Fractured Gods

Chapter 2, Zorra Villa:

Chapter 2, Zorra Villa:

The blistering sun had set. The mountain of glass radiated the glowing remains of stored solar energy. The beauty of the sight filled Zorra with awe, but she knew there was work to be done and Ollie’s death to avenge. It was time to find a way to kill the b***h Hope, the regent of Perdition.

She didn’t believe the dragon held much special knowledge. She didn’t know what to think, only that in her heart she felt Hope was responsible for Ollie’s death, and he needed to be avenged.

“We need to leave.” She stood over Joti, who slumped against the wall.

She’d let the three men sleep the heat of the day away. After the drink they shared, they looked a sorry state.

“Yes, mistress.” Joti struggled to his feet. “Why do we need to leave this palace once again?”

She strolled over and touched the crippled leg of the dwarf with her foot. “Xorbis, we need to return. It is time to leave this place. You need to take us back.”

Zorra had learned too much about this place. She learned the truth about the gods. The gods were a fabrication of a single magic-wielding dragon. A creature that destroyed his own kind to defeat the forces that attacked his city.

Xorbis, the self-proclaimed servant of the beast, was at one time the humble court jester. It seemed everyone in this land suffered from delusions of grandeur.

Zorra identified what she was, a teenaged girl, playing at being a wife and soon-to-be mother. She was no savior of the human race. The only creature that understood who he was sat at Zorra’s feet, his tail swishing side to side. The mutt knew what he was and remained content he could lick his own genitals.

No matter her lack of experience, this trip had changed her. She questioned everything she thought she understood. Reality and the world around her had shifted. Humans were nothing but pawns in a war that had ravaged the world since before recorded time. The word pawn was being kind: humans had been manipulated into becoming slaves to false gods and working the mines for the mineral unakite that gave the dragons the power of magic. So many lies.

If Hope lived or died, the chances were good that this would not be the end of the conflict. The war might rage on between the surface and the under-earth until the end of time.

How she was able to drag herself on with this doubt surprised even her. It all came down to revenge. The death of Ollie and the role his sister played in it needed the scales of justice balanced. No matter what happened, Zorra needed retribution on the city of Perdition, no matter the cost.

The thought of the balanced scale made her smile, since that was the symbol of Perdition. The merchant scale and the symbology brought a newfound meaning to her life.

“Why do you want to leave this palace and return to the mundane world? I am so happy here.” Usborne stood at the mouth of the cave, his once-great adventurer’s body thin and willowy with age and neglect.

Zorra was certain there was a time when the old man presented as a formidable force to deal with. Now he looked like an ancient hermit holding a wineskin over his head ready to celebrate life.

Zorra didn’t have time for this. From what she understood, the world was heading into a s**t storm, and Hope Shoemaker was leading the way to destruction. “What is your name, once again?” Zorra asked.

There was a glaze over the old man’s eyes. “I am Usborne, of the Shoemaker house of Perdition. Next in line to stand as principal of the city.” He stood tall as he recited his bona fides.

“That would make you Hope’s uncle?”

“Yes.”

Zorra stood as tall as possible, her nose inches from the old man’s chest. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but the world is going to s**t, and your Hope is leading the way.”

“Lady, you can’t talk to the principal’s brother like that.” Joti joined the fray, trying desperately to separate the two.

Xorbis sat on the palette of furs. “That is no way to speak in the land of the gods.”

The dog barked and ran around the three’s feet.

Zorra turned from the old man and the brewing confrontation. Instead, she marched to the back of the cave and shouted into the darkness. “If you want me to stop this b***h, you have to let us leave. I can’t control that ship. I need Xorbis’s skill with the craft. I refuse to leave without Joti. What you do with the old man is your choice…”

Usborne said, “Hey now.”

Silence was the only answer to Zorra’s rage. It only served to increase her anger. “Mar’leck, this world can burn for all I care. We can sit here and drink until we die for all I care. It is time to prove you are who you think you are.” Finished, Zorra marched back to Usborne and pulled the skin from his hands. She tipped it up and shot the liquid into her mouth and immediately regretted her rash action. She expected some fine drink as described by the men while they celebrated the previous night. She was surprised to find only stagnant water that tasted of old goatskin. She spat the water out and lost the limited contents of her stomach.

The three men laughed.

“She can’t handle the drink!” Usborne said.

Xorbis continued, “Only the special can take the drink of the gods.”

Joti ended up running to her side and held her hair back while she hurled.

