51

  Arrived

  For the first time since his arrival, Tic was feeling alone. Not lonely as his active mind never let him feel lonely, but he did feel very much alone. Tia was out in the wilderness somewhere with his friend Leldeif, whom she didn’t really care for. He was glad he was with her though, he had never seen it, but it was rumored that he was exceptional with a blade. He thought he looked a little to effeminate when he practiced to be effective, but what did he know about swordplay. His newly-found cousin was still over in Lemure learning the business, and from what Tic understood, would be there for quite some time as there was a lot to learn from logistics to storage, warehousing and manufacturing. Though different than how Tic was doing things in Riverhouse, it was still the basics, which Enson would have to know in order to move forward with the endeavor on this side of the Swirl.

  Tic’s Uncle Rowen could be there with him, but had taken a stand-offish approach with Tic and the business re-vamp. Instead he was helping with the relocation of the populace down to the caverns revealed to him by Riverhouse. Women, children, and infirm were being tucked away with stores to hopefully keep them out of harm’s way when the inevitable battle unfolded.

  Nigel on the other hand had disappeared. It was strange because when the House revealed her voice and echoed her song throughout the cavernous home of Riverhouse, Nigel got pissed. Not in the typical sarcastic ‘Nigel hates the world’ way, but truly angry at something it implied. He was familiar with the voice but on a different level. He stormed off and spent his time in the new warehouse with what Tic assumed was the orphans that Nigel had taken to.

  He was pounding out sap when he saw the aerial approaching from the distance as Juil, the elven princess, approached Nigel.

  “Hey, thanks for the lift down, asshole,” Juil said and glared at the tall man. “How long were you going to leave me up there?”

  “You shouldn’t be in places you can’t get out of on your own, princess.”

  “We had a deal, you son of a muridai,” Juil protested.

  “I remember making no such deal, besides…you obviously made it down as you are here now whining before me. Did you use that wizard transport thingy?” Nigel replied.

  “It doesn’t work like that, your body stays where you left it. It took me a day and a half of scaling a cliff-face, jerk.”

  “I am nobody’s taxi service, princess, I suggest that you see to your own devices in the future in order to avoid any issues.” His tone was haughty, much like you would expect from Nigel, but his stance was threatening, much more threatening than Tic had ever seen from him. He was almost tempted to step between them, but decided it was none of his business and tried to go back to his task.

  “I don’t know why you’re being this way, Nigel, I thought we were friends,” Juil said, causing Nigel to snort. Tic couldn’t tell if it was a derisive snort or one of humor, either way it was not one that went over well with the princess.

  “Fuck you, Nigel,” Juil said.

  “Fuck you very much as well, princess,” Nigel said and walked on. That was when Tic noticed that he had a bag packed and wore his breast plate as well as his blade strapped to his back between his wings. Tic stepped out of his shop.

  “Hey, Nigel, how are you doing today?” Tic asked good naturedly and Nigel spun on him as if he were an enemy. Immediately the aerial’s glare softened.

  “Oh…hello, Tic, I didn’t know that it was you.”

  “Yep, it’s just me hanging out and catching up some loose ends in the shop. Are you going somewhere?”

  “Um, yeah. Look, I appreciate all that you have done for me, I mean getting me out of that place and all…but I can’t stay here.”

  “You can’t? I thought this was your home?” Tic said, picking up on the fact that there was more here than what he was seeing.

  “It is, or at least it was. I know that I have my own people out there though and I know that they too need me,” Nigel said, but Tic could see that he was covering up something else.

  “Oh, okay, Nigel. It’s been great getting to know you and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors,” Tic said and held out his hand to be shook.

  “That’s it? It’s been great, Nigel. Good luck, Nigel. Shake my hand, Nigel!” The bird man was exasperated and Tic didn’t know why.

  “I’m going to miss your cooking, Nigel…does that help?”

