Outside Influences

“Forget the plan,” Orseis said flippantly, “I want to hear about Lempo’s abilities.”

Bel snorted with frustration at Orseis’ impatience, but she humored her younger friend. “You know how you can feel your abilities hanging around your core like stars in the sky?”

Orseis’ eyes lit up. “That’s really poetic! I just think think of them like shrimp in the sea.”

Bel’s eye narrowed as she stared at Orseis for a few moments. Then she reached up to rearrange her snakes to cover up the long pause. I should have asked my mother how to make Orseis think about anything besides food for more than a minute.

Out loud she said, “well, I only half understand some of my mom’s abilities, so I don’t know if it’s safe to take them.”

Bel closed her eyes and felt for the constellation of strangeness that were her mother’s gifts. “So there’s the weird disease abilities, and some strange stuff to break things down: rust metals, decompose living things, shatter metal, make fires burn faster and hotter – stuff like that. Then there are things that mess with me: grow larger, grow smaller, become heavier, become lighter, become more… magnetic I think. I don’t understand all of them.”

Orseis waved her tentacles around. “So what? Just grow bigger. Bigger fish are better fish,” she declared.

“Sure. But I’m not sure that I’ll get stronger if I grow bigger,” Bel explained. “Same thing with growing heavier. Imagine being ten times larger and heavier but have your same strength.”

Orseis looked down at her tentacles and flexed them experimentally. “Sounds fine to me, I think?”

Bel turned to Cress and muttered in English. “Orseis is crazy.” Cress smiled and nodded, but Bel could tell that the other gorgon couldn’t follow Bel’s words at all.

Bel shook her head. “Gods, I wish I could talk to James in here, he usually has good ideas about these things.”

Orseis didn’t understand the words but guessed at their meaning. She threw a rock at Bel’s head in reponse.

Bel lifted a hand to deflect the harmless attack, but Sparky beat her to it, catching it in midair and gulping it down. Bel frowned as she watched the lump slowly travelling down the snakes body, wondering what exactly would happen to it.

More stuff I don’t understand about myself, she thought with a sigh. Bel glanced at Cress, hoping for a reassuring look from the other gorgon, but she was staring at Bel’s snakes with obvious fascination.

Bel clicked her fingers at Orseis. “Okay, no more distractions. Let’s talk about my plan.”

“Are you sure you don’t want James to double-check that too?” Orseis snapped.

“Please pay attention for a minute,” Bel pleaded. “Cress and I discussed this while you were in the divine space.”

Orseis quirked her tentacles. “Discussed? How?”

Bel proudly gestured at the drawings that they had etched into the walls. “With pictures!”

She pointed to a large letter “T”. “That’s Technis.” Bel tapped the dome that she had drawn around the letter. “And where is this, Cress?”

Cress nodded seriously. “Satrap.”

“Great!” Bel beamed. She traced the line of the dome with her hand. “Technis’ Barrier is in our way, but Kjar told me that we could go under it. That hasn’t worked out so far, but Cress is certain that the Barrier doesn’t extend all the way down to where she lives. We should be able to do down there and climb up one of the Pillars that enter Satrap.”

Bel traced a path that descended from the Golden Plains down through seven horizontal lines that represented the seven layers of Olympos. Cress has added one more line underneath those ones, indicating that the world had one last layer that hadn’t been included in the stories from the Golden Plains. Bel’s path ducked under that line and then joined up with a large, straight path that represented the pillar.

Orseis tapped her chin. “But the last time we tried to go into a pillar we got chased out.”

Bel nodded. “Yes! But Cress has a solution!” She pointed at the pillar and then at Crecerelle. “Show us the coins, Cress!”

Crecerelle nodded at Bel’s words. “Coin,” she repeated happily. She opened up her bag and pulled out a palm-sized disk of a bright metal. It was stamped with an intricate design of a winged beast on one side. Cress spun it around to reveal that the other side was covered in tiny script. “For Pillar,” she said helpfully as she showed it to Orseis.

