Griffin's Shadow (26 page)

Jelena sprang to her feet. “They’re here! Ashinji’s home!” she cried and rushed out into the cold, Eikko hard on her heels. The wind whipped back the cloak from her body and snapped loose coils of hair about her face as she stood gazing out across the parade ground toward the upper gates of the castle. The strange apprehension building within her crested until she now shook with anxiety.

Where are you, Ashi?

“Daughter, I see you’re already here.”

Jelena spun around to see the king descending the broad steps, Sen and Prince Raidan flanking him on either side. Sonoe, resplendent in a green velvet cloak lined with fox fur, followed Keizo. Jelena ran to her father and clung to him, on the verge of tears.

Keizo looked startled, then concerned. He folded his arms around Jelena and asked “What’s all this now, child? Why are you in such a state?”

Jelena looked into her father’s winter-grey eyes.

“I…I can’t explain, Father. I just feel like something’s terribly wrong with Ashi. I’ve felt this way for a while now.” She shook her head in irritation, angry with herself for her emotional weakness. She pulled away from Keizo’s embrace and drew herself up straight. “I’m being silly,” she stated. “Ashi is well and he’s riding home to me.”

“’Course he is, my dear,” Sen chimed in. “If anything had happened to him…to either of my sons, I’m sure we’d have heard already.” He looked back over his shoulder and muttered, “Hmm. I wonder where Amara and Misune are?”

“Misune is not feeling well, Father-in-law, and Mother stayed behind with her,” Jelena explained. “She’s had such a hard time, you know.”

Despite Misune’s excellent health, her pregnancy had not gone well, and she often could not rise from bed. Jelena actually felt sorry for her. She and Misune would never warm to each other, but of late, they had arrived at a peaceful coexistence, due, Jelena felt, to their shared condition.

“You’re right, of course,” Sen replied. “We men can be incredibly insensitive at times.” He scratched his head, looking a little sheepish.

“Oh! I think I see them!” Eikko burst out, then covered her mouth with her hand and shrank back behind Jelena.

“Yes, here they come,” Raidan confirmed, glancing at the hikui girl with a frown.

Jelena ran down the last steps to stand on the cold gravel of the parade ground, ignoring the chill seeping through the thin leather soles of her slippers. She focused her entire attention on the company of riders, just coming into view.

Three riders detached themselves from the vanguard and galloped ahead, sliding to a stop before Jelena, the hooves of their mounts spitting gravel. Sadaiyo, in his distinctive black-lacquered armor, dismounted first. He handed over the reins of his horse to the man on his right and approached Jelena. Something in the way he carried himself set off a wave of fear that rushed from her head down to her toes and back again, leaving her dizzy and a little sick.

Ashinji isn’t with him!

Sadaiyo halted in front of her and pulled off his helmet.

“Where is my husband?” Jelena demanded.

Sadaiyo’s eyes flicked to her face, then away. He shifted his gaze past her right shoulder, then bowed low.

“Lord Sadaiyo, you have returned safely and with success. I congratulate you and offer you the profound gratitude of our people.” Keizo had come up behind Jelena, and now rested a hand upon her shoulder.

“Thank you, Majesty,” Sadaiyo murmured. Jelena glared at him, willing him to look at her, but his eyes once again skipped over her face to focus on his father, who had come to stand at Jelena’s left.

The terrible pressure built up within her gave way.

“
Where…is he?
” she screamed. Eikko gasped in dismay, and Keizo squeezed her shoulder hard, as if to steady her.

“Father…Sister-in-law,” Sadaiyo began. The clatter of dozens of hooves rang in the air around them as Sadaiyo’s company fell in behind him in orderly ranks. Still refusing to meet Jelena’s eyes, he continued. “We were caught by surprise while encamped at the Saihama fords. The humans sent several small raiding parties ahead to set fire to the meadow where the army lay sleeping. My brother rode out—alone—toward the river to scout, according to his sergeant.” Sadaiyo looked over his shoulder and indicated with a lift of his chin a man with the insignia of Peregrine Company on his tabard.

