D. T. Kane reads chapter 23 of his epic fantasy fiction novel, The Acktus Trials, and discusses the chapter with his audience.
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Characters in this Chapter:
Baztian (Baz): Our main character
Rox: Deliritous’s Harbour (bodyguard)
Deliritous: Baz’s master, heir to Torchsire Library
Eromer: The Book Dragon!
Below is a copy of my script/notes for the episode, not a verbatim transcription:
PERSONAL UPDATE
Welcome back to D. T. Kane’s Epic Fantasy Book Club. Today is Sunday, May 8, 2022 as I record this, episode 17.
Big personal update for me this week is I ran my half marathon yesterday that I’ve been talking about over the past couple months. The Ellicotville Happy Half for those wondering. EVL is a beautiful ski resort community about 40 minutes outside Buffalo, NY. Not quite as flat as I would have liked, but I still reached my goal, just barely. I was aiming to complete the race in 2:10 and crossed the line in 2:09:58. Couple big hills got me toward the end, but still managed to pull it out and lessons learned for my next race!
For those of you who read the weekly newsletter, you’ll know that I like to compare running to writing–they’re both endurance sports where persistence pays off, so I like how they complement one another. Plus it’s good exercise.
Other than running, I continue my work on Part IV of the Spoken Books Uprising. I’m now in the homestretch of that and intend to have the first draft completed by May 20, since I’ll be out of the country starting May 21 for two weeks. More on that at the end of the episode.
ANAYLIS CH. 23
He wouldn’t run
So Baz and company fly away on Eromer. He’s definitely got some strong magic going on. No wings, and Baz can’t even tell when they’ve lifted off the ground, because he’s got his eyes shut. But before we know it, they’re soaring over the Firelands. And a few interesting sights.
One, we get our first glimpse of Tome, the spire of the Great Library poking over the horizon. Awe, exhilaration, nausea. Baz’s emotions running the gamut. It’s an amazing sight, seeing something that Baz has ever only heard spoken of as a historic relic. But it also marks the approaching end of his journey, driving reality home. He’s going to have to face the dangers of the ruins, the Citiless who apparently dwell there, and after that, he worries what Deliritous will do with him once the Trials are done.
But Baz finally admits outright that he owes it to Deliritous to finish the Trials for him. Baz acknowledges it would have been easier and even understandable if Deliritous hadn’t saved him. Baz finally letting his guard down just a bit.
The other notable sights are the pockets of greenery that Baz notices spotted across the otherwise desolate Firelands. “Little bastions of uncorrupted grass and trees that had somehow avoided succumbing to the all-consuming swamp that surrounded them.” What are they? They’re Book Dragon dens. There’s more than just Eromer! Though, he notes there are fewer each year. What’s happening to them? Not clear at this point. Old age? Or is something else killing them? Regardless, they’re doing what they can to “keep the power of the Scribes alive?” What does that mean? Hold that thought.
Comfort
Baz gets a bit surly for a moment–how might the world be different if the Book Dragons actually went into the world instead of hiding in the Firelands lamenting a failed oath? But then he realizes he’s not unlike the Book Dragons—he didn’t want to leave his home either, despite not really liking it. This bothers Baz, though he can’t put his finger on it. But this is sort of a hidden big moment for him. The first time that Baz actually realizes it’s maybe not right to sit around in comfort when there’s good to be done out in the world. This is a concept I find particularly important: Do we live for comfort, or do we live to chase our dreams and do something meaningful, which often involves at least a bit of discomfort? I’ve actually got a post-it note on my monitor that says “Fuck Comfort” to help remind me never to get complacent.
OMG BOOKS!
So we land in Eromer’s clearing. It’s like an oasis, even bigger than the other sanctuaries Baz saw from the sky. Which suggests something about Eromer, right? Why is he the Book Dragon with the biggest lair even though he was so young at the time of the Burning? He’s even got a bunch of animals, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, and horses. And a giant dog. Novel the dog! Of course a Book Dragon has a dog named novel. Still, Eromer is depressed when Baz comments on all the “life” in the clearing. “This is the merest fraction of what this land used to be. To be.”
Eromer’s “house” is a giant cave. Glass spheres hovering in midair supply light, but Baz barely notices those, because the cave is full of bookshelves, all of them FULL of Spoken Books. More Books than in all of Erstwhile Baz says. “What little I was able to save from the Great Library before the shelves fell. So little, of so vast a collection.” Driving home the point that Spoken Books weren’t always as rare as they are today. Many destroyed during the Burning, and remember others were destroyed by Deliritous’s ancestor during the Second Burning.
For an instant, Baz sees a way out of going to Tome. But Eromer says he can’t have any of the Books because they aren’t his to give. He’s just looking after them until He Who Writes returns to claim them. Who’s that? Why, Pront vi Lextor, the Enigma, of course! This floors Baz, since Eromer speaks like he knew him. Here’s the final evidence from last week’s quest–Eromer is holding onto Books he personally saved from Tome and knew the Enigma. He’s the same dragon from the prologue.
