The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock (41 page)

“Then you have a very tiny imagination, Captain,”
said a familiar voice nearby. “After all, there was an entire war
fought where deicide happened nearly every day.”

Both Malock and Vashnas turned to see Bifor
approaching them. With his back to the torchlight, his face was
covered in shadow, which made him looked far more menacing than he
was. There was also something in the way he walked, the way he held
his wand, that put Malock on edge, although he couldn't place what
it was.

“Bifor, what are you doing here?” said Malock in
annoyance. “Vashnas and I were having a very private conversation
that has nothing to do with you. Why don't you go back and party
with everyone else?”

Bifor stopped, his face still shrouded in shadow,
and waved his wand behind him. The air around Bifor, Malock, and
Vashnas shimmered, like the air in a desert, but the shimmering
quickly faded away, leaving the air looking normal. Malock wouldn't
have given that gesture much thought if he hadn't noticed that the
sounds from the rest of the ship were now entirely muted. He could
still see, around Bifor's bulk, the sailors singing and dancing and
playing cards, but he could not hear them, not even when Gino went
dancing by, his eyes closed and his lips uttering the lyrics of a
song he couldn't hear.

“I, too, wish to have a private conversation with
you, Captain,” said Bifor, his tone civil and even as he raised his
wand, pointing it at them. “And with Vashnas as well. In fact, I've
been waiting a long time for this moment, much longer than you
would have supposed.”

“What's going on, Bifor?” said Malock, his eyes on
Bifor's wand. “If you wanted to talk with me and Vashnas, all you
had to do was ask.”

Bifor shook his head. “I forgot how terribly naïve
you were, Captain. I suppose royalty in general is pretty naïve and
childish. But then I suppose it doesn't matter because I'm afraid
that neither of you will be living much longer.”

“Is that a threat?” said Malock, trying to not
panic. “Or a joke? Because if it's a joke, it's a pretty terrible
one.”

Bifor laughed. “Joke? I'm hardly a clown. No, it is
a threat, just as Vashnas is a threat, and it is one I intend to go
through with before this night is over.”

Vashnas stepped forward, putting one arm out in
front of Malock. “What do you mean? What do you want?”

“Isn't it obvious?” said Bifor, his wand arm never
wavering. “I would have thought that you, out of all of the idiots
on this ship, would have realized who I am and what I am trying to
do. Especially considering your age. Perhaps the years have taken
their toll on your brain.”

“What is he talking about?” said Malock, looking at
Vashnas. “Vash? What's going on?”

Her arm that was held up before him was as rigid as
the mainmast. Her entire body, in fact, had gone rigid, like she
had just realized a terrible truth that she did not want to
accept.

“I see Vashnas is in too much shock to explain,”
said Bifor. “Very well, then. I suppose it won't hurt to tell you
one more story before you die. There is nothing you can do to stop
me, after all. Nothing at all.”

“What did you do to the sound?” said Malock. “How
come I can't hear anyone but you guys?”

“A simple barrier,” said Bifor. “No one can pass
through it, except for us. It drowns out all sound, except for
whatever is inside the barrier. This is so we can keep this
conversation private, as I wished.”

Malock gulped. He had been hoping Banika or someone
else would notice Bifor trying to kill them and try to stop him,
but he now realized that was nothing but a pipe dream and that he
and Vashnas were on their own now.

“But enough blabbering,” said Bifor. “I might as
well reveal to you who I truly am. I am not a Xocionian or a
pagomancer. My knowledge and understanding of pagomancy is limited
and elementary. And Xocion is a foolish god anyway, not worthy of
the kind of worship and devotion I show to my true master.”

“And who might that be, Bifor?” said Malock. “Who is
your real master?”

Though his face was still covered in shadow, Malock
imagined the mage was now smiling evilly. “I thought you would have
put two and two together by now, but I suppose I shouldn't have
expected such cleverness from a pathetic, small-brained royal like
yourself. My true master, my true god—the only one worthy of
worship—is Tinkar, the God of Fate. And he has chosen me to
eliminate you both before you ever even see World's End.”

