Ascent of the Aliomenti (7 page)

Eva stopped walking, halting so quickly that her arm was stretched via the hand Hope continued to hold. Will continued walking until he realized his hand was no longer sitting upon Eva’s shoulder.

“There’s more to it than that,” she said. “There
must
be more to it than that. My brother has never feared to make a difficult decision, has never shied away from taking an action he might find objectionable under normal circumstances if he believed it served a greater good.”

“Objectionable
?” Will was stunned. “How could he find the cold-blooded murder of fifty people anything but abhorrent?” She seemed immune to the reality of what he’d done. Or was she merely trying to rationalize it away, in an effort to shield herself from the ramifications? Perhaps, like the woman next to her, she was looking for the good out of fear that her relation to mass murderer meant she was capable of similar atrocities.

“I’m not explaining myself well, Will,” Eva said, and Will heard the fatigue in her voice, fatigue borne of trying to understand what couldn’t be understood. “I am not saying
he
believes murder is acceptable, any more than
I
believe it is acceptable. He does not. He has always tried to protect the innocent.” Her eyes flicked in Hope’s direction, and Will was reminded that it was Adam who had argued against Arthur’s scheme, specifically because it would harm a young child. “What that tells me is that there is some missing information that we don’t have, information that Adam
did
have, and that he felt he needed to act as he did to prevent an even greater tragedy.”

Will opened his mouth to protest this, and then realized that Adam
did
have that type of information. “I argued with him immediately after it happened. With Arthur present, he simply said that he found the victims to be too weak-minded to be trusted with Energy abilities, too easily swayed by someone like Arthur. He felt they would be turned to some evil purpose because they’d lacked the character to stand up to evil, just as they’d failed to stand up for Elizabeth.”

“That’s closer to what I expected,” Eva replied. “But I’m not sure he’d act so quickly unless he knew that Arthur was
already
in the process of plotting something.”

“It was
me,
” Will whispered. “Adam told me that Arthur was already working to set them on
me
next.” The cold reality bludgeoned him like a hammer. Fifty people had been murdered before they were able to form a mob and attempt to take
his
life.

Will walked in silence, internal demons swirling in his mind. Did this revelation make
him
complicit in those murders? Adam had thought of it as justice, though none of those people had acted yet, and few were likely to have directly thought of raising a hand against Will. Should Will feel gratitude for Adam’s decision and action, motivated as it had been toward saving Will from attack? It was unlikely they’d be able to penetrate all of Will’s defenses, but Adam had no way to know that was the case.

He felt the sudden need to act, to do
something
, as a means of purging that nagging sense that those murders were his fault. The frustration he felt at this moment was complex, in part due to the sudden moral ambiguity over Adam’s action, and in part due to the fact that someone had tried to protect
him
, and in part because they’d felt there was evidence that he
needed
protection.

Mixed in with those concerns was an even larger question: why did Adam care if they
did
want to kill Will? He had no chance to ask that question now.

He reached out his hands to the women, and they each took one without question, likely suspecting he was seeking comfort. And, on some level, he was. But he felt the need to speed everything up, hoping that it would clear his mind. “Hang on,” he told them.

He flooded his own body and cells with Energy, and extended the field to cover and infuse both Hope and Eva, willing the three of them to become invisible and weightless. With the transition completed, he lifted off the ground and into the air, pulling the two of them with him.

The telepathic gasps of surprise flooded his mind. In this phased existence they could not speak out loud, for their bodies lacked sufficient substance to generate audible sound. He’d essentially rendered them all mute in his haste to move, flying away from the spot where he’d realized why fifty people had died. Energy had rendered
those
people mute as well. Permanently. They were people he cared about. His mind flashed a millennium into the future, to a time when the son he and Hope would bring into the world would likewise be muted because of Energy. The Energy he and others had been entrusted with provided the power to create and amplify, and yet improperly applied, it could cause incredible harm, even if that harm wasn’t intended.

They rose above the tree line, rising several hundred feet into the air, and the land spread out before them. The women were alternatively terrified and awestruck, incredulous at the beauty below them, fearful that they’d plummet to their deaths. Despite being nearly permeable, he could sense the pressure as each tightened her grip on his hand.

Where do you wish to go, Eva? We can travel more quickly this way, and perhaps see what we’d never find traveling on the ground.

I... I’m not sure. I want to believe that there’s something special about the land where I was born, and yet I don’t know that that’s the case. And I certainly have no idea what it might look like.

They flew for several hours in this fashion, passing over a great body of water that Will suspected was the North Sea. Soon after, Hope gestured with her free hand, further north.
What’s that?

They looked where she’d gestured, and her find was indeed intriguing, something worth exploring. In the midst of open plains and patchwork fields of flowing grasses, a vast forest stretched before them. What intrigued all of them, though, was the coloring of the trees, a vibrant green that seemed almost unnatural. They could also make out a clear depression in the canopy near where the colors were their most vibrant, suggesting a clearing below.

Will gave a faint smile, and added an ironic tinge to his thought.
Perhaps you were born in a village located within a forest?

Let’s go take a look
, Hope replied. Her tone was full of anticipation. Adventure and exploration had been denied her the first nineteen years of her life, and even with uncertainty heavy in the air, she was eager to find whatever they might discover.

Eva merely nodded, though Will detected none of Hope’s exuberance in her. If anything, she seemed quite fearful, an understandable sentiment. She might find her home village without realizing it, or learn it had been destroyed, or perhaps find that her people were not what she’d hoped.

