by Joe Jackson
“Ty, you crossed the entire pool!” Malcolm said, patting the half-guardian on the back with his free hand. “I can’t believe it.”
“I can’t believe what we just saw,” Jesse muttered.
“Don’t look at me,” Ty said. “That kind of thing isn’t commonplace where I come from. I just… my brother… still here, still watching over us. Still as selfless in death as he was his entire life.”
“You sure it was him?” Jesse asked, which drew an incredulous gasp and then a scowl from his partner.
“No,” Ty admitted. “But it’s the only explanation I’ve got, and I’m happy to think it. Now come on, let’s see if I can get back across the pool without him here.”
It was slower going this time, but Ty managed. Once they emerged from the pool, his therapists got him dried off and back into his wheelchair, from which he could more easily hear the chatter of the people still gathered at the room’s door. Some were comparing their moving pictures, others were watching the event on the devices for the first time. They were already calling it a miracle, which quickly became The Miracle at San Bernardo. Ty smiled.
With the commotion, Jesse and Malcolm got Ty ready to move to the other workout room. “Not today,” Ty told them. “You have a temple or chapel of some kind here, don’t you?”
“Sure, there’s a chapel downstairs for any and all,” Malcolm said. “Would you like to go down and spend some time there?”
“Yeah, I would.”
They took him to the lifts. Ty hid a smile and kept any laughter under control as his therapists pushed their way through throngs of inquisitive staff, patients, and family as politely as they could. They brought him down to the main floor where the chapel was, and after wheeling him inside, Malcolm and Jesse left Ty to his thoughts. There was only another couple within, and Ty took in the pair of terra-rir with a short glance before he closed his eyes and sighed.
“There are people saying there was a miracle upstairs,” the woman said, and Ty turned to face her. “Have you heard anything?”
“Saw it with my own eyes,” Ty confirmed.
“What happened?”
Ty started to answer, but stopped himself. There was a time and place for truth, but the situation hit him before he could say what he really thought. This couple was here in the chapel praying, when most of the others in the hospital were upstairs asking about the miracle. It didn’t take much to realize these people were looking for a miracle of their own.
“Looked like an angel,” he said at last. There wasn’t much mystery to the sudden tears in the woman’s eyes, and her husband wrapped her in a tender hug, shoving aside his own pain to envelope her in warmth. “What are you folks here for, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Our daughter is upstairs,” the husband said. “She… she has Dracon’s Bane. She just keeps getting sicker and sicker, and there’s nothing they can really do.”
Ty had to stop himself from speaking again; mentioning that Grakin had died of Dracon’s Bane wasn’t going to do anything but cause more pain for everyone here. The more he thought about it, though, he figured maybe someone who knew what they were going through was what they were really looking for, and not just divine guidance. “My brother died of Dracon’s Bane just a few months ago,” he said quietly.
The woman looked up, her tear-stricken eyes suddenly taking in Ty’s wheelchair and his atrophied legs. “Oh gods, you don’t…?” she started.
“No, no,” he said, waving off the question. “I had a back injury that left me paralyzed from the waist down. The surgeons fixed it, but now I’ve got months of physical therapy to go through.”
“Our daughter’s doctor says there’s only one hope…,” she said, but trailed off and fell into sobs again.
“A miracle, eh?” Ty asked with a grimace.
“Well, there is always that,” her husband answered. “But no, the doctors think there’s a chance she might be saved, if we can find someone who’s survived it.”
“Survived it?”
“Yes,” the woman said, lifting her head again and wiping the tear-tracks from her face. “There’s supposedly some woman out in the Wild Lands, a famous hero who had it but is still alive.”
Ty did a double-take. “Karian Vanador?”
The couple had a similar reaction. “Yes, I think that’s her name.”
Ty tilted his head, considering the circumstances of this meeting. On any other day, he’d have gone to the pool and exercised, then gone to the workout room to get some strength training in. Today, though, he had seen Grakin’s spirit, prompting him to come down to the chapel. Ty wasn’t one to get caught up in omniscience debates or the like, but he knew a divine coincidence when he saw one. He’d been led here, he was sure of it, and he wondered what importance this young girl and her family might hold, or whether this was simply a mission of mercy.
