Between Darkness and Light Trilogy (19 page)

“I’m new here, until a few days ago I hadn’t
even heard of this place. I have not yet… acclimated to this realm.
I suppose that sticks out like a sore thumb.”

He laughs freely, then drops his voice so
that only I should hear. “I would say rather that yours is the only
thumb here that is not sore.” He takes my hand and kisses it while
staring intently into my eyes.

I smile playfully; while somewhat
backhanded, it is in a way a compliment. I like the way he looks at
me. His smile deepens and he does not yet release my hand.

“This place is even stranger to me than it
is to you, Shi'ahn, do you have any advice you would care to
share?”

I tentatively project my thoughts to him and
at first his hand stiffens ever so slightly, then I feel him
cautiously allow the contact, ‘Do not trust any of the elder ones –
most especially Lucian. He is a vile and cruel man. Someday his
soul will burn in unending fire.’ I can’t help but let my deep
hatred for the beast reveal itself. Darius gracefully lets go my
hand and I continue out loud. “Gain your sister’s release as soon
as you can – I do not believe she deserves to be held here.” I ever
so quietly project my voice beside his ear – no one else should be
able to hear it, “And tell her, please, that I regret all that she
has experienced here. This should not have happened.”

He looks concerned. “Have you met my
sister?” I cast my eyes to the floor.

“Yes… but not in a manner of my choosing.” A
vision of her strapped to that table, looking both physically
unharmed and yet terrible at the same time, her harmonies screaming
in echoes of recent pain floods my mind, I just have to get away.
“I’m sorry, Cas Darius, I must go.” I force myself to look into his
eyes again, willing my words to ring true as I also will them to
be
true. “I wish you the best of luck in your
negotiations.”

William is smiling as I return to his side.
“Well, our Chaos lord is not immune to beauty.”

“What are you talking about?” I quickly
glance around Darius, looking for a beautiful woman.

“He likes you. Oh, he has been very cordial
with all who speak with him, but he likes you; it is plain to see
in his eyes.”

“Me? Well, he won’t like me after he talks
with his sister. I need to get out of here, William.” He takes my
arm and leads me toward the door.

‘He’s watching you… are you sure you want to
leave?’

