They took the scenic route rather than the direct one. Now that Socks had won her approval and the children were welcome to intrude, Maxima had to take them around and show them everything.
The first stop was a long, narrow canyon that looked like a giant rip in the earth. It appeared in the middle of nowhere, twenty paces wide and too deep to see the bottom of, and ran for at least a mile. Slightly warmer air came out of it in a gentle, steady breeze, and if everyone was quiet, it made a soft windy sound.
If they made a loud sound, like Maxima did with a bark that made all three humans jump in surprise, it echoed in a long, stretched out way that sounded completely unnatural. Not the simple quieter echo like shouting at a tree, but a short sound was turned into a long one that faded over time until it vanished.
Then everyone had to try. Biandina did a loud, sharp, chirp, whose echo sounded somewhat like raindrops. Antelmu shouted “Hello!” and the word came back all jumbled up and illegible. Then everyone made all sorts of crazy sounds, even Socks, who growled and whined and barked. It sounded different if they yelled straight down than if they yelled sideways, and it even echoed if they shouted upward instead of down, just very quietly.
“So what’s down there?” asked Antelmu, leaning so far over to get a look that Biandina grabbed him and pulled him back.
-Nothing,- said Maxima. -Caves. Hot water that never bubbles all the way up. Darkness.-
“I can tell it’s warmer,” said Antelmu. “Does prey gather here?”
-Creatures who can survive the season do not prefer places like this in the winter. That behavior is unique to humans and domesticated beasts.-
“Oh. Well, I bet this a nice place to come relax during a hunt. Warm up and recover some energy,” said Biandina, sounding a bit overfriendly. Dirt wondered if she was acting like that because Maxima was the only other female and she wanted to be friends, or because she was still worried about being eaten.
Either way, Maxima’s tolerance extended at least this far. Her reply was simple but not incisive. -I do not get cold. I rest where it is quieter and less open.-
“Do you hunt often?” asked Biandina. She turned her body slightly, opening her posture a bit more to the great wolf.
-Every few weeks. I prefer to eat my fill and spend my time on other things. My mate hunts for the sake of the hunt and wanders far. I do not,- said Maxima. She gave a little hop and crossed over the chasm, then gave one last long howl into its depths. She turned her head this way and that, and the sound that came back up warbled and resonated and sounded completely unlike a wolf. Then she looked up and Dirt could swear she was pleased with herself.
Maxima gave a tiny little huff and flicked her ear. The end of her tail twitched and her nose dipped just a little. All those things told Dirt volumes already, but she said, just to him, -I am grown but that does not mean I do not play.-
Then Socks had to tried it, of course, and it took him a few tries to figure out how to get the echoes to smoosh together in just the right way. Once he succeeded, there was no doubt he was pleased with himself. His tail wagged furiously and he practically bounced where he stood.
After that, the wolves were content to watch in amusement as the humans tired out their voices trying to do it as well, but they never quite managed. Dirt figured his lungs were simply too small and his voice too quiet to make it work. His howls only lasted a few seconds, and that wasn’t long enough.
Antelmu cheated and made a warbling sound with his voice, and Biandina smacked him which made him giggle.
-Come, enough of this. We are moving on,- said Maxima, which was fine with Dirt, since his voice was starting to get raspy and loose after all that shouting.
Maxima led them along the crevice until it ended, then kept on until large forested hills appeared in the distance. The snowy trees gave a richness to the view that Dirt had never seen before as white and black clashed in countless pinpricks all across the hills. That was their destination—up into those hills, dodging carefully between tall green conifers and bare, scraggly leafy trees. The view itself was refreshing enough, but the scent was incredible. The pines had spots of hard sap whose fragrance filled their nostrils, pleasant and heady and sharp and welcoming. It was an energizing scent, one that declared this was a good place.
Maxima slowed to a quick walk to step gracefully between the pines, many of which were taller than she was. Dirt caught her rubbing a bit of fur against the tree trunks in a few places, which he was sure she did to keep some of the scent on her. In part because after seeing that, Socks got the same idea and rubbed the side of his head and shoulder on the next tree that was tall enough, and the one after that.
Dirt had never seen a place quite like this. Tall mountains, sure, and forests. Pines and hills. But never in the snow, and never with such a rich scent. There was something about it that both welcomed him and turned him away. The scenery was incredible in the winter, the trees beautiful and their perfume almost intoxicating. But it was cold. This was not a human place, not without a lot of extra effort. It was a place to visit, not a place to dwell.
The great black wolf led them farther and farther in until stopping before a much larger tree with thick reams of bark running up and down its height. It looked larger and older than the others, but was otherwise unremarkable.
