by Greg Curtis
This was going to have to be a short visit to her family she decided. Because she had to get back before Hendrick started another war.
Chapter Forty Four
Evening was on them when the Mythagan finally arrived. Hendrick was glad to see them as he wanted to get this over with. In sooth he'd rather not have to do it at all. Unfortunately there was no chance of that. The Mythagan were demanding to see the truth for themselves.
He supposed he understood that. He hadn’t expected them to come in such numbers though. When the portal had opened he had expected to see about a dozen of them. Instead there were nearly a hundred. All of them were wearing their strange clothes and the amulets that he now knew were the symbols of this ancient empire of worlds. Clearly this Erohilm was more important than he had guessed.
“Nelas, Tara, we're going to need more seats. Lydia, more hot water and more mugs for tea.” Marnie started telling the others to bring what was needed even as she prepared to welcome their guests.
Hendrick continued to stand there, staring. Things could go very badly he suspected. The Mythagan were already upset with what he'd said to the others. And he guessed they were only going to become more so when they saw the truth for themselves. Whoever this Erohilm was to them, they did not want her memory tarnished. Especially not by the truth.
The bad news suddenly became worse as he saw his mother arrive, alighting from an elegant carriage that had just pulled up on the road. What was she doing here? And why he wondered, was she so dressed up? She was no longer the King's fifth wife, so surely she didn't have to dress as if she was?
No doubt she was here to meddle in some way. Maybe she'd come just to find a way to make the family business more of a success. More likely it was to find a way she could use this latest bit of news to wreak a little more vengeance on those who had wronged her if she could. But the others wouldn't understand that. In fact the gifted were practically falling over themselves to offer her a comfortable place to sit and bring her some refreshments. They just didn't understand the nature of the woman. But then they didn't know her.
“So knave, it's time for you to finally speak the truth.”
Hendrick turned around to see Indle standing there beside him, an accusatory look in his eyes. Marnie had told him the man was upset. “I'm not intending to speak at all. I'm just going to show you the past. It’s up to you to decide the truth of the matter.” Indle however clearly expected trickery.
“And you will be watched. There will be no deception.”
“None at all.” Hendrick agreed easily, trying to ignore the insult offered. “I have no ability to alter the images I see of the past. I don't have the magic of illusion. I can only show you the past exactly as it was.” He raised his hand to show him his markings, though given he was covered in them he didn't need to. “Mithril not Infernium.”
Indle's only response was to grunt in disbelief, before he headed off to stand with the rest of his people.
But that was fine with Hendrick, and he waiting for everyone to take their seats. Once they became quiet he cast his spell, showing them the window into the past.
It was a big window he cast at twenty feet square. But he needed it if everyone was going to be able to see. And it did look amazing. Enough that despite all the other windows he'd created, it still drew a small gasp.
“Alright people, as I say, I can show you the past. But only exactly as it was. I can't change anything. So for those who doubt that, this is about an hour ago. Before I was here. And those of you who were can kindly tell the others that what you can see in it was exactly what you were doing then.” He turned the view around so that instead of looking out they could see into the Guild in all its glory from just before the sun had set.
What followed was a somewhat chaotic collection of calls as people in the audience recognised themselves and their friends, and then started shouting out to one another in surprise. It was to be expected. Save for in a mirror, most people would never have seen themselves before. But if they were a little noisy he didn't mind. He only wanted them to confirm that this was no illusion. And one by one they did that.
“Thank you. I also should explain that my spell is limited. I can't change anything. All I can do is go further back and forth in time. I can move closer in to a scene, so you can see things more closely or back out so you can see things from further away, and move it around so you can see things from different angles. And that’s about it. I can't even make things brighter or darker.” He demonstrated each of those things as he spoke to show them his abilities and his limitations, mostly by focussing on one of the recruits as he walked across the grass and making everyone laugh – especially when he showed them all the view of the man from directly under the man's nose. He thought it made his point.
When the others were done making a lot of noise as they joked with their friend about the size of his proboscis, he pulled out and started going back in time. A long way back. Letting them see the forests grow and die in reverse, until finally they reached the time of the devastation. And then, he brought them back to the ancient city and let them see the ancients for themselves. That drew a response.
First there was a collective gasp. After that there was a sudden explosion of voices as people started talking about what they were seeing. Little people and giants. Winged people and dwarves. Hendrick let them talk. It seemed the right thing to do. And while they talked he watched the Mythagan, all of whom were simply sitting there in silence. Obviously this wasn't as shocking for them as it was for the others. Perhaps they were friendly with some of the descendants of these giants and winged people?
