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  [ 33 ]

  One moment Alekka had been lost in a river of desire as she’d danced and spun with Amentis, her lover and her husband. The next Amentis was across the hall grappling madly with Micah, Noz kneeling over them both and clasping Amentis’ head in his hands. Elisa was in front of her holding her hands tightly, trying to keep to her feet as the floor lurched beneath them and screaming for Jobin to stop. Across the room the Ragers all stood silent, at rest. Tredon clambered to his feet, pulling Jobin up beside him. Jobin was limp as a ragdoll, head hanging and limbs weak.

  Amentis’ head lolled, and Alekka’s heart lurched in her chest. Amentis began screaming and she shuddered at the sound. She’d never heard such agony in all her life. Images formed in her mind and she realized Noz had linked them all to the Dark Wizard. She shuddered in horror and fear.

  A small boy giggles at the kitten’s antics as they play in front of a warm fire. It is cold outside, snow is falling in feet and the wind howls furiously. Inside it is warm and bright and comfortable. The big feet of his father approach, and the boy laughs as he is swung high up into the air. His papa is big and strong. His parents love him. The storm can rage all night for all the boy cares. It’s no match for his parents. They’ll keep him safe and warm.

  A young boy huddles in darkness, back pressed against the charred remains of a smoking building. His eyes smart from the thick smoke in the air and he can hardly breathe. His face is blackened with ash, clothes burned almost completely from his body. He is unscathed, but everyone he loves is dead. He killed them. All of them. Including his mother and father. In the dirt in front of him rests a small carriage carved from wood. He stares at the toy, tears rolling down his cheeks. Shades huddle close, women and men and children, their forms insubstantial and indistinct. They cry in anguish and the small boy huddles deeper into the shadow as shame overwhelms him. He’d wanted the toy, and when his mother took it from him he’d lashed out in anger. They were all dead now, gone forever. He stands swiftly, grabbing the toy as he rises, and throws it into the fire. He stands and watches as it burns, allowing the tears to fall freely down his cheeks. He’d get them back. He’d get them all back. They’d be a family again, one day.

  It had been hard collecting all of those bodies, but he’d managed. He is small, but bones burned free from flesh weigh very little. It had taken days but he’d gathered everyone he’d ever known into the back of two wagons. They were piled unceremoniously into the back, stacked upon one another in layers. He walks in front of the horses and he travels north. The only place where he knows he will be safe. Where no one will ever bother him and he can focus on what he must do. It has been three months since the fire, and guilt has been his constant companion. Loneliness gnaws at him. He misses his Pa’s strong arms tossing him high in the sky as he laughed and laughed. He misses his Ma’s soft voice as she told him stories at night. He misses his friends and his neighbors. Everyone left hated him now. They’d refused him food even if he could pay. They’d driven him away everywhere he went. No one wanted him and he no longer wanted them, either. He’d go north. He’d bring his family and friends with him. And he’d find a way to bring them back. To bring every one of them back.

  Micah felt hollowed out as he felt Amentis’ memories, watched the tale they spun in his mind. He thought of Jobin, of Jobin’s mother and of Locke and the pain his friend carried because of what he’d done—a pain tempered and healed over by friendship. He thought of the man he himself would have undoubtedly become if it weren’t for his parents and for Alekka. He thought of a small boy clutching a toy wagon, backlit by flames.

  The rumbling and thrusting of the room around them went silent.

  Amentis panted against his chest like a caged animal. Micah could feel the wizard’s heart hammering wildly in his chest. Micah felt pinned between empathy for the boy Amentis was and the hate he felt when he thought of all the women he’d taken and killed, all the children he’d turned to Ghosts, and the destruction he’d wrought in Aclay for so many years.

  “Let me go,” Amentis pleaded quietly, and Micah did without hesitation. He got to his feet and stood, hands at his sides. “I only wanted to bring them back,” Amentis continued, curled on the floor. “They helped me. I need them. I am not strong enough without them. Leave, and let me go back to my family.”

  Micah stared at him. He felt sorry for the man, sorry for what had happened to him all those years ago, but understood in that moment too that the centuries of obsession had driven him mad.

  “I see you, Amentis.”

  It was Alekka, approaching slowly. Micah could see no green in her eyes, but he reached out and clasped Amentis’ arm anyway.

  “Leave me be,” Amentis whimpered, pulling feebly against Micah’s grasp.

  “I see you,” Alekka repeated, her face pale and her voice emotionless. “I see all things. I see all that you could have been and all that you chose to be. No more. It is time.”

  The room around them began violently shaking again. Micah saw Noz standing beside Jobin, who was pale and drawn but standing once more. One of Noz’s hands clasped Jobin’s shoulder tightly. “We have no time!” Noz said.

  The floor began to crumble around them. The Ragers fled, running down the steps, tripping over one another in their hurry. Stones from the ceiling shook lose and careened at them, bouncing off an invisible barrier just above their heads and crashing to the floor at the edges. The noise was deafening, but Micah could hear Elisa sobbing softly beside Jobin.

