The Ryle of Zentule

by Michael Green

  Unbelieving faces met his words. Veloiz was the only one to rebut, “That is a stupid jest, and a waste of our dwindling time. Capturing the free city is a fool’s punishment.”

  “Yes, and fools we are. But we have an advantage none of our foolish forbearers have ever enjoyed.” Ziesqe paused, inclining his brow towards Andy.

  The ryle were confused.

  “Degoskirke is the greatest city in Pansubprimus, and it is free.”

  “Of course!” Veloiz interrupted, “but that’s why being assigned to Degoskirke is a death sentence. It has been free for centuries, and you, oh great bumbler, propose to capture a city with the boy who destroyed a city?”

  “That was Caspian; don’t forget that.” Ziesqe raised his hand to silence the protests. “I can see the boy, and only the boy, being the critical difference between our attempt and all those who have failed before.”

  They were silent.

  “We must play off this failure.”

  Kal nodded, “I see where this is going.”

  “What is the key characteristic of Degoskirke? What has made it difficult for us thus far?”

  “Their militant secularism and a founding document that explicitly outlaws our kind,” Veloiz replied.

  “Yes,” Kal said, “but their defense cleaves both ways; Seers are just as taboo and equally outlawed.”

  “Get to the point,” Viqx snapped. “What good is the Seer?”

  Ziesqe smiled. “Young Lysander here could simply walk through the streets and flash his blade for a moment. The sight would strike terror in the city’s inhabitants, who, bearing neither Argument nor Counter, must rely on their cumbersome weapons to even threaten him.”

  A few grins spread here and there.

  Veloiz, however, disagreed. “And what is to keep Caspian from stealing his body again?”

  Ziesqe smirked and looked to Kal.

  “It was a combination of the Casque and the Argument that empowered Caspian. The Viper meddling with the boy has accidentally taught him some resistance, buying us some time with little fear of the Usurper’s presence—unless we invoke him purposefully,” Kal said.

  “I have made an arrangement with the boy, and I’ll make another,” Ziesqe said. “If he serves us in taking Degoskirke, we will release him onto the surface, and leave him to his family. He is a moral creature, and I know how you will complain, but we can compel his cooperation. It will only take a little creativity.”

  “You mention Seer morality; they historically balk at killing innocents,” Kal said.

  “And he won’t have to. If simply waving the Argument in public doesn’t stir an uproar, we’ll have him do something moral. Perhaps he could hunt down and massacre the corrupt philosophers of the city.” Ziesqe’s head rolled back and he laughed uproariously. “We’ll be doing good, but the thinkers will certainly whip the people into a frenzy against him. We won’t have to do a thing, until—Anyone have a guess?”

  “We capture him publicly, taking credit for saving the city,” Kal said.

  “Exactly. And in this way, we can see the laws changed, and move into positions of power on the heels of rescuing the city.”

  They were pleased with this; even Veloiz had calmed.

  “It’s genius. The Maelstrom will struggle to hunt us while we’re there. We will have cover for as long as it takes,” Kal said, standing tall again. “And when we do finally conquer the free city, the Maelstrom will have no choice but to allow us to remain, to preserve the coup. We should be free for decades, allowing us time to contrive another crisis that only we can solve.”

  The lightning above was sparse and the scape had sunk into a darkness that didn’t hinder his eyes. Ziesqe took a long moment to look out over the jungles. It’s not a bad plan; it certainly isn’t genius. Though it all depends on him.

  Ziesqe looked over at Andy in his cage. He was sleeping soundly. Ziesqe picked up the Casque and turned it over in his hand. It was still ringing with the echo of the Argument, and it burned to the touch. He considered throwing it overboard.

  That catastrophe should never be allowed to happen again.

  Ziesqe lifted his arm, paused, and then lowered it.

  You never know.

  Chapter 10

  Sidetracked

  “May we know your name and those of your companions?” Fidelio asked.

  “Of course. I’m sorry for being rude. I’m Letty. This is Emma and Dean; they are friends from the surface. Neither are Seers, as far as I can tell anyway.”

