Emaranthe leaned out over the trio, her hands braced against a massive thumb. Weariness made her arms tremble, but she hoped that the distance hid it. She masked a grimace when Gabaran’s starlit gaze sharpened on her and a frown tightened his lips. He remained silent, however, because he knew what she had to do. One last glance up at the sole source of energy left to her. The thin, watery, sunlight was now choked with dancing dust motes. It would have to do. There was no way she could flicker them back to the clearing and she knew they knew that.
She called down to them. “Back up, I need room.”
Gabaran and Dehil obeyed with a sliver of a glance at Ivo. When he remained, face tight and arms crossed, she didn’t hide her glare.
“Fine. Watch out for the edges, it will burn you,” she warned.
Ivo tensed, but his jaw clenched as he waited. His dark green gaze glinted with fear for a brief moment, but he remained where he was and didn’t protest.
He knew that there was no other choice.
“I will catch you, Emaranthe,” he said at last when their gazes locked. “Always.”
She nodded and turned her face to the scant sunlight left.
***
Ivo’s entire body, every muscle, demanded he climb up the statue and hold her in his arms. Ivo’s heart and soul knew he couldn’t. So it was a battle that raged and burned deep within, creating a tangible ache as he watched her do what she was meant to.
He could almost see the threads of power drifting through the oculus with the dust and air. She closed her eyes and soaked it in, gathered the energy reserves needed to get them to where they needed to go. They were not always obvious, but somehow they were familiar, as familiar as Emaranthe was. It was her unique connection, bond, with her abilities and it was far more than he had ever seen in any Immortal, himself included.
“Can she get us back to the clearing?” Dehil asked, his voice thin and a little awed. Ivo grunted, not daring to take his gaze off of her. He knew that few people saw Emaranthe’s gifts in this fashion but he didn’t care to elaborate, so Gabaran did instead.
“She can now that she has been there once before. I don’t know how she does it and I’ve never seen any other than Tanari create portals out of nothingness.”
“It is a powerful gift,” Dehil muttered, his voice soft. “But costly.”
Ivo’s jaw flexed and Gabaran remained silent.
The air around Emaranthe shimmered, rippled. Her hair tangled into the air on a surge of power as she turned white hot eyes away from the sunbeam. Her arms spread slowly as the energy built and lifted her into the crackling air.
Ivo braced himself, hating what he knew would happen next.
A ball of energy burst from her chest and surged into the air before her. Emaranthe carefully sculpted the ball until it formed a static and lightning wreathed ring of heat and fire. It enlarged with her steady motions, until it hovered several yards in diameter and hovered several feet off the ground, just above Ivo The space inside swirled and eddied as tendrils of energy spiked and flowed along the portal frame. It stilled and sharpened, giving everyone a fuzzy, somewhat distant, overhead view of Jaeger, Sesti, Jadeth, and Ishelene scrambling around the clearing.
Emaranthe’s voice croaked over the crackling static. “Go, jump, I can’t hold it.”
She collapsed, her limbs and body folding as she toppled off the towering statue.
Ivo darted forward, her name a cry that echoed Gabaran’s, and caught her in a tangle of indigo wool and pale hair.
Gabaran’s cry turned into a command. “Go! Jump!”
Ivo spun, clutching the unmoving mage to him and leaped high. A gust of wind propelled him upwards and through the swirling portal, the elves on his heels.
They fell.
Chapter Twenty Two
Hard and fast, they plunged into the clearing with a shimmer of fire and gust of wind that snapped the portal shut behind them just as quickly. They slammed to the hard, damp, ground in a tangle of arms, legs, and grunts.
Ivo cradled Emaranthe’s unmoving body and shielded her from the confused melee. He ignored the savage pain radiating the length of his back and sat up, bracing her unmoving body against his chest. The collective din of words went unnoticed as he shoved aside legs and tangled hair. He had to see her face. He had to know if–
His heart twisted in his chest as he uncurled his arms from her. He eased her into his lap. Shoulder length blonde hair tangled in his hauberk and her voluminous cloak threatened to strangle him and Dehil.
