“There are worse things you could be,” said Jarrett, then they exchanged a look.
“I suppose you and my sister have renewed your marriage.”
Jarrett’s back stiffened. “How did you know?”
“A man doesn’t vomit blood for just anyone,” Kalas answered wryly.
Jarrett nodded.
“How are you going to work it out?”
“I don’t know. The first thing is to get off this island.” He shifted and met Kalas’ gaze. “I don’t want to leave the Nazarien without a leader and I don’t want to turn them over to someone who will take them back to what they were before, but I know your sister will never leave Temeron.”
“No.”
“We’ll figure something out. I’m not going to stay in Chernow when everything that matters to me is in Loden.”
Kalas rolled his head on his shoulders. “You’re right. The first thing is to get off this island…without destroying an innocent culture. I can’t help but feel our presence here is wrong, that we’re about to change them in ways that cannot be undone.”
“I’m afraid that’s already happened. The moment Tyla and I set foot here, we changed them. They’ll never be the same again.”
“That makes me feel unbelievably sad.”
Jarrett shrugged. “You know what’s worse?”
Kalas met his look.
“If I had to do it all over again, I would.”
* * *
Tyla paced to the sun and moon door. In the hours since Revic had made it clear she wasn’t going to leave without handing over the emerald, she’d tried to find a way to open it, but nothing she did made a difference.
She’d tried prying it open with her hands. She’d kicked it and threw herself against it until she felt battered and bruised. She’d hiked all around the Delphi’s benches, trying to find another exit, but found nothing. In a fit of desperation, she’d tried to break off a piece of their bench to use as a lever, but that had been less than successful, except now she had splinters on top of bruises.
Backing up, she took a seat in front of it, crossing her legs one over the other. She rested her hands on her knees and forced herself to take deep, full breaths. Even that wasn’t working and set her to coughing again.
Once the spasm passed, she tried again, but this time she kept her breath shallow and closed her eyes. Worry for Jarrett kept intruding, but after a few minutes, she found herself calm enough to summon her power.
She spent minutes trying to open the door the way the Delphi did with their psychic ability, but she suddenly realized that they were countering her, using their collective power to block hers. There was no way she could best them, not when there were so many more of them than her.
Feeling defeated, she bowed her head and admitted that she was exhausted. Zimran might have saved her life, but her body was still struggling back from the brink of death. Curling up on her side, she pillowed her head on her arm, wrapped a hand around the emerald, and tried to conserve her energy. A few minutes later, she was asleep.
She woke by the brook her father had created the last time she came to the mist. She sat up abruptly, alarmed that she should find herself here. Looking around, she found him a short distance away, seated on a rock by the brook, studying her.
Her hand crept up and clasped the emerald. “I shouldn’t be here,” she said, trying to keep the panic from her voice. “I was getting better.”
He tilted his head in question. “I don’t understand.”
“I was getting better. Zimran found the cure.” She climbed to her feet and moved closer to him. “Am I dead?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “No.”
“But I’m here. Why am I here?”
“Once you find your way to the mist, Tyla, it’s easier to return on your own. Some part of your subconscious must have wanted to come here.”
She sank to her knees in front of him. The strangeness of it all, the worry that she might still be hallucinating bothered her. “It can’t be good that I keep coming here.”
“I don’t think you should put a value judgment on it. It is or it isn’t. Good has no place in this.”
She looked up at him. She couldn’t help but wonder if he’d always talked in such a convoluted manner when he was alive. “The Delphi want the emerald.”
He considered that for a moment. “That brings up a good many questions. First of all, what are Delphi? Why do they want the emerald? And what would they do with it if they got it?”
She realized she hadn’t told him everything in their last meeting, so she gave him a cursory explanation to catch him up. He listened in rapt attention, his eyes glimmering with interest as she described Delure and the strange people they’d found there. Tyla decided her father would have thought of their journey to Delure as an adventure and it would have delighted him. This was a man who had lived for such experiences.
He pulled his lower lip between his teeth as he thought. Sitting here with him, whether hallucination or some trick of the emerald, meant the world to her. He was such a vibrant individual, so alive, so filled with energy. If he’d been half so as a living being, she understood why people wanted to be near him, follow him, devote themselves to him. His charisma was infectious.
“You think they’re blocking your powers with their own?”
“Yes. And there are a lot more of them than me. Besides that, I’m not in the pink of health.”
His eyes narrowed mischievously. “You need a distraction. Something so startling that they will lower their guard for a moment, then you can strike.”
“A distraction? Like what?”
“Bring me through.”
She shifted up on her knees. “Bring you through? Can I do that? And if I can, why haven’t I done it already?”
He gave her a bewildered look. “Probably because I’m dead.”
Tyla’s shoulders slumped. “Were you always like this?”
“Dead?”
“No,” she said slowly.
“Logical?”
“No, snarky.”
“Ah. Yes.”
She laughed despite her frustration with him.
He leaned forward and tapped her in the middle of her forehead. “I meant make them think I’m there. Cast an illusion in their minds.”
