Eramane (23 page)

Samiah’s men are loyal and fight for him without question. None of them challenged me as Limearsy and I joined their clutch. Nahmas even gave me a caring smile when our eyes met. I suppose I was not truly concerned with how the Ghosts would respond to me; they have been part of my brother’s life long enough to call them family. I even walked with Nahmas down the aisle at my brother’s wedding. Although they have not spoken to us, they give us no looks of distrust, and their silence means little; they do not speak often. Still, I am thankful they have accepted my companion. Limearsy saved my life; I owe him my allegiance.

The brothers ride alongside of Samiah, remaining loyal to their oath as his protectors. I wonder how truly committed they are, if they will stand strong with him upon seeing Adikiah and his legion of sycophants.

Black skies and no sight of the stars are what I look at as I lie in hopes of rest. I need a rest that comes only in death. I yearn for it, almost as badly as I yearn to destroy Adikiah. But my mind will not settle on anything except the faces of my victims; I need something to take my mind off this burden.

“Limearsy, wake up,” I whisper, trying to rouse my companion. He sits up instantly.

“I am not sleeping, Eramane. I cannot sleep, and I see that you are having troubles sleeping as well,” he says, flames from the campfire dancing in his eyes. Those eyes, they are a blessing and a curse. While they remind me of Lebis’s bright face, they also remind me of his death; the two do not exist as separate memories. I feel like his eyes are a connection to my past, but something else connects us. I sense it, and the longer I am in his presence, the more I am drawn to him, like leaves to the sunlight. Something within me constantly reaches for him.

He sits calmly. “What is it, Eramane?” he asks. The camp is quiet, but Limearsy and I both know that our words are not being ignored. Samiah and his men are undoubtedly holding their breath to make sure they do not miss a word. I lower my voice as much as possible so that we can continue our conversation.

“Nothing—and everything. It is just that I feel you are keeping something from me. I do not know what it is, but I know there is something. What is it?” I ask.

The wind sweeps through the camp before settling again. Limearsy shifts. What is the burden he carries? He leans closer, “By midday tomorrow, we will be in the Gwariff Forest.” he says, as he rummages through his pocket. He pulls out a vial of liquid, resembling the one I was given when he found me. “You will need to drink this, Eramane, to keep up your strength. You have not harvested in days.”

I look at him, just short of being angry. “I do not need to harvest, Limearsy. Look at what I have been through, and I have healed on my own. I do not need to take human life.”

“I know, Eramane. I know that you do not wish to harvest,” he says.”

“I do not wish it. I will not harvest,” I say.

“Eramane.” He softens, putting the vial in my hand. “Just drink this, please,” he urges.

“Limearsy, I do not need your elixirs.” I push the vial back at him.

“You do, Eramane.”

“No, I do not. Now take it or I will throw it!” I say. I have had my fill of vials and tinctures and concoctions. He moves in closer, much closer; our faces almost touch.

“Yes, you do. How the hell do you think you have made it this far without harvesting?”

“What are you talking about, Limearsy?”

“You have gained your strength from this, Eramane,” he says putting the vial in my face. “I made it especially for you, so that you could live without having to take lives. Do you see?” he asks eagerly. I snatch the vial and hold it against the light of the small campfire. It is beautiful, tempting. I continue to examine the liquid, admiring it, desiring it. I find that my urge to consume the elixir is not much different than my urge to harvest.

“So, I am still like him,” I say, tears welling. I remove the cork and consume Limearsy’s elixir.

“You are not like him, Eramane,” he says. I hand the empty glass vial back, putting it in his hand with a defeated sigh. Limearsy takes the vial and then grasps my hand; he squeezes it gently. “You are no more like that fiend than I am. Do not lose yourself again, Eramane. Just give the elixir some time; you will feel stronger soon. Trust me when I say this, Eramane.” He clasps his hands around mine. “It is better for you than a harvest.”

“Trust you? For all I know, you are just using me to defeat Adikiah, and then once I am weak, you will come for me too. And you want me to trust you? I do not even know you!” He looks at me, seeing straight through to my defeat.

“You can trust me, Eramane. There is no one else in this world that you can trust more than me, not even your brother; humans will always fear us.” My eyes widen.

“What? Limearsy, what are you saying to me right now?” He does not hesitate to elaborate.

“My father is the one we seek to destroy. It is not only what you want, but I as well.” He checks the others to see if there is any movement.

“Your father!” Sorrow engulfs me, and tears line my eyes. “I do not believe this.” My words are sad and soft. It truly, deeply hurts. I knew he was keeping something from me, but in a thousand years I would not have suspected Limearsy to be the son of Adikiah. I do not want him to say any more, but my curiosity will not allow me to walk away.

“How?” I ask in amazement. “Adikiah never spoke of a child.”

“My mother was human. One night my father came into her house, killed her husband, and planted his seed within her. From what I was told, he let my mother know that he was coming back for me, and if she tried to flee, he would kill both of us. Derkumon came to save me from my father and helped a group of men escape with me. He was badly wounded and left to die. That is how he lost his eye. He helped raise me and encouraged me to use my strength to destroy my father.” Limearsy stands, “I am not like him, Eramane. I have a soul. I feel pain, love, hate, sadness, and loss, all of it. I even feel you. That is how I knew where to find you that night you lay dying in the mud,” he says as he pulls me to him. “I received only strength from my father, nothing else. That atrocity has to die so that we can have peace.”

“You do not have to harvest?” I ask resentfully.

“No, Eramane, but you do for now, which is why I have made these vials for you. They will help keep you strong while you learn how to summon your gift.”

“My gift? What is this gift that I have? Adikiah spoke of it, and my father, and now you. What is it? I can shake things up a little, is that it? Because summoning tremors will not keep me alive!”

