Bound in Darkness

by Jacquelyn Frank

  She reached the cuff and threw herself down onto it. The minute she got it in her hands she focused and the field slowed to an infinitesimal crawl. Panting hard for breath she raced over to where Maxum lay struggling on the ground. She touched him and his body collapsed out of time with the freeze. He was gasping. Panting hard, shaking his head and trying to right himself. She touched his face and he jerked.

  “Airi?” he asked.

  “Yes!” She took off the ring and he could see her.

  “Airi, what are you doing over here?” he demanded with a roar. “Get out of here!”

  “Maxum, I got the cuff.”

  She held it out to him and suddenly he looked up and saw the frozen battlefield. Saw Sabo locked in place like a fly in amber.

  Suddenly Maxum reached out and jerked her into his arms, kissing her soundly.

  “My good little thief!” he cried in delight. “I can’t believe you did this!”

  “Are you not mad now?”

  “You’ve just saved my life. You’ve just given me exactly what I need. How could I ever be mad? Now…give me the cuff. Let’s get you off this field. Put your ring back on.”

  She did, making sure they kept in contact so she didn’t let him become part of the frozen field once more. He hurried her off the field dodging petrified opponents. Then he took the cuff from her and put it on his arm.

  “Stay safe. Don’t come back out. I’m ending this now,” he said.

  With that, he took over the use of the cuff, focusing on keeping everything locked in place as he hurried back to his position before Sabo.

  Maxum let his fury come screaming forth, roaring in rage as he lunged for Sabo.

  With a battle cry he raised his sword high and sliced it down at Sabo’s neck. The god’s head went flying from his shoulders.

  Maxum and the battle roared into normal time. Sabo’s body crumpled to the ground and then suddenly burst into flame and ash. The fire dissipated after a second and Maxum sucked in his breath hard.

  And that was when the true pain began.

  Maxum screamed at an earsplitting pitch as fire burned through his blood. The talisman around his neck burned up and disappeared, the cuff seared to his arm and then it too seemed to melt away. The ring of strength on his finger did likewise. Maxum curled up into an agonized ball of pain and cried out again.

  That was when he felt cool, shaking hands on his face, felt gentle, soothing lips against his.

  “Shh,” she soothed him. “It’s over. It’s over and you are free.”

  But he didn’t feel free. He felt as though his very soul was being burned out of his body. But the coolness of Airi’s touch made it better. He wanted to tell her to flee the field of battle, but she felt too good and he was being far too selfish.

  After a while the pain became bearable, the throbbing in his head manageable. It seemed as though it took forever, but eventually the roaring in his ears died down. When he opened his eyes he appeared to be alone, but the feel of Airi’s hands in his hair told him otherwise, the gentle humming of her soothing voice gave her away.

  “You have won, my love,” she whispered over and over again. “And see there? Weysa’s faction has also won. There is Xaxis, kneeling before her in surrender. Kitari switched sides mid battle, and with Sabo gone…they were outnumbered. They had no choice but to surrender. Diathus was the first to realize the futility of the battle and she threw down her weapons first, even as Xaxis screamed at her to pick them up again. Now she is putting Xaxis and the other warring gods in chains and Kitari is standing over them as queen.”

  “Xaxis,” he heard Kitari sing out. “You have held me hostage these many full turnings, and I will not forget that. Let this field of battle show you that you will never rule the gods. You will never have dominion over all the aspects of godhood as you had hoped. You see,” she said to Weysa, “his goal was to kill each of you in turn and assume the mantle of your power.”

  Weysa nodded. “No one god should ever have that much power. In the time before time our power was separated for the good of all and so it shall remain.”

  Weysa then turned toward Maxum. She approached him and he felt Airi tense protectively around him.

  “So you have killed the god called Sabo. Well, it has been a long time coming.”

  Airi suddenly became visible as she removed the ring of invisibility and Weysa took in a light breath of surprise.

