The Aperture

Chapter 20

No Easy Journey

The green morning haze kissed the ground with the coming of sunrise. Connie got to her feet as soon as she awoke, though it was still mostly dark. Before breakfast, she had completed her calisthenics and stretching exercises, ending the workout with a Japanese kata she had learned as part of her training in the martial arts. Most of the party ignored her except Psi’el, who watched her fixedly. Tristana studied Connie’s unfamiliar movements with a strange expression of detached amusement. She seemed captivated by the show. Occasionally, she would catch Yalden staring at her. She was unable to read his expression, but she suspected he was puzzled by her actions.

Soon, the party was cutting its way toward the north across the weed- and scrub-riddled plateau. Here were the ruins of buildings and the foundations of long-abandoned structures. Occasionally, Rahl would point out a particular ruin and explain its origin as would a tour guide in an amusement park. Connie was amazed at how extensive his knowledge was of the region. She had the impression that he had traveled these lands before and therefore knew the topography and the underlying lore intimately.

Connie tried walking beside her hanyak to get her body in shape. To her dismay, her robe kept getting snagged in the scraggly thornbain that grew on the plateau, forcing her to stop every so often. Eventually, she tired of this. She trimmed away the lower half of her robe, exposing her legs up to the knee. From them on, her legs kept getting scratched by the underbrush. Eventually tiring of that too, she rode on the safety of her hanyak.

Later toward noon, the sky became cloudy, and the east wind kicked up, bringing with it the pungent, fishy scent of Chaos. The hanyaks soon became uneasy and balky. Three of them began frothing at the mouth. Theo cast spells on the beasts of burden to keep them from panicking outright. A few leagues farther, as the plateau was beginning to decline into a broad valley, they set up camp to have lunch.

As lunch was being prepared, Rahl took from his pack a copper-colored metal disk with a half-triangular fin affixed to its center. He set this object on level ground, then he pulled out a cylinder of ivory and balanced it on the apex of the triangle. The ivory swung around as a compass needle and rested in the direction pointing to the mountains. Connie stopped her calisthenics (that she practiced at every opportunity) long enough to watch what he was doing. Intrigued, she walked over to where he knelt. The top of the disk had numerical inscriptions. He rotated the disk until the “12” on the disk lined up slightly clockwise of the ivory, of which one end was marked with red paint. Now he pulled out a map and studied it, occasionally gazing up at the line of snow-capped mountains to the north.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking our time and direction,” Rahl replied.

Connie gazed at the object. She had no idea how it worked or how the numbers correlated with their position. The numbers were set in a pattern reminiscent of those on a clock.

“That looks like a sundial.”

“That’s what it is,” he said, staring out at the mountains.

Connie looked up at the sky. The sun had not broken through the solid canopy of dense green clouds, and it didn’t look like it was about to. She thought it was foolish to try, and she decided to tell him so.

“Isn’t it kind of pointless to put out a sundial on a cloudy day?” she asked.

“Not at all,” he said. “And why do you ask? Because the sun does not cast a shadow when the sky is cloudy? Perhaps you should gaze upon its face.”

Connie looked down at the sundial. There was a thick black shadow projected on it as if it were being viewed in bright sunlight. It was past 1:00, if she read it correctly. Not believing her eyes, she held her hand over the face of the sundial. Her hand did not cast a shadow over the face of the disk. It was a strange illusion that defied explanation.

“Is it a spell? Did someone cast a spell on the sundial to make it do this?”

“Yes, the sundial is enchanted. It belonged to my father.”

Connie was fascinated with the sundial. She kept moving her hand over the sundial to blot out the phantom shadow that appeared when she moved it away. “What does it do at night? Can you use it at night?”

“Yes, but it must be viewed with the flame of a lamp that burns an enchanted oil. I do not have the oil.”

“And I suppose the ivory does something too.”

“It points to the north,” he stated, now looking back at the map.

Connie lightly tapped on the piece of ivory with her finger. It spun around a few times then came to rest faithfully, pointing to the north. “You people have all of this figured out, don’t you?”

“What do you mean?” Rahl asked, not looking up from the map.

“Well, you have a magical spell or enchantment to do everything. It makes sense the machines of this world never developed any complexity.”

Rahl looked up at Connie with a puzzled expression. “Why would we want complex machines?”

“Exactly my point.” Connie gazed down at the sundial and compass. She shook her head. “This is beautiful, Rahl. So elegant. One moving part, yet it works—even on a cloudy day—even at night. Things like this don’t exist this way in the world I come from.”

“Cannot you tell the time in your world?”

“No, we just use different devices.”

Snow called to Rahl from behind Connie. “I performed a divination on the weather. The clouds will clear after sunset. It won’t rain this evening,” she said.

“Good,” Rahl said.

Snow walked up to where Rahl and Connie were sitting. She spoke to him without acknowledging Connie’s presence.

“Nonetheless, it will rain forty leagues to the north. And there early snows threaten the lower elevations of the mountains.”

“We will plan accordingly,” he said.

Connie sighed. It seemed to Connie that Snow never failed to appear whenever she had a chance to speak to Rahl alone. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think that Snow was jealous of her speaking to Rahl. What is her problem? The man is married! she thought. Connie got her feet and dusted off her robe. Not only is she a snob towards me, but she thinks I have an adulterous bent.

Rahl rolled up the map and put it into a case made from the hollowed out leg of a hanyak. “At the rate we are traveling, we will make the foot of the mountains by noon tomorrow. From there we will look for the pass.”

Connie looked out at the jagged, snow-capped peaks to the north of them. She gasped at their impregnable appearance. “Those mountains?” she asked Rahl.

