Sharani series Box Set

by Kevin L. Nielsen

  “Get up, you!” she snapped at Gavin, ignoring Khari’s upraised hand.

  Gavin got to his feet. For a moment, he thought Farah was going to hit him, then her arms were around his waist and the air was squeezed out of his lungs.

  “Don’t you dare do that to me again,” Farah said, her voice muffled because her face was buried in his chest. “Don’t you dare.”

  Despite the situation, despite everything that had gone on that day, Gavin found himself grinning like a fool.

  Chapter 23: Fear

  “The final Iterations of all three elements still hold much mystery for even this noted scholar. The members of each are volatile and prone to self-destruction. So few ever achieve this level of mastery. When it does occur, the Seven Sisters are forced to take measures against them.”

  —From Commentary on the Schema, Volume I

  “Are you two quite finished?” Khari snapped.

  Farah released Gavin and stepped away from him. Gavin half-frowned guiltily, but Farah simply nodded at Khari and took a seat.

  “Quite,” she said, not looking back at Gavin.

  Gavin sat down next to her, brow slightly furrowed in confusion. Would Farah ever start making sense?

  If she did though, she wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.

  Gavin looked over at Nikanor and Samsin and found the later giving him a small wink. Gavin frowned. Samsin’s brief levity faded into a scowl and he looked away.

  “As I was saying,” Khari said. She glanced at Lhaurel who had not spoken since muttering Beryl’s name and who was looking particularly pale. “What do you mean, someone sent a message?”

  Nikanor shifted in his seat and wouldn’t meet Khari’s eye, though his gaze did flicker over to Lhaurel more than once. Gavin brought his attention back to them as the solid, square-jawed Orinai began speaking again.

  “Earth Wards have a means of communicating with one another through the stone. I am the steward of the northernmost plantation in the Orinai Empire. I received the message some time ago. An Earth Ward must have sent it.”

  “Earth Ward?”

  “They’re the second Iteration after a magnetelorium,” Lhaurel whispered. “More powerful than they and able to do things with the earth instead of just metal.”

  “How do you know that?” Gavin asked.

  A look of confusion tinged with horror slowly crept across Khari’s face.

  “The scrolls,” Lhaurel said. “There are scrolls down beneath us as well. I’ve been reading them, studying about them because we thought maybe Kaiden had found something in there which motivated him to do what he did. At least, that’s what Beryl implied.”

  “Beryl?” Nikanor asked, suddenly alert and his voice sharp. “Surely not the Beryl. They say he went mad, just before the end. Started hearing voices.”

  “He’s just a blacksmith,” Farah said, joining the conversation for the first time. “What do you mean, the Beryl?”

  “Quiet,” Khari ordered. “You Orinai still haven’t explained how you got through the Forbiddence or what you want with us.”

  Samsin grunted. “Nikanor wanted to be sure this place was real before we informed the Seven Sisters. It appears our caution was unfounded, Sister.” He nodded slightly in Lhaurel’s direction.

  “She is not one of the Seven Sisters,” Nikanor said softly, as if to Samsin or himself, Gavin couldn’t tell which.

  “Hold your tongue, Nikanor.” Samsin hissed. “I beg your pardon for such blasphemous words, Honored Sister.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lhaurel demanded. Gavin was pleased to notice some fire return to her voice.

  “This complicates things greatly,” Nikanor said. “We’d thought that maybe one of the current Sisters was simply weaker than the others, but could she be an imposter altogether? There’s no way they’ll leave survivors.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lhaurel demanded again, louder and this time with her words echoed by Khari.

  “You must all leave this place,” Nikanor said sharply. “Flee into the mountains and hide to the east of here.”

  Samsin stared at his companion as if he had suddenly burst into flame.

  “Quickly before the Sisters arrive with their armies and kill you all. Having you here, blood mage, will make it worse for those here. They will kill everyone to hide their lies. You must leave. Now! Please listen to me.” Nikanor got to his feet.

