Quest for the Moon Orb: Orbs of Rathira

by Laura Jo Phillips

  He almost laughed aloud as he realized what a fool he’d been. Had he really told himself that he could not leave Rathira for her? Had he really told her that? It was absurd. Ridiculous. Preposterous! He would follow this woman to the edge of the universe and back again. He would follow her anywhere, any time, forever and Beyond. It did not matter where they were. It only mattered that they were together.

  Zakiel gazed down at Karma’s white face, wondering if he would have the chance to tell her what he now knew, or if it was already too late. He lowered his face to hers, and felt his heart begin to race at the faint sensation of breath against his cheek.

  She lived. That was all that mattered. Anything was possible so long as Karma remained in the world with him.

  He turned toward Nikura who was crouched down at the edge of the clearing, just beyond Karma’s feet, his tail twitching slightly as he growled. Zakiel stood up and started to walk toward him, but before he could take more than a step Nikura spun around and hissed at him.

  Zakiel’s initial reaction was anger. This was no time for Nikura to display his legendary temper. But when he looked beyond Nikura and saw the gigantic black tree in the clearing, he realized that Nikura was warning him to stay away from it.

  “Don’t worry, Nikura, I’ve no plan to go near that thing, whatever it might be,” he said.

  Nikura relaxed, then stepped up near Karma’s head. He nudged her gently with his nose, then looked up at Zakiel with such sadness in his large blue eyes that Zakiel’s heart skipped a beat in fear.

  He shook his head, clenching his jaw with stubborn determination. “I don’t know what happened, Nikura, but we will not lose her. We cannot lose her.”

  He bent down, picked up the Ti-Ank, and squeezed it in the center as he’d seen Karma do so many times. The rod shortened and he slipped it into his belt, then lifted Karma into his arms, noticing for the first time that his men stood around them in silence. He leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead, then pulled her close against his chest. Her skin was too cool, her breathing too shallow, but she lived. That was all that mattered.

  “Nikura, do you know what happened to her?” he asked as he began walking back through the woods toward the caravan, the Hunters surrounding them with their weapons out.

  Nikura seemed to think for a moment before nodding his head up and down once, then twice, then a third time.

  “You’re not sure?” Zakiel guessed. Nikura stared at him. “You think you know, but it’s a guess?” This time Nikura nodded once.

  Zakiel’s mind raced. “Do we have time to get to the Sirelina?”

  Nikura nodded once.

  “Then that’s what we’ll do,” Zakiel said. “We’ll get her to the Sirelina as fast as possible, and hopefully they will be able to help.”

  Nikura hesitated for a long moment, then nodded once. Zakiel thought about that as they entered the clearing where the rest of the caravan was waiting anxiously.

  “Brother, what happened?” Kapia asked as she ran forward. She gasped when she saw Karma, her hands going to her mouth as though to hold back a sob.

  “Is she...?” Kapia couldn’t say the word aloud.

  “No, Sister, she is not dead,” Zakiel said as he hurried toward his diplo, nearly choking on the word. “I fear that she is not far from it, though. I need to get her to the Sirelina as quickly as possible.”

  “You must ride ahead,” Bredon said. “I will lead the caravan behind you.”

  Zakiel nodded, then turned to hand Karma to Bredon so that he could mount. As soon as he was in the saddle he reached down for her. Only when she was safe in his arms once more did he speak again.

  “Nikura, ride Dippy,” he ordered, knowing that the Sphin could not run at speed for a long distance as the diplo could, and knowing also that Nikura could not be separated from Karma for so long without it harming them both.

  Nikura ran to Karma’s diplo and leapt into the saddle. A moment later Dippy trotted up beside Zakiel, Nikura’s claws hooked securely around the edge of the saddle.

  “Garundel, will you come with me?” Zakiel asked.

  “Of course, Highness,” Garundel said at once. “I will select three others as well, by your leave.”

  Zakiel nodded to Garundel, then turned to Bredon. “Cousin, I beg you, do not let Kapia out of your sight for a single moment.”

  “I will guard her with my life, Highness,” Bredon said, bowing formally. “Now go, we will join you soon.”

