Phoenix Ascendant - eARC (8 page)

Chapter 10

Zogen Josan stared at them from wide eyes. He hadn’t moved for several seconds.

It is,
Kyri admitted to herself,
an awful lot to take in at once, even if some of it tells you that you weren’t crazy.

Reflect Jenten also had the glaze-eyed look of someone hit in the head
hard
during sparring. He was the only other person they’d brought in to hear the story of what had happened in Sha Kaizatenzei Valatar. The ruler of Jenten’s Mill had a right to know the truth, but none of them wanted to deal with the questions the whole town would be asking.

Not entirely to her surprise, Zogen recovered first. “By the Seven Lights, Phoenix. You…you swear to us that this is all true?”

“As true as anything I have ever said, Zogen,” she said emphatically.

“It is…still so hard to believe. Our rulers
demons
? Yet demons who changed their minds? A Great Dragon of legend? Master Wieran the enemy?” He shook his head.

“Yet we have our own evidence for her story,” Namuhuan Jenten said with a nod in her direction. “For did not many of us
see
her, blazing with golden fire, stopping a moving mountain of water? Did not the Temple of Myrionar itself come awake in blue and gold and silver in that moment? Lady Phoenix, we must once more thank you and your patron Myrionar; it seems that you did not come merely to unravel small mysteries, but to set right things vastly darker.”

I’m at least getting used to the compliments so that I don’t blush all the time, but it
still
makes me feel so…so…
fake
sometimes
. “Thank you, Reflect. I hope you will understand that we intend to continue on as soon as possible.”

“Of course,” Zogen said, with a nod to the Reflect. “You have said nothing directly, but both the Reflect and I can hear beneath the words; you have a terrible task awaiting you on the other side of the mountains.”

“Terrible enough,” she agreed. “I felt that we had to tell the two of you the truth ourselves, though. I have only one other task here: I must speak with those who have chosen to serve in the Temple of Myrionar.”

Zogen glanced at the Reflect, who smiled. “Of what must you speak?” the former Unity Guard asked. “For while I may be a very poor imitation at the moment, I have undertaken to become a servant of Myrionar, and have been studying your writings—and praying—for the proper guidance. It may be very long before I might call myself an Arbiter, but perhaps I might claim the title of
Seeker
Josan without being entirely arrogant.”

“
You?
” She felt a huge grin spreading across her face, and heard Tobimar chuckling behind her. “Oh, Zogen, that’s…I’m so honored, I—”

“Oh, enough of your humility! Take the credit for being such an example that I had not a choice but to follow you if I were to keep my self-respect.” Despite the sharpness of his words, Zogen’s smile was affectionate. “Now ask.”

“Well…they have chosen to found a Temple in Valatar. They need the full copies of the writings I have given you—and I promise you that I’ll send copies of the
real
holy writings as soon as I get home—so if you could possibly…?”

“Transcribing the words and principles would seem an
eminently
reasonable thing for me to do, my lady Phoenix; I will learn the words more clearly, and achieve your goal. Worry no more on it, then. I will make sure that a proper and full copy of your words reaches Valatar as soon as possible.”

“So, I guess that means you’re not going back to being a Unity Guard, huh?” Poplock asked.

Zogen shrugged. “Immediately? Certainly not; I must focus on this new path until it is as clear to me as the Necklace. But later…perhaps. There will still be much work to do. Unless,” he turned to Kyri with sudden concern, “there is something in the Way of Myrionar that would forbid me to do so?”

Kyri thought. “No, I don’t think so. It’s clear that Terian himself has accepted the title of the Light as you view him, and Terian is one of Myrionar’s oldest and most renowned allies. Your ultimate loyalty would of course have to remain with the Balanced Sword, but I cannot see that properly serving the interests of the reawakening Kaizatenzei, with its rulers now serving the Light for real and true, could in any way conflict with Myrionar’s goals.” She smiled and looked over at Tobimar.

