Sands of Memory

by Melissa McShane

  “Very good choice,” Perrin said. He peered over the top of the wall. “I fear I will be useless in this fight.”

  “If it wasn’t affected by fury, I don’t know that I’ll be much use either.” Sienne rose to look through the window. Jenani’s attention was on one of the Siennes, and Alaric took advantage of its distraction to attack it from behind, skewering it. Jenani roared and twisted, taking Alaric’s sword out of his hands and slamming its enormous fist into Alaric’s face. Alaric flew backward, and Sienne screamed. He landed, his sword spinning away from him, and didn’t get up. Jenani advanced on him.

  With a shout, Dianthe launched herself at Jenani from the shadows, slashing at its legs. Ghrita, silent but just as terrifying, ran at it from the other side, twirling her staff almost too quickly to follow. They battered at Jenani, who brushed at them, fending them off, before continuing its approach toward Alaric.

  Sienne cast force, making Jenani stagger again, but it kept moving. Alaric didn’t rise. Perrin grabbed Sienne’s hands, startling her. “Pray with me,” he said. “O Lord, forgive my importunity, but if ever you were willing to overlook my weakness, now would be the time. Heed the faith of your servants, and grant me your power according to my need!”

  A rush of power surged over Sienne, leaving behind the smell of jasmine and mint. Perrin dropped her hands and stood where he could be easily seen. He stretched out a hand toward Alaric, with Jenani looming over him. “Now,” he said.

  Jenani raised one huge fist to bring it crashing down on Alaric. In the same instant, a pearly gray shield flickered into life, surrounding Alaric entirely. Jenani’s fist smashed down on it. White light flared, and Jenani was hurled backward into one of the remaining intact buildings, smashing through the wall and disappearing into its interior.

  Sienne let out a sharp breath. “How did you do that?”

  “I did nothing. It was entirely Averran. I was his hand,” Perrin said. “It is…I do not know how far I can reach, but I am grateful for anything he gives me.”

  Alaric was stirring beneath the shield dome. He propped himself on his elbows and shook his head as if dispelling a nightmare. Blood covered his lower face from what might have been a broken nose. Sienne started toward him and Perrin yanked her back into hiding. “Jenani will return at any moment,” he said. “It will almost certainly come after us.”

  Dianthe and Ghrita were approaching the hole Jenani had made, taking very slow steps. Sienne was sure neither of them was stupid enough to follow it inside. They neared the building, which appeared to be a tavern, and went to both sides of the hole, holding their weapons at the ready.

  The walls exploded outward, knocking Dianthe and Ghrita down and covering them with shattered chunks of brick and mortar. Jenani emerged, brushing off its fists. It stepped over Dianthe as it walked away. She lay still, one arm flung out and her sword fallen some inches from her hand. On the other side, Ghrita struggled to rise, then collapsed again.

  Sienne flipped to shout and stepped out of her hiding place, ignoring Perrin’s cries of warning. Jenani turned and saw her, then its gaze flicked toward another Sienne standing some distance away, also reading from a spellbook. Jenani shimmered, and Sienne’s concentration almost broke. This time, it was because she wanted to laugh. Not much good against sound, she thought, and shout built within her chest until it burst from her and slammed into the ashwar.

  That one, it felt. Jenani was knocked back again, not as solidly as when it had collided with Perrin’s shield, but a good three or four steps. It shimmered back into solidity and appeared dazed, actually coming to rest on the ground instead of floating.

  In that moment of inattention, Kalanath attacked. Sienne hadn’t seen him at all, but there he was, bringing his staff around as readily as if he weren’t blind. It took Jenani off its feet, and Kalanath followed the move up with a smash of the steel-shod staff to the ashwar’s chest. Jenani screamed and rolled out of the way, once more shimmering into semi-corporeality. Kalanath’s next blow met empty air as the ashwar sped away from him toward one of Sienne’s doubles. It went solid in time to smash “Sienne” in the face. The mirror image popped like a shield blessing. Sienne rejoiced at Jenani’s look of bewilderment at its lack of a target.

