Magicland, p.28
MagicLand, page 28
12
The wedding was a greater success than Aurilena’s highest expectations. Even Orpah, who had once bitterly opposed Belex’s very presence in Moria, participated by providing a grand wedding feast after the ceremony.
The feast, naturally, was held in the Hall of Feasts and its many ancillary dining rooms. Hilkiah had some concerns over safety, but he acquiesced to Aurilena’s demands that the round, wooden wedding table be centered in the middle of the wide hall. He had heard murmurings of treachery, but with Orpah’s support, he decided that such murmurs were not worth heeding and probably the result of the usual jealousies that large weddings occasionally aroused.
Hilkiah had even invited Orpah to the wedding table, and although she refused, she made herself visible enough to suggest that she had given her blessing to the event. She made sure that everyone knew she was the master of the feast, which featured lamb and mutton from distant lands, wild game fowl from the middle forests, citrus from the southern reaches, and drink from everywhere. The many people who had been convinced by Orpah that this was a heinous affair were likely now confused into a state that gave way to nothing more harmful than a few questioning looks.
Hilkiah gave the first speech, a grand one, Aurilena thought, one of praise for Belex and his usual accolades toward her. Then, he called on Miriam to speak, which wasn’t part of the plan, and Aurilena gulped. Her mother loved her unconditionally, though, didn’t she? She knew it was so, but her confidence gave way to a shaky hand as she picked up her glass to drink a sip of sparkling wine. She very much wanted to drink it all down quickly and have much more, but after a sip, she listened instead.
“This,” Miriam began sternly. “is a most unusual affair.” She shook her head. “Is there one soul here who does not know what I think of the Gath? Of course not. What a question. And yet here I am, honoring the wedding of my own daughter to a Gath. Has this ever happened in Moria? Such a thing.”
Aurilena downed her drink and hurriedly signaled for more.
“We here in Moria are called to a greater calling than perpetual warfare, I think. This event, this ceremony that only a few days ago I considered a ghastly turn of events that challenged my patience in ways I could never have conceived, was handed to me with great resistance on my part.
“One could say that a daughter such as mine could have any man here in Moria that she pleases, and one would be correct in saying so. And what does my darling daughter do?” Miriam raised her voice in bitter denunciation as she scanned the crowd, avoiding eye contact with Aurilena. “She cavorts with the enemy!” Aurilena downed her drink then demanded more.
Miriam’s voice then fell to a quieter, softer tone. “But none of this was her intent . . . any more than mine. And it wasn’t his intent, either. These two young people met as enemies. Do you know the first thing he did when he met my daughter? He tried to kick her!” She laughed, and the discomfort that had filled the room gave way to a few islands of laughter.
“No. He had no intent to wed my daughter when they met. She certainly had no intent to wed him. So, how did this come about, then? This unlikely pairing?
“Well, I believe it was truly born of the spirit world we so cherish. Their shared experiences, their shared horror of the ancient people who preceded us, people who are in the ancestral lines of both Gath and Morian, this helped bring them together. That, and their own shared fanciful notions of love and whatever else strikes the fancy of two smitten young people.
“When one examines the steps that brought these two together, one can only conclude that this was a union truly brought together by heaven. Who am I, a simple healer, to resist what Yehoshua himself has ordained? You see, my friends, this is much bigger than we are. This signals to me that a much grander scheme is afoot. Perhaps even an end to the war that strikes us down with inhuman regularity.
“I therefore, renounce my denunciations of this man who has married my lovely daughter, and I proclaim that he is no longer Gath. He is no longer our enemy. He is Morian. His journey is now our journey, and our journeys are now his. He has united with my daughter in a union blessed not just by the more cynical among us,” and she looked over to Orpah as she said this, “but by the Great Spirit who governs our every action.”
She lifted a glass into the air, “A drink to them, a drink to this union, and a drink for a new and enduring age of peace in our land. And if there is more war before the peace,” she said, looking at Belex, “know that we have a new ally who can lead us to victory. A drink, then, to all of you who have come here to honor my wonderful daughter, and a drink to you, my beloved, who, in honor of your eighteenth birthday, we shall hereafter refer to as Magdalena of Moria. And you, Belex Deralk-Almd, are no longer of Gath. You are Boanerges, Sons of Thunder, Son of Moria.”
CHAPTER XIV
1
The next day, Aurilena and Belex were taken back to reality. They knew Maoch was not sitting idly while they were getting married. They feared an imminent attack, despite the lack of any direct evidence. Sherealla had not heard any chatter in military channels, but Belex felt she was probably compromised and no longer able to access such information.
Everyone seemed happy. Children were playing in the streets outside. The replica of the ancient streetcar was running along the tracks. People were haggling over goods in market stalls in the city’s plazas.
The tension fueled by Aurilena’s sickness gave way to a happier interlude buoyed by the relief of her recovery, her wedding, her birthday, and Miriam’s rousing speech.
