The Godlost Land

by Curtis, Greg

  But he had been captured and Harl was determined that he remain that way until the end. So he snapped his finger and let the small spell he'd charmed into the manacles holding White Tail take effect.

  Instantly the manacles grew hot and started to burn the wizard. The effect was immediate as White Tail screamed in pain and the glow on the charm around Erislee's neck faded a heartbeat later. That was why he'd added the spell to the manacles. He'd known that no wizard could cast while he was distracted by pain. Not even White Tail.

  After about thirty seconds the wizard cried out for mercy and Harl snapped his fingers to bring the pain to an end. Had he left it much longer the burning would have caused him serious injury. Already they could smell burning fur through the bars. And they could hear the wizard cursing them. He was cursing Harl most of all. He knew who'd crafted his restraints.

  It was some time before White Tail was calm again. Or at least quiet enough to answer some questions. Harl hoped he would answer a lot of questions before he died.

  “You were in the temple when the gate opened?”

  “I was one of the twelve who opened it.” White Tail still sounded angry, and maybe a little sullen as well. But there was pride in his voice as well.

  “Twelve? You carried the gate in. You were the porters!”

  “Of course. We had to. Because we had to be beside it to make the binding. That was the condition. So we dressed in the livery of the king's servants and no one paid us any attention. Not as we walked down the street. Not as we walked into the temple. Not even when we spoke the words of the binding. It was really very easy.”

  Even in pain, tied up and facing a terrible fate, the smugness was there in his voice. His parents should have named him White Tail the Insufferable, Harl thought. Or maybe they should have simply strangled him at birth. That would have been far better.

  “Who leads those of you who remain?” Dina returned to the role of inquisitor.

  “Who leads? No one leads. We all lead. We made the deal as one. We signed in blood as one. We bound our magic and our lives as one. No one leads and no one follows. Not even Maynard the babbling fool followed. He didn't want to sign – some of the time. But he had to. His power was waning as was his mind and he knew the deal was the only chance he had. He didn't need that much persuasion. Only a little push. I'm glad you killed him by the way. He was becoming a problem. And there were all those damned cats!”

  “Oh, and in case you were thinking of killing me, think again. The deal we made is a binding. And when it is broken there will be a release of magic such as you have never seen. You will all die with me. And how will your little war continue with your precious High Priestess and your most powerful wizard dead? So don't pretend you're going to kill me. We all know the truth.”

  White Tail relaxed again, thinking he had the upper hand. Thinking that he was going to live. No doubt he imagined that he would be freed in time and would have a chance to take his revenge on them. That was not going to happen, Harl swore to himself. Not even if he had to put an arrow through the faun's heart himself. Some things were worth dying for.

  “So you all made the same mistake. And Xin tricked you all.” Dina took her turn to berate the wizard. To provoke him into revealing something.

  “We got everything!” White Tail raised his voice to a shout as he denied Dina's accusation. “We have the answers and we are so close now to understanding them. Very close. Soon we will all be gods! And then it will be your turn to burn!”

  “Forgotten the very first rule of dealing with demons, hmmm? Don't! They always cheat.”

  “We forgot nothing old woman! We knew Xin would try to cheat us. But we prepared. We bound him as he bound us. At the start he wanted to give us the answers but only have his dozen lieutenants take the binding. We stopped that. We made sure it was him, not them. And all the way along since then he has tried to cheat us. But we have kept him back. He does not get what he wants until we do!”

  “It has been a tough battle. A fierce battle of wits. But we are winning. And now he is almost out of choices. He will yield soon.”

  “And how many more will die before then?”

  “My dear –,” White Tail suddenly smiled cruelly as he stared at their faces through the door and his blindfold. “ – you ask the wrong questions as always. The real question is how many will we allow to live once we have become gods? And the answer is not many. Certainly not you.”

  “When we are done the world will tremble at our feet! And it will not just be the five kingdoms that will know our wrath. Everyone will! But you three most especially. There will be no mercy for any of you. Even death will not save you. We will bring you back to life so that you may die in agony over and over again.”

  “No, you won't.”

  Harl looked at Erislee and saw anger and determination in her face. Thunder in her eyes. And when she bowed her head and started praying to the Goddess he guessed he knew what would happen next. But he didn't try to stop her. He had already realised that they would learn nothing more from White Tail. Dina didn't try to stop her either.

  “What are you doing?” It was White Tail's turn to be frightened as he heard Erislee praying. To start panicking and then he desperately started struggling at his bindings. But he was out of luck. Even had Tyche herself been with him, those bindings would have held.

  “No! Stop that! You can't do that!” White Tail kept screaming at them but no one was listening, least of all Erislee as she continued her prayer. And it wasn't long before she was finished. Before she had raised her head once more to stare through the window at the prisoner.

