That Hideous Slumber (Chapter 24)

That Hideous Slumber

Chapter XXIV: Child of Thunder

I will not lie, my heart began to pound with an increasing cadence the further we walked through the dark forest. It would have seemed as if night had fallen were it not for the occasional weakling burst of sunlight that managed to crawl its way through to the ground strewn with rotten leaves. I kept my claymore gripped tightly in my left hand, letting it rest lightly against my right shoulder blade.

Harkala was strapped to my back. Its power both frightened and comforted me.

Soon enough we came to a massive clearing. I clung to the trees, observing. My comrades stopped behind me, waiting silently. I took in the make of the open meadow. The far side of it was home to a large formation of smooth gray rock. Water burbled from an opening between two massive boulders, spilling out into a little pool.

Nearer, in the center of the field, there lay a large circle of char. It seemed to be regular home to a massive bonfire. However, I could smell no ash. A strange, flowery scent filled the air. It seemed to grow heavier the longer we stood there.

Perhaps oddest of all, the whole area was as shadowy as where we stood, despite the afternoon sun above.

No sign of the faerie ruler. I was a bit hesitant as to how we ought to proceed. Rovur leaned close and whispered into my ear. “This is the seat of Artemis’ power. She will be very near.” I nodded. I wished then that I’d come up with a more thorough plan. How foolish to charge into the woods to fight such an adversary. I’d let my eagerness overcome my common sense, a potentially fatal mistake now.

But I let none of this show on my face. I refused to let the worry reach my words, my actions, or my limbs.

I stepped out from the treeline and into the clearing, hefting my sword off my shoulder and gripping it tight with both palms. Almost at once, a shadow appeared standing atop the rocks. “Ah!” A purring female voice called out. “How I’ve waited for your arrival, Robert Thornhail!”

The shadow jumped, closing half the distance between us in one leap. Now the woman was only thirty feet away, standing just on the other side of the fire pit. “You know what I’ve come for?” I asked. My companions gathered behind me, weapons held at ready.

“But of course!” the woman came a few steps closer. Artemis the faerie queen was indecently clad in little more than a short skirt that came down to a triangular point several inches above the knee and a ragged halterneck that exposed her back. Both were made of a tattered brown leather. The faerie also had a halberd clinging to her back and a set of long daggers were strapped to either thigh. On second glance, I additionally noticed a row of throwing knives lining her left bicep. Like her sister Persephone, she had a long mane of golden hair bound into a ponytail that reached her waistline.

Also like her sister, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

“I have been waiting for you,” Artemis said again. She stepped closer, moving right across the ashes that lay between us. “A true child of thunder you are, to come here and challenge me, goddess of moon and wood and water and sprite." She wore a wicked, mischievous grin that made her look like a naughty child caught in the act. “I just love having new reasons to wreck lives and curse fools.”

“So you won’t listen to reason and remove the curse that has overtaken Eleanor Embern, an innocent woman who has never done you harm?” I asked. I wasn’t afraid of force, but if diplomatic words could accomplish the same results then so much the better.

Artemis threw back her head and laughed. “Of course not, dear! Not in a million years, for all the precious jewels in the world! I thought it was the funniest thing I’d ever heard when I learned Victoriana managed to subvert the justice I intended to land upon her daughter. You see, it’s all one to me, since they’re peasants now anyways, and that fool Gimel’s lost his power and reputation.”

I shifted my footing, ready to lunge. In my head I pictured myself sending the faerie’s head rolling across the grass. I wasn’t positive it would help Eleanor, but if she insisted on being stubborn, it certainly wasn’t going to hurt. “I say again, Eleanor is innocent. I give you one last chance to change your stance and help me.”

She shrugged. “Go ahead and attack. We’ll see where just how strong you are, child of thunder.”

I did precisely that, swinging my sword straight for the vulnerable stretch of her beautiful neck, too exposed to ignore. She drew one of her dangers in the flicker of an eye and stopped me with one lazy swing, then drew her halberd with the other hand, batting away the rocks I’d hurled her way with my telekinesis. I was flung back with such unexpected force that I stumbled over my own feet, falling to the ground.

Atlas took the opportunity to charge forward. He carried a massive sword, one he could only handle once he turned at least part of his body into stone. It was four feet long and nearly nine inches wide, a truly impressive weapon. I raised a hand to the trees above, shaking every branch, sending thousands of leaves raining down in a massive cloud. I shrouded Atlas within the cloud, hiding him from view even as he chased Artemis down.

But then suddenly all the leaves dropped to the ground, and I could not pick them up mentally no matter how hard I tried. Atlas, preparing to swing his mighty blade, was caught off guard by this turn of events. By this time I had raised myself and was running to join the fray. Drift and Rovur beat me to it, attempting to strike from both sides. However before either could do anything she had slipped past Atlas’ sword and planted two fingers against his forehead. “Ossification.” she said simply, and the man vanished into thin air as cleanly as if he’d never existed at all.