“It is so much more than that, Eramane.” We have moved in so close that I can feel his breath on my face. “You are a Breather.” I look at him, saying nothing. “Do you know what that is?”

“No.”

“Well, to begin, there has not been a Breather in more than five hundred years.” I listen intently. “A Breather can control anything in existence, once they have mastered their craft: humans, animals, vegetation, the elements of our world … you see?”

“You are saying that I can control anything I choose. You expect me to believe this? Because I surely do not feel like I can do anything close to any of that.”

“You can believe it or not, but sooner or later, Eramane, my blood will deplete, those vials will run out, and you will have to harvest. If you do not learn how to seek your strength from your gift, you will be faced with a terrible decision.”

“Oh, Limearsy,” I say. “This is bad. I cannot take from you; I cannot survive that way. You cannot survive that way. I saw what it did to Adikiah when he gave part of himself to me.”

“You have to, Eramane. If you do not harvest, you must take from me.”

“And what does it do to you?” I ask.

“I will be fine, Eramane, as long as you are alive.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Gwariff Forest

GWARIFF FOREST IS A MOST
enchanting place. It reminds me of the quaint place Lebis and I had our picnic. I have never been here before, and neither have the others that accompany me. Sunbeams come down from the sky and give a warm glow to the woods. Tree creatures scurry about their business to gather the last morsels before the frigid winter comes. The trees are barren, and the ground is blanketed with the leaves that once clothed them. If I were the Eramane I used to be, I would have been taken by the magic of Gwariff Forest. Now I look at it as a sad remembrance of Lebis.

Samiah and Nahmas lead us on the narrow trail we follow through the forest, and the other two brothers trail us. Limearsy and I ride side by side, as if we are two children on our way to be punished for ignoring our chores and running off to frolic in the woods, not to be heard from all day. We have not revealed Limearsy’s secret to Samiah or the others; I am sure they would not be accepting of his true identity. They do not know that he truthfully despises their Nameless One as much as they do, and I certainly have not mentioned that I supposedly possess a gift that has been absent from the world for centuries. If they find out that Limearsy is the natural child of Adikiah, they will attack him, and I will lose my brother or be forced to fight Limearsy. I am not sure what strengths Limearsy possesses, but if he is anything like his father, he is enormously powerful, which leads me to wonder. “How have you managed to keep disconnected from your father all of these years?” I ask.

“Well, at first Derkumon sought help of an impression caster. They helped shield my existence from him until I was old enough to control it myself.”

“I see.”

“Eventually I learned that I could hear him, sense him when I wanted, without him detecting me. That is how I discovered you, Eramane.” Limearsy tells me of his mother and how her purity was passed on to him. “Derkumon said that this was the reason they knew they could raise me as one of their own.” Limearsy continued to tell me that Derkumon taught him how to focus his thoughts by listening to the sound of his breath. “I would get so worked up trying to control the barrier between me and my father that I would feel like my mind was going to explode.”

“Do you think you could teach me?”

“Surely,” he says, smiling. This cheers me a little, and I decide to ride up next to Samiah.

I gallop my horse to Samiah and slow it to meet his pace. He looks around the wooded area intently, then realizes I have joined him. “I was wondering when you were going to join me,” he says. He looks at me briefly, then back to the forest. “Did you witness what became of Lebis?”

I hang my head before answering, “Yes, I did.” I can see that my dear brother feels pity for me.

“Did that …
thing
 … hurt you?” he asks, as he tries to swallow the lump in his throat.

“Yes … more than I could describe to you, more than you could bear to hear.” Samiah is silent for a moment, then speaks again.

“What is it?” he asks exhaustedly. I take a short time to find the words.

“His name is Adikiah. His kind has been around since the beginning of it all. His true form is the creature you saw. It is what he becomes in order to harvest, the form he was when he killed Lebis and took me.”

“I cannot imagine how frightened you were,” Samiah says sympathetically.

The sound of dried leaves and twigs snapping under the horses’ feet fills in our silence. Every once in a while a horse will snort, but that is the only noise. After a few silent moments, I continue to elaborate on the beast they call the Nameless One. I think it will be best if Samiah does not know details of my stay with the hideous fiend he has been forced to hate so deeply; therefore, I do not tell him of them.

“He is very powerful, Samiah, and truly there is no reason for you or your men to be here right now. You are no match for Adikiah,” I say.

“Have you told your companion this, Eramane?” Samiah asks quickly.

“Limearsy is with me for reasons I cannot say,” I reply. “But yes, I urged him to rethink his decision to accompany me.”

“Shall he fall easily as well?” Samiah asks. “If you think that I could let this go and wait for my sister and someone I do not know to avenge my family, then you are mistaken, Eramane. I would rather die to avenge our father and Lord Danius than do nothing,” he firmly states.

“Mother?” I utter, sadly remembering what I did to her. I have assumed that she lives since Samiah has not spoken of her as though she is dead. My grief is overwhelming and tears fall down my face as I ride next to my brother in silence.

“She lives,” Samiah offers relief.

“How does she feel about her daughter?” I ask, wiping at the steady stream of tears.

“That beast is responsible for all of this, Eramane; I know this, and so does she. Mother loves you and misses you. She only wants you to return home, alive and safe.”

Again our words cease for moments, and I begin to look at the surroundings. Even though Samiah assures me that our mother still has love for me, I still harbor immense grief for the pain I have caused her.

Once we pass through Gwariff Forest, our journey will not take us much farther. Adikiah lives near Gwariff Forest, and I am sure that he waits for us. He has no reason to fear us or send a legion to keep us away. He does not know Limearsy is his son, and that his son wants to end him.