Chosen

by Jolea M. Harrison

  She handed him the weed stalk, and he took it before he thought to back away. She turned without another word, making her way toward the sound of drizzling water, around a corner of rocks where she disappeared.

  Dynan stood torn between fear and wanting to believe her more than he had feared or wanted for a thing in his life where he was held for quite a long time. It occurred to him after a while, through the haze of confusion that if this was some sort of elaborate trap, then they’d sacrificed the First to bring him here. They could have had him, he told himself. They did have him, and letting him go didn’t make sense.

  In the end, fear of being wrong didn’t leave him. It was the sound of water that drew him the last few steps down the ravine and around the boulder. Above him, the tunnel opened.

  It was there, welling out of a crack in the rock, drizzling down to a hollowed out shelf that made a bowl for it to gather. The clear water continued on a path over the lip and down to a patch of ground. A tiny green garden of ferns and moss cushioned the drips before the overflow drained off through the cracks in the rock. The sound of it moving under the ground seemed magnified, turning to a river somewhere deep beneath the surface. Fadril leaned against the rock and watched him.

  Dynan put his fingers to the surface, afraid the water wasn’t real. The blood washed clean where the water touched, and he realized he was still covered in it. His clothes were caked dry in place and still damp in others from the river crossing. None of that matter so much when he stuck his face into the water and almost drained the small bowl completely, gulping down as much as he could. For the first time in his life, he wished for a river of it to dive into. Drowning didn’t seem like such a terrible thing.

  “Come look,” Fadril said, pulling on his sleeve. “You shouldn’t drink so much all at once.”

  She nodded when he looked at her, and she reached up with a corner of tattered fabric to dab away the drips on his chin. He had an instant flash of memory of his mother doing the same thing, only she’d been wiping away tears.

  Fadril took him by the hand, moving to an opening in the rock where the boulders dropped down to just below waist height. A breeze came up, bringing with it the smell of growing things.

  Below them a field opened up, covered from one end to the other in green grass that undulated in waves from the wind. A small brook wound through it. Beyond the brook and field, a forest grew, a normal looking, alive forest.

  “What is this place?” he asked, hardly able to believe what he was seeing.

  “This is the Between,” Fadril said. “What’s left of it the way it ought to be, what the Six haven’t been able to reach from the Void. It’s the place your soul comes after crossing through the Hall of Transition. No, you’re not dead, but only you. You’re a telepath. It isn’t your destiny to come here. You see, some people have a difficult time letting go of their physical shell, and so, this is a place between the real world and the next. It’s a place to find acceptance.”

  “It isn’t my destiny?” Dynan said.

  Fadril only shook her head. “There’s a lot you don’t know, and unfortunately, I can’t tell you. I’m only repeating what Alurn told me and it was a very long time ago. I don’t know either. I don’t.”

  She left him to make her way down the remaining rocks and Dynan followed, eyeing the glowing ribbon of water. The sky lightened. The pall of gray lifted as they went. The beauty of it was jarring.

  “Alurn didn’t tell me too much about what was happening to Adiem or the struggles they both faced,” Fadril said when Dynan caught up to her. “It was hard for him to accept, and harder for him to talk about. We were both so young.”

  Dynan wondered if she knew Alurn was here. He wasn’t sure he should tell her. Telling Polen and the others seemed to have led to the Six coming down on them almost immediately. He didn’t know if that’s why they came, but he didn’t want to make the same mistake, so he didn’t say anything, and kept his silence down the hill.

  There was a bridge of stone over the water. There didn’t seem to be much of a current, evidenced by a curled green leaf that slowly wafted by. Dynan looked down at his blood-soaked clothes, but he hesitated on the bank, remembering what had happened the last time he tried to cross a body of liquid.

  “Is it safe to get in?” he asked when Fadril noticed he wasn’t following anymore.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “How deep is it?”

  “Less than four kem,” she said, “but it isn’t necessary to...we have baths.”

  He was already in up to his knees and then his waist by the time she got that out. He sat back in it next, and went under all the way, feeling the slime leave his skin. He rinsed most of it off, though not all, leaving his white shirt a mottled brown and pink. He went under again to run his hands over his head a few times, then his face and hands and arms. He remembered the black worm things and discovered they were gone.

  He took his jacket off, swirling it through the water a few times. A trail of liquid red flowed from it, polluting the water. He stopped, and tossed the coat onto shore, and then clambered out.

  Sopping wet felt incredible, as did the grass he lay back into. He looked over and saw a white moth fluttering from green stalk to flower.

  “There are bugs in the afterlife?” he said as Fadril joined him and she laughed.

  “You’ll find many similarities to the world, but differences too.”

  He grunted at that, having already seen a few of the differences. There wasn’t any direct light, for one thing. It was brighter, but the sky was an obscured monotone. He wondered if it ever got dark, and what the stars might look like, if there were any.

  “Are there other people here?” he asked, taking off his boots to empty out the water.

  “Yes. They’re mostly in the city. Through the woods and down the hill. You may see the sentries when we reach the forest.”

  “Guards?” he said, rolling over to look that way.

