A body lay on the ground. I approached it and kneeled down beside him. Beau lay unconscious. His sword had fallen and was a few feet from him. I touched his pulse, and his heartbeat was steady. There were no visible wounds to be seen. It was one small mercy.
I looked up, and Johai was standing on the wall overlooking the burning city below. The wind whipped his white hair around, and his cloak billowed about him. I reached for my dagger. I got back up on shaking legs. My breathing was ragged and painful from my flight. My palms were slick with sweat, and I stopped to wipe them on the front of my gown to get a better grip upon the dagger.
“You’ve come to kill me, diviner?” The voice was Johai’s, but the tone was not his, the specter was speaking to me using Johai.
“Yes,” I snarled and put all of my fury and authority into that one single word.
He turned to face me, and he smiled with a cruel turn of his mouth. It did not fit Johai’s face at all. “You are arrogant, as your predecessors were and as your descendants will be.”
I took a few tentative steps forward. My feet were leaden, and my arms were pinned to my sides, and my right hand clung to the dagger like a lifeline.
He spread out his arms as if he would take flight. “You know what must be done,” he said. His tone and the irony of his words made me think Johai was back to himself once more, begging me to kill him.
I shifted the dagger from one hand to the other and back again. I will kill him. I must. He kept smiling and watching me. I took a step back. He was trying to trick me. I saw you falling from this spot. King Reginald had said to me. I dared not move any closer to the edge lest the specter fling me from the wall.
I stalled instead in an attempt to draw him away and bring him within striking distance. “You are saying that my ancestors and you have met before?”
“Many times and in many forms,” he said. He tilted his head as he regarded me.
“Why? What keeps us locked in this never-ending cycle? Why let it continue if the outcome is always the same?”
He laughed, and the sound of it echoed off the walls and seemed to ripple through the valley. The beating of drums had begun to fade, and my strength ebbed with it. I need to be strong. Do not let him deceive you.
“Do not pretend you do not know. You are the circle unbroken, the one destined to end our centuries of fighting, am I wrong?”
He jumped down from the wall and rushed towards me. I slashed the dagger in the air like a simpleton. He veered away and past me. His laughter rang in my ears. He went to stand over Beau’s prone body and looked down upon it.
“It does not have to be this way. We are destined to be together, you and I,” he said, and when he looked at me, it was full of longing. “You and those like you are meant for me. You are not destined to be my destruction. Why do you think it ends the same? We are destined for greatness, diviner. You and I could rule all the kingdoms; you could be my queen.”
In my mind’s eye I saw myself upon a throne of silver and gold, and I wore a long cape of purple velvet and a gown of black and silver. On my head was a crown of silver with amethyst stones. Johai sat by my side with a crown of gold and sapphires. I shook my head to dispel the image. It is a trick, the specter’s way of lulling me into submission.
“Do you think I am so weak that I would fall for power?” I said, and I felt a new resolve. I held the dagger in front of me, pointed at Johai’s chest.
“No, you are not one to lust after power. However, this body…” He motioned up and down his torso. “You love this man, do you not? Join me, and he need not die. You can be together, Maea.”
More images besieged my mind. Johai and I beneath an arbor, our hands were being bound together by a magiker. The magiker tied the knot symbolizing the communion of our souls, two becoming one. The vision changed, and I saw Graystone, Johai’s country home where I had grown up. I was great with child, and Johai was leading me down a garden path while a blond boy and a dark-haired girl ran in front of us, shrieking with delight.
“You could have him back, if you only yield.” While he played the images for me, he had snuck up behind me to whisper in my ear. He wrapped his arms around me from behind. I felt Johai’s heartbeat against my back and smelt his unique musk. The visions and his words were so sweet. If I give myself to him, we can be together. It does not have to end this way. He turned my head and caressed my cheek. “See, I am not evil. I was made for you, Maea.” He turned me around to face him. He cupped my cheeks, and I stared into the bottomless abyss of his eyes. They were two black pools where light entered but never escaped. “Don’t look into my eyes. Focus on my lips, Maea. You’ve denied your feelings. You love me truly. This is the only way we can be together. Just accept it.”
I looked at his lips moist and so near. I leaned in, but his grip tightened on me, and I gasped in pain. My gaze flickered back to his eyes. They had changed from black to blue for an instant. This is not right. This is not Johai but a monster wearing his skin.
“No!” I shouted and ripped away from him. I slashed with the dagger as I did so and caught his forearm. I slashed through the fabric of his sleeve and met the flesh beneath. He hissed and slunk away from me.
“You are more fool than I thought,” he snarled and pressed his hand to the wound. His eyes changed again for a moment from black to blue.
Johai was fighting for control from within. It bolstered my confidence. It was too much to hope, but perhaps Johai was not lost to me, not yet.
“Johai, if you can hear me, I am sorry. I am sorry for not trusting you and for pushing you away, but please, for me, you must fight!”
