Phoenix in Shadow - eARC (21 page)

Tobimar had already increased his own strength and speed, and saw both Zogen and the Reflect stepping up to help. Between the three of them, they were able to use leverage of their own to restrain Tirleren and force his mouth open. Hiriista poured a small portion of liquid from the vial into Tirleren’s mouth and poked the throat in a fashion that forced a reflexive swallow.

Instantly Tirleren went nearly limp, twitching. Hiriista looked grave, but had them repeat the maneuver for Demmi. Hamule, the little Child of Odin, was able to force herself to sit still for the dosing, and while she looked to be in terrible pain didn’t seem in as much distress as the other two; both Minnu and Abiti took their doses easily.

Then Hiriista took up the green-stone amulet. “By Ocean and Forest, let impurity be banished!”

Emerald light blazed from the stone and exploded into the five children. Hiriista held the stone in a deathgrip, scales standing up around his hand from the tension, and
drove
the power forward.

All five screamed, but those of Demmi and Tirleren were shrieks of tearing agony.
Something
rose up in that forest-green light, five
somethings
struggling and scrabbling with multiple pairs of legs to hold on as they were rejected by the bodies they had inhabited, creatures not entirely solid nor entirely immaterial being ripped from the napes of the childrens’ necks. Tirleren’s was the largest, the length of Tobimar’s forearm and giving vent to its own high-pitched keening of pain and fury; Demmi’s was only slightly smaller.

Shades paler than normal, Zogen Josan and the Reflect stepped forward as one, and blades leapt from their scabbards; the floating creatures were sundered instantly in a pair of mirrored strokes.

Hiriista’s light faded. Minnu and Abiti lay crying, Hamule was barely conscious, but the other two were sagging down as though nothing was left.

Kyri caught the two before their heads hit the floor, gazed at them, and put her hands on the two. “Myrionar, hear me. Heal these children, innocent victims of monsters who sought more than their mere deaths.”

The golden, singing light of Myrionar answered her, and Tobimar once more felt the rush of awe that power inspired. He had seen it more than once, but there was something
different
about it that made even great magics less impressive by comparison. You
knew
that you saw the power of a god in action.

But in his current state, seeing with the High Center through his trained senses, he saw something else; Kyri’s power poured into the two bodies, and most of it was pouring out again. “Phoenix! Something’s wrong!”

Kyri’s shoulders tightened. “I...see it. These monsters...wove into their souls, not just their bodies. These are soul wounds, their very essences ripped apart. I should have suspected it.”

“Then...”

“Then I have to do something else.”

The auric aura flared higher, filled the entire room with the tingling power of Myrionar, and he could see something else happening; a weave of golden energy, extending from Kyri, twining about the shining but tattered spirits of the children.
By Terian, what’s she doing? How can she be pulling
that
much power from Myrionar here, when—

No. Oh, by the Light in the Darkness, she’s
not
getting it from Myrionar...

“Stop, Phoenix!” he shouted, barely keeping himself from using her real name. “Stop! You can’t tear your own soul apart to—”

“I
swore
I would not let this happen! And it
can
work, I know it can! I saw the Arbiter—”

He remembered her story—and that the Arbiter was still, a year later, hurt and weakened by the attempt that ultimately had failed.

No. She’s going to kill herself doing this! Maybe they’re not as hurt as her brother was, but one soul can’t possibly bind—

One soul?

He reached out and put both of his hands atop hers, resting on the heads of Tirleren and Demmi. “Let me help, then. Take from me.”

A blink, a hesitation...and then a rush of understanding and gratitude.

Tobimar could not restrain a grunt of agony as the tearing began, ripping delicate strands of his very soul carefully away from the edges, sewing up the ruptured spirits of the children they were saving.

And then there was another presence. “I cannot allow you to take all of the risks for my own people,” the Reflect said.

And another. “We are comrades, are we not? Let a Magewright support you as well!”

And a third, touching hesitantly then clamping down with decision. “And can I do less who was once a Color?” asked the voice of Zogen Josan.

And even Poplock bounced to her shoulder—wordless, of course, so as not to give himself away—but Tobimar knew she would understand the offer as clearly as if it were spoken.

Kyri looked up and her smile lit the room more than her own power.

