Aerenden: The Zeiihbu Master (Ærenden)

by Kristen Taber

  “Leave it to her to find splinter shale,” Cal muttered. The hardness at her side tightened and she realized it was his arms. He lifted her. “Those beasts are going to regain their courage soon. There's a passage toward the back of the cave. If my power is still working properly, there should be an exit on the other side.”

  “How far?” Faillen asked. “These cats will be chasing us the whole way.”

  “A quarter mile at most,” Cal answered. “Do you see any more of those rocks that Meaghan found? They're not big, about the size of your palm, and they have white specks in them. In certain lights they sparkle.”

  “There are some here,” Talea responded from somewhere to Meaghan's right.

  “More here,” Eudor said from a greater distance. “Malaki has another half dozen.”

  “Grab as many as you can carry,” Cal instructed. “But be careful not to knock them together too hard. They can be volatile.”

  Sounds of shuffling filled the caves. Meaghan felt dizzy, but she forced her eyes open again.

  “Artair, Talea, lead the horses. You'll follow directly behind me. Load the moerith with the packs that Illius is carrying.”

  Meaghan struggled to lift her head. Talea and Artair moved the bags from the horse to the Moerith. A razor beast inched its way toward the opening of the cave, and then jumped back when Artair paused long enough in his task to lob an electrical orb in the animal's direction.

  “Help Talis up,” Cal commanded. “And flank him to ensure he stays mounted. He'll need to ride the horse in order to get out of here. Talis,” Cal added. “Keep your head low. You don't need a gash on your temple in addition to the one in your leg.”

  “Anything you say,” Talis responded. His voice sounded faint, and it worried Meaghan.

  “Everyone give your rocks to Eudor and Malaki,” Cal continued. “They're going to use them to keep the razor beasts back. From a far distance,” he stressed. “Unless you want us all to end up like Meaghan.”

  “What do you need me to do?” Faillen asked.

  “Stick with Eudor and Malaki,” Cal answered. “Your arrows are our last line of defense. Let's go.”

  Although the cave had been dimly lit, illuminated only by the small amount of sunlight squeezing past the entrance, the passageway Cal led them down surrounded them in darkness as thick as black ink. Meaghan gathered her strength and recited the spell to create a light orb. It glowed enough so she could see a few feet in front of her, but soon disappeared, almost as if the deep black had swallowed it. She recited the spell again, and then cursed when the second orb lasted half as long as the first.

  “My head aches,” she told Cal. “I can't seem to focus well enough to hold the spell.”

  “It's not you,” Cal said. “Caves swallow the orbs for some reason. That's why I usually carry torches. But if you're up for it, we can alternate reciting the spell.”

  “I can manage,” she said, and to prove her point, she formed an orb once more.

  When the light dissolved into darkness, Cal formed an orb of his own. The cave walls shook with a thunderous noise and Meaghan realized Eudor and Malaki had launched their assault on the razor beasts. Cal's orb disappeared and Meaghan formed another one, and then another, her efforts intermingling with Cal's as explosions echoed around them.

  Finally, sunlight greeted them from up ahead. An exit appeared as a small opening and then grew, tantalizing them until rock framed a picture of blue sky and green grass. Cal increased his pace, running for safety, and then froze steps from fresh air.

  Confused by the sudden tension hardening his muscles, Meaghan lifted her head to see what had stalled him. A razor beast blocked the entrance to the tunnel. It seemed taller and more muscular than the cats attacking from behind. Its claws seemed sharper, its teeth longer, and it bore silver streaks in its fur that signaled age.

  The rest of the party halted behind Cal. Faillen stepped forward and nocked an arrow in preparation for his death strike. Before he had the chance to fire, the creature rose up on its hind legs. It stood for a moment, and then shimmered.

  Amid a gray glow, the razor beast disappeared. In its place stood one of the most breathtaking women Meaghan had ever seen.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  FAILLEN'S ARROW dipped in the air. He corrected the movement by redirecting his aim at the woman's head. Cal put Meaghan down on her feet, and then pushed her behind him, blocking her from the woman's direct sight. Meaghan doubted the protection was necessary. The willowy creature did not seem to notice anyone but Faillen. She watched him, silent and patient as if she waited for him to speak.