He paused, as if to gather his thoughts. “When I heard where he had gone, I knew Ashinji was in terrible danger, so I immediately rode after him,” Sadaiyo continued. “I did find him…but…” His voice faltered and his eyes swiveled downward.

“But what, Son? Please, tell us!” Sen’s voice shook.

Sadaiyo raised his head and addressed his father. “Ashinji had been ambushed by one of the raiding parties. By the time I got there, they had already dragged him off his horse. I saw them… hacking at him. He tried to defend himself, but there were just too many. I got off a few arrow shots before…before they saw me and started firing back. Ashi wasn’t moving; I knew he was dead. I tried to get to him…I really did! I couldn’t even retrieve his body because…because they tied a rope to him and dragged him away across the river…. I’m so sorry Father!” Sadaiyo lapsed into silence.

Jelena threw back her head and wailed.

Ashi is dead? No, that can’t be true!

Her knees buckled, and she fell backward into the arms of her father.

“Are you absolutely sure that my son-in-law is dead?” she heard Keizo cry.

“My child…my son!” Sen moaned in anguish.

Rage, like a white-hot star, flared to life within Jelena. She struggled to her feet, then, without warning, launched herself at Sadaiyo, screaming, “
You’re lying! You did this! You killed him!
” She swung a vicious punch at Sadaiyo’s face, snapping his head back with the force of the blow. His nose exploded in a spray of blood. Cursing, he clapped his hands over his face and staggered backward, gore leaking through his entwined fingers.

Strong hands seized Jelena’s arms from behind and pinned them to her sides. Everyone shouted at once, a crazy babble of voices. Jelena screamed again. “
I know you did this! I swear I’ll make you pay!
” Her eyes burned dry and hot. The terrible rage within her had boiled all her tears away before they could form. Within her womb, Jelena’s daughter began to kick frantically, as if she understood the awful tragedy that had befallen her and her mother.

Without warning, blue flame erupted in a brilliant geyser of energy from the tips of Jelena’s fingers, blasting the gravel at her feet and causing those that held her to fall back in consternation. Her vision narrowed down to a dark tunnel with Sadaiyo’s face staring at her, open mouthed, from the far end. Slowly, she raised her hands and stretched them toward Ashinji’s murderer.

“Jelena, stop this now!” a voice cried.

Blinking in confusion, Jelena came back into herself to find Sonoe standing in front of her, blocking her view of Sadaiyo and preventing her from flinging the lethal energy that crackled from her fingertips.

“Jelena,” Sonoe whispered. “I can’t allow you to do this. You’ll destroy yourself as well as him.”

The blue fire sputtered and died. Jelena’s hands fell to her sides and she drew in a deep, shuddering breath.

Gods, what did I almost do?
Her entire body trembled.

“I want to see my wife,” Sadaiyo mumbled through his bloody fingers.

Jelena turned and collapsed into Keizo’s arms.

“Jelena, my sweet child,” the king murmured. “I know the agony you feel right now, but surely... Ashinji was Sadaiyo’s brother! It’s unthinkable he could have had a hand in your husband’s death. I’m certain what he says is true.”

Jelena shook her head. “No, Father…He’s lying…I know it! Sadaiyo hates Ashi… He always has!” She threw a wild look at Sonoe. “Truthread him!” she wailed. “Please, Sonoe! Do it now!”

Sonoe’s eyes brimmed with tears. “I cannot, Jelena. It’s…it’s not proper for me to enter the mind of a nobleman uninvited.”

Jelena pounded her fists against Keizo’s chest. “Help… help me!” she moaned. Her entire world had just collapsed and she felt herself sliding down into the madness of overwhelming grief.

A thick silence had settled over the parade ground. Those troopers in the front ranks witnessing the drama as it unfolded stood still as statues.

“Lord Sadaiyo, I want a full report as soon as you can make it,” Prince Raidan spoke up.

“Yes, Highness,” Sadaiyo replied. He sniffed loudly and wiped his dripping nose with a cloth. “I ask permission to dismiss the troops, your Majesty.”

“Granted,” Keizo said. Sadaiyo turned to the two men behind him and gave the order.

