The Woad to Wuin

by Peter David

  “ODD THAT YOU WOULD BE CALLING OTHERS SONS OF BITCHES!” came an all-too-familiar, and all-too-loud voice. “CONSIDERING WHO YOU ARE, AND WHAT YOU’VE DONE! SMITING OTHERS WITH IMPUNITY WHILE BASKING IN INVINCIBILITY!”

  His voice was echoing all around me, reverberating off the rock walls. For an instant I feared an avalanche might be caused by the volume; I certainly had no desire to sprint out of the path of another one of those.

  And then I saw him.

  He was standing at the far end of the plateau, his sword in his hand, and I noticed that there was a huge spot of darkness behind him. It appeared to be a hole in the side of the mountain peak, large enough for a man to enter. Naturally I had no desire to do so. He took several steps forward, squinting in the darkness, and then slowly he nodded.

  “SO … IT IS YOU. THE ONE WHO I KNEW AS POE. SOMEHOW I NEVER DOUBTED IT. COME THEN, APROPOS … IF YOU BE A MAN. LET US SEE WHAT YOU’RE REALLY MADE OF.”

  And with that he disappeared into the darkness behind him.

  At which point, my mind split.

  It happened with such force that I almost staggered from the impact of it. Half of my mind screaming at me, Get out of here! Run! This is madness! Do not enter that place! Keep away! Keep away!

  But at precisely the same time, the gem in my chest burned with such fury that, for the first time I cried out in pain. Even as my every base instinct told me to flee, my legs propelled me toward the hole in the side of the mountain, my body and blackened soul seeking something that my mind could not even begin to comprehend.

  And with a final, strangled cry, I vanished into the blackness within.

  Chapter 5

  The Fissure King

  I entered the darkness and I could see.

  I had no idea how this was possible. There was no means of illumination that I could perceive. No torches lighting the way, no glowworms or lanterns. And yet there, in the darkness, I could see effortlessly. The only reason I knew it was pitch black within was because I comprehended intellectually that it had to be that way. It was night outside and so no sun’s rays could filter through the opening. And it didn’t matter, because in short order I had moved away from it entirely.

  I found myself in a cramped grotto, ringed with stalagmites and stalactites. But not far ahead it seemed to open up wider, and from that area I heard, “THIS WAY, APROPOS. THIS WAY, PEACELORD. THE TIME FOR A RECKONING HAS COME.”

  I’ll reckon you, you poxy bastard, I thought. I had my sword firmly in my hand as I crept forward. What surprised me was that I was feeling waves of heat from ahead of me. Most caves I had encountered, from the small ones I’d hidden within to the chambers of Ba’da’boom which I’d thought I’d never leave, had always been very cool. Not this time. But the heat was dry, and for a moment I wondered if somehow I’d stumbled over some leftover lava flow from the Flaming Nether Regions.

  I walked carefully and deliberately. Not only was I no longer feeling any of the trepidations in my mind that had actively been trying to prevent me from entering this place, but I had literally forgotten I’d had them in the first place. My jaw was set, my pulse was racing with anticipation of driving my sword deep into his gut, and the gem wanted …

  I paused. The gem wanted? But as quickly as the notion came to me, it flittered away again, leaving me only with the vague thought that something important had occurred to me but had been forgotten. Mentally I shrugged and decided that if it was at all important, I’d probably remember it again later.

  Alert to any sign of a trap, I eased my way through the narrowing passageway. I thought with grim amusement, So this was what it was like being born, and suddenly the area opened up in front of me.

  It was gargantuan. A cavern as wide and vast as the largest of cathedrals.

