The Sons of Animus Letum

by Andrew Whittle

  Adara had been captured.

  Two Scale members had apprehended her and were holding their daggers poised to her neck. The Scale also seemed to be aware that Odin was coming. They stood behind Adara, screaming threats down the dark tunnel.

  “Son of Serich,” they wailed as they held their daggers to her neck, “Cease your madness or we will embark on our own.”

  Unfortunately for the Scale, Odin was in no mood for negotiation. As his electric blue eyes emerged into the stone courtyard, he leapt powerfully off the top of the stairwell and began to descend on Adara’s captors. Before the two Scale even had a chance to react, Odin soared over Adara’s head and crashed his knees heavily into the two Scale’s skulls.

  The Scale were instantly dead.

  The attack was so quick that even Adara hadn’t processed what had happened. As Odin began an urgent survey of the stone courtyard, she seemed in a daze.

  “Where is the R?” Odin asked. “I don’t see an R.”

  Adara shook her head to snap herself out of her stupor.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “There are literally hundreds of LYRAN paths. I have never taken this one.”

  The great dilemma of the stone courtyard was that there was a stairwell at each of its corners. Omitting the tunnel they had arrived in, there were three viable paths. In addition, there was extensive graffiti plastered on the wall. There were phrases and symbols, but, to Odin’s chagrin, no obvious R.

  Odin turned to the girls. “Have you taken this path?” he asked.

  The girls shook their heads.

  “Okay,” Odin said, “everyone look for an R. We must be very quick,”

  Adara and the girls instantly undertook the assignment. As they scanned, Odin instinctively checked the four stairwells. If one thing had been made clear during his time in the afterlife, it was that danger was always close. As Odin alternated between scouting and searching for the code, it became apparent that the R was expertly hidden. The code could only be found with a creative eye. So, with an abstract eye, Odin made a repeat survey of the walls, but as the fruitless search continued, the sound of numerous footsteps began to echo from two of the corner corridors. Odin knew, and feared, that if the Vayne or Scale converged into the courtyard from multiple angles, he, Adara, and the girls were as good as dead. But then, as shadows began to move down the two corridors, Adara pointed to one of the stairwells in revelation.

  “There!” she alerted.

  Odin followed her eyes, and after he saw a question painted next to the stairwell he understood.

  The question was “Are we doomed?” but the word Are was painted in blue. As Adara looked to Odin for consensus, Odin knew he needed to make a quick ruling.

  It was their best chance.

  “That’s got to be it,” he said. “Let’s go!”

  With the Vayne still seconds behind them, Adara and Odin each grabbed a girl and sped up the stairwell. It seemed that they would escape undetected. However, as they fled from the stone courtyard, the scroll Azean had given Adara jostled out from under her clothes and fell down a crack in the stairwell.

  Adara was instantly aware.

  “Dammit!” she cursed. “Odin! I need to go back!”

  “No!” Odin yelled. “It’s too late!”

  “You don’t understand!” Adara cried. “I need that scroll!”

  Odin tried to argue, but Adara had made up her mind. She quickly put down the girl she was carrying and dashed back into the courtyard. As she reached the stairwell, she immediately identified the narrow crack the parchment had fallen through. In a desperate attempt to retrieve the scroll, Adara knelt down and stabbed her arm repeatedly into the crevice. Each attempt failed – the parchment was just out of her reach. As the seconds passed in her futile attempt to claim it, the Vayne had grown dangerously close.

  As Odin watched Adara’s frantic efforts, he knew the parchment had to be important. But regardless of its worth, Adara was risking a great deal to retrieve it.

  “Adara!” he finally yelled. “There is no time! Let it go!”

  “I almost have it!” Adara yelled back. “Two more seconds!”

  Odin had to refuse.

  As Adara tried again to claim the scroll, Odin grabbed her by the arm and lifted her sternly to her feet.

  “We have a priority,” he said as he motioned to the girls. “Azean’s actions will not be in vain.”

