"So, what's up?" asked Max.
We have left Shawn's cottage behind us, and we were now aiming for the
Castle of Seal. At least, that was what Mrs. Tain claimed.
Noone argued with her.
"I'm asking, what's up? Why did Shawn stiffen out like that all in
sudden?"
"Probably an accident," said Mrs. Tain in a tone that didn't allow for
any fancy treatment like refusal.
"You know something we don't, do you?"
"Many things. And they are not
your business."
I was worried, to tell the truth. Mrs. Tain was hard to please even
normally, but in this case... Did I upset her when I...
"I think it's OK."
That was Grace. She put her hand on my arm.
So did Linda.
"How far is the Castle?" I asked.
Mrs. Tain thought about it.
"We should be there tomorrow evening," she said.
"Tomorrow evening?" said Grace. "But it's already today evening! We can't go at
night!"
"Why not?" snapped Mrs. Tain. "There is nothing dangerous in these
woods."
"We will be tired... We are
tired!" protested Grace.
"Fine! Have it your way!" rumbled Mrs. Tain. "If we fail to save Merta
because Miss Grace was 'tired', don't blame me!"
"What's going on?" I asked. She shouldn't talk about Merta, she really
shouldn't. "You don't seem... yourself."
"Who should I be?" she shouted. Then she calmed down.
"Of course you're right," she said. "I'm a bit... nervous. That's all.
It's three hundred years - and I'm going to face the Queen once again."
"You only faced Raia then," objected Linda.
"At that time, Raia was the
Queen," replied Mrs. Tain with a sigh. "But in the last moment, she saw
the truth. She saw who the Queen was - and she tried to stop her. We
could never seal her if she didn't let herself be sealed, however funny
it might seem."
"Well, this time Raia opposes the Queen from the getting go," said Max.
"But she does it in a wrong way," said Mrs. Tain. She seemed perfectly
calm once again. "She can only destroy her at the expenditure of her
own life. And Merta's life."
"So? You have another plan?"
Mrs. Tain blinked. "I might," she said. "But it's really not a plan per
se... And I won't talk about it now. Sorry."
She sighed. "You were right, Grace, it's getting late. Would you
forgive an old, daft woman?"
"So we are camping here?"
"Well, as for camping... we have no equipment," said Max. "We can lie
on the ground, and that's about it."
"If I realized this, we could stay in Shawn's cottage..." grumbled Mrs.
Tain.
I looked at her. "What if he had woken up?"
She blinked. "Woken up? Ah... yes, I suppose you're right. That could
be a little dangerous..."
Grace wanted some wood, and me and Max went to the forest.
"What do you think about this?" asked Max as we were walking through
the woods, picking up sticks.
"About what?" I asked. "Two weeks ago, I was a normal guy, living a
normal life. Now - poof! - I'm going to a castle to kill a monster.
It's like a bad knight tale."
"Like The Knight and the Lady?" asked Max.
"What?"
"Well, that is the classical one, right? Hero slaying a monster to
rescue his girl..."
"Maybe," I agreed. "Maybe it's the oath I've taken."
"Raia canceled it, didn't she?"
I smiled. "Yes, but the thing is that I made it with Merta, not with her. As far as I'm
concerned, I'm still her Knight. I only realized that now."
"What are you going to do when this is over?" said Max. "Provided that
you get Merta back."
"Hmmm..." I actually never thought that far. I picked up another stick.
"How should I know?"
"Come on! You have no idea?"
"Like what?"
"Well, you are in the good age for marriage..."
Funny how our minds work. I got used to the thought that I'm in love
with Merta, but marriage? Somehow, I really couldn't imagine her
married, even with me. Merta in the kitchen, cooking a meal? Merta...
with kids? My kids? Crazy
idea.
"I'm not sure," I admitted. "If I had
to marry, I can't imagine anyone other, that's true..."
"Hm... Actually, that's another thing I wanted to talk about," said
Max. He seemed a bit absent-minded.
"What is?"
