Authors: Greg Curtis
Chapter Sixty Nine
“So Maynard's a cat. Harl is – I don't know what. The last of the twelve are gone. Lion's Crest is rubble. And we have an army with no one left to fight. Have I about got that right Dina?”
Erislee stared in disbelief at the ruined city in front of them and wondered what to do. But there was nothing to do. She knew that. Lion's Crest had been completely destroyed and she doubted that it would ever be rebuilt. Certainly not within her lifetime.
From the moment Harl had entered the city there had been explosions. They had heard one after another, and each one had seemed more powerful than the last. Even two leagues away they had seen the bursts of fire leaping into the air and heard the thunder. But then there had been one last one – the Great Temple of the Goddess herself. Erislee had felt the temple's loss almost like losing a part of herself. She had also witnessed some of those majestic domes that had taken decades to build fly through the air in all directions, trailing streams of fire. After that of course, the city had burned. For days. The sky had been filled with black smoke, while the fire could be seen at night like a beacon. They had waited three days before they had even risked sending in the scouting parties.
The soldiers were in no doubt about what to do. It was the same thing they had been doing every day since then. The war was over and they were celebrating. Getting drunk, singing, and already talking about going home. When they got there she had absolutely no idea what they would say to their loved ones. About a silver warrior who had simply appeared and a final battle that had never happened. Or at least one which they hadn't been a part of. But maybe – almost certainly in fact – that was the best sort of battle there could be.
“It would seem so.” The wizard sat there beside her, staring at the city, and Erislee knew she had no more understanding about what had happened than her. “The scouts have said so. The prisoners – all three of them – seem to agree. And the city and the Great Temple are gone.”
Prisoners? That was a jest Erislee thought. They weren't prisoners. They were refugees. The three survivors. But immediately after the Great Temple had burst into a fireball the chimera in the city had gone wild. More than wild. It had been savagery such as they had never seen before. The three soldiers who had got out alive had been the lucky ones. All of their comrades were gone. Torn apart in a frenzy of savagery that had left few survivors. Not even among the civilians. Everyone in the city had been killed. It had been beast on beast, and the soldiers and the civilians had been caught in the middle. They had had no hope. Not when they were completely surrounded by beasts with no thought in their heads save violence.
Fighting had been useless. They had been outnumbered. Hiding had not worked either, The chimera had rooted them out no matter where they hid. Those who had got away had done it by fleeing. But people were slow runners, and running attracted the attention of predators. Hundreds, maybe thousands had crossed the broken walls and run for the distant trees, but only three of those wearing the uniforms of the soldiers had made it to safety. Maybe, since they had been camped only on the south side of Lion's Crest, some on the northern side had got away, but she doubted it would be many.
As for the chimera, they had done little better. Their survivors also strangely numbered only three as well. Three furies who had been locked away in some pens beneath the castle. Now of course they were locked away in a caged wagon to be taken to the Great Assembly in Inel Ison. All three according to the reports were with child, so it seemed that the enemy had started breeding chimera and someone needed to know about that. If the chimera were breeding and they were out in the wilds unchecked, there could be problems with them for generations to come.
Unexpectedly though when they'd asked the prisoners about them all three had turned pale and refused to say anything. No doubt there was more to the mystery of the three pregnant furies than they yet knew.
Everything else in the city was burnt out rubble. After the Great Temple had ignited, fire had burst from it and set half the city ablaze. The detonation had spread out in all directions, flattening buildings for a third of a league in a giant circle. And the streets had been filled with corpses. The bards often said that streets could run red with blood, but this was the first time she'd ever seen it. And it wasn't just blood either. It was body parts. Gore and meat. The savagery had been total.
Their best guesses were that upwards of twenty thousand soldiers had perished. Maybe twice as many chimera. And any number of wizards among them. The prisoners had claimed the city had been home to anywhere between one and two thousand wizards. No longer.
But with them thousands of civilians had died as well. She would not mourn for the guilty, but for the innocent victims of this war she had shed a few tears. Her only consolation being that they would be the last to die because of it. In time more would be born to take their places. In time, this would become nothing more than a history lesson. The people would recover. Not all would be so fortunate.
In fact one of the changes that was going to arise from this war was the loss of wizards. The people would return – slowly. Children would be born. More soldiers would take up arms in time. Some of the beasts would survive and she feared that they might even start reproducing in the wilds. Smaller wars would be fought among the various little fiefdoms that established themselves over the coming years. The true priests of the gods would return as well. But the wizards? Their losses were almost total.
So many were dead. And when most wizards were born of others with the gift, she suspected it meant that the five kingdoms would be bereft of magic for centuries to come. For the moment she suspected that the largest group of wizards left in all of the five kingdoms, were those who had ridden with her. A few hundred souls at best and only one of them a Circle wizard. It was a tragedy.
“But how?” That was the question that dominated her thoughts. How could any of this have happened? She must have spoken out loud.
“At a guess Lyssa.” Dina shrugged. “You said that Harl must have accepted her wrath and maybe built himself divine armour. But the rest? I don't know.”
“The Goddess of Fury? I saw her in him. But she's one of the few that didn't lose any priests or any temples.” After all how could she when she didn't have any?