“The Dragon’s Back, they are called.”

“We’re going to cross over them?”

“Yes—to the Desert of Ontagane.”

“What’s wrong?” Snow asked Connie. “Are you afraid of the mountains?”

“Are you kidding me, Snow? I’m looking forward to it. I just hope we have the right equipment for scaling them.”

“What do you mean by that, Connie?” Rahl asked.

“Well, I have experience in mountain climbing. If we’re going to scale those peaks, you’re going to need some help getting us through them. Right?”

“I don’t believe her,” Snow said. “She knows nothing of climbing mountains. Besides, we will take the pass through the mountains. We will not have to climb them.”

“Ah, but if the pass is blocked by an avalanche, then we will have to find an alternative route,” Rahl countered Snow, speaking up in Connie’s defense. “Connie’s skills may save our day.”

“Thank you for the vote of confidence, Rahl,” Connie said superciliously, directing her words at Snow.

Snow did not respond to Connie directly but spoke to Rahl instead. “Rahl, may I speak with you?”

“Certainly you may.”

“Alone? Just the two of us?”

He nodded to her once. Snow engaged her arm in his and slowly walked him away from Connie while speaking to Rahl in obstreperous but hushed tones.

Feeling like she came out on top with that exchange, she resumed her stretching exercises on the spot while gazing at Rahl’s sundial. A few moments later, one of the hanyaks whinnied, and someone yelled, Chaos! Seconds later, the fetid, fishy smell rose to the point at which it threatened to asphyxiate by its very heaviness. Now, all at once, the hanyaks seemed to go crazy. Someone, sounding like it might be Jalban, shouted at the hanyaks in a nearly vain attempt to calm them.

Connie ran back to the camp, where everyone was quickly armoring up and readying their weapons. Looking beyond them, she stopped in surprise. Directly to the east, she saw a loose pack of a dozen or so armored, armed men shambling toward them. They seemed bedraggled and tired, almost as though they had been traveling for days. But now their movements seemed strange, clumsy, and unnatural. To Connie, they moved as if they were nothing more than marionettes being manipulated by some drunken puppeteer.

One of them, who was dragging a chipped, blotchy-looking sword, raised his weapon to them in a position of attack. They were now at two hundred paces and closing. Rahl took his position at the front of the party, flanked by Yalden, Maltokken, Psi’el, and Tristana—with her enchanted battle axe. Theo, Fandia, and Snow stayed behind. Jalban struggled to calm the hanyaks so that they would not run off while Theo and Fandia cast spells of calming on them.

Connie rushed up to Rahl at the front. “What is going on? Who are they?”

“Get back by the spellcasters, where you will be safe,” Rahl said quickly.

“I want to know,” she said without moving. “Tell me who they are.”

“The question is who they were. They were once like you and me. They were probably node poachers who entered this territory seeking quarry. But now they are overcome by Chaos. Their sole purpose for existence is to kill any living thing that breathes.”

“Why would they want to kill us?”

“I cannot answer that for you. Now, get back to where you will be safe.”

When Connie did not move, he struck her hard on her bottom with the flat of his sword. She let out a yell when he did that.

“Hey! Watch it, there!”

“Do not stand there and gawk when I have given you an order. Go!”

Connie left him and went to the back of the party as he’d instructed.

The men were now less than one hundred paces away and still drawing closer. From the second rank, Connie was able to get a better view of the men that staggered toward them. Their faces and heads were black, swollen, and misshapen, with open sores and huge tumors. They were humanoid only in overall shape. Up close, they were monsters, parodies of what was once vital and alive.

“They’re not very fast,” Psi’el said. “Neither do they look strong. My whip will disarm them easily.”

“Yes, but they are fearsome,” Maltokken said, his voice trembling. “Why must we fight them with our weapons? We should just let the spellcasters take them from the distance.”

“Silence, you coward.” Jalban barked. “You are supposed to be a fighter? Have you not fought greater adversaries than these pathetic-looking men?”

“They are not men; they are Chaos,” Maltokken stated, his voice laced with fear. “Black rivers of Entropy flow through their veins. I say we let the spellcasters fight them so that we may save our strength.”

Rahl addressed his men on overhearing this conversation. “We must not rely upon the spellcasters. Our journey will be long. They must conserve their magic if we are to succeed.”

“We don’t need magic. The spellcasters may heat the stews with their spells,” Yalden said with a sneer. “Chaos killed my wife and child. I will vanquish Chaos with my bare hands if need be.”

Once the men had breached about fifty paces, Rahl let out a yell, and the row of fighters ran forward toward their foes in a clatter of metal weapons and armor. At that instant, Theo, Fandia, and Snow cast their spells. A sharp, snapping sound came from four of the attackers. The four collapsed to the ground with broken legs. More spells were cast, and two more of the attackers, these unarmored, burst into bright blue flames. These two creatures did not scream or react kinetically as Connie expected they would. They merely plodded onward toward the party, seemingly oblivious to pain, until they finally stumbled to the ground, writhing in the flames that consumed them. The odds were now even. Rahl and the fighters met with the attackers. The hand-to-hand melee began.

