The Gossamer Plain (11 page)

The meaning of the words rushed through Aliisza’s weakened body, made her tingle with realization. The knowledge exploded like a thousand candles, all at once, in her mind. She

carried a child. The half-fiend knew that the radiant creature standing over her, so powerful and frightening all at the same time, spoke the truth. She did carry a baby within her. Though she’d had no inkling of the situation until that very moment, she knew—no, felt—the truth of it in her bones. She was pregnant.

The thought of bearing a child did not thrill the alu, nor did it dismay her. She had often considered propagating with Kaanyr. It was a pragmatic consideration, fostering offspring that might someday aid in Aliisza’s conquests of power. But she also knew that a child born of a union of two half-fiends would likely harbor its own ambitions, its own lusts for dominion. It would want to claim its birthright, and the two creatures standing in its way would be Kaanyr and Aliisza. Just as the cambion had slain his own mother years before, in order to claim her control over the Scourged Legion, so, too, would Kaanyr’s whelp eventually try to exterminate its parents in a quest for its rightful place at the top of the pack.

So the alu had always held in check her enthusiasm for reproducing. And she never felt any maternal instincts, any secret joys at the thought of having a baby. At least, she hadn’t believed she had, until that very moment. But suddenly, with the celestial creature’s utterance of one simple phrase, she knew she had to protect her unborn child.

“So?” the creature asked. “What say you?”

“I still do not know the terms you offer,” Aliisza answered, frightened of choosing to abide by anything a holy creature would lay before her, but equally as frightened of the alternative.

“We will travel to the House of the Triad together. For the duration of your pregnancy, you will remain a guest of the Triad, in a habitat suitable for your creature comforts. You will not attempt to escape, nor shall you attempt to cause harm

to another in any fashion, either through word or deed. You may choose to spend the duration of your visit on any mental exercises that appeal to you; no one will impose any rhetoric, lectures, or moral tests on you unless you wish it.

“Shall you break any of these rules, your life shall immediately be forfeit, and the spirit of your unborn shall immediately transform into a petitioner in the service of the House of the Triad. At the end of your pregnancy, once you have given birth, you will be called before a tribunal of judges to stand trial for your crimes against the many you have wronged throughout your life.”

Aliisza’s head swam. She could remain alive, so long as she was a good girl. But it seemed too easy, too simple. The alu suspected a catch.

“How do I know you are dealing honestly with me?” she asked.

The creature seemed surprised. “You have my word,” he said, “though I’m not sure that it means much to a creature of your nature. However, given the alternative, I don’t see how accepting what I offer can prove any worse.”

Aliisza wanted to smirk. You’d be surprised, she thought.

There were times when she was certain that creatures suffering under her auspices would have preferred annihilation to the continued torturous existence she forced upon them. But the urge to protect her child from harm, to see it born, was strong. The thought of failing in that maternal duty was a cold knot in her stomach. She didn’t understand why she was reacting so protectively for something she might not ordinarily care for, but she could not deny her feelings.

Besides, the alu thought, suppressing a grin. If nothing else, I will have more than half a year to plan my escape and retribution. I can abide by their oppressive rules and regulations for that long, surely.

Aliisza looked at the creature, who stared down at her, waiting for her to decide her fate, and the fate of the creature growing within her womb. “I accept your terms,” she said.

“Of your own free will?”

“No one within this chamber coerces me,” the alu responded. “No one compels me to say these words, nor do they manipulate me in any fashion. The decision is my own, freely given and without remorse.”

Another blinding flash of light slammed Aliisza. She wanted to scream, but couldn’t. The forbidding tower vanished, leaving her floating in the gray void once more before her body seemed to explode into a million pieces.

The smell of sweet summer grass wafted into Aliisza’s nostrils. She could feel a carpet of it beneath her, soft and warm. The scent was pure, almost overwhelming. It made her heady with arousal. The sun shone down upon her, not too hot, but pleasant, like a warm spring day. The glow of it bathed her in tranquility, soothed her every ache. The sound of insects and birds buzzing and chirping in the distance hummed in her ears. She felt life vibrating there, passion and sorrow and fear and death, all swirled together in a magnificent dance of existence.

