by C. S. Moore
“What’s going on here?” a voice behind him asked.
Frey turned and saw Joseph, a Sergeant.
Dang it! he thought, knowing he’d just pulled the one out of ten who wouldn’t let him have fun.
Joseph took off his grey coat, fastened it around Amanda, and escorted her inside, never taking his eyes off Frey. He hated how Joseph looked at him as if he could read his mind.
She’d gotten away then, though she might not have known it, and she’d gotten away again.
A hand patted his shoulder comfortingly. “It is okay, son, the Ancients will find her and set her free.”
Frey turned to the kindly Healer who had followed the swarm of grey to help, not understanding that running away from these men was a wiser choice and put a sharp finger in his face. “This is your fault, Danimir!” he spat, his wide eyes crazed.
“I-I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean…” he stuttered. “Not as sorry as you will be.”
Amanda landed awkwardly on the ground, which was covered with tall grass and large rocks. She attempted to realign her senses. It was cool, and she tasted sweet, moist air on her tongue. Amanda opened her eyes to see rolling hills and valleys surrounded by jagged misty mountains. In the far distance, she could see steps of rice beds cut into the landscape. The uneven earth was blanketed in twisting cypress trees and walls of bamboo. Beautiful sheets of pink against the green hillsides told her that the plum blossoms were in bloom. Where was she, and more importantly, where were Cole and Madgie?
She tried to stand up but was too dizzy and fell back to the earth. “Cole! Madgie!” Amanda whispered, looking around desperately. She tried to stand once again and this time she succeeded. “Cole!” Amanda called out more loudly. Hearing something rustling behind her she turned around swiftly.
Cole was shaking his head, dark curls full of grass. He smiled, and her heart skipped a beat.
“Wow. We’re not dead. What are the chances?”
She smiled at him and then remembered Madgie. “Cole, is Madgie near you?”
He looked around and shook his head. “No, but we need to find her. I think she was stunned by one of their orbs. I don’t think it was one that Frey or Carter threw, which is lucky. Those crazy jerks meant to kill us,” he said as he stood up and moved to her side.
Cole reached over and picked up her hand. She looked down at the gesture, wondering how something so simple could make her feel so whole. It’s just a hand. His hand. Looking at their hands brought to mind another hand, and a shiver ran up her spine.
“Come on, let’s find Madgie before she gets angry,” he said, laughing.
She turned and studied the patch of ground she found herself in. She’d landed here, and Cole… She looked up and guessed that he’d landed about fifteen yards to her right. Amanda thought back to the room. Cole was on her right and Madgie was below her to the left. She looked to her left, into the setting sun, and saw a deep valley that had already fallen into shadow.
“If we’re going to start a search party, I think dark scary valley is a good place to check out.”
Cole pulled her next to him. Amanda tried to enjoy the act, but her mind still circled the image of the strange hand grasping Madgie’s ankle. She and Cole began their decent side by side into the ever-darkening valley.
He led the way, moving with quick precise motions that she found hard to replicate on such uneven terrain. They didn’t have a path to follow, so they climbed over slick moss-covered rocks and had to avoid thick bushes spiked with uninviting thorns. Although she wasn’t good at it, she attempted to tread lightly, wanting to stay as quiet as possible. Something told her she needed to do this, though she didn’t understand why. Shouldn’t we be making as much noise as possible to find Madgie?
Whatever the reasoning behind her hushed footfall, she knew she needed to shrug it off. They had to start calling out for Madgie. It would be hard to spot her through the dense vegetation. Amanda took a breath to call out, and Cole grabbed her arm and shook his head slowly. She was surprised and studied his face. His heavy brow was furrowed in confusion.
“What?” she mouthed to him.
He took a knee and gently pulled her down with him. She didn’t hesitate and knelt beside him, rough earth digging at her flesh.
