by Casey Eanes
The blinding lights reduced enough for Seam to make out Dyrn’s silhouette. Seam rushed forward, only to slam against a clear, reinforced barrier. He reeled back and caught his balance. He swung his bladed arm forward, smashing it against the invisible barrier with a muted thud.
Dyrn laughed. “You are nothing but a sad, raging animal. You are like a beast, like the wild horses of Riht. Just waiting to be bridled, fitted, and put to work. I had really hoped for more from you, Seam Panderean. My investment in you was not small. I knew the risks. Your father was a coward, but shrewd. Your mother, on the other hand...she had fire within her veins.”
Seam screamed through the glass, his face turning a deep shade of crimson. “I will kill you!”
“You will try, but you will fail in the end, Seam. Thousands have been cut down in my wake. You will be no different,” Dyrn whispered, his voice trailing in the white-hot lights.
A sudden wave of hot, fetid air filled the chamber.
Seam’s lungs burned like fire, his mind reacting to whatever poison Dyrn used to contaminate the air.
Dyrn’s laughter sounded like it was wrapped behind thick gauze, and Seam’s sight was clouded with streaming white lights that grew with the sound. I’m going to die here. This is how it ends, Seam thought.
Through the slow-moving seconds that filled that terrible space and time, Seam glanced to see Abtren collapse onto the metallic floor, her beautiful face wearing a mask of horror. Her eyes were hollow and her mouth agape as her face slammed against the metal floor. Dyrn’s voice resonated in his ears so slowly that it resembled a chant.
“I gave you both life, and now...I take it away.”
Seam’s eyes filled with white light, and then darkness.
Adley stared out over the familiar Lottian hillside, scanning the roads that followed the rolling peaks and valleys. She dialed in her binoculars to scan further, hoping to catch a glimpse of Wael and Kull to the north, but there had been no sign yet. Despite her frequent calls, they hadn’t answered their datalinks.
“Come on, guys, what are you doing?” Adley muttered under her breath as she spun atop her vantage point and aimed her view to the south, scanning again for Cyric’s jeep. The horizon was still and silent, void of any hopeful arrival from either direction.
“That drunk fool probably ran for it. What business did we have trusting a merc anyways?” Adley asked herself as she set her binoculars on the brick ledge lining the top of the building the Resistance had chosen as its headquarters. There was little to choose from, but the former apartment building offered the best lookout and was one of the few brick buildings still standing in Cotswold.
“Anything?” Willyn’s voice was coiled, tight. “We are wasting time, and our men and women are all waiting for orders. You said…”
“I know what I said.” Adley slapped her fist against the ledge and snatched up her binoculars. “They are coming. I promise.”
Adley peered out over the southern horizon as she continued. “I heard from Wael about five hours ago and he gave me his word they would be setting out after our call, as well as the merc. Cyric called in yesterday. He is bringing the pred tech, but you know it’s a haul from Elum.”
Willyn straightened her back and stepped forward. The Sar’s face was stern as she stepped just inches behind Adley, her voice quiet but firm. “I know what we are up against, and I know the weight you carry right now. I am your ally. It would be best if you realized that as well.”
Adley sighed and turned, but Willyn was already descending the rooftop staircase, speaking into the datalink on her wrist as she disappeared from Adley’s sight.
“TRANSPORT!” The call crackled over Adley’s datalink as one of the perimeter sentries called in. “Northeastern approach, one kilometer out. Single vehicle. One occupant, looks like our guy.”
Adley punched Cyric’s coding into her datalink and rang out, but the line went unanswered. Why isn’t he picking up? Adley started to dial in again when the sentry’s words registered. Northeast approach. Not southern. Adley spun on her heels and dialed in her binoculars to scan for Wael and Kull. A thin cloud of dust gave away the vehicle’s cover, and Adley quickly tracked it as it rounded one of the larger hills below the town. The old truck was still a long way out, but it was the same vehicle they had left with Wael before. Adley rushed from her perch and spoke over her datalink, “Wave them in. I will meet them atop Midwood Hill.”
