The Desert Spear

forsake it.
    “I am Ahmann, son of Hoshkamin, of the line of Jardir,” he said as evenly as he could manage. He heard the other boys gasp, and steeled himself for the attack to come.
    Qeran’s face contorted in rage, and he raised the strap, but a slight gesture from the
dama
checked him.
    “I knew your father, boy,” Khevat said. “He stood among men, but he won no great glory in his short life.”
    “Then I’ll win glory for both of us,” Jardir promised.
    The
dama
grunted. “Perhaps you will at that. But not today. Today you are less than
khaffit.
” He turned to Qeran. “Throw him in the waste pits, for true men to shit and piss upon.”
    The drillmaster smiled, punching Jardir in the stomach. When he doubled over, Qeran grabbed him by his hair and dragged him toward the pits. As he went, Jardir glanced at Hasik, expecting another smirk, but the older boy’s face, like all the assembled
nie’Sharum,
was a mix of disbelief and ashen fear.

    bq.
    “Everam saw the cold blackness of Nie, and felt no satisfaction there. He created the sun to give light and warmth, staving off the void. He created Ala, the world, and set it spinning around the sun. He created man, and the beasts to serve him, and watched as His sun gave them life and love.

    “But for half its time, Ala faced the dark of Nie, and Everam’s creatures were fearful. So He made the moon and stars to reflect the sun’s light, a reminder in the night that they had not been forgotten.

    “Everam did this, and He was satisfied.

    “But Nie, too, had a will. She looked upon creation, marring Her perfect blackness, and was vexed. She reached out to crush Ala, but Everam stood fast, and Her hand was stayed.

    “But Everam had not been quick enough to stave off Nie’s touch completely. The barest brush of Her dark fingers grew on His perfect world like a plague. The inky blackness of Her evil seeped across the rocks and sand, blew on the winds, and was an oily stain on Ala’s pure water. It swept across the woods, and the molten fire that bubbled up from beneath the world.

    “And in those places,
alagai
took root and grew. Creatures of the blackness, their only purpose to uncreate; killing Everam’s creatures their only joy.

    “But lo, the world turned, and the sun shone light and warmth across Nie’s creatures of cold dark, and they were undone. The life-giver burned away their unlife, and the
alagai
screamed.

    “Desperate to escape, they fled to the shadows, oozing deep into the world, infecting its very core.

    “There, in the dark abyss at the heart of creation, grew Alagai’ting Ka, the Mother of Demons. Handmaiden of Nie Herself, she waited only for the world to turn that she might send her children forth again to ravage creation.

    “Everam saw this, and reached out His hand to purge the evil from His world, but Nie stood fast, and His hand was stayed.

    “But He, too, touched the world one last time, giving men the means to turn
alagai
magic against itself. Giving them wards.

    “Locked then in a struggle for the sake of all He had made, Everam had no choice but to turn His back on the world and throw Himself fully upon Nie, struggling endlessly against Her cold strength.

    “And as above, so below.”

    Every day of Jardir’s first month in
sharaj
was the same. At dawn, the drillmasters brought the
nie’Sharum
out into the hot sun to stand for hours as the
dama
spoke of the glory of Everam. Their bellies were empty and their knees weak from exertion and lack of sleep, but the boys did not protest. The sight of Jardir, returned reeking and bloody from his punishment, had taught them all to obey without question.
    Drillmaster Qeran struck Jardir hard with his strap. “Why do you suffer?” he demanded.
    “Alagai!”
Jardir shouted.
    Qeran turned and whipped Abban. “Why is the
Hannu Pash
necessary?”
    “Alagai!”
Abban screamed.
    “Without the
alagai,
all the world would be the paradise of Heaven, suffused in Everam’s embrace,” Dama Khevat said.
    The drillmaster’s strap cracked on Jardir’s back again. Since his insolence the first day, he had taken two lashes for every one suffered by another boy.
    “What is your purpose in this life?” Qeran cried.
    “To kill
alagai
!” Jardir screamed.
    His hand shot out, clutching Jardir around the throat and pulling him close. “And how will you die?” he asked quietly.
    “On
alagai
talons,” Jardir choked. The drillmaster released him, and he gasped in a