Heirs of Destiny Box Set

by Andy Peloquin

  Please! She clung to Kodyn’s arm for dear life. Please let this work!

  She didn’t know who she spoke to—the Kish’aa couldn’t hear her, and the gods of Einan were nothing more than myth. Yet at that moment, she needed the hope that Kodyn would be all right.

  More and more of the blue-white lights leapt from her fingers into Kodyn’s body. His thrashing grew so violent that Aisha feared he would hurt himself. She gritted her teeth against the threatening tears—she had to be strong for his sake.

  It took every ounce of effort to grip his arm, to keep forcing the Kish’aa to heed her commands. Finally, the last of the energy drained from her body and she fell back, gasping. Sweat drenched her clothing and her forearms ached from clinging to Kodyn, but she could see the sparks of light sizzling through his body.

  Slowly, the acidic bite in her stomach faded and the pain receded. The flow of lightning cut off and the blue-white lights of the Kish’aa grew dark. Kodyn’s jerking slowed, his muscles growing slack. He lay silent and still on the ground. His chest remained unmoving, his body as lifeless as the corpses around him.

  “K-Kodyn?” She said his name aloud, as if it could summon him from the beyond.

  Nothing. A fist of iron clutched at her chest, crushing her heart. Please, she begged again. Please bring him back to me.

  Sorrow welled up within her. She gripped his arm tighter but Kodyn gave no answer.

  No. A weak protest, barely more than a faint internal gasp. No, he can’t be gone.

  Silence. The poison had claimed him. She’d arrived too late.

  Suddenly, Kodyn jerked upright and sucked in a gasping, ragged breath.

  “Kodyn!” Aisha threw her arms around him and pulled him into a hug.

  “Wha...?” He sounded confused, dazed.

  Tears streamed from Aisha’s eyes now—tears of joy. Kodyn lived. The Kish’aa had saved him.

  Thimara’s spirit materialized above Kodyn, a delicate, ghostly figure of blue-white.

  Thank you, Aisha told the Secret Keeper.

  With a radiant smile, Thimara dissipated from view, her soul carried off to Pharadesi on an ethereal wind.

  The rest of the Kish’aa appeared moments later, two dozen men and women, old and young, even a pair of young children. One by one, they bid their silent farewell to her and faded before her eyes. They passed into the beyond, until Aisha remained alone in the Heartspring with only the living for company.

  No, not alone. A single spirit remained in her pendant. A weak spirit, small and shy, like a child afraid to venture forth from her mother’s skirt. The image of a beautiful young girl flashed through her mind—no more than five or six, with a bright smile and dancing eyes. Eyes that had now gone cold and empty as the Azure Rot claimed her alongside her mother, father, and baby brother.

  “Aisha, what…happened?” Kodyn sounded puzzled.

  Aisha pulled out of the embrace. “You got poisoned.”

  “No, I know that.” Kodyn looked down at his sodden clothing. “But how…” He lifted his eyes to her. “What did you do?”

  Aisha swallowed hard. “Th-The Kish’aa saved you. They burned the poison from your body.”

  “Whoa.” A little twitch ran through Kodyn’s fingers. “Is that why I feel like I just got hit by lightning?”

  Aisha chuckled. “To be fair, you kind of did.”

  Relief bathed her like a cool breeze on a blistering summer day. She felt as if she’d run a thousand leagues; channeling the Kish’aa had drained her energy. Yet she feared that if she closed her eyes or turned away, she would find Kodyn once more lying dead on the floor.

  “Does it hurt?” she asked. If she didn’t speak, she might give in to the emotions swelling within her.

  “Sort of.” Kodyn flexed his fingers. “But it also feels like I can run a hundred mile race without stopping.” He leapt to his feet with his usual agility, rolling his shoulders and giving a few experimental swings of his arms. “Damn, is it weird to say that this is the best I’ve felt in days?”

  Aisha smiled as she stood. “That’s good to hear, considering the alternative.” Her smile turned to a frown—she’d come within a heartbeat of losing him.

  Kodyn stepped toward her and swept up her hand. “But, thanks to you, I’m still here.” A bright grin broadened his handsome face. “If this is the reason Ria sent you to Shalandra, I’m pretty sure ‘saving someone’s life’ totally counts as fulfilling your Undertaking.”

