by Philip Blood
He continued, “Well, the Archimages were here when the universe began, and they have been affecting things since that time.”
I held up a warding finger, “Now, don’t go telling me the heads of your Houses are gods!”
“Well, no, they aren’t,” Hydan agreed.
“Good, for a minute there I thought you were going to go all religious on me.”
Myrka spoke up, “It depends on what you define as gods. They are the most powerful beings in the universe, they helped to create the races to which their house belongs and they do not age.”
I sighed, “Here we go. Look, if this is true, it is pretty impressive, but they aren’t omnipotent, are they?” I asked.
“No,” Hydan noted.
“And, are they immortal?” I prodded.
Toji answered, “They do not age, but at least one has been killed.”
I sat back, I hadn’t even realized I was up and kind of rigid with indignation, “Well, then they aren’t gods.”
“We are in agreement,” Hydan agreed. “But the surviving Archimages have been around since the beginning of time.”
“That’s poppycock,” I exclaimed, “more religious nonsense.”
He shrugged, “They were created when the universe came into being, though they were just entities back then, with a lot more power… still not the power of the Silent Mother, however.”
I held up a hand, “Enough of alien religion, I didn’t buy religions on Earth, and I’m not making any purchases today either, not with ten thousand different versions to choose from. Let’s talk about this Ascension Quest.”
Hydan shrugged, “All right, but it is all tied together.”
“Tell it to me without religious trappings,” I requested.
He frowned, and said, “This will be incomplete if I can’t talk about some of these things.”
“So be it,” I noted.
“Fine, the Ascension Quest is a battle between the Houses to become supreme, letting their Archimage ascend to supremacy over all others.”
I smiled, “There, that wasn’t so damned tough now, was it? It’s a freaking Archimage War!” I stated.
“Sort of, I suppose,” Hydan noted, “Though it is not an outright conflict, well, not all the time. But there is much more you would need to know!”
I yawned, “I’m sure there is a lot of ‘and god said this’ and ‘he had bob sacrifice a goat’, poor goat, or “and he bade Tobby to build a raft and put all the animals in a bottle’ crap, though he conveniently left out all the insects; who wants ants at the picnic anyway? It all really comes down to everybody is trying to kill everyone else and get to be chief honcho.”
“No, that is not true, the Friares…” Hydan started.
“Wait, Hydan, let me ask a simple question.”
“OK,” he replied.
“But not of you.” I turned to Myrka, “Is what the Friares believe true?”
“No, the Tarvos…”
“Shut up, Myrka,” I said, pleasantly, “And the same to you, Hydan. When you all agree on your facts, then you come talk to me. Until then, keep your various religious views out of my head, I’ve got enough in there already to make anyone sick to their stomach.”
I rolled over and went to sleep, muttering about Archimages and their damned Ascension Quest. I didn’t give a hoot about any of it, all I knew is their war had swept up an innocent little girl, named Ziny, and I was going to save her or die trying. No doubt there were many more who had been equally abused by all this nonsense, but Ziny’s innocent face is the one I saw in my dreams.
During my watch that night, I moved away from the others and then said, “Pox, are you listening?”
It took a few moments, and then Pox materialized. I saw it happen, this time, things seem to swirl together out of the air like blue particles assembling, and in a couple seconds they took on a general shape, and then solidified into the ugly details called Pox.
“I am here, Master!” he said with a wide grin which showed unspeakable bits of I-don’t-want-to-know-what between the teeth.
“Keep it down, the others are asleep.”
He nodded his noxious noggin.
“OK, so I’m headed to see my mother.”
He cocked his head to the side, “Your mother?”
“Yes, The White Enchantress.”
“And, how do you know she is your mother?” he asked.
“Do you know she’s not?” I demanded.
He tilted his head back and forth, as if considering options, and then said, “No, nor do I know she is your mother.”
“And, do you know who The White Enchantress is?” I asked.
“No.”
“So she could be my mother?” I pointed out.
He just shrugged, and then said, “I have heard she is a powerful sorceress, who does not brook outsiders within her demesnes.”
I thought about his statement and muttered, “Maybe Fiona knows who she really is.”
“That is a good possibility, she is an Albus, and they tend to have their fingers in a lot of pots,” he noted.
I decided to see if I could summon the sorceress and called out, “Fiona Albus? Can you hear me?”
I noticed Pox suddenly dissolve, and figured he didn’t need to be around for this and had left.
I called out again, “Fiona Albus?”
“Nicholas,” her melodic voice suddenly answered, and I could swear she was just behind me.
I wasn’t going to look, really, but I did anyway, spinning around hoping to see that gorgeous woman, but no one was there.
“Hey, Fiona, how goes?” I said conversationally.
“Where are you, Nick? I thought you were going to contact me at Ouroboros so I could join you there? How on Abal did you manage to get past Medrod’s army and into the town?”
I sighed, “Well, there was this trebuchet… and well, we weren’t there all that long.”
Her voice was puzzled, and she asked hesitantly, “So you met with your father?”
“Kind of, I met with Oberon, but he claimed he is not my father.”
