"Nearly?" asked Gwurm.
"Unfeasible at this stage, I'm afraid. I've yet to craft a phantom troll to my liking. It's the dignity, I think. Your race has a quality, a grace that is rare in such loathsome creatures."
"I've often thought so."
"Goblings, they're easy. Malicious, slobbering, one-dimensional beasts. Wrap an illusion around a ravenous hunger and you're done. Don't worry though, my friend. I'll get it right. Your race will not be forgotten in my new world."
Gwurm smiled without a hint of sarcasm. "Good to know."
"Care for a walk, witch? I would have a word with you."
I hopped from Gwurm's shoulder. Wyst spurred his horse forward. Soulless Gustav smiled with teeth of shining quartz.
"There are things this witch and I must discuss. Things you wouldn't understand, Wyst, as they have nothing to do with poking villains with swords or impotent blustering."
Wyst jumped from his horse and ran Soulless Gustav through. The sorcerer shook his head. "All that righteous fury and not a blessed thing you can do with it. Pity. I can imagine your frustration."
I put a hand on Wyst's arm. "He's right. We must speak of things that only sorcerers and witches can. Stay here." I set down Newt. Much to my surprise, he didn't protest being left behind. I took Penelope along. Having my broom made me feel a better witch.
Soulless Gustav and I walked away from the others. Every step covered the space of four by the sorcerer's will, and they were soon figures on the horizon.
"It seems rude that you should know my name, and I, not yours," he remarked.
"I have no name."
"Everything has a name, even if it is unspoken. But suit yourself." He shrugged, and dust and stone fell from his shoulders. "So now that we have finally met, am I everything you expect? No. Don't bother answering. I know what you're going to say before you say it. You weren't expecting anything?"
"Up to this moment, I hadn't given you much thought."
"You cut me to the quick."
I lowered my hat. "It wasn't an insult. You were only an idea before. More of a notion, really. Important, yes, but not worth excess consideration."
"And now?"
"And now you are more. And still not worth excess consideration because I have seen you for what you are."
Soulless Gustav frowned. "Is that not another insult?"
"Merely an observation. Only you can decide whether to take offense or not."
He ran a flat gray stone of a tongue across his sandy lips. "In that case, I believe I shall."
"As you wish." I turned my back on him. It was both witchly and a mark of confidence. I didn't fear the sorcerer just now. There was a way to these matters.
"I certainly was not expecting you," said Soulless Gustav. "The magic told me a witch was coming, and I knew you to possess notable talent to have defeated my horde. So naturally, I was expecting an old crone, warts and hunch and missing teeth. But you are such a lovely, lovely creature."
I wasn't surprised he saw me as I was. He was a master of illusion.
"I am cursed."
He laughed. "So I see. Afflicted with perky bosoms and soft lips and a nice, firm bottom. I generally prefer my woman plumper, but I must confess, I've never been more attracted. I assume the desire is part of your curse."
"It is."
"Excellent work then. My compliments to its maker."
A wind swept beneath me, raising my skirt. A stream of dust flowed between my feet to re-form into Soulless Gustav before me. "Nice legs too. Slender and supple thighs. Glorious calves. Never underestimate the appeal of a well-formed calf."
"Life is in the details." I wasn't about to let him know he'd struck a sore spot.
It was his turn to put his back to me. "You've come a long way to die, witch. Care to tell me why?"
I thought of Ghastly Edna, and this was surely the man who had taken her from me. My anger rose, but it didn't get the better of me. "Reasons are of little consequence. They are justifications for doing what we would do anyway. And who's to say I've come all this way to die?"
"The magic has shared its secrets with me. I have taken care of any obstacles to my better world before they could become a bother."
"The magic has shared a few secrets with me as well."
"Perhaps an exchange would be in order."
I stepped close behind him. "Perhaps not. If the magic really wanted us to know, it would've already told us."
"Excellent point, but you can't seriously expect to defeat me. My will is law here. That's the perfection of my dream. The old world is a turmoil, a jumble of a thousand thousand parts thrown together. My world shall be a marvelous unity. A creation of one will with one purpose: to serve me." He turned back on me. A sapphire tear rolled down his cheek. "Surely, you can see the beauty in that."
"Harmony, perhaps. Beauty, no. The world is a mess, chaotic and unpredictable and often inforiatingly uncertain." I glanced to the horizon at the troll, duck, and White Knight. Each has his place in my life, and each had become important in ways I never could have fathomed. That was why I valued them so.
"And one beautiful chaos," I said, "is worth a thousand spiritless dreams."
I thrust my hand into Soulless Gustav's sandy body and wrapped my fingers around the hard lump of his heart. His jade eyes popped from his face. I pulled his ruby heart from his chest. His body collapsed into a mound of dirt and stone. I crushed the ruby into glittering shards.
"You didn't think to kill me that easily?" asked a patch of moss.
I didn't, but it did show me what I needed to know. My magic worked even in Soulless Gustav's world. Even more importantly, he could be taken by surprise here. He may have been lord of the realm, but I was not of his realm. I seemed a speck of truth in a universe of phantoms, but his perfect world was now infected with imperfect reality.
"Good day, witch with the unspoken name," said Soulless Gustav from the moss. "If we meet again, I promise to kill you quickly because I like you."
"We shall." I grinned. "And I shall kill you quickly because I have better things to do."
He chuckled as he disappeared.
I stopped to pluck a flower for no other reason than to prove I could disrupt his grand, flawless order. Then I headed back to the others.
25
Wyst handled his humbtingencounter very poorly. It didn't show in an obvious way. Anyone else would've seen only a brooding, determined champion, but I felt his sullen annoyance with his own powerlessness. He stared straight ahead, eyes squinted into slits, lips pursed tightly, jaw throbbing. All subtle signs. But to my eyes, his moping was impossible to miss. I would've reassured him, but he was right. He was no threat to Soulless Gustav.
A Sorcerer Incarnate need not fear an army of White Knights. I wasn't certain he should even fear me. Soulless Gustav wasn't invulnerable. Nor did his terrible madness have much chance of spreading across the whole world. Magic did rather enjoy the world, and the magic was stronger than Soulless Gustav, Incarnate or not. I assumed even now, fate was preparing for another to confront the sorcerer should I meet the horrible death Ghastly Edna had prophesied. And another should my successor do the same. Destiny was constantly setting designs in motion, most of which would never achieve fruition. Fate was an energetic child with a short attention span.
"What I don't understand," remarked Gwurm, "is that if this is all Soulless Gustav's illusion, then why doesn't he just turn it all to quicksand or a volcano or something like that and kill us right now?"
"Don't give him any ideas," Newt said.
"It isn't as simple as that," I replied. "The sorcery that crafted this is powerful, but such a creation is delicate by its very nature. Right now, it is a flea on the dragon of reality. As long as the flea remains unnoticed, it can slowly sap the dragon's strength. Should its sting be felt, it will be crushed with casual impunity.