Penult (40 page)

This was one of those times that made
me relate to those lonely young men in those train stations. No
place to go. No one coming to meet them. No one awaiting their
arrival.

I was feeling as low as I ever did in
this place. If I could have crawled into a pod and fed myself to a
Reaper, I would have at that moment.

The Old Ones manning the stony
fortifications at the rim barely glanced at me as I passed. Their
stony silence should not have surprised me but it spooked me
nonetheless. These souls had ways of communicating with each other
that went beyond words. I could feel the probing of stray wisps of
consciousness, but I was not quite receptive enough yet to engage
them.

A detachment of Frelsians guarding the
stairway to the lower terrace were more receptive to my presence.
They were clad in that soft and clingy armor of theirs. Their root
lanterns were dimmed to near imperceptibility, a mere suggestion of
light than any functional radiance.

“
And where might you off to
at this hour, young man?” said a barrel-chested man with a weapon
that looked like a cross between a pole axe and a ridiculously long
shotgun.

“
Grotto,” I grunted, almost
inaudibly.

One of the guards nudged his comrade.
“This is the Moody fellow, mate,” he whispered.

“
For true?” said a third
guard. “The James?”

The first guard clasped my
shoulder.

“
So good to have you with
us, son. You take care down below. Word is the Pennies are sending
bands of infiltrators up the cliffs. Cherubim. Hashmallim. Snipers
and raiders and such. The armory is well guarded and we have
patrols all through the viny woods, but some still manage to get
through. That’s why we’re here. Can’t always depend on those Old
Ones. Doesn’t seem like they’re awake much. What’s your business
down there? If … you don’t mind me asking?” He scrunched his
brow.

“
Well. I’m supposed to go
and get myself a saddle.”

“
Oh. Mantid rider, are
you?”

“
Dragonfly.”

“
Really, now?” He seemed
impressed.

“
The quartermaster can help
you,” said the first guard. “Just tell him what you need and he’ll
hook you up. He’s supposed to be on duty 24/7 with the siege and
all underway. Though, he might be busy. Miss Victoria’s down there
right now getting her fighting gear in order.”

“
Victoria, huh?”

“
Oh yes. It’s so nice to
have her back. She’s a battler that one. A true sorceress. She
turned the tide for us in the battle for the basin. Wasn’t for her,
we never would have reached this refuge. The Pennies had us in full
retreat. It was not a pretty sight.”

“
No worries,” I said. “I
won’t get in her way. I couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d go get that
saddle. I just wanted some place to go. Get out of the
dark.”

“
You’re always welcome
here, son. There is always someone on duty here, and most of us are
Fullsouls.”

“
Thanks.”

I started down the stairs. A few glow
worms tucked here and there marked the edge of the stairs, but the
utter darkness everywhere else conspired to amplify my sense of
vertigo. I knew about the unseen void looming only a few feet to my
right.

The stairs lacked a rail. The
retaining wall ended below my knee. One wrong turn and I would
plunge a thousand feet with no return. I kept as far left as
possible, fingernails skimming the side of the cliff.

The precision and utter evenness of
the stairs at least made the descent predictable. I counted two
hundred and fifty six steps down to the middle landing. The place
was silent but for the drip of a spring and the wind buffeting the
cliffs.

I paused. Where were the guards? Why
weren’t they challenging me?

I took a step and my foot struck
something soft and heavy. I tripped, barely keeping my feet. When I
caught myself I reached down and felt around, my hand falling
straight on someone’s mouth and nose. They were cold and dead, with
not a trace of blood.

I panicked, certain that infiltrators
had come up the stairs and were lurking in one of the rain shelters
carved into the cliff. I gripped my sword and cast my will against
the stone in each cavity, making it fluoresce, intending to
silhouette whoever was hiding.

The rock glowed. There was no one
hiding in the shelters, but there were three more bodies strewn
about the landing. I wanted to shout up to the guards up top, but
it was a long ways up. Better I not expose my presence to whoever
had done this.

I waited for the glow to fade before
moving on to the lower stairs. If a Cherub had come up this far,
there was no way I had passed him on the stairs. Whoever had done
this probably remained below me.

My heart thudded out of control,
losing its rhythm the way it usually did when I went into a panic.
I scurried to the end of the landing and started down, sword at the
ready, casting my will every now and then to illuminate a tread.
But I heard no breathing, no footsteps but my own, encountered no
other souls all the way down to the mouth of the grotto.

At the base of the stairs, I stumbled
over two more bodies. Neither had any sign of wounds. Their weapons
remained at their sides. They were both still warm but as limp as
wet towels.

I tiptoed to the opening of the grotto
which at night was shrouded in several layers of heavy curtain, to
keep the light in. I slipped between the layers and peered around
the parting. Yet another body sprawled on the floor by the
entrance, his arms still clutching a pair of rolled up sleeping
mats—the quartermaster.

Shadows danced behind bowls of glowing
root strands that wiggled like flames. At first I thought the
grotto was empty because she kept so still, it took a few moments
to spot her. Victoria stood by the saw horses that held the
captured cracker column.

I was so relieved to see her. I
brought down my sword, relaxed and took a deep breath. I assumed
she had gotten here first and subdued or scared off the attackers
who had taken out the guards.

I was tempted to call out but didn’t
want to disturb whatever spell she was conjuring. She stood with
her back to me, her arms stretched out straight. One end of the
cracker began to levitate off its saw horse, pivoting up
vertical.

I watched, mesmerized. Her powers were
so strong she needed no sword or staff or scepter to focus them.
Wisps of mist emanated from her fingertips as she manipulated the
device.

