Bargain of Shadows
Chapter 9
For a second, no one moved, then everyone moved at once to make up for lost time.
Ryu and Kaarn both were so startled their horses picked up on it and danced back a bit in confusion forcing them to react again to quiet the animals as Ryu cursed more vividly than the confusion of the horses could account for. Deis made a sigh using the fingers of her left hand that Alessa recognized as something to ward off evil. Mono's reaction was something only Alessa noted. The woman went pale, visible even under her gold-tinted complexion and hung her head letting her hair fall over her face, gripping the reins of her horse more tightly.
Alessa herself felt only a depressing emptiness. Like something she had been dreading was here though she had not known. All she could think about was what Akami had told her before she left, in private. She suddenly felt sick but desperately tried to force hreself to stay calm. Antagonizing Ico was the last thing she wanted to do.
Ico for his part, barked a laugh that had a touch of wildness to it and his mouth twisted in a mixture of anger, contempt and fear.
"That's why you kept your hood on," she said at last.
"How very calm of you," he answered.
"Ico, don't. We just--"
"I don't want to hear it Alessa," he said through clenched teeth. "My head already hurts enough as it is."
"How could they... they grow... in just a few days? What the hell are you?" Deis demanded.
Alessa bit back an angry retort. The sister she had gotten to know over the last few days was very different from the little tag-along pest that she had tried to escape as a girl, but one thing hadn't changed in that Deis was still a step or two slow to empathize with people or actually think about the personal impact her words would have on someone else. Not that Alessa herself was an exemplar of emotional understanding, but she could recognize a delicate emotional situation when it was thrown in her face like this. Ryu saved the moment by gripping Deis's arm so hard she turned to him breaking off anything else she would have said to Ico.
"It doesn't change anything," Ryu began.
"Yet here you stand in looking at me," Ico began but Kaarn cut him off.
"He doesn't mean you! We still need to get to the castle. Or have you decided that your people mean nothing to you. Just because you have horns you've decided you don't care anymore, is that it?"
Ico stared at him clenching and un-clenching his fist and Alessa got the sense that he was on the edge of sudden violence. Deis was still talking angrily with Ryu so neither of them spotted it, but Kaarn suddenly went very still and Alessa knew from her own experience that if Ico did try anything Kaarn would make him very sorry very fast. But she didn't know what to do, what do say to defuse the situation. But maybe that was the way to get through to Ico, remind him of why they were going to the castle anyway. Taking a breath she plunged in.
"Then why go with us at all? You can just leave and go your own way, be by yourself and no one has to see you. We'll think of something to tell your wife when we come back, because she'd never accept the truth. Your husband grew horns and ran away. That will go over very well I imagine—"
"Stop it!" Mono shrieked. "Just stop!"
Even Ico turned to look at her. Mono's hands were pressed tightly against the sides of her heads as if she had a headache of her own.
"Mono—" Alessa began.
"No!" the woman shouted. "That woman, that mage is still poisoning the land with the Power. I feel it. I can't stop to take blame no matter how much I deserve it. I don't care, I don't care if I go alone!"
"You are... surprisingly correct," Ico admitted. "But I don't wish to have you looking at me like that."
"The only thing we can do is move on," Ryu said through gritted teeth.. "If it's what you want ride behind us but stay within ear shot."
"Hey--" Deis began.
"Shut up!" Ryu snarled. "I don't want to hear another word about this, not another damn word until we stop tonight!"
He kicked his mount into a walk and the rest of them had no choice, they had to follow or be left behind. In the end, Alessa and Mono rode behind Ryu and Deis who were still talking animatedly and with Kaarn bringing up the rear and Ico a short space behind him.
As evening fell and they sat around a small campfire in a forest clearing they could hear the distant thunder to the south from the storms rumbling over the Forbidden Lands. The air itself felt warm and heavy--charged with angry energy just waiting to be unleashed. None of them felt like cooking so they made a small meal of the rations they had packed, mostly dried fruits and smoked bird meat from the pigeons and doves of the Forbidden Lands with some of the grasses. Ryu and Deis sat together talking quietly about their approach to castle, their argument of the afternoon only a memory while Kaarn checked on the horses to make sure the hobbles were properly set and they had enough grass not to run off looking for more. That left Alessa to try and coax Mono into some sort of proactive movement. Ico's revelation had apparently shaken the girl badly as she had said barely a word after her outburst. Since throwing back his hood, Ico was even more moody and quiet than he had been the last few days and there was a palpable bubble around him that Alessa felt uncomfortable breaching.
Finally, Mono nodded to Alessa and when Kaarn returned, she spoke.
"I'm sorry, Ico I wish none of this had ever happened," she began heavily. "That you have horns is my fault."
