Abruptly it moved its head in Therion's direction. When it reached Therion, the wild creature touched its muzzle to Therion's shoulder and became still. They stood in silent communion for several moments. Then, the unicorn paced back and dipped its head, the horn piercing Therion's chest just enough to draw blood. Therion didn't flinch, just met the unicorn's gaze, as if more silent conversation passed between them. Finally, the unicorn turned away sharply and Therion lowered his chin to chest. It approached Ceri-talen and the dragon raised one foot, exposing the bottom— the only part of him, it seemed to me, not protected by armoured scales. The unicorn pierced the skin there, but blood did not seep from the opening, rather black, misty shadow that seemed to absorb all the light around it. Another long, silent moment and then Ceri-talen touched his chin to his chest. Very briefly.
Instead of leaving, the unicorn moved back to Therion and pressed its forehead up against Therion's shoulder, resting its horn on top of it. I saw golden tears trail down the fine, short hair of the unicorn's muzzle to land on Therion's chest, sealing the wound it had made moments earlier. Therion glowed then, yep, I said glowed. The gold in his hair and feathers looked like it was lit by sunlight. This must be Elaren-her-ah, the same unicorn who had taken Therion's oath to Aurealis and changed his red markings to gold. I thought for a moment that it was changing the colour of Therion's markings again, but when the glow faded, he still had the gold colouring. I wondered what it meant. The unicorn backed up more gently this time and snorted as it turned towards Ceri-talen. Suddenly, it reared, letting out another high-pitched scream followed by another gust of black flame from its nostrils. The sound was unsettling, full of rage with an undertone of admonishment, but the god seemed unfazed by the seeming reprimand. The air was rent by the silver line again and the unicorn stepped into it, disappearing from sight.
I felt a cool hand touch my arm, Aurealis, in her angel form.
'It is done. Therion has made his oath and although Elaren-her-ah has prevented Ceri-talen from undoing all I have done, he must now leave. I regret your pain, child. I can make it so you forget, if you wish it.'
I stumbled back, scrambling out of her reach. 'No. I do not wish it.' I bit out firmly. 'I wish you to intervene, to return Therion's loyalty and to protect him from that…' I looked at Ceri-talen, 'that…' I couldn't make myself acknowledge he was a god.
Therion looked up, looked like he was about to say something and then, with a cruel sneer, Ceri-talen lifted his foot, sweeping Therion up, and then they were gone.
I felt the blood drain from my face.
He'd won.
Therion had won.
He had feared losing, told me so, wanted me to prepare for it, but he had actually won. Yet he was gone now. Gone forever as far as I was concerned. The world blurred and I ceased to care what happened in it any longer.
Aurealis
'You worked so hard to get Therion.'
I acknowledged Cyndar's presence with a grateful look. Although things had turned exactly out as I'd planned, I could do with the solace he intended to give, it had not been easy letting Therion go. We were in the Sunlit Meadows, but I had created an alcove of trees for privacy. I reclined in my dragon form; my wings spread wide to absorb the sunlight. The pool before me reflected my crown of horns and feathers, the odd crystal scale creating a diamond-like flash. In the centre, haloed in light, Qu-te-se lay curled on his side on a bed of grass. He was undergoing a similar transformation to the one Therion undertook. I was returning him to his original form and making him less reliant on spirit energy. He was far from willing, but he understood that when Therion took his spirit, he became a part of Therion and, thus, belonged to me. It was one of those loopholes Ceri-talen was so fond of exploiting— though it was rare anyone used them against him. Ceri-talen was likely to take it out on Therion and that thought increased my sadness.
I watched in the pool's reflection as Cyndar folded his wings and sat next to my scaled legs, which were tucked comfortably under my armoured chest. He looked positively diminutive next to my dragon form. I considered changing to an angel form, but I was tired and more than a little melancholy.
'Will he be redeemable at the end of his contract?'
He meant Therion, we both knew Qu-te-se was going to be a challenge and there was no way of knowing whether he would last out his redemption.
'Perhaps. It was always going to be a risk. But, as I have said to you before, Therion needs to be pushed. What concerns me more is the likelihood that Ceri-talen will breach his contract.'
