‘This is your doing Witch!’ cried Verdasco. ‘Send him back. He will kill us all. Send him back.’
The golden chalice came alive in her grasp and blew her thoughts away. She could feel every molecule of the bar, which made up its shaft. It was like the metal that she had shaped when making the ice grippers and the climbing tools, but it was so much more. There was magic inherent in the metal. The Intoli had forced the same golden metal into her shoulder when they enslaved her. With a thought, she transformed the golden metal from a cylinder to a blade, leaving the cup and base to hit the floor.
The blade slipped through the chains that bound her as if they were made from silk. This metal was alive in Aviti’s hand. She could make it into anything she wanted, but right now, all she needed was a weapon.
Verdasco hauled her up and shoved his blood-drenched face into Aviti’s. He opened his mouth to scream again, but Aviti silenced him by plunging her newly formed knife into the opening.
As the repugnant man gurgled, Aviti reformed the metal in her hand. She lengthened it and then split the point in two. Then she rotated the two points and brought them back together. The top of Verdasco’s head slipped down the back of his neck and then his body fell away. Seeing this, the guard screamed and ran, tumbling into the darkness.
Red light engulfed Aviti before her guilt could. This time she did not shy away from it, she peered into the heart of the glow. There was a shape inside the light; black lined in ruby. It careered down the mountain towards them; towards Wist.
The Hillfolk fled in terror. Heedless of the Waren or the precipitous edge of the mountain, they took their chances in the dark.
The figure roared once more and increased his speed down the mountain. The red light that illuminated Wist now searched around as the huge shape drew closer.
It was a Giant, thought Aviti; a Giant or the image of one. She remembered how Tilden had deceived them all with his glamour. Taking on the appearance of Ravan, he had pushed the Intoli into war. This Giant looked real and his anger was hot enough to scour the flesh from her bones. A step or two would take him to Wist. A few heartbeats and Wist would die or he would unleash a force that not even Aviti could withstand.
‘Oinoir!’ screamed Decheal as he tore himself free from his shackles. The mention of his name halted the onrushing Giant. The red light that streamed from Oinoir’s hand faltered for an instant. Aviti saw recognition in the Giant’s face, but it vanished a second later and the red light blossomed once more. Then Decheal ran at her friend.
The flash of argent as the Giants collided blistered Aviti's eyes. She blinked the afterimages away as the thunder rolled along the rocks whilst Wist shouted at his friends, begging them to stop.
More red and silver flashes followed and Aviti's life fragmented once more. Each stab of light presented her with a vision of horror: Oinoir's twisted visage, Decheal's determined face. The red light cast the shadow of a huge fist upon them all.
Aviti fingered the cold metal that she had used to end Verdasco’s life. The possibilities it presented to her were endless, but right now, they were also useless. She could mould this material into anything she wanted with just a thought, but what use was it now? She screamed into the night in pure frustration.
The light vanished for one heartbeat and then another. Then it flared again, more brilliant than before, and the combatants moved towards Wist.
'Oinair!' cried a desperate voice, powered by grief, despair and self-loathing.
'Oinoir,' came the reply between clashes of weapons.
Instead of calming the Giant, it inspired new depths of madness. The red began to dominate the silver. It pushed its way towards its target; towards the source of all their ills, and Aviti was powerless to help. Every fibre of her body was ready to strike, ready to kill if she needed to, but she could not slay Decheal to achieve her ends.
The darkness around them pulsed in anti-phase with the crimson light, as if it sought to help subdue Decheal's argent. As it grew, the urge to fight back grew in Aviti, whatever the cost. Surely, the death of her friends was a small price to pay to stop this catastrophe?
Then an intense blast of deep red light illuminated the mountain for a full second. It showed Aviti the full horror of the night. The souls that had been sacrificed for their blood lay spent above her, but their killers were gone.
Haumea stood frozen, her staff gripped in her gnarled hand. Wist kneeled, his anger gone, awaiting his fate., and Sevika stood apart from them all. Then there were the two Giants. Decheal was lacerated with a thousand cuts from Oinoir's eldritch weapon. She slid backwards, losing ground to her comrade's maddened assault. Two more steps, two more slips and the Giantess was finished.
