Getting up the bank to the scattered, messy trees and shrubs was more difficult than it should have been, mostly because of the wound to Aeden’s leg. With every step, it pulsed with white-hot pain and threatened to collapse on him completely. As he thawed out more, he felt the wound on his back and the gash on his side oozing blood. He hoped he found the others before he lost too much and passed out.
He tried to stay as close to the river as possible, but at times underbrush forced him so far from the bank that he couldn’t even see the water, though he could still hear it. He was grateful at least that the canyon the river had cut was flat on the side he was traversing. He didn’t think he had the energy to climb up and down the other side’s steep hills.
Movement from the brush between him and the river made Aeden’s head snap toward the sound. He had his swords out in an instant, hoping he had the strength to defend himself.
“Aeden?”
It was Raki’s voice. Aeden slumped, dropping his sword points to the ground and leaning on them for support. He sighed.
“Here,” he said.
Raki came through the foliage, a tired smile on his face.
“I thought I saw your red hair. It stands out in this.” The boy gestured to the green and brown around him.
“Are the others with you?” Aeden asked.
“No. I came ashore just over there.” He pointed upstream to an area that Aeden wasn’t able to reach in his travels. “I saw Fahtin and then Urun go by, but I couldn’t reach them. I don’t know if they saw me. They were fighting just to stay above water.”
“You didn’t see Tere?”
“Nope.”
“Well,” Aeden said, “we’ll just have to find them. Are you hurt?”
“No. I—” Raki’s eyes widened and Aeden spun, bringing his swords up to face the danger behind him.
There was nothing there.
Raki came up to him. “Oh, Aeden,” the boy said, his eyes growing sad, “you’re all cut up.”
Aeden looked to where Raki’s eyes pointed. Blood trickled down his leg, the gash in his pants and in his flesh showing bright red against his bright blue britches. Blood likewise flowed from his side. He didn’t want to think of what his back looked like.
“A few minor cuts. I’ll live. I think.”
“Here, let me bind them up at least. If you keep bleeding like that, you’ll lose too much blood.”
Aeden sat tiredly on a log while Raki dug through his pack. He handed his red-haired friend an apple and a piece of soggy dried meat. “Sorry that it’s wet, but you need to eat something.” Aeden took what was offered and ate mechanically.
Raki warned him of the sting and then started sewing his gashes with the needle and thread he had pulled from his pack. Aeden was still light-headed, and though the stitching was painful, he mostly ignored it, thinking only of finding the others.
“There,” Raki said. “All done. It should keep you from dying until we can find Urun to heal you.”
“Thank you,” Aeden said. “Hopefully Urun and the others made it out of the water safely.”
“They did. I know they did. We just have to find them.”
They started off again, going about it the same way Aeden had when he was alone. Hours passed as they picked their way through the trees and bushes. They found Tere Chizzit first, none the worse for wear but complaining about how he had lost half the arrows in his quiver. He had kept his pack, which had some spare arrows, but the blind tracker grumbled about how long it had taken to make the shafts.
Urun and Fahtin were together, the Gypta girl landing upstream of the priest and finding him as she traveled down. They were waiting for Aeden and the others as they made their way down the river bank nearing dusk.
“Thank Codaghan we all made it, and on the same side of the river,” Aeden said. The others agreed, though tiredly.
They set up camp right where they found the last two party members, too tired to go on another step. Urun healed Aeden’s wounds, the stitches falling away as the skin healed and forced them out. The priest himself had taken no wounds. In fact, no one had been harmed other than breathing mouthfuls of water and getting bruised and scraped from their river journey. While they prepared the fire, Aeden and Urun told the others what had happened on the cliff.
“That was much too close,” Aeden finally said as they sat around a fire, eating. They had gone so far down river that they figured that the animaru couldn’t possibly reach them or see the glow of the fire.
“It was,” Tere Chizzit said. “I’d not like to repeat that. We were very lucky that we weren’t more seriously injured or killed.”
“I’m so sorry, Aeden,” Fahtin said. “If I hadn’t frozen up like that, you could have jumped before having to fight all those creatures.”
Aeden looked at his bedraggled friend. Tears began to pool in her eyes from her guilt, but she was still so beautiful. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hug. “None of that, Fahtin. It’s not an easy thing to jump from a height like that into an unknown river. You did fine. Someone had to stay to make sure everyone else was able to jump without worrying about some creature biting you as you did it. It was a logical choice. I don’t want to hear any more about it.”
Fahtin sniffled, but she smiled. “Okay. But I won’t hesitate next time. I promise.”
Aeden kissed her forehead and released her. “If I have anything to say about it, there will be no next time. I don’t fancy battling water like that again. Leave that for hardier—and braver—folk than me.”
He turned to Urun. “I thank you, Urun, for staying with me. Your magic made the difference. If you had not done whatever it was you did to block that monster’s magic, I would not have made it. Your actions saved my life.”
