An Apocalypse Rising Ch. 08

Chapter Eight

Neral hated waiting.

She hated it even though it was a sizable part of her job. Lots of mundane tasks, between long stretches of waiting for the few minutes of murderous frenzy to begin. So she would have hated it even if she hadn't been waiting for her husband to scout a path and into the fortress ahead.

"He knows what he's doing just as well as I do."

She knew Maylin was trying to be comforting, and it did help, albeit only slightly. "I know." The group, she knew, shared her tension for their own reasons. It was on their faces and in their eyes and the rigidity with which some gripped the reins. Death was one thing that every soldier had to prepare for, but, laying Pel to rest this morning was a reminder that, on this day temptation, and the risk of falling to it was something else that they had to remain vigilant in the face of.

It also concerned her that it was taking longer than the previous scouting trips had but she reminded herself that he was now literally in the face of the enemy and each step taken had to be thought through before it was made. But, at least once per minute, her mind had gone to wondering, what if...?'

"Nice day to save the world," Dion said, looking up at the perfectly cloudless sky, the sun just now able to peek above the trees. "Perhaps She favors us today."

Neral jutted her chin ahead. "She doesn't. So I guess everything depends upon whether or not the Goddess decides we're worthy of Her strength today."

"I've put in a few extra words to Her between last night and now."

"Guess we'll have our answer by tonight, won't we?" Her tone found a sour edge. "Just once I'd like to hear from Her loudly and boldly before the fact."

"There are times where I would like that myself, General."

As if coalescing from ether, Deres appeared before them, his stride smooth, but his face a study in dismay.

"Is it as bad as it looks on your face?"

His features relaxed slightly, appreciating the attempt at levity that came with the delivery. "Things could be much better, yes." The soldiers shifted the horses to form a circle around him, Dion taking the reins for Maylin as she gripped the horse in order to hang on. The cube in his palm flared again, using light to draw a picture of the main entry to the fortress and the grounds before it.

As it formed, even with the outlines of all manner of beast walking over it, it was clear enough that Maylin's skin blanched and Neral began to recognize the intricate, maze-like pattern. "Isn't that like the glyph that is in your meditative space at home?"

"That's exactly what it is."

Maylin's embarrassment was plain. "Of course. How could I not have seen? I was so focused on her wanting the world that all I could see were legions of those things running over everything. It never occurred..."

"Those things are for Adar," Neral concluded, clenching her jaw.

Deres nodded. "The glyph not only marks a passage to and from the city, it creates one. Once the marks within marks are created exactly so, the passage exists."

Elan concluded, "So what she wants is the city?"

Maylin nodded slowly, the enormity finally turning from abstract construct to a reality she could see in the sights and sounds of home. Legions of those things...that black death appearing throughout the city at once with no warning? She could take it. Or destroy it. Or use it."

"If she has the city, she needs nothing else." Deres looked grim. "She takes the city to take her revenge on the people who dismissed her, then she takes everything else."

"That city could take the rest of the world by itself?" Kestral looked as though she was having a hard time even believing it and she was not alone.

At that moment, Neral was keenly aware of the weight of the sword on her back and the gift it held within the steel, imagining a plague unleashed across the land, picking man, woman, and child apart from the inside out as the mages had promised the gift would do to Drexa and her beasts.

"I imagine so," Neral told them, looking to the mages. "In any number of ways."

Maylin's blue eyes acknowledged the depth that the general was attempting to convey. "Fire, plague, or any number of other unpleasant inflictions upon the world; the choice would be hers."

As much as the vision frightened her, it strengthened Neral's resolve to fight and had made her glad that she had made the choice to make a stand here before whatever happened did. She realized that there was no standing against whatever it was at home once it was unleashed.

"Why did she not take the means with her when she left Adar and use it then?"

"Because the Council would have acted had she tried to take such means out of the city," Maylin explained carefully. "Until the moment she left, they believed that they ultimately had control of her. They would have come after what was Adaran to keep it from outlanders. That she left with only herself let them shrug. The city is not a prison and, as far as they knew she committed no crime."