  “Any last words White Tail? Any words of regret? Apologies?”

  “You bitch!”

  White Tail's words seemed strangely apt to Harl. He had always pretended to be a jovial sort. Happy with the vicissitudes of fate whatever they might be. But that had always been a lie. He was a nasty creature who despised one and all. Those were probably the two most honest words he had ever uttered.

  “Sweet Artemis let this creature be gone from the world.”

  The High Priestess spoke the words and instantly White Tail screamed with fear. He had guessed what was coming. But there was nothing he could do about it. He tried to say something. To protest. To offer them a deal maybe. But it was too late.

  There was a glow in the room. A strange white glow that set all Harl's hairs standing on end. And then with one final scream of terror the Circle wizard was gone. The cell was empty.

  After that Harl stood there with the others, waiting. Wondering what happened next. Would there be another huge explosion of magic? Should he call out a warning to the soldiers above? He didn't know. The others hadn't told him anything of what had happened when they had done this before with Maynard. But then he hadn't asked.

  But a few seconds later his question was answered as Harl heard the wizard scream. It was a sound more chilling than anything he had ever heard before. It was his death scream. And he knew without any doubt that it was because the demons of Tartarus had found White Tail and begun chewing on their appetiser. At least the scream was cut short quite quickly.

  After that Harl continued to stand there, hoping that nothing more would happen but terrified that it would. He uttered a quiet prayer to Hera, just in case. But all he could really do was wait and hope that nothing more happened. And stare at the others as they too waited silently. It was ages before he realised that that was all there was. That the banishment had worked and that there would be no explosion. Once he did though he drew a sigh of relief.

  “That was it?” Eventually he had to ask. The other two though didn't answer him. They didn't appear to be listening to him. Instead, they just stood there staring at one another while he wondered what to do. But finally Erislee spoke.

  “The first time when Maynard went, it was a terrible thing. It hurt me in a way I can barely describe. But this? This is justice. Dike Astraea would be pleased. This is the proper end of the hunt.”

&nb
sp; “There were still questions we could have asked.” Dina corrected her. Although she really didn't sound all that upset.

  “He would never have answered them. Not truthfully.”

  “No. I don't think he would have. I don't even know if he could have. I'm not sure he ever knew what the truth was.”

  Dina agreed with the High Priestess. And Harl silently agreed with both of them. There had always been something very wrong with the faun. The sages said that to give a man too much power over others was a danger. That those of poor spirit would be undermined by it. That their very souls would wither and die under the temptation. Maybe that was why White Tail had become as he had? The magic of the mind had simply been too much for him. It was fortunate that there were no others with such terrible power remaining.

  “So what now? Six are down and six remain? What do we do?”

  “We continue to do exactly what we are now doing boy.” Dina finally turned to face him. “You return to your work and give serious thought to accepting one of the thirteen into your life. You should have done it already. After all, if the Circle are hunting you it means that they now know who you are and what you can do. And you will finally accept a patrol to protect you. And we will return to the war.”

  It was a dismissal, and Harl couldn't help but feel a little put out by it. In fact for a moment he had even thought about arguing and telling the wizard that she was wrong. That the Circle had no idea he'd crafted the longbow. But he knew there was no point. Plus there was the fact that Erislee apparently didn't want to talk to him. That had to be a good thing.

  “High Priestess, Mistress.” Harl nodded to them as was proper and turned on his heels to leave and make for home.

  But then he had another thought as he walked up the stairs into the sunshine. Maybe this would be a good time to head into town and buy himself some new clothes? After all, he seemed to be going through them at quite a rate. And if the women caught him in a state of undress many more times there would be trouble. Nyma would certainly be upset. It seemed that she found the thought of him being caught naked in his pit by her sister particularly upsetting.

  Outside he quickly found Nyma putting some new recruits through their paces with the swords. Teaching them the proper swings and footwork. It was basic stuff. The sort of thing that every soldier should learn in his first days of training, and probably not the stuff that a skilled warrior like her should be spending her time teaching. But it was necessary. With so many recruits now joining the army ever since the High Priestess' amazing victory, every fort they had had to take on some of the basic training. Besides, Nyma had been at a loose end, stuck in the fort with him for three days as they'd waited for the High Priestess to arrive.

  In another week or so these dozen soldiers would be on their way to Glass River to complete their training and join the army. At that time no doubt another dozen would be waiting to take their place. And there would be many more behind them.

  “Go! Practice on your dummies!” Harl dismissed the recruits with a wave of his hand. Did he have the right to give the recruits orders he wondered? Harl didn't know. What he did know was that they immediately obeyed him – after all he was the town wizard – and Nyma stared at him, looking a little vexed. He thought she looked cute like that though.