'But he swore to the oath-taker.'
'He did. He agreed very readily. So readily, I suspect he perceived a means of bypassing the contract. The oath-taker can only act if either party breaches their contract. It can do so by either taking their life or binding the offending party into service. I do not think Ceri-talen is capable of serving anyone other than himself and, in all honesty, I do not know if an oath-taker can kill a telari. I made my oath in good faith, I wanted Therion to trust me and submitting to the unicorn was one way to achieve that, but as to whether the oath-taker could kill me if I broke my oath…'
'Meaning it may be more a symbolic act than one where Therion is actually protected.'
'I fear not for Therion, although the hardship he will endure saddens me. My concern lies with Jayden's welfare. In Therion's case, at least by making Ceri-talen submit, if he does break his oath there's a neutral witness who can stand before the venturi. If Ceri-talen finds a way around the agreement, then Therion will have made the contract in good faith, while Ceri-talen did not. This, too, will matter if the venturi come to judge Ceri-talen.'
'I believe in him. Therion, that is,' Cyndar clarified. 'He redeemed once. His old soul finally got through all the twisting and warping Ceri-talen did.'
That was true. A shame he would endure all that and more, but he needed to experience the loss of Jayden before he would progress any further along his redemption. There was only one way to do that and still have a chance of him coming back to me. Still, it was tempting to get him back. Now instead of in several decades. He really was very effective in driving back Ceri-talen's forces and advancing my ambitions. But, equally, giving Therion back to Ceri-talen now would temporarily curtail Ceri-talen's attacks, giving me time to get into a better strategic position.
As I did not feel like explaining any of this to Cyndar, I said, 'My goal was not to lose Therion to Ceri-talen.'
'You could start a war,' Cyndar suggested, but his expression said he hoped that I would not take that path.
A part of me wanted to... And it was certainly a path I had not considered seriously. Perhaps it was time I did. Ceri-talen had been pushing well beyond his boundaries, encroaching not just on my domain but those of other telari. Was it time to draw them together, at least those who might be motivated by Ceri-talen's disrespect to do something about it? I thought on it. Could we afford such a conflict? Was Ceri-talen's transgressions enough to warrant such an action? The venturi were still not at full strength after the last war and to act at such a time was very risky. Perhaps that was what motivated Ceri-talen. He clearly sought a new, powerful, source. If he managed to gain it before the venturi regained their strength, he would have the advantage.
'Therion may have viewed your contract with him as just another form of enslavement,' Cyndar murmured thoughtfully. 'But he recognised it to his benefit to have a benevolent master. You gave him choices, granted him experiences, like a parent might.'
Exactly like a parent, I thought sadly. And just like a parent I had done what he needed to grow, even though I had not liked doing it.
'He knew he needed to learn the meaning of sacrifice,' Cyndar was saying, 'and to make a sacrifice of significance to redeem. It is possible that he sees this as following that path.'
I nodded. 'He sees it precisely that way.' And he had done precisely what I'd intended him to do.
'There is one consolation to be gained from this. Therion will endure sixty-five y
ears of service to Ceri-talen if Jayden lives out her natural life. His life has spanned centuries; this will be but a slow blink of an eye for him.'
'No Cyndar, it will not be that simple. He has entered back into Ceri-talen's service. If Ceri-talen can undo all we have done to redeem Therion, then the contract will lose its importance to him. Therion only forbid Ceri-talen from interfering with Jayden, he did not seek to protect himself.'
Foreboding filled Cyndar's voice as he said, 'He will do everything he can to return Therion to as he once was.'
'We just have to hope that Therion is as strong as I think he is. If he gets through this, Cyndar, then I will have successfully redeemed a soul taker. If not…' I turned my gaze back to Qu-te-se. 'Well, we will do what we can with this one. But I'd rather have him back, he really did not deserve what Ceri-talen did to him.'
I felt Cyndar's hand on my foreleg— a gesture of comfort I was grateful to receive.
