Flash Fiction #534 -- The Long Way Home/33

 

No, that could not be right. Rory said nothing, and he even kept himself from shaking his head. However, the idea that Kellic would go along with this to save some woman from losing the throne --

"Come on, Rory," Zorian said. He caught Roridan by the arm and started to pull him away. Others were speaking, and he stopped. "No, I am going with him --"

"I don't need a guard," Rory protested.

Zorian looked into his face. "Yes, you do. And also anyone around you. Are you going to try to argue with me?"

Rory considered it for a moment and gave up. So, apparently, did the Queens, and Rory had just enough sense left to bow on his way out.

The entire group walked away in silence, all the others glancing his way, though they might have been looking at Zorian.  Rory wasn't sure anymore.

The walk through the castle gave him time to think. He considered sending for Jamison and Keltrina to join them as well but then thought they might do better on other work for a while. Gathering other information.

He said nothing.

They went up to the archive, a vast room halfway up the tower. Even the Temple of Eket had nothing to compare to this collection.

"I will die happy here," Rory decided.

Zorian laughed first and the others afterward. They sorted out their work areas. Rory and Zorian took a place by a window that overlooked the bay. It helped Rory to see things look so calm and only a few fleeting clouds out at sea.

Rory began laying out the papers he'd brought all the way on this long, confusing journey. Zorian watched the window as the others gathered their own reports and sorted them ... and it was the quietest time Rory had experienced since he'd been told the king was dead.

Soon the work of copying the code to letters became automatic. Rory did not try to read them as words yet. Instead, he worked through into the late afternoon, hoping to have enough to make some sense of it and not have to go back to translate more. His mind had started to work on other plans as well. They would need to compare work soon, primarily names and locations.

"Food, Rory," Zorian said with a tap on his arm. "And don't you dare tell me you aren't hungry."

He had been about to say something of the sort but changed his mind when Zorian looked him in the face.

They crossed to the larger table where food already waited. Someone must have thought they had an army up here.

They talked and discussed Temples, including that of Eket. There had been no word on that place since he left. That was likely Pyrida's work, but he hoped it didn't mean anything wrong for those he had served with for the last few years.

"We've been told the Gods are on the move. I need to go back to the Eket temple to see what I can learn. I mistrust that Pyrida turned up amid this trouble. Have any of you seen comments about the Temple of Eket?"

"A few comments in passing," Ragkin said.

"And we've heard nothing at all," Mellie added. She sat aside her cup of tea and frowned. "Not even from the Queen's aunt, who retired to the High Post Temple of Aien.  That bothers me. I will go ask the Queen if there is a reason for this. If I get courageous, I might even ask the Goddess."

Rory hoped she didn't have to go that far. The Goddess had seemed off-kilter if such a term could apply to such a being. Rory had only experienced one brief moment with Eket at his initiation, as though the God had noticed him as an individual. Even that brief encounter had been seared into his memory.

Learn and be free.

That was the message Eket had given to him.   Now Rory suspected he knew what it meant, so many years later. He had learned all he could; now it was time to be free of the temple and do what he could.

He explained it to the others. "It doesn't mean leaving Eket behind, and his contact with the temple is rarely noticeable. But he gave me a message, and it's time I take it to heart and do what I was meant to do."

"Which is?" Zorian asked.

"I have yet to get that far in figuring things out. First, I would like a look through these archives. They must have some older works on the Gods."

"An entire section," Mellie said with a smile. "It is good to see someone willing to do some research."

"I could live in this room ... at another time. I just need to find some links to what is happening now. None of this is normal. What is bringing all these armies together to fight ... what?"

"Atria had been our thoughts," Ragkin said. "They've been acting beyond even odd the last year, and we think they have some war of their own brewing across the sea. They may have brought a curse down on themselves, though. The snow there never ends. I went as close as I dared to check out the situation and couldn't get more than a mile inside the territory."

"Giant, cursed snow storms," Jamison repeated. "Another factor to add to the trouble."

"We can stop here," Zorian added. "Let us not invite any others in."

Everyone agreed, and Meggie left laden with all their 'good lucks' as she went out the door.

The others went to work while Rory set out to find something helpful in the archive. He let himself wander, expecting Eket to show him the way. Up one aisle and down another, noting a few things he wanted to read later.

Zorian found him. "I believe we are about to get hit by serious weather."

Flash Fiction #533 -- The Long Way Home/32

 

Silence held in the room, and no one dared say anything, even after their initial reaction to the statement. The Queen and general looked at each other and nodded in agreement to something neither of them said.

