by Lexy Wolfe
Releasing the child, Storm brushed his hair back in place gently. "Be good, Izkynder," she whispered. Putting her hand over his heart, she said, "No matter what happens... no owie." Looking up at Kendle, she nodded once as he took the boy's hand. Slowly getting to her feet, she looked at the bridge, then resolutely crossed it.
Chapter 31
Almek watched as the rest of his students vanished into the tunnel, his paternal confidence melting to one of paternal worry. He sighed as Tyrsan put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Pass or fail, they will survive the tests, my friend," Tyrsan reassured quietly. "Individually they are stronger and cleverer than some of the most junior Guardians already."
"You know as well as I, that the stronger the student, the harsher the tests," Almek replied quietly. "I will worry about them until they are returned to us." They turned to go back to the shelter to wait when they noticed Bella staring behind them with wide eyes. "Bella? What is it?" She could only raise a shaking finger to point.
Standing just inside the grand archway, the tall, slender Ulani dressed in gossamer white edged in indigo and Kendle in indigo blue and holding Izkynder watched the group. The boy smiled brightly, holding his hands out. "Jaison!"
Jaison could only stare numbly for a moment before he moved forward, taking the boy, lowering his eyes. "Wait," the man stated. Jaison froze. "Look at me, young one."
"Lord," Jaison managed to say. It took all his will to raise his eyes to meet those of Kendle's.
"The first time you came to us, Jaison na'Zhekali, you failed the Proving Grounds, but you passed the Crucible. While it is not unusual for that to happen, it was unexpected for the son of a Githalin Swordanzen and master weather wisdom." Kendle smiled faintly as he reached out to touch Jaison's right cheek, a sea green slash of color joining the copper. "It is about time you embraced your heritage."
Jaison blinked, raising a hand to touch his cheek. Izkynder giggled and bounced in Jaison's arms to shake him out of his stunned immobility. "Jaison, play!" The newly made Dusvet blinked at the boy and smiled a little, kissing his forehead before bowing to Kendle and backing away mutely, still unable to find his voice.
Almek approached, bowing deeply. "Honored ones, this is an unexpected privilege." He looked between them. "Is there something we can do for you?"
The woman said, "I am Ulani. The Lady speaks fondly of her Sentinel." A small smile softened her harsh features. "It is rare for any who have come to us once to visit us again, especially those who should." She looked passed Almek towards Bella and Tyrsan. "Because often times, one test is failed. But it does not mean that lessons cannot be learned afterwards. When you return, tell the other Guardians of Time this: those who feel ready to face us are welcome, but as with any Adept who thinks to make demands of us, arrogance will be punished."
Tyrsan blinked several times. "But we were not called to come again."
Kendle shrugged. "Unfortunately, only Adepts can hear our call." He looked chagrinned. "Usually. The... Githalin Swordanzen woman's native traits we, er, forgot about." He waved a dismissive hand. "Regardless. Once a Guardian bears one mark, we cannot call those who deserve to be Dusvet to us once they have finally learned those lessons."
"But... why has returning been forbidden?" Almek asked. "The world has been in such need of Dusvet Guardians."
Ulani shrugged. "We used to feel it was for the greater good. Because to be Dusvet brings many privileges, but it also is a great burden, as you well know. Mortal lives are so fleeting, we assumed that if there was a need, those who had been Guardians before would return to us once they were reborn." She closed her eyes for a moment. "We failed to remember how dim the mortal memory is between their incarnations, so lessons were often... forgotten. Or simply the stirring of the past within remained unfulfilled or unheeded. But even then, we still felt being Dusvet was a greater burden than most could bear, if they could not pass when much younger."
"A greater burden than being Illaini Magus? Or Githalin Swordanzen?" Tyrsan dared to ask. He waved a hand towards the mountain behind them. "They have proven themselves worthy in their gods' eyes already, and yet they must endure this as well? Why do you torture those children?"
Ulani's expression hardened ever so slightly, but she replied evenly still. "You speak primarily of Zhekali and Avarian. We do not torture them, we seek only to heal them from wounds their souls have borne for thousands of years. Healing is painful when old wounds must be reopened so they may heal the way they were intended to."
