Eve of Redemption Omnibus: Volumes 1-3

by Joe Jackson

  After another minute, Kari nodded toward the ship and Grakin hugged her again before he rejoined his siblings on deck. “I’ll be back, I promise you,” she said.

  “And I will be waiting,” the priest said, smiling at her from near the railing.

  “We’ll see you soon,” Erik said, and the others waved goodbye. Kari and Erik watched the ship set out from the port, and once it turned with the wind and made its way around the southern cape, the blue-eyed male turned toward Kari. “You have everything you need?”

  Kari hefted her pack and gave a confident nod. “Yes, but I don’t carry a compass; do you have one? The human up top said we’d need one to get through the rainforest.”

  Erik nodded. “Let’s be off, then. We’ve got a demon to kill.”

  Chapter IX – Bond of Trust

  They ascended to the topmost tier of the city, and Kari took a moment to smile down at the ship carrying her mate before she and Erik found the mule trail down the backside of the hill. It was steep and the footing was rocky, but after a while they managed to reach the bottom, far below the canopy of the jungle. The base of the rocky cliff was wet and litter-strewn, as rainfall, wastewater, and debris apparently dropped off the backside of the city-capped hill. The two avoided the obvious muck and refuse, and looked at the thick maze of trees before them. Erik regarded Kari and she nodded, and they set off into the jungle.

  The coastal breeze was cut off immediately, giving way to an oppressive, sticky heat that soon had Kari sweating. She shed her cloak, rolled it up, and tied it down to the top of her pack, and looked to her companion. Not surprisingly, Erik was completely unfazed by the heat, with not a drop of sweat upon his half-demon form. He didn’t seem particularly fond of the humidity though, and he tied his hair back tightly in a tail before motioning for Kari to follow.

  The trees here were thick and ancient, and many of their trunks were covered with heavy vines and other hanging plants that could survive with less sunlight. The trees’ crowns formed a blanketing canopy overhead that allowed little light through to the ground, lending a thick shade to the misty floor. There was more than enough light to see, but the murky mist made it even more difficult than the density of the trees themselves. The forest floor was damp and covered with a thinner carpet of leaves than Kari had expected: she was used to the deeper drifts of leaves in the southern portions of Terrassia’s forests. Here, however, the leaves – at least those that fell – seemed to decay at a faster rate, leaving rich soil but not much that would give away their footsteps or conceal natural and man-made hazards.

  Kari regarded Erik, and he looked to his compass briefly before pointing them in the right direction. She fell into step beside him and they walked along in silence for several hours. The air was thick with bird calls and other, unfamiliar animal sounds, and they tried to keep their pace steady. Both were accomplished fighters, and Kari was confident that little the rainforest could put in their way would prove troublesome. Kari also wanted to spend as little time in the rainforest as possible on account of its name: while neither of them had ever visited such a place before, Kari was able to point out the signs that the place received a substantial amount of rain. Erik seemed surprised at her familiarity with such things, but took her points attentively: they didn’t want to be exposed to the elements for too long regardless of the island’s tropical nature.

  Night fell early, as the thickness of the canopy and their location on the island’s eastern end meant the light was choked out far sooner than they were accustomed to. They decided against traveling in the dark and instead collected what little dry wood they could and set up a small camp. They started a fire only long enough to cook some food, and once their hunger was sated they doused the flames and nestled between the exposed thick roots of a massive tree. Kari decided it would be easier to simply sleep in her armor, since it was light and supple and she had no idea if anything would decide to investigate their presence while they slept.

  Erik didn’t have the luxury of sleeping in his armor: the heavy plate and chain suit he wore was far too restrictive to get any sort of restful sleep within it. Kari figured it had to be exceedingly uncomfortable in the sweltering humidity, but fortunately his half-demon heritage meant it wasn’t an issue for him. Erik took off his armor and then sat back against a sizeable protruding root, and Kari noted that the garments he wore under the armor were still mostly dry. When she glanced at him, he looked her over curiously in turn, and he finally spoke when she laid out her bedroll and bunched her cloak up as a makeshift pillow. “Is that paluric?” he asked.