  Beyond it, Alaric had gotten fully to his feet and was pushing against the shield, hacking at it with his belt knife. Jenani spun, appearing to size up its opponents. Alaric, trapped. Dianthe and Ghrita, down. Kalanath, turning in place with his head upraised, scenting for an enemy. And Sienne and Perrin, still up and still dangerous. Jenani smiled, a nasty, terrifying expression. Perrin grabbed Sienne and pulled her close, throwing up a hand to bring a shield dome into place in time for another lightning bolt to impact against it, making it sizzle with the smell of jasmine and mint.

  Jenani advanced on them, still smiling. Perrin released Sienne and stood with his hand pressed against the inside of the shield. “I do not know how long it will stand against lightning,” he panted.

  “I have to leave sometime if I’m going to do anything,” Sienne said. Beyond Jenani, Alaric appeared to be shouting as he tried to break the shield surrounding him.

  “Forgive me, but your attacks seem only to be annoying the creature.” Perrin had his gaze fixed on Jenani. “I think we need a different approach.”

  Jenani was only feet away. “I’m listening,” Sienne said, backing toward the rear of the shield dome.

  “I have no ideas. I am rather too terrified to think beyond the exigencies of the moment.”

  Jenani raised a hand and slammed it down on the shield. The shield shook, and quivered the way they did when they were close to collapse, but didn’t fling the ashwar away.

  “Be ready to run,” Perrin said, still touching the shield as if that alone could keep it intact.

  Sienne looked in Alaric’s direction. Her mouth fell open. “Here comes our different approach,” she said, and a unicorn slammed into Jenani from behind.

  Jenani screamed, arcing its back to get away from Alaric, whose horn dripped with pale blue ichor. The shield popped, and Sienne and Perrin backed away quickly. The ashwar turned and swung at Alaric, who dodged, reared up, and struck with razor-sharp hooves, raking a gash across Jenani’s pale chest.

  Feet pounded behind Sienne, and Dianthe staggered past, her sword upraised and blood streaming down her face. Perrin grabbed her arm and swung her in an arc back toward him. He splayed a hand across her bloody temple, and green light glowed from her wound. Dianthe blinked at him in amazement. “I don’t want to know,” she said when the light faded. “Just keep doing it.”

  Ghrita came running up. “Is that—”

  “We can talk about it when we all survive this,” Sienne said. Ghrita shrugged and ran toward where Dianthe had just joined the fight, taking advantage of the unicorn’s impressive distraction. Across the plaza, Kalanath trotted toward them, sweeping his staff before him and dodging debris almost as easily as ever. Vaishant followed him more slowly, terrifying Sienne at how he ran in the open, unprotected against Jenani’s attacks.

  But maybe it didn’t matter. Alaric and Jenani fought soundlessly now, fists against horn and hooves. Jenani seemed to have forgotten it could work magic, didn’t care that Dianthe and Ghrita were harrying it on both sides. All its attention was on Alaric, whose horn shone like black oil in the hot afternoon sun. Jenani’s body was covered with gashes that trickled blue blood, but Alaric wasn’t unscathed, his sides stippled with dark marks that showed where Jenani had struck him, one cheek split and bleeding.

  Alaric lowered his head and ran at Jenani, goring it low in the side. Jenani shoved away from him and sped away, bowling over Kalanath, who realized too late what was coming toward him. Jenani swung its massive fist and took Kalanath beneath the chin, snapping his head back and dropping him like a stone.

  Sienne screamed and began reading fury again, as fast as she dared, hoping her friends would be smart enough to stay back. Acid-edged syllables spat from her lips, burning her, an
d six force bolts erupted from her body, flying at Jenani. Five of them struck the ashwar. The sixth hit Vaishant, crouching over Kalanath. Sienne gasped as the divine fell beside Kalanath. In the next instant, a pearly gray shield dome sprang up over both men before Jenani could hammer Kalanath again.

  “Keep it contained!” Alaric shouted. She hadn’t seen him transform. He ran for his sword, but sheathed it once he’d picked it up and kept going, circling around the drifting ashwar. Dianthe and Ghrita followed more slowly. Everyone was tiring, but Jenani, though it was wounded, seemed much less weary than they were. It brought up its hands again, and the air shattered around Sienne and Perrin, knocking them off their feet. Sienne lay there, dazed, until Perrin helped her stand. “We must help them!” he said, gesturing.

