The Lightless Tree

by J. A. Comley

  The undulating emptiness of the Great Expanse seemed to somehow soothe her own loss. Looking at that bleak landscape made it easier to name the dead and commend their souls to the winds. There had been nearly four thousand Kazori at the time of the battle and the attack on the village. Valana stared at the arid land and tried to remember every one. Tribes were all one big family. They had been her mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters. Her sons and daughters.

  The emptiness beyond the open window seemed suddenly insignificant to the depth of the loss she held in her heart. Valana spun from the window and took in the room. It was like every other room in every other way-house along the Wheel, Aurelia's only proper road.

  She eased her mind away from the terrible memories that threatened to drag her under by counting the copper floor tiles and then the brass ones. The wardrobe was made with eight great planks of a stark, white wood that didn't come from Aurelian trees.

  Valana sighed. She knew that if she didn't come to terms with her loss soon, the grief of it would drive her mad. She thought again of the two young Kazori who were still alive. Seeing them would help her find the strength she needed. But they would not give her life purpose. She needed a new purpose. One she would have to find, herself.

  A soft knock at the door was swiftly followed by Mukori as he stepped into the room, uninvited. Valana straightened her spine and looked him over, once, then glanced towards the door as it clicked shut behind him.

  Mukori followed her gaze and nodded. “They are awake and eating breakfast. Okano will bring them through when they are finished.”

  Something painful beat in Valana's heart and it took her a moment to realise what it was. The surge of joy at the thought that the two remaining Kazori would soon be more than mere words conflicted with having to tell them that she was all they had left. That she had failed the rest of their tribe on the battlefield just as she had failed to protect them in the village.

  Mukori took a few steps towards her then hesitated and turned to deposit in a chair the things he had been carrying.

  “Your weapons and shield, Pro—”

  “Don't.” Valana's whisper cut him off as she looked at her weapons all neat and clean. Her knees trembled as if they would buckle and she leant on the bed's poster-frame for support.

  “Forgive me,” Mukori said, his eyes holding hers when she glanced up at his words. His voice held comfort and his eyes promised something better than what she had been dealt. There was something else there, too, but she couldn't summon the energy to try and guess what it might be. Even the flicker of mistrust for the man who had ordered her drugged and kidnapped was a ghost of what it should be.

  A sudden thought returned to her, a thought still covered in a haze of pain and loss. “When you went to the village and saved those who you could—”

  He held up a hand, forestalling her. “By the time we reached your village, it was too late. There was no one left to save. We found only one of the two who are here. He had been protected, I think, by one of your elders. The other had run to the battlefield on the back of a mirri. She had come to call you back.”

  Valana sank onto the bed. So one already knew how badly she had failed.

  “She thought we were going to kill you, tried to attack Okano.” Mukori suddenly chuckled, the sound abrasive after his soothing tone. “She is quite the young warrior. I'm afraid poor Tanoril will have a scar for life.”

  Valana felt the ghost of a smile try to surface at the thought of a young Kazori warrior besting one of the cloaked figures.

  Mukori noticed her attempt to smile and gave another small smile of his own. “You are strong, Valana. You have the strength to face this and survive. You'll see.”

  Her earlier thought returned and she tried again. “What I meant just now, was to ask if you, or any of your people, had managed to find any information on who attacked the village.”

  Valana swallowed hard, just managing to get the words out.

  All those children. Had the other tribes completely forgotten the codes of Honour that had bound their warrior nation since Felantha? Was nothing to be left unbroken by the Demilain?

  She stood and turned her back on Mukori's scrutiny, not wanting to guess at his thoughts or motives. She just wanted an answer.

  He drew in a deep breath. “Is vengeance truly what you seek, Nightstalker? Will you kill the people who killed your people and so repeat the cycle until no Aurelians are left?”

  She clenched her fists as he echoed her own words, spoken a life-time ago to her Chief. The anger she had managed to quell on the battlefield did not want to die down now. “This is different. They killed innocents. They broke the codes of Honour.”

