Long, Dark Road

by Bianculli, Susan

  “I know, right?” said Heather, awestruck. “A new Goddess! Auraus and I were watching the whole thing from one of those TV holes in the air.”

  “Yes, indeed,” said a cool, silvery voice behind us, sounding pleased. “It is a momentous day.”

  Quiris. The rustle and murmur of the Under-elves around us stilled as they realized there was still a goddess present here. We turned to her, and Heather and Auraus gasped at their first sight of Arghen’s soul standing beside Quiris. Auraus looked both happy and sad, and I could guess why: the Wind-rider was sad that Arghen was no longer going to be with us on earth, but she was happy because she knew he was going to be with Quiris in Caelestis’ heaven.

  “Oh, Arghen, no! Were we too late?” cried Heather, tears darkening the lashes of her black colored eyes.

  I gulped. Heather had only just arrived, so she didn’t know yet that we had been in time, sort of. Fresh guilt and sorrow started eating at me again.

  Heather looked squarely at Quiris and Arghen, who still stood in front of where Arghen’s body had been caged. “My Goddess, I am so sorry that we weren’t able to do what we said we would, which was to rescue Arghen.” She looked directly at him alone as she said, “I am sorry we weren’t in time.”

  “Ah, Heather,” I began hesitantly, intending to tell her the sad story of what had actually happened, but Arghen shook his head.

  “It is fine, Heather. Things have worked out as well as they could have, under the circumstances,” Quiris interjected, smiling.

  She then put a hand on Arghen’s insubstantial shoulder, and he said clearly, if a little hollowly, “It is fine. I appreciate all the trouble that all of you—my lady Auraus, Dusk, Ragar, Heather, Jason, and especially you, Lise—have gone to on my behalf.” He looked at Auraus. “My lady Auraus, I thank you for our talks, and the repeated kindnesses you have shown me since our introduction, and I applaud you for the growth you have undergone.” Turning to Dusk, he said, “Dusk, friend and companion, thank you for the opportunity of fighting beside such a noble warrior. You understand what it means to be good, and I am thankful that I have had opportunity to watch you in action.” He smiled at Ragar. “Ragar, comrade, thank you for your mettle, your skills, and your courage in facing opposition. I have learned to stretch myself around you, and I am grateful for the times we have fought together.” Looking to Heather, he said, “Heather, companion, I do not know much of you personally, but I have seen you grow in leaps and bounds from the angry, untried being who crossed the mist gate to the experienced warrior who stands before me now, and I am pleased that I was there to witness this.” To Jason, he said, “Jason, friend and companion, I was untrusting of you at first, but I am very glad that I was able to get past that to find the real being that you are: competent, brave, and willing to do what’s right.” He looked at me last. “Lise, my bosom friend and companion, I have been honored to see you grow and mature as a leader, a warrior, and a Champion. You have grown the most, I feel, and I feel privileged that I had a small part to play in your transformation. I will miss you most of all.” Addressing all of us together, he said, “I wish you all well in your years to come, though I am equally sure that none of you will need my blessings for that.”

  He smiled at all of us, and I blinked. It certainly didn’t feel like a short time. I felt like I had known him years and years, but his words made me realize that I had known him not even three months—since Mid-march, in fact, just after the Spring Equinox. I looked up at Jason. My feelings for him had done a complete one eighty in that same short time span—I’d gone from fear and loathing of him, to loving him. He must have been thinking along the same lines as me because he held out his hand to me. I gladly took it with a squeeze.

  “Any regrets?” Quiris asked Arghen.

  Arghen nodded. “My only regret is that I was not able to serve you longer in the physical world as your Champion.”

  “True, which means you will just have to make it up to Me at home,” Quiris teased lightly.

  Home. That word hit me hard all of a sudden. We had been so busy lately I’d barely had time to think. But now acute homesickness struck me.

  “Dusk, My son,” Quiris said to him, “You have done Me proud, and I will see you soon. But for now, all of you, journey well,” she said as she raised a slender, chalk-white hand in farewell. She and Arghen faded away into silver shadows, and then were gone.