  “Clear the entrance,” Faillen commanded, “or I'll shoot.”

  “I know you will,” the woman responded, though she showed no fear. Her face stayed still, her eyes unflinching. She tucked her hands together in front of her and smiled. “I expect no less of a descendant of the Master. You will be swift with your judgment, and equally as fair.”

  “The Master?” Cal asked.

  The woman's light red eyes flicked to him, and then back to Faillen. “I smelled you days ago,” she told him. “Your scent beckoned me on the wind. I thought at first you sought me, but you did not call.”

  “Clear the entrance,” Faillen repeated with more force. “I don't know what magical trick you've mastered, but you're still a razor beast. You won't fool me into believing otherwise.”

  She frowned at him. “Yet your arrow remains within your possession. If you truly believed that, I would be dead, would I not?”

  “Don't tempt me.”

  “I only state the truth.” The woman inclined her head. “If you have need for me to do something, just say the words. You have command if you want it. You have his blood, his power over me. But if you wish to kill me instead, that is also your right. Though some say otherwise, I am not invincible.” She tilted her chin to the side as she studied Faillen. His aim remained unwavering. “I cannot help but feel it would be a shame if you did kill me. I am the last of my kind.”

  “Invincible?” Meaghan echoed, focusing on the one word, though the others in the woman's speech seemed equally odd. Had this creature heard the villager's stories about the razor beasts? Meaghan's head still hurt, but her thoughts came together, falling into place like puzzle pieces.

  The woman looked human, but so much about her seemed feline. She was beautiful, her face long and her cheeks high. Her fingers tapered into long nails. Her hair flowed down her back, smooth and thick, brown streaked with stripes of solid gray. When she moved, she did so with control and grace. And when she smiled, she showed pointed teeth similar to those of a razor beast. Her front incisors even appeared to be longer than her other teeth.

  But it was her wide, almond-shaped eyes that captivated Meaghan the most. She suspected they were not the dark red color of a razor beast's only because the creature's power had been diluted in her larger form. Meaghan held her breath and understood what Faillen could not see. This woman could not be considered a razor beast any more than she could be considered human. She was both, and so much more.

  “You aren't like the others,” Meaghan whispered. “You're a ghoul.”

  The woman hissed. Her eyes flashed anger in Meaghan's direction. “A cruel title devised by those who do not understand. I am not the hideous beast you claim I am.”

  “Yet that's the name you're known by,” Faillen said.

  “Not among my kind. We had names of our own.”

  “Then what is yours?” he asked.

  “Anissa,” she said. “Anissa the Wise. I have always been the most logical of us, the most human. Please lay down your bow. I have not come to harm you. I came to satisfy my curiosity.”

  “It was you I felt,” Meaghan realized.

  Anissa furrowed her brow again as her attention reverted to Meaghan, but she ignored the comment and addressed Faillen again.

  “The pack will not attack any longer. See for yourself.” She gestured toward the back of the cave. Meaghan turned and held
her breath when she saw dozens of razor beasts filling the tunnel. They sat on their hind legs, waiting in silence as they watched Anissa for direction. Malaki and Eudor stared at the creatures, splinter shale gripped in each of their hands. Meaghan swallowed her panic and turned back to face the ghoul.

  “You lie,” Faillen said. “As soon as we drop our guard, you'll attack.”

  “Then command me if you're worried,” Anissa snapped. Her mouth opened, showing her teeth and Meaghan realized she intended her words as a challenge. “You know I cannot disobey your command.”

  “I know no such thing,” Faillen told her. “Clear the way. Let us by.”

  Her mouth pinched shut. Her eyes narrowed at him. “How could you not know?” she asked. “You are his. I smell him on you.”

  “That's enough of that,” Faillen barked. He drew back his arrow. “Your tricks won't work on me.”

