Spirit Mage

by Esther Mitchell

  Reaphia responded with a hiss of rage. "How dare you! My priests will have the portal open in time. They assured me they have found a sacrifice of pure and noble blood."

  Nacaris laughed scornfully. "Your priests have lied to you. Their victim was neither of pure nor noble blood, and it is already Thracim, while their sacrifice lives yet. Do you hear me, Queen of tortured souls? I am that sacrifice, and I am still alive!"

  Dead silence reigned for a long, agonizing moment, and Telyn winced in the space. She would have given good coin to see the shock on Reaphia's face, right now, but she knew it wouldn't last. A rustle of fabric confirmed her belief, before Reaphia's cold, imperious tone filled the room. "It does not matter. You will all die here."

  Another crackle of energy ran through the blood-hathe, and panic seized Telyn's lungs. She didn't know how, but she knew the next attack Reaphia launched would be pure spiritual energy, and undefended Nacaris was her target.

  "Sacred Fire, no!" Telyn's grip on the anaqueri tightened as, before she could move, Reaphia unleashed a stream of energy so terrible it actually howled with the rage of thousands of murdered dead. Frozen by the knowledge any move she made would doom Nacaris, Telyn listened tensely for the moaning wail that proceeded the severing of soul from body, to tell her she was once again powerless to prevent death from consuming the man she loved. Her heart hammered and her throat closed around the hope Nacaris was still alive, as moment followed moment in agonizing silence, except for the lash and crack of rippling energy striking its target. As much as she wished it could be true, there was no way Nacaris could still survive that kind of raw, spiritual blast.

  Then, impossibly, she heard Nacaris's dark chuckle. Her head jerked up in surprise, and she looked toward the only source she could think of for such a miracle. In the upper level, an utterly exhausted-looking Paduari leaned against one pillar, his eyes closed and a look of pure torment on his face. As if he felt her gaze, his eyes opened for an instant, and he gave a small, tight nod toward Nevorai. One glance at the young monk tore a gasp of awe from Telyn's throat. He stood ramrod straight on the balcony rail, his arms outstretched at his sides and torment written in every line of his face, as Paduari deflected the energy away from Nacaris. Nevorai looked to be absorbing part of it, and releasing another part in a bright light, nearly blinding her as it shot toward the heavens.

  Eyes burning, she yanked her gaze away and blinked, bringing Paduari into focus as his mouth opened on a single command -- as if it required all his strength to issue. The chair.

  They were out of options. Even with Paduari and Nevorai linked in Majikal battle with Reaphia, they dared not risk waiting another instant. Whatever the outcome, Telyn raised the anaqueri level with the grotesque stone seat and pulled all her energy into her center for attack. Just as she gathered the last vestiges of her power, Telyn paused as a wave of pure destructive energy rocked through her like a tidal wave. She gasped at the sheer power of it, and her eyes flew to Reaphia, aware the lash of energy came from the younger woman.

  Forcing herself to ignore pain as it seared through her, Telyn pushed the raw power of Fire that was her birthright and her charge through the now-singing anaqueri. Its high-pitched tune changed as it accepted the burning flow of energy, and channeled it into a radiating river of crackling blue-white fire. With a gurgle and pop, the granite throne melted into a pool of molten goo flowing to the floor, forming a small island around Reaphia and trapping her. The Vedic priestess, devoid of her power, collapsed with a screeching moan. She gagged, then convulsed, and tumbled toward the floor, and the lava eating away at the island of rock on which she stood. Telyn, for all her bitterness, couldn't condemn Reaphia to death. She'd never quite let go of her friend.

  Dashing without harm through the cooling magma, Telyn caught Reaphia before she hit the floor, hefting her half against her side and dragging her away from the dais, toward where Nacaris stood. She glanced toward Paduari, and noticed he was moving -- more quickly than was probably wise in his present state -- down a winding stairwell set back in one corner of the room. She glanced toward where Nevorai had been, and blinked. He was gone.

  "We have to hurry," Telyn glanced at Nacaris as he reached with his good hand to help her. "That throne is connected to this place. It's the temple's blood-hathe. This whole building will start collapsing soon."