  “Thank God,” Dean muttered.

  “And these two are Quill and Staza, they are my friends from Caspia.”

  That caused the mice some trepidation.

  “Caspia?” Several repeated the name.

  “Are you in league with the Viper, my Lady?” Fidelio asked.

  Letty looked over at Quill and Staza, who at first only seemed bemused by the whole production, but became increasingly irritated by the stares.

  “No,” Letty answered cautiously. “I was a guest there for a while. It’s dangerous for my friends back at Caspia, so they are with us, for now at least.”

  “We’re seeing this through to the end,” Staza said firmly, with a sharp eye for the mice.

  “Well—” Fidelio awkwardly changed the subject, “—now that’s settled, may we know our destination?”

  Letty paused. What harm could come from telling them? I don’t think that they’ve tricked us.

  She looked over to Quill and Staza. Both folded their arms. They probably think this is a waste of time.

  “We are headed to Degoskirke. There is another like us. He’s with the ryle, but we intend to save him,” Letty said.

  Fidelio had a glassy-eyed look, as did many of the mice.

  “Which way?” Letty asked.

  “Oh—” Fidelio sputtered. “I believe that you were headed the right way, but I can’t say for certain. None of us have ever left the nor-most part of Pansubprimus, but traders occasionally come through the goblin town of Steustace. We should travel there and see about arranging travel. Perhaps one of the traders would like our services as escorts.”

  “Steustace?” Dean muttered the name incredulously. “Pansubprimus? Did drunk bankers name your country?”

  Fidelio raised a sharp brow Dean’s way. “We’re ready to travel whenever you are, my Lady.”

  Letty grabbed her pack, and the others did likewise, before pushing off through the woods and across the stream. The mice slowed them considerably. They had to pause as the thousands used chunks of bark as rafts to ford the river in teams.

  “How many mice are in your company?” Quill asked.

  “Near six thousand,” Fidelio said, “we are the Rex Legion, or were... I’m not certain what we are now.”

  Quill and Dean had more questions, but Letty found Staza whispering in her ear as they crossed the stream.

  “They’re slowing us down, Letty.”

  “You’re right, but we can’t just tell them to go back,” Letty argued.

  “They aren’t our responsibility,” Staza countered.

  Letty wanted to argue but couldn’t think of what to say.

  “Let’s just get on with it then,” Staza moaned, seeing Letty’s obstinance would not give.

  The mice crossed the stream and led them back to the road.

  “This way!” Fidelio called out, pointing surward.

  After a few hours of silent travel through open and cultivated countryside, they came upon another tower.

  “Let us take the lead, my Lady,” Fidelio said as he led his mice ahead of the party. “Walk in a straight line if you would,” he said, gesturing for the humans to get behind each other.

  The mice marched in columns and surrounded the humans. The mouse-sized tower, which was no taller than she was, came closer and closer.

  “What if they shoot at us again?” Dean asked nervously.

  “Shh!” Fidelio hissed.

  “Halloo there! Mice of the Rex, what do yo
u have?” A red mouse with a tall feather in his helm stood on the road outside the tower.

  “Warden of the Sur! Fair morning! We have new stock, and the Goldmanes want these ones sold right away. We’re headed to Steustace.”

  “Aye, the Goldmanes don’t know decent mounts when they see them.”

  “No point in that,” Fidelio replied. “The war is over. Sentinel’s Watch is fallen. Ryle got them in the end, not us. I can’t believe you haven’t heard.”

  The warden didn’t look pleased to hear the news. “No news out here.” He rubbed at his eye. “Well, there will always be another war.” He laughed awkwardly, “Maybe we’ll get some damned relief here on the border.”

  “Indeed.”

  “Ryle got em, you say?” The Warden asked.

  “Yes, though we don’t know how. I suspect they came from further lantic, through the woods on the coast.”

  “Well, they must have, otherwise we would’ve seen them cut around the mountains onto our plains.” The warden scoffed. “No ryle army crossed this border. That’s for certain.”

