After a while I was surprised to see a smile on my aunt’s lips.
‘I knew you were still in there,’ she said.
‘If I could close myself in, why couldn’t I get out again?’ I asked her.
‘You have become very good at “closing yourself in” and I’m not just talking about the waves,’ she replied.
Had I been too withdrawn, too independent of those around me?
‘Wouldn’t you be, in my situation?’ I retorted gently. If she could read my mind, she obviously knew about the many struggles I’d faced as a child; the child of a grief-maddened father. It was natural that child had become a self-reliant, strong-willed man, wasn’t it?
She looked down at the dew-beaded lawn. ‘I just don’t want you to end up like your father.’
‘Nor do I,’ I agreed with vehemence.
She took my hand. ‘He loved your mother. His passions drove him… to his death.’
‘We must fight the Zeikas,’ I replied, wondering if my father had instilled this passion in me.
Jaalta shook her head. ‘Nay. All we must do is obey Krii.’
I stood and paced around. Being parted from Rekala, Sarlice and now Ciera was grinding me down. My left fist clenched around the belt from Jaria. It warmed to my touch, somehow making me feel more alert. Oh but it was good to have my wave senses back!
‘What do we do now?’ I queried Tiaro. If Ciera didn’t return soon he and his battalion would be overrun.
‘Sing,’ Tiaro suggested. ‘Sing and reach out to your Sleffion-kin. Bring him back from whatever darkness he has flown into.’
Halduronlei chimed in the waves as Tiaro and I worked together to recall it from memory. The song built slowly and we turned our attention to Ciera. My heart lurched when I found him many leagues away. He laboured both physically and mentally, taxing his body to within an inch of survival.
The distance between us was insubstantial in the waves now. It was as if he was only in the next room. Rage billowed off him like a storm. Waves of fury washed over me, searing me with their heat. With my wave senses, the belt I was wearing glowed like a beacon—somehow it was lighting the way. Tiaro and I projected the soothing song at Ciera with all our might. Its sad and meaningful tune locked the three of us together.
Emotions swirled in the void between us. Our connection no longer came to me in a purely auditory sense—brilliant colours burned through the waves. Ciera’s outline pulsated before me as he attacked the Zeikas at Lokshole. He took one final pass at the battlements before breaking off.
‘I heed you, Sleffion,’ he told me tiredly. ‘I heed you.’
He was breathing hard and I detected dozens of injuries in his massive frame. One of his forearms was enveloped with pain; probably a break or dislocation. Ciera roared and the skyearls that had continued to defend him, despite the orders coming from Condii, turned and followed him towards home.
‘Be calm,’ I told him. ‘There are other battles to be fought.’
He made no reply. His anger still boiled so strongly that he could barely think straight. There was also something else… some other burden dragging at him…
‘Raer is falling,’ he reported angrily. ‘And I am not strong enough to sustain it.’
He flapped his wings in powerful sweeps, leading the strike force and flying the Condii Defenders back to the city.
‘But Centan will be damaged,’ I responded carefully.
Ciera snorted. ‘They evacuate the Dome of Gathering as we speak. They cannot even help us move Raer over the falls.’
‘There are other shrouders with such ability?’ I queried.
He sighed. ‘Not many, and all but a few of the creators of Raer have perished.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I told him. My situation with the strategists seemed unimportant in light of this news, yet I couldn’t keep it from him. The reminder of my problems seemed to bring him back into focus. We did not discuss his berserker rage.
‘Something is different,’ he said instead. ‘Despite the distance between us, our waves are so clear.’
I looked down at the glowing belt and said, ‘It’s strange you know. I’ve had it all this time and never realised…’
‘The prophecy of Anzaii,’ Ciera suggested.
Two of the verses rose in my mind: “Krii holds ten seeds in His right hand; one for each of the final allies… one to the Land of a Thousand Perils…”
Perhaps that very seed was what had birthed the Ancient Sapphire Tree that Namal had shown me in the Catacombs of Krii, and here I stood with an artefact made from that tree. Was the belt a symbol for one of the final allies? Jaria—broken, scattered Jaria—one of the nine Kriite nations that would band together during the breaking of the world?