With one swing of his sword, Rahl beheaded what could have been judged as the “leader” of the group. The now-headless body swung its sword wildly while stumbling a few paces further before crumpling to the ground with black corruption spouting from the stump of its neck. Yalden, with two quick thrusts and a broad slash, dispatched his to the dusty earth in a mess of black ichor. Maltokken had a more difficult time with his club-wielding monster. The monster managed to strike him hard in the ribs before Psi’el disarmed him with his whip. After this, Maltokken swung his hammer at the creature’s unarmored head. He smashed its unhelmeted skull, splattering the creature beside him in a mess of rabid brains supersaturated with the blackness of Chaos. Jalban, now at the front, sustained a blow from the monster’s axe. The blow struck him in the breastplate, putting a dent in it at the level of his breast. After two ineffectual attacks with his morning star that landed on the creature’s tattered splint armor, he killed his creature by smacking it hard over the head. Tristana’s monster made an unexpectedly deft overhead attack with its broadsword. Not encumbered by armor, she managed to just dodge the downward swipe of the blade. Theo watched her do this, gasping as she made the dodge, ready to aid her with a spell in case she was struck. To his relief, Tristana quickly reciprocated the creature’s attack with a lateral blow to its torso. The creature spectacularly split in two halves, both of which fell to flailing the ground.

Now the fighting men quickly finished off the crippled creatures with a few hacks from their weapons. The barren ground around the carnage was drenched with black, chaotic ooze. At Rahl’s orders, the party quickly left the area and headed back to their campsite.

“That wasn’t so bad. Chaos isn’t that difficult to kill after all,” Maltokken said to anyone that was listening as they headed back to the campsite.

“So you say. Just a moment ago, you were ready to soil your drawers,” Jalban retorted.

“Why didn’t you use your flail against them?” Maltokken asked Psi’el. “It would have been more effective.”

“But my whip saved you,” Psi’el replied, waving the leather weapon in Maltokken’s face.

“You are a fool with your whip,” Maltokken said brazenly, batting away the whip. “Get that away from me. I would have destroyed the creature with or without your whip.”

Back at the campsite, Theo went over to Tristana like a parent who had just spotted his lost child, ostensibly with the intention of embracing her. He stopped dead in his tracks when she gave him an expression that seemed to convey the message, Don’t you dare! Tristana walked past him and began picking up the blankets they sat on during lunch. Theo watched her with a mixture of disdain and relief that she wasn’t injured.

Snow approached Rahl. Unlike Tristana’s reaction toward Theo, Rahl did not give Snow an unwelcome look. Snow embraced him. “I’m glad you weren’t injured,” she said.

Rahl lightly returned the embrace, then he addressed the party while still in Snow’s arms. “Let us go now!” he ordered. “Quickly! It is unsafe here!”

As the party began collecting their gear, only Maltokken stood alone, unmoving, glaring at the party.

Snow noted Maltokken standing there. “Didn’t you hear what Rahl said? Pack your equipment. We are moving on.”

“But we haven’t eaten yet,” Maltokken said gruffly.

“I’m not hungry,” Jalban said.

Yalden spat. “The stench of Chaos is making me sick to my stomach.”

“Well, I’m hungry,” Maltokken said. “Is anyone else hungry?”

A few members of the party in earshot looked over at Maltokken but no one replied. Snow dropped a pack containing some of her spell books. She walked up to Maltokken, stopping only when her face was so close to his that she might feel his breath upon his face as she gazed up into his.

“Pack your bags,” Snow said.

“Why should I listen to you? You are not the leader of this quest.”

“No, but Rahl is. He gave all of us an order to break camp, and we must follow him.”

“When are we going to break for lunch? We haven’t eaten since sunrise.”

“I’m warning you to pack your bags.”

Maltokken crossed his arms. He stared down at Snow. “What are you going to do? Cast a spell on me?”

“You are acting like a spoiled child, Maltokken.”

Connie watched these two with amusement as they broke into an argument. Finally, she had heard enough. Connie stepped up to the two of them. “Maltokken, you ought to listen to Snow. You are setting a poor example of leadership for your men.”

“Too late for that,” Jalban said from nearby.

At Connie’s interruption of their heated discussion, Snow shot Connie a look of surprise, which lasted an incredible few seconds until dissolved into cross expression. Maltokken did likewise.

“Who asked you, Connie?” Snow asked in an icy tone.

“I’m just telling Maltokken that I agree with you. He should do what he is told and set a good example for his men.”

“I can handle this situation fine on my own without your intervention.”

“It didn’t sound like you were getting anywhere.”

Before Snow could respond, Fandia shouted, “Rahl! Snow! Look there!”

First the party looked at Fandia and then to where she pointed. Gasps of astonishment and fear issued from the party. Rising up in the area where the creatures had been slain was a fountain of black liquid. At the same time, the wind picked up, and now the smell of Chaos had returned. This time, it was so thick in the air that it was nearly suffocating. At first, Connie thought an oil gusher had magically sprung from the ground, then incredibly, the fountain began to writhe and take on a distinct shape. It gradually began to change color too, changing from shiny black to a dull, mottled brown. Finally, the shape coalesced into a huge humanoid-shaped beast, almost two stories tall and coated with arrow-sized quills as would be a giant porcupine. Only the circular maw of shark-like teeth in its head broke through the uniform coat of brown quills. It did not have eyes. The beast let out a throaty roar and began shambling toward the party. The hanyaks and baraks bolted before Theo could cast a calming spell on them—not that the spell would even have an effect at the sight of a creature.

“Wha-what, by the g-gods, is that?” Maltokken stammered in horror.

“What’s wrong, Maltokken? Aren’t you hungry anymore?” Snow asked pithily.

“What shall we do, Rahl?” Yalden asked, his weapon already in hand.

“We cannot outrun it. We must face it,” Rahl said in a resigned tone, picking up his shield and drawing his sword. He turned to Snow. “We will need some help.”

She turned to Fandia. “Enchant their weapons.”

“I will do it now,” Fandia said.

