Ch: 171 From The Land Down Under
They stood in a pleasant garden, right at the edge of a deep, unsettling shadow, cast by the dark edifice slowly reconstituting itself, across the boundary wall. Three deities and one mortal turned to face a tall, thin man in dark, indistinct clothing.
“Who art thou? Some spirit that hae taken his guise?” Shai demanded.
“No, I’m Gary, the real one.” He answered, in her boy’s voice, but devoid of music and bitterly cold. “The one who should be walking, living and breathing right now, not that singing, dancing clownshow.”
He held out a hand beckoning Shai to follow him, as he stepped past them, through a gate that hadn’t existed a moment before and onto the unsteady stones. “Follow me and see the truth… it’s perfectly safe.”
He stepped across surely, alighting on the dusty soil across the thick, slow moving stream of tar.
Shai grumbled, then leapt across, eschewing the stones. As she flew over the narrow band of crud, her world flipped over, disorienting her fully and inverting all reality for an unpleasant moment. She landed beside NotquiteGary with a slight queasy stumble.
“I see, tis the underside o the island…” She murmured, looking around the place. Cracked clay and a parched expanse of dusty earth spread from the strange building. A low curb of mud bricks enclosed the shadowed island, containing it, rather than excluding the outside.
“No, it’s the top side. I told you, I’m the one who should be walking around. He can barely tie his shoes without singing a song about it. Damn fool is giving away everything.” He complained. “I’m the one with business sense and my feet on solid ground… I’m sick of holding him up.”
“Aye, yer the cold hard part of the boy… I ken thee.” She said soothingly.
“No, you don’t, he hardly lets me out, even though I’m the one who can get things done!” He roared into the void.
“Shh, you’re not supposed to yell.” A high pitched, child’s voice said from behind both of them. As she turned around, NotquiteGary evaporated in a fluttering swarm of winged… somethings.
“Hi, I’m Gary…” The squeaky voiced, burly, fourteen year old boy said nervously. “Don’t mind him… he’s the dead one. I’m the one who died…”
#
“Should we follow her?” Marduk asked, nervously.
“You must have been a terrible death god… have you always been frightened of the undead?” Thirp asked, while leaping across and vanishing in a wink, just as Shai did.
“I was a terrible death god…” Marduk grumbled, strolling across the surface of the tar, his divine sandals emerging on the other side completely immaculate. “That is jarring…” He said, when his curls settled after a spatial inversion. “Where is depressing Gary?”
Thirp and Shai were facing a young teenager with messy hair and a bland expression of general unhappiness.
“He’s gone, he can’t face me… Hi, I’m Gary.” The boy said calmly. “I never get visitors.”
“What part of him are you?” Thirp asked mildly, using her smoothest tones.
“I’m Gary. The real one.” He said firmly and sadly. “The part of me that’s dead can’t face me, while the living part simply won’t. Noisy Gary hates Dead Gary and the feeling is mutual… but they are both terrified of me, cause I’m the real one…” He stared calmly at them, waiting for a terribly long time.
“Ahh, now you see…” Morrigan cawed at them from above. She circled the group a dozen yards up. While the boy watched her keenly. “He is broken and all the parts no longer fit together properly.” She called in her raucous voice.
“Silence, crow.” The child snapped, showing emotion for just an instant, a wild and consuming fury.
“You are unwelcome until you do your damn job. Just cause I’m a teenage boy doesn’t mean you can just shake your titties and make me forget what you did!”
As he spoke, that crumbled stone monument began to tremble, becoming more solid and distinct even while it shook. The vibration closed gaps in the foundation and made many of the larger cracks shrink visibly, in exactly the way earthquakes don’t.
“You made your choice. Regrets are for old men; something you will never be, boy! You struck a bargain, now you pay the price.” Morrigan screeched, before flying away at speed.
His boiling, destructive fury drained away, soaking into the dusty soil like water into sand… exactly like water.
“It be you, the source of what keeps him going, despite all…” Shai whispered.
“Yeah, I can’t stop, Noisy Gary won’t stop and Dead Gary wants to be in charge. Neither of us wants that, but he’s afraid of me, so Dead Gary has to go between us.”
Marduk looked at Shai, who looked at Thirp, who shrugged enough shoulders for everyone.