  In the middle … a death trap. A huge, black pit of a death trap. Stretching from side to side and all around, and only the narrowest of walkways surrounding it, a crevasse of such depths as I had never seen. And it was a fortunate thing that I noticed that first, and as a result had the requirement for caution impressed upon me with such intensity, for an instant later I became aware of the rest of my surroundings. And had I not known that to walk carelessly forward meant a very significant drop, I would have wandered forward into the nothingness without a thought, for all my concentration was upon that which surrounded me …

  … gems. Glittering, sparkling, shimmering all around me, lining the walls of the vast grotto, gems of enough value to last a lifetime, to last a hundred lifetimes. None of them were as large or as perfect as the one which adorned my chest, but even so, each and every one of them was gorgeous.

  This was it. That damnable little weaver, Sharee, had spoken truly. Through luck or fate or whatever one would call it, I had come upon a massive natural storehouse of riches beyond imagining. And how they could be twinkling in the darkness like a thousand stars, I had no idea. Well, perhaps it was indeed in the same manner that stars shone.

  Or maybe …

  … maybe it was … in response … to the gem that was upon me.

  Without fully understanding why, I tore aside the fabric of my tunic, and there it was, the gem, glowing with an inner fire, and I could see why I was feeling such internal heat. I heard something, a sound, a glorious song, a chant that did not come from outside my ears, but from within, as if it and the others were singing to one another.

  “Are they … alive … ?” I whispered. I had spoken to myself, and had not expected to receive an answer. Yet I got one anyway.

  “IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING, BY CRUMM.”

  I turned quickly … so quickly that I almost lost my balance. The blackness below loomed before me, and at the last second I snagged a stalagmite and righted myself, letting out a slow breath of relief.

  There was Beliquose, all right. He was about thirty feet away, just as brutish and barbaric as I’d remembered. He was also even harder to understand, because his bellowing echoed off the walls, making it almost impossible to comprehend him. If I’d been thinking with my right mind, properly analyzing the situation, I would have realized that he was seeing me in the darkness as easily as I was seeing him, and that should not have been the case. But I was too caught up in the intensity of the moment to comprehend that. Instead I snarled, “What do you mean, in a manner of speaking?”

  “THE EARTH IS A LIVING ENTITY, APROPOS! EVERY PART OF IT, NO MATTER HOW INANIMATE IT SEEMS, HAS A SPARK OF LIFE TO IT! THESE GEMS ARE OF THE EARTH, AND HAVE A LIFE AND SPIRIT ALL THEIR OWN!” He took a step toward me, and I kept my sword up and at the ready, prepared for his charge. He appeared, however, to be in no hurry. “YOU HAVE COST ME DEARLY, BOY! MY MEN, DEAD! MY HOUND, MY BEAUTIFUL HOUND …”

  “It was a trap all along,” I said tightly, “wasn’t it. You left her behind with instructions to lead us here.”

  He nodded. “YOU FIGURED IT OUT. YOU KNOW … I EXPECTED YOU MIGHT. I DID NOT EXPECT HER TO TURN, THOUGH. TO SACRIFICE HERSELF IN TRYING TO SAVE YOUR MAN. HOW UTTERLY POINTLESS.”

  “I’m not afraid of you!” I shouted. “In case you haven’t figured it out yet … I happen to be invincible!”

  “REALLY? JOIN THE CLUB.”

  And he tore away the great black leather frontpiece he wore … and there, embedded in his chest, just as in mine, was a gem. It was identical to mine in every way, with a glowing unearthly flame dancing within it.

  My legs suddenly felt weak. It wasn’t as if the frailty had returned to them; I was just startled to see someone who seemed to share the imperviousness I had. My bravado, my triumphs, had come entirely as a result of my conviction that I had an edge over all whom I faced. The notion of a level playing field was not one that I was especially fond of.

  “I KNEW,” he said, and he almost sounded a bit sad about it. “WHEN I SAW YOU BATTLE YOUR WAY OUT OF AN UNBEATABLE TRAP … WHEN I SAW SPEARS AND SWORDS DELIVER ENOUGH WOUNDS TO KILL A DOZEN PEACELORDS … I KNEW BEYOND ANY QUESTION THAT THE GEM HAD BONDED WITH YOU. JUST AS IT DID WITH ME. AND I FELT
SORRY FOR YOU THEN, BECAUSE I WAS WILLING TO MAKE THE SACRIFICE ALONE. IT IS UNFORTUNATE THAT SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE TO SHARE IT.”

