by Joe Jackson
“How long have they been dead?” Danilynn asked. “Do you think they were killed before or after we fought him?”
“Before,” Aeligos said. “Hard to make out much detail from up here, but they’ve been dead a while. I can’t believe the soldiers down below didn’t even notice.”
“I’d like to walk down there and strip that idiot of his rank,” Kari said. “I guess I’ll have to settle for getting the Duke to do it. I mean, I understand this was probably a boring and stupid assignment for them, but they cost two of my hunters their lives, and they weren’t even aware that someone could’ve broken the seal on the Temple.”
“Yes, you’ll have to explain what this is all about,” Se’sasha said, eyeing the door.
The face of the Temple had tile mosaics on the left and right: on the left was the image of Gori Sensullu, unsullied and unmarred by the sun, the wind, the rain, or the salt of the sea. On the right was a beautiful golden-eyed, white-haired terra-bengal woman that surely had to be Tisa Ch’Brakkh. Between the mosaics was the grand doorway, which was engraved with an odd writing and a six-pointed star. Closer inspection revealed that each point of the star had a niche about the size of a person’s fists clasped together, and in the center of the star was a hemisphere that stood out from the marble face.
Kari inspected the writing, but it looked like chicken scratch to her. She could read a few different languages that were comprised of symbols rather than individual letters and words like the common Citarian trade tongue, but whatever was written here was completely alien to her. It wasn’t even the language of the czarikk or the syrinthians, the latter of which Kari couldn’t read, but would’ve recognized from her time in Sorelizar. Whatever was written, there was a lot of it, and Kari had to wonder if it was prophecy, directions to open the door, something historical, or if it was, in fact, just gibberish.
“Any thoughts?” Kari asked Aeligos, or anyone else for that matter.
“I don’t recognize the writing,” the rogue said, his tone making it clear that that shouldn’t be a surprise. Se’sasha and Danilynn echoed him. “I find it interesting that it hasn’t reacted to your presence in similar fashion to that portal when we struck it. Maybe you should try touching that hemisphere in the center? I don’t know what’ll happen, but if you’re supposed to be part of the key, it can’t hurt to try, right?’
“Part of the key?” Se’sasha repeated, her golden eyes taking Kari in curiously. “You are able to open this Temple somehow?”
“If I had the six other keys, yes,” Kari said, gesturing toward the niches at the six points of the star. “I’m guessing they go in there, and then I can open the door somehow. I’m afraid no one ever bothered to explain it to me. As it stands, I found out because of Emma.”
“If the Overking wants this Temple open, there must be something immensely powerful within,” Se’sasha said. “Now I understand why you needed my help to counter the schemes of the kings.”
Sonja got the two dead hunters to the top of the rocky sierra. Kari and Aeligos found some spades among the hunters’ gear, but Danilynn ripped one of them from Kari’s grip and then wagged her finger in front of the demonhunter. Kari chuckled despite the situation, and allowed the priestess to treat her like a pregnant woman. Aeligos and Danilynn dug out a depression in which to stack some wood and other flammables to make a pyre, and Sonja flew down to the far side of the island to find some wood. Kari wasn’t sure if Sonja was flying with her wings or her arcane power; it seemed to be a combination of the two.
Kari walked over and picked up the tags from the slain hunters’ bodies. Ursula Moirez del Rey and Richard Sil’savarra were their names. Kari recognized the human woman: she had only graduated from the Academy a couple of years before, while Kari was on administrative duty. The terra-rir male was unknown to her, but that didn’t make his loss any less personal to Kari. He was a brother in arms, a fellow hunter, and as head of the Order, his life – or, more pointedly, his death – was Kari’s responsibility. With everything else Taesenus had done in his life, it was hard for Kari to imagine wanting to kill him any more than she already did, but as she held the hunters’ tags in her hands, she found a new depth to her fury.
Zalkar’s symbol began to glow through her breastplate again, and Kari glanced around suspiciously. She wasn’t sure what kept making it do that, but despite the fact that it usually raised everyone’s hackles – hers included – she enjoyed the feeling. It was like Zalkar was always a part of her now. That thought gave her pause, and she wondered if perhaps it had something to do with being head of the Order. She wasn’t an Avatar, but she was finding that Zalkar was reacting to her thoughts and desires anyway.
