City of gods - Hellenica (22 page)

“You know I’ve never …,” he said. “What I meant to say is that I’ve never
felt
…”

“We’re here,” interrupted Kayana as the vehicle came to a halt. “The King Basilisk’s cave.”

/***/

They opened the vehicle to absolute blackness. Tommy put his suit back on and turned on his night vision, but he still couldn’t see anything.

“There’s no light here,” said Tommy. “None. Do your powers allow you to see down here?”

“No,” said Kayana, “but I’m quite comfortable in darkness. I have a good sense of where we are and what’s around us.”

“What do you sense?”

Kayana breathed in for a second and then exhaled.

“Millions of creatures live here,” she said, “and not only basilisks. Living things are all around us, reviled and sad, forced to live here because the world above finds them hideous.”

Tommy sensed it too, but he liked it down here.
There is some safety in being cast out,
thought Tommy,
because you cannot be cast out again.
He pressed a button on his forearm, and his suit let off a low-level glow in all directions. It was still dark with his naked eye, but when he turned on his night vision, the place became illuminated.

The cavern was enormous and mostly empty, but he could see a number of creatures lying about. They were several basilisks that hissed and ran back into their holes, but there were other creatures there too, many of them unaware of Tommy and Kayana’s presence.

There were pale, eyeless spiders that glowed brilliantly in his light. There were snakes that hung from the ceiling, attached with some sort of adhesive secretion. There were centipedes that seemed to have a thousand legs and millipedes that seemed to have a million. There were odd plant bulbs that were oozing a pale grey liquid; small insects gathered around the liquid and seemed to be eating it.

Tommy projected his display onto his face shield so that Kayana could see, and once again she came close to him. He showed her the pale grey oozing plants and she smiled.

“What are these plants?” she asked. “I like them.”

Tommy remembered the plants from his studies on Lepros.

“They go all the way to the surface,” said Tommy. “Their roots reach down here and become the center of this ecosystem. They’re carnivorous.”

“Carnivorous plants?” asked Kayana. “How do they kill?”

“They don’t, really,” said Tommy with a laugh. “They mostly eat the dead on the surface. What they can’t digest they excrete down here.”

“Are the plants a threat to us, Alderon?” asked Kayana in a flat voice.

Tommy looked at the puddle of ooze coming from the bulbs; he’d hate to be deposited down here like that, dead or alive. But still, he felt safe in the cave. The creatures could be dangerous, but not here. Tommy and Kayana were walking amongst the blind and disinterested.

“There’s no threat to us now,” he said.

“I sense danger still,” said Kayana. “From where or what I know not. But I’d like to follow you closely.”

“Of course,” said Tommy.

“Stay close so I can see the projection in your face shield,” said Kayana. “You illuminate this place well.”

Kayana walked behind him so nearly that he could feel her presence through his suit.
If she uses me only for visibility, so be it,
thought Tommy.
It feels right to be of use to her.

There were many turns in the cave, but it was pretty clear where the King Basilisk stayed. At each turn there was one path with a hundred basilisks that peeked out from the darkness with closed eyes and then scurried backwards.

“They’re leaving their eyes shut in the dark,” said Tommy. “They do it to protect each other.”

“They’re doing it for you, Tommy,” said Kayana.

“For me?”

“They revere you,” said Kayana. “I sense it.”

Tommy looked at Kayana; she was still following him, but her eyes were white again.

The
basilisks form a collective intelligence, led by their king
, thought Tommy,
or at least that’s what Bes said. But if they revere me, they don’t seem to show it. They’re ignoring me, which is good enough for now.

“
Their king is near; around the corner,” said Kayana. “I sense that too.”

“What do you sense from him?” asked Tommy. “Is he dangerous?”

“He’s not dangerous,” said Kayana. “I sense shame and nothing else.”

The king
has eight dark eyes, a noxious odor and a fanged, hairy mouth,
thought Tommy.
Perhaps that’s why he feels shame
.

They turned the corner and Tommy saw the hulking body of the King Basilisk ahead, looking away. He was about the size of a rhinoceros and was swarming with smaller basilisks running over him and grooming his fur. Tommy found it odd that a basilisk would have fur, and then looked closer; the King Basilisk’s fur was golden, shiny and smooth! Tommy turned up his suit’s illumination and then released his helmet and breathed in the air; it smelled nice, like the ocean.

“You have come,” said the King Basilisk in a deep, calming voice.

I didn’t know that basilisks could talk,
thought Tommy,
let alone talk beautifully
. He took a look at Kayana, and she was just as surprised as he.

“Yes,” said Tommy.

“You withstood our bite,” said the King Basilisk. “Is this true?”

“Yes,” said Tommy. “I’m immune to most sicknesses and most poisons, including …”

Before Tommy could complete the thought, the King Basilisk turned around to face them. He didn’t have
eight dark eyes and a fanged, hairy mouth
. His face was noble, with two large, clear eyes, the hooked beak of a falcon and a gloriously flowing mane. The King Basilisk turned around and sat on his haunches, much as a lion would when surveying his pride.

“You’re like the weasel, but perhaps stronger,” said the King Basilisk. “Weasels can dodge our bites, yet you can withstand them.”

“I know that in nature the only match for a basilisk is the weasel,” said Tommy with a smile. “Perhaps I’m the King Weasel.”

“Weasels tear us out of our holes so that our bodies can be sent to Oracles,” said the King Basilisk. “So tell me,
King Weasel
, have you and your queen come to rip me out of
my
hole?”

“No,” said Tommy. “We come seeking knowledge.”

Tommy looked over at Kayana and her face was blank, showing neither fear nor compassion.
She’s my queen
, thought Tommy,
and she stays by my side.

