by Joseph Lallo
“And the last option?” Myranda asked.
“Suffice it to say that the final option is mine to choose, not yours,” he stated ominously. “Now, since you've been informed of how to cooperate, I shall give you an opportunity to do so. I suggest you take it.”
He turned and marched off, leaving her in darkness once more. A short time later food and water were delivered to her. It was the same watery gruel she'd been served during her last detainment. Myranda considered foregoing the food, letting herself waste away rather than give them the power they wanted. There seemed no way out. Even if she were to release all of the strength she'd been able to keep from them at once, whatever spell she cast would be leached away to nothing by the overabundance of crystals before it could be of any use.
Myranda was languishing in despair as a form approached her. No light was brought along this time, the presence signaled only by the click of boots upon the floor. Something clattered to the floor just outside of the bars, and a creak followed. Slowly, a bluish light appeared in the heart of a gem that had thus far been hidden. It was affixed in the head of a halberd, and cast its light on the form of her father reclined in a chair that had been placed beside the cage. Once he saw the pained look of recognition come to her face, he let the light drop again.
“So we meet again, my dear,” he said.
“Why have you come? Do you plan to make another attempt at my mind?” Myranda asked weakly.
“Tempting, but no. Where is the challenge? Besides, I am still busying myself with your father's mind. We've been using him for quite a while, you know. Most of the nearmen fight using maneuvers plucked from his head. But until recently the facts of his life were of little interest. Quite the noble soul, your father, did you know that . . . “ Epidime began.
“Stop it!” Myranda cried. “Is this why you've come here, to torment me?”
“Partially. In truth, things have become painfully tiresome these past few days. With the Chosen all either dead or in custody and the end in sight, I find myself stricken with ennui. You've always been the most interesting to me, so I decided, while they are busy securing my next target for interrogation, I might have a word with you,” he said. “It might interest you to know that Lain has nearly escaped no less than three times since our little encounter in the valley.”
Myranda was silent.
“I believe we've worked out a way to keep him in line though . . . “ he remarked.
“You know . . . If my end has finally come, there is one good thing about it,” Myranda said. “You'll never get the chance to grasp at my mind again. I turned you away once, and you will never be able to redeem yourself. You will simply have to live with the defeat.”
“There, you see? Fascinating. The motivations behind such a statement are a delicious little puzzle. Was it simply out of malice? Are you trying to goad me into an attempt, or are you trying to trick me into releasing you?” Epidime replied. “Not that it matters, of course. I sincerely doubt your path ends here. You are the clever sort. That is why I like you. That boy of yours, on the other hand . . . “
“You leave Deacon out of this. He isn't Chosen!” Myranda said.
“I knew that he would get a rise out of you. Demont wants me to take a look through his head. The old beast wrangler seems to think there are some parlor tricks inside that we might use. I suppose I shall get to that. He could be interesting as well. After all, you seem to have grown rather attached, haven't you,” Epidime thought out loud.
“Why! Why do you do this? What do you get from torturing me?” Myranda cried.
“Why, to know, Myranda, to know,” he replied. “That is all there really is in the end, my dear. Knowledge. There is an awful lot of it, and there is always more to be had. That is why I agreed to come along with these fellows. They could take me elsewhere.”
“You aren't one of them? You aren’t a D'karon?” Myranda asked.
“Well, naturally I am a D'karon. I wouldn't be here yet if I wasn't. You see, I've noticed this about you and the others. You've incorrectly interpreted that word's meaning. I'll explain it to you one of these days. I'd explain it now, but it might give you some insight into something that it is in our best interests to keep hidden,” Epidime said. “But I digress, I do what I do because I wish to know things. Not trivial matters like the names of spies and the movement of troops and the sort of things I dig up for them. I live for skills, and techniques, and the nature of things. Look at emotion! I mean, love, happiness, joy. They are not without their allure, but in the end they are a bore. They just lead to more of the same. Things get really interesting when you start to unearth things like anger, jealously, sorrow, hate, worry, and lust! Once I set one of them churning about in your mind, you start to do things that don't even make sense to you. Things you don't want to do. Things that you know are wrong. How can you help but be fascinated in that? It is as though each one of you is not an individual, but a spectrum, a society, occupying a single body. I need to test these limits, to see how I can bring out the side that benefits me. The more I learn, the more I become convinced that, given time, a mere handful of careful manipulations could shape the whole of a world into any form you choose. I simply must try that, one of these days.”
