The Bones of Titans

by B. T. Narro

  Perhaps it wasn’t such a blessing after all.

  Leo awoke many times as he worried his cocoon of Artistry was weakening. It still felt strong each time he checked, but he reinforced it with the invisible energy anyway. He checked on KRenn’s shell next to find it dwindling, so Leo was forced to put more effort into restoring it than he did his own.

  He awoke in the morning to find both men still asleep. Leo used the time to wash his face with water from the nearby lake. Teyro was up by the time Leo had finished. KRenn looked half dead as he lay on his back with his head turned. Leo chewed on his cheek as he knew what conversation was about to come.

  Teyro tried to rouse KRenn. Just like the mornings before they had met Teyro, it was difficult to wake KRenn. Eventually, he sat up with a groan, then let out a sad sigh.

  “What’s wrong?” Teyro asked.

  “I’m dying, Teyro,” KRenn told him pointedly. “I became sick after I returned here. Or perhaps I was getting sick before I left the other realm. Either way, I don’t have much longer.”

  “You just need healing through Artistry if it’s what I think,” Teyro said.

  “It is what you think, but I cannot be healed through Artistry.”

  “I disagree. The right kind of link to the right healthy body can heal anyone.”

  “It’s more likely to kill both people.” KRenn took Teyro’s offered hand and rose up gingerly. “If time does not heal me, then I am destined to die. I accept that fate.”

  “Have you always been like this, so…uriwa?”

  “You mean realistic.”

  “I do not.”

  “Then it’s what you should mean.” KRenn waved his hand dismissively. “I’d rather not waste what little energy I have arguing about this. I believe I can summon a few creatures that will help us get back to the palace, but I will need to rest afterward.”

  “I will heal you while you rest.”

  “You will not!” KRenn yelled, then went pale as he stumbled. Leo reached out to catch him, but he shook off Leo’s helping hand.

  KRenn found his breath and said, “I will not allow another mage to be sickened by this, unless he wishes to stop us from destroying the rift.”

  KRenn opened a rift with a groan of effort. He beckoned for something to come through. The legs of a tall creature appeared but moved no farther.

  “Come on!” KRenn yelled at it.

  One leg stabbed through the rift, only for the creature to retract it.

  “Come on you coward!” KRenn screamed again.

  A leg came through again, this time remaining long enough for Leo to see that it was thick and scaly. Another followed. The creature’s ducking head poked through, then rose up. It had a long snout and reptilian eyes. It gazed down at KRenn in a look devoid of intelligence. KRenn gestured for it to move away from the rift, but it didn’t seem to understand him.

  With one hand stretched out toward the rift, KRenn used his other to attempt to physically push the creature’s leg. The beast made a sound between a hiss and a growl.

  “KRenn,” Teyro warned.

  “Let me concentrate!” KRenn used both hands to push against the creature, intent on moving it away from the rift to make room for an equally large summoned waiting on the other side. But the massive creature in Leo’s realm swung its head down and knocked KRenn over. The rift rippled, then shrunk into nothing.

  The creature appeared angry as it towered over KRenn, who lay on the ground gasping for breath. Leo linked the creature’s legs together, the motion easy as he felt Teyro helping him. It froze in the air, but the extreme weight of its front legs wanting to drop was too much for the link to bear.

  “Move!” Leo yelled at KRenn as the immense pressure on his mind was about to break.

  KRenn partially rose up just to stumble and fall backward, but at least he was safe from being trampled. Leo let the link break, though he held Artistry around all four legs to make another link that would hold the beast still.

  “I have it,” Leo announced. “Help KRenn up so he can make another rift.”

  “If we send him back, we’re walking!” KRenn said as Teyro pulled him to his feet. “I don’t have the strength to make another rift if I create one now.”

  “Do you even have the strength to keep this creature under control?” Teyro asked.

  “For the day.”

  “And then what?”