  Beyond the field the forest stood, and under its boughs near the middle a path could be seen. He saw two men standing just inside the wood line, probably discussing them. Then he wondered something.

  “Is my guard here?”

  Fadril looked down at her hands, and shook her head. “Probably not. It’s difficult to reach.”

  “You mean he’s out there, with them?”

  “He might not have needed to come here.”

  Dynan stood and faced her. She didn’t want to look at him. “Does that happen?”

  “Not too often. Only with people of great faith. But if he was your guard, he was a trained professional, and he’ll have a better chance of reaching this place than most.”

  “What happens to the taken?”

  She didn’t want to answer that either, and started walking, making him scramble to catch up. “It isn’t a very good idea for you to know too much.”

  “What happens?”

  “There’s a place,” she said after pulling in a breath. “Most of the time it isn’t visible, but every now and then it appears as a gapping hole filled with misery. I’ve seen it once. Some call it the well of souls. The demon has been busy filling it.”

  “Is my mother here?” he asked, and the words choked in his throat.

  “No. She never would have seen this place. The rules are different.”

  “What rules?”

  “There are issues of balance and equity. The stability of life depends on it. Our family has a tendency to alter that balance because of what we are. You’re a telepath.”

  “My mother wasn’t,” Dynan said.

  “It’s very likely, I would even say a guarantee that she was. Not to the extent you are, but it was there, in her, just as it’s in your father, and in your grandparents. The same way it's in me. It’s the way the ability is passed on. If your mother was here I’d know it, here, on the taken side, anywhere. I’d know it.”

  “Alurn is here,” he said to refute her thinking that she’d know. If she didn’t know about
him, she might not know about anyone else, including his mother.

  Fadril stopped abruptly, almost angry that he’d say so, and shook her head. “He isn’t.”

  “It’s why I was sent here.”

  “Sent?” she said. “You were brought here by the Six. They lured you here.”

  “I was sent by a man who said I had to find Alurn and bring him back. My brother is with them. I saw Dain through that portal that came. I’m pretty sure he was at the Temple. Polen Forb says the one who sent me is a priest.”

  “It isn’t possible,” she said, but she didn’t sound too sure anymore. “But that would explain some things too.” She looked up at him. “Where?”

  “I don’t know. Polen said to look in the place he died.”

  Fadril grumbled something under her breath that Dynan didn’t catch, and she started off for the woods again. “Of course he would. That was just a way to get you here. Alurn isn’t there.”

  “How do you—”

  “I was there yesterday.” She gave him a look, daring him to counter her, but he wasn’t daunted.

  “How do you know my mother isn’t here?” he said. “If you don’t know about—”

  She set her hand on his arm. “I was there when she crossed. I was there when your grandmother and grandfather died. It’s what I do. I make sure they aren’t taken so that the imbalance doesn’t get any worse. It’s what I’ve done down through the Age. I’m sorry, I know it isn’t easy—”

  “No, it’s all right,” Dynan said.

  He realized it was. He still missed her more than he thought he would after ten years, but he had accepted the fact of her death a long time ago. He realized he had knowledge now that not many could claim as a fact.

  “As long as she’s not out there, in that, it’s all right.”

  “She isn’t.”

  That answer brought him a kind of peace he hadn’t thought possible and certainly hadn’t expected to find here. He looked down at this woman so like the image of his mother he had in his head, and thought himself doubly blessed.

  They reached the wood line. The path they were on was wide enough for them to walk together, and of firm packed ground lacking in dank, rotten anything. It seemed every bit a real forest as the one behind the Palace. Dynan felt like he was being watched, but he didn’t see the sentries.

  “So why do you do it?” he asked, and watched her. She looked off to the woods. “Why do you stay here and not go on? You must know how if you’ve been there when others have gone.”

  She nodded at that, but didn’t answer. “I had a son like you. Twins. They even share your names. Dynan and Dain. They were only babies, completely innocent, but that didn’t stop Adiem from wanting to take them. He wanted all my children, my daughter, Riella. We only just managed to get Bremen to safety when Adiem came. And then the rest of us were killed. When you first die it comes as a bit of a shock.”

  “Um, yeah.”

  “You’re not dead.”

  “That’s what everyone keeps telling me,” Dynan said, but when she thought to convince him, he held up a hand. At the moment it didn’t matter, since he was stuck here. “You stayed because you were getting your children to safety, and Alurn was on the other side.”

  “Through this portal that came, taking them from me, yes. And the Gods granted their passage from the world, but for the rest of us it was too late. Polen and his men stayed so that Alurn could get out. They intended for me to go too, but I knew there wasn’t time.”

  It was an incredible sacrifice she’d made, giving up the promise of a peaceful eternity and being with her children. Dynan realized he still didn’t know why she stayed, and guessed she wasn’t going to tell him, or maybe she didn’t want to talk about it. He wasn’t sure what to say anymore. The conversation seemed to make her sad, so he dropped it.

  They went through the trees in silence. The woods ended not too much farther on, making it more a small glade than a forest. On the other side, there was a wide valley that reminded Dynan immediately of the valley outside his home that held the city of Rianamar. There was a city of sorts here, though not of huge buildings of marble. These were made of wood, and far more modest, with few rising above two stories.