  Zakiel nodded, then kicked his diplo and set out at a run, Nikura beside him. Garundel took point, Corbon took the rear, and two other Hunters rode on either side, guarding their flank. They would have to slow to a walk every fifteen minutes or so to rest the diplos, but they’d get there as fast as they could.

  “Do not leave me, Karma,” he said softly into her ear as he rode. “I cannot go on without you by my side, and I cannot leave the land of the living until I have secured the safety of Rathira. So please, do not leave me.”

  ***

  Two hours of hard riding later the forest began to thin, and they caught glimpses of the ocean between the trees as they ran. When they began to see signs of a village ahead, Zakiel reined in his diplo and called his Hunters to him.

  “We will approach at a walk,” he told them. “I will ride in front. When we reach the edge of the village we will dismount, and two of you will stay with the diplos. I will carry Lady Techu and the Ti-Ank into the village, and seek aid from the Sirelina. We must not move too quickly, or show any sign of aggression. These are peaceful people, but they will fight if pushed. I do not want them pushed. Am I clear?”

  Once he received nods from the men, he urged his diplo forward. Nikura leapt to the ground and walked beside his diplo, leaving Dippy to follow on his own. Zakiel dismounted at the edge of the tree line, holding Karma in his arms rather than hand her off to anyone else. As soon as they left the trees he felt the eyes of the villagers upon him. He took the Ti-Ank from his belt, noticing for the first time that both the Tigren and the Vatra markings were displayed on his arms. The Tigren stripes were faint, but clear, while the Vatra markings were bright. Hoping that the Vatra markings would help, rather than hinder him in what he was about to do, he walked forward, head up, with Garundel and Corbon at his heels.

  As tense and worried as Zakiel was, he still could not fail to notice how beautiful the village was as he approached it. All of the buildings, small cottages to longhouses, glowed with a pale rainbow of shimmering colors in the afternoon sunlight. As he grew closer and the details resolved themselves, he was able to see that the buildings drew their astonishing colors from seashells that had been used like overlapping tiles on the exterior of the buildings. He knew that Karma would be entranced by the sight. If she ever got the opportunity to see it.

  As he’d guessed, the Ti-Ank was, by itself, enough of an explanation of who he carried in his arms. As soon as he was close enough to the village for it to be clear what he held, the people came out of their homes and gathered quietly in a large group. Zakiel stopped before them, and waited.

  It didn’t take long for the slight murmur and shuffle of the crowd as they moved aside to warn him that someone of importance, either their village shaman or leader, was on his or her way. When the man, for it was a man this time, stopped in front of Zakiel, he felt such relief that he had to lock his knees to remain standing.

  He nodded his head solemnly, then waited.

  “Techu?” the man asked, his accent thick but understandable.

  “Yes,” Zakiel replied with relief. “Can you help her?”

  The man stared at Karma for a long moment, then met Zakiel’s gaze. “We will share this battle with you, Vatra, for your Techu,” he said. “I am Worrow, Tanom of the Sirelina.”

  “I am Zakiel, Prince of Isiben, son of the House of Feenis,” Zakiel replied.

  Worrow nodded, then turned his attention to Nikura and bowed low. “The Sirelina welcome you, Nikura of the Sphin.”

 
Nikura nodded his large silver head once, then looked up at Karma.

  “Yes,” Worrow agreed, “time grows short. Come, let us go inside.”

  Zakiel breathed easier now that he knew this man was going to help. He walked beside Worrow, the crowd parting easily before them.

  “Can you tell me what occurred to place Techu in this state?” Worrow asked.

  “No, I can’t,” Zakiel replied. “She was alone at the time. We found her on the edge of a clearing. There was a huge black tree in the center of it, but Nikura wouldn’t let me enter the clearing so I didn’t get a good look at it.”

  Worrow hissed sharply and turned to stare at Zakiel. He took a deep breath and kept walking. “Nikura is wise,” he said. “That is the demon tree, and though there are few who it can harm, it is best to stay away from it.”

  “It harmed Lady Techu,” Zakiel pointed out.

  Worrow nodded, and Zakiel saw the worry on the man’s face. “We will discuss this in a moment.”

