fate's pawn 12

 

Chapter 12

 

It was a stiff climb up the moraine over which the big waterfall poured, but the mules were surefooted. At the top, there was a big lake, held back by the huge mound of earth, mud, and rocks, nestling between the peaks on either side. Ahead, more mountains arose.

“Alathan, have you any idea where we might find the silver star?” asked Kaz. “I went to the temple of Polos, god of knowledge, and discovered that it likes soil with lime in it. That left me better informed, but none the wiser.”

“We might find it here, then,” said Alathan. “These mountains were once a lake, which was lifted up, and lava ran through them, making pipes of minerals which miners mine, but they are also made of limestone,

“Mountains can rise out of nowhere?” said Kaz.

“Oh, Mother Earth is restless,” said Alathan. “I understand that mountains can come and go. Very little is unchanging; save some of the gods, who are hidebound in their roles.”

“That will kill them when there are changes too profound, surely?” said Kaz.

“It will,” said Alathan. “If Mother Earth did not lift land up, rain would wash it all into the sea, eventually. So, she maintains a balance.”

“I see,” said Kaz. “What is the difference between change and chaos, or entropy as some call it?”

“Oh, the difficult ones first,” said Alathan. “Change is inevitable and natural; it would be wrong if a baby was born who did not grow up. Chaos is about changes that are not natural; a chaos-tainted couple might give birth to a baby who grew, but maintained always the same proportions as a baby, bandy-legged with a huge head, but as long as any adult.”

“So, a chaos-taint will make some natural feature unnatural?” asked Kaz.

“Yes, which may be beneficial to the chaotic creature, or not,” said Alathan. “The being might be unnaturally strong – or have one unnaturally strong hand. Or may be able to tap the spirit world to seize more magical power. Or spit acid or venom. Equally, it may be puny in part or all of its body, or be filled with chaotic forces that cause it to explode if touched. It may be hideously ugly or amazingly beautiful, or both at once, one each side. The only constant about a chaotic feature is that it is something no ordinary being has.”

“And if a chaotic being managed to rise to initiate of Alethos, could Alethos make his gift the removal of a chaotic feature?”

“Assuredly; his gifts are by nature a divine intervention on a personal level to aid his followers. And if it were a useful trait, then he would have the compassion to ask for a relatively easy geas to reward the devotion of such a worshiper.”

“That makes sense. Alethos is a very sensible god, without the foolish prejudices some gods seem to have.”

“The gods of the Knights of the Clear Starlight are a trifle... stubborn,” said Alathan.

“I’d understand it if it was Luna-Rogaz and Tor,” said Kaz. “They have every right to be outraged. I find it hard to get my thoughts around why those most outraged are essentially wind deities. You’d think they were next thing to chaotic.”

“Believe it or not, as random and destructive as winds can be, they are still tied to the rules of the universe and of nature,” said Alathan. “The principal gods of the Knights of the Clear Starlight are the grandchildren of Solos, the sun god, and Zea, the goddess of fertility. There are three principle ones; Polos, god of knowledge, son of Pollonis, god of inspiration, Ombros, god of the storm, son of Nevra, fertile rain, and Anemois, god of winds, and his sister, Thyella, goddess of lightning and the Celestial Virgin. Interestingly, none of the starlight daughters of Solos and Zea are a part of it, any more than the grain maidens.”

“Doesn’t Polos, like Pollonis, carry a truth glyph as part of what defines him?” asked Kaz. “Chaos does not necessarily mean evil, does it?”

“Oh, now we are back in the realms of whose truth means what,” laughed Alathan.

“You laugh, but it’s not funny if they kill people who don’t want to be chaos tainted, and can’t help it,” said Kaz.

Alathan sobered.

“You are right to rebuke me,” he said. “You make me think and analyse, and that can only be good. Sometimes there is no single truth, and then the only path to take is by the truth as you see it. It does not mean that Polosi dishonour themselves, only that they look at a different perspective, that if all chaos is killed, it diminishes Daze and Selen.”

“That’s a bit like people looking at two sides of a mountain, where the ones on the side with the gentle slope go to the top slowly and steadily, and the ones on the side with the sheer face plan to bring the top to them by hacking away at the base until it falls down.”