  Mukori took a step closer, and she turned to face him, her eyes glittering in warning. Although his actions had taken second place to the Kazori's fate, she didn't trust him, and it was best if he realised that now.

  He rocked back half a pace and raised his hand. “Yes. It is different. The attack was not for food or water, although both are scarce since the Breaking. Whoever ordered this attack did not do it for your tribe's land or resources.”

  Valana waited, quelling her rage. His words made sense. If another tribe had stooped so low, they would not have poisoned the Ever-Spring nor killed the umera herds nor burned all the pastures and crops. Whoever did this would have nothing to show for it. She met his eyes.

  “They did it to make a statement, to gain something more valuable than food or water.” Mukori's voice dropped to a whisper as he answered her unasked question.

  Something in his tone made Valana itch for her swords. “You know who did this. What did you find in that village?”

  Mukori shook his head in a manner that suggested her response was disappointing.

  “You need to decide where your life is destined, Nightstalker Valana.” He locked eyes with her, some deep emotion holding her trapped. “Will you be a slave to chaos, go and seek your revenge and add more blood to the sands of Aurelia, whittling us down until we are all gone?” The hardness in his turquoise eyes softened a touch. “Or will you break the cycle, join the side of order and help stop atrocities like this from ever happening again?”

  Valana broke away from his intense gaze, looking back out of the window, and felt her ears laying flat. “Tell me what you know,” she snarled, teeth bared, turning to him again. “You owe me as much for your orders to poison and kidnap me.”

  Mukori wasn't facing her any more. He stood half-turned towards the door, completely unconcerned by the thought of an angered Nightstalker at his back.

  She followed his gaze and felt all her anger abandon her, leaving her an empty, fragile husk.

  Okano was in the doorway, a hand half-raised to the hilt of the great sword over his shoulder. Yet she barely noticed that. All she saw was Karicha, standing in front of him, her eyes a copy of Harima's, her hair just like Terana's.

  No one moved as they took each other in, each surveying the other, hoping that they were real. Karicha's eyes held dark shadows beneath them. The curved dagger Valana had given her hung buckled to her small waist. In her arms, a tiny baby wriggled and let out a thin wail.

  Then Karicha let out a small sob and ran straight into Valana's waiting arms. They both sunk down onto their knees, comforting each other, even as their hearts broke all over again.

  It seemed like an age passed where nothing else existed except the last remaining Kazori held in her embrace.

  The baby squirmed harder and Valana took it from the hiccuping Karicha. The swaddling fell open, and she realised that the baby was not Nulto, as she had assumed.

  “Where—?”

  Karicha cried harder, but managed to squeeze out the words as she took the baby back. “This is Durio. His parents were the best umera breeders in all our Tribe. I told him their stories as we travelled. I will keep telling him, so he never forgets.”

  Valana felt emptied. All at once, she had no grief, no anger, nothing. She drew the tormented girl to her a
nd patted her hair as she had patted her sister's on the battlefield. Perhaps it would be kinder if the Demilain just wiped them all out and started over. She felt the void reaching its arms around her, offering her a place of no pain and no joy. Somewhere emotions couldn't drag her around and rip her to shreds.

  Her eyes darted up to Okano's in a panic. She knew that if she let herself fall into the void now, she would be lost to it forever. Okano stepped forward and knelt in front of them, laying one hand on each of her shoulders, so that together they were Protecting the two children. He said nothing for a long while. The deep well of grief she had seen at her village surfaced again in his eyes and his hands tightened.

  Then his eyes cleared. “Breathe. You are strong, Valana. You are not alone.”

  She followed his whispered words back into her broken heart. Yes. She was not alone. She hugged Karicha closer and planted a small kiss on Durio's head. She still had a reason to fight. Her eyes found Mukori where he stood a little apart from the group, his face a mask, hiding anything he might be feeling or thinking. Then his gaze met hers and flashed with too many emotions to read before settling on the same encouragement as Okano's. Her mistrust flared.

