Silas channeled the energy towards the jewel and used his bolstered reserves to create a barrier that limited the jewel’s ability to reach within him. He felt the jewel resist; it hated him, it hated limits, it hated his strength. The jewel was a personification of hate; it was a personification of L’Anvien.
And that was the difference he realized. The power he was using was a power created by love and friendship. The three humans who were blending their energy loved and trusted each other. They multiplied their strength through their cooperation. Silas focused his thoughts on cooperation between three sources of power, and he let the three streams maintain unique characteristics as they blended and corralled the jewel. The different features of the three baffled and confused the jewel, which couldn’t successfully defend itself against the three at once, so that when Silas began to tighten the noose around the jewel, he found he could smoothly reduce and restrict the stone, until the moment when his energy came in contact with the jewel itself.
He unleashed a strident bolt of energy that sent the jewel flying through the room, much as the other two jewels had been carried, except that when the facets of the jewel hit the wall and dropped, they left behind no bloody smear. There was no wound on Silas, only a blotchy yellow and purple scar on his neck.
Silas’s head rolled back as he passed out, and his fingers uncurled from the grasp of the hands of the two women who had helped him defeat L’Anvien’s jewels.
“Someone carefully pick those jewels up and put them in a stout bag, then tie them shut,” Lexy quickly commanded over her shoulder. Ditto immediately rose from his haunches and opened Cinda’s desk, then searched through the drawers until he found a small, stout wooden chest, which he used to hold the dulled red jewels.
Jimes and Wither returned to the room, which had grown brighter as the sun had risen above the horizon and started the morning.
“Will Silas be okay? Is there something we need to do?” Wither asked.
“Let’s get him out of this building, to someplace wholesome.” Octavia suggested.
Wither looked at Jimes. “Where would that be?”
“Let’s go to the lavender dorm; Silas had a room there – it’ll feel like home,” Jimes suggested, and the group proceeded to carry Silas across the campus and into the lavender dorm, where they startled a student by commandeering his room, the very room that Silas had occupied only a pair of years earlier.
“Lexy, go see if we’re needed for the battle, and Octavia, you go with her to see if any guards need medical care,” Wither ordered once Silas was comfortably settled in place.
“Jimes, send reports to Barnesnob and Amenozume, letting them know our current situation. Tell them we need reinforcements here as quickly as possible,” he directed the Wind Word Speaker.
“You, I’d like for you to tell us more about where you came from and how you met Silas,” he spoke to Riesta.
“I’m afraid I’m not allowed to say,” the young woman answered calmly as all eyes looked at her. “Silas knows where we met and why I cannot say more. He’ll vouch for me when he awakens.”
“How do we know he will awaken? How do we know that you didn’t just trick us into putting him under a different kind of evil power?” Jimes asked.
“No, I felt her,” Forna spoke. “When she and I helped Silas, I felt her power, and I felt his trust. She means him no harm,” she spoke up. “And I could feel Silas again after the last jewel was removed. My Tracker powers felt him fully again, before they signaled the completion of my Track. He’s not under anyone else’s control now – he’s just himself.”
“Thank you,” Riesta bowed to Forna, and the group settled down into silent contemplation of their situation, as Jimes began Speaking his messages, using codes.
“We’ll hear back in a few hours,” Jimes predicted after he finished. As he spoke, Lexy returned to the group with Reese.
“Octavia is working with the wounded, but I found our other former companion!” the Amenozume rebel announced as Reese was welcomed warmly.
“Some of the Ivaric guards we captured said that if they didn’t win, the Ivaric commanders in Avaleen would send more soldiers. They’re not going to let the Guild headquarters remain free. They say the leader of the Ivaric garrison in Avaleen is strong, and frightening,” Reese warned. “We need to decide what to do.”
“When Silas awakens, he’ll take care of everything,” Natie spoke up.
“It took him weeks to wake up last time,” June pointed out.
“He just overcame the jewels. Give him a day to recover and then we can start to plan,” Forna said stoutly. “Silas will be okay; he felt good when he used our powers,” she motioned to Riesta.
“Could she help us fight?” Lexy asked, also referring to Riesta. “Could you use your powers to fight against the next attack? Silas saved us from a whole invasion fleet.”
“I do not have a fraction of the potential Silas does,” Riesta smiled, “And I’m the strongest member of the Guild. Silas is unique.
“I’ll do as much as I can for you, but it won’t match what Silas does,” she offered.
The group slowly dispersed during the day, different members going off to perform different errands, while Silas slept soundly in the room that had been his once before. When he woke, it was mid-afternoon.
“Is this real or is it a dream?” he asked, startling Forna, who remained with him, sitting in a chair in the small room.
“This is real. We brought you to your old room in the dorm so that you could recover,” his cousin explained as he sat up.
Silas gave a wry smile. “It would have been something if I found out the past couple of years were all just a dream and I was still a student in the Speakers Guild,” he shook his head.
“I don’t know about the past two years, but I know the past few months have been real enough,” Forna told him. “How do you feel?” she asked.
