08 Blood War-Blood Destiny

by Suttle, Connie

  "Hey, Adam," I folded into the kitchen at Gryphon Hall while Adam was having a cup of tea and reading stock reports on his handheld computer.

  "Lissa, sit down and have a cup of tea with me." He was smiling. Adam isn't hard to look at, by any stretch of the imagination. He reminded me of an English actor that had been popular when I'd been snatched away by Griffin. Long dead, now, but Adam bore a slight resemblance.

  "I'll get my own tea," I motioned for him to sit down again. I'd interrupted him, not the other way around. He didn't seem to mind, either, that I'd just shown up, without any notice.

  "I'm used to it," he smiled and went back to his computer. I made myself a cup of tea and was sipping it when Kiarra and Merrill came in for breakfast.

  "Lissa, what brings you here?" Merrill asked, coming to give me a peck on the cheek.

  "I just wanted to talk to Kiarra about the Ra'Ak that I killed on Vionn." Kiarra had gone to pull something for breakfast from the fridge, but she turned to look at me when I spoke.

  "What about him?" she asked. "Dragon said you had a few words with one of them before you killed him, but he didn't know what was said."

  "We had a few words, all right, but he was stalling for time, trying to work his mojo. He wanted a Saa Thalarr under his thumb," I said.

  "As if that's possible," Merrill snorted.

  "Maybe not for you, Merrill, because of what you were before—a King Vampire that wasn't susceptible to compulsion. Or to me, because of what I am. He thought I was Saa Thalarr. And let me tell you, the compulsion, or whatever it was that he had, might have taken one of the others down. Some of the Spawn Hunters, for sure, and maybe others. He was full Dark Elemaiya, Merrill, before he became Ra'Ak. Have you heard of that, before?"

  "That isn't good." Belen folded in, shining brightly before gathering his light and forming a corporeal body.

  "Yeah. That's not good," I agreed. "And if there's more of those schmucks out there, well, who knows what will happen? If somebody challenges them, can they just place compulsion to win the battle or send somebody back to destroy things from within?" I was thinking about my twins, Gavin, Tony and Jeral. It made me feel sick, to be honest.

  "Conner's inviting us over for breakfast, so I don't have to cook," Kiarra had gotten silent mindspeech, her beautiful face set in a frown as she received the message. All of us were folded to Connor's, I didn't know by whom, and Franklin was sitting down beside me in a blink, telling me I was exhausted and needed to eat and then sleep. He'd gotten his hands on me, first thing, using his healer's skill to fix what he could.

  "Honey, I appreciate the concern, but this is scary," I muttered. Franklin sat down and ate breakfast beside me—Shane and Thomas had fixed enough to feed a real crowd. It was a good thing, too—a crowd showed up. I listened while Kiarra, Belen, Conner and just about every other Saa Thalarr came in and talked the whole situation over.

  Dragon and Crane were there, of course, with Grace and Devin. Fox folded in with Wlodek, Weldon and the rest of her mates. Gilfraith came to give me a hug. I patted him on the back and smiled. Cleo arrived with her mates; Glinda even folded in, Jayd and Garde right behind her, with both tiny girls asleep in carriers. The babies were growing, though, and that was nice to see.

  "Are you stirring up trouble again?" Russell came in and patted me on the back.

  "You haven't seen trouble, yet," I teased him halfheartedly.

  "We can't seem to get a handle on this, to tell if there are any more out there," Kiarra sighed after conferring with Conner, Dragon and Grace.

  "There are plenty of other voids—Lissa only sealed up the biggest one," Joey was helping himself to the breakfast buffet.

  "So, there could be Ra'Ak everywhere, and a lot more full-blood Elemaiyan Ra'Ak," Dragon sounded worried. "Who would know about the Elemaiya—enough that we might figure this out?"

  Well, Griffin must have been listening in, because he folded in shortly afterward, his mother—my grandmother—gripped by the collar. She looked as if she'd been freshly washed and dressed, and I hoped Narissa hadn't given Amara too much of a fight while she did it. "I think maybe Lissa can get answers out of her. I wasn't able to, before, and I only started thinking about that recently," Griffin muttered.

