The Labyrinth of Destiny (32 page)

A simple matter, I am sure.

Adesina smiled at him.

Of course. Very simple.

The smile faded from her lips as
the council began to stand and part ways. Adesina folded her arms across her
chest and continued to stare at the collection of maps and papers on the table.

It was good to keep a sense of humor,
but the tasks before her really were no joking matter. Thousands of lives
depended on her ability to clear a safe passageway through the forest, and the
whole of humanity depended on her ability to defeat Cha-sak and his followers.
Failure was something she simply could not allow.

Ravi shared her concern. He moved
to her side, pressing his head against her hand. L’iam stood at her other side
and put his arm around her.

Adesina smiled at both of them, her
heart overflowing with love. She knew she would be lost without them, and she
was so grateful for their support.

We will find a way, Ma’eve,
Ravi reassured her.
We have come this far, and the Creator will not abandon
us to failure.

Adesina prayed that he was right.

The Laithur were primarily
nocturnal. Many of the Children of the Night were, even though it was not a
rule of the classification. Ruon did not need to sleep during the day, but that
was usually his time for quiet, solitary reflection.

Now, that time that had once been
reserved for peace was spent keeping up with the humans around him. He tried to
rejuvenate himself at night when the rest of his companions slept, but it was
still an unnatural schedule for him. It made him irritable—more so than he
would normally be.

He stared coldly at the human who
was delivering a message to him. Ruon had been told this human’s name before,
but he could not keep them straight. Humans seemed to rely on names and slight
physical differences to tell one another apart, but they really did all look
the same to him. And there were so many of them. The idea of thousands of
beings belonging to the same species seemed ridiculous and strange to Ruon, and
yet Adesina had said that this world was filled with millions upon millions of
humans.

Even at the beginning of the
creation, there had only been two hundred Laithur born into existence. The Seer
was solitary by nature, and had been resistant to have even that many
followers. He had accepted the Laithur as a gift from the Creator, and had
eventually grown accustomed to them.

Now, many centuries later, there
were less than fifty Laithur remaining. Forty-seven, to be precise, the others
having been murdered by greedy humans seeking the Third Eye.

The human messenger in front of
Ruon finished his long-winded speech, and the Laithur waved him away with a
careless gesture.

Ruon had known what the human was
going to say, and so he had not bothered to listen to the words.

When would Adesina learn that she
need not actually send for him? She had not yet learned to touch her mind to
his, as the Laithur did when communicating with each other, but even that was
not necessary. All Adesina needed to do was to decide to send for him, and Ruon
would See that he was about to be summoned. That would be enough for him to
seek her out, and he would not have to cope with the bother of human
interaction.

Ruon had not listened to the
instructions of the human messenger, so he did not know where to find Adesina
in the camp. Even so, he walked purposefully in her direction. He reached out
with his mind to search for Ravi, and found him almost immediately.

Ravi, as a Rashad, was more
comfortable with opening his mind to the world. The Rashad were born with
heightened senses, and that extended to their minds. Ruon could make a
telepathic connection to Ravi, if he chose to do so.

Adesina, on the other hand, had
been raised as a human. Human minds were intensely private, and they did not
open the lines of communication that were necessary for a telepathic
connection.

Keeping this in consideration, Ruon
never searched for Adesina directly. She was a Serraf now, and she would
recognize the presence of his mind even if she did not understand it. Ravi was
simpler to find, and Ruon knew that the Rashad was always near Adesina.

The L’avan queen and her guardian
were standing near a campfire, speaking to two young men. Sitara and Riel were
already present, meaning that Ruon was the last to arrive.

A vision passed through Ruon’s
thoughts, and he processed it with practiced ease. He Saw Adesina welcome him
and reintroduce the young men as her brother, E’nes, and her friend, Mar’sal.
They had just returned from a long and difficult mission she had sent them on.

Adesina spotted Ruon and smiled
politely. “Thank you for joining us-”

“Yes,” Ruon cut her off, “I know
all of that. Tell me why you have summoned me.”