Queen Intensia looked out at the crowd of locals as if they were the ones she had to speak to and not her own people. Finally, her notice turned to Jamison and his wife, and she gave a slight nod of her head.

"Unanik is my half-brother, born to a castle servant," she said. "Yes, the King knew. No, we did not have an affair. We came up with the idea to get me out of the capital and away from what we knew must be growing trouble. A disgraced queen was not likely to be approached by others for favors, and I let it be known early on that I did not want to dispose of my husband. I pretended to have a delightful life now that I was free. It helped that everyone knew he and I really did have our disagreements. I am sorry to see him gone. I thought you would be ruling by now, Palkin. And your brother off conquering new lands somewhere."

So, that settled a question.

"The New Order of Man should have taken him into their fold," Palkin replied. "Or at least tried to. I suspect he would have surprised them."

"I may have seriously maimed Poltin," Rory admitted. "Kellic is not going to be happy with me."

"We'll deal with it later," Palkin said and seemed to mean those words. "Poltin was too dangerous."

"Kellic told him to kill me," Rory said, drawing more surprised looks. "I believe now that he thought Jamison and I had killed the ambassadors, and I, on the other hand, thought he had killed them."

"And we all wondered who killed my father," Palkin added with more emotion than Rory had expected.   "That is my current goal, and yes, I suspect the New Order of Man and Pyrida. However, we've suspected too many others of late for me to name them without proof. More than PYrida's actions. For all we know, that might just be a personal disagreement with Rory."

"I can't imagine why," Zorian and Queen Calladona chorused.

That was exactly what everyone needed. Rory blushed and bowed his head, but he had to agree that this might be personal. "We never got along in the temple, and he wanted me to fail. Why did you send me there?"

Maybe this wasn't the time to ask, and Rory almost apologized -- but he needed information if any of this was going to work out. Answers to many things, but his link in this situation would help him center. He needed that first.
"I had heard of odd things at the Eket temple," Queen Calladona admitted. "I did not suspect Prydia of wrong-doing, but there were questions about unusual guests. These guests were never seen with Pyrida at the gates, and no outsider could get the information -- at least none that I sent."

"You didn't tell me."

"There was magic involved. At least one person I sent was certain his real assignment had been learned that way."

Rory nodded. He said nothing while the others related everything they had seen and done. He knew Callanda looked his way often, but he still had no clear vision of what was happening.

"Why are the three of you here?" he suddenly asked. Still not polite, and he couldn't help it. Something tingled along his skin, and he knew he had little time to figure out the problems they faced.

More than one problem.

Queen Callanda looked his way with a nod. The others had asked no questions, not even this most obvious one.

"We have been working together for many years," she said. "But until now, it had been done by messenger. Simply keeping track of what is going on in the other lands."

"And then Lady Aien arrived," Queen Wendora said. "We learned that not only armies but also gods were on the move."

"Gods," Jamison repeated and took hold of his wife's arm. "Why?"

"No one knows why the gods move as they do," Zorian replied. "They are chaos itself. What about their priests? Are they on the move like Rory and Pyrida?"

"None of my messengers have arrived in the last ten days," Queen Intensia admitted.  

"And there had been nothing about the temples for several months," Queen Wendena added. She glanced around the area and then nodded to someone at the right. "Mellie, start scanning the messages, in court and out, for word on the temples or the priests."

"Ragkin, join her," Calladona added with a wave of her hand. "Work together."

 "Yes, yes -- you as well, Bitell," Queen Istania added. "You might want to join them, Palkin. You were always good at this work."

"And Rory," Calladona said, looking him over. "If he is able?"

"To sit and read things?" Rory asked. "I might be able to do that for a while, my Queen. I don't know for how long, but the truth is that I also have some coded papers from the late Ambassador Tranthin --"

"Dead? I had feared so when the messengers stopped arriving. His family?"

"All of them dead, including the clerks. I happened to be out gathering my own information when I learned that the King had died. I hurried back, but I was already too late. Kellic was there --"
"Kellic often worked with Tranthin," Calladona said. "It was through their work that we created the sham proposal for my daughter's hand that I turned down."

"But why?" Jamison dared to ask. He looked lost in this web of secrets and was trying to grab any strand and make sense of it.

"We worked that out," Palkin said. "As long as he was crown prince, women wanted him. So we created a lost love to ease the pressure. And it was only fair to a woman who would expect to become Queen."...

