Soul of the Blade

by Brenda J. Pierson

  “Where is it?” Aeo asked, his voice reverberating through Raeb’s bones.

  When the echoes died, a deep, rumbling sound answered him. Raeb couldn’t figure out where it came from, but he knew what it was. It was the laughter of an Entana.

  Aeo drew in a breath to shout again, but Raeb silenced him with an outstretched hand. It was never a good thing when the Entana laughed. In his experience, it usually meant he’d overlooked something and was now at the mercy of the pitiless creature.

  Well, if the Entana was up to something, he might as well go for broke. “Show yourself!” he demanded.

  “The mortal tried to command us,” the Entana chuckled. “As if any creature so frail could possibly do so.”

  Raeb looked over at Aeo, who was still crouched in a battle stance and looking around for the Entana. “Can you hear it?” he mouthed.

  Aeo shook his head.

  Raeb had been afraid of that. Without an Entana of his own, Aeo’s mind wouldn’t be capable of understanding their slithering speech.

  “You have brought me a lovely gift,” the Entana said. “The spirit of the cursed blades will make a fine meal indeed.”

  “It might not digest well,” he replied. “He’s a bit prickly going down.”

  “Perhaps I should just kill him, then?”

  Raeb took a small step sideways, putting himself in front of Aeo. “This spirit is under my protection. You will not hurt him.”

  “You do not understand what you deal with, mortal.”

  “I understand perfectly, you vile parasite. And I am not just any mortal,” he said, brandishing Sunray, “I am the blade-bearer, appointed by the Keeper of Secrets. You will obey me. Now show yourself.”

  Once, deep in the wilderness of Taron, Raeb had encountered a half-disemboweled boar. It had been lying, dead, in the humid summer air for days at least. Raeb could still remember the way the boar’s intestines had turned black and bloated as they pulsed with maggots.

  When the Entana materialized, it looked just like those intestines. Only its tendrils were as thick as Raeb’s waist and stretched from wall to wall.

  “That blade may show you to be favored among the Entana, but I know your reputation. You are a miserable servant and a failure. The Keeper may very well reward me for doing away with you.”

  Raeb’s heart pounded. “Are you willing to risk it?”

  They stood in a brief, tense stalemate. Raeb wasn’t sure who would come out on top. If the Entana figured out Raeb was bluffing, or that the Keeper of Secrets likely wouldn’t care if he was killed here, he and Aeo were dead. But he hoped the Keeper was as feared by Entana as he was by -taken.

  “What do you want of me, blade-bearer?” the Entana asked. All humor had fled from its voice.

  Raeb started breathing again. “I want you to release this mind from the baenlo sleep.”

  “The cursed magic of the Bok’Tarong was approaching. It flowed through this vessel, tainting my presence. I could not allow it to continue.”

  “That is done. The Bok’Tarong’s magic will stay far from you. There isn’t any reason to keep her asleep anymore.”

  “Oh, but there is,” the Entana replied. “This mind has been a difficult meal. I often starve before my hunters return with memories for me to feed upon.”

  “Forgive me if I don’t shed any tears for your hunger,” Raeb replied.

  “But locked in this sleep, the mind cannot hide as well. My hunters are able to find enough thoughts and memories to sustain me. After so long with barely enough to feed upon, this state has given me a feast. I have no reason to allow her to wake.”

  “Sure you do,” Raeb said. “Let her wake, or I’ll let my friend carve your ugly hide into ribbons.”

  Aeo smiled at Raeb’s suggestion. He lifted the Bok’Tarong, testing the edge of the rosy gold blades with his thumb.

  The mass of tendrils pulsed and slithered. It was laughing again, though Raeb thought he heard a hint of fear in it.

  “You saw how he handled your hunters,” Raeb continued. “Imagine what his magic could do to you.”

  “The hunters are nothing. I am so much more than them. As easily as he could defeat the hunters, I could consume him.”

  “His magic would eat you from the inside out.”

  “It could try. I would merely return to my hive, to be regenerated and be given another vessel. It, however, would be destroyed.”

  Raeb’s stomach crawled into his throat. This wasn’t going at all the way he’d hoped.