‘Yes, I’m sure! I like him, William, but
when he knows of my part in this… he will be angry with himself for
speaking with me, for kissing a hand that added to his sister’s
torment here. I don’t want to make that any worse for him than it
will already be.’ William shakes his head, but continues to escort
me from the hall.

~~~

I return to my rooms and try to distract
myself from my discomfort by playing with the power connection ring
Cailli gave me. I learn a lot about the citadel and the amazing
lands of this place, but I don’t make any connections, everything
seems so daunting. Suddenly there is a huge… how to describe it? A
rumble, a shaking of the very foundations of this place, a feeling
of… wrongness. It reminds me of Lydia’s initial attack, when she
surrounded me with something I did not understand. William bursts
in.

“Did you feel that, Shi'ahn?”

“Yes, but aside from suspecting it involves
Lydia, I have no idea what it was.”

“Come with me.” As we walk toward the throne
room we hear snippets of conversation among the staff. The
Shiftling lord and lady are gone – escaped after negotiations
soured. We enter the throne room as Lucian is speaking with the
Emperor and Vespasian. Vespasian turns our way and points at
me.

“She told that Shiftling to get his sister
out – this is her fault!” What?

For some reason I feel far more confident
that I ought, “I wished him luck in the negotiations – I did not
urge him to launch an escape!”

“You told him to get her out as soon as he
could – you practically suggested this!”

What a bastard! “I urged him to ‘gain her
release’, which quite clearly implies negotiation. Wishing him luck
in the negotiations does not in any way recommend a forceful
escape. Now honestly, after all that was done to her, can you
possibly believe she wouldn’t want to leave this place by any means
necessary once the negotiations failed? Lucian is the reason they
used force to free her, not me!”

A hush has fallen over the hall, people look
at me with expressions of mixed awe and concern… people must not
speak to Vespasian like this, especially in front of the Emperor.
The Emperor, in fact, had looked rather pleased at Vespasian's
words, but not with mine. I should feel scared, but I don’t – I
know I’m right. Vespasian glares down at me, but I refuse to
concede.

Casanova’s voice breaks the odd silence.
“She has a point – if I knew my sister to be held in such
circumstances, I would defy Order and Chaos to gain her release.
Perhaps that is exactly what Cas Darius was doing.” A few other
sibling groups echo agreement, as do William and I. I might as well
continue the thought.

“Think of it, she was clearly innocent of
all charges except abducting Alma, and so Lucian’s treatment of her
went far beyond what she deserved. She had no reason to trust that
we would treat her fairly if she were held here longer.” The
Emperor's displeased look intensifies.

Vespasian rounds on me, “You only just
arrived, how do you know that the negotiations failed?”

“Along with their escape, it’s the talk of
the citadel; I have ears.” Something almost like a smile tugs at
the corners of Lucian's lips… but no, it couldn’t be.

The Emperor continues to gaze down at us,
then finally speaks, though I get the feeling he would rather give
voice to alternative thoughts. “I believe the woman had plenty of
incentive to leave. The question is, Lucian; how did you fail to
realize her capabilities?”

“Her mind was strong. I should point out
that if she could hide such power from me, she could also have
hidden other truths.”

I shake my head, “No, I learned of her
potential, and still her answers to your questions were true.”

Lucian’s eyes drill into mine, “You failed
to report that to me.”

“You never gave me a chance to report to you
at all.”

The Emperor looks highly displeased. “Did
you give Shi'ahn a full debriefing before reporting to me?”

“She was in no condition for it. It was her
first interrogation and she clearly needed rest before she could be
trusted to give any kind of report.”

“She appears fine now.”

Lucian glances coolly at me before returning
his gaze to his father, “Yes, she does.” The Emperor holds Lucian’s
gaze until Lucian turns back to me. “Come with me, Shi'ahn.” Oh
great. I feel fear try to rise within me, but something beats it
back and I manage to follow him without appearing like a frightened
child. He leads me to a small sitting room. His demeanor loses its
frightfulness, as though he suddenly tries to put me at ease. “Very
well, Shi'ahn, from the moment you first touched Lydia, tell me
everything that happened.”

“No.”

He raises an eyebrow and tilts his head
slightly to the side; he hadn’t expected that. Then his expression
turns to a demanding glare.

Just days ago such a glare would have
frightened me into compliance, but somehow I maintain a steely
calm. “I am not about to tell you everything, but I will tell you
all that you need to know. I learned a great deal before I decided
to cross that final barrier to ascertain if what she had shown me
was indeed the truth. She has good cause to hate us; Vespasian
killed her brother Bran after he had surrendered. Don’t look at me
like that, I know it for the truth. She wanted to find a way to
hurt him in return, so she colluded with some unidentified shadowy
figure who claimed to have a contact with access to our realm. She
was promised one of Imperial blood, to be delivered to her out
along the ‘Hellgate Passage’, she called it. She said she was
following the Passage back to the Rimall, where others who had good
cause to hate Vespasian waited. They were going to ransom Alma for
