Seeds of Rebellion (16 page)

“I broke out of Harthenham, was taken before Maldor, escaped Felrook, and returned to the Beyond. But I’m back. I learned some vital information that needs to be shared, and I left a friend behind in Lyrian.”

Aram shook his head, then looked to his mother. “This is absurd. What do we do?”

His mother raised her eyebrows. “Have you any evidence to prove your story?”

“What’s your name?” Jason asked.

“Moira.”

“Nice to meet you, Moira. I’m still dressed in clothes from the Beyond. See my boots? My pants? Have you ever seen clothes quite like them?”

“No,” Moira said. “Go on.”

“I can tell you details,” Jason said. “I can talk about the gong that grants audience with Maldor, or the inside of the lorevault at Trensicourt, or what a mangler looks like after you blast it with orantium.”

“How about the signet ring to Caberton?” Aram asked, holding out a hand.

“I don’t have it. I left it with a seedman before I entered Felrook. But the ring has a gem in it that glows when a certain chime is rung.”

“You mentioned orantium,” Aram pursued. “I don’t suppose you have any samples?”

“I used what I had blowing up a mangler.” He cupped his hand, fingers curling as if holding an invisible ball. “But the crystal sphere was about this big. The little mineral inside glows intensely for an instant before exploding.”

“Have you any physical evidence besides odd clothes?” Moira asked.

“When Tark and I escaped from Harthenham, he snatched some jewels.” Jason pulled the drawstring bag from his pocket.

“Tark was in Harthenham?” Aram asked.

“Long story,” Jason said. “But that was where we sealed our friendship. He gave me these to help me hire you.” Jason dumped the contents of the bag on a nearby end table. Aram and Moira gasped. Even Jason was impressed. He hadn’t laid them all out in the open before—diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and other precious stones, all cut to glittering perfection.

Aram picked up a red jewel, a green jewel, and a purple one, eyeing them closely. “These are real. This is a fortune.” He sounded amazed. “These are meant to hire my services?”

“At least some of them,” Jason said. “You seemed to think I was here to blackmail you. It’s the opposite. I’m on the run, Aram. I’m in over my head. I’ve told you enough that I’m at your mercy. I’m trusting you, because Tark told me I should. I only know you have a connection to the giants in the woods because of how you reacted when I teased you.”

Aram set down the jewels. “What’s to stop me from killing you and then keeping the gemstones?”

“Aram!” his mother exclaimed.

He held out a hand to silence her.

Jason scooted forward in his seat. “Nothing. Except that a lurker followed me here, and people have seen you with me. I know some important secrets, Aram, and Maldor knows I know them.”

Aram grunted. “Then you have already brought ruin upon us. What are the secrets?”

“You’ll be safer if I keep them to myself,” Jason said.

“Mother, step outside the room for a moment?”

“Aram, I deserve to—”

“Mother, just for a moment. If we end up in custody, you may not want these secrets in your mind.”

“Neither will—”

Aram held up a hand. “Enough. Please, just for a moment.”

She got up and walked out of the room. Aram fixed Jason with a brooding gaze. He spoke softly. “If the emperor traces you here, I’ll get treated like you told me whether I know your secrets or not. I want to know how dangerous your knowledge is.”

“Fine,” Jason said. “Have you ever heard of an Edomic key word that can destroy Maldor?”

“Vague rumors,” Aram said. “I never investigated the claim.”

“I learned the Word,” Jason said. “I had help from Galloran and a few others. The syllables were scattered all over Lyrian. I said the Word to Maldor, and it didn’t work. I learned that the Word was actually an elaborate fraud meant to sidetrack his worst enemies. I need to share what I learned with those who helped me, so others don’t waste their time.”

Aram shifted uncomfortably. “You swear this is true?”

Jason crossed his heart with his finger. “I’m probably the most wanted person in Lyrian.”

