Erygion placed a large, heavy paw upon his shoulder. “Come, sit.” he said as he led Hadraniel over toward a large boulder that lay between a pair of pines.
Hadraniel took an uncomfortable seat on it as Erygion knelt beside him. Hadraniel hissed in pain as Erygion grabbed his wrists. In a moment Erygion’s own hands were encompassed by a brilliant, white Caliber energy. Hadraniel could feel the warmth of it transferring into his own hands. Of all the Saints, those of Aeoria’s Guard were the most powerful and the most gifted with Caliber strength. They were an elite few, and of them Erygion’s power was legendary. Hadraniel knew of no other Saint—save maybe Nuriel—whose Caliber could even closely match that of somebody like Erygion.
The glow of the man’s Caliber intensified until at last Hadraniel had to close his eyes. For the first time since he was burned the wounds finally felt soothed. Erygion’s hands traveled up to Hadraniel’s face and then down his body. After a few long moments the glow of Erygion’s Caliber was gone and he stood up. Hadraniel held up his hands and opened his eyes. His heart sank.
“Your pain should be gone.” said Erygion. “Unfortunately, I am not as gifted in healing as Saint Nanael of the Bright Hand. The flesh will never heal properly. The wounds were too great. Wounds can heal, but not all scars can be forgotten.”
“Told you that was never going to heal right.” Ovid’s deep voice cut through the night. Karin shot him a nasty look. He chuckled.
Hadraniel sighed as Karinael took a seat next to him, rubbing her hand up and down his back. “It’s fine, Hadi. You’re alive, and that’s all that matters to me.”
He clenched and unclenched his hands a few times. It was true that the pain was gone, and for that he was thankful. He went to feel his face but Karinael grabbed his hand. She looked into his eyes. “Hey, I love you,” she said. She kissed him. Hadraniel brushed his hand through her long, amber locks, trying to force a smile. She kissed him again.
“You were lucky to survive Ithuriel.” said Erygion. “Count yourselves alone in that feat.”
“I wouldn’t say they survived Ithuriel. I’d say they were lucky that I was there.” said Ovid, smiling. He strode forward.
Hadraniel let loose a sigh as he stood. “It’s true.” He looked at Ovid. “And for that I thank you.”
“But you did save me,” said Karinael, taking Hadraniel’s hand in hers. For the first time in days it caused him no pain. “Don’t take that away from yourself. He had no hand in that.”
“Didn’t I now?” Ovid chuckled.
Erygion turned to Ovid. “It would be best if you got back to your post. We don’t want any further suspicions.” He gazed at Ovid’s feet, and thankfully the soil was dry. “And I don’t want Leviathan Hydra following you here.”
Ovid nodded.
“Do like we discussed.” said Erygion. Here his countenance became more severe and his sapphire eyes burned into Ovid’s. “Can I trust you?”
Ovid’s lips curled into a wicked smile, his black eyes glinting in the moonlight. “Just until we get to Narbereth. Then I do my own thing and you can go to Duroton. Once we’re to Narbereth, I’m no longer part of anything.”
Erygion nodded. “So be it. It’s your right.” His eyes focused on the Sanguinastrum Ovid held. “Use your freedom wisely. And try to remember that you are a Saint of Aeoria.”
Ovid chuckled. He turned and the darkness swallowed him as he strode away.
Hadraniel shook his head. “He knows too much.”
“He does,” agreed Erygion. “Nothing to be done about that now.”
“Did you give him his real Sanguinastrum?” asked Hadraniel, hopeful that maybe Erygion just gave him one of the fakes he was planting back at Sanctuary.
Erygion nodded. “He saved you both from a terrible fate. He sought me out for you.” Then, as if he sensed Hadraniel’s thoughts that he should have just smashed it, he said, “It is not my right to recall a Saint. We are all bound by those collars. You and Karinael promised him his Sanguinastrum if he helped, and I honored that pact. If we cannot work in the Goddess’s footsteps, then we have already lost.”
“Thank you,” said Karinael. “He’s a monster, but he saved us.”