  “Everything is backward here,” he said, looking the way they’d come.

  Fadril shook her head. “We’ve had to move. More than once. The river used to be the boundary, but they took that too. The terrain has changed, and other things have happened.” She angled toward one of the larger buildings that sat at the center as they came out of the woods and down the hill. “Is the Palace built?”

  Dynan smiled at her tone. She probably had a few complaints about how long it took to build a home for her family. Alurn started the Palace, but it wasn’t completed until Aolrin, over a hundred years later.

  “Your grandson finally finished it. Bremen didn’t live there until near the end of his life.”

  “Tell me about him,” she said suddenly. She didn’t look at him, and Dynan started to wonder why she didn’t want to hear more about the mission to find her husband.

  “I only know what I read about him,” he said, which he realized was obvious right after he said it.

  “You read about him though,” she said, “and that’s more than I know about his life.”

  “All right. I’ll tell you what I remember. Bremen was considered a great King. He was Crown Prince for eight years since he was only ten...you knew that part. He had a group of men with him who kept him alive and protected his claim when there were a lot of factions trying to stop him.”

  “Rison Forb, Polen’s younger brother?” she asked and Dynan nodded.

  “And the brothers Vel and Jais Hindryn,” he said, glad he’d paid attention in history class so he could bring her this information. “Quiton Borr was appointed Regent.”

  “He was my cousin,” Fadril said and laughed. “And a good man. The Hindryns were family friends. Yes, that’s good to know. We thought they could be trusted. It’s so nice to hear it as fact instead of constantly telling myself it was so. I’ve never known for certain. It’s not something you ask of others who are passing through.”

  “They made it through the young years. Not a lot is known of the time. There have been rumors of a book Alurn wrote, but nothing’s been found, so a lot of people are just guessing.”

  “Adiem wrote it. I never read it, or even saw it, so my knowledge is second hand,” she said. “Adiem was a Seer. I think what he was given of the future made him mad. He lost hope. He couldn’t see a way to avoid what was coming. Maybe it was too much for him. When the demon came to him, he saw that it would be easier. Or that’s what he thought. But go on, you were talking about the building of Rianamar.”

  Dynan nodded as they reached the foot of the hills, and came to a wider path that turned into a road that led into the town.

  “Bremen is credited with building much of it, or rebuilding it I guess, which is one reason why the Palace wasn’t completed until a lot later.”

  “Who did he marry?”

  “Her name was...uh...Liriel and they had four, no five children. Aolrin was the heir and he’s usually called Aolrin the Great since he won a lot of battles. Bremen fought for most of his life too. We were constantly being invaded by other Systems. Did you know about them? Yomir and Suma?”

  “Yes. And Rynald and Thylin. There was one System that was friendly to us.”

  “Trea,” Dynan said. “They still are. Things are different now with all the Systems. My grandfather, Dionin finally ended the wars and created the High Council that all the Systems belong to. They’ve all agreed to meet when there are disputes. There are non-interference laws now that prevent one System from meddling with another. Or they’re supposed to anyway.”

  “So there’s peace,” she said.

  “There are still occasional, and supposedly accidental, skirmishes here and there, especially with Yomir. I’m not sure we’ll ever get along with them. They don’t seem to want to ge
t along with us. There haven’t been any all out battles in forty years.”

  “And the Murians?”

  “We still have problems with them, but they’re considered part of the Cobalt System so it’s an internal matter for us to deal with.”

  “And make the same mistakes, over and over,” Fadril said. “You can blame that mess on Alurn.”

  “I’d have to rewrite all the history files, and no one would believe me. The Murians didn’t become a known factor until Aolrin and the first Great War when everyone picked a side and fought until the bitter end.”

  “Great War,” she muttered. “Is that what they really call it? You know there’s nothing great or grand about it, don’t you?”

  Dynan was guilty of thinking of it that way, of bravery and amazing feats, and glory given to the men who fought, but he nodded anyway. He thought he might get a lecture if he didn’t agree.

  “No, you don’t,” she said and heaved a sigh. “I suppose I can blame that on genetics too.”

  “Yours or his?” Dynan asked. He smiled when she shot him a look. “You are the one who went after the Six with a bow and arrow.”

  She couldn’t deny it, and started laughing. “All right. Yes.”

  “I thought that was incredibly grand, especially since you saved my neck,” Dynan said. “And I think I forgot to thank you for it.”

  “You’re welcome. You did pretty well with that sword,” she said. “You got through. I think you’re the only one who can.”

  Dynan didn’t believe it did any good. “What stopped him back on the rock?”

  “This place is protected,” she said. “They haven't found a way to pollute it yet. It would hurt him to cross the boundary. He remembers the last time.”

  “Can they be killed? I mean, they’re already dead, so I guess not. Contained then? Stopped?”

  She didn’t answer except to cast him a glance, which was answer enough. Instead, she pointed to the first set of buildings that the road went between.

  “There are going to be a lot of people. They’re going to be curious. Word of you will spread like the wind. As fast as you can imagine.”