He’d lied to her. He’d lied to his kilana, and it was something any kilana who’d grown up in Shinzarn society would be well within their rights to punish by severing the bond. A severance was painful for the unwilling partner. It left the instigator of separation unharmed but destined to spend the rest of their life alone. It had been theorized that such a separation even shortened the life expectancies of both parties substantially. But it had been so many thousands of years since a separation had occurred that no one was certain whether that was mere myth or actual fact.
Bijan could live with the deception because first and foremost, he was the High Wizard, and the fate of Shinzar had been given to him by Kana himself. Kana would not wish to continue living being possessed by Mulmak, any more than he wanted Shinzar or any other dimension to be taken by the Vloveks. Kana would perhaps forgive him, yes. But Kana was not Bijan’s kilana.
If...no, when...the time came, Bijan would explain his reasons to Kaia. He would also explain what she was well within her rights to do as a result, and if that had to be the consequence of their success in saving Shinzar and however many Shinzarns remained, then so be it. It was a consequence that Bijan knew would kill him, even if the legends weren’t true, simply due to the emotional repercussions. It was a consequence he prayed would never come to pass.
As they made their way the last small distance to the palace, through a forest of blackened trees, Bijan reached a hand out to stop Kaia. “We must wait until the rest of the Zar have reached their locations,” he explained when she turned questioning eyes to his face.
“How will you know?”
“I can feel them.”
Kaia nodded, eyes riveted to his face. “Bijan,” she said softly.
“Mm?”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
He started, unable to believe she could get past his internal defenses so well already. “About what?”
She shook her head, brown knitted. “I don’t know, but it feels like you’re...I guess like you’re hiding something.”
Bijan swallowed hard and then became distracted by feeling the last of his teams moving into place. “They’re ready,” he said.
She gave him a strange look, but he breathed an internal sigh of relief when she said, “All right, let’s get this over with.”
He nodded and grabbed her hand, moving forward quickly and quietly. Six teams converged upon the palace from equidistant positions. The three teams around the back of the massive and ancient building would provide distraction so Bijan, Kaia and the other two teams could make their way in from the front.
Filled with a sudden self-doubt, Bijan hesitated as he and Kaia moved behind a gigantic and gnarled dead tree trunk. They were so close they could see the Vloveks and sycophants on the palace’s perimeter and roof very clearly in the early pre-dawn. Yes, they now had a talisman in their possession, and the power of it at their disposal. But Kaia didn’t have a clue how to make it work other than knowing extreme emotion would trigger it. Could she direct it? Focus it in the heat of a much larger and chaotic battle?
“What’s wrong?” she whispered.
He looked down at her. “There aren’t enough of us. We should have looked for more Zar before we tried this.”
“But we have this,” Kaia countered, fingering the Nake. “You didn’t have a talisman the other times you tried.”
“I know,” he said, looking up at the palace, a feeling of fear clutching at his insides. “But it’s worthless if you can’t figure out how to direct its power.”
“What about if I give it to you?” she asked, lifting her hands to untie it from her neck.
Bijan frowned when her fingers fumbled. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t find the knot,” she said, turning to put her back toward him. “Can you find it and untie it?”
He lifted his fingers to the nape of her neck as she held her hair aside. He looked all around the braided fiber to no avail.
“What?” she prompted.
“There’s no knot,” he replied, tracing the line of the necklace around with two fingers. “There’s no way to remove it without cutting it.”
“How about some of your magic? Can’t you do some kind of spell or something?”
“Perhaps I--”
A loud cry erupted from the other side of the palace, startling them both. Bijan felt his blood start pumping faster through his body. He’d recognize the sounds of demons and sycophants screaming anywhere. “They’ve begun the diversion!” he barked, grabbing Kaia’s hand. Their eyes met quickly before taking off at a dead run.
