Prophecy's Quest

by A. S. Hamilton

  With a sigh, Colnba crouched and lifted the human mage, his muscles protesting at the exertion. He may have mastered moving inanimate things through the planes, but people... well, opportunities to refine his ability in that area were limited. It was not exactly the kind of activity a person who desired to live volunteered for. Setting Matthias on the bed, Colnba checked the mage's planes. He did not appear irreversibly harmed from being dragged so crudely through the planes and Colnba was not as worried about the mage's physical health as much as his mental state, for Matthias might never regain his sense of sanity without immediate and intensive care.

  Day 16 – Dawn

  North Kenar Woods

  Sariah pushed herself slowly to her feet.

  Sentary was leaning over Akileena. 'He is alive,' he reported. 'Just unconscious.'

  Sariah knelt beside him and lightly patted his face until a dazed hand waved her away and blurred, blue-green eyes finally opened.

  Sariah rubbed her shoulder having landed hard enough to bruise. 'What happened?' she asked brusquely.

  'The Saviour just killed every living thing within a thirty-meter radius of himself including Thane Kennelm and all his men,' Akileena replied, awed.

  'All of them... All at once?'

  Sitting up, Akileena nodded in response to Sentary's question.

  Sariah frowned. 'But, he is... Brynn is still alive, right?'

  'I think so,' Akileena breathed. 'At least, there are shields around him, but there is a slight chance they remain as a result of their construction, if he tied them to the environment. At the moment, I cannot know for certain without physically checking.'

  Still feeling shaken, Sentary found a seat on a nearby rock. 'All dead. How?'

  'Give me a moment. I feel like I have been clobbered with a hundred hammers,' Akileena pleaded.

  Sariah handed him a flask and went to check on the others.

  Dawn was breaking slowly and beautifully, the golden rays spearing through the last remnants of the night, turning the deep blue and purple of the sky into pale pinks and oranges. Akileena took a long draught of prayeska and shuddered as it burned through him. What he would give for some soothing zilveran right now. How did people drink this?

  Sariah saw his grimace. 'I normally use it to clean wounds,' she explained.

  Akileena nodded in understanding. He shook himself. 'Give me but a moment, I will access the astral plane and check on Brynn.'

  Sentary leaned forward. 'What do you see?'

  'Carnage with no blood,' Akileena answered. 'All around him is lifeless. The Thane, his soldiers... The plants are withered, the grass, yellow. Even the trees are wilted and bent with the weight of death. The wind does not stir. The very air seems dead.'

  'And Brynn?' Sariah enquired.

  'Kneels among them like a fallen god.'

  'How poetic,' she remarked absently. 'You stay here. I will bring him back,' she ordered sternly.

  'No,' Akileena called out, getting to his feet.

  Sariah halted. Both hawk and warrior seemed to glare at Akileena's objection.

  'To enter into that area is to walk into death's haven,' he said more softly. 'The energy is fading, but the area is still tainted, the plane altered. The birds and animals will not go close — they feel it. I suggest we make camp. I will monitor Brynn and the area about him. When it is safe, I will let you know. Brynn may even come to us. At least we know he survived.'

  Sariah growled in dissatisfaction as she stalked off towards the others.

  Day 16 – Dawn

  North Kenar Woods

  With a mix of triumph and devastation, Brynn sank back to rest against his heels. It all happened in the space of a few heartbeats. As Nathan started to lunge forward, Brynn shifted back while dropping to his knees. Nathan's sword caught him on the side of his neck and slid up past his ear, but the wound was not fatal. At the same time, Colnba tried to shut down Brynn's nervous system, a technique Brynn had never encountered before. As Brynn's focus was entirely on Nathan, Colnba's tactic almost succeeded. All Nathan needed to do was reverse his sword and stab downwards. Brynn's reaction was instinctive — his strike desperate and fatal.

  The may-en-ghi had instructed him in the theory of killing through talent. Brynn had not realised just how hard it would be to control once he began the manoeuvre. Even now, he was straining to reign it in. Not many mages had succeeded in killing with talent alone. Akileena was one of a few.