Bel nodded. “See Orseis? She’s got eight.”

Orseis squinted at the shiny token. “Why would we need eight? Does she collect them?”

Bel pursed her lips. “I tried asking, but I couldn’t understand what she was trying to say. At first I thought she was going on a vacation with her friends, but she’s alone so that doesn’t make any sense.” Bel rubbed her forehead with her hand in frustration, jostling some of her snakes. “You would think being able to speak that divine tongue would be useful, but whenever I channel the voices of Lempo or Kjar I just end up embarrassing myself.”

Orseis leaned closer to Bel and whispered, “can we really trust her? What if she’s, you know, some crazy person?”

Bel quickly shook her head. “Don’t even joke about that! My mother specifically planned for me to meet up with some gorgons.”

Orseis waved a tentacle angrily. “Yeah. She also planned for you to meet up with those scrattes.”

“That– maybe they were okay people. They didn’t try to attack us, right? We got where we needed to go, didn’t we?”

Orseis gave Bel a wide-eyed stare. “Maybe you don’t remember how they layed eggs in the corpses of their enemies, but I do.”

“But we got where we needed to go, right?” Bel said defensively. “Don’t look at me like I’m crazy. Let’s get back to the plan.” Bel turned back to her wall scratches, flustered by Orseis’ accusations. A couple of her snakes flicked their tongues at Orseis with contempt.

“Anyway,” Bel rushed, “we climb down the stairs here, go over to the pillar, and climb up.” She traced the wide line with her finger all the way up to the first layer. “Then go up to the first layer and find a way to open up the Barrier and let in Beth and Hanti and whatever army the Golden Plains has put together.”

“Didn’t you have some kind of device for that?” Orseis asked. “Wait, did you lose it?”

Bel pressed her lips together with frustration. “I’m sure there are more of those. The Dark Ravager’s people were going in and out, right?”

“I think–”

“It’s fine,” Bel insisted. “If it’s really important I’m sure Lempo can help.” She looked at Orseis with a serious face. “Don’t forget that she’s willing to just destroy all of Satrap if I’m not progressing quickly enough. I’m sure she can find a way to open up the Barrier if it’s that important.”

Orseis’ tentacles waved through the air as she thought about that. “Is saving Satrap required before your mom will help me get to the human world?”

“Yes,” Bel replied instantly.

“Ugh. Okay, I guess that we have to hope for the best. So what’s next?”

Bel nodded, pleased. “After we get the army, we storm Technis’ High Temple. I assume he’s like the Dark Ravager and is hanging out somewhere big and imposing. The High Temple is the largest, tallest temple in Satrap.”

She opened her hands to Orseis, inviting any comments. “Well?”

The cuttle-girl shrugged. “I’m not really great at planning. What does Cress think? Does she even know what’s going on?”

Bel nodded happily. “Yup, I explained it to her multiple times.” She pointed at Cress and then at the wall.

The other gorgon stepped forward and cleared her throat. “Technis in Satrap,” she declared at she pointed at the large T. “Inside Barrier. Bel go down. Meet Cress.”

She thumped her chest with a closed fist in some sort of martial gesture before pointing back at the wall. “Take tokens, meet people, go up.” She tapped the pillar that ascended through Technis’ Barrier. “Meet people, fight people, fight Technis.”

“See?” Bel said brightly. “She’s got it. And her English is getting pretty good too.”

“I dunno about that,” Orseis said skeptically, “and I’m not sure about this plan either. What people are we meeting down here?”

“The people in the pillar? I’m not really sure.” Bel leaned close to Orseis and lowered her voice. “She’s a terrible artist, and I haven’t been able to tell what in all hells she’s trying to draw,” she confided quietly. Bel pointed to a series of blobs etched into the rock with Cress’ hammer. They were placed along the line to imply they would encounter them somewhere around the pillar. “Can you figure those out?”

Orseis squinted at the roundish shapes. “Are those legs coming out of them? Maybe… shrimp?”

