The roar that ensued after the word ‘freely’ was loud, sustained and without reservation.
Gabriel laughed aloud, bowed, and the acclaim rose higher.
Then there was silence, breathless with expectation.
“Luvans! Yesterday the stones consecrated the city! Yesterday the blood was given as a gift to the eternal stones! Today we enter what is new, a future! Behold! Grinwallin shines for all!”
Indeed, every window and doorway lit. The great arches shed gold like liquid and the streets undulated as if awash. It was not the sun and it was not staged either; it was the soul of a fair and wondrous city. And then there was more. Birds came winging through the amber sky, singing songs of praise, and flew into the stone landscape as if coming home, settling on walls, fountains, rooftops, there to sing musically, calling folk to come, come within.
A great surge of movement as thousands moved towards the massive stairway, entered through the huge open gates and danced ever upward.
Last to go were the royals, with smiles so tearful and happy simultaneously it could well break hearts.
The Brotherhood stood turned to stone.
“Valentin, my hand is extended,” Gabriel prompted.
“You will never hold it!”
Gabriel spoke to the others.
“Those of you who desire to join us will be made welcome.”
He paused and smiled when many surged forward and headed for the stairs.
“Those who doubt whether this city is able to contain us and protect us, know this, Grinwallin was built according to a profound symbiosis between the resident sentience of this world we dared claim as our own and the royal blood of another world. We are not magicians; we are sorcerers. We have hidden ways in the mountain and hidden sanctums. There are consecrations in the rock of the mountain perhaps only a far future generation may stumble upon. The city was built to withstand siege and this plateau is able to contain wars to combatants without loss of innocents. Grinwallin will be a happy place, but it is also a city of last resort. You will expend yourselves on her walls if you dare attempt breech. Now, and this is the final time I shall say this, your Order is welcome and your ways will not be interfered with, nor your magic and religion curtailed. Accept that your voices too are cherished, but know you cannot hold the power. What say you?”
Roughly a third had entered the city. And now a further third moved away - if more warily than the first exodus - and vanished into Grinwallin’s embrace.
Valentin had not moved.
Gabriel looked at him.
“You need wealth to provision a city that size,” Valentin smiled.
“Naturally,” Gabriel murmured.
Valentin made a disgusted sound.
“Before you go,” Gabriel said, his voice deceptively soft, but the edge of pure steel was clear, “know there is now a schism in the Brotherhood. Those within the walls have the right to enter the new Temple and will choose new leaders. You, however, unless penitent, are not welcome there, and this little building on the plain will be removed by dawn tomorrow. Grinwallin is mine, Valentin, remember that.”
The priest turned back to him. “Be careful of arrogance, Gabriel. The mighty on their self-created pedestals fall far harder than ordinary mortals.”
Gabriel lifted eloquent eyebrows.
Valentin stalked off.
“Grinwallin, my Lord?” a younger priest queried.
“It lays in the embrace of time, my friend. Grinwallin, City of Eternity.”
The priest nodded and then, “Your majesty, I … I …”
“You may enter freely.”
The man bowed, smiled and then hesitated. “Grinwallin has another meaning, does it not?”
For the first time Gabriel’s controlled face revealed uncertainty.
“Yes, but it is an enigma at this point. There is a veil between us and the one who may come and be as close to godhood without actually being a god. Time will reveal that path to us.”
The priest bowed once more and then walked sedately towards the city that was Grinwallin, fairest of cities.
Gabriel flicked a last glance over the much-depleted Brotherhood and followed the priest with measured, deliberate steps.
A new era had begun.
Chapter 23
Dreams; where a visitation of an event occurs in the unconscious and may be recalled
Dream incubation; a deliberate state, preceded by cleansing rituals
~ Titania Dictionary
THE WORLD FLOURISHED.
There was the breadbasket continent Kantar, the great cattle ranges of Atrin, the tourist playground that was Senluar, the marvels of learning Limir offered and there was Tunin, home of Grinwallin.
Grinwallin alone caused Luvanor to appear of magic and prosperity to an outsider, were such to come. Grinwallin was mighty and fair and revelled in riches and growth. And Grinwallin was self-sustaining, which translated into wealth for other centres; Grinwallin asked nothing that could not be paid for with a smile. There were underground lakes, a fast flowing river of fresh water, and there were grottos for plants and animals, for industry and art and all conceivable things. Grinwallin even possessed an army, a force for peace.
Thus was Grinwallin revered without envy and Luvans traded, studied, travelled, played, became wealthy, lost their riches, loved, hated, paid homage to their king, prayed to their gods and dabbled in all manner of pursuits.
They built great sailing ships, manufactured practical and wonderful tools, furniture, devices and toys. They printed nonsensical and profound books, produced humorous and serious plays. They raised clever children, lazy children, many children, and went about their daily lives as most other cultures had in the past, do in the present and will in the future.
Craft able to fly were reinvented, biological and long-lived. And as they began to understand themselves, their place in society and the natural order, thus they lengthened their life spans. As the techniques to better craft were discovered and comprehended, thus they learned to apply that knowledge to their own biology. At first it was a healthy lifestyle of genetic tweaking, and later they realised magic could be employed to advantage also.
