Prophecy's Promise (Prophecy of the Edges Book 1) (26 page)

Directly overhead, the winter sun beat down upon the city. The pink stone buildings glistened like embers. Was this the last time I would walk through the mountain city? It had only been ten weeks, but it felt like a lifetime.

I’d come to the city with only the clothes on my back and Shezdon’s book in my hands. I had nothing to take with me, only people to leave behind. “Yammin, thank you. When the world is put back together, you can look westward and know that it was all due to your teaching.”

With tearful eyes, he hugged me.

“I’m glad you came to the mountains,” Namje said, solemnly. “I hope you’ve learned something.”

“I think I’ve learned more than you realize,” I said.

“Do you really have to leave?” Embe pouted. Her initial reaction to me three months ago completely forgotten. She clung to me. “People who leave the mountains never come back.”

Desha walked in the door. “That can’t be true, small one. I’m going with her, and I’ll be back.”

Embe released me and eyed Desha suspiciously. “Mamma. Don’t leave,” the girl pleaded.

“Don’t be a baby,” Namje chided.

I left the family to their good-byes and waited for Desha in the street. Adara and Bahlym were already waiting for me. As difficult as leaving Gryshelm City was for me, it must be infinitely worse for Desha and the others. At least I’d been outside the city and knew that leaving was an option, not one that I’d wanted, but an option nonetheless.

“It will take forever to travel by horse to our Edge,” Adara said.

“We flew half way here, and it still took about three days to ride the remainder of the trip,” a soldier said.

“Longer than you think,” I said. “We are going significantly further north than Empire City. We are going all the way to the Northern Pointe.”

“Where the east and west edges of our Slice meet?” Adara gasped and I nodded.

“It’s supposed to be very weak up there,” I told her.

“We’ll have to take a hovercraft. There’s no other way,” said Kadir.

“Shall I call for one?” the solider asked.

“I think that’s a fantastic way to make anxious People overreact in a very violent way. Let’s wait for Desha,” I said.

And so we waited.

The wait wasn’t long, maybe an hour, but it felt like forever. While we waited, I poured over the book. I had probably gathered about everything from it that I was going to, but reading and re-reading the instructions that weren’t ripped out at least gave me something to do.

As Desha approached, Kadir called out, “Desha, I’ll call forth the hovercraft.”

“Absolutely not!” Desha’s voice boomed. The air around her sparkled with threads of Mist. “You will not desecrate my city with that tainted Mist.”

“Okay. Let’s try a compromise,” I said. “Desha, at which radius will the Mist-Challenged devices cause desecration?” It was all I could do to keep sarcasm from my voice.

“Their very existence desecrates the mountains,” Vasani spat. “These bugs insist upon using it.”

“Well, it’s the only way we can reach the pole in a reasonable amount of time.” I felt like I was instructing my class of first-year Weavers again and they’d gotten in a fight. “What about the base of the mountain?”

“That will take two hours to walk!” Kadir complained.

“Can the Mitanni carry Kadir, Adara, Bahlym, and me?”

After some additional grumbling and whining, all of which reminded me of Embe, we’d selected Mitanni to carry the four of us and zoomed off toward the hovercrafts. Rcanian, of course, carried Adara, which was fine, until we arrived at the hovercrafts. Merehan Dehdarad stood outside peering skyward. Yammin, who carried me, landed a beat before Rcanian and Adara.

Merehan immediately raced to Adara. “All is forgiven, my dear!” he declared, embracing her.

Rcanian punched him.

One hundred Mitanni pulled skeins of Mist to themselves as the Empirites powered up their Mist-Channeled devices.

“Okay,” I stepped between Rcanian and Merehan. “Adara, you are a Councilwoman, please dissolve your betrothal.”

Merehan grasped Adara’s wrist and she gasped in pain. “It’s not that simple,” he growled. “We have a contract.”