  Khari shouted for the guards. Lhaurel, Farah, and Gavin all leapt up as Samsin tried to pull Nikanor back down and the guards burst in through the door.

  “Please! Speak to Beryl,” Nikanor said in a voice that rumbled like falling stone. “He must have sent the message. Go talk to him. Please listen to me!” He didn’t resist as the guards came in and pulled him and Samsin away. Samsin actually seemed to want to get away from Nikanor, resisting the guards just enough to create a small pocket of distance between him and Nikanor.

  “Forgive him, Sister,” Samsin said with a half-bow toward Lhaurel as he was led away.

  Gavin leaned back in his chair as silence consumed the room. Khari slumped back down into her chair and Lhaurel massaged her forehead with one hand, head down so that her blood-red hair cascaded down over her face and hid her expression. The only one in the room who didn’t seem perturbed was Farah.

  “Well, is someone going to tell me what’s going on? Did someone die?” She somehow seemed oddly light-hearted, despite the insanity that had just occurred.

  None of them answered.

  “Well?”

  Gavin pulled out of his stupor, shaking his head to clear it. His grandmother’s voice admonished him for brooding and not taking some sort of action. She’d always believed in thinking things through, though she had also cautioned against overthinking. Gavin leaned over and told Farah what had transpired, starting with what had happened to him after she’d left him next to the stoneway pillar and ending with what Nikanor had just told them. When he finished, Farah’s eyes twinkled and the edges of her lips tugged upward.

  “Well, that’s a good laugh,” she said. “We’ll just go ask Beryl what he thinks of all this and it’ll be settled. We’ll just have to figure out how Kaiden got those two to lie for him and figure out what clan they belong to.”

  Gavin opened his mouth and then closed it again. Had she not heard what he’d just told her?

  “We already talked to Beryl,” Lhaurel said, not looking up. “He said the same thing.”

  “What?” Gavin asked.

  “He told us to leave here because the Orinai are coming.”

  “Two men are hardly a reason to leave,” Farah interrupted. “No matter how skilled they are at the mystic arts.”

  “They are Orinai. They’re not the Orinai,” Lhaurel said, finally looking up. She looked over at Gavin and Farah and her eyes were red from silent tears. “The Seven Sisters are coming. They’re blood mages, like me. I was able to destroy the genesauri, a threat which has plagued the Sharani Desert for generations. Can you imagine what seven of me could do?”

  That silenced Farah.

  Khari stirred a little, but her eyes were unfocused and distant. “I thought we were safe now,” Khari muttered as if to herself. “The genesauri were gone and we had a chance at real stability among the clans. Things were changing, but I had hoped they would be for the better.”

  “You can’t seriously be considering this?” Farah asked. “Gavin, why are you so quiet over there? I know you have an opinion about all this.”

  Gavin nodded, looking the woman in the eye. “I think we need to be prepared either way. Khari, shouldn’t we send out riders to the clans letting them know what’s going on? We can question Samsin and Nikanor again, see if we can’t get any more details out of them. Either way, we should prepare ourselves.”

  Farah gave him a look that clearly said she thought he was making this into a far bigger deal than it was. Gavin sighed internally and looked to Khari, waiting for the woman to respond. She didn’t—just kept staring of
f into the distance. Lhaurel had returned to massaging her forehead.

  Gavin got to his feet. “Farah, send out some riders to the clans. Let them know what’s been going on and let them know that they can come back here if they wish. If you see Cobb out there, send him to me, please.”

  Farah gave him a flat look, her lips a thin line, then got to her feet as well. “Yes, sir,” she said stiffly and left.

  Gavin ran his fingers through his hair, ignoring the filth that had accumulated in it. He figured he must look a sight, dusty and travel-worn, but that really didn’t matter right now.

  “Lhaurel.” The woman didn’t look up. “Lhaurel,” Gavin said again.

  She looked over at him.

  “Show me the scrolls Beryl gave you.”

  Lhaurel looked at him as if not seeing him for a few long moments, then nodded. “Alright.”

  They left Khari where she was, staring off into the distance.