  Nacaris nodded. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

  Telyn opened her mouth to make sure he was all right, but Paduari was already gesturing urgently for them from the temple doors. Saving her questions, Telyn hauled Reaphia up against her, and between them, she and Nacaris carried the priestess from the crumbling temple.

  Outside, the three companions and their prisoner stopped, turning to look back as a squealing rumble echoed through the mountains. The ground beneath their feet shook, and the massive stone and clay walls of the temple crumpled to the ground, leaving only rubble to mark its burial. Telyn winced, trying not to think of the people who might still have been in building when it collapsed. She already knew no one had won. In battle, there were only ever losers.

  "Did anyone see..." Her voice trailed off as she glanced up, and watched Nevorai slowly descend through the air as if he were a feather falling toward the ground. He landed lightly, his expression serene, and it was obvious something about the young man changed.

  She turned to Paduari. "What happened back there? What did Nevorai do?"

  The two Maji spoke quietly in the melodic Lurudani language. Telyn glanced at Nacaris, and saw the surprise on his face. It disgruntled her to know she was the only one who had no idea what was going on.

  "I'm still here, you know."

  Paduari looked up at her. "Nevorai was releasing the spirits to Farii. He says that temple was built on the souls of our people."

  She frowned as she glanced at the young monk. "How does he know that?"

  Paduari translated. Nevorai responded in a rambling stream of words and gestures, to which Paduari nodded before meeting Telyn's gaze somberly. "The tardons."

  "What about them?"

  "Nevorai says they eat souls, which is why they require only dead plant and animal flesh. They're not actually eating the plant or animal. They're ingesting the soul, carrying it for energy, if you rather. That's also why they were used in the Rhiadvia. Our Rhi says to reach the Danico the dead must face the dark nature of both themselves and the Universe. Nevorai says no one can face darkness alone. A legion is required to battle the darkness. A tardon's bones, in sacrament with a person's passing, grants that person dominion of all the souls collected within the beast. A legion of souls. When Sehidhe crossed into our lands--"

  "She heard the legend and realized she could harness a lot more power that way," Nacaris finished for him.

  Telyn looked at the still-unconscious priestess sadly. "So, she made killing the tardons illegal, outlawed all rituals involving them, and left the tardons to gorge themselves on spiritual energy."

  Paduari nodded. "Then her priests would go into the Eleshau, where the tardons live, and gather them up. They brought the poor creatures here, through the portal, where they were sacrificed and their power collected in the blood-hathe."

  Telyn shuddered. "It makes sense, horrible as it sounds. My only question, really, is how Nevorai found out."

  Paduari relayed the question to Nevorai. The young monk shrugged and spoke for a moment, then smiled sadly at Telyn as Paduari translated. "He absorbed it. When I was deflecting the spiritual energy away from Marakai, Nevorai was transmuting it, freeing the souls of our people into the Danico. He was too weak and tired from his own ordeal to deflect the energy travelling with those souls, though. All he could do was alter it and absorb it with little harm done. That energy was the life-force and wisdom of our people's dead, and it told him..." He turned to regard the monk in something akin to awe, then cleared his throat. "It told him what needs to be done to save our people."

  Nevorai's rapid-fire speech answered Paduari, and his anxious expressi
on worried Telyn, even before Paduari nodded and instructed, "We must go quickly. I don't know how long it will remain."

  "What are you..." But Telyn was talking to air. Nevorai and Paduari were already starting down the mountain's slope. She glanced Nacaris' way, and they shared a shrug before following the two Maji down the mountain, a semiconscious Reaphia draped between them.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Telyn breathed a sigh of relief as the purple-red light from the portal cavern came into view. She never thought she'd be so happy to see that terrifying portal again. Now, the cavern meant the whole heart-rending ordeal was finally over.

  The journey back down the mountain was tense and difficult, impeded even more by the debris from the crumbling temple and surrounding mountain as tremor after tremor shook the mountain. She was half-afraid the whole time the portal would be buried before they arrived. If she never saw another mountain, it would be too soon.