-This tree is older than the Sunset Empire,- said Maxima, -by more than a thousand years.-
Dirt took a moment to realize what she’d just said, and another moment to believe it. He looked with his mind sight and found nothing unusual to pick it out from all the others. Just hundred of dim little tree-minds, all basically the same. All happy. All resting and quiet for the winter.
“What’s the Sunset Empire? Dirt mentioned it once or twice,” said Biandina.
Maxima seemed surprised. -Do you forget things so quickly? And here I thought myself young, to have not been around to see it.-
Socks said, -That is a long time to remember something, for humans. Most only know of things a few generations back, which for them might only be a hundred years.-
As if his big sister needed to be told any of that. Still, she didn’t scold him, or even give a condescending reply. Instead she answered Biandina’s question. -The Sunset Empire was what these lands were called in the days before the world was broken. That was three thousand years ago.-
Dirt could still hardly believe it. Just a regular tree, and older than the dryad forest? He expected something that old to be remarkable somehow. Intelligent enough to talk to, at the very least. But it wasn’t. It was ancient, but unchanged by time. Thicker and taller, with fewer needles down low, but not so different that Dirt would have noticed and stopped if they were passing by without comment.
“Can I get a closer look?” asked Antelmu.
Socks stepped close enough to rub his fur on it, and Antelmu leaned out and traced his fingers along the rough bark. Biandina was missing that arm, but she twisted around and reached out as well. Dirt watched the nearby minds for the impression of their touch, hoping he could pick out which tree it was, but nothing registered. The bark must be too thick or insensate.
“So how old is the tree, total?” asked Biandina.
“She just said,” said Antelmu.
“No, she said the empire was three thousand years ago, and the tree is a thousand years older than the empire. We’re missing a length of time,” said Biandina. Dirt could hear the irritation she was keeping from her voice. Maxima’s tolerance was best left untested.
“Oh,” said Antelmu. He fidgeted like he wanted to say something cross as well, but kept his mouth shut.
-Eight hundred years. A more accurate answer would be complicated,- said Maxima.
She showed them a round lake inside a large hill, which looked like the top had been scooped out and filled in with rainwater.
She showed them a cave that was just large enough for her to crawl in and curl up, with an opening a bit farther back that led to a smaller, empty chamber with a low ceiling.
She showed them a waterfall as tall as she was. Ice gathered around the edges and piled up atop the rocks down below where it splashed, but the water itself ran noisy and strong.
She showed them a hollow in the hills that looked entirely unremarkable until she started pointing things out. -See that crevice? The sun rises from exactly that spot on the longest day. And over there, those two hills where the boulder fell? It rises from that spot on the shortest day. It rises along that tall lone tree on the two days that are equal between day and night. I replant it whenever it dies.-
Now that he had an idea what to look for, there were other things around that seemed out of place. Standing boulders in places they wouldn’t have naturally ended up. Trees planted alone to mark different parts of the horizon. The hollow they were in hid most of the surrounding hilltops, giving the impression of a basically even horizon in every direction. And all along it, markers of various kinds.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Biandina said, “I bet you watch the entire year from here.”
-I do, little human. I watch in part to measure the seasons and know the cycling of the times and ages, and in part to measure the influence of the Devourer on the world.-
Dirt’s mind filled with questions, but that was not a topic to discuss with the children here. The details of that were Mother’s to share, not his. Maxima noticed, however, and sent him a message directly. -I am watching for him to reach his weakest, and then we will have a brood. He is stronger now than he has been in my lifetime and only Father and Mother are strong enough to risk it.-
“That has something to do with where the sun comes up?” asked Dirt. The idea scratched at his missing memories. He must have known all about this when he was Avitus. Times and seasons and the things in the sky.
-In part, friend of my brother. There are many other signs. You will not be staying long enough for me to teach them.-
“Have you ever had pups of your own?”
-I have not,- said Maxima. Dirt expected her to sound resentful, or at least regretful, but she sounded patient instead. -We are not strong enough to keep them alive. Do not think it is easy simply because Socks can wander and avoid the Devourer’s jaws. Father is doing much to influence the world to assist, or I would not allow such a target to enter my lands.-
“Well, I hope you do have pups someday, and I hope they’re all as strong as Socks.”
-Is that sympathy? From a human?- asked Maxima, sounding terribly amused. She even flicked her tail and smacked her jaws, as if she was about to let her tongue loll out and resisted.
Dirt smiled shyly and didn’t comment answer, lest his comments edge into something that might seem disrespectful or lack the proper humility.
They left and she showed them a rocky peak where countless birds of prey nested, and the open fields around it where they hunted.
