Saving The Dark Side Book 2: The Harbingers

by Joseph Paradis

  Her eyes remained locked on his, long enough for him to drop his gaze. The silence gave him the answer before she opened her mouth. “I won’t go with you, Cole. Though part of me longs to.”

  Even though he had braced himself, the words still struck him like hammer blows to his gut. He knew she wouldn’t reveal much, but he needed to know more. He hadn’t much time. His hope flared perilously within his chest, begging and pleading for something to light his way.

  Swallowing the bitter reality, he tried to meet her eyes once more, but his gaze rested cowardly upon her shoulder. “Lileth, do you have feelings for me? Do we have something real?”

  Her hands cupped his cheeks, bringing his face to hers. Her voice was empty and careless. “I have real feelings for you, Cole. But there are many reasons that we cannot be together in heart and flesh.”

  His hope curdled like sour milk. “Tell me then. Why can’t we be together?”

  With a mixture of guilt and satisfaction he saw his words sting her. A lonely tear escaped from one of her clamped lashes. His jaw trembled in her hands.

  “I am an Aenerian. You are not.” She wouldn’t look at him, but her voice was framed with cold reason. “We are students fighting for something much greater than the both of us. Mixing our hearts together would only distract us from what needs to be done. Bury your desires elsewhere, Cole. They will find nothing but sorrow should you sow them within me.” She released him, nodding over his shoulder. “I think Chiron would like to speak with you.”

  Mouth dry and face numb, Cole took a step back. “You’re wrong and you know it.” Fighting the tears back, he turned and found Chiron floating off the edge of the temple. The elder ignored the others, looking at Cole with an air of significance. It was time. Cole held his breath and walked towards Chiron.

  As he neared the edge of the temple, Lileth called out to him in a desperate voice, “Cole wait! When are you leaving?”

  Cole bit his lip and looked up at Chiron. The Wisdom Walker gave him a heavy nod. Cole drew a deep breath and looked back to Lileth, wondering when he would see her again.

  Grim recognition passed over Lileth’s face as she fell to her knees. The others shuffled to her side, apparently unaware of Chiron’s sudden appearance.

  “Where in Oberon’s backside do you think you’re going?” Sitra hollered, looking both angry and confused. “We’re staying here to train, you can’t go fight The Three by yourselves!”

  Cole didn’t answer.

  Eliza wore a weak smile and glassy eyes. She pressed her mind against Cole’s, embracing him through their fraternal link. “I will always be with you in heart and spirit, brother.”

  Valen stepped closer, shaking his head as if there had been some minor misunderstanding. “Master Chiron, we discussed this. We are going to train here at the temple and wait for the Council to come to their senses. Surely you’re not taking Cole anywhere. Are you?”

  Chiron’s snowy cape fluttered in the wind. He extended an arm, beckoning Cole onward. He locked eyes with the Wisdom Walker and found the strength he needed to step off the ledge and leave his friends.

  Chapter 17

  Tabula Rasa

  The air rippled and exploded as Cole and Chiron tore through the sky. Chiron’s Wisdom cradled him in open air and had them moving faster than Cole could guess, though the blurry speed wasn’t enough to outrun what he left behind. Lileth’s face remained burned in his mind’s eye and the baleful protests of the others still rang in his ears. It felt as if he were leaving his entire life on top of Oberon Temple.

  At least he still had Eliza. They would stay in touch, and she could keep him up to date on all the goings-on at the temple. Even now she fed him a steady stream of comfort through their link, sharing the burden of his pain.

  Another pang of loss stung at him. He’d never said goodbye to Goran. Cole scrambled through his mind, crying out for his friend, but there was nothing to find. Goran was gone. Cole had felt the waning of their bond since they separated at the mountains, but he had hoped it was just a phase. Now he couldn’t feel the dimmest trace of his first friend. Cole glanced over at the toothy mountain range, guessing where Goran might be now. He blinked tears out of his eyes. They fell from him, spattering upon Chiron’s invisible shield before freezing into salty snowflakes.

