Glyphbinder

by T. Eric Bakutis

  “What does that have to do with Kara?” Trell asked.

  “Torn locked himself inside the Underside almost seventy years ago. The Mavoureen have been torturing him since. I know he would not give up his secrets willingly, but one does not need to be willing to betray themselves to the Mavoureen. Somehow, they learned how his blood was different from others. Once they learned that, they sent minions to find Torn’s descendants. They altered an unborn descendent to have the same type of blood that Torn did.”

  “That’s why Ona’s dying?” Sera asked. “Because the demons altered Kara’s blood to be like Torn’s?”

  “That doesn’t make any sense!” Xander shouted. “What good would it do them to make Kara more powerful?”

  “The only way to undo what Torn did is to scribe blood glyphs on this side of the gates, but those glyphs must be just as powerful as those on the far side. As Torn’s.” Melyssa grimaced. “Kara is the only person powerful enough to break through my husband’s wards.”

  “Well,” Xander shouted, “thank the Five you had the forethought to steal her away and erase my mind! That worked out so well, didn’t it? Everything’s just perfect now!”

  “Enough!” Melyssa’s word came out hard, and Xander flinched. It seemed all Bloodmenders could silence people with a word. Melyssa was better at it than most.

  “I’m sorry for what I took from you, from Ona, but I knew it was the only way to save your daughter. Torn knew this might happen.”

  “And if it did?” Trell stepped closer. “What was your plan?”

  Xander answered for them. “Melyssa and Varyn were supposed to kill her. Kill my daughter. Torn charged them to kill any person who they thought could undo his wards, even if that person was their own blood. As if that would make any difference.”

  Trell frowned at Melyssa. “Odd you didn’t mention that.”

  Melyssa shrugged, eyes on the distant clouds. “I learned what Kara was when she was still in Ona’s womb, and yes, I considered killing her. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I think the Mavoureen knew that about me. That’s why they changed her instead of someone I didn’t love.”

  Byn sat down. “I’d never want to make that choice.”

  “Neither did I. I let Kara live, and I thought my plan would protect her. I think it even would have worked, if not for Cantrall.”

  Trell clenched his fists. “He betrayed you.”

  “Not at all, dear boy. The Mavoureen stole Cantrall and did things you cannot imagine. He was there when Varyn and I hid Kara away. They tore the secret of her birthright out of his soul, and once they tore him apart they corrupted what remained. They made the brave man I trained into their puppet.”

  “So what are we still doing here?” Aryn asked. His raspy voice sounded like Trell’s now, like he had spent his life breathing desert sand. “What is this glyph marker? How is it going to get us to the Unsettled Lands where we can roast Cantrall?”

  “This stone is a link between this location and its twin stone in the Unsettled Lands.” Melyssa glanced at Jyllith. “That stone exists in two places at once, here and there.”

  Byn watched Jyllith as she moved her palm once more over the stone. She had been doing that constantly, with some variation, and Byn couldn’t tell if one pass was different from the other. He just knew he hadn’t heard that tuning fork hum again. So was that sound a warning? Would making it louder destroy them?

  “Torn devised its mechanism long before his death,” Melyssa said, “but it was the Mavoureen, using the knowledge they ripped from his soul, who created this link. Only those who know the proper combination of glyphs can use this anchor to journey from one location to another. We now have one who knows those glyphs.”

  Jyllith removed her hands from the stone. The earth rumbled in a way Byn felt more than heard. “It’s ready.”

  Byn felt a growl rising in his throat. Jyllith had tried to make Sera into a demon. She had send Aryn to the Underside. He wanted to grab her and snap her neck.

  “Byn,” Melyssa said. “We need her. I cannot make you forgive what she has done, but she has been shown the error of her ways. I made sure of that. She knows everything she did was wrong.”

  “How wonderful for you both. I hope you have a good cry about it.” Byn clenched his fist. “I’m going to kill her.”

  “No, you’re not.” Aryn grabbed his shoulder. “That woman gave me to Balazel. After we stop Cantrall, I’m going to burn her alive."

