The Undying God (17 page)

“Show them this!” Arxu didn’t have time
to consider how such a document had fallen into his hands—which was
good because Hrioshango didn’t want to explain his role in that
disastrous hostage situation four years ago.

Arxu approached the portcullis and
presented the document to the sentry through the bars. The guard
studied it and his face contorted into a scowl. He skulked away.
Nishka’s anxiety rose at his disappearance.

“Damn it, let’s get out of here!” she
said. Hrioshango grinned wider. That foul expression only
encouraged her worst fears. She suddenly spun toward the
darkling.

“What in the hells did you give him,
you—?!”

The iron portcullis shuddered. Nishka
didn’t dare approach the latticed gate. It convulsed again and
slowly rose to admit them. Nishka was the first to enter the
gatehouse. As they passed through, Arxu scanned the murder holes
above, cleverly devised to rain down all manner of
horrors.

The second gate began to lift, chains
bearing the weight and winding ominously. As the portcullis rose,
the din of people resounded from the distance. It grew louder like
a voice belonging to the restless streets. So awestruck was Nishka
that she didn’t notice a morbid skull impaled on the portcullis
bars. She swallowed her hesitation and crossed the border into
Gaelithea.

The steel trap slammed down and impaled
Hrioshango’s cloak. He clasped the tough material and tugged. The
cloak ripped free of the gate and he floundered to the
streets.

Nishka jerked to a stop and saw one of
the sentries watching them, standing quite visibly on a rooftop,
making no effort to conceal himself.

“The watch,” Arxu commented. The
sentries seemed conspicuously located on every street corner, an
omnipresent force that permeated each corridor. They wandered in
pairs, maintaining and enforcing political power.

“Correct,” said a guard in chainmail.
He stepped out from the crowd and moved his cloak ever so subtly so
they could see the sword gleaming on his hip. “It helps keep the
people in line. We may need another patrol to accommodate your
friend here,” he sneered, indicating Hrioshango with obvious
disdain. Arxu and Nishka tensed for an explosion of rage from their
friend. Remarkably, the darkling did not lash out. Instead, he
matched the guard’s smirk with a grin so demented that it gave
everyone pause.

The guard cleared his throat
uncomfortably and backed away, not once taking his eyes off
Hrioshango.

“That went well,” Nishka
remarked.

There was an aesthetic quality to the
foreboding city. While Gaelithea itself appeared grim, it didn’t
cast a pall on the citizens. The people didn’t have scowls etched
into their faces and they didn’t stare rudely at Arxu.

The crowd around them was becoming
thicker and Arxu nearly lost his balance among the throng. He and
Nishka were packed so tightly there seemed to be someone on every
side of them. The people’s voices were mingled in a singular,
incomprehensible drone.

Shouts of alarm erupted from the crowd
and Nishka and Arxu turned their heads to consider the
confusion.

“You sick, perverted—” The crowd parted
and the spectacle that met their eyes rendered them speechless. A
visibly disturbed woman had a solid grip on Hrioshango’s arm and
her expression was one of utter horror. Her hand was clasped around
a third arm protruding from his chest.

Hrioshango wore an expression of
disbelief, his eyes now rounded with guilty surprise. The woman
screamed.

“What is that?!” Nishka
exclaimed.

Heads turned and onlookers retreated.
The city watch spied the commotion and infiltrated the crowd.
Hrioshango panicked at the sight of the approaching guards. The
chaos magician fled across the street and ran
up
the side of
a building to escape.

Nishka blinked away her shock and
realized her jaw had dropped. She nudged Arxu, guiding him away
from the scene. They didn’t wish to be associated with the darkling
after his spontaneous mischief. Careful not to encounter any
guards, they left the excited crowd far behind.

The Nightwalker curiously regarded the
streets. Arxu was so accustomed to the dirt roads that the street
surface felt unfamiliar. His path had so often led him through
forests that he rarely entered settlements, nonetheless a major
city-state like Gaelithea. His feet ached from travel and suddenly
he realized he agreed with Nishka’s sentiments for a pleasant
inn.

Further down the street, a strong form
swept through the populace. Margzor strode among the humans with a
predatory gait, his eyes roaming over them with the indifference of
one observing the dead. Unexpectedly, a woman appeared before him
who contrasted with the mundane faces. Nishka moved gracefully with
the ebb and flow of the people, just beyond his reach.

Margzor’s gaze followed her with
undisguised wonder. Nishka eventually disappeared into the masses
and he looked away. He couldn’t help but appreciate her beauty.
Marzgor melted back into the crowd without a sound.

* * *

Nishka and Arxu departed from the inn
early the next day. The morning was dim and the sky above foretold
rain. Several stores were located to their right, specializing in
pottery, candles, and trinkets.

“Greetings, fiendling!” a familiar
voice chimed. Nishka turned around to find Hrioshango slip out of a
pawnshop. He tipped his hat and joined them on their leisurely
stroll. As they walked, Nishka eyed him with suspicion. The
darkling immediately began to stutter.

“What? Hrioshango was—trying to get
through the crowd!”

“You have three arms?”

“No. That is an extra appendage
that—
well
, helps me move through the crowd! It is
temporary—a chaos power.”

“You thought you could hide your sick
desires in the anonymity of the masses,” Nishka accused. The
darkling immediately flourished his claws and pointed at her
menacingly.

“Hrioshango will not engage in further
debate with blacksmith apprentice human! He is innocent.” Nishka
laughed at his ridiculous attempt to deflect blame.

“What do
you
know about
blacksmiths’ daughters? We can be very powerful debaters. It seems
you’re frightened of talking to me.”

“Hrioshango is equally persuasive! His
natural—er, charm pervades his words!” Nishka laughed
again.

“You couldn’t barter your way into the
arms of a nymphomaniac,” she quipped.