  Cole could sense Chiron’s concern as he hovered above, but neither of them spoke. A burst of silent speed pulled Cole’s face back, and within a few minutes Oberon City was beyond the horizon.

  They flew for what felt like hours. Having emptied his eyes of every tear he could eke out, Cole finally broke the silence.

  “Where are we going anyway?” Cole croaked. His voice was raw from the long silence.

  “The Sill,” Chiron replied.

  Cole wobbled himself around and faced Chiron. “Why? I thought we were going to fight The Three.”

  “Do you feel ready to face them now?” asked the Wisdom Walker.

  Cole felt his Rage rearing up to answer, but his Despair felt like a rotten, unstable bog that his entire being now rested upon. Sorronis would cut him down like a wilted sapling.

  “No,” Cole grunted. “I’m not ready to face anything at the moment. Decreath was bad enough. The Three would probably kill us both before we even had a chance to fight back.”

  “Without a doubt,” Chiron remarked. “That is why we are going to The Sill. You need some proper training and my full attention if we are to draw out whatever gifts Varka has bestowed upon you.”

  “But why couldn’t we do this at Oberon Temple?” Cole could feel the heat in his words. His voice trembled with restrained ire. “The Everglen had everything that we needed, and the others could have trained with us. Why would you take me away from everyone I cared about?”

  Chiron’s face remained flat and calm, burning Cole’s temper ever hotter. “Find your center, Cole. Go there now and ask yourself those same questions. When you are ready, we will talk.”

  Cole whipped his back towards Chiron and crossed his arms. After a moment’s stubborn silence he attempted to enter the stone chamber in his mind, but it was locked to him. He used Rage to force his way in, but upon entering he found the room masked with heavy clouds. His roiling emotions occluded everything. Groping his way through the fog, he felt for the pedestal and the cone above, willing tiny droplets of the soothing water down onto himself. The little beads sizzled and joined the steam filling the room, completely impotent. Taking a deep breath, Cole tried again, wringing a few more drops out this time. Slowing his breathing, he repeated the process over and over until the water came in a steady flow and the room revealed itself to him. Eventually the weight of his emotions fell from him, bit by bit, until he truly was in his center. He embraced himself for a time, re-evaluating each unruly thought without all the noise. When he opened his eyes again the landscape was entirely different, and Oberon was low in the sky behind them.

  Cole turned back towards Chiron. “The Everglen isn’t a viable option.”

  “Oh, and why is that?” Chiron asked without looking at him.

  “The Council knows about Varka. They won’t just sit by and ignore that while I’m a few floors below playing with magic. And if someone snuck a Corpulant in there, there’s a good chance they’ll do it again. Or something worse. Also, if whatever Varka imprinted on me is our best chance at stopping The Three, then I can’t afford to be distracted by…” He almost said her name, but let the words drift away unfinished.

  “Those are my thoughts exactly.” Chiron gave him a nod of appraisal, saving him from elaborating. “Though I would like to add that some of your lessons will be practical, with real effects on this world. This cannot be done from the confines of a stone cage.”

  “Practical huh?” Cole thought on his last practical exercise with Roth. There was no way they could be that tough. “These practical lessons wouldn’t happen to place me in harm would they?”

  Chiron smirked. “I beg your patience, but I won’t reveal all my tri
cks just yet. However, I will promise you that your definition of what’s dangerous will be very different before long.”

  “Great,” Cole huffed.

  Hours passed in silence as the lagoon and The Sill came into view. Cole could make out little gratia stones winking up to him from their coral husks in the shallows. He made a mental note to stop by Deekus’s grave for Eliza.

  Instead of flying over the walls, they came to a lurching halt just outside one of the thick gates. Chiron set them both on the warm dirt and dismissed his shield. Cole wobbled somewhat after spending so many hours weightless. As expected, Whind, the Master Gatekeeper, melted from the hulking tree, greeting them in his airy voice.

  “Greetings, Wisdom Walkers.” Whind extended a reedy arm as wire-thin vines spread from his fingertips to the knotted roots of the gate. “The Sill welcomes you.”

