A wave of weakness settled through her, and she pulled on her manehlin to strengthen her but realized that she had been doing the same thing for the last few hours. Had that been how she had managed to remain upright for as long as she had? She hadn’t known how she had managed to handle it and hadn’t thought that she had been pulling on the strength of her abilities, but it made sense that she would have been. How else would she have been able to stay on her feet?
“Roelle?”
She started to look over to Selton but couldn’t focus on him.
Everything had gone blurry. A hot flush worked along her back, and she tried to hold on, to force herself to stay on her feet, but she couldn’t.
She felt hands beneath her and then knew nothing else.
Roelle awoke to a dry mouth and bitter notes in the air. She tried sitting up but found that she was restrained. Her heart hammered a moment. Had she been captured?
She flicked her eyes open and saw a small room around her. The walls were a dark stone, and the same pressure she’d detected out in the street pulsed against her here, as well.
The temple.
That had to be where she’d been brought, but why here? Selton wouldn’t have brought her here. He would have known that all she needed was rest. They had a better—and safer—place for her to do that, and one that didn’t place her in danger.
She shifted, and the blanket covering her dislodged. Not restrained at all then. The blankets covering her had been tucked in tightly around her, making it so that she had thought she was restrained, but she was not.
After she peeled the blankets down—something that was much harder than it had any right to be—she propped herself up and looked around the room. It was a plain room, with no decorations. Other than the bed, there was a basin full of water near the door. A small trunk had been pushed against the wall. Her cloak lay overtop the trunk with her sword on top of it.
Seeing her sword like that got her moving.
Roelle climbed out of the bed and stepped slowly over to the trunk to retrieve the sword, which she buckled to her waist. There was something about wearing the sword that gave her a sense of calm, and she forced her heart to slow now that she wore her sword again.
As she lifted her cloak from the trunk, the door to her room opened.
Brohmin stepped in.
He took in the way she held her cloak, and she saw his eyes catch sight of her sword on her waist. “I didn’t expect to see you up so soon.”
“How long has it been?”
“A few hours.”
Roelle took a deep breath. She could live with a few hours. Anything longer was too much for her. “Why did Selton let me come here?”
“Let you?”
“He wouldn’t have brought me here. We have rooms rented on the edge of town. Why here?”
“Your friend is nothing if not faithful, and he did want to take you somewhere else, but Salindra insisted that you come to me.”
“Because of what I had told her?”
“Told her?” Brohmin repeated, frowning. “Not what you told her. What you needed.”
“And what is that?”
“Healing.”
She sniffed. “Jakob attempted to heal me. If he couldn’t, then there’s not much that can be done for me.”
Brohmin shrugged. There was more of a sag to his shoulders than had been there before, and the intensity within his eyes had faded, leaving less of a luster to them. How much longer could he go on like this?
She had thought herself weakened—and she was—but Brohmin had changed nearly as much. Still, he smiled when he looked at her, and he moved with the same grace that she had seen before, and there was a calm about him that had not been there before. Whatever had happened to him since she had seen him with Jakob had been a good change.
“There might not be, but Jakob did what he could with what he knew at the time. He continues to develop and grow. In time, he will be powerful, but he doesn’t have the same knowledge of those who have preceded him—not yet.”
“And you think that you do?”
“I recognize someone tainted by negatively charged teralin.”
“What?”
“I once suffered from the same, so I recognize it in others. I doubt Jakob has ever seen it firsthand.”
“What makes you think it was negatively charged teralin?” She had minimal understanding of teralin, not as much as what Brohmin seemed to know.
“You were attacked by groeliin?”
She nodded. “When I was injured, it was one of the groeliin that cut through me.” She made a motion to her stomach, and then each arm where she had sustained the deepest injuries. Those had healed well. Jakob’s treatment had restored her, leaving only the faintest of scars. She wondered if he had left those as a way for her to remember. As one of the gods, even one who wasn’t completely aware of his abilities, he would surely have a way of healing her so that she would not even have that.
“Few understand that a groeliin attack can leave you influenced by the negatively charged teralin. Few enough survive groeliin attacks for it to matter. Those who do never fully understand what has happened to them.”
“How is it that you know this?”
“I’ve faced the groeliin,” Brohmin said.
He scratched at his arm where she had seen the illusion of the Deshmahne marks before. Were they still only illusions? Roelle met his gaze and saw a hint of darkness there. “This is more than about facing the groeliin,” she said.
He sighed and nodded slowly. “And I’ve been influenced by teralin as well. I hated that I was, but it helps me understand the way the metal can influence even those who seek peace.”
“Is there anything that can be done?”
Roelle wasn’t certain that was what had happened to her, but the explanation made as much sense as anything. If it were true, why wouldn’t Nahrsin have known? The Antrilii knew more about the groeliin than anyone, and she’d spent enough time with Nahrsin that he should have offered those secrets, especially if it had any way of restoring her.