Drift and Rovur were clearly caught off guard by this. Both stopped in their tracks. I charged past Drift, who was on this side of Artemis with me, and lunged again with a heavy swing of my sword, this time I mentally pulled myself to the right, so that my trajectory wouldn’t quite take me where expected. Artemis laughed and delivered a vicious kick to my still-healing ribs. I hit the ground hard enough to rattle my skull and click my teeth. Stars danced across my eyes.

It barely registered when Rovur, in wolf form, lunged at Artemis, only to be flipped on his back somehow. I could see the faerie get close, and then I heard the word “Tree.” and knew that Franklin Rovur was gone, just like Atlas. Drift, having overcome his surprise at losing Atlas, and then Rovur, moved in to attack even as I righted myself for the second time, supremely frustrated at having been thwarted twice.

Artemis drew both daggers in anticipation of Drift’s next move, and Drift obliged, racing forward with sword drawn. He tried to slide under the faerie’s whirling blades to no avail. She struck him cleanly in the chest, an easy killing blow that did not kill. No surprise registered on her face when Drift’s wax-clone began to melt away.

Nothing in the clearing would obey me anymore. I tried to send rocks, leaves, even water, hurling at our adversary to no use. Somehow she was canceling out my abilities, as if the forest preferred to obey her voice over mine. Or perhaps... I could have been imagining it, but I was beginning to feel terribly dizzy...

Artemis had shown no surprise when Drift’s wax-clone melted away, but when four more clones appeared from behind and each latched onto a different limb, her face was transformed by shock. Every doppleganger not only held an arm or leg, but twisted one of its own arms in an unnatural way, wrapping it around Artemis’ limb in a full circle and tying itself into a knot, seemingly leaving no possibility of escape.

I was planning to run in an strike while she was vulnerable, but Drift beat me to it. The true Drift Garnet came running from his hiding place in the woods, sword high and screaming bloody murder. Artemis caught fire then, her entire body wrapping itself in flames. It was only for a fraction of a second, but when her captors arms melted, she was free to counter the blow coming her way. She raised a leg and kicked away Drift’s sword, knocking it into the trees.

I tried to attack a third time, but she threw her halberd in a deadly strike just as I got close, forcing me to dodge it. I attempted to catch it with my mind but it was no use. Drift tried to swing a punch, but she caught his fist with one hand, and laid two fingers from the other hand against his forehead.

“Swine.” One word to dismiss my only friend left. He vanished just like the others.

By this time I was almost too dizzy to stand. I was certain the perfume in the air was having an adverse effect on me. I shook my head, frowning as I concentrated as hard as I could. I tried one last time, pulling at one of the knives from Artemis' arm.

It flew outward a few feet and then flicked itself forward as cleanly as any knife I'd ever hurled from my own fingers. Artemis swung her hand around to catch it, genuinely seeming to be caught off guard. It dug right into her palm, stopped in midair by her very flesh.

She groaned in pain as she dug the blade out. "Naughty boy... that really heart. I'm growing rather tired of playing with you... time for you to follow your little buddies."

Seeing no point in replying aloud, I swung my claymore behind my back and strapped it down. I drew Harkala then.

It was my absolute measure of last resort.

Unlike every other time I'd drawn the sword, it didn't simply make my hand tingle and cause it to turn into metal. No, this time armor sheathed my entire arm almost instantly, and veins of blue metal began to wrap themselves across my chest like the possessive tentacles of a stubborn sea creature.

"I see you've acquired the weaponry of my former lover... I hope you're also aware of what happens if you use it too long..."

To my surprise, my head had cleared up the second the sword had slid into my palm. I stood up straight, ready now to fight with everything I had. I wished I'd done this sooner, but my promise to Drift had held me back.

I could only hope they were still alive.

I held out both hands and reached out to everything I could grasp in the clearing, rocks, leaves, twigs, even ash from the fire pit. I also mentally picked up Artemis' halberd and drew every one of her throwing knives. I created a dome of debris around her, a shell that would shrink in and crush her. I refused to take a chance on allowing her to escape.

"Thornhail, wait... can't we talk about this?"

"The time for talk is past," I replied, squeezing both my hands into fists. My bubble of detritus constricted around the woman's form, killing her instantly.

Or so I wished.

I soon found her standing right before me. I didn't have the chance to shrink away before she'd planted her forefingers against my forehead. "Cockroach." She declared.

Nothing happened.

The faerie queen frowned in frustration. "That's quite a stubborn spell you've got on you. It's effects have been undone but it lingers... keeping you from being able to change shape. I want you to know I find that terribly vexing."

