Part Three: Sword of Blood
Far from the living world, wandering and condemned,
Across the desert wastes, go running like the wol[f];
Make out your destiny, you poor disordered soul...
And flee the infinite you carry within yoursel[f]!
~from Condemned Women: Delphine and Hippolyta by Charles Baudelaire
translated by James McGowan, copyright 1993
East of the Ural Mountains, near the Black Sea
It was almost a surprise that Kae Dhun saw light once more. He had lain in darkness within the earth for so long... that neither time nor light held meaning for him. Something of the earth had shifted
during the night... perhaps a great tremor... and the rocks above had parted slightly so that by day... Kae was aware that there was light... and air. He'd had just enough room to pull in that great gasp of air that so marked an immortal's return to life.
Now... within the earth he struggled to be free of the rocks. Once before something in the darkness had awakened him... the thief who had stolen his sword! Kae struggled again and something seemed to loosen. It might take a while... and he would surely perish more times than he could count from lack of water and lack of food... but he would be free. He would free himself from the earth... he would reclaim his sword... and... he would kill the thief!
Within him, he heard the great roaring laughter of the Old One whose head he had taken. "So certain of that are you boy? You interfered in something and you will pay a great price!"
"I will be free Old One... and when I am I will be the one in control!"
"No child, you will never be free. I will hold you always!"
"I am no child! I killed you with your own sword! I am the stronger!"
The voice merely continued its booming laugh... sounding more and more like Kae's own heartbeat. Gradually the voice faded, as if it were a thing of no consequence.
His struggles continued... and as they did so... the events of his life played out in his mind.
"Street rat!"
"Guttersnipe!"
The names were common to the children of Master Po, the old thief who had found them and raised them to steal from the wealthy or from the shopkeepers all that they needed. The children swarmed like small rodents out of their hidden tunnels to claim whatever they wanted as if it were theirs for the taking. Long ago Master Po had beaten conscience out of his children. They needed only obedience to his words. They would have enough to live on... but they must obey him in all things. Failure to do so resulted in crippling beatings. The children had learned early to obey Master Po... obey and fear him.
Only after they were grown did he release them from their fealty to him and send them away. Kae had lived his mortal life as one of Master Po's children. He could never recall life before the old thief... although he was certain he must have had one. He knew he had been a beggar when Master Po had offered a better way. Being very young and very hungry... Kae had accepted the terms of Master Po's tutelage. He'd seldom needed a beating.
When the time came for Kae to move on, Master Po had grown white-haired and frail. "I will soon die as well... It is time for a new Master to arise. Perhaps it will be you my fine student. Find the children and teach them how to survive. Teach them as I have taught you."
Kae had bowed his head in reverence to his teacher and agreed. If he learned the master was dead, he would return and take up his mantle. But first, Kae wished a life of his own. Eagerly he sought new adventures, new pleasures as an adult, as someone who could make decisions for himself.
They had been poor decisions.
Within months, Kae was knifed to death by those he made the mistake of robbing. They had left his body on a refuse heap. He'd awakened the next day... surprised that his many wounds had healed.
Returning in wonder to Master Po, he'd been surprised at the old man's fearful tone. "You must leave this place. You are one of the demons of old who cannot die! I have heard he, who was once my master, speak of them. It was said they came back to life when killed... and can never die."
"I must learn what it is I must do then!" Kae had remarked eagerly. Already he had plans for those who had killed him.
"You cannot remain here." Master Po shook his head in great sadness. "Once those who killed you see you, the hunt for you will begin. My children and I will be killed as well. They know you were once one of us. You must leave this place."
"I will kill them first!" snarled Kae Dhun with a leer. "No one will ever harm you!"
Over Master Po's protestations, Kae had faced his murderers and slain them... but there were witnesses. It was as Master Po had said. They and their followers came for Master Po and his children. They were no longer to be tolerated. The slaughter was complete.
Kae had managed to get his master away... but the old man was clearly dying. "You must find others like yourself. You must learn from them." Master Po's words were very weak.
"Where do I look?"
"Far to the southwest, it is said that one of your kind lives on a great mountain near an inland sea. Go there!" Master Po spoke no more... for death had claimed him.
