"Look, listen to my voice/If you're making the choice tell all the girls and the boys/either scream or rejoice, let's make that noise/Either move of we well all be destroyed/Move and show me what you can do/when you step into the circle and shake like we do/move when you just can't take it/and move when you just feel like breaking it."
-Move, by TFK
My older brother used to love TFK -- Thousand Foot Krutch, if you don't know the lingo -- and he's home tonight, so I had to listen to them in his honor. I feel like I should always give some sort of tribute to the music I listen to while I write. it would be twice as sucky as it is now if I didn't have a soundtrack.
A Lady in the Golden Wood
The silence was unbearable. It filled every corner of the shady room and muffled the distant sounds from the streets. It wrapped itself around Kristin's head, making her ears buzz and eyes droop. Something was pulling at her conscious, a small yet consistent tug that made her want to fall asleep.
"I'll be back," Kris announced, standing from the bench and swinging one leg over the wood.
"What-"
"You have nothing to worry about," Kris assured Achilles, grabbing her knives and backing away from the table before he could restrain her. "I won't be going anywhere until I have your answer." She moved towards the door as she slung the leather straps over her shoulders. "Maybe you can make your decision easier when I'm out of your way."
"Where will you go?" Achilles asked warily, tensing for movement.
"No where," Kris said, then changed her mind. "Maybe I'll walk around the city for a bit."
"Stay out of the south streets, if you can," Alcaeus advised her. "You never know what you might find down there."
"Of course," Kris laughed. "I'm not entirely defenseless, you know." She winked, something she hadn't done in a very long time, and left the dark room. The fresh air and sunshine was enough to banish the drained feeling that had taken up residence in Kristin's limbs, but did nothing to the detachment she felt. She walked around the corner of the house till she stood in front of the smithy, facing the road. It was empty and dusty, just another gold-brown canal in this sandy city. There had to be hundreds of them that all looked exactly the same.
Not exactly interesting enough to keep me awake, Kris thought to herself. At least, not right now. She debated it for a moment, still staring at the at the empty street. Her sight grew black around the edges; she shook her head, making it worse, then took a few steps back and sunk down against the warm wall.
Head between her legs, Kris took a deep breath, thinking to clear her mind. But the intake of warm air simply made her sight darker. Hmmm. In the middle of trying to remember how much sleep she'd gotten the night before, Kris let her mind wander after that small, insistent tug.
The next sensation she felt was cold. Cold; a soft, plush material underneath her; and a tightness of skin on her forehead.
"You've got to be freaking kidding me," she moaned, refusing to open her eyes.
"Thank God," someone said matter-of-factly near her head. Kris frantically searched her mind for the memories that had returned, horrified to think that her purpose might have disappeared again, leaving her as a shell of what she should be. Kristin, Carbrian's daughter of the North. Kristin, sent by Maude, to find Achilles and bring him north. Kristin, whose brother is Conrad, best friend Flame, protector Tristan.
"Kristin?"
"Yes, thank the gods, I still am," she said, finally opening her eyes to the brightness of Base One.
Kris sat up and came face to face with Mark. It took a moment for his face to register. She'd always thought her cousin would have been a better jock than a nerd, with brown hair that was always dropping in his hazel eyes, an impish smile that could be cute if you weren't annoyed with him, and the build of an athlete. Maybe if he'd been a little nicer to her, she would have told him so, but for some reason, she'd never had much time in which to compliment Mark.
Three worlds. North, South, and the Base world. Somehow, I don't think Maude understood what she was really doing.
"You don't look too much the worse for wear," Mark said conversationally.
"Well, you haven't tried taking me off the network yet, have you?" she asked.
"No, I haven't." Kris nodded, still looking into his eyes, then looked past him. No one else was nearby. "Well, aren't you a wonderful little genius."
"Definitely not wonderful," Mark said, "but you are allowed to call me a genius." He lifted a hand to Kristin's forehead, pressing his hand against her skin and suction cups. "Feeling okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said, smiling a little. "Sort of confused, but otherwise I'm doing good." She scowled as Mark brushed her hair back from her face. "How'd you get here so fast?"
