“Halt,” the Kanza leader suddenly held up a hand and all eyes turned towards him. He was glaring at Petra who stared back at him coolly.
“Yes?” she asked after a moment when he wasn’t forthcoming with his reasoning for holding them up.
“You are changing back,” he accused her, pointing a finger in her direction. As for his own changes, Katya could only see a slight darkening of his skin.
“I never took the flower,” she answered.
“Ha! Why would you not?” he asked, narrowing his eyes, “is this some kind of joke?” he asked, sweeping his gaze out over the rest of them. “You just wanted us to come out here with you so you could laugh at our deformities?” The other Kanza looked angered by this accusation, those still with human enough faces to display emotion were now glaring at them, and all were taking battle stances.
“No,” Petra snapped at him, her patience for the man obviously wearing thin, relative or no, “I didn’t want to take it because I like who I am.” She looked at the group of Kanza, who were still standing ready to attack. “I understand you wanting to get rid of these atrocities that were committed against us, but I have lived with mine with the Dena’ina for some time and have come to not only accept myself as I am, but also to embrace it. There are things that I can do that others cannot.” She walked over to the man who was sprouting plants and laid a hand on his grotesque shoulder, showing no signs of discomfort having done so. He flinched at her initial touch, sending a dust of pollen from his appendages out in a cloud, but then relaxed when she showed no signs of malice. “Lykecan,” she addressed him, “I understand you wanting to be rid of yours, it causes you constant pain. And you, Fowler,” she turned to another, offering the same display of indifference to their less-than-human appearance, “though there are many advantages to your form, it would come at great sacrifice.” No one needed her to explain the comment. Fowler had turned into a great hulking beast, sprouting horns and claws and growing hair all over. He probably gained massive strength from his new form, but he would always be hailed as a monster. There was not enough human in him, as there was with Petra, to balance it out.
Petra wasn’t finished, and she strolled over to the Kanza leader, who watched her warily. “But you, Uncle, what are you so eager to rid of yours? Are you so blinded by your hatred of the Dark King, that you can’t see the gift that life has given you? You can barely see the change and it makes you invincible to attack!” She grabbed a rock off the ground and bashed him in the arm with it. Katya and several others rushed forward to stop her, but the motion was finished before any of them got close enough to grab her hand.
The Kanza leader didn’t move a muscle; he just stood still staring at her as her hand flew towards him with the rock. He didn’t move as the rock connected either, the clash of it hitting him sounding more like two rocks hitting than of rock against flesh. Then Katya understood. His ‘deformity’ was that his skin was like stone. He and Petra faced off for a tense minute, and no one moved.
He finally spoke. “There are other disadvantages to such a state,” he told her, breaking off eye contact and closing his eyes as he sighed. “Having no feeling would be very lonely.”
Katya considered this. Before having met Hunter, such a statement would have been a mystery to her, but now, knowing the simple joy of feeling his skin against hers, the Kanza leader’s sorrow made sense. She had a sudden thought.
“When we first found the field,” she said, and the attention of the group turned to her, though several looked annoyed that she had broken the moment, “Petra walked into it and turned back to the blocked human state.”
She paused a moment, but no one seemed to know where she was going with this yet so she continued. “What if there’s a way to temporarily block the changes from manifesting,” she looked upwards in thought and waved her hand, “like a bracelet woven with the flowers or even just cultivating a field of the plants somewhere in or near the village. It would be just like having the powerstone, but you wouldn’t have to give up the good that comes along with it.”
Katya glanced around the group. No one offered another suggestion; they just didn’t know enough about it to know what they could do, but all were looking thoughtful. Hunter was the one who broke the silence. “Well, we won’t know anything until we test the plant and see if it really does as it is rumored to do. Even though we saw what it did to Petra when she stepped into the field, we still need to try it out.”
Lykecan stepped forward and held out a foliage-covered hand. He spoke through lips that were too hidden by leaves for Katya to see moving. “We are more than far enough that the effects will be able to be seen. Let me try it now.” Katya peered at Petra and saw that her changes were not at full effect, if this was the man’s only partial change…
She took one of the flowers out of the cart and handed it to him. They didn’t really know what they were supposed to do with it, if it should be mashed into a pulp, or dried and put in a tea, but the story had told of the man simply eating it, so that’s what Lykecan did. He brought the flower up to where Katya assumed his mouth must still be, and the vines covering his face absorbed it into him.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then his features began to blur, the protrusions of vegetation sticking out around him slowly being drawn back in to his body. The transformation held them all transfixed, holding their breaths, while it turned him completely human again.
When he stood before them as the man they had left the village with, with not even the slightest hint of green in his complexion, they all let out the collective breath they were holding.
“It worked,” Lykecan exclaimed, holding his hands out in front of him.
“At least for the moment,” the Kanza leader said, still not willing to admit that the flower was truly real.