Deres picked up on her thought "And, as much as they might debate her acts now while the scope is vague and impact limited, something traceable to her that sweeps across the world greatly increases the likelihood of a response. So she takes revenge and stops the only ones with the power to stop her."

"The glyph is not enough to help her though," Maylin continued, "it is a passage, yes, but it is a locked one. With her ideas and the danger posed by them, the locks were changed. She was happy to be gone and the Council was happy to be rid of her."

Neral finished. "That's why she let us get this far. That's why she let us in. Looking to Deres and Maylin in turn, "She needs one of the keys we possess."

"Why not overwhelm us and take them, sir?" Kestral almost demanded. "Take them and break them and use them to get in."

"The Adaran mage mind has some defense. It would take time to wear them away on her own," Deres answered, his tone uncharacteristically bitter. "Let the journey do it. Let it torment them and take away things that matter while she can just go on about her business."

Maylin wanted to reach out to her son."Let them come to her in anger, rage, and grief and her job is simpler."

"What if... she were denied the keys?"

Everyone looked at Kestral after it was said and the wife in Neral wanted to tear at her. She allowed herself a moment of selfish within her own mind. will not be left with nothing. I cannot be.

"If I thought it would stop her, I'd take myself out of the equation...one way or the other."

"As I would," Maylin agreed.

"It only delays the same end," Abren concluded as though it should end the debate. "Deny them the mages now and she just grows her beasts and sweeps them over the world, spreading suffering. Taking everything but Adar might be win enough for her."

"But if she does get a response from them she still gets her victory. If the result is the same, acting now is better than later."

"So how do we actually get in to stop her?" Dalen wanted to know as she pet her horse, more to soothe herself than him.

The glyph disappeared at once replaced by representations of a network of passages within the mountain, the mapping of which went to black not all that far from each entrance. We will have to travel on foot for the last leg, but there are several very narrow passages inside from the mountain pass. She may have gotten her first victims through them, who knows? But they're still open."

"For our benefit, no doubt."

"And perhaps booby trapped, also for our benefit, no doubt." Dion amended for her commander.

Deres shrugged. "That or the front door."

"Nice to have a choice."

The corner of Anna's mouth turned upward. "Most of them have been terrible up to now anyway, Dalen, it's tradition now."

"Can you even the odds?" Neral, asked, Deres. "Do you think maybe you can break the wards she uses and tap your magic pools ourselves.

He put his device back in the pocket of his cloak "Not in enough time to matter."

For the first time in a long while, Maylin looked pleased "We may not have to. I have a good idea of the nature of the wards she uses because I know what she expects: she expects a mage to come and face her skill to skill and want to use them as she does, so that's what her wards are designed to prevent. So I won't try to."

"So what will you do?"

"I believe I have created a spell that can poison the ley lines."

Deres was shocked before it gave way to a look of sinister glee. "What?"

"Poison them? If you could poison them, wouldn't she defend against it?"

He looked up into Neral's eyes, genuinely excited at the prospect of having a real weapon to use as he closed the map. "She'd never see it coming, my love. I never even thought of it myself because I doubt any mage has conceived of it; it's that insane. I mean, would you poison everything in your own larder?"

"Even if it did occur to her," Maylin added, looking slightly wicked herself, "her home is full of the spineless. Why contemplate a defense against something that you know for certain your enemy would never have the courage to do even if they knew how?"

"Succeed and her power is diminished to that of either of us," Deres told Neral. "It probably also eliminates any power the half-mages possess. The only reason she's allowing them to be conduits at all is that it serves her and she can tap power to spare. When she no longer has that to spare..."

Elan liked the idea, the vision it created too lovely not to share. "I should love to see her face when her well dries up."

"So we have a plan for that, then? I like it." Neral pondered the other problem as she saw it. "Your map is incomplete, so I'm not sure how we find her in that labyrinth of tunnels even if they are not crawling with the things she made."

"As we draw closer I should be able to sense her, given that she doesn't seem to want to hide," Deres told her, stepping alongside Stenna just to touch Neral. "The devices that mother and I possess will map as we go. Between the two of us, we should come up with a good picture of the layout."