"Kris, it's been two days," Mark said, scowling back.
"Exactly," she replied. "Two days is like, a few minutes."
"Kris, it's been two days here."
"No, it was two days in Greece."
"No, it's been, like, five months in Greece," Mark said, his scowl deepening.
"Well, something's gone wrong with the time machine, because it has only. Been. Two. Days." Kris rolled her eyes, but she was starting to worry. How am I going to explain this to him?
"Kris, do you feel alright?" Mark asked.
"I'm fine," she said, a wave of unease rolling across her mind. "But I've got to explain some things to you," she added on impulse, a spur of the moment decision.
"Oh no," Mark groaned, rolling his eyes.
"Listen," Kris snapped, "nothing from you, okay?" She glared at him, and Mark stared through his hair back at her. Something poked at her memory, some recollection of having seem him somewhere else, not in this world. "Mark," she said softly.
"Mark!"
The command was shouted across the field; as one, the trainees lifted their bows and took aim. A heart-beats time after the call was made, arrows thudded simultaneously into a row of targets across from the fighters. The tall man beside me was my father, and the tall man beside him was an emissary from the West.
"We understand what the East is doing," the ambassador was saying. We three were walking along the edge of the field towards a group of horses near the road. The ambassador was travel-weary; he looked as if he'd been on the road for days without much rest. "But we have received no word from Lady Kirifna on how we must act. As you know, we can make no moves with our army until the Princess says we must."
"I understand," my father said, hiding very well the disappointment he must have felt. "Of course."
"But I have not come entirely in vain," the man continued. "With me are our sorcerers who have determined to come to your aid. The Western Sorcerers have been harassed by Coal and her witches for years. These are the ones who want to take part in her downfall."
We'd reached the group by the road. Fourteen people stood up straight and faced us.
"These are our best," the ambassador said proudly. "They have pledged themselves to serve you, King Carbrian." As my father did, I searched the faces of these Western Sorcerers. Five were men above the age of twenty, and my interest remained low. Six were women of the same age, and my gaze passed over them. One was an old man. One was a teenage boy.
And one was Flame Firebright, no more than four years my senior.
As Kris remembered these events, it wasn't Flame's face that stuck in her memory. It was the face of the teenage boy.
The face of the man in front of her.
"Aha!" she exclaimed, jabbing a finger in Mark's chest.
"Well, you did only see me that once," he said, shaking his head with a sad sort of smile. "I didn't expect you to even remember."
"Maude does know about this, then," Kris mused. She felt overjoyed. Here was someone who would help her. Here was someone who understood what she must do.
"Maude sent me," Mark said simply.
"Then can you explain something to me?" Kris asked, swinging her legs over the side of the pad into a more comfortable sitting position. "What is this place?"
"This place," Mark said quietly, "is simply part of the South." Kris stared at him.
"Impossible," she finally said. "Absolutely impossible."
"The South has remained unexplored for thousands of years," Mark continued. "It stretches further than the North, West, and East combined. There are places that no human was ever gone, and there are times that no one has ever lived in. This is simply one of those places and one of those times."
"Amazing," Kristin breathed. "And to think that they have no idea."
"Only few do," Mark esaid. "No one is ever told about it unless it's necessary. A few people do know, though. Maude, for example. Also, Flame Firebright. Possibly Galmoun of Stone Hill."
"Does Tristan know?"
"Possibly." Mark shrugged. "But this isn't important at the moment," he continued. "I have a message for you from Maude."
"Have you been holding onto this message for sixteen years?" Kris asked suspiciously.
"My orders were to wait until you showed signs of remembering," Mark stated. "But you never did. I meant to send you into the Greek part of the South, hoping to jog your memory, but it was always blocked until roughly three days ago. The moment I found out I could send you, I did."
"Hmmm."
" 'Hmmm' indeed," Mark joked. "Our entire plan was almost ruined by that little setback."
"What is the message?" Kris asked abruptly.
