by JD Franx
“Hold on, Sisters,” Kyah said. “While I help him with the cramps.”
“Oh, look,” Ashea said, giggling. “He bit off the end of his tongue.”
“My, my, lover. We cannot have that, can we? Let me fix it for you. We must be moving soon. The Cardessa will be waiting for us farther north.” Kael felt the remarkably gentle touch of her right hand as she caressed his chin. Healing magic flowed into his mouth, sealing the tip of his tongue. Her left hand glided over his neck, shoulder, and left arm, loosening the muscle cramps still reacting to the collar’s magic.
As the initial ferocity of the modified Gyhhura collar faded, it still took every ounce of willpower Kael had to deal with the throbbing waves of savage agony ripping through his entire body. With the cramps easing away, he could at last move. He forced himself to his feet, if for no other reason than as a show of defiance.
His stomach flipped as he understood the women were Kyah’s ternion. Desperate to maintain control of his rapidly rising fear and panic, Kael tried to steady his breathing as the seriousness of his situation set in. It had taken months to conserve enough power to break through the last Gyhhura, and Ashea was right. He could feel the differences in the one embedded in his neck.
Kael watched as Kyah and Ashea turned their backs and began packing up the campsite, giving him a few minutes alone. Having a better understanding of his magic than he did six months ago, Kael wasted no time in testing the collar’s strength. Probing at it with the trace amount of magic he still had access to made him smile when nothing happened. At first. Concentrating harder, he released a second trickle of magic against the collar. Carefully, he guided the soft, black essence against where the spikes had been forged to the collar. Unable to see the symbols engraved on the collar’s inner rim, his magic danced lightly over the runic script, triggering the collar’s offensive magic. Every nerve in Kael’s body lit up like a Fourth of July fireworks display back home. Sparks of torment raced along every nerve, exploding outwards from his neck and tearing down every limb. Unable to form a coherent thought, Kael couldn’t pull back the trace amounts of magic. The agony rolled onward unabated, driving him to his knees. Kyah turned at the commotion and frowned, but Ashea burst into hysterical laughter. Though he had no idea which, one of the other witches planted her foot on Kael’s back and shoved him into the dirt, cursing.
“Gods cursed whiny coward. Suffer like a true DeathWizard,” the witch barked.
He sighed as the contact broke his connection to the magic he trickled onto the collar. The explosions of nerve pain lessened to a steady, familiar tingling.
For reasons Kael could not understand, Kyah refused to allow his torment to continue. “Quit wasting time, all of you. Get him on his horse, unless you would like to explain to the Cardessa why we’re late!” she ordered. The two witches and their novice jumped to do as she asked and put Kael up on his horse. Though much reduced, misery continued to wash through him, matching the cadence of his palpitating heart. Desperation pushed at his soul as he focused on trying to fight against the steady affliction caused by the Gyhhura, to no effect.
During his rehabilitation program for gunshot wounds four years ago, Kael was taught methods of controlling and mastering pain. Grasping at these last straws of hope, he concentrated on his breathing. It was a futile attempt to bring the anxiety and fear under control.
Noticing his struggle, Kyah mounted her horse and moved closer. Shoulder-to-shoulder, she stared at him with narrowed eyes. “Forgotten how to deal with the Gyhurra’s pain, my love?”
“Worse this time...” he began. His breath caught in his throat before expelling forcefully through clenched teeth.
“Worse?” Kyah snatched the collar, pulling him closer. The pain renewed ten-fold for a few seconds, but soon began to fade as Kael recognized the magic Kyah fed into the collar. His frazzled nerves returned to near normal as the collar’s torture began to diminish. “A gift, love. I’d hate to see you in so much pain. We do have a ways to go.”
Kael took a deep breath to calm himself further. The sweetness in her voice made his stomach lurch. With a crooked smile, her fingers slid from the collar and Kael heeled his horse in an attempt to be away from her. He followed the other women as they took their mounts and left the overnight campsite.
