Spirit Mage

by Esther Mitchell

  Paduari's gaze did not waver. "The longer she is detached from the Lurudani souls she feeds on, the weaker Sehidhe becomes. The past cannot be undone, but the future is mutable. Remember what I have told you, and do not see from only one truth. There are many, some neither as pleasant nor easy to face as others. And when you face the thing which blinds you, remember, there is nothing purely evil, and nothing purely good."

  Telyn's eyes turned away as Paduari released her hand. His words echoed back at her from the past. Words she was sure she had never heard, but knew were once spoken to her.

  There are many truths, none purely evil, and none purely good. She swallowed hard as her gaze moved to Nacaris again. If she could not see the line, if she could not separate the good from the evil, then what would she become? What future could she possibly have, for herself, for Nacaris, for their child? The question twisted like a snake around her stomach, making her queasy. Until last night, she never allowed herself to acknowledge the aching emptiness in her life only a child could fill. Her failure to conceive in the Borderlands, followed by what she thought was Nacaris' death, convinced her children were not meant to be for her. She convinced herself there was no life beyond her blade and her blood.

  Nothing ever stays the same.

  Telyn's hands dropped momentarily to her belly, and her eyes closed as she drew a trembling breath. How could she be so terrified of something she wanted for so long?

  She still wasn’t sure how to tell Nacaris. Telyn moved quietly to his side, laying her hand on his back and smiling softly when he turned to look at her. She opened her mouth to tell him, but the words froze on her tongue. It was too early. This wasn't the time. Excuses, all of them, but she couldn't bring herself to counter them, yet. Instead she settled on a blandly neutral, "Ready?"

  His brows drew together over worried grey-green eyes, but he nodded. "Is everyone else set?"

  She grinned, hearing a familiar impatience in his query. "Aye. We'll move steadily, so Reaphia has a harder time tracking us, but take our time, and give her a chance to weaken herself."

  He cast her a searching look. "How is it you know this woman so well?"

  "I don't know the woman we've come for," Telyn muttered, glancing away from him, out over the mist-draped mountainsides. "But the girl... the girl was my blood-sister."

  Nacaris tensed beneath her touch. "You and she share a parent in common?"

  Telyn shook her head with a sad laugh. If only they had shared a parent, then maybe Reaphia's fate would have been different. "No. My mother loved my father first and always, and I am his only child."

  "Then how--"

  Telyn closed her eyes against a wall of memories she had thought safely buried under Endland sand until this moment. Chief among those memories was a smiling little girl with ebony hair and eyes like the finest jade. Tears blurred Telyn's vision and spilled down her cheeks to remember how that smile died. It took strenuous effort to force words past jaws suddenly locked in grief and anger.

  "I should think the how would be quite obvious. You already know I ran away from Raiador when I was just a child. I didn't know where I was going, or where I wanted to go, except away from the mines, and Brun-Gild. I got lost. I must have wandered for half a cycle before I was picked up in these very mountains by the passing guard of an Endland noble. They turned out to be Mad Brahmad's men. Only he wasn't called Mad Brahmad, then. That was later. The lady Raleena still lived when I first came to their household. She took me under her care, and taught me everything she could about living in the Endlands, all with love and patience.

  "When Reaphia was born and Raleena died, Brahmad went mad with grief, and would have had the baby disposed of had I not convinced him Raleena gave her life because she wanted her daughter to live. In time, he came to dote on Reaphia as much as I did. I raised her, with the help of the palace women, in the manner Raleena would have, had she lived. Reaphia was like my sister and daughter as much as she was my friend. In the six cycles after her birth, I grew as close to Reaphia as I could get to another human being. I would have done anything, given anything, for her."

  "What happened? Why did you leave?"

  Telyn drew a wavering breath. She couldn't tell him yet she began to suspect Kishfa's hand in the events which drove her from Brahmad's court into Dariadus' camp. "When Reaphia reached the age of spiritual training, at six, Brahmad announced he was sending her away to be tutored by the Vedics before the last, scattered fragments of the Shelliac Temple her mother served could lay claim to their dead Priestess' child. The day she was to leave, Reaphia and I cut our hands and mixed our blood, pledging our loyalty and lives to the bond of family and friendship. I swore to her I would find her, and we'd always be family. Then she was gone."

