It could barely be called a cave. The opening extended no more than a dozen feet back. “It’ll have to do.” Janaab pushed him, and they both reached the far wall and turned back. Janaab lifted his hands, pointing toward the cave mouth.
“Wait!” Talinir exclaimed. But Janaab unleashed his power and brought down the ceiling in another avalanche. In a moment, they were trapped.
“I have to hide my power.” Janaab dropped to the floor and rolled into a fetal position. He closed his eyes and lay completely still.
Talinir slid down and sat against the back wall. He could see a few tiny gaps in the rocks. At least they wouldn’t suffocate. But they had trapped themselves with no way to escape.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
MARSHAL LOOKED UP in confusion. “What did she mean? Who are you people?”
The warrior girl stepped in. “Give her to me. Now.”
Marshal saw no reason to disobey. She took the young woman from his arms and stepped back. The other young man joined her as they looked over their friend. Marshal stood and looked around.
The squad stood behind him, clearly uneasy and not sure what to do. Topleb’s face had drained of all color and he trembled. “It’ll be all right,” Marshal said to them, lifting a hand for a moment. “We’ll figure this out.”
Victor stood holding Topleb’s spear-dart, covered in the girl’s blood. She had died in his arms, hadn’t she? Or come as close to death as someone might go without reaching it. And Wolf…
He looked up at Wolf. The man he knew had changed in so many ways. No longer skinny or morose. He fairly crackled with mysterious power now, power he had used to heal—to heal! How was that possible?
“Wolf?” Victor said. “Are you all right?”
“You call him Wolf? How utterly delightful,” said the man in the colorful outfit.
“I don’t belong here,” Wolf said. He turned and walked away.
Victor watched Wolf walk away, followed by the man who had changed him, and the women in white. He looked down at the spear in his hands, still dripping blood. What had just happened here?
The rest of the squad gathered around him and Marshal, full of their own questions.
“Who are these people?”
“What did he do to Wolf?”
“Is the girl all right?” Topleb.
Victor put a hand on Topleb’s shoulder. “It was an accident,” he said. “And it looks like she’ll be fine.”
Topleb still shook. “In all my days, I never hurt a woman. Never.” His eyes widened even further. “Do you think I’ll be cursed for this?”
In the heat of the moment, Victor hadn’t even considered that. What if he had hurt the warrior girl? Would he have been cursed?
“I think it would have happened already,” Marshal said to Topleb, “if it were going to happen.”
Topleb nodded, but did not look comforted.
“What in Theon’s crumbling pillars is going on?” Rufus demanded.
“I don’t know,” Victor said. “But we’re going to find out. Marshal?”
Marshal looked at the new people and considered. “You see what you can find out from Wolf and his new friend. I’ll talk to the others.”
Victor nodded and headed to the crowd around Wolf. The man who had changed him noticed his approach and came out to meet him.
“Ah, you are the one called Victor, yes? I am Forerunner.”
“How do you know my name?”
“I know many things. I am Forerunner.”
“What does that mean?”
He shrugged. “It is who I am. It is what I am. That is all.” He cocked his head and looked Victor over. “You are the unique one, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean? And what did you do to Wolf?”
“I restored him. As for you… this is very strange. I don’t see that you’ve lost much of anything. That is, you’ve lost dreams and purpose, but found them anew. Fascinating. I’m not sure I can help you.”
“I didn’t ask for your help.”
He spread his arms wide, those ridiculous sleeves dangling. “Yet that is what I do. I restore that which was lost. And I prepare the way.”
“Prepare the way for what?”
“Ah, that would be telling.”
Victor shook his head. Pointless. “Edin Na Zu.” He hadn’t found much use for his favorite phrase in a while. “I want to speak with Wolf.”
“I’m not sure he wants to speak with you.”
“Why not? I’m his friend.”
“Are you? Did you ever try to help him?”
“Of course I did! And I fought to protect him!”
Forerunner snorted. “As if he needed protection from you.”
Victor glanced at the muscular being who stood apart from them. “Maybe not now, but before… he was a sad little man. I did what I could for him. We all did.” He gestured back to the rest of the squad. “We’re all his friends.”
“A sad little man.” Forerunner spat out the words as if they tasted bad in his mouth. “So little you know. So little all of you know.”
“Then educate me.” Victor’s eyes narrowed. Mystical power or not, if this man didn’t get out of his way soon…
“I will do that, but not you alone. It will be all of you together. For we are going with you.”
“You’re what?”
Forerunner chuckled. “You’re on your way to the portal in Ch’olan, are you not? That is where your ‘Wolf’ and I need to go next.”
Victor tried to keep his mouth from dropping open. “I, ah, don’t know if bringing all these women along is such a good idea. We’ve had soldiers chasing us, and—”
Forerunner waved a hand. “I will send them away. Do not worry.” He looked at Marshal talking with the others. “Now those three will do as they will. But I suspect they’re coming too.”
Victor looked around. “At this rate, we may as well be a caravan.”