Rahl pulled his sword from this scabbard. “Jalban, Theo, and Connie: Get yourselves to safety. Retrieve the animals. The rest of us will remain.”

“I can stay,” Theo said.

“No, you will lead the quest if we perish. Take Tristana with you. Go now. The creature approaches.”

The beast was almost upon them. Connie and the others quickly retreated to a relatively safe distance. Rather than retrieve the pack animals as Rahl instructed, they stayed behind two watches. Fandia quickly cast a spell on the weapons of those remained behind. Now Rahl, Yalden’s swords, and the metal head of Maltokken’s hammer glowed with a shimmering blue light from an elemental spell she had cast. Snow turned to Fandia.

“Now do a Keenness on the blades,” she ordered her apprentice. “Do it quickly.”

But Fandia now stood frozen in fear at the sight of the creature advancing on them. Seeing this, Snow rushed up to her and shook her. “Keenness,” Snow said. “Triple the node power if you can. Make it like a knife through a leaf.”

“I cannot,” Fandia said, terror in her voice. “I cannot concentrate.”

“You must try,” Snow commanded her with urgency. “They need you. Try. Do it now.”

The beast whipped its arm around in an arc. A thick volley of arrow-sized quills flew loose from its arm toward the men. Most of the arrows fell far too short of their target to be a threat, but this warned them of what was to come.

The creature came closer to the warriors. Fandia continued struggling to cast a triple power Keenness spell on the two-edged weapons to enhance their sharpness. The creature was now upon the four warriors. At that moment, Fandia managed to cast her triple power spell.

With the spell cast, Snow pulled the terrified Fandia away from the immediate heat of the battle.

Rahl and Yalden advanced on the beast while Maltokken and Psi’el lingered behind the two.

Just before Rahl and Yalden reached the beast, again it whipped its arm around in a wide arc, showering them with another volley of the arrow-like quills. The three warriors rose their shields just in time to protect themselves from the shower of arrows. The quills clanked heavily against their shields and helmets. However, a quill-arrow found Rahl’s foot and pierced the armor there. Sharp pain shot up his leg. He fought it off and forced himself to step closer to the beast.

The beast swiped his arm downward toward Rahl and Yalden. Rahl dodged the blow of the spiked arm, despite being partially hobbled by his injured foot, but Yalden wasn’t quick enough. The arm brushed against his shoulder, which impaled him with two giant quills. Still, the fighter was able to swing his sword. The edge of it grazed the elbow of the creature, easily shearing off a number of the quills there.

Now Rahl maneuvered himself to thrust a sword into the belly of the beast. Before he could make his strike, the beast swiped at him with its other arm. Seeing the blow coming, Rahl aborted the thrust and quickly ducked back. The beast missed him broadly, but it swiped at Rahl with such force that several of the quills punctured his shield. One of the quills buried itself in his shield arm. The pain was enormous. Now purple blood dripped from his hand down his shield. While the beast recovered from its swipe, Rahl used the opportunity to slash at its arm with a quick downward slash. The sword connected, and with its triple Keenness and Anti-Chaos enchantments, the weapon easily severed the outer third of the beast’s arm. The beast let out a loud, guttural roar.

Yalden had now recovered from the massive blow to his shoulder. Now he swung his sword in a broad, lateral swipe against the right side of the beast. The sword cut deep into the beast’s side instantly. A number of severed quills fell to the ground. The beast howled in pain. Black ooze began dripping from the wound.

This time, however, Rahl was the focus of the attack. The creature raised its arms to smash Rahl into the ground with both its arms. Rahl quickly backed away. Just as the creature was going to strike him, Psi’el ran up and, swinging his flail in an upward motion, struck the creature firmly in its forearm. The creature’s arm shattered into the thousands of tiny black fragments that appeared as so many oversized toothpicks.

Snow and a stunned Fandia watched from behind the two warriors. Snow looked over at her apprentice; she appeared transfixed by the sheer, ugly horror of the beast. Snow arched her hands above her head in order to summon a lightning bolt spell to use against the beast. She pointed both her hands at the head of the beast, which was safely above the men fighting it below. Then, with a few softly spoken incantations, a bolt of lightning poured from her fingers into the head of the beast. The lightning struck the beast with a deafening bang. The beast immediately stumbled backward in a flurry of burned quills, smoke, and black ichor.

Not expecting the bolt, the four fighters fell to the ground. A second later, heavily injured by the blast but not quite defeated, the beast let out a howl of fury. It swept its arm back to cast another volley of quills at the party. Snow realized instantly what the beast was going to do. Almost without thinking, Snow created an invisible barrier between her and the beast.

“Fandia! Get behind me—now!” she shouted to her apprentice, who stood five meters to her right.

But Fandia did not move, having frozen in horror at the beast. Before Snow could say more, the beast swung its remaining arm around in a wild swipe. Dozens of the deadly arrow-like quills flew at her and Fandia. Although the quills bounced harmlessly off of Snow’s barrier, several of them struck the apprentice, who stood a mere pace outside the field of protection. Many of the quills pierced her body completely. Fandia let out a small, choking sound, then crumpled to the ground.

“Fandia!” Snow cried out.

The beast, still staggering from the bolt of lightning, had left itself open. Seeing an opening, Rahl lifted, released his shield, raised his sword, and charged at the beast. He rammed the sword into the beast up to the hilt, sinking the blade into its fetid flesh. The beast trembled spasmodically while Snow’s anti-Chaos enchantment flowed into its body, dissolving the Chaos from within like an alkali. Stinking black liquid flowed from the creature’s wound over Rahl’s arms and hands.