He looked at me, his eyes unfocused, and the color continued to shift back and forth. He put his hands to his head and growled. “No. Your time has passed, boy.” He fell to his knees, and his back arched as he roared. He looked up at me, and his eyes had finally settled on the deep sapphire I knew so well. I ran to him, and he embraced me, clinging to my gown and burying his face in my hair.
“Maea, we have only a moment, the binding is nearly complete, and I cannot control him for much longer.” He groaned and clutched his chest. “You must kill me now before it is complete!”
“No,” I cried and dropped the knife. It clattered on the ground. Having him back, knowing that he was inside of the specter, my resolved crumbled. I could not do this. “I won’t kill you, not while you are still inside him!”
“There won’t be another chance. You must break the circle. If he gains his full power, you will be no match for him.” He bent down and picked up the dagger and handed it to me. “Please, Maea.” He was laboring for breath, and he leaned on the ground, his fingers curling on the stones there.
Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I grabbed his face, and I kissed him one last time. I put all my love and devotion into that kiss. I wanted to say so many things to him, that I loved him, that I wished our lives had taken different paths, but there was no time left. He pulled away from me, his hand lingering on my cheek but for a moment. Then he cried out in pain and doubled over. I got to my feet and stood over him. He looked up at me, and his eyes were fever bright, blue and ringed with black. It was now or never. He put one hand over mine that held the dagger and the other prevented him from falling over onto the ground.
“Now, Maea, do it.”
Now, do it now. My hands trembled as I looked into his eyes. The man I loved, the man I was destined to kill. My heartbeat filled my ears with a thundering sound. I closed my eyes and pushed the dagger forward, but instead of soft flesh, I found nothing at all. I opened my eyes, and Johai was back on his feet and staring past me.
“I told you not to interfere, Elenna,” Johai said to her.
I spun around. Elenna was standing by the doorway. The sprinkling of rain had turned into a downpour, and she held up her hands cupped, and water collected there.
“Your tale does not end here,” she said to Johai. She came to stand by my shoulder. She took the knife from me and stepped in between us. H
e furrowed his brow at her.
“I told you before, it should have ended before it began. I refuse to let this charade continue,” he said to her and lowered his head. “I was too much a fool to do what needed to be done. Now I must rely on Maea to end it for me.”
My hands shook as I looked down upon Johai, his head lowered, waiting the killing blow.
“There is still a chance for you,” Elenna said.
He looked up at her, and the confusion was plain on his face. The rain had made his hair damp, and it clung to his skin. “This is my fate. There is no other way other than my death.”
She ignored his comment and approached him with her hand outstretched. She brushed her hand along his cheek and pushed back the damp tendrils of his hair. “Sleep now; it will make the transition less painful for you.”
She spoke an incantation in her native language, and Johai swayed on his feet. His eyes drooped, and he slumped over. Elenna caught him and laid him down on the ground.
I pushed Elenna aside and grabbed Johai’s head and cradled it in my lap. He lay without moving, and his eyes closed in sleep. I was soaked to the bone and shivering from the cold. I had discarded the dagger. “What have you done?” I asked. I did not want to delay the inevitable any longer. I needed to finish this task while there was still time and I had the resolve to complete it.
“I asked you if there were a way to save him, would you take it. I am giving you that chance.” She kneeled down beside us, and she gazed at Johai as she spoke.
“You told me there was no other way.” I dared not hope. I had been told this was the only way. I glanced back towards the dagger, which lay discarded on the ground not far from me. I could take it and plunge it into Johai’s heart, and this would all be over.
Before I had a chance, a hand was at my throat, lifting me off the ground. I pumped my legs and grabbed a hold of Johai’s arm, trying to pull myself up and ease the pressure off my windpipe. Johai rolled his neck and looked up at me where he held me aloft. I struggled for each breath while my world started to go black around the edges.
“I thought you would have done it, diviner. It seems you are not as strong as you think.” He laughed. “I must thank you for this gift, a body. As repayment, I will not kill you.” He dropped me to the ground. I gasped for air and rubbed my injured neck. He bowed low in a courtly manner. “Until we meet again, Maea.” He ran towards the ledge. I tried to chase after him, but Elenna stopped me by grabbing my wrist. He jumped over and plummeted out of sight. “Let me go; I have to stop him.” I wrenched my arm trying to get away from Elenna. This wasn’t happening. I had failed.
“Wait,” Elenna said, her voice calm.
The rain pelted the stone wall, and for a moment the only sound was the rain falling on the stone. The rain parted like a curtain in the space where he had fallen. Johai rose up from beyond the wall. The wind whipped around his cloak and hair, and then he began to rise like a bird on the wind and up into the sky. He spread his arms, and the cloak appeared to be wings of a great black bird and flew out into the distance. I watched him disappear on the horizon, numb with shock and grief.
“This is how it must be,” Elenna said.
I shook off her touch and went to the ledge and watched the receding black dot that was Johai.
“You let him escape. Do you know what this means? Everything is lost now! Johai is gone, and we all shall perish.”
“Shall we?” Elenna asked. Her calm was infuriating. How can she be this calm? We have unwittingly unleashed the destruction of man upon the world.
“The first diviner foretold it!” I said through my tears.
