Fallen, page 1
Fallen
By Niall Teasdale
Copyright 2021 Niall Teasdale
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Contents
Part One: The Girl from the Sky
Part Two: The Dungeon of Memories
Part Three: Godhome
Part Four: Conflict Resolution for Gods
Epilogue
About the Author
Part One: The Girl from the Sky
Godspire Mountains, 7th of Karntash 362.
Alexander opened his eyes and looked up at the cloudless sky. It was a good morning; nothing had eaten him while he slept. Pushing up onto his elbows, he looked around. Nothing had eaten his horse either. No one had snuck in and taken the probable reason for the lack of predation: the six jet-black dragon scales laid out on either side of him. Dragon scales carried the scent of their owner for some time, and that was likely making other predators stay away. Dragons were the apex predators of apex predators.
Pulling himself up into a sitting position, he contemplated his surroundings. The other reason it was a good morning was the environment he had selected for his night’s rest. On his way down Mount Helgord, he had come across a small lake or large pond, depending upon your viewpoint, which had formed between two ridges in the mountain. It had enough flat land beside it to make sleeping comfortable, and now Alexander was waking up to see the reflection of the huge black mountain in the still surface of the water. The air was clean with just a hint of a chill left over from the night. Behind him, a small stand of trees provided shelter from the wind which he could hear stirring the branches. He would, he decided, appreciate nature for a little longer. He had supplies enough to make himself a decent breakfast before he continued on down.
First things first: he would go down to the water and fill his waterskin. The grass was soft underfoot as he made his way to the water’s edge. There, the lake was shallow, but the way the water shaded, it was likely that it deepened quickly. In the middle it was likely to be very deep, and Alexander was a little wary just in case there was something living in the depths which might consider him a tasty snack. Unlikely, but not entirely impossible. Stretching out, he sank the skin under the surface and watched as bubbles began popping up as the skin filled.
Briefly, he thought something had decided to launch itself from the lake. Water exploded upward in a plume which splashed over Alexander and had him lurching backward, dropping the waterskin in the process. As he flailed backward, his brain caught up and he stopped. The explosion had not been from something coming out of the water; just before it, he had seen something dropping into the lake from above! The something had been pinkish, maybe human, and it had to have fallen from a considerable height to make a splash like that. Hitting water that hard was like hitting rock. If it had been a human, they were likely to be unconscious or–
A head emerged from the water. A woman’s head. A very attractive face with deeply purple eyes and capped off with long purple hair swept over her head to hang on the left. She found her footing and walked up the slope. In so doing she revealed that she had a shapely body to go with the beautiful face, and that she was not wearing a stitch of clothing. Her breasts were big, not huge, but certainly more than a handful, and Alexander had not seen a woman in over a week. He barely noticed that she was holding his waterskin until she held it up and spoke.
‘Is this yours?’ she asked in a clear, resonant voice.
‘I–’
Her hands dropped to her hips and, still knee-deep in the lake, she glared at him. ‘What do you think you’re staring at?’
‘Well, I–’
‘Do you have any idea who I am?’
‘What? No, I–’
Her expression shifted once again, like the wind. Anger vanished to be replaced by mild confusion. ‘Serious question. Do you have any idea who I am? Because I’m drawing a complete blank.’
Alex dragged his eyes away from her breasts and looked her in the eyes. ‘You don’t know who you are?’
‘Who I am, where I am, when I am, or why I’m here. I don’t have the slightest clue.’
‘You, uh, fell out of the sky. Into that lake.’
She looked up, seeing nothing but blue sky and the odd passing cloud. ‘That seems… unlikely. I’d have had to have fallen a really long way. On the other hand, why would you lie?’ Her expression shifted again, her eyes narrowing and her fists moving back to her hips. ‘Unless you’re some sort of pervert who kidnaps women and throws them naked into lakes. You did spend a lot of time staring at my–’
For some reason, Alex found himself on the defensive. He held up his hands, hoping to placate her. ‘I am not a pervert. I’m an adventurer.’
‘I don’t believe the two are mutually exclusive. They may be complementary.’
‘Well, I’m not. I’m Alexander. I’m out here collecting dragon scales.’ He gestured back toward his little camp. ‘I spent the night here and I was just getting some water when you, um, dropped in.’ Pause. ‘And I’m sorry if I offended you, but you are naked.’
‘Huh.’ She walked past him, out of the water and across the grass toward his gear. She did not seem especially bothered about her lack of clothes, now he thought about it. She came to a stop near his bedroll and looked down at the three scales stacked on one side. ‘Huh, dragon scales. Did you actually kill a dragon?’
‘Ha! No. No, I didn’t kill the thing. The scales are constantly renewing. New ones form under old ones until the old ones drop off. You wait for the beast to go hunting, then you slip in and collect the fallen scales from its nest.’
‘Oh. I’m not sure whether I’m impressed or disappointed.’
Alex raised an eyebrow. ‘Only idiots and heroes take on dragons solo.’
She smiled. ‘Yes, well, I haven’t known you that long. You could be either.’
