The Dark Stranger
Cy 4822, Maruk 23rd – Jarik and Hoqar in Limbo
With the staffs touching the two wielders are at the very heart of the Maelstrom itself, their combined sense of sight and resonance penetrates the vast membrane that is the core of the universe. It’s fuel, it’s energy, and the heartbeat of universal time. Beyond the rivers of hot souls, beyond the vast mountain range of soul detritus they see the gate…the last flimsy thread that keeps Limbo attached to everything else.
They see the dark figure, robed in black and purple, his steps sure and confident. This man does not slip into the ash-like residue that would consume a normal creature, nor does he worry unduly about the heat from the rivers of souls. The two wielders are stunned when the stranger kneels at one of the flows and cups the liquid as though it was a clear and pure mountain spring. He drinks from the soul river and wipes his mouth at the nourishment.
The figure removes the hood…it is Malkar.
Hoqar gasps but Jarik remains focused, keeps their concentration upon the unfolding situation. The gate shimmers for a second time; this time the figure that emerges is unmistakeable…the unearthly beauty of the elven goddess, Andurien Willowstar. Her demeanour is nervous, cautious, and inquisitive.
"I came quickly, Malkar," she says, a look of puzzlement across her face.
Malkar gestures to the river. "Try some, it is invigorating."
"I have no taste for souls."
"You don’t know what you’re missing," he grins.
"Why the urgency? And why Limbo? This has never been my favoured place."
"There are no spies here," he said, "save for the gargantuan who would not even understand your words anyway. What I have to say requires your complicity, and total secrecy."
"Then say no more, for Jarik is in Limbo."
Malkar shakes his head. "Jarik is gone, along with two of the Glaennyn. I wounded the young dragon Aynar and they came to rescue him…the two stafflords plunged to their deaths in this flow and I ambushed the rest of them outside the gate. I must say the Marraq archer was definitely as good as you said."
But Willowstar is horrified. "You wounded the young Glaennyn? Why?"
"Don’t be so naive, Andurien, to trap them. I knew they wouldn’t leave it to die here, though I thought the wielders would put up more of a fight."
"You are beyond treachery!" the goddess wails. "If I’d have known…"
"Stop bleating like a fish wife! In actual fact the whole thing went better than I’d planned, you see my disciple survived and even now believes that Muziel is culpable."
"You have tricked me! I want no part of this madness anymore, Malkar! There are innocent people dying in Bretonia because of your ridiculous plan…release the people from your grip and ascend to the heavens. I never quite understood your motives…you have descended into insanity."
Malkar laughs. "There is blood on your hands too."
"But I was following you – I believed that you fought Muziel! I was willing to aid in any way…including laying down the lives of my priests."
"Then you are more stupid than I thought!"
Willowstar is in shock, unable to speak; the sheer venom in Malkar’s voice has tangible power and silenced her. Jarik feels the perfect control of resonance, there is grudging admiration.
Malkar strikes her so quickly that not even the staff-augmented eyes of the two wielders can follow it. She collapses, but her god-like reflexes react without thought. Her sword is unleashed and just as quickly deflected. Malkar disarms her and forces her to the ground, her struggles feeble by comparison to his enormous strength.
Hoqar suddenly breaks the contact between the staffs. "I cannot watch this."
Jarik’s eyes flare angrily. "We must!"
The staffs are joined once more and both men watch, horrified, as Malkar perpetrates the most appalling and violent rape. Willowstar is broken by the end. Her sobs are like a thousand widows at the end of a battle, all calling for their dead loved ones.
When he is finished Malkar bends close and whispers into her ear.
"I am merely replacing your dead bastard with a son you can be proud of!" Malkar drags her to her feet and forces her out of the gate. He takes a final look around before following the goddess.
Hoqar stares at Jarik, his mouth open, his eyes moist with tears. "What now?"
"Like many victims of this kind of crime she will finally find the strength to fight back.