  Adara was compelled to argue, but as she looked on Azean’s daughters, she knew Odin was right. After a conceding nod, she abandoned the scroll and began to follow Odin out of the courtyard. As she fled, Adara took a fleeting look back in an attempt to make a mental map of the parchment’s location. The moment she glanced back, her emerald eyes immediately locked onto the yellow eyes of Forneus’s hunters.

  “No!” she shrieked to Odin. “They saw us!”

  “How many?” Odin yelled back.

  “At least twenty!”

  There was only one option.

  “Run!” Odin ordered.

  With the Vayne close on their trail, Odin and Adara tore desperately down the corridor. The laneway was short and narrow, and as Odin and Adara reached its end, they spilled out into a massive garden. There were dozens of towering statues and fountains that, even after being left untended for years, granted the court an impressive royal class.

  As Odin and Adara pushed into the garden’s center, Adara realized she had been there before.

  “I know this place,” she said into Odin’s mind. “There are other LYRAN paths that converge here.”

  “Do you know where the A is?” Odin yelled.

  Adara nodded. “The statue of your mother points to it! Look for her! She will be holding a purple staff!”

  Odin understood, and as he sprinted through the massive garden, his eyes scavenged the stone structures for his queen mother. As Odin intently surveyed the garden, he realized that there were too many statues to inspect. The layout of the garden was a maze of stone and earth, and nearly every path looked like the one before it.

  “Adara!” he finally yelled. “I can’t lead! This place is a labyrinth!”

  Within the vast garden, Adara’s past experience would prove timely.

  “Follow me!” she instructed. “I know where to go!”

  Adara bolted ahead, and as she led Odin through the myriad of massive statues, the trailing Vayne began to fall further into the distance. After five sequential turns, Adara pointed to a statue and allowed her voice to echo in Odin’s head.

  “That’s it!” she said.

  The statue was of Rhea, and the purple staff in her hand pointed directly to an A-shaped archway. With the entirety of the Vayne left searching the garden, Adara led Odin under the arch and down into a wide laneway. As they ran, Odin noted the Vayne’s failed search, and after angling himself, the girls, and Adara into the roadway’s shadow, he allowed himself to decelerate into a jog.

  “Is the N close?” he asked.

  “Very,” Adara replied as she put Azean’s daughter down.

  After a deep breath, she nodded to a broken-down building at the end of the road. The building had barn-style doors, and the white wood panelling on the doors formed a perfect N.

  Odin and Adara continued to use the shadows as their ally, and after a short run, they arrived at the barn doors. Once Adara had confirmed that there were no Scale or Vayne on the roadway, she knocked her fist into the door in a specific rhythm. Almost immediately, a slot opened on the door, revealing the studying eyes of a guard on the other side.

  “Twice down?” the guard asked.

  “Thrice up,” Adara replied.

  “It appears that you have company,” the guard said.

  Although it was protocol, Adara became instantly irritated with the guard’s questions.

  “For god sakes, Dahnus, Azean’s daughters are out here. Open the god-damned door.”

  After a small moment of silence, the slot closed and the barn doors separated enough for entry.

/>   Odin allowed the girls and Adara to enter, and after a making a final survey of Animus Letum’s barren streets, he stepped through the doors and entered into V’s inner sanctum.

  43

  After Odin had entered through the barn doors, Adara and the girls began to lead him deeper into the structure. However, as Odin tried to follow, he was immediately confronted by four armed guards. As the guards drew their weapons on him, Odin quickly raised his hands in a sign of goodwill.

  Though he had expressed his passivity, Odin’s eyes had instantly earned the guard’s contempt.

  “Blue is quite a colour to be walking around with,” the lead guard Dahnus said. “What magic is this? You mock our kings?”

  “There is no magic,” Adara promised. “I assure you. These blue eyes were inherited.”

  Dahnus and his troop were not convinced. As they continued to hold their weapons against Odin, Adara’s tone took a drastic change.