Less than twenty minutes had passed when Ashea rode up beside Kael. She said nothing, but eyed him up and down, closely. He turned, immediately regretting the pain it caused as the four spikes gouged the nerves in his neck. Even so, he still smiled, wondering whether the young novice had the courage to poke at him like a collared beast, especially after what had happened in Arkum Zul.
“Are you surprised to see me, Master?” she asked. Kael thought better about shaking his head, knowing from past experience the pain it would cause.
“Just disappointed,” he replied.
Not phased by the remark, she continued, “May I speak freely with you, Master?” she enquired, as she touched his arm. He was surprised at her gentleness.
“I can’t stop you,” he stated.
“Why do you fight so hard against what you are? I see the spirit of dark magic radiating off you, and yet, you continue to try to help people instead of ruling over them like you were born to do. It is your right, Master,” she said, her voice heavy with conviction.
Kael looked at her long and hard before answering. “Birth does not convey the right to rule any more than by force, fear, or intimidation. Do you understand what that means, Ashea?”
“I do. But that is wrong. Your kind were created by the gods to rule all of Talohna, by force if necessary. Jasala Vyshaan knew this, only she failed because the Dead Sisters of her time could not get to her to help her fight. She was hidden from us by the same type of people who want to kill you even now. Had we been there, there would have been no Cataclysm, no loss of innocent lives, and the world would be a prosperous place for everyone. Not just the rich, noble, and royal.”
Kael could tell she was looking for his approval, as if a few words from him could validate everything she’d been taught. It was so ridiculous coming from the mouth of a twelve or thirteen year old that he almost laughed. The pain from the collar would have been worth it. He decided to try a different path instead. “I can promise you, Ashea, that my kind were not created or born to rule anything. We are either a freak of nature, a mutation, or else we’re the spawn of Hell.”
“I believe you are wrong, Master.”
“How do you know what you believe? You were raised by a group of radical extremists. We have them in our world, too, and just like them, you believe what they tell you is true. You follow blindly, and you don’t have the courage to seek out the truth for yourself.” It wasn’t a question, but the smile on Ashea’s face sent a shiver up his spine.
“I don’t need to look for the truth. I already know what it is.” He realized he had said exactly what she had wanted him to. She carried on smiling as they rode north along the trail.
“We are taught from a very young age about our history and yours. The Sisters teach from written scrolls ten thousand years old. Our library in the DemonBone Valley is extensive. I spend as much time there as I am allowed. But the truth, the real truth, lies in the carvings of our monolith.” Kael’s breath froze in his lungs as the word crossed over her lips. Ashea noticed, and her smile widened. “Yes, Master. We have one too. There are several monoliths. It’s why we travel north as well. With a second one, the Dead Sisters will have even more of the truth about you. You’ll see, Master. You’re best chance is with us. Perhaps Master Sythrnax will help open your eyes some day.”
Doubt clawed at his mind. As a person who always believed the root of most evil resided in the lies created to justify the atrocities people committed, Kael paled at the idea that such lies could be the truth. It meant that he and those like him were created for the sole purpose of serving evil. It was something he refused to believe.
Contradiction is the greatest weapon against the lies put forth
by evil, whether in Talohna or on Earth. Lies were seldom consistent. Kael had not been able to read much of the book he found in Jasala’s tower, but he knew beyond a doubt that some DeathWizards predated the Dead Sisters by at least two thousand years, maybe more. A history of lies created to justify their evil gave him his contradiction.
“Ashea? Have you ever been to Jasala’s tower?” he asked.
“No, Master. We can no longer enter without raising the alarm of the ArchWizard, the Third Pillar and certain members of the Inari. We haven’t been able to enter the lands of the Forsaken since the Cataclysm caused by Jasala’s death.”
Kael smiled. “Were you aware that I came through your interdimensional bridge just outside of her eastern bell tower?” Her eyes grew wide and for a split second she reminded him of Cassie, a young girl fascinated by something new.
“No, Master. We suspected, but we were not sure where you came through. Did you enter her tower? Oh, how I wish we could go there. To see where she fought the blasphemers... It is my dream.” She responded with the eagerness of the excited child she still was.
