The Divided Knight - Chapter Twenty-Eight

Aylander was finding the experience of having a physical body again equal parts exhilarating and disorienting. It was exhilarating because, for the first time in almost longer than he could remember, he felt like himself – there was no longer anything weighing his soul down, as the transition from a spectral presence back to a creature of flesh and blood had seemingly completed the task of its cleansing. Aylander had hope, again, something that, even after Thaddeus had released him from what had bound him to Atraxos the Black, he'd found elusive. Hope is something meant for the living, he thought. And I was not, in the strictest sense, alive.

The disorienting part of having a body again was getting used to the fact that, in comparison to his spectral form, it had quite a few limitations. No longer could Aylander float above the ground – he now had to walk and run just like everyone else, though his magical abilities would make it so he could do both faster – and he was once again subject to fatigue, thirst, and hunger. In combat, he would once again need a physical weapon – of which, he suddenly realized, he currently had none – and, if he was wounded, he would feel pain. And, this time, if I am killed, it will be for good.

“Everything all right, Aylander?” Zoe asked from beside him. “You look a little worried.”

Aylander remembered vividly what, when he was young, he had been taught about Sorceresses. Though, anymore, they were supposed to be little more than creatures of myth and legend, it was taught that they were always to be treated with the utmost deference and respect. Sorceresses were one step removed from being goddesses, and treating them as anything less risked invoking their wrath. Zoe – not Lady Zoe, as Aylander had insisted on calling her while still having to split his time between being a ghost and being a prisoner in Thaddeus's sword – had come to be his friend, however, and it pleased him that, despite what she was, she was nothing like how the stories said she should have been.

“I was just thinking about how, if something happens and I die again, the situation would be rather permanent, this time around,” Aylander said.

“Aren't you a cheerful one?” Thaddeus said from behind them. “It's going to be 'rather permanent' for all of us if we can't get past the drakes.”

Aylander glanced back at him. It still amazed him that someone who looked so human could be his brother. “That's why we have your sword, Brother. Grandfather said it would help us defeat them.”

“Unless he was wrong.”

“Unlikely. What he did to your sword was very similar to what Sprites did to swords to turn them into Scourgers. No Scourger ever made failed to do what it was intended to do. The same should be true of yours.”

“I guess we'll find out soon enough.”

“Indeed.”

“Where do we go once we've gotten past the drakes?” Zoe asked.

“In the same direction we were heading. Toward the Plateau of Leng. And then to the Mountains of the Moon, beyond.”

“The Gates of Eclipse. Do you know what lies beyond them, other than the Amulet?”

“A chamber, built deep under the mountains. It was said that there were secrets beyond the Amulet hidden in that chamber, secrets that none but the most faithful of the True were meant to know, secrets that could destroy everything if they were ever revealed.” He paused. “I suspect that there is a physical entryway to the Sundered Halls in that chamber.”

“It would make sense if there were,” Thaddeus said. “Especially since, if he gets there first and unleashes the power of the Amulet, Atraxos will be able to open the Halls.”

“I think I've seen that chamber,” Zoe said. “In a dream I had after I put Thaddeus back together.”

“Did you, now?” Aylander said. “Can you tell me what it looked like?”

“It was high-ceilinged, but not very large. There was a bed in it, and an old chair. Neither of them looked very comfortable, and both of them looked like they were on the verge of falling apart. There was also a bookcase stuffed full of scrolls.” Zoe stopped and turned to look at Aylander. “None of that, though, is what I remember most about that chamber.”

“What is?”

“The marble archway built into its far wall. It pulsed with light, and, if you looked through it, you found yourself staring at something that rippled and flowed like ink. Mother Catharzen said that that was a spell, a spell meant to keep the archway sealed. A spell meant to keep what was on the other side of the archway out.”

Aylander's eyebrows shot up. “Mother Catharzen? You saw her in your dream? You spoke to her?”

“It was the same dream where she was given the prophecy about me,” Thaddeus said. “The prophecy about the Nightslayer.”

Aylander looked at him. “What?”

“It's true,” Zoe said. Her eyes flicked to Thaddeus. “Though the prophecy might not have been.”

“Which we agreed we were going to talk about later,” Thaddeus said. “After the drakes.”

