by D. H. Dunn
Just a few days earlier, he thought he might never see Nima again. Now he needed to get to her.
He’d lost a brother, he wasn’t about to lose his little sister. The only real friend he’d ever had for any length of time. The thought of Sinar doing to Nima what he had done to Drew was too terrible to allow.
“I do not need the rasi sakta to speak for me,” Upala said. “Your compassion for your friends is something in you that is very special, Drew. To me, and I am sure to all who know you. Fortunately, I do not think you will have to make a choice here.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Drew,” Merin said. “Before Sinar left the Yeti cave, he spoke to me of where he is going. It is a world called Sirapothi, a world steeped in the myth of the Manad Vhan. He has found the means to detect the portal to that world, thus we could follow him.”
“Follow him?” Trillip asked. “We do not know where the vile man’s portal is. You said he left the cave, but we have not seen him.”
“There are only two concentrations of portals in the valley,” Upala said. “The libraries on Ish Rav Partha--”
“And Sinar has already been there.” Drew cut in.
“Exactly,” Upala said, favoring Drew with a smile. He turned away, but not quickly enough to keep his pulse from quickening. “The only other area in the valley with portals in it is my brother’s fortress.”
“Oh great,” Drew chuckled. “A visit to the house that Kater built. Lovely. I’m sure it has ten-foot tapestries with his face on them.”
“Likely,” Merin said. “More problematic, it is also likely Garantika will have men there. Though they may not survive Sinar’s approach, Garantika will have forces searching for us once he knows what happened at the cave.”
Upala stepped closer, Drew feeling a magnetic pull to her as she did so. “Most importantly, I suspect this agent of Garantika is also in Sirapothi. If my understanding of Manad Vhan lore is correct, it is the only place they could obtain the artifacts of the Hero. She means to bring them back to this world and free the dragons from their mountain vaults.”
Trillip gasped at this. “You suspect that is what this Line is trying to do?”
“He boasted of it to me,” Upala said. “This order of his means to eliminate the Manad Vhan race, not just myself and Kater. There is nothing but the dragons that could do that.”
Drew looked down at his boots, allowing the fog in his mind to clear slightly. “Look, I don’t know much about these Dragons, but why would they stop at the Manad Vhan? Won’t they attack the Rakhum too?”
“A reasonable concern, even considering the hatred the Dragons have for my people, the Rakhum would almost certainly be hurt in the crossfire. I cannot say, but I do not think Garantika will be forthcoming in his plans.”
“Sinar will be headed to Kater’s fortress,” Merin said. “If he reaches it before us, he will use the portal there to travel to Sirapothi. The one good news I can share is I doubt he will attempt to travel there before resting. He seemed quite exhausted after -” Her voice caught in her throat. “After what he did to the Yeti.”
“What if we used those digcarts?” Drew asked. “It makes sense they would run to Kater’s fortress.”
“They do indeed,” Trillip said. “Yet would pass by Nalam Wast on the way, there is Garantika’s Order of the Line to consider. To say nothing of propelling such a craft, Drew. Kater’s people use pack mules, but I have seen none around.”
“On that problem, I might have an idea,” Drew said. “First though, I need to have a few words with Upala alone. Would you mind walking with me?”
Upala chuckled even as she looked away. “I think you know there is nothing I’d rather do.”
Merin and Trillip had gone to scout farther along the digcart rails that followed the river, allowing Drew a few moments to discuss his ideas with Upala.
The trick would be keeping his mind on those ideas.
Drew could feel Upala’s warmth as he sat on the cool grasses of the plain. The mountains formed a cradle all around him, the night sky still clear and filled with stars, though a slight hint of pink crept in from the east. Dawn was coming.
He could feel her as she sat with her back against his. Her hair rested slightly on his shoulders, the back of her arms against his own. He could feel the desire for her, but it was manageable. A drum beat in the background of his mind, but not an overwhelming urge.
“This helps with my theory,” he said. “I think at least part of this rasi sakta is visually cued. How are you doing?”
“Have I thrown you to the grass and ravaged you?” she asked.
He laughed again. It was good to hear the musical tones creeping back into her voice. “Okay, so I’m going to call that theory strong, if not confirmed. Now, while I was waiting for you and Merin to come back I did some thinking. You’ve already said that you cannot summon fire at this altitude, correct?”
She sighed. “Yes, that is true. I cannot account for why Sinar and Kater can while I could not, but there are any number of reasons why that might be true.”
“No matter. It’s not that ability I’m interested in. Back in the Under when we were fighting Kater, trying to free you, he used this red energy shield against us. It didn’t hurt us, but it kept us all back. In the end, only Vihrut seemed to be able to get through it. Is that something you can do? I mean here at this altitude?”
“I am sure I could, Drew. I guess I have not had a reason to try. I confess that I do not often think . . . tactically. I suppose that would be my brother’s mind, not mine.”
“Humor me,” Drew said. “I have a few ideas about them. For starters, stand up and put that shield on. Try to keep it as close to you as possible.”