Flash Fiction #532 -- The Long Way Home/31

 

Rory could sense the magic all around them as they crossed the wide bailey and skirted a tall but apparently deserted square tower.  Most people would have thought it so, but Rory felt so much magic emanating from the stone and wood that it made it difficult for him to breathe, let alone walk.

Zorian caught hold of Rory and swung him up over his shoulder like a bag of grain.  He tried to protest, but he still couldn't breathe.  Zorian moved at a good clip and had outdistanced the others so that they came to the next gateway well ahead of the rest, even though they were moving faster as well.  Rory supposed that seeing the two mages rushing away probably inspired them to move as fast as they could.

Zorian put him down and pushed him against the nearest wall.  Rory could breathe now.

"What the hell --" Rory began.

"A part of her realm but made into an illusion to fit into this one.  I didn't expect you to be so susceptible to the power."

"But you weren't," Rory replied.  He looked back as the others neared.

"Aien and I have a history.  You figured that out." Zorian looked back to see the others near.  "We'll discuss it later, just the two of us."

Rory didn't argue.  He wasn't sure he wanted to know at all.  They again took their place in the procession, and no one asked anything.  Not even Andora, who looked as if she might take the first chance she got to escape from this madness.

However, that feeling of magic eased as they crossed the next open ground and headed for a magnificent set of towers.  Guards- all female- stood at the top of another set of stairs and watched at a pair of ornate doors.

Junal moved on ahead of them in this place she so obviously knew. She signaled for the rest of us to hold the fifth step, and everyone froze in place. Rory glanced around slightly, trying to count the number of guards they might have to fight through to get back out. This didn't feel like a confrontation, but nothing felt right during this trip.

Junal spoke quietly to the guards. One stepped inside the partially opened door and talked to someone else, a shadow that moved off quickly.

Then they all just waited.

It wasn't long before they had word from the inside, and the doors opened wide to let them inside. Rory tried not to feel overawed by the glorious interior. It made him feel like a barbarian out of the north. He didn't think he liked that feeling very much, so he shoved it aside along with the growing headache that just put them in a bad mood.

Several more guards let them along the short corridor into another set of huge doors. One of the guards lifted the knocker and hit the door three times. It opened from the inside.

And then they went, despite the Rory thought this was a terrible idea. The aisles were filled with people, both men, and women. They couldn't see past the people in front of him, but he was aware of three high-placed thrones. The few people ahead of his group moved to the right or left as directed and finally brought Rory, Andora, and Zorian to the front of the line and facing the Queens.

Yes, three of them. The woman in the middle, slightly older than the one to the left, had to be the queen of Schiwen, Wendara. To her left sat Queen Intensia of Euriday.  He recognized her from paintings at the palace.

To the right sat Rory's queen, Calladona.

Rory was so surprised that he barely bowed his head to all three women and let Andorra pull him off to the side with Zorian. He looked around at the others, and even Prince Palkin looked shocked to find his mother here.

Only Generals Junal and Unanik looked, if anything, relieved rather than surprised. They had expected to find the three women here. But why?

It took very little for the room to settle into near silence again. Rory only hoped they found some answers here because they had already gone a long way.

It was Queen Calladona who leaned forward and pointed straight at Rory. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"As soon  I heard that the king had died, I went to get the ambassador.  His family and clerks were already dead.  I have tried to get home since then, but all the universe has seemed to work against me, except for my few companions.  Temple Master Pryida is working with the New Order of Man."

"That is not good news," Calladona replied.

"Maybe the universe pushed Rory to be here since this is where you are," Zorian replied.  "Something wants the two of you together. And Rory came by accident into my hands. Stop frowning, my friend. I'm not saying that you couldn't have gotten here alone. It is more likely that we were all supposed to be here."

That wasn't a thought Rory had considered.  He would have thought Aien was behind this gathering, but it didn't feel right.  Nothing had fallen together for him.  He hoped they were here long enough to rest and find some answers.

"Then there is no doubt my husband is dead?" Queen Intesia asked.

"Not so far as we could tell," Jamison answered for him.

"I am sorry to bring such news, my dear," Unanik added.

Those were not the words any of them and expected in the reaction ran all through the building. Rory dared to glance at Jamison, but he looked no less shocked. Even the other two queens glanced her way with raised eyebrows.

Flash Fiction # 531 -- The Long Way Home/30

 Rory moved up the steps, Zorian on one side and Andora on the other.  Prince Palkin walked between the two generals and didn't look thrilled to be on show right now.  Rory suspected this was not the place Palkin wanted to be.  Neither did he.

