“Maxx will do his part,” Detritus says to Ahdis and Tracia. “We don’t have forever, you know that the Time Eater is ticking down. Shall we continue to the past? With your help and Ariel’s cooperation, we should be able to achieve our destination much more quickly.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Tracia says. “What becomes of the Death Witches when the war is won?”
“We return to our black hole, Ntinyari,” Detritus says with both her hands up in surrender. “We are not interested in another banishment and we have learned our lesson. We will be quiet dwellers of Jo’s Disc.“
“That’s easy for a Death Witch to say,” Ahdis counters, “but you have to recruit others. That is your mandate. You would turn the entirety of the Fonlands to Death Witches.”
“Not Death Witches, but Death Magic users,” Detritus says, mincing words. “Divine Essence isn’t the only way to be a Fonlander. Death Magic has a scary name but it can be as benign or as deadly as the Essence. You need look no further than Owuo’s Deads’ Town to see that Death Magic is as wondrous as the Essence.”
“I saw you in my dreams stripping the Fondlands, the Deep especially, of its Death Magic,” Ahdis says.”You want more Death Magic users so that you can become more powerful and rule the Fonlands. Everyone is aware of the stories and you will not talk your way out of the beating I mean to put on you. You Witches stole the life of my companion, Shini, who was an adept user of Death Magic and he was proof that the magic could be more than its name, up until the point that one of you drove him mad and made me kill him. I will not let you corrupt anyone else, Detritus, and there will be no more Death Witches in the Fonlands. I will give my life to see that day, and it starts with you.”
Ahdis takes a step toward Detritus but Tracia puts a hand on her shoulder and she stops.
“You sound like your sister,” Detritus says. “But if this is how we must play it, I can make Ariel beat you all to a pulp, you old ones know that she is powerful enough even if that power has yet to be uncovered. I will uncover it and it will be the end of all of you. You there, do you want to die at the hands of your own sister? Or worse, be forced to kill her to protect these flies that you’ve only known for a short time? They are not giving you good options, girl. They call me the problem, but I have only defended myself and my sisters that their forebears took away from me. I am reasonable. I am willing to lay down my arms in the spirit of cooperation. But if they want a fight, trust that you will regret it.”
“Don’t listen to her Zana,” Ahdis says, glaring at Detritus and the smug smirk on her face.
“She got a gun to my sister head,” Zana says sadly. “What can we do but go with her until she let her go? Can y’all stop Ariel without hurting her? I know I can’t. We should just let her do what she gotta do to get Ariel back.”
“All we have to do is put her down, Tracia,” Ahdis says through gritted teeth. “She has to die or lose consciousness and then we can grab Ariel and get back through the Time Eater. We can kill Detritus here or in the present, it doesn’t matter to me.”
“We will go with her to the past,” Tracia says after a brief moment where she seriously considered all of her options. None are ideal, but she can’t risk the lives of the young mmoatia. “Ahdis, if harm comes to Ariel or Zana, you will never be able to forgive yourself. We know that the Death Witches are bad, but Detritus knows what is coming. Of course she is manipulating us to gain an upper hand, that is her nature, but it is our nature to not be easily defeated and we will not let any number of Death Witches run rough-shod over the Fonlands. If the Azizas stopped them before, surely we can do it again. Detritus, come nearer to us. I will hold your hand and Ariel’s and we will find our way to the past when all of the Fonlands amulets were in the Chamber of the Unseeing All-knowing.”
Ahdis is angry but she does as Tracia says. Zana is relieved and she watches hopeful as Detritus and Ariel approach Tracia. The three of them join hands and a light sparks between them, then begins to spread out to encompass Zana and Ahdis who cower away from it a bit.
They all stand inside the bright yellow-white light that is identical to the light that Zana produces with her fists because they are inside of Ariel’s aspect that shares the same color. Ariel’s power creates a temporal bubble around the group and nothing is visible beyond the bubble.