  Kari looked down at her armor briefly before she folded her hands behind her head and lay back. “Yes, it is,” she said. “You had to have noticed it before.”

  “I did,” he agreed, shrugging. “I just wasn’t sure; I’ve never seen paluric armor before. Where did you get it?”

  “It was given to me a long time ago, by an old friend,” she said.

  Erik gave her a doubtful look and then shook his head. “I find that hard to believe,” he commented.

  Kari was pointedly reminded of the fact that he even doubted who she was: Eryn had told her that Erik apparently thought Kari was an impostor of some kind. “You find a lot of things hard to believe,” Kari returned. “Doesn’t make them any less true. If you only believe in what you see for yourself, you’re not going to make it very far as a demonhunter.”

  Erik’s brows arched before settling closely over suspicious eyes. He scratched behind a pointed ear for a moment and looked as though he were about to speak, but instead he pulled his pack between his legs and started digging through it. He came up with a thick-bristled brush, and after loosing the tail he’d kept his hair in, he began to brush it silently. It was clear from his expression that he knew exactly what she meant, and she wondered why he didn’t press her on the issue or admit he had been foolish.

  Kari sighed, closed her eyes, and attempted to find the quiet within to fall asleep. Her thoughts turned immediately to Grakin: she missed his touch and his presence that acted so much like a child’s security blanket, and his warmth that had so easily eased her to sleep over their many nights together. She nearly laughed and the corners of her snout creased up into a smile as she considered that she didn’t miss the heat of his half-demon body at that moment. While the jungle had cooled off slightly, the heat was still oppressive and pushed down on her like an unseen hand.

  “So who was this friend?” Erik asked after the long silence between them deepened and she had nearly fallen asleep.

  Kari opened one eye and fixed him with an impatient gaze, and she snorted. “Goodnight, Erik,” she said simply, and she turned on her side to face away from him. She could tell by his tone that he wouldn’t believe anything she said anyway, so she felt no desire to waste her time telling him about it. She could feel the weight of his stare on her back, but he said nothing, and soon she fell into a light but sweaty sleep. She awoke with a start as he touched her shoulder and asked her to take watch so he could get a few hours of sleep. She had no idea how long she’d been asleep, but she had slept well despite the temperature.

  Kari sat up against one of the roots while Erik bedded down on his cloak. She recalled how her friend Carly had always told her that one could tell a lot about someone by watching them sleep, and she kept her attention on the dozing half-demon for several hours. He seemed calm: he was certainly at peace with himself and his duties enough to allow him to sleep without interruption. No dreams or nightmares rocked him from his slumber, and there was no trace that he faced anything similar to Kari’s hellish memories. It made her wonder what Carly had meant, since by watching her companion, the only thing she could tell was that he was asleep.

  She looked over his muscular form, from his powerful arms to his thick legs, and finally to his belly, which was as sculpted as hers. Physically he was a perfect specimen: he looked as though he were carved from a solid block of ebony. She imagined many would disagree, unable to see past the wings th
at marked him as a half-demon, but Kari had wings as well and found him undeniably attractive. He had a wide snout and a powerful chin, and she knew from experience that both lent him an imposing countenance that served him well as the group’s leader. His hair was long in the tradition of rir warriors, and he kept it straight and tended to it well. Erik was perhaps a bit too big for her – in more ways than one – but all told, he was a fine looking male.

  He had stripped down to his loincloth, which told her that he at least trusted her to keep him safe while he slept. Considering half-guardians could go for days or even weeks without sleeping, that said a lot. Such trust came naturally to Kari after an eight-year war: if one wanted to sleep at all, it required trusting someone, whether one liked them or would ever trust them outside of war or not. As she thought about it, though, she wondered if his near-nudity had any other purpose: whether he was trying to tell her look what you missed out on by choosing Grakin. She nearly laughed at the thought: if that was his intent, it’d had the opposite effect.

