The Redemption of Wist Boxed Set: Books 1 - 3: The complete collection

by David Gilchrist

  But what was she now? Could she still be Intoli?

  This human would die out here. She would die in this cold, white perfect land. White and perfect until the Darkness came for them all.

  The Kalsurja burned over her head, its dark tendrils caressing the Source. Every touch of its darkness warped her being, but the pain was immaterial. She had forced this human woman to endure agony in the name of the Intoli.

  But what could she do? Alone for the first time. Should she seek her Sakti? How could she hope to reason with one so close to the Source and trapped in grief?

  Then, out of the wall of swirling white, a human appeared. He was not like any of the humans, not even the woman. He moved with grace and purpose; with an inner fire.

  When he was beside Sevika, he held his hands out to her and Sevika transferred the burden to him. As she did so, Sevika touched his bare hand with hers. The recognition was instant.

  This was whom she had felt through the woman, Aviti. It was him; the lost soul, the prophet, the corruption and the purity; the reason for her downfall and her ascension. This human could lead her. The abhorrent thought was a relief.

  And when he turned from her and started to walk away, Sevika followed. He stopped and looked at her. His eyes breached her barriers, and laid her soul bare. Then he shrugged and turned from her, so she followed him once more.

  -*-

  The stars were there again for Aviti. They danced and played in their eternal prison, locked in the void forever. The patterns they made cast light into the darkest recesses of her heart. It burned her, but it did not cleanse. There were stains on her soul that not even fire could remove. But she did not want to lose them; they helped her to define who she was. And perhaps they could help her to find her path.

  Faster and faster the stars spun. To and fro, back and forth they went until the line of stars began to blur. They formed shapes at first and then features, finally resolving into a face.

  'Aviti,' said the face. 'Aviti, my daughter, free me. Do what must be done.'

  Then the points of light fled, for they were not stars, and she was left alone once more.

  It did not last long. Light bled into her consciousness. Blinding, cold light brought her to life once more. She blinked once, twice, and then opened her eyes and looked into the uneven face of Tyla. The pain stabbed at her, firing within her flesh where she had burned the Intoli's device from her body. Her anguish was mirrored in the small movements of Tyla's brow.

  She stood up with the Lyrat's aid. Her fingers went to her neck and found her mother's eight-pointed star that Aviti had taken when fleeing Mashesh. She still had it, somehow.

  There were Giants around her. Tyla was there also, and Sevika. A Giant stood beside him, grim-faced and bloodied. He carried the charred remains of her friend Nikka and growled at Sevika. Aviti stumbled over to him through the thick flakes of snow. As she reached out to touch the corpse, the acrid smell of roasted flesh turned her away. She shed a tear for her part in his death. Then she wiped her eyes and turned back to the Giant and asked him to put down his burden. The Giant looked to Tyla for confirmation or approval, and then he did as she had asked. Despite the pain, despite the fact she may have greater need of her strength in the coming moments, she must do this. She owed it to her friend.

  She reached for the magic and it flowed in to her. There was no threat of it overwhelming her, but it heightened her awareness of the pain in her body. As soon as she was able, Aviti set Nikka's body ablaze with a fire hot enough that even the snow would not be able to extinguish.

  The Giant fingered his weapon as he stared at Sevika. He took a step towards her, but an echoing step from Tyla stopped him.

  Aviti held herself for a few moments while her pain subsided to a tolerable level. Maybe it would stay with her forever. Maybe this was how her mother had felt in the final days of her life. Then the noise of battle penetrated her mind; the screams of the dying and the silence of the dead.

  'We must decide what to do,' Tyla said to her.

  Aviti fought down the shame she felt. The breach of trust and the enforcing of her will upon him would have to be accounted for at another time. 'Where is Wist?' she asked.

  'Dionach? He went after Durach, the King,' replied a Giant.

  'He seeks Tilden, Oinoir,' added Tyla. 'I fear he... Wist is as unbalanced as your King. He lusts after destruction. I should have gone after him.'