The anger built inside Zorra’s heart. She was prepared to kill every man on the shards and reached for Joti’s blade when the three men gasped and fell to the floor of the cave. Each covered their eyes and flopped about in pain.

Zorra stood and watched the others, not understanding what happened. The glow of the cave faded. She recognized it was too early for that to happened. The previous night, the mountain glowed until Major and Minor had both passed their zenith. Now the mountain was black stone sitting in the black of darkness.

Ignoring the men while they lamented on the cave floor, Zorra stepped to the mouth of the cave and looked out over what once was the glowing black glass. Now it remained all dark.

The ship that was their only way out of this glowing hell had disappeared in the darkness. Zorra assumed it still sat at the bottom of the mountain. What good would it be for Mar’leck to strand them here without transportation?

A voice boomed through the mountain. Shards of black glass rained down inside the cave they took refuge in. “It is time for you all to leave. The Sleeping One has spoken. Go now before I strike you dead from fear.”

Joti stood next to Zorra. He worked hard to pull her from the cave entrance and away from the falling stones.

“Please, Lord!” Usborne struggled to his knees with palms pressed together. “Please, Lord, reconsider and let your servant stay and serve your glory.”

Strange enough, Xorbis knelt next to the old man and copied his begging. “I am your truest servant. If anyone should serve you, it should be me.”

Joti had pulled Zorra just outside the entrance. From the protection of the lip of the cave, Zorra stopped their escape and watched the pair as they begged. “We still need the dwarf.” She fought Joti’s attempts to pull her down the path off the mountain.

“I need no entertainment. I cast both of you out.” A gust of wind burst down the tunnel, picking both Xorbis and Usborne off the ground and tossing them out of the cave like garbage. “I said leave!” the voice boomed once again.

The force of the attack passed Zorra, and Joti rushed to the aid of the two men that lay sprawled on the ground. “It is time to leave,” Zorra whispered to Xorbis while she helped the dwarf to his feet. A quick glance over to Joti and she watched her bodyguard help the old hermit to his feet.

There was no glow from the mountain. The moons had not risen. Now the mountain sat in unnatural darkness where once it had been covered in bright light.

“Joti, help me… We need to get out of here.” That was when Zorra noticed the dog… “Where is the dog?” Zorra looked for the stray that was normally running under her feet.

“You take the men. I will keep the animal for company,” the dragon’s voice boomed from the cave.

Zorra stepped back into the cave where she had just watched two grown men get thrown out like rag dolls. “Give my dog back!” Zorra screamed.

The simplest answer came back. “No.”

Joti grabbed Zorra from behind. “We need to go. I don’t think we should argue more with the Sleeping One.”

For the first time, Zorra heard the strain of fear in Joti’s voice. Her heart broke. She had lost so much over the past few days, she wasn’t sure if she could take the loss of a stupid dog that always seemed to be underfoot. She could have fought her bodyguard, but instead, she let him pull her down the narrow path that twisted down the mountain to the waiting ship of the dwarf.

Xorbis and Usborne helped each other down the mountain. If not for her broken heart, it would have been a comical sight, the old man from Perdition twice as tall as the dwarf he leaned on.

Joti stayed by her side each step of the way. His closeness allowed Zorra a chance to let her mind wander. Usborne seemed… there was no delicate way to think of the subject. Zorra doubted the sanity of the man that had spent so much time alone with the dragon Mar’leck.

If he was insane, would it be wise to take him on the small wheeled ship as they traveled back over the Great Beach? From what she heard about the others in his line, they were all crazy. Ollie told her stories about his crazy brother Hayline, his scheming half-brother Meyers. Usborne’s brother started an insane war, and then Hope threatened the whole of the shards with her pursuit of magic.

Zorra needed to take a chance. She whispered to Joti, “It might be better to cut Usborne loose. Leave him here with his god.”

The whites of Joti’s eyes showed in the limited light on the mountain. “I will do as you wish… But, please, Usborne is a legend in Perdition. He might not have outlived his usefulness. He has changed greatly… aged so much from when he left Perdition. Even when I saw him last night, he seemed still a young man in comparison.”

That was strange. To Zorra, Usborne had always looked like a crazy old hermit. The dragon must have played with the other’s perceptions of… everything. “But if he is insane…” Zorra felt she didn’t need to add, like the rest of his family.

“I don’t think we can fully judge him based on what we know.” Joti stopped walking, pulling Zorra up short. “You didn’t judge Ollie by the actions of his family. I’m sure you would not want to be judged by your brothers and sister.”

