Wrath of the Risen God: Arcane Renaissance Book Three

by Tim Paulson

  Giselle nodded. Mia. “So she's not here.” There was no sign of Harald either. Either he'd wandered off or been found. They had no time to find out.

  “So where to next? The lower halls would be safer,” Veronica said.

  “But the garden is on the way. We'll go there first,” Giselle replied.

  “Are you sure? It seems like a waste of time,” Veronica said.

  Giselle frowned. “You're the one who mentioned it.”

  Veronica shook her head. “I don't know why. I don't think anyone has been seen there.”

  “Baroness is witch, yes?” Piotr asked.

  “Again, good thinking,” Giselle said. “There might be something that keeps us from going there, like trying to swim in a thick pudding but in our heads, do you understand?”

  “Why you say this? Now I am thinking of pudding!” Piotr exclaimed, licking his chops.

  They hurried along the corridor and descended the stairs, passing a large hole in a wall and two small fires. The closer Giselle got to the garden the more certain she was that her mother would be there, but she had no idea why.

  Finally, they rounded a corner and Veronica paused.

  “What?” Giselle asked her.

  “It's odd... this is where I saw her last time. We spoke.”

  “Who?” Piotr asked.

  “Mia... she was leaving the garden. There was a huge fire gushing from the center of the trees behind her, consuming the topiaries.”

  “Why do you mention... Oh,” Giselle said as she looked out into the garden. Then it dawned on her. The topiaries were all there, as were the trees. There was no chance they'd grown back in just three months.

  “Smell is very bad here,” Piotr said. “Like little demon doll bad.”

  Veronica turned around, starting back the way they'd come. Giselle lunged, grabbing her arm.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “Hmm? Oh, I need to evacuate. They ordered it!” she said, sounding anxious.

  “Stop it!” Giselle said, pulling at her arm. “We're here looking for people for you!”

  “But I have to go!” Veronica said, pulling back.

  There was a flash of light from behind them and a rush of wind blew into the hall overlooking the garden. Giselle turned back and saw four forms, standing in the doorway. Mia was to the left and her mother the former baroness of Aeyrdfeld to the right. In between was a diminutive form that could only be Harald and behind him was a young man who wore spectacles and the simple uniform of a technician. The young man was the spitting image of Aaron in build and demeanor except that he was not Aaron, he couldn't be unless mother had somehow changed his face and the color of his hair.

  “Mother!” Giselle said as another cannon shot hurled overhead with a screaming whine before it slammed into a parapet on the back of the castle. Bits of steaming hot stone rained down upon the walls. “What's going on?”

  Veronica had ceased her struggling and had now turned to face the Baroness, her features blank.

  “Go on... Tell her Christine. Or should I say Liveria Blutstein. That was your name, wasn't it? When we met before?” Veronica asked.

  Her mother grimaced, shaking her head. “I'm not in the mood for this. Mia, kill her.”

  Mia frowned. “Why?”

  “Because she's our enemy, she's taken Giselle hostage,” the baroness said.

  “She has not!” Giselle said. “I'm here of my own free will! I've come to find Aaron. Is... is that Aaron?”

  The young man tilted his head at her. “Who is this girl?” he asked.

  The Baroness sighed. “She's my daughter.”

  “That's not possible!” Veronica replied. “You've been a witch longer than I've been alive and witches can't have children!”

  Giselle's eyes widened. “What? That's... You're lying!”

  “No. She's been lying to you, to everyone. Tell her Countess Blutstein, of your many lives, your many families,” Veronica said.

  “Fine, if Mia won't do it, I will,” Christine said, her face twisting with bitter hatred. Her right hand moved and an array of silver knives extracted themselves from her belt.

  Giselle heard Veronica suck in a full deep breath. She'd wanted to be attacked, but why?

  “No!” Mia said, drawing her blue veil sword. With one quick slash of the flat of her sword, she swatted the knives from the air. They clattered across the stone.

  Christine's eyes flashed to Mia. “Stay out of this.”

