The Way of the Soul (14 page)

“I couldn’t ask that of Canto. The Carsites have been through enough. Canto would insist on joining the fight, and the Carsites need him to stay home. What good is a leader who abandons those that matter most? Besides, I couldn’t safely transfer an entire army through my portals.”

Malja suspected Tommy could handle such a task, especially with the Artisoll’s help, but she would never ask. Though he had proven himself stronger and stronger when it came to magic, she could never fully let go of the idea that at some point it may still corrupt him.

“If you can’t move an army, then what is it you’re trying to do? Fawbry told me —”

“Fawbry shouldn’t be telling you anything.”

“Look, if you don’t want the entire army, fine. But you still need someone — one trusted soul to take with you. You can’t possibly take on Harskill and what I hear he’s doing; you can’t do that all on your own.”

“I suppose you want to be that trusted soul.”

Hirasa walked the practice swords over to a wall-mounted rack and slid each one into its allotted place. “You spent enough time on my world to know the story of Pali, Carsite, and Scarite.”

“Love triangle with Pali caught between the two.”

“That’s right. But did you ever hear any of the other stories? The love stories.”

“Other love stories?”

Hirasa’s expression softened. “Well, religiously speaking they’re called the Minor Stories, but when my mother would tell them before bedtime, she called them love stories. And they are. These are stories that Carsite told Pali when he courted her.”

“I’ve not heard any of those.”

“There’s one I want to tell you. Don’t worry. It’s not mushy. It’s about a flower.”

Malja arched an eyebrow. “A flower isn’t mushy?”

“Just listen. You’ve been to my world. You’ve seen Carsite. It’s rocky and dusty like a mountain that’s been stuck in a giant closet for ages. Not an easy place for a flower to grow. But there’s one in particular, a beautiful flower, and a dangerous one as well. It’s called the Yellow Death Petal.”

“Charming.”

“It is. Lovely yellow petals that open out to welcome the morning sun each day. This flower is so strong, no matter where you put it, it’ll find a way to grow. It’s been discovered on the tops of boulders with its roots creeping through little cracks to find water. It’s been found in flat, open desert as well as in caves amongst the deep shadows. It’s a remarkable plant. And, of course, as its name implies, it is also a deadly plant.”

“I’m guessing the petals are the deadly part.”

“Deadly to other animals. For a human, if you touch it, you’ll get a terrible rash. Touch it long enough, you’ll get violently ill. But you’ll survive. Now, there’s a worm that is special. Without this worm, the flower would not live because the worm is the only living creature that can withstand these petals. It’s attracted to the plant’s nectar. It crawls up and drinks. In doing so, like so many insects, the worm gets covered in pollen and seed. Sometimes it drinks from a second plant and keeps the species going that way. Sometimes it dies and the seed takes root in the dead body.”

Malja didn’t like where this was headed. She had tried to let the girl down easy. She had tried being forceful. Nothing seemed to get through.

She leaned her forehead against a window and watched the clouds. “I suppose in this scenario I’m the flower and you want to be the worm.”

“I’d like that very much, but I’m not ready. We both know it.”

This got Malja’s attention. “Then am I missing the point of your story?”

“Just like that plant needed another creature equally strong, equally powerful that could stand with it, that’s what you need. Someone to stand with you who is also a great warrior. One who understands you and what it’s like to be you.”

“I have Fawbry. I have Tommy.”

“Tommy’s with the Artisoll now. And Fawbry is not your equal.”

Malja smirked. “Besides, you don’t like him running off with me.”

Hirasa blushed, but instead of taking the bait, she spoke sterner and with more conviction. “You need somebody who knows your world, who has suffered like you have suffered, someone who can become a champion like you.”

She said no more. She shouldered her bag and left Malja alone.

She’s right,
Malja thought. All the battles she had fought and survived only made the odds worse. At some point, she would not survive. If not from battle, than from age. And the worlds would need a new champion or else Harskill would win.

Malja thought of all the warrior’s she had known. Many had died, but a few still lived — or so she believed. And of those, she could think of only one name that might be capable of handling the reality of her life. Only one who would be willing to take the solemn duty.

Owl.

Chapter 14

Reon

Lord Harskill opened a portal
and Reon stepped through. She walked onto a platform floating in space. A clear, protective bubble surrounded them, keeping them safe from the vacuum. A pale-blue sun burned bright nearby.

Nearby? No. Reon understood that a star so huge had to have been millions upon millions of miles away for her to be able to stare at it without going blind.

To her left, she saw a belt of rocks stretching in an arc around the sun. With a flourish of his hands, Lord Harskill performed a noble bow. “I present to you my home.”

“It’s amazing.”

“That is our sun. If you can see that greenish-yellow planet, that is Bola. And these asteroids are all that is left of the Gate homeworld.”

They stood on the platform, and with respectful silence, they watched the asteroids tumble by. In the quiet of space, the movement had a soft, orchestral sense to it. Peaceful and meditative.

Reon thought she could watch that for hours and hours. But there were important things ahead.

“What happened? Why are we here?”

Lord Harskill tapped the side of his head. “Two very thoughtful questions with two very different answers. The first is easy enough. What happened here was hubris. We Gate, over time, became more and more powerful as we learned of the magic that exists in the vibrations of the universe. We thought we could control it all. So, we bumbled along until we learned that we could open portals to other worlds. But we lacked the understanding of that power. Without the do-khas, without control, we lost our handle on the portals we had created. That mistake ripped apart our planet.”

“A portal did all this? But I opened a bunch. The worst that happened to me was getting knocked around.”

