Phoenix Ascendant - eARC

by Ryk E. Spoor

  “Since when have you had to ask to talk to me?” he retorted with a smile. “I recall you sometimes starting a conversation in the middle of the night, when I was trying to sleep.”

  That was so very Rion a response—and so very true—that she wanted to just stop right there. She was so sure this was Rion, in all the ways that really mattered. But she refused to allow herself to waver. “Rion, this is serious.” As Xavier and his friends started to leave, she held up her hand. “Actually, I would very much like it if you would stay. Just in case.”

  Gabriel gave one of his courtly nods. “We are then entirely at your disposal, Lady Kyri.”

  She waited for everyone to be seated. “Rion, you know there are a lot of questions about exactly what you are, and that Poplock and Tobimar caught you out under some very suspicious circumstances. I really, really hate to do this…but I must ask you to allow me to ask you some questions…as the living emissary of Myrionar, with Myrionar’s Truth manifest to give me the ability to sense any lies you may tell.”

  “I…see.” He looked around, then shrugged and smiled. “And if I said ‘no’?”

  She’d expected that; Rion would ask it. “Then we’d have to cut you out of any further discussions, keep you confined to the estate, and make sure you were secured here—imprison you, to be honest, until we’ve dealt with Viedraverion and the False Justiciars.”

  Rion nodded. “Of course you would.” He folded his arms, as he sometimes did when preparing himself for a confrontation. “All right, then, Kyri; ask.”

  She closed her eyes, shutting out the sight of all the others staring at her. Myrionar, I need your Truth once more. Let me see through lies and disguises, through deceit and misdirection, and come to the knowledge only of what is.

  The golden power flowed up and around her. As she opened her eyes she could see that it bathed the room in an auric glow, and there was awe in the faces of those around her, awe from what they could feel within that power.

  At the same time, she could tell that the power was weaker than it had been. Myrionar really is dying. We have to finish this soon, or…

  She buried that thought. Focus on the present. “Rion, are you a vampire?”

  Rion raised a brow. “I can’t say that I’m not a vampire. I don’t know exactly what I am.”

  The first part could have been a neat evasion, but the second part was a pretty clear statement. Her sense of truth did not show a falsehood. Unless his power was sufficient to mislead Myrionar’s power even in direct confrontation, Rion actually did not know what he was. So if he is a vampire, he doesn’t know it. “Did you attack Helina?”

  “I did not attack Helina,” he said flatly. She was startled to find herself not merely relieved, but surprised, when she sensed nothing of falsehood in his statement. A part of me really did suspect him.

  Feeling lighter in her heart, she continued. “Rion, are you truly my brother?”

  He looked directly at her. “I am.”

  “Have you informed anyone of any of the plans we made here, or the discussions we have had on Viedraverion or the False Justiciars?”

  “I have not.”

  She let the power go, feeling the strain on herself and Myrionar, and allowed a huge smile of relief to spread. “Truth.”

  “Truth,” agreed another voice; she saw Gabriel Dante nod. “I sensed nervousness, but no lies.”

  “Not one hundred percent proof,” Toshi said bluntly. “We do not know the limits of our powers, yours, or those of our adversaries. This truth-sensing of yours might be very strong…but we know our adversaries are also very strong.”

  She sighed, but smiled again. “True enough. But we have done what we can. I asked him questions that were direct, he answered them, I sense that they are true. Should I retain suspicion and allow it to destroy my hope?”

  “No,” said Poplock. “Sure, he could be fooling us somehow, but…well, that turned out to be the case in Kaizatenzei, and somehow we came through it all right anyway. Let’s just say he’s Rion and not worry about it unless things go south.”

  She suspected the little Toad would still keep a close eye on Rion, but she appreciated him at least making a public acceptance of her judgment.

  Looking around the group, she saw backpacks, weapons, and other equipment assembled. “So…you’re all really leaving.”