He pulled her in closely and whispered in his deep melodic voice, “We shouldn’t make our presence known here, not yet. Ever since we stepped into this valley, I’ve had a terrible feeling I can’t shake. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. I mean I can’t track anything down or pin point why, but I feel like we are being hunted.”
She, having felt the same thing, looked into the nearby brush and nodded. “Well, I don’t know how quickly the Ancients work, but I think we need to get used to the feeling of being hunted.”
Amanda didn’t know if they were feeling spooked by someone thousands of miles away or if something sinister lurked just beyond her sight. She hadn’t wanted to worry Cole about something she was so unsure of, but she vocalized her thoughts before she could stop herself.
“I thought I saw someone grab Madgie before we made the leap.”
She waited a few moments and turned to Cole, surprised that he hadn’t responded. Seeing the look of shock on his face, she chastised herself. Why hadn’t she told him sooner? She looked up into his pure brown eyes and saw a bouquet of emotions rattling inside of him. Amanda stuttered.
“I’m sorry, Cole. I should have said something to you, I just wasn’t sure if I—”
“It’s okay, don’t apologize. So much has happened to you in such a short amount of time. I’m sure it’s hard to keep everything lined up. I’m not sure how you’re doing this well. If I looked like you, I’d still be in my cell crying.” He smiled as he took a deep breath in.
If I looked like you? Do I look that bad? She brought her hand to her face.
He reached out to her, taking it away. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that you’re strong, stronger than most.” He drew her hand slowly to his lips, but she pulled it away before he could kiss it. Cole continued talking unabashed. “I’ll always like the way you look,” he said kindly, but she couldn’t imagine that he meant it. “Do you have any idea who was holding onto Madgie?”
She paused and took herself back to that moment. Who was around her? She concentrated hard on the few seconds that the fight had lasted. She felt the presence of her friends, Cole and Madgie were near her. Next, she felt the presence of her unknown pursuers. Three were blocking the door, another two against the far wall, and the older man was partway between her and Frey, attempting to stop his unrelenting stream of attacks. That left one unaccounted for. She spoke his name and felt the acidic contents of her stomach rise to the back of her throat. “Carter.” Cole bit into his lower lip, muffling a curse. “Did Frey come out with him?”
“No, he was on the other side of the room,” she said with confidence.
“Well then it could have been worse. Still, out of all those Healers it had to be him.” Cole tilted his head back, allowing the last of the day’s light to wrap around his dark curls.
A LONE MAN STOOD TALL in the arena. Bright lights hanging high above Finn highlighted the determination on his weathered face. The sound of murmuring dissent rang out all around the arena, but he gathered his strength and continued his plea. “Listen, I’ve known Madgie for nearly seventy years now. She’d never involve herself in something wicked. Madgie has always built up the Hovel. If she has fled, it’s for a good reason. Perhaps she truly believes Amanda can be made whole.”
A deep voice rang out from the Ancients, though none of them had opened their mouths. “She cannot!” the voice said.
The willowy Healer drove on. “You can’t just put a death warrant on Madgie’s head. She hasn’t broken any law. She did what she thought was right. And this young Cole, he loves her.” His moist eyes looked up at the crowd of his peers. “I felt it, and so did you. Will you kill him on sight for saving the one he loves?”
An old woma
n stood up in the crowd. “That’s right, Finn. Tell them, that they might see,” she shouted.
A young man next to her jerked her down as the arena erupted in equal shouts of agreement and shouts of anger.
Finn lifted his chin slightly at the newfound support. “And Amanda, why couldn’t we have just waited to see if she would recover? I don’t want someone to put me down every time I get a cold,” he joked.
Cries went out all over the teeming arena. “It’s not a cold.”
“She’s evil!”
“No one knows.”
“The Ancients do!”
“What are the Ancients, your Kings and Queens, your rulers? No, no one rules over us. Every single one of them was once no more than a Healer, the same as you and me.” Finn couldn’t stop himself from shouting. He quickly turned to the five Ancients towering above him. “We are Healers. We govern ourselves. You haven’t the right to put death on us,” he bellowed.
