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News » For the Sake of a Soul: XIX
Dire Decisions
The God Terdeskollit was not pleased with the combat. He wanted the sounds of terror, the groans of those who felt their lives escaping, and the exclamations of those who felt that the fates or hope had approved of a better future. Five members of the group were experienced combatants though.
They considered the fight as just another trial of life, and used what skills they had to survive. Each of the five had lived longer than a normal life span, so had lost the newness of life. Instead of seeing this battle as some chance at glory or cause for concern at possibly missing some of life’s experiences, they quietly fought to achieve their present objective that would later be rated against other challenges that they had also overcome. Medalpha was young enough that in a different group would have been very entertaining, but the princess sought approval from the elders around her and controlled her demeanor to match their countenances. The centaur and satyr kept their focus on the horses, and only made sounds that would help control the animals. Terdeskollit found the most pleasure in listening to the sounds of the horses as they responded to the actions around them, and the thought of being entertained by animals really grated on his nerves.
The deity was planning a way to make the fight more interesting when he heard something. The centaur was singing. It was not a battle song, although the cadence of the rhythm had been altered to fit the surrounding conditions. Truthfully, the God could tell that it was a song to put a child to sleep and used to calm the horses. Terdeskollit checked to assure himself that the lady was not attempting some magic, but his divine senses easily identified that the centaur was simply performing the tune that had come to her. He waited for those around her to ridicule her for deciding to sing such music in the middle of such perilous activity.
The deity almost enacted one of his more vile actions when the satyr joined in the song, but the voice of Terish also taking up the tune calmed Terdeskollit. Ferrigote had his own words for the melody, and the God smiled listening to the verse. The muscular fighter was reprimanded for his choice of lyrics, and Straekin set the tune back to its original form. The bearded man grumbled, but took up the song with the empress on the next verse.
Listening to the song, Terdeskollit appraised his next plans for the group. He dismissed them with the understanding that they were useless. Overcoming the group with a large number of violent creatures really would not be enjoyable. The deity found himself wondering why he even bothered to deal with these people.
Uncertainty was a unique experience for Terdeskollit. He recognized the emotion within himself, and found himself entertained by it. Feeling a need for self-introspection, he dismissed his creatures which were still alive and harassing the group.
Ferrigote was quick to ask as the monsters in front of him became dust, "Okay, Terish, what is happening now?"
Dathol was the one that replied, "I get the impression that this plan did not work."
"What, he expected us to die?"
Terish responded as he moved to Celatia, "I told you, Gote, that we need to deal with Terdeskollit directly. He initiated this adventure, and for the most part has control. I am however believing that he is uncertain about how to orchestrate events."
Dathol affirmed the conclusion. "He does not know us. What tactics he has been using are not bringing out the appropriate responses."
Ferrigote grumbled, "You would think that he would have studied his opponents. I mean, there are a number of books about me, Terish, you, Straek, …" the fighter looked at the raven haired lady to ask, "is there a book about you?"
Thaunya chuckled before responding, "I believe that I am character in the tale of the Deadre war."
The muscular man turned to smiled at Medalpha before saying, "Don’t you worry, princess. You will be a queen one day, so there will be plenty written about you."
Terish determined that a couple of the horses did suffer substantial damage in the combat, so did not need to be ridden presently. He thus signaled Celatia to simply follow as he started walking leading the wounded mounts. He was not ignoring the conversation, and with business done felt that the discussion would help pass the time.
"Truthfully, Gote, I seldom recognize myself in those stories. That might be Terdeskollit’s problem. He might have used them to learn about us." The lightly built man waited for some differing viewpoints, but his companions busied themselves with assuring that they were able to join the march. "Our problem however is that we also know little about Terdeskollit. Somehow we are going to have to come to enough understanding of each other to allow some meeting of minds."
Ferrigote liked to talk while his legs covered distance, so once he was certain that all were moving freely returned a comment to his companion. "Somewhere we lost the option of mutual avoidance."
"I assumed that was what we had, and what Terdeskollit felt had reached its limit."
Straekin kept quiet as she walked and listened to the men. She really hoped that they would solve their problems. She had traveled with the men on a number of adventures, but normally they had a destination with an objective. This situation presented neither. The men rambled because they had difficulty determining on what to focus, much less how to restore their lives back to what they considered normal.
