by Karen MacRae
“I know, Anna. Me too.”
“Promise me something, please? Promise me that you’ll… that you won’t do anything unless my oath starts to turn?”
“I promise,” Seleste said solemnly.
Anna watched as the assassin took off her boots and stood barefoot in the grass. She took several deep breaths then moved her arms to the ready position for the first Seaskian pattern. Her arms and legs began to move in perfect harmony and her mind and aura calmed a little with every new position. Anna didn’t see the whorls of colour disappear and the silver become an emotionless calm. She was asleep.
Seleste didn’t have to think, all she had to do was watch and keep her mind empty. No one else could have done it. She watched the grey begin to eat its way further into Anna’s white without fear or worry. It was just a change in the light. She didn’t know how long it had been. It just was.
Anna was exhilarated. Her headache and nausea had vanished along with her fatigue as soon as her gift had answered the call of the mountains. Her mind flew to Valteira and beyond, lost in admiration of its beauty. She dreamed she was on the other side of the mountains and suddenly she was. She surfed the waves of her laughter across the energy field. She asked the waves to be bigger and they were. She asked them to quieten and they did. She looked around for more things to play with. There, in the distance, was an area made up of tiny splashes of intense colour. She watched them for a while, wondering why they seemed different to the rest of the rainbow. She soon grew bored watching them mingle and travelled on. She spotted another patch of intensity, but bigger this time. Again, it was a mass of tiny splashes, but the combined energy was immense. She went closer. She could feel it burning into everything around it, filling her with strange sensations. She fell back and the strangeness passed. Curious, she tried again. This time she rushed straight into a slice of green. Thoughts filled her mind as if she herself was thinking them.
“…can’t believe I forgot to buy apples yesterday. I must get to the market before I pick up Sonya. Best get some extra ham too. How I’m supposed to feed his brother as well as ourselves on what we make, I don’t know. I wish he’d stop inviting him round. The waster…”
Anna jumped to a patch of blue. “Oh, there he is! Please, light, please make him turn and notice me. Just this once…”
A patch of lilac was counting. “… seven, eight, nine, ten. I can’t believe she got me to accept four coppers. I must be mad.”
These were people, Anna’s sluggish mind belatedly realised. Ordinary people with ordinary lives. One irritated, one hopeful, one bemused. She could sense Valteira didn’t understand the words or the emotions. It cared nothing for the insignificant creatures that lived at its feet. Power filled her mind, the only language the volcano understood. It pulled her from the town. She fought it to pause above, thousands of thoughts humming in her mind. Then the power called again and she gave in, relishing the silence as she floated away.
Seleste sat perfectly still, her eyes fixed on the Shaper’s aura. The grey had taken over all but her heart. The oath shone like torchlight in the middle of fog, but the two colours sat next to each other quite comfortably. The grey was yet to test the white.
The darkness began to streak towards it soon after. The power was not benign. It wanted the whole of this creature it could speak to. Seleste didn’t question her understanding of its intent. Nothing could be allowed through her focus.
Anna didn’t feel the change in Valteira. It had sent her swooping down beyond the town where huge trunks of colour ran for miles without entwining. The red was perfect. The blue too. But what was that on the yellow? Specks of colour spoiled the flow of the field. Anna felt Valteira’s need to have the boil on its foot lanced and its inability to do it for itself. She lifted a hand to remove the offending specks, but her heart missed a beat. Or so it felt. Strange. She tried again. Again her heart threatened to stop beating. She flew away from the volcano’s feet, confused. Her mind was mired in colours and power. A thought finally surfaced. They were people. The specks were people.
She sent a tsunami of anger flowing through the field. You will not make me do such evil, she screamed.
The power cradled her as a mother does a child. She felt herself relax and the anger was forgotten. Everything was forgotten.
