Sharani series Box Set

by Kevin L. Nielsen

  “Yes, yes, I reached out to see if I could sense Kaiden, but he’s beyond my senses. Granted, I was limited, but I would guess he’s no longer in the Warren. But the questions remain.”

  “Who did it and why?”

  “And where are they now,” Khari added. “I’m sure we’ve traitors among us within Evrouin’s people. I don’t trust them. No one trusts them.”

  “So what do we do?”

  Khari looked over at him. “What do you think we should do?”

  “We’re already stretched thin just trying to bring in supplies to feed this group. We don’t have the resources to send out more search parties to try and find Kaiden. This couldn’t have happened at a worse time.”

  Khari nodded, waiting for Gavin to continue.

  “We also can’t just leave him. He was the cause of so much death, so much destruction. But if we accuse the Frierd as a clan of aiding him, or any of the clans for that matter, it will just cause even more tension between them. They’re already at each other’s throats. We can’t get any of them to agree on anything.”

  “So what do we do?” Khari asked again.

  “I think we need to discuss it at the Gathering tonight. Spread the word please, Khari. I would like everyone there. We’ll burn a shufari for our fallen brother. But I’ll need your help.”

  Khari frowned as she listened to Gavin’s plan. It was bold, but it just might work. If, that is, Gavin could pull it off. Looking into his eyes then, watching how he worked, Khari was surprised to discover she thought he just might.

  Chapter 6: Chance

  “The first Iteration on the Schema is that which begins with the first and simplest evolution of metal. Colloquially, the Rahuli call this Iteration the ‘magnetelorium,’ though this scholar has always expressed a particular dislike for the names given to the first tier Iterations.”

  —From Commentary on the Schema, Volume I

  Cobb leaned back against the wall of the greatroom, cursing the twinge in his bad leg. The idiot boy, Gavin, stood in the center of the room in front of a massive bonfire in which they had burned a shufari for Meseck. The entirety of the Rahuli people were either spread out on the sands in front of him or else seated on the various levels along the walkways up the walls. The boy had gotten himself into trouble twice recently without having Cobb there to help him. Now he’d gone and called this Gathering without telling him anything about it.

  Fool.

  “People of the Sharani Desert,” Gavin said, raising his hands to still the soft hum of conversation. The crowd quieted.

  Cobb grunted. The boy had an interesting place with the people. Many of them lauded him a savior because he rallied them against Taren and those that had followed him. Others still only saw the outcast. Yet Gavin acted as if he led them even when he didn’t. At least this time the boy was wearing his greatsword.

  “Who leads you?”

  The question caught the crowd off guard. The silence, if anything, deepened.

  “Your Warlords are dead, many of your people fallen in the Oasis. Who leads you now?”

  No one answered. Cobb grunted again. He was sure someone was going to claim leadership of at least one of the clans. None did, not even that Khari woman from the Roterralar.

  “Someone has entered our home and let loose the man who was the cause of so much death in the Oasis. What shall we do to respond?”

  This brought a small murmur from the clans and Evrouin pushed forward to stand at the head of his group of followers.

  “What are you getting at, outcast?” he said.

  This caused a stir. None of Evrouin’s followers, which were composed of the remnants of the Heltorin, Londik, and Frierd clans, could see anything in Gavin outside of his status as an outcast. The others though, those who had stood with Gavin in the Oasis, they thought differently. What was the boy doing? He’d argued so passionately about easing the divide between the groups, but this was driving a wedge even deeper.

  “Do you lead these people?” Gavin asked, gesturing to the group behind Evrouin.

  Evrouin nodded. “I do.”

  “And do you agree?” Gavin said. His question took in the people standing around Evrouin. No one objected.

  Gavin turned to the others. “And the rest of you? Who leads you?”

  The crowd murmured while Evrouin scoffed. After a moment, Maugier and Alia moved forward. It wasn’t really surprising. These were the same three with whom Gavin met when they all needed to discuss things in council, but it was the first time they had stood in front of the Gathering, the first time anyone had acknowledged them as their leaders. Cobb scratched at his chin. He couldn’t see where this was going at all.

