As he mulled over her words, he kicked one of the guns. "And these?"
Erinie shrugged. "We can use them to protect ourselves. Perhaps when we get to Stelemia, we can try to find someone who could replicate them. Maybe, when I get time, I can dismantle some of the ammunition and see what it's made of."
Now he was completely with her. "And then once we've made them, we can turn them on the scion and her metal-brained machines."
"What about the ancient enemy attacking your cities?" she mocked. "Have you forgotten about them?"
"Well, no, but if the prophecy is true, the scion will kill us all."
"I think Imogen will wage her war against the enemy first," Erinie said, all trace of excitement gone. "That will buy us time to gather allies and make weapons to defeat her. Once our files are combined and we see if there is anything in them that could help us, we might be able to stand up to her on equal footing. Or if not, we can bide our time, let her and the ancient enemy battle it out, then strike them both when they are weakened."
"Being a Reformer, as my Order calls us, I never truly believed in the prophecy literally. To tell the truth, I didn't—"
Erinie burst into tears so suddenly, Minard choked on his own words. Was it something I said?
His heart got an uncomfortable ache that only seemed to ease once he moved over to comfort her. He kissed her dark hair, even though such trifling displays of affection for another mortal were frowned upon in his order. But, by Ibilirith, he had missed touching her. In their short time together at Safehold, it had seemed as though they had spent years together. He had felt one with her, a kindred spirit. Something he had never felt before. He had cared for no one until he met her.
But in recent days, he had felt a wedge being jammed between them, driving them apart. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.
Being close to her again made it seem the wedge could still be pulled free and they could work things out. He had condemned her and her kind as heretics and heathens. But were they really so different?
Minard wrapped her in his strong arms and let her cry.
She hugged him back and brought her wet face to his ear. "I no longer believe in Arden's vision of the half-blood being our savior. He was wrong. I think she is a threat to us all."
CHAPTER 12
KARA
Kara held her ground as the man approached her. "Who are you?"
He was busy watching Semira run away over Kara's shoulder, but then his eyes lost focus for a moment as he stopped in front of her. Kara repeated her question.
The man shook his head and focused on Kara. He studied her for a long time, not saying a word.
Kara studied him back. There was something almost familiar about him. He had short red hair, green eyes and a thick gray-shot beard. But who was he?
He'd called Semira daughter.
Kara moistened her lips. "Arden?"
A flicker of pain crossed his face. "Yes, Kara. I'm Arden. Your father."
"How..."
Arden tried to embrace her but Kara backed out of his reach. "No. Don't touch me. How have you come to be here? I was told you were dead."
He didn't try to touch her again. "I am dead. Or at least, part of me is."
"What do you mean?"
"After... my body died, I woke and found myself in this world, lost and afraid. I ended up here, under this tree, and this is the place I will forever remain."
He turned to the tree and gazed up into its branches. "Such was the price of my failure. I failed all those I ever loved. Now I live here with the one bearing a broken soul, the one I have come to call Aisha."
"You mean the ghost woman?"
"Yes. As she didn't remember her name, I called her Aisha, after one of the heroes of the Covenant of the Lost Sun."
"And I help Mother look after you," Sasha said, looking well pleased with himself.
"Yes, little one. You do." He turned his attention back to Kara. "Did Wrynric give you the artifact? Did he take you to the Metal Man? I saw it all in a visiondream, but I wasn't sure it would come to pass. The dreams can be hard to read at times."
"He did." And it destroyed my life and killed my friends, and now it could doom all of Stelemia!
"How is the old man?"
A lump formed in Kara's throat. "He's dead. He fell protecting me." And I never got to say goodbye.
Arden screwed up his face. "I will grieve deeply for him, for one could not have asked for a more loyal friend." He turned away and sighed. "Wrynric loved me like a man loves a woman. But I could never return that love to him." Kara had to strain her ears to listen. "May the Lost Sun forever watch over you, my friend, just like you watched over me."
