Muzen

  The bare walls of the room returned as the image vanished. Muzen raised his arm to fling the device across the room, hesitated, then tossed it back onto the wooden tray and closed the box’s lid. A wave of exhaustion swept over him, and he sat down on the lacquered box as familiar voices calling out his name echoed from the passageway. “In the Chamber of Return,” he called back.

  A half-dozen flame haired priestesses and a young acolyte, all dressed in traveling clothes and hooded cloaks, slid to a stop just outside the doorway. “Holiness,” the oldest priestess said, “we took a chance that you might return tonight. The temple of Kax has been dissolved by Emperor Hormuz’s decree and her priestesses declared apostate, so I sent the others away through the secret tunnels.”

  “Zora tried sending us away as well,” one of the other priestesses said, giving the older one a stern look, “but we overruled her.”

  “What of the priests of Yun,” Muzen asked. “Have they fled as well?”

  The priestesses all exchanged a troubled look before Zora said, “I swear to you we tried to warn them when a priestess friendly to us gave me details of the plot, but being junior to them and female to boot, I was ignored. Last I heard, those who would throw over to the Storm Lord were spared, while any who resisted were taken prisoner.”

  “So the Lord of Storms can eat the mana nodes off their hearts,” Muzen said with a grimace. “Which will likely be Nasim’s fate once the Storm Lord’s guards have finished playing with her.”

  There were startled gasps followed by anger, judging from the flickers of fire smoldering in the priestesses eyes, as Zora said, “Ghash-Kimil’s temple has been declared apostate as well. I… have heard rumors concerning the fate of his High Priest.”

  “Let us not mince words,” Muzen said. “Ghash-Kimil is dead at the Storm Lord’s hands; with my own eyes I watched him tear out his son’s heart and eat off it. And yes,” he added, “any rumors you heard about Ghash-Kimil desiring to become a Shadowman are true. He confessed.”

  The other priestesses except Zora looked horrified. She grimly nodded. “Tainting us to everyone with the same brush. The Storm Lord has wanted to regain his power ever since your temple took it away, even though the empire’s going to tear itself apart once people are again snatched off the street to be sacrificed.” Muzen wearily nodded, and she said, “Holiness, what do we do now?” When he did not immediately answer, Zora looked down at his torn clothing and her hand went to her mouth. “Holiness, what happened? You are injured.”

  There were more gasps as Muzen gave them a weary smile. “This night has been interesting, to say the least. As to what we do next…” Another wave of exhaustion swept over him and he shook his head. “I told the Storm Lord I would raise an army and destroy him, yet I fear that was bravado on my part.” He sighed. “Were Kax here and not I, she would have already begun plotting her revenge, but I have expended too much energy this night to even consider it.”

  “Not if I sacrifice myself so Kax might return to us,” a young voice behind the priestesses said.

  Zora whirled around. “Daphne, remember who you are.”

  The young acolyte, her long hair shimmering like waves of flame, gave the older priestess a look of defiance. “Perhaps I’m not noble like the rest of you, but I’m not afraid to give my life to the temple if it means we’ll win in the end. Holiness, may I speak what is in my heart?”

  Muzen beckoned at her to approach. “If Zora cuts your hair close to the scalp, releasing the stored mana back into your body, I can draw upon you and become my other self once more. Yet, even with much of your mana gone, you will remain dangerously unstable until your hair starts to grow out once more.”

  The smile Daphne gave him had more than a touch of madness. “That’s what I’m counting on. Permission to speak softly in your ear, so you, and you alone, can judge the wisdom of my plan?” He nodded, and she placed her lips next to his ear.

  When Daphne finished and stood back up, Muzen regarded her a moment before speaking. “You would do this for me?” She nodded, and Muzen said, “This will strike a mighty blow. If there is anything I can do for you in return, you need but ask.”

  “Hold me as if you were my father? My mother was a temple priestess, and I never knew who my father was. Yet I always dreamed…”

  Muzen gave her a gentle smile. “I understand. Zora, I am going to sit in the center of the sigil with Daphne on my lap while you carefully, so carefully, cut away her tresses. Once you are finished, withdraw out of the sigil while I draw mana from her. Meanwhile, the rest of you take the travel packs at the bottom of the chest and fill them with the rest of the contents, leaving me only the clothing and my cloak. When I have drawn all that is required, Daphne will leave.” He looked at her. “Do you know the way?”

  “And the secret entrance, Holiness,” Daphne replied.

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  “Excellent. Then, let us begin.” Muzen stood and sat cross-legged in the center of the sigil while Zora pulled out her knife and the other priestesses pulled out the travel packs made of coarse cloth, and began filling them as Daphne sat on Muzen’s lap. He held her as if she were his own daughter as Zora cautiously cut away at the girl’s hair until little remained except stubble, each tuft of hair crumbling away like ash as the girl’s eyes grew fire bright, and brighter still.

  When the last lock of hair had been shorn and crumbled away, Zora stepped outside the sigil with the other priestesses as Muzen told Daphne how to use her hands to push her mana through them as he drew it from her. The acolyte placed her hands on either side of Muzen’s head, and a moment later a feeling of warmth flowed into him. His exhaustion receded, then left him altogether as he drew deep upon the energy she provided, until he felt better than he had upon awakening that morning. Muzen held up his hand. “Enough. Remove your hands and curl them into fists to stop the flow.”

