Aid

OF GODS AND MEN

Chapter 20: Hero in Another's Story

               Finnian stood looking over the side of the ship’s railing, searching with an all-consuming intensity the black surface of the Crystal Sea.  Tarsus had jumped in only a few moments ago, but in that time the normally transparent water, even in the midst of night, had turned dark to his eyes.

            “Something’s happened,” Finnian proclaimed in dread.  “The water’s gone dark.”

            “Your friend has passed his first test,” Cassius said eagerly.  The demigod was a mirror image of Finnian, looking over the railing, fevered eyes scanning the sea.  Whereas Finnian stood closer to the ship’s bow, though, Cassius stood apart, nearer the captain’s quarters.

            “What does that mean?” Cecily asked with all the trepidation of uncertainty.

            “It means he has gone beyond your sight,” a smug Cassius replied.

            Cecily and Finnian shared a look then.  Concern etched both of their faces.

            “He will come back to us,” Cecily reassured.

            “Maybe,” Finnian said.  “But how?”

            “What do you mean?” Cecily whispered.

            “I feel a change coming,” Finnian said.  “Can you feel it?”

            Cecily did not know how to answer.  There were so many things she was feeling in these last moments: fear, anger, dread and…jealousy.  She could not make sense of everything she felt, but given the situation she did not feel she had to.  Yet something inside her fell into place at hearing Finnian’s words.  She knew he was right. 

            “How much longer?” Cecily’s voice rang out as she tore her eyes away from Finnian’s and turned to face Cassius.

            “Until what?” an impatient Cassius offered, not bothering even to look up from the sea.

            “Until you save him,” Cecily clarified, trying to mask any doubt in her voice.

            “There is no saving him,” Cassius said cruelly and quickly.  “I told you before, he either brings back the sword, or he dies.”

            “How close is he?” Finnian asked.  Cecily turned to look at the young man behind her.  He had turned back to the ocean, looking intently at utter blackness as his knuckles turned white gripping the ship’s railing.

            “Closer than he was,” was all that came from Cassius.

            Cecily turned back to the half-man.  He still mirrored Finnian, but his expression had changed.  Cassius now bore a small, self-satisfied smile.  Cecily understood then that Tarsus must have been doing very well, but Cassius refused to share that aloud, denying Tarsus’s friends even the smallest bit of comfort.

            “There is no comfort for us,” she realized.  “Because there is no assurance of safety.  Not even in victory.  We are nothing to him.  Less than nothing.”

            Her mind raced, not only with this truth but beyond it.  She could not allow this demigod to destroy them.  This was her quest, and somehow it had been usurped by this upstart godling with ambitions of controlling his father’s kingdom.  As a loyal servant of Malthus, she could not allow Cassius to win.  But as a friend to Tarsus and Finnian: someone who had tried to use them only to find honor in their courage: she could not allow Cassius to live.

            She moved toward the demigod slowly, her hand on the hilt of a short sword she wore at her waist.  With each step, she drew the blade a little. 

            Cassius was engrossed in the ocean below, as though his eyes were looking past the surface of the water, past the surface of Tarsus’s body, into the spiritual realm of the UnderIsle itself.

            Cecily took one last step, and she was behind him; close enough that if the godling had been aware of his surroundings he would have felt the warm breezes of her breath on his neck.  Pressed low against her thigh was her blade, hidden from plain sight because of how closely she stood to Cassius.

            She looked around her.  No one else was on the deck, not even Amelia.  Cecily felt no eyes on her either.  Here, in the exposed open air of the vast Crystal Sea, she felt hidden.  All she need do was raise her sword and quickly bring it down.  She would be killed afterward; of that there could be no doubt.  But she would die saving at least one friend’s life, and if she was lucky, the life of her god.

            “Ha,” the small laugh of epiphany rang in her mind.  “Has this been my quest all along?  A swift assassination of Malthus’s son so that another can bring the Father his sword?  So that another can be His chosen?  So be it.  Gone are the days of childhood…the days of dreams.  I accepted this quest, and if this is how I can see it done…then so be it.”