  "I take it you never found her."

  "After I left Dariadus’ camp, I spent the seven cycles I lived with Bocjar tracking Reaphia down among the Vedics. Ironically, I found her in a temple near the same area I was originally found. But the Reaphia I knew was already gone by then. The sweet, gentle girl I raised to be the kind and wise queen her mother wanted was wiped away, as if she never existed at all. I was frustrated by my failure, and the last words we spoke were words of bitterness and anger. I returned to Bocjar's, disheartened, only to find him slain by Katarie Assassins. I've never believed for an instant his death was merely a coincidence -- I'm sure Reaphia had something to do with it, and I've been even more convinced since I saw those mercenaries in the square at Hadvia."

  "I'm surprised you didn't go after her. Settle the score."

  "It would have accomplished nothing, at the time. I wasn't ready to face her."

  "So, what did you do?"

  Telyn shrugged. "I left the Endlands, and in the cycles since, my connection to Reaphia has grown weaker as she grows more blood-thirsty and power-hungry." She turned away, her voice a bare whisper as she admitted, "We haven't spoken since that day."

  Nacaris' good hand closed over hers, and Telyn glanced up, startled, to find him standing directly before her. His eyes held compassion and gentle understanding as he squeezed her hand comfortingly. "You don't have to do this, balnyt."

  Telyn glared at him as she bit out, "Aye, I do. The woman you know as Sehidhe is not the girl I knew as Reaphia. The evil surrounding her changed her into something depraved and distant. She has to be destroyed, before her evil can spread any further. I owe it to her to be the one who releases her. I'm probably her only real friend in this world."

  Nacaris nodded somberly, squeezing her hand again. "Then let's get going."

  "I agree." Telyn whirled in surprise at the sound of Paduari’s voice, and she took a quick step away from Nacaris, slipping her hand free from his in the process. Paduari gave no hint of having noticed as he passed them, stepping outside the cavern entrance. Looking up at the sky, he nodded. "It's time we were on our way. We have work to do."

  "Paduari..." Nacaris started, glancing toward Telyn in concern. She knew what bothered him, and she had to admit it concerned her, as well. Paduari was inherently curious. But ever since they crossed the portal into Atarsia, he'd become distant and troubled. Only, now wasn't the time for questions. They had to trust Paduari.

  As much as it cost her, she gave a small shake of her head, stilling Nacaris’ protest. "He's right. We have work to do."

  A small, grim smile touched Nacaris' face, though his eyes remained clouded with worry. "All right."

  As the four travelers started up the rocky, sloping path leading further into the mountains, Telyn drew a deep breath, the skin at the back of her neck prickling with dread. They were being watched. She felt it in her bones. To judge from the way the anaqueri hummed against her thigh, whatever it was wasn't friendly. With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Telyn had a feeling she knew what it was. The evil responsible for draining away a life she loved had found them, and she had no choice by to lead them all straight into its web.

  Chapter Twelve

  Telyn sealed her lips over a
curse as she stopped, studying the latest obstacle blocking the path ahead of them. While she knew Reaphia would do everything in her considerable power to make their trek up the mountain difficult, this was not the type of difficulty she expected. She assumed they'd face heavy opposition in the form of Vedics and Reaphia's hired thugs, not Nature itself. So far, they had come nearly half-way up the mountain from the cavern, and not met a single living being, human or animal. Eerie, but given how prolific the Cheelaqa were in these parts, not overly worrisome. Fallen tree limbs and mounds of stone and dirt from rockslides provided dangers she could have done without. But those were manageable obstacles. This new one, she wasn't so sure of.

  Telyn studied the large tree blocking the path and muttered another curse beneath her breath. The giant mosswood fell too perfectly across their path for Telyn to assume it was anything besides deliberate. There weren't any roots, and no stump anywhere to be seen, either, so it had to have come down from somewhere above them.