"Zhekali and Avarian? You mean, Storm and Ash," Bella said, stepping nearer.
"I speak only the facts of this matter." Ulani looked at Bella and beckoned her closer. She touched her cheek with a gentle caress, a turquoise mark joining her first. "Know that we all make mistakes, Bella. Even the divine can err. There is too much for even gods to anticipate how the choices of mortals will alter the course of the time river. No immortal can."
Bella touched her cheek, staring. "Immortals... cannot anticipate... mortals?"
"No, Bella, we cannot." Ulani serenely folded her hands together. "In everything and everyone, there is balance. For every strength, there is a weakness. And every weakness has a strength. Immortals have great power, but we are bound by the laws of balance. The greatest power mortals have is the ability to change the course of the river of time."
"Of course, sometimes the changes require corrections," Kendle stated. "It was once our purpose until our arrogance led to our fall. It was then we were to test the Timeless One's mortal servants and bequeath to them Her blessings. As with divine servants, the purpose of Guardians and those mortals who serve their gods is set imbalances right." He looked back over his shoulder, concern marring his impassive expression. "The songs of time sing within you, Bella. You can hear them if you listen. Seek the past of Zhekali and Avarian in the bitter winds that howl mournfully through these hills and branches. You will understand."
"Yes, honored one," Bella said, bowing deeply.
Ulani nodded to them and turned to disappear down the tunnel. She added as an afterthought, "We would not object if any wished to come here to... commune with us. It is lonely, being forgotten. So long as none think to command us. That, we will not tolerate."
"Dulain Tyrsan, approach me," Kendle commanded. The tall man immediately obeyed, bowing deeply as the others had. "You alone believed in the Desanti warriors without requiring any proof. How a fierce warrior such as you did not pass the Proving Grounds those many years ago, I will never understand." He touched the man's cheek, marking him with another color. "To make Fortress whole again, it will soon be time to take the mantle of the wanderer again, Dulain."
"To make Fortress whole?" Tyrsan put his fist over his heart in a salute. "I look forward to the challenge."
Kendle smiled faintly. "I thought you would. Good hunting, Warrior." He smiled to Almek and said, "You have done well, Sentinel, but your work is only just beginning. Though I suspect you know this already." With that, he turned to leave.
Izkynder called out, "Byebye!" Kendle stopped, looked back, and smiled, raising his hand in farewell before disappearing with Ulani. The four looked at each other in silence before Izkynder stated emphatically, "Hungee!" They laughed, finally returning to the longhouse to wait.
Chapter 32
Harsh sunlight burned through a curtain of vivid green leaves, a hot wind blowing in the faces of the four who emerged from the tunnel. Each stumbled a bit as they blindly tried to clear the way for those behind them, squinting and blinking to adjust to the sudden change from darkness to brilliantly bright light.
"Where are we?" Lyra asked. She held up a hand to touch the vivid green leaves of a low hanging branch. A warm summer breeze swirled around them, the air filled with the sounds of animal life. "Perhaps I should ask... when are we? It feels like I should remember this place. It seems so familiar!"
"You are right," Mureln stated as he closed his eyes, lowering himself to let his fingers touch the water of a stream bubbling b
y them. "Almek did say the Proving Grounds would be unique to those being tested."
"He also said we would most likely be tested separately." Taylin moved to put her arm around Mureln's. "But we are together still." She looked over Mureln with a vague frown, then at herself and the others. "Our clothes have changed. But they seem... familiar."
Ash looked around them and frowned. "We are not entirely together. Five of us are not here." Troubled, he took a few steps further into the idyllic landscape. Eyes wide, he started running towards a grove of trees.
"Master Ash!" Lyra called. "Wait for us!" The others caught up to him as he touched the trunk of a tall tree. She hesitantly touched the Illaini's arm. "Master Ash? What is wrong?"
"These trees," Ash whispered. "Look at them. Especially this one." His azure eyes looked horrified. "This one is the same breed as Issonia." Turning to look at the tree, he said, "I recognize this place. This is Desantiva borderland. Before the Great War."
"But why would we be in Desantiva?" Taylin wondered in bewilderment. "None of us were born Desanti. I don't think, anyway."
