The Gossamer Plain

CHAPTER FIVE

The smell of sweet summer grass wafted into Aliisza's nostrils. She could feel a carpet of it beneath her, soft and warm. The scent was pure, almost overwhelming. It made her heady with arousal. The sun shone down upon her, not too hot, but pleasant, like a warm spring day. The glow of it bathed her in tranquility, soothed her every ache. The sound of insects and birds buzzing and chirping in the distance hummed in her ears. She felt life vibrating there, passion and sorrow and fear and death, all swirled together in a magnificent dance of existence.

In the void, she had forgotten how to feel. Her body had ceased to be for a while. In the new place, she felt more alive than she could ever remember. She existed more completely than at any time before. It was too much; she was afraid to open her eyes. Filled with trepidation mixed with yearning curiosity, she dug her fingers into the rich, damp soil to brace herself, and risked a glance.

To say she lay in a meadow would have been a poor excuse of a description, yet she could find no words to capture the raw energy and beauty of it. Every sight and sound, every sensation and color, every scent and movement breathed more life into Aliisza. The intensity of it was almost painful. The alu stared at a copse of trees nearby. Flowering vines climbed the trunk of a dead tree closer to her, and she could detect their blossoms' fresh scent in the gentle breezes that caressed her skin. In the distance, she heard the faint gurgling of a stream.

As she took in more of her surroundings, Aliisza realized that the meadow seemed isolated, out of place. There was no horizon, no line of hills surrounding the edges, no forest in the distance. There was only brilliant azure sky. The world seemed to end on every side only a few paces in each direction.

The angelic creature stood beside her, and when she at last looked up to gaze at his face, that same radiant beauty shone from him, and it still hurt her eyes. It was raw energy, pure and sweet, like the land itself. She wanted to drink it in, yet it scalded her, left her feeling tainted in some way.

Beyond her guide, hazy in the distance, a great mountain reared up. It seemed close, very close, making the meadow where she lay feel alpine in nature. But it was all wrong. There was no beginning or end to it, no bottom or top. It simply appeared and disappeared, below and above, vanishing in all directions in white, puffy clouds. To the alu, it seemed more like a massive, forbidding cliff wall.

And it moved.

Aliisza sat up. She peered more closely at the mountain, thinking perhaps it was a trick of her imagination. Surely the clouds were drifting past, and the mountain was stationary. But no-as she gazed at it for several moments, she realized it definitely shifted against the closer surroundings of her meadow. The mountain was moving.

"Where are we?" Aliisza asked at last, turning to squint at her escort once more.

The creature squatted next to her. Aliisza flinched at his proximity and averted her eyes, looking at the mountain as it drifted slowly from her left to her right.

"The House of the Triad," he answered.

The half-fiend jerked her gaze back to the angelic figure in surprise.

"What?" she asked. "This?"

The creature chuckled. "Yes," he said, "though I brought us to this spot because I thought it would not be quite the shock to you as elsewhere. I guess you were expecting something more… majestic?" When Aliisza didn't answer, he turned briefly and pointed to the mountain, still slowly sliding across the alu's field of vision, before meeting her gaze again. "Behind me, you can see Celestia, surrounded by three other peaks. Martyrdom serves as Ilmater's home, Trueheart is where Torm resides, and the Court, where we shall journey, serves as Tyr's residence. Perhaps that will be more what you envisioned."

The alu frowned. "Who was the armored one in the stone tower?" she asked.

"Ah, we were within Everwatch, the tower-home of Helm. All who come to the House first visit his domain to determine if they are worthy to continue on."

"And those he finds lacking?" Aliisza asked.

"They do not leave," the angelic figure replied, his mien grim. "But you satisfied his concern with your oath, so it is irrelevant. And to answer your question from before, I am Tauran, a servant of Tyr."

Aliisza stared around, and again at the gargantuan mountain, with a growing feeling of concern. My oath, she thought, thinking fully on what she had acceded to. Easily broken, she decided, amused at Tauran's foolish trust.

For the first time, the alu realized that she existed as she had before, prior to her battle with Zasian's intruders. She stood up and performed a cursory self-examination. All of her possessions were in their proper places. Her elven blade was strapped to her hip and leg, her pouches of magical triggers were tied to her belt, and she could feel all of her innate abilities at her command. She could employ magic to escape, she could draw her blade and run Tauran through, or beguile him with her considerable charm into doing as she wished.

