And still Enceladus did not come for Wist. He stepped off Kar-Iktar and walked towards Tyla and Aviti. Wist tried to stand up and offer himself in her place but his self-imposed immobility gripped him. Surely she had endured enough? He could have spoken out once more, but he wasn’t sure what damage his last outburst had caused. Aviti would have to face her personal revelation.
Wist watched as Aviti rose from the beach. There was no hesitation in her stride; she would confront whatever Enceladus revealed. Perhaps it was her mother she thought of as she walked? Was she trying to emulate the vision of her mother’s bravery? His pride in Aviti was tempered by his own shame. If only he could tap into some of her strength - borrow a little of her resolve. She marched behind Enceladus, head raised, accepting her future.
Wist couldn’t watch Aviti anymore. Instead, he looked off into the darkness, tracing Faric’s footsteps along the lake. The Lyrat had moved back into the night as if he had never existed. Each of his companions carried a burden, some real and deserved, some self-imposed. Trying to carry theirs as well as his own was making his situation worse.
Bitter air stung his mouth and nose as he breathed. It was far colder than the night’s air had been on the Rathou. He tried to pull his cloak against his skin to keep the heat in his body. Wist hated the cold. He felt its sharp fingers reaching for his soul, grasping at what little hope he had left. To shake the thought from his mind, he moved his eyes to the night’s sky. At first, he looked at the moon. It was so large that he could make out details on its surface. A large dark spot at the top right marred its face; veins ran dark and thick across its width. To his eyes, it looked like an infection gripped the moon. Was nothing safe from his past failures?
Moving on, he looked to the stars. At first, he was captivated by the sheer number of them, staring at him from the blackness. He’d never known that so many stars were set in the heavens. As he glanced from one to the next, he saw that none of them moved. They sat like prisoners in the sky. The last time he’d looked at the stars they hadn’t moved perceptibly, but they hadn’t been static. They had blinked and flickered, sending an unreadable code across the void of space. Had they been cut from time?
A sob from Aviti brought him back to his time and place. She was retreating back to her seat at the side of Tyla. Tears ran down the side of her dark face. Wist couldn’t be sure, but in the glare of Enceladus’ reflected light, it looked like she smiled through her tears. Was it possible that she could be shedding tears of joy? He would have to wait for his answer.
Enceladus strode up the beach towards him. His face remained indistinct, as if Wist gazed through an unfocused lens. Enceladus stopped a yard or two from him.
Then he lowered his head as if in deference to Wist. Shocked by this unique act of abasement, he watched as Enceladus raised his hands and implored him to rise and walk. Wist didn’t hesitate. Fear and doubt were still there, but he pushed them down, enforced his own stasis upon them. They could wait for his return along with the rest of the party.
Stepping from the beach to the ice, a couple of paces in front of Enceledus, he expected to hear a crack under his feet. His soundless footfalls gave him a little confidence, but added to his feeling of dislocation from time. He refused to look back at the company on the beach. Each one that had preceded him on to the lake had done so without a backward glance and he could do no less.
Enceladus ushered him on to the dais. He tried again to look at his face, but it would not come into focus. He looked back to the lake and the shimmering figure of Enceladus passed his arm over it. The ice cleared and an endless blackness was revealed. Wist stared into the void. There was no reflection of the night sky; no vision of horror awaited him - just the endless, noiseless gaping abyss. It lay before him like a hole bored through realities; the facetless space defied his efforts to define its boundaries. He felt that he could drop into the hole and leave everything behind once more. Just one step and he would pass from this world.
As he shook the thought from his mind, the surface of the ice reformed and shifted, coalescing into a smooth mirrored plane. He found himself staring at his own reflection. He wondered if he should leave now and return to his place on the beach
The surface shimmered and Wist looked back to his reflection, but nothing had changed. He blinked as a sliver of Enceladus’ reflected light caught his eye. Tilden now looked back at him from Kar-Iktar’s surface.
Another flash of silver.
