by Davis Ashura
“Our wounded?”
“Take them,” Rukh snapped. “Gather them up. Heal them after you transfer to your home. Go!”
Adam gave a stiff bow. He and the still-standing mahavans helped their fallen brethren to their feet. They didn’t bother with their dead. They gathered near the anchor line, and a groaning, limping line of Sinskrill’s warriors shuffled through the rainbow doorway.
Adam paused to face them at the anchor line’s threshold. “You were victorious today,” he said, “but in the next battle my mahavans will fight on grounds of our choosing, and under our conditions.”
Rukh offered the man a faint smile. “For your sake, you better rethink your strategy. There is no ground and no conditions under which I won’t destroy you or your mahavans. Next time, I’ll kill you all.”
Adam scowled before stepping onto the anchor line.
The saha’asra fell quiet, and the enormity of what they’d done crashed down onto William. He shared a disbelieving look with Serena. They’d done it! Against all odds, they’d freed Travail and Fiona. He hugged Serena and whooped for joy.
He spun about, ready to share his joy with the others. That’s when he saw Jake lying in the mud. A bloody wound marred his chest.
serena’s gaze snapped to William. He’d shouted as if stricken. She couldn’t understand why. They’d won. What fresh disaster had occured?
She quickly saw the reason.
Jake lay on his back—still, unmoving, and with his eyes closed. Even from a distance, she could tell his face held an ashen cast.
Despite the fact that William stood closer, Rukh and Jessira reached Jake first. Serena followed on their heels. The others quickly arrived as well.
“Hold his arms,” Jessira ordered.
Rukh did as she commanded.
“His legs, too.”
William seized Jake’s ankles.
Serena stood to the side, unsure what was happening.
Jake was dead. His chest didn’t move. His mouth gaped. Blood soaked his torso and thighs. The rest of him was covered in dirt and mud. A two-inch, scalpel-smooth wound ruined his chest. No one survived that kind of injury. Even the physicians of the Far Beyond couldn’t have healed him.
“Hold his head,” Jessira said to Jason.
“What are you doing?” Jason said. “He’s already gone.”
“Hold his head!” Rukh snapped at him.
Serena reached a decision. If Rukh and Jessira thought something more could be done for Jake, she would help. She knelt and clenched Jake’s head between her knees.
“Do you need my Jivatma?” Rukh asked Jessira.
“Later,” she said.
“He’s dead,” Jason repeated. Serena noticed his fists clench. “Leave him alone.”
Mr. Karllson limped toward them, cradling an unconscious Daniel in his arms. Guilt crawled across his ashen face. “He took the blow meant for Daniel.”
Serena stared at Daniel. “Is he—?”
“Only unconscious,” Mrs. Karllson answered. Blood caked on her face from a long cut on her forehead.
Travail hovered in the background. The troll knelt on the ground and moaned, a rumbling sound deep enough to vibrate Serena’s stomach.
“Whoever’s making that noise needs to stop,” Rukh growled.
“What are you doing?” Mr. Zeus asked.
“Trying to save Jake,” Rukh replied.
“Can he truly be saved?” Fiona asked. She stood alongside Mr. Zeus, her face full of grief.
She received no answer.
Jessira placed her hands on Jake’s chest. She met the gaze of everyone holding Jake. “He’s going to jerk. Don’t let him.” A golden glow filled Jessira’s hands.
Serena squinted against the brightness.
“Get ready,” Jessira warned them.
Thin streams of lightning coursed out of her hands. They flickered across Jake’s torso, seemingly sucked into him.
A second later, Jake spasmed. His entire body contracted, as if every muscle strained at once. He thrashed about as if caught in a seizure. Serena struggled to keep Jake’s head from flailing around. His jaw clenched and unclenched spasmodically.
An instant later, Jake flopped bonelessly and went still. His mouth fell open.
Serena was certain he was dead, but Jake took a shallow breath.
“The major vessels aren’t bleeding any more,” Jessira said, her tone clinical. Her gaze grew distant, as if she could peer into Jake and see through his skin.
