by Lexy Wolfe
“No, of course n—wait.” He closed his eyes a moment, taking a deep breath then exhaling as he opened them again. “Yes, I do. It looks like that rock you did whatever with to stop the pixies from attacking us.” He blinked several times to clear his vision and stare at Ash. “How did you know?”
“I had believed Avarian to be naïve and unaware what the impact on Forentan society would be if others learned what he had. He had no intention of returning the knowledge he gained to Forenta because they were not ready.” He grimaced, putting his hand to his temple, then shook his head once sharply. “If he was, it was believing no one would wield forbidden magicks on the scale it had been used.”
Nolyn frowned, taking a step toward his brother. “Ash, your nose is bleeding.”
The man waved him back impatiently. “A side effect of dwelling on memories outside this lifetime so intensely. Don’t worry about that now. We need to see this through.” He looked at Nolyn, holding up his right palm with the star-shaped mark that mirrored Nolyn’s. “This is the key to enlightenment.”
Terrence stood away from Marcus’s support. “You think Avarian had hidden something away here in Desantiva?”
“I know he did. If only because Nolyn found what Avarian and Zhekali had left in Forenta.” He looked at the scar in his palm. “I suspect there was more, but…” He grimaced, uttering a pained sound as he put both heels of his hands to his temples. “The memories aren’t going to go dormant again if we don’t open this.”
“Fine, fine,” Nolyn said. He moved to the place the invisible stone and symbol were. “I have no idea how this bond between us is a key, but I’ll trust you. What do you need me to do?”
“The symbol embedded in the stone is energized with Desanti magic. Which is essentially infusing it with life energy,” Ash explained as he knelt.
Terrence tilted his head, scratching his cheek. “Life is in the blood,” he murmured.
The man nodded. “Earlier, I just energized half of this to disrupt the pixies and chitan. I’m going to do it again, but I need you to do it on the spirit side at the same time, Nolyn.”
“You focus on the waking world’s fabric while I do the same with the spirit.” He knelt by the rock, looking at it a moment before exhaling. “I wonder what the symbol stands for.”
“It has been so long…It is is Avarian’s family’s before they took his name to begin a new line, his twin brother starting the Oberlain house. The original family ended with their feud.”
Nolyn mused to himself. “And Star still found it familiar? I wonder why.” He shook his head, clearing his mind to focus as he knelt, facing the other mage. “Ready when you are, Ash.”
The other nodded, drawing his knife again. At the same time, both cut their palms and placed them on the symbols in front of them. Both stiffened with a sudden jolt of energy that ran between them. The invisible rock solidified as a sarcophagus appeared. Ash gritted his teeth, his voice strained. “Terrence, Marcus, quickly. Get whatever is hidden in there out.”
Both pixies and chitan swarmed over the lid, their combined efforts moving it aside. The younger men leaned over the side, drawing back briefly in shock as they saw a body lying there, its arms wrapped around three thick books. At its neck rested a pendant with a circle bearing two crossed swords. Marcus looked between the body inside and Nolyn with wide eyes, the two sharing remarkably similar features. “Master?”
“Just get whatever is in there, Apprentice,” the man snapped. “We can’t hold this forever!”
The corpse began disintegrating into dust and bones when a breeze blew over it. Marcus grabbed the top book when the hands fell apart. He backed away as fast as he could, his eyes wide in fear.
Terrence gathered the other two books, hesitated, and then grabbed the pendant, pulling it off the remains. Before Ash and Nolyn’s efforts collapsed, he noticed an ornate box tucked by the corpse’s hip. He took it before the entire structure shuddered and vanished.
The rock beneath Ash’s hand split, the gold symbol losing its luster. He sat on the ground hard, putting his arm on an up-drawn knee, resting his forehead on his wrist. He waved a hand at the chirping Chitta. “Just…give me a moment…to catch my breath. I’ll be…fine.”
Nolyn, not quite as taxed, sat back with his hands propping him upright, turning his face toward the sky as he took deep breaths. “By the gods, Ash. I’ve done more weird shit since you wandered off with Almek than my entire life before then.”