Bastien
It had been three days since Therion and Jay had disappeared with no sign of what had happened to them. For the first two days I remained at Jay's apartment. I had blatantly lied to Em and Yu, saying they had gone away for a brief break from the turmoil. Thomas and I had argued heatedly over that one, but I’d seen Em before he did and so, once the lie was told, Thomas did not contradict it.
A part of me was angry with Therion. He should have stayed. Together we could have fought Qu-te-se. Why had he run? I understood his telling Thomas to leave, in fact I'd echoed his command, sending Thomas my own thought that he should take Amelia and planes-shift to safety. But why had he told me to leave? I have killed not one, but four therilgalen— our friendship wasn't the only reason Therion had asked for my aid.
I'd had to return to my apartment to get some things so I could continue to monitor and run my businesses while at Jay's, and I thought, since I was there, I should also make sure I was prepared for another confrontation. I highly doubted I'd encounter one, but it made me feel more in control. With this in mind, I'd changed into a new set of my customised armour— Uea's talons may have proved too much for the last set, but I decided it was still worth wearing. The top has a hood designed to just cover my head or my entire face and is flame retardant, as are my gloves. I also wore the harness for my twin katana-style swords. The swords themselves were on the back seat. I'd brought two guns; a standard forty-five in a thigh holster and a modernised, custom-designed blunderbuss in my sword harness. My pockets held assorted necessities like spare ammunition. As if the swords and guns weren't enough, I also had poisoned darts and throwing knives. The knives where split into two sets of four, one in a holster on my thigh and the other as a part of my sword harness. I wore an ankle-length, hooded jacket designed to hide my weapons as much as possible. Made of the same material as my other clothing, it could resist strikes from blade and claw. The safe underneath the backseat held more swords, guns, grenades, and ammunition.
My hope was that I'd return to find Therion and Jay safe, their delay one of prolonged negotiation or required due to some kind of instruction in the Light Realm. It had happened before, granted, not often, but still…
I really liked Jay. The way she accepted the presence of supernatural beings in her life so calmly and her practical nature. There was a fearlessness in her, it wasn't that she was not afraid, but she didn't let that fear stop her. I liked that courage.
Therion couldn't be dead, I told myself again. I would feel it. Thomas, too. We had established and kept up a blood-bond with him since the night he returned from the Dark Realm. But, if he was alive, where was he? And why hadn't he been in contact?
I made what was now a familiar turn onto the street leading to Jay's apartment. The four-wheel-drives' windows were down, not for the cooling effect of the breeze, though. I opened my mouth slightly, my fangs already extended, probably because I was geared for the unexpected, which usually equated to a fight. Vampires have amazing olfactory senses. My nose usually serves well enough, but I wanted to sense everything in the area and so employed every sensory gathering ability I had. I breathed in through my mouth, letting the sensory cells in the roof of my mouth take in all the wind could tell me.
'Jay…' I exhaled her name.
Not old scent. She was here! I knew the taste of her. Every human has a scent distinct to themselves, and I can identify male from female, young from old, sick from healthy. Some blood tastes like fine, vintage wine and some tastes like part of the cork has broken off and rotten in it— trust me, even desperate I would drink from a flea-infested rat before I touched a human with that scent. Usually, they’re ill, sometimes I’m sure it’s because their personality has somehow seeped into their veins.
I parked hastily across the road from Jay's place. Of course, she would return the one time I wasn't here. I muttered a few curses on fate's mocking sense of humour as I crossed to Jay's building. Jumping the fence where she parked her car, I headed towards the courtyard. I paused several times on my approach, forcing myself to identify all the scents and discount any as possible enemies. I came over the courtyard wall cautiously. No clan members were posted on sentry duty. Aside from my brief departure tonight, I'd been camped out in Jay's apartment. I moved from the courtyard to the wall near the balcony and listened.
One heartbeat. One set of lungs breathing.
But something… something serious was wrong. My hair prickled with it. I made my way soundlessly up to the balcony. Crouching on the brick surround, I paused to listen.
I could see her.
The sliding door was open. There were leaves swirling about her in the breeze coming through the opening. I said nothing, assessing whether she was bait. She was on the floor, leaning to one side, her long, blonde hair concealing her face. I could hear her gasping, breathless. I couldn't smell fresh blood, but that didn't rule out injury.
