Jakob took her hand, and this time, he was the one to push the soothing connection of ahmaean between them. “I didn’t say that I agreed with that.”
Anda sighed. “There is a reason the daneamiin have withdrawn from the world. There had been a time when we took a more active role, but that only led to violence against my people.”
“Remaining withdrawn hasn’t kept you safe, either. It simply means that when others encounter you, they fear you when they should not.”
They stood quietly for a moment, both of them staring at the massive mountain. Jakob focused on the steam rising from it, and the sense of heat that he detected, even from here. It was nearly overpowering. How hot would it be when he moved closer to it?
“What do you intend to find here?” Anda asked.
Jakob had given that some thought. He had not known that an entire mountain of teralin existed, but now that he did, and now that he understood how teralin prevented shifting, he wondered if perhaps he might find other answers here.
Was this where Raime hid?
If it was, any advantage Jakob had from teralin would be neutralized. He couldn’t shift, which meant that he couldn’t escape if he were overpowered. It also meant that Raime wouldn’t be able to shift if he were here. Even if Raime was not here, perhaps this was a place he could bring Scottan and the other damahne who thought to attack him and prevent them from anything more dangerous.
“I’m not sure what I will find here. I… I thought that maybe there would be answers, but maybe there aren’t. Maybe there is nothing for me to learn here.” Searching the mountain for evidence of Raime would be nearly impossible. The mountain was massive, and without any way of stretching his ahmaean, or any way of shifting, he wouldn’t be able to search for Raime. “I need to find him, but the longer I spend looking, the more questions I have. There is no evidence of Raime anywhere. It’s as if he has a way of simply disappearing.”
“Which is why you thought to search for him here.”
“Him or the other.” There had to be someone who guided Raime, didn’t there? Everything he had discovered pointed in that direction.
“He would find the same restrictions with coming here as you did. This would not be a place for him. He would be trapped here no differently than you would be.”
Jakob let out a frustrated sigh. The mountain might be where it made sense to find Raime, but it wasn’t where he could find him. Where did Raime hide?
“We should leave,” he told Anda.
“I thought you wanted to search for him here.”
“It would take me days to search. The teralin is neutralizing my ability to shift, so if we were to do any searching, it would be by foot.”
Jakob didn’t know how much longer they had, but from his glimpses along the fibers, he didn’t think there was a significant amount of time left. Days, perhaps. After that…
After that, it was possible there would be nothing else. It could be that Raime succeeded, or it could be that Jakob managed to overcome. He just didn’t know. And if Jakob did manage to defeat Raime, what would it look like for him? What existed on his strand after that? He had to believe there was more than only darkness.
“Perhaps there is another way for you to find the answers you need?”
“How? I’ve looked along the fibers, and I’ve tried to see what else might be there, but nothing is clear.”
She nodded. “Perhaps nothing is clear, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have other ways of searching.”
“If I can’t shift, and I’ve already struggled to find Raime, what are you suggesting?”
She turned and pointed into the distance.
Jakob followed the direction of her gaze, frowning as he realized that shapes moved along the bleak, rocky landscape.
Who was coming toward them?
He reached for his sword, and Anda touched his hand. “That will not be necessary, Jakob Nialsen.”
“Who is it?”
“A friend.”
He started toward the distant figures, and as he neared, they became clearer, and he could make out Brohmin’s features. How long had it been since he’d last seen the Hunter? It seemed as if it had been ages, though it likely had only been a month or two.
As they approached, he smiled, but it faded as he began to wonder why Brohmin would be here. What would have brought him away from Paliis and toward this mountain?
“I wouldn’t have expected you here,” Jakob said.
Brohmin breathed out a relieved sigh and glanced to Salindra. She looked much better than she had the last time Jakob had seen her. She was completely recovered, and with her recovery came a certain confidence that she rarely had displayed during their travels together.
“I didn’t believe it, either, but I… felt… you.”
Jakob frowned. “You felt me?”
Brohmin nodded. “I don’t know how to explain it, but there was this sense of familiarity that came over me. I’ve only detected it around you, and that was when you saved me. I knew that I needed to find you, even if I didn’t know why.”
Jakob glanced to Anda, but she remained silent.
“Why were you here?”
“The Conclave. Isn’t that why you’re here?”
Jakob shook his head. “I’m here because of the neutral teralin found in the mountain. I thought that if anyplace would be able to conceal Raime’s presence, it would be here.”
Brohmin’s gaze turned toward the mountain, and he nodded slowly. “I hadn’t thought of that. I forget how much teralin influences the damahne. It doesn’t have quite the same impact on Magi or daneamiin.”
“There is some influence to it,” Anda said.
Brohmin waved his hand. “Of course. There has to be some impact, you are all descended from the same stock, but it’s not the same as Jakob’s experience.”
“Could Raime have hidden here?” he asked.
Brohmin frowned, biting his lip. “I wouldn’t have thought so, but it’s possible. The Conclave has long used Salvat as their headquarters. Had you asked me even a few weeks ago, I would have said it impossible that Raime would have been so close, but…”
“But what?” Jakob asked.