The battered face of Eliscius was there, piteously looking through him; just as it had done during his collapse in the jungle. Wist braced himself for what he knew must come next. But Eliscius’ face did not move forward to consume him. Instead, it slowly retreated. Wist watched as Eliscius moved away, revealing the details of the abuse he had suffered at the hands of Tilden; the laceration of his arms, the purple bruising on his face and neck. Wist watched in captivating agony as his friend disappeared into the depths of the lake, leaving the surface clear and obsidian once more, like a monumental piece of polished granite; a headstone, blank and uninscribed.
For a few heartbeats, he looked at the empty surface, devoid of even his own reflection. Then shapes began to form, not a face this time, but straight lines that ran to connect to one another. Quickly, they joined to build the corners of a room. Then the detail emerged. A large square room with the table formed from stone and wood.
It was the vision from the jungle once more.
He watched as the chairs appeared in their familiar positions, arranging themselves regularly along each edge. Would he see more this time? Would it be different from before? Again, the figure stepped from the darkness to place the cup upon the table and slide it effortlessly across to him. He peered into the vision, trying to see who was offering him the cup. But he couldn’t see the man’s face.
As the man stepped from the darkness at the far end of the room, Wist realised why he hadn’t been able to focus on his face before. It hadn’t been the dizziness from heat exhaustion that had prevented him from learning his identity. The man’s face was featureless. There were no eyes on his pale face, only depressions in the smooth surface where they should be. Similarly, his nose and mouth were missing, replaced by vague bulges in the taut skin.
The figure gestured to the cup on the table, urging him, pleading with him to drink it. Wist felt drawn towards the table, as if hands forced him downwards, into this nightmare.
He felt a hand touch his shoulder and the vision shattered. Enceladus stood close beside him, stopping him from falling on to the frozen lake. He staggered away, feeling the coldness of the touch penetrating his thick cloak, and so Wist walked mechanically back to his place on the beach, unaware of Dregan being summoned by Enceladus.
Wist slumped on to the sand, lying flat on his back. The stars blinked back at him from the black sky. Wist felt a gentle breeze pass over his face, bringing a fresh set of goosebumps to his skin. A cold wave passed through his body, emanating from Eliscius’ touch. Voices drifted to him as he lay inert on the sand, trying to piece together what he had seen. One of them was Dregan, but the other one? It had an ethereal quality to it, flat and dimensionless – almost trapped.
Wist sat up and looked at the frozen dais on the lake. There stood Dregan and Enceladus. He had not shown Dregan a vision, but had elected to speak with him. He looked around at the party and saw that they too had been freed from their immobility. Nobody moved, but they exchanged questioning glances. The numbing cold that had started at his shoulder now encased his upper torso.
The voices from the lake continued for a short time. Try as he might, Wist couldn’t make out what was being said. Should he prepare himself? Were they to be transported to Eliscius now? Where was his sword? God, he must make himself ready.
The conversation ended and Enceladus raised his hands, not to guide Dregan from the plinth, but to encircle him. Tendrils of liquid ice wrapped around Dregan, who stood with his head slightly bowed, perhaps to accede to Enceladus’ will. Tighter and ti
ghter, the white bands wrapped themselves around his body until Wist thought Enceladus meant to crush the Mage. But soon the white bands began to lose their colour – passing from the purest white to a cloudy grey and then finally, they became translucent and merged. Wist forced the cold away for a moment to watch the bands contract and disappear, passing into Dregan.
Dregan and Enceladus eyed each other for a moment. Then the Mage turned and stepped down from the dais and walked back on to the beach. Dregan drew level with the company and turned to face Enceladus as the moon passed behind the trees on the far side of Kar-Iktar. But Enceladus was gone and the lake groaned as the frozen platform he had created was reclaimed by the water. As Wist felt the cold claim him and he began to fall asleep, he felt something shift deep within him.
20 - Ash and Debris
As the sun broke over the eastern edge of the trees, waking the party from their restful sleep, the ash from the previous night’s fire-pit blew out on to the lake, where it was carried away to dissolve. Each of them stirred and then rose to examine their surroundings, as if they were unsure where they might find themselves.
