by Jen Valena
Tyrsten gathered up Ithia in his arms. “She has.”
Oriona’s voice faded. “No. This is the beginning. Keep her safe. Listen to Ithia, not the Elders. Do not follow in the faulty footsteps of your predecessors.”
The void eddied about them, but a narrow tunnel formed, showing the way back to the doorway. Tyrsten ran through with Ithia in his arms, the passage advancing on them. He leapt for the exit. He stumbled into the hall onto the floor as the shadow’s grasp whipped out to snatch them back. Tyrsten kicked the door shut, trapping the shadow inside. He expected Ithia to awaken immediately. He was sadly disappointed.
Huldo and Urica greeted him somberly as they discovered Ithia was incapacitated.
Tyrsten pressed Ithia’s cheek to his own. “She is in her body, but in what condition…” His voice wavered. “She sacrificed herself to the shadow. Her mother.”
Tyrsten sensed the tension in Urica over mention of Ithia’s mother.
Huldo ran ahead and, after a few minutes, located a bed chamber in the Palace.
Tyrsten hoisted Ithia into his arms and carried her to the room. He lay Ithia down on the bed and covered her with a blanket. He turned to Urica. “What is going on?”
“Ithia’s mother, Oriona, created that shadow-prison. Ithia may not be able to break away from her.”
“Thicker and thicker with mysteries,” Huldo said. “Did Oriona attack her?”
Tyrsten stroked her cheek. “I believe Ithia tried to rescue her mother from that madness.”
Urica frowned. “I am afraid it was too late to accomplish that.”
“Did Rainor plan to trap Ithia?” Huldo asked.
“Rainor’s ultimate plans are still unknown,” Tyrsten said. “Rainor did ask Ithia to get her mother and the others out.”
“He hoped she would fail and become locked in there,” Huldo said confidently.
Urica shook her head as she examined Ithia. “I would not be certain of that.”
“I do not care right now what Rainor’s motives were.” Tyrsten returned his gaze to Ithia. “Why has she not awakened?” Tyrsten took her hand in his, pressed his lips against the apple of her cheek. “Not when we are so close—” He placed her palm against his chest. “Ithia, the pause in your music should not last this long.”
Ithia’s soul answered his call. Her eyes opened to Tyrsten’s stricken face. “Why are you so sad?”
He glowed with relief. “You did not wake.”
“You know me—I get stuck in the dreamworld.”
Tyrsten snatched her up and held her tightly.
“What happened to the Magians?” Ithia tried to peer over his shoulder to see where she was.
“You have done your part,” Urica said. “You have brought back the Magians, without the use of violence. A spiritual battle.”
Tyrsten pulled back, his face worry-stricken. “You lingered too long in that battle.”
“I was caught in the wake of her grief. My mother had fed her shadow-self so much energy and malice that it had a will of its own. I had to fight my way free of the despair.” Ithia’s eyes widened, still in shock. “That prison is where my spirit went when I was in that coma-like state. She was calling to me even then. Trying to claim me.”
“Are you injured?”
Ithia shook her head no and asked Urica, “How can we get her out?”
“We cannot. That shadow is a projection of her mind—her essence—all she sees of the world.” Urica stroked Ithia’s arm. “Your mother delved too far into her shadow. She used her hatred to project her shadow onto us all, into our minds. She was drawing the Magians in by having us fall into a trance state. That kind of darkness drains the life force and becomes its own entity. Now I fear she cannot contain it.”
“We should try.” Ithia pressed her fists into the mattress.
An unfathomable sadness filled Urica’s face. “You did try.”
“Oriona told me not to let you go back,” Tyrsten said. “You cannot risk losing yourself.”
“But—”
“No, you need to recover.” Urica patted Ithia’s leg.
Huldo embraced Ithia over Tyrsten’s arms. “Hey, I said you cannot do that sleeping trick on us again.”
Someone entered the room, a face that Ithia never thought she would see again.
