The Column of Ash [Epic Fantasy]

Emalia tried to remember how they sold the lie in Novakrayu. How Demetria sold it, acting just like an arrogant Column priest might, convincing the voivode to do as they wished. Deception was confidence, yes, but so was persuasion. She learned that from speaking to the crowds. They saw her as something more than she was. Perhaps more than she could ever be. And here, feeling so useless, with no gods to watch over as she once thought, her own incapacity felt more drastic. And yet, she had to manage anyway. Swaying a guard? How could that compare? she said to herself. The stakes have always been high. And so, she waited until the human guard grew impatient and stood, clearly intending to go in search of the tardy Daecinus.

"Sir?" she whispered, a slight tremor of anxiety in her voice as she sat up, hoping she still looked like the young, naïve woman all used to take her for when she'd left the Column for the Sinking Cities.

The guard paused and frowned at her, shrouded in her blanket, barely visible in the darkness. "What now?"

They were in the massive chamber of the Grand Observatory, so there was little privacy. As such, they spoke quietly. "Is he gone?"

"What? Your friend Daecinus? Yeah, Id—"

"He's not my friend… He wanted to…" She looked around as if frightened.

He hesitated, then sighed and took a step toward her. "Wanted to what?"

"Sacrifice us, I think. Use us as Soulbornes. Like Protis, wherever you took it." She hurried along, worried he might fetch Maecia, wherever she was, and raised her hands from the shrouding blanket as if to reveal something she'd been holding. "He gave me this. I don't know what it is…"

The man seemed alarmed but crouched down a pace away, frowning at her. "I've heard of him a bit. That wouldn't surprise me. The bastard. Show me."

She raised a trinket from her pockets—a piece of jewelry from her time at the Column—for him to see. But it was hard to make out more than a shape in the darkness.

"Doesn't look like anything," he muttered. "A bracelet."

"It has some kind of runic carving on the inside. He said it would keep me safe, but I think it's a trap or something." Emalia bit her lip and raised it, shaking slightly. But that was probably for the best.

He didn't reach for it right away, looking at her, then grunted and went to take it, hand at his side where a small axe was. Emalia pressed the bracelet into his palm. He felt it and raised it to peer at it more closely, and that's when Sovina struck. She'd been lying in wait nearby, snoring softly with frightening accuracy, and even continued it as she slid closer, lowering the volume, readying a knife. The dagger caught him in the throat as Emalia grabbed him, holding his mouth shut as he bled out, gasping faintly, thrashings stopped by Sovina's arms. When he stopped, they pushed him under a blanket and lay down, Emalia's heart slamming in her chest, skin sticky with gore.

"Do you see any movement?" she asked, glancing at the Reaver staring down at Ignatia, guarding her in case she woke.

Sovina shook her head faintly, then sat where the man was, taking his position. A fine enough substitution in the shadowy dark when only outlines were visible. For a few hours, at least. Or until he got a replacement from another guard, whenever that might be. Hours. Minutes.

Emalia exhaled. A few minutes would do, even. That was all they needed to get Protis free.

…

The room was hand-dug in the dry, rocky ground. It was also almost impossible to see, so I used Soulsight. There were no threats here. Just Protis. My Soulborne was in the center of the chamber, wrists and ankles bound with iron chains as it stood within a circle of some sort of dry blood script. Some sort of Spell was set in the rock here—I could tell that much. She trapped Protis with a curse should it leave. And threatens any who may interfere. Why? If Protis is such a threat, why not kill it? I circled my Soulborne, sending the Reaver to guard the opening toward the surface. A door lay opposite the tunnel, likely leading into the guts of the dugout basement. She would be building workings there to block the Low, I imagined.

"Are you damaged?" I asked, turning to Protis.

It didn't reply. A no, then.

Its voice, dead and grinding, would be a relief to hear, but no matter. I went to start working on the surrounding curse, then stopped myself. Proceed with caution, Daecinus. It was a simple deception that could fail at any time. With a frustrated sigh, I prepared a Curse at the doorway should anyone try to interfere. It would be just like my sister to set a trap. Given the need for discretion, I had to place the Spell with a trickle of Sorcery to avoid giving off too much of a signature, using my blood to make it hold its form. Once it was done, I turned to the similarly bloody circle in the ground. Sometimes, one could simply destroy such enchantments by wrecking the structure, but with traps like these, that could trigger the effect. As such, I had to work cautiously and slowly to suck out the Sorcery, using my Sorcerous Eye as a well to stow the overflow.

