Serpents Rising (Eve of Redemption Book 3)

by Joe Jackson

  Grakin wrapped Kari in a tight hug, and Aeligos welcomed his sister home in similar fashion. Kyrie came and joined them, and when Kari glanced back at Danilynn and Se’sasha, it was clear both of them appreciated the reunion. Kari was glad when Aeligos went over and welcomed Danilynn home too, and to her surprise, he took the time to introduce himself to Shefter and Se’sasha. The elf was cordial and polite, and the syrinthian priestess bowed her head despite the language barrier. Se’sasha’s attention seemed focused more on Kyrie, and soon the two priestesses faced each other amidst the rest of the gathering.

  Se’sasha said something to Kyrie and bowed respectfully to the serilian-rir priestess. Kyrie nodded politely, and Se’sasha held her hands out, palms up, toward Kyrie.

  Kari’s mother-in-law took the syrinthian girl’s hands in her own. “I welcome you to my home, priestess of the sun,” she said. Kari wondered how it was her mother-in-law could detect that. “Come inside; let us get you settled so you may relax. The next few weeks will be quite tumultuous for you, I’m sure.”

  Se’sasha bowed her head again, and Kyrie turned to Shefter. “Welcome, friend. I am Kyrie Kyleah, high priestess of Kaelariel; Sonja’s mother; and Kari’s mother-in-law.”

  Shefter bowed stiffly before the priestess and greeted her in elvish, though Kari was pretty sure only she could understand his words. He translated them himself a moment later, though, saying, “It is my honor to make your acquaintance, Your Excellency,” he greeted her, maintaining that strict formality of the elven language even in the common tongue. “I am Shefter Dragonseek of the Arborean Guard.”

  While introductions were made, Kari picked Little Gray up and held him a little tighter and a little longer than when she’d returned from Barcon. Somewhere on Mehr’Durillia, a mallasti mother was grieving the loss of her daughter, and a part of Kari’s heart remained with her. Kari’s child – children, she reminded herself – were safe, and there weren’t enough thanks to be given to all those who looked out for her in return for that. She pulled Grakin in and their little family held tightly to each other in the warm bonds of love.

  Danilynn touched Kari’s shoulder briefly as she passed, and she, Se’sasha, and Shefter followed Kyrie up to the house. Kari looked over at Aeligos and Sonja and saw that Aeligos was already working to comfort his sister, even though he had no idea what had happened. Aeligos may not have had the same empathic ability as his sister, but he was extremely sharp, and didn’t miss much. It took him no time to see the hurt in Sonja, and his half-guardian protectiveness and love for his siblings went into action without hesitation.

  Kari looked up the street a little ways and saw a courier leaning against a lamp post while he waited for work. She whistled to get his attention and beckoned the young human over. She gave him instructions to deliver the news of her return to the Order’s campus, and to have them send Erik, Typhonix, and Lord Allerius to Kyrie’s home as quickly as possible. She gave him a gold piece, well more than the service cost, and sent him on his way. Well-paid and with an important job on his shoulders, the courier ran off without delay.

  “Words cannot express how glad I am that you have returned safely,” Grakin said, and he wrapped an arm around Kari as they walked toward the house beside Aeligos and Sonja. “Were you able to avoid notice or violence?”

  “We had some close calls, and quite a few people who helped us were killed,” Kari said, trailing off for a moment. Grakin gave her a comforting squeeze. “It’s a really long story, so if you don’t mind, we’ll save it until Erik, Ty, and Albrecht get here.”

  “Of course,” Grakin said.

  Aeligos opened the door, and they filed into the house to find Se’sasha and Kyrie sitting together by the fireplace with Shefter and Danilynn. The elf was sitting quietly, almost cat-like, while the two priestesses engaged in light banter. They were turned toward Se’sasha, and were speaking about her, but trying to be polite about it. Kari wondered at her mother-in-law and the syrinthian girl having already found something in common. It was obviously the relationship between their respective faiths: though Kaelariel was not a sun god per se, he was called The Ascending Dawn, and the sun-themed tattoos on Se’sasha pointed to her following Ashakku – who may also be Sakkrass.