  “Sacrifice? What the hell are you talking about?” But then I knew. He took another step toward me, and I backed up, keeping my sword blade up between us. I knew that I couldn’t stop him with it, any more than he could stop me, but it was reflex. “Oh, I understand now. You want to sacrifice the world to … to whatever craving for power these gems have … as Sharee warned me. You want to use it to—”

  But he shook his head vehemently. “NO! NO, BY CRUMM’S BEARD! THE WEAVER MISUNDERSTOOD! SHE DID NOT KNOW! SHE BELIEVED ME TO BE A BARBARIAN BRUTE. SHE DID NOT COMPREHEND THE MISSION … THE PURPOSE! SHE KNEW THAT THE GEMS COULD SPELL DOOM FOR THE WORLD … AND THOUGHT THAT I WAS TO DELIVER THAT DOOM! BUT SHE THOUGHT WRONG! IT’S WHY I LURED YOU HERE, APROPOS … TO THIS PLACE! TO THE GREAT DIVIDE!” And he pointed at the huge fissure before us. “I BROUGHT US HERE … TO DO WHAT MUST BE DONE!”

  “Done?! Done with what?” I tapped the gem with my free hand. “What are these things, anyway?”

  “DO YOU NOT KNOW? DID THE WEAVER NEVER TELL YOU?” He looked both surprised and pitying at the same time. “CERTAINLY YOU HAVE HEARD THAT BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER? BUT DID YOU NOT REALIZE THAT IS NOT SIMPLY AN OLD SAYING … BUT AN ANCIENT PROPHECY? A STATEMENT OF ABSOLUTE TRUTH?”

  “No! How the hell would I know that? And how is that supposed to mean anything to—”

  And then my voice trailed off, and he could see in my eyes that I understood, or at least was beginning to understand, for he said, “THESE ARE THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDERS! THE EYES OF THE GODS UPON THE EARTH! IT IS HOW THEY WATCH US, HOW THEY AFFECT US. IT IS FROM THESE THAT ALL BEAUTY STEMS, YES … BUT ALSO ALL EVIL! YOU SEE, THEY ONCE SAT IN THE GATE OF HEAVEN, BUT WERE STOLEN FROM A—”

  “No! Shut up! Don’t start!” I howled, slamming my sword against a stalagmite for emphasis with such force that it rang throughout the gargantuan cavern. “I see this coming! I see this coming a mile away! You’re about to tell me that these … these things … have been the subject of a long and great quest, which you’ve gone on, and faced countless perils, and the fate of our entire sphere hangs upon what you do next! Right? Am I right?!”

  And Beliquose looked so startled, so taken aback by the vehemence of my response, that when he replied it was in the smallest and quietest voice I’d ever heard from him. In other words, it was a normal conversational tone.

  “Well … yes,” he admitted, looking a bit deflated.

  Myself, I wasn’t deflated. I was overblown with fury. “Son of a bitch!” I howled. “I’m in somebody else’s adventure again! I’m another goddamn supporting character! Shit! What do I have to do to be the center of attention around here?!”

  Beliquose looked utterly dumbfounded. He had no idea what I was ranting about.

  How could he? How could I explain to him the situation, years ago, when I was confronted with the bravery and heroism that was epitomized in my former friend, Tacit? When I realized that in the annals of our world, Tacit was a hero of epic proportions, going through the paces of an equally epic adventure that was the kind of thing balladeers, poets, and storytellers loved to tell to rapt audiences? And there was I, Apropos, thinking that I was the center of my own life and world—which is how most people think of themselves. But in a raging epiphany, I had come to realize exactly what my station was: to be a supporting, even bit player in the true greatness that was the exploits of someone else. I was the throwaway, disposable side character.

