The old man nodded his oaky head. “I do agree with that assessment.” He gauged Dariak’s face carefully and then he sighed. “There is but one last act I can do for you then, but once it is completed, I will depart for home.”
“You’re already injured. I’ll figure something else out.”
Astrith actually smiled. “Thank you for that, young Dariak. May the battle turn out in your favor.”
With that, the old man pressed his fingers together as he closed his eyes. Dariak thought he heard chanting but the man’s lips did not move at all. Then Astrith sank down, lying in the dirt, and slowly, slightly, his body became one with the soil. The change was so subtle and natural that Dariak didn’t notice until too late. All at once, Astrith’s body was gone, the only reminder a slight patch of dirt.
Dariak reached for the soil and patted it gently, barely believing that the old man was gone. The dirt was warm to the touch and he thought in some way he could feel a heartbeat, but whether it was Astrith’s or the pounding of the battle, he had no idea.
With a heavy heart, the mage stood up, feeling for the jades and pulling them out of their holsters one at a time, pressing the shard to his forehead as if it would allow him to see through its inner eye. He felt the mild outer coating of each one—
the tingle of the lightning jade
the roar of the beast jade
the dampness of the water jade
the heat of the fire jade
the smoothness of the metal jade
the fragrance of the nature jade
the refreshing hum of the healing jade
the gritty dirt of the earth jade
the gentle breeze of the air jade
the cold darkness of the shadow jade
the jagged edges of the glass jade
—yet none of the jades spoke to him. He brought them together in pairs, hoping to elicit some response, knowing he really didn’t have any time for this. But if he didn’t unite them, then all was lost. He had to keep trying.
A strange sound echoed to the west and it reminded him of a dying animal, howling its last defiance to the air. He turned, wondering what new foe was appearing and he had to rub his eyes. For standing just yards away was Lica, a host of mages, and Ervinor. They rushed forward and gathered at Dariak’s feet.
“Ervinor!” Dariak smiled, throwing his arms around him. “Lica. How is this possible?”
“Astrith,” Lica explained. “Remember when we first went into Hathreneir and we were taken in by that odd border guardian and brought far into the land? Well, Astrith commanded it to bring us here.”
Ervinor shrugged. “It wasn’t any less disconcerting the second time.”
“But how?” Dariak wondered.
Lica patted him on the shoulder. “The border guardians are mages who went wrong and lost their minds to the energy. Your friend was so well tuned to the energy of the land, he was able to give the poor fellow a sense of order in exchange for passage. As for how the thing was able to save us travel time, I’ll have to leave that for Astrith to explain. All I could guess was we went through the ground and it shifted along with us and somehow that was faster.” She shrugged.
“I’m glad you’re all here. We’re not doing well.”
“We’re… not entirely here to help,” Ervinor hedged. “We have orders of our own.” With that he lifted his left arm and whipped it overhead in a giant circle. At once, the fifty mages scattered, spreading out evenly to encircle the entire battlefield, where they started chanting in unison.
The appearance of the extra mages set Kallion on alert, and he yanked out his horn and belted out a new set of notes. His forces responded at once. So far, many of his men had been battling for a few minutes, then rotating out. Now, they all entered the fray simultaneously, fully armed and without mercy.
“I’m not really here to fight,” Ervinor cautioned, “but let’s get me a sword so I can defend myself.”
Lica saw Randler nearby, throwing his body into every attack, barely able to parry anything thrown at him. “Randler!” she shouted, running toward him and projecting healing energies in his direction. He reacted at once, his posture straightening and his attacks holding more firmly. He blocked his attacker and then swept out the man’s legs, grounding him. Leaping over another sword strike, Randler landed on the man’s belly and winded him.
“Lica, what are you doing here?”
“Sort of here to help,” she said offhandedly. “Come on. Dariak needs you now.” They dashed off to help him with the jades.
