Rise of Legends (The Kin of Kings Book 2)

by Narro, B. T.

“What will you do after the dajrik destroys the catapults?” Reela asked.

  “I don’t know yet.”

  “What were you planning to do before Tauwin ordered your death?”

  Sanya didn’t see the harm in telling Reela the truth, but she didn’t trust her own judgment anymore. The day had gone on too long. She needed to rest her heavy head. There was one thing she could safely admit that might shut Reela up.

  “I was going to kill Tauwin eventually, but I was interrupted by unforeseen problems.”

  At least that quieted her for a while.

  “Sanya,” Reela eventually muttered.

  She leaned back to meet Reela’s eye. The woman looked tired, so utterly tired. They spoke no words, using only psyche to communicate. Sanya had never had such a conversation, and she was overwhelmed with emotion as Reela shared her feelings with her. Reela had been fighting for more than a year straight. She just wanted it to end.

  But Sanya had been fighting for longer, which she communicated to Reela. She’d grown up being tortured, learning that power was the only way to stop the powerful. Her only joy had come from strengthening her abilities so that one day she could find justice.

  “What have you longed to resolve for so long?” Reela asked, her eyes holding sadness. There was no way she could read Sanya’s exact thoughts, but she’d let her emotions be as clear as words on a page.

  “I’ve resolved it recently.”

  “Then why are you still longing for it?”

  Sanya muttered a curse. She’d given Reela a glimpse of her deepest emotions, ones she wasn’t sure she was ready to face yet.

  “I don’t know,” Sanya admitted.

  “Maybe because you hurt so many good people along the way.”

  “Let’s go back to being quiet.”

  “Just tell me one more thing.”

  “If you promise it’ll be the last you speak about anything but destroying the catapults.”

  “I promise.” But Reela then didn’t go on. Sanya leaned back to read her expression and found her with her mouth agape as if unable to speak.

  “What?”

  “Alex…was it really you…who…?”

  “So I see he found Effie at the Academy.”

  Reela’s eyes went wide with a look between horror and amazement. “How is what you’ve done even possible?”

  “Didn’t Basen tell everyone what I told him the night I spared his life?”

  “Yes, about the spiritual world and your quest to retrieve your mother from it. All of us assumed you were insane.”

  “I might be, but you can bring people back from the spiritual world. Alex is proof of that.”

  “That woman!” Reela yelled. “She’s your mother, isn’t she?”

  This is why you shouldn’t have answered any of her questions. “She’s having trouble acclimating to her new body.”

  “Because this is unnatural! No person should hold such power.”

  “Tauwin has more power than I do.”

  “No, he has more wealth.”

  “Same thing,” Sanya said. “It’s just as dangerous in the wrong hands.”

  There was a long pause before Reela spoke. “Why use a dog’s body?”

  “Because it was easier than trying to get a person into my portal.” Alex was a test. But Sanya was smart enough not to admit this to anyone who cared about him. “How is he doing?”

  “Effie and I only spent the morning with him. I’m not quite sure how to answer you.”

  “Was he in pain or discomfort?”

  “Tired, hungry, and thirsty, yet he was clearly Alex in a dog’s body, but…”

  Sanya dreaded what Reela was about to say. To make matters worse, Reela couldn’t seem to get the words out, suspending Sanya in this moment.

  “But what, Reela?” she snapped.

  “There’s something different about him. I noticed it as I left.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Have you ever sensed someone as they were falling asleep?”

  She knew exactly what Reela was getting at, and her heart seemed to stop. “Yes, their energy slowly changes until you don’t recognize them anymore through psyche. You’re saying this is happening with Alex?”

