Kadj'el (The As'mirin Book 1)

by Ada Haynes

  It had even swept away the Aramalinyia’s house.

  Ekbeth moved his binoculars towards the top of the city. The Caller’s house was apparently still in one piece, but it seemed to have collapsed onto its side. Evidently taking their only Caller with it.

  “My grandfather may be dead, or perhaps he’s just unconscious, Uncle.”

  “I hope for the last, Kala.”

  Lowering her own set of glasses, she turned toward him. “I saw some people in the temple, Uncle. Watching us. Are you sure you want to do this?”

  Ekbeth nodded. He had chosen the safest option when they decided to go to the Valley—transferring boats with the helpers, on the Lake. It was sensible, but he had no doubt about what the community’s reaction was going to be. Boats on Ara’s Lake! Maneuvered by Aiarz’in! And a banished woman!

  Akalabeth gave a signal to everyone. The helpers started rowing towards the temple shore. He was ready for outrage, but he had hoped the urgency of the situation would bring perspective to the As’mirin minds.

  From what he was now able to hear, that had been a miscalculation on his part.

  “Outrage!”

  “Sacrilege!”

  “How could you?”

  He ordered the boats to stop, then shouted, “I bring help! The Callers are going to help us find the survivors. The healing houses outside the Valley are ready to receive them for treatment.”

  The outrage continued.

  “We don’t need their help!”

  “You are using boats on Ara’s water!”

  “The Goddess is going to exterminate us all!”

  Before Ekbeth could argue that the Goddess would already have reacted to his sacrilege if she had wanted to, a stone hit him. Square in his face. A lucky bastard.

  Dizzy, he fell over the side of the boat. Straight into the Lake.

  57

  Wake up!

  Shona jerked awake, with a loud gasp. Her mind registered details. The cream-colored leather of the sofa, the faint smell of the polishing wax, the glistening light on glass, fast ticks on a keyboard.

  She relaxed. This was Ekbeth’s house, in Zurich.

  The ticking stopped. She heard someone talk, then the faint scrape of chair legs on the thick carpet.

  “Kimiel?”

  Lyrian Farrill. He was standing near the dining table, looking at her. She felt groggy.

  Why was she here?

  Wake up, child. Your help is needed.

  Oh yes. Now she remembered. The landslide. Ekbeth going outside. Her calling them out of the danger. Where was Ekbeth? Her back was ablaze with pain.

  Will you listen to me?

  The Goddess was having one of her moody days, apparently.

  I’m not! Your help is needed at the Lake. Lives are at stake.

  Shona tried to sit. Her head was spinning. She was too weak to help with anything right now. This time, her back hurt so fiercely that she had to hiss, “Stop it!”

  Lyrian was now at her side, looking concerned, something she would not have expected from him. “Are you okay, Kimiel? Should I call a doctor?”

  She could not speak. She just managed to shake her head. Repeated in her head. More firmly. Stop it.

  The pain lessened. She breathed in, deeply, and then thought, How can I help, Ara?

  I need a voice. To save lives. Will you help?

  I don’t have the feeling you give me much choice here. Will it hurt?

  A tiny pause. Yes, it will. I’ll protect your child, I promise.

  Shona knew she could not refuse. The Goddess had apparently made the effort to look for her on the Other Side, used her powers to wake her up. It had to be pretty urgent indeed.

  She closed her eyes. She was too weak to transfer herself back to Kse’Annilis.

  I’ll take care of that.

  The light surrounding her changed. The smell as well. There was a lot of dust in the air. And people were shouting angrily.

  She opened her eyes. She was in the temple, facing the Lake. There were boats on the water, her mind absently registered. That snapped her out of her lethargy. Boats on Ara’s Lake!

  It’s all right. They are bringing help.

  Help for what? A stone hit her in the back. Furious, she turned on her heels and glared. My, there was quite a crowd. An angry crowd. They all had stones in their hands. They were shouting. Most of their attention was turned towards the boat passengers.

