Warrior Blind

by Calle J. Brookes

  “I am sorry, Eaudne, for what you suffered,” Black said. “But what are saying is relevant to today’s threat? We need everything you can give for us.”

  “I am haunted—perhaps only as a mother can be—by that sorcerer. A part of his soul was seared into my flesh that day.” She held up her scarred arm for all to see. Koios was taken aback—the scars were in the shape of a large man’s hand, and wrapped completely around her arm. “I am bound to him in some ways. And he still lives. I can feel him through many worlds. Deep within the lower worlds surrounding the Three Hells, he sleeps. But he wakens soon. If he has not already. And he will come—for all who carry the name Dardaptos. For all who came from my body, for all who came from them—and perhaps for all of you. And I am afraid...so very, very afraid that once again I will fall before him, and lose all that I have left. It is he that will bring the fires. Because while he had grown in power, the other worlds have lost much of their defenses against evil such as he. Once...once there was water to fight such fire. Now there is nothing. The balance is lost. There is nothing, but 150, 000 warrior demon men. When ten times that fell in just that one day in Evelanedea. So bring your numbers Ren of Relaklonos, Koios of Lothicano. And my son and daughter’s, plus those of the great demon king. Bring them all, and know that you are bringing upon them death.”

  Koios gripped his sword, refusing to allow the fear her words brought to settle into his heart.

  He was warrior. He would not fear war.

  “Bronwen of Gaia, there is no time, for you, I am afraid. No time for you to grow accustomed to what we have told you.” Phaenna covered Eaudne’s shoulders with a blanket when the other woman slumped against the table. “It is you who has been tasked with the gathering of the healers. For all you can find will be needed.”

  Chapter 15

  BRONWEN was rattled completely to her core. What—how—was she supposed to do this?

  She stood when those around her did. Auri grabbed her hand. “Ren and I are going back to Relaklonos City. Kindara knows how to call the healers.”

  “I’m going with you.” If she was to do this, she needed to do it from the very beginning, didn’t she?

  “I do not think that is wise.” Koios was there. He was almost always there, wasn’t he?

  Whatever was to happen, she had a feeling he would be a big part of it.

  How could she accept that? “I am going. I make my own decisions, Koios. No matter what. You don’t have the right to say any differently.”

  “Think whatever you wish, but from now on. As the Phrymos is the Laquazzeana Aureliana’s champion so I am yours. You have my vow of protection and honor.”

  She bit back the urge to snap out ‘too little, too late’. That wasn’t like her, and she wouldn’t take her nerves out on him because he was convenient.

  She’d been raised better than that.

  She turned toward the woman who’d had the biggest hand in that raising. “Auri, can Ren flash us both to Kindara?”

  “He can. We can speak with Kinney tonight, and she can send out the call.”

  “Then let’s do it.”

  Koios started to protest again. But Bronwen held up a hand. “Don’t you have other things to do? Don’t you have thousands of warriors to gather? How can you do that if you’re constantly dogging my footsteps?”

  “I do not understand what this dogging is you speak of. But yes, I do need to go. I need to speak with my twin. Gather my men. I just do not wish to leave you unprotected.”

  “She will not be unprotected, Koios.” Auri’s voice showed her own irritation with him. Or was Bronwen just imagining that? “We’re all on this path together, and hers includes this new place. The Four Destinies will see it happen.”

  “Why do you talk of the Destinies so often now?” Bronwen asked. The Four Destinies had only been a fairy tale to her, but now they were referenced all the time.

  “The Laquazzeana are intimately aware of the Four Destinies.” Phaenna said from somewhere behind Bronwen. She’d almost forgotten the others, so consumed with what she should be doing next. “You’ll find out someday what I mean. I think you even know one...or two...maybe two. How should I know?”

  Bronwen didn’t know what to say to the other woman. She addressed Auri instead. “Can we go? If we don’t do it now, I may just lose whatever courage I have left.”

  Phaenna laughed again. “Courage is one thing you do not lack, little one. Or the one thing you will find in this new place.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “Of course I am. I am always right. It’s a curse. I deal in a lot of curses.”

  Chapter 16

  THEY gather,” Auri said.

  “How many?” Bronwen stood by the window overlooking the Thrun courtyard that Cass tended so often. She couldn’t see it, but she could smell the roses that Cass had transplanted from Colorado. It was a small bit of home, and a small bit that she needed.

  She was barely holding on to the meager breakfast she’d eaten hours earlier.

  Thrun was swarming with people. She’d been told healers from every Kind were gathering, with a greater number than ever before in any world. She could hear them everywhere.

  And all looked to her to lead.

  “Thousands, last I knew.” Auri was in the suite that had unofficially become Bron’s—for all of one day. She’d met with Kindara and spoken with her brother Thadd. Then she, Auri, and Thadd had returned to Thrun. To prepare. They were gathering what Auri deemed essential for a woman on an epic task. Bronwen didn’t have a clue. Hadn’t she spent the last fifteen months feeling exactly like that?

  “Baby?”

  “Auri, I am so afraid. I can’t do this...” This was her real mother, though there was a definite connection with Eaudne. “What am I supposed to do? I cannot even see the people I am supposed to lead.”

