uncontrolled happiness. And as the blue slowly returned and the baleful red and black faded the happiness grew. They didn't know what had happened but they knew that they had survived. And when the last of the fire in the valley finally went out and they could see the empty land filled with ash, they cheered louder still. Where there had been soldiers and fifty thousand chimera there was now only ash and fire. The enemy was gone.

  Erislee and the others slowly emerged from their shelters to take in the scene before them, and the cheering grew louder. Much louder. It was like a disease sweeping through them in waves. Soon everyone was screaming their heads off with overwhelming relief and hysterical laughter. Erislee would have done the same if she wasn't so staggered by what had just happened. And by the understanding that she had caused it. That she had nearly killed them all. Twice.

  In the end she managed a small smile at about the same time that the sun reappeared in the sky above them. Its golden yellow light reminded her that there was hope. That even though they were in danger, that they had a terrible war to fight, they weren't alone.

  But as she stood there, staring at the sun and feeling its warmth on her face, she had to wonder if she was fit to lead these people. They trusted her. But did they have any reason for that trust? They had been outplayed by their enemy. Out thought and trapped because of her own ineptitude. She had no business leading an army. She was a huntress not a war master. But she was also a high priestess to Artemis. And thanks to a miracle from the Goddess herself the enemy's trap had turned against him and now the enemy was destroyed and they were completely victorious. From twelve Circle wizards allied against them they were now down to seven, and those seven would have to be reeling in shock. Or they would be when they heard about their defeat.

  The enemy had also lost a massive army – his second one – and his dream of retaking and once more controlling the Rainbow Mountains was gone. Whatever forces Terellion had left would have to be withdrawn and kept to guard his remaining lands while he desperately tried to rebuild his armies.

  One of the war masters had once told her that preparing for war was a little like a board game. You gathered your pieces and got them in position while looking for every possible advantage. But when the actual battle came the board game ended and you just rolled the dice instead. They had just rolled the dice and all of the Circle's plans and strategies had been turned aside in a heartbeat.

  “You want to tell me what just happened?”

  Erislee heard Dina from somewhere behind her, but she didn't turn around to look. She couldn't really take her eyes off the scene in front of her. At a huge valley of soot, fire and ash and mountains beyond it that had half fallen down. And in it all not a single enemy was still standing. She didn't speak either. Instead she just raised the bow in her hands and let the wizard see for herself. It wasn't long before Dina was standing beside her, studying the weapon. Staring at it
with eyes as round as saucers. But not touching it she noticed. She wasn't that bold.

  “The gods be praised! How? How could Harl have crafted such a weapon?” Dina drew in her breath loudly.

  “I don't know. But he did.” Finally she spoke and her voice was somehow intelligible when she was sure it shouldn't be. But then she also knew she was speaking the truth. “This is truly the warrior wizard's work. But it is more than that. So much more. It only starts with a wizard. A master smith. But it is divine. A weapon of the gods themselves. And no wizard ever could create such a thing. There are not even legends of such craftsmanship.”

  “It is Artemis' hunting bow. Not the Goddess' bow itself but a copy. A copy that contains within it the very essence of the original.”

  “The boy does not follow Artemis. In fact she would be last of the gods he would follow.” Dina sounded doubtful, and Erislee knew she had reason for that doubt.

  “I know. But apparently he takes commissions from her. Because not only is this the bow of the Huntress, but it was brought to me by her servants the griffins.”