by Joe Jackson
Kari sat in bed with Taesenus’ sword in her lap later in the night, and Grakin watched her curiously while she ran her hand back and forth along the scabbard. She’d held onto the sword all through the War in the hopes that Taesenus would return for it. She wished she’d had the opportunity to kill him: to avenge the slaying of her Order’s Avatar and all the other people the Demon Prince had murdered before and during the War. Now, as she looked at it, all she could see was a symbol of the pain the Demon Prince had caused, and the memory of Jacob Morrigan doing his best not to burst into tears in front of his guests flashed through her mind again.
“It was an honest mistake,” Grakin said. “Do not concern yourself with it too much, my love. The Earl will see that it was an accident in time, and his anger will fade.”
“I know,” Kari said. “I’m just trying to imagine what the sight of this sword would do to me if I’d actually lost a loved one to its blade.”
Grakin laid his hand on Kari’s wrist. “No one else will ever have to worry about that, and that is due in part to you,” he said. “Kaelariel may have killed the Demon Prince, but you were the one who weakened him enough that his murderous spree slowed to almost nothing. It will be good to be rid of this sword, yes, but in the meantime, you should look at it for what it is to you: a trophy of your accomplishment.”
Kari shook her head; her feelings would not be soothed so easily, even by her mate. “Am I a fool to be giving this to King Koursturaux?” Kari asked. “This is deadly, and it’s already got a horrid history. If I give it to her, how much worse is that going to get?”
“If you did not give her the sword, she would find some other way to accomplish her evil ends,” he assured her. “If I am being completely honest with you, my love, then giving this sword to that demon king is not the wisest course of action. What she does, though, is not your responsibility, and her bargaining this sword out of your hands may simply be a ploy to make you believe it is so. Never let her convince you that her actions are your responsibility.”
Kari leaned over to kiss Grakin. Soon Little Gray came and jumped up in her lap, and she was all too happy to let her son take the place of the sword. She laid it up against the wall, letting it slip from her mind as easily as it slipped from her hand. With her mate beside her and their son in her lap, Kari began to sing a bedtime lullaby. Little Gray was getting a little too old to fall asleep to such songs when she sang them, but she imagined the little one growing inside her being lulled to sleep by her singing and rocking.
Chapter XXII – Communion
The Earl didn’t want to see Kari the next morning when she stopped by his house. She took his reaction in stride: Grakin was correct, and one day the Earl would realize that it had all been a simple mistake. She swallowed the guilt and shame she felt over her foolish error instead of wasting any time feeling sorry about it, and Kari led her friends from the city. Danilynn and Eli took over leading the group once they left the confines of the city, and they followed the road west into the mountains.
Kari looked back over her shoulder once and found the city didn’t look the same as it had after she’d helped to liberate it. In her mind, it had always been the first and biggest victory of her time under Kris Jir’tana, and one of the most telling victories over Seril in the entire War. It was also the city where she and Kris had spoken of their feelings for each other, and where she had very nearly made love to him. The city of Atrice had long been a bittersweet memory, but now she found the memories stung a little bit. Now, with the Earl not wanting to see her and Kris Jir’tana all but a distant memory, she saw it as a place where friendships died.
Kari tried to push away those thoughts. She has happy with where she was in her life, and if Kris and Jacob chose to go their separate ways from her, that wasn’t something Kari could control. She recognized that she had to take the positives from her relationships and not dwell too much or too long on the negatives. One day, Jacob would realize he had taken an honest mistake too personally, and hopefully he would reach out to Kari again. And, she mused, one day she would probably come face to face with Kris Jir’tana again, and when he saw her children, he would probably wonder why he’d ever walked away from her.