He felt the warmth of her body leave, heard the soft pad of her feet on the grass as she stepped away. For a moment there was only the sound of the wind through the grasses of the plains, only the light of the stars and moon. Then they were joined by a soft hum, like a bee flying by. The grass around Drew gained a slight red glow.
He kept his back to her. He wanted to explain his idea, but he also wanted to give himself another heartbeat of hope. If he were wrong about this, he’d eventually have to walk around her blindfolded.
“When Kater had his shield up,” he said. “I remember noticing he looked slightly distorted. It was like looking at him through very clear, red water. Is it that way from the inside of the shield?”
“Perhaps slightly,” Upala said, her voice now a little more distant, a touch harder to hear over the hum.
“Good. It is my hope that the distortion might pull back the effect of the rasi sakta somewhat, give us a little room to work with each other until we can think up a better solution.”
Drew paced near the tree they had chosen to sit under, though he had only sat for a moment. So many thoughts crowded his mind, tactical concerns at war with feelings and worries. One at a time, he reminded himself.
“How did you two learn to make these shields anyway? Did you and Kater just know how to do it?”
“No, nothing like that.” Her voice pushed past his other concerns, even the ones he had about her. “Our parents were going to teach us, I am sure of it. They just never got around to it, I guess.”
“How did you know you could do it then? Researching Manad Vhan ruins?”
“No, we saw them use their abilities for the first time--” Upala paused, a choke coming into her voice. “I am sorry. We saw them for the first time when they were killed. They used them against the dragon.”
“My god,” Drew said. “Upala I didn’t mean to...”
“They used the shield against a dragon. We were running from the City of Sands, we never expected to encounter one. Maybe it followed us, or tracked us somehow. Perhaps it was just ill fortune.”
He kept his back to her as she spoke, her voice carrying through her energy.
“My father shielded us against the dragon while mother tried to attack with her fire. Yes, like Kater and
Sinar they could use fire at lower altitudes. It must be a learned discipline. He shielded us long enough that we could run, before my father’s shield collapsed under the dragon’s attack. My mother must have wounded it, as it flew off after . . . after it tore them apart.”
Right in front of them. As bad as losing Artie was, he didn’t see his brother ripped to shreds in front of his eyes. No wonder Upala and Kater were obsessed with the dragons and the Hero that--
The thought ended abruptly as he realized something didn’t add up.
“I thought the dragons, the Fourteen Fears you called them, I thought they were all imprisoned by your hero in the mountains around here, long before you were born. The legend of Orami Feram, right? If they were all imprisoned, what attacked your parents?”
Upala sighed. Drew fought the urge to rush to her, to soothe her discomfort. He imagined his boots nailed to the dirt.
“Kater and I asked each other that hundreds of times, until we stopped speaking. In all the Manad Vhan research I have done, I have never seen a mention of it and neither has Kater, but we cannot ignore what we saw. What tore through our parents that day.”
“Another dragon,” Drew said. “One your Hero missed. Or never knew about.”
“A Fifteenth Fear, alive and I suppose free somewhere in the world. Though we escaped, Kater and I both felt someday it would come for us, so our lives became about trying to find answers. In the end, that proved harder than we imagined.”
Drew sat in the grass, looking out over the plains of the valley. Far off, he could see the smoke from Nalam Wast, and beyond that he knew were the yurts and tents of Rogek Shad.
Two cultures, subjugated and ripped apart by the fears of two scared kids. Children who were just trying to protect themselves from the monsters that killed their parents.
It didn’t make it right, but it made more sense.
“You said you had a few ideas about how to use my shields. Was there another one?” Upala asked. Drew was glad she changed the subject.
“I do,” he said with a smile. It was good to smile. “But it depends on if you can control how far away from you they are.”
Somewhere, Sinar was likely pushing toward Kater’s fortress, the urge to just rush there in an attempt to stop him was a strong one, but Drew knew it would be foolish. Sinar was too powerful, they needed to get an upper hand against him as well as remove some distractions.
“You mean, can I form them around me in a shape other than a circle?”
The strength was back in Upala’s voice, he could hear the music in it again. It was endearing, more representative of the adult she had become rather than the tortured child she was remembering.
“That wasn’t exactly what I was thinking . . . but yeah, can you?”
“Turn around and see.”
There was a new tone in her voice, mirth. He turned, Upala was now covered in a field of red mist that somewhat conformed to the outline of her body.
She smiled, walking closer to him, tiny red dots following her in the air, staying just an inch or so off her skin. She was breathtaking, her dark eyes and olive tones as tantalizing as when he first saw her.
But the uncontrollable urges were muted, nearly snuffed out as he looked at her through the shield. He smiled broadly, happy to be able to look at her without the mad drive running in the background of his mind.
She was still beautiful, perhaps even more so now. Her shy smile sparkled, the redness of the shield combining with her tan skin to look even more magical. He still felt the love and passion for her, but it seemed more honest.
“At least now I can look you in the eye,” she said, stopping a few feet away.
Drew chuckled at how unlikely an opportunity this was, that he would be happy to have her so close while keeping his wits about him.
“Does it tire you to keep that around you?”