"Well... does May have a boyfriend?"
I see. Well, two can play this kind of game.
"Of course she does," I nodded without missing a beat.
"What? She... she does?"
"Yep. You," I said. "Anything else you wanted to know?"
"Oh. Is it that obvious?"
"It was the exact moment you asked," I ensured him. "But it's OK. You
help me get Merta back, I'll praise you in front of May."
He grinned. "It's a deal."
It was possible that we wouldn't come back. Maybe noone would come
back, ever. But yet, we were standing there, talking about girls. Boys.
What else could I say?
The dinner was poor. Some mushrooms, a few berries, nothing fancy.
Only a real genius could make a great meal out of that, and, as we
found, nor Grace nor Mrs. Tain had that level of expertise.
"I'm sorry," sighed Mrs. Tain. "I guess my sense of taste is too rough."
"You have sense of taste?" bickered Max. "I burned my tongue!"
"Stop that!" said Grace. "Please! Mrs. Tain... she tried her best! You
must think of her age!"
Instinctively, I knew this was not the best thing to say. Mrs. Tain's
face told me that.
"Yes, Grace," she said, sighing. "We must think my age, true enough."
We ate the rest of our meal in silence.
I woke up and to my surprise, I found Linda clinging to me. She must
have snuggled up while I was sleeping. Well, surely she didn't mean
anything good... er, bad with it? Cats just strived to be as
comfortable as possible and if this requires bodily heat of another
living being, then so be it. It must have been totally unconscious...
I tried to remove her, but her arms were firmly locked around my neck.
Someone helped me.
I looked up - to see Mrs. Tain. She was smiling, as far as I could see
in the pale light. It was close to dawn.
"I'm sorry to wake you up, Zack," she said. "But I think I need your
help."
I've finally broke free from Linda without waking her up. "What is it
about?"
Then I noticed the shape drawn around us.
"What is..."
With a strength seemingly impossible in such a frail body, she pulled
me towards her and put the last finishing touch on the design.
The complex shape appeared, folded over Grace, Max and Linda, then
disappeared. They disappeared along with them.
"What are you doing?" I cried.
Mrs. Tain just smiled. "I'm putting them away. Out of harm's way, Zack.
The truth is that they wouldn't be of any use. I am the one who must
end this."
"I thought you don't have the power any more..."
"I got it back. But it won't last for long - and we need to get to the
castle. Quickly."
"But - couldn't they help?"
She shook her head. "No, Zack. This is my fault. All of it. And I will
do what I must do. I can't... endanger anyone else."
"What about me?"
She smiled. "You owe me something, Zack, don't you? So... now, you will
help me. I'm calling my debt." She stopped smiling. "And it's the last
debt I'm
calling."
"What was the deal with the sword, anyways?" I asked as we started to
move away. "I mean - those amulets... I never actually got it."
"Leik created those when we were young," said Mrs. Tain.
"You mean, you and him..."
"No. Not like that. That sword... that was for our son, Zack. But when
we finally had one... he never used it, to tell you the truth. He never
had any adventures of this type, he married a nice girl in the
village...'
Were old geomancers really like this? Normal people stricken with
normal worries and normal misfortunes? How could they do something...
something like that? Why did they create Raia?
But the answer, of course, was clear. Because power begets more power.
Geomancers couldn't just stand and let their power wither away.
Even if they had to commit evil.
But could Raia's creation be really evil? It caused death of lots of
people, but on the other side...
Without Raia, Merta would never exist.
Could birth of one girl somehow balance, justify, the death of thousands?
Mrs. Tain clearly thought so. Because she wasn't willing to let Merta
die.
Like me.
"How far will we go?" I asked.
"We will use dodecahedron to teleport."
"I thought Queen..."
"She can't block this," she said in such way that no questions were
possible.
She quickly drawed the shape.
"How come you can do that?" I asked. "How did you get your power back?"
"It's better you wouldn't know," she said. "The Queen might browse your
mind."
