With a thought, he called an illusion forth. He covered its existence from others by feeding power into the void it had made. No slight pressure would be felt by others. He never let them feel it. The illusion formed a young woman with copper red hair and deep sea blue eyes. Her skin was a light golden color with a few freckles from the sun. Her eyes had gazed at him with interest and a little bit of fear. But there was something more as well... a light, perhaps. Kaishan reached toward the illusion's hair, hair that had been surprisingly soft and smelled like the world just after a rain fall but before the stink of worms.
Kaishan hadn't developed the illusion to be lifelike in all ways. He had just made an image appear. So, of course, his reaching hand went through her hair instead of feeling it. He gazed at her image as his hand dropped. At his side it clenched. "I will find you." He promised her softly. "The war is coming, little Star, and you will not be able to hide from me."
Chapter Thirty - Race the Shadow
Arathin- North of Razyan’s Keep, Marlhema
Clop, clop, click, clop. Breeya smiled as her mare trotted over a flat part of the mountain trail. Soon they world have to go back to walking, but for now, Breeya would enjoy the brief speed. She had always loved riding from the moment she could walk. She loved being around horses. They could give her their speed and companionship as she gave them affection and food. Together, they could fly. Thunder would follow them as they skimmed over the ground. Horses had such power, grace, and spirit.
Loralla, the mare, picked up Breeya’s desire to fly and sped up a little. Breeya smiled sadly and pulled the mare back before they found themselves tumbling down some cliff. She patted Loralla’s shoulder in thanks for the gesture.
Breeya glanced back the way she had come. The way was lost in the twists and turns of the Vermillion mountains. It felt like she had been traveling south forever now. Breeya sighed. The eastern sun was slowly rising over the edge of the world and peeking from behind the proud heads of the mountains. She had to run into Razyan’s Keep soon.
It wasn’t that she was in a hurry, though she felt like it. No one was expecting her. And her scholar brother had set no return date for his expedition. It was only these mountains…It felt like eyes were following her…Though, Loralla didn’t seem that concerned at the moment. Breeya sighed again. It was probably just her. She was just missing Lanol, that had to be it. Not that she would ever tell him.
In the beginning of last fall, Lanol, following his scholarly pursuits, found a reference to an ancient city. A city that was underground. Lanol was sure that this city predated the Dragon Kings. A long story short, he gathered references and asked his friend, the Wizard Razyan if he could go and check if the city existed. The long story being Lanol gathering the references. Breeya shook her head as she thought my brother spends far too much time in dusty scrolls.The Wizard gave the expedition his approval, gave some advice, and a way to contact him if something went wrong. Breeya was certain that Razyan would have approved the expedition even without the dozens of references her brother gathered. After all, the two were of the same interest. Both were so concerned with ages long dead to help with and‘understand’the future. Wizard Razyan concerned himself with magical history and the histories of the Dragons. Lanol was happy with things even older. Breeya often fell asleep during their conversations.
She was happy with the living present and near future and the past that was shortly before hers. Those were the things that really affected life after all. Languages she didn’t mind learning. She liked ancient marlhneimthe best. She loved looking at the long chains of words. There was a beauty in them, a power also. Kind of like horses…Once in awhile, though, in her studies she would run across some chain that didn’t translate into anything she had ever seen before. No word in ancient or common marlhneimwas like it. It was harsher with a formidable power behind the sounds. But she could be translating it wrong, because the chain’s symbols were ever so slightly different from what she was used to seeing.
Lanol remarked once that perhaps the symbols refused to make sense due to someone mimicking the language. Since there were so few examples, Razyan had added, they might be from the Enemy who disappeared at the same time as the dragons.
Breeya wasn’t sure what to believe. So she did the easiest thing; she left it to the men.