  “It does feel that way. I’m losing touch with him while he’s inside that body. I could never tell Eff.” She let out a frustrated breath. “No one goes near him, except Effie. Most can’t even look at him without grimacing. Imagine a friend who died is alive again in an animal’s body. It’s not right, Sanya.” She paused, as if to give Sanya a chance to respond, then went on when Sanya didn’t. “I hope you don’t think you’ve done any of us a favor, because what you’ve really done has ruined the memory of him! And I will always hate you for it. You took him from us, then you took away—” A sob interrupted her. She held back tears as she forced the last out. “You took away his dignity. There’s nothing more cruel that you could’ve done.”

  Sanya ignored Reela’s last words, wishing she had some way of knowing what would eventually happen to Alex. Hopefully he wouldn’t continue to get worse, like Lori was. If he did, it might mean that there was no salvation for her mother.

  “Sanya, don’t you see that bringing back someone from the dead is unnatural?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “You’re going to ruin the memory of your mother just the same.”

  Sanya kept her energy in control, refusing to let Reela know the damage her words were doing.

  Finally, they came to the end of the trees. Oakshen stretched out before them. A wall just low enough to climb with great difficulty enclosed the meager homes and businesses of thousands who lived in the city. On the far southern end were the farmers with their meager crop fields that, through careful tending, had fed their families and more for generations.

  Sanya had studied the history of Kyrro long before deciding to come here, not that it had helped so far. The northern end of Oakshen had transformed completely to fit the army’s agenda. From her perch on the dajrik’s shoulder, she could see everything Tauwin had been responsible for. One catapult looked finished already, with three more in construction. The houses around them had been conjoined, looking like lodging for soldiers, neat and orderly but completely without personality. They acted as a wall that kept the citizens from seeing the northern edge of the city, where the catapults stood just tall enough to peek over the lodging for the soldiers.

  They were a menacing sight, but they wouldn’t look that way much longer.

  With his target in sight, the dajrik’s rage became even more difficult to contain. Sanya and Reela needed to get off his shoulders. Fearful he would crack her ribs, Sanya decided to risk getting herself down instead of asking his assistance. She wrapped her arms and legs around his arm and slid down. His rough skin scratched her, but she clung tightly and dealt with the pain until she came to his wrist. She wriggled down his fingers and then dropped to the ground.

  Sanya saw Reela had instructed the dajrik to remove her from his shoulder with his hand. He dumped her down, eager to be rid of his burden so he could begin his destruction.

  Reela rolled as she fell, then grabbed her sides and hissed.

  “Are you all right?” Sanya came over to check on her, but Reela quickly pulled her blade from the sheath on her belt.

  “Stay back.”

  Sanya put up her hands. “I have no intention of hurting you.”

  She waited for Reela to put back her dagger, then checked on the dajrik. He’d kicked down the wall and roared at the catapults as if they were threatening creatures. He grabbed the sturdy beam of one and snapped it like a twig. Then he bent down and ripped off a wheel, and the catapult collapsed to its side. The dajrik gave a strong kick to its frame, breaking the entire thing in half.

  Army men charged out from the barracks but froze in fear at the sight before them. One of them had the presence of mind to call for archers and mages.

  By the time they arrived, the dajrik had destroyed the second
catapult and begun working on the third. Neither catapult was finished, and Sanya watched with glee as the giant destroyed each piece so it couldn’t be rebuilt quickly, not that he was aware of what he was really doing. To him, destroying the catapults relieved his interminable anger. She imagined Tauwin’s face would look just like the dajrik’s when he was told the news.

  Arrows and fireballs pelted the creature, drawing his focus away while Sanya and Reela struggled to keep him intent on shattering the last of the rudimentary catapults. He put his hands together to make one giant fist and crushed them quickly. Then Sanya let him take vengeance on those shooting him. Reela let down her arm to show she had done the same. With their work now done, they ran back into the forest.

  Feeling as if she could fall asleep standing up, Sanya held a tree for support as she regained her breath. Reela watched her nervously as she hunched over in pain.

  “Did the dajrik hurt you?” Sanya asked.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  The forest was dark beneath the night sky. Sanya took a few moments to regain some strength, then made light. “Come on,” she said. “It’s a long walk back, so we’d better get started.”

