by Davis Ashura
He watched the little reptile leap into a bush, and his inattention almost cost him his footing when he slipped on the damp grass. His arms wind-milled as he sought to regain his balance and avoid a humiliating fall. Once he no longer threatened to pitch over, he furtively stared about to see if anyone had noticed his near tumble.
Rukh had. He winked.
William shrugged in embarrassment and made sure to climb more slowly across the rain-slick turf and stones that formed the path to the top of Linchpin Knoll. This time, he was more careful in trailing after Rukh and Jessira while Jake, Serena, and Selene followed him. The others held silent, apparently concentrating on their own thoughts or maybe their own footing.
They soon reached the hill’s crest, and Rukh and Jessira paused to check their weapons: swords, daggers, and pistols. Despite everyone expecting it to be a simple trip into the Far Beyond, the two of them insisted on traveling fully armed.
Jake watched them with a frown of puzzlement. “Guns don’t work on a necrosed,” he supplied.
“They work on everything else,” Rukh said.
William stood next to Selene. It surprised him anew how tall she’d grown. In his mind, she should still be the little girl he’d helped rescue from Sinskrill, but instead, she’d somehow transformed into a long-legged, coltish, almost-woman with striking hazel eyes that contrasted strikingly against her dusky skin and the scattering of freckles sprinkling her nose. In a few years—if not now—the boys would come pestering her. He shook his head in disbelief at the idea. How did she grow up so fast?
Selene momentarily eyed him in curiosity. “Are you going to ask Serena to marry you?”
William’s jaw dropped. Where did that come from? He liked Serena, but in all their time together marriage had never once come up. Of course, neither has dating, and whose fault is that? “What are you talking about?”
“It’s simple,” Selene explained. “You love her, she loves you. Why don’t you get married?”
William scowled as he tried to wrap his head around the unexpectedly bizarre notion Selene had come up with. The growling beast of anger that had somehow settled in the back of his mind like an unwanted houseguest awoke then. It stirred, black-furred and red-eyed, and he snapped his response. “Who put you up to this?” he demanded. “Fiona?”
He knew his voice had come out harsher than he intended, and Selene’s eyes widened in alarm. She took a step away from him. He took a deep inhalation and managed to smooth over his features. “Sorry about that.”
Selene stared at him for a moment longer in concern, but an instant later she collected herself and managed an eyeroll, something she apparently mastered when she turned thirteen.
William found himself irritated anew, and once again, the strange, red-eyed creature he’d come to associate with his anger rumbled. He had a moment of panic. He didn’t know where the beast had come from, but ever since that day of shopping with Serena, when he’d had a vision of that skeletal, albino monstrosity, his anger seemed ready to rage at a moment’s notice. He hated it. He closed his eyes, taking more calming breaths.
The anger slowly simmered to sleep.
“No one put me up to it,” Selene said in answer to his earlier question. “I came up with it on my own. Just me.”
William gave her his hardest disbelieving stare, but she didn’t flinch. “I think you should stay out of this,” he finally said.
“Fine. But you should tell her how you feel.” Selene waited a beat. “Unless you’re fine with her moving on to someone else.”
“Uh, huh.” William didn’t know why Selene was doing this, but it was time to flip the script on her. He tapped his chin in apparent thought. “Say, who was that boy I saw you with the other day?” he asked, making stuff up since he’d seen no such thing. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you liked him.” He paused a beat. “A lot.”
Selene frowned in clear suspicion and worry. “What boy?”
“The one you shared an ice cream cone with,” William said, coming up with answers on the fly. “If I didn’t know better I’d think the two of you planned on kissing.”
Somehow he’d guessed right, and Selene paled. “How did you know about that?”
William grinned and touched the side of his head. “I may be old, but I’m not slow.” He grinned wider as Selene sputtered and begged him not to tell Serena or Fiona. “I won’t say anything, but only if you tell the truth,” he said. “What was with the marriage thing?”