“I read part of Jasala’s grimoire while I was there...”
“What did it say, Master?” Ashea asked. She was almost giddy with excitement.
“I read that DeathWizards predate the Dead Sisters by two thousand years. Did you know that?” He watched Ashea process the information. She shook her head, vehemently.
“No. That’s... Can’t be true. You’re lying.”
“Why would I lie?”
“Where is this book then? With your belongings?” Kael swallowed, painfully, as he realized what he just did.
“No, the room was warded, I couldn’t remove the grimoire.”
“Oh,” Ashea said, disappointed. Kael sighed a breath of relief and hoped Kyah would forget the grimoire and potions from Jasala’s tower were in his bag, especially with everything that was going on.
Kael knew that telling Ashea any more truth would cause nothing but more trouble, and as fanatical as the Dead Sisters were, it would only cause him more grief. The seed of doubt was planted, and he had have to wait to see if it grew further.
“There is nothing else there to see, Ashea. The tower is in ruins and the battlefield is littered with bones. That is all,” he lied.
“Still, to see it...” she trailed off.
“Ashea, how about you tell your leader to come talk to me? Unless she is too afraid,” he taunted, knowing it would get Kyah to talk.
“Mistress Kyah fears nothing, Master. I will pass her your request.” She rode ahead until she was beside Kyah, who turned her head to glare. Nodding to Ashea, she gestured for the young novice to ride ahead. Kyah’s horse slowed and Ashea rode further out front.
“You wished to see me, love? I assume Ashea’s conversation and glowing worship of you is becoming a bore?” She chuckled.
Kael scoffed. “You finally found that sense of humour you were looking for, did you?” Not expecting an answer, he carried on. “Don’t bother with the love crap. It demeans us both.”
“I will not,” she said. “My feelings for you have not changed. In fact, I love you more now than when I first met you, but we must do something about your insistent desire to ignore what you are. We will meet with the Cardessa, and she will tell us how to carry on with what must be done. You have hung on to the memory of your dead wife for far too long. I have tried repeatedly to make you love me, knowing it would be easier when this day came, but you have an unnatural resistance to my charms, and a mystical resistance to glamours and seduction spells. You have used every opportunity to avoid being with me physically, with only two exceptions. Tonight, however, you will have to resist the magic of all the Sisters who will be joining us, and even you can’t do that. By morning, you will love me in return, even if it is by the grace of magic. Your wife’s memory will be but a lost shadow wandering the furthest and darkest corners of your mind.”
She smiled and ran her fingers along his cheek.
In for a long night and with no way around the path he was on, Kael turned away from Kyah and focused his resolve. He knew full well the only reason he was still breathing after so many months in Talohna was that others, mainly Lycori and Kyah, had been there to keep him alive. There would be no Lycori coming to his rescue like in Jasala’s bell tower or in the mountain pass west of Ipea. No Galen to carry his unconscious body into the depths of the earth to hide from Orotaq hunters. No quick switch or tricks of illusion to pull and deceive his way out like back in Dasal, and no necromancer warrior staying in the room next door. This time he was on his own. It scared the hell out of him.
With no magic and his reaper-blades hung over a Dead Sister’s saddle, spelled with shimmering magic that would probably kill him if he touched them, he was at a total loss for what to do, or for a way out. There was nothing he could do and that terrified him even more. The last time such a thing happened, people died. Deaths that fell squarely on his shoulders.
The thought of doing it again made him sick, even if it might mean his freedom.
HOURS EARLIER
Hours passed as Cassie raced through the trees in a frantic attempt to reach Kael in time to offer him the help he would soon need. Having been forced to slow down twice, however, her stomach was cold with the fear she might be too late. The first delay came at dark. Though she could see in the dead of night better than most animals—a secret Cassie had shared with no one—she still had to slow her break-neck speed as full darkness descended. Then at close to midnight with both moons high in the sky, just as she had enough moonlight to travel through the trees with greater speed once again, movement from below her forced her to stop. Only the Elvehn trackers of legends and myth could move through the tree-tops without making a sound.
