“The Entana hunters are loose in her mind. They search out anything for them to feed on—thoughts, emotions, anything that holds a shred of human personality. My presence would be a feast to them. I can’t fight them off on my own, and I won’t be able to defend myself once I get close to the Entana. No one is better qualified to fight them than the spirit of the Bok’Tarong.”
Dragana looked unhappy about the idea. Before she could outright refuse him, he said, “Saydee is the best hope we have of reaching the Entana hive. Without her connection, we have no way to get there.”
She paused, looking guilty and a little confused.
“Besides,” he added, “this could be the only way to save her life.”
That melted away the last of Dragana’s reluctance. Raeb saw it in her deflated posture. He waited as she conferred with the Bok’Tarong.
“Very well,” she said at last, sounding unhappy but not angry. “When you enter her mind, Aeo will join you.”
19
They waited for another day to give Aeo a chance to recover as much strength as he could. When Dragana announced the Bok’Tarong was ready, Raeb prepared the fire ritual he’d used on Saydee weeks ago. With a few alterations, he’d use it to transport his and Aeo’s spirits into Saydee’s mind. Since he wasn’t trying to seduce the Entana this time—he would only be using the ritual to establish a connection with it—he hoped the Keeper of Secrets wouldn’t barge in on them.
Soon they were assembled around the fire. Raeb and Mara had brought Saydee from her room and laid her in front of the flames. Dragana and Raeb sat beside her. He tried to ignore how thin and pale she looked.
“One of these days you’ll have to tell me where you learned these rituals,” Dragana said.
“I don’t think you’d like the answer,” he replied.
Ignoring her scowl, Raeb took a deep breath and threw the herbs into the fire. They shot sparks into the air and released an earthy smell, like freshly tilled loam and burning leaves and rotting undergrowth. The smoke coiled and formed itself into writhing, eel-like shapes. The runes he’d drawn around them slithered to life. He murmured the proper incantation, in a language that sounded like hissing snakes, and his surroundings faded. His voice echoed in his ears, repeating the phrase over and over.
When the voice faded, Raeb opened his eyes. He didn’t even remember closing them.
It took him several minutes to orient himself. He felt real and solid enough to be dizzy and unbalanced, though he knew he was far removed from his physical body. His head pounded from the journey—even though he hadn’t felt himself traveling, it still took its toll. Several long seconds passed before he felt stable enough to look around.
He’d never seen anything like this place before. It resembled a network of caves, but the walls were moist and not quite as solid as stone. Streaks of random colors slashed across them. Ambient light flickered as if from a fire, though no flames could be found. Sounds like the howls of hunting dogs and larger, more dangerous predators reached Raeb’s ears. The Entana had definitely taken up residence here.
He was in Saydee’s mind.
Raeb looked to his right, at his companion. The man was a little shorter than he, but his body was stocky and well-muscled. A gentle, rosy gold hue hung around him like an aura. His blond hair was cut military-short and he had sharp, hunter’s eyes. In his hand he held an exact image of the Bok’Tarong.
Raeb chuckled as he recognized the man. It was the nameless assassin who’d been asking after the Bok’Tarong all those months ago. In the spirit world, he existed as any of the rest of them would, body and all. “Aeo,” he greeted.
“Raeb,” Aeo replied with a nod.
The men shook hands, and Raeb watched as joy filled Aeo’s eyes at the touch.
“I warned you going after the Bok’Tarong was a fool’s errand,” Raeb said. Rather than echoing, his voice sounded flat and muffled.
Aeo laughed when he saw the smile on Raeb’s face. “Guess I should have listened.” He paused, a thoughtful look on his face. “But I’m sort of glad I didn’t.”
The piercing howls of the Entana hunters cut their conversation short before Raeb had a chance to explore that interesting little comment.
“What are those things?” Aeo asked, already crouched in a battle-ready position.
“Entana hunters,” Raeb replied. “They’re like the Entana’s hounds. They flush out a person’s memories, scaring them into the open, and making them easier for the real Entana to find and consume.”