“You are mad,” Myranda stated.
“Am I? Do you realize how simple it was to start this war? Do you even know how it really started?” Epidime asked.
Myranda was silent. A devilish grin came to Epidime's face.
“Oh . . . And I thought there wasn't a single way I could leave you in any more anguish than I had found you in,” he said. “Well, it is really a very short story. One hundred and fifty or so years ago things were going quite well for your little world. In fact, the King of Vulcrest was on the verge of hammering out a mutually beneficial agreement with Tressor. He was not at all well though. As you are quite aware, it is the tradition for the kings of the three northern kingdoms to be buried beneath the ground that they die upon. Thus, when the king suddenly became weak, he was pulled away from the bargaining table and rushed to a carriage, so that should he die, it would happen in the north. A faster carriage was waiting just on the other side of the border, and the king was being led to it when he collapsed. He was found just a few paces on the Tresson side of the border. The government of Vulcrest demanded that soil beneath their king be made a part of Vulcrest. The Tressons refused. And so it began. Most of your people do not even remember that simple tale, but there is a bit that no one knew. I was the king's aide. Bagu was the driver of the first carriage, and Teht the driver of the second. Members of the D’karon were the only ones that witnessed his death… He died on his own side of the border, but that is not where he was found. Oh, we didn't kill him. His own failing health did that. All we did was move him. And that was all it took. One hundred and fifty years of war only required me to move him a few paces.”
Myranda dove at him, stretching the chains to their limit and struggling weakly against them.
“You monster! You MONSTER! All of those years. All of those LIVES!” she cried in a frenzy.
Epidime rose, taking his seat with him, and left the enraged girl to her outburst. She strained at her bonds until her strength gave out. With the crystals eating at her, it didn't take long. As she became still, the hopelessness and pointlessness of it all consumed her mind. Nothing mattered. She hadn't the strength to save herself, let alone the others. And even if she could, what was the point? Any world that could plunge itself into a generations old war on such trivial pretext, and allow itself to forget why it fought, scarcely deserved to survive. All she wanted was for death to claim her. For the final darkness to creep over her and take the weight from her shoulders.
Amid the darkness of her mind, a tiny part of her resisted. Some insignificant corner of her soul scratched and dug at her memories, desperate to find something to draw her from the abyss. The events of the valley battle faded briefly into her mind. One of the last things she'd seen was Deacon being hauled thr
ough the portal. He was alive then. Epidime indicated he still was. At the same time, her own father was at the mercy of Epidime, enduring a torture she herself had only narrowly been able to avoid. The two men that she loved most were both in the clutches of the D'karon, and it was no one's fault but her own. Finally she understood why the heroes of legend were meant to be solitary. It was to shield others from this hell. To spare those not burdened by divine mandate the wrath of the enemy.
That was why she had to fight. She could not let them pay the price. She had to do something. Something that could cripple the D'karon as they had crippled the Chosen. Saving the world seemed hopeless now, but saving the two people in it who meant the most, or at least avenging them? She had to try.
Slowly a plan formed. She tested the crystals, seeing how much they could draw from her, and how quickly. Carefully she practiced isolating just one gem. With purpose behind her actions, the time began to pass more quickly. She choked down what they offered in the way of food. If this was going to work, she would need every ounce of strength she could muster. When one crystal was filled almost completely, she choked off the flow of magic and held it there. It wasn't long before Bagu reappeared. He cautiously surveyed the room.