Ash laughed, raising his head and taking a rag to wipe the blood from his nose. “That is saying something, Master ‘I Wonder What Will Happen If I Do This.’”
“Hey, now,” Nolyn scolded without rancor. “You’re going to give my apprentice ideas.”
The man dragged himself to his feet. “If he is your apprentice, I can’t imagine he doesn’t already get ideas.” He looked at the young man. “You need to step up your game if you intend to catch up to your master in antics and punishments.”
Marcus stared at Ash with wide eyes, turning to stare at Nolyn. “Master?” He raised the book he hugged up to hide his grin, but couldn’t smother the giggles.
Nolyn staggered over to join the pair with the books. “So, what all was in there that had you so flustered?”
“You were, Master,” the boy replied. Nolyn arched an eyebrow. Marcus turned red, lowering his eyes. “Well, not you you.”
At the brothers’ frowns, Terrence clarified, “There was a body that held the books. Before it fell apart, it…looked distinctly like you, Nolyn. Albeit older, but…you.” He shifted the things he held to hand the pendant to him. “He was wearing this.”
Nolyn took it, frowning between it and the one around Terrence’s neck. “Similar to yours. A bit scuffed with age and use.” He looked up. “Human made?”
“It appears so,” Ash observed, turning from the group to study the place the sarcophagus had been. “The details are fading from my memory now, but I believe Avarian wanted to safeguard what he learned until the world was better prepared to face whatever he discovered. When your counterpart passed on, Avarian and a spiritwalker put his tomb and these things between the living world and the spirit one. It required the bond we share to bring it back to this side.”
Terrence looked at the twin, thick books he held, opening the cover of the top one. His expression turned blank in shock. “Ash, he recorded everything he learned about Desanti magic. They are his journals!”
“Not this one.” Marcus turned to let Terrence look. “This journal is someone else’s.”
Mine, an unfamiliar voice whispered in Nolyn’s ear. If he did not know he looked at a spirit, the mage would have thought he stared into a mirror. The spirit grinned. We were like brothers, Avarian and I. It wasn’t until the end I understood…He closed his eyes briefly. I promised to safeguard his legacy until he returned for it, even in death. He glanced at the others, then back to Nolyn. I pray you do better by your brother than I had by mine. He gestured toward the box Terrence held. Consider that a gift to you. Make sure it goes to someone dear to you.
“Wait!” Nolyn held his hand out to the spirit. “What’s your name? Are you…kin to me?”
The spirit offered a sad smile and waved toward Marcus. All the answers are in my last journal. But I doubt we are kin. I never had children. He winked. You have to agree that a face as handsome as ours is bound to reappear again after a few hundred years. It would be too cruel to the world to deprive it of our perfection. He turned away, saying as he faded, Maybe I’ll come back as your son. Or better yet. A daughter! That could be fun.
“Definitely not a relative,” he muttered. He explained to the others’ bewilderment, “Apparently my counterpart was less than modest.”
“You have your moments,” Ash teased. Nolyn made a rude gesture, drawing laughter from Terrence and Marcus.
The group sat around the small fire, numerous spheres of magelight clinging to the shelter’s ceiling to brighten the area. Several chitan and pixies flew close to
inspect them with wariness or wonder while Izkynder chased Chitta and a few other chitan with joyful laughter.
Storm shifted her position in discomfort. When Ash offered her his folded robe to sit on, she moved closer to him with extreme gratitude. “I suppose if Zhekali took firebirds to Forenta, it is not surprising Avarian would have left books in Desantiva.” She fingered the cover of one of them, lost in thought. “Though I am unsure how the Totani would not have known about it.”
Ash rubbed her lower back absently as he looked at the book. “Perhaps there is something of paradox in this that blinded them to it?”
“In books? Knowledge? I don’t think so,” she said, but her voice did not have any certainty. “Paradox is usually in living things. These are not alive, no matter what you say of journals.”
“Regardless, I am grateful for chancing upon them.” Terrence took the book Storm handed to him. “It may not be everything about Desanti magic, but it will aid me in learning the fundamentals without years of trial and error.” He carefully wrapped them in an oiled hide to protect them. “I was praying for some sort of help because Dzee can only answer most of my questions, and even then, she can only answer them indirectly. I don’t know where to begin to ask most of the time.”
