Amazonia - Taking Tesiphon

When I was a slave in the Empire of the East, Redfruit was one of the treats Lord Paulus used when he’d wanted to reward us. The flesh is both sweet and tart, but you had to be careful not to bite down on the seed, or you might crack a tooth.

We’d swept through the Sasnayam lands and consumed them, leaving towns and villages burning in our wake as the White Horde and its allies moved on. Over and over, the local lords would send out ill-trained armies to confront us, and each time we routed them off the battlefield, enslaving the ones deemed useful. The rest of the prisoners were put to death.

But now we had reached Tesiphon. The walls weren’t as high or as thick as the walls of Konstanopolis, nor did they have the defensive ballistas and catapults my old city had. Regardless, this was going to be a hard seed to break.

Especially since Timur was out of his depth. I was with him when we rode to the top of a hill, some leagues away from the city, and looked down upon Tesiphon in the cold morning light. He’d shaken his head in disbelief. “How in Tengri’s name do we take this vast fortress?”

Kax, who had also been with us, smiled. “The same way you would eat an elephant, great Khan: one bite at a time. Give me command of the siege, and we shall begin the feast.” Timur had agreed, and Kax had taken charge of the infantry and the auxiliary soldiers, encircling the city so no one could easily get in or out, then had them build rams and scaling towers high enough to get men over the walls. Those who weren’t building siege engines I continued to train, so we’d be ready when the time came.

Except now, Kax didn’t think an assault would succeed. “This is going to be a hard fight,” she’d said at a meeting of the commanders, several nights ago, “and even with Amazonia’s training, I am afraid the soldiers recruited from the satrapies will break when the fighting gets fierce.”

Khan Timur had given her a harsh look. “I will not expend my soldiers on the assault. We’ve lost too many as it is, and my brother’s been slow to send replacements.”

“Great Khan,” Battle Commander Kula growled, “his reasons are valid. The northern Horde tribes have flocked to your younger brother’s banner, and are launching raids-”

“I know all that,” Timur snapped. “Why do you think I’m adamant about not sending our warriors to man the siege towers? The city’s granaries are full, meaning we will starve before they do, and my spies in Tesiphon tell me the cowardly Sasnayam emperor has actually sent an embassy to the Empire of the East, asking for help in exchange for concessions. We risk being caught between the hammer and the anvil if they send an army. No, we need to assault the city now, and unless you’ve got a better idea, we’re going to do it with the allied soldiers whether they’re ready or not.”

“Actually,” Kax said, “I do have a better idea.”

Kax looked at me and I knew exactly what she wanted. “You want the Shadow Knight to command the dead to assault the city.”

“We have no dead she can command,” Lys said, crossing her stick-thin arms across her chest. “At Khan Timur’s order, we stopped raising corpses weeks ago. It would take time to get an army in place.”

Kax had smiled. “There is already an army in place inside the walls of Tesiphon. In the center of the city stands an enormous dead, grey tree, with ruined walls surrounding it. Instead of shunning the place, the founders of Tesiphon incorporated it into their religion, and built a necropolis around it. All of the city’s dead, from the great nobles and kings, down to the lowest peasant, are buried there.”

Lys put her hands on her narrow hips. “That is all well and good, but Cermet and I have to touch a corpse, or a group of corpses touching each other, to raise them.”

“What if all the corpses were touching each other?” Lys gave her a puzzled look, and Kax added, “The dead of Tesiphon are laid reverently into pits, stacked much like wooden logs with corpse-lime spread over the bodies.” I really didn’t care what happened to my body after I died, but many of the others did, for their expressions became horrified. Kax had shrugged. “To the Sasnayams, it is far more important that their ancestors are buried in the necropolis than how they are laid out. Once the bodies are stacked level with the ground, the slaves lay down a layer of dirt and extend the pit.” She’d leaned forward. “This has been going on for centuries.”

Lys’ face took on a hungry look. “How enormous is this grey tree?”

“The size of a great-grandfather oak.”

The Shadow Fae’s gaze had grown distant, as if she’d begun calculating something in her head. “Cermet worked out a way of channeling power from the trees, with her acting as the conduit to me.” Her gaze turned sharp as she looked at Timur. “Depending on how many of the dead are raised, I am going to be useless to you for a long time afterwards.”

Timur’s expression had echoed Lys’ hunger. “See this done, and I will see you set up in the grandest house we can find, with guards keeping you safe.” He’d turned towards me. “Az-”

I’d held up my hand before he could go on. “My Khan, taking Tesiphon means breaking the back of the Sasnayam empire.”

