Rise of Legends (The Kin of Kings Book 2) (38 page)

“Who are you?” Jack asked her.

Her eyes shuffled around, then she answered lazily, “Lori Grayhart. I’m Sanya’s mother.”

“It’s the truth,” the psychic said, “at least what she thinks is the truth.”

Steffen sighed in disappointment. “She’s insane.”

Lori didn’t seem to mind the statement. Her face and body remained slack as people let go and stepped away. She glanced over to find Effie. “Why are you so adamant about murdering my daughter?”

Effie ignored her, speaking to Steffen instead, “Perhaps Sanya used psyche to convince her she’s Sanya’s mother.”

“She hasn’t used any psyche on me except to help me with some of my pain. I was dead, but she came and took me from whatever world I was in and put me in this woman’s body.” Lori shifted her arms, exerting great effort just to gesture at herself. She sighed and looked as if that was the last time she ever wanted to move.

“You were dead?” Steffen murmured.

“For years, yes.”

“Is—” Jack was interrupted by Steffen.

“What’s it like to be dead?”

Effie wasn’t sure she believed this woman, but she still listened with rapt attention with the rest of them. Even Jack looked curious, letting whatever question he was going to ask go for the moment.

Lori took on a rueful smile. “It’s more peaceful than I can describe. It’s as relaxing as a massage, as cuddling in bed with a lover, as a warm bath on a cold day. Yet the feeling doesn’t end. You never tire of it. There’s nothing more tranquil. At least, from what I can remember.”

“You can’t recall much of being dead?” Steffen asked.

“No. It all seems like a lovely dream that ended too briefly now that I’m back in this world.” Her tone held great disdain, as if she wished to return to being just a spirit. “Everything seems so sharp and bright and loud, like I drank too much the night before. I can’t tell if life was always like this and I’ve become too accustomed to the spiritual world or if something is wrong with me.”

“It’s all true,” the psychic said sadly, empathy in his voice.

By the looks of everyone watching, it seemed they, too, felt for this woman. Effie didn’t, however. She wanted to remind them that, whether her story was true, this was someone valuable to Sanya. She should die.

But Effie refrained, remembering Steffen’s advice that she wasn’t herself right now.

“Are you and Sanya loyal to Tauwin?” Jack asked.

“No. Tauwin wanted to kill us, but we escaped. His army has orders to kill us on sight.”

“What were you two doing in this tunnel?”

“Trying to hide.”

“And what are you planning now?”

“We have no plan besides finding somewhere to sleep.” She glanced around, stretching her neck to look for someone. “Where is Sanya?”

But Jack didn’t answer as he walked away to confer with Wilfre. As someone began to explain to Lori what had happened with Reela and the dajrik, Effie removed herself to overhear Jack’s plan for the woman.

“Just kill her,” Wilfre said dismissively. “She’s the friend of an enemy.”

Effie knew something must be wrong with her if she agreed with Wilfre. She kept her mouth shut.

“She’s sick and harmless.” Jack sounded disgusted at Wilfre’s suggestion. “Her existence hinders Sanya’s ability to be dangerous because Sanya must take care of her. If we kill her, Sanya will come after us.” He put his hand over his chin as his voice fell to a murmur, looking as if he was talking to himself. “But she’s just as likely to come if we keep Lori as a prisoner.”

“Let’s trade her for Sanya,” Effie suggested.

“I’d kill myself before I let that happen,” Lori called out to them. “Will someone please tell me what my daughter did for this woman to want her dead?” She pointed at Effie.

“She murdered two people who did her no harm,” Steffen answered, emotionless. It angered Effie. She didn’t even remember Alex and she still wanted Sanya dead above all else.

“Murdered?” Lori seemed stunned.

Effie whispered to the psychic, “Is she really surprised about this?”

“She is.”

Sanya must’ve hid her true nature from her mother.

“Are you certain it was her?” Lori asked.

“We are,” Wilfre emphasized, then pointed straight at her. “Your daughter admitted it before she fled.”

Lori shook her head. “It can’t be true.”

“It is!” Effie said, losing control of her anger. “She killed my friends to bring you back, and you don’t even want to be here!”

Lori put a hand over her chest. “What in god’s world? I don’t understand.”

Steffen motioned for Effie to calm herself as he spoke for her. “She killed someone who she thought was opening portals, which she claimed was destroying your spirit. But then she found out it actually was someone else opening the portals, so she tried to kill him but ended up killing someone else who defended him from her. This has all been proven, and yes, she has admitted to it.”

“If what you say is true, then this must be her father’s fault. He raised her and forbade me to see her. He tested his potions on her and forced her to train in absurd and torturous ways. It must’ve warped her.”

“Well that’s your daughter, now,” Effie said.

Lori just gave her a sad look, then her gaze fell down to the ground.

A moment of silence passed before Jack spoke up. “We can’t stay here discussing this. We have to begin digging. Lori, are you and Sanya more loyal to Tauwin or to us?”

“I know from the memories of the woman whose body I inhabit what kind of man Tauwin is. I would never support him. But all of you want my daughter killed, don’t you?”

Many people nodded. “Yes,” Effie said. “The punishment for murder is death.”

Lori frowned. “I suppose we’re loyal to neither, then.”

“This war has divided Kyrro,” Jack explained. “If you don’t pick a side, Tauwin will force you to support him or kill you if you resist.”

“Then I suppose we’re loyal to your side.”

“Good,” Jack said. “Steffen, bring her outside and wait with her until Reela and Sanya return.”

He helped Lori up and began walking toward the opening. Effie couldn’t hold back her words.

“Now it’s up to you to punish Sanya for what she did. You’re her mother. Do something about your child.”