Aram bowed his head. After a moment he looked up. “You have really met Galloran? The true heir to Trensicourt? You know where to find him?”

“I’m going to Potsug to meet up with him and Tark. And to find my friend, another Beyonder who got left behind when I went home.”

“Mother?” Aram called.

A moment later she returned. “You’re running out of time,” she told him.

“I know. If the secret he shared is authentic, it could not be more deadly. Among other things, our guest may truly have been consorting with Galloran.”

“Do you believe him?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I’m afraid I might. Could you finish the conversation?”

Moira nodded, taking a seat while Aram arose and then hurried from the room.

“Do you intend us any harm?” Moira asked Jason, her eyes intense.

“No. I mean, harm might follow me here, but I’m not your enemy.”

The little woman exhaled and rubbed her thighs. “Harm will inevitably follow,” she agreed. “Aram and I have done our best to lay low for many years. Your visit marks the end of life as we’ve known it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“There have been rumors for years about Galloran surviving in hiding. He truly lives?”

“Yes.”

“You’re acquainted with him?”

“Yes.”

“He is still striving to overthrow the emperor?”

“He’s doing what he can. He has limitations. I’ve been helping him. So have others.”

Moira brushed an errant strand of hair from her eyes with a stubby hand. “It’s almost certainly too late.” She paused, staring down at her lap, then looked at Jason serenely. “I hope I’m still a good judge of character. You could be the answer to my deepest hopes and wishes.”

“What?”

“You see, I am dying. I’m not sure how many days I have left.”

“I … I’m sorry. That’s terrible.”

“Sooner or later, it happens to everyone.” She rubbed her torso. “Pain has been gnawing inside of me, escalating over time. It began mostly in my joints, and would come and go, but it now fills me, and it is becoming constant. I can no longer keep food down. I seldom sleep. Death would be a relief, except I fear for my son.”

“Why?”

“Aram is a special man.” Her eyes glazed over with tears. “A unique man. We have secrets too, Jason. We’ll keep yours if you keep ours.”

“Okay.”

“Swear by your life. Swear by all you hold dear.”

“I promise.”

“You wouldn’t be able to spend much time close to him without discovering his secret. You had better hold to your word. Aram will make you pay otherwise. Make no mistake, he is one of the most dangerous individuals in Lyrian. Yet he still has so much untapped potential. I’ve been waiting for him to wake up and fulfill his destiny. I know Aram could be great. His father was the truest man I’ve ever known. His father also happened to be a giant.”

Jason clasped his hands in his lap and nodded thoughtfully. “So he really does shrink at dawn.”

“Not as much as a full-blooded giant, just as he is not so enormous as a true giant at night.”

“And he keeps it a secret.”

“Only the two of us know,” Moira whispered. “And now you. Allow me to share a story. Years ago, in my youth, I lived in a hamlet on the peninsula, not far from the woods where rumors hinted that giants prowled. My father was the leader of the village. My stunted size was an anomaly. My mother, father, and two brothers were all quite tall.

“On occasion, I would venture into the woods. My family was overprotective, so when any chance arose to steal away, I always seized it. When I was a young woman, I met a little man in the forest. He was about my age, and hardly taller than me. His name was Thurwin. I had never seen another human dwarf before. He said he lived in the woods. I asked if he was afraid of the giants, and he laughed, assuring me he had wandered every corner of the forest and had never encountered one.

“We began to meet regularly. Thurwin made his amorous intentions known early on, showering me with compliments and staring at me as if I were a vision of loveliness. I was unaccustomed
to that manner of attention, and though I acted coy at first, I had always longed for romance.

“By our tenth meeting we decided to get married. He told me he could never come to the village, nor could I visit where he lived, but instead he built a little cottage where we could rendezvous, and Thurwin devised a simple wedding ceremony consisting of private vows. It was all terribly romantic.