  Zakiel clenched his jaw to hold in his impatience. He glanced down at Nikura then back to Worrow.

  “Can you speak with the Sphin, Worrow?” he asked.

  Worrow smiled and shook his head. “I am sorry, Prince Zakiel, but no, only she who is Techu may hear the Sphin.”

  Zakiel was unable to hide his disappointment. “Why do you ask?” Worrow asked.

  “Because I think that Nikura has an idea of what happened to Lady Techu,” Zakiel explained. “Only he can’t tell us.”

  “I think I know what happened to her as well,” Worrow said as he led them onto a narrow path that took them to the doorway of a building that seemed larger than the others they had passed. A young man opened the door for them, and Worrow led the way inside. They went through a series of rooms, down a long hall and into a large room with a wall of windows overlooking the sea.

  “Lay her down there,” Worrow said, indicating a narrow padded table in the center of the room.

  Zakiel did as Worrow said, then remained beside her. “What do you think happened?”

  Worrow stepped up to the other side of the table and carefully examined Karma with his eyes, though he did not touch her. He noted her color, her shallow breathing, the slow beat of the pulse in her neck, the rapid, irregular twitching of her eyelids. When he raised his eyes to Zakiel’s again he looked both worried and confused.

  “Tell me, please,” Zakiel said softly.

  Worrow nodded. “In a time before counting, there was a demon called the octurin,” Worrow began. “It was large but, as demons go, not very fearsome. The octurin had teeth and spines, and would kill if given the chance. But it was very slow moving, so easy to avoid. The worst thing about the octurin was that it was a carrier.”

  “A carrier?” Zakiel asked. He’d never heard that term before.

  “A carrier of demon seeds,” Worrow said. “The octurin had eight orifices on its back, situated in a circle. When attacked, it would open an orifice, one at a time, and fling the demon seeds at its attackers. For most, this did little more than cause an uncomfortable sensation of coldness that passed quickly. A demon may not enter a soul without willingness, as you surely know. However, for one who sought power, or wished to side with the demons, the demon seed would take root, and that person would quickly become cin-sahib.”

  “What has this to do with a black tree?” Zakiel asked, trying to hide his impatience. Worrow nodded, understanding, and continued his story.

  “One day, the daughter of the Tanom at that time, grew angry when the man she loved joined with another. Such was her fury that she sought out the octurin with the desire of becoming cin-sahib so that she could take her revenge. She got what she wanted, of course, and she killed the man and his wife. Then she murdered many others before she was eventually destroyed by the Tanom, who was her mother.

  After being forced to destroy the cin-sahib that had once been her daughter, the Tanom turned her grief and rage on the octurin. She hunted the demon, determined to destroy it once and for all. In the end, the octurin was destroyed, and the Tanom opened a pit beneath where it lay and covered it with dirt, right beside a mighty tree where it had fallen. But the demon seeds that the octurin carried were not destroyed, as the Tanom thought. They merged with the living roots of the tree, and there they remain.

  “There have been many attempts to destroy the demon tree, but all have failed. In time, we learned to stay away from it. Only those who wish to become cin-sahib are in any danger, and that is a danger they seek of their own free will.”

  Zakiel shook his head. “There must be some other danger that you are not aware of,” he said. “Lady Techu would never welcome a demon to share her soul.”

  Worrow frowned. “I am sorry, Prince Zakiel, but never has one been possessed by the demon who does not first open their soul to it.”

  Suddenly Nikura made a strange, yowling sound that Zakiel had never heard before. Worrow and Zakiel both stared down at him in surprise and confusion. Nikura’s hackles were up, his ears back, and his tail was twitching back and forth irritably.

  “Nikura?” Zakiel asked. “What is it?”

  Nikura leapt onto the table where Karma lay, placing his paws carefully so that he didn’t step on her. He stared directly at Worrow’s mouth and did not move.

  “Something Worrow said,” Zakiel guessed. Nikura lowered his head in a slow nod.

  Worrow thought back over what he’d said as he studied the Sphin. “Is her soul opened, somehow?” he asked after a few moments.

