Trials (19 page)

The Zangrian soldier asked her something in his own tongue, but Iruki did not know the language and did not understand.

The same whisper reached her from afar, and she realized it was in her own head. Who was talking to her? Why could she not hear clearly what it was saying? And the murmur became stronger: the more she listened, the more the voice grew in intensity and clarity. She could almost understand what it was saying now.

Blood… I request… and your servant I shall be…
Iruki managed to make out.

When she heard the word
blood
, Iruki looked at her bloodied hand. Suddenly, the pommel of her sword shone with a flash of pure gold. Iruki had already witnessed something similar. She knew what it meant, and she was aware that she was confronted with Ilenian magic.

His blood I desire… will you give it to me?
she heard the voice in her head say. She looked at the soldier and at last grasped what was being demanded of her. But what she could not understand was where this whispering was coming from, cold as it was dangerous. She looked around expecting to see an Ilenian Guardian Mage, but there was no one. The soldier seemed to be losing his patience. He raised his spear: he was going to skewer her!

“I grant you what you wish!” cried Iruki, without knowing who she was calling to.

The spear came down forcefully towards Iruki’s stomach.

But her Ilenian sword, as if it had a life of its own, blocked the blow, deflecting it to one side. The spear embedded itself in the ground under its own momentum two fingers away from her ribs. Iruki was astonished. She had deflected the spear ˗ or had it not been her at all? But how? What was going on? The soldier grunted and raised the spear again to finish her. At that moment Iruki felt something unexpected: the golden flash from her sword ran through her whole body. As if she were being borne along by an unknown force, she rose to her feet in a single smooth leap-turn. The soldier attacked, thrusting the spear towards Iruki’s heart. Once again, without her having any control over her arm, the Ilenian weapon deflected the attack to one side. The soldier spat on the ground in rage.

Don’t be afraid, young warrior… his blood is ours… my blade shall drink the red elixir of life and rejuvenate my existence. I shall guide your body, my warrior soul fills you now… don’t resist… let me get that which I yearn for and I promise you shall survive…
As she heard this in her head, Iruki understood. It was the sword which was bewitched. It had conjured some kind of powerful enchantment ˗ Ilenian magic˗ over her body.

“Go ahead, my body is yours,” said Iruki with her heart filled with fire as she looked at the beautiful sword in her hand.

The soldier came at her again. This time the sword parried the blow, so the man moved closer to her. With dizzying speed, the sword amputated the attacker’s arm cleanly. Spear and limb fell to the ground before the astonished gaze of the soldier. Before the Zangrian could cry out with pain, the sword sparked. For an instant Iruki did not know what had happened, then the soldier’s head fell off his shoulders and rolled to the ground. Iruki was in shock. It had been absolutely incredible. Her body had moved to the sword’s orders, carrying out the movements it dictated to her as if she had been a perfect swordswoman.

Ahhh! The elixir of life coats my blade once again. It restores youth to my soul. Years beyond counting have passed since the last time… I remain at your service, young warrior. You I serve now, my mistress.

Iruki stared at the sword with her mouth open.

“Run! Quick, Iruki, run!” Asur’s urgent voice got through to her.

She turned and saw him coming. His arm and leg were bleeding. A dozen soldiers were after him. Without a second thought she began to run as fast as she could into the forest.

They ran and ran up the mountain. Like the gazelle pursued by the lion.

Iruki reached the top of the hill. She was surrounded by woods and underbrush. She was panting, her lungs burning from the effort. She stopped and risked a look back. A little lower down, Asur was finishing off one of the soldiers who had caught up with him. The rest, weighed down by the heavy armor they wore, had stopped half-way up.

Asur reached her side. “How are you, Iruki? Can you go on?”

“I’m all right, but you’re losing a lot of blood. We have to dress those horrible wounds, or else you’ll bleed to death.”

“There’s no time, we must go on. They’ll recover and come after us. We have to go on.”

“Listen carefully, Asur. You’re no good to me dead. I won’t let you sacrifice yourself in vain. We have a good lead. We’ll make use of it to patch you up, then keep on running.”

“Iruki, you must survive, for the sake of your people…”

“Asur, you’re a great warrior, leader of the war party. But they’ve all gone to the spirit world now. There’s just you and me left. Now I make the decisions. I’ll heal you, and then we’ll go on.”

Asur looked into Iruki’s eyes. She returned the look, letting him know that she would not back down.

Asur nodded.