Malock took a sharp intake of breath. “You ... are
the spy? But that's impossible. The Messenger—“

“Was easily fooled,” said Bifor with a snort. “It
was not difficult for me to cast a spell that made Telka smell just
like a Tinkarian. The Messenger relied on that smell and so
naturally chose our poor doctor. Betraying Telka was not part of
the plan, but it became necessary for me in order to continue to
remain on this ship so that I might one day receive the opportunity
to slay you both.”

Vashnas gritted her teeth. “I knew there was a
Tinkarian on this ship, but I never would have imagined it was you,
Bifor. I should have seen this coming.”

“I still don't understand,” said Malock. “How can
Bifor be a Tinkarian? What is Vashnas's conflict with Tinkar? And
how do I fit into all of this? What's going on?”

“At last you show a semblance of intellectual
prowess by asking the right questions,” said Bifor. “I am not much
in the mood to tell stories, however. I am here to kill, here to
defend my god's life with my own. Perhaps Vashnas will be ready to
tell you, even though I could relate her history at least well as
my own.”

“So you aren't going to kill us right away?” said
Malock with a gulp.

“Under ordinary circumstances, I would,” said Bifor.
He glanced over his shoulder, however, and added, “But you know, I
would like to buy myself enough time to come up with an escape
plan. Admittedly, I did not plan to kill you tonight; I would have
done it earlier, had I not been busy trying to survive.”

Malock looked around Bifor and noticed that several
sailors had gathered outside the barrier, Banika among them,
pounding against the barrier with their fists and weapons. None of
them had succeeded in making even one crack in the barrier's face,
however, and Malock doubted they would, considering the magical
nature of the barrier.

“Besides,” said Bifor, “Vashnas's story ties into
why I am here to kill her. And you, too, I suppose.”

Malock looked at Vashnas. “So, Vash, what's your
story?”

Vashnas never lowered her arm from in front of him.
She kept her gaze on Bifor's wand, like it was a gun, as she said,
“Malock, this may come as a surprise to you, but I am actually
thousands of years old.”

“What?” said Malock. “Okay, now that
has
to
be a joke.”

“It's no joke,” said Bifor. “She is the oldest
living mortal on Martir, almost as old as the gods themselves.”

“Your interruption is not appreciated,” said
Vashnas. “But you do speak the truth. I lived even before the Godly
War, before the Treaty was signed. That was before the gods became
distant, before there was any difference between the northern and
southern gods. It was a simpler time, but it did not last.”

Malock had a hard time wrapping his mind around
someone being thousands of years old. “But that's impossible.
Thousands of years old ... no mortal can live that long. I know
that aquarians have a longer lifespan than humans, of course, and
some geromancers have succeeded in extending the natural lifespan
of humans by a couple hundred years, but only the gods can live to
be thousands of years old.”

More sailors had gathered outside the barrier,
perhaps half the crew now, but still none of them had any success
in breaking open the barrier. One sailor, who looked drunk, was
smacking his head against the barrier futilely.

“As true as that may be in general, it is not true
specifically,” said Vashnas. “You see, all those years ago, when
the world was young and the gods were one, I was Tinkar's
lover.”

Now that caused Malock to do a double take. “You
what? You were a lover of a god?”

“Indeed she was,” said Bifor, the hatred in his
voice surprising Malock. “She was Tinkar's one and only, the apple
of his eye. He loved her above all other mortals, even had plans to
ascend her into godhood so she may be his wife, but then she
betrayed him, an event even he did not foresee.”

“I did not betray him,” Vashnas responded. In the
torchlight, she really did look thousands of years old now. “His
Cloak of Fate was stolen by someone else. I had nothing to do with
it.”

“That is what you said all those years ago, but you
never offered any proof of your innocence,” said Bifor with a
chuckle. “Asserting your innocence is not a good way to clear your
name, thief.”

“What happened, exactly?” said Malock. “And how do
you know all of this, Bifor?”

“Tinkar told me his side of the story,” said Bifor.
“When he first chose me all those months ago, he told me everything
I needed to know about this voyage. Enough to know that I would be
right in taking the life of this fish woman right here, right
now.”

