Baleful Betrayal

by John Corwin

  Eoriss stared at him with open-mouthed horror. "How cruel to say such a thing, Axo! Jova was too far away for the Destroyer to reach."

  I took a deep breath as anger burned through the regret and let it harden my heart. "We've all lost loved ones and seen more than our fair share of death and destruction." Turning my gaze on Axo, I held back the sharp rebuke I wanted to deliver and settled for something softer. "I'm sorry for the loss of your brother, but we have a mission to save thousands in Tarissa and perhaps the entire realm of Seraphina."

  Demon flames ignited in my eyes and I held Axo's hard look until he shrank away. "If you care nothing for honor, leave us."

  The seraph looked down and shivered. "I am sorry, Destroyer. I will not forsake my duty."

  I nodded and turned to Flava. "Let's move out."

  She nodded. "As you command, Destroyer." Flava pointed to the southern side of the arch. "The Mzodi often dock their ships at the town of Ooskai."

  "What exactly are these sky fishers?" I asked.

  Flava touched the gem on her uniform. "They harvest the gems from the depths of the vortexes where the extreme forces cause the aether to crystallize."

  I examined the faceted green stone. "Oh, I thought the Darklings made the gems themselves."

  "Life as we know it would be impossible without gems," she said. "Though gems can be safely harvested from the land around a vortex, the Mzodi brave the deeps where the most powerful crystals are formed."

  I had visions of pirates flying galleons into tornados, tossing nets, and hauling in a bounty of booty. "What do their ships look like?"

  A smile creased her lips. "They really must be seen to be appreciated."

  I was stoked. "We're going to see angel pirates on flying ships!"

  Elyssa's face scrunched. "I don't know how you went from sky fishers to sky pirates."

  "Just a logical progression," I assured her. I hooked my arm in hers and started hustling over the stone bridge. "I hope their captain has a peg-leg and an eye patch. Shelton's gonna be so jealous."

  Elyssa tossed a bucket of cold water on my enthusiasm. "I'm picturing a bunch of old men with fishing poles."

  "Stop it!" I gave her a hurt look. "You're destroying my fantasy land."

  The stone arch melded into a road when we reached the plateau at the top of the cliff. A wide crystal dock jutted from the side of the cliff. Beyond it sat a tall round house nestled in a stand of aquamarine trees. A stairway in the back trailed down to the edge of the plateau where a wide deck faced the valley.

  I nudged Elyssa. "Imagine having breakfast with that view."

  "Beautiful," she murmured. "It's too bad we can't stick around and explore. I'd love to hike the valley."

  The main street of Ooskai offered a peculiar variety of domiciles. Though most were constructed of shiny black Murk, their shapes ranged from a mundane square and perfect sphere to a bizarre house that resembled a boot.

  I pointed out the latter to Elyssa. "I wonder if the old woman in the shoe lives there."

  She tilted her head in wonder at one shaped like a giant snail shell. "They obviously don't believe in cookie-cutter designs."

  Flava stopped in front of the large house near the dock. It might have looked like a normal two-story house except its proportions were warped, as if viewing it through bent glass. The sera charged the gem where a front door might usually exist and waited.

  A moment later the wall misted away to reveal a gray-haired sera. "What does one of the city wish in these parts?" she asked in Cyrinthian.

  "Tarissa is destroyed," Flava replied. "We seek passage to Kdosh."

  The sera didn't seem surprised. "The price for your sins, city dweller."

  "It's like rednecks versus city slickers," I whispered to Elyssa.

  "The Destroyer has come as promised," Flava said. "He will help us atone for our sins."

  The sera narrowed her eyes. Her gaze quickly latched onto me. "He is different."

  I waved my hand. "Hey, I'm the Destroyer, but you can call me Justin." I tried to sound ominous, but my voice cracked because her intense stare made me nervous. "Can you help us get to Kdosh?"

  The sera frowned. "I will ask Mother." The doorway solidified into a wall.

  I tapped Flava on the shoulder. "I take it they don't like city dwellers?"

  "They believe we aspire to be like the Creator himself with our buildings reaching to the heavens and our magical advances." She wrinkled her nose at the village. "They consider this meager living virtuous."