  Her gaze swung to his carefully piled equipment: the fine set of plate and chain armor that she assumed was steel, along with the masterfully crafted scimitar and longsword. She could tell by the craftsmanship of the hilts that both weapons were made specifically for him, and she remembered being told that Serenjols had crafted all of the siblings’ armor and weapons himself. Erik’s scimitar was unlike the twin ones Kari wielded: his had notches and grooves on its backside meant to disarm foes or pull weapons out of position. Her own had a sharpened backside up by the tip, a handy part that allowed her to land a chopping strike when necessary – such as cleaving through plate armor. Hers also had two notches for fingers should they ever need to be used two-handed for defense, though such a situation had never arisen.

  Kari suddenly realized that one of his eyes was open and he was watching her as intently as she was studying him and his equipment. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, and then Kari noticed the strange calls and songs of the night had switched over to those of awakening birds. She hadn’t even noticed the night passing, but she smiled after a minute when she realized Carly had been right: she had learned a bit more about her partner simply by looking at him and his things while he slept.

  Erik arched an eyebrow. He sat up and looked Kari over briefly but said nothing, apparently still annoyed by her words earlier in the night. He began to put on his armor, and then he stood and belted on his swords. Kari still sat looking at him, so he sat on the root he’d leaned against earlier and stared at her in return. “What is it?” he asked.

  “Just wondering what your parents fed you as a child,” she said, allowing a cheeky grin to see if his attitude would improve or if it was going to be another long, silent day.

  Erik rolled his eyes, and she wondered at the reaction. “Our grandfathers were both guardian demons,” he said.

  “I know that much,” she said. “It just seems strange that you and Jol are so big, and Grakin and Aeligos are, well, not small, but closer to normal.”

  “They’re more like our mother; Sonja and Typhonix…fall somewhere in between,” the half-demon said dryly. Kari nodded, and Erik folded his hands before him and leaned forward. “What exactly attracted you to my brother?”

  His tone set her on edge immediately. “Jealousy doesn’t fit you well,” Kari said, making it quite clear that her words were a warning.

  Erik waved a hand dismissively. “This has nothing to do with jealousy,” he said. “This has to do with protecting my brother. Grakin’s a little on the frail side. He’s been shy and quiet ever since he became a priest, and he wears himself out far too often helping other people. He’s changed a lot since you laid him and I’m left to wonder what your intentions really are. There’s far too much potential for you to hurt him.”

  Kari was stunned, and her jaw fell open slightly. “I did not lay him, you arrogant bastard,” she said, and she rose to her feet and began to pack her things. “What’s this about? Why bring this up now? Why not when he was with me?”

  “I don’t trust you,” he said evenly, and when she turned to look at him, his features were hardened into a scowl. “I don’t believe you are who you say you are, and I don’t appreciate you taking advantage of some false fame to try to seduce my brother.”

  “False fame? What the hell…?” Kari began, and she shook her head. “Just who do you think I am, anyway? Do you think I’m really Annabelle Sol’ridachi, that I’m sleeping with your brother to irritate you, and when we find this demon I’ll need you to protect me because I’m just some stupid woman?”

  Erik waved his hand dismissively again. “Look, I get it. Bosimar got killed during the Apocalypse and the Order needed a hero to keep morale up. I don’t blame you for that, but continuing to pretend you’re Karian Vanador now…it’s not amusing anymore. If you want my respect, you’re going to have to earn it on your own merits, not by charading as someone else.”

  Kari tilted her head, astounded. “Are you serious?” she asked. She pulled the dog tags from her neck, threw them at him, and growled, “What do you think, I went and dug these up in Laeranore?!”

