She stood before them naked from the waist up, shaking with outrage at both her former enslavement and the accusation of complicity in it. Decheal did not shy away from Aviti’s scars, but neither did she repeat her accusation.
Aviti’s anger abated and her skin tightened against the cold. Haumea offered her a blanket, which she threw over herself.
Then the newcomer repeated his assertion. ‘I am Enceladus, and I am Ravan.’ Then he added, ‘I was Intoli.’
‘And now?’ asked Haumea before Aviti could intervene.
‘I am more and I am less.’
More and less than what, thought Aviti. Haumea displayed no reaction to Enceladus’ evasion.
‘And what is it you wish from us?’ asked Haumea as she rolled her staff in her hand. Light danced across the intruder’s skin, sending darts of illumination across them all.
‘I wish only to do what you do. To accompany others of greater import.’
Decheal snorted, but Haumea laughed, then said, ‘So you ask our permission to accompany us?’
The glowing figure inclined his head, first to Aviti, and then to Wist. Haumea glanced around the room, taking them all in, even the recumbent Oinoir.
‘Very well,’ Haumea said. ‘At least we shall not be so reliant on our torches.’
‘First, I must aid your fallen friend. He will not recover otherwise.’
Decheal raged at the suggestion, but Haumea silenced her again. Then Decheal turned her back on them and stomped across the room away from the all. Sevika retreated to her place beside the doorway.
Aviti dressed herself in a rush, whilst Enceladus went to Oinoir. She was suddenly aware of Tyla’s presence and the terrible bite of the cold air. As she forced each item of clothing back onto her body, she reaffirmed her control over herself and of the magic to which she was a portal.
She pulled her cloak over herself and smiled.
A portal. She had never thought of it, or herself, in that way before, but it fit. It fit better than her clothes did.
‘Tyla,’ she said without turning. ‘Tyla, what do you see? What do you see when you look at Enceladus.’
He turned his eyes towards the sentinel. Enceladus took Oinoir’s hand, whilst Decheal issued dark threats from her corner.
‘It is him, is it not Tyla?’
Tyla stared at Enceladus for an age before he nodded. ‘It is him, but he… he is changed.’
Aviti’s blood thundered around her body. Him. He said, him. Tyla saw it too. He recognised the sentinel just as she had and he confirmed her initial thoughts. He was real, but so was Tyla. And Tyla was here, now. He was close and she needed him. She reached out and took his hand. Then she led him to the corner of the room furthest from the light and sat him down. Her breath fogged before her as she tried to calm herself.
She looked into his brown-green eyes for as long as she could, before she averted her gaze. When she re-discovered her courage, she examined his face. It seemed like an eternity since she had seen him. The past weeks had been painted in midnight, and in that endless night since the battle, they had shuffled along beside each other covered in layer upon layer of clothes, topped with crusted ice.
But she could not have confronted him before now. As her eyes ran over the parallel scars on his face, she was not sure that she could do so now.
‘I am sorry,’ she said, and then she faltered when he raised an eyebrow. The elongated shadows that it cast over his brow made him look just like Faric, his dead Pair. Now she had made herself his Pair.
‘I never meant for this to happen. I never meant any of this.’
Then he astonished her with a smile. ‘What in life is meant?’
She shook her head at him and shot him a glare.
‘But how do we… how do I…?’
Tyla placed a finger on her lips. ‘Wrap up. Meet me outside. Bring your blade.’ Before she could say anymore, he slipped from the room.
Aviti pulled on the final layers of her clothing and walked to the door, whilst Enceladus finished his ethereal ministry on Oinoir. Haumea could handle whatever happened here, and if she could not, then so be it. The Giantess nodded, moved the door for Aviti, and then passed her a torch. Tyla had moved it himself, she thought, as it closed behind her. Damn him, she thought, and smiled despite herself.
Tyla waited for her outside the entrance. His torch burned at his feet, stuck into the ice, and he stood with his Katana drawn. She advanced towards him and then stopped a few yards short. Then she planted her torch opposite his and drew her sword.
