The Archimage Wars: Wizard of Abal (37 page)

He then threw his other
tanto.

I tried to dodge this time, but it hit
me, again, hilt first, in the shoulder.

“
You BASTARD!” I exclaimed,
now rubbing my sore shoulder.

“
I’m sorry, but my parents
were from different Tiers,” he replied seriously.

“
Hey, how come the first
knife didn’t hit me, did you miss?” I asked.

He laughed, “I don’t miss, at least
not at this range. No, your subconscious reality is starting to
work, it stopped my blade. I threw the second one to confirm you
really had it now.”

“
Then why did the second
one hit me!” I demanded.

He shrugged, “Because you knew it was
coming, and then you decided it was going to hit you, so it did.
The first tanto was blocked by your subconscious reality, which was
not overridden by your conscious mind.”

I was angry and sore in two spots now,
“Oh, so I have to know something won’t hit me when I see it
coming!”

“
Exactly,” he
replied.

I just growled at him, and then said,
“Quit throwing knives at me, for any reason!”

“
As you wish,” he said with
a half bow and his damned smirk.

Eventually, we came to a road, and
Hydan decided we should turn right, which was fairly obvious since
that seemed to be more uphill, and therefore, likely toward
mountains. As night fell, we chose a campsite off the side of the
road, well back into the trees.

Hydan sent Myrka out to keep watch so
he could prepare us a hot dinner without worrying about being
surprised. We ate in shifts, with one of us out guarding near the
road at all times.

After dinner, we sat and
talked.

I realized due to the constant running
and craziness, I had never had a good chance to ask a lot of
questions which were bothering me. Now seemed like a good time, so
I said, “Let’s talk about the ten Worlds and the Ascension
Quest.”

Toji chose to answer, “What would you
like to know?”

Hydan was watching while sipping from
a bottle he had produced somehow.

“
Everything? I really don’t
know what the hell is going on! All I know is I am some kind of
fish person, but I grew up on Earth. My parents seemed to have
abandoned me there, perhaps to protect me because I’m a Bastard, or
maybe because they just didn’t want to raise a Bastard.”

Toji took a big breath and said,
“Well, depending on which person, from which House, you talk to,
you will get different versions of this, some similar, some
radically different. We don’t know all the answers, though some
believe they do.”

I nodded, “Sounds like religions on
Earth, they all go around telling everyone they know the absolute
truth when every one of them is just making it all up. They ignore
the fact that there are thousands of other religions and views, who
believe their ‘facts’ just as vehemently, and have had just as many
‘miracles’ to prove them right.”

Hydan chuckled, “But, they will each
just tell you the others don’t matter because THEY are the ones who
have it right!”

I nodded.

“
Well,” Toji continued,
“The Houses are much the same. Each has their belief in what is
going on in the universe and goes about their business based on
those facts. The only real difference between them and Earth
religions is we all believe something similar, we only differ in
the details.”

Hydan added, “That, and some members
of our Houses have been around since the beginning of time, so we
don’t really have to guess about everything.”

“
Whoa, what was that last
part?” I demanded.

Toji answered, “He refers to the
Archimages.”

“
What about
them?”

Hydan spoke, “Remember when Fiona told
you we do not age?”

I nodded, and his mentioning of Fiona
brought back the image of the stunningly beautiful
woman.

He continued, “Well, the Archimages
were here when the universe began, and they have been affecting
things since that time.”

I held up a warding finger, “Now,
don’t go telling me the heads of your Houses are gods!”

“
Well, no, they aren’t,”
Hydan agreed.

“
Good, for a minute there I
thought you were going to go all religious on me.”

Myrka spoke up, “It depends on what
you define as gods. They are the most powerful beings in the
universe, they helped to create the races to which their house
belongs and they do not age.”

I sighed, “Here we go. Look, if this
is true, it is pretty impressive, but they aren’t omnipotent, are
they?” I asked.

“
No,” Hydan
noted.

“
And, are they immortal?” I
prodded.

Toji answered, “They do not age, but
at least one has been killed.”

I sat back, I hadn’t even realized I
was up and kind of rigid with indignation, “Well, then they aren’t
gods.”

“
We are in agreement,”
Hydan agreed. “But the surviving Archimages have been around since
the beginning of time.”

“
That’s poppycock,” I
exclaimed, “more religious nonsense.”

He shrugged, “They were created when
the universe came into being, though they were just entities back
then, with a lot more power… still not the power of the Silent
Mother, however.”

I held up a hand, “Enough of alien
religion, I didn’t buy religions on Earth, and I’m not making any
purchases today either, not with ten thousand different versions to
choose from. Let’s talk about this Ascension Quest.”

Hydan shrugged, “All right, but it is
all tied together.”

“
Tell it to me without
religious trappings,” I requested.

He frowned, and said, “This will be
incomplete if I can’t talk about some of these things.”

“
So be it,” I
noted.

“
Fine, the Ascension Quest
is a battle between the Houses to become supreme, letting their
Archimage ascend to supremacy over all others.”

I smiled, “There, that wasn’t so
damned tough now, was it? It’s a freaking Archimage War!” I
stated.

“
Sort of, I suppose,” Hydan
noted, “Though it is not an outright conflict, well, not all the
time. But there is much more you would need to know!”

I yawned, “I’m sure there is a lot of
‘and god said this’ and ‘he had bob sacrifice a goat’, poor goat,
or “and he bade Tobby to build a raft and put all the animals in a
bottle’ crap, though he conveniently left out all the insects; who
wants ants at the picnic anyway? It all really comes down to
everybody is trying to kill everyone else and get to be chief
honcho.”