Kari looked at Grakin and smiled; walking away had been Kris’ idea and, consequently, his loss. She had found a man who loved her and treated her well, and in him she had found the family she had long desired. She would likely outlive Grakin, something she was ever trying to prepare herself for, but by then she would probably be too old to be of interest to Kris. She wondered if the fact that he was serilian-rir made him forget that not everyone had the potential to live for hundreds or thousands of years. Kari reminded herself one more time that in the end, it was his loss, and she turned her thoughts to the road ahead.
The main mountain pass was a steady incline, and Kari didn’t have to rest all that often along its more gradual rise. After several hours, Danilynn and Eli led the group south along a rocky path into the higher elevations. The path was little more than a narrow goat trail, but it passed through rock instead of along cliffs, so it wasn’t particularly dangerous travel. The going was steep in places, and Kari had to deal with fatigue and rest often, but the group was able to keep a decent pace, and reached the lip of the valley after only four days. When they crested the final rise and looked over the edge into the misty valley below, they all paused to take in the sight, and Danilynn and Eli were both apparently assailed by memories.
“You can see the top of the temple from here,” Eli said, pointing off to the northwest. It was hard to make out much detail, but there was what appeared to be the tips of statues and the tops of pyramidal buildings poking just over the mist. A heavy jungle showed through on the close end of the valley, but the mist obscured most of the view of the rest of the valley. “The czarikk village is in the northeast corner. Follow me.”
The sun was still fairly high in the sky, but like in the pine forests of Si’Dorra, the light was cut off by the trees and the mist. Unlike Si’Dorra, however, the valley was balmy on its floor, and the dark, rich soil was warm under the companions’ feet as they walked. Aeligos pointed out that there must be volcanic activity underground, which would mean steam vents and hot springs throughout the area. He explained how that likely kept the valley nice for czarikk and syrinthian alike, which had to be why both races were drawn to this place.
“You could have a farm that grows food all year long in this valley if you could work it right,” Kari mused while they walked. She was still considering her own lands: how much work they would require, how much income they would generate, and how much of a headache all of it would cause her.
“Already thinking of expanding the one you were granted?” Ty joked, and he nudged Kari in the shoulder.
“Gods, no,” she returned with a chuckle. “I’m already overwhelmed with the thought of having to run the one I have. I don’t know the first thing about farming or running an estate. You read all those eco…economics books; any advice?”
Ty half-shrugged. “Well a lot of it will depend on what sort of income you’re looking at bringing in, but I can give you some basic advice that’ll help you avoid the typical problems people run into,” he said. “You don’t strike me as the kind of woman who’s all that interested in becoming rich, so I think a lot of this will come as second-nature to you. What I’d suggest you do is keep a ledger of how many people you’ve got working for you, how much of your income is going to go to taxes, and, most importantly, how much money you need to live the way you want to live.”
“Well, I’ll just end up with whatever’s left after I pay everyone, including the Duke, won’t I?” Kari asked.
Typhonix shook his head. “No, that’s the trap most landowners fall into,” he said. “The best advice I can give you is to pay yourself the same way you’d pay anyone working for you, and base that on how you want to live and how much that costs. Then you pay your taxes, and take the rest of the money and either pay it as additional
wages, or else invest it into improving your farm. The better you pay your people, the more of your own products they can buy – so the money comes around full circle, right back to you, and you have a cycle. The other merchants in the city will sell more to your employees because they have more money to spend, and then those merchants can buy more of your products…you see?”
Kari’s eyes widened. “So everything increases…exponentially, is that the right word?”
Her blonde brother-in-law clapped her on the shoulder. “You’ve got the idea,” he said. “But the key is that you can’t get greedy. That’s not who you are, so I don’t think you’ll ever need to worry about it yourself, but since you’ll probably be a little busy running a household, raising kids, and trying to stay in charge of the Order, you’ll probably have to hire someone to run the estate for you. And that’s where you can run into trouble: if you hire someone to manage the estate, you’ll have to keep a close watch on them to make sure they’re not skimming or over-working your employees.”
