by Lexy Wolfe
Seeker pulled the bloodied blade out, Anibu vanishing. He then pulled the Githalin blades out, holding them tightly. "It will fail. I promise you." He grimaced as his shoulder ached when Anibu spoke to him. It will fail. We will not.
Chapter 74
Unable to remain asleep, Nolyn sat by the small campfire, staring into the flames lost in thought. He looked up when Star suddenly moved from the meditative state she had been in since they made camp. He could see her eyes were a bright gold even from where he was. Already on edge, he was half prepared to cast a lightning spell on whatever appeared when Seeker emerged from the shadows. His gait bespoke his utter exhaustion.
Star ran to her brother, hugging him in relief. "I was so worried when you did not return," she whispered loudly. He smiled and returned the hug, holding his sister tightly.
Nolyn recognized something about the Desanti man was different. After several heartbeats of staring at him, he saw the hilts. "Githalin Swordanzen," he greeted with a half smile. "I am beginning to feel left out of the club."
Star looked up sharply at Seeker. He smiled down at her, brushing his hand along her cheek. "But nothing changed for you! You were always dedicated to Desantiva. More than our brother had been—"
"If you mean my dedication to the Path or to our great father? No, that has not changed." He looked up at Nolyn and inclined his head to the perplexed mage. "My perspective has, though." He exuded a new confidence and sense of peace with himself. That faltered when he looked into the shadows. He took Kiya's hand and led the two back to the campfire. Rockspar, who stood on guard duty, blinked in surprise, then smiled, offering a salute to the newly made Githalin. "Master Nolyn had shown me the way, if only I had not been so stubborn as to blind myself to his wisdom."
"I did?" Nolyn's attention turned inward as he thought back to their many interactions. "If you are calling me wise, I may have to double check on the whole sky is falling claim."
Seeker chuckled. "You are not perfect, but… you have your moments."
Star giggled at Nolyn's expression, hugging his arm as she rested her head on his shoulder. The mage heaved an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Well, at least I can rest assured that the sky isn't falling after all." His curiousity could not be contained. "But what way did I show you?"
Seeker glanced around the camp briefly, speaking only after he assured himself no other Forenten were awake. Nolyn recognized the desire for privacy and cast a privacy barrier. The bubble around the campfire sparkled with the powdery snow that swirled around it. The pair of Githalin looked around, amazed. After a moment, Seeker spoke. "I see why Citali approves of you. You respect our people to guard our secrets from your own."
The corner of Nolyn's mouth twitched. "As much out of respect as out of a sense of self-preservation. I would rather not incur the wrath of Desantiva's god. But please, tell me. How did I show you the way? However unintentionally I may have done it."
Seekers's smile faded. "You were angered that I had never questioned the Totani about what it means to be a Githalin. Or anything about Githalin. Or anything about our ways. I simply trusted the belief all our people hold that if the Totani found someone worthy, they would choose them to be Githalin."
Star looked confused. "But they do choose their Githalin, don't they? Citali could have chosen any Su'alin if what he wanted was a Su'alin."
Nolyn smiled at Star, taking her hand in his to draw it to his lips and kissing her knuckles. "You are hardly just 'any' Su'alin, Star il'Citali."
"He is right. You are special to Citali. You always have been." Seeker drew his two-edged sword, eyes on the hilt with Anibu's symbol. "Those the Totani choose are special to their Totani. But they don't want us to feel as though we must serve them. Our people do not question anything the Raging One or His Totani say or do. Those like the Alanis Su'alin…" He closed his eyes in shame of his sire. "Those like our father have even started punishing those who question anything."
"To be the mortal servant of the divine is for the rest of one's life. Perhaps even beyond that," Nolyn said in a low, thoughtful voice. "To have that service be forced upon you is little more than slavery, no matter how agreeable to the shackles you might be."
Seeker nodded. "I learned about why Thandar chose Storm and Kailee chose Skyfire. All Anibu wanted was for me to ask to be one once I believed I was worthy of the honor and desired it." He managed a wan smile to Nolyn. "If we had not left Desantiva, I would never have seen what Anibu wanted. He would never have told me himself, because it would have tainted the question with his own wants."