In Year One of settlement the average lifespan was sixty years; by the year 1960 expectancy soared to a remarkable one hundred and forty.
As Luvanor flourished and Luvans lived longer other changes crept in.
Magic and the understanding of it grew pronounced in everyday life and soon libraries were available to inform on all manner of spells.
Gradually people were more secretive, while appearing outwardly unchanged. Secretive behaviour is a fertile breeding ground for secrets, and secrets instil a sense of power over others, and that power often leads to more profound power, then to arrogance … and power corrupts. Thus it was once with the Brotherhood, and thus it came to the royal family and thus it spread into most Luvans.
Here the schism in the Brotherhood grew wider and ever more dangerous, and even common folk went about with secret anxiety over the future. In the year 1960 all appeared normal and prosperous and the world certainly gave abundantly, yet under the surface cauldrons bubbled and seethed.
Then the first in a series of disasters struck. First were the encompassing fires on Atrin that decimated the grazing ranges and burned the majority of the livestock and thousands of fleeing Luvans. The volcanic islands in the south abruptly lived up to their names. Only a few lost their lives, but sulphurous smoke spread to the southern regions of Kantar, Atrin and Limir. Acid rain killed plant life in those regions and sickened hosts of animals and people. A great hydro-dam bursts its banks after weeks of heavy rain on Tunin and farmland flooded - thousands died.
A year later a giant earthquake struck Senluar and in the aftermath of tidal waves and massive volcanic eruptions it became known only a few survived at sea. An encompassing ring of new islands formed, each spewing molten rock high into the heavens and beyond this ring of fire a deep trench fell open in the ocean. Senluar was ab
andoned, both to its fate and to time, and for a thousand years it was spoken of in hushed tones … and then forgotten. Nobody lived there again.
Luvans, ever involved in omens and premonitions, knew something was wrong. Something huge and annihilating was on the way.
They did not realise they were themselves at fault.
CHALLIS WAS QUEEN OF Luvanor, the first ruling Queen in a new world’s history.
She was a beautiful woman, and vicious. Her four brothers died under mysterious circumstances and a surviving nephew was sent into fosterage without an inkling as to his birthright. Some said Challis merely hedged by keeping the young one alive, in the event she could not bear a child. It was said she would rather die than spoil her beauty with childbirth.
In the previous five hundred years the largess of the royal clan gradually decreased and the prevailing rumour was inbreeding weakened them; many died in infancy. Challis and her four brothers were the last but two of a once mighty family, and the four brothers were ashes in the wind, the nephew ignorant, and the only other royal was Challis’ great-grandmother, considered too old and senile to bother dispatching. Unfortunately she was also too old to curb her great-granddaughter’s excesses.
In the year 1965, on the cusp of autumn, Queen Challis had a dream and it disturbed her so much she sent for the head of the Order of Brothers, they who were the new brotherhood in schism with the old.
It was the first time in eight hundred years a royal conferred with the Order and it would prove their - the royal family, such as it was - undoing.
ALEXEI COVETED POWER AND when the summons came from the queen he saw a way to further his ambitions.
A summons had not been entertained, but it would be foolish to waste the opportunity.
He dressed carefully, aware of Challis’ predilection for beautiful things, and spent time on his appearance, shaving off a year old beard and trimming his bright gold hair to fall coyly over his eyes. No woman could resist the vulnerable touch.
The Queen was a-bed when he was admitted to her presence and he smiled. Perfect.
“Your Majesty, it is an honour.” He possessed the kind of voice men envied and women went weak over.
Challis blinked at him. An unexpected pleasure, she thought, flicking her gaze over him. Well. “How are you called, priest?”
“I am Alexei, my Lady.”
Trim body, attractive face, beautiful hair, style, sexy smile. He would do. “Alexei, please, sit here. I had a dream and find it disturbs me.”
Alexei bowed and sat on the stool close to the bed. A dream could be interpreted in many ways; how convenient for him. “A dream, my Lady?”
Challis sighed and sat up, allowing her attire to slip enticingly. She noticed his eyes move minutely, and thrilled. Ah, definitely attracted, yet clever enough not to show it. “My father was an expert in dreams, Alexei, but I find myself wanting.”
Your brothers were too, woman, but you were too vain to bother - greedy bitch. Ah, well, greed begets greed; we shall use each other then, shall we?
Aloud he said, “I have experience in dream symbols, my Lady. I shall aid in every way.” He dared to stress ‘every’ and saw her smile.
“I am happy to hear it,” the Queen murmured.
Alexei took on a more formal, listening pose. “Will you tell me, Your Majesty?”
She frowned then and drew her nightgown up. He realised the dream was thoroughly disturbing and experienced a sense of disquiet.
“I was walking in the Great Hall,” she began and forgot the lure of flesh. “It was autumn, such as this day heralds, and I paused to stare out over Tunin. I saw a glinting on the plain, a massive manifold glinting, and realised I looked upon thousands of vertical spears. This is no strange sight on the plateau, for Grinwallin’s army often marches in training, yet I had never seen so many and I did not recognise the armour of those soldiers. They were strangers, priest, and that is not a good omen.” She glared at him, as if daring him to refute her, and added in a rush, “It’s a known fact Grinwallin was raised against invasion from other races, against Luvan extinction.”
