The Gift of Madness (The Lost Prophecy Book 7)

by D. K. Holmberg

  When he appeared in the past, he looked around, staring through Shoren’s eyes. Trees rose around him, but not those of the Great Forest—or even their predecessors. He was within the Unknown Lands, and these were trees that would eventually become massive, trees the daneamiin would eventually claim.

  You come once again, Jakob.

  I come. I have questions about damahne.

  There will always be questions. The benefit you have is that of time. You can look back and see much of what you need to know. Your ancestors did not have quite the same ability.

  You mean that you did not have that ability.

  Shoren laughed. It came within his mind and seemed pleased. That is what I mean. I am not the first of the damahne, but I am early enough that I did not have the same benefit of looking back to speak with my ancestors.

  If you’d like, I can walk back and share with you what I learn.

  Shoren chuckled again. That seems to be a workable solution, doesn’t it?

  I’ve found other damahne, Jakob said.

  I thought you said you were the last?

  I thought I was. There were others, though they were afflicted by what we have referred to as a madness. Their minds were trapped within the fibers, and they were only rescued when I repaired the fibers.

  You think it the same man that we faced before, Shoren said.

  I don’t know how it could be anything else.

  Shoren shifted, carrying them deeper into the forest. His travel took them away from the forest the daneamiin had claimed and away from the massive trees. Jakob thought he might have been taking them toward the Great Valley, or perhaps to return to the Tower, but he did not. Instead, Shoren took them to the east, toward a city Jakob had seen in the past and witnessed its destruction.

  I can tell from your memories that the city falls.

  I worry that will change what happens, Jakob said. What would have become of the daneamiin if their city had never failed?

  I don’t think anything can change. Your connection to the fibers allows you to look back, but your presence here means that this has always happened, and this conversation has always taken place.

  If that were true, then the fibers are not so much a strand as they are a loop.

  Must they be a loop? Shoren asked. Perhaps some strands within the fibers are woven in reverse, but the entire strand moves forward.

  Jakob considered what he had experienced within the fibers, and had to admit that he didn’t know. It was possible that Shoren’s experience was the right one, and that there was no looping within the fibers, and that each of them was nothing more than a single strand within the fibers.

  I need your help with these people with the potential to be damahne, Jakob said.

  There is no potential. There are damahne, and there are not.

  I was not damahne. When I was born, I was a man.

  You were born damahne; you realized your abilities in time. It might have been later than most damahne develop theirs, but there was never a time when you were not damahne.

  How do you awaken abilities within the damahne?

  They will awaken on their own.

  But if they don’t?

  There came a sense of a rifling through his mind. That was the risk of connecting in this way, of walking back along the fibers, and joining with Shoren as deeply as he did. Not only did Jakob gain the knowledge and understanding that Shoren possessed, but Shoren gained the knowledge and understanding Jakob had.

  You feel that you were awoken by this sword you carry?

  It was clear from the way he asked the question that he did not care for Jakob’s sword. Shoren had struggled with the fact that Jakob had pulled a sword from the cave when they’d faced Raime, who had taken the form of a groeliin. Had he not used the sword, Shoren would not have managed to escape, and his strand would have been undone.

  I didn’t begin having my visions until after I claimed the sword. Before then, I had no potential. Only once I began using the sword did I begin having visions.

  The sword is the one made by the Den’eamiin.

  It is. From what I understand, much ahmaean was poured into its making.

  That is unusual. The children were ever peaceful. For them to make a weapon of death…

  I don’t think they did so by choice. They have suffered because of those creatures. Many have been destroyed, slaughtered by that man and those he directed.

  As happened in the city in your vision, Shoren said.

  They had arrived at the outskirts of the city. Jakob had seen it several times before, but seeing it through Shoren’s eyes, and experiencing the way the stone rose from the ground, a bright white that stood in sharp contrast to the depths of the greenery around him, he could feel nothing other than awed by what the daneamiin had managed to create. Memories of other visions came to him, from the time when he stood within the Cala maah, and he remembered thinking that the stone moved so well for the daneamiin. It was unfortunate they were forced from the city, and unfortunate that they made the forest their home rather than re-creating another such place of beauty.

  Yet was the forest not beautiful? There was a certain majesty to the way they had lived within the forest, and how they had lived with the trees, guiding the trees to create their home, rather than forcing it the way cities of men would have done.

  Yes. As happened in the city, Jakob said.

  And yet, your revealing this to me, before it takes place, does not change anything, does it? Shoren asked.

  Though Jakob wished that it would, he was beginning to believe Shoren was right. He had walked back and tried to change things before, but nothing had happened. Maybe each of his walks back along the fibers had happened before. If that was the case, it meant much of what he had done—and would do—was predetermined, and he didn’t believe that, not with how many strands were splayed in front of him when he managed to look into the future.

  I don’t think anything has changed.

  The children put great effort into the city. It is a shame it falls.