“Yes, ma’am. Signaling them now, should be there in two to three minutes the way they are moving.”
Adley sprinted for the hill that had been used to park most of the light transports and personnel carriers, trying to keep her eyes on Wael and Kull’s truck. Adley glanced down at her datalink as she sprinted over the grassy hill and dialed for Willyn. “Sar Kara, Wael and Kull are approaching. We will rendezvous at Midwood Hill.”
“Copy that.” Willyn’s voice sounded hopeful with the announcement. “Arriving shortly.”
Adley crested the hill’s peak and leaned over her knees, taking a few breaths to collect herself as the truck rumbled to a stop just to her left. The engine shut off and the driver’s side door flipped open, as Kull stepped from the cabin. Rot leapt from the truck and followed closely behind him. Kull turned to shut the door and offered Adley a brief smile before losing her gaze, his head dropping down and shaking from side to side.
“What? Did you not get his coordinates?” Adley asked as Kull stopped in front of her. The whole reason they had stayed behind was to determine Seam’s location.
“No,” Kull said gravely. “He’s gone, Adley.”
“Who’s gone? Seam has disappeared?” Adley looked over her shoulder and scanned the area around them when the reality of Kull’s answer hit her like a punch to the gut. “Aleph! What do you mean? What happened!?”
Kull looked up, his eyes glistening with fresh tears. “He died, Adley...to save me.” Kull shook his head and wiped away the tears threatening to roll down his cheek. “I failed...I couldn’t do it.”
Adley wrapped her arms tightly around Kull and pressed her cheek against his chest. Her heart was overcome with grief, and she sobbed. “Was it Seam? Morels?” she whispered.
“He pulled me from my own death. He gave himself up to that thing on the other side. To the world eater. To Ma’et.”
“But how? You two were alone and no one from Vale reported any disturbances.”
Kull shook his head. “Don’t you understand? He found us as we soul stretched on the other side. Wael sacrificed himself to free me.”
Adley tried to muster her courage and present a brave face, but she could feel her heart racing as the reality of Wael’s death enveloped her.
“What do you mean, Kull? The other side?” Adley looked up, searching Kull’s face for answers.
Kull’s gaze went distant as he answered. “I had to make a connection with Seam. It was the only way. I was tracking him through soul stretching, trying to discover his position. But we were attacked. Ma’et...was everywhere.” Kull’s eyes grew glassy as he continued. “That’s when Wael pushed through to find me and pull me out, but he couldn’t free himself.”
Adley was silent for a long while. “I am so sorry, Kull.” A cold wind blew across the Lottian plain, chilling them both to the bone. She wiped her eyes and sighed, her mind still reeling. “But now isn’t the time to mourn. Wael nearly died after the attack on Preost. My nursing was the only thing that held him from passing, even then...that is until you showed up.” She shook her head in disbelief. “What you did back in Preost, Kull...”
“I didn’t do anything, Adley.” Kull’s words cut sharply into her. “Don’t you get it? I don’t know how I did that healing in Preost, and I don’t know how I fought Isphet in the Spire. All of it just happened, but I can’t control it! I don’t even have words for it! And now I’ve lost the only person on Candor who could have guided me. Helped me.” Slow tears sprung from his eyes. “He’s gone, and Isphet is going to murder thousands of innocent p
eople unless he gets this Key.”
He held it out, its surface glowing like white fire. Adley glanced at it briefly, but locked eyes on her friend.
“I don’t have an answer for you, Kull. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through, and I won’t pretend to try. But I do know one thing. After all that has taken place, Wael never lost faith in you. Your return was enough for him to keep fighting. Your return was worth his sacrifice. I know that he thought you were the key to ending all of this.”
Adley’s datalink squealed to life and her disposition transformed before him, hardening in an instant. She spoke to him now in short staccato sentences. “We only have two days until Isphet invades Lotte. We have to hurry. What are you going to do with the Key?”