Brohmin watched her, and she began to suspect that he would tell her that nothing could be done. Yet if he had been tainted, it meant that he had also been restored.
“There’s always something that can be done,” Brohmin said.
“If it’s the dark teralin, why am I so weak? I’ve seen the Deshmahne—I’ve faced the Deshmahne, and they aren’t affected by the dark teralin in such a way.”
“It’s because your body is warring within itself. You use manehlin meant for creation, and you use power that was never meant to be aligned with such destruction. The fatigue you feel is your body coming to grips with what you’re experiencing.”
“Will one side eventually win?” That seemed her best outcome. If she could have her Mage side eventually overpower the influence of the negatively charged teralin, then she would no longer have to suffer and struggle as she did.
“Eventually, you may come to a neutrality. Think of it like the teralin. It rests within the ground in a neutral state. It takes someone able to charge it, to turn its polarity either positive or negative, and only then can it have a purpose. Before then, the metal itself has no purpose, and is essentially prepared for either use.”
“So if I am healed, it means that I’ll lose my Mage connection.”
Brohmin watched her for a moment, then nodded slowly. “That is a possibility.”
“Is there anything that can be done?”
“Were we somewhere else, I might have a way to help you, but here in Paliis, there is only one way that you might find restoration, though doing so will require you to trust the Deshmahne. Is that something you would be willing to do?”
“Why would I need to trust the Deshmahne?” she asked.
“Because the Deshmahne might be the only ones able to remove the dark teralin taint.”
He watched her, as if he expected some great reaction from her, but Roelle still felt fatigued, and still felt th
e effects of the injury. How could she do anything other than accept an opportunity for healing?
“I will try it.”
Brohmin sighed. “Good. Now comes the difficult part.”
“What difficult part?”
“Now we have to convince the Deshmahne to help.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Selton met Roelle as she and Brohmin hurried through the hallways, and grabbed her arm, pulling her back. “Roelle. You can’t do this.”
She breathed out heavily. “How do you know what I’m going to do?”
“I know you.”
“Brohmin explained what’s happening to me. He thinks the Deshmahne can help.”
“Help? You’re going to rely on the Deshmahne to help you after everything that they’ve done to us?”
“What choice do I have?”
Selton threw his hands up. “Choice? There are countless other choices. We return to Vasha, and you get healed by someone there.”
She lowered her voice and leaned into him. “I don’t think I can make it back to Vasha.” She let out a long sigh and glanced over to Brohmin who stood separate from her, watching. She was thankful that he gave her space to have this discussion. “I’m growing weaker, Selton, and with every passing day, I feel less and less like myself. Brohmin has explained what’s happening, and if the Deshmahne can help, I need to try it.”
Selton looked over at Brohmin and then brought his gaze back to her. “What if they try to convert you? We’ve seen what they do in other places. They force it, and the receiver cannot resist.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “What if they’ve converted him?”
“They haven’t. He’s not.” She squeezed her eyes shut, praying that was true. “And Brohmin will be there. He’ll ensure that they don’t force anything on me.”
It was placing a lot of faith in Brohmin, and she knew that it might be too much, but she also knew that any attempt to travel back to Vasha would be too difficult for her now. Maybe it would be better if she simply didn’t try. If she just allowed herself to fade away, to gradually lose her abilities. Once that settled out, she could still lead the Magi, couldn’t she?
She wasn’t certain that she could. She might not even be able to see the groeliin if she lost her connection to her abilities entirely.
“The Magi need you,” Selton said.
She took his hands and smiled at him. “The Magi have the leadership they need,” she said with a smile.
“Roelle—”
A sense of fatigue washed through her, the same fatigue that she’d been feeling every day for weeks. If there was anything that could reverse it, if there was any way for her to finally get relief from this, she was willing to try it. How could she not?
“I have to try this for me to be of any use to you. To all of the warriors.”
Selton shook his head. “That’s just it. You don’t have to do this to be of use to us. You’re of use to us simply by being who you are and because of the knowledge that you possess.”
“It’s the same knowledge that you possess, Selton.”
“I don’t think so,” he said, holding her with an intensity to his gaze. “You’ve trained for this, and you have a knowledge and understanding that the rest of us still strive for. Tactics come naturally to you. I think of the fight in the street, and the way that you helped control that, preventing it from becoming anything more significant. That’s not anything I would have been able to coordinate.”
“You sell yourself short, Selton.” He never had the confidence that she knew he deserved. Selton had as much experience as she did with fighting, and of all the Magi warriors, he was the one she trusted the most if things took a turn. “Promise me that you’ll lead the warriors if this doesn’t work out.”
“Roelle—”
“No. Promise me, Selton.”
“I will do what you ask.”
She studied his face for a moment before nodding. He would abide by her wishes, and that was all that she could ask. Selton was reliable. And he was a good friend.
She released his hands and turned away, rejoining Brohmin.
The man referred to as the Hunter nodded to her. “Are you ready?”