As I worked, I spoke to Protis in a low voice, "I will need you to go to Novakrayu and warn the people there of Maecia's plans. She intends to use them as fuel for a Spell to block Sorcery, essentially. First, she will stop at Kremya to raise an army to force her way inside, but the citizens have little time to act." I paused and looked up at the Soulborne, observing its reaction.

Protis said nothing, did nothing.

I frowned. "Maecia killed the men. Wendof, Aelle, Red Locc, Bowyer… All of them."

Still, nothing.

I stepped back, standing up, inhaling sharply as I sent a mental command for Protis to raise its head. It did not comply.

How could I be so foolish? She'd predicted this, of course, and bound my creation as her own.

I glanced at the doorway. No sign of light, sound, or movement. Was it a trap? Did she intend to catch me down here, exposed and vulnerable? Why else seize control of Protis in this way? Why put a Curse around the Soulborne and bind it with irons? In case I tried to wrestle back control? Is that why she left me the Sorcerer's Eye? To give me a false sense of security and confidence? No, it was too complicated a scheme. She could not presume to know my thoughts so well. And even if this was all some scheme, I was not the man I was, obsessed with obedience in my Dead, so focused on one goal, I refused to see the grander picture. No, I'd changed.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Protis was not like Maecia's simple Reavers. It was not a creation for obedience but one for freedom, for intelligence, for independence.

As I pulled the Sorcery from the Spell prepared in the stone, I simultaneously reached forth into the Soulborne and searched its Soul. It was so human of us to expect such a creature to lack a Soul of its own, merely holding infused elements of another's, but that would be incorrect. Protis had a Soul independent of the origins of its creation. It had grown one over the last year and a half as something separate from the original creation. There, in that delving, I saw the real Protis watching me back with interest… No, with relief. Most Dead were creatures made for servitude, but Protis had grown beyond that, no longer needing to be bound by man.

My creation was shackled, and I would set it free.

The following moment was brief, almost instantaneous, but its impact resounded within me like the quaking in one's heart after a great discovery or dangerous leap. I reached within Protis and broke the piece connecting it to Sorcery, to human overlordship, to Maecia, to myself. Such an action usually resulted in the Dead going mad with bloodlust, attacking the first living thing nearby, but Protis would be different. I emptied the Curse and stepped back to wait. Protis squatted on the floor, staring at the rocky ground for a long moment.

I searched for its Soul as I would a masterless Dead to see if I could seize control, but there was nothing there, no purchase to grip to, no entity to seize. I smiled.

It worked.

"It is odd," Protis rumbled, its voice soothing me; worried as I was, I might have stunted it in some way. "It is quiet inside. I hear no voices."

"Commands from your master? Intuitions?"

"Yes, and more. My mind… feels my own."

I smiled, glad that there was some victory even in these dark circumstances. "Do you recall what I asked of you?"

"Yes. I was aware then, but blocked. Sealed."

I looked at the Reaver. "Approach and kneel there." It knelt by the door. I gestured to it, facing Protis. "You will need sustenance. The road ahead is long."

"You did not ask if I would do as you ordered and go to Novakrayu to warn them." Protis looked into my eyes and revealed something of a toothy smile—an intimidating sight. "But you do not need to." It broke its chains and ripped open the throat of the Reaver, killing it quickly, and consumed its body in shocking speed. Protis was taller and larger than any Dead I'd seen in this new age. It was astounding. As it ate from the corpse, consuming the Sorcery in the flesh, requiring sustenance for strength and growth now more than ever, it continued to speak, almost excited in its use of words. "I have been ready for some time."

"I know. And I am sorry for my hesitation. You deserved to be unshackled."

"I am quicker. My mind feels… free now, though I did not know it before." It stopped, lowering a piece of meat from its maw. "Maecia killed them… They were good hunters… Good men." It looked up to me. "I felt what you felt. Your hesitation was like my own. But we cannot let this come to be, Daecinus."

"I know." I sighed. "I do. But not now. You have another task at hand."

Protis nodded and finished eating, leaving much of the corpse by the door, blocking it, standing with a little more strength and power. "I will go now. And what of you?"

"We shall be fine. When the time is right, we will strike."