  Jyllith didn’t say anything in her defense. She hunched down like a dog that had been in too many fights. If anything, Byn hated her even more for surrendering before he could strangle her.

  Melyssa looked to Jyllith. “Take us now. Open the portal.”

  Jyllith passed her hands over the black marble stone, one after the other. It hummed in response to her motions, the tuning fork sound increasing. The vibrations increased as well, and they made Byn’s hair stand on end. The earth rippled like water would.

  “If you cannot find it in your hearts to forgive her,” Melyssa said, “I will not intervene. But murdering her now changes nothing.”

  The air around them crystallized and cracked. The summit broke apart beneath them, but the alarm that caused was nothing in comparison to the sight of the sky splitting in two. Byn’s world folded in upon itself, like stiff paper, and he couldn’t even scream.

  “Here we go,” Jyllith said softly.

  A deafening thunderclap drowned out any noise Byn might have made. Then he opened eyes he had never closed and found the sky crackling with colored lightning. He gaped at the devastated ground.

  Bare, twisted trees struggled to survive in a land free of sunlight. A black marble stone identical to the one that had stood atop the mountain rose just ahead. Its hum faded.

  Trell swept his sword left and right, searching for any threat. Aryn moved ahead, balls of fire bursting to life in his blackened hands. Sera watched with narrow eyes as Jyllith hugged herself and shivered in the wind. Nothing else stirred in the ruins of Terras.

  “We are alone,” Melyssa said. “Cantrall must have taken Kara to the glyphing room. That’s where we’ll find the gate the Terras elders opened to the Underside. That’s where we’ll stop him.”

  The destruction that surrounded them made Byn miss his family, miss everyone he loved. Tiny memorial crystals were everywhere. Despite all the stories he had heard about what had happened here, seeing the actual slaughter chilled him to the bone.

  “By the bloody Five.” Xander stared at his hands, then turned them palms up. “We should be charred clear through.”

  “You would be,” Melyssa agreed, “if you were uninvited guests.” She glanced at Byn. “Get up.”

  Byn stood. The first steps he took were easy. He clenched his fists and found no strength lacking. “How?”

  “We are now below sea level. Land is at his peak. You will have no trouble walking here.” Melyssa hurried into the ruins of Terras. “Follow me, everyone.”

  “Land.” Byn shook his head. “That’s the part I’m still not getting, here. What does Land have to do with me?”

  “The Five are inside us,” Sera said as she walked past. “Trell hosts Life, and Aryn, Heat. Jyllith hosts Breath. You host Land.”

  “But that means...” Byn reached for Sera’s hand, but she pulled away. “Ruin’s a demon. You wouldn’t dare scribe demon glyphs.”

  “Ruin is Ruin. And you were dead when I called him.”

  She hurried after Melyssa, outdistancing Byn despite his new strength. Trell caught up and gripped his arm. They had fought together at Highridge Keep, and Trell just seemed like a good man. Byn resisted the urge to dart after Sera.

  “You must understand,” Trell said. “She scribed demon glyphs to help Kara defeat Jyllith. She sacrificed herself to save countless lives. She did it because she loved you.”

  Byn watched Sera and grimaced. He knew that was exactly what Sera would do. She would die to save people she didn’t know.

  �
�There’s only one path for someone who scribes demon glyphs,” Trell added quietly. “If she pushes you away, it’s only because she wants to spare you the pain of losing her. When she dies.”

  Byn couldn’t believe it. Sera was not Demonkin! Yet why, if this was so, had she turned her back on him? How could she even consider killing herself when she had so much ahead of her?

  He couldn’t let her do that. He wouldn’t. The reasons she had scribed that demon glyph were irrelevant. He loved her and he wasn’t leaving her. Simple as that.

  They walked past Jyllith. She was wandering now, aimlessly. Aryn snatched her hand and yanked her forward. She followed with her head down, like a cowed dog.

  “Kara’s waiting for us,” Aryn said. “Walk faster.”

  Byn watched them both as they hurried on. He watched Aryn, charred beyond recognition, and Jyllith, broken body and soul. The two of them had broken each other.

  “What happened to her?” Byn walked with Trell at the back of their small group. It seemed the easiest path at the moment.