  He didn't meet my eyes as I stared at him. He was right, though—when he'd taken Cleo, Kyler and me to meet Narissa, she'd told him then that it was a good thing I'd placed compulsion. Of course she'd tried to cover it up, muttering some nonsense about Wylend and a spell he'd cast. I hadn't thought anything about it either, at the time, thinking that Wylend Arden, as King of Karathia and perhaps the strongest Warlock on that world, had managed to achieve that particular result. He hadn't. He'd only been able to keep Narissa from telling others whose child she'd had. Compulsion had nothing to do with it. Her talent, combined with Friesianna's, had likely accomplished that feat.

  "So, grandmother," I began, "tell me about the Elemaiya and compulsion."

  "Many might have some form of compulsion," she snorted. "But that’s not what this is. We use another word for this," she snapped. She didn't want to be there, no doubt about that. I put a plate of food together and handed it to her. She ate as if she hadn't had a meal in days. Most likely that was true.

  "Then what word do you use and what, specifically, is this?" I asked when she'd slowed down on her eating.

  "We use le'meruh," she muttered.

  "Extreme coercion," Griffin explained.

  "Only a few are born with the talent," Narissa went on, scraping up the last of her eggs with a fork and a wedge of toast. "Bright and Dark. It is coercion so strong, few can withstand it—even those among the powerful. The ones born with this gift have to be handled carefully, so they don't turn on the others. Friesianna was born with it. Became Queen, as soon as she was old enough. Some say she forced the old Queen to step aside."

  "Is the old Queen still alive?" I asked.

  "Don't know. She was forced from camp and we never saw her again."

  "The new Queen is the one who made the deal with the Dark ones and the Ra'Ak?" Griffin was getting in on this. I didn't care, as long as we got to the bottom of it.

  "Yes. But she has done many things in the past that should not have been." Was it me, or was my grandmother starting to sound more reasonable?

  "So, not everybody agreed with her? That sounds like she forced some people to do her will, then."

  "Yes. Many were afraid to say anything against the Queen's decisions, because of it." I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to ask my grandmother if she'd been for or against the Queen on that one. "Rabis tried to warn her, but she ignored him as she usually did. He also tried to warn her against the alliance with the Dark ones and the Ra'Ak, but when she refused him that time, he disappeared and did not return."

  "Rabis was their Seer," Griffin said softly, when I raised an eyebrow. "He knew I had the gift."

  "She still plays Queen, though she doesn't have a drop of power to her name—even the le'meruh is gone, now. She holds court and her pretty males are still lined up to do whatever she asks. They've killed for her, as often as not. She'll kill to get a handful of berries away from the ones who've gone out to pick them, rather than lift a finger for herself." There was contempt in my grandmother's voice. Well, she'd just described what I thought she'd become.

  "Mother, don't sit there and tell me you didn't follow along right behind her, all those years when life was good."

  "I did." She didn't look at Griffin when he spoke to her. "I should have gone to Rabis and asked him about it, long ago. He'd learned to keep his mouth shut, though. He wasn't volunteering anything, unless he thought there wasn't any other way. She would have gotten rid of him, too."

  "So, you're saying that Rabis wasn't there on Kifirin with the rest of you?"

  "No. There were a few others, too, that have disappeared over the years, one or two at a time. Rabis was the last to leave, before we met up with my granddaughter there. I wish Rabis had told me about her." Narissa n
odded in my direction; she seemed particularly miffed that she hadn't been informed of my existence.

  "My fault," Griffin said. "I knew somebody would come looking for her, so I brought her forward in time. I thought she'd died in the future, too, just as most of the others did."

  "That's why he didn't see her. She skipped over some years." Narissa snorted.

  "Around three hundred," I muttered. "Grandmother, I have to say you sound a lot more reasonable now than the last time I saw you."

  "My great-granddaughter," she mumbled.

  "I did it." Cleo came in and looked down at Narissa. "When I made my pronouncement, it broke any remaining compulsion that Friesianna had on her. I didn't realize it until later. That doesn't mean she's undeserving of what she got," Cleo held up a hand. "She still had some will left in the matter. She just chose not to exercise it."