Myrionar’s power mingled with their own and stripped pieces from all of them—but among so many, six souls to heal two children, Tobimar could tell that the damage was so much less that Kyri would not die, would not even be crippled from this attempt, because they were supporting her, giving her the strength that she could never have survived tearing from her own soul alone.

Even as he became aware of another commotion behind them, the blazing gold-fire detonated around the six of them, all flowing and channeled by the power of Kyri Victoria Vantage, the Phoenix Justiciar of Myrionar. A towering, shining sword-balance burned in the air, visible above and through the cabin as though the walls were made of clearest crystal. “Myrionar, by the sacrifice of the willing and bindings of pure soul, by the power of mercy and of justice, and by my will and your wisdom seal these wounds, heal these souls and let these children live again!”

The concussion of power scattered them across the floor like pebbles, yet Tobimar felt no more pain, only tired exaltation. He blinked, clearing fiery afterimages from his eyes.

Tirleren and Demmi lay still in the middle of the floor, Kyri collapsed beside them. And then Tirleren slowly raised his head, Demmi as well, and suddenly began to cry—tears of pain and fear, yes, but also clear tears of relief and joy.

From the floor, Kyri opened her eyes and looked at them all, a smile on her face. She looked past him and her exhausted smile widened.

Crowded around the bottom of the stairs, mostly fallen from the same final shock of the ritual that had felled the five involved in it, were half a dozen of the villagers—and, still standing but staring with impossibly wide blue eyes, was Miri, Light of Kaizatenzei.

Chapter 28

Miri stepped into her guestroom at the Reflect’s mansion and closed the door, leaning against it heavily.
I’m
shaking
! Shaking like a terrified human!

Her current body
was
human, in a way...but in all the centuries she’d been in such bodies, she’d
never
had such a reaction. Miri held her arm up in front of her, watched the trembling of the delicate hand, the imprecision of its movements, with stunned fascination; it took twice as long as normal to set the wards and seals of privacy.

In a way, she could understand it. So many shocks, one after another. First, stepping into that cabin and seeing the true power of a god unleashed—through the constant oppressive interference of Moonshade Hollow which impeded even her kind—and the incredible, heart-wrenching beauty of that power and the Phoenix, tearing her own soul and the voluntarily offered souls of the others so she could patch together the shredded, dying spirits of two children, and beyond. Though Phoenix had not realized it, her power had flowed even beyond the two most wounded, touched upon Hamule and bound her wounded spirit just a touch, eased the pain and memories for all five.

Miri found a wondering smile on her face at the thought, then banished that expression with shock and panic.

It didn’t hurt. Why didn’t it
hurt
?

But that question hadn’t occurred to her right away. She had been uplifted, confident, and helped Phoenix to rise. It was agreed by all three—herself, Phoenix, and Tobimar—that the master
itrichel
had to be dealt with immediately, and that it had to be in the Reflect’s household.

And they’d been right; Nimelly, his Head of House, had been the host of the creature. Once she realized she was cornered, she had fled, with the three of them in close pursuit. Tobimar had outdistanced them for a few moments and brought the
itrichel
to bay...

And that was the second terrible shock
.

Tobimar had faced the
itrichel
-Nimelly with a serene face, a transcendent look in his eyes, twin swords held parallel before him, and she
knew
that pose, that stance, remembered the terrible gray-eyed calm that had advanced through the armies of Kerlamion as though the demons were blades of grass before his vengeful hurricane, in the days after the Fall.
That Art is not lost, and does that mean that...
He
...is returning?

She had stumbled, but somehow—though the terror was nigh-overwhelming—caught herself, regained control, only for yet
another
shock to overtake her.

For the
itrichel
had snarled, “How do you
resist?
” as her blade rang against Tobimar’s.

“Yield and you may learn. Fight and you will die,” Tobimar had said bluntly. “For my companions are here.”

Nimelly then leapt back, with an agility far beyond human, and came on guard, watching all three. She smiled. “But are they companions you can
trust?
” she had asked...and for a moment the narrowed eyes had flickered yellow-green, looking directly at Miri.

It knows what I am! It could betray
everything!

She had launched herself into the air, even before her course of action was clear; by the time she reached the apex of the leap, she had known what she must do. The two companions
must
believe she was their ally and friend, which meant she must somehow save Nimelly—and absolutely, permanently silence the
itrichel
before it could reveal the truth.