Meanwhile, in the midst of the battlefield, Gabrion and Kitalla hammered away at the enemy. Their clothes were gashed and their skin was covered in more blood than sweat. The wounds Kitalla had taken the previous day were aggravated by several attacks she had failed to block and her movements were slowing down.
Beside her, Gabrion was gasping, his arms aching from swinging both swords without rest. His goal of reaching the king was fading away as impossible, for every time he made progress, the king pulled his horse further back and ten more fighters took his place. “Why isn’t Dariak uniting the jades?” he shouted as a blade cut into his shoulder.
Kitalla dodged low and struck her dagger out in a feint, distracting her opponent so she could kick at his shins and startle him. She then leaned forward and pushed him over, letting him fall as the next attacker leaped in, nearly chopping off her ear. Her body ached and she wished the healing she had received could have been even stronger than it had been; though without it she wouldn’t have been on the field at all. The thought of her healing session flittered through her mind as she heard Gabrion’s question, and then she understood. “The jades are drained.” She handled the next two combatants by grabbing their gauntlets and smashing upward into their faces. “Gabrion, come on!” She nodded her head sharply and the warrior instantly obeyed.
They pressed their way through the fighting crowd, helping the other Hathren soldiers as they went. The poor fighters were exhausted but they kept their weapons and shields moving well, holding back as many Kallisorians as possible. Along the way, they spotted Urrith, Sharice, and Janning, each using their skills to defend the people around them. They caught sight of Kitalla and Gabrion and opted to follow.
Because it looked like a retreat, the Kallisorians did not pursue them in earnest, and so they were able to make their way back to Dariak without wasting too much time.
The mage was crumpled on the ground, his face a mask of anguish as he clutched the various jades in his hands, trying desperately to draw them together. He appeared badly injured, though he had very few actual wounds. Everyone gathered around him, hating to leave the fighting to the others. They kept glancing over their shoulders, ready to return to the fray at a moment’s notice.
At the edge of their hearing, the sound of chanting echoed. The fifty mages from Marritosh had their hands raised before them, their legs spread wide as if they were straddling an ursalor. With synchronized thumps, one mage, then the next, and so on, stomped the ground, swirling their hands around in a wide circle. The dark gray sky overhead wavered as they did so, and even Gabrion could sense the energies rising up all around them.
“What are they doing?” Urrith asked.
“A magical barrier,” Lica explained quickly. “To keep this fight contained. It is what we were charged to do. It is almost fully erect and when it is, nothing will be able to pass through until they stop chanting.”
“Almost like the barrier around Magehaven,” Randler noted.
“Yes. It should contain any damage from the jades.”
Gabrion bent down and touched Dariak’s shoulder. “Friend, we need you now to bring them all together and put an end to this. We won’t last much longer.”
The mage turned his face upward. “I’m trying,” he whispered. He brought the beast and nature jades together, making a clinking sound in the process. “They aren’t talking to each other at all.”
Kitalla stared at Dariak for a time, knowing what she
needed to do. Only her skill had helped to empower the jades, but she also realized that with everything happening all around them, she would be caught in the thrall of the dance and the jades would drain her completely. She kept quiet as her comrades spoke, struggling to clear her mind, picturing some serene landscape for her dance. If it was to be her last performance, she wanted it to be peaceful.
Oblivious to Kitalla’s inner turmoil, the others called out numerous suggestions for Dariak to try and he commented on the ones he had attempted and then performed the ones he hadn’t. Yet even with the jades in an evenly spaced circle, there was nothing happening.
The fighting nearby erupted in spellfire and the team turned around to a triplet of mages guiding three others forward. They welcomed the newcomers with surprise as the mages turned back around to stave off the attacks of the Kallisorians.
It was Verna, Ruhk, and their new friend Illuria. They all had seen better days. Verna dropped to the ground, her body still badly damaged from the ursalor fight, and Illuria waved her arms around, sending healing energy into her. “I told you you weren’t ready for this!”
Lica added her own spells to Verna and to Ruhk. “Whatever happened to you two?”
