Thursday, January 7, 2016
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
The King's Challenge #157
TKC 157
I realise I need to determine the difference between Ilfin
and Glonu as soon as possible. To do so amid the crowd waiting for us on the
mountains will cause panic.
How?
The best way is to probe a known Ilfin and a known Glonu …
here, away from the rim and those approaching troubles. Ha. Easier said than
done indeed. Any Glonu among us will not admit to it and then submit to a
probe. He or she will be signing a death warrant.
Lyra has slowed to allow Siri and me to catch up. As we fall
in on each side of her, she murmurs, “I wish this burden may be given to
another, Damin.”
Reaching out, I take her hand. “I do not hate you and I am
sorry I spoke those words.”
“You hate the situation.” Lyra squeezes my hand before
taking to the reins again.
I nod, and say no more.
On Lyra’s other side, Siri starts talking and she soon has
both of us staring at her.
“Potentially, there are three Glonu with us. Kay, Hanna and
Joseph. I think we understand that the rest of us are Ilfin. You, Damin, need a
declared Glonu to find your control image and that will not happen for you. My suggestion
is to probe all of us without stating distinction. Find the similarities and
differences, if any exist, and then keep what you discover close. Do not tell
even one among us who is what.”
Lyra lowers her head. “It will cause distrust.”
“Only if Damin reveals anything. He must keep even his
expression neutral,” Siri says. “If there is a Glonu with us, he or she is
unaware of it … and must then remain unaware.”
“I will be the one no one will trust,” I snarl at my sister.
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
The King's Challenge #155 and #156
TKC 155 and 156
Siri corners me as we nudge our horses into motion. Swinging
into my path, she forces me to stop.
“We need to talk. Let the others get ahead,” she states.
I love my sister, but I know her also. She is usually sweet,
but can be stubborn and insistent. Cross her when she has something she feels
needs doing and you will pay for days. I know this from experience. When we
were younger and I displeased her, she would deliberately drop my food during
serving for days … until I apologised.
Thus, here and now, I do as she says. She will probably rope
Hanna in and I will not be fed for days.
“I know what you are thinking,” she says.
Quirking an eyebrow, I say, “Really?”
“Right now you think about your stomach,” she grins.
Laughing, I throw my hands in the air. “And I thought I was
the Delver!”
Siri eyes me. “Yes, funny that.”
Instantly I swallow my mirth and eye her right back. “Meaning?”
“You never told me.”
“You did not reveal your healing powers,” I rebut.
“I never hid anything, Damin. I merely thought I had an
affinity to animals. You, though, knew
what you could do and said not a word.”
I knee Forest into a slow walk and Siri falls in beside me. The
others are a distance ahead of us. “Siri, there’s ten years between us. When I discovered
I could hear thoughts you were not even two years old yet. I didn’t not tell you; I simply thought of you as
too young.”
“Granted, but when you absconded five years ago I was
already heading to my sixteenth birthday.” She lifts both eyebrows and gives me
the Siri glare, the one able to strip skin from the boys back home.
“Dad told me to keep it close,” I admit. “He said trouble
was coming and it was better that no one knew of my ability.”
Slowly she nods. “The night he died he told me the same,
yes.”
I close my eyes as defence against that particular agony.
Two months after I left Grenmassin, our father was trampled by the horses in
the corral when a lightning bolt struck inside the enclosure. We have not
discussed his death, as we have not spoken of how alone Siri must have felt
after.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
Her lips tighten. “Never mind that, Damin. It is in the
past. And I am sorry as well, for what was said or not said is now also behind
us; bringing it up does not help us.”
“What is it, then?” I frown.
“Are you comfortable with your ability?”
“No.”
Again she nods slowly. “But you know how to control it?”
Releasing a breath, I say, “For the most part. What is your
point?”
“I am not sure yet. Can you, for example, be specific when
searching for an answer?”
“Siri, what? Do you want to know if I probe for whether a
person is Glonu or Ilfin that the answer is specific?”
Shrugging, she stares ahead. “I think so. I also wonder,
though, if you will receive more than you can accept and …”
“It does not work like that,” I interrupt. “I do not hear
thoughts as words; I see emotions as images. Only with Lyra am I able to hear
all and I have taught myself to shut it off. She deserves her privacy and I think
I do not want to know everything.”