“Kari’s my sister-in-law,” he said.
The two rir looked up at him in shock. “You’re from the Wild Lands?”
Ty had to fight off a snort and a smart comment. “That’s not what we call it, but yes. What does the doctor need with Kari?”
“I think they just need a sample of her blood,” the woman said, and her husband nodded.
“Seems everyone’s after her blood these days,” Ty joked. The couple seemed surprised by his timing, but he cocked a half-smile. “She’s the head of the Demonhunter Order. Lots of things out there that want a piece of her, but… if she knew the doctors here might be able to save your daughter from Dracon’s Bane, I’m sure she’d be thrilled to help.”
“It would be… another miracle.”
“Two in one day,” Ty considered. “Why don’t you folks go find your daughter’s doctor, and I’ll tell him what I know. If they can’t go to DarkWind, the same person who brought me here might be able to get Kari here to help. I’m up in room two-forty-four.”
“I’m sorry, we’re so rude… we didn’t even ask your name…”
“Typhonix Tesconis,” he said, then gave them the demonhunter salute almost without conscious thought. “Demonhunter, by Zalkar’s grace.”
“You’re a demonhunter?”
Ty nodded. “I was, before my injury. And will be again, gods willing. Love justice, but do mercy.”
“Gods, I don’t even know how to begin to thank you. We’ll see you again upstairs, I hope. In room two-forty-four?”
The blonde nodded again, and the couple tearfully made their way out of the chapel in as nonchalant a hurry as they could. Ty looked up at the back wall, comprised of so many varying holy symbols. Many of them were completely unfamiliar, but among those he knew was the balanced forces sigil of Zalkar, his patron as a demonhunter.
I’m not sure what’s going on, he thought, but I’m honored to be of service, my lord.
There was no verbal answer, but the room lit up with that radiance for the briefest of instants. During that moment, Ty saw a vision of himself standing beside Kari again, on his own two feet with his greataxe in hand. With a smile, the demonhunter saluted toward the sigil of his lord once more, then he turned and made his way from the chapel to go meet the doctors back in his room.
*****
Kari sat on the steps of her mother-in-law’s old house, the irony not lost on her by any stretch. Down in the yard, her children shrieked and ran around merrily with the other kids, leaving the demonhunter to her thoughts and her worries. For the time being, they were graciously invited to live in Eli and Danilynn’s house just next door, but Kari knew from experience that it was far from an optimal situation. Eli and Danilynn were new parents, and as helpful as it could be to have other parents in the house with them, it could also cause friction.
And friction just about summed up Kari’s life at this point.
Her body was enjoying the short respite, sitting on the steps of the orphanage while someone else tended to her children for a short break. She was incredibly sore, and the events of the morning hadn’t helped with that one bit. The
worst of it wasn’t the physical pain, though: It was knowing that her friends and family were on Mehr’Durillia, headed into danger, and she wasn’t there with them. No matter how dire the odds or bleak the situation, Kari always felt better when she was there to share in it, and not just acting as commander and sending others into danger.
Kyrie had been abnormally silent since the others left. Kari hoped it was mostly for the same reasons, but she knew that wasn’t the truth. The woman was obviously just as perturbed by what she’d heard regarding Kari’s activities on Mehr’Durillia as the thought of her children being in danger. In a way, Kari supposed she deserved it after she’d inserted herself, however subtly, into Kyrie and Corbanis’ private life. But it was a discussion that neither party was all that interested in broaching.
“I expect everyone will be fairly safe until they reach the border of Si’Dorra,” Kari said absently, trying to pay more mind to her children and their games. Uldriana was stumbling along as much as she could, but couldn’t keep up with the older children. Considering nearly all of the orphans were such because of the War, there weren’t many infants or toddlers.
“While they pass through Morduri’s lands?” the priestess responded.
