15 – THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS
.
The Third Timeline
.
"We could kill the border guards," I say. "But it's not the most subtle approach."
We have stopped for a while to catch our breath, hidden in a ravine on the border of Plegia.
"It's twenty miles at least to Gangrel's castle. Too much time for word to spread to him," Chrom says.
"We could get in through the abandoned mines a few leagues from here," Henry says from where he lies on the ground, eyes closed.
We glance at him in surprise. He fell asleep an hour ago.
"Why didn't you say that in the beginning?" Basilio demands.
Henry just smiles.
"Are these mines safe?" Chrom asks.
"Are they guarded?" I ask.
"They're pretty empty these days. Gangrel wanted silver and tried to kill the miners when they couldn't find any," Henry says. "There might be fifty or so guards in that area of the border but that doesn't seem like a problem."
"Fifty? There's only ten of us," I say.
"Recharge your dragon magic," he tells me. "We will be fine."
"Have you been in these mines? Can you navigate them?"
Henry nods.
"Did you work in them?"
"I just stopped by to help the miners take care of the soldiers and escape," he says. "That's how I met Jasper actually." He smiles.
Basilio squints at him skeptically. "How did you take down a troop of soldiers?"
"Poison rats," Henry says. He waves at us to stop bothering him. "Stop asking stupid questions. I need to sleep."
Chrom looks at me in bewilderment.
I shrug. "Anyone have a better plan?"
"Fuck this," Basilio growls. "Go get some sleep," he says to Chrom and I.
As we set out towards the mines later, I lead my horse to ride beside Henry.
"Hello, Jasper. Have you had any supper?" I say. I fish a piece of dried apple from my pocket and he snatches it up gratefully. I hold one out to Lilly too and she takes it politely from my outstretched hand.
"I have a question for you," I say to Henry.
"I was lying about the poison rats."
"No, not that. You've referred to my magic twice now as 'dragon magic'. What do you mean by that?"
He gives me a strange look. "What do you think killed Aversa? Arcfire?"
"I only know fire magic," I say.
"Obviously, you know dark magic too. You just don't know shit about it."
"Can you teach me?"
"I'd rather not," he says. "Just because Jasper likes you doesn't mean I do."
"At least tell me this, how do I recharge it?"
"Crystals," he says. "Eat this." He reaches into his satchel and tosses me a small piece of quartz.
I look at him doubtfully but he raises his eyebrows and nods at it. With a grimace, I swallow the crystal and feel it scrape down my throat.
"How long will it take to recharge the magic?" I ask.
"Give it an hour," he says and nudges Lilly to ride away from me.
An hour and a half later I catch up to him and say, "You son of a bitch. I have heartburn now."
He smiles to himself.
"Why do I trust you?" I ask. "You are fucking with me."
"Our meager existence offers us few joys."
"You don't seem to enjoy interacting with people much," I say. "So I will follow you and talk to you until you tell me the truth."
Henry shrugs.
"I read an interesting book on the history of sword smithing in Ylisse and how the modern day bronze sword came to be. Let me tell you the story. It began with a smith named Oran and two hundred years ago, he was studying how to combine copper and tin. But his wife-"
"You use a ritual," Henry interrupts me. "But you have to create your own spell. It takes creativity and intention."
"Show me how to write it," I say.
"Jasper, claw out her eyes," he says.
The crow hops from Henry's shoulder to mine and I feed him another slice of apple, stroking his sleek feathers.
"Traitorous pigeon," Henry says.
"What do I need for the ritual?" I ask him.
"There's a lot of superfluous things some people do, but the three basic ingredients are movement, words, and intention. Intention is the hardest part but the most important. Don't get distracted or it won't work. Get your blood moving with movement. And put some effort into the words."
"What do you do for movement?"
"I dance naked in the moonlight," he says.
"You are messing with me again."
"Am I?"
"Go to hell. What kind of words do I need to say?"