He’d nodded. “Which means the end of your mission, and freedom for you and your Wardogs.”

“Just so. Great Khan, if it means transforming into the Shadow Knight one final time to bring us victory, then I’ll do it with a glad heart.”

Timur had stroked his beard. “Once the Runesword shatters and you’re free, perhaps I can get you to renew your pledge to me.”

I’d given him a friendly grin. “Only if we renegotiate the terms… and I plan to strike a hard bargain.”

He barked out a laugh. “That’s the Az I know,” he’d said, slapping the table open-handed. “Done.”

There were rumbles of laughter around the table, but Battle-Commander Kula had remained serious. “This is all well and good, but how in Tengri’s name are you going to get into the city, let alone into this necropolis?”

Kax’s smile had dripped with smugness. “Leave the details to me.

* * * * *

The heat of the day was gone with the sun, and dawn several hours away, the time of night when a city grows quiet, and restless soldiers fall back into slumber. Standing in the courtyard of a caravansary just outside Tesiphon’s walls, the cold stars stared unblinking as Cermet the minor lich, Lys, riding on Karl’s shoulder as usual, and I, watched Kax as she confered with five swarthy men wearing black, loose fitting clothes. She nodded as one of the men finished speaking and turned towards us. “The way into the city is prepared. My loyal servants,” her hand motioning toward the men, “have replaced the guards with their own men, so we should be able to reach the necropolis without incident.”

Lys looked as skeptical as I felt. “Tesiphon is a big city. They cannot have replaced them everywhere.”

Kax only smiled. “Follow me.” She spoke a word to the men and they forged ahead, leading us through the stables and into one of the store rooms. The chamber, filled with canvas bags and crates, had another wooden door on the opposite side, bound with black iron and thick bolts. Metal squealed as one of them drew the bolt back and opened the door.

A set of stone stairs led down into darkness. Each swarthy man picked up an unlit torch as Kax cupped her hands, producing a finger tall tongue of flame, and each one lit his torch off the fire. As the last one's torch ignited, Kax opened her hands and the fire vanished as three of the men started down the stairs. The other two beckon for us to go ahead of them. Drawing the Runesword, I followed Kax down the stairs with the others at my heels.

The air was musty as we marched along the passage, continuing for a time until we reach a red door set into stone. “We are directly underneath Tesiphon’s walls,” Kax said as the leading man knocked on the door with a distinctive series of raps. The door squealed opens to a half dozen soldiers with spears, all pointed at us, and I gripped the hilt tight as the leading man spoke in their tongue.

All six soldiers went down to one knee and gave a response with Kax’s name at the end. I relaxed as they moved to let us pass, the door closing behind us with the echo of iron bolts being thrown. Kax said, “This passage splits into several different tunnels, all of them guarded on the opposite ends with traps and fierce manikin guards that never sleep. Only the way to the necropolis is left unguarded.”

Karl snorted. “That doesn’t seem smart.”

She glanced over her shoulder a moment. “That passage ends in the shadow of the great, dead tree. Normally, there is at least one Shadow creature keeping watch, and sometimes several, so anyone foolish enough to enter through that opening risks being attacked in the twilight area between the real world and the Shadowlands.”

“And exactly how are we supposed to get past them?” Lys asked in a sharp voice.

“Almost all of the time, the Shadow creature is a Night Hag,” Kax answered, sounding amused, “and with you and Cermet both being necromancers-”

“The Night Hags will leave us alone. But a Shadow Raptor or other creature will not.”

“I am a Celestial,” Kax replied, the amusement leaving her voice, “and I expect Amazonia to become the Shadow Knight before we reach the surface. If we are attacked, both of us together should be able to drive the creature away.” She glanced back at me. “Just be careful to not touch the tree itself.”

“My blade only goes where I want it to,” I said as the passage opened into a chamber. Half dozen different tunnels led off it, but the swarthy men headed straight towards one in the middle.

The opening was outlined with grinning skulls. “Not exactly subtle,” Karl said as we passed through the opening and continued on. “Why have a opening in the necropolis anyway?”

“For reasons of safety,” Kax replied, “the Imperial Palace has none. Yet, at times we need to leave the palace without it becoming general knowledge, and the grand tombs of the elite in the necropolis sit right beside the palace walls.” She chuckled. “We would pretend to consult with our sacred ancestors and not return right away.”

We continued on, the torchlight casting dancing shadows as we passed occasional skulls set into the walls, until a set of stone stairs leading upward appeared before us. Kax spoke a word and the swarthy men in front stopped. “Amazonia, it is time.”

