Part Eleven - Aurelia is Burning
The Boy had arrived back in Aurelia as the firestorm began. He wheeled his paksi driven cart into the stables and barely managed to unfasten the large birds before flames from above engulfed the building. He raced to the exit, but outside all he could see was a sudden panorama of infernal destruction. People and animals ran and screamed in chaotic fear as the once-bustling streets became a twisted maze of panicked crowds and crumbling buildings. The Boy shielded his eyes from the blinding light and choking smoke.
The paksi panicked and fled the stables, nearly running the Boy down.
He dashed back inside and threw open the cellar door. Several feet below ground he hunkered for what felt like hours. The explosive blasts subsided eventually, but he remained among the barrels of grain and cheap wine. From above he heard shrieks of pain and terror. He cried until his eyes ran dry. He collapsed onto the floor and prayed to whatever gods may listen.
The Boy had no family. He had no real friends. Born to the streets, he’d been alone as long as he could remember. Just one in a sea of urchins flooding the greatest and most terrible city in the world. He’d become accustomed to taking care of himself. He ran with some gangs from time to time, learning different schemes and tricks for survival, but he never stayed with any long enough to be fully accepted. When Saiku Lin offered him the task of smuggling Enin into the feast hall, the Boy was wary. The name Enin had only ever been spoken in fretful whispers by the other street folk. They called him a warlock, a doctor, a killer, a charlatan, and a man of great wealth and power. He shared his name with a legendary boogie man that parents told their kids about to keep them in line. “Don’t stay out too late or Enin will get you” they would say, or “Eat all your greens, or Enin will come knocking at our door.” There was even a popular graffiti tag that could be found around the city from time to time, “Nine lives, evil, Enin”.
But the Boy knew that was all just talk, fairy tales to scare children. Still, this man called Enin was bad news. Those who got too close to him were known to suffer for it.
When the Boy learned that he would be taking Enin away from the city he grew intrigued. He had to meet with the man and gain his trust according to Lin. Enin did not make himself vulnerable to anyone who may use it against him. The Boy spent several days with the sorcerer and saw firsthand what great wealth could buy. In Enin’s chambers the Boy was fed, clothed, and allowed to sleep on an actual cot. Enin put him in charge of his stables and even gave the Boy a key to his home. Often the Boy was left alone. He could easily have taken anything he wanted from the man. Gold, fancy foods, jewelry and other expensive items were strewn about Enin’s house as if they held no value.
The Boy worked among collections of statues, expensive silverware, ancient books, and items that were almost certainly magical in nature, but he took nothing that was not offered to him. He remained cautious to not even gaze for too long upon the accouterment of his master’s home for fear of bringing suspicion upon himself. A single candlestick from that house was worth more than all the coins the Boy had ever seen.
He planned to return to the house after delivering Enin, use the key to enter and fill the cart with as much as he could fit. Then the Boy would leave Aurelia forever. He was not sure where he would go. Perhaps he would journey to the lands of Sarazan or even as far as the fabled city of Ki Cedron where cats are sacred. The Boy liked cats. The further he got from Aurelia, the better, he figured. He could set up a small shop somewhere and sell the curios he’d gathered from the house of Enin. Perhaps he’d become a rich fat merchant in time.
Neither Saiku Lin nor Enin gave any indication of when the sorcerer would return, if ever. When the Boy asked what he should do with the cart and Enin’s magnificent paksi, the man did not seem to care.
“Return them to the stable, I suppose.” Enin said, as if he would never need them again.
The Boy knew that the man was insane. Wanting to crash a noble wedding in such a bizarre manner was clear evidence of that. He decided that whatever Enin meant to do was none of his business. He would do his job and return to the stables as ordered. If Enin ever returned to his home he would probably not even notice a small portion of his riches missing. Even if he did, the Boy would be hundreds of miles away by then.
The Boy never got to enact his larceny, of course. The moment he pulled into the stable, the sky exploded in fire and noise.
Now here he sat cowering in the basement.
He wondered when it would be safe to venture out. The muffled sounds of those above trying to escape the madness raining down upon them lessened over time.
The Boy crept over to the cellar stairs, unsure of what to do next. The paksi had run off so swiftly he could probably never find them, assuming they weren’t lost to the flames.
