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Nomar stood hidden by several trees behind the edge of the clearing. He had gone there after speaking with Ailish, to watch and guard, for no matter what she or this renegade Dark Master said, he did not trust their safety to unguarded sleep.
Because he was there, and because he was trained to watch and listen for anything, he was aware of a danglore settling itself atop an old and leafless succulent tree, one long past its fruit-bearing years. He watched through the maze of moonlit branches for several minutes, studying it carefully.
The bird moved not at all; rather, it perched on a spot giving it an open view of the clearing. With the realization of what he saw, he understood why his instincts—which he always listened to— had placed him there: his adult life had been spent on honing his abilities as a warrior. Tonight, those abilities were needed.
He glanced at the clearing. Neither Jalil nor Ailish stirred, while everywhere around them, night life flourished. His gaze flicked to the danglore. It had still not moved from its position, which was unnatural. Danglores always fidgeted about when they perched; and, the carrion eaters rarely perched. Most of their lives were spent in the air, seldom stopping for rest as they went about their insatiable search for food.
But not this one. He liked it not.
He waited another hour, and still the carrion remained stationary. Shaking his head, he walked back to the camp, and to the stacked weapons off to one side. With his back hiding his movements, he slipped Ailish’s bow free, and took a single arrow from the darskin quiver.
He stood slowly, keeping his back to the large bird as he notched the feathered shaft. He drew the bowstring back, spun, and as his eyes locked on the danglore, released the arrow. The acont wood shaft struck the danglore’s chest before it could lift a wing. The bird fell from the branch.
“Enough, you black bitch!” His voice an exclamation point to the thud of the danglore striking the ground.
He went to the pile of wood and added wood to the fire. When he started back to the woods, Jalil called out.
Nomar went to the Master. “Can I help with something?”
“Perhaps. Sit by me.”
Hesitating, he glanced at the woods, and then at the treetops. When he was satisfied there was nothing, he sat next to the litter, wondering what the old man wanted.
When Nomar was settled, Jalil exhaled softly. “I have watched you since we met. I would ask you allow me to place protection about you.”
“Think you this dark sorceress who chases you will go after me too?”
His eyes locked onto Nomar’s. “You just killed her danglore spy. Think you I saw it not. You were once under the control of darkness, and she ... Irret, controlled the darkness through the witch whose life you ended. “What you need understand,” he said suddenly, “is this black witch controlled the other. If she stands across from you, she but has to look you in the eyes to take control of your mind and body.”
“I am that simple to best?” Nomar challenged with a sardonic smile.
Jalil stared at him for several\ seconds. “Nomar, you are no easy mark for anyone; however, the darkness is a powerful force, and those who wield the powers of the darkness are hard to defeat. If this black witch finds you, she will take you as her own. I can help stop such a thing.”
Once again, Nomar’s instincts quickly rose in alarm. “What do I lose if I agree?”
Jalil looked closer at him. “You have very distinctive eye color. I recall no other with such.” He paused and shook his head. “Forgive my ramblings. Your instincts are well honed, so no sidestepping by either of us. Agreed?”
Nomar studied the Dark Master just as Jalil had studied the warrior. When he finished, he nodded. “Agreed—continue.”
“Tell me about your decision to become a Free Blade.”
Nomar’s eyebrows rose in twin question marks. “What has that to do with protecting me?”
Jalil’s voice turned low. “Nomar, you have travelled with us for several days. You have had the time and opportunity to form your opinion of Ailish, and of me. Either you have reached the conclusion of our trustworthiness, or the only reason you are here now is to collect your fee.”
“Why would I not want to collect my fee?”
“I said that not. But in truth, collect your fee you could have done on the crest of the mountain. Fulfill your contract you did before the sun had set. You did not have to accompany us here. So, it is trust you have given us by being here, and it is that trust I ask you to hold on to.”
“You are a confusing old man!”
Jalil laughed softly, or at least Nomar decided the strange muffled noise coming from his mouth was laughter. “Funny am I?”
“No, you are not, yet I take great joy in talking with you, and of having gotten to know you.”
Nomar smiled at the words. “I find myself reluctant to speak on my reasons for becoming a Free Blade.”
Jalil nodded. “Because you do not remember why, do you?”
He stared at the old Master, trying to understand the man’s meaning. “Of course I do. I needed to leave Morvene. I could not be there after my parents’ death.”
“Are you so certain? Nomar, I beg you to think hard on this.”
He closed his eyes, cut himself off from Jalil’s voice, from the sounds of the nighttime forest, and focused on himself. He thought back to the end of the war, when he’d returned home. He could picture it as if it were but yesterday.