“Everyone, stand down!” I yelled before Rcanian could do anything stupid. “And Merehan let go of Councilwoman Zayad.” When no one moved, I turned to the leaders. “Kadir and Desha, control your people.”

“Merehan, release the girl,” Kadir snapped. “We don’t have time.”

“She’s mine.”

“She belongs to herself,” Rcanian growled.

“Merehan Rhamden Dehdarad, I have given an order.” Kadir’s ominous tone warned that the third demand would not be with words.

“Harlot!” Merehan spat as he pushed Adara away.

“We are not getting on those monstrosities,” Desha declared, glaring at the hovercrafts. “The Empirites showed their true colors in less than a heartbeat.”

“It was Rcanian who first punched Merehan,” I pointed out.

“We call it testosterone,” Bahlym said, dryly.

Kadir pointed to Desha. “And we call that estrogen. You are being emotional and unreasonable, woman. Get your people on the hovercrafts. We must go.”

Desha hovered a foot above the ground. Whether it was to look intimidating or because she was so livid that she didn’t realize, was anyone’s guess. “You will
not
order me about.”

“And you will dissolve Adara’s betrothal,” Rcanian demanded.

“Is this what you call cooperation?” Bahlym asked the crowd. His calm voice carried, although he did not yell. Perhaps that is what caused all eyes to snap in his direction. “We will all literally die in a few months. Every moment we spend in this futile argument is another moment in which Azabin grows stronger and our world grows weaker. Can we please fight about this after we’ve removed the first edge and the danger is somewhat abated?”

It was Kadir who spoke first. “Admiral Bahlym Ahgren Zayad, I grant you the leadership of this mission. As your superior, I will cede as only an advisor when it comes to uniting the Mitanni with the Empire in this matter.  Will that help us collaborate with the Mitanni?”

Bahlym bowed to the general.  If his promotion from Commander to Admiral pleased him, it did not show. “General Kadir Zirban, as my first duty in uniting the Empire and the Mitanni against Azabin, I request that Adara Mhegae Zayad be released from her betrothal. The Mitanni will be delighted to see that Krineem and Daune’s plight is not recreated.”

“I do not agree!” Merehan declared. “No one has this authority except me. As Adara Mhegae Zayad is mine. I order her killed.”

“No, Merehan,” Kadir stepped forward. “I will order
you
killed if you do not release your claim and I will let… the girl do it.”

Merehan blanched. “She couldn’t.”

“Oh, I think she could.” Kadir smirked his greasy smile.

While I appreciated his change of attitude, I’d seen crickets with more genuineness. When I’d first met Kadir, Bahlym had called him an opportunist. There’d never been a truer description. “Everyone who agrees to fly under Admiral Bahlym Ahgren Zayad’s command and acknowledges Merehan’s betrothal annulled, board the hovercrafts now. Everyone who does not. It’s a long walk back to the Empire.”

Bahlym snapped to action, splitting the Mitanni and Empirites between the hovercrafts. Of course, on the two Mitanni's hovercraft, the flight crews were Empirites. Six hovercrafts, with fifty passengers, and ten crew. Three hundred and fifty would have been a small force if we were not Weavers but this was nearly as many Weavers in all of Gryshelm. It would be interesting to see their reaction.  I wondered how everyone would react when they learned that not only did another civilization exist on the other side of Gryshelm’s Edge, but that there were a total of five Edges and that we were just one of six Slices.  It still seemed far-fetched to me and I’d been living on this side of Gryshelm’s Edge for months. I hoped that the sheer number of Weavers would be enough to convince them of the truth.

By the time everyone was settled on hovercrafts and ready to take off, it was mid-afternoon. We chased the sun westward, but as fast as we flew, the sun was faster. It disappeared behind Gryshelm’s Edge. The last rays of light beckoned us onward, but twilight eventually descended. I wrung my hands, fretting whether I could make a hole in Gryshelm’s Edge large enough—and hold it open long enough—for the six hovercrafts to pass through. Apprehensively, I flipped through the book hoping for more clues on working with The Edges and for clues as to the exact location of the
cistea’a
. The book mentioned nothing about how to pull a part of The Edges apart, only that it was possible. For the
cistea’a’s
location, it cryptically mentioned about where the eastern edge meets the western, but nothing specific. I wondered if the
cistea’a’s
location and the weakness of The Edges were related, but the book didn’t mention anything concretely either way.

