04c Dreams of Fire and Gods: Gods (20 page)

They were sealed in now. And the soldiers outside were sealed out—at least for a while. According to Thuna, the spell holding the doors was extremely powerful, but eventually the soldiers might think to batter down one of the walls or smash through the skylight.

“What is the meaning of this?” a voice bellowed. It carried enough authority to immediately silence the room. The nobles stopped their frightened nattering and caterwauling, and all the guards and soldiers halted in combat, though they still kept their weapons at the ready with an eye on their opponents.

Emperor Savön stood before his throne, glaring down at the chaos in his throne room. He was a large man, tall and broad-shouldered. Once he’d been a formidable warrior, and though decades of indulgence had made him soft, he was still an imposing figure.

But before he could say anything further, Vek Worlen strode forward from the crowd of soldiers and cutthroats near the main door, sheathing his sword and bowing with a dramatic flourish. “Your Imperial Majesty,” he exclaimed, grinning broadly, “it is so good to see you.”

H
ARLEH
’
S
army might not have been as large as the emperor’s, but the soldiers still numbered in the thousands. Gonim had been hiding at the edge of the forest long enough to hear the camp
caedan
ring his hand bell for
Cabbon
, observing and occasionally moving to a different position for a better vantage point. He wasn’t certain what the lady in green had expected him to learn, but he’d observed some things that might be significant.

Firstly, the
caedan
and
vönan
who’d attempted to escape from Harleh had failed. Somehow they’d been captured by the army and were now being held in a circular enclosure. The enclosure was like nothing Gonim had ever seen. Certainly he’d never heard of a military encampment taking the time to build such a thing. The walls seemed to be made of earth, more than twice the height of a man, and he initially had no idea what it contained. However, just after
Cabbon
a small group of soldiers approached, carrying trays of food and skins that might have contained water. A boy sitting by the wall raised his arm in a casual manner, as if to hail them. To Gonim’s shock, the wall beside the boy melted into the ground, creating an entrance for the soldiers and revealing a large number of prisoners inside. It immediately rose up again when the soldiers were within. A short time later, someone called out and the boy made the gesture again. The wall sank to allow the soldiers to leave. Who the prisoners were, Gonim had no doubt—he’d glimpsed Sheh and Father Kosün briefly, along with several other familiar faces from the temple.

But that was merely one of the startling events he’d witnessed. When he’d first arrived, he’d seen a small band of people walking off into the forest—a young nobleman with a black horse, followed by a lady and two soldiers. Curious, Gonim had slipped along through the woods, keeping them in sight until they arrived at a small pond, a bit larger than the one he’d been shown by the woman in green and otherwise unremarkable. He watched as the young man knelt over the water and began shouting at it, calling out as if to someone in the water, though Gonim was unable to see anyone there, and the man’s companions seemed likewise baffled. He kept shouting the name Gonim had heard Imen and the lady refer to—Koreh.

Suddenly the pond erupted in a fountain of water and mud, and a man appeared in the water, as if he’d swum up to the surface, though Gonim could have sworn the pond was no more than a few feet deep. The young man on the shore reached out to haul him out of the water, and it soon became apparent that there were in fact
two
men in the water—both naked.

When the men from the pond were on land, Gonim saw that one wasn’t moving. Possibly he’d drowned. But the first man scrambled to roll him onto his side, and then onto his stomach to push the water from his lungs, until he succeeded in reviving his companion. Gonim risked moving a bit closer and realized he recognized both of the new arrivals. One was the raven-haired youth the woman in green had shown Imen—Koreh. But it was the other man whose visage sent a chill through Gonim’s body.

Dekan Seffni.

The
dekan
was dead. Everybody knew that. They’d held a funeral and burned his body at the temple in Harleh. Gonim hadn’t been there, but the entire east kingdom had mourned his passing. Yet this man was moving and speaking with the people who fussed over him. Eventually, other people arrived and Koreh and the
dekan
went into the camp, along with one of the guards.

The black stallion that had led the way to the pond seemed to have been forgotten by everyone in all the excitement, but Gonim saw him walk off into the mist, where he quickly vanished.

Clearly these mysterious events were connected to what the lady in green had told Imen, but if it held any answers for the goddess, Gonim could not discern them. Imen remained silent while he returned to a safe vantage point outside the camp.

Supposedly, this Koreh person had been dead, as had the
dekan
. Had Gonim witnessed their
return
from death? He’d heard of dark magic that could reanimate corpses. Those horrid creatures terrorized travelers in the Dead Forest. But no
vönan
commanded such power. And neither Koreh nor the
dekan
behaved like the mindless, evil monstrosities Gonim had heard tell of. They spoke with their companions, and he’d had seen Koreh kissing the first youth.

Did the young man hold the key to this “miracle”? Did he possess some kind of magic outside the purview of the
vönan
? And how was that connected to the other mysterious magics Gonim had witnessed—the moving wall of the enclosure, the blue clouds, and the strange city in the forest?

He decided to leave such matters to the gods. The discovery that the
caedan
were being held captive presented him with something of a more practical nature to dwell on. Should he rescue them? If the enclosure had been made of wood, perhaps his enhanced strength would be enough to breach it, but he couldn’t see himself digging through an earthen wall several feet thick. Perhaps he could scale it, but then how would he get the others
out
? There were far too many to move them out one at a time—not while trying to stay hidden from the guards—and many were elderly and unable to assist in climbing.

Perhaps the first thing was to see if he
could
scale the wall. It was high, but he might be able to do it. The side of the enclosure nearest him was at the edge of the forest and unguarded, so he might not be noticed by the soldiers if he could be quiet about it.