She didn’t move. Her tipped her chin up with shaking hands and smoothed her hair from her face.
“Emaranthe?” he studied her face, the freckles on her nose. Her eyelashes were long fragile fans grazing her cheeks. They flicked, but didn’t open. The only thing keeping him from losing his mind was the feel of her curves rising and falling with each breath she took.
A green aura enveloped the clearing, snapping Ivo back to the present. He felt the healing sting on his wounded arm and back. Gabaran and Jadeth hovered beside him. Dehil stood nearby, his hands on knees, karambit knives gripped loosely in slack fingers.
“Jadeth, is she going to be okay?” Gabaran asked for Ivo. At her relieved nod he relaxed and tossed his sister a glare. The distant sounds of the battle below continued.
Jadeth appeared her face pale and anxious. “Ivo, come. She needs to rest, but there is something everyone must hear now that you are back.”
Ivo stood, clutching Emaranthe gently to him. He folded her cloak about her carefully to keep her energy depleted body warm.
“What is it?” he asked as he spotted Jaeger and Sesti pacing around the twin stones in animated conversation. He wondered if they even noticed them dropping from the sky behind them. He sighed and shook his head. He couldn’t be mad at the sight of his brother getting along so well with the sharp tongued elf.
“Ivo,” Jaeger approached, Sesti in tow. Their animated faces held a tinge of worry but their excitement was tangible. “Come look at this! Before Ishelene says anything, we think we found how the portal works.”
Ivo followed them, puzzled. “Why would Ishelene say…”
Gabaran’s glare honed on Ishelene at Jaeger’s words, and Ivo almost could swear the Tevu’s eyes speared his sister with his sharp, starlit gaze.
“Here, look,” Sesti bent and pointed to a crack zig zagging across the bottom third of the rock face. It was deep and wide where a chunk seemed to have broken off. “Watch!”
Jaeger’s hand shot out and gripped her arm before she could touch the stone. He called out. “Cover your ears, this will be painfully loud.”
When Sesti harrumphed and took her arm back with a sour look, he stared down at her pointedly. She silently conceded their odd battle and stood, hands now covering both elongated ears, a wince already wrinkling her nose.
Once Jaeger seemed satisfied that everyone had covered their ears, he reached down and wedged his hand into the crack. Something sizzled, sparked, like miniature lightning. Ivo stumbled back, startled. His hands were not free to cover his own ears and now he quickly covered the barely visible curve of Emaranthe’s ear poking through her tangled hair. Another spark and popping sound, and a small line of tiny lights in various colors flickered and hummed to life. Something within the stone buzzed softly, like a beetle might.
Then the ear-splitting screech.
He ducked away from the attacking sound, his hand pressing Emaranthe’s face to his chest protectively. Everyone staggered and grimaced, hands and eyes clamped tightly.
Just as quickly it cut off, leaving everyone staring at each other in uneasy silence. Ivo kneeled and eased Emaranthe to the ground. The piercing screech hadn’t roused her, which was alarming, even if expected. He shot the sun an imploring glance, catching Gabaran’s frown still on his twin.
“What just happened?” Ivo asked. He ignored Gabaran and stood scowling at his brother. To his surprise, Jaeger had moved to Sesti and had carefully pried her hands from the si
des of her head and inspected her ears. Apparently satisfied, he moved away and turned to glare at Ishelene, as well, ignoring both Ivo and Sesti.
Disappointment flashed for a split second in Sesti’s gaze before she too turned to her mother.
She gritted her teeth “Mother, now that we are all here, would you care to explain this to them now?”
Jaeger’s crossed arms mirrored Gabaran’s. At Sesti’s words he shifted to place himself between her and the stones again. The little lights and whirr had vanished with the screech.
Ishelene stood from her kneeling position on the far end of the clearing, away from the stones, her dark blue eyes unreadable in the midmorning light. The sounds of the battle far below drifted to them on an icy breeze. It turned Ivo’s stomach to think that they’d had to abandon the mortals there. Judging by the slightly sick look on Gabaran’s haggard face, he felt the same way. Those were his people down there.