“
No, that is not true, the
Friares…” Hydan started.

“
Wait, Hydan, let me ask a
simple question.”

“
OK,” he
replied.

“
But not of you.” I turned
to Myrka, “Is what the Friares believe true?”

“
No, the
Tarvos…”

“
Shut up, Myrka,” I said,
pleasantly, “And the same to you, Hydan. When you all agree on your
facts, then you come talk to me. Until then, keep your various
religious views out of my head, I’ve got enough in there already to
make anyone sick to their stomach.”

I rolled over and went to sleep,
muttering about Archimages and their damned Ascension Quest. I
didn’t give a hoot about any of it, all I knew is their war had
swept up an innocent little girl, named Ziny, and I was going to
save her or die trying. No doubt there were many more who had been
equally abused by all this nonsense, but Ziny’s innocent face is
the one I saw in my dreams.

During my watch that night, I moved
away from the others and then said, “Pox, are you
listening?”

It took a few moments, and then Pox
materialized. I saw it happen, this time, things seem to swirl
together out of the air like blue particles assembling, and in a
couple seconds they took on a general shape, and then solidified
into the ugly details called Pox.

“
I am here, Master!” he
said with a wide grin which showed unspeakable bits of
I-don’t-want-to-know-what between the teeth.

“
Keep it down, the others
are asleep.”

He nodded his noxious
noggin.

“
OK, so I’m headed to see
my mother.”

He cocked his head to the side, “Your
mother?”

“
Yes, The White
Enchantress.”

“
And, how do you know she
is your mother?” he asked.

“
Do you know she’s not?” I
demanded.

He tilted his head back and forth, as
if considering options, and then said, “No, nor do I know she is
your mother.”

“
And, do you know who The
White Enchantress is?” I asked.

“
No.”

“
So she could be my
mother?” I pointed out.

He just shrugged, and then said, “I
have heard she is a powerful sorceress, who does not brook
outsiders within her demesnes.”

I thought about his statement and
muttered, “Maybe Fiona knows who she really is.”

“
That is a good
possibility, she is an Albus, and they tend to have their fingers
in a lot of pots,” he noted.

I decided to see if I could summon the
sorceress and called out, “Fiona Albus? Can you hear
me?”

I noticed Pox suddenly dissolve, and
figured he didn’t need to be around for this and had
left.

I called out again, “Fiona
Albus?”

“
Nicholas,” her melodic
voice suddenly answered, and I could swear she was just behind
me.

I wasn’t going to look, really, but I
did anyway, spinning around hoping to see that gorgeous woman, but
no one was there.

“
Hey, Fiona, how goes?” I
said conversationally.

“
Where are you, Nick? I
thought you were going to contact me at Ouroboros so I could join
you there? How on Abal did you manage to get past Medrod’s army and
into the town?”

I sighed, “Well, there was this
trebuchet… and well, we weren’t there all that long.”

Her voice was puzzled, and she asked
hesitantly, “So you met with your father?”

“
Kind of, I met with
Oberon, but he claimed he is not my father.”

“
Really?” she replied,
“Could he have been lying to you?”

I shook my head, but said, “No, I
don’t think so.”

“
My research showed you
were a Third of your House, and there aren’t many Seconds left. Who
do you think your father is then?”

I answered, “That’s the thing, I don’t
really know, but I learned The White Enchantress is my mother, but
no one knows who she really is, you wouldn’t happen to know, would
you?”

“
Not really, she could be
one of several Sivaeral Seconds, though, so the rumors
say.”

“
I’ve heard that as well,”
I agreed.

Fiona then asked, “And who told you
The White Enchantress is your real mother?”

“
Medrod,” I
answered.

“
MEDROD! You met with the
resurrected wizard?”

“
Sort of, yes, it was more
of an interrogation, mine specifically, than a conversation, but I
got him to tell me some things inadvertently while he thought he
was grilling me for answers.”

Fiona was stunned to silence. Finally,
she said, “But you escaped?”

“
Only after he took
Caliburn away from me, but yes.”

She paused, and then with even more
surprise said, “You obtained Caliburn?”

“
Sure, I got it from a
Sivaeral Third, named Nimue, but she is going to be pissed when I
don’t return it.”

But Fiona wasn’t interested in that,
she said, “Is that the weapon you were talking about when we last
talked?”

“
Yes, but you sound
surprised?”

“
I thought you were making
your own, with some knowledge you stole from The
Dragon.”

“
Oh, well, no, I don’t
really remember what secret I stole from The Dragon yet, or much of
anything from my past.”

She thought about my statement and
then said, “I see. Well, if your memory starts to come back, you
must tell me about what you stole immediately, so I can help you. I
have been very busy since we last talked; The Dragon has followed
you to Abal.”

“
I know; I ran into the
ghost of a Dragon wizard and barely escaped the arrival of The
Dragon at that same tower. But how do you know about the Dark One
coming here?”

Her voice was very calm as she
replied, “He attempted to kill me here in Poseidon.”

“
No kidding, that wasn’t
very neighborly of him,” I replied.

“
Nick, you must not let The
Dragon find you, no matter what. You stole something vitally
important from him, something so important he has risked coming out
of hiding to seek you on Abal. The Houses are starting to move, and
things are beginning to simmer, on their way to a boil. Hunters
from the other Houses may soon arrive on Abal. The Dragon would
never have risked coming here with this much fanfare, if what you
stole wasn’t incredibly important. Are you SURE you don’t remember
anything?”