He’d entered his home, and found his parents murdered, their bodies left on the floor to rot. He’d turned and fled the house. His next memory was of being in a Free Blade company, and of the sensation of darkness holding his mind in thrall.
He opened his eyes even as he gasped for air, realizing only as the air filled his lungs he had been holding his breath. He calmed himself, and leaned over the litter, his face only inches from Jalil. “I have no memory of when or why I became a Free Blade. How did you know?”
“I did not. What I do know, or rather what I sense, is something she may have left within your mind—a block to stop you from remembering, and to allow her to seduce you without effort, should she need to.”
He shivered. “Seduce me?”
“Not physically, but seduce you to her control.”
“And you can help?”
“Only if you want such. What is revealed can be painful, or it can be freeing, or it can be both; but I cannot speak for the results. Changes there may be within you, of what I could not say.”
Nomar looked at the sky, and the stars which were so plentiful this night. It was the type of beauty that made a warrior want to pluck a handful of stars to hold onto during battle.
“It is time for me to know.”
“Sit me up, Free Blade, so we may begin.”
<><><>
Ailish vaulted from sleep to full awareness in the space of a single heartbeat, as a hot brand burned itself into the depths of her mind. She bit her lip unconsciously, and tasted blood before understanding came.
She threw her silks off and jumped to her feet, the dagger she’d hidden beneath the bottom silk was in her hand. She spun in a circle to see what it was.
She found nothing until her eyes settled on Jalil, who held Nomar’s head between his hands. A halo of silver light surrounded the Dark Master’s hands and illuminated the Free Blade’s face.
His eyes were closed, his mouth stretched in a taught grin bespeaking a terrible vision playing out behind his closed eyelids. What have you done? she pushed to Jalil.
Stay back. Wait. This is of his own wishes.
Show me!
I cannot. I will not violate him in that way. Touch me no more until I am finished.
With what? Harm him not! she demanded, taking a step toward them.
Wait!
A wall of power rose to stop her before she could take a single step. Then Jalil closed his mind to her and shut her out. There was nothing she could do except sit on the opposite side of the litter and watch the silver aura connecting the two men.
It was two hours before Jalil took his hands from Nomar’s head. The moment he did, the Free Blade fell to the side, unconscious, and Ailish jumped to her feet. “What have you done?”
He turned to Ailish. His face ashen, and his breath coming in short gasps. It took more from me than I expected. Help me lay down. I have no strength left. I must go deep within myself to replenish. I have not fed in months.
What can I do?
An animal. Perhaps.
He closed his eyes. Ailish slid his frail body downward so he could lay his torso flat. She stood, not exactly sure how she could catch a live animal. She shivered at the thought of what would happen to it.
Yar brushed against her thigh. She knelt and hugged the aoutem, then asked him to find an animal, using her mind to detail out what had to happen.
She went to Nomar next. Using all her strength, she lifted and pulled him away from the litter, and over to his silks. She could not put him between the silks, instead, she covered him with them.
Then she sat by the fire, trying to understand what Jalil and Nomar had done while she waited for Yar’s return.
<><><>
It took the rantor almost an hour. When he returned, it was with a loudly squawking gobber trapped between his jaws. The giant chilen, for that is how Ailish always viewed these meaty birds, was bleeding but otherwise alive and strong.
She went to the litter with Yar and Jalil opened his eyes. Sit me up, you must.
She helped him to sit, securing his back against the end of the litter and making sure he would not slide back. How do I ...
Hand me the bird.
She grasped the gobber by its neck, and as Yar opened his mouth, took the gobber and handed it to Jalil. Then she turned and walked away. She knew well the habits of the Masters, and of how they drained any living thing of its life force. That Jalil did so only to animals helped her to understand the distance he had come from being a Dark Master.
How could she fault him for doing as he did? she asked herself, for she and all the people of Nevaeh used animals for food.
A few minutes later, came Yar’s slight push. She turned to see him with the dead gobber in his mouth. She nodded once, and he ran off toward the woods. The taking of the gobber’s life force would not be wasted.
Ailish went back to the litter and sat next to Jalil, whose skin color had returned to its normal chalky brownish-grey shade. “It is time to tell me what you did.”
He nodded, then glanced to where Nomar slept. When you showed him how easy it is to control him, you found a block, did you not?
Ailish nodded.
The dead witch placed it there.
I felt no darkness.
It was well concealed, but it was there. I showed him what had really happened to him, when he’d returned from the last war ... Irret’s war.
And? she asked, pushing the single word hard at him.
Jalil gazed at her for several seconds. I cannot speak of it: the choice to speak must be his. But, Ailish, what was revealed ... is not good.
