“I second this,” Serilda called out from the side. She was crouched down beside a fallen Naiaden but looked up when Jiada spoke. “They came to Ontaya Jiada’s aid when her attackers tried to take one of her arms. They did not have to do this, especially with one so vocal against their cause from earlier.”
The tall Exemplar finished lowering her weapon and turned away, nodding and letting other Naiadens move forward to tend to Jiada. Aiden wasn’t sure what they could do, but as he watched, one of the Naiadens pulled an odd wand with a string attached to a small box they were holding in their hands. Moving the wand against one of the angry, red wounds they grunted and then pulled out another tool, pressing it into Jiada’s skin.
Gavin, Chari, and Ashrak had backed up and were watching the work being done to Jiada. Gavin hadn’t put his sword away yet, but the other two had so Aiden decided not to get too close before trying to determine what had happened to their attackers.
“What was that all about?” he whispered loudly, causing his three startled friends to turn quickly. They quickly rallied around Aiden, with even Gavin giving him a tired smile.
“Aiden!” Chari called out. “Thank goodness you are alive! We didn’t know what happened to you. I thought you’d been taken.”
“I told you I saw him disappear, Chari,” Ashrak said, looking slightly disgruntled. “If it weren’t for whatever he did, I’d be dead.”
“I know, Ashrak,” Chari said apologetically, putting her hand on his arm. “I just wasn’t sure. Those spider people seemed to just disappear too. It could have been one of their tricks.”
“I think they just used smoke to cover their retreat,” Gavin said grimly, still watching any Naiaden that came too close.
“What do you mean,” Aiden asked. “What happened after I left?”
Gavin gripped Aiden’s arm. “Well, after you did what you did, whatever that was, they seemed to lose any interest in the fight. There weren’t many of them left or maybe they could hear the other Naiadens coming. Whatever it was, they threw down these smoke bombs that clouded everything.”
“I thought they were all running, at first, but before the smoke blocked everything, Gavin saw some of them move toward Jiada.” Chari paused and looked over at the now recovering Naiaden. “We didn’t know what they were doing, but Gavin just screamed and charged. He caught them just as they were going to cut off one of her arms.”
“Why would they do that?” Aiden asked, shocked.
The three friends just shrugged, but Serilda approached. It looked like she had caught a couple of sword cuts, but nothing serious and fortunately nothing with poison on it. “We think they were trying to get a piece of her to see why she was able to resist their poison so well. If it hadn’t been for her, we would have been defeated, I suspect.” She poked hard at Ashrak’s shirt experimentally, grunting as her finger just stopped. “Even with your strange weapons and armor. We must speak of that soon, though I suspect Aiden is the source. But first I want to know what you did, Aiden. How did you make our enemy disappear like that?”
Aiden sighed. He didn’t know how much they knew or didn’t know about glimmer steel and the Anderealm, but he figured they probably knew more than he thought. “I took them to the Anderealm if you know what that is.”
Serilda watched him calmly, not taking her eyes off of him but nodded when he’d finished. “I do know of the Anderealm and we do know you can go there, as well as these other tricks you seem to have brought onto our island. However, I was not aware it could be used like that. Are they trapped on the other side? How did you escape them?”
Aiden frowned, not wanting to remember what he’d done but knowing he had to give them some sort of answer. “I… I didn’t know I could do that either. Not that fast. Whatever happened, it seemed to have burnt them to death. When I opened my eyes, all of them were charred.” He sighed softly, feeling sick again. “I really don’t want to think of it. I’ve never killed anyone before.”
Chari moved up alongside Aiden and gave him a hug while looking at Serilda, “Can we talk about this later?”
The statuesque dark woman nodded. “Yes, I think we know enough for now. We have patrols out searching for the fleeing Scratchers, and they would be wise to be far from here and leave our island. We were not ready, but now we are awake. I think it's safe to rest now. “Come, I will take you to another house where we can sleep. One well guarded.”
As they began to follow Serilda, they watched a now much healthier Jiada standing. Her limbs still shivered, but the angry red lines had all but disappeared and she was in a heated discussion with one of the other Exemplars.
“What do you mean, you are changing your vote?” the other Exemplar hissed furiously. “You know how close it is! If you leave our position, others will follow.”
“It is too late, Cyridal,” Jiada said tiredly. “I have already posted my change. Others are already seeing this and they will now make the right decision.”
“Right decision?” Cyridal said, aghast. “How can you change your mind so freely? What happened? You know they are a danger to us!”
“You want to know what happened? I saw my fear step up and drive away an attacker who was surely going to kill me. A boy who had every right to let me die after the game we have been playing with them.”
Serilda stopped and glared at Jiada. “Jiada! Do not speak of this here. Things are not complete yet. They must play out!”
Jialda looked up and chuckled weakly. “It is done, Serilda. You are noble for continuing, but with my change to your path and the recording of what happened by my helmet sent to the Concourse data boards, the decision is made. You know this. It is only for Carol to declare the decision. You and Oya Dihya were always right.”
