“Yes, and she took it with her.”
“That can’t be good,” said Justin.
“It is a fear far greater than we can imagine,” Prospexi sighed as though defeated. “There is great knowledge that lies within the words of the Troth and with knowledge comes power. Such is the reason for protecting it. I do not know how she came to learn it was here, but if she found it...” she paused, looking down at the flower her sister had become. “No!” she stammered with resolve. “It cannot be. Are you sure it was the Troth?” She peered through me with eyes of conviction.
“She called it that, but I can’t say for sure as I’ve never seen the Troth,... however,” I said, standing up. “If it’s still here, there is one way to find out!” I looked towards the temple gate.
“NO!” said Prospexi, “You must not enter the temple. It is a sacred place. Only the guardians are permitted to enter.”
“It didn’t stop Ludo!” I hollered back as I headed for the entrance, “And as you can see, there aren’t any guardians left.”
“No!” she flew in front of my face to stop me. “Can’t you see that enough wrong has been done today? I will fly back to my father tonight and gather some elders to return tomorrow. They will know what to do.”
“But what about us? We have to get to Lockhart!” cried Emily.
“Unfortunately I don’t have enough flight on my own to give you. I barely have enough for myself. You will rest here tonight and continue to Lockhart by foot in the morning without me. On the west side of Montis, in the valley across the river you will find the city you look for,” she said.
“But it will take you most of the night just to fly back!” I said. “And another day for you to return! What if there are injured faeries inside? We could be their only hope!”
“She has a good point,” said Justin.
Prospexi looked somberly at the gate. “The truth is...” she sighed, “Even if I wanted to enter, I don’t know how to open the gate. There is a secret password known only by the guardians.”
“So how do you suppose Ludo got in?”
“I don’t know, but her powers are growing each day and my fear is that if she found the Troth, she could already be impossible to uproot.”
“Uh guys!” interrupted Justin. “Is it just me or is it getting dark real fast?”
We hadn’t noticed an ominous storm cloud roll in from the East, quickening the night and shrouding the mountaintop in darkness. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up from what felt like a tingly charge of electricity in the air, and all became strangely quiet and inexplicably heavy on the dark ridge of Montis.
Chapter Fifteen
The Temple
Without warning, a flash of lightning ripped through the dark sky, licking the earth directly in front of us and sending a large plume of dust into the air.
“KERCRAAASHHHH!” The deafening thunder screamed through our bodies, shaking the mountain and grumbling deep into the ground below us.
The dust settled, and I could see that a large crevice had been sliced through the upper gate all the way down to the stone threshold. The whole face of the temple had been ripped in two. And then, as if the clouds had been holding back their sadness, the sky suddenly opened and poured their tears down on us.
“Head for shelter!” I yelled through the drowning rain.
Another rumbling stirred in the sky and I plugged my ears knowing what was next.
“KERRRRBANG!” The ground shook again, and seemed to tumble off the edge of the mountainside into the valley below. We all ran towards the crumbled gate.
“Please!” Prospexi stopped us at the entrance. “It is sacred ground you stand on. If word gets back to the elders that you’ve entered the temple they will...”
“THEY WILL WHAT?” I hollered through the spitting rain. “They will COME, and that is what we want!”
For once, my logic seemed to make the most sense and I think Prospexi knew it, because she didn’t say another word, as we squeezed through the newly made fissure and entered the temple. Inside, the carved stone walls arched up towards a high ceiling that faded into darkness far above us. I was cold and wet, and the extinguished torches hanging on the walls were useless. With no light or warmth, we relied on the weak light that stretched in through the split gate behind us.
“Ew, who pooftered?” Emily scrunched up her nose.
“Poof-terd?” I asked.
“You know... farted,” she whispered.
“Whew!” said Justin. “Bravo! to whoever claims that one!”
“Ugh,” I snorted, pinching my nose. “Smells like a rotten egg.”
Justin sniffed the air, as if tasting it. “More like... burnt rotten eggs,” he said.
I suddenly recognized the sulfurous smell that had nearly suffocated us back at the edge of the forest.
“Fire demons!” I whispered.
“What? Could they still be here?” Emily’s eyes lit up anxiously.
“No, Willow said they left with Ludo,” assured Prospexi. “It’s unfortunate that their stench lingers long after they’re gone.”
“Why would the Maker make such a horrible, smelly creature?” asked Emily.
“He didn’t make those putrid beasts,” said Prospexi.
“But you said the Maker made everything,” Emily reminded her.
“Well, I suppose indirectly,” she said. “He made faeries, and some chose to pervert themselves into that horrid state.”
“You mean the fire demons are actually faeries?” asked Justin.
“WERE faeries,” she replied. “Until they chose to follow Ludo.”
“Why would anyone choose to follow HER?” I asked.