  “Stop, please…Jobin, you must stop,” she was saying over and over again.

  Amentis suddenly flailed wildly, trying to put distance between himself and Alekka. Micah held on grimly as Alekka walked toward them.

  “No!” Amentis shouted. “I’m not done, and I’ll not stop now. You can’t defeat me, I have more power than you can ever imagine!” He sounded like a child. Alekka merely looked at him, something like kindness playing at the corners of her eyes.

  “No…” Amentis ground out again, this time as a whimper.

  Alekka stopped about five feet from where Micah stood, Amentis’ arm still gripped tightly in his hand. She bowed her head, bringing both hands to her chest and placing her thumb and forefinger together so they formed a triangular shape. A brilliant white pinpoint of light burst out of Amentis’ chest and he screamed in agony.

  “Alekka, what are you doing?” Micah shouted. “Don’t use your magic!”

  Amentis tried to speak, but the sound was choked and garbled. Alekka began to murmur—a low and quiet chant. The tower was tearing itself to pieces around them, and he couldn’t hear her words but he knew she spoke words of power. His heart hammered in fear. “Alekka!”

  An echoing pinpoint of light formed in the triangular space between her fingers. She lifted her eyes to his.

  “I love you.”

  “We can find another way! Don’t do this, please,” he begged her.

  She continued looking into his eyes as she pushed her hands forward toward Amentis until they rested against the point at which the two sides of his ribs came together. He howled in impotent rage. Micah held fast. The pinpoint of light expanded rapidly, eating Amentis from the inside out, leaving nothing but open space as it expanded. The crawled toward Micah’s hand as Amentis’ cries shook the very foundations of the tower. As if in response the tower’s wild lurching increased exponentially. A blue nimbus of light formed around the room as the white light touched Micah’s hand where it still gripped Amentis’ arm. The world around them ripped itself to pieces.

  [ 34 ]

  The word formed out of the darkness within Micah’s mind. He turned away from it to- ward the darkness, but it refused to be extinguished.

  He moaned and opened his eyes. He could see nothing but shifting smoke, and he coughed violently. He pushed himself up on his arms and looked at the destruction around him. Dust hung thick in the air and rubble lay scattered all around him.

  Jobin lay beside him, still, blood leaking from his
nose.

  “Jobin!” Micah cried, fear thickening his voice. He pushed himself to his feet, grief for Alekka threatening to overwhelm him, but concern for his friend driving him forward. He collapsed next to Jobin, gripping his shoulders. “Oh no. No, no, no!” Micah moaned. He leaned over Jobin’s prone form and placed his hands over his head, willing him to heal even though he knew it was no use. He poured himself into the command anyway, feeling as if the desire for Jobin to be alright was swirling out of him and into Jobin the way a river swirls and empties into an ocean.

  “Stop.”

  Micah felt himself physically shoved aside and he sprawled backward in surprise, looking up at Ashier. Ashier stared back, his eyes wide. “Micah, what did you do?” he asked.

  “I was only trying to help him, Ashier. I know I don’t have the power, but—” He broke on a sob. “Help me please, he’s dying. I can’t lose him, too...”

  Ashier looked down at Jobin and then back at Micah, clearly stunned. “He’s not dying, Micah. At least, not anymore. You…you healed him. I don’t know how you did it. I’ve never seen magic like that. Ever. Not even Noz can heal in this way. You didn’t give healing, you...you, it’s like you took injury away.”

  Micah stared at him, trying to follow his words. They made little sense, but when he looked at Jobin he was breathing steady and there was no new blood seeping from his nose.

  “I did that?” he asked. Ashier nodded, stepping back as if in fear, but his eyes were full of wonder.

  “Alekka—maybe, maybe it’s not to late…” Micah tried to get the rest of the words out but couldn’t. Ashier knelt in front of him and put a hand on his shoulder.

  “I’m sorry, Micah,” he said gently. “I’ll look after the others. You...you stay.” He got heavily to his feet and Micah watched him as he wandered slowly through the debris, looking for their friends. He found Leali and helped her back to where Micah sat. At some point Micah realized Tredon was helping Ashier look. Micah wanted to help him but he had no strength left. The force than animated him had fled as he watched Alekka’s life bleed from her eyes. He turned his own up to the sky. All he could see was swirling dust, but he closed his eyes and thought of blue sky. He heard Elisa talking softly to Jobin beside him and felt glad when he heard Jobin answer.

  “Micah!” Ashier’s voice broke through the haze, urgent and excited. “Get over here now! She’s alright, Micah!”

  Micah opened his eyes, trying to decide if he’d been dreaming or if he’d really heard Ashier shouting.

  “Micah!”

  He sprung to his feet and stumbled through the debris toward Ashier. “What? But she was, she didn’t—”

  The others joined him as he fell to his knees beside Alekka’s still form.