* * *
Kaia felt adrenaline pouring into her system, like her entire body was one big muscle ready to take on the world. Even this world, she thought, haphazardly bombarded with images and sounds and words from a past she didn’t consciously remember. She and Bijan darted up the palace’s wide front staircase and her eyes took it all in.
The palace itself was made from the same light grey rock that seemed to constitute all rock formations on Shinzar. The steps were ten inches each in height and there had to be at least fifty of them. Bijan took them two at a time, letting go of her hand in order to be the first at the door. All the creatures had gone either over the rooftop or around the sides to answer their clutch’s cries of anguish. To her right, Kaia saw one pair of Zar, and in her left peripheral the other pair, which included Kora, who rushed forward to join them.
Bijan lifted his hands and said unintelligible words. The ornate wooden door creaked and swung inwards. He turned and grabbed her hand, and seemed to surround her. She wondered if he was doing some sort of protective thing on her as she took in the gigantic room before them.
It was almost like the entire building was a single room. There were man-sized statues made of iridescent material Kaia couldn’t identify. They must once have been beautiful works of art, but were now scarred by claw marks and scorching, leaving no way to know what the sculptures had even resembled. Tattered remnants of tapestries hung from walls that bore similar marks to those on the statues.
Pieces of furniture made of nearly black wood, some of them looking like they’d once been large tables, with others appearing to have been chairs and other pieces of furniture she couldn’t fathom the origins of, were broken and scattered everywhere. A nearby stick of wood revealed intricate carvings that some part of Kaia’s studies of ancient civilizations told her was a written language. She briefly wondered if it was Shinzarn before her eyes moved to the far side of what she guessed was roughly a five hundred yard, wide-open room.
There were two heavy-looking chairs there, reminding her of a throne room. They were dark but still shone brightly, like they were brand-new. They hadn’t been damaged like the rest of the artifacts and she wondered why they’d been spared. The chairs almost seemed to be made of silver, and another tangent of thought made her think maybe they had that metal on Shinzar just like on Earth.
Kora said something and Bijan’s reply was, “The Nake will guide us.” She jumped when Bijan’s hand rested on her shoulder. “Concentrate, Kaia. Let the Nake lead you to its brethren.”
She looked down at the glowing pink quartz and felt something click into place in her mind. “I’m the keeper of the Nake, aren’t I?” When she looked into Bijan’s eyes and saw the smile upon his face, she nodded. “Each talisman has a keeper. My father made me the keeper of this one.”
Bijan nodded. “Yes,” he said, and she could hear the catch in his voice.
Kaia closed her eyes. “What color is the one that’s here?”
As he responded, she reached up and clasped the Nake in her hand, closing it tightly in her fist. “White.”
Concentrating on the Nake, whose shape and size and every angle and plane she knew so well, Kaia pictured it in her mind and then allowed the image to slowly change. Rose pink bled away, replaced by a milky white color. She felt the Nake heat up in her hand and gasped softly when it felt like something or someone was turning her body.
Kaia reached her other hand out in front of her. Bijan’s arm was soon beneath her palm and she began to walk. It was like a map in her mind, directing her where she needed to go. “We must hurry,” she whispered, feeling like she was being closed in on from all sides.
“Yes,” came Bijan’s voice, distant to her ears but ever-present in every cell of her body. “Lead us, Kaia.”
Everything else melted away. There was only Bijan and the guiding force, and Kaia simply allowed it all to happen.
Chapter Nineteen
He could feel the change in air currents before he saw their shadows appear on the wall. Bijan tensed as the four Zar with them moved left and right. First there was the shape of a wing on the wall, and then the sounds of sniffing. There just wasn’t enough time to wait for Kaia to find the Nake. Quickly Bijan whispered into her ear as he rushed her across the room. Her eyes popped open when he shoved her behind one of the thrones and told her to stay put.