Marshal approached the sleeping young woman and her two friends. As he drew near, neither of them looked pleased to see him. The warrior girl reached for her sword.
He lifted his hands. “I mean no harm,” he said. “I want to apologize for all the misunderstanding here.”
The young man pointed at his friend’s bloody robes. “You call this a misunderstanding?”
“No, I call it a tragedy. My friend over there is devastated about it.”
“He should be.”
“To be fair, he thought your friend was attacking ours. You have to admit it looked like it.”
“We tried to tell you.”
“And how would you have reacted if I had appeared suddenly and done something like that to one of your friends?”
“I would have attacked you,” the warrior girl said. “He is correct, Dravid.”
Dravid snorted. Marshal suspected he was not being reasonable because of who had gotten hurt, not the circumstances themselves.
“Dravid? My name is Marshal. We have recently come from Lord Volraag’s army and are on our way north to Ch’olan. We’ve been attacked several times in the last few days, so this naturally felt like another one. Again, I’m sorry for all of it.”
The warrior girl stood and gave a short bow. “I am Ixchel, Holcan to my Lady here.”
“Who is she? How did she know me? She said she was looking for me.”
“This is my Lady Seri, mage of Arazu. I will let her explain anything beyond that.”
“A mage? That explains her robes, then? What about those over there?” Marshal pointed at the other women.
“They are… followers of the other man. Forerunner. We are not like them.”
“I see. Do you know what he did to my friend Wolf?”
“I do not.”
Dravid sighed. “I think he awoke some power in him that he didn’t know he had. Or maybe he forgot it. I’m not sure.”
Marshal nodded. “I knew someone else nearby was using magic of some kind. I never guessed it was him.”
Seri stirred. “
I think she’s waking up,” Marshal noted.
Seri heard voices, but something else awakened her. The magic. The power so close she could taste it. How could he stand it? How could he contain all of it?
She opened her eyes. She lay on the ground, Dravid kneeling beside her. Ixchel and the scarred boy stood at her feet. All eyes turned to her.
“You’re already awake?” Dravid asked. “Are you all right?”
“I’m exhausted, but I’ll be fine,” she said. She looked up at the boy. Man, really. “Who are you?”
He knelt beside her. “My name is Marshal. Your friends told me yours. You were… looking for me?”
“I saw you. Fighting Curasir. I helped cut off his power.”
Marshal blinked, a look of surprise crossing his face. “That was in the Otherworld! You were there?”
She nodded and pulled herself into a sitting position. Only then did she realize the spear and her subsequent healing had ripped open her robe, leaving her stomach almost as exposed as Ixchel’s. She gasped and flipped several folds over it. Marshal, to his credit, looked away momentarily.
“Yes, uh, in the Otherworld. I ran there to escape Volraag when he attacked the other Lords.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Marshal held up a hand. “Volraag? I can see we have a lot to tell each other.”
“You know him?”
“He’s my half-brother.”
Silence.
“What a family,” Dravid muttered.
“Listen,” Marshal said. “I think we should tell each other everything.”
Seri nodded, but Dravid frowned.
“Let me get my friend. He needs to hear this too.” Marshal stood and called, “Victor!”
The blond warrior disengaged from Forerunner and strode over to them.
“Are you getting anywhere?” he asked. “That guy… he makes my head spin.”
“Welcome to the club.” Seri laughed.
“I’m Victor. You are?”
Everyone introduced themselves again.
Victor bowed to Ixchel. “You’re good with a sword,” he said, smiling. “I am impressed. Are you from Ch’olan too?”
She nodded. “You are skilled as well,” she said. She did not smile. Oh, Ixchel.
“Tell the squad to start setting up camp,” Marshal told Victor. “I don’t think we’re going further today. And then come back here. We need to talk.”
Victor nodded, and went back to the other warriors. When he came back, the large Ch’olanese man who had thrown the spear came with him. He looked absolutely distraught, his head hung low, wringing a piece of cloth in his hands.
“Topleb here would like to say something,” Victor said.
“I… I am nothing, my lady. I tried to help a friend, and I hurt you. For that, I will never forgive myself, and I don’t expect you to, either. It was a terrible thing. Terrible. If Theon doesn’t curse me, I curse myself.”
“No, no.” Seri shook her head. Even that little movement gave her more fatigue. “It wasn’t your fault. It’s all right.”
Topleb looked up, not at Seri, but at Ixchel. “Does she mean it, Holcan? If not, you may strike my head from my body right here.”
Ixchel rolled her eyes. “She means it. My Lady is nothing if not forgiving.”
Topleb took a deep breath. “Then you have my thanks, and my servitude, great lady. If ever you come to Ch’olan, I will show you all the greatness you can find there. I will serve you in any way you desire. I am in your debt.”
“We might just be on our way to Ch’olan,” Seri said.
“Really? That would be outstanding! I can—”
“Not now, Topleb,” Marshal interrupted. “For now, let’s get the camp set up. I need to talk with the great lady now.”
“Of course, of course.” Topleb bowed and backed away several steps, bowed again, then finally turned and hurried away.