They watched as Cyridal seemed to be staring forward and looking at nothing for several long moments before she visibly deflated, nodding at what Jialda was saying. “It is true. Our position flees us, and now that I have seen what happened, so do I. Our test was pale compared to what happened tonight.”
Aiden watched Gavin jump as Analil slipped her hand into his, making him look down at her upturned face. “Thank you,” she said softly with a strange gravity for such a young girl.
Gavin looked confused, but his bitterness still leaked through when he answered. “Thank you for what?”
“For saving Jiada.” She continued, tilting her head curiously. “You didn’t have to, so why did you?”
Gavin stood there and looked down at Analil with profound sadness. “I almost didn’t. I saw her and I saw the Scratchers going toward her, but in the end, I couldn’t just stand by and let her be killed.” His voice broke softly and he turned away, soft tears tracking down his face. “It’s what father would have wanted. For me to protect others.”
She patted his hand softly, nodding. Aiden noticed all of the Naiadens carefully watching what was happening. It was almost eerie how tense the silence was but the little girl just ignored it and even as he watched, Glowby settled above her head placidly. “It will be alright, Gavin,” Analil said softly, “Your father is not dead. He will be returned to you soon.”
“What?” Gavin said, confusion evident on his face. He looked back at Analil who was staring at him levelly. Aiden could see a change had come over the little girl, and suddenly she didn’t seem so young anymore.
“What do you mean, he’s not dead?” Chari asked into the stillness. “We all saw him stabbed.”
Analil turned to look at them all and she smiled, nodding sadly. “Yes, that is what we wanted you to see. We sought to test you. To find out how you would react to seeing your Duke die, and in what way you would respond. But this,” she said, casting her small hand out and encompassing the fight that had occurred, “was a better test than we were devising. In this, we saw you still strive to work with us, not cast us aside even when it would have been convenient, or even helpful if you were to try to escape the island.”
Throughout her speech, Gavin’s eyes had widened in dis
belief. “You mean my father is alive?” He paused, looking around as if the Duke would walk into their midst even then. “Can I see him? Where is he?”
“Not here, he is being…repaired. But in a few days time, he will be ready to speak with you. As Jiada has said, I may as well make the decision now and I shall.” She paused, looking around at all of the Naiadens gathered there before speaking toward Jiada. “Please, make sure this goes out over the Concourse, but I am calling the decision as it clearly is in favor of Oya Dihya. We are rejoining the world as she implored for us to do all those years ago.”
Aiden watched as most of the Naiadens smiled and began talking excitedly amongst themselves. There were a few who were more reserved, but as a whole, they all seemed to embrace the apparently momentous decision. He wasn’t sure what had happened, nor did he understand why Analil was apparently making the decision until it dawned on him. He remembered when Jiada had challenged Serilda. She had said something about having time to make her own warbody.
“Wait, you aren’t a bratty little girl at all, are you? Are you Carol Reid?” Aiden blurted.
Analil turned to him, a surprised look on her face but slowly she nodded, answering in a far too mature voice from what looked like a ten-year-old girl. “Yes. That is exactly who I am. Oya Dihya was correct, not much gets past you, does it? I think we have a lot to talk about. But first, let's all get some sleep.”
The four friends exchanged glances and turned to look in awe at the now smiling Carol Analil Reid.
***
“So, what happened to all of the Scratchers you said were chopped up? Why weren’t there any bodies?” Valeran asked curiously as he sipped on a cool glass of juice. Gavin was sitting very close to his father but awkwardly trying to not appear to be sitting close to him, and the rest of the friends were spread around a large wooden table on the beach where they had originally landed on the island.
Though certainly of more import, discovering the Duke very much alive and waiting for them at the beach was not the only surprise they encountered. Apparently, while the Naiadens had taken five hundred years to make the decision to rejoin the world, once they had, they did not move slowly at all. The first step in this process was to create a new town and university which was to be dubbed Jiada’s Turning. A place for outsiders to come and learn from the Naiadens in the sheltered and peaceful cove.
Already several buildings and the beginnings of a dock were being constructed and space was being cleared for far more by the industrious people. The Gerevat had already docked along one side of the slowly developing series of piers, and Markam and Professor Reivus had gleefully come ashore. It had taken Markam a day to get his color back and equally long for the Professor to have gotten the sand out of his robe after he’d fallen into the water, not once, but twice.
“From the reports, all of their body parts or corpses dissolve, much like their equipment.” Oya Dihya said slowly. “The medics on the site were not able to retrieve any traces, no matter what they tried. We are studying what was left, but I am not hopeful there will be much to tell us about them. Most likely, it is designed to hide as much about the Ulcoreth as possible.”
Aiden watched Professor Reivus almost wiggle in excitement as Oya Dihya spoke. “My goodness! And I bet there are all sorts of secrets you could find out isn’t there? Hmmm? Hidden methods not seen since the Cataclysm perhaps?” The Professor actually clapped his hands together. “I knew it. I just knew it!”
“And we need to keep it hidden,” A now grown Carol Reid said. The tall, dark-haired woman tilted her head toward the Professor. “As you have guessed, we do have knowledge and technology that was not lost as it was on the rest of the world. Genetics to be exact, and many other things. Our tools are not as effective as the ancients glimmer steel, but they have served us well.”
