by Lakshman, V.
Valarius didn’t answer. Instead, he looked back down at his wife, her form now still in death. His heart was near breaking, but he finished the spell.
Sacrifices had to be made, and his love for her powered this single escape from Arcadia. Though he could not take it yet, he knew what he did offered life for all his people. In a red-white flash the entire platoon, fifty of his best warriors, disappeared.
The Lens of Arcadia
The easiest way to deceive someone
is to tell them a small truth instead of lies.
- Argus Rillaran, The Power of Deceit
What?” Duncan was at a loss for words. He wasn’t sure he’d heard her right.
“Valarius is a thorn. You would be doing the land a favor in dealing with him,” replied Lilyth.
Duncan looked at her as if she’d lost her mind, then asked the question most obvious to him: “You’ve failed to kill him for almost two centuries and expect I’ll succeed?”
Lilyth leaned back, her eyes becoming half-slits, like a viper assessing her prey. A moment passed, then two, then the demon-queen said, “You and Valarius were once friends.”
Duncan felt a clinical detachment, a strange ability to ascertain his own mental state. He tilted his head, “Not—”
“And now he has your wife.”
He stopped short, her comment nudging his deepest fear—what had actually happened over the last two hundred years between them? Was Sonya truly an unwilling captive? Yet was killing Valarius even right?
Lilyth, in a strange echo of his own thoughts, said, “Killing him insures your family’s reunion. The man has brought more misery to our worlds than can be believed. Would this be such an injustice?”
As if she thought his surrender was inevitable, she beckoned a hand servant who approached with a small box on a silver platter. Lilyth took it and met Duncan’s eyes, opening the box casually. With two fingers she gingerly extracted a crystal, thin and circular in shape, and held it up to the light. “Do you know what this is, Lore Father?”
Duncan shook his head. He did not recall ever seeing one before. The crystal was clear, smooth, and maybe a bit smaller than the size of his palm.
“This is a lens,” she said, turning it over slowly. He noted that the edges were beveled, catching and refracting the light into sudden small flashes of rainbow colors. “While lenses can still be found in Arcadia and Edyn, they’re rare, and this one is exceedingly so.”
“Why?” he asked, more than a little intrigued. He’d heard of some ancient tomes entitled lenses, but had always imagined they had been books made from parchment. Now it was clear lenses were crystals, but how did they convey information? He supposed he could search the stored memories of the ancient lore fathers now that he knew what to look for.
Clearly his interest showed. “This particular lens deals with locations,” Lilyth explained. Her eyes left the crystal, wandering back to meet his own. She leaned forward, extending her hand, offering it to him.
Duncan rose and took a step closer, still cautious, and asked, “How does it work?”
The demonlord smiled and said, “It is simpler if I show you.”
Her hand remained extended, and Duncan realized if she’d wanted to kill him, she could have done so without trickery. No, she wanted something else. At her nod, he took the crystal and held it warily. It felt smooth and warm to the touch. It described a circle and a convex surface that fitted perfectly into the cup of his palm. He placed it flat on his hand and looked at Lilyth.
“Turn it like this,” she said using her forefinger and thumb.
Duncan did so, rotating the lens in his palm. At the half turn mark, the lens adhered to his skin and burst with light. All around him floated islands—hundreds, perhaps thousands! They filled a sphere in which he was the center. He looked around at the spectacle, sure each island was a miniature version of one he would find floating outside Lilyth’s open arched windows.
Islands orbited his position, each irregular and misshapen. One gargantuan island had a bright star on it, which he quickly surmised was their location. “We are here,” he said.
Lilyth looked at him, her features calm and measured. Then she smiled and said, “You are intuitive, Duncan Illrys. Yes, this is us.” She made a pinching motion with her fingers. “Trace this motion on the surface of the lens and you will see more around you. Reverse it—” she pulled her fingers apart—“and the view will move closer to the object you are looking at.”