  “You dirt stompers are really starting to annoy me. Here you meet the pinnacle of evolution and you treat him as if he was nothing more than a dwarf.”

  “Do you want to talk about it, Nigel?” Tic said cutting through the chafe.

  “What? Talk about what?” Nigel feigned ignorance.

  “Whatever is bothering you.”

  “Who says anything is bothering me?”

  “Ah, one day you are like…’thank you, Tic, for giving me a home and the next you are stomping off to find your people.” Tic paused as the aerial struggled with what to say next.

  “Look, I had some high-end spirits shipped over from Lemure just for you, let’s say we go have a bump and talk for a couple minutes before you go.”

  “A tempting offer, just for me you say? But I really can’t stay here any longer, Tic. Her voice is driving me into a rage and you don’t want to see that. High end you say? How high of an end would that be?” Nigel said, his face a mask of what could only be determined as pain.

  “Very, you can at least take a bottle with you, can’t you?”

  “I could, manage…that I suppose.”

  “And maybe a bite to eat before you go?”

  “Your cooking? No way in the pits would I eat that.”

  “Okay, fine…just come and get a bottle or two. Now, whose voice are you talking about? Is it the princess?” Tic asked as they walked into the apartments where Rowen lived, trying to think if the princess’ tone could be annoying in any way.

  “The princess? No, she doesn’t bother me. I actually like her even though she is of a les—” Nigel stopped realizing that he was just about to insult the person who had done so much for him.

  “Lesser race, yeah…I get it,” Tic said with a chuckle.

  “No, it’s not her. It’s the singing that you refer to as being from Riverhouse. That voice haunted…no, it mocked me, for over three years straight. I heard it every day and it did nothing to ease my torment. At the time I looked to it for solace, but now that I know who or what it is, I feel…betrayed. She could have told me what was going on and possibly even got me out of there, but she didn’t. She just left me there to rot until some idiot elf came along through her barbaric methods that could have killed us, but now feels she rescued me,” Nigel exaggerated.

  “The voice is Riverhouse. But you cannot think of her as you would a human or elf or even an aerial for that matter.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that…she is not really a physical being. She is rock and stone or possibly even the earth itself. Her concept of time and her ideals of situation are much different than yours or mine. She has goals that span for centuries or possibly time immortal and is beyond what you and I can grasp.”

  “Yeah, it still doesn’t change things for me. Maybe if she could just stop singing for a while, I could get over it,” Nigel said shaking his head and staring at the ground, his torment obvious.

  “What are you talking about, Nigel, she stopped singing when you stormed off the other day,” Tic said, causing Nigel to stare at him blankly.

  “I have to go, Tic, now,” Nigel said and took the bottle before leaving the apartment. Tic followed him, hoping to stop him. He needed the aerial here right now, but as soon as Nigel cleared the door, he took to the air and was out of sight in a matter of seconds.

  “So, what’s his problem?” Juil asked from the side of the entrance where she had obviously been spying on their conversation.

  “I don’t know, you heard what I did. It sucks though; we really need him right now. We have to find Frodeg,” Tic said and walked toward the Riverhouse municipal building, Juil in tow.

  “Have you been practicing?” Tic asked of the dwarf sheriff, knowing the answer as he could feel every pull from the surrounding energy.

  “I have but I don’t seem to have the force that the princess manages to utilize,” Frodeg replied.

  “I told you that yours is to protect and serve the people of Riverhouse. When you need that kind of force it may be there for you, but I don’t know for sure. How are the people by the way?”

  “Wonderful, their new subterranean home is actually quite remarkable and is filled with a constant flow of fresh air and water. The stone is quite talented at providing comfort to them and their livestock, in that, you were right,” Frodeg replied.

  “That is because that is your role in this. You are the protector, the provider which makes sense since most of those under your care are dwarfs. I hope you like kids,” Tic said and Juil snickered. “Not for you, is it, princess?”