She could do all those things-and yet she couldn't. The thought was there, but she had absolutely no desire. She reached for her sword, but the moment she gave thought to using it to fight her way free, her hand dropped to her side. She frowned, concentrating on moving her arm toward the weapon.

"I told you that once you agreed to the terms, you would be held to them, by magical coercion," Tauran said, his smile appearing a bit sad. "I cannot stop you from thinking the thoughts, nor would I want to. But until such time as you are safely ensconced in your quarters, you do not have the free will to act against the agreement you made."

Aliisza chuckled, but inside she was seething. She suddenly felt a puppet upon strings. She decided to try a different tactic.

"So, you brought me here to keep me all to yourself," the alu purred, moving closer to the angel. She wrapped her arms around his waist and nestled her head against his chest. "What are you going to do to me now?" she asked, giving him a sultry smile and invoking her preternatural charms. She strained very hard not to squint at his brilliance.

Tauran's sad smile turned to a look of pure sorrow as he gently disengaged himself from the half-fiend's embrace.

"Take a moment," he said. "Regain your wits. It is a startling adjustment from what you are used to, I am sure. We can remain here, in this meadow, for a few moments more, until you feel more at ease."

Aliisza stared balefully at her counterpart and withdrew. She practically stomped away from him, scowling, and folded her arms across her chest.

How impertinent! she thought. Suggesting I have lost my wits.

As the fury within her waned, the alu realized she was more dismayed than angry. The discovery that her charms were useless against the creature was unnerving. She was beginning to fret that she hadn't thought through the oath carefully enough.

What have I done? she asked herself in growing dread.

For a moment, she fought vertigo and claustrophobia all at once. The strange sense of not being able to act even while thinking about acting sent tremors of horror through her. She could not imagine feeling more helpless.

The panic did not last long. Aliisza reminded herself of all the various difficulties she had extricated herself from in her long years of life. She would find a way to succeed with Tauran, too. As her confidence returned, she looked at the angel once more, letting her eyes glitter with a suggestive hint of a smile.

"Oath or no, I don't see why we can't enjoy one another's company, hmm?" she said, sauntering toward him. "I promise I won't misbehave, if you promise to punish me when I do," she said, batting her eyes.

"You already promised not to misbehave-earlier, within Everwatch," Tauran replied, unmoved. Then a hint of a smirk grew on his face, too. "But I don't find your company unpleasant. Which is good, as we will likely be spending much time together. Now, are you ready to go?"

Aliisza pouted for a moment, then nodded.

"Then follow me," the celestial creature said, and took to the air.

As Aliisza unfurled her wings, she remembered that she had injured herself when she tried to escape Dwarf-friend's study. Spreading her appendages wide, she moved them experimentally. All traces of injury seemed to have vanished. She leaped into the air, soaring up into the sky, the sun warm on her pale skin. She almost felt happy.

Climbing higher into the sky, Aliisza was shocked to discover the true nature of the meadow. The grass and trees, even the small pond with a trickling brook, rested upon a chunk of rock that floated in the air. Shaped like some bizarre inverted pinnacle, the top of the hovering island had been smoothed flat, while the underside was twisted, jagged, and warped, as though violently torn from some larger place. The water from the stream fell over the side of the earthy edge, tumbling into space. Far below, Aliisza could see clouds, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Other floating islands, some much larger than the meadow where she and Tauran had arrived, drifted in view. All exhibited natural landscapes of varying climates. She spotted structures upon a few, far in the distance. She gazed at them in awe, noting that the earthen tracts didn't move in a coordinated or uniform way. No breezes sent them drifting.

Aliisza stared at the massive mountain, where she knew the gods lived. Suddenly, she understood. It was adrift as well, a mass of stone and earth so large that it dwarfed everything else around it. The clouds near the top parted for a moment, and she could see much more of the four peaks. She noted that Tauran's description of three shorter mounts surrounding a fourth, taller one, had been accurate. The nearest peak sloped severely upward, its surface a mix of rocky outcroppings, stands of stunted trees, and the white of snow pack. The very top seemed to have been sliced away, and the alu thought she could make out a gleam of white there, perhaps something polished, shining brightly in the sun. Then the clouds drifted across it once more, obscuring the view.