Selene’s shoulders slumped. “It was just a thought,” she said. “I know you’re going back to Sinskrill. So is Serena. I only want both of you to be happy before then.”
William didn’t know what to say. Selene’s fears were real and true. He and Serena, one or both of them, might not survive what was to come. Jake, Jason, Mr. Zeus . . . they could all die, including Selene. He drew her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. He spoke words, a vow he couldn’t keep with any certainty, a gentle lie. “We’ll be fine. I promise.”
She nodded against his shoulder before pulling away and going to speak with her sister.
William drifted to where Rukh was talking to Jake. “We’ll do what we can for your brother,” the Indian-looking man was saying, “but we make no promises.”
“I understand,“ Jake said. “Even if you can’t do anything, it’ll be nice seeing the family.”
Rukh wandered off to check on something else, and William noticed Jake smiling. “What’s got you grinning like an idiot?”
“I was imagining what Sonya will think of what we can do.”
William chuckled and wondered the same thing. For the longest time Sonya Bowyer had been his life’s lodestone. He’d had a huge crush on her, right up to the moment a certain former mahavan had sauntered into his life.
Serena.
She would also be going with them on this trip, stating that she wanted to make amends with Jake’s family, but William didn’t think it likely. He worried for her.
Serena was speaking softly to Selene, but she must have noticed his regard. She flashed him a crooked grin, the one he loved where she seemed secretly amused by the world in general.
“Are we ready?” Rukh asked, interrupting William’s thoughts.
Everyone nodded or muttered. “Yes.”
“Then let’s go.”
The scent of iron filled the air as Rukh sourced his lorethasra. An instant later, a vertical line split the air and rotated on its long axis. A two-dimensional doorway opened onto a kaleidoscope of colors and patterns. The smell of sulfur took the place of iron as Rukh rhythmically pulsed a thread of Fire. Seconds later a deep-noted bell tone rang out, and the colors took the form of a rainbow bridge extending into infinity.
Rukh and Jessira crossed first, and William let the others go next. His turn came, and he tethered to the anchor line. When he stepped onto the rainbow bridge a single thought filled his mind. Marriage? He laughed, recalling the impressive clergyman from The Princess Bride.
Serena stepped through the anchor line and entered a small, West Virginia meadow covered in a dusting of snow. Golden light spilled from the windows of a few log cabins standing perimeter around the edge of the field. They reminded her of sentinels remaining in watchful wariness, with their lanterns held aloft to dash away the dark. The nearby forest held quiet except when an errant wind blew. Then the branches rattled and clacked like a blind man’s stick over pavement.
Serena’s breath frosted in the pre-dawn air, and she shivered despite the jacket she wore. Her Sinskrill heritage, which had inured her to a harsh life, had been eroded by Arylyn’s warmth and the generosity of its people.
“I think I should have brought a heavier coat,” she said to William.
He stepped closer. “You’re sure you want to go through with this?” he asked in a hushed voice only she could hear.
She understood what he meant, and while she really didn’t want to meet Jake’s parents, she also felt like she owed them the deepest, most sincere
apology she could muster. She didn’t let her uneasiness show, though. While her time in Arylyn had given her freedom to laugh without reserve, her Sinskrill training remained, and it wouldn’t allow her to display weakness or vulnerability. Instead, she managed a dismissive shrug. “At some point, I have to apologize for what I did.”
“If it doesn’t work out—”
“I’ll stay at a hotel,” she finished. She imagined that would be the most likely scenario, but she had to try. She wanted to make amends to the Ridleys. It was a burning need, one she couldn’t fully explain, a desire to face the sins of her past and ask for forgiveness.
William gave her shoulder a sympathetic squeeze and her forehead a brief kiss before gesturing to the parking lot. “There’s the T-bird.”
He strode off, and Serena watched him go. Her forehead tingled where his lips had pressed against it. She would have called him back but Ms. Sioned’s admonishment from many months earlier, before they’d saved Fiona and Travail, kept her in place. Work hard, dedicate your life to what must be done. Let nothing distract you, or you will surely fail.