  “Melyssa did it. After Breath resurrected her, Melyssa searched Jyllith’s mind. Her memories. One skilled in memory alteration can recognize memories that others changed, and the man that changed Jyllith’s memories did a sloppy job.”

  “Cantrall did that to her?”

  “I think so. I think his revenants destroyed her town, murdered her family, and she witnessed it all. Except what she remembered wasn’t revenants. She saw Mynt soldiers execute her family.”

  “That doesn’t give her the right to make people into demons.”

  “I never said it did, but it does explain her hatred of you. In all the years she fought to destroy the Mynt, Jyllith never once examined her own recollections. When she did, her realization of how she’d been tricked nearly killed her.”

  “I don’t follow.”

  “Cantrall slaughtered her family and took her as his apprentice. He raised a traumatized child to kill, and now that child knows the people she took her vengeance upon never hurt anyone. She thought they were guilty, and every last one of them was innocent. I think that’s why she turned on Cantrall, why she’s broken now. Guilt.”

  Byn scoffed. “I don’t care what happened to her or why she attacked us. She’s a monster. She needs to die and she will, soon.”

  “We might all die soon. You never know.” Trell shook his head. “You asked a question. I answered. Let’s save Kara and then discuss it after. If that’s all right with you?”

  Byn frowned and nodded. “That seems like a good plan.”

  TRELL FOLLOWED MELYSSA as she strode confidently ahead of Aryn and Jyllith, thinking on how far he’d come. Melyssa led them to a ruined square building with its roof blown off, and Trell wondered what it had been. A dormitory? A meeting hall?

  A large slab of rock lay against what had once been the building doors. Melyssa stopped them. Once they were all gathered, she looked to Jyllith. “You know Cantrall best. What are your thoughts?”

  “You must not glyph.” Jyllith raised her empty gray eyes to look at them. “Any of you. Cantrall can feel it. He can’t comprehend the idea of anyone following him here, but if he finds out—”

  “There’s a giant rock in front of the door,” Aryn said. “How do you suggest we move that without glyphs?”

  Jyllith looked down. She didn’t say anything else. Melyssa looked to Byn and nodded.

  “We need Land’s strength. Move the rock.”

  The “rock” was a slab as thick as a massive log and taller than a carriage. Solid stone. No man could lift it. A dozen men could not. Trell and Byn exchanged a glance. Then Byn shrugged and walked for the slab of stone. Trell supposed it was worth a try.

  Byn stepped forward and glanced at Sera. She didn’t look at him. She looked at anything but him. Byn scowled, moved past her, and placed his hands under the massive slab of stone.

  “You can lift it,” Melyssa said. “I promise.”

  The way Byn’s eyes widened as he lifted the slab matched the eyes of those who watched, save Melyssa. Trell understood, then, what Land had done. He had given Byn all the strength of the earth.

  Byn balanced the rock against his wide chest like he might balance a huge cask of ale. He sidled sideways and set the slab, carefully, against one of the aging walls. When he finished, he brushed the dust from his white-stained hands and turned on them.

  “I’m ready to go kill Cantrall now.”

  “Then I have one more word of caution.” Melyssa led them through the hole to a set of stairs, leading down. “One of your friends is no longer with us.”

  “Jair.” Trell grimaced as he remembered the flat of his sword smacking into the man’s head. “Is he still alive?” Trell hoped so.

  Melyssa led them into a tunnel with descending steps, Jyllith following listlessly. Melyssa stopped once the stairs grew dark and looked up at them, blue eyes bright in the fading light.

  “I don’t know, but I know the power the dead exert upon an inexperienced Soulmage. We cannot blame Jair for what he might do, but we must also weigh his life against our whole world. If he lives and chooses to fight us, you may have to kill him.”

  Byn huffed angrily from up the stairs. “It can’t be as bad as all that. I know him. He’s a good man. Whatever happened to make him lose his mind, there’s got to be a way to bring him back.”

  “That may be.” Melyssa started down the stairs once more. “But if we must choose between saving Jair and stopping Cantrall, we stop Cantrall. Our world depends on that.” She paused. “Aryn. Light the way, if you would?”