My mind spun with questions, but I was also aware of Ciera’s intense struggles. Although our waves were clear, it seemed to take more and more of his strength to concentrate on our conversation. For the first time ever, the smell of his exhaustion reached me through the waves. It suffocated me such that I found myself coughing on the ground. With growing alarm, I realised Ciera’s flight path was taking him lower and lower to the ground.
‘Are you well?’ I asked him.
‘Too much…’ he responded. ‘I cannot hold it aloft any longer.’
His body skimmed low over a field of stubby trees. Several branches scraped his underside, some even penetrating the fur and gouging the thick skin due to the force of his fall. As he came to an exhausted crash landing, something inside him gave way. To Ciera’s immense chimera senses, it was as if a sinew within his own body suddenly tore. Pain ripped through him, and me.
Through the belt and Ciera’s connection to the shroud, Raer, I saw the great sky city and all its buildings crash down onto Centan. The bulk of it crashed into the Dome of Gathering and the Ancient Sapphire Tree inside shattered to pieces. So, they’re not completely indestructible.
A shockwave followed, like a tsunami punching through the waves. I watched in horror as all those with wave senses were affected, one after the other.
The shockwave bubbled out. With the Jarian Anzaii belt in my mind, I was able to perceive the shockwave’s effects all across Tanza. The tens of thousands of wave-users in the realm were floored by the sudden impact of the breaking of the Ancient Sapphire Tree in Centan. For some it was their last moment alive. Wherever they were in battle, the Zeikas took full advantage of the distraction.
I found my awareness hovering over the armies between Lowford and Highford. A Defender army of some 5,000 warriors had embarked to help Highford only to be intercepted on open ground. The Zeikas wiped out the last of their number before my very eyes.
‘Crystom! Em!’ I cried out.
With Jaalta’s help, the belt enabled me to search out the king and queen within a few minutes. Of all places, they were both inside the Dome of Gathering.
Panels of stone and glass shattered around them as the outer walls crumbled inwards. As I watched in horror, the pressure on the last remaining blocks of the ceiling became too much. King Crystom was pulling at Em’s legs, trying to get her clear of the falling debris. She pushed forward relentlessly, grasping for a single leaf of the Ancient Sapphire Tree that had shot clear of the first pile of rubble.
Finally she had it in her hand and the two of them fled from the collapsing building.
Structures from Raer Sky Kingdom toppled in after them, crushing whatever was left of the passages and tunnels in the Dome.
Afterwards, not an inch of the tree was visible in the wreck. I felt like a spirit hovering over them, unable to help. Perhaps with the belt, I could help.
I gestured at Jaalta, allowing her to read my thoughts. She placed her hand on my waist so that some of her fingers were touching the belt directly. Together we reached out for Crystom and Em.
‘Jaalta? Talon?’ came Crystom’s bewildered reply.
He had sprained his ankle and Em bore many cuts and bruises from her dash into the Dome.
‘Zeikas have defeated a Lowford Defender army on its way to Highford,’ I blurted, hoping to at least get that vital piece of information to them before our communication over the waves was interrupted.
The king and queen looked at each other.
‘How are you doing this far-waving with us?’ Em wanted to know.
‘It’s the belt,’ Jaalta said. ‘Talon’s been out of the waves a while, but Krii helped him open up again. Now, with our combined Anzaii abilities and using the belt, we seem to be able to reach further.’
‘You said the Lowford army has been slain?’ Crystom queried, unable to keep his dread from reaching us. There were hundreds of souls in that army he knew well, and even those he didn’t know were precious to him.
‘Aye,’ I confirmed. ‘I saw it as I watched a shockwave from the breaking of the Ancient Sapphire Tree.’
‘May I ask what you were doing in the Dome?’ Jaalta said.
Em replied, ‘Krii told me to recover a part of the tree—at all cost—and bring it to you and Astor Talon.’
‘It’s the prophecy of Anzaii,’ Jaalta said, confirming my recollection of the conversation with Ciera.
Even through the waves, her voice was like the softest whisper. The import of what she was saying was too much for my tired mind. I wished Sarlice and Thita were here, with their greater understanding of the scrolls. My thoughts raced. The prophecy of Anzaii mentioned the final allies who would each have an Ancient Sapphire Tree. Jaalta was a step ahead of me.
‘There is more to the prophecy of Anzaii,’ Jaalta said.