  “Wait! Quiris!” I shouted. I held my breath, hoping she’d come back, or reply, or something, but nothing happened.

  “Oh!” said Auraus, sounding both pleased and surprised at the same time. “I can feel Caelestis now!”

  I closed my eyes and immediately started praying. Caelestis, I … but then stopped myself. I had been about to pray for divine intervention for Arghen to be restored to life. But I already knew that couldn’t happen. So, instead, I prayed, I-I don’t know what to pray for anymore. I want Arghen back. But I know that is not mine, or even Yours, to ask for. And I already know it can’t be done. It’s just, that, I don’t know what else to do because I’m going to miss him! Tears poured down my cheeks from under my eyelids.

  An arm stole around my shoulder as a gentle, caring mental pat from Caelestis attempted to soothe me. I opened my eyes and wasn’t surprised to see that it was Jason’s arm around me. What did surprise me was Auraus standing right in front of me, because I hadn’t heard her come over. She opened her arms and Jason pushed me into them. Auraus folded her wings around me as I continued to cry for Arghen’s loss—or rather, my loss of Arghen from my life.

  When I finally ran dry, I discovered that we were alone. Only the six of us: Ragar, Dusk, Heather, Auraus, Heather, and I remained. The Under-elven councilors and their bodyguards that had been here were gone, and my other companions were seated on the bedrolls supplied by Alveo, eating and drinking from what supplies had been so generously given.

  “The councilors and warriors left a little while ago, muttering something about cleaning up loose ends,” said Ragar, drinking from a wineskin that was not the pep-me-up stuff.

  I stiffened. “Loose ends?” I said sharply. “The Exchange could be considered a loose end!”

  Everyone looked at each other, aghast, and then we all dropped what we were doing and scrambled for the exit from Central Court to the outer rings. We ran as fast as we could, dodging around beings starting to congregate in the stone corridors of the Leadership Ring discussing the recent events. We had a clear path through the Parks and Recreation cavern and the early parts of the Civilian Ring, and we caught up to the councilors and the warriors as they were about to exit into the Countryside cavern. The warriors whirled around defensively at the sound of our running feet, while the councilors turned with more dignity though no less wariness. When the warriors saw that it was us running, they half put their weapons down but they didn’t put them down all the way, I noted.

  “What do you mean by following us!?” demanded one of the councilors. “Have you not been involved in making our lives miserable enough?”

  Dusk slid a glance at me, and I nodded at him to take the lead. “We are here to make sure that the poor Surfacers in the Exchange are released and sent back to the surface,” Dusk replied. “As well as any Surfacers in your healing wards or who are held privately.”

  “And don’t forget those in Reconditioning,” I hastened to add, remembering at the last moment the apparently brutal place where Surfacers were sent to be broken in spirit if they didn’t surrender to captivity of their own free will.

  Dusk said, repeating my words, “And any in Reconditioning, of course.”

  The councilors exchanged glances with each other, and I began to get the sneaky suspicion that they hadn’t planned on setting anybody free.

  Auraus said, “Perhaps you misunderstood what was said, councilors. Alveo is giving your people the chance to be able to do magic yourselves. You will not need Surfacers for that purpose anymore.”

  Though the warriors were stone faced, the councilors
all frowned at Alveo’s name.

  “Do not say that abomination’s name here!” said one of them.

  I opened my mouth in shock. “What? Why not? She is your goddess now!”

  “She is not my goddess,” scoffed another of the councilors. “And never will be!”

  Uh-oh. That sounded like trouble in the making.

  Chapter 41

  A silver-grey form started fading gently into being behind the group of councilors and warriors, standing on the path in the “countryside” cavern. The intermingled air moss and luminous lichen didn’t light it all that well, except to show us that it was a humanoid kind of form. It had to be divine-level magic happening. Dusk, Auraus, Heather, Ragar, Jason, and I purposefully ignored the manifestation so as to give Whoever it was a chance to do whatever it was that was planned. Auraus continued speaking to the councilors to hold their attention.

