by Jeff Gunzel
With a squeal, Viola raised her prop sword and tapped it against Brom’s choreographed swing. Circling each other, the two clacked their swords together, each light tap producing another cheer from the crowd, as well as delighted laughter from Viola. Despite being a ruthless killer in his own right, Xavier had proven to be a masterful entertainer as well.
Caught up in the entertainment, Liam couldn’t help but cheer on Viola as she battled the evil puppet come to life on its own. As far as he could tell, Xavier still hadn’t moved a muscle. Even his hands lay perfectly still, resting on his knees. Scanning across the grinning faces, his eyes landed on one sour expression. Owen seemed to never be in a good mood, and he had undoubtedly seen this routine countless times already. But he wasn’t even watching.
Liam followed the hunter’s gaze over to Assirra giving instructions to other tarrins as they carried the bodies of their fallen brothers. One by one, the bodies were being loaded into the cage, ready to be hoisted up to the temple. He felt a lump in his throat. Taking their minds off what had transpired here was all well and good, but there was still work that needed doing.
He glanced back at Owen, who returned a silent nod. Leaving the others to their fun, the two of them set off to help with the dead. Many of those who had died were up and walking now due to Assirra’s prayers. Although Liam had never found much comfort in religion, he was unable to deny the miracles being performed here.
“You and I should keep gathering the bodies,” Owen suggested. “We’ll just leave them by the cage. The others can hoist them up so Assirra can do her work.” Liam nodded his agreement and the two of them began their search. A great deal of the battle had taken place within the confined area around the boxa tree, so the search didn’t lead them very far. That, and the fact that most of the bodies had already been collected, made for an easier job than expected.
“What of these things?” asked Owen, holding up a dead laberath by the back of its neck. The limp head flopped around grotesquely, its bright-red tongue hanging out and already beginning to swell.
“Burn the wretched creatures,” Liam suggested, eyeing a few scattered on his side as well. “In fact, I think I’ll get started on that little chore. You keep collecting the tarrins while I turn these wretched demon bodies into ash.”
Like a weightless sack, Owen tossed the body near Liam’s feet and turned away to finish searching for those who counted. Liam took his time dragging laberath bodies over to his pile. Searching their bodies randomly just to satisfy his own curiosity, he discovered that several wore gold necklaces of a similar nature, each with a sliding green gemstone carved like the slitted eye of a cat. Collecting them as he went, he couldn’t help but wonder if they symbolized their god somehow. Could such fiendish creatures actually be religious on any level? “I suppose it would depend on the nature of their deity,” he grumbled to himself.
After piling up the remaining bodies, he opened the bag at his side and began rummaging through it. After searching for a time, he frowned at the lone syringe he was able to find. Certain he must have more up in his quarters, he glanced at the perilous steps and quickly decided against going up to retrieve them. Only a matter of weeks ago he would have deemed such rare specimens to be a biological treasure trove. But here he was ready to burn them all while only saving a single vial of blood.
Placing the end of his staff into the stacked carcasses, he felt a lively presence sweeping up behind him. “Liam! Did you see me? I was sword fighting with—” The racing footsteps slowed. Liam turned around to see the smile melting from Viola’s face as she gazed at the pile of bodies.
“That’s close enough, dear,” he said, holding out an open hand. He felt sorry she had seen this much already. “I think it would be best if you went to find Xavier. Perhaps he could use a hand with something.”
She didn’t appear to be disturbed by the sight of so many dead laberaths, only curious. “He’s busy packing up Brom,” she replied, shifting from side to side to get a better look while Liam did his best to block her vision. “I want to watch.”
“Watch?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah.” She shrugged innocently, as if she had just suggested what they should have for dinner. “You’re getting ready to burn them, right? Well, I want to see it.”
“Well, I…I suppose that’s all right,” he replied, unsure if this was such a good idea. It never occurred to him that this sort of thing might not bother her. After all, she had been through so much already that perhaps death didn’t frighten her the way it did other people. Perhaps I try too hard to shelter her. In the end, I suppose my overprotectiveness is not helping in her development. “Well then, cover your mouth like this.” He raised his shirt collar up over his mouth to lead by example. She mimicked his action and watched him place his staff back into the pile.
