Fortress of Radiance

by Marc Alan Edelheit

“He is with us, always.” Amarra stepped closer. She laid a palm upon his chest armor. “He speaks to me, not with words. I feel him here. Can you?”

  Karus thought about that for a moment. He believed in the High Father, knew for certainty that the god was real. But he did not feel any presence, not like he had in the chapel under the ruined temple back in Carthum. He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”

  “I feel him. You learn, too,” Amarra said, removing her hand. “I show. It come with faith, yes?”

  “I can try,” Karus said, though he very much doubted he would ever have the same type of connection to the High Father that Amarra had.

  “No,” Amarra said. “You do. You not try.”

  Karus chuckled at the sudden force of her attitude. It was something that attracted him to her. She was determined, focused, and at times single-minded. Amarra was a woman who knew what she wanted and went for it.

  “You no laugh,” Amarra said. She slapped his chest armor with the same hand. “No laugh. You understand?”

  He pulled her to him and gave her a kiss. At first, she resisted, then she gave in and kissed him back, her soft lips pressing passionately against his. He held her tight against him. Then, still in his arms, she looked up into his face.

  “You need to know,” Amarra said. “He tell me he not always be there, like he show me with stopping arrow.”

  “What do you mean?” Karus asked.

  “I must learn to use staff on own,” Amarra said. “Open secrets, find out what else it do. High Father made me know we must look to us to fix problems, not always to him.”

  “Why?” Karus asked, concerned. It almost sounded like the High Father was abandoning them, and just when they needed him the most. That alarmed him, for he was here in this elven city because the god had sent him after the sword Rarokan.

  “Like children, we grow, yes? We must walk our own path in time. Understand?”

  Karus considered her words. “So, we are on our own then? There will be no more help from the High Father? Is that it?”

  “No,” Amarra said. “High Father always with us, always. He give us what we need.” She stepped back out of his embrace and shook the staff slightly. It flickered with each shake. “Is our turn now. We do things, as it meant to be.”

  “The shield that stopped the arrows,” Karus said. He could not think of another word that would adequately describe the blue sphere. “The shield? Is it still up?”

  Amarra shook her head. “I no waste High Father’s power. He said not to, remember?”

  “I do.” Karus swung his gaze back to the elven rangers. He considered the closest for a long moment. “We have to help them, you say?”

  “Yes.”

  “But we don’t know what they need help doing?” Karus looked over at Amarra.

  “No, we not know how help them,” she confirmed.

  He gave a nod, more to himself. He turned away from Amarra and started walking toward the nearest ranger, who was almost completely shrouded in darkness.

  “Where go?” Amarra asked.

  He paused and glanced back. “I want to speak with one of these rangers. If we have to fight, I would take their measure. Besides, if I talk to one of them, perhaps I can learn something we can use to help us help them.”

  Cyln’phax raised her head as Karus continued on and by the dragon. They shared a quick look. The dragon appeared about to stop him, then changed her mind. Karus felt the dragon’s eyes upon his back as he continued forward.

  As he got closer, the elf’s features began to reveal themselves. A rounder face, full lips, a delicate nose. Karus almost missed a step. The ranger was a woman! Serving in Britannia, Karus had seen women fight alongside their men. This had only happened during desperate moments, when the legion had surrounded the enemy or trapped them in a hill fort with no hope of escape. Still, he’d not expected a woman to be a ranger.

  The elf appeared far from threatened by his approach. She didn’t raise her bow, but instead settled for studying him, almost as intently as he was her. He came to a stop just five feet from her. Karus found her beautiful almost beyond belief, a goddess, like Venus come to life.

  It was her eyes that seemed to pull him in. In the darkness, he could not tell their color, but they were captivating, compelling, and deep. Gazing into their depths was a near-hypnotic experience. He felt he could lose himself in eyes like hers.

  With some effort, Karus pulled his gaze away and continued his examination. Her hair was blonde. She had it pulled back into a single tightly weaved braid, which exposed her pointed ears. Under the moonlight, her skin shown like freshly ground flour.