Will landed them among the trees and allowed them to regain substance. The forest air was pure and clean, naturally energizing them. The trees bore a strange fruit, unlike anything they’d seen before. The smell was mesmerizing, and all three found their mouths watering. While they’d eaten recently, none had eaten to excess, and the hours of walking had stimulated powerful appetites. More than one stomach rumbled in anticipation of imminent consumption.

Before Will or Eva could stop her, Hope sprang upon the nearest tree and seized a piece of fruit, tearing into the skin and flesh. As the juice seeped out of her mouth, she moaned. “This... is... incredible! You really need to try this!”

“What are you doing here? How did you get in?”

The woman’s voice startled them, and Will was stunned. He’d failed to notice her approach or presence until she’d spoken. How had she managed to elude detection?

The woman was short, with dark hair only slightly lighter than Will’s. Her eyes were a piercing green color, able to bore through whomever met her gaze. That gaze fell upon Hope, and spotted the fruit still in her hand, the juice still trickling down her face. The woman’s green eyes widened. “You have eaten of the fruit?”

Hope, suddenly wary, nodded slowly.

The woman shook her head in disbelief, and her face betrayed a deep sense of sadness. “Come with me. All three of you.”

VI

Ambrose

1021 A.D.

The woman headed deeper into the forest with the trio in tow, arriving moments later at a small hut formed of sturdy branches and a thatched straw roof. The door went only to waist level, and she opened the door and waved the trio inside. The interior was simple, dominated by a stone hearth fireplace in the wall across from the door. The only furnishings were a small cot and a table with four stools. The woman gestured to the stools, and they all sat down, as Will marveled that the hut hadn’t burned down. He then realized this might not be her original hut.

“How did you find this place?” she demanded. Since arriving in this era, Will had noticed that questions meant for a group were generally directed at the man assumed to be the leader, and he was therefore expecting to be the one questioned. Instead, the woman glanced once more at the fruit in Hope’s hand, and directed the question to her.

“We have been traveling, fearful for our lives, trying to escape from those who would see us dead,” Hope replied. “We last camped outside Abrecan, and set forth when we learned some there were becoming hostile and suspicious. This forest looked to be a place we could lodge safely for a short time, impossible to find by those who would do us harm. We hoped to find food as well.”

The woman studied Hope, as if assessing the truthfulness of her story, and nodded a moment later. “You could not have known, of course, that entering this forest and eating of the fruit brings with it tremendous change and responsibility. I cannot undo what you have done, but perhaps it is best. Your companions will have the chance to hear the story of this special fruit, and decide if they wish to join you in your sentence.”

Hope’s face turned pale. Will realized it wasn’t a repeat performance of the cosmetic change generated by her Energy while still living in the village, when she hoped to gain sympathy with a haggard appearance. This was genuine fear. “What is this sentence you speak of?”

The woman sighed. “This is a large forest, one which appears impenetrable from the outside. That is by design. We, the residents of these parts, plant brush filled with thorns and odors that drive many away, and we have patrols ensuring none enter without being spotted. This central area is special and sacred to us, and the trees here grow thick and nearly impenetrable. Yet despite these defenses, defenses that have prevented entry for generations, the three of you have entered and traveled to this central section without detection. We have established those defenses both to ensure the privacy we desire and to prevent any from eating of the fruit without knowledge of what it does. Having eaten already, my dear, you must know the consequences, and your friends, who have not, must know as well. Any who eat that fruit will cease to age and never die.”

Hope gaped at her. Will was experiencing a different type of shock. When he’d learned the Aliomenti had unlocked the secrets of immortality, he had assumed that his Purge had conferred this upon him, aided by the eventual knowledge that he must live a thousand years to fulfill his destiny. It hadn’t occurred to him that he might need to work out the formula for immortality on his own. Must he, too, eat of this fruit in order to ensure he lived long enough to see the now-immortal Hope safely to the twenty-first century? And if so, why hadn’t the diary mentioned that detail, before he potentially aged and died in standard fashion?

Eva studied the woman carefully. “You speak the truth, but not all of it. There is more, and it is something you do not wish to tell us. This woman must understand what it is she has unknowingly undertaken. And the two of us must understand also.” She motioned to indicate that she was referring to Will as well.

The woman turned her gaze from Eva back to Hope. “This immortality comes with a dear price, young woman. The price is simply this: whoever eats this fruit, male or female, can never bring a child into this world. The fruit prevents it, without fail, forever.”

The jaws of the trio fell open simultaneously, and Will felt a profound sense of failure. It was his mission to ensure that Hope survived to the twenty-first century because she must give birth to their children. If this fruit rendered her immortal, then she would live long enough to do so. But if it rendered her sterile... her immortality was irrelevant.

Hope’s face betrayed her own deep sense of failure, as she, like Will, recognized the precariousness of the mission to ensure the future birth of their children. “I do not wish this gift if the price is so high. I am young, and wish to one day bear children. How can I reverse the effects of this plant? I accept that I will no longer be immortal.”

The woman shook her head. “Once eaten, the effects cannot be undone. The fruit does not negotiate. If you eat the fruit, it will convey those changes upon you, regardless of your desire to be without one or the other of those changes. Many have sought immortality without sterility; others would go childless but have no interest in living longer than their brethren. In spite of what is desired, the results conveyed cannot be separated or reversed.”