  "Until now," Narissa looked at Cleo. "It brought home to me just how mortal we are. Friesianna is killing, whereas she didn't do that so much before. The Ra'Ak influence, I think, in addition to her alliance with Baltis."

  "Let's get back to the le'meruh thing," I sighed. I might have to go back to Evensun and sort out a few murderers. Later.

  "I don't know that there were any with the talent left on the Dark side," Narissa went on. "The Ra'Ak, though; they're full of stories about how some of their own will come for them and make them Ra'Ak again."

  "Is she saying that the Ra'Ak took or were handed the Dark Elemaiya with le'meruh, and they were made Ra'Ak?" Kiarra had been silent, listening carefully up to that point. Now she was thinking the same thing I was thinking.

  "All I know is that they disappeared. It makes sense, though, and Rabis may have known about it, but I do not know where he is, either." Narissa was looking hopefully at the table. Cleo went to get another plate of food. A glass of milk and some coffee were provided, too.

  "Thank you, I haven't had coffee in a long time," Narissa sipped it, first.

  "Sounds like we need to find Rabis," Kiarra muttered. I was in complete agreement. We talked for a little while longer, but my grandmother didn't know anything else of value.

  "They'll kill me when I get back," Narissa whined when Griffin moved to take her.

  "I know what to do with her," I sighed. Well, the Green Birth Fae owed me, so I set up fifty acres near the Green Birth settlement for my grandmother. I think everybody who'd been at Conner's came along, just to see what I intended to do. Adam put up the house and I placed a shield around it. Narissa couldn't get past a certain point, and nobody could come in past a certain point. Food and other things might be left on the perimeter for an exchange, but that was all. Narissa was in a prison of sorts, albeit a comfortable one.

  "I expect you to hand over regular reports," I informed Tiearan, who now stood among us. "Make sure she has food and clothing. If she needs anything else, let me know and I'll make a decision."

  "We will do this to discharge part of our debt," he agreed.

  "Let me know if she mistreats anyone," I added. Tiearan nodded.

  * * *

  "Where should we start looking for Rabis?" Kiarra blew out a sigh. We were in my private meeting room, which we seldom used. At least it held all of us, although not everybody got a seat at the table. Even the Spawn Hunters were there this time, and Drake, Drew, Gavin and Tony were giving me looks, letting me know that they'd been left out. Well, I'd grovel in a little while. When this started, I didn't know that it was going to be anything except a conversation with Kiarra and possibly her mates. Now it was something quite different.

  "Can the Saa Thalarr still use the gates?" Tony asked.

  "Yeah—they were only closed to the Elemaiya and the Ra'Ak," I said. "Who else uses them besides that?"

  "Just us and some of the Wizard clans," Griffin replied. "I know Glendes uses them at times—it's easier than folding to some places."

  "Well, we probably need to scatter to find Rabis, then," I sighed. "There are a bazillion gates and he may be near one of them, hoping it will become useful again, someday."

  "That makes sense," Griffin agreed.

  You don't have time to search through all the gates, filtered into my mind. Well, there he was again, and this time he was sending mindspeech. And then the vision came, so clear I felt I could reach out and touch the leaves of the trees he was showing me.

  "I have to go," I said and disappeared amid shouts from those around me.

  Chapter 12

  "Le-Ath Veronis is closed against us." Ringolar watched his four remaining Ra'Ak brothers closely. "We can't set foot on the planet, but it is common knowledge that the Reth Alliance Conclave will be held in less than a month. Viregruz agrees that we should go there, my brothers, and avenge ourselves."

  "We can kill many birds with a single strike at that affair," Dalstone agreed. "Shall we go disguised?"

  "That would be perfect," Ringolar chuckled. "They think to take us—we will show them otherwise."

  "But we did not see how our brother died," Farthis argued. "We only saw the darkness when he left us. The cameras attached to his optic nerves ceased to function, suddenly."

  "He was distracted and attacked from behind. That is easy enough to determine," Ringolar scoffed. "You always worry, brother."

