The New World

Chapter Fifty-two

4th day, Month of the Bat, Year of the Rat

Last Year of Imperial Prince Cyron’s Court

163rd Year of the Komyr Dynasty

737th Year since the Cataclysm

Inn of Nine Fishes, North Moriande

Free Nalenyr

“You didn’t think we would let you go alone, did you?”

I should not have been surprised at their presence. They’d each been through a great deal with me. Captain Lumel, Deshiel Tolo, Ranai Ameryne, and Dunos. Each wore an oilskin suit bound up tight, with robes in a watertight container, and similar sheathings for their swords. They stood between me and the stairs to the cellar.

I smiled and bowed in genuine respect. “I did not expect you to meet me here.”

Deshiel bowed. “We understand that, Master. Perhaps it was because you gave us another time and point of rendezvous by mistake.”

The others smiled, and I bowed my head again. “It was because you have no intention of letting me go alone, and I have no intention of going accompanied. Deshiel, Captain Lumel, your archers are out there now trading arrows with the kwajiin. Neither they nor Moriande can afford to be without your services.”

The Virine warrior shook his head. “They’ve fought well enough without me. This is important.”

“As is the battle that will come.” I nodded to the woman. “And you, Ranai. They may have once been my xidantzu, but they answer to you now. As well they should. You are needed here.”

“Master, you told me that I should be xidantzu for nine years. You said I should wander and entertain bandits. Is there a greater bandit than Nelesquin?”

“No, but his entertainment is mine to provide.” I dropped to a knee and met Dunos’ unwavering stare. I caressed his cheek with a hand. “If I could take anyone, I would take you.”

“I will get across the river. I can hold my breath real good. I’ve been practicing.” He sucked in a big breath and held it.

“No, Dunos, don’t. I know you could get across. I know all of you could get across. I know all of you would fight like tigers on the other side, but that isn’t where the fight will be waged. We’ve traded shots for days and that will continue as the cities grow closer. If I fail, if Nelesquin lives, his invasion must be beaten back. You are the ones who can do that.”

“But, Master, I will help you kill kwajiin.”

“Yes, Dunos, you will. Knowing that is what gives me the courage to do what I have to.” I stood and studied all their faces. “Virisken Soshir would have found you here and thought you doubted his abilities. He would have thought one of you a traitor. He would have thought nine million things, but the one he wouldn’t think is what I think now. You are all friends who would fight and die with me. I would do the same for you, but here we must part company. It’s not going to be safe on the other side. This whole mission may have been betrayed.”

Deshiel frowned. “What?”

“How did you know when and where I’d be crossing?”

“There were rumors, Master. We had you watched and when you headed this way, well, arrows travel faster than even the swiftest of runners.”

“Arrows can cross the river, too. Nelesquin may be expecting me. If we have traitors giving him information, we may have already lost the battle for Moriande.”

The line parted and they bowed. I returned their bows, then began my descent of the stairs. I heard a step behind me and turned. “No, Dunos, you can’t come.”

“Master, if you go without me, you will die.”

A shiver ran through me. “Dunos, I won’t die.”

“Master, please. I feel it. I know it.”

I went to a knee on the stairs. “I won’t die, I promise you.”

The boy shook his head and a tear splashed on my face. “You can’t make that promise.”

“I can and have. You will have to help me keep it.” I glanced past him to Ranai. She rested her hands on his shoulders and gave me a nod.

“Farewell, my friends.” I smiled bravely and started down.

Dunos shouted. “No!” He didn’t come after me, but ran out of the Inn.

“I’ll find him, Master.”

“Thank you, Ranai.”

I descended into the Inn’s basement. A rusted grating stood open above a round brick hole. I climbed down, finding corroded steps with my boots. Twenty feet later, I splashed through sewage and entered a taller pipe slanting downward.

My fingers located a thick rope tied off just below the surface of the dirty brown water. I took several deep breaths in rapid succession, exhaling quickly, then drew in a normal one. Ducking my head beneath the water, I pulled myself along the rope as quickly as I could.

Figuring out how to get into South Moriande hadn’t been easy. I finally settled on the idea of passing from one sewer pipe to another. It was only two hundred yards, and with practice I’d been able to make the journey. Getting the rope in place was going to be a bit more difficult, but Borosan Gryst’s thanatons had no problem. One was sent across with the cable and anchored itself on the south side.