He considered for a moment that this could be punishment from the gods for his deceitful actions. The gods had never seemed to take notice of him before, though. This firestorm was something else. It was something bigger than the Boy could comprehend.
The Boy gazed up at the cellar door, afraid of what may wait for him on the other side. The world could be ash for all he knew. He couldn’t stay down below forever, of course. His stomach began to grumble. What choice did he have but to open the door?
The room had grown noticeably warmer. There came a crackling noise from beyond the door. His eyes grew wide and every nerve in his body tingled. The stable must have caught fire! There would be no escaping now. He’d trapped himself.
Tears streamed down the Boy’s face as an orange glow emanated from behind the door, sharply outlining the wooden frame. In a heartbeat the entire portal to the world above bathed him in angry light.
He heard a loud CRACK! As the slats that made up the door burst downward and fell into the room in a clatter of smoke and fire.
The cellar door was now an open hole and beyond it the Boy saw darkness broken by a flickering glow.
Burning slats fell upon the wooden stairs. Soon the flames would engulf the passage, making escape impossible.
More frightened of being trapped than of getting burned, the Boy ran up the stairs, leaping over the fires wherever he could. Flames licked at his legs. Sharp, intense pain wrapped around him as the fire lit upon his clothing. The Boy nearly succumbed before making it to the top.
A dense cloud of smoke filled the remains of the stables. The boy raced, choking and crying through the fumes in a blind frenzy.
He fell to the ground some distance outside where the stables had stood, gasping for air.
When he could see again the world around him had turned mostly black. The wrath of the gods - if that be the cause- had struck just before nightfall. Enin’s house became a pile of cinder before the Boy’s eyes. All around people ran with buckets of water to save their own homes and businesses. The Boy sat in the ash filled streets of the burning city in shock.
“The world is ending.” he said out loud to himself.
“No.” a voice spoke from behind him. “This is just the beginning of the end”
The boy turned to see Enin towering above him.
Part Twelve - The Demon
The hill looked out over a clearing. Beyond that lay a forest and past it would be the city of Aurelia. Against the blackening sky Tula saw an orange glow and several streams of grey smoke pouring out over the horizon as the city burned.
“What I need you to do is hold my upper leg in place and push my lower leg back into the correct position.”
Tula sat mute, staring at the Witch.
“Do it, please. I cannot by myself, girl. I need you.” the Muck Witch said to her.
Tula looked down at the bird in her chest as if expecting it to chime in.
“Tihihi!” it chirped and said nothing more.
“Tula!” snapped the Witch. “You can do this. I saw your courage during the firestorm. I’m certain you can be brave for me now.”
The girl with a bird for a heart drew in a deep breath and straddled the Witch’s thigh with her back toward the woman. The Witch wore loose fitting trousers. The bottom half on the broken leg had been torn somehow during the storm. An odd bulge jutted out about halfway down her lower leg.
“That is my tibia, dear.” the Witch told her. “Take my leg below the bump- by the ankle is best. Pull it up like a lever.”
“But,” Tula said, “that will hurt you!”
“It will hurt even more if you don’t do it. Please. Tula Petek. Be strong for me. I am speaking calmly now, but I am in great pain. I can’t be strong much longer. Not without your help.”
Tula did as she was told. She reached down to the lower calf and pulled up gently with both hands.
The Witch gasped but did not yell.
The girl felt a sickening grind as she set the bone, but it moved slowly into the proper position. Soon the grotesque bulge was gone.
The Witch exhaled.
“Well done girl. Now we need to make a splint.”
“How are you so calm?” Tula asked her.
“I’ve been alive a long while, Tula. This is not my first disaster. Also, your work is not yet done. I need you to find some straight branches to make a splint. You can tear the remains of my trousers to tie it around my leg.
Tula followed her instructions and eventually the Witch’s leg was splinted. The girl found some water in a stream and brought it to the woman in a large leaf.
After a long drink the Witch spoke again. “We cannot stay here, but I cannot move.”
“Where else would we even go?” asked Tula. “The world has caught fire around us. It’s a wonder that any trees are still standing here. If we weren’t surrounded by marshland I suspect we’d be caught in a wildfire. Was that it? Did the world just end? A rain of fire and a broken leg? Is that all there is to it?”.
“No,” said the Witch, “most certainly not.”
“So then, what comes next? And when?”
