Half Discovered Wings (60 page)

‘
Did you now everything that would happen? Did you see
it?’

‘I saw very
little,’ said the magus. ‘Only the threat, and the good men who
were essential to end it.’

Gabel said,
‘Why do I feel like I failed?’

‘Because you
never allowed yourself to succeed before.’

~

The cobble
road leading into Gabel’s hometown amplified their horses’ hoof
beats and the clatter of the cart, announcing their return. Teague
stopped before passing the signpost.

‘
It’s all right,’ Gabel said. ‘No-one will recognise
you.’

‘
I need a new name.’

‘
We’ll think of one.’

They rode into
the town centre, which was backlit by the rising sun. The dancing
girls were outside the inn, gathering so that they could all go
home together. One saw the two men and screamed with delight,
bounding up to Gabel as he got off his horse.

‘
Joseph!’ she cried. ‘Why, Joseph Gabel!’

Teague left
them talking. He barely recognised the town. He saw that someone
had built over the burnt remains of his mother’s house. He was
feeling cold, and the saddle hurt his thighs.

‘
Joseph,’ he said. ‘Let’s get a move on.’

Gabel said good-bye to the dancing girls, who ran back to the
inn to make others aware of his return, and to announce the arrival
of a handsome young newcomer. They passed the square with the
graceful arching tree, and the stone bench with its dark
stains.

‘
This is where Bethany died,’ Teague said quietly, not slowing
as he led his horse.

Gabel nodded.
‘Do you want to see her grave?’

‘
I’d like that.’

They went to
the church first. Gabel pounded on the heavy oaken doors, which
soon opened a crack.

‘
Yes?’ said a voice.

‘
Father?’

‘
Who is this?’ The door opened, and a young man looked up at
Gabel. ‘Usually we don’t let people in until the sun’s fully
up…’

‘
Where’s the man who was Father here over a year ago? Is he
dead?’

‘
I’m afraid so,’ said the young Father. ‘Are you … Joseph
Gabel?’

‘
That is right.’

‘
Irenia, I’ve been waiting. Please come in.’

‘
I would rather go around to the graveyard.’

Father nodded, and lowered his head. ‘Yes, of course. I saw
you arrive. There are digging tools around the back.’

~

Gabel and Teague dug Rowan’s grave together. Gabel said it
was to be next to Bethany’s, as they had been like sisters and had
lived under the same roof.

As they dug,
he said, ‘I’ve thought of a new name for you, William.’

‘
And what’s that?’

‘
A simple one. John. It was the name of a friend of
mine.’

Teague said
nothing, but smiled, and continued to dig. Together it took only
two hours, and when they had finished, the ground barely looked
disturbed. It was flat and even, and the grass had been placed back
over the top.

A short wooden plank from the cart made her tombstone. It was
heavy and sturdy enough, and had been treated so that it wouldn’t
warp in the rain.

*

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

ARTIGAS:
(ahr-
tee
-gahs)
noun
, A pre-
Conflict
city on the border of
Uruguay in South America, since drowned by the
Lual
, the “Great Lake”.

BOLT-HORNET:
(
bohlt
hor
-
net)
noun
, A rare species of insect
believed to be of the
Vespidae
family, native to post-Conflict China.
Organically-induced electrostatic charges are generated within the
lower segment of the tarsi, which is characteristically bright in
colour. Victims of stings have been known to descend into shock or
suffer pulmonary palpitations.

CABALLEROS DE LA MUERTE
, THE:
(kah-bah-
lye
-raws dee lah
murt
-ayz)
noun, plural,
Armoured knights with
uncertain goals. Little is known about their
independently-developed culture, other than that male children are
raised with their horses. Every second female child is rumoured to
be killed by strangulation. Others are valued as the carers of each
camp’s horses and children. The groups have Spanish or possibly
South American origin, and share connections if not origins with
the
Luxers
.

CHAROS:
(
k
air
-oss)
noun
,
According to the
H’ouando
faith, Charos is one of two guides in the
underworld, with a winged body encased in chitin. The name has
roots in Greek folklore as
Charon
, the ferryman of the
dead.

CLAMPLET:
(kl
am
p-letts)
noun
, See
Simaniatri
.

CONFLICT, THE:
(
kon
-flikt)
noun
, (Approximately 2081AD-2087AD)
Said to have been a great battle in which great force was used by
all sides, therefore “rending” the world. It is said that reality
before the Conflict was a cleaner, less dangerous place.

CYBORG:
(sahy-borg)
noun,
A
cybernetically-augmented man or woman, used as soldiers during
the
Conflict
in
order to survive battlefields polluted by radiation and biological
weapons. Many had
errant
physiology, found necessary to survive the
cyberisation process.

DAEMON, THE:
(
dee
-muhn)
noun
,
An
H’ouando
term for the atavistic form of the ruler of the underworld,
when it is manifest in physical form on Earth.