Jake took William’s place at her elbow. “I can’t promise things will go well with my folks, but I’ll make sure they hear you out.” He wavered. “Or at least I’ll do my best.”
Serena managed a smile. “It’s better to face your demons before they face you,” she said, quoting an old aphorism from Sinskrill.
“My parents aren’t demons,” Jake said, sounding offended.
“No, but my actions were,” Serena said.
Jake’s demeanor relaxed, and a moment later, he moved to help William pack their gear into the T-bird’s trunk.
Serena inhaled deeply and tried to settle her nerves.
Jessira approached then, and Serena silently groaned. She didn’t need everyone wishing her well. Sometimes too much support felt less like sympathy and more like an aggravation.
Jessira surprised her, though. “When this is over, tell me what you require and I’ll do it, even if it’s simply to leave you alone.” She quirked a grin, a winning expression on her striking if not lovely face. “I’ll even move aside those who seek to annoy you with their over-exuberance of empathy.”
Serena started, surprised at Jessira’s guess at how she was feeling. “How did you know?”
Jessira laughed, and her long, honey-blonde hair, currently tied in a braid, bounced. “Because that’s what Sign would have wanted, and as I’ve mentioned once or twice, you remind me of her.”
Jake smacked the roof of the T-bird to get their attention. “Ladies, hurry up! Geez.”
Rukh, standing near him, gave him a shove.
“What?” Jake squawked.
Rukh said something inaudible, and Jake’s eyes shot toward Jessira. He paled. “She wouldn’t,” Serena heard him say.
Rukh chuckled, soft and low, in answer.
Jake took in Jessira’s stony expression once again. His face went slack, and he dove into the back seat.
Serena grinned as she slid into the T-bird’s back seat, while Jessira entered from the other side. Jake sat squeezed between them.
“This is cozy,” Jessira noted to Jake, a teasing glint in her eyes.
Jake never noticed. He studiously ignored her and Serena laughed.
Rukh slid into Serena’s usual spot in the passenger seat. With his long legs he needed the space more than she did.
William got them going, and they quickly rumbled out of the meadow. The road they followed cut through a forest and followed the contours of the various hills and hollows. Snow, blackened, dirty, and often interspersed with a littering of leaves, had piled in drifts alongside the road, and occasional winter-bare fields broke the monotony of the trees.
“Has it always taken this long to get out of West Virginia?” Jake complained.
Serena privately wondered the same thing as they switch-backed across the hills and changing elevations. She judged that they likely traveled four miles for every straight mile they needed to go.
William flicked his gaze through the rear-view mirror. “Bit excited to get home?” he asked.
Jake shrugged. “I don’t mind being squished between two beautiful women—”
“Well spoken,” Jessira said with a smile.
“—but, yeah, I’m looking forward to getting home,” Jake finished.
“It’s a lot prettier in the spring,” William noted.
“Everything is prettier in the spring,” Rukh replied in an unexpected note of complaint.
“Not everything,” Jessira said. “Teardrop Lake was always lovelier in the winter.”
Rukh shifted about and faced her. He shook his head in mock disgust. “Only an OutCaste would think so.”
Jessira smiled. “Or maybe your Pureblood heritage was simply unable to appreciate it.”
“I remember the first time I saw Teardrop Lake,” Rukh said. “I didn’t think much of it.”
“Is this some place on Arisa?” Jake asked.
Rukh nodded. “I was Jessira’s prisoner. Do you remember that, priya?” he asked her.
Jessira scoffed. “You were never anyone’s prisoner.”
“What does priya mean?” Serena asked.
“Nothing important,” Jessira said with a chuckle. “It’s only Rukh’s way of believing himself funny.”
“As you say, priya.” Rukh said.
“My mom called my dad priya,” William said. “She said it meant beloved.”
“Interesting,” Rukh replied, still facing backward.
“You can’t leave us hanging,” Jake said to Rukh. “What happened? Why were you Jessira’s prisoner?”