Angrily, Kae Dhun returned to his village and began slaying all that came against him. If he died, he awoke and returned to the slaying so that he became a demon in the darkness that could not die. Finally those who remained in his town were dead. Only then did he follow Master Po's advice and seek out the inland sea of the southwest... and the mountain home of one of his kind.
It had taken many years, but finally he had reached the mountain. Already, even from the base of it, he felt a great power was here. Climbing to the top, he heard voices and hid behind rocks.
"Claim the sword and take my head and with it my power!" one of the men said casting a great sword into the earth between him and another. "Claim your destiny and all the knowledge of what I am!" The first one had laughed almost maniacally as if this were a danger. Apparently the other man agreed. He refused and left.
For some moments Kae had stared at the being that thrust his arms toward the sky and seemed to call on the very forces of nature. Kae did not understand the being's words now. They were in no language he'd ever heard. Kae Dhun stared at the sword, gleaming red in the light of day. If the Old One wanted to give both it and his own power away... why shouldn't Kae Dhun receive that power and knowledge? Take the Old One's head? How strange... but it must be the way that knowledge was shared. Kae Dhun gathered himself into a coiled position. He was ready. He waited for the other to turn his back.
When he did so, Kae raced onto the mountain plateau grabbing the sword as he passed it and swung it about just as the other turned in surprise. Or was it? He laughed and seemed almost to welcome the blow. His power... his quickening... a great dark cloud shot through with lightning had raced out of the other... Kritis... and blasted outward so that the earth trembled. Lightning flashed and struck Kae... filling him and lifting him into the air. Kae saw what the Ancient had seen and felt drawn to it. He too had slaughtered the innocent. He too had lifted the sword and killed as if it were all that was important in life. Kae embraced that part of Kritis as if it were himself. Then he saw the other face of Kritis... a man saddened and ashamed. "This too is part of it!" Kritis challenged him. "Accept it all!"
"Never!" Kae screamed! "I claim the sword of justice and will mete it out as you once did!"
The lightning flashed ever more wildly about him. One particularly strong blast forked far away seeming to strike the earth, yet there was no fire... or sense of destruction where it hit. Another seemed to strike directly below Kae Dhun's feet... opening the earth in a great shudder. "Then rest in this place until you can accept it all! You are mine now... and I will hold you here for a time. Once you understand this... you will be free Only when you accept my other face, will you be free!"
Kae had felt himself fall deeply into a great chasm... and then the earth had closed above him and he knew the mountain had fallen. He was crushed beneath the earth... and knew nothing more.
It was then the thief had come. Someone who had stolen his sword... Kae Dhun claimed it as his because he had dared to kill Kritis. He'd felt the thief... and knew that he would find him again someday. The thief too was a demon doomed to walk the earth for all time. Kae would find him and take his power from him when the time was right. Lying in the darkness, over time the thoughts of Kritis flowed through his mind. Nothing made sense to him except Kritis' darkness that spoke of killing. Always Kae Dhun turned his face from anything else. He continued his struggles. He would be free. He would worry away at the rocks and the earth and eventually he would be free once more! No matter how many lifetimes it took!
Kritis could not hold him forever! Master Po had taught Kae well. In time... even the most vigilant of jailers grows weary. In time... we can force our way through to freedom. And the immortal had all the time in the world.
Isle of Britain, Avalon
If he concentrated, O ro' dred, potter of the ancient world, friend of the mysterious Ancient immortal Aja, and husband of Nin, could almost sense the movements of the outer world. Time marched on... and with it, the world changed. Here within a single moment of time prepared for them long ago by the Lady herself, O ro' dred and Nin had come to live the last of their lives.
At the outer edge of his consciousness, O ro'dred sensed the others in their humdrum and daily lives. How he envied them the ordinariness of those short lives. The immortality of the others was in their children... and their children's children. Soon the others would cover the earth and inherit all the places. Hidden amongst them, would be the old holy places, like Avalon, awaiting the rebirth of the people.
"Wait here," Aja had instructed before she had left so long ago, that last time he'd seen her. "My time is almost over. I go to meet my destiny."
"And where is that?" O ro' dred had dared to ask. In thirty eight hundred years he had seldom dared to ask her anything.