  Karicha followed her gaze and huddled closer to Valana. “I think he is a good man. He says the same things you said in the Chief's hut before—” She broke off, fighting down a sob. “I listened at the window. You said, yourself, that there has to be a better way than just war and blood and death. We can't just… no matter what they did, we can't just keep killing each other.”

  A deep silence held sway for a moment as Valana met Karicha's eyes, now darkened by ghosts and horrors and looking far too old and careworn for her young face.

  Mukori's soft whisper broke it, his tone gentle and full of understanding.

  “I still have hope for the future, Valana. If you choose to stay and listen to what I came to say, Okano will bring you to me. If not, you are all free to go where you please. I will offer what help I can and wish you well.”

  Valana watched him leave and then looked to Okano as he gave her shoulders a final squeeze and stood.

  “I will be just outside, whatever you choose.”

  She watched him go and hugged Karicha tighter and tried to think through all the pain. She was the only one who could make the choice that would shape the lives of the two small Kazori she held in her arms.

  ***

  Karicha was sleeping soundly in the big bed by the time Valana reached her decision. Durio had been taken away hours before by a woman named Mika, whom Mukori had sent for to act as a wet nurse after he and Okano found the baby.

  She rose and went to the wardrobe. Karicha had told her everything she could remember about the attack and all that had happened since. With Okano ordered to bring Durio to the way-house with all haste for a Makhi's aid, Mukori and the others had opted to keep Valana drugged in case she proved as unreasonable as she had on the battlefield.

  She smirked, then sighed. Karicha had said that Mukori sounded like her and like Hapira. Wanting peace and unity. She looked out at the dim day. She didn't care if she woke Mukori, she wouldn’t be able to rest until she had gone through with her decision.

  The wardrobe held an odd assortment of clothes for females. Brightly coloured, Galatian floor-length tunics hung beside the tight hose and short, embroidered dresses of Cosmaltia. Folded on a small shelf beside the hanging space were a few pairs of fitted, soft, leather trousers, leather vests, and light, loose-fitting shirts favoured by the Aurelians.

  Valana pulled on a pair of black, leather trousers and a dark-grey shirt. Her own boots were at the foot of her bed. She padded over to those on silent feet and slipped them on. Taking a deep breath, she buckled on her swords and slipped on her Champion's bracelet, grateful that it had not been lost.

  She paused at the door. She could hear Okano's heartbeat just beyond it and knew he would be aware of her, too. Their romance had ended long ago, but without him here, she didn't think she would have found reason. They hadn't parted ways because they had wanted to. Once they realised that their union, and any resulting pure-blood Nightstalker offspring, would be a cause for division and war between their tribes, they had both agreed to put love aside and be the Protectors they had been born to be. She had been only fifteen to his eighteen when they had first met. Sixteen more years of clandestine meetings followed before they truly realised the damage they could cause. But now everything was different. The Demilain had broken the worlds. Their tribes needed them in a way they could never have jeopardised and here they were, so many years later, together again.

  She chuckled at herself, amazed that the ability remained to her at all. Although the memories of their time together were enticing, she had felt only the pull of nostalgia. The years had changed them both. They'd have to get to know each other all over again.

  She laid her hand on the long handle and tugged.

  Okano was standing opposite the door, arms folded across his loose, blue shirt with his eyes shut. He had dark circles beneath his eyes and his shoulders were slumped.

  “Have you been guarding me this whole time?”

  She kept her voice soft. Although Nightstalkers could go for long periods without proper rest, weeks on end was not easy to bare.

  His silver eyes opened slowly, the black Nightstalker rings around the irises making them stand out starkly in the greenish glow of the lightning fern lamps.

  He gave her a lopsided smile that instantly brought his younger self to her mind again. Now that his ridiculous beard was no longer obscuring his face, his familiar features were easily recognisable.

