Gorinthians (48 page)

Ferrich nodded, still
unable to break his eyes away from Thistledown’s intense gaze, “I
used
yara
to seal
off the entrance to his private quarters. He said anyone crossing
the boundary would die immediately and I didn’t want anyone
crossing it accidentally.” Ferrich swallowed. “When I molded the
rock from the ceiling to create a wall, an image appeared in the
middle of the wall. It looked like a giant tree stump in the middle
of a meadow, with sun shining down on it. Then it flickered and
disappeared.”

Thistledown nodded slowly
when Ferrich finished, finally releasing his gaze. “It sounds like
Radroc knew he was in trouble and framed his own death.”

“
But how would my father
have known Radroc was dead already?” Ferrich asked with a raised
eyebrow.

“
I am guessing the reason
Radroc knew he was in trouble was because the king sent something
to kill him,” Thistledown replied dryly. “The insubstantial shade
you described sounds like the work of a Frond Lord. They like to
toy with their victims before they kill them. It sounds like Radroc
knew it was coming, and prepared a clone for it to play
with.”

“
A clone?” Ferrich asked
with a puzzled frown. “You mean a clone of himself?”

Thistledown nodded. “It is
very complicated, but Radroc knows how it is done. A Frond Lord
isn’t very bright, but it can track you anywhere. After killing
Radroc’s clone, the Frond Lord would not even have noticed the
residue of the real Radroc, because it would remember having killed
him.”

Jalorm had been watching
Ferrich closely, an expression of incredulity on his rugged face.
“What do you mean ‘my father’? Are you the king’s son?”

Ferrich looked back at
Jalorm in surprise. Celdic wondered if Ferrich had forgotten they
were there. Since meeting Ferrich the previous day, Celdic noticed
the middle-aged man had a tendency to lose track of the world
around him when he was in a conversation.

“
Oh yes,” Ferrich replied
with a deprecatory shrug. “It wasn’t by choice, though, I assure
you.”

Morindessa laughed softly,
gazing at Ferrich fondly. Jesha was riding with Morindessa, sitting
in front with the reigns in her small hands. The small Zeran had a
contented smile on her finely sculpted face.

“
So where is Radroc now?”
Celdic asked Thistledown curiously.

Thistledown turned in his
saddle to look back at Celdic. “Chasel Ri’ Aven.”

Chapter 27

Sentina stood on the balcony
outside her palace bedroom. She was gazing at the mammoth city of
Shalilayo, without really seeing it. Her thoughts were more
concerned with important things than the poetic sunrise cresting
the Western horizon. Her life had been rather dull before her
brother killed their father, the king. Sentina would never have
thought Ferrich capable of such an act of brutality. He had always
seemed so innocent in his pursuit of academic achievement that
Sentina had doubted Captain Kerns' word that Ferrich was
responsible for their father’s demise. King Fedrin had been a fair
ruler for the most part, but he was a terrible father. From the
time she could walk on her two legs, her life was in danger from
plots and intrigues, most of them started by their father. The
constant conspiracies were his way of training his children to be
what he thought were proper rulers. Affection was an emotion you
must deny at all costs, lest it cloud your judgment.

The danger that was a part
of Sentina’s everyday life had increased a hundred-fold since the
death of the king. Her brothers and sisters spent all of their time
forming alliances with strong houses and hiring assassins to try to
eliminate competition. Sentina was almost an only child now. When
she was still in her youth, Morindessa the assassin had saved her
from an arrow that would have gone through her heart. When Sentina
asked Morindessa why she saved her, the dark-haired assassin
replied that she did not like seeing children murdered. Sentina
never saw Morindessa again, but she had hired her services more
than once. She had learned the value of knowing the good assassins,
while her late siblings hired killers randomly, regardless of their
training.

Sentina spun around as she
heard a throat clear behind her. It took an effort to keep from
cursing like a stable-hand. Denrik stood several paces behind her,
his handsome face expressionless. He stood several inches shorter
than Sentina, which was an achievement considering that Sentina was
herself quite short. Denrik wore palace livery to blend in with the
servants. A dark cloak with a concealing hood is what everyone
expects an assassin to wear, he had told her. It was also a good
way to attract attention.

“
It’s done, milady,” Denrik
reported quietly. “I had to remove a few of Captain Kerns’ guards,
though. I am told he wanted to stop the blood bath, so he stationed
his elite guard on the remaining two. They were good
men.”

Sentina nodded silently,
moving into her chambers and toward her large wardrobe. Reaching
inside, she pulled out a large purse filled with gold and handed it
to Denrik. Turning to her mirror, she picked a large comb up and
began stroking it through her long, chestnut hair. She paused as
she saw the grim look on her broad-featured face. Trying to smooth
her face to a more pleasant expression, she stared into her dark
brown eyes, wondering if she was becoming the monster her father
had wanted to replace him.

“
I need Ferrich found and
dealt with as well,” Sentina said softly. It was hard to do this to
Ferrich. Somewhere inside herself, she still felt that Ferrich was
still the innocent she had envied growing up. Of all her siblings,
Ferrich alone seemed to possess an energy and enthusiasm for life
that shone like the sun. Extinguishing that light was a hard
choice, but if he really did have the nerve to kill their father,
then she was probably on the list as well.

Denrik frowned slightly,
absently brushing his fingers against his side, where he probably
concealed a knife. Sentina watched him carefully. He had never
shown any hesitancy in any of his other jobs.

“
Is something wrong?”
Sentina asked with a frown of her own.

Denrik hesitated a moment
before replying. “I have heard from some associates that Ferrich
left in Morindessa’s company.”

Sentina creased her brows
together in puzzlement. Why would Ferrich leave with Morindessa?
How would he have even known her? He spent every waking moment at
the university.

