Heretic
Part Three
Chapter 11
Kierna crawled, one-handed, the stump of her arm bleeding profusely into the ground. With her increased awareness she could feel the strength of her soul ebbing with each gush of blood. Without thinking, she shaped what little of her shield was left into a tight, thin covering over her arm, forcing the bleeding to stop. The pain was an enormity, but there was too much happening for it to take up most of her attention.
The ground was shaking and rumbling beneath her, and she collapsed against it, unable to keep her balance. The grass writhed back and forth like it was trying to tear itself free, while the wind howled and roared overhead. A harsh pressure seemed to push down against everything. She felt heavier, barely able to drag herself forward.
The wolves were collapsed. Had Abeini’s attack been purely physical, Kierna would surely have been killed. But she had struck out through the Godsrealm in her true form, and Abeini and Amauro were warring even now in the world all around her, behind the veil of mundanity that made up the material realm.
But she couldn’t expect that to last. She hadn’t known what the exact reaction would be, had only hoped that she wouldn’t immediately be killed by Abeini’s attack. With her Dea depleted, her soul once more small and insignificant, she hoped she would be ignored for a few more moments.
The boundary was before her, a short distance away. Just a crawl. She tried to raise up on her hand and knees, but the pressure and the shaking earth made her fall immediately. Fine then. Gritting her teeth, Kierna reached out and took a handful of grass, and dragged herself a foot closer on her stomach, pushing with her feet. Just a bit more.
The sky overhead had begun to clear, the open blue pushing the dark clouds across the heavens. In the gray sky, Eitia hung unmoving, shining bright like a crimson star. Her power shone down like a curtain of light, clearly delineating the boundary between Abeini’s lands and the wilds. She wasn’t sure if she would be safe when she reached it, but that was the only goal she could focus on now.
She was clamping her Godseye closed as hard as she could, but despite her efforts she couldn’t shut the spiritual world out entirely. Flashes of the Godsrealm appeared across her perception as though illuminated by lightning streaking across the sky. The great golden wolf Amauro rose up on her hind legs, snarling and snapping at the massive squid-like entity of Abeini wrapped around her. Their souls were burning and growing dark where they touched each other, fizzling away like water flowing into lava to become steam. Great holes had appeared in several places on their bodies already. The battle was going exactly as Kierna had hoped. Both beings were too powerful, and too fully committed to their fight. They were destroying each other.
A deep, guttural growling grew behind her. She tilted her head back as much as she could and spotted one of Amauro’s grassy constructs struggling to lift itself up. It only vaguely resembled a wolf now, flickering and twisting as bright pink energy from Abeini coursed through it. A golden glow surrounded it, the two powers warring for control. It shaped itself into a gigantic wolf’s head, lying on its side, and lunged forward at Kierna. It managed a yard or so of movement, then began to struggle again. There wasn’t much room left between them. Kierna shivered, and dragged herself further. Even as Amauro was fighting with Abeini to the death, she still would not give up the hunt.
When Kierna crossed over into the light shining from Eitia, she felt the pressure fall away. She breathed deep, her lungs aching from the weight of Abeini’s power. The wolf’s head continued closer, moving on the end of a serpentine like mass of grass. Kierna turned over and tried to struggle backwards, looking for her sword to protect herself. Where was her sword? Feeling cold, she realized she’d left it back in Abeini’s territory where she’d lost her arm.
Help me! she thought, and only realized after that she’d called forth into the Godsrealm. Amauro snapped towards her, her godly form eclipsing the sky, but Abeini bore her down, slamming her to the earth with force that flattened trees for a mile around.
An answer came. The voice was tinged with Ganiza’s calm, strong tone. Kierna looked to the sky and saw Eitia glowing there. The Godsrealm flashed into being, and for an instant Eitia appeared like a window to another place. Ganiza watched through her, reaching out a helping hand.
Kierna stretched, taking the offered aid, and felt it as their souls touched. She gasped as the white-hot energy flowed into her. It burned, but unlike with Amauro and Abeini it did not melt to nothing, but continued to push up against hers, like a reassuring hand holding up her head. Kierna took the offered Dea and drew it into herself.
All pain fell away. Her arm was still gone, her flesh still bruised, bones cracked, but the blood of the gods filled her body and rendered it all meaningless. Pulling free of the earth’s pull, Kierna rose to her feet. The wolf-head construction across the boundary gaped at her, growling nervously. Kierna drew in more and more power, and her wings appeared around her again, a shining halo that held back the wind and left her steady in the air. More, she thought, I need more.
The Godsrealm opened up before her. Abeini was wrapped so tightly around Amauro that their bodies were blurring together, streaks of silver Dea leaking off of them like blood from open wounds. Amauro was turned away from Abeini, still focused on Kierna, still roaring with fury. Kierna felt the full force of her hate wash over her, conveying in full detail what a million spoken words could not explain. Kierna rocked back, shocked by what she felt. Deep inside, she felt a sadness as acknowledged an uncomfortable truth.