"Let’s consider the facts. Since Malkar can walk Limbo and drink its souls unscathed he could know we are listening making this a vile and real play for our benefit. If this is the case then he plans to unbalance my thinking by attacking those I find dear. I think of Andurien, the Willowstar, highly. It is hard to kissed by a Goddess, it forms a bond. The murders of Lord Glaennyn and Anyar … such a crimes has Malkar committed one struggles to think of how far Malkar will fall ere this is over.
"However, I do not believe that Malkar knew that we have survived. But how did he know that we had fallen to our deaths? Was he watching, or has he read the mind of his Disciple after his return. Perhaps the Lord Glaennyn had time to update Hamroth before his death.
"No matter, I am the Lord Glaennyn now, time has not stopped, the universe’s heart still beats. And it is the well being of the universe a whole that we must consider. Earlier I spoke of my separation from my temporal attachments, perhaps you did not follow that short and ambiguous phrase. What I meant was that I, indeed we, must step back from our lives and what were our needs. In a sense what we were,
no longer matters. What we are, and will be, is all that is important now alongside what we do about all of this."If we assume that Malkar believes us dead then we have an advantage, it will be he not Grayhawk, who will eventually suffer a nasty surprise. But what must we do? Firstly, we must attempt solve our primary task – the souls of the dead. Many times have my companions and I attempted to focus on resolving this question, and every time something intervened to distract us. Malkar’s crimes, heinous though they are, must, for now, await our judgement – and sentence!
"Listen Hoqar, the Gods – we are above them – despite their awesome power they are attached like manikins to the puppet master. The universe and its corporal and temporal desires drive them. We must move through the universe above such things. In the existence through which we now move the crimes of Malkar will do nought but "effect the next few beats of Grayhawk’s life" as the Lord Glaennyn once put it to me.
"We must resolve the question of the souls of the dead. I suspect that Malkar wishes to get his hands on them … you saw the relish with which he stole them from the song. We cannot return until this is done, else the death of two ancient creatures and an attack on a Goddess will mean nothing. We must find a way to leave a mechanism here, a process that both attracts and impels the souls of the dead to their destination. A system that none can interfere with, because it is driven by the ultimate force – the Maelstrom.
"How do we do this? I have a half hatched plan and perhaps you can complete, or at least criticise it When a soul dies it produces a ripple in the Maelstrom that I can pick up as a resonance. I can also affect that dead soul – although the most I have done is to sing to them. I assume that you and your staff are similarly in tune with death but from the perspective of light rather than sound.
"Then how about this, when a soul dies the first thing it encounters is a bright and distant light and perfect resonant harmony, drawing it, reassuring it, calming it. As the soul seeks this light and resonance, there is nothing else that can interfere – the Maelstrom drives it to reach its destination. It is drawn here to the towers, where it can join the light and the song. Becoming a part if the heart of the Maelstrom, strengthening the song and enhancing the light reinforcing the remaining anchors of the universe. In light and perpetual resonance, the perfect undying harmony and spectrum that only grows in its perfection. Songs for the Souls of the Dead – indeed.
"What do you say? How about some truly radical work? What will be the result if we succeed? I believe that souls should re-enter the Maelstrom not fuel that kind of power that drives the likes of Malkar to such evil – the greed of the creature. He is about to get a nasty shock – Mortality.
"You see I suspect there is enough soul residue stored in limbo to power magic within the universe for many millennia, but if we succeed then it must eventually run out. But the universe will not end without such power. It will simply lose certain of its more dangerous aspects – sorcerery and primal magic. So what, the fisherman will still catch fish and the farmer reap his corn. But they will be free – forever – of such tyrants. It is true that much will be lost, but it also true that universe needs to make this last step to break free of the creation – unmaking loop and truly mature into its final unflawed glory.
"As for us – in time we might become its guardians – withdrawn from life, spectators in a gallery watching the opera unfold. I sure that we would never be bored!