“I won’t pretend to know these things. All I can be certain of is that your sorcerer has set an unstoppable wave of events into motion. He told you we have eight days until the very end. Given what has happened this evening, I believe him.”
“What can we do, then?” asked Tula, “A lost child and a broken Witch? If the destruction this Enin has wrought is unstoppable then what is the point of doing anything?”
The Witch wrapped her hands around Tula’s and said, “Dear girl. Nothing has changed. We have as much time and as much to do as we always have.”
“How much time is that?”
“The rest of our lives.”
Tula turned away from the Muck Witch, frustrated by her words. She inhaled deeply to find her senses overwhelmed by a sweet and heavy smell, like pipe smoke. Without turning she sensed a third party had arrived behind the Witch, appearing stealthily out of the woods.
“I am going to kill you.” spoke a voice that was not a voice. More than anything it sounded like the buzzing of a million bees.
“I know,” said the Witch, “but not today.”
The bird fluttered in Tula’s chest. Every instinct screamed at her to run as fast as she could, but instead she turned to see...it...standing behind the Witch.
It was smoke. No, it was darkness, like a piece of the night sky had been torn out and brought to the world. It shifted and flickered as if not meant to be and existed by force of will alone. It took the form of a man and within that form twinkled stars and galaxies. If Tula looked closely she could make out high cheekbones and an aquiline nose, but she dared not look closely.
“Girl,” said the Witch, “this is Kokaibel. He is my cacodaemon.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Tula said, her eyes to the ground.
“This girl lies.” spoke Kokaibel, “She could not be less pleased.”
“Do be polite.” the Muck Witch said, but to whom she spoke was uncertain.
“I’ve never met a demon before.” said Tula, “I thought you were supposed to reek of brimstone.”
Kokaibel chortled with a sound like shattered glass. “If we smelled of burning sulfur, where would be the appeal? No, child. Demons smell sweet. We are, after all, the angels who have broken free.”
Tula Petek had never feared anything the way she feared Kokaibel. Standing before it felt like being locked in a cage with a tiger. Kokaibel could end her without a thought and they both knew it.
She looked into the eyes of the Witch and asked, “Should we be running?”
“No point in it, dear.” said the Witch. “You could never outrun Kokaibel. It would be like trying to outrace the moon. Besides, He is not doing us harm at this time.”
Tula forced herself to gaze upon the strange being. The more she looked at it, the more human it...he...became to her eyes. His form shifted and blurred as if it were uncertain whether or not it should exist at all. But the more she wrapped her mind around him, the more solid he seemed. Kokaibel flashed bright eyes at her, followed by a radiant smile.
“Maegda,” he spoke, “what do you have here?”
The demon waved what may have been a hand in the general direction of Tula. “Have you taken a new pupil?”
“No. Kokaibel. I have not. Those days are past. This girl-”
“I am Tula Petek.” she interrupted before the Witch could finish. At the sound of her name Kokaibel’s smile split across his face like a tear in fabric. The Witch threw her hand over her own mouth as if to trap the words that had already escaped the girl’s
“...this FOOLISH girl,” said the Witch, “is of no consequence to you. She is simply a traveler who was kind enough to help me in my injured state.”
Kokaibel circled Tula like a predator. “Tula,” the demon whispered, tasting the name, “Tula Petek. What a deliciously ordinary name. I shall add it to my collection.”
“Beg your pardon!” said Tula.
“Those are the rules, girl.” the demon said, “Never say your own name to a demon. It binds you to them. Now you’re stuck with me. Just like Maegda here.” he gestured toward the Witch.
“I’m done.” Tula said.
“No no no.” Kokaibel demanded, “You don’t get to decide that. Not now. You’ve given me your name. Just handed it over like a present! I have you now. Like this Witch had me all those years. Except I won’t lock you up in a bottle. Oh no. I’ll keep you where I can see you. You’re a dangerous one, you heartless thing.” At that last bit Tula tugged at the flap of her blouse to cover the cage as best she could.
“I don’t care about you, demon.” said Tula. “If you are going to kill me or enslave me or whatever your plans are...then get on with it. Otherwise I have bigger problems than you. The world is ending and there is much I’d like to get done before that comes to pass. I don’t need some flickery shadow of hell hassling me too. I’m done. Good day to you.”
The Witch was unable to move due to the state of her leg, but Tula was nearly certain that could she walk, the woman would not have followed as she plodded down the hill away from her and the demon.
