by Joe Jackson
Grakin agreed with a nod but didn’t reply. Kari did her best not to get too worked up over the issue. While Taesenus was called the Demon Prince, he was honestly just one serilian-rir among millions of people. The fact that he had somehow survived and no one knew wasn’t as big an issue as the same holding true for his mother. At the same time, Kari had to imagine that if Seril, who was a god-like being, had survived, someone would surely have known. It brought to mind the arcane seal spell Dominick had used in Barcon, and how it was able to detect not only the strength, but the species of people it passed over. Kari wondered if there was anyone strong enough – one of the gods, perhaps – to do the same over all of Citaria to see if Seril was hiding somewhere, alive.
Kari expressed her idea to Sonja, who was willing to at least replicate Dominick’s feat over the temple and nearby valley. It wasn’t much different than her life-sense enchantment, but if Taesenus didn’t register as a living thing, he might register as having or being under arcane power of some kind. At the very least, it would tell them if anything else troublesome was close by. Fortunately, after expanding the seal out for a ways into the jungle, Sonja assured Kari that there was nothing strange nearby except for Kari herself. Kari explained to Sonja that such was a side effect of being Salvation’s Dawn, which her sister-in-law found interesting.
They passed the rest of the day lazily, letting the priests do their work. Little Gray was getting antsy and bored, but Sonja was able to keep him entertained with illusions and minor bits of pyrotechnics. Kari had found a wandering flock of turkeys the day before, and she found it again and felled two more to keep the companions well-fed. By the end of the day, Typhonix’ wounds were closed, but he was still unable to wiggle his toes. They built another fire to help keep him warm, and Danilynn loaned him her cloak to use as a blanket.
Much of the following day passed the same way, but by midafternoon, the priests had finished their work. The damage was healed, barely a trace of the wound showing upon Ty’s skin. Still, he hadn’t regained the use of his legs, even to wiggle his toes. When Kari saw the look of concern on Grakin’s face as he watched his brother’s pained attempts to move anything below his waist, she understood that her mate had done all that he could. Kari looked at Ty and bit her lower lip, wondering how he – or any of the others – would deal with him being crippled for the rest of his life.
There was little reason for debate or plotting out the rest of his life then and there. Since his wound was healed as well as possible, Sonja used her arcane power to take everyone back to Atrice. Ty didn’t want to be left behind despite the fact that he couldn’t walk, so Aeligos once again did some haggling to secure them a coach and some horses. The plan was to take Ty to the city of Brigham on the west coast, where he could stay and rest while the others sailed across to Morikk and explored the Temple. Once they were done, they’d return for Ty, and Sonja could transport them all back to DarkWind.
Just as Kari had told Sonja, Ty was a fighter, and he turned away any attempts by his companions to fawn over him or nag him about how comfortable he was. He simply made do with the situation for the time being, and the group crossed the long pass through the Barrier Mountains to the plains along the west coast. Almost directly west of the pass was the port city of Brigham, and they came within sight of it after several days.
Brigham wasn’t one of the largest port cities on either coast – it was barely half the size of DarkWind – but it was a busy one due to its location. Just to the north lay the west-jutting edge of the Barrier Mountains that separated the Duchy of Brunswick from the northwest duchy, which was strangely called the Strekan Province. The northwest province was closed off from the rest of Askies Island by military and other means, and its residents were reputed to live in a far more technologically-advanced society. Still, like any other society, they had imports and exports, and Brigham was the closest outsider city to the Strekan Province. The proximity of the port city of Brigham to Atrice and thereby the heartlands made it very busy and prosperous.
What most interested Kari and her friends, however, was the city’s proximity to the now deserted island of Morikk off of Askies’ western coast. “Island” was a bit of a misnomer; Morikk was, of course, an island, but it was very large and could likely qualify as a duchy all its own, or even another kingdom, if it was inhabited. Since the seterra-rir were driven out centuries before, though, the island had stood deserted, with only the mystical Temple of Archons drawing any interest to it whatsoever. By all accounts, the Temple was straight west from Brigham, and it was said one could see it from the port city on a clear day.