  “No... No... this doesn't feel right,” Mia said, her left hand grasping her head as if something pained her terribly. “You have to stop this.”

  Christine stepped forward, “I know what must be done,” she said as her hand moved in a circle and the knives on the floor shot up to head height and aimed again at Veronica.

  Giselle jumped in front of her. “Mother no!” she screamed but Veronica pushed her to the side while also stepping on her foot. Giselle lost her balance and fell. Her hands reached up, as if time itself had slowed, while she watched the silver blades whip by above, into Veronica's body.

  Two more explosions from nearby rocked the castle, making Giselle wince as she tried to pull herself up.

  “No, no, no!” Mia cried, running over to Veronica's body where she fell to her knees. “Veronica!” she said. “Why have you come?”

  To Giselle Mia's eyes looked empty, as if she'd forgotten who she was. “Mother, what have you done?”

  The baroness looked at her. “The same thing I'm going to do to you dear. This will all be but a dream. We'll have a new life in a new land. You'll have everything you had before. I promise.” She looked to Harald, gesturing toward her forehead. “Cleanse her mind.”

  “Yes baroness,” Harald replied, clearly upset as he stepped forward, drawing a series of symbols with his right hand. “I'm sorry Giselle,” he said, his little doll eyes full of grief. Giselle had helped Ina choose those eyes. Blue, like the ones on that body he'd had. Had his real eyes been blue? She wondered.

  “Oh get over it,” Christine snapped. “It's the best thing for her.” With a flick of her wrist, the knives tore themselves from Veronica's body and returned to slip back into the array of leather sheaths on the baroness's waist.

  To her right, Mia was sobbing over the girl on the floor, holding her head in her lap. “I'm sorry... I'm sorry I couldn't save you,” she said. This was not the kind of behavior Giselle expected of Mia, something had to be wrong with her.

  Harald finished his movements and a weak flash of light announced the conclusion of the spell. Had it failed him? Was she still herself? Did she remember Aaron? Yes, yes she did.

  “It didn't work!” Giselle yelled at the woman whom she had always known as her mother. She stood up, brushing herself off.

  The baroness frowned. “Harald you idiot, do it again, and do it right this time!”

  Harald looked stunned. “I did do it right,” he said. “The spell told me why it failed.”

  “Well?” the baroness snapped.

  “Because manipulating the minds of children is forbidden!” he replied.

  “Giselle is not a child,” the baroness said.

  “But I'm not a child!” Giselle echoed defiantly.

  “No, she is not. But she is with child,” Harald said, pointing at Giselle's belly button.

  “I'm what?” Giselle said, looking down. The vomiting! She hadn't been ill!

  “Well she's no use to me if she can't be part of my new family,” Christine said, waving her hand. “Come Mia, Himmer, Harald. If we're not taking Giselle we've collected everything we need from this place.”

  “Who is Himmer? Where is Aaron mo-” Giselle flinched, she'd almost said mother. “Christine, baroness, countess... whoever you are-”

  Another cannon shot arced in and smashed into the opposite side of the garden, firing stone shrapnel in every direction. Everyone ducked as several smoking shards whipped past.

  The young man Christine had called Himmer did not duck fast en
ough however. A chunk of rock smashed into the back of his skull, mashing him into a nearby wall. Blood dribbled from the crushed mess that had been his head.

  Giselle screamed, a hand going to her mouth at the grisly sight.

  “Ugh,” Christine said, sighing.

  “Where is Aaron!” Giselle yelled at her. “Tell me!”

  Christine rounded on her, glaring. “He's dead! That sorcerer Buckley had with him killed him. I tried to stop it. It's not easy to find brilliant mold-able young men. Most of them are incorrigibly headstrong like Liam, God knows where he is.” She cast her eyes toward the twitching corpse of Himmer. “Now I have to put getting a technician back on my list as if I don't have enough to do.”

  Harald raised an arm. “I could bring him back... I did it for that Wilhelm fellow.”

  “Would you be able to do that and take us away from here?” Christine asked.

  Harald paused, thinking, then shook his head.