“I must say, you've managed to confuse the nearmen. And I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least a bit curious about what it is you think you are doing,” Bagu remarked.
“I know myself rather well, General. I know how much strength I should have by now, which means I know how much I've given you. It is quite a bit,” Myranda said, her words delivered carefully lest she allow her focus to falter.
“Hardly. It is the merest trifle when compared to the amount we've been able to draw from Ether and Ivy. You can be pleased, I suppose, that Lain has been less productive than you,” the General mocked.
“Is that so . . . Well then, I suppose I shall simply need to try harder,” Myranda said.
Instantly she reversed the efforts of her mind. She forced her strength to the surface and into the single gem. The studs in the shackles took on a blinding blue-white glow, some of them bursting. The main gem swiftly took on a similar glow. Cracks of more brilliant light ran across its surface. General Bagu realized what Myranda was attempting and turned to force the gem from its stand, but it was too late. The flood of power was too much for the larger gem, and before he could tear it free, it burst.
The blast was intense, hurling Myranda against the bars of the cage and peppering her with broken shards of crystal. It brought with it a tremendous, sharp clap, like a dozen thunderbolts at once. The flash of light robbed Myranda of her vision and her ears rang and whistled. As her vision slowly began to return, it revealed a surreal sight. The largest of the crystal shards were embedded deep in the walls, creating a fading galaxy of light blue embers all around her. The chain that had been attached to the crystal's pedestal was bent and twisted in the bars nearest to the blast. The bars themselves were bent slightly inward by the collision.
Myranda rose painfully to her feet, brushing away the shards that had found their way to her flesh and limping to the damaged bars to test their strength. With one of the gems destroyed, the end of the chain formerly linked to it was loose, completely freeing one of her arms. One by one she investigated the bars until she found one that was slightly loosened. She began to twist and pull at it when motion caught her eye. A form, as embedded with crystals as the wall, was moving toward her. With an inhuman growl, a hand reached through the bars and grabbed a hold of her, yanking her to the limit of the chains that still held. Myranda could hear the joints of her still restrained arm popping, and the feeling of the half healed arrow wound opening again made her cry out in pain.
“Congratulations . . . “ came Bagu's voice from the darkness, saturated with hatred. “You've earned the third option.”
Dozens of nearmen bearing lanterns and torches flooded the room, finally shedding light on the destruction. A large portion of the wall behind the crystal had been obliterated, and of the other three crystals only one was still intact. Bagu himself was oozing black blood from a dozen wounds torn by pieces of crystal. Half of his face was an unrecognizable mass of ruined flesh. With his free hand he bashed at the bars. Despite a build that seemed at best average, Bagu's attack was enough to rend the metal bars from ceiling and floor alike. As the nearmen clambered to undo the shackles, he barked orders at them.
“Make the necessary preparations. Tonight there shall be a show,” he growled.
With that he placed a hand on Myranda's head, his will driving the young wizard back into unconsciousness. When she awakened she was falling through the air, deafening cheers in her ears. She landed painfully on the dusty ground, her twisted joints, skewered arm, and perforated skin all making their presence known once more. After struggling to her feet, Myranda's blurred vision began to clear. She was in the middle of a large, dirt covered field. A high stone wall surrounded her. There were doors large enough to pass a carriage through with room to spare at opposite ends of the courtyard. At the top of the wall were downward pointing spikes. Beyond them was row after row of soldiers, weapons in their hands and murder in their eyes. Those nearest to the wall were in full armor, faces hidden behind the face guards. No doubt they were nearmen. Here and there, slung between spikes, was a large example of the storage crystals.
The wizard must have spent some time away from the parasitic gems, as a fair amount of her strength had returned to her. Quickly as she could, to avoid feeding the thirst of the crystals for any longer that was necessary, she healed the more grievous of her wounds. The white cloak she had worn was missing, leaving her only with her thin, hardly adequate tunic. Around one wrist was a shackle, its lock apparently twisted beyond opening by the blast that had earned her this fate. A short length of chain hung from it. An icy wind blew as the setting sun heralded the beginning of a long, cold night. The breeze chilled her, but what chilled her more were the deep furrows and crimson stains that littered the courtyard. There was little question what this place was, and even less question as to why she'd been brought here.