The city itself was fairly clean and orderly for a port. Even from a distance, Kari and her friends could see that some of the technology reputed to be so common in the Strekan Province had made its way to Brigham. Large metal cranes with steel cables took the place of what would be wooden cranes and ropes in any other port, and some of the ships at the northern piers looked to also be made of metal. Kari wasn’t sure how that worked; she sank like a rock in water if she wore metal armor and carried her swords.
No one bothered to ask the fairly large group its business. The guards looked Kari and her friends over casually, but if they thought anything of the many sets of wings, they kept their thoughts to themselves. Se’sasha was inside the coach with Typhonix, so thankfully, she didn’t attract any attention at all. With the day almost done, the group found an inn near the docks and got settled in for the night. As he’d done in Gavean, Aeligos went to sell off the horses and the coach when everyone else was getting settled in, and his positive mood when he returned told Kari that he’d probably swindled some poor merchant.
The following morning, Kari headed to the docks with Aeligos and began asking about securing passage across to Morikk. Not a single captain was interested in crossing to the island, which many flat-out stated was haunted. Kari tried her inquiries again with her dog tags out over her breastplate, and when she introduced herself by name and rank, she got a different reaction from the superstitious sea captains. With the thanks of the Demonhunter Order and the sack of gold Aeligos had gotten from selling the horses and coach, Kari was able to secure passage on a fishing boat that had only just returned to port from the deeper sea a few days before.
Eli agreed to stay behind with Typhonix, Grakin, and Little Gray while the others went across to the Temple. Kari couldn’t help but wonder where Eli stood with regard to the gods: he’d never openly said he worshipped any of them, and he always seemed a little uncomfortable in the temples they’d been in together. That he had no desire to go see the Temple of Archons seemed out of place for a rir, and she wondered if it had something to do with being serilian-rir, or half-corlyps specifically. Grakin wanted to see the Temple, but he decided that keeping watch over Typhonix and keeping Little Gray away from further possible trouble was more important.
Like most deep-sea ships, whether of the fishing or freighting variety, the fishing ship called The Maiden’s Lure was crewed entirely by humans. Kari didn’t quite understand it; she didn’t mind traveling on water, and she wondered why her people as a whole did. The ship was running with a skeleton crew for this trip: Captain John Smedley didn’t feel the need to bring his entire fishing crew with him to make a jaunt across to Morikk. Kari could only imagine how cramped the ship might’ve been with its full crew and a handful of passengers.
The Maiden’s Lure got them to the coast of Morikk in good time. There was a military encampment along the beachfront, which Kari found odd, since there was an abandoned village not far to the north of them. Captain Smedley opted to land at the long-abandoned pier of the old seterra-rir village, and Kari agreed with that. There was little sense taking lifeboats across to the shore when the fishing vessel could make it to the pier without trouble. Kari asked the captain to stay the night off the coast, and take them back to Brigham the next day, and Captain Smedley agreed.
The old wooden planks of the pier were rotting and unstable from centuries of negl
ect, so Kari and her friends dashed along them as quickly but carefully as possible. The rumors that one could see the Temple from Brigham had proven untrue, but there was no missing it from the beach. Up on the sierra, at the top of the tallest part of the rocky expanse, sat a white marble temple that glowed in the sunshine. It was hard to make out much detail from where the friends stood, but there was no mistaking where they were headed. Kari led her companions into the abandoned village once they got off the treacherous pier.
Kari looked around and tried not to fall into despair. She remembered the seterra-rir people well from her stops at the islands of Salkorum three years before. To see one of their old towns in such a state of abandonment and neglect struck home. They hadn’t been routed by disease, natural disaster, or famine: they’d been chased from this place by their own kin, the other rir species. For someone who had fought to defend not just the rir but all the mortals of Citaria for most of two lifetimes, it left a bitter taste in Kari’s mouth to see that her own people had tried to wipe each other out.