He found a path to the enclosure that was relatively free of trees and other obstacles and used it to get a running start. When he launched himself at the top of the wall, he was momentarily delighted at the height he achieved—he could easily have cleared a horse or the cart Seirit and Unid had brought to Harleh! Then his body slammed hard into the packed earth near the top of the wall. The wall had a broad, rounded top, so Gonim didn’t bounce off immediately. His arms were draped over the top and though he began to slide down, he was able to dig his fingers into the dirt to stop his fall. He hung there for a moment, regaining the breath that had been knocked out of him. Then he pulled himself up until he was lying on top of the wall.

It was a precarious position. He might be spotted at any moment, but a quick glance down into the enclosure was enough to show him that jumping down into it would be a tremendous mistake. The inside of the walls were all sloped inward, like a cone with the upper point cut off. That would prevent anyone inside from climbing it as he had done on the outside. There wasn’t even enough room for him to get the running start he needed to reach the top.

“Gonim!” Sheh hissed.

He was surrounded by
tadu
and
caedan
, all sitting or lying on mats. As far as Gonim could tell, they were all present. The
vönan
were huddled on the other side of the small circular space, leading Gonim to suspect the temporary truce between the two groups had fallen apart under the strain of captivity.

A number of people began talking excitedly, but Father Kosün quickly stood and shushed them. “Foolish boy!” he whispered. “Get away from here, before you’re captured!”

“I might be able to get you out,” Gonim protested, though he still had no idea how to accomplish it.

“The only ones who wouldn’t be immediately rounded up again by the guards are the
tadu
, and they’re the only ones the
dekan
is unlikely to punish anyway. They’re far safer here than being chased by armed soldiers! Now be gone, unless you intend to turn yourself in.”

Gonim knew he was right. It wasn’t possible for him to rescue them. At best, he might be able to lift a few out, if others were willing to hoist them up for Gonim to grab their hands. But they were most likely better off where they were.

The decision was taken away from him by a sudden shout from down below. “You there! Stay where you are!”

It was one of the camp soldiers, who must have spotted Gonim lying on the top of the wall. Gonim acted instinctively, scrambling up to a standing position. Looking down, he saw the spot he’d jumped up from was now swarming with soldiers. More were approaching at a run to aid them, as shouts rose up about an intruder. He couldn’t go back that way.

Barely thinking, he ran along the wall until he found a spot momentarily free of the
dekan
’s soldiers, and then he leapt down. Unfortunately, that put him
inside
the camp. He rolled upon impact and then broke into a run—cutting straight through rows of tents as soldiers erupted from them to find out what the commotion was. They were startled by the sudden intrusion, and he was faster than any human they’d ever encountered, so he managed to dodge their clumsy attempts to grab him. But he wouldn’t be able to keep that up for long. The number of soldiers was increasing rapidly and many of them had drawn swords or grabbed spears.

He encountered a dense throng of them charging directly at him, and he pushed off from the ground. If he’d thought about it for a moment, he would have thought it impossible to leap over them, his acrobatics at the wall earlier notwithstanding. But leap over them he did, sailing high over their raised swords and spearheads to land about twenty feet beyond them. He kept running without breaking his stride, but more men were charging at him from all sides.

He was as good as captured.

A
TENT
on the edge of a military encampment was no place to lounge around naked, even after lovemaking. Koreh might have done so, but fortunately Sael had more sense. He insisted they dress, after calling for one of his guards to scrounge up a tunic for Koreh. A soldier arrived with a lunch tray while Sael was still struggling into his boots. Sael suspected the commander was being preemptive to avoid another “incident” with royalty in the mess tent. No matter. He was content to remain alone in his tent with Koreh.

They ate slowly, while Sael reveled in Koreh’s presence and attempted to pry more detail about his adventures in this… Bashyeh—the land of the dead?—out of him.

Koreh was surprisingly reticent to talk about it. “There isn’t much to tell. It’s very… peaceful there.”

“It isn’t supposed to exist at all!” Sael exclaimed. “We’ve been told about the Great Hall of the gods for our entire lives. Then you go on and die—which I still haven’t forgiven you for, incidentally—and now you’re telling me there wasn’t a Great Hall. There weren’t even any Stronni!”

Koreh opened his mouth to say something, but they both froze at the sound of shouts coming from outside. It sounded frantic, but there were too many voices to make out what it was about.

Sael’s sword was hanging by the door in its scabbard. He jumped up and grabbed it, ordering Koreh to “Stay here!” as he exited the tent. His two guards were standing near the fire, straining to see past the other tents and identify the source of the noise, but there were too many tents between them and whatever it was.

Koreh ignored his command, as Sael had known he would. He dogged Sael’s heels as the
dekan
brushed past his men, turning down one of the rows of tents. “You’re surrounded by thousands of soldiers. Why don’t you trust them to take care of… whatever this is?”

It was pointless to tell him to go back, Sael knew. He wouldn’t listen. For that matter, Koreh was right about Sael’s assistance not being needed. But Sael couldn’t just sit idly by in his tent and wait for a report on the intruder. He was supposed to be in charge here—well, nominally, anyway.

He just prayed he wasn’t leading Koreh into danger, so soon after returning to the world of the living. Which gods he was praying to, he had no idea.

“He’s trying to reach the boundary!” someone shouted, and Sael changed course to intercept. He was still weak and didn’t have the stamina he’d had weeks earlier, so he was wheezing, but he pushed himself, his father’s words about the people needing to see their leader being strong echoing in the back of his mind.