Finally, we’d reach the pole. “We need to descend. I think that I need to feel the ground,” I announced.

At my words, the pilot jerked in surprise, eyes wide, uncertain of what to do. Rcanian reiterated my command through gritted teeth, perhaps more annoyed than I. He knew how the Empire treated women, but he seemed to be as annoyed as I had been when I first met them. I was past annoyance at this point. I couldn’t understand how Adara could have grown up in such an environment. I smirked thinking about what Meena would do if any of these idiots tried to treat her like a mindless little doll.

“What?” Rcanian asked.

“Just picturing how this is all going to work out.”

“Well, at least you are smiling.”

“You have no idea.”

The hovercrafts began their decent. The moment we touched ground, I felt the
cistea’a
summoning me. Not like The Edges’ harsh, hungering desire. It sang promises of refuge, promises of joy.

Snow pelted my face, but did not obscure my vision. It wouldn’t have mattered. My feet knew where to walk. And then I Foretold it, a carved wooden pedestal with a purple cube on top of it. The almost translucent pink Mist barrier surrounding the pedestal reminded me of the shield that Arwan had used the day I met her; the day she saved Altis and me from the Weavers posed as bandits in forest. There was no snow inside the barrier. I stepped through, and truth be told, I felt a little disappointed when, as my fingers grasped the purple cubical
cistea’a
, nothing happened.

I shivered as the wind raked through my sweater. Turning around, I realized that a small gathering of people pooled outside the hovercrafts, observing me. With the
cistea’a
clutched to my side, I approached Gryshelm’s Edge. The burning hatred simmered softer here, muted in comparison to the other part of Gryshelm’s Edge that I’d seen. This was definitely a weak spot, but could I really pull it apart?

“Okay… who is brave?” I called out.

At first, no one spoke, but after a moment, Kirta did. “Child, I Foretold a battle. We have to get through this Edge in order for that battle to happen. Therefore, we will get through. The Mitanni will go first.”

Surprisingly, the Empirites did not complain.

I reached out toward Gryshelm’s Edge with my Mist. At the poles, all the Edges met. I could feel all six slices and the five edges that separated them. I wondered what the other Slices were like and if I would survive to find out. I concentrated on Gryshelm’s Edge, the one that separated my Slice from this one. I could feel the radiating energy of the broken Mist, the Mist that had tainted me. I pushed back against it in very much the same way I had been pushing back against the Mist repeatedly since that day at River’s End. I pushed it down, pushed it back. Slowly, it separated. I let it go, and it oozed back into place like molasses.

“I could see through!” Adara whispered in awe.

“Everyone, back in the hovercrafts. It will be easiest if you are all together,” I called out. “I will walk over and then you can follow me through.”

As soon as everyone had gathered into the six crafts and I truly gazed upon their immense size, I wondered if that had been such a good idea. The crafts were enormous, and they were so high up in the air. But we needed them to get us to Gryshelm City. It was too far to walk, and no one was outfitted for this weather. The bitter cold of the poles could not be compared to the winter in the mountains. Even with the Mist to help us, we would die of exposure.

I once again pulled aside the Edge and thrust back the evil that composed it. I pulled it further and further apart. I walked through the hole, across broken, barren dirt. Juxtaposed with the white of the tundra, it looked like something had clawed and scratched the Earth.

Perhaps something had.

The first hovercraft pulled forward, slowly, tentatively. And then the second and third followed. Then the fourth. As the fifth started, I felt the heat of Gryshelm’s Edge growing. The hovercraft glided through the opening, but as the sixth started, I could feel Azabin’s red eyes turning to me. The
cistea’a
in my hand turned ice cold. Yelping, I dropped it and it tumbled into the snow.

