Ascendants of Ancients Sovereign (Worlds of the Crystal Moon, Book 1) (15 page)

Temple of the Gods

Southern Grayham

“No, no, no! I mean … yes, I saw the map, but what I meant was, where in the galaxy are we? There are no large purple and orange worlds visible from Earth with the naked eye.”

Mosley tilted his head as a dog would when confused. “I’m not sure what you mean. All that is, or ever was, since the end of The Great Destruction of Everything Known is where you are. You’re on one of the five planets that revolve around the sun. This planet, as I told you before, is Grayham. The two worlds above are Luvelles and Harvestom. Dragonia and Trollcom cannot be seen for now, since they travel on the far side of the glowing sun. Nothing else exists, other than the hidden god world, Ancients Sovereign, but the beings on the worlds do not know of its existence or how to get there. Only those of us who live in service to a member of the Collective are privy to this sacred information. You would not know, but Bassorine instructed that I share it with you.”

Again, Mosley became sidetracked. He sniffed the edges of the wooden platform until he found the perfect spot. After marking it, he rejoiced and then rejoined the conversation. “What a wondrous day!”

Sam smiled. “Are you going to answer my questions ... or not?”

“I apologize. Most of what I know is limited to this world. Anything more, I cannot reveal in depth.” The wolf paused. “I’m not sure what a galaxy is, but it is, indeed, an amazing name.”

Sam and Shalee looked at each other before Sam responded. “Okay, okay. So … you don’t know where Earth is. That, I can accept. Obviously, if all the worlds are able to support life and you have only one sun, judging by the position of the other two worlds, the planets must be on different orbits. Your solar system is kind of a logistical nightmare, isn’t it? It must look like a giant atom. The sun acts as the nucleus while the planets move around as equal mass electrons. Granted, this is a crude analogy, but—”

Mosley interrupted Sam’s thoughtful rant. “What are you talking about? What’s an atom?”

Sam shook his head. “Oh, nothing. Forget it. I suppose I’ll just have to accept most of this for now, since you clearly have no idea what I’m talking about. At least answer this if you can.” Sam looked toward the sun. “How many hours are in one of your Peaks?”

Mosley gave Sam a blank stare. It was clear the wolf knew nothing of hours. He hesitated, “I don’t know what an hour is. I can tell you, we consider a Peak to be from when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky until the next moment it does it again. Does this help?”

“Heck, no, it doesn’t help. Of course a day is easy to figure out. Don’t you have clocks or watches?” he asked, pointing at Shalee’s wrist. “Don’t you understand the concept of time?”

Mosley looked at the watch and asked Sam to explain its function. Once the beast understood how the timepiece worked and the words Sam used to measure time, the wolf responded. “We have no words to represent your concept of time. We understand moments pass, but we don’t define the passage of our moments as you do. We don’t use words like minutes, seconds or hours. Our worlds are much simpler than yours.”

Shalee fumbled with the pink band of her watch. “Well, it may be good for nothing now, but at least it’s still pretty. Bummer.”

Looking up in the direction of the sun, Mosley continued. “Sam, we plan around specific positions of the sun. For example, you can see the sun has just risen, and it’s only a quarter of the way toward its highest point in the sky. We call this Early Bailem. When the sun is at its highest point, we call it the Peak of Bailem, and when it has passed the Peak and it is once again midway to the horizon, we refer to this as Late Bailem. These terms honor the God of the Sun, Bailem.”

The wolf lowered to his haunches. “Just before the sun disappears behind the horizon, we call this dusk, or evening. When we can no longer see, we call the darkness, night. In the middle of the night, there is an estimated series of moments we call midnight.”

Sam interrupted. “How do you possibly call ‘an estimated series of moments’ by one name? Shouldn’t midnight be a single moment?”

Mosley thought a while. “I suppose if our world understood your names for designated moments, it would be easy to call a single moment midnight. But since we don’t, let’s move on, shall we?”

Shalee and Sam shook their heads as Mosley continued. “When the sun is about to rise, we call this dawn, or morning. It was the Collective who named the moments of dusk, evening, dawn, morning, night, and midnight.”

Sam grabbed the hair on his head, looked at Shalee, back at Mosley and then spun around with his hands in the air. He laughed. “The people are so primitive. I wonder where these “so-called” gods got some of those names, Earth maybe? How in the heck do you live without clocks?” he asked, motioning to Mosley. “Hasn’t anyone ever thought to … ummm … I don’t know, maybe create a sundial or something?”

