The Gift of Madness (The Lost Prophecy Book 7)

by D. K. Holmberg

  How did you do that?

  Jakob opened himself to Malaya. There was a certain level of trust required to do so, and it was possible that she would be able to reach information that he wouldn’t necessarily want to share, but for this—especially since he had taken control of her—he thought he owed it to her.

  She gasped.

  She shifted.

  It was only a step, little more than that, but it was done entirely by Malaya, and not by Jakob.

  This is real?

  This is real. I’ve told you that you have the potential for power, but that it will take time for you to understand it. I’ve expedited it out of necessity. I don’t know what this will mean, but I think that I will need you.

  What of your brother? He’s the reason you saved us all. Have you done the same for him?

  If I could save Scottan, I would. I think he’s too far gone now for me to do anything.

  He hated that it was true, but Scottan had been twisted. Though helping his brother was what he wanted most of all, he feared he could not. He had lost so much, for him to have now lost his brother, too, felt a cruel twist of the fibers. With all the power that he now could reach, there was still nothing he could do for his own brother. That pained him.

  I can see what happened. Why is that?

  When I opened up myself to show you how to shift, I had to share with you more than I might otherwise have done.

  If this is real, can you help the others in the same way?

  If I can find them. I knew how to find you because of the impact on the fibers. I remembered the injury you sustained and the scarring within the fibers. It was something that I could reach.

  How can I help?

  Jakob had known Malaya to be strong, and this only confirmed it for him. After all that she’d been through, she was still offering to help.

  He wasn’t sure how she could help, but if he could figure out where they were, he could use that knowledge to reach the others. It was possible for him to attempt the same thing that he’d done with Malaya, but his connection to her was greater than it was to some of them. It would require him to spend more time searching the fibers, and that might require strength that he didn’t necessarily have. If he could discover where they were, and not need to search for them, he could conserve strength, and could use that when it came to attacking the groeliin.

  I need you to leave the room.

  What if there are others of these creatures?

  I’ll help you take care of them.

  You had a weapon with this one.

  Yes. You should take it. You might need it.

  She looked down and started to gag as she noticed the blood coming from the groeliin’s eye where he’d jammed the teralin. She wouldn’t have been exposed to violence like that before. It wasn’t something that the Urmahne tolerated very well. He wasn’t surprised that she struggled with it.

  I can help, but I’ll need to assert control once more. He could simply have taken control, but doing so without her permission now that she was somewhat more enlightened didn’t feel quite right to him.

  Do what you need to.

  Jakob moved to the forefront of her mind, once again taking control. He reached into the groeliin, withdrew the length of teralin, and wiped it on the creature’s body.

  Though he could use this to stop another of the groeliin if needed, there was another possibility.

  The groeliin carried a sword.

  It was negatively charged teralin, but he could deal with that. He rolled the creature over. It was difficult with Malaya’s body and the limited strength that she had. Beneath the groeliin, he found the teralin sword sheathed.

  I don’t know how to use a sword, Malaya said, forcing her way to the forefront of her mind.

  She learned quickly. That was good and would be useful.

  I know how to use a sword, and if it comes to it, I can pass on what you need to know. I’m not sure that you will be able to wield a sword well enough for it to make a difference, but I’d rather you have the weapon than not.

  He drew upon the ahmaean, and pushed it through the sword, shifting the polarity. It was easier each time he did it in her form. Was he somehow connecting them in a greater way than what he should? He didn’t want to cause her difficulty. She hadn’t the same experience as someone like Shoren with protecting her mind, but she was strong. Jakob counted on the fact that she was strong. She would have to be to survive everything she would have to go through—and everything she had gone through already.

  Jakob retreated to the back of her mind once more, allowing Malaya to reassert control.

  Where now?

  Now you need to go through that door, Jakob said, focusing on the only doorway he’d seen in the room.

  Malaya shifted over to it, and he sensed her delight that she was able to do so. He remembered his own satisfaction when he had shifted the first time, and celebrated with her.

  When she checked the door, it was locked. You’ll have to shift beyond the door.

  What if there’s something dangerous on the other side?

  I anticipate there will be.

  How can I know?

  Like this. Jakob showed her how to push out with her ahmaean, and to use that to radiate beyond the doorway and to search for anyone else that might be there. He felt pressure and recognized another of the groeliin. There seemed to be only one, and he realized the groeliin was aware of the pressure upon it.

  We need to act quickly.

  Take control. Do what must be done.

  Jakob asserted himself again, and shifted, moving past the doorway.

  A massive groeliin stood there but seemed prepared for him—or her.

  The groeliin unsheathed and slashed with an enormous dark teralin blade.

  In that split second, Jakob considered using the sword but doubted that he would be quick enough. The sword was not the weapon for Malaya. She wasn’t strong enough to use it effectively.

  He shifted, moving her slightly to the side, just enough away from the weapon.