Lanol and she rode out from Razyan’s Keep two days after Razyan approved the venture. Lanol had made a map from old charts and journal entries that described the location of the city. They followed that till Breeya was sure they were lost. And guess what? No city or cave anywhere! Lanol insisted that they had passed the cave entrance. They had to have. Breeya knew he just didn’t want to be wrong and go back defeated. But it was still monotonous to go around in circles! Loralla and Gansei, Lanol’s horse, the pack horse and Breeya were all tired of it after the second week. It might have been just that time of month, but Breeya was especially grumpy.
When Lanol mentioned for the thousandth, thousandth time that they had“missed”the damn entrance Breeya halted Loralla.“No Lanol. We didn’t miss it.”When he looked at her in surprise she continued in a huff.“That‘entrance’isn’t here. Lanol, we’ve been walking the same path for two weeks! We’ve made a road a carriage could traverse!”Breeya gestured about her.“I’m not going to search for that stupid entrance anymore!”With that declaration she slid off of Loralla. She stormed over to a flat rock face and leaned against it, crossing her arms.
Before Lanol could say anything there was a grinding click. The rock face Breeya leaned against slid backward for an inch. The boulders next to it rolled away from a cave mouth. One rolled up a track that was over Breeya’s head. The other rolled into a slot behind another boulder.
Lanol clapped with glee.“Well done, Little Wing! You found it!”At first Breeya was in shock. Then she just grumbled. Lanol chuckled.“Next time, Breeya, when we are searching for something, get angry sooner.”
She had wanted to slap him.
They had traveled into the dark cavern. The tunnel twisted and turned for a long way. The glow of Lanol’s yellow magic pushed the darkness only so far. After a day, if it was a day, Breeya was lost. Just before she asked Lanol where his city was a person stepped out of the darkness. He was wearing only enough to make him decent and a mask of a bird. Breeya was sure her spirit left her when he just appeared. She hadn’t thought there would be anyone at this city…
He spoke to them and at first they couldn’t understand what he was saying. But the words sounded so familiar. Breeya began picking out words. Her excitement bubbled with each word she heard. He was speaking ancient marlnaim. She answered the man and introduced herself and Lanol. It took her a little bit to get the words to flow as they should, but the man seemed to understand her. To be safe, she kept it nice and simple.
At Lanol’s urging she asked about the city. The man nodded and simply said Carsa. Lanol beamed.“Can you take us there?”she asked, knowing that would be Lanol’s next question. The man watched them for a moment then came to a decision. Then turned and disappeared into the darkness.
Carsa was well named. It was indeed hidden, but not just under the earth, but also within the cave. It was hard to tell it apart from the rest of the rocks. Breeya almost died trying not to laugh as Lanol practically drooled over the city. It was old, according to him. So old, but the people were not its original inhabitants.
Over the months they stayed there, Lanol wasted away his life learning Carsa’s secrets. The oldest records of the people told him that they were refugees from the Shadow War. They had been mindless slaves to the Enemy. During the war, the slaves had been called the Cursed.“Somehow, for some reason,”Lanol decided at one point to summarize for her,“a band of Cursed flew into this cave and whatever the power was that controlled them disappeared. They became themselves again. But why did they fly here?”At that point Lanol became incoherent.
Breeya sought the living people; those were the ones who mattered. She asked if she could help them
with their chores. At first the people were unsure how to react to Breeya and her brother. But Breeya helped them out. Treat me as you would anyone else you know. They told her their stories and listened to hers. They seemed to enjoy being around her because of her easy going nature and her smile at helping out. She volunteered for many jobs.
One of her favorites was cooking. The best part was taste testing. It was in the cook house that she met her new best friend. Olidiya was the woman’s name. They became really good friends. Close friends. Close enough to help each other in the match making department without becoming embarrassed. Olidiya, for some reason beyond Breeya’s understanding had a thing for Lanol. All the women saw it. The men didn’t, but that was typical. Lanol took the typical male blindness to a whole new level. Breeya didn’t think he even noticed living women. Or anyone living for that matter. He was always so buried in scrolls and books it was hard to make him eat.
Breeya chuckled softly at the measures she and Olidiya went to, to get Lanol’s attention.
