Talisman

by Krystyne Price

  Bijan leaned back in the chair, crossing an ankle over top of his knee so casually she was taken aback. Like they were just going to talk about the weather or the last Iowa State game wherein their beloved football team had gotten clobbered thirty-two to nothing. Like he belonged there in her living room. Like he hadn’t just miraculously made a mangled arm heal completely on his own in half an hour.

  She shook her head, body aching, and leaned back into the couch cushions. “Who are you?” she whispered.

  * * *

  Bijan decided the only way he could do this was start at the beginning. “I am from another planet,” he began. “In another dimension.”

  He waited to gauge her reaction. So far, she hadn’t even blinked yet.

  “The planet is called Shinzar.” He looked at her a moment, then repeated it slowly. “Shin-zar. I am a Shinzarn of the Zar class. We are...” He floundered for a moment. “The Zar are practitioners of magic. We are gifted with it. And I am currently the High Wizard, which means I am the leader of Shinzar.”

  Bijan couldn’t quite interpret the look on Kaia’s face, but he forged ahead anyway. Best to just get it all out there and worry about the consequences later. So he told her about Kana, about Kana’s wife Sinloa. Told how they had given birth to the first child Shinzar had seen in centuries. How that child had been such a gift to the planet that she had been fiercely protected, though he didn’t elaborate on that.

  And then he explained about the Vloveks. From yet another dimension, the Vlovek dimension, and how they had been at war with Shinzar for so long there were hardly any Shinzarns left. How their attacks had been all about taking the five talismans of Shinzar because with them the Vloveks would have so much power they would not only have Shinzar all to themselves, but would be able to find and conquer other dimensions, too. Including Earth’s.

  Finally as he took a few beats to breathe, Kaia spoke. “Are you really serious?” she asked, and although disbelief was evident in her voice, Bijan could tell just from the feel of her heartbeat across the room that she wasn’t frightened.

  “I am,” he concurred, “but until now I have given you only the history of things on my world.” He stopped for a moment, his next words stuck in his throat.

  “What?” she asked softly, rising to her feet and coming to kneel on the floor at his. When her hand rested on his leg, he allowed it to thump to the floor. But her hand didn’t move, and he resisted the urge to reach out and cover it with his own.

  “Shinzar isn’t only my world, Kaia,” he said. “Kana and Sinloa’s daughter, she’s...” Dawn had broken; the living room was now bright enough for him to fully see her eyes as his own met them. “She’s you.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Her thoughts refused to coalesce. For the last hour she’d sat and listened to a fantastical tale woven by an expert storyteller. While it had been a good yarn all the way around, and one that had seemed expertly crafted and almost believable, about fifteen minutes into it Kaia had decided that as beautiful a man as Bijan was physically, he was without a doubt, completely insane.

  Yet in that moment when he had faltered, she had felt something change within her. As though the subtle change in his posture, the way his mouth had opened without any sound emerging, had somehow flipped a switch in her mind. She felt drawn to him in that moment, inexplicably pulled to his side. Somehow Kaia knew she was about to hear the one thing she had to believe in spite of what she thought of the rest of his words.

  When the words came, she was shocked into complete silence. There were only Bijan’s eyes somehow drawing her mercilessly in and she didn’t even want to fight it. Everything inside her screamed at her to listen, to believe, because everything he had told her was true.

  But how could she believe this? Other dimensions? Other planets? Demons, for Chrissakes, the very things she’d told Lou she didn’t believe in! Magic and wizards and hundreds upon hundreds of years’ worth of war? How could any of it be anything more than the deranged ramblings of a lunatic?

  Her necklace burned brighter, now that she was this close to him, and she looked down at it in wonder. Before she knew it, his hand was coming toward her, lifting the quartz and letting it lay gently in his palm.

  “Nake,” he said softly. Then, more slowly, “Nah-kay.”

  She swallowed convulsively, the heat from his hand pouring into her chest. “Nake,” she repeated in a whisper.