  “Now that we’ve settled—as much as we can—whether Rion’s a problem? We kind of have to,” Nike said. “Fact is, that war’s not stopped while we’re here, and even if your shortcut’s saving us time…well, we don’t know how much time we actually have, so…”

  “You don’t need to explain,” Tobimar said. “Khoros brought us together, but he gave you a mission too. For all I know, you’ve already done whatever he expected you to do here. It’s not like we’ll all know for sure.”

  “True enough,” Toshi said. “And we’re leaving in the evening because most people would expect us to leave in the daytime, if we left at all.”

  “What about the possibility of spies?” Rion asked. “If you’re leaving and you’re followed—”

  “Leave that to me, guys,” Xavier said. “Remember, I got us all out of a prison that your people thought was impossible to escape from. And got Tobimar and Poplock past guard posts, too.”

  Kyri laughed, startled. “You can do that with your whole group?”

  “If we all keep hold of each other, yeah, for a while at least. If I can do it for a mile or three, it’ll be almost impossible to track us. And I’ll do it a few more times along our route.”

  Knowing how utterly impossible it seemed to be to detect Xavier when he used that strange Tor ability, she felt he was right. “Is this goodbye, then?”

  The cheerful gray eyes were suddenly not so cheerful. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess so.” He looked at Tobimar and Poplock. “Um…Khoros said that this was the only way for us to get home.”

  “I know,” Tobimar said quietly. “You told us that. All of you were stuck here unless somehow the Great Seal was broken.”

  “But I guess once it’s broken we go home,” Xavier said. “I thought I’d be happy about that. Now…well, I am, but…”

  “I know,” Aurora said, and put a hand on Xavier’s shoulder. “We felt the same about leaving Skysand. And I guess Toshi and Nike, leaving Artania.” She laughed suddenly, a great bell-like laugh that reminded Kyri poignantly of Lady Shae’s. “Boy, I was so pissed at Khoros when he brought us here, and I would never have thought I’d be sorry to go home.”

  “We all will be,” Nike said. “But…we’ll all be happy to get home too. Xavier may have a real mission at home, but all of us have reasons to go back.”

  “Then…” Tobimar stepped forward, and suddenly Xavier hugged him fiercely. The two held the embrace for a long moment, and then Xavier picked up Poplock and looked at him; the Toad looked only slightly bemused by the handling.

  “Have I ever told you you’re kinda cute, Poplock? My sister would think you’re adorable.”

  “Well…fine, thanks. I guess. It’s okay for this once, anyway.” Poplock’s voice was a little unsteady.

  Xavier then went to her. “Kyri…you finish your job, okay? Kick that bastard’s ass for me. Promise?”

  She laughed and swept him into a bear hug. “I promise, Xavier.”

  Rion said nothing, just embraced the boy from Earth, and then shook his hand. But as Xavier turned back to his friends, he spoke. “Xavier?”

  “Yeah, Rion?”

  “I pray for you to get your vengeance. But…don’t leave your family alone.”

  The smile was brilliant and the gray eyes, so like her own, were happy again. “I won’t, Rion. And when I go on the hunt again…well, I’ll say a little prayer to your Myrionar, just in case.”

  Rion smiled back.

  The other goodbyes didn’t take as long. While Kyri liked all of them—studious, sometimes oblivious Toshi with his razor-sharp mind, analytical, dangerous, yet cheerfully friendly Nike, the ever-charmin
g and talented Gabriel, and strong, awkwardly loyal Aurora—they hadn’t shared adventure with Kyri and Tobimar, been part of giving her the first real chance to avenge her family. Finally, the five shouldered their packs, bowed to all of them, linked hands…and disappeared.

  For a little while it was hard to accept that they’d left; no door had opened, they had simply vanished in the dining room. But as the much quieter evening began to lengthen, she accepted that the group from Zahralandar—Earth—was gone.

  “Well…we’re on our own,” she said finally to Rion, Tobimar, and Poplock.

  “We are,” Rion agreed. “But we knew we would be. There has to be some way to get to the Retreat.”

  Tobimar grunted. “So far we haven’t had much luck.” He yawned. “Look at that. This early?”

