Legend of Axiatés Episode 4 Read online

being you can remain on my carriage,’ said Dulcan.

  Axiatés shook her head. ‘There is an errand I need to see to in Tulan.’

  Dulcan raised his eyebrow questioningly, but before he could protest the Mesauwee man called him from the outside. ‘What is it now?’ he murmured impatiently, exiting by the door as one should.

  When Dulcan exited the coach, Delegan asked: ‘How did you summon this man?’

  ‘Money,’ said Axiatés as though it was very obvious.

  ‘He is not just some mercenary your Excellency. He is a brother of the Aeyog!’

  ‘He does not observe their belief.’

  ‘He will if it suits him!’ Delegan thought he didn't need to explain exactly what the Aeyog believed about women with power, even though he felt like if he reiterated it to Axiatés she might rethink the entire idea.

  ‘Are you worried about me Delegan?’ asked Axiatés.

  Delegan sat back. ‘I'm worried about myself,’ he said unconvincingly, but which was not entirely untrue of course. Since the Goddess had burnt the cancer from his body he felt resurgent in both mind and body, and there was maybe just a hint of true self-preservation returning to his priorities.

  Dulcan came back into the carriage, slamming the carriage door behind with unnecessary force, and Axiatés said to Delegan in the elder tongue: ‘Daea ma kilan iel thelstra vols nattuwera oel res mael loyeri.’

  Put your trust in me, and I will safely take you to the stars.

  Delegan shuddered. It wasn't her own words even though she had said it to reassure him specifically. Stars in the old sense was a metaphor for end destination, but whether it was meant as a destination somewhere on Ellion or a destination in the next life was not specified.

  Dulcan again raised that dark thick eyebrow of his; making the conclusion that Delegan understood what the Goddess had said just now.

  ‘My sister and I had a secret language, one we spoke in front of my father when wanted to discuss things not meant for his ears. Very useful. I still use a secret language to this day. I must admit that being on the receiving of such an exchange is not the most pleasant of experiences, being naturally curious as I am.’

  ‘Concern yourself not Dulcan. My subject and I are talking of trivial things, and I need to brush up on my knowledge of the elder tongue.’

  ‘That is a dead language and of no use. Are you still making a study of a cults old one?’ asked Dulcan.

  Delegan shook his head. ‘I'm afraid after learning too much about the cults I have realized that the balance of my life is better spent studying something else.’

  ‘A pity then, I appreciated the notoriety you brought my brothers.’

  ‘You did not need me to gain notoriety,’ said Delegan.

  Dulcan did not respond to that.

  ‘And why are you so quiet?’ said Dulcan, directing his question at Libras.

  ‘The commander here is going through a hard time. He lost most of his men, and is struggling to make peace with the fact that he had traitors under his command,’ answered Axiatés.

  Dulcan outright laughed. ‘You see Delegan, you don't trust me, but the very escort Sepulchra gave the Goddess was as corrupt as I know all government militaries to be.’

  ‘Those men were exceptions,’ uttered Libras. ‘They were not men of the Sepulchra way.’

  ‘At ease commander. I meant no offence.’

  ‘I have no doubt that it is your kind, one cult or another, that have infiltrated and commanded the Sepulchra to harm the Goddess,’ said Delegan pointedly.

  Dulcan shrugged. ‘Not that the cults see eye to eye old one. The motives of one cult is often directly opposite of the others.’

  On that note, the Mesauwee got the horses moving, cracking his whip and the Madura sounding loudly in response, their whinnies crashing over one another. As though it had been but a brief protest, the carriage pulled away with a force that certainly inspired the term horsepower in earlier years.

  It took Delegan some time to get used to the incredible pounding the four horses inflicted on the road. That said, the ride was remarkably smooth and the carriage was probably one of the best of its kind, a luxury vehicle in so many words, more evidently so as Dulcan did not wait long to open a fully stocked mini fridge hidden behind one of the surrounding cabinets. After offering everyone a can of ready-mix vodka and lime - which everyone declined - he cracked one open himself, drinking it in one long draught. Though everyone was thinking it, no one asked the obvious "isn't it a bit early to start drinking?" question.