‘Follow,’ he said and took a step towards her. Then he swept his blade down at her head. Aviti flipped her sword up to block it and she slid back with the force of the blow. The clash of steel rang in her ears.
She blinked and had to flick her blade low to her right as Tyla came at her again. Then he struck high and left, then flicked another high strike. By the time the fourth blow came, she was prepared for the next one.
Tyla repeated the pattern again, high then low, left then right, but he varied the strength and timing of each move. It meant that Aviti could settle into a rhythm, but still had to focus to time each counter.
On they went, their strikes crying out across the barren land. Aviti was unaccustomed to fighting with a sword. She had used a bow, and sticks when play fighting with her friends, but a sword felt unnatural in her hand.
Despite this, she came alive as she moved, but it was more than just her spirit that soared. The bond with the Lyrat sang in her mind, and the pulse of Tyla’s heart beat inside of her; a chiming counter-point to his sword strikes.
Then he stopped and stepped back, inviting her onto him. She moved forward and tried to repeat Tyla’s pattern, but after a few hits, the Lyrat rolled his wrist and flicked the sword from her grip. It dropped at her feet with a dull thump. Before she could move to retrieve it, Tyla slipped his blade beneath hers and flicked it into the air allowing her to catch the handle.
‘Do not repeat what I do. It is like the past. We may learn from it or we may ignore it, but we may not replay it.’
She flushed at the rebuke, but then he added, ‘Like water in the desert. Find your own path.’ She attacked him hard then. Her blows were all high at first, raining down, as if his defences were a wall made of sticks. Then she spun and swept her blade around in a full circle, moving from high to low. The Lyrat danced aside, kicking ice up to sparkle in the torchlight.
He had sensed the move before it began. Aviti had told him her intentions, not only through her posture and positioning, but more explicitly through their bond. She had not meant to, but she had not tried to conceal it either.
As they swapped roles once more, he changed his attack. It began as before, high then low, left then right, but from time to time, he added a thrust or a slice, and she could anticipate it. Each time it happened, there was a ripple in their bond.
Then he stepped inside her reach and caught her sword arm at the wrist. The contact, even through layers of material, was just like the rush of magic through her body. The way it had been before she learned to control it.
‘Enough for now,’ he said. He was close enough that his breath warmed what little exposed skin she had. She nodded as he stepped away.
Their bond was alive with a cynosure of emotions. She sensed the conflict within him. ‘Do you think that we can find the Sun again?’ she asked him as he retrieved his torch,
‘No,’ he replied.
‘No?’
‘No, that is not the correct question to ask.’
‘Well what is?’ she snapped at him, annoyed at his arrogance.
‘Maybe I should say that it is not the correct question for today?’
Aviti frowned at him and picked her torch up.
‘Today’s question is the same as yesterday’s.’
Her frown deepened when he turned from her and headed to the door. She took a couple of quick steps and caught up with him. ‘So, what is it then, this mysterious question?’
He smiled and said, ‘Will we see tomorrow?’ Then he slipped inside the building.
-*-
When they had slept once more, Oinoir awoke and declared himself ready to travel. Decheal was unconvinced by his proclamation, convinced that Enceladus had harmed him in some way, but after Oinoir pointed out his superior position in the Giant’s hierarchy again, Decheal gave way.
They gathered their belongings and moved to the open area near where Aviti and Haumea had found Enceladus. Aviti told them what lay above them on their right, and it was obvious that there was no direct path ahead through the snow-covered rock fall, so they would have to traverse the dark walls on their left.
The moon was high above them and the Ghria Duh had not risen yet, so they ascended to the semi-circular defensive positions without any trouble. Tyla did so with Wist over his shoulder, but what unsettled Aviti most was the sight of Enceladus’ graceful glide up the dark surface.
At the top, Aviti found herself standing on bare stone. An overhanging shelf covered the floor, which comprised of a patchwork of huge black slabs. The floor was smooth, but the ceiling was irregular. Broken stalactites peppered the plane above them, like teeth in an old hag’s maw. Light from Enceladus reflected along the path, revealing that it ran out after a hundred yards. It ended in another pile of broken, impassable stone.
