The Gift of Madness (The Lost Prophecy Book 7)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Novan looked over his shoulder, his brow furrowing as he studied the men and women sitting around the table. Not damahne, at least, not yet. In time, they could be, but it would take Jakob understanding how to awaken that ability within them for them to gain that connection. For now, they had the potential, but nothing more than that.

  “That’s what you intended for them? You were going to use them against these groeliin?”

  Jakob breathed out with a heavy sighed. “I don’t know what I intended for them. I thought that they might be able to help, but they aren’t even aware of the power they have. And until they understand it and can develop it, they can be of no help. In order to stop these groeliin, I believe we will need power beyond any we’ve had to call upon before.”

  “You fear these creatures more than you fear Raime?”

  “Raime is one person. He is powerful—and possibly even more powerful now, especially if he intends to steal from those who were claimed from the temple—but even with that ability, I think I can counter him.”

  Jakob hoped that was true. How much would those damahne—or new damahne—help Raime? How much power would he gain when he stole from them? He had stolen from daneamiin and Magi over the centuries, possibly even stealing from merahl and nemerahl. It was possible that those connections had imbued him with enough power to overwhelm Jakob.

  “There are only six of you,” Novan said, turning his attention back to Jakob.

  Jakob shook his head. “There are seven, counting Scottan.” He thought of those who were lost, people he thought he had saved, only to lose them again to Raime. “Where is Scottan?”

  “Your brother has decided to wander the Tower. I thought it best to let him explore on his own to see what he might find. I didn’t expect you to be gone quite as long as you were, and I don’t know whether there’s anything he should not be allowed to see.”

  Jakob thought for a minute. Was there anything his brother shouldn’t see? Jakob had not searched through the Tower enough to know. He’d spent some time wandering, but for the most part, he had relied upon his memories of visions and had not searched to see what had changed in the time since those visions had taken place. Was there anything here that Scottan might find that could be dangerous to him?

  It seemed unlikely. More likely was that he could get lost. Maybe letting Scottan wander and lose himself in the Tower might be the best thing for him. Having time like that could be beneficial.

  “You’ll need to speak with them,” Novan said.

  “I’ve already spoken to each of them over the last few weeks.”

  “That was before. Now you’ve brought them to a place that they viewed as sacred. You will ask them to remain here, protected within its walls, but that essentially makes them captives. Is that what you want?”

  Jakob hadn’t wanted to bring them to the Tower—not yet. He felt a certain responsibility to the Tower and felt as if he needed to protect it, but he didn’t have any sort of ownership of the Tower. It belonged to the damahne, and if those he’d saved from the madness all had the ability to become damahne, then they had as much right to the Tower as he did.

  They needed to know that. They would not have had the same visions as Jakob—not yet. In time, he suspected that as they developed their connection to the ahmaean, and developed their natural abilities, they would begin to have those visions, much as Jakob had.

  His had come when he had begun working with his sword. Was there a way for him to use the sword to help awaken the abilities within the others?

  Jakob breathed out a sigh and made his way to the table. Novan followed, saying nothing. Jakob noted how Novan reached into his pocket and removed a notebook. He smiled to himself. Would the historian begin recording him the same way he once had recorded other events taking place? And why would he not? It was only fitting that he should, especially since Jakob had granted him access, and Novan felt compelled to document for the sake of history.

  Jakob took a seat at the table. He looked at the faces of those sitting around him.

  Across from him sat Bethanne, a slight woman with short, brown hair that she kept parted to one side. Like all of the others afflicted by the madness, she was thin, though not quite as thin as most. Jakob suspected she had been a heavier woman in her younger days. That likely had allowed her to survive the torment of the madness for longer than most.

  Jaxson was probably the same age as Jakob, but all bones. He had a long, sharp nose, and his eyes were sunken hollows that matched Scottan’s. Jakob doubted he had been afflicted for quite as long as some.

  Next to Jaxson, there was Avari. She likely would have been pretty in her youth, with golden blonde hair that still flowed to her shoulders. Of those who had suffered from the madness and had been housed within the santrium, she appeared the most recovered. Her eyes were barely touched by the darkness that still clouded many of the others. Her face wasn’t quite as thin and sunken. In the weeks since Jakob had restored them, she had regained some of her vibrancy. Avari even smiled from time to time, something that few of the others did. She watched him with an intense stare.

  On Jakob’s side of the table, Marcus reminded Jakob most of his brother. He had dark hair, and his eyes still carried the markers of the torment he had suffered when afflicted by the madness. What must he have seen to haunt him in such a way? He was thin, but not quite as thin as Jaxson. Marcus wasn’t nearly as tall as the others, and there was an intensity about him that Jakob suspected had been there before his suffering.

  And then there was Lacey. She was tall and slender, and of them all, she seemed the most likely to have been gifted with the damahne powers. She had been thin but had filled out almost as much as Avari. Her eyes blazed with the same intensity as Marcus’s, and there was only a hint of anguish that remained within them.