And more so when each step upward to the next brought him the conviction that there was magic in that next bailey.  A considerable amount of it.

Rory looked at Zorian, who gave a quick nod.  Then he turned to Andorra, and she also gave him a nod.

"There is magic in the area ahead of us," Rory said and drew the attention from everyone.

"Yes, there is," she said with a quick nod. "We're not allowed to tell anyone, but if you sense it, we're not to deny the existence. I can't tell you anymore because I know nothing more about it than that it exists."

"Is it dangerous?" Rory asked. "I can't feel any proper sense out of it."

"I think it could be dangerous, but not to anyone who comes as a friend. If any of you have doubts – –"

No one even slowed, although Rory considered turning around and going ... home?  He had been trying to get home since this trouble started, and he first heard the king had died.

Why the man had died was still the question.  If he trusted Palkin's take on the situation and that Prince Kellic didn't want to be king, it fit in some ways and not in others.  People were like that, though.

And this was not the time to worry about that part of the problem.  The feel of magic made his skin tingle as they climbed up the steps.  He wasn't up to this kind of problem.  

One last step and through the stone portal.

Rory and Zorian spun to the right, both with hands raised.  Something nebulous moved there, a cloud of magic that spun and swirled and moved out in front of them.  Rory could tell that only he and Zorian could see and sense it.

"Stay still!" Zorian ordered.  The others listened to him while he and Rory made their way to the front of the procession and faced the magic quickly took the form of a tall woman with long black hair and a dress of sky-blue and golden threads.

Rory heard the others make sounds of surprise and could see the woman where they hadn't seen the cloud of magic.

The woman gave a bow of her head.  "You two are powerful.  Only one other has ever done more than sense the surrounding magic when they enter my bailey.  And does that make you, both men, enemies?"

"You know that already, Lady Aien," Zorian answered with a bow of his head.

"I feared you had forgotten me, Zorian."

"Never."

Lady Aien winced at that single word, and Rory wondered what sort of history hid in so simple an answer.  He also wondered if he had ever heard of a mage named Aien.  The name sounded familiar, but no one of such power --

No human.

His breath caught, and he bowed his head in shocked surprise.  Goddess.  The one who looked over the lands of Schiwen.  A goddess of such power that none of the others dare question her claim over the matriarchy and the lands they conquered in her name --

Andora had gone to her knees.  So did General Junal and all the others from Schiwen.  Then the rest of them knelt, except for Zorian.  

Was there a challenge in that stance?  Rory wanted to pull his friend down, but the look on Aien's face did not indicate trouble.  He suspected amusement and thought the same when he looked at Zorian.

Rory was not sure they had time for this behavior.  Lady Aien must have thought the same.  She lifted her head and looked out over the stunned and still silent group.

"This is my place; for now, I hold the line here," she said.  "This is where my rule began.  Only those whom I trust pass on.  This group may see the Queens and pass again on their way out, as long as they do no harm."

Queens?

"There is another mage who may yet follow us," Zorian said.  "You would not let him pass here, but I ask that you protect those who might come into his path.  You know his name."

"Pyrida," she said, and Rory feared she was surprised.  He never liked seeing beings of power shocked by some news, especially when he knelt before them.

Zorian gave a bow of his head and a slight grimace.  "He hunts for Rory and me, though I doubt he realizes all the danger we are to him."

Rory would have rather not heard him mentioned by name. Lady Aien looked his way, her face so devoid of emotion that it seemed unreal.  She might have been an especially well-painted statue.

Now that he was past some of his shock, Rory wanted to ask many other things.  Instead, he remained silent as the goddess became ephemeral again.  Zorian helped him back to his feet.  His legs almost gave out, but he willed himself to stay standing.  

"Zorian --" he began.

The larger man shook his head. "Don't ask.  We don't want to muddy those waters, or resurrect those ghosts, right now.  Especially those ghosts."

That sounded dire.  He didn't like ghosts and tried his best to avoid waking them. Rory filed about a hundred questions into the back of his mind and waited as Prince Palkin and the two generals again took their places at the front of the group.  Rory thought they looked uncertain about that position.

Andora moved to walk beside Rory.

"Queens?" Rory asked.

"I do not know.  I begin to think I know nothing at all."

"Welcome to my life."

Flash Fiction #530 -- The Long way Home/29

 

 

"Stay here!" Jamison ordered.  Rory started to object.  "Just stay where we can find you if we need to!"