He returned the smile and turned to Zogen. “Kyri and I even discussed the possibility that someone who serves another—Terian, of course, in my case—could become a Justiciar; there seems nothing that forbids it. Myrionar, Terian, Chromaias, and the Dragon King himself all accept and work with each other; they expect us to do the same here on Zarathan. I think that Myrionar would consider it an honor to have a servant of Terian choose the calling of Justice and Vengeance…and that Terian would be equally honored to have a Justiciar choose to follow him in prayer and worship.”

“Then…perhaps I shall return to the Guard, one day. Once I feel I have truly understood the new calling I have chosen.” Zogen rose and bowed to both of them. “I thank you again, Phoenix, Tobimar. Rest assured, I shall myself carry the transcribed materials to Valatar.”

Kyri rose and took his hand. “Thank
you
, Zogen. To know that someone like you has taken up the Balance…it means a lot to me.”

“And to all of us,” agreed Reflect Jenten. “He’s gone from our strange recluse to our new holy man, and we have needed one. Now go, go. You traveled far out of your way to come here, and you don’t need to be mobbed by all our citizens and slowed again. Take the side door from my mansion; no one’s likely to see you there.”

“If you don’t think it will be a problem—”

“Oh, there’s plenty who will be disappointed. Just promise me you’ll return here to visit once your mission is complete, and I’ll explain it all to our townsfolk.”

She smiled, relieved. “That I can promise. Tobimar and I very much want to come back.”

“Then it is done. Go, now, and may the Light follow you.”

As they exited the meeting room, Rion looked up from where he had been playing cards with Poplock and Nimally. “Done? Just as well. These two have succeeded in halving my meager resources.”

“Oh, just a little luck,” Poplock said unconvincingly, as he scraped coins into his little pouch.

“I begin to suspect that there is no such thing as ‘luck’ where you are concerned,” Nimally said. “I cannot believe you hid your nature for your entire passage across Kaizatenzei.”

“Not entirely. Old Hiriista figured me out almost at a glance. Sharp old lizard.”

“That he is,” Nimally agreed. “And a kind healer, as well. I followed his advice and I am finally healed.”

She said these words with only a hint of a shudder.
I don’t think
I
could speak of it so casually if I’d been through her ordeal
. Nimally had been the host of the master-itrichel, the horrific mind-parasite that had used the children of Jenten’s Mill for its brood.
The nightmares she must have; I would never wish that on anyone.
“It is very good to see that you
are
healed, Nimally.”

“Thank you. I see you are leaving already?” She sighed. “And I was just thinking of the appropriate seating arrangements for the banquet.”

“Not another banquet!” said Tobimar in mock horror.

“Get on with you, then,” Nimally said with a smile. “The side door’s just that way.”

As the Reflect had indicated, there were none to see them leaving from the side door; a few minutes brisk walk took them into the woods, and an hour of more sedate progress led them to the road that would bring them back to the Necklace.

“I don’t think you’ll escape a banquet in Sha Murnitenzei,” Rion said. “From what I’ve heard, anyway.”

“No,” she agreed, “we probably won’t. That’s the first city of Kaizatenzei we saw, and the last one before we have to leave and enter the corrupted forest and go through Rivendream Pass. They’ll want to hear something of our story and celebrate, and—honestly—I’ll want one more night here in Kaizatenzei before I have to go back into…that.”

She shuddered. Rion reached out and touched her shoulder. “Is it that bad?”

“You have
no
idea, Rion. It’s…it’s like…” She paused a moment, searching for a way to describe the hideous
wrongness
of Rivendream Pass that her brother could grasp. “It’s like…that moment when Thornfalcon let you see what he
really
was? That instant when something normal and safe and sane suddenly turns to be completely, utterly corrupt and evil?
That
. Imagine the entirety of nature, every tree, every beast, every
insect
, the very
air
itself being as corrupt and hostile and lethal as Kaizatenzei is pure and uplifting.”

Rion frowned as he tried to imagine what she described. She saw a slight shiver. “If it’s
that
bad, I’m amazed you got here.”

