Gorinthians

by Justin Mitchell

  Lori stepped back, smiling with tears in her eyes that breaking her ankle had been unable to produce, "I wouldn't know. You're my first."

  Li stared at her in astonishment, unsure if she understood her correctly. In Chasel Ri' Aven, it was usually the beautiful girls that had all of the friends. As young as she was, Lori was still breathtakingly beautiful. "Why don't you have any friends where you are from?" Li blurted before she could stop herself.

  "It's complicated," Lori said with a sigh. "I am from a wealthy family that sends me to a school with other wealthy families. Who you are does not matter at places like that. All they care about is what you are. I am the only daughter of a mayor that has done some very bad things, so none of the other families want their daughters around me, because it will make them look bad."

  Li began to have a better understanding of the stubborn independence that Lori wore like a second skin. "Well, you have a friend now," Li said with a smile, "and the parents I was raised with wouldn't care what kind of man your father is."

  Lori impulsively hugged her again, whispering "friends" in her ear before she stepped away. Terrance walked over to them with a serious look on his face as his powerful gaze rested on them.

  "Lori, we are going to need to teach you how to use your yar, for your safety as well as everyone else’s.” Terrance smiled to take the sting off. "Li is among the best at her school, so I would like to have her teach you all she knows. Thistledown will be able to answer any questions Li doesn't have the answer to."

  Li looked at Terrance sharply, "Where are you going?"

  "Going?" Terrance asked, blinking at her. "What do you mean?"

  "You said Thistledown would be able to answer any questions I couldn't," Li said, staring at him pointedly. "Why couldn't we just ask you?"

  "Oh!" Terrance coughed into his hand. "Of course you can ask me as well. I just meant Thistledown would also be able to answer your questions.” His eyes continued looking into hers, giving nothing away, until she finally broke her gaze, nodding.

  "Let's eat!" Thistledown called from the fire pit, where the smells of sausage and potatoes drifted through the camp, making Li's stomach grumble loudly.

  As they ate around the campfire, Terrance stood up to address them. "We will be arriving in the village of North Fork tonight. I know that most of you have never stayed in a village for very long, so I want to make you aware of a few things. The people who live in these small villages are very provincial and superstitious. Try not to get into any fights with the city watch or local villagers. Some of the men will probably make certain comments at the ladies in our party. Just ignore them and move on. If someone does pick a fight with you, try not to kill them. The local authorities usually don't pay too much attention to fist fights, but murders are a different story. Women outside of Chasel Ri’ Aven don't learn to fight like men, so try not to attract attention by demonstrating your ability to defend yourself. In most cases it will just attract more trouble.” He paused for a moment, looking at Selindria. She wore a determined look on her face, nodding at him to continue. "On our way to North Fork, we may encounter a stranger that seems slightly out of her head. If we do, I want all of you to promise to keep moving and do not look back, no matter what."

  As everyone nodded, he relaxed a little. "You will be purchasing horses in North Fork to finish the journey to Shalilayo. I know most of you have no experience with horses, but Selindria or Thistledown will be able to teach you to ride.” He looked at Thistledown, who shook his head, and then at Lochnar, who looked uncertain for the first time since Li had seen him. Finally, he also nodded and Terrance pulled his pack on and started moving back to the road.

  Li followed behind Celdic with a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had no idea what was going to happen this morning, but the effect it was having on the older members of the group began to scare her. She jumped whenever a bird sang too loud, or when a ground squirrel ran in front of them. They followed the road for several hours, with Terrance leading the way. She could feel his yar reaching out to distances much further than she could reach. His yar made odd ripples pass through the land around them she could sense with her own yar. Lochnar disappeared again, breaking all of the rules Li had learned about the Spiritual Realm at the Tar Ri’ San.

  As she peered off the road to their right, her eyes caught a flash behind a clump of cedar trees several hundred feet away from the road. She reached out with her yar, looking for the source of the disturbance. At first, she felt nothing. After a moment, however, she noticed the ground was being pressed down by something, leaving what felt like three-toed tracks. She felt herself go cold as she realized it must be more of the creatures they had discovered after finding the corpse in the field the previous day.