“Actually she lost millions. Her priests are the hearts of the people. Their prayers for vengeance are her shrines. And when Harl lost Nyma – after having lost everything once before, and when he was only just starting to rebuild his world – she was always the only god he would have turned to. He's been walking beside her for five years now.”
She could be right Erislee knew. She probably was. But it wasn't a good thought. Not when he was now dead like her sister. And it still hurt her terribly to know that Nyma was gone. She had only seen her infrequently since her escape from captivity and it hadn't been enough. After five long years apart it hadn't been nearly enough. But Nyma had been happy. She knew that. Whatever she and Harl had shared, it had been good for her sister. Especially the pregnancy. Nyma had written to her and told her that she considered the child a blessing from the Mother. And she had begged her to take care of Harl until she could return to him. But of course none of that had ever happened. Harl had stayed at his smithy. Nyma had ridden with her people into the Regency. And she had carried on with her hunt. Now it was too late to make up for that failing.
All she could do was hope that Harl was finally at peace and that Nyma was safe in the bosom of the Mother. Maybe she could make an offering in time. It was too little and too late, but it was unfortunately the most she could do.
But there was one question that had been bothering her for ages. Ever since they had found out that Terellion was a wizard of the mind and she had seen Dina's reaction. That he controlled the others. Why had she been so upset? And though it was probably not her place to ask, Erislee did so anyway. To her surprise the wizard answered her.
“A long time ago when I was just a girl Terellion had me. Just once. It was painful and frightening. There were other women there, laughing, thinking it was a great spectacle. He hurt me very badly. And when he threw me out on the street after he was done I thought it was because I was ugly. He told me I was ugly, and I believed him. Just as I believed I loved him. Even though I'd never even met him before that day. I didn't even know his name.” The wizard's voice was quiet in the evening air, and filled with pain.
“Until Maynard said what he did I didn't understand. I'd always assumed that it was true love. That it happened sometimes. And that I was young and stupid. After all what did I know at fourteen?”
“I had to leave the city after that. Return to my family. And then in time I discovered that there was a child on the way. I had no husband. My family were poor. My father said that the father had to pay for his child. He made me tell him who he was. And then one day he headed off to the city. But when he returned home instead of having either coin or a promise of marriage he beat me and my mother badly. He hurt us terribly. He made us swear to never contact the wizard again because he would kill us if we did. Then he beat us some more. Now I know why.”
“My home was never the same after that. My mother walked with a limp because of what he'd done to her. My arm was badly broken and has never fully healed. I lost the child. And my father when he finally returned to how he once had been, could never look at either of us again. He later killed himself out of shame for what he'd done.”
“I always believed that it was my fault. All of it.”
“His armies killed my husband and hurt my children. They took my home and my title from me. He turned the entire Circle into monsters, making me hate and murder my friends. He forced me to send two of them straight to Tartarus. Condemning them when they were in fact innocent. And he killed my father and my unborn child – but I didn't know it until Maynard told me the truth. He completely destroyed my entire life. And yet still he was the first man I ever loved and I would have tried to forgive him at least some of that. And then I learned that my love was a lie. Even to me.”
What did you say to that Erislee wondered? That it wasn't her fault? She didn't have an answer. All she could do was put an arm around the woman's shoulder. But she was beginning to realise that Dina's was a common story. That Terellion had done the same to many others. For the longest time the women of Lion's Crest had been preyed upon and they hadn't even known it.
She hadn't known it either. She like most others had heard of Terellion's reputation as a lecher but she had thought little of it. Many men were lechers. She had never considered that there was magic at work. That he was forcing the woman to his will. It was only hindsight that could show her that. And hindsight that could tell her that he had committed a great many other evils before he had made his deal with the demon king.
Maybe there were some wizards – some gifts that could never be allowed. That those with such complete control over others were simply too dangerous to be allowed to go free. White Tail had been dangerous. Unpredictable, vain and capricious. A man of appalling character. But the Circle had still always thought they could control him. That they could curb the worst of his excesses. They'd been wrong. Maybe while they'd thought they were controlling him he'd been controlling them? And Terellion had been controlling them all.
But what were they supposed to do about such people? They didn't even know what to do with the prisoners they had. Wizards who were still their enemies, but who were perversely also completely innocent.
Screams in the distance suddenly distracted her. The screams of a woman in pain – or a beast – it wasn't completely clear. But what was clear was that it was something that she needed to attend to.
“Dina?”
“The furies I think.”
The instant Dina said that Erislee felt a chill come over her. The furies had been quiet since they'd been locked away. In fact they'd been peaceful in their cage, content to sit and watch the people all around them. Content to eat cooked meat and even vegetables. It seemed odd to her but she'd been grateful for it. It was one less thing to worry about. But now she knew there was one more thing to worry about. Or rather, three in fact. Because she knew that there was only one time when a woman would scream like that. Childbirth.
Erislee hurried toward the wagon holding them, frightened of what she might find. But when she got there it was even worse than she'd imagined.
The furies were a mess. Their bellies were so round that it was hard to believe that what was inside them hadn't ripped itself loose. And their breasts were leaking; viper milk that ran down their bellies. But one of them was on the floor of the cage, lying there on her back with her knees raised and Erislee knew it was her time. In fact she could see the head of the offspring crowning.