In the void, she had forgotten how to feel. Her body had ceased to be for a while. In the new place, she felt more alive than she could ever remember. She existed more completely than at any time before. It was too much; she was afraid to open her eyes. Filled with trepidation mixed with yearning curiosity, she dug her fingers into the rich, damp soil to brace herself, and risked a glance.

To say she lay in a meadow would have been a poor excuse of a description, yet she could find no words to capture the raw energy and beauty of it. Every sight and sound, every sensation and color, every scent and movement breathed more life into

Aliisza. The intensity of it was almost painful. The alu stared at a copse of trees nearby. Flowering vines climbed the trunk of a dead tree closer to her, and she could detect their blossoms’ fresh scent in the gentle breezes that caressed her skin. In the distance, she heard the faint gurgling of a stream.

As she took in more of her surroundings, Aliisza realized that the meadow seemed isolated, out of place. There was no horizon, no line of hills surrounding the edges, no forest in the distance. There was only brilliant azure sky. The world seemed to end on every side only a few paces in each direction.

The angelic creature stood beside her, and when she at last looked up to gaze at his face, that same radiant beauty shone from him, and it still hurt her eyes. It was raw energy, pure and sweet, like the land itself. She wanted to drink it in, yet it scalded her, left her feeling tainted in some way.

Beyond her guide, hazy in the distance, a great mountain reared up. It seemed close, very close, making the meadow where she lay feel alpine in nature. But it was all wrong. There was no beginning or end to it, no bottom or top. It simply appeared and disappeared, below and above, vanishing in all directions in white, puffy clouds. To the alu, it seemed more like a massive, forbidding cliff wall.

And it moved.

Aliisza sat up. She peered more closely at the mountain, thinking perhaps it was a trick of her imagination. Surely the clouds were drifting past, and the mountain was stationary. But no—as she gazed at it for several moments, she realized it definitely shifted against the closer surroundings of her meadow. The mountain was moving.

“Where are we?” Aliisza asked at last, turning to squint at her escort once more.

The creature squatted next to her. Aliisza flinched at his

proximity and averted her eyes, looking at the mountain as it drifted slowly from her left to her right.

“The House of the Triad,” he answered.

The half-fiend jerked her gaze back to the angelic figure in surprise.

“What?” she asked. “This?”

The creature chuckled. “Yes,” he said, “though I brought us to this spot because I thought it would not be quite the shock to you as elsewhere. I guess you were expecting something more… majestic?” When Aliisza didn’t answer, he turned briefly and pointed to the mountain, still slowly sliding across the alu’s field of vision, before meeting her gaze again. “Behind me, you can see Celestia, surrounded by three other peaks. Martyrdom serves as Ilmater’s home, Trueheart is where Torm resides, and the Court, where we shall journey, serves as Tyr’s residence. Perhaps that will be more what you envisioned.”

The alu frowned. “Who was the armored one in the stone tower?” she asked.

“Ah, we were within Everwatch, the tower-home of Helm. All who come to the House first visit his domain to determine if they are worthy to continue on.”

“And those he finds lacking?” Aliisza asked.

“They do not leave,” the angelic figure replied, his mien grim. “But you satisfied his concern with your oath, so it is irrelevant. And to answer your question from before, I am Tauran, a servant of Tyr.”

Aliisza stared around, and again at the gargantuan mountain, with a growing feeling of concern. My oath, she thought, thinking fully on what she had acceded to. Easily broken, she decided, amused at Tauran’s foolish trust.

For the first time, the alu realized that she existed as she had before, prior to her battle with Zasian’s intruders. She stood

up and performed a cursory self-examination. All of her possessions were in their proper places. Her elven blade was strapped to her hip and leg, her pouches of magical triggers were tied to her belt, and she could feel all of her innate abilities at her command. She could employ magic to escape, she could draw her blade and run Tauran through, or beguile him with her considerable charm into doing as she wished.