Brohmin breathed out heavily. “The Lashiin priests.”
“What about them?” Jakob asked.
“They revealed something to Roelle about their beliefs. We thought they had come trying to abduct the Deshmahne children so that they could prevent them from gaining a foothold, but they were trying to gain control of teralin.”
“I was there, Brohmin. I saw the same.”
“But it’s more than that. When Roelle encountered them in Paliis, she discovered that they were connected not to the Urmahne as we had believed, but to some other ancient philosophy. They claimed there is a text that speaks of the gods’ displeasure with how their power has been diluted. They claim the gods wanted nothing to do with the Magi. And there was something I found in a journal.”
Brohmin glanced over to Salindra who nodded to him, almost as if encouraging him. Jakob was once more taken by the change within Brohmin in the time since they first met.
“A journal?” Could Brohmin have found one of Raime’s journals? If anyone would have it, wouldn’t the Conclave? Raime had served on the Conclave, however briefly, so it would make sense that they would have a copy.
Why hadn’t Jakob considered that before?
“It was difficult to decipher, but the author references impurity within the damahne. There was a need for a purging. I cannot be certain of much more, as most of it references war and explosives…”
Jakob frowned at him. That had to be Raime’s journal, and Brohmin finding it couldn’t be merely a coincidence, could it? What impurity would Raime have known about?
And did it have anything to do with the conversation that he’d had with Shoren, the discussion about the purity of the damahne in their ahmaean?
Could it be related?
Could everything Raime had done be
en because of something like that?
Would it even matter at this point? After all this time, how could it matter?
“You’ve seen something, haven’t you? This helps?” There was an urgency to Brohmin’s voice that Jakob didn’t recognize.
“It helps. I think you found Raime’s historian journals.”
Brohmin’s breath caught. “Raime?”
Jakob sighed. “I saw something in a vision. I didn’t realize there was any connection to what’s been happening now and that vision.”
“What was it?”
“I think I’ve already told you how not all damahne were pleased with the creation of the daneamiin. That displeasure extended to the Magi as well as the groeliin.”
“The damahne have never opposed the groeliin. They might disagree with their existence, but they’ve done nothing to endanger them.”
Jakob frowned. “I don’t know. I’ve tried finding out more, but Shoren prevents me from understanding. He blocks that from me.”
“How often have you visited with Shoren?” Brohmin asked.
“Often enough to know him.”
“He was the first vision that you had where you were consumed by it, wasn’t he?”
It was an interesting way to phrase it, but Jakob suspected that was true. Shoren had been the first vision where he’d been consumed. He had been Shoren and had lost himself. The other times, there had been a sense of strangeness and a sense that he was looking outside of his body, but with Shoren, he sank into his connection to the damahne.
“I have walked back and spoken with Shoren many times. He’s helped me understand my abilities, and he’s provided guidance, but he prevents me from reaching much more than that.”
Brohmin frowned. “Shoren was always considered one of the greatest damahne. Even in his time, he was revered. That reputation has only grown.”
Jakob thought about his interactions with Shoren, and thought about what the damahne had known—but there was much he hadn’t known. Jakob had discovered things that Shoren had not yet learned.
“Do you think he would explain whether this connection to the Lashiin priests means anything?”
Jakob shook his head. “I don’t know. Though he’s taught me much, he’s been reluctant to share with me. He manages to seal off his thoughts, and it prevents me from finding out anything more.”
“We need to know,” he said.
Jakob sighed. “I can try again.” He didn’t know how many times he would need to try for him to discover whether there was anything that Shoren might know. All he knew was that the time they had remaining seemed limited. Would there be enough for him to accomplish what was needed?
He might need more strength than could be found in the Tower.
Jakob had an idea of where to look, but not whether it would work. Could he go to the Old Forest and understand? Could he find the answers there?
It was a place Shoren had feared. The old damahne wouldn’t come out and say it, but he was uncomfortable with the Old Forest, much like many of the damahne of that time were. Why would that be? Jakob’s experiences with it had been strange, but not frightening. There was nothing about the forest that seemed to harbor any ill will toward him.
“Did you find anything here that would help you understand Raime?” Brohmin asked.
Jakob shook his head. “I don’t know whether there is anything here to find. Raime wouldn’t come here. He would know that doing so would place him in danger, especially if he couldn’t shift.”
“Unless he knows something that you don’t.” When Jakob arched a brow at him, Brohmin only shrugged. “Raime has lived for over a thousand years. He has lived through experiences that we have to read about. I’ve had a long life—longer than I deserve—and even I understand that there are things Raime knows that I do not.”
Jakob had to admit that it was possible. With Raime’s experience, he could know more than they did, and it was possible—even likely—that he had some way of shifting in places that Jakob could not. It would provide him an advantage, and that was the sort of thing Raime would search for.
“Have you ever heard of damahne having visions of the Maker?”