  Nikura nodded once, then leapt to the floor and began pacing.

  “How could her soul be opened?” Worrow asked. Zakiel shook his head as he watched Nikura. After a moment he crouched down on the floor so that he could be closer to the Sphin.

  “Nikura, you have to help us understand this so that we can help Karma,” he said, trying to keep his tone calm. “I understand that you are upset right now. You realized something that you think you should have realized sooner, is that right.”

  Nikura stopped and stared at Zakiel for a long moment, then approached him. He reached up with one paw and lightly touched the Vatra markings on his forearm.

  Zakiel took a deep breath and thought hard. “Does it have something to do with the Vatra, or have you known since that day?”

  Nikura nodded once. “Both,” Zakiel said.

  “Prince Zakiel, please, tell me,” Worrow said. “Perhaps I can help.”

  Zakiel would take all the help he could get so he stood up and began pacing alongside Nikura as he told Worrow about the battle with the Ken-No-Kel, and the Return of the Vatra. When he was finished, Worrow nodded slowly.

  “Prince Zakiel, did you know that you would die when you raced between Lady Techu and the tail spikes?” he asked.

  “Yes, I assumed I would die,” he replied uneasily. “What difference does it make?”

  “Every difference,” Worrow replied. “That is it, isn’t it, Nikura? Their souls are connected, one to the other. He sacrificed his life for her. She did something too. Reached for his soul and held it until the Vatra could return, is my guess.”

  Nikura nodded, his eyes fixed on Worrow now.

  “But their bond is not complete, is it?”

  Nikura lowered and raised his head twice. No.

  “Until it is complete, they are both unprotected,” Worrow said, not even waiting for Nikura’s nod this time.

  Zakiel placed one hand lightly against Karma’s cold, white cheek. “Our souls are connected, but our bond is not complete, which left her open to this attack. Is that right?”

  “Yes, I fear you are correct,” Worrow said. “It explains why I sense her fighting the demon, which I did not understand before. You should know that her soul is very weak. You hold half of it, and half of what she has is yours. Without a completed bond, she cannot wield it. She will lose this struggle, Prince Zakiel.”

  Zakiel felt the blood drain from his face. “I told her that this could not happen to her unless she invited it,�
� he said. “I told her she had nothing to worry about. I lied to her.”

  “You did not lie, Prince Zakiel,” Worrow said. “You had no way to believe such a thing was possible. None of us did.”

  “I told her it could not happen, and it did,” Zakiel said, unwilling to let himself off the hook that easily. “There must be a way to help her. Can we complete the bond?”

  “No,” Worrow said after a moment’s thought. “She must knowingly participate in that, and in her current state, that is not possible.”

  Zakiel rubbed his hands over his face, stepped back from the table and began to pace. There was no way he was going to allow Karma to die. He didn’t care about anything else. Only her. She had possession of half of his soul, literally, but she owned all of his heart, and he could not let her go.

  Zakiel froze for a long moment, then spun around to face Worrow. “She has only half of her own soul, and half of mine,” he said. Worrow nodded. “We cannot complete the bond, but our souls are already connected to each other. So why can’t my soul join hers in this battle?”

  Worrow’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “That might work,” he said slowly, glancing down at Nikura.

  Nikura stopped his pacing and sat down. He closed his eyes and remained motionless for a long moment. Zakiel held his breath while he waited for Nikura’s answer.

  Finally, Nikura opened his eyes and nodded once.

  Zakiel let his breath out with a whoosh and bent to kiss Karma’s cool forehead.

  “Now we need only figure out how to do it,” Worrow said.

  Nikura bumped his shoulder against Zakiel’s leg. Zakiel looked down, and Nikura sat again and lowered his head. Zakiel stared at him for a moment, then lowered himself into a crouch on the floor. Nikura stood up, then raised one paw and lightly tapped his egora, as he had done before.

  Zakiel frowned. There couldn’t be demon arts on the egora. Nikura had checked it himself. He shook his head, and Nikura tapped the egora again. This time Zakiel looked down and saw that Nikura’s paw was barely touching the golden bead. The bead that represented his feelings for Karma, and his desire to make her his wife, his partner in life.