DRISHYA LOOKED CURIOUSLY AT the girl who stood before him. She had appeared out of thin air. No, not thin air. There had been a disturbance in the air first, a shimmering, then she had stepped onto the grass. The shimmering remained in the air behind her for a moment, then winked out.
A portal. She had come through a portal. From another place in Arthaloka.
“Hello, brother.”
Her voice was sweet and mellow, with the promise of the husky weight it would carry when she was older. There was something else about her, a maturity that belied her age.
She was like him. Not exactly, not entirely, but close enough to be . . . his sister? Why not? That was as good a word as any. They were siblings in Auma, linked by a common connection to the power that controlled, fed, and would ultimately consume the universe.
“Hello, sister,” he said pleasantly, setting the flute down and smiling at her.
She was smiling too. Then she surprised him by throwing herself at him and hugging him tightly.
“It is so good to meet you at last!” she said. “Ever since old Vessa told me that you existed, I’ve been longing to meet you.”
Vessa. That was a name he knew. Or rather, a presence in Auma. A powerful presence. Not quite a Stone Sage, but . . . close. A Krushan priest and hermit. One who had schooled himself in the arcana of Auma sorcery and had become quite good at it. Yes, about as close to a Stone Sage as one could expect in this modern, unempowered age.
“And I you,” he replied. Not to be polite but because it was how he felt, he realized. In a sense, he too had been looking forward to meeting her. That was the moment he became aware that he had known of her existence, even without knowing that he knew. Such were the mysteries of Auma!
A cow lowed complainingly in the pasture below, and he grinned to himself. Gaurika was jealous. Well, let her be. The mortal girl was pretty, but she was his sister, after all, or at least, his sibling in Auma. Gaurika didn’t know that; let her stew if she wanted. She had become far too possessive of him anyway. It would do her some good to know he had other friends than the cows!
The girl detached herself from Drishya and smiled up at him with damp eyes. “It is so lonely being the only one with powers. I feel like the weight of the world is on my head. If only I could set it down for just a bit. But I can never do that, because he’s always up to something, always finding some way to harass us, to hurt us. It’s been years since I’ve been meaning to come visit you, but every day brings some new challenge.”
Looking at her, he saw into her mind and knew at once what she meant. He saw a vast desert of red sand, a caravan of thousands of wooden vehicles similar to uks carts but much larger and covered on top, bearing thousands of people. There had been many more at the start of their journey, but attacks by a number of forces had depleted their numbers. Among the survivors were this young girl and her mother. He saw, in a flash, everything that had happened to her since leaving Aqron, and saw also the cause of her troubles: a tall, snake-thin urrkh-Krushan spawn named Jarsun.
Krushita must have been able to feel him combing through her mind, because she said then, “He is my father.” There was sadness in her voice, and it made him feel sad too. He did not want this pretty young woman, his new friend and visitor, his sister, to be sad. “He won’t stop until we are dead, or until my mother and I surrender to him.”
Drishya nodded and patted her arm. “I understand.”
She smiled sadly at him. “I heard you thinking, as you always do, and I thought it was time I visited at last and told you the answer.”
He frowned. “The answer?”
“To your question.”
“Which question?”
“How did the urrkh Tyrak escape long enough to create a mortal son? It was my father. Jarsun Krushan released the urrkh’s essence. Vessa sensed it and came as quickly as he could, forcing the urrkh back into his eternal prison. But the damage had been done. The mortal Tyrak had been conceived already and the flow of Auma altered. That was why you had to be born. To balance the flow and stop Tyrak.”
Drishya looked at her for a long moment.
“Of course,” he said at last. “Of course. It was the Krushan named Jarsun. He is malicious enough to do such a thing. I didn’t know he was powerful enough, though.”
Krushita nodded, her brows knitting. “He grows stronger all the time. I feel it. Vessa says so too.”
“Vessa is also Krushan?” Drishya shook his head, realizing his mistake at once. “Yes, of course he is. He is the son of Jilana and the sage who was actually a Krushan emperor traveling incognito.”
“Jarsun enhances his powers by use of urrkh maya, strengthening himself and learning cruel new tricks he uses to torment others. The way he torments my mother and me, and all the innocent people who were unlucky enough to be on the same wagon train with us.”