“Gramps?”
Tyrsten said in the same moment. “Master Larin?”
Ithia and Tyrsten considered each other and then again the old man standing before them. Ithia jumped up, staggered and flung her arms around him.
Stoic, Larin did not reciprocate except for a tap on her shoulder.
Ithia remembered how aloof he always was—a stark contrast to the affection she had received and gotten accustomed to from her Ma’thean friends. She withdrew and leaned against the edge of the bed to regain her normal, reserved composure she used when Gramps was around. Then her temper began to brew inside for all he had done, for his wrongs against her and her mother.
Tyrsten came forward, bowed. “We are blessed to have you amongst the living, Sauvant.”
“I should have put it together, somehow—” Ithia took half a step away. “But your eyes. I always saw them as brown, never black.” Ithia leaned forward to check them now.
“A projected illusion. Not easy to accomplish in the mind of more than one person at a time.”
“And your troubled, at-risk youths, you were working with were Tyrsten, Huldo and Feron.”
“Troubled? At-risk?” Huldo smirked as he grabbed his chest in mock pain.
Larin’s face remained somber. “Among others.”
“Wait.” Ithia asked, after glancing around, “Where is Feron? Is he okay?”
“Yes,” Larin said. “There was only one casualty today.”
A pang of guilt about taking a life throbbed inside her heart. Even if he had been a horrible person, she did not want his death weighing on her. “Garrick.” Ithia whispered as her face drained to white, “I killed him.”
“No.” Tyrsten grasped her hand. “Rainor used the distraction of your lightning strike to kill Garrick. I saw him conceal the bloody knife in his cloak.”
The dislodged piece of her soul fell back into place as she realized she had not taken a life.
In her relief, an embarrassed expression floated on Ithia’s face as she regarded Larin, then Urica. “May I ask you something?”
“I know what you are about to ask,” Urica said, “and you would be correct.”
Ithia narrowed her eyes. “It’s true, what my mother said.”
Huldo wore a puzzled face. “What now?”
Larin sighed, irritated that his secret had come out. “I was not faithful to our ways. I fell in love with another Magian before we had taken our final vows.” He stole a shamed glance at Urica.
Ithia made the last connection for the room. “Urica and Larin are my grandparents.”
Huldo’s mouth opened wide enough to catch on. “Urica? Why did you not tell us before?”
“It was none of your business, Huldo. As for Ithia, it was not the right time to reveal my identity to her.” Urica took Ithia’s hands in hers. “You had to focus on your calling and not on me. I hope you understand why I kept this to myself.”
Tyrsten let out an awkward laugh, his tension popping with the surprising news. “All this time I thought I was so rebellious.”
“Oh no, you still are much more rebellious than us.” Urica smirked. “Larin would never have kissed me in front of the Elders.”
Ithia reflexively covered her lips. “When did that happen?”
“You did not wake after the others had. I was so worried. And I did not care who witnessed my love.”
“That was unwise.” Larin grimaced. “We will discuss your transgressions later, Tyrsten.”
How can he condemn Tyrsten after all that has transpired after all he has done wrong? Ithia set her jaw and glared at Larin. “Transgressions?”
The intensity of Ithia’s anger made Larin step back.
“Protecting you and protecting you from the truth was paramount. If you had known of Ma’thea and your thoughts had drifted to this world, you would have created a connection. They could have located you. They would have abused you.”
“You could have done everything differently.”
Urica frowned. “And yet we did not.”
“Rainor still found me.”
“I suppose the talisman was not strong enough to protect you forever.” Larin glanced away.
“My pendant is my protection?”
“Yes. It blocks others from psychically linking to you.”
Ithia touched the pendant. “I broke the chain right before I was kidnapped.”
“I told you to always wear it!” Larin clenched his fists.
“It wasn’t like you ever said, ‘wear this or die.’ I even took it off when I left the Women’s Circle. That must be how Rainor found me again.”