Sonja’s head perked up and she started off to the north through the ruins. “Did you hear that? Someone just called for help!” she said.
Kari hesitated but then started to follow along, as did the others. She hadn’t heard any call for help, and from the looks on her companions’ faces, neither had any of them. She thought perhaps Sonja was hearing things: that she had left her telepathic and empathic awareness open and was hearing something from the past. When Sonja passed between two buildings and then gasped and fell to her rump, scrambling backwards, Kari was sure that was what was happening. Still, Kari dashed forward with her swords at the ready to make sure there were no hidden attackers while Aeligos grabbed careful hold of his sister and tried to talk her down.
“Easy, Sonja, easy,” the rogue said. “You need to close off your mind; you’re just seeing things from the past.”
Kari was glad he knew how to talk her down. She glanced around the area but didn’t see anyone or anything out of the ordinary. She checked the sand and loose soil for any sign of tracks or footprints, but there was nothing. Sonja’s reaction certainly seemed to explain why the people thought the island was haunted, and consequently why the army built a beachhead to the south rather than repairing and using the old village. Kari was about to turn back to her friends and suggest they move on when something caught her eye.
Across the way, between two buildings, she’d seen the golden, slit-pupiled eyes of a pale syrinthian again. She might have cast any suspicion aside had she not seen Turillia in Sorelizar, Si’Dorra, and even Anthraxis when she was on Mehr’Durillia. She caught only the most fleeting glimpse before the vision of the half-syrinthian, half-succubus woman was out of sight again. Kari moved off to see if she was imagining things, or if Turillia really was there.
“Kari, where are you going?” Aeligos called after her.
Kari heard him take up pursuit, but she kept her eyes forward and made her way quickly to where she thought she’d seen Turillia. Kari kept her swords at the ready, but even as she turned the corner of a burned out shell of a house, she glanced at the dirt and saw nothing. Not only was there no Turillia, there were no tracks, no sign that the woman had been there at all. Kari knew the succubus assassin was skilled, but walking across damp soil without leaving any trace was something that took arcane trickery to accomplish. It was possible Turillia could’ve used such to fool Kari, but then she didn’t see, hear, or smell any trace of the woman either.
“What’s wrong?” Aeligos asked when he reached Kari’s side.
“I could swear I saw Turillia again,” she said, and she sighed when she saw the confusion on his face. “The succubus assassin I killed in Barcon; we saw her a few times when we were on Mehr’Durillia. And now I swear I just saw her here! Either she’s alive and she’s following me, or she has a twin or other sibling that is.”
Aeligos touched Kari’s shoulder gently. “You’ve been under a lot of stress, and no doubt you were under a lot when you were on Mehr’Durillia,” he said. “It’s fear trying to give your mind something to focus on; try to deal with it. Don’t ignore it, on the off chance your instincts are telling you something, but don’t let it drive you crazy.”
Kari nodded and turned to pat his face. Her foot caught at something in the dirt, and she squatted and dug out whatever it was. She came up with a ragged old doll, mostly rotted away with time, but enough of it remained for Kari to recognize the child’s toy for what it was. When she looked up at Aeligos, she could plainly see that he understood exactly what emotions the toy had evoked in her, and he helped her back to her feet. Kari tossed the ragged old toy into the ruined building and tried to get it off her mind.
“What happened here?” Kari muttered, not really expecting an answer.
“Fear overrode common sense and morality,” Aeligos responded. “It’s a fairly common thing, but not to this degree. I mean, our people have been dealing with the same thing since the first of us was born, but there was never a war to get rid of us as a whole. I can’t help but think there had to be something else involved with all this, and for Gori Sensullu to have stayed silent while his people made war on each other…it doesn’t make sense.”
“No, it certainly doesn’t,” Kari agreed, and she and Aeligos made their way back to the others. When Kari and Sonja’s eyes met, the scarlet-haired woman turned her gaze away as if ashamed. “It’s all right, Sonja. Let’s head up to the Temple and see what we can find out.”