Vashnas sighed. “What happened, Malock, was this: I
used to live on World's End with Tinkar, before the southern seas
became inhospitable to mortals. World's End is also known as the
Throne of the Gods and was—and still is—where most of the gods
live. At least, it is where they come to meet when they have
to.”

“But I thought the northern gods didn't live in the
south,” said Malock.

“It's basically neutral territory, even though it's
located at the end of the world,” said Vashnas. “Besides, the whole
northern/southern divide is only really done for our sake. We
mortals, humans and aquarians alike, are supposed to live in the
north, which is why some of the gods live up there too. May I get
on with my story?”

“Oh, sure,” said Bifor in his most sarcastic voice.
“You have all the time in the world.”

“Shut up,” said Vashnas. “Anyway, I used to live on
World's End with Tinkar until one day his most precious material
possession, the Cloak of Fate, went missing. No one knew where it
was until it was discovered in my room, which led the rest of the
gods into believing that I was the thief, even though I was not,
even though I wasn't even there on the day it was stolen. They
demanded retribution for my crimes, even though Tinkar tried to
argue that I was innocent.”

“Okay, I don't always understand the ways of the
gods, but that seems a bit strange to me,” said Malock. “If Tinkar
was the one stolen from, then why wasn't he the one demanding
justice? Shouldn't his opinion matter, considering that it was his
Cloak that was stolen in the first place?”

“The other gods were worried that if I got away with
my 'crime,' then other mortals might try to steal things from
them,” Vashnas explained. “They wanted to use me as an example of
what happens to mortals who think they can steal from the gods
without suffering the consequences. Most of them wanted me dead,
but Tinkar managed to make a deal with them: I was banished from
World's End forever and given the Curse of Senva, which is to say,
I was granted immortality by the Goddess of Aging.”

“How is immortality a curse?” Malock asked. “Never
dying seems like a pretty good deal to me.”

For the first time since Bifor had thrown up his
barrier, Vashnas shot Malock an angry look. It was a deadly look,
like she was daring Malock to say one more thing, just one more
thing, if he felt confident in his abilities to defend himself.

“Consider what that means, Mal,” said Vashnas, her
chest heaving up and down like she had run a mile. “I can never
die, true, but I can also never be with Tinkar again. Unless
someone kills me, I will live forever apart from him. And he made
that deal, knowing that he would never see me again. Would you do
that to someone you loved, Mal? Grant them immortality, then banish
them from your sight?”

“Is that why you want to kill him?” said Malock.
“Because of Senva's Curse?”

“Yes,” said Vashnas. “When he did that, it became
clear to me that Tinkar did not actually care about me. He only
cared about appeasing his siblings. I have been stewing in my rage
for years, waiting for the right opportunity to return to World's
End, trying to find a loophole in the banishment. And I believe
that I have, assuming all goes well.”

“It won't,” said Bifor. “Though you have gotten
farther than I would have believed possible, much farther than I
should have allowed, this is where you will end. You won't even get
to see World's End on the horizon as a small speck of nothing.”

“What did you do?” said Malock. “What is your plan,
Vashnas? What loophole did you find?”

“The Mechanical Goddess,” said Vashnas. “She has a
long history with Tinkar, just as I do, and hates him as much as I
do, if not more so. They were once lovers themselves, but they took
different sides during the Godly War and as a result broke their
relationship. I came to her servant, Hana, who was visiting in the
north once, and through her made a deal with the Mechanical
Goddess; that she, a southern goddess, would grant me, a mortal,
her protection just long enough for me to slay Tinkar. Needless to
say, she agreed immediately.”

Bifor growled. “What this amounts to, of course, is
two bitter, petty women trying to kill a man they both once loved.
Sounds like a poor imitation of a Zarskian play, if you ask
me.”

“No one did,” said Malock. He looked at Vashnas
again and said, “But how can a mortal kill a god? I was told that
only gods can kill other gods.”

Vashnas reached into her coat with her free hand and
withdrew a sharp disk from within. It reflected the light of the
torches, causing it to shine like the moon. Malock had never seen
anything quite like it before.