Jahno chuckled. “Anyone would cower at such an introduction.”
“Indeed.” Wosen smiled. “Once she spoke to me, silencing the others, a…a warmth cascaded through my entire body. The fear was replaced with calm, like I knew that I was finally safe, free from the Nazilians and pain. She’s beautiful, Jahno, in every sense of the word.”
“Both Thalassa and Hibret are blessings. They’ve become close, and Thalassa often consoles your wife.”
“Consoles? Why?”
“Hibret’s been feeling isolated and lost without you. Many times she’s cried in Thalassa’s arms.”
Wosen halted. “Cried?”
“I thought you were aware of her feelings?”
“No. Had I known I would’ve done everything in my power to address this. She’s never mentioned it or acted in a manner that would cause me to question. I’m always here for her.”
“You weren’t yourself, Wosen, and she felt alone. Until Sahma arrived, you were her only family, her only connection to her life in Bandari.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me? I didn’t know.”
“It was there, Wosen, but you didn’t see because you couldn’t. With a clearer mind, unfettered by the past, it’ll be obvious. And so will Hibret’s desire for a child.”
“What? She’s never mention children. Well, of course, I expect them eventually, but she’s never talked to me about it. Hibret seemed happy helping with Fáelán and assisting in the nursery.”
“Mayhaps you didn’t hear or realize,” Jahno said. “In order to create a new life, you must be with your wife.”
Wosen glanced around the corridor, considering those words. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d made love to his wife. In many ways, he’d been hiding from her as well as himself. He could find no other label for it. His time in the practice chamber was extensive, as was the time he spent with Fáelán. But the times spent alone with her were few, and mostly at Hibret’s insistence.
“You’re right,” he said, meeting his eyes. “Being in Nazil, it—it’s been difficult, and more so than I could’ve imagined.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m truly free for the first time since Draizeyn forced me from the citadel.”
“High Priest Kuhani has worked miracles in you, Wosen?”
“He has, not only through our communing, but our sparring, too.”
“Sparring?” Jahno asked.
“Indeed. The priest is formidable. Both he and Sir Yego hail from K’ohshul, and were trained as Jasiri Warriors. In all the years that I knew him, I wasn’t aware of his origins.”
Jahno nodded. “Now that you’ve said it, they look very much alike. Well, the markings and hair are similar, though he keeps his covered most of the time. If Kuhani is a warrior, why is he serving as a priest?”
“Most able males on K’ohshul are trained to be Jasiri. Once they reached what they call amzi, or the age of decision, they choose which path to take. When Kuhani came to Bandari, his heritage wasn’t discussed. He and my father were very close, and I’ve learned that they sparred often in the wood. He used those same skills to sober my mind. A painful, but necessary lesson,” he said, rubbing his chest.
“I’d like to meet him again,” Jahno said, returning his smile. “The change in you is evident.”
“I’m truly awakened, and even more since learning of my error. I was too enmeshed in my own misery to notice that I was causing the same for Hibret. I should’ve realized when she continued to comment about Thalassa’s beauty during her pregnancy, and how she went on about Suravi upon your return from the Animus Wood.”
“She’ll think the same of herself once she carries your child.” Jahno leaned in closer. “I saw her not long ago, sitting alone in the eastern garden. Don’t you still have two suns before resuming your duties?” He winked.
“Indeed,” he said, rushing down the corridor. “And I know just how I’m going to spend them.”
Enlightenment
Sahma sat on the edge of a stool, her body draped over her husband lying in the bed. Her head rested on Ahvixx’s chest, with an arm enfolding his torso. She hadn’t left his side in two suns, and had finally succumbed to her fatigue.
Kuhani sat across the room, documenting Ahvixx’s aberrant behavior. Kuhani pondered his condition, but he also continuously ruminated on the statements Ahvixx had made during his brief semi-conscious state.
Leaning back, Kuhani rested a hand beneath his chin, regarding Sahma at Ahvixx’s bedside. He recalled when she was born in Bandari, and as she grew into the woman she was this day. So many changes had taken place, and there were more significant ones to come.