  Reela showed her a curious look. “Tell me what you think will happen when we meet back with Terren and everyone else from the Academy.”

  “I won’t be seen by any of them. You’re going to fetch Lori and bring her to me.”

  “And why would I do that?”

  “Because if you allow them to kill her or take her prisoner, you’ll see me again, and I’ll be very angry.” Sanya put on her most fearsome face, quite certain the shadow from her light helped tremendously. “You don’t want that.”

  “I’ll do what you want if you tell me how you did it.”

  Now that Sanya could think without worrying about an enraged dajrik, she realized there was no harm in telling Reela about her trip to the spiritual world, about her failed plan to move her mother into her father’s body, and about killing him in the process. Sanya supposed that was the one perquisite about being wanted for murder. Admitting that she killed her father didn’t worsen the death sentence if she was captured.

  She even went on to explain her plot to marry Tauwin once he had control of Kyrro and then to kill him and take the crown as the first woman ever to lead the territory. She described what kind of man he was and what had happened for Sanya and Lori to now be among his worst enemies.

  By the end of her tale, she did sense less hostility from Reela as she’d expected she would.

  “Even though we’re not allies,” Sanya said, “we’re on the same side.”

  “For now. That might change.”

  She was right. Until Sanya figured out what to do, she couldn’t make any promises. Reela sighed as if disappointed.

  “If I’m helping you with Lori,” Reela said, “I expect something in return.”

  “What?”

  “The next time you have an opportunity to assist someone on my side, you’ll do so. Even if it doesn’t benefit you.”

  “I can tell you I will, but why would you trust my word?”

  “Because I believe we’ll meet again, and we’ll want something from each other once more. With the way this war is going, it’s likely that much will change before then. Neither of us can say for certain where we’ll be or what we’ll need. A partner is still valuable, even if she isn’t an ally.”

  It seemed that Sanya’s story had been more beneficial than she’d first realized. Anger still burned within Reela for what Sanya had done, but she could feel a strong sense of understanding as well.

  “I agree. I’ll help your side in this war the next chance I get.”

  “Then I promise I’ll return Lori to you safely.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Effie awoke to Wilfre pushing his annoying face close to hers. She wanted to put her palm across it, maybe rub some dirt in, and shove it away, but she was too tired.

  “She’s awake,” he said, and Jack Rose hurried over and crouched beside her.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No.” Then she remembered everything. “Reela and Sanya…and the dajrik…they—”

  “We know.” The chemist smiled at her. “Reela explained everything before they left.”

  “Left?”

  “They went to destroy the catapults in Oakshen, Effie,” Steffen said, appearing from behind a small crowd of people. He bent down and helped her up. They were still in the tunnel that led to the abandoned Slugari colony, but it looked as if a quake had struck. Chunks of the walls and ceiling lay in piles on the ground.

  “Do you know who she is?” Jack asked Effie, pointing at the woman who’d been with Sanya. She was slumped against the wall as if asleep. Effie dimly remembered seeing her like that during the chaos with the dajrik.

  “Some friend of Sanya’s. Is she dead?” Effie reached for her wand, but the small holder on her belt was empty. She began searching for it. “If not, we should kill her right now.”

  “Effie, you’re still under the effects of the potion,” Steffen said.

  “I just said she’s a friend of Sanya’s! I don’t care what’s happening with my mind, she deserves to die just to hurt Sanya.”

  Where is my wand? Then she realized Reela must have it. It didn’t matter. Effie could strangle the woman while she was unconscious. It would be easy.

  Still weary, Effie plodded over, pushing her way through people. But Steffen grabbed her by her arms.

  “Let me go,” she said through gritted teeth, “or I will hurt you.”

  Steffen shook her violently, surprising her. He’d always been gentle with her, even in the rare cases she’d hit him out of annoyance. “Listen to me, Effie! You’ve been making poor decisions all day. Don’t hurt or kill anyone, understand?”