something dear to him. Yes, she said something, not someone. She
had no idea that another of us had already been taken. That rather
annoyed her, actually.”

“Nothing you have said explains how you
would have known of her extensive abilities.”

“I learned of those after she trapped me.
She enveloped me in… something very much like what I detected
emanating from the throne room during their escape. It didn’t seem
to have the desired effect on me though, so she decided to hurt me
in other ways.”

“What did she do, Shi'ahn.” It’s an order,
not a question, and yet I still do not wish to share that terrible
experience. Then again, maybe he should know.

“She began by sharing with me the pain and
rage she felt at her brother’s murder. She has a way of seeing
things that happen in distant places, and there were witnesses; she
knows it to be true. Her pain was much like I would feel if such a
thing happened to William, but the way she expressed it… I’d never
dreamed such powers existed. Then, when that also did not have the
desired effect upon me…” I let my voice drop down to a low,
accusing tone, “She made me feel every pain and indignity that you
subjected her to, as if it was happening to me.” His face pales
slightly, and I continue, “When you receive your final judgment,
Lucian, you will burn.”

He smiles in a way that on another I would
call rueful, “That, Shi'ahn, I already know. Do you have anything
else to add?”

“I despise you.” Again that odd expression,
not a real smile, not a grimace; acceptance? I get up and walk out;
he does not move to stop me.

Chapter
12

A Day of Rest

Surprisingly, the next few days are
relatively peaceful. William and I are finally given a thorough,
though of course not complete, tour of the citadel, which I do my
best to memorize, and we have a chance to walk around outdoors. On
the other side of the citadel, other side of the mountain, or
however you wish to describe it, there are forests and fields. The
higher altitudes consist primarily of fairly untouched forests, and
are reserved for family, as is a ‘middle’ ground; filled with many
truly beautiful gardens, it could take years to walk them all.
Beyond a high wall of flowering trees lie the lower areas, where
much of the food of Lumina is grown. Those fields are also quite
pretty, and seem to stretch on for miles on end. We are told that
further down the foods are processed primarily by the noble houses
of Lumina. The political standings of those houses are closely
bound to the quality of the products they provide, a system that
tends to guarantee that the Citadel always has truly superior
sustenance available. We are also given a lecture on the importance
of eating as many of our meals in Lumina as possible – the food
grown here is apparently more nutritious to us than any other. It’s
fine to tour the outer worlds, but we should always return home
periodically or risk growing weakened through lack of essential
nutrients. Weakened, of course, not meaning that we would be unable
to function seemingly normally, but that the extensive strengths of
our kind would slowly dissipate, leaving us more 'normal' for the
area we are in. Our guide confides that our relative lack of this
affliction, even though we had never been to Lumina, has been
considered highly suspect. How could we be so well nourished and
obviously well developed, both physically and mentally, while being
away all our lives? It doesn’t make sense.

I have to wonder, Cailli said that the moons
and core of Shiral are of Luminite, the very ore that she used to
create the crystals of the Path. Could Luminite be the source of
these essential nutrients?

As we walk up the mountain toward an
obviously ancient forest, I find my mind filled with peace, almost
as if…

“William, do you sense it? It feels like…
home.”

William stops to concentrate, “You’re right…
this does seem oddly familiar. Hey, Shi'ahn, wait for me!”

I just can’t wait; I need to enter the
forest. As I walk faster toward the beckoning trees, a song Mathair
taught me escapes my lips, a devotion to the land. The very song
from which I later named the living soul of Shiral. William follows
me, but for some reason our guide stands rooted in place. I split
my voice into melody and harmony, and Mathair’s voice seemingly
joins as though echoing mine. I become caught up not only in the
song, but in dance as well, yet still I continue toward my goal.
Somewhere along the way I kick off my shoes; I want to experience
the land! My song ends at the forest edge, and the dance leaves me
kneeling deeply in awe of this tremendous place, head bowed near to
the land I have been singing to. I begin to rise as I open my eyes
and find myself before a great stag. I drop back in respect, then
tentatively raise my eyes. He is magnificent… I
hear
it - he
belongs here; this forest is his.

“Excuse me, Great One, may I please enter
your domain?”

Deep brown eyes gaze down into mine; I do
not feel penetrated as so many make me feel, and yet I'm certain he
can see everything there is of me. I feel almost naked, but not
endangered. I hold my place – I have intruded upon his domain, he
has the right to know who and what I am. He nods slightly and takes
a step back.

“I thank you, forest lord.” Instead of
proceeding freely, though, I find myself facing yet another figure,
a woman. She is unlike anyone I have ever seen before. Her hair is
green, her eyes brown, her skin the color of light bark, and her
clothing spun from forest matter. Even more remarkable is how she
sounds - she belongs here just as truly as does the great stag.