Torr nodded at the resolve he saw in the man's eyes. His axe came crashing down before Gadtor had chance to even flinch, he felt a sudden lightness as he leapt clear of the sweeping axe. He had been expecting resistance where there hadn't been any, the weapon had cleaved their imprisonment apart.
He looked over in astonishment at the severed manacle and attached block, the axe had cut through both with a clean slice leaving two separate halves lying in the sand.
Thom stood together with his new ally, a strange light emanating from him as Torr clasped his arm.
Gadtor looked on in bafflement, was this some kind of ritual to sanctify their alliance? It looked more like a transferral of power, leaving him with no clue of what would happen to him next.
The grip was finally relinquished and a predatory smile broke out on Thom's face. 'I shall return upon first light, I may take a few liberties with this at first.'
A cloud of sand buffeted him, forcing him to close his eyes. He peered out over a raised arm as it settled, Thom had vanished.
121
Jakob
He awoke to the sight of clouds passing by, the wind had picked up and the morning sky indicated that he had been asleep for some time. After recent events only now did he realise how badly he must have needed it, his mind felt sharper and clearer than before thanks to the rest and somehow that offered him more control over what was essentially another form of captivity, albeit a more civil kind.
He picked himself up from the deck of the craft and stared up at Gooseman, the man had his eyes shut and there was a faint muttering under his breath that Jakob couldn't catch. There was no doubt in his mind that they were moving much faster than before, had something changed to make the man feel they needed to arrive at Levanin sooner?
As if sensing Jakob's wakefulness, Gooseman opened his eyes and the boat slowed a fraction. 'Good morning,' he said. 'I would offer you some breakfast but unless you've developed a sudden taste for wood splinters there's not much to chew on until we reach the capital.'
Jakob didn't feel all that hungry anyway, he was too wrapped up in trying not to give in to the temptation and shove the man overboard. He had realised the futility of that thought a hundred times over and it was one of the few things keeping him inactive. If he killed Gooseman now he was surely taking his own life, suspended as he was high above the world with no food or water.
Was Gooseman right about him? Was his affliction a disease of the mind rather than the command of the greater power? It certainly sounded more plausible but in the cold light of day his rested mind was more sceptical of the explanation, perhaps their arrival at the capital would yield more information.
'The urge is growing,' Jakob admitted. 'How long until we can reach Levanin?'
The innkeeper looked out at the sky as if judging the distances, Jakob wasn't sure how but given the man's unexplained powers he wasn't surprised.
'If I focus and push myself this craft can reach the capital before nightfall, it would be most taxing for me to do so and I cannot risk being at the mercy of your more murderous impulses. If I remain here and do not stretch the limits of my endurance we will arrive tomorrow morning.'
Jakob nodded, it was sensible enough to remain wary of your sole companion eyeing you with a growing urge to kill. He just hoped that Gooseman's decision to go slower when Jakob was conscious did not result in him losing control anyway. Thanks to the response he knew how this odd vessel was operated but he couldn't take the chance that he'd discover exactly how to apply that knowledge. He also realised that Gooseman would never tell him for fear that he would commandeer it for his own purposes and dispose of the man.
He peered over the edge of the boat into the clouds below him, it was an enormous drop to the bottom, he couldn't see any mountain peaks poking through the thick fields of white so the land below was largely flat.
The thought struck him so swiftly that it caused him to wince, how could he know that the mountains could extend through the clouds? He had never been at this altitude before and Daelovia was a largely flat province beyond the city walls. A pain surged through his head, why did he know the word altitude? Where on earth could he have learnt such a term? He fell back into the boat, his head splitting with pain. Earth. His planet, his home, the bridge, the desperate flights in the numerous planes over the years. It all washed over him with a strange mixture of alienation and familiarity, part of him embraced these strange thoughts like a dying man clinging to a machine. A machine? There were no machines in this world, machines had not been invented yet. Why did he then know the word machine or what it was?
The boat had stopped entirely and Gooseman had propped him up to the side with a worried expression on his face.
'What's happened to you? What's going on in there? Speak to me!'
Jakob could not find the words, they continued to elude him as they were torn away by the onslaught of imagery. His life now danced before his eyes, the life he had never had here. It was elsewhere, some strange and distant land where he had also lived, it was invading his mind in such a pervasive fashion that he was tempted to stop fighting the pain and welcome it in.
'Listen to me Jakob, you cannot let the thoughts take control, you cannot let them win you over.' Gooseman's muffled voice came from a great distance, the urgency preventing it from being swept away like everything else.
'You must focus on me, focus on this craft and the skies above us. Look at me!'
He vaguely felt the jerking back and forth as he was shaken wildly by the other man in an attempt to bring him back.
'This is a symptom of the disease, you are hallucinating and feverish and if you don't retreat right now we will lose you completely.'
