by Andi Van
Zaree nodded. “Vashk, what happens to the Maker when her daughter is born? Does she leave for the next world she creates?”
“Yes,” Vashk said. “Once she’s certain her daughter is comfortable in her role.”
“I don’t suppose we could get her to come back for a bit, could we? Maybe have her help us straighten this mess out? I mean, it’s not her fault, but it’s partially because of her. Maybe she’d have a better idea how to handle it.”
“Oh, there’s no need for that,” Vashk said calmly. “You see, she hadn’t left yet when Onai was killed. She’s still here.”
Chapter 5
WELL, YOU two certainly know how to make a scene, don’t you?
Tasis, still holding on to his mother for dear life as they both blubbered, glared at his familiar.
“Oh, don’t be hard on him,” Nirena chastised as she picked Rin up and held him close to her chest. “I’m fairly certain your boy here didn’t think he’d ever see Evina again.”
“Well, he did kind of have to watch her die,” the fourth person who had been in the room when they entered remarked dryly.
Tasis finally looked at him. He’d been so astounded to see Daro, and then his mother, that he hadn’t really cared enough to find out who the remaining person was. As far as he was concerned, the important people he’d lost were with him. Weren’t they? But the longer he looked at the stranger, the more he realized that the man bore a striking resemblance to Firea. He only had vague recollections of what his father looked like before he’d died, but that resemblance told him, without a doubt, that he was looking at Piren Kadara. His father.
He let go of Evina and stepped toward Piren, who’d remained seated. When he saw Tasis move closer, though, he got to his feet and smiled warmly.
And that’s when Tasis smacked him across the face.
“Tasis!” Evina admonished, sounding completely mortified at her offspring’s behavior.
Tasis paid it no mind, though, grabbing Piren’s shirtfront and getting nose-to-nose with the man. “Do you have any idea how much you’ve hurt Firea?” he demanded. “How long she wanted to fix things but couldn’t because you refused to get in contact with her? How she felt when the only thing she received after all those years was a note from my mother letting her know you were dead? She may have been happy to find out that a part of you was alive in me, but do you know she still bears a hole in her heart from the way you abandoned her?” He shook his father, quaking with a rage he never would have expected from himself. “Who does that to a sister that loves them? Who? I would die before I treated Zaree like that.”
To his complete disgust, Piren only grinned at him. That disgust melted a little when his father finally spoke. “Do you know that the last time you hit me like that, you were still a baby?”
Tasis let go of Piren’s shirt, scowling. “You probably did something to deserve it then too,” he said.
“He did,” Evina said with a sigh. “He tickled you.”
Tasis made a face. It was slightly less disgusted than the scowl it replaced, but not by much. “I hate being tickled.”
“That’s why I did it,” Piren admitted. “Are you going to say hi to me now, or do you still have a few smacks to get in?”
Tasis looked over the man who was, in part, responsible for his existence. Piren was clearly trying to appear calm and collected, but something in his expression told Tasis he wanted nothing more than to grab Tasis and hold tight. He supposed, if the place Tasis was currently stuck was any indication, Piren had spent a lot of time wishing he could be with his family. It didn’t excuse what Tasis felt was a huge injustice done to his aunt, but it melted some of the anger he’d felt. “You’d better figure out a way to apologize to Firea,” he said, his expression slipping into something more neutral. “Because she acts like she’s fine and that she’s managed to put the hurt behind her, but I can tell. You hurt her a lot.”
“I know,” Piren said with a regretful sigh, rubbing his face. “And the fight… I do wish I’d apologized to her for that. But the rest, not keeping in contact for years, that couldn’t be helped. I wanted her to meet you long before you did.”
“I don’t understand.”
Nirena cleared her throat, and Tasis turned his head to look at her. What he saw made him burst out laughing. She was still holding Rin, but just barely. He’d managed to turn onto his back and stretch as Nirena rubbed his belly, almost oozing out of her arms as he purred loudly. “You’re the picture of beauty and grace, cat. I’m surprised you aren’t drooling.”
