Two (The Godslayer Cycle Book 2) (22 page)

“
I could not if I wanted to,” responded the scribe.  “I can barely stand within a few feet of you right now.”

“
Viola?”

“
Here, Avery,” came his lover's voice.  “I'm here.”

“
You'll need to take this if something goes wrong then.  Promise me.  I don't want to cause the death of everyone inside.”

“
How will I know if something goes wrong?” asked Viola.

Hamil responded, which was good because Avery could not have reasoned out an explanation at that moment.  “It comes back to the area of affect theory,” he explained.  “Avery believes that the effects of the stone will only dissolve a small part of the wall, letting us get through.”

“No,” interrupted Avery.  “Only you and me, Hamil.  Viola stays here.”

“
No!” cried Viola.  “I won't leave you now!”

“
You must,” Avery said.  The herculean effort it took to pull his eyes away from his target was incredible, but somehow he managed.  He needed to look upon her face one last time.

“
I need to know you're safe, or I won't be able to do this.”

Avery noticed the umber-like cast to Viola's skin and realized that behind him, the sun must be setting.  The day was nearly gone, when it had been barely past the sun's zenith when they had begun.  How much time had been lost in his suffering?  Clearly not the few scant moments he had believed.

But the man also saw the firm determination of devotion set rigidly into the woman's face, as well.  How could he ever have doubted her devotion to him before this moment? 

“
If that is your wish, My Lord,” Viola said.

“
That is my wish,” managed Avery.  “My love.”

Viola's hand flew to her mouth in shock, but Avery was already turning away.  He once again faced his nemesis, and he felt his feet moving forward of their own volition.  Viola's face filled his mind's eye as he moved forward, seeing the umber colors reflecting off the wall and take on the features of the woman who was his everything. 

Unconsciously, Avery found himself reaching out with the hand that covered the item of power – the stone, did Hamil call it?  Two of his fingers broke their grasp on the object as he sought to tenderly caress the smooth surface of Viola's skin, feeling the cold power of the second sword's magic pull away from him as he did.

No, not Viola – the wall.  Shaded the color of the setting sun, Avery's mind had cast the illusion of it being his love.  But it was only the cold water of the ocean, bound by the magic of the sword.

The rage returned, and with it the fury of betrayal.  How dare this sword's power seek to confuse him, to bar him from what he desired?  He knew that in order to ever touch Viola's skin again in reality, he must overcome this obstacle in his path. 

The man reached out to the water, and the water receded.  Avery realized he was still several feet from the wall's surface, so to see the wall move at all at this point startled him.  But it did not stop his progress towards it.

“He's doing it!” came a strange voice from somewhere.  Cheers and shouts of encouragement rang in his ears.  “He's breaking the wall!”

No, not that
, thought Avery. 
But I will breach it.

Time skipped for the man again as he now found himself at the boundary of the wall, but the wall was no longer in front of him.  At least, not the solid, smooth surface of it.  It still hovered to either side of him, but the area directly in front of him had receded.  It was now several steps away from where he had stopped in amazement.

“Don't stop now,” came Hamil's voice.  “Keep going!”

Urged on by his companion, Avery stepped forward, conscious that he was now walking into a corridor of water.  The crystalline structure above him cast an odd blue hue to all around him.  Sadness filled his heart as he realized that Viola's skin tone was now completely gone from his sight.

This realization was replaced by another, however.  The object in his hand had begun to vibrate, painfully so.  Until now, it had burned unlike any fire he had ever known, but it had at least been stationary while it scalded the core of his being.  Now, it was as if he were holding a buzzing insect, one that had decided to start stinging him in every conceivable direction as it sought to vibrate its way free.

“
Hurry!” came Hamil's voice again.  “It's not going to last much longer!”

Hastened by Hamil's urgency, Avery once again pressed forward, feeling the energy that somehow existed in tangent with the watery substance of the wall recede from him.  Only now, it did not do so as quickly, nor as readily.  Like a pack of wolves that no longer saw the dragon as a threat, he could feel the water beginning to fold back upon him.  The water was no longer running away – it was preparing to take back its lost territory.

Then, miraculously, the water was no longer in front of him and he was falling to dry earth beyond. 

“
Throw it away!  Now!” screamed Hamil. 

Blindly, Avery thrust his arm out and away from him, not knowing nor caring where the stone flew.    A deafening roar soon overpowered his senses as he felt the wall behind him buckle and fold around a powerful blast of thunder.

Avery had no idea how long he lay upon the earth, but it could not have been long, for Hamil was applauding him.

“
Where...  Where are we?” managed Avery.

“
Inside, I'd wager,” said Hamil.  “Smart move, throwing the stone back into the wall.  I think a blast like that could very easily have banished us both.”

“
Banished?”

“
Never mind,” responded the scribe.  “Can you sit up?  I can't imagine we will go undiscovered all that long lying in the street like this.”

Avery became aware of himself at that moment.  He was lying face-down in the street, his mouth full of grit.  Spitting and hacking the dirt from his mouth and throat, Avery pulled himself weakly up to his hands and knees.  Vertigo overtook him, though, and he had to stop in that position for several minutes.  Hamil waited patiently while Avery recovered his senses, apparently not as anxious to be on the move as he had originally suggested.  

Finally, Avery felt strong enough to thrust himself into a sitting position, taking deep lungfuls of air as he did so.  “The wall?” he managed after a few such breaths.

“
See for yourself,” remarked the scribe. 

Avery looked up to see the young man motioning behind him.  Unable to gather the strength to turn, Avery simply let himself fall backwards and stared upwards into the sky behind him.