Nolyn shrugged, poking the fire idly. "Your people had begun to stagnate. For all the danger inherent in Desantiva, there was little new. Little reason to grow."
"We discourage change," Seeker growled, expression darkening with a scowl. "In the name of preserving who our people once were, we have become incapable of becoming who we could be. Until something started changing the patterns, but even then, we cannot see—"
"Stop," Nolyn snapped, frowning at the two Githalin. "Change is hard, especially when we are in the middle of it. Sometimes we need someone else's eyes to see what is too close to us. Even we needed outside objectivity for our own poisons. It was not until Storm il'Thandar revealed the Se'edai Magus before Ellis Avarian had been possessed by a darkling. It was destroying our people from within and we were too blind to see it. We, too, had stopped questioning our god, but worse, we had stopped believing She even loved us."
"We need each other's help," Star murmured. "And we are both too proud to ask for it."
"And too angry," Seeker added, grim. "As ancient as the Great War is, the pain of its wounds are still fresh to our people."
Nolyn shrugged. "And my people are still afraid of yours. It will take a great deal of work for both sides to begin healing. As much as peace is needed, we need each other's agitation to keep us sharp and focused." He closed his eyes. "I envy your people."
Both Star and Seeker traded shocked, bewildered looks. "You… envy us?"
"The connection you have to one another. To your land. Goddess, your Totani are a part of your lives no matter how great among your own you are. Every adult meets them at least once in their lives. You know they are there and watching over you." Nolyn waved a hand. "My people have all but lost that. There are no divine servants in the north. Perhaps if they had been here, your people would not have been harmed."
Seeker grimaced, putting his hand to his shoulder. "Or we would have destroyed each other, and our divine servants would have helped. Change dominates the mortal realm. Not the divine one. Our gods and divine servants need us as much as we need them. It is part of the great balance. Our strengths and weaknesses balance each other."
Nolyn opened his mouth to say something when all three looked into the fading sunlight above them. With a gesture, Nolyn dispelled the privacy barrier, though there were no overt sounds to betray what set all three on edge.
Star stood, eyes wide. "It is hunting for me!" she whispered.
"We cannot go to your Quoesia," Seeker stated flatly. "We would be drawing the darkness to those who live there."
Nolyn pinched the bridge of his nose. "You are right. There is an old road that leads to Andar not far from here, but it has been unused for some time. Travel will be slower for those of us unused to the nomadic lifestyle."
Seeker fixed Nolyn with a hard look, then grunted. "Fine." He looked at Star and reassured, "We will not allow it to harm you, Sister."
Nolyn stood to put a protective, comforting arm around Star, though his attention was on Seeker. "After your communion with your Totani, you should eat something then get some sleep. We'll start moving once everyone else has had breakfast and we've most of the camp taken down." He added dryly, "Given the only way to take down your people's part of the camp faster is with a flash fire, you should be able to get plenty of sleep until then."
"I had eaten." He smiled, patting a pouch on his hip. "Swordanzen do not often have the luxury of being able to take t
ime to stop and make camp. We are always prepared to travel without stopping."
"That explains everything," Nolyn drawled. "Sleep in your saddles, eat on the move. You are as patient to reach your destination as starving drizzen." Seeker grinned, white teeth flashing against his dark complexion before he disappeared into the Desanti's tent. The mage looked down at Star as she leaned against him, tighting his arm around her. "Are you okay?"
"The thing that hunts us. Citali has told me what it is." She turned her face against his chest, whispering, "We call it Oolak. Slayer of souls. It means to destroy me. Not just kill my physical form but consume my soul!" She shuddered. "I would never be reborn because I would no longer exist!"
"None of us will allow that to happen," he stated firmly. "You must believe that."
"I know you will try, but there is always the risk… the chance I will be gone forever." She looked up at him, eyes glittering with unshed tears. "Forgive me," she begged in a whisper. "You will be left alone and it is my fault because I kept focusing what we would lose when I left in the future instead of what we… what we could have had now. And now, it might be… it might be too late."