“No,” Lykecan disagreed adamantly, “It’s gone, I can feel it! Even back at the village with the power of the stone dampening the effects, I could always feel a dull ache. But now, it’s totally gone!” The pure bliss on his face of finally being free of pain was plain for all to see.
“I want to try it too!” another of the party came forward, a woman if Katya remembered correctly, but in her current state couldn’t tell. She wasn’t sure what the intention of the mages who had made her particular changes were, but they seemed to have gone horribly wrong.
Once again, they all watched with rapt attention while the woman transformed back into human shape. The result was rather morbidly fascinating, but still, Katya found that she couldn’t look away.
Another man came forward, and Katya dutifully handed him the flower. She held another out to the Kanza leader, offering him to try it for himself, but he did not take it right away. He looked at the plant, then at Petra, finally lifting his gaze to meet Katya’s. Then, he waved off the offer. She took that as a good sign.
As the last man inhaled the flower, so eager was he to be rid of the altered form, the Kanza leader watched him closely. He looked into the man with his magesight, Katya could tell by the suddenly far-away look he got in his eyes even as he stared straight at him. After a moment, he blinked and focused on Katya’s waiting face.
“I guess it really is the flower,” he grudgingly gave in. “And you can show us how to find more of these?”
“Yes,” Hunter drew out the map he had been working on and laid it out on the ground before them. He pointed out a few landmarks and the Kanza leader nodded in acknowledgement of recognition.
“Hmph,’ he grunted as he rolled up the map and stuffed it away in his pocket, not meeting Katya’s eyes, “the Kanza powerstone is yours then.”
CHAPTER 8
Kali watched the Bricrui-infested manor from a safe distance, hidden in the forest. She could feel her plan working. Soon it would come to a head. There would be no stopping her then. The blood-magic that had ruined her ancestor’s lives would end the descendants of the Dark King once and for all.
She checked the wards that kept the people confined within
the walls. They were keyed to the Lost One, his life kept them pent up in their prison. And his death would release them. The new outbreak would be exactly what Kali needed to further her plan.
Like a dam broken, their evil would wash out upon the world, the floodgates opened.
But not yet. She needed to be patient, silently building up the infection until it had spread too far to be stopped. Once the Lost Ones in the manor were released, they needed to spread the Bricrui too quickly to be contained again. Too quickly for any ‘cure’ of chokeroot they may have come up with to deal with.
She sent another tendril of magic towards the place, feeding the curse. Making it spread through walls and ceilings and floors, into the hearts of all those around. And making it take hold on the human host far quicker than it would have if left to run its course. Her intimate knowledge of the spell made it easy for her to gain access to it in all the victims, and she almost laughed out loud. It would also have let her break it, had she desired to do so. But that was not what she was going to do. She sent more magic in their direction.
When the manor quieted down, and the sun dipped down over the horizon, Kali made her way into the house. She passed through the wards easily, having helped to set them up with the Lost One. She had no fear of contracting the disease herself. Not only could she break the curse upon herself, but she had no doubt that she had not even a drop of the Dark King’s blood within her. Her family line had been pure, one of the only ones who actually cared to keep their blood clean.
She walked through the walls quietly, searching for signs of the curse. She didn’t have to look far before she ran across the first one. She quickly cloaked her appearance so that the thing wouldn’t sense her and moved silently to the edge of the wall. The grotesque beast shuffled down the hallway, sniffing the air every once in a while. She took care to mask her smell as well. Though how the thing could smell anything over its own ripe stench was beyond Kali. She may be safe from turning into one of the things herself, she had no desire to be killed by one.
She watched it with pleasure. Seeing the results of her labors was very satisfying.
As the creature moved past a doorway, a shadow passed underneath it, and the thing must have heard some sound from within. It whipped its head around, sending pus flying, and banged on the door.
Whimpering began on the other side of the door, and Kali watched with curiosity. If there was anyone still unaffected at this point, it must be because they didn’t have any of the Dark King’s blood. Kali had been rather surprised at just how prolific the evil man had been. She had known that he’d had enough illegitimate children to have spread his cursed seed across the population, but in the entire manor, this was the first person Kali had seen to have not been affected. She had been correct in her thinking that the entirety of this horrible place was indeed lost.
This ‘Bricrui’, as the Lost Ones called the things, had progressed far enough to have lost its mental capacities so much so that it no longer understood how to open the door. It was currently throwing its weight into it instead, over and over again. The door bowed inwards with each push, splinters cracking off.
The whimpering continued behind it and Kali felt a moment’s sympathy. The woman on the other side was obviously of pure blood. Perhaps she would save her.
The Bricrui finally got through the door, cutting itself in the process, but ignoring the gash that now bled freely. Kali was distracted from finding the woman by the amount of blood coursing down its side. If the creature bled to death, it would hardly help her further her plans.
Grumbling to herself, she sent a tendril of healing magic towards it and sealed the wound. The thing twitched slightly, feeling the magic touch, but otherwise showed no indication that it cared one way or the other that it had been healed. Some were smarter than others.