“It had to have been over two thousand years ago those things were secreted away.” Bella bit off a piece of jerky. “Do you think temporal ripples can go that far, Tyrsan?”
“Perhaps,” the large Sevmanan man mused, rubbing his chin. “Given the magnitude of events, I would not be very surprised.”
“Ripples?” Mureln frowned. “Do you mean the sort that Guardians of Time are supposed to prevent?”
“There are two types of ripples.” Tyrsan took a piece of stone, drawing several concentric circles. “The ones we try to minimize are here.” He tapped the center. “The originating points of ripples. The others are here.” He tapped the outer arc. “The ones that have been in motion for some time. All we can do is try to resolve them or blunt their impacts. Most lose their momentum once the originating impulse has found its resolution, one way or another. Of course, if they don’t find it quickly, they become more impacting the further out they go.”
Storm fidgeted with the tail of her simple braid. “Do you think everything that has happened to the world was my fault?”
The others traded perplexed looks, confused by the emotions accompanying Storm’s question. “Whyever would you think anything was your fault?” Taylin asked. “If nothing else, you were more of a victim getting caught up in them.”
“You don’t know that!” Storm snapped. “Humans are the greatest cause of ripples because they are not bound by divine laws.”
“But Zhekali was a Totani,” the healer argued.
“Not always,” she said in a small voice, eyes on her hands as she covered the swell of her abdomen.
Taylin made a sound of disgust. “Well, not after the Great War, thanks to Kendle’s stupidity, of course not.”
“You are not listening to me!” Storm got to her feet with less grace than usual, trembling with emotion. “Why do you think Endarian tortured her? Zhekali had been a human who discovered how to become something she was not. He tried to learn her secret to save his mortal son Avarian!” Ignoring their shocked expressions, she ran out into the dark.
Nolyn’s eyes went wide. “Avarian was Endarian’s…son?”
Ash and Terrence both cringed from pain shooting through their right forearms. “Oh, dear gods,” Ash whispered. He stumbled in his rush to get to his feet and run after Storm. “Aelia!”
Terrence sat heavily on the floor, missing the rock he intended to sit on and barely noticing the jarring impact. He stared at nothing, in shock. “The Trisari…what the Trisari had done…”
Nolyn shook his shoulder. “Terrence, come on, snap out of it.”
“You don’t understand.” Terrence’s eyes were wide, his light complexion gray. “We’re supposed to bridge the gap between mages and warriors. I am supposed to. But why should the Desanti trust Forenten when our divine servants broke divine law? They view their laws as immutable. How do we prove we won’t just decide something is inconvenient and disregard it?”
STORM STUMBLED THROUGH the dark until she came to the A’tyrna Ulan pillar and collapsed against it, dry sobs wracking her. The wind swirled around her, but she could neither see nor feel the spirit kneeling beside her, anxious and worried. “Quinn,” she whispered harshly. “Forgive me. It is my fault. All your suffering. All your siblings’ suffering…everything about the Great War is my fault.”
Ash entered the clearing, heard her last words, and knelt by his lifemate. He pulled her against him, holding her tight. “No, Aelia. I will never believe you were ever at fault for anything. Never.”
“But I was a human who became immortal. Long before the Trisari had…” She shook her head until he put a hand along her cheek and held her firmly, hushing her. “If I had not done that, they would not have—”
He shifted to catch one hand and press his lips against it. “Aelia, stop. Think for a moment.” He looked into her eyes, holding her gaze as he kissed her knuckles. “Why did Zhekali become a Totani?”
She blinked, his calm demeanor soothing her. “Why…? To protect my tribe. The divisions between the factions were growing beyond my ability to cope with. As much as I tried to teach balance, the hunters and the scholars would argue whose philosophy was best. Nothing would stop them.” She closed her eyes. “My body was old and I tired so easily. I was losing the ability to protect anyone.”
