The Last Goddess

by C.E. Stalbaum

  Chapter Twenty-One

   

  Rook’s head continued to shake long after the words had left Bale’s mouth. In the last five years, he had unraveled his share of schemes and manipulations. He had brought down kingpins in the criminal underworld and ruined the careers of corrupt Darenthi senators. Once he had even foiled a rather elaborate plot by his own employees to give him a surprise birthday party. And each of those times, he had ultimately experienced a single moment of clarity, a mind-shattering epiphany where all the pieces of the puzzle had suddenly clicked into place.

  Now was one of those times. As impossible and ridiculous as the Kirshane Master’s words seemed, Rook knew the man was telling the truth…and he couldn’t believe it hadn’t occurred to him earlier.

  “Your wife?” Selaste breathed. “How?”

  “When I heard that Lurien died at Turesk, I refused to believe it at first,” Bale said, stepping closer. “But then I found out that you had survived…and I began to suspect that perhaps she wasn’t truly gone after all.”

  Rook managed a stiff croak but nothing else. Selaste squeezed his hand and stepped up next to him.

  “You said before the Kirshal didn’t have any power,” she pointed out. “You said it was one of the reasons so many of your people lost faith.”

  “Her power was…subtle,” Bale corrected. “She believed that Edeh had sent her here to heal a great wound in the Fane, and that she would be inexorably drawn towards it. She simply didn’t know what it was.”

  “I should have died,” Rook said softly, the memories washing over him. “I was badly wounded…I couldn’t even crawl off the battlefield.”

  Selaste nodded slowly, and understanding flashed in her eyes. “You said she came to you. You said she healed you somehow…and it killed her.”

  Rook glared at the old monk. “The Kirshal did not exist to save me. I don’t have that kind of an ego.”

  Bale’s mouth twisted. “She was still a young woman, and in her youth she apparently made a foolish mistake. She was willing to die to save the man she loved. And in the process, she nearly squandered her gift.”

  “I still don’t understand how that means Rook suddenly has her power,” Selaste said. “He can’t even weave.”

  “Fortunately, Lurien was not completely blind in her sacrifice,” Bale told them. “The soul of Edeh—the raw divinity that let her pull a man’s dying soul from the Fane—lives on inside you, Mr. Rook.”

  “Why do you believe that?” he asked.

  Bale reached to his pocket and withdrew an ancient book—the same one Tiel had stolen from the Edehan Monastery in Haven. “The Osahn Scriptures, penned by a priest of Edeh just a decade after the Sundering. He spoke of the gift given to the Kirshal before she was hidden away, a fragment of Edeh’s soul whose power would eventually save the world.”

  Rook forced himself to swallow. He had spent years trying to bury the memory of that day. There had been times where he’d convinced himself it had never happened, that Lurien had died in the battle and he’d been forced to carry her broken body from the ashes. But another part of him—a part he didn’t much care for—had long wondered if the gods themselves had saved him. For a man who prided himself on reason, it was a terrifying conclusion.

  “That still doesn’t answer the question,” Selaste pressed. “The Kirshal is dead. Even if she did carry this power, how would she have passed it to him?”

  “It is what kept him alive then,” Bale said, “and it burns inside you still.”

  “But you don’t really know that. You’re just guessing.”

  Bale turned to Rook, ignoring her. “You bear the soul of the Goddess, and with your help, we might finally be able to bring about the Restoration.” He pressed his lips together. “I have followed you as closely as I could for many years. That’s the entire reason I was in Haven. Had I the opportunity or the resources, I would have gotten to you much earlier. But when Tiel told me about this…imposter, I knew the time was finally at hand. We can reclaim what is ours and repair the damage the Balorites have done.”

  Selaste crossed her arms defiantly. “And how exactly do you plan on reclaiming this divine soul if it’s inside him?”

  “We will find a way,” Bale said. “It will take time, but I’m afraid I must insist.”

  Rook did his best to bury the flood of memories and ignore the old wounds they had opened. The shift in Bale’s eyes was striking; he had gone from a wizened but cautious old man to a fanatic. “That sounded like a threat.”

  Bale shook his head. “I speak the truth when I say I don’t mean you any harm. When Lurien chose to marry you, many in the order were furious. I even worried that some might take it upon themselves to…remove you. But I told them it was her choice, and that we had no right to interfere in her life.” His brow furrowed. “When she died, I very much wanted to hate you. I thought you had cost us everything. Now I realize that anger was wasted. The Goddess has given us a second chance to find salvation, and I intend to take it.”

  Selaste stepped in front of him. “I won’t let you harm him.”

  The old man scoffed. “It’s too bad you can’t appreciate the irony. A minion of Abalor speaking about protection…”

  “I am no one’s minion,” Selaste growled. “Now back off!”

  “You really don’t know, do you?” he asked, smiling in bitter amusement. “You don’t understand the nature of your own power. You are a Defiler, girl, tainted by the Destroyer himself. Your very presence here is sacrilege!”

  “I don’t know what you’re babbling about, and to be honest I really don’t care,” she said flatly. She flicked her wrist, and a shimmering ball of energy appeared in her palm. "But if you want to experience my ‘tainted power’ for yourself, I’m more than willing to accommodate you.”

  Bale chuckled softly. “My dear, you aren’t the first Defiler we’ve put down in our day, and you certainly won’t be the last.”

  He casually waggled a finger, and the ball of energy in Selaste’s palm abruptly vanished. She stuttered, flicking her hands as if to summon it again…

  Nothing.

  “We still have much to learn from you. The name of your true master, the secret of how you learned this power in the first place…” Master Bale smiled. “And we will. Whether you choose to cooperate or not.”