Urun waved the comment away, though his blush ruined the effect. “Oh, it was nothing. As you said, we were the logical choices. We two are the only ones who can harm these beasts permanently. It was my pleasure to help you.” The priest’s face went pensive.
“What is it?” Aeden asked.
“Oh, I was just thinking about those two animaru. That hairy one and the hairless, light-colored one you fought. Have you run into them before?”
“No. In fact, we’ve not seen anything like what they could do. Most of the creatures use claws and teeth. They are not very sophisticated and don’t seem to think strategically. The one I fought did.”
“I wonder if they are the leaders or if they are just two of many like that,” Urun said. “The magic of the hairy one was nearly a match of my own. I could have defeated him, I think, if thousands of other creatures had not been swarming over us, but it concerns me. We may be outclassed.”
“Aye. Those were my thoughts exactly,” Aeden said. “We need to get to the Academy and learn what we need to do. I’d not like another conflict like that. We may not survive it.”
Chapter 45
“You will do as I say,” the human said to Khrazhti.
She had not had close interactions with any of the creatures of this world called humans. Except this one. Were they all so arrogant? Did none of them realize that she could snuff out their lives with barely a thought, calling up her death magic and destroying them and those brittle shells they moved around in?
When S’ru had sent her to this place, to this light-riddled world, his commands had been simple. “Go and prepare the way for my coming. Work with the human who is opening the portal for your troops, and do what he says.”
She hadn’t thought much about it then—who thought of other things when in the presence of S’ru himself—but it chafed now. Her god had commanded her to obey this weak, pathetic thing in front of her, and she would do it. But he would not act as if he was better than her.
“Do not tempt me to destroy you, human,” she said. “We will work together to bring the glory of S’ru to this miserable place, but you will not treat me as a servant you keep here to bring you drink or to satisfy your other desires.”
It was only
from conversation with this human that she even knew what they called themselves. In truth, he had provided her with an abundance of information about this place. It could be said without exaggeration that nearly everything she knew about this world came from this man.
“We both know that your god has told you to obey me.” The pompous creature sat back in his chair and drank out of the goblet in his hand. She would show him to give her respect. One day, she would.
But he was right. She did not have the grounds to simply disregard what he said. That didn’t mean it could not be discussed, though.
“I see no need to search out the Gneisprumay,” she said. “My task is to prepare this world for S’ru’s coming. My troops should be subjugating the weak creatures of this place and spreading the darkness, not searching out one person. If we focus on our task, the One will come looking for us. He will have to face us in our own place, and we will have the advantage. We will eliminate him and then complete our work.”
“That’s a nice dream,” the man said. It was so difficult to understand him sometimes. He spoke a strange dialect of the one language. She had to watch his mouth and concentrate on what he said at times for her to make sense of it. “But your logic is flawed.”
“I have lived a hundred of your lifetimes—”
“And still know nothing of our world,” he interrupted her. “By your reports, your enemy is going west. He is heading for Sitor-Kanda.”
“Sitor-Kanda?” Khrazhti said. How did these creatures butcher her language like this? “Magic’s Home?”
“Yes,” he said. “That is an adequate literal translation. But it’s much more than that. The original name had the sense of ‘the heart of magic’ or ‘the source of magic.’ It was founded three thousand years ago for one purpose: to train the Malatirsay mentioned in our prophecies to be the champion in the end days.”
“So this One would seek power to defeat us there?”
“I believe so. I don’t know if he thinks he is that one mentioned in prophecy or not, but that fact remains that it is a place of power. If he can gain allies there, it is possible they could rally and resist your forces much more effectively than he alone can. Those at Sitor-Kanda do not yet know the full extent of your invasion. If he makes it there, that could change. You do not want that to happen.
“Your primary objective is to kill this enemy of yours so that he cannot rouse the Academy. Once he is dead, you can continue your conquest. By the time Sitor-Kanda knows what you are about, they will be isolated from any allies, and you can surround and destroy them. So, you see, I do know what is best. Listen to me, as your god has commanded you.”
Khrazhti considered the man for a moment. He was knowledgeable, there was no doubt, and he obviously had a measure of power, or he could not have opened a portal to her world.
“Why do you not just open another portal so we can bring more animaru here? With enough, we could swarm across the land and do our work while still hunting down the Gneisprumay.”
For the first time, the man’s smug expression slipped. He took a sip from his goblet to cover his face. “Ah, that. The magic for opening a portal is…difficult. It not only requires a great deal of power, but specific circumstances. I won’t go into the details, but I will not be able to perform the spell again for several months yet. You will have to be satisfied with the troops you have.”
“I see.” So, his power—and his ego—did have limits. “I have one final question. If this one is the Malatirsay that your prophecies foretell, then he will make it to Sitor-Kanda without fail. If that is the sole purpose of the Academy, then trying to stop him from getting there is a waste of effort.”
“Oh, you misunderstand me. The Academy was founded for that reason, yes, and it will fulfill its purpose because the prophecy demands it. However, it matters little with this one because he is not the Malatirsay.”
“He is not? How can you be certain?”
“Because I am the Malatirsay.”