Turning back to Kara, he brushed off his tears. "So how have you and my wayward daughter come to be in this place, wherever this place is?"
Kara went to touch the passkey, only to remember it was no longer there. "We're in the world of the visiondream. Ever since Wrynric gave me the passkey, I have been brought to this place."
Arden glanced around the room. "My visiondreams were always just images and feelings. This place feels real."
"You are the reason I'm here." Kara bared her teeth, the tingling sensation racing down her arm. My heart is ice. "You made Wrynric give me the passkey." She pointed at him, energy building in her hand. "Do you know what I have lost because of that stupid thing? Do you know the danger the world is now in?"
Arden paled but said nothing.
In her mind's eye, Kara saw a vague, half-forgotten image of her mother, crying and begging for her lover, Arden, to come back for her. The energy longed to be unleashed against this man. This man who'd broken her mother's heart, who'd never once introduced himself to his bastard daughter—a daughter who hadn't even known his name. A man who'd forced his best friend upon the path that would lead to his death. A man who'd sprouted a nonsense story of a vision where Kara would lead a great host against the ancient enemy and save humanity.
Arden was nothing like Wrynric and Erinie had made him out to be. He was no great man. He was dirt beneath her heel.
He must have seen a look in her eyes, for he took a step back. The energy burned her hand, her blood pounded in her ears, and it took all her strength of will to not let it loose. I might need him. I can't kill him. My heart is ice. Her rage needed an outlet, before the power overwhelmed her.
She stepped forward and slapped Arden hard across the face, sending him reeling. "That's for everything I have lost and for all those you've hurt."
Sasha cried out and hurried up to him as he landed heavily on the floor. Grunting, Arden grasped the boy's arm. "I'm alright." His teeth were gritted. "Leave us, boy. My daughter and I need to talk alone."
The boy hesitated, looking from Arden to Kara then back again. Arden got to his feet. "Go, Sasha, and return to your mother."
Sobbing, Sasha left them and closed the metal door on the way out. Arden made no move to approach her; he only watched her expectedly, his cheek bright red from where she'd struck him. When Kara said nothing, he finally asked, "Tell me what you have lost. Tell me everything."
Her rage slowly calmed, and with it, the energy's desire to be set free. Where do I even begin?
After taking a moment to set her thoughts straight and sift through her spotty memory, Kara started by telling him of her mother—the bits she could remember—and how Arden had hurt her deeply. He winced several times as she spoke and refused to make eye contact with her. "I grew up believing you would take us away one day and that I was the daughter of a great man. Instead, I find out I am the bastard girl of an adulterer and oath breaker." Those words seemed to cause him great pain, for he put a hand over his mouth and sobbed. "And a daughter of a liar who never once wanted to know me, and cared so little about my mother and I that he left us to fend for ourselves."
Sniffing, he lowered his hand. "I never liked what your mother was, and yet that was how I met her. I wanted to get you both out of that line of work so you could live honorable l
ives and—"
"Honorable lives?" Kara snarled. "Says the man with no honor. You cheated on your wife, you broke your sacred oath to your covenant and because of that, things have been unleashed that could destroy everything." Kara took in a ragged breath. "I. Am. Proud. Of my mother, and all she did to raise me. I am proud of myself, and the life I made—before it was shattered by you and Wrynric." She looked down her nose at him. "I have never once been ashamed of what I was, or of what my mother was, so don't you dare throw more muck into my wounds by looking down on us for what we did to keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. We hurt no one."
He winced some more and made apologetic noises. "But you know what?" Kara gave him a toothy sneer. "I forgive you for the wrongs you have done me—but I will never forgive you for the ones you have done to my mother or for what the Knives of Dwaycar did to my friends at the tavern when they came to kill me."
Nodding grimly, he spoke in a voice tight with sorrow, "Go on. Tell me what happened."