"Well if it helps, I'm about to kill you, so you aren't going to be vexed for long," I replied.

"Yes, yes. Sure you are, dear." I tried to draw away but I found myself stuck. The fingers pressed against my forehead began to glow with silvery light. "My spite knows no limitations. Don't think for a moment you can escape its path of destruction."

"Forget." She said, another single word declaration. In that moment I felt as if my mind were being pulled forcibly from my body. I felt dizzy, numb, and disjointed all at once. It was far worse than the perfume, it was as if my existence were coming to a quick and brutal end.

And then the feeling was past, but all was not well. I was no longer in the forest battling a terrible foe, I was floundering in a black ocean. I could not see or hear anything. I knew only the struggle to keep my head above water in a vast dark nothingness.

In the span of seconds I felt my limbs grow heavier and heavier, till they were nothing but cast-iron relics, rusting in the sea. My stamina failed me and I sank under the water.

The moment I did so, I felt my head light up. A strangely giddy sensation, not entirely unpleasant, filled my head. I saw things, images in the water flashing by, thoughts and ideas began to fill my head.

And then the water was gone with a flash of light, and I was standing on a green lawn. A clear blue sky filled the air above. Behind me I saw a house that looked so new it had been built yesterday. The brilliant white paint looked as if it were still fresh.

Before me I saw a young girl playing with dolls in the grass. Somehow I knew this was Artemis. As I watched, a man walked from the house, a man with dark hair dressed in a robe of deep dark blue. In his hand he carried a sword that dripped with blood. It was a weapon all too familiar to me, the very blade I'd been carrying at my side for the last three years.

The man, his face expressionless, reached down and tousled the little girl's messy blond hair without emotion. Somehow I knew I was looking upon Artemis as a child. And the man standing over her was none other than Harkan, the most powerful wizard the world had ever known.

Harkan squatted, placing his free hand on the little girl's shoulder. "Artemis," he said calmly and quietly, "I've just murdered your mommy and daddy. Do you know what that means?" He said the words as if patiently explaining some inconsequential fact.

"You and your sisters are very special girls," The wizard continued, not allowing the girl to process his first sentence. "You're going to come with me to a beautiful castle made of black rock."

"Can momma and poppa come?" the girl asked in childish innocence. The last thing I saw was Harkan shaking his head...

Another flash. This time I was looking upon three young girls, all teenagers. They were stumbling through the faerie woods, clothes ripped and faces dirty. Trees rose like towers above, shading the sun. All three girls looked lost, hungry, alone and scared. Artemis, Athena, and Persephone. I knew as I had known before, when I should not.

They arrived in a meadow different from the one I and my friends had battled Artemis in. It was occupied by a massive silver fountain. Water burbled from the mouths of four statues standing with their backs to each other. Two dragons and two angels. The falling liquid collected in a round pool at the feet of those figures. A gentle spray misted the air.

The three girls fell to their knees in exhaustion before the fountain. "Are you sure about this?" Persephone inquired, looking nervously in the water.

"Harkan said we should drink from this pool, that it would make the faeries listen to us," Artemis was already leaning her head over the gleaming rim of the fountain, cupping her hands for a drink of that cold, clear water...

Flash. Two figures in tan robes that protected them from the hot desert sun and swirling sand stood in an alleyway etched in shadow. All the buildings around were sun dried adobe. I could hear the sounds of a bustling marketplace not far off. Could this be Termile?

It was clear from the posture of the two that a secret exchange was taking place. I saw a gleaming blue flute pass from one hand to another. The flute was meant for something special. It was the means to summon the Leviathan, the creature who carried the Castle of Infinite Night upon its back.

The image grew hazy, indistinct. Things began to change more quickly, in disorienting patterns. I thought perhaps I was seeing ideas about the future. I saw Athena, aged into ancient skin, being run through with one of Artemis' daggers. The hateful faerie queen intended to summon the dragon and then kill all its passengers. This included Eleanor and Margrovax, if she came upon them.

The thoughts faded. I could feel Artemis drawing back, pushing me away. I knew somehow, in the great lengths she'd gone to curse me and send me away, she'd accidentally given me a glimpse deep into the recesses of her mind, and her past.

I could tell from the feel of her receding presence that she thought she'd won, that I'd learned nothing of true value, but she was wrong.

I'd learned the source of her power, and I knew how to stop her.

---

Suffocation.

I woke up buried deep in sand, unable to breath. Coughing and gasping for air, I clawed desperately for the surface, relieved when cool night air caressed my skin. I looked around, taking stock of where I was.

A desert.

I'd been sent to a desert? I glanced around, confused and disoriented. One moment I'd been standing in the forest battling a bitter foe, now I was covered in sand and standing under starlight. The thoughts of the faerie queen echoed through my head, murmurs and tracings of her malice and resentment.