The wall of water was still there, though admittedly they were now looking at was clearly the inverted side of the circular structure.  Whatever passage they had forged had been swallowed behind them, apparently taking with it their only means of forging a new exit point.

“
All or nothing now,” mumbled Avery to himself.

“
In for a pint, in for the barrel, and all that,” answered Hamil.  The scribe suddenly clapped his hands together, causing Avery to wince in disapproval.  “Ready to go see the sights, then?”

“
In another minute,” Avery scrinched his eyes closed again.  “I am still regaining my strength.”

“
I say again, My Lord.  We should not stay in the street like this.  We are bound to be discovered.”  Avery felt the scribe's hands lifting him up.  “Here, let me assist you.”

As Avery allowed himself to be lifted, he opened his eyes to take in their surroundings. 

The invader had not noticed before how much dimmer the light was on this side before.  When he looked up, he could see a distant area where the light of the day reflected off the wall's surface.  But it shone at an angle, much like one would expect from a setting sun drawing the horizon's shadow across the landscape.  Levitz could not possibly enjoy more than an hour of direct sunlight in its current straits, and what light illuminated the streets through refraction off the liquid surface was quickly fading.

Avery returned his gaze to street level.  “Where is everyone then?”  Twice now, Hamil had urged them to hide, but there was not a soul to be seen or heard.  If the town had not been wiped from existence, then should not the citizens have survived, as well?  After all, how could a faux God compel worship if he didn't have living subjects?

“I cannot say,” responded Hamil, looking around anxiously himself.  “But I don't like it.  Not one bit.”

Before they could wonder further though, the sound of a solid object rapping on wood drew their attention towards one of the buildings a short distance away.  The pair of intruders looked to what looked to be a small home, waiting for the sound to repeat.  After a moment, it did – and once they could determine its precise direction, a lone arm waving from behind a door at the side of the structure also came into view.

Hamil and Avery looked to each other.  “Might as well,” said the scribe after a moment.  “We're going to have to talk to someone sooner or later.”

Avery shrugged and stood away from the scribe, indicating he should lead the way.  “By all means,” he said sardonically.  “But I'll let you lead so I have more time to regain my strength.”

Hamil scowled in disapproval, but Avery quickly thwarted the young man's protest.  “Next time, you can hold the extremely painful, exploding rock and let it tear every nerve in your body out while I go talk to the strangers hiding in the building, okay?”

The scribe bit back his retort, conceding the point.  With a sigh of resignation, he turned and started toward the house. 

Avery had to admit that walking was helping him come back to himself much quicker than he had thought possible.  Remarkably, by the time the pair had reached the doorway in question, he could barely feel the residual effects of his trauma, at all.

“
Close enough,” came a voice from the other side of the slitted door.  The arm had been withdrawn and now barely a sliver existed between the door and its frame.  “Whatcha doin' out on the street like that?  Did they find your hidey-hole?”

“
They who?” asked Avery, stepping forward in spite of himself.

“
Whatcha mean, who?  You think I'm stupid'r something?”

“
Sir,” offered Hamil.  “We really just want to know where everyone is.”

A rough cackle came from behind the door, much like the sound that Avery himself had uttered only a short time ago.  “You've lost it, have you?  Gone insane, is that it?”

Avery felt his anger rising, but suppressed it.  “Look, we really don't know what's going on.  We just made it past the wall--”

“
Past
the wall?  Now I
know
you're insane!  Even if such a thing were possible, why would anyone get past the wall in
this
direction?”  The door abruptly slammed closed.  “Go away!” called the voice inside.  “I won't have your madness getting me killed!”

“
I feel like I'm living through a children's story,” grumbled Avery, trying with bare success to keep his anger in check.  Raising his voice, he called, “If you don't open that door, I'm going to knock until it falls down on top of you!”

Hamil giggled in spite of himself.  Avery had cited a line almost verbatim from a child's story, one where an imp was refused shelter by a greedy lord.  When the lord ordered his servant to bar the door and leave the imp to the night's terrors, the demonic creature had proclaimed he would continue to knock until the door fell down and let him in anyway.  The lord had laughed, and the imp proceeded to strike the door.  “One,” had called the imp.  When the lord, still refused, he struck again.  “Two,” called the imp.  Again, the lord refused and the imp struck the door a third time.  Inexplicably, the heavy door had fallen inward, crushing the lord who had been lurking behind it.  “Three,” had said the imp.

The moral – if that was what it could be called – was to ward against the dishonor of refusing shelter to anyone in need, for in the story, the imp had eaten all that had lived within.  Now, Avery's warning seemed to be threatening the very same fate to the man hiding inside the home.

The symbolism did not escape Avery, either.  He could certainly emulate the story, knock two times, then bash the door down on the third blow.  But he was not forced to do that.

The door opened, and a woman appeared.  “Forgive my husband,” said a weathered woman.  Avery would have gauged by lack of gray in her hair that the woman was perhaps thirty, but the years of working in a fishing village had taken a premature toll upon her skin, chaffing it until it was dry and brittle.  “He's afraid, and that does peculiar things to people.  You're right to ask for shelter, and we're wrong to deny you.”

Avery bowed respectfully.  “We honestly do not seek shelter, just information.  It is as I said – we just came from beyond the wall and we need to know what has happened here.”

The woman squinted her eyes at the pair, then pursed her lips.  Finally, she said, “Well, at least you believe what you say.  So I can't fault you that.  But you'll have to forgive, because there's no way for any living mortal to get out of this town.  We've all accepted that much.  So why should we believe that there's a way in?”