by Lori Hyrup
Kharra admitted to possessing two other abilities. The first was empathy, which allowed her to sense the emotions of those around her. She explained that while she did not try to read another person’s thoughts with mind seeking, her empathy was automatic, and it was sometimes difficult for her to block out really strong emotions.
As Kharra explained the workings of empathy, Aria reflected on the time she had spent with the two travelers. Aria noted several occasions during which her emotions, most notably anger, had threatened to overwhelm her. Kharra must have sensed that. On each occasion Kharra had touched her, usually on her arm or shoulder. Now that Aria thought about it, she realized those moments of contact had had an immediate calming effect.
Aria knew she was only just beginning to grasp what these abilities could do, but she surmised that Kharra had also been able to use them on Xierex. It explained how a woman the zegu did not know was able to calm him and even get him to understand abstract concepts, such as Zephyron’s transformation.
The conversation shifted from the discussion of empathy to one about her last ability—mind moving. Kharra could cause objects to move, apply force to something, and even create invisible but tangible barriers with just a thought. Through their discussion, Aria realized that Kharra had used the ability to open the blockaded door in White Bluff. The nature of this ability boggled Aria’s mind most of all, but still, the logical side of her brain worked through all the practical applications such an ability could afford. Aria pressed Kharra with questions about mind moving, but the other woman often evaded or redirected them to something else. Aria relented, sensing Kharra’s reluctance to discuss it further.
Aria’s mind wandered from the conversation as she slowed Xierex to a cooldown walk. She patted the zegu and scanned the sky through the trees but said nothing. Zephyron slowed beside her.
You’ve gone silent, came a much softer thought from Kharra. I hope this is not overwhelming you.
“Not at all,” she said. Now that they were walking, she thought it appropriate to use her voice again.
You are taking all of this very well, Aria, said Zephyron.
“I take it my reaction isn’t typical?”
Unfortunately, Zephyron responded, the tone of his mind voice solemn. Wars have been fought because some feared these abilities.
Aria fell into a quiet cadence as she rode. Her mind swam with an abundance of information to process. Her two companions grew silent as well.
They rode for several more hours with no new words or thoughts exchanged, at least not with Aria. Her mind had wandered back to her own immediate concerns involving the shards. A sense of anxiety festered at the bottom of her stomach, but she ignored it the best she could. At last she located the small trail she sought. Leading with Xierex, she guided their group off the main road and up a narrow game trail. After climbing steadily for another two hours, Aria called a halt near a small lake.
Aria dismounted and walked to the lake’s edge, stretching her legs as she went. Kharra followed. Aria stood in silence as she stared out across the water. No more than one hundred feet across and two hundred feet wide, the lake was dominated by a pair of waterfalls that fell from vastly different heights but mingled together partway down, giving the main waterfall the appearance of having two colors—one of beautiful cold blue water and the other, warmer, a translucent white. The waters fell against a backdrop of vibrant mossy-green cliffs, and Aria closed her eyes as the spray washed over her face.
“Aria, this is beautiful,” whispered Kharra beside her.
Aria nodded. She loved many places across Tanoria, but this was one of her favorites. “I come here every time I pass through this region. When I leave, I always feel revitalized.”
“There is a shallow vein beneath us,” said Zephyron from behind them, clothed and kneeling with one hand on the ground.
Aria frowned. She had not heard his approach. “I never gave much thought to veins as you call them,” she admitted.
Zephyron nodded. “In fact,” he said as he pulled off his tunic, “I believe there is a shard beneath those falls there.” He continued to strip. Aria crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Kharra blushed, but a small smile twitched at the edge of her lips.
The man rippled with lines of muscles, and the handful of scars across his torso and back only gave them more definition. He dived out toward the center of the lake, swimming with long, powerful strokes. Even in the water, he moved with majestic grace; the water barely stirred with his passing. Aria gave herself a shake as Zephyron’s head disappeared beneath the surface.
Several minutes passed, and he had not yet surfaced. “Don’t worry. He can hold his breath for a long time,” Kharra said without turning her head.
Aria regarded the younger woman.
Kharra’s head turned to meet her eyes. “You gave nothing away. In fact you are very adept at controlling your outward appearance, but…” She tapped her head. “Empathy.”
Aria frowned. “That must be a burden, to always sense those around you.”
“It used to be, before I learned to shield myself from the outside. In the village where I grew up, any time a child scraped their knee, I burst into tears. When siblings argued, I’d snap at anyone who spoke to me. There was a father who used to beat his wife and children. It got so bad at one point that it left me almost comatose. Thankfully my father and other villagers learned of the abuse. They intervened and put an end to it. That was the first time I’d used my gift to help someone, and afterward I was able to help the children through their trauma.
“Nowadays only the strongest emotions have a chance of getting through my shield. It’s fatiguing but necessary; I’ve built up quite the endurance. That’s why, though, around those I trust, I lessen my shield. Around friends and family, it’s not a burden.”
“How do you know you can trust me?” Aria asked. “You don’t know me. From what little I know about your situation, you’ve taken a significant risk sharing your information with me.”
