The Trinity Sitch - Book 4: Heart of the Fury
Chapter 13: Missing Pieces
It was not immediately clear whether the room was meant to be a laboratory or a trophy room. It could have served as either, though the circular chamber was empty of any scientific equipment or any other adornment save a long table upon which an odd assortment of seemingly unrelated items sat, each carefully placed a set distance apart. Gryphion looked at each piece, sometimes divining the object's purpose, sometimes not. He was more than familiar with Terran technology but, out of context, he did not immediately recognize everything he was seeing. He had entered the room unchallenged after one of his servants mentioned its existence. He was one of the few who could wander the halls of the Master's Palace freely, though he was acutely aware of the eyes upon him at all times. He was fully aware the Master did not trust him. Podondrin may have been utterly evil, but he was not stupid.
He walked over to the table, selecting a nearly featureless cylinder. It was made of metal but a special red colored coating had been applied so those who wished to could track it more easily. That mattered very little now, since the original owners of that particular piece of technology were only able to track it on their own world. This, at least, he recognized.
He was fully aware just how dangerous it was.
Carefully he placed it back in its original location just as the footfalls he was listening to came to a halt behind him.
"You play dangerous games, Gryphion." Said an icy, almost inhuman voice.
"Ah, but that is the only kind of game worth playing. They would be no use to me if they were not." He answered easily. He turned and faced the speaker, one eyebrow arching in the only greeting he spared the so-called Master of all Arkonia.
Podondrin, the Dark Lord of their world stood there, his black cloak wrapped around his tall frame. Even here in his citadel he wore the masked helmet of his station with its stylized demonic smile and long, spiky vanes reaching upwards. A small retinue of guards remained a pace behind him, every eye in their heads certainly on him though they were not visible behind their dark visors. Nearby waited one of his slave-clones, a thin, haggard creature with short blonde hair and a haunted look that even disturbed Gryphion.
Turning back away from the Dread One he delicately placed his hand on the crimson cylinder once more. "Are my distractions any more dangerous than bringing a device here which could turn the entire capitol and possibly much of Dagan itself into a vortex of pure chaos?"
"The Terran device has been rendered inoperable." He replied, sounding almost bored.
"Then why send your Gatherers to claim it if you do not wish to use if for its intended purpose. It would certainly be at home among the other items in your arsenal of…unnatural power."
If his choice of words upset Podondrin, the masked being gave no indication. "No power is truly unnatural. You know this. Why do you continue to pretend your ancient mysticism is the beginning and end of all things. It is only a part of the greater whole. You have lived almost as long as I have and you still have not learned this?"
"I know all too well that what you say is so, yet those who seek to exploit their worlds using only science, ignoring the natural powers, they are the ones who create things such as…this." He picked the red cylinder up once more, holding it between them. "They create things that can create vortices of chaos or that can rip apart time and space itself without truly understanding what they are actually doing or what they may unleash on the universe.
Podondrin took the object from Gryphion's hand, holding it close to his masked face for just a moment. Twin bands that had been invisible a moment before flashed, first in yellow, then red as it began beeping. "Satisfied, Lord Gryphion? Now this device is operational. In five time-parts it will create a quantum singularity, destroying the majority of this city as well as this Palace." As though he couldn't care less he handed the device back to him.
Controlling his fear, he regarded the device, fighting the distraction of the incessant beeping. In his hand was a piece of Terran technology that would kill him and everyone around him for hundreds of miles. He knew what it was, but he had no idea how Podondrin had activated it, nor how he could deactivate it. As powerful as he was, it was disquieting to hold such a powerful weapon in his hands knowing it was primed to go off.
Feigning indifference, he placed it back on the table. "Perhaps I could open a lens and drop it on the capitol of Tor El Ka."
"I enjoy the way you think. Perhaps some day I will allow you to do just that, but not today. I have my uses for the Torellian Emperor, at least for now." With a wave of his hand the bands switched to green before disappearing completely once more. The object he knew as the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer became silent once more.
"Why were you on Earth, Gryphion?"
That question surprised him. The means he had used to travel there should not have been visible to the Dark One.
"I have…interests there." He was thinking furiously, trying to figure out how he knew. Much of his plan hinged on his ability to travel to the other human world.
"As I said, you play dangerous games. Have a care. The Terrans and their science are dangerous. Very dangerous. Much more so than the war-like Torellians. Do not interfere with them. They will be dealt with, but in the proper time."
"My interests will not interfere with your plans."
"Be certain they don't. I have given you much latitude, much more than any other among my servants. You do not want me to have to remind you of your place."
"Is that a warning or a threat, Father?"
A gauntleted hand flashed upwards, grabbing Gryphion by the neck, nearly lifting him from the floor. "You are a little too quick with the tongue, whelp. I may yet have to remind you of your station. Just because this body sired you, that does not mean I am that man." The hand released his throat and smoothed a wrinkle in his cape. "You have been a faithful servant, Lord Gryphion, but do not make the mistake that you are anything more than that."
"Of course, Lord Master." He said in contrition, though he did not cast his eyes down as any other servant of the Dark One would have done. He wished he could have seen past the dark lenses that made the eyes of the mask, to see Podondrin's real eyes so he might have some inkling what the dark creature was thinking. He wondered if there was any life, any trace of a soul in those eyes.
Podondrin turned on his heels, his guards parting to let him pass, leaving Gryphion to ponder his words.