"I don't see how it could be," Alessa replied. "Not from what you've told me…"
"Thank you Alessa, but it is," Mono said firmly, her shinning black head bent. The firelight played off her glossy black hair making her somehow more luminous and reason enough for all eyes to be on her. "Ico, please explain how the horns are viewed, I think it would make things clearer from you." When he didn't respond Mono sighed and repeated, "Ico… please. It's my fault but please."
"Very well. In my culture, the presence of horns are more than just bad luck," Ico said in a tone more of annoyance than anything else. "They are a sign of ill omen in the strongest meaning of the term. We have been told since the beginning of our settlements to watch for the sign of horns and be wary lest we welcome destruction into our homes."
"What your people never knew was why you were told to watch for the horns. It has to do with how I came to be in the Shrine and embodied the spirit of that place."
"Have you remembered then?" Kaarn wondered.
"No," Mono replied. "Not… entirely. I was still mostly in the human world when it happened but there was a child. There was something about him, something like the power that was changing me. I cared for him like a mother but like all children he wished to leave when he grew older. I knew that he would be hated in the world outside though I remembered and still remember little of it. When he left that place and entered into the outside world, I used the power of that place."
"What could you have done?" Deis asked curiously. "I thought your powers were bounded by the cliffs, tied to the land."
"It was difficult," Mono agreed. "It was only afterwards I became extremely detached from the human world. When I used the power so much of it passed through me that it changed me into something with a step in that supernatural realm. I felt so distant, I stopped being entirely human, I couldn't quite seem to understand people anymore."
"So what did you do?" Deis persisted. "How did you use that power?"
"There were only the two of us. He never knew that things would be different beyond the cliffs. When he reached the gap in the cliff face, I stretched to the limit of my power and caused him to fall into a deep sleep. I am always stronger in dreams and I could touch someone more deeply that way. I used my power one last time to shield and seal the power of the horns away in him. Unfortunately the nature of the horns was not what I had believed. I proved unable to remove them without killing him—and so the horns passed on to his descendants, which eventually became Ico's people. When the power was torn away from me, the seal was broken."
"Why don't half the people of the Forbidden Lands have horns then?" Alessa asked the dark-haired girl. "After so many years..."
"I don't know..." Mono admitted. "Maybe its diffused after so many years."
"But doesn't that mean that with careful planning you could eventually submerge the horns?" Deis countered.
"Selective breeding?" Kaarn said disgusted.
"I didn't mean it that way," she replied annoyed.
"I say again, I don't know. I do not know how to determine the strength of the horns."
"It's not really important for our purposes anyway, is it?" Ryu asked, speaking for the first time. He was casually cleaning his sword and hadn't even looked up when he spoke.
"No," Mono agreed. "If I can regain the power from that woman and return to the Forbidden Lands I should be able to reseal the horns."
"But the horns are just symbols aren't they?" Kaarn asked. "It doesn't mean anything by itself."
"You know as well as I do how little it takes to mark someone out," Alessa returned. "I always felt like a stranger because no one else in my family was as pale or had red hair. Only looking at our bodies, would you say Deis and I are sisters? I just looked out of place—can you imagine how most people would react?"
"Precisely," Ico said bitterly. "Even Akami... I know I would see it in her eyes."
"Oh no," Alessa breathed. "You'll be able to home again. She wouldn't turn away from you Ico, she loves you!"
Ico said nothing but he pointedly looked away from her and Alessa sighed in spite of herself. She was surprised when Deis reached over and squeezed her hand and she looked at her sister for a moment buoyed by the confidence in her eyes.
"We won't fail," Ryu snarled into the silence. "Ico listen to me, Alessa, Kaarn and I all know what it's like not to have a home to go back to. We're not going to abandon you, and we're going to make sure you come home with your head held high."
"I won't either," Deis said, backing him up. "You fought beside me and proved yourself to me. I may open my mouth at the wrong time, but I don't see any reason to leave."
"Thank you," Ico said at last, and finally there was a little of his old warmth in his voice. "I kept this from Akami. I couldn't bring myself to tell her—but she nearly found out despite my efforts. Even if she did still love me, she'd be afraid of me now, afraid of what could happen. The others surely wouldn't understand, I know what my reaction would be and to see my own wife recoil... To get that understanding from you people, people I have only just met when my own people would hesitate. It's good to know I'm not alone."
"Never," Mono said passionately. "I know what it is like to be alone and I would not wish that on anyone, especially you."
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Several days passed as the travelers continued on to Ishoken castle along the western coast. After that first night Ico opened up more to the others, regaining some of his old spirit though there was an undercurrent of depression and tension running through him and he kept to himself. Strangely enough, it was Alessa who felt most alone during the early part of the journey as Ryu and Deis kept each other company, talking in low quiet voices and Kaarn focused on leading the party. She felt unaccountably left out and so more out of desperation than anything else she began to talking to Mono.