  Aisha’s grin mirrored his. “Yeah, I guess it does, doesn’t it?” She and her House Master hadn’t set any precise task, but Ria would understand. How to explain it to the rest of the Night Guild—Master Gold, in particular—that remained to be seen.

  Aisha glanced down at the barrel that had fallen beside Kodyn. The fall had cracked the wood, and the thick, clear liquid now leaked across the stone, slithering like an adder toward the water’s edge.

  Not a bloody chance I’m letting that happen! She ripped the hem of the Gatherer’s robe and cautiously soaked up as much of the liquid as she could. Kodyn tore off more fabric and set about helping her pushing back the viscous poison before it could reach the Heartspring.

  A sharp intake of breath sounded from a few paces away. Aisha’s head whipped up. Robban, the Secret Keeper in command, stood nearby, her eyes fixed on the body beside the shattered barrel of poison.

  “What is it?” Aisha asked.

  “Look,” Robban signed. “Look at his clothing.”

  Curious, Aisha turned to look at the body of the fallen Gatherer. Beneath his dark grey Gatherer cloak, he wore another set of robes—robes of pure black trimmed with threads of gold.

  “Keeper’s teeth!” Kodyn gasped from beside her. “Is that—”

  Robban nodded. “He is Necroseti.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Kodyn’s mind raced as he stared down at the body of the Gatherer he’d killed. No, he corrected, not a Gatherer. A Keeper’s priest.

  There was no mistaking it: no one else in Shalandra dared to wear the black and gold of the Necroseti.

  Kodyn crouched over the body and pulled open the Gatherer’s cloak. Despite the red Earaqi headband, the man was too well-fed to be laborer caste. He lacked the paunch of the Keeper’s Councilors, but the heft around his midsection made it plain that he’d missed only a handful of meals in his entire life. Compared to the lean Earaqi or the wasted Mahjuri, the man was positively plump.

  Either the man was Necroseti before joining the Gatherers, or he’s still a Keeper’s Priest. His mind raced at the implications of the discovery. But why the hell would the Necroseti want to poison their own water supply?

  He glanced up at the Secret Keeper. “Do you recognize him?”

  Robban frowned down at the body and shook her head. “The Keeper’s Priests number in the thousands.” She glanced around. “Yet perhaps one of the others…”

  Snapping her fingers to get the other Secret Keepers’ attention, she relayed silent orders for her comrades to search the bodies. Kodyn and Aisha helped to strip off the Gatherer cloaks and turn over the bodies for the Secret Keepers to search. Of the twenty-odd cultists, five wore the black-and-gold of the Necroseti, while the rest wore the typical dark cloaks, faded tunics, and simple knee-length shendyts of the Gatherers.

  Confusion warred within Kodyn. He couldn’t decide if these were actually Gatherers or Necroseti masquerading as the cultists.

  Or, could it be a bit of both? The thought drove an icy spike home in his gut.

  Councilor Madani and his cronies had proven cunning, and it seemed just their sort of tactic to manipulate the Gatherers to their own ends. Kodyn had found evidence of the Necroseti working with the cultists in the hideout he’d found on the Artisan’s Tier. The shred of black cloth wouldn’t indicate who among the Necroseti were working with them, but it was undeniable proof.

  What if the Keeper’s Priests have been playing the Gatherers all along? They could have sent some of their own priests to “join”
the cultists, and manipulate them from within.

  Pieces clicked into place in his mind, and everything that had happened took on a sinister new light. Briana and Suroth had believed the Keeper’s Council had a hand in Briana’s kidnapping—what if they had manipulated the Gatherers into abducting her? Their plan might have gone awry when Necroset Kytos fled Shalandra to Praamis, or that could have been the original intention all along.

  Briana’s return had spurred them to act, hence the attack on Suroth’s mansion and the Palace of Golden Eternity. The Council would never have been in any real danger because they were controlling the Gatherer assassins. They might have simply targeted Suroth, the Pharus, or both, and their presence was simply a smoke screen to throw off suspicion.

  And that explained how the assassins knew the secret ways to not only get into the palace via the Serenii tunnels, but also here, tonight. If, as Robban had said, only a select few within the Hall of the Beyond knew of the Heartspring’s location, it meant only high-ranked Necroseti could have divulged the secret.

