"It's feeding on you." Naatos jerked his head at WroOth, then returned his jaw to her ear, speaking in a smooth low tone. "You remain on your feet. You stay conscious, and you stay calm. Don't read any minds. Try not to use your elmis at all. Keep your breaths as deep and slow as you can."
"As if that will do anything," the mind shade laughed. She straightened her shoulders as she drew in a deep breath. Already she was more than six feet in height. "The worst any of you can do is delay me. Lay down and sleep, you wretched little waste. It'll all be over soon, and you can have all the rest you crave."
A sharp pulling sensation drew from Amelia's heart and throat, expanding into her stomach. She clutched the tentacles tighter as her head spun faster and her legs weakened.
"Talk to me." AaQar stepped in front of it. "You've been trapped inside that shell for an age. There cannot have been much mental stimulation. Why were you sent to her?"
"And which one are you?"
"No one of consequence." AaQar clasped his hands behind his back. "You can't see my face, can you? And my voice is not familiar to you?"
The mind shade hissed again.
"I don't suppose it should be," AaQar continued. "But you would honor me if you would tell me why you were sent to that unworthy one and why you had to spend so long within her."
Naatos's hands didn't leave her shoulders until WroOth had silently circled around to them and took hold of Amelia. Naatos stepped back, disappearing into the shadows, his gaze never leaving the mind shade.
Amelia's hands shook. Her head spun. "What else do I do?"
WroOth kept his arms around her. "You're going to stand here and keep holding onto that miserable tail its left behind. And you're going to stay very calm and remain conscious. Above all, you stay conscious."
The spectral woman kept talking. "She was never supposed to live. She's a mixing pot, and now the sludge wants to talk. For what good it will do."
"A mixing pot?" AaQar's brows lifted, his expression schooled in a contemplative fashion. "That makes little sense, dear shade. I fear the time inside has dulled your ability to speak."
The mind shade hissed through her teeth. "You put the curses and the blessings in the vessel. Separate them out. Take the good. Leave the bad. Break the vessel. Shatter the parts. But this one—" She pointed a bony finger at Amelia. "She didn't accept what she was. Little brat. And she trapped me! Tissue girl, all rot and filth. Thrown in with the refuse because that was what you were. A husk! But a husk that wanted to live. That wouldn't give up the Ki Valo Nakar! Wretched little ingrate." She spat at Amelia and then pulled harder on the energy cords that bound them together. "You should have been honored that they wanted you at all."
Amelia's knees weakened. Whatever it was drawing out of her, she didn't have much left. Her fingers dug into the strange substance.
"What?" AaQar feigned surprise. "Look at me, shade. She's not worthy of your attention, of course. So speak to me."
The pressure lessened as the mind shade focused her attention on him. The pull lessened. Amelia struggled to draw in a full breath. WroOth steadied her.
"How is it that an infant could trap you? Especially a husk."
"Treacherous mind. Stubborn." She pointed at Amelia once more and hissed. The pressure almost doubled her over.
QueQoa struck his bracers together. They sparked, the eyes of the wolves lighting with energy. The mind shade twisted slightly toward the sound.
Amelia knotted her fingers deeper in the cold filmy substance. It was starting to give. Just a little. Her heart bolted faster.
"Don't tear yet, little sister," WroOth whispered. "Just a little longer." He tightened his arms around her. "Just stand and breathe."
They were stalling. It had to be for Naatos. Where was he?
QueQoa kept striking his bracers together. He moved around the circle. When he passed Amelia and WroOth, he refrained from making any sound at all. Once several paces beyond them, he resumed. The loud thock each time they collided made the mind shade twitch. Even if she didn't fully turn, she briefly angled toward the sound.
"Who sent you to do this?" AaQar asked. "It is a very large task for only one shade."
"I did enough, more than enough," the mind shade responded harshly. "I scooped and took and crushed and burned." She spun on Amelia once more. "And I created irony, Mother of the New Neyeb." She said the last phrase in a mocking tone.
"Are you responsible for the wound in her heel?" AaQar asked.