Dregan felt the pressure building in his chest. The bands of magical energy that Enceladus had placed around him tightened with every breath. As he sat up, the world span asymmetrically, as if the planet oscillated on its axis as it revolved. There was no time left, he had to get moving; he had to get them all moving.
The previous night, he had not been sure that Enceladus would appear. He was one of the many mysteries that Eliscius had revealed to him, but like many of the subjects Eliscius had spoken about, Dregan had been uncertain of his words. He had no reason to doubt his mentor, but Eliscius’ fundamental beliefs diverged so far from his own that he had often wondered how the two could be reconciled. Many of the things Eliscius had told him were so fantastic that he had dismissed them without a thought. He had no time to dwell on them now. Now he had to go.
--*--
Aviti looked at the sun as it rose above the tree line. The sun was in the wrong position. It had risen at the wrong end of the lake. She glanced from the campfire to the lake, then to the line of trees behind them and back to rising sun. They had been moved; all of them, even the horses and their possessions. The fire too had been relocated to warm them as they rested. Enceladus’ last intervention had been to move them toward their destination.
Aviti thought of the previous night’s encounter. She had watched helplessly when first Nikka and then Tyla was called for their communion with Enceladus. When the crisis with Faric had occurred, she had thought that Tyla would intervene - he would know Faric better than anyone else? When it became obvious that he would not accede to Enceladus’ summons, and would violently oppose his silent coercion, Aviti had hoped that Faric’s Pair would come to his aid. But Tyla had either been lost in his own grief, or he still saw Faric as his elder. Whatever the reason, Tyla had been unwilling or unable to intervene. If Wist had not spoken, Aviti was sure that Faric would have attacked.
Wist’s intervention had surprised her. This was not the first positive action that he had taken, but it may have been the first that he had actively chosen to take. Surely, it had to be a positive act?
She had thought of grasping control of her gift to protect Faric. But had she not just wanted to feel its touch to comfort her in that moment? She had wanted the warm glow she had felt when they had faced down the fire-snake. Would she really have acted?
Aviti looked away as the sun crept past the lake’s shroud, bathing the party in the soft yellow light of early morning. Her thoughts returned to Enceladus as she looked back to the lake. She had been terrified when he had come to summon her, but as she had watched the others precede her on to the frozen lake, she knew that she must face her summons with all her strength.
Nikka and Tyla’s reaction to their summoning had been muted, but it was obvious that they had endured an ordeal. And so she had cleared her mind as she walked in Enceladus’ wake. After her experience with the Lytch, she was determined not to give Enceladus anything that he could use against her so she had endeavoured to lock her feelings away – keep them submerged.
Instead of the trial she had been expecting, she had been shown her mother. Young and vital, Aviti watched as her mother used her magic, her spirit burning brightly. But she had also witnessed the terrible pain her mother had endured as a consequence of it. She saw her father caring for her mother, nursing her back to health. And she saw them argue, and though she could hear no words, she knew what was being discussed: her father was pleading with her mother to stop, not to use her ability any more. Aviti could see the price that her mother and father paid, but even while he asked her to stop, N’tini still shone with pride for Mabon. What was it that she had been fighting for? Was it worth the price that her parents had paid? Then her mother had addressed her directly.
Be brave. You are our future.
And then she was gone and Aviti’s audience with Enceladus was over. Thinking back over the details of what she had seen, Aviti had a question stuck in her mind. Why had she not endured the same torment that her mother had? Would it come to her if she used her – talents – again and again? She had only felt pleasure when she had extinguished the fire-snakes, there had been no pain. And then another revelation hit her. She was the only member of the company that had been made to walk behind Enceladus. Nikka, Tyla, Faric, even Dregan had walked alongside the being. Only Wist had been allowed to precede it on to the ice. Why had she been made to walk like a servant, trailing after?
A call from Nikka shook her from her introspection. He stood over Wist, who knelt facing out to the lake, tears falling from his ashen face. Nikka was shaking him, but Wist was unresponsive. Only the stream of tears that dropped irregularly from his cheeks betrayed any signs of consciousness. Nikka lifted Wist to his feet where he remained standing as Aviti joined them. He remained unresponsive as Aviti attempted to rouse him from his self-imposed stupor. Even her rough slap brought no reaction from Wist.
