“You have entered a plane in the midst of a solus protocol,” said the Keeper. “This has not been known to happen in the history of this Watch.”
“What is a solus protocol?” asked Sylk.
“The plane is closed,” said the Keeper. “The energy signature of the entire plane has been placed in a state of stasis, dormant.”
“That would explain some things,” answered Sylk. “The portal I created became a vortex.”
“Yes,” answered the Keeper. “Your companions are safe. We discovered them several miles from the Watch.”
“If the energy of the plane is dormant, how are you here?” asked Sylk.
“There is latent energy that allows this manifestation, but not much else,” said the Keeper. “My abilities are quite diminished in this state.”
“I need to discuss a matter with you,” said Sylk. “It pertains to the Records and Ra—”
The Keeper held up his staff and Sylk stopped speaking.
“I must warn you,” he said. “I believe you are in danger by remaining here. I do not think the Watch would be a prudent place for you at this time.”
“Samir and Mara?” asked Sylk. “Where are they?”
“We have them hidden for now,” said the Keeper. “You recall the Kriyas?”
Kriyas? Here? This just gets better by the second.
“Yes. I do recall,” said Sylk. “It was not pleasant the last time we faced each other. Tetra blames me for stealing his vengeance.”
“An opinion he still holds,” said the Keeper. “If he encounters you here, he may try to exact that vengeance.”
“How?” asked Sylk. “His power must be as diminished as yours if the plane is dormant.”
“In the same way your bond to the Watch allows you to tap into the latent energy in the plane, I showed them how to access that energy in the hopes it would assuage their hunger for violence,” said the Keeper.
“You gave him energy?” asked Sylk. “I don’t think that was the most prudent course of action.”
“I thought that by showing them an alternate way to obtain energy, that they would reconsider violence,” answered the Keeper. “I was wrong. They used the latent energy to strengthen themselves, but could not escape the plane due to the protocol. This situation only angered them.”
“Wait, them?” asked Sylk. “How many are there?”
“Two,” said the Keeper. “Tetra and Ravia. “If they discover you here, they will attempt to destroy you. You should not have returned.”
“No, you shouldn’t have, but now that you are here I will finish what needs to be done,” said a voice from behind them.
Without turning around, Sylk manifested his sword. Its black blade gleamed in the noon sun.
“Tetra,” said the Keeper. “Do not do this. As I explained to you, you have been manipulated. He did not steal your vengeance.”
“Silence,” said Tetra. “This does not concern you. Your lies will not convince me.”
Tetra’s skin glistened with energy. He was bare from the waist up and his eyes pulsed a deep crimson.
“If you want the one bonded to you returned whole, you will have to kill me,” said Tetra. “I cannot promise that Ravia will be patient and wait for me before taking her life.”
“You do not have her in your possession,” said the Keeper. “Do not allow him to goad you into this, Karashihan.”
Tetra manifested a blade and assumed a defensive position.
“It was child’s play to locate you, Karashihan,” he said. “The energy of this plane is diminished to the point of non-existence. Imagine my surprise when I sensed a burst of energy and then three chi signatures. You lied to me, Keeper.”
“What have you done?” asked the Keeper. “Where are they?”
“It was simple to remove them from your hiding place,” said Tetra. “The word wielder is irrelevant in a plane with dormant chi. He is where you hid him. Besides, the bonded one has proven valuable.”
“We do not need to do this,” said Sylk.
“Search and see if my words are true,” said Tetra. “I will allow you the moment to find your companions before I end you.”
Sylk, keeping his eyes on Tetra, allowed his awareness to expand. Almost instantly, he sensed Mara several miles away and another energy signature in close proximity to her. He probed farther and found the second energy signature to match Tetra. Within a few moments more, he found Samir as well, in the opposite direction. Both were alive.
“You speak truth,” said Sylk. “Let her go.”
“If you defeat me, Ravia will bring your bonded to you, and she will be released,” said Tetra. “Those were the instructions she was given.”