  Erik caught the tags easily and his mouth tightened into a line. He held the dog tags up and read their inscription, but then held them back out to her. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

  Kari started to walk away, but stopped herself. They were in a rainforest, and though she was pretty sure she could get back to Riverport without much trouble – or at the very least, find the coast and head back to the city – she realized she really couldn’t walk away. “Laeranore, Erik,” she said, trying to keep her temper in check. “That’s what the elves call their homeland. If you studied my life at the Academy, I’d think they’d have mentioned where I was buried.”

  “Wait, what?”

  Kari turned around and pushed his hand with her dog tags back towards him. “Keep those,” she said. “When we get back to Askies, you can go tell Master Bennet and Lord Allerius that you don’t believe I’m really Karian Vanador.” He started to speak, but she waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. She nearly clipped the end of his snout with her fingers, and a part of her wished she had: she wanted to punch him in his arrogant chin. “You know what? Forget it. Take them back to our superiors and tell them I quit. When they ask where I am, tell them I’m on Salkorum ‘laying’ your brother. Maybe you can even keep the disgust out of your voice.”

  Erik stared at her in shock. “I don’t understand; you mean to say you really are Karian Vanador?” Kari rolled her eyes and looked away into the forest. “Honestly, how can this be? I studied your career when I was in the Academy, and now here you are, alive and well, serving as my partner? How was I supposed to know that…that…you were resurrected? Assuming that’s what happened...you were resurrected?”

  Kari nodded and folded her arms across her chest, biting down her urge to either slap him, scream at him, or simply walk away. Master Surallis had warned her that people might find it hard to believe that she was resurrected, but after spending two months with Erik aboard the ship, Kari could hardly believe he was still this ignorant. “Gods, Erik, didn’t you pay attention to anything that was said on the ship?” she asked. “How could you have listened to the stories, the way Sonja and Eryn and I interacted, and even sparred against me and still had no idea?”

  “I thought…I thought it was all part of your ‘act,’” he said. “I thought it was weird that the Order would’ve gone to so much trouble to prop up some false hero to boost morale, but it's even stranger to think you’re a dead woman come back to life. I’m not sure which should be harder to believe. This is all…more than a little strange.”

  Kari cocked her head. “Try having it happen to you,” she said evenly.

  Erik looked back up, let out an uncomfortable chuckle, and acknowledged the point with a nod. He stared at her for several minutes as though seeing her for the first time, and despite how upset she was, Kari could see the wonder and confusion written plai
nly on those normally hardened features. “I can’t believe this…you’re the girl that killed an erestram single-handedly?” he ventured.

  Kari wondered what it was that made that point in particular hard for him to believe. Was it that she was smaller than him, not as strong, or was it because he’d seen her cry on a few occasions? Whatever the case, she shook her head. “Defeated,” Kari corrected, “not killed. You wouldn’t believe how hard they are to kill.”

  “But if you’re really Karian Vanador, then you’re a Shield of the Heavens,” Erik said, and Kari nodded. “Why would they put me in charge of you? You’re three ranks higher than I am, and if what our history books say about you is all true, you’re certainly more qualified.”

  Kari sighed and closed her eyes. “Several reasons,” she said. “They want to know if you’re as good as your rank suggests. They also want to know if you’re a good leader, probably because they see you becoming Avatar at some point. And frankly, my mind’s been foggy since I was brought back, for some reason I don’t understand.”

  “Honestly?” he asked, surprised.

  Kari opened her eyes again and nodded. “Honestly,” she said. “I know it’s hard to believe a dead woman is standing in front of you; I don’t really understand it all myself. But the Order wants me to watch you, Erik: they want to know if you’re good at leading people. Right now I’d have to say the answer is ‘no.’ Your siblings may do what you tell them to and the twins may be willing to follow along, but that doesn’t make you a leader. You need to learn to trust people, and trust the people under you, and they have to be able to trust you in return. I served under Kris Jir’tana; he was a brilliant leader. You…you’re too suspicious for your own good, and you don’t give people a chance to prove themselves before you just pass judgment on them.”