Finally, the last echoes died away, leaving the ringing in her ears as the only thing Seryn could hear. She cautiously lowered her shield, keeping a wary eye on Airam. Debris and bodies littered the yard. The smiths’ forges at the end of the yard had been blown apart as well. Pieces of wood, twisted metal, shattered stone, and torn parchment lay strewn across the ground. Only occasional ragged chunks of stone remained of the walkway, and craters in the walls left them looking scarred and unsteady.
Airam’s eyes turned crimson as she scowled at Lenara. “These devices are your doing?” she asked, gesturing toward the twisted remains of the stands that had held the crystals.
Lenara climbed to her feet and raised her chin, returning Airam’s glare without flinching. “They are.”
“You thought to take away my power?”
“What would you have us do? We are not going to meekly lie down and wait for you to destroy us.”
“Well, as you see, you have failed,” Airam said. “Now, learn the price of your failure!” A blast of dimsai from Airam’s hand slammed Lenara against the wall. Before anyone could react, Lenara had already landed face down on the ground.
“Lenara!”
Seryn felt Reyga’s hand leave her shoulder as he ran toward his fallen love.
“Reyga! Stop!” He was already beyond her grasping hand. She watched as he fell to the ground beside Lenara and rolled her onto her back, but it was clear that there was nothing to be done for her. Wisps of smoke from her scorched robes drifted up around Reyga’s face as he looked up at Airam, tears streaming down his face.
“I will kill you!” Reyga charged toward Airam, clearly beyond reason. Seryn put her hand over her mouth as Airam wrapped Reyga in a sparkling sheath of power. However, instead of killing him, she only held him captive.
“The only reason you are still alive is because Bodann desires it,” Airam said to him. The Altered turned to look at her. “You as well, High One. For the moment.” Airam wrapped her in dimsai and jerked her over to stand beside Reyga. Then she turned to the remaining members of the Circle. “The rest of you are no longer required.” A casual gesture of her hand sent a wave of power crashing into the Loremasters, tossing them like leaves in a storm, before leaving them twisted, broken, and as motionless as the rest of the fallen.
Seryn blinked at their suddenly still forms, her soul feeling as broken and lifeless as her rational mind knew them to be. Although her mind knew what had happened, her heart and emotions struggled to deal with the senseless deaths. She could not grasp it. My friends... It was too much. Gone... Too much to absorb. All gone... Too much to comprehend. Forgive me... She felt numb. I have failed you... Friends and colleagues, some of whom she had known for many years, now dead, killed by Airam as easily as she would swat an insect.
She heard Reyga moan beside her, and turned to see a face torn by grief, but not just for Lenara. His gaze traversed all of the casualties, Circle and soldier alike. She felt like she should say something to him, but what? What could possibly be said at a time like this? No words would ease the horror before them. Nothing could ease the pain of what they had just witnessed. So, since nothing would suffice to ease Reyga’s pain, she turned to Airam.
“You have won. Now what?”
“I wanted you to fully understand the depth of your failure before you meet your end. After the loss of Tal Vardyn, you could have chosen to lead the Circle in allegiance to Bodann. Had you done that, an accommodation might have been reached, and these who placed their trust in you might still be alive. You chose to oppose us instead. This is the result of your decision.”
Airam’s words were like knives slicing into her heart. Each syllable cut another piece and left it bleeding in the dust of the training yard. But how could she have served Bodann? How could she have chosen that path and tried to tell herself it was for the good of Teleria? How is this different? At least if you had done that, the people would have had advocates to try to protect them from Bodann’s worst tendencies. And maybe, just maybe, these friends and colleagues would still be alive. The thought tore at her heart even more. But she never expected their failure…her failure…to be so swift and complete. After all, two Altered had joined their cause, not to mention the nasaiken and the Blood Iron staff. And then there was Jason. The prophecy could refer to no one else. And yet… She looked around at the carnage and her vision blurred as the weight of her self-condemnation came crashing down on her spirit.