They reached a state highway—four lanes with two in each direction—and the road straightened. They journeyed on, and Rukh told more about his and Jessira’s history from Arisa. He spoke of his banishment from his home.
“The first time I was born . . .”
Serena caught Jakes’s eyes widen in confusion.
“. . . I lived in Ashoka, a glorious city-state, one of many scattered throughout the land,” Rukh said. “The rest of the world, though, was ruled by Suwraith, the Sorrow Bringer, an ancient power who plunged the world into darkness when She murdered Her Parents. It happened two thousand years prior to my birth, and the only reason Humanity survived is because in His last act, Suwraith’s Father created the Oases, a powerful manifestation of Jivatma—asra as you would call it. The Oases proved impervious to Suwraith’s power, and the cities sheltered within them were able to ride out Her fury. Afterward, a new civilization arose, and the remaining cities developed a means to maintain contact with one another.”
“The Trials,” Jessira murmured.
Rukh nodded. “They were large caravans of wagons or ships that traveled from city-to-city, carrying goods and materials but especially knowledge, such as new means of farming, more effective medicine or architecture. Most prized, though, were newly minted pieces of poetry, music, and plays. But we always had to be cautious of the Sorrow Bringer and her Plagues of Chimeras. Stepping beyond the boundaries of an Oasis often times meant death.”
“You’re saying you lived in some post-apocalyptic hell?” William asked.
“It wasn’t as bad as that,” Rukh said, moving to face forward. “For instance, Ashoka, my birthplace, was as lovely as Arylyn.
“How many people lived there?” Jake asked. “Ashoka, I mean.”
“Two-hundred and fifty thousand,” Jessira answered. “And Rukh is right. Ashoka was a precious gem of a city, set on the sea like Arylyn but with the history and culture of London or Paris.”
Serena’s mind swirled as she tried to take in all the information Rukh told them. “You’ve been to London and Paris?” she asked.
Rukh shook his head. “We’ve only read about them.”
“Ashoka sounds like Atlantis,” William said.
“Or Numenor,” Jake added.
Serena tilted her head in puzzlement. “Atlantis is a name I know, but what’s Numenor?”
Jessira spoke. “He refers to a fictional island from The Silmarillion.”
Jake’s mouth dropped, and Serena was no less surprised.
“I read,” Jessira said in response to the shock on their faces.
“At any rate,” Rukh continued, “I was born into Caste Kumma—
“What’s a Caste?” Serena asked.
“A grave mistake,” Jessira said. “An evil one.”
Rukh flashed her a grimace of annoyance. “Would you like to tell the story?”
Jessira grinned unrepentantly. “You go ahead. You always do such a good job.”
Rukh eyed her a moment longer. “Castes were the means by which my society was structured. There were seven Castes, and each one had a specific task to perform. For instance, mine, Caste Kumma, was warriors. Murans were farmers and singers. The Duriahs were artisans. The Sentyas were accountants and musicians, and Shiyens were Healers.”
Serena considered Rukh’s words, unsure as to Jessira’s antipathy. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”
“A person is born in to a Caste and can never leave it,” Jessira said. “Their lot in life is set forever more, and they can never do anything other than what their Caste dictates.”
William scowled. “Well that would suck.”
“You haven’t heard the worst,” Jessira said. “Not only does the birth Caste set your station in life, every person of a Caste has a similar physical build and features to every other member of that Caste.”
“Do you mean all Kummas look like Rukh?” Serena asked.
“Yes,” Jessira said, “and it was because men and women of different Castes could never marry. They were even prohibited from ever touching one another.”
William blinked. “No touching? At all? That’s stupid.”
“And yet it worked,” Rukh said. “Our society wasn’t flawless, but we kept Humanity alive for two millennia in the face of a goddess trying to kill us. The Caste system allowed us to build our cities.”
Jessira still scowled. “But what about the naaja, the OutCastes? People like me.”
“It wasn’t as if the OutCastes were unburdened by bigotry,” Rukh said to Jessira.