Roar, page 35
“From the day you were born. I felt your power then. And I knew it would only grow as you grew.”
“And so you stopped it?” Camille stepped back a little in their embrace, some of her happiness gone.
“Of course I did, baby. I had to. The gift you have been given is so great that I knew it had to be hidden. If anyone found out there would be repercussions, none of them good. Some would try to use you. Some would fear you. A few might even look to hunt you down and kill you. And at such a young age and with no tutoring you would not be able to control it. You would be dangerous. But more than that, a scion is only ever called to the world for a purpose. I had to learn what that purpose was. And when I found out, I had to stall it. At least until you were ready.”
“Purpose?” Camille stared into her mother's eyes, trying to understand.
“I went to see an oracle.”
“Potaine?”
“No. Ches, the Oracle of Pristia. I needed her knowledge and guidance. And so, when you were just a tiny wee thing I crawled with you up the side of Mount Torn to the destroyed High Temple where she still resided. And she told me why you had been brought into this world and showed me your destiny. It was too much to bear. I had to stop it. I reasoned that if you did not come into your power, you could not become the scion, and it would not come to pass. It was the best chance for all of us.”
“But now it seems I've failed. My spells failed. You're here. Your power has obviously come of age. And the guardian has been called. We are at the end of our days. Soon the gates to the underworld will open and this age of man will end.”
“The world is ending? Because of me?” Camille couldn't bring herself to believe that. She could hardly stand to listen to it.
“Our age is ending. I don't know how it will come about. Or why. I was not told all. But you are to be a part of the gates opening when the time comes. You will bring the people to the gates. Deliver them to the demons.”
“I didn't believe it. I refused to believe it. My precious daughter could never do something so terrible. Still I did my best to make sure it never happened. But then, when I fought that gunsmith I knew that the time was upon us. He was so weak. His gift untrained. I hurled him through a wall with barely a thought. But when our magic met. When he finally raised a defence against me, I knew. I saw him as he truly was. I saw the beast inside.”
“And then of course mischance struck. My attack awoke the sphinx within. Mischance made certain I could not destroy him as I needed to. And now the gates stand ready to open.”
Camille tried to link that piece of the puzzle with what she already knew. And there was only one thing she could come up with.
“The sphinx – Thorm – he’s the guardian of the underworld?” It was the only thing that made sense. But it also made no sense at all. How could Thorm be the sphinx?
“Even now the lamaia gather at the gates, waiting for them to open so that they may burst through and start consuming the world. They will not be stopped. But I will try to hold them.”
With that Camille's mother released her from her arms and abruptly stepped back to stare at her. There was a terrifying look in her eyes. A look of finality. Camille could see that her mother believed this was the last time she would ever see her.
“You are beautiful and strong Camille. A woman of great power and wisdom. You are everything that I dreamed you would become, and I am truly proud of you. I love you with all that I am. But the time for sleep and dreams has passed. And prophecies can be fought. You are strong enough to fight this prophecy. Control your gift. Use it wisely. Keep the people safe.”
“But please, by all the Seven, don't bring them here to die! This place is death.”
In a heartbeat she was gone, vanishing from the world of dreams. Leaving Camille alone. Again.
Camille woke herself up after that, a feeling of horror growing in her heart. The chill of fear with it. For a long time after Camille remained seated on her cot, that sickening feeling growing in her gut as she pondered her mother’s words. As she feared them. Just what was she going to do? Why would she bring people to the demons? But even as she wanted to ask, there was no one there to answer her.
Why did the Sisters hate her?! She had finally found her mother. And it had been a nightmare.
Chapter Thirty Eight
“Sweet Sisters! What teeth!”
He looked up, surprised to hear someone nearby, and quickly spotted the nuisance. Another of the damned two legs had turned up. It was annoying. He was just getting into a really good scratching session, rubbing his back in the soft stone and driving away the damned biting things that seemed to insist on getting trapped in his fur and feathers, and he didn't want to be disturbed. It was important to keep his fur and feathers well dusted. And it felt good to roll around on his back and have a good rub.
“You're huge! And your claws are made of diamond! By the sisters – you’ve actually torn up the stone and concrete to make a bed!”
He looked closely at the two legs. She looked strange. In fact he wasn't even sure she was one. She looked about the right size and she smelled kind of like one, but instead of legs she was using some sort of contraption that she sat in and pushed with her arms. And there was something odd about her scent. There was something extra in the mix which he didn't understand. But as the two legs didn’t look like she was about to bother him, he continued his scratching, rolling around on the ground and throwing up dust.
“Still, I do love what you've done with the place!” She made a strange cackling noise. “After the refuge I've been hiding in for the last little while, it's almost homely.”