"Thanks for cheering me up."
The dodecahedron flashed...
As Raia's body neared the Castle of Seal, Merta started to feel it.
Although Raia had renounced the Queen, both her and Merta could feel
her presence. A breadth of hair away. She didn't know where they are,
but Merta was sure that the Queen knows
they are near.
And she wasn't happy.
The mindscape was empty, save for her. Raia left. She had something to
do in the real world.
Why did she let me stay awake? thought Merta. If they were really both
to die, then letting her be aware, until the last moment... that was
cruel, wasn't it?
Unless...
"You don't really want to die," said Merta aloud. "You keep me awake,
because you hope that I might find a way. Some way to survive this."
Only chilling silence was her answer.
Raia woke up with a splitting headache.
This wasn't good. She couldn't afford to sleep.
First my mind, she thought, now my body. Everything betrays me.
She felt a tingle, and blinked.
Teleport?
It was nearby. The Queen, it seemed, has caught on her.
Raia, not daring to use any geomancy, moved silently towards the castle.
She was ready.
From afar, the castle didn't really look like one.
Swarm had attempted to describe it, but seeing it yourself was
something different. The basic shape was a cube, with many dimples on
its sides, as it was built from truncated cubic blocks. Instead of the
door, two blocks were simply missing at one side.
"She doesn't live in what I woudl call 'luxury,'" I noted.
Mrs. Tain just watched, with her lips pursed. "It changed a lot," she
said.
"The castle?"
"No. This place. This is where the last battle was, three hundred years
ago. This is where Raia was sealed, and yet..."
She paused. "Lots of my friends died here."
I didn't say anything. This had to be hard for her.
All those memories. From what she said, she could remember exactly what
happened three hundred years ago, but she couldn't retain memories of
anything newer.
We moved towards the entrance.
Suddenly I realized that the door weren't just missing blocks.
Something - or someone - has demolished them, crumbled them to dust, or
what I know - I'm not an expert.
"Raia?" I asked.
Mrs. Tain nodded. "We don't have much time. Come on!"
Raia was moving through silent corridors. Castle of Seal didn't contain
any decorations. It didn't even have furniture. More than a building,
it looked like something a little child might build out of wooden
blocks.
The corridors were twisted, but Raia didn't let herself stopped. Using
the truncated tetrahedron, she burned her way through.
She had a good idea of where to go.
"The seal must be still on the ground level," said Mrs. Tain as we were
running through. "Raia is going there. And I think the Queen will be
there, too. Just remember: Leik's red scarf."
"What?"
"Leik's red scarf. That's how you will know it's me."
I didn't know what she was talking about.
Raia destroyed the last rock and moved to the chamber.
It was the only real room in the castle. The floor was made of dirt.
Long time ago, it was a meadow, but the absence of sun killed all the
plants a long time ago. Several dead trees still stood around here.
The Queen turned around when Raia entered.
"You could knock," she said in reproachful way.
Raia staggered a bit, but recovered quickly.
"So you were expecting me."
Young woman turned around and smiled. With long, blonde hair ad deep
blue eyes, she was gorgeous.
"Yes. It's just you and me, once again. Isn't it ironic? Here I was
sending my creations to bring you here... and in the end, you came by
your own will."
"I came to destroy you," said Raia.
"Of course. I don't expect anything less from you."
She calmly moved her hand over the seal.
Raia quickly drew a shape...
The lines stayed on the ground. Nothing happened.
"I completed the seal again," said Queen. "This, in effect, binds all
geomancy-usable energy. It looks like your strategy is crumbling... my
dear."
At that moment, Zack and Mrs. Tain entered the chamber.
"Merta!" I cried. For a moment, Raia's head actually turned towards me,
but then she looked back at the Queen.
"How cute," said the Queen. "Another pocket of resistance."
Mrs. Tain stepped forward. "I will be your opponent. Not her."
The Queen slowly turned towards her. "I see. You still wish to correct
the mistakes of your life?"
"Don't we all?"