  Kari reached into her belt pouch and approached Se’sasha. She drew forth Se’ceria’s holy symbol, the mark of the Great Mother and her holy siblings, and held it out to the syrinthian girl. Se’sasha took it with reverence, and no one needed a translator to understand her sibilant words of thanks. She asked a question after that, though, and Kari was at a loss as to what she could be asking – at least until Se’sasha uttered her mother’s name and gestured toward the floor.

  Kari looked to Danilynn, and the priestess said, “The valley near Atrice; we buried her among the remains of the czarikk village when all was said and done. I don’t imagine it’d be all that difficult to get to, but…” Kari figured she almost said with you in your condition, but caught herself. “If she wants to go there, it’s a long trip, to be sure.”

  Kari gave that some thought; she had hoped Se’sasha might be able to start filling in the holes in their knowledge and theory right away, through a syrinthian translator from the prison on campus, at least. A trip to a gravesite, even on the other side of the continent, wasn’t much of an additional price to be paid for all they stood to gain, but Kari was thinking the same thing Danilynn was. She was a few months along in her pregnancy, which would last around forty weeks in total, if all went well. To undertake a trip now would be somewhat foolish, but at the same time, if Se’sasha wanted to visit her mother’s grave, that was something Kari wanted to see and understand for herself.

  “How do you feel about taking us there?” Kari asked Sonja after some careful thought.

  Sonja seemed to break free of her melancholy at the question, and she perked up a little. “I didn’t give transportation any practice while we were in dangerous territory, but I think I can manage,” she said. “If you give me a couple of days to explore the power, I’ll have a definite answer for you then.”

  Kari nodded and smiled when she saw all the interest Sonja’s confident words drew from her siblings and mother. Uldriana’s death was a tragedy, but her life had been a blessing to Kari, Sonja, Danilynn, and especially Se’sasha. Kari knew Sonja would need time to mourn – Kari was going to have to do so in her own way as well – but she hoped she could gently guide Sonja toward looking at the positives of having met the mallasti girl. If Sonja became an archmage, it would be a testament to Uldriana’s power and tutoring, and a legacy for the slain mallasti girl.

  With her mind back on the positive side of things, Sonja made a face at Kari, and the demonhunter had to stifle a laugh. The others looked to Kari for an explanation, and she kissed Little Gray and then Grakin before she spoke. “Little Gray is going to be a big brother,” she said, keeping her attention on Grakin for his reaction.

  His eyes went wide and he stammered a few times, and he shook his head lightly when he finally found his voice. “You are…with child?” he asked rhetorically. “I had no idea you were not taking the herb…”

  “I wanted it to be a surprise,” Kari said, stifling tears as best she could.

  “Oh, that it is,” Grakin returned with a hearty chuckle, which only grew louder when Aeligos patted him on the shoulder. “An amazing, wonderful surprise, my love.”

  “I didn’t know,” Kari said, anticipating her family’s concern. “If I’d known before I went, I would’ve stayed home and found another way to get Se’sasha out. Right now I’m at a few months…four or so, I think.”

  Grakin wrapped Kari in a tight hug and Little Gray giggled happily, though he didn’t know what they were saying. Kyrie came and hugged them both as well, offering them her congratulations. When everyone had hugged Kari and Grakin and expressed their joy, Kari met the slit-pupiled, golden-eyed stare of the syrinthian priestess. Se’sasha rose to her feet and faced Kari squarely, and even with her features gaunt from
having been starved and imprisoned for so long, she managed a beautiful smile. She said something in syrinthian, but then bowed her head, knowing no one could understand her words yet, so she made a gesture for patience.

  “All right, well, let’s wait to get into details until we have some demonhunters and scribes to take it all down,” Aeligos suggested. “This young lady looks like she’s been through hell – literally – and the rest of you honestly don’t look much better.”

  “Aeligos is right,” Kyrie said, and she gestured toward Grakin. “Let us cook a nice, hot meal; this syrinthian girl doesn’t look like she’s eaten a proper meal in ages.”