“Do you know that where we're standing is what used to be the central palace barracks. A thousand soldiers lived here and went out to harass and torture the innocent every morning. And now the entire barracks is simply a massive field of rubble! Good job! I’m also pleased you decided to tear down the wall between the city and palace. It’s just a shame that the city’s gone as well. You've emptied it out completely.”
The two legs paused before continuing on making those funny noises the strange creatures were want to make. But oddly she didn't bother him as much as the others. She wasn't constantly yelling “Thorm” at him, and there was no thunder or stinging. In fact he felt no threat from her. Actually he thought, there was something familiar about her. He sniffed the air a little more, to be sure.
“The Great Courtyard is just over there.” She waved her hand to her right. “And it seems rather intact even if the Tri-consular Orb has been torn free of its heart. But then a courtyard is a courtyard I suppose.”
“And you know, I used to live in that field of rubble over there,” – the two legs pointed to the rubble in question – “just to the side of the Great Courtyard. Now no one lives there. Which is just as well. We were kept in hovels and shacks. Chained and guarded. Drugged. But thanks to you and Camille, I'm free of that now.”
Why was she still making those noises, he wondered? Could none of the two legs be silent?
“No, generally, I have to say I approve of your alterations. The only thing I would suggest, is that you also level the palace.” She waved her hand in the direction of the largest straight sided stone still standing. “It may look pretty but really it's a blight on the city. Or on what's left of it.”
He stared in the direction her arm was pointing, and wondered what she was pointing at – if she was pointing. There was nothing there. Nothing creeping up on them. No danger that he could see. But she was a two legs. They made noises and did things, but none of them made sense.
“I suppose I should also apologise for what I did.” The two legs continued. “So I apologise. There. I said it. But you should also know that until recently I didn't know what I was doing. I was mostly, more or less like you. Little more than a beast being led around on chains. Besides, I don't know what I was responsible for doing and what I wasn’t. I’m pretty sure though that I couldn’t have turned you into a lion – or whatever you actually are.”
“And I need to thank you. You've freed me a little. As you did for all of us with magic I suppose. The guards stopped coming around to feed us our witbane and poppy milk and whatever else was in that damned concoction. They were too busy fleeing. That meant for me that my thought processes started working a little better. I’ve regained the ability to string some sentences together. I can also remember more clearly what happened in the Great Dream. I can even plan. For a long time I couldn't do any of that.”
“It's not perfect. It never will be. Especially for those who've now had most of their souls eaten. Those ones don't do a lot anymore. They just lie in their cots – if they still have cots that is – and wait to die. The rest have fled. But still, it's something. So thank you.”
Why did she insist on making those strange noises at him, he wondered as he worked on his rump? And why was now she now coming so close to him? Pushing herself along in that strange thing as if she were in pain? But she didn’t look like she was about to attack. And at least she wasn't constantly yelling “Thorm” at him like that other two legs. That was annoying. So he continued rolling around on the ground as he dealt to another particularly difficult itch, and ignored her.
“But enough of that. We have to talk. I don't know how much you understand. I've been told things about you, but few of them make sense. I just have to hope that somewhere inside that mass of fur and feathers their still lives a human mind. Because you have to know – we're in trouble. And you need to know why.”
“This world is dying. One of the ages of man is ending. You destroyed the Tri-consular Orb. I suppose you had to. And it was always destined to happen. But when you did, you doomed us. Because destroying it didn't completely close it. It had to be closed properly and by the Eternal King. Though of course he was never going to do that. It is the key to his immortality. He would probably have opened it completely in time, just to gain a few more years of life.”
“You see, he was old when he came to this land. His potions couldn't sustain his life for much longer and he was dying. So he made a deal with the lamaia who he knew could prolong life. Of course, they can only do so by stealing life from others, though I don’t suppose that worried him particularly.”
“So the Eternal King created a portal to the underworld. Well, less a portal I guess than a tear between worlds that he sealed with the Orb. Then he used the Tri-consular Orb as a meeting place between realms. A place where he could make his bargain with the demons and carry out his exchanges.”
He found a particularly itchy spot on his lower back and immediately bent around to start biting and licking it. And then when the itch was gone he started washing his fur down with his tongue. And mostly as he worked he forgot about the two legs as she kept making her noises.
“It truly is a foul thing. But it is also a bandage over an open wound. When you destroyed the Tri-consular Orb, you ripped that bandage loose and the blood started to flow. Now, little by little the lamaia are forcing their way through it from the other side. They will be here soon, and I don't think you can hold them. Not alone. You can destroy them one at a time – but it will not be enough. Not when a horde is coming.”
“But you will not be alone. I will stand with you. And no matter what I look like, I am strong. And I have prepared for this day for many years. Ever since I learned of my daughter's destiny. So you will fight. And I will fight. And together we will hold back the underworld.”