Lori didn’t look back, but Effie knew she’d heard.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Merejic was as thick a forest as Basen had ever seen. He could imagine that the creatures born here had no idea what the rest of the world looked like. This crowded jungle, where no moment went by without a screech, howl, click, crunch, or rustle, was the only world they knew. Basen hadn’t been here for more than an hour, yet he already missed the open land.

“The Elves really wanted to build the village in the middle of all this?”

“Yes, because psyche was part of their culture,” Alabell explained. She seemed to know the most about Merejic’s history of anyone in their group. “They were comfortable around so much life.”

“I suppose I would be as well if I could feel where it all was.” Half of Basen’s fear came from not being able to see what made all the noise. The other half was from what he could see.

Fighting for space, the trees had grown crooked, some leaning over so severely it was as if a simple tug on one of their twisted arms could bring them down. Moss hung from their brown and black limbs that were mostly bare of leaves. The sight reminded Basen of an old balding woman. But this was not at all the source of Basen’s fear.

There was a plant that seemed more alive than any other plant Basen had encountered. And it was everywhere, at least one in every direction he looked. But somehow, they never grew close to each other, as if they couldn’t stand each other’s company. They had legs like long and thick worms, wrapping around themselves before burrowing into the dirt. Long leaves composed their body, which always took the shape of a bottle. The leaves clustered into a circle on top of the neck, making a clear head. The contrasting green and yellow leaves of the head created the appearance of eyes and a mouth. But the worst part was that the plant liked to lean out from behind trees, as if to spy.

There was a gentle breeze that moved everything, but these plants always seemed to dance just a little longer than the foliage around them. Basen made the mistake of prodding one with his sword and was certain it shook violently in an angry response.

“Did anyone see that?”

“What?” Cleve asked. He’d been at the front and at least made it seem like he knew where he was going, though Basen saw him sneaking looks at the compass quite often.

“Watch.” Basen poked the plant again, but this time it hardly moved. “Wait.” He poked it harder. Still, it barely moved.

Annah and Alabell looked confused, but Cleve put out his hand to stop Basen. “I wouldn’t do that.”

Basen swallowed in fear as it looked like the plant was glaring at him. “What do you know about these plants?”

“Not enough. They’re one of the strange things in this forest Reela and I could never figure out. She says she can sense no mind within them, but I’ve seen them do things that lead me to believe they must have some form of consciousness.”

“Tell me it’s the spookiest of the strange things you encountered in this forest,” Basen said hopefully.

To his dismay, Cleve shook his head. “The least. At night, things get worse.”

“Oh come on, Cleve,” Annah complained. “You make it sound like you’ve seen a ghost in here.”

“Yeah, stop frightening Basen,” Alabell teased with a smile. “I don’t want him up all night like when we crossed the desert. You remember how cranky he was the next day.”

Basen was thankful they could take a portal to get back and wouldn’t have to walk across Kilmar again. The rocky and freezing ground he’d slept on gave him the discomfort of his life. Then, walking miles through the heat the next day, without much water, hadn’t been any better. It had been about a week since then. It would’ve helped if they weren’t rushing. Basen actually could’ve enjoyed the long stretches of robust grass and blue skies if they weren’t killing themselves walking twenty miles each day.

They covered far less ground their first day in Merejic, though. Cleve followed a path, but he still needed to hack away a lot of vegetation. He was strong and quick with his bastial steel sword, but he was sweaty and clearly exhausted by the time daylight came to an end. It seemed to happen suddenly to Basen. Without being able to see the sun, he only noticed it was dark when his eyes had trouble making out the sneering face of one of the spooky plants ahead of him.

They soon found a place to make camp, where the path widened for a sharp turn around a tree stump as thick as a building. Basen didn’t know what could’ve cut down such a tremendous tree and chose not to think about it further.

“No fire,” Cleve said as Alabell started collecting sticks.

“Why?”

“It attracts some of the animals.”

“Good, we can kill and cook them.” Alabell seemed to be in a jovial mood for reasons Basen couldn’t understand.

“Why are you grinning like a gossip with a secret?” Basen asked.

She chuckled. He didn’t know why, but everything he said seemed to make her laugh. Fortunately, her laughter always made him want to laugh with her. Lately he’d been too tired, though, and contained it to a smile.

“Because look where we are.” She gestured at the dark and ominous forest. No, it was a jungle, he reminded himself. “Merejic. Can’t you feel the energy here?”

“It feels like humidity,” he said sarcastically.

“I mean besides that. There’s something magical about this place. There’s so much history here.”

Cleve removed his blanket from the straps on his bag. It meant he was about to lie down and stop responding, even if he wasn’t yet asleep. “No fire,” he reiterated.

“You still haven’t said why attracting the animals is bad. And wouldn’t the fire keep them at bay?”

But Cleve had gotten onto his blanket and pulled one end over his shoulder.

“Cleve?” Alabell tried.

“It’s no use,” Basen quipped, “no sound can penetrate his crusty blanket.”

Cleve mumbled, “We’ll hunt and cook tomorrow. Now I suggest you sleep as much as you can before the night comes alive.”

The three of them blinked at each other. “Well that sounds terrifying,” Basen said.

They settled onto their blankets. Basen gladly let his exhaustion take him into a deep slumber.

He awoke to Alabell shaking his shoulder. “Basen, listen.”

He heard something moist rubbing against something dry. He couldn’t see anything in the thick darkness. The noise came closer. He distinctly heard the heavy patter of footsteps against the ground as the creature approached, the wet sound coming nearer as well. It sounded like a tongue brushing against the dirt of their path.

Basen readied the wand he’d been cradling while he slept and pointed light. What he saw made his heart climb up into his throat. The lizard was bigger than any human would be on all fours, with a forked tongue long enough to reach the ground from its pointed head that came up to Basen’s chest now that he was up and reaching for his sword.