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Betrayals: twentytwoby Steve Bowers |
After all the years of
waiting, at last
merchants had
arrived from without, but not the expected ones. The strange new
Traders lit
their bonfire, and it flared rapidly. Far too rapidly for anything but
witchcraft. All the gathered Warriors and Loyalists drew back from the
heat,
but they did not show fear. So far these strangers had given them no
reason to
fear; but this fire was uncanny in its brilliance; did it bring some
new evil
perhaps?
Gusta stood with her trusted fighting men and women; they
watched the black, tall figures of the strangers with suspicion, just
as they
kept watchful eyes on their rivals in the crowd. Gathered around the
sullen
figure of Olave the mountain man were his own trusted spearmen; he had
made no
secret of his suspicions concerning the new Traders and their magic.
“There!”
It was his
lieutenant, the weasel Braha. His quick eyes had spotted something in
the sky,
and he was pointing and shouting. A great flying worm was beating up
the slope
towards the light of the fire, and in a flash it was over the heads of
the
crowd. Gusta shot a glance toward the Traders, who stood confidently by.
“Stand
fast!” Gusta
shouted to her warriors, and they straightened up (for the most part)
and
watched the worm as it flew into the fire. In a great shower of sparks
and
colours the dread beast dissolved into the flames. Expecting the stink
of
burning meat, Gusta put her hand over her mouth; but the smoke smelt of
strange
resins and fireworks instead.
“More!
By the Sky,
all the demons in the Tilted World are coming to this flame!”
Gusta shouted
over the sounds of conflagration, as blood beasts and orms, shade
wraiths and
drakes flew or stumbled out of the dark and threw themselves into the
fire.
Bursts and flowers of sparks lit the wondering crowd as the monsters
disappeared; this display lasted much more than an hour as the last
stragglers
came in.
“You see,
Olave!”
Gusta called to the mountain man, no more than five fathoms away but
grimly
ignoring her and her followers. ”We have nothing to fear from
these Traders;
they have cleansed the night sky for us.”
“They
command the
beasts of the night, it is true,” he finally said, while his
own men fell
silent. ”But no doubt they could just as easily bring more,
and worse.”
“People of the
Tilted World! Tomorrow will be the time to decide your
future!” The
unnaturally
loud voice of the taller stranger boomed out and drowned their
argument. This
man, if man he was, was featureless black in skin and clothing, except
for a
grey marking over his breast; a five sided shield like an achievement,
but
otherwise blank. “We will meet
with your representatives in our pavilion
tomorrow at noon; but any and all of you will be given your own options
in due
course. We have all the time in the worlds.”
The two strangers turned and faded
into the night, visible briefly as they entered their large tent.
“You
must meet with
them, Olave; hear what they are offering. It seems that everyone will
have a
chance to decide for himself or herself, no matter what we say or do.
But we
can lose nothing by meeting with the strangers; and we may instead gain
much
for ourselves and our people.”
“I
trust them not,”
the bulky man said slowly.” We have waited here ten long
years; where have the
true Traders gone? My instinct tells me these dark fiends have fought
them and
driven them away; my instincts are not often wrong. How can we trust
the
enemies of our friends?”
“My
instincts say
these new traders have much to offer, as they showed to us
tonight;” Gusta
said, her hands spread wide, signifying honesty. “We cannot
afford to ignore
them. They say they are going to change our world, and help us find a
new path;
we can have a say in that, if you agree to meet them.”
“I will meet them, but we must be on our guard. Tell them
nothing about our world or of our relations with the Traders; our
former
benefactors deserve at least our silence.”
Zero
plus four days (subjective
time normal)
The stranger asked
her again.
"And the other
Trader; how would
you describe
him?"
Gusta resented this questioning; these strangers promised a
great many things, but they seemed to want a great deal of information
in
return. The silver fabric of the pavilion flapped in a soft breeze
around them;
several of the dark strangers were there, asking incessant questions.
"Why do you ask me? Do you not know these people
yourself by sight? Are they your enemies, or are you seeking them, and
why?"
"Yes, indeed; we do seek these people. They
have not been kind to you, despite your
belief in them; over all the years they have been coming here, they
could have
helped your world to become a much better place. We intend to do just
that. By
killing the monsters that infest your air we have shown you our power;
there is
much more we can do, if you permit us."