  * * *

  Gavin set down the scroll, careful not to disturb the lamp in the center of the low stone table. Cobb, who had entered the room a few minutes earlier, cleared his throat, but Gavin ignored him, turning to Lhaurel.

  “This is an exact replica of one of the scrolls I read while in the Oasis,” Gavin said. “Except someone has translated them into the Rahuli script. The one I read was in the language of the Orinai, the language my grandmother told me was the tongue of our ancestors.”

  “How did she know the language of the Orinai? How did she know?” Lhaurel asked.

  “I don’t know if she did,” Gavin answered, rubbing his brow. “It was tradition for her, I think. She’d been one of the outcasts since she was a little girl and it was just something her parents had taught her.”

  Cobb, for his part, remained silent. Farah must have told him something about what had transpired, but he kept his thoughts and opinions to himself.

  “But what does it mean?” Lhaurel asked. She seemed on the verge of hysterics, hands shaking, face pinched and earnest.

  “I don’t know,” Gavin said. “Maybe there’s some credence to it all.”

  In truth, he had already formed his own opinion. Though he had no means of fully understanding what was coming, he was sure it was there. He’d always known there was a forgotten history to the Rahuli, a heritage that had been left behind in the face of the genesauri. Too many things added up for the Orinai not to be the Enemy the stories spoke of, though the Rahuli had always considered that enemy to be the genesauri. What he was going to do with that knowledge though, he still didn’t understand.

  “Cobb,” Gavin said finally, turning to the man. “Can you please do an inventory of the weapons we have available to us. The forge and armory are sealed, if what Lhaurel tells us is true, but take an inventory of the rest of it.”

  Cobb nodded and left, his limp more pronounced without his cane. Gavin found comfort in Cobb’s presence, needing the stability and strength the man radiated.

  Gavin turned back to Lhaurel, who was still watching him. Gavin sighed and tried to shake off his growing exhaustion.

  “Well, Lhaurel,” he said. “I think we need to go chat with the Orinai again. I’ll need your help for that.”

  Lhaurel bit her bottom lip, a habit of hers when she was agitated Gavin had discovered, but nodded.

  * * *

  Gavin entered the room where the guards had taken Samsin and Nikanor, the same room where Kaiden had been held prisoner not so very long before. Lhaurel stepped in after him, holding the lantern.

  Both Samsin and Nikanor, still bound, got to their feet as they entered. Samsin immediately cast his eyes downward, but Nikanor met Gavin’s gaze with eyes as hard as stone.

  Gavin stared back, unflinching. “Tell me everything I need to know about the Seven Sisters and their armies,” Gavin said. “What makes you think they’re coming? Why would they destroy us if what you said earlier is true and this was some grand arena before? How long do we have?”

  “They have no mercy,” Nikanor said. “The armies and the Seven Sisters. They don’t often agree, but when they do—and they will about this—there is no power in the world that can stand against them for long. Their archers will come first. They have a habit of shooting but not killing the first wave sent against them. Those hits fuel the Sisters.”

  Gavin felt bile rise up in the back of his throat as he thought of Lhaurel’s awesome power in the Oasis. If that were turned against the Rahuli as a whole . . .

  “Why would they destroy us?” Gavin repeated.

  Nikanor’s eyes slid away from Gavin to Lhaurel. “Because of her. There are only Seven Sisters, seven blood mages. Red hair and nails are their mark, though they can be easily imitated.” Nikanor nodded to Lhaurel, almost in respect, then looked back at Gavin. “I’ve experienced her power and know she’s really a blood mage. That means that one of the current Seven Sisters isn’t. The most powerful force in the Orinai Empire is lying to an entire empire.”

  “I don’t understand,” Lhaurel said. “Why would they kill everyone because I’m a blood mage?”

  It was Samsin who answered her. “Forgive Nikanor, Sister, but he is correct. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but even I cannot deny it in the face of what I’ve witnessed from you. They would kill everyone here to hide their lie. They’ll kill you too, I believe. Then they’d just have to wait for you to incarnate again where they could find and raise you as one of their own to replace the “fake” Sister.”

