Michael Foster - She Who Has No Name

‘I am a magician.’

At the word,she began to scoff, but stopped herself short upon noticing his further annoyance. ‘You are a man, Samuel, and I am a woman. It is no more complicated than that. Every day we play our roles and wear our costumes and disguises, but that has little to do with who we truly are. We coat ourselves in the things we wish others to see, one upon another, layer upon layer,burying ourselves like fragile caterpillars within cocoons of deception. We spend our lives building up these facades and decorating them, pretending they are what we want to be but,in truth,they only serve as paper barriers to protect us from fears we have not dared to face. The more of these lies we can discard, the more we can find our true selves underneath. But such a thing is not easy, is it? To face our fears? To lay ourselves bare andbevulnerable? I have always believed that our true strengths lie within our skins, not upon them. I lie before you naked, Samuel-nothing more than what you see. I am offering you myself, and nothing else, wrapped only in truth.’

She smiled-an open and honest smile-and,for the first time, Samuel caught a glimpse of a woman looking back at him, rather than a queen or a witch or a captor.

‘I know my body attracts you, Samuel. I will grant you such pleasures, and in the morning,you need say nothing of it. It is my gift to you,’ and her breath was hot against his neck. Slowly, she began placing her lips against his skin and planting hot kisses. ‘Will you lie with me, Samuel?’ she whispered, kissing him softly. He could hear her breath in his ear and feel it on his skin. ‘Will you serve me?’ He resisted, but his mind started offering him an assortment of reasons as to why this could help to further his purposes. ‘Stay with me, Samuel. I will keep you warm, this cold desert night.’

‘Very well,’ he stammered foolishly in reply,his head buzzing and light.

‘Do you want me, Samuel?’ she said into his ear.

‘Yes,’ he heard himself say and she pulled him down with her amongst the soft rugs and pillows.

When he returned to his room in the morning, the Koian woman was awaiting him, arms folded and looking tempestuous. The old Paatin woman, Shara, was standing patiently, just out of striking distance from the girl.

‘Now I see what has been affecting all your plans!’ she declared. ‘What business with the Paatin witch has kept you with her all night?’

Samuel began to think of excuses, before realising he should not need to defend himself from her. He lashed out with his response. ‘That has nothing to do with anything. Our plans are still the same.’

‘Oh really? First,you come to kill her and now you sleep with her. It sounds like things have changed a great deal. What kind of assassin are you?’

‘I’m not any kind of assassin,’ he said in his defence.

‘Obviously! You seem to be doing it all wrong!’

‘Quieten down,’ he told her. ‘It’s all part of the plan.’

‘Oh? Perhaps you could enlighten me, or is this one of your secrets? Are you even trying to save your Empress any more?’

‘I was trying to get her to give me her ring, but that now seems impossible. She never takes it off.’

‘I’m surethatwas the only thingyou wanted!’

‘She wants me to kill her arch-wizard.’

The Koian stopped at that, and considered the implications. ‘Will you?’

‘I can’t. Not now. I wouldn’t stand a chance. My magic is too unreliable. I need to find Balten. I need to return to the catacombs and retrieve the Argum Stone.’

This seemed to interest her greatly. ‘When will you go?’

He had not really thought of it until that point. ‘Now.’

‘I will come with you.’

‘No, you will not,’ Samuel stated definitively. The suggestion was ridiculous. ‘You can’t go anywhere without your attendant following and you would get us caught the moment you opened your mouth and said something stupid.’

‘I would not!’ she declared, insulted. ‘I can lose that old woman easily and I am used to sneaking around. Any chance I could get, I would sneak out of my temple and slip out into the city to learn what it was that the people did all day.’

‘And look how much that helped you.’

‘Damn you!’ she said and spat on the floor beside his boots. Once again, she stormed out of the room, leaving the little,old woman padding softly behind her.

Samuel waited a few minutes until the shouting next door had receded and he then left his room. He walked casually, heading in the direction he knew the dungeons to be. He had spoken with the Emperor and Canyon about their time in the dungeon, but they were of no assistance with directions.

He made for one of the hallway entrances, hoping they would be less guarded than the main cavern opening. Guards were there and Samuel waited just out of view with his back hard up against the wall.

A spell! he thought to himself and began desperately trying to clear his mind. He fumbled desperately within himself for a spell of sleeping. That would require the least energy and he did not want to kill anyone or cause any alarm that would see him locked in his room. He thought he heard someone approaching and that broke his concentration, but then, calming himself again, he fell into the required state of mind and felt a tingle of energy quivering delectably before him. He caught onto it and slowly began drawing the power into himself, channelling it and melding it, finally casting it out as magic-thin and ungainly as it was.

When he felt the spell had been given time enough to do its work, he peeped out carefully from his hiding spot along the corridor. Three slumped guards upon the floor signalled that he had been successful and he stepped from his hiding spot, almost dancing up to the sleeping trio with glee. Regaining his composure, he noted that there was a Paatin spell set across the entrance, designed to detect the passage of magicians. Fortunately, he had no need to fear it, for his lack of magical presence meant such spells were useless towards him.

Slipping through the magical barrier without event, he peered into the darker, rougher corridor that signalled the start of the mountain and beganto movecautiously inside.

He wandered around fruitlessly for some time and was soon damning himself for forgetting the way, for the catacombs were labyrinthine in complexity. He had to double back on himself many times to regain his bearings, ever worried that he would lose his way and become stuck in the caves. The oppressive sense of the mountain weighed down on him in the darkness and he was thankful for his magician’s sight to guide his way. Several times a sense of panic almost overcame him, and he would hurry back to the closest point of light to recover his wits. There was the odd lantern set here and there, but most of the passages were kept in darkness.

It took him some time to realise that most of the main passages that joined different sections of the subterranean chambers were the lit ones, while the dark tunnels tended to curl around and lead back onto themselves, or finish in drops or dead ends. He doubted the guards ever used them and he suspected that many of them would be unknown, even to the guards, for they would have no reason to venture down such useless passages.

Tiptoeing around, he thought he heard footsteps echoing along the passage behind him. Standing utterly still, he sent his senses back from where he had come, but no one was there. Several times,he needed to dart away from patrols of muscled Paatin guards, but it seemed now his imagination had the better of him. For a moment,he considered the story that Lomar had told him, of something that lurked in the tunnels, devouring those who strayed too far from the lit paths, and he had to shake the disturbing thought from his mind.