‘Now what?’ grunted Decheal to Haumea, but Tyla pointed to the blocked end of their path. It took Aviti a second to see it, but there was a semi-circular row of stones on the floor in front of the blockage.
‘A tunnel?’ she asked Tyla. He shrugged and walked towards it, leaving Wist to be shepherded by Haumea. The Lyrat slipped through the hole, only to re-emerge a second later and gesture, so they went to him.
As they gathered around the opening, Aviti saw a metal ladder fixed to its rim. To use metal for such a purpose seemed extravagant to her. She descended just after Tyla, who had once more placed Wist over his shoulder. As she stepped from one rung to the next, her gloved hands sent flakes of ferrous material down onto Tyla’s torch.
Aviti moved off from the ladder into a vast tunnel. It ran in the same direction that they were travelling, but the smooth arching roof set her on edge. The tunnel looked like a cylinder sectioned along its length.
‘Let us move,’ urged Decheal. Oinoir grumbled something in agreement and they continued on. Despite the damage to his leg, Oinoir now moved freely. Aviti had not seen him thank Tyla or Enceladus for his efforts. He had not looked at the Lyrat or Intoli since regaining consciousness.
Moving along the tunnel was easier than being outside. The breeze that blew in here was only slight. They passed regular openings in the passageway. They were all in the left-hand side of the tunnel, each one with a set of steps leading up, bounded on both sides by more metal rails. Piles of rubble blocked the top of most of these openings, but a couple revealed the black sky.
The tunnel went on for miles without branching or deviating from its straight line. They passed other entrances to this tunnel, but they had all collapsed in on themselves. Torchlight danced over the exposed metal fingers, reaching out from their earthen sepulchres to grasp at them as they passed. The combination of stone, earth and metal made Aviti’s skin crawl.
Then they came to an open doorway. On the left-hand side of the door was a window. It was about the size of a Giant’s fist and the wind on Aviti’s face was the only confirmation that she was looking outside. Beyond the doorway, the corridor narrowed, becoming oblong. The curve of the ceiling was replaced by a patchwork of broken lines and regular angles.
‘Giants are at home under the ground,’ said Haumea with a tremor in her voice as they passed through the portal. Aviti lifted her head to look at the Giantess. She clutched her staff so tight that Aviti thought she might break it.
‘Do you miss your homeland?’ Haumea asked Aviti, but she never waited for a reply. ‘The Plains of Uram are mine,’ she continued. ‘I mean; they are my home. The rolling hills and grasslands that stretch from the Sea to the town of Creidas; from the rift in our land to the mountains in the West.’
‘My father was away in those mountains all of my life, or so my mother used to tell me. He vanished when I was born. My mother said that he did the King’s work, but I think I shamed him. What Giant warrior would want a cripple for a child? Perhaps he would be proud of me now?’
‘My parents are both dead,’ said Aviti, ignoring the anger that the Giant’s words had roused.
‘I believe mine are also. My mother passed a few years ago. My father likely died facing the Gorgoths. No-one that I have asked ever knew what his fate was.’
‘Why do you care?’ asked Aviti. ‘If you were such a burden to him.’
‘You would not care what became of your kin? He was always a stranger to me, but his blood is my blood.’
‘No matter the taint?’
‘Taint?’ Haumea asked, all humour gone from her voice. ‘Taint? Do you mock me Aviti? I had not thought you so cruel?’
Aviti flushed. ‘No Haumea, I did not mean that.’ She stopped, and with her head in her hands, she listened to the footsteps as they faded. Then a hand fell on her shoulder.
‘It is this place Aviti. It is this place and the dark abomination in the sky. It warps us. It warps our words, our thoughts and, should we let it, it will warp our hearts as well.’
Aviti took several deep breaths and then said, ‘I meant his taint, Haumea,’ said Aviti.
‘His?’ asked Haumea
‘You are better off without a father that could reject a child, whatever the reason.’
Haumea lifted Aviti back to her feet and laughed. ‘And I thought that Nikka was quick to speak the truth. You people of Tapasya. Perhaps I might visit it, with you?’