  Shona noticed the blood, the torn clothes. Remembered. Saw. The landslide. Half of the trees surrounding the temple area had been uprooted by what seemed to be just a massive quantity of earth. But then she saw the odd piece of metal sticking out. She saw the remains of what must have been a table. She saw a pale dead foot.

  She forced her eyes to look beyond the trees and the mud. The sight petrified her.

  My, was Ara responsible for that?

  Of course not! I warned your predecessors that digging such deep holes in the crater walls was weakening it. They should have listened.

  Shona shook her head. Half of the city was in shambles. Gone forever.

  It can be rebuilt, but we need to save lives first.

  Of course. There were people trapped under this devastation. They needed to be dug out before it was too late.

  Her back hurt again.

  You’re As’mir! No need to dig. All we need is Callers, and Healers.

  Shona nodded, humbled. She had the training of a Caller, of a sort. She could certainly help. Ara was almost tender when she told Shona, No, child, this is not your role.

  Another stone hit her, on the arm this time. “Hey! Will you stop that?”

  “Kill her! She is the reason this happened! Ara should have taken you! She’s punishing us now because of you!”

  “Yes! Kill her! Kill her!”

  The next stone hit her belly. Instinctively, she fell to the ground and crouched. Offered as small a target as possible. The next stone hit her on the head. She felt blood running on her face. They were about to stone her to death, Shona realized.

  She had no clue what to do. She was far too weak to get away from this. Where was Najeb? Where was Ekbeth? Weren’t they supposed to protect her?

  Allow me.

  Shona nodded.

  Don’t resist me! It might hurt a bit.

  “A bit” did not begin to describe it. It was Ara’s trial all over again. She was burning, burning. Her body was not hers anymore. She got to her feet. She noticed how the As’mirin were looking at her—awestruck. At least, they were not throwing stones at her anymore.

  Her mouth opened. She spoke, but had no idea what, because the words she was uttering were not her words, and she was struggling to ignore the pain. When it finally ceased, she almost fell to the ground.

  Don’t. It would spoil everything! Now, I suppose a bit of extra show would nail it. Let’s see…

  Shona opened her eyes. Realized everyone was now staring at her with open mouths.

  A rush of wind distracted her. Loud exclamations from the people in boats on the Lake. The tiny boats were approaching fast, on their own volition, if the fear she saw on the passengers’ faces was any clue. The boats beached gently on the temple shore.

  Ekbeth was the first to come out. He was drenched and his nose was bleeding, but he only had eyes for her.

  Later. Just a few more words, child. Then I’ll leave you alone.

  This time, Shona was prepared. It did not lessen the pain, but she heard her words. Though it was not entirely her voice coming out of her mouth.

  “You will accept the help others have provided. You will help them. You have lost enough time. Show me you’re worth my protection.”

  This time, she fell to her knees.

  Thank you, child. I won’t forget what you’ve done. You’ll be rewarded.

  She felt a caress on her face.

  The next second, Ekbeth was with her. She noticed how hesitant he was.

  A clear voice rose near the shore. “You’ve heard the Goddess! We
have lost enough time. Let’s divide this area in zones. Where are the healers?”

  Shona stopped listening. She collapsed in Ekbeth’s arms, exhausted.

  58

  Ekbeth was grateful that Akalabeth had taken the rescue organization off his hands.

  He needed time to recover from what he had just witnessed. The Goddess had spoken through Kimiel!

  They had been too far from the temple to hear the words, but he had seen the pale blue glow surrounding her, he had heard the voice. And then that wind, which had brought them to the shore.

  The second time the Goddess had spoken through her, he had been near enough to know that it was not Kimiel’s voice that had spoken. It had been much deeper, older. Ordering them to open the Valley to external help. Ordering them to start working.

  A cynical part of him whispered that anyone could fake voices, but he ignored it. Voices, maybe, but what about the glow surrounding her?

  She was now resting in his arms but he hardly dared touch her. The Goddess had used her to bring her message.

  “Akeneires’el? Can I examine her?”

