| |
“Who are you, Nomar? For Free Blade I no longer believe you to be,” Ailish challenged.
He stared at her for several seconds. “I am a man who wants to know what I have stepped into.”
“I think there is more for never have I heard of a Free Blade questioning a contract after making the agreement.”
“Who I am is not part of our contract. You have bought my blade, not my mind.”
“And yet you question me as though we have not a contract.”
“I merely asked a question.”
“No, you did not ask a question; a response you demanded.”
“I asked you to tell me what you are really doing.”
“And I have already told you I cannot. When the day ends, so does our contract. You will be leaving us tomorrow. Should I tell you, and the black witch finds you, she will know where we go and what we do.”
“I will not allow it,” he said, although his voice was almost too low to hear, the timbre of his words told her he would die before willingly giving anything to the dark ones.
“You will be unable to stop it.”
“I will. Even if I must fall on my own sword.”
Show him he cannot, Jalil told her silently.
She snapped her head toward Jalil. I want not to do such to him.
You must. He will not understand otherwise.
“She ... they have their ways. You cannot stand up to them.”
Hating herself for what she was about to do, she drew up her powers and released a low surge of energy at him. She surrounded him with it before he could move. She held him tightly and she pushed herself into his mind.
When he was open to her, she pushed further. “Tell me who you are!” It took but an instant to gain the barest amount of information for him to understand what could be done, and then she withdrew.
He staggered back when she released him, his features suffused with anger. His eyes flashed with rage, he shook his head, and then half drew his sword. He took a deep breath, and with his exhalation, his features softened as he resettled the sword in the scabbard.
“You have my deepest apology, Nomar, but you needed to understand how much power they have. What I did was but little in comparison.”
He stared at her, his eyes like spears boring into her head. “So important is this to you?”
She started to deny it, then stopped. For the first time since The Speaker called her, she not only realized what was truly at stake, but accepted the force of her responsibility to the people of Nevaeh with every part of her body. She shook her head and moistened her lips.
Her voice broke with emotion when she said, “No, Nomar ... not to me. So important is this to all of Nevaeh, that I must give up everything and everyone in my life. I am sorry I invaded your mind. You left me little choice.”
He studied her face, and turned away. He took two steps and then turned back. “What learned you ... of me?”
She refused to meet his eyes; rather, she looked up at the trees. “Very little.” She did not like to lie, but she did not want him to be uncomfortable for whatever time they remained together, for she had discovered much.
“Give me the courtesy of truth: I know you learned things.”
She closed her eyes and nodded. When she opened them, he was closer to her. “I know you were a happy child. I know you believed there was more to life than what you saw as a child. I went no further.”
He cocked his head slightly. When he did, a veil fell across his eyes. “I was.” He shrugged eloquently. “But if we are to cross this mountain, we must move on. I would not want to cause you delay, nor add more time to our contract.”
She stopped herself from replying and simply nodded.
<><><>
Following her conjuring of the Dark Master’s blood image, Irret rested before making preparations to go after Ailish, when she froze in place as an image of Ailish appeared in her mind.
One of the danglores had found her. Irret watched, fascinated by the scene of the former Queen of Morvene, struggling to fight the huge snuck wrapped around her. She watched, her heart pounding with the hope of Ailish’s death, and pleased that Lezah had acted so quickly.
Then the Free Blade charged to her side, and with his knife, severed the snuck’s body from its head.
“Damn him!” Irret screamed aloud when the man lifted Ailish and carried her away.
She pushed her danglore to follow, and while she watched the Dark Master heal Ailish with his staff, she began to make her plans.
Then, unexpectedly, Ailish opened her eyes, saw the danglore, and an instant later, the bird was dead.
<><><>
It was late afternoon when they reached the top of the lower mountains bordering Northcrom. Spread out in the haze of distance below were the Tar Fields—separated from Northcrom by a thin strip of the Great North Lake of Morvene. To the west sat a small village on the shore of the lake. To the northeast was a shadowy and barely visible outline of Ufalo, the second largest town of Northcrom. The road split where they stood: one branch descending west, the other north.
“If you no longer plan on going to the Tar Fields, I suggest we follow the road to the village.” He pointed to the small fishing village at the lake. He motioned toward the forest at the base of the mountain. “The forest is only a few miles from the village. There is a modest clearing within it near a small creek.”
Ailish looked at the area. “Should we not seek an inn?”
“There is one. I recommend it not. We can camp in the clearing for the night. It shouldn’t take us more than a few hours to reach it.” He turned and went to his kraal without waiting for a reply.
He nurses his hurt, she told Jalil.
You had no choice. He survived the black one, he will survive you as well.
“You have been here before?” she asked before mounting the kraal. She closed her eyes against her warring emotions. She had never invaded another’s mind, not even in battle. To do so, she always believed, was to betray her integrity as a Woman of Power.
Stop!
Her eyes snapped open, she turned to look at Jalil. I told you not to do that.