  Fidelio nodded and gave a salute as they passed the tower. “Good day, sir. We’ll see you on the return.”

  The Warden returned the salute and watched as they passed.

  They marched in silence for a long time before Fidelio finally spoke, “We should be safe now. Though we won’t be able to bluff our way past whatever comes next.”

  Everyone took a breath and their ranks loosened.

  Letty walked back to Staza. “See, they were useful after all.”

  “You could have sliced that tower in two. Or we could have taken the extra time and stayed off the road to avoid the border guards,” Staza said.

  There’s no pleasing her. Does she hate the mice, or am I being foolish?

  Letty sensed that the mice were hearing every whisper. She rolled her eyes and hoped there wouldn’t be any trouble.

  They marched in silence. Staza and Quill were calm enough, but when Letty heard them whisper to each other, there was something different. Emma and Dean looked like they were in a daze, though Dean twitched at the slightest cough or scrape.

  Letty gazed ahead and saw trees thick in the distance. The soft plains gradually gave way to rolling hills.

  They crested a hill, and, surmounting the pines, a church spire rose into the sky.

  “Steustace!” A mouse called and pointed.

  “That’s not what I expected,” Letty said.

  “It looks like a church,” Dean commented. “What is a regular old church doing down here?”

  “Maybe Seers built it,” Letty guessed.

  As they went downhill, they lost sight of the spire, but they came upon a sign carved into a standing stone a few minutes later. There had been Latin characters scrawled onto the stone, but they had been covered by claw marks, making the sign illegible.

  “Left here,” Fidelio said.

  Letty turned the Argument around in her palm, wondering about what had made those marks.

  The group turned, and after a few bends the road became a steeper path.

  “I didn’t know there’d be so much hiking,” Dean said.

  “Feel free to turn around,” Letty mumbled.

  “Do you hear that?” Fidelio asked, cutting off Dean’s reply.

  “What?” Letty tried to listen, but could hear nothing.

  “Goblins,” Fidelio said, his face betraying confusion.

  “So, we’re on the right path,” Letty replied.

  “They’re wailing, sir,” a mouse said to Fidelio, while pulling on his ears.

  Minutes later, Letty heard the noise too.

  They climbed the last rise and saw hundreds of shabby tents and the local goblins, moping and wailing.

  A pair of goblins on guard duty saw them and came running.

  Letty grasped the Argument, and even the mice leveled their halberds.

  “Humansies and mices! Thank the Gib you’ve come!”

  “Steady on!” Fidelio said.

  “What’s wrong?” Letty asked.

  “Do we really want to know?” Dean grumbled.

  “The monster! She’s eaten our chiefses! All we has is judge now, and no one likes him! We can’t go home! We’re stowed in tents, and no traders will come through! It’s the end of Steustace!” The guard wailed, and his moaning set off a chain reaction in the hundred goblins who had rushed to see the humans.

  “Monster?” Letty asked the others.

  Quill and Staza both shrugged.

  “You say it ate your chief?” Letty asked.

  “Ate’s him all up! And not only him!”

  “It keeps us up all night, stomping around town, asking tricky questions and eating whoever speaks wrong!”

  The goblins set off wailing again.

  “Perhaps we should return to the road, my Lady,” Fidelio said, alarmed by the manic goblins. “There must be another way.”

  Letty looked at her friends. None were pleased, barring Emma, who still seemed amazed by everything.

  “Fine!” Letty said. “You guys go back to the road—I’m going to try and help them. If I can kill whatever is eating them, I’ll catch up.”

  The goblins heard this and cheered. “Right this way, Misses! I’ll open the gate for yous!”

  Letty stomped off, surrounded by the suddenly raucous goblins.

  “We’re here to get Andy! Aren’t we?” Dean asked.

  “He helped the mice on his way to save me. I can’t just walk past; I need to see if we can do anything!” Letty yelled back to them.