  "Some things are the same no matter where you go," Elyssa said.

  A shadow flitted across the ground drawing our eyes up. Something I could only describe as a golden winged cat settled on the ground. About twice the size of its domestic cousins and unapologetically majestic, it stalked around us, green eyes wary.

  "How beautiful," Elyssa said, not wasting a moment to crouch and summon the thing. "Here, kitty, kitty."

  It seemed to think she was okay and rubbed its head against her knee, a purr like a saw deep in its throat.

  "What is that?" I asked.

  "A felix," Flava said. "They are common companions, though this one is particularly beautiful." She knelt and started talking cutesy gibberish—probably what passed for "Here, kitty, kitty," in Cyrinthian.

  "My god, a flying cat?" I wondered what passed for dogs around here. "No wonder I haven't seen any squirrels." Elyssa beamed a pleading smile at me, but I cut her off before she could ask. "No, we can't keep him."

  She pouted. "Aww."

  "Mother will see the Destroyer."

  I jumped and turned toward the sera. "What about Flava?"

  "Only you," she said.

  "Is it safe?" I asked Flava.

  She raised an eyebrow. "I should hope so, for the mighty Destroyer."

  Embarrassment heated my face. "Well, you never know."

  Elyssa gripped my hand. "You're right. Don't let your guard down."

  I pecked a kiss on her lips and stepped through the doorway. The sera charged a gem on the inside and a wall filled the space.

  "This way." She walked down a flight of stone steps, through a cool tunnel with a musty smell to it. The corridor ended on the wide deck I'd seen from the bridge. A short balustrade provided the only protection from walking straight off the cliff edge and plummeting to a violent end.

  The sera motioned to two empty chairs next to a table. "Sit."

  "Where is Mother?" I asked.

  "She will come." The sera turned and walked back into the tunnel.

  Instead of sitting, I walked to the stone railing and looked out at the blue valley, taking in the lovely view now that I had a moment to rest. Wings flapped behind me. I turned and saw the golden cat fly in for a landing.

  "I'll bet Elyssa's disappointed," I said with a chuckle. I scratched it behind the ears. "You are beautiful, I'll give you that." I sighed and sat down at the table. Since nobody else was around and I was more than a little nervous about meeting this person who might hold the key to reaching Kdosh, I did what any sane person would do and started talking to myself.

  "Where is this mother I'm supposed to meet? I wonder if I should call her mother too?" I shook my head. "Nah—mommy? Mum? Mamacita?" I strained my brain for more synonyms and nearly had a stroke when the felix flowed like liquid gold into the upright shape of a woman.

  Piercing green eyes stared at me through a curtain of lustrous blonde hair that I was still scratching as if she were a cat.

  I jerked my hand back like it'd been stung and I stumbled backward over the chair, babbling apologies.

  The sera pushed the hair behind her ears, revealing fair skin and—I gasped like I'd just been punched in the gut. "Nightliss," I whispered, afraid I was seeing a ghost, and that if I moved it would go away. My eyes stung and the vision of my dead friend blurred.

  "I am not Nightliss," the sera said without emotional inflection.

  I wiped my eyes and saw it was true. This sera could be either Nightliss or
her evil twin sister, Daelissa. Upon closer inspection, she was neither, standing a fraction taller, her nose a bit wider, cheeks a bit higher. That was when the truth hit me.

  "Nightliss told me you were dead." I said it in a flat tone, unsure what to feel.

  "Perhaps to her I was," she replied in a soft voice. "Neither of my daughters wanted me."

  Looking at someone with such a likeness to my dear friend reopened the fresh wound of her death. Emotions jumbled inside me. I wasn't sure how to act or what to do. There was one thing I knew for certain.

  I had to tell the mother of Nightliss and Daelissa that her daughters were dead.

  Chapter 11

  I started with an easy question. "What's your name?"

  "I am Kaelissa," she said. "Stories from the city reached my ears months ago. They tell of another great war in the mortal realm and the fall of my daughter who would rule Eden."

  I hesitated. This was the part where I should avoid telling her how Daelissa died so she could find out later from someone else and plot her revenge. I decided to skip all that and tell her up front so I could judge her reaction and decide for myself if I should take care of business right here and now.