She unleashed a Shardstorm, impaling Nimelly in multiple yet non-vital points with the glittering blue-ice fragments. The
itrichel
, realizing it was trapped, had abandoned the body, tried to flee, but in doing so gave Miri a clear opportunity, and the Hammer of Thunder obliterated every trace.

And even
then
there was no respite from the tension; for what if Nimelly remembered what the
itrichel
knew? She hadn’t...but there were also other
itrichel
out there by now, matured from the sithigorn and other young animals. If
they
knew the truth...

She sat down on the bed, trying to clear the confusion and panic and elation and fury, to get some kind of idea of what she actually
felt
, to make
sense
of it all. I
cannot
have felt joy at the Phoenix’s ritual. I
cannot
! That would mean...

She drove
that
thought out with sheer terror and denial. For if
that
was true, then somehow the thing she had resisted for millennia, that had been trying to eat away at her
self
for all the time they had been here, was finally overcoming her, now, just when complete victory was in her grasp. It wasn’t happening. It
couldn’t
be happening. It was the
persona
she had adopted, that was all. “Miri” would of course be awed and overjoyed, fascinated even, by such a miracle. And miracle it was; not all the magic of Kaizatenzei could have saved those children, but the Phoenix of Myrionar had made it look easy—though as Miri had seen, it was certainly not.

In a sense, that was good; attention was entirely on the emissary of the God of Justice and Vengeance, and for once that meant that people downstairs
weren’t
all crowded around Miri, so she had been able to get away without drawing attention to herself. And she
needed
this time alone.

And there were people she needed to talk to. Oh, yes, immediately.

The golden scroll was instantly out of her pack and set up. Miri found herself bouncing her knee in nervousness as she waited for the other person to answer.
Stop that! I must
not
show any such weakness in front of
him
.

But that was easier said than done. The problem was that she was feeling entirely too many things right now, some good, some bad, and some just
confusing
, and that made her twitchy and annoyed. Which wasn’t at
all
a good thing to be in conversation with
Him
.

Even as she drew a breath and tried to focus on calming herself, on dealing with the mission, the golden scroll darkened and cleared to show the ever-pleasant features of Viedraverion’s current form. “Ermirinovas! Always a pleasure.”

She decided that his infuriating cheer needed to be dealt a bit of a blow, and that would also help cheer
her
up. “You treacherous little
nyetakh
.”

Instead of looking taken aback, the smile widened. “And as always I can rely on your unswerving politeness! What is it that—”

“The so-called ‘key’ is a
Tor master
!” she snapped, feeling again the chill and shock that had nearly overcome her.

“
What?”
The surprise on the face was genuine. A moment later, the smile returned, this one of chagrin. “Ah. Of course, I should have guessed, given his instructor.”

She felt the blood leave her face and dizziness assailed her.
Curse this human body!
“Are...no, you cannot be saying that
He
has returned, is instructing—”

“Oh, no, no, not
him
. I have not seen him, nor sign that he...” Viedraverion paused. “Or perhaps I have. I must think on this. But in your particular case, no. But that is little comfort, I think, because his instructor was Konstantin Khoros.”

“
Khoros!
” She spat the name out like a curse—which, indeed, it was. “And you did not see fit to
warn
us?”

The infuriating smile was back. “You asked for me to watch for certain things. I watched for them. I think you would still want your key even
with
this complication, yes?”

Calm. Calm.
It was hard, much harder with the turbulent confused emotions within her, but she forced herself to clarity and some measure of calm. “Yes. Yes, we would. So...enough of that. However, there
is
the matter of his companion.”

“Oh?”

“She is the channel of a
god!
” Anew she saw the towering golden Sword-Balance, blazing up and through the cabin, rising above the trees, and felt again that strange chill and warmth, the
power
of a deity manifest in the girl who was sacrificing part of her
own
soul, as well as those of others, to save two children she had never before met. “A full channel, not some random priest! I have never felt such a thing, not even from the Stars and Sun!”

The blond-haired form leaned back in his chair and smiled. “Well, yes. You have dealt less with the gods and their powers than I, so you do not understand the difference. In the Stars and Sun of Terian, you have a vast
power
, yes, but they are, in the end analysis, merely containers for power, not the Light in the Darkness himself. That does not of course mean they are
safe
, as you well know, but they are not themselves the Will of the Deity made manifest.” He gazed into a distance she could not see. “Even if they
were
—say if Terian had been called forth to activate them—there would be a difference. Terian has immensely many shrines, temples, priests, worshipers—scattered across the entire continent, some even within your own valley. He is many places at once, always.