He pulled her against him, hushing her as he held her fiercely tight. "I will never," he murmured into her hair. "Never let you come to harm, my beautiful Kiya. I would give up my own soul before I allow that to happen." She whimpered, clinging to him more tightly. "Can you tell me more about the Oolak's ethereal or physical forms? If I better know what we will be facing, the better chance of success we will have."
"You cannot fight it," she lamented. "Your people have depended on Guardians of Time to protect you from such things."
He took her by the shoulders, shaking her lightly. "You might be surprised what my people can do without the Timeless One's boon. Have faith in me, my heart." The corner of his mouth turned up in a wry smile. "I learn quickly. I saved your soul once, hadn't I?"
"Then you must understand the enemies that the Path of the Sword and the Path of the Spirit are sworn to combat." Impatiently rubbing the single tear on her cheek with the back of her fist, Star's voice was barely more than a whisper. "A dinnais is a dark spirit that will take over control of some living creature's body and prey on the living, feeding on their fear and pain, which is greatest when they are being killed.
"Su'dinnais feed on the fear and pain of the soul in the dreamscape, away from where they can be touched in the physical realm. Su'dinnais does not often kill, but it preys on no more than one person at a time. Sometimes, they will leave when its host has become too weak to sate its appetite. Sometimes the host dies because they are too weak to face challenges in the waking world."
Shivering as she hugged herself, she continued after several heartbeats of silence. "Oolak had only been legends among my people. It behaves as both dinnais and su'dinnais. It seeks out a strong first host, then through that host, it finds others physically and latches onto their souls, to feed on them as a su'dinnais. Even death will not spare a victim of Oolak, it consumes completely. The more souls it feeds on at once, the stronger it is. And there are many still in the Oolak's thrall, if the numbers Edai Magus Eptina speaks is true. She thinks there may be more she has no knowledge of." She looked up at him, the look in her eyes reflecting her fear. "Finding each victim and freeing each one is not enough. We must find the first host. Destroying the host will free all in its thrall."
Nolyn frowned, trying to focus. "I remember vaguely… Something had attacked me, but I cannot remember much of anything from that day. You do not think that Valerian would be able to handle it?"
"Guardians do not even know about su'dinnais. Maybe they were once only a Desanti menace. I do not know. Nor does Citali. Totani have never left Desantiva's territory since the First Sundering unless someone called them, and few other than Desanti turned to them." She let him turn her back to face him, meeting his eyes. "When Oolak realizes how much danger it is in, it will retreat back into the dreamscape where I will be the only one able to chase it. I am not enough alone."
He frowned a bit. "But you defeated it once already."
"And nearly died but for you!" She brushed his hands away irritably, walking away a few paces. "What I faced was just a part of it. Like beating off a hand that has grabbed you, but not the body that hand is attached to. What hunts me is… so much more than what I faced." She looked over her shoulder at him as he stepped up behind her, his hands on her arms. "I am not afraid of dying. But of never being anymore? I have never faced anything like that." Nolyn did not know what to say, simply holding her, a knot of fear settling in the pit of his stomach.
Chapter 75
Valerian spurred his horse to come alongside Nolyn, looking at the Edai Magus's profile. "You look like death warmed over, man," he observed. Nolyn rewarded him with a dark look. The Vodani held up a hand. "Forgive me, but you look like you've not slept for days."
"I've slept." He sighed. "Not well. Kiya… Star and I spoke last night. Citali told her what it is we are seeking."
The Guardian opened his mouth, then shut it again for a moment. "Is there anything good you can tell me of what she told you?"
"I wish there was, Valerian," the mage replied, the resignation in his voice drawing a frown from the Guardian.. "She called it an Oolak. Something that had been a legend to her people and it terrifies her. It preys in the waking world, but instead of killing, it attaches itself to souls to leech from in the dream world. The more it attaches itself to, the stronger it becomes."
"Rather like an overpowered temporal shifter," Valerian mused thoughtfully.