Through clenched teeth, she told him everything she remembered of what transpired after she'd been given the passkey. She began with Kahan's attack on the tavern, then the flight through Deep Cave, meeting her beloved Aemon, then of Semira wounding her at the temple. She told him of the visiondreams, meeting the ghost woman he called Aisha, her missing memories, Safehold and about Imogen and what happened at Annbar.
His mouth hung open in awe. "Never would I have dreamed giving you the passkey would cause all this. I don't know why Liana—your other sister—and I started dreaming of the artifact you call the passkey. Nor do I know why we felt compelled to find it. Perhaps there is a greater power at work and everything that has happened has done so for a reason."
"Reason?" Kara scoffed. "Imogen wants to destroy humanity by turning them into life-infused machines. Then she will make them fight the other metal men she herself made. Her Steel Children." Kara paused, seething with renewed anger. "When you saw me leading a host against the ancient enemy and returning us to the Lost Sun... I think you saw her—not me."
He got a distant look. "If she's as evil as you say, why would she return us to our Lost Sun? The Kara I saw was good and fought to free humanity."
"Perhaps you saw wrong."
"No." Arden went to touch her again, and she reluctantly let him. Wrapping his hands around hers, he stared into her eyes. "There is so much I must atone for. I have caused you, your mother and the rest of my family great pain. But there is something in you, something powerful, something... as old as these walls around us. I can feel it." He gripped her tighter. "You will do great things. It was you I saw. It was you."
She almost believed him. But not quite. "I'm stuck here. How can I escape this place and take my body back? Do you know?"
"No. It will be up to you to find a way." He let her go. "You must return home and stop Imogen before it's too late."
Kara stared up into the leaves of the tree. They rustled, as if blown by a draft. "Where do I even start?"
CHAPTER 13
SEMIRA
The Lost Sun rose over the tops of buildings in the distance, bringing with it faint, but not unwelcome warmth. Semira kneeled on the ground and shivered as she stared at the rising beacon of light. So much in her life had been dark, but now she was surrounded by sunlight. It should've been a magnanimous moment—seeing the Lost Sun for the first time in her life. There should have been feelings of elation, wonder and hope.
Yet Arden was alive and all Semira felt was pain.
The pain was self inflicted. Why did she feel guilty for what she'd done at Dwaycar's behest? She'd killed her own family, slaughtered them all, felt their blood on her hands. All because he had wanted her to. All to save the world.
But was Dwaycar why she'd done it? Had she not wanted them dead too?
Semira ground her teeth. The scions in the covenant had treated her worse than a light-deprived husk. Them with their sneers, jokes and rude gestures behind her back. Oh, she had wanted them dead too. Every last one of them.
Easing up on her clenched jaw, she played out the moment the man at the tree had turned to face her. Her father looked just as he had when she'd run him through with her sword.
How was he still alive? Had it been his shade come back to haunt her? Was Liana down there too, skulking around in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to enact her revenge? Semira touched the scars on her face. Her sister had already left her mark.
Seeing her father again brought back horrible feelings and memories. Her weakness, her self-loathing, her isolation and the longing she'd always felt to be like the other scions. Worse, she began to doubt her own deeds. Had she been wrong in killing her kin? After all, the half-blood had ended up being the Scion of the Prophecy, not them. What if—What if there could have been another way?
No... Such questions are too painful to think about.
Semira tore at the stony ground with her nails, breaking one off. Curse that vile half-blood. Why couldn't she have just left me to my fate? I never wanted to go with that boy; I never wanted to be here. All I want to do is die.
It wasn't like Semira had anything to live for anymore. Dwaycar had her body, and her spirit was weary and could bear the anguish of existence no longer.
Now was the time to end it all. Her broken nail throbbed, blood running through her fingers. She couldn't face her father again.
Semira got to her feet and glanced back at the door leading down into the tunnels where the ghost of her father dwelled. No one had followed her up. She was alone. No one cared.
There was nothing nearby, but in the distance a ruined city rose up from the frozen earth. She'd need to head over there to find something large enough to hurl herself from.