  “Why did you just sound like Nigel?” Juil said with a hint of anger.

  “I don’t know, I’m sorry,” Tic said afraid that he had offended her. “I didn’t mean anything by it, you don’t strike me as a kid person is all.”

  “No, I’m not,” Juil said and then pondered their situation for a bit before continuing. “So, that day I took you to Skorsdale, did that have as dramatic of an effect as you thought it did? Because really, nothing has seemed to change.”

  “Ah yes. I suppose I should apologize for being so rude and rushing off like that, but yes. All of the safe guards that I had established since the day I arrived dissipated. My internal repairs held, but they too are starting to disintegrate. The House is now accessible to anything that wants to come in,” Tic said regretfully.

  “That’s not good. I don’t think we have ever had goblins or trolls in the Tube,” Frodeg said, using the dwarfish slang for Riverhouse.

  “It’s all my fault. Well, yours as well for not telling me the consequences,” Juil said.

  “No, it is the fault of fate.” Tic paused to allow that to settle in. “What is happening now was ordained to happen long before our oldest ancestors of memory were ever conceived. The cataclysm broke the world creating the building blocks of what we have today. Humanity of all sorts was also obliterated only to come back as what we now have today,” Tic finished and the two of them simply looked at him as if he was withholding important information.

  “You’re looking at me skeptically, why?” Tic asked and looked at the two before him.

  “Ah, it seems that you know a lot more about this than we do. Do you want to fill us in a bit?” Frodeg asked.

  “On what? In particular, that is.”

  “Oh, maybe…what do they want and why are they attacking and killing everything in sight? Just for starters,” Juil said more than a little sarcastically.

  “Oh, I thought you knew. That spider web woman…Dyanna? Yeah, she told you when she imprisoned you. When she talked about returning purity to the world and uniting the races as one as they used to be and she feels should be? Yeah, well…her idea of uniting is destroying all of the others except one. Or at least that is as close as I can come to their goals. It’s hard to say for sure, I don’t know if they even know their true purpose. That they are ruled by a being, or entity is probably a more accurate description. This…thing, wants to return the earth to its days of glory where the only difference between the races was pigment and dogma. Rumor and speculation say that humans were the original race but the aerials believe strongly that they are the lower species; meaning us. All descended from malformed genes within them that they cast off in order to bring them to the pinnacle of evolution.”

  “Please tell me that isn’t true,” Juil said.

  “I don’t know; they are pretty magnificent,” Tic replied, remembering the first time he saw Nigel fly.

  “I would hate to be a cast off from that bloody race,” Frodeg said speculatively.

  “It doesn’t really matter to me,” Tic said and the other two looked at him in disbelief.

  “You don’t care that you might be deformed aerial genes?” Juil asked incredulously.

  “It’s malformed, not deformed. No, that is a racist analogy the aerials adopted to justify their treatment of the other races, I highly doubt its true and if it is…so what. I’m here now and it is up to the world to deal with me. Either way, I can’t seem to get its name or moniker right. The house just calls it Mother Death, but I don’t think she means mother in the female sense.”

  “Necroma?” Frodeg whispered in horror as stories from his youth came rushing to the surface.

  “No way can it be Necroma, that is…he…that is nothing but a legend from before memory. The boogeyman used to frighten children into acceptable behavior,” Juil gasped.

  “The sheeny who steals your children is more like it, or the shadow that feeds on…” Frodeg couldn’t even finish his thoughts.

  “I get the picture, but that name was never mentioned,” Tic replied then waited as the two looked at each other as if they were having identical thoughts. Finally, Frodeg broke the ice.

  “It’s him, I know it. He was—” then the dwarf just stopped.

  “He’s back,” Juil said staring off distantly.

  “Back? From where, and why?” Tic asked.

  “To finish,” Frodeg said.

  “What he started,” Juil finished, causing Tic to stare at them both incredulously.

  “What are you talking about?” It was Tic’s turn to ask the questions.