“After our secret nuptials, I still lived at home, but I saw my new husband at least two days out of each week. Months of secret encounters passed. One fine afternoon, in a shaded glen, I told him I was expecting a child. He chuckled, insisting I was mistaken. Perplexed by his confidence, I conceded that I could be wrong.

“Over time, the evidence of my condition grew. A couple of months later, when Thurwin beheld my belly unmistakably swelling with a child, he flew into a jealous tirade. I assured him I had been a faithful wife, and I began to weep. After I convinced him of my fidelity, he became very solemn. He asked me to remain with him until nightfall. We had never been together at night—he had always insisted it was too dangerous for me to roam the forest after dark.

“You can imagine my surprise when the sun went down and Thurwin expanded into a monstrous giant. I was not much higher than his knee. In time, he calmed me, explaining that if I were truly expecting his child, it would mark the first time a giant had successfully mated with a human.

“When I could no longer disguise my condition from my family, I pretended to have briefly eloped with a certain traveling merchant. After my tall tale, my family redoubled their smothering protectiveness. I was unable to visit Thurwin for the remainder of my pregnancy. Eventually, with the aid of a midwife, I became the mother of a healthy infant son.

“Some months after Aram was born, I began stealing away to the woods again, visiting our cottage and other locales I had frequented with Thurwin. It took a few trips before I encountered him. He was overjoyed to see me. I explained why I had been unable to return to the woods for some time, and he was very understanding. It was not long before I brought Aram with me to introduce the infant to his father.

“Then came the night that changed everything. I was nursing Aram, surrounded by my family, when somebody rapped on the door, hard enough to make the walls shudder. My father answered and was struck dumb. I heard a rumbling voice inquire about me. It was Thurwin, bearing a huge club.

“By the time I had rushed to the door, the screaming had begun. Thurwin looked distressed. He told me the giants were raiding our village and that I had to flee. He had tried to divert them elsewhere, but had failed. He had brought a saddled horse and apologized for not being able to warn me earlier.

“Behind him, giants were wreaking havoc. Burning buildings illuminated a variety of murderous atrocities. My father and brothers raced to meet the threat with weapons in hand. My mother dissolved into shrieking hysterics.

“Four giants rushed toward my house, and my father and brothers charged to intercept them. The giants slammed them aside almost effortlessly, hardly slowing to issue the fatal blows.

“Thurwin cried out for the giants to move on, but they came at me without hesitation. Shouting for me to ride away, Thurwin met them with his club. I mounted the horse in a panic, thinking only that I had to save my child. I believe Thurwin slew two of them before he went down. Once he fell, the remaining giants assaulted him mercilessly. I am grateful that I had a limited view.

“I returned the next day, accompanied by men from a
neighboring community, to find my village razed, the populace massacred. Aram and I were the sole survivors. Everything of value that the men salvaged from the rubble was given to me. It amounted to enough for me to move to Ithilum and to begin a new life.

“Aside from having a tiny young mother as his only family, Aram enjoyed a normal childhood. But one night in his eleventh year, he shot up two feet when the sun went down, and I was forced to explain to him about his unusual parentage. From that day forward, he experienced incredible growth at sunset and the opposite at sunrise. We have managed to maintain this secret through all the intervening years, until today.”

“I’m sorry if I messed things up,” Jason said.

“Don’t apologize,” Moira insisted. “I have not finished. Aram has used his size to perform mercenary work at night over the years. He built and ran a successful smuggling operation and has seen his share of combat. For a time, he was something of a pirate, hiding in a private cabin during daylight hours, occasionally pretending to be his own assistant. Having retired with plenty of money in reserve, he now uses his bulk to knock heads together at the Dockside Inn.

“I’ve always known he was special and was meant to do great things.” Her voice cracked, and she paused to regain control of her emotions. “He has a hard exterior, a necessary adaptation given the secret he hides. But there is a goodness to him. I always yearned for him to find a way to employ his gifts for something more noble and meaningful than financial profit.”