“I wouldn’t have without Tobimar and Poplock.” She nodded at the other two, walking some distance ahead.

“So…do you love him? Really?”

I must really believe he’s Rion, because that question doesn’t feel like an intrusion. More like Father questioning me.
“Yes, I do. Really. I know it seems abrupt to you…and I guess in a way it was. He and Poplock saved me from Thornfalcon.”

“Hm. They tell the tale slightly differently. Tobimar says you saved
him
.”

“Well…both are true. If Tobimar and Poplock hadn’t arrived just in time, Thornfalcon would have…tortured and sacrificed me.” She saw no point in detailing just
how
Thornfalcon had obviously intended to carry out the torture, but Rion’s expression showed that he could probably guess. “Then when I got free, I guess I did save them. And then all three of us barely killed Thornfalcon. After that it took all of us plus Xavier to deal with the gateway of monsters Thornfalcon had left behind.”

He looked at her, then shook his head again with a smile. “And they say you did it by yourself, with the power of Myrionar. My little sister…a Justiciar.” Rion looked at her armor. “But why Phoenix?”

“You ought to know
that.
”

“Well, yes. Rebirth.”

“And…?”

He looked…
blank
for an instant, then smacked his head. “Ugh. I’m not quite…perfect, I guess. Whatever they did to bring me back. Took me a second to remember. Things are foggy…” He blinked. “But…yes, of course. You were always the Phoenix and I was the Dragon.”

She felt a slight creeping chill. She had almost managed to forget the macabre nature of Rion’s reappearance, but this brought the disquiet back in full force. The association of Dragon and Phoenix went back to her youngest memories.
It’s Rion…but is it
all
of him? Or is there something
else
there as well?

“Does this mean you’ll be having a whole new set of Justiciars?” Rion continued, apparently unaware of her thoughts. “Dibs on being Dragon, then.”

Kyri forced the thoughts back.
No point in second-guessing. He’s still Rion. Just maybe a little…injured.
“If you meet the qualifications.”

“Oh, ouch. Am I going to have to go through all the Trials again?”

“We’ll see. If we all live through this, I think that’ll probably
qualify
as trials.”

“You’re likely right.” He looked up to where sunlight trickled in green-tinted gold through the canopy. “The old Justiciars were named after birds; you’re going for, what? Legendary flying creatures?”

“Makes sense to me. Phoenix, Dragon, Thunderbird, Eonwyl—if I can get the blessing of a temple of Eonae, anyway—Griffin, things like that.” She made the sign of the Balance. “We need a clean start, and the old Raiments will at the least need to be reblessed and probably reforged by the Spiritsmith.”

He looked at her with the fond smile she remembered so well, and the cold discomfort faded almost entirely away. “And reforged in the image of our old toys.”

She realized that he was right; that set of figurines hadn’t just had the Dragon and Phoenix but all the others she had named, and more. “Oh, by
Myrionar
, did I actually
do
that?”

He laughed and impulsively flung an arm around her, hugging her close. “Of
course
you did, little sister. But with perfectly good reason and symbolism even a god couldn’t complain about…and,” he looked serious again, “with the
heart
that a Justiciar needs. I’m not a Justiciar now—I’ve tried, but the power isn’t there—but if one day I am…I know my sister’s made an example for
me
to live up to.”

She hugged him back; for now, things were exactly as she’d hoped, and she thanked Myrionar for that. “And I know you
will
live up to it.”

Chapter 11

Once more the scroll remained silvery, blank, even as the voice spoke from it. “A few weeks only, now.”

“Really? You have made good time. The matrix remains intact?”

“Astonishingly so. I need only focus on my intended path and impression, and it brings forth the words, the posture, the gestures…everything I need.” The voice paused, and in the silence it read something else.

“You sound troubled, my friend.”

“It brings forth…feelings, as well. I cannot fight those any more than the thoughts, without risking discovery. Yet…”

“You are not being…
affected
by these feelings, are you?”