‘It has not been translated,’ Crystom replied.
He and Em were somewhat distracted now, having been found by other Tanzans and escorted to safety. Both of their Sleffion-kin were nearby, ready to fly them out of the waterfall city.
‘You mean you have it?’ I asked incredulously.
To my knowledge, all existence of that writing had been lost decades ago.
‘There are fragments in various languages,’ Crystom said. ‘But we lack the proper codices to finish translating most of it and piece it together.’
‘Why bring it up now, then?’ I asked Jaalta.
‘I believe it will tell us what to do with the pieces of the nine trees, how we go about bringing the final allies together and for what purpose.’
If Crystom, Em and I had been in the same room as Jaalta, we would have stared at her with dumbfounded expressions. As it was, the same reaction reached her through the waves in a fraction of a second.
‘Don’t ask me how I know,’ she continued. ‘It just makes sense.’
‘It would be worth finishing that translation to find out,’ Crystom said. ‘From what I can tell, you are both already reaching further and more clearly than you ever have before, to another human.’
Jaalta and I agreed.
‘It is the Ancient Sapphire Tree leaf belt from the Catacombs of Krii,’ I admitted. ‘I’ve carried it with me all this time and never realised its true purpose.’ Then to Jaalta I said, ‘The nine seeds mentioned in the prophecy of Anzaii have grown into the Ancient Sapphire Trees. Are you suggesting that if pieces from all nine trees are brought together something will happen?’
‘It seems possible they can be combined somehow and used to augment Anzaii abilities,’ she replied. ‘The Centan tree has long been used for bettering our communication. Perhaps these artefacts will be more effective when kept together.’
‘I hope so,’ Crystom replied. ‘Right now, I will take any advantage we can get.’
‘We are coming to Condii,’ Crystom said. ‘We’ll talk more then.’
‘Yes, sire,’ I replied.
As Crystom and Em made preparations for their departure, I turned my attention back to Ciera. He had lain still for a long time after his crash landing, ignoring the efforts of his skyearl companions to rouse him. He had listened to the conversation between Crystom, Em, Jaalta and I and sent his feelings of support to me.
‘I behaved badly,’ he admitted after a while. ‘I ignored orders from Condii. I killed many Zeikas without mercy…’
‘We are at war,’ I replied, trying to reassure him. ‘Are you able to return?’
He dipped his head. ‘Yes, after I have consumed this grove.’
He pulled himself to his feet and opened his tremendous jaws to eat some of the palm tree leaves and pine saplings that had been left in front of him by his fellows. The rough branches scraped away the blood and human remains that had caught between his teeth, but the memories were harder for him to get rid of.
I used the rest of trayaday to communicate with Rekala, Crystom, Em, Tyba, Jett, Glane, Tivac and just about every other being I’d made a connection with since coming here. All were relieved to hear I was back on the waves and stronger than ever. Most had heard fragmented versions of what had been happening in Condii. There were far worse tales coming from the fords.
By sheer force of numbers, the Zeikas were gaining control. A force as high as 10,000 Zeikas now descended upon Highford. The 7,000 Zeikas that remained after killing Lowford’s Defenders during the shockwave continued on to Lowford. Civilians fled the town, knowing well it could not hold back forces of that size without its army. From so far away, it was heart-wrenching to have to watch and know I could do nothing to help.
Ciera, and the Condii Defenders who’d remained with him, arrived back in town and joined a war camp near the decimated barracks. The emperor skyearl had barely staggered in through the gates before he collapsed in the parade grounds to sleep. I watched through the waves as skyearls swarmed around him, forcing him to wake long enough to drink water and eat more. In the evening I made my way down to him to stay by his side through the night.
With nobody else to talk to, it was finally time to reach out to the most important person in my life. I hooked my thumb over the Jarian belt and thought of Sarlice. I expected her to be somewhere in Lantaid. I let my thoughts wander out over Condii and shoot west.
Beyond the brighter presences of Rada-kin were Sleffion-kin and the dim lights of humans. I was certain the difference in brightness was due to my ability to reach each kind of being, not because they were any larger or smaller in their own wave-presences. If that was true then my familiarity with Sarlice ought to make her brighter to my wave-senses than the other humans. But where was she?