He could see the strain on
Adesina’s face as she tried to control her temper, and it made him want to
smile. Ruon didn’t like humans, but Adesina was amusing to watch. Her expressions
were so guarded, and yet there were always signs of how she was feeling.

The young queen turned back to the
young men somewhat stiffly. “E’nes, Mar’sal, I think you remember Ruon, our
representative from the Laithur.”

“I represent all demons who have
chosen to side with the Threshold Child,” Ruon corrected flatly.

The emotions that flashed across
the faces of the two men were like blazing beacons to Ruon’s practiced eye.
They were nervous and uncertain when faced with an actual demon. Unlike Adesina,
these two had never been taught to restrain their expressions. Ruon found such
open facial expression—so common among humans—to be distasteful.

Ruon could see that they were
trying to be polite, and perhaps their reactions would not seem so dramatic to
any other observer. A vision passed through his mind of their stammered
responses, and he stopped them before they began.

 “You have returned from an errand
of the king and queen. Is this why I have been asked to join you?”

Adesina gave him a disapproving
glance. “I asked you here because I thought it would be of some small interest
to you to greet my brother and my friend upon their return.”

The tone of her words was not lost
on Ruon. He almost wanted to smile again, but as before, he kept his face free
of any such amusement. Ruon was surprised at himself. That was twice in this
conversation that he had wanted to smile. His attitude toward these humans was
becoming almost friendly.

In any case, he appreciated that
Adesina did not treat him with much awe. He was thoroughly tired of the humans
staring at him when they thought he was not looking, or speaking to him as
though he might eat them if he became displeased.

“I knew you would both return
safely,” Ruon said dismissively. “I did not need to witness it personally.”

Adesina looked as though she might
roll her eyes, but she didn’t. Instead, she simply turned away from the Laithur
and back to her brother.

She began asking him questions
about his mission, and a long discussion began between the humans. Ruon stopped
listening, though. He had known what would happen from the moment the mission
had been decided upon.

It was not often that he could See
something so far in advance, and he no longer had the ability to choose what he
was able to See. It had been different when the Laithur had benefitted from the
patronage of the Seer. They had been able to choose what they Saw and in how
much detail. Now that the Laithur were Creatures of Darkness, they were cut off
from contact with the Seer and their gift of foresight was limited and
unpredictable.

Ruon felt a wave of sadness when he
thought about the Seer.

The Laithur had been entirely
devoted to their patron deity. Ruon also knew that the Seer had loved the
Laithur in return. They had been his children in the truest sense of the word.

Ruon was not one who typically
reconsidered decisions once they were made, but he often wondered if the
Laithur had been wrong to forsake the Light. Perhaps the Seer would have found
a way to protect them from those who had wished them harm.

Ruon set his thoughts aside as the
conversation among the humans began to wind down. Another vision passed through
the Laithur’s mind, and he knew what would be coming next.

“Sitara, Riel, Ruon,” Adesina said
as her brother walked away, “I have some questions for you, if you have time.”

“Of course,” replied Sitara.

Ruon waved his slender hand
indifferently. “Why would I have anything else to do?” he asked in a sharp
tone.

Adesina’s eyes flashed with
emotion, but she didn’t comment on Ruon’s rudeness.

The Laithur knew that he tried her
patience, and he had recently felt rather guilty for goading her so. Still, he
found her reactions to be amusing. They showed that she actually cared about
what he said and did. Humans were difficult to understand, especially since
Ruon was accustomed to a mind-to-mind sort of communication. Prodding Adesina
to higher emotions made it easier for Ruon to see what she was feeling below
the surface.

Adesina took a breath and went on
with what she had been saying.

“I would like to ask you some
questions about other realms.”

***

Adesina walked through the maze of
campfires. Some weary soldiers were crouched near the fires as they ate, others
had taken the opportunity to get some sleep. She knew that they were tired, and
she sympathized. It could not be easy, especially since none of them had been
soldiers before joining this war.

She was proud of them for their
hard work. They were really not much more than farmers, but she had never heard
them complain about living the harsh life of a soldier. They knew what was at
stake, and they were each willing to lay down their lives to protect their
homes and their country.