After muttering a string of seeming gibberish, black spirals of smoke began coiling upward. Bodies still fresh with moisture hissed and popped, releasing an unmistakable tangy scent into the air. Amidst it all, Liam kept glancing back at Viola, making sure the gruesome scene wasn’t too much for her. She looked on while tapping her foot, displaying no real signs of distress.
Once the spell had fully taken hold, Liam was able to step back and admire his work. The spell was not exactly what Viola pictured. What she was witnessing was more a disintegration than an actual fire, heat with no flame as the bodies just charred while crumbling into tiny bits of black ash. Dry, leathery lips curled back, revealing skeletal grins as smoking eyes retreated into blackening sockets. Disappearing flesh revealed white bone before that, too, began to blacken and crumble like caked sand.
Liam continued to eye Viola as she watched in silence, still questioning whether or not letting her watch this was such a good idea. Her red eyes began to squint, no doubt irritated by the pungent fumes. But no, upon second glance it looked to be something else. Moisture glistened in her eyes as a single tear ran down her cheek. Through the outline of her raised shirt, he could see a quivering from her covered mouth. She was definitely upset, despite her attempt to hide it.
“Viola,” he said, turning his back to the pile. “I’m so sorry. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have allowed you to watch.” But when he took a step closer, she took two back, hands rising up to cover her face. “Viola?” he repeated, suddenly unsure as to what was causing her distress.
“We’re not supposed to keep secrets from each other,” she blurted out, unable to control her sobbing any longer. Liam tensed, wondering how she found out about her brother. He was going to tell her...sooner or later.
“Viola, please, I swear I was going to—”
“But I’m afraid to tell you!” she cut him off. It was only in that moment that he realized his presumption had been wrong.
“Tell me what?” he asked, dropping down to one knee in front of her.
“We’re family!” she shouted, her words sounding panicked and desperate. “I don’t want you to leave me. I don’t want to be alone again!”
“Calm down,” said Liam, his voice relaxed and reassuring. “I’m not going anywhere. There is nothing you can say that will drive me away.” He took her by the hand. “I won’t leave you. You have my word.”
“You promise?” she sniffled, eyes watery and bloodshot. He nodded, flashing her a wink and a smile. She hesitated a long time, her nervous fingers tapping together. “I think I’m one of them,” she finally whispered, her eyes slowly riding up to meet his. A long, confused silence ensued as Liam stared at her.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, unable to make sense of her words. “We already know you’re half—” Her head shaking back and forth cut him off. “I don’t understand,” he said, not sure he liked where this conversation was heading.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “My blood is part human, part laberath, and part...ghatin.” She kept her eyes closed, not wanting to see Liam’s expression. Seconds felt like hours as she stood frozen, wishing he would say so
mething, anything. She flinched, then opened her eyes when she felt his large hands cup her cheeks.
“Oh, my poor dear,” he said, sliding his hands down to her shoulders. “I know you’ve had some disturbing dreams of late. But you must realize these figments of your imagination are not real. The mind can play tricks on—”
Viola slapped his hands away. “You think I dreamed it?!” she shouted. A moment ago she was terrified of how he might react once he found out her secret, and now suddenly she was angry because he didn’t believe her. “I am not some child who can’t tell the difference between a dream and reality!”
“You are not a ghatin,” Liam replied, his firm, deep voice leaving little doubt as to where he stood on the subject. “I don’t know who put this in your head. For all I know, you’re just trying to play a joke on an old fool. I’ll hear no more of this foolishness.” He turned his back to her.