Larin’s frustration subsided. “I suppose I could not protect you forever from Fate.”
“Why did you think you needed to protect me that way? Steal me away to Earth?”
“My teacher, Quanen, foresaw what Urica, and I had set into motion. I did not want to believe it, but just after you were born, he told us that he had had a vision of you, before your mother was even born. He warned us that you would be used by Garrick.”
A sense of anxiety washed over Ithia. “Something is wrong.”
The door flew open. Feron fell in, his head bleeding. “Rainor escaped. I am not sure how it happened. He held back his powers with us these last days—that is certain.”
Huldo ran to Feron to help him maintain his balance.
“We are letting him get away.” Ithia lurched unsteady toward the door. “I must find out why he wanted our mother.”
“Our mother?” Urica tilted her head. “He claimed to be—”
“I must go.” Ithia fumbled with a step.
“Not you.” Tyrsten held her around the waist. “He is too dangerous. You can barely stand.”
She protested with futile attempts to pry Tyrsten’s arms off her. “I have to find out why he killed Garrick. And then sent me in to rescue the Magians.”
Tyrsten didn’t release her. “Another day.”
Urica held out her hand to Ithia. “Others will find him.”
“Urica is right.” Larin headed to the door. “Ithia, you need to stay out of the way while we rectify this mess. He is not your battle.”
Ithia narrowed her eyes, but assessed that this was a lost cause with so many to stop her. Her burst of strength had worn off as well. She surrendered her arms into the air and allowed Tyrsten to assist her back to the bed.
Larin, Urica, Huldo and Feron exited the chamber. Huldo gave Ithia and Tyrsten a nod as he shut the door behind him.
Tyrsten adjusted the pillow under Ithia’s head. He was ragged. Blood from his wounds had dried on his honey-colored skin.
She gently touched the cut on his neck, then placed her palm over his heart. “Our secret is not so secret anymore.”
Tyrsten’s smile was heavy. “I do not think we could have kept our emotions secret for very long around all those Magians.”
“Right. X-ray vision into our souls.” Ithia bit her lip. Her calling, as she knew it, was over. She was relieved—and nervous. “If I’m not going after Rainor, I’m not sure what to do with myself now.”
“That is up to you.” He cradled her face in his hand.
A vortex of confusion swirled inside her, surprised that Tyrsten hadn’t yet recoiled from her again with the Magians back in the picture. Larin clearly disapproved of his actions—their bond.
Ithia kissed his wrist. She determined she just had to say what she needed. “Then I want to go home.” She turned her head away from Tyrsten. She wasn’t sure how he would react to her request and didn’t dare study his face as she made her needs known.
“Oh.” Tyrsten’s heart dropped. “I understand.”
She sensed his wide swing of emotion, it wasn’t what she expected. Her desire was met with utter sadness and rejection. It bewildered her for a moment. She faced him to clear up her intentions. “Not to Earth! To the Vihar. My home is there. With you. Will they allow us both to stay? Do you want me to?”
“Oh, I thought you wanted to leave me.” Tears of relief fell from his eyes.
“I don’t believe that is possible.” Ithia kissed him in earnest, pressing hard. Their energies intertwined—dancing inside each other’s skins.
They stared into each other’s eyes that sparkled with the stars that shone since their first meeting. They held everything they would ever need to know.
From Book Two of the Magian Series:
Tyrsten picked Ithia up in his arms and spun her around as she finally let her guard down, home at the Vihar. They giggled happily. Setting her down, he slipped one arm around her waist. With his other hand, he tickled the back of her neck. Goose-bumps hop-scotched down her skin.
“Now for the question we said we would ask when this was all done—”
“Should we let that song of ours continue?” Ithia asked and winked.
He received her not-so-subtle message and gathered her up in his arms. “It never really stopped for me.”
“Me neither.” She slid back against the side of the bed, drawing him to her. Her palms radiated a magnetic energy as she pressed her hands against his back and pulled him closer, sending sparks down his spine.
