Hand in hand, Jelena and Ashinji traversed the castle complex along a series of gravel paths meandering through gardens and courtyards, past gurgling fountains and reflecting ponds. Within an alley of blossoming cherry trees, they paused to share a kiss. Petals swirled around them like pink snow, dusting their hair and clothes. Here, within the peaceful confines of her father’s stronghold, Jelena could almost forget the threats to their lives and their world.
Almost.
The enemy is near and my father lies stricken, perhaps on his deathbed, she thought. Are the elven people doomed?
She reached out to trail a finger across Ashinji’s cheek. He caught her hand in his and kissed her palm.
“What are you thinking, love?” He kissed the back of her hand this time.
Is our daughter’s future to be blighted by suffering, slavery, and death? Does my own future hold victory over this…this terrible evil the Kirians call The Nameless One? Or is there naught but catastrophe awaiting all of us?
She had no answers, only questions upon questions.
The only thing I’m certain of, that I know will survive any calamity, is my love for this man standing before me now.
“I’m thinking about how much I love you,” she murmured.
They lingered awhile longer among the cherry trees, allowing the serenity of the place to seep into their bones. Such beauty could not be allowed to pass from the world without a fight. By the time they left the alley, Jelena felt more determined than ever to prevail.
Mariso and Jena shrieked in unison upon seeing their brother alive. They rushed Ashinji as he stepped through the front door of the apartment, flinging themselves into his open arms, nearly knocking him off his feet. They wiggled in his embrace like joyous puppies as he kissed their upturned faces again and again.
“Goddess, but you two have gotten so big!” he exclaimed. “Where are my little monkeys, eh?”
“We never believed you were dead, Ashi!” Jena spoke first.
“Never, never, never!” Mariso shook her head with each word.
“Promise you’ll never leave again, Ashi!”
“Promise!”
Ashinji laughed but Jelena thought she heard a note of pain in it. “I promise I’ll never leave you again, my dear, not-so-little monkeys,” he swore.
“Welcome home, Brother!” Lani appeared in the inner doorway leading to the sitting room, her customarily cool demeanor abandoned. Ashinji set the twins on their feet then rushed to embrace his eldest sister. He lifted Lani and spun her around before setting her down and kissing her cheeks and forehead.
She pulled away from him, eyes widening in surprise. “Ashi, your Talent!” she whispered. “What…How…?”
Ashinji shook his head. “It’s a long story, Sister,” he replied. “Right now, I just want to be with you and not have to think too hard about anything.”
Lani nodded and linked her arm with his. “Hatora can’t wait to see you,” she said, looking first at her brother, then Jelena. “She already loves her father, even though she’s only known him for a day.” Jelena reached out with her mind to touch her daughter’s and found Hatora’s baby thoughts to be totally focused on Ashinji.
Amazing, she thought. The two of them formed such a powerful bond, almost upon the instant they first saw each other…
“Let’s not keep your daughter waiting, Husband” Jelena urged.
“Gaaaaa!” Hatora squealed when Ashinji entered the sitting room. She strained against Amara’s arms, in a frantic effort to reach her father. Ashinji laughed and plucked her from his mother’s embrace. He cuddled the baby close and pressed his face to hers.
“Come, you two, and sit,” Amara directed. “The others should be here shortly. We have much to talk about.” Jelena did not need to be told who they awaited or what needed to be discussed. She looked at her husband and child and a wave of sorrow swept over her.
We’ve had so little time together! It’s not fair! What if I don’t survive this? What will you do, my love? Can you go on without me? For Hatora’s sake, you must!
Ashinji looked into her eyes and the love she saw there bolstered her courage.
“Sonoe won’t leave the king’s side until the last possible moment, so she may be late,” Amara said. “Chiana and Taya should be…oh, here they are, now.” A heartbeat later, they heard both the princess and Gran in the outer chamber. Taya entered the sitting room first, carrying a large book bound in black, pebbly leather. Gran followed close behind, a smaller, red leather-bound volume in her hands.
“Good. You both are here,” Taya said, nodding toward Jelena and Ashinji. “I see we must wait on Sonoe, as usual.” She cast a hard glance at Gran.