  With an ancient groan, the trees cracked themselves up by their roots and revealed a tunnel lined with gratia stones. Cole followed silently behind Chiron, remembering the tunnel to have seemed much bigger the last time he passed through. He glanced back to Whind, who stood at the mouth of the tunnel like a solitary tree in his leafy garments. Cole gave him a weak smile and a wave, which went unreturned. He missed his friends very much.

  Chiron led Cole through the familiar route he had taken on his first walk through The Sill. They came upon the markets, which were unusually bare. Only a few proprietors rushed about with arms full, looking as if they were running several shops at once. Cole was indeed much taller than he’d been when he last set foot in the markets. He remembered the constant worry of being trampled in a sea of legs, but now he wasn’t even the shortest one. A shopkeeper carrying a basket full of plump mushrooms nodded up to him and Chiron as they passed. He silently hoped he wasn’t done growing, and that he would perhaps be as tall as Chiron one day, or even Roth.

  “I’ve never seen the markets so empty. Where is everyone?” Cole asked, peering through a darkened window.

  “The battle at Costas taxed The Sill heavily. We lost a great number of our warriors, a loss felt not only in our hearts but our economy as well. Many shopkeepers brought their businesses elsewhere. You will still find most of what you need, however.”

  “That’s good. I was looking forward to seeing what I can afford now that I’ve mastered Rage,” Cole said, eyeing a shop full of glowing gadgets and whirring instruments.

  “I’m afraid you won’t have much time for recreation once your training starts,” Chiron said, beckoning Cole onward.

  Cole tore his eyes away from a glass display of sleek formalwear, picking up his pace. “I assume we’re starting nice and early tomorrow?” Cole asked, resigning himself to a meager night’s rest.

  Chiron interlocked his hands behind his back. “No. We will start now. Do you know where my home is?”

  Cole swallowed, quelling his indignation. “No, Master Chiron.

  “It stands in between the Necropolis and the Dancing Gardens. Your first task is to make it there before I do.” Before Cole could so much as mutter a question, Chiron rose into the air, his transparent cape flapping behind him as he shot off into the treetops.

  Stunned, Cole broke into a run. He’d imagined himself getting some food and some sleep before they really started. He glanced up at a passing clock. It was already mid-evening and he was still exhausted from the night out in Oberon City. Hopefully the first lesson would be quick.

  He drew upon his Rage, his shrouded legs pumping rapidly and effortlessly as he cut across The Sill, only touching the ground every twenty feet or so. He knew he couldn’t beat Chiron, but he didn’t want to be embarrassed. As he ran, Cole felt a barren melancholy in the air around him, as if The Sill had lost some of its vitality since he left. The winding ramps and walkways were covered with a layer of old leaves, as if no one had walked on them in months. Doorways that once glowed with full gratia stones were nothing more than darkened holes in the sides of trees. Not a single sun lily leaf flew overhead. The air felt empty and lifeless, save for a few stars that twinkled through the canopy.

  The trees grew thinner and closer together as Cole passed from the residential districts, slowing him somewhat. He brought his clawed feet to a sloshing halt as he splashed upon the edges of the Necropolis. Resisting the temptation to visit Deekus’s grave, he veered off towards the dancing gardens.

  Cole had never been to this part of The Sill before. The trees were much skinnier than the hulking towers he was used to, but they were just as tall and grew in endless rows, as if planted in a grid. He whipped his head about, searching for anything that looked like a house. Chiron had not said what it looked like, but surely it would have stood out from the never-ending rows and columns.

  Chiron’s house did not stick out, however. There was no break in the patterns as far as Cole could see. He ran to the edges of the dancing gardens, where the skinny trees were replaced by fruit-bearing vines that snaked their way over every rock and rolling hill. Darting out, Cole snatched a cluster of green fruit from an unsuspecting vine, which rattled in protest before rearing up and galloping away.

  He somehow felt even hungrier after the snack, but decided against looking for more. He didn’t want to keep Chiron waiting. Setting off again, Cole took a different angle into the massive grid of trees, aiming for a more systematic approach. This time he ran straight until he came upon the outer walls of The Sill itself. Swearing into the empty rows, Cole ran the entire border of the odd forest, then up and down every column until he found the old gouges in the dirt from his first passing. Rage swelling, he allowed the shroud to spread until his hair tinkled like glass with every step. After what felt like hours, the entire grid had been torn by his munisica and the day was certainly over. He had failed.