  The beast leaned down as if to chew off whatever was keeping its legs from moving, though it seemed confused when it could not find anything. Anger replaced confusion as it opened its mouth and showed off teeth as long as Leo’s arms.

  “Just send it back!” Leo said. “It’s too strong for me to keep hold.”

  “I will calm it down as soon as I can concentrate. Let go of me.” He shook out of Teyro’s grasp.

  “KRenn you are not yourself! You are yoleeshic ey grasliohic.”

  “I don’t know those words,” KRenn said.

  “He’s saying you’re sarding insane!” Leo translated, knowing Teyro couldn’t have meant anything else. “Send this creature back right now!”

  “But—”

  “KRenn, I swear to the gods I will let him eat you first if you don’t open another rift and get rid of this thing!”

  “Fine!” KRenn spread his arms. A rift grew out of nothing, this one smaller than the other. There was no way the creature could fit through. KRenn pushed out his hands as if trying to move invisible walls. He screamed as the rift stretched open wider.

  “Let it go,” KRenn said in a strained voice.

  Leo could barely hold onto it much longer anyway. With a breath of relief, he let the creature go. Fortunately, it stomped directly into the rift, ducking to fit.

  KRenn fell. Leo and Teyro ran to him.

  They tried to wake him, but he would not open his eyes. Leo was too hungry and frustrated to feel empathy for the mage, who had almost gotten them killed. Leo looked over at Teyro, who seemed to be in a similar emotional state as he glanced over at Leo with his hands on his hips.

  “Now what do we do?” Leo asked.

  “There’s only one thing we can do. I have to heal him.”

  “You shouldn’t risk your life. He wouldn’t do the same for you.”

  “You never knew him before.” Teyro’s accented common tongue trailed into a phrase of Analyse, though he tried his best to translate: “He was a man who took high chances and made high sacrifices. He did not show anger like this. He was patient. He explained himself.”

  “He was not dying then. If you help him, you will start dying as well.”

  “We can’t carry him the whole way, and he can’t walk back on his own. He will die here if it is not done.”

  Leo supposed that was true, but still he needed to know something before he agreed. “What are the chances of you staying healthy?”

  Teyro took his time to answer, squinting as if he was concentrating on something between him and KRenn. He looked sad when he glanced back at Leo. “I don’t know.”

  It sounded like a lie. But who was Leo to stop Teyro from trying? What if it worked and KRenn returned to his normal self? He sounded like a man who Leo needed on his side. KRenn knew better than anyone how to deal with the kasigerr and destroy the rift. And Teyro had offered. It was only Leo holding him back. That didn’t feel right.

  “As long as you’re sure you want to.”

  “I don’t want to. I have to.” Teyro knelt and put his hand on KRenn’s forehead.

  ◆◆◆

  A few slow days went by. Leo had wanted to ask what Teyro did to heal KRenn, knowing it had something to do with a t-link of Artistry, but there had not been an opportunity. When Teyro first began, he had warned Leo not to speak about it at all or KRenn might overhear. KRenn had awoken soon after Teyro had begun, anyway, so it was a good call.

  Leo didn’t know how Teyro would heal KRenn secretly during their trip back to the palace, but he had caught Teyro hovering over KRenn one night when Leo awoke. Teyro h
ad turned to Leo and put his finger over his lips. Leo had nodded and gone back to sleep.

  As the days dragged on, Leo noticed KRenn’s strength returning. Teyro, on the other hand, was slower to rise each morning. His feet sometimes dragged when they walked, and Leo figured it was only a matter of time before it became obvious to KRenn.

  Eventually, they encountered a few dozen low mounds of dirt. They seemed to be marking burial spots, but this was still a day south of the palace. Leo and KRenn had passed this way and would’ve seen these mounds if they were here the last time.

  “Let’s dig one up to see who is buried here,” KRenn suggested.

  “We have no jesriws.”

  “Then we use our hands and rocks. Let’s go.” He eyed Teyro.