  “And before I am done with you,” the Entana continued, “I will consume every memory in this mind I can access. It would be lost to madness in a moment.” The dark knot of the Entana quivered with laughter. “This mind, and everything within it, is mine to do with as I please. No one will take it from me.”

  “You have no right to it.”

  “Do you believe so, blade-bearer? And when you are invited into one of your feeble mortal homes, do you have no right to it, either?”

  A flutter of panic rose in Raeb’s throat. If this Entana was speaking the truth, and saying what he thought it was saying …

  This was no time to get distracted. Raeb pushed the thought from his mind. He had to finish this before the Entana decided it was done toying with them. “Be gone from this vessel, Entana!”

  “You may be the blade-bearer, but that does not give you control over me. You cannot command me to leave a vessel.”

  Aeo shifted behind him. “Uh, Raeb?”

  Raeb didn’t dare take his eyes from the Entana, but the tension in Aeo’s voice wasn’t something to be ignored. Something had gone very, very wrong.

  Then Raeb heard it. Footsteps. Panting. The low, threatening growl of a predator who’s spotted its prey.

  A hunter had scented them.

  Several more growls made Raeb pause. Hunters, he amended.

  Their time was just about up.

  Aeo stepped out of Raeb’s peripheral vision, ready for a fight. The hunters howled and charged. A second later, the sounds of battle rang through the stone corridor. Raeb kept his eyes on the vile tangle of tendrils.

  “Last chance, Entana. Let her wake.”

  “Never. This mind is mine. And you shall be consumed along with it.”

  Aeo grunted, and Raeb turned just enough to see him picking himself up off the ground, blood streaming from a wound on his arm. Three hunters hovered around him, and from the sound of it, more were on their way.

  Aeo swung the spirit sword at the closest beast, and it squealed as gore and smoke spewed from a gash in its abdomen. “Raeb, get us out of here!”

  Aeo was right, Raeb knew. If they stayed any longer, they would be overrun by hunters. They’d never leave Saydee’s mind alive.

  But if they left now, Saydee wouldn’t wake. She’d never leave the village alive.

  He hated to admit the truth, but the choice was already made for him. Saydee’s life was valuable, of course, but the spirit of the Bok’Tarong couldn’t be sacrificed so easily. They might still find a way to reach the hive without Saydee’s connection, but if they lost the Bok’Tarong there would be no hope left to defeat the Entana.

  I’m sorry, Saydee. I won’t give up on you just yet.

  He took a few steps back, keeping the Entana well in view. He knew they only had seconds before they, and Saydee, became the Entana’s next meal. But to make their escape, he had to concentrate. No distractions. Any slip in his focus, and it would make his last disaster seem like a resounding success.

  “Aeo, stay close to me. Once we’re ready, we have to move.”

  The assassin didn’t reply.

  “Aeo?”

  Raeb turned as much as he dared. Aeo was overrun by hunters. He fought brilliantly, but at this rate he’d be surrounded before he could get to Raeb. If they got cut off from each other, Raeb wouldn’t be able to get them both to safety.

  He couldn’t reach the warrior in time. And what was worse, he didn’t even have the luxury of trying. At
this moment, his attention was needed elsewhere. He had to open the way out of Saydee’s mind, and do it now, or they were all dead. He just had to hope the assassin could handle himself and somehow make his way to Raeb’s side.

  Raeb held Sunray before his face and unleashed its icy magic. It was a risky move—suicidal might be a more accurate term—but short of waiting until the herbs in the physical world burned out, it was their only way to escape.

  Stay hidden, Saydee, he prayed. Stay safe. I’ll find some way to save you.

  As soon as the Entana magic flooded out of Sunray, every hunter in Saydee’s mind started howling. They’d be drawn to it like moths to a flame.

  Long seconds passed before Sunray’s motes began outlining the vast web of magic surrounding them. Raeb had to pour all of his strength into the blade to keep its magic active, and even more concentration to keep it from devouring the massive amounts of power it sensed. Everything in sight was teeming with life-magic. It would be a feast like none other, but Saydee would die if Sunray took even a few bites.