“You missed one,” Rukh noted, his eyes bearing a similar, strange cast.
Could they actually see into Jake’s body?
“It’s a small one,” Jessira said. “I’ll get it later. We need to clear his lungs.”
“They’re full of blood,” Rukh said.
Jessira shook her head. “No. They’re compressed by blood.”
Jake’s face had transitioned from ashen to blue.
Rukh produced a needle-thin knife and slid it into Jake’s chest.
Serena’s eyes widened in horror.
“What the hell are you doing?” William shouted.
Rukh didn’t reply. He withdrew the knife and pressed his hands over the new wound he’d created. It barely bled. Rukh’s hands glowed golden.
Serena quickly unstrapped her belt and slipped it between Jake’s teeth. It would prevent him from biting off his tongue from what she suspected was coming.
A moment later, lightning spilled from Rukh’s hands.
Once again, Jake jerked and shook like a puppet caught in a storm. Serena maintained her belt between his teeth and gripped his head in the vice of her legs. Blood poured from the wound Rukh had inflicted in Jake’s chest.
“You’re torturing him!” Jason shouted.
“His heart couldn’t pump,” Rukh said. “Too much blood in the pericardial sac.”
Jessira nodded. “Good thinking.”
Serena watched them work, increasingly confused. What the hell were they doing, cutting into Jake with knives? How would this save him? Or was it like Jason said, torture?
“Let me have the knife,” Jessira requested of Rukh. He handed it to her. She frowned in concentration.
Serena’s stomach hollowed. Oh, no.
Jessira slid the knife into Jake’s chest. Another hole, and she quickly withdrew it. “Hold him,” she said. Again came the golden glow and lightning.
Jake trembled and convulsed. He shook like the last leaf on an otherwise winter-bare tree limb. Blood spurted out of the knife wound Jessira had created.
“You got the last of the bleeding vessels,” Rukh noted.
“Three healings is all he can take for now,” Jessira said. She sat back and sighed. Her eyes had grown puffy and her face sagged. Sweat poured down her face. She looked like she’d run a marathon through mud.
“It’s in Devesh’s hands now,” Rukh said.
“What did you do to him?” Mr. Zeus asked.
“His color’s better,” Mr. Karllson noted.
Serena shot her gaze downward at Jake’s face. It was true. While Jake could only manage shallow breaths, the blue hue had left his lips.
“They’ve saved him,” Travail rumbled.
William’s features cleared with dawning hope, while Jason’s held stunned disbelief.
“He’s alive for now,” Rukh said, “but he has a long way to go before he’s fully healed.”
“We should leave,” Jessira said. “More mahavans might be on their way.”
“And none of us are in any shape to fight them,” Rukh said.
Their group became a beehive of activity as they prepared to flee the ruined saha’asra.
The saha’asra had become a dystopian realm of massive holes, burning fires, smoking dirt dirt, and bubbling mud that lay in smelly masses. The wind blew intermittently and wafted the stench of ash, blood, and over-heated clay.
The vehicles had been tossed about as well. On first impression, Serena thought for sure that they’d been wrecked.
The bus was missing part of its roof and most of its windows, while many of the Jackaroo’s door panels were caved in.
Miraculously, though, both vehicles ran.
Travail gently carried Jake to the bus and laid him flat on the floor. William wanted to stay, but Mr. Zeus wouldn’t let him. “I need you to drive the Jackaroo. I’ll watch out for Jake.”
“What about Mr. Karllson? He can—”
Mr. Zeus shook his head. “He and I can’t heal like Rukh and Jessira, but we can help. Take the Jackaroo. I’ll phone the Village Council. They’ll have quarters ready for Jake when we get home.”
Serena watched as William retreated to the Jackaroo. Bloody swatches covered his clothing. Everywhere else he was coated in mud or dirt, and his face bore a strange landscape of soot and bruises. His jaw was swollen, and he walked with a pronounced limp.
Everyone else appeared every bit as ragged and torn up.
“Want some company?” Serena asked William.
He nodded.
“I’ll go with you, too,” Jason said.
Fiona stood nearby. “Do you mind if I join you?”