That made enough sense that Rory sat down and decided he could stay there, at least for a while.  They were not in port yet.  There was no fighting on the deck, and it seemed they were sliding past the sound of battle.

Good.

Zorian showed up and nodded when he saw Rory sitting at the table.  He looked exhausted and determined as he settled in the other chair.

"What are we doing here?" he asked.

"Don't ask me.  I was unconscious most of the time."

That won a loud, barking laugh from Zorian followed by a look of relief.  Rory tried not to feel burdened by that look.  He had helped the others.  He did have skills even Zorian -- who was not discussing his magic -- didn't appear to have.

"What was the battle?" Rory asked. He had to prepare to start moving soon.

"Andora said something about a ritual before the one group could be allowed into the city.  I hope we aren't expected to do the same."

"I'll make the other side sleep."

"I might hold you to that one.  Damned mess we are in."

"I have no idea what problems we face, except for Pyrida.  He's the one I'll focus on."

Zorian gave a nod of agreement, but still said nothing more about his own magic.  Apparently, he belonged to one of the secret sects.  Rory could name a dozen or more, but this was not the time to demand answers.  He saw Zorian look his way with both worry and curiosity.

"You can tell me what you think I need to know," Rory said with a wave of his hand, though he wished it hadn't trembled.  "The rest is your life, not mine."

Zorian gave a gracious bow of his head.  Rory left him alone, but  hoped that they could soon work out some plans.  From the sounds outside, they were coming close  to docking. Rory had barely glanced out the porthole and had no idea what they might be facing here, either in what the town looked like or in the people.

He knew he wasn't ready to face any of it.

Andora, Jamison, and Keltrina came to get them.  Rory had gathered as much energy as he could by then and must have looked reasonably alive.  Everyone looked relieved.  Rory only felt worse, but he let them herd him up from the lower decks and into the sunlight.

Rory thought it might have blinded him at first.  He'd had no idea how dark it had been so dark within the ship.  He blinked away the tears and squinted --

Stepped into shadow and the world came back into focus.

Rory had never seen anything like it.  Towers of colored stone rose catching the sunlight and casting shadows across hundreds of red-roofed buildings.  He blinked thinking it would all disappear becausee this could not be real.

"This is Sci?" he finally dared to ask.
"I guess that means you've never been here before," Orian said as he took Rory by the arm and led him off of the ship. The crew and the soldiers were all remaining behind and none of them looked any less startled than him.

Andorra gave a little laugh. "I fell over my own feet the first time I came to the city," she said. "Twice. No one ever warns you for that reason. We all go through it and want to see the same reaction in others."

Rory nodded as if this made all sorts of sense to him, but in truth his mind was just wandering all over the place now. Even the war seemed far away.  Maybe that was good.

A carriage arrived to take them ... wherever they were headed.  Andora still came with them.  The two generals and Prince rode in a different vehicle and led the way.  They might have been visiting dignitaries rather than a disparate group of refugees.

Rory watched the city.  People -- women, men, children -- watched  them pass with open curiosity.  Guards, all women, came to attention. Despite the battle they had so lately left, this seemed like a place where war would never touch.

It was not what he had expected of Schiwen.  The road to extend my twists and turns to a huge building he had not seen from the port. This was clearly a citadel with cyclopean walls topped with well-armed guards every three yards. This, Rory realized, was why the rest of the city could seem so much at peace. The area within these walls was more than enough to take in the people below.

Rory felt duly impressed and intimidated.

A moat circled the mass, and wide enough that the Springer might have sailed it if they'd dragged her up here.  The bridge they lowered had been made of metal and clanged into place like a bell of doom.

Rory didn't want to be the enemy of these people, which was probably exactly the reaction they wanted.   He watched the walls they passed through, counted the arrow ports, made note of the trap walls with narrow, easily defended turns, and decided simply not to annoy anyone here.

They came suddenly out into a wide bailey filled with small buildings, many of them with working blacksmiths out front.  Newly made swords hung everywhere.  A couple had intricate shields as well.  This, finally, looked like a place preparing for war.

It didn't make him feel any better.

The carriages came to a stop at a portal, faced by a staircase, that led to a higher level.  We all climbed out and joined Prince Palkin, General Junal, and General Unanik.

"We walk from here," Andora told us.  She looked at me.  "If you need a sedan --"

"I can walk."

"Good.  Not many outsiders get past this area."  She looked worried this time.  "Take care."

Not what he wanted to hear.