“Shlara?” I turned to Entas but the little man just shrugged again.
“And our city burns. How many thousands of our kin are dead by his hand?” Gorbanni choked out the words while he shook his head.
“We need to put out the fires. We can argue later about what we should have done with Kaiyer.” Alexia looked down at my lover’s body. Her blue eyes were moist with tears. “Then we should talk about what to do about Shlara.” She turned to look at Malek.
“Fine.” His jaw clenched. He reeked of human terror.
“I will take my brother’s body. We should entomb him in the Gilar Mountains north of here.”
“Why there?” Alexia asked.
“The two of us once hid in a shallow cave within the range when we fled the Elvens.” The big man retrieved his swords and then bent down to scoop up Kaiyer’s body with his massive arms.
“He isn’t a hero, Thayer. He betrayed us all for the Elven woman.”
“You fucking say that again and I’ll cut you in half. You don’t even believe those words. That is Shlara speaking through your coward mouth. You loved him more than any of us did. Fuck you.” The big man pushed his scarred nose up against Malek’s handsome face and they stared at each other for a few moments. Then Alexia cleared her throat.
“There are lives we need to save. Focus on our next steps. We can argue later,” the woman said.
“Fine,” both the men said at once. Thayer left first, followed by Gorbanni, then Alexia glanced to Malek before she walked from the bloody room.
Malek sighed and sat on the floor. He mirrored Thayer’s movements and put his face in his hands for a few moments. Then he exhaled again before standing.
“What did they need this for?” He walked over to the dais and looked at the orb.
“This might be your chance,” Entas whispered from his spot on the other side of Malek.
“What do you mean?”
“If he touches the Ovule, he’ll be exposed to enough energy to interact with us.” He wiggled his beard.
“Then I can kill him?”
“No!” He laughed. “Then you bite him.”
“Bite him?”
“Hard enough to taste his blood, but don’t kill him.”
“I want to kill him!”
“Do you want your daughter to live?”
“I don’t see how biting the human is going to get me my daughter back.”
“I could explain, but then the opportunity might pass. Just bite the man. Taste his blood, but don’t kill him.”
“I don’t trust you,” I growled.
“He’s going to touch the Ovule.” Entas was correct. Malek had spent a few seconds studying the orb, but then he slowly reached his hand out to lay his bare fingers on the smooth metal surface.
“Do it!” Entas screamed the command when Malek’s fingers lay upon the orb.
I reached out to grasp the human and my fingers made contact. Malek gasped with surprise. I did not want to bite the man, but Entas’s words were too compelling and before I could second guess them, my teeth were sinking into the sides of Malek’s neck.
“Ahhhhhhh!” He screamed and tried to reach back to grab me, but when his hands left the Ovule, I tumbled through him like he was a waterfall.
“Fantastic!” Entas yelled triumphantly “That will make everything easier.”
“Why did I have to do that?” My stomach churned with disgust. I doubted that the bitter, horrific taste of Malek’s blood would ever leave my mouth.
“I’ll explain in a few moments.” Entas pointed at Malek. He raised his hand to the bloody wound on his neck and looked around, the scent of terror clear on his body.
“What the fuck was that?” The human returned to his feet and spun around the room to look for the unseen attacker.
“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk, Malek. You won’t trust your intuition on this. You know what happened, don’t you?”
“Do you know this man?” I asked.
“Of course! Taught him everything he knows.” Entas turned to me and winked. “Of course, that isn’t the same as everything that
I
know, is it?”
“Why did I have to bite him?”
“I’ll tell you soon. I just want to see if he is going to touch it again. Then I’ll really scare the shit out of him.” Malek made as if to fulfill Entas’s request, but the tall man pulled his hand back at the last second.
“I’ll leave this here for now,” he said aloud and he glanced around the room to see if anyone heard him. Then Malek turned his back on the orb and ran out of the room.
“Back to the islands. Take my hand.” Entas reached out toward me and grinned. I looked at his hand and then crossed my arms.
“Why did I have to bite him? Is there still a chance that my daughter can live?”
“The bite has much to do with your daughter living. I’ll explain more at the islands.” He smirked and then rolled his big eyes in his skull. “Of course, if you want to stay here and roam this world as a ghost, I can just leave you here. But let me tell you. That shit gets old real quick. You will have plenty of time to ask me questions.”
“Very well.” My heart was still in agony over Kaiyer’s death, but I had no choice but to trust this man who said he would help me.
I grasped his hand.
Then the islands and their peaceful existence filled my vision.
“The blood is a type of magic.” Entas let go of my hand and walked away from me. “It creates a bond between people.”
“So I am bonded to Malek now?” I walked behind the monkey.
“Don’t sound so disgusted. It’s not like you fucked the man.” He laughed and he threw himself off of the ledge of the island.
“Entas!” I screamed and dove toward the edge of the endless drop. My hand reached out, but I was too slow and he was already falling.
He landed a quarter of a mile beneath me, he should have broken into a thousand wet pieces. He rose and continued walking, then he paused, looked up at me and yelled, “Well come on now! We’ve got shit to get done! If we are already between life and death, you aren’t going to go either direction by falling here!”
“I can just fall down?” I yelled.
“Of course! Hurry!”
“Oh fuck this asshole,” I whispered aloud and closed my eyes. I had already trusted this strange man more than I ever thought I could trust anyone save Relyara, Nyarathe, and Kaiyer. What was one more leap of faith?
I jumped off the edge and aimed my body at the distant ground below. I fell, but the sensation was slow and as pleasant as sliding through a pool of water on a summer day. I traveled much slower than I imagined and landed softly next to Entas.