“Together,” Detritus says, “we should be able to navigate to the past and to the Fonlands using our own memories.” As she says this, the wall of the time bubble begins to soften and becomes translucent. They can see the Fonlands from a distance, all seven of the Discs of the Vodun resting atop the coiled body of the slumbering serpent and supporting the Lofted Disc. “When I think of the Chamber of the Unseeing All-knowing…” Detritus continues as the time bubble begins to zoom into the faraway view of the Fonlands and soon they are on the Disc of Sakpata and the bubble penetrates the mountains. They travel for considerable time through solid rock until they arrive in a darkened chamber with only weak sources of glowing light.
“Are we in the right time?” Tracia asks.
“First we stop at the horde of Grootslang, the one who possessed all of the amulets,” Detritus explains as they arrive at a room carved into a stone formation that is illuminated by piles and piles of sparkling gems and stones. Detritus confirms that all of the amulets are present and both Ahdis and Tracia can feel that she is being truthful.
“Oh my God,” Zana says with wonder. “Look at all them diamonds.”
“I will retrieve the amulets and then you take us back to the present,” Tracia says firmly. She is sure that Detritus intended to take them into her possession, but Tracia could enact any ritual with the gems that Detritus claimed to need to bring the Death Witches from Kútmómɛ so she decided that she would do it herself. She would at least have the amulets as a bargaining chip to get Detritus to permanently sever her control over Ariel. Detritus doesn’t protest. She is the primary navigator of the time bubble and she is content to hold it while Tracia grabs the amulets.
Tracia flies out of the bubble and into Grootslang’s horde that is prismatic with light from all of the gems’ surfaces. She has never possessed any of the amulets before, but she knows that she can sense them and she is familiar with the energy they produce. The horde seems empty and Tracia takes her time with eyes closed, feeling for the unique magic of the amulets that feel different from other sources of Divine Essence. She finds the Growth amulet first because it is the most familiar, and then the Spirit amulet nearby it. The Cross and Spark amulets are buried deep in two different piles of gems and Tracia has to remind herself not to alter the past because she is tempted to grind them all to nothing with her aspect rather than shovel her way into them. She gets them both and her hands are sore from all of the sharp edges she had to move. The Frost amulet is not in any pile of gems but it is hidden high up on a ledge of the rocky walls of the horde. The Ore amulet is resting near other benign stones that camouflage it well. And just when she lays hands on the Smolder amulet, Grootslang slithers into the horde and stops suddenly, his eyes that are two gems on his large snake face are wide with surprise at the sight of Tracia.
“What is the meaning of this?” Grootslang says as Tracia turns, discreetly pocketing the Smolder amulet in her tunic along with the others.
“I was waiting for you,” Tracia says. She figures that he is not aware of the time bubble because it is camouflage from the outside and easily blend in with the rocky stone wall. “Pultine sent me.”
“Oh really?” Grootslang says with enthusiasm as he slithers into the horde, only barely missing the time bubble that Tracia can’t see but she knows exactly where it is and she is relieved that she doesn’t have to find out what happens to Grootslang if he touches it. Grootslang rests on his pile of gems. “I don’t like surprise guests, but I will forgive it for Pultine. What can I do for her?”
“Well,” Tracia says and she flies to hover in front of Grootslang in his lounging position, “she didn’t exactly send me. I came because I wanted to thank her for something very kind she did for me and I thought, what does Pultine like, what would she appreciate? And I remembered that she loves your gems and the powers they give her when she faces the unknown brutes of the other realm. Do you have anything that I can give to her?”
“Of course, your Excellence, take your pick of my horde,” Grootslang says merrily, “and when you are done, please explain why you are concealing all seven of the Fonlands amulets in your tunic. If I am satisfied with the answer, I will let you live to give your sister her present.”
Tracia regrets that she wasn’t faster grabbing the amulets. Now it will be extremely difficult to avoid altering the past in a significant way even if they do get back to the present.
“You couldn’t eat me if you tried, Grootslang,” Tracia says with a laugh, hoping to ease the tension. “I don’t want to have to kill you and you don’t want to kill me. I will tell you the truth and pray that you will be reasonable enough to let me leave your horde without any struggle between us. Agê sent me to collect these amulets. I’m sure you are aware that these were used to banish death witches long ago? There is a breach in the Deep. I need these to seal that breach and then I will return them as though they were never gone.”