“I feel better knowing the Unyielding is around to help,” Aeligos said. “I think when Sonja gets back, we can take care of setting a pyre for these poor souls and then camp the night up here. In the morning we can study the Temple under nice, strong sunlight and see if it will offer up any of its secrets to us – or, more specifically, to you.”
“Yea, that sounds like a good plan,” Kari said. “I wonder if the funeral pyre will even attract the attention of that imbecile down there.”
There was a long silence while they waited for Sonja to come back, but it was finally broken by Se’sasha. “I am sorry about your brother,” she said quietly. “Going to the valley and fighting that madman…this was all my fault.”
Aeligos’ brows rose and Kari waved off the priestess’ words. “No, it wasn’t,” Kari said. “I’ve thought about that a lot. Only two people outside of this group and my Order knew where we were going, and only those two people knew I was probably going to have Taesenus’ second sword when we got there.”
“You think Amastri betrayed you to the Demon Prince?” Aeligos reasoned.
“Nothing else makes sense,” Kari said. “I’m not the thinker you are, Aeligos, but only Koursturaux and Amastri knew where we were going and what we’d have with us. Why else would Koursturaux have asked for that sword? It can’t be coincidence that we brought Se’sasha back here and the price we paid for her was that sword, can it? We bring Se’sasha back, she has to go commune with her mother, Koursturaux knows where Se’ceria’s grave is and asks me to go get this sword. Then not even a week after I get the sword back from Lawrence, Taesenus shows up in a valley few people know about to take it from us? It seems like that was Koursturaux’ plan all along to me.”
Aeligos tilted his head and shrugged. “That’s a hard theory to argue against.”
“Well, this won’t go unanswered,” Kari said. “I know the Council said to leave Amastri be, but I’m going to send her head back to Koursturaux in a box. We’ll see how she likes that.”
The rogue held his hand up. “Not sure I’d go that far just yet,” Aeligos said. “While what you said makes sense, it’s still just a theory. Something to look into, yes, but not something to act on, and certainly not like that.”
“It would be most unwise to make war against King Koursturaux, particularly when you are so unprepared for such,” Se’sasha agreed. “If you wish to have any hope of ever defeating the kings on any level, you must approach it cautiously, after careful planning, and from a position of strength. Anger is not strength, Kari, no matter how much it may feel like it is.”
Kari sighed. “I know; you’re right,” she said. “I just…I could stab that woman for sitting there and lying to my face, you know? I mean, if she was a demon, I could at least understand it. But if she’s not and she’s that evil anyway, I think that actually makes her worse.”
“No argument there,” Danilynn said.
Sonja returned with some wood, though it wasn’t much. The island didn’t have much in the way of trees, and certainly no forests, but Sonja was able to find bits from the old village and from around the few copses here and there. She assured Kari that she would use her arcane power to make the pyre burn hotter and more efficiently to get the job done. As she’d done for Uldriana, Sonja summoned a couple of simple urns t
o gather the ashes of the fallen when they were cremated. Danilynn and Se’sasha each said prayers over the dead, and Kari saluted them and held her fist across her heart while Sonja started the fire.
The fire burned down over the night, consuming the dead hunters efficiently. Kari wasn’t surprised that none of the soldiers from the camp down below came to see what the fire was. It was just one more thing for her to be furious about, but she kept her anger under wraps and tried not to stew in it for too long. The officers would get their justice from the Duke, and Kari had to keep her mind on the things she could control. Danilynn and Se’sasha prayed together under the light of the rising sun, and Kari, Sonja, and Aeligos gathered up the ashes of the fallen while they waited for the priestesses to finish.
With the urns filled and the prayers finished, the five companions beheld the face of the Temple under the strong light of the morning sun. The face of the Temple was on the south side, which struck them all as odd; they had guessed it would face north, so it would be facing into the sun for virtually the entire year. Aeligos didn’t bother to dwell on that too long, and he asked Sonja for some parchment and a writing implement. Soon, he was seated on a rocky outcropping near the Temple door, and started copying down what was written there exactly.