Hadraniel frowned. He looked at Erygion. “Ovid tells us there is a bounty on our heads. We have much to catch up on.”
Erygion nodded. “We do, but I’m afraid I won’t have many answers for you. I fled Sanctuary right after the constellation appeared in the sky. Sanctuary knew what that constellation meant, and they knew who each and every one of those stars belonged to. I knew they’d be coming to have you two recalled, and probably others. It was all over for me at that point.”
“So, you just fled?” asked Karinael with some concern.
Erygion nodded his head. “I took all the Sanguinastrums with me. Nothing else I could do. Believe me, that constellation was something that got Sanctuary’s hackles up. There’s no going back now.”
“You took all the Sanguinastrums?” asked Karin, shock in her voice. “But… where are they?”
“Hidden, for now.” said Erygion. “And I do mean I took all of them, other than those that Holy Father himself holds.”
“Doesn’t Holy Father hold all of Aeoria’s Guards’?” asked Hadraniel.
“Some of them,” said Erygion with a wink.
“What about Nuriel’s?” asked Karinael.
“Her’s is one Holy Father holds.” said Erygion, and Karinael seemed to sink a little.
“But what now?” asked Hadraniel. “If you can’t go back to Sanctuary…”
“It doesn’t matter.” said Erygion. “Everything was getting out of hand anyway. It was only a matter of time before they found out what we’ve been up to. Frankly, I’m surprised Nuriel kept her mouth shut.” He shook his head and stared down at the ground for a moment, chewing thoughts over in his mind. “I’ve been keeping up this charade longer than I ever thought I would need to. Celacia made it sound like things were moving fast, but for ten years now…” His voice trailed off. He looked back up at Karinael and Hadraniel. “We’ve all done as much as we can here, and we’ve all waited long enough. We need Celacia, but I fear we’ve waited for her for far too long. Isley’s been looking for her ever since she disappeared, but it’s like she fell off the face of the world.” He sighed. “We should never have waited this long. We should have gone to help Isley search for her sooner. There’s but one star left in the sky, and now I fear it might be too late.”
“So, what do we do now?” asked Karinael.
“I’m going to gather the Saints we have, and we’re going to have to meet Isley in Duroton. Maybe together we can find Celacia, and hopefully it isn’t too late.”
The three were quiet for a long moment. At length Hadraniel looked at Erygion. “So, they really did try to have us recalled? They really do have a bounty on our heads?”
Erygion hiked his shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know. Like I said, I fled as soon as I saw your little show in the sky.”
“How did you know we caused it?” asked Karinael.
Erygion smiled. “I’m the keeper of the Sanguinastrums, and I’ve been at it for a very long time. I know a secret or two about the stars. I know which stars belong to which Saints.”
“So, then, what happened? What did we do?” asked Karinael.
Erygion laughed. “I was hoping you could tell me what you did.”
Hadraniel exchanged a look with Karinael. “Before it happened, me and Karin were fighting Ithuriel. And Karinael’s Caliber started going crazy. And then…” Hadraniel looked at Karinael.
“I don’t really remember,” she said meekly. “I just remember light all around me.”
“Our armor lit up, like it was made of starlight.” said Hadraniel. “And then I saw the constellation appear. Me and Karin have talked about it. It was strange, but it was like we were both a pa
rt of each other. And we both thought we could feel other Saints with us as well.”
Erygion nodded. “The other stars.”
“What do you mean?” asked Hadraniel.
“The Saints of the other stars in the constellation.” said Erygion. “Yours were the brightest that shown, but others in that constellation made an appearance too. Most of the other Saints of that constellation are long dead, but a few live. Saint Tauriel is one of them. I believe he is in Penatallia. You already know Saint Ertrael. They transferred him out of Jerusa a couple years back. I believe he is in Narbereth now. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear there is a bounty on their heads as well.”
Hadraniel frowned. Ertrael had been a good Saint. He had helped him and Karinael with shipments a couple time. He hated to think there would be a bounty on his head. He sighed and looked at Erygion. “So, me and Karin, we’re part of the same constellation?”