  Aeo’s desperate battle became a distant noise to him. The disgusting knot of tendrils, the obsidian walls, he pushed it all out of his mind. His world was him and Sunray, and the delicious magic of Saydee’s mind. He fought against the impulse to feed. He refused to let Sunray gorge itself. He had to protect Saydee, and he had to get him and Aeo to safety. Nothing else mattered.

  Raeb focused every shred of willpower on his ever-hungry blade. Its magic was stretched to its limit, but Raeb kept pushing. He forced more magic from it, searching the life-magicks for the single thread in this massive web that would take them home.

  He knew Aeo was fighting a valiant, if losing, battle. Even the Bok’Tarong wouldn’t be able to withstand the press of hunters bearing down on him. Sheer numbers would overwhelm the assassin, sacred blades or no.

  Sunray was already beginning to feast on the nearby magic by the time he turned his mind back to the blade. He wrested Sunray from its feeding, pulling it away like he would pull a hooked fish from the water, and wrestled the blade back into submission. Reveal, do not feed.

  More concentration, more energy. Raeb was almost to the end of his strength.

  Aeo grunted not five feet behind him. He’d managed to fight himself here. Good.

  Aeo’s grunt turned to a hiss of pain. The squeal of a dying hunter followed.

  Raeb’s heart leapt. He saw it. The gossamer thread tethering him to his physical body. The connection that would take him and Aeo home.

  Now that he knew where to keep Sunray’s motes focused, the torrent of energy Raeb pumped into the blade was reduced to an almost subconscious stream—just enough to keep the thread in view. The rest of the web faded or disappeared, but Raeb didn’t care. Only the thread home mattered.

  He glanced over at Aeo. The assassin was, miraculously, still standing. The oily stench of dead Entana was thick in the air. How many had Aeo killed?

  He grabbed the assassin by the arm, yanking him away from the wary hunters and toward their way home.

  They made it a single step before the Entana hunters had encircled them. A thick line of oily, tendril-covered monsters now stood between them and Raeb’s tether.

  Hungry growls echoed through the Entana sanctuary. Raeb and Aeo stood back-to-back, spirit weapons leveled at their enemies. More shadowy beasts were arriving every second.

  Aeo’s back was turned, so he couldn’t see the large beast stalk toward him. He had no defense as the beast lunged, fangs and claws aimed at the assassin’s throat.

  Raeb didn’t think. He just reacted.

  Sunray swept out in an arcing backswing. Ice trailed behind the blades. When the Entana blade touched the hunter, Raeb met with jarring resistance. They were both of the same origins, made with the same magic. It was unnatural for them to meet in battle like this.

  Raeb didn’t pull back. He forced the blade onward, channeling his anger and the last of his strength into the thrust.

  The hunter growled. Raeb screamed out in hatred and rage. “Die, you bastard!”

  Resistance shattered. Sunray plunged through the hunter’s shadowed body, slicing it cleanly in two. The hunter gave a pained, pathetic yowl before evaporating into smoke.

  The sanctuary rumbled. The other hunters stopped their advances and cowered. Some even ran away.

  The obsidian walls of the Entana’s sanctuary fractured, like they’d been shifted by an earthquake. Cracks ran up and down the surfaces like lightning bolts, widening with each passing second. The floor shook so hard Raeb could barely keep on his feet. Bile rose into his throat. This could not be good.

  Saydee’s Entana squealed as something foreign invaded its home. It fled, whether in fear or in desperation to save its sanctuary, Raeb couldn’t tell. A moment ago he’d have been relieved to see the Entana go—now, he dreaded it.

  The presence that followed in the Entana’s wake felt even more oily and evil than the parasite had. Terror flooded through Raeb. He recognized that presence.

  It was the Keeper of Secrets. He’d taken notice, and now he was hijacking Saydee’s mind.

  A deep sound echoed through the area, more felt than heard. After a moment it resolved itself into a sound—the roar of sheer, unadulterated rage.

  The Keeper of Secret’s voice boomed through the caverns of Saydee’s mind. “You will receive judgment for that, blade-bearer. No servant of the Entana crosses their masters.”