"Except for one problem." He sighed heavily. "When we attack it and prove ourselves a threat to it, we will drive it back into the spirit realm and Star is the only one of us who can enter that realm by choice. She is not strong enough to defeat it alone."
Valerian narrowed his eyes. "I thought she looked afraid, but I never imagined any Desanti would be afraid of facing death."
"It is not death she is facing, Valerian." Nolyn looked at him gravely. "She is facing oblivion. These things eat souls, and she is the biggest threat to this Oolak." He rubbed his cheek. "I don't want to lose Star. The thought of it is killing me. But, goddess, Valerian. We can't let this thing survive. It will prey on my people unchecked if we don't stop it. Maybe go beyond Forenta's borders if it is not stopped here."
The Guardian pressed his lips together, frowning in thought. "I should be able to hold it on this side if I can catch it before it retreats from the physical realm. Provided we know that we have come across this thing before it realizes we are a threat. Even with the blessings of the Timeless One, Dusvet Almek could miss spotting a time shifter when they inhabited another. But if it is as strong as she says, it will take all of my focus to hold it here. Someone else would need to banish it."
"Githalin Su'alin! Githalin Swordanzen," Nolyn called, drawing the attention of all in the group to him. The Forenten servants looked to him with guarded, desperate hope. "We must speak."
Seeker met Star's eyes. "Our prey is getting nearer. Do you think it wise to stop?"
"You mean our predator," she replied flatly. "And yes, we should stop. Leave the weaker ones behind. We need to ensure the safety of the others. The treewalkers will never accept separating the group."
"There is wisdom in keeping everyone together. Oolak could attack any left behind instead of facing us, which would only make it stronger." His dark eyes scanned over the group, expression unreadable. "But it risks being hampered by them when they would need protection in the coming battle." He looked sideways at Star. "Do you intend to tell him what you plan to do?"
She flicked a narrow look at Seeker. "I would not have told you if Citali did not betray my intentions to Anibu, and then Anibu told you." She looked away to hide her pained expression. "There is only darkness ahead for me. I saw it in the sacred flames. It will do no good telling Nolyn. He would only try to stop me to protect me." She thumped her drizzen's shoulder, the beast lowering itself to the ground
. "But we may as well listen to what he has to say."
Not pleased, Seeker looked to Nolyn. "We should stop for a time. Your beasts are in need of rest as are your servants." Murmurs of surprise rose from the retinue of servants that the Desanti man suggested stopping, unliked the constant arguing with Nolyn as he had with every stop before. Nolyn studied Seeker with suspicion for several minutes before he finally nodded. Grateful servants dismounted and began setting up the temporary camp.
The mages, Desanti, Valerian and Tobias moved to sit around the campfire that had been lit by the young apprentice. "We need to have some plan of attack before we face this Oolak thing," Nolyn stated without pretense. "It would be stupid to go in without any idea of what we are doing."
Seeker considered the mage. "You remember more of what happened to you when you were first attacked? What the beast the Oolak possesses looks like?"
Nolyn looked down, jaw tightening. "No. Just feelings, mostly. I know whatever had attacked Marcus and me also had saved us as well." The Githalin both frowned in confusion at that. "I do not think that whatever this Oolak is using is completely under its control. But I do believe we can defeat it if we work together."
Eptina frowned delicately, looking to Valerian. "Unsvet, how long can any entity endure against a darkling that is trying to dominate them?"
"I have never heard of longer than ten years, and that requires someone of incredible strength of will or native power." Valerian ran his fingers through his hair, his demeanor bespeaking of past disturbing memories. "The more bestial temporal shifters are not as subtle as those aware of the harm they are doing. The subtlety of the willful temporal shifters is what dooms the victims. By the time they realize what is happening to them, they are already too weak to fight."
"How long?" Star asked curtly, fixing a hard stare on Eptina. "How long has this thing been hunting?"
The Forentan woman frowned at the implication of fault. "The Andarian barrier had been in place for over twenty years and kept that thing contained until recently."
