The Redemption of Althalus

‘Who were those people we saw?’ Bheid asked in a trembling voice.

‘The Medyos – the first ones who came to this part of the world ten thousand years ago. They brought the worship of Deiwos with them when they came here, but Daeva’s trying to change that. He’s trying to alter things so that the first Medyos worship him instead of his kinsman, Deiwos.’

‘But that’s impossible,’ Bheid protested. ‘Once something’s happened, it can’t be changed.’

‘Keep a very firm grip on that thought, Bheid,’ she advised. ‘It might help. Daeva doesn’t seem to agree with you, though. He believes that he can change the past – by changing the present. That’s why we’re being gathered together. We’re supposed to prevent what Daeva’s trying to do. This will happen again. You’ll see things that didn’t really happen, and you won’t always be asleep when you see them.’

‘This just stopped being fun, Emmy,’ Eliar complained. ‘If these wide-awake dreams come popping out of nowhere the way that one did, how can we tell what’s real and what’s not?’

‘Because of the wailing,’ she replied. ‘When you hear that wailing off in the distance, it’s a sure sign that Ghend’s trying to alter the past. You’ll also know when the wailing starts that you’re not in the present. You may be in the past or in the future, but you aren’t in the place called now.’

Althalus looked off to the east where the first faint hint of the new day was touching the horizon, ‘It’s almost daybreak,’ he told his companions. ‘Let’s gather up our things and get ready to start.’

‘We are going to have breakfast, aren’t we?’ Eliar asked in a worried tone.

Althalus sighed. ‘Yes, Eliar, we’ll have breakfast.’

The sun was just coming up when the barge ferried them across the west fork of the river, and they rode toward the west. After they’d gone a few miles, Bheid trotted up beside Althalus. ‘Can we talk?’ he asked.

‘I guess that’s permitted,’ Althalus replied.

‘How did you find out where the Book of Deiwos was located?’ Bheid asked. ‘I’ve been hearing stories about it for years now. Arguments about that Book have been going on for centuries. Most of my teachers said that the Book was actually the night sky, but some said that it really did exist. Evidently those were the ones who were right.’

‘Yes,’ Althalus replied, ‘there really is a Book.’

‘How did you find it? Did God come to you in a vision?’

Althalus laughed. ‘No it wasn’t God who came to me. It was Ghend.’

‘Ghend?’

‘He looked me up and hired me to steal the Book for him. It was Ghend who told me where the House was.’

‘Why would any honest man agree to something like that.’

‘An honest man probably wouldn’t have, but I don’t have that problem. I’m a thief, Bheid.’

‘A thief?’

‘That’s a man who steals things. I’m probably the best thief in the world, so I’ve got a good reputation. Ghend tracked me down and told me that he’d pay me if I stole the Book for him. Then he told me where it was.’

‘The House at the End of the World?’

‘Well, that’s what it’s called. It’s built on the edge of a cliff up in northern Kagwher, and it’s the biggest house I’ve ever seen. It’s almost completely empty though. There’s only one room that has any furniture in it. That’s where the Book was. Of course, Emmy was there, too. She scolded me for being late, and I thought for certain that I’d gone mad. She told me to stop being silly, and then she taught me how to read.’

‘From the Book of Deiwos?’ Bheid asked reverently.

‘It was the only Book there.’

‘What does it look like?’

‘It’s a box covered with white leather. The pages are stacked inside the box. Emmy used to come all unraveled if I mixed up the pages. Anyway, I learned how to read the Book, and then Emmy and I found a way to speak to each other without using our voices. Then we left the house to go find the Knife. We discovered that Eliar had it. He’s a mercenary soldier, and he was fighting in that war between Kanthon and Osthos that’s been going on for forty or fifty generations now. Eliar was leading an attack on the walls of Osthos, and he killed the Aryo during the fighting. The Aryo’s daughter, Andine, didn’t like that at all, and, since Eliar’d been taken prisoner, she started thinking about all sorts of interesting things to do to him. I posed as a slave trader and bought him from her. Then we came here to find you. Now we’re going back to Osthos to find somebody else.’

‘How long ago was it? When Ghend hired you, I mean?’

‘Emmy says it was twenty-five hundred years ago. From what she tells me, people don’t age in the House. It’s just as well, really. If I’d aged normally, I’d have a white beard about twelve miles long by now.’

‘Is Emmy really the sister of God?’

‘That’s what she tells me. Her name’s Dweia, but she says she doesn’t actually look much like that statue in her temple in Maghu.’

‘You worship a female God?’ Bheid’s eyes bulged in outrage.

‘I don’t worship her, Bheid. I love her, but I don’t worship her. Worship means absolute obedience, and it involves a lot of groveling. I do what Emmy tells me to do most of the time, but I don’t spend much time on my knees. We argue all the time, actually. Emmy likes to argue – almost as much as she likes to sneak up and pounce on me.’