The scar was the real test. The field had been torn and lay mixed and broken. Small creatures wandered all over the scar. They weren’t trying to Heal it. They were making it worse. Anna was overwhelmed by fury. They destroyed perfection without thought of anything but themselves. They were to blame for everything. They deserved to be removed from the field forever. Anna trembled with rage. She dived into the nearest speck. She would destroy it from within.
“… nightmares for months. That poor babe. Can only have been ten months old. Lying in his mother’s arms, the pair of them swallowed by the mud. Light save them.”
Her mind froze. This seemed familiar? She struggled to remember what these specks of light were. She had vague memories of apples and coppers. It made no sense, but these specks had thoughts and feelings. Not specks, auras. She could feel this one’s sense of loss and sadness. It didn’t intend to hurt the field.
“You’re wrong,” she said to the volcano as she drifted away from the sad aura. “They mean no harm.”
The field began to crush her, trying to force her to comply. It couldn’t change the things that crawled over it, but she was inside it. She was at its mercy. Colours began to merge around her, pushing at her gift, her mind and her soul, forcing themselves on her. Just before they could join to become white, they exploded and all that remained was black. Everywhere. Black. Anna howled in terror. She would not be black. She would not be black. She was white. White. Forever White.
Her mind hooked onto her oath like a lifeline. It pulsed strongly, a sun in a night sky, filling the black with brilliant white. Thoughts of her mother whirled around her. At its centre, their shared belief that good was the only choice. Forever White.
Seleste watched it all without emotion. Her knives were poised when the black completely surrounded the white, but the white held strong. Nearly two hours passed until its brilliance began to lighten the black and the status quo slowly returned to white and grey. She put the knives away. The Shaper’s Oath held.
She couldn’t wake Anna, but knew she had to get her away from the mountains. She called Hope and asked her to kneel so she could lift the girl over the mare’s back. As soon as she was in place, Hope stood carefully and Seleste ran the rope around the horse’s flanks until there was no Anna could fall off.
She did one last thing before they left: she swallowed a tiny pinch of Pyrjeon herbs. Enough to keep her awake until they found their friends; not enough to kill her, but close. There would be two bodies to transport before the end of the day. It was a risk worth taking. The Shaper was more important than any assassin.
Anna was oblivious to where her body was. Her mind was cavorting with her new friend, playing in the rainbow. Valteira would have to accept its inability to manipulate the Shaper or she would never visit again. It was enough to keep the peace between them.
Sixteen hours later, Seleste transferred Anna to Blue then tied herself to Estrell’s saddle. “Find Finn, Blue. Find Finn,” she told the big gelding. “For Anna. Get to Finn.”
Twelve hours after that, Blue trotted into his master’s camp, the other horses close behind. The two riders were both unconscious. Seleste’s last words had been, “Get us away from the mountains, Blue. Far away.”
It was another two days to Theatis. The time passed in a blur for those who were awake. They didn’t stop for anything but a short sleep in the early hours of the morning. Blue was awake and stamping as soon as dawn broke. The assassin and the Shaper slept through it all.
Malik was in awe of Spider’s sister. She had to be the bravest, strongest and most beautiful woman he’d ever known. She’d never look at him, though. His reputation would repel her. He rode beside her regardles
s, Spider on the other side.
Finn and Sy rode guard over the Shaper. Finn’s short sword was unclipped, free to slide from its sheath if Seleste’s trust had been misplaced. He knew his orders by heart and he would carry them out, no matter how his team reacted. One Black Shaper was one too many for the world.
They didn’t stop in the busy Navy town, riding straight through and onto the Lealta. Finn ordered the Ship’s Captain to get them away from land as soon as humanly possible. They’d been expected and the ship readied for their arrival the previous day so the only wait was for the tide to carry them safely through the reef.
Anna began to wake soon after. She was confused and groggy, talking about slides and waves and twirling green and silver, just like Aibreann. When she fell silent, she slept the first natural sleep of days. The first person she saw when she next woke was Malik. He was sitting by Seleste. The assassin was deathly pale and still, her silver aura unmoving and dull.