Bel swatted the younger girl. “Gah, let’s just go. You’re too hungry to take this seriously.”

Orseis’ eyes lit up. “Hey, speaking of food, do you think one of your mom’s abilities could let you make a little amount of food into a large amount of food?”

Bel’s mouth dropped open in confusion. “What?”

“You know, because you have an ability to grow larger.”

“I’m not wasting space in my core to get you more food. Let’s go.”

Bel walked to the edge of the alcove and jumped off quickly, before Orseis could come up with another absurd suggestion. I hope they have as much extra food in the human world as James always claims, Bel thought, otherwise she’s going to have a hard time there.

She turned and waved her companions forward, although they were already following without her prompting. Cress paused for a moment to bow to the puddle of liquid that had once been inhabited by Lempo before gliding over the edge of the alcove.

I am absolutely getting wings, Bel promised herself. A powerful yearning pulled at her as she admired Crecerelle’s bright, beautifully feathers. Those are my top priority.

Bel skipped behind Cress as the alert warrior carefully stalked ahead. With each jump and slow fall in the low gravity, Bel imagined flapping along with her own pair of wings.

“What are you grinning for?” Orseis asked.

“Oh!” Bel turned bright red while her snakes squirmed atop her head. “Just, uh, looking forward to getting on with things.”

Orseis gave her an incredulous look.

“Okay,” Bel admitted, “I really want a pair of wings. How cool are they?”

“Eh,” Orseis huffed, “they’re just like flippers of the air. I think I’ve had enough flying with your brother’s parachutes.”

“That was falling, Orseis. Flying is different.”

“Oh? Have you done it?”

Bel rolled her eyes. “Well, I’ll have a good time flying. I hope you like walking, because I’m not going to be carrying you anywhere with that attitude.”

A loud thock from ahead of them interrupted their conversation, and they turned to see Cress smashing through a suddenly violent rock worm. When she was done reducing the creature’s face to rubble, the other gorgon looked back at them with a look of disbelief. Her snakes’ tails shook gently, creating a quiet rattling noise.

“Sorry, Cress,” Bel said sheepishly. “We’ll pay more attention.”

Cress snorted, but Bel saw a slight smile tug on her lips as she turned around.

The proceeded in silence until they advanced through the door to the giant staircase. Once they entered the room, the stale scent of partially decomposed – and partially eaten – giants assaulted their senses.

“Ugh, it smells like a poison tide washed up a dead whale in here,” Orseis complained.

“Yeah, it’s pretty bad,” Bel agreed.

Seeing the disgust on their expressions, Cress waved a hand and conjured a breeze that pulled in fresher air from somewhere else. They could still smell the faint odor of death, but it was better than before.

Bel gave the other gorgon a thumbs up, to which she responded with a confused tilt of her head. She’ll figure it out if I do it a few more times, Bel assured herself.

The three of them walked up to the edge of the seemingly endless staircase and peered into its depths.

“I’ll bet you wish you had wings now,” Bel said smugly.

Orseis harrumphed and leaped into the gaping maw. She twisted in midair and caught the ledge with a pair of tentacles. Her powerful suckers held on long enough to swing herself down to the lower level.

“Overrated!” she shouted up at Bel.

Two can play that game, Bel thought as she pounced to the lower level on the opposite side of the staircase. The two of them engaged in a wild race down the stairs while Crecerelle slowly drifted down in wide, lazy circles.

About an hour later Bel and Orseis collapsed: sweaty, gasping, and exhausted. “How long does this go on?” Bel moaned.

“We may starve here,” Orseis added. “What a horrible way to go.”

Crecerelle landed gracefully next to them and snickered. “Wings good,” she declared in awkward English. She spread her wings and preened, smiling broadly at Bel’s obvious admiration.

Then she held out her hands to her exhausted companions. “Go down?” she asked.

Orseis grimaced and looked at Bel. “Her English is getting better than mine.”