Bijan turned just as he heard a demon scream. To his left he could see bolts of light flashing. To his right, Korla and Kemea had just begun letting loose a torrent of yellow death bolts. The room flashed and glowed with each shot. As he darted forward to come between the two advancing sets of Vloveks, Bijan felt his chest ache when a cry of pain from Kora to his left told him they had lost yet another Zar.
Tensing every muscle in his body, Bijan lowered himself to his left knee, keeping the other in a crouching position. His left hand touched the cold stone floor with all five fingertips while his right palm landed on the corresponding shin, gripping it tightly. He reached into the furthest recesses of himself, into that place that had gone unlocked until, through a seven-day meditation, Kana had led him to it and helped him discover its power.
The power of the one who would become High Wizard. The one who now was High Wizard. Ritual and duty and the force of every High Wizard from ages past surged forth from that hidden place, the familiar tingle making him shiver. Sweat dotted his brow and he took three deep lungfuls of air, squeezing his eyes shut tightly as he inhaled a fourth time and held his breath.
He waited for the burst of white that he knew would soon explode on the backs of his eyelids. The cacophony grew nearer, sounds of magic being flung, of spells being yelled. Squeals and squeaks and claws clacking and wings flapping as the demons pushed three Zar into the palace’s main chamber. The sounds increased in intensity as the other four Zar attacked the Vloveks from behind.
Bijan could see it as clearly in his mind as if he were watching it with his physical eyes. When the light flashed into his mind, he sprang into the air, twisting violently. Ten revolutions and his arms flew out perpendicular to his body, fists clenched. Ten more revolutions and he bellowed a single-syllable warning to the Zar. He knew they would flatten themselves to the floor instantly. They had all been trained for this.
Finally Bijan flung his hands wide open. Blue-white light poured from his fingertips followed by short zaps of brilliant blackness. Then the blue-white returned and he felt the secret weapon pouring over and through him, scattering his mind as he fought to aim while spinning so fast. His eyes opened and he darted to one side, laying out flat the six Vloveks who’d been trying to kill Zar. Then all the way across the square room to the right, where sycophants and demons poured in from the rear entrance.
The Zar gathered behind him as Bijan’s tornado slowed until at last he came to a stop, still hovering high in the air, just out of reach of the largest Vlovek’s powerful jaws. With a guttural roar, Bijan brought his palms flat together, then pulled them apart. A ball of black light appeared between them. It grew and grew, and the sycophants began screaming, recognizing this for what it was, desperate to get away.
A roar escaped Bijan’s mouth, making the very walls of the palace tremble as he hurled the ultimate black death at the group of demons and those who had once been Shinzarns but were now demon-possessed. A great, loud cry erupted from former Shinzarns and green-grey Vloveks alike. When the blinding second of light was over, all that remained were piles and piles of black ash. Bijan and the remaining Zar watched as it slowly lifted into the air and skittered away on an unseen breeze.
Silence. It was deafening. Bijan slowly lowered himself until his feet touched the floor, but his legs gave out and he fell to his knees. He knew he was breathing too fast and too hard, but expending that sort of energy made it difficult to focus. He had to calm himself down or risk becoming unconscious. Never before had his power been this great, or he and the Zar would have beaten the Vloveks numerous times already. No, things had changed for him now and he knew it was because he had bonded with his kilana. It was she who had given him the remaining percentage of his power. The power that now had the ability to vanquish their foes.
That was when he felt her. Kaia was saying his name, her arms wrapping around his shoulders, drawing him to her there on the floor. He slumped against her, feeling her presence throughout his mind. He felt her hand touch his chin, and though he couldn’t force his eyes open, he knew what she was going to do. The ghost of a smile graced his lips as he felt them touch hers.
* * *
Kaia forced them apart, their mouths separating with an audible pop. “You’re getting very good at that,” Bijan said fondly, and she ducked her head, hiding a huge grin behind mussed hair that tumbled forward. He rose to his feet and held a hand out. For a moment, as he pulled her to her feet and the nine remaining Zar gathered around them, euphoria rose within, making her almost giddy.