“I have no guilt about keeping this from you,” she said. Her gaze landed on Ivo and stayed there. “I did what was best for everyone at the time. But times have changed, and I can no longer stay silent.”
Ivo’s arms crossed over his chest now. He shifted to a defensive stance, her words making goose bumps race up his arms.
She continued, her voice a monotone, her face emotionless.
“There are two things you must now know. One is that this portal, and likely its mate, are not of your world. They are what my people called ‘machines’.”
“What are ‘machines’?” Dehil asked from beside Jadeth. The knives had since vanished into the shadows they resided in. “Are they part of a magic spell?”
Ishelene closed her eyes and appeared to age right before them. Lines edged her eyes and her mouth.
“No,” she rasped. “Machines are not magic. They are great things built to perform tasks, functions, for us. In a way they are similar to be honest, but machines are physical objects that run on a physical energy. No spells or magic. Just science and maths, engineering.”
The foreign words with their unknown meanings fell on them, silencing them until Dehil spoke up again.
“These ‘machines’ are from your world? Created by the Starfarers? Why?” he asked.
“We had a lifestyle that was very advanced. Remember how I said we could travel the stars in a ship? A ship is one of those machines, not the same as this portal, but similar enough.”
“You said this portal was old, from near the beginning when your people crashed here,” Jadeth replied. “Your people, not the Windwalkers, put it here then?”
Ishelene nodded, visible dread pulling her lips into a frown.
“As I mentioned before, many of us survivors scattered among the peoples of this world. I came here to Anat, as did Tanari. We lived among the Windwalkers for several centuries before The Fall. I–my original body died here.”
Gabaran flinched. Ivo sent him a worried glance, but he remained poised, still, even though his voice became a rusty rumble.
“Why did you not say so earlier?” he asked.
“It was Tanari’s secret to keep. Her only way to weave her way in and out of time, and space, to guide us and save Emaranthe, was to keep everything a secret. Much even I don’t know. As a Worldwalker, even before The Fall, she was a master of travelling through space and time without machines or portal stones. Those came later, when it became clear that swift travel would be needed for everyone, not just her. She created them all. On Soldeus she was what we called a scientist.”
“What else did you not tell us, Ishelene,” Ivo growled. He watched her tense, look away. Guilt bowed her shoulders, a feeling he knew well.
“This particular machine was one of Tanari’s. I recognized it instantly. It was built.” She gestured to the twin stones. “For only one purpose–but before now I hadn’t believed it to be true. I’d dismissed her talk as silly and boring, and disregarded her concerns at the time. But Tanari had seen all of this happening, she knew there would be consequences to actions–or inactions.” Ishelene glanced over at her twin, a puzzled frown pulling her lips down.
“Gabaran, how did Tanari know to find you here, at Anat, all those years ago? Knew where you would be, and that she could trust you with Emaranthe’s life? Had you ever met any of the original Starfarers?”
He stiffened, but his head dropped to his chest. “No. I knew they were here among us. But we were younglings those many years ago in Isid. I imagine she found me by accident, yet she knew my name.”
She exhaled, her head shaking as he spoke, but didn’t dispute this.
Ivo frowned. “Ishelene, where, or when, did Tanari find Emaranthe?”
Jaeger and Sesti tensed, and Gabaran’s low growl rumbled off the soaring mountains around them.
Jadeth turned to Ivo, her face pale. “Ivo, you need to be able to keep calm if she tells you.”
He scowled at her, but one glance down at the unconscious woman, turned his throat to dust.
“Why? What is it?”
Ishelene stared down at the bundle of indigo wool and tousled blonde hair. Her mouth thinned with pain.
“Do you remember when I said that my people were born in pairs? The second twin usually did not survive due to the power imbalance between the pair. This happens because the pool of power is limited and then must be split between two souls. In most cases only the stronger twin lived and claimed full powers. In Rodon’s case, he was the elder twin and Tanari the younger. Only, she inherited all the power and he retained none–yet both survived.”
Ivo nodded. He didn’t trust himself to speak. This was heading somewhere he didn’t particularly like. His throat began to close.