  He relayed his suspicions to Aisha and Robban, and both seemed to concur. The evidence against the Keeper’s Council had grown too substantial to ignore.

  A snap from one of the Secret Keepers caught their attention. “Robban,” signed the brown-robed woman. “I recognize this one.”

  The three of them hurried toward the priest, who crouched over an unmoving Gatherer. She had opened the man’s robes to reveal the black and gold tunic beneath. “Turwar.” Her fingers spelled out the letters of his name. “One of Tinush’s retinue.”

  Kodyn sucked in a breath. High Divinity Tinush was the highest-ranked Keeper’s Priest and the eldest member of the Keeper’s Council.

  “Was he Purged with Kytos and the rest?” Robban asked.

  The Secret Keeper shook her head. “I saw him just weeks ago in the Necroseti’s box in the Crucible.”

  Kodyn whistled. “Keeper’s teeth!” That confirmed his suspicions. The Keeper’s Council is controlling the Gatherers.

  Suddenly, Turwar stirred and opened his eyes.

  Hope surged within Kodyn. “He’s alive!” The priest had been so still that he’d believed the man dead.

  A profusion of emotions danced across Turwar’s round face: shocked surprise, outrage, indignation, and a hint of fear as he recognized the Secret Keepers. He opened his mouth to snarl something at the priests.

  Robban silenced him. Her graceful lethality and speed paired with impressive power, and the open-handed blow cracked into Turwar’s temple. The priest fell back, his head striking the ground with a loud thwack. He lay still, unconscious. On Robban’s order, one of the Secret Keepers quickly bound and gagged the senseless Necroseti.

  Kodyn turned to the Secret Keepers. “We need to get him to the palace. Lady Callista and the Pharus need to know that the Keeper’s Council is behind the Gatherers’ attacks.”

  Robban exchanged glances with the other woman. “You’re certain that is the right choice?”

  Kodyn cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t trust the Lady of Blades or the Pharus?”

  “I trust them to do what they believe is best,” Robban replied in the silent hand language. “Whether they are seeking the best for Shalandra or for themselves, that remains to be seen.”

  “Suroth trusted the Pharus,” Aisha cut in. “He was working with the Pharus to take down the Keeper’s Council, which is probably why they went after him in the first place.”

  Robban frowned. “Perhaps,” she said after a long moment of contemplation.

  “Think about it!” Kodyn pressed. “Right here, we have evidence of the Necroseti not just working with the Gatherers, but actually leading them. Even if the Council tries to cast doubt on our word, there’s no way around the testimony of eight of the Mistress’ priests.”

  “But we’ve got to be smart about it,” Aisha put in. “He’s a Keeper’s Priest, and if he’s serving the Council, they’re going to protect him. We’ve got to get him to Lady Callista without the Necroseti finding out that we have him.”

  Before Robban could answer, a new sound echoed from behind them: booted feet thundering on stone.

  Kodyn whirled toward the bridge, hand dropping to his sword hilt. Ice seeped into his veins as he caught sight of another cluster of dark-cloaked figures racing toward them. Five of the thirty-odd Gatherers carried wooden casks on their shoulders. The rest wielded drawn swords and daggers. With a cry of “For Hallar!” the cultists charged the cluster of Secret Keepers.

  Robban spun toward the woman beside her. “Go!” Her fingers moved in sharp, short commands, her face filled with urgency. She thrust the green gemstone into the other priest’s hand. “Get them to the palace, Desenne!”

  Indecision rooted Kodyn in place for a heartbeat. Eight Secret Keepers stood against four times their number of Gatherers. His money was on the Mistress’ priests, but he hated the idea of leaving them to fight alone. The Heartspring would close in an hour, and the Gatherers would be too late to infect it with their poison. Every instinct screamed at him to draw his sword and join Robban and the others in battle.

  Yet the Keeper’s Council couldn’t go unpunished.

  Damn it! Gritting his teeth, Kodyn stooped and hefted the unconscious priest. He had the proof to bring down the Necroseti and get justice for all those that had died because of Madani and his cronies. The Gatherer attack here wouldn’t be the end of the Council’s villainy—he had to ensure that the Keeper’s Priests could never bring suffering to Shalandra through their machinations again.