Duncan tried it, and could immediately see how to zoom his view in or out on the map. He looked back at her.
Lilyth smiled and said, “There are other ways to manipulate the map. I leave discovering them to you.” She directed his attention to a small island not far from their bright star and said, “Now, touch this island.”
Duncan reached out and touched the island she had indicated. The world shrank and then expanded in his vision, and he no longer stood inside Lilyth’s castle. Instead, he had been deposited on a plateau overlooking open air. Below him spread the sky, with islands floating serenely beside him. The transportation had felt instantaneous, not cold like the transition from Edyn to here. He looked up over his shoulder and saw Lilyth’s domain, an immense island floating majestically in the distance.
He could leave now, a part of him knew, just continue his search for Sonya and abandon a son he’d never met. The thought flitted by but could find no purchase on the smooth wall of his now level-headed detachment. Oh, he’d not given up by any means, but a cold logical reasoning had taken over. He needed more information in order to formulate any strategy, and that required he return to the demon-queen’s spire. She must’ve known this or she would never have let him leave. His brows knitted as he looked back down at the crystal disk, then he traced the half circle again.
Once again the map showed itself, springing into being around him. He could easily see Lilyth’s castle and touched it. The world collapsed and expanded, and he stood again in her throne room.
“You are a quick learner.” Her comment was delivered as if he were a child and she acting the part of his proud mother. She smiled at him, but her eyes never softened.
Duncan held up the crystal, “Why give me something so powerful? Why not use it yourself to jump to Valarius or this Sovereign you speak of?”
She laughed. “I do not need a lens to travel, mortal.” Her gaze grew thoughtful and she added, “We Aeris do not manipulate the Way as you, using blood and other unseemly things. And even if we did, you saw how the lens behaves. The travel is instantaneous, but only for those you are in contact with. It is not a gate I can run an army through.”
“You would ease my travel so I can kill a friend?”
She looked down from her station. “We spoke of Sovereign and his desire to remake the world. I and my Furies oppose him and believe, despite what has evolved on Edyn, all is as it was meant to be. You’ve seen our worlds are different. Each island bespeaks the faith your people have in us. Your people believe in me and have so for millennia, and my lands range farther than any other.”
Duncan shrugged, unsure where Lilyth was going with this but content to let her speak. Every word uttered gave him more information.
“My fight’s not with Valarius and his elves. They’re a nuisance, true, but Sovereign’s the real enemy.” She looked at Duncan carefully before continuing, “Somewhere deep inside the mountain of Dawnlight lies Sovereign’s stronghold. I mean to destroy it and him, and set our people free, but I cannot while Valarius distracts my forces.”
Duncan’s eyes narrowed. “Dawnlight disappeared after the last war. The fortress remained, but the dwarves who made homes there disappeared, as did the city itself. So did the rest of their kin throughout Edyn.”
“Dawnlight has always been a nexus between realms. Something about the mountain itself makes the path between worlds thin. She smiled at his raised eyebrows and said, “When it became clear Sovereign sought their end, the leader of the dwarven king did somethi
ng unexpected. He found a way to escape Sovereign and my Aeris, moving his people into a version of Dawnlight that exists in-between Arcadia and Edyn. We call it, ‘phase’. Do you understand this term?”
“You said Sovereign is holed up in Dawnlight,” Duncan reminded her, not answering her question.
“The mountain that still remains in Edyn is now Sovereign’s demesne, a clear declaration to the dwarves saying, ‘Your land is now mine.’ ” She leaned forward and said, “Dawnlight coexists in all realms. Each has its own unique denizens. In Edyn it’s Sovereign, in Arcadia it’s unexplored. The dwarves who survived my attempt to free Edyn escaped the realm into phase. None may enter Dawnlight unless they also exist in the same realm with it.”
Duncan ignored the characterization of her invasion as “freeing Edyn” and instead said, “You know I faced Baalor. He had a new body, one that could change form, move through rock. Perhaps he can be trained to enter the dwarven mountain, like a pet with a new trick.” He let the barb stick. Let’s see how she reacts when someone doesn’t bow his forehead to her feet, he thought.