  As they entered the cave, a moan echoed off the walls, and Telyn's attention turned sharply toward the woman whose head lulled against her shoulder. Reaphia stirred, and Telyn raised her hand to signal to the two Maji -- now walking behind Nacaris and herself -- to stop. Carefully, they lowered the priestess to the ground, and Telyn gasped as she got her first real look at Reaphia since the temple.

  The lines of age and scars of defilement which had twisted the younger woman's face were smoothed away, returning the youthful glow and beauty Reaphia still possessed last time Telyn saw her before leaving the Endlands. Her hair was dark as night and glossy again, falling in soft waves around her face. Looking into that fresh-faced innocence, one could almost forget Reaphia brought more evil and suffering to the world than any creature in a millennium. Almost. Telyn had only to look at Nacaris, his right arm in a sling and pain etched on his face, to know it was Reaphia's handiwork -- her cruelty and lust for power -- which stole his pride and dignity as a warrior. Telyn didn't think she could ever forgive the pain Reaphia caused.

  Reaphia's eyes blinked open, and Telyn smothered a gasp. Her eyes were clear and green, for the first time she could recall since Reaphia left Brahmad's palace. Those jade eyes, full of dazed confusion, gazed at the people around her.

  "What... Where am I? Who are... Telyn!"

  Telyn leveled a cold stare Reaphia's way. "Aye. Your schemes have failed, Reaphia. I doubt you have much power to command without your blood-hathe."

  "Schemes? Command? Blood-hathe?" Reaphia's voice was tinged with lack of comprehension, her expression bewildered. Then, looking around her again, she giggled suddenly. "I get it. This is a jest. You've always been a prankster, but... why are you so old?"

  Telyn had started at Reaphia's girlish giggle. Now, she stared, aghast, at the other woman. She wasn't sure if she should be shocked Reaphia had no recollection of the past twenty cycles, or enraged Reaphia thought she was fool enough to fall for this latest game.

  "Do you really mean to say you can't remember a single day of the past twenty summers?" Where Reaphia was concerned, skepticism was her best ally.

  Reaphia stared back in wide-eyed confusion. "Twenty Summers? Telyn, how can I remember twenty Summers when I'm not even that old?"

  The younger woman's bewildered look and emphatic statement were like a slap in the face. After a moment of stunned silence, she finally gathered her wits enough to ask, "What is the last thing you can recall before waking up here?"

  Reaphia's brow furrowed for a moment, before a frown settled over her features.

  "I remember Father saying I had to go away for training, to Purat. I remember the men in their yellow robes, with their strange eyes. They were very frightening, and I didn't want to go, but Father said I had to. They took me away. We travelled a long time, and I remember hearing chanting. All the time, this awful chanting, keeping me awake at night, torturing me during the day. Then... then..." Frightened tears welled up in her eyes. "Oh, Telyn! I can't remember!"

  Telyn cast a dubious look at the other woman, and then silently questioning glances at her other companions. "What do you think?"

  Paduari's face was serenely unconcerned as he stared back at her. "I advised you before, Telyn. The choice is yours."

  As his level gaze bored into hers, memory tugged at her. There are many truths. Nothing is purely good, or purely evil.

  Telyn swallowed hard and forced the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach away as she studied Reaphia. She was torn between rage and relief. All these cycles, all the silent torture she'd endured, wondering what she'd done to fail so miserably with Reaphia, filled her with bitterness and fear. Back then, she hated Brahmad and Reaphia for betraying her. Bitter hatred made her less trusting and more stubborn than she ever planned. Even Sala, Nacaris, and her own mother were forced to work through tightly-woven defenses before Telyn could trust them. From the first time Reaphia looked at her with cold, soulless eyes, Telyn promised herself she would never have a child of her own. She would never see her failure stare back at her again. Now, she had the chance to start over, to show compassion rather than anger, and learn what being a parent was really about. Did she owe Reaphia any less than the same compassion?

  Telyn stood face-to-face with all her anger and fear, and uncertainty was the only emotion that befriended her. If some dark Majik of the Vedics was truly responsible for the Reaphia she found here in the mountains of Purat, then she was never betrayed, and she hadn't failed. But if this was all a trick of Reaphia's, then Telyn was in danger of being betrayed not just once, but twice. Which was the truth, or was there even one?