Adesina felt as heart-weary as each
of them, despite her physical energy. She had been deeply disappointed by the news
E’nes had brought her.

She had been so excited to see her
brother, and she had been certain that he had brought reinforcements with him.
However, the joy of their reunion had been marred by his information that the
leaders of Charan considered this “tribal conflict” below their interest.

Even the unexpected arrival of the
Matshi did not compensate for the number of soldiers Charan had refused to send
them.

Adesina shook her head. How could
she win this war when she and her allies were continually outnumbered?

Something caught Adesina’s eyes as
she walked, and she slowed to look at it more fully.

Hestia was standing at one of the
campfires, talking to the soldiers there. Adesina could not hear what she was
saying, but the men and women who were listening looked up at her with
adoration in their eyes.

Hestia truly did look every bit the
queen, regardless of how she was dressed. There was a sense of nobility in the
way she carried herself and in the expression on her face.

She touched a few of the soldiers
on the shoulder and then moved on to the next campfire.

The Seharan queen was moving in
Adesina’s direction, and so Adesina could hear the conversation that took place
with the next group of weary soldiers.

“Good evening, gentlemen,” Hestia
said gently.

The men looked up, startled. Some
of them scrambled to bow to their new queen, others looked uncertain as to what
they should do.

Hestia waved a graceful hand.
“Please, do not trouble yourselves. You have been working so hard to protect
our home. I do not expect you to waste energy on a formality.”

This earned several smiles, albeit
tired ones.

Hestia’s dark eyes studied the
faces of the men before her, and she spoke earnestly. “I wanted to take the
opportunity to thank all of you for your sacrifices. Many of you left your
families and your livelihoods in order to answer my call to protect our
homeland. This war has been difficult, and most of us have lost someone dear.
It would be easy for us to become discouraged and wonder why we are fighting
this war at all.”

The men’s eyes became introspective
as they each thought of the friends or family members that they had lost during
the fight with Cha-sak. Some of the soldiers nodded sadly at Hestia’s words.

The tone of the Seharan queen
changed, and her voice was filled with determination as she went on. “I am here
to tell you that our efforts are not wasted. Our fight is not in vain. You have
seen the powers of the demon that we face, and you know that his existence is
real. I did not want to believe in such powers, but I cannot deny their
existence.”

The practical Seharans all nodded,
for they had also been skeptical about the radical claims of their L’avan
allies.

“We have seen what that demon can
do,” continued Hestia, “but we have also seen what
we
can do. We have
held off his army for weeks, despite the belief by some that he would crush us.
Even now, we are
not
defeated. Once we reach our next destination, we
will turn and fight Cha-sak once more. We will fight him, and he will be
destroyed. We have the Light on our side, and with such an ally we cannot
lose.”

Adesina saw the soldiers listening
to Hestia’s words sit up a little straighter, and their faces seemed a little
less weary.

Hestia touched a few of the
soldiers’ shoulders in a parting gesture, and then she moved on to the next
group.

Adesina did not stay to listen to
her speak, but began walking again. She assumed that the speech stayed
essentially the same, giving encouragement to all who heard it.

Adesina was proud of Hestia. The
Ojuri leader had been so resistant to the idea of making a claim of the Seharan
throne, but she was perfect for the job. She was strong and beautiful,
inspiring her subjects to take pride in following her. She was sympathetic and
kind, which made all who saw her grow to love her. She was intelligent and
capable, which may not have been as easily apparent to those who had not worked
closely with her during the weeks of fighting with Cha-sak, but it made her a
valuable ally to the L’avan.

Moreover, Hestia was right in what
she had said to the soldiers.

She had not merely spun together a
string of pretty words to make the soldiers feel better. She had spoken the
truth, and the knowledge of that had strengthened them.

It strengthened Adesina, too.

Adesina had not known what they
would face in this war with the demon. She had not known if they would be able
to stand up against his tide of darkness. Before the battle had begun, part of
her had been worried that their small army would be overrun before they had a
chance to really put up a fight. Even now, she was wondering how they would
survive without reinforcements.

Yet, here they were.