She nodded, allowing one more unspoken thought when it came to deciding whom to trust. She had wrestled with it often over the course of the night before accepting the fact that they could all already be corrupted as far as she knew, including, perhaps herself. Even the mages didn't fully understand all the ways Drexa worked. If we are all ruined somehow it's already over and none of this matters anyway. Trust all of us or none of us.

"We split into three teams. I'll go in with Abren and Elan with the intent of causing as much mayhem as possible, striking at any targets of opportunity that arise." She looked to each in turn, seeing the resolve on their faces. "Kes, Delles, and Abren will do the same. Anna and Dion, it'll be to you to do what you can to help Maylin get to where she needs to be to cut Drexa off from access to her power."

"Deres will scout ahead, marking a path for us to her, destroying what he can. And, if Bryana is alive, he will keep her from aiding Drexa one way or another."

"We are certainly walking into a trap so we fight as long as we can. We...resist as long as we can. Our best defense at this point is the fact that she has done nothing but toy with us. If she continues that game in her home she allows the rest of us opportunities. Every moment we buy those with us is a moment that could allow them to succeed."

"Success, thralldom, or death it is, then, sir." Anna summarized wryly.

Neral nodded soberly before taking a deep breath. "I am not one for long speeches. You know what you are fighting for and what you are fighting to prevent. If that's not enough for you...it's too late to go home now."

There were smiles at the attempt at levity. "But know that, however this comes out for each of us that it was my honor to lead you and to know you." She placed her fist to her heart in salute.

The soldiers with her did the same and the exclamation for her was as resolute as any before. Once the soldiers equipped themselves they set out toward the jagged stone, Deres and Neral in the lead with Maylin riding with Neral "Some reason you asked to ride with me?"

Maylin looked thoughtful. "Just a few extra moments with you. I would have hoped that we would have gotten to know one another under better circumstances, but these times have value, too. I am quite proud to call you a member of my family. You are intelligent and properly thoughtful."

"Properly thoughtful is interesting, I must say. Not so primitive as far as the primitives go?"

"We have abilities that outlanders lack and the worldview that can come with them. Despite what some in Adar believe, that does not equate to superiority. It's why I and others travel the world; to see what they have to offer, and some of them offer much. You are not a primitive and neither are any of those that travel with us. You are all certainly braver than most of my own kind."

"Well, I am superior to you, Mother. I can ride."

She squeezed Neral as she spoke. "Vile beasts," she said without real venom.

When we succeed. you will return for a long and proper visit and you shall not leave until you can ride to my satisfaction."

"I'm not sure she'll want to stay that long."

"Do not be disrespectful to your mother," Neral chided gently.

Another squeeze. "Thank you, Daughter."

He cleared his throat and looked to each. "There is not enough time to say everything that should be said. Even if there were, I'm not sure I have the talent to find the words, but, thank you both for my life. I love you."

"And I you, Deres. You have helped me build a life that pleases me. I've looked forward to waking up with you each day; even those where I occasionally wished to throttle you.."

"Throttle my son? I'll bet those are interesting tales."

Neral ultimately dismissed it. "Those are long stories as well, but, only fleetingly. Then he attempts to charm me and...it usually works, much to my shame," though she didn't seem particularly shamed in admitting it.

His shoulders swayed with a bit of swagger. "We all have our gifts."

Talk ebbed as the incline slowly rose and the green gave way to dirt paths that twisted around the rocks like veins. They didn't get far before the loose gravel with the grade of the slope made it too hard to continue with the horses so they dismounted and continued on foot with Neral admonishing Stenna with the words, "Don't let anything eat you."

The hike was a relatively short, but daunting one. The loose gravel made climbing rough, with all of them almost spilling back down the path at one time or another. Eventually though the rocks jutting from the earth were frequent enough to help them make their way to a crack in the rock twice as tall as a man but scarcely wide enough for one to slide through sideways.