  “But again, you do not understand. Alveo will be able to give your people themselves the ability to use magic. Magic in this world is tied to belief in the Divine. When you believe in the Gods and Goddesses, you become more tied to this world. And when you believe in Them, you yourself are able to tap the power of the Divine through the ability to use magical items and even learn to cast spells if you find you have the ability for it,” she said reasonably.

  “The life we had last Darkening is the type of life that Under-elves have had for several generations now, and it is all that we require,” a third one said loftily. “Is that not right, Head councilor?”

  The first Under-elven speaker nodded sharply.

  Dusk jumped in. “However, this Brightening a new thing has happened. There is a Goddess for the Sub-realms now. You do not need the Surfacers to cast magic for you anymore, as long as you accept Her, so you may as well let them all free.”

  “Just because this—this thing–has happened, does not mean that we have to follow this–this Under-elf,” said the Head councilor. “The Exchange members still can use the magic on our behalf, so that we do not sully ourselves with such menial work.”

  Why are all Head councilors so thick headed? I mused, but then immediately answered that question myself with years of Social Studies classes. Power, of course. That’s why.

  “‘Members?’ Oh, that’s rich!” snorted Heather meanwhile. “You won’t do magic for yourselves, but you’ll let someone do it for you so you can take its benefits? What a bunch of lazy hypocrites!”

  Every Under-elf scowled at her, but it didn’t even faze her. I was so proud of her.

  “Hypocrites indeed,” growled Ragar in support. “So, let us stop this verbal dance, councilors. Are you going to free the Surfacers or not?”

  My eyes flashed to the figure grown clear and solid behind the group opposite us. It was the Kelsavaxian Conductivus–or was that ‘High Priest’ now? I wondered. Alveo must have sent him back because of the ruckus. His robes looked the same as before, but his staff of office looked a lot like Hers had looked before she disappeared.

  “Not,” sneered the Head councilor at the mountain-cat-elf.

  “Yes, you are,” said the Conductivus ringingly.

  The councilors and warriors whirled around in shock and stared at him. We Surfacers couldn’t stop grins from crossing our lips at the looks on the faces of the Under-elves.

  “Con-conductivus?” asked one of the councilors questioningly.

  “Yes, and no. I am now High Priest Canalis, which is like a Conductivus for the Goddess Alveo.”

  The warriors and most of the councilors looked confused, as if they were trying to figure out what that actually meant, but the Head councilor cried, “Then you are not one of us if you are not a true Conductivus, and so we do not have to listen to you!”

  The faces of the other councilors cleared up at that, but the warriors became wary instead, their eyes darting from their immediate bosses to the one who usually stood revered outside the chain of command.

  “Are you so sure?” Canalis replied to him. “A High Priest and a Conductivus are essentially the same thing. Go against me, and you go against established custom. Go against established custom, and you know the results.” The smile he gave them was more a baring of his teeth than a true smile, and the warriors immediately stepped away from the councilors.

  “A High Priest is not established custom!” shrieked the Head councilor. “And I will not see it become so!” He rushed at Canalis while drawing his sword and looking fully intent on committing murder.

  Canalis pointed at the Head councilor, and the high priest’s eyes went black. A sharp intake of breath was heard from every Under-elf except the Head councilor, who instead expelled all his breath forcefully as if he had run into an invisible brick wall or something. One sharp cry was all he had time for before he fell over and hit the floor, dead. Canalis’ eyes went white again, and he looked grimly satisfied. He then went over to the corpse and, surprisingly, knelt beside it on the rocky path where it lay and said a Rite of the Dead. To the gasps of the Under-elves the ex-Head councilor’s spirit rose up from the body in a silver mist, looking surprised. The spirit looked even more surprised as it arrowed away instead of becoming a ghost. The body collapsed into dust, and Auraus and I shared a nod of approval. Canalis straightened and gave the remaining councilors a piercing look.