No. She shook her head. She would not be so weak. The decisions had been correct, regardless of the outcome. All had agreed. She blinked the tears away and raised her head, looking Airam fully in her glowing eyes.
“We did what was necessary. Regardless of your words, I would do the same again.”
Airam stared at her for a long moment. “I was like you once. So sure of myself and the paths I had chosen. Eventually, I realized I was not as smart as I thought, and came to regret a number of my decisions. I have had to live with that regret for centuries.” A bitter smile crooked one side of her mouth. “You will not have to live so long with yours.”
Seryn barely had time to register that she was flying across the training yard before an explosion of pain enveloped her body.
Then she knew nothing at all.
Last Hope
Jason tumbled across the sand and stone, and then scrambled to his feet, throwing blast after blast of dimsai, fueled by fury and an unquenchable thirst for vengeance. He didn’t know where he was, nor did he care. He barely noticed the stinging on his arms and back from the sharp rocks that had pierced his skin. Although he wasn’t suffering the pain Lenai had described to him after his temporary death, her loss had left a gaping emptiness inside of him. At least for a few moments. Then the void was quickly filled by the rage now coursing through his soul.
“You killed her! I’m gonna take you out if it’s the last thing I do!”
Bothan’s laughter and the casual way he brushed off Jason’s attacks only served to stoke the flames of Jason’s fury. He threw a constant barrage of power at his ancestor, the detonations ringing in his ears as Bothan countered each volley.
“Aye, that’s it, lad! Let it out. Let your anger run its course.”
With another scream of rage, Jason redoubled his efforts to break through Bothan’s defenses, with the same results. After several moments, he stopped again, panting and gasping for air. The burning rage was gone, replaced by a cold, heavy void. He felt drained and empty, in every way he could think of.
“Why? Why did you kill her? She was no threat to you.”
A surprised expression crossed Bothan’s face. “Why, lad! I just did what she asked. She said I could not touch you while she drew breath. It seemed to be what she wanted.” He gave Jason a wink. “I wouldn’t want to let a lady down, now, would I? Even if she is just a shifter.”
Jason let out a flurry of language he would never have used around his mother as the rage rekindled, and sent another round of attacks at Bothan. Again, Bothan easily dismissed his efforts, and again, the rage subsided, leaving him hollow and broken.
Bothan tilted his head as he studied Jason. “It seems like you’re not puttin’ your heart into it,” he said. He gave a dramatic sigh. “I guess I’ll have to show you how it’s done.”
Jason immediately created a shield, but Bothan’s attack blew through it like it wasn’t even there. The impact threw Jason backwards, sending him rolling and tumbling over the rough ground once again, until he finally came to a stop face-down twenty yards away. He raised his head and watched the slow drip of his blood from a gashed cheek onto a familiar looking patch of rust-colored stone. As he pushed himself into a standing position, he took note of his surroundings for the first time. Of course, he’d bring us here. It was the same point just outside the Riftlands where Jason and Bothan had faced off before. The “rust” was his dried blood, staining the rock.
“Had to do it here, huh?”
Bothan gestured at the landscape around them. “It ha
s a special place in my heart.”
“Wait a second.” Jason looked around, checking their location one more time. “Why is power working here now? It wasn’t the first time.”
“I pushed the boundary back, lad. I wanted to be sure you had a chance to see this place one last time.”
“You can do that? You can change where dimsai works and where it doesn’t?”
“I can, aye. And to tell you a little secret, even where it doesn’t work for anyone else, it works for me.”
“How is that possible?”
“Let’s just say I’m not the same man I was before, and leave it at that.”
“Fine. Why are you doing all this? Obviously, you have the power to do anything you want. It’s not like we could stop you. Not even the Altered can stop you now. So what’s the point? Why kill everyone?”