"Just say what you want, as if it has already happened, like this," Henry clears his throat. "I am left in peace for the rest of this day. This persistent bitch has nothing more to say." He rides off and I consider following him but I feel that perhaps he has actually told me the truth now.
Fire magic does not work so differently from this ritual. It takes words, focus and movement.
I decide to try it next we make camp, although I intend to keep my clothes on.
Our journey takes us through a winding road into a mountain range and I marvel at the beauty of the land. The peaks of the mountains are clothed in mist and the slopes are heavily shrouded with evergreen trees and outcroppings of rocks and moss. The air is crisp and scented with pine. I breathe deep and enjoy the wind in my hair. It is cold here, but I don't find myself discomforted by it. The warmth in my body is well suited for the climate.
"You like the mountains?" Chrom asks, riding beside me.
"I think if I were an animal, this would be my natural habitat," I answer.
"It feels strange to me," he says. "Ylisse is all fields and hills and wide open sky."
"I feel too small under all that sky. Here in the woods, my mind feels more at peace." I catch him watching me thoughtfully and my heart falls a bit. "I suppose this is what I must have been used to."
"Basilio said that you told him you were a Plegian."
"I see no reason to keep denying an ever-increasing amount of evidence."
Chrom doesn't reply so I look at him and add, "But it was once said that 'resemblance does not determine blood, and blood does not determine character.'"
He opens his mouth in surprise. "You heard my talk with Flavia?"
I nod. "I was moved that you defended me."
"I stand by what I said. Your past matters nothing to me."
"I know, and I love you for it."
Ahead of us, Henry pulls his horse to a halt and dismounts. Basilio rides up next to him and asks, "Where are we, boy? I see no entrance to any mines."
Henry just throws up his hand to silence him and starts inspecting the face of a cliffside on the side of the road. "Jasper, we need a local," he says and the crow flies away.
Basilio grunts in annoyance and holds his hand up to signal us to stop and dismount. We climb out of the saddles and stretch, drinking water and resting our sore bodies.
Jasper caws from the woods a ways away and Henry runs after him. "You reckon he's going to come back?" Chrom asks me.
After ten minutes or so Henry emerges from the trees with a coyote trotting beside him. He points at the cliffside and asks something I can't hear. The coyote noses around the rocks and yips. Henry follows him, beckoning for us to do the same.
"Batshit motherfucker," Basilio says.
Henry follows the coyote along the cliffside for an eighth of a mile or so and then stops. The coyote slips through the underbrush at the base of the cliff and vanishes.
"Stand back," Henry says.
"What now?" Basilio asks.
"I said stand back."
Henry takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, drawing his hands in towards his chest. He holds this pose for several moments, then suddenly he thrusts his hands forward and a sound like thunder reverberates through the air.
A crack erupts in the cliff. Henry slams his hands downwards and the rocks crumble to the ground, leaving a space open large enough for a person to fit through. Basilio swears.
Henry brushes his hands on his coat and steps through the opening into the darkness within, Jasper and Lilly following. I step in after him, summoning flames to light our way. The coyote trots up to Henry and he leans down to feed it a piece of dried meat.
"How did it know the way in?" I ask.
"It's a good place to catch rats."
My flame illuminates a long passageway. Our horses are hesitant to follow us inside as they have to duck their heads to fit, but with some coaxing and Lilly's fearless example, they enter the mine.
"If you needed a coyote to find your way in, are you going to be able to find your way out?" I ask Henry.
"Surely someone packed a compass."
"I have one," Chrom says, catching up to us.
"Excellent. Make sure we go north."
The mine is eerily silent and we travel through it wordlessly, picking our way through the passages as best we can. After a while, I notice that Chrom is fidgeting anxiously and his breathing has quickened.
"What's wrong?" I ask him.
"I… I don't like close spaces," he says. He runs his hands through his hair and winces. "And it's so damned quiet in here."