  “She’s alright, Micah, Noz says so. She’s going to be fine,” Ashier was saying.

  Noz was crouching by her, an inscrutable look on his strange face. He smiled at Micah broadly as he knelt, his teeth brilliantly white against the dusty color of his face. “You did it. You all did it,” he said, and to Micah’s astonishment, stood and did a strange, short little dance.

  “Is she alright?” Micah asked quietly, confused at Noz’s apparent glee. Just as Noz opened his mouth to speak again, Alekka sat up, rubbing her eyes.

  “I’m fine, Micah,” she said, voice creaky, pushing herself up onto her knees.

  Micah felt as if his insides had turned to water, and then to fire. He stared at her face, and felt a smile crack open across his own. She smiled back, gentle, beautiful, and alive.

  Leali laughed in relief, Tredon gave a thunderous whoop of triumph and Jobin, propped up against Elisa, smiled weakly but genuinely at them.

  “Oh yes, she is just fine,” said Noz, smiling down at them both. “But different. You both are different.”

  “I have magic,” Micah said, realization dawning through his joy.

  Alekka looked at him again, surprise and confusion in her face.

  “What do you mean? You always have had powers, we just didn’t recognize them.”

  “Yes, but I have your sort of magic now. I healed Jobin. I don’t know how I did it—

  “You were unique before, but you are even more unique now,” Noz cut in.

  “What does that mean, Noz?” Alekka asked.

  “It means you killed Amentis,” Noz said with a broad smile. “Black and white, heat and cold, wet and dry, magic and non-magic.”

  “Magic and non-magic,” Micah said softly. “Oynnestre...the restorer of balance. It’s not one person, it’s two.”

  “You can’t balance a scale with only one side filled,” Alekka breathed.

  Noz gave another laugh and began dancing again. Jobin, color returning to his face, let out a whoop and everyone laughed. Micah looked into Alekka’s eyes, searching.

  “It was the two of us, together.”

  She smiled up at him, and her warm brown eyes containing all the confirmation he needed.

  Noz leaned down next to them, putting a hand gently on each of their shoulders. “You can touch again, my dears. Black and white. Right and wrong. Magic and non-magic. The world is balanced, and the two of you are, too.” He jumped to his feet, hips wagging ridiculously, and grabbed Leali into a lose embrace, swinging her into a wild dance as he sang at the top of his lungs.

  Micah reached for Alekka, and she laughed as she reached for him in return, resting her head in the hollow of his shoulder. There was destruction all around them, hundreds of women they needed to rescue, and many miles between here and home, but he had never felt more at peace. He pulled Alekka to her feet and they embraced for several long minutes, enjoying the feel of her warm body clasped tightly against his own.

  Jobin approached and shoved Micah hard with one hand, laughing.

  “Hey, I’m busy here!” Micah said with a smile.

  “We did it, Micah. Everything was stacked against us. Everyone said we would never get here, but we did.”

  “And it took all of us.” Tredon said as he approached, one arm thrown about Ashier’s shoulders. “You two were right...about everything. We succeeded because we did this together.”

  “You succeeded because you had me.” Leali said, a grin splitting her face. “You all are a lazy bunch of louts, you know that? Never would have made it past Noz’s cabin if it weren’t for me.”

  “We never would have made it past Noz’s cabin if it weren’t for Micah, actually,” Ashier said seriously. “We never would have made it at all if it wasn’t for him.”

  They stood in a small circle in silence. Old slights and grudges and alliances didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered is they had done what they’d set out to do. Balance had been restored, Dorine Lillith was safe.

  “I’m sorry for what we found, Leali,” Micah said, reaching out to briefly squeeze her shoulder. “I wish we could have saved them all.”

  Leali’s face darkened a little. “Thank you, Micah. I do, too. It’s too late for some, and I grieve for them. But it is not too late for so many others, and no more families will be torn apart because of Amentis’ sick obsession in the future. We can’t fix everything, but we can change things for the better.” She stretched her hand out to the center of their small circle and looked at each one them in turn. “I am honored to call you my friends,” she said, a smile curving her lips.

  All Micah had ever wanted was to be a part of something. His insides twisted with emotion as he reached out his hand and clasped Leali’s tightly. Amentis had not been a bad man. He’d been driven to madness by exclusion and loneliness and hate, by being marginalized and pushed out to the edges by everyone he encountered. Madness was the real cost of isolation. They’d defeated him, but Micah hoped they’d also defeated something even bigger while they were at it.

  “To friendship,” he said.

  The others joined the toast, grasping hands tightly in the center of their circle. He had no idea if they clearly understood all he wanted to convey in that word friendship, but their tired smile
s made him think they had.

  ~ The End ~

  K. Ferrin is a techie and a business owner by day. When the working day ends she buries herself in worlds of magic and adventure. She lives at the foot of the Colorado Rockies with her husband and two pooches, and on the Web at www.kferrin.com and @ScrivK.

  Table of Contents

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