“You prefer the old-fashioned method of discovery?” she
laughs.
“With Lyra, absolutely.”
Siri stares at me, realising I do not desire levity in this.
“Fine. Emotions as images, Damin? How will that help you tell a Glonu from an
Ilfin?”
I glare at my sister. “You assume I will do this.” Jerking
away then, I add, “Genetics alter our hidden emotions. I have to use that.”
Monday, January 4, 2016
Sunday, January 3, 2016
The King's Challenge #153 and #154
TKC 153 and 154
Lyra stands. Glancing around, she says, “It is time to leave
here. We need to be as close to the rim as possible.”
Kay bursts out, “Do you hear what your brother says?
Sacrifice! I will be damned before I accept that!”
“Watch your tone!” I snarl at the westerner.
“Stuff you, Damin. I have a voice also,” Kay snaps back.
“Dead or alive?” Joseph then asks, causing silence to fall.
“What are you asking?” Kay demands after a moment.
The Messenger clambers to his feet. “I mean, does the sacrifice
come after death … or does it mean the living stay behind for living to pass
through the veil surrounding this place?”
All of us focus on Horin, awaiting his answer.
He stares at the three entities and those three shrug at
him. Sighing then, Horin murmurs, “We do not know with certainty. I escaped as
a soul. I was therefore dead. Are the living able to pass through? I hope so.”
Lyra curses under her breath. “Pack up. We leave in an hour.”
She bows to the three manifestations. “Thank you for this interlude and my
thanks also for your guidance.” Giving a final jerky nod, she strides out.
I follow. “Lyra!” She heads to the horses. “Wait, please.”
She halts, but does not turn, and I approach slowly to lay my hands on her
shoulders from behind. “What is it?” I murmur into her ear.
Turning, she clasps my hands, holds them between us. “Damin,
we have already sacrificed. Those we love, friends, many innocents, to come
here to what we believed was a sanctuary. While I understand, had we not come,
had we not sent the rock onto a different path, many more would now be dead,
and yet this proved the greatest trap of all and the biggest lie ever. Being
here is also sacrifice. Accepting this is sacrifice.”
“Lyra?’ I whisper.
She shakes the connection of hands. “Damin! We are already
dead! We still breathe and think, but it is death to be here.”
“Therefore, dead or alive, it will not be further sacrifice
if three remain to save the one,” I state.
She smiles sadly up. “Exactly.”
“And who will choose?” I whisper. “Horin?”
She releases my hands and steps away. “You.”
I feel my skin tighten over my cheeks, how the hairs on my
arms spike to attention. “Why me?”
“You are a Delver.”
I glare at her. “And how does that lead to me making choices?”
Lyra steps close and places her hands on my face to draw me
closer. “You can tell Glonu from Ilfin – yes, you can, Damin.”
“So use the Glonu among us as the fodder the Ilfin require
to escape with?” I pull away from her. “I cannot do that. No one asked for
this. No one.”
Horin’s hand then descends heavily on my shoulder from behind
me. I nearly leave my skin.
“Damin, the Glonu among us are already assuming their masks.
It is in their genetics. I feel sorry for them, for they have no choice in
this, and still it is a truth we need to keep in mind. This is the true mission
of Arc, to build an army numerous enough, strong enough …”
“To what end?” I snap.
“Annexing Massin is first. They will use it as their base in
this time, and then sell it to the highest bidder before moving forward to
conquer what was theirs in the past.”
“You are both using me!” I snarl. “Where is my choice in all
this?”
“Choice is for the free. We are not free,” Horin states. “Know
this; any Glonu that escapes from Arc to Massin in general will be the
harbinger of death.”
“You must delve,” Lyra whispers.
I stare at her. “You are my wife, but right now I hate you.”
Striding towards the horses, I holler for the others’ benefit, “We leave within
the hour!”
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Best review ever!
This particular review from 2015 is the best review I have ever received :)
Thank you!
Friday, January 1, 2016
The King's Challenge Mini Omnibus II
Hello, everyone! Herewith the catch up episodes in one :)
TKC 150 and 151 and 152
Our souls, according to what Lyra saw and heard, and all
Horin reveals, are the food the Glonu inside Arc require to go on with their
mission. This is where it gets complicated, for me anyway, for apparently those
who came to this world first, fleeing the Ilfin after a battle out there, are
somewhat different from those who joined them after.