“I'm holding you to that,” Zoe said, leveling a finger at him.

“As am I,” Aylander said. Then, when they both looked at him, “I mean, it sounds like her dream and this prophecy might be important.”

“And Thaddeus's visions. I'm sure we're all going to want to hear about his little chats with Solanas.”

Aylander looked at Thaddeus, but, before he could say anything, Thaddeus said, “Later!”

Nobody said or did anything for the next several moments. Then they all started walking again, up the shaft and away from the Vault. The surface was waiting.

Night had just begun to fall when they emerged back onto the surface. Once again, the ruined village – its name had been Evelron, and seeing it as it was, now, filled Aylander with equally immense feelings of sadness and loss – was deserted. Nowhere were there any drakes, or any sign that any drakes had ever been there. Not that that was terribly surprising – the myths regarding drakes and their kin all agreed that they left little to no evidence of their passing in their wake. Where had the drakes gone, however? Why had they abandoned their quarry instead of waiting for them to come back out of the cave they'd chosen to hide in?

“I can't sense them,” Zoe said.

“Neither can I,” Thaddeus said. “Can you, Aylander?”

“If neither of you can, why would I be able to?” Aylander asked. “My magic reacts to them the same way yours does.”

“Well,” Thaddeus said, “they might be gone, now, but they won't stay that way. Especially if we keep standing out in the open like this. I say we keep going.”

“I tend to agree,” Aylander said.

“I don't,” Zoe said.

Aylander looked at her. “Why not?”

“Because night is falling. And because we all need to rest.”

“We can rest somewhere else, Zoe,” Thaddeus said. “This place isn't safe.”

“We're in Eltara, now, Thaddeus,” Zoe said. “Nowhere here is safe. We still need to rest, though.”

“What would you suggest, Sorceress?” Aylander asked. “Surely you're not thinking of going back down into the Vault.”

Zoe gave him a sour look. “Of course I'm not! What about one of the ruined houses in the village, though? Am I right in assuming that there's more of them below ground than above?”

It was true. Eltaran houses had more living space below ground than above, owing to the fact that Eltarans were largely underground dwellers. Spending the night in one – even spending the night in one that had been abandoned as long as the ones in Evelron had been – would be safer than spending the night outdoors, but, when it came to creatures like drakes and their kin, that extra measure of safety would be minimal. We have our magic, however. We'd sense them coming.

“It's not a bad idea,” Aylander said. He looked at Thaddeus. “And she is right. We do need rest.”

Thaddeus sighed. “All right,” he said. “So, which house do we sleep in?”

Aylander grinned. “Mine, of course.” He started walking. “Follow me.”

When they reached the house, they found the entrance had collapsed in on itself. Clearing the rubble with magic so they could get in would have been easy for Aylander if he had known the correct spell, but none in his repertoire was able to do the job. He needn't have worried, however, because, when Thaddeus saw the state of the house's entrance, his eyes came alight and he began moving his arms in sweeping gestures, leaving the fallen stone in the entryway gone in just a matter of moments. Aylander envied Thaddeus's ability to use magic without always needing a spell – he was a true wild mage, the kind that hadn't existed since before Solanas the Elder had crowned himself Magister. I wonder if I would be able to learn to use magic the way he does? Aylander wondered. Or would my needing words be too much of a mental block?

Once they were in the house, they descended down until they were in a room three levels below the surface. Despite the fact he hadn't been in the house in more than four centuries, glowlamps located in alcoves on the walls came alight as Aylander passed them, the static spells within them reacting to and recognizing his presence. Much of the house's furnishings were either gone or had fallen into disrepair, though, when they reached the room where they eventually decided to stop, Aylander was pleased to see that the artwork on the walls – a mural depicting the Halls of Paradise from Eltaran mythology – hadn't faded.

“This room was your family shrine, wasn't it?” Zoe asked once they'd all settled down on the floor.

“Yes,” Aylander said. “It was always the most peaceful room in the entire house. And also one of the least visited.”

“Least visited?” Zoe asked. “Why was that?”