She showed them a statue carved right into a cliff face, depicting a naked man with a spear and only one sandal stabbing a creature Dirt couldn’t identify. -That is a lion,- said Maxima, without further explanation.
“Humans used to be able to make things like that, a long time ago,” said Dirt. Biandina and Antelmu nodded appreciatively, but they weren’t quite sure what to make of it.
Maxima showed them a narrow passage that was invisible unless you stood in just the right spot, whose colored blended so well you would never find it. The passage led to a small area nestled gently in the rocks with nothing but an empty gazebo in the middle. Its roof was green and all one piece, with patterns of leaves carved into its surface. The supports were decorated with twirling ivy and flowers, and looked like wood, but undecayed despite its obvious age. The decoration spread from the pillars to make an intricate netting between them, forming arches of flowers to walk under.
The three children slid down off Socks and went in, stepping almost reverently on the wood floor, still smooth as polished stone with the finest of lacquers. It bore no furniture, though; just drifted snow and old, windblown leaves.
-Summon a wind, little Dirt, and listen carefully,- said Maxima.
He did, calling up the magic and speaking it into the world. He wasn’t sure which direction, so he had it blow across the great wolf’s face instead of right into it. No sooner did the air move than whispers arose all around them and the three children ducked and startled in amazement. The wind whistled softly in the countless holes and spaces of the decorations and the sound was shaped so perfectly that it began to sound like a crowd, all whispered too quietly to make out what they were saying. Their tone was eager. That much could be heard.
-More wind. Listen,- commanded Maxima
Dirt pushed more mana into the wind and it sped up and blew harder. The whispering gave the sense of sliding together into solid tones, gentle flute sounds making a single, broad chord. The impression was of a choir who, in preparation, chatted amongst themselves until it was time to sing.
The children, Dirt included, held perfectly still in near awe at the majesty and artistry of it. How was such a thing even possible? Dirt detected no magic other than his own.
-Blow the wind in a different direction.-
Dirt calmed the wind and summoned another, perpendicular to the first. When it was gentle, the whispers arose again but they sounded deeper now, men’s voices instead of women’s. And again when the wind blew harder and the whispers became a choir—the tone was lower, with a different timbre.
They listened for a while as Dirt blew the wind in different directions. Myriad voices arose, seeming almost like ghosts standing invisibly all around them. Rotating the wind’s direction was slow, but when he did, a song emerged. Different chords played from each direction, smoothing together to move through their harmonies.
The wind was cold, though, despite the thick fur clothing, and Dirt could only stand it in for so long. He was the first to start shivering, but held on until Biandina’s face turned red and she started sniffling and held her arm against her chest to keep warm.
“I can’t believe humans made this, too,” said Biandina, with a ‘let’s move on’ tone of voice.
-They did not. Humans never matched this, to my knowledge. This was made by the creatures that came before them. I do not know how old it is, but Father does. I cannot guess what it was for. I found it only recently, from my perspective, when I heard it whistling.-
Despite seeing it in a new and wondrous light, the two siblings had worn out their interested in it. They nodded, gave it once last long look, and started walking back over to Socks.
Dirt was still impressed, though. Older than humans. Gentle and perfect and eternal, preserved across ages uncountable. He began to wonder what sort of beings they were, and where they might have gone, and how anything could last so long. They had made the magic circle that brought Dirt and Socks here, so how many other things had they left behind? And had anyone in the Sunset Empire known about them? Perhaps the library in the Schola could tell him.
-Come. We will move quickly to where we are resting.-
They ran for the rest of the day, having spent almost all of it in travel. The last leg of the journey was dark, and visibility was low despite the snow, since the moon wouldn’t rise until after they were asleep. Socks and Maxima could see just fine, but the humans couldn’t, and when it was finally time to stop, it was hard to say where they’d ended up.
It was a little nook nestled in the trees with a huge mound of dirt to one side. There was just enough room in there for Maxima and Socks to cuddle together, and for the children to grab blankets and find a spot to join them.
The next morning came early, with the children up and ready to go before the sun came up. Maxima had gone and arrived not too long after Socks woke up, slinking silently between the trees until she was upon them. -Are you hungry yet, pup?-
-Yes,- said Socks, stretching before he even opened his eyes.
-Then go fetch yourself one of my deer.-
-Thank you,- said Socks.
After that, it was finally time to go see the ruins and the ‘garbage.’ It was a long journey, though, even at a pace so quick that the chill in the air kept the humans from watching where they were going, since it was too cold on their eyes. Instead, they turned and watched backward or to the side, huddled tightly as they lay on the wolf’s back for warmth. The scenery passed and passed and passed, more than Dirt could hope to remember.