A bright flash of light burst to life at these words. Finn had no time to react to the bolt of energy that ripped through his chest, burning a hole in his heart. His lifeless body staggered, muscles twitching involuntarily, making him look like a haunting marionette before finally hitting the ground.
The crowd of Healers burst into horrified screams as they gazed at the dead body of Finn, a man who had been a friend to all of them.
The tallest Ancient closed his eyes and waved his disjointed hand across the room. Everything went silent as men and women fell back into chairs, and those who were standing in protest, crumpled to the floor.
The tallest and male leader of the Ancients rubbed his eyes with sharp fingers and spoke to the others mentally. “Calm down. They are asleep. It was the easiest spell to cast,” Baal said as he looked at the four other beings who had shared such a long life with him. A perfect life.
He knew none were as powerful as they were together, and he worried about what would happen next. This was uncharted territory. The Healers had always been so obedient. They’d catered to his every whim for centuries. Shiphra started all of this upheaval. It had been boiling just under the surface for seven decades.
Baal glided slowly over to Finn’s crumpled form. He turned the thin body over and caressed his still-warm cheek gently. Baal took the sweet old face in his palms and began pressing his hands together, crunching bones and twisting skin until the distorted face was no longer recognizable. He should have killed her when he had the chance.
A blast of energy rippled through him, turning the man in his hands into a pile of ashes. Delia’s voice echoed in his head. “Stop whining about Shiphra. We have more pressing matters to take care of. And was it really necessary to kill him in front of everyone?” she asked boldly. She was the only one that would address him so casually.
“What do you think? Should I have let him continue to warp the minds of our sheep? No, it had to be done. Now we just have to clean up the mess.”
Delia’s mind wheeled with options for the other four to see. “So which shall it be? He attacked us, Finn never showed up to this meeting, or the usual ‘he never existed’ route?” she asked. Baal began to think of Shiphra again but Delia stopped him. “You know we don’t have the power to erase the memory of a fellow Ancient so why tire yourself with these thoughts? Now decide which it is,” she said, her inner voice full of boredom.
Baal was tired of the trivial matter of covering up one life, so he waved the responsibility off to Heisle.
He was never entrusted with decisions, so he was quite excited for the opportunity that had been presented, despite the circumstances. His inner voice was high and unsure, very unlike the others. “Well, not all of the Healers who knew Finn were at this meeting. So it’s a waste of energy to wipe his memory from these few.” He gestured around the room of hundreds of sleeping Healers. “And all who knew Finn would never believe him to attack. So it would take far too much energy to alter so many minds so greatly, maybe even drain us completely until we are little dried up—”
“I don’t want you to explain your little theories! I’m not interested. Just deal with it, so that I don’t have to,” Baal shouted internally.
Not one person in two and a half centuries understood why Heisle had been chosen to become an Ancient, not even him.
“I can’t remember the last time Heisle spoke. I think it’s been decades. I forgot how ridiculously small his voice is.” Delia laughed.
Heisle moved away as the other Ancients went back into the company of their own minds, walking around the arena twice to make sure he felt every soul. Once certain he had all of them at his fingertips, he went to the center of the arena. Standing tall and stretching his arms out wide, he felt the Healers’ life, their vigor, and dreams. Heisle let each of them flow into his consciousness.
This exercise was necessary to build energy before a large spell, but it did the opposite for Heisle. Each dream was a goal he could never obtain. Each life was fuller than his own. He glanced back at the four Ancients towering in the massive dome, completely aloof to the corpse lying still at their feet.
His energy drained from him, and he allowed it to flow out of his feet. Heisle was happy that he at least had the privacy of his mind when he wanted to have it. An Ancient could pick the mind of even the strongest Healer with some effort, but not another Ancient. Probably one of the reasons Shiphra got away. A pain ran through him at the thought of her being somewhere out there free of the worry he had on his shoulders.