“
Is this going to be a
problem, Denrik?” she inquired with a raised eyebrow, wishing that
she knew more about the inner workings of the assassin’s
society.

The short man was silent for
several moments, stroking his side unconsciously. “It will make
things difficult if she is still with him when we locate him,” he
replied at last, glancing up at her warily. “Under most
circumstances, a target is always more difficult to defend than to
kill. In Morindessa’s case, it is slightly different. She is able
to sense everything around her all of the time, so stealth does not
really help us as it normally would. Whoever kills Ferrich will
have to be able to approach him on friendly terms in order to get
close enough to act before Morindessa can do anything to prevent
it. And whoever kills him will be killed immediately after the
deed.”

“
Do you have anyone you can
use for that purpose?” Sentina asked coolly. There were plenty of
amateur assassins she could use for a job like this, she was sure
of it.

Denrik nodded, a hint of a
smile playing across his handsome face. “As a matter of fact, I do
know one.”

---

Terrance pushed out with
his
yar
, trying to
feel some kind of resistance. Even though he was straining until
his
yar
was
stretched to its limit, he still felt nothing. Somehow, he had
missed being sucked into Jerard’s trap. When he had grabbed
Selindria, pulling her into the vortex Jerard created for him, he
was sure his old colleague would finally have his wish of killing
him at last. When the vortex had closed on them, the momentum swung
both he and Selindria out into the cosmos. Before Terrance could do
more than shout in surprise, he had slipped into the Dark
Realm.

It reminded him of life on
Earth, watching the astronauts float around in space with nothing
to push or pull against. The only person who could enter the Dark
Realm with any chance of returning was Lochnar. His link with
Thistledown was like a string he could use to pull him back to the
physical realm. After everything Terrance had learned during his
three-thousand-year life span in the new world, he still knew
nothing of the Dark Realm. Hoping Selindria was somewhere safe,
Terrance began a meditation technique he learned from the
primitives on the new world. It was the same meditation that
allowed his body to hibernate and let his spirit escape in the
physical realm.

For several minutes, perhaps
hours, Terrance floated in nothingness, preparing his body for the
deep sleep that would release his spirit. Finally, his body shut
down and his spirit slowly detached itself from the Tramnel that
lined his skeleton. Immediately, all of the new sensations of which
his Spirit was capable, but which the physical body filtered out,
bombarded his senses. He could feel Shaesence coursing throughout
the Dark Realm, the infinite spiritual matter that permeated
everything. Even Shaesence was no help when he tried to push
against it. He felt like he was in a dark ocean pushing against the
water with his feet.

He floated in the darkness
next to his physical body, which was the only thing he could sense
aside from Shaesence. He pushed out with his
yar
against his body. Immediately,
his body shot away from him at terrific speed. Terrance felt a
sense of shock course through his being as he felt the tremendous
distance his body was traveling from him. Without his body to
hinder his
yar
, he
was able to sense much further. Terrance realized he was also
moving at a tremendous speed. Shaesence pulsed through him, almost
like water running across his physical body.

He lost track of time as his
Spirit soared through the eternal blackness. After what he thought
must have been several days, he decided that he was probably stuck
in this abyss forever. Outer darkness, he thought humorlessly to
himself, remembering a term he had learned in his church on Earth.
If it is Outer Darkness, I should have lots of company.

Wondering if a Spirit could
go insane, Terrance felt a surge of humor pulse through him. At
least I have myself to entertain me.

---

Fortismor studied the host
of Elementals that stretched out in front of him. He had been
leading the same band of Elementals for eight-hundred years. Jerard
had offered to create hosts for them, in exchange for their
services. Each Captain of the Elemental Army had been given a
device from Jerard he had assured them would dissolve a person’s
Spirit if used the moment that they died. Part of the bargain had
been for the Elementals to receive the raw elements that the Spirit
left when it dissolved. Fortismor felt a surge of anticipation at
the thought of the growth he had waited so long for. More than a
million years had passed from the last time he found a drain with
Elements he could consume. The pain of having his progression
halted was a constant source of frustration and bitterness. The
agony that accompanied the added sensations from consuming new
spiritual elements was a welcome experience, which only lasted for
a short amount of time. Once his awareness learned to control the
new sensations, the pain stopped, leaving the added pleasures and
abilities that came with Spiritual growth. Very few Elementals
turned down Jerard’s offer of alliance in exchange for raw
spiritual elements.

“
What happened to
Terrance?” Tesimor inquired with an underlying current of
nervousness in his sending. Most of the Elementals had been
unwilling to aid Jerard so long as Terrance was alive. The Derinian
Order tried quarantining Elementals when the war first began.
Toward the end of the old civilization, when the Derinian Order had
grown desperate, they began dissolving Elementals and storing their
remains in drains of their own. Few Elementals were willing to risk
losing their lives in exchange for the hope of
progression.

“
Jerard said he is gone,
possibly dead.” Fortismor doubted the last part. Until Jerard
dissolved Terrance’s Spirit, Fortismor would not believe him truly
gone. “Either way, he is no longer our concern. The other members
of the Derinian Order are all dead as well.”

Tesimor seemed somewhat
doubtful, his aura wavering uncertainly. “Why does Jerard need all
of us then?”

“
Because there is a band of
humans he believes will fight his return and he naturally wants
them killed.” Fortismor finished with a sense of impatience, tiring
of the timidity of the questions.

“
Why has Jerard not killed
them, then?” Tesimor demanded. “It would be a simple matter for
him.”

“
Terrance did something to
them that keeps them safe from spiritual intrusion,” Fortismor
replied, his aura bristling with irritation. “They have to be
killed by physical means.”