At almost the same time as the Zangrians renewed their chase, Asur and Iruki ran down the other side of the mountain. They leapt over rocks, scrub and fallen trees as though they were great cats. Iruki had stitched the warrior’s cuts and plastered them with a salve to prevent infection. As the healer she now was, she always carried with her a variety of plants and potions in leather pouches at her belt. Living up to his name, Asur was running down the mountain like a wolf. Iruki, fearlessly, let herself fly after him. When they reached the edge of the forest, she had gathered such speed that she could not stop, and fell headlong into the lake.

Asur jumped in after her and pulled her out by the waist as if she weighed no more than a feather.

“Thank you, Asur. I could not stop.”

“It’s no time for a swim,” said the warrior. And for the first time Iruki saw him smile.

His handsome manly face reddened, and he lost all trace of his usual seriousness. Any young Masig woman would wish for such a mighty strong handsome warrior. Iruki could see in his vibrant eyes how much he desired her. Despite that, her heart was spoken for. It belonged to Yakumo, and nothing could ever change that, no matter how great the temptation.

“We have to go on,” said Asur, looking north.

“Wait…”

Iruki was looking with surprise at some green-blue lilies she had never seen before.

“Let’s not waste time, they’re just some more weeds,” said Asur, gesturing at the danger behind them.

“Let me check…”

It was blue! Blue! Blue!

Such was her joy that she leapt with excitement.

“We found it, Asur, we found it! This is the Sky Weed! The Sky Weed!”

“Are you sure, Iruki?”

“As sure as that we’re the children of the steppes.”

The death of all those brave warriors would not have been in vain. Iruki tested them the way Ilua Hidden Path had taught her. And she obtained the extract.

Asur smiled and helped her collect the rest.

“There are some more on the northern bank,” she told him. “You go for those while I gather the ones on the southern bank. The more we have, the better chance of healing our people.”

Asur hesitated, looking in both directions.

“All right. But please don’t linger. The enemy is close at hand.”

“Asur, the lilies are what matters. They must reach our people. Promise me that.”

The warrior looked into her eyes. His face was serious, his brow furrowed.

“They’ll get to them, Iruki, I promise you. Now, let’s hurry.”

The two separated and went to the two points where they could see the lilies floating, with that unusual green-blue color. Iruki hurriedly gathered as many as she could and put them in the leather pouch she had prepared for them. Her heart was filled with joy now that she had found the thing that would save the Blue Clouds from extinction. She began to move back towards Asur, who was already signaling her to hurry.

But Iruki stopped.

Halfway between her and the warrior on the lake shore there were a dozen Zangrian soldiers.

She looked at Asur, far away, and he at her.

“Save the Blue Clouds!” Iruki yelled with all the power of her lungs and the rage in her heart. “Save them!”

Asur looked at her. He raised his strong arm, holding the pouch with the Sky Weed high, then ran to the north. Eight soldiers ran after him.

Iruki looked at the remaining four soldiers for a moment. They started in her direction. She turned on her heels and ran towards the south.

Run like a cheetah, run
, she said to herself, without looking back.

It was around midnight. In the reigning darkness Sonea was walking stealthily along the great library, like a thief trying to avoid discovery. The books treasured there by the thousand watched her with an inert, reticent gaze in ceremonious silence.

Sonea stopped in alarm. She thought she had heard a sound behind her and fear overwhelmed her, making her heart race. Glancing over her shoulder, with great care, she could see nothing but shadows and books. The scant light from a couple of oil lamps hanging on either side of the corridor was flickering towards extinction. Sonea breathed deep to calm her nerves and went on towards her goal, the place she must not go near, one she had been forbidden to enter: The Council Hall. She reached the door of the room and summoned up all her courage and determination.

She pushed the heavy door. Fortunately, it did not screech. Slowly, carefully, she peered inside to make sure there was nobody in the hall. Everything was dark and quiet. It was empty. Sonea now began to have qualms, like a tiny hammer in her chest, but her determination to expose the mystery the grimoire was guarding was stronger than any fear that might dissuade her. She thought about the Grand Master Lugobrus, and felt a knot in her stomach.

“Easy, easy…” she said to herself. “Keep calm and don’t let yourself be frightened. Keep going, or else you won’t reach your goal.”

Quiet as a mouse, she walked into the hall, then onto the great central desk where the precious Ilenian object rested. Even in the dark she could make out the grimoire, which shone with a faint golden light. Sonea was perfectly aware that she was acting against an express order. If the Council of Five found her there she would be severely punished. They had been very clear about this and she was about to disobey them. The consequences for both her and her tutor would be profound. They might even expel her from the Order, and the thought filled her with horror.