Heisle was so tired of being scared, so tired of this life. Poor Finn, poor… all of them really, he thought, looking out at the crowd. At least Finn’s woes had ended. He feared theirs were just beginning.
A thought occurred to him as he was attempting to figure out the best way to erase what had just happened. Heisle could be free from them. No longer having to be silent, no longer having to serve a tyrant.
He collected his thoughts and tied a tether to each unique mind, connecting all to him. Heisle thought of the instant that the blast of energy collided into Finn. Heisle memorized the expression on the poor Healer’s face, the burning of his flesh, the fierce expression on Baal’s face. It felt strange to him when his dry lips stretched up at the corners. He hadn’t smiled in such a very long time.
They won’t be able to reverse this. They won’t be able to pretend it didn’t happen. Not without doing something none of them are willing to do.
He drew in a deep breath, letting their individual scents roll into him. Heisle pulled in all of his energy, everything that he was, everything he had in him. Just before releasing it, he thought of Shiphra’s smiling face. With his guard down, all of the Ancients would be able to see what was coming, but it would be too late to stop him.
Bright bursts of energy were flying between Heisle and the stadium full of Healers. A thin cord of light linked them to him. Heisle twitched, and, like a heart monitor, light began to slowly beat down the strings. A slow steady pulse flew down hundreds of threads.
Heisle burned the images into the back of his eyelids and sent it down to them. Healers all around the room began to wake up in terror, women and men shouted in surprise and fury.
Delia moved forward, but Baal stopped her.
“He’s giving all for this spell. I already tried to stop him, but it would drain me of my life. There’s nothing we can do now.”
Heisle arched back unnaturally but managed to stay upright, standing only on the balls of his feet, his muscles locking up.
The beat of light accelerated Finn’s face, and Baal’s smirk.
With a loud snap, Heisle’s left arm folded up into his shoulder, followed by his right. The beat of light quickened still.
Heisle’s mouth tore open wide as if to scream, but no sound escaped. His skin dried up and pulled away from his open mouth. The pulsating quickened further. His once large form began shrinking, bones crumpling as if he were in a trash compacter. He coughed to clear his throat, and dust escaped from the place his lips should have been. The pulsing light
bounced off the scrambling crowd, breaking all movement into a disjointed slideshow.
The unfortunate people in the large room cried as the images bore into their minds and imprinted themselves there. Heisle’s dry tongue inexplicably formed words that rose above the uproar and silenced the stampeding crowd.
“Shiphra!” He coughed up another cloud of dust that was highlighted by a beam of light. “Shiphra is still out there, and she fled for a reason.” The bright beams of energy ceased to be as Heisle’s broken body slowly shriveled into little more than a leathery ball.
Hours later the relatively calm, as well as the horribly outraged, had abandoned the arena save two large figures. Draining energies still filled the large space; pain, sadness, and uncertainty. Baal didn’t like being there. It made him feel weak at an incredibly vulnerable time. Delia looked at the ground and laughed at the crumpled raisin-like form of Heisle. Baal didn’t find it amusing in the least.
“Do you think those Healers will ever forget what we did to one of their own?” he asked.
Delia chuckled again. “Nope, they’ll never forget what you did to one of their own, and you’d probably die trying to take it from their minds, since Heisle gave his to put it there,” she said flatly.
Baal threw his sharp arms up in disbelief.
“Do you think there will be a revolt?” she asked him. Her voice was uncaring, as always.
“No. Healers make peace, not war.” Baal felt certain of this, but there was a hesitation to his words.
“Sometimes war brings about peace,” she countered. There was a smile in her voice.
“Do you truly not care about what is ahead of you or about anything?” he spat.
Baal was face to face with her. He remembered how she’d looked as a Healer, long flowing golden hair, thin waist, bright smile. Now she was a deformed creature, giant and sharp, like himself. All of her beauty had faded as she’d gained and retained power as his had. But he never missed his looks. He’d rather have the power.