Kharra nodded. “I have good instincts about people.”
A splash from the lake diverted their conversation. Zephyron’s full height emerged from beneath the water near the shore. Water ran down the length of his body, outlining his lean muscles. Aria realized she was staring and chided herself. She had seen plenty of men and been with a number of them, but she had never found herself appraising them as she was with Zephyron.
“Did you find anything interesting?” Kharra asked.
“Actually, I did,” he replied with a broad smile across his face.
Aria glanced out at the churning water and frowned. “You were under for quite a long time.” She turned back, and he was clothed again and wringing out his hair. “What did you find?”
With an almost childlike level of excitement, Zephyron explained. “Not only is there a shard beneath those falls but ruins as well. It looks like there was once a cave system farther below, but the force of the waterfall eventually bore through it. The ruins and the shard are farther back within the cave beneath, away from the direct force of the water. They are fairly well preserved and quite ancient. In fact I believe the building was constructed before the waterfall came to be here; well, the waterfall was probably already here, but it probably did not fall in the exact same location. It looks like there may have been some sort of earthquake that caused the ground there to collapse and sink. At least that is my guess. It’s hard to be certain though. Mezon would be able to say for sure.”
“Mezon?” Aria asked.
“Oh, sorry,” Zephyron said with an upheld hand. “He’s a…well, he’s another Guardian, and he originated from the Vaeton tribe—People of the Earth. He’s an expert on anything to do with earthquakes or fault lines.”
“I see,” Aria responded. She was still not sure she bought into the whole Guardian bit, but she found herself becoming more open-minded at the prospect. Refocusing her attention, she asked, “How could you tell their age?”
&nb
sp; “There were glyphs, runes, and script still visible in various places. Of most, I was not familiar, but the script is similar to something we have in Xi’ari’asi, an older dialect.”
Aria puckered her lips to the side. “But according to you, some of our language here in Tanoria is also an older dialect compared to what you are used to.”
“True, but what is written down there is even older. I didn’t study those ancient scripts much, so I had trouble making out a lot of the writing. Parts though were close enough to words I know that I could decipher the meaning.”
“Which is?” Kharra asked.
“Not only is this a shard but it’s also a moonpath.” Kharra’s eyebrows rose in surprise. Zephyron must have seen the lack of recognition in Aria’s eyes. To Aria, he said, “A moonpath is a means to travel vast differences in a short amount of time. They are only accessible to Guardians and, rarely, special leyoen users.”
He ran his fingers back through his hair. “I don’t ever recall seeing this one. In fact there are no known moonpaths connecting Tanoria to the rest of the world.”
“This is a significant discovery then,” Aria said.
Zephyron nodded. “Indeed, it is. I’ll have to remember this location.” He cocked his head to the side. “Do you have any idea how many people know about this place?”
“I don’t think many do,” Aria responded. “This region is not unknown to roaming shard beasts, so even the most adventurous people tend to avoid it. This particular location is also a considerable distance away from roads or well-traveled paths, so it doesn’t make a convenient stopover. I’m a little more inquisitive than my fellow kruustas, so I’ve done a considerable amount of exploration over the years. I found this place only because I trailed a herd of zegu for a week and they stopped here to water. I felt an immediate connection to this area, and I always feel at home each time I return.”
Zephyron studied Aria. His piercing blue gaze held an unfathomable intensity that made Aria’s breath catch. The kruusta, who had never in all her life lacked self-confidence, felt unsteady beneath the Guardian’s scrutiny. Goose bumps ran up her spine, but Aria did her best to ignore them. Why did he have this effect on her?
Kharra broke the silence. “Are we setting up camp here, or are we moving on? It is still a little early.”
“My plan was to stop here for a short break and then head east. We’ll skirt along these hills for the rest of this afternoon, and then we’ll reconnect with a real road near Braylore, which is the next village with a shard.”
Zephyron rubbed his chin and looked up at the sky through the tree cover. “We only have a few hours of daylight left. Is it safe to travel through this at night?” His hand swept across the area to indicate both the terrain and the undergrowth.
“We’ll be going over rugged land. There’s a good chance we’ll encounter shard beasts, but this will shave at least three days off our travel. If we had horses with us, I probably wouldn’t suggest it. They would likely break a leg; not to mention, they spook around shard beasts.” She looked to Kharra and then back at Zephyron. “Am I correct to assume that you are comfortable traveling at night? I mean, in your other form? I figured that since cats have an uncanny ability to find their way through the dark that you might share that characteristic. Besides, we’ll have all three moons tonight.”
“No, you’re correct. I can see fine in the dark.”
Aria nodded. “Xierex can as well. As for shard beasts, I figured between the three of us, the chances of us coming across something we can’t handle is slim.”
“I’m all for shaving time off our journey,” Kharra added.
Zephyron grunted in agreement and said, “Well, you are the guide. You’d know best, and we do appreciate time savings where we can get it.”