There was another explosion of talking when he showed them the oasis and the portal. Not because of those things, but because they got to see all of the fabulous beasts that the bards constantly sang about, and a few that they didn't. And still the Mythagan remained silent. But some of them looked a little grim. As if they feared what else he was about to show them.
Night had fallen by then, making what he was showing them of the past even easier to see. Making it somehow more real than the world itself. And everyone fell silent as he brought the view back to the city and started to show them the war.
The first of the ancient wizards drew a huge gasp from the audience when he revealed him. Hendrick understood that. The colossus had been strange to his eyes as well. The only thing that surprised him was that the Mythagan were suddenly talking as well. Whispering among themselves as they saw what they had truly never expected to see. Meanwhile his mother was sitting there, completely composed as always. She might be shocked. Especially when she saw the ancient city and realised it was nothing like what had been described in the book. But she would never show it.
She even sat quietly as he told the others about the seven ancient wizards and the magic metals, even though she had never wanted it revealed. But he, Marnie and Tyrollan had all agreed. Their people had to know. They had to know what their markings were and why their meditations were so important. So he told them everything save for the one thing that they had all agreed must never be revealed. He did not tell them how the ancient wizards had stolen their magic from the world using ancient magical engines.
It took time to explain all of that, and when he was finished the moon was high in the sky. Hendrick continued on through the past. Back to the time when he had found the woman.
Seeing her the Mythagan gasped. Then half a dozen of them abruptly stood up and started intoning prayers, Indle among them. It told Hendrick everything he'd suspected. The ancient woman was sacred to them. It was a pity because what he was about to show them was not going to be well received.
It wasn't.
He got the first angry outbursts when he showed them the ancient Mithril wizard collapsing to his knees in grief and pain as she told him that she was betraying him for another. And while the outbursts were in whatever language the Mythagan spoke, he understood enough to know that they were angry with him. Especially when he shared with
them what the ancient wizard's memories were of that day.
After that things grew worse as he showed her leaving the wizard, and especially the smile on her face. Immediately they started accusing him of creating an illusion and trying to deceive them. Others among their number however, defended him. He wasn't sure why but he was grateful regardless. The last thing he wanted was a fight.
The arguments grew much louder when he showed them Erohilm's vanishing tricks, and while he couldn't understand much of what was being shouted, Hendrick knew that violence wasn't far away. Others knew it too which was why they were all desperately calling for calm. Hendrick added his voice to the others, glad that there was nothing left to show. Or so he thought.
Suddenly his mother stood up, calling for calm. She only wanted it, so she could be heard. And what she had to say wasn't going to soothe any ruffled feathers. It was only going to make things worse.
“You fools! That's not a woman. It’s not a man either or a mortal of any kind. And she's not a goddess or a prophet or whatever else you think she is either. She's the enemy!”
Silence followed his mother’s announcement as the Mythagan absorbed what she was saying in shock. And then once again they exploded into angry denials and accusations. They carried on in that way for a good ten minutes or more. But his mother remained calm throughout, listening and surely understanding not a single word. She waited until they had run out of strength to keep shouting at her.
“As I was saying before people started screaming and shouting like little children, she is the enemy – of all of us.”
This time the shouting died down more quickly. People were tired, and quite possibly their throats were sore. Once again his mother simply waited them out.
“Oh by the gods! Surely some of you wizards and mages, sages and priests, must see what's right in front of you!” His mother raised her voice a little in frustration.
“And what's that Mother?” Hendrick decided to ask the obvious question before the others started screaming it at her.
“That she's not a wizard or a witch or what have you. She's not whatever sort of priestess or goddess you Mythagan seem to believe either. She's the behemoth! That's the beast!”
“What?” Hendrick was shocked by the claim. Because whatever else she was, the woman didn't look like some foul monster from the depths. And there were other problems too. And one of them was obvious. They were looking at events that had happened fifteen hundred or more years ago. The beast hadn't been in Styrion or Malthus then. And then there was the fact that the woman was breathing air when the behemoth supposedly couldn't. But when he told her that, he got a withering stare in return.
“All this magic and no sense. By Tarius! You're drinking too much of the ale you brew!” She stared around at the audience. “Does no one understand?”
“Actually, no” Hendrick told her hesitantly. “I certainly don't.” And looking around he could see that no one else did either. But regardless the Mythagan looked angry.
“Men!” She let out a heavy sigh. “Such simple creatures!”
“I told you, all that time ago on the hill as we watched Styrion Might burn. The beast was smart. It had a strategy. If it was all-powerful it shouldn't have needed one. And yet it did. It played divide and conquer. Fifteen hundred years ago it was playing a different strategy. A game of empires. It was building princes and turning them loose on one another.”