Taya sat in the room’s best chair, smoothing her clothes before resting the sinister black book upon her knees. The princess wore an unadorned blue silk robe bound with a red sash; Jelena surmised that, at least for this meeting, her aunt had put aside royal rank and acted now as the head of the Kirian Society.
Feeling the need to defend her friend, Jelena said, “Sonoe tends my father, Aunt. I’m sure she’ll be here very soon.”
Taya’s eyes flashed, but her voice remained calm. “Yes. We will wait, of course.”
“How are you feeling, Ashi?” Gran asked, smiling at Hatora.
“Much better, now that I’ve had a chance to rest and be with my wife,” Ashinji replied. He laid a hand on Jelena’s knee.
“Lani, please take the children down to that little garden with the dolphin fountain so they can get some fresh air,” Amara directed.
“Yes, Mother.” If Ashinji’s sister resented being sent off like a child to play while the adults discussed important things, she gave no sign. “May I take the twins to the king’s stables instead? There’s a newborn foal. I think they’d enjoy petting it.”
Amara nodded.
The twins could not leave without first bestowing multiple kisses on the faces of both their brother and their infant niece. When Lani had at last shepherded them out the door, Gran asked, “When are you sending that one to the Kan Onji?”
Amara sighed. “My eldest daughter is a stubborn one. Despite the strength of her Talent, she has no interest in formal magical training. She has her eye on other things.” She glanced at Taya and the princess responded with a near imperceptible nod.
“Perhaps my sister is the one who will find the courage to break with tradition,” Ashinji commented. He kept his eyes focused on Hatora’s face as he spoke.
A tiny crease formed in Amara’s brow, then smoothed as she regarded her son. “There are reasons for maintaining tradition, my son,” she replied.
“Not all of them good,” Ashinji shot back. His face had gone hard and cold. Jelena laid her hand over his and it seemed to soothe him, for his expression relaxed and the tight set of his mouth softened. Amara sighed again, as if she recognized that a confrontation had been averted, but only for now.
“Ah, Sonoe has arrived at last,” Taya announced.
“Forgive me,” Sonoe begged as she entered the room.
Jelena rose to her feet and went to greet her friend. “How is he?” she asked as they exchanged kisses.
“No change, which I suppose is good news. Each day Keizo still breathes is an occasion for hope. Your father is extraordinarily strong. He holds fast to life as fiercely as a bear-dog holds on to its quarry. He may yet overcome this thing.”
Jelena nodded, relieved.
My father is strong. He will continue to fight with all that he has, for his family and for the people of Alasiri.
“Now that we’re all present, we can get down to business,” Taya said as Jelena and Sonoe settled into their places. She propped the heavy book up on her lap. “Niece, this is the first volume of Kashegi’s Notebooks.” She tapped the black volume’s brass-inlaid cover. “It contains the only known written description of the Ritual of Sundering. Master Kashegi was the immediate successor to Iku Azarasha. He headed the Society for some one hundred years after the death
of Master Iku, and it was he that transcribed much of the great Azarasha’s notes into workable texts.”
Taya caressed the rough leather as she would a living, breathing creature. “This is perhaps the single most precious book the Society possesses. It is bound in black dragon’s hide, an animal that has not walked this land in over a thousand years. If you were to open this book, Jelena, to your eyes, the pages would appear to be just blank parchment. Only a mage—and one of sufficiently high training, mind you—can discern the writing upon the pages, and only one who has attained the skill necessary to gain admittance into the Kirian Society can make sense of the words.”
Taya looked at each one of them in turn. “The very fate of the material world rests upon everyone in this room,” she intoned. “Jelena, for many months now, I and my colleagues have schooled you in the use of your Talent. We’ve strived to prepare you as best we can for the ordeal we must all undergo. Now, please just listen to what I’m about to say, and hold onto your courage.”
Jelena felt her insides go cold. She gripped Ashinji’s fingers so hard, he winced.