  “Are you then ready to accept your role?” Weysa said.

  “Role?” Airi echoed.

  Meru came up to them. “Yes. I warned you there would be consequences to your actions, Maxum.”

  “Is this pain the consequence? Will he feel this forever?” Airi asked in distress.

  “No. It will soon pass. It is the pain of becoming a god that he feels. His remaining mortal self is being burned away leaving him to become a god in full stead of the god Sabo.”

  “God? I do not wish to be a god!” Maxum protested.

  “Someone must take on the mantle of god of pain and suffering, and as it has been decreed long before the gods were what we are now, he who kills a god must take his place,” Weysa said.

  “I will never be so cruel a god!” Maxim declared.

  “Nor do you have to be,” Meru said gently. “Sabo chose to take his power to a dark place. He chose to inflict pain and suffering on all and sundry. You may choose to take it to a different place. You may choose to relieve the pain and suffering of others, to become a benevolent god.”

  Maxum slowly sat up, Airi’s hands there to help him. “Have I no choice in the matter?”

  “None,” Weysa said definitively.

  “But what of Airi?”

  Weysa laughed. “We have all had more than our share of mortal lovers! What’s more, you now have the power to make a demigod of her. So she may be with you from now into the oblivious future.”

  Maxum looked to Airi in question. Tears jumped into her eyes and she nodded. He laughed shortly and drew her into his arms.

  “You will begin training at once,” Weysa declared. “Meru, since you were so kind as to bring him here…and since she is your champion…perhaps you would be willing to train him?”

  “I would be very happy to,” Meru said. “Anything to be rid of Sabo! I have hated that god for eons! He has hurt many of the women I have sworn to protect over the years and there was little I could do to stop him. Now if only Jikaro…”

  “No more meddling, Meru. If all humans get it in their heads that anyone may become a god there will be nothing but trouble.”

  “Maxum, the powers of the cuff, the ring of strength, and the talisman of invulnerability are now a part of you. You no longer need to wear them to have the benefit of them and they cannot be removed. As such you are now one of the most powerful gods among us. Sabo, luckily for you, was one of the weakest. Many of us are invulnerable as you are, but he was not. He was more demigod than god. But you…you will take this power to an exalted place. I can feel that,” Meru said.

  “Yes. He will. He is a man of great strength and honor. He would never wish to cause anyone pain who did not deserve it,” Airi said confidently.

  “And so it shall be,” Weysa said. Then she raised her voice for the field to hear. “Let it be sung in all the Songs of the Gods that this day Sabo was defeated by the man Maxum, who then became god in his stead. Let it be said that Maxum will be a benevolent god, that he will ease that which Sabo wrought.”

  Then she turned to Maxum. “We will write down your journey to this state of being and hand it down through the temples. We will let it be told that all statues of Sabo are to be destroyed and that the temples shall raise images of you in their stead.”

  “I do not need that,” Maxum said with a frown.

  “No, but the people need it. They need to know they can pray to you to relieve their suffering. How else will you know what to do for them? We are best connected to people through our temples. We hear people the loudest when they pray there. You will learn
this.”

  “But how will I ease all of the suffering in the world? How can I be everywhere at once?”

  “Alas, you cannot. Nor can you rid the world of all suffering. Man creates enough suffering, they do not need a god to help them. But Sabo took delight in it all the same,” Weysa said. “You must select your actions wisely. You must appreciate that relieving the suffering of one might cause suffering to another. You must think and weigh very carefully before you act. Again, you will learn this. Meru will teach you. Now, we must tend to our prisoners.”

  “Prisoners? How can you imprison a god?” Airi asked.

  “You cannot. Not for very long or the world begins to suffer. But we can curb them for a little while at least. Then we will let them free to do as they have always done, but at least now the balance of power will remain in place. Our queen will remain our queen and you will be on the side of the good.”

  “I will,” Maxum said with a nod.

