purgatory in peace. Bludgeon and I protected those individuals from the many alien creatures and monsters who wished them harm. King and Queen some called us.' I could hear a faint laugh inside the orb, then her longing sigh before continuing. 'One day, one grave day, there came a wizard — and everything changed.'
Still she would not utter his name, but her light flashed briefly black at the thought. 'It is said Daniel, that the wizard wandered all the circles of Hellfire as Kat seeks an audience with God, the wizard sought the attention of his fallen son — Mephistopheles. They found each other in the bowels of that under-realm, and there the demon taught the wizard his blackest magic.'
'In return for?' I asked, intrigued.
'That the wizard would expand the demon's kingdom throughout our Distinct Earth, wreak his havoc and bring about the darkness. In Hell, the wizard was a mere apostle — in the Distinct Earth, he is a God.'
'The wizard escaped Hell?' I muttered, assuming Kat was the only man to do so.
'The samurai escaped the fire with endurance and timing,' she returned; 'the wizard did so with magic tricks, and he can return at will — to and fro whenever it pleases him. He is smart Daniel, a cunning trickster like his master. What the wizard cannot kill, he deals or disposes with some other way — like he did me…'
'How?'
'I am one of the few immortals,' she answered.
Eternal was not mentioned in any book I had read in Bludgeon's mountain, perhaps it was too difficult a subject for the centaur to put on paper.
'The wizard,' she added, 'could only curse me here and spread untimely rumours of my end. Unfortunately these rumours exaggerated his legend, causing more to fear him.'
'That's why Bludgeon hides,' I said. 'Why the wizard wants him dead. Bludgeon's the fly in the ointment, the last thorn to absolute power.'
Eternal paused. Her light did not flicker, but remained serene and still, as if lost in profound thought.
'Are you alright?' I asked her.
'I am fine,' she said, liveliness resuming. 'There are many thorns in the wizard's side Daniel, yours I predict, will dig deepest.'
More than surprised by that remark, I was nothing but a blotch on Scarfell's boot the last time we met. Why would the old wizard fear me?
'He underestimates you,' she said. 'It is the only reason you are still alive. I brought you here to hear my warning, and to heed it. The wizard has eyes everywhere, and can find you anywhere. You cannot trust anyone on your quest… not a single soul.'
Gut feeling told me she was holding something back, and pressing her, Eternal gave up more than I wanted to hear. 'I brought you here Daniel to inform you of your true goal. You must kill the wizard. You must destroy him.'
Gob-smacked, I tittered. 'I… can't do that! Not even Kat, a master samurai would go against him. What chance would I have?'
'The samurai is a dinosaur!” she said. “That thug is not remotely interested in your quest — or you. His soul is in the sword… not the heart. He may indeed lead you to the 9thFortress Daniel, but only until a better option is put under his nose. Trust him at your peril.'
'Sir Isaac Newton has faith in him,' I argued. 'Kat will be there when I need him. I know it!'
We both fell silent a few moments, and I could swear I felt her disapproving head shaking in the aqua light. 'For your own sake,' she said eventually; 'I hope you're right; for it is only
'I'm not going to kill anyone!' I snapped. 'Newton asked me to do one thing: rescue prisoner 2020 of the 9thFortress. Do that and I get what was promised! I'm sorry you're trapped here, I really am, but I have a baby girl to stay alive for, and what you are asking is too much. Way too fucking much!'
'And what of the women who remain in that village?' she returned coldly. 'The hopeless you turned your back on so speedily? An alphabet growing his army and not the only ones under his thumb I assure you… open your eyes, Daniel! No one trains with Bludgeon for a rescue mission! There are larger things at work here, something you are not seeing. You went to Bludgeon to learn how to kill a wizard, and now you must do it!'
Bludgeon expressed similar feelings, and as I considered my time with him, the pieces fell into place. Sir Isaac Newton
'You see things?' I asked her, trying to lower my heart rate. 'What do you see… for me?'
Her light stalled again, lingering liquid blue.
'Well?' I repeated, agitated. 'What do you see?'
'I foresee… loss, Daniel. I am sorry. One of your friends will not reach the Waiting Plain alive. One will perish — the second death in hellfire.'
'I've had enough loss!' I spat, nostrils flaring. 'And I don't have any friends, remember?'
'Friends will come when the battle is fought,' she replied, 'and there will be loss.'
I slouched, exhausted by her sobering words. What was the point in pretending I had a choice when other people had already decided my path? 'I will do…' I muttered; 'what I have to do.'
Turning from Eternal's light, I made my way for the exit with a mind only on ending this encounter.
'Beware!' she exclaimed, behind me. 'Beware Daniel!'
“Leave me alone!”
I carried on for the crack until the woman screamed painfully loud, causing ice and snow to rain down on top of me. I stopped before the jagged exit, feeling the witch’s fleshy hand rub down my back. Startled, I flashed around to see no hand near me, but the unmoved star where I last left it.
'What is it?' I asked her. 'What do you want?'
'Beware!” she said. “The wizard has come across Mephistopheles, on the journey you will too! Be ready for him Daniel, be prepared — do not believe his lies!'
'Fox!!'
That explosive sound almost burst my eardrums, and I opened my eyes to find I was standing on a frozen mountain ledge.
'Wake up!' stormed Kat, pulling at our rope. 'Do you intend to kill us both?'
'A dream?' I said, confused. There was no crack in the wall before Kat, no alien arms around his neck, and no trace of the Eternal witch.
Barely upright and floundering in my thoughts, Kat gave a final yank on the rope.
'You! Concentrate!'
***
The wind was barely noticeable and the sky was clear on this, the sixth and final day. Kat and I lay side by side on our bellies, eyes fixed ahead. In patient silence, we held this position for over an hour, observing a hollowed out shelter of grey stone some twenty feet away — a picturesque inlet free from snow. There I squinted for Atlas, the Weather-Maker, but there was only the bare insides and untouched snow before it.
My body felt like a block of meat, and as I drifted in and out of sleep, Kat's elbow would nudge my head sideways whenever he caught me dozing. I was later aggravated when, without cause, he again clattered my temple with that bone of his.
'I wasn't sleeping! What's wrong with you?'
Kat's lips stretched into a smirk. 'There,' he said, glinting ahead.
'I don't see a thing. What you looking at?'
'Shush!' he hissed. Then, with diligence, he took my hand and guided it. My eye followed his finger, and I smiled when I saw the thing for myself. Indents were being formed over that perfect snow, tiny little dimple dots. The more I stared at these footprints, the more the Weather-Maker became clear.
Camouflaged, its skin reflected the scenery and it moved like a smudge of snow. As soon as Atlas settled into the inlet however, the several seconds it took for her coat to adjust to the rocky backdrop, was just enough to reveal its appearance. It was a horse with two substantial wings tucked in at its sides, and a compact satchel around her neck.