~~~
‘Thanks for the food.’ The woman was now wrapped in a blanket held in place with a couple of lengths of rope. It was not exactly perfect, but it was less distracting. From the way she was eating the jerky and bread, she was really appreciating it. ‘I feel like I haven’t eaten, well, ever.’
‘But you wouldn’t remember the last time you did anyway,’ Alex pointed out.
‘True. So, where are we?’
Alex pointed across the lake. ‘That’s Mount Helgord.’ The blank look she gave him suggested that he should continue. ‘It’s part of the Godspire Mountains. Which are located in the middle of Arubela, the only major landmass in this world of Arubel. If you keep going that way, you’ll eventually get to the tallest of the mountains, the Godspire, which is supposed to be where the gods live. Or maybe that’s where there’s a portal to where they live. Opinions vary.’
‘That sort of rings a bell, though I’m not sure why. You have to have come from somewhere, right? Where did you come from?’
‘Recently or more widely? I’m going back down to a town named Clifftop. That’s where I left to come up here, and where I’ll hand in the scales. It’s basically the hub for adventurers on this side of the mountains. They also work a couple of mines from there. Originally, I’m from Nearwood, a town on the edge of Elwood.’
‘Elwood. That seems like something I should remember too.’ She frowned. ‘This is frustrating. It’s like I can almost remember so much, but I can’t take the last step. Not even knowing my name is really annoying.’
‘I can imagine. I can’t keep calling you, well, you.’
Her frown vanished, replaced by a smile so fast it was amazing her muscles could take the stress. ‘Then give me a name. Make it a good one, I may be stuck with it for a while.’
‘Give you… Okay. Not asking much, but okay… Estaree.’
‘From the folk tale?’
‘Yeah. How did you know about–’
She shook her head. ‘It just came to me when you said the name. Estaree is an elgrin girl who ignores the advice of her parents and sets out alone into the forest. It would translate roughly as “lost little girl.”’
‘Yeah, well, I thought it was about right, and I liked that story when I was a kid.’
‘Okay, I’ll be Estaree. Just so you know, in the original version of that story, the hunting party doesn’t rescue Estaree. All they find is scraps of cloth and gnawed bones. It’s meant to be a cautionary tale.’
‘I didn’t want to know that. So, we’ve established that you know something about elgrin culture and their language. Maybe you’re some sort of scholar.’
The newly named Estaree pursed her lips. ‘I could stand to be a scholar. Uh, I hate to be more of a burden, but could you possibly take me to Clifftop with you?’
Alex heaved a sigh. ‘Well, while I technically have a choice, I’m just not the kind of bastard who leaves a woman stranded up here with nothing to her name.’
‘Good thing for me.’ Pause. ‘So, uh, just to be clear… The blanket and ropes are just on loan?’
~~~
Despite saying she would be fine, there was no way Alex was going to let Estaree walk down the mountain in bare feet. Her common sense left much to be desired it seemed. Less than an hour of walking over rock and pine needles would have left her feet in tatters. So, along with the scales, the horse was carrying Estaree, which meant the going was slower. What had been a one-day journey was likely to become two.
At least he had company. ‘Clifftop is an adventurer town?’ Estaree asked. She had been asking questions all morning. It was probably going to get old eventually, but not yet.
‘Clifftop is a mining town that became a hub for adventurers. The resources we need can’t all be got by digging holes in the mountains. There are some good sources up here, if you’re tough and clever enough to get them.’
‘Right. Miners and adventurers. That sounds rough.’ From the sound of it, rough did not bother her.
‘It has some rough edges, sure. It can get rowdy, but things don’t usually get out of hand.’
‘Right. Exciting. I think it’s exciting. I’ll like Clifftop. I think. I mean, I can’t remember whether I like it rowdy, but that sounds better than boring.’
‘You fell out of the sky into a lake.’
‘Yes. Naked. Which, now I think about it, was probably good. Wet clothes suck. Well, that sounds like it would be really uncomfortable, but I can’t remember wearing wet clothes.’
‘Uh, yeah.’ Keeping up with her took concentration. Her mind seemed to flick between topics on an instant’s notice. Alex was having to remember about three conversation threads at once to keep anything moving. ‘Where was I? You fell out of the sky, which kind of suggests you like excitement. I’d find that exciting. Until I, you know, died on impact. How did you survive that fall?’
‘Haven’t a clue. Of course, I don’t know where I was before I fell. Maybe I was just above where you could see and only fell a short way.’
‘Wouldn’t I have seen where you fell from when I looked up?’
‘Yes? No? Maybe? What if it was invisible? What if an invisible dragon spat me out just above the lake?’
‘I think that’s unlikely. I’m pretty sure I’d have noticed the sound, or the wind from its wings. And why would it spit you out?’
‘I taste bad?’ Estaree raised her right hand and licked the inside of her wrist. Her nose wrinkled. ‘Well, I don’t think I taste good… Not bad enough to spit out either.’
‘I’ve never heard of a dragon spitting food out once it’s got its teeth into something.’
‘Aha! No tooth marks, so it didn’t get its teeth into me.’
‘No tooth marks. No marks of any kind. Not even a bruise.’
