Blooded (Lisen of Solsta Book 3)

by D. Hart St. Martin

  Nalin fought on, his heart filled with ferocity and fear. He was aware of Bala nearby, fighting just as fiercely. He’d nearly fallen from his horse several times, but somehow he’d held on. The stallion never startled, never pulled away from a challenge. Nalin’s blood pulsed through him like liquid fire, and only one thing would cool it—reminding these Thristans that Garla would never back down.

  They’d lost Captain Palla, and although Nalin’s efforts left no room for dwelling upon losses, he did dread telling the commander that one of her own had fallen. But, he knew his telling her would mean he’d survived today’s melee to do so.

  “Nalin!” he heard Bala yell, and he ducked just as an ax sliced through the air trying to separate his head from his body. He had his sword in the ax wielder’s chest before the woman could recover her balance.

  “Woo!” he yipped in the thrill of the moment. Blood spewing everywhere, Nalin had never felt so invigorated, and he realized this was the revenge he’d sought for himself and Lisen ever since the abduction. His mind touched briefly on the Empir who had tried and failed to prevent him from charging in, but he couldn’t properly welcome the distraction and the thought slipped out as quickly as it had come.

  Father would never recognize me, Bala thought as she turned from warning Nalin of the incoming ax and back to protecting herself and commanding the Tuane troops after Captain Palla had fallen. No room for sadness in her emotional lexicon at the moment; the captain had served three Empirs and would be remembered by the current one for his part in her ascension. But the battle beckoned, and she surrendered to the instinct that threw her back into the fight.

  Korin struggled to make his way through the Thristans buzzing like angry bees all around him. He wanted to get to the Empir, and he pointed himself in the general direction of where he’d seen her last. He’d watched as she’d blindly thrown herself into battle after her crippled Will. He belonged at her side, but working through the masses was like trying to swim up river; he was getting nowhere.

  He pulled his horse to a halt and flipped his hood back in frustration. Where was she? He’d seen her clearly across the field and thought he’d noted well the direction in which she’d headed. But the field undulated like the ocean that at least half of the people here had never seen, and with each movement, the entire configuration transformed into something new and unpredictable. Where the Destroyer was she? He had to find her. He had to find her and bring her, alive, to meet her daughter.

  He moved out again and soon found himself at the center of the conflagration. This was the source of the heat of hatred, the home of the mad rush of a killing fever. He found himself constantly turning to his left to keep someone from sneaking up on him from his weak side. His only hope for survival was to let the horse’s reins loose, guide it with his knees and carry his sword with his left hand to quickly dispatch anyone who dared try to take him while defending himself on the right with his knife.

  Listen. He’d said it to Madlen shortly before Rinli had emerged. “My ear on that side has learned to make up for what the eye can no longer see,” he remembered saying. But Madlen had pointed out the fallacy in that; ears couldn’t see. Now less than ever.

  As Lisen pushed and pushed and pushed again, binding her enemies one at a time, the murmurs began in her head. Inaudible at first, the words slowly took shape in her mind, as though someone were shouting them right next to her. “It’s the Empir.” “No, fool, they’d never let the Empir into this.” “No, no, I’m telling you.” “She’s blind.” “But she sees.” “It’s a miracle.” “It’s a curse.” “It’s magic.” “It’s forbidden.”

  Everyone had an opinion, but as each of them noticed her, truly saw her, they stopped fighting. One by one by one, the battle slowed until no one fought anymore, and they all looked to her. She sought familiar souls but found none at first. Then, in the deafening quiet, the first gate opened to Nalin, who lived but had nearly come off his horse several times. Then, a second gate, to Bala, near him, their two minds harmonizing as one. And finally, the third, to Korin, who moved swiftly towards her from the east. He must have forged into the battle after she’d headed in, and now he came to her across the bridge between desert and forest and through his private caldera raging with inner struggles.

  With only the cries of the wounded remaining, she stood up in her stirrups and looked around in the darkness.

  “Korin Rosarel!” she yelled out, that spirit that had thrown her into the midst of the maelstrom stealing her tongue.