ENERGIES, THE:
(
en
-
uh
-jeez)
noun, plural
,
Scientifically-unproven weave of unclassifiable energies, said to
contain and connect all worlds or realities. The energies are also
purportedly the source of electricity, and are fundamentally
connected to heat, light, and the bio-chemical processes of
sentient creatures.

EREBIS:
(
eh
-ra-biss)
noun
, See
“Daemon, the
”.
An
H’ouando
term for the ruler of the underworld, in actually a separate
reality connected to our own via the
energies
.

ERRANT:
(
eh
-runt)
noun
, Originally a slang term for a
man or woman with congenital irregularities, physical or mental,
including those with apparently preternatural abilities. The term
has since become common usage.

FACTOTUM:
(fak-
toh
-tuhm)
noun
, A person employed to undertake
all kinds of work, from menial to mercenary.

GOYA:
(
goy
-ah)
noun,
A rural city largely
unaffected by the
Conflict
. It is known as the “party
city” due to its regular festivals, which often feature musical
performances and superb firework displays.

GOYLE:
(goil)
noun
, Reactionary animals with poor
visual/auditory senses, which locate their prey via heat traces.
Groups of goyles have been known to attack humans and large
domesticated animals. Although they primarily inhabit woodland
areas, they have been known to roost in rural settlements. They are
so named due to their similar appearance to stone
gargoyles.

HERMETICIA
:
(huh-met
-
iss-
ee
r)
noun
,
Officially “
Shianti
”.

H’OUANDO:
(hoo-
an
-doh)
noun,
A religion founded during the
three decades prior to the
Conflict
. Beginning as a
philosophical movement in the region of Central America, it was
first recognized as a religion in the early 2050s by German citizen
Christopher Wieght. Its origins are unknown, but surviving records
reference a founder named C. P. Escuro.

ICONOIL:
(
eye
-kun oyl)
noun
, A pre-
Conflict
combustible, non-soluble
liquid derived from petroleum, which produces little detectible
heat when ignited.

IILYANI:
(ill-
yah
-nee)
noun
, A town in the South American
mid-east, bordering what was once the
Icamaqua
river. The surrounding area
is now semi-tropical woodland.

IRENIA:
(ir-
en
-ee-ah)
noun
, The deity of the
H’ouando
faith. Some
smaller sub-faiths of the H’ouando tenet practice polytheism, but
even amongst these Irenia is viewed as the primary deity. She is
said to have created the universe not through her will, but out of
an unconscious impulse to manufacture beauty in the universe.
Irenia is a deist god said to exist apart from her
creation.

IRENIA’S SENTINEL:
(ir-en-ee-ahs
sen
-tin-al)
noun
, A mythical catlike creation of the
H’ouando
faith, said to be the
herald of the Goddess
Irenia
. It bears some similiarities
to the Valkyries of the Norse pantheon.

LUAL:
(lew
-al
)
noun
, also known as
The Great Lake
, A vast
lake in the centre of the South American continent. During the
Conflict the water levels of the Atlantic Ocean rose as a result of
tectonic interference between the East Pacific Rise and the
Argentine Plain. The banks of the Uruguay river network swelled to
cover a surface area of over 400 square miles, approximately the
size of the Dead Sea, suffocating a large part of the continent.
There are reportedly islets and ridges of stone and coral toward
the centre of the lake, as well as rumours of
errant
inhabitants or similarly
strange fauna.

LUXERS, THE:
(
luhk
-sawrs)
noun
, A supposed group of radicals,
reputedly for hire, with tendencies toward violence and prejudice.
Witnesses have issued unconfirmed reports of large gatherings on
both American continents, with confirmed cabals operating in Puerto
Rico and the outlying areas. The group has roots possibly going
back as far as the first American Civil War, and some cabals have
purportedly allied themselves with the
Caballeros de la Muerte
.

MAG-PROP:
(
mag
-propp)
noun
, Magnetically-propelled,
pertaining to pre-Conflict craft that became buoyant over certain
roads that had been specially treated with dense flecks of
reverse-polarity metal.

MAGUS:
(
mey
-juhs)
noun
, A non-specific term for a man
or woman, possibly
errant
, reputed to wield control
over the
“energies
”. The word is of Persian or Mesopotamian origin.

MILACA DUOS:
(mil-
ak
-uh
doo
-os)
noun
,
A fishing town on the north-east coast of the
Lual
, noted for its organised
harbours and regular charting services across the Great
Lake.

MINISTRATI, THE:
(
min
-uh-strah-tee)
noun,
plural
, An elite strata of clergy within
the more devout sects of the
H’ouando
faith.

MORO BAT:
(
mawr
-ro bat)
noun
, A recently-discovered strain
of bat of the
Phyllostomidae
family, native to South America with unconfirmed
strains in North America. So named for their wolf-like appearance,
although the original source of the word “Moro” is
uncertain.