Once free of the pipe, I had to fight the river. The current wasn’t that strong, but the occasional arrow that had fallen short sank past me. I pulled myself along as quickly as possible. My lungs were on fire by the time I entered the far pipe.

I broke the surface and breathed as quietly as I could. The first impulse was to gasp and gulp air, but I couldn’t afford to make that much noise. If traitors had revealed my place of crossing, I’d be dead well before I got a chance to dry off.

Breathing more normally, I squeezed past the thanaton. I climbed up the sewer pipe to the storage cellar of another inn on the river’s south side. I looked about before I emerged, but darkness reigned. I came up and lowered the grate back in place, but just before it lay flat, one rusty hinge squealed like a murdered cat.

“Don’t worry, Master, there is no one about to hear.”

Crouched, with one sword already drawn, I faced the shadows from which the voice had originated. “Ciras? How?”

“Master Gryst told me about the thanaton ’s task.” He unshuttered a small lantern, revealing himself in dark robes with the flame pattern as his crest. He picked the lantern up with his right hand, and enough light reflected from it to reveal its true nature. “And I came over early to guarantee there would be no surprises waiting.”

“And because you knew I’d not let you come with me?”

The young man smiled. “It is better to ask forgiveness than permission.”

I laughed lightly and began to shuck my oilskins. “Then I beg your forgiveness for having kept you waiting. Let me get dressed, then we shall do something Prince Nelesquin will never forgive.”

Four Hells prevented Jorim and his companions from reaching the plane of Zhangjian-literally, the place between the Heavens and Hells. The Fourth Hell, Landao, almost proved their undoing.

It was the Hell given over to the punishment of the slothful and greedy. Their dreams would hang in front of them like fruit on low branches, but no step taken in that direction would bring them any closer. Then, when frustration boiled over and they really exerted themselves, they would shoot past their goal in the blink of an eye. They’d turn around and try again, repeating the whole process.

Talrisaal figured out how to beat Landao. He made his goal the desire to get as far away from something as he could. That brought it into reach, and he plucked it. His action frustrated many of those trapped there. However, the more they wanted to come close and bash his brains out, the further from him they were sent.

Pyrust immediately made it his goal to lead everyone as far away from the gateway to the next Hell as possible. The army passed through into the icy plains of Shanchu. The whole of the Hell seemed to be made of floating ice islands on slushy seas. Wayward souls bobbed shrieking in the water and got ground between colliding islands.

The army moved pretty quickly along a chain of islands and into Ji-bing. Disease ravaged the people trapped there. They seemed mostly to be people involved in heretical and fundamentalist cults. They seemed to spend a lot of time gathering together groups to worship. A disease would spring up, covering them in boils. The entire congregation would catch it and literally fall apart. In fact, leprosy would have been kind in comparison to what they suffered.

When they finally expired, pus puddles would boil. The rising steam created ghosts, which solidified into people. They’d wander about until they heard someone preaching a message and join that group. Then the boils would rise, mucus would run, and things would get ugly from there.

Maintaining discipline in the second and third Hells had not been difficult. This was just as well because the last Hell, Chong-to, was the realm of warfare. From the moment they began to assemble, pulling themselves from a shallow river in the center of a verdant valley, warrior bands began attacking them.

The ferocity of some combatants surprised Jorim. Chong-to was not meant for warriors, but for the warlike. Those politicians and bureaucrats who had been content to create wars without ever shedding their own blood ended up in Chong-to. Cowards also landed there, as well as men who had greatly exaggerated their exploits or warriors who’d only carried hate in their hearts. It was a place where men who thought of war as a game were trapped for eternity, seeing that it was not.

Jorim pointed. “Some of the bands are joining together over there.”

Pyrust nodded. “I’ve heard it said that if you die with honor in battles here, you win your way to Kianmang.”

The Viruk shook his head. “But since they are fighting to serve themselves, they cannot die in honor.”

“Which is why they will be here forever.” Pyrust snarled as one of the winged apes fell from the sky, shot through with an arrow. The moment the beast hit the ground, he vanished. “Our troops, on the other hand, will be flooding Kianmang.”