Lilyth’s eyes narrowed and she said, “Despite your insult, Baalor is an honorable warrior and friend. Do not belittle him with your penurious understanding of his actions.” Her eyes did not waver when she finished, “He did what I asked.”
“Attack us? Kill the king?” When Lilyth seemed about to respond Duncan held up a hand and said, “You’ll not get tears from me at the death of any Galadine. My war with them started the day one put an arrow through my wife.”
“Then killing Valarius Galadine will not be such umbrage upon your soul.”
“You forget that Valarius too was the first victim of his brother’s vengeance. He shares that honor with me and my wife.”
“And your child?” There was silence at that as Lilyth drew a soft breath. When she spoke again, it was as if she wished to start an entirely new conversation, an attempt to set themselves on the right path forward.
“I spoke of you ending Valarius. His elves travel throughout the realm, attacking my Furies with impunity. They’re ensorcelled to destroy my Aeris, something I cannot abide.”
“Then why not attack him and lay waste to his forces? I cannot believe he can field an army to match yours,” asked Duncan.
Lilyth smiled, nodding slightly in assent. “I agree, but Valarius is cunning. He learned the secret of Dawnlight, how to shift his city of Avalyon into phase.”
Duncan looked up at that, intrigued. “Really?”
“Avalyon can appear whenever he wishes. He cannot leave Arcadia, but has mastered staying hidden from me. It is only a matter of time before he learns how to shift Avalyon back to Edyn, and then your world will face a Galadine who is insane with thoughts of revenge. His thirst for war will end only when he has subjugated every soul in Edyn and brought Galadine rule down upon their heads.”
“And with Avalyon hidden you cannot send your forces, and you want me to unravel how Valarius hides himself,” he said.
Lilyth sighed and said, “You and he know the Old Lore, a kind of magic we do not need. Worse, even as we speak the black-clad assassins of Sovereign scurry between our realms like vermin, attacking and killing those of the Way. Very few can stand against them, and for every Fury and Master they kill, for every dwarven builder they capture, Sovereign is able to draw upon more power. It is true Baalor has a builder’s body, but only because Sovereign made a mistake.”
Duncan considered that, finding it hard to believe an enemy eons old, the maker of these worlds, would do such a thing without reason. It was more likely a trap, for rarely did someone’s mistake give you exactly what you want. Still, he said nothing. They were speaking only because Lilyth still held his wife and son.
So instead of debating the intelligence of Sovereign’s tactics, Duncan said, “Killing Valarius may free you to act, but how do I know it is for the good of Edyn?”
“Why do you care? Your only request was for the safe return of your wife and family,” the demon-queen retorted. “Deal with Valarius and you will be rewarded.”
It amused him how her use of the word ‘reward’ sounded more like a threat. He did not answer right away, his thoughts turning the conversation over. Not everything she’d said fit, and so he said, “You’ve obviously tried before.”
Lilyth sighed. “Of course, Lore Father… but Valarius is more than cunning.”
“Your men failed?” he asked, a small part of him liking the idea she also had to contend with failure, a companion she knew could accompany her efforts.
She smiled at the challenge, a hint of malice edging through when she said, “No, they died.”
“Nothing dies,” he said softly, quoting the old adage he’d found such solace in when thinking of his lost wife.
Lilyth’s gaze did not waver when she leaned forward and answered, “Here, everything dies. If you are killed, Lord Scythe’s freed from your possession.” She kept her eyes on him, her gaze turning icy. “His enslavement will be over and no one will remember you. You will fade from existence, permanently.”
Duncan looked down, taking a deep breath. It was unclear whether his newfound clarity or the fact he was so close to achieving his goal filled him with this fear and doubt. In the past, with beings like Rai’stahn, he’d had none. He would not have thought twice about killing anyone to achieve his ends, a fact many had unfortunately come to know firsthand. Now, for some reason he could not fathom, the idea of killing filled him with revulsion.
