“I remember Ka Reine talking about the council in the Arts District. Those are the Wisdom Walkers that specialized in one local planet. They form your government, right?” Cole asked.
“One council member from each house. Twenty-one greedy, single-minded, stiff-necks to tell the rest of us how to lace our boots.” Roth’s face twisted as though he’d just tasted something foul. “Judge for yourself when we get there. I don’t much care for the puffed-up bureaucrats.” Roth’s eyes perked up. “Ah, finally.”
Cole followed Roth’s gaze to the sky above. The dim morning light swelled to what felt like a high-noon sun, though he couldn’t quite see Allias’s star over the trees. Then, just as quickly as it flared, the daylight faded into such a deep shade of night that Cole thought his eyes had stopped working. He pressed his fingers to his eyelids, blinded once more by his lime-green flash of Wisdom. Blinking away the pressure, he cast his blind gaze about, looking for the stars. The first thing he noticed was a brilliant amethyst object at about eye level. Oberon smiled at him from across the White Sands, humming through every shade of purple while bathing the pearly waves in hues of feathery lilac and rich plum. Cole found Roth silhouetted in a robe of magenta that glinted off his shrouded armor. His bladed hair dangled over his broad shoulders, tinkling like glass as he took in the stars that began to sprout in the empty canvas above them.
“I thought as much,” Roth said to himself. “Grab the prisoner, we’re headed straight out from here.” He pointed a claw out over the middle of the White Sands: “See the star that flickers red and white?”
Cole nodded. “Yeah, the little guy in between the triangle looking thing.”
He looked back at Roth. Even in Oberon’s dim glow Cole could see the smirk on his face. “Just follow me…If you can keep up.”
Cole made a squeaking noise as Roth took a step into open air and disappeared off the ledge. Cole crouched, wrapping his arms around his body and legs, feeling as if a piece of himself had just plummeted off the cliff. Taking several deep breaths, he took inventory of his magical tool box and tried to think about it as if this were a simple math problem back in school. He had everything he needed, but would he be able to maintain the spells while falling through the air?
Twisting his thoughts, he forced reality to accept his will. There was an immediate lightening of his body. He poured more of his conviction into the idea until he felt almost completely weightless. The effect spread to his clothes as well, rippling his shirt in waves of distorted gravity. He tested the magic with a few little hops. Using only his toes he floated several feet into the air before falling back down as slow as a feather. Pleased, he reinforced the spell with his trust and remaining focus, spreading the field until the small rocks around him began to float upwards. With barely enough focus left to walk, he bobbed towards Milette, who was no longer lying on the ground, but standing. She looked ready to bolt. Cole would have been shocked if he was not already spell-drunk.
She recoiled, taking a timid step back. “I will not be going off that cliff.”
“Yes. Yes you will,” Cole said with slurred speech. Truthfully he had no idea how he was going to force her to do anything. He could barely keep himself from seeing double.
Milette shook her head dismissively, as though she knew he had no power over her. She turned on the spot and lunged for the forest, only to find that her feet were no longer joined with the rocky ledge. She rose and spun as she kicked her feet like a swimming child. “No… no you can’t! Stay away from me!”
Waiting for her spinning to expose her back, Cole hooked his fingers around the collar of her jacket and dragged her towards the edge. Her moans filled the air as she thrashed. She clubbed her newly healed stumps over the back of her neck in a fruitless attempt to free herself. Through the river of magic in Cole’s mind, a fuzzy memory of Lileth pulling him off the baileen swam forth as he took a bounding leap off the edge. He trusted the magic, like a child trusting the arms of his parents to catch him. Milette however, did not. Even though they were falling more slowly than heavy smoke, she wailed and cried as though they were plummeting to their deaths.
Cole pulled himself close to her, speaking in a calm, reassuring voice: “Don’t worry. I have you.”
Milette scrambled and crawled over Cole like a squirrel so that he wore her like an oversized backpack. She buried her eyes in his neck as wisps of her hair stuck to Cole’s sweaty face. He was quietly thankful that she had no hands as the death-grip of her severed wrists was nearly enough to choke him.