“Die, Chaos!” Rahl screamed as he twisted the blade in the beast’s abdomen. Finally, he heaved his muscles upward and raised the blade of his sword through the chest of the beast and out the side of its neck. Nearly split in two, the creature shuddered a few times then fell backward with a heavy thud.

Once the beast had fallen, Maltokken and Yalden rushed forward to thrust their weapons into the body of the beast, while Psi’el pulverized its head with his flail to make sure that the Chaos monster would not rise again. At once, the beast dissolved into a black goo, which oozed into the ground, leaving no trace.

Once the beast had vanished, the rest of the party ran up to the victors. Snow knelt over Fandia, showing no emotion, yanking the quills from her lifeless body. Theo was there first, staring down at the dead woman as Snow removed the last quill. Tristana stood next to Snow. For the first time, Connie thought, Tristana looked like she wanted to be around Theo.

“Fandia!” Snow said, her voice choked with emotion.

“Is she dead?” Theo asked.

“What do you think?”

“May I—?” he began. “I mean, do you mind if I—”

“—take her humors?” Snow said, finishing the question for him.

“Yes.”

“But Rahl and Yalden have been injured,” she said. “Shouldn’t you tend to them first?”

“The humors can only be taken close to the time of death,” Theo replied. “Rahl and Yalden will survive their wounds.”

Snow looked down at Fandia. Connie could not discern whether the sorceress felt remorse or if she was only angry at her former apprentice.

She rose to her feet. “Very well. But I choose not to view your extraction.”

“I will be respectful of her,” he said. “I will disturb only what is necessary.”

Snow stared deeply into Theo’s eyes, then gave Tristana a steely glance. “I don’t care what you do,” she said to Theo while looking at Tristana. “She’s dead.”

Theo removed a knife from his belt. He knelt next to Fandia and gently opened her robe to reveal her flaccid breasts and chest of ugly, purple puncture marks. Theo put the knife to the still warm flesh just above Fandia’s heart. Snow turned to walk away.

Yalden ambled up to Theo with two quills sticking out of his shoulder. “What are you doing to that girl?” he asked in a heated tone.

“I’m taking her humors. She does not need them now.”

“You need a knife to do that?”

“Her humors are located in her heart. I’m going to remove her heart to take the humors.”

Yalden seemed horrified at this statement. He drew his sword. Theo immediately got to his feet. Tristana took a step forward. Now she stood beside Theo with her axe clutched in both hands.

“I won’t let you cut out this girl’s heart. We will bury her as is proper.”

“Are you a fool?” Theo asked. We need her humors to cast spells. Spells that might even save your life.”

“What you are doing is disrespectful—particularly since you are doing it to a young girl.”

“But she is dead. What is the difference?” Theo looked down at Fandia. “We will give her a proper burial after I do this. I will dig the grave myself, if you would like.”

“You do not listen, spellcaster. I will not allow you to do this.”

Theo scrutinized Yalden. “You are a fool, Yalden. You could learn much from your brother.”

Theo knelt over Fandia again. As soon as he placed the knife at Fandia’s chest, ready to thrust it into her ribcage, Yalden advanced on him. At that moment, Tristana quickly placed herself between Theo and Yalden, her battle axe held in a position of parry.

“Move aside, lady, unless you want to join your master,” Yalden growled.

Tristana stared back at Yalden impassively. Thought Yalden was almost twice her mass, she did not seem afraid.

Yalden positioned his sword into an offensive stance. “I’m warning you.”

Before anything further could happen, Rahl limped up to them. “What is the trouble here?”

“Theo wants to cut out the girl’s heart,” Yalden said.

“Fandia is dead,” Theo said to Rahl. “I’m trying to extract her humor, and Yalden has drawn his sword on me.”

Rahl spoke to Theo, “Did Fandia say you can take her humors?”

“No. How could she? The woman is dead. How can a woman who is dead give me permission to extract her humors?”

“Then you must not take them.”

Theo got to his feet. “But Rahl, this is my only source of power in this land. Without fresh humors, my power will diminish.”

“I understand your plight, Theo. But I have to admit I concur with Yalden. Fandia was no stranger to us. And unless she had given you permission to take her humors, then you must respect her tacit wish that her body not be mutilated.”

“Rahl!” Theo shouted.

“Such it is,” he said with finality. “We will now burn the body before we depart to prevent Chaos from using it as a tool of Entropy.”

Theo gave a last lingering look at Fandia before grudgingly slipping his extraction knife back into his belt.

“Wait,” Snow said, having stayed within earshot to listen to the row between Theo and Yalden. “I gave Theo permission to take Fandia’s humors.”

“You cannot do that,” Yalden said gruffly.

“Can I not? Lest you forget, Fandia was my apprentice. I had known her since she was a child. I was like a mother to her in many ways. If anyone can give permission to take her humors, I can.” Snow looked to Theo. “Take them, Theo. And use them well. Fandia would want that.”

Theo glanced quickly at Rahl, then at Yalden. Finally, his eyes returned to Fandia. He reached for his knife again. Yalden took a step toward Theo. Tristana brought her weapon up to block him. The tension of the situation raised another notch.

“Rahl told you not to take the humors,” Yalden said to Theo.

“But you hear it. I have permission. Snow has given it to me.”

“Is that fair, Rahl?” Yalden asked his brother. “Can she do this?”

“Yes. I am afraid so,” Rahl answered. “Fandia was her apprentice. Snow can make that decision.”

“But it is not right! It is disrespectful of Fandia.”

Rahl put his arm on his brother’s good shoulder. “I don’t like the idea either. But this is what must be. Sheathe your weapon now, my kindhearted brother, and come with me. Jalban has prepared a salve for your wounds.”

