Glyphbinder (35 page)

“The Mavoureen found us.” Jair stood and grimaced. “They grabbed Kara. They’re trying to drag her back into the Underside.

“Then stop them!”

“I don't—” Jair stopped talking. He stared past Xander at someone none of them could see.

“Jair?” Trell watched him and gripped the pommel of his sword.

“I'm listening,” Jair said. There was silence for a moment, and then Jair’s eyes went wide. “I understand. Thank you.” He smiled, a warm, real smile. “I'll see you soon.”

“What's happening?” Trell demanded. “Did you get Kara back? Did you find someone else?”

“Yes.” Jair turned to Trell, eyes calm. "Give me your sword."

Trell did that. He gave his sword to a man who had moments before been trying to kill them. Jair’s eyes widened as he took the weight, but he knelt and settled the pommel on the ground.

He stood then, sliding his fingers up the blade, careful not to cut himself. Leaving the tip of the blade pointed at the sky.

“I’ve failed you all in so many ways, but it doesn’t matter anymore. You saved me. You saved my soul from the Mavoureen.” Jair smiled wide. “Thank you for believing in me.”

He tossed himself forward. He impaled himself on the sword tip, hitting so hard it thrust into his chest and out his back. Jair gasped and coughed, spitting blood, but then his head snapped up and his eyes flared bright blue.

Trell dashed forward. “You fool!” He caught Jair just as he began to fall. “Why?”

Jair coughed again and met Trell’s eyes, though it was hard to tell with all the glowing blue. That soon faded as Jair’s eyes changed, first black, then orange. “Trust me.”

Byn stumbled over. “Drown me, Jair. Why?”

“My mother.” Jair choked and coughed. “She told me everything. Kara has to live. We need her.”

Jair’s chest heaved, and then he went still. Then he died, and it seemed none of the Five planned to bring him back. With Cantrall gone and the gate closed, they were past that now.

Trell felt sick to his stomach. He held Jair until he decided leaving a sword stuck in him wasn’t appropriate. He pulled the blade out, carefully, and settled Jair’s body on the stones of Terras. Sera whispered a quiet prayer.

“Did he go mad?” Xander asked. “What was he trying to do?”

Someone gasped, and they all turned to look. It was Kara. Kara was gasping. Her body flailed, her eyes wide open. She coughed and struggled to breathe.

Xander reached her a moment before Trell, and then Byn and Sera were there too. Only Melyssa watched, smiling.

“Kara!” everyone shouted at once.

She stared at them. Alive. “Jair saved me.”

Trell went to hug her, but Xander beat him to it. He pulled Kara into his arms and held her, and none of them begrudged him that. He was her father, after all. Her real one.

“I don't know how,” Kara said, “but Jair pulled me out of the Underside just before Paymon dragged me back. Then he led me back here. To my own body.”

“Paymon?” Byn looked around. “Who’s Paymon?”

Kara shuddered. “I think he’s the king of the Underside.”

They shared a long moment of silence as each of them considered the magnitude of what Jair had done. What Kara had done. Finally, Xander settled back and let Kara go.

“Rough seas.” Xander beamed at her. “You’re alive.”

“As are we.” Melyssa chose that moment to approach, walking as steady as she had in some time. “Torn’s glyphs are unchanged by all that has transpired here. It’s time for you to leave.”

“Where is Jair?” Sera looked up at Melyssa, then glanced at Trell. Her lips compressed. “Is he—”

“In the Underside? No.” Melyssa tapped her own chin. “I was not aware he had learned that particular glyph, but I knew several Soulmages who used it during the All Province War. When we lost someone we could not afford to lose.”

“Soulmages can resurrect the dead?” Byn asked. “We never learned anything about that!”

“Nor would you. It is not a glyph I’d want any student to use.” Melyssa frowned. “Under normal circumstances, souls drawn from the Underside return there when released. They have no purchase here, nothing to anchor them down.”

“Normal circumstances.” Trell glanced once more at Jair. He almost expected the young man’s eyes to pop open.

“Long ago, a powerful Soulmage discovered a loophole. A lost soul can be anchored here if the Soulmage uses their own life to anchor them. They pass their anchor onto another as their soul travels beyond, die so another may live.”

Xander grunted. “When I stand before Order and Ruin, I’m going to buy Jair a drink. I might even write him a song.” He crossed his arms. “Now how do we get back to Mynt?”

Trell stood and shook his head. He could not imagine what would have inspired Jair to do this. Was it his mother? Something she had said to them? Or could he simply not live knowing he was part of the calamity that had sent Kara to the Underside?