It had been night. Breeya had found Lanol still in the library. What a surprise, he should just live in a library. He had not seen her of course. He had been busy staring into the ink of some text. Breeya had leaned against the door frame balancing the tray of food. No one really understood, especially Olidiya, that Lanol in this mood hardly ate. But it was hard to explain this fact to a cook who had been all butter where Lanol was concerned. Breeya thought it was funny how Olidiya blushed and giggled whenever someone mentioned Lanol’s name. She had not minded Olidiya’s crush on Lanol. In fact she had thought that it would do Lanol some good to start noticing women.
Breeya knew her brother very well. She and Olidiya had put their heads together to come up with the plan, the Tray Trick they had called it. Everyone knew the best way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. And Lanol was still a man. It was hard to see how the plan could possibly go wrong. Olidiya had prepared a meat pie with a folded note imbedded in the top crust, in plain sight. The napkin had been inscribed with the code solution, so Lanol would not have to work too hard. Breeya had admired the subtleness of it all. Food to get to the stomach and a puzzle to get to the mind. It had been perfect.
She had set the tray down just hard enough for it to clink but soft enough that it did not upset the wild berry water. Lanol, her observant brother, hadn’t even looked up. Breeya remembered rolling her eyes. She had walked around the scroll and book laden table. Floor boards squeaked with her shifting weight. Besides his breathing; Lanol had showed no signs of life. Once she was directly behind him Breeya slipped her hands over his eyes and whispered in his ear at the same moment.“Guess who.”He had jumped so high…
“Arg! Breeya must you?”
“He lives!”
“Of course I live. Now can you let me see?”He had asked irritably.
“Maybe.”
“Breeya…”he had warned.
She had grinned.“Only you haveto eat.”He grumbled.“Or you can go around with me constantly bothering you.”
“You are always bothering me.”Since he had had a point, she had positioned one hand to cover both his eyes. The other she had moved to poke his ribs. He must have sensed her intentions because he had quickly said“Fine. I’ll eat, I’ll eat.”
She remembered sighing with regret as she withdrew her hands. Even so, she had said in a cheery voice“I knew you would see reason with the right persuasion.”
“Hmm.”
She had reached across the table and plunked the tray in front of him.
“Breeya!”Lanol had said exasperatedly.“Not on top of these!”He picked up the tray and tugged the underlying scrolls out of the way. Before disaster could have struck, Breeya snatched the water before Lanol could possibly ruin his precious scrolls. Only after the tray was safely back on solid table did Breeya set the water back.
“Honestly Lanol, its paper. I’m positive it did not suffer.”
“Just paper, just paper! Ugh!”He had looked her straight in the eye.“Breeya”He had held both her hands in his.“Breeya, Breeya. You must understand. Those‘just papers’are roughly five hundred years old. Not only that, they are scrolls of prophecy.”Obviously he had thought this meant something to her.
Breeya had rolled her eyes.“Lanol, even if they are scrolls of prophecy or even yesterday’s letters; I am sure they did not suffer being under a tray for a second.”
Lanol had hung his head.“I give up! She just does not understand.”
“I understand that you are absolutely obsessed with these things, but I’ll tell you something I don’t understand.”She had said taking back her hands.
“And what elsecan that be?”
“How a fine man like you can spend all his time with these old relics when he has his life to live?”
“I’m a scholar; you are going to find me among books and aging scrolls. They aremy life.”
Breeya had let out an exasperated breath. There was no coming between Lanol and his papers when he was in this mood. Sometimes it was just plain difficult to be his sister. She shuddered at the thought of what being his wife would be like! Had Olidiya known what she could have gotten herself into? Breeya remembered profusely hoping Olidiya could share Lanol with his scrolls and books.
“Before you get back to those old things, take a break and eat.”She had demanded.
Lanol had sighed.“Okay.”He had grabbed the fork and stuck a bite of pie into his mouth. Unfortunately it had contained the note, which he hadn’t noticed. He had immediately spat it right back out. It was unfortunate, but the note had suffered being in the pie, then in his mouth. It was unreadable. Breeya had shaken her head and threw her hands up in the air.