"But we were here," Mureln said in a low voice. "Beloved, can't you feel it?" The bard shook his head to clear a sudden wave of disorientation. "We knew each other once."
"Davin, look out!" Lyra shouted, suddenly shoving Mureln aside to draw her bow as a strange, winged creature swooped down to attack. It shrieked as the shaft of an arrow pierced its breast, falling in a flurry of feathers.
Mureln stared at Lyra as he pushed himself up from where he had fallen. "What did you call me?"
The young woman opened her mouth to reply, then shut it again when no sound came out. "Davin? Why did I call you--?"
Ash closed his eyes shut tightly, fingers digging into the tree bark. "You called him that because that is who he was. Davin Nadeesi. Master Bard and Dulain Unsvet." The women looked at Mureln sharply, but the bard's worried eyes were on the mage. "I knew him then. Before the Great War, he was my... oldest friend." He shook his head, pressing the heels of his hands to his temples. "No! I don't want to remember!" he begged. "Please, it hurts too much."
Taylin put her hands on Ash's shoulders comfortingly. "It's okay. We are here with you, Ash..." She tilted her head. "Wait. I... remember now. When we were here before, you were Avarian." She offered her hand to him in a half daze at the sudden flash of memory.
Shaking his head to banish the chaotic emotions that briefly overwhelmed him, Ash accepted her hand to get back to his feet, rubbing his cheek with the back of his hand. "You were Ellena, daughter of Grand Master Healer Zeridis and Davin's wife." He smiled faintly at Lyra. "You were my great grand niece Deliah."
"It is dizzying, remembering this," Mureln said, putting his hand on the tree, feeling the tree's spirit soothe the maelstrom of confusion in his mind. "It is as though being in the world we had been in during our previous lives has brought the past into the present." He frowned slightly. "But why?"
"Perhaps there was something we left unfinished that the Kings and Queens want us to finish?" Lyra suggested, hugging her bow to herself. "They are divine servants, right? They wouldn't do anything to us just to be... to be cruel, would they?"
Ash scowled briefly. "Gods can be trusted. Divine servants can be as selfish as the most stuck up of Forenta's highest highborns. Before they vanished, our great mother's divine servants were the pinnacle of callous arrogance." He turned towards the sounds of animals and looked around. "Where are those horses? If we must suffer this torment of the Kings and Queens, we may as well ride instead of walk."
"They are over here. I will go get them," Lyra responded automatically, then shook her head. She looked up at Mureln when the bard put his hand on her shoulder. "My name was Deliah? What is happening, Master Bard?" she asked, opting to call him by the title he held then and now to avoid one factor making her dizzy trying to understand.
"Remember the words of the divine servant Ash told us when they got back. I cannot help but think that Storm's reliving of a past death is somehow related to us considering our current... predicament." Mureln rubbed his face, his expression as strained as the rest of theirs. "It would probably be best if we do not fight this. There must be a reason why the Kings and Queens are putting us through this that is not simply born of a perverse cruelty... I hope." He looked to the mage who was staring at the tree again. "Avarian!" the bard called sharply to draw Ash out of his thoughts. "You had brought us all to Desantiva back then. Do you remember why?"
"I wanted to explore the southern forests," Ash replied as he took one of the horses' reins, easily climbing into the saddle. "I wasn't getting any younger. And I was dying from some illness neither mages nor healers could cure. Since my life was coming to its sunset, I decided to live the last of it learning the truth about Desantiva, not simply doing nothing but waiting for death to claim me."
"The Edai Tredecima wasn't happy with your decision to leave." Lyra smiled a little, a flicker of delight at the rebellion of the past. "They believed the Se'edai should not leave the borders of Forenta, even though the Knowing One did not object. They thought you were foolish to think the warrior folk could be talked with in a civilized manner."
"Feh. Pompous idiots." Ash shook his head. "My family lived by the Great Mother's ideals, not by those silly, superficial social rules that made no sense. There was no proof but generations of gossip about the Desanti." He smiled faintly as he looked back at Mureln. "I suppose I was something of a rebel back then, too."