  She wore no armor to speak of, just soft brown leather pants and a tunic that was cinched about her thin waist with a black leather belt threaded with silver. The clothing was loose, but not baggy. Karus got the impression it was designed for easy movement and comfort rather than style. Her light brown boots were made of soft, flexible leather.

  She carried a short bow along with a half dozen arrows in one hand. She was also armed with a pair of large bone-handled daggers, sheathed along her upper thighs. These daggers were about half the length of a legionary gladius. One was straight and the other held a slight curve to it.

  Her beauty was overwhelming, overpowering, and set his heart racing at an unnatural gait. He felt a desperate desire to want her to love him, to protect her and grant her every desire. It was irrational.

  Their eyes locked again. Karus found himself trapped, like a fly caught in amber or, perhaps more appropriately, a spider’s web. He struggled to draw a breath. It was as if she had captured his soul with her gaze and held it in a fist-like grip. Her lips quirked in a hint of a knowing, somewhat mocking smile. It broke the spell that had fallen over him.

  Blinking and unsure exactly what had just occurred, he sucked in a deep breath and glanced back at Amarra. He found her starkly plain in comparison to the elven ranger. Yet, it was almost as if the sight of Amarra was a breath of fresh air in a stale room. Karus took another deep breath and shuddered slightly as he let it out. The gods and fate had seen fit to throw them together. His heart was with her. He steeled himself and turned back. The elf seemed slightly less beautiful than she had a moment before. He wondered what strange power had been at work.

  He cleared his throat.

  “I am Karus,” he said in Common.

  Her smile vanished.

  “Si’Cara,” she said.

  Karus hesitated a moment and held out his hand. It was an intentional act, by which he intended to convey he meant no threat to her. She scowled slightly at the proffered hand. It was as if he were offering her a poisonous snake, angry at having been pulled from its snug hole.

  Karus kept his hand extended and open, waiting. She looked up at him, her gaze once again locking with his. This time her eyes did not have the same effect that they had just moments before. Though she appeared youthful, a mere child just out of her teens, he sensed an unexpected maturity as she regarded the proffered hand.

  After a moment’s more hesitation, Si’Cara gave a half shrug of her shoulders. She moved her bow and arrows to her left hand, then reached out. She took his hand. He found her grip firm and unexpectedly warm to the touch, almost fevered hot. The skin was not soft, as he had expected, but rough, hard, and calloused. She quickly shook and then released, as if personal contact with him had been extremely distasteful. Karus got the feeling she desired very badly to wipe her hand clean, but common courtesy kept her from doing so.

  “Do you speak Common?” Karus asked.

  “I do,” Si’Cara said. Her tone had the same singsong quality he’d heard from the other elves, but it was also as rock-solid as her grip had been. “It was not wise to come here.”

  She was wholly confident in herself, Karus realized, not intimidated in the slightest by him or the dragons. That much was plain. He also found that disconcerting.

  “I had little choice,” Karus said, conscious of his poor Common. He knew
his accent was rough and his words poorly formed, some perhaps even incorrect. That said, he was resolved to have this conversation without Amarra acting as translator or go-between. He needed to master Common, and the sooner the better.

  “We all have free will.” Si’Cara tilted her head forward slightly. “You should have known better than to come, even with dragons.”

  “We should be allies,” Karus said, “certainly not enemies.”

  “If that were meant to be, it would be,” Si’Cara said.

  “The Horde threatens all. It is unwise to stand alone.”

  “And you think to have my people stand with yours?” She said this with an amused grin that vanished as soon as she’d posed her question.

  “Such would be good, but that is not why we are here,” Karus said.

  “Oh, really?” Her tone was almost mocking.

  “Really,” Karus said. “We did not come for that.”

  “You should know, the dwarves sought to enlist our aid as well.”

  “They did?” Karus asked, interested.