  What a terrible, horrifying ability, Brynn thought.

  Around him lay Nathan and his men, just as lifeless as the trees, the grass, every plant, every insect… everything. He had drawn out every ounce of energy from his immediate environment with his empath talent, resulting in an area that was utterly without life. And he was still drawing in energy. If anything living entered the area, it would not survive.

  Brynn pushed his mind to focus, struggling to reverse the effect. Sweat ran down his face in droplets and dark shadows skulked beneath his eyes, his pale skin grew grey. Finally, the young mage managed to halt the chain reaction caused by his manoeuvre.

  He was exhausted. Beyond exhausted, the fatigue dragging his mind towards oblivion. It was a tempting refuge, but he could not succumb to it until he restored the balance to the environment. Closing his eyes, Brynn doubted he currently had the capacity. Such a feat was intricate and challenging when he felt rested and alert, right now, it felt impossible. But it needed to be done.

  Opening his eyes, Brynn considered the ruin before him.

  No wounds marked the fallen soldiers and yet their spirits were like blood on his blade. No matter how it was done, death was no easy thing.

  Day 16 – Dawn

  Denas

  Anarya sank back to the physical plane. The real world, she called it. Her breathing came in short gasps and sweat plastered her hair to her face. Never had she been in such a fight before! The spirit that had approached Kai had meant him ill, she had known it, felt it.

  She did not know how she had reached the plane, but she had been able to see Kai's spirit surrounded by others. An ominous feeling had filled her, along with Kai's fear. Her spirit-friend seemed frozen in place. That was when she realised that one of the spirits around him was responsible. The discovery was part intuition, part observation, for the spirit's energy coiled around Kai as if restraining him. Anarya determined that if it was the last thing she did, she would protect the one who had given her refuge and been so kind.

  She had never imagined how easy it would be to fight on the planes. All she had to do was use her emotions to fuel her will, just as Kai had told her. Still, driving off the attacking spirit had required all her strength. Once it was gone, Kai had wasted no time in protecting himself, sending out a tremendous surge of energy. She wondered what he had done, for she could not sense Kai's physical reality from here. Kai assured her that with training, this skill would be hers one day, but without it, she had to go by what she sensed on the plane. After the outburst of energy all the spirits around Kai had withdrawn leaving her satisfied that her spirit-friend was now safe. Which was fortunate because she was exhausted.

  Nausea caused her to groan. The dim light in the corridor was flickering or was it just her eyes trying to stay open? She was utterly depleted. Her lungs felt heavy and breathing was a chore, a labour. Her heartbeat was slowing too. Kai had warned her to be careful not to use her talent to do more than seek refuge on the planes, because, in her neglected state, she'd risk using up her energy and dying. Anarya drew in another breath. The act was more difficult than before and breathing out seemed more like she had just released it because she was too tired to hold on to it any longer. At least she had given that spirit a fight. It would hesitate next time it decided to attack Kai. Anarya realised that her actions had saved her spirit-friend, and gladness filled her. At least she had done something worthwhile with her life in the end.

  Day 16 – Dawn

  North Kenar Woods

  Akileena watched Sariah stalk off with
some dismay. He had never believed he would be simply accepted, still, he had hoped.

  Sentary seemed to read his mind. 'Only hours ago you would have killed her.'

  'I would not have gone that far,' Akileena protested. 'Although I am ashamed to say that had Nathan determined to kill her, there was little I could do to stop him. Although I was never comfortable weighing one life against another, I had little choice if I wanted my daughter to live. To a degree, it was a selfish act, but one entirely natural to a parent. In my defence, I did not stop Brynn from using his talent to prevent Nathan from killing your sister, and even that was risky.'

  'A daughter? A child?' Sentary wondered if there really was a child or whether the mage had just invented one in order to save himself from their anger.

  The mage's voice gentled and grew sentimental, 'Yes. Lea-ryn is twenty-eight summers. She was a spring baby, and she is as beautiful as the sun.'

  The sincerity in Akileena's voice made Sentary start to doubt his suspicion, but he needed to know more before he could decide on the mage's trustworthiness. 'Her mother?'