“You may walk away from me if you like, Tula Petek.” spoke Kokaibel, “But you can’t outrun the end of your world. Not without my assistance.”
Tula stopped, but did not turn around when she asked, “What kind of assistance do you offer?”
Chapter Thirteen - The Sorcerer’s Boy
“Did you not expect me to return?” asked the towering man.
The boy opened his mouth but nothing came out. He spun around at the ebbing chaos. His notion of taking for himself a small portion of Enin’s wealth had literally gone up in smoke. He had nothing. For all the Boy knew his contacts and acquaintances could be dead in the destruction delivered by the firestorm. Even the paksi had fled.
Enin surveyed the scene around him. “It is not easy for me.” He said with a face of stone. “Watching my home fade to dust. This sight does fill me with sorrow. But it is the way of things. It is inevitable. All things must end.”
The Boy croaked dryly, “You said that this was just the beginning. There is more to come?”
Enin’s expression shifted from a mask of granite to the smile of a man with a thousand secrets. “Yes, Boy. Much more is on its way. More than this world can handle.”
The Boy stood and wiped the soot away from his eyes.
“Come, Boy.” Enin said to him. “I have need of you.”
“Come where? If the world is ending, where could we even go? And why should we bother? Won’t it end all the same?”
Enin let out a sharp whistle and from the shadows loped two familiar shapes. The paksi stepped forward.
“Be silent and ride with me for a while, Boy.” the sorcerer said. “Neither of us should want for a companion in the times that are to come.”
He climbed upon the larger of the two birds and steadied himself by grasping the ruff of feathers around its neck. He nodded at the Boy to follow suit.
“Use the bridle only for guiding your mount, Boy. If you need to right yourself while riding, take hold of the plumage as have I.” said Enin.
“Won’t that hurt her?”
“Do so gently. Grasping the bridle sends confusing signals to the paksi. That might cause it to take the wrong course, or perhaps even throw you.”
The Boy clumsily attempted to ride bareback, but he managed and soon kept pace with Enin as they made their way out of the city.
A flood of people trying to escape the destruction caused by the storm of fire blocked their path along the road away from Aurelia. However, the birds were swift and maneuvered around the throng.
“That storm brought so much pain and ruin to our city.” said the Boy. “It only lasted a few minutes, but it destroyed so many homes, so many lives.”
Enin road along silently.
“What worse thing could be coming?” the Boy continued. “Where can these people run to? Where can we go? The forest? The marshlands beyond? I see black billows of smoke all around. Is there no part of the land untouched by this flaming tempest?”
“I bid you to be silent, Boy. I am in no mood to answer pointless questions.” said Enin.
“And I am in no mood to be told what to do.” snapped the Boy. “My whole life I’ve been wary of men and boys like you. Older, bigger, stronger. I’ve stayed out of the way. Tried to make myself small and unnoticed so as not to incur their wrath. I’ve been the servant, the victim. I’ve mostly hidden myself away from the likes of those who think they can command me and anyone younger or smaller than them. When hiding was not an option I would do as told just to stay safe. But no more. Things are changing.”
Enin fixed his gaze on the road ahead as the Boy continued to unleash.
“No one is safe now. Not me. Not you. Not the town guard nor the gangs. Not even Saiku Lin is safe. The sky itself brings death to us all. So I don’t need to heed you or anyone else. You cannot possibly be more of a threat to me than a sky full of flames!”
Enin glanced sideways at the Boy, but held his tongue.
“So tell me, oh great sorcerer, if there is nowhere left to run then why run? Where are you going? Why should I follow? What kind of destruction and what are we to do about it?”
Enin pulled his mount to a stop. The boy did the same. The sorcerer looked at him and said, “Past that forest, in the swamps is a force more destructive than the firestorm. There is a power so great it will plunge my whole world into darkness forever. It waits for me. If you choose to run away from the end of the world, then run. You won’t get far. The end is coming sooner than you know and when it happens it won’t matter if you are standing right here or a thousand leagues away. I am going to face that force.”
“Face it?” asked the Boy. “Then what?” If this force is all you say, what do you hope to achieve? How can you stop it from ending the world?
The sorcerer’s head fell back and he let loose a barrage of laughter. “Boy,” he said, “I do not intend to stop it..”
Enin shook the rein and his bird trotted on.
“I intend to release it!”
