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Cora stood in the darkness, aware only of the man behind her and unsure of where she was or how she got there.
‘You can’t shine so bright without your mother’s gifts,’ he whispered hoarsely in her ear, and she shivered from the feel of his hot breath on her neck. ‘You don’t have the dragons. And...’ His hand slipped down and across her midsection. ‘You have not created a child in the fire who would save you.’
Despite her fears, Cora transitioned to the strong stone Artell had discovered.
‘That cannot protect you from me,’ Merik said. His hand slithered over her body and pressed on her chest, over the mark of Oldra.
Cora closed her eyes against the darkness and concentrated on the man behind her. He was just a man. An older man. Not an Ancient—not like Arminel. She thought of him wise, old and far stronger than he appeared. There were days she thought he would live forever. Even though he had lost the woman he loved. There were not many male Ancients Cora was aware of. Artell was only the second, yet she was sure there were more. The hand over her heart pressed harder, pushing against the stone wall she had built. Merik’s heart beat loud in her ears, pushing through all her senses.
She reached out for his heart, hoping that Serassa was right and she needed to reach him. She had thought she might feel pain as she pushed out her senses, but there was nothing there. The shadows moved in, pushing on her as she tried to see inside the space. It contained only darkness.
A man with long white hair, a kind yet crinkled face and faded red robes appeared before her. The man behind her tried to find his way into her heart as he held her tight. Cora twisted to look back at him, but he didn’t appear to have noticed the man before them.
Then another appeared, not as old as the first, his hair darker and peppered with grey, cut short and messy like the men of her clan.
‘We are chosen by Essara as often as women,’ the elder of the two said. ‘You have not lived long enough to experience all that an Ancient can.’
‘Why have you come?’ Cora asked, and Merik stopped.
‘You wondered at male Ancients. We thought we could help you,’ the second said.
‘Merik is not an Ancient,’ she said.
Both Ancients before her nodded.
‘What do you think you can do?’ the man behind her said. ‘I may not be Ancient, but I have more power than any of them.’
‘Where did you get it from?’ Cora asked.
‘I was born with it. With a gift of visions.’
‘A seer?’
Both men before her scowled.
‘I gift the visions,’ Merik said with a cackle, and she felt the heat of his breath through the transition.
‘Then how did you get into my dreams?’
‘I was searching for you. I can put myself inside your head, as well as anything else I want.’
Cora had a thought of Artell, dead by the hearth of their cavern, her hands sticky with his blood. But she blinked through it, knowing it wasn’t true. She looked towards the two men standing before her. As she blinked again, it was as though she was standing over Artell again and Merik was there in the shadows, watching her.
‘You are so strong,’ he said. ‘I reached out for someone with greater gifts than mine, to bring them here.’
‘Why would you think I would give them up?’
‘Everyone gives up something when they think it will save others. Not me, of course, but I can.’
‘Teven’s mother wasn’t tricked into giving anything up.’
‘She gave up her child,’ Merik murmured.
‘But it didn’t benefit you. He was scarred, and you couldn’t use him. He was always stronger than you realised.’
‘He gave up his freedoms for his sister. And where would he go? They wouldn’t take him in.’
‘But he might have pushed you out.’
Merik laughed then, a strange cackle, his spittle showering her neck. ‘He knows what I would have done to the others. He would have had nothing to be little chief of.’
‘And so you stayed as the little chief,’ she said. He swung her around then, the movement fast, and she almost fell as her feet tangled. There was solid ground beneath her, yet in the continued darkness she was sure they were somewhere within the shadows. She felt a little more scared now that she was alone with him. She wanted to search out the Ancients. As she thought of them, they appeared behind Merik, and she sucked in a deep breath.
‘You don’t know what skill I have,’ she said.
‘You hid your skills away, even from yourself, for so long. You are another living in the shadows. We could be strong together,’ Merik said, stepping forward. Cora tried to step back, but she couldn’t move.
‘He would not know how to use such a gift,’ the eldest of the Ancients said.
Cora placed her hand quickly on Merik’s chest, searching his heart for who he truly was, but there was still nothing there.
‘Share it,’ Wyndha said, her grey braids bobbing as she bowed her head and smiled at Cora.
Cora blinked back her surprise, unsure why Wyndha would say what she did or what it might mean. She had spent so long fearing what he would take, and now she was being told to hand it over willingly.
Silphi appeared beside Wyndha. ‘Give him what he wants,’ she suggested.
The two Ancients who had been with her nodded. And then others began appearing around her, until she was surrounded by red robes. She nodded once and then pushed the ability to talk with the Ancients into the gap that was his heart.
She wasn’t sure how she managed to do it. She felt the strength in him, the skill and the confidence she had given him. He was exactly what he wanted to be. She stepped back and watched as he looked over his hands and then at those around them. Cora was confused that she could still see them, now that she had given the gift away.
‘I have it all,’ he murmured. ‘The ability to heal, the ability to see the past and a clearer future. All the gifts of all the Ancients are mine.’
‘Not quite,’ Cora said. ‘My gift is to talk with them. They can’t give me what they have.’
‘But they can,’ he said. ‘You just have to take it.’
‘I thought it had to be given?’
‘We shall give you what you want,’ said the Ancient man she had first seen. ‘I will give you all the pain and heartache that goes with it.’
‘I don’t care about the pain,’ Merik sneered.
The old man bowed his head and held out his hand. Every other Ancient raised their hand in the same way, and Cora felt the push of the gifts of Essara as they flowed around her. She put her hand back on Merik’s chest and directed the gifts into the darkness.
He grinned, turning his face upward and his arms out, and then his face fell. As Cora stepped back, he clutched at his chest and then ripped at his tunic. The mark of Oldra on his chest burned bright before it flickered and faded and then disappeared.
‘No,’ he murmured as the Ancients around them disappeared. Then the shadows lifted, and Cora blinked into the green light that filtered amongst the trees.
Merik dropped to his knees, still clutching at his chest, his face pale. Artell ran through the trees towards Cora, and Merik disappeared into a shadow.
Cora tried to focus on the man running towards her, but he was lost in the sea of Ancients who again surrounded her. ‘Will you take it back?’ she asked.
‘No,’ the whisper came, but she wasn’t sure who it came from. Then a woman in white stepped out from the sea of red.
Cora focused on the woman before her and then dropped to her knees. The woman caught Cora by the hands and pulled her upright.
‘You don’t need to kneel before me,’ she said. ‘We have come all this way to find you.’
‘All of you?’ Cora asked.
She bowed her head. ‘Bring your mate,’ she said.
The crowd around her disappeared, and Cora focused on Artell standing before her looking unsure. She held out her hand, and he stepped forward and took it. And then the Ancients of old reappeared. He gasped and bowed his head to Essara.
‘It is rare that we need to start anew,’ Essara said. ‘You have your chief,’ Artell looked at Cora, but she looked towards Teven, standing off in the trees with Henda. Essara smiled. ‘And together you shall grow strong.’
‘I miss the snow,’ Cora said quickly.
‘You have found your cavern; you have found your place in the world. It may be that the sun disappears at times and you are able to enjoy the snow once more.’
Cora smiled. She would like that.
Then they were standing outside of the cavern. Artell gasped and turned slowly.
‘Welcome home, Tarranah,’ Essara said. ‘Before you settle, return to your previous clans. Talk to the people. Others will join you.’
Artell bowed his head again.
‘Go and visit with your father,’ Essara said to Cora. Then she faded from view along with all the other Ancients. Wyndha was the last to go, and she smiled warmly and then winked at Cora before she too faded from existence once more.