  “Gentleman, if you truly do serve the Lyran house, a bow would be much more appropriate than a brawl. And frankly, after seeing him in action, a bow would be the wiser choice.”

  Dahnus looked Adara over and then returned his examining eyes to Odin.

  “If you truly are a Serich Son,” he said, “then you should have no difficulty with this.”

  Wildly, Dahnus threw his fist at Odin’s jaw. As Odin managed instinctively to weave away from the assault, the other three guards began to attack. The guards were considerably weaker opponents than the Vayne, and with non-lethal force, Odin resolved the conflict in a matter of seconds. Three of the guards were sprawled on the floor, and Dahnus was pinned against the wall with one of Odin’s daggers.

  Although humiliated, Dahnus voiced his judgment.

  “A Serich Son you are,” he decreed.

  Adara shook her head.

  “You’re wasting our time Dahnus. Just give us a torch so we can get to V.”

  After Dahnus unpinned himself from the wall, he handed the dagger back to Odin and handed Adara one of the many lit torches that were mounted behind him.

  “I trust you know the way.”

  “I do,” Adara affirmed. “However, I require a favour from one of your guards.”

  “What favour?” Dahnus asked.

  “Azean’s daughters need an escort. Their mother lives in the south district, and Odin and I are headed to the east.”

  “As you wish,” Dahnus consented.

  With a wave of his hand, he nominated one of his underlings, and shortly after, the guard led Azean’s daughters down a dark tunnel that went to the south.

  There were three tunnels inside the barn. The tunnels were narrow, allowing for no more than three people at a time, and each one of them was drowned in darkness.

  As Odin eyed the three burrows, Adara reached for his arm, and with torch in hand, she began to lead him down the eastern tunnel.

  “You better brush up on those skills,” she called back to Dahnus. “They may matter someday.”

  “I was beaten by a Lyran!” Dahnus said in excuse. “There’s no shame in that!”

  As Adara’s laugh echoed back from the tunnel, Dahnus smirked, and with a sense of hope flaring in his soul, he watched the amber glow of Adara’s torch disappear into the darkness.

  Odin and Adara maintained a brisk pace as they moved through the tunnel. The speed of their travel had not allowed for conversation, but as Adara’s body finally pled for rest, she keeled over, and after a moment of heavy breathing, she leaned against the rock wall of the tunnel.

  As Odin stopped and Adara began to regain her breath, Adara felt the need to excuse Dahnus’s behaviour.

  “I’m sorry about the guards at the doorway,” she said. “Dahnus is charged with protecting a great deal. These tunnels are our lifeline. They are the haven and home to every soul who refuses Forneus’s rule.”

  “How many of you are there?” Odin asked as he and Adara began to walk.

  “Thousands,” Adara replied. “We are basically a settlement. When your father was murdered, the wisest of us retreated. We roamed the far lengths of this realm until these tunnels were built. And for the last few years, we have expanded them and made them our home.”

  Something clicked in Odin’s head.

  “When were these tunnels built?” he asked.

  Adara thought for a moment. “Time works differently here in the afterlife,” she said. “But if I had to guess, I’d say these tunnels were started about three years ago in your earth time.”

  Odin’s posture slumped. “Three years…” he whispered.

  “About that,” Adara said.

  A small smile began to surface on her face. “That’s when the Minin’ McEnrow arrived,” she said. “At least that’s what they call themselves. They’re strange ones,” she laughed, “but they’re good people.”

  Odin’s pulse started to thump throughout his entire body. The truth was what he had feared. As tears began to well in his eyes, Odin’s breath became short and he stumbled against the rock wall.

  Adara quickly braced him.

  “Odin,” she cried, “are you alright?”

  With sweat beading everywhere on his skin, Odin shook his head clumsily.

  Adara felt Odin’s forehead. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “Me,” Odin said. “Just me…”

  As Odin covered his mouth and his breath became a struggle, he tried to force out a question. However, in his pain, he couldn’t find his voice. Finally, through his wheezes, he formed the question that he knew would break his heart.