  “I have been guarding all our Kazori guests,” he chuckled, his full lips pulling up at the corners. “Although, once Miss Karicha had decided that we weren't going to kill you, she insisted on taking it in shifts. She said she was the Kazori's Protector until you were awake again. She will be as fierce as the Kazori warriors of legend.”

  Valana couldn't keep from flinching. The Kazori were gone. A failed Protector, a Bound Nightstalker child, and a baby could not be a tribe. Okano kept talking, keeping his tone light even though she was certain he had noted her reaction. “She kept watch over you every night, never giving up that blade. Tanoril was less than pleased, but Mukori allowed it. He would sit beside her and talk. I stood guard. Sometimes I would train with her, when she woke in the day, unable to sleep because of the memories.”

  Valana held his gaze when he was done and took his hand. “Thank you.” He had not only rushed Durio to the care of a Makhi but had then rushed back to keep watch over Karicha.

  And me.

  He nodded once, pushing himself up straight and taking back his hand.

  “Mukori would not have allowed me to do any different, anyway.”

  She narrowed her eyes a fraction, wondering if he had only said that because he had noticed her mistrust of his leader.

  “Have you made your choice, Valana?”

  She sighed.

  “Yes. I will hear what this so-called Lord Mukori wants to say.”

  Okano smiled at her tone, then turned and began to lead the way.

  Valana hesitated, glancing back at the door.

  “She will be safe. Only Mukori's people are at this way-house. While I may be the only Nightstalker, I am not the only guard.”

  Valana wasn't yet sure what she thought of 'Mukori's people', but she had no reason to doubt Okano's judgement. He had seen her village with his own eyes. He would not tell her they would be safe if it weren't true.

  They walked in silence down a hall, through a shared eating area and then into another, shorter, corridor. Okano's gaze flickered to her constantly from under his long eyelashes.

  “I'm not planning on attacking or running,” she grinned at him the next time he looked over.

  Okano grinned back. “I didn't think you were, despite your armed state.” He stopped before a plain door of the same ashen wood as the stable. He knocked lightly and they both heard papers being s
et aside.

  “Enter,” Mukori's voice sounded from inside.

  Okano motioned that she should go in. Valana raised a questioning eyebrow.

  “I was hoping that you would choose to stay, Champion of Moon Lake,” Okano said, smiling, the twinkle in his eye becoming playful.

  Valana laughed. Clearly he hadn't forgotten their time together, either. Did he remember it with as much fondness as she did?

  The twinkle died out and he pointed at the door. “Best not keep him waiting.”

  Valana nodded and turned to the door. “Let's see what this self-made Lord has to say.”

  She opened the door and stepped into a reasonably well-stocked library. Two steps in, she heard the door click shut behind her and turned. Okano had not followed her into the room. She heard him sigh and settle against the opposite wall. The faint spice and leather scent of him still clung to the air around her. She glanced back at Mukori as he stepped around a desk and moved towards her.

  Not many would brave a meeting with a Nightstalker they didn't know, and had captured, alone. So why wasn't he afraid?

  Valana let her senses range outwards, sight, smell, hearing, all without shifting position and losing sight of the man before her.

  “Welcome, Nightstalker Valana, Protector of the Kazori and Champion of Moon Lake.”

  “You're not afraid I'll kill you?” she asked, trying to ignore the jagged edge his use of her titles left in her heart. Her senses were coming up blank. He didn't seem to have more than a small dagger tied at his waist in an unadorned sheath and there was no scent of laricori or other poisons.

  “No,” he said, smiling as she took two more graceful steps towards him. “You are here because you told Okano that you had chosen to hear me out. I will trust that you spoke the truth, and in turn perhaps you will hear me with an open mind. Trust for trust.”

  Valana stared a moment. Trust was not something that existed any more. Since the Breaking, people had become more and more desperate, more and more cruel. Hatred and fear seemed to shadow everyone's eyes, turning all their goodwill to self-interest. No, she didn't trust him but would accept the offered peace, for now.