  As Li started to shout to Terrance that the creatures were next to them, she suddenly felt a yar unlike anything she had ever felt before. It seemed to be filled with confusion and pain more intense than anything Li could imagine. In the road in front of them, a figure shambled toward them. It half-crouched as if it could not walk upright.

  "Everyone, continue on," Terrance instructed loudly. "Selindria and I will rejoin you later. Skirt off the road to the left until you are around her," Terrance finished, gesturing at the shambling figure that was making its way toward them.

  Thistledown gave Terrance’s shoulder a pat. Motioning the others to follow him, he turned off the road to the left. Li watched the odd figure in revulsion as they went around her. She was close enough to see the dirty blonde hair that was snarled and knotted, and strips of clothing that hung from her like rags. Layers of dirt and grime hid her skin. She made odd mumbling sounds interspersed with small whimpers as she moved forward. They were twenty feet to the side of them when Terrance and Selindria intercepted her.

  "Riah, it's me, Selindria." Selindria's voice had a catch to it and Li saw that she had tears streaming down her face. Riah stared at Selindria with confused eyes, "Srina?" she asked with a lopsided grin.

  "Yes, it's your sister." Selindria's voice was broken with heartache that radiated from her Aura like huge discs with razor edges. "We are here to make you better."

  "Keep moving," Thistledown urged them as they tried to stop and watch the exchange. Terrance pulled out his Chasel and dug it into the ground. Li felt a powerful surge, as if the ground were shifting. Terrance pulsed with a power Li had never seen before. It was so vast she could not comprehend the depth of the raw energy rushing into him, as if he had tapped into an ocean. Riah let out a scream as Terrance snared her in a wall of suddenly-hardened, water-dense air. A second form immediately appeared beside Riah's first form and Li saw a fork of energy shoot out of Terrance into Selindria, and then into the form which had materialized next to Riah. The new form bore only a vague resemblance to the creature next to it, as if it were the finished product and Riah was a mold that had somehow gone wrong. Li could feel Riah's yar diminishing as Terrance continued pouring energy into her, working with elements so complex Li shuddered at the time it must have taken to gain so much skill. Riah's screams were changing slightly, as if she were in torment too great for her body to give voice to. Li could feel the small glow of a yar begin to glow inside the form next to Riah, and realized Terrance was somehow moving her spirit into the new host.

  The air around them crackled with power, with a loud buzz that hurt Li's ears. The air around them felt as if it were alive, causing all of her hairs to stand on end. The newfound yar in the form next to Riah continued to grow stronger as Riah's steadily diminished. Thistledown led them over a hill, and they lost sight of the phenomenon, though Li could still feel everything with her yar.

  "What is going on?" Lori asked Thistledown in a frightened voice. "Why are we leaving them?"

  Thistledown glanced back at Lori without slowing down, "Terrance is trying to save Riah's life. Her spirit has been twisted and tortured to the point that he cannot heal it by normal means. They are rebuilding it as best they can."

  Li cou
ld tell he was not telling them everything. Why would they have to leave if all he was doing was healing her? They were just returning to the road when Li remembered the strange creatures that had been watching them. She reached out with her yar to see where they were, and let out a small scream as she sensed the speed at which their tracks were making in the ground as they raced toward them. A moment later, Lochnar materialized at her side, shoving her backword roughly, as he struck out with his arm in front of him. Blood shot up in a red fountain, and suddenly they could see what looked like a giant lizard flopping around on the ground next to its now-severed head. Before Li had a chance to recover from her surprise, Lochnar disappeared again, reappearing fifteen feet away as he hacked a second head off with his invisible sword. Li whirled as she heard Jalorm shout behind her as a third creature threw him twenty paces out onto the field to the right side of the road. Before Jalorm hit the ground, the reptilian creature leaped into the air with its middle claw extended. In a sudden blur that was too fast for her eyes to see, but which she felt with her yar, Jalorm sprang backward as the beast landed where he had fallen. He sprang forward again at lightning speed, slashing with his sword. His heavy sword bit deeply into the side of the creature, but it spun and snapped at him with six-inch teeth. The wild snapping of the monster’s teeth caught only air as Jalorm jumped backward quicker than thought. A second later, Jalorm launched himself at the creature’s back, pulling a long dagger into his hand as he soared through ten feet of air, driving the dagger into the creature’s skull as he landed.

