Necromancer Falling: Book Two of The Mukhtaar Chronicles (21 page)

“We?”

“The Hall of Power may demand
I
pay the price,” Gormala said. “Perhaps
both
of us. There is no way to know until it is paid in full.”

“What was the price you paid when you Awakened?” Kaitlyn asked.

“
That
is an inappropriate question.”

Judging by her reaction, Nicolas got the feeling that was similar to one necromancer asking another how many symbols of power they had. A priest didn’t talk about that unless they trusted the other person. A
lot
.

“Do you have an object you hold dear?” Gormala asked.

Kaitlyn looked at Nicolas, then pulled out a small cross hanging from a delicate gold chain under her shirt. The cross was gold as well. It was the one Nicolas had given her before they were engaged. They’d gotten into the habit of looking through the church’s gift shop after mass, and she’d always spend a few minutes admiring it.

“The
cruciform
,” Gormala said. “An ancient symbol of power, and a good choice.”

That got Nicolas’s attention. First the similarity in religious architecture between Erindor and Earth, and now
this
?

“You
know
that symbol?” Nicolas asked.

“For some it symbolizes life. For others, vengeance and death. It depends upon the culture and age in which you ask the question. Let’s begin. Call to mind your Hall of Power.”

Kaitlyn closed her eyes. “I see it. Two doors. Blue and Red.”

“Given that Siek Lamil brought you to
me
, I assume you see the disembodied head floating beyond the blue door.”

“Yes.”

“Good. This will be your path from now on.”

“Will I ever see what’s beyond the red door?”

“Perhaps,” Gormala said. “You may enter it in the future if you wish. If you
can
. But remember that any test beyond the red door is a test outside of your natural abilities. Therefore, the likelihood of failure is high.”

“What happens if I fail?”

“A meaningless question. If you fail, you will not live long enough to perceive anything
happening
.”

“Okay,” Kaitlyn said. “No red door.”

“I will take your hand,” Gormala said. “When you step through the blue door, I will guide the disembodied head to dissolve into your mind. It will become the substratum in which you mold new realities.”

“Wait,” Nicolas said. “No attack? No confusion? No…bad acid trip that involves a stinking, fire-breathing skull?”

Gormala took Kaitlyn’s hand in hers. “Step through the door when you are ready.”

Kaitlyn leaned back slightly and Gormala smiled.

“That’s it,” Gormala said. “I will perform the Awakening now. You’re going to feel light-headed as the symbol dissolves. When it passes, you will feel a new construct in your mind. That is when you may collapse the Hall of Power. And when you do, I want you to create an image of something that brings you great peace. Touch your cruciform symbol—it must come into contact with your skin—and send the image into it.”

“Why?”

“It will provide focus for more complex tasks in the future. I’ll teach you after the Awakening.”

Kaitlyn reached out and grabbed the arm of the bench. It must have begun. A moment later, she winced, then smiled.

“It’s…
strange
,” Kaitlyn said. “It’s like air rushing around my brain.”

“It is nearly complete,” Gormala said. “You are doing splendidly. Allow the energy to dissipate.” She tilted her head to the side. “That’s it. Now, I will tie off the flow of ethereal—”

Gormala gasped.

“I feel something in my mind,” Kaitlyn said. “It’s like a…you remember those
pin art
toys back home, Nick? The ones where you’d press your hand into them and it would leave a perfect impression? It feels like that, only…huge. And the pins are smaller, and closer together. It’s like I could make an impression of an entire building in it.”

Gormala stood, but she wobbled. Her eyes, which had remained pointing forward until now, spun backward in their sockets, and she collapsed to the floor.

“Gormala!” Nicolas yelled.

Nicolas knelt beside Gormala and tried to find her pulse. But he wasn’t sure where to look. In all his time in Aquonome, they’d never taught him anything of cichlos anatomy. One thing was certain, though: he hadn’t felt a rush of necropotency. Gormala must be alive.

“What happened?” Kait said.

“Siek!” Nicolas yelled. The outer door dilated and Lamil and Toridyn entered.

“One second she was there, in my mind,” Kaitlyn said. “The next, she was gone! Faded!”

“They’ll help her,” Nicolas said.

As Lamil knelt next to Gormala, a powerful wave of energy struck Nicolas and funneled down into his well of power. He turned toward Gormala and found Lamil and Toridyn staring back at him.

“No,” Nicolas said.

“Why are they stopping?” Kaitlyn asked. She stepped toward Gormala, but Nicolas took her hand gently in his.

“It’s too late,” Nicolas said. “She’s gone.”

“How do you know? They’re not even…” Kaitlyn lowered her head. “What am I saying? Of course you know.”

“Sab Toridyn,” Lamil said. “Inform the others.”

“Yes, Siek,” Toridyn said. He spun and jogged from the room.

Nicolas led Kaitlyn back to the bench and sat.

Kaitlyn stared at the ground with a blank expression.

“Gormala told you to do something after the Awakening,” Nicolas said. “With your cross. Remember?”

Kaitlyn nodded and clutched at the cross.

“She said she’d teach me after,” Kaitlyn said.

“We’ll figure it out,” Nicolas said. “There have to be other enchanters.”

Kaitlyn let go of the golden cross and it fell against her chest. “It’s done.”

Nicolas hadn’t sensed anything. “You…
did something
with it?”

“Exactly what she told me to do. I imagined something peaceful and sent the image into the cross.”

“You mean…just like
that
? No struggling, no almost killing yourself, no nothing?”

“You should know. You’ve been through an Awakening too. Why? Did you have problems at first?”

Nicolas pursed his lips. “Nope. Not a one.”

Lamil harrumphed and stood.