“Help her, please, Anna?” Malik begged.
Anna put her right hand on Seleste’s brow and clutched her crystal pendant with her left. There was no black to remove. A dull sheen had taken over everything. She visualised Seleste’s aura as it should be, a silver version of her brother’s, full of whorls that danced and whirled with emotion, but could be tightly controlled when she wanted. Anna wouldn’t risk changing it with undirected white energy. Instead, she lifted the cloud in the thinnest of layers. The silver shone a little bit brighter as each layer peeled away into the crystal.
When the silver gleamed, Anna gave Seleste the tiniest boost of power to refresh and wake her. Throughout the long process, Malik’s aura had been clear for even the clumsiest of Readers to understand. “I think you two have a lot to talk about,” she said before quietly letting herself out of the small cabin.
She found the others on deck. Spider got to her first. “Seleste? Have you seen her?” he asked, his voice urgent with anxiety.
“She’s fine. Malik and she are talking.”
Spider let out a deafening whoop and pulled Anna into a hug. “Thank you! I’m so glad you’re back.”
Sy pulled the Shaper out of Spider’s arms and into his own, whirling her around so she was almost horizontal. Beitris, Hew, Lachlan and Jimmy were waiting with backslaps that nearly sent her flying and Beitris broke into an old comedy of a song about friendship. They were all soon laughing and joining in the chorus. Anna nearly didn’t notice that Finn was absent.
“He’s got terrible sea sickness,” Jimmy told her. “He insisted on staying with you, but Captain Alexander had him carried to bed when he collapsed.”
Anna found Finn only semi-conscious, badly dehydrated and very weak. She asked Jimmy to go and get a full tray of food and drink and set about Healing Finn’s nausea and blocking the small areas near his ears that were its source.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you back to your normal self,” Finn said, relief plain on his face. “I thought we might have lost both of you at one point.”
Anna thought of the rainbow with something close to wistfulness; the power had been sublime. She wondered if Valteira had noticed her absence yet, but realised time had no real meaning for the volcano and her mountains. There had been a memory of another White who’d visited, but no clue whether it had been a hundred or a thousand years ago.
“The oath held,” she said quietly, tears welling in her eyes as she remembered how scared she’d been.
“It was the only way Seleste would have brought you to us…”
Both knew the word ‘alive’ was missing from the end of the sentence.
“You couldn’t have been sure. You had to stand guard, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry you had to do that. It can’t have been easy.”
He shook his head. “Forever White,” he said solemnly, his eyes holding hers in a sincere apology for the necessity of his vigil. “It’s an oath we should all take.”
“I’m not sure its transferable,” Anna smiled, his apology accepted.
CHAPTER 15
Ionantis, while Anna slept
P yteor cursed when it started to rain. “I really hate this country,” he whispered to Nijel. “How do you not all turn into prunes?”
Nijel shushed him. He could hear boots approaching.
“Yeh cun make a run fur it noo, lads,” came a low voice. “The guards ur off dealin’ with something at t’other side. They’ll nae catch yuh.”
Nijel stood up cautiously. An old weathered face was peering at them from over some crates. “Yur tricks’ll ne’er hide yuh frae anuther light-bender,” he laughed. “Gae an, aff wi’ yeh.”
The Healer understood about one word in three but got the message. He grinned his thanks then grabbed a baffled Pyteor and sprinted for the entrance to the harbour. They didn’t stop until they were three streets away.
“I think Order’s a bit clockwise of here,” Nijel said.
“You’ve been here before?” Pyteor asked, his eyes trying to make sense of the crowded streets, the colourful gowns and random traders hawking everything from charms to underwear to hot pies.
“No, but I’ve seen the map often enough. The Quorum uses it on everything. I’m pretty sure Elements and Order are opposite the harbour. I suppose it made sense to have people who could move stone and water and be efficient at collecting names and taxes near at hand.”
Pyteor merely grunted. “Did that old bloke call me a light-bender back there?”