  'I must go to my kin,' said the Giant, Oinoir. 'This battle may turn again and I must lead them to victory.'

  He took a step away from them, but Aviti halted him with a look. Then Aviti glanced at Sevika, but the Intoli was staring at Tyla with a mixture of awe and horror on her face. Oinoir glared at the enemy in his company with contempt, but held his tongue.

  'I must go,' he repeated, but Aviti raised her hand. She had to go and find Wist. She had to find him before he found Tilden, or Tilden found him. If what she had learned from the Intoli was true, then the fate of the world rested with him.

  But she could not leave the Giants and Intoli to their pointless slaughter. If the world could be damned by such a choice, then it was not a world worth saving.

  'Oinoir,' said Aviti, addressing him by the name she had heard Tyla use, 'you must withdraw.'

  'We will not withdraw,' said Oinoir. 'Haumea has left and I command. The fight is ours now. We must finish it here. Withdraw and our advantage is lost. Withdraw and the Intoli will return and crush us at their whim.'

  'You have not seen the full might of the Intoli outside of this canyon, brave Oinoir. You cannot hope to win this fight. This fight will be the death of your people.'

  'Sevika,' said Aviti moving from the Giant. 'Sevika, you must change the heart of your kin. You must make them see as you do.' Sevika looked from Tyla to Aviti and back to Tyla again. It was as if she sought approval from the Lyrat. Oinoir hissed as she spoke.

  On an impulse she said 'Tyla, tell her. Tell Sevika that she must.' Aviti gestured to the two of them.

  Tyla frowned and then lifted an eyebrow. Aviti could have screamed in pain and frustration. They did not have time for this.

  'Repeat to her, what I told her to do!' she yelled.

  'What did you tell her?' asked Tyla.

  'What?' asked Aviti. She went to pull her braid, but ran her hands over her head when she found it absent. She spoke clearly enough in front of him. 'How could you not have heard me?'

  'I heard you, Aviti. But it was in a tongue I do not know.'

  Aviti stared at the Lyrat. At first, she could not comprehend his words, but then it came to her.

  'Sevika,' she said. The Intoli ignored her. She said her name again, but received no response. Aviti moved forward and placed her hand on the Intoli's face and turned it to her. 'Sevika, listen, please. You can understand me, but can you understand them?'

  Sevika shook her head. It was a tiny movement, but it confirmed what Aviti suspected. She could understand Sevika and Sevika could understand her, but that was because Aviti spoke in the Intoli's tongue. And she knew the answer: the bar, the link through the bar. The bar might be gone but it must have left something behind.

  'Tilden,' she said and Sevika nodded.

  'Sevika, you have been so brave. To go against the wishes of your people, to free me when you could have stepped aside. But I ask you for more.' Sevika turned her head from the Masheshi girl, but Aviti pushed her hands against the Intoli's cold white face and moved it back to her. 'Sevika you cannot allow these … Giants to die for the mistake of your Queen.'

  'What can I do? I cannot lead. No Intoli can lead, but Krura and Vigopa.'

  'But she is lost.' said Aviti. 'And a stranger has ruled your people since then. Sevika, you have seen the truth. You recognised the imposter, and you could no longer deny the truth. Do not step back from the light.'

  Tyla moved forward. 'Aviti,' he said. 'Events overtake us.'

  As Aviti had predicted, the Intoli's numbers turned the battle back in their favour. Even without th
e advantage of magical attacks, the Intoli's warriors were fast and accurate. Many of the slaves that Aviti had freed lay dead. And then the Intoli cut into the Giants.

  Panic was in the air. It mingled with the shouts of the Giants and the freezing snow and wind. Giants ran past them, but there was no path out of the cul-de-sac. In their heedless dash, they ignored Aviti's strange group.

  The last Giants that passed by appalled Aviti. They were soaked in blood; their enemies', their kins', and their own. Some dragged friends, alive or otherwise, some dragged themselves, but none were whole. They left weapons, clothing, fallen comrades and trails of crimson in the muddied snow. Oinoir called to the Giants as they passed, trying to rally them and bring them to him, but the only Giant who looked his way stared through him, lost in his personal fight.