Her power was returned, Ganiza’s Dea fueling her, giving her greater strength than she’d even held at the start of the battle. Looking through Eitia she could see the massive form of Ganiza’s soul, still shining tall and strong, and realized how much greater she was. How far Kierna still had to go.
Focusing all of the Dea offered to her, Kierna shaped it into a single great blade. She took a deep breath, and shot up towards the heavens on wings of light. Farther and faster she flew, the cold air whipping by her, until her vision turned gray as she flew into the clouds. She flew higher, and burst out of the clouds into the open blue sky, the sun shining down brightly on her. She hung there for a moment, weightless. And the she plummeted.
Her wings pushed her downward, growing faster, the great blade of her soul readied. Amauro and Abeini were just beneath her. She hit the boundary of Abeini’s land and cut through it in less than a second. Just long enough for the goddess’ great eye to flick towards her in surprise.
Then she struck.
The ground shook with massive impact, the stone hill of where the sword-priests camped cracked down the middle. A huge cloud of dust exploded upward, propelled higher by a stem of debris.
The Godsrealm shook.
Kierna’s soul sang.
Two goddesses died.
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Kierna opened her eyes to see dark clouds. The dust churned up by her final strike blocked out the sky. Pain ebbed and flowed across her body with slow, tentative pushes. She groaned and rolled over, reaching out with her left hand to hold herself up on the ground.
She slid and fell, and her arm went hot with pain. Tears stung her eyes, and when she opened them she could see the stump there before her. Its end was capped with a silvery glimmer of light gone dark, her power shaped like a bandage to keep the blood from flowing. The sight of it hit her like a hammer blow. She just stared at it, unable to comprehend what she was going to do now.
“Kierna!” She turned slowly, the distant voices finally reaching her. Towards the stone hill on which they’d camped a plume of dust blocked much of her sight. The grassland between her and it was torn and shredded, with great craters and fissures dotting its surface. There was more bare dirt than grass covering it now. It looks like… Her thought trailed off, unable to think of a metaphor that could account for such damage. It looked like a battlefield of the gods.
“H- here!” Kierna shouted, choking, and devolved into a coughing fit. Should have held back some of that Dea. Shaking, she managed to get to her feet. From her new height, she could see two figures moving through the battleground towards her, turning side to side in searching. She lifted her arm and waved.
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The next time Kierna woke, the sun was setting in the west, a full day having passed while she rested. Vaguely, she remembered waking a few times, eating, drinking water, drifting back to sleep listening to Farrus and Garreth’s hushed conversation.
Now, she heard nothing but the crackling and popping of the fire near at hand. Her first thought went to her arm. She moved, surprised at how strangely light it was. She wondered if she would ever get used to it, or just continue to be surprised that what she expected to be there was gone.
Rising up, she saw a huddled form lying wrapped in a cloak beside the fire. Her first thought was that it was Hammarra, lying as quiescent as always. Then she looked closer, and saw the cloak lit by the warm fire. Deep green, with maroon and orange patterns woven throughout it. Yellow tassels all along the edge. Ostentatious and attention-seeking. That was Baako’s cloak, of course. She looked around, saw no one else within sight, and panic gripped her chest.
She stood, held herself still, and considered. She was tired, and ached, but she felt capable of moving around. There was none of the grinding sensation inside that would hint at broken bones. Aside from the lost arm, she’d made it through the fight with Amauro relatively well. Her miracles—her Dea—had protected her from serious harm.
She caught Baako’s eye as she passed by. He was awake, eyes watching her like a serpent slithering close to his resting place. There was no warmth in him now. He was only frightened of her. She could not blame him. As she passed, she had to step over a three foot fissure in the rock shelf, a remnant of the blow she’d struck to the two goddesses.
Voices led her onward, and the sound of water splashing. For the first time in nearly a week, Kierna felt her heart grow lighter, a smile breaking free on her face as the sight came into view. Garreth was sitting on a rock at the edge of the pond, fishing with a pole made from a cut tree-branch. Farrus stood back behind him, his lean form relaxed for once. And Hammarra, looking old and thin and very tired, sat between them, grinning as they talked.
“Hammarra,” Kierna started to rush over, then grew dizzy and had to slow down. “You’re awake.”
“Yes, well, I’ve slept long enough haven’t I? At least, that’s what everyone says. For some damn reason I can’t remember much. Don’t even remember the fight I got hurt in.” Hammarra grimaced, as though she felt she was missing out by not remembering nearly killed.
“You don’t remember…?”
“Kenth? No. I’m sorry. All this time, waking up, confused, I thought he was around her somewhere. Things could have been a lot worse though. We’re still here,” Hammarra said.