Kari was a little nervous about touching the door, but ultimately she concluded that was what she was “born to do.” She stepped forward and laid her palm on the hemisphere that stuck out of the star’s center, unsure what exactly she was supposed to do. When her hand touched the cool marble of the hemisphere, a pale light began to glow in each of the six niches. Kari wasn’t surprised by that: she was missing the other six keys to actually open the door. The positive was that any doubt – and there really wasn’t any – that she was Salvation’s Dawn was wiped away. Not only did the door react to her touch, but she reacted to the door’s as well: the symbol of Zalkar began to glow through her breastplate again.
Se’sasha approached and gently touched Kari’s shoulder. “Place both hands upon the stone,” she said. Kari did so, and everyone got to their feet and gasped at the reaction. Now the star itself glowed, and symbols appeared in each of the six niches. “Just as I suspected! Look at these symbols: this is for Ashakku; that one is Be’shatha; and this one here is Huirelius! These must represent the others: Ambergaust, Viggaru, and Xinxis. And you – your connection to the center must represent Arakiel: the deity you called Gori Sensullu.”
“Wait; how do you know all this?” Aeligos asked in awe, and the looks of the others echoed his words. “You’re saying the seals…they represent these other deities, and Kari represents Gori Sensullu, or Arakiel, then?”
Se’sasha glanced around suspiciously. “We must leave,” she said. “We have a drawing of the Temple’s face and its writing, and, more important, we now know what is inside.”
“We do?” Kari balked. “How? What is it?”
“Not here,” Se’sasha said, gesturing down the sierra. “We have a distinct advantage over the demon kings, but the longer we stand here studying and talking, the more likely we are to inadvertently inform our enemies. Let us leave this place, and I will explain when we are home. For now, I will tell you only that these symbols correspond to memories of my mother’s; images from the oral histories of our people that she was never able to share with me while she was alive. Yet, you have brought us together, and now her knowledge resides in me. And I will share it with you and your Order, only not here.”
Kari looked at the others and could see they were just as excited as she was. They made their way down the mountain hastily. Thankfully there were no surprise appearances by Emma, Taesenus, Amastri, or any of the other spies for the demon kings. Se’sasha seemed sure she knew what was in the Temple, and whatever it was, she didn’t want to let it be known anywhere that wasn’t completely secure. Kari decided the best place to hear her out would be Kyrie’s house: it was not only warded from intruders and magical spying, but Kari could control who was there when Se’sasha divulged the specifics.
They returned to the military encampment first. Kari took a tactful approach and asked the Major respectfully to keep a couple of squads up at the Temple door to watch for trouble. He didn’t seem overly concerned, but neither did he offer much argument. Kari then informed him that her hunters had been killed, and it was as though someone had dropped a sphere of burning pitch in the center of the camp. Suddenly the defense of the Temple became a huge priority, and Kari and her friends left before she could get angry and say anything rude.
Captain Smedley picked them up when they reached the pier of the seterra-rir ruins, and ferried them back across to Brigham. Despite the fact that the man was a civilian and obviously quite curious, he didn’t ask any questions or nose into his passengers’ business. His crew was rough around the edges but they made every effort to be polite. Kari made sure to thank the captain again, and once she and her friends were all reunited at the inn in Brigham, Sonja took them all home.
At Kari’s request, they arrived at Kyrie’s house and caused a minor disturbance there, rather than arriving at a random place in the city or on the Order’s campus. Kari would have to go and inform the Order’s clerks of the two hunters’ deaths and make arrangements for a funeral, but first she wanted to get Typhonix safely home. As it was, there was a lot to explain to Erik and Kyrie, not to mention Serenjols: Ty was still crippled despite Grakin’s continued attempts to heal him, and that was not going to sit well with Kyrie.
Kari sighed as she considered the weight of everything before her: none of it was going to sit well with anyone.
Chapter XXV – Unrest
“Gods, Ty, what happened?!” Kyrie asked as Sonja and Aeligos hobbled up the front steps carrying him.
“I told Kari she looked cute with a baby bump, and she beat me up,” he joked, actually able to manage a smile and a chuckle.