  Sienne looked where he pointed. Alaric had changed to his other self and the unicorn was once more pressing the attack. He and Jenani stood practically on top of the shield protecting Kalanath and Vaishant. Kalanath, to Sienne’s relief, had rolled over and gotten to his knees. Ghrita and Dianthe once more flanked the ashwar, preventing it from backing away from Alaric. Sienne and Perrin approached cautiously, Sienne with her spellbook open to force, though she didn’t know if it would help. But she couldn’t stand by and do nothing.

  Jenani screamed, a terrible sound that shook Sienne as badly as the airquake had. “You are nothing!” it shouted. “I will not be humiliated by you!”

  A quivering, nauseating feeling struck Sienne. It felt as if her bones had turned to jelly, and she fell, unable to support herself. Something took hold of her and pulled, drawing her out as if she were soft wax and then crushing her together into a ball. She screamed, and heard answering screams all around her. The lights went out, then flickered back on, and she smelled dust and sand and, more distantly, the hot metal scent of too much magic in one place.

  She blinked away blurriness, and the world slid into focus around her. She lay on the floor of the palace in Ma’tzehar, the cool tiles of the throne room growing rapidly warm from her body heat. Groans all around her told her she wasn’t alone. She hoped it was her friends, and hoped even more that none of them were seriously injured. She pushed herself onto her knees and crouched there, breathing as heavily as if she’d run five miles without stopping.

  A terrible wind struck her. She was so tired she only thought, Damn it, Jenani, not again, before it picked her up and flung her against the wall, where it held her pinned. Her spellbook fell to the floor at her feet. Then the wind was gone, and she collapsed, gasping for air.

  “No,” Jenani said. “You follow me like bad luck. All of you?”

  Sienne raised her head. Across the room from her, Alaric said, “You meant to escape, and drew us with you. You’re slipping, Jenani.” He was gory with blood and held his shoulders as if he were exhausted.

  “No more,” Jenani said. It was back to being Sienne’s size and looked hopelessly ragged, its robe in shreds stained blue with its blood, its chest and arms a mass of wounds. One deep gash in its side looked as if Alaric’s horn had torn a chunk out of it. How it was still standing, Sienne couldn’t understand. “I will finish you for good, and then I will conquer this petty human world. I will make them pay for what was done to me.”

  “None of those people deserve that fate!” Sienne exclaimed. “It was wrong of men to make you a slave, but those people who harmed you are long dead.” She hoped it wouldn’t remember Dari. “Think how much good you could do with your power. Humankind will respect and honor you if you don’t turn to evil.”

  “What do I care for the honors of men?” Jenani shouted. “Even you couldn’t resist the lure of the ring entirely. Someone will find a way to enslave me again, and it will start over. I will make it impossible for anyone to do that.”

  Sienne tried not to stare at Perrin, who was directly across from her and behind Jenani. He’d risen to his feet and had his head bowed, and Sienne could see his lips moving, then stilling, then moving again as if in conversation with some invisible person. “I wouldn’t let that happen. I swear it.”

  Jenani laughed. “You’re young and idealistic. I believe you’d try. You just wouldn’t be able to stop it, not even if your conduit was open. You have no idea what lengths people will go to to gain power. And when it’s power like mine…” It brought its arm up to point at her. “No. You’ll all have to die.”

  Alaric rushed it as the lightning bolt left its finger. Sienne screamed and dropped, and felt the lightning course past just inches from her head, frizzing her hair. Alaric didn’t bother with his sword, just tackled Jenani and bore it to the ground.

  Jenani exploded upward and outward, regaining its size in a second. Sienne retrieved her spellbook and hesitated, unsure what attack to make. Ghrita came at Jenani from the other side, and Dianthe hovered as Sienne did, hesitant, with her left arm hanging useless at her side. Kalanath rose from where he crouched beside Vaishant and came forward, feeling his way with his staff. Jenani fought like the wind, and a lucky blow took Ghrita off her feet to collapse unconscious, where her body got in the way of her allies.

