Crossroads - Part #3
Rebecca Smith
Issue #7 (September 2008)
Alicia is still on the search for her missing baby brother. She has followed the trail out of her world into a hell-like one. Although the hell world is full of demons and dangers, Alicia manages to find a demon guide who lieads her to Embreon’s fortress and teaches her how to use her “power”. Alicia’s entrance into the fortress is through the sewers and up into the dungeon.
It was a dungeon, then. Alicia thanked the Gods that the guards weren’t around and pushed the grate to one side. She pulled herself up and then replaced it carefully. There was no sign of the spiders anywhere. Where had they gone? Then she noticed a hinged flap on the bottom of the main door.
Hisssssssssssssssssssss.
Alicia drew her sword and spun around. She found herself face to face with a giant viper. It reared back and hissed at her again, hood flaring wide. It was longer than Alicia was tall and about as thick around as her waist. Lightening quick, it lunged for with fangs bared. She threw herself to one side and brought her sword down hard.
The serpent hissed in outrage as part of its hood cleaved away. It came after her again and again she dodged, swinging the sword once more. This time she caught a glancing blow to its head. The fangs grazed her shoulder as it fell to the ground, momentarily stunned. She didn’t give it a chance to recover. She brought down her sword once, twice, three times and the serpent’s head was severed. The body began to thrash wildly in the throes of death. Alicia jumped well away and cleaned her sword with her rag. She thanked the Gods the fangs hadn’t broken her skin; drops of poison dribbled onto the stone floor from the severed head.
“I guess the guard was here after all.” She was shaking inside. How much more of this would she have to endure? She carefully avoided the serpent’s body and crossed to the door. Opening it, she peered around the sill. Lamps lit the corridor outside. It ran in both directions outside the cell, disappearing around a curve one way and up a staircase the other. Well, the drumbeats were coming down...
Up, then, was the likeliest way. She ascended the staircase quickly, sword drawn and light floating abreast. Nothing bared her way now. Not a single monster, be it a spider or a rat or what have you. Nothing living was visible anywhere, not even guards. What kind of moron didn’t have guards around his keep? That serpent had been a guard, true enough, yet when she thought on the matter she realized that it had been too large to fit through that door flap. If it had been smaller it might be with the rest of the demon’s minions. Where were they?
The staircase opened onto a broad corridor made entirely of stones the color of blood. Black tapestries depicting horrible acts covered the walls. Another staircase was visible at the far end. Still there was no sign that the fortress was inhabited, save the incessant drumbeats ringing through the walls. They were louder now, although still far away. They also seemed to be increasing in speed. She pressed one hand to the wall. Yes, the beat had definitely gotten faster.
A gong sounded somewhere overhead. Alicia broke into a run. She tore up the next staircase and then the next and then the one after that. Now the drums were so loud they reverberated palpably through the stone walls. A low chanting could be heard just over the drumbeat. Now there was light ahead. Alicia doubled her speed, intent on reaching that light and skidded to a halt.
The demon’s fortress had an end, all right and she had just reached it. She was on the edge of a large hall. In the center there was a large dais with an altar on top. The demon stood in front of the altar, chanting in a voice full of evil and malice. He was h
ideous, a black monster with two red horns growing out of the top of his skull. He had his hands raised and was waving them about over a small, wriggling bundle that lay on the altar, her brother. Her heart stuck in her throat.
A circle of light surrounded the dais. It came from a hole in the ceiling. She looked up and saw black clouds covering the sky, save for a tiny opening through which that light came. The rest of the ceiling and all four walls were covered in mirrors. The source of the drumbeats was not immediately apparent. She could see neither drum nor drummer anywhere in the hall.
And the hall itself was filled with monsters.
Spiders, serpents, rats the sizes of horses, were crammed into every available space. The hall was so packed that she couldn’t even see the stone floor. There were monsters that matched the description given her by the villagers, flying monsters like the one she’d seen outside and others that defied any description save hideous. Some were as small as a quilt patch and some were bigger than the largest house in the village. There were even men scattered amongst the other monsters, though they were twisted almost beyond recognition. There were more than enough to rip her to pieces before she ever got near that dais.