  Ekbeth released her. Bers’el, surprisingly agile for someone of his age and girth, took Kimiel from him and lay her down on the Temple sand.

  Ekbeth saw the blood on her face, on her arm. The bastards had thrown stones at her!

  Bers’el was quick with his examination. “She’s okay, Ekbeth. The cuts are not deep.”

  He cleaned the wounds, and bandaged them. “She needs to rest. Maybe bringing her to the Other Side is the best alternative, as long as she’s not alone. Now, let me fix your nose. Stay still.”

  Not surprisingly, the nose was broken. Bers’el squeezed it to the right. Hard.

  “Ow!”

  “Sorry. I don’t think you wanted to stay with a bent nose the rest of your life.”

  Next, Bers’el applied a thick adhesive bandage across Ekbeth’s nose and gave him a few pills. “It’s going to hurt. I would recommend rest, but I know you won’t listen. Bring Kimiel to bed, change your clothes, take the pills.”

  Bers’el got back on his feet. “That was quite a show she gave us, don’t you think?”

  Ekbeth could only nod.

  Kimiel had given him the fright of his life, was all he could think of.

  *

  It took them two days to extract and treat all the living As’mirin from under the ruins of the left side of Kse’Annilis. The injuries were quite serious, but handled as fast as possible by the Na Saoilcheachs and Aiarz’i doctors.

  Extracting the wounded was actually not so much of a problem, certainly not with so many Callers at hand. No, the real problem was the sheer number of casualties. The temple was full of the wounded. It was difficult to walk among them without stepping on a hand or a foot. It was just too much to handle for the medical teams, as well as for those helping with the food distribution and the counting of families.

  But they managed, somehow.

  Ekbeth busied himself with establishing lists of the city inhabitants. The previous lists were all deeply buried under what had once been the Aramalinyia’s house. They needed to know who was missing.

  He brought some food to Akalabeth himself. She was kneeling next to a mattress where a familiar figure was lying. Nukri na Liom had survived. Both his legs had been broken by his massive Caller chair falling on top of him when the house toppled to its side, but he was alive. And seeing his grandchild was apparently doing wonders for his health. Kimiel had been right there, Ekbeth thought, the old man had missed Kala sorely.

  Akalabeth took the porridge bowl and expressed her thanks.

  Ekbeth shook his head. “No, I’m the one who is grateful, Kala. You rescued me from the Lake.”

  As an urgent response to Ekbeth falling into the water, she had simply called him back into the boat, and it had saved his life. She knew that—as was true of most As’mirin—he had never learned to swim.

  “It was not that altruistic, ” She gave a thin smile. “I’d rather have them throw stones at you than me.”

  “Perfectly understandable.” Ekbeth smiled in return. “Thanks for all the help you’ve managed to bring in such a short time. The death toll would have been much higher if we had waited longer.”

  They both looked at Nukri. His wounds had not been fatal, but the ensuing loss of blood had almost killed him. It had been a very near call, Erinani had told them.

  Akalabeth asked, “Speaking of the dead, what are we going to do about them, Uncle?”

  Good question. The Callers had only concentrated on the living As’mirin so far. The more gruesome part of their work was yet to start.

  They had two options. Bringing the dead bodies out and giving them a proper funeral, or leaving them where they were and never entering that part of Kse’Annilis ever again.

  “The High Council has to decide on that. We are meeting tomorrow morning. If we decide to extract them, will you be up to the task, Kala? You’re the only one who can do it.”

  Transferring a living body screaming in pain or for help was not so difficult for any trained Caller. She just had to open her mind and listen. Finding a soulless body needed a Caller’s memory of the person when he had been alive. Ekbeth had an almost complete list of the presumed dead. It was far shorter than he had at first feared, but it was still going to be an awful collection job.

  Akalabeth nodded. “It’s the only decent choice, Uncle. We cannot let the dead be buried there like animals. People need to be able to see their beloved a last time.”

  Ekbeth sighed. She was right, of course. He got to his feet and squeezed his niece’s shoulder. “Finish your meal and get some rest, Kala. The dead can wait until tomorrow to be mourned.”