“Myrionar, however...has only the Phoenix. Oh, there is one priest, but even he looks to
her
as the example and symbol. You felt the power of a focused, even desperate god providing what it could to its one remaining champion, and that, I have no doubt, was a magnificent sight indeed to one of our perceptions.”

“Oh, it
was
magnificent!” She caught herself before she went any farther.
This part I play is becoming too real. I must remember it is only a
seeming
, not an actuality...or it might
become
actuality
. “But also dangerous.”

Viedraverion shrugged. “If you make too many mistakes, yes. She is a very formidable young woman. But you have the power, you have the allies, you have the advantages. I trust you will be able to handle her and your key.”

“As long as Khoros isn’t directly intervening.” She didn’t even want to
think
about that. Ermirinovas was powerful, yes, but she knew that going up against a Spirit Mage of Khoros’ age and power would be a foregone conclusion, and not one in her favor.

“No, of that I can be sure. My...sources tell me that he has actually been seen serving as advisor to the new Sauran King as they prepare for the counterassault against our beloved father.”

That was something of a relief. But...“Does Father know?”

“I presume he does. He has his own spies.”

She studied him. “You don’t seem concerned. I thought you had an interest in this Phoenix.”

“I have an interest in how her journey ends—in victory or in failure. I won’t tell you you cannot deal with her in any fashion that suits your needs.”

“Indeed?” He nodded. “Well...all right. Also, I did intercept your other visitor, Aran Condor, and sent him the
other
way around the Necklace. I’m arranging for sightings and rumors of the Phoenix aong the way, so he’ll stick to the trail and never wonder about it all the way there.”

“Really? Well done, little sister. I commend you. Exactly as I would have asked.” He looked off to the side. “I must be going; other responsibilities call, and I believe we have...cleared up our misunderstanding?”

“Sufficiently. Farewell, Viedraverion.”

“And you, Ermirinovas.”

She put the scroll away, checked the seals and wards again. Not that she expected anyone to try to spy on her—the Phoenix certainly would never even think of such a thing and she doubted Tobimar would either, and none of the others in Jenten’s Mill would dare—but only a fool trusts unreservedly.

Once she was sure that things were still secure, she removed the farcaller from her pouch and placed it on the table. “Lady Shae,” she said.

The image of Kalshae’s human form materialized almost instantly; she was in her own chambers, so there was no need to delay. “Miri. What is it?”

Now she had someone to
really
vent her tension on. “I would ask rather what is
this?
” She held up one of the
itrichel
corpses.

Kalshae blinked in startlement. “Where did you—”

“Jenten’s Mill. An infestation that came up out of the
lake
—how very surprising,” she let sarcasm fill the last words for a second or two before continuing, “and then when the townsfolk stopped depredations on their young livestock the thing took over one of the townsfolk and started abducting
children!
”

“Well, that’s unfortunate, but—”

“Unfortunate? You
fool
, Kalshae! You and Wieran play with all these clever little inventions but you never see the way the game has to be played, and you have too little respect for the danger! They sent for help and found our key and his party—and naturally they came right away.”

Finally Kalshae was giving her undivided attention to Miri, and Miri began to feel—slightly—better. “Now it was bad enough that it was hurting the town; as long as we’re running a kingdom we
need
stability, not fear and uncertainty. But far
worse
was the fact that it was one of
yours
.”

“How do you—”

“How do I know? How do I
know
?” She leaned forward, glaring so fiercely that Kalshae actually stepped back a pace. “Because the Father-damned thing almost
gave me away
! The
only
thing that kept the whole situation from going straight to the Light was that the master
itrichel
got fancy and instead of just telling them what I was, hinted and looked at me in a way I couldn’t possibly mistake. I could tell it expected I would betray them at that point. I finished it instead.

“
Fortunately
,” she continued, overriding Kalshae’s attempt to speak, “they thought that it was simply planning on mind-controlling us—it couldn’t affect Tobimar—and that was why we wouldn’t be able to be trusted. And while they
had
wanted to capture it and question it about its other nest, they understood my need to act.”