  “The last surviving member of their delegation rots within the warden’s prison,” Si’Cara said. “That is how much regard the warden holds for the dwarven people. The warden has even less for yours.”

  Karus did not like the sound of that. She had implied the rest had been killed. If the warden proved obstinate, they would have a problem. This news, he thought, did not bode well for their chances.

  “If I were in your place …” Si’Cara said, glancing at the nearest ranger, who was looking their way curiously. Karus thought he read sympathy in her eyes, as they softened slightly and returned to him. She lowered her voice a tad. “I’d go now and flee whilst you still can.”

  “The warden has what we need,” Karus said, putting the words as best he could into Common and hoping they were right. “I can’t go until we have it. The High Father sent us.”

  Si’Cara was silent for several heartbeats.

  “You are a”—she said a word he did not know—“then?” Si’Cara asked.

  “I don’t know that word,” Karus said.

  Si’Cara scowled at him.

  “Believer,” Si’Cara said, choosing a different word. “We still have a few believers amongst us. They imagine the gods guide their path and journey through life. Many consider their”—she said another word he did not know—“of faith nothing but hot air on a”—again another unknown word—“wind.”

  “Yes,” Karus said, getting the gist of what she was going for. “I am a believer.”

  “Few there are who speak truth these dark days,” Si’Cara said. “Are your words nothing but hot air on a”—again a word he did not know—“wind?”

  “The High Father brought my legion to this world,” Karus said. He spoke slowly, working to form the words properly, for he wanted to be understood. “We fought evil. The High Father blessed us himself. He gave us a holy task and named Amarra his High Priestess. It was he who gave her the staff.”

  Si’Cara’s eyes traveled to Amarra and the staff, clearly considering.

  “A relic of some kind, no doubt from an age long past,” Si’Cara said. “It may even be holy. Perhaps she found it?”

  “It was given to her,” Karus insisted.

  “What is it you seek from the warden?” Si’Cara’s gaze returned to his and hardened.

  “A sword,” Karus said. “It too is a relic from an age past.”

  Si’Cara sucked in a startled breath. Her gaze pierced him seemingly to the core. “You do not come here today to seek our alliance?”

  “It would be nice, but no,” Karus said. “We are here for the sword. That is all.”

  “You come for Rarokan,” Si’Cara said and it came out almost as a hiss of air.

  “I do,” Karus said.

  “She is, as you say, High Priestess?” Si’Cara asked. Her eyes once again traveled to Amarra, a suspicious look harbored within them. “Did she give herself that title, or other humans like you?”

  “Jupiter gave it to her,” Karus said, thinking his words out and speaking slowly. “I mean the High Father. He named her High Priestess and gave her the staff by his own hand. I was there. I saw it happen.”

  “Jupiter?” Si’Cara turned her gaze back to him. The intensity of it had sharpened considerably. “The High Father is known by many names. Yet as far as I understand it, he is called Jupiter on only a handful of worlds.” Her eyes narrowed. “You come from one of those worlds.”

  The last was not a question. It was a statement of fact.

  “I do,” Karus said. “On my world, he is known only as Jupiter. The name High Father is new to us.”

  “Where do you come from, Karus?”

  “Rome,” Karus said. “I am a Roman.”

  Si’Cara’s gaze darted to the ranger she had looked to before. This one was clearly a male. He had started walking slowly over to them, almost strolling. Karus noted that he held his bow at the ready, an arrow nocked.

  “It is time you return,” Si’Cara said and nodded toward Amarra.

  “Thank you for speaking with me,” Karus said.

  “If fortune permits, we shall talk again, Karus of Rome. Now go, before there is trouble.”

  Karus turned and walked back to Amarra. She raised an eyebrow as he approached.

  “That’s a woman,” Karus said and jerked a thumb back at Si’Cara. “Can you believe that?”

  Amarra gave a nod but said nothing.

  He glanced back at Si’Cara. The other ranger had come up to her. They were speaking quietly together and looking his way.