The column hovered a foot off the
floor, bobbing like a buoy in a lake. She went over and pushed in a
ring of knobs halfway up the column. It descended and upon making
contact, began to spin. The stone beneath it gave way as if it were
mud, heaping up around it to create a rim of re-congealed stone.
The column embedded itself several feet deep, just enough to
stabilize it so it did not to teeter or topple.

Victoria pulled down a set of prongs
from the top of the column until they projected horizontally like a
ring of spike. She turned the uppermost segment until the bumps at
its base matched those atop the next segment causing it to vibrate
and hum. She did the same for the next segment, pulling down its
spikes and rotating it until the bumps matched the one below
it.

This was a cracker and she was
activating it! I stepped through the curtains and moved towards
her.

“
Victoria? What the fuck?
What are you doing?”

Chapter 42:
Treason

Victoria’s head whipped towards me. I
stood there gawking just inside the blackout curtains beside one of
those guttering bowls of glowing root strands simulating
flames.

She jabbed her index finger at my
feet. The cold stone instantly liquefied and surged up around me
like a wave, solidifying around my ankles. She then slapped the
back of her hand towards me and my sword went flying against the
wall of stone behind me. It adhered to surface and turned as dark
and tarnished as a fossil.

“
My apologies, but you are
witnessing the end of New Axum, Mr. Moody. And … the end of you,
I’m sad to say. These are to be your last moments in the
Liminality. But no worries. I hear that you navigate quite well
through realms. I have no doubt we will see each other
again.”

“
But why are you doing
this?”

She shrugged and turned her weary gaze
on me. She smiled sadly.

“
Because. I … am … fed …
up. I am done … with Zhang … with all of these people, this place.
My future lies with Penult. I am tired of waiting, of searching for
souls with skills to match my own. Now I realize that my presence
here was in error. I was meant for Penult. The surface must be
restored to the worthy.”

“
That’s bullshit!” I said.
“These Seraphs are no better than us.”

“
Maybe. But there are more
than Seraphim and Hashmallim and Messengers and Cherubim in Penult.
You know nothing of their Lords, the Erelim. You have seen nothing
like them. They are the true powers-that-be. It did not me long to
realize this as their prisoner that my future belongs with them.
They are the truly enlightened. So this deed I am doing will be my
penance, to take down this mountain, destroy this so-called
resistance will prove my worthiness. In return, I am promised a
chance to seek my rightful place in the after realms.”

“
You’re a freaking
traitor!”

“
Oh, on the contrary. I am
a redeemer. A restorer. A fixer.”

She continued to work on the column,
her fingers moving rapidly and intricately, peeling down the spines
and rotating segments. She raked her fingernails through the air
just above the surface of the column and etched deeper and more
intricate grooves into its side.

“
Such a humble weapon they
managed to capture. Not the best in the arsenal. But I can make
this one better. Stronger. There is a lot of stone in this mountain
and the roots are firm. Much more power will be needed to smash it
down. Still, it is quite the windfall to find this one here intact.
I was afraid I would have to craft my own from scratch. And as you
know, mister wing builder, they are quite intricate.”

“
No! You can’t do
this!”

“
And who is going to stop
me?” She chuckled musically. “Not you, surely. Without your crutch
of a sword. You know, for a so-called savior, you seem rather
pathetic. I’ve studied you, James. I know all about your clunky
spell craft, ejaculating prematurely, if at all. Sometimes you get
lucky, but not always when you need it most. Such a dysfunctional
little wizard you are.”

I was dumbfounded.

“
What the hell? I used to …
admire you. What happened to the Victoria who used to rescue souls
from pods? Save them from Reapers. Lead them to freedom on the
surface … to Frelsi? The one who put Luther in his
place?”

She smirked. “I am who I’ve always
been, just a little more enlightened these days.”

Repeatedly, she dug her fingers into
the air a few inches away from the column, a virtual space that
controlled the device by proxy. She folded down another crown of
spikes, twirled it and locked it into place. Segment by segment she
worked her way down. The column vibrated at lower and lower
frequencies until the floor of the grotto began to
shake.

The blackout curtain parted. Olivier
burst into the room, bearing a crooked staff, his hair all mussed,
his clothes disheveled.

“
What the fuck is going on
here? Did you two get a cracker going? Turn the damned thing off
before—“

Victoria flung her hand towards him
and sent a ripple of power blasting straight for his head. Olivier
dove to the floor of the grotto, stretching and reaching his staff
towards her. A bolt of energy sizzled forth and scorched the
ceiling above Victoria. The sorceress took aim with her palm and
summoned another burst. Her aim was true. The plasma struck
Olivier’s staff and splintered its business end.

You know that feeling I get? That
loosening in my stomach when I’m about to project that weird force
that is an extension of my will? Well, it came on super strong and
fast this time. And I knew this time that I would need no sword to
help me focus and direct it. My target was obvious. My intention,
righteous. All I needed to send it on its way were my
eyes.

The bolus of power separated from me
without the slightest bit of strain or effort. It blasted out of my
core as a diffuse glob of plasma. Victoria, astonished, had only a
moment react. She thrust her palms out. A misty shield materialized
before her.

The plasma I had conjured came
together on the fly, consolidating into a dull and opaque mass the
size of a cannon ball. Victoria’s shield was still cross-linking
and acquiring density when my will struck and tore it to a million
wisps and bits. My plasma flashed bright blue when it hit. It
spread and clung to her skin, enveloping her entire
body.

I had no conscious premonition of what
I intended that blob to do to her. I just wanted to stop her. My
emanation was fury and panic made physical.