Aeo shifted his weight. “So those aren’t even the real Entana?”
“Hardly. If they were, our job would be a lot simpler.”
The men paused, listening to the horrible sounds of the hunters. “If they catch us, can they kill us?” Aeo asked, his gaze swiveling around him. All levity had left his voice. He was stern, focused. Ready for the hunt.
Raeb spun as howls echoed from behind him. He didn’t look at Aeo as he answered. “Yes.”
Aeo’s fingers tightened around the Bok’Tarong. “Okay then.”
They took a moment to get their bearings. As Raeb had hoped, Saydee’s mind was a maze. She’d created a web full of twisting corridors, hiding the most treasured pieces of herself in a labyrinth of tunnels and dead-ends. If she hadn’t done this, it would have been a short trip to madness.
The men chose tunnels at random, weapons bared and every sense alert. No regular weapon could have followed them from the physical world, so they were armed only with the spirit-blades of Sunray and the Bok’Tarong. Raeb wasn’t at all sure Sunray would do him any good in here, but it was all he had.
“So what are we looking for?” Aeo asked.
“We need to find our way to the Entana infesting Saydee’s mind.”
“I know that,” he replied. “But how?”
“Aside from wandering around and hoping we get lucky, we’ll make ourselves as much as a nuisance as we can. Once the Entana is bothered enough by our presence, it will let us find it.”
Aeo’s steps paused for a heartbeat. “And that sounds like a good idea to you?”
“Not at all. It’s rash and stupid, without any guarantee it’ll do any good.”
Aeo swung the Bok’Tarong toward another tunnel opening, then checked to make sure they weren’t being followed. “Gee. Thanks for letting me tag along, then.”
Raeb smirked, following his instincts as much as any kind of logic. He’d never navigated another’s mind in this manner, but he knew enough about the -taken to recognize Saydee had done a superb job. He assumed her magic had helped with the complexity of the twisting paths. The Entana would have to search long and hard to find any bit of her in this maze.
But he wasn’t the Entana. He was her friend, and was here to help. Saydee knew him.
“Before we get to the Entana, though, I was hoping to find …”
They turned a corner and found themselves face-to-face with a vision of Saydee. Raeb smiled.
“ …her.”
This was what he’d been searching for. He’d found her self-image.
His smile faded as he looked at her. He didn’t like what he saw. She didn’t look anything like the young, lovely girl he knew. This girl was emaciated and exhausted. Large black circles rimmed her eyes, and fresh wet trails showed she’d been crying. Several large, dark bruises marred her skin. She cradled her arm, and he noticed the bulge of a broken bone. The muscles in her legs shook with weariness, as if she’d be running for much longer than she should have been able to.
“Poor girl,” he whispered. Saydee put up a brave face, always smiling and willing to serve, but Raeb knew she hid deep scars. He’d known her soul was battered and wounded, but he’d had no idea it was this bad. How did she manage to keep going, and keep smiling, when her very spirit was beaten beyond reason?
He motioned for Aeo to stay back, and he took a step forward. “Saydee?”
The girl’s eyes turned to him, but there was no recognition in them. He could bar
ely see the spark of life hidden behind the misery.
“Saydee? It’s Raeb. Do you remember me?”
She gazed at him for several moments before giving a slight nod.
“You know I’m a friend, don’t you? That’s why you let us find you?”
Another nod.
Well, at least that was something. “Good. Saydee, I need to find the Entana.”
A hunter howled, as if in answer to the name. Aeo tensed and turned his back to Raeb, holding the Bok’Tarong at ready. Saydee’s eyes went wide in panic. She shivered in terror and turned to flee.
Raeb took a single step forward, reaching his hand out as if to stop her from running. “Saydee, wait!”
She turned back to him, but did not relax. She was ready to bolt at any moment.
“I won’t let them hurt you. If I can talk to them, I might be able to make them leave.”
She paused at that, the haunted look in her eyes growing deeper. Hope was something she’d lost a long time ago. Raeb knew that feeling all too well.