“So much for love mail via food.”She had muttered as she left. Lanol had watched her leave aghast. Breeya laughed recalling that look. The smile faded, however as other memories surfaced. Painful memories. Breeya grimaced and looked up at the mountains around her.
Shortly after the Tray Tick, Breeya had become tired of cave darkness, fire light and fungus glow. She wanted warm sunlight, cool moonlight, and distant star sparks. She wanted to feel the wind on her face and horseflesh beneath her. Breeya had wanted to ride. Not a tame ride either, but a wild, challenging ride on the mountain trails and through the vales that were here and there. But she didn’t want to ride alone. Olidiya couldn’t go with her for the Carsaians were afraid to venture outside. It wasn’t just superstition either. The vastness of the sky, when she had described it had terrified them. They also couldn’t understand the basic concepts of night and day. Time for them had been marked by the brightening and dimming of cave fungus. The seasons marked by the flow of the river flowing through the center of the city.
Because of this, Breeya had to drag Lanol out from under his scrolls. She still didn’t know how she had succeeded. The horses they had kept in a sheltered vale were glad to see them. Breeya’s heart had flown so high that day. That day its wings had also been clipped by guilt and fear and pain. She had been so stupid to forget. Olidiya had been so obsessed with Lanol. She had desperately wanted him to notice her. Olidiya kept her eye on him. So when he went with Breeya, Olidiya had jumped upon the chance to be with Breeya’s bookworm of a brother. Breeya should have remembered. She should have.
But she hadn’t.
And there was a reason why the Carsainians should fear the outside world. They were the children of the Cursed. Thus they were Cursed as well. Lanol had explained later, while recovering, that a person became Cursed by being wounded by either the Enemy or another Cursed. If the person survived till sunset, they transformed into a black, red eyed eagle with a wingspan of eleven feet. They became blood thirsty and killed everything around them.
That was exactly what happened when Olidiya left the cave mouth. Breeya had seen it all. One moment Olidiya had been smiling, maybe a little anxious leaving the cave, but excited never the less. The next, Olidiya had screamed in agony. A black cloud enveloped her and grew in size. When it lifted the nightmar
e truly began. Blond, pale, blue eyed Olidiya was gone. In her place was a large, black eagle. Red eyes focused on them with murderous hunger.
“The Carsaians ancestor’s journals described that the Cursed no longer recognize their friends and family. All they knew was a terrible hunger for blood and the satisfaction of tearing flesh apart.”Lanol had told her once.“They killed people and animals and rarely ate any of the meat. They did not kill to eat. They killed for the pleasure of it. It was all they knew.”Breeya had thought the journal writers were over exaggerating. How could they want to hurt family? How could they not remember family?
Looking into those burning red eyes, Breeya had thought the journal writers had been under exaggerating.
What had been Olidiya attacked them like lightning. Breeya owed her life to Loralla. Loralla had swerved out of the way. Gansei had frozen in terror. Lanol had fallen from Gansei’s back just as the Cursed’s talon sliced down. Gansei went down with a scream. The monster hissed with a sick glee. Its beak opened as it started to lean toward Lanol. He was moving too slowly to get away fast enough. Breeya had acted without really thinking about it. She blasted the Cursed with a hurricane wind. The wind knocked the Cursed into the sky, barely missing a cliff’s edge. The Cursed screamed in rage. It sent chills of dread down Breeya’s spine. It was an eagle’s shriek, but at the same time it had an overtone of a wind whistling under an eve. It was haunting. It dove toward Breeya. Before Breeya could scream, Mage Fire roared in front of her. The Cursed didn’t or couldn’t stop before it hit the flames. The stench was horrible as feathers ignited and flesh boiled. The Cursed’s scream was colored by pain. It struggled into the air. Mage Fire followed it to keep it in retreat. With a final scream, the Cursed fled.
The Ways of Mages: Starfire Page 26