The nose of the hovercraft emerged through Gryshelm’s Edge. This was one of the hovercrafts that carried only Empirites. I wondered how many aboard this very ship cheered as Drahwan had tried to suffocate me. How many had stood by as Drahwan signed my marriage license? How many thought that I, Hailey Troubade, could not possibly be the Promise?

Anger smoldered and hate bubbled.

The bottom of Gryshelm’s Edge slid back into place. The hovercraft froze momentarily, the pilot trying to decide whether to continue or retreat. The fear of the sixty souls aboard the hovercraft sang to me. I closed the gap in Gryshelm’s Edge like one might pinch a bug, slowly; watching the thing writhe, knowing the end was near.

Azabin laughed in pleasure. The sound jarred me. What was I doing? Instinctually, I pulled upon every thread of Mist within reach with one thought: save the hovercraft. I focused on keeping the sides and top of the hole pushed wide open. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. I thrust all my strength into Gryshelm’s Edge, pushing against the avalanche that bore down upon me.

Azabin wrestled for control. I could either protect the hovercraft or myself. I chose the hovercraft. Strands of Mist rumbled, rolled, and seethed. It became everything I’d imagined the ocean during a storm to be. Suddenly, the hole expanded ten-fold. I continued to push the Mist from Gryshelm’s Edge against itself. Azabin’s savage red eyes, normally mere slits, opened into giant dots of surprise. Finally, the hovercraft was through, and I released my hold against Gryshelm’s Edge.

“We couldn’t feel your Mist anymore,” Adara’s voice crackled through my communicator. “We thought you were gone.”

“Me, too,” I responded to the air and not through the communicator. I didn’t think that anyone would appreciate me being so forthright. “I was trying to save my strength to find the other
cistea’a
,” I said into the communicator. “I’ll only be a minute.” I let Gryshelm’s Edge ooze back into place. Static filled my ears. I removed my communicator.

I had bigger things on my mind than a busted communicator. The
cistea’a
called to me in the same way the other one had. Another pink translucent barrier around a wooden pedestal that matched the one on the other side, but this
cistea’a
was a blue ball. I stepped inside the barrier and grabbed it. As soon as I picked it up, Arwan appeared.

Why did she always appear at times of significance along my journey?

“Where is that last page?” I asked the daemon. “What secrets does it tell me?”

“
I cannot counter the Counter. That’s not how the Prophecy was written,”
Arwan said, sadly.
“But you’ve made a great first step. You’ll find it.”
And with that, she vanished.

I was too tired to care. With the blue ball in one hand and the purple cube in the other, I lumbered back toward the hovercrafts.

I replaced the communicator, but it only buzzed and crackled. As soon as the hovercrafts came into view, I knew that something was wrong. Dozens of the passengers were outside standing in the snow. Several were wandering around in shock.

“What’s going on?”

“I can’t feel the Mist!” Kadir shouted, frantically.

“I can, but it is so weak,” Rcanian reported. “It seems those of us who had a strong grasp of the Mist can feel it, but barely. None of the communicators work, and all of the hovercrafts lost ninety percent of their charge.”

As soon as I had closed Gryshelm’s Edge, my Mist-powered communicator stopped functioning. And now that I thought of it, the Mist that had felt so strong and vibrant only moments ago felt muted. I opened Gryshelm’s Edge again.

Kadir fell to his knees. “It’s back! Guardians be praised!”

“The Guardians have nothing to do with it,” I said as I closed Gryshelm’s Edge again. “The Mist is broken in this Slice. Most people here cannot feel it. At first, I thought it was the people. That our side had bred out the Mist ability, but it seems as if it is the Slice itself.”

Rcanian gasped, “I Foretold the Mist itself bound. I thought it represented the Mitanni if we integrated with other societies, but maybe I Foretold the Mist here.”

