from pallas aegis, prologue - lion, snake and man
Summer seemed the fevered fancy of a decadent imagination in this place.
Warmth, insubstantial and illusory as opium smoke, fled the barren steppes and high, rocky places. Tumbled, black mountains like crumbling, rotted teeth ensnared tiny, isolated villages between their desolate crags. Deep glacial gashes, like stigmata in the earth�s flesh, held frigid water, dark and glassy as obsidian. The tranquil, glycerin surfaces of these small but fathomless lakes belied the slick, tentacled obscenities that lurked silent within their depths. The plains, such as they were, bore the pockmarks of ancient meteoric assault.
But here in this backward, forsaken vastness lay the key to securing a vital alliance before the enemy could regroup.
Wind howled through chinks and tatters in the tar-papered windows. The air in the small building smelled of stale liquor, pickled cabbage and human sweat. A large fire billowed smoke into a scorched tin funnel in the middle of the makeshift lodge. Bundled, dirty men and a few women huddled around the firelight, keeping the night and its minions at bay. This was what passed for civilization here - a small battered inn frequented by those few foolhardy souls deluded or desperate enough to attempt an existence here.
Ananta Patil wrapped his frostbitten hands around the battered tin, sipping gratefully at the primitive rye liquor. The alcohol burned his lips and tongue, spreading false warmth through his gullet. He stared at the dregs of pungent clear liquid collected in the corner of the makeshift cup � clumsily made; this was often the elixir of blindness, madness and even death. When he had first come to this place he had been repulsed by the foolish gamble of consuming it. Now, months later, he understood why they didn�t care.
But I must care, a small voice reminded him. Patience will serve me well. I must not doubt the virtue of what I am here to do. Just then the wind shrieked unnaturally around the corners of the building, eliciting a concerned murmur of pidgeoned babble from the other patrons.
He downed another tin of vodka anyway.
***
Ananta awoke from a dark, brimstone dream of stone snakes and blood rituals. His mouth dry as wool, his eyes stung with a thousand poisoned barbs and his heart thrummed like a hummingbird�s wings. Disoriented, he wondered what had roused him until he felt the peculiar compulsion again. His first thought was that he had finally succumbed to the ergot madness that lay hidden within the rustic liquor.
Abruptly his sleep- and vodka-fogged mind apprehended the source of his compulsion. This was the call he�d waited for � all haste was needed. Flinging aside the strata of heavy bed coverings, he began to make hurried preparations. He flung a fur-lined cloak over his robes and pushed through the curtained doorway.
Once outside he let the impulse guide him, laughing with a giddiness that bordered mania, for he knew and yet did not know where he was headed.
In the darkness he crossed disconsolate purple plains with superhuman speed, tripping and stuttering through hoary craters � made by the laughing ancient gods skipping cosmic stones over the surface of the infant earth. Reality had uncommon sharpness, a clarity that was almost painful to bear � he heard the scurryings of sharp-clawed, nocturnal creatures echo in his skull, felt the transient directions of the wind in his belly. The brightness of the stars made his teeth ache.
He found her on the knees of the western mountains. Ananta withdrew an elegantly carved mask from his pack. He must not allow her to view his face � for any who came face to face with this lady courted death. He placed the mask over his own face and approached.
The lady was veiled, the dark trappings of an orthodox, mourning widow. On either side of her crouched animal forms, made shadowy by the starlight. So he was the last to arrive.
She beckoned him nearer. He complied and inclined his head to her veiled form.
����� ��������� he began, stumbling amateurishly over the difficult and unfamiliar words.
�You forget yourself,� she said in a voice echoing the vastness of the wilderland. �Or perhaps your comrades have not taught you well enough. I command the language of all beings. There is no need for your feeble flailing.�
He bowed his masked face toward the ground. �Forgive my ignorance, my lady.�
�Very well.� She gestured arcanely and the two animal shapes detached themselves from shadow and moved forward into the light.
Ananta had known what to expect but caught his breath anyway. The griffin fixed him with a beady stare, stretching its tawny lion�s body and flexing its powerful eagle�s wings. Its tail thumped on the hard packed earth. Behind the griffin lay a magnificent, jade green snake, its thick body coiling and uncoiling against the scarred and blasted rocks. The snake�s enormous head swayed up to meet Ananta�s gaze and he noted that its eyes were covered, tied with a thin piece of iridescent ribbon, like a knight wearing his lady�s colors.
So it was a basilisk then. They hadn�t told him that. Perhaps they hadn�t known.
�Now,� the woman had his attention once more. �What is it your master wishes of me?�
�He asks you to join with us, my lady. And to bring the might of your many children as well.�
She laid a motherly hand on the basilisk�s diamond-shaped head. �What does he offer in return for such service? We have a compact with the other.�
This was going to be the difficult bit. �He wishes to bargain with you himself.�
The lady seemed to anticipate this. �Through you, I assume.� Her voice was rich and powerful, and thoroughly unpleasant.
�Yes, my lady.�
The griffin was rubbing its large body catlike against her legs. �Very well,� she said again.
At her words Ananta was aware of a pressure inside his head, as though his own consciousness were being pushed aside to let another, more powerful presence through. He heard words being spoken and knew they were coming from his own mouth. But it was not his voice.
�We meet again. It�s been a long, tiresome stretch of years.�
�Indeed. Your young messenger tells me you are here to barter.� There was a hint of challenge in the woman�s tone.
�There is no need to barter. We both know I can provide you and yours more of what you need. If you did not believe that we wouldn�t be here, would we?� Ananta, feeling powerless, continued to watch the exchange from a huddled corner in his own mind.
�Indeed,� the woman said again. �I don�t suppose you�ve considered the possibility that you won�t win?�
�Your children are more powerful than those allied against us. Free them. Feed their hunger. And we will not lose.�
She remained unconvinced. �What of the old man and the girl? They still have the power to stand against us.�
�You defeated the girl before,� the voice that was not his voice said. �Leave the old man to me.�
�And the babe?� The griffin and the basilisk were backing away, sensing perhaps that the meeting was drawing to a close.
�He is powerless. Merely propaganda. I�ve already taken from him the power that made him a threat.�
�Then the order is not repaired as I had feared.� The woman nodded in concession. �We will ally with you, but know this: If you fail, my children will feast on your generals and all who swear allegiance to you.�
�We have an agreement then. I will call for you as soon we are ready for you to join us.� Ananta could feel the presence of his master already beginning to recede from his mind.
�What about this one?� the woman asked, gesturing toward him.
�Do with him as you will.�
Before Ananta had recovered himself enough to react, the woman sprang forward, ripping the mask from his face.
�The rite must be completed, young messenger. Don�t run,� she said and lifted her veils.
Ananta did not run, but remained transfixed. At the sight of her uncovered face, his limbs seized up. His body went rigid and toppled to the cold, rocky earth before darkness prevailed.
***
~curious about the meanings of the tarot cards in the images for each series? find out why the tarot card for pallas aegis is "strength" here~
metis ~ june ~ minerva ~ fan ~ owl ~ hits ~ boys ~ dreamwalk ~ serenade ~ love ~ join ~ link ~ blame