Grootslang is thoughtful for a moment. “No one likes a Death Witch,” Grootslang says after a moment. “Fine, but tell your Vodun that I am owed a boon. I will be waiting, your Excellence, and if the amulets are not returned by the setting of Sakpata’s jewel on the surface, I will send dangerous Fonlanders to retrieve them.”
“Understood,” Tracia says, “I will be back promptly.” She flies quickly to the invisible time bubble, avoiding whatever it was that Grootslang was about to say.
“Did you change the past?” Zana asks with worry on her face.
“Not necessarily,” Detritus says, “it is possible that this is contained to Grootslang. I can’t imagine that he would ever confront Agê to make good on this boon. And besides, we don’t have time to try to figure out a way to undo it. We are headed back to the present.”
The yellow-white light flares and when it dies down, they are back in the forest of Age’s Disc where Detritus first took Ariel into the past. The opening of the Time Eater is close by and it is still small, but larger than when they left.
“We don’t have much time,” Detritus says. “Give me the amulets and I will contact Maxx in Kútmómɛ to open a door and finish this so that we can take the amulets back.”
“Call Maxx and I will summon the Death Witches and bring them back,” Tracia insists. “But only if you sever your control over Ariel permanently. Make it so you can never do this to her again or I will jump back into the Time Eater. I know how to navigate it to where we’ve been and I will return them and come back here like it never happened.”
“Fine,” Detritus says. She touches Ariel on the forehead and she instantly falls unconscious into Zana’s arms. Then a violet cloud of energy begins to issue from Detritus’s opened mouth. The cloud coalesces into a pattern in the space over the forest floor and the violet cloud starts to pulse with a red energy. “Maxx! It is time to return!”
As she says this, there is a commotion in the forest that stirs the foliage like a whirlwind blows around them.
“Hold up the amulets and direct their power into the opening as Maxx comes through,” Detritus yells over the commotion. Then there is a blast of violet-red energy from the smoke pattern Detritus had created and they all watch curiously as Pultine, the mmoatia, Zacchaeus, an ally of the mmoatia and outsider from another realm, Maxx, now wielding the large and intimidating Blight Maker weapon that was forged by the Vodun Gu and is supposedly capable of killing death itself, and Shini, a black muthi who was the the companion of Ahdis that she was forced to banish to another realm after he was driven mad by a Death Witch.
Tracia holds all seven amulets in one hand and she sees the opening that Maxx and the others had tumbled through closing quickly. She can’t bring herself to do it and she looks defiantly at Detritus who is smirking at her. When she looks back at the amulets in her hand, they are no longer there, but floating before the opening into Kútmómɛ, keeping it open. Energy in the color of the seven Vodun blasts from the amulets and into the opening and soon, figures of violet so dark they look black, begin to fly out of the opening and into the forest. It all happens quickly and no one is able to keep track of how many of the figures fly out into the forest, but soon the amulets stop issuing power and float back to Tracia’s hand as the opening closes. The commotion dies down and everyone glares at Detritus.
“You almost didn’t keep your end of the bargain,” Detritus says to Tracia. “But we are even. Get back to the past before the Time Eater is no more.” Then Detritus disappears as quickly as the other figures had escaped Kútmómɛ.
Tracia dives into the Time Eater.
“What is happening?” Pultine asks. She, Maxx, Zacchaeus and Shini are all disoriented.
Ahdis is blinking unbelieving eyes at Shini when Tracia flies back through the Time Eater. It closes seconds after she returns. She briefs the new arrivals on what has happened.
“This is all my fault,” Ariel says with tears in her eyes. “If I knew my powers better this couldn’t have happened.”
“Then you will know your powers better to prevent it from ever happening again,” Pultine says.
“It’s not the time for that,” Tracia says. “We should get back to the Smiting Chamber. Wherever the Death Witches are, we will have to deal with them once we come back from the other realm. The mission to face the dark enemy will commence soon.”
Zana takes Ariel back to the Aziza mound and everyone else heads to the Smiting Chamber. The mmoatia are suspicious of Maxx, the Superguardian, and his dangerous new weapon, the Blight Maker, but they don’t say anything. They all hope that Owuo isn’t there when they arrive and that the others will help to subdue him and take the weapon if necessary.
PRL Serials 