Jelena closed her eyes and tried to retreat to the still point in her mind Taya had shown her, the spot of refuge and peace, but no peace or solace for her pain awaited her there. Ashinji, her husband and soul-mate, the father of her child, was dead and lost to her.

How will I survive?

“Come, Daughter. Let me take you inside, out of the cold. It’s not good for you or the baby.” With gentleness, Keizo took her by the arm and led her toward the castle doorway. Eikko, weeping piteously, followed a few steps behind. Jelena allowed herself to be led, unresisting. She didn’t care where she went; nothing mattered any more.

As she passed through the massive portals of the castle, she paused once to look over her shoulder, in the vain hope that Sadaiyo’s news was a horrible mistake and she would see Ashinji galloping across the parade ground on his horse Kian, alive and whole.

Instead, she saw Sen, his face contorted by grief, the agony of his loss like a gaping wound. He stood before Sadaiyo, eyes closed and hands clenched into fists, looking as though he would shatter at any moment. Sadaiyo laid a hand on his father’s arm, but Sen flinched away, as if he found the touch of his surviving son too painful to endure. Shoulders slumped, Sadaiyo turned and walked away, leaving his father standing alone, inconsolable.

We both loved him almost too much
, Jelena thought, and then all thoughts ceased, leaving her mind enveloped in cold, bleak despair.

~~~

Now is the time to strike, when she is most vulnerable!

“No, Master, not now! She is too well protected. Taya has her wrapped about with so many wards, I can barely sense her anymore.”

Sonoe stood at the center of the Summoning Sigil etched into the floor of her cellar work room, the Nameless One floating before her like a miniature storm cloud.

She twirled a lock of hair around her forefinger, then flung it away in frustration. “I’ve tried breaking through, but they’re just too strong and well-crafted.”

A surge of energy—blue-black and deadly cold—lanced out from the spectral form and struck Sonoe between the eyes. Agonizing pain tore through her skull. She screamed and fell to the hard-packed earth, writhing and clutching her head.

Your efforts have been pathetically weak so far! I am beginning to regret my choice of you as a tool. You are proving yourself to be unequal to the task, woman.

“No, no!” Sonoe gasped. She levered her body up into a submissive crouch, hands still pressed to her throbbing skull, and gazed through narrowed eyes at the entity she had chosen to serve. “I am equal…
more
than equal, I swear! I am making good progress with her; she considers me her friend. She trusts me. If I move too fast I will arouse too much…suspicion…Ai, Goddess!”

The pain ceased, and Sonoe moaned in relief. She wrapped her arms around her body to stop it from shivering. Several of her warding candles had sputtered out; she re-ignited them with a wave of her hand.

I am growing impatient. Every moment you delay, each hour that passes without the Key in my possession…my enemies gain that much more time to gather their strength and plan their opposition.
The nebulous entity twisted slowly in on itself, then extended a tendril, snake-like, to loop around Sonoe’s body, caressing her as gently as a lover. A second tendril wrapped around her neck and began to squeeze.

The sudden increase in pressure around her throat cut off Sonoe’s cry of alarm. Her thoughts swung wildly from pleas to curses and back again as darkness blurred the edges of her vision. She struggled, to no avail. The Nameless One held her fast in a grip as solid and cold as iron.

Just as quickly as he had struck, he released her. She slumped onto her back, choking and gulping for air.

A reminder of my strength, which grows as each day passes. I am still not strong enough to break free completely, but the chains my enemies imprisoned me with so long ago are weakening.

Sonoe sat up, rubbing her neck. Cautiously, she climbed to her feet, her eyes never leaving the slowly writhing spirit-form—the only manifestation the Nameless One could manage at present. Despite his apparent fragility, he nevertheless still posed a deadly threat, as he had so effectively demonstrated.

“I need more time to find a way around Taya’s protections,” Sonoe said. “Taya is not the only one shielding the girl. The king himself is using some of his Talent to block access to her, although he is unaware on a conscious level of what he is doing. Also, I can’t work openly. I must move with stealth or I’ll be discovered.”