  Jakob thought of the others who were missing. Their names passed through his mind, and he vowed to save them—if he could. But if they had been taken to Raime, he suspected they were already lost.

  If he managed to rescue them, could the daneamiin and the Cala maah save them the same way they had saved Salindra? It was unlikely. Doing so was a sacrifice for the daneamiin and one they had made for Salindra, though Jakob was not entirely certain why. It had something to do with Brohmin, and though he thought he understood the reason, neither the daneamiin—nor the Cala maah—had revealed to him what it was. He was doubtful that they ever would.

  “I presume you all know where you are.”

  They all stared at him. Lacey and Marcus nodded, but the others did not.

  “There was an attack on Chrysia.” This came from Jaxson, and he watched Jakob for his reaction. “What was that? I saw horrible creatures and a strange dark smoke.”

  It was good that he had seen the smoke. If he could recognize that, then perhaps he was closer to being able to see his own ahmaean. Once he did, Jakob hoped that his control of it would come soon after.

  “How many of you saw the smoke?”

  Lacey glanced at Bethanne, and both women shook her head. Marcus frowned.

  “I saw it,” Avari said. “What was it?”

  Two of them. That was a start. If two of them could see the ahmaean, they were the ones he would have to work with, and see if he could help awaken their abilities more quickly. The others… with them, he would need to find another way to awaken them. Maybe it was his sword. He doubted that was the reason for its construction—that was tied to a need to fight off the groeliin—but it could be a secondary purpose for it.

  “These creatures came for you because of your potential.”

  They looked at each other, before looking back at him. “What potential is that?” Lacey asked.

  Jakob took a deep breath. He had studied them and had spent time around them, but so far, none were aware of the greater potential they possessed. How would they react? None of them had reacted with anything other than mild surprise at being within the Tower. That surprised him.

  Then again, all of them
had suffered with visions. Each of them had been subjected to horrors and had been trapped within them, their minds tricking them, making them believe that they were in another life. Jakob had experience with those visions. Some were so profound, and so compelling, that he understood how they could be trapped in them. He understood how those visions could draw a person in. But he also knew how dangerous that could be. Shoren had made it clear that getting trapped within the vision, and lingering too long, risked leaving a part of the person there.

  Was that what had happened?

  Had those he had saved from their visions left a part of themselves behind when they had been restored?

  In a way, it made a sort of sense. Maybe that was why there wasn’t more reaction to their appearance within the Tower.

  “How many of you have seen this room before?”

  Jakob realized that Novan watched him from the far side of the room, a question on his face. None of the others spoke up.

  “Each of you has had visions. Some of them were terrible visions, and all of them tormented you.”

  Marcus clenched his jaw. “What do you know about what we experienced? You were never subjected to the madness. You are—”

  Lacey touched his arm, silencing him.

  Jakob shook his head. “No. Let him talk. Let him share his feelings with me. I need to understand what you’ve experienced so that I can best help you.”

  Marcus breathed heavily. His jaw continued to clench. The intensity within his eyes carried a heat with it. “You never suffered from the madness, not the way we have. Some of us suffered longer than others.”

  Jakob nodded at Bethanne. “Such as Bethanne. I know that she has suffered greatly. Would you rather have me leave you to the madness?”

  “There was a certain peace there,” Marcus said.

  Jakob hadn’t expected that response. As he looked around the table at the others sitting nearby, he realized they each shared that sentiment. He had thought them tormented by the visions of what they saw with the madness, but could it be that there had been less torment than he believed?

  What had he experienced when he’d seen the visions? In some of them, he was an observer, walking back so that he could watch, but doing so from within the body of his host. In many of those cases, Jakob was so caught up in the experience that he had lost track of himself. He remembered the first time he had gone to the heart of the Great Forest and the way he had been caught within Shoren’s memories. That had not been a torment to him. That had been… something different. He had known another life that, at the time, had seemed right, had seemed to belong to him. Perhaps that was what they still longed for.

  Was that why Scottan seemed to resent him?

  “What you experienced can be regained,” Jakob said. “You are gifted with abilities, and as they manifest, you will be able to walk back and have some of those visions again.”

  Bethanne stared at him. Avari and Jaxson watched with an element of hope in their eyes. Neither Lacey nor Marcus shared those emotions. Both watched him with the same intensity.

  “How?” Marcus asked.

  Jakob looked around the table. “None of you have questioned where you are. I presume that means that each of you have had glimpses of this place.”

  Marcus nodded slowly. “This is the Tower of the Gods. When you brought me here—us here—I thought…”

  Jakob nodded. “You thought you were suffering from another vision.”

  Marcus stared at him, saying nothing. It was all the answer Jakob needed.

  “This is real. You are here. Reaching the inside of the Tower requires an ability that each of you may one day possess.”

  “May?” Bethanne asked.

  Jakob leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “Like you, I’m still learning. There is much about what I can do that I don’t understand. With enough time and experience, I suspect that we all will begin to know what role we will play. For now, all I can say is that you may develop more abilities. Those abilities would allow you to glimpse the fibers of time, and to see the memories of your ancestors.”