“The hovercrafts can’t make it to your queen. There isn’t enough charge,” Bahlym said.

“Not enough for all of them, but what about just one?” I suggested. “What if we filled up one with the energy from all the others? Then we can send the other five back.”

“But even if we crammed it to capacity, only two hundred of us can go,” said Bahlym.  “And it wouldn’t be very comfortable.”

“Fine, the others will return through Gryshelm’s Edge and wait for us back at the capital.”

No one particularly liked the idea, but there was no other choice. I insisted that the delegation be split equally between the Mitanni and the Empire. But since there were only one hundred Mitanni, it meant that all the Mitanni has to come and the Empire had to leave behind a large contingent of people, most of whom were more than happy to return to their own Slice and retouch the Mist. We quickly removed dozens of boxes that held the Channeled Mist from the hovercrafts, leaving the abandoned Crafts with barely enough charge to return to the capital.

While my normal Mist was dampened here, it did not affect my ability to touch the power of Gryshelm’s Edge. The five crafts passed safely back through. I closed Gryshelm’s Edge.

In order to conserve as much Mist as possible, we flew low to the ground by flight carriage terms. Although night had fully descended, at each village, the people came out of their houses to stare with fear and wonder at the flying monstrosity upon which we rode. Perhaps it was for the best that we were only one craft rather than the parade of six we had intended to be.

On and on we flew. Hours later, we’d reached the city walls. Dawn had not yet broken, but it was only a few hours away. The hovercraft floated to the ground, and when I stepped out, twenty guards were waiting, arrows pointed at me.

“I am Hailey Troubade, Journeyman to Chief Priest Altis,” I told them. “Please tell Queen Mauzaca that I have returned and have brought a delegation of foreign dignitaries to meet her.”

“The girl to fix The Edge?” one of the soldiers, barely out of his teens, his face checkered with pockmarks, asked in wonder.

“I am,” I smiled sadly thinking how impossible healing just one Edge had seen.  And I was about to tell them that five more Edges existed.

After several excruciatingly long moments, their captain stepped forward. I recognized him from the training field, although we’d never fought, of course. He was not a Weaver. “We had heard that you’d been lost to The Edge, Warrior Troubade. I am very glad to see that’s not the case.”

“In a way, I was. I fell through Gryshelm’s Edge…what you call The Edge.” I paused, letting my words sink in. “The foreign dignitaries that I bring with me are from the other side.”

The captain stared uncomprehendingly me, but then seemed to regain his composure. “The queen is upon her deathbed. We shall take you and a few others to Prince Jaysen. The rest of the men in…”

“The hovercraft,” I filled in for him.

“Can wait here,” he said.

“I have one other request for you,” I told the captain. “Please, do not reveal to my aunt or any of the Scholars that I have returned.” It killed me to order it. I’d missed Nazarie so much, but obviously, things would never be the same between us. She’d killed my mother and my sister.

“Are the rumors true?” the captain asked.

“I’ve been a bit behind the news recently.  What rumors?”

“Ever since Scholar Shezdon’s death, there have been rumors about the Weavers and where their true loyalties lie.”

“I do not think that all Weavers are part of whatever conspiracy is underway, but some are very much a part of it.”

“Keeping this secret will be an easy task for my men,” the captain assured me.

“Thank you,” I said to the captain before turning to the rest of my party. “We can’t all go. Desha, Kirta, Rcanian, Adara, and Bahlym, you come,” I said pointing to each in turn.

Kadir slid forward. “Promise, the Empire deserves to be fully represented.”

“There are two Empirites in the group,” Desha said.

“Bahlym sits on both Councils,” responded Kadir, “and while he does agree with my goal to unite the Mitanni and Empire, he does not represent me to foreign dignitaries.  I must go. And to even the numbers between us, the Empire deserves two additional attendees.”