  Anissa stepped to the side to clear the entrance for the tunnel. “Even without command, I will do what you say for now. But you must know. You must feel in your heart the power you own.”

  “Go,” Faillen said to Cal, ignoring Anissa. “Get them out of here. I'll protect you until you're clear.”

  Cal moved forward and Anissa growled, a sound of anger bubbling up from the back of her throat. “You betray me,” she said. “You betray him by not remembering. Our pact is of blood. It did not die with him.”

  “Who?” Meaghan asked.

  “Don't engage her,” Faillen said. “She's trying to trap us. Get out of here.”

  Meaghan stayed where she stood. She felt a horse brush her side as it moved by and she knew the others had followed Faillen's command. Her eyes remained locked on Anissa's.

  “Who are you talking about?” Meaghan tried again.

  This time, Anissa gave her full attention to Meaghan. The woman drew her brows together and wrinkled her nose, sniffing the air. Meaghan scanned the tunnel and realized only she, Cal, and Faillen remained with the razor beasts and their leader.

  “I do not know you,” Anissa said to her. “I smell strength in you. The Master's descendent protects you as if you command him, but that should not be. He is of the strongest line.”

  “Who do you call Master?” Meaghan asked. She felt Cal's hand on her waist, urging her to move, but she ignored it. “Faillen isn't lying to you. He doesn't know.”

  “Faillen,” Anissa murmured and brought her eyes back to him, “plays a game because he is displeased with me. But he knows. He must. The Master—”

  “A name,” Meaghan insisted. “Give us a name.”

  Cal's arm came around her waist, tightening, and her feet left the ground.

  “Zeyed,” Anissa whispered, answering Meaghan's question though her eyes remained locked on Faillen. “Master Zeyed's line commands me. His power enslaved us soon after we were born of the fountain. His blood owned us then and it always will.”

  Meaghan's feet met the ground again. Cal's arm left her waist.

  “That would explain a lot,” he muttered.

  Faillen's head snapped around to stare at Cal. “You believe her?” he asked. “She's no more than—”

  “A ghoul,” Cal interrupted, and brought his hand up to his beard to stroke it. “She doesn't exist.”

  “I do!” Anissa protested. “I stand before you as flesh—”

  Cal cut her off with a wave of his hand. “That's not what I meant. You shouldn't exist. You're a fireside tale to most people, and Zeyed is a legend with no descendants.”

  “That is not true. He had cubs. Two males. They remained in Zeiihbu when he left it. He lived in huts by the cliff's edge with his wife and drank from the fountain every day. His offspring did not touch it. He felt the magic in it and forbade them. But he and his wife drank from it until they realized what it could do. After that, he used his words to destroy it.”

  “So no one else could use it,” Cal said. “That's why no one has been able to find it.”

  “They find it,” Anissa corrected him. “They just do not know what they see. It remains where he drank from it. Its power is gone, but the magic of these lands protects the stones. They remain outside the village, covered in moss, used as a plaything by the people cubs.”

  Faillen paled. “That's not possible.”

  She sighed. “Why do you disbelieve me? You climbed them yourself. I smelled your scent there.”

  Faillen shook his head as he stared at her, but then he lowered his bow in concession.

  “So it's true?” Meaghan asked.

  “Yes,” Faillen responded. “My father took me there as a child. The site's not far from my village. I knew it was ancient. The stones have intricate carvings and letters I didn't recognize. But I had no idea it was that old.”

  “And that important,” Cal said. “If she's telling the truth—”

  “I cannot lie to him,” Anissa protested.

  Cal nodded. “That means the fountain was in Zeiihbu. And if Zeyed came from Zeiihbu, it could mean the claims that our people came from the north might also be true.” He took a step toward Anissa, but stopped when she brought her hands up, extending her claw-like nails.

  “What else can you tell us?” he asked.

  She lowered her hands. “Nothing Faillen should not know already. I think it is time for me to take my leave.” She gestured toward the back of the tunnel and the razor beasts rose on all fours in unison. Meaghan held her breath as they marched by in single file, only exhaling once the last of the cats had passed. Anissa followed them.