“Tell her to let Mara go,” said Sylk.
“I will inform her that you have chosen to face me, Karashihan,” said Tetra and he closed his eyes.
Ravia, if I fall before him, make sure she is released.
No, my love! You must not sacrifice yourself. We can still escape this place.
No, I am tired of running. In this regard, they were right. Wheel has manipulated us, me. We cannot escape this plane, but I will not wither and die here. I will not be his lapdog any longer.
If your life is to end, then mine is as well. Let me devour his bonded and join you. Together we can defeat him.
No, he must sense she still lives or he will not face me.
“Are you ready?” asked Tetra.
“Are you in a rush to die?” asked Sylk. “You have no access to the chi in this plane. You can’t stand before me.”
“The Keeper tried to help us by showing us a different way,” said Tetra. “The energy is not accessible to all, but to a Kriya? It is only a matter of time.”
Tetra lunged forward and forced Sylk back as he parried the attack. Sylk slashed downward as he slid forward, forcing Tetra to avoid the strike. Tetra reversed direction the next moment and slashed Sylk’s right arm. The silver lines flowing through it flared as it deflected the blow. For a split second, Tetra remained open as he looked in disbelief at Sylk’s arm. Sylk, seeing the opening, whirled around and buried his sword in Tetra’s side.
“I have heard stories of this blade,” said Tetra, bleeding, as the wound in his side remained open. “I did not think they were true, but I see they are.”
He looked down at the wound in his side and fell to his knees. Sylk knelt down beside Tetra. The silver lines in his arms still pulsed.
“This—this is what you wanted,” whispered Sylk. “Why?”
“It was time,” said Tetra. “A life of vengeance is no life at all. I had become nothing—a weapon to be used against enemies.”
“You could have left,” said Sylk. “Lived your life in seclusion.”
Tetra coughed and blood escaped his lips. He brought his fingers to his face and touched the blood. He pulled his fingers away and stared at them, transfixed.
“Blood,” he said in wonder. “I have not seen my own blood in ages. No, Karashihan, there was no living for me. He would have found us again and forced us to do his will.”
“Wheel,” said Sylk. “His hand is always in motion.”
Tetra grabbed Sylk’s arm as he coughed again. “You must find Nerav,” he said, his voice hoarse. “If you wish to defeat him, you will need Nerav.”
“Where is he, this Nerav?” asked Sylk.
“He sought to frighten me with his illusion, but the bond Kriyas share runs deeper than sight. Nerav is alive on the desert plane we once inhabited. I can show you.”
He placed a finger on Sylk’s forehead and an explosion of images flooded Sylk.
“Do you have it?” asked Tetra. “Do you see it? Once there, you will find his location. Release him and tell him what happened here.”
A portal opened behind Sylk. Ravia and Mara stepped onto the sand. Ravia stood behind Mara and held a dagger to her throat.
“My love, no!” said Ravia, as she pressed the dagger closer to Mara’s throat.
“This is for
the best,” said Tetra. “Do not think me a coward. I am just weary of this life.”
“Get away from him,” she hissed. “Do it now or I remove her head.” She cut Mara and drew blood to make her point.
Sylk stepped back and gave her space. He held his sword in a reverse defensive stance with the point facing the ground behind him. Ravia shoved Mara and ran to Tetra where he still lay in the sand.
“Do not leave me,” said Ravia. “My life is meaningless without you, love.”
“No, my anger and madness has twisted you,” said Tetra. “You are free to live your life now.”
Moments later, his body lay lifeless as his skin glistened in the sun. The wound Sylk had inflicted had turned black. The blackness was spreading throughout Tetra’s body until he was covered in a latticework of dark lines. Ravia howled in despair as tears streamed down her face.
“No, you are my life,” she said as she grabbed Tetra’s lifeless body and hugged it close. She whipped her head around and looked at Sylk. Her eyes were wild and darted left and right.
“How? How did you injure him? He is a Kriya. Your weapon should have had no effect on him.”
