by Ian Gregoire
The two men holding her by the arms tried to guide her away from the stream back towards the trees, but she resolutely stood her ground, glowering at Zarina.
“You’ve made a big mistake, bitch” she snarled. “You may only have been acting when you said you feared the consequences of my master’s arrival, but you’re going to learn the hard way that you should have taken the threat seriously.”
A non-verbal cue from the turncoat Jaymidari resulted in her being dragged towards the trees. Peering over her shoulder, to address Zarina trailing behind, Kayden continued her invective. “You sons of bitches are living on borrowed time. When my master gets here she’s going to destroy your stupid cult.”
Zarina looked unmoved by the angry rant. “Do not set yourself up for disappointment, Kayden,” she replied casually. “When your master arrives she will join us, retaking her place at Master Yosarian’s side, or she will die. Things will not play out as you hope.”
Offering no response, Kayden turned her eyes to the way ahead, ceasing her half-hearted struggle. A small part of her was unnerved by Zarina’s lack of concern at Fay’s pending arrival. The treacherous bitch sounded so sure of a happy reunion between Josario and Fay. As for whose expectations would ultimately be met, that would be known in the next day or two. And while she harboured a small amount of doubt about her master, Kayden was convinced she knew present day Fay better than Josario did.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The Reunion
The early morning sun was still below the horizon when Fay rode out of Nagornorak. Having woken before dawn, she’d wasted little time leaving the Three Crows Inn. She stayed long enough for her morning ablutions, but chose to forgo breakfast in favour of an early start to her journey. Though she couldn’t remember any part of it, she knew with certainty that she had dreamt of Kayden during the night, and whatever the dream was about had made her anxious. Even now, riding Shadow at a gentle canter towards the domain of the cult of Yosarian, Fay still couldn’t rid herself of the feeling that she’d almost lost her young friend. Nevertheless, Kayden was alive. That much Fay was able to confirm when she had cast out her senses. But the apprentice’s presence was not in the same location as it had been the previous day, and still Fay’s attempts at establishing mind-to-mind communication failed to yield a response.
Shadow was able to comfortably maintain a steady pace, which satisfied Fay that the grey mare was none the worse for her exertions in getting them to Nagornorak. Now that they were heading southwest, away from the city, there were no concerns about the horse floundering—just as long as she wasn’t ridden too hard. At their current rate, Fay expected to reach Kayden’s location within two hours. With little to occupy her thoughts until then, all she could think about was how she intended to handle the inevitable encounter with the man holding her apprentice captive.
In her mind, Fay continued trying to make a distinction between Master Yosarian, the cult leader who was soon to be eliminated by the Order, and Josario Sandolari, the man she had loved as a father figure many years ago. Logic dictated that if she could convince herself that Josario was long dead, and that Yosarian was a completely different person, it would make their meeting easier. She knew it was a vain hope, but she had to hold on to it because she didn’t want to rely on the notion that the young woman she had once been was dead, and could never be resurrected.
Fay visualised numerous scenarios of how the reunion with her former mentor could play out—each one requiring her to be aloof and detached, while treating Josario as a total stranger. When push came to shove, it was the best way to ensure that she couldn’t be compromised by buried emotions. All she had to do was insist upon the release of her apprentice then leave.
The morning sun had risen fully above the horizon when Fay caught sight of a farmstead to her left in the far distance. She had a good idea how much time had elapsed since departing Nagornorak, and knew it wouldn’t be long before she reached the cult of Yosarian. The farmstead was one of the staging areas being used by the Order to conceal the presence of the Sanatsai who would execute the pending mission against the cult in two days time. There were thirteen such staging areas encircling the woodlands where the group had chosen to establish its communes. During the course of the past three months, a total of five thousand Sanatsai of the Order had travelled incognito to southern Anzarmenia in small groups, via the Kingdom of Darmitana. While this had slowed down the pace of the deployment, it had been necessary to avoid the attention of the Anzarmenian authorities, as well as Master Yosarian’s followers.