Aylander gestured at the mural on the walls. “My people stopped believing in the Halls of Paradise and the Divine Council – what you call the 'Gods Above' – centuries before our final fate consumed us. The shrine, however, has been a traditional part of Eltaran homes for millennia, so, because we are a people of tradition, it continued to be included in their construction. My parents called it the Quiet Room, a name for the shrine that, I heard, was not uncommon.”

“You prayed in here, didn't you?”

Aylander smiled. “You're very perceptive, Sorceress. Indeed I did pray in here, using my family shrine for its intended purpose. I didn't do it frequently – 'religiously', as you humans wound put it – but I did it whenever I felt the need to do so. You see, a part of me never really believed that the Divine Council was dead. Not even after seeing the evidence the Sprites gave to us.”

“Your people believed that the Gods Above were dead?” Thaddeus asked.

“We had every reason to, Brother,” Aylander said. “The Sprites showed us things that were beyond question. They showed us the corpses of gods.” He paused. “All of them save the seventh, that is. That of Adarion, the Lord of the Dead.”

“And that was why you didn't believe, wasn't it?” Zoe asked.

Aylander nodded. “I don't know what humans believe about Adarion, or even what name they call him. But, according to Eltaran mythology, he is not just the Lord of the Dead. He is also the source of all magic. Without him, all magic would cease to exist. Magic still exists, however, which means that Adarion still lives. He must!”

The three of them were silent for a time. Thaddeus produced one of the waterskins, taking a sip and passing it around. “I've seen Solanas,” Thaddeus said once everyone had had a drink, capping the waterskin and strapping it back onto his belt. “Three times since all of this started. He set me on the quest to find the Wanderer, and he told me he thinks I can be the Nightslayer.”

“I had a vision where Mother Catharzen told me the same thing,” Zoe said. “She told me of a prophecy where, as a Priestess of Adarion, I have to make sure that that is what you become. But I have to make sure you become the Nightslayer without allowing you to succumb to the darkness of your nature, and, in the end, I have to be sure you die in peace.” There were tears in her eyes as she spoke, and she never took them off Thaddeus. “Is that prophecy a lie?”

Thaddeus looked at her for a long time. “I think it was something you needed to hear, Zoe,” he said at last. “Something you needed to hear, and something you needed to believe. The last time Solanas came to me, he said we are very near the end, and that I will be forced to make a decision that, when it came down to it, he wasn't able to. It will be a terrible decision, but it will be one that I have to make. I won't be able to run away from it like Solanas did. In order to make that decision, and in order to make sure that the decision I make is the right one, I'm going to need you.” He looked at Aylander. “And I'm going to need you. The two of you are my family, now. The woman I love, and the brother I never knew I even had.”

“You need not worry about me, Brother,” Aylander said. “You may not look like me, but the same blood flows through our veins. Wherever you are is where I will be. From now unto death.”

“Wherever you are is where I will be, my love,” Zoe said. She reached out and took Thaddeus's hand in hers. “From now unto death.”

Did Zoe realize that, for a woman to speak those words to man, it made them a vow of marriage? “Do you mean those words as you speak them, Sorceress?” Aylander asked.

Zoe looked at him. Her expression was puzzled at first, but then it changed as it dawned on her what Aylander meant. She smiled, then said, “I do.”

Aylander looked at Thaddeus. He had to fight down a smile at the bemused expression on his brother's face. It was clear Thaddeus had no clue what was happening. “Battlemage,” Aylander said, “do you accept these words as they are spoken?”

Thaddeus frowned, looking from Zoe to Aylander, then back, again. And then his eyes went wide, which prompted a grin from Aylander that he didn't even bother trying to fight. “Do you, Brother?”

Thaddeus looked at Zoe. “Yes!” he said. He laughed. “Yes!”

“It is done, then,” Aylander said. “I pronounce you sealed to one another, from this day until the end of time.”

They all ate some of what food they had, then, talking about trivial things, laughing, and enjoying each other's company. For the moment, they were happy, all thoughts of the return of the drakes, or of the road that lay ahead, forgotten. After a time, and more because he didn't want to intrude than out of any real fatigue, Aylander excused himself, leaving the shrine to the first two people he had ever performed a wedding for. It didn't disturb him that Thaddeus and Zoe would be celebrating their wedding night in the family shrine. After all, they wouldn't be the first couple to do so – or, at least, that was what tradition said.