  “There's your answer then. Let's go. Come, Mia.”

  Giselle looked to Mia, her adopted sister, a woman she'd both feared and admired for much of her life. On Mia's face was a torrent of rage like none she'd ever seen.

  “I'm not going anywhere with you,” Mia said.

  * * *

  “What do you mean by that?” Celia asked, her stomach still bubbling.

  Vex looked at her from where Daniel held him, his tiny goliath arms gestured toward her.

  “You've fallen in with me... I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's my perceived power, perhaps it's because I was a ghoul. You freed me from that woman's clutches and I'm most grateful, truly. However... I have a mission, one I've borne with me since my earliest days. I learned how my kind, those base hedonistic creatures who call themselves gods, thought things ought to be. Enslavement, torture, intimidation, and control. They built a world on deceit and I wanted nothing more than to play a part in its destruction. I dedicated myself to stopping them,” he said.

  “So you are a terrorist,” she replied.

  Vex nodded. “That is what they called us. Because desiring change and working toward that change, violently if necessary, terrified them.”

  Celia hated to admit it, but this turn made her want to be with him even more. She didn't know what to say.

  “I bring this up because I've seen the same things happening again. Children identified and stolen, used as pawns for empowering monsters. It's only a matter of time before the men of today realize some things about the power they've discovered, things that will return this world to madness. So... if you wish it. I ask you to join me, willingly, on my quest. I will do everything I can to root out and destroy those abusing the power... but... it will be vastly dangerous.”

  Celia opened her mouth but he raised a tiny hand.

  “You can back out right now. I'll do my best to forget you even existed.”

  She slid from her seat, taking a single knee before him. It put her head exactly on the level of his tiny face. Her eyes looked into his miniscule doll eyes. It was hard to stay serious in this situation, but she managed it.

  “I am yours,” she said.

  Vex nodded. “So it shall be. When I have a body again, we will do the pact of awatum. It will bind us together as partners.

  “You can't do it now?”

  “No, It leaves a mark of magic on the body. If I did it in this form it would only bond you. As soon as I changed my body the pact would no longer apply.”

  “Ah,” she said. What he'd said just now, about torture and enslavement. It made her think of the white carts. “I think I know of something you may be interested in.”

  Vex tilted his head. “Really?”

  She nodded.

  “Well... we really should be going. Are you coming Kev?” Vex asked.

  The boy was still talking to Ina in an animated fashion, oddly enough it sounded like the discussion was about sewing.

  Kev turned immediately. “Yes, I'll come. I'm glad to help you Vex. Even if you are a demon. Maybe because you are. My people never did anything for me, they never let me be myself. But you have.”

  “Oh!” Ina said as she ran into a side closet, returning with a long black overcoat, but cut for a shorter man. “A customer left this more than a year ago. I think it might fit you Kev.”

  “I don't know what to say...” he replied, taking it. “I've never received a gift.”

  “Just use it,” Ina said. “And maybe sew something fun on it. Make it your own.”

  Kev smiled, showing big hyena teeth. “I will.”

  “You've been an excellent host,” Vex said to Ina. “I thank you deeply.”

  “Yes, Ina... Thank you so much for the food and the bath,” Celia said. “I don't know if I can ever repay you.”

  “It's nothing! I remember when you paid for all those children Celia, you're not as bad as Giselle thinks. Mother says she just hates that you told her the truth.”

  Celia nodded, thinking back on those arguments, how Giselle had steadfastly denied being foolish while they ran around the palace like children. It felt less important now. She'd found Vex, that was why. She wasn't alone anymore. That made more of a difference than she'd imagined was possible. For the first time in months, she actually felt relaxed, confident. It felt good.

  “Thank you, Ina. If you see her again. Tell her I'm well.”

  “You didn't look well... you still don't,” Ina replied.

  “It'll pass,” Celia replied. “You don't have an old knife you're not using do you?”

  Ina shrugged. “Not really, we cut sandwiches with serrated knives but they aren't very sharp, sorry.”

  Celia nodded. “It's fine, you've been helpful enough.”