“Ursalors,” Verna answered brusquely. “Dariak. The Red Jade.”
He pounded his fist on the ground. “I’m trying!”
Their arrival provided the cover Kitalla needed. She let her thoughts turn inward and she closed her eyes, seeing a vibrant seascape rushing out in front of her. She stepped across the surface of the water, a flowing white dress catching in the breeze. And as she hovered upon the water’s surface, her body shifted around, stirring the water and spraying into the air with delicate grace.
“Kitalla, no!” Dariak yelled, feeling the energy emanating from her. The jades all hummed hungrily and reached for her. He held the shards tightly, sending his mind into them, intervening in their attempt to draw energy from her.
But the draw was so powerful that the shards themselves slid across the surface of the soil and inched closer and closer to the thief, whose body echoed the dancing visions in her mind. Gabrion grabbed Kitalla, trying to stifle her movements, but she overpowered him and didn’t slow at all. Stunned, he stepped away, shaking his head, not understanding what was happening. The companions stared at Kitalla and then all at once they were swept into the illusion with her.
She danced upon the water, and in the air the rest of them floated on pearly clouds. Kitalla delighted at their arrival, laughing merrily and creating a soft tinkling sensation in their minds. “You’ve come,” she said.
“Kitalla, you have to stop the dance!” Dariak warned.
“You can’t unite the jades while they sleep, Dariak,” she returned gently, her voice echoing softly.
“Then we’ll flee here and try again another time.”
She smiled, her body glowing slightly. “This is the time, Dariak, and we both know it. The jades are calling to me and I see them coming. I cannot stop now.” She turned around, her body hovering ever so lightly.
“Kitalla!” Gabrion called.
“Forgive me,” she replied. Her body shifted and she reached her hands out wide. “Sharice, still so powerful. Urrith, ever brave. Ervinor, boasting of honor. Janning, faithful to peace. Lica, clinging to hope. Verna, brash and strong. Ruhk, ever devoted. Illuria, I sense your desire to heal others. Gabrion, my beloved. Dariak, wise and cunning. Randler, keeper of the secrets of the Forgotten Tribe.”
“Kitalla?” the Dariak asked.
“I understand it now,” her voice echoed more loudly. “The truth of it. My child, who died unnamed, unborn, was Joral’s son and he was the last link of the Forgotten Tribe.”
“What!” Randler said.
Kitalla’s ethereal voice explained, “The jades, Dariak, respond to me because I am connected to them in a way even you are not.”
“Kitalla, stop this!” Dariak shouted. The cloud wiggled underneath him as he reached for her, but this was her illusion and she controlled it fully.
“With my essence, I empower the jades. With my will, I fulfill the destiny of the Forgotten Tribe.”
“Kitalla, no!” Verna screamed. Glimmers of colored light flickered on the water, rising up into the air.
“The light of the jades have all gone dark, and only the silver-gold glow remains,” she uttered, describing the painting in Lady Cathrateir’s book. “And soon the last heir will vanish and all the errant lights will be gone.”
“That will leave us in darkness!” Randler argued.
“Not darkness,” Kitalla said. “I understand it now, for the jades know the truth. Not darkness, Randler; peace.”
They all watched Kitalla as a gleaming golden dagger appeared in her hand. No one could stop her as she placed the blade against her belly, pressing the tip in deeply and cutting a large circle. They heard her scream outside the illusion, but they were all entranced and could not help her. The pinpricks of colored light all gathered around her and started to spin wildly. She cut away her stomach and revealed a strange emptiness, not the gore they thought they would see. The dagger vanished and Kitalla reached inside the void, her hands disappearing into her belly, and there she tugged and strained and pulled.
And when her hands came free, a new shard emerged. She held the jade out before her and Dariak could hear faint whispers emanating from it, even from his perch upon the cloud. The myriad colors of light spun rapidly and the whole scene filled with the dizzying effect.