  Looking as if he wanted to object, Teyro squatted over the nearest mound and started to dig. KRenn overtook his speed as he helped brush aside dirt on the same mound. Leo took the corner farthest from the two of them as he watched KRenn investigating Teyro with a skeptic’s eyes.

  Soon enough KRenn stoop up and pointed at Teyro. “You are sick. Admit it and save us the time of arguing.”

  Teyro leaned back and rested. He looked proud as he glanced up at KRenn. The sun was behind the expert mage, and he looked healthier than Leo had ever seen him.

  “Yes I am sick, but I do not regret what I’ve done and will continue to do. You are getting better, KRenn.”

  “At the expense of your own life! I will not stand for this.”

  “What can you do?”

  KRenn started to say something but stopped. A sad look came over him as he crouched in front of Teyro. “My friend, I never wanted this.”

  “I know, but I do want it.” Teyro stood. “Think of it as a gift. The gift of time.”

  KRenn embraced the Analyte. Leo saw KRenn’s eyes glistening before they shut.

  Leo felt sadness swell up from his chest as he realized that now Teyro would die as well. Leo had not known this Analyte mage long, but he had grown to like the honorable man.

  “I’m happy to see some of your old self again,” Teyro told KRenn.

  “I would be relieved to feel this way if it—”

  “Hashu ekiwa, friend. It is a gift,” Teyro repeated, as if that meant something more to KRenn than Leo knew.

  KRenn nodded. They returned to uncovering the mound, a tense silence hanging in the air. Eventually, Leo reached something that he found to be a boot. The three of them quickly pushed aside the last layer of dirt to reveal the body of a soldier. His bloody uniform told them this man was once a cavalier, but Leo and KRenn didn’t recognize him as one from the group that attacked them.

  “These are all cavaliers,” KRenn said as he gazed at the dozens of mounds. “Or they were, at least.”

  Leo realized the answer. “My father must’ve seen us fleeing from them. He sent rebels to help us, might’ve even come himself. They probably couldn’t catch up until the cavaliers turned around, which they only did after the first group failed to kill us. That group joined the other to head back together, and…oh, you guys already figured this out.” He saw in their bored expressions that he didn’t need to say more.

  Leo felt silly for thinking he had to explain something to men far smarter than he was.

  Rather than reply, KRenn sat on a rock. Teyro joined him on one close by. Leo didn’t understand why they were sitting, but he didn’t want to feel even more like a fool, so he sat on the grass.

  He smiled when the answer came to him. Father must have men riding around these parts looking for us. There’s no point in wasting our stamina now.

  Sure enough, a group of horsemen soon were headed toward them.

  Leo stood. “Finally, I’m going to bring my brother back!”

  KRenn showed a half smile as he stood. Teyro rose up as well. Both men were surely strong enough to follow through with the imminent destruction of the rift.

  At least Leo hoped so.

  Leo’s worries shifted to Rygen. She had crossed his thoughts many times since he’d fled the palace with KRenn. He desperately wanted to know that she was safe, but he knew he wouldn’t find out for a long time.

  His heart twisted at the thought of her hurt, or even dead. He would get his brother back, destroy this rift, and then do everything in his power to help her.

  Please be safe, Rygen.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Leo rode to the palace sharing a horse with a man he’d never met, but this man was more than happy to find Leo alive, with the others. Many of the riders had given Teyro curious glances, but no one had asked for an explanation. Not even a single introduction was made. One of the men had asked if anyone needed medical attention before they returned. After KRenn had answered “no,” it had been silent.

  Leo could feel the men’s eagerness to return to the palace, but no one was as eager as him. He couldn’t wait to see his father again and bring his brother back. The three of them had only one brief moment together since the truth of their family had come out. Leo looked forward to being together again, especially without a secret to keep.

  But there was one thing he needed to know first. He asked the man in the saddle in front of him, “Have you heard anything about a girl from Jatn named Rygen Nexi?”