“I’ve not heard of anyone having visions of the Maker. Have you had those visions?”
“I’ve had a vision. It was not one I sought. Inside the fibers, I was pulled back by some power and carried around the world within my host. Whoever it was knew I was there, and I could not assert control as I can in other hosts.”
“Have you had this experience before?”
“I’ve had none. My host flew high above the world, continent to continent. I was brought here, and saw this mountain, and was told that there was a need for balance.”
Brohmin glanced to Salindra. “Balance. We saw something like that, didn’t we?”
“I can’t read those journals as quickly as you, Brohmin. The ancient languages aren’t as fluid for me yet.”
Brohmin sighed. “There was something about this balance you speak of in Raime’s journals, but…” Brohmin’s brow furrowed. “We should look at this text together. Maybe it will help you understand.”
“That won’t help me understand, but there is something that could.”
There was another reason to go to the Old Forest. If he could use their connection, and work with the Cala maah once more—at least Aruhn and Anda—could he walk back and experience the first of the groeliin once more?
If the daneamiin had a talent with looking backward along the fibers, was it possible that groeliin had the ability to look forward? If Raime had used them, it might explain how he had managed to anticipate what Jakob might do even after he had separated him from the fibers.
Unless that ability had changed. Had the groeliin’s ability been eliminated over time? Or had it been twisted?
“Why would Raime leave such records?” Salindra asked.
“There is a way for us to know,” Jakob said. “And I fear we need to act quickly. I don’t know how much time we have remaining, but it grows shorter each day.”
“What have you seen?”
Jakob shook his head. “Darkness. That’s all I can see.”
“What does it mean?” Salindra asked.
Jakob shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s the same thing Haerlin saw, and I suspect it’s the same thing Raime saw for me, though I don’t know what it means.”
Brohmin and Salindra shared a lingering gaze. “I think it’s time that I stay with you,” Brohmin said.
“You’ve done enough,” Jakob said. “You should have this time with Salindra. You deserve it.”
Brohmin smiled. “Thank you, Jakob. I don’t know that I deserve anything, but I appreciate the fact that you do. But for now, I am the Hunter. It’s my responsibility to help you find Raime. That was a task assigned to me by the Conclave.”
“You don’t have to remain as the Hunter,” Jakob said. “You can let someone else take up that mantle.”
“If only I could, but my time is short,” he said with a smile. “And this is a task that I have been allowed to live for as long as I have to complete. It needs to be me,” he said.
Jakob didn’t know what to say. In his visions, he had not seen or spent much time with the Conclave. He had relied upon Dendril to help him with Jostephon, but Jakob still didn’t understand all that was involved with the Conclave.
“And what of you?” he asked Salindra.
She watched Brohmin. “I’ll do what he does. I will stay with him for as long as I can.”
Jakob sighed. “Then come with me.”
“Where are you going?” Brohmin asked.
“To the Old Forest. To find answers.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
The air of the Old Forest had a fragrance to it that reminded Jakob of the daneamiin forest. A hazy sort of fog hung over everything, and he dispersed it, drawing the ahmaean inside himself. It did not resist despite the daneamiin concern that the Old Forest had some malicious intent.
Br
ohmin breathed deeply. “I’ve never been here before. I’ve known about this place, all who sit on the Conclave long enough will hear of the Old Forest, especially since the damahne speak of their concern about coming here, but I never imagined I would even find it let alone spend any time in it.”
“The damahne feared the Old Forest because they didn’t know it,” Jakob said.
“They feared it because of the ahmaean here,” Anda said. “The power within the forest is unique, Jakob Nialsen. Even you must be able to sense that.”
“It’s unique, but it’s no different from the ahmaean found within the daneamiin forest or within the Great Forest.”
Anda smiled. “The ahmaean found here is quite different from that found in those other places. Your experience with them is limited, so you do not see it the same way others see it.”
“Perhaps that’s all it is,” Jakob said.
“Why here?” Brohmin asked.
“Because here is where the daneamiin now call home. Raime attacked their forest, destroying the home they had there.”
Brohmin looked at Anda. “He destroyed it? Everything?”
“It’s possible they will be able to return someday,” Jakob said.
“It will be different, Jakob Nialsen. Even if we manage to return, it will not be what it was. Much of our essence has been lost.”
“And yet you continue to live.”
Anda smiled. “Yes. I don’t disagree that most are pleased that we have survived, but that doesn’t change the difficulty of what we have experienced.”
They made their way through the trees, reaching the outermost area where the daneamiin had begun rebuilding, forming a home within the Old Forest. It was different from the home they once had, but it remained impressive just the same. Ropes stretched between trees, and daneamiin made their way along them, flickering in the way that they did. Branches had been bent into shapes designed for shelter, not quite the same openings within the trees as they had before, but still there was a connection here, a type of home.
“All of this so quickly?” Brohmin asked.
“The trees allow us to remain with them,” Anda said.
The Great Betrayal (The Lost Prophecy Book 8) Page 29