Joti’s words stung, but they were the truth. Her family tree was littered with nuts. She should not be so quick to cast stones at an old man that had suffered solitude for such a long time. “You are correct… I am sorry.” Zorra pushed Joti to follow the pair that led the way. “Let’s not lose them in this darkness.”

They stumbled down the mountain path in the dark, eventually reaching the dwarf’s wheeled ship. It sat right where they left it.

Zorra needed to shake her head. The time they spent was one full cycle, yet she had the impression much more time had passed. When dealing with a creature that might wield godlike powers, how could a person know how much time passed? “Anyone know how long we were on the mountain?” To Zorra, it seemed like a reasonable and logical question.

Usborne and Xorbis stopped at the top of the ladder. “It seems but a day,” Xorbis said.

Joti nodded.

Usborne’s response came like a soft pain when a dagger was pulled from his back. “It seems like my whole adult life has passed.”

Xorbis changed the subject. “Three days… it will take a least three days to return to the water.” His eyes drifted to the stars overhead. “Longer if the wind grows stronger against us. We need to leave.”

Zorra thought it better to not point out Usborne was now an old man. He would face that shock at a later time. She quietly prayed, out of habit, they were off the wheeled ship before he made the discovery.

The four stumbled onboard. Xorbis went aft to the controls. He pulled and pushed the various levers and rods, setting the sails in the light wind. Zorra sought out the safety of the deckhouse. If the sun rose, she wanted to be able to find shelter before the heat burned them to a crisp.

Usborne disappeared to the forward section of the ship. Joti sat Zorra down, her back leaning against the safety of the light-tight room.

The ship started rolling away from the mountain. The jagged glass seemed to soak up all available light. It blocked out the stars that should show. The weight of the damned thing seemed to tug at her soul.

“I’m going to check on Usborne.” Joti disappeared forward before Zorra could object.

She shouldn’t expect his undying devotion. She had released him from his oath to serve and protect her. He was his own keeper now. He might learn that his devotion to the rightful leader of Perdition might outweigh his word to his dead master’s wife. Life had become too complicated.

Zorra rested her hands over her flat stomach. Something needed to change if her child had any chance at a normal life.

With the black mountain jutting out of the flat glass desert, the only landmark she had spotted since reaching the glass, it should be easy enough to keep on a true course away from the damned thing. However, the wind still blew out of the south, the direction they needed to travel in. Unless Xorbis had some unknown way to control the wind, they would need to tack their way back to the sand and eventually the water.

Voices drifted over the deck from the forward part of the ship. Zorra recognized Joti speaking in a strained tone. She stood and followed the sound of the voices.

Usborne was saying, “—she ruined everything.”

“You were living a lie,” Joti whispered.

“I was with the Sleeping God. Watch your tongue, boy.” Usborne hissed.

Zorra stepped quietly. She needed to hear this conversation.

“I am no longer a child playing in the halls of the citadel. Ollie is dead. Soto is dead. Hayline is missing. Hope…” Joti lowered his head. That was when Zorra spotted where Usborne had seated himself: safely under the bowsprit.

Zorra finished the sentence. “Hope has gone insane and threatens the whole of the shards in her search for power.”

The murderous gaze that Usborne shot Zorra’s way made her blood run cold. “Hope is an infant, barely out of swaddling.”

Joti leaned down and spoke softly to the old man who wedged himself at the prow of the ship. “She is not much younger than I… Look at how I have aged while you were gone.”

The twin moons had yet to break the horizon. There was scant light, yet Usborne inspected the backs of his hands, then ran his hands over his face. “Have I been gone so long with the god?”

Zorra spotted the reflection of tears running down the old man’s cheeks.

Joti reached a hand down to Usborne. “We don’t know how long you have spent with the god… It doesn’t matter, we will work it out somehow.” He motioned for the old man to take it when he didn’t.

The old man batted the offered hand away.

“We will need to take shelter from the sun when it comes up.”

“Yes… if I recall correctly, it is extremely bright in this part of the shards.” Usborne stayed safely under the horizontal mast.

Zorra reached out and pulled Joti back to the cabin. She was surprised when he nodded and followed her aft.

“He will be all right.” Joti’s words rang hollow in Zorra’s ears, as if he wasn’t entirely sure he believed them himself.

“I’m sure he will be,” Zorra lied. She felt there was a better-than-average chance they would need to deal with Usborne before they reached the water. Once they started the adventure against his niece, he might ultimately decide blood was thicker than water and join forces with her. There was no way Zorra could let that happen.