The King Basilisk took a deep breath and then relaxed, sitting on all fours much as a cat would do on his owner’s bed.

“Come closer, Lord and Lady Weasel,” said the King Basilisk. “And bring some illumination so you can see us.”

Tommy inched closer with Kayana behind him. He came within ten meters of the King Basilisk and then knelt. He took out a portable light from his forearm, turned it on, and rolled it out to the King Basilisk’s feet. 

“What do you think of my appearance, weasels?” asked the King Basilisk. “Be honest. I can sense if you’re lying.”

“You look …,” said Tommy, unable to complete the sentence.

“You look magnificent, King,” said Kayana. “You know this to be true. It’s also a surprise that you speak so well, or even at all.”

The King Basilisk stared at them, trying to see if they were truthful or not. Tommy noticed that several small basilisks at the king’s feet were coming to resemble his noble appearance. They didn’t yet have his gloriously flowing mane, but each was sprouting a tuft of yellow hair, and two had begun to develop beaks.

The King Basilisk took in a deep breath, and then let out a small laugh.

“Pardon my insecurity,” he said, “but my kind has been hunted and reviled for millennia; I have never seen two before that didn’t recoil in horror.”

“You’re not horrifying,” said Kayana. “This surprises us. Every legend, every warning states that a glimpse of your portrait alone   can—”

“Make a man’s heart stop,” said the King Basilisk. “That holds truth, or at least
held
it.”

“But it holds no truth now,” said Kayana.

“Not now,” said the King Basilisk with a sad laugh. “But this only means men will now hunt me, perhaps; to use my noble looks as a stuffed ornament in their trophy room. Is this what you want?”

“No,” said Tommy. “We don’t wish to harm, let alone
hunt
you.”

“Then why have you come here?” said the King Basilisk. “To make fun of me?”

“We don’t wish to make fun of you, King,” said Kayana. “We come because you’ve sent your children to our Academy, and they’re currently killing us. Your assassination attempt on Tommy failed, but the other basilisks have brought insanity to our mercenaries. They’ve also bitten one of our friends, and he now lies in a coma.”

The King Basilisk stared at them, and then looked down sadly. He started to cry and his tears came down in glistening, sparkling drops.

“I didn’t mean to do it,” he said. “Though I’m responsible, perhaps; my children can’t bite without my consent. I am sorry.”

“We didn’t come here seeking
mea culpas
, King,” said Kayana. “Our comatose friend will surely die by this time tomorrow if he doesn’t receive your antivenom. We desire this above all else.”

“Antivenom you shall have,” he said. “Give me a vessel and bring it near.”

Tommy pressed a button on his belt and procured a small jar. He opened it and brought it to the King Basilisk. The King Basilisk took a furry paw and pressed a bulge in his neck. A glob of dark fluid came out of his mouth, filled up the jar and drenched the sides.

“Inject this into his blood and he’ll survive,” said the King Basilisk. “Now take it and be gone. I’ll call my children back and you will be hurt no more.”

“We won’t leave—not yet,” said Kayana. “We came here not just for antivenom, but for truth. Why did you attack us, and who told you to do so?”

“Be gone,” repeated the king. “Do not return.”

The king growled, spat, and cried some more, but Kayana wouldn’t budge. He shrunk from Kayana, but she came closer. He thought for a moment, laughed slightly, and then sat down.

“That’s one thing I miss about my old appearance,” he said. “I can’t even scare anymore, let alone make a man’s heart stop. Come near and I’ll tell you my tale.”

/***/

An army of slithering, ant-like bugs crawled into the room, carrying some of their largest brethren on their back. The carried insects had small heads and torsos, but had grossly distended abdomens, about three centimeters in diameter. The King Basilisk instructed Tommy to take out two more jars, and the bugs held their engorged comrades above them. The large insects pumped their abdomens until liquid came out. Soon the jars were overflowing with a milky white paste. The King Basilisk ordered Tommy and Kayana to drink and they did so; the paste was sweet and somewhat crunchy.

“I’m getting used to normal society,” said the King Basilisk. “Your light will serve as a campfire. That substance is nothing more than sugar paste, so it will serve as tea.”

“Thank you,” said Tommy.

He drank the sugar paste; it wasn’t bad, but it was too crunchy to feel like tea. Kayana drank nothing; she just stared at the King Basilisk.

“I’m hoping to join normal society, to
be normal
,” said the King Basilisk. “And this is how this fiasco started; a Mermaid promised to give me normality, in exchange for sending my children to the Academy.”

“A
Mermaid
?” asked Tommy. “So they exist?”

“Aye,” said the King Basilisk, “they’re goddesses indeed, and their power is beauty. I met one while scavenging in my previous form, which was fanged, hairy and eight-eyed as you know. I was surprised when she didn’t die after seeing my face, and even more surprised when she kissed me! I never thought another creature could do that to me.”

I know the feeling,
thought Tommy.

“She made me a promise,” said the King Basilisk. “She would give me beauty if I agreed to send my children to the Academy. She wanted them to poison the gods there, starting with the Horsemen.”

“That doesn’t sound like a Mermaid,” said Kayana. “Mermaids neither scheme nor conspire, and they don’t murder.”

“Indeed,” said the King Basilisk, “from her tone it was clear that
someone else
was forcing her hand. I cared not who and I jumped at the chance. She gave me this beautiful form, and I sent my basilisks to poison you.”

“And a failed job of that you did,” said Kayana.

“Yes,” he said, “I fear I’ve poisoned a few—an undeserving, innocent few at that.”

“Poisoning is your mildest sin,” said Kayana. “You’ve brought demons.”

“Demons?” said the King Basilisk.