Curse and Whisper

by A J Gala

  She shook her head. “Don’t give us that much credit.”

  “Nobody’s perfect.”

  “Thank you all for being so protective over me, but let’s tone it down a little next time, yeah?” A laugh came that she felt in her wound. She cut it short. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Lazarus.” Suddenly, the laugh felt like it had been eons ago. “My life is over. I have to start all over again, without Centa and Phio.”

  “You still have Mariette and Alor. And us.”

  Silence took up the space as she thought about them. Then, she stopped.

  “Something strange happened when I was unconscious,” she told him.

  He expected her retelling of when he’d put Centa’s siphoned life energy into her. She had to have felt it. The fury, the guilt, the pain. He couldn’t imagine what it had been like to have such energy forced upon her.

  “I think Father may have passed some of his talent onto us. We might all have received a vision.”

  It stunned him, and he tilted his head. “A vision? How? I don’t think I completely understand.”

  She wanted to tell him about meeting Aleth, but that would have meant explaining who Talora was, and that was years of backstory that she knew she should have told him ages ago. But she simply didn’t have the energy for it now, nor did she have the energy to put up with Lazarus’s response. Besides, the fact that she was acquainted with a nightwalker who also happened to be Lora’s grandmother—who had stalked Lazarus back to the Mirivin Mainland after he’d adopted Lora into the family—seemed like a harmless secret. For now.

  She was about to open her mouth to say something much simpler when Stormy’s barking sounded off like an alarm.

  “He’s at the doors,” Lazarus said. “Stay here.”

  “Absolutely not!”

  He didn’t take time to argue and raced ahead, leaving her to hobble over at her own pace. She heard commotion outside as the doors squealed open. Jurdeir’s cadets guarding the entrance were frantic as Lazarus tried to calm them. Finally, his voice boomed with orders to stand back and quiet themselves, and they obeyed.

  Adeska made it to the entrance. Lazarus was kneeling in the doorway, obscuring another body. There was blood.

  “What is it? Lazarus, what’s going on?”

  He stood, heaving the body into his arms. Her jaw dropped.

  “Cato!”

  “He’s alive. Wake Rori, Isa, Allanis—”

  “I’m going with you to the infirmary to help him!”

  “No, you’re staying far away from this, Adeska! You need to heal, and so does he, so do not get tangled in this! Get Rori and Isa to meet me there, and have Allanis call for the court physician!”

  “I can help. You know I can help—”

  “No! Not this time. I need you to get better. Let me work!” He brushed past her, and she had a moment to see Cato’s shivering, battered body.

  “Centa found him. Centa did this.” She covered her mouth and willed herself not to cry. “How did he find you?”

  16

  Recrudescence

  Tizzy’s stomach churned as the plateau came into sight. They had done it. They were back. The Convent was the last place she wanted to be, but she knew a return was inevitable. At least she’d have another chance to shake the place up and leave an impression.

  She was stronger now. She could feel it. Faster too. She’d had a few opportunities to train with Kenway back at Sheerspine, honing new skills. Doing various chores for Naia had given her a good way to measure the growth of her abilities. And then there were a few passionate encounters with Aleth that had allowed her to test her strength against his.

  It still didn’t compare, but she was improving quickly, and they could both tell. She cleared her throat to wipe the scandalous thoughts from her mind, then grabbed his hand as they made the ascent up the cavern walkway.

  “No more falling,” she whispered.

  He squeezed her hand. “No more falling.”

  She recalled her first time climbing the dirt and wood stairs spiraling the inside of the cavern. She recalled the darkness, mostly, and the way Eidi’s brilliant light had guided her. The little crystal formations in the walls had glittered and gleamed in the Ethereal beacon. It had felt so magical.

  When they reached the antechamber at the top and stepped out into the dewy evening-shrouded plateau, Louvita and Ziaul were waiting for them, the silhouette of the abbey gaunt and dark behind them. Tizzy suppressed a groan, but Lilu did not.

  “Can’t I have a moment to get settled?” the daemon barked. “What do you want?”