  New light filled the dark tunnel. Trell felt the heat. He turned and stared as Aryn walked past him, two bright flames floating in his upraised hands. Aryn bared blackened teeth.

  Byn rushed past Trell, almost knocking him up against the wall of the narrow stairwell. “Melyssa said no glyphs. You’ve given us away!” He gripped Aryn’s arm and pulled so hard Aryn stumbled.

  “Release me, you balky imbecile!” Aryn tugged hard, but couldn’t free his arm. “It’s not a glyph! It’s fire!”

  “Let him go,” Sera ordered. The power in her unusually deep voice caused Byn to step back as if he had been burned. Together, Byn and Aryn blinked at Sera. Trell stared as well.

  “Heat does not scribe glyphs,” Sera told them, in her own voice, yet even that drove a chill down Trell’s spine. “So stop squabbling.”

  Trell knew no one would argue. Ruin’s power filled Sera, the power to wipe them from existence with a touch, and the thought of being erased bothered him more than being killed or even tortured. To cease to exist ... Trell could not imagine that.

  “Melyssa leads, with Jyllith,” Sera said. “Aryn follows and lights the path. Next Trell, myself, Xander. Byn, you walk the rear.”

  Before Byn could protest, Aryn strode past him and started down the stairs, holding his fire high. Anxious to find Kara, Trell followed. He didn’t look back to see if the others were with them, but he heard them starting down the steps in the order Sera had dictated. Or the order Ruin had, through her voice.

  Trell wondered at the strangeness of the Five’s power alive in mere mortals. Still, Kara’s explanation made sense. The Five simply could not influence this world without a mortal to filter their power, and hadn’t the Mavoureen done much the same with Cantrall?

  This was a proxy war, fought through mortals, but everyone knew the true power behind the pawns. Yet what if the pawns weren’t content to be moved around? Trell could consider the implications of that after they saved Kara.

  After a long walk, the stairwell ended. Melyssa stepped into an open hall with Jyllith beside her. The balls of fire floating in Aryn’s hands revealed a tunnel with an arching, moss-covered roof of gray brick overhead. Eight archways led in different directions. Melyssa gasped, hand going to her mouth.

  “It isn’t the same.” Melyssa looked from tunnel to tunnel, then looked at them. “We came down this path as we walked to the glyphing room. There were two t
unnels here, not eight!

  “Terras changes,” Jyllith said flatly. “Cantrall discovered that. The elders often altered the layout of their tunnels to keep intruders from finding their glyphing room. He altered them again a week ago.”

  “I never imagined.” Melyssa took Jyllith’s hand. “Has he altered these halls since? Do you know where he is now?”

  Jyllith nodded. Aryn gripped her shoulder. He wrenched her back and glared at the side of her face.

  “Then you will lead us to Cantrall. Now.”

  Jyllith nodded again. She did not try to move until Aryn shoved her forward. Then she did move, walking at an even pace down the third hall off the stairwell.

  “Almost too perfect,” Xander grumbled as he stepped into the hall, an anxious Byn all but treading on his robes. “Byn moves the rock at the door, Aryn lights the way, and Jyllith leads us through his maze. I suppose Sera is going to summon up a demon next. Was this your plan all along, woman?”

  Melyssa started walking with an odd smile on her face. “You should know by now nothing with me goes as planned.”

  “Then understand this.” Xander followed her and Trell followed him. “I’m here for my daughter, but even after we rescue her, every moment she lives means this could all happen again.”

  Trell missed a step as he realized Xander was right. Kara’s blood was the key to opening the gate to a world of demons. As long as she lived, what would stop another from following Cantrall?

  Melyssa did not slow her pace, did not look back. She didn’t say anything, and Trell wondered if she would. He needed this explained. She couldn’t possibly plan to kill Kara once they rescued her.

  Could she?

  “Just remember my knife at your back,” Xander said, his voice all but a growl. “You’ll never hurt Kara. If you ever threaten her again, I’ll kill you myself.”

  “Melyssa will not harm her,” Trell said. To ease the tension.