  “Oh baby, you do not need sight to lead. You need heart, and courage. Two things Theo, Thadd and I raised you to have. You need to look past what you have lost. Like we all must do at some point or another.”

  Bronwen knew what Auri said was the truth, but how was she supposed to do it?

  Auri’s hands landed on her shoulders. “This was not something I ever wish upon my child. No burden I would not shoulder for you, if I could. But this is what you were meant to do. Embrace this path before you. For we both know that to do differently will not serve you well.”

  “I wish you could go with me.” Was she still a child, then? Even at her age? Wanting her mother to go with her into the scary world?

  That was not who Bronwen was, and she knew it. Some small kernel inside her.

  “That’s not my path, kiddo. Mine rests in Relaklonos, with Ren.”

  “I don’t know how to deal with destiny and a world filled with warriors and kings, and wars.”

  “No. I suppose that you don’t. I barely do, even at my age.” Auri hugged her tight. Bronwen resisted the urge to cling again. “One day at a time, baby. One moment, even, if that is all you can give. You won’t be alone. Not really. You will have Phaenna, and Eaudne. Your brother Thadd goes as well. And though you might not like the idea of it, I don’t think you can ever shake that warrior king.”

  “He’s a warrior, and a bull-headed one at that.”

  “Honey, they all are. Warrior. Dardaptoan. Lupoiux. Even little babes like my Thas can be a bit headstrong when they want something.”

  Chapter 17

  THE distance separating him from the Healer girl seemed like twice what it should. Was that just because of the newly forming bond between them? Or because every instinct he possessed was telling him that she needed him close at all times?

  He’d never been so torn between duty and what he wanted to do.

  He wanted to be right next to her, ensuring she was safe...

  And happy.

  Her happiness was starting to be just as important to him as her safety.

  Was that a natural part of being gamata?

  He stormed
into the Lothicano castle he’d called home for twelve hundred years.

  He needed his twin. “Sinrik!”

  His brother appeared at the top of the grand staircase. In his arms he held a bundled spawn. Zephra? Had he convinced the Relaklonosian princess of her place? “The princess abides within?”

  “The prognosticator Theodoric of Sebastos claims that our spawn would be safer here in her father’s home. Her mother agrees tentatively. It is not as I wished it, but it is a start. I ought to rend your limbs from your body for what you’ve done.”

  “I did as I had to.”

  “Taking the girl? Again? How did that serve you, or our people well?” Sinrik passed his spawn to the woman standing just behind him. Koios recognized the Relaklonosian princess Danae. “Do you know how much difficulty you caused for me?”

  “She is my gamata. Can you claim the same for the princess there?”

  “Of course he cannot,” that princess said, with a definite fury in her words. “And Bronie is not your gamata. She wouldn’t be. Would not want to be.”

  “Yet she is.”

  “Then where is she?”

  “She waits in your home city. She is to lead the Healers to a new world. We are building a healing city in a world yet unnamed.” He looked at his brother. They were so much alike physically, but so different when it came to souls. Sinrik had their mother’s artist spirit.

  Koios was practical warrior down to the last inch. “Sinrik, the time has come. We are to part. For now.”

  His brother tensed. “I suggest that you tell me all that you know.”

  “Tell us both. I want to know where she’s at. I need to know she is well.”

  “She is well. Better than she was before.” And he knew she was. “But she is Laquazzeana, and she has a great task before her.”

  “I suspected she was,” the princess said quietly. “After I watched what happened with Ren’s gamata. I remember...I remember what it felt like with Bronie all those months ago.”

  Koios stared at the female until she began to look uneasy. His twin shot him a chiding look. “Tell me, dear sister, did she die that day? In Ramorakin’s keeping?”

  His brother’s female paled. She clutched her spawn tight to her chest and rocked.

  Sinrik wrapped an arm around the princess. “She does not speak of it.”

  “It is something I need to know. Ramorakin will be dealt with.”

  “He’s already confined to his quarters. It frightened Danae to have him free.”

  “He needs to be imprisoned for what he did. On what charges he will face trial depends on your female’s answer to my question. Did my gamata, Queen of Lothicano now, die in Ramorakin’s keeping?” Koios looked at this female who was so important to his brother, though he sensed they had not joined as gamata, yet. “I know that he put his hands upon her. That he struck her and fed her tainted food. I know you ate some of that poison. I know what he tried and what he threatened with her. Allow me to act in her stead and bring upon him that which he deserves. Help me to do this, please.”

  Sinrik wrapped a hand around the girl’s arm and turned her toward him. “Did he put hands upon you in this way? Tell me now, and I will see him castrated and de-handed before he faces his trial.”

  She shook her head at him. “No. Not me. Just Bronie, something about Bronie made him crazy. He tormented her from the very first day she was brought here. By you!” Her accusing eyes met Koios’.

  “I know my part in her suffering. And I will never forget what my carelessness caused.”