The cliff was not entirely vertical, and before long his bare feet gently pushed off a boulder, propelling them farther along. He couldn’t see Roth yet, but he was confident that his Master was waiting not-so-patiently for him at the bottom. He continued bounding down the rocky wall, loosening and tightening his hold on the magic when needed to speed up their progress. The frequency of his jumps increased as the slope of the wall gentled and the rocks gave way to flat sand.
“Nice rucksack you got there,” Roth grunted. “Bet you’re re-thinking your policy on prisoners now aren’t you?”
Cole ended his spell and heaved Milette off his shoulders, landing her heavily into the sand at his feet. “Don’t you go running off!” Cole half panted, half shouted at her as she rose into a defensive crouch. “I’ll chase you down and take your feet off if you do.” Reluctantly, he drew his munisica to emphasize the point.
Milette eyes darted from Cole’s claws to the towering cliff, as though judging her chances of escape. After laying eyes on Roth, she slumped back down into the sand with a look of utter dejection.
Roth’s laugh shook the air. “Ha! You’re my student after all.” He gave Cole a rough pat on the shoulder, sinking his feet several inches into the sand. “Nothing like a sincere threat from the bottom of your heart to make a point, eh?” He laughed again, walking past Cole and stopping directly in front of Milette. “Stand up.” His tone hardened to granite, giving no hint of leniency. “I said stand up and look at me.”
Milette rose to her feet. She was taller than most Aenerians, but she still had to arch her neck back as far as it would go to meet Roth’s eyes.
Roth huffed his approval. He snatched a single blade of his obsidian hair and dragged it slowly across her neck. A neat line of crimson blood crawled across her skin.
He took the blade of hair into his mouth, sucking on it. “You taste like a coward.”
Milette whimpered.
“I love cowards,” Roth said, bringing his face less than an inch from hers. “You know, you ought to be thanking Cole here. I usually enforce a very strict penalty on those who practice the arts of the Three. I would have taken your head, but luckily your captor has the mercy of a saint and only took your hands. You’re his prisoner and you work for him now, but seeing as he works for me I guess that makes me your boss. He’ll deal with you as he sees fit, but if you so much as vex me in the slightest…” He brought his munisica to her face, black clawed fingers growing and wrapping all the way around her skull, “…I’ll be coming for that head, sweetheart. You get all that?”
Milette’s voice trembled as she nodded as much as she could without losing an eye. “Y-yes.”
Roth’s smile deepened. He held her gaze for a moment longer before turning towards the ocean of sand. “Morthain is about half a day’s walk towards that red and white star, so it’s a good thing we won’t be walking,” he said, turning his head towards Cole. “Stay behind me and don’t wander off or you’ll have to teach yourself how to swim in dust. Hail Eliza if you can. They should be there by now.” And without another word Roth shot off at a steady gallop, the twinkling red and white star hanging directly above him.
“Get moving.” Cole flattened his ebony claw into a single blade and jabbed it at Milette’s back.
She gave him a look of deepest loathing, as though imagining him a painful death. “Do you intend on running behind me the whole time? What if I get tired or decide I’ve had enough?”
Cole bent his munisica and jabbed her in the ribs with a flat part of his claws. “Then I’ll take the rest of your arms off. Less weight to carry, right?” He carefully opened the throttle of his Rage, just enough for the shroud to spread up his shoulders and hair. Hopefully his deeds at the village would be enough to persuade her.
Milette’s scowl cracked into a defeated sob as she lowered her head and started after Roth. Cole followed close behind, letting her know that he would have no trouble keeping up with her long legs. The sand was loose, sapping his energy and requiring he maintain his hold on the Rage just to keep pace. Milette slowed soon enough, gasping and panting. Cole felt a swell of satisfaction at not being the slowest one in the group, but he began to worry what Roth might think of her waning speed. He couldn’t even see his shadow over the sands anymore. Cole was about to loose a spell to make Milette run faster, when he felt an imposing presence enter his mind like an avalanche of fire.