As he looked at the parchment on the table, his thoughts returned to Ahvixx’s state and the complexities of his condition. There were numerous vicissitudes, and Kuhani could find no relevant congruence in the seemingly related events.
He leaned forward, lifting the long, wooden handle, scooping a ladle full of liquid. The blistering stones hissed in protest as the soothing liquescence hit their surface. The priest jerked back, avoiding the fragrant steam releasing from the stones. He inhaled, watching the healing mist suffuse the room. Kuhani closed his eyes, still reflecting on the incalculable questions in his mind.
With the recent occurrences in Faélondul, the unknowns were mounting. Itai’s appearance in the carriage was related to the myriad enigmas. Now, there were Ahvixx’s entranced prognostications. As Kuhani recalled the words, he shook his head, turning back to the desk.
“Si’val tak isfan,” he murmured, examining the image Ahvixx had sketched. “The key of souls. Is this the key?”
[30]“Pahn’taal e’ronno.”
He heard the faint, hoarse voice, turning to see Ahvixx’s hand raise up.
“Sahma, pahn’taal e’ronno,” Ahvixx repeated.
Kuhani moved to the bed then, gently nudging Sahma awake.
“Ahvixx!” she said, hugging him tighter. “Thank the Guardians!”
Kuhani observed them for a few moments, and then rushed into the corridor to send for Nzuri.
“Ahvixx, by the gods, I thought you’d never awaken.”
“Sahma, [31]r’aymed doh’mahn tak k’ahndelae. Tak k’ahndelae. R’aymed Guardians zo’lahned pahn’tah, Sahma. Zo’lahned pahn’tah syanso desh k’ahndelae.”
She placed a finger on his dry lips, lifting a cup to his mouth.
“I don’t understand, Ahvixx. Please, wait for Drah’kuu Kuhani to return. I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”
His brow creased with confusion, until Kuhani entered with Nzuri.
[32]“Srahnáe Drah’kuu, r’aymed doh’mahn tak k’ahndelae. R’aymed Guardians zo’lahned pahn’tah. Zo’lahned pahn’tah syanso desh k’ahndelae,” he said, growing more agitated with each word.
“R’ryn sha’low, Ahvixx,” Kuhani said, helping Sahma from the stool.
“Be still,” Nzuri repeated in the common tongue. “You’re speaking Mehlonii. Calm your mind, and come to us fully,” he said, handing him a cup of steaming broth.
Ahvixx sipped the warm liquid, feeling its nurturing effects. Some color returned to his face, and after several moments, he blinked repeatedly, staring around the room.
“Sahma? Sahma!” he said, reaching out to her.
“Ahvixx, I thought I’d lost you. I’ve never been so frightened.”
“I’ll always be with you. Always. The Guardians wouldn’t allow me to be harmed. They—they protected me,” he said, holding her out at arm’s length. “I was taken to another place, another realm of existence. I was here, yet I was not.”
“Another realm?” Kuhani asked, moving closer.
“Yes. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced, Drah’kuu Kuhani. I was among them. I was with the Guardians, yet not as I’m with you now. It was another domain, another plane beyond that which we know.”
“How do you know? Could it have been a dream?” Nzuri asked.
“It wasn’t a dream. There, I was co
gnizant. The Guardians were with me when the darkness attempted to overcome me…my corporeal form. I could see it, as if I wasn’t there, but I was. I watched myself and this pallid apparition or…or wraith as it fought to consume me. It was amorphous: shifting consistency and mass.” He shook his head. “It—its name is Mah’saahc.”
“Mah’saahc?” Kuhani and Nzuri exchanged a glance.
“Yes. It, she spoke to me…taunted me. She knew who I was, and my connection to the Guardians. She knew.”
“Are you certain?” Nzuri asked.
“Yes,” he said, turning toward Kuhani. “I saw you there, too, though, you were not. You…you looked at me, speaking, reaching, but I couldn’t hear you. Your voice was like music, but the words weren’t coherent. I felt your connection, and drew strength from you as well. I…I didn’t know you, Drah’kuu, not until your mind merged with mine.”
Kuhani nodded, recalling a similar vision. When he’d initiated the extrasensory connection, he could hear Ahvixx’s thoughts, but not as words, but as what images would be if they were communicated verbally.
