“Why
are
you here?” I asked.
“Thanks to the information they got from Judge Stern, the king’s astronomers have done a wonderful job of analyzing the problem with the sun. But they didn’t possess the power to do anything to put the sun back into its correct path. For that, someone with a more specialized skill set was required. I presented myself to King Brightmoon yesterday. His kingdom is in turmoil; farmers from across the Silver Isles are at his gates, brandishing pitchforks and demanding he take action.”
“You are that action,” I said.
“Indeed. Through my contacts, I’d heard that Glorious had been slain and a new ghost now drove the sun. I assured the king that I possessed the ability to speak to this ghost and put him on a straight and constant path. In exchange, I’ve been granted a pardon and one of the king’s remote island fortresses, plus all the gold, soldiers, and servants necessary to outfit it. I’ve always wanted a modest place of my own.”
I looked at the box in my hand. “So, this is all I need to keep me on pace?”
“Almost,” he said. “Once we complete an orbit, we’ll find the line I’m now tracing. If you follow this line faithfully, the sun will be back on the correct path.”
“And you’ll stay with me as I walk?”
“This first time through. After this, I’ve prepped a glorystone in the Royal Observatory to serve as a channel through which you may speak and be spoken to. The chief of the Observatory, Father Luciferous, is quite eager to talk to you and learn your story.”
I smiled. “I like telling stories.” I looked at the stretch of sand before me. “And I like walking on the beach. But I feel like there’s a lot I left unfinished in the material world.”
“Every dead man I’ve ever spoken with felt the same way,” said Zetetic.
“Fair enough. But then, I’m probably the first dead man to actually have some leverage. I’m willing to keep the sun moving through the sky at a constant pace. I’d like you to explain to the king that I feel a little gratitude is in order. I think I can concentrate on my pace a little easier if he’ll do me a couple of favors.”
“Are you speaking of blackmail?” Zetetic said.
“I think I might be. The king is going to get a lot of love from his subjects once word gets out that he’s fixed the sun. I hope that he’ll share his good fortune by issuing a few pardons. There’s a family of Wanderers called the Romers. I’d like for him to leave them alone. Even more importantly, I want him to issue a full pardon for Infidel. I don’t want her to have to hide from assassins while she’s raising our daughter.”
Zetetic’s face went blank.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “I was... I think these are reasonable requests. I’m certain the king can accommodate you.”
“I’ll want proof,” I said. “Glorious said he could see through the glorystones. I obviously haven’t picked up that trick yet. But if there’s a stone where this Luciferous guy can talk to me, I want you to promise me that you’ll bring Infidel to it so I can speak to her.”
Zetetic nodded. His face was completely calm and expressionless. “I’ll do what I can. Of course, it might take some time to locate her.”
“For you? Just tell someone you have the power to find missing people by jumping into the air and landing beside them.”
He furrowed his brow.
“What’s the problem?”
He shook his head. “No problem. I’m just worried we might have gotten out of step with the metronome. Let’s walk in silence for a while.”
“For someone called Deceiver, you’re surprisingly bad at lying,” I said.
Zetetic shook his head. “I’m simply concerned, is all. You must keep moving forward. You must not change your pace.”
“You know something, don’t you? About Infidel?”
Zetetic said, “Of course not.”
I stopped moving. “I’m not taking another damn step until you tell me what’s going on.”
Zetetic grabbed my arm and yanked me forward.
“No!” I shouted, taking a step backward.
“Keep walking!” he cried. “Think of the chaos you cause on earth when you pause even for a moment, let alone move backwards!”
“Tell me what you know!” I shouted.
“Infidel’s dead!” he screamed at me.
I fell to my knees.
Zetetic sighed, and bent down on his knees before me. He said, softly, “I’m sorry. I don’t know the full story, just bits and pieces of court gossip. Judge Stern was briefly captured by Infidel and a witch named Sorrow while they were in the Great Sea Above. Stern heard Sorrow and Infidel request to be sent to the
Freewind
, which was damaged and adrift in the artic, just north of the Isle of Grass. They wanted to help the Romers get the ship back to port.”
I clenched my hands in the warm sand beneath me. I’d known Judge Stern was listening. Why hadn’t I said anything?
“King Brightmoon messaged his flagship, the
Raptor
, to find the
Freewind
. The
Raptor
is capable of flight, and covered the distance to the
Freewind’s
location in less than a day. One of the old, normal days, not the thirty-hour specials you’ve been serving up. ”
“What did they find?” I asked.
Zetetic said, “I really need for you to stand up and start walking again.”
“What did they find?”
Zetetic sighed. “The Storm Guard had beaten the
Raptor
to the punch with one of their hurricanes. When the
Raptor
arrived, they found timbers from the
Freewind
scattered across the sea. The Storm Guard had crushed the ship between two icebergs. Ordinarily, the Storm Guard are eager to take prisoners to sell as slaves, but through diplomatic channels we’ve learned that the crew of the
Freewind
fought to the last man. Their dead and wounded went down with the ship. Presumably, Infidel and Sorrow perished with them.”
I nodded. “There were no bodies?” I asked.
“Not that I’m aware of,” said Zetetic. “Please get up.”
I rose, brushing sand off my legs.
“Infidel’s the main reason I’m doing this,” I said, stepping forward.
“I understand,” he said. “But she was just one person. There’s a whole world that depends on you now. It’s not just people at stake. Every last blade of grass on the planet needs you to keep walking. Every tree, every bird flitting between their branches, every last fish in the sea depends on you now for survival. The magnitude of your responsibility is incomprehensible.”
I looked straight ahead as I walked. “I comprehend.”