“Not a bad analogy,” said Alathan. “They mean well, but I agree, their way of doing things is not the best way.”

“We need to steal some others who want to be cured of their taint,” said Kaz.

“Yes, but you need to conquer the foothills before scrambling steeper pathways,” said Alathan.

 

“Do you understand half of what they talk about?” Evgon asked Protasion.

“Yes, but it’s a bit esoteric,” said Protasion.

“A lot of Glyph-levels of our god would find the discussions about truth having different faces to be sacrilege, so don’t go passing it on,” said Lelyn.

“I thought Alathan was some sort of hero of the cult? How can his dogma be suspect?” asked Kuros. “Not that I understand any more than Evgon.”

“There’s cult dogma for those of us who don’t understand and don’t want to understand higher mysteries, and then there’s defining cult dogma for those who are the sort who get divine intervention of spirits of retribution who dissolve people’s swords,” said Svargia. “I like Kaz, and I may be closer to initiation than she is, but she learns fast, and in many ways, she’s well ahead of me in understanding Alethos.”

“Alethos has always been unchanging, but I wonder if he is going to be more flexible with certain heroes,” said Lelyn.

“I haven’t understood a word of what most of you say, but Alathan smells of power and that means I feel protected, so I don’t care,” said Rynn. “Now that I understand that his disappearing is to do with training everyone to trust themselves, and stand on their own feet.”

“I fancy Kaz will want you to try to care, and to think for yourself,” said Lelyn.

“Oh, I can think for myself, but some things are above my need to know,” said Rynn. “Look, there’s a patch of silver star; that was what you were looking for, wasn’t it?”

Lelyn called to Alathan and Kaz, who had wandered off a bit, and indicated Rynn’s find.

“Well done, Rynn,” said Kaz.

The group gathered flowers and leaves of the snow-white two-layered star-shaped flower, and carefully dug up roots with soil around them to place in pots, tenderly hung over the rump of Orsida, the steadier of the two mules.

“I am not spending another night in that damned town,” said Kaz. “We’re camping.”

“None of us are arguing with that,” said Protasion, with heartfelt agreement.

 

A rather spindly spinney provided trees which might be pulled sideways, and tied to each other at the tops, and the canvas groundsheets of half the party attached over them as a shelter, whilst the rest went on the floor of the rough shelter thus made. There was no bracken, or even longish grass to pull to make a bed, and they must make do with the smallest branches they had cut off the small trees to lift them from the cold and wet of the ground.

“I’ll watch out,” said Alathan. “I don’t need a lot of sleep.”

“You get your energy from the magic you possess, and that renews you as much as sleep, doesn’t it?” blurted out Rynn.

“In a way,” said Alathan. “I still need to meditate to refill my magical reserve if I have used a lot of it; but sleep, as such, is less important to me.”

“How do you get more magic?” asked Rynn.

“Well, for most people, you can expand it, even as you expand your knowledge, by using it, and especially if you have a matching of magic with others, and seeing how they have used theirs, you might be able to expand your capacity. Also, if you are in spirit combat, the raw use of your magic can enable you to meditate and increase the amount you have. Healing spells allow you to look at how your magic interacts with anyone you are healing, especially.  When you are as powerful as mortals can usually be, then it is possible to wrest power through spirit combat, and absorb, too, the knowledge of the one you are fighting. When Kaz faces Daze for the final time, she will have to rip his spirit to shreds to prevent him having any more influence, and she can then take on some of his powers as well. But that is long in the future.”

“Well, damn!” said Rynn. “So, you’ve ripped power from a lot of people?”

“And gained it in incidental ways via artefacts and rituals,” said Alathan.

“I like the casual way he throws out ‘meeting Daze for the final time,’” said Kaz.

“I have every faith in you,” said Alathan. “My mother has every confidence in you, too.”

“Do I know your mother?” asked Kaz.

“No, but she is a tool of Fate, and well aware of the prophesy,” he said. “She has foretold our happiness if we do not try to hurry anything.”

 

 

Kaz awoke as Alathan shook her awake.

“The former mistress of your friend, Rynn, is coming up the valley,” he said. “She’s a Darkling, and she has two Greater Toróg guards and half a dozen trógling with her.”

Kaz sighed.