“It sounded like it.”
“Cheeky blighter! How did he know we were there?”
“I think he’s one himself. He definitely said, ‘another light-bender’.”
“He was one of the men fixing the nets, wasn’t he, though? What would he be doing that for? Concealers are almost as rare as weather mages. He could work anywhere, do anything.”
Nijel threw a glance at the Concealer. He was amazed at his lack of insight. He held his arms out and did a slow pirouette, trying to make Pyteor not just look, but see. “This is Ionantis City. Every tenth person you come across in The Kingdom has a gift. Here, it’s probably every tenth person that doesn’t. Gifts don’t make you special in Ionantis; there’s always someone else who can do what you do. In fact, the old man may even have chosen to be a fisherman.”
“And live hand to mouth?” Pyteor asked, astonished. “What a fool!”
“No, I don’t get it either,” Nijel confessed, “but the world seems to be full of fools.”
“Hang on, did you just say that nine in every ten of the people in Ionantis City are gifted?”
“At least. Didn’t you go to a Quorum University?”
Pyteor shook his head. “Didn’t see the point. All that money and nothing to show for it but being able to call yourself a member? Nystrieth doesn’t care about any of that rubbish. He rewards skill, not titles.” He immediately had a blasphemous thought. Nystrieth didn’t reward skill. In fact, He deliberately obliterated it unless it also came with total obedience. Even that wasn’t enough to be rewarded. Only success brought that. He felt a frisson of fear and excitement run through his body as he recalled Nystrieth’s entwined reward and punishment. He would have that again. He would. He just needed to remember what those damned books were called.
A helpful student wearing an indigo robe took them straight to Professor Ebdry’s where they found an open front door. They joined the queue of students waiting inside for an audience.
“Trust Ugly Ebdry to have a house outside the walls,” one muttered to the young woman sitting by his side. “It would be much too much for him to give up his space to conform to University protocol.”
“They should insist. And what’s with the office hours on a Fifthday? Does the man never take a day off?”
Pyteor and Nijel were just glad of being able to sit comfortably without fear of being thrown overboard or chased by guards. It hadn’t occurred to them they might not get a warm welcome.
“You had best be very c
areful, boys,” the professor said with a chilly voice after Pyteor had waltzed into the man’s luxurious office and told him that Nystrieth had sent them. “That name is not popular around here and for no wonder. The man kills gifted.”
Pyteor bristled. “Only if they deserve it!”
The older man leaned over his desk. “That is a lie and you well know it. He kills them if they do not swear to follow his every word.”
The statement was too close to Pyteor’s own earlier thought for comfort. He stayed silent as he and Nijel watched the professor enthusiastically wave his arms and pace a well-trodden path behind his desk as he honoured them with his wisdom. The pair shared a glance in rare agreement, their hands itching to grab the poker set by the fireplace and beat the man’s head in.
“It is an interesting conundrum, is it not? Nystrieth is undoubted Emperor of much of the Continent. He has the right to execute threats to his domain. He is of the view that his way is the right way and so any who oppose him must be killed. How does the law guide us in this?” The man spun and focused his beady eyes on Nijel.
“Er, I don’t know, sir. I’m a Healer.”
The professor looked as if a bad smell had wafted under his remarkably long nose. He shook his head as if to clear it. “He is Emperor and God. How can anything He does not be within the law?”
“I suppose so, sir,” Nijel offered.
“Nonsense! The law is above all men. If the Emperor wants to act legally, He must change the law!”
“Oh, right, yes, sir,” Nijel said, still pinned by the professor’s stare.
“Nonsense! Consider how just this would be when no one stands against Him? This is why every leader needs carefully-chosen advisors. Yes?”
“I see, yes, of course, sir.”
“Nonsense! Do you not have an original thought in your brain, young man?”
Pyteor found some backbone and moved forward to intervene. “This is fascinating, professor, but perhaps we could leave our education for later? We are on important business.”