  “Your carelessness did cause her to die.” The girl stared at him out of eyes that were similar to her brothers’. “I was so ill that day. I knew I was going to die, and my spawn with me. And then Bronie was there, and there was a light around her. It looked so much like the one with Auri that day. And then I was better and she was not. My cousin arrived that afternoon and found me. He had a Dardaptoan healer with him that day. Bronwen thinks that woman saved her life, but I still have questions. Bronwen was different after that day. And I don’t just think she was blind. There was something else. There was a voice that day, but it sounded like a thousand others. I don’t know who it was, but we were not alone that day. At all. Someone was there, and they were laughing. But in a good way. And they were holding us. Especially her.”

  “Did you change that day, too?” He did not think she was Laquazzeana, but maybe she did not know? Bronwen’s change had not been revealed to anyone until recently, either.

  “Not me. But my spawn. She is not Laquazzeana, if that is what you are asking. But she is different. Stronger than a typical spawn, I think. Is Bronwen well? I worry.”

  “She is better than she was. Less defeated. Still very frightened.” He studied this girl. She loved his gamata, and she was important to his brother. How could she not be important to him, as well? “But she is safe now. And I will see to it that she stays that way. And I ensure she is happy—and has all she needs.”

  “And Ramorakin? What will become of him? If she is Queen, she will return here someday, no?” Sinrik asked.

  “I do not know when that will be, brother. In fact, I come here today to ask that you rule Lothicano in my stead completely. I do not know when I will return to this throne. My calling and my place is now elsewhere, at my gamata’s side. I do not know when that will change. And this war that comes will claim many lives. Possibly mine own. I come to gather the warriors I will need to protect this new healer city. And I come to tell you...to tell you that our paths diverge today. And to tell you that...you have been the closest to me all these years. And that I...care for you. And I always will.”

  Sinrik cursed. “You cannot mean to abdicate? Our people have had twin kings for a thousand years.”

  “Not abdicate. But I am needed elsewhere. It is my duty, and my destiny. This is my path, brother. And I ask that you respect my decision.”

  “Of course. But our warriors? Many will not wish to leave their home world. War within our realm is one thing. But many do not ever wish to leave this place.”

  “And that is another reason I have come here. To put them the question. Please, have the numbers gathered as quickly as possible.”

  “I will do that.” Sinrik clasped his hands around Koios’ forearms. “I care for you, as well, brother. May my strength go with you into this new path.”

  “Oh, you two are hopeless. Just admit it—you love each other! Now, what do we have to do to help Bronie?”

  Did he love his brother? He supposed he did—though he would never say it so. He was Beskre warrior, it just was not done in that manner. “Gather the warriors. It will be protection the healers need. I will lead the warriors. She will lead the healers. Hopefully together we can make a difference in this war that comes.”

  “And what war is that?”

  “The dark sorcerer who destroyed Evelanedea, one of the inner worlds, thousands of years ago. He is rising soon, and some of the Laquazzeana believe he is behind the attacks on Relaklonos, on Thrun, and even on Sharalda. I do not know that I fully believe it. But my gamata does, and she is set on this path. So I must accompany her.”

  “And you want to take some of our men with you.”

  “I will take all that will join me.”

  “Then so be it. I will call the guards and have them send out the summons. I just hope you know what you are about, brother.”

  “I do.”

  ***

  It took several hours to have all of the armies of Lothicano assembled. And that was a good speed. They had worked long and hard to ensure that the Lothicano army could form quickly. And now that work was paying off. When he got the signal from his top men, and his brother’s, he stepped onto the stone steps. He stood with his brother at his side, the princess clutching her spawn on the other side of his twin. The castle that had been his home his entire life was strong and majestic behind him. He held up a hand and had the warriors gathered quieting.

  “I know you have questions, and
I cannot answer them all. But this duty is that which has been set down before me. Before my gamata.”

  The roar of the crowd was expected at the news. His people had lived without a queen for hundreds of years. Now they had one. He just wished that she was by his side, visible for those who followed him. He held up a hand and the crowd quieted.

  “The time to celebrate your new queen is later. For she has been set upon her own task this day. A grim one. The healers gather near the city of Thrun. Each healer will be counted, each one will be needed. And they still might not be enough.”

  The mood of the masses immediately darkened. “As will we. We have been called to protect those who would heal and save us. To protect our queen, the Laquazzeana Healer Bronwen, once of Gaia, now Queen of our beautiful Lothicano.”

  They began chanting his gamata’s name. He held up his other hand.

  “I come to you this day, as your king. Not to command you to this new task. But to ask you to do this. War has been brought to our doors, to our homes, to our land. The city of Thrun has been targeted twice. Many demon lives were lost. But this will not be the last against the Relaklonosian world. There are more. More are coming. Today or tomorrow, perhaps. But it will come. We will be outnumbered, many will be lost. But it is not just Lothicano we protect now. Nor is it only Relaklonos that is threatened.

  For there are more worlds than just ours. Long have we known this. And the threats are not just to our world any longer. The fate of everything rests upon this day. But there are among us those with mates, gamatas, and sons. So for you are my next words. Stay. Keep in service to my twin. For you will be needed.”

  Chapter 18

  IT took Bronwen a while to get over the nausea portkeys brought her. Combine the nausea with the heat of the world around her and she wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball until the world stopped moving. But she could not do that.