At Rahl’s sympathetic words, Yalden seemed to be fighting back tears. “Chaos took Fandia like it took Jenada.”

Yalden suddenly broke away from Rahl’s touch and walked away from the group, presumably to be alone for a while. As Theo knelt over Fandia again, extraction knife in hand, Rahl and most of the others turned away toward the camp. Connie placed Rahl’s arm over her shoulder and helped him back to the camp site.

“I don’t understand Yalden,” Connie said to Rahl. “Why doesn’t he like spellcasters?”

“That goes back many years to the first time we had ever encountered magic,” Rahl said. “When Yalden and I were young, we would visit the marketplace in Roggentine while our father conducted business there. Sometimes, on a whim, we would steal fruit from the vendors there. One day we stole a handful of dates from a street merchant. Little did we know, this merchant had also had worthy skills as a spellcaster. Well, Yalden and I each grabbed a handful of dates and ran with them. The vendor shouted at us to stop. We kept running. I was quicker than Yalden, so I got away. The spellcaster cast Confusion on Yalden to stop him. The spell was exceptionally strong to be cast on a young boy. The merchant then turned him in to the constables. When Yalden came to his senses, he found that he had soiled his pants while the spell was in effect. He was humiliated. Furthermore, when our father found out, he gave us both a profound beating. For all his humiliation, Yalden became resentful of spellcasters after that day. Then five years later, another spell was cast on him in a brawl with strangers inside a tavern after he stood up to defend the honor of a barmaid he knew who worked there. Both his legs were broken by the spell. And ever since then, he does not like those who practice the art.” Rahl shook his head. “Ah, for all the trouble Yalden’s mistrust has caused him over the years. I wish it had been me who had caught the spell that fateful day we stole the dates, rather than him.”

Snow quickly cast Protection Against Chaos and healing spells on Rahl and Yalden, and Maltokken too, though he had not been injured. Although Yalden was resistant to having any spells cast on him, Rahl explained to him that once someone was exposed to Chaos, a protection must be cast upon them or else they would pick up the taint.

“This Chaos sounds like rabies,” she told Rahl after overhearing their conversation.

“What is that?” the swordbearer asked.

“It’s a disease in my world. Once a creature is infected with it, it goes around mindlessly attacking and infecting other creatures with the disease before it dies.”

“Yes. Perhaps Chaos is like this rabies you speak of.”

The party spent most of the remainder of the day tracking down the pack animals. After all of the animals had been recovered, the party set to the task of digging a grave for Fandia, but having neither the proper digging tools nor an elemental spell that could excavate the ground, the decision was made to burn her body on a pyre. Once all the wood had been gathered, they put her body on the pyre and held a brief wake for her. Snow showed no emotion during the subdued service and spoke only briefly and unaffectedly about Fandia—and only after Rahl prompted her to speak. After the wake was done, they set the pyre alight. Jalban broke down in tears as the blue flames climbed higher into the wooden frame and began licking at the body. Connie stayed with him to comfort him while the black smoke from her body curled up into the dismal green sky.

Long before the fire had gone out, Rahl led the party out of the area. They managed to travel a few more leagues toward the mountains. Light wood gradually replaced the scrubby brush. The difference in the trees was remarkable to Connie. Though the trees appeared to be the same variety as those of the Roggentine forest, the trees here grew twisted and knotted, their trunks contorted to unnatural shapes. These trees looked sickly and weak, as if they had been poisoned repeatedly.

Soon, it became too dark to travel further. They set up camp in the stone foundation of an ancient building atop a broad hill. The cold dinner consisted of dry, seasoned meat and aceralla nut tea. Rahl took volunteers for the first watch. Feeling tired from the day’s ride. Connie declined the first watch, but she accepted the second. Jalban and Psi’el took the first watch.

Connie fell into a fitful sleep. The image of the beast confronted her in the darkness of her mind, rising from the dead earth beneath her feet. She would attack the monster in her dream, destroying it with her sword. But as soon as she vanquished the creature, again it would continually rise, each time more powerful than before.

Then, in the nocturnal light of the moons, Jalban interrupted Connie’s private battle with the beast. “It is your time to watch,” he whispered to her, rousing her from her sleep.

She sat up and stretched. She quickly noticed that one of the twin moons was partially eclipsed, giving the appearance of a pair of eyes in which one eye was partially winking. This sight jarred her.

“Jalban, I have a question,” she whispered to him as he prepared his bedding for sleeping.

“Yes?”

“What are the names of the moons?”

He smiled at her. “Sarn and Khybn,” he said, clearly annunciating the names for her.

“I see. Which one is which? They both look the same to me.”

“It doesn’t matter. Call them whichever you want. Most people confuse them, anyway.”

“Which one is winking?”

“That’s Sarn?”

“How do you know?”

“Sarn rises from the east and sets in the west. Khybn rises from the southeast and sets in the northwest. It also moves faster across the sky.”

“I see. Thanks.”

Jalban wrapped himself in his blanket. It did not take him long to fall asleep, as evidenced by his snoring. She gazed up at the moons while taking sips of water from the skin in her pack. Then, wrapping the blanket around herself, she joined her watch partner, Theo, who sat on the ruined foundation. This evening, he looked bedraggled and possibly regretful that he had volunteered for the second watch.

“Good evening, Theo,” Connie said as she began her stretching exercises.

“So it is,” Theo said with a yawn.

“How did it go with Fandia’s humors? Did you retrieve them?”

Theo smiled. “Yes. They were Sanguine.”