“For very important reasons, we’ve withheld the entire truth from you, Niece, but now that the time is at hand, you must know everything.” Taya paused and fixed Jelena with a look both compassionate and resolute.
“I suspected as much, Aunt,” Jelena replied. “I’m ready for whatever must be done. I’m not afraid.”
Taya nodded, as if satisfied with her answer. “In order for the Ritual to be successful, we must separate the Key from the essential energy that is your life force.”
The princess paused, then said, “The only way to accomplish this is to kill you.”
No Loose Ends
So. My death is a certainty?”
Now that the words had been said, Jelena realized she had known the truth all along, but beside that knowledge had nested the stubborn hope that she might somehow avoid her fate.
“Is there no other way?” she whispered.
Gran’s voice was gentle. “No, child, there is not.”
“You promised me there’s a chance to bring her back afterward,” Ashinji interjected. He turned uncompromising eyes on each of the mages, lingering the longest on his mother’s face. Her own gaze did not waver.
“We won’t conceal the truth from either of you anymore,” Gran replied. “When the psychic cord binding a soul to the body has been severed, it is extremely difficult and dangerous to retrieve that soul, for both the soul and the magician who is attempting the retrieval. Some call it ‘resurrection’ while others call it ‘necromancy’. By either name, many consider it an abomination. No modern Kirian has ever attempted a resurrection, though all of us know the spell. It is one of the Great Workings.” Gran heaved a sigh and smoothed back a stray lock of silver-blond hair.
“Are you saying you won’t attempt it, then?” Ashinji shot back. Hatora began to whimper. Jelena tried to coax the baby onto her own lap, but she refused, clinging to Ashinji like a mussel to a rock, impossible to shift.
She feels her father’s anguish, and is responding the only way she knows how.
Jelena’s eyebrows shot up as she recognized Amara’s mindspeech. Her mother-in-law’s eyes, as green as her son’s, sparkled with unshed tears.
“We will attempt to retrieve Jelena’s soul, Ashi, but we can’t promise success,” Gran continued. “There are a lot of ifs we must deal with. If we have the necessary strength left between us, if Jelena will even want to return…”
If any of us are still alive…
That thought remained unvoiced but it haunted the room, nonetheless.
“Why would I not wish to return?” Jelena’s gaze lingered on Ashinji and Hatora. “Why would I choose death over life with my husband and child?”
“We elves believe that when we die, we go to dwell in Paradise, gathered to the bosom of the One Goddess. The afterlife is beautiful, peaceful…” Ashinji paused and raised a hand to cover his eyes. He sat very still for several heartbeats, then turned to her, his face filled with such despair, Jelena’s breath stopped.
“After I plunge the knife into your heart, you may not want to come back to me,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Jelena could feel all sensation trickling from her limbs, leaving them numb, immovable.
“The Kirians need someone to strike the killing blow at precisely the right moment,” Ashinji whispered in a torn voice. “I am to wield the knife, my love.”
Jelena swallowed hard. The room tilted, then righted itself, then tilted again. For a few heartbeats, blackness closed in on her and a foul, freezing wind tore through her. She heard a fearsome sound, as if from a great distance—the grinding squeal of metal scraping against metal. A sickening wave of savage emotion hit her—rage, arousal, anticipation, hunger…
He is coming! He is coming for me!
I am coming for you!
Jelena awoke with a scream. She looked up to see Ashinji’s face floating above her, stricken. She felt the scratch of woven mats upon her back through the fine cotton of her tunic. Her mouth tasted of metal.
Somehow, she had ended up on the floor.
“Jelena! What happened?”
Jelena had never heard such fear in Ashinji’s voice. She pushed herself up to a sitting position.
“I’m all right,” she mumbled. She coughed and wiped her streaming eyes and nose on her sleeve. “I…I think I just had some kind of…of vision.”
“Goddess’ tits,” Ashinji muttered as he helped her back to her seat on the couch. Hatora wailed and thrashed in her grandmother’s arms.
“Jelena, tell us what you saw,” Taya commanded over the screeching baby.
Hattie, please! Mama’s not hurt! Jelena called to her daughter in mindspeech. The child’s wails subsided to whimpers.