  She couldn’t make out what the goblins were saying in their ceaseless rambling.

  As they approached the wall, many goblins broke off from the group. Finally, it was only Letty and the guard with the key. His hand was jittery, and he kept looking over his shoulder.

  “What kind of monster is it? Is it a brutox or a ryle?”

  “No—no Missus, it’s not brutoxy, not squiddy. It’s cat lady, gray shiny fur.”

  What could that be? Gray fur?

  The goblin was quaking in its mismatched boots.

  “It’s fine. Give me the key and I’ll go,” Letty said.

  The goblin handed over the key before turning and running back to the tents.

  Goblins…

  Letty reached the rickety palisade that surrounded the town. She searched for a place to use the key but saw it was only a wooden gate.

  Why the hell did he give me a key?

  Letty pushed the gate open and looked inside. Like its wall, Steustace was poorly built.

  She stepped inside and saw a clump of silver fur stuck to the gate.

  What creature has silver fur, and can talk? Letty’s mind flashed with images of talking mice, giant insects, and squid monsters. Well, anything is possible at this point.

  She walked into town. The contrast between the wood and stone buildings made her sneer.

  Look at these rickety goblin buildings sitting around that church. It’s so strange.

  The slanted roofs and ramshackle walls of the goblin shanties creaked in the soft breeze. The harsh angles of the old stone church drew her eyes upward. A stained-glass window above the doors featured a multicolored Infiniteye.

  Seers built this.

  She walked to the church and saw a metal plate next to the door.

  St. Eustace Abbey.

  Letty felt her brow raise. Steustace? She sighed. Goblins… But you think the mice would know better.

  She went up to the door and turned the latch. The door stuck.

  It’s locked. Ah—

  She tried the key and the latch clicked.

  Letty felt suddenly nervous and looked back at the gate.

  She took a breath and palmed the Argument. Grasping it brought the glow. She pushed the door open, and looked down the length of the church. Lying at the base of the altar was something large with the frame of a four-legged animal. Its body rose and fell, and she could hear its strong breath from all the way across
the church.

  The goblin eater.

  Letty bent low and inched forward. She kept lower than the well-worn pews.

  The beast grumbled a few, half-formed syllables.

  It sounds like a woman.

  Letty’s elbow grazed a pew, causing it to creak slightly.

  The creature raised its head and sniffed at the air.

  Letty cringed, and slipped down an aisle.

  It took long heavy breaths, and almost sounded like it was purring.

  Letty peeked around the pew and got a better look. It had the head of a woman and the body of a lion. Heavy wings curled on its flanks. The creature had dead, blank eyes.

  Is it looking at me?

  The creature yawned and lazily got to its feet. It saw her.

  Letty stood sharply and summoned the blade. “Stay back!” she yelled.

  “Who is lost?” The creature asked in a slurred accent.

  “What?” Letty replied, afraid and confused.

  “A truth blooms into tomorrow. A fallacy sleeps behind my teeth. Which will you be?”

  What is she saying? Are these riddles? She sounds like the Greek lady from next door.

  “Who is lost?” the creature asked.

  Me? No, I’m not lost. Is it metaphorical? Are we all lost? No, that’s stupid. Maybe she’s lost. The goblins want her gone, but she stays.

  “You. Are you lost?”

  The creature stepped forward, her eyes hungry for more.

  It’s a sphinx!

  “A sphinx is lost!” Letty burst out.

  The creature stopped and sat. She looked almost sad.

  “How are you lost? This isn’t your home?”

  The creature looked up through the damaged ceiling. “The paths have broken. Eyes are dim to signs.”

  Maybe she means the ceiling. It’s been going crazy since Sentinel’s Watch fell.

  “A Seer’s oath to timeless keepers stands to this day?”

  What does she want me to say?

  Letty paused, and the sphinx stood, loping slowly her way.

  “The oath to Voice and God lives in your blood?”

  Her paw tensed and revealed claws.

  Oh no! I don’t know what she wants me to say!

  The sphinx came closer and bared her teeth.