“The spectral storms won’t touch me,” Melyssa said, “or those with my blessing. That was Torn’s gift. His love.”

“Love won’t get us back to Mynt.” Aryn chose that moment to return, and stopped dead when he saw Jair. “What happened?”

“Jair brought Kara back.” Trell turned to him. “He gave his own life to ensure her soul returned here, to her body.”

Kara hurried over to Aryn and pulled him into a hug. He went stiff, not moving. Kara didn’t stop hugging him.

“Thank you,” Kara said. “For Sera. For everything.”

Aryn awkwardly hugged her back. “Don’t mention it.”

“I already did.” Kara let him go and turned to the rest of them. “I’d never ask Jair to give his life for me, and I can never repay him. But I’m determined to make his sacrifice worthwhile. I’m going to live and save my mother. All of you are going to live with me.”

“Jair’s sacrifice won’t be forgotten,” Melyssa agreed. “But now that you have decided to rejoin us, Aryn, you must return to Mynt.”

Aryn uncrossed his arms. “Are we to grow wings and fly?”

“You have legs.”

Byn looked between them and groaned. “You want us to
walk
?”

“If you’ve a better idea, I’ll hear it.”

Kara walked over to Trell and took his hand. She didn’t look at him, but she didn’t have to. Trell knew what she was thinking.

He remembered very little about his wife, Marabella, but he did remember her face now. Tan skin, long lashes and beautiful blue eyes. Dark hair to her waist. Life had taken Marabella’s form so he would trust her, but she had given him something she’d never intended. She had given him back a memory of his dead wife.

Trell squeezed Kara’s hand and then pulled his away. He wasn’t ready to deal with this yet. Their relationship, whatever it was. Instead, he looked to the broken gates of Terras. The land beyond was gray and dead.

“Well?” he said. “Shall we go?”

“Not yet.” Kara knelt at Jair’s side and settled his hands together, over his chest. “First we bury him. A proper burial.” She looked up. “Melyssa, where are we headed?”

Melyssa shook her head. “I’m staying here.”

“What? Why?”

“The library.” Melyssa glanced at Jyllith, and Trell only then remembered she was there. She had retreated to a dark corner after Aryn spared her life. She crouched there, hugging herself.

“We have won a great victory today,” Melyssa said, “but work remains. Unless Jyllith and I find a way to fix it, both she and Sera will become Demonkin in less than a month. Given the defeat you’ve just handed the Mavoureen, their eternity will be worse than most.”

Jyllith stared and rose. “So you
are
going to kill me.”

“Not yet.” Melyssa pointed to a giant building that still stood. “There are books in Terras none have seen for seventy years. This academy was the center of all research regarding the Mavoureen. If there is a cure for the Demonkin curse—“

“Right,” Kara interrupted. “So we’ll stay and help.” She looked at the others for agreement.

“No,” Melyssa said. “You leave today.”

“Why would we do that?”

“You have family waiting. Your mother. It’s time for you to return to her and claim your place as the royal apprentice.”

“So come with us! We can always bring you back.”

“My place is here, with Jyllith. No one waits for either of us back in the Five Provinces.”

“You think I’ll just leave you here to plot?” Xander advanced on Melyssa. “Not bloody likely.

“So you still plan to kill me?”

“Tempt me.”

“You’re welcome to stay with us. To keep an eye on me. If, that is, you plan to abandon your daughter a second time.”

Xander turned a deep red, glaring at her. Trell wondered if he’d need to step between them. Fortunately, Xander simply spit and looked away. “I’m never leaving my family again.”

“Wonderful.” Melyssa strode to Kara. “Take my hand.”

Kara took it. She blinked. “What was that?”

“Things I need from Tarna’s library. Take Sera with you, and send her back once you’ve obtained them. Time is precious and it’s likely she won’t be able to access Tarna’s library without your help.”

Kara glanced at Sera. “That work for you?”

Sera shrugged. “As well as anything.”

“All right. Consider it done.” Kara hugged her great-grandmother for the first time in all her life. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I mean it. We won’t fail you.”

Melyssa smiled and held her close. “I know.”

“What about me, Melyssa?” Aryn asked. “I scribed my soul to Balazel. Are you going to imprison me here, too?”

Melyssa stepped back from Kara and eyed him up and down. “You are free of your curse. You have already been to the Underside. Your pact is complete.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“Think about it until it does.” Melyssa turned back to Xander. “I give you my word I will never harm Kara or take her from you again. Now it’s up to you to make a choice. Stay here, watch me, or return to your daughter and wife.”

He glared at her. “You had no right to take our lives away.”