  “My Liege?” She heard Korin’s voice from a distance, growing closer.

  “Where is my daughter?” Daughter? What daughter? What in the name of the Destroyer am I talking about?

  She heard Korin gasp. Others, as well.

  “She is safe, my Liege,” he answered without fear. Not even amazement tainted his voice. “Nearby.”

  An image, at first as ethereal as smoke, then taking a more solid form, filled her mind. A child, a baby—six months out now, Lisen reasoned, her heightened awareness getting her there faster than thought alone could—with a head covered in short dark curls, eyes the color of the sea and a face that gave truth to the existence of miracles.

  A second image followed—another child, a girl, ten years out—convinced by someone she trusted to leave her memories and her world behind.

  And now that same girl is nineteen, and at last, she understands, Lisen thought. Without time on Earth, I never would have mated with Korin. I’d still have been abducted and maybe even fought through the gryl. But then the war would have come, and I’d have had nothing now. And venturing back into the gryl with no idea what it would do? Never would have happened.

  And that…. That is why Eloise sent me to Earth, to work all that passive hermit obedience crap out of me.

  Lisen gasped for breath. No. Taking a breath to restore her balance and leaving Eloise behind, she continued, more boldly. “Do you hear what he says? Do you hear him?” Her heart soared with wonder. Whatever magic possessed her, it would serve as her guide in introducing a peaceful conclusion to the battling masses surrounding her. “I have a child, a daughter!” she proclaimed with joy.

  “My Liege,” Nalin cautioned from her side. He’d wasted no time in getting to her, but she refused to allow him to discourage her from this path.

  “She is a child of the Farii,” she continued, up in her stirrups, in a voice so strong she startled herself. “For those amongst you who call Thristas home but can speak Garlan, translate for your companions.

  “Yes, I said it. My daughter is a child of the Farii. A child conceived by two nations for the good of The People. Only she can claim this. Her name is Rinli, a father’s child, a mother’s child, Mantar’s Child!”

  She dropped back to her saddle as she heard the Thristans mumbling, and she reached out to them, more with a nudge than with a push. She needed a day, maybe two, to bring around those who needed bringing around to put an end to this, but she did believe she’d have the time. She’d seen it play out in her vision, but, like everything else she’d seen, she couldn’t remember it, not yet, not until it manifested.

  “My Liege,” Nalin whispered. “They all seem to be frozen in place. Did you do something to them?”

  “I told them the truth,” Lisen whispered back.

  “Rosarel approaches,” Captain Kopol said.

  “I know. Let him approach. It’s time.” Lisen rose up in her stirrups once again. “All of you, Garlan and Thristan,” she pronounced. “Tend to your wounded. See to your dead. This evening I will meet with leaders from both sides in a neutral place to see if Mantar’s Child can broker us a peace.”

  “My Liege.” It was Korin’s welcome voice right next to her, and with a nod beckoning Korin to follow, she turned Pharaoh in the direction of the Garlan camp.

  “You say she’s nearby?” she asked.

  “Aye.”

  “Have her brought.”

  “I’ll see to it and meet you at your tent.”
r />   And as he rode off, Lisen could read his awe mingled with his questions. But what she didn’t read was judgment; he’d forgiven her, at last.

  Fate had offered Lisen two distinct choices—either rely on her magic to win the battle, which would have killed far too many people, or allow that same magic to open minds to the possibility of a truce. With the gryl coursing through her system, her gift was so powerful that she could have easily overcome a great many Thristans and destroyed them. But then, an innocent face had imprinted itself upon her soul, and she’d known there was only one route to the end of this. And that was when she’d turned away from fighting.

  The hordes had parted to allow herself and her companions to pass from the field, and now, she sat at the great table in her tent, along with Tanres, Nalin and Bala, awaiting Korin’s arrival with the child. Bala and Tanres sat quietly, but Nalin still shook from the rush of adrenalin which made it difficult for him to comprehend the truth.

  “You mated with him?” Nalin asked, sitting beside her.

  “It was in the Thristan Farii,” she replied.

  “The what?”