She whispered into his palpitating chest, “Thank you for believing in me.”
Tyrsten’s eyes shone brighter.
They kissed. Their auras began swirling and interlacing, creating a new color.
Unceremoniously, the door flew open and a wizened, old woman burst into the small room. Her onyx eyes were wide with alarm. Tyrsten sensed a frightening vision within their blindness.
“Urica!” Tyrsten and Ithia exclaimed as they quickly disengaged from one another. “What is it?”
“I hate to interrupt your first moments alone, but we have to leave immediately.”
Anxiety spread throughout Ithia’s body. “Why?”
“According to my vision, it is not in our best interest to stick around and find out,” Urica said.
Tyrsten stared back and forth between Ithia and Urica. Then he closed his eyes in concentration—his psychic sense radiated out to better understand Urica’s claim. “She is right.”
“But I don’t understand.”
Urica turned to leave the room. “No time to waste.”
Tyrsten grabbed his unpacked bag and tossed Ithia hers. Urica was already prepared for escape with her pack on her shoulder and wearing her traveling cloak. Her steely gray bun was haphazardly thrown together. She had been surprised by her vision.
“What could possibly be so urgent?” Ithia protested. “Other than our friends, only Magian teachers know how to enter the Vihar.”
Tyrsten took Ithia’s hand and pulled her out of the room and down the corridor. Urica led the way through the Vihar’s great room, out the main entrance.
“Who is coming?” Ithia asked, but no one answered her.
“I readied our horses and provisions. They come through the maze as we speak. We need to take the secret exit.”
“There are no secret exits,” Tyrsten said.
“It would not be a secret if you knew.” Urica chortled.
“Hello? What is going on?” Ithia folded her arms over her chest.
Tyrsten yielded to Ithia’s insistence since it might slow them down if she didn’t get some kind of answer. “The Astroan Elders.” He looked to Urica for confirmation.
“They are not happy with us.” Urica shook her head in disgust.
Tyrsten scowled that his perception was correct.
“What?” Ithia complained, “I
risked my life to free them.”
“Their gratitude is short lived.” Tyrsten narrowed his eyes.
“Apparently.” Ithia flashed her temper and refused to move. “What did I do?”
“You know,” Urica indicated with a raised eyebrow.
Ithia grumbled.
Tyrsten grabbed Ithia by the hand and hurried them along as they passed by the Temple to the stables. “I know why they would be after me, but why you or Ithia?”
“In their minds, you both should have known better. I should have known better in my day as well. As for my infraction, they do not know the complete tale. They probably know enough—I sense I am a wanted woman.”
“Fine. Punish me. However, Ithia should be left out of this. She was never trained, never took any vows.” Tyrsten quickened his stride.
The women found it challenging to keep up with his long legs.
“She knew better. But she did not stop herself.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Ithia said, “yet.”
As they slipped inside the stables, Urica did not slow her progress. “You did enough, Ithia. You knew what you were doing was against Magian law.”
“Why are we running?”
“For our freedom,” Urica said.
“It’s a lousy reason for them to be upset with me. Kissing shouldn’t be that big of deal.”
Urica tied her pack onto the saddle. “I do not judge you, but they will—quite harshly. I suspect for all your actions since arriving on Ma’thea. They are likely threatened by you and will use anything they can against you.”
Tyrsten helped Urica and Ithia onto their horses. Urica rode beyond the manicured gardens, through the large meadow behind the Kian Vihar. They came to the untamed woods at the edge of the grounds.
Urica cocked her head this way and that, like a dog hearing sounds no human could hear. “I hope I remember where it is,” Urica mumbled to herself.
“When was this passage put into place?” Tyrsten asked.
“Oh, too long ago.” Urica laughed. “When Larin and I were mere children, so young and ignorant to what we were about to set into motion.”
“You knew Gramps when you were kids?” Ithia asked.