  The groeliin prepared for another attack and Jakob shifted forward and jabbed the teralin rod into the groeliin’s neck. Blood spurted around it, and Jakob held it in place and forced ahmaean through it. The groeliin thrashed and attempted to hiss, but Jakob jammed Malaya’s fist up against the groeliin’s chin, silencing it.

  When the thrashing ended, Jakob withdrew the teralin and wiped it on the groeliin.

  It’s so… violent.

  Unfortunately, it’s also necessary, Jakob said. I wish there were another way.

  Were there another way, Jakob would gladly take it, especially after learning that the groeliin had a connection to the daneamiin. He didn’t want to be responsible for slaughtering them, but these groeliin were different from the ones he’d seen in his vision, different from the groeliin he had been when he had to walk back along the fibers. That creature had no sense of destruction. Could others be like that? Jakob didn’t know—but it was something he would try to understand once he managed to stop these creatures.

  They continued down the hallway, Jakob leaving Malaya in control of her body. She held on to the sword with a certain hesitance, and in her other hand, she gripped the length of teralin they had used to destroy the groeliin.

  Where now? Malaya asked.

  It is likely the others are being held here. We have to search the area.

  Can I use this same power that you showed me before to do so?

  I’m not sure. There is a limit to how much this can be used, and a limit to how far you can reach with it.

  Try.

  Jakob stopped, asserted control within Malaya once more, and pushed out with her connection to the ahmaean. It flowed along the hallway and toward walls that attempted to confine it, but he managed to push past it and reach beyond the walls.

  He found another person nearby.

  Ahmaean was present, but it was weak, nothing like what he had encountered with Malaya. Jakob shifted, appearing in
side the room.

  There was another groeliin.

  The creature had its back to him, and he shifted forward, jabbing the sword into its back, feeling no remorse for killing it in such a way. The groeliin hissed, trying to turn, but he held on to the hilt of the sword, forcing the blade deeper into the dark gray hide.

  When it fell, Jakob looked at the person sitting trapped in a chair much the same way that Malaya had been. This was Paden, a dark-haired man who had never displayed much connection to the ahmaean but obviously had some—more than what Jakob had expected.

  Paden looked over at Malaya, shock widening his eyes. “How are you here?” His eyes went to the sword. “How did you know to do that?”

  “We need to get you out of here,” Jakob said, though the man was hearing Malaya’s voice.

  Paden jerked on the teralin bands that held him. He couldn’t shift Paden free of them, not the way he had with Malaya. Could he open the bands?

  He searched for some way to unlock them, but there didn’t seem to be anything for him to trigger to open them.

  He heard movement somewhere down the hall from the direction that they’d come. There was a faint pressure against him, and he recognized the darkness that came with it.

  Another of the groeliin was coming.

  If they’d killed three of them, how many did that leave remaining? He knew there were probably a dozen, possibly more, and he wasn’t sure how many of the damahne he would find—how many he could find.

  Can you get him free? Malaya asked.

  Not easily.

  Can you do what you did with me?

  It would be difficult, but he couldn’t think of any other way to reach Paden.

  Jakob withdrew from Malaya and stepped outside of the fibers. Now that he had a trail of where she was, he could follow that to Paden. It was easier to find the man that way. He surged forward, into Paden’s strand, and sent a stream of ahmaean from himself as he did, wanting to awaken Paden’s own connection.

  He severed the ahmaean that he sent to Paden at the same time as he asserted control.

  There was a flash, and he had a sense of fear from Paden as he hovered in the back of his mind. Paden. It’s Jakob. I helped Malaya the same way.

  Tell him that I helped you, Jakob said to Malaya.

  She nodded. “Jakob came into my mind, and he freed me. This is not the madness coming back.”

  There was a sense of relief from where Paden hid within his own mind. Jakob focused on the teralin, and pushed the ahmaean through it, creating the positive polarity. As he did, he shifted, freeing Paden.

  Pressure pulsed against him.

  The groeliin appeared in the room.

  The creature carried a sword and snarled, leaping toward Paden, having decided that he was more of a danger than Malaya. In this form, Jakob had no weapon. He shifted, moving to the back of the room, and then shifted again. He could tell the energy within him was fading and knew he wouldn’t be able to manage too many more movements. Either he would have to escape—and doing so would leave Malaya alone with the groeliin—or he would be forced to fight.

  Jakob shifted his host once more, and when he appeared in the room again, he found Malaya standing near the groeliin. Blood pooled around her.

  “No!” Jakob barely had time to realize his cry came out in Paden’s voice.

  The groeliin fell, and he realized that it wasn’t that Malaya was injured. She had attacked the groeliin.

  She stepped back, blood coating her hand, and the sword clattered to the ground.

  She looked over at Jakob—at Paden—and then down to the sword. “I… I killed this creature.”

  “You had no choice.”

  “How many more will there be?”

  Jakob took a deep breath. At least in this host, he recognized that there was more physical strength than in Malaya. He would be better equipped to face the groeliin, though Malaya hadn’t been nearly as helpless as he had suspected she would be.

  “I don’t know how many more there will be. We’ve brought down four, and I suspect there will be quite a few more, but we’ve shown that we can stop them.”