Tauran set an easy pace, and Aliisza was able to study her surroundings as they winged their way toward the slopes of the closest mountain.

Below, the alu could see more meadowlike floating islands. She noted that many teemed with life. The alu spotted a small group of insectoid creatures upon one of the islands, hard at work moving a large stone. At first Aliisza thought they were massive ants, but then she noticed that they stood upright and that some of them, the larger ones, employed simple weapons. She glanced at Tauran, raising her eyebrow in question.

"Formians," the angel explained. "Simple-minded creatures, governed by law above all else. They have little independent thinking, acquiescing to a hive mind in all things."

Sounds dreary, Aliisza thought, grimacing.

They moved on, flying higher, slowly approaching the upper flank of the nearest mountain. They ascended into the cloud cover and the alu felt a brief moment of moist chill. Then they broke through and she was stunned by the majesty of the place. As the distance shrank, Aliisza could see that her earlier guess had been correct. The top of the mountain had been leveled or shaped flat in some manner, and a great tiered building of white stone rested upon its crown. The outer facade was all columns and steps, and the sun glinted brightly off the smoothly polished surfaces. The alu could see that creatures came and went from the structure, which was easily the size of a small hamlet.

A pair of creatures took flight and angled straight at the two of them. Similar to Tauran in appearance, bronze-skinned and white-winged, they approached rapidly, bearing large maces. She gave another questioning look at Tauran, growing concerned that they intended to attack.

When the two creatures drew close enough, they pulled up and hovered. One of them eyed Aliisza with obvious distrust, while the other held up a hand, palm facing outward.

"Hail, Tauran. Why are you bringing this fiend to our doorstep?"

Tauran bowed and said, "Hail, Micus. This creature has submitted to me a willingness to abide by the strictures of our realm so that her unborn child may escape harm from her execution. I escort her now to the Court of Temperance for sentencing."

The angel named Micus nodded. "Excellent," he said. "May the blessings of Tyr grace you and your child," he said to Aliisza. Then, before she could answer, he and the other celestial creature turned and shot away, soaring low above the treetops.

Aliisza shivered. The blessings of Tyr are the last things I expect to receive, she thought as she watched them depart.

"Shall we continue?" Tauran asked.

The alu turned her attention toward her escort as they flew toward the great columned city ahead. "I fear I have agreed to much more than I bargained for," she said, her voice slightly amused. "You're all being too nice, too patient. There's a catch somewhere."

Tauran cast a meaningful glance over his shoulder at the alu as they neared a plaza cut into the mountain. It rested upon a tier about halfway up the side of the facade.

"When the soul of a being calls to us," the angel said as he alit upon the marble tiles of the plaza, "and requires aid in surviving and blossoming into a beautiful creature, we are overjoyed. It is the wish of all who dwell here that we might assist in raising high a spiritual being, to help it attain all of its glorious potential. There is no 'catch.' "

As soon as the half-fiend landed, the angel led her toward an archway. She could not see through it, for it was filled by a pearlescent barrier. Two powerfully built humanoids stood guard there, flanking the passageway. They had the heads of dogs, though intelligence gleamed in their eyes. Their skin had a ruddy hue, and Aliisza could see greatswords strapped to their backs. They seemed serene, but ready for action at the slightest provocation. Tauran bowed deeply before the two of them, then stepped through the doorway and vanished.

Aliisza hesitated, standing between the two sentries. She wasn't sure she wanted to go where Tauran led. She glanced at the twin guards and saw both looking at her. There was more than mere intelligence reflected in their eyes. She saw keen wisdom as they appraised her.

Sizing me up for battle? Or questioning the merits of me being here?

"Hurry," one of them said, "before you are mistaken for an intruder and slain." His voice was unnaturally deep and rich. It vibrated the alu to her bones.

Aliisza swallowed and darted after Tauran.

The barrier enveloped her and she found herself within a colonnaded walkway, moving toward an open space filled with sunlight. Tauran was up ahead. She reflected for a moment on his words as she caught up. He and others like him came when called, answered those in need.

"I did that?" she asked aloud as they walked. "I called to you? I don't remember."

"No," the winged being said as they entered the interior courtyard. "You did not."