“Because, lad, as long as you and Circle are still alive, the people of Teleria will keep hoping you’ll be able to find some way to stop me. As long as they have that hope, they won’t be completely mine. Once their hope is gone, they’ll have no choice but to turn fully to me. Until that time, their loyalties will be…confused, so to speak. I’m just trying to clarify the situation for them. I’m trying to help them move on.”
“Oh yeah, you’re a real peach,” Jason said. “So if that’s the deal, why drag this out between you and me? You could have killed me as soon as you came back. Why all the drama?”
“Well, if there’s one thing I think every man should learn, it’s the importance of making the right choices. A man needs to understand that every choice has consequences, and that, once you make a choice, you have to live with those consequences.” He spread his hands. “I just want to make sure that’s plain to you before the end. It’s an important lesson that not everyone learns. I want to make sure you’re very aware of your choices, and the consequences, before we’re done. I feel I owe it to you.”
“Don’t do me any favors. I think I’ve got the idea.”
“No, I dinna think you do,” Bothan said. “But you will. Come along.”
Without transition, Jason found himself looking at a gouged stone wall. His gaze slowly scanned the familiar stones. This can’t be… He turned and saw the wreckage of the training yard, pieces of wood, stone, and metal everywhere he looked. The odd bundles of cloth spotting the yard confused him at first. Then the strength left his legs, and he slowly sank to his knees as he realized they weren’t random pieces of fabric, but bodies. Once his mind was able to comprehend that, the colors he saw dealt him another blow. The Circle. The Loremasters. But… I don’t… Where…?
“You killed them all,” he managed to whisper. The words seemed to echo through his mind as he struggled to grasp what he was seeing.
“Aye,” Bothan said. “Never let it be said I’m not a man o’ my word.”
Jason kept searching the yard, although he didn’t know what he was looking for at first. A glimmer of hope struggled to life as he realized he didn’t see any green robes among the fallen. He looked all around the yard, still no green.
“I see you’ve noticed something missing, lad,” Bothan said. “Well, don’t worry. I’ve got him right here.” Airam appeared, along with Reyga, encased in a sheath of dimsai that left only his head exposed. The Loremaster looked haggard and drawn, his head hanging down. Jason could see that his cheeks were wet with tears.
“Reyga!”
The old Loremaster raised his head and looked at Jason as if unsure of what his eyes were showing him. “Jason?” He blinked a couple of times. “You look terrible. We have failed.” Then his head drooped once more.
Jason glared at Bothan. “What’s the deal? Why are you holding him?”
Bothan looked surprised. “Why, Jason! I thought you’d be happy. If it weren’t for me, Reyga would be dead right now. But I saved him for you.”
“For me? What do you mean, you saved him for me?”
“It’s about closure, lad. Loremaster Reyga tried to kill you. I thought it only right that you be allowed to return the favor.”
“Return…?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You can’t be serious. You don’t really think I’m going to kill Reyga, do you?”
“’Course I do. It’s only right.”
“Only right? The only reason Reyga tried to kill me was because of Regor. It’s not like he wanted to.”
“Doesn’t matter. What happened, happened. He needs to answer for it.”
“No! If you think I’m going to do anything to Reyga, then you need some serious help. Like from a therapist or something.”
“Hmm,” Bothan said, stroking his chin. “Seems to me, you should be dancin’ a jig for this opportunity.” He snapped his fingers as if an idea had just occurred to him. “Perhaps you need a little help.”
“Hey!” Jason shouted, as he began hopping and jumping to a silent tune. “What the…? Stop it!”
“That’s better,” Bothan said, nodding in time to the imaginary rhythm, even clapping his hands for a few beats.
“Knock it off!”
“Oh, lad, you’re just no fun at all, now are you?”
“Fun?” Jason said, once his feet had stopped moving. He felt the anger heating up inside him again. “Fun? You call this fun? You killed the Loremasters. You killed my girlfriend. You’re planning to kill me. I’m sorry, but I’m missing the ‘fun’ in this. Oh, and speaking of killing, you can forget about me killing Reyga. It’s not gonna happen!”