Alicia crouched down at the edge of the hall and observed the seething mass of monsters. There was no way through them. They would see her two feet past the entrance and be on her. And there was no way around them either; that dais was in the center of the room and the walls were absurdly smooth. She propped her hands on her knees in thought and felt her left hand brush something strange by her belt buckle. She looked down and saw a long, slender pipe hanging from her belt.
‘What?’ She didn’t own a pipe... She slid it off her belt and looked at it closely. It was a simple, two handed pipe of the type strolling bards carried. Normally they were made of reeds or wood, yet this one looked like it was solid silver. The ancient legend of the Nord Piper sprang to mind. In the legend he had used a similar pipe to rid his village of the huge rats that threatened to overrun it. Could she use this pipe to keep the monsters at bay long enough to reach the dais?
Instinct alone guided her now. She stood and put the pipe to her mouth. She began to play, a low, mellow tune about a farmer regretting the coming of fall. The notes emerged impossibly sweet and pure. She felt Power stirring about her and then her fingers shifted of their own accord and the tune changed to a light, airy ballad more suited to a spring faire than an assembly of monsters. She felt that strange touch of Power again and the music amplified, lifting up loud enough to be heard in the rafters over and beyond the ever present beat of the drum. This tune was in direct dissonance with that menacing beat. She felt her spirits lift as the song took flight.
One of the rats just inside the door turned to look at her. It took one step towards her, stopped and stared. A spider started towards her and it too became completely entranced before it had moved a handspan. Others were turning to look now. She saw heads shift and bodies turn all along that line. Some moved towards her and the music increased in intensity until they too stopped. She took one cautious step forward and then another. The nearest creature backed away. She advanced slowly, still playing the pipe. Her life depended on it and well she knew it.
Step by step she advanced slowly across the floor of the hall. The monsters melted away before her and closed in behind her. There was no way out now, no path of retreat. One misstep and she was dead. Nevertheless, as long as she kept playing they were a captive audience. They wanted to get to her, she could see it in their faces, in the quivering of their antenna, in the way their entire bodies seemed to strain when she came close and yet they could not touch her as long as she played.
Not so the demon. He had only to wave his hand to destroy her. As of yet he had failed to notice the intrusion into his domain. His back was to her. He had his hands raised and was still chanting. He had only to look in the mirrors to see her advancing, but his entire being was focused on the task at hand. He was casting a spell she realized with the part of her that was still thinking. A spell to do something to the tiny babe lying under his hands. Alicia picked up the pace and the song matched the movement. The monsters retreated in droves.
Suddenly the drumming stopped. Alicia faltered, almost dropped the note. The monsters closed in, only to be pushed back on the very next note. The light ahead was brightening. It was almost unbearably bright now. It was not the good, clean light of her world. It was menacing and somehow evil. She reached the edge of that circle and edged one foot inside it cautiously. Nothing happened. Breathing a sigh of relief, she stepped fully into the circle…
...and the music stopped. At once the monsters rushed towards her. Alicia pulled her sword and whirled around, determined to make a decent stand.
The hideous creatures braked to a halt at the edge of the circle. One tried to edge over it and died instantly. His fellows immediately fell upon the luckless beast and tore it to pieces. Alicia backed away, sickened.
So they couldn’t cross the circle. She was safe from them, then, at least until she went to leave. If she was able to leave.
The demon still hadn’t noticed her. He stood just as before, only his hands were spread wider now. Alicia saw in the mirrors on the other side that he had his eyes closed. He was only a few feet away, just up the dais steps. She began to creep up behind him, holding her sword ready...
Only it wasn’t her sword, she saw with a shock. It was longer and broader. She felt metal under the leather wrapping the hilt instead of the roughened wood she was used to. She felt the smooth coolness of a pommel stone under the heel of her hand. The steel was also a lot better in quality, she saw and etched with strange designs. An actual blood channel ran down the length of the blade. And it was glowing.