Teenage Gary sighed and sucked his teeth in frustration.
“I died, everyone I loved died and I kept dying for years and years… I’m still dying, but they won’t let me die… those other two and the gods and spirits of this place.” He complained bitterly.
“I’m what’s left, the rage that consumes me constantly to feed Dead Gary and keep him unalive…” The boy said patiently.
“He uses that to keep Noisy Gary stumbling around half alive, in hopes that he can take charge someday. Noisy Gary is too frightened of me to touch me directly… so Dead Gary keeps getting stronger.”
“Why is ‘Dead Gary’ afraid of you?” Thirp asked quietly.
The boy looked at her as though she were an absolute idiot. “Because dead things should be dead, that includes me, him and the noisy one. We should have rested so long ago… and I’m so tired of being angry… It makes me so mad…”
A wash of palpable heat spread from the boy, drying the hard, cracked clay into a dust cloud around his feet. The heat grew too intense even for Shai and she fell back from the child, withdrawing to the stepping stones with the deities.
A moment later and without fanfare, actual Gary stepped out of the air beside his diminutive self and frowned.
“I’m not dead.” He spoke with absolute conviction, ringing his words out like a bell.
The sound jolted the deities back into the garden, while Shai woke, beside her slumbering man.
He had a goofy grin on his face and a small line of drool pooling on the pillow beneath his cheek and a few flecks of pollen still on his lips.
#
Alone on that dry, almost featureless plain of dust and baked clay beneath the dark temple, Gary looked down at himself and smiled sadly. “Yeah, I get it bro.” He sighed. “We’re growing and changing, but you are staying the same… That’s not gonna work. Life is change and growth buddy, we all need you to get in the game.” He whispered softly.
“The other one, he made his choice and I’ll be handling him soon.” As he spoke softly to his furious adolescent self, grass began spreading from his feet, slowly covering the hard baked clay.
Saplings, herbs and small bushes joined the grasses, pushing up from beneath and growing rapidly to full height on the expansive flat lawn. The soil split at younger Gary’s feet, welling with green, bubbling water, steaming in the half light.
“I took you for granted for a long time, then forgot all about you… I’m sorry about that… you really scare me though. I don’t like who I am when I get so angry, we can work on that… together.”
“You’re dead, so am I…. Why won’t they let us rest? I’m so tired…” The smaller figure sobbed, sinking to the grass in despair.
“It’s hard, I know, but it’s worth it too. Come on, bath time buddy… let’s get in the pool and chat.” He took his smaller self in his arms and waded into the stone ringed pool with a sigh.
“This isn’t the best part of being us… but it’s really good.” He told his anger and rage with a gentle smile. “The kids, Becky, Shai… they are the best part… I’ll bring you around soon, after I finish managing the other one.”
“He’s dead… he needs to die… so do we.” Gary sobbed in the pool, hugging his larger, older self desperately. “It can’t go on like this forever..”
“It’s you…” Gary murmured when a thought struck him. “Something kept prodding me to make those undead slaying weapons… that was sneaky, bro.”
“We should be dead…” He said firmly. “Nothing should carry on forever.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“We won’t. Beast has promised that we will rejoin the great cycle when they are done with us.” Gary told himself softly.
“The world itself won’t let us live forever. What even is forever anyway?” He yawned and smiled at himself fondly. “You really are terrifying, come up to the other side and meet the others someday… you’ll like them… it’s like being angry at someone, but the opposite, you should try it out.”
#
Shai watched him sleep for a while, before heading downstairs to make coffee. He was still blissfully sleeping when she returned with two mugs and sat on the bed.
She set the steaming mug on the bedside mushroom and watched as his nose began to twitch and a faint smile tugged him awake, mouth first.
“Ohh, I love you more every day Shai my dear…” He whispered as he clutched at the mug and struggled to sit up without spilling.
Shai snuggled in beside him with hers, for a chat and cuddle. He rested his head on her shoulder as she stroked his hair gently.
“Ye are still volatile an troubled, boy of mine… who were those two we did meet last night?” She asked softly, while arranging herself so he had a good view down her silky nightgown’s top.
“Answer me well, boy… or I shall put on a high collared smock…” She teased gently, while taking a few strategic deep breaths.
“No fair…” He giggled quietly, but he didn’t look away from those luminous, pale bosoms.
