Shadow of the Otherverse (The Last Whisper of the Gods Saga Book 3) (51 page)

With those words, Sorial rose, bowed, and exited the room. Alicia was waiting outside and, with a full armed escort, they strode in silence through the palace halls on their way to pick up the rest of their party for the journey to Havenham.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE: SEEKING THE OTHERVERSE

The trail to Havenham was different than Sorial remembered, but he attributed that to the absence of the heat bubble. A little less than two years ago, when he had first made this journey, it had been unbearably hot. Now, with Planting about to tip into Summer, it was comfortable, especially at night. The only one who didn’t agree was Lavella, but The Lady of Air admitted to liking it cool. She frequently called up gentle currents of air to fan her as she drifted along ten feet above the ground. Unlike Excela, whose approach to wielding magic was like a warrior striding into battle, Lavella was comfortable with her abilities. She played with them, trying different things and noting when they worked.

There were five of them - the four active wizards and Dorthik, Sorial’s intended replacement. Although nothing specific had been said about the possibility of this being a one-way trip for the
Magus Prime
, the others understood that Dorthik’s inclusion in the company was a tacit admission that Sorial might no longer be The Lord of Earth when their task was complete.

Had it been Sorial and Alicia alone, they could have made the trip in a day or two using Sorial’s earth-burrowing capability. Lavella was comfortable enough with flight that she could have come close to matching that pace. Excela, however, hadn’t discovered how to use fire as a means of travel and Dorthik had no magic to draw upon. Sorial wondered whether he might be able to pull all of them with him but he decided the answer wasn’t worth the risk. And, even if he could ensure their physical safety, it was unclear how they would react to an experience that even Alicia, with her wide exposure to magic, found unsettling. He had no desire to traumatize people who would be needed in peak mental condition once they reached their goal. As a result, the decision was made to travel the “regular” way. They could have ridden but Sorial felt that horses would be more likely to inhibit their progress than enhance it. The mountain trails they would eventually traverse were not friendly to four-legged beasts.

One advantage to the relative slowness of their movement, which occurred only between dawn and dusk, was that it provided nighttime opportunities to discuss what they might confront at Havenham and, more importantly, for Alicia to play the role of teacher. During those sessions when she shared magical theory with her aunt and the former maid/prostitute, Sorial took Dorthik aside and did what he could to prepare the hot-blooded young noble for the next phase of his life. Dorthik’s ego was matched by a thirst to learn and he absorbed every idea Sorial presented to him, storing it away for a time when he could try. There was no question about his desire to become a great wizard. What concerned Sorial were the motivations underlying that desire. Ambition was generally viewed as a positive trait for a practitioner of the magical arts but too much ambition when combined with the power of an element could be toxic. One had to look no further than Justin for a recent example.

The nights out on the southern plains were lonely. Although Sorial and Alicia slept in each other’s arms, they refrained from overt acts of intimacy. They kissed, cuddled, and caressed but did nothing more. They could have crept away to be alone - the others would have understood - but they didn’t. In fact, on the third night out from Vantok, Excela and Dorthik disappeared for a few hours. It was evidence of a growing attachment between the two that had begun with some playful teasing on the first day and progressed from there.

By day six, they were approaching The Forbidden Lands using a more straightforward path than the one Warburm had chosen, taking the Vantok road to its terminus then following the coast from there. Overall, it shaved two to three days off the trip, getting them to Havenham in a day or two under two weeks. Of course, they didn’t share Warburm’s need for secrecy and, with four wizards in the party, security wasn’t a concern. For that reason, Sorial had declined Myselene’s offer to provide them with a “protective” escort. There was little her soldiers could do that they couldn’t accomplish on their own except complain about marching in full armor in the heat.

That night, Sorial and Alicia lay together under a low cloud deck, arms and legs entwined as they listened to each other’s breathing. Dorthik was sharing Excela’s fire a short distance away and Lavella, who needed considerably less sleep than the rest of them, was somewhere above, scouting the area and experimenting. Eventually, she would alight nearby and close her eyes for a few hours.