Aja had smiled, but had said nothing. O ro' dred was struck by the peace in her face. It was as though she had finally faced and defeated the last of her demons. He noted that by this time her hair was totally silver, yet her face was still that of Aja, Priestess of Nut, the Lady of Living Water Who Gives Life to the Desert. She still seemed young and strong, as capable of manipulating events and weather as she always had.
"I will erect a shield. You and Nin may enter and leave this place as you please. You will always find peace here. The killing never touched this place. Alone of all the homes of the people, it remained holy. But any who enter here without your leave will not be able to go from this place, while the wall exists. My power will trap them here... until it is spent. Nothing lasts forever my friend. There is always an end to all things."
As usual, and with little farewell, Aja had left, fading into the encircling mists about the lake. He and Nin had watched her go, and then turned to organizing necessities for life in this place. The Lady had told them that all they needed they would find here... They could leave and return if they wished... and they had remained for a few years... before traveling out into the world. It had been out there in the world... that the sword had claimed Nin's mind and O ro' dred had begged Methos to take it away.
But in this place, after their return, after Methos had returned the sword to his guardianship, O ro' dred had finally found peace, as had Nin. Even the sword did not seem to speak to them in this place, as if it knew they were now beyond its call.
The sword was the very one that should have ended his life hundreds of years before. O ro' dred had been ready for that death. He had faced it... only for it to be denied to him. Methos... the Lady's boy had refused to take the sword to make it his own. So it was that the mortal boy Artos had taken it and pulled it from the stone. The sword had truly been a sword of justice for the mortal king, although it had likely caused as many problems as it solved... at least among the immortals, who came to Arthur's court during his reign. But the sword seemed happy in Arthur's care... and no immortal dared steal it. With his death, however, that had changed. Thus the sword was returned to the Lady from whence it had first come. She had reluctantly given it to Nin to hold. That holding, however, had driven Nin mad until O ro' dred had begged Methos to take it for a while. He had done so... and Nin had returned to her right mind.
In the years they had together after that, O ro' dred had taught Nin all he could about his future... the death that had been denied... the death that might still find him. He made her promise to accept it when it came. She could not stop it. She could not revenge him. She must stand to one side and not interfere. Eventually Nin had accepted his fate... or seemed to.
Then Methos had returned with the sword.
He'd found them still in the Viking Lands of ice and snow. Appearing unannounced in the storm, he'd stood shivering before the fire in their cave... his face drawn and white, a glazed look in his eyes. For a moment, O ro'dred thought his death had come for him at last. He'd glanced at Nin. Her eyes widened in fear. She felt it as well.
Nin had then done the one thing that had most surprised the old potter. She had welcomed Methos with a hug. Her welcome broke through the boy's paralysis and he had laughed a moment and hugged her back. When she withdrew from the embrace, he'd unbuckled the sword and let it fall to the cave floor. Methos had let out a great breath as if he had dropped a heavy burden. He'd kicked the sword away as color seemed to return to his face.
O ro' dred had watched Nin. But she went back to her cooking, never giving the sword a glance. The potter breathed a sigh of relief. "My thanks, boy."
Methos had given him a dull glance and a shudder.
"It must have cost you a great deal."
"You have no idea." Wearily Methos had collapsed on a rock by the fire and stared into the flickering flames.
"How many?" O ro' dred had finally dared to ask.
"Too many. Mainly mortals, but it was all too easy... and enticing. It was as if all I'd managed to put behind me long ago... came once more to haunt my every step."
"But you brought it back." The old potter had met Methos' eyes and had seen a shadow of something there he had never before seen. He has loved and lost someone... the sword came between them. "You overcame its call."
Methos nodded. "I will not take it again... no matter how you plead."
The boy had left by morning, trudging through the snow in his hurry to be gone. In all the days that followed, the sword lay quiet... sated by its fill of blood and willing to wait. Days became weeks... and then months... and then years. They traveled among the others once more... and noted the changes in how they lived and in what they believed. Once they met a small immortal female who smiled at them with Aja's eyes... and O ro' dred felt something of the Lady's presence about her... and a sense of joy. At last he and Nin had returned to Britain... to the shores of the Lake, Avalon. About it O ro' dred still sensed the power of Aja. For a moment as he and Nin had stood on the shores of the lake... he thought he saw the Ancient spread her arms in welcome to gather them home.