Jakob blinked. The disease. Could all these images be the result of his grip on sanity deteriorating? He struck the deck of the boat with his hand as violently as he could, causing Gooseman to back away for fear that his murderous tendencies had asserted themselves. Again he hammered it down, as if each blow was bringing clarity to his world through the reality of the pain he felt. He felt a cracking sound as a bone in his hand fractured under the impact, it was enough to send the images scurrying away to be replaced with pain.
He gripped his fist and howled at the sky in frustration, why must his own mind be compromised? Better his body be broken than his head, if that was the sacrifice it took to restore his sanity then he'd break every bone in his body. An injured hand was a small price to pay.
He peered over the edge of the boat then, the urge to fall from this land and into the clouds was rising. Silently he retreated from the sight and closed his eyes, letting out an exhalation to steady himself.
'We need to get to Levanin soon before it's too late.'
Gooseman nodded and closed his eyes, the boat speeding across the sky toward the capital and the ending of Jakob's journey, one way or the other.
122
Alissandra
It had been precisely one day since Alissandra had offered the girl sanctuary from El-Vador. She had sent Eli to convey the news and had patiently waited for the eruption that would incriminate him further. For reasons unknown it was still forthcoming, leaving her with little to do but take care of the child and ponder over his delay.
She had posted a scout upon El-Vador's domain since sending the message, knowing that they would be entirely visible to one such as he. This did not concern her, she only desired to know precisely when he was arriving so that she could be properly prepared. There were few in this realm who could protect her from the likes of him but she had enlisted the aid of one particularly powerful individual after hearing of the girl's plight.
Having spent the day consoling Ella she had grown weary of her presence and had sent her to this protector for safe-keeping. Let El-Vador come and find her house empty of that he desired, she had plans to turn his eyes in an entirely different direction.
He arrived eventually in as angry a mood as she had ever seen him, he had left Eli in tears and torn the chamber d
oors off their hinges. She supposed that such actions were meant to be threatening, that she should be struck down with fear and beg to make amends. She felt no such thing and saw the tantrum for what it was, someone who had been in control of everything so long that they couldn't stand having it taken away.
'What have you done to her?' he demanded, his voice already raised as he came to a halt at the foot of her divan, uncomfortably close.
'My good man, I am so pleased that you could finally deign to make an appearance, I was beginning to think you had spurned my invitation.'
Seeing that the show of temper was getting him nowhere, the Elf adjusted his tactics accordingly. Alissandra had suspected that it had all been an act for someone's benefit, now that it served no purpose in its place was another mask.
'And so the bloated spider strays from the web she has cast out over the world to pick at this juiciest of morsels. Pray tell, my arachnid friend, what interests you so about my newest companion? Is it a hint of jealousy I see behind those piggish eyes of yours? Or is there a darker set of machinations playing behind your every act?'
She allowed herself no reaction to the insults, merely smiling back at him as if he had shared a faintly amusing anecdote. 'You should know by now that what a spider wants, it gets. When the purpose of its desires has been served it is devoured and thought of no more. Is it truly fear that has brought you here? Or have the ramifications of my assertion into your domain piqued your interest?'
It was a dangerous game she was playing, his face was set in regimental mild amusement so that she could not perceive his true reception of her words.
'Interest is as interest does, an impasse has been reached already and while none of my suspicions have received confirmation your ways lead me to believe that the girl is endangered. Where have you hidden her so that I may recover her with a minimum of force? You cannot keep her from me, even your stubbornness must yield to that knowledge.'
She stretched out her limbs and stifled a yawn. 'I am merely a protector of an innocent life, she came to me of her own accord in floods of tears and informed me of your barbaric treatment of her. It would be unconscionable of me to allow you to invade her presence once again.'
El-Vador's mouth twisted slightly in what she thought was an approximation of a smile, often his gestures seemed too subtle for even her to penetrate, perhaps this was his way of leading her astray.
'You may not admit it but your game is entirely transparent to one such as I, which suggests that you already know this and have concocted this method of control over the girl for other reasons. Allow me to be blunt and follow on an assumption, your attempts to drive a wedge between us to prove your undying love of me will not win me over.'
Alissandra shrugged, forcing herself to project the belief she uttered with complete sincerity. 'I did not alter Ella's thought in any way, she has merely witnessed the monster underneath the airs and graces. Her reaction to you is one that has been brought about by your own unveiling, I am merely a protector in spite of my past.' She leaned forward now, driving the point home. 'Ah but we know of your past all too well, do we not? We know what you are capable of doing and the creature you can transform into at a moment's notice, your past attests to that in ways I can barely fathom. I did though, sweet El-Vador, I have fathomed them in these languid hours.'
He stood silently, letting her speak at length and anticipating the speech she had long wished to deliver.
'You may be enigmatic to those precious few that know of your existence, those same few you keep at a distance for fear of their discovering who you are. What of those you have shared a past with that still live? What of those who are not commemorated by the crumbling ruins that you provide pilgrimage to? Those whose life force still courses through them unabated by the passage of time? Do you shut them out forever?'