  And now here I was, thinking myself the epic conqueror of nations, and it turned out that I was simply the last challenge for a damned barbarian hero to overcome so he could save the world.

  “DO WE HAVE A PROBLEM HERE?” inquired Beliquose, back to his normal earsplitting volume.

  “You bet your ass we have a problem here!” I shot back. “You want to be invincible, like me? Fine! Go be invincible someplace else! I was here first! I claim Wuin. Go destroy Isteria if you want. I’ve never had much use for the place anyway! As a matter of fact,” I said with sudden inspiration, “it was written that I’m supposed to be here! Written that I would be involved in the Woad to Wuin! Was it written that you would be? I think not!”

  “WELL … NOT THAT EXACTLY. BUT MY MISSION WAS WRITTEN, YES.” He pulled out a rolled parchment, unrolled it, and held it up. “YOU PROBABLY WON’T UNDERSTAND IT. IT’S WRITTEN IN RUNIC. IT WAS GIVEN ME BY—”

  More and more was becoming clear to me as I said hollowly, “By a smooth-headed, gray-bearded Visionary with a threadbare cloak.”

  He brightened. “SO THAT WAS HIM IN YOUR TAVERN THAT NIGHT. I THOUGHT HE SEEMED FAMILIAR. SMALL WORLD.”

  Beliquose rolled the parchment back up and tucked it in his boot as he said, with growing urgency, “APROPOS … YOU FEEL THE INCREASED BURNING IN THE EYE, DO YOU NOT? TIME IS RUNNING OUT. THE EYES SENSE WHAT I AM ABOUT TO DO, AND ARE TRYING TO OVERWHELM MY RESOLVE. MINE BONDED WITH ME BECAUSE IT READ THE DARKNESS ALREADY IN MY SOUL, JUST AS YOURS DID WITH YOU. BUT I’VE TRIUMPHED OVER IT, JUST AS YOU CAN …”

  “Right, because you’re a loud annoying hero with delusions of grandeur! I’m a workingman! I don’t need this grief!”

  “THE WORLD DOESN’T NEED THE GRIEF! LISTEN TO ME …” He tried to walk toward me, but I backed up. We were circling the gaping hole he’d called the Great Divide as he continued, “THE EYES SHOULD NOT BE OF THIS WORLD. THEY SHOULD NEVER HAVE COME HERE. NOW THAT THEY ARE HERE, THEY REPRESENT INCALCULABLE POWER. AND THERE ARE DARK FORCES WHO HAVE LESS-THAN-GENTLE PLANS FOR THE WORLD. WHO WOULD USE THAT POWER TO REORDER THE WORLD TO THEIR LIKING. BUT YOU’RE NOT TOTALLY LOST TO THE EYE, APROPOS! I CAN SENSE IT. IT WANTS MORE FROM YOU. IT IS NOT YET SATED.”

  “Sated? Sated how?”

  “PART OF YOU STILL BATTLES IT … AND YOU HAVE IT WITHIN YOU TO MAKE THE SACRIFICE THAT MUST BE MADE TO KEEP THE EYE FROM THE DARK FORCES WHO WOULD MISUSE IT. IN YOUR SACRIFICE, YOU CAN BE A MODERN PROMETHEUS, WIELDING THE FLAME OF KNOWLEDGE FOR HUMANITY. TRUE BRINGER OF ENLIGHTENMENT TO MANKIND. FLAME TO ILLUMINATE THE DARKNESS WHEREIN ALL IGNORANCE HIDES.”

  And suddenly he stooped and then stood, having grabbed something from behind a rock.

  It was a torch, the flame upon it burning brightly.

  I stepped back, alarmed. “No! Get away!”