  Akileena's face clouded, and his voice dropped to barely a whisper, 'She has passed on.'

  'How did it happen, if I may ask?'

  Akileena sank to his knees, still shaken by Brynn's last action. He gracefully shrugged and shook his head, indicating he did not take offence at the question. 'How it always happens. We were caught. We had been fighting for turns, endless turns it seemed, when we discovered we would be parents, Mia-rynay and I. We decided to withdraw, find somewhere safe for our child... There's a place, in the Tiengara Ranges.'

  'Gey-juea,' Sentary said, 'It is spoken of in the slave holds. It is said to be mostly underground with a small valley upon which they have orchards and grow vegetables.'

  Nodding, the mage smiled wistfully. 'A suitable place for a family to take refuge during a war.'

  'Aye,' Sentary agreed with a note of bitter sympathy, 'if only you made it.'

  Akileena gave him a grim nod. 'As you say. One of Malithorn's mages traced us. They killed our human allies. Wanton slaughter,' he whispered hoarsely. 'Their own race and they meant nothing. They hated us because we were elvan, but I cannot fathom what hate drove them to murder their own race in such a violent way...'

  Sentary could not either, and he shrugged his bewilderment.

  Akileena's gaze became distant, almost lost. 'They threatened to drown Lea-ryn unless I worked for them. She was all but a few moons old.' Akileena looked at Sentary, his tone filled with sadness, 'I know now, why other mages allowed their slavery. What use would they be to the families they wished to protect if they were dead?'

  Sentary found himself feeling sorry for Akileena as the mage dropped his head again, almost as if he did not have the strength to hold it up any longer. 'My rahn, Mia-rynay became a general slave. Our child kept hostage. I was closely monitored because I was a mage, but Mia-rynay made contact with some rebels and worked to help their cause, passing on intelligence and smuggling messages or supplies when possible. That is, until they discovered what she was doing.' Akileena paused for a long moment and then in a shaky voice said, 'The punishment for conspiracy was — still is — death.' Akileena sighed and shook his head. 'But, of course, not until they tortured her to discover what she knew. My helplessness was more agonising than any physical pain I have ever endured.'

  'Surely there was something you could do. I mean, a mage…' Sentary trailed off, he was not exactly sure what a mage could do, but they seemed so powerful, it was hard for him to believe there was nothing the mage could have done.

  Akileena drew in a shuddering breath. 'Oh, I did something.'

  The mage's tone had hardened, making Sentary apprehensive; it sounded very ominous. 'What do you mean?'

  'One night, they dragged my rahn to a main courtyard and chained her to a pole with a pyre beneath her. It was my own talent that saved her from that awful and prolonged death.'

  'You killed her?' Sentary could not believe it.

  'What choice did I have?' Akileena asked, although Sentary had the sense the mage had forgotten he was there. Akileena's voice was pleading, like he was asking his rahn or a higher being to understand the choice he had made. 'I could not get to her,' Akileena explained. 'They had my child hostage. I could watch her slowly burn to death, hope that the fumes overwhelmed her before the flames reached her, or I could make it quick and painless.'

  Sentary was at a loss for words. The mage's suffering was beyond any sentiment he could offer.

  Akileena looked up so he could meet Sentary's eyes. 'An Abbarane mage, Liacoren, caught me.' He paused, as if lost in thought, then, in a soft, detached voice, he said, 'I never worked out whether she let me kill Mia-rynay out of mercy, or whether she just was not powerful enough to stop me. Never-the-less, once Malithorn discovered I could kill using talent, my imprisonment became more abhorrent than I had ever imagined. I became Malithorn's assassin.'

  'You killed for him?'

  Akileena nodded. 'I killed for him. For the most part, I was the threat he used to keep his generals and thanes in line. For the rest of the time, I served the thanes, which was easier, I admit, but with no way to get to my daughter…' The mage grimaced. 'And even then, I was not very docile — you should have seen my back those first few turns.' Akileena shivered with the memory.

  'It's probably about as scarred as mine,' Sentary found himself saying. 'I may not have the Ko-renti inclination for combat, but I was not exactly a compliant slave.'

