He wondered if his world was out there; his home, his real world. Was it one of those tiny points of light that winked at him? Or was it in a different dimension? Had he imagined this world? A world where the physical laws that bound his world could be bent or even broken. A world where the sun could be devoured by darkness, but everything was too real here to be anything other than corporeal.
As a bank of clouds blocked out the light from the stars, he realised that it did not matter where this world was, or even if it was real. All that mattered was that he believed in it, and he believed in this world’s people: the humans, the Giants, the Cerni and even the Intoli. He had to save this place so that whoever survived would have somewhere to live, and not just an icy grave to preserve their bodies forever.
The clouds flitted by, making strange, intricate shapes beneath the waning moon. As he watched, it plummeted from the sky and the clouds were swallowed by the night.
Then a loud bang like a weapon discharging sounded from below and the ship shuddered. The connection to the others faltered. ‘Don’t stop!’ screamed Wist as he snapped back to his proper timeframe. A second later, the flow of magic was back just as strong as before. He had no idea where they were or how far they still had to go, but he would be damned if they would freeze to death on this ship.
He shivered as the ship convulsed once more. He hadn’t noticed the cold until now. He almost laughed as he thought of it. They forced a resurrected ship through a frozen ocean and he couldn’t feel the cold; not really. But now he shook. His whole body vibrated with it as if in sympathy with the ailing vessel.
It was so dark. Suddenly, he couldn’t even make out the rail in front of the boat. The only thing he could feel was Enceladus’ hand and the darkness pressing in all around.
The Waren. They had risen again and the darkness flowed towards him from all sides.
Then he was no longer on the ship. He was not sure if he was even still in this world. All he could see was darkness, all he could sense was the cold; that and the hand he still clutched. It felt just like his father’s hand had when he had held it for the last time; right before his murder.
‘Go hide, William. Wait until I tell you it’s OK to come out.’ But he never had.
He tried to grip on tighter, tried to hold on to the past, but the past was only a memory. Then the hand slipped away from him, and the darkness grew and it started to seep into him. How many times could he resist it? How many times before he finally gave in and escaped from all the hurt?
One more time, he said to himself. Just one more time.
He looked deep inside himself and found his last drop of courage, and with it clenched tight, he thrust his mind outwards. Light enveloped him. At first, it was too much. It hurt almost as much as life itself, but the pain was worth it.
The Waren had gone, but beneath him the ship groaned and this time the noise did not abate. It grew and grew until even the bark of the wind disappeared beneath the racquet. Only a few seconds remained before this ship fell apart.
‘Get up here!’ he shouted. ‘Get up here, you lazy shower of shit!’
He released Enceladus’ weathered hand for real this time and he was pitched forward. Himself and Aviti grabbed onto the wooden rail as the stern of the ship started to rise. Tyla slid across to the mast where Haumea clung on. Enceladus stood in front of it, defying gravity and time.
Sevika scrambled over to join Tyla and Haumea as the ship’s nose pitched forward, Sevika had to grab onto the Lyrat to stop herself falling to the water. Then the ship collided with solid ice with a deafening crunch.
Wist flew through the air and fell hard onto the frozen surface. He slid through the falling splinters of wood and debris. Through the chaos, he saw the foremast fall far to the left of him. It smashed through the thick layer of ice and threw water over all of them. As he came to a rest, he watched the huge main mast of the ship break off. The lines that had tethered it snapped and the mast flew free. It turned end over end as it fell, like a caber tossed through the air.
For an instant, Wist thought it would fall on him, smashing him to bits, but it fired over his head. He saw Tyla and Aviti to his right. Aviti was down, but Tyla was already on his feet, dragging her away from the devastation.
The mast blasted its way through the ice, breaking another hole through the surface of the world. As Wist scrambled to his feet, the broken frame of the ship slipped gracefully back into the depths. He scanned the ice for his other companions. He found the Giants gathered beside a huge pile of blackened wood. That only left Sevika and Enceladus. Where were they?