“I was hoping you and Aeligos would help me, at least at first,” Kari said. “You two both have good heads on your shoulders, and I figured you could at least help me take over control of things from the Duke.”
“Yea, sure,” Ty said, and Aeligos agreed with a nod.
That helped to set Kari’s mind at ease a bit. She honestly knew little about running a household, a farm, or a business. To have her two smarter brothers-in-law help her out where that was concerned would take a lot of the burden from her shoulders, and let her concentrate more on the things she would learn from Se’sasha. She still had to figure out who to ask for a loan to get the capital to repair the estate house itself, and to also upgrade whatever living and working quarters her employees used. While the Duke seemed sure the Order itself would be willing to aid her in that regard, Kari wasn’t sure she wanted to take church funds to pay for a private business, whether she paid it back with interest or not.
The valley proved to be easy travel and not quite as big as it seemed from the rim high above. The group reached the czarikk village before the sun retreated over the distant peaks. The sunlight was still muted, lending a haunted air to the still and silent remains of the lizardfolk homes. The grass- and vine-covered huts were well-preserved, apparently hardly disturbed in the long years since the czarikk fled the valley. From the droppings and tracks throughout the village, though, Kari could see that many woodland creatures had decided to commandeer the czarikk homes.
Sonja paused at the village’s edge and her eyes went wide. Kari called for the rest of the group to stop while she waited to see what had gotten Sonja’s attention. Sonja let out a long, subdued sigh after a minute, but her head swiveled back and forth, her ruby eyes taking in the ruins suspiciously.
“Anything wrong?” Kari asked her at last.
“Nothing recent,” Sonja answered, starting forward again. “I just got the feeling of pain and misery; my empathic senses were open, and I could feel the sorrow of the czarikk as they abandoned their homes. Now I’m getting vague senses of fear and terror, the remnants of some battle or battles that took place here.”
Eli nodded. “Yea, the syrinthians from the temple attacked the czarikk from time to time to capture them for sacrifices,” he said. “We took part in a vicious fight here one night, after we rescued a number of the czarikk from the temple itself. They sent a bunch of syrinthian guards and warriors, but also an elestram wizard that was an unholy terror to deal with.”
Danilynn nodded but gestured for everyone to follow her before she spoke. They walked to the center of the village to its fire pit, and the priestess dropped her pack and set out her things. The others followed suit, and after they worked quietly in tandem for a short while, they had a nice bright fire going with some freshly-caught game roasting over it. Kari was glad to rest her weary haunches, and she sat cross-legged on her bedroll, massaging her aching thighs with Little Gray sitting nestled in her lap.
Once everyone was comfortable, Danilynn continued the story. “Once the syrinthians realized there were czarikk in the valley with them, they started capturing their hunters and gatherers to use as sacrifices to power the portal,” she said. “With the telepathic connection I had with Se’ceria, she contacted me and asked me to come put a stop to it. It seemed like it could’ve been a trap or, at best, a suicide mission, but when we got close enough to scout the temple, she called everyone to prayer at the pinnacle, which left only a handful of guards between us and the czarikk prisoners.”
“But you didn’t get them all out?” Kari asked, remembering some of the story from the first time she’d heard it.
“No; when the syrinthians and sylinths realized what was happening, they rushed to the defense of the temple,” Danilynn confirmed. “Several of the czarikk stayed behind and bought us time with their lives, and we were able to get the rest of them to safety. Rhiannon was fairly sure she’d killed one of the sylinths with a lucky head-shot from her bow, but whatever the case, none of the guards followed us right away…not until that band with the wizard came.”
“We killed most of the syrinthians and drove off the elestram eventually,” Eli said. “The czarikk got better at defending themselves once they knew what to expect from the syrinthians and sylinths at the temple. Se’ceria never forgave herself for what she had to order her people to do. When she died, she said to us, ‘I deserve this.’ She died willingly to protect Se’sasha, but also because she felt she deserved it after everything she did. She didn’t accept that she hadn’t really had any choice in the matter; she took full responsibility for it.”