Rin didn’t so much as twitch a whisker. He merely purred louder.
Tasis shook his head. “I’d apologize on behalf of my cat for acting like a cat, but that would be ridiculous.”
Nirena smiled at the puddle of fur and lowered her face so she was nose-to-nose with Rin. The familiar immediately gave her a lick, and she laughed. “There’s no need to apologize. He’s a charmer.” She lifted her head, laughing again when Rin reached for her with one paw, and turned her attention to Tasis. “I’m the reason your father couldn’t contact Firea,” she admitted. “It wasn’t a choice I liked, but it was necessary. Certain events had to happen at a certain time for things to work.”
“What things?”
“Stopping my mate’s brother, of course,” she said, as though Tasis should have any idea what she was talking about. “Gisik.”
Tasis froze. “You’re Vashk and Yldost’s mother?”
She smiled and nodded, her fingers still ruffling Rin’s fur as though she’d just said the most normal thing in the world.
Tasis landed on the floor with a thud, sitting down hard as his knees folded. “Oh Maker.”
“Yes, I’ve been called that too.”
Tasis stared at her, his eyes wide.
“Don’t tell me you hadn’t figured it out?” She stared back at him, frowning.
Tasis swallowed hard. “Vashk never said,” he croaked. “And Yldost… they may have tried to tell us, but they’re still… adjusting.”
“Yldost. My poor child,” Nirena said with a grimace. “I’m going to be spending an eternity making apologies when this is all over. I never wanted that for them, but there are rules even I have to follow.”
Tasis let Piren help him stand and lead him to the wide couch his parents had vacated upon his arrival. They sat on either side of him, and it was both a comfort and a very odd feeling to have both of his parents there.
“Look, I have a feeling you’re going to be doing a lot of explaining, but can you tell me where I am and whether I’m dead or not? Rin said no, but….” He gestured at his parents, then Zaree’s parents.
“You aren’t dead,” Nirena said as she gracefully sat in one of the nearby chairs, folding her legs under her as she did. Once she’d arranged herself comfortably, she kissed Rin between the ears. “I think your boy could use you right about now,” she told him as she gently lowered him to the floor.
Rin made a beeline for Tasis and climbed until his head rested on Tasis’s shoulder, his rear perched on Tasis’s folded arms. Tasis leaned his ear against his familiar, closing his eyes and enjoying the low rumble of his purr as all the bad things drained away. It was like magic.
No. It’s just a cat thing.
“As I was saying,” Nirena continued. Tasis listened but didn’t bother opening his eyes. “You aren’t dead. You’re sleeping, for lack of a better word. Gisik paid you a visit after you fell unconscious and forced you into magic slumber.”
Tasis did look at her then, frowning as he opened his eyes. “I’m fairly certain I’ve heard a story like this somewhere. Does this mean all I need to do is get Kel to kiss me and I’ll wake up?”
Evina let out a snort, and Tasis shrugged. “What? It was worth a shot.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not that easy,” Nirena said with a grin. “If only it were. But no, it’s going to take something stronger than true love’s kiss.”
I don’t understand how Gisik was able to
enter the guildhall to begin with, Rin said. The shield was up.
“Yes, but the shield doesn’t block everything. You’ve managed to put a physical barrier between your guild and the rest of the world. But you don’t have a barrier between the guild and other planes. He manifested there. He didn’t simply walk in. After that, it was easy. When I arrived, he taunted me and then cast his spell on you. That room you were in was the prison he made for you. Were you able to see the threads at all as they burned?”
Tasis shuddered hard at the memory of the searing pain. “Kind of. My vision was pretty iffy at that point.”
Nirena nodded as though she’d been expecting that answer. “What you burned wasn’t the walls. Those, you could have probably knocked down eventually, under your own strength. The problem was with the spell that was woven onto the surface of those walls. Not only is breaking a spell extremely difficult, in this case it was also quite literally in your head.”
