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Ch10-5: The Speaker
Posted on August 29, 2008 by Aywren in Chapter 10
“Great Lord Aur... Mighty Golden Lion! Please bestow your favor upon your people!
“You cannot be here!” a woman’s high-pitched voice squealed. Like fingernails on slate.
Zento couldn’t help but wince, stopping his advance more because of the ear-shattering sound rather than the demand itself. Shoulders back, hair tied away from his face in a battle-knot, bhinod ready at hand – the warrior stood his position firmly at the top of the gold-stone stairs. He didn’t even blink when a dozen flaxen-haired guards rushed from their watch, ringing around the woman and mounting the platform that led to her dais.
The structures here were unlike the crude war-towers that Zento had seen back in the forests. Tall, step-pyramids rose to the sky, their golden faces inlaid with glittering stones which painted multi-hued spirals to reflect in the sun. The forest hugged the edges of the structures, ancient trees waving over them all with strange lilac foliage.Zento’s own goal was an ornate arched doorway etched into the far wall. Behind the group of armed men.
And behind ZenToYa stood the Dreigiau.
True to his word, Zemi had guided the warrior to the heart of the Spiral. Through the chaos and pillars of flaming war towers, the Dreigiau and his Champion had forged a path to the great Lion’s Keep.
The Dragons had descended along side of them, their multi-hued jets of flame scorching down from the sky. One by one, the outposts of the Spiral burst, the warriors scattering under the onslaught. They had no way to fight simultaneous aerial attacks, especially not ones as devastating as a fleet of Dragons.
However, their orders from Zemi were not to kill… rather to bring down the towers and cause diversion. The Dragons were to keep the Spiral warriors busy at their own outposts so that Zemi and Zento might slip through to the center with as little fighting as possible. Despite the fact that Kudako had spoken of the “destruction of the Spiral”, Zemi seemed to be going out of his way to avoid loss of life and conflict where he could.
So to see what looked to be arrogance upon the face of the woman as they drew near, in the midst of the obvious downfall of the nation, came as absurd. Head held high, hair adorn by flashes of exotic gems and strangely colored weaves, she was dressed in a light, flowing robe of ornate design. Her hands were folded in front of her, face giving no hint of concern at the two enemies that stood at the foot of the stair. Her eyes were both piercingly blue and hauntingly vacant.
Who is she, Zemi?
The Dreigiau’s heavy step paused just at Zento’s right shoulder. An answer came, his voice resounding within the warrior’s mind.
-She is SugiRu, sister to UragiRu. She’s spent the last few centuries deceiving the people of the Spiral by telling them that she’s a Speaker, a person who communicates directly with the One from the Time Before.-
Is that so…
-No doubt, it’s part of the way that she and her brother took power over the Spiral. Claiming to know the will of the Golden Lion is hardly a little thing around here.-
Claiming?
-Yeah. It’s all just a big scam. I doubt the creature even has the power to waste on communicating to anyone at this point. And if it did, I don’t see why it would only appear to one chosen individual in order to speak to the entire nation. That’s just not the way it’s done.-
Zento’s eyes narrowed.
Then they’ve been lying through their teeth to these people, telling them they have some sort of orders sent down from this golden lion?
-More or less, yes.-
Gotcha. So, have you cooked up a battle plan for this?
-Nah. Let’s see what happens. It’s sure to be interesting.-
“Interesting…” Zento made an indelicate sound. Then without a trace of concern upon his face, he strode forward, towards the stairway.
“I said, you cannot be here!” SugiRu’s voice screeched up a notch. She lifted a hand in an imperial gesture.
A gesture which Zento ignored.
You shoulda given me something to protect my ears…
-I plan on taking care of the noise pollution shortly.-
Get with it then, Zemi. The sooner the better.
“Stop the white-hair! Do not let him defile the grounds!” her voice redoubled in intensity.
The men moved forward, a fluid wave of jingling weapons and rustic armor. Zento stood unflinching as the rival blades swung out. The flaxen-haired men lashed forward with a sweeping battle cry.
A ripple of scattered light bent the air like a heat mirage. An unexpected wall rose between the flurried charge and the unmoving winged man. Mere feet away, the entire brigade buckled, crumpled then collapsed upon the ground.
“Heh… heh… heh…” a deep, gravelly chuckle came from behind.
Turning over one shoulder, Zento could see the amused, fangy grin pasted to the Dreigiau’s face. Zemi’s hand was still raised, the aftermath of magic lingering around him.
SugiRu took a step back. No doubt, she was realizing things were not going as planned. Maybe even having second thoughts.
“Good afternoon, SugiRu,” Zemi stepped forward casually, striding over one of the fallen men on the ground. His grin remained, though it was now hard to tell if it was gracious or predatory.
“Who do you think you are?!” she demanded, backing away further.