Kuhani thought he’d reached him, but Ahvixx never awakened.
“If you were aware of my presence, why didn’t you come to me?”
“I could not. The Guardians were aware, but wouldn’t permit the interruption. They showed me who you were, and what you will become.” Ahvixx smiled. “They imparted much to me, and I must prepare.”
“Can you tell us what happened, what’s coming?” Nzuri asked.
“Yes, Drah’kuu,” Ahvixx said, as if sharing his thoughts. “It was my error while meditating. Never should I have attempted such a connection with the doubt that was prevalent in my mind. My focus waned, allowing a presence into the farthest reaches of my subconscious.
“I was determined to discover the answers, unravel the tangles of information the Guardians had imparted. But I permitted fear into a place where it should never reside.”
Kuhani nodded.
“I feared failing Ayrmeis and the Guardians,” he said, looking at Sahma. “I’ve never believed myself worthy of their blessings, but the Guardians reminded me that their perception of my worthiness supersedes my own. I can choose whether to accept their gifts and allow them to prepare me, or I can refuse them.”
“You speak true, Ahvixx,” Nzuri said. “Your faith must be greater than your fear. The Guardians wouldn’t have chosen you if you weren’t worthy and able to overcome whatever you might face. Is there anymore to tell?”
Ahvixx drew Sahma closer.
“The vilest of images pervaded my mind. Each time I forced them away, some…some thing grasp hold of my consciousness, increasing in strength with each assault.
“I saw greying scenes of destruction, both Ayrmeis’ death and my own. The citadel was consumed in flames, encircling me within them. But it wasn’t as fire would burn. It fettered me to the ground, snaking around my limbs, syphoning my essence, and leaving a smoldering husk in its wake.”
Ahvixx raised a hand to his throat. “Mah’saahc was there, but only as a shadow or—or a form of herself. Her withered hands clawed at my flesh, every place she touched left seared and blistering. I—I tried to fight against her, to break free from her grasp, but she wasn’t tangible, not a corporeal being.”
“Did the specter speak?” Kuhani asked.
“No, she spoke no words that I could discern, only malefic resonances and mirth, mirth at my suffering. It wasn’t until the Guardians’ merge did I understand.”
“Understand what?” Nzuri asked.
Ahvixx regarded him with a wistful smile, caressing Sahma’s hand. He could feel her dolor and trepidation as if it was his own.
Partially closing his eyes, he focused on those memories, hearing a rhythmic cadence in the distance. As the Guardian’s image manifested in his mind, Ahvixx’s perception amplified. His eyes shifted to the table, his heartbeat synchronous with the clepsydra’s cadence, each drop adding to his calm.
“I no longer fear what lies ahead. The Guardians are always with me, guiding my steps and providing me strength.
“That was my error. I didn’t doubt their presence, but I relied solely on my own strength. I now understand what the Zaxson saw: the anguish and regret, the desolation and hopelessness of our people…all people,” Ahvixx said as if even as he spoke the revelations continued to emerge. He tossed aside the covers, struggling to stand.
“The Zaxson. I must speak with Sir Benoist.” When he nearly toppled, Kuhani steadied his stance, helping him back to the bed.
“We’ll send for him,” Kuhani said, motioning to Nzuri. “Pentanimir wanted to know when you awakened. For now, you must rest. The nectar and herbs have helped strengthen you, but you haven’t fully recovered. Allow the healing mist to relax you.
“I need you to still your thoughts, Ahvixx. Don’t push them from your mind, but organize that which you remember. When you first awakened, you didn’t speak in the common tongue. I wasn’t aware that you spoke the Guardian’s language.”
“I spoke Mehlonii?”
“You did, and fluently. You don’t remember?”
“No, I can decipher the written language, but I’ve only recently began speaking it with Thalassa.”
“It was fluent and complete. Did you speak this when you were with the Guardians?”
“I don’t know. They spoke to me, yet they did not. Their words were in my mind, my subconscious as if they were my own. Verbal communication wasn’t necessary. When they encompassed me within their light, everything was tacit: their thoughts, perceptions, and instructions were perspicuous.”