The chanting increased in intensity and strength. The demon was reaching the climax of his spell. He reached into his robes and pulled a long, slender knife from somewhere inside. He held it high over the babe and opened his eyes. They widened as they saw Alicia through the mirror and he spun around...
...and Alicia charged, plunging the sword into the demon’s torso up to the hilt. He gasped and dropped the blade. It bounced off the steps and landed somewhere below. Light, pure white light, shot out in jets from either side of the sword. It engulfed the demon and began to consume him with all the intensity of a raging fire. He screamed and the scream was cut short as he died, burned to a crisp by the blazing Light.
Only the Light did not stop there. It brightened further and began to expand up, down and out. The other light the demon had conjured was naught but a pale candle in comparison. It bathed everything in a gentle, soothing radiance. ‘This’, Alicia thought to herself, ‘this is the Light of Heaven’. It spread out until it touched the walls and continued outward, to the very outer walls of the fortress. It spread up to the ceiling and down to the deepest dungeon. The monsters broke and ran; however, there was no getting away from that Light. It engulfed the entire fortress and became brighter and brighter. It seemed to be building towards something…
Suddenly, Alicia realized the danger she was in. She grabbed the babe off the altar and threw herself underneath it. She clutched him to her chest and covered him as best she could with her own body. She covered his ears with her hands, closed her eyes and buried her face against the stone.
Just in time.
A large explosion ripped through the hall. Wind slammed into Alicia and she flattened herself against the floor underneath the altar. Every mirror on the walls and ceiling shattered at once and the pieces came crashing down with a bang. Glass brushed her cheek. There was a horrendous ripping sound and then she felt the impact as one of the gigantic columns that supported the ceiling toppled to the ground. There was another crash and then another, until Alicia was certain the entire fortress was going to collapse with them inside.
Then it was over. As soon as the explosion began it ended. Silence settled over the hall. Alicia held still for a long moment. When she raised her head the dust was just beginning to settle. The hall was completely devastated. Not a single piece of the ceiling was still intact. Most of the columns had collapsed as well, killing scores of the monsters that had tried to run in vain. Chunks were missing from the walls as well and most of the mirror supports had come undone and fallen to the floor. Even as she watched another one loosened and hit the stone floor with a clang.
The baby cried. Alicia looked down at him and smiled. He was a big baby. That boded well for his future height, she’d heard. Although he had their father’s features his eyes were their mother’s blue and his hair was the trademark O’Shannigan red that Alicia so envied.
Something shifted down below. Alicia clutched the babe to her and came to her feet with a jagged piece of mirror in her hand. She scanned the hall but saw nothing alive. That shifting sound came again and she knew it wasn’t her imagination. Whatever was done there had intelligence of some sort. “Show yourself!” she demanded angrily.
There was a chuckle. “If dead I wanted you, then dead you would be.”
Alicia spun around. It was the frogman, sitting on a jagged piece of column with his legs crossed under him. “You!”
He cocked his head to one side. “Me? Of course me. I told you, I not trick you. Not a trickster this time. Sometimes I am, though. See you found your brother.”
“Yes.” She hugged the baby close. “Thanks to you.”
He shrugged, a fluid motion that rippled down his entire body. “Help you, I said I would. Help you I did. Need pipe back, though.” He held out his hand and the pipe Alicia had unknowingly dropped sped across the floor and landed gently on his palm. “Can keep sword, but take good care of it. Not mine, is it. Borrowed it from Her and She will want it back.”
Her? She? It was probably best not to ask questions.
Alicia looked down and found the sword at her feet. It was no longer glowing and yet it was definitely not her father’s sword. She picked it up and, finding it already clean, sheathed it. “Thank you.”
He shrugged again. “Better hurry.” He pointed towards the other side of the hall where a large staircase led to the outside world. “Gate not stay open long. Hall also not stand long. Told you I no trick you!” His body blurred and shifted and suddenly a vaguely doglike animal faced her. It grinned wolfishly and hopped off the other side.