I took a deep breath. Brace up, Az; you knew you weren’t going to get out of this mess that easy. Do this, and when Timur’s got Tesiphon, Antonius will shatter the sword and it’ll be over. His gentle touch swept over me. Then, everything shifted, and I screamed as my skin turned grey and my flesh contracts. Stop, I can’t do this, I can’t… it’s killing me, it’s killing me, it’s…

Set me free! I laughed as I stretched muscles like bands of steel, finally back to the way I was supposed to be. The way I should’ve never given up. The others all shrank away, though they tried to hide it as I grinned at Kax. “Long past time. Let me take the lead, and I’ll see what’s waiting for us.”

Kax spoke to one of the men, and he handed me his torch as Kax said in a sharp voice, “Do not attack unless they attack you first. I need you to command the dead once Lys and Cermet have raised them.”

Holding my Runesword in one hand, I touched my forehead with the forefinger of my other and started up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Behind me, footsteps began echoing off the walls as I continued to climb.

I reached the top of the stairs and stepped out onto a stone platform. Before me stood the largest grey tree I’d ever seen, its dead branches filling the sky and blocking the light of the stars, though the city around us did provide some light. A Night Hag and a Shadow Raptor stood together at the base, and I tossed the torch aside as I gripped the Runesword with both hands.

They weren’t moving. Kax reached the platform and stopped beside me as I cocked my head, trying to puzzle out their strange behavior as she asked, “Why are they not attacking?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. Wait.” Moving fast as thought, the Night Hag began breaking branches, which I knew were tendrils of the Grey, off the tree and formed words in Greco-Roma. They hung in the air like floating runes. 'A Favor for a Favor, Amazonia'.

I stiffened as Kax gave me a sharp look. “They know you.”

“Indeed. Lys,” I said as I glanced over my shoulder, “you and Cermet have nothing to fear from Shadow creatures tonight. These are… friends of my weaker self, when she died and entered the Shadowlands.”

I looked forward again as Kax frowned. “What favor do they want from you?”

My gaze didn’t leave them as I grounded the tip of my blade on the rough stone. “Before Ghostdog stole me away from the Shadowlands, I was supposed to kill his son.” I shrugged, bowing to both Shadow creatures to show them my acceptance as I added, “I’m sure they haven’t forgotten.”

They both bowed back as the others joined us. Karl gave me an incredulous look. “Greywolf helped rescue you, yet you have no problem killing him?”

I shrugged again. “Lys, go ahead and get set up. Kax, I’m limited as to how many Shamblers I can command as a unit.”

Lys spoke to Cermet, who nodded and walked towards the massive grey tree as Kax replied, “All I need you to do is get them moving towards their old homes once they have climbed out of the pit. Once the people realize the dead are rising, I expect either a mass exodus out of Tesiphon, or a massacre. Either way, the city will be weakened enough to fall.”

“Kax,” Lys said as Karl climbed onto a low wall to my right and stood up, “where’s a good place to make contact?”

The Night Hag and Shadow Raptor moved back a few paces from the dead tree as Cermet got close, and I joined Kax as we climbed up on the wall next to Karl. The necropolis was like a city within Tesiphon, with tombs off to the left, larger and more elaborate the farther away they went from the broken ground off to the right. A wall enclosed the entire area, with a complex of buildings, all of them domed with spires, straight ahead of us. Glancing at Lys, Kax pointed at a spot almost at our feet. “Will that work?”

Several horse-lengths down the slight hill from the wall was a pit, with the bodies inside covered in a greenish-white powder. Karl grunted. “Isn’t that a little close to the tree?”

“The city is running out of room.” Kax’s arm swept outward towards the bumpy field of earth extending to the stone walls. “When the necropolis was built, the people’s ancestors buried their dead as far away from the tree as they could. But as the centuries went on, the burials crept closer and closer, until the dead began being laid within the tree’s twilight space.” She shrugged again. “No one likes it, but if they want their dead buried inside the necropolis, they have no choice.”

From where I stood, the uncovered dead were stacked in a pile ten by ten, almost reaching level with the ground, and were clearly touching the bodies covered over by earth. Lys’ expression became one of joyous wonder. “So many. Cermet,” she called out as she looked over her shoulder, “can we do this without destroying ourselves?”

“Channeling so much Shadow mana will takes its toll,” Cermet replied in the language of the dead. “However, I will absorb as much of the ill effects as I can, so you will only be badly weakened for a time.” Wonder on Lys' face became horror as she back-flipped off Karl’s shoulder, but she stopped as Cermet raised a hand, palm out. “Knowing that those who betrayed us and forced me to become as I am, will be brought down, makes this a price I am eager to pay.”