“No, I have practiced this,” Upala said, smiling. “There were times in the libraries where I would not leave for days. Sometimes the old texts, the Sirapothi ones, they would get me so obsessed I would need something to give my mind a rest. I started to play with my shield, seeing what I could do with it.”
She took another step closer, it was clear to Drew she was testing the limits of this as much as he was.
“When this is over,” Drew said. “I’d really like to be able to look at you with this shield down. To be able to touch you without . . . Well without worrying about what happened before.”
“I do just as much, Drew. I wish I knew more about the rasi sakta, but as you say, when this is over, we will have all the time in the world.”
His smile faded. “Will we?” He ran his fingers over the scar on his arm, and even bigger wound a few inches away on his chest. “Even if we get this worked out, what is happening to me? My healing, is it like your healing? Am I turning into a Manad Vhan? Is that even possible?”
“I wish I could tell you. Your changes are not part of the rasi sakta, not according to anything I have read. All I can say is this. This may be a road no one has travelled, but I will walk it with you, Drew. I will not turn aside.”
He felt heat rushing to his cheeks, his palms sweating.
“That means a lot to me, Upala,” he said, grateful he could finally look at her when he spoke, so she could see his sincerity. “I want you to know that - whatever you did in the past is in the past. For me, you have nothing to prove.”
She turned away, the red field offering him a distorted view of her hair, her shoulders that often slumped, but were now set, determined.
Her voice was steady.
“I have something to prove to myself, and to the people out there.”
She turned back to him, the intensity in her eyes undiminished by the crimson shield around her.
“We need to return to the others. Hopefully Merin and Trillip had luck obtaining transportation.” She began to walk back to the clearing where they had left the pair.
Drew walked alongside her, the urge to hold her feeling more natural, a desire but not a need.
Like Upala, he had much to atone for in his life. Perhaps it was time to follow her example, stop waiting for forgiveness and just move on.
His last memory of his father, the glare in his eyes as he left him at the train station. While there would be no forgiveness there, the memory itself gave him an idea.
“Upala, your shield,” he quickened his pace. The plan that had begun forming in his mind might work. They might catch Sinar after all. “Can you expand your shield, like push it away from you quickly?”
She nodded, eyebrows raised. “I am quite sure that I could.”
“Perfect,” Drew said with a grin. “That’s just what I was hoping you’d say.”
Chapter 25
Val ran through the Fields of Calm, hoping the Scrye of the past would forgive him for his disrespect. If his mother was in the forest, there was any number of threats she might fall victim to.
Why had she not waited for him? He supposed she had no idea he was coming back, perhaps her twice grief-stricken mind had fallen to panic.
Shame and guilt ran up the back of his neck like a tide coming in. He should have told her he was going, at least she would have known where he had gone.
Nima ran just ahead of him, her legs pounding through the sand and seagrasses of the field, raising a cloud of grit that bounced off his shins. Several steps back, Val could hear Zelquan’s breathing as he tried to keep up with them. Zel was unaccustomed to working with his legs, even if his arms made him one of the better net casters in the village. There were no fish to net here.
The forest lay just ahead, through the sand he could see the wagon-wheel marks of the caravan that his mother had been a part of. A caravan filled with Caenolans that believed what Tanira had told them, though it ran in the face of the High Elder’s opposition and all their teachings. One season ago, even his father would have not believed it.
They approached the darkness of the wood , the trees filled with shadows
that kept their forms in the midday sun. A maze of humidity and vegetation that hid dangers such as darkeels and grun, threats the Thartark had needed them to sense. To detect them, though, Val would need to walk slowly and focus. There was no time for that, not with his mother deep in the wood during grun mating season.
“Your mother.” Nima’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. She had slowed her pace, he suspected to allow Zelquan a moment to catch up. “Can’t she sense the animals like you do?”
“She is elderly,” Val said. There were times when his mother failed to sense him, let alone a grun. “The gift is rare, and in older age the ability can fade.”
“Can we call to her?” Nima asked. “Would that alert the grun?”
“No.” Val tried to bring his crystal into focus as he ran, but the area was a blur to his senses. “The grun will not care if we make noise, we are no threat to them unless we disturb mating or feeding. The darkeels though, they know our sounds. We would attract them.”
“I’d rather face a grun than a darkeel pack,” Zelquan called out from behind them.
“If we are lucky, we won’t have to face either,” Nima said as she came to a stop at the edge of the field.
The forest entrance stood in front of them, the first trees just small outliers that blew gently in the breezes that blew in from the sea. A clear path wound into the wood, the route to the caves.
Worn deep through seasons of retreats from Tempests and returns during Calms, the path was a monument to their culture. One narrow road, one direction with no deviation or change.
Val sighed. Off the road, the shrubs grew thicker, filled with vines and thorns. The trees seemed taller and darker the farther from the path he looked, more capable of inciting mishap and hiding danger. The path felt safe, a million feet had trod upon it before him.
“My mother would have stayed on the path,” Val said. “The hard part is keeping us safe while we travel. When walking I can sense both grun and darkeel. While running, it all becomes a blur, it’s too complicated to focus on both.”