“That’s reasonable,” I agreed. “You and two others. Pick quickly,” Desha opened her mouth as if to retort, but thought better of it. The captain led us through the main way, which, despite having lived in the Keep next to the castle for ten years, I’d never gone through. I always entered through the Keep itself. “Is this the best way? Aren’t we announcing our arrival?”

“It’s the side doors where the comings and goings are more marked. Besides, most everyone is asleep,” the captain said.

The doors parted, revealing an open foyer six stories high. At each floor, balconies disrupted the darkness with pillars of candlelight. At each landing along the curved staircase, a gargoyle stood guard. We climbed to the third level. This gargoyle grasped twin daggers in his fore claws. He perched upon the railing ready to launch to the skies. Somehow, the artist had managed to capture the creature’s blood lust in its eyes. I shivered and plunged down the hallway after the captain and the rest of my delegation.

As we moved further into the building, the architectural style became more recognizable. The stone beneath our feet had been buffed glass smooth, but it was the same as the stone in the Keep. Nowhere else in either Slice that I’d seen had the same shade of grey mixed with veins of blue and shards of sliver. These rocks marked home.

We were taken to a large reception room, one I’d not been in before. Squares of pristinely white marble interrupted the stone on the floor. A constellation of chandeliers hovered above us, the lights of their candles bounced from their dangling crystal. Red velvet sofas lined the wall, and I plopped down on one.

“Guardians, I’m tired. Do princes know how to hurry?”

Everyone chuckled at first and remained standing at attention, figuring it was all right for the pregnant lady to sit but not them, I suppose. But eventually, one by one, they joined me on the sofas. All told, it was less than an hour from entering the room until Altis, the Prince, and, to my immense displeasure, Altis’s fiancée, Princess Krystin, joined us. As weary as each member of my delegation was, we pushed it aside. Bowing to each of the three royals in turn.

Desha frowned when Altis was introduced. “We asked for no Weavers.”

“He’s my cousin and my heir,” said Jaysen. “You speak to both of us or neither of us.”

We were in no position to argue. If Altis’s loyalty lay with Kael and Nazarie, he already knew enough to sound the alarm. I’d fallen through Gryshelm’s Edge and survived. I was quite obviously who the White Knights had feared I was.

I told the whole story. Falling through Gryshelm’s Edge, my experiences in the Empire, the Empire’s amazing technology, my time in the mountains, and most importantly, what I’d learned of the Prophecy’s Promise and The Edges.  There was not one Edge, but five.  And that we were not alone in our world.

“There are other worlds connected to ours?” the prince exclaimed after hearing our story. “Obviously the gods have creations out among the stars, but life beyond The Edge…” he cocked his head at the singular mention of Edge and corrected himself, “Gryshelm’s Edge, I suppose. That is unbelievable.”

“There is another Edge across the ocean?”  Princess Krystin asked. “Dybreakea borders the ocean. Should we be concerned?”

“There is, I call it Water’s Edge.  But, when we destroy Gryshelm’s Edge, it will buy us some time before the other Edges resume their destruction,” I explained.  “But if we don’t act quickly, all the Edges will continue to destroy our world, including Water’s Edge.”

“Rabbit, you surprise me,” the prince conceded.  “Not just with your news but by how you have changed since the first time we met.”

“Rabbit?  Is that a formal title?”  Adara asked.

“It’s a long story,” I said, “one that we don’t have time for right now.”

“Gryshelm’s Edge and Water’s Edge aren’t the most creative of names,” Jaysen teased.

“I figured enough was complicated. The names need to be easy,” I said before realizing that he was being sarcastic. I didn’t really understand how anyone could joke or be sarcastic learning the sort of information that I had brought. Princes were an odd bunch.

“To be honest,” Kadir interjected, “we were very surprised by your Hailey. We didn’t expect a woman to be the Promised One, much less a mother-to-be. But it is actually very fitting. She, through much work, will put the world back together. In a way, she will be a mother to all of us.”