  “Are these your leaders?” Gavin asked the crowd. Again, no one objected.

  “Well then, I declare your leaders usurpers.”

  This caused an uproar. Evrouin was the most vehement in his denunciations and even Maugier and Alia looked deeply affronted.

  Gavin waited until the noise had died down again. “Taren was your leader,” Gavin said, voice still calm and clear. “Whether by your choice or not, he united you under a single leader. There were no more clans.”

  “He’s dead,” Evrouin said.

  “He was never our leader,” Alia shouted over the noise of protesting voices. “What are you getting at, man? This is hardly the time for accusations and insults.”

  Gavin frowned. “Who have I insulted? I’m merely stating facts. By the laws of the desert, by tradition, whoever defeats the old Warlord becomes the new, isn’t that right? Cobb, hasn’t this always been the case?”

  Cobb froze at hearing his name. How dare the boy—

  Everyone turned to look at him. Cobb was the oldest surviving Rahuli, respected and known by all here.

  “Yes,” Cobb found himself saying. “That is tradition.”

  “So Taren, by killing off the old Warlords, was technically the Warlord of everyone, yes? At least, according to tradition.”

  “Well, yes, if you want to call it that.” Cobb shot Gavin a flat look. Why was the boy putting him in this position?

  “Then, since I defeated Taren, I am the leader of this people.”

  The crowd was still. The silence was such that Cobb could have cut it with a knife. Cobb himself was stunned into silence. Yes, everyone had given Gavin respect, but was the boy really claiming Taren’s title? Did he want to look like a tyrant?

  “That’s ridiculous,” Evrouin said into the silence. “You’re an outcast. You don’t have the right to lead any of us. You’re one of those mystics. I’ve seen your powers myself.” Evrouin spat at the sand at Gavin’s feet.

  “I still claim my right.”

  “Why would we follow you?” Alia said. Instead of angry, she seemed thoughtful.

  Gavin turned to her. “Because I know what it’s like to survive against the odds. I know how to live when all else dies. Have I led anyone astray in this last fortnight?”

  “Enough of this,” Evrouin said, stepping up a few more steps and getting within a few inches of Gavin’s face. Cobb saw what was going to happen a moment before it happened and, in his mind, found a new respect for Gavin’s ability to manipulate a crowd. He saw the seeds of the plan he’d given Gavin, but this . . .

  “If you claim leadership, so be it. I can too. I claim my right of challenge.”

  Gavin inclined his head. “I accept.”

  * * *

  “You’re playing with fire, boy,” Cobb said an hour or so later. “I can’t tell if you’re daft or crazy.”

  “Probably a little of both,” Gavin said. He shifted from foot to foot nervously. He was tired of waiting.

  Neither Alia nor Maugier had spoken up, but the implication was clear. Lack of a response validated Gavin’s claim. This was the most dangerous part of Gavin’s plan. He wondered himself if he’d done the right thing. Khari had agreed to his plan, but it had been brash. Yes, he’d been given a position of respect, but it was an impotent power.

&nbs
p; “This was your idea, after all,” Gavin reminded Cobb.

  Cobb grunted and shot him a flat look. “My idea was for you to challenge them. Not this farce of claiming Taren’s title.”

  Gavin stopped dancing back and forth and turned to Cobb. “Do you really think they would have accepted my challenge if I hadn’t? Even among the clans normally, a right of challenge could only be issued by a senior warrior.”

  Cobb grunted. “What’s to say they’ll respect the outcome?”

  “I don’t know if they will, but it’s worth a try. I can’t keep trying to figure out how to hold them all together and find Kaiden.”

  “You could have just let them all leave.”

  “I intend to,” Gavin said. “You’re right, they’re not meant to live together in one place, but I’ll have their oaths before they go.”

  “Why is this so important to you?” Cobb asked. The old man pointed a gnarled finger at Gavin and his brows came together over his nose. “You’re not power hungry, boy. I can see that. What game are you playing?”