  How many of them would be able to walk back quite as fully as Jakob had managed? Even when the damahne were more plentiful, not all had the same ability. Shoren had significant talent with glimpsing the fibers, as had Garth. Jakob didn’t know that he was particularly special, but there would be others who did not have his same potential. He would do what he could to help them discover what their talents were and how to use them He would serve as their guide, something he did not have.

  “You are here within the Tower because you have this potential. That’s the reason you suffered from the madness. I will help you understand as much as I can, but there is much that I don’t even know.”

  Bethanne watched him. “Why did you not suffer from the madness?”

  Jakob shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  It was something he had wondered about but had no answer. Was it because he’d taken his father’s sword—the sword he later learned was forged by his ancestors—or was there something else? He had certainly questioned his sanity often enough while traveling with Haerlin toward Vasha. When he started having the visions, he had questioned whether he was succumbing to the madness. Now, he understood that it was only his ability manifesting.

  “How long will we have to stay here?” Marcus asked.

  “Until I figure out a way to stop the creatures that attacked in Chrysia.”

  “Will you do this alone?”

  Jakob sighed. “I hope not, but if there aren’t any others able to help, then it might be my responsibility.”

  “Why did they attack?” Avari asked.

  “They would take what abilities you might possess, and they would steal them from you, and grant strength to a man who has lived for centuries. He’s the one I need to stop.”

  “Not these creatures?”

  Jakob turned and noticed Scottan standing at the door watching him. His eyes were still drawn, and haunted, but there was something else there that Jakob couldn’t entirely read. There had been a time when he knew his brother so well that he could recognize every emotion on his face. That—like so much else—had changed in the time that he had suffered under the influence of the madness.

  “These creatures also. Both need to be stopped.”

  “Why?” Scottan asked.

  “Because they intend to destroy. They will continue to attack, seeking destruction.”

  “Why must it be us?” Scottan asked.

  Jakob looked around the table. Each of those who had been afflicted by the madness watched him with the same intense expression. Smiles had faded. The answer was difficult, but it was one they deserved. Why? It was so simple, and the answer that flashed into his mind was not his. Jakob recognized Shoren’s influence.

  His ancestor wanted him to stop the groeliin, and to stop Raime, to preserve peace. Jakob had enough of Shoren’s memories and knowledge to know that he and the other damahne valued peace. The damahne had served as a barrier between creation and destruction. That was the reason the damahne had always sought peace.

  It was not the same reason Jakob sought peace.

  But the barrier…

  He pushed Shoren’s thoughts to the back of his mind, ignoring him. Now was the barrier held by the daneamiin? Could the Magi and Antrilii participate in it? What role did Jakob and the new damahne have?

  We are the barrier. Once more, it was Shoren’s thoughts coming to the forefront of his mind, yet Jakob knew he was right.

  “Because we are the only ones who can.”

  Chapter Seven

  The air in the Tower was musty and stale. Decades upon decades had passed since it had last been occupied regularly. Having those who had suffered under the influence of the madness now residing within the Tower gave it life that had not been here for a long time, but did nothing to change the odors. Part of that was because there were no windows in the Tower, no way to get airflow. The hole Jakob had created the first time
he’d come to the Tower, forcing his way inside, had been the only time fresh air had found a way into the Tower itself.

  He had chosen a room high up within the Tower and had shifted there, unsurprised that he would choose Shoren’s rooms and the floor where he and Aimielen once had lived. There was a certain familiarity to them that Jakob suspected came from his memories borrowed from Shoren and perhaps a part of his ancestor that he had unintentionally brought with him—as much as he had tried not to do so.

  Jakob sat on the floor. A layer of dust coated everything here. If the others were meant to stay within the Tower, he would have to clean it and remove the layers of dust and time, bringing it back to life. If nothing else, that would be a valuable change.

  He closed his eyes and focused his ahmaean inward, drifting along the fibers. Could he use them to find the missing damahne?

  He searched, but reaching for others outside of himself was a difficult task. He could only walk back along the fibers, not laterally. If he could, he thought he might be able to find Malaya at least, but there was no sign of anyone.

  Instead, he went back.

  It happened quickly. Jakob had much greater control over walking along the fibers than he once had, and no longer felt as if he went wildly, risking himself and his host, now completely in control of when—and where—he traveled.

  There was only one person he wanted to talk to.

  He could travel back, and he could ask questions to other ancestors, but doing so would require him orienting his ancestors to his presence, and that was not something Jakob wanted to take the time to do. Besides, he had a rapport with Shoren. It was one that he enjoyed, and conversation that he found pleasant. He could also go to Gareth, the other damahne he had rapport with, but Jakob felt drawn to Shoren.

  He needed to walk back carefully. When he appeared to Shoren, he needed to ensure Shoren would be alone, and he needed to arrive at a time when Shoren still possessed memories of Jakob. If he walked back too far, Shoren would have no recollection of their previous conversations. Walking back slowly gave Jakob a greater understanding of Shoren and the life he had lived.