"Your whole life... it was nothing but a big mistake," said the Queen
calmly. "The best thing you could do was to accept your fate and die
when you should die. But you continued to live. And you still continue
to
cause problems and trouble. Is that how a sentient being is supposed to
behave?"
Mrs. Tain kneeled down and started to draw.
"It won't work, you know," said the Queen, almost in contempt. "But if
it helps you.
.."
"What do you do know about my
mistakes?" sighed Mrs. Tain. "It wasn't even my idea. But I'm the only
one who is left."
"Actually, there is one other."
Mrs. Tain raised her head. "What do you mean?"
The Queen sneered. "Why, you don't remember me?"
Mrs. Tain hesitated. "Well... no. Sorry."
"It could be a wonderful dramatic moment, you know," said the Queen in
a reproaching tone. "You, looking in my face... suddenly recognizing me
for who I am... And it all falls down because you're an old fool who
can't even remember the faces of her friends."
"What are you talking about?"
The Queen screamed.
"I'm Marie, dammit! I was the youngest of you, do you finally remember
you old hag? Well, do you?"
Mrs. Tain blinked. "You're not Marie. She's dead. I've seen her die.
You killed her."
"Oh, that's gold! So you don't even remember her face anymore, but you
just happen to know she's
dead? You're completely clueless! And you hoped you could defeat me?"
"She tells you the truth," said Raia. "I can't read her mind, just the
parts she decides to show me, but she can't lie. She is
Marie."
"I've seen Marie die!" shouted Mrs. Tain.
She still saw it before her eyes - that final battlefield. Marie,
the
youngest of Geomancers, who Baran found in a mountain village, dying in
his
arms. Then, the five Geomancers nearing the Witch Queen herself... and
all
that followed.
"But you never found out what happened before that," said Raia quietly.
"Marie... surprised me... the Queen... us.
I was forced to defend myself physically. She was very strong."
Two young girls in tight embrace,
desperately trying to kill each other. Then, Marie managed to free one
of her hands... She drew a tetrahedron...
"It shouldn't work," said Raia. "The Queen had control over geomancy,
at least over such small distance. But she chose to not block the
strike..."
Raia staggering through the forest,
with a deep wound in her chest, closing faster than is humanly
possible... "See?" said Raia. "Marie got the worst of the blast. But
our blood mixed. After the Queen played that heart-breaking dying
scene, and after she let you fools seal me, she could stay in Marie's body."
"In a way," nodded Marie. "The power was mostly lost, of course.
However nice this body was, it still wasn't you."
"The important thing is that in the end, you freed yourself," said
Raia. "And I'm here to make sure the result will be different this
time. This time, you will really
lose."
"What are you talking about?" said Mrs. Tain, puzzled. "You don't look
anything like Marie."
Marie opened her mouth to say something.
And Mrs. Tain finished the last line of her drawing.
The shape has risen from the floor. I have never seen anything like
that. It was majestic, triangular facets gleaming like diamonds, with
occassional pentagon, as black as night.
Marie bulged her eyes, but before she could do anything, the shape
split in two identical ones. They shrank, one squarely hitting Mrs.
Tain, the other Marie.
Both of them screamed.
Marie recovered first.
"Leik's red scarf!" she shouted. "It's me, Zack! I've used the snub
dodecahedron, the Mirror of Souls, to get into Queen's body! You must
kill my old body before she attempts anything!"
I hesitated. That had to be a trick!
But at the same time, Mrs. Tain jumped away from me.
She fell with a sickening crunch and grasped her ankle!
"You hag! You will pay for that!" she screamed.
Marie's body smiled. "I don't think so. I got my power from other
source - there's not a trace of your blood in my body anymore. No
transferring yourself into new host. You will die in this form, and
your death will be for ever."
Mrs. Tain's body started to laugh. "You believe you have won? Far from
it!"
I tried to do something, but Raia suddenly tackled me and sent me to
the ground.
"What are you..." I started, but I stopped when I saw her face.