“The balance was threatened, so you changed yourself to protect it.” He caressed her cheek, tilting her chin up. “Beloved, there is no way such a fixed desire to protect the balance, the people. Hells, the world itself. No possible way it could have caused ripples that resulted in devastation that caused an even greater imbalance.”
He kissed a tear away. “If nothing else, you were the result of someone else’s ripples. A bastion against the forces that would destroy what you put so much of yourself in to protect.”
“You believe that?” she whispered.
“More than anything in the world.” He held her close for a long time before he drew her to her feet. He paused by the pillar and put his hand on it. “Thank you for watching over her, Quinn. I promise, we will come with Izkynder so we can speak once more before we leave.” The wind blew again, a sad, gentle caress before it went still again.
Once they were well away from anyone, Ash asked in a low voice, “Tell me something.” She stopped, reaching up to turn his face toward hers. “Did Zhekali…know? What Avarian was? Who his…who his sire was?”
“Yes. She had always known. His scent was uniquely his, but echoed his sire enough she recognized who it had been. The mortal son of her immortal torturer.” He could see her sad smile in the moonlight as she put both hands on his cheeks. “No, she did not blame him for what Endarian had done to her. She was wary of him for being northborn. What Endarian had done, he had done it because he loved his son.”
“How can you say that?” he demanded. “How can you forgive him?! He treated Zhekali worse than an animal.”
“He was not alone. I remember that both Totani and Trisari looked at the other as beneath them. The Totani’s demands on their mortal charges were harsh and callous, blind to the suffering they inflicted. The Trisari…many looked at humans, especially the Totani’s humans, as things.
“The First Sundering was the war between them that had also embroiled the humans. And gave birth to the Knowing One and the Raging One. The ancient trinity stopped the war before either got an answer to the question that fueled it.”
He took her hands in his, holding them against his heart. “Question? What question could possibly warrant so much destruction?”
“Who was stronger? Whose philosophy was right? Did the physical matter more or did the mental? The Roylat who could not decide instigated the First Sundering.” She closed her eyes. “I don’t know what caused the sec
ond. The Trisari had already been punished. The Totani remained in Desantiva’s territory as they were told to.
“But I know why Endarian did what he did. Other Trisari parented human children in an effort to make their humans stronger, faster than the Totani’s humans grew in strength. He sired a son out of love for the head of house of the family he patroned. But his son was mortal, and he suddenly realized what that meant. He could not bear to watch him grow up, grow old and die. To never be able to reach out to him as a parent when he was reborn. Mortal lives are so brief when you are immortal. He was desperate because he loved Avarian.”
Ash sighed, shoulders sagging. “So many terrible things have been done to Zhekali. How can you be so tolerant? Forgiving?”
“Zhekali was tolerant. I am…not. She could forgive easily, but it is not nearly as easy for me. I don’t know if I can be as she had been ever again.” He turned her face toward his. “I am sorry I am not…more than I am now.”
“Beloved, I am not asking for more. You are nearly everything I could ever want.” When he saw her confusion at the unexpected expression of lack, he stepped nearer with a tender smile, putting his hand on her swollen belly. “The only thing you are not, yet, is the mother of our children. And I will do all in my power to ensure I do not lose any of you.” He laced his fingers with hers and turned toward the camp. “Let’s get back to the others. I know I left things in a bit of chaos.”
She squeezed his hand. “Forgive me for not telling you.”
“If you need it, you are forgiven.” A small smile touched his lips. “But it doesn’t change who either of us were or are. Avarian loved Zhekali the woman, not the Totani. Knowing that she did not hold him responsible for the sins of his father—especially learning what Endarian had done to her—makes their love even more precious to me.” They started walking again. “And you gave your heart to a man you only knew as your people’s mortal enemy. As I gave mine to you.
“But there is one thing.” Storm looked puzzled at the abrupt change in the tenor of his voice as he stopped walking. He stood in front of her, looking into her eyes before he wrapped her in a near crushing embrace, whispering gruffly in her ear. “Thank you, Zhekali, my heart. For accepting me. Saving me.” Her eyes closed against the tears that sprang to them. “Loving me.”