But then she felt something else, a fleeting dizziness that swept through her with such rapidity she wasn’t altogether certain it had been there at all. Kaia squeezed Bijan’s hand, nodding to him that yes, she was just fine, when he tilted his head at her curiously.
Without a word, Kaia lifted the Nake in her right hand, left still clinging to the hand of her kilana, while closing her eyes. Once again she pictured the jagged pink gem in her mind, then watched as the color drained and it was left in milky white. Bijan held her steady as her feet began to move.
A sharp stab of pain seared through her mind, making her cry out, an agonizing wail that felt like it had been ripped from much further down than her gut. Bijan was hollering in her ear, but she couldn’t make out the words he said beyond the excruciating pain. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She gasped for air, but in the darkness that began closing in on her vision, the only thing that registered was Bijan’s hand. He still hadn’t let her go.
* * *
Bijan felt it, too. Even as he tried desperately to quell the pain coursing through him from Kaia, as he tried to soothe her while she rocked in agony on the floor, he knew his former master was close. Bijan steeled himself for the moment he had dreaded since Kana had made the decision to allow Mulmak to take him.
He rose to his feet, hating that he had to let go of Kaia, but knowing there was no choice. A long shadow fell across the floor. Its elongated shape did nothing to hide who was creating it. “Kana,” he breathed, posture going ramrod straight. His fellow Zar gathered around him in a tight semi-circle, and he felt their presence like a solid wall to bolster his strength.
Prepared to face friend-turned-foe. Not prepared to hear the voice he had loved so deeply. “My student.” It was unmistakably Kana, but with raspy undertones that told the truth: he was still possessed.
“What do you want?”
“What you have,” was the gravelly reply and the shadow shortened as the monstrous Shinzarn creating it appeared from a hall to the left of the thrones. Kana looked purposefully down to where Kaia was no longer screaming, but taking in large, gasping breaths, her eyes wide. “She won’t last much longer here, you know,” he stated blandly. “And when she dies, I will have the fifth talisman.”
“She will not die,” Bijan countered, unable to tear his eyes away. “She is Shinzarn as much as you once were.”
The corner of Kana’s mouth quirked into a smile. “And how do you think it is she survived on Earth, then? Don’t tell me you’ve f
orgotten all I taught you.”
Bijan blinked. “You cast a spell on her so she could exist in that dimension.”
“Very good,” Kana said, his smile more of a grimace now. “I’m impressed.”
A faded brown robe fluttered around Kana’s body. His eyes glowed white, though less impressively than the last time Bijan had seen him. “Why did you give me the ability to open portals at will, without having to wait the thirty-nine hours?”
Kana laughed out loud, and ear-splitting traces of Mulmak made most of the Zar cover their ears in pain. “Foolish Bijan,” he chortled.
The truth hit Bijan with all the force of being clipped by a Vlovek wing. His jaw dropped and his eyes grew large and round. He felt panic well up within him as he looked down to where Kaia was now laying still, her eyes closed. He felt the life within her still, but when Kana moved a few steps closer, fear clawed at him like it never had before.
“I see you understand why, now,” Kana said, gesturing toward Kaia’s prone form. “Thank you for bringing my daughter home.”
“You mastalaki!” Bijan roared, crouching down and gathering Kaia into his arms. “You will not have her or the Nake!”
Kana laughed as the Zar flanked Bijan, who rose carefully to his full height. He turned and looked at those to his left. Each of them nodded. Then he looked at those to his right. They nodded as well. Seeing Kana again, knowing there was only one way this could end, make Bijan’s heart break as hard and fast and painfully as it had the day all this had begun.
Intellectually he’d known all along Kana may as well have been dead, because Mulmak would never release him. He wondered if Kana had known that as well, when he’d shoved Kaia through the portal. If Kana had thought perhaps his pupil would find a way to separate them, saving both Kana and his daughter.
Talisman Page 11