  The Intoli came for them, spreading out to cover the ground. But before them came the Damned. They wandered across the battlefield, falling over the dead, trampling on corpses and weapons. They moved to a destination known only to them. Then, as one, the Damned all turned north and headed in the same direction that Wist had chased the flaming Giant.

  The Intoli ignored the sign, if sign it was, and continued to march on the Giants. They too were decorated with the tributes of the dead. Again, Aviti was reminded of the Lyrats that had attacked them on the Rathou; mindless and held under the sway of Tilden. There could be no intervention from the Volni this time. The only dwarf on this continent had become ashes in the fire.

  As the Intoli progressed, Aviti moved her group back, leaving Nikka to the solitude of his pyre. The Giants were panicked now, realising their fate. A couple tried to climb out of the ravine, but the overhanging cliffs defeated their efforts to escape.

  'If she is to act it must be now,' said the Giant Oinoir. He was right. The Intoli were on them.

  'Sevika. Sevika please. Do not let them die. Do not.'

  Sevika stood and looked at her and then Tyla. Then she looked away to her kin and back to Aviti. The Intoli walked past them as Sevika stared. Ranks upon ranks of Intoli warriors engulfed them, never breaking stride as they went. They left them all unharmed, even Oinoir.

  Sevika was too far gone to help. Aviti would have to do this herself. She shut her eyes and felt for the magic. It waited for her, as she knew it would be, but her body rebelled against her. She knew what to do; let the magic build within her, use her body as a reservoir and then channel it. But as soon as she started, the attempt failed. The waves and waves of pain tormented her worn body. She was too weak. She had marched for days on end, endured the violation of her body and the attempted breaking of her spirit. Freeing the humans had pushed her past her limits. With a cry of anguish, she let go what little she summoned.

  Then the world flooded back in. The Giants screamed as the Intoli butchered them. The blood flew thick and fast, filling the air with thick gouts of crimson. The snow tried to cover it. It applied layer upon layer of clean, white purity on top of the expired Giant and Intoli lives. But the red bled through and soaked everything and everyone.

  There were so many Intoli that they surrounded Aviti and her group. Not threatening or attacking them, but in the efforts to reach their prey they had trapped them in place, powerless to do anything but watch and listen.

  The crush of Intoli grew. More and more of the invaders pushed to get at their intended prey. Without leadership or guidance, they followed their last orders.

  The light disappeared as the taller Intoli pushed in upon them.

  Then Sevika screamed. It was a soundless scream of pure light, a soul's torment transformed into pure energy. It poured from her mouth and eyes at first, then as her despair mounted, it burst from every inch of her skin, bathing the combatants in soul-searing agony.

  Light burst from all of the Intoli in an instant of purest harmony. Then it was gone and the battlefield fell silent.

  Sevika collapsed, but remained upright such was the crush. Aviti blinked trying to shift the after images from her eyes. The outline of the screaming Intoli pulsed in her vision. It framed all she could see.

  Aviti held Sevika's limp form to herself. Her former captor leaned against her and Aviti clung to her as much for her own stability.

  She could hear shuffling feet and the groaning of injured Giants. They were bumped and buffeted as the Intoli started to move. As the pressure on Aviti lessened, she felt hands take her burden from her. Tyla took the limp Intoli in his arms, freeing Aviti.

  Oinoir pushed himself away from them, trying to find what had become of his people. As Aviti watched his blonde hair slip into the mass of beings, one of the Intoli stumbled into her. It looked like a child, like a child lost amongst a winter's storm. Anguish and pain were written so plainly on the face of the Intoli that even Tyla must be conscious of their grief. The Intoli reached out its hands to Sevika, searching for an end to its pain. But seeing Sevika's predicament, it turned back into the crowd, joining the lost souls' parade.