“I think I should walk around. What happened to Cinda? Where are the red stones?” Silas asked as he swung his legs over the side of the bed to stand up.
“The stones are in a wooden box, and Cinda is in the prison where we’re keeping the other prisoners too,” Forna replied.
“Hmmp,” Silas grunted. “Those stones are evil. We need to destroy them or lose them permanently.
“What’s been happening?” he asked. “Tell me everything that’s happened.”
“There was an attack by the Ivaric forces, about the same time Lumene’s reinforcements arrived in the village, and the Amenozume forces defeated the Ivaric forces. At the same time, I and Riesta came looking for you. It was very hard to track you; your location was clouded and weak,” Forna explained.
“It was the jewels,” Silas realized. “They were covering my location with their own evil power.”
“It wasn’t quite good enough. We found you, and Riesta removed the first stone from you, but it was a painful event. She worked cautiously to remove the second stone, which was still a matter of brute force, and you know how we took care of the third stone,” Forna concluded.
“Where did you and Riesta meet?” she asked.
Silas looked at her sideways. “Why do you ask?”
“You’re going to be just as cagey about it as she is, aren’t you?” Forna stated. “She refuses to say anything – no clues whatsoever.”
“It’s something they require; it protects them,” Silas spoke vaguely, determined to maintain the façade that Faralag hid behind. “But go on with your story.”
“We removed the stones and brought you here. The others are out exploring and checking the village defenses; there’re going to be more Ivaric soldiers coming to attack,” Forna explained.
“I’m sure there will be more attacks. Let’s go find the others and get a better picture,” Silas offered. He began to walk towards the door, his first steps unsteady, before he recovered his sense of balance and strength.
As he placed his hand on the door handle he paused, while a familiar voice rang out
in his head, a Speaker sending a message. “Warn Maze that the three jewels have failed; the Abomination still creeps among us,” Cinda’s voice spoke clearly as she directed information to someone.
“Who is Maze?” Silas asked Forna.
The girl looked at him in bewilderment.
“I just heard Cinda send a message telling someone to warn Maze that I’m still alive,” Silas explained. “Did Cinda mention Maze, who he is? Or has anyone else mentioned him?”
Forna shook her heard. “Maybe some of those who fought at the front will know,” she suggested, and the pair resumed their walk back down to the village.
“One other thing Silas,” Forna added. “You ought to send a message to Princess Lumene – directly to her. Let her hear your own voice saying that you’re okay. Tell her that the troops she sent helped.
“You owe her that,” the Tracker stated with feeling.
“I know; I will,” Silas answered non-committally. He still was unsure about how to speak to the Princess – what words, phrases, tone to use, or that he might inappropriately use. He couldn’t consistently decipher the nuances of his own heart at any particular time to know what he might say.
“I will when I’m ready,” he promised.
Chapter 17
Silas and Forna found their friends and acquaintances spread across a wide stretch of territory on the edge of Heathrin, in parts of the village that Silas had never visited while he’d been a student at the Guild’s school on the campus. His friends were glad to see him walking about on his own, in apparent good health.
“Have you heard anything about a leader for Ivaric named Maze?” Silas asked both the people he knew, and some who he didn’t.
“My lord, her highness the princess will be profoundly pleased to know that you are alive and well,” Gereld, the commander of the Amenozume forces greeted Silas. “We are here to protect you and serve your needs, at her command.”
“Lumene sent your contingent here for me?” Silas asked in surprise; thought Forna has alluded to the Princess’s command to the troops, Silas hadn’t picked up on the matter.
“Her highness said we are to support you, so that you survive your battles and then can help protect our land again in the future, but I believe there may have been more motive to the order than just that,” Gereld answered judiciously.
Silas stared at the man for a long moment, waiting to see if he would explain more about his comment, but Gereld added nothing further, besides, “I do not know anything about this Maze you speak of. We can ask some of the injured Ivaric guards we captured.”
They soon took Silas to a makeshift infirmary, where he stood next to a pair of pallets holding a man and a woman who had been injured while attacking Heathrin for Ivaric.
“There is a new leader sent to Avaleen by Ivaric, a great and fearsome monster of a man named Maze,” the woman told him. “He’s from overseas, from the great continent of Rolemica, a warrior-priest of L’Anvien who can fight and wield powers to help him in his battles. He is feared by all, even those soldiers he has brought with him from overseas,” she offered the information.
“I’d rather fight for you than fight for him,” the man next to the woman added. “Maze is inhuman, and cold as the frozen north.”
“We’ll accept you as a recruit,” Silas immediately told the man, glad to have a new soldier, and glad to have a positive story to offset the chill he felt from the revelation that there was a warrior endowed with black powers by L’Anvien.
“What is our next step, my lord?” Gereld asked as they left the infirmary with the forbidding news of Maze.
“I need to think; I have a plan, I just want to consider it further before we carry it out,” Silas said slowly as they walked along. As soon as he and Forna parted ways with the Amenozume commander, Forna spoke to him.
“What is your worrisome plan, Silas?” she asked.