Now that Fay thought about it, the build up of the force needed to quickly overwhelm the two thousand-strong cult would have ended only a matter of days ago. Fortunately, she still had enough time to rescue Kayden from her predicament.
Sometime later, rider and horse had navigated through two woodland areas and entered a third. Shadow was directed through the trees at a trot, while Fay homed her senses on Kayden’s presence to guide their progress. With the apprentice no more than half a mile away, Fay knew it was only a matter of time before she came upon the cult commune where Kayden was being held. She had no way of knowing for certain what level of resistance, if any, she would face once she arrived there, but she deemed it prudent to assume that every cultist she would encounter would be hostile, so she would treat them as such.
To her surprise, Fay encountered the cult of Yosarian sooner than expected. Less than a quarter-mile from the commune, she found her path blocked by up to thirty men and women on horseback. It didn’t require any thought on her part to deduce that they were all followers of Master Yosarian; who else could they be?
“Greetings!” said the burly man at the head of the group. Even in the saddle it was apparent that he was well over six feet tall when standing, and everything about his demeanour communicated military experience. “Master Yosarian has been eagerly awaiting your arrival. We are to escort you to him at once.”
Fay’s eyes narrowed in response to the pronouncement. If Yosarian believed her to be the black-clad harbinger of doom from his dream, as she intended, then he had no reason to be eagerly awaiting her arrival. This could only mean that he knew who she was. But how had he found out? He couldn’t possibly have learned it from Kayden, who had no idea about her master’s horrendous past. Dismissing the notion, Fay suddenly thought about Kayden’s failure to reply to repeated attempts at mind-to-mind contact. What if it was the cult leader who had revealed to his captive that the administrator of Antaris campus was in fact the Rogue, who’d led his forces during the Great War? Maybe Kayden was so disgusted by the revelation that she couldn’t countenance having any kind of contact with her master ever again.
With a shake of the head, Fay shrugged off the negative thoughts. There was no way her erstwhile mentor could know she was still alive, nor her connection to his Vaidasovian captive. Likewise, Kayden couldn’t know about her history with the Usurper King. Nonetheless, acquiescing to being escorted to Yosarian was out of the question. A reunion between them had to be avoided, if possible.
“I require no escort!” Fay announced. A better course of action had been settled upon in her mind. “I will find what I’m looking for without you.” She was going to fight her way onto the commune, rescue Kayden, then fight her way back out.
The cultists were given no time to respond. Fay’s invocation of Yuksaydan instantly seized hold of each of them, simultaneously lifting them out of their saddles. As they were launched into the air, she swiftly invoked Turmiraydan, unleashing multiple concussion orbs that struck their airborne targets with unwavering accuracy. Each cult member was rendered unconscious and they hit the ground, scattering their horses. From start to finish, the attack had lasted no more than a couple of seconds, but the way was now clear for Fay to resume the final steps of her journey. Carefully, she guided Shadow through the fallen bodies on the ground, and continued on her way towards the cult commune, relying on Kayden’s presence to lead her there.
A few m
inutes later, Shadow trotted into a vast clearing, giving Fay her first glimpse of the commune. The sight was reminiscent of a farming town: a multitude of bungalows and other wooden structures were laid out before her. There were numerous men and women milling about in close proximity to her, none of whom seemed to know how to react to seeing a burgundy-haired stranger dressed in black arriving on horseback. Fay paid them no attention, focussing instead on the presence of her apprentice, but a group of six armed men gathered at what appeared to be a guard post to her left finally woke up to the fact they had an intruder on their hands.
“Halt!” cried out one of the men, drawing his sword as he and his comrades moved to intercept her. “Who goes there?”
She continued to ignore all the cultists, including the approaching sentries.
“I said, stop!”