  Akileena chuckled, 'After seeing your sister take out half of Nathan's camp, it's not surprising. An independent will can allow you freedom even when you are enslaved.'

  Sentary was pleased by the mage's compliment. He liked being compared to his sister in that way, it made him feel closer to her.

  'But if you weren't docile, as you say, why didn't you try escaping? I mean, surely over the turns there was an opportunity.'

  'I did try escaping with my daughter. Once. As punishment, they put her in an iron cage on an unlit pyre. For almost a sennat I was locked in a room where that was my only view.'

  'That's appalling!'

  'It almost shattered me,' Akileena admitted. 'I never knew if or when they would light that fire... Would I, again, be forced to kill my own kin to give them a merciful death? Taking Mia-rynay's life almost drove me to suicide. Only Lea-ryn's welfare prevented me.'

  'So why did you say what you did to Brynn at the camp?' Sentary asked, finding it harder to believe this was the same elvan who helped recapture them.

  'I know now that Andarin's injury was an honest accident, but at the time, all I knew was that Andarin's spirit had screamed before vanishing, I was terrified to think what had happened to him. My father disappeared in a similar way, it is a sure sign of a mage attack. And it was an attack, but Brynn was attacking another mage when Andarin got in the way. My rage was a preserving instinct. But it is more complicated than that. My brother and I had an arrangement with an Abbarane mage called Dematica to watch over my daughter. Dematica ended up tracking Brynn. When Brynn and Dematica clashed, my brother sought to protect the person who ensured the safety of his niece. But I did not know all this at the time, just that my brother was grievously injured.'

  'How could Dematica protect your daughter?'

  'Well, as an Abbarane mage she was not supervised to the degree we were. So we paid her to monitor anyone in contact with my daughter and ensure it never occurred to them to harm her.'

  Sentary fumed softly. 'That's obscene! Surely they would not charge a fee for such a thing?'

  'They do. Many captured mages make similar bargains.'

  For a moment, Sentary was speechless, what sort of monster would use a child for extortion? Then a confused expression wrinkled his brow. 'How did you get the money?'

  Akileena paused for a moment, and then, realising that as a slave, Sentary had no knowledge of life among Abbarane military, he explained, 'Many mages use their talent to earn money for things such
as helping guards win at gambling or influencing a decision in their favour. You had to be careful and you could not do anything that would directly harm the Abbarane government — that would receive immediate sanction. But some things Abbarane mages let us get away with.'

  Just then Sariah dropped some firewood next to them and started building a fire. Akileena gave Kaydyr a self-conscious look. The warrior heaved out a sigh and met his gaze. 'Mayhap you are not all that you first seemed,' she conceded, having heard their conversation. 'And mayhap that is in your favour. But you'll have to earn any trust.'

  As she moved off, Akileena said, 'Subduing your sister was one of the hardest things I have had to do. For a moment, I almost let her kill me rather than make her vulnerable to someone like Nathan. I will spend a lifetime trying to make amends, but I do not want forgiveness.'

  Sentary patted the mage's shoulder, if his sister was willing to consider giving the mage a chance, he was, too. 'You deserve understanding. And she will give you that. As will I.'

  There were no words to express his gratitude, so Akileena accepted Sentary's words in silence.

  Day 16 – Morning

  North Kenar Woods

  The six may-en-ghi approached the clearing cautiously. Baschia could see Brynn, kneeling amongst those who tried to kill him. The air smelled safe, even though it stank of death. Aside from Brynn, nothing here was alive, not even the weeds.

  Baschia approached Brynn alone and lay down in front of him. She started to purr. For some time, he remained unresponsive, his body shaking with tension. Baschia had seen him like this before. It was a result of his empath talent. He did not just perceive the emotions of those about him, he experienced each death, felt their pain, their despair, their fear.

  Brynn had once told her that the reason his barriers did not protect him was because of his link to what he thought was his shaen-duura. She had no barriers, and so, he was left vulnerable. Baschia did not know what to make of Brynn's theory, regardless of such connections, his barriers should protect him and filter his natural empathic abilities.