Estaree gave a small shrug. ‘I guess I’m resilient. Oh! That’s whitespittle!’ She bounced down off the horse without a thought to her feet and dashed over to a tree growing at the side of the trail they were following. Beneath it, a small white flower was growing close to the wood, as though the stems were coming out of the bark.
‘Whitespittle?’ Alex asked. He stopped the horse and moved over to look down at the spray of flowers. It did kind of look like someone had spat white paint over the bark.
‘The seeds of the whitespittle plant can be used in preparations against respiratory ailments. They’re quite effective. But we won’t be seeing seeds here at this time of year.’
‘Oh. Sounds useful. Do you know how to make any of those preparations?’
‘Um… Yes! I do know. And I know that whitespittle is a true parasite. It burrows its roots into the tree and, given time, it’ll kill its host.’
‘That’s nice, but it means you know herbals. Maybe you’re a herbalist.’
‘A herbalist scholar…’ Estaree mulled that over for a second and then grinned brightly. ‘I could live with that.’
‘Right.’ Her grin was infectious; Alex mirrored it. ‘Back on the horse. We’ll stop for lunch soon. Maybe you can keep an eye out for useful herbs we can harvest. That would give you a bit of money when we get to Clifftop.’
‘Yes, sir!’ Springing to her feet, she bounced over to the patiently waiting horse. ‘Valuable herbs. I’m on it.’
There was the possibility that she was an insane herbalist scholar, but time would have to tell. She was certainly a happy person with knowledge of herbs. A really happy person. Really, really happy…
~~~
They stopped to camp just before sunset. Since there were two of them, Alex decided to set a watch rather than relying on the dragon scales to keep monsters away. So, after they had eaten and Estaree had asked a few more questions about the world she had forgotten, Alex told her to get some sleep and said he would wake her when it was time to take her watch.
In truth, he planned to take the bulk of the night himself and then grab enough sleep to be functional before dawn. It was not that he distrusted her, but he did not know her and could not be sure of her ability to stay awake. It would probably not matter, what with the scales and everything, but it was a factor. If they were bothering to stand watch, they might as well do it properly. Plus, he suspected she would be embarrassed if given a responsibility she was not able to handle.
So, it came as something of a surprise when she opened her eyes before midnight, sat up, and looked around. ‘I’m awake.’
‘You are,’ Alex said. He was on the other side of the campfire from her and trying to ignore the fact that her blanket was now around her waist. The woman had absolutely no sense of modesty. ‘Go back to sleep. There’s still at least a couple of hours before I need to wake you.’
‘No,’ Estaree said, a little puzzled. ‘I mean, I’m awake. I’m wide awake. I feel like I’ve had a full night’s sleep and I don’t need to sleep any more. You go to sleep. Do you want the blanket?’
‘Uh, that blanket is all you have to wear. I’ll be fine. It’s not that cold.’ There was another factor: blankets were generally of less use to Alex than to most people. He was a tall man. Very tall, in fact. Estaree was tall for a woman, but she was a good five inches shorter than Alex. His work had given him a solid body, well-muscled and fit. He was attractive, if you liked fit, well-muscled, and tall, which a lot of women in this day and age did, but there was something a little sad about the set of his features. His lips were not thin, but they did tend to turn down at the corners, and his blue eyes were a little narrow, also turning down at the outer edge. He had a fairly straight nose, a strong jawline which was covered in a thin beard, and black hair down past the nape of his neck. While many women might have found him attractive, Estaree seemed not to have noticed. ‘You can’t have had much more than four hours’ sleep.’
‘If you say so.’
‘People need more sleep than that.’
‘Probably. You seemed to think so earlier. You were going to let me sleep and then tough it out tomorrow, weren’t you?’
Alex avoided her eyes. ‘I might have let you sleep a little longer than I was going to get.’
‘Well, now you don’t have to. Sleep well, Alex.’
Shaking his head, Alex put his head down on one of his packs. It was not really comfortable, but it was better than nothing. ‘You’re something else, Estaree,’ he said before he closed his eyes.
‘Maybe. I just wish I knew what.’
‘You’ll remember.’ The pack he was lying on was stuffed with various herbs she had identified and harvested on the way down that afternoon. Her knowledge was practically encyclopaedic. ‘You remember the herbs. You’ll remember who you really are too.’
‘Mm. I’m sure you’re right. I’ll remember. If I’m lucky, I won’t regret it once I do.’
8th of Karntash.
‘What day is it?’ Estaree asked as they continued their trek. The incline was getting shallower in general. It had been a bit up and down the previous day, but it was definitely more down now. They were entering the outer edges of the range where Clifftop was located.
‘Uh, it’s about the eighth day of Karntash in the three hundred and sixty-second year after the empire collapsed.’
‘Which empire?’
‘The Holy Empire. Founded by the Twelve Gods.’
‘I’d say “which twelve gods,” but I think I’d prefer to leave religion out of it. Karntash, Karntash. Karntash is the god of the hunt.’
‘Right. Twelve gods, twelve months. And eight old gods giving us eight days in the week. The Twelve decided to commemorate the old founders of the world, even if they were supplanted by the younger gods. So, today is Mysara, yesterday was Ganmetra, and tomorrow will be Nabariel.’