  "Think about it later," Nacaris's voice was colored with urgency. "Right now, we need to get to the portal before it collapses completely."

  Telyn glanced into the cavern, and saw the shifting purplish light begin to pulse, bouncing in the manner of buckling energy. With its stabilizing point, the temple, gone, this side of the portal was merely barely-caged wild energy, fluxing outward in its struggle to escape.

  Paduari frowned, walking toward the portal. When he turned back to the others, his eyes were dark with concern.

  "There is only time for one of us to cross."

  Telyn sighed. "Well, it won't be me. I can't go back. Even stable, that portal was trying to kill me. Unstable, it would probably succeed."

  Paduari nodded. "I, too, cannot go back."

  Telyn blinked at him. "What are you talking about? You were in harmony with that thing..."

  He shook his head, forestalling the rest of her argument. "My destiny does not lie in Lurudan. Even before my transformation in the Tikesha, I knew once I left Lurudan, there would be no going back. My destiny lies here, in the Endlands. I must stay."

  Telyn frowned. "But someone has to go back! Who...?"

  She froze as a hand lightly touched her back. She turned to look at Nacaris, dread plummeting through her. He must have read the fear in her eyes, because he smiled gently and shook his head as he leaned to murmur against her ear, "I told you before, balnyt -- my future is with you. However, the Lurudani people need to know the Anieni's reign of terror has ended. They need someone who knows their Rhi, who remembers everything they once were, and who is one of them. They need someone who has enough of a lifetime left to help them back to the Path they were forced to abandon," he straightened, his gaze travelling past her. "They need someone who can lead, and who has already suffered for their sakes."

  Chapter Sixteen

  Telyn shook her head numbly as she stared at Nacaris, unable to force words past the lump in her throat. She didn't understand what he was trying to say. Was he staying with her, or leaving? The thought of facing the future before her without him was enough to chill her to the soul.

  "No, Nacaris... you can't..."

  "Not me, balnyt," he whispered near her ear, and turned her until she was looking directly at Nevorai. The young monk stood before the portal, his rapt attention focused on the glowing, swirling energy. "Remember what you told me at the tree? I sincerely doubt Nevorai knew what he was getting into when he agr
eed to this little jaunt, but I dare say his life will never be the quiet, reserved one he used to lead, again. We are not always meant to be masters of our own destinies. Our people need him, and fortune placed him in this place, at this time, for a reason." He squeezed her lightly with his good arm, his face buried in her hair. His breath stirred against her cheek as he murmured, "Learn to have a little faith."

  Telyn closed her eyes, leaning into his touch, oblivious to the presence of anyone besides Nacaris.

  "I thought I lost you twice, already. My faith's been tested to breaking."

  He chuckled, then raised his head to say something to Paduari and Nevorai in Lurudani. Turning back to Telyn, he rested his forehead against hers, staring into her eyes. "You and I have a future to plan."

  Telyn's heart leapt into her throat, and her eyes burned with unshed tears. She swallowed hard.

  "I hope so," she whispered softly.

  Their lips met then, in a kiss which seared through Telyn like wild fire. She lost herself in their kiss, aware only of the touch of Nacaris' lips against hers and the bright light against her closed eyelids.

  Wait, was the light growing brighter? Her eyes blinked open and she drew away from Nacaris with a gasp as she realized the light was, in fact, getting brighter. The portal was getting ready to collapse!

  She whipped around to warn Nevorai, and froze as she watched him straighten his shoulders and step bravely into the chaotic purple-red light. As Nevorai disappeared into the blinding light, Telyn finally understood what made the Lurudani Saphiu special, what set them apart from even the Bathron heroes. They all paid prices they couldn't bear to pay, for the sake of their people. She had no doubt the Lurudani would celebrate Nevorai as the greatest Saphiu in a millennium. After all, he was willing to sacrifice everything to bring them peace, and Telyn could only pray his sacrifice didn't include his life.