The command was followed by the sound of five more swords being drawn, and swift footfalls bounding across the ground. Before any of the onrushing men could put themselves in Shadow’s path, Fay unleashed the ‘unseen hand’ to tear up the ground beneath them. Each of the cultists were blown off their feet, landing in dishevelled heaps.
“We’re under attack!” a female voice cried out.
Now, Fay had the full attention of the cult, whether she wanted it or not, and she was sure to have a fight on her hands. Right away she sensed the Zarantar of the Jaymidari cultist who’d just raised the alarm. Instinctively, Fay neutralised the attempt to envelop Shadow within an inertia field. Her retaliation was quick to follow. Invoking Yuksaydan, again, she seized hold of the other woman, lifting her off her feet and tossing her against the wall of a nearby bungalow. As the body crumpled to to the ground, multiple incendiary orbs hurtled towards her from multiple directions. In an instant, each of the flaming projectiles blinked out of existence, effortlessly neutralised by Fay’s superior Zarantar.
Dozens more cultists were streaming out of doorways to join the defence of the commune, yelling battle cries and unleashing varied Zarantar strikes against their mounted intruder. For the moment, Fay was unconcerned about the increasing number of adversaries. She was able to fend off their attacks easily enough, but she was still hundreds of yards away from Kayden’s location, and she could sense the presence of many hundreds of people between herself and the apprentice. In all likelihood she would have to kill scores of cultists in order to get Kayden away from the commune.
Invoking Turmiraydan, Fay unleashed multiple concussion orbs that zig-zagged through the air as they homed in on their targets. A partially successful defence was mounted by some of the Jaymidari cultists, neutralising most of the orbs, but a dozen or more men and women fell to the ground unconscious when they were struck by the surviving luminous, pale green orbs. It was a minor dent in the increasing level of resistance. Several cultists had levitated into the air, to rain down Zarantar strikes from above, while on the ground many more were circling around Fay, in order to attack her from behind.
A heavy barrage of incendiary orbs, coupled with multiple, unseen attempts to unseat her from the saddle, finally prompted Fay to bring Shadow to a standstill. She duly invoked Inkansaylar, creating a barrier sphere around herself and her trusty mount. Safe within the translucent, impenetrable bubble, she allowed the next volley of incendiary orbs to detonate harmlessly against it. With many former Sisters among the ranks of the cultists, the barrier sphere would eventually be brought down if Fay remained inside its confines.
“I’m going to leave you alone here for a little while, my friend,” she said to Shadow as she gently patted the grey mare’s neck. “I have to get Kayden back so we can get out of here.” She dismounted with a graceful flourish, and took a moment to assess her situation.
The cultists were keeping a wary distance as they surrounded her on all sides, clearly more worried about her than vice versa. With confident, purposeful strides, she marched forward and passed through the perimeter of her impenetrable, translucent bubble as though it wasn’t there. Taking advantage of the wide-eyed surprise of the onlookers, Fay invoked Yuksaydan to unleash an invisible blast that knocked over dozens of men and women ahead of her. In the blink of any eye, she disappeared then reappeared on the roof of a nearby bungalow, unleashing a volley of concussion orbs at the many cultists levitating in the air above the commune. Rendered unconscious, the bodies of the airborne men rained down as Fay disappeared once more, reappearing on the ground almost a hundred yards from where she had left Shadow within the confines of a barrier sphere.
Fay was well beyond the mass of cultists gathered near the translucent bubble, but she wasn’t quite done with them as she marched away towards the smaller number of men and women rushing forward to intercept her. Invoking Turmiraydan, she let loose dozens of concussion orbs behind her without sparing a backward glance to see how many of the hurtling projectiles found a human target. Ahead, her senses warned her of several imminent Zarantar strikes from the cultists in her path. The resulting incendiary orbs and invisible blasts were neutralised almost instantly by her counter invocation of Yuksaydan, which simultaneously seized hold of the assailants and tossed them through the air like rag dolls.