“I thought there was something about not being able to undo someone else’s spell,” Tasis said, though he couldn’t place where he’d heard it. He’d gotten so much information in the past few days that he was a little amazed he could remember his own name.
“Oh, but you didn’t undo it,” Nirena pointed out calmly. “You broke it. Believe it or not, there’s a difference. I’m quite proud of you for figuring it out.”
“For figuring what out?” Tasis asked, confused. Nirena just smiled benignly, and he remembered the brief conversation they’d had after the barrier had broken. “Right, the chair. Doesn’t giving me aid break whatever rules you’re following?”
“I just gave you something to sit on,” Nirena answered blandly. “It’s not my fault you thought it was better suited for firewood.”
“Huh. The gods are full of mischief. Who knew?”
Both of his parents, as well as Daro and Zizi, raised their hands.
“Ah, but it’s important,” Nirena said. “Mischief creates memories that we always remember, much more so than the everyday things of life.”
“I’m right, then? The dragons are gods?”
Nirena pursed her lips in thought, and the expression made her seem very young. Tasis supposed age didn’t really matter to a being who had been around for… well, longer than Tasis could fathom. But it was cute, regardless. “How would you define a god? If you define it as a being who can create worlds, what of those who build cities? Are they not worlds unto themselves? And if you define it as a being who creates life, what then of every mother? In a small way, each being is a god figure to another being. Perhaps you’re a god to a butterfly, because you’ve helped to make the flowers bloom. I am what I am, Tasis. I am merely a mother, just on a grander scale. All of my draconic children have children of their own now, such as the merfolk, or….” She paused, and her expression went from young and carefree to aged and mournful. “There are… things you need to know.”
The way she said it didn’t bode well, but Tasis listened as she spoke, his eyes growing ever wider as she did. Triv was… not Triv? A dragon? Except now she was Vashk’s child? It all sounded bizarre and he didn’t really understand. As her story wound down, he could only stare at her.
“Vashk will have told your friends all of this by now,” she added when Tasis failed to respond. “It’s time some of the past makes itself known so steps can be made to prepare for battle.”
“War is coming, then?” Tasis finally said. At the thought, he felt the heavy weight of the prospect cover him like a river’s worth of mud. “I… knew where my choices would lead, but I was hoping that maybe something could be done to prevent that. It was probably too optimistic and naive of me.”
“Yes,” Nirena said, and Tasis’s shoulders drooped farther. “But also no. A battle is guaranteed, and there is no stopping that. Things have been put into motion that the foundation was laid for eons ago. If the initial battle is won, then that’s it. A single battle with no war, and Gisik put in his place for a very long time. Because Gisik has been lost to us. He has done things that can’t be forgiven easily. Perhaps, if he can find remorse after he has paid the price he knows awaits him, should he lose, he can be welcomed back with open arms. But there is always a price to be paid.”
“Like Qelmar’s Rule,” Tasis mused. “Right?”
Nirena beamed then, and Tasis wondered what he could have possibly said to make her so happy. “He will be glad to hear that he is remembered, at least in part. His name has not been forgotten.”
“Who?”
“Qelmar, of course,” Nirena said. “My mate. Gisik’s brother.”
“The dragon of the void,” Tasis said, needing the clarification for his sanity’s sake. “The dragon of the void, who creates spaces for you to create worlds, is Qelmar.”
Nirena nodded as though he’d said the most normal thing possible.
Try not to think about it too hard, Rin advised.
“Why?” Tasis exclaimed. “Why would he create a rule that would guarantee more people would die?”
“In an effort to minimize death, of course,” Nirena answered. “There is no being who wouldn’t give the act of killing a second and third thought if their own life was at stake. Even Onai—Triv—gave killing the mad king more than a passing thought, even if she deemed it a just thing to do.”
“And do you know why the king went mad?”
Nirena nodded.
“Can you tell me?”