  Ziaul raised an eyebrow but otherwise did not let her remark bother him. The two snakes from his head slithered into a resting position on each shoulder.

  “We saw you in the distance and wanted to welcome you back,” he said, his voice level. “Welcome back.”

  But Ziaul wasn’t the one the Lilu was occupied with. She looked down at Louvita.

  “I did what I was told,” she growled. “Please don’t call on me for anything else. Unless I get to kill someone.” She said nothing else, breaking away immediately with a grumble. Louvita let her go.

  Tizzy appreciated Ziaul’s curt warmth, but Louvita’s stare from beside him canceled out any sincerity that they might have both carried together. Louvita’s eyes didn’t see anyone but Aleth, and they were dark with contempt. Tizzy was sure if she had looked at him, his eyes would have shown the same.

  Instead, she took a deep breath and decided to speak up before someone had something worse to say.

  “We’re back, just as requested. You’ll have to tell us what this is all about in a while. I’ll take the rest of the night to get Maran settled in again.”

  Louvita scoffed. “Maran? And pardon me, but you’re the ones who left in the first place. You’ll be explaining. Not us.”

  “Whatever you want to tell yourself, Lou.” Tizzy shrugged and led Maran away, into the abbey, keeping her hand on the small of the bloodslave’s back.

  Ziaul seemed pleased enough and left next. Only Aleth and Louvita remained, and neither trusted the other enough to walk by with their back exposed. They stood amongst the silence, staring each other down as heavy clouds rolled by overhead. A cold breeze carried the scent of rain and the Wistwilds. At last, Louvita spoke.

  “You ran away again.” The words left her lips like ice. “I told you what would happen the next time you ran. Didn’t I?”

  He said absolutely nothing and kept his cold stare locked onto her.

  “You can’t just mind your place, can you?” She brought her hands close together with spindly, clawed fingers. There was a fissure of purple Akasha, and then bright white energy arced between her palms. True to her Mire Elf heritage, she did not need a casting tool to manipulate raw Akashic energy.

  Aleth didn’t flinch even as the light bounced off the angles of his face. A rope of dazzling lightning grew longer and longer as she stretched out her arms. When it was the length she wanted, she took her left hand away and wielded the lightning like a whip with her right hand.

  “How many lashes for this offense?” she wondered, searching his eyes. She wanted to see the glimpse of fear, regret, and dread that she had always been able to depend on. She wanted to see it in his face that he was thinking about the pain.

  But his face was blank, as empty and hollow sounding as his words.

  “I don’t care, Louvita. You can’t hurt me anymore.”

  She snapped the lightning whip at his feet, singeing the grass. “You’ve tried to grin and bear it before. I’m not impressed. I will just try harder!”

  “Don’t waste your time.” He crossed his arms. “And don’t waste mine.”

  Louvita couldn’t contain her rage and let out a roar. His disrespect, his indifference, his very return had set her alight inside. She snapped the whip at him again, and in the blink of an eye, Aleth had unsheathed Mercy, and the black blade sliced through the Akashic lightning. The magic never touched him. Louvit
a screamed again.

  “You are only making this worse for yourself!”

  He shrugged. “You’re not used to me fighting back, are you? Neither am I.” He twisted his wrist, showing off a fancy downward arc of Mercy’s blade. “Feels right. And I was sure to spend my time away wisely, Louvita. I finally figured out what this blade is made of.”

  She hesitated to attack him again. “And just what would that be?” she growled.

  “Akashic ore.” He inspected the blade. It reflected the light of Louvita’s idle whip. “Tempered in a way that it can completely dissipate Akasha.” A faint grin crossed his lips. “Well, some of it. I learned the hard way that it was not strong enough to save me from a Crux Bolt.”

  “Enough! I don’t care!” Lightning spiraled down both of her arms, ending in two multi-tailed whips that crackled and sparked on the ground, burning up the damp grass around her. Wisps of white, honey-sweet smoke leapt from the glowing embers and choked the air.

  “Fine. Have it your way, Louvita. But after this is over, I’m done following your orders. You will learn to never touch me again.”

