“I am prepared for the possibility that the university might have been compromised by the Deshmahne. You should also be prepared.”
Her gaze dipped to the sword sheathed at his waist. “You know my feelings on that, Brohmin.”
He sighed. “I know your feelings, but I also know that you will need more than just your abilities to protect yourself.”
“My abilities have changed.”
It was the first time she had admitted that, though Brohmin could practically see the change about her. He didn’t have the same ability with ahmaean as Jakob or the daneamiin, but he could see it faintly and noticed that the ahmaean surrounding Salindra was not what he would typically expect of a Mage.
If only Alyta were still alive. She would have answers, but then if she still lived, there would be new questions.
“So I have noticed.”
Another wave struck, sending her sliding, and Brohmin held tightly to her, forced to use a swirling of his ahmaean to keep a firm grip on her hands. How much longer would he have such strength? He knew that what he’d been gifted was significant, but he’d also known from that beginning that his ahmaean would not last forever. All of the energy that he’d used in facing Raime had weakened him, and he feared how much longer he had.
“What have you noticed?” Salindra asked when the ship settled again.
Brohmin hoped the shore would appear soon. The distant storm thundered, the clouds a dark blanket in the sky, and the air smelled of the coming rain. Were the sea not so unsettled, he might have enjoyed the contrast between the salt and the rain. As it was, he feared for Salindra getting thrown overboard.
“Only that your ability is different from that of most of the Magi I’ve worked with.”
“How many Magi have you worked with?”
“Enough to recognize when the ahmaean has changed. It’s… hard to describe. There is a certain power to the Magi ahmaean, but it is different from what the daneamiin possess, as well as different from what the damahne possess.”
“And what of Jakob?”
She’d limited her questions about Jakob during the time that they traveled. Brohmin expected them, anticipated them, and would have been disappointed had she not questioned. The problem was that he had no good answers. “Jakob is… something else.”
“You thought him the nemah.”
“I did. When he went to the house of the Cala maah, I thought that their calling him the Uniter of men meant that he was the nemah, but now I’m not so sure.”
“What happened in the Tower, Brohmin?”
Before answering, he looked around the ship. There were five crew working the lines, and the captain standing near the helm, gripping the wheel tightly. None of the others taking transport south were on the deck of the ship, preferring to remain below, avoiding both the moisture and the anger of the sea.
“He is something I could not have imagined,” Brohmin answered.
“By that, you mean he is damahne.” When Brohmin arched a brow, Salindra shrugged. A gust of wind sent her hair whipping across her face, and she pushed it back behind her ear, holding on to it with her free hand. The other remained in his. “I worked that much out, at least. Considering the abilities he demonstrated, and the fact that he was able to enter the Tower at all, he would have to be the same kind of person as Alyta.”
“I’ve come to the same conclusion,” Brohmin said.
“What I haven’t worked out his how.”
Brohmin took a deep breath. He’s spent many nights trying to understand. How was it that Jakob could have been given the gift of power, the gift of Alyta’s ahmaean, and have awakened some hidden part of himself, but Brohmin could not? Weren’t they all descendants of the same people?
He knew that he shouldn’t think that way. Jakob had demonstrated abilities long before he’d been given the gift from Alyta. From his visions—those of both Shoren, and whatever it was that he had seen near Avaneam—to the ability to see ahmaean, he was different from how Brohmin had been before he’d been given his gift.
“I don’t know that we’ll be able to understand how. Not without Alyta.”
“I thought you said the damahne had the ability to walk back along the fibers and understand the past. Couldn’t Jakob do that?”
Brohmin frowned. If only it were so simple. He liked to think that Jakob would be able to walk back along the fibers and that he could somehow perceive the past, and understand the things that he needed to, but without someone there to guide him, how was he going to do that?
He wouldn’t.
Jakob had visions, and he’d tumbled backward along them, but even Brohmin understood that doing so posed a danger to the person making that journey. What would happen if Jakob were somehow trapped in the past?
He had to believe that Alyta had somehow guided him somewhere that would give him answers.
“I hope so.”
“You worry about him.” Salindra squeezed his hand and shifted as another wave came, rolling with it.
Brohmin sniffed. “After traveling with him as long as we did, I grew… fond… of him.”
Salindra laughed, though the sound disappeared in the wind. “You can admit that you care for him. You can admit that you worry about him. You might be Brohmin Ulruuy, and you might somehow have lived over five hundred years, but you can still make connections. You can still care about others.”
Brohmin held her gaze. “Have I not?”
Salindra met his eyes before looking down. “How is it—”
She didn’t get a chance to finish. One of the sailors yelled from the crow’s nest that he’d spotted land.
“We can finish this later,” Brohmin said.
“I think that we need to.”