  Roaring mad, Cole stabbed his munisica deep into a trunk which he had passed several times. Bark and insects rained around him as the tree wobbled. Whining cracks splintered up its length as the tree tipped and crashed its way to the forest floor. The ground shook beneath Cole with a satisfying thud. Before the thought of tearing down the entire forest became too enticing, Cole rested himself on the broken tree and gazed up through the hole he’d created. With an effort, he released his Rage and retreated to his center.

  The starlight poured through clouds of pollen and falling needles, drawing Cole’s gaze up to the sky. An idea suddenly struck him. Cole drew his munisica once more and leaped up, sinking his claws into the bark. He climbed his way up in quick, cat-like strides. In his eagerness, Cole had only searched the floor of the forest. There was still the entire canopy.

  Cole shimmied his way to the top, stopping when the tree started bowing at his weight. The reedy branches revealed something large and solid not too far off. Shifting his body weight back and forth, he leaned the top of the tree over to the next, reaching over and sinking his claws into it. In this awkward manner, he made slow progress to the object, which now seemed to be moving away from him.

  Relaxing his munisica, he stilled his Rage and drew instead upon his Wisdom, making himself as light as a bird. Cole hopped his way across thin branches until his fingers met the edge of a sturdy platform. With a slight tug, he hoisted himself up and found Chiron sitting at a small table outside a small round hut. Chiron sipped at a steaming mug, seemingly enthralled by the stars.

  “You could have told me your house was on top of the trees,” Cole grunted, brushing pine needles off his uniform. “I searched every leaf and rock in between the Necropolis and the dancing gardens.”

  “Did you now?” Chiron asked, pulling his eyes from the sky. “And what did you learn on your quest?”

  “That your house is somehow floating on top of the canopy, quite unlike every other structure in The Sill. I also learned that it takes me about three hours to run up and down every row in this weird little forest. Master, why didn’t you tell me? I wasted the rest of the day.”

  “Would you have me pander to your every inadequacy? Hold your hand and give you every answer forthri
ght?” Chiron spoke in a voice of quiet calm, yet the words were still scathing. He sipped from his mug, holding Cole’s gaze.

  “Of course not!” Cole stammered. “But what’s the point of being vague if I’m going to waste precious hours figuring out some stupid puzzle? The Three grow stronger every minute and I’m here running laps.”

  Chiron set his mug down and drummed his fingers on the table. Cole had no idea if his Master was inspecting him or trying to think of the right words. A minute passed in silence. If Chiron wasn’t going to answer, then Cole certainly wasn’t going to bother asking another question. Tired of the staring contest, Cole plopped himself down upon the deck and stared at Oberon’s shifting colors. Sleep pulled at his eyes and slowed his breathing. He withdrew to his center to keep from dozing.

  Time passed. How much, Cole couldn’t guess. Chiron may have left his chair and gone to sleep in his house for all he knew.

  “Patience is a skill that requires practice. Obstinacy, on the other hand, is a reflex that merely requires a perceived wrong. Both have their uses, but I’m glad to see you landed on the better of the two.”

  Cole jolted upright. Chiron was still in the chair, cupping the mug with both hands. A yawn wrenched Cole’s mouth open. “Master, I don’t know how much I have left in me. It’s late.”

  “Why did you fail in your task?” Chiron asked as if Cole hadn’t said a word.

  Cole shook himself, forcing his eyes to stay open. “I didn’t have all the information for starters. There’s no way I could have known your house would be up here. I’ve never seen anything like it. And you can fly faster than anything I’ve ever seen.”

  Chiron’s face remained expressionless. “You’re right, I didn’t tell you exactly where my house was, but you certainly had the ability to find it a shade sooner than three hours. As for how fast I flew, it was no quicker than you could run, even without your Rage. I even made a stop along the way to pick up some fertilizer for my garden. Now, tell me the reason for your failure.”