The Ways of Mages: Starfire (34 page)

Jewel gazed toward the mountains of the Nirami. She desperately wanted to see her old friend. But..."No one takes the Grave lightly." She whispered. "For the Grave does not suffer fools."  Jewel closed her eyes, head bowed. After a moment, Jewel raised her head and turned her mare toward the west. The others glanced at each other before moving to follow, Jingles happily on his own two feet.

The knight glanced at his niece then north to where the storm clouds boiled. "What was that you whispered?"

Jewel sighed. "It is a Broken Arathin proverb. Crossing the Nirami is a risky business even in the best circumstances."

"And knowing this, you were going to lead us there anyway?" Jingles asked.

Jewel nodded. "The Grave knows me. The Grave also serves Arité, who would have commanded our safe passage. But now the Nirami's Child, the persona of the wild magic itself, has told us to go to Razyan's Keep. If we try to visit my friend now... we will be lucky to change our minds." As if to underscore her point, the storm lashed the ground with a huge flash of lightning. The charge in the air was so intense that it danced along their skin. And they were on the other side of a vast lake from where the storm had struck.

"Yes, I think we should do what the dirty child had told us to do." Willaim said quickly.

***

Arathin- The Kikel Varcressi, Sheyestiva

Kaishan's eyes opened. He was resting his head on his arms. He shifted slightly and the papers under his arms crinkled. With a start he sat up. He stared blankly at the papers requiring his attention. Kaishan did not remember falling asleep. But he had. He could still remember the storm and spider/praying mantis like creatures. The hunter within stirred slightly in disappointment. The monsters had proven to be too easy to be a challenge. Even though th
ere had been hundreds of them. It had been almost frustratingly easy to eradicate them....

It had also been a dream.  Kaishan leaned back in his chair and stretched, linking his fingers above his head. The late afternoon light came through the window and shimmered on the golden hardwood of his office floor. It reminded him of how the storm light in the dream had glinted off of the still waters of that vast lake. Thoughtfully, Kaishan turned his head to the map decorating the wall over his black lacquered desk. The ink lines of Sheyestiva and Marlhema glistened slightly. His eyes fell upon a detail of Northeastern Marlhema: a large lake. Colloquially it was known as the Lake of Ghosts. Why did he have a dream on the shores of that lake? He had, in the course of the Shadow War, only flown over it once. And the monsters? He had never seen...A troubling thought pricked his conscious mind. A vague memory of creatures like that teased him. Same monsters, same ease to dispatch, but a different field.

This vague memory was not the first he had had over his life. He had had many. Only one, though, was a reoccurring dream. He had been in a city of white marble and domed roofs. Gold lined many structures. A vast library had rested within the heart of the city. A river had run around the city, guarding it. Kaishan had the feeling that the city had been magical. A man would then appear. One with auburn hair, golden eyes, and skin a dark sun bronze. The man had said something. Something about a sword. Not just any sword but a special one. One that he had to be willing to become part of so he could guide those to come in the fine arts of swordmanship so they could better protect others. In the dream, Kaishan had known what this entailed and had, indeed, agreed to it. Agreed because he had felt called to it? Whatever that meant, Kaishan didn't know in the waking light. In another often visiting dream, there had been king who had been fighting against a dark entity. The king would not listen to him no matter what he said or tried. Then Kaishan would wake up in a cold sweat and panting.

He told no one about the dreams that visited him like old friends. Nor did he tell about the ones he had had with the young woman. The one who soothed and moved him like no other. The one who was also a dragon.

Kaishan's hand clenched. The last time he had seen her, he had not been asleep. He had been in the Nirami's Grave and leaving the cave he had woken up in. He hadn't seen her at first till she had touched his wing. It had been her mind, somehow. And he had tried to capture it. Tried to get her to tell him where she was. But then something had interfered and he had lost her. He had been so close too. The only consolation he had was that he had part of her first name; 'Ter'. A Marlheman word that meant 'Star'.

Star...Kaishan gazed broodingly at the map, focusing on Marlhema. "Where are you?" He asked softly. She had escaped him twice. She would not escape him again if he had anything to say about it. And once he had her he had some questions to ask, like how the hell had she connected to him? Dragons did not have the magic to do so. The other and, if he were honest with himself, the more important question was why did she seem to care about him? Nobody in their right minds did. He was a killer. A living weapon. He didn't
need
anyone to care about him. And yet...

With a thought, he called an illusion forth. He covered its existence from others by feeding power into the void it had made. No slight pressure would be felt by others. He never let them feel it. The illusion formed a young woman with copper red hair and deep sea blue eyes. Her skin was a light golden color with a few freckles from the sun. Her eyes had gazed at him with interest and a little bit of fear. But there was something more as well... a light, perhaps. Kaishan reached toward the illusion's hair, hair that had been surprisingly soft and smelled like the world just after a rain fall but before the stink of worms. 