She focused on his sword and hissed. “You hold an ebonblade? A life stealer? What are you?”
“This is what he wanted,” said Sylk, not taking his eyes off her.
Ravia grew still and closed her eyes. “Liar,” she whispered. “He never would have left me. First Nerav and now my beloved. I am alone.”
“Nerav lives,” said Sylk.
“More lies,” she said as she pulled out a second dagger and stood slowly. Sylk raised his sword as she ran at him.
“You took him from me, you took what was most precious to me, so allow me to do the same,” she said, as her eyes became a deep crimson. She leaped at him, flipped her body, and threw a dagger. Sylk prepared to deflect the dagger, but it never arrived. Behind him, Mara fell to her knees as the dagger buried itself in her neck. Still holding a dagger, Ravia lunged at Sylk, impaled herself on his sword, and buried the dagger in his leg.
“Now you can feel my loss,” she said as she fell back. Blood flowed from her wound and stained the sand around her, filling the air with a metallic smell. She took a deep breath as she touched it. She raised her blood-soaked hand to the sky. “Beautiful—I will join you soon, my love.” The same latticework of lines covered her as she died.
“Master…?” said Mara as she held her neck and fell back.
Sylk, forgetting the dagger in his leg, went to her and tried to remove the weapon from her neck. The Keeper stood next to him. “The dagger is poisoned. You will only accelerate her death, Karashihan,” he said as he placed a hand on his.
Sylk cursed under his breath and pulled his hand away from the Keeper. “Mara, I’m here.” He held her gingerly, taking her head in his hands.
“Are they gone?” she asked. “Did you stop them? She was too fast…I couldn’t, I didn’t have time.”
Sylk nodded and blocked the sun from her face. “Don’t speak, I will try and seal this wound,” he said.
He pulled the dagger from her neck and placed his hand on the opening. The blood rushed through his fingers for a moment and then stopped.
“Master, thank you, thank you for everything. I love—” she whispered.
Her words were cut off as the muscles in her body tensed one last time and she breathed her last.
“No,” whispered Sylk as he placed her head gently on the ground.
Around him, the ground trembled and then turned to glass as a shockwave raced from his body. The lines in his arm flared until they were blinding. His eyes became twin beacons of light as he looked up. The glass shattered and floated lazily around him as energy crackled and raced along the ground in every direction.
“I promise you, Mara, your death will not be in vain,” he said as he plunged his sword in the ground beside her body. The energy that had raced away now rushed back to the sword as its focal point. The Keeper created a sphere as the ground trembled and cracked. An explosion rocked the area where Sylk stood.
When the sand settled, Sylk stood in the middle of a forty-foot-wide crater that was just as deep. In the center of the crater, covered in black crystals, lay Mara’s body.
Moments later the Keeper reappeared.
“I am sorry, Karashihan,” he said. “There was no way to alter their course.”
“I know,” said Sylk. “I think I am going to need some assistance. The energy I expended seems to have compromised my ability to fight off the poison.”
Sylk stumbled forward a step and fell, unconscious, on the ground.
TWENTY-THREE
“ARE YOU CERTAIN she will meet you?” asked Franca. “How do you know she won’t betray you?”
“You can trust her,” said Hiram. “She has proven herself.”
“You trust her,” said Franca. “I’ll trust my guns.”
“Where are you supposed to be meeting her?” asked Raquel. “How much advance notice do you get?”
“We meet outside the city,” said Hiram.
“Who chooses?” said Raquel. “You or her?”
“I always pick the location and we agree on the location no more than three days out.”
Three days is not great. She can have a small force waiting in ambush for us, thought Raquel.
They were headed to a cave complex on the outskirts of the city. Raquel remembered a similar cave network from her days exploring as a young girl. After leaving the city, it took them less than an hour to reach the mouth of the caves.
“How large is this network?” asked Raquel while looking around the cave walls. In the distance, she could hear water, which meant there were underground pools.