  Se’sasha sat by watching all the activity curiously, and Kari took the time to show the syrinthian girl around the house. She assumed Se’sasha would be transferred to the Order’s campus once Lord Allerius and Kari’s other in-laws arrived, so the priestess would have a safe, comfortable place to stay. Even with all its rooms, Kyrie’s house was getting a bit crowded with Danilynn and Eli staying there as well; even Shefter was going to have to find someplace to stay on the campus until he decided whether or not to return to Laeranore. Kari showed Se’sasha to the room she shared with Grakin, and let the syrinthian girl take some time brushing out her hair and tending to her reflection in the mirror. When Se’sasha saw herself in the looking glass, it was clear she was horrified by what she saw.

  Kari was confident the girl could and would recover: after all, she’d survived twelve years or more in the dungeons of a demon king, and her faith was strong. Kari stepped behind the syrinthian priestess and used Se’sasha’s long, silky black hair to frame her face so that it hid some of the gauntness of her features. Se’sasha reached up and lightly grasped Kari’s wrist with her weak, delicate grip, and smiled at the demonhunter in the mirror. Kari smiled back automatically, reminding herself pointedly that what she was staring at in the mirror was quite possibly one of her adoptive father’s priestesses.

  They descended back to the main floor to find that Erik, Typhonix, and Lord Allerius had arrived. Kari’s two brothers-in-law welcomed her home with hugs, and Kari introduced them to Shefter and the syrinthian priestess. Not surprisingly, Erik and Ty both seemed suspicious, but they kept their feelings and any accompanying words to themselves, and were adequately cordial to Se’sasha. Lord Allerius welcomed Kari home only slightly less warmly than her siblings, but his greeting of the syrinthian priestess was much more professional.

  “I understand quite a price was paid for the young lady’s freedom,” Allerius remarked to Kari, keeping his eyes on the syrinthian priestess. “Let’s hope it all proves to have been worth the risk and the cost.”

  “It will be,” Kari assured him in a quiet, confident voice. “Albrecht, we’re going to need to convene the Council and have a meeting with the heads of the Order. This goes a lot deeper than Se’sasha sharing secrets with us; there’s other implications to this plan that came up while we were on Mehr’Durillia that we need to discuss.”

  “Should I go do that now?” he asked. “I understand you just got home, and I can smell something wonderful cooking.”

  Kari laughed. “Why don’t you stay for supper, and we can head over to the campus when we’ve all had something to eat?”

  Lord Allerius was agreeable to that, and joined the large gathering of family and friends around Kyrie’s dining table. Kari didn’t let on to her subcommander that she was pregnant just yet, and also tried to stay away from discussing business at all while they ate. Eli, Serenjols, and Damansha remained the only ones who didn’t come join them for the impromptu dinner. Kari asked for updates on everyone, and was happy to hear that not much had happened while she was gone; everyone was in good health and spirits. Instead, she got to spend a little time introducing Shefter and talking about when they had first met. Despite the fact that they all knew Kari had been resurrected, it still seemed to strike everyone as surreal when Kari and Shefter spoke of meeting almost two hundred years before.

  When dinner was done, Kari headed for the Order’s campus along with most of her family and friends. The syrinthian priestess didn’t seem nervous at all, which Kari took as a good sign. She wondered if the same would hold true for the syrinthian prisoners still being held on the campus, and whether that would change when they saw Se’sasha.

  Chapter XIX – Sanctuary

  The Council’s chamber was abuzz with the quiet chatter of many people. Along with Kari, Se’sasha, Danilynn, Aeligos, Lord Allerius, and the Council, the chamber was also full of many of the Order’s departmental heads and other staff, right down to drill sergeants. Even the Council was chatting among themselves with the syrinthian priestess standing before them, and Kari stood beside Se’sasha, waiting for the meeting to come to order. It took her a couple of minutes to realize the others might actually be waiting for her to call it to order.

  Kari glanced at Aeligos, who was seated near the gallery, casually flipping through one of Jason Bosimar’s journals while he waited for things to get underway. Kari had decided now was the time to tell the Council just what Danilynn and her friends had accomplished, and how that scenario had led to Se’sasha standing before them all. She continued to wait, though: she wanted Eli to further corroborate everything Aeligos and Danilynn said to the Council, and she wanted Liria there to translate things for Se’sasha. She had dispatched hunters to go retrieve the two; Eli was spending time with Serenjols at the forge, if Kari’s suspicions were correct.