Easing her way lower through the branches, Cassie watched as a group of twelve women travelled on the trail heading north. Since Kyah had helped her with the bonding and shown her how to use the magic hidden deep inside her, Cassie had discovered some things she had never noticed before. The first was the aura of energy around every single person she could see. If she focused on an individual hard enough, a living, pulsating aura of colour lit up around them. Every person’s was unique, but some had startling similarities. The women below her all had a similar aura to Kyah, which meant they had to be on their way to help her.
Dressed in flowing white robes made them look like divine phantoms highlighted by the moonlight as they rode through the dark forest, but their auras showed something else entirely. Strands of darkness within the auras melted into the blackness of the forest’s shadows as if they were one. It made her shiver with fear; the chill in her stomach increased further as the riders raced away.
Using their shimmering movements, Cassie followed, hoping they would lead her all the way to Kael. Running high up through the trees, she saw the campsite and angled directly for it, arriving several minutes before the robed women. When Kyah walked out of the darkness and met the riders, Cassie knew she’d been right. Kyah talked to the women about fifty feet from the camp. Frowning, Cassie left them and went to look for Kael, unsure as to why he hadn’t woken at the pounding feet of the speeding horses. Kyah’s laugh drifted to her ears, along with the fear-inducing boast about Kael not waking for some time.
Cassie’s aunt had used different plants and roots to do such things for the injured and sick back in Cairnwood, and her throat caught at the reminder of what happened to her town only a few days ago. The loss suffered was quickly forced from her mind as she looked down at Kael from the tree. He was sound asleep, propped against a log. Struggling with how to help him, she dropped to the ground and crawled up behind the log Kael had chosen to spend the night against.
Peeking over the top and seeing no one, Cassie gently placed both her hands on Kael’s shoulders and shook him, before quickly ducking back down as Kyah glanced back over her shoulder. Cassie hurried and shook him harder, but he merely groaned, mumbling something about embers. She did not know why he
would be dreaming about a fire, but she shook him a third time nonetheless. Finally, he opened his eyes, but was looking at the far side of the camp, so she followed his line of sight just in time to see Kyah re-enter the camp. Cassie ducked again and scooted backwards to her tree, climbing up the far side and into the dense cover higher up.
Situated on a heavy limb, protected by foliage, she looked down in time to see Kael smile and roll over. He was back asleep in seconds. Knowing there would be no way to wake him with Kyah so close, Cassie watched the female riders disappear back down the mountain trail. Three stayed behind and entered the camp.
Losing her one chance to warn Kael, Cassie tried hard not to cry and instead found a double ‘Y’ branch in her tree and secured herself to get some sleep. Accepting she’d have to wait for another chance to help Kael, she closed her eyes but struggled to sleep.
Dawn came six hours later, and Cassie woke to movement below her. She climbed part-way down the tree for a closer look. Her cheeks flushed with heat as she saw Kyah straddle Kael, her unlaced top wide open, her breasts exposed. Her embarrassment quickly turned to horror as she saw a young girl her own age slowly approach Kael from the exact same direction she had the night before. The collar in her hand was radiant with magic, a putrid green mist coated the metal, dripping like diseased fog onto the ground. The sight of the cruel device and its magic turned Cassie’s stomach. Cassie quickly covered her mouth with her hands, suppressing a scream of warning to Kael. Distracted by Kyah, he never saw or felt the young girl’s approach.
Knowing she could not help, Cassie closed her eyes as tears poured down her cheeks. The collar snapped shut like a hunter’s bear trap. She turned away and climbed higher up when she heard Kael’s reaction to the collar. His cry of agony carried an essence of terror and pain unlike anything she had ever heard. It lasted a few seconds before it stopped as if silenced by the still of death. She hurried back down the tree, afraid the collar had killed him. Kael’s rigid, muscle-locked body brought a sigh of relief to her lips, though she easily recognized the depth of suffering in his eyes.