“Yet you still have them, don’t you?” Melyssa settled her hands on her hips. “If it was me, I would choose to spend the rest of my life with my husband. But I never had that choice.”

“When you die,” Xander said, voice low, “I’ll be back to piss on your grave. I’ll make a special trip.”

“I love you too.” Melyssa fixed him with a bright smile before she turned on Kara. “Now. It really is time for you to go. Jyllith and I will bury Jair and wait here, search the library, until Sera returns. Maybe we’ll have a cure by then. We won’t stop looking.”

“All right.” Kara turned to Xander. “Let’s get moving.” She almost smiled. “Dad.” She marched for the gate, raising one arm and waving her hand. “We’re moving out!”

Trell hurried after her. “Kara, wait. What if there’s something here that could heal your mother? Some cure in that library?”

Kara glanced back at him. “I already have a cure.”

“What?” Trell rushed to keep up. “Where?”

“I understood what happened to my mother as soon as I examined Torn’s body, felt Torn’s blood inside me. I know how to fix her, and I’m going to ensure she lives to a ripe old age.”

“Then the two of us will have lots of time to argue.” Xander threw an arm around Kara and pulled her close as they walked. “Assuming you still want to get to know your real father?”

Kara did not push him off. “We could try that.”

Trell glanced back. Aryn followed, scowling, and Byn and Sera walked just behind him. Holding hands. Jyllith stood at Melyssa’s side and stared after them, a ghost of the woman she had been before. A wraith left only with guilt and regret.

Trell wondered what would become of her. He wondered if someone who had done as many horrible things as she had could ever be redeemed. He then decided, in her case, he didn’t care.

They walked out of Terras and Kara led them resolutely east, the way Trell assumed would take them back to Mynt. They had no horses, no provisions. They would need to hunt on this journey. They would need to find something to eat.

He watched Kara walk and tried to make sense of his conflicted feelings. Her death had been so brief that he had been unable to truly process it, but that did not make it any less disturbing. It had simply left him feeling ... empty.

He could not know if what he felt for Kara was real or some aspect of Life’s influence. What he did know is Kara had saved his life and then saved their world. They had been through so much together that he could not imagine his life without her.

For now, that was the only answer he had.

FIVE DAYS LATER, JUST PAST SUNRISE on the same day fresh Sentinels were to arrive from Nevelaunt, Prince Beren received a report that his soldiers had captured a large gathering of gnarls at the border of the Unsettled Lands. They had a small group of humans as captives. He told Ona Tanner about it.

Moments later Ona rode out with his guard, on Chesa, despite the agony in her body and the way each jolt made her want to scream. Ona had endured more pain than this for more years than she could count, and the thought of Kara, alive, could get her through anything. She would not lose her daughter now.

Beren shouted orders as twenty of his best soldiers rode with them. If he had assumed their big warhorses would need to slow to avoid outdistancing Chesa, Ona’s mare proved them wrong. They rode just behind Beren, and Ona wondered if Chesa was eager to see Kara too. Solyr’s horses were unusually intelligent.

As they rode Ona’s illness faded to a dull ache — it tended to come and go throughout the day, always worse at night — and today the pain was only a little bit agonizing. She could focus and think.

Beren’s host thundered past disinterred skeletons, the reminders of the horrors a harvenger set loose upon her land. They rode hard until the sun was well risen. In early afternoon, they finally reached the edge of the Unsettled Lands. Ona gasped at the sight.

The looming storms along the border of Mynt crackled with ominous light, gathered in an unnatural way, as if some invisible wall held them back. When Ona saw distant human figures among a horde of tall red gnarls, her grip tightened on Chesa’s reins.

Beren halted his vanguard and Ona urged Chesa up beside his massive black warhorse. “My daughter’s out there?”

“So I’ve been told.” Prince Beren was a massive man wearing gold armor that glittered in the sun, but Ona knew that was simply his ceremonial armor. What he wore to rally his legionnaires.

She had seen his other armor, his real armor. Glyphed magesteel formed of interlocking plates. If Beren had intended to fight these gnarls, he would have come wearing that. Two scars marred his face, one on each side, and the left was far fresher than the right.

Ona had earned her place at Beren’s side when she rode into his vanguard with a horde of gnarls and davengers on her tail, carrying Melyssa’s apprentice medallion. Beren’s legionnaires and Firebrands had torn the gnarl host apart, spears and shields and fireballs advancing as one. Ona still shuddered every time she thought about how close she had come to death. Now, her daughter was in danger.

Another soldier hurried over to them, on foot. A legionnaire with four dark chevrons burned into his forehead. He stopped and saluted, armored plates clattering against his linked chain.