  "I couldn't let Daelissa rule Eden so I killed her."

  Her eyes turned liquid jade. A blink sent tears rolling down her cheeks. "And Naelissa?"

  "Who?"

  "Nightliss changed her name to sever her familial ties." Kaelissa looked down. "She was a troubled child."

  "She died saving Eden."

  Kaelissa continued speaking as if she hadn't heard me. "Our daughters were the best of friends until Daelissa became old enough to see how the Brightlings treated the Darklings." She sat down and motioned me to do the same.

  I played along. "That was when Daelissa decided she was going to become a Brightling."

  Kaelissa frowned. "Become a Brightling? She was born one."

  I shook my head. "No, she was a Darkling like her sister and parents." I tapped the back of my right hand. "She implanted a prism in her hand so she could channel Brilliance. From that day on, she refused to channel Murk."

  I seemed to have wounded some motherly pride because Kaelissa's lips tightened. "This is a lie."

  "After her death, I found the prism in her hand." I softened my expression. "I'm sorry, Kaelissa, but your daughter faked it."

  She leaned back, shock replacing the doubt. "She migrated to the Brightlands and left us forever. I thought she had died in the First Eden War." Kaelissa took a deep breath. "Thousands of years passed, and recent stories from Zbura reached us in this far away land. Tales told of a new Empress who returned from Eden to raise an army."

  It took me a moment to remember that in this realm, they called the First Seraphim War the Eden War. "Yes, that was Daelissa," I said.

  "My sweet Daelissa," she said. "My beautiful child."

  "And Nightliss?" I asked. "What about her?"

  "She was rebellious, always fighting with her sister," Kaelissa replied. "Daelissa despised Pjurna, as did my husband Hjoeruss and I. Naelissa preferred it here. She said it was a chance for Darklings to weave their own destiny."

  I didn't like to hear her talk about my friend that way. "Where is your husband now?"

  "Oh, he died in an uprising many thousands of years ago." She might have been discussing the weather for all the emotion in her voice.

  "Nightliss thought you were dead all this time." I couldn't get over the incredible likeness between this sera and her daughters, but appearances were where the similarities ended. Kaelissa obviously played favorites and I couldn't help but form an intense dislike for her.

  "I dearly wish I'd been able to see Daelissa again." Kaelissa sniffed and wiped at damp eyes. "Perhaps even Naelissa would have grown out of her troubled youth by now if she hadn't died."

  My back stiffened. "Nightliss died a hero." I repressed the urge to defend my friend's honor and shifted to the most pressing subject. Much as I might dislike Kaelissa, we needed her help. "I was told you might help us arrange for passage with the Mzodi."

  Kaelissa raised an eyebrow. "They seldom take passengers." Her brow furrowed. "Whence do you travel that you require a sky ship?"

  "Kdosh." I could tell she had more questions so I gave her a rundown on Cephus's activities. "Eden was attacked with crystal meteors, crystoids, that threatened to destroy all magic. He used the same weapons on Tarissa to destroy the city legion and take over the government."

  "I take it he was unsuccessful in destroying Eden?" Kaelissa said, a faint note of disappointment in her voice.

  "Yes," I said firmly. "Now we're here to destroy him once and for all."

  She pursed her lips. "What is your ultimate goal?"

  "Kill Cephus, rebuilt Tarissa, unite Seraphina." I shrugged. "I know it doesn't sound like much."

  Kaelissa frowned. "You remind me of Naelissa. She wished to unite our people, but the war only drove us further apart."

  Once again, I resisted the urge to punch a female in the mouth and steered us back on topic. "Will you help us with the Mzodi?"

  Her eyes gazed into the distance. "I will ask on your behalf, but I cannot promise their acquiescence."

  "How often do they come here?"

  "A ship is due tomorrow morning," Kaelissa said. "If you require food and lodging, I suggest you speak with my servant, Djola."

  "The woman who led me in here?" I asked.

  She completely ignored my question and put her hand over mine. "Would you tell me about my daughters?"

  I felt certain she only wanted to hear about the exploits of Daelissa, but decided to indulge her. "Can I tell the others about our situation first?"