“I am Zemi Dreigiau,” he answered simply.
Her breath visibly caught in her throat. She looked like she was about to melt right there. After a moment, she hissed, “Impossible!”
Zemi didn’t miss a beat. He waved a hand back towards Zento, “And this is the one who was foretold to bring destruction.”
Zento grimaced.
The One Who Was Foretold to Bring Destruction? How unoriginal can you get, Zemi?
-People seem to like melodrama around here. Just trying to fit in.-
Yeah, well, if that name sticks, I’m going to blame you.
At this point, SugiRu seemed to have totally lost it. Her voice rose in an unending stream of shriek, “You cannot enter into the grand Keep of Aur! You and all Dragonkind will be struck down upon touching the sacred grounds! The Golden Lion will protect his Speaker and his Warriors! There will be no–”
Zemi’s deep voice rose above the harpy-tempest, booming in demand, “If that is true, let me see proof that your Patron Guide… this Aur… protects you! Tell him to revive your warriors! Tell him to show his support, if he really claims you as his people!”
Stunned silence fell over the Speaker.
Zemi – thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
-Don’t mention it.-
“Well?” the Dreigiau watched the woman shrewdly. “Let’s see it?”
SugiRu ran her tongue over her lips, then lifted both hands to the sky, entreating in a quavering voice, “Great Lord Aur… Mighty Golden Lion! Please bestow your favor upon your people! Strike against the insolence of the Dreigiau who has come to raid our lands! Show him your might!”
Zento peered over at Zemi.
If someone called for you like that, would you answer it?
-A little ego stroking never hurt. You should try it sometime.-
The winged man sighed, leaning back on one foot, waiting for the inevitable.
Her raised hands were greeted with silence. Lifted face stared into the nothingness of the sky. A slow trickle of sweat made its way down the side of her cheek, a blemish on the imperial grandeur.
The Spiral guards had gathered their senses and turned with all confidence to watch the power of their honored Speaker at work. Her upraised hands began to tremble.
“Oh, Mighty Lord Aur!” she beckoned to the silence a second time. “Give us the strength to overcome your most despised enemy! Bring us the power to conquer the Dreigiau!”
Again, there only came silence from the smoke-smeared sky. This was only broken by the sound of armor jingling as the Spiral warriors began to shift and peer between themselves.
“Well… no one seems to be home,” Zemi spoke after a while.
“No…” her voice was shaken. Unthroned. Her eyes settled upon the Dreigiau as one who could see her own end.
“The Golden Lion did not come,” one of the Spiral guards murmured. A murmur that began to echo through the rest of the men.
“Why would he want to? All you’ve ever done is murder and lie in his name. You think that’s what any Guide in his right mind wants to be known for?” Zemi snorted.
SugiRu shook her head as she stared down at the Spiral warriors. Absolute desperation written across her face, “It is a trick of the Dreigiau! His presence is keeping my words from reaching Lord Aur! He must be–”
“Give it a rest, already,” Zemi muttered. “How long do you think you can keep these people fooled by your trickery?”
She looked about ready to protest further, but a motion from the Arweinydd’s hand cut her voice short. The false Speaker gasped, struggling as the air around her invisibly condensed, reaching about her waist and arms and binding her fast.
Zemi’s voice sounded in Zento’s mind once more, pulling his attention away from the defeated woman. The winged man turned his eyes upward.
-You ready?-
Ready?
-To go inside the Keep?-
You’re not coming with me?
Zento squinted over at the Dreigiau in surprise. Zemi turned his head, peering the other way. He didn’t look happy.
-No…-
You’ve got to be kidding me! What happened to the whole ‘being my guide’ thing?
-I’d go in if I could. You better believe this bothers me as much as it bothers you. But the whole place is rigged and warded against me and any that bear the signature of my energies. Which includes all of my Dragons. That’s why I need you to do this for me, Zento.-
I thought you said the creature doesn’t have any power left?
-The wards were placed long ago, back when he still had some strength to him. I’ve tested the bounds of the magic in this Keep as we’ve been standing here. For me to fight these wards, power on power… it could result in a very nasty backlash of energy. No telling what something like that will do.-
So then, the plan is…?
Zento shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable in the weight of his sudden assignment.
-You must go inside the Keep and disarm the wards. Only then will I be able to come in and claim this… Aur-creature, as SugiRu calls him.-
You’re saying I’m gonna be in there, one on one with this creature? What if the Golden Lion is real? What if it’s anything like you? I’m supposed to be able to fight this thing?
-Zento, I really don’t know what to expect once you get in there. But we’ve got to try to capture it. Remember… this is for Tsu.-
The winged man froze as the words registering, echoing in his mind. Head lowering slowly, his hand gripped the familiar haft of his weapon. His face grew grim as his green eyes focused sharply on the doorway.
“Yeah… For Tsu,” he found himself echoing. Then he took a step forward.