  Li could feel the impression of three sets of tracks racing away from them as Lochnar killed a fourth. It had happened so quickly that Celdic and Lendel had barely begun to run forward with their swords drawn. Thistledown stood in front of her, Jesha and Cha'le protectively. His hands were wrapped around a strange black orb that had started glowing blue.

  "Is everyone all right?" Jalorm demanded as he made his way back over to them, limping slightly.

  "Everyone but you," Celdic said with a nervous laugh, "So that's what it means to have the Jen De La."

  As Jalorm rejoined them, Thistledown reached down to feel his leg with his fingers for several moments. When he was done, Jalorm flexed his leg several times and thanked Thistledown for the healing. Back at the Tar Ri’ San, only the most advanced teachers could perform the kind of healing that Li had seen Thistledown and Terrance do.

  Lochnar appeared next to them again, radiating violence so intensely that Li almost stepped back. "I killed the other four," he said in a tight voice. "They left one to watch several hundred yards back. I have a feeling there are a lot more of these things on their way." Turning, he spat on the ground and started walking down the road toward North Fork.

  The others followed reluctantly, looking behind them where they could still feel a titanic struggle raging as Terrance and Selindria tried to save Riah. Li tried to watch Thistledown without seeming to. She did not know what kind of bond he shared with Lochnar and Terrance, but she knew one existed and that his expression would be a good indication of how their friends were faring. At the moment, his face was tense with concentration as he continued following Lochnar, his eyes looking all around without actually seeing anything. About an hour after their encounter with the strange creatures, she felt an odd spike in the level of energy behind them. She looked quickly at Thistledown and saw his eyes widen in shock. Then she felt the energy source disappear completely. The sudden silence was deafening.

  "They are gone," he whispered to himself in shock. Lochnar was too far ahead of them to have heard him, but at the same moment, he glanced back at Thistledown with a look Li thought might be regret, and then he turned and continued.

  They could see the town of North Fork in the distance, as well as a large dust cloud on the road between the town and them. Li reached out with her yar, gasping in surprise as she felt the road filled with hundreds of armed men. She looked at Thistledown, wondering if he had sensed them yet. He had a troubled frown on his face, and he seemed to be arguing with himself under his breath. Before he could reach a decision with himself, Lochnar stopped in the road and halted their party.

  "Shall we go around them, or through them?" Lochnar asked coolly, with an arched eyebrow.

  "What are they doing?" Thistledown asked, studying the dust cloud as it drew closer.

  "Searching for someone," Lochnar replied with a scowl. "Possibly us."

  "Let's wait to the side and let them pass," Thistledown said after a moment of thought. "We can steal one of the soldiers from the back of the column to question."

  Lochnar grunted and started on the road to their left. Li felt cold inside, wondering if Terrance and Selindria were still alive. When the energy disappeared, so had the sense of Selindria and Terrance. Lochnar led them to a ravine, where they settled down inside of it to wait for the troops to pass by. As she sat waiting, Li reached out with her yar, trying to feel any trace of Terrance or Selindria. With a sense of shock, she realized that there were four other people at the spot they had left Terrance and Selindria, in addition to the now-regular yar of Riah.

  "Who are they?" Li asked Thistledown.

  Before he could reply, Lochnar began blistering the air with curses and then disappeared. Thistledown's eyes grew wide in recognition as he felt the four newcomers.

  "We need to go back," Thistledown said abruptly. "Quickly now.” He turned and began trotting back the way they had just come.