"From Maude Whitethorn, to her student Kristin, King's Daughter. Greetings. I need you to hurry up and get on with it." Mark chuckled to himself after he repeated these words. "As you know, Coal has been disabled by Flame for the time being-"
"Wait," Kris snapped. "I didn't know that."
"You didn't?" asked Mark. "Huh. You'll have to ask Flame about that. I've no idea how she did it, only that she did. There's a rumor that it had something to do with burning the fire out of Coal, but that sounds sort of oxy-moronic to me." He took a breath and continued with the message.
"-and we need to act while she is down. If Achilles agrees, start heading North. A transport party will meet you as soon as possible. If Achilles does not agree, get out of there. He might try to detain you in the South if you don't move fast enough." Mark grinned. "Remember, even if he is crucial to our success, that doesn't give him a right to overstep his boundaries. Don't let him take the upper hand at any time." Mark cocked his head to one side, ending the message. "Does he look like Tristan?"
"Oh yeah," Kris said, smiling. "Enough that they could be twins." Mark laughed.
"Will he say yes?"
Kristin's smile faded. Troubled, she looked into Mark's eyes.
"I don't know," she admitted. "I…I'm afraid he won't be willing." Mark nodded solemnly.
"I agree with Maude," he stated. "As soon as he says no, if he does, get out of there, before the Southern gods can get a whiff of you." Mark stood up, scowling. "The East has its Witches, the North has its Mages, the West has its Sorcerers, but the south has not a trace of a magic people. It angers the gods." He looked at Kristin sharply. "Stay away from them," he advised.
"Where is everyone else?" Kris asked, looking around the room.
"Oh, main center," Mark said lazily. "I'm leaving this copy of you plugged in for effect," he said. "They won't be able to mess with your conscious once you're back in the North, and I'm pretty sure they can't do anything with you right now either."
"And you won't pull me back?"
"I'm only here for a few more days," Mark said happily. "Then it's back home." His eyes shone with longing. "I can't wait to get back to the North," he confided in Kris.
"Neither can I," she murmured. "So send me back South. The sooner I finish there, the sooner I can get home."
"Agreed," Mark said, grinning. His eyes sparkled underneath his hair. "Once we're both home," he told Kris as he began work on her computer, "I'll apologize properly for the monster that I've been to you."
"Agreed."
There was that tug again.
"I'll sort of miss it," she said to herself as she laid down.
"What?" he asked, looking at her sideways.
"This place," she admitted. "The people. This tug at my mind." Mark's smile fell away; his shoulders drooped a little.
"I understand," he said. "It's going to be…difficult, even though I want to return." Kris, surprised, resisted the pull a little longer and rolled over on her side.
"Did you ever like Macy back?" she asked, a small smile on her face.
"Go to Greece," Mark mumbled, turning pink.
"Tell her before you leave," Kris requested. "Explain all of this to her."
"I'll try," Mark said, turning away from her. Kris suspected that this would be even harder than he was letting on. But her eyes were falling shut, and…she was cold.
Ahhh. Greece is so very warm.
Kris opened her eyes and lifted her head, relaxing into the warm air around her. But there was a shadow blocking out the sun, a shadow who knelt down in front of her.
"You could just tell me if you're tired," Achilles informed her reproachfully. Kris yawned and stretched her arms out in front of her. She shrugged.
"Have you decided what your answer will be?" she asked abruptly
"What will we do if I say yes?" Achilles asked.
"We'll head North," Kris said. "A group of people to help you get from South to the North will meet up with us as soon as they can."
"And in the North?"
"I don't know," Kris said honestly. "It will probably start with a lot of meetings, though."
"And if I say no?" Achilles said.
"I'll go North by myself." Kris shrugged again, suddenly aware of how alone they were, how close he was to her, and how warm it really was.
"If I don't allow that?" His blue gaze was piercing, and he didn't take his eyes off hers.