“Whatever you saw, it obviously terrified you, pet,” Sonoe said. She sat beside Jelena and clasped her hands. “You’ve gone completely white!”
Jelena frowned, trying to recapture the essence of the vision. “I heard an awful sound, like metal ripping,” she whispered She paused and her nose wrinkled. “There was a smell like the stink from a garbage pit. I think…no, I’m certain it was the Nameless One. He knows I’m here and he knows what we’re doing, what we’re going to try to do. He’s certain he will defeat us.” She looked at Sonoe. “How did he find me? We’ve been so careful! I thought all of you were shielding me from him.”
“We have been, pet,” Sonoe replied, her pretty mouth twisted in a frown, “but the Nameless One has known of our plans from the beginning. He’s been awaiting the return of the Key since the time of his imprisonment. He knew when the Key returned, the Kirians would have no choice but to perform the Sundering. What we’ve done up ’til now is conceal your exact location and the time and place of the Ritual, in order to catch him off-guard. Our greatest hope of success lies with surprise, though perhaps we’ve lost that now.”
“Sonoe is right,” Taya confirmed.
“Gods, my head is throbbing!” Jelena muttered in Soldaran. She rubbed her temples, wishing she could crawl into bed, curl up in Ashi’s arms, and forget everything.
“This vision of Jelena’s means we can wait no longer,” Amara said.
“I agree,” Gran responded. “We’ve run out of time. We must perform the Ritual now.”
“What? Do you mean now as in right now?” Ashinji rose to his feet, and Jelena heard the note of panic in his voice. “You can’t be serious! I’ve just…we’ve only just…”
“Son!” Amara snapped. “The Nameless One knows Jelena’s whereabouts. We can no longer delay!”
Why is all this happening, Jelena thought. Why can’t Ashi and I just live our lives in peace with our daughter? Why was I chosen for this sacrifice?
Even as she asked herself those questions, she already knew the answers. The weak and powerless often served as tools of the powerful precisely because they could do nothing else. The accident of her blood had made of her a perfect tool and paw
n of mighty forces. She had no choice but to accept her destiny.
“Ashi, if the Kirians say we must do this now, then we must.” She stood and the others rose with her.
If my death will save the world, then for my daughter’s sake, I must embrace it, she thought.
“I’m ready,” she said and clasped Ashinji’s hand.
***
Jelena bent to kiss her father’s brow in farewell, then allowed Ashinji to lead her from the bedchamber. Her eyes were dry for she had no more tears left. She had shed the last ones while saying goodbye to Hatora.
The sweet smell of her body, the softness of her skin; these memories of her baby, along with that of Ashinji’s touch, were the things Jelena most wanted to carry with her into death. When at last she could bring herself to let go, she had relinquished the child to Eikko’s waiting arms.
“Look after my daughter, Eikko, until my husband and my mother-in-law return,” she had instructed with as little emotion in her voice as she could manage. The hikui servant girl knew nothing specific, but she was no fool. As soon as she had taken Hatora into her arms, she gulped and shuddered as fat tears rolled from her brown eyes.
“Hush, Eikko, please!” Jelena had admonished gently. “You’ll upset the baby even more than she already is.” As she turned from her daughter for the last time, she heard in her mind the bird-like sound of Hatora calling to her. She had not dared to respond, for fear she would lose all courage.
The hard parts are done. Now, all that’s left is to die, she thought.
No, that’s not true. I still have to say goodbye to Ashi.
He strode alongside her now, his arm linked with hers. The scuff scuff of his boots on the stone floor kept time with the beating of her heart. Ahead of them walked Taya, carrying Kashegi’s Notebooks. The Eye of Lajdala, ancient badge of office for the masters of the Kirian Society, shone like a red lantern on her breast. The fire of its magic blazed in response to the princess’ Talent, casting a blood-red glow on the walls, ceiling, and floor.
Behind them walked Gran and Amara, each woman carrying a cloth-wrapped bundle in her arms. Sonoe had stayed behind for a few extra moments alone with the king, but had promised to catch up. She would bring the White Griffin Ring.
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