“Captain Traeger.” Beren inclined his head. “Report.”

“We have them contained on all sides, my prince, but they have hostages. With Sentinels in such short supply, we have none who speak their language. Do you wish to bargain? Or cut them down?”

“Have they made to cross the border?”

“Not once, but they’ve also made no move to release their hostages. Gnarls are hardy fighters, but if they were here to fight, they’d have started something by now. They want something else.”

Beren stroked his thick gray beard. “Your soldiers are in place?”

“Give the word and these gnarls die, my prince.”

Ona stepped Chesa forward. “Send me. I speak a bit of their language.” Her memories of a life lived with Xander in a cabin in the woods had been returning, in pieces, over the past few days. “I think I can bargain with them.”

Traeger frowned. “Begging your pardon, miss, but just who are you to make that kind of boast?”

Beren narrowed his eyes at his captain. “You address the mother of the royal apprentice.”

Traeger grimaced and bowed his head. “I did not recognize her without the robes.” He looked up, eyes soft and brown. He wasn’t a bad looking man. “Forgive me, my lady.”

Ona raised an eyebrow at him. This “my lady” nonsense was interesting. “Nothing to forgive. Your skill and dedication has found my daughter.”

“So, Ona.” Beren leaned in. “How will you approach them?”

“Why, with palms open and hands unarmed.” When Beren opened his mouth, Ona continued before he could interrupt. “Gnarls have honor of a sort. As long as I don’t try to glyph at them, they won’t attack an unarmed woman.”

“You’re certain of that?”

“Certain enough.”

Ona remembered how she spent months studying with Xander, learning about the life he had led as an exiled Glyphbinder. He had taught her bits of the ancient language as spoken by gnarls. He had taught her their customs and fears.

Her husband had hidden nothing from her, or so she had always believed. He had never told her he scribed a glyph to keep her from getting pregnant. She didn’t know if she could forgive him for that.

Beren snorted. “I’ll not stand between a mother and her daughter.” He nodded to his men. “You have but to shout the order and stay alive. Our spears will make short work of these.”

Ona dropped from the saddle and winced. One of Beren’s Bloodmenders had spent three days restoring her leg, bit by bit, and it still tingled something fierce. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Shouldn’t we at least give them a chance to surrender?”

A nearby legionnaire chuckled. Ona liked them already. Spreading her empty palms wide, she walked to the line of Mynt surrounding the gnarls. Her stomach roiled and her heart pounded as she smiled at the tribe of beastmen.

Beren’s line parted when she reached them, legionnaires stepping aside and inclining their heads. The woman on the left spoke first. “We have your back, my lady.”

There it was again. Ona frowned as the gnarls beyond offered warning snarls. None, however, drew arms. She stepped beyond the legionnaire line, careful not to step
into
the Unsettled Lands, and struggled to remember the ancient language. They still spoke it.

“Concora.” It meant peace. She struggled until she remembered another word. “Satar?” That meant trade.

One red gnarl stepped from the crowd. These were Firemakers, fur dyed red in worship to Heat. The gnarl spoke to her in a guttural dialect she could barely understand, but she caught bits and pieces. Leader. Quest. Charges. And one last word. Safe.

“You’re worried the legionnaires will slaughter you when you release your captives.” Ona turned to those behind her. “My prince! Have your legionnaires lower their spears and step back from the border! The gnarls will bargain, but they fear for their safety!”

None moved until Beren repeated her orders. Reluctantly, the entire line of legionnaires stepped back, long shields raised and spears bucking as armor clanked. Firebrands unscribed glyphs. Archers lowered bows.

Ona turned back to the gnarls. “Satar?”

The one who had spoken turned to its fellows and shouted a number of strange words. The red forms parted, and Ona could finally make out five distant figures huddled together in their ranks. Human figures. One stood and waved.

“Mom!” Kara’s voice was scarcely audible across the distance. “You found us!”

The gnarls parted, clearing a path between Ona and their captives, and they moved forward at a rapid pace. Ona felt tears welling up as she stared at her daughter. So strong. Still alive.

Kara’s friends had saved her. Xander had saved her, and she almost couldn’t wait to see her husband again. They had so much history to recover, years stolen away by Melyssa.

What few memories had returned in the past few days assured Ona she
had
loved Xander very much, and that was enough to make her heart ache with his absence. They deserved to be together. Kara deserved a real family.

When the Gnarl’s captives were close enough, Ona counted and identified them all. Trell walked right beside Kara, still protecting her, and Sera and Byn were behind them. Yet Aryn led the procession, his blistered skin plainly visible to all.