“I can feel it getting closer.” Sorial’s voice wasn’t a whisper but it wasn’t at full volume. Sounds could carry great distances in open spaces like this during the quiet of the night. “The last time I came down here, I was apprehensive but this time… I’m terrified.” It was a difficult admission but he felt better once he said it. He remembered an old proverb decreeing that giving voice to one’s fear rendered that fear powerless.

Alicia squeezed his arm. “I’ll be with you to the last moment. I wish I could jump through with you.”

They had discussed the possibility of a joint venture but had decided against it. As desperate as they were to avoid the eventual, and possibly final, moment of parting, going together invited unacceptable risks. They didn’t know whether it would work with Sorial alone and, if something went wrong, Alicia needed to remain behind to plan a second incursion. This mission was about duty and sacrifice not personal desires.

“The last time I traveled to Havenham, all I could think about was coming back. If it worked… if the portal didn’t reject me… I could go back home and claim you. Of course, I knew I could die but somehow that didn’t matter much. It was worth it. Now, I don’t think about returning to Vantok.”

“Whatever happens, we’ve had six seasons together we never would have otherwise had. Despite all the horrible things we went through, I wouldn’t trade them for anything. That day when my father refused his permission… if the gods had offered me six days, I would have seized the offer.”

“As would I. To touch you, to hold you, to ravish you.”

“Whatever happens, when you’re facing whatever it is you come up against, remember that you’re everything to me and always will be.”

They could easily have had sex then but, by unspoken agreement, they refrained. Both knew that the new territory explored on the night by the river would render traditional expressions of passion strangely unsatisfying and there was no way they could replicate the intensity of that experience here and now. If that was destined to be their last time together, it would be a memorable one. A quick orgasm in the middle of a field near The Forbidden Lands didn’t qualify.

The journey progressed with little to impede them. They passed into The Forbidden Lands without incident. Even the weather cooperated. They encountered no other people although Sorial’s earth-sense told him there were some around and Lavella spotted a few during her frequent scouting expeditions. Apparently, most of the able-bodied men who lived in and around The Forbidden Lands had joined Justin’s army and few had returned.

One night after a session training Dorthik, Sorial expressed his concerns about the future Lord of Earth to Alicia. “He’s an astute learner and has a quick mind. He grasps concepts more quickly than I ever did. It’s too bad he’s got such an inflated opinion of himself. Once he comes into his power, he’s going to build quickly. Deep magic ain’t gonna be a secret to him, at least not for long. I’ve shared a few tricks that’ll allow him to bypass some of the hurdles I had but I ain’t told him everything. You’re gonna have to watch him to make sure he don’t become obsessed with putting his interests above all others.”

“I’m aware of his shortcomings. Don’t worry so much, stableboy. And stop talking as if it’s a foregone conclusion that you won’t be coming back from Havenham. One would think you want to disappear into the portal never to return as a way to avoid dealing with some of these issues.”

Sorial admitted there was a kernel of truth in his wife’s words. It wasn’t that he wanted to die, or whatever it might be called becoming exiled from the material world, but that he was poorly suited for the administrative needs of the
Magus Prime
position. It was like being the governess of a group of unruly children. If he enacted a punishment that one of them wasn’t willing to accept, it could create a schism. In a way, Justin had possessed the right idea: form the wizards’ cabal out of men and women with a deeply rooted personal loyalty. Sorial had no concerns about Alicia and Lavella but Dorthik would almost certainly be a problem in the future and Excela was a wild card. If those two joined and decided not to abide by the dictates of the
Magus Prime
… Alicia would have her hands full.