  There was a loud crack from behind. Karus and Amarra turned, startled. The wizard was back and he looked none too happy. His face was a thundercloud of barely suppressed anger and rage, cheeks flushed and hot. The crystal on his staff throbbed and pulsed brightly, as if reacting to his emotional state.

  “The warden will see you both,” the wizard said, almost biting the words as they came out. “The dragons stay. Those are the warden’s conditions and terms.”

  Wizard, Kordem said without raising his head or stirring, when these talks are concluded, you will return Karus and Amarra unharmed. If you fail to do so, we will burn your sacred city to the ground. You shall be left with nothing but ash. Are our terms understood?

  The wizard’s eyes snapped to the dragon. The anger and rage passed over rapidly to a mask of schooled inscrutability and equanimity.

  The wizard hesitated. “No harm shall come to them. When they have spoken their piece, we shall return them … unharmed. All of you will be free to go. You have my word.”

  “Did you make the same promise to the dwarven delegation?” Karus asked the wizard.

  The wizard glanced sharply over at Karus. “No promises were made to them. Like you, they should have known better than to trespass within our domain. Still, I have given my word. You shall not be harmed.”

  The empty words of elves mean nothing to us, Cyln’phax said. However, we make a promise in return. Should the warden or any of your kin harm Karus or Amarra, the elven nations shall pay a steep price, you included. We are not the only taltalum on this world. Betray us, and our brothers and sisters will know. You may succeed in defeating us, but I assure you they will come to extract blood debt. Their vengeance will be a terrible thing to behold.

  Karus saw the wizard actually swallow. He had paled considerably.

  “I understand.” The wizard turned to Amarra and Karus. “If you will both follow me, I will take you to the warden.”

  The wizard turned, robes whirling, and set off in the direction of Si’Cara and the other ranger. Karus shared a glance with Amarra, then looked back on Cyln’phax.

  “There are others of your kind?” Karus asked quietly.

  Of course, Kordem said. When we found Amarra, we sent out word. All of our kin upon this world are coming. Soon there shall be a gathering of taltalum like Tannis has never seen nor will likely ever again.

  Now go, Cyln’phax said. You
are wasting time. Obtain permission to enter the Fortress of Radiance and return to us.

  Karus glanced over at Amarra. She shot him a wink. He felt heartened at the news that more dragons were on their way. It made him feel more confident about what they were heading into.

  The wizard had stopped by the two rangers. He was looking back at them, clearly wondering why they were not following. With a glance to Amarra, they started forward, joining the wizard and the two rangers. The wizard turned and led them onward. Si’Cara and the other ranger fell in, walking a few paces behind them.

  Chapter Nine

  The wizard led them across the square and onto a winding path that carried them into the forest. They moved past the giant trees that bordered the square. Every few yards, a magical lantern lit the way with just enough light to see the path. After a ten-minute walk, the stone path began steering them toward a tree so large that it almost defied belief.

  Karus figured the tree must have been at least fifty feet thick, perhaps greater than one hundred to one hundred fifty feet around. In the darkness, he realized that his estimate may have been conservative, as it was getting more difficult to see. The tree was more of a great shadow than anything else.

  He glanced upward toward its towering canopy hundreds of feet above them. Light came from the branches and trunk of the tree higher up. He could just make out the dim outline of buildings that had been constructed in the tree, on the branches, or along the side of the trunk. He marveled not only at the sheer feat of engineering and determination that had made it possible, but also that something so huge could be a living thing.

  The stone pathway seemed to meander for no good reason as it brought them closer to the tree. All the while, it led them through what Karus thought to be some sort of rock-and-sand garden. The sand appeared to have been raked, sculpted into geometric designs. But it was hard to tell for sure, as the farther along they moved under the great canopy of leaves and the shadow of the giant tree, the darker it became. The light from the occasional lantern did not spread too far off the path. The darkness of the forest, as if a hungry monster, swallowed up the light.