“We may lose. The lamaia may consume us both. But they will pay such a price for that victory that their plans for this world will be left in ruins. And my daughter has been warned. She will not bring the people here to be consumed.”
“This may be the end of an age of man. But it will not be the end. The hyperboreans fell and their age ended. But we rose from the ashes. And others will rise from ours. In the end it will be the lamaia who will fall.” The two legs fell silent for a while and he embraced the quiet. Unfortunately for him, it didn't last.
“For me, I can accept my fate. I've done so much wrong in my life. And I'm old and tired and my health is failing. But I cannot accept this fate for my sister and my daughter. Or for any of the others. The lamaia will eat the souls of every person and creature on this entire world if they can. The old and the young. Men and women. Children too. Animals. The will even steal the life out of the plants. In time all life will die. They will turn the world into just another part of the underworld. Their hunger never ends.”
“But we will stop them.”
Hunger? Something about that noise sparked a thought in him. That his belly was once more empty and he needed to find something to eat. It had been a while since he'd eaten and there was less food around these days. No longer was it simply hanging out on the odd metal trees. Now he had to dig it out of the strange square sided rocks – those that were still standing. And when he did finally dig it loose, it didn't taste as fresh as it once had.
“We have to stop them. And by “we” I mean you and me. The crippled fell witch and the mindless guardian. I don't know if we can. But we have to try.”
The two legs paused briefly before continuing.
“There's one more thing you need to know. The Eternal King is a liar and a deceiver. I don't know what he truly is, but he never speaks and he never shows his face. I have never seen his head come out of that set of armour. Everything he says and does, the Royal Enforcer says and does for him. I don't know why that is or what it means. I suspect though that he doesn’t take it off because he doesn’t want to reveal that he's not human. Maybe he also can't talk? I don't know.”
He was becoming tired of all the noise the two legs was making. Now that his fur and feathers were finally free of itching things he really just wanted to stretch out and enjoy the sunshine. Or find something to eat. Not listen to her strange chattering. He growled softly at her in warning. He'd had enough.
But instead of being quiet she yelped at him and backed away hurriedly, as if she was afraid of him. He didn't understand why. Why she was making all those strange, frightened sounds.
And then it struck him – she was calling for her mother! She was a cub! That was why she was small and weak and sitting in that strange contraption, making all those strange noises. She was too young to walk yet. Too young to be alone.
Too young too, to realise that he wasn't going to hurt her. That was why she was frightened, and backing away. But obviously she couldn't do that. She was young and weak. She needed to stay close to her home. So he went to her to push her back to the centre of the flat stone, where she belonged. Then he started licking and rubbing his cheeks against hers, making sure she understood that he wasn't there to hurt her.
“No! What are you doing?! Stop that you great oaf!” She started spluttering and trying to push him away just like a young, blind cub. “That's awful – and your tongue is bigger than my head!”
He wasn't sure what she was upset about. But she was young and he was sure that she needed a good bath. Her fur was all dirty and messed up. She smelled wrong. Her mother should have done this.
So he continued his work cleaning her while she kept struggling, licking off the dirt and getting her fur in order. And eventually she stopped yelling. She just sat there in her contraption and made irritated noises as she called for her mother. Obviously she was upset because her mother should have been doing this.
In time he was done, and he stepped back to study at his handiwork. She looked better he thought. She smelled better anyway. And she was more or less quiet, just staring at him for some reason. Just like a cub. Maybe some food would help, he thought. So he unfurled his wings and stretched as he prepared to go hunting.
“Oh by the Sisters! Are you demented?!” She started rubbing at her face with her hands and then flicked off some spit on to the ground. “That was awful! Your tongue is like sandpaper!”
“I'm trying to tell you about the end of the world and you do that?!” Her hands moved to the fur on her head and started smoothing it out while she made more noises.
Was she hurt he wondered? She sounded hurt. And she was so little. Little ones were easily hurt. Had he been too rough? But if she was hurt he didn't know what to do about it. More licking maybe. A good lick took away the odd stings.
“Shite, no! Don't even think about it!” She suddenly held up her hands as if to keep him away. “Never again!”
Maybe it was food that she was calling for, he suddenly thought. She was hungry. Or she needed sleep. Her cries were strange to his ears and it wasn't clear. But he knew that cubs needed to eat and sleep. So he prepared to take to the air and hunt.
“You fly. Do whatever you want to do. Just not that! I'll get to work on the wards and ready myself. But remember my words for when the time comes. It won't be long.”
With that she started painfully pushing herself away from him, heading for the area where the ground had opened up and that foul smelling creature had tried to climb out of it.