  “Very well. Until we meet again in the house of the gods,” she said, nodding back to him.

  The gods all vanished from the field save Meru and the new god of pain and suffering. And, of course, one little demigod to be.

  “You must show me how to make a demigod of Airi,” Maxum said immediately.

  “There are criteria to be met to become a demigod that even we gods must adhere to.”

  “Such as?” Maxum asked.

  “She must be a proven warrior. She must have had grand adventures and done great things. She must have acted in the name of a god.”

  “She has done all of that,” Maxum said.

  “So she has,” Meru said with a chuckle. “Damn. That means I must find a new wielder for the Dagger of Truths. The dagger can only be wielded by a mortal woman. And it is so rare that I find a worthy female,” Meru tsked.

  “I am sorry for that. Perhaps I can help you look?” Airi said.

  “No. I have my own methods, as you have learned. I will find someone one day.” She held out her hand for the dagger and Airi handed it to her. “Now come. I will take you to the house of the gods and there your training will begin.”

  “Can Airi come?”

  “Not until you make a demigod of her. And in order to do that, you must learn.”

  Airi swallowed hard and looked at him. “It’s all right. Go with her. I will be waiting when you are ready.”

  Maxum was indecisive. He didn’t want to leave her. Not for a second.

  “How long will this take?” he asked Meru.

  “Oh…years I’m afraid. But I will teach you how to make her a demigod first thing so she can be there for you as you learn.”

  “And how long will that take?”

  “That depends on you. Don’t worry, you can visit her as often as you like once you learn how. Now come. Let’s get this started. You will enjoy the house of the gods, most especially the food of the gods. There is nothing like it in the whole of your experience.”

  Maxum stood up on shaky legs, his body still hurting from his transformation into godhood. Airi came with him, supporting him. He looked down into her treasured face and smiled.

  “I will be back for you,” he said solemnly.

  “I know you will.”

  He kissed her hard and then reached out for the hand Meru offered him. He leaned into the goddess and kept Airi’s eyes until the very instant he disappeared.

  Airi blinked and then found herself back in the temple.

  She swallowed back the pang of pain that came with being separated from him and reminded herself that the outcome could have been much worse. Sabo could have destroyed him.

  What was a few days apart compared to that?

  Airi was doing the laundry.

  Oh, she had more than enough money to afford a laundress, but since she had come to Calandria she had taken to doing it herself. There was something soothing about the rhythm of it. Wet. Wring. Wet. Wring. Scrub. Wet. Wring. Wet. Wring.

  She pushed a straggling bit of hair back off her forehead and leaned into the bucket for another piece of clothing.

  She felt a tickling sensation against her ear and she brushed at it. She’d worn her hair down and loose today, which she supposed hadn’t been wise considering the work she was doing, so her hair tended to drift over her sensitive ear at the oddest times. Whenever it did it reminded her of the last time someone had stimulated her ear and her body would go warm and tingle all over.

  And then she would miss him.

  She didn’t know how long it took to learn the basics of being a god, but he had promised he would come for her…and he hadn’t so far. But in spite of Doisy’s insistence that she had been forgotten, she refused to believe it. Even after a full turning of the seasons, even as the snow settled around her again, she believed he would come for her.

  Something tickled her ear again and, frustrated, she swiped at it.

  She connected with something.

  Gasping she whirled around and saw him standing there, his fingers teasing at her ear through her hair, a smile on his face.

  She hauled off and hit him. Slapped him right across the face and shouted, “Where have you been?”

  He chuckled and caught her hand before she could hit him again.

  “I’m invulnerable, love. You can’t hurt me.”

  “Well it makes me feel better!” She blinked back the sudden pricking of tears in her eyes. He had come. He had come.

  “What are you doing here? Women’s work?” He sounded aghast.

  “It…helps,” she said.

  “Helps what?”

  “Helps keep me from missing you, you big idiot! Where have you been?”

  “I’ve been in the house of the gods. But you knew that. I told you I’d be back.”