I matched my pace to the ticking metronome, thinking of all those blades of grass, thinking about flowers, and fields of corn, and all the farmers that worked those fields, and their cows and chickens and children. All of mankind now stared up to watch the sky, needing me to be something I’d never been: dependable, predictable, following a straight and narrow path.
And so I walked. I do it still. I’ll do it until every bit of white foam on the ocean around me vanishes as the final stars burn out.
I do not fear eternity.
I have my memories. I have the promise of telling my story for generations to come.
And I have the knowledge that I’m helping Infidel. She isn’t dead. Somehow, Levi convinced Gale to abandon ship. Infidel, Sorrow, the Romers... all could use the breathing space that comes from the world thinking them dead. For the time being, they’ll no longer be hunted.
One day I’ll learn to gaze through the glorystones, and perhaps learn the fate of those I’ve left behind. Already when I gaze at the luminous paper-white sky I detect all-but-invisible swirls of motion and hear distant, barely perceptible murmurs. I’m on the verge of a new sense awakening. But I don’t need to see the material world to be certain that Infidel is still in it.
I know she’s alive, because she’s not here.
If Infidel’s dead, she knows where to find me. She’s had an unusual amount of practice in navigating the realms beyond life. When her soul finally departs her body, I’m certain she’ll battle and bargain and blast her way across whatever abstract realms lie between us.
I can wait. I’m a patient man. The day will come when I see her on this shore. She’ll smile and give me a kiss, then place her hand in mine as we walk along this beach. She can tell me what really happened when she made it back, what happened to Sorrow and Gale and even poor Bigsby. She can tell me about my daughter. I wonder what she’ll name her?
It’s these thoughts that give me the strength to place one foot before the other. In the end, neither of us will walk into eternity alone.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Maxey lives in Hillsborough, NC with his lovely bride Cheryl and a clowder of unruly cats. He is the author of the
Bitterwood
fantasy trilogy,
Bitterwood
,
Dragonforge
, and
Dragonseed
, as well as the superhero novels
Nobody Gets the Girl
and
Burn Baby Burn
. His short fiction has appeared in dozens of anthologies and magazines such as
Asimov’s
and
Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show
. The best of these stories appears in the collection
There is No Wheel
. For more information about James, and to follow the progress of further books chronicling the
Dragon Apocalypse
, visit dragonprophet.blogspot.com.
Now read the first chapter from
the next novel in this exciting series...
WITCHBREAKER
BOOK THREE
of the
DRAGON APOCALYPSE
JAMES MAXEY
CHAPTER ONE
GRAVEDIGGERS
From the Journal of Sorrow Stern
T
HE BLIZZARD WAS
still full force when Infidel lit out from Menagerie’s safe house. I caught her as she slipped quietly out the door in early morning; she was surprised to find me awake.
I asked her to reconsider my offer. We share a common enemy. An alliance seemed obvious.
“The difference between us is that you want to fight the world,” she said. “I just want to raise my daughter in peace.”
“Do you want your daughter to think you were a coward?” I asked. “Don’t you want to be a hero?”
“You think you’re going to be remembered as hero?” she asked, looking dubious. “There’s a whole army of priests telling the world that, according to their all-knowing holy book, you’re the villain.”
“Then I shall kill the priests and burn their book,” I answered. “I refuse to allow others to be the authors of my history.”
Infidel placed her hand on my shoulder. “Sorrow, you helped us save the world. You’ve got a good heart. Just… listen to yourself. You might be letting others define you more than you know.”
We talked a few minutes more, but I knew she’d made her choice, as I’ve made mine.
I departed the safe house mid-morning. The blizzard had finally passed, and already the snow was melting beneath the tropical sun. I happened upon a band of pygmy carpenters, hauling a cart loaded with good quality lumber and made a sizeable purchase. As always, if I’m to have reliable allies, I must build them myself.
S
ORROW’S KNUCKLES WERE
white as she gripped the sides of the dugout canoe. The Dragon’s Mouth, the river that fed into the bay at Commonground, was normally a broad, placid body of water, but snowmelt had swollen the river beyond its banks. Ancient trees felled by the snow bobbed in the current, forming an ever-shifting maze.
The river pygmies she’d hired to ferry her to the Knight’s Castle proved up to the task of navigating the flood, though not without visible tension. When the four canoes had first departed Commonground, the river pygmies had been chatting and laughing with one another. Now, they paddled silently, their eyes barely blinking as they studied the roiling waters, their faces hard, stoic masks.
There were eight pygmies, two in each canoe. She was their only living passenger; the rest of the canoes held her gear, plus Trunk. She’d left him inert for the moment. She didn’t want to alarm the pygmies with his unusual appearance. On the other hand, the pygmies struck her as difficult to alarm. She’d allowed her hood to slip as she boarded the canoe and they hadn’t even taken a second glance at her head. River pygmies dyed their bodies blue and cut fish scale scars along their shoulders and backs. Her shaved scalp studded with nails probably struck them as tame.
The terrain around the river grew more rugged and rocky. She wondered if the pygmies would be up to the task of carting her gear to her destination. She’d made her needs quite clear to the pygmy leader, Eddy (his full name, translated, was White Foam Curling Past an Eddy, which she found rather mellifluous). He’d assured her that his men were the strongest of their tribe, but the tallest of pygmies barely reached the bottom of her ribs, and she’d not packed lightly. She’d come into the jungle seeking the lost Witches’ Graveyard, and was prepared for an extensive dig when she found it. The canoes were heaped with picks, shovels, wheelbarrows, ropes, tents, and enough food for a six-month expedition.