“Don’t worry about the Key, Adley. What I need to do is find Seam. If I can’t find him in the next two days, then everything we’ve done has been in vain.”
A sharp voice laced with authority cracked over the plain. “In vain?” Willyn’s bright red hair flapped in the whipping wind like a pennant. “Aleph above, Kull Shepherd, please don’t tell me what I heard is true. Too many lives have been lost since this all began.” Rot, startled by Willyn’s sudden appearance, bared his fangs and let out a rolling growl, barricading himself in front of Adley and Kull.
“Easy, boy,” Kull whispered. The beast backed off, but kept its one good eye pinned on Willyn, unblinking.
“That mutt never liked me,” Willyn said, smiling. She looked at them all and her voice grew as cold as the air around them. “Where is Wael?”
Adley spoke reverently, “Wael has died, Willyn.”
Willyn’s face twisted in pain, her eyes glancing between them both. “How?”
Kull spoke, as another wave of emotion threatened to burst within him, “He died saving me. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here, but...it’s a long story, one that will have to wait for another day.”
Willyn laughed even as tears welled in her eyes. “I’m not counting on many more days, Kull. Even so,” she whispered, glancing at him, her crisp blue eyes pinning him in his place, “here you are...alive, even after all that has happened. You cheat death more than anyone I’ve ever known, Kull Shepherd.”
Kull could not hide his smile. “I could say the same for you, Sar Kara.”
Willyn chuckled and shrugged, holding up her robotic appendage. “I’m not as lucky as you are, Shepherd, but we’ve all had our losses.” She threw a sidelong glance at him. “Tell me, what would you have me do, here at the end of all this?”
Kull closed his eyes, his face trance-like for only a second. In his mind’s eye he saw it again, the tall obelisk standing in the desert. It had haunted the vision Aleph had showed him and invaded his subconscious. Now it called out, bringing the clarity he desperately needed.
He spoke, “Vale will be full when Isphet and his forces arrive in Lotte. Whatever forces you have that can be spared need to be routed up to the capital to assist those who are fleeing. It would do us great honor if you would allow these innocents into the Groganlands.”
“They are welcome to our Realm, Kull. Say no more.”
Kull closed his eyes, grateful for this enemy turned ally before him. Never in a million years did he think he would thank Aleph for Willyn after all that she had done to him, but in that moment, he was grateful to have her by his side.
“When Isphet comes, we need you to fight him with all you have. If we can get the civilians out and away from the capital, then you must take no quarter with Isphet’s forces, and you must hold him back from the city at all costs.”
“Where are you going with this?” Willyn asked, her face confused.
“You have to hold Isphet’s forces back until Seam comes. I will be with him. I will send you word of our position before we set out. When we are all together, this will end, one way or another.”
“Seam?” The word came out as a question, but it was marked with rage and contempt.
Adley took a step back and whispered, “Kull, what are you talking about?”
“Yes, Seam.” Kull did not waver.
Willyn pulled her hair back from her face and stared in disbelief. “I’ve brought you an army of Candor’s best warriors to face Isphet, but now you tell me that we must ally with Seam?”
“It has been revealed to me that we cannot win this war without him.” Kull stepped closer to Willyn and locked in a stern gaze. “I found him once before, and I will do it again. Hold Isphet back until we arrive.”
Willyn shook her head, disgusted. “Do what you like, Kull. If you feel Seam will serve use, then bring him, but this world doesn’t have much longer. As soon as Cyric arrives we are going to gather to make our charge toward Vale. Isphet will not take the city unopposed.”
Kull and Adley watched as Willyn stormed away, disappearing back into the command center.
“I have to find him, Adley. I have to find Seam—”
“And we will,” Adley cut him off. “Aleph willing, we will.”
The mention of Aleph’s name brought an inconspicuous comfort with it, highlighted with a slight pang of guilt as he took in a deep breath and nodded.
