The Archimage Wars: Wizard of Abal (39 page)

Now the Major was a dark shade of
blue, “What, you fool!”

“
Well, even a fool, if you
would consider one, could claim you have hands, feet, and a body,
not to mention a head, which likely has a brain inside, and that
there are others, similarly equipped, who enjoy the same
experiences as they do. Therefore, the fool would believe there are
others of whom could give out orders.”

“
I order you to tell me who
sent you…”

“
Well, you are entitled to
believe there is a ‘who’, certainly, without any other
explanations. But does this really prove the existence of other
minds which can give such orders? Perhaps we should delve into this
deeper, mind you.”

Suddenly the guard clutched at his
chest and slowly collapsed.

“
A little help here!” Hydan
called out, “This man, if he exists, may indeed be having a
seizure, or not, I can’t really prove either one.”

When help arrived and the Major was
carted off, Hydan gestured to the stairway and said, “I believe
this is our cue to start our march up these stairs!”

As I passed Hydan I said, “What did
you do, give that guy a heart attack?”

“
Well, he does not have a
human heart, Nicholas, he has two separate dual pumping organs
called groms lower down, in his midsection, not to mention a manual
pumping system in his thighs for more flow during exercise, but he
did have a problem in his cortex which was causing a short of some
kind, I really do believe.”

“
You are much scarier than
I first believed,” I noted.

“
Nonsense, I’m just here to
see the world!”

We started climbing and climbing. The
stairs were very well formed, beautiful in many ways where
soldier’s boots hadn’t worn them down, but they were
endless.

We climbed for what seemed like an
age, passing several other soldiers, who were generally sitting on
the stairs, not going up or down at this point.

When we got near the last thousand or
so steps we were accosted yet again.

“
And where do you think you
are going?” a guard captain spoke.

“
To the top!” Hydan
exclaimed.

Just as the other saeran officer
started to scowl, a saeran, a flight of steps higher, turned, and I
saw the drawn skin of a necrosoul, and then the dry shape of a
nautilus on his cheek, it was a necromage.

I immediately lowered my head, and
muttered to Hydan, “Mage, above us.”

Hydan kept right on talking to the
Captain but turned naturally so his left cheek would be hidden from
anyone above us.

The necromage called down, “What is
going on there, Captain?”

The Captain already had Hydan’s false
paper, and replied, “Three deserters, sent to die up at the top of
the stairs.”

The mage snarled, “Throw them off the
stairs.”

Hydan immediately protested, “Wait, I
have orders to take them to the top, where they are to lead an
attack, alone.”

The necromage snarled at him, “Shut
up, Captain, or you will be thrown off the stairs with them. They
have been punished with the climb to their inevitable death, why
does it matter how they die? I don’t want more debris thrown down
to clog these stairs, and cause possible other deaths, nor do I
want their slippery blood. Toss them from the stairs,
NOW!”

“
I bet you just want to see
someone falling to their death, don’t you?” Hydan asked.

The necromage’s milky eyes narrowed at
this insolence, “Yes, Private, and I don’t mind if that person
is…”

“
Yourself?” Hydan asked
innocently, at which point the stairway under the necromage broke.
It cracked along what seemed like a natural fault, and suddenly let
loose.

He had been standing on stairs more to
the right of us, and above, so he and the debris fell past us
without mishap.

The necromage snarled and started to
slow his fall, likely making himself lighter like Hydan had done
before, but I saw Hydan concentrating, and one of the larger pieces
of stone, which was falling from above, clipped the necromage in
the head. He was suddenly falling like a tumbling leaf toward the
ground far below.

“
By the Silent Mother, that
was unlucky!” Hydan noted happily.

The soldiers were gaping at the whole
falling body thing, and a few of them were trying to avoid the
smaller pieces still crumbling when Hydan started us moving
again.

It was the other Captain who recovered
first, just as Myrka was passing him on the stair.

“
Hey!” the Captain said,
but that’s when Myrka’s hip seemed to sway a bit and knock the
Captain back. He grabbed for another man, who had his step break
under his foot as well. Both fell screaming toward the
bottom.

We kept climbing stairs, and all the
other soldiers were looking at the suddenly faulty and treacherous
stairs under their feet carefully, and ignoring us almost
completely.

Soon we were above all of them, and
that’s when stones started to fall from the castle
above.

“
Incoming!” Hydan
exclaimed, and stepped in front of us all.

The stones which would have hit us
seemed to bounce unnaturally and cleared our heads.

Then Hydan called out to the
castle.

“
We are mages of Abal, who
oppose the Island Witch! We come in peace, and seek refuge from the
soldiers below.”

All of our uniforms changed to the
royal blue of the loyal saeran army.

A few soldiers below saw this, and
some of them started getting out bows.

Myrka turned to do battle, with Toji
right behind her.

I stepped up next to Hydan and
exclaimed, “Mother! It is Nicholas! I have come home; please don’t
drop any more rocks on your son!”

Some of the soldiers reached Myrka,
and she started killing them swiftly. She was a terror to behold,
and many of the soldiers on the stairs below looked at their
falling comrades with fear, hoping they wouldn’t have to face the
girl dealing death from above.

Arrows started to arrive, but they
just dissolved as they got to us. Hydan was standing below me, so
none of them reached me anyway.

It took a few minutes, but then the
door above creaked open slightly, and we worked our way forward,
killing soldiers below as we worked our way up. It took over an
hour, but eventually we were inside and the doors closed again.
Then we heard rocks starting to fall and the screams of the
remaining enemy soldiers outside as they fell, were crushed or beat
a hasty retreat.