“Of course you don’t believe me,” she said, her voice icy calm. “Because it’s impossible, right?” She stalked forward, stopping only a few inches from his back. “Seems to me that there’s been a lot of that lately. Impossibilities, I mean. It’s impossible that the ghatin have found a way to leave their fiery prison, yet you saw them with your own eyes. It’s impossible that I have both human blood and the blood of the laberath, yet you know that I do. You want to know what else is impossible? Owen and Xavier are alive. Neither of them could even walk unassisted, yet alone fight. But somehow they managed to beat Orm’rak? How do you suppose they managed that without my help?”
Anger and denial swirled through Liam all at once. He spun back. “I already told you I will hear no more of this nonsense!” he bellowed, far more aggressively than he had indented. Her words made perfect sense, yet he just couldn’t accept the reality of them.
“That doesn’t make it any less true!” she shrieked, pointing her finger up at his face. In a flash, her whole arm fired outward. At the last second, Liam jerked his head in reflex, the flesh blade just missing his ear before striking the tree behind him. Viola shrieked in horror at the sight of her own arm, panic swelling up inside her. Her body’s reaction was not of her doing, yet it happened anyway.
Slowly, the flesh blade melted back into her body, her arm reforming once again. She stared at her hand as if it were someone else’s, an alien body part that she didn’t even recognize. She gazed up at Liam, tears in her eyes as he stared back, rubbing his own neck in disbelief. She had nearly killed her best friend, and it was all just an accident. The heartache she felt was unbearable.
“I would never hurt you,” she whispered, face contorted in pained agony. She turned and ran as fast as she could.
“Viola, wait!” Liam called, to no avail. She never even turned around. “I’m sorry,” he said to no one. “I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you.”
Chapter 2
With blackened bodies smoldering behind him, Liam stared helplessly at the spot where Viola had disappeared into the forest. Of course she was too fast for him to catch, but he still felt obligated to try. Maybe if she pulled up somewhere, he could still find her. He took only a single step before Owen flashed out of nowhere, stopping Liam with a thick hand pressed to his chest.
“Just let her go,” Owen said. His voice was so soft that it sounded odd coming from the gruff warrior. “She’ll be just fine. Give the girl some time alone to think things through. She’ll be back before you know it.”
Liam grabbed Owen’s wrist and gently twisted his hand away from his chest. “You saw everything?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.
“Aye,” the hunter acknowledged with a nod. “And if ye ask me, it could have been a lot worse.”
Instinctively, Liam’s hand rose up to his neck. Owen was certainly right about that. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” he asked. “You knew and said nothing. Why would you keep something like that from me?”
“Would you have believed us?” came a voice from behind. Xavier came walking up to join them, his puppet Brom safely stored away. “Believe me, we weren’t trying to hide anything from you, Liam. But how were we supposed to tell you we were now certain she had ghatin blood without proof? You would think we were crazy.”
“We saw it with our own eyes,” said Owen, gesturing back to his apprentice. “And now you’ve seen it, Liam. The girl is more special than we ever dreamed.” He pointed up to the temple. “Let’s go inside for a while. You’ll want to have a seat for the story we’re about to tell you.”
* * *
Seated in the front room of the temple, they could hear Assirra working in the other room. Again came the unmistakable gasp of air from a body once deemed dead by any known standard, followed shortly by praise for the deity who had brought life back into the corpse. Moments later, the restored tarrin stumbled past them, hands in the air while mumbling her thanks towards the sky.
But Liam paid little attention to that. In fact, he now deemed the constant string of miracles to be a bit of a distraction. At first he was intrigued because it was hard to believe that such a thing could be real. Now that it was a proven wonder he had witnessed several times, his interest was squarely on Owen and Xavier. He wanted to hear everything with minimal interference.
With Liam hanging on his every word, Owen spun the tale of his battle with Orm’rak in excruciating detail. When he detailed the part about Viola’s physical transformation, Liam’s face turned white. The hunter described how she shifted her arms into hooks of flesh, then used them to drag the laberath down into the cursed ash.
“Now do you understand why we couldn’t tell you earlier?” asked Xavier. “Even though I witnessed it firsthand, even now the story sounds crazy when I hear it out loud.” A long silence ensued as Liam tried to digest all he had learned. “She saved our lives,” Xavier added after a time. “No other being alive could have done what she did.”