“As much as I can be,” she said.
Brohmin pushed the door open, and the other side was dark. Her eyesight—enhanced by her Mage abilities—parted the darkness, allowing her to note the black stone of the walls. No lanterns lit the room. As far as she could tell, the entirety of this room was empty other than a single Deshmahne standing at the center of it.
Her heart hammered.
What was she risking entering here? Was this really what she wanted to do? Was this where she needed to go?
If they could help—if they could reverse the effect of the teralin that Brohmin claimed coursed through her, leaving her to remain weakened, then she had to attempt it.
Brohmin watched her, and when she stepped forward, he nodded.
Brohmin approached the Deshmahne and whispered something softly. Roelle couldn’t hear what he said other than catching snippets, something about teralin, and she heard her name, but nothing more than that.
Brohmin waited, and the Deshmahne turned to her and studied her with a deep frown. She could tell nothing more about him other than his frown. His features were shadowed, and she had only the vaguest sense of anything more from him.
There was power in this room that she felt reflected in the stone of the temple itself, and she wondered again why she should feel this. What was it about the temple that had such power? What was there about her that she could detect it?
The Deshmahne approached, and her heart fluttered again.
She was prepared to turn, to be dismissed from the Deshmahne. Coming here seemed a foolish venture, fraught with more than just danger; it risked setting the Deshmahne and the Magi at odds. Alriyn would have Magi here soon enough and needed for her to not disrupt the tentative peace before then. If she did, if she was the reason that peace failed here, more than only her abilities would be lost.
“You are Roelle of the Magi?” The man’s voice was coarse and deep and carried an accent she didn’t recognize.
“I am Roelle,” she said.
“The Hunter tells me that you fought the creatures.”
“I fought as many as I could. I was injured by them.”
“Injured, and yet you have recovered.”
“I had the help of one of the gods.”
The Deshmahne stopped and watched her for a moment. His face was unreadable, and she doubted that even were she out in the open, and even were they to have more that she could see, she wouldn’t be able to know what he was thinking.
“We heard rumors that the Magi serve the gods in a new way,” the Deshmahne said.
“I don’t serve the gods in a new way. I simply recognized that the gods gifted me as they did so that I could oppose this threat.”
“As I said, serving them in a new way.”
Roelle met his gaze, deciding not argue. “Brohmin thinks that you might be able to help me.”
“The Hunter gets ahead of himself.”
“You won’t be able to help?”
“You traveled to Rondalin recently.”
Roelle frowned. “We did. There were groeliin there.”
“The creatures. We are aware of them now.”
“You weren’t aware of them before?”
“We weren’t aware of the creatures, and we weren’t aware of how we were to be used.”
The comment took Roelle aback. “You weren’t aware that you were used to distract attention away from what was taking place in the north?”
“No.”
Roelle’s heart hammered for a moment. “You should know that I have fought Deshmahne.”
She wasn’t entirely certain why she admitted that, other than the fact that she didn’t want the Deshmahne priest to find out later. If he was to help her, and if there was any help that might actually be offered, she wanted to be on honest terms. She fe
lt little remorse about what had been required of her, especially considering that if she had not, her warriors would have been slaughtered. More than slaughtered, she suspected that if she had not fought the Deshmahne, they would have had their abilities stolen from them.
“I am aware of what you have done,” the Deshmahne said.
A sweat broke out on her brow. She felt a rising wave of uncertainty, and it mixed with nausea that rolled through her, beginning at the pit of her stomach.
This was a mistake.
She shouldn’t have listened to Brohmin, not with this, and not with potentially exposing herself to these Deshmahne. For all she knew, they would attempt to brand her, and steal her abilities.
“It seems I might have wasted your time.”
The Deshmahne took a step forward. He smelled of smoke, a strange odor that filled her nostrils, and left her head swimming. “You have wasted nothing, Mage.”
“If you’re unable to help, I am going to return to Vasha.”
“You will return nowhere.”
She glanced over to Brohmin, but he refused to meet her gaze, instead scratching at his arm once more.
Had he brought her here knowing he placed her in danger?
That didn’t seem like Brohmin. That wasn’t what she would’ve expected from him, but perhaps he had. Was he using her—and perhaps all of the Magi—to ingratiate himself with the Deshmahne? Would Jakob have known?
She started to turn but felt held in place.
The sheen of sweat became a cold sweat. Her heart fluttered, hammering faster and faster in her chest, and she tried to move, but couldn’t. She tried reaching for her manehlin, but it did not respond.
The dark pressure continued, filling her.
The darkness in the room lightened, and she glanced to Brohmin, searching for answers. He’d pulled his sleeves up, and she caught a glimpse of the markings on his arms, the ones that he had shown her were not real, but this time, they seemed different. The patterns seemed to move and slide around his skin.
She had seen something like that before, but only on true Deshmahne.
The Last Conclave (The Lost Prophecy Book 6) Page 24