Theirs was a dance the two powerful beings had been doing for over seven centuries now.
He waited until he was certain Podondrin and his entourage had cleared with wide hallway and exited the chamber himself, still perplexed at the seemingly random selection of junk the Master's Gatherers had sent from Earth. Most was just primitive technological detritus, mere curiosities that Podondrin's own scientists could come up with in their sleep. He also wondered why exactly it was necessary for those two, very specific clone-slaves to be sent. There were other, more experienced Gatherers in his employ, yet he always sent those two. Why?
That reminded him. He had his own Gatherers to attend to. He looked over his shoulder, his well attuned senses easily picking up the cloaked sentry eye that hovered nearby. Even when Podondrin's spies were not about to keep tabs on him, those thrice cursed sentries were there, always watching his every move when he was in or near the Palace.
Had one of them been sent to follow him when he used the Terran idol to travel to Earth? Or had he simply been seen by one of Podondrin's many spies?
He had no way of knowing for sure.
Quickening his pace, he made his way deep into the massive structure known as the Master's Palace, past the newer additions of hand carved stone that had been constructed over the last thousand or so years. Still aware of the floating electronic eye, he approached a metal door barring his path. With the wave of his hand the doors parted, not swinging outward like those he had passed, but pulling sideways into the wall with a slight 'whoosh' sound. The corridor he entered lit up before him, the walls made, no longer of wood and stone, but of metal, glass and what must have been plastic. It looked brand new, but he knew it was far, far older than the stone exterior most of the palace denizens knew of. This was the true Palace, hidden deep beneath centuries of additions.
He was one of the few who knew it was actually an ancient starship.
Quickening his pace suddenly, he turned a corner and mouthed a word of power under his breath. His body flickered, then seemingly split in two. In the twinkling of an eye one part faded from view while the other walked down the corridor as if nothing had happened. Just as his shrouding spell too full effect, the spy-eye rounded the corner, reacquiring its charge. He watched it go by him, fooled by a spell that did much the same thing its technology did for it.
Satisfied he was now able to move undetected he retraced his steps back out into the newer, more primitive sections of the palace, quickly letting himself into an empty servant's room. There, he let the shrouding spell drop as he waited. It was not long before an old man bearing a long, wrapped bundle appeared, responding to a call he alone could hear.
"Have you brought me what I asked for?" He asked, almost urgently.
"Yes, my Lord, but I fear you will not be pleased."
Gryphion smiled pleasantly at the old servant. He had been his main attendant since coming of age, replacing his own grandfather, who had in turn replaced his. Soon another grandchild, perhaps a great grandchild would be selected this time, but for the moment he honored the faithful man by allowing his continued service. "If my Gatherers have obeyed my orders, how can I be displeased?"
"Look upon this and judge for yourself, my Lord." He unwrapped his burden, revealing a beautiful sword with a slender, curving blade, the edge extending from a chisel tip all the way to the ornate round guard. The grip was delicately wrapped in knotted silk cords joined by tiny metal rings that may have been gold. The grip itself was curved to match the blade and was apparently made to be held with two hands despite the small size of the overall weapon.
"This is what the Gatherers found when they raided the Temple of the Tragda Sur in southern Cha'in T'ao. I am afraid it is not the sword you hoped they would find there."
He nodded, feeling his heart sink as the sword emerged from its wrappings. When he saw his old servant carrying the curved bundle, he felt a surge of excitement, as he was expecting a sword with precisely that shape. It still was the same general shape, but none of the other details were correct. There were no runes in ancient Azarian on the blade, nor was there a carved Tragda Sur emblem on the butt-cap of a leather wrapped one-handed grip. "So this is the sword that was housed in the Crypt of Arkon?"
"That is what they reported to me when they returned. I take it then that they failed after all?"
"No, they did not fail. I know these men and they would not lie to cover up events beyond their control. If there was a failure, it is my own. I was certain I found the hiding place of…" he looked at his faithful servant. The humans of Earth had a saying 'What you didn't know wouldn't hurt you.' With a wave he dismissed the man, wrapping the sword up in its coverings once more and hiding it in his cloak before restoring his shrouding spell. He made his way back down to the metal doors and sent a mental call. Minutes later his doppelganger appeared, striding with purpose toward his quarters. He simply stepped into his own phantom, merging with it as both spells dissipated. He kept up the pace until he was safely within his own quarters. Here even the spy-eyes would not follow. Still, he cast several privacy spells, just in case other types of eyes were watching him.
He pulled the sword from his cloak and unwrapped it, frowning all the while. He had been so sure. The documents he had acquired, the ancient texts he had deciphered, they all pointed to that one temple on the far side of the world. How could they have been so wrong? This was supposed to be the culmination of nearly a century of hard work and study on his part.
What no one, not even Podondrin himself realized was that Gryphion was now quite a lot older than what was recorded. Officially he was, by the Terran calendar, not quite eight hundred years old. That did not take into account almost a century spent studying Earth using the Tempus Simia idol to travel about in time, sometimes observing, sometimes participating. During those journeys he had learned much of the history and lore of the Yamanuchi School, especially considering his Mother's interest in it.
He knew the sword his Gatherers had claimed was actually of Terran origin, specifically a Japanese Katana…a very particular one at that.
What was the Lotus Blade doing in a temple that was supposed to house the Sword of the Effurien?