“Princes?” Hendrick still didn't understand.
“Ancient wizards then. It – she – didn't just break that wizard, she also built him first. Go back further to when he was just a man and you'll find her there. Telling him about how to steal all the magic he wanted. How to make himself a god. If you do you'll find her or another version of her with another face, doing the exact same thing to all the other six wizards.”
Hendrick stared at his mother, wondering. Could she be right? She was smart – wickedly so – especially when it came to matters of power and position. But it still didn't make any sense. On the other hand, he noticed, everyone had stopped shouting. They were listening instead.
“Well, go on.” She stared at him and almost shooed him with her hands as she had when he was a boy. “Use your spell. Go further back. Find the wizard when he was a man, and see if you don't find her there too! Whispering in his ear!”
Hesitantly Hendrick did as she asked, following the ancient wizard back through his life, watching him as he grew smaller and smaller, presumably because the magic he had bound to him was less. It was difficult, mostly because he had no memories of that part of the wizard's life to guide him. He guessed that the only memories he had were the most powerful ones. The ones that had been with the wizard during his final moments. But still he managed it. And eventually he arrived at a time when the ancient wizard had just been a man. A normal man made of flesh and blood. And despite his doubts, Erohilm was there with him.
“Shite!” When he saw her there, living with the ancient wizard, helping him with his studies, being intimate with him, Hendrick didn't know quite what to think. Was his mother right? It seemed so. Erohilm had been there, helping him, encouraging him, whispering in his ear – literally. And it almost looked as though she had been the power behind the throne as they said. But what sort of person could spend years – decades – simply making a man into a terrifyingly powerful wizard, only to break him when the time was right, in order to start a war that would kill everyone?
“You see!” His mother told them quietly. “The power behind the throne. You looked at a giant metal wizard and thought – well, very little actually. But you didn't ask the obvious question. Why would any man do that to himself? And you didn't think of the obvious answer. Because there was a woman behind him, whispering in his ear.”
“Such simple creatures.” She shook her head as if saddened by it.
“Now go forward to the start of the war when the wizards were at their most powerful, and find one of the others. Any one – it doesn't matter. And then look for who was with him before everything went wrong.”
Hendrick did as his mother said, and quickly found the Crystallite wizard in his home. Then he back tracked to his last few hours before the end, and only stopped when he found someone else there. Another woman, Except that Hendrick had a sick feeling in his gut from the moment he saw her that she wasn't a different woman at all. She was also Erohilm, just wearing a different face. And when he followed her after she left the wizard and saw her also change shape and then vanish through a portal, he knew.
“Shite!” He cursed as he realised his mother was right. Others began cursing too as they realised the same thing. But it was still Vitanna's mist. And it still left one question he desperately needed an answer to/
“Why? Why destroy the world?”
“You're thinking too small Hendrick. But then most men do. It is a failing of your sex. You're thinking that Styrion – Malthas – was her target. It wasn't. It was just a piece of it.”
“A piece?” How could a world just be a piece of anything? It was the world! It was everything! He tried to explain that to her.
“And how many worlds have you been to with ancient temples on them? Six? Eight?”
Hendrick nodded.
“And all of them are dead?” His mother pressed the point.
“Yes.” Hendrick's throat suddenly went dry as he realised what she was saying, and not wanting to hear it. His mother though spelled it out,
“She destroyed them all. One. By. One. Styrion – Malthus – was just the one she destroyed most recently.”
“Erohilm or whatever her name is, is destroying the Empire. One world at a time.”
Naturally her words were greeted with denial. An angry outburst came first from the Mythagan who were already facing the terrible understanding that their precious holy woman wasn't what she had appeared to be, but also a Great Beast and destroyer of worlds. A destroyer of their worlds.
But the gifted were also objecting, simply because they couldn’t wrap
their heads around the idea of someone travelling from world to world and destroying them. Hendrick kept his silence. His mother could handle the disagreements herself. Besides, he simply didn't know what to say. Or to think.
“What, you thought it was natural that every five or fifteen hundred years another world in your Empire would be destroyed?!” The Lady held the floor when the objections finally died down. “That it was reasonable that so many worlds should be struck down by wars, plagues and natural disasters?! Who exactly do you think has been breathing Vitanna's mist?!”
“Of course it isn't natural! It isn't normal! It's war! And this is your enemy!” She pointed at the frozen image in front of them.
“Mother, how –?”
“How do I know all about the history the Mythagan have been keeping from us? Because I watch. And because I listen. And when one of the gifted returns from their time with our friends, I have people waiting to talk to them. People who have plenty of gold and who know what questions to ask.”