Three cichlos priests Nicolas didn’t know entered the room and carried Gormala away.

“That poor woman,” Kaitlyn said. “She told us there’d be a price to pay. I never thought it would be
this
.”

Kaitlyn crossed herself and rested her hand on Nicolas’s wrist, but she drew back as if she’d been shocked by static electricity.

“No problems Awakening, huh?” Kaitlyn said. “How many times did you pass out, mister
not a one
? Mujahid was right to be upset. You didn’t raise his friend properly.” She scooted farther back in her seat. “Whoa, that was a big bug. Its arms were swords?”

Nicolas snapped his gaze toward Kaitlyn. Her eyes were as wide as his felt.

“How do you know all that?” Nicolas asked. When Mujahid led him through his Awakening, Nicolas had lost consciousness while raising a penitent. The penitent—a skeletal warrior—had been Mujahid’s old friend. Mujahid had to summon a warrior of his own and destroy the uncontrolled skeleton, sending his own friend back to the Plane of Death. He’d gotten quite angry with Nicolas after that.

Kaitlyn blinked several times and her eyes came back into focus.

“I don’t know,” Kaitlyn said. “When I touched you, I saw a bunch of things. No, that’s not exactly right. I
felt
a bunch of things.
Knew
a bunch of things. Can I try something? On you?”

Nicolas scratched the tip of his nose. “Sure.”

The room fell away, and once again Nicolas stood face to face with Ensif, the argram he summoned when Paradise was under attack. Ensif stood with all six tarsal swords extended. Nicolas heard shouts behind him. Saw Mujahid melting the rock. He smelled the stench of—

The room returned.

“That’s what I saw,” Kaitlyn said. “Was I close?”

“Close? You were
precise
. That was
exactly
what I lived through!”

Toridyn ran into the room, out of breath.

“Siek,” Toridyn said. He was breathing heavily. “The fishing pod out there saw an army on the southern shore. It wasn’t Shandarian.”

“Human matters,” Lamil said.

“That’s what I thought, Siek, but this army appeared from nowhere. The pod says they materialized outside of Tur along with their fortifications.”

“
Materialized
?” Nicolas said. He recalled what Tithian had told him about the Barathosian armada
appearing
off the coast of Dar Rodon. “Barathosians.”

“Whoever they are,” Toridyn said, “they took the city. The pod says it wasn’t much of a fight. They knocked down the city walls within an hour of appearing and Tur surrendered. Now half of that force is marching north toward Caspardis.”

This wasn’t good, and Nicolas couldn’t just sit here and do nothing. He was the archmage. He had to help somehow.

Now that Kaitlyn was safe, his duty was clear. He recalled Arin’s words:
Take your rightful place in this world
.

It was time to obey that command.

“How fast can we get to Caspardis?” Nicolas asked. “Faster than that army can?”

“Much faster than the marching ones,” Toridyn said. “But if they have others who can appear out of the air, not even our transport system is that fast.”

“You can drive those things, right?”

“The aqua-pneumatic chimeraporters?” Toridyn asked. “You bip your betty!”

Nicolas had no idea what he was trying to say.

“I think you mean
bet your bippy
,” Kaitlyn said.

“I don’t get it,” Toridyn said. “What’s a
bippy
? And why is it valuable enough to bet on a game of chance?”

“Never mind,” Nicolas said. “I want to get close to Caspardis, but not so close that we end up in the Barathosian’s laps.”

“The observation promontory,” Lamil said. “During your father’s reign—”

“
Birth
father.”

“Apologies,” Lamil said. “During Kagan’s reign, we used a promontory to conceal our access to the surface.”

“Between Blackwood and Caspardis,” Toridyn said. “About a day’s ride west of Caspardis, by adda.”

“But what is your purpose?” Lamil asked. “What do you hope to accomplish?”

Nicolas was afraid Lamil would ask him something like that.

Kaitlyn stood after an awkward silence. “I think it’s a good idea.”

“You do?” Nicolas said. He stood. “I mean, thank you.” He leaned in close and whispered. “What the hell’s my idea?”

Kaitlin faced Lamil. “If we get there before the Barathosians, we can warn them. Maybe if they know what to expect, they can defend themselves.”

Not a bad idea.

“How soon can we leave?” Nicolas asked.

“You should speak with the fishing pod first,” Lamil said. “Perhaps they have details a cichlos ear might think unimportant.”

Nicolas nodded and Toridyn led the way out of the room.

As they stepped through the iris, Kaitlyn leaned her head against Nicolas’s shoulder.

Nicolas put his arm around her waist. “I wish this would all settle down so we could just
talk
. It’s been ages.”

“Me too,” Kaitlyn said. “Then you can tell me about the angel. You know…the one on the Plane of Death who was
almost
as pretty as I am?”

Kaitlyn smirked and stepped ahead of him.

Great. This new power of hers is going to be just great.

CHAPTER NINE

¹
Zubuxo’s Anger

²
And Zubuxo discovered the tears of Shealynd in his prison and was angered.

³
“Why have you done this, sister?” he asked.

⁴
“Punishment without love is vengeance,” she said.

- The Mukhtaar Chronicles, attributed to the prophet Habakku

Origines Multiversi, Emergentiae 8:1-4

This chapter of the Origines is deceptively short. Deceptive in that it hides two key tenets of Mukhtaarian theology: Anger is not a sin, and mercy for one’s penitent is to be considered the most important attribute of a Mukhtaarian priest. Though the Mukhtaar Lords have disagreed on many things throughout the ages, on one thing they agree: mistreat a penitent and you will know their wrath.

- Coteon of the Steppes, “Coteonic Commentaries on the Origines Multiversi” (circa 520 RL)