"Then I'll leave without your permission," Kris said softly. Achilles stared at her, face hard, silent. Kris looked up into his face, hoping he'd relent, hoping desperately that he'd say yes. The silence stretched on; her hair blocking part of her face, Kristin kept her eyes on Achilles. Come on, please, come on.
"You won't stay with me in Greece," he said softly. Kris nodded. "Than I'll have to go North with you."
All was silent as she absorbed what he said. Then, a joy Kristin hadn't felt since she was a young child rose up inside of her. Laughing, she leaned forward and pulled Achilles into a hug.
"Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you," she said happily. Achilles, startled, didn't move for a moment; then he slid his arms forward and returned the embrace.
"You're welcome," he said superiorly; he nuzzled her hair back and kissed her cheek softly.
Kris jerked back suddenly, as if only just realizing what she was doing. The look of her face made Achilles laugh; he stood up and reached a hand down to help her to her feet.
"Don't act so startled," he said as he pulled her up. "It's what men and women do, you know." Face pink, Kris snorted.
"When they're not at war, you mean." She brushed the dust off herself to avoid looking at him. "And not to the King's daughter," she mumbled under her breath.
"Hmmm?"
"Nothing. Do you have anything you need to do before we leave?"
"A little," Achilles said, somewhat sarcastically.
"Well, lead the way," Kris said. He didn't move. "Achilles," she sighed. "What now?"
"You never did let me finish," he said slowly. That long pause didn't signify and end to your speech? Oh, forgive me, please. "I will go North with you. But I need you to promise me something."
"What?" Kris asked warily, instantly on her guard.
"In no scenario will I be ordered to leave you, or you to leave me," he stated. Kristin opened her mouth to respond, realized she had no words to say, and closed it again.
"What?" she finally settled with. Achilles looked at her a moment, then started laughing. "Oh," she said, relieved. "You're joking."
"No," Achilles laughed, "but we'll have to discuss it later.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well Maude? We're ready."
"One moment," Maude snapped, her eyes scanning the scrap of parchment in her hands. Whatever was in there seemed to be to her liking; she smiled as she tucked the paper in an inner pocket. "Well," she said gruffly. "I'm sending you two to the only road near Mt. Olympus. The area is so saturated with the residue of the gods that it won't be difficult. But I warn you -- get out of there as quickly as possible." She eyed Flame and Tristan, annoyed, as Tristan whispered something in Flame's ear. She responded with a giggle. "Are you listening?" Maude barked. They nodded without looking at her.
"Relax, Maude," Tristan said breezily. "We've done this before, you know." Agathon, sitting near Tristan's feet, yowled.
"Absolutely right," Maude snapped. "Pay attention to your surroundings. Find Kristin and get out of there."
"We will!" Flame said.
"Well, join hands," Maude commanded. "Tristan, you'll need to hold the cat." Swiftly, the panther turned and leaped at Tristan; just as quickly, he lifted his arms to catch him. Tristan grunted, but said nothing else. The panther curled around his neck and purred loudly; Flame and Tristan joined hands. "Now, concentrate on Mt. Olympus," Maude ordered. "Well, concentrate on the road ten miles south of Mt. Olympus." Tristan nodded shortly, and three dutifully closed their eyes and concentrated. Maude waited a moment, then pointed her heavy staff at the small group and closed her eyes. Her voice came out in a low rumble that was surprisingly clear.
"With the power you've placed in me
dearest Goddess, take these three.
Place them where their desire lies;
to that place, have them fly.
For you alone are ruler here
and your decision takes them there."
Maude spoke no other word; she felt a flash of heat emanate from the rock at the top of her staff, and a bright light shone for less than a moment. When she opened her eyes, the trio was gone.
Good thing too, she thought as she polished the stone of her staff with her cloak. Those two! Gods, you'd think they were the first couple to be in love. Maude sighed, gave the stone one last rub, and turned towards the stone castle on the rock hill behind her. Though she stared at the stone towers for quite some time, her mind was in another place, with another person.
Oh Lady, she thought, let her succeed in this. Let your blessing be enough to bring her home. Let your blessing be enough to bring them all home.