"What wound?"
"Well tell me this, noble shade. Who was powerful enough to create you and give you these orders?"
"Treacherous voice, you are," the mind shade responded. "You seek to flatter me, but that will not save that one from this. It is for the best, you see. She is filth. She's useless anyway. She will never conceive. There will be no children for her, even after the beast ruts her. And believe me, I made sure it could not be fixed."
"What did you say?" Amelia almost lost her grip. "I can't—"
"Beautiful irony," the mind shade purred. "They sent me in with great strength and powerful energy. Told me to take all I could. Nothing left. Nothing left but bones and flesh. I didn't have to make her barren. But she hid the Ki Valo Nakar from me, so I killed what could have been. Then the path was shut."
"Oh, wait, wait," WroOth said sharply. "Did she trap you because she's a powerful worthless pile of garbage or did you spend too long getting vengeance on a baby and your master untethered you?"
The spectral woman spun to glare. Amelia fought to restrain a gasp as the pressure intensified once more.
AaQar shot WroOth a sharp look as QueQoa struck the bracers a little sooner. "Worthy shade, who created you?"
Another low laugh followed. "The Okalu."
Everyone stiffened. Amelia held the energy strands as tight as she could, but her fingers were losing their feeling once more. That pulse of fear from WroOth dragged her back to greater consciousness. Whatever they were afraid of…
"The Okalu?" AaQar repeated. "What would the Okalu want?"
"What the Okalu always wants," she whispered.
"And what is that?"
Shadows moved beneath the chiron oak, coming into view. A pair of sharp electric blue eyes burned in the darkness.
"What they deserve," the mind shade continued. She shook out her wrist, growing taller and broader as she drew more energy out. Sighing, she spread her arms wide. "They will be surprised to see me but delighted indeed. Everything is coming together. And the straw girl should thank me for the favor I've done her in not leaving her to live beyond this."
"Thank you for what?" Amelia snapped. Her voice nearly broke at the start. "You have tormented me for years."
"I had to eat." The mind shade gave a twisted smile.
"That is not entirely correct though, is it?" AaQar clicked his tongue. "You chose it."
"As you said, there was little mental stimulation." The mind shade shook her head. "But yes, she should thank me. Have you not considered that the parents of these children will desire vengeance?" Laughing, she shrugged and drew out more of Amelia. "And they weren't all Neyeb either. Only half. Two of those children were Bealorn prodigies. If you think I am cruel, wait until the Spider Mother and the Serpent Father find you."
"They know Amelia by name?" AaQar moved to a farther point in the circle. As the mind shade followed, it now had its back to Naatos.
"Name and destiny. Cast the husk onto the flames and save yourselves a later pain. You are useless and pointless. Your baubles—" she shook her wrist, mimicking the bracelet, "are nothing." Laughing again, she shook her head. "Where is the father though?" The mind shade dragged her finger through the air. "He must be here. All has gone too well for him not to be here. Where is the one who thought to be the Father of the New Neyeb."
"Right here." His voice was a low threat, bristling with rage.
The mind shade clapped her hands together. "How do you feel knowing you too are barren?" She laughed again, her voic
e changing registers from high to low and then back again in a disturbing wavering fashion. The darkness spread out, absorbing the firelight in the ring. "All of this for nothing. And worse is yet to come."
"Only for you." Naatos lunged out, no longer human but some sort of massive wolf creature with black fur and electric teeth and claws. He pounced on her, seizing her by the shoulder and dragging her down as he shredded his sparking claws down her front and back.
AaQar grabbed up his staff and slammed it into the tentacles. Blue-white light slashed out from the runes on its sides, mirroring the energy from Naatos's teeth and claws.
"Now!" WroOth wrapped his arms tighter around her waist dragged her back beyond the log and toward the fire.
Amelia dug her fingers in as deep as she could and began to tear the mind shade's tentacles away from her chest. Still holding her up with one arm, WroOth continued to pull her back, intensifying the tension along the strands.
