The Gems of Raga-Tor (Elemental Legends Book 1) (6 page)

It was the silence, Eris realized, that made the place unnerving. As he moved farther along the pathways, the sounds of the city faded. Although he saw scores of people in the park, it was silent but for the chatter of birds and splashing water. A few people he passed gave him disapproving looks for his obviously hostile dress and the soft creaking his leather armor made. He also realized there was no way to ask directions from anyone and wondered if he could find an answer before the sun peaked at noon, when he was sure the red beard would suddenly appear no matter where he was and wanting his answer.

Eris wandered nearly another half hour before he stopped in front of an edifice that looked a bit more hopeful than those with effigies of gods, animals, flowers, fishes—anything one imagined. He couldn’t read the sign, but it seemed somewhat familiar. Maybe from a land he had visited at some point in his travels.

Constructed of highly polished, pinkish granite, the building glowed like a giant rose amidst the surrounding greenery. Several narrow, stained-glass windows began several spans from the ground and soared upward to a flat roof where a dozen or more large, crystal fire bowls sat in a row. From where he stood, Eris smelled the scented oil as it burned. This was as likely a place as any to find a fire elemental.

As he approached, he wondered if he was supposed to do anything before entering the temple. He watched and waited, but no one else seemed interested in this particular place. He waited a bit longer and still no one went in or came out. Taking a deep breath to relieve his tension, he walked to the door and went inside.

The interior was just as plain as the outside. More polished marble, more fire bowls, and at the end of the hall a raised dais. Atop the dais stood an ornate, golden tripod, which supported a great golden bowl. Another fire pot, he assumed, but it wasn't burning at the moment. He looked behind, toward the entrance, and saw that the stained glass seemed to tell a story as it went up the wall, but he knew not what it meant.

When he turned back to the dais, he saw an old woman standing on the bottom step. Like everyone else in this strange park, she moved silently and spoke not a word. Hesitantly, Eris took a few more steps forward.

“Are questions permitted?” he asked. His voice boomed through the empty hall.

“Of course. Come forward,” the woman said, motioning to him. “Everyone who comes here is seeking an answer to something.”

“Tell me about the First-Elemental of Fire, Raga-Tor.”

The woman looked thoughtfully at him for a moment. “Why do you seek him?”

“I don’t. He’s the last thing in this world I would seek. Last night I happened upon a crazed old man who insists he is Raga-Tor. He wants me to help him do something, and I want nothing to do with him. If there is no such person or what have you, then I'll have the old fool put in irons by nightfall. He’s a menace,” Eris answered.

The old woman smiled and gave a little laugh.

“As ornery and mean as they come to be sure.”

“Then what he says is true?”

“Yes, I have felt his presence here. He is my sire.”

“Your king?”

“No, my father.”

Eris felt an uneasy pit suddenly drop open in his stomach. This, he hadn’t expected. “You look more like his grandmother.”

“What's this? Insult a lady in her own house,” the woman said, but didn’t really sound offended. She came down the steps and stood in front of him. “Close your eyes.”

Eris hesitated and heard the door close behind him. His hand moved to the hilt of his sword. A quick glance behind told him no one was there.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” she said. “It’s just going to be very bright in here for a moment.”

Tightening his grip on the sword, he did as she asked. He squeezed his eyes even tighter and turned his head as the light was very bright to say nothing of the heat wave that swept over him. When the light faded and the coolness returned, he turned back to see what had happened.

Neither father nor daughter can resist their trickeries
, he thought, and stepped away from her. He should have expected it.

The old woman was gone. In her place a young one full of life and color. Her skin was pale against the vibrant red of her tight-fitting dress, and a mass of wavy, golden-red hair tumbled over her bare shoulders. He noted her eyes were the same color as the so-called sorcerer’s and even twinkled with the same inner fire.

“I rarely appear to mortals in this form, which is also why I get very few visitors,” she explained. “I don’t suppose I need to explain that to you, though, do I?”

“Hardly,” Eris answered and wished she would go back to being the crone. “I have all the answers I need. There is no mistaking the family resemblance.”

“Now, I am offended. I rather think I favor my mother,” she said, then took Eris by the arm and turned him around. “Look up at the windows. Do you see my father?”

Eris looked to where she pointed. Rising up from a primal fire was the striking likeness of the red-beard. In the glass on the other side of the door was the image of a watery storm fury from which came the slender form of a woman dressed in green with hair so pale it was almost white. High overhead the two glass panels met as did the elements of water and fire, from which emerged the face of the woman who stood behind him.

“There you see the greatest tale of elemental passion that can ever be told. That of Raga-Tor and Kemara-Tir, first elemental of water. For thousands of years the elementals created and destroyed, because they didn't know anything else. In time, reason and thought coalesced and they began to control the raw elements of their powers. They began to communicate and create a world, which none could do alone. I have the distinction of being the first child born to any of the elementals. But, as I’m really my father's daughter rather than my mother's, they named me Keku Raga-Tir,” the woman concluded.

The spawn of devils is more like it.

“How can you not be your mother’s daughter?” he asked.

“That is something we rarely discuss with mortals,” Keku-Tir answered. She eyed Eris thoughtfully. “I suppose, though, if my sire sought you out he must have good reason, so maybe I could tell you.”

“Then you don’t know what has supposedly happened?”

“Yes and no. I hear stories, but then there are always stories. You have one yourself, don’t you?” she probed and rested a hand on his shoulder.

Eris felt the heat in her touch and shied away.

“I have all the answers I need,” he said abruptly and headed for the door.

