Healer (12 page)

The storm could offer
better hiding.

He fanned out his tail
feathers and prepped his wings for flight. The smell of opposition faded toward
the west.

Call yourself a
Healer?
Jangus pushed himself into
flight. Black wings graced the air currents and lifted him skyward while
another round of thunder called him closer.
Afraid of a little rain, Shy?

He pumped his wings
harder, watching how the landscape passed below in a blur of color. At his
approach, the storm seemed to consider him by quieting.

“You should!”
Jangus cawed loudly.
“I will not submit to
cowardice!”

A bolt of lightning
jumped from one build-up to the next, followed by a clap of thunder. The clouds
took a breath, seeming to pull back a fleeting moment. That was when Jangus
took his chances and entered darkness. The ground looked scorched. Sunlight
suffocated until snake-like fingers of clouds curled around and snatched the
raven into its midst.

The Healer floundered in
a sudden wind whipping his feathers in every direction. While his head pounded
with uncertainly, his pride kept him going. Hot, white streaks brought every
follicle on end. It reflected in his white eyes scanning for an opening in the
blackness. Blindly, he pressed on, until the clouds at last parted to reveal a
clearing.

An eerie stillness
hung in the air. The surrounding storm remained, but quieted. He paid little
attention to the various ferns and underbrush with their strange coloration.
Here, trees shrewdly slunk upwards with black-veined leaves as he landed on a
pair of coal-black gates.

Good!
Another territory to claim.
Jangus peered up at a looming castle. Not intimated by
its sheer size, he lifted his tail feathers to mark the iron bars below with
flecks of white dropping.

 
A dense fog had obscured most of the building.
Slowly, it pulled aside. Designs carved into stone arched high over the
threshold in an unpleasant frown. Two matching triangles slanted above the
entrance like two narrowing eyes.

“
Do
’
a-exo’ ser jolont sies’,”
a rasping
whisper penetrated his thoughts. Current motivations erased, leaving the raven
in a daze to follow the words,
“You will do as I command.”

CHAPTER
9

Evening settled around
three travelers slowly making their way along the dirt road. Delexi, with a
slight limp to his gait, led the way with Katherine and Twilight following
close to his side. Waning sunlight had triggered the Healers’ pupils to expand,
allowing a better glimpse of barren fields lining the road’s right side. They
could see its wavering tips every time a passing breeze swept low. To their
immediate left a vast expansion of forest followed their path as far down until
curving over a hill. In the distance a rumble of thunder greeted their ears.

“We’re close,”
the wolf growled. He repeatedly looked to the sky,
drawn to the hazed glow of moon behind a thin covering of clouds.

“I’ll say.” Katherine
waved a hand back and forth in front of her nose to fan the air.

Twilight let out a
quick breath while mimicking her actions. “Maybe Jangus should have been a Wind
Healer; he knows more about changing the smell of air than shifting forms.”

Katherine rolled her
eyes.
“And proper shifting at that.”

“You don’t suppose he
knows we’re following, do you?” Twilight checked for movement between the
trees.

“Well, he’s not
slowing down,” Katherine said.

Delexi grunted and
shuffled his nose through the dirt. He must have looked comical to the other
two with dust tinting his snout. Their snickers sent him snapping at their
heels.

For the remainder of
the trip, no one spoke. It was not until they were overlooking the Realm of
Sapphire that the wolf perked his ears to Katherine’s intake of surprise. This
triggered a nervous growl from Twilight while they stared down into a void of
pure darkness. Everything about the landscape was black. The more they stared,
the more they realized this was not the same kind of black from a moonless
night that raised the hairs on the backs of their necks. Not even the moon, had
it been fully visible, could have penetrated the thick wall of clouds creating
the enormous storm seen only when a flicker of lightning streaked from one
section of swirling mass to another.

“You’re
joking
me.” Twilight balked. “Even Jangus wouldn’t be that
stupid! Still… You don’t think Shy..?”

“Was hopefully a
bit smarter,”
the wolf grunted.
“We’ll
be going around.”

Thunder rolled as much
as the clouds continued to swarm. Its constant drone of light and sound kept
the three on edge. For the time being, distance would become friend.

Katherine shivered and
felt Twilight put an arm around her shoulders for comfort. “That’s not natural.
No storm should act like that. What is this?”