“Thank you.” Kull took another deep breath before his eyes strayed, glaring over Adley’s right shoulder. His eyes rested on the charred remains of his town and the sections cleared out by the Grogans: flat, level, and ashen soil.
“So many memories,” Kull whispered. “It is harder to be here than I imagined.”
“Get out of my mind!” Luken grasped at his skull as he screamed, curling himself into a ball on the earthen floor of the cave he had found along Elum’s coast. “Leave me, Isphet!”
A dark voice roared within Luken. “We are connected, brother, and I feel your presence stronger now than ever. I know you are not far from me.”
Luken lifted himself and stumbled to the mouth of the cave, continuing to clasp his scalp as Isphet bore into his mind like a dull drill bit. “I said leave me! Go back to the pit! I will never come to you.”
“You fool, you have no choice. You and I and the others are all connected. It is destiny that we are brought together.”
“I know what you want,” shot Luken, grinding his teeth through the fire in his skull. “And I will not give it to you. Every day for eternity I will run from you just to deny you the privilege. So, chase me around this continent, I don’t care. I can play this game as long as you can.”
“I’ll kill her, you know.” Isphet’s voice was gleeful as he continued. “Your mind is mine, Luken, and her mind...well that’s my old haunt. You both belong to me. I promise to make her death so slow and terrible. I’ll whisper in her ears, ‘Luken wanted this for you, Willyn. He never truly loved you.’”
“Damn you! You leave her out of this!” Tears streamed down Luken’s face as he looked down at the strands of bright red hair he had tied around his right index finger.
“Then stop me. Come out and face me, you coward.” Luken could hear the demon chuckling in his mind. Luken’s heart burned like a raging fire inside as his body trembled uncontrollably, leaning against the damp cave wall.
There is nothing I can do, he thought. The truth of this tortured him, and he knew Isphet’s threats were only bait to a far greater trap. He can control my every move even now...if he absorbs my power...I only help him more. Isphet’s voice had gone quiet and Luken could once again hear the sound of the ocean crashing outside the cave.
“Isphet!” Luken called out. “I know you need me. You need all of us. The Keys aren’t enough, are they? They aren’t enough. You think I don’t know about Ma’et?”
Luken could feel Isphet’s attention turn back to his consciousness. As the invisible eyes of his enemy crept over Luken’s mind, a shot of pain crescendoed again in his mind, as if his brain was boiling. Luken reached into the satchel he had stolen from the Groganlands. He lifted the explosive charges and planted them on the cave walls, running deep into darkness, the distance and earth slowly muting the connection to Isphet. Car
efully, he primed each charge, ensuring they were secure against the cave’s ceiling and walls around him. Then he twisted the detonator in his palm.
In the dark Luken rubbed his thumb against the few strands of red hair tied around his finger before pressing his lips against the bright red locks. He called out to Isphet, “Good luck finding me, Isphet.”
Luken pressed the detonator switch, igniting the cave in a burst of flame and broken stone as the ceiling collapsed.
Seam woke up, his body writhing with incalculable pain. His head throbbed with such severity that he wondered if an iron spike was driven through his skull. He blinked, his vision swirling with a perceptible delay. The bright, white light of Dyrn’s Warren encased him, blinding him from any perceptible sensation of where he was and how much time had passed.
“It’s about time you woke up.”
Seam looked through the white horizon that filled his vision to find Dyrn, but he was nowhere to be found.
“Seam, Seam, Seam,” Dyrn chided. “Your defiance is astounding. Few in all of Candor could put up such a fight against my will. You failed in capturing Nyx, and she has now joined our enemy, though I can only suppose for so long. You disobeyed me and went running back to Vale. What did you think? That you would return to your home and the people would welcome you with open arms? What for? Would they crown you king? Did you honestly think that you could defy my power over you? That you could return to Lotte without me allowing it? No... no...you were placed where I wanted you. No doubt your vengeful murder of your mother surprised even me, but perhaps your distraction has bought us more time. Isphet is now distracted. Lotte is ripe for the picking…”