“Oh, of course! Of course. My lips are sealed,” Professor Reivus said happily. “I suspect during the Cataclysm they did not bother, but now they would not hesitate to remove your technology. I will not speak of it even to Count Viridian without your approval.”
“I still don’t understand a thing about what you are talking about,” Valeran grunted as he scowled at the leader of the Naiadens. “How would these gene things help us know about the Scratchers?”
Carol turned to him and patted his arm, smiling gently. “It is okay to not understand. It is an extraordinarily complicated science. Just one of the many technologies lost during the Cataclysm. In its most basic form, it is the directions which living things grow from a small seed to a fully grown individual.” She reached over and picked up a piece of sand before presenting it to him on the tip of one of her fingers. “The pieces that make up our bodies are far smaller than this grain, yet they all mesh together to form our flesh and blood. So much more than you can count, and each of them holds the directions to make a whole you. We have the ability to read those directions which would not only show us what you look like but how strong you are or even some sicknesses you may have.”
“And you can change them too, can’t you?” Aiden asked suddenly. “Is that how you made the Exemplars and healed Gavin’s father?”
Carol nodded. “Yes. Exactly that. We can alter these directions in one seed so it will affect the rest of the body, or heal it from grievous wounds, or even grow something new as we desire.”
Aiden sat back in thought. The possibilities were interesting and in some small way they made sense. If one planted a seed for a flower, it grew into that same flower from something small. Yes, it took time, but the Naiadens had shown him something growing could be made to grow faster. Carol had said her adult body had only taken a few days to grow. She could have grown an Exemplar’s body in about two weeks. Something about it tickled the back of his mind but he couldn’t quite grasp it. Could he do something similar with glimmer steel?
Aiden excused himself and meandered out to the end of the pier where the Gerevat was moored. Glowby floated along with him but seemed intent on gliding toward the water periodically and exploring whatever was interesting below the waves. He heaved himself up on a crate and looked out over the calm, turquoise waters of the cove and watched as trikkets floated on the gentle breeze. Periodically they would fold their four sets of wings and dive into the pristine waters, but they had to be quick or the larger reef skippers could skim up out of the waves and take them in turn.
He breathed out a long sigh. It just reminded him of the men he’d killed. Ashrak tried to joke with him it wasn’t the same thing and anything with more than two arms and two legs wasn’t really a man, but he knew better. They were people. Alive. He wondered if they had a mother and father who would miss them but quickly closed his eyes and forced himself not to think about it. Each time he did, it just burnt a hole deep in his belly.
He was startled by someone stepping up beside him. He hadn’t heard anyone approach but that was most likely because he was distracted. When he looked, he saw the gangly, thin form of Professor Reivus standing next to him and looking out over the water just as he had been doing a moment before.
Aiden sighed again. He hadn’t been looking forward to this. He knew the Professor had been told about the shirts and swords that he’d made on the island, and he had expected the ancient man to explode in anger. Instead, he simply looked distraught and hadn’t even mentioned the amazing constructs, acting instead as if he’d never heard about them. Still, Aiden expected the Professor had been waiting for a more opportune time and braced himself.
“I’m sorry, Aiden,” The faint, reedy voice of the Professor said so softly Aiden almost wasn’t sure he’d heard it.
Aiden turned, watching the Professor somewhat warily but he was taken aback. The Professor looked sunken as if he’d caved in on himself and his eyes were downcast. He’d never seen the Professor like this and it concerned him greatly. “Excuse me, Sir?”
“I said I am sorry.” Reivus turned to Aiden with moist eyes. “If you hadn’t made those shirts and swords, you would all be dead or wo
rse and it would be my fault. I…I should not have held you back so much, but I was just so fearful for you. I didn’t want you to make a mistake.”
Aiden stared at the old man before finally looking away, not wanting to embarrass him further and nodded but didn’t respond. He didn’t know what to say. He appreciated the Professor might have changed his mind, but he had never wanted to see him like this. He had learned so much from the old man, and since he had discovered the Professor was, in fact, a glimmer man from the past, he had learned far more than he ever thought possible. Still, he was glad he’d disobeyed. The Professor was right; they would have died.
“What do we do now, Professor?” Aiden said softly, trying to give the old man some of his dignity back.
Professor Reivus was silent for a small while until he finally nodded. “Well, I think we need to talk about that, my boy. Perhaps,“ he paused, taking another deep breath, “perhaps I should not be your teacher any longer.”
Aiden frowned. That didn’t sound right. In fact, he was sure that was a terrible idea. There was no one on the planet as knowledgeable about glimmer steel as the Professor. Even Count Viridian had said so. Professor Reivus had not only been a glimmer man, but he’d been one of the great builders who had created ships which sailed between the stars. Yes, perhaps he’d had much of what he’d known taken away from him in the Cataclysm and perhaps he’d been too cautious, but if he just stopped teaching him, Aiden knew it would mean their doom.
The Glimmer Steel Saga, Boxed Set, Books 1 - 4 Page 44
