Spires of Infinity (13 page)

“I think mine’s full of goose feathers actually,” Jonathan added.

Despite the sobs still wracking his desiccated body the boy laughed and gave a visible effort to stop his tears.

“My name is Keir, and I’m the last king of Alkazier.”

Chapter 12: The Fall of Alkazier

Bending over a pot hanging on a fire, Kari seasoned and stirred her stew. Her secret to making a good stew was to dump in everything you could get your hands on and hope for the best. It was usually excellent, but occasionally it became an abomination best destroyed before it became self-aware and tried to rule the universe. She was a natural at cooking with quite the knack for it, without having had much in the way of teaching. Making up new and interesting recipes of her own device was one of her favorite hobbies.

With a taste, she determined this batch was on the tasty side of edibility. Good thing, because poor little Keir didn’t look like he’d last much longer. He was horrifyingly thin, little more than a skin-covered skeleton. It was a miracle he was still alive at all.

“Hey,” Michael snapped his fingers several times.

Glancing over her shoulder, Kari was amused to find her brother trying to distract Keir from staring at her behind as she bent over the pot. Trying not to laugh, she wondered how old he was. Not a day older than seven, she decided, and already staring at women like that? He was making an early start to things.

“Hey,” Michael repeated. “Despite the fact they’re all completely crazy, women are people too. Don’t stare like that.”

“I wasn’t,” Keir protested.

“Sure,” Jonathan drew the word out to an annoying length.

“No, really,” Keir protested as Kari sat down cross-legged with her back to them.

Making a mental note to kick Michael for that comment later, she continued stirring.

“It’s just, why does she have two? Tails I mean.”

“Oh,” Michael said, disbelief heavy in his tone. “Is
that
what you were doing.”

“You know about foxes, right,” Jonathan asked.

“I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never left the city before, so I’ve never seen one.”

“Well,” Michael said. “Legends say foxes are the slyest of beasts, and have the power to create illusions. They delight in making as much mischief as possible with this power. You can always tell how old, and how powerful a fox is by how many tails she has.”

“How can she be a fox,” Keir asked. “They’re supposed to be like little wild

dogs! She doesn’t look very old at all. Must not take much for one to get a second tail.”

“First of all,” Jonathan said, “we’re Heretics. That’s what people call the

offspring of humans and Demons. Some people call inhabitants of the Netherworld Demons because of a war long ago, and it’s easier to say that extra-dimensional entities, but they’re just like humans. Some are good. Some are evil. The majority of them are somewhere in the middle. When they interbreed with your sort, our sort are born, half of each but not really either. No one knows why we’ve got tails, and fangs, and funny-looking ears. It just happens from mixing two things that were never meant to mix.

Amongst Heretics foxes, cats and wolves are the most common, but there can be others too. The same parents can have children with traits of a dozen different animals, and the child of a Heretic is
always
a Heretic. There’s no reason to be afraid of Heretics. Most of us are just normal people like you. We just look a little weird.”

Nodding at Jonathan’s explanation, Kari tasted the stew and decided it was done.

Filling a bowl, she handed it to Keir.

“Thank you,” he said, eyes welling with tears again. He was finished with the first bowl before Kari could even blink, and the second almost as fast. Pausing briefly halfway through the third, he looked slightly guilty.

“I’m sorry,” he blushed through the grime on his face. “What about you?”

“Oh, don’t worry about us,” Kari said with a warm smile. “This is all for you.”

Keir didn’t need to be told twice. Finishing the third bowl, he downed two more before he’d finally had his fill.

“Feel better,” Kari asked.

“Yes ma’am,” he looked stuffed to the point of bursting, and a little queasy

beside, but he already seemed less emaciated for it.

“Now,” Kari gestured to the ruins. “Could you tell us what happened here? Why is this city all in ruins? What happened to all of the—“

Cutting off abruptly, Kari stared at the bloody sun in the burnt orange sky.

“Hey sis, what is it,” Michael asked.

“What are you looking at,” Jonathan asked.