  Kari wondered if Erik was upset that his brothers were allowed into the Council’s meeting chamber when he wasn’t. Aeligos wasn’t even a member of the Order, and Ty was of much lower rank than Erik. The Council appreciated Aeligos’ help, though, and Ty got in by virtue of being a drill instructor and therefore, technically, an officer. Kari had tried to get Erik to focus on what was important, and asked him to gather up and summarize the findings of the Order with respect to more syrinthians hiding among hunters on assignment in the field.

  Liria arrived under guard, and then Eli arrived with his hunter escort, and the half-corlyps wasted no time rushing to Danilynn to welcome her home. He extended the courtesy to Kari, but then he turned his attention to the syrinthian priestess. He took in Se’sasha for what seemed an eternity, and the priestess stood firm and poised under his scrutiny. Eli extended his hand and introduced himself, and though she didn’t understand him, Se’sasha offered her hand delicately.

  “Gods, she looks just like Se’ceria,” Eli commented to Danilynn, who smiled. Se’sasha bowed her head graciously with a faint smile.

  Kari called the meeting to order, but felt strange doing so. The Council reacted to her words as though she really was in charge. She was the head of the Order now, but the Council was still technically in charge of her, so to give them orders and have them heed her words was odd. Kari introduced Danilynn and Eli to the Council, and then introduced Se’sasha to the entire gathering. Everyone was polite and cordial with the syrinthian priestess, but Kari could sense the undertones of anxiety: they wanted to find out what Se’sasha knew and could tell them, but at the same time, they didn’t trust her.

  Kari took the center of the floor and spoke up. “First things first: the Order is granting sanctuary to Se’sasha, and I’m going to be putting the other syrinthian prisoners we’re holding under her authority,” she said, and she glanced sidelong at Se’sasha. “They’re to remain under arrest here on the campus, but I’m giving Se’sasha the right to speak with them and spend time among them, to see if she can sway their loyalties. Since she’s supposed to be a priestess of their people, they may defer to her now that she’s here and they’re all cut off from Sekassus.”

  “Agreed,” Master Bennet said formally, but he didn’t interrupt beyond that.

  Liria was staring at Kari curiously, but Kari ignored her for the time being, and gestured toward Aeligos. “I brought my brother-in-law here to give everyone – our officers included – a summary of everything that happened with the syrinthian invasion during
Jason Bosimar’s tenure,” she continued, and the mumbling and excited whispers that followed made her pause for a few seconds. When she had everyone’s attention again, she continued, “I think we’re going to find that this young woman standing here before us is either the biggest coincidence in the history of the Order, or it’s some work of the gods coming to fru…fruition.”

  “A syrinthian invasion?” Master Perez echoed, and he turned his stern gaze to Se’sasha. “What does this young lady know of this?”

  “Would you please ask her for us?” Kari asked Liria, and the syrinthian girl seemed surprised to be asked to do anything.

  Liria hesitated only briefly before speaking in the rapid, sibilant language of the snake-folk, and Se’sasha shook her head and responded. Liria turned back to Kari and translated, “The priestess says she knows only that her mother came here to Citaria when she was but a little girl, and that she never returned. She was put into Sekassus’ dungeon not long after, and was held there until you bartered her release.”

  Liria seemed to actually take stock of what she’d just said, and turned back to Se’sasha and asked her something else. Se’sasha nodded, and Liria dropped to her knees at Se’sasha’s feet. They spoke back and forth briefly in their language, and then Liria stood up and addressed Kari. “I had…I had no idea this was Se’sasha Solaristis!” she gasped. “You…you went and rescued our high priestess from King Sekassus? Why?”

  Kari held her hand up, deflecting the question. “I know she can’t tell us much just yet, that’s why I brought Danilynn, Eli, and Aeligos along,” she said to the Council. “Se’sasha is a victim of all this; it was her mother who asked that Danilynn and her friends go to Mehr’Durillia and rescue her. But we’re getting ahead of the story here, so I’m going to turn the floor over to Aeligos so he can fill everyone in.”