“Greed, doubt, deception, fear,” said Prospexi. “Ludo planted many seeds on that fateful day of the great fire, when the Maker disappeared and our faith was tested. The first to follow her were promised power - more than they ever had or could ever attain on their own. Greed swayed them against their better judgment and soon others followed in blind trust. Suns lead to moons and moons to seasons and soon small doubts turned to disbelief that the Maker would ever return. ‘He’s dead!’ she told us. ‘You can choose to remain ignorant and continue following him. Or you can open your eyes and see he is nothing but a fraud, bent on blinding you. But know this - those who aren’t for me are against me!’ she threatened, and though her claim that the Maker was dead was difficult to admit, it was equally difficult to refute without his return. She went further declaring herself as the true Maker. ‘If anyone thinks differently then I challenge them to stand up against me,’ she’d say.
“Has anyone challenged her?” asked Justin.
“A few, only to be ridiculed and swiftly put to death. It seemed there was nothing one could do to oppose her, which only fed the belief that the Maker was indeed dead,” she explained.
“So she lied to them?”
“Did she?” asked Prospexi.
“Wait, what are you saying?” I asked.
“I’m simply asking the same question that everyone’s asking. Yes, she is Ludo Basilicus - Queen of deception, but without the Maker, there’s no way to prove her wrong. She promised them power and kept her promise, as twisted as it may be. Male faeries were given wings, an enticing gift that swayed the hearts of many, and all were given the strength and power to kill and destroy. However, her generosity was not as gratuitous as she initially implied. Upon accepting her so called endowments, they entered into an agreement whereby their allegiance would be solely to the Queen. After all, they couldn’t very well belong in both camps, and believing the Maker was dead and that she was now the most powerful being in all of Evoluii, their alliance with the Maker was an easy thing to give up. Branded with a new name, they became the army of deviated faeries that we call fire demons. No longer free of will, they are under her dominion and by contract are forced to serve
her.”
“And if they don’t?” I asked.
“They are considered an enemy of the Queen for breaking their contract, and Ludo easily strips them of power and destroys them. ‘I don’t take to my enemies fondly,’ she eloquently puts it, while instilling a fear into the hearts of those entrapped by her cunning ploys.”
“That’s horrible,” sighed Emily.
“Indeed! So, it is as the scrolls state: Tis not the Maker that creates the beast, but we ourselves that choose it. Tali?”
“Hold on,” I whispered.
Something high up within the dark cathedral ceiling had flicked past my peripheral, grabbing my attention. My eyes dilated in the darkness, as I stood there, fixated on the dark expanse, looking for confirmation of a second movement.
“What is it?” whispered Justin.
“I thought I saw something, but I can’t quite say,” I muttered still searching the darkness.
“Where?” asked Emily.
Then, briefly it was - “There,” I whispered, pointing to a tiny red glow, barely there at all, and I wondered if I was just imagining it. Like a cigarette glowing in the darkness, it brightened just enough to vaguely see it against the dark rafters. Then it faded again. “I think some of the fire demons are still here,” I whispered under my breath.
“I don’t see it,” stammered Emily.
“Shhhhh... in the rafters,” I whispered ever so quietly, as fear that we may have walked into an ambush crept up inside me.
I held my breath as we all stared up at the rafters silently, listening and waiting for another chance to see it, but all I could hear was the rain outside. I felt a drop of water drip slowly from my wet hair to my forehead and continue right to the tip of my nose, where it too seemed to wait in silence, refusing to fall.
Another flash of lightening lit up the cave entrance, casting shadows everywhere, but just as quickly we were back in darkness. We were still staring at the rafters when the thunder rolled through the mountain and echoed down through its core.
“There!” I pointed, catching another glimpse of the smallest red glow. “Do you see it?”
Instantly, Prospexi leapt into the air.
“YOU CANNOT HAVE US!” she hollered much louder than her tiny frame would seem to support. The sound rebounded into a flurry of noises, as the rafters suddenly lit up with glowing embers and smoke.
“PLEASE NO!” a low voice cracked. “I mean you no harm.”
But Prospexi raged against the fire demon with her thorn and speed. Tumbling through the glowing smoke, it was a blur of noises and movement, making it difficult to tell who was in control.
Justin, Emily and I jumped out of the way as a smoldering, charcoal-coloured body tumbled to the ground directly in front of us. Prospexi pounced on top of it.
“How dare you come into this sacred place?” she challenged, pushing her thorn sword to his throat. “You are not welcome here!”
“Pleasssse,” a puff of smoke hissed from his mouth as he slowly held out his much larger thorn sword and dropped it to the ground beside him, “I have come to help you!”
“LIES!” Prospexi pushed her thorn tighter against his scaly neck, but he didn’t move. It punctured his flesh and a small drop of blood sizzled before it ignited into a piffling flame that burned against his scarred skin.
“I tell you the truth!” he stammered. “What reason would I have to stay if it were not so?” His voice was strained from Prospexi’s tight hold on him. “I would be foolish to stay behind and make myself vulnerable if my intent was otherwise.”
Prospexi’s eyes glared into his, looking intently for the truth. “It’s a trap!” she insisted.
“NO!” another puff seethed out of his mouth. “I can assure you that I am the only one here and the others do not know I remained.”
“Ludo must know. How would she explain your absence?”