“Zento…” Zemi’s voice held a hint of plaintive concern. He lifted one hand, then dropped it to his side, seeming unable to find the words to match his feelings. But the worried affection that vibrated in the single word spoke all that needed to be said.
Driven by the determination of a devoted father, ZenToYa climbed the stairs, striding past the shaken form of SugiRu. With a single glance back at the Arweinydd, the warrior entered the Keep of the Golden Lion.
And here’s an extra note (as I tend to do) to Pen. Thanks so much for your help on editing this chapter. I saw exactly what you were talking about in SugiRu’s character — and that is not AT ALL how I wanted her to come across. She’s a cheat, a swindler and a manipulator… there’s nothing sympathetic supposed to be about her. In fact, she might even be worse than her brother was. (Something tells me she was for some reason?)
But I totally saw where you were coming from in your edit. And I saw how I might have been misleading in a number of places. So I tried to fill in a few gaps and redo all of SugiRu’s parts more or less. I hope that it makes things more clear…
And I hope that Zemi doesn’t come off as such a rough-guy this time around. However, I do want to note… Zemi is not a character that is totally sunshine and rainbows. He has a pretty sadistic and chaotic streak to him when he wants to. It’s just not a side of him that has been seen a lot of in Dreigiau because most of the people he’s dealing with one on one are people that he really cares about.
Now with an enemy… or someone that crosses him… no. Zemi can be very nasty. Especially in his younger days. Part of it is the threat of the consuming Chaos. And part of it is just his unreliable nature.
Zento raises a lot of good questions about Zemi’s nature, actually. How much does he manipulate… how trustworthy is he? It’s sometimes hard to tell, even to the people closest to him. At heart, Zemi wants to learn how to be a good-natured being. But he’s still far from perfect when it comes to having learned the lessons of Earthian life.
Soooo… I’ll cut my ramble short tonight. Thanks again for everything, Pen!! *hugs*
I like the detail about SugiRu’s voice, and how you maintained it throughout. It made me not exactly take her as a real threat, but then, she’s a faker… not a true menace. I didn’t like her, though. Beginning with such a negative image was a good move… Keeps us from accidentally going “Aww, Zemi’s being mean to the poor priestess-thing!”
The “poor thing’s” deluded, though. This is Aur we’re talking about… Great Lion or no. XD I can’t wait to see his Dreigiau incarnation.. That doodle you had of him on your GJ a long time ago was really spiffy, Wren!
Far and above, though, my favorite part of this chapter- as it tends to be- is the character interaction, particularly the banter between Zemi and Zento. There’s a lot there that I’d love to quote! And the resolution worked out well. Zento, for all his faults, is a beautiful portrayal of a father… willing to walk into something he already knows is beyond his power for the sake of his child.
Zemi’s challenge to SugiRu, to call upon the Lion, bears hints of Elijah to me. Was that intentional…?
What I doubt was intentional, though, but still amusing to me, was Zemi’s little comment “A little ego stroking never hurt. You should try it sometime.” He’s got a point there! Honey draws flies, after all? When I reread the chapter, I suddenly remembered watching Howl’s Moving Castle this summer, when Sophie persuades Calcifer the fire demon to obey her using a little carefully-timed flattery. Good memories. ^_^
Ahhh… good. That’s more like the reaction I wanted for her. So my edit must have worked for the better.
KJ wrote:
The “poor thing’s” deluded, though. This is Aur we’re talking about… Great Lion or no. XD I can’t wait to see his Dreigiau incarnation.. That doodle you had of him on your GJ a long time ago was really spiffy, Wren!
Just wait till next chapter. You’ll see it soon enough. I still have to go back and make an insert chapter to flesh out a bit of the Aur information though. I have a few weeks to try and get that done, I guess.
Aur’s interesting mostly because looking back on him, you can see how much he’s changed under Zemi’s guidance. Staring here in Dreigiau, he’s hardly understanding of human life at all…. part of what Aur’s duty in Shimmer was not just to help Ben, but to help Aur develop a sense of life as an individual. By the time Darkstar/Wayrift comes around, it’s pretty obvious that Zemi has been successful in showing Aur this.
KJ wrote:
Far and above, though, my favorite part of this chapter- as it tends to be- is the character interaction, particularly the banter between Zemi and Zento. There’s a lot there that I’d love to quote! And the resolution worked out well. Zento, for all his faults, is a beautiful portrayal of a father… willing to walk into something he already knows is beyond his power for the sake of his child.
It was my favorite part to write, too. Hence why I wanted SugiRu to not come off as very much of a threat… more of an arrogance that would give Zemi and Zento a chance to ineract and kid about. Zento is pretty uncertain of himself here… but that’s not going to stop him from doing whatever it takes to save Tsu. I found in this book that Zento’s character really started to develop — hopefully in a good way. I’m really very fond of Zento. ^_^
KJ wrote:
Zemi’s challenge to SugiRu, to call upon the Lion, bears hints of Elijah to me. Was that intentional…?