“Really?” she replied, “Could he have been lying to you?”
I shook my head, but said, “No, I don’t think so.”
“My research showed you were a Third of your House, and there aren’t many Seconds left. Who do you think your father is then?”
I answered, “That’s the thing, I don’t really know, but I learned The White Enchantress is my mother, but no one knows who she really is, you wouldn’t happen to know, would you?”
“Not really, she could be one of several Sivaeral Seconds, though, so the rumors say.”
“I’ve heard that as well,” I agreed.
Fiona then asked, “And who told you The White Enchantress is your real mother?”
“Medrod,” I answered.
“MEDROD! You met with the resurrected wizard?”
“Sort of, yes, it was more of an interrogation, mine specifically, than a conversation, but I got him to tell me some things inadvertently while he thought he was grilling me for answers.”
Fiona was stunned to silence. Finally, she said, “But you escaped?”
“Only after he took Caliburn away from me, but yes.”
She paused, and then with even more surprise said, “You obtained Caliburn?”
“Sure, I got it from a Sivaeral Third, named Nimue, but she is going to be pissed when I don’t return it.”
But Fiona wasn’t interested in that, she said, “Is that the weapon you were talking about when we last talked?”
“Yes, but you sound surprised?”
“I thought you were making your own, with some knowledge you stole from The Dragon.”
“Oh, well, no, I don’t really remember what secret I stole from The Dragon yet, or much of anything from my past.”
She thought about my statement and then said, “I see. Well, if your memory starts to come back, you must tell me about what you stole immediately, so I can help you.
I have been very busy since we last talked; The Dragon has followed you to Abal.”
“I know; I ran into the ghost of a Dragon wizard and barely escaped the arrival of The Dragon at that same tower. But how do you know about the Dark One coming here?”
Her voice was very calm as she replied, “He attempted to kill me here in Poseidon.”
“No kidding, that wasn’t very neighborly of him,” I replied.
“Nick, you must not let The Dragon find you, no matter what. You stole something vitally important from him, something so important he has risked coming out of hiding to seek you on Abal. The Houses are starting to move, and things are beginning to simmer, on their way to a boil. Hunters from the other Houses may soon arrive on Abal. The Dragon would never have risked coming here with this much fanfare, if what you stole wasn’t incredibly important. Are you SURE you don’t remember anything?”
“No, not yet. Did you want to join us now?” I asked hesitantly. I found I really did want to see the sorceress in person again.
She hesitated, and then replied, “Yes, I miss you, Nick.”
My heart did flip-flops in my chest at her statement.
But she didn’t know about my heart gymnastics, so she continued talking, “…but it would be a bad idea. I think The Dragon’s eye is on me right now, and it is better if I keep him from finding you. I’ll lead him off on a false trail if I can. You should contact me later, after you have left the Ivory Castle, and I will try to join you if I feel I have eluded The Dragon’s spies. Until then, do not contact me like this again unless you are in great need, The Dragon might already have tracked you from this communication, let alone more. Be wary! If things become too difficult, you may want to abandon your attempts to reach The White Enchantress. There is an army besieging her castle; and if The Dragon comes…”
“Got it, the risk might not be worth the gain,” I agreed. “If I have to turn back, where can I find you?”
“Contact Pox, he can be our intermediary,” Fiona suggested. “Fare thee well, Nicholas.”
Then the cold wind stopped and I knew Fiona was gone.
There was a warm sensation in my body from talking to her, and I couldn’t help but picture her beautiful face, those shapely legs, the swell of her rounded… but my thoughts were interrupted when I thought I saw movement in the brush. I tried to move over casually to see what or who was out there watching, but they backed off. I soon returned to our campsite, all three of my companions were on their bedrolls.
I kept a sharp eye out, but nothing else seemed to move, so when it was Toji’s turn, I told him I might have seen movement, but couldn’t be sure, and to be on guard.
The following day we had to hide in the brush off the road three times as troops of soldiers passed us on the road. They were all double timing it toward the battle front ahead. Most of these were normal saerans, wearing the purple uniforms of the Island Witch’s army. There were a few necromages, but seldom more than one per troop. We could probably have taken any one of them, with three and a half mages against one necromage and mundanes, but someone might escape and alert people to our approach. It was better to remain undetected.
I was saddened to see the regular saeran folk fighting on the side of the Island Witch, but history has shown people can easily be swayed to an ideology if they think things will be better for them and their families. Some probably fought for other reasons, like money, while others were probably coerced by threats to their family or village or just physical harm.
But regardless of why, saerans were killing saerans all across this world, and had been for a long time now. From what I understood, the Archimage of Abal would have stopped this civil conflict, but I knew he was trapped by Morgain, locked away somewhere so his line didn’t end, but where he could do nothing to stop the Civil War on his planet.
But we were unlikely to find pitched battles or battlefields of the dead like we had seen before. This was a siege, and there wouldn’t be much more to see until we got close to the Ivory Castle.