“Not of Nature’s
doing,”
they heard the wolf snort.
“But
I’ll wager your Jangus won’t make it out the other side as quickly as you
think. So keep an eye on it. Perhaps by morning we’ll have made it halfway
around.”

*****

Wisdom checked a
hazed-over moon from his balcony. A long strand of bristly-looking clouds
created a feel of pulsating light lazily washing over the Eastern Clan’s yard.
Serene though it seemed, the prince could not help but peek again at the scar.
The skin had completely filled in – a stark, white circle against an already
pale complexion.

He quickly covered it.

A white gown donned
his lithesome figure as he stepped inside the bedroom door. Events that had
transpired throughout the day ran through his thoughts. He admired Ashpin’s
cool nerves. The boy had held a straight face long enough to explain
his
version of the shop’s fire. Yet his thoughts revealed a completely different
scenario. The fact that the dark winged mistress to Lorens Schevolsky had shown
herself proved that she upheld her bargain to contain his children while the
prince kept tabs on her own son, Corrigan.

“I should check on
Abraham tonight,” Wisdom said to the mirror, though it showed no signs of
response. “I’ll need updates on Corrigan should his mother decide to pay me a
visit.”

He climbed into bed,
but instead of slipping under the covers, sat cross-legged on top. A glance to
his desk confirmed the town’s prosperity for the day. Several large money bags,
which he would later split with the other clan leaders, sat waiting to be
counted and logged.

I should eventually
hire a bookkeeper.
Wisdom had already
counted out a portion to pay for the damages in town. That, combined with other
expenses for clan renovations, had taken up the better part of his day.
I
could easily take care of it with money obtained from the guild. But ‘twould do
me no good if nothing comes in to replace it.

The Healer’s ears
perked at a sound from the hallway. A few of the harpies were still settling in
for the night. Now and then he would hear the rustle of feathers adjusting to
their new beds.

There shouldn’t be
any interruptions,
he thought with
eyes closed. He waited for his breathing to steady, relaxed his muscles and
rested a hand on each knee. The memory of Abraham’s last warning was still a
concern, especially having seen eyes fading into the darkness with his last use
of dream-channeling. If Jenario knew, so then would the horn. A low rumble of
thunder faintly welcomed him from afar. It was a testimony to the storm’s
growth and foreshadowing trials to come.

Slowly, Wisdom tuned
everything out and released a mental probe into the night. The trance required
energy, the same amount as though he were conducting a full shift. The longer
his mind wandered, the more unstable he would become without it. He would need
to be quick!

His consciousness
followed the probe. No longer confined to the physical body, he allowed the
pull of pulsating waves of sound to guide him to the storm’s location. It was
easier that way. A hazed path opened before him with grayed vegetation that had
been sucked dry by the overhanging storm. Even now he could see its expanding
coverage draining the closest life-form. One blade of grass after another
withered and curled into a dry, useless shape.

It was ugly, and he
hated to think it might do the same to a person.

How ironic would it
be for the horn’s darkness to use my own hate against it!
He chuckled, though the comical thought was
short-lived by a clap of thunder that pounded inside his head – like it was
laughing.

He did not linger and
quickly found the core of the storm more convenient, being the inside of
Jenario’s home. Then, the search began.

Unlike before, Wisdom
did not rely on Nature to guide him. Instead, he sought out active energy
leftover from passing individuals. A soft pulse of green strands frantically
strewn about in a given space was enough to follow with confidence to the
castle’s second and third floors. The more active the energy, the more they
dotted his vision. When it began swarming around one of the bedroom doors,
Wisdom knew someone was inside.

But
who?
He checked his own mental strength before plunging
into the occupant’s mind – and was suddenly thrown out!

Wisdom could not
physically smell liquor. Instead, his mind generated enough of the feeling to
realize the one he had just entered was fully intoxicated.

Nathaniel…
His probe caught a glimpse of various bottles lying
on tabletops. To his disgust, the assassin was still awake. As the mind-numbing
world of a drinker acknowledged his presence, it threw up a barrier. Wisdom
could feel the effects of those drinking habits seeping into his own thoughts.
The prince staggered outside the room with his probe’s sense of direction
slightly skewed.

The bedroom door
remained closed.