Brohmin made his way to the bow and peered into the growing darkness. He didn’t see land but was thankful that they were near it, especially with as thick as the storm seemed to be getting. Wind whipped out of the north, and gusted easterly, forcing the ship to tack at an odd angle. He didn’t have as much experience sailing as others, but he’d been aboard ships many times over his years. This was about as bad as he had ever seen the sea.
As he stood there, the outline of the shore gradually came into view. Polle Pal was a rocky harbor, and the city rose up from the shore so that it appeared to look out over the sea. No other ships were in the harbor, other than those that remain anchored, or docked at the massive dock stretching out into the sea. He hoped they reached the shore quickly.
The ship changed directions, veering toward the shore. Brohmin held on to the railing, an achiness coming over his body. There were days that he felt his bones creaked nearly as much as the ship. He felt that way more often these days, ever since the attack in the Great Forest that had left him nearly dead. He tried to hide it, but he didn’t think he hid it all that well from Salindra. She was observant, particularly when it came to him. She joined him at the railing and rested her hand on his as they watched the shore come ever closer.
There was much that he wished he could say, but how would he tell Salindra that he feared for their growing connection? How would he explain that in the years he’d been alive—a considerable amount of time compared to anyone else—he had never shared a connection like the one he felt growing between them. Would she even understand?
Maybe it didn’t matter. Perhaps his perception was one-sided. Salindra watched over him, felt that she needed to keep an eye on him, but had never shown anything more than that.
Wasn’t that something? Didn’t that level of attention matter?
Even if it did, the threats they would face over the coming months made it a moot point. How could it matter, when he doubted that he would survive for long once they began facing the Deshmahne in full?
As she often did, Salindra seemed to sense the direction of his thoughts, and she squeezed his hand.
Chapter Four
The return to the daneamiin lands happened in little more than a flash. Jakob had no sense of movement. The shif
ting was more a matter of focusing on where he wanted to be and using his connection to the ahmaean to pull him to the next place.
Anda was waiting for him when he reappeared at the base of the tree in which Scottan had been recuperating. “Your brother—”
“Is in Chrysia. He needed a purpose, to feel needed again.”
“You were able to see this about him? You tracked his needs along the fibers?”
Jakob shook his head. “No. I just know my brother. He has always served. For him, having a way to be of value to others is important to him.”
“Is that not important to all?”
She guided him away from the base of the tree and deeper into the forest. The scents here were a mixture of fragrances, those of flowers blooming and fruits ripening, as well as an earthy odor. It was a pleasant combination of smells and one that Jakob associated with the daneamiin.
“I think everyone needs to feel needed in some way. With Scottan, his identity had been that of a soldier. He’ll have to discover what he can offer, now that serving as a soldier is not an option.”
“Are you so certain that he’s not meant to remain a soldier?”
“I guess I’m hoping he’s not meant to.” When Anda squeezed his hand, and her ahmaean touched his, he continued. “Scottan trained to face men, but the battles that exist now are different. He isn’t equipped to face the Deshmahne. He might never have been able to face the Deshmahne. And the groeliin… That’s more than he could survive. I would much rather have him find another pathway that doesn’t place him in such danger.”
“Is that your choice, or his?”
Leave it to Anda to question him like this. “Even when he was well, my brother wouldn’t have been skilled enough to take on the Deshmahne, not the priests that we’ve faced. And I know that he wouldn’t survive if he faced the groeliin. Why can’t I want him safe?”
“Would it not be better for it to be his choice?”
They reached the edge of the city. From here, the forest continued, and there was a pool of fresh spring water nearby where he’d once bathed. There was another connection nearby, that of the nemerahl that he’d once seen when in the forest, the creature that he had not seen since traveling through the Great Forest.
“Can’t I want my brother to make a different choice? What I want for him is safety. I nearly lost him once, and I’m not ready to lose him again.”
“With your connection to the fibers, you never truly lose anyone. Once you understand that, you will feel better about it, Jakob Nialsen.”
“Why have you brought me out here?” he asked her.
“This place is for reflection. I thought that after everything you’ve gone through, you needed a place to reflect, and consider what your next step will be.”
“My next step is to understand Raime, and what he seeks. Somehow, I need to find him, and I need to defeat him. He can’t continue to grow in strength.”
“Do you intend to chase him throughout the south?”
Jakob wasn’t convinced that Raime was in the south. He would’ve had to go somewhere to recuperate, but where would that have been? The Deshmahne had strength in the south, but that couldn’t be the only place he’d go. He was somehow connected to the groeliin, which offered up the possibility that he might have gone north.
And then there were the countless other places he could have gone, simply to hide. Raime had once sat on the Conclave and would know many of the same places as Jakob. In that, he might know even more of those places than Jakob.
What Jakob needed was to understand the places the Conclave protected, places that Raime might know that could possess power. That would be where he would make his next move.
“I don’t want to chase him, but I also don’t want him to wander freely, and bring harm to anyone else. So many have suffered because of him already. I think that I sealed him out of the fibers, but if he somehow gains access once more, then he could gain strength once more, and could use that to destroy.”