Victor laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen his mood change that fast!”
“He’s a good man,” Marshal said. He looked back at Seri. “Thank you for treating him that way.”
“Of course. How else would I treat him?”
Marshal settled on the ground. Victor and Ixchel joined them.
“Now. Which of us should go first?”
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
KISHIN SAT IN his dark room, the staff resting across his knees. He did not need it to be dark, but it felt comforting nonetheless. He had grown used to sitting in the dark over the years. And he still felt no desire to let Aapo know of his change.
His daughter, the sole reason he returned to Woqan, was not here, and would probably not return. He could seek her out. He should seek her out. It would not be too difficult.
But would that give him the cause Chimon claimed he needed? Being a father seemed a good cause, but not much of one for a child already grown to adulthood. As much as his heart desired to find her, that might not be the best course of action just yet.
His curse had been lifted. Everything came back to that, over and over again. Because of Marshal. Whose curse had also been lifted, if he understood correctly.
“Until all curses are lifted,” he whispered. That was how the old saying went, wasn’t it? The words those in the cursed village outside of town used to encourage each other. Empty words, which no one really believed, but repeated all the same. Just in case.
Could all curses be undone? He was living proof that some could. But who would know? Who could tell him more of this? Chimon? The Eldanim? The mages of Zes Sivas?
Connection. His daughter might still be on Zes Sivas. He could go seek the mages’ wisdom and look for her at the same time.
But would they believe him? He needed to be sure. Perhaps…
He reached a resolution. Knew what he had to do.
“Aapo!”
A few moments later, his servant entered, squinting at the darkness. “What is it, sir?”
“I need a message sent to all of my contacts. I am searching for someone. Tell them I seek a young man of Varioch with horrible facial scars. He possesses great k’uh. He may be traveling in the company of others, possibly even one of the Eldanim.”
Aapo’s eyes widened, even in the dark. “Will that be all, sir?”
“Double my usual reward offer. I want to know where this man is. And I want to know as soon as possible.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
“I’M NOT THE lost King,” Marshal said.
“Yes, you are,” Victor said.
Marshal pointed at Seri. “She just said the guy in the Otherworld is the King.”
“No, I said he claimed to be the King,” Seri said. “I don’t know if he actually was.”
“There can’t be two Kings.”
“Your mother said that your grandfather was King,” Victor insisted. “That makes you the next King.”
“Then who’s the other guy?”
“I don’t know!”
“Why do you think he’s the King?” Dravid asked.
“It’s his power,” Seri said, gesturing. “It’s different.”
“Different how? He feels like one of the Lords to me.”
“It’s more than that.”
“You say you can see magic with this star-sight of yours,” Marshal said. “Can you explain what that looks like?”
Seri blinked and her vision changed. How glorious to have it back! She luxuriated in it for a moment before speaking.
“Most of the time, I see the magic of Antises as beams of colored light. There aren’t very many out here, far from Zes Sivas, but there are a few. Here’s a light blue beam right now.” She reached out to the beam that came from the ground near Ixchel’s bare feet. “Got it.” She picked up a clod of dirt and let the magic vibrate it apart in her hand. “And then I release it.”
She turned to Marshal. “But when I look at someone like you who possesses magic within them, it’s different. You’re like a glowing bundle of light.”
“What color is it?”
“All colors, all mixed up together. But mostly just pure light without color. The Masters on Zes Sivas had brightness to them, strong power they had absorbed over the years. But they were nothing compared to the Lords. I saw all of them, and they all shone with tremendous brightness. Like you.”
“Isn’t that the way it should be, since I have Varion’s power?”
“There’s more to it, though.” She leaned forward, staring at him. Marshal shifted under the intensity of her gaze. He wasn’t used to girls looking at him for very long.
“It’s like there is a brightness behind the brightness,” Seri said at last.
“A what?”
“I don’t know how else to explain it.” She sat back. “There’s just more. I know it.”
“And my Lady does not lie,” Ixchel said.
“No one is saying she does,” Marshal said. “Just trying to understand.”
“What about me?” Victor asked. “What do I look like?”
“You? Why would—oh!” Seri actually stood up and looked down at Victor. “Stand up!” she ordered. He glanced at Marshal and scrambled to his feet.
“What is it?”
Seri walked in a circle around him, forgetting about the hole in her robe again. “I’ve never seen this. This is… fascinating. Dravid, do you detect anything from him?”
Dravid frowned and closed his eyes. He reached out toward Victor. “Not really,” he said at last. “But the lost King here is kind of dominating things in this area.”
“I’m not the lost King.”
Seri pointed from Marshal to Victor. “There are threads of light connecting you two. I didn’t notice them before because I was so focused on Marshal’s power.”
“Connections?” Marshal and Victor looked at each other with raised eyebrows. “You don’t mean a Binding, do you?”
“No, I’ve never been able to see Bindings before,” Seri said. “This is something else.” She traced something through the air with her fingers. “It’s like… the threads come from Marshal, then wrap themselves around Victor’s arms and legs. Amazing.”
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