Bel reached up and Cress squeezed her fingers around Bel’s arm in a firm grip. Bel returned the grip just above Cress’ wrist, completing a strong hand-clasp for the flight. “It’s because you’re always distracted, Ori.”

Orseis wrapped a tentacle around Cress’ other arm. “That’s not–well, I mean, I guess it’s true,” she admitted sheepishly.

Cress hauled the two of them to their feet and pulled them over the edge of the staircase. Bel’s stomach lurched into her heart for a moment, but then Cress spread her wings and their plummet quickly slowed. The air was caught under a cushion of Cress’ feathers and the three of them gracefully spiralled downwards. Once she confirmed that their grips were secure, Cress accelerated. They quickly passed a speed where Bel and Orseis felt safe, but Bel trusted that the other gorgon knew what she was doing.

Bel opened her mouth to say something, but when she looked up at Cress’ face she realized that the woman was concentrating on their descent. Maybe I shouldn’t distract the person who’s both flying and manipulating the wind. She glanced at the stairs as they zipped by, thinking that it would probably hurt if they smacked into them. Orseis had turned a pale, frightened shade, so Bel decided that she could use a distraction.

“So what did Deception want from you?”

“Want?” Orseis looked up, obviuosly startled by the question. “Who said she wanted anything?”

Bel quirked an eyebrow. “You know that I’ve met a few goddesses, right? They want plenty of things.”

Orseis wriggled her tentacles, squirming with discomfort. “I think I’m an okay negotiator,” she began.

Bel waited quietly, worry growing in her stomach.

Orseis cleared her throat. “She said that she would help me become, you know, appealing, so that I can have children. In return she wants to be my firstborn’s first patron.”

Bel’s lips squeezed like she’d bitten something sour. “Getting her hands–”

“Claws,” Orseis corrected.

“–claws into your child before they even exist seems bad.”

Orseis gave a helpless wave of her tentacles. “At least she has an incentive to help me out, right?” She pointed a tentacle at Bel. “Besides, it’s not like the deals you’ve made have been any better.”

Bel shook her head. “I disagree. I mean, Kjar’s deal was a bit rough on me, but I made it through okay.”

Bel reached up her free hand to run in along the thick scar that ran from her head down her ruined eye. “My mom isn’t actually forcing me to go after Technis though.”

“Oh really?” Orseis said, surprised. “I thought she kept rushing you?”

“Yeah, but she’s also said that she could just wipe everything out with a meteor. If I didn’t care about saving the people in Satrap, and probably the Golden Plains, then I could just hide somewhere until it’s over.”

“Oh.” Orseis sized her up. “So you’re doing it out of compassion?”

“Well…” Bel chuckled. “I’d like to say that. But I also really want to smash Technis’ face down his throat.” She gestured upwards, towards the surface. “He broke some deal with my mom, locked me in a dungeon, kidnapped my brother, killed someone important to Beth, oppresses an entire country, sent people to kill Ventas, it just goes on and on. But he didn’t actually do those things, it was his people. If my mother wipes everyone out then no one learns anything.”

Bel clenched her hand into a tight fist. “If it’s people from inside of Satrap who do something about Technis rather than some outside power though, then other people may realize it’s up to them to change stuff for the better. The people fighting a war against Technis’ rule already know it, but the rest of the country is still deluded. James told me plenty of stories about how outside influences can mess up a country, but they can’t fix its problems.”

Orseis rubbed her chin with the back of her tentacle as she pondered that. “But we’re trying to bring an outside army into the country, aren’t we?”

“Well,” Bel said, embarrassed, “we would lose otherwise.” She clicked her tongue with frustration. “Look, I’m not good at this philosophy stuff, I’m just copying what James said. It sounds nice though.”

Orseis nodded. “Sure. It sounds nice.”

Bel turned her eyes back to the endless spiral of steps, tracking each level with her eye as they fell. Maybe I should figure this stuff out before we get back to Satrap, she thought to herself.