She hesitated for a long time, contemplating the Ilenian volume and arguing with herself. But something inside her was pushing her to go on, and she was unable to resist. She went to the desk and put both hands on the grimoire. As soon as she touched it, in the darkness of the hall, she felt the impact of the magic enclosed in the arcane volume, as if the light that enveloped it had slapped her. This encouraged Sonea to go on. She would never forgive herself if she let that unique opportunity escape her.

Keep going, don’t be afraid. I just have to do it. I can’t stop now: I’d never forgive myself if I did. I don’t care what those stodgy members of the Council think, I just have to study it, investigate it. I can feel it in my gut, burning to find out what’s hidden in it.

She looked both ways to make sure she was alone in the hall. Everyone was asleep at that hour, and the library was deserted. No one would bother her in the small hours. No one would discover that she was handling the forbidden grimoire. Filled with excitement, she began to open it carefully, taking great care as she turned the golden pages with their Ilenian symbols and inscriptions. She went out to the corridor, took one of the oil lamps from the wall and brought it back into the hall. She placed it on top of the great desk so that it shone on the book, then covered it with a dark cloth to avoid the light being seen under the door. The last thing she wanted was a sleepless librarian noticing the light and bursting in on her.

Under the faint luminosity of the covered lamp, the inscriptions shone golden, seeming to the young apprentice to have a mystical quality. The radiance from the volume fell on the countless books of knowledge around her, perfectly ordered against the walls on their solid shelves. It seemed to her that all those books could come to life at any moment. The shadows seemed to be dancing on the treasured tomes. Sonea felt nervous. She shook her head, to scare the ghosts away.

Don’t be scared, go on, stay calm
.

Focusing on interpreting the mysterious symbols and hieroglyphs engraved on the first pages, she closed her eyes in the hope of reaching a greater degree of concentration. Her delicate fingertips ran over the symbols as she tried to decipher their meaning in her mind. Without wasting any time, she focused on the darkest and most complex passages, which neither she nor her tutor had been able to grasp during their initial analysis of the volume. She worked hard for hours, drawing on all the knowledge her teacher had passed on to her, but she could not manage to reveal anything relevant. Even so, she did not give up: she knew she would understand those symbols eventually. She and Barnacus had been studying the Ilenian symbols for years, in collaboration with other scholars from other lands, like the good Lindaro of Rogdon. But the passages she was confronted with now were extremely complicated.

Sonea went on working. Her mind struggled to comprehend what her eyes did not understand. She began to realize she was in the presence of very powerful spells. With great difficulty she was able to decipher several symbols, among them that of Death and the symbol of the Guardian which she and Barnacus had already discovered. That cheered her so much that she forgot all about being found out. She worked for a long while on a very complex hieroglyph and at last concluded that it made reference to the four elements… which left her quite confused… What did the four elements have to do with Death? Even more, what did they have to do with the Guardian? That did not fit. Perhaps she was interpreting it all wrong. She frowned and went on. She managed to decipher the whole passage that described the element of Fire and its power, another one about Water and effects related to that, a few pages after another passage about Earth
,
and finally another one about Air.

“Fascinating…” she murmured, scratching her chin.

She nodded as if to dispel doubt. Something inside her told her that she was not mistaken. The grimoire made reference to Nature’s four elements. Sonea exhaled heavily and remained deep in thought. There was something else, a symbol she was unable to interpret, which implicitly referred to the grimoire itself, as if identifying it in some way. She sighed, then concentrated on the symbol trying to guess what it might be, what the strange inscription might mean.

Suddenly, she felt as if she had been stabbed with a cold silver dagger. She gave a start and her eyes opened wide.

Sonea was feeling something inside her she had never felt before. Considering the pain, she realized it was not pain at all. It was some kind of void… of intense absence… Sonea was scared and her knees were trembling, but she did not take her hands off the grimoire. This absence, the void that pierced her chest, was not normal. Something very strange was happening, and she could not say what it was.

A flash came out of the arcane volume, and Sonea took a step back. Fear took a hold on her heart.

The book has given out a flash of light and that means that somehow its magic has been activated. This could be very dangerous… I must be very careful…
She looked around her to make sure nothing sinister was going on in the room.

The hall was in shadow. Sonea looked at her body, her heart was racing. Everything else was normal as she tried to compose herself, with her nerves on the verge of snapping. She had not expected in the least that the grimoire would respond to her, still less to feel the void that was piercing her chest. Still, this was no time to step back. Facing her fear and putting her hands on the book in an attempt to understand the feeling, she felt a new spark, far more intense, fill the hall, and leaving her momentarily blinded. Her heart nearly jumped out of her mouth.