“That’s going to take a lot of energy.”
His eyes dropped to the talisman around her neck. “Use the emerald.”
“Do you think I can do it?”
“I did it with Eldon. I brought him through when I needed him.”
She considered that, then she gave him a critical look. “I wonder if I can make you appear seven feet tall.” Then she shook her head. “That’s probably reaching. Maybe six.”
“Hey,” he said in mock insult, then they both laughed.
* * *
Jarrett couldn’t deny his anxiety as they neared the domes. He wasn’t sure what he expected to happen, but he shared Kalas’ worry for the Wryn. More than that, the vast majority of Kalas’ troops had significant Stravad blood. If the Delphi acted against them, he wasn’t sure what would happen, but he knew he wasn’t leaving a second time without Tyla.
“When you first came to the domed city, did it take this long?” asked Kalas, walking beside him. Parish went before him, Dolan behind and Ellette on his other side. The Cult member Attis had been forced to walk at the far back with Allistar’s men. Still, Jarrett didn’t mistake that all of them were focused on protecting the King of Eastern Nevaisser to the exclusion of all else.
The irony of that wasn’t lost on Jarrett. Once Kalas had been hated by the people of Adishian. That was when he was under Rarick’s control, but Kalas had changed that. He’d become a benevolent king, a strong leader, and beloved by all who knew him. He’d obviously inherited his father’s charm.
“It took longer. We went over the mountains.” Jarrett pointed to where the mountains rose over their heads. “Zimran and Avendale showed me this short cut yesterday.”
Jarrett glanced over at him. “I think the Delphi monitor the beach, Kalas. I think they have people watching it constantly. They can communicate any changes faster than we can because they use their psychic abilities.”
“I figured as much. Which means they know we’re coming?”
“I’m afraid so.”
Kalas sighed. “We aren’t going to avoid a battle, are we?”
“I don’t know. I hope we can.”
They fell silent as they continued the hike. Once they came to the tree lined avenue, Jarrett warned them they were coming very close to the capital. Kalas ordered the men to be prepared for a battle, but asked them not to draw weapons as yet.
Jarrett appreciated his desire to avoid death and destruction, but the Delphi were an unpredictable element. His experience with them was limited, therefore he couldn’t understand their motivation to keep Tyla, unless it was for the emerald. When Tyla refused to surrender it, would they simply release her or would they try to take it by force?
Leaving the tree tunnel, they fanned out across the meadow, staring at the domes of the capital rising before them in the late morning air. Kalas sucked in a breath and Parish made a soft exclamation of wonder.
Jarrett couldn’t deny it was impressive. A few Wryn were about and Jarrett noted that two of them were heating something over his fire pit. He smiled. It hadn’t taken long for them to grow accustomed to cooked food.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Kalas said breathlessly. “All of this is made from a plant.”
Jarrett nodded wryly, then motioned to his own tattered clothing. “Most everything they use is.”
Avendale moved toward the domes, but Zimran hung back. He shifted nervously and seemed distracted.
Kalas pointed to the largest dome, the one that held the Delphi arena. “Is that where they’re holding my sister?”
“Yes.”
“Did you check the back side? Maybe there’s a second way out?”
“I wasn’t allowed to check it. The Delphi attacked before I could get around the dome, but I think she would have found a way to get out herself if there was a way.”
Kalas considered that as he studied the domes.
“What now?” asked Allistar, coming up behind him.
Kalas started to say something, but Zimran suddenly turned toward the domes, his expression panicked. The other Wryn around the fire ring stopped what they were doing and looked up. Jarrett could feel pressure beginning to build in his skull and he tried to alleviate it by opening his jaw wide.
“They’re coming,” he said, turning to Kalas, but the King’s eyes were not focused on him.
Kalas was staring with rapt attention at the domes.
CHAPTER 25
Tyla released her hold on the emerald and sat up, rubbing at the ache in her back from sleeping on the floor. Oddly enough, none of the Delphi had tried to approach her as she slept, or tried to take the emerald away. If they wanted the emerald, they obviously weren’t planning to take it by force.
She tented her knees and considered her situation. There was no exit that she could find. They weren’t inclined to free her and worry for Jarrett was growing. She knew they were either keeping him away or had him restrained. There was no way Jarrett would have waited this long to get to her unless something had happened to him, but the continual hum of the Delphi’s thoughts kept her from contacting him.
Her eyes traveled up the curving lines of the dome. Maybe there was something about this particular structure that held the Delphi’s thoughts inside, which meant it also held her own. What would happen if she did as her father suggested? If she released her power all at once, channeling it into the emerald, would she be able to force the Delphi to free her?
The problem was the Delphi. There were so many more of them than her and each one seemed to have enormous power. Collectively, they were daunting and she wasn’t sure she had enough power, even with the emerald, to overcome them.
Her father was right. She needed a distraction.