“Saydee, please. I need your help.”
The battered girl chewed her lip. She met his eyes for the first time, seeing him instead of just looking at him. A brief shadow of her knowing, penetrating gaze came across her face.
Raeb, for his part, didn’t try to put on a brave face. He just looked back at Saydee, letting her see how desperately he needed her help. The vulnerability felt strange, but somehow … appropriate.
After a moment she nodded and turned away, her steps small and quick. Raeb followed with Aeo a discreet distance behind.
Growls and snarls filled the air as they passed through cavern after cavern. Several times they passed a piece of Saydee’s spirit tucked into a corner—the golden medal of her courage, tarnished and dented; the pure light of her joy, so dim Raeb could barely see it; the armor of her confidence, scattered and broken.
Raeb figured the only things that weren’t mangled or destroyed in Saydee’s mind were the Entana hunters. And there were no shortage of those.
They hadn’t gone far before one of the hunters caught their scent. A great booming roar echoed along the corridors. Raeb could hear the excitement in it.
Many similar howls answered the first. They were far too close for comfort.
Raeb made sure Saydee was within reach, where he could defend her. This might be her mind and her Entana, but he wasn’t about to let them hurt her anymore.
The shadows of the hunters appeared on the walls, dancing wildly in the fire-like light. Their already grotesque shapes were stretched and morphed into unrecognizable monstrosities.
“There are too many,” Raeb said. “We’ll never be able to beat them all.”
Aeo shifted from foot to foot, eyes scanning the shadows on the tunnel walls. “What do we do?”
One of the hunters yipped. The sound was repeated by the others, filling Saydee’s mind with the high-pitched, almost human-sounding cry. Chills of dread coursed through Raeb’s body.
When the yips faded, the silence was filled with an even worse sound—paws and hooves pounding in a charge, growing louder and closer by the second.
Raeb grabbed Saydee’s arm. “Run!”
They fled through the narrow passageways, the sounds of the hunters close on their heels. Raeb’s heart hammered faster than his feet. These hunters were bad news. They could rip a spirit-body to shreds in seconds, but he and Aeo could kill them all day long and do no damage to the Entana. They couldn’t afford to get caught in a battle with these beasts. They had to get to the real Entana as quickly as possible—and preferably in one piece.
The turns and curves of Saydee’s mind-maze passed in frantic blinks. Raeb was so lost he hadn’t a clue which way they’d come from anymore. But no matter how fast they ran, or how many random turns they took, the hunters never lost their trail. They would exhaust themselves long before they were free from the pursuit.
He looked back. Not only had the hunters failed to lose their trail, but they’d gained ground. They were nearly on their heels, and Raeb could see them.
Though he’d seen the hunters before, he still felt sick at the sight. They looked like the Entana had taken all kinds of wild beasts and turned them into shadow. They were inky black, even in the flickering light, and the writhing tendrils of the Entana trailed from all over their bodies. The only thing worse than their howls was the smell of death that enveloped them.
In the brief second Raeb watched them, they gained on him. There was no way they could outrun the hunters.
Raeb swore under his breath. “I hope you’re ready for a fight.”
Aeo hefted the Bok’Tarong. “Always.”
They skid to a stop, turning to stand before the charging beasts, spirit-weapons readied. Raeb cleared his mind and prepared for battle as the first of the hunters sprung at them.
Aeo stepped forward and met the lunge with a magnificent sweep of the Bok’Tarong. The sacred blades swept through the Entana hunter like it was smoke, and the beast dissipated into the air with a heavy, oily stench.
Everything was deathly still. Aeo stared down the unmoving hunters, daring them to challenge him. Raeb, in turn, stared at the assassin. He was aware his jaw was hanging open but too astonished to do anything about it.
He’d never seen anything like it. The hunter had simply vanished at the Bok’Tarong’s touch, as if every defense it had melted away. Raeb had hoped the spirit of the Bok’Tarong might cause some damage to the hunters, but he’d never dared to hope it would obliterate them.
This plan might work after all.