Aliisza shook her head, puzzled. "But you just said-"

She stopped in mid-sentence, gazing around at the beauty of the cozy space the two of them had just entered. A fountain stood in the center, a gurgling display with a statue of a magnificent winged being, even more angelic and powerful in appearance than Tauran. It was crafted of what must have been gold, and the sun blazed off it, giving it a most dazzling aspect.

All around the fountain, a topiary garden stretched in every direction. A wide assortment of trees loomed over the walkways, and benches stood beneath convenient arbors. Some trees were huge, offering shade. In other places, fruit trees blossomed, the fragrant aroma filling the area. The space was utterly devoid of other creatures.

The angel led Aliisza to one side of the courtyard, following an angled path that passed beneath an apple tree. "A spirit called, but it was not you," Tauran explained as he strolled out of the garden and back to the colonnaded balcony that surrounded the courtyard. He led her through another archway. "Though you might have uttered some outcry of despair in your final moments, it was not a clarion appeal to give yourself over to Tyr's benevolence."

They reached an open chamber with windows set high in the walls and in the ceiling, allowing sunshine to pour in. Everything was of the cleanest white marble, with hanging plants, rugs, and sculptures of gold, silver, and other materials decorating it and giving it life.

It took Aliisza a few moments to realize she was in a suite of rooms-cozy quarters. She saw a pool and a small fountain, a shelf filled with books, and a second doorway leading to more chambers. Beyond, she found a bed and a writing desk, as well as a balcony where sunshine streamed in. Aliisza crossed the floor to the balcony. The view beyond was startling. She could see the greater mountain that rose above the other three, majestic and forbidding as it towered overhead.

Aliisza turned to look at Tauran. He gestured at the limits of the room and said, "Make yourself comfortable. I must consult with others before I can take you before the tribunal. I should not be gone long."

The half-fiend frowned and asked, "But if I did not call, then who did?"

Tauran smiled at the alu again, but she could see that there was sadness in his eyes. "It was your child's cry that I heard. Your unborn offspring summoned me to rescue it."

Aliisza gawked at the angel as he turned and strode out, pulling the door shut behind him.

At first, Myshik simply sank in the lava. Despite following both Kaanyr Vhok and the mustachioed human into the swirling Everfire, the half-dragon felt genuine fear. He didn't doubt that the ring the cambion had given to him was real. The fey'ri he had cut it from was obviously one of Vhok's consorts and a trusted minion who had expected to follow the half-fiend on the journey. Myshik was not afraid that he was being intentionally led to his fiery death.

No, the half-dragon feared that Vhok simply overestimated the efficacy of the magic in the ring. No dweomer could save them from the scorching conflagration that was the Everfire. The heat was too pure, the flames too infernal.

Still, the half-dragon had jumped.

He could see nothing. Everything was brilliant white, swirling yellow fire. He clenched his eyes shut to block the intensity of the illumination from penetrating, blinding him.

The sinking slowed, and Myshik felt himself being tossed about, as though being thrown by a great giant at play. He wanted to scream, but he feared to open his mouth, lest liquid fire pour down his throat and incinerate him from within.

The churning battered him, pounded him, and he began to try to swim away from its effects. He clawed his way through the lava, pulling hand over hand, stretching toward the surface. He hoped that he moved in the correct direction.

Myshik felt one hand break into open air. He lunged, trying to climb from the soupy fire that surrounded him. His head broke the surface, but he still felt the syrupy magma covering him, drenching him. He foundered, reaching out to nothing, trying to find anything, an outcropping of stone, to hold on to.

A hand grabbed at the half-dragon. Myshik felt fingers close around his own clawed digits, grip him in a handshake. He welcomed that touch, pulled on it, felt it pull back. He scrambled forward, using his other arm to paddle through the lava, and his foot struck something hard-solid ground just below the surface. He stood.

"Hurry up!" the half-dragon heard, and it was Vhok's voice. "Get out of there before it scorches everything off you! Come on!"

Myshik felt the hand tug at him, pulling him forward. He followed it, stumbling as clumps of liquid flame sloughed off his body. Much of it clung to him, though, and he could already feel it hardening as it began to cool.

Myshik wiped his face clear and risked opening one eye.

The landscape was fire incarnate.