“Their light?”
“Yes, Drah’kuu. Each of the Seven emitted the warmest of luminosities. Their radiance was welcoming, beckoning me forward. When Mah’saahc attempted to confine me, to trawl me through the fracture—through the fissure within the gate. It was the Doh’Mahn Vwazi Tr’Eon. The dark gate, Drah’kuu.
“Mah’saahc knows of my importance. No, not my importance, but the importance of my assistance to Ayrmeis. It’s him they seek, but the Guardians have prevented them from using him. Their light and essence flows through Ayrmeis, strengthening him even now.”
“Is this light within you as well?”
Ahvixx nodded, realizing that truth. “It is, and I’m also being prepared. The Guardian’s essence caused Mah’saahc to abscond. The wraith can’t withstand the light, Drah’kuu.
“Mah’saahc attempted to syphon my essence, and deposit a portion of herself within me, gaining control of my corporeal form whilst holding hostage my soul.”
“Had the Guardians not intervened, Mah’saahc would have you at the Zaxson’s side, manipulating aspects of the impending conflict.”
“It’s more than that, Drah’kuu. Although it wasn’t her intent, Mah’saahc imparted much to me as well, but her mind or thought processes aren’t akin to ours. From what I could discern, it’s through the conduit on Sanctium that Mah’saahc is able to affect the mortal world. Sanctium must be secured. The si’val tak isfan, Drah’kuu Kuhani, the key of souls. I know where it is.”
“You’ve mentioned that before. What is the key of souls?”
“It’s the implement of her destruction. Even now, Mah’saahc is attempting to retrieve the relic,” he said, motioning to the parchment on the desk. “This is the image the Guardians placed in my thoughts. This is what Mah’saahc seeks. There’s one merged with her conduit on Sanctium, and he’s delivered one of the two si’val tak isfan fragments. He seeks the second now, yet he will not find it.”
Kuhani studied the image again, focusing on the intricate etchings. “Do you know where the second fragment can be found?”
“I do, Drah’kuu, and also those who have possession of it. The answers lie in the riddle that the Guardians spoke through me. The key of souls is but an element of the she’naad t’reyUhm. This is the scepter of the divine. When they’re joined, the Guardian’s energy flows through them. This is the only weapon we have against Mah’saah
c. Her essence will be drawn within the key.
“Drah’kuu, the same was imparted to you, but you didn’t fully comprehend. Ahgelon is awakened, and once the brothers return, Natelegé will be at their side.”
“The Brothers Xaahn and the Tresahnege? They’re emerging?”
“Soon, Drah’kuu. The K’ohshulians will also be integral in protecting Faélondul. That is where the Guardians have placed the rod. The sky leopard will herald its coming.”
Sahma buried her face in his shoulder.
“Don’t worry, my love, I’ve been granted the clarity that I sought. Neither of us should fear. The Guardians are with us.”
Kuhani stared at the image. He was aware of the Brothers connection with Faélondul, but he hadn’t known that Natelegé would leave the Animus Wood. As with the AsZar, Natelegé’s life energies were sustained through her connection with Afferea.
He turned back to Ahvixx, needing to learn more. No one had mentioned the leopard of the sky since before Kuhani had left K’ohshul. More of the enigmas began to unravel, whilst others emerged in their place.
“Ahvixx, the key will draw the wraith?” Kuhani asked.
He nodded, still consoling his wife. “In a manner. Yasu and Shintao have arrived in Nazil, and the others will join them soon,” Ahvixx said.
“Indeed,” Kuhani said, allowing his eyes to convey his deeper understanding. “Tell me more about your preparation.”
“It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced or imagined. I don’t have the words to adequately convey the exquisiteness of their merge. All the questions in my heart and mind were made perspicuous.
“They allowed me a glimpse, a—a portion of the realms as they see them. The sight is beyond comprehension. It’s ubiquitous: every thing, every time, every place, all at once. Past, present, and future merge as one, and in a coalescence of sorts. The disorder has symmetry to the Seven. This is how they see, Drah’kuu.
“I espied myself; not as I now exist, but as a boy, and then as an older man with my sons, and that of another.”
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