The moment of shock lasted only a heartbeat. Then the hunters charged in earnest.
Raeb dove away from the hunters’ claws and teeth and ducked under the swing of the Bok’Tarong. He came to his feet next to Saydee. The girl stood behind the battle as if unaware anything was amiss. He pulled her farther away, hoping Aeo would be able to hold the hunters back long enough for him to get Saydee to safety.
He couldn’t understand how Aeo was still standing. He was swarmed by hunters, so outnumbered he could hardly be seen through the shadowy tendrils. Brief glints from the rosy gold Bok’Tarong flashed through the wall of beasts—but after each glint, smoke rose from the disintegrating body of a hunter. Or two.
Saydee ran past Raeb. He called out to her, tried to stop her, but she evaded his grasp and plunged into the heart of the battle. He stared at the spot where she’d disappeared into the hunters, horrified and confused.
The commotion had drawn the attention of every hunter inward, so Raeb stood unnoticed, hardly daring to breath. Should he run? Any moment the hunters could take note of him again, and he didn’t have the Bok’Tarong to defend him. But he couldn’t just leave his friends. Oh Saydee, what have you done?
A long, terrible moment passed.
Then Saydee reappeared, several new gashes on her body, pulling Aeo behind her.
The assassin stumbled behind Saydee, swinging his sword wildly behind him. As they passed Raeb, Saydee grabbed him, too. She yanked on his arm, and he followed.
So did the hunters.
They ran, the hunters’ breath hot and fetid on their necks. At any moment, Raeb was sure he’d feel the sting of claws and teeth tearing into his back.
Then everything went silent.
Saydee stopped, and the men slowed a few steps later. Raeb turned back to Saydee, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
There was no tunnel, or hunters, behind them. There was nothing but a solid wall. The sounds of the Entana hunters were muffled, and instead of victorious they sounded frustrated, confused, and somewhat pained.
Raeb looked to Saydee. Talented girl! Regular people couldn’t just change their mind-mazes like that. It took years to cultivate a system like this. Her magic may not have been powerful enough for the Mage’s Academy, but it was damn strong to be able to do something like that.
He grinned at her. “Good job, Saydee.”
It took her a moment, but the battered
girl smiled back. The praise bolstered her spirit and helped to heal some of the damage the Entana had caused. Bruises faded and her broken arm set, though badly, so she was able to let it support itself. Raeb’s heart twisted in sympathy and hope. She was still far from healed, but it was a start.
They continued deeper into her mind. The hunters hadn’t given up on them, if the increasing howls and yips were any indication. A few stragglers found them, mostly by accident it seemed, but they were no match for Aeo and the massive Bok’Tarong.
After a long time of walking through twisting tunnels, their surroundings began to change. The walls lost their streaking colors and darkened to a deep, reflective black. The howls of the hunters changed to wails of pain and weeping. The path became wide and arrow-straight, which left Raeb feeling nervous and exposed after the narrow curves of Saydee’s maze.
They’d arrived.
20
Their steps resounded like thunderclaps, as if every echo that hadn’t sounded before had been saved up for this. There was no way anyone would be allowed to sneak into the sanctuary the Entana had carved into Saydee’s mind.
Raeb looked to Saydee, but she wasn’t beside him anymore. She hadn’t followed them into the Entana sanctuary, and he couldn’t blame her. It was dangerous enough for her in the environment of her choosing. To walk into the Entana stronghold would be begging to become fully -taken.
“So once we get to the Entana,” Aeo whispered, pausing as his words echoed back to him, “what do we do?”
“I need to confirm it’s keeping Saydee asleep, and convince it to let her wake.”
“How?”
Raeb shook his head. Even if he did know how he would do this, he didn’t want to say. The Entana were likely listening to them. Maybe, if he worked things right, the Entana would slip and give away something important. The less they were prepared for him, the better.
They walked and walked without a single change in their surroundings. The hallway was the same as it had always been, and there was no sign of the end in sight. From the look of things, they may as well have not moved at all.
Soul of the Blade Page 17