  “I’m not one of them,” Lhaurel said, shuddering and making the light sway back and forth. “I’m not a monster.”

  Gavin shook his head, perhaps even more confused now than he was before. “How long do we have?” he asked.

  “There’s no way to know,” Samsin said. “It could be a day, it could be a month.”

  “Only if they get told,” Nikanor added. “We still have to pass the message along to the next Earth Ward. When they don’t hear from us this month, they will send scouts, who will then meet with my steward at the plantation who will tell them where we went. It would take nearly a month for the Sisters to get from the Capital up to here. There’s still time for you to get away.”

  Samsin shifted behind Nikanor, licking his lips and scratching at the ropes around his wrists.

  Gavin narrowed his eyes. “What do you know, Samsin?”

  Samsin fidgeted, then Lhaurel was there. Her eyes flashed with suppressed anger. Samsin flinched back from her, but she grabbed his arm.

  “What do you know?” she hissed.

  “I left scrolls with Nikanor’s steward,” Samsin said. “He was to send them if we hadn’t returned in three days. That was over ten days ago.”

  “That’s right,” Nikanor said. “I’d forgotten. Those will take several weeks to reach the Sisters, though.”

  Lhaurel released Samsin and stepped toward Gavin, hands shaking again. “We’ve got to go,” she said, voice trembling. “We’ve got to leave before they get here.”

  “Let’s not rush into this, Lhaurel,” Gavin said. “We don’t even know how to get over the Forbiddence.”

  Nikanor looked over at Samsin, who was leaning against a wall now, dejected. “Tell them, Samsin.”

  Samsin sniffed. “There’s a jagged set of stairs north of where you found us.”

  “Don’t you think we would have found them by now if there were?” Gavin snapped, the tension, confusion, and frustration building within him bursting out in his comment.

  “Not if they weren’t there before,” Samsin said.

  Gavin tried to picture Samsin carrying Nikanor down a set of steps covered in sand. Had Nikanor formed them? How had he managed that so wounded?

  “There’s no way you could have carried him down that distance without falling.”

  Samsin snorted and a trace of his former arrogance returned. “I’m a Storm Ward, you ignorant fool. I called the winds to clear the path for me and keep my step. It wasn’t any harder than pulling the winds down to fill the sails of a ship.”
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  Gavin had no idea what a ship was, but before he could ask Nikanor was talking again.

  “You still have time. If you leave now, you can still make it to the Straights and then north from there—”

  The ground suddenly heaved.

  * * *

  Beryl stood within the blazing heat of the forge, finally succumbing to the voice which had been his greatest foe for the last few centuries. The vulcanist reached through him to the reservoirs of heat beneath the Warren, drawing on it and pulling it up through the cracks which formed in the metal and stone plug which had kept it contained since the Arena’s construction.

  Beryl had used that heat for hundreds of years, slowly drawing it up into the forge, but each time it had cost him a bit more of his sanity. He lost the battle to the vulcanist for a brief moment at least once a year and made the ground shake, the earth tremble, but each time Beryl had been able to wrest back control.

  This time, he didn’t even try.

  “I understand now, Elyana,” Beryl said softly. “Why you did what you did. I’ve resented it for a thousand years. I’ve been angry with you for a thousand years”

  The heat grew so intense behind him that the forge furnace grew red and Beryl’s clothes blackened, though his skin remained whole.

  “I’ve lived in this waking dream, battling with the voices of my past and future lives, for what seems an eternity. You didn’t know that could happen, Elyana, did you? I discovered it on the day you died, when my mind and heart shattered and you became the karundin. All the incarnations and each of the Iterations, can exist within the same mind, did you know that?”

  The voices within Beryl’s mind argued back and forth, debating whether or not insanity could be considered a true state of existence. They were a distant backdrop, however, to the thundering roars of exultation from the vulcanist, who gleefully pulled on his powers as if they were some sort of addictive drug, which, to the mystics of the third progression, they were.