“The sun,” Kari said.

Turning to look, the twins shrugged in unison.

“We don’t get it,” they said, turning back to her.

“We’ve been here for hours,” Kari explained. “The sun hasn’t moved an inch.

It’s exactly where it was when we got here.”

Sighing deeply, Keir looked down at his shredded clothing. “The sun hasn’t set since the fall of Alkazier. It stays right there in the same place, day and night.”

“Will you tell us what happened,” Kari asked. “Please?”

Considering the sun for a long moment, Keir turned back to Kari.

“It was a revolution,” he whispered, as if afraid to even say it aloud. “It started before I was even born, when my grandfather was king. The Apostle of Cain started teaching about the one true God. The royal family ignored him at first and soon he converted most of the land, and the Obsidian Empire too.”

Hissing at the name, Kari shared looks with her brothers. The Apostle again!

How many other worlds had the Apostle converted already! He must have gone to Marce’s world straight from here. How many more innocents had been murdered to wet the altar of the dark god Cain?

“The Obsidian Empire went to war against Alkazier, calling us heathens for

believing in the old gods. The Apostle decreed all unbelievers had to die, so those still faithful to the old gods gathered in this city behind our invincible shield, Aegis. I was born during the ten-year siege after my father ascended the throne.

“When our food started to run out, and sickness spread through the city, everyone got really mad at my father, saying his pride was killing us all. People outside started firing their weapons on the shield, pounding on it day and night for months until it started to crack. Everyone able took up weapons to defend the city and when the shield broke the Apostle’s army flooded in. The battle lasted for weeks, but then father—father died in battle and I was crowned king.”

Fighting visibly with his emotions, Keir looked away a single tear streaming

down his dirty cheek, making a line in the grime and ash. Taking a deep, calming breath, he continued his story.

“My armies fought bravely to hold back the Obsidian Empire, the Apostle’s

fanatics, and the Alkazieran traitors. In the end, there were too many. People tried to flee and were cut to ribbons. My advisors locked me inside the castle’s treasure vault as the Apostle’s armies fell on us. I tried so hard to get out, but I couldn’t. The ground shook with explosions, and people were screaming all day long, every day for weeks.

“Then everything got really quiet. I banged on the door, and yelled for someone to let me out. When the door opened, the Apostle was on the other side. I was so afraid I couldn’t move. He ignored me, and started rummaging around in my family’s treasures.”

Trembling with remembrance of the Apostle, Keir hugged himself tightly. He

obviously did not want to continue.

“He wears all black, a long cloak with the hood up, and black armor that shines in the light. He has a black mask and his voice sounds like stone grinding against stone.

When he looks at you, you can feel him inside your head.

“He found a huge piece of crystal with a man that’s kind of like you, with a tail, frozen inside. He looked at it for a very long time and started pacing and grumbling to himself under his breath. Then he grabbed onto something around his neck and

disappeared.”

“He was looking for the Gate!” the twins exclaimed.

Keir eyed them suspiciously.

“He can already jump to other worlds,” Kari pointed out. “Why would he start a war to take something he already has? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well,” Jonathan said, “he obviously thought it was something else.”

“Something
similar
to the Gate, but
not
the Gate,” Michael added.

“Just like at the World Tower.”

Kari’s breath caught. “You’re right! Marce’s people were trying to copy the

Gate, but it exploded and made her into a goddess. But why would he want a doorway to other worlds when he can already move to other worlds at will? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I guess not,” Michael shrugged. “Weird.”

Spreading confused looks all around, Keir scratched his head. “Do you know the Apostle?”

“We’ve had difficulties with him before,” Kari explained. “He’s an evil man that serves an evil god.”

Keir nodded, satisfied. “What is this Gate?”

“Well, that’s easy,” Michael said with an expansive gesture to the sky. “You see, there’s a billion different worlds out there.”

“Yup,” Jonathan agreed. “And one world between them all, touching all of them, but not part of any.”

“It connects this life to the afterlife, and it’s ruled by our father the Northern Sage.”