He may be drunk,
but Jenario might be watching him. I need to hurry!
A numbing throb muddled the prince’s vision. A part of
him wanted out of dream-channeling as he pressed further down the long hallway.

You shouldn’t be
here!
A voice hit his probe so quick
that it jerked him to a halt.

Dream-channeling had
its
drawbacks,
and Wisdom realized that a magic-user
might be able to reverse dreams upon himself. He listened for the voice,
feeling himself begin to quiver in silent fear of being detected.

Get out!

A forceful thought
shoved the Healer’s probe completely from the castle’s interior. Back outside,
his failure was met with a thundering laugh. All around, the storm seemed to
mock him.

With energy spent,
Wisdom withdrew.

He fell out on his bed
with,
What
the hell!
continuously
running through his thoughts.
Did someone just use dream-channeling on me?

“Well, what did you
expect?” a voice directed his attention over to the mirror.

Slowly, Wisdom was
able to sit up to find his reflection already waiting for him in a cross-legged
position. Grogginess clouded his better judgment. At an attempt to stand,
Wisdom found himself clinging more to the bedposts for support.

“As’yna!”
He leaned up against the bed and stared at the
grinning figure. “A warning would have sufficed, thank you.”

“You
were
warned,” his image corrected.
“By Abraham himself.”

“I was referring to
that drunken fool!” Wisdom plopped himself in a chair, holding a hand to his
still-aching head.

“An experiment by
Jenario, no less,” his reflection said. “Nathaniel has become the latest test
subject to Abraham’s newfound ability.”

Wisdom slowly lowered
his hand at the thought. “What?”

His reflection sighed.
“Did you honestly think Abraham’s love for a father would be enough to keep him
alive? Of course not! The horn has found a new use for him, one I fear will
make him far more powerful than a mere illusionist’s body will sustain.”

A harsh realization
sent chills sweeping up Wisdom’s spine.
Magic…
He checked his
expressionless twin. “And yet Jenario doesn’t have that gift.”

“Something
that, back in the day, would have made him quite jealous.”

“Does Abraham know?”
With his grogginess nearly gone, he finally approached the oval furnishing.
“What about Corrigan?”

“Jenario’s shifted
focus gives the Black Wing time, and only because of his son.” His reflection
lifted an eyebrow and gave a crooked smile. “I would say that he
does
know what’s at stake.” The image then slid from the bed and stood to match the
prince’s stance. “You, on the other hand, have something else at stake.”

At that, Wisdom heard a
distant rumble of thunder. His gaze shifted from the mirror to the balcony
doors rattling in response, then back again. Yet instead of viewing a
reflection of his bedroom, the image had zoned out to a view of the entire
realm. He could see the storm massing from Sapphire. It crept over the border
of Trully, consuming everything in its path. Another rumble tore Wisdom’s
attention to the outdoors as if expecting the mirror’s vision to be true. For a
split second, the thought of ashen clouds grasping for him in his bedroom
caused him to break out in a sweat.

“No! I won’t allow it!
The storm is that monster’s territory. If it comes here, no one will be safe!”
He gripped the sides of the mirror in desperation. “I’ve done everything you’ve
suggested! I’ve reestablished the Eastern Clan, gained human trust. What more
would you have me do? There’s a lot at stake here, Osha!” Releasing the wooden
frame, he turned away to collect his thoughts. “It’s not just about business
anymore.
There’s the people
! Then…there’s Glory.”

“There is a way.”
The change from male to a female’s voice took Wisdom
by surprise, and when he turned back, the mirror revealed the true creature
that he held within.

The unicorn dipped her
head so the pearl horn pointed directly to his heart. Her silken, white coat
matched the color of his hair, with eyes that made any blue sky seem dull in
comparison.

“I am not without
my own strength,”
she said, the sound
of her voice calming to hear.
“To put a ring of protection around the realm,
I’ll need access to your shifting abilities.”

“Granted!”

“Do not think
lightly upon this decision. Should you try to use your abilities in
mid-process, your soul would tear between the two of us. You would become like
Jenario, with both body and soul belonging to me.”

The prince stood a
moment, his gaze unfocused to consider her warning. Then, meeting her gaze,
said, “I understand the risk, but I grant you access nevertheless. Use my
abilities as you will. I won’t interfere.”

“A unicorn’s
strength would make you quite the adversary. Do not let it tempt you, for any
reason.”