Kali now focused on where the Bricrui was headed, and saw that the woman was cowering beneath a table that had been turned on its side. She looked around the room; there were no windows or doors other than the one that the Bricrui had just knocked down. The table and a few chairs were the only furniture. The woman hadn’t picked a very good place to hide.
Kali contemplated her options. She could easily just transport the woman out of here, but she didn’t want her telling anyone what was going on here. The woman would just have to stick it out a while longer.
She moved over beside the woman and laid a hand on her, dropping the invisibility spell so that she could work the transport. The woman gasped at her sudden appearance, and the beast lunged, but they were already gone. She transported them to the rooftop of the place, and then ignored the woman while she searched the manor with her talent for supplies. Finding a storehouse that was yet untouched by the monsters, she magically brought a generous amount up.
“There,” she said to the woman, who was watching her with wide eyes, “you should have plenty of supplies to make it until their release now.”
The woman stood slowly, “You magically transported us here?”
“Yes.”
“Then you could get us out!” the woman exclaimed excitedly, “All we need to do is go beyond the walls over there and we’ll be free!”
“I’m afraid not, my dear,” Kali contradicted her. “You can’t leave just yet. But, you are one of pure blood and will be allowed to live during the cleansing, so rejoice! All you need do is prove your worth by surviving.”
The woman looked astonished at her words, but did not have time to reply before Kali transported herself away. Thoughts of the woman soon left her mind as her musings turned back to the larger picture.
Would Katya really be able to gather all of the powerstones from the tribes? She already possessed the Myaamia and the Kanza, and was reportedly even now searching for a way to get the Dakelh’s powerstone.
Things were moving too slowly for Kali’s limited patience. Her plan was hinged on many things happening exactly as she hoped. And she was worried. Would she really be able to do it?
*
The trip to the tribe of the Dakelh people didn’t take as long as Katya would have guessed from the map. As they approached, a few people filtered out from the village to meet them. Their expressions were more curious than hostile, a nice change from the harsh nature of the Kanza leader.
“Greetings,” a woman hailed them from where she had paused on the edge of the village.
“Hello,” the Dena’ina leader answered for them, “We are of the Myaamia, the Dena’ina, and Kanza. We come on important business. May we please speak with your leader?”
“I am she,” the woman replied, drawing up to her full height and looking at each of them curiously, her gaze finally resting on Petra. She didn’t comment, however, tearing her eyes from the unusual sight to focus once more on the Dena’ina leader as the speaker for them. “What important business?”
The Dena’ina leader explained the situation once again, and the Dakelh leader listened with quiet concern, her brow creasing more and more as his narrative progressed.
“The stone we sent for the spell to cure the baby was not actually used for this purpose?”
“No, indeed it was not,” the Dena’ina leader shook his head soberly. “Unbeknownst to any but a small group of people led by Kali of the Myaamia tribe, the spell was altered. Their agenda is apparently the extinction of the marked, and possibly all of the Lost Ones. It is our hope that this is not also the wish of the Dakelh, and you might be willing to help us stop the horrible curse from spreading farther.”
Katya opened her mouth to add in as extra incentive the part about the curse spreading up here to them as well, but the woman spoke before she could spit it out.
“Yes, yes of course we will help you. It shames us that we were duped into helping to create such a monstrous enchantment. What can we do?”
“We are gathering all of the powerstones to try and break the enchantment,” Katya said, “since Kali had all but one in order to create the spell, it is too powerful for us to break without
all of them.”
The woman’s face fell. “But we cannot just give you our stone, I fear,” she lamented. “It is essential for our survival.”
“How so?” inquired Hunter from beside Katya.
“We rely on the river for our livelihood,” she explained. “We eat the fish it provides, drink its water, and use its current to run our machines.”
Katya waited for her to get to the part about what the powerstone had to do with that.
“The powerstone creates a dam of energy that keeps the river from flooding and washing away our village. This dam also creates the pools and current we use. If the stone was to simply be removed, this dam would immediately break and the village would be gone.”
“You can’t make another spell to do a similar thing?” Hunter asked.
It was a question Katya wanted the answer for as well, though she feared she already knew the answer. A spell on that kind of scale, maintained indefinitely, would require a constant power source. Other stones could be used, but they would have to be recharged continuously. The only way Katya had ever heard of a constant spell was the barrier between Gelendan and Treymayne which apparently had been erected by directing actual rivers of power into the spell itself to continually power it. However, the only person who knew how it had worked had been Aileen, and Nuko had killed her. Plus, out here where the energy ran wild, not in the orderly rivers in Gelendan and Treymayne, would such a spell hold up?
“We have tried,” the woman answered, “but so far have been unsuccessful. We had hoped to find a way to do so that we are not dependent on it, but have not yet found a way. It is seemingly an impossible task.”
Light the Reign (The Forgotten: Book 3) Page 10