  Daphne did so before climbing out of Muzen’s lap and getting to her feet. “Holiness, will it be safe for me to watch the transformation?”

  “You can watch from the doorway but no closer. The sigil will absorb most of the energy shed by the transformation, but in your unstable state, even the slightest thing could set you off.”

  “I understand. Holiness, it’s been an honor to serve you.” Daphne bowed and turned towards the doorway.

  Then stopped and looked over her shoulder as Muzen said, “Daphne? When the war is over and the Storm Lord destroyed, you will be remembered as the first of my daughters. I promise.” Tears from her yellowish-white eyes sizzled on her cheeks as they fell, gone before they went halfway down her face. Daphne held her head high and marched to the doorway, stepping through into the passageway before turning around once more. Muzen waited until she was watching him before releasing the barrier between him and his twin.

  From deep inside Muzen, Kax surged outward. Their body began to change, becoming stronger but more feminine, the bald head sprouting yellowish-red hair which grew until the ends touched the back of her neck. The wounds closed and healed until they were little more than scars. When the transformation was complete, the acolyte, her face radiating joy, bowed and hurried down the passageway. Kax took a deep breath. “Finally,” Kax said in her deep, sultry voice. “Zora, where are my clothes?”

  The priestesses helped Kax get dressed in the chest’s traveling clothes before she hefted the largest pack and led them out. “Great Lady,” Zora said, “are we leaving the city?”

  “Not yet,” Kax replied. “I want to take one last look at Tesiphon before we go.”

  Kax led them a short distance through the dark passageway, the witchlight globe trailing her like an obedient sprite, and up a long flight of stairs to a landing that ended in a stone wall with the symbol of a man with wings holding a large ring in one hand. She let the priestesses catch their breath before extinguishing the witchlight. “We are inside the abandoned temple of Zurvan,” Kax told them as she pressed her thumb against the spot where the ring had been carved, “which is an arrow’s flight away from the city center. So be wary.”

  Stone grated on stone as the circle inside the ring depressed inward. Kax pushed on the wall, and a section moved on its pivot, the light of the moon overhead illuminating the city as the group moved onto a ledge near the pyramid’s top. Fires had broken out in several places, including one of the pyramids next to the main one, giving the air a smoky scent as Kax looked out upon Tesiphon. The main temple, where she could see her father ritually consecrating his knife over a struggling figure in yellow robes, sat at one end of a long rectangle made up of more pyramids, with the abandoned temple they stood upon directly opposite the largest. Behind the main temple was the emperor’s palace, with the granaries holding the sacred blood-corn to one side, and the temple of Ghash-Kimil on the other. Smoke rose from the pyramid as guards swarmed over it like ants.

  Kax watched as the Storm Lord carved out the man’s heart and held it up, but instead of eating off it, gave it to a priest holding out a tray. As the other priests threw the corpse down the pyramid’s stairs and signaled for the guards to bring the next victim, the priest with the tray brought it to a tall female with glossy black hair, who took what seemed to be a fork and knife and began carving off mana nodes, which she then delicately began to eat. There were other priests with trays in front of several other tall figures, and one by one, each priest would bring his tray forward as the Storm Lord carved out a heart, then bring it to the figure they served as the process was repeated.

  They watched for a time on the abandoned pyramid, then Zora cleared her throat. “Great Lady, we are exposed up here. Should we not go?”

  “Patience,” Kax replied, making a downward gesture with her hand. “I am waiting for a sign—”

  With a massive roar, one of the granaries exploded. Kax staggered as the priestesses fell onto the stone, their screams lost in the roars of second, and then the third, granaries, as they exploded as well. Flaming debris shot into the air in all directions, the priestesses scrambling for the doorway as chunks of flaming stone smashed against their pyramid and rolled back down the ledges and stairs.

  Kax remained where she was. “This is only the beginning of my vengeance,” Kax said in a soft voice as a fiery missile struck the glossy haired figure and knocked her down, setting her robes on fire. Screaming, she staggered to her feet before running away, a living torch other figures ran after to try and put out. On the opposite side of the rectangle, all had turned to chaos as Kax opened her arms. “Before I am finished, all of my family will find themselves on the same altar my brother died upon, and Tesiphon will burn. This, I swear.”

  She watched a moment longer before turning around. Zora regained her feet. “Great Lady, the blood-corn you worked so hard to create…”

  Zora trailed off as Kax shook her head. “That Yun worked to create. His time is over.”

  “But when the Storm Lord’s power is broken, the time will come for Yun to return?”

  Kax gave her priestesses a cold, cold, smile. “When I was Yun, my brother told me my dreams were too small and he was right, they were. He gave Muzen a name, the name of a powerful sorceress who holds the key to my vengeance, and if I find her, if she teaches me what she knows, there will be no place left for Yun.”

  “I see.” Zora took a deep breath. “Great Lady, I made a vow to serve you, and will continue to do so regardless of whatever shadowed path you lead us down.”

  The other priestesses echoed Zora’s words as Kax chuckled. “Your words are more prophetic than you know. Come, we have work to do.”

  Six priestesses followed Kax down into darkness.