“She’s always been such a popular girl,” Judith said to her mother at a restaurant along the Malecón. Her mother was treating her to lunch. “She’ll be okay.” The day was sunny, hotter than usual. The sky was a crystal-clear blue. “Not a cloud up there today,” she noted. “Such a rare sight.” Fog usually rolled in by this hour of the day.
As she said that, a long, wide, waving strip of black specks appeared as if breaking through the blue expanse from a hidden tunnel in the sky. The specks swirled around like the tail of a supersonic kite and dove toward the ground at the other end of the city.
“Oh, no,” said Miriam.
“Gath?” asked Judith, knowing the answer.
“Uh-huh.”
“What do we do?”
“How fast can you ride to the hall?” asked Miriam, referring to the Hall of Legions.
“Fast.”
“Tell Hilkiah we have visitors.”
But they were more than visitors. Judith could already see debris getting sucked up along the path of the nanobots. She cursed and ran off but then halted in mid-step. “Mom, come with me.”
“I’ll just slow you down. And we should just transport ourselves.”
“We don’t know where everyone is. Come!” Judith ordered, and Miriam jumped up and followed her daughter out to Judith’s horse.
2
Aurilena and Belex were eating a late lunch at a small eating establishment on a hill between the Hall of Legions and Aurilena’s home. The street sloped at such a degree one had to hold onto a rail on the way into the diner to avoid feeling concerned about tumbling down the street.
While they were eating, they noticed small streams of people running frantically down the hill. They looked at each other before dropping their forks on their plates and scampering outside. They looked toward the top of the hill but couldn’t see anything that would be causing the flight. But Aurilena recognized the look of fear she saw now on the faces of the people running past her. One person stopped after recognizing her. “It’s the Gath,” he said, and he scampered away.
“They couldn’t just give us this one day,” Aurilena said bitterly.
Aurilena grabbed Belex by the arm and didn’t bother saying anything when she transported them both to the Hall of Legions, where she knew Hilkiah would be if he was aware of the attack.
They arrived instantly. Hilkiah was at a doorway at the end of the hall, frantically urging people toward various directions. When Aurilena and Belex ran to him, he calmly said, “There are several Metamorphics already attending to this, but I’m afraid they’ve had no luck this time. The Gath are quick to adapt to our defenses.”
“This is Maoch’s doing,” said Belex. “Sherealla has confirmed it. There is no activity in stoven.net regarding this attack. The average Gath has no idea that it’s happening.”
“We could alert them, alert the collective?” suggested Aurilena.
“We could, but I’m afraid the destruction will be complete before they have time to react.” Belex shook his head. “They might not even react. They’d blather about what a terrible shame it is and resume their forays into their various gaming strata tomorrow.”
“We have to find a way to stop them here, then. Now.” As Hilkiah said this, they could hear the destruction getting closer. They didn’t have to see it to understand what was happening. Swarms of nanobots were ripping buildings and people to shreds, pulling long fluid clouds of debris and flesh into the sky as an unnecessary show of force.
Judith appeared on horseback with Miriam sitting behind her. They dismounted and ran to Hilkiah, Aurilena, and Belex.
They all sprinted through a vestibule to the door at its far end and peered outside, which provided an overlook from the hill on which the tower of the Hall of Legions was perched. Every building in their view looked like a participant in a violently choreographed dance of flames, with showers of sparkling cinders kicked and scattered about by the ignited feet of fiery dancers, fueled by crumbling walls and roofs and beams born of the northern forests.
Teams of firefighting wizards, acquiring and applying copious quantities of water, struggled to keep the entire city from burning down as the fires rapidly spread.
“It’s all happening too quickly,” said Hilkiah despairingly. “We can’t get a handle on it. Inside, all of you. Come now.”
“And do what?” asked Aurilena, her chin quivering, not in fear for herself but for the place she loved so desperately.
“Pray.”
3
Shage was the type of fellow who wanted to protect everything and felt like he could protect nothing. He wanted to cover up his tomatoes, beans, and peas to make sure they didn’t meet the fate of the rest of Moria. Everywhere he looked, he saw flames or bodies flying up into the sky, sucked up by the black streams of nanobots that were terrorizing the city.
His heart felt like it was ripping open as he watched the sky of death, wondering how it could all end like this in defiance of so many talented magicians. People like Aurilena, whose wedding he had reluctantly attended and who had warmed his heart with kind words. People like Hilkiah, the great priest. And Aurilena’s mother, the great healer.
He began to feel sick to his stomach as he fell to his knees. He tried to avoid looking at the catastrophe above. “Oh, Yehoshua,” he said while on his knees, unable to do anything else, “Hilkiah, our great high priest, tells us to pray to you, and I want to, but I don’t know how. All I know is that I feel helpless and wish I could help. So much death. So much suffering. What can I do? If only I could move those little black sand pebbles in the sky, I would. If only, if only . . .” He sobbed as he covered his face with his hands. “If only you’d let me, I’d hurl them into the surrounding waters where they’d turn into steam that rises to your honor, and we’d be safe from this Gath horror.” His heart was heavy, and he had that awful feeling when sadness devastates us to the point that our head has too much weight to carry. He kept his eyes covered as they filled with more tears because he knew this was the end—the Gath had finally won.