The four of them soon returned to the fire. The fish in Abeini’s pond were plentiful, and Garreth caught enough for them to feast on. At first they talked about nothing, reminiscing on Kenth and the Sword-Monastery. But there was a tension there, unspoken, visible in the way Farrus and Garreth looked at Kierna when she was turned away, like they were still trying to determine if it was really her. As the food ran out and the conversation died, Kierna sighed.
“There’s some things I need to tell you all about. You saw what happened yesterday. You know I’m no longer the same as I was when we started this journey. It’s time you learned why.”
Kierna didn’t hold anything back. She explained the talks she’d had with Ganiza, her fledgling practice at utilizing her Dea, her turning away from Jehx’s miracles to take up her own power. After everything that had happened, Kierna was able to look at it honestly. She saw the shock in their eyes, and knew that she was now as much a heretic as the man she was hunting.
“Lord Jehx has done nothing to make me doubt him. I still believe in him. But… when I was fighting with Amauro, in the final moment when I saw what she was, I realized something. Jehx is not representative of our creators. For every truly good god, there are a hundred more like Amauro. Vain, merciless, cruel, with no love for those they rule and no one to whom they must answer. Gods are singular in purpose, and without being forced, they won’t change. We, priests of Jehx, fight for justice. But what justice can there really be when the gods who create injustice are spared from reprisal? All that we do is like sprinkling water on a wildfire. Something has to change.”
“What are you saying, Kierna?” Garreth asked. Kierna looked up into the night sky. In the darkness, she couldn’t see anything, but when she slipped open her Godseye Eitia’s glow shone like a bright star overhead. Ganiza was still on her way. She would be there in a day or so. And then…
“Tomorrow, I want you three to return to the army,” Kierna said. They started to object, and she held up her hand. “There’s no choice. It’s wonderful that Hammarra is conscious now, but she’s still hurt, and we don’t know the extent of her injuries until she is looked over by a doctor or Lector.”
“But you’re not coming with us?” Farrus asked. Hurt shown in his eyes, and she gave him a sad smile that she hoped would soften her words.
“I can’t. I don’t belong there anymore. I’m not sure I ever did. I’m going to continue though. The quest Lord Jehx gave me, it was never about Isaand Laeson. It’s his god Szet that is the danger. If he’s planning something that will ruin this land, then Isaand may know the details. And now… there’s so much more I think I need to learn. I’d very much like to talk with him.” One heretic to another.
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Twenty-three miles away, shrouded in darkness, a thick tangle of thorns covered a hillside. The locals called it cursed, unholy, claimed by none of the gods whose lands bordered it. Stakes topped with antelope skulls ringed the thicket, warning all good men and women to stay away.
Ganiza had left Malerax and Aeshena outside. She did not expect to be gone long. Though her conversation may take many hours, it would take place outside the bounds of time as it flowed on this material plane. Nor did she fear danger. The goddess she planned to speak to was far more powerful than she, but the two of them had an agreement.
As she knelt and picked her way through the thorns she tapped into the strand of her Dea that connected her to Eitia, her familiar. She floated over the ruins of Abeini’s land, watching as Kierna said her farewells. The warm feeling of pride burned inside Ganiza’s chest as she looked down on her protege. Her first flight had been rough, but the woman had grown faster than she could have ever expected. Already, she had lifted her sword against the gods who had demanded her servitude, and slain two goddesses. Kierna was rigid, stubborn and skeptical. She would push back against any attempt to manipulate her, but she’d shown herself receptive to the honest revelation of truth. Soon, perhaps she would be willing to look further.
Once this meeting was concluded, Ganiza would know where to find Isaand Laeson. Alone, she’d have been concerned at confronting him. Szet was unknowable, and the thousands of gods who had believed him harmless had been proven just how much they’d underestimated him when the shackles of his Pact had snapped shut, trapping them all in his will. With such a warrior as powerful as Kierna protecting her though, Ganiza thought approaching him was worth the risk. If he was the threat she thought he was then stopping him was worth the danger. More importantly, if he proved half as pliable as Kierna Sarana, then the benefits of an alliance with him could far eclipse any peril he might represent.
Emerging into the middle of the thicket, Ganiza stepped carefully forward. The thicket was almost pitch-black, but she could feel a carpet of bones crunching beneath her feet. Kneeling in the midst of the space, she opened her Godseye wide, leaving her body behind and stretching her Dea out around her. The darkness was illuminated, the bones beneath her became a swirling mass of souls, reaching at her and begging for mercy, crying out in torment. She shivered at their cries, but steeled herself. They were beyond saving.
Before her, an immense presence lurked in the shadow, waiting. Ganiza called out to it.
“Unbound One, Awlta of the Suffering, please hear my call.”
End of Part Three