“Is that good?” she asked, grimacing in pain as she stretched the thigh joint of her right leg.

“All humors are good to have. She was actually a competent spellcaster. Her humors are strong—all three of them. I will certainly make good use of them.”

Connie switched to stretching the joint in her left leg. “I’ll take that at face value, though I have no idea what it means.”

“What about Fandia’s nodes?” Theo asked. “Did Snow give them to you?”

“No. Should she?”

“It would be wise if she did.”

“Why should I have Fandia’s nodes if I don’t know how to cast spells?”

“You don’t now, but you can be taught.”

“By whom?”

“Snow. Now that Fandia is gone, she should take you on as her apprentice.”

Connie let out a small laugh. “I very well doubt Snow would ever do that. She despises me. And frankly, I don’t like her either.”

“Both of you need to put aside your feelings for the sake of the quest.”

“I’m sorry, Theo. I can’t imagine her helping me.”

“But she must help you. We need a solid elemental spellcaster in the party, and she has not practiced elemental magic in a long time. Not only that, if she casts elemental spells during battle, she will not be able to cast her celestial spells.”

“I don’t know,” Connie said, shaking her head. “If I were you, I wouldn’t even approach her about it.”

“I’m not going to—I’m going to talk to Rahl. He’s the party leader. Not her.”

“Good luck, Theo, but I still don’t think she’ll go along with it no matter what Rahl tells her to do.” Connie sat up from her stretching exercise. Now she found a smooth patch of ground. She lay on her back with her knees up. “Come here, Theo. Hold my feet for me.”

Theo got up from his place on the foundation and held down Connie’s feet. Connie proceeded to do sit-ups while Theo watched her. Today, she was able to do 51 sit-ups on the first set, up five from the day before.

“Why do you do this?” Theo asked while she rested for a minute.

“I’m getting Alyndia’s body into shape. I figure if I’m not able to cast spells, I might as well at least recover the martial arts skills I once had. This way I pull my own weight and make myself useful on this quest.”

“This seems very physical. You are training yourself as though you were to become a warrior. But you do not have the physique of one.”

Connie began the next set of sit-ups. “Alyndia did a lot of sitting around,” Connie said between while lifting her chest to her knees. “Believe me, this is not easy. Her body does not cooperate with my mind. It’s like I have to teach myself the moves all over again.”

She spent the next half-hour putting herself through her training regimen. Afterward, she helped Theo tend the low fire they kept burning. Now, feeling winded, she plopped herself down on the foundation of the ruined building and stared out at the dead scenery around them. The clouds were clearing just as Snow had predicted earlier in the day, and the second moon was beginning to rise into the eastern sky. Gradually, as the curtain of clouds receded to the west, the flat black sky began glowing effulgent with millions of twinkling stars. Theo and Connie sat together in silence, gazing up at them.

“You know, Theo, back in my world, I used to be into astronomy.”

“It is a pastime that is also loved by many in our world.”

“I was never very interested in the stars until I took a class in astronomy as part of my science requirement.”

“Here we have four times of the year between thirteen months, each bestowing one of four types of humors. The time you are born gives you a preponderance of humors. These humors give you your countenance.”

“It sounds like astrology to me,” Connie said.

“Yes, this is how I know the humors. There is a tale on how the gods bestowed humors upon man.”

“Really? How does it go?”

“The first man and woman were created by means of divine power. They were absolutely perfect, as perfect as the gods who made them with all manner of gifts, from the arts to artisan skills to knowledge of the spells. They would never grow old or know the taste of death. When the dragon tricked the man into drinking from the River of Death, Man was cast out of the Forest of Cera. The woman chose to follow. By doing so, she was also cursed with death, but since she had not sinned, she retained the gift of magic to be passed on to her children. Are you following this?”

“Yes. Go on.”

“At this time, the gods decreed that no man or woman borne of the flesh should ever have all wisdom and magical intelligence. They divided the traits of man into four. Now, all are born with a fourth of the original gifts we once had in the Forest of Cera, the countenance being one of four. So, that’s why there are four humors, each with its own characteristics, each with its own quarter of divinity. Since we are all given only one humor, which is a quarter of divinity, no one is perfect. That’s why we are all born with character flaws.”

“As I said, it reminds me of astrology in my world. Astrology is a foolish belief, in my opinion.”

“You wanted to know the story of the humors, and so I told you,” he sniffed.

“Don’t be offended, Theo. Your version’s pretty interesting, really. By the way, we have twelve divisions.”

“Twelve? I cannot imagine that many. Four is enough. The Salamander bestows a Choleric, changeable nature. The hanyak bestows a Phlegmatic, strong but cautious nature. The Owl gives a sad, Melancholic countenance.” Theo pointed to the sky. “And the Foxen directly above gives a Sanguine, which bestows a temperamental, energetic nature. That is the constellation in the sky.”

Connie gazed upward at the resplendent, starry canopy in an attempt to view the constellation he spoke about. Then, a surge of energy ran through her. At once she felt as though a veil that shrouded her mind had suddenly been pulled away. She jumped to her feet and spun around, looking up at the sky. She put her hands to her head in wonder, for at that moment, she recognized the sky as being the same one as viewed from Earth.

“Theo!”

He looked up at her, surprised at her sudden burst of energy. “What is it?”

“This is my sky, Theo!”

“I don’t understand.”

“I recognize these stars. These are the same ones we see in my world. Look! There’s Perseus, the Big Dipper, and the Little Dipper. And that tiny dot over there is Mars, and there is Jupiter, and there’s Saturn.”