  She brought both arms into the air but never brought them back down. Her body didn’t move—couldn’t move—beyond trembling in place. No matter how hard she tried to fight it, she was frozen, stuck in her pose like a statue. Ziaul emerged from behind a pillar in front of the abbey with bright red eyes, his snakes also red-eyed and poised to strike.

  “That’s enough. Both of you.” He turned to Aleth, and Aleth sheathed the sword.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Get inside.”

  Aleth wasted no time disappearing into the abbey. Only when Ziaul could see no trace of him did he release his hold on Louvita. Her Akashic energy had died, but her whole body was lively with anger.

  “What is the matter with you?” Her fists quivered, but she didn’t dare strike him. “How could you use your filthy gorgon powers on me?”

  “Careful, Louvita.” His eyes flashed red again.

  “He is the one who must be disciplined! We cannot keep giving him special treatment, letting him get away with things when he is nothing!”

  “You owe me your gratitude. What would you have done if he’d won the fight just now? Wouldn’t that make you nothing? You should be thanking me. I will not save you from your vicious stupidity again.”

  Ziaul walked away, off into the woods, his snakes resting on his shoulders. Louvita remained just steps away from the antechamber, taking deep breaths to calm her emotions. A gust of wind picked up and howled through the trees.

  The Botathoran clock ticked away the time. Tizzy and Maran climbed up the stairs to get to the top where Tizzy’s room waited for them. The yellow curtains by the balcony billowed about in the wind, revealing glimpses of the courtyard down below. Tizzy ushered in the shivering bloodslave and closed the door behind them.

  “How long till your brother comes up, my lady?”

  Tizzy handed her a blanket before starting to unpack her things. “Who knows? He’s got some trouble of his own to get into first, I’m sure. I want to take care of it for him, but—” her sigh turned into a grumble, “—I have to give him his space.”

  “I was curious about our, um…” Maran stared at her own travel bag. “What about our living arrangements? He stayed in here with you before, right?”

  Tizzy smirked. “Three is a crowd.”

  “It is, my lady.”

  “I do want you to stay here,” Tizzy said. “It’s safer and more comfortable. But maybe you and Tal will hit it off and become fast friends. That might afford us a little privacy.”

  “You’re blushing.”

  “I am not.” She smiled as she put clean clothes in the wardrobe. “Here, you stay and get yourself situated. Get some rest too. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

  “Yes, my lady.”

  Tizzy changed out of her traveling clothes and took them with her on a short hike down the cavern walkway and to a creek that fed into the river in the cavern. The farther away she was, the better. She had no desire to be so close to everyone at the Convent.

  “I’m not going to be cooped up in my room all the time trying to avoid everyone. I’ll suffocate!” There was a bit of blood from the massacre on the bodice she had been wearing since leaving the Spire. She expected to find Aleth somewhere washing the blood out of his own clothes, but he was nowhere in sight. “No washboard. Guess a rock will have to do.”

  No washboard, no hot water, no scented soapweed pulp. She missed luxury so much, even though the Sheerspine Spire could hardly be considered luxurious beyond its bath amenities.

  She was alone with the wind and the rushing creek and her thoughts, scrubbing away with her fingertips. If she was lucky, her clothes would catch the scent of the trees as they dried beneath the night sky. She relished in the thought. As she wrung out a thick gray tunic, she glanced north, where the creek would be branching off from the Sheerspine River, and saw a shape by the bank. A faintly translucent shape.

  “Eidi?”

  Tizzy found a sturdy branch to tie her soaking wet clothes to and then made her way upstream to greet the banshee.

  Eidi wiped her face. “Tizzy, is that you?”

  Tizzy studied her, puzzled. “Of course it’s me.”

  The banshee flashed a weak smile. “Dark hair, pretty scowl, confident stride. Could’ve been Korrena too.”

  The mere mention of her set off a spark of irritation. Tizzy glowered. “Ugh. I barely know her, and I hate her.”

  Eidi’s shoulders drooped as she gazed into the current. It was stronger and wilder than down by where Tizzy had washed her clothes.