Ice crunched under her feet as she began to make her lonely journey. When she drew closer, the buildings blocked out the light of the Lost Sun. The deep cold of the world enveloped her and she began to shiver violently. Soon it will be over and I'll feel nothing.
Reaching the edge of the city, she turned to look back the way she'd come. Still no one.
Why did she bother? Did she really think the half-blood, Sasha or the shade of her father cared about her? No one cared. Not even Dwaycar.
Semira continued on, walking among the icy ancient buildings that watched over her as indifferently as her own mother had when she'd stood watching Semira inch closer to the side of a chasm, ready to hurl her little body over the edge. Semira had been ten then, and had already wanted to die. Had Wrynric not seen what was happening, her mother would have let her firstborn daughter end her own life.
Looming above Semira was a tall glass building that thrust out of the ground like an ice-capped stalagmite. Here would be the place where she would die. Nearing the front doors, she froze. There was movement in the dark beyond the entrance. Faces appeared, then limbs, and with them came a haunting melody that drifted to her on the icy breeze.
The faces peered out at Semira through the frosty glass, their mouths open wide, bleak eyes moving ceaselessly, their song a cry of pain. Pallid gray hands reached beyond the threshold of the doorway, but never far enough to enter the slither of sunlight shining through the gaps between the buildings.
"Come to us," the melody seemed to say. "Come to us, and set yourself free."
Entranced by the music, Semira took a step toward the entrance. "I would not go in there," came a voice from behind her.
Pausing, Semira slowly turned to face the speaker. Sasha's mother stood there, fading in and out of existence, her hair untouched by the light breeze.
"Why do you care what I do?" Semira demanded. "You wanted to leave me behind to be eaten by the shadow beast."
"I care, because Imogen who is Kara cares. I also care because those lingering memories of people who once were do not deserve to feed on the warmth of life. They deserve their bleak, cold fate."
Semira stared back at the faces in the glass. "Who are they?"
Sasha's mother came to stand beside her. "Once I knew
them all, for I was one of them. Until he came to set me free."
The word he in the strange woman's reply was said with such venom that Semira snapped her head around. "He?"
When the incandescent woman faced her, Semira backed away. The woman's eyes were fathomless sinkholes of pain. "The man you took from me."
"Who...?" Semira straightened. "You mean Dwaycar?"
"I do not know that name." The woman faded to nothing but her voice carried on. "I know him as Dressen. He lived here with me, for many years. Then one day, he came to me and said 'The time has come. I must leave you now and claim my host.'"
"Host?"
The woman reappeared again, a foot in front of Semira. Falling to the ground, Semira raised her arms to defend herself but the attack never came. The woman only stood over her, a faint white figure silhouetted against the building across the street. "You, Semira. He left me for you."
Anger made Semira bold. "I never asked for him. He came to me and told me things. I killed my own blood for him, so don't you dare—"
"He always loved beautiful women. It was his one flaw." The woman pointed an accusing finger at Semira. "What did the two of you get up to? Did he tell you he loved you?"
Semira stared up at her, frowning. "He was just a voice in my head. He said all sorts of things." Then she growled like an angry dog. "Now he's stolen my body and sent me here to die. He abandoned me!"
The woman got a distant look, then faded to almost nothing again. "My memories fade, as this place withers with corruption. I do know that you should be dead, and that Imogen who is Kara should be too. You were made as nothing more than living hosts for the souls of..." Her faint finger gestured toward the faces in the glass. "Their kind. The arbiters of power in our dead world. Scientists, doctors, the rich and powerful."
"What are you saying?" Semira shook her head in confusion. "I had a mother and father. I wasn't 'made,' I was born."
"Your ancestors were engineered in a laboratory—a place where science ruled and morality was forgotten. Your kind can breed, and live the lives of ordinary people, but that does not change the fact that you are all living hosts, just waiting for the soul of another to make you whole."
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