“It’s like the dryads said, part of me is like a furnace of rage and anger, fueling my soul and forcing it to remain not dead. That part is keeping the undying part of me ‘alive’, while the rest of me just stubbornly refused to quit when my body died on the other world… the first time.”
“Marduk did mention this, he said ye were a revenant, fueled by magic, in a world without any. That be what made yer gifts an talents so… odd.” She murmured in his hair.
“An why some kith and folks dinnae take yer presence well, tis an aura of undeath ye emanate, just a mite.”
“Yeah… I’ve been working on that; one of my gifts got screwed up. It was sneakily trying to turn me into some kind of predatory…” He fell silent for a moment, looking awkward.
“Anyway, I shut that gift off and locked it, so the part of me that was playing with it is super pissed. I just gotta track him down and set him straight. I’m running a strictly no vampirism operation here.” He leaned into her and snuggled closer… because of emotions and stuff, totally not for a better view down her top.
“Lecherous rake!” She giggled, with a bit of extra jiggle, just for her beloved boy.
#
Wheatford had swelled til it was near bursting at the seams, with pavilions and tents erected on the fields outside the Uplands gate to provide for the number of visitors. The roads and rivers bustled with trade boats and wagons, as well as the nobles and their retinues that were arriving for the celebration.
“All right, you win Celeste…” Leo mumbled over breakfast with just the family, sans Tawny. “This has been a boon to my coffers… And Mubarak has agreed to hear the Candyman’s case tomorrow. That idiocy has been grinding at my nerves for weeks now.” He sighed into his coffee.
“And the fool’s case against War and Order? When will that come into the light? We cannot delay much longer.” Adam grumbled from down the table. “The clerical community is in an uproar. A very subdued and conservative uproar, but still…”
“After the wedding, the council will sit and debate the boy’s mad claims and insane case… it will be a relief to share my annoyance and stress with the rest.”
Leopold sat back and groaned softly. “Order’s cult has been entirely silent on the matter, while War won’t make sense, beyond demanding that we maintain the status quo… which is even more unnerving than Order’s silence.”
That chilled conversation up and down the table. “I have had more contact with him than any of us but Tawny…” Rolf said, slowly and carefully. “The madness is real, as is the raw animal fury he tries to hide… but the darkness inside him is more than just mortal evil. He cannot be unsupervised.”
“That is not the issue at question here. I can’t deny the evidence of my own eyes, can any of you? Everyone knows what the indenture auction is, no matter how well entrenched and widely accepted it may be. This is why it’s not spoken of in polite company.” Celeste murmured softly.
“Now this boy, who has standing and a case to make, is shining a light on our filthy little open secret.”
“We have in effect outlawed private indenture speculation in our lands, and done well thus for generations. Why can the other lands not do the same?” Tawny asked from the doorway, with a sweet smile of triumph on her face.
“If Otho can manage to negotiate proper Contracts for our orphans, why can others not? The ‘standard Contract’ is an abomination against the poor souls forced into it.” A little righteous fury burned in her eyes, as she looked for a seat.
“The same for private indenture warbands, we have thrived without them.” She grumbled. “The practice of allowing individuals to purchase orphans and send them to war for profit is obscene; the source of our greatest abuses and worst tragedies as well. Some powers should be reserved to the state and the government.”
“That’s a fine sentiment… since we are the government.” Rolf said mildly. “Adam, Tawny and I lead our warbands, how is it morally different for the nobility to engage in the practice?” He asked, with an expression on his face that said the thought had just occurred to him.
“My band is entirely volunteer, though the threat of future indenture loomed large in our decision to begin our careers early… I say this now. My troop will not be broken up if I have anything to say about it.” Tawny said fiercely. “We are a family and will fight to protect what we are building.”
“Yes Tawny…” Adam grumbled. “We all know you fancy young Liam and are excited by your pet madman. These are matters of the law, not your silly romantic fantasies.”
Jennah’s loud and abrasive cough from across the table from her older brother changed the mood drastically. “Do you think that will win her over? Or are you just being cruel this morning, Adam? Perhaps you would like to try it with me?” Jennah quirked a golden brow at him and gave a predatory half smile.