  “Before the aerial wars, we were all ruled by the aerials. They made us all slaves, they beat us and took our children, no cruelty was too cold and—” He was stopped by the princess.

  “Yeah, we know all that, but what most or a lot of people never knew is what was behind it. They had their kings and such, spanning most of the world, but above and beyond them was an entity or a force who has survived since before the breaking. It is a being that lusts for pain and sorrow and feeds on blood,” Juil said. Tic surprisingly laughed.

  “And so is written the evil doer in every fairytale,” Tic mocked refusing to trivialize their current situation by tying it to some forgotten myth. He didn’t care if it was true or not. The fact was, they had to fight this thing and getting all of the scary details wouldn’t help them, in fact it might intimidate the will right out of them.

  52

  The time is nigh

  “The time for delay is past, the time to prove your worth has arrived.” The words felt within rather than heard

  Dyanna had a feeling this meeting would be coming soon, ever since she felt the weaves in Riverhouse dissipate two days before.

  “Yes, my lord, the armies are assembled, our adversaries are confused, and Riverhouse is practically empty. I assure you, our victory will be swift and complete,” Sambone said, always the kiss up, causing Dyanna to glare at him. It was due to this very reason why she wanted to handle the speaking. Sambone was always willing to commit them to some plan or strategy that he had no concept of how it would work. The same being here in this situation. All she allowed him to know was they had armies and what their goal was, at least this goal.

  “Pardon my associate’s zeal, my lord. Though I am certain of great success in our endeavor, I need a little more intelligence before we can begin the invasion,” Dyanna said, nervously picking her words very carefully.

  “What is it you need to know?”

  “We had discussed different scenarios in the past and I need you to specify which scenario it is that you wish me to pursue.”

  “You need me? You need nothing more from me than I have already allowed. Restore me to my former glory completely and immediately.” His voice rang out in an impossibly low vibration that shook the cavern around them and forcing them to their knees. Dyanna fell forward and placed her forehead on the ground at the feet of her god.

  “Yes, my lord.” Her voice quivered with terror. “I will inform the others and it will be done as you have stated.”

  The chamber cooled as the entity dissipated.

  “Others, what others?” Sambone who had managed to fool himself into thinking himself her equal asked.

  “Why, all of the other little Sambones I have running around setting up other major sites, fool. Did you think that you were the only one?”

  “Well I—”

  “Do not think, Sambone, simply do as you’re told. Set loose our ranks of foot on the southern end tomorrow, they will probably walk the first sixty miles unmolested. Then release the ships on the northern end the day after. Order all of the intermediates to enter now and await commands,” Dyanna said and strode purposefully from the room. She didn’t think that Sambone would survive this encounter, in fact she could almost guarantee it. The audacity of considering himself her equal was an affront to all that was right and she would make sure he paid for his transgressions.

  * * *

  “They’ve got us pegged, I’m afraid,” Pomen whispered.

  “Muridai,” Leldeif snarled.

  “Oh, well at least it isn’t a giant or trolls,” Tia said optimistically, though even she could tell there were way more closing in than the three of them could handle.

  “Careful what you wish for, girl. I would send you away to safety, but there is nowhere for you to go with the piners missing,” Pomen said coldly.

  “Stay low when you meet with them, very low. Their knees and hips allow them to come in at knee height while another goes high. Use your long knife to block high, finish low then…finish high,” Leldeif said trying to impart some last second advise as he made a show with his sword.

  “What?” Tia said not really understanding what he said, but understanding his motions. Several figures burst from the undergrowth and Leldeif looked at her. “Watch,” was all he said and then just like he had stated, he swept a set of low incoming blades to the side while blocking a downward thrust from a second opponent coming in with a slash from above. He brought his blade back around to slice the throat of the lower attacker and used that motion to plunge his blade into the chest of the one above whose downward stroke was still suspended by Leldeif’s long knife.