  The crowd around thinned, allowing Aviti to see the pit where the Giants and Intoli had slaughtered one another. Lying amongst the red and pink sludge were Giants and Intoli, both whole and destroyed. And beyond them were the survivors. Terrified male and female Giants huddled against the rock face. A couple of Giants, seduced by the war-lust, screamed in bloody defiance. The outpouring of light had had no effect on them. If Aviti had any strength left she would have wept for them.

  'Aviti,' said a familiar voice. 'Aviti we must find Wist.'

  Tyla. Of course. Strong, solid dependable Tyla, even the storm of light could not break him. 'I have erred. I should not have left him.'

  'Yes Tyla,' said Aviti. 'Wist.' Damn him and damn his world. She wanted sleep.

  The ground shook, and Aviti slipped, then fell down in the mud and snow. Tyla remained on his feet, holding Sevika to his chest. Aviti could feel tension in the Lyrat. There was no fear, but there was trepidation.

  Aviti looked straight up into the sky where the sun's outline struggled to break through the grey swirling snow. The ominous black circle that was the Kalsurja cut its way through the smog.

  Then the earth began to shake again, but this time the convulsions did not abate. They grew.

  Aviti's vision blurred as the intensity of the tremors mounted. She could hear screams in the air, but they did not register above her fear. The world came undone below her. This was the end. How could anyone survive the rage of a mad world?

  Then the world fell silent and still. Aviti's pulse hammered inside her skull. She looked up at Tyla, ashamed of her terror.

  A black column burst from the ground north of where Aviti lay. It burned its way through the clouds and snow, and shot straight at the sun. This time there was no violent revulsion of the earth, just quiet dread. And the molten blackness flowed up towards the sun, extinguishing Aviti's last hope.

  When it ended, the dark Kalsurja slid over its burning counterpart and bathed the world in darkness. Then the silence was shattered as the Intoli cried to the Source. Light erupted from them all again, in a final, futile display of defiance or despair. Sevika opened her eyes then and joined in the last song of her people.

  24 - Brighter Than A Thousand Stars

  Wist plunged below the surface of the world again as he ran after the blazing Giant. He left behind his friends, the war, his hopes for the future, and ran. Tilden would be here, but Wist did not fear him or the consequences of his actions. He would end this now.

  The Dearg Fola. Aviti. Nikka. The Black Sun. They all vanished from his mind as he went.

  The light from the fleeing Giant's body reflected back along the black stone walls to Wist. The air here was cool, with damp air like a sepulchre. It left a taste on his tongue like ground bones.

  The narrow path he ran down took a sharp dip and Wist crashed to the ground. As he picked himself up, he could hear the Durach’s screams fading. Echo after echo disappeared into the blackness.

  He set off running again, but he couldn't keep up his pace. The light from D
urach had faded. Despite only having one tunnel to move along, Wist couldn't see well enough to sprint. But there was no such caution from the burning Giant. His thumping footfalls could still be heard between his cries. Wist feared that he might be losing him. His blood burned with his need for retribution.

  Then he came to a wide opening. Several tunnels branched off here. It took Wist a moment to determine which way Durach had gone; another few seconds lost. After a few hundred metres, he came to another opening. This time it took him longer to figure out his way as he grew less certain of himself.

  More and more branches appeared. More choices and more lost time.

  'Tilden!' he shouted. 'Tilden, face me. Coward! Bastarding coward!' But the only reply was the echo of his voice as it reflected from the hard stone walls.

  Then there was a scream. It wasn’t a high piercing scream of a human, but the lost mournful cry of a Giant. Then the light went out and the cries ceased. Wist was left alone and lost in the dark.

  Wist stopped. His heart pounded in his chest, labouring hard. All he could hear was his own rasping breath and the hammering of his heart. He swept his arms out before him and groped for the wall. His right hand collided with rough stone and he grunted in pain.

  He stood still. He could figure out which way he had come, but he would not retreat, not now. If he went on, he would have to make a decision. So he moved forward, running his right hand down the wall, letting it be his guide. His pace had fallen to little more than walking, but at least he still made progress. Only weeks ago this would have trapped him here, like a child waiting for his parents to return.