Mosley tilted his head. Once Sam realized the wolf had no idea what he was talking about, he turned and adjusted his attitude. He knew his tone would get him nowhere, and Shalee was giving him a look. “Okay, okay,” he sighed. “I’ll explain what a sundial is later. Shalee, let me have your watch. I’d like to get an accurate account of how long a Peak is here.” Sam turned to Mosley. “How many Peaks are there in a year?”

Again, Mosley looked puzzled and waited for Sam to explain. The fighter rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay. I’m 23 years old, and where I’m from, it takes 365 Peaks to make one year of my life.” He pointed to Mosley. “Do you understand?”

The wolf thought he understood. “I’m old. Many seasons have come and gone since my Peaks as a cub.”

“What do you mean by ‘seasons?’” Sam replied. “I’ve heard that expression more than once.”

Mosley grinned in his wolfish way. “The season we’re experiencing is called summer. We determine our age by the seasons. I was born in the winter and became one season old when the next winter arrived. The next winter I became two seasons old. This continued each winter until I arrived at the age I am now, which is none of your business. Sam, you said you were 23?”

“I did.”

“In what season were you born?”

“I was born in the spring,” Sam replied, knowing full well what the wolf was going to say next.

“We also have a spring, and a fall. The seasons go in the order of winter, spring, summer, and fall and then back to winter again. This would make you 23 spring seasons old.”

Sam laughed. “I understand, but that doesn’t tell me how long a year is on Grayham. It does tell me how you figure out your ages, so for that, I thank you. I’ll have to figure out the rest on my own. At least the names of the seasons are the same. Sounds like your gods were too lazy to think of their own labels for what they created. I swear, I feel like I’m in a nightmare. How can any of this be real? I need to pinch myself.”

Shalee nodded. “I totally agree.”

Mosley shrugged as he responded. (Fellow soul ... I hope you can imagine how it looks when a wolf shrugs.) “I told you the gods wanted to make your transition into this world as easy as possible. This is good, is it not ... considering you feel you were brought here against your will? Perhaps the seasons were named the same for this reason. I don’t know why you would want to pinch yourself, Sam. I’m sorry I’m not more helpful. If I knew more, I would answer to your satisfaction. However, I’m sure Bassorine will know the answers you seek.”

“Okay, okay. You said Brandor is many Peaks from here. I’m assuming since you don’t have clocks, then you probably don’t have cars either. Are we riding horses, walking, or ... I don’t know, river rafting or something? Give it to me straight. How many Peaks from here is Brandor?”

While he waited for Mosley’s response, Sam studied the countryside. Everything he could see was fascinating. It was all green. The valleys and mountain ranges stretched far beyond his view. He marveled at how clean the air was. It had not been poisoned like it had been on Earth. It was crisp, fresh, and pleasant. He took a deep breath.

Shalee jumped in before Mosley could speak. “Yeah, exactly how far are we going? And by the way, I’m starving. I’m not going anywhere else in my PJs, nor am I going on an empty stomach. After all, a woman needs to look her best when leaving home, and I’d say this definitely qualifies as leaving home.”

She pulled at the hem of her pajama top. “Please tell me you have something else for us to wear. Mine best be cute. They could’ve at least grabbed my wardrobe when they snatched me up.” Shalee frowned. “I don’t take kindly to being taken away from my life ... especially my closet.”

Shalee lifted her new staff, twirled it above her head, and continued, “Hey! And another thing. How do I make this staff thingy whip up something fab? Will I be able to turn a prince into a frog and stuff like that?”

Mosley waited for Shalee to stop kidding around, and then he directed his attention to Sam. He was comforted, knowing these were questions he could answer. “I have the knowledge to answer your inquisitions. The gods have left suitable attire for you inside the temple. Shalee, I have no idea what you consider fab. If you don’t like what has been provided, you’ll need to speak with Bassorine.”

Shalee smiled and tapped the butt of her staff on the ground. “Don’t you worry about that, once I figure out how to zap him good with this thing, I’ll get his fashion sense up to speed.”

The wolf laughed. “The gods will seal the temple to visitors once you’ve changed. They won’t want the inhabitants of Grayham knowing about the crystal’s disappearance.”