“You must understand your abilities to better counter his,” Anda said.
“But what about my abilities do I need to understand? I can use the ahmaean, and I can control it. Maybe not as well as Raime can control it, but well enough that I’ve defeated him once. He can’t have already regained his strength with the ahmaean. He’d have had to steal it from others, and we would have heard about that.”
As he said it, he realized that wasn’t entirely true. There was a place of power where Raime might have managed to consolidate strength, a place where Jakob wouldn’t have heard about it.
It was the same place that he suspected Raime had gained power in the past.
“You have come to a conclusion,” Anda said.
“North. I think Raime would go to the northern mountains. He would steal from the groeliin.”
“He has done that before. It would not be unusual for him to take from the groeliin to enhance himself.”
“Then I should go north.”
“Is that safe for you?”
“I’ve faced groeliin before. Why wouldn’t it be safe?”
Anda stared out over the pool of water. As she did, she sent her ahmaean swirling away from her. Waves of it washed over Jakob before she pulled her power back and let it settle around her.
“The damahne have never chased the groeliin into the north. They have long known that the creatures reside there, but they have never gone in search of them, and have never attempted to destroy them, despite knowing that the creatures seek destruction, and in spite of the fact that they have attacked our lands more than once.”
Jakob hadn’t considered the reason behind the damahne not hunting the groeliin. As Anda said, there had to be a reason behind that, but what would it be? Why would they not have gone after them, especially knowing that they caused such destruction?
And if the daneamiin didn’t know, the only ones who would know would have been the damahne.
Jakob knew only one way to discover the answer to that, which meant that he had to walk back along the fibers. He had to force a vision upon himself.
“I need answers,” Jakob said.
“I am sorry that Alyta passed before you were able to get answers from her. I’m sorry that you have to find them on your own, struggling with walking along the fibers, a journey you must make alone. If it were possible, I would walk with you.”
“There is no danger to me along the fibers.”
Anda shook her head sadly. “Jakob Nialsen, if you believe that, then you’re in more danger than you realize. Walking the fibers is not something that can be done lightly. You can glean information, and you can understand your ancestors better, but there are risks involved in doing so. Do not think that because you have survived the journey in the past, that you will always survive. And do not think that because you have not tangled the fibers in the past, that you will not be responsible for tangling them when you take your next trip.”
Jakob nodded. What else was there for him to do, or to say? He wasn’t afraid to walk back along the fibers, not anymore. His first visions had been accidental, where he’d gone too fully, and had nearly been lost. Other attempts had been intentional, and though he had begun to gain control, he recognized that there were still dangers to it. Shoren had made that clear when he’d worked with him.
Would Shoren be able to help him again?
How many times could he visit without damaging his ancestor? How many times could he walk back before he led Shoren to trouble?
And yet, as he thought about it, those who understood the fibers better than he didn’t think there was a way to change the past. Jakob wasn’t entirely convinced of that, but so far, nothing he had done had seemed to change it.
Wouldn’t that argue that nothing he did would pose excessive danger to the damahne he stepped back into?
“I’ll be careful,” he said. “Besides, I need to understand how to look forward along the fibers. I think that will be the way that I manage to defeat Raime. If I can dis
cover where he is, and what he intends—at least what he might attempt—then I should be able to find a way to prevent it, shouldn’t I?”
“The damahne have not been able to stop him, and they have known about Raime for many years.”
“I wonder if he had tainted the fibers, twisting them in such a way that he masked his presence.”
“Jakob Nialsen, I worry that you will rush in blindly, eager to destroy him, when he has proven that he will plan carefully. You are new to your abilities. You might have potential to be more powerful, but right now, power might not be enough.”
Jakob sighed. She was right. He hadn’t been exercising the caution he should have been of late. Other than risking himself when he’d jumped back along the fibers, using the daneamiin to help him reach farther back than he could otherwise. Raime will have his next move—and the move after that—planned and plotted, and he needed to be more careful.
“It doesn’t change the fact that I need to learn how to glimpse forward.”
“You’ve learned much by walking backward. Perhaps one of the damahne can instruct you.”
Either that, or he would need to go to Vasha, as he had previously considered. Maybe there was something Haerlin could teach him, a way for him to understand what the Mage saw when he prophesied.
Anda released his hand and left him standing at the edge of the pool. “You should reflect. The ahmaean flows deeply here, well connected to the lands. Perhaps you will find answers that you wouldn’t otherwise.”
She left him, and Jakob stood for a moment, staring at the water. He considered bathing in it, remembering the last time that he had come here, and the calming effect the water seemed to have. Instead, he strolled around the edge of the pool, running his hand along the soft, velvety leaves of the shrubbery along its shore. He focused on his breathing, taking steady breaths, listening to the sounds of the forest, and focusing on the ahmaean all around him.
The Lost City (The Lost Prophecy Book 5) Page 4