  Deciding to ignore the antics of Dulcan, Delegan was just starting to wonder where they were going to sleep. He had no doubt that he and the Commander would not be provided for, but surely the Goddess was not going to be alright just sleeping on the carriage benches?

  There was one thing that Delegan was not uncertain off, and that was why they were riding in this kind of vehicle at this day and age.

  Cars were plentiful, or at least they would've been had technology not fallen prey to such a strange turn of events. Fossil fuels had provided the backbone of vehicles of all kinds for such a long time. There were growing concerns about pollution the world over and alternative means did not make the inroads required to displace fossil fuels entirely as a chief means of energy production. Still, the transition from internal combustion engines to batteries within cars slowly became more and more prevalent, until the fuel burning engines started falling away completely.

  Then came the Goddess in her 26th incarnation, Axiatés. Of all her powers (of which there were truly many) the ability to create suns was at the forefront of technological development.

  They were saying that the Goddess was going to create a second sun for the earth, but the truth was that she had created many suns for the earth since the dawn of the original. The only difference now was that she was going to try and create a sun big enough to replace the one in the sky and therein lied all the complications and intrigue of their current day and age.

  The smaller suns, sometimes no larger than a football, were to be found in all kinds of power stations and the greater ships and aircraft that roamed the seas and skies of Ellion. They simply suspended these smaller suns in electromagnetic fields, leaving it hanging away from anything and everything. From thereon they could be used to generate huge amount of energy, put either to immediate use or stored away.

  Philosophers oriented toward futurism Delegan had known through the years had always wondered how humanity would react if they came across a technological advancement that was not quite their own doing, proposing that mankind would not necessarily be ready for such an advent. They were right; and so the suns of the Goddess had not come without consequence.

  The smaller ones, just like the big one in the sky, gave off waves of radiation and electromagnetic pulses. The latter was very much like the equivalent of a solar flare in that it wipes out all kinds of electronics. There was one little problem with batteries and anything electrical in that the two had become somewhat inseparable in the last few decades except for the few rudimentary technologies that could still use batteries without any computerized components. It was too expensive to try and shield a car for your everyday consumer, meaning automobiles other than those still operating on fossil fuels and non-computerized components were largely hampered. It was not just cars that felt the wrath of the suns.

  It was quite ironic to think that one of the greatest advancements of mankind was also wreaking serious havoc on their systems, essentially having mankind oscillating through a motley of technologies ranging from the dark ages, space age and advanced robotics every now and then.

  In the modern world, the aircraft and ships were big enough to accommodate precautionary measures to house a small sun, and the trains could be powered on electric rails that were shielded to large degrees. The car industry however was often struggling to get back its former glory outside of the richer areas of Doma Arak. The Tulan deserts were rife with sun-driven power stations and e
ven made deliberate use of the EMP's to ward off unfriendly targets that might be passing through with any vehicle using electronics. So with no train passing their immediate vicinity, they were confined to using a carriage pulled by four horses that could've come galloping out of hell itself.

  Delegan watched through the window as the morning sun slowly crested the horizon. He looked at the Goddess and thought about the impossibility of the task she had undertaken. Sometimes she looks little more than a girl, but when the time comes, she is going to put a star in the sky enormous beyond human reckoning and save every wretch that walks the face of Ellion.

  Later in the day Dulcan pulled out an electronic tablet, tapping the screen with his meaty fingers until he found what he was looking for.

  ‘We're moving at fifty-one miles an hour. Not bad. The Mesauwee lad did not overstate the speed of these creatures.’

  ‘We'll go much slower once we are in the desert,’ commented the Goddess.

  ‘That you are, but it will be mostly because I won't take you all the way through Tulan, my Lady. When the time comes, if you do not agree to our route along the northern border, I will leave you at a certain point. These steeds are not camels and the sheer weight of this carriage was never made for any desert. Most important of all, I won't be caught dead in the heartland of Tulan. Too many interesting foemen that I would like to avoid. ’

  ‘And I