Maxima let them stop somewhere around midday to stretch their legs and eat some of their stored meat, but it was overcast and windy, and the afternoon brought a mild snowstorm that just made them colder. At least the wind from Socks’ running kept the snow from collecting on them and melting.
When they arrived at the ruins, only the solitary face of the half-opened palace marked the spot. The rest of the city was gone, likely buried like Maxima had mentioned. No roads, no empty footings. Nothing. Just flat, rocky plains with very little snow and tufts of dead grass, and a solitary ruined building in the middle of it all.
The palace had no spires. It was a rectangular building with pillars around the outside like a temple, and Dirt suspected it had been surrounded by gardens once. It looked to him like a villa of greatly exaggerated size, four stories tall and wide enough to house ten families in.
The front was torn right off, two thirds of the way to either edge, and as they got closer, they could see into many rooms at once. Maxima led them right up into the gap and a short way into the building, all the way to the rear wall, where an old, weatherworn stone chair sat exposed to the elements. The tiled stone floor only extended a few paces forward from the throne before it fell away.
The Regina’s blood and bones had vanished ages ago, but this was the spot. That was the wall she’d been painted across. The space overhead was cavernous, built high and airy to give majesty to the throne room. Much of the ceiling had fallen in, crashing and shattering on the floors below, but enough of it was still there to give the effect.
-Get down and go look for garbage you wish to keep. This building was too much trouble to tear down and bury, so we left it untouched.-
“Where should we start looking, Great One?” asked Biandina.
-The things the human was holding are at opposite ends of the room. I suppose those things are the most interesting so start there.-
“Would you mind, Socks? Can you lift us over?”
The pup obliged and lifted the children off his back and set them carefully over by the throne, only releasing his mental grip after shaking the floor a bit to make sure it would hold.
As soon as his feet hit the ground, Antelmu spotted something to the left and ran along the narrow floor to get it. Dirt followed him, and said, “Don’t get your hopes up too quickly. It won’t just be laying around.”
Antelmu ignored him and bent down to swipe some leaves off the ground. “Wow! Oh, wow!” he shouted.
“What is it?” asked Dirt, walking a bit faster.
Antelmu picked something up and before Dirt got there, stood and turned around holding a spear taller than he was. It had a flat, reflective metallic spearhead and intricate floral decoration all up and down the haft.
Dirt recognized it. “The Sceptrum Flammae! It’s… It really is!” He darted forward to get a better look and sure enough, he recognized it. This weapon was more famous than any single Emperor had been. It was a weapon from the Dawn Empire and lasted all throughout the ages until the Sunset Emperors held it as sign of their authority. The knowledge resurfaced in him like any other recognition. Dirt was sure he had never once held it, but now that he thought about it, he could think of a few places in the remains of Turicum where it had been depicted in sculpture and he hadn’t noticed.
If this was the Sceptrum Flammae, that must mean—Dirt wasn’t sure, but there must be something else. He turned and raced over to Biandina, all the way across the grand hall, and found her trying to pull something out of the wall. He edged around her and found her tugging hard on a sword handle. The blade had sunk that far into the stone.
“Can I try?” he asked. And before she answered, he slid his hand under hers and put mana into his arm. He gave the sword a little wiggle and a sharp tug and it slid back out of the stone.
“It really is! The Aurora Belli! I can’t believe it!” shouted Dirt. “Just sitting here!”
-We left them where they were after killing her.-
The blade looked like a much longer version of his knife, long and single-edged with a slight, graceful curve. This had been a companion to the spear, held by the Emperor as signs of Fire and Light to the people he ruled.
“Here,” he said, handing it back to her. His eyes drank in the sight. This was something momentous. That, or his reaction was exaggerated by the rarity of seeing something he recognized still in perfect condition. He wasn’t sure and didn’t care. “That’s. Wow. Wow!”
The children walked toward the middle, and Antelmu spun the spear with a huge grin. Dirt jumped in excitement, bouncing like a rabbit as he walked, unable to contain his excitement. “Thank you, Maxima! And Mors! Tell him thank you for us too!”
-I have no use for such things. I am curious to see what Socks’s little pet humans will do with them.-
“Thank you, Great one,” said Biandina with a graceful bow. She held the sword cradled in her arm.
“Thank you, Great one,” said Antelmu with a very awkward bow. He wasn’t sure how to hold the spear and didn’t want to put it down. But it was sincere and charming nonetheless.
“I still can’t believe it. I’ll tell you about those later, but the short version is, I think they’re like my knife. Eternal blades. I wonder what else there is in here?” said Dirt, almost speaking too fast to get the words out.
“Let’s go find out,” said Antelmu. They split up and raced off, but neither sibling put down their new weapons to speed the search.