Erygion regarded them for a moment. “Yes.”
“But… what does that mean?” asked Karinael.
“I don’t know.” Erygion was silent in thought for a moment. “Saints are stars, are constellations…” he uttered, mostly to himself. Erygion’s sapphire eyes turned to Karinael. “Your Caliber shines strangely.” he said. “But it never used to.”
Karinael looked at Hadraniel for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders. “Back at Sanctuary I could never shine it very brightly.” she said. “After I got my Call to Guard, Nuriel apprenticed me and helped train me. She helped me learn how to shine my Caliber brighter, and that’s when we started to notice it.”
Erygion nodded his head. He regarded her for a moment, chewing on his bottom lip.
“What?” asked Hadraniel. He could see something was eating at him. “What is it?”
Erygion looked at them. “There is something you don’t know, Karinael.”
She looked at Hadraniel and then back to Erygion. “About what?”
“About what Nuriel did for you.” he said. “The day you received your Call to Guard she came to me. She knew about me switching out the Sanguinastrums with fakes, and she offered to sell her silence in exchange for a favor.”
Hadraniel saw Karinael’s brow furl. “What favor?”
Erygion walked over to a large boulder and leaned against it. He was silent for a time, mulling things over in his mind. At last he returned his eyes to them. “Your Caliber was never strong enough to sync with your armor.” he said. “You would have been consumed by it the moment you were bound to it if it weren’t for Nuriel.”
Hadraniel wrapped an arm around Karinael’s shoulders. He could feel her sink at his words; could feel something like shame from within her Caliber.
“Nuriel came to me to ask if there was a way to bolster another person’s Caliber from a distance.” continued Erygion. “Though it is a rare ability, it’s no secret that some Saints can do it by a touch. Just as we Saints can help heal each other, we can also sometimes help bolster each others’ Calibers. I’ve told you before how Nuriel helped me raise the skull of the fire dragon from Mount Rendral.” Erygion fixed Karinael with his eyes. “I taught Nuriel how to do it from a distance. To be honest, I was not sure she could do it. I was almost certain she could not sustain it long enough to help you. But she did. She projected her Caliber into yours, and that is the sole reason you were never consumed by your armor.”
“But… but it took me days to fully sync with my armor,” said Karinael.
“Nuriel’s strong.” said Hadraniel. “I told you what I saw her do against Behemoth Kraken. She actually coalesced her Caliber into a shield around herself.”
Erygion nodded. “Stronger than I even gave her credit for. Who knows how long she was helping you. Maybe weeks.”
Karinael burried her face in her hands. She slumped against a tree.
“It’s okay,” said Hadraniel into her ear. He stroked his hand down her cheek.
“But that means I really wasn’t good enough.” she said, sniffling. She wiped at her eyes. “It means I really never should have…”
“Hey,” said Hadraniel. He lifted her chin to look into her eyes. “It means that I got to meet you. It means that all the people of Jerusa got to know you.”
“It’s true,” said Erygion. “You’re one of the good ones. Whatever Nuriel did to help you, it in turn has helped countless people.”
Karinael didn’t say anything. She stood slumped against the tree, looking down. Hadraniel held her close.
“I have a theory.” said Erygion. “I think that Nuriel projected her own Caliber into yours for so long that you became accustomed to siphoning the Caliber of others.”
Karinael looked up at him, her face scrunching up. “So I’m a leech?”
Erygion frowned. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“But that’s what I am, right?” she said. “I’m a leech.”
“Karin…” Hadraniel tried to embrace her but she rebuked him with her arm.
“Not a leech.” said Erygion. “A conduit.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, wiping at her eyes.
Erygion’s voice was soft, as if speaking to himself. “We Saints are not human. We are born as blessings from the Goddess. Our deeds are said to be records kept in the stars, and hence we are named for them.” He looked at the black heavens above. “Saints are stars, are constellations…”
“What?” asked Hadraniel, hardly able to hear him. Hadraniel didn’t exactly know where Erygion was going. It was true that Saints were not humans; they had no parents, no mothers or fathers. They were born in the Stellanatarium in the Holy Palace, sent by the Goddess herself into the arms of her great statue there. They were raised by the six Holy Mothers until they were three. At that age they were moved to the dorms and watched over by the Mothers and Fathers there.