“Past, present and future meet, and time stands still there.”

“There is a Gate like a big piece of crystal connecting every world to that place, existing in all worlds.”

“When people die their souls pass through the Gate, and then our father’s realm on the way to the afterlife.”

“But living people can use the Gate to speak with the Sage too. He can answer any question and grant any wish for a price of equal value.”

“Something else happened here,” Kari said, looking at Keir when her brothers

finished explaining. “Something to do with the sun, and why everyone in the city except you is a little pile of ash?”

“A weapon,” Keir said hesitantly, “invented before Aegis shattered. When they brought it to him, my father ordered it destroyed. But after he died my advisors rebuilt it.

When the Apostle’s armies stormed the castle they used it. It wiped all life from the entire planet except for me and him. The sky turned orange and the sun turned red, and that awful smell filled he air.”

Staring gloomily into his lap, Keir brightened. “But if you survived, there may be others too! Maybe it just destroyed the city!”

Kari shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry Keir, but we weren’t on this world when the weapon was used.”

“Oh,” Keir said darkly and his shoulders slumped.

“How long has it been,” Michael asked.

“Since the war ended and you saw the Apostle disappear,” Jonathan added.

“I don’t know,” Keir sounded on the edge of despair. “Clocks don’t work

anymore. Every time my weight changes and the ground shakes, they go crazy. And the sun stopped moving. I don’t even know when it’s night and day anymore. Months probably.”

“You’ve been alone that long,” Kari asked. “How have you survived so long

without any food, you poor thing?”

“There was food in the vault, but it ran out,” Keir said. “I’ve been looking for food in the city, but any I find turns to ash when I touch it. Then I heard you shouting, but I was too afraid to come near, so I followed you.”

“Keir my boy,” Michael said. “How would you like to go to a different world?”

“One with people, and food, and all sorts of life,” Jonathan added.

Eyeing them quizzically, Kari didn’t think it was possible for them to take

passengers when they left.

“We need a little bit of a favor in order to show you the way,” Michael continued.

“You mean, you know how I can leave this place? How I can go somewhere

that’s still alive? With people?”

“You see,” Jonathan said, winking conspiratorially. “We need to warn our father about the Apostle, but we’re not allowed to go back to tell him.”

Kari’s jaw dropped. Why hadn’t
she
thought of that? It was so obvious!

“But
you
can,” Michael said.

“Me? How?”

“The Gate will take you to our father,” Kari said. “You can give our message to him, and tell him everything that happened here. Then he can send you to a different world where you can live the rest of your life in peace and happiness.”

“I will forever be in your debt,” Keir cried.

“Not at all,” Kari gave her brothers a smile to tell them that they’d done well.

“Let’s get some sleep, and then we’ll go to your castle and send you on your way. All right?”

Nodding slowly, Keir looked away, his face coloring deeply. “I have

nightmares.”

Moving to his side, Kari pulled him close to her, wrapping her arm and her bushy tails around him for warmth. “I’ll stay with you, all right?”

“Thank you,” Keir said, leaning into her. “You’re so warm.”

Shaking with silent tears, his skeletal arms encircled her tightly. The poor boy had been through one hell of a terrible ordeal. Offering him what comfort she could, Kari only wished that she could do more. No one deserved to know the pain he had known.

Before long he’d cried himself to sleep.

“It was the Apostle that started the war,” Michael looked at the stationary sun,

“but the kid’s people that destroyed the world. I’m not sure which side was worse.”

“He’s just a child,” Kari snapped. “He had nothing to do with it!”

Gesturing to the destruction all around, Michael shrugged. “No one deserves this.

No one.”

Chapter 13: The Empire Strikes Preemptively

Telling the stories of his favorite movies made the journey across the wasteland less boring, but Gabriel had long since run out of stories to tell. Acting out Star Wars and other such favorites from his childhood had been rather fun, and he enjoyed it when Sam applauded his performances with childlike glee. She, like everyone else, had been especially taken with the plot twist at the end of Empire.