"Some things never change," Mureln said blandly. Giving Taylin assistance in mounting, he went to get his own horse. "I remember your twin brother Oberlain. He objected so strongly, he broke away from your family who had taken your name as the House name and founded his own House, taking those who agreed with the idea Forenta's ways were the only way things should be done." He looked at Ash sympathetically. "You left behind a large family. One of the strongest in magic. And the most controversial."
Ash smiled a little as he kicked the horse into a trot. "My family has always been rather irreverent. The Avarian mages have always been rather untraditional. But we were often the most successful, too." Turning his horse around to look at his companions, he said, "Come on! Let's see what the Kings intend to challenge us with."
Lyra looked at the creature she had killed for a moment. "Well, danger is certainly one thing it offers." Mureln chuckled, winking at her before following Ash Avarian into the wilds.
Chapter 33
Skyfire walked out on the wide, moss-covered branch to gaze down into the leafy darkness below. He crouched down, sniffing the air that was at once alien and familiar. "What the hell are ye wearin', Emaris?" Emil exclaimed. "Fer that matter, what th'hells am I wearin'?" The Desanti man looked back over to Emil and Emaris, arching an eyebrow at their Desanti-styled clothing. "Where in th' hells are we?" Emil demanded. Drawing the strange sword at his side to tests its balance, he whistled appreciatively at the fine craftsmanship. "This be nice."
Skyfire considered his own garb and weapons, virtually unchanged from what he had worn in the desert. "This is... home. Desantiva." He held his hand up, allowing a brilliantly colored songbird to land on his outstretched fingers briefly before it took wing again. His expression of anguish was like an open wound, tears escaping his eyes. "At least, this is the Desantiva from before the Great War. When it was still green. One of the ancient Desanti souls Issonia protects showed it to me once because Kailee is too young to remember it."
"Good gods," Emil murmured. Emaris put a supportive hand on Skyfire's shoulder, sympathetic to the man's pain at seeing the true magnitude of Desantiva's suffering. The mute gypsy blinked and shook Skyfire's shoulder to draw attention to the Githalin tattoo.
Skyfire arched an eyebrow. The silvery grey image of Kailee was replaced with a silvery blue, winged reptile. He touched the image of the long lost Totani with a pang of grief. "Tessarya..."
"I wonder why we be here?" Emil glanced upwards, then behind them. "Guess it just be us three t'gether.
Wonder where th' others were sent."
"It doesn't matter," Skyfire stated flatly. "This is the test they set to us. This is the test we conquer." Both Skyfire and Emil jumped when Emaris roared, swinging a staff carved from the thigh bone of some huge creature, swatting a bat-like animal out of the air above their heads. "Thank you," the Githalin Swordanzen stated.
"No problem, Tuarik," Emaris replied before blinking several times, touching his throat in shock. "I-I ken speak?"
"An' what did ye call Skyfire?" Emil frowned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Tuarik... why that be so familiar?"
"I am... was... Tuarik il'Tessarya of the na'Zhekali clan..." Skyfire narrowed his eyes into the distance. "I was the Githalin Swordanzen tasked by the Great Father to find Zhekali because she was hiding again. She was the only Totani who could hide from Him." He looked at Emil. "You were Saleev, First Warrior of the northerner gypsy tribes welcomed into the na'Zhekali clan." To Emaris, he smiled as the man offered his arm in greeting. Their grips on each other was strong, but affectionate. "And you were Sakir, his brother. You were both my tlisan."
"Wasn't Zhekali a Totani?" Emil asked as he knelt, the others doing the same as they considered the circumstances they found themselves in, especially with the added disorientation of reawakened memories of their previous lives.
"Before the Great War, the clans were all named in honor of their patron Totani." Skyfire squinted a little as he considered. "The na'Zhekali is... was... is... the oldest clan... tribe... to have survived the Great War and..." He pressed his fingers to his temples, gritting his teeth. "This is making my head hurt."
"Do not think too hard on it," Emaris murmured in a low voice. "Jus' accept it fer what it be, m' friend." He waited until the tension marring Skyfire's features eased. "They seems t' want us t' relive this task of finding Zhekali. S'which way do we go?"