Pushing herself to her feet, she swayed dizzily. The illness had been more debilitating than she’d thought and she’d gone more than a full day without eating or drinking anything. When she considered it, so had the Delphi. Certainly they needed nourishment? They were living creatures.
But no one had entered the dome to bring them anything, not since she’d been summoned.
She stored that information away. Perhaps it would give her an advantage when she finally decided to strike.
Stretching the kinks from her tired muscles, she turned toward the dome. Whatever awaited her, she was getting out of this trap before the end of the day.
The Delphi were sitting exactly where she’d left them, but their heads swiveled to follow her as she stepped into the center of the arena. Revic’s obsidian black eyes focused on her.
“I think we need to find a way to communicate,” she said, sending the thought to him directly.
The pulse of the collective fell off, leaving his thoughts by themselves. She tried to find a pattern, something she recognized. There had to be a way to communicate. Curling her hand around the emerald, she closed her eyes.
A picture flashed against the darkness – the domes with the first blush of dawn shading everything in a roseate light. She could feel the emerald pulse against her hand and she realized he’d put that image in her mind himself.
Next the vision panned out, showing her the beach and the white froth of the breakers surging against the shore. She recognized the very spot where she and Jarrett had landed weeks ago. As this vision faded, the arena came into focus, the rows of Delphi sitting around the perimeter, the hum of their thoughts nearly tangible.
Tyla opened her eyes. He was showing her his home.
Using the emerald, she sent him an image of her home – Temeron, nestled in the valley, the shimmering gold of the houses, the winding streets, the forests, the lakes, the curving lines of the mountains that sheltered it. A feeling of homesickness rose within her, so acute she felt tears flood her eyes. She missed Temeron, she missed her people, her son, her grandfather, home. She sent the feeling to him, she poured it into the emerald, the longing, the wanting, the yearning.
She felt the collective reaction, a hum of recognition, of understanding, and she dared hope that they understood how desperately she wanted out of this dome, how much she wanted to be reunited with Jarrett, how much she wanted to go home.
Unfortunately, the feeling lasted but a moment. One instant the hum of their thoughts was soothing, gentle; the next, they pulled back, shifted away from her. Tension snaked through the dome and the Delphi went rigid, their backs straightening, their heads lifting, their attention turning inward.
No, not inward. Outward. Beyond the domes, beyond the arena. Something was distracting them and it wasn’t her. A frisson of fear snaked through her. She wasn’t sure what had attracted their attention, but she worried it was Jarrett. She’d known he wouldn’t abandon her. She’d known he’d fight to get her back.
Then a line of Delphi rose and slid out of their benches. She watched them descend over the lip of the raised platform and she realized there were stairs behind their seats, hidden from her view by the close press of their bodies. There was a second way out of the arena, but in order to get to it, she had to go through the Delphi. She started for the edge of the arena, but a surge of their thoughts staggered her and nearly brought her to her knees.
She looked up to find Revic staring at her, his black eyes glowing with light. So that’s how it was, she thought, shifting to face him. So be it. If she had to go through him, she would, but nothing was keeping her in these domes now.
* * *
Kalas stared in amazement as the aliens filed out of the dome, lining up across the front of it, their robes flowing in the early morning breeze. They were over eight feet
tall, skeletally thin, their arms hanging far down their sides, their foreheads sloped back and naked of hair. Their eyes were too large for their thin faces, no whites distinguishable from the iris, and their skin glowed a pearlescent white in the sunlight.
Kalas felt pressure behind his eyes, his head felt congested, and his temples throbbed, but he stared in wonder at the aliens, unable to process what he was seeing. Next to him Dolan gave a groan of pain.
“Eldon’s blood,” whispered Parish at his back.
Jarrett turned to them, his eyes narrowed in obvious discomfort. “Ideas?” he said through gritted teeth.
Kalas shook his head. He couldn’t think straight. He wasn’t sure what to do. The pressure was growing in his skull and he feared he was hallucinating. He could almost hear voices, many voices, whispering in his head.
He forced himself to remember why they were there. Tyla. They had his sister and he wasn’t leaving without her. He took a step forward, his hand automatically falling to the hilt of his sword.
Shaking his head, he tried to focus his thoughts against the throbbing in his skull. “Release my sister!” he shouted.
The volume of voices increased and he felt a sharp pain behind his eyes as if something had broken in his skull. He closed his eyes and bowed his head, sucking in a sharp breath. White noise filled his head, hammered in his ears, pounded inside his brain. His body gave a shudder, then he staggered and the next thing he knew, he was on his hands and knees.
Cries of alarm resounded around him, confusing him, and someone pushed him onto his back. He stared up at the lazy clouds floating overhead, then his back suddenly bowed and white light burst in his eyes, blinding him.
* * *
Jarrett watched the Delphi file out of the domes and take up a defensive position. The thrum of their thoughts rose to a crescendo in his head and he turned to Kalas.
“Ideas?” That was the only word he could summon. He felt like he was going to be physically ill, that he was going to collapse with the pain of being in their presence.
The World of Samar Box Set 3 Page 90