Myrka sheathed her poniard with a
flourish, and said, “You see, I could have taken them
all!”

“
Your confidence is
impressive, but eventually, they would send enough necromages to
wear you down,” a woman’s voice said in an echoing
sound.

We were in a large entry hall, and
there were rounded, curving staircases going up to either side,
with a passage on this level going straight between them. Above on
the balcony between where the two stairways met, was a woman in a
white gown, with a tiara on her head.

“
The White Enchantress, I
presume?” I asked.

She nodded, and then said, “And you
are?”

“
This is Hydan, Friare
Third, Myrka, Tarvos Fourth, Toji, Bakemono Fourth and I am
Nicholas, Sivaeral Third! They tell me I am your son,” I said
boldly.

She stepped forward and what I beheld
on her left cheek changed everything, it was the stylized slashes
of the Albus House spider Glyph, not the nautilus Glyph of the
Sivaeral House.

I swallowed and she said, “And I am
Finnabair Albus, Second of House Albus, The White Enchantress. As
to being my son, well, we shall see.”

Chapter
Fifteen

Some lie about who they
love

Some lie about the
truth

Some lie to save their
lives

Some lie about their
youth

I've lied about most
everything

-Elton John

Servants came and showed us to
apartments set aside for each of us. We were told to dress for
dinner in one hour. After we rested and cleaned up, servants showed
us to the dining room.

This turned out to be a vast chamber,
with a long table which could have seated forty guests but was only
set for five. The White Enchantress sat at the head, and as we
approached the lady stood, and gestured to our seats, naming each
of us and pointing to where we should sit. My seat was to her
right, with Hydan on my other side. Toji would be seated across
from me, with Myrka next to him.

When she sat so did we.

Finnabair clapped her hands, and
servants brought in the first course. We spoke as we ate, and our
hostess started the conversation.

“
I suppose you have many
questions, particularly you, Nicholas.”

I swallowed a very trite reply, and
went with simply, “You have no idea, lady.”

Finnabair is beautiful as far as
saerans went, her features just seemed to flow in pleasing lines
and colors, so I said, “You are the second Albus Second I have met
in my travels, are all Albus woman so beautiful?”

She smiled and nodded her head to me
at my compliment, “Our race is generally pleasing to the eyes, but
we vary as any race does.”

“
Excuse me for being
surprised,” I continued, “But I was led to believe my mother was a
Sivaeral sorceress, though still a Second, and yet, if you are my
mother, then you are an Albus, and this confuses me greatly,” I
said touching the nautilus Glyph on my cheek.

She only smiled, while taking a drink
from a goblet; I think to give herself time to think about her
reply.

Then she said, “First of all, I am
responsible for the false rumors as to my House. Of course, to
maintain these rumors, I have had to become a recluse for several
centuries.”

“
And why did you maintain
this ruse?” I asked.

She smiled cryptically, “Why
indeed?”

She hadn’t answered my question yet,
instead, she said, “And, why do you believe I am your
mother?”

Here I had to swallow; my source was
Medrod, the evil leader of the very soldiers besieging her castle,
which didn’t make him a very credible witness to this
information.

So I replied, “I grew up on Earth,
without my real parents, and when I discovered I was a mage, I came
seeking my parents on my birth-world. These three mages have been
helping me achieve my goal. Along the way research at Poseidon
showed I might be the son of Oberon Sivaeral, but he convinced me
he is not my father.”

She watched me intently with her dark
saeran eyes and then said, “And, back on Earth, how did you discern
you are a Sivaeral Third?”

I answered, “Actually, if I understand
how this works, one of your sisters told me.”

“
Oh, which one?” she
asked.

“
Fiona Albus,” I
replied.

She raised an eyebrow fin. “Fiona?
Really. She has been away from our world for a very long time, no
doubt embroiled in many plots, as is typical of my
family.”

Hydan smiled; which Finnabair noticed
and said, “I will get to you, Friare.”

He just nodded, seeming unconcerned;
of course, Hydan almost always seemed unconcerned.

She turned back to me, and said, “And
so, Oberon told you he is not your father, but how did this lead
you to believe you are the son of The White
Enchantress?”

I shrugged, “Well, again, from what I
understand from my nautilus Glyph, I have to be the son of a
Sivaeral Second, in order to be Third of this House, and you were
rumored to be one of three Sivaeral Second sorceresses.”

She nodded.

“
But now you see I am of
House Albus,” she stated.

I nodded and took a deep breath,
“Which means you are not my mother.”

She smiled warmly, “On the contrary,
Nicholas Sivaeral, I believe I AM your mother.”

That stunned me.

But then Toji spoke, “How is this
possible? No mage can fake a Glyph from another House!”

“
No,” Finnabair agreed,
“they cannot fake it, though if their Archimage has not confirmed
their House, and they believe with all their heart they are of
another House, then that Glyph might manifest. However, in this
case, that is not true, for Nicholas is of House Sivaeral, just not
of the Third Tier.”

Toji tilted his head, “But this makes
even less sense. If you mated with a lower Tier, then Nicholas
would bear your Glyph from House Albus… unless he thought his
parents were of House Sivaeral!” he suddenly noted with
excitement.

“
Correct, but incorrect;”
Finnabair noted with a smile, “I did not say my mate is of a lower
Tier, he is of a higher Tier!”

Hydan frowned, “But that would mean
Nick’s father was…”