At first the girl who looked so like Akami barely responded. While she didn't want anyone else to be alone, Mono couldn't help but feeling that she deserved to be alone for her failure against Nekozna. At first, Alessa talked at her about inconsequential things, the weather, the forest around her, but eventually found herself telling Mono about the circumstances that led to her separation from her homeland and her family and it was this that made inroads with Mono.
"…so we've run until we can't run anymore," she finished.
"It sounds difficult to live that way," the dark haired girl replied.
"It's not easy I suppose but we managed. I surprised myself with my fighting ability and the three of us could get by. Still there were a few times that I thought it was all over for us. Ryu and Kaarn are like my family sometimes."
"But now your sister is here."
"My real family. I'm grateful in a way," she laughed. "Deis and I finally got a chance to talk and we fought side by side. I saw that my pedantic little sister could improvise and relax enough to gain the trust of her people and Deis saw her weak, selfish older sister could actually fight on a battlefield for someone else. It took being separated from each other for years for us to look at each as people and not as royal sisters. I think I understand why she didn't come with us when we had the chance. She couldn't bear to abandon the people our family had ruled over for generations and saw my leaving as a betrayal. I couldn't bear to rule over them under an Empire whose philosophy is crushing people who get in its way—if I did I would be the one betraying them, their trust in me."
"You have thought about this then."
"I didn't think about much else after we fled. We were so wrong," Alessa laughed almost bitterly. "My father thought if we bloodied them up some we could force them to the table, that we could make it too costly for them to continue the war. He said everyone has neighbors they don't trust but he was wrong. There are no nations across the ocean. Only the Empire. I can't even imagine that.
"That's why Nekozna came. There was another kingdom—larger than ours—and she was sent to gather information on how to stop the invasion. But she betrayed us to the Empire to increase her own power. She found out the hard way that no one trusts a traitor. The Empire used her services then gave her a choice: leave or die. That's why she came to the Forbidden Lands, she wanted the power in the Shrine. So it's all connected. Us, Deis, Nekozna, the Empire."
It was only later that Alessa realized that Mono had subtly guided their conversations, letting Alessa talk herself out about her theories, her fears and her confused emotions regarding her sister. It was only after Alessa had spoken that Mono volunteered anything about herself. Discussing both the strange time she spent as a sort of half-spirit tied to the land and the distant memories she was still struggling to recover. She also confided in Alessa the plan she had formulated to deal with Nekozna and contain the power away from the Forbidden Lands.
The plan, formed after long discussions about Ishoken Castle's architecture with Kaarn and to be finalized once Mono saw it for herself, was comparatively simple. Ishoken castle had two major towers a central hall area, and finally one enormous tower located on an island in the sea located at the rear of the castle. Mono would tie the seal into the castle itself, anchoring the spell in the three towers would provide the strongest construct for her to contain and seize the power. Mono hoped to return to the Shrine of Worship after regaining the power but she also confided to Alessa that she was also considering that she would have to remain within the seal. Alessa dismissed that, but Mono remained silent in the face of the redhead's protests and patiently explained that she had held a measure of control over the power when she was anchored in the shrine. However then the power had grown inside her from a tiny seed, now she would be taking it on full force combined with all the ambition and selfish intent that Nekozna brought to it resulting in her calm assessment that she might not even be able to make it as far as the Forbidden Lands before the power overwhelmed her. Her memories of gaining the power in the first place were still as clouded as ever but she knew it would not be a simple matter.
The forest around them was quiet, like it was waiting with none of the usual animal noises that had been prevalent in the forbidden lands. It hadn't been that way at the beginning of their journey, but as they drew closer to the castle the stillness grew and not only in the woods, but the sky. At one point they crested a hill in the woods that allowed them to look out over the forest back the way they'd come. In the direction of the Forbidden Lands, they could see a dark smear of clouds and faint flickers of light that were almost surely lightning bolts.
"It's getting worse," Alessa whispered. "The shaman said it would. I hope the Shrine stands up to it."
"Look away," Deis replied. "The only thing we can do is push on. Being distracted and worried for them won't help us at the castle."
Though they were following the track that the soldiers had taken to reach the Forbidden Land, the path was still covered in heavy undergrowth and progress was slow. At times they had to dismount and lead their horses through the forest. After several days they were all cut and scratched from branches and thickets they had to navigate. Still, after a week and far sooner than Alessa had really hoped for the five of them finally arrived at Ishoken Castle.