She waited then for a response, there had been no pretence in the words she had spoken and it had been so long since she had afforded herself the opportunity to be truly honest.
He remained silent, looking at her through his mask with those eyes she could drown in. She knew she needed to say more to him.
'I am still here, my sweet man. I still care for you as much as anyone ever did throughout the annals of time. One such as her cannot divine the depths to which I have sunk in order to swim to your shores, the degrees of madness that I contemplated as I proved myself of worth to you time and time again. She need not suffer the same fate as I, let her go and relinquish this search for another. I remain here waiting for you.'
There was nothing left, nothing she could give to him any further that would not be an endless regurgitation of words and thoughts she had already pelted his walls with.
He smiled at her, she felt no warmth though. A strange constriction came over her heart in the cold stillness of the room as his mocking eyes perused her loathsome form distastefully.
'Bloated spider, you may spin your cruel webs throughout this land. I will not heed you any further, my lesson has long been learned and to me you are but a curiosity. It is rare that such a one filled to the core with hate and malice can spring forth from such infertile times as these. To encourage such a situation with my own life force is what fascinates me about you. I do not care for you, my sweetest Alissandra, I have never considered those feelings you harbour for me to be anything but a tool. An emotional construct through which I can manipulate you into becoming a being of both such malice yet utility that you would harken back to my earlier times and provide me with reminiscence of dictators long passed.'
He drew his sword, it was only then that she realised that he had come armed. Through the remnants of her blurred vision she watched as he approached the divan for the inevitable execution. She welcomed it, a release from the abysmal failure of her every attempt to capture his affections, feelings which she knew he once possessed no matter what hurtful things he may goad her with.
She watched him raise the blade high over his head and prepare to drive it down upon her bosom, making no attempt to evade it or resist him. Her monumental task had staggered to a halt, with Ella at his side she was unable to prevent his fleeting fond thoughts of her to subside into nothingness.
'Stay this foolishness!' a voice roared into the room, her fears suddenly swept over her at the tone of command.
Emperor Veran strode into the sanctum with Ella at his side and a hand on the hilt of his ceremonial blade. His domineering presence changed the entire atmosphere, here was the one man that El-Vador would listen to. She quietly hoped that for once her former lover wouldn't heed his calls, that he would strike swiftly and impale her upon his blade.
'Sheath your weapon lest I remove it from you myself,' the Emperor said, walking straight up to El-Vador without a hint of trepidation.
Alissandra watched as the blade hovered, wavering in a miasma of tangled thoughts and impulses, then sighed as El-Vador was brought to heel and relinquished his opportunity to land a killing blow.
'The fair lady that is the source of your conflict has informed me of the problems you have caused her, she is a subject of my Empire and as such will not be harmed by either of you without my express permission. I have sensed both of your games, your petty power struggle was long beneath my attentions but of late it has affected your duties to me.' His voice rose up a scale and Alissandra winced, it did not bode well to disappoint the Emperor.
'From this moment forth she will report to me on a weekly basis, she will inform me of the progress of her tuition and her general well-being. Should I find that either of you had been neglectful in these areas or altered her thoughts in any way there will be repercussions.'
She didn't need to ask what, the man was a law unto himself and had the full might of the entire civilised world behind him. It wasn't worth risking the conflict over one life.
Seeing the understanding clear upon both their faces, Veran swept his gaze over them meaningfully and didn't wait for a response. 'You may return to your tasks, I will be expecting reports from bot
h of you soon.'
As soon as the Emperor departed, El-Vador followed suit. He did not look at either of the women as he left the room and gave no indication that Ella should follow.
This left Alissandra alone with the girl once more, it was a risk she couldn't help but take.
Emperor Veran wanted them to be honest with the girl. She could do that, oh yes, she could do that.
123
Ella
Ella sat in the room with this strange woman that she no longer knew and pondered over how much of what had she had been told was falsehood.
'You see the Emperor as a kindly man that has extricated you from a most perilous web of deceit between two forces who should know better. I want you to know that if this kindly façade was a reality he would not hold his position of power for long. I speak to you now out of necessity as Veran is a man prone to acting swiftly should things not turn out immediately in his favour. Ask any question you wish and I shall answer truthfully.'
There was a faint tremor of fear in the woman's voice, one that Ella barely detected. She knew that there was far more to the Emperor than her first impressions suggested, Alissandra seemed compelled to supply the truth.
'It may seem childish to one such as you, even stupid. I need to know, does he want me?'
The woman shrugged at her. 'Want is a difficult word, I have known the man a great number of years and have seen desire in his eyes. I saw nothing of that when he looked upon you moments ago.'
Ella's heart sank, she should have suspected as much for hoping that in his difference El-Vador would forgo the ideals she had seen embodied in every human so far.
Except Jakob. Jakob had seemed different too. The thought niggled at her, oddly out of place in this white city of the sky.
'So his passion is not stirred from a desire of me but of the act itself, I merely facilitated him. It has cost me dearly in that now a second life must be harmed by his malcontent.'
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