Pyrust formed his army up with the lizards on the wings, and the hart-cavalry in the center. The winged apes hung back, waiting to flank the bands and harass them. The formation moved ahead in good order and blew through the small gathering of bands. Potbellied men wheezing into battle ran as the lizards swarmed. Skeletal spearmen fled before cavalry charges and the apes kept opportunist bands from hit-and-run raids.

When Chong-to’s denizens died, the earth swallowed them, leaving old, rotten armor and helmets on the ground. The lizards sniffed at the relics and shied from them. Pyrust had the apes gather the weaponry into piles and the army marched on.

As they came out of the valley, the landscape changed into one lit with purple balefire. The blue river that had brought them flowed into a dark swamp tangled with broken trees and marsh grasses deep in black mud. Big bubbles appeared across the swamp’s surface like giant frogs’ eggs.

The eggs popped and warriors emerged. They dug through the mud, salvaging old armor with slimy, half-rotted leather harnesses and weapons that were composed more of rust than metal. They waded from the swamps and ran off along hidden pathways.

Jorim watched them go. “They’re not stupid. They’ve seen us fight. They’ll pick a place they can do the most damage.”

“There are only narrow paths through the swamp. They’ll ambush us there.”

The Viruk turned to the Prince. “Can your lizards swim?”

“They can, but I wouldn’t want to swim in that mess.”

Jorim smiled. “Using the lizards to flush the ambushers is a good idea. I have another one. Just get everyone back over the ridge.”

Nirati glanced at her brother. “Whenever you get that look on your face, you do something dangerous. Please, don’t.”

“You worry too much.” He stood on the crest of the ridge above the swamp and set himself. “You, too, Talrisaal, get behind the ridge.”

“If you’re going to do what I think you are going to do…”

“It will be fine.” Jorim frowned. “I’m a god, remember? I probably helped design this place.”

Nirati was too far away for him to hear her clearly, but he thought she said something like, “I don’t find that particularly reassuring.”

He grinned and closed his eyes, beginning to manipulate the magic. When the Amentzutl first taught him magic, he had learned to find the truth of things. As he reached out, he sought the truth of the swamp gas that gathered and burned. Using the mai, he gathered it together, squeezing it into a sphere, then used magic to shift its elements. He unbalanced them and injected a lot of heat.

A brilliant sun dawned over the swamp.

Then the fireball exploded. The shock wave blasted him off the ridge. He tumbled back through the air, his robe smoking. He hit hard and bounced, but a winged ape caught him.

Nirati hurried over, but already the light in the sky had begun to dim. “Jorim, are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” He slapped at a smoldering bit of cloth on his thigh. His ears were ringing, but he scrambled up the hill. A couple of the winged apes charged after him, but they hung back well shy of the crest.

Talrisaal helped him to his feet. “It was a good idea, in theory.”

“Yeah.” Jorim turned around. “Get ready. They’re coming!”

The blast and fire had destroyed the swamp, baking the ground black and cracking it as if it had been dry for nine hundred years. Reborn warriors dug their way out of shallow graves and ran off in the other direction, joining a horde of easily nine thousand or more.

Pyrust joined him on the ridge. “Remember those wings you had when we first found you?”

“Yes.”

“Sprout them again. Go that way.” Pyrust stepped down and began shouting orders. “Let the enemy see you. You’re bait.”

Bat’s wings sprang from his back. Jorim rose and moved off to the left, with Talrisaal rising beside him. The enemy, which came on in a ragged mass, shifted to follow them. Below, Pyrust led his army back down and around, poised to hit the horde in the flank.

The Viruk pointed toward a shimmering curtain between two tall mountains. “The pass into Zhangjian?”

“I hope so. So very close.”

Pyrust’s army came around the hill and blasted into the lost souls. The hammer-headed apes tossed huge boulders that rolled to a stop along a trail of pulped bodies. The hart-archers lofted volley after volley into the attackers, cutting down huge swaths, but it didn’t seem to make much difference. The dead were springing back up and coming on stronger.

“They aren’t reacting like a normal army.”

The Viruk pointed. “They’re swarming like a flock of birds.”

It was true. When the archers cut down whole ranks, the others flowed around them. There wasn’t even an attempt to keep a disciplined line, just a wave of flesh that kept coming. Some of Pyrust’s troops died in each skirmish, never to be replaced. They couldn’t win the war of attrition.