The hesitation was a far clearer signal than the answer. “I…I am trying not to be. I know the penalty for failure. But…she was…very important to him.”

“Of course she was. But you
must not
allow this to affect your own emotions. You know how dangerous that would be—and not merely because you might be discovered.” It was just as well that its unseen agent could not see it either, or it might have found the broad, vindicated grin the creature wore to be incongruous, even eerily unsettling, in comparison with the concerned, warning tone of its voice.
Perfect. He will hold out for a bit longer, but fall eventually—as I have expected.

“Yes, I know. I will not allow it to affect me. Other than that, everything seems perfectly on schedule. They…” A pause, in which the creature could hear some other distant sounds. “…sorry, I must go.”

The scroll went inert, now a simple metallic object. It leaned back and laughed, then shook its head.
Only a few weeks? I will have to prepare soon!

It stood and began to leave, but it had taken no more than two steps when the scroll chimed an emergency alert—something
most
unusual. It immediately returned to the table and passed its hand over the surface. “I am here.”

The face revealed on the scroll was of Chissith, a sand-demon of moderate power but excellent tactical skills, second or third in command of Yergoth’s forces—forces that were supposedly in the process of crushing Skysand.

Chissith did not look like someone who was busy crushing a country; on the contrary, the congealed, unshifting mess on one side of its normally fluid visage looked like someone else had been doing the crushing. “L-Lord Viedra…help me…”

“What a surprise, Chissith. I hadn’t expected Yergoth to hand this scroll over to anyone else.” It smiled broadly.

“Yergoth…dessstroyed,” Chissith said, voice slow, hissing and moaning like the wind over sand in pain and disbelief. “Mosssst of the forcesss…annihilated…” It glanced away, as though fearing pursuit.

“Dear me. And last I had heard there was just ‘a little unexpected resistance,’ and ‘we are assured of victory shortly.” What terrible powers
could
have intervened there, Chissith? Did one of the gods violate the Pact?” It couldn’t keep its grin from widening yet more.

“No…gods…jusssst two—” The sand-demon’s remaining eye widened. “Noooooooo—”

There was a momentary flash of movement that to the creature’s eye looked like a river in flood, and the connection abruptly ceased, leaving the scroll as reflectively blank as ever.

Well, well.
That
was a bit of a surprise. Not
entirely
, true, but I would have expected something not quite so utterly overwhelming. But…the same sort of thing seems to have happened at Artania. Balgoltha’s forces were abruptly shattered just yesterday and none of the survivors gave a coherent account of what actually happened.

It seems that the plan is—

Without warning, the scroll darkened, to show a figure visible only as the darkest outline within darkness, the eyes blank wells of brilliant blue fire; an eerie, sussurant howl accompanied the vision. “Viedraverion.”

“Ahh, Your Majesty, I had been expecting your call.”

Kerlamion’s rumbling, echoing voice, the sound of an endless fall and the destruction of air, held no trace of levity or amusement; it was filled with tightly leashed rage. “You would do well to moderate your tone, Viedraverion. I have tolerated your behavior due to your successes, but I now see a series of failures, and the armies of the Empire and the Dragon both surround my walls.”

“We knew that turn of events was to happen already, however.” It was still smiling, and the blue-flame eyes narrowed dangerously.

“
That
turn of events, yes, but
your
plan also included other events—ones that would also have freed other forces to act to assist against this siege. Instead, I have heard a litany of failures!”

“A
litany
? How terrible.”

The shadowy figure leaned forward, and the unseen lips drew back in a snarl that showed the same deadly glow within the mouth. “Have a care, Viedraverion! Neither your record nor your blood makes you immune to my wrath, and I near the end of my patience! This very moment I felt the fall of Yergoth of the Endless Desert; a short time agone, Balgotha fell and his spirit has not been seen in my halls; no word has come from the Academy, and I have heard stirrings from far Aegeia that things are not all as they should be. Explain yourself, or you shall suffer my anger first!”