“The girl Emaranthe saw in the book was who I said, Ainoa, Rodon’s daughter and heir apparent. Only, she had a twin too. And just like their father, this twin lived. Unlike her father, she too retained powers. Full powers. Their mother, Selaya, hid the younger twin from Rodon when it became apparent that both were extraordinarily powerful.”
“Hid the twin?” Gabaran whispered. “How?”
Ishelene shook her head, her gaze downcast. “Selaya claimed the youngest had perished in childbirth. She hid her child at the Heart of the Star with a caretaker who also wouldn’t be missed much.”
Ivo’s voice turned raspy. “The Youngest.”
Everyone looked down at Emaranthe.
“Oh, dear gods.” Jadeth covered her mouth. “Rodon–”
“Rodon never knew until it was too late,” Ishelene whispered. “Neither did I. In this lifetime he still does not remember.”
Gabaran stiffened, his face drawn. “Tanari. Tanari would have done all she could to–”
“–save her,” Ishelene whispered. “Tanari was kept out of the courts as the spare. She practically raised Emaranthe. Only she, her bodyguard, and Selaya knew. I learned of her on accident just before the cataclysm.”
Jadeth’s gasp caught her gaze. “Rodon murdered Ainoa. And Emaranthe–”
Ishelene nodded and looked away. “The Heart of the Star grew unbalanced. The energy shifted catastrophically with Ainoa’s death. Emaranthe had put herself between them not even knowing that Ainoa was her own sister.”
Ivo whispered, “Rodon nearly killed her too. Why?”
Anguished blue eyes free of deceit and full of fear swung to him.
“He wanted power. Only the kind of power the Heart of the Star could give. Ainoa, Emaranthe, and Tanari had ever only been the ones able to harness and shape it. Tanari interrupted the battle. I’d followed her. I didn’t know what was happening.” She shook her head, her shoulders shaking. “We were too late.”
“You saw everything.”
“I saw it all. I knew that Rodon’s soul was beyond saving even then. I saw my dead granddaughter,” Ishelene lifted her chin and steadied her gaze on Gabaran. Everyone stilled and sucked in a sharp breath. “And I saw another I’d never met before, on the verge of death, in my Tanari’s arms.”
“You are Rodon’s mother.” Sesti’s ha
nds flew to her mouth, her gaze wild.
Ishelene looked at her, fresh tears glinting.
“I was. I was a lifetime ago in a world destroyed by my only son. Ainoa’s death and Emaranthe’s battle with her own father set off a chain reaction. The Heart of the Star erupted, failed and in the end it destroyed Soldeus. We fled to the stars with Rodon a prisoner, and my only surviving granddaughter half dead. Of an entire race only a few dozen had survived.”
“I…how…what about–” Sesti choked out. Jaeger stepped forward and pulled her close, his icy glare for the empress. Sesti turned in his arms and hid against his broad chest, her entire body shaking with sobs.
“What is her rightful name, Ishelene?” Gabaran asked, his face hard and lined. “She spent decades being nameless, homeless, and lost.”
Ishelene hid her face behind trembling hands.
Ivo stared at her, stunned.
“You don’t even know, do you?” he cried out.
“No, I don’t. I am so, so, sorry. Tanari and her bodyguard refused to tell me anything. I had to trust her to do what was right.”
***
There were no tears, only a well of emptiness that should have terrified her. Emaranthe struggled to keep her breathing even, thankful for the massive folds of the thick, indigo cloak hiding her from the world. Again.
There should be some feeling, right? A gloved hand nestled near her cheek twitched and she watched the fingers stretch open without feeling it. The feeling was long gone, a consequence of a fight to the near death with her own father thousands of years ago. A fight she didn’t remember and certainly didn’t understand. What was she? Was she immortal? Or not?
Heat burned behind her eyes. She snapped them shut. It was a long second before she realized it was dampness, not fire, stinging her face.
The dampness burned twin paths down her cheeks.
Ainoa. A sister she had failed to save.
Ishelene a grandmother she had never known.
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