"Off with the armor, leathers only" the general said, examining the crevice. "I doubt that it'll save us anyway." They all stripped to their worn leather layers of padding before Deres and Maylin lead the way, reaching outward with their senses as they went. With no immediate danger apparent, Neral and the others followed. Neral fought back a quick wave of claustrophobia as the rock threatened to squeeze her as she made her way inch by inch, having to suck in her stomach and hold it, the tip of her nose touching the rock a few times to worm through, hearing her sword scrape rock as she did. How in the depths did you get through here, Deres?

His hand touched hers and she took it before finally finally stepping into the cavern, taking a deep breath of the warm air as she did so, now grateful that she had shed the armor because if she ended up going down into the depths of this place she'd have baked in it. One by one the rest of the party emerged with her as she took a moment to marvel as the cavern opened to a corridor ahead that was lit by no form of lamp she had ever seen.

Forcing herself from that momentary sense of awe, she checked the pockets within her leathers to make sure that everything that should have been there still was, including the spell to be used against Bryana tucked safely into her boot. Deres had one as well and she prayed to anything that might be listening that she wouldn't have to use it.

Her fellow soldiers looked around as well, several of them seemed somewhat surprised that they weren't in the middle of a fight already and Dalen spoke, her voice always seemed to have an almost musical quality, her heavy-lidded blue-green eyes searching warily. "Surprised we're not swarmed already."

"Eventually," Neral said. "Perhaps." She admitted to herself that would be preferable to this eerie calm.

"That'll probably happen once we start messing with her machinery though," Kes observed.

"Then we lead them to the narrowest corridors and start piling up beasts," Dion said, anxious to do just that.

"We all know what we are here to do, You all know your jobs so..." Neral didn't finish, as a woman with olive skin and hair to her mid-back turned into the entryway. While she wore a red and gold wrap, very little was left to the imagination.

She looked concerned, yet there was emptiness behind her eyes and, while her voice managed to convey concern there was a hollowness to it, as though the words were not entirely hers. "I am Lian. You must have come a long way. You won't need those weapons anymore. You're safe here. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Come with me and we can tend to all of your needs."

Everyone exchanged looks, uncertain of how to proceed. "We don't really need any help at the moment," Dion said.

Her tone was unchanged. "You surely have come a long way and need to sleep at the very least. Allow me to take you somewhere where you can at least sit down."

"What if we'd rather not?"

She looked to Neral, seemingly unable to process the question. "Then we'll send someone to collect you after you have had a chance to rest."

"What if we want to go out the way we came?"

Lian now seemed on firmer footing, "You are lucky to have made it here at all. Outside is not safe."

"Enough of this," Deres said sharply, putting fingers to her forehead, catching her as she crumpled forward. "She's just got mind enough left to bring any stragglers to where they need to be."

He pulled the Adaran device from his cloak and held it with one hand as the fingers of his other drew symbols on her forehead. "So empty that she has no resistance and has probably been here long enough to have been all over and remember where she's been."

Neral, Dion, Kes, and Anna covered the entryway for the time it took him to work. When the general glanced back a lot of the pathways in the map had been filled in and marked. There was still a blank area that Maylin examined as she pointed to it. "I'd bet the place where she touches the ley lines is there."

Neral felt the tension in her body tick upward. "I would prefer not to dawdle here, lest someone notice her absence."

Deres' tone was sharp as he rose from his position bent over her. "Done. She'll wake in a few moments with no memory of us."

"Then let's go," Neral looked left and right to see that the passage was clear. "Good luck, everyone."

"Goddess guide us all," Dion whispered.

They took separate paths, splitting again, and then splitting again before setting out to do what had to be done.

***

Maylin, Anna, and Dalen moved carefully but as quickly as they could through the passages. As they moved onward and downward none of them could help but see the men and women come and go, They had none of the modesty of Lian in that they did not even have the luxury of a wrap to cover themselves, but none of them seemed to care.

The men were proudly erect, cocks jutting outward, bobbing as they walked and twitching, sending pre-cum in droplets to the floor while the women's breasts would drool milk; almost every one of them appearing to be in some stage of pregnancy. And there wasn't a single one that did not share Lian's emptiness behind their eyes. And, when the women would touch their protruding bellies they whimpered in near sexual satisfaction.