Lys strode over to the minor Lich, who knelt down, the two of them speaking quietly for a moment. They finished, and Cermet took up a position near the tree as Lys returned, wiping at her eyes with the heels of her hands. I frowned as she leapt up onto the wall. “Did you get dust in your eyes?”

She gave me a dark look and jumped down, Karl using an arm to get down himself as well while she strode over to the pit and hopped onto a corpse’s chest. “Karl, no matter what happens, do not touch me until the nimbus of energy around us goes out. I will not lose you too.”

“Just don’t push yourself too far,” Karl said as he reached the spot where Lys jumped down.

“Why, scared I might get myself killed and come back as a Lich?” Lys turned towards him a moment and looked up with her hands on her hips. “Where’s your sense of adventure?” Karl began clucking like a chicken, which made absolutely no sense to me but must have to Lys, because she laughed and knelt down with her tiny hands on the dead man’s forehead. “Cermet,” she called out, “it’s time.”

Cermet faced the tree and put out her decayed hands as close to the trunk as possible without touching it. Several moments passed.

Then a halo of grey light formed around her as black lightning arced from her to Lys, forming a nimbus of black energy around Lys’ head and extending into her hands. I couldn’t tell, but Shadow mana had to be flowing through her into the bodies, because the corpses in the pile she knelt on began to twitch. They continued this way, the Shadow mana continuing to flow between them and the dead as the corpses became more animated.

Kax grabbed my arm and I looked back to where she pointed with the other. Cermet’s eyes were gone, tongues of black fire spewing out of empty eye sockets while her skin blackens. Yet the grey halo and black lightning continued, Cermet’s skin charring as her body shook.

Then Cermet’s body collapsed in on itself as both the grey halo and black lightning winked out. Karl yelled and jumped down into the pit, scrambling up a moment later with Lys cradled in one arm. He ran up the hill towards us, Kax holding out an hand which he grasped as she helped him up onto the low wall. “Karl, how is she?”

“I don’t know,” he replied in a voice strained with worry. “She’s breathing, but I’ve never seen her go unconscious like this.” He shifted her small body so its pressed against his. “I hope this was worth it.”

“Oh, it was,” I replied, giving him the rictus of my smile as my arm swept out ward. “See for yourself.” Karl turned around and his eyes widened.

All throughout the open fields of the necropolis, hands were breaking through the ground as the dead began clawing their way free. “Wotan’s blood,” Karl breathed. “I’ve never seen anything so terrifying in all my life.”

“Exhilarating is more like it.” Kax grinned like a cat with a bird under her paw. “Amazonia, you do not need to control them, just turn them loose the same way you did when we sacked Amul. By midday, the city will be begging Timur to save it, and my vengeance upon Tesiphon’s elite can begin.” She gave me a sharp look. “How long will these Shamblers last before the Shadow mana runs out?”

“Long enough for my vengeance to be complete,” a familiar woman’s voice said from behind us. We whirled around. Standing beside the enormous dead tree was the priestess Akbal, who I now knew to be the Lich Tanit, with a dozen or so dead men around her. Their clothing was rotted, yet once it had been richly made, and the skin of their faces had been preserved by embalming so the cheeks of several were sunken, yet not decayed.

The five men in black had dropped to their knees, their foreheads pressed against the dirt in front of her best preserved corpse, as Kax snarled, “What do you think you are doing?”

“Taking advantage of the marvelous gift you have given me,” Tanit replied in a mocking voice. She shook her head. “Child, you are so predictable. After I helped Cermet 'discover' the art of channeling Shadow mana from one necromancer to another, I knew you would attempt to recreate the chaos caused in Amul by the risen dead.” With one hand she motioned towards the fields behind us. “I truly am impressed by what Lys has done. Once you are dead, and that freak beside you cast into the Shadowlands for good, Lys will help me transform Tesiphon into the city of the dead it should have become all along.”

“You’re wrong,” Karl growled, his hand on his sword hilt. “Lys will kill you once she wakes up.”

Tanit's smile was evil incarnate. “Your Lys will wake up as a Lich under my command, unable to do anything except what I want her to do.”

“Since we are speaking of command,” I said before she could go on, “you’re going to have an impossible time trying to get all the dead in Tesiphon to do anything more than shamble around, if that much.”