"Something is wrong," she said. "Very wrong."
Marie's body suddenly spasmed.
Mrs. Tain was suddenly elsewhere. It looked like a box, with
transparent walls. And the Queen was standing outside.
She looked like everything Mrs. Tain ever imagined her to be. Her body
was solid black, and the shapes breaking her outline were not round as
human shapes tend to be, but spiky and flat parts of polyhedra.
"You lost," she said, simply.
"Impossible," whispered Mrs. Tain. "I did what I was supposed to do...
I switched our souls..."
"You switched your soul, yes.
But not with mine."
She opened her mouth. Rows and rows of pearly-white tetrahedral teeth.
They were slowly spinning.
"Marie served me well for a long time," she said. "And now she
sacrificed herself to save me. Isn't it noble?"
The box started to shrink. Pushing was to no avail.
"Don't worry," said the Queen with almost a kindness. "I'll take care
of everything."
Raia turned towards me. For a while, her face had an expression I used
to see on Merta. Expression of a very scared girl.
"I just want you to know," she said, "that Merta loves you and always
did. I'm sorry. In a better world... you could live happily, ever
after."
She stood up. "But not here. I'm sorry."
Marie's body stopped twitching. Its eyes opened, and they were red.
"I knew you won't lose to that woman," sneered the body of Mrs. Tain.
"I never planned to."
"What's happening?" I shouted.
"I'm Marie!" barked the person in Mrs. Tain's body. "The hag has
transferred her soul in my body, but the Queen was there, waiting, ready for her..."
"Which means," said the other woman, "that I'm the Queen. Nice to
finally meet you, Zack."
She sneered. "I heard so much about you."
An explosion of a tetrahedron hit her in the side of her head.
Grace
slowly woke up. Something was wrong.
They were inside of a structure - the same structure Shawn has enclosed
them a while ago. Max and Linda were sleeping.
"Wake up!" hissed Grace. She tried to shook them, but to no avail.
She hit the wall. "Let me out!" she cried.
And the structure moved.
Suddenly, Grace was lying on the ground. Max and Linda still didn't
wake up. It was still dark.
Then she noticed a piece of paper nearby. She picked it up - somehow,
the letters glowed with a soft light.
I don't have much time left. Whatever
happens, it's a good bet that I won't be back. Sorry, Grace. If I fail,
I name you the inheritor of my power. Use it wisely.
Love
Your Greatest-Grandmother.
Grace blinked. "No!" she whispered. "She couldn't die! This is
all wrong!"
Then, she sat down and drew a triangle. And a fourth point, in the
middle, connected to all corners.
The
Queen staggered. "You caught me off guard," she remarked. "But you
can't kill me this easy, Raia."
With a wave of hand, she sent her flying in the wall.
"I haven't finished yet, you know," she said.
"As I was saying, I have some plans with you, Zack... Young, energetic
people like you will be... useful."
"You really think I would work for you?"
"And why not?" said Marie in Mrs. Tain's body. "You think I worked for her when she took over
my body? But all it took was a few changes..." She smiled. "I love her
now. I would give my life for her. And you will feel the same. The
bliss of existence near to the Queen."
"It can be torture, too, if you prefer that," said the Queen. "I'm
flexible. Still, you are only number two on my agenda - first, I need
to..."
Raia jumped up. She held a knife.
"You won't get me," she said. "You can block geomancy, but you can't
prevent me from slitting my throat."
"OK," said the Queen. "Well, Zack, here's my first order to you: Stop
her."
"What?"
"If you won't stop her, she will kill herself. Your beloved Merta will
cease to exist."
I hesitated.
"Don't you dare!" cried Raia. "Try to understand, I have to do this! If
she gets my body back, she will be unstoppable!"
"But you don't want to do it," I said.
Her hand with a knife started to tremble.
"Of course not! But there is no other way!"
I sighed. "Yes, but you see... I... I love Merta, so..."
The sword started to grow. Armor covered my body.