Something in his thoughts must have shown on his face, for Lilyth said, “Perhaps you feel uncomfortable playing the role of assassin. If it will make things easier, I withdraw that as a necessity to completing your task. With the lens I can fix Avalyon’s position, anchor it within phase and bring the full might of my legions to bear. I will eradicate Valarius and your hands do not have to be dirtied.”
Ah, he thought, and now the reason for the lens was revealed. He took note of that, of Lilyth’s ability to divulge information only when necessary. Some facts were beginning to fall into place, but there were still two glaring holes in her logic, ones he did not yet give voice.
First, it was on her word alone that Sovereign was malevolent to Edyn. The only attacks he’d witnessed over the last two hundred years had been by Lilyth’s own hand. Second, how would he unravel the spell Valarius used to hide Avalyon in a place that had no physical location, but instead existed within this “phase” between worlds?
Then she said something that sounded completely unconnected, a sure sign she was using her entire arsenal of diplomacy to bring about his support. Clearly his actions were important to her, though he could not discern why. “We found something floating amongst our isles.”
“What?” he asked.
Lilyth gestured with her chin at the open window but that movement seemed to take in the entire world of Arcadia. “A metal tomb etched with unfamiliar runes. The metal itself is hard, like ebonite, but gray and covered with minerals. Quite ancient. When we opened it, we found a woman.” She paused, making sure Duncan was listening, then said, “A dwarven builder dressed in strange garb.”
Duncan now looked at the demonlord with renewed interest. “I take it she’s alive?”
Lilyth nodded. “She was in a deep slumber, but awakened shortly after the tomb was opened. I was going to use her to bargain with Dazra.” When Duncan looked confused she added, “The leader of the dwarves.”
“Bargain, how?”
“While Dazra and his dwarven people are not aligned with me, they’re not yet my enemy. Perhaps the gesture of returning one of his own people to him might help reduce his fears enough for him to meet with me.”
“To join your efforts against Sovereign?” Duncan inquired.
Lilyth smiled and said, “With his guard down, my forces will attack and subjugate the dwarves, bringing them in line against Sovereign.”
She said this so matter-of-factly that Duncan was nodding before he caught himself. Then the simple truth
that thousands would be possessed by this act of subterfuge hit him with a sickening finality. His morality, the strange new feeling emerging as a result of this place’s beneficial healing, forced him to ask, “You’d betray and possess those who meet you in peace?”
“I grow tired of explaining this.” Lilyth slammed her palm down with a thunder crack and stood. “My Furies need bodies, Archmage! They cannot survive Sovereign nor can they do battle with his forces on Edyn without flesh, without substance. Somewhere deep in Dawnlight Mountain the coward Sovereign sits, plotting the end of your world and mine and you speak as if possession is a choice! Do you understand what’s at stake?”
Duncan had fallen back a step at the demonlord’s vehemence. As her anger cooled, he knew he’d have to be careful what he said next, so instead of arguing her point he shifted the conversation and asked, “Then why give up the prisoner? Why give away this opportunity you’ve so eloquently outlined?”
“Do not feign ignorance now, it is beneath you. My world rebuilds you beyond such shallow facades. Did you believe I could not ken your strategy to entice me to chatter away? Were I so feeble-minded, you and yours would already be victims to Sovereign’s dreams.” She turned to him and asked directly, “Do I need the dwarven woman now?”
Duncan thought about that, his mind quickly turning over all the facts. Lilyth had managed to capture one dwarf—wait, this was the second builder she’d captured! The first was… When the answer revealed itself, he looked at her and acknowledged, “Baalor.”
Lilyth nodded, saying, “My general now has a builder’s body and can enter the dwarven city freely—his new trick, as you so churlishly offered. This leaves you with the chance to do the same at Avalyon.”
“You think this woman can breach Avalyon’s phase?”