QueQoa leaped, shifting into a large black wolf, similar to Naatos but less fluid and more solid. Their mouths were different. When QueQoa bit into the mind shade, he only seemed to half catch hold of her before she wisped away and reformed. But when Naatos bit her, his jaws crushed deep and that purple, blue, and black energy crackled around her, sealing her in.
Energy rippled out and down the mind shade's tentacles into Amelia. She almost doubled over as bolts of agony crashed through her. Gritting her teeth, she ripped and tore through the tentacles as fast as she could.
The mind shade screeched. She turned and stretched her hands toward Amelia.
The pressure in her torso and throat intensified, choking out her breath as bile forced its way up.
Naatos seized the mind shade by the shoulder again and dragged her toward the forest. QueQoa shredded her other arm.
The last of the tentacles snapped free. WroOth ripped her back and dragged her beyond the fire as the mind shade gave one final desperate scream. The tentacles flailed toward them, but AaQar made short work of them, drawing them back with his staff. Naatos seized the mind shade by the throat and snapped it back, suffocating her last shriek.
Gasping, Amelia closed her eyes. Her knees gave way as WroOth set her on the log. "It's over, little sister. It's over."
"Not yet." She pushed free, staggering a step as she spat out a mouthful of blood and bile. The cuts burned, but they didn't stop her.
Night had come. The firelight allowed strange shadows to play upon the trees and the stones as the waterfall rushed and splashed into the gorge. Naatos had returned to his state of rest, standing now by the mind shade's head. She lay on the bare ground just outside the fire's circle of light, her body twisted and shattered. Black goo oozed out of her, froth and tendrils spilling onto the ground.
"Do we need that body for anything?" Amelia was already limping toward the fire. She seized a large flaming branch. A horrid taste filled her mouth, and blood trickled from the dozens of cuts on her neck and chest and arms. But there was one thing she had to do. Had to see happen.
"No," AaQar said as he finished untangling his staff.
Naatos watched her silently, his eyes hard and glittering.
She cracked the stick down against the shade's corpse. Again and again. Fragments of smoldering bark and bits of wood broke off, and the grey smoke sliced into the air. Sparks flared. And at last the mind shade caught fire. The golden orange flames spread fast, faster than the cold fire had spread on her in her mind's eye.
High leaped the flames, brighter and brighter.
Dropping the stick on the body, she turned her back to the mind shade and returned to the light of the firepit.
40
Onion Fish
Despite the mind shade's destruction, a heaviness hung in the air. As the body crackled and burned, the family returned to the firepit nearest the boulder.
Amelia bathed her cuts in the suphrite, then held her aching head, listening to the flames break that wretched body apart and turn it into ash. "So… I've had a shade inside me eating me alive. I'm going to guess there is some permanent damage. Not to mention everything else."
Such an understatement. Everything else. Okalu. Barren. Serpent Father and Spider Mother. Ki Valo Nakar.
"Shades sometimes lie," QueQoa offered as he sat across from her. "We shouldn't just assume it's speaking the truth." The firelight highlighted his massive form, leaving half his face shadowed. Even that couldn't hide the worry lines on his face.
They all had them. Except Naatos. Somehow. "They do sometimes. And regardless, it is not an expert in these matters." He crossed over to Amelia and crouched beside her, his manner surprisingly collected after the shade's appearance, let alone what she had said. "I know you are tired and that this has obviously been upsetting, but—"
"Naatos, she's been through enough," AaQar said firmly. "Let her have something to drink and then rest."
"That creature was not the Ki Valo Nakar. Presumably that remains within her and is possibly awake. We need to deal with it. And swiftly."
"You can give her enough time to eat and drink. Rest does not have to be sleep."
"She must remain conscious," Naatos said. "At least until we know if there is a problem."
"I am very conscious." Amelia rubbed her hand along the column of her throat to the top of her chest, remembering the choking bile and the horrible sensation of draining away. "I don't want to go to sleep anyway." Her eyes burned with fatigue despite her mind's insistence that rest was bad. "And if there's something else… I don't think I can pull anything else out." There was a strange hollowness inside her now. Not bad. But odd. She resumed hugging herself, shivering.