  He nodded and smiled. “It is the fifth talisman.” He let it roll around on his hand for a moment, tipping it this way and that until his fingers brushed against her skin.

  Kaia felt it hit her like a bolt of lightning and gasped, hands flying up to his, gripping so tightly some part of her knew that her nails were digging into his flesh. She was aware of his own audible intake of breath as the images slammed into her with the force of a speeding truck and her mind struggled to understand what she was seeing and hearing.

  Two suns rising into the sky, one red and one blue, only made violet by the red haze of the air surrounding her. A cool breeze, a smiling face. Bijan sitting on the floor, whipping his hands around, through the air, making shapes and lights, making sounds and symbols that she didn’t understand. A little girl, curling blonde hair to her shoulders, laughing and squealing and clapping her hands.

  Bijan leaned forward and she could feel his lips on her forehead, whispered words against her skin that meant something so real and so true, but undecipherable even in the moment. His hand reaching out and touching her chubby cheek, his smile widening as she turned and planted a wet kiss on his thumb and giggled shyly.

  Kaia became aware of the sensation before the picture completely faded and knew he was repeating those actions. She felt his lips, warm and soft and heated against her forehead. She heard the words coming from his lips in that language, the language of Shinzar, her mind supplied for her. She didn’t know their meaning, and yet somehow she did.

  Opening her eyes, she watched as he backed away, breath so hot across her face that she struggled to get enough oxygen. He was there, right there, like he had been on Shinzar. He had been her protector; somehow she knew it as surely as she knew his entire tale had been true.

  “You kept me safe,” she breathed, watching his eyes close briefly. “When my father wasn’t there, it was you.”

  When his eyes reopened they held unshed tears. She felt the connection now, something between them that wouldn’t and couldn’t be denied. Raising a shaking hand, she let her fingertips rest against his cheek and when he leaned into her touch, her breath hitched.

  “I couldn’t save you that time,” he said, voice strong and sure and laced with emotion. “Even Kana couldn’t.”

  “That’s why he put me here,” she continued for him, and he nodded. “And you’ve been watching over me...all this time.” She felt a tear escape her eye and let go of his hand to brush it away. “Bijan, why? Why not just tell me all this when I was younger?”

  “With Kana gone, it was all I could do to maintain some kind of control over what’s left of Shinzar.” Bijan released the Nake, sighing heavily as he leaned back into the cushioned armchair. “I kept watch over you, yes, but always at different times in your life. The way the dimensions overlap, the way it shifts and changes, I could never be sure when or where I’d find you.” He looked at her, eyes flicking down to the necklace and back to her eyes. “It wasn’t until recently I discovered the Vlovek sycophants were coming after you. After the Nake.”

  “Because they need it.”

  Bijan leaned forward, placing his elbows on his thighs and entwining his fingers. He nodded. “Yes. I’ve discovered the Nake cannot be taken back to Shinzar on its own, because even after I left with it, it was gone from me and still on your neck.” His eyes flicked to the necklace again. “If they know that, if they’ve figured that out, that means they’re going to try to take you back.”

  “Back?” she repeated, blinking. Her head was starting to hurt, and her bones ached and all of a sudden all Kai
a wanted to do was curl up into a ball and lose herself in sleep.

  He nodded, and she noticed his face change as a small smile appeared. “You need to rest.”

  “I...” She shook her head. “Earlier you told me the reason you didn’t stay here, the reason you were so injured there in the clearing, was because someone from one dimension couldn’t be in the other for too long.”

  “That’s right,” Bijan confirmed.

  “But you’ve been here a lot,” she said and covered her mouth as a yawn escaped. “Isn’t that bad?”

  “I’m weaker than I would have been if I had fully come back to myself on Shinzar before returning here.”

  “So shouldn’t you go back?”

  His hands came forward and rested on her shoulders. “I can’t take the chance they’ll send more sycophants for you.”

  Kaia’s mind raced. The answer seemed as clear to her as anything did in this entire mess that had somehow become her life.