  "There is a way to harm Le-Ath Veronis, without setting foot on the planet," Levecus said. Of the brothers, he was the quietest.

  "How is that?" Ringolar turned to him.

  "Imagine this," Levecus began, and as he outlined the plan, Ringolar smiled.

  * * *

  I looked from one to the other. Rabis wasn't nearly as tall as the one who stood beside me. We'd come to a small clearing, surrounded by trees that bore knobs of fruit. At the time, I didn't bother to Look to see what kind of trees they were; I was focused on Rabis and what he might tell me. I also shoved aside what Rabis' scent told me—that could wait.

  "I was hoping to meet you eventually," Rabis nodded respectfully. His hair was darker—a reddish-brown. His youthful appearance belied his age, too—he was older by far than my grandmother and looked younger. "Would you like to sit?" he asked. "The grass here is soft enough."

  We sat. Rabis studied me for long moments, as if he were struggling to see past an invisible shield. The taller one sitting beside me turned away to hide a smile.

  "You want to know about le'meruh," Rabis finally announced. He seemed satisfied with me somehow, as if I passed his scrutiny in some way.

  "Mostly I want to know about Dark Elemaiya with the talent, who may now be turned Ra'Ak."

  "Ah. The seven brothers," Rabis nodded. "And the seventh one, who is not Ra'Ak, may be the worst of the lot. He is the seventh son of a seventh son, and among the Dark half of the race, that is not a good thing."

  "That's comforting news," I muttered sarcastically. I wondered, too, what in the nine levels of hell, as Gavin was so fond of saying, might be worse than a Ra'Ak.

  "They are plotting against you," Rabis added.

  "Tell me something I don't know," I sighed.

  "Le'meruh is a terrible weapon in the wrong hands," Rabis began. "It can only be removed by the one who placed it, or by the death of the one who placed it."

  My skin began to itch immediately.

  * * *

  "Will you give this to her?" Griffin held the small box out to Radomir. Radomir had to Look to see what it contained.

  "Ah." Radomir wasn't sure he wanted to be the messenger in this instance, but was afraid it might not get to Lissa, otherwise. Radomir knew, too, that Merrill had been approached by Griffin for this errand, and Merrill had refused. A rift had occurred between Merrill and Griffin, and many among the Saa Thalarr worried that the long friendship had ended permanently.

  "I'll see that Lissa gets this," Radomir said and folded away.

  * * *

  I was standing at the edge of the Green Fae village, again, watching them go about their daily business. Fall gardens were being tended, seedling trees planted, bread baked—I could smell it from
where I stood. No sign of Redbird, though—she was probably inside one of the homes, taking care of Toff. Roff had an arm about me, seeing and smelling what I did. Corent stepped around one of the small houses and walked toward us.

  "The child is doing well," he came to stand beside me. I nodded; I didn't trust myself to speak. Right then I might have wept if I tried to say anything. So many terrible things were happening, and I felt it was all heading toward an awful end. The worst part, too—was that I seemed to be at the center of it. I'd come to the Green Fae village, hoping to get a glimpse of Toff. Roff refused to be left behind—he wanted to see the child they'd stolen from him. That's where Radomir found us—standing beneath the trees surrounding Corent's new home. As soon as Corent learned the Green Fae had come to Le-Ath Veronis, he'd joined them.

  Radomir knew I was close to tears. He silently placed a small box in my hand. I should have known what was inside—I opened it anyway. Roff's ring lay nestled on a scrap of satin. Amara must have packed it up; I couldn't see Griffin doing anything that considerate. "Honey, this was yours," I pulled the ring from the box and offered it to Roff. I was crying by that time.

  "Do not weep, my love." Roff's wings unfurled and Radomir and Corent were shut out as he wrapped them about me. Only Roff and I existed inside the shelter of those wide, soft, leathery wings. The ring was lifted carefully from my palm as I tearfully held it out to him, and he accepted it, slipping it onto his left ring finger. It fit. That could be attributed to Griffin, I think. He held the power to resize it to fit Roff's larger hand. It should never have been taken away. What had Griffin thought to accomplish by taking it? Was that his final assurance that Roff would have no memory of his children—or of me?