“Keep your pace.” Roth’s thoughts filled Cole’s mind, making his skin tingle with ambient fury. “I’ll run ahead and trigger any ambushes that might be waiting for us. The Morthainians aren’t known for their hospitality. Aim for that star.”
Before Cole could respond, Roth left his mind as quickly as he came. Noticing Milette drifting too far to the left, he shouted at her to keep for the red and white star. Her pace continued to slow, allowing Cole to release his hold on the Rage and reach out to Eliza with his Passion. In his mind he found her strings easily enough, but they were slackened and out of tune. He tried tightening the lines, but couldn’t manage to hold on to them. He simply wasn’t relaxed enough to attune himself to their usual link. Throwing his doubts aside, he grabbed the line and shouted with his thoughts, calling for Eliza. He felt something on the other side, immediate and fuzzy, but he also sensed her groping her way closer, changing her countenance to match his. With ringing clarity, her voice chimed in his head.
Her presence was emboldening. “I was wondering when I might hear from you again. Is all well with the two of you?”
“We are well, but there are three of us now. We stumbled upon two Aenerians torturing a soul fly. Roth made me stop them, and they of course attacked me. I killed one and took the other as prisoner.” His embarrassment flooded through the link, so he addressed it. “I should have been strong enough to kill this one too. Now we’re slowed down and I have no idea what I’m going to do with her.”
Cole pushed images of the ordeal through the link. He could feel her Rage flare at the idea of someone attacking him, though there was a measure of serene pride as well. “It certainly would have been easier to kill them both, but ending a person’s life for mere convenience is not who you are. Defending yourself is quite different from murder. Killing her would have killed a part of yourself, and would have made it easier to do so again. I am proud to count you as a friend, Cole.”
“Thanks, Eliza. Where are you now? And how are the others?”
Eliza’s wry laughter echoed in his mind. “You mean ‘how’s Lileth?’ I’m sorry, I shouldn’t jest. Hiding one’s inner thoughts is impossible through the link. We are well and eager to be off this beast. The baileen has grown irritable and doesn’t seem to like the piles that Goran keeps leaving on its back. It has agreed to take us to Morthain, but I doubt it will take us any farther. I can see the sands ahead. They look quite stunning under Oberon’s current mood. I estimate we‘ll be there in under an hour. What of you, when will you arrive at Morthain?”
Cole brought his attention back to Milette, barking a command to keep her on course. “I’m guessing within a few hours. Probably longer, seeing as my prisoner isn’t capable of any magic to make her run faster. Roth said that Morthainians might attack us, so be careful when you get there.”
“Then the Morthainians would be in for a lesson in humility. Thank you for the warning. I will see you very soon, brother.”
Cole’s affection for Eliza gushed into the link, bringing a smile to both their faces. “See you soon.”
He withdrew from the connection, realizing he had fallen several paces off the trail and was knee deep in soft, powdery sand. With a few awkward leaps he righted himself onto the hard packed dirt and caught up to his prisoner. Milette maintained a limping shuffle, clutching a cramp at her side with both her stumps. Her breath sounded as if her throat were made of rust. Roth had told them to maintain their pace, but this was ridiculous. Even back on Earth Cole could have kept up with her, and she was a good three feet taller than he was. Cole pitied her however. As quietly as he could, he slowly poured his Wisdom into her, lessening the gravity on her body so she might think she was running faster on her own. After several hours of painful slogging, they slowed at Roth’s standing figure.
Roth turned, his towering form outlined in a soft lavender glow. “We have arrived at Morthain.”
Milette collapsed in a puff of sand as Cole trotted up next to Roth, searching from horizon to horizon. The landscape looked just as barren as when they started, except now he couldn’t see the cliffs they’d entered from.
Cole frowned. “I thought Morthain would be some kind of city. This doesn’t look like anything.”
Roth bent low, sifting his claws through the flowing sands off the trail. “This is where Morthain was the last time I was here. Morthain lies just across the barrier on the light side, so no one has had contact with their people since before the banishing. Where’s the rest of your unit?”
“They should be here any minute.” Cole searched the stars and noticed a small shadow growing larger every second. “That could be them now, right above us.”