  He advanced upon me, bearing the torch toward me. I could feel the terror from the gem, more than matching my own. “GIVE UP YOUR INVINCIBILITY, APROPOS! TURN AWAY FROM THE PATH OF DARKNESS YOU’RE TREADING! IT IS THE ONLY WAY!”

  “And go back to being what?” I cried out. I kept backing up, almost stumbling on the uneven surface. “To being nothing? I’ve been nothing! I won’t return to that miserable, pathetic state! I won’t!”

  He thrust forward with the torch. I dodged behind a stalagmite, just avoiding the flame, and swung my sword as hard as I could. But my confidence was eroded, the fear made me clumsy, and the lunge was as bad as they come. Beliquose stepped sideways, avoiding the thrust effortlessly, and with casual ease he slapped the sword out of my hand. It clattered to the ground and he stepped around the stalagmite to get at me, but I backpedaled as fast as I could.

  The pleading was gone from his face, replaced by impatience. “I HAVE MY DARKNESS, TOO, APROPOS! NOT AS RELENTLESSLY DARK AS YOURS, BUT IT’S THERE JUST THE SAME. I FEEL THE GEM CLAWING AT IT, TRYING TO EXPLOIT IT! BEFORE I LOSE MY RESOLVE, BEFORE THE EYES JOIN FORCES AT THE BEHEST OF THE DARK POWERS THAT CRAVE THEM, WE MUST PUT AN END TO THIS! THE EYES CANNOT BE DESTROYED BY ANY FORCE UPON THIS EARTH … SO THEY MUST BE HURLED INTO THE GREAT DIVIDE! THE ONLY TRUE BOTTOMLESS PIT IN EXISTENCE, SO THAT THEY WILL FOREVER BE BEYOND THE REACH OF GOD OR MAN! YOU WILL DO THIS WILLINGLY, OR OVER YOUR DEAD BODY! IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE TO ME, BY CRUMM!”

  I turned and ran.

  I moved quickly across the rocky terrain, trying to run as fast as I could to stay ahead of him, but at the same time endeavoring not to slip lest I plunge into t
he yawning fissure to my immediate left. Beliquose was right after me, and his strides were much longer than mine. A desperate plan occurred to me then, and I picked up my speed, running with near recklessness. Behind me, Beliquose sped up. I could practically feel him breathing down my neck, and my mind raced, trying to figure out some way to beat that which was unbeatable.

  “YOU SELFISH LITTLE BLACKGUARD!” he bellowed behind me. “TO THINK YOU’D PLACE YOUR OWN PETTY CONCERNS ABOVE THE WORLD! THAT YOU’D EMBRACE THE UNNATURAL POWER GIVEN YOU BY A TALISMAN THAT COULD SEND THE EARTH SPIRALLING INTO A PIT OF EVIL, ALL BECAUSE IN THE DARKNESS OF YOUR HEART YOU LUST FOR POWER! DAMN YOU! WHERE’S YOUR PRIDE?!”

  And with a sudden, quick movement I yanked one of the halves of my staff from my belt, spun, and threw it between Beliquose’s pumping legs. It snagged between his ankles, and he tripped over it, tried to untangle his feet from it, failed, and—waving his arms in futility to reacquire his balance—stumbled sideways …

  … into the gaping fissure.

  “My pride goes before your fall,” I said icily.

  It took him a second or two to realize that there was nothing around him save air, and then … well, if Beliquose’s normal speaking voice was ear-shattering, that was as nothing compared to the scream he uncorked as he plummeted into oblivion.

  “AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!” Beliquose howled, and my teeth rattled and I staggered about and would likely have fallen in myself if I’d not thrown myself flat to the ground and just held on. The scream echoed and re-echoed for what seemed like forever, and to this day sometimes I wake up late at night, thinking that I can hear the last frustrated howl of a would-be barbarian hero, tumbling away into endless darkness with one half of the most infinitely potent source of power in the world holding on for the ride.