Kyrie’s gaze fell over Kari, but she shook her head and gestured for everyone to get in the house first. Sonja and Aeligos helped Ty to his favorite reading chair, and he got settled into it as well as possible. Kyrie had her hand on the end of her snout as if fighting off tears, and Kari could well understand. Most people that looked at Ty saw a strapping brute they didn’t want to tangle with. To Kyrie, though, Ty was her youngest child: her baby. To see any of her children hurt was hard enough for Kyrie to deal with, but to see her youngest injured like this, Kari could only imagine how painful it was. She knew that Erik would be furious.
“I’ll be upstairs in my room,” Sonja said, though she surprised everyone by teleporting with a thought rather than simply walking upstairs. That, too, spoke volumes not just to Kari, but to Kyrie as well.
The blonde priestess rubbed at her eyes. “Would someone like to please explain what’s happened?” she asked calmly.
Kari sent Little Gray up to his room to play, and the boy went with no argument. Kari had no doubt he was happy to be home again, away from the chaos of the ordeal, and back where his toys were. Once he was out of earshot, Kari spoke up. “This is my fault,” she said. “I never should have trusted the ‘help’ of a demon king, and this is the result of that. I’m sorry it was you that got hurt, Ty. This is my fault; it should’ve been me.”
“Don’t talk like that,” Ty said. “This wasn’t your fault. As soon as we can get a wheeled chair or something, I’ll head to Tigron’s temple and see if they can do anything. I’ll be fine.”
“If anything, it is my fault,” Se’sasha said. “It was my request to go speak with the spirit of my mother that led to this.”
“All right, seriously, would the two of you knock it off?” Aeligos said irritably. He wasn’t usually one to get upset and be rude, so it served to really get Kari’s attention along with everyone else’s. “You know whose fault this is? This is Taesenus’ fault. He’s the one that attacked Ty. Maybe Koursturaux or Amastri were behind it, maybe they weren’t, but the blame for this falls squarely on Taesenus. So, really, let’s concentrate on finishing what we started, a
nd we’ll see if we can take vengeance on him. But this claiming blame nonsense has got to stop.”
“Taesenus?” Kyrie asked, barely more than a hoarse whisper. “Isn’t he dead?”
No one answered; even Ty held his tongue despite the opportunity to make a wisecrack. Kari straightened up. “That’s something we’re going to have to talk to Kaelariel about,” she said. “Seems it was a surprise to him as well. I’d heard that Kaelariel killed Taesenus near the end of the War, but there’s no doubt that’s who attacked us at the temple.”
“The Temple of Archons?” Kyrie asked.
“No, although he killed the hunters that were guarding that Temple,” Kari answered, and she sighed. “Aeligos is right, though: we need to finish what we started. Se’sasha, you said you knew what was inside the Temple of Archons; can you tell us, now that we’re in this warded house?”
Se’sasha looked around at all of the people in the room, and when she glanced back at Kari, the demonhunter nodded: there wasn’t anyone in the room they couldn’t trust. “When I communed with my mother, along with all of her experiences on this world, she imbued me with the memories of her own early life growing up, learning how to be high priestess,” she began. She took a seat, and everyone else did so as well, waiting to hear what she had to say. “You have been told that my people have no god but Sekassus: on the surface, this is true, but our people have not forgotten Ashakku or our roots under his benevolent rule. I was denied this education because my mother was taken from me when I was but a girl, but in communing with her, I have learned much of what has been passed down among the priestesses of my people for thousands of years.”
Se’sasha brought her hands together in her lap. “Ashakku is our god and our maker: he created my people; he created the sylinths, our guardians; and he created the czarikk, our kin. However, our people are not the only ones indigenous to the world of Mehr’Durillia, and the others are not Ashakku’s children. There were other gods, and one can see their work in the other races that share our world: beshathans – mallasti, elestram, and erestram – were created by Be’shatha the Lifegiver, considered a ‘sibling’ of Ashakku. Then there are the valirasi, one of the races created by Huirelius the Welcome Rain. Together, Ashakku, Huirelius, and Be’shatha were known as the Holy Siblings, but they were not the sole creators of Mehr’Durillia.”