  “We’re all one people, Cobb,” Gavin said, shifting his weight once again. “We’re the Rahuli. Whatever Kaiden and Taren were doing, it hasn’t stopped. I can feel it. When whatever it is that is coming actually gets here, we need to stand together. They can’t do that without a leader.”

  “We don’t even know what Kaiden was doing,” Cobb scoffed. “You’re basing this off the words of a madman.”

  Gavin didn’t answer. He knew they had to stand united, but the biggest obstacle to it was a lack of trust between the clans. In truth, there were only three now, each united by their own leader, but they still would not work together as a whole. In the end, Gavin had relied on how his grandmother had united the outcasts, broken and divided as they’d been. She hadn’t simply forced them all together. No, she’d united them into groups first and then gave them a common cause, a common goal. In the case of the outcasts, that goal had been survival, which had unified them into almost a clan of their own.

  Gavin intended to do the same here, except to divide them into their real groups he first had to lead them all. He then intended to let them govern themselves until the crisis that was coming united them. He was sure it was coming. He could feel it in every fiber of his being. They needed common threads and Gavin intended to be that thread.

  “You have no means of knowing they’ll honor anything they swear to you once they leave here,” Cobb said.

  Gavin nodded. “I know, but I have a plan for that too.”

  Cobb shook his head, then sighed. “Your greatsword is short and wide,” he said, “he’ll use a broadsword, so you need to get inside his reach. Don’t let him get a good swing in, either. The longer reach will give him greater leverage.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Gavin said, smiling slightly at the older man’s rambling advice.

  Cobb opened his mouth to protest, but just then the door opened and someone Gavin didn’t recognize poked his head into the room.

  “They’re ready for you.”

  Gavin nodded, smiled at Cobb, and stepped back out into the greatroom.

  Someone had cleared a space to one side of the room and drawn a large circle in the sands. Evrouin waited on one side of the circle, a broadsword in hand. The rest of the Rahuli people had arranged themselves to watch the match, most having shifted up to the walkways on the higher tiers. They sat there now, legs hanging over the lip, as Gavin strode to the edge of the circle and drew his greatsword. Everything was riding on this. Everything.

  Alia had been chosen to officiate the match. She was a formality only. The rules of engagement in a challenge were understood. You fought until your opponent could no longer fight.

  “Are you ready?” Alia asked, looking at Gavin.

  Gavin nodded.

  “Are you?” Alia asked Evrouin. He nodded too, swinging his sword experimentally.

  Alia raised one hand and then dropped it.

  Gavin and Evrouin stepped into the ring at the same time. Simultaneously, the whole room began to shake.

  * * *

  Deep within the belly of the Roterralar Warren, Beryl struggled against the voice of the vulcanist. The voice reached out hungrily, pulling at the power, at the heat and strength beneath the Sharani Desert. The earth trembled as a pocket of the heat pushed upward against the metal plate which had held it back for centuries.

  “No!” Beryl shouted, clasping hands to the side of his head.

  He’d let too much of the voice gain purchase, he’d unleashed too much translating the scrolls. The one on which he worked now—the one detailing the traditions and magic of the Orinai, of the vulcanist and the soul stealer—had triggered the voice. It fought on now, struggling with a strength it had not displayed in over a hundred years.

  “Not now,” Beryl gasped. “Not until I’m done. Think of Elyana.”

  Pieces of rock broke loose from the ceiling and toppled down in to the lake with a cascade of water and sludge. The rocks croaked and groaned under the pressure pushing upward from beneath. The lake sloshed against the confining shore.

  “Elyana,” Beryl breathed.

  Slowly, the voice released control, allowing the heat to seep back down to its reservoir beneath the desert. The trembling slowed, then stopped altogether. Beryl, panting, picked up the table and the scrolls, reaching out with his other powers to right the lanterns. He had to finish this soon.

  * * *

  Gavin stumbled and nearly fell as the ground lurched, knocking him around. Screams cut through the air above the rumble of rock. On the other side of the circle, Evrouin was knocked to the ground. Gavin staggered forward, using his sword to keep his feet. He grabbed Evrouin by the forearm and hauled him to his feet.