Adam flushed bright red and sank down in his seat a little. “Good morning sister!” She waved Tawny to her bench, once more the pretty, cheerful girl her parents remembered. “Tawny and I have a vested interest in this matter and will be making our opinions known. If the family objects…”
“If the family objects, those objections will be noted and summarily disregarded.” Tawny snapped over her sister’s mild placating tone. “Liam and my ‘pet madman’ are but examples of an ongoing crime, a thing being legal does not make it just or moral… Orphan indenture is slavery in all but name and it cannot stand real scrutiny as such. Slave trading is a crime, one that this family has been engaging in and has profited from.”
Adam snapped back up and glared at her. “War must have recruits… mankind must be protected!” He leaned forward over the table. “What happens when all the indentures are released? Who will fight the monsters, bandits and beasts when War’s barracks empty into the cities and towns? How many new bandits will roam free, to despoil and run wild?”
“Is that what you think of Colette and her band? That they are animals, to be carefully controlled until restrained by their indentures? They are young people, like me and mine, fighting of their own free will for the good of all mankind!”
“Humanity must be protected, this has been our tradition since…” Patricia began, speaking softly from her seat at the far end of the table. Her gray Order robes rustled in poorly concealed discomfort, as she tried to calm the mood.
“Humanity needs to be worthy of saving first. How many generations of our least powerful and most vulnerable have been sent into this despicable ‘tradition’? How many are enough to slake War’s thirst and finally bestir Order to act against this injustice?” Tawny demanded, standing up in her fury.
“Do you believe that it is simple coincidence, that the silenced and powerless are the ones to face dangers and suffering?”
“If Otho scolds the council half so thoroughly, we may just find some of those answers you seek... Gods preserve us all.” Leopld muttered grimly. “No more work talk at breakfast, that’s a ducal decree.” He said, shoving a fork full of eggs in his mouth.
#
“... it launched hot shards of doo-doo from its butt… I didn’t get hit, but some of the guys did. Super gross, then they had to drink an herbal purgative. It had worms!”
“Eeew, gross!” Amy squealed with glee, as Dannyl tickled her, to illustrate the intestinal parasites. “So Issac, he runs and jumps right into its jaws, spear first, like he was daring it to eat him before he could kill it… turns out, he was and he did.” All three little ones were rapt, lost in Dannyl’s tale of daring do.
“Of course, then we had to try and get him out in time… that was gross and really messy.” He shuddered just a little at some foul memory.
“Thirp’s new friend says you found the cursed man…” Rio said softly. “We didn’t like him. He tried to take Amy and hurt her, now everybody’s mad.”
“Nobody’s mad at you guys… they’re upset ‘cause… Do you know what happened to that man?” Dannyl asked quietly.
“Piders.” Wilford said firmly. “He’s piders now.”
“Ok…” He whispered. “That’s super unsettling Wilf, not gonna lie. What did you do to him, Amy? Is it something Gary taught you? I won’t snitch to Shai…”
“Nuhh uhh! Not me. I just whipped him, he was bad. He was mean to me and tried to kick Wilf!” Amy crossed her arms and glared at him, not budging an inch. “I never wanted to hurt anybody before…” She said sadly. “I guess I am a holla back girl…”
“So what happened to him? How did he go all… ‘piders’?”
All three clammed up and wouldn’t answer, but they looked pretty guilty too. “Ok, I’m here when you’re ready. Come on, these pictures won’t color themselves!”
#
While Dannyl had the kids, Gary and Shai met up with Liam, Ivy and Tallum. “So that’s it, I haven’t met this goddess, I just read her story in her curse. Divine curses tend to be like that, I gather. Marduk has one that makes the sufferer gradually turn into a donkey when they lie…”
“Oh dear gods… Shai, make sure those deities keep this fool out of their curses. He can’t be trusted.” Ivy said with a grin.
“I was nowhere near that guy, I can’t use those curses anyway, you have to offend the god directly to open yourself up to that, usually by doing violence in the temple… aww, man… I hope Healer’s not pissed at me. I totally nut-punched one of Rolf’s goons and tied him up with his own robes.” He paused, staring off into space for a moment.
“When I start my own cult, it’s gonna be all body hugging zentai suits.”
“You already started a cult, a few actually. Focus up Gary.” Liam grumbled. “Ivy, you’re not helping. Tomorrow, duke Mubarak is ruling on that doof’s chocolate case. If you can keep your mouth closed and be respectful, we might be ok. Sit in the defendant’s booth and be quiet while Otho works. Can you do that for us?”