  “On Evennight. It’s a fertility ritual. Beautiful, actually.”

  “But how?”

  Lisen covered her sly smile with a quick brush of her hand over her lips. “In the usual way,” she said.

  He blustered as he struggled with questions she knew he couldn’t put into words. Just as she hadn’t expected to find a child at the end of this path, he hadn’t anticipated discovering his Empir’s desires there.

  The sound of the entry curtain being pulled back rescued both of them from further embarrassment, and she looked up, hoping. But she sensed only Korin.

  “My Liege,” he said, coming to her and kneeling down at her feet. “Elder Hozia is on her way with the child.”

  Lisen placed a hand on his head, then slid it down his cheek and finally allowed her palm to rest on his chest over his heart. “Leave us,” she ordered. “And see to the immediate admittance of the Elder when she arrives.”

  “My Liege,” Tanres said, the sound of a chair scooting back telling Lisen the commander had risen.

  “Yes?” Lisen responded.

  “I thought your former captain would want to know about Palla.”

  Lisen nodded, remembering the Palla who’d kept her secret since Halorin, the Palla who’d met them on the road with instructions from Nalin and Elsba, the Palla who’d practically taken up residency in the dungeon in order to keep the sooth safe and the Palla who’d rescued her from her brother’s anaca. He’d sat beside Tanres on the expanded privy council, and he’d gone down defending Garla.

  “He fell,” she told Korin. “He took command of the Tuane troops so Bala could stay with Nalin.”

  “I watched him go down,” Bala added. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s a risk we all took,” Korin replied.

  Lisen heard the shuffling of Nalin’s crutches and ached for his pain, but her mind could only truly center on the child, the image of whose face refused to leave her.

  “He wanted to kill you, you know,” Lisen commented once she sensed the room was theirs alone. “He took your abrupt leaving-taking from Avaret personally.”

  Korin rose and stepped away from her. “There was no chance to explain then, and now any opportunity I might have had is gone.”

  “A regret? From Korin Rosarel?” She smiled and knew he shrugged in response.

  “Not for long.” He paused, then continued. “So, tell me. How much do you know?”

  “Everything I already knew and probably everything I didn’t know before. I know about the transfer in the Khared. I know why you did it and why you couldn’t tell me. I know why you left Avaret. And I know that you’ve forgiven me.”

  “You were inspired out there,” he said, coming to her again. “I told you you’d make a brilliant Empir.”

  “The gryl makes me a brilliant Empir,” she replied with a sigh. “I suspect when it’s out of my system, I’ll just be plain old Lisen again.”

  She heard the curtain open and could smell, even from across the room, the sweetness of a child.

  “My Liege, may I approach?” Hozia asked, and Lisen smiled at the familiar sound of the Elder’s voice.

  “Welcome to my tent, Elder,” Lisen replied.

  “Here, Korin,” Hozia said. “You take her.” Hozia passed the child from her arms into Korin’s. Lisen knew because she had begun to see light and shadow.

  So quick, she thought, but everything about this had been different from before. And how would this affect tonight’s negotiations? Would she still possess enough of her other sight to get it right? And then, that sight offered her an image of hands clasping forearms in agreement, and she knew she wouldn’t fail even if her sight did.

  “My Liege,” Hozia continued, “before I leave you with your daughter, I have a message. My mission here, unbeknownst to Korin, was not to care for your child, though I’ve been happy to do so. I am here as a representative of all the Elders of The People of Thristas. They have empowered me to tell you that we Elders decided without opposition that we would rather see Thristas and Garla negotiate a peace than continue a war.”

  Lisen rose slowly, her inner sight momentarily blinded, and looked in Hozia’s direction. This was an endorsement the spirit had chosen not to reveal to her. “Will you…will you meet with us tonight? With the others? I seek an agreement fair to both sides and would welcome the Elders’ counsel in this.”

  “I will, my Liege,” Hozia replied. “Until then.” And the Elder was gone.