  Telyn assessed their surroundings in one quick glance. To the right of the path, the mountain rose in a jagged wall to a point some ten meters above her before it leveled off again. To the left, the mosswood's wide branches spread until they stuck out over the ledge of another sheer drop another twenty meters below them. The tree lay perfectly flush to the ascending rock wall, as if it had been carefully placed. No way was this an act of Nature, or even man. No, this had the smell and feel of Majik. Telyn didn't need her eyes to tell her the truth, and nor did she have to glance at her companions to know they'd already reached a similar conclusion. There was no way a tree so well-developed could have fallen such a distance, and with such precision, by itself.

  An idea struck Telyn as she studied the huge mosswood, and she looked from the tree to the rock wall on either side of it. A grim smile touched her face as she found what she was looking for. Kishfa smiled on her, after all. At regular intervals along the cliff were cracks and ledges in the rock, just large enough to potentially accommodate a person's weight. She could scale the cliff with ease, and gain several moments' worth of travel time, in the process. After all, hadn't she scaled the treacherous face of Mount Raiador wounded and in the dark of night? This climb would be nothing... for her. Only, she wasn't alone. Her gaze went to Nacaris and she sighed inwardly. There was no way he could scale this cliff with the use of only one arm. It took two strong arms and capable hands to search out those cracks and braces. And even if he could, she already knew Paduari hadn't the skill, and she very much doubted Nevorai did, either. That thought in mind, Telyn turned grimly to her companions.

  "As you can see, we've got a problem."

  Nacaris laughed. "Not as bad as it looks, though. If we work together, we can hoist ourselves over the tree. It can't be more than a few millennia old."

  Telyn grinned wryly. "Not more than a few millennia, huh? Are you such an old man, then?"

  He flashed her a wink and a grin. "Not so old, but I've faced worse. Two people could probably encircle this tree by holding hands around it. It might slow us down a little, but it'll still be faster than trying to find another path up the mountains."

  Telyn frowned. She didn't like the risk. "But your injuries..."

  He gave her a sharp look and a tight smile. "Don't incapacitate me completely. If I act as the anchor here, and you steady on the other end, we can get across this obstacle easily enough." As her mouth opened to protest, he forestalled her with a look, moving closer to murmur, "It's our only chance of getting over this, balnyt. We have to try something. We both know I can't climb the cliff, and Paduari would likely break his neck trying. This is our only option, and it's not such a bad one, is it? What risk is there?"

  "If you act as anchor," she returned in a savage whisper, "you'll be stuck on this side of the tree. You can't tie the rope around yourself with one hand, and nor will you have enough strength to hold on if we were to pull you over. Let Paduari be anchor."

  "Telyn..." he started, his expression wounded.

  "Forget your bloody pride for a moment, Nacaris," Telyn snapped. She immediately regretted her tone, but she couldn't apologize for it -- not yet. She was too worried about him. "I left mine behind in Lurudan not long after I decided to get involved in all of this. You said before you wanted the truth from me. Well, here it is: I don't want to kill Reaphia. When I think about her, I remember the girl I once knew, the girl I helped raise. Everything in me calls her sister and friend. I don't want to be here, and I don't want to be involved in this, now I know for certain Sehidhe really is Reaphia."

  "Then why are you?" He stood his ground, his narrowed gaze on her face and his stance as stubbornly set as her own. "You could have turned around and left Lurudan to its fate at any time."

  "Don't you think I didn't wish at times it was just that easy? But it's not. Nothing I've done since we met at Raiador has been in my hands. Kishfa placed me in the Eleshau that night, where I met the one man among your people who didn't blindly follow Reaphia's laws, who dared to question everything the rest of your people accepted without question.

  "When I first agreed to help him, I didn't expect to find Reaphia at the center of this. But when I finally accepted Reaphia was Sehidhe, I was ready to back out, to turn and run the opposite direction and let the Lurudani solve their own problems. I wasn't willing to shed her blood for the sake of people I didn't even know."

  "So why didn't you?" This question came from Paduari, and the words were full of innocent curiosity, rather than the sting of argument.