"Very well."

"In Novakrayu, you may find New Pethans there on Demetria's orders. A woman named Eudoxia—she can be trusted." I squinted at the creature. "Can you speak Pethyan?"

"I can," it replied in my ancient, original tongue, scarcely changed over the centuries.

The door behind us banged, slamming against the corpse left there, devoured as it was; there were still bones and flesh amounting to the weight of a man, at least. Voices. Shouts.

I smiled. "Good. Go, Protis. Go quickly. You will be pursued."

It looked from me to the door, then back to the tunnel leading into the night.

"Go," I said. "I will be fine. Trust your creator with that, at least."

Protis grunted, bearing a look of conflict and regret, and spared me one last glance. "Thank you, Daecinus." And then it left.

I took a deep breath and walked away to sit by the wall opposite the door, watching it be banged open. "There is a Spell upon the doorway," I announced. "You should bring your master."

The slamming stopped, replaced by silence, until a minute later, the Spell there fizzled, and the door was forced open. Two Reavers strode inside, flanking the doorway, with Maecia soon to follow, looking furious.

"What have you done?" she demanded, scowling down at the corpse. "I found a man of mine dead upstairs with your two… lackeys responsible! I will have them eaten as examples—"

I shook my head, still seated casually, legs crossed and hand in my lap. "If you hurt any of them, I will expend all effort in destroying this place and killing as many of your people and Reavers as I can. Even disarmed of my Artifacts, you know the damage I could do if I wished. Two can play at this game of self-annihilation."

She scoffed and then glared. "Do not challenge me, Daecinus."

Where has her self-control gone? Her moderation and maturity? "Or what? Will you kill me? We both know we lack the heartlessness to harm each other."

"You're wrong," she hissed, stepping closer, towering over me. Imposing, perhaps. But not to me. "I will do whatever it takes to see this through."

"All for your unfounded beliefs?"

She scoffed. "I won't be goaded. Recall your creature. I know you took it back from me."

"I cannot."

"Then it's the sleeping one's life. What is her name? The Sorcerer you stole from my isle?"

"Do not threaten my people."

"Your people?" she shouted, face twisting. "You aim to ruin everything! To kill them all in a fruitless war! It will not be like before. The Vasians are too strong, you fool. You'll damn them!"

I cocked my head at her, holding my frustration and anger at bay. "You made me a god to them. What did you expect to happen when I awoke and found them?"

"I gave them a story they needed," she replied, crossing her arms. "Lessons to learn from. Now, do as I command—"

"Perhaps they are lessons you must obey."

"Damn you, Daecinus, make your creature return!"

I raised my chin at her, smiling softly. "I cannot. Protis is free of human control."

"What?"

"I freed Protis from your control and mine. You will have to kill it. And we both know you won't be able to catch my Soulborne, not at night and in this terrain. You'll have to send your Reavers and pray." I gave a cool, cutting smile. "And we also both know how that will end up."

"Pursue the Soulborne with as many of the others as you can rally," she ordered to her Reavers. She leaned down and grabbed me by the fine silk robe I wore, dirtied and disheveled, pulling our faces closer as the Reavers left. "You think you're immune because I fear you? Always the more powerful of us? Not any longer. I'm stronger now. You do not have the upper hand."

I stood suddenly, forcing her back, glaring with a cold severity that came from my very bones. "Then stop your prattling and put it to the test. Let us see what happens when the Magistros of Supremacy is finally forced to the brink, shall we? Do you not recall what I did when I found Demetria's corpse? Do you not recall?" She retreated a step, not quite intimidated but certainly taken aback. "Indeed, I could see your refusal to come to my aid in the Sinking Cities as a desire to keep my love dead forever. Shall I embrace that notion? Shall you be my enemy like the Vasians were?"

She stared at me, then looked away. "I did what I had to," she said, her voice small.

"You left me there to rot! You left her as a wandering Soul! Abandoned!"

"I had to! You know I did!" She shook her head, rubbing her temples. "They've awoken… They're back… And they'll betray me again. They'll do it again…" She seemed so fragile. "You don't know what this means for us."

My eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

Maecia groaned, turning from me. "Return to the others. Don't make any more trouble for me, Brother. I don't want to hurt anyone." Before I could utter a response, she fled the room, head to the floor, eyes downcast, leaving me with Reavers and angry men.