'Wist, you Demon!' Oinoir bellowed. 'This is all you. All of it. The darkness, the hate, the fear, it is all you. Because of you Oinair fell. Because of you she is gone for eternity. Damn you Dionach.'
Then a single word echoed out from the mountain. It was loud and clear and definite.
'Yes.'
Instead of pushing his advantage, Oinoir faltered. The sincerity of the admission cut through whatever gripped Oinoir’s heart. Darkness engulfed them all again and then there was a scream, followed by a deeper roar.
The Waren came at them then; desperate to crush them at last, but beneath all of the hatred and malice was something else, something new. Aviti felt loss.
Then it was gone and they were abandoned again. As she blinked to reacquaint herself with the partial light of the Ghria Duh, a simpler, heart-breaking sound replaced the cries of a few moments ago. Haumea's cries filled Aviti's ears, and reived the hope from her soul.
When Aviti’s vision cleared, she saw the Giantess weeping over two bodies. One was cleaved near in two, the other still bled from a thousand cuts to his flesh. The dead Giant Oinoir looked at peace, his face bore no sign of the inner torment that had flayed him only moments before.
Decheal still drew stuttering breaths, but each one was weaker than the last. Aviti walked the few steps to Haumea. Wist waited until she went by, and then walked behind her. His clumsy gait sent screeds of black rock tumbling down the mountain. Perhaps some of them would cover the gallons of blood spilled on the mountainside.
They reached Haumea and stood beside her as Decheal drew her last breath. Her injuries were too severe to allow her any last words. Aviti shed no tears for either of them, for if she wept now she would have to admit her culpability in Verdasco’s death. The metal Aviti had used to slay him remained in her clenched fist. She used it to sever the others’ bonds and then, with a thought, it slithered down her arm and around her wrist, forming a bracer. At least there, she could ignore it for a time.
Haumea turned her back on them all and let her tears fall where Aviti's could not. Whilst she wept, Wist knelt beside Oinoir's remains. He slipped his hand over the dead Giant's eyes and closed his eyelids. He muttered something to himself and then placed his hand around Oinoir's left hand. The Giant’s digits were still clenched into a fist, but Wist pealed them apart. Then he plucked something from the centre of the massive palm.
Wist held it up between his thumb and index finger. At first, it looked black to Aviti, but as he moved it, it cast daggers of crimson light upon the hill.
'Wist, no.' Aviti cried, but Wist smiled at her.
'I thought I had obliterated it all at Dilsich. How’d Oinoir get this piece?'
'Wist,' Aviti said once more, with more than a hint of warning in her tone. Sevika cowered away from them both
'Oh Aviti, the bloodstone has no hold on me now. My anger’s all but spent.' Haumea turned back to them as Wist twirled the fragment in his fingers. She pointed her staff at Wist's extended arm, a look of horror on her face. Wist started at the Giantess, then he crushed the red stone between his fingers and the dust blew away. He laughed as the motes floated on the stiff breeze. Then Aviti saw the wan light of the moon reflecting on his glistening cheeks.
Haumea screamed and Aviti stepped back, startled by t
he sudden outburst. A shape rose from beneath them, its slack face outlined by the moon; robbed of all its passion.
‘No!’ Haumea yelled. ‘Not her. No, no, no.’ She brandished her staff at the figure, as it dragged the remains of its legs up the hill and away from them. Then a spec of light shot past them all, as if repelled by the light of the moon or the darkness of the Ghria Duh. Aviti reached out to it, but she could not stop its flight.
Haumea ran from them, straight at the lumbering corpse of her friend. When she was close enough, Haumea thrust her staff out and caught Decheal in the back. The detonation caught Aviti full in the face. When she gathered her wits, she found only Haumea standing on the hill, leaning on her staff.
‘The Damned,’ whispered Wist. ‘My fault.’