“I doubt it,” Keku-Tir said, cutting off his path. “You will soon see that all your answers lead only to more and deeper questions. Your fate, as the flames of vision show me, is not that of an ordinary mortal. But, enough of this serious talk. Look again at the glass overhead. Do you see something missing?”

“No.”

“Too bad, because I do. For three millennia not one soul, mortal or elemental, has been worthy in my estimation to be the catalyst for my progeny, to join in the creation of a new soul. That was until today. And now,” Keku-Tir said, running a warm hand down Eris’ cheek and under his chin, “I may have to change my mind. It’s a rare thing for any elemental to purposely seek out a mortal. Something I shall explore further when you’re finished with Raga-Tor.”

“I think not.” Eris quickly side-stepped the sorceress and was out the door.

Keku-Tir stood next to the window and watched him disappear around a stand of trees. She hummed an ancient tune and a pleased smile lit her face. The fire in her eyes burned a little brighter as her vibrant gown faded to the plain, gray work dress of the old crone, who stoked the fires in the temple of Keku Raga-Tir.

By the time Eris returned to the Black Mare Inn, it was almost noon. The common room was empty as he passed through and headed up to his lodging. Raj was already afield as the plan was to spend a part of the day with their comrades inspecting incoming caravans. All that was left for him to do was await the dreaded arrival of Raga-Tor. It wasn’t long until there was a heavy knock on his door.

“At least you used the door this time,” Eris said, stepping aside to allow Raga entrance.

“It’s good to see you too,” Raga commented, coming into the room. “This place is a lot shabbier by daylight. Seems a bit below your standards, I’d say.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Have you decided what you will do?”

“It seems I have no other viable option but to join you. You obviously won’t leave me alone until you get what you want.” The words nearly gagged him. He forced down the revulsion rolling in the pit of his stomach. “But I warn you, old man, I’ll be watching your every move. Trick me, and I’ll kill you.”
Once I figure out how
.

A broad smile gleamed on Raga’s face, threat or no. He turned and clapped Eris on the back.

“Good! I knew you would see things my way. Trust me, I’m really not such a bad fellow.”

“I’m not sure your daughter agrees with you.” Eris went to answer another knock at the door.

“Lunch,” Raga said, motioning the serving girls in. Two carried trays of food and drink, one brought a small table and another held two sturdy chairs. When they had gone, he continued. “I should have expected you would go to see her. Well, and what did she say?”

“Nothing much, except that you are who you say you are,” Eris answered.

“That was good of her. I should see her sometime and thank her for helping me.” He pulled Eris across the room and shoved him down into a chair. “Eat. I have a few more things I need to ask you.”

Eris poured a cup of wine, drank, and filled it once more.

Raga eased onto a chair. “Now, perhaps, we can begin again and speak a little more civilly to each other. And before I forget, I must compliment you.”

“What for?”

“For not killing yourself.”

“Why would I do that?”

“A man, such as yourself, must find this particular curse of Charra-Tir’s quite unbearable.”

“Just don’t make a habit of reminding me.”

“All of the others so cursed killed themselves within a month,” Raga explained as-a-matter-of-factly.

“Others?”

“Believe me, you aren’t the first so afflicted and I doubt the last. This spell is a particular favorite of that witch. I’m sure she believes you’ve gone the way of the others. Won’t you be a devilish surprise on her doorstep,” Raga explained and raised his brimming cup to Eris. “To our victory. Soon may it come.”

For the first time in several days, and quite in spite of himself, Eris managed a partial smile. Seeing that, Raga bellowed with laughter and shoved a monstrous piece of bread into his mouth. Soft, white crumbs dotted the red-gold field of his chest.

The two of them ate and drank for some time without speaking. Raga laughed to himself occasionally, likely for the amount of wine that flowed, but Eris remained coolly reserved. He rarely trusted anyone enough to get drunk in their presence, and certainly not in the presence of an elemental sorcerer.

“Ahh.” Raga belched and sprawled back in his chair. “Now, my boy, er— excuse me, Eris, I want to know the specifics of your curse.”

“Why? I thought you knew all about it.” Eris leaned back and put his feet up on the edge of the table.

“Well, most everything. I never went up to any of those others and asked them directly. They were miserable, pathetic creatures. I didn’t want to make them feel worse off.”

“What makes you think I’m any different?”

“Well. . .you’re still alive for one. And two, you’ve found some way to live with it without having lost your mind. Both admirable traits as far as I’m concerned.”

“I see.” He ignored the compliment. “It’s simple. Every time I desire a woman, I become one. I stay in that form until either my life is threatened, as you saw yester eve, or until the night of the new moon,” Eris explained, folding his arms across his chest. “The witch has everything thought out so perfectly. Faced with life-threatening danger, I change back into a man just in time to continue living this impossible existence. Then, there are those times when I can’t change back. I have to live that way for days at a time, and hide myself from the men I worked with only a day or two before. I get tired of making up excuses for my sudden disappearances and odd behavior. This has to end one way or another.”

“Then as I said, together, we can end this for both of us,” Raga commented. “How often do you change these days?”

“If you’ve really been following me for several months, as you claim, wouldn’t you already know?”

“Well, I did lose you more often than not,” Raga admitted.

Eris was inwardly pleased. He didn’t think he had really lost his ability to know when he was being watched and followed.

“At first it happened so often that I considered carrying a silvered glass just to make sure who and what I was,” Eris said. “Now, I’ve managed to control my impulses for the most part.”

Raga grinned. “What do you look like as a woman? I’ve never seen you that way up close.”

Eris shrugged. “Just like any other I suppose. I’ve never bothered to look at myself too closely during that time. It makes me sick to think about it.”