"What of your
plans for the people of the Tilted World? You say you can bring us many
tools
so we can improve our lands, and help us build comfortable cities to
live in.
This will just bring wanderers from far away, and the land will fill up
just as
if the Traders were come again. This world has suffered from the
restless
movement of seekers for too long. Building fine cities will make this
restlessness worse."
The stranger leant
back in a
friendly fashion and gestured
towards the open side of the pavilion and the land beyond.
"Already we have made remarkable changes to your land;
changes that are very much for the better. The dragons have gone from
the skies, and we have halted the
slow tilt of your land."
"Do you say that the land will tilt no more? Is it your
intention to lay our would down flat as it once was long ago?"
"Oh, no, I don't think that will be necessary. This is
quite an intriguing world; you will attract many visitors from the
great
outside if you keep some of it's -
idiosyncrasies."
"From the outside?" Gusta shuddered, once.
"What – what is out there?"
"Well, immediately
outside your
world is a rather
uncomfortable world of ice, inhabited by a proud and secretive race who
are
currently still at war with my people; they will lose, of course, then
we will
have the difficult task of showing them that they have been led astray.
You
know that there have been many times in history when that has been
necessary;
we can draw on a long list of suitable precedents and procedures. I
have every
confidence of success."
"Will I be able to go out there, do you suppose? After
so long a wait, it would please me greatly."
“Why, yes; of
course;
now that your hidden world has been
found we have no intention of closing it again. You will be able to
visit the
millions of created worlds that exist in the artificial thinking
machines we have out there; we call such worlds as yours
`cosms', or sometimes `virtual worlds'. "
Gusta simply stared
at him, at
his ebony skin and
strangeness. The stranger smiled, showing white teeth.
"Don't worry, you
will soon come
to understand. Many of
these other worlds are far more fabulous than yours; some are more
nightmarish,
many are fascinating paradises. And of course when you tire of the cosm
you may
be able to visit real life; although I believe there is a bit of a
waiting list
for incarnations these days.
Here; I can show you
some of these worlds.”
The dark man held up a plain mirror, which caught the light
strangely.
Within Gusta saw
far away hills,
and fabulous buildings;
roads were suspended in the sky, and here and there, she thought she
could see
tiny people in the sky too.
“That is the Cosm of Neverywhere; a very popular
cosmopolitan citycosm, which is continually expanding in capacity. I
recommend
you go there whenever you can. With a little work, your world could be
something like this. Or if you want to get away from the crowds, this
world
might be more to your liking.”
Now the mirror
showed a deep,
twilight sky, but no land
beneath it; instead, here and there in the deep blue, were tiny round
rocks,
some with a single large house on them. Gusta could just make out a few
figures
standing on the rocks at all angles, underneath or to the side perhaps;
it
looked as if you could walk right around these rocks to the bottom and
back in
a few minutes, but never fall off. A
very few brightly painted vessels with wings buzzed through the sky,
each with
one or two people on board. One came nearby, and one of the passengers
waved
directly at her; startled, she thrust the mirror back at the smiling
stranger.
“These are
just a few
of the places you will be able to
travel too, as soon as we have made the immediate vicinity of your
world safe.
This period will pass more quickly now, as we have adjusted the local
subjective time of your cosm.”
“I know not what your words mean,” Gusta
said impatiently.
“You can be sure that in time it will all become
clear.” Flash of white teeth.
She had waited such
a long time
for the old Traders, hoping
to go with them to the other lands; now these new outsiders had come
instead,
and seemed to be open, friendly people, who did not seem hide their
intentions.
Gusta had never heard of any such thing as a mirror that showed the
outer
lands; it gave her confidence that the new Traders were more
trustworthy than
the old. She knew Olave would not agree, and would call her a traitor
for
breaking confidence; but she feared the old mountain man less while
these
powerful strangers were around.
“We are
grateful for
the information you have given us so
far, Warrior Gusta; the young-seeming man you described is known to us.
But the
other one, the silent one; did he have any distinguishing
features?”
“He was older, and wore a silken waist coat. Without
speaking, he seemed to lead, and the long-haired younger one deferred
to him. I
was too far away to see well; mayhap if I had been closer I would have
been one
of those that they took away with them. And I would not be talking to
you now.”
The stranger smiled once again.
“I promise you, warrior Gusta, that you will not
regret
dealing with our people, rather than those that came before.”