  Debilitating sadness struck her, causing her to fall to her knees. “You’re right! I almost got Reela and myself killed. Is she all right?”

  “She should be, though she’s with Sanya now.”

  Steffen explained the army’s encounter with the two psychics and the dajrik. Jack and Wilfre watched Effie for a few moments to ensure she’d behave, then they directed their efforts to trying to awaken Sanya’s companion.

  “When the battle ended,” Steffen continued, “Terren took everyone back except for us. We’re to stay until the tunnel to Trentyre has been completed. The others will defend the Academy.”

  Effie couldn’t quite hear his words, still too incredulous at her disregard for Reela’s safety. She was lucky they’d lived through the dajrik, but would she be so lucky next time? A few tears fell down her cheeks.

  “Steffen, I don’t want to feel like this anymore. When will it stop?”

  “The fact that you’re crying and actually listening to me tells me it should be soon.”

  With some relief, Effie composed herself, brushing the dirt off her clothes. There were about a hundred people in this large tunnel. Most were crowded around Sanya’s companion. Now that Effie really looked at her, she could see that she was a young woman who likely would be beautiful once her hair and face no longer were caked with dirt. She can’t be much older than Sanya. Who is she?

  “Effie,” Steffen said, “do you have any idea where that dajrik came from?”

  “None. He was running into the tunnel from the Slugari colony soon after Reela and I arrived.”

  Effie had been too caught up in her need to kill Sanya to consider the creature, but now she realized he couldn’t have been the Slugari’s dajrik. He had no necklace with a red gem. Unless it was the Slugari’s dajrik and he’d lost his rujin necklace. That would explain his rage. Dajriks lived for thousands of years, but the older they got the less they could sleep. Terrible nightmares awoke them constantly, slowly driving them toward insanity. Steffen had taught her this, along with the fact that a high concentration of rujins—a red flower the Slugari cultivated—melted with bastial energy into a substance contained in a gem and kept close to the dajrik could stop the nigh
tmares and allow the giant to sleep peacefully.

  “Do you think the dajrik was the Slugari’s and he lost his necklace?” Effie asked.

  “Jack and I believe he was another dajrik. But we don’t know how he got down here.”

  She could see from his worried expression that they probably also wondered if there could be more.

  “I have a theory,” Steffen said. “We know Basen made a portal within the Fjallejon Mountains using stored energy in akorell metal, because Jackrie told us this. We also know the portal brought them to the Dajrik Mountains clear across the continent. Lastly, we know that Jackrie and Cleve stumbled into another portal beneath more akorell metal while within those mountains. This all leads me to believe that when Basen drew in all the stored energy to make his portal, he set the energy of the world off-balance. The opening of more portals is how the excess of energy returned to a relaxed state.

  “Think of it like two pools of water separated by a wall,” Steffen continued. “Basen opening a portal is like creating a massive hole in the middle of the wall. The water drains from one pool to the next until the hole abruptly closes, then both pools will slosh back and forth, making waves, and one side now has water that wants to go back to the other side. So it beats against the wall until it creates holes of its own, allowing it to flow through. However, too much water will likely return to the first pool, and then it has to balance itself out by sending some back. What this means is that opening one portal, especially one that needs a tremendous amount of energy, could result in the subsequent opening of other portals hours or even days later. Any place where energy is stored is the most likely spot for one of these ‘holes’ to be created.”

  He pointed down the tunnel. “I think akorell metal lies somewhere in the Slugari colony. A portal most likely came open, and the dajrik passed through from who knows where.”

  “So the portal should be closed by now,” Effie assumed. “I couldn’t imagine it taking that long for the energy to balance.”

  “Yes, but we don’t know if Basen has opened any more portals. We have to be very careful when we’re down there not to walk near any akorell metal, or we could end up going through a portal without having a way back.”