Then Wist slid and fell back onto the ice when they appeared beside him. Enceladus released his grip on the Intoli and she staggered backwards.
‘Where the fuck did you come from?’ Wist asked.
‘I have always been here,’ said Enceladus. Wist was as surprised by the answer as the sentinel’s sudden appearance. Wist shrugged off the stasis that gripped him and stood up straight. Then they all gathered around him: the Giants, the Intoli and the Humans. The Giants were dishevelled, but intact. Haumea gripped her staff as if it were all that anchored her to reality.
Wist tried to get his bearings, but the Ghria Duh was high above them now. Every time he caught the glimmer of a star, tendrils of purest black whipped across them and he lost his reference.
‘Which way?’ he asked Sevika, giving into the inevitability of using the Intoli to guide them. Sevika looked to Aviti and the Masheshi girl repeated Wist’s question in the Intoli’s eldritch tongue. The Intoli did not speak, but pointed the way.
‘How long? How far away?’ Again, Aviti translated the question, but this time the Intoli only shrugged in a motion that was eerily similar to Tyla’s.
‘Did you save any of the supplies?’ he asked the Giants.
‘Some, Dionach,’ said Brathoir. ‘Some of them fell into the water.’ Wist nodded. Then he kicked his spikes into the frozen surface hearing the satisfying crunch when the surface crust gave below his feet.
‘Move,’ he barked as if he was sending his troops out to war and they obeyed.
It took them two days of walking to reach the shore of Prasad. When they reached the first rock that jutted out through the snow, the Giants set to work creating an igloo. Once it was complete, they all lay down and slept. All of them, apart from Enceladus. Even Sevika closed her eyes.
11 -Moonage Daydream
It was a full day before they ventured out of the igloo. Wist did not remember sleeping, but time had passed. The fire had been renewed, several times. Now, Haumea was awake and making food for them all. The growl of the wind beyond the walls of this structure made him shiver.
As Wist sat up, his hands pushed into the exposed ground below him. He lifted a handful of what he assumed to be dirt, and then found to his surprise that it was not. Aviti smiled at him as he let the sand slip through his fingers
‘Who thought we’d come most of the way around the world, and end up with our feet in the sand again?’ Tyla glanced at Wist and then resumed his packing. The Lyrat folded his bed roll in two. Then he rolled it up in a single motion and slipped it into his pack. Then he took a piece of meat that Haumea offered him and stepped outside.
‘What, no shrug?’ said Wist. Haumea sniggered, leaving Wist feeling childish. The other Giants rose and followed Tyla, leaving the Giantess to pack their things.
‘You are their commander,’ Wist said to Haumea. ‘Why do you let them treat you like a skivvy?’
Haumea erupted with laughter. ‘Skivvy…I like the sound of that. I may take that as a title.’
‘Chief skivvy. I can’t say I know anyone who would be grateful of that moniker.’
‘I have been called many things, Dionach. It washes over me, but it does not touch me. Much like I am called Prime Glaine. I hear the words and I understand the importance of them, but does it change who I am? I think not, Dionach.’ Haumea grinned after the last word.
‘Aviti,’ Haumea shouted. ‘A
viti are you hale?’
A grunt from the darkest corner confirmed that she was awake. A face poked out of a blanket and a hand accepted the bowl of food that Haumea offered her. As Aviti ate, Haumea continued packing.
‘What do you think we will find out there?’ Wist said to Aviti.
‘Ice,’ she said as she finished off her food. ‘What I would not give to be warm once more.’
‘Yes,’ said Wist with a grin. ‘But what else will we find?’
Aviti said a few words to Sevika in the Intoli language and then she received a terse reply from Sevika.
‘She said she does not know. They travelled far to the east of here.’
‘But she can still take us there?’
Another few words in Intoli passed between Aviti and Sevika, and the Intoli finished by pointing through the wall. The digit was far from steady however; swaying back and forth.
‘I guess she knows the way?’ said Wist over the howl from the wind as it blew past the opening to the outside world.