  “You stayed up late last night,” Poplock pointed out, “Hanging out with Xavier, as he’d put it.”

  “Yeah. Well, I’m going to at least do a little sparring before I wash up and go to bed. Want to join me, Poplock?”

  “Why not? You need someone to beat you once in a while.”

  “How about you, Kyri, Rion?”

  Kyri didn’t quite feel like sparring. “Not right now. Maybe tomorrow.”

  “Okay. See you in a bit, then.”

  She looked back at Rion as the two left. “Well, as they said, we haven’t had much luck. I can only think of one possibility, but unfortunately I don’t control that possibility.”

  “What possibility is that?”

  “If we could somehow get you back your…connection to Myrionar, maybe you could find your way there.”

  Rion tilted his head, puzzled. “But…you are a Justiciar, and you can’t find the place.”

  “True, Rion…but I haven’t ever been there. As a Justiciar, you were there. And since Myrionar was the source of your strength, it wasn’t through our enemy’s power that you could find the Retreat, it was through Myrionar’s and the fact that you were already admitted to the Retreat.”

  Rion’s mouth dropped slightly open and he stared at her. Then a slow grin spread across his face. “You know…that’s just about simple enough an idea that it might just work.” Then his face fell. “If it could work.”

  “Rion…”

  He stood suddenly, started to walk out. Then stopped. “I want to go for a walk. But you’re welcome to come and keep an eye on me, if you want.”

  “I’m not suspicious of you.”

  “Your Toad friend still is. And maybe he’s right.”

  They stepped out into the deepening night. The sky was awash in brilliant stars, shimmering in soft colors and sharp, infinitely small and bright points, the great arc of dark-streaked light that the Sauran’s called the Dragon’s Path crossing the entire sky. She heard the faint trilling cry of a Least Dragon in the distance, the sussuration of insects much nearer at hand. Rion was a black outline on black in the darkness.

  “If we aren’t going to suspect you, do you need to be so hard on yourself, Rion?”

  “Kyri, I can’t even touch holy objects. I’m surprised I can touch your hand without being scorched.” He walked towards the rear of the estate—not towards the town; obviously he wasn’t taking any more risks. “Can you imagine what it would do to me if Myrionar was even willing to take me back? I’d explode in fire.”

  “There has to be a way around that.” The idea that her brother—that Rion—was barred from the thing he had dreamed of, had worked for, had achieved—was maddening and tragic. “We’ll find one. Somehow.”

  He stopped, the two of them in the deeper shadows beneath the trees that shaded the rear of the estate. Even in that darkness, she saw a phantom flicker of white teeth as he laughed. “And maybe I should just accept that you will,” he said quietly, laying a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve been beating the odds all along.”

  “I try,” she said.

  They stood that way for a moment. Then Kyri became aware she could see his eyes, a faint shade of a shimmer in the darkness. “Your eyes are—”

  “Yes, I know. Subtle, but one sign that can remind me of what I am. Is it…scary?”

  “No,” she said with a faint snort of laughter. “I’ve seen things that were actually scary.” She concentrated on the faint discs of light. “A little eerie, but I can just about make out the detail—not just a general glow of light for the whole eye. Faint touch of blue in the center.”

  “Really? You can see that much?”

  “Yes.” She found herself concentrating on the eyes again. Wait. Why am I paying so much attention to this?

  But now the eyes were shimmering with yellow.

  Oh, Myrionar, NO. “R-Rion…”

  “I…I really don’t want to hurt you, Kyri. I’m…I’m sorry, but I just realized…I don’t have a choice now. I don’t know why…”

  Desperately she fought to move, feeling the same helpless fury that she had when Thornfalcon had caught her—but made worse by it being Rion, by the genuine regret and self-loathing in that voice.

  But she could only raise a hand slowly, weakly, as Rion—or whatever it was that wore his face—bent towards her throat.