I took a desperate lunge towards the Queen.
And I hit.
The force of her retaliation sent me across the room. She was screaming
- I managed to cut her hand off.
"You imbecile!" she howled. "You will pay, do you hear me? You - will -
PAY!!! Marie! Kill him!"
Marie turned around. Her face was strange - no expression at all.
When she opened her mouth, the words that came out were not hers. It
was a male voice.
"Sorry. Your luck is out. Kill her, boy. It's the only chance you'll
get."
Mrs. Tain's body shivered. In an instant, the skin broke and crumbled.
For a few seconds, Mrs. Tain became a skeleton, and then it crumbled
into dust, too.
I gasped, but I had heard the voice and at this moment, it was easier
to do what you're told than to think.
I attacked the Queen again.
With inhuman speed, she stepped away and kicked the sword out of my
hand.
"You..." she hissed. I punched her in the face. This wasn't a girl, it
was a dangerous monster!
Then I saw my sword, turning in the air, taking aim, then returning...
"We must help!" cried Merta.
"No!" retorted Raia. "That's exactly what she wants us to do! We
mustn't get close to her!"
The lines of the seal started to glow.
"We must help him!" said Merta. Her voice sounded dangerous.
One after the another, the thin edges started to break.
Then, the world inverted...
Suddenly, Raia shoved me aside. The sword has pierced her chest.
Despite bleeding heavily, she stuck her knife into the Queen's body.
And again.
The Queen's body changed the color. For a while, it was blue, than
black, and finally grey, as the ash.
And as the ash, it started to crumble.
"Merta!" I cried.
"You idiot!" screamed Raia. "What are you doing? Stop! This is exactly
what she wants you to do!"
But to no avail. Love gave Merta much greater power than Raia could
ever master. Now it was herself, a prisoner in her own
mind, unable to stop he other half.
When the spores from Queen's body engulfed Merta, Raia couldn't do
anything but swear.
I slowly came to. My head was hurting.
My body was in no better shape, as I found I was chained to the wall.
Merta was looking at me, but her face was a face of fierce predator
now. Her blouse was torn and bloody, but there was no trace of the
wound she sustained.
"It's so sad when all your plans blow up in your face, isn't it?" she
said with sympathies. "Maybe you should kill Merta the first time
you've seen her."
The Queen paced in front of me.
She
backed her head and roared.
The sound was almost alive. The earth started to shake. A torrent of
fire streamed from her upwards, and burned its way through the roof of
the chamber.
"I
always prevail, in the end," she said.
"Good morning, Grace," said Max. "What are you cooking? And where is
Zack, and the old crone?"
He shivered when he saw Grace's eyes. She was crying.
"Eat the breakfast," she said. "You and Linda. I will tell you what
happened. But... eat first."
And high above, in black void, someone spoke.
It wasn't a dialogue, because there wasn't two, and it wasn't a
monologue, because there wasn't one. It was like long, painful
understanding. She has failed.
So did the boy.
And the Queen got Raia back. The entity felt despair. We did what we could.
It wasn't enough.
No. The entity took looked at the world it once called "home". We're sorry. Something moved in the distance.
It seemed slow, but the entity knew the real parameters.
In twenty-four hours, the asteroid will collide with planet that was
once called Earth. The last humans will die. It's for the better.
We know.
We didn't want to do this.
It's our duty. The Queen mustn't get away. Not this time. And although the notion of higher beings was ridiculous for the
entity, it couldn't prevent itself from doing something it remembered
from the ancient times. Rest in peace, it whispered. End
of Chapter 23
Grace's Readers' Corner:
Well, we are getting close to the end, so... let's recapitulate a bit.
The Queen has possessed Raia's and Merta's body.
She captured Zack
Mrs. Tain is dead.
I got the geomancer powers without knowing anything about them, except
a few diagrams I saw Merta use.
And to top it, we will all die tomorrow, because someone is hurling a
big rock on us?
It's just one of those days, don't you think? Help!!!