Kaishan hadn't developed the illusion to be lifelike in all ways. He had just made an image appear. So, of course, his reaching hand went through her hair instead of feeling it. He gazed at her image as his hand dropped. At his side it clenched. "I will find you." He promised her softly. "The war is coming, little Star, and you will not be able to hide from me."

Arathin- North of Razya
n’
s Keep, Marlhema

Clop, clop, click, clop.
Breeya smiled as her mare trotted over a flat part of the mountain trail. Soon they world have to go back to walking, but for now, Breeya would enjoy the brief speed. She had always loved riding from the moment she could walk. She loved being around horses. They could give her their speed and companionship as she gave them affection and food. Together, they could fly. Thunder would follow them as they skimmed over the ground. Horses had such power, grace, and spirit.

Loralla, the mare, picked up Breey
a’
s desire to fly and sped up a little. Breeya smiled sadly and pulled the mare back before they found themselves tumbling down some cliff. She patted Lorall
a’
s shoulder in thanks for the gesture.

Breeya glanced back the way she had come. The way was lost in the twists and turns of the Vermillion mountains. It felt like she had been traveling south forever now. Breeya sighed. The eastern sun was slowly rising over the edge of the world and peeking from behind the proud heads of the mountains. She had to run into Razya
n’
s Keep soon.

It was
n’
t that she was in a hurry, though she felt like it. No one was expecting her. And her scholar brother had set no return date for his expedition. It was only these mountain
s…
It felt like eyes were following he
r…
Though, Loralla did
n’
t seem that concerned at the moment. Breeya sighed again. It was probably just her. She was just missing Lanol, that had to be it. Not that she would
ever
tell him.

In the beginning of last fall, Lanol, following his scholarly pursuits, found a reference to an ancient city. A city that was
underground
. Lanol was sure that this city predated the Dragon Kings. A long story short, he gathered references and asked his friend, the Wizard Razyan if he could go and check if the city existed. The long story being Lanol gathering the references. Breeya shook her head as she thought
my brother spends far too much time in dusty scrolls.
The Wizard gave the expedition his approval, gave some advice, and a way to contact him if something went wrong. Breeya was certain that Razyan would have approved the expedition even without the dozens of references her brother gathered. After all, the two were of the same interest. Both were so concerned with ages long dead to help with an
d‘
understan
d’
the future. Wizard Razyan concerned himself with magical history and the histories of the Dragons. Lanol was happy with things even older.  Breeya often fell asleep during their conversations.

She was happy with the living present and near future and the past that was shortly before hers. Those were the things that really affected life after all. Languages she did
n’
t mind learning. She liked ancient
marlhneim
the best. She loved looking at the long chains of words. There was a beauty in them, a power also. Kind of like horse
s…
Once in awhile, though, in her studies she would run across some chain that did
n’
t translate into anything she had ever seen before. No word in ancient or common
marlhneim
was like it. It was harsher with a formidable power behind the sounds. But she could be translating it wrong, because the chai
n’
s symbols were ever so slightly different from what she was used to seeing.

Lanol remarked once that perhaps the symbols refused to make sense due to someone mimicking the language. Since there were so few examples, Razyan had added, they might be from the Enemy who disappeared at the same time as the dragons.

Breeya was
n’
t sure what to believe. So she did the easiest thing; she left it to the men.

Lanol and she rode out from Razya
n’
s Keep two days after Razyan approved the venture. Lanol had made a map from old charts and journal entries that described the location of the city. They followed that till Breeya was sure they were lost. And guess what? No city or cave anywhere!  Lanol insisted that they had passed the cave entrance. They had to have. Breeya knew he just did
n’
t want to be wrong and go back defeated. But it was still monotonous to go around in circles! Loralla and Gansei, Lano
l’
s horse, the pack horse and Breeya were all tired of it after the second week. It might have been just that time of month, but Breeya was especially grumpy.

When Lanol mentioned for the thousandth, thousandth time that they ha
d“
misse
d”
the damn entrance Breeya halted Loralla
.“
No Lanol. We did
n’
t miss it
.”
When he looked at her in surprise she continued in a huff
.“
Tha
t‘
entranc
e’
is
n’
t here. Lanol, w
e’
ve been walking the same path for two weeks! W
e’
ve made a road a carriage could traverse
!”
Breeya gestured about her
.“I’
m not going to search for that stupid entrance anymore
!”
With that declaration she slid off of Loralla. She stormed over to a flat rock face and leaned against it, crossing her arms.

Before Lanol could say anything there was a grinding click. The rock face Breeya leaned against slid backward for an inch. The boulders next to it rolled away from a cave mouth. One rolled up a track that was over Breey
a’
s head. The other rolled into a slot behind another boulder.

Lanol clapped with glee
.“
Well done, Little Wing! You found it
!”
At first Breeya was in shock. Then she just grumbled. Lanol chuckled
.“
Next time, Breeya, when we are searching for something, get angry sooner
.
”

She had wanted to slap him.