“But not all visions come to fruition,” Elenna pointed out.
I slapped her hard across the face. She recoiled and touched her cheek. “What do you mean? I have given up everything to try and prevent this from happening. People have died to assist me in stopping the specter from rising, and now he is loose and off to goddess knows where. How can I stop him at his full power?”
“He is not at his full power; Johai lives inside him. With the bond unfinished, he will be subject to human weakness. He must sleep; he must eat. He is not without restraint. Johai can control him from inside.”
I glared at her. How could I trust anything she said to me? Everything she had ever told me was a lie. “Liar. Johai is dead, and so are we.” I stomped past her and went over to Beau’s prone body. I needed to get him inside, find Princess Arlene if the fighting was done, and try to make a plan to stop Johai, somehow.
“Do you want to save him?” Elenna asked.
I glanced back at her. She regarded me with a small tilt of her head. “How can I? The connection is made.” I balled my hands into fists and felt my nails bite into the flesh of my palms.
Elenna shook her head. “If you are strong, you can save him and end this cycle once and for all.”
“How do I know you will not deceive me again?”
“Because you have no one else who can help you. The oracle foresaw our meeting and that I would be the one to bring you back. You’re ready for the truth now. I will be your guide.”
“What if the oracle is right and by leading me you will die.”
She smiled. “Then so be it, but I am not about to give up because of a prophecy. Are you?”
It was madness, and I must be addled with grief, but I wanted to trust her. “Where will you take me?”
“To the world’s beginning and to where your line was born. I am to lead you back to the first peoples, my people, the Biski. You have a lot to learn about yourself and your gifts, Maea. To save Johai you need to first learn what power you possess. The time has come to break the circle at last.”
Book Three
Diviner’s Fate
Chapter One
Dawn crested over the top of the hill. Fingers of light crept through the tall grasses and turned the dead grass a burning orange, as if they were ablaze. A mounted rider came over the rise. Silhouetted against the dawning day, he stopped at the top of the hill and looked around at the landscape stretched before him. Three more riders followed him up, and they flanked him on all sides. The first held up his hand in a fist, signaling the others. The men reached for axes strapped to their shoulders, and one man tightened his grip on a spear. Their horses stamped their hooves and twitched their ears with agitation. A hawk cried in the distance, and the men swiveled their heads in its direction. The bird of prey rose up into the sky and reeled overhead. The leader snapped his head back to the forefront.
A hooded figure had emerged from the shadow cast by the hill and approached them on foot.
The leader gripped his axe tighter and shouted out to the trespasser in a rumbling baritone, “Identify yourself.”
The hooded figure stood downhill from them, perhaps a few paces. He remained within the edge of the shadow, and the four men could not see his features beneath his cloak.
“Speak, stranger,” the leader barked again when the man neither answered nor moved closer.
“You are searching for me?” the stranger said. His voice was cold, with a hint of menace beneath his careful annunciation.
The horses whickered in dismay. They must have sensed the men’s unease, or perhaps it was the stranger himself that disturbed them.
“Why are you travelling through these lands afoot? What clan are you from?” the leader asked. He held onto his horse with his knees as the animal shifted from foot to foot while throwing its head and flaring its nostrils.
“I do not need conventional means to travel,” the stranger replied.
The leader adjusted his grip on his axe and studied the dark stranger further. “You did not answer my question. What clan do you hail from? What business do you have with the Stone Clan?”
The sun was rising beyond the horizon now, and the four men could be seen in the light. They had a similar cast to one another. They all had nut-brown skin and long dark hair, which they either tied loosely or left flowing wild and tangled over their shoulders
. The leader had a feather tied in his forelock. His shoulders were broad, and his arms well muscled. His face was covered in a long black beard. Their weapons, upon closer inspection, seemed crude in the dawning light. The axes looked to be carved from stone sharpened to an edge, and the spearman had a long shaft carved from dark wood, with a stone spearhead tied with something that looked like leather.
“My apologies,” the stranger said, but there was no trace of remorse in his voice. “I am not from this land, but I have come a long way in search of someone.”
“And who is that?” the leader asked.
“I am looking for the king of the Biski.”
The men glanced at one another. They muttered and stole glances at the hooded stranger. The leader, however, did not take his stare off him. He leaned forward in the saddle and tilted his head in a presumable attempt to look beneath the man’s hood. He must have noticed because he turned his head just enough to keep his face shadowed.
The leader sat back in his saddle. “There is no such thing as a king among the tribes.”
“Oh?” the stranger said and did not elaborate. He simply stood with hands folded in front of him.
The men waited for him to question them further, but he said nothing more.
After several tense moments of silence, the leader ventured, “If there were a king of the Biski, to what ends would you be searching for him?”
The stranger shrugged. “Does it matter, since there is no king? I have searched in vain. No matter, I will return to my home country; they may find use of my offer.”
The stranger turned to walk away. The leader frowned and glanced at one of his comrades who had moved forward beside him. They shared a look and conferred in low tones.
[fan] diviners trilogy - complete series Page 57