“Many of us were injured...”
“Not nearly enough!” she argued.
“Yesss,” his raspy voice softened. “And we deserve nothing less. Ludo finished off any who were too injured to fly back with her.”
“So you hid, hoping we might be more merciful than her!” Prospexi fumed.
“I hid, hoping she’d assume I died in today’s battle.”
“You were injured and unable to fly. She would have killed you. You said so yourself!”
“YES, I am injured,” he hissed, and in a flash of smoke he was suddenly behind her, wielding both her sword and his and pointing them directly at her heart. “But I assure you, that I can still fly,” he said with confidence. Then with a sigh he lowered the swords to his sides. “I cannot however, continue to carry out her destructive plans, as we are forced to do. No, I tell you the truth, I have remained to help you.”
“What makes you think we need your help?” she spoke more calmly now that she had lost her power over him.
“Don’t we?” whispered Justin.
“You are nothing but a traitor,” she continued. “A traitor to us when you chose to follow Ludo, and now you want us to believe you are a traitor to her? With so many lies, why should we believe you at all?”
“They are not lies,” he sighed. “They are changes of conviction.”
“And what could have possibly persuaded this change of conviction?”
“Yesterday on the ship, when your sister Willow was there, the Myth made it clear to me.” Then bowing his head before us he said, “May every breath I have left in my life be used to serve you.”
He did not flex his might over us, nor did he try to get away. Frightening no longer described him, as sadness had taken its place. With his head down I could see his many horns.
“He seems to have a lot more horns then the others,” I whispered to Prospexi.
“Yes,” she said quietly, while his head was still down. “And it’s wise to know that the number of horns they have coincides with their rank and strength.”
“Is that a good thing?” Emily whispered nervously. But Prospexi ignored her.
“I cannot help but query your so-called ‘change of conviction’,” continued Prospexi with a new strength in her voice. “For how can you serve us, when you are bound to destroy?”
“Yes,” he sighed lifting his eyes up to us again. “My life is bound to destroy, and death will likely be the only thing that will release me from that,” he puffed. “But I believe that I still hold within me some choice.”
“And what choice are you speaking of?” asked Prospexi.
“The choice to destroy evil rather than good.”
“After all the evil you have committed, what makes you think that you still have that choice?” asked Prospexi.
“When I was able to destroy the demon who attacked your sister.”
“How dare you play on my emotions!” snarled Prospexi.
“Do you think I was playing a game when I risked my life to defend her?” he sighed.
“I think he’s telling the truth,” I whispered to Prospexi. “In the vision Willow gave me, there was one who tried to help her. Even killing another demon to try and save her. It’s got to be him!” I explained quietly.
“And yet my sister sleeps,” she sighed. “If you couldn’t help her, what hope could you possibly offer us?”
“I know where Ludo is taking the Troth.”
Prospexi’s eyes shot up to meet his.
“And how do you know she hasn’t already destroyed it?” she asked.
“She tried,” he said, “After opening the last seal, whatever she read filled her with unthinkable rage, unlike anything I’d ever seen. She lashed out with obscenities against the Maker and tried to destroy the book, but was unsuccessful. Instead she took the Troth with her, swearing she’d decipher how to wield its power.”
“Yes?” Prospexi leaned in close. “Go on and tell me,
where did she take it?”
“I’m afraid I cannot tell you, for I am bound by a contract that would prevent it,” he said.
“But we won’t tell her!” exclaimed Emily.
“No,” he said. “This contract with Ludo is very specific and not easily broken. If I tried to tell you, only my death would satisfy the broken contract and it does not need ears to hear or the mouths of witnesses to speak it. Death would take me faster than I could speak of its location,” he said.
“I’m getting tired of your delays,” groaned Prospexi. “If you cannot tell me where she hid it, then why should I keep you alive?”
“I cannot tell you where she hid it, but our contract said nothing about me showing you,” he said, looking square into Prospexi’s tight gaze.
“This is the hope you have to offer? That we would follow you right into the lion’s den? How convenient for you. With our numbers significantly diminished, you would lead our remaining warriors straight into an ambush!”
“No,” he sighed. “Although I cannot guarantee your safety, or be sure that Ludo won’t know we’re coming, I can promise you that I will do all I can to protect you, even if it should cost me my own life,” he said and then limped over to a pile of wooden rubble that had fallen from the rafters.
“You know,” I said quietly to Prospexi, as she watched his every move, “I’ve heard that even a small hope is worth hoping. Besides, if he’s seen the Myth, then he knows what she looks like and that alone might come in handy. You said so yourself.”
“Hmmm,” she sighed and then raising her voice she asked, “What is your name?”
“Ignis Satus,” he said, “It means the Beginning of Fire.” Then unexpectedly he stabbed Prospexi’s thorn into his own hand and held it out above the pile of wood. His blood dripped down and sizzled before coming to life in a small burst of flames.
“I was the first one Ludo renamed, so that I would forget my past.” He looked lost and forsaken, as though the distant memory was unpleasant to revisit. “She was successful, for I cannot remember what I was called before.”
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