  59

  For far too long Shona had been kept in the dark about what was happening in Kse’Annilis. One of the Na Saoilcheachs was regularly checking on her, but adamantly refused to answer Shona’s questions. There was no sign of Ekbeth. No messages either. The waiting was driving her mad.

  For two days, she had done her best to remain calm and to rest, but her patience was running thin. So it came as a good surprise when the doctor, after examining Shona once more, told her she could return to Kse’Annilis. He helped her with the transfer—not to the once familiar Caller’s house but to the Temple precincts.

  The place was full of people. People cooking, people sleeping, people eating, people talking… Apparently, life was slowly getting back to normal.

  The talking stopped as soon as they spotted her. No doubt, they were still dumbstruck by Ara’s little show of two days ago.

  She asked the nearest As’mir where she could find Ekbeth. He shook his head, carefully avoiding meeting her eyes.

  Great. This was not helpful. She walked a bit further. Asking around her, Shona finally managed to find Ekbeth in the High Council meeting room.

  A small crowd was gathered in the building corridors, as well, but she somehow managed to reach the stairs and get to the second floor.

  The meeting room was impressive. Huge. The walls were wood-paneled, and a deep green carpet covered the floor, but even more stunning was the light. There were no windows and yet the room was lit as if completely open to the outside world.

  This was where decisions were made, she realized. While probably full of hushed voices in normal times, the room was now extremely noisy and its central table was covered with papers. Everybody sitting around it looked anxious. They barely acknowledged her entrance.

  She walked straight to Ekbeth. He was checking a long list. Probably the missing persons, she thought. “Morning.”

  He did not look at her, only frowned. “You should be resting on the Other Side, Kimiel.”

  “I had more rest than any of you, so can’t complain. Lyrian was driving me crazy, the way he tried to be solicitous when it’s obvious he’d rather strangle me.”

  Someone brought her a chair. She peeked at the list. “How bad is it?”

  He sighed and looked at her, his eyes r
ed with exhaustion. “Actually, I was expecting far worse. It looks like only the facades of the houses went down with the slide. There are not many actual rooms down there. We are still counting the survivors, but I think we’ve lost no more than fifty people in total.”

  It was still a lot, for such a small community, but Ekbeth was right. It could have been far worse.

  “Good news is that our Caller, Nukri na Liom, is alive. He’ll never be able to walk again, but he’s alive. And his granddaughter Akalabeth has come to help. Ara bless her—she has been really helpful.”

  “And the Aramalinyia, Ekbeth. Is she dead? Is that the reason the Goddess needed me to speak to the community?”

  At that, Ekbeth’s expression sobered. He just nodded.

  Shona felt a twinge of sadness. The old woman had been more a bother than anything to her, but still she’d never wished for her death. She knew how important the woman had been to the community.

  She noticed Najeb and As’leandra in a corner of the room, in deep conversation above a map. She frowned. What were they doing here? They were supposed to be with Toshio.

  Ekbeth put his hand on hers. “We need both of them here now, Shona. I’m sorry but your mission will have to wait.”

  How much did Ekbeth know? He could only have heard it from Najeb or As’leandra.

  Ekbeth unexpectedly grinned and shook his head. She looked at him suspiciously.

  “Are you reading my mind? Like As’leandra?”

  “No, I don’t have her talent. But I am getting better at reading your emotions. They did not betray your secrets, Kimiel. I sent Kalem after his son as soon as the Callers found the time to do something other than saving injured people, and he told me he’d found them with Watanabe. Both of them. What is As’leandra doing with Watanabe for you, Kimiel?”

  Shona managed to keep her expression neutral. Sadly she could not do the same with her mind. Ekbeth nodded. “I thought so. Some mind reading. I don’t need to know why. It’s all right with me, Kimiel. It really is. As long as you don’t abuse their talents, which I don’t think you’re doing right now. But they’ll have to stay here for a while. Again, I’m sorry for that.”