Alexei drew breath. Devils’ breath, this was no small dream.
“Priest?” Challis demanded.
“My Lady, is this the first time you have dreamt this?”
“Yes. Why?”
Alexei bowed over his hands. “In my experience, my Lady, one needs be wary when images recur. I do understand why you found this worrisome, yet I suggest we wait until it comes again, if at all.”
“Nice words, well thought out, but it is not worrisome. This is disturbing and if it does not recur it must be a vision.”
She listened to the teaching after all. He cleared his throat. “My Lady would be right.”
“You must throw the stones for me.”
He stilled. “That would not be wise.”
“Why not?”
“Augurs are the speciality of the Old Brotherhood. Your ancestor King Gabriel did away with that ancient tradition for the new order. I am not very proficient.”
“Or is it you will not openly admit the New closely mirrors the Old?”
Insightful, and not stupid. Alexei pondered and then, “There are among us those who trust to auguries and the like.”
“As I thought. I would like one of those to read the stones for me.”
Alexei drew breath and took the risk. “I could do so.”
“You flirt with death, Alexei,” Challis murmured. “I like it.” She threw the coverings aside, giving him a glimpse of smooth thighs, and rose. “It shall be between us, of course.”
Ah. A risk with reward. “As you will, my Lady.”
She walked over to her armoire, opened it, and brought forth a small velvet pouch. She hefted it. “Gabriel’s son Belehest was an accomplished oracle, did you know?”
“I have heard tell.”
“Belehest was also an accomplished sculptor and sorcerer. He fashioned five oval stones from the singing rock where Khunrath had his visions of Grinwallin and imbued these stones with magic.”
Alexei was watchful, his heart erratic. He had heard the tale, but discounted it as fantasy. Devils’ breath, it was true?
Challis approached with the velvet pouch. “My father handed these to me on his deathbed.” Actually, she stole them before her brothers could lay claim. “Use these to read the augurs, Alexei.”
He was mesmerized by the swinging blue pouch.
She reached out and tipped his chin up with one smooth finger. “Alexei, I shall not reveal your secret if you do not reveal mine, hmm?”
He stared into her violet eyes and saw danger there. He had underestimated this woman; she could have him killed with one word. He nodded. What else could he do?
She smiled into his eyes. “I like you, priest. Together we could do extraordinary things.”
He returned the sultry smile. “I am at my lady’s command.”
“Good,” she said and pressed the pouch into his hands. “Read them now.”
Alexei shook and fought back to control. “Forgive me, but this chamber is not conducive to reading.”
“How so?” She watched as his fingers sought through the velvet to feel what was within.
“Too distracting. Too feminine, forgive me.”
She nodded. “I see your point. Very well, come with me.” She found a dressing gown, put it on, and headed across her huge bedchamber to a door opposite the one he was shown through earlier. There she paused. “Come!”
He followed her.
After, he could not tell where they went and he would not find it alone. All he knew with certainty, later, was that Grinwallin held more secrets than anyone imagined.
Challis took him to a small chamber like to a shrine or sanctum hidden in the giant maze that was the inner city, and candles threw ghostly shadows onto rough walls. It was eerie, particularly as he saw dust over everything. Their footprints were the only marks in the dust - nobody came and yet candles burned. A small altar held a st
atue surrounded by ever-burning candles and it scared the life out of him. The statue was of Challis.
She turned unreadable eyes on him. “Another secret, Alexei, but do not for a moment believe you have power over me. I could snuff you out without conscience, know that. I have the power here.”
He shook his head.
“Good.” She waved a hand over the dusty floor and it miraculously cleared. She laughed at his astonishment. “How foolish the Brotherhood is! The royal blood has more magic than all your priests and magicians together. We hear the stones when we need to and we are conversant in the secret remedies.”
She kneeled on the cool floor and motioned him down.
When he kneeled before her she said, “The next step is reincarnation, Alexei. Imagine, living forever through rebirth! Imagine the power, the knowledge!” She bent her gaze to him and he saw she was insane. “Think what you will, priest, but I could give this power to you also.”
Insane, yes, but what was insanity? Reincarnation? Devil’s breath, it came direct from Diluvan times. Were the royals conversant in that strange talent? If they were, he desired it.
“I am you slave from this day, my lady,” he murmured and meant it.
She smiled and leaned forward to kiss him long. When she drew back she said, “We shall play interesting games. Now. Read.”
With shaking hands he drew the pouch open and then closed his eyes as he tipped it over. He heard the gentle thud of five stones and waited a time in blindness until he settled his mind, and looked down.
He reeled back.
“What is it?” Challis demanded.
He placed his hand over the stones and felt how warm they were and how perfect. Each oval was different in colour.
“An army will indeed come to Grinwallin. They have over them the symbol of fire, they were forged from fire, and they are strong, yet patient.”
Challis shuddered. “Who are they?”
“I cannot say.”
“Then give me a date, a time, anything.”
Lore of Sanctum Omnibus Page 25