“This network hasn’t been completely mapped,” said Hiram. “It’s too big. Even I don’t know the whole network, and I grew up here.”
“About that…” said Raquel. “Where is here again?”
“This is an outer plane,” said Hiram. “It’s where some of the Deadeyes retired to after they disbanded. Not much traffic out here, not much of anything.”
“Which is the way I like it,” said Franca. “And I’m certain the others feel the same way.”
“Others?” asked Raquel. “What others?”
“The other Deadeyes. Some of them live on this plane,” said Hiram as he looked at Franca. “But I haven’t been able to locate anyone else besides Franca.”
“And you won’t find them,” she replied. “You have to know when to let things go, Hiram.”
Raquel looked around the cave entrance for points of attack. She kept her back to a wall and made sure she had a clear line of sight to the entrance and the interior of the cave. In the distance, the network of caves plunged into darkness. The caves are a perfect place to meet if things go south. I’ll give him that. I just don’t like the variables, she thought.
“She should be here any moment,” said Hiram. “She is never late.”
As he finished speaking, a portal formed inside the cave and a thin figure stepped through. Raquel tried to look through the portal, but it faded out as soon as the woman appeared.
She was dressed in a tight-fitting black jumpsuit. A hood covered most of her face. Strapped to her back was a large bow beside a quiver of arrows. Along each leg rested no less than five daggers in sheaths.
“Who are they?” asked the woman. She took a step back into a defensive position. “What is this?”
She’s trained and dangerous, thought Raquel. Something familiar about her. I recognize that energy signature.
Hiram held his hands up. “No, no—it’s okay,” he said. “They are with me and this is—” He gestured at Raquel.
“A friend,” said Franca. “Who are you?”
“No names,” said the woman. “It’s safer that way.”
“Safer for whom?” asked Franca. “This smells, Hiram. I don’t like it. How did you even meet?”
Franca rested her hands on her holsters.
“Franca,�
�� said Hiram. “You can trust her.”
Raquel shifted in place and then stepped closer. The woman shifted her stance and kept herself equidistant from the others.
“You’re Mikai, aren’t you?” said Raquel, drawing a gun and then was followed by Franca doing the same. “I thought I recognized your chi.”
The woman pushed back her hood to reveal her face. Short, black hair spiked up. Her face was soft but angular with a strong jaw line and high cheekbones. Her blue eyes pierced the gloom of the caves.
“Yes, I am Mikai,” said the woman. “You are the one known as the Gunslinger. Well met.” She gave Raquel a slight nod.
Franca and Hiram looked at Raquel with mild surprise on their faces.
“That’s you?” said Hiram. “I‘ve heard of the Gunslinger but I never thought it was a woman.”
“I hate that name and if you use it I will make sure to shoot you where it never stops hurting,” said Raquel, looking at Hiram and then the Mikai. “You know who I am, but who are you?”
“My name is Kono and I have information for you.”
“Why are you doing this?” asked Franca. “Why are you giving him this information? Why not do something yourself?”
“The time for me to act has not yet arrived,” said Kono. “I will strike at the right moment. He has proven himself to be a challenge to the White Lotus.”
“What you mean is a diversion,” said Franca. “What is it you want?”
“I don’t have much time,” said Kono.
“What is it?” said Hiram. “Tell me.”
“The White Lotus will attack the hub nexus tomorrow night,” she said. “The Council and the Black Lotus are to be removed, permanently.”
“How do you know this?” asked Franca. “Who is leading this attack? How many?”
“I do not know,” said Kono. “Only that Wheel has ordered it.”
“Wheel,” whispered Hiram. “The Deadeyes will be there. We can stop them.”
“I must return,” said Kono. “You will not be alone. Many of my clan will be there. If we lose the nexus—”
“Then this Wheel will have unobstructed access to any of the planes, including this one,” said Franca. “He can go to the planes portals can’t reach.”
Warriors of the Way-Pentalogy Page 77