  Raeb ignored him. Grasping Aeo with his left hand, he reached out with his right and lunged, stretching so far his shoulders popped. His hand closed over the golden thread.

  His spirit lurched, and their surroundings changed with dizzying speed. Within a heartbeat Raeb was back in his body, wavering in his seat, sweat pouring from his body.

  Dragana stared at the Bok’Tarong for a few seconds, likely ensuring the spirit had returned safely. Then she turned toward Raeb. “Are you all right? How did it go?”

  “We have to leave,” he replied. His heart pounded like his body had been running, rather than just his mind. “The Entana will send people after us. We have to be far away from this village before they reach us.”

  “What about Saydee?”

  The girl stirred at her name. “I’m here,” she muttered.

  Relief eased the knot in his stomach. At least something had worked in their favor. The Keeper of Secret’s intrusion must have jarred Saydee’s Entana enough that its grip on her mind slipped, letting her wake. However it had happened, Raeb was grateful. He’d never have forgiven himself if he’d had to leave Saydee behind.

  Raeb could see the questions in Dragana’s expression, but she didn’t stop to ask them. Everyone moved with the speed born from hunting—or being hunted—and prepared to do as Raeb commanded.

  21

  Aeo was impressed. Less than an hour after he and Raeb had returned from Saydee’s mind, they’d left the -taken sanctuary behind. Even Saydee, who’d been asleep and hadn’t eaten for days, had moved without complaint. Though he couldn’t understand how the girl, as pale and thin as someone on her deathbed, was able to move at all.

  He had no idea where Raeb was leading them. What the man followed might be considered a trail, if the travelers were incredibly thin and could navigate slopes so steep a kicked rock might cause an avalanche. Dragana side-stepped her way behind Saydee, sliding as often as walking. Patches of snow and loose soil didn’t help her footing.

  He doubted Raeb even had a destination in mind. Right now, he was intent on getting as far from the sanctuary as possible. Even if that meant tumbling down the side of a mountain.

  As Dragana fought to keep her balance, her steps sliding on the slick, frozen underbrush, Aeo told her about their encounter with the Entana.

  When he called himself the blade-bearer, the Entana started to obey him. And when he used Sunray against the hunters, it brought the Keeper of Secrets. He said Raeb had betrayed his masters.

  Dragana considered this for a while. What’s so impo
rtant about that blade? Why is Raeb still carrying it, if he wants to destroy the Entana?

  You sound like you don’t trust him.

  I’m not sure if I do or not, she replied. I want to, but I can’t believe he’s really free from the Entana.

  He saved my life, Dragana. He used the Entana blade against them in order to protect me. That doesn’t seem like the actions of a man who’s still in the clutches of his masters.

  No, but he’s hiding a lot from us. I can’t help but wonder what those secrets are, and why he refuses to tell us about them.

  Have you asked him to?

  Dragana didn’t reply to that, and Aeo didn’t pry into her thoughts. He knew it wouldn’t be an easy question for her to answer.

  Distracted as she was by their conversation, her footing slipped. Dragana slid for several feet, knocking Saydee over and tumbling them both off the trail. Aeo panicked. If Dragana rolled poorly, his blades would slice clean through her or Saydee.

  He set his will against the magic holding him in the sheath. It held fast, but Aeo pushed against it. He demanded the magic to release. He forced himself to fall free, away from the tumbling women and their vulnerable flesh.

  The sheath released him, plunging Aeo into darkness as Dragana slid away from him.

  A long moment passed before he was picked up and sight returned to him. He felt disoriented and confused, even more so when he felt the hand around him and saw the face looking down at him.

  It was Raeb.

  And the Bok’Tarong recognized him as a worthy bearer. Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to feel the communion of emotions like he felt with Dragana.

  The man was so full of rage. He hated the Entana so desperately it was a physical pain. Aeo could almost catch of glimpse of the man Raeb was underneath it all, but there was no way to avoid that hatred. It permeated every bit of him, poisoning the good man Aeo could feel buried beneath it.

  And on top of that, Aeo could feel the horrible intrusion of the Entana. After a bare instant of exposure to that soul-rending wrongness he had to shut himself away to keep himself sane.