  What they build next is equally amazing, Jakob said.

  He encouraged Shoren to reach into his mind to reach that shared connection so that Shoren could know what Jakob saw and for him to understand that though the city here might fall, the daneamiin would build again and create something as impressive.

  Yes. I see what you mean. There is power to that place that they did not have in this. What has become of it?

  They have lost it. Hopefully, their loss is not long term, but for now, it is not safe for them to remain there.

  Was it destroyed?

  Not destroyed.

  Where did the children go?

  They went to the Old Forest.

  He sensed Shoren’s unease. That is a dangerous place.

  That’s what you’ve told me before.

  It precedes the damahne. Whatever you experience there has the potential for great power—or great destruction.

  I understand.

  Shoren turned and looked back into the forest. Have you claimed your nemerahl?

  The change in topic was slightly jarring. I thought that I had, but the nemerahl that I interacted with sacrificed himself during an attack.

  The nemerahl are never sacrificed. They simply are.

  Jakob searched through what Shoren allowed him of his memories. He shielded himself from Jakob accessing too much. You know that they are part of the fibers.

  If you understand it. Even of the damahne, few have recognized that the nemerahl are a manifestation of the fibers.

  And the merahl? From what Jakob had learned, the merahl were descendants of the nemerahl, which would make them nearly as powerful. They hunted groeliin, and assisted the Antrilii, but were they more than that? Were they a part of the fibers?

  I don’t know this creature, but from what you know, it seems as if they would be equally impressive. Shoren traveled back into the forest, away from the city. Jakob had a sense that he did not want to have
a conversation with Jakob within the city, or perhaps it was only that Shoren struggled with learning of what happened to it. Learning of the destruction of the daneamiin city would have to be hard. Shoren likely had grandchildren within it.

  You don’t know of any way to awaken the abilities within a damahne? Jakob asked.

  Shoren somehow managed to sigh within his mind. We have never had the need to awaken the abilities of one of the damahne. Abilities have manifested regardless of what we’ve done.

  I’m not sure I have the luxury of that time.

  Perhaps you do not.

  Is there a way to walk back along the fibers with one of the damahne? You mentioned a guide before.

  That I can help with. The damahne all have had a guide as they began their journey along the fibers. You are the first I’ve ever known of who has not had the benefit of such a guide.

  Shoren shared with him how to serve as a guide. There was danger in it, something Jakob recognized immediately.

  They have to be in control? he asked.

  That is the only way the guide works. If they do not have control, there’s no way for them to glimpse their way along the fibers.

  Jakob had knowledge of walking along the fibers, and he’d become much more comfortable controlling his traveling. But to have another in control… What if something happened to that person? He wasn’t confident he’d be able to find his way out. He could just as easily get trapped as Shoren had warned him about before.

  You see the dangers, Shoren said.

  Your guides have always been those with the strongest abilities, Jakob said, recognizing that from the knowledge Shoren had shared.

  Only because without the guide, the damahne run the risk of getting trapped. It’s something you can overcome, but it requires knowledge to do so. You will have to use everything you know about the fibers.

  I’m not sure that it is safe for me to do so.

  You are better equipped than you realize, Jakob. If you have restored the fibers, repairing damage to them as you have said, you are perhaps the best suited to do this now.

  Jakob fell silent, looking out through Shoren’s eyes. There was always a certain peace when he came back and visited with Shoren, and this time was no different. There was a connection that came from both the fact that Shoren was his ancestor and something about Shoren himself. It was a pleasant connection, and if Jakob could, he suspected he would spend far too much time visiting with Shoren.

  That was the danger. It was a danger not only to him, but to Shoren. Already he began to wonder whether he had forced too much of a connection between the two of them, especially as pieces of Shoren seemed to pop up in memories Jakob had. He would have to be mindful of this.

  I think it’s time for me to return, Jakob said.

  You are always welcome, Shoren said.

  Jakob shifted his ahmaean, sending it inward, and forced himself forward along the fibers. As often happened, he saw glimpses of various strands within the fibers as he traveled. Some were more vibrant than others, and because of that vibrancy, they were more compelling. In another time, he thought he would like to look back and observe some of those strands. Not walk back. When he walked back, he had to do so as cautiously as he could so that he did not put the host in too much danger. Glimpsing the fibers was something else. It was what the damahne had done for years, looking back, learning what they could from their ancestors, and using that knowledge to continue their service of peace.

  When Jakob appeared back in his time, he opened his eyes.

  He took a deep breath, sighing. How long had he been gone? It was difficult to tell the passage of time when he walked back along the fibers. It could be that he was gone only a few moments, but it was possible that he been gone much longer. Days, even.

  It was time for him to return to the others, to see what he could offer them, whether there was anything he could do to help bring them along their path of understanding.

  But he felt a sense of trepidation.