Kari flinched a bit but nodded. “Yes. He’s no friend to Arku, and I think he likes me well enough that he should let the others pass through without trouble.”
“I should think so.”
“Look, Mom, I–”
“Kari, I’ve been avoiding asking you about this because I’m not sure I even want to know what happened. But make no mistake: You’ve broken my heart.”
Kari grimaced and took a deep breath, preparing to give some soothing apology, but then her blood simmered a bit. She turned to Kyrie and her ears angled sharply back. “And what about mine?”
“What?”
“What about my heart, Mom? Have you… have any of you really thought about that in the last six months?”
“Kari–”
“I understand, Kyrie, I do. You lost a son. I don’t know how that feels and I don’t ever want to know how it feels. But I lost my husband. My mate. My partner. The father of my children. I thought maybe after what you went through with Corbanis, you’d understand a little better. I feel like I’ve spent the better part of the last six months comforting all of you but not getting much in return. And now that I’ve given even the slightest consideration to what I want, I’m going to get scorned for it?”
Kyrie sighed and made a dismissive gesture. “Kari, we’re not talking about you lying with a friend or a member of your Order. You…,” she began, but then stopped and glanced around before lowering her voice. “You slept with a demon king, for gods’ sakes!”
“He’s not a demon at all,” Kari said. Kyrie sighed again and looked away, her face hardening somewhat. “You don’t know him the way I got to know him.”
“I should say not!” the priestess snapped, whipping her fiery gaze back in an instant. “Honestly, what were you thinking?”
“That’s… hard to explain,” Kari said, standing up. “You don’t understand. He’s not a demon; most of them aren’t demons.”
“Gods, they’ve gotten to you, haven’t they?”
Kari sighed and threw her hands up in frustration. She had to make a conscious effort to not start yelling and draw the attention of the children and caretakers to the conversation. “They haven’t gotten to me. Morduri is not who and what you think. If anything, I’d say he’s like the Mehr’Durillian equivalent of Kris Jir’tana.”
Kyrie looked down. “And you’re already romantically involved with him, too?”
“Too?” Kari echoed. “I’m not romantically involved with Morduri. I was… we were…” The priestess’ eyes came up again, brimming with tears, and Kari felt her heart knot up. “Mom, I wish I could explain all of this better. Can we… let’s go somewhere more private.”
“Lorraine, would you watch Kari’s children?” Kyrie called, and one of the caretakers agreed with a bob of her head. The priestess got up and followed Kari next door, to the wide, deserted front porch of Eli and Danilynn’s new house. Kyrie sat heavily in a rocking chair, and Kari leaned up against one of the front posts.
“You’re afraid you’re going to lose me, aren’t you?” the demonhunter asked.
Kyrie’s teary eyes came back up at last. “Am I?”
“Gods, no, Mom! Grakin may be gone…,” she said, but she had to stop and take a deep breath. Both women swallowed hard at the sound of those words. “But he’s still a part of me, and always will be. And I’ll always be a part of this family. Even if things go well with Kris, Mom, I want him to become a part of our family. I’m not going to leave yours, ever.”
Neither woman could stop the tears, though they remained separated by a few feet of empty space. “Mom, I’ve been in hell since the day I got back to Flora and found out he was gone. I’ve been so afraid to get close to anyone since, so afraid of betraying Grakin, and it’s been so difficult to not come undone with no one by my side.”
Kari muttered a quiet curse under her breath. “It was lost in the fire, but Grakin wrote me a letter before he died. And the one thing he asked me to promise was that I wouldn’t mourn him too long and spend the rest of my life alone, in pain.”
Kyrie considered Kari’s words, and eventually managed a smile through her tears. “That does sound like Grakin.”
Kari approached and knelt before the priestess, and Kyrie wrapped her daughter-in-law in an embrace. “Mom, I haven’t had time to explain everything that happened on Mehr’Durillia to anyone, not even the council, not completely. I didn’t just go there and have sex with Morduri. I killed several of Sekassus’ princes, and helped King Emanitar invade Sekassus’ realm.”