The three of them each sat on rocky protrusions overlooking the water as they picked through their meat buns, light pastries wrapped around jurassis swine. The buns were just one of the many provisions provided to them by Dara at the Raven’s Roost. Xierex browsed on nearby bushes, stripping them of their sweet leaves in places.
“These are really good,” Zephyron said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the group.
Aria nodded, hearing his comment but not really paying attention. Her mind was in another place, partially entranced by the falling water and by the calming effect of the entire area. A small iridis quadwing alighted on a rock beside the waterfall. It fanned all four of its multicolored wings and danced beneath the spray of water, creating a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of peach, pink, and teal. Done with its bath, it hopped to the only dry protrusion on the rock, fanned off the water, and began meticulously preening its feathers.
Aria inhaled, savoring the moment, but then her mind pulled her back to the present and her companions. “I know that you are searching for something in Death’s Pillar,” she said softly, “but how did circumstances bring you to this point?”
Zephyron pushed the last of his bun into his mouth, stood, and brushed off his hands and clothing. “If you two are done, let us start moving, and we can discuss it along the way.”
Aria nodded in agreement and finished the last of her meat bun. After collecting Xierex, the three travelers departed on foot. The game trail provided enough clearing for them to walk comfortably. Aria knew the trail narrowed, but that would not be for a while.
“Our homeland, Aerous, is a vast place several times the size of Tanoria,” Zephyron began. Aria raised an eyebrow skeptically but said nothing. “One hundred thirty-one years ago a war began, and it ended only eighteen years ago. The conflict was initiated by a different land called Kelan, a kingdom whose citizens feared those with leyoen abilities.” Zephyron described the escalation of the war with terrifying detail.
“You sound as if you were there at the beginning.”
Zephyron turned his head slightly, meeting her eyes. “I was.”
Aria’s gait faltered. “Exactly how old are you?” she asked.
Zephyron’s lips twitched upward at her reaction. “I turned one hundred sixty-one just before we left on our journey here.”
Aria stopped and stared at him. Xierex whinnied at the abrupt change. She shifted her gaze to Kharra. The shorter woman nodded. “And you?” she asked Kharra. “I don’t mean to be rude. I’m just curious.”
Kharra looked startled at the question. “Oh, me? I’m only twenty-two.”
Aria began walking again. To Zephyron, she said, “You make my many decades of fighting shard beasts seem insignificant by comparison.”
Zephyron shrugged. “Seems neither of us are strangers to fighting. Just our circumstances vary. In any case I was thirty when the war began and had not yet been called as a Guardian.”
“I can’t even fathom a conflict so great that it would last for so long,” Aria admitted.
Zephyron nodded. “I couldn’t either when it started. As I mentioned, Aerous is a massive continent. The Kelani became fixated not just on conquest but on extermination and enslavement as well. Aerous had been home to many different people, including the Zumai and Sauru tribes. I mentioned before that the Zumai were the People of the Spirit. They had been acknowledged as the tribe that presided over the other tribes. Their system kept the different groups civil with each other and helped avoid conflicts, including those with couren. The Sauru were the People of the Crystal.”
Aria kept walking over the rocky terrain but turned her head to catch Zephyron’s eye. He smiled. “I thought that would interest you. In any case, though each tribe was left to manage its own affairs, the other tribes considered the Zumai their overarching rulers. So if the Zumai were the rulers, then the Sauru, specifically the Sauru swordsaints, were their knights. They served as enforcers, an elite fighting force with the ability to manipulate crystal. While not feared outright by the people, their strength and battle prowess earned them respect. Even the couren among the Sauru tribe were considered to be some of the most skilled fighters in the land.
“Just over t
wenty years into the war, something happened to the Sauru. They went mad and turned on those they were sworn to protect, killing many in the process. Unable to find a cure for the madness, the Aerans were forced to destroy all of them. People who had once been their friends and protectors had to be eliminated, and the effort required a large force of the combined tribes to do so.”
Aria’s stomach grew cold.
“Are you okay?” Kharra asked suddenly. “You look ill.”
Aria had forgotten about the woman’s empathy. “Your description of the Sauru madness,” she forced herself to say, “it hits very close to home. Could that incident be related to what happened on Death’s Pillar and the event that created the krumetus?”
Zephyron took on a thoughtful look. “I don’t have firsthand knowledge of what happened here, but I suppose that is possible. The timing and location seem to be oddly coincidental.”
As they continued on their trek, Zephyron continued his tale. “The war ran deeper than we realized.”
“How so?” Aria asked.
Zephyron frowned and stared out at the path before him. “I discovered something that shook the core of everything I believed.”
Aria raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Zephyron exhaled. “The war…it was orchestrated by those who at the time were Guardians.” Zephyron’s eyebrows drew together. “We discovered nineteen of them who had betrayed their calling and were actively working against the will of Mattekan. We call them the Betrayers.” The Guardian sighed. “I was so naive back then. Our connection to this world runs so deep, I’d never even contemplated that one of us could ignore Mattekan and stray from our calling.”
“Why start a war?” asked Aria. “If I understand your tale, they are more closely related to leyoen users than couren. So why turn couren against them? What was their agenda?”