Serena smiled. “Of course not. We’d love to have your company.” She had to show Fiona how to operate the door handle to the Jackaroo. Her grandmother hadn’t ridden in a car in more than sixty years.
After Jason and Fiona had climbed into the middle row, Serena slid into the passenger seat. The bus lurched into gear as smoke billowed from its tailpipe, and William pulled in behind it.
“Does anyone want to talk about what happened back there?” Jason asked.
Serena shook her head. “It was a miracle. That’s enough for me.”
William sighed. “Can we talk about it later? We’ve got a ten-hour drive ahead of us, and I’m already worn out.”
The Jackaroo’s passengers remained quiet after that.
Several hours later they stopped for a quick supper.
Fiona cleared her throat before they disembarked. “My life isn’t worth the risk to Jake’s,” she said. “None of you should have risked yourselves. I would rather you all stayed safe. Nevertheless, I’m grateful that you came after me.”
A part of Serena remained ecstatic over Fiona and Travail’s freedom, but Jake’s condition stole her joy. “We promised we’d free you,” she said. “It’s why Jake fought.”
“He had his doubts and his fears,” William said, “but he never doubted saving you.”
After eating, they checked on Jake. His chest lay wrapped in bandages, and his breaths still came quick and shallow. A sheen of sweat covered his forehead, but his face remained pink.
“Is he any better?” Serena asked Jessira.
“For now the best we can hope to do is keep him alive,” Jessira said.
“Can’t you do the lightning thing again?” William asked.
Jessira shook her head. “He’s too weak to risk it. His lorethasra is utterly drained. Another healing could kill him.”
At least Daniel was up and awake, although his balance was off. He lay in the bus with his eyes closed. “If I don’t move my head too much, it only throbs instead of feeling like someone’s trying to squeeze it to death.”
“He needs rest,” Rukh told them.
“Can’t Daniel take the lightning?” William asked.
“He can,” Rukh said, “but we have to save our strength for Jake.”
Soon after they resumed their journey.
Jason drove. “You look like hell,” he said to William. “Get some rest.”
Serena slid in next to Fiona while William took the passenger seat. She rested her head against the window and slept, waking briefly when Fiona wrapped a blanket around her.
Minutes or hours later—Serena couldn’t tell—she woke. The Jackaroo had come to a stop.
“Where are we?” she mumbled as she sat up. Night had fallen, and she couldn’t see their surroundings beyond a few feet.
“We’re going to pull over for a bit and get some rest,” Jason answered with a yawn.
Serena sighed and went back to sleep.
Several hours later they pressed on. William drove again, and Serena roused enough to hear him and Jason talking, but she couldn’t raise the interest to listen. She slept on, waking when the Jackaroo halted.
They’d reached the saha’asra to Arylyn. William parked the Jackaroo in a cave, pulling in next to the bus, and they disembarked. Travail carefully carried Jake to where Mr. Zeus and the others, a shell-shocked, weary group, waited by the anchor line. The world remained as quiet and dark as their somber group. Stars shone, cold and distant, and the wind whined along the lonesome valley of the saha’asra.
“Let’s go home,” Mr. Zeus said. He sourced his lorethasra, and a hint of vanilla drifted on the breeze. A moment later, the anchor line rotated into view. “You should go first,” he said to Travail.
One by one they traversed the rainbow bridge, until it was Serena’s turn.
She stepped onto the bridge and disregarded the pain of traveling. It didn’t bother her. She exited the anchor line, and Arylyn’s glory spread out before her.
The day was new, with the morning sun shining amongst cotton-candy clouds. Rainbows decorated the escarpment, rising off the endless, aqua-blue Pacific Ocean while the floral fragrances of honeysuckles planted at the base of Linchpin Knoll, floated on a gentle breeze. A hawk wheeled in the sky and cried out.
A perfect day.
As usual, William stumbled when he stepped off the anchor line, and he cursed loudly. Serena reached out to steady him, and he nodded his thanks before searching for Jake.
There.
Travail held him, and Rukh, Jessira, and the others stood nearby. William had been the last one to exit the saha’asra in Australia.