Sonea tried to make sense of the strange sensation she felt in her mouth: it was almost as if she could taste the void, the nothingness.
That’s it! It’s Ether! That’s what I’m sensing, at last I understand! It’s the fifth element that some ancient cultures refer to. This explains it: the four elements and Ether, which has some connection with the grimoire.
She could not avoid a small cry of joy, and immediately covered her mouth with her hands to try and muffle the sound. She must not be discovered.

Finding the symbol of Ether Sonea placed her hands over it, and something surprising happened, something that would change Sonea’s life forever.

The grimoire began to glow with a golden sheen, which increased in intensity as if the sun itself were rising from the Ilenian volume. Sonea felt a tingling and put her hand over her heart. Something was happening inside her that was linked to that glow, something totally new and alien. The glow became more intense, and the feeling grew with it.

What’s happening to me? What’s this weird feeling in my chest? Am I being affected by some spell? It has to be that. I must have activated some spell without realizing, and I’m feeling its effect on me. But if that’s so, what will the consequences be for me? Will it be painful? It might even be deadly! It’s madness to keep on having anything to do with the grimoire, it’s getting out of hand, I must be rational
. Sonea was very nervous indeed, barely able to hold herself together.

She raised her hand from the symbol of Ether. The invading sensation left her body at once causing her to smile nervously. She put her hand back on the symbol, trying to gain some commonsense understanding of whatever was going on. A new golden glow filled the hall, and the same feeling revived in her. She was scared, but knew that if she took her hand away the process would stop, so she braced herself and decided to continue investigating what was going on. Leaving a mystery half-solved did not go with her nature, and although logic and reason were telling her to stop, she was not prepared to back down. In spite of the obvious risk, she wanted to understand what was happening. She closed her eyes and focused on the feeling in her chest.

An explosion of blue energy filled Sonea’s mind, making her open her eyes.

By all the knowledge in the universe! What was that?

She took her hands off the grimoire in a reflex gesture, and the feeling vanished at once. She breathed deeply several times, trying to calm down, exhaling in a long breath.
Very dangerous... I’m playing with fire here… I’m risking my life
, she thought, deeply upset, and walked around the table. She put her hands on her hips and breathed deeply, bending over slightly. She held that position for a few minutes until she had calmed down.

More relaxed now, she looked carefully at the rest of the symbols. She wanted to know whether they would produce a similar sensation or not. She passed her right hand over the symbol of water and touched it lightly.

Nothing happened.

Sonea gave a snort and her heart raced. She found the symbol for Earth and put her hand on it.

She swallowed.

Nothing happened.

She smiled triumphantly. Only the element of Ether, which had some connection with the grimoire and the symbol of the Guardian, seemed to respond to her.

She looked for the next symbol, Air, and more confidently, put her finger on it.

Nothing would happen this time…

She was wrong.

An explosion of golden energy burst from the grimoire with such intensity that Sonea fell backwards. A sharp pain on her backside made her swear and close her eyes. As she did so, an image which came directly from the book hit her mind. She could not immediately make out what it was: it had been too shocking to let her mind make clear sense of it. The image repeated itself inside her head: a vast landscape. Hundreds of blue lakes stretched before her, surrounded by green expanses and lushly-overgrown marshes. The lakes were of different sizes and shapes. Some were enormous, with fishermen toiling in the quiet waters, others so small they were no more than ponds.

It was a landscape Sonea had already seen before.

It was the Thousand Lakes.

But why was the grimoire showing her the Thousand Lakes? And more to the point, why had the symbol of Air evoked it? A new image was thrust upon her so forcefully that she fell to the floor, unable to move. The image flew to one of the Thousand Lakes, the biggest of them, huge as a sea, shining blue under the sun, then dived into its depths. Sonea was taken aback at the realism of the experience, expecting to find herself wet from the dive. But suddenly the image disappeared, and she opened her eyes, in total confusion.

“This time you’ve really done it,” a voice said from the door.

Sonea rolled on the floor, and to her dismay found herself facing Rocol. His hand was bandaged, his black eyes threateningly evil. She saw the shapes of his two minions behind him: Uscor and Isgor, who always went with him, unable to make decisions on their own.

“Damnation…” muttered Sonea. “How long have you been spying on me?”

“Long enough,” said Rocol arrogantly.

The three apprentices of the School of War came closer to her.

“You see? I told you the bastard was up to something, Rocol,” said Uscor. His thin body was shaking with excitement, his freckled face flushed.

“You were right to warn me,” said Rocol. He was standing beside Sonea, looking at her with utter disdain.

“Leave me alone and go back to your rooms. There’s nothing to interest you here.”

“Stand her up, Isgor,” said Rocol to his fat follower.

The doughy-faced youth took a look at Sonea, then before she could complain, yanked her up.

“Don’t touch me!”