The empress was relieved to see pleasant surroundings after she passed through the desired portal and stepped onto the world of the sleeping gods. There were trees, but they were all ancient plants that that either towered over the landscape or whose foliage covered acres with a canopy supported by massive trunks that had the width of centuries of growth. Near a large crystal clear pond was an area of tough grass, but the horses grazed on it willingly enough. There was the presence of insects, but they were not numerous as they mindlessly continued activities unaware that the rest of the animals on this world had decided life was not worth living without some attention from the gods. Straekin looked at her surroundings and felt that it would a nice place to relax, but understanding the threat that could reappear she decided on methods to keep herself alert.
"Gote, where are those books?"
After a fruitless discussion of the present troubles, the muscular fighter was thinking of allowing his mind to consider other pursuits as well. "Some are in a saddlebag that Celatia is carrying. I have a saddlebag filled with books on my horse, and a couple of texts are in my personal satchel."
The long haired noble moved to Celatia and opened the saddlebag that the centaur identified. Straekin pulled out the books looking for one that she could read. Speech was not a problem in moving between worlds. It could be an issue, but the power that enabled one to see and open portals between worlds was also able to be manipulated to normally assure communications with those of intelligence. There was no intelligence in a book though, so one had to understand a language and its symbols to decipher what knowledge was present.
Straekin stopped and stared at the pages of one tome. She could read it. It actually surprised her that the letters were so easily translated by her brain. She recognized the language, but truthfully had never fully trusted the source of her knowledge. Terish had been so young when he left his world. The empress fully expected his true language to have been blended by the tongues he had encountered as he grew up.
Angered well up within the long haired lady, and she turned to vent her feelings at the one she felt responsible. "Ferrigote! Don’t you tell me that you did not know that you had this book!"
The bearded man looked up from where he was clearing an area for a fire. He did not know what the lovely empress was bothering him about, but accepted her presence as a lady of distinction and the consort to his friend. Attempting to get her to leave him alone, he stated his dismissal.
"Don’t blame me for the choice of books. I took them from Galabur. I gained access to his library in Eustrih."
Straekin was not letting the man evade her wrath so easily. "Are you trying to tell me that you did not choose which texts you were going to bring with you?"
"I found a couple that I could read, then grabbed a couple of saddlebags for Terish. The kid can read anything."
"Well, why don’t you add this one to your stack. I am certain that you can read it."
Ferrigote took the book very uncertain what had set the empress upon him. He and she often did not see things from the same perspective, but their antagonistic arguments were never due to real anger. Straekin was used to dealing with a disrespectful and evasive council that needed a strong voice to force action, and the muscular fighter was also one to use a powerful direct approach to get his objectives accomplished. Truthfully, Ferrigote liked Straekin, and opened the book to reconcile the matter between them.
Yes, the bearded armored man saw what he was certain Straekin had seen, but was not going to immediately state that finding. "Well, it is about my golden lady." The long haired lady glared at him, but Ferrigote allowed his eyes to dart about and verify that he had the attention of everyone else as well before he made his next revelation. "Kid," the muscular fighter handed the book to the young appearing man as he added, "it might be best if you read it, because it is written in your native language."
Terish took the book but did not open it. He examined the cover. The wood had filed ridges all along its edges. On Terish’s home world ownership was the law, so those who wanted to keep something would make ridges on it to help identify it and enable an easy grip for stealing it back. If you took a possession, it was common to attempt to remove those ridges to spoil any attempt at identification and make it hard for someone else to filch. Those of Eustrih had attempted to put some grace in the outside by overlaying the binding with leather, but as the skin had aged it had stretched enabling the youthful appearing man to notice the scars on the original wood. He did not know if Terdeskollit was presently listening, but spoke to the unconscious form of Phillip all the same.
"I don’t want to sound disrespectful, but you really did a poor job of annihilation."
Ferrigote grumbled, "Well, if my golden lady was on your world, then I might as well start setting my heart for someone else."
Dathol responded, "No, Ferrigote. I believe that Terish’s comment was correct. Terdeskollit destroyed his world because he grew bored with it. It was not a well done annihilation. The God wanted to move on and do something else." Yes, heads turned towards the holy man, but before anyone could speak he finished what he felt led to say, "Terish, I believe that you need to read that book."
Chapter length has again been reached. The next chapter is titled, "Presenting Gerlitt Enith."
Posted by TerishD on Monday, May 05, 2003 (06:23:27) (1051 reads)
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Re: For the Sake of a Soul: XIX
(Score: 1 )
by Meg on Saturday, June 21, 2003 (10:55:53)
Wow. I mean it. Have you written a novel that's published now? If you did, I'd love to read it.
Thanks a lot for the tips, I will include more description, and yes, I really need to flesh it out a bit more... *chuckles weakly*
You can post more stories up at fictionpress.net... I'm sure they will appreciate your storywriting and you will get good reviews.
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