  “Go!” Gavin shouted. “See to your people. Get them out of here.”

  Evrouin gave him a searching look, as if he couldn’t believe Gavin was helping him.

  “Go!” Gavin shouted. His teeth clamped down on his tongue as the earth jostled and bounced him. He tasted blood.

  Evrouin stumbled away into the dust. A rumble sounded from above and part of a lower tier broke free and crashed down onto the tier below, breaking it free as well. People screamed and tried to run, though they were knocked from their feet as often as not. A rock crashed to the ground near Gavin, spraying him with bits of rock and sand.

  Gavin cursed and jumped backward against the wall.

  Almost as quickly as it had begun, the shaking stopped. Gavin stood without moving for a long moment, coughing against the cloud of dust which blanketed the air. Then the screams and whimpers of pain hit him like the initial wave of a sandstorm.

  Gavin pushed through the dust, suppressing coughs at every turn. He couldn’t see, the dust was too thick, but he pushed through it by sound. His greatsword lay forgotten behind him. Gavin reached someone in the gloom, a shadowy figure in the darkness. The shadow figure clutched at his hand and held it with an iron grip. Gavin heaved and pulled them to their feet. Even only a few inches from the shadow figure, Gavin couldn’t see who it was. They stumbled off and vanished into the gloom.

  A voice rang out over the cries and moans.

  “Someone help me! There’s people trapped behind these rocks!” Evrouin’s voice.

  Without hesitation, Gavin pushed through the dust toward that voice. A massive jumble of rocks lay where a section of the tiered walkway had fallen down. Another shadow figure loomed out of the gloom, but this time Gavin knew it was Evrouin from the voice.

  “What do you need?” Gavin called.

  “Get some men. We need to shift this rock out of the way.” Evrouin grabbed a chunk of stone and tossed it aside. The dust was clearing enough that the man was almost visible.

  Gavin didn’t have to go far to find people. Many were already on their way, following the sound of Evrouin’s voice. Even amidst the chaos, amidst the tragedy and disaster, Gavin marveled at the sudden change. People who were enemies, ready to kill one another only moments before, were no
w rallied to assist others. There was common ground between them. Gavin just had to figure out how to use it. But that would wait for another time.

  Between them, Gavin and Evrouin formed the helpers into a line and began pulling stones out of the way. The rocks had buried the lower room, which was hidden beneath an overhang created by the walkway surrounding the next level up. The assembled clansmen pulled away the stones one at a time, sometimes using chisels or hammers retrieved by others to break away larger chunks for well over an hour.

  In the background, Gavin vaguely noticed Khari assisting the wounded. The woman, along with Farah, moved those unable to help out of the greatroom. For a moment, they were all one united people, the Rahuli, working together for a single cause.

  “I think there’s someone here,” Evrouin said suddenly. The man had taken up the point position, moving almost every stone by himself, including those which had to be broken apart. Gavin, who worked alongside him, had found himself developing a grudging respect for the man.

  The dust was mostly gone now, only a single large stone blocking the way to the people trapped behind. Stepping close, only inches from Evrouin, Gavin finally heard the soft cries. Evrouin grabbed one side of the stone and heaved. It didn’t budge. Gavin reached out and grabbed the other side. Evrouin nodded and they both heaved together.

  The rock toppled back. Gavin just had time to step back out of the way, pulling Evrouin along with him. The rock hit the sands with a crash. As the dust cleared, Evrouin nodded at Gavin and the two moved forward as one toward the cavern-like room which had been created by the falling rock. Someone coughed within.

  A small child was closest to the opening, dust coating her hair and skin and making her look middle-aged. A small cut on her head bled down through the dust. She blinked against the light. Evrouin reached out, picked up the child, and pulled her free. She struggled for a moment, twisting to look back into the cave.

  “Woman’s in there,” the child cried, coughing between each word. “Pregnant woman.”

  Gavin felt a cold dread clutch at his heart and move up his throat. He ducked down and looked into the shallow cavern. A woman lay there pressed up against the wall, arms clutched protectively over her swollen belly. She was unconscious. It was Shallee.