  Chapter 22

  “This is going to look so stupid, Poplock,” Tobimar said, settling his swords back into place. “We—”

  “I’ll take all the blame if it looks stupid. I know that it seemed like we pretty much settled it just now, but there’s still that chance left, and can we afford it if you’re wrong? We can take a little embarrassment, even getting Kyri mad at us, but…”

  “Fine, fine. You’re right. You generally have been. I just hope we’re all wasting our time on this one and that you’re going to have to do the apologies.”

  The brown Toad bobbed his body. “Oh, believe me, I’d much rather end up doing abject apologies.”

  It had been about fifteen minutes; they’d agreed that was the right amount. Of course, if they were misjudging…

  “They’re not in the dining room anymore.”

  “That much is obvious, now that we’re looking into the dining room.” Poplock nodded towards the front door. “If he went back towards the town…”

  “Right. She’d go with him, of course.”

  “Meaning they’re alone.”

  Tobimar strode to the front door and opened it. Another warm night, some ragged, drifting clouds obscuring stars in patches of pure black edged with faint silver, but mostly clear. With a moment to adjust, he could see fairly well. But the pathway down towards the village seemed empty. “You see anything?”

  Poplock wobbled side to side, his equivalent of a headshake. “Nothing. So they didn’t go this way—I’m sure they’d still be in sight. Around the side?”

  “We can do a full circuit. If they’re not out here…then they probably went upstairs, and that’s okay.”

  The toad grunted. “Yeah, if I’m right nothing’s going to happen indoors. Too close. Too much chance of someone stumbling on you.”

  “All this because of her reactions?”

  “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice.” They started a careful circle around Vantage Fortress.

  Tobimar sighed. “Yes,” he admitted, speaking in a whisper. “Subtle at first, and perfectly reasonable I guess, but…she’s just a little too loyal, too accepting, too defensive of Rion.”

  “Right,” Poplock said, matching his quiet tones. “Now, like you say, it could be natural—she practically idolized her brother, from everything I’ve heard—but I dunno; the woman who got tricked once by Thornfalcon, then got faced like the rest of us with the truth about Miri and Shae…I don’t see her taking him at face value or losing her caution—or her control—that easily.”

  “Thus your plan to give him an obvious chance to move, now that our five guests are gone, and before we have a chance to get new suspicions.”

  “Exactly. If he’s got anything planned, now’s the time to do it, when our suspicions should be at their lowest and our forces weakened.”

  Tobimar was silent.
He liked Rion. He didn’t like trying to set a trap for him, when he was about nine-tenths sure that Rion was being as straight with them as he could. But Poplock’s caution had saved them all more than once; he wasn’t going to disregard it.

  He almost missed it; the movement was small, in shadow, barely visible, the motion of velvet across ebony. But he belatedly caught it out of the corner of his eye and turned, focusing on that spot.

  What the…?

  For one incredibly confusing moment, he thought he was seeing a lover’s embrace, Rion and Kyri together in a pose too close and intimate for even brother and sister. Then he saw how limply Kyri was standing, and betrayed fury flared up in him. Without even thinking of it, his vya-shadu were in his hands and he was sprinting like lightning across the grass. “RION!”

  The taller figure’s head snapped up, and fury now became certainty, for the eerie yellow glow of those eyes was like nothing human. But instead of just dropping Kyri and fleeing, the figure lowered her gently to the ground, coming on guard just barely before Tobimar’s swords blazed a silver-green path through the air.

  Rion, or whatever it was, parried both blades almost casually, then simply flicked a glance sideways. Tobimar only just managed to dodge as a tree branch three inches thick hurtled at him. The longsword tried to bite through Tobimar’s armor, and even as he parried that, two rocks the size of his fist hammered into his side, sending him staggering. A spray of gravel and sand flew up from the ground behind the false Rion, and Poplock went tumbling away, spitting out dirt and wiping his eyes.

  In that instant, Tobimar was startled to see that the impostor chose to run. He had a perfect opening; I’m sure he could have run me through there.

  Instead of taking the opportunity to finish him and Poplock off, Rion sprinted away, heading towards the road, at a speed that astounded Tobimar. Even in High Center with full strength and speed enhancement I’m going to have a hell of a time catching him!