Se’sasha sighed and closed her eyes. Kari said, “We can find her grave in the morning, when we’ll be able to see better.”
The others nodded to that, and Aeligos spoke up, asking, “So who exactly is Sakkrass? I know you met his avatar on Tsalbrin, but I’d never heard of him before then. You said he also goes by the name Ashakku to the syrinthians? Is he specific to just the syrinthians and czarikk?”
“As far as I know,” Kari said. “Se’sasha will hopefully be able to tell us more once she’s had time to commune with her mother’s spirit. The only other thing I can say is that Sakkrass’ world is under attack by the Overking and his armies. Right now, I’m not really supposed to speak of this, so what you hear, if you haven’t heard it before, should stay between us for the time being, until we know what we’re dealing with.” There were nods of agreement from everyone, so Kari continued, “The beshathans – the mallasti, elestram, erestram – and the other peoples of Mehr’Durillia are not demons, they’re just people who’ve been conquered by the Overking. Some of them have been pressed into his army to attack the world of Irrathmor, but his primary soldiers – the real demons – are what we used to call shadow demons. In fact, I just fought one when I was in Barcon.”
“That is why rescuing Se’sasha was so important,” Grakin mused.
“Irrathmor? That’s the name of Sakkrass’ homeworld?” Ty asked.
Kari nodded. “We’ve been chasing our tails for way too long; first with the serilis-rir, and then with the people of Mehr’Durillia. Now that the demon kings are taking an interest in the Temple, we can’t just react to their schemes anymore. We had to find out just what they’re up to, and if they plan to attack Citaria the way they did Mehr’Durillia, and now Irrathmor. We’re completely unprepared for them, and Se’sasha is the only one that can help change that.”
“I must admit that I am confused on one thing,” Grakin said. “If the various people of Mehr’Durillia are not demons, how many of the kings themselves are actually demons?”
Kari glanced at Se’sasha, and the syrinthian girl stared at her, completely oblivious to what was being said. “It’s hard to put an exact number to them, but from what our mallasti guide on Mehr’Durillia said, there are at least five: the Overking, Baal, Koursturaux, Baphomet, and Abaddon. Even she wasn’t sure if Celigus, Arku, and Arlerase are demons; no one seems quite sure just what species they are
.”
“But what of the others?” Grakin asked.
“Many are powerful nobles and royals who rose up from among the people,” Kari said. “At the moment, I’m still calling them demon kings, because whether or not they’re actually demons, they’re as twisted and evil as the real demon kings.”
“Some are not as bad as others, but that doesn’t really affect your assessment,” Danilynn said. “Regardless of who and what they are, one basic truth holds: they cannot be trusted. If we want to prepare our people to defend Citaria against them, then we must treat them as enemies.”
Kari shook her head. “Not just them, but everyone: we have to treat all the people from Mehr’Durillia as enemies until we’re sure some of them aren’t,” she said, and she turned her attention specifically to Se’sasha. “Even Se’sasha’s people are still our enemies in a basic sense, as long as they’re under Sekassus’ rule. Any we can rescue or bring back here we can try turning to her service, but as long as they’re under Sekassus’ rule, they’re enemies.”
Ty tossed a crumpled stick into the fire. “You’re not planning to invade Mehr’Durillia, are you?” he asked.
“Gods, no,” Kari answered. “Not for a very, very long time at the least. Right now, my highest priority is to gather as much intelligence as we can. Se’sasha will be our primary help in that, but any Mehr’Durillian ‘demons’ we can capture, and who’ll talk, can also help. We need to find out everything we can about Mehr’Durillia before we even think about doing anything there. You have to remember something: the demon kings are enough of a problem with just the mortal races of Mehr’Durillia under their control. The things we’ve dealt with…those aren’t even the real demons. The demons and their leaders are on Irrathmor making war on Sakkrass and his people.”