As good a time as any; the King will be most busy from now until at least a few weeks hence…and it seems that a few weeks is all I will need.
“Explain myself? Very well, Kerlamion. The explanation, really, is quite simple. I gave you a plan that stood a reasonable chance of success on its own, and allowed you to follow it, as your success—or failure—did not matter at all to me, but keeping you occupied with
something
did matter. Now, however, I have no more need to waste time with your puerile dreams of conquest, which are—as I expected—coming apart at a rather startling rate.”

Kerlamion leaned back slowly, glowing eyes narrowing. “You are not insane. Yet these actions would seem to shout of insanity. You say the plan had a reasonable chance of success, yet it is failing almost simultaneously across all of Zarathan. Why would you do this? To weaken me? Are you entertaining a mad belief that you could usurp
my
throne?”

It laughed long and loud. “Oh, Lord Kerlamion, I have not the faintest interest in your throne. I said the plan had a good chance of success
on its own
. But many other factors are involved besides that one plan—most particularly, perhaps, Konstantin Khoros. I think you can lay the blame for the debacle of Skysand and Artania at his door, and perhaps that of Aegeia as well, though I would be unsurprised to discover that the Lady of Wisdom had a hand in it as well; that is, after all, her territory. But I have other, more pressing matters to attend to, matters in which your Hells mean really nothing at all.”

Kerlamion suddenly stood, glowering down at his own scroll. “You…
who are you
?”

“And
now
you begin to understand, Kerlamion. A bit slow to realize, but then, I
have
had some practice in fooling others.”

“What have you done with my first son?” The King of All Hells clenched his fists, and the air howled in blue agony.

“I? Found him nigh-dead already, defeated in his mission, humiliated by his own plans, and took what remained for my own purposes. But that was long, long ago, mighty Kerlamion, long before it was reported to you that his task-in-exile was complete.”

It allowed itself to smile broadly as Kerlamion sagged back into his throne. “You have been playing my own son for
four hundred thousand years
?”

“I have. And you have only suspected now because I have allowed you to.”

The massive black form bent forward, and the mouth was a blazing slit with jagged fire for fangs. “I will destroy you, whatever your true form. I will seek you out with all the power of the Hells, and there will be no place in all the myriad worlds, in all the universes beyond the Veil, where you can hide.” Kerlamion’s voice rose to an echoing thunder. “I will call forth the hosts of the Black City to search for you, yea, for a thousand times a thousand years if I must, even if I give up all I have gained and more! I will discover your name and erase you and it from—”

“Oh, but you
know
my name, little one,” it said, and dropped the human guise, grinning now with a mouth of blades and eyes of its own inhuman flame.

Kerlamion’s eyes widened and he staggered back. “
Lightslayer
.”

A light laugh. “How charming; the second time I’ve been reminded of that lovely old nickname. But yes, you know me now, Kerlamion.
Now
do you think you can threaten me?”

The huge dark head shook slowly from side to side.

“Excellent. Then I will not have to listen to your bluster anymore.” It began to rise.

“
Wait!
” Kerlamion’s voice shook with restrained rage. “You
planned
for my failure. Why?”

“Oh, no, Demon-King. Even now, it may be that you will find victory. My plans were sound, so far as they went, and while it is true I did not intend to stay the course, so to speak, you
have
managed to accomplish what has not been done in ages: bring the Black City here to Zarathan, and this time without the other gods to intervene. You have the best chance to achieve your conquest that you have ever had.”

“Why did you do all of this? What do you seek?”

It raised an admonishing finger. “Oh, now, where would be the fun in
telling
you? Some questions should remain unanswered. I’m sure you’ll learn when the time comes. Fare thee well, o King of All Hells; I doubt we shall speak again, at least in
this
age.”

It passed its hand over the surface, erasing the visage of the furious and shaken Kerlamion, and threw back its head for a thundering, inhuman laugh that shook most of the Retreat.

And so the endgame is begun.