Oinoir stomped back in, pulled down his hood and warmed himself in front of the fire before they left. ‘We are going to die out there,’ he said to no-one in particular and no-one replied.
After an extended period of silence, Wist started to pack up his own meagre things. When he was done, Haumea and Aviti were waiting for him. The igloo dimmed as the harsh light of Enceladus passed outside. Sevika followed him out only a few steps behind him. Haumea handed everyone a flaming brand, lit from the embers and then she left it to burn itself out.
As they stepped outside, the wind lashed at them as if it tried to scrub them from the face of the world. Wist was forced to hold onto Tyla lest he be swept from his feet. When the gusts died down, Wist relit his torch from Tyla’s and they set out into the swirling mass of ice that confronted them.
This time, it was impossible to talk. Any words that Wist managed to say, the wind picked up and tossed away across the tundra. It gusted from behind them, forcing them onwards, like a hand compelling them towards their fate.
What little moonlight that evaded the clouds provided only enough light to befuddle Wist’s senses. Small fissures in the ice gaped beneath his feet and then closed as he passed and the light danced around him. He found himself leaping like a child trying to avoid the cracks in paving slabs. The ice grippers on his feet stopped him falling a few times.
After a few hours, the wind relented to a gale and the clouds departed. Thankfully, there was no sign of the Ghria Duh so it must be night-time, Wist reasoned. The lack of difference between day and night made the distinction meaningless. The only change was the absorbent, velvety darkness produced by the Ghria Duh.
As if summoned by his thoughts, the ground began to morph below him. The subtle mirages produced by the flickering moonlight were banished by the insidious black-light which assailed them now.
Almost instantly, the wind changed. It became less consistent in direction, as if it was torn between two masters. The tight line of their formation that they had been in since departing, became ragged. Wist tried to stay behind Tyla, but the wind was determined to separate them. Just as he began to lose sight of the Lyrat in the tumult of ice, Tyla stopped and turned towards him, letting the wind move him in that direction. Tyla produced a short length of rope and gave it to Wist. Catching Tyla’s intention right away, Wist looped the rope around his waist and tied it tight. Tyla gave it a tug to convince himself it would hold, then he set out again.
With his tether in place, Wist felt more secure. The ground still writhed with the sheen of corruption, but now he could see through it, as if the magician had revealed the secret of his trick. As long as he kept hold of the rope, he could keep his grasp on reality.
He pushed his feet into the frozen ground and forced himself on. With the beach behind them, the land rose and fell in gentle slopes, but it was buried under fractured ice, making the surface treacherous. The howl of the wind was punctuated by cracks and snaps of breaking frost. The Giants smashed their way through the land, ploughing spectacular furrows as they went. Tyla led Wist into one of these manufactured paths.
The hoarfrost and rime lay scattered around the trench. It was a few feet deep and did not reach the solid ground, but it helped Wist stay on track and acted as an additional tether to keep his mind rooted in the present.
The trench slithered through the land heading northeast, as far as Wist could tell. The vista of the tundra was unbroken for miles in all directions. He caught glimpses of it when the wind took a break from lashing them on. He had thought that the Great Desert of Tapasya was a featureless, desolate place until he had come here. He smiled to himself as he thought of the desert. After spending time on it, in the company of the Lyrat Pair and Aviti, he had learned to see the potential of the place; the hidden, resilient life that thrived under the brutal sun of Tapasya.
As much as he tried to do the same here, to force his perceptions deeper, to find the niches into which life might have crawled, he could not do so. If life was here it was well concealed, hidden away from the cold and the merciless Ghria Duh.
So he focussed on Tyla’s back. The Lyrat’s clothes fitted him well, as if he had always worn them. Wist would have recognised Tyla from a mile away, even in the unfamiliar dress in a foreign land. The gait, which served him so well on the dunes of Tapasya, did so again here. The differences in that stride were subtle, but they were there. He pressed his feet down harder than he would have done on sand, using the ice spikes to his advantage. So, Wist mimicked Tyla, trying to find the pattern in his steps. Every time he thought he had it, Tyla changed it again.