That had been uncounted years before. There was no need to count them. O ro' dred could sense the passing of the others as if they were boats on the stream of time. They could not enter here... only one of the people could... and none were drawn here. The veil of the Lady's shield hid them from all.
Free at last Kae Dhun found a weapon and slaughtered a nearby family. He reveled in his freedom. But the weapon was as nothing. He looked at the western horizon and sensed his sword calling to him from far away. Kae smiled to himself and set his sights on reclaiming it. It might take years... but he would find it... the sword whispered always in his mind.
As he drew closer, he felt the pull of finding the thief. He could sense him. He was near. But first the sword. He would re-claim the sword and then kill the thief with the very thing he had stolen. He would kill him for stealing it. He would kill him for leaving him behind when he might have helped dig him out. He would kill him because it was what his kind did. They killed one another for the lovely taste of quickening. Kae Dhun had a real taste for it now. He kept hoping to find an immortal that would feed his soul as the Old One had done... but all were paltry compared to that first quickening he'd taken.
Within him Kritis boomed. "You are mine! Face me... you must accept all that I am! Only then will you know peace! Only then will you begin to understand!"
"Be silent!" Kae Dhun snarled into the night. "You are dead and I have all of you that I wish or need." Then he'd rage and find someone or something to kill... slashing away at them as if they were cattle to be slaughtered. Kae Dhun no longer cared if they were mortal or immortal. All were his for the taking. He was the master thief... and he would take the small thief to task as Master Po had often done to his children. He would show him who was in charge. The thought of finding that boy who now was an immortal became an even greater obsession the longer it took. But first the sword. Evidently... the thief had not kept it. What kind of immortal would simply give that sword away? "Only a fool!" the sword whispered to him. "Only a fool!"
At last he came to the edge of the world. And still the sword called from beyond the waters. Kae Dhun found a boat with a crew to take him across... once they landed he gave them their payment... although it was not the payment they expected. Once they were dead... he traveled across the land on his journey toward the sword.
Kae Dhun sensed the wall of magic as only shimmer between him and his desire. Entering it... he found the land on the other side somehow changed... somehow warmer and lush. The winter winds of the outside world did not blow here. In this place it was as if a full summer were in bloom. It was a haven of life. For a moment he knew peace. Even Kritis had seemed to whisper as if this were familiar to him. This was home! Or so like it as to be of no consequence.
The immortal shook off the Ancient's peace. Kae Dhun had no need of peace! He had need of his sword. Glaring about, Kae focused on the sword's seductive call. It wanted him... it needed him... if it was to escape this place... if it was to be fed... if it was to mete out justice once more.
It was Nin, gathering berries, who first felt the other come. Dropping the willow basket she raced back to the shoreline where O ro' dred sat calmly fishing.
"One comes!" her fingers flicked. Immediately she fumbled for her knives. She'd taken to not wearing them in this sacred place... but they were never far.
The old potter placed his hands over hers and, meeting her gaze shook his head sorrowfully. Nin nodded and released the knives... tears already in her eyes. O ro' dred's death had come... there was nothing to be done.
He rose still holding her hands and turned to face the on-coming stranger. This one had a power within like that of Aja... but he did not control it... it merely seemed to hover about him... as if not really a part of him.
The Oriental immortal glared at them both. "Where is my sword?" he snapped at them.
O ro' dred smiled. "It is not yours... nor ever was," he offered calmly.
"I am Kae Dhun... slayer of Kritis... eldest of the firstborn. The sword is mine by rights!"
"Take it then... for all the good it will ever do you." O ro' dred motioned to a nearby stone upon which the sword had rested... gleaming ever more red in the sunlight.
Kae swiftly crossed to the stone... raising the blade vertically in his hands. He caressed its smooth, cold feel. He hearkened to its whispers. Justice for the thief! Justice for all who have stolen from you!
The immortal turned and leered at the two. First he would kill the old man... then he would use the woman and kill her as well. Fools! Neither of them raised a hand against him... in their eyes was a knowledge and acceptance of their fate. Kae Dhun smiled as he swung the sword back and forth in a few practice moves to get the feel of its weight and balance. It had been so long... so very long.