They had traveled into the dark cavern. The tunnel twisted and turned for a long way. The glow of Lano
l’
s yellow magic pushed the darkness only so far. After a day, if it was a day, Breeya was lost. Just before she asked Lanol where his city was a person stepped out of the darkness. He was wearing only enough to make him decent and a mask of a bird. Breeya was sure her spirit left her when he just appeared. She had
n’
t thought there would be anyone at this cit
y
…

He spoke to them and at first they could
n’
t understand what he was saying. But the words sounded so familiar. Breeya began picking out words. Her excitement bubbled with each word she heard. He was speaking ancient
marlnaim
.
She answered the man and introduced herself and Lanol. It took her a little bit to get the words to flow as they should, but the man seemed to understand her. To be safe, she kept it nice and simple.

At Lano
l’
s urging she asked about the city. The man nodded and simply said Carsa. Lanol beamed
.“
Can you take us there
?”
she asked, knowing that would be Lano
l’
s next question. The man watched them for a moment then came to a decision. Then turned and disappeared into the darkness.

Carsa was well named. It was indeed hidden, but not just under the earth, but also within the cave. It was hard to tell it apart from the rest of the rocks. Breeya almost died trying not to laugh as Lanol practically drooled over the city. It was old, according to him. So old, but the people were not its original inhabitants.

Over the months they stayed there, Lanol wasted away his life learning Cars
a’
s secrets.  The oldest records of the people told him that they were refugees from the Shadow War. They had been mindless slaves to the Enemy. During the war, the slaves had been called the Cursed
.“
Somehow, for some reason
,”
Lanol decided at one point to summarize for her
,“
a band of Cursed flew into this cave and whatever the power was that controlled them disappeared. They became themselves again. But why did they fly here
?”
At that point Lanol became incoherent.

Breeya sought the living people; those were the ones who mattered. She asked if she could help them with their chores. At first the people were unsure how to react to Breeya and her brother. But Breeya helped them out.
Treat me as you would anyone else you know.
  They told her their stories and listened to hers. They seemed to enjoy being around her because of her easy going nature and her smile at helping out. She volunteered for many jobs.

One of her favorites was cooking. The best part was taste testing. It was in the cook house that she met her new best friend. Olidiya  was the woma
n’
s name. They became really good friends. Close friends. Close enough to help each other in the match making department without becoming embarrassed. Olidiya, for some reason beyond Breey
a’
s understanding had a thing for Lanol. All the women saw it. The men did
n’
t, but that was typical. Lanol took the typical male blindness to a whole new level. Breeya did
n’
t think he even noticed living women. Or anyone living for that matter. He was always so buried in scrolls and books it was hard to make him eat.

Breeya chuckled softly at the measures she and Olidiya went to, to get Lano
l’
s attention.

It had been night. Breeya had found Lanol still in the library. What a surprise, he should just live in a library. He had not seen her of course. He had been busy staring into the ink of some text. Breeya had leaned against the door frame balancing the tray of food. No one really understood, especially Olidiya, that Lanol in this mood hardly ate. But it was hard to explain this fact to a cook who had been all butter where Lanol was concerned. Breeya thought it was funny how Olidiya blushed and giggled whenever someone mentioned Lano
l’
s name. She had not minded Olidiy
a’
s crush on Lanol. In fact she had thought that it would do Lanol some good to start noticing women.

Breeya knew her brother very well. She and Olidiya had put their heads together to come up with the plan, the Tray Trick they had called it. Everyone knew the best way to a ma
n’
s heart was through his stomach. And Lanol was still a man. It was hard to see how the plan could possibly go wrong.  Olidiya had prepared a meat pie with a folded note imbedded in the top crust, in plain sight. The napkin had been inscribed with the code solution, so Lanol would not have to work too hard. Breeya had admired the subtleness of it all. Food to get to the stomach and a puzzle to get to the mind. It had been perfect.

She had set the tray down just hard enough for it to clink but soft enough that it did not upset the wild berry water. Lanol, her observant brother, had
n’
t even looked up. Breeya remembered rolling her eyes. She had walked around the scroll and book laden table. Floor boards squeaked with her shifting weight. Besides his breathing; Lanol had showed no signs of life. Once she was directly behind him Breeya slipped her hands over his eyes and whispered in his ear at the same moment
.“
Guess who
.”
He had jumped so hig
h
…

“
Arg! Breeya must you
?
”

“
He lives
!
”

“
Of course I live. Now can you let me see
?”
He had asked irritably.

“
Maybe
.
”

“
Breey
a
…
”
he had warned.

She had grinned
.“
Only you
have
to eat
.”
He grumbled
.“
Or you can go around with me constantly bothering you
.
”

“
You are always bothering me
.”
Since he had had a point, she had positioned one hand to cover both his eyes. The other she had moved to poke his ribs. He must have sensed her intentions because he had quickly sai
d“
Fine.
I’
ll eat,
I’
ll eat
.
”

She remembered sighing with regret as she withdrew her hands. Even so, she had said in a cheery voic
e“
I knew you would see reason with the right persuasion
.
”