  “Well,” she said thoughtfully, hands rising to cover his, “can I come back with you?”

  He drew back from her as though suddenly burned. “No!” he barked. “That’s exactly what can’t happen!”

  She rose to her feet as he jumped to his. “But if I’m with you, I’m safe, right?”

  When he shook his head she felt anger flood her body. “Dammit, Bijan, it’s better than you staying over here so long you die!” Kaia both felt and heard her voice crack on that last word. Cursing herself inwardly, she turned away from him, hands balled into fists, trembling with both ire and fear.

  * * *

  His mouth opened, then snapped shut. “I can’t keep you safe there, Kaia. Kana was the most powerful High Wizard to rule Shinzar in millennia and even he had to sacrifice himself to Mulmak. I can’t beat them over there. I can’t even get to one of the talismans they’ve stolen! How can I possibly protect you in a world where I can’t protect my own people?”

  He stomped away as loudly as he could with bare feet, consumed by the same frustration that had plagued him since losing Kana to the Vlovek leader.

  “I am one of your own people!” he heard her say venomously, and he turned to face her. “At least, that’s what you claim.”

  “Yes,” he admitted, deflating. “But at least here on Earth all I have to do is try to defeat the sycophants. Don’t you understand? If I take you to Shinzar, I may as well just hand you over to them on a golden plate.”

  She turned to face him and he felt that same pull again, that feeling that she was everywhere surrounding him, the sound of her heart beating a little faster than normal. Her breaths shortened as he watched her, as he decided he needed to be closer to her, pulled into her.

  “I have a question,” she said, and he stopped dead in his tracks because the look on her face was something he couldn’t decipher. “If a Shinzarn can’t stay here in this dimension indefinitely without going back to Shinzar to...recharge...or whatever it is,” she continued, waving a hand in the air, “and if supposedly I am Shinzarn, why have I been able to be here for twenty-two years without having to return to Shinzar to...recharge?”

  Bijan took a deep breath. He didn’t really know the answer to that, but he had a theory. “I believe Kana put several spells on you,” he replied, shoving his hands into his pockets. “He obviously cast some sort of protection spell that keeps the Nake attached to you at all times. Perhaps he also did something to enable you to remain on Earth even though you’re Shinzarn.”

  “So,” she continued, taking a step closer, and he found himself tensing as she seemed to permeate him more and more, “does that mean I can go back to Shinzar long enough for you to recharge?”

  In his mind so many possibilities played out simultaneously that he was having a tough time sorting through them all. But no matter which scenario it was, everything came down to the fact that he knew, and Kaia knew, that he was running out of time being in Earth’s dimension.

  “You must know somewhere that’s safe,” she continued, and he realized with a start that she was standing only a hair’s breadth from him. “You’ve kept yourself and those who follow you alive for this long, haven’t you?”

  “Not all of them,” he whispered, and against his better judgement, allowed his hand to cup her cheek. Warmth flooded him and he felt the air whoosh out of his lungs at the impact of it. Cursing silently, he continued to fight it, yanking his hand away.

  “Take me with you,” she said, gaze steady as she reached for his hands. Her eyes closed and he felt his close as well.

  He swayed forward and then back, unable to stop it from happening, unable to resist the ebb and flow between them. Far too tired to even want to, no matter how much his logic tried to get him to stop. He could feel her moving toward him as he leaned back, leaning back as he surged forward. Feet planted firmly on the ground, hands rising between them palm-to-palm. He’d seen this only once, between Kana and Sinloa, and it frightened him.

  But when Kaia’s fingers interlaced with his, closing over the backs of his hands, doubt and concern for consequences cascaded away as it all became so clear. He opened his eyes and hunched forward, touching his forehead to hers.

  “Kaia,” he whispered, voice low and gravelly; foreign to his own ears.

  “What’s happening?” she whispered, opening her eyes as the tips of their noses touched.