They reached Havenham near high noon on the thirteenth day after glimpsing it in the gloaming on the prior evening. Their path through the mountains was almost identical to the one Sorial remembered from his previous trip. In fact, he was able to point out the exact spot where the rock wyrm had confronted them. Alicia was interested in hearing his stories and recollections of the previous trip. Lavella continued her self-imposed isolation by refusing to alight except when necessary. Dorthik and Excela were inclined to ignore Sorial unless he was providing information germane to the usage of magic.

When they reached the clearing where Sorial had been captured by Langashin’s men, he paused. Outwardly, there were no indications that this was a different place than the many similar areas they had passed through, but Sorial was bludgeoned by an immediate sense of recognition. Here, Darrin and Lamanar had died, one as a result of the rock wyrm’s poison and one by a spear through the back. Here, he had learned his mother’s saga from the perspective of the only man to have loved her. And here he had suffered the first catastrophic wound of his life. Looking back on it after suffering two additional devastating injuries, having a hand severed wasn’t so bad.

Sorial didn’t have to say anything to Alicia for her to understand what this place meant. It was like visiting the grave marker of a loved one. While Dorthik and Excela busied themselves locating and munching on berries, Sorial pointed out to Alicia where Lamanar and Brindig had died and where he had fallen into Langashin’s hands. The memories were surprisingly fresh in his mind even if no trace remained on the ground. Time had wiped it clean; even Sorial’s earth-sense could detect no traces. Events momentous to him weren’t important to the land. What were a few deaths and some bloodshed? He shouldn’t have been surprised - it had happened nearly two years ago - but somehow he was.

The ruined city, or at least the remnants of it extending above the tons of earth entombing it, was much as Sorial remembered. He was surprised the nomads hadn’t returned to stake their claims after his display of magic had frightened Langashin’s company away but, superstitious lot that they were, they now viewed the place as accursed. The tents and other temporary structures built to house the motley group had collapsed long ago, making the place look more decayed than on Sorial’s previous visit.

He made his way through the ruins, his steps guiding them unerringly toward the chamber of the portal, which had at one point been a place of worship. Not far from the entrance, he paused at another grim milestone of his past. Langashin - or what remained of him - was still there, buried to the waist in the solid rock Sorial had formed from the ground under his feet. Scavengers had long since stripped the body of flesh and the man’s clothing was also gone. What remained was a large, crippled skeleton with a shattered skull. It was a macabre sight. Sorial could understand why no one had returned. The body was a totem.

“Is that him?” asked Alicia.

Sorial nodded. “Langashin. My body still bears the marks of his cruelty.”
Although most of the scars have been covered over by newer ones.
He relived the battle in his mind. His actions had been primitive and wasteful - those of a newborn with no conception of how to use his mastery over earth. With a negligent gesture, Sorial turned his enemy’s bones to dust, removing the grisly relic. Closer to the mouth of the chamber were the bones of men killed by Brindig. He did the same for them. The watchman’s remains were safely buried beneath his feet, ashes that had by now been absorbed by the earth.

The downward sloping tunnel leading to the portal chamber was dank and dark, so Excela used her tentative capabilities to conjure a magical tongue of fire. Burning with a comfortable, smokeless orange glow exceeding the brightness of a pitch-coated torch, it hovered above her head and offered sufficient light to reveal the path ahead. The chamber itself was huge - far too big for the magical flame to show more than a small portion of it.

“The song is strong here,” remarked Dorthik. In his eyes, there was a faraway look.

Sorial could hear in his memories what the younger man was listening to in actuality:
Comecomecome
. He had returned to brave its stygian depths a second time - something wizards were repeatedly warned against. The first time offered glory, the second offered death.

They moved forward across the dirt-packed floor until the fringes of Excela’s radius of illumination touched their destination. The portal’s housing resembled a large water well. The stone lip was set off the ground by two feet and the actual opening was surrounded by a annular walkway with an outer perimeter of about forty feet.

“This is where you were ‘born’?” asked Excela, her voice echoing in the vast emptiness of the chamber. “Not a very inviting place. Then again, at least you don’t have to climb up a damn narrow flight of stairs.”