Alicia turned to go and felt something jingle around her neck. She clutched at it and found both her medallion and her grandmother’s. Looking down, she saw that they had been changed to bronze and the image of Lokosi, the God of Light and Shadow, Chaos and Mischief, had been cast inside it instead of carved. Lokosi, she realized suddenly, was the one God that could travel freely between both Heaven and Hell...
It hit her. “Lokosi!”
There was a chuckle from far away.
“You did too trick me!” She shouted defiantly. Then she began to run. Across the hall and down the stairs. This staircase led directly to the courtyard far below. The gates in front of it were open wide. She took the stairs three at a time, breaking stride only to divert around the pieces of rubble and dead bodies that littered the stairs. A great rumble started deep within the fortress. Alicia reached the bottom of the stairs and bolted across the courtyard and through the gates. The path was clear before her now.
That rumble increased and suddenly became a gigantic roar. She felt the impact as the rest of the fortress came tumbling down. She didn’t look back. Still she ran, legs pumping and chest heaving. Her side began to ache and her lungs started to burn. She needed a good breath of clean air badly.
The path curved into the swamp up ahead. She charged in full speed. This was familiar; she could see the severed tentacle of the first water monster she’d killed lying on the bank. Maybe if she went fast enough no others would have time to react to her presence. She held the babe over her head and plunged into the murky water. She waded across to the nearest hassock and climbed up. Now she repeated her first journey in reverse, hopping from one little knoll of land to another as fast as her legs would carry her.
The babe began to cry again. He was hungry, no doubt. “Just a little further, baby brother. I’ll find you some food, first thing. I promise.”
At last she saw the glowing green light through the gloom surrounding her. She plunged into the water again and began wading towards it. And stopped.
It was underwater. The baby couldn’t hold his breath- She looked from him to the misty portal and back again. It wasn’t that far down. Yet she knew it didn’t take much too drown a baby. And any amount could hurt him, couldn’t it?
Alicia bit her lip in thought. She remembered another legend, one that said the people of long ago had had ways to breathe in places where there was no air. Helmets, they’d been called. They’d fit around the head and gave the person air from another source. Could she somehow trap enough air around the babe to let him breathe until they crossed over? She closed her eyes and concentrated yet again. When she opened them she found a shiny bubble encasing his head.
That would do. She took a deep breath and plunged towards the mist below. Green light enveloped her. Once again she felt the universe singing to her and felt her soul begin to sing along...
Cold air hit her face. She was standing in the middle of the crossroads, facing towards the village. The moons had set, though night still reigned over the land. Dawn was maybe an hour away. She felt a whoosh behind her as the portal closed for good.
Right, then. First to the village. Surely someone there would take the little one in. Then back to the Dauphin, to keep her end of the bargain. She swallowed hard. She didn’t want to, yet she’d made a bargain and she intended to keep it. She wrapped the babe in her cloak and walked quickly towards the village. The chill night air hit her hard after the warmth of the other place. Somehow her clothes had dried on the way through the portal, yet she was still covered in muck, gore and worse. How were the villagers going to react to that?
She soon found out.
“Halt!” Someone called as she approached the ruins of the gate. She recognized the voice as Brian Gomas, one of her father’s best friends. “Who’s there?”
Alicia stopped and sighed. “It’s me, Brian. Let me in.”
He gasped. “Alicia? It’s really you?” He unshielded a lantern and held it to her face. He gasped again. The babe started crying again. Alicia began to rock him gently.
“Who’s that?”
“My brother, of course. I told you I’d get him back.”
The man was dumbfounded. He was a simple farmer, after all. He couldn’t begin to conceive of what she’d done. She shoved by him and headed for the town bathing house. If she could get herself and him cleaned up before anyone else saw them, things would go a lot better.
Only people were all ready poring out of the town hall. The other guard must have run to tell them. She cursed and halted as they neared her. The mayor was the first to gain enough composure to speak. “It is you!”
“You expected someone else?” She asked wryly.