  "Because my conscience wouldn't let me leave until I'd kept my promise to you," she responded simply. "Then I saw those monks, and it hit me the Reaphia your people knew wasn't the Reaphia I remembered, and..." She met Nacaris' narrowed gaze. They weren't going to get through this if they couldn't resolve their issue, so she might as well be the first to let her guard down. She let him see her fear as she whispered, "I was faced with you, needing my care, my help, to survive. I thought you were dead, and I wanted to hate you for not being so. I wanted to hate you for the pain I suffered, but I couldn't. You needed me too much. That's when I put aside my pride, and even my blood-oath to Reaphia. It was a choice between saving your life and having to face Reaphia, or leaving you to die, and keeping my pride and an oath I made as a girl. I guess I just decided my soul was more important than my pride."

  She met his gaze directly, and spoke with absolute conviction. "Nacaris, Kishfa drew your place when it spared your life not once, but twice, and led you into this fight. It also cast the bones in whether you'd walk this path the man you were, or as a new man. Well, Kishfa says you're going to live a new life, under a new code. So, swallow your warrior's pride, and accept that, right now, you have limitations."

  Nacaris quirked a half-smile at her. "Point taken. All right, Paduari is anchor. Let's just get over this thing."

  Telyn nodded, the ghost of a smile playing across her face as she turned toward Paduari. "I'm going over first. I can use the cliff as a guide and a prop. Once I'm on the other side, I'll bring you three over one at a time. Send... Marakai first."

  Paduari looked confused. "How are you going to get us over?"

  Telyn set her pack down and drew a long coil of rope out of it. "I'll tie this around my waist. You keep hold of the opposite end." She pointed at one of the rock outcrops that looked stable enough to take the strain of motion. "See that ledge there? I'll run the rope across it on my way over. It should hold to give me enough leverage to steady everyone else on the way over. Tie the rope around your waist, and then, once you get to the top of the trunk, untie it and slide down on my side."

  Nods of agreement answered her. As Telyn tied one end of the rope around her waist, Nacaris tied the other to her pack. She gave him a questioning look, drawing a smile from him.

  "You don't need the added weight pulling you down. We'll send the pack up first. Once you get the rope hooked, climb down to the trunk. You can pull the pack up from there, then untie it and toss the rope back. Once we have it, d
rop the pack down the other side and slide down after it."

  Telyn grinned. "Good idea."

  Drawing a breath, she double-checked the knot at her waist, then walked over to the cliff and reached for her first handhold.

  Several hours later, the fallen tree was a distant, and almost fond, memory in the corner of Telyn's mind. The journey from there had been without incident, which worried Telyn. Now, she was beginning to sense why. 'Here' did not have a nice feeling at all. She and Nacaris stood before the high, ornately-carved mahogany doors of the High Temple of the Vedics, and Telyn could sense the decay around them, and unseen eyes watching them from every inch of this place. She steeled herself, leaving her mind clear of any thought that might betray who she was, why she was there, or who was with her. She only hoped Nacaris knew enough to do the same. The location of Paduari and Nevorai was void from her thoughts, and even their very existence was no more than a distant memory. She cast a sidelong look at Nacaris, and found him watching her intently.

  "What are you thinking?" she asked quietly, even as the anaqueri at her side shivered, its hum growing louder by the moment.

  Nacaris gave her a wry grin. "Oddly enough, it has nothing to do with how insane this whole plan to face Reaphia is. I was remembering what you said this morning about Reaphia. Do you think there's any chance at all she's not as evil as we've been assuming?"

  Telyn shook her head sharply, her lips set in a grim line, as she drew the brightly-pulsing anaqueri from its sheath. "Not a chance. Let's move."

  She felt Nacaris's worried gaze on her back as she tested the doors cautiously. She back-pedaled in surprise, nearly tripping over her own feet before colliding solidly with Nacaris, as the doors swung open at the touch of her fingertips.

  "Steady," Nacaris cautioned against her ear. "Looks like she knows we're here, and she's trying to throw us off our guard, make us slip up."