  “A full turning later!”

  “A full—it has not been a full turning!” he exclaimed.

  “Yes, it has!”

  “Well…I…time must move very differently in the house of the gods. It felt like only a few weeks to me.”

  “Well, it felt a hell of a lot longer for me.”

  He gathered her up in his arms against himself. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, love. I never meant to do that to you.”

  Slightly mollified, she allowed him to hug her tightly. She heard him breathe in her scent. He exhaled a contented sigh.

  “I missed your smell. I missed the feel of you.”

  “I missed you too,” she confessed on a hot, strangled whisper.

  “I can do it now,” he said. “I know how to make you a demigod.”

  “I don’t care about that. I just care that you’re here.”

  He pulled back, found her mouth, and kissed her as deeply as she had wanted to be kissed for all these seasons past. She sighed happily as he pulled back and looked down into her face.

  “If you’re amenable to it, I think I should like to lick your ear for a little while.”

  She blushed hot in a dozen places at once.

  “I might be…”

  “Might?”

  “Well…I suppose I am.”

  “You’re not sure?” he asked with a chuckle.

  “I’m not sure you deserve it.”

  “Oh, come now…surely you can forgive me a little slight.”

  “Little!”

  “All right, a big slight. But surely you can forgive me.”

  She sighed. “Of course I can. If you kiss me like that again.”

  He did…and she forgave him instantly.

  —

  It was weeks later when Maxum took Airi to meet his brothers. Using his powers as a god, he gathered the four brothers and their families into the fortress of Dethan’s political seat in the city of Hexis. Children ran about them noisily, playing and squealing as their parents sat before the fire in a group and got to know one another.

  “I had always wondered what it would take to get Maxum to settle down,” Dethan said with a chuckle. “Who knew that all that was needed was for him to become a god.”

  “Is th
at all?” Garreth said mildly. “Sounds easy. I think I should try it myself.”

  “You will not,” Sarielle, his wife, said. She moved to stir the fire, but Garreth snatched her off her feet and into his lap. Such was the case for all of the brothers. Each sat with their woman nestled firmly and protectively in their laps. Even Jaykun, whose wife, Jileana, was once again heavily pregnant with his child. Jaykun rubbed his large hand around and over her belly again and again, the movement soothing and rhythmic.

  “No. I will not. I am done with tempting the gods,” Garreth said.

  “As are we all. But just in case, it is good to know we have someone there who is on our side,” Jaykun said.

  Airianne smiled lazily as she dropped her head to her lover’s shoulder and watched the children play. Most of them were under the age of four, so it was more about watching them totter about and grasp at things that caught their fancy. Sarielle’s young twin sisters, beginning to grow into the first blush of womanhood, played with the children and kept them entertained.

  “Will you be wed?” Dethan’s wife, Selinda, asked Airi and Maxum.

  Airi colored. They had never talked about such a thing. Afraid it would make Maxum uncomfortable and put him on the spot, she laughed it off.

  “Surely there are more important things to worry about.”

  “More important than pledging myself to you heart and soul?” he asked. “Name one.”

  She pinked up with pleasure and pulled his head close for her kiss. “All right, you have me there.”

  “Unless you don’t want to—”

  “No, I want to!” she hurried to assure him.

  He smiled with pleasure, his eyes turning wicked and hot as they looked her over. “I’ve never slept with someone’s wife before.”

  That surprised her. “You were never married…before?”

  “No. I never was. You are the only one who has ever, and will ever, win my heart. The only one I would ever want to make such a commitment to.”

  “I never thought to see the day,” Jaykun said.

  “I never thought any of us would fall to love. Marriage was always a means to an end in our former lives,” Dethan said. “Now it is something far deeper and more meaningful.” He looked with pride from his wife to his three children. “I would not trade a single day of the torment I suffered, for it led me to you, little juquil.” He brushed an affectionate finger down Selinda’s nose.