  “I see there is going to be some resistance to the change, as the Goddess Alveo suspected there would be. As discussion has been refused, I propose we settle this in the standard manner, for new ways versus old ways. Councilors, from amongst you present, pick your representative.”

  As they started muttering among themselves, Ragar, Dusk, Auraus, Heather, Jason, and I exchanged confused glances. What was going on? I wondered. Dusk and Ragar cocked their ears, but didn’t seem to become anymore enlightened than the rest of us.

  “I choose to take the responsibility,” said one of the female councilors when the murmurs ended, taking one step forward towards Canalis.

  “Very well,” he said. He turned and pointed straight at me. “I choose you.”

  “What?!” each of us Surfacers cried at the same instant.

  “What are you talking about, “choosing me?’” I asked, baffled.

  Canalis said calmly, “We are going to the nearest discussion chamber. You are a Champion of a goddess. That makes you the most eligible here to stand for the side of another goddess in an Intercession. I am certain that yours will not mind.”

  I blinked at the word “intercession,” and then I realized the importance of what Venire had said earlier, when he’d told us that both parley and discussion had been refused by the Chirasnivians. That Under-elven councilor and I weren’t going to the discussion room to talk. We were going to have a fight!

  Chapter 42

  “I-I-have to pray about it first,” I said, desperation tingeing my voice as I played for time. I had NOT been expecting this.

  Canalis said nothing; he just smiled expectantly at me. I closed my eyes.

  Caelestis, I began and gave my goddess a quick rundown on everything that had happened recently, up to and including Canalis’ Intercession request just in case I couldn’t report in later. The mental pat I received in return was triumphant but also reassuring and certainly felt to me like she was giving Her blessing that I fight for Alveo. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes.

  “All right,” I said. “Where do we go, and what are the rules?”

  “Qué?” exclaimed Jason.

  “This way,” said the councilor who seemed to have stepped into the newly-vacant Head position. “I am Acting Head councilor Calx. We will go to a discussion chamber I am most partial to, and everything will be laid out there.”

  The other councilors and warriors formed an honor guard around us, which my friends quickly joined, and the new Head councilor then led the way back into the Civilian Ring in silence. Not too long afterwards the walking caravan took a left out of the main corridor into one of the twisty little side corridors that were lined with the occasional unmarked door.r />
  Surely there aren’t coincidences that big in this world? I thought to myself as I followed along.

  When we stopped at a door and Calx opened it, I shook my head in amazement and caught Heather’s eyes. She looked back at me with an “I-can’t-believe-it” kind of expression on her face. It was the same discussion room she and I’d been to before. Out of all the probable discussion chambers that existed in Chirasniv, this one had to have been picked. It still looked kind of like an office conference room from back home. The same long, narrow wooden table dominated the center of the room, though I thought I saw some newer scars mixed in with the older ones on the prettily carved surface. The comfortably padded leather and wood chairs with large crystals embedded in them still ranged along both sides of the table, with none at either end. The floor carpeted in a tapestry of geometric designs in dull blacks and reds and the walls bearing their dull colored paintings of Abstract Cubism hadn’t changed. The only difference was that the air moss/luminescent lichen mix that completely covered the ceiling was perhaps a bit thicker than it had been, though the magical globes which provided more light to the room and were decked in crystals of many colors hanging down from them in an abstract pattern, were the same.

  “When’re we going to talk about the rules?” I asked in general, but the new high priest shushed me as he directed me to one of the ends.

  “Take your seats,” the new Head councilor stated to everyone else, but Dusk said, “No. Let the chairs be removed. I do not wish there to be any chance that someone on either side interferes with this Intercession.”

  Calx looked hard at Dusk but eventually gave in as the Miscere Surface-elf picked up a chair and placed it against one of the walls. Ragar and Auraus joined in with him. The councilors, not be out done, ordered the warriors to assist as well. Soon there was nothing left but the table in the center of the room. I gulped.

  “Hey, Lise, it’s just like the piste back at Crosstown Fencing Academy,” Heather said to me by way of encouragement, offering me a fist bump. “You’re the best fencer in class. You got this.”