            She raised her sword quickly, positioning the tip of the blade over the back of Cassius’s exposed neck.  She would only get one strike, and it had to be fast and sure.  She breathed, savoring this moment of stillness…the only moment on this quest that she felt in control.  Then, her hands were flung back, conjuring all the momentum she could for this fatal blow.  Down came the sword, hurtling toward its target…

            An explosion of light propelled Cecily from her feet.  She slammed against the wall of the captain’s quarters and fell to the deck with equally harsh force.  She gave herself a moment, mentally reaching out to her body for signs of damage.

            She ached where her body had collided with the wood of the ship, but she felt no sharp pains.  She was able to breathe, and she could feel a hot liquid dripping onto her bottom lip.  She put a hand to it and looked down at her fingertips covered in her own blood. 

            Cecily looked up, seeking the source of the explosion.  Casisus’s back was turned to the ship railing, and he was looking on with dread.  The demigod was not looking at her, though, but at something directly in front of him.  Beyond Cassius, Cecily saw that Finnian too was turned around and looking at something.  Though Finnian wore an expression of awe and radiant joy.

            Cecily felt it then: the pull in the pit of her stomach.  She got to her feet and walked toward Finnian, her eyes taking in the sight of glory.

            A golden god stood on the deck of the Defiance.  He radiated light, like a star from the heavens, and his piercing blue eyes stared intently at Cassius.  Cecily could not believe it.  She had heard stories of this god…namely of his beauty, but she did not believe any of them were true. 

            Yet they were.  For Adulatio was beyond beauty: he was glorious.

            “I am come,” Adulatio declared.

            “What are you doing here?” Cassius spat with contempt.

            The demigod’s accusatory way of addressing Adulatio seemed ugly to the ears of Cecily and Finnian.

            “Saving your life,” Adulatio answered wryly.  “Such as it is.”

            “What do you mean?” Cassius asked incredulously.

            Adulatio’s eyes moved from Cassius to the captain’s quarters.  Cassius followed the elder god’s gaze.  On the deck near the quarters lay a naked short sword.  Cassius looked back up at Adulatio with an astonished fear.

            Adulatio then moved his eyes once again, settling on Cecily.  Cassius found the young woman staring back at Adulatio with tears in her eyes from the fervor of her love for the elder god.  Cassius looked back at Adulatio with understanding. 

            “She could not kill me,” Cassius declared nervously.  “I am a god.”

            “Half a god,” Adulatio corrected.  “Which also makes you half a man.”

            “Why did you save me?” Cassius asked in a panic.

            “Because you still have a purpose to serve, son of Malthus,” Adulatio replied.

            Cassius stood silent, his eyes studying Adulatio; trying to divine some purpose in the elder god’s actions.

            “Is everything alright?” Cassius heard a female voice cry out.

            Suddenly, Amelia and some other sailors broke onto the deck from the captain’s quarters.  Once they came in close range of Adulatio, however, they stopped.  They let their weapons fall to the deck, and stood as transfixed by Adulatio as Cecily and Finnian were. 

            For all intents and purposes, Cassius was alone.

            “Turn, half born,” Adulatio said with a sudden contempt.  “Turn and survey your chosen.  For all our efforts rely on his success.”

            “Our efforts?” Cassius asked suspiciously.

            Adulatio’s grim stare grew angry, as the god’s eyes narrowed on Cassius.  “Turn.”

            Cassius obeyed.  The demigod turned to look back at the floating body of Tarsus, but something had changed.  The Crystal Sea had turned black.  Cassius could not see Tarsus’s beyond the water anymore. 

            The demigod channeled his power to see beyond the water, to the UnderIsle itself, but he could not.  Even with all his power, he was blind to the UnderIsle now.  He began to breathe quickly.

            “He is…beyond my sight,” Cassius screeched with incredulity.  He turned back to Adulatio with wild eyes.  “I did not know such a thing was possible!”

            A small smile graced the elder god’s face.  “There is much you do not know, pretender.  He has passed his second trial.  He is now on the darkest part of the journey.”

            “What do I do now?” Cassius asked helplessly.

            “Get on your knees,” Adulatio said.  “And pray…pray to a better god than you that Tarsus Cole is successful.”