The channel that they walked in became more pronounced. This had not been made solely by the Giants. They had found their way into what must have been a waterway. The sound of their footsteps had also changed. It was now harsh and sharp, biting cracks now issued at each step. He could hear the Giants’ destructive plodding ahead and the occasional reply from Aviti and the Intoli behind.
Despite the polluting touch of the Ghria Duh, the ice that blew into Wist’s mouth tasted fresh. The purity of the water that the frozen particles released on his tongue bolstered Wist’s courage.
As the Ghria Duh passed it zenith, their path widened once more, but this time it dropped into the land. The gentle decline became more and more pronounced as they walked. After a few hours, steep walls now bounded their way. The one on their left side was covered in snow blown down from above and now frozen solid against the stone wall. The wall on his right-hand side glittered as their torchlight caught the sharp angles of exposed, rugged sandstone.
Wist could see much further now. The Giants weren’t as far ahead as he had assumed. If they rushed they could catch them, but they would have to stop soon enough anyway. He fingered the rope that bound him to Tyla. He could remove it now, but with the Ghria Duh still above them, he didn’t trust himself without it.
As they reached the bottom of the incline, a huge plain opened out before them. It was far less regular than the featureless expanse behind them. The two walls that had protected them from the wind ran away from each other, perpendicular to their direction of travel. He could see that the one on his right curved back in, the one that now ran north was lost past the rise of a hill.
The Giants stopped and began erecting a bivouac in a crevice of the rock wall, using a blanket for a roof. By the time Tyla and Wist reached them, they had it up and Haumea was starting a fire. Tyla slipped the rope from around Wist and gathered it up. Then Aviti and the Intoli arrived, completing their number.
They ate around Haumea’s fire, which she managed to start without Aviti’s aid. The ground was exposed here and dry to the touch. The shelter of the wall kept the worst of the wind away from them and allowed them to rest. Wist asked Sevika if they were still heading the right way, but the Intoli simply pointed in the direction they had been heading. He had thought that the Intoli would have needed Aviti to translate for her, but what else would one of the humans be asking her. Wist
couldn’t even call her a living pathfinder, for was she truly alive? As Wist looked at the dishevelled crew around him, he wondered if he could tell the difference between the two anyway.
But how did Sevika see herself, Wist pondered. She had been in charge of the Intoli’s most potent weapon – Aviti - and she had lost her. She had let her defeat the Intoli, but there was never going to be a winner of that battle, not between the sides who fought there. The Waren had won; the Waren and Wist’s brother Tilden.
But Tilden had not been truly victorious. Wist had pulled himself back from the brink. When he had poured his hatred and malice into the bloodstone, far beneath the world, he had come close to finally obliterating himself; himself and everyone else, but he could not make everyone pay for his mistakes, no matter how tempting it was.
So, Wist may not have won - with the sun being lost and darkness holding sway over the world - but Tilden had lost as well. He was still here; trapped in this world, but where was he? Surely, he would not be content to accept defeat and hide in the darkness for the rest of eternity? No, he would be planning his next, his final, move.
Maybe that’s how this world would die, with him and Wist the last two sentient beings eternally plotting each other’s demise? He laughed aloud at the absurd notion, drawing a scornful look from Decheal, but Haumea chuckled.
‘What amuses you, Dionach?’ asked Decheal, but Haumea answered in Wist’s stead.
‘How can you not find this ludicrous Decheal? Ludicrous and yet wondrous. Did you ever dream that you would stand on a different land?’
‘No. Not even in the depths of my bottomless nightmares.’
Haumea laughed once more, and Wist was sure he caught a gleam in Decheal’s eyes as the fire sparked at Haumea’s prodding. Oinoir sat with his back to them, gazing out into the blackness.
The Ghria Duh had set some time ago, so Wist looked up to see the stars. The lack of clouds made the temperature plummet, but he preferred to be able to see something. He couldn’t feel the cold anyway.
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