Milette and Roth followed Cole’s arm to the gap in the stars, where five figures descended quickly, each tinged with various shades of green. Cole recognized Goran immediately as his friend was easily twice the size of anyone else. After a minute the five glowing shadows alighted on the hardened path.
Cole ran up to Goran and attempted to pry his massive hand from his face. “Goran! Don’t worry you big baby, you’re on real ground now.”
“Coo…cha?” Goran poked his head up, his ruby eyes scanning the area around him before locking on Cole. He jumped to all fours, pounding his hands on the ground with excitement.
Cole lunged and threw his arms around Goran’s neck, hugging him tightly. They wrestled back and forth. Cole dug his bladed feet into the hard path to prevent Goran from dropping back into the powder-sand. “Hey watch it there, Bud. Don’t fall back into the loose stuff.” He opened their familiar link, impressing upon Goran the significance of the water-like powder behind him.
Goran snorted, dropping his head and bumping it gently into Cole’s chest.
“It’s good to see you too,” Cole said through a mouthful of Goran’s snow-white mohawk. He gave him a solid head butt before turning towards the others.
Valen, Eliza, Sitra and Lileth each had a lean, worn look about them, as though they hadn’t had a decent meal or night’s sleep since Costas. Cole wanted to rush over and hug them all, but there was a grim silence in the air that he was hesitant to penetrate. Sensing his feelings, Eliza walked through the circle and picked Cole up in a deep embrace, pouring all her compassion through their link. He let himself cry against the stained cloth armor of her shoulder. Seeing them all together made Storn’s absence painfully obvious. Cole’s thoughts even spiraled down to darker places, thinking of Lexy and Joshy. Eliza felt all of it and shared the burden of grief. After she set him back down he felt light and refreshed, as if he had just woken from a perfect nap.
Valen cast a sideways glance at the two of them, apparently waiting for them to pay attention. “Master Roth, we have come as ordered. What is our next task?”
The color fell from Cole’s face. Task? They were all exhausted and looked like starved dogs. Roth may be perfectly capable of running all the way to Oberon and back, but Cole didn’t think he could make it another mile.
Sitra stepped around Valen, cutting him off. “He means ‘where’s our next meal?’ We
haven’t had a bite since before Costas. Eliza had to trick some birds into flying close enough for us to snare them, but that was days ago.”
Roth bent down, scooping the white sand in his claws and looking off into the distance. “Your next task was supposed to be racking up in Morthain for the night, but it seems as if the entire city is gone. We will leave the sands and seek shelter on the other side.”
Lileth twirled her fingers, producing her jade-crystalline telescope from thin air. She put the device to her eye and gazed out under Oberon. “I can’t even see the tops of the mountains.” She placed the telescope between her palms, closing them until it vanished entirely. “Master Roth, I’m not sure we have the resources to cover such a vast distance. We are more than weary.”
Roth inclined his head and looked at them all with a look of steely disappointment. “Do none of you have the Rage that I gifted to you before your mission?”
The group shook their collective heads. Valen spoke for them. “Most of us used it while fighting the Domina, or had it pulled from us by Kreed and his priests. Lileth is correct, we are too diminished to run across the sands.”
Roth scowled while considering each of them, sizing them up as though thinking about carrying the lot of them to the mountains himself. “Then you’ll have to drag your weary asses to the other side.” He raised an eyebrow and glared at them all, daring someone to voice a complaint. No one did. “This is war. The hardest part isn’t always fighting or watching your friends take their last. Before this is over you’ll find yourselves facing an obstacle thrice as daunting as this little walk, and you’ll wish you had as much energy as you do right now. We will head straight for Oberon Temple. Since the entire group has yet to master flight, we will create our own walking path over the loose sands. Ready your spells. We leave in five minutes.”
The group tested the soft sand, wading out into it and trying various means of keeping afloat. Cole hadn’t the slightest idea as to how he would navigate the sands. The soft powder was insubstantial and grew steadily deeper the farther he strayed from the hard path.
Saving The Dark Side Book 2: The Harbingers Page 5
