Michael Foster - She Who Has No Name

‘Stop this nonsense, you idiot! Stop your ranting!’ Samuel shouted back and struck the old Master, sending him sprawling out of the room.

‘I’m afraid he’s right, Samuel,’ Cang said, stepping gingerly into the room. ‘This birth is what we have been waiting for.’

‘What are you all talking about?’

‘There are many kinds of portals and many forms of doorways, Samuel. Lin requires a way to enter our world in body and soul and this is the only way to accomplish it for the purposes he requires. Anthem was right, in a way, that your child would be special, but not as a saviour as he thought. This baby is Lin himself, returned in mortal form.’

‘But the relics…’ Samuel began.

‘You are the relics, Samuel-you and the Koian woman. The two devices that would return him to this world-that would seal humanity’s destruction-are human. He left you both behind and, like the three Ancients, your spirits are immortal, delving from one body to the next-but there is a difference. When the Ancient Ones die, they immediately inhabit another suitable body. But you and the woman live from birth to death, born at the same time to die at the same time. Yours lives are as matched as your natures. You each contain the seeds for his return and,only by combining them,can he be reborn. His plan is ingenious, for you are left at opposite ends of the earth. Only once civilisation is sufficiently developed can you be brought together: in natural ways by sea or land or air-borne by the natural processes of trade or diplomacy or war. The details do not matter, but the outcome is always the same.

‘Man should know better than to force such a child into being, but you have seen how the Koians and the Order behaved. They knew you were different, that you were unusual but,like irresponsible children,they could not wait to see what would result from putting you together. They plotted and schemed until it was done, against their better judgement and against the legends and warnings left from the past, and then they stood back to see what would be the result. In every Age,this has happened, and here-it has happened again. Today, the end of this Age has begun. Lin, your son, has returned.’

Samuel felt weak.

‘What does he mean?’ the Koian woman called faintly from her bed. ‘What is he saying about our baby?’

Samuel was still struggling to grasp what Cang was saying. ‘But, why would this happen to us? He is just a baby.’

‘Now he is but a baby, but he will grow. Inside him is the spirit of a demon. Already, he is learningabouthis new surroundings: growing accustomed to the light, the sounds, the smell of us and the room. He will grow as a normal child, but his thoughts are already that of Lin. It takes time to grow into a new body, but he is in no hurry. It is hardly a moment for him. He will grow as a normal boy, watching and observing the world. Once his body is ready, and once he decides the time is right, he will begin his work.

‘The world is already in turmoil and thosedepartedsouls that have already joined the ether will be his for the taking. He will kill those who remain and add them to his strength. Then, once his grim task is done and only a few of us remain, he will depart and the next Age will begin. Did you think the Demon King would descend from the sky, bathed in flames and hurling bolts of lightning? I’m afraid not, Samuel. This is how the world ends. There is no need of hell-spawn and demons to assist him. The wars of man are sufficientfor himto procure the food that he needs, although I am sure he will do his best to help. He will walk the earth unchallenged and fell armies with his blows.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ the Koian woman said from her bed. ‘This is my son. He is not what you say. It is you who are the demon!’

The head midwife had not understood anythingof what Cang was saying in the Old Tongue, and she had already taken care of the afterbirth and tied the child’s cord and placed the babe back against its mother. Wiped and cleaned, wrapped in a soft cloth, the child wriggled on her chest. She offered the baby her nipple at the direction of the midwife, but it squirmed and smacked its lips and would not take anything into its mouth.

‘He will not feed,’ Cang said, ‘nor drink. He has no need of air or sunlight or any of the things we require for life. He cannot be killed. All he will do is grow and develop until he is ready to take back his kingdom. The spell that destroyed Hol would have turned his mother to ashes around him, but he would have survived. Only Starfall, the greatest spell ever conceived, has the power to defeat him.’

The Koian struggled with the babe, but it wailed reluctantly and turned its head erratically as she attempted to thrust her nipple between its lips.

‘How can you be so sure?’ Samuel asked. ‘You’ve said yourself that man has tried many times to avert this fate. What if you are helping to achieve exactly what Lin desires? What if you are the one who has brought about his return with your damned plans? Perhaps this is the way it always ends?’

‘I have spent my life studying the remains of other Ages, Samuel. I admit that most ancient history is unknown eventome, but I am willing to bet that none hasever achieved a plan of such sophistication. This half of the world will be cleansed of all life. Such a thing has never happened before.’

There was a flash of magic and Eric reappeared within the main chamber, visible through the doorway and standing in the middle of the stone circle. Cang started out and Samuel and the others followed, leaving the Koian with her child.

‘Did you know of this, Balten?’ Samuel asked with concern, marching up beside the tall magician.

‘Not all of it, Samuel. Cang kept the details to himself to keep his plan safe. I did not know most of what he has said until recently. I am sorry it has come to this, but there is nothing we can do.’

‘How was your journey, Master Pot?’ Cang asked of Eric.

Eric looked quite excited. ‘I made it. I found another chamber just like this, lined with blue tiles. It was empty, so I came back. We can leaveatany time.’

‘Wait a moment,’ Samuel told him. ‘Before you do anything to help them, we need to settle something with Cang.’

‘There’s one more thing you should hear, Samuel, before you do anything rash,’ Cang announced. ‘You may have noticed that you have lost much of your wonderful magic. Lin now has need of it and has called it back unto himself. Mother and father are no longer required to care for him. You could throw him into a ditch if you felt the inclination and he would still survive, although I would guess he would be mighty angry about it, flailing about in the dirt for years-but I doubt that has ever happened. Asforyou two, the instinct to care for him is natural and his parents would always have felt the need to care for him. But,if I were you, I would be careful what you do from this point on. You will find you are no longer nearly as powerful as you were. Any curses or blessings that Lin had granted you have been taken back. You are nothing more than a common man and she, a common woman. You can live and die separately as you wish, for that part of Lin’s legacy has now ended. Any powers you have left are what you may have cultivated yourself over your short life. I can see already that is something, but you are now nothing more than an ordinary magician.’

‘I still don’t believe you, Cang. Your words are poison and,even if it were true, his fate is not decided. People can change. Perhaps he will be the saviour of the world and not its destroyer. Everything you know you have learnt from stones and books. They could be wrong. They could be nothing but stories for all we know.’

But Cang only scoffed. ‘Of course not! He is the King of Demons. He will not throw down his crown and be a humble farmer or a poet, no matter how hard you may wish for it. His only purpose is to harvest us and devour our very souls!’