  Chapter 22

  Morindessa studied the land around them with narrowed eyes as they let their horses slow their pace to a walk. She felt a growing sense of dread the further south they traveled. It was a feeling she came to recognize as a threat at the outer edges of her yar's ability to reach. In the distance, she could feel a person's yar that was wildly out of control. It twisted and turned haphazardly, like that of a madman’s. Through all of the confusion that emanated from the strange yar, there was something very familiar about it.

  Jesha looked up at her more and more frequently during the last hour, sensing her uncertainty. Morindessa was surprised at how well Jesha could sense with her yar, growing up outside of a Zeran village. She must have learned much of it while she was very young.

  Raising her hand, Morindessa called a halt and pulled a small wooden box out of her saddlebags. She slid the top off which revealed two rows of small glass vials filled with colored liquids. Pulling out the clear one labeled Spirit’s Bane, she unscrewed the top and let one drop fall on her tongue.

  "Put a drop of this on your tongue,” she told the others as she lightly lifted Jesha's chin with her finger, letting a drop fall on her little, outstretched tongue. Nudging her horse in the ribs, she moved over to Ferrich and Seranova.

  "What is it?” Seranova asked somewhat apprehensively, looking at the vial warily.

  "It's called Spirit's Bane.” Morindessa showed her the label on the vial. "It will hide our yar so people can't sense us."

  Ferrich rubbed the tip of his nose. "Why the strange name?"

  Morindessa shrugged, "I don't know. It doesn't really keep Spirits away; It just keeps them from being able to see you."

  Ferrich pursed his lips as he tasted the small drop. "Interesting. I couldn't tell you what it tastes like, though. It's not sweet or bitter, sour or tangy."

  Morindessa smiled to herself as he continued describing his analysis of the substance. She thought it might be his earnestness that she was attracted to. He seemed to see everything in life with an enthusiasm and energy that would have drained most people. "Your spirit is interfering in the usual taste sense, Ferrich," she explained with a smile. "The drop on your tongue actually soaked through your tongue and into your spirit, which has a much broader range of sensations than your tongue."

  Ferrich paused in his analysis, looking at her in surprise. "Oh.” He closed his mouth, thinking for a moment. "How many more sensations?"

  "When we arrive at Chasel Ri’ Aven, I will show you a few of them,” Morindessa promised him with a
small mysterious smile.

  Ferrich looked at her for a moment, trying to keep his face under control, without much success. Jesha giggled as his ears turned red enough to cook on, while he seemed unable to break his gaze from her own direct stare.

  "I don't mean to interrupt, but is there a reason we are trying to hide our yar?" Seranova asked with a mixture of amusement and impatience.

  "Yes.” Morindessa looked back up the road, the way they were traveling. "There is something up ahead I am concerned about. We need to go around it."

  "Something you can't handle?” Seranova exclaimed in disbelief. "I was beginning to think such a thing didn't exist."

  "It's not myself I am worried about,” Morindessa replied, giving Seranova a level stare. "If one of you makes a mistake there may be nothing I can do to protect you."

  Seranova held her stare for moment, finally nodding in understanding. Morindessa knew Seranova was going to be difficult. She was more headstrong than any three people. Morindessa was sure that without her fiery spirit, she would never have made the discoveries she had, but it could also cause problems if she began questioning everything Morindessa did. She would need to have a talk with her later, and try to avoid that possibility.

  They moved off the road and began making a wide arc around the area Morindessa sensed the unknown danger. The landscape around them was strangely quiet, the noon air seeming to hold its breath. Morindessa squinted down at the ground, where she could see several large, three-toed tracks, with a sharp claw sticking into the dirt on the middle toe. Frowning, Morindessa tried to think of what kind of creature made that track. Riah and Lochnar had taught her most of the creatures that existed on this continent and she was certain none of them made this kind of track. She could sense nothing with her yar, so whatever they were must have moved on. She thought of dismounting in order to study the tracks further when the ground shook slightly, causing some of the last year’s seed to fall from the sage branches. Morindessa reigned in her horse as it shied nervously, spinning around the sagebrush as the branches trembled. A moment later, Morindessa felt a burst of energy so strong it staggered her imagination. No one's yar was that strong. It was impossible!