Chapter 46
“We came much farther south than I had planned on crossing,” Tere Chizzit said. “We’ll have to decide if we want to find a crossing to the north or one farther downriver.”
“I don’t remember passing under any bridges,” Aeden said. “I think I would have seen one if I passed it in the water. I definitely would have noticed if I came upon one while traveling on the bank.”
“Yes, that’s true. I’m really not sure where we are. The closest bridge could be above where we jumped.”
“I don’t like the idea of going back toward the monsters who are after us,” Fahtin said. She glanced nervously at the others, as if she was trying to read their thoughts on the matter.
“I agree with Fahtin,” Aeden said. “I think we should keep traveling south. We’ll hit a bridge eventually, or a place where we can swim across.”
It was easier said than done. As they continued south, the terrain was the same as before, varying from relatively flat to steep cliffs. They had to backtrack several times when they found themselves in small box canyons with no way to climb out. Slowing them even further, the foliage changed from small bushes and scattered trees to thick stands of willow and closely-spaced birch and alder trees that they navigated with difficulty. By midday each day, they were fatigued and had to rest.
Aeden constantly thought of the animaru behind them. Surely they were following them, weren’t they? They knew he was with the group, and they seemed to want him more than anything else. They wouldn’t just give up.
With every sound, every movement he detected as they traveled, he thought they had finally been caught. He was more tired from the constant anxious tension than he was from navigating the land.
“Aeden,” Urun Chinowa said to him as they rested that first day after the party came back together. “What is the nature of your magic?”
The question shocked Aeden. “What do you mean?”
“There are several types of magic in the world. Mine, for example, is based on nature and more specifically on the power from Osulin herself. There is elemental magic, blood magic, and other types of magic that someone from the Academy would be better able to explain to you. What type is yours?”
“I don’t really know,” Aeden said.
“Blood magic, mostly,” Tere Chizzit added, stepping up to where the two were sitting. “There are some other types of spells used by your clan, but it’s mostly blood magic. Life magic. That’s why it affects these creatures, I think. They seem to thrive on death.”
Aeden looked at the blind man, surprised. “How do you know about clan magic?”
“I had a Croagh friend many years ago. He talked about the magic sometimes.”
“Really? Which clan was he from?”
“Oh, it isn’t of importance,” the tracker said. “I don’t like to talk about it. The point is that your magic is pretty specific. It works against the animaru, but not well enough to save your village. I wonder why.”
“Exactly my point,” Urun said. “What is different about your magic compared to the rest of your clan? How did you manage that explosion thing you keep talking about?”
“I don’t really know,” Aeden said again, dropping his eyes to the ground. “I never used magic when I was with them. It’s the reason I was cast out to begin with.”
“It’s the Song,” Raki said. “My Nani says songs have power. The Bhagant itself is a prophecy, but it also includes words of power, she says.”
“It does,” Aeden agreed. “I recognize some of the words as ones used in my magic.”
“And you said that when you did the magical attack that destroyed all those animaru that night, you were singing the Song and you felt the power building,” Fahtin said.
“That’s right,” Aeden said, “but so what? I’ve been singing parts of the Song each time I use my magic, but I haven’t been able to repeat that attack. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. It would be very useful to be able to generate that much power if we get attacked again.”
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“The key, I think,” Urun said, “is to practice using the magic, trying to figure out all the different ways it can be utilized. Osulin herself taught me how to use my power. Is there anyone who can teach you?”
Aeden kicked at the grass at his feet. “Probably at the Academy. That’s just another reason to get there.”
“But what if you need to use the magic before then?” Fahtin asked. “Maybe we can help you to figure out how to use it more effectively. There’s no time like the present.” She smiled at him so sweetly, he had to smile back, though he really didn’t feel like smiling.
She did have a point. He had discovered how to infuse the others’ weapons with his power, though that was of limited use because he had to maintain the magic. When he lost his focus, it dissipated, making the weapons mundane again.
In the midst of their travels, Aeden had been doing his exercises and meditations only infrequently. There just wasn’t time to flee for their lives and to continue his practice like normal. He began taking at least a half an hour during each day’s travel to do these things to regain his balance.
He could feel the difference immediately. When he incorporated the Song along with the Raibrech, he felt strangely powerful, not unlike how he felt that night, but not exactly the same either.
He felt as if he was onto something with his new way of thinking. The problem, he thought, was that he didn’t really understand how the magic worked, how it fit into all the other magic of the world. He thought he would mention it to Tere Chizzit, who seemed to know a surprising amount about the world in general.
“Tere,” he said, “how do you know so much about everything?”
The blind tracker laughed at him. Aeden tried to force his face to stay cool, but it heated anyway.
“Sorry to laugh, Aeden. I’m not laughing at you. It’s just that, you see, I’m old. I’ve been around and lived for a fair amount of time. When you do that, you pick things up. Surprising things, sometimes. If you spend a whole day and don’t learn anything new, you should probably consider that day some type of failure.”
Magic After Dark: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 138