I take his hand in mine and squeeze it.
"Olivia?" I say, glancing over my shoulder at her.
She jogs over to walk behind me and asks, "Yes?"
"We have travelled nearly three days together now and I still haven't heard you play any music," I say. "I've heard so much about the enchanting bard of West-Ferox. Do you have any instruments with you?"
"I- I… had to leave them behind. I'm sorry. I figured since we had to be… you know, stealthy… a flute would be a bad idea."
"I wouldn't mind a tune to lift my spirits, dear," Basilio says. His soft tone surprises me. I've never heard him to speak to anyone like that. He talks to her like he would a daughter. "Why don't you sing something for us?"
"I, I don't know… it's so quiet in here, you'd all be able to hear me," she says.
"That's the point," Basilio says.
"I'll sing with you. I think I know a couple Feroxi songs," I say.
My memories of the male Gray's drunken night in Ferox are hazy from the liquor but music has a way of lingering in the mind.
Olivia smiles at me. "Alright."
"There's one that goes like this, right?" I ask and hum a few bars of a song.
"You have a lovely voice!" she says. "Let me teach you the words."
She begins to sing and her husky voice carries through the passageway like sunlight. I harmonize with her as best I can until her voice strengthens with her growing confidence and I let her sing on without me.
I feel Chrom's restless energy calm beside me and I look at the others, seeing a similar effect in their expressions.
I glance at Henry and see a curious look on his face. He is staring at Olivia as if she were a kind of strange creature he has never encountered.
He catches me looking at him and whispers, "Dark magic."
"What?"
"She's using a spell. It's dark magic. But how is she doing it?"
I smile at him. "Beautiful things are their own kind of magic."
"It's not natural," Henry says. He breaks off staring at Olivia and moves away to the other side of the group.
It is impossible to track time in this skyless world but when it seems to be close to nightfall, I ask Henry. "How much longer until we reach the other side?"
"Five, maybe six miles," he says. "But tell the barbarian we should make camp. I can send Jasper on ahead to see how much further it is."
I pass this on to Basilio and he agrees. We are all near to the end of our strength. We travel on until we find a relatively large space carved out where several passageways have converged. There is scraps of firewood strewn in one side of the room and I gather them together and start a campfire.
I take first watch and wait until everyone is sleeping deeply, then I walk away from our camp a few paces and sit down.
Intention, words, movement. I think about what I want to accomplish and string together a few phrases, using words that feel vaguely familiar.
I get to my feet and take a deep breath, closing my eyes. My mind is wandering with thoughts and images but I sweep it clear diligently as if meditating. I focus my attention on the magic inside me, on my will to nurture it and control it.
I haven't planned the physical side of the ritual, but my body begins to move instinctually. Slower than a dance, more fluid than a sword exercise, I spin in circles, my hands moving freely around me.
"As above, so below,
from mind to body my energy flows."
A flicker of energy stirs the fire in my chest. I move more quickly, my feet stepping purposefully, hands rising upwards. I repeat the spell another time and the energy grows. I draw it from my core to my fingertips, twirling flames in spirals over my head. I feel as if I am pulling on a locked door until I speak the spell for the third time. As soon as the last word falls from my lips I feel a light flare within me, stealing my breath away.
I drop to my knees and gasp. I had expected the dark magic to feel dirty somehow, like a tarnished weapon. The spell I had killed Aversa with had nearly killed me and its memory had left my body feeling ill.
But this magic is different. It flows hot and cold through my body like strong wine. My senses grow painfully sharp and my pounding pulse feels loud in my ears. I draw in a long breath and exhale slowly.
The hum of the dark magic quiets and its energy curls inwards, but it doesn't disappear. It lies still but I can feel it resting in my core of energy, dormant and patient.
"Thank gods," I breathe and wipe the sweat from my brow.
I return to the camp and keep watch until my turn is over, then I lie down beside Chrom and fall asleep in peace.