Aviti ignored him and went to Haumea, who had dropped the point of her staff down to touch the ground. She threw her arms as far around the Giantess as she could manage and held her tight. Together, in the bitter wind, they grieved for the fallen Giants. Haumea wept, whilst Aviti mourned in the silence of her heart.
When Wist placed his hand on her shoulder, it gave Aviti the strength she needed to release Haumea. The Giantess looked at Aviti and then at Wist.
‘I hardly knew them,’ said Haumea. ‘But they were braver than I could ever hope to be. Now one is dead and the other I have turned to ash.’ She ran her fingers over her mottled white staff. ‘I fear for the two of you, my tiny friends, for all of the others are dead.’ Haumea turned something in one of her hands, something small and metallic. It was Decheal’s star on the leather chord, the one that Aviti had made. Haumea slipped it over her neck, accepting the guilt and grief.
‘I wish that Nikka were here, but also I am glad that he is at peace. I am glad that this burden is upon my shoulders and not his. Ah, forgive my introspection. Our situation is not improved by this turn of events my friends. We must get off this mountain, but where can we go?’
‘We go to the Dhuma, we go to end this,’ said Wist.
‘How Wist?’ said Haumea. ‘How? What can we eat? How will we keep warm? I do not despair Wist, but I have run out of answers.’
‘Damnit Haumea, I don’t know, but would you rather die here? Perhaps these Hillfolk had some things we could use?’
‘These people Wist? The people who were so desperate for redemption that they sacrificed their own kin? It is they who lie slain upon the mountain.’
‘Do you want me to bury them all?’ Wist shouted back at the Giant. ‘Or should I carry them with me?’
Aviti turned from them, frustrated by their squabbling. Then Sevika too turned away from Wist and Haumea, but she stared down towards the foot of the mountain, ignoring even the Ghria Duh and the feeble moon.
The Intoli put a foot forward and followed it with the other a few seconds later. As she began her funeral march down the hill, Wist and the Giantess continued their argument and Aviti watched the Intoli go. Then Aviti started moving and fell in step behind Sevika.
‘Where are you going?’ she asked Sevika. When the Intoli did not answer, she repeated the question in the Intoli’s language, realising her mistake.
‘Where we all must go,’ said Sevika.
‘Where we all must go?’ repeated Aviti, but Sevika did not respond.
After a few more steps, Aviti heard shouts from behind. Then she heard her companions scrambling to catch up.
‘What the hell is she doing?’ Aviti shrugged off the question and kept going. ‘Aviti damn it, where is the Intoli going?’
‘The right way. The only way,’ Aviti replied.
Sevika’s steps became more assured as she went, regaining her confident stride.
For a while no-one spoke. The only sounds were the wind and the rocks that slid in their wake. Sevika walked on and they followed; down the mountain. The torches were all gone and without Enceladus’ inner radiance all they had was the moon to guide them, but no-one slipped or stumbled on their descent. They stepped behind the Intoli, placing their feet where she did.
As they approached the bottom of the mountain, Wist said, ‘Why are we going back? I cannot. I must reach the Dhuma.’
‘Wist, be silent,’ said Aviti.
He grumbled on for a few more steps, but as they walked out onto the plain below the mountain, it became apparent that Sevika was not leading them back. Aviti placed a hand on Sevika’s shoulder and stopped her at the mouth of the cave they had seen on their way up.
Haumea was the first to speak as they gathered around the Intoli. ‘But the cave, these people were terrified of it. They were so afraid, that they would rather sacrifice us and their own people rather than go in there.’
Wist nodded but said, ‘I don’t feel anything from it. Nothing at all.’
‘I do not think that matters,’ said Aviti.
‘Sevika,’ she said in the Intoli’s language, ‘are you sure about this?’
Without turning to face them the Intoli said, ‘You seek the Dhuma. It is this way.’
Aviti looked at Haumea and Wist. ‘But why are you so sure now?’ she asked.
‘The last of Arkasona has been destroyed.’
‘The bloodstone?’ said Aviti, slipping into her own tongue.
At those words, Haumea turned her head. ‘The Giants call it the Dearg Fola. Was that what Oinoir had? But how? Where did he get it from?’