  “She arrived a while ago.”

  “She arrived…at the palace?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is she all right?”

  “She’s perfectly fine.”

  Thank the gods!

  He didn’t know when she had left Jatn or how she had traveled all the way to Analyte territory, but he was overjoyed. His heart trilled as he realized he would see her soon.

  Gods…he grew nervous. He wasn’t ready to see her. Or was he?

  It’s Rygen, he reminded himself. He had seen her a little while ago, in Jatn. He just had to be himself and there would be no reason to be nervous. If she was even half as excited to see him as he was to see her, then they would get along just fine.

  His heart fell as he realized that this man had mentioned nothing about Leo’s aunt.

  “What about…” What name would she use? Leo tried both. “Yune Quim or Miqu Yenu?”

  “I haven’t heard anything about them.”

  Could Rygen have left without her? Yes, if something had happened to Yune.

  “Do you know how Rygen managed to get out of Jatn?” Leo asked.

  “I don’t know anything, young Leo. Ever since you left, most of my time has been spent chasing after the cavaliers. When we disposed of them, I returned to speak with your father. He told me to find you and tell you about Rygen when I did. He didn’t mention anything of the other two women. Did you say one was a Quim?”

  “Yes, my father’s sister was in the city of Jatn, with Rygen.”

  The man did not reply for some time. “I’m sorry.”

  What happened to my aunt?

  Leo hadn’t known Yune for long, but he still cared about her. She was family. It was soon after encountering her in a prison that Leo and Andar had left to join the army. Yune was very friendly toward them, but she didn’t have the same care for them that their father did. She had been too busy trying to lead her own life.

  She was not a fighter, so Leo assumed Yune would not stay in Jatn to face the barbarians if she had the choice to leave. Leo had heard only bad things about the barbarians. They tore through small settlements and committed terrible acts against the defenseless inhabitants. Leo wondered about his friend Edward, who had gone with the majority of the king’s troops to fight back the barbarians. When would Edward reach Jatn? Would the barbarians still be there? Had Edward seen Rygen on the way? Had he given her Leo’s note about Andar?

  Leo couldn’t remember one thing he’d written in his mad rush to return to the palace, besides that Andar had disappeared. He knew Edward must’ve read it, but was the letter even coherent enough to explain what had happened?

  All of Leo’s worries faded as they approached the palace and he saw the camp of rebels station
ed at the base of the hill. He would see his father very soon.

  Something powerful interrupted his thoughts. He was alerted by this force as if hearing someone call his name. It was the stalwart link, he realized, sending him a surge of emotions. They came in a flood—panic, then relief, aggression, then comfort—back and forth the emotions swayed, like a mixture of battles and reprieves. There were direct messages to Leo throughout all of it, but they were jumbled amongst the fast-flowing river of sensations.

  The message slowed at the end, however, allowing Leo to clearly understand one thing. Andar had to do something important. He wasn’t ready to return.

  The strangest thing about this was that the stalwart link had shifted. It no longer stretched south toward the sea but east, toward the Analyte capital.

  Or perhaps it was going into the rift past the city.

  “What are you doing Andar?” Leo tried not to worry for his brother, for Andar had relayed a calm message in the end, but Leo couldn’t help it. This was Andar, after all. He was smart and capable, and very talented at most things, but he often did not think through his choices in the same way Leo did.

  There was no chance of talking him out of anything at this point, though. Leo concentrated and sent a strong yet simple thought he was sure his brother would understand if it reached him.

  “I am ready now.”

  Leo would wait until Andar replied before he wasted a testing stone, relieved at the idea that they could speak through their stalwart link once again, even if it was temporary.

  The horse slowed as it trotted down the path into camp. Leo’s heart lifted as he saw his father staring at him with an open mouth.

  Leo wasn’t sure when he last saw his father running like this, if ever. But the large man covered ground so quickly that Leo barely had time to jump off the horse before Darren arrived.