The reason, Horin says, we cannot today tell a Glonu apart from
any other in the wider world of Massin, point of fact, is because we look
generally the same, whether here or out there in space. The inhabited worlds we
discuss are of the kind we all exist on … because we have the same genesis. That source of life is now so long ago
no one even remembers an ancient, encompassing race name, though.
“The ones who came here had already achieved the light mask
of longevity out there,” Horin murmurs, looking at me. “They came already
transcended, which is their term for their ethereal bodies, while new arrivals
were as we are. Here, inside Arc, the transcended are now known as the true
Glonu.”
Kay, chewing on rabbit stew, says, “It occurs to me, it’s
likely no one outside of Arc gives a crap about that past anymore. Until the asteroid
threat, no one came near Arc and all were content to go on with normal lives, no
matter where we originally came from.”
I nod, for the same thought has settled into my gut. “Kay
has a point. West, east, highlands or lowlands, we were living without thought
to what brought us here. Differences in our genetics did not feature.”
Horin glances at the others at the table enjoying the stew
Joseph and Hanna prepared for us, and slowly inclines his head. “It is now true
that we are today one people on Massin. Everyone ignores Arc, for no one cares
about ancient battles anymore.”
“But?” I prompt.
“Arc, Damin, is
the problem. The Glonu here definitely care about the past and they still
desire to live forever. Thus, anyone foolhardy enough to enter here is considered
a means to an end. This is why the legend of this place being a haven is kept
alive.”
“They trap anyone
who enters?” Lyra murmurs. “Including the Glonu who have not transcended?”
“Yes, but they too eventually become light beings and therefore
part of the problem,” Horin says. He makes a sign with his hand … and the three
forms materialise. “Look at them. Look beyond their dress. What do you see?”
Silence descends then, marked only with the occasional chew
and swallow sound, as we gaze upon the three ghosts. Their dress, in fact, is
not that different from what soldiers don today, and thus it is easier to see
to the men beyond.
“I see nothing out of the ordinary,” Joseph finally states,
speaking for all.
“Exactly,” Horin says. “Two are Ilfin and one is Massinian,
and all were trapped here. These three entered, as I did, with a small host and
among us were Glonu who no longer cared for slavery. All Glonu who were with us
and were of stout heart and sound mind became light beings. Against their will,
to be sure, but it happened and they are now enemies.”
“What is you point?” Kay demands.
“Look again. Am I correct in assuming you see them as
ghosts?”
“Oh,” Lyra whispers in an enlightened tone. “They are light
beings also.”
Horin dips his head. “They are, but there is a difference
between them and the transcended. Can you see it? Study them well, so that you
may see this and use it later to tell a Glonu from other ghosts here.”
This time the silence is unbroken. Kay narrows his eyes,
while Lyra’s appear to expand as if to let more light in, and Siri leans
forward, elbows on table. Joseph purses his lips, eyes flicking up and down,
and Hanna stares fixedly at each ghostly face in turn.
Horin, I realise, is watching me. He expects I will find the
answer sooner than the others. Frowning, I gaze upon them also, but nothing
seems to set them apart. I glance towards Horin … and peripherally notice
something.
One of the three materialised forms turns its head and I see
it has no skull. A chill chases through my blood. Oh. Suddenly I understand. “They
have no dimension; they are flat. They are not ghosts; they are manifestations
of ghosts …”
“Manifestations of souls, actually,” Horin murmurs. He waves
then, and the three slowly turn … and vanish. Well, not vanish as in absence;
vanish as in they have no depth of form. Shadows now confront us. Slowly they
turn again, and their features take on presence once more. “The light mask
keeps all of a Glonu in place. When a Glonu moves, you see a complete form.”
“Manifestations of souls?” Hanna snaps. “You are a soul,
right? You were here, you said. You lost and they returned to you your sword.
How did you escape Arc?”
“The shield can be shifted through,” Horin says. “You heard
them say there is a way out.”
Kay folds his arms. “How?”
“Choice. Some must choose to remain so that others may
leave.”
I lean in to glare at the man. “Sacrifice?”
“Indeed. If three agree to stay, one may leave, but the
agreement, the choice, must be strong, without doubt. These three,” and Horin
bows to the ethereal forms, “opened a doorway for my soul to escape, born of
the certainty that some of us needed to keep the true tale alive.”
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