"You ripping the mind shade out of yourself was not what I anticipated," Naatos admitted. He brushed his fingers along her cheek. "And I'm not asking you to do that again. We need to get in your mind so we can search for the Ki Valo Nakar."
"I can't take all of you. I know that. I don't even know if I can do just you."
"It would be too dangerous to take everyone," AaQar said. "The dolmaths were scared off by the mind shade, but they could return. And who can say what other madness this night might bring. Before you do anything, you need to drink this." He poured the steaming water into the canteen.
"Agreed," Naatos said. "I'm asking that you allow me to enter your mind for this. You could do it alone, but I would rather you didn't."
"Do you know how to kill it?" WroOth demanded. He had remained outside the circle of firelight. "It doesn't bleed. It doesn't breathe. It doesn't feel. If it's out…" He clenched that final word.
"If it is out, we will deal with it," Naatos said evenly. He put his hand over Amelia's.
That faint tremor of emotion that passed through him confirmed he was as uneasy as all the others. But, oh, the mask was back. What was underneath though was almost as interesting as what was within her mind. Her mind? She almost laughed. It was strange when one's mind was its own haunted house.
She gave him a small nod, focusing on the solidness of the ground beneath her and the coarseness of the boulder behind her. Tacky nudged her, still under the blanket. "I don't want to go alone." She pressed her hair back from her face but did not draw her other hand from him.
As the tea brewed, they were all quiet. Dinner had burned, leaving only charred meat in its place. WroOth paced silently outside the circle while QueQoa stared into the flames. AaQar sat on the edge of the log."
Finally, Amelia looked up, her back still firmly planted against the boulder. "Can anyone at least tell me that the mind shade is gone completely?" She accepted the canteen of tea from AaQar when he brought it over. Tacky kneaded at her leg, purring and chirping. When she did not immediately pet him, he started moving back and forth beneath her arm and then against Naatos's leg until she stroked his head. "Part of it seemed to go back inside me."
"There's a remnant. It will try to grow again. But—" Naatos tapped her bracelet. "This will contain it this time. It was in a growth surge when this started to bind it, which me
ans it had stored up a reserve of energy and it was able to use that to fight through. What remains is small and weak, and it will take years for it to reach this size. We'll manage it. Just wear the bracelet."
"I'm not taking it off any time soon." She sipped the tea, its bracing green flavor brightening her mind almost at once. Based on her past experience with the tea, this would give her an hour or two at most before the exhaustion returned. Probably less given all that had happened.
Tilting her head back, she stared into the night sky. The brilliant stars glimmered, mostly white. A few were pale blue and some even light green, fewer still a little pink and a rare couple lavender. Gentle gems in the sky.
Her heart still sped along, the blood pulsing and throbbing through her veins. It could have been her imagination, but things weren't just clearer because the murkiness was gone. It was as if something greater had indeed been cleared away. Even with the dull pain in her head. More tea helped. "What's the Okalu?"
The air itself tensed. Naatos's fingers tightened over her. Whatever it was, they all had strong feelings toward it. Anger. Fear. Denial. All sorts of harsh and bitter emotions that cut into her like jagged wires. She barely restrained herself from more than a wince.
"The Okalu is a myth. Someone has simply taken that name for themselves." Naatos motioned for her to continue drinking. "But it is more likely a threat of what they are going to do rather than the actual Okalu."
"We hope," QueQoa said from across the fire.
WroOth continued pacing beneath the chiron oak. He muttered something unintelligible.
AaQar moved closer to the fire. "The Okalu comes from a shared Ecekom mythology, an ancient creature with seven arms. It was the essence of the purest race, removing all that was impure and destroying whatever was worthless. They raised up an army of skinchangers and unformed ones to eliminate all who were unworthy, which included most. Many bloody and horrific battles are attributed to them, and, if legend is to be believed, there was a time they rose up over Ecekom and blocked the Tue-Rah for seven days. All of the races banded together to fight them."
Wilderness Untamed Page 41