“He’s over here.”
“Who?”
“Kaiyer. Try to keep up. We are moving quickly here, Singleborn.”
“How is Kaiyer here? How do you know I am a Singleborn?”
“There he is!” Entas pointed off into the distance. A figure jumped between the islands and spun through the air like one of the bright white birds.
“Wait here. I’m going to try to get him to come see you. Then you can tell him Vaiarathe’s name and this conundrum will be solved easily.” He winked at me and then jumped off into the air like there was no gravity holding him on the land.
I wanted to run after Entas and fly through the air after him. I wanted to see Kaiyer and speak with him. But I feared doing anything other than what the strange old human told me would probably not help me or Vaiarathe.
I saw him land next to Kaiyer and they began to converse. They were perhaps four miles away, so I could not hear their words or taste Kaiyer’s scent in the air. I tried. I still remembered his scent so clearly and I missed it almost as much as the feeling of his body inside of mine. It took all of my willpower and love for our daughter to keep me cautiously waiting here instead of leaping toward him.
I saw Entas gesture back at me and I raised my hand. Kaiyer turned his eyes in my direction and my heart leapt to my throat. If he was here, did that mean we could stay together forever? What about Vaiarathe? I had too many questions to ask Entas and my frustration was beginning to turn into anger again.
Then Kaiyer disappeared.
It was a split second change. Entas was speaking with my love and then Kaiyer was no longer standing there. I glanced around the islands, thinking that maybe he might have changed his position as Entas did when I first met him, but I did not see my love anywhere.
“Unfortunately, that went as I expected,” Entas said from beside me. I was not surprised by his appearance.
“What did he say?”
“He has memory problems. So do you, but I work with what I can.”
“Where is he?”
“Want to see?” The man held his hand out to me again.
“Yes!” I touched him and we were suddenly in a cave. The place smelled of torch sap, weapon oil, and death.
Kaiyer walked past us.
“By the Dead Gods!” I felt joy fill my chest and tears stung my eyes. “How is he alive?”
“Malek was a backup plan.”
“You are speaking nonsense again.” I felt no anger. Kaiyer seemed completely healthy and we followed him out of the cave into a massive campsite of the O’Baarni army.
“Blood forms a bond. We only have so much power in this world. We have more with those we are bonded with.” Entas looked at me and then back to Kaiyer. “I’m using simple terms with you because you are an idiot.”
“Fuck you.” The joy left my stomach and the anger came back in full force.
“That would be dysfunctional. Do you want me to finish my explanation?”
“Fine. But if I could kill you, I would have by now.”
“I am helping, Singleborn.” He shrugged. “I should not have insulted you, but I grow frustrated as well. He was supposed to listen to me but he didn’t. He never does. You’ve always been the easy one.”
“What are you talking about? Damn it, Entas!” I screamed and felt the tears begin to cascade down my cheeks. “Why won’t you just explain what is going on? You treat me like an idiot but I am only confused because you refuse to speak plainly. I just want my daughter to live. I want her to know her father. I will do whatever you ask, just help me.” The words burned as I spoke. It was humiliating asking this old, feeble human for help. But I meant every word.
“I want them to meet as well. You might not believe this, but I want that to happen more than you do. I’ve been waiting an eternity for her.” He did not smile. “I can only do what I do and pray to your Gods for luck. You have more power than I. I will tell you what I can. I will explain what you can comprehend. If you do what I say and we are more than lucky, we may succeed. Are you willing to follow my instructions? Even if it means doing things that you may not understand?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Yes. But no other alternative will bring her back from the Radicle.”
I stared at the man for a few moments. There was no hint of his characteristic humor. I did not understand human facial expressions well enough to gauge if he was being sincere. He smelled like Kaiyer and he smelled like Vaiarathe.
And it seemed as if I had no other choice.
“I will do as you say.”
“Good.” He smiled again and bobbed his head. “Kaiyer has forgotten that he needs the Ovule. He forgot his daughter. He just wants to flee. We need to get him to the same world as Vaiarathe, at the correct Radicle, with her name on his lips.”
“That sounds next to impossible.” I shook my head.
“Nothing is impossible. Just more than a little difficult.”
“You were telling me about the blood and why I needed Malek.”
“Once you are bonded to someone, you can communicate with them in a subconscious state.” He scrunched up his mouth and looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Through his dreams?”
“Dreams are the easiest.”
“I am bonded with Kaiyer.” I had tasted his blood.
“You are. But his mind is too strong. Malek is all we have.” Entas walked out of the cave entrance and pointed below us. I followed his finger and saw Kaiyer, wearing a stolen uniform, riding a supply cart beside another human.
“What about my sister?”
“She is too far away from Kaiyer and Malek.”
“But I can talk to her while she is sleeping?”
“Yes.” He looked at me and raised a gray eyebrow.
“The O’Baarni do not know how to operate the Radicles. Malek is the most educated among them and even he does not know about Ovules.”
“Yes.” He somehow seemed to raise his eyebrow even higher; it looked ready to leap from his head.
“Will Kaiyer continue to resurrect himself?”
“I hope so.” He shrugged.
I looked out over the army. I could taste the smoke of hundreds of campfires and hear the O’Baarni working like bees in a hive. All the little insects striving together toward a common goal. They followed their queen without question.
“How is Shlara still alive?” I finally asked.
“You of all people should understand that.” I turned to look at the man and for once I saw the flicker of fear in the eyes that were the same color as mine. I nodded at his confirmation and felt my own terror threaten to seize my body. I exhaled and then looked at the army again.