“Myranda Celeste!” came a booming voice from high in the stands surrounding the arena.
Her eyes shifted to the source, though the voice was unmistakable. General Bagu stood upon a balcony isolated from the crowd. Half of his face was a mass of black scars, a smooth black orb where his right eye should be. For a moment, Myranda questioned why he'd not healed himself. Could it be that they were especially vulnerable to their own magic? His thundering voice shattered her thoughts.
“You have been judged guilty of the crime of treason. You have fought against the soldiers of your homeland, and you are responsible for the deaths of two of the Generals of the great Northern Alliance,” he proclaimed, the crowd screaming for blood. “The penalty is death. However, though we value justice, we value strength still higher. You shall be subjected to trial by battle. If you prove yourself greater than any challenge we can put before you, you shall be allowed to live. Do you have anything to say before the trial begins?”
Myranda's eyes swept over the crowd. The hate they felt for her was palpable. She looked again to Bagu. To one side was Demont, a somewhat impatient look upon his face. Her own father, still clutching the halberd that inflicted Epidime upon him, stood to the other side.
“I have committed no treason. To commit treason, one must injure one's own nation, and I have none. The Northern Alliance is an army, and nothing more. A means to prolong a war. If I must die for resisting that, then so be it,” she replied.
“So be it indeed. Let the trial begin!” Bagu decreed.
The doors at one end of the arena were thrown wide and a pair of the beasts Myranda had faced when she first encountered Bagu were released into the arena. Vast, gray approximations of wolves with stiff, stony hides covered in needle-sharp rocky spines, the beasts circled around her. Myranda looked quickly about. There was nothing. Not a weapon. Not a piece of cover. Magic was her only recourse.
S
he rushed to the wall, as far between the crystals as she could manage. Gathering her mind, she waited as the beasts circled together and charged at her. In a swift, monumental thrust of her mind, she wrenched one of the creatures into the air, one of Deacon's tricks. The heavy creature's momentum carried it into the wall behind her with a sickening crack. There was a rain of the spines that protruded from the creature's back as the beast dropped to the ground to struggle a few last times. After a final twitch, the beast crumbled into a pile of spikes and stones. Myranda attempted to repeat the attack on the other creature. She managed to get it off of the ground, but the draw of the crystals robbed the spell of the strength it needed, sending the beast tumbling to the ground.
Myranda tried to gather herself for another attack, but the crystals drank everything she had before it could be put to purpose. It was as though the gems were able to attune themselves to her magic, something that they had never done before. There was no time for her to ponder this new discovery, however, as the creature had rolled to a stop and was struggling to get back to its feet. Running was useless, as it would quickly overtake her. With no other options, she ran toward the beast. Just as it got to its feet, Myranda jumped to the creature's neck, slashing one of her legs on one of the few spikes that was intact after the tumble. She whipped the chain dangling from her wrist over the creature's neck and pulled it taught.
The wolf bucked, tossing her about like a rag doll, but Myranda held firm. Alas, while it could not throw her from its back, neither did the chain do even the slightest damage. Desperate, and knowing that if she were thrown free it would be the end of her, Myranda raised her hand and summoned a bolt of black magic. The bluish black ball of crackling energy struck the beast on the head, bringing a sudden and complete end to its rampage. As it slid to a halt, Myranda dismounted. The lingering aftermath of the attack was quickly drawn into the nearest crystal. Already it had taken on a discernible glow, and the others were not far behind. Myranda shook with anger. It was brilliant, in a terrible, sinister way. They had found a way to turn any outcome to their favor. If she fought, they would have her strength. If she didn't, they would have her life. As the doors began to creak open again, Myranda thought feverishly. There had to be a way out of this.