“You wear a do-kha. The do-kha has the power, when controlled properly, to open a portal safely. Some magicians have the power as well. But most cannot handle that kind of strain, and to lose control of a portal is to lose control of the very fabric of the universe. In fact, that’s why the do-kha was created in the first place. It protects and contains portal magic. The rest that it can do should be considered unintended benefits.”

“So, you designed the do-kha and hired the groyles to make it alongside some of your magicians.”

“Hired them? No. We designed them, too. Genetic manipulation and cloning are hardly difficult. You of all should understand that.”

Reon bristled but covered it with an awkward grin. “The groyle, then, are all clones.”

“Not anymore. They started out as such but for generations now, they’ve been allowed to reproduce and thus, evolve.”

Reon gazed at the tumbling asteroids. “You mentioned other Gate. So you’re not the only one to have survived all this.”

With a proud smile that warmed Reon, Lord Harskill said, “I’ll get to that momentarily. But first, understand that after this happened, those of us who survived made it our mission to protect the other worlds from making this mistake. Not only because we did not want to see the worlds destroy themselves, but also because we were lucky. We only lost our home. We could have destroyed this entire universe, and perhaps, if a portal had remained open, we could have destroyed all the universes the portal connected to. It is far too dangerous a power. For most worlds, we can stop them from ever gaining access to portal magic. Wherever we cannot suppress it, we must usher it in properly.”

“Is that what we’re going to do? Save these universes?”

“All I’ve ever wanted. You know the power I possess. We Gate are gods. We have been given the power to rule these worlds so that they do not suffer the destruction that Gate have suffered.” Lord Harskill raised a warning finger. “But we must be benevolent gods, even when we must be wrathful.”

Above them and off at an angle, space shimmered. A platform similar to the one Reon stood upon materialized as a portal opened. Two figures stepped forward — a man and a woman.

“The twins are here,” Lord Harskill said and gave the twins a small salute. “Reon, I’d like you to meet Sola and Freen, two Gate I’ve known since my childhood.”

Reon waved. Sola and Freen did not acknowledge her. She would have been insulted but was too busy considering the idea that Lord Harskill had once been a child.

Lord Harskill placed a hand on his chest and smiled. “It’s been too long.”

Sola dangled her legs over the platform. “We’re always worth the wait, right?”

“Most certainly.”

The twins had dark hair and narrow faces. Freen wore his do-kha under a well-tailored, pin-striped suit. Sola, on the other hand, only wore her do-kha.

They looked down at Reon as if inspecting a new type of insect. If not for Lord Harskill, Reon would have formed a portal and left. She didn’t fear the twins, though she probably should have, but rather they carried an air of deceit that penetrated through space and surrounded Reon. They reminded her of several students she had encountered at Gull University. People who wore the clothing and spoke the words of the professions they sought to be a part of, yet never quite fit in believably to the role.

The twins’ platform lowered until it floated flush with Lord Harskill’s. Another section of space shimmered as a new platform came into being. A portal opened, and a woman stepped forward. Freen straightened his posture while Sola jumped to her feet. When the new platform joined the others, Lord Harskill reached out his hands toward the woman.

“Reon, I’d like you to meet Bell Wake. Like you, I saw that Bell was raised properly and safely. But she’s not a clone.”

Bell wore a translucent gown decorated in diamonds — so many diamonds that she twinkled with every motion, creating an illusion of more opaque clothing. A silver belt wrapped her waist with an unusually long buckle. Underneath it all, of course, she wore a do-kha.

Reon moved closer to Lord Harskill’s side.
Was this the woman he thought of while in my bed?
She chastised herself for such jealous thoughts. They were here to save worlds from annihilation, not worry about romance.

Lord Harskill stepped to the edge of his platform. “Bell, my dear, I’m thrilled you chose to join us. When we last spoke, I feared I had angered you more than enticed you.”

In a soft voice that still carried menace, Bell said, “I’m here and I’m listening. That’s all.”

Lord Harskill blanched. Reon even noticed a slight recoil in his shoulders which confirmed her suspicions. The woman Lord Harskill had thought of had to be Bell Wake.

With an exasperated huff, Freen said, “Okay, okay. Are the two of you done posturing? I want to know what the big job is. All of us together? It’s got to be something good. Are we going to take an entire world over?”

Sola slapped her brother’s arm. “Where would be the fun in that? We each take over worlds by ourselves all the time.”

Lord Harskill winked at Reon as he stepped to the back of the platform so that all could see him. Reon watched as he took a pause to gain their attention. His presence commanded their focus. Reon’s heart skipped.

Back home, in her former life, Reon’s friends would have crushes, fall in love, fall out of love — she had never understood it. Her heart had always belonged only to Lord Harskill. Even when she tried to include others, it never worked. But what she felt now — the way her skin resonated with life, the way her breath caught in her chest, the way her soul shivered with longing — more than ever she wanted to give all she had to help him. When he launched into his speech, the depth of his voice rang across her body.

“My friends and allies, thank you for coming,” he said, opening his hands to include everyone. “Today, this meeting, right now, marks a crucial step forward in Gate history. We have spent generations taking control of worlds to protect them from the fate we know too well. But as far as I have seen, as far as the best of us can tell, there is no end to the number of worlds that exist. Universes upon universes are out there. We cannot possibly save them all.”

Lord Harskill paused. In that silence, Reon’s anticipation grew. She became like a little girl opening birthday presents. Her parents would hold back one big present — completely visible but off-limits — until all the others had been opened. The whole time, Reon’s focus would be on that big present. What could it be? With each new gift opened, the anticipation would dig into her deeper and deeper.