Mosley continued to answer their questions. “Your second question was how many Peaks will it take to get to Brandor. If we travel by paw, it is a 56 Peak journey. Your final answer is—”

Shalee interrupted, snapping, “Didn’t he just say, from one Peak to the next is a day?” She looked at Sam for the answer.

Seeing her expression was a mix of anger and disbelief, the wolf’s enthusiasm to answer their questions dwindled.

Sam responded, “He did. Why?”

Shalee turned and gave Mosley a look. “You listen to me, you big overgrown puppy. If you think for one minute that I’m going to walk 56 days to get to this Brandor place, you’re crazy. I’m no Joan of Arc, and I’m definitely not a Mormon pioneer. I don’t even own a wagon.”

She continued to vent. “Who does this shaggy mutt think I am anyway, the Crocodile Hunter’s wife? For heaven’s sake! There better be another way to get there. And where would we sleep tonight? I’m not about to wear these PJs two nights in a row. That’s just wrong. They look terrible. Look at all the burn marks.”

She poked her finger through a few of the holes left behind by the lightning. “I don’t have money on me. This is nuts.” Looking back at Mosley, a new thought blurted out. “I just got a pedicure, and my nails are looking delicious. I don’t even have my hairbrush. How can you possibly expect me to deal with all of this without my brush? You’re lucky I don’t have a rolled up newspaper.”

Sam found Mosley’s wide eyes. He could see the wolf was confused. He ignored Shalee and attempted to whisper into their furry guide’s ear. “Just disregard her for now.”

Hearing the comment, Shalee blew up. “Disregard me? Who do you think you are, buddy? Who died and made you a king?”

Sam held Mosley’s gaze. “Like I said, just ignore her.” As he continued to speak, Sam could feel Shalee’s glare stabbing him in the back.

Mosley decided to play along. He winked at Sam in his own wolfish way and then turned to Shalee. “I said it was a 56 Peak walk, but I said nothing about sleeping. It will take twice as long to get there if we waste the moments necessary to rest. Did you expect us to stop? I can make the journey straight through.”

It was clear by Shalee’s response that she failed to recognize the wolf’s chiding. “Oh, for all the angels in Heaven!” she shouted. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” She flopped down on the wooden platform and started to cry.

“I said I wanted an adventure, not blisters. I don’t have any suntan lotion for a trip like this, and I burn easy. I don’t have my makeup. I don’t have deodorant. I don’t have perfume. I don’t even have any clean panties. For Pete’s sake, I hate this place. I swear I’ll never wish again. Yep, oh yeah, I’ll never wish again. Thanks, Mom, for feeding me a wonderful line of crap about how wishes come true. This isn’t even close to my idea of fun. This has got to be the worst granted wish ever.” Tears filled her eyes as she put her head between her knees and continued to crumble. “I think I’m having a breakdown.”

Sam had to smile at Shalee’s reaction. He looked at Mosley and leaned in closer to the wolf before whispering again. “Just wait until she figures out she doesn’t have any tampons. She’s really going to blow then.”

Mosley tilted his furry head and whispered back, “What are tampons, Sam?”

The human could only laugh. “Aahhhhh … forget it. Let’s just say where we’re from, most women don’t find this sort of adventure entertaining. I also hope you have another solution for getting us to Brandor. I don’t want to walk 56 Peaks, and we’ll definitely need to sleep.”

Shalee lifted her head and whimpered, “I need a soft pillow to lie my head on, Mosley. I’m not cut out for this kind of thing. How can I look decent if I can’t get rest?” She buried her head again into her knees.

Sam changed the subject. “Okay, okay. So how do we get down from the top of the cliffs? They don’t look scalable.”

Nodding, Mosley responded, “The gods did make the cliffs unassailable. There are, however, stairs behind the face of the rock, but this isn’t how we’ll be traveling.”

Mosley turned to Shalee, who was still crying, and raised his voice. “I have a way to get you to Brandor without making you walk! You can stop crying now. Let’s get you dressed for the journey.”

Shalee wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her pajama top, and as she did, Mosley asked Sam to ring a large bell at the far side of the platform. “The only way to get from the top of the cliffs to the land below, without using the steps, is to ride the griffins who live inside the cliffs.”

With that, Shalee started in again. “If you think I’m gonna ride some giant whatever it is, you got another think coming. I’m not about to get on some creepy, flying thing. I don’t know how to ride stuff like that. Do they bite? Goodness-gracious, I bet they bite. Oh my gosh, do they smell?”