I climbed to the top of a nearby sand dune, hoping to get my bearings however possible. The desert smoothed out not far in front of me, the sands growing shallower before a faraway city whose colorful spires reflected the dim evening light.

In the middle distance I noticed a number of whirlwinds flying through the air, dervishes of sand that did not look natural. As I glanced closer, I saw an enormous black wolf running from the source of the disturbance.

I soon made out men waving swords within the crowd, mounted atop the strangest horses I had ever seen. Every one of them had a tall hump growing from their back, which the men rode upon. Their faces were droopy, their lips exaggerated.

As I watched, the wolf outpaced his pursuers, rounding the dune upon which I stood. Recognizing Rovur, I stood my ground, not flinching when the wolf came to a stop a few feet before me and transformed back into a human.

Panting for breath, Rovur caught my eye and chuckled. "Don't think they like outsiders," he said with a laugh.

"Stirring up the locals?" I inquired dryly. "We've hardly been here half an hour," I raised both my hands and created a massive wall of sand. It was difficult to hold onto so many tiny objects but I managed it well enough. I made the sand slowly tilt forward till it crashed like a wave over the men intent on charging up after us.

"Well it wasn't my fault! That damn witch dropped me right in the middle of their camp!" His words suggested injury but his tone was light. Franklin Rovur was certainly a jolly fellow. I supposed I could ask for worse companions.

"Wouldn't happen to have seen old Atlas or Drift would you?" I couldn't help worrying over their fates. It was my fault we were here after all. I took the full weight of what had befallen us upon my shoulders without a second thought.

"I'm afraid not, brother. We can only hope they've had our luck making friends." As we finished our conversation, the natives were freeing themselves. They'd been buried a bit but hardly harmed in any way.

"We must kill the invader!!" I heard someone scream in heavily accented Latin. A chorus of assent sounded through the evening air.

"This would uhhh probably be a good time to go," Rovur observed.

---

We found Drift sleeping near an oasis, curled up in a ball with little white candles floating lazily in the air over his head. We stumbled on the island of green grass nearly an hour after leaving the Termilians behind. Termilians they were, for we were in Termile now, Rovur assured me.

For two filthy, parched and bone tired men the oasis offered unparalleled respite. The morning sun was just beginning to take its roost in the sky when we collapsed into the delightfully wet sand. Rovur spotted the boy first, laying on the opposite side of the little pool of water that occupied the center of the oasis.

"I see at least one of us managed to make the best of things," he noted. "Now all we need to do is find tall, dark and deadly and we'll be a happy family once again." But I didn't see it so simply. Drift had clearly been in another scuffle. He had a number of cuts and scrapes on his arms I hadn't seen before. It wasn't like Drift to let someone get the better of him, but then today had clearly not been our day.

I shook the boy awake, desire for an explanation outweighing the consideration of letting him sleep. He came awake suddenly, grasping for a sword that wasn't there with the practiced grace of a warrior.

I casually deflected a blow to my throat and grabbed him by the wrists. "Drift... Drift calm down. It's me. Tell me what happened."

"Atlas... they took him. I don't know how. I tried every trick in my repertoire to stop them."

"Stop who?" Rovur asked. "I think the youngling's getting soft, letting some desert rats get the better of him."

"They... I think they were slavers. They seemed to want Atlas for something," Drift groaned and stumbled towards the water for a drink. "And they didn't get the better of me," he added petulantly. "I think Artemis drugged us. There was something about the air... made it hard to think. I was still under the effects of it when I popped up right there," he pointed towards the pool he was drinking from.

"So what exactly happened?" I asked.

"Well Atlas must have been pretty out of it. He was slung over a horse, looking half dead. They were all ready to make off with him. So I tried to convince them otherwise, and they beat the tar out of me and left me for dead here."

"Well that's that then," Rovur replied. "Pity too... he seemed like he was a nice chap."

"He still is," I replied. "Do you think you can remember which way they took him?" I asked Drift.

Drift nodded. Taking a deep breath, he heaved himself to his feet.

"You're not thinking of going after him? You heard the boy, he's as good as dead, and not a one of us is fighting fit." I cast a critical eye towards the man. He did look a bit worse for the wear than I'd realized.

"Of course we are. It's my fault we're in this mess. I have to do what I can to reparate. I won't try to force you to join me, but I'd like to have you along." I glanced at the rising sun, then took stock of the slender trees growing around us, hopeful for a few scant provisions to bring along.

"Either way, we must be quick about it," I added.

"What do you mean?" Drift asked.

"We only have seven days, seven days and then Artemis is going to summon the leviathan and kill everyone inside the castle... Eleanor included." The faerie queen's timetable was the most frightening detail I'd learned.

"But that's impossible!" Rovur blurted. "It's too far!"

"Impossible," I replied, "is a specialty of ours."