  Alaric got his hands around Jenani’s throat, which seemed to have no effect. Jenani pummeled him in the kidneys until he let go and backed away. Jenani swayed, blue blood trickling into its eyes. “I won’t give up,” it said, “and you will all die.”

  “I think not,” Perrin said. Jenani’s head swung around to face him as he approached, one hand raised. “We will kill you, and the world will be a safer place—and a much poorer one. Averran taught that even the wasp has a role to play, and should be treated with respect and not fear.”

  “I don’t believe in your stupid God,” Jenani snarled.

  “She believes in you,” Perrin said. “And She grants you rest.”

  He clenched his fist. White light radiated from Jenani’s many wounds, making Dianthe and Alaric, who were in contact with it, wince and back away as if the light’s touch hurt. Jenani, though, seemed to feel no pain. It stood very still, staring at Perrin in wonder. The white light surged to cover it until it seemed made of light, radiant and cold. Sienne threw up an arm to shield her eyes. The light faded, and she lowered her arm, blinking back tears.

  Jenani was gone.

  Alaric stepped forward into the space where it had been. “Perrin,” he said, “what did you do?”

  “As I told Sienne, this was all Averran’s doing,” Perrin said. “I am but his tool. When I asked him what we might do to defeat the ashwar, he told me it was not up to us to pass judgment on it by way of killing it. He said we were to leave that to God. I choose not to argue with an avatar.” He smiled ruefully. “At least, not today.”

  Dianthe lowered her sword. “But where did it go?”

  “My understanding is that it went to join others of its kind, in a place where it might heal both physically and spiritually. It was deeply wounded by millennia of slavery, as I am certain you can imagine, and God chose to give it a chance to choose differently.”

  “I don’t think that will be much comfort to the people it killed in Chirantan,” Alaric said. “Or to the thousands more whose homes and livelihoods it destroyed.”

  “That is beyond my comprehension. Though I agree it is poor consolation for those people.” Perrin turned and strode toward Vaishant, who lay motionless on the floor. “I believe he is uninjured save for the force bolt he sustained.”

  “He ran in at the last minute,” Sienne said. “I’m sorry.”

  “It is not your fault,” Kalanath said. “He came to protect me.” His eyes looked less white than before, Sienne thought, and he moved as if he could see a little. The thought eased her inappropriate guilt.

  Alaric turned, and winced. “I’m starting to feel the pummeling,” he said. “It takes a while for the pain to transfer from my other self. And I think it broke my nose.”

  “I believe I can fix that,” Perrin said. “And probably should, before Averran’s grace is withdrawn.”

  “You think this won’t last?” Sie
nne said. “That you’ll go back to needing paper blessings?”

  “I have no idea,” Perrin said. He laid a hand on Alaric’s forehead, and green light enfolded the big man in its embrace. “Averran’s communication with me back in Chirantan was rather terse, and along the lines of ‘if I let you act with my power freely, will you stop pestering me?’ But he sounded…proud, I think.” Perrin’s smile was radiant. “And to think a year ago I was a drunk with no family and no friends.”

  “You had us,” Sienne said. “It’s been more than a year since we first worked together.”

  “This is true.” Perrin lowered his hand. Alaric let out a deep breath and rotated his shoulders. “Ghrita, give me your hand.”

  Ghrita, who’d just sat up, took Perrin’s hand without a word. As green light surrounded her, Sienne said, “You fought well.”

  Ghrita glanced up at her. “So did you,” she said. “For a skinny little thing.”

  “Oh, for Averran’s sake, will you lay off?” Sienne exclaimed. “What is wrong with you? Did I injure you somehow, or are you convinced that goading me will win you Alaric’s heart?”

  Ghrita blinked. She got easily to her feet and took a few steps to face Sienne. “That was a joke,” she said. “But I haven’t been very kind to you. You scare me.”

  “I—what?”

  “I can fight everything except magic,” Ghrita said, pitching her voice so everyone could hear. “You could tear me apart in seconds and I’d have no defense against it. I think needling you was my way of proving to myself that I’m not weak and defenseless. And Alaric is extremely attractive. But—I’m sorry.” She extended a hand to Sienne. After a moment’s pause, Sienne took it.