  While she'd been paying attention to Ina, Daniel had taken Vex over to a couple of bags at the very back of the bakery near the door.

  “Perfect,” Vex said as he moved his arms in circles.

  Celia would have to get herself a pair of veil goggles at some point. Not for any other reason than watching the magic as it was made. What she'd seen before was beautiful. It had been too long.

  There was a flash of deep green inside one of the bags and then the bag started to move. It wasn't going anywhere exactly. It was more like something trapped inside the canvas was trying to get out.

  “What are you doing to our bone-meal?” Ina asked just before a hand burst from inside of the bag, causing her to jump back and yelp.

  The hand was followed by another and then arms and a dull featureless face. An entire thin man pulled himself from the bag. He stood silently, empty socket eyes staring at nothing.

  Vex pointed at Ina. “That keralti girl is your master. You do chores as she shows you, copy her exactly. Understand?”

  The bone meal man nodded.

  Ina's eyes were wide. “But... but...”

  Celia patted her shoulder. “It's a replacement for Daniel, I think, while your mother is ill.”

  “Precisely!” Vex said. “These are made for drudgery, put him to work. He'll fall apart after a few days, so if you want to save the meal, tell him to go back to the bag. He'll do it,” Vex told her. Then he gestured toward her neck. “Also... if you please, would you give Celia the amulet?”

  Ina nodded and handed over the amulet, still staring at the bone meal man, part disgusted, partly intrigued.

  Celia placed it around her neck. Finally.

  “Ready to move on?” Vex asked.

  She nodded.

  “Good, if you'll carry me, we can be off,” Vex said as Daniel tossed him in the air toward Celia. She caught him easily.

  “But what about Daniel?” she asked but even as the words left her lips the tentacles were shooting up into the skull which was shrinking at an alarming rate. In less than two seconds a single knucklebone lay on the floor. Celia bent down and picked it up, studying it. It had been a long time since she'd held one of these things. The battle at the ancient city came to mind. The great serpent-headed golem, the goliaths, and swarms of things just like this.
It was surprisingly heavy, not crazily so, but enough to make her think it was made of more than just bone.

  Outside the cozy bakery with its delicious smells, the wind was cold and harsh. Kev stood beside her, pulling his new coat tight up to his thick furry neck.

  “So what was it you thought I should see?” Vex asked from her hands.

  Celia paused, not sure anymore that she wanted to go back there. “It's stupid.”

  “I doubt that,” Vex replied. “Very much.”

  Kev waited, watching her.

  “Well... when I was in that cell, where you found me, there were many other people there. They said we were to be taken away by white carts. There were a lot of different stories about what happened to the people.”

  “Oh I know the answer,” Kev said, holding up a clawed hand.

  “You do?” Celia asked, surprised.

  Kev nodded. “The clen says humans taken by the white carts are trash. They're being thrown away.”

  That didn't make her feel any better. “A man inside told me he'd read it was the dierlijt, that they were eating humans.”

  Kev laughed. “We'd all be sick! Humans are dirty, everyone knows that.”

  “The point remains, however, that there is some mystery about what's becoming of these people,” Vex said. “I think you were right to bring this to my attention. This is something we ought to look into. Right away.”

  “Why do you say that?” she asked.

  “Call it a hunch,” he said.

  So they began their walk, back south, and west, to where she'd been held, where Vex had freed her with that fishbone creature. That thing had been amazing, horrible, but amazing. If he could make something like that, what other wonderfully grotesque things could he do? The men of the bell would run like rabbits.

  She shivered, the wind was cold and the new clothing was nice, but not as warm as she would have liked.

  “Cold?” Vex asked.

  “I miss that thing I got to wear from your previous home. It was amazing. Cool on hot days, warm on cool ones and it would dry out in minutes.”

  “We can get you another,” he said.

  “I'd love that.”

  “It will be a while, unfortunately. I don't do that sort of sorcery. In the meantime, try this,” he added, doing a small set of movements with his right hand. There was a short hum followed by a flash of green light.