Rox also notes that Book Dragons were followers of the Enigma, which is why Enigmans worship them. They don’t tell lies, just like Rox and his people.
I wish you to know I am sorry
No we get back into some philosophy. Rox notes that Eromer is suffering from the symptoms of a broken oath. That’s why he has all the animals. He’s caring for them to try to make up for his failure. “It is the only way to find Truth after you have lied, by fulfilling a greater oath.” Remember at the beginning of the chapter, we find out that Eromer was angry when Baz suggested killing the horses, saying he’d rescue them later.
This starts us on an interesting discussion. Baz says Eromer is being arrogant, thinking he alone is to blame for the Burning. He was young, surely he wasn’t solely responsible. Is an oath broken just because its cause extinguished? Baz argues no if there’s no causal link between your actions and the end of the oath. If Deliritous died in his sleep from a disease would Rox be guilty of breaking his oath?
Rox says that when you truly devote yourself to an oath, you feel blame for its loss no matter the cause.
Baz: Guilting yourself for something outside your control doesn’t create actual responsibility for the loss.
Rox: Have you never suffered a failure that troubled you deeply even though it was out of your hands?
Of course Baz has. His brother. If only Baz had kept his mouth shut all those years ago, maybe Tax wouldn’t have been retired. I’m not sure Baz and Rox are really even arguing here. Rox doesn’t necessarily disagree with Baz’s point about actual responsibility. Really what they’re debating is whether it’s “right” to feel guilt over a failed promise that was out of your control. The logical answer seems no–if you couldn’t have done anything, why feel bad? But here’s the paradox: if you were truly dedicated to a cause, how could you not feel bad about it failing? If you didn’t feel bad about it failing, wouldn’t that mean you weren’t truly dedicated, and thus dishonest about your dedication? So is the logical path actually a sign of dishonesty in this instance?
Then Rox is like a mind reader here. He knows Baz is thinking of his brother. And Rox apologizes for hurting Tax! Oh, Rox. If we didn’t love him already, we love him now, right? He’s got regret over what he did to Baz’s brother. He worries it wasn’t consistent with his oath. Was Deliritous truly endangered by Tax?
Baz of course says Rox can’t possibly understand what it was like to lose Tax. But again our giant teddy bear killer surprises us. He lost family too. When Deliritous’s father “acquired” him, he left behind a sister, Adalexa Stonebinder. And he has sworn an oath that one day he will return to her. Woah! That’s a huge bit of news, isn’t it? Rox has actually sworn another oath that’s potentially conflicting with his promise to Deliritous. And it seems he was brought into Torchsire’s service against his will. “When they took me away” he says.
Of course, Baz can’t let this nice moment last. “Maybe you’re a bit less of a lout than I thought. [Rox chuckles] But we’re not friends.” What happens when we get back from the Trials, Rox, and Deliritous wants to turn me in for a Cuss? Rox says Deliritous wouldn’t go back on his oath, but Baz asks whether Deliritous is more dedicated to the Truth or his father? Rox has no answer, which I guess is an answer.
Funny, though. Even though Baz is throwing Rox’s effort at bridging the divide between them back in his face, Baz shows some growth here. He doesn’t really blame Rox or Deliritous. Deliritous “is just a product of his environment.” Echoing what his brother told him back at the beginning of the book, Baz seems to have finally adopted a mature attitude as well. But still, how can he and Rox be friends when they both know that, ultimately, Rox would support Deliritous in breaking his oath and getting Baz killed? Baz even silently admits to himself that Rox has a heart beneath his killer’s exterior. Maybe Rox even understands him.
CONCLUSION
Homework: OK, we’re going to be going into vacation mode the next few weeks. You’ll still get an episode each week, but they’ll be a bit shorter. Next week (Episode 18) will be just Chapter 24, no analysis after. Same the following week, Episode 19, will be just Chapter 25. Episode 20 will be my discussion of those chapters. Then Episode 21 will be Chapter 26, which is very short, and my analysis of that chapter. But this will all be leading up to a very significant (and long) chapter 27. So hopefully you’ll forgive me the shorter episodes since you’ll be getting a marathon of an episode out of me when I return from vacation.
Quote:
“The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know. Still, the struggle itself is worthwhile. Knowledge is the root of power, after all.”
― Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself
Being told to “enjoy the journey” is an overused cliché. But clichés tend to be clichés for a reason: there’s truth buried in them. It’s easy to become obsessed with the next thing, and the next thing after that, and so on ad infinitum.
But what is living if not the present moment? That’s all we have–the past is gone and the future never guaranteed. So stop and smell the roses, or feel the sunshine on your face, or actually taste that morning coffee. Embrace the present and take power back from the stresses of life.
Until next time, this has been D. T. Kane’s Epic Fantasy Book Club.
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