  If he was intended to guide them the way Shoren had described, he worried that something might happen to him. Jakob considered himself lucky for having survived walking the fibers as much as he had, amazed that he had not gotten trapped in the past during one of his visions. Would he be so lucky again? Would he be able to survive if he had to serve as someone’s guide?

  That was an answer he did not have. And he feared that he did not have enough time to find out.

  With the most recent attack, and the way the groeliin seemed determined to continue to press, Jakob feared that he would be forced to take action. He might need the assistance of these others. Without it, would he be strong enough to stop them?

  Chapter Eight

  The city below them would have been easy to make out even without Jakob’s enhanced eyesight. Since discovering his connection to ahmaean, and learning that he was damahne, there had been increasing changes for him. Most were unnoticeable—at least for him—though the longer he spent around his brother, the more he realized that they were significant.

  “Why have you brought me here?” Scottan asked. His gaze was fixed below him, staring.

  Jakob motioned to the city. “I don’t think you understand what I’ve experienced,” he said.

  Scottan laughed darkly. “No, I don’t understand it. But bringing me here isn’t going to change that.”

  It probably wouldn’t, but that wasn’t the entire reason Jakob had wanted to bring him here. Scottan needed to see the scope of what had happened, and maybe something more—a reminder of the soldier he had been.

  “I thought you’d want to see.”

  “What?”

  They stood on a mountainous ledge, Jakob having shifted them here. Scottan had said nothing when they had appeared, simply accepting the nature of the travel without comment, and had not seemed bothered by the fact that Jakob had brought them high in the mountains, or that they were surrounded by snow. Even the city—the once mysterious city of Vasha—didn’t draw Scottan’s attention.

  “This is where you once wanted to come.”

  “Not like this,” Scottan said.

  “Probably not, though this might be easier.”

  Scottan looked over at him. “How is any of this easier?”

  He stared at his brother. There was pain in his eyes, but there was also something else. Had he not healed him as well as he had thought? The ahmaean that faintly swirled around him made it seem as if he had. Would Scottan have such a connection to his ahmaean were he still injured? Probably not. Then why did he have such pain?

  “Maybe easier wasn’t the right word. When I left Chrysia, I traveled with the Denraen. General Endric trained me to use the sword, and I learned that I had a greater ability than I had ever known.”

  Scottan nodded before seeming to realize what he was doing and stopped. “Training with the Denraen general would allow anyone to progress.”

  Jakob remembered the others who had trained with Endric and wondered whether that was the case. Not all were willing to work with him. Fear prevented most from doing so, but Jakob had started training with Endric before he knew enough to fear the man. How much time would he have spent with Endric had he known he was the Denraen general? When he had learned, he had almost stopped the practice.

  “Not all of the Denraen chose to work with him, though all were offered the opportunity.” Jakob shook his head, thinking of his first impression of Endric using his skill. When the Deshmahne had attacked, and Endric had fended it off with nothing more than a practice staff, he had fully appreciated what Endric could do. He had known him to be skilled before then, but witnessing that level of mastery had been impressive. “You should have seen him, Scottan. He knows catahs…”

  Jakob shook his head, noting how Scottan’s eyes had gone distant. Something he had said offended his brother, which wasn’t the intent. Was it showing him the Denraen barracks? From their vantage above Vasha, and with his enhanced sight, Jakob could see the second terrace of the city, and
he could make out the men moving in the practice field. Serving there had been the desire for all in the Ur, but once selected, it was a life-long position, so openings were few and far between. Would Scottan have been accepted, had he not been afflicted? What that in his mind as he looked down upon the city?

  Jakob wondered if his brother would have received a different kind of help had he come here rather than remaining in Chrysia? The healers at the santrium had done as much as they could, but there were limits. They didn’t have a connection to ahmaean, not the way the Magi did. What might they have managed to do for Scottan had his father brought him here to be cared for?

  Jakob admitted to himself that nothing would have changed. There had been no form of healing to help restore those who suffered from the madness. Had the Magi understood it, they may have been able to slow its progression, and maybe more would have survived long enough to be healed when he restored the fibers. But that was all hindsight now.

  “How long do you intend for us to be here?” Scottan asked.

  “You don’t want to see Vasha?”

  “Is that where you will take me? You want to show me your connection to your Mage friends?”

  Jakob turned to study his brother. Where did the anger come from?

  “What can I do to help you, Scottan?”

  “You’ve done enough already.”

  “Would you rather I’d let you die? I’d lost too much. I wanted my brother back.”

  “I’m not that person anymore,” Scottan said, turning away from him. “You look at me with those eyes that tell me you think I should be, but I’m not. My mind is no longer sharp. My physical strength is gone, leaving me so weak I barely want to face each day. My life as a soldier is a distant memory. I don’t know what I’m meant to be, but it’s not that.” He motioned toward the barracks. “And now you’ve brought me—and others!—to the Tower of the Gods. Do you think that we can all be like you? Is that your plan for us?”

  “I had hoped it would be.”