Kitalla called out to Dariak. “Take each a shard. Hurry.” Her voice faded until they could only hear the echoes. “Before I die. Unite them. Hurry.”
At once, the illusion faded and the battlefield opened before them. Kitalla lay in a pool of her own blood, her life escaping rapidly. She clutched the twelfth jade in her twitching hand, her eyes glazed, and her lips trembling as she bled upon the land.
Gabrion and Lica ran to her aid, but Dariak, his heart in his throat, stopped them. He swept the shards up from the ground and shoved them indelicately into the hands of the others. To Gabrion he gave the glass jade; Sharice took the lightning. Ervinor claimed the metal shard, while Urrith grasped the water. Lica held the nature jade, and Janning accepted the beast jade. Illuria, confused at what was happening, allowed the healing jade to be pressed into her hand. Dariak tossed the fire jade to Verna and the air jade to Ruhk. Randler hefted the shadow jade, leaving Dariak with the earth jade that had started his adventure so long ago.
Kitalla’s dance had sated the jades with energy and each companion could feel the trembling essences within. They hoisted the shards into the air and Dariak closed his eyes, calling to them to come together. He felt the swirling energies and their desire to unite. Yet now there was an influence affecting them in the form of Kitalla’s new shard, which Dariak identified as the mind jade.
A pang erupted in his heart, for he suddenly recalled the words of his father who had said the jades could only be controlled and balanced properly with the unlimited power of the mind. And Kitalla’s unborn child had been the key all along. It explained her dance skill and its ability to influence the minds of others. It also accounted for the unique way in which she channeled energy. Dariak had often noted how the power emanated from within her, unlike the magic cast by other mages. She had, in essence, always behaved like a jade herself.
The twelve energies swirled lavishly together and each companion held tightly onto their shard, resisting the urge to release them. The magic drew them together anyway and they could not refuse the call. Twelve jades reached together, all centering upon the mind jade.
When Randler and Dariak had arranged the eleven jades before Frast united them, they had constructed a circle of power with them. But it was not the proper arrangement for the jades after all. As the shards drew their hosts together, they pushed and pulled each other into the proper configuration.
On top, air, fire, and lightning spun in a triangle, while on the bottom their opposites of earth, water, and sh
adow balanced them. Around the center, five jades hovered in a circle between the other six. Nature, beast, metal, glass, and healing shards spun in a direction to counter the other six. And in the very center of the sphere of jades was the newly formed mind jade, its tendrils of power reaching out and guiding all the others.
With the jades assembled, their hands were cast off the shards and the magic drew the pieces together. Each shard emanated its natural hue as they met in the center, surrounding and protecting the mind jade, much like a skull protecting a brain. A wild humming echoed into the air and light flashed outward violently with a deep gust of wind. The jades spun rapidly, rotating about a pivoting axis, turning faster and faster until all anyone could see was a richly glowing sphere, as wide across as a man, with a crimson center radiating from within.
It was then Kitalla’s body failed her and she breathed her final breath.
Dariak reached out, compelled to take the artifact in his hand. The energy singed him, but he didn’t care. The essence of the Red Jade coursed through him, reading his purpose this day and he understood now why the jades had always protected them. Each shard had been borne of a human life and each wanted to keep the balance in the world. It was his goal to restore that balance and so he allowed the Red Jade to use his body to effect the changes that were needed.
Dariak released the red orb and it floated up over his head, shining like a bloody sun in the gray sky. He raised his hands up into the air and he called for the fighting to end. The power of the mind jade reached outward on the wind. Rain fell from the clouds overhead, sending a deep calm over the field. The violently flung spellfire from the mages all changed in essence, the anger and rage fizzling away. Every aspect of the world around them filled with Dariak’s mission of peace and acceptance. He willed it upon them all and they were powerless to disobey.
The Red Jade lifted Dariak from the ground, carrying him over the battlefield, drawing upon his waning strength to spread his message to those below.
The Forgotten Tribe Page 39