“I need to go to Avaleen and confront Maze. The rest of you should stay here and protect the village from further attack,” Silas told his cousin calmly.
“No one is going to accept that; the only reason most of these people are fighting here is because they came to fight with you and for you. You can’t leave them behind,” Forna said in exasperation.
“If Maze is as powerful as we were just told, I don’t want to put others in the line of danger. It’s better that I go and do this myself. Then I can come back here and rejoin everyone,” Silas answered confidently.
“How well did you do on your own here in Heathrin?” Forna asked archly. “Weren’t you taken captive without a fight? Didn’t you need other people to rescue you and save you?”
“It’ll be different next time,” Silas blustered, unable to give a good answer.
“How? Why? You’ll have eyes in the back of your head?” Forna pounced. “If there’s any place you should have been safe, it was on this campus, wasn’t it?”
Silas bit his tongue as he struggled to respond. Taking others with him would put them in harm’s way, he knew.
Forna seemed to know his thoughts.
“If you tell people it’s going to be a dangerous assignment, and then they still volunteer to join you, it’s not your fault. You don’t have to worry about protecting them; they’re going along to protect you,” she said. “They want to give you the best chance to succeed.”
Silas walked beside her in silence, choosing to listen.
“You could ask for volunteers, and then pick just a few who would protect you best, like Riesta, and me, for example,” she gave him a side-eye glance as she suggested herself.
Silas grinned, and Forna knew she was winning.
“A small group can move fast and can put eyes out on the streets for you, eyes that aren’t purple and golden,” she added. “A small group can actually be more discreet.”
“Enough,” Silas interrupted. “You’ve made your point.
“Alright, I’ll take a couple,” he agreed.
“Of course you will. I’ll go tell them to get ready, and to be quiet about it,” Forna proposed.
“Don’t you think you should let me pick them out?” Silas asked.
“I’ll take the man who just volunteered to join us,” Silas observed. “He knows the ins and outs of Avaleen now. And I’ll take Riesta and Lexy and Wither. And Octavia – a Healer seems handy,” he decided.
“And me,” Forna immediately added.
“No, you’ll serve me best if you do what you did here – provide a follower, someone who can come behind if the situation seems in doubt, and lead additional support,” Silas spoke seriously.
“You’re not going to say that with a straight face, are you?” Forna objected.
“I think if you waited and came behind me after a few days, you could bring some additional support that could show up when things might be getting serious. If everything goes well, then it’s just a journey and then a return, but if I need help, you’ll be close by and able to assist,” he told her.
“I hadn’t thought about it until just now, but my plan actually makes sense,” Silas told her earnestly. They had reached the steps of the dorm that Silas had been moved to, and stood outside the door, as curious students dawdled nearby, looking at Silas in awe, his eye colorings widely recognized.
Forna made a face and shook her head.
“We’ll talk about it when we get the group together this evening,” Silas promised.
Chapter 18
Silas managed to win his way. He compromised on the size of the group he took, and the length of delay in Forna’s following departure, but the next day, he was able to depart with a group of seven companions, while Forna promised to wait for two days before leading a second squad in support.
“Of course we were the first names you chose for your companions,” Stash said of Ditto and himself as he left the village with Silas.
“Not quite the first,” Silas answered. “I actually picked Keen,” he pointed to the Ivaric soldier from the hospital who limped along in front, p
leased to be part of the group that was now fighting against Ivaric. “And Jimes, to have another Speaker.”
“And then I knew I wanted Riesta,” he added, nodding at the blond woman who walked calmly beside him. “And Lexy has been with me since we washed up on the shore of Amenozume, while Wither has a sense of strength I didn’t want to be without.
“And Octavia turns out to be much more ready for this type of adventure now; this experience seems to have pushed her to grow up. And with her skills, she could keep any one of us alive,
“So, you were someone I thought of, just not first,” Silas finished his tongue-in-cheek catalog.
“Hey, we were the last ones you picked? After I’m the one who figured out where you were held captive?” Ditto protested.
“You’ll be the first ones I ask for help when the situation gets dangerous,” Silas replied with a straight face.
“I didn’t think dangerous needed to be part of the job,” Stash said mildly.
They walked on, relying on Keen to lead them back along the roads he had followed as part of the Ivaric army that had been sent to Heathrin. The countryside was rolling hills that fell away from the eastern mountains and dropped into farmland. Silas couldn’t identify any particular road or location as he strolled with his companions, but he remembered that only a few months prior he had hiked in the opposite direction through Avaleen, walking with Mata, accompanied by Petre and Erick the guards assigned to him by Burr, the trader who had helped spirit the pair of Amenozume refugees out of the country in the beginning of the Ivaric occupation of the nation.
Silas reminisced about the trip, remembering how he and Mata had not yet become lovers, but had been friends who had trusted and relied upon one another, especially in the confusing and trying early days of their flight, as the guards had led them across the countryside and straight to the mountain wilderness. They’d then spent weeks accompanying one another over most of the length of the continent’s mountainous spine, traveling south to Faralag.
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