‘Yes,’ Aviti said. ‘I will show you what remains of my home.’ Then she too laughed. ‘Yes, I will show you the Great Desert and even Nikka’s mountain.’ Haumea hugged her as they took a few steps and then they walked on in silence.
They caught up with the others in a few moments. Wist dawdled along with Tyla, and the two Intoli walked beside him. Oinoir and Decheal must have moved ahead, as Aviti could not see them, but she could hear the scuffling of their feet.
The sound that filled Aviti’s ears however was Haumea’s uneven breathing. She could hear the rattle at the bottom of the Giantess’ compressed chest. Unlike her father’s condition, Haumea’s appeared to come and go with her mood. Once her father’s cough arrived, it never fully left. It only departed when he had drawn his last breath.
Then a noise impinged on her memories, and a shiver passed through her bond with Tyla. The noise grew louder as they walked. It was a scraping, clawing noise, like a jaw chewing its way through the mountain to devour them.
She called the Lyrat’s name, but he just shrugged and walked on. A hundred yards further on, the noise grew to a tumult, and they found the Giants and the source of the racket. The end of the tunnel had caved in. They had travelled for miles to find that even this way out of Medicaut was blocked, but that was the least of their problems. Beyond Oinoir and Decheal there was about two dozen men and women. They were walking towards the wall of rubble. One by one, they fell over each other in a calm procession. Then they rose and did it again.
‘What now, Beira?’ growled Decheal at Aviti. ‘What does your pet Intoli tell you?’
Aviti turned to Sevika. ‘Sevika which way should we go?’
‘I can find the Dhuma. It is distant and indistinct, but it is there.’ Sevika pointed through the wall and upwards. Aviti looked at Enceladus, but she could not find the will to speak to her.
‘Back then. We must go back.’ said Aviti. She shuddered as she imagined the Dhuma. Sevika had talked of the place where the Intoli had kept the Waren prisoner in.
‘And what about them?’ said Haumea pointing to the Damned.
‘Leave them,’ said Tyla with a shrug. Then he tried to turn Wist around, but he could not move him. He took a few steps back and examine
d the pale-skinned man. Wist stared at the wall and the group of Damned that still attempted to walk through it. His twin brother Tilden had forced Aviti to destroy a group of these poor souls.
‘Move him,’ she said to Tyla.
‘I cannot,’ he replied.
Decheal snorted. ‘Blood and bone; cannot says the Lyrat.’
‘Cannot…’ she said, but before she could complete the sentence, Oinoir roared. In a second, he had smashed through the first two Damned. Dust exploded from them, extinguishing the torches and engulfing them. Aviti heard thumps as Oinoir dispatched the rest of them. At first, the dust sparkled in Enceladus’ light, but it thickened after a few seconds. Aviti choked on the horrific taste of decay and was forced to retreat, using the wall as a guide. Then the ground shook and huge thuds forced her to cover her ears. She could hear someone screaming, Haumea perhaps. Something struck her on the head and red sparks exploded in her eyes. Then more and more stones fell from the ceiling onto her, and the vibrations began to grow.
Aviti reached for the magic then and she threw it around them. Through it, she could feel the roof of the tunnel above them and the walls either side. The pressure that built on her was immense. They had to run; run back out of this place. She could keep them safe for a while. She could hold the weight until they were clear, she told herself, but she knew it was a lie.
Her focus wavered as a hand grabbed hers and pulled her forwards; not backwards, away from the chaos, but deeper into it. She kept her grip on the magic and tightened its influence so that she could bear the strain.
The hand dragged her onward through the suffocating blackness. Holding her breath, so she did not lose herself in a spasm of coughing, she stumbled on with only Tyla’s support.
5 - Ghost
When Aviti’s pain slackened enough, she uncoiled and slumped onto the rock-hard earth. Then she opened her eyes to see her comrades around her. Sevika and Tyla were on her left. They stood beside Wist who looked away from them to the North. The Giants were at the other side of her. Decheal appeared to be bandaging Oinoir’s hands.
The Redemption of Wist Boxed Set: Books 1 - 3: The complete collection Page 63