Kyrie released Kari and met her eye to eye. “Are you serious?”
The demonhunter nodded, and reached up to grip Kyrie’s hands. “One of the things they did was turn me into a mallasti using some… transmutation magic or whatever they call it. The thing of it is, I didn’t just look like a mallasti, Mom, I was one of the hyena-folk, in pretty much every way. And that had a lot to do with why I ended up sharing a bed with Morduri. Even still, I thought I was going to feel like I’d betrayed Grakin, but if anything, what I felt was release, freedom… relief.” Kyrie’s brow knitted. “No one will ever take Grakin out of my heart, Mom. I realized after that night that I wanted to see if anything would blossom between Kris and me if I got the opportunity again. And at the same time, I didn’t feel afraid of letting Grakin slip away from me. If anything, honestly, I felt like I was doing what he’d asked in his last request, like I was honoring him by not wallowing in grief.”
Kyrie looked away over the road, sniffled, and wiped the tears from her face. “No, what you’re saying makes sense, especially with how Grakin was. Oh gods, do I ever feel like a fool.” She waved away Kari’s attempt to placate her. “This was a moment I’ve been fearing for as long as I’ve known Grakin was dying, Kari. You have grown so much in the last few years, I thought once Grakin was gone, you would slip out of our lives as easily as you slipped into them, that the will of the gods would take you to a higher calling, but apart from us.”
Kari shook her head. “That’s not how they operate.”
“Oh, sometimes it is, if you know the truth of my husband and I.”
“I do,” Kari said, standing up. “But it’s also not how I operate. That’s not going to happen to us. I don’t know how many others Sonja told or what they think at this point, but what happened between me and Morduri… it was… a fluke, Mom. If I hadn’t been turned into a mallasti, I never would’ve done something like that, no matter how much I may like him. But we’re really close now – not like that, but we are – and that’s going to play an important part in what’s to come.”
“What is to come?”
“War, Mom. War’s coming. I’m just trying to make sure it gets fought there and not here. I think after last night, we’ve all seen enough war here at hom
e.”
Kyrie blew out a long sigh. “But you’re going to have the house rebuilt?”
“Oh, yes,” Kari said, and she finally managed a smile. “Carly Bakhor used to have a saying: You refuse a gift initially to let the giver know just how much you value it. Then you accept it to let them know how much you value the giver.”
“She was a pretty sharp woman, from everything I’ve read,” the priestess said.
“Wise beyond her years when we traveled together,” Kari agreed. “Are you seeing this, or is it just my imagination?”
“What’s that?” Kyrie asked, following her daughter-in-law’s gaze out over the road.
“Members of the Blood Order… they’ve been everywhere today. They seem to be busy with something, which wouldn’t seem all that strange to me normally. But after last night? I have to wonder if they may be thinking about making a move directly against the duke. And as rude as he was to me this morning, that’s still something I have to be concerned with.”
“He was rude to you this morning?”
“Long story,” Kari said with a short, dismissive wave. She turned her head to the right as a familiar figure came up the road. “Well, I’ll be. Gil! What’re you doing here?”
The silver-haired woman didn’t answer right away, quick-stepping up to the porch with her hands tucked casually into the pockets of her pants. The werewolf was so unassuming-looking, no sense of danger pervading her at all in her human form. She nodded as she said hello to Kyrie, but then turned to Kari. “Turns out I was right about this,” she said, and she pulled her shoulder satchel off and opened it. There was a sheaf of papers inside, some sealed, others loose, and she handed the stack to Kari. “Make sure you’re sitting down when you read all this, Kari. Just as I told you in my letter – I hope you got it – this was an inside job.”
“What do you mean by that, exactly?”
Gil walked over and sat next to Kyrie. “I had to do some research, which turned out to be quite eye-opening when the names of your friends came up in it. But the records weren’t stolen by the people Eli and his friends tracked down, Kari. They were stolen by Jason Bosimar.”