Dropping to the balcony floor, I scrutinised the room. I could perceive nothing in there with her. I was fighting the desire to rush inside, but I felt a tension in the air. I wouldn't put it past a therilgalen to be sitting on the shadow plane waiting to ambush me. After another moment, I decided standing outside wasn't going to get me anywhere. Still on guard, I crossed the threshold into the apartment.
'Jay?' I kept my voice gentle.
She didn't respond, no jump in her breathing or heartbeat; she didn't even register my presence.
'Jay.' I made it a statement, firmer, louder.
Finally, I was standing right beside her. I made myself wait another minute, feeling her shuddering against my leg. And then I knew. There was no one waiting in ambush. The tenseness I thought I felt in the room… that was grief.
Slowly, I dropped to my knees, absorbing the meaning of the realisation. Gritting my teeth so my canines cut into my gums, I pushed aside my feelings. There was no room for them, I could be shocked over the defeat of such a formidable ally and friend later, because the only reason Jay would be grieving was if Therion was gone.
Tentatively, I placed an arm about her shoulders. I didn't pull her towards me, just let her know I was there. I'm not sure she realised who I was, and then she half turned and collapsed in my arms.
She was still gasping for breath. 'I can't breathe, I can't…'
'Shhh.'
She was gripping my forearm tightly. 'It hurts. I can't breathe.'
There was a dangerous note of hysteria in her voice. The physical response was probably a combination of grief mixed with a reaction to being taken through the planes. The trauma to the body from planes-shifting often has an overwhelming affect and I recognised many of the symptoms: breathlessness, trembling, and her muscles would be seizing painfully, too. Poor Amelia hadn't been able to keep anything down for two days after Thomas pulled her through the planes. On occasion the traveller's heart will stop, more commonly, breathing becomes erratic, as if the body has lost its rhythm and is trying to regain it. There's also spasms, severe fatigue, and disorientation. It can last for weeks in humans.
'Shhh,' I rocked
her slightly and rubbed her back, I could feel the muscles spasm beneath my hand. 'Breathe with me,' I coaxed her. 'Come on, breathe with me. Now in… In… hold it a moment, that's right, now let it go.'
She hiccoughed several times, fell back to gasping, but eventually I got her breathing normally. I cradled her and whispered soft, comforting words. They were meaningless, she just needed to know she was safe and she wasn't alone.
I took a moment to centre my mind and sent a message to Thomas. It took all my concentration to keep the message clear. 'Jay grieves. Therion is gone.'
I didn't pause in my murmuring, but, at some point, I changed to a position that allowed her to curl into me. I rubbed her back as I tried to help the muscles relax. I'd done this so many times when the wives, husbands, mothers, and fathers of fallen warriors first heard this kind of news. Most of the time I could remain dispassionate, but there were times when I knew the person too well to remain detached.
This was new, though. I didn't know Jay as well as I'd known many of those others I'd given comfort to, but I felt a sincere empathy with her. It was more than just mutual grief, because I'd felt grief many times and was very familiar with it. Perhaps it was because there had been a natural connection when I'd first met her. I remembered that first night meeting her, answering her questions more truthfully than I intended, letting my guard down when I would not normally have done so.
Eventually Jay dropped into an exhausted sleep. In oblivion there was refuge. Slipping my arm under her knees I lifted her without jolting her and glided across the room. Placing her on one side of the bed, I moved to the opposite side and pulled back the covers. I returned to her and removed boots and jeans. Picking her up again, I placed her on the sheets and pulled the quilt over her.
I emptied my pockets on top of the chest of drawers next to the bed. I also stripped off my harness, swords, guns, and knives as well as my boots. I placed one gun on top of the bedside cabinet and the other on the small shelf underneath it and climbed into the bed. Feeling my presence, Jay pulled her head up to rest on my stomach and curled herself close. After a minute, I pulled off my top, more for her comfort than mine, I was used to wearing it, even sleeping in it, despite that it was just a refined version of chainmail. I unstrapped the armoured bracers and dropped them on the floor next to the bed.
Soul Taker's Redemption Page 50