Krushita’s eyes flashed with flecks of fire. Drishya admired her banked power: yes, she was truly his sibling in Auma. She had great power, and her powers were multiplied when she was angry. The very thought of Jarsun and her mother enraged her enough to take on an army single-handed. Which she already has, he thought, an army of the undead. He liked Krushita.
Drishya nodded. “I feel the same way about Tyrak. I would like to end his cruelty. I wish I could do it today.” He clenched his fist. “Now.”
Krushita touched his taut jaw. “I wish you could too. I would go with you to Arrgodi and end his reign at once. Every day that urrkh monster lives, he causes misery to more and more innocent people. He has to be stopped.”
Drishya sighed, opening his fist. “But it is too soon.”
“That’s what Vessa says!” She shook her head, her long hair moving in the cool autumn breeze. “He keeps saying I must wait until I am old enough, strong enough.” She stamped her foot on the grass. “I’m sick and tired of adults saying that all the time!”
Drishya shrugged. “Nobody tells me. I just know. I have to wait until the right time.”
“When will it be the right time? It feels like we’re waiting centuries.”
“I know. But it’s only a few more years. They’ll pass. And then I will kill him and fulfill the prophecy. Then I can return and resume my eternal rest.”
Krushita’s eyes widened. “I forgot that you’re not like me. I mean, you are like me in some ways, but not every way. For me, killing Jarsun is only a means to an end. I have to do it to stop him from harming and killing so many other people and from trying to hurt my mother. But once it’s done, I just want to live with my mother in peace. That’s the reason why I have to do it. But you, you have a different goal.”
Drishya nodded. “I don’t belong to this world. This era. I’m only here to do a job. Once that’s over, I will go back to where I came. Just as Tyrak’s essence will return to the urrkhlord Tyrak in the otherworld prison. I want nothing else but to complete my given task and return home.”
“Except, I don’t think you will. I’m sorry if that disappoints you, but you have more work here than just killing Tyrak. I need you too. You see, Drishya, Vessa says that I need your help to confront and defeat my father. It’s the only way. Alone, I can hurt him badly, maybe even fatally, but the only way to be sure is with you fighting alongside me. The two of us can best him together, using all our powers, all our strength, and some strategy. Tyrak is one thing: Jarsun Krushan is a whole other kettle of fish.”
Drishya frowned. He had never the phrase before: it sounded strange. But he understood her meaning. “I don’t know,” he said uncertainly, “if I can stay once I kill Tyrak.”
Krushita smiled. “Don’t worry. Vessa will help with that. He’s said so already. And you would like to help me, wouldn’t you?”
He nodded, smiling back. “And you will help me too. I can feel it. You will be with me in spirit when I face Tyrak and slay him. It is part of the prophecy.”
“I will. I promise I will. But now I have to go. I’m the only protection my mother and the rest have back there, and the longer I’m gone, the greater the risk that my father may try something. I’ll come see you when I can.”
He nodded, but then felt his face forming a sad expression. “I wish I could come help you. You need it badly. But I can’t do it. If I leave here for even a day, I think it will upset the whole balance. I feel it.”
She sighed and nodded. “I feel it too. It’s all right. I’ll manage. I’m getting stronger each year. It isn’t long now, I know. And we can always speak, no matter the physical distance between us. You know that.”
He nodded. “I’d like that. Very much. Bye, Krushita, take care.”
She summoned a portal, and it appeared, shimmering in the air. “Call me Krush.”
“Bye, Krush.”
“Bye, brother Drishya,” she said, giving him a quick peck on his cheek and a half hug.
Then she stepped through the portal and was gone.
Drishya was still staring at the empty air when he felt a nudge at his waist and something wet and heavy being pushed against his side.
He turned to see Gaurika, her lips parted to show her teeth, her eyes angry. She mooed at him.
“Yes, yes, my love,” he said reassuringly, “I know you’re upset. But don’t be. That was my sister, Krush.”
Gaurika’s expression and attitude changed at once. Sister, she thought, and he saw her with her sibling calves of different ages, all milling about their mother. That’s all right, then.
“Yes,” Drishya said aloud happily. “That is all right. It’s very much all right.”