Where was Melyssa? Where was Xander?

Aryn walked like a noble, not a charred corpse. The gnarls bowed low as he passed, heads down. Were they
worshipping
him? One of the legionnaires behind her muttered.

“It’s a thrice-damned demon.”

Ona frowned and turned on him. “That’s no demon. That’s a good man, and he’s a friend. They all are.”

The legionnaire shrugged in his armor. “As you say, my lady.”

She had no sooner turned back before Kara reached her and dragged her into a tight hug. Ona cried out as agony split her calves, but it was welcome agony. She laughed. “Careful!”

“Mom,” Kara whispered. “I know how to fix you.”

Ona hugged her close, savoring the feeling of having her child back. “That’s wonderful, honey. But you might not want to sob like that in front of all Prince Beren’s legionnaires.”

“Mrs. Tanner.” Byn inclined his head when he reached them. “Busy week?” His legs trembled.

“I found help,” Ona said. “And now I have to ask. Why gnarls?”

“They like me,” Aryn said. “Something about my charming black grin.” He faced the gnarls and spoke in the ancient language.

Ona listened close. She recognized the word “Homes”. Guide. Heat. And one last word. God. The gnarls must believe Aryn was an avatar of Heat. That was
not
something for anyone to be playing at.

The gnarls bowed their heads and chanted as they retreated. “Concora, Fari val Luma.” Then they dispersed. Ona heard legionnaires grumbling, but no one went after them. No one wanted to step into the Unsettled Lands and explode.

“Come on.” Ona squeezed her daughter once before pushing her away. “It’s time to meet Prince Beren.”

“Not yet.” Kara looked to Byn and Sera. “I’m not waiting any longer. We’re doing this now.”

Sera nodded. “Ready when you are.”

Ona watched as Byn, Sera, and Kara all scribed strange new blood glyphs on the air. She didn’t understand them. Xander had never been able to teach her, as much as he tried.

Those blood glyphs flashed white, and Ona’s vision flashed white with them. The pain of a thousand needles cut through her body. She gasped. She did not scream.

When her vision cleared, her body felt as well as if she had just emerged from a warm bath. Every last bit of her agonizing pain had vanished. She could not remember the last day she’d lived without pain. She took a deep breath and choked back a sob.

“Mom?” Kara shouted. “Mom!”

Ona blinked her eyes and realized she was on her back. She sat up. She clutched her daughter’s arms and smiled, sniffled.

“You did it, honey.”

Ona had never been more proud.

KARA NEVER WANTED to stop hugging her mother, not now that she was going to live again, but legionnaires still surrounded them and Prince Beren might be the impatient sort. Plenty of time for hugs later. In fact ... now they had all the time in the world.

“Here, Mom.” Kara helped her mother stand. “I suppose you’d best introduce me.” She looked to her friends. “Just give me a moment to wrap things up.”

She walked to Sera and leaned close. “Stay here. Don’t say anything about the curse. No one can know, understand?”

“I do,” Sera whispered back. “Be careful.”

Kara squeezed her arm. “Love you.”

Sera managed a smile, and Kara knew a smile was rare on her these days. “Love you too.”

Kara turned to Trell next and took his hands. She saw his cheeks color and decided not to worry about that. This man would walk into the Underside to save her, but he had just lost his wife. She gave him a peck on the cheek and left it at that.

“All right.” She turned to her mother. “Let’s go.”

Ona took the lead, taking each step gingerly, as if afraid her pain would return. Kara kept a firm grip on her arms.

“How did you fix me?” Ona whispered.

“Dad helped,” Kara said as they walked. “I learned what I needed at Terras, but I didn’t know how to work it into a glyph. We worked on it together. It took two days, but we figured it out.”

“I suppose that was a long walk.”

“It wasn’t so bad. We got to know each other.”

“And how’d that go?”

“Better than you’d expect.” Kara smiled. She had a father now, a real one, and it was anything but awkward. “Honestly, Mom ... he turned out to be a lot like me.”

Ona squeezed her hand. “I’m so very surprised.”

“He remembers everything about the two of you. He misses you terribly. I think losing us is why he’s so bristly all the time. He keeps his distance because he got hurt.”

“That’s a good way to think about it.”

“I’m serious. He even came to Solyr to watch me graduate. He chose not to reveal himself because he wanted me to be happy.”

“Did he tell you why he never came back to me?” There was an edge to Ona’s voice.

Kara grimaced. Now for the hard part. “He never came back because he’s a wanted man in Mynt.”

“What?” Ona’s eyes went wide.