We were in the foothills now, climbing constantly toward distant mountains. These weren’t the pyramid shaped mountains of typical Earth ranges; these were all made of some kind of stone. The bases had sloped shale, but then they reached mostly vertical slopes of smooth white stone which jutted up many thousands of feet to reach jagged tops.
“Now you know where these mountains get their name,” Toji noted.
“The Giant Teeth,” I said for him.
And when you really looked at the shape and white color of the mountains, it was no wonder they had that title.
Then I saw it, Ivory Castle.
“Holy mother of pearl,” I exclaimed, “It’s no WONDER this castle hasn’t fallen to the siege yet!”
Perched on one of the highest white teeth of the mountains, far from any other peak, was a very tall and intricately towered castle. It was made out of marble cut from the same white rock as the mountain peaks, but stood taller, with thin rounded spires upon spires, all reaching up high into the sky.
I could barely make out flying creatures swooping around the castle, but none of them got too close for some reason, so they could not drop anything on the castle, or attack any defenders who might be guarding the walls.
Hydan grinned like a tourist in Bermuda shorts looking at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris for the first time. He exclaimed, “That must be Ivory Castle.”
No one said anything, what else could it be?
That’s when I saw the army below; there were thousands of troops working like an army of ants. They were busy cutting a road up the slope, widening the smaller path which already led up toward the castle. They wanted to get it wide enough to allow more troops, and perhaps a battering ram, to reach the massive white gates of the castle high above.
I wished them luck and wondered how they were going to deal with the sheer cliff which led up to the gates. I could just make out a thin staircase, going up the white cliff in switchbacks toward the castle entrance. I guess they must have had a plan, but I couldn’t imagine them completing it for many years to come.
Our problem was simple, like Ouroboros, we needed to get past the troops, and into Ivory Castle, but this time there were no trebuchets capable of lobbing us over the wall. Ivory Castle was several thousand feet above the plain.
“Holy cat humping a mountain goat!” I said, looking at the impenetrable castle. “We are NEVER getting in there!”
Myrka pointed to the stairway climbing the white rock face, “If we can fight our way to the staircase, they cannot come at us in numbers. We can then hold them at bay as we ascend.”
I shook my head, “You want to attack the army, and then walk BACKWARDS up two thousand feet of switchback stairs while fighting an army two at a time?”
She just looked at me like I was the crazy one for not wanting to attempt such a plan.
“You know she has something there,” Hydan said.
Even Myrka was surprised by Hydan agreeing with her.
“Exsqueeze me?” I exclaimed.
Hydan was shading his eyes and looking at the stairs, “They are the only easy way up that face. I mean, we could cut our own way up another side, but we would be bound to be spotted by the army, and then attacked. However, if we were to go up the stairs with all the other soldiers...”
“What do you mean, with all the others soldiers?” I interrupted.
He answered patiently, “Well, take a look, there are soldiers using those stairs, they are just staying some distance from the top, where I would guess the defenders are, well, defending. But, up until that point, you can just walk up the stairs.”
“If you are part of their army,” I noted.
“Welcome to the Island Witch’s army,” Hydan said, and his clothing suddenly changed to their type of purple military uniform.
Myrka scoffed, “You wish to sneak in as spies?”
“Not spies, since we aren’t trying to learn anything, but sneak, yes,” he agreed. “Just remember, we are
going to have to reveal ourselves near the top, or The White Enchantress is not going to let us in, which means we will have to do some fighting at that point.”
Myrka looked back at the stairs for a moment, and then said, “As long as I get to kill some of the enemy, fine.”
“Like a little blood with your thirsty, Myrka?” I noted.
“They have taken Ziny,” she replied.
My eyes hardened, that hit me hard as well.
I turned to Hydan, “So what is the plan, slip in and join the other soldiers?”
He shrugged, “We could try that, but the first time we were challenged, and could not name our commander, then what? I have a much better idea.”
I scowled at him, “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
Hydan smiled, “If it helps, Toji is going to like it a whole lot less.”
Now it was Toji’s turn to frown.
I trudged up the road toward the base of the road construction ahead, moving through the workers and troops. I kept my head down, as a prisoner should. Shackled in front of me was a very disgruntled Toji, and behind me was Myrka. Walking alongside us with a whip in hand was Hydan. We were all in the Island Witch’s uniforms, though Myrka’s, Toji’s and mine were well soiled and torn while Hydan’s was crisp and neat, and he showed the insignia of a Captain.
“Who goes there!” a guard finally stated, lowering a spear into Hydan’s path as we tried to start working our way up the widened road leading up toward the stairs far above.
“Don’t point that spear at me, Sergeant!” Hydan exclaimed, “Or I will see it stuck so far up your ass you’ll see the point come out your head.”
“My orders are to keep all unessential personnel off the road, which includes any rank short of General. Who are these… soldiers?” he asked disdainfully, noting the poor state of our uniforms.
“Deserters!” Hydan exclaimed, “Sent by Medrod himself to man the top of the stairs as punishment.”
“What?” the guard exclaimed.
“You heard me! I was sent here via Traveling Star by Medrod’s personal necromage guard, with the express orders to bring these three to the top of the stairs; here, read this!”