Even further ahead, Fay saw a wall of bodies moving towards her like a tidal wave. She sensed the presence of over two hundred people in total. Veering to her left, she marched diagonally across the commune towards Kayden’s location, unconcerned that the oncoming group would have no trouble putting themselves between her and the apprentice. As anticipated, the large gathering of cultists changed direction in response, and Fay soon found her path blocked. She came to a halt, prepared to fight her way through the throng, or die trying. To her surprise nobody made any attempt to initiate hostilities. In fact, as she glanced warily around her at the numerous other cultists closing in on her from every direction, Fay couldn’t sense any imminent Zarantar strikes. Perhaps her adversaries thought they had her boxed in. If so, it was time for her to demonstrate otherwise.
She prepared to invoke Yuksaydan, intending to unleash an invisible blast to open up a path through the cultists, but a familiar voice stopped her. A voice she last heard a lifetime ago.
“Stand down! Stand down!” said the commanding male voice.
Glancing slowly to her right, Fay saw that the approaching crowd she’d ignored moments earlier had come to a halt, and their ranks were parting to allow a tall, elderly man to make his way through the horde. Her heart murmured at the sight of him. Though the passing of years was very apparent on his lined face, there was no denying that he was her one-time mentor, Josario Sandolari. From this moment forth it would be next to impossible to keep pretending he was dead. The inescapable truth was that Yosarian truly was Josario.
He halted half a dozen paces away, with four glowering Sanatsai men standing around him. The emotion on his face as he gazed at her with penetrating eyes took Fay by surprise.
“It really is you.” Josario’s voice was like a forlorn sigh. “I never imagined this day would come. I mourned you for so long, yet here you are and you’ve barely aged a decade.” His quivering lips formed a hesitant half-smile.
“Master Yosarian, I presume,” said Fay, adopting Shintanese in a clipped monotone.
Josario’s eyes narrowed as he frowned. “Why so formal, my beloved?” he asked cautiously. “You used to call me Jo.” His expression shifted once more, and his mouth curled into a full, close-lipped smile.
It dawned on Fay immediately that Josario had misinterpreted her comment and stand-offish demeanour as just her droll sense of humour. She needed to quickly disabuse him of the notion that this was to be a happy reunion.
“You are holding an associate of mine captive,” she said. “I want her back, now.”
The smile disappeared from Josario’s face. He cocked his head to one side, scrutinising Fay with intent. “It was careless of you to allow your pretty young friend to go traipsing where she doesn’t belong,” he retorted. “She actually came here and tried to kill me.” Moving his head upright again, he added, “
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that she deserved to die a slow, agonising death for that, yet she still lives. And the only reason she’s still breathing is because I saw your face in her mind. So, to correct your erroneous assertion, Kayden is not my prisoner, she is my guest.”
Well that would explain how Josario knew she was alive, Fay realised. But was he also aware that she was a high-ranking Sanatsai of the Order? The fact that he was so obviously pleased to see her, after eagerly anticipating her arrival, suggested not.
“I want to see her right this minute,” she demanded.
From the expressions on the faces of some of the watching cultists, it was clear they did not approve of the manner in which she spoke to their master, even if they didn’t understand a word that was being said between herself and the cult leader.
“I will send for her in due course,” said Josario. “But first, come and join me for breakfast; we have much to discuss.” He proceeded to turn on his heels, in preparation to lead Fay through the crowd of cultists.
“Wait!” she said, halting him in his tracks. “I didn’t come here for a reunion. Just bring my apprentice out so we can leave at once.”
Josario stared at her disbelievingly. “Dearest Emi, I haven’t seen you in over seventy years, and in all that time I believed you to be dead. Now that you are here, surely you cannot expect me to let you leave just as quickly as you arrived?”
It had been so long since she’d been called anything other than Fay. She was slightly taken aback. Hearing Josario’s pet name for her roll off his tongue brought to mind that he was literally the only person in the world who knew her real given name.