‘May I touch her?’ Bheid asked in an almost reverent tone.

‘Emmy,’ Althalus said back over his shoulder. ‘Wake up. Bheid wants to rub your ears.’

Emmy poked her sleepy-eyed face up out of his hood. ‘That would be nice,’ she murmured.

Althalus reached back, lifted her out of his hood, and held her out to Bheid. ‘Go ahead and hold her, Bheid,’ he said. ‘She’ll steal your soul, of course, but why should you be any different from Eliar and me?’

Bheid jerked his hand back.

‘I’m only joking, Bheid,’ Althalus said.

‘Are you really all that certain, pet?’ Emmy asked, her green eyes turning sly.

Bheid’s hands were trembling as he took her from Althalus, but he relaxed when Emmy started purring.

‘When are we going to stop for lunch?’ Eliar called from behind them.

They rode on across western Medyo, keeping off the main roads whenever possible. The sudden appearance of the cock-eyed man back in Awes indicated a likelihood that Ghend had agents everywhere. Althalus knew that they could deal with those agents, but unnecessary killings went against his grain. A really good thief shouldn’t have to kill people.

It was midsummer by the time they approached the bridge across the west fork of the River Osthos, and Althalus prudently turned aside from the road and led Eliar and Bheid into a grove of trees some distance upstream.

‘Em,’ he said silently after they’d dismounted, ‘just exactly who are we supposed to find there in Osthos?’

‘Guess,’ she replied rather smugly.

‘Don’t do that,’ he scolded.

‘You’ve already met her, pet.’

He blinked. ‘You’re not serious!’ He almost said it out loud.

‘Oh, yes.’

‘How are we supposed to get inside her palace?’

‘You’re the thief, Althalus,’ she replied. ‘If you can steal things, I’m sure you’ll be able to steal one little girl.’

‘Emmy, her palace is guarded by an army. One little squeak out of her and I’ll have thirty armed men climbing all over me.’

‘Then we’ll just have to make sure she doesn’t squeak, won’t we?’ She considered it. ‘I think we’d better leave Eliar and Bheid here – and your horse. We’ll want to move very quietly. I’m a cat, and you’re a thief. We know how to be quiet. They don’t.’

‘How long have you known that Andine would be joining us?’

‘Since the moment Eliar read the Knife.’

‘Why didn’t we pick her up before we went to Awes?’

‘That would have been out of sequence, pet. Everything must be in its proper place and time.’

Althalus glanced at Eliar, and he remembered the way Arya Andine had looked at the boy. ‘I think your brother’s got a very warped sense of humor, Em,’ he said.

‘Why, Althalus,’ she said, ‘I’m shocked at you. Shocked.’

It was well past midnight when Althalus and Emmy slipped into Andine’s palace in the center of Osthos. This time, Emmy chose to walk rather than ride, and she moved on silent feet ahead of the thief, passing warnings back to him. Once they were inside the massive palace, she led him to the Arya’s private quarters. ‘She’s asleep,’ Emmy advised. ‘There are two guards outside her door. Encourage them to take a little nap.’

‘How?’

‘Try “leb”.’

‘Will that work?’

‘It always has before. After we leave, you’d better wake them up again, though. People might think it’s a little peculiar if they slept for fifty or sixty years the way you used to do back in the House.’

‘Is that the way you did it?’

‘Of course. Step right along, Althalus. The night won’t last forever, you know.’

The pair of guards at Andine’s door were still standing, but their chins had sagged down onto their chests and they were snoring softly. Althalus reached past them and took hold of the door handle.

Then Emmy hissed.

‘What’s the problem?’ he whispered.

‘Argan!’

‘What’s an Argan?’

‘It’s a who, not a what. This guard on the left is Argan.’

‘Is that name supposed to mean anything to me?’

‘I mentioned him before. Argan’s another one of Ghend’s underlings.’

‘That’s convenient.’ Althalus reached for his dagger.

‘Put that away,’ Emmy said in a disgusted tone.

‘It’s a nice simple solution, Em.’

‘Perhaps, but how do you plan to solve the problem that’ll come up later?’

‘Which problem is that?’

‘Returning him to life when he absolutely must be alive and well.’

‘I didn’t follow that.’

‘I didn’t really think you would. Put the knife away, Althalus. You aren’t the one who’s supposed to deal with Argan – any more than you were the one who’s supposed to deal with Pekhal or Khnom. Just leave him alone.’

‘Hold it, Em. Doesn’t this mean that Ghend knew that we were coming here?’

‘Probably, yes.’

‘How did he find out?’

‘Probably because Daeva told him.’

‘How did Daeva find out?’

‘The same way I did, of course. We hear things that you can’t, Althalus. I know about people like Khnom and Pekhal and Argan, and Daeva knows about people like Eliar and Bheid and Andine. They’re significant people, and significant people give off a certain sound that we can hear. Just leave Argan alone. Let’s get Andine and get out of here before he wakes.’

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