The first thing Alessa noticed about the castle was the tremendous causeway that spanned the gap between it and the mainland. The castle itself was built on a series of four massive islands, built more like thick pillars of rock thrusting up out of the ocean and flattened out by countless hours of labor with the castle itself shaped vaguely like a T with the narrow end pointing out towards the ocean. Two squat towers were built on the ends of the T, connected to the central island by long stone bridges that were sculpted to look more like the crenelations of a castle wall. The main keep itself was built on the large central island with a massive gate covered in bronze work and carved with abstract swirls and lines at the end of the causeway blocking the way in... except they were wide open, and you could see a courtyard with several pillars leading into the main castle. Beyond the main keep was an inner keep in the form of an enormous tower on the island farthest from the mainland connected to the main keep via a stone bridge. From directly in front the inner keep looked like only another tower, but from a distance along the coast it was obvious that it was on an island that rose much lower from the waterline and was built much taller to be of a level with the rest of the structure. Ishoken Castle was imposing to say the least, even to Deis who had seen some smaller versions of Imperial architecture.
"That place looks like it could hold out forever," Ryu said where he was crouched next to Alessa's sister with a telescope to his eye.
"If you don't have the ships for a blockade forget about a siege," Deis agreed. "With the right resources it makes an excellent place to control the entire region. If the Empire ever gets down here they'll use this as their base without a doubt."
"You mean you'll recommend it to them," Ryu said tonelessly.
"That's exactly what I mean," Deis nodded.
"Didn't know you were a True Believer."
"Shut up, you really don't know as much as you think you do. How high do you think the cliffs are--?"
"Pretty high, at least as high as the cliffs in the Forbidden lands, maybe as high as the Shrine itself. Hard to say, though."
"The Shrine's a good measure," Deis agreed. "I can't imagine how the shrine got built though, the castle's impressive but you know people made it. Speaking of which, I don't see anyone on the walls. Do you?"
"No. No activity at all except the windmill. The gate's wide open but there's no one in the courtyards either. Wait... Deis take a look at the base of the small island." He handed the telescope back to Deis and she inched a little more forward over the edge of the cliff, causing some gravel and dust to tumble down the sea-cliffs. Ryu reached out and took a firm hold on her belt just in case. He felt her tense for a second, but then she relaxed and continued to scan the castle.
"What do you... that's a cave isn't it?"
"That's what I thought," Ryu answered. "Look at the mouth of the cave, it looks like there are pillars or something carved around it. That might mean it's another entrance."
"Or it might just be a shrine that's not connected to the rest of the castle. I wish I could think of some way to investigate it."
"We still might need to try it. Sometimes there are no good options."
"I know that," she answered softly.
"Let's get back, I think we've seen all we can for now."
Ryu and Deis carefully made their way back along the cliffs until they were once more in the forest and hidden from any observers on the castle. The others were there in the camp they had made when they reached the castle the day before. Kaarn looked up when they reached it nodding to them while Alessa and Mono stopped talking and turned to them. Ico had already focused his attention on them. Deis and Ryu exchanged a look and he shrugged. Deis took a deep breath.
"Unless we use a boat the only way in is through the causeway," she said. "If we had the time I'd be willing to make a boat, but from what I understand we don't have the time that would take."
"It's your mouth that gets you in trouble not your mind," Alessa observed. "I know you too well to think we're going to charge on in."
"Naturally," Deis nodded to her sister. "We've been watching the place for two days and haven't seen a light in any of the windows yet. There's been no movement at all in fact, not that we've seen. They might be hiding but I don't know why. They might assume we'd chase after them, but I don't see how that would make them make the place look deserted."
"Agreed," Kaarn said. "What's the point of opening the gates? They know we have to come to them regardless."
"This is Ishoken Castle, none of us know anything about the lord here, or why he'd do such a thing," Ryu admitted. "But I don't think this is his doing. He led his troops, he fought us and he's good, a warrior. As a warrior, this is something that goes against the kind of behavior he's trained himself in. Besides if this is his castle, he doesn't want us doing damage to it."
"The mage? You think it's her doing?" Deis said suddenly.
"Yes," Mono said speaking for the first time. "I can feel it, the power is soaking the entire castle and it's bleeding into the surrounding ground. I can feel it faintly here, but it has gotten stronger, even after one day. It is forming a web."
"She's tying it into the local matrix?" Alessa blinked.
"It's seeping through the land," Mono continued. "It's being controlled by her will, she is imposing it on nature, trying to make the land as much a part of her as the Forbidden Lands were tied into me when I held the power. There it is confined, but with the mage's own natural talent the power has become much more finely focused... and that much more difficult to stop."
"Are you saying it's going to keep expanding?" Kaarn demanded.
"Yes," Mono agreed. "Then the land will respond to her above all else."
"The more she changes the land the more power she gets so we need to stop her now, I don't care if it is a trap, we need to stop her," Alessa said, clenching a fist.
"The four of you know that woman, that mage, better than I do," Ico said. "Why would she do this?"
"It's the despair," Alessa said at last. "It's got to be. Nekozna wants us to know that she doesn't care if we come in, we can't stop her anyway."
"She's wrong," Ryu said smiled grimly.