Leaning back in his chair, Liam sighed. “And yet, it turns out she may not be as unique as we once thought.” Bewildered at his statement, Xavier and Owen leaned forward in their seats, wondering what the mystic might be hinting at. But before he could go on, their gazes drifted towards the beaded entrance. Liam didn’t have to turn to know who they were looking at. “Come in, my dear,” he said, sounding exhausted and feeling like an old man. “I’m glad you’re back. There is something you need to hear.” His eyes glanced at Owen and Xavier. “Something all of you need to hear.”
With slow, timid steps, Viola entered the room and pulled a chair up near Liam. “Please don’t hate me,” she whispered, her soft words only meant for his ears.
“Never,” he whispered back.
“I meant what I said,” she said, leaning her head against his broad shoulder. “I would never hurt you. I swear it was an accident.”
Liam put a comforting arm around her shoulder. “I know, dear. We’ve already learned to control your laberath thirst, and we can learn to control this as well. In case you hadn’t already noticed, this old fool can be quite stubborn at times. When I set my mind to finding answers, then there is little that can stand in my way. When I say that we will find a way to deal with this as well, you should believe me.” He removed his arm and turned his chair so he could look her in the eyes. “But as I was beginning to say, there is something else we must discuss. As you said, we don’t keep secrets from one another.” When she nodded, he tapped her on the knee and then stood to leave the room. “I’ll be right back.”
Moving down the hall, Liam heard another gasp of air followed by joyous weeping from those around the High Cleric. Entering Assirra’s private chapel, Liam watched the tarrin, who was no doubt dead moments ago, sit up and start coughing as others patted her back. “Odao has chosen me!” she cried out, hands covering her face as she wept.
“Welcome back, sister,” said Assirra, sitting back heavily against the wall. She looked exhausted, but her weary smile showed no regret for the work she was doing. Each tarrin brought back successfully was a life spared, and no amount of weariness could rob that warmth f
rom her heart. This was her calling, and she embraced it with every inch of her being.
Her drained, yet joyful eyes rose to meet Liam as he approached her and sat down beside her. “I see you still remain tireless in your quest,” said Liam, resting his hands on top of his knee as he leaned back.
“Odao does not rest, so neither shall I,” Assirra responded softly, her heavy eyelids threatening to flutter shut.
“But you are no god, and therefore should not be held to such standards,” Liam explained. “Regardless, I have no doubt that Odao smiles upon your valiant efforts.” She rolled her head towards him, her sleepy smile displaying her gratitude. “I...must ask you to do something for me,” he admitted after a time.
“Help our returned sister and take her outside,” Assirra said, motioning towards Thatra. “Let her smell the flowers and breathe the fresh air again...for the first time.”
“As you wish,” said Thatra, pushing off from the wall, then rushing into the red circle to help the revived tarrin to her feet. “Come, sister,” she whispered into her ear. “If Odao is not ready to take you yet, then we welcome you back with open arms.” Towering over the much smaller tarrin, Thatra led her away and down the hall.
“So, then, what is it that you need from me?” Assirra asked after watching them leave.
“I need you to tell the others what you told me,” Liam replied.
The glowing smile melted from her face. “About Viola’s brother?”
“Yes,” Liam confirmed.
Assirra sighed, thumping her head back against the wall. “And what good would that do? It changes nothing.”
“None, I suppose,” Liam admitted, plunking his head back against the wall to mirror her pose. “But Viola still has a right to know. They all do. This is not a small secret, and we have no right to keep it from the others.” They sat in silence for a time before Liam spoke again. “You once spoke of Viola’s tainted blood. At the time, you claimed you weren’t sure what the nature of the disturbance was. But you knew, didn’t you?” Another long silence passed with Assirra saying nothing. “You knew the taint you felt was actually a curse, that the blood of the ghatin flowed through her veins,” he rationalized after a time. Her non-reaction was answer enough.