“Aye. It is. Right about now.” Bothan nodded to Airam, who released her hold on Reyga. Bereft of her support, the Loremaster dropped to his knees, still staring at the ground. Jason tried to go to him, but his feet remained firmly rooted in place. His hands, seemingly of their own volition, slowly rose, dimsai springing to life around them.
“Hey! What’s going on?” he said. Or, at least, that’s what he intended to say. The words he heard coming from his lips were completely different.
“Time to die, old man,” he said, as his feet finally took a couple of steps toward the kneeling Loremaster.
He’s controlling me! No, no, no! Reyga, run! Even though the words screamed in his head, all his lips did was give the Loremaster a cold smile. “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” he said, coming to a stop in front of Reyga.
Reyga looked up at him and gave him a weak smile. “Jason, be at ease. I know these words are not yours. And I know that, although you may be the weapon, yours is not the hand wielding it. You share no fault or blame in what is about to happen.”
“You’re a fool, Reyga,” he said.
Reyga pushed himself to his feet and turned to Bothan. “Perhaps that is true,” he said. “But if it is, it is only because I once considered you a friend.”
Jason felt a surge of anger that wasn’t his, and then a blast of power from his hands sent Reyga flying across the yard where he rolled to a stop, open eyes staring at the sky overhead. Nooo! Over the anguish in his heart, he heard laughter coming from his mouth.
Then the laughter was coming from Bothan, and he realized he was free. He turned and sent a bolt of power at his ancestor. Bothan staggered under the unexpected assault, and then, with a snarl of anger, he hit Jason with a backhanded blast of dimsai. Jason tumbled over the debris in the yard, feeling jagged pieces of rock and metal tearing into his clothes and flesh. He started to get up, only to have another blast of power send him rolling across the ground again.
“I’m afraid I’ve grown tired of our little chats, Jason. Is there anythin’ you’d like to say before I finish this?”
“A few things come to mind,” Jason said as he stood up. “But I doubt my mom would approve.”
Bothan laughed. “Well, it’s good to know you respect your mother,” he said. “But are you seeing my meaning about the choices we make?”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“And I imagine there are some choices you wish you had made differently, aren’t there?”
“I can think of one or two.”
>
“I’m sure you can. But now you’re stuck. Once a choice is made, it’s made, and that’s all there is to it.”
As Bothan continued his oration on the importance of choices, Jason’s mind wandered. Something Bothan said nagged at his brain. Sure, looking back now, he could think of a few choices he’d have made differently. Who couldn’t? But what choices had he made recently that would have changed this outcome? Even if he’d known Bothan for what he was from the beginning, it wouldn’t have changed his ancestor’s plans. Well, actually Regor’s plans. The battle at the Scorched Plains would have still happened one way or another, and people would still have died. He’d never been strong enough, and probably still wasn’t, to challenge an Altered, so nothing would have changed there.
But still… Something about choices. It flitted around his brain like a mosquito buzzing in his ear. Was there a choice he could make now that would change anything? He couldn’t think of one. Bothan was determined to kill him. If his ego will ever allow him to stop talking. Or… His eyes widened as a thought occurred to him. But Nyala said it wasn’t possible. What if she was wrong? He was about to die anyway. How could this make it any worse? But how to do it? He felt ragged and broken. Did he even have enough power left?
“Are you listening to me, lad?”
“What?” Jason blinked, and realized that Bothan had stopped talking. He and the two Altered were staring at Jason, as if awaiting the answer to a question Jason hadn’t heard. “Sorry. I was…I was thinking about what you said about choices. And you’re right. I’ve made some wrong choices recently. I know there’s nothing I can do about them now, but you were right. I should have chosen better.” He hoped pretending to agree with Bothan would play up to the man’s ego.
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