She shook her head. Somehow, Tasis had expected that. “Not yet. It’s not time. But I promise you that all will eventually be made clear. There are things your friends must do, and things you must do. After that.”
“And what must I do?” Tasis asked. “From what I gather, my body is still in my bed while my mind is on another plane of existence. And I’m still not certain how that’s possible.”
The dreamscape is just another plane of existence, Rin pointed out. Your mind visits that rather frequently while your body remains at home. It’s the same concept.
“So I’m dreaming?”
“In a way,” Nirena agreed.
Tasis lurched to his feet, startling Evina and Piren. “So the others could be brought here in their sleep?”
Nirena gestured with a nod at the couch he’d vacated, and he sat back down. “Not yet,” she said. “Soon, though. It’s different bringing them here than it is in the dreamscape. This place wasn’t made for that. And things need to unfold in a certain way in order to keep the odds in our favor.”
Tasis nodded, then swallowed hard. “Could you… I don’t know, let them know I’m okay somehow?”
Nirena pursed her lips in thought again, much as she had earlier. “I will see if it can be done without putting things out of order,” she agreed. “But you have to understand that our priority right now has to be Gisik. He has to be stopped, or your world is going to end up like so many of the other worlds he’s destroyed. Nobody wants that.”
That was more than reasonable, as far as Tasis was concerned. His primary goal at that point may not have been Gisik, but he had a feeling once things with Gisik were finished, so, too, would be the problems with the mad king. This was all tied together in a way that made no sense at the moment but likely would eventually. And, well, if the Maker herself was going to tell him that something had to be done, he wasn’t going to ignore it. He might argue with her, but he wanted to believe she knew what she was doing. “You said I had things I needed to do,” he said. “What things?”
Nirena smiled placidly, clearly pleased that Tasis agreed with her logic. “To teach you to control your magic, of course. It’s an inconvenience to have you pass out so often after using it. And it’s more than a little embarrassing, to be honest.”
Tasis could only sigh as Rin’s laughter echoed in his head.
Chapter 6
“BLAST IT, where is that girl?”
Trekelm stomped through the guild, his face a mask of irritation, and he was vaguely aware of people immediately moving out of his way. The girl knew it
was time for her lessons, but she’d once again hived off so well that no one knew where she was. The only person who might have an idea was conspicuously absent as well.
However, that one person wasn’t immune to Trekelm’s bellowing. “Corrin!”
“Down by the beach, I think,” one of the newly promoted masters told him as Trekelm stormed by. What was the man’s name? Fear? No, Gyr. Regardless, the comment made Trekelm come to a stop.
“The beach?” Trekelm asked. “You’re sure?”
“Fairly sure,” Gyr said with a nod. “I saw him and the redheaded girl heading that way.” He grinned, the expression turning his otherwise stony face into the very picture of mischief. “They’re skipping lessons again? You could always make them dust the library. By hand. Without magic.”
Trekelm returned the grin. “I like the way you think. I’ll send them your way once I’ve found them.”
Gyr saluted, and Trekelm headed for the castle’s entrance.
Once he’d reached the edge of the sandstone cliff, he scanned his gaze across the shore. Eventually, he was able to make out two small figures.
And a dragon.
It had to be a dragon. The thing was in the water, yes, but it was massive, and it was leaning down toward Corrin and Trivintaie.
With a shout he launched himself off the cliff. He hated using the flight spells—he wasn’t very good with being off the ground, truth be told—but he had to keep that thing from eating his apprentices. Which meant he was more than slightly surprised when he was knocked out of the air onto the sand below, only to find Trivintaie standing over him once his vision cleared. She was glaring, her hands on her hips, her hair lashing about her in the wind.
Except there wasn’t any wind.
“Calm yourself, child,” a gentle, amused voice said. When Trekelm looked to see who was speaking, he was surprised that the voice came from the direction of the dragon.
“He was going to hurt you!” the girl insisted, turning to glare at the dragon. “I couldn’t just let him hurt you!”