Chapter 41
AFTERWARD
The deepening night beyond the light of the campfire hid signs of the battle. But the day's events were visible in other ways. The fear was gone from Ria’s face. She watched the man, who had been the Curse, in fascination. Niri understood. He was the first Spirit Elemental other than Ria any of them had seen. He was perhaps the only Spirit Elemental who knew the limits of the power, and who could sort out what for the Kith were two gifts: Earth and Life.
Zhao dozed, his broken arm wrapped loosely at his side. Darag had skill at mending bones, but preferred to work in stages, while letting the body heal as well. Zhao handled the pain well, admitting, with a look toward the unconscious man, that they were in no hurry. Everyone was bruised, scratched, and cut from the fight. But for once, they were not running.
Yet an unease was already growing in Niri. The Church would eventually know the Curse was no longer out searching. They would realize that it was gone from their control. Sinika and Ci’erra would eventually make their way to Solaire. There were still things to be wary of.
Interrupting her silent musings, the stranger stirred at last. His long lashes flickered open. Wide-eyed, he glanced around. Moving slowly as if he expected either broken bones or to be beat, he pushed himself upright. Niri remembered the memories he had shared with her of the times of not knowing what he was. She doubted he had been human for a very long time. Silently, his dark eyes flickered around the faces lit by the fire.
“You didn’t kill me,” he said in the common language of trade, although his accent was strange to Niri’s ears.
Ria shook her head. “The magic that was binding you is broken. Why should we?”
He didn’t answer that.
“Who are you?” Ty asked, his voice tinged with harshness.
A look of pain passed over the man’s face. It deepened to panic.
“I don’t know.” His voice was soft and low, throbbing with fear. “I remember snatches. The war and the Priests coming. They tried so many spells ... so many died before they came to me. Goodness, what they made me do.”
The agony of the memories made him double over. He rested his forehead against his knees, hands shaking as he dug them into the sand.
Ria bit her lip. “Where are you from? Do you at least remember that?”
He was silent a moment before answering, “Que Ka.”
Niri looked at Ty and Darag. Ty moved his head just a fraction to the right. Darag frowned. Like her, neither had heard of such a place. The man saw their confusion.
“Near the Moors of Erowok.”
Niri’s heart gave a leap. “There are no towns there. Just the Temple of Solaire.”
He looked at her, disbelieving. “There is no Temple ... where did they build a Temple?” His voice was hoarse. His hands shook. “The war is over? How long ago did it end?”
“Almost nine hundred years,” Darag answered.
The man’s eyes widened with true fear. He looked away from those watching him, letting out a shaking breath.
“And the Order of Fire won?”
“Yes,” Niri answered. She thought she could see moisture reflecting the fire in his eyes. “It is called the Church of Four Orders now. But the Order of Fire controls the running of it.”
“There are no towns on the moors?”
“No, not that I know of. Just the Temple of Solaire on the southern shore by the Lake of Tears. It is the home of the Church. I thought it had been there since before the war.”
“There is no lake on the southern shore.”
“It is a saltwater lake. The Temple is between it and the sea,” Niri’s voice trailed off. She forgot to breathe as everything she thought she’d known dropped into disarray. In her mind she saw the Temple of Dust. “Your people ... magic was common to them? The Order of Fire hunted them?”
He nodded slowly.
Tears spilled onto Niri's cheeks as she reached for Ty’s hand. “Your village is under the Lake of Tears. It was drowned in seawater and the Temple built to watch over its ruins.”
His reddish skin paled, dark eyes holding bottomless depths of pain. Muscles rigid, he doubled over as if fighting to contain a tempest of loss within. Just as suddenly, the fighting in him ceased. Quietly, he unclenched his fist, straightening to meet Niri’s gaze again. His eyes blazed.
“I will not believe they are gone until I see it for myself. I must go home.”
The crack of the fire between them broke the tense silence. A look passed between Lavinia and Darag. Darag nodded in answer to whatever question Lavinia had asked without words.
“Darag and I, we should go back to Lus na Sithchaine. We need to go back.”
Darag took Lavinia’s hand. “It is difficult for us to be away. There is a danger in it.”
"Then we go to Drufforth," Ty said.
The stranger sat forward. Argument drew his dark brows together. Ty held out a hand, stalling his words.
“You don’t even remember your name and are not certain of your home. Niri knows what awaits you on the moors. We will have a safe refuge with the Kith to decide how to go on so that you can find your people.”
“Heading back to Lus na Sithchaine would be a wise place to start," Niri agreed.
The man who had been the Curse crossed his arms over his chest, sitting back from the fire so that he was lost to shadow. The flames glinting in his eyes were the only sign Niri had that he watched them.
“You saved my life, I know that. I don’t know who I am or this world anymore, it seems. If you will agree to help me find my home, I will come with you.”
Ria let out a breath. Her bright eyes fixated on the man who had been the Curse. She leaned forward, as if she was drawn to him. Ria's reaction left Niri uneasy.
“We shouldn’t go back through Xiazhing,” Zhao said, casting a twig into the fire with an irritated flick of his wrist. He shifted his shoulders, seeking a comfortable position to support his injured arm.
“The Tiak Elders know we came this way. They will wait there for us to return. I don’t want to fight them,” Zhao continued after a pause. His silver eyes filled with entreaty. Niri saw him once more as merely a young man caught between the freedom he desired and the way of life he was born to.
“There must be another way, other than back down the Dhazoh? Is there a path through the mountains, Zhao?” Ty asked, voice tight.
With a start, Niri realized she could see his breath. Even this far below the summit, the air was turning colder. Fall came early to the mountains, Niri thought. So would winter. If they went north, they would be in a different sort of running than when the Curse had stalked them. Niri shivered. Next to her, Ty wrapped the blanket draped over their shoulders tighter. She leaned into his warmth, wishing she didn't dread the cold to come.
Zhao remained silent, his eyes on the flames. Finally he met Ty’s gaze with a quick glance to Darag that slid over their newest member.
“There is a legend of a path used by the Air Elementals in times of need. I think I could find it.”
Ty nodded. “I know you are healing, but we should leave in the morning.”
Energy stirred through the group. Darag looked north. “We've faced worse than the mountains. We will find a way through,” he said, voice deep with its usual humor.
Niri breathed a shade easier. She looked toward where the mountains rose above the dark forest, their jagged peaks raking the stars. She had survived the desert. At least in the mountains water would not be so very far away.
“Tomorrow then, we will start again tomorrow.”
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Rule of Fire
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Rule of Fire
Born of Water: Elemental Magic & Epic Fantasy Adventure Page 41