They detoured south first, and Kari introduced herself and her friends to the military unit stationed on the island. Major Peter Millar was in charge there, and though he was courteous and quite respectful of Kari’s place as head of the Demonhunter Order, she wasn’t impressed with him. A fishing boat had docked at the village pier and unloaded several people, and not one member of his military unit – scout or otherwise – had come to see who they were. If this was the type of “protection” the Duke’s military was offering the Temple, then Kari would have to have a talk with the Duke when she got back to DarkWind.
Fortunately, Kari knew there were also a couple of hunters stationed up by the Temple to help keep watch over it. She hoped those two were of more use than the Major or his unit, and the Major’s assurance that nothing out of the ordinary had happened since his arrival didn’t ease Kari’s suspicions at all. For all he knew, a ship full of Mehr’Durillian pirate demons could have landed on the far shore and urinated all over the Temple, and the Major probably wouldn’t have had any idea. Ultimately, Kari decided not to bother picking a fight with the officer, and she and her companions headed toward the Temple.
There was a rocky road that led up the side of the sierra and into its spine, and Kari and her friends followed it all the way up to the Temple. The closer they got, the more impressive the structure looked. While it was not as large or as decorative as Gori Sensullu’s grand temple in Sarchelete, it was a flawless piece of architecture and construction nonetheless. Even after thousands of years of standing at the top of a peak on a sun-drenched, windy island that was subject to coastal weather and salt-water corrosion, its white marble walls and face showed no signs of wear whatsoever.
The sun stayed over the horizon for a long while thanks to their elevation, and Kari and her friends reached the Temple long before sundown. Kari was immediately concerned: there was no sign of any demonhunters camped at or near the front of the Temple. She supposed they might be camped off to the side somewhere, or perhaps down the sierra beyond the Temple itself, but the closer they got, the less likely that seemed. When they made the final approach, Kari could see that there were bedrolls and the remains of an old fire pit near the door, but none looked like they’d been used in a week or more.
Aeligos turned to the side and walked along the rocky edge of the path, and after only a few moments he swore under his breath, which was uncharacteristic for him. “Kari, you’re going to want to take a look at this,” he said.
Kari was pretty sure she d
idn’t, but she walked over and climbed up beside him anyway. Just as she’d feared, there were two bodies lying crumpled unnaturally down the side of the rocky decline. There was one human and one rir, and after looking at them for a minute, Kari could see that their heads, while near their bodies, were not attached. She put her hand over her eyes and tried to beat back her sorrow with a deep breath and a long sigh. Aeligos’ hand falling on her shoulder helped a little bit.
“Are they dead?” Sonja asked when she climbed up beside them, but her question didn’t need answering. She could clearly see for herself the moment she laid eyes on the bodies. She looked back up to Kari and Aeligos. “Taesenus?”
“That’d be my guess,” Aeligos said, and Kari agreed silently.
“I’ll fetch them up, and we can give them a proper burial,” Sonja said.
“Funeral pyre,” Kari corrected, turning to her sister-in-law after a moment. “We’ll give them a hunter’s funeral: no bodies for the necromancers or the demons to play with. I’ll take their tags back to the Order, and we can give them a military funeral there.”
“All right, Kari,” Sonja said grimly, and she floated down with her arcane power to go retrieve the bodies.
“Who is this Taesenus?” Se’sasha asked when Kari and Aeligos returned.
“To put it in a way you’d understand, he’s the son of our Overking,” Danilynn said, and Se’sasha’s eyes lit up with sudden recognition. “We managed to kill Seril, who was like the Overking to us, and we’d all thought her son was dead, too. Now, if he’s alive, I’m not sure how much we can trust the assumption that his mother is, either.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Kari said. “In any case, it seems he’s back to what he was doing the first time he got killed, so we’re going to need to find some way to do it again. The two hunters that were guarding the Temple here were killed, and by the looks of it, it was him again.”
