Thornton
Everything was the same about the Farstepper Rathma, but somehow it all had changed. On the surface, he still looked the same as the young man from beyond the Wastes, but there was something about him, something intangible, that Thornton couldn’t quite place. He had seen it before, when Miera had gone into the Otherworld and been overtaken by the Shaper of Ages. There was still some of her left, but a god requires room—among other things. He approached with caution.
“I’m trying to get to the Otherworld,” Thornton said. “Can you help?”
“I can,” said Rathma—although Thornton knew that he was no longer truly Rathma, he was Lash’kun Yho, the Traveler. “For a price.”
Not surprising; the High Keeper of Ellenos had warned them that their passage into the Otherworld via the Land of the Dead would come at a cost; now it was just a matter of finding out how great.
“Of course,” Thornton said offhandedly. “What is your price, Traveler?” He used the god’s title in hopes of sounding competent.
“We will discuss that when the time comes. But first there is the matter of traveling to Khel-hârad. Do you know the dangers?”
Thornton was unprepared for the question. “Uh,” he stammered, “I do . . . not.”
The Traveler smiled. “Allow me to educate you,” he said. He was using Rathma’s voice, but his intonation was different. It was like listening to his father hammer steel using a borrowed hammer: the sound and cadence were right, yet somehow everything else was so very wrong. “Only the dead may enter Khel-hârad, with few exceptions. This is not for the protection of those inside Khel-hârad—it is for the protection of those trying to enter.”
Thornton thought back to his time in the Otherworld and shivered. It was a cold and hollow place. He could only imagine what Khel-hârad, the Land of the Dead, would be like.
“Once you enter,” the Traveler continued, “you will be changed forever.” There was a pause as he obviously meant the words to sink in.
“How do we get there?” Thornton asked, waving it off; some things were worth the cost. “And once we’re there, how do we cross into the Otherworld?”
“Eager, aren’t we?” the Traveler asked with a grin that made Thornton’s grimace turn into a frown. “I will take care of the ‘how.’ All you need to worry about is the ‘what.’ As in, what happens when we get there.”
Thornton nodded. He looked over to Silus, who had been silent during the exchange. “Silus,” he began, getting the old Athrani’s attention, “will you tell my friends that I’m leaving?”
A nod of understanding came from the old healer, and Thornton felt a bit of relief. At least his friends would know that they had succeeded in this. He felt a twinge of guilt at leaving Yasha again, but he reasoned that she had spent her entire life without having a brother; now that he was gone, nothing would have changed.
“Well,” Thornton began, feigning confidence again, “we should get moving then. Khel-hârad waits.”
The words brought out that smile from the Traveler again. Thornton was sure that if Silus could’ve seen, he would have said something. But the facts were that the old Athrani was blind, the Traveler was their only way of getting into Khel-hârad, and Miera was still trapped in the Otherworld. All these things added up to one simple fact: he had to go, and had to agree to the Traveler’s price.
“Indeed,” the Traveler said. “Come. Take my hand.”
He reached out, beckoning Thornton to come closer.
Thornton did as he was asked, grasping the wind-worn palm of the man from Khulakorum, feeling warmth followed by a jarring cold flash through him. He had felt this sensation only once before: when he had crossed into the Otherworld.
There was no turning back.
The stone and wood of Silus’s shop melted away like wax, rushing at him suddenly, reminding him that he was dealing with a power much greater than any he had ever wielded—even greater than the Hammer of the Worldforge.
He had taken a head-first dive into a pool of unknown depth, and there was a very real possibility that he would strike the bottom.
And when the crisp coldness of Khel-hârad hit him, he realized just what the bottom felt like.