  “We’ll hold them off!” Robban insisted, her face as hard as the stone beneath her feet. “They won’t get their foul poison to the Heartspring. But you get Turwar to the palace.” The muscles of her jaw worked as she gritted her teeth. “For Suroth!”

  “For Suroth.” With a nod, Aisha scooped up her dropped weapons and took a defensive position behind Kodyn.

  Kodyn grunted beneath the weight of the portly Turwar, but adamantly struggled until he had the man situated atop his shoulders.

  “This way,” signed Desenne, pointing to a second bridge to the north.

  Kodyn marched after the Secret Keeper as fast as he could manage. Turwar proved a cumbersome burden, but Kodyn felt strangely energized. Whatever Aisha had done had pushed back all trace of fatigue and filled him with renewed vigor. He might not be able to run a hundred-league foot race with the corpulent priest weighing him down, but he could stubborn on until he reached the palace.

  The cries and shouts of battle echoed loud behind him, but he forced himself not to look back. The Secret Keepers had the skill and fortitude to stop the Gatherers. And he and Aisha had their own battle to fight.

  Sweat dripped down his face and soaked his tunic by the time he reached the bridge. His legs burned and his lungs struggled to draw in air, hunched over as he was. Yet he set his jaw and kept moving as fast as he could, matching Desenne’s pace. The knowledge that Aisha guarded his back proved all the comfort he needed.

  Once across the bridge, Desenne led them toward another tunnel cut into the wall of the cavern. This passage was as narrow as the other, and Kodyn had to hunch even more to keep Turwar’s thickset body from scraping the ceiling. A throbbing pain quickly formed in his lower back. He gritted his teeth and marched up the steep incline as fast as he could manage.

  He fixed his eyes on the glowing white gemstones in the wall, refusing to give in to his fatigue. Every step sent fire racing down his back and legs. Sweat streamed down his face, stung his eyes, dripped from his nose. The upward climb seemed eternal—he had no way to mark the distance they’d traveled, and no hope of relief in sight. Only more darkness, the pounding of his heart, and his burning muscles.

  He didn’t know how long he climbed—it could have been half an hour or half a decade—until a voice from behind told him, “Here, let me take a turn.”

  Kodyn contemplated arguing, but truth be told, he was too damned tired for stubborn pride. He gasped in relief as the b
urden of the chunky priest lifted from his shoulders. The burning pain in his spine dimmed to a manageable ache.

  “Just a few minutes,” he panted, “and I’ll relieve you.”

  Aisha nodded and, grunting beneath the weight of the priest, set off up the hill after the Secret Keeper.

  Kodyn paused, his ears pricked up for any signs of pursuit. He thought he heard shouts and cries echoing from the tunnels behind him. Distant, muffled by stone, yet unmistakable. A sense of urgency hummed within him. The Gatherers might be chasing them, trying to rescue their comrade.

  Nervous tension drove back the ache in his legs and he hurried up the hill after Aisha. He gripped his sword and dagger tightly, his senses attuned to the sounds off the tunnel. He’d be ready if the Gatherers attacked from the rear.

  Half an hour later, Kodyn once more shouldered the burden of the unconscious Turwar. Aisha tried to hide her relief but the look on her face spoke volumes. Gritting his teeth, Kodyn set off after Desenne.

  How much farther? The question echoed in his mind with every burdened step. He tried to calculate how far underground they’d gone to reach the Heartspring, then how much they’d have to climb to reach the Palace of Golden Eternity atop Shalandra’s peak. He gave up the effort; it just made the attempt seem all the more impossible.

  They made slower progress, trading off the burden every fifteen minutes. Exhaustion showed in Aisha’s face—whatever she’d done back there to save him had drained her. He tried to ignore the pain in his legs and kept climbing, letting her rest.

  To his relief, the ground soon leveled out. Had they climbed all the way to the Palace Tier? He could only hope they had. He wasn’t certain he could climb much longer.

  The passage ended at a blank stone wall, but Desenne approached it without hesitation. She held up the green-glowing gemstone and that strange circular spiral pattern of light sprang to life among the Serenii runes.

  Kodyn breathed a sigh of relief. We made it!

  Desenne reached out her hand toward the center of the glowing mandala. Nothing happened. The woman stared down at her hand, and her confusion changed to surprise, then anger.