  “Sit,” Korin said, and Lisen did. She wanted more than anything she’d ever wanted in her life to meet this daughter of her dreams and to hold her. “Rinli, I promised you I’d bring you to your mother.” Lisen heard the little girl gurgle and make simple sounds in response to hearing her father’s voice. “Ariannas Ilazer, I present your Heir.”

  She made out Korin’s shadow as he leaned down in front of her so she reached out to accept the child into her arms. The child’s weight settled upon her, and Lisen pulled her up close in an embrace. She put her own face down close to the little girl’s face and inhaled that sweetness she’d only guessed at from across the room. And the baby skin, soft, softer than velvet and smoother than silk. Lisen brought her up so their bodies met chest to chest, and the child squiggled in Lisen’s arms.

  “She’s beautiful,” she said.

  “How can you tell?” Korin asked.

  “Every sense tells me.” She sat there, drinking in the miracle of new life, amazed at how everything felt different now. “You love me,” she said softly, looking in Korin’s direction. “You told me on top of the mesa. Do you remember?”

  “Yes, my Liege. I do.”

  “Then answer me this.” She paused to kiss her daughter’s cheek, soak up the joy, then continued. “How can you say you love me when you can’t bring yourself to call me Lisen when we’re alone?”

  He said nothing. She waited an eternity and was about to withdraw her challenge to his feelings and change the subject when he finally spoke.

  “Lisen.”

  She gasped softly. Hearing him say it, giving it to her freely without discomfort, gave her spirit reason to fly. She hugged Rinli, held her tight in her arms and said, “I have such stories to tell you.”

  And the tales of Hahreepot the Thristan boy who survived, Stabukel who rode magical birds through the air and Luca the girl who could walk in the sky became stories all Garlan children waited up at night to hear. But Lisen kept the story of Little Alex to herself because when she chose peace over destruction, she left Little Alex behind in the battlefield.

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  By Locality

  (F) = Fractured

  (T) = Tainted

  (B) = Blooded

  e. = emerged

  d. = died

  YA = Year of Ariannas

  YF = Year of Flandari

  YP = Year of Paxiflan, father of Flandari

>   SOLSTA HAVEN

  Lisen (F), also Ariannas Ilazer, e. 3/14/YF4, age 18, daughter of Empir Flandari Ilazer and Elsin Cabell, abandoned at Solsta Haven shortly after emergence. Unaware of her status until she guides Empir Flandari through famar.

  Eloise Tuane (F), hermit, sooth, Elsba’s sister, Jozan and Bala’s aunt.

  Titus (F), hermit, healer.

  Nansel (B), hermit, clerk at Solsta.

  AVARET

  Flandari Ilazer (F), d. 2/3/YF22, Empir of Garla, mother to Ariel and Ariannas, joined with Elsin.

  Ariel Ilazer (F), e. 3/14/YF4, d. 5/9/YF22, age 18, presumed Heir of Garla, son of Empir Flandari Ilazer and Elsin Cabell, twin brother to Ariannas who executed him at the end of Tainted.

  Nalin Corday (F), age 20, holder of Felane, Flandari’s student and confidant.

  Korin Rosarel (F), age 25, captain in the Emperi Guard, Lisen’s guardian in Thristas and responsible for Lisen’s weapons training.

  Lorain Zanlot (F), age 18, holder of Bedel, Ariel’s former lover and pouching parent to Elor.

  Elor (B), e. 8/4/YA1, Lorain and Ariel’s son.

  Shan (B), Elor’s nurser.

  Kerok Tanres (F), Commander of the Emperi Guard, appointed by Flandari.

  Lenk Palla (F), captain in the Emperi Guard, Korin’s friend.

  Felso Mira (B), holder of Sudas and member of the privy council.

  Malaki Mira (B), heir to Sudas, son of Felso and member of the privy council.

  Kirana Sakal (B), Nalin’s mother.

  Pharaoh (B), Lisen’s beloved stallion.

  Jal (B), Pharaoh’s caretaker.

  Tazori Dors (B), holder of Carlasa.

  Niko Dors (B), primate of Avaret and Tazori’s uncle.

  Melanda Cabell (B), holder of Clandos and member of the privy council.