  In this way, going one of the time, it felt as if they actually could stop the groeliin. When he’d faced these groeliin before, he had always felt helpless. It surprised him that they would be able to stop them.

  Ahmaean pushed on him again.

  “Another one is coming,” he said.

  “I think I feel it,” she said.

  Jakob nodded. “Be ready.” He grabbed the sword from the groeliin Malaya had killed, and pressed ahmaean through it, changing the polarity of the metal. Now they both were armed with a sword.

  When the groeliin appeared, Jakob—Paden—lunged.

  Paden was strong enough to wield the sword with more fluidity than Malaya had managed. The groeliin had not expected the suddenness of the attack, and Jakob slashed along its shoulder, shifting in the middle of his attack and appearing behind it, hamstringing the creature. The groeliin fell, and Jakob shifted, appearing in front of it, jamming the sword into its chest.

  The groeliin collapsed.

  In the back of his mind, he could feel Paden and the fear he experienced. There was nothing he could do about that, not until they managed to get free from here.

  “Now that’s five,” Malaya said.

  “We still need to find the others.”

  They stopped at the doorway, and then shifted through almost at the same time.

  Jakob took the lead position as they made their way down the hallway. As he did, he opened himself up to Paden, just enough for the man to know some of what Jakob knew, so that he would be able to participate in the attack if they found another of the damahne and had to face more groeliin. Would he be as helpful as Malaya had been? Or would he be too scared, frightened by what he would be asked to do?

  There was another sense of ahmaean against him, and darkness oozed down the hallway.

  Another groeliin.

  “Jakob!”

  He turned and saw another one at the other end of the hallway.

  Two groeliin. That might be more than he and Malaya could handle.

  He gathered his ahmaean and shifted, attempting to slip past the groeliin, but the creature managed to block him, throwing him backward.

  Jakob shifted, dropping back toward the middle of the hallway, and found Malaya there. She pressed her back against his and shivered.

  “You should get out of here,” Jakob said.

  “Where else can I go?”

  “Anywhere but here. If you shift away, you can get to safety.”

  “And you?”

  Jakob couldn’t stay here, not if it risked Paden. He needed to get him to safety. If staying risked only his own life, that would be one thing, but this was risking someone else’s life.

  “I’ll get him to safety.”

  The groeliin moved toward him, taking what appeared to be a flickering step similar to the daneamiin rather than what he’d seen of the groeliin.

  Jakob attempted to shift away but found that he couldn’t. He was confined here.

  He tried again, and could shift only a few steps, far enough to reach the end of the hall, but no farther. Either the groeliin held him in place, or there was something about this hallway that had changed that now held them in place.

  “I can’t go anywhere,” Malaya said.

  “I can’t, either.” Jakob should have thought of that before. He had experienced the groeliin holding him in place when he’d been up north. He knew they had that ability, especially now that they knew he might attempt to shift.

  It meant they would have to fight.

  The longer he waited and remained passive, the less likely they would be successful.

  I’m sorry, he said to Paden.

  You could leave. They were the first words Paden had shared since Jakob had opened up a bit of himself to help the man understand what was going on.

  I’m not leaving you to face them on your own.
You don’t know enough.

  What happens if I die while you’re with me?

  I don’t know. It’s possible that I would die with you.

  Do what you need to get us free.

  Jakob lunged.

  He swung the sword around, dropping into a pattern, forcing Paden’s body to respond. It was not the same as fighting in his own body, but at least with Paden, the man had some strength and had recovered much more than Malaya had. He used that strength and attacked with ferocity.

  He forced the groeliin back.

  He shifted, switching sides of the hall.

  The suddenness of it—and the fact that the groeliin now faced two damahne, both armed with swords—caught this one off guard.

  Jakob feinted and brought the sword around, managing to catch the groeliin across the stomach. Malaya jabbed upward, slicing into the groeliin’s chest before it could shift away.

  Jakob shifted again, back toward the other groeliin.

  Malaya followed him, seeming to know what he was doing.

  Had his connection to her, and the fact that he had gifted her with knowledge, helped her know what he might need from her?

  The two of them confronted the other groeliin, and there was less restriction on their ability to shift. They fought in concert and attacked, bringing the groeliin down together.

  When it had fallen, Malaya leaned forward, panting. A smile crossed her face.

  “You did well,” Jakob told her.

  “I would never have imagined I would have such ability. It’s like…”

  “You have some of my memories. And because of that, you have the knowledge that I’ve gained fighting with the sword. We should hurry now.”

  “We’ve killed seven of them. There can’t be that many remaining.”

  “I think there is probably a total of twelve or more of groeliin like this,” Jakob said.

  He guided them down the hall, and it ended suddenly.

  “Where now?” Malaya said.

  Jakob pushed out with his connection to ahmaean, trying to search beyond the borders of the wall. He sensed something there though it was faint, and he wasn’t entirely certain if he detected it accurately.

  It seemed to be the others, but there was the possibility of three or more groeliin.