“Come on!” Jorim swooped low and began manipulating the mai. Death and dying were painful, but the enemy knew they would be reborn in no time. Interrupting that cycle was impossible. Rebirth was part of Chong-to. To change that, he’d need all the power of a god, and he had but a fraction of it at his command.

But there is an answer.

One of the enemy took an arrow through the chest. He fell, clutching at it. When the arrowhead emerged from his back, it cut a nerve. The man’s left arm hung limp.

Jorim manipulated the mai. He used just enough of it to stop the man from dying. He didn’t heal the damage, just insulated the man from death. He did the same for the blinded man next to him, and a man who had lost a leg. The magic staunched the wound and sealed the stub.

Talrisaal, seeing what Jorim had done, swooped in after him and did the same. Jorim came around and shouted to Pyrust, “Maim them; don’t kill them!”

The wounded clogged the battle line, but the mass continued to flow. More and more warriors appeared to join the group. The edges made it past Pyrust’s lines and threatened to surround him. He pulled his lines together, maneuvering to a small hill, but the horde pressed tighter around them, nibbled away at Pyrust’s troops.

Then horns blared and drums pounded. A cavalry force slammed into the horde’s flank. War chariots with Naleni archers ranged around behind the enemy. And heavily muscled warriors wearing masks of jade and gold, wielding war clubs edged with obsidian, slashed their way into the horde. The war clubs harvested limbs, and then Amentzutl maicana cast spells to heal the maimed.

The horde shifted, turning to face the new threat. Pyrust ordered his troops forward, catching the enemy in midmaneuver. The wounded were driven back into their own troops and the horde began fighting with itself. It disintegrated into mobs of half-dead warriors limping as far away from others as possible.

Jorim flew down beside Pyrust. “I bet you never thought Naleni cavalry would be saving you.”

“No. Who are the others?”

“The Amentzutl. They live on a continent far to the east, across the sea. The Stormwolf expedition found them.”

“How did they get here?”

“I have no idea.” Jorim’s wings grew back into his body as the Amentzutl line parted. A black-and-gold bundle of muscle and fur bounded up the rise and tackled Jorim.

“Jrima, Jrima, Shimik comma. Shimik here!” The Fennych hugged him tightly, then leaped up, did a back-flip, and landed on his chest again. “Shimik happy happy happy.”

Then Fennych caught sight of Talrisaal. His ears flattened back against his head and a growl rose from his throat.

Jorim caught the Fenn by the scruff of his neck. “No, Shimik. Talrisaal is a friend.”

Shimik sat back down, then did another back-flip, landing at Jorim’s side.

And beyond Jorim’s feet, previously eclipsed by the Fennych, stood Nauana. She had her hands clasped at her waist, fear and joy warring on her face. A single tear glistened.

Jorim sprang to his feet and gathered her into a huge hug. He hung on tightly, burying his face against her neck. The scent of her, the silken brush of her hair against his face, her arms enfolding him, her little gasp and sob made him wish this moment would never end.

He kissed her neck, tasting his own tears. “I’m so sorry, Nauana, for all the pain.”

She took his head in both hands and kissed him. “How can it cause pain to have a god sacrifice himself so you may live?”

“But…”

“You are a god, Tetcomchoa. You cannot die.” Nauana kissed him again, then opened an arm to indicate the troops behind her. “We knew you needed help, so we came.”

“You knew we needed help?”

“Of course. It is centenco.”

Jorim shook his head, then slipped from Nauana’s arms. He bowed to the woman approaching them. “Captain Gryst, how did you get here?”

“You disappoint me, Cartographer, god or not.” The Stormwolf ’s captain smiled. “Have you forgotten we found the Mountains of Ice on our expedition? There have always been stories told of an opening to the Underworld there. We found it. A big fireball pointed us to the battle.”

“Jrima, fire, whoosh.” Shimik clapped his hands.

“I believe he’s expressed our thoughts rather aptly.” Anaeda pointed back along their line of attack. “We can leave whenever you desire.”

“We’re not leaving. Not yet. There’s a rogue god who wants to unmake all of creation. He needs to be stopped. Care to come along?”

Anaeda Gryst frowned. “It’s not exactly within the purview of Stormwolf ’s directives from Prince Cyron.”

Pyrust smiled. “I doubt marching into Hell was either.”

“Good point.” Anaeda nodded. “You’re the cartographer, Jorim Anturasi. Lead, and we shall follow.”