“I think,” began Erygion more loudly, but then he suddenly seemed to think better of his words and fell silent again.
“What is it?” asked Hadraniel.
“I think something within Karinael was awoken from the help she received from Nuriel.” said Erygion at last.
Karinael sniffed. “You mean a big old nasty leech?”
“No.” said Erygion, standing up and walking over to her. He placed his hands upon her shoulders. “I think what awoke inside of you is something that all Saints are supposed to have. I think you are stronger than you realize, and I think your true ability is in being a conduit for others. I have a hunch that the Ecclesiastics back at Sanctuary—the ones with Calibers too weak to become Saints Caliber and who are held back—might share this common ability.”
“You mean, their Calibers are weak because they are conduits?”
“Something like that.” said Erygion. “So, perhaps there is a bigger reason they are kept behind at Sanctuary. Perhaps there is a bigger reason Sanctuary does not try to train them.”
Karinael sniffed and kicked at a rock by her foot. “Now I know why Nuriel was so fed up with me. Now I know why she couldn’t stand me any longer.”
“I don’t think that’s it.” said Hadraniel.
“I think it is,” said Karinael. “I think she was so drained by me that she couldn’t take it any longer. Maybe I caused her to finally snap. Maybe I’m the reason she was taking so much Ev. Maybe I’m the reason she became so—” Karinael’s voice stuck in her throat and she buried her head in her hands.
Hadraniel hugged her to his body. “No, Karin. Nuriel was using Ev long before she ever apprenticed you. You can’t blame yourself for her actions.”
Karinael sniffed and moved away from Hadraniel as she wiped at her eyes. “I need to find her. I need to tell her that I’m sorry.”
Hadraniel started. “Karin, I don’t think that’s a—”
“No,” said Karinael. “If what Erygion says is true, then I owe her. I should make amends with her.”
Erygion shook his head. “That is not a good idea.” he spoke. “Nuriel is too close to Holy Father. Especially now.”
“We used to be close too.” said Karinael. “If I could just talk to her…”
Hadraniel shared a disconcerted look with Erygion. The large man put his helmet on. “If I see her, I’ll tell her you want to speak,” said Erygion. “But do not approach her on your own.”
Karinael looked at him. “Are you going to go find her?”
“There’s a possibility that I might run into her.” he said. “But I want you and Hadraniel to stay here. I’m going to gather the rest of the Saints loyal to us. Raziel, Gadrial, Asteroth and the others. They’ll meet you here.” He looked at Hadraniel. “I’ll have one of them bring you a new bodysuit as well. Can’t have one of my Saints running around half naked.”
Hadraniel smiled and adjusted the blanket on his waist. “I’d appreciate that.”
Then something seemed to occur to Erygion. “You have not seen Dalerial and Falerial, have you? I met them the other day when I first arrived in Jerusa. I told them to come here.”
Hadraniel shook his head. Karinael said, “Nobody has been by other than Ovid.”
Erygion pursed his lips into a frown. “Watch out for Ovid.” said Erygion. “He’s supposed to try throwing Leviathan Hydra and everybody else off our tails. He’s supposed to convince them that he saw you two heading east. Then he’s going to meet us here and follow us as far west as Narbereth.”
Karinael nodded but Hadraniel had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
“While I’m gone, try to replicate what you did that night against Ithuriel.” said Erygion.
“But… I can’t.” said Karinael. “Me and Hadi, we tried a few times. We thought if we could do it, it might help him heal. But we can’t.”
“You told me that when it happened, it felt like there were other people with you.” said Erygion. “Karinael, you need to think of yourself as a conduit. When you shine your Caliber, reach out to whoever you feel, not just Hadraniel. Reach out to Ertrael. Reach out to Tauriel. Reach out to every star that shone in the constellation that night.”
Here Shines the Sun Page 32