  “Would you still be alive without these tunnels?” he asked.

  Adara was confused by Odin’s behaviour. “No,” she answered. “Without them we would have been crushed.”

  Odin fell even further back against the wall, dropping into a crouch. As he raked his fingers through his hair, he began to ramble.

  “I knew it…” he whispered. “I always knew it. Fool!” he cursed himself. “You damned fool!”

  “Odin!” Adara shouted. “What’s going on with you?”

  There was a long silence, but eventually, Odin wiped his eyes and stood up defiantly.

  “It’s just added motivation,” he said firmly. “Let’s move.”

  As Adara stared at him, she was expecting an explanation, but Odin had already started to march farther down the tunnel.

  Frantically, Adara jogged next to him.

  “Are you going to explain that?” she asked.

  “No,” Odin said.

  His voice and walk were prompt and driven.

  “Why were you on the surface?” he asked.

  “Oh, so you can ask questions,” Adara said sharply.

  “Please, Adara. I cannot not explain myself… not yet.”

  After another long silence, Adara threw her hands up in surrender.

  “We were looking for Azean and his daughters,” she said. “They had gone missing. The only clue we had was a letter that Azean had left. It said that he had found a way to free my father and that he needed to bring his daughters.”

  “Your father, is he in the Cauldron?”

  “He might as well be,” Adara answered. “You’ve likely met him. He has a giant boat tethered to his ankle.”

  “Your father is the Boatman?”

  “Yes,” Adara confirmed. “But more importantly, he is one of the few people brilliant enough to out-think Forneus. My father has thousands of years of history stored in his mind. He knows every flaw and strength in this land, and if we are to have any advantage in this battle, we need him at the helm.”

  Odin was confused by their dilemma. “Why haven’t you already freed him?” he asked.

  “The laws of this land won’t allow it,” Adara replied. “Because a king banished him to the boat, only a king can free him. That was, until Azean found a way. Unfortunately, the scroll I dropped down the stairwell detailed the method Azean had discovered.”

  Odin offered Adara a sympathetic nod.

  “It was al
most perfect,” Adara lamented, “but, alas, not meant to be. The more I see, the more it seems that fate doesn’t have a moral compass.”

  “My brother would likely argue against that point,” Odin said. “He believes in will over fate.”

  “Then he’d get along with V,” Adara said.

  Odin offered a simple nod. However, as Adara turned to look at him in the torchlight, suddenly Odin’s presence fully registered and she became shocked that she hadn’t asked an obvious question.

  “Why are you here?” she blurted. “I mean, why have you died?”

  “The simple answer is that I had to,” Odin replied. “My brother Galian went before me, and by suicide, I came after.”

  Adara was surprised. “Your brother has passed too?”

  “He has,” Odin answered. “That’s the reason I’m here. I killed myself so I could save him – so I could free him from Forneus’s Soul Cauldron.”

  Adara was silent for a moment. Regrettably, even after witnessing Odin’s skill, she was doubtful that Odin could beat Forneus on his own.

  Although, despite her doubt, Adara knew that hope was a weapon.

  “If your aim is to defeat Forneus,” she said, “then it is appropriate we are going to V. She can organize an army around you.”

  As Adara imagined V’s army with Odin at the helm, her green eyes seemed to flicker with promise.

  “You can lead us,” she said. “You can be our advantage.”

  Odin shook his head. “I will meet with V,” he said, “but I cannot wait for her to marshal an army. I can’t even wait for my own army. I promised Azean I would get his daughters to safety, and I have done that. My priority has returned to freeing Galian. And he needs me immediately.”

  As Adara’s posture slumped slightly in dejection, Odin knew he had to be honest.

  “I understand what I represent to you,” he said, “and I understand that this land is suffering. But my immediate duty is to save my brother. Trust me, I know the pain of this land. I know how it feels to be good when evil is winning. But if I am to have any impact in this realm, I can’t forfeit my heart. And if Galian falls twice into death, my heart will follow. I am no one without him.”