  "Of course." She motioned to the tunnel. "Djola will see you out."

  Djola sat upstairs near the door, two small gems pinched in her fingers. I watched as she channeled Murk through the gems and weaved silky cloth.

  "That's really cool," I said.

  She flinched and nearly dropped the gems. "How may I serve?"

  "Kaelissa requested that you find accommodations for my friends," I said.

  She nodded. "At once."

  I nodded at the cloth. "May I touch it?"

  Djola held it up. "It will be a gown for a newborn baby."

  The cloth felt so soft it actually drew a moan from me. "That's amazing."

  She smiled. "Thank you. I have been a weaver for over two centuries, but I love it no less than the day I began."

  "Wow, that's quite a while." I looked at her graying hair and the fine wrinkles in her skin. At the end of the First Seraphim War, the Chalon had been forcibly removed from the primary Alabaster Arch, the Grand Nexus, and caused a tremendous backlash called the Desecration. It had husked all the Seraphim in Eden, turning them into soul-sucking monsters. In Seraphina, they called it the Schism. The results here had been less severe in the short term, but deadly in the long run.

  The children of Seraphim caught in the blast radius on this side no longer lived for millennia, but were reduced to centuries. Those already alive before that time seemed to live on otherwise unaffected. It explained why Kaelissa looked young as ever despite being even older than her late daughters, and why Djola looked so old.

  I knew better than to ask her age and kept my curiosity to myself.

  "I will weave until the day our creator, the Primogenitor takes me," Djola said. "Creation is the most holy of works."

  "Yes, it is." I motioned toward the wall. "Can you open the door for me, please?"

  Instead of answering, she had a question. "Is it true you knew my sisters?"

  I blinked, suddenly tongue-tied. "You're Kaelissa's daughter?"

  She looked down. "I am not what mother wanted, but yes, I am truly her daughter."

  "I knew Nightliss well, but not Daelissa." I swallowed a lump. "I only knew Nightliss for a couple of years, but she was like a sister to me." In retrospect, it seemed I'd barely gotten to know her at all. "Do you have other siblings?"

  "Yes, but most ar
e dead," Djola said in a quiet voice. Her face fell. "I will see to your friends." She activated the gem and opened the door.

  Elyssa looked relieved to see me. "What happened?"

  "Let's just say I have an interesting surprise for you." I walked to Flava. "Djola will find everyone accommodations. I'm going back to speak with our host."

  "Who is this mother?" Flava asked.

  "Her name is Kaelissa," I said.

  Her eyes widened. "She is of the blood of Issa?"

  I tried to understand what she meant, but my brain spit out an error code. "I don't know what that means."

  "The ancient Seraphim named their children by matriarchal lineage," Flava said. "The practice was discontinued millennia ago."

  "Who was Issa?"

  "One of the first Seraphim, according to legend." Flava gazed up at the sky. "She was the progenitor of the line that produced Daelissa."

  I had an aha moment. "No wonder Seraphim never tell me their last names. It's all built together."

  "In the past, yes," Flava said. "Now Seraphim use whatever name they wish."

  "Maybe you'll need to use last names," I said. "I think Flava Jones has a nice ring to it."

  Flava's nose wrinkled. "It sounds unnatural." Her head tilted slightly to the side. "Who is this Kaelissa?"

  Elyssa looked at me expectantly. "Yeah, Justin, spill the beans."

  I sighed. "She's the mother of Nightliss and Daelissa."

  "Whoa!" Elyssa's eyes flashed wide.

  Flava's mouth hung open. "Impossible."

  "How much did you know about their parents?" I asked Flava.

  "History tells us almost nothing," she said. "They died after the Great Exile, but we do not even know their names."

  "Hjoeruss and Kaelissa," I said.

  "The blood of Ussor and Issa," Flava said. "It is no wonder they were so strong."

  Now that I knew the Seraphim naming convention it got me to thinking about another Seraphim in Eden. Nicknamed Mr. Gray, he'd once been an adversary but turned into an ally. Using his lifelike golems, the gray men, he'd helped us win the war. His real name sounded remarkably like another. "Were Fjoeruss and Hjoeruss related?"