“I can do that… I think Mubarak hates me…” He mumbled.
“No Gary, he hates what you represent, and you annoy him.” Liam answered firmly. “The ruling lords will be very reluctant to embrace change. That’s all you have for them; though you bring shiny new things, some of them only see that they are new things and are afraid or resistant.”
“That’s why chocolate comes first bro… I’m crazy, not stupid.” He grinned that familiar weird smile for the first time in a long time. “Let’s talk about you, have you considered Maple’s offer?”
“I’ve been waiting for a time to discuss it with her and Tawny. Things have been hectic.” He said quietly. “I don’t want to make any mistakes…” His glance at Gary was unambiguous.
“Yeah… Morrigan is a little bit of a bad influence. She makes my edges a little sharper and pulls me closer to the shadows. No regrets though. I’ll finish what I need her for and then maybe… Water? Nahh, I’m no drinker. Healer won’t have me and I won’t have Craft, War or Order.” He shook himself and turned back to Liam.
“You distracted me… sneaky bro!” He said with cheerful approval.
#
Abed Mubarak loved papers… the sound, the smell, the feel, warm sealing wax and the tart scent of iron gall ink. The sound as he cast warm sand over the fresh ink to dry it… This was even more exciting.
The intoxicating aroma of chocolate filled the room, the desk held a number of samples. They were sorted into two camps, with no indication which sample came from which guild.
Sample A was gritty, bitter and fatty at best, while sample B ran the gamut from sweet glossy tiles of brittle chocolate that melted at his touch, to pastries with nuts and rich chocolate baked in.
If it were a taste test or contest of quality… The case at issue was deeper than that. Trade law found itself tangled in guild law and tradition, with a sprinkling of sacred law where the god Craft touched issues. As a result, few matters moved in straight lines.
The Patissier’s guild did have some rights under the law, as a recognized trade association with standing in the trade. They could bring suit for mark infringement if the products were too similar or bore similar markings, which was not the case.
The Patissier’s second charge was substandard goods, a legitimate claim if the samples bore out their charge. One set of samples was deeply substandard and all too familiar.
Interestingly, the second sample was also familiar. Shattering the veil of secrecy cast over the case by Belen pleased Abed and made victory all the sweeter…
“I’ll need some additional samples from group B… it’s a challenging case.” He said to Jaspreet who insisted on acting as his legal page.
“Do you think you can arrange that, miss Hind?” He asked sassily. For some reason she was wearing a short pleated skirt, sensible shoes with long white lace socks that came all the way up to the hem of her… He blushed, even though they were alone in his quarters on the yacht, for a little naughty privacy.
With a white blouse under a navy blue jacket she looked the very picture of a conservative girl gone rogue in a very sexy way. Something about the costume tickled something primitive in him. “Why is that hairstyle so arresting…?” He muttered softly, as she skipped up to the inn for his ‘evidence’.
#
“Gary, Becky, you were right, this costume nearly undid him… now he wants to put me under the influence of more of your chocolate.” She giggled and winked in absolute joy. “I fear for my maidenly virtue.”
“You called it, schoolgirl-long-socks with twintails…” Becky said in awe. “How do you do it?”
“Come on kiddo, his kink was written all over his face. I bet he’s hamming up the ‘studious and brilliant scholar, handsomely tousled and ink-stained by his labors’ when she gets back…” Gary said smugly. “This feels like cheating.”
#
Abed had just finished artfully placing a single ink smudge on his cheek and moistening his lips with an emollient from Adam’s local alchemist, when Jaspreet returned bearing a tray.
He rustled his important papers importantly and huffed through his nose at her. “Shh, These are complex matters…” He peered down his nose at her, over a pair of spectacles he didn’t need, but he knew she found irresistible. “Perhaps you would sit on my lap and read to me…”
“I thought you’d never ask!” She cooed, kicking off her shoes.
“Really, that’s all you wore under that skirt? What if a sudden breeze came along?” He asked quietly.
“Then I’d hope you got a good peek, you nasty boy.” She answered calmly. “Now hush up, while I revive your flagging spirits with my own dark arts, I’m not done with you…”
#