‘What is it now?’ asked Dregan brusquely. Aviti started as he spoke; she had not seen him approach.
‘I am not sure,’ said Nikka. ‘When I woke to find us here,’ he indicated the lakeside, ‘I went to greet the new sun; when I returned I found him here – like this.’
‘Enceladus,’ said Aviti, and Nikka nodded.
‘What did he show you?’ she asked Wist. He never replied to her question; unmoving, he continued his silent vigil over the lake.
‘We have no time for this,’ snapped Dregan, his jet-black ponytail whipping violently as he turned from Wist to look at Nikka. ‘We must go to the northern edge of the jungle.
‘There is no time,’ he said. ‘Tie him to the horse if he will not come willingly. We leave now!’
Faric looked over at Dregan’s raised voice. He stood ready as ever and, without waiting for instruction, he strode off, slipping into the jungle. Dregan followed the Lyrat as Tyla moved in beside Nikka.
‘Help me get him to the horses,’ Nikka said to Tyla. ‘He can ride with me. One of you can take the other horse.’
Tyla guided Wist to the horses as Nikka picked up his meagre belongings.
Aviti thought of Wist’s description of the dark dwarf. She had not had an opportunity to speak to him since then. ‘May I will ride alongside you?’
Nikka shrugged, then nodded his agreement, ‘Fine by me, girl. Are you ready to leave? I do not think the Mage means to wait.’
She returned his nod and went to lift her pack. Then she met Nikka and Tyla by the horses. Wist sat passively on the blonde mare, where he had been placed. Tyla helped Nikka mount.
With a single motion, Aviti was astride the chestnut-brown horse, comforting the large beast while they prepared to go. Once he was certain that Nikka was secure and that Wist would hold on without being bound, Tyla sped away to catch up with Dregan.
The jungle on the northern side of Lake Kar-Iktar was not as densely packed as the path they had followed to its souther
n edge. After half an hour, the two horses were able to walk side by side. Aviti looked at Wist. He clung to Nikka’s waist, a quiet desperation in his eyes. In front of them, she could make out Tyla and Dregan. She guessed that Faric had assumed his normal position, scouting ahead of the group.
‘What did Enceladus show you?’ Aviti asked.
Nikka laughed loudly, ‘You are almost as direct as your friend here.’ He slapped Wist’s hands, which were clasped around his stomach.
‘Well then, you answer a question of mine and I will answer yours?’ Nikka’s teeth glinted in the splintered light. Aviti was not sure what to expect, but she agreed to his offer.
‘Do you think you can tame a Lyrat?’ asked Nikka. Aviti spluttered. She was about to reply when Nikka raised a gnarled hand to stop her protests.
‘I jest,’ he apologised, ‘at least partially. You do realise that he will never be free of his heritage? His people may be gone and his link to his Pair broken, but he is one with this land.’
Aviti did not try to protest this time. She did not realise that her attachment to Tyla had grown so strong, or was so obvious.
‘I make no judgements. I called you girl earlier, but from what I saw you achieve when we fought the Krowen, I know that you are no girl. That took courage, and I thank you for saving our lives.’
‘Everyone played their part in the fight,’ Aviti replied.
‘Nevertheless,’ began Nikka, ‘you proved your worth. I have no right to question your choices, although I urge you to examine them carefully.’ The smile was gone from his face now.
‘Anyway, we had a deal, did we not?’ he said. ‘You wished to know what I saw on the lake.’ He waited for Aviti to nod before he continued.
The Cerni shifted position on the horse, moving Wist’s grip slightly to make himself more comfortable.
‘I saw only what I expected too,’ he grimaced, and took a swift drink from the water flagon at his side. ‘Or perhaps it was confirmation of what I feared. Sordir has fallen.’
The Redemption of Wist Boxed Set: Books 1 - 3: The complete collection Page 25