The mayor swallowed hard. “We weren’t expecting anyone, except maybe trouble.” The other villagers lined up behind him. To her surprise they all looked incredibly hostile. Jok shoved his way to the front of the crowd and stood sneering at her. She was again struck by the ridiculousness of his wanting to marry her. He’d apparently gotten over it, for his next words took her by surprise. “You’re not welcome here, witch. Take your demon child and get out before we stone you.”
Her jaw dropped. “What?” She looked from one to another and saw the same disgust, fear and loathing written on their faces. This was the last thing she expected.
The Mayor shot his son a hard look. “I’m afraid Jok’s right. We didn’t think you’d ever come back, so we weren’t worried about it too much, but- we can’t have people who consort with demons in this village. It wouldn’t be proper. And who knows what sort of trouble you’d bring down on us next?”
Oh. She got it now. They blamed her for what had happened. “My family founded this village...” she began, and Jok cut her off.
“And you destroyed your family! Now get out of her Witch, or else!”
Alicia stood her ground and glared at him. “All right, I understand about me, but what about the babe? Won’t one of you at least take him in? I can’t care for him.”
“Then leave him to the dogs!” Kiele Malken shouted. “That babe’s been demon touched. We’ve got no use for him around here!”
Alicia swallowed hard. So that’s the way it was. Three generations of hard work gone in a night. She turned and headed for the gate, back straight and head held high. She would not give them the benefit of seeing her cry. As soon as stepped across the splintered wood she felt the tears begin to run down her cheek. She wiped them away angrily.
She would just have to go somewhere else to find someone to take the babe. She just wouldn’t be able to tell them anything about what had happened, or they might react the same way. The Dauphin would just have to understand that the babe came first.
Something glinted on the path up ahead. She saw the battered wooden signpost and realized she was almost to the crossroads all ready. She saw that glint again and wondered what could be in the road. There was movement off to the side. She stopped, hand on her sword.
“Well girl, you’re back.” The booming voice of the Dauphin greeted her again.
“Yes, I am.” Alicia advanced forward slightly and saw that there was a large pile of coins on the path. Not bronze or copper either, but gold and silver. Next to them were two heavy blankets, a set of baby clothes, a heavy cloak, a pair of trousers, a tunic and shirt and a baby bottle filled with milk. ‘What?’ “I haven’t found a place for the babe yet...”
The Dauphin snorted. “I know. Rotten people, those. I won’t be helping them again anytime soon.” Those glowing eyes fixed themselves upon Alicia. “You know, girl, I don’t think I’ll be taking your soul after all. You have a much too troublesome spirit. I’d spend all my time fighting with you. At my age I don’t have that kind of energy.” She turned to go. “Keep those trinkets. They should help some. All gold’s what you deserve, but people would think you were a bandit.” With that she was gone.
“Thank you!” Alicia shouted after her. The only reply was a snort.
Alicia’s legs gave way. She sank onto the path and stared at the Dauphin’s gifts incredulously. The babe woke up and began to cry again. Quickly she dressed him, using some spare material she found as a diaper. She put the bottle to his lips and he sucked it eagerly. Poor thing, he was just now getting his first meal. She had so much to do. She had to find food and shelter for the two of them. What were they going to do? She had no idea how to take care of him...
Suddenly she laughed, sitting there on the side of a snow covered mountain in the early morning light holding a baby who should be dead. She was sixteen and she had been to Hell and back. She had killed monsters many times her size and fought off things that would have made many seasoned fighters white with fear. She had been visited by a God, not once, but twice. She had killed a Demon despite his awesome power, albeit with some help. She could do anything. They had some money and blankets. That was a start. She did a mental count of the pile next them and realized that they had more than enough to take them anywhere in Redora in comfort. They could travel north, even to the capital. Maybe, just maybe, she could find someone else who had the same strange powers as she did. Maybe they would even teach her how to use them properly.
A little hand grasped Alicia’s smallest finger. She smiled and looked down at the baby lying trustingly in her arms. He smiled back around his bottle. He had a good smile. He would be a good person. As good as their parents had been. She would see to it. She looked into a pair of eyes as blue as the sky and her smile widened.
“Well, little brother, what are we going to name you?”
This ends the story of Alicia and Crossroads.