  Faillen stared at her back, his eyes narrowed in concentration. When she had almost cleared the tunnel entrance, he spoke.

  “I command you. I take upon my own, your will. In these words, bear my thoughts. In your mind, my presence fills. And though you hide in darkness, and though you seek the night, I command you now to follow, take heed within the light.”

  Anissa turned to face them again. The low thrum of a purr emanated from her direction. “You remember,” she whispered and bowed low.

  “How did you know that spell?” Cal asked Faillen, his voice hushed in awe.

  “My father told it to me once in a story,” Faillen said. “In a tale about our first people and how one of them used to command the animals. I didn't think it was true.” He stared at the woman in front of him. She remained bent over and he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Rise,” he told her. She obeyed.

  “What else is true?” he asked.

  She gathered her hands in front of her. “I do not know what you mean.”

  “Zeyed came from my village in Zeiihbu,” he said. “That's true?”

  “It is,” she answered. “I met him there at the fountain. My pack and I were thirsty and so we sipped. Then strange things happened to us. We had pains and we grew. We learned to speak and to stand. We did not know it was the fountain that did these things to us and we continued to drink from it. Zeyed was afraid of us when he saw us there and chased us off at first, but when the fountain eventually turned us into these shapes, he spoke to us.”

  “What did he say?” Cal asked.

  “That the fountain must be destroyed,” she told him and looked him in the eyes for the first time. “Are you also commanded by the Master's descendent?”

  Cal choked on a laugh. “Hardly. Faillen and I are friends.”

  Her eyes returned to Faillen. “Pack mates?” she asked.

  “In a way,” Faillen responded. “Did Zeyed say anything else to you?”

  “He said we must not follow our animal instincts. We tried, but,” she shrugged. “It seems we did not drink enough from the fountain to be driven fully by our new intellect. Our instincts are strong in us. I drank the most, so I control mine better than the others did. Some of my pack paired their instinct with their intellect and sought human flesh for feasting. Zeyed did not care for that.”

  “I imagine not,” Cal muttered. “Is that when he wrote the spell to command you?”

  She nodded. “He told us the fountain gave us long life, so
he had to write the words in blood. I was the only one in my pack who understood what he meant. The command belongs to his blood.”

  “It was the only way he could ensure the spell wouldn't work for everyone,” Cal realized. “Being able to control ghouls would be a dangerous thing in some hands. By writing the spell in his own blood, he gave the words the power to work in conjunction with someone who had the same blood as he did. This way, he made sure only his descendants would be able to work the spell and their powers didn't have to be as strong as his to activate it.” Faillen raised an eyebrow at Cal and he chuckled. “Or in your case, no power is necessary. The spell worked since your blood came from his. It's proof you're Zeyed's descendent.”

  “My boys,” Faillen said. “Ree didn't give them their powers. I did.”

  “You both did,” Cal corrected. “She gave them the ability, but the specific power came from your line.”

  Faillen nodded and closed his eyes. He inhaled a deep breath, controlling the sorrow Meaghan saw on his face, and then opened his eyes again.

  “How long do I command you?” he asked Anissa.

  “As long as you are alive,” she answered. “As Zeyed did and others after him. Do you have a plan for me?”

  “I do. I want you to cross back into Zeiihbu and await my direction. I'll let you know what to do when the time comes.”

  She inclined her head in agreement. “It is as you command. Do you wish for me to leave you now?”

  “When we're through talking,” he said. “You say you're the last. The others have died?”

  “From illness or injury,” she responded. “War is never kind to us. There were eight of us in the beginning. Zeyed killed one for attacking too many people. My pack mate developed an exclusive taste for human blood.”

  “Razor beasts attack people now,” Faillen said. “You attacked us.”

  Anissa shrugged. “We must eat. I figured you would command me if you had no guards to spare for my pack's well-being.”

  “People are off-limits going forward,” Faillen said.

  Anissa inclined her head. “As you wish, but I must express my disappointment.”