At that moment, Rahl sat up, awoken by Connie’s outburst. “What is the problem?” he asked them, staring at Connie, who stood on top of the foundation, staring at the sky.

Connie spun around, excited. “Rahl! The sky!” she said gleefully. “It’s my sky. It’s the same sky we have in my world!”

Rahl focused his vision on the night sky. It looked unremarkable to him. Nothing about it had changed since the last time he viewed it. Now a few other party members awoke from Connie’s shouting. Yalden was on his feet in an instant with his sword drawn.

Connie stumbled along the top of the foundation, her eyes to the sky. She pointed to the heavens. “Look! There’s the Big Dipper. And see that bright star? That’s Polaris, the North Star. And look there, Theo. Those are scales. It’s Libra! It’s Fall!”

Now the entire party was awake on their feet, staring up at the sky, weapons in hand, waiting for something to happen.

“Hey, everyone! The sky says that the fall has arrived in Cerinya!”

“She woke us up just to tell us that?” Jalban said groggily to Psi’el, who stood beside him.

“I think she needs to be whipped,” he said.

“I’ll second that,” Maltokken added.

Snow stared at Connie with silent bemusement, as did Tristana. Jalban stared at her with a concerned expression, the same way he used to look at her when he thought she was a sick Alyndia.

Rahl walked over to Connie. He held out her hand to help her down from the higher part of the foundation she stood upon in an attempt to calm her down. Connie hopped down to the ground next to him. She threw herself at Rahl with a bear hug. He nearly stumbled backward from this.

“Please, Connie,” he said. “Morning comes quickly. We have a hard day of travel tomorrow. We need our rest.”

“Rahl! Do you know what it means to me to see this sky? That means I’m in the same universe as my world. Maybe my home is not so far away.”

Rahl turned to the party who stood watching them, waiting for an order on what to do next. “It is all right, everyone. You may return to your blankets.”

Gradually, everyone settled back to their warm blankets amidst curses.

“I am happy for you,” Rahl said groggily. “But we must remain silent when on watch so that the others may rest, that is, unless something threatens us.”

“I’ll do that, Rahl,” Connie said, suddenly feeling contrite. “I promise it won’t happen again.”

He gave her a warm smile. He took her arm and guided her a short distance from where the party was settling in. “Now show me what you see.”

Connie was impressed and flattered that Rahl was interested in what she saw. She eagerly pointed to him the planets, constellations, nebulae, and galaxies she recognized. Then, as she pointed these out, her mind began to ruminate over where in the universe they were. She stopped speaking to Rahl to think this over for a minute. He watched her without speaking, his dark eyes shining with the fire from the camp a short distance away.

Connie thought her memory served her correctly. This was the night sky that would be viewed from the Northern Hemisphere during the Fall on Earth, and gauging their position, they were traveling toward the North Pole. She realized the sun was the same size on Cerinya as was on Earth. Now strangely, the visible planets were not far off from their relative positions from the last time she viewed them from her telescope on the balcony at the apartment. Strangely, Venus was not visible at twilight now as it was on Earth. She covered her mouth as she tried to recall its position in relation to Earth the time she left. She recalled that because of its position in orbiting the sun relative to the orbit of the Earth, Venus was visible only at twilight and could not be seen in the morning. Now she turned to Rahl as she formulated a hypothesis on her position in the universe. Now a chill shot through her body. Could it be possible…? Surely, we would have known!

“You have this most distant look in your eyes, Lady Connie,” Rahl said to her with a note of concern in his voice. “Is there a matter that troubles you?”

Connie smiled at him. Then she broke out in laughter. Rahl gave her a puzzled look. Connie casually glanced toward the camp. She caught sight of Snow watching them intently from her place by the fire, Rahl’s empty blanket next to hers.

“I’ll let you know at sunrise,” she said brightly. “Perhaps you ought to get some sleep.”

Connie spoke animatedly to Theo for the remainder of their watch, explaining to him how the planets are arranged and scientific theory on how stars are formed. He listened to her with skepticism, arguing her every point, shrugging off most of what she said as fanciful hogwash. As the hours passed, Connie decided that Theo would make an exemplary member of the Flat-Planet Society on Cerinya, perchance one existed. Occasionally, while Connie spoke, she’d gaze up at the slowly-moving panorama of stars with a new appreciation for them.

Finally, the eastern sky began to turn a murky shade of green with the coming of sunrise. Forgetting about keeping a watch for signs of encroaching Chaos, Connie found a place to sit on one of the highest points of the foundation. A chill had come along with the heavy blanket of chlorine that always kissed the ground just before sunrise. Connie wrapped herself in her blanket to keep warm. To her dismay, clouds had formed in the eastern sky. The sky gradually segued into a lighter shade of green. Now it appeared a featureless aquamarine. Then miraculously, the clouds cleared, and there she saw the pearly white sphere of Venus suspended like an angel over the eastern horizon. The planet appeared nearly identical in size to what she remembered on Earth.

“Oh, God,” she said to herself.

What she had suspected turned out to be true: Cerinya was a planet that shared the same orbit as did the Earth—only the two planets were on the opposite sides of the sun! “But it can’t be,” she said, realizing that a celestial body as large as the world she lived on would surely have long ago been discovered by modern astronomers by any number of means.

Connie remained on the section of foundation when the sun began to peak over the horizon. She let her blanket fall away to allow the sun’s warmth to soak into her bones. Theo entered camp and began waking up everyone watching the sun, stirring up the haze of life-giving chlorine that nearly obscured the sleepers. Now the sun rose higher in the sky. Connie closed her eyes and basked in its light, knowing the light of this sun was also shining on all she knew on Earth.