“Of course Hrioshango can barter his
way into the arms of a nymphomaniac!” he said, making Nishka howl
even louder. Hrioshango scowled at the woman. “Hrioshango can
barter his way out of and into many things! And various
establishments of distinguished repute! In fact, he once bartered a
vial of his blood for—”

They entered the city square and
stopped dead in their tracks. Their eyes focused on the corpses
suspended. Guards lingered in the distance like armored wraiths
nourishing on the deaths of the damned. The ropes binding the
hanged were attached to a gigantic statue resembling a young
maiden. Her eyes were perpetually shut in sorrow, her angelic
visage adorned with an expression of eternal sleep. The condemned
dangled from her arms like souls awaiting judgment.

The execution site was wretched beyond
words. Nishka felt weak in her stomach. Hrioshango looked on with
surprise, but he did not appear horrified by the spectacle of
cruelty. Arxu just stared silently, searching for an emotion to
feel.

He witnessed a strange structure beyond
the city square. The edifice resembled two spires entwined around
each other. Statues leered down from the fortress, stone carved
into inhuman beings and beasts. Soaring into the sky, the
immaculate tower was crowned with a forest of elongated spikes.
Arxu knew beyond a doubt whom the exotic fortress belonged to. Only
a totalitarian would reside in a palace dedicated to moral
genocide.

Nishka was the first to retreat from
the hideous scene. Arxu departed from the city square and followed
her while Hrioshango lingered.

Chapter 17

Arxu attempted several times to say
something but the words couldn’t make it past his tongue. Arguably,
empathy was far beyond his skill. Nishka had returned to the inn
and silently secluded herself in her room.

The Nightwalker looked out the window
and observed the dark city. He could barely see the fortified tower
in the distance. Its imposing stature demanded a paradox of
admiration and fear if he was capable of such a thing.

“Gaelithea’s king was overthrown six
years ago,” Nishka spoke. She lifted her eyes from the floor and
regarded her quiet companion. “A soldier named Iziloth rules in his
place. He systematically transformed the city-state into a military
establishment. Every crime is punished with death and horrific
methods of torture. He wants to make an example of criminals.” Arxu
didn’t respond.

“While he was at war, his fiancée was…”
Hesitation closed down on her throat. “…raped and killed.” Nishka
looked out the window and her blue eyes rested on the statue. The
carved woman no longer bore the bodies of the dead. It almost
looked as though the criminals had been sacrificed to
her.

Nishka could see a resemblance between
the statue and local descriptions of the murdered woman. How would
she feel if she knew her lover punished thousands as retribution
for her death?

“The king refused to grant Iziloth a
trial to prosecute the murderers because they were nobles. With
nothing to lose, he gathered troops loyal to him and stormed the
garrison. He slew the king and claimed dominion over the city. He
tortures and executes to punish society.” She sorrowfully shut her
eyes. “Arxu, how are you able to justify killing another human
being?”

“
To end any threat against
me.” Nishka snorted in disgust.

“No one deserves to die like that.”
Arxu’s eyes seemed to fade and gaze through her as if he was
looking beyond this very room. “What Iziloth has brought to this
city is inhumane and evil, no matter how he tries to justify
it.”

“You oppose the punishment of
death?”

“I oppose the abuse of the death
penalty and the use of torture. Gaelithea authorizes the genocide
of its own people.”

“You didn’t intend to kill the man who
accosted you in Sepulzer?” Nishka shook her head.

“I didn’t want to kill him. I would do
whatever is necessary to protect myself, but I can’t imagine
killing another human being.”

“Sometimes, the use of deadly force is
the only way to ensure your safety.”

“Yes, I understand. But you don’t seem
to care that you’re murdering another person.”

“...No,” Arxu replied. “I feel
nothing.”

“Well,
you should care
,” Nishka
retorted. “Isn’t that what separates humans from monsters?” Arxu
recalled the execution site, pondering the fine line between his
species and lesser life forms.

“One could say that humans are the most
dangerous animal of all.”

“I would like to think that more people
are virtuous than evil.”

“Unfortunately, that is beyond our
ability to truly understand. You have not seen all of the good
contained in this world, nor have you seen all of the evil
humankind is capable of. Thus, you cannot say the majority is
virtuous. Perhaps our potential for evil is greater than our
potential for good.”

“And if the majority of society is
wicked, what would you do, Arxu?” The Nightwalker shattered his eye
contact with the woman. How could he cope with such a
possibility?

“Compassion or respect for life
shouldn’t interfere with self-defense. I wouldn’t restrain myself
from doing anything to neutralize my opposition.” He hadn’t exactly
answered her question, but she figured it was just as
well.

“There are less severe options than
murder,” Nishka pointed out. “I disarmed that criminal in
Sepulzer.”

“And you did so in a rather violent
manner. You also killed that bandit in the forest—”

Nishka bowed her head in shame. She
still couldn’t accept the fact that she took the life of another
person. Arxu fell silent and looked at the deadly instrument
clutched in his hands. He rarely parted from his staff. He set it
on the bed and let go. He turned to Nishka and observed her
sadness.

He could barely remember when he first
met Nishka, her father kissed her on the cheek when she looked
sorrowful. He didn’t exactly understand the meaning of this
gesture, but perhaps he did before his memory failed him. He leaned
toward Nishka, bringing his face closer to hers.

“Arxu,
what are you doing
—?” She
leaped up from her bed and retreated across the room.

“I thought it would make you less
sad.”

“What?”

“I saw your father kiss you when you
looked sad.” Nishka didn’t immediately know what he was talking
about. Suddenly, she burst into laughter.

“That was a sign of affection, Arxu.
You aren’t my family.” Arxu looked no more enlightened than if she
spoke in a foreign language.