The Village Council waited at the base of the hill. Some of them wore smiles of welcome for Travail and Fiona, but their expressions of joy fell away when they saw Jake’s body. William’s group went down to meet them.
“Is he alive?” Mayor Care asked. Her face was creased with worry.
“He’s alive,” William answered. “Rukh and Jessira managed to save him.” He still couldn’t understand how, nor could he comprehend the complexity of the braids they’d used to create their healing lightning.
“But he’s not out of danger,” Rukh said. “He’s still weak, and his life remains in the balance.”
Mayor Care nodded, and her gaze went to Travail and Fiona. “I’m Mayor Lilian Care,” she said. “We’ll talk more when you’ve had a chance to rest.”
“We need to get Jake settled into a bed,” Jessira said.
“Of course,” Mayor Care said. “We’ve already arranged for one at the hospice clinic in Clifftop.”
Selene stepped forward. “I can show you the way,” she offered.
“I’ll take care of it, child,” Councilor Duba said.
“I don’t mind,” Selene replied. She stood straight and stiff, and her face and tone held the flat affect of a drone.
William could tell how much the effort cost her to remain strong.
Serena bent and faced her sister at eye-level. “Crying isn’t a weakness.”
“I’ll cry when Jake gets better,” Selene replied. She withdrew from Serena, and a single tear tracked down her face, putting a lie to her vow.
“Follow me,” Councilor Duba addressed Travail.
“A moment,” Travail said. He faced Serena. “I misjudged when first you came to me and asked me to take over William and Jake’s training.”
Serena shook her head. “No, you didn’t. I was exactly—”
“No, you weren’t,” Travail interrupted. “On Sinskrill, your heart remained pure despite the evil of Shet’s lorasra. You came back to that island, to save me and Fiona, even though you didn’t have to. You risked your happiness on the behalf of others. Those actions may never wash away your guilt, but they help balance the scale.” He tapped Serena’s chest. “You are a good person, Serena Paradiso. This is my judgment.”
&nbs
p; The world quieted. The wind paused. A rush of energy, a deep-noted sound felt only in the heart, passed from the troll and into the world. The grass on Linchpin Knoll bent and trees shuddered in the wake of Travail’s power. He’d made a true judgment.
William smiled at Serena. He’d come to trust her as much as he did Jake or Jason, but he knew she’d never fully forgiven herself. With Travail’s revealed truth, hopefully she could let the last of her guilt wash away. She deserved some solace.
Everyone else seemed to eye her with far greater respect as well.
Good.
“Come,” Councilor Duba said to Travail.
The troll nodded and led a somber group, consisting of Rukh, Jessira, Jason, and Mr. Zeus, to follow after the large councilor.
William was about to follow, but Mr. Karllson’s voice halted him. “I know I spoke harshly to you about this plan,” the large man said, “but understand I said those words out of fear for Daniel and Lien. I meant no disrespect to you or Jake.”
William gave a tight-lipped head-bob. “I understand.” He watched Lien approach. She had her splinted arm cradled against her side. “You okay?” he asked.
Lien nodded. “Hardly hurts after Rukh poured his lightning into it.” She yawned. “Sure makes a person tired, though.”
“Let’s get you home,” Mrs. Karllson said. “We can all use some rest.”
“I’ll check on Jake in a bit,” Daniel said. He squeezed William’s shoulder in passing, but stumbled a bit. His balance hadn’t entirely returned.
Fiona stood nearby. She twisted her hands in obvious uncertainty.
William took Selene’s hand. “I want you to meet someone,” he told her. He gestured, and Fiona stepped closer. “This is Fiona, your grandmother. You remember her from Sinskrill? She’s the reason all of us are free. Even you.”
“It is good to fully meet you, dear child,” Fiona said as they shook hands. “You look so much like your mother.”
“Thank you,” Selene said in a dull voice.
William could tell she was still worried about Jake.
“I was Jake’s instructor in Sinskrill, and I love him, too,” Fiona said. “If you like, I can tell you about him some time.”