He stepped closer to the immortal pair.
"What? Not even a token resistance? Our gift is wasted on such as you!" he spat at them and raised the sword to feed its bloodlust... and his own soul. These two were old... not as old as Kritis... but old enough that their quickening would surely satisfy him for a while.
Nin recalled the Lady's words, "Be with him at the end!" She could not let him go! In a single moment of decision and sacrifice... she turned... not leaping into the path of the sword to prevent its fall so much as to place herself likewise in its path. If O ro' dred were to die... then she would die with him. He was her heart and her soul... He was her everything. She clutched tightly at him.
The blade fell... and the two immortals died as one.
Their quickening rose as two blasts from a fiery furnace... their power and long life swirled until it was as a single blast of cold fire. Kae Dhun stared at the great pillar of power and waited... licking his lips in anticipation. Two at once! Had such a thing ever been done?
Within him, Kritis laughed, "Done? Child you have no idea!"
Higher and higher the pillar of power rose until it seemed to touch the sky. Shot through with lightning that sparked and crackled, it peaked and then rushed earthward as an arrow that forced its way into Kae where it rumbled about... pushing and filling him as no quickening since that of Kritis' had ever done.
"It will be the last you ever taste child!" the three voices within him cried. They spoke as one... they were more one with Kritis than Kae would ever be. The immortal slammed around in spasms... attempting to seize control of them. It was his body... he was the victor... he would make the choices... he would mete out death to any who opposed him.
Against O ro' dred's calm acceptance of the unalterable future... Kae Dhun cast up his own denial of what might be... his will to bend events to his own purpose. Against Nin's overwhelming love... he reached for the bloody vengeance with which she had once wielded the sword and played on that... to pull her away to his side... to his point of view. Against Kritis' other face... the one that would sacrifice himself for the greater good... Kae reached for the madness that had once filled the Ancient and let it flow through him.
Slowly he bent them to his will.
Brimming now with a power so great that no one and nothing could stand against him, Kae Dhun turned to leave this place... The world would now be his! He would kill until life was extinguished or nearly so. But first... the thief.
Laughing maniacally, Kae Dhun cast away the pathetic sword he'd worn into this sickening place and belted on the great sword. He spat at the ground as he headed toward the shimmer that stood between him and his desire.
The wall solidified.
The more he pressed against it... the harder it became. Kae stood back. He tried once more in another place... and then another. But no matter where he turned... no matter where he tried... the shimmering veil between worlds would not let him pass.
He screamed into the evening that began to fall.
"You are here child... and here you will remain... until my power is spent."
Kae turned seeking the source of the soft feminine voice. He saw nothing... he felt no one.
Drawing the sword he sneered, "Face me... and I will mete out justice!"
A great hearty laugh sounded in the growing darkness. "Child, I am already long dead. I, too, have wielded that blade. I know its power... I know its lies. Only when you can realize it for what it is will I release you."
"I who killed Kritis and was buried in the earth for centuries will outlive your paltry power! He sought to hold me... yet I am free. I will be free of you as well!" the immortal snapped.
"Perhaps... but by then... he will be ready for you!"
"Who?"
The laugh was gentle then... and already fading away on the breeze, "My beloved... my warrior... and my... surprise. In time to come... we will be one once more."
Kae raged about the encampment... hacking and destroying everything he could find. He beat against the veil and screamed into the night. By morning he sat exhausted on a large stone, regarding the impenetrable veil.
"I will be free... and I will kill that thief," he asserted quietly. "Not all the powers of all the Ancients will prevent me!"
From somewhere on a breeze... he thought he heard once more a gentle laughter. "You may try... but I think you will fail. In the end... child... we shall be one... and your rage will be only as a wave crashing uselessly on the shore. I have been there. I know. And so do those who live within you."
Kae Dhun snorted. He'd waited before. He could wait again. Once her power was spent... he would be free. She could not hold him forever. Not even the earth had held him forever... and the mountain had been far stronger than the mere will of a dead immortal... no matter how old she was... nor how powerful she might once have been. He would push at the wall... eventually he would be free. Oh yes... he would be free!