"You take care of my little brother now, okay?" she spoke into his short dark hair. Then she stood again. Her eyes were misty. "Or it's poison in your pie next time, got it?"
Pierce smiled. "Yes ma'am."
CHAPTER SIX
The Second
The moment her old comrades decided to seek her out, she knew. They were as yet far away, so perhaps her long meditation would be complete before the time came to join them.
She sat, legs folded, her body suspended above the dais at the zenith of her tower. Brackenverge's eight spires looked down on her from even higher up, the wind whistling across their tips. Below, gigatoads sang their songs in the squalid marsh beyond the walls around the tower.
She'd inherited Brackenverge from the First Great Master of Convergent Reality Theory, back when he'd initially gained that title. It was a place to train, to experiment, to close oneself off from the distractions of the outside world and perfect one's craft to the utmost. With such deep exploration the First had achieved his Mastery, and the Second intended to do it as well.
She took a moment to gauge the distance of her friends' Intention Signal. Yes, she should have more than enough time to complete her current exploration of the Chasmic depths before she had to surface again. The Second folded back into the Chasm. She had to discover what the Underlord had learned.
The towering keep that Scythia had called Brackenverge cast a long shadow over the hilly sward to the west, and Pierce followed the three legends along the shaded road leading to its gates. The tower had a great sense of age - huge stone blocks chipped and eroded, covered in moss, with long fissures running up the tower's outer surface. Yet it seemed in no danger of collapse - in fact it had a kind of healthy orange glow. Pierce thought it might be fun to climb.
Pierce and the legends rode their mounts through the keep's open gates and down a long brick path up to the tower's great doors. They dismounted and looked up.
The Second to the First Great Master of Convergent Reality Theory, or 'Ess', as Axebourne had called her, was already on her way down from the top of the tower, gliding foot by foot through thin air. She wore fine robes of a dusty magenta that drooped down over her hands and covered her feet. Seven orbs of ethereal liquid floated in a loose formation behind her head. Her face was obscured by shadow and the hood of her robe.
"Ess!" Axebourne called up to her. "It's like you knew we were coming!"
"Always does," Agrathor said, grinning.
At last Ess's feet touched the ground, and she strode forward to greet her old comrades.
"Welcome back to Brackenverge, dear friends," she said in a velvety voice. Immediately Pierce knew he was done for. He could listen to that voice all day long. He might not register the words, admittedly, but he could listen to it. "I see you've brought something of import with you."
Pierce blushed and said, "Ma'am, I'm not that important, but thank you for saying..."
Ess turned her head toward him, "I meant the news you carry, young man. I can sense it, though I cannot read what it is."
As she spoke, she lowered her hood, and Pierce knew he was really done for - Ess was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Actually, she was more a young woman, looking to be a few years his junior, but he knew that wasn't possible.
Her features were soft and neotenous, with large brown eyes and regal lips. Her skin was jet black, the area around her eyes painted white. He wanted to be a gentleman, but he couldn't help wondering what she'd look like in real women's clothes - that billowing robe was infuriatingly mysterious.
Ess smirked playfully at Pierce and said, "Careful, child. If you let your eyes go too wide, they may fall out."
"And then I'll start looking like Agrathor over here," Pierce commented absently, mesmerized by the fullness of Ess's lips.
Agrathor began to growl lowly, but Axebourne put a hand on his arm and said, "Peace, man. Can't you see he's lost his mind?"
The skeleton man didn't respond, but he backed down.
Ess chuckled melodiously at Pierce's thoughtless jibe and he smiled like a dog given praise.
"So who is our newest member?" Ess asked.
Axebourne tilted his head to the side. "Huh, hadn't thought of it that way. He'd need to do the initiation."
"Whoa," said Pierce, his attention finally pulled away from Ess. "I'm in Gorgonbane now? Why didn't you guys tell me?"
"Hey, settle down, boy," said Agrathor. "We don't recruit without a vote. Not to mention you have to complete a mission. Ess knows that. Let's hear it! I vote against."
"Now Agrathor," said Scythia smoothly. She didn't have to finish the rebuke. Agrathor clamped his jaws shut with a click.
"I did assume," said Ess. "I am gathering that things are afoot that hold greater import than keeping to old traditions?"
"Indeed," said Scythia. "Pierce Boonswadled has news of an invasion. Kash has found a way to circumvent the convergences, it seems."
"We're not clear on the details," said Axebourne. "At all... But that's our best guess."
"Hey hold on," said Pierce, looking to Scythia. "You're giving me my title too? By the Path, this is awesome! Though I'm not sure about Boonswadled."
"You'll take what you can get, boy!" Agrathor chided. "And you're not a member yet."
"Just trying it on for size," Scythia smiled. "Axebourne and I had been discussing your great luck."
"Luck?" said Pierce. He'd never considered himself so. He thought back to all the close calls he'd ever had, the insane situations he'd found himself in most recently. It felt like he was constantly in trouble. That didn't sound