Not on purpose.. but I can see why you would say that now that I think about it. I try to keep direct references of the stories from the Bible out of my work if at all possible (I mean, who can do it better than the Bible did — certainly not me?). Some of the things I write are meant to reflect some of the lessons and ideas, but just out of respect for the original scripture, I don’t purposely mean to allude to the Bible.
KJ wrote:
What I doubt was intentional, though, but still amusing to me, was Zemi’s little comment “A little ego stroking never hurt. You should try it sometime.” He’s got a point there! Honey draws flies, after all? When I reread the chapter, I suddenly remembered watching Howl’s Moving Castle this summer, when Sophie persuades Calcifer the fire demon to obey her using a little carefully-timed flattery. Good memories. ^_^
Yeah, Zemi was eating this up. He loves showing off like this.. it’s the little things that make him happy.
Never saw Howl’s Moving Castle…. but glad it’s a good memory.
What? Didn’t see Howl?
Okay, that does it. *grabs Wren’s arm* You’re coming here, or I’m hitchhiking down there, and we’re gonna have a Miyazaki-fest.
Ah, okay, I had sorta this feeling you might’ve wanted her to be that way, but I couldn’t quite tell because of both her reaction in the original and cause of Zemi’s “More or less, yes.” So I went more with the other possibility. You did a good job the finished post of straightening out her intentions. I loved that you included her guards reaction to it, loved it sooo much! But at the same time, knowing what I now know of her, I kinda wished you would’ve villianized her more—make it so that we all really hate her. Maybe that’s something to consider if you ever do a rewrite?
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And I hope that Zemi doesn’t come off as such a rough-guy this time around. However, I do want to note… Zemi is not a character that is totally sunshine and rainbows. He has a pretty sadistic and chaotic streak to him when he wants to. It’s just not a side of him that has been seen a lot of in Dreigiau because most of the people he’s dealing with one on one are people that he really cares about.
Now with an enemy… or someone that crosses him… no. Zemi can be very nasty. Especially in his younger days. Part of it is the threat of the consuming Chaos. And part of it is just his unreliable nature.
Zemi came off just perfect this time around, his actions were completely justifiable. I figured Zemi always had the ability to become a pretty nasty character but I had always assumed that he has far more control over it (at the momment) than not and that part of him would only slip out at the right time and/or on the right people. Zemi just doesn’t strike me as someone who’d purposely victimize the innocent, he just has too much heart for people it seems to me. If I’m wrong about that please correct me though cause I want to know your characters better so I don’t misjudge them in edits (*blushes* Like I did with SugiRu.)?
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Zento raises a lot of good questions about Zemi’s nature, actually. How much does he manipulate… how trustworthy is he? It’s sometimes hard to tell, even to the people closest to him. At heart, Zemi wants to learn how to be a good-natured being. But he’s still far from perfect when it comes to having learned the lessons of Earthian life.
And that is why I just adore the Zento and Zemi combination—you get to see all that in motion. There will be more of that in future chapters, right? I’m looking forward to it. *snickers* Though yet again you’ve reminded me how different and similar my figments are to and from yours. It’s really inspiring, I just started writing in SYU again because of it. So thank you!!
No problem, I was glad I could help! Feel free to send me the next chapter when you’re ready!
KJ–
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What I doubt was intentional, though, but still amusing to me, was Zemi’s little comment “A little ego stroking never hurt. You should try it sometime.” He’s got a point there! Honey draws flies, after all? When I reread the chapter, I suddenly remembered watching Howl’s Moving Castle this summer, when Sophie persuades Calcifer the fire demon to obey her using a little carefully-timed flattery. Good memories. ^_^
*frowns* I wanna see Howl’s. But I don’t think it’s out in theaters any more (wasn’t in theaters here to begin with I think *hates living in a not so major city*) so I have to wait for it to come out on DVD.
What I want to know, is how on earth(on Runne?)Aur ended up working for Zemi. I’d ask yon gold-eyes himself but the poor boy probably has no idea what happened. ^_^
P.S. I don’t know much about Elijah but I am always ready to hear a new story, specially if it is interesting so will somone tell me what chapter and verse so’s I can look it up? I think there’s probably some synchronity happening due to the business of the six plots, or else them ladies who wear sheets are playing silly buggers to razz us. Wouldn’t be the first time.
P.P.S. I never saw Howl’s, either…
That’s because it’s released in Britain next week, I think? Or was it just released last week?
Just hang on and you’ll see all about Aur and Zemi in the next few chapters.
As for Elijah, I’m assuming KJ is talking about the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel. Here’s an online reference to that if you want to know more:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=11&chapter=18&version=31