The trio stood near a pool of molten stone, similar to the Everfire, at the base of a cliff where a firefall tumbled over the side, splashing into the lava like a waterfall. The pool lay in the midst of a small valley, with rolling hills on every side except for a narrow defile, where the magma drained away, tumbling through a series of cataracts and vanishing into lowlands in the distance.

The land resembled the foothills of the Nether mountains, terrain Myshik was familiar with. Instead of rock, grass, shrubs, and trees, everything was flame. The ground was an endless glowing ember, orange and smoking. Gouts of flame shot up everywhere, in various sizes and colors, from dull red and yellow to brighter blue and even white. In an insane sort of way, they reminded the half-dragon of plants and trees.

A small gathering of herd animals foraged along the far edge of the pool. They looked faintly like deer, standing on four slender, graceful legs and sporting antlers on their heads. But instead of flesh and skin, they were made of embers and fire. A few seemed wary of the trio's presence, stock still and staring, but they otherwise ignored the interlopers.

Everything hissed and smoked, and the horizon shimmered and vanished through waves of unending heat. The sky was nothing but low-hanging, angry red smoke as far as the eye could see. Every breath Myshik drew was hot, and though he knew he wasn't dying, it felt worse than the scorching dry air he was used to in the great desert, Anauroch, near his home. Right then, home seemed impossibly far away.

As quickly as he took it all in, the view around Myshik started to fade. Smoke began to drift past him, growing thicker and thicker. It filled his nose with another, even more acrid scent.

As Myshik pivoted, scanning the horizon on every side, he saw great volumes of thick black smoke blowing toward them, sweeping across the valley like a dust storm in Anauroch. The wind that drove the smoke ahead of it also kicked up flames along the landscape. The fires leaped and danced like a wildfire on an open plain, though the half-dragon did not see what fuel let them burn as they zipped along.

Very quickly, visibility diminished to a few paces, and Myshik found his eyes stinging. He hurried to close the gap between himself and Vhok, but the cambion vanished from sight, and the draconic hobgoblin could barely make out his own hands in front of his face.

"Beware!" Zasian hissed from somewhere nearby. "They're charging!"

"What in the Abyss is char-" the cambion uttered, his words sounding strangely distant.

Something shot past Myshik. One of the grazing creatures he had spotted a moment before bounded into the travelers' midst and was gone again before Myshik could free his axe.

Another darted past the half-hobgoblin, moving close enough that its heat made his skin hot. Then two more came at him, one bounding to his left and another leaping directly over him. Myshik dropped into a crouch, expecting one to attack him at any instant. The soupy mess of liquefied stone that coated him made him stiff and heavy. He tried to wipe it off, but it stuck to him like thick mud.

As several more of the herd animals flew by, Myshik realized the danger lay not in attack, but in sheer numbers. One or two of the creatures became five, six. Then an entire horde of the things raced through the group of travelers, buffeting them as they stormed past. The flames of the beasts singed the half-dragon's exposed skin and left smoking scorch marks everywhere they touched him or his clothing and possessions, despite the magic of his ring.

Vhok began to rise into the air, levitating out of the stampede of fiery creatures. Myshik cursed. Without such a luxury, he was forced to crouch, to make himself as small a target as he could. Even so, he suffered several singeing blows from the creatures.

The thundering, flaming herd of fire-animals began to dwindle, and Myshik thought for a moment that the danger was past. Then he felt a deep, thumping vibration rise up through the ground… then another, and another. A last few straggling deerlike things shot past him as the thumps grew more powerful, louder. Myshik strained to peer through the thick, stinging smoke. His grip on his axe was iron-tight.

With the next powerful thump, the smoke dissipated for an instant, and a huge creature loomed into view, right before the half-dragon. Its great bulk was all smoldering coals and crackling flames. Six long serpentine necks snaked out of a bloated round body. Each head atop those necks sported draconian features, with wide, fanged jaws and blazing blue eyes. In addition to the four ponderous legs the creature strode upon, it manipulated two strange tentaclelike appendages, one from each side of its torso. The appendages thrashed around in irritation, capped on the ends with wide flat flanges, like the end of an oar. A horrific sulfurous odor poured off the thing, filling Myshik's nostrils.

"By Maglubiyet's bones!" the half-hobgoblin breathed, stumbling back.

The fiery thing's six heads writhed and roared, and it lunged forward.