  Never had he felt such peace. Never such contentment. In the face of his world ending, in a place so far removed from his dimension and yet so close, it surrounded him as surely as once Kana’s invisible shell had. Only this time there was no confusion and there was no sorrow. On Shinzar, you knew when you’d met your kilana...your soulmate. It was as sure and true and preordained as the lineage of High Wizards itself.

  “Everything’s happening,” he breathed, knowing in that moment that he had no choice.

  “You’re taking me there,” she whispered, hope gleaming from her eyes.

  He hesitated only a moment before nodding and releasing her hands. His arms came around her and he sighed deeply as her hands came to rest on his back. “Kaia,” he breathed, her scent flowing through him and imprinting forever in his mind.

  Bijan felt her smile.

  Chapter Fourteen

  He had forced her to go to bed in spite of her protestations that there was no way she’d be able to sleep. But as she blinked herself awake, finding the brightness of daylight greeting her through the striations cast on the bed and floor by her window blinds, Kaia realized she had fallen asleep after all.

  She felt Bijan before she saw him. It was like a steady thrum coming from inside her and surrounding her body all at the same time. She hummed, rolling over in her bed. Then in the split second before her eyes came to rest on him, she knew something was terribly, horribly wrong.

  Kaia shrieked and sat bolt upright, her eyes landing on his face and then the part of his chest not covered by the vest. Down along his arms and on to his bare feet. “Bijan!”

  She pushed forward to her knees and shook him, but he didn’t rouse. He looked so pale and the beats of his heart faltered, skipping around inside her own chest, inside her mind. Shaking him again, she called his name over and over. When at last his eyes opened wide, she couldn’t believe what she saw.

  The whites of his eyes had turned a sickening shade of yellow and pink combined. The beautiful crystalline mahogany of his irises had faded until they were nearly white. She covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head.

  “Bijan?

  He reached out and grabbed her forearm, squeezing so lightly she barely felt it. Then he spoke, but she couldn’t understand. He was speaking Shinzarn.

  “I don’t know what that means!” She leaned closer to him, placing her palm flat to his cheek. “Bijan, please, tell me what to do,” she pleaded.

  Saying the same word again, over and over like a whispered mantra, he tugged at her arm until she leaned closer. He pulled again and now she was almost nose to nose with him. He said it again, over and over, a
nd then said her name. Tears sprang to her eyes.

  His lips moved, but this time not to speak. They puckered, and instinctively she leaned in the rest of the way, pressing her mouth to his. His lips were so cold that internally she recoiled, but something told her this was what he needed. She pressed in further, angling her head just right for them to fit together as though each mouth had been shaped to the other’s touch.

  When she felt his tongue graze across her lower lip she allowed him in. His hand hadn’t moved from her arm, and so she gently pushed him back into the mattress, deepening the kiss. She heard a whimper somewhere in the back of her throat, partially disgusted by how cold and lifeless he felt to her lips and hands, and partially begging for this to work, to do whatever was needed to bring him back.

  All at once she felt like she was suffocating. She gasped, trying desperately to bring oxygen into her lungs, but she couldn’t pull away from him and in a moment of panic her hands balled into fists. She tried pushing him away, but it was like their lips were glued together and for several long seconds her body jerked head to toe from being unable to breathe. She felt his hands come to her chest and violently push her off him.

  Kaia flew off the bed onto the floor like a ragdoll, limp and gasping for air. It seared through her lungs and for a handful of seconds she went blind. Then it all righted itself and she was seeing and breathing as normally as before. When she looked up, Bijan was just throwing his legs over the side of the bed.

  “What,” she gasped, swiping at her mouth with the back of her hand and staggering to her feet, “the hell was that?”

  He waved his hand in between them, once again speaking a few Shinzarn words, before he answered. “My apologies,” he said, eyes still yellow-pink and white. “You gave me energy.”

  “Energy,” she repeated, ready to lay into him about not warning her of the apparently strange Shinzarn custom of stealing the air right out of someone else’s body. But then she noticed his skin had taken on a more grey pallor and he was having a hard time breathing. “Shit, how do you get back to Shinzar?”