She could do all those things—and yet she couldn’t. The thought was there, but she had absolutely no desire. She reached for her sword, but the moment she gave thought to using it to fight her way free, her hand dropped to her side. She frowned, concentrating on moving her arm toward the weapon.

“I told you that once you agreed to the terms, you would be held to them, by magical coercion,” Tauran said, his smile appearing a bit sad. “I cannot stop you from thinking the thoughts, nor would I want to. But until such time as you are safely ensconced in your quarters, you do not have the free will to act against the agreement you made.”

Aliisza chuckled, but inside she was seething. She suddenly felt a puppet upon strings. She decided to try a different tactic.

“So, you brought me here to keep me all to yourself,” the alu purred, moving closer to the angel. She wrapped her arms around his waist and nestled her head against his chest. “What are you going to do to me now?” she asked, giving him a sultry smile and invoking her preternatural charms. She strained very hard not to squint at his brilliance.

Tauran’s sad smile turned to a look of pure sorrow as he gently disengaged himself from the half-fiend’s embrace.

“Take a moment,” he said. “Regain your wits. It is a startling adjustment from what you are used to, I am sure. We can remain here, in this meadow, for a few moments more, until you feel more at ease.”

Aliisza stared balefully at her counterpart and withdrew. She practically stomped away from him, scowling, and folded her arms across her chest.

How impertinent! she thought. Suggesting I have lost my wits.

As the fury within her waned, the alu realized she was more dismayed than angry. The discovery that her charms were useless against the creature was unnerving. She was beginning to fret that she hadn’t thought through the oath carefully enough.

What have I done? she asked herself in growing dread.

For a moment, she fought vertigo and claustrophobia all at once. The strange sense of not being able to act even while thinking about acting sent tremors of horror through her. She could not imagine feeling more helpless.

The panic did not last long. Aliisza reminded herself of all the various difficulties she had extricated herself from in her long years of life. She would find a way to succeed with Tauran, too. As her confidence returned, she looked at the angel once more, letting her eyes glitter with a suggestive hint of a smile.

“Oath or no, I don’t see why we can’t enjoy one another’s company, hmm?” she said, sauntering toward him. “I promise I won’t misbehave, if you promise to punish me when I do,” she said, batting her eyes.

“You already promised not to misbehave—earlier, within Everwatch,” Tauran replied, unmoved. Then a hint of a smirk grew on his face, too. “But I don’t find your company unpleasant. Which is good, as we will likely be spending much time together. Now, are you ready to go?”

Aliisza pouted for a moment, then nodded.

“Then follow me,” the celestial creature said, and took to the air.

As Aliisza unfurled her wings, she remembered that she had injured herself when she tried to escape Dwarf-friend’s study. Spreading her appendages wide, she moved them experimentally. All traces of injury seemed to have vanished. She leaped into the air, soaring up into the sky, the sun warm on her pale skin. She almost felt happy.

Climbing higher into the sky, Aliisza was shocked to discover the true nature of the meadow. The grass and trees, even the small pond with a trickling brook, rested upon a chunk of rock that floated in the air. Shaped like some bizarre inverted pinnacle, the top of the hovering island had been smoothed flat, while the underside was twisted, jagged, and warped, as though violently torn from some larger place. The water from the stream fell over the side of the earthy edge, tumbling into space. Far below, Aliisza could see clouds, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Other floating islands, some much larger than the meadow where she and Tauran had arrived, drifted in view. All exhibited natural landscapes of varying climates. She spotted structures upon a few, far in the distance. She gazed at them in awe, noting that the earthen tracts didn’t move in a coordinated or uniform way. No breezes sent them drifting.

Aliisza stared at the massive mountain, where she knew the gods lived. Suddenly, she understood. It was adrift as well, a mass of stone and earth so large that it dwarfed everything else around it. The clouds near the top parted for a moment, and she could see much more of the four peaks. She noted that Tauran’s description of three shorter mounts surrounding a fourth, taller one, had been accurate. The nearest peak sloped severely upward, its surface a mix of rocky outcroppings, stands of stunted trees, and the white of snow pack. The very top seemed to have been sliced away, and the alu thought she could make out a gleam of white there, perhaps something