She turned her evil smile on me. “How little you understand the Necromantic arts. These corpses,” her hand motioning towards the dozen dead men, “were once the kings and emperors of Sasnayam. By tradition, all those permitted to be buried here were loyal to one or more of them in life, and remain loyal to their ruler in death. Together, we will round up all the mana users and convert them to my cause while the rest kill the inhabitants of the city. Timur will not dare make an assault upon the walls once he realizes the city has turned, but will slink away with his tail between his legs and wait for my legions to bring him down.”

I raised the Runesword. “Not if I bring you down first.”

Kax gripped my shoulder and held me fast as Tanit placed her hand a finger’s breadth from the tree. “The moment you leap down, I will use the power of the Grey to pull all of you into the Shadowlands.”

Kax held onto me as she spat out, “Are you not forgetting the two Shadow creatures waiting patiently for you to do just that?”

Tanit’s evil smile returned. “Of course not. I am counting on them to go after you once I have pulled you in. Child, as a Lich, I have some power over the Shadowlands, as well as respect from the Night Hags who were once as I am now. Or why do you think they are leaving me alone?”

I shook Kax’s hand off my shoulder but remained where I was. “What are you waiting for? Touch the tree and get it over with.”

“Kax,” Tanit said, ignoring me, “I am giving you one chance to join me. Change yourself over to Yun, your other, milder self, and let me convert you over to my side as a Lich. Once you become as I am, everything will be made clear as a still pond.”

Kax snorted. “I daresay. No, I would rather be a ghost in the Grey than serve you as a necromancer.”

On the other side, the Night Hag raised her hand in a similar manner as Tanit’s as the Lich sighed. “What a waste of potential. On your head be it, then.” Tanit tensed as she flexed her fingers so her palm was laying flat.

Faster than thought, the Night Hag touched the tree and its branches all whipped down, wrapping Tanit in their embrace. As they pulled her up towards the maw forming in the side of the tree, her feet kicked wildly before Tanit vanished inside. The branches resumed their normal positions as the maw reopened and spat something out onto the ground.

A newly formed Night Hag looked around with an expression of total bewilderment… changing to wonder, as she saw the Shadowlands like my weaker self once saw them: a paradise. The Shadow Raptor… Wind Dancer, it has to be, waddled over and folded her wings around the new Night Hag as the old one… Mother Vexx, I’m sure, moved away from the tree.

I sheathed the Runesword and waved at the others to remain where they were, before jumping down off the low stone wall. Both of us stopped a few paces away from each other as Mother Vexx formed words like grey runes. A favor for a favor. Amazonia, we want you back.

I gave her a quick head shake and motioned with one hand at the sheathed Runesword. The runes reformed. We understand that the sword will not let you. But once your mission is over and the Runesword shatters, before your Shadow self is drawn out of your body, cling to your mortal form as you take a shard and cut your own throat. You will be pulled into the Grey as you die, then reborn exactly the same way you were when you came to us.

In the blink of an eye her clawed finger pointed straight at my face as she changed the runes with her other. Whatever you do, remain a Shadow Knight and do not transform back. Even if the Runesword refuses to let you go, your body cannot remain in its Shadowed state forever, and will eventually die. You win in either event. However, once you transform back, the sword will refuse to let you become a Shadow Knight ever again, and you will be lost to us. We love you, Amazonia. Come home.

Home. It had no meaning to me… and yet, my weaker self was the happiest she’d ever been there. Interesting thought. Pointing up at the last two words, I nodded to show Mother Vexx I understood, and she gave me back a horrible smile which I returned. Then she turned around, back with the new Night Hag between one heart’s beat and the next, and a moment later all three rapidly moved away and vanished.

I turned around, laughing as an idea came to mind. “Kax, I might not be able to command everyone, but I can certainly command a dozen dead rulers.”

Kax slowly began to nod. “Who have the loyalty of everyone else. Go ahead, and have them begin assembling their,” her voice mocking, “loyal subjects, near the openings.” Her expression grew fierce. “The dead come with the dawn!”

“What about that whole business of you committing suicide,” Karl said. “That isn’t what you want.”

“That’s not what my weaker self wants,” I replied. “I want to continue as I am, free of Timur or anyone else’s commands, killing as many enemies as possible. I don’t know what happens to my Shadow Knight self once I’m drawn back into the Grey, and I don’t plan on finding out.”

Karl held onto Lys protectively as he drew himself up. “For the real Amazonia’s sake, I plan to stop you from hurting her.”

I gave Karl my rictus of a smile. “You’re welcome to try. For what it’s worth, I know you think you’re doing the right thing, which is one of the reasons I don’t plan to hurt you in return. But you’re going to discover that there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” My expression grew as fierce as Kax’s. “Amazonia must die.”