“I knew it was going to cause trouble,” she said. “I’m not going to attack her; but those big types could make a mess of us all if they terrorise the trógling into fighting.”

“I’ll wake the others, but it’s your call,” said Alathan.

Kaz buckled her armour on swiftly and went out of the shelter.

The mule train came on; Toróg who traded with humans usually used mules rather than cold beasts.

“You’re the one who caused trouble in town; have you no sense of what is right not to cringe before your betters?” sneered the Darkling trader.

“I don’t see any betters here,” said Kaz. “I’m not about to stop you if you pass on without causing trouble, but I’m not about to take any nonsense from you either.”

“Did you steal my trógling?”

“I offered succour to a runaway; I don’t call that stealing.”

“Then you’ll suffer, and you’ll beg to be my slave,” said the Darkling.

“In your dreams,” scoffed Kaz. “I’ll fight you in single combat for the rest of your trógling, though, as well as Rynn.”

“You’ll fight one of my champions for that, scummy little underbreed,” said the Darkling.

“And if I lose, you leave the rest of my companions alone?” said Kaz.

“I so swear,” said the Darkling. “My name is Hraazaz Wealthbringer.”

“And mine is Kaz of Alethos,” said Kaz. “Your champion?”

“Korg,” said Hraazaz.

The huge figure of a Greater Toróg came forward.

“Korg break sassy trógling enough and then keep to warm Korg’s furs. Sassy trógling last longer than most,” he said.

Unlike Darklings, Greater Toróg had visible fangs, which he licked.

“I do not think so, you bestial creature,” said Kaz, coldly. “Have you heard of an oath-zone, Hraazaz Wealthbringer?”

“I can’t say that I have,” said Hraazaz.

“You swore oath that I would fight this Korg and no others. Anyone who interferes... well, it was you who made the oath.”

“They will not interfere,” said Hraazaz.

“Someone is skirting the truth,” the voice in Kaz’s mind was amused.

“It’s a spell which ought to exist, if it doesn’t, my lord,” thought Kaz.

“When you are sufficiently well trained, you can research and institute it,” was the reply. “You might want to consider having it as an unpleasantness level as well as a death spell, depending on how deadly is the oath.”

“Like having ‘oathbreaker’ branded on the forehead, readable in whatever language the viewer knows,” said Kaz.

“Good.”

Kaz must now concentrate as Korg hefted a club which looked like the greater part of a small tree. He was grinning. He wore cuir-bouilli armour, leather hardened by being boiled in oil, a breastplate, greaves, vambraces, and tassets on his thighs. No pauldrons, no upper limb protection, and a simple helmet of animal tusks and bronze mounting.

“Break arms and legs and you helpless,” he said.

Kaz cast her battle magic, sharpblade and parry. She had never bothered with a popular human spell, to blur the image, because it did not fool darksense, being designed by and for humans, to work on the sense of vision. Instead, she relied on the dancing, twisting acrobatics Alathan had taught her, to confuse in the way that the leaping of a hare or the swaying of a snake did. Her parry lopped half a foot off the end of the club, the sharpblade spell helping with that.

“Bad trógling, hurt Korg’s club,” said Korg.

Kaz did not bother to answer. She had her hands full with fighting the big killing machine. Where the average Darkling Toróg stood at seven feet or so, the Greater Toróg were eight feet and more, almost twice as tall as Kaz. Korg slammed down his club again, narrowly missing Kaz as she danced to one side. With a snarl of rage, the big Toróg swept it sideways, and Kaz gasped as the end caught her left arm, literally tossing her into the air. She went with the motion, twisting to land on her feet, knowing that her left arm was broken. She could not afford time or power on healing; the quick and easy cantrip to splint it would mean she could function. It would mean a full day before she could have a healing spell on it, but that was how it would have to be. She watched for the club to sweep out again, and then, her wounded arm tucked against her, she dived and rolled right through Korg’s legs, and came up spinning to her feet to hack through the unprotected tendons behind his right knee, where the cuir-bouilli armour did not cover them.

The big Toróg stumbled and fell to the knee, as his leg buckled, the opening Kaz was looking for. Korg was leaning forward, and Kaz leaped onto his back, thrusting her sword into his ear.

With awful slowness, the Toróg toppled onto his face, and lay still.

Kaz jumped down and bowed to Hraazaz.