  “You know they have a lot of work to do.”

  But she wasn't quite so sure of her facts when he walked up to her, wrapped his arm around her waist, and kissed her thoroughly. And after the first few heartbeats she didn't resist at all. Even though she knew he was laying claim to her publicly. Not even when there were a few quiet jeers in the distance.

  “They do, but you have a little less to do than before. White Tail is gone and the soldiers guarding the dungeon can resume their teaching duties.” He stopped kissing her so he could give her the good news, but he didn't step back the tiniest bit or let her waist go free.

  “Really?” She seemed surprised and started hastily checking the sky in case it was about to turn black.

  “Really. Six down, six to go. And I've been sent away. So to celebrate I thought we could wander into the town, and I could buy some fresh robes. Then we could stop for a meal in the alehouse before we wander home for a quiet evening.”

  But it wouldn't really be that quiet. They both knew that. A month was a long time apart and they both had needs.

  Before she could think of arguing any further Harl started escorting her out of the fortress, his arm still firmly wrapped around her waist. It was time he decided to be a little bit more commanding in this courtship. To make it clear to one and all and most especially to Nyma that they were together. And strangely she didn't seem to object. In fact she seemed to be quite happy to be shown off by him. Though she did tell him that they would be returning shortly to have a cup of tea with her sister before they went home.

  Much later though, when she was snoring away contentedly beside him and he lay in bed staring at the ceiling and finally feeling at peace with the world again, it occurred to him to wonder – had he been the one showing her off, or had she been showing him off? He had a funny feeling that things might not be quite as he'd imagined. His father had always said as much. Women were far more clever than men in such matters. Still, his father had never been unhappy in his marriage and Harl's mother had made sure he never would be.

  There were worse fates that could befall a man.

  Chapter Forty One

  Terellion was happy as he sat in the dungeons staring at his proudest creations. For what seemed like the first time in ages he was enjoying himself. Which was why he'd visited them every day since he'd realised the incredible truth. The breeding had taken and at least two of the furies were showing the signs that they were carrying offspring.

  They weren't big yet, but there was definitely a noticeable bulge where there should be. And he had hopes for the third as well. Maybe it was only his imagination, but he thought he could just see the start of a thickening around her waist. All in all it was a cause for celebration.

  After so much bad news, with the war going so badly and half of the Circle dead, he needed something to celebrate. Especially when the day before he had learned of White Tail's passing – the hard way. He too had vanished from the world without Terellion knowing – just like Maynard. And that scared him. That they should be fine one second and then dead the next without apparently dying was wrong. The others had at least experienced the shock and pain of dying no matter how briefly – and he had felt it. But White Tail and Maynard had simply vanished before their part of the binding had broken.

  White Tail's death had been different though. At least in one way. For three days before he had died he had somehow been removed from Terellion's sight. Not completely. He could still feel his presence. But he couldn't seem to talk to him. He couldn't seem to hear the faun's thoughts. Something had been blocking them.

  It stank of magic. Powerful magic. Some spell or enchantment that he didn't know. And he liked the thought that he didn't know it even less than the other. That if there was magic out there powerful enough to kill Circle wizards without them even experiencing death let alone the fear of it, that was a direct threat to him. How could he protect himself against what he couldn't see coming? Even after the previous day's shock had worn off and he had stopped bleeding and his head had stopped hurting, that realisation had left him with a sick taste in his mouth.

  And then there was the other thought that plagued him – he was also convinced that it had something to do with the wild eyed barbarian who had slaughtered Alenda Goldeneyes. He had no evidence of it. Only the reports of White Tail as he had told him that he was getting closer to the man. And to this accursed arcane smith who was supplying his enemies with high quality weapons. A traitor wizard in his view. One of many who didn't understand the importance of what he was doing. But he would – before he died.

  Terellion didn't know how the barbarian could be involved. Barbarians had no magic, let alone enough to block the thoughts of a
Circle wizard from him. But he was still half convinced it was his doing somehow. That the barbarian had set out on a course to destroy him through his wizards. Maybe that was just fear talking. But still he knew, the barbarian had to be silenced.

  Sadly that would have to wait he supposed. Until he had destroyed this accursed High Priestess and her army. Until then he would have to content himself with other pleasures.

  Pleasures like these three pregnant beauties. And they did bring him joy every time he saw them. He felt like a child with a present in front of him, waiting to be unwrapped.

  It was more than just intense curiosity to see what sort of monster dropped out of the furies that drove him. It was the understanding that in the bellies of these three he had the beginnings of a new beast army. Whatever came out of them would be more than simply human. It would be more than chimera too. And if they had even a little of their human father's intelligence they would make useful soldiers. Most importantly, they would be his soldiers. He could command them. In time they would become his army. That mattered.