‘I think he may have always had it,’ said Wist. ‘At least, since we left Dilsich. Or perhaps Enceladus gave him it?’
‘I knew that Oinoir struggled, but I thought it was just grief over his sister.’ Wist laughed ruefully and then added, ‘Just grief.’
’Grief turns to anger when it is not allowed to run its course,’ said Haumea.
‘What did Sevika say about Oinoir?’ Wist asked Aviti.
‘Nothing. Nothing directly. She said that since you destroyed the fragment of the Arkasona, she can sense the Dhuma.’
Wist sighed and glanced around. ‘She could not sense it before? She was leading us to it.’
Aviti shrugged and then laughed at her strange mimicry of Tyla. Then she forced thoughts of him and their bond from her mind. ‘I guess that the Bloodstone was clouding her vision?’
‘So, we go in there?’ asked Wist, pointing to the gaping hole in the mountain.
Aviti started to shrug again, but she stopped herself and nodded instead.
‘Right then,’ said Wist. ‘Haumea, can you find us some torches and anything else you can lay your hands on?’ Haumea nodded and lumbered off to do as Wist had asked.
As they stood and waited for her return, Wist hummed to himself.
Aviti tried to empty her mind of everything; of all the people that she had lost and all the sacrifices that she had made. When the Giantess returned, she found herself humming along to Wist’s quirky melody.
Haumea handed out the torches she found, but shouldered the rest of her haul herself.
‘Let us be away my friends,’ she said. As if Sevika understood the Giantess’ words, the Intoli walked forward and was the first to step into the darkness.
19 - Memories Remain
‘Stop. Stop here,’
‘Aviti, we have only just entered. It is not like our eyes need to grow accustomed to the dark.’
There was a rumble like the tectonic plates of the earth grinding together.
‘It was not meant to be a joke Haumea.’
The Giantess laughed aloud this time. ‘There is a grim humour in everything, if you look hard enough for it.’
Aviti stood with her back to the rough stone walls and let her heart settle.
‘What’s wrong?’
Aviti disregarded the question and studied the walls, examining the way they arched over her to meet high above her head.
‘Aviti, what’s wrong?’ repeated Wist.
‘Nothing.’
‘Nothing, my backside,’ said Wist eliciting another chuckle from Haumea.
‘A colourful turn of phrase my friend,’ she said.
&nbs
p; Wist shot the Giantess a glare, but Aviti did not care. She just continued to let her eyes roam around the cavern.
‘It’s natural,’ said Wist. ‘These caves, they have been here a long time.’
She knew his words were true. The walls were peppered with holes of all sizes. There were no smooth surfaces here. Even the floor, which was quite flat, had ridges and breaks.
So why did she tremble?
‘It’s volcanic,’ said Wist, running his hand over the surface.
‘What is?’ said Aviti.
‘The stone; this place. Hot magma from deep in the earth moulded these walls long, long ago.’
Aviti tried to use the information to bring herself back into the room, back into the moment. She scanned her companions and let her eyes settle on the Intoli Sevika. The Intoli had stopped at the back of the cave, where a tunnel extended into the abyss. The edges of her slender face looked sharp in the dim light of the torches. Aviti continued to watch as Wist spoke at length about the formation of the cave, how the rock had cooled and the porous structure formed.
‘Ah, you sound like Nikka,’ said Haumea. Aviti ignored her, studying the minute movement of Sevika’s hands.
‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ said Wist with a smile, then he fell silent for a moment and then added, ‘She has changed.’
Aviti raised an eyebrow at Wist.
‘Sevika. She’s changed,’ he said. Aviti nodded. ‘It’s as if she’s found a purpose, or rediscovered it maybe.’
Aviti fought the urge to shrug, then said, ‘She may not be able to understand you, but you should not speak about her as if she were not...’
Her voice trailed off allowing Wist to complete her sentence. ‘Human?’ he said. ‘She clearly isn’t human.’
The Redemption of Wist Boxed Set: Books 1 - 3: The complete collection Page 81