  “Don’t worry,” Eidi said, wiping her face again. “You did not jump to conclusions or misjudge her. She really is as unpleasant as she seems.”

  “Eidi, are you okay?”

  The banshee’s eyes were puffy and damp. “I’m fine.”

  “Don’t lie to me. I’m trying to warm up to you.”

  Eidi’s voice broke. “You shouldn’t have come back.” She took a deep breath just to stay calm. “No matter the consequences, you should have stayed away. All of you.”

  Tizzy gave up her attempt to warm up to Eidi as quick as she’d made it. Every interaction with the banshee had left her annoyed, and this one was proving to be no different.

  “I know this place is bad for us,” Tizzy said, folding her arms. “I could tell Louvita just wanted to use me from the beginning, Eidi. I’m not an idiot.”

  “You do not know the lengths she is willing to go to!”

  When Eidi finally turned to her, Tizzy saw the tears rolling down her cheeks. She narrowed her eyes, studying the ghost once again.

  “Am I in danger?” Tizzy asked.

  “You?” The banshee scoffed. “No. You’re probably the only one here who isn’t in danger. Maybe if all of you were gone long enough, she’d just forget. Or maybe the Nightwalker Father would turn a new protégé.”

  Tizzy put her hands on her hips. Her unrelenting stare could have burned a hole right through Eidi. She took a step closer.

  “You know something.” She watched the way Eidi’s eyes wouldn’t meet her own and the way she tried to turn away. “What could you possibly know that I’d care so much—that’s it!” Her eyes widened with excitement and a little bit of malice. “You know what happened to him. You know what happened to Aleth.”

  Eidi’s eyes welled up with more tears, and panic set in as Tizzy came closer, continuing to calculate.

  “You’re just like him,” Tizzy said. “Can’t lie worth a damn. I can already see it on your face. You know exactly what happened between him and Torah. And you’re going to tell me.”

  Eidi backed away. “Tizzy, I can’t, I shouldn’t—”

  “I am sick of not knowing what’s going on! I’m sick of all the secrets, of having to be patient, of having to trust that people will be responsible with their problems—enough is enough, Eidi! Spit it out!”

  She wanted the endin
g to the memory she had stolen from him without having to relive it.

  Eidi swallowed hard, but she floated to Tizzy’s side, giving in. “Please don’t be upset with me,” she said. “You asked me to tell you. Remember that. You wanted this.” She leaned in close and whispered into Tizzy’s ear.

  Tizzy didn’t know that her eyes had gone crimson. Eidi told the tale in only a few short words and then burst into tears again. Tizzy was quiet and still. Her jaw clenched, and she balled up her fists so tight her nails cut into her palms. Her whole body was hot. Her breath felt like steam pouring out of her.

  “He fucking did what?”

  Eidi sobbed. “Don’t make me say it again!”

  Tizzy’s stomach twisted as her imagination pieced together the horrible ending. She tried to keep herself from imagining how he’d felt, what he’d felt, the horrible thoughts he would have been stuck with, but she lost that fight, and they permeated every inch of her mind.

  Torah’s sharp fangs. His hands. His claws. Their bodies. Aleth’s desperate struggle.

  “I’ll kill him. Eidi, I’m gonna fucking kill Torah!”

  “No, you can’t! Tizzy, please!”

  Tizzy was so sick and dumbfounded that she couldn’t move. Rage had turned her boots to lead. Eidi fluttered around to her other side, clutching her hands together at her chest.

  “Tizzy, don’t intervene! Please! This is about them. Let them handle it!” More tears streamed down her face. “Please don’t kill Torah.”

  The bloodlust in Tizzy’s eyes waned, but the thoughts wouldn’t leave. For a moment, the rushing water was the only sound between them. Then, she made her first strategic move.

  “I couldn’t anyway,” she said.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Louvita should just wait for the Father to turn a new protégé. They might have better abilities. I can’t fight with mine. I can’t hurt anyone.”

  Eidi wiped tears away and was now in the clutches of curiosity. “What abilities have you grown?”