4
Hilkiah, despondent, terrified, and nearly broken, had been given no time to think about how Maoch had found a way to attack the city. He had no time for even a short moment to pray. The noises of carnage continued, but suddenly, something seemed different. When he looked up, he saw no thick streams of nanobots in the sky. Fearing another onslaught, he ran to the far corner of the vestibule where Belex and Aurilena were sheltering. He could see Aurilena praying with her eyes closed as Belex held her. “Aurilena, do you sense your horse?”
She nodded silently; she, too, feeling the heaviness of pure despair.
“And White Star? Belex’s horse?”
She nodded again. “Both alive for now, I guess,” she whispered, knowing they, like everything else in Moria, would soon be gone.
“Ride to your home. Take Belex.”
She was too frightened for her people to even consider that possibility and shook her head as she trembled.
“Do it. I believe they’ve stopped. But our window is short. You can confirm they’ve stopped by riding to the top of the hill. To your parents’ house. And scan the skies.”
She looked up at him and said, “It would be safer to just transport myself there.”
“Do whichever you prefer. You can do this, right?” Hilkiah took her hand, and she nodded.
She got up and pulled Belex up with her. She decided to go by horseback so she could survey the wreckage. They found the two horses, agitated but okay, still tied to their posts outside. They mounted and galloped up the hill against the background glow of a flaming city to her parents’ empty home. She opened the front door, and they raced to the deck outside.
“Look,” she said, pointing to the water. The nanobots were pouring into the water from the sky as if attacking it. The water where they entered roiled and coiled and turned into a raging whirlpool as the black streams poured in. Steam rose from the water as if a hot pan had received a sudden shock of cold water.
“What are they doing?” asked Aurilena.
“I don’t know,” Belex answered. “It’s as if they are committing suicide.”
As soon as one stream of nanobots finished pouring into the bay, another behind it did the same. There were dozens of streams queued up behind one another, harmlessly swirling and swarming in the sky above. One after another dove into the sea and the wild waters of their target area, but nothing came out of the bay.
“I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I,” said Belex. “It’s as if they think their mission is complete.”
“Why would Maoch stop at . . .” but she couldn’t finish.
“Almost destroying us?” finished Belex.
“Yeah.”
“He wouldn’t. Something else is happening.” He kept silent as he watched. Then he softly grabbed Aurilena’s shoulder. “Magic?”
She shuddered in an involuntary reaction to the trauma and the sudden possibility that Belex raised. “Maybe. But who?”
5
Shage’s agony was subsiding but only because all the activity around him seemed to be subsiding. It took him some time to notice the calming environment. He had been wallowing in the brokenness of the moment and had lost all sense of the world around him. He slowly got to his feet and looked around. There was still much consternation and strife among his neighbors, but something else had introduced itself to the proceedings. A strange quiet in the air made him look up. He saw nothing except four turkey vultures circling a few hundred feet away within an arc seemingly painted on the sky by the burning city. He grimly realized they would not go hungry.
He brushed himself off and walked to old Saul’s home. Nobody was outside, so he knocked hard on the door. “Saul! You okay?” He knocked to more silence before walking to a window and peering in. It was dark. “Saul?”
“I’m back here, behind the house,” yelled Saul.
Shage hurried to the back and saw Saul looking east. He pointed up. “They went that way, and that way, and that way,” he said, pointing east, north, and west. “But not that way,” and he pointed south. “Don’t make no sense. Why not go back to Gath? I can’t tell from here, but it’s like the little devils all picked their own spot of water and just kind of dive-bombed in. I saw one group go up, way up high, like so,” and he motioned an area high above, “then they swooped down and went over there, toward the eastern bay, and dove straight down. And now I don’t see ‘em. Any of them. Anywhere.”
6
There are many stories and legends of heroes that have been told throughout history, great tales of courage that inspire us to persevere through the darkest of times. But for every great hero story, there is a heroic story more like that of Shage the Stone Thrower, a modest man with humble ambition, who only wanted to see the end of his people’s suffering but had no idea how to stop it.
But stop it, he did. His story was never told in Moria because not even he knew the narrative. He was too caught up in the moment during his lamentations to Yehoshua to realize that he had referred to the swarms of nanobots as pebbles, and thus, they became stones, which he then, unaware, threw into the surrounding waters.
Sometimes, Shage would ponder the sudden change of events while his mind would drift into his last thoughts before what he had been sure at the time was his certain death. He’d think about that little prayer he made, hopeful, for no discernable reason, and how it may have made a small difference.
He continued living what he considered to be a small life, never knowing that he was bigger than all Moria.
7
Aurilena and Belex, too numbed by the stress of the events to feel hopeful, rode down to tell Hilkiah the news. They wondered if his pleas to Yehoshua worked in the end after all.
“Something else, something else,” said Hilkiah when they reached him and asked. “I’m afraid I don’t know what, but something else sent those devil stones into the seas that surround us.”
“How can you know that?” asked Aurilena. “It had to be the Great Shepherd answering us. It had to be that.”