I did nothing! You were projecting your emotions. Stop, it does neither you nor he any good.
Ailish snapped a block into place, hopefully locking him away from her mind, and without another thought, started the kraal forward. She set her eyes on Nomar’s back, and did not move them.
<><><>
Irret went to her kraal, her anger seething below the surface. Again, Ailish had survived and one haunting question rose to taunt her. What will it take to kill the damned woman?
She went to the kraal and slipped one foot into the stirrup. Just as her foot touched the metal of the stirrup, she was frozen in place. Her mind caught within the thoughts of her Master.
What do you now?
I go to find Ailish and the Master.
Where go you?
The Tar Fields. I believe they go there.
The Tar Fields lead to no place. Why go they there?
It is the only way to hide from us.
The Tar Fields offer no sanctuary. To throw us off their scent, perhaps. No, it is another route they take. Do nothing for now. Look to the west, such is their only route. Follow them, use the others to work with you. Lull them into thinking no one can find them. When the time is right, and you will know such as truth, you will kill them.
But, Master ...
Fasil did not wait to hear the rest. Before she finished, he was gone.
Instead of mounting the kraal, she called a crave to her, and took out a writing cloth. She wrote a message to Lezah and sent the crave on its way. She would meet Lezah in two days.
<><><>
The water from the small creek, which was fed from within the mountain itself, was as refreshing as any she’d ever drunk or bathed within. Stars proliferated above, like jewels flung from a giant’s hand.
Dry, dressed, and sitting on the rocks of the creek’s bank, Ailish did her best to put her conflicting emotions aside. On one hand, she understood her role. On the other she resented it. To lose control of her life was not something she enjoyed. But now, she knew, was the time to put it all aside.
The Eight sorceresses of the Island were the ones who asked for her acceptance. Ailish knew any one of them would die protecting Nevaeh. Earlier, when she’d taught Nomar the lesson she had not wanted to impart, she realized how deeply was her relationship with Nevaeh and its people.
She expelled a sibilant breath as Yar placed his head on her lap. His calming and soothing warmth washed over her as it always did.
A few seconds later, Ailish sensed another’s presence.
“My Lady,” called Nomar.
She turned to find the Free Blade standing ten feet away. “Nomar?”
“I wanted to tell you; it has been an honor to serve you.”
“Thank you, Nomar. May I ask a personal question?”
His eyes turned hooded, but only for a moment. “Of course, My Lady.”
She smiled. “Can I not convince you to call me Ailish? Queen I no longer am.”
He stared at her for so long, she started to feel nervous. “Nomar?”
“My Lady Ailish, you can deny who you are for as long as you want, but you cannot deny what I know and hold as truth: A queen you were born, a queen you have been, and a queen you are still. So, My Lady, the answer is no, for you cannot convince me of anything other than who I believe you are.”
She gazed into his eyes, their color darker in starlight than daylight, and then traced the features of his face. “The honor of your company, Nomar, has been mine.”
He smiled. “Good night, My Lady, we shall speak again in the morning.”
“Good night, Nomar of Morvene.”
When he was gone, Ailish considered what his loss meant to her. While the man was stubborn, a Free Blade with supposed loyalty to only the coin, there was an aura about the warrior telling her he was much more than what he held himself out to be. The short glimpse inside his mind had shown her a little of his childhood. But before she’d withdrawn, she had found a block set within his mind. She had no sense of evil; rather it seemed as if he had created this block himself. Strange it was, but she would not push him further about it.
The running water of the creek was a melodious background to her thoughts, which took yet another turn when she found herself replaying her argument with Jalil. She stopped herself from diving back into her emotions by making herself think about the reality of what had happened today.
She had found something new, the Golden Plane. It was both exciting and frightening at the same time. She knew she would have to speak of this with Jalil, to learn how to control the ability. And the attack ... her enemy seemed to always be a step ahead of her. Why?
She shook her head. She knew why; she always knew why. Hatred. Hatred was alien to her. She’d always believed somehow the good in people would outweigh the bad, but today had taught her more than just about her new abilities.
Whether it was Irret or one of her underlings, the attack at the instant before the snuck hit her, had been laced with the most vitriolic emanations she had ever known. The darkness within the attack had reached deep into her mind, and had so viciously invaded her heart, she would never forget the sensations.
She realized too, no matter what she had said to Jalil, and no matter her sadness at leaving the people she loved behind, she recognized her duty to herself and her family and to Nevaeh.
At last, as the air turned cooler, she shrugged off her wandering thoughts, scratched Yar’s head, and stood. “Time for sleep, my brother ... Tomorrow brings us yet another day to wonder what next will happen.”
She walked to where they’d made camp and found the fire warming the area surrounding it. She glanced at Jalil, who lay awake but unmoving within his silks. She was about to slip inside the warmth of her own sleeping silks when she shivered as if a cold wind had blown across her, yet there was not even the whisper of a breeze.
What now?
