Eramane (12 page)

Adikiah sits in quiet while I pick at the berries on my plate. “What troubles you this morning, Eramane?” he asks. I do not wish to answer, but my words come out easily, despite my desire for them not to.

“I feel better now, Adikiah. My foot has been healed completely for some time now, and my bruises and lacerations were never anything to be concerned about,” I say, stopping to gauge his reaction. He sits expressionless, staring at me. Finally he speaks.

“Let me show you something,” he replies. He slides his chair in a quick motion that sends a loud screech throughout the chamber. I stand, more delicately than he, and walk over to him; his hand is outstretched, as it is most times.

We enter a chamber, lit only by the flame of a single torch. We have no sooner entered when a servant moves from behind us and to the unlit torches that remain. The servant is quiet and swift; the room is bright in a matter of seconds, revealing an abundance of relics: body armors inlaid with gold script, statues of men bearing different crests, swords larger than any I have ever seen, crowns of various shapes and sizes, insects modeled out of gold and jewels. But what holds my attention is what lies in the large glass case in the middle of the room.

I cannot stop myself from clutching Adikiah’s arm and burying my face in his back. He peels me from his arm so that he can enfold me in both of them. “Do not be afraid, Eramane; it is dead,” he assures me, releasing me from his embrace so that I can look for myself. My trembling body objects as I make my way to the glass coffin. My legs feel as if someone else is trying to control them, trying to direct them away from the fragile-looking tomb. I reach it and find myself amazed that Adikiah possesses it. Not inches from me, sealed in glass, are the remains of the beast that murdered Lebis and tried to murder me. Its long, hardened body resembles the lifeless statues of the men bearing crests. The wings of the beast wrap around it, making a cocoon. Even in its death, the creature still looks fierce, frightening … able.

“How did you do this, Adikiah? How did you kill this thing and bring it back here?” I ask, running my hand over the top of the glass. “You are one man.”

“I am, but one man can have many resources.”

“Your servants?” I ask.

“They are useful in many ways, yes,” he says. My gaze does not leave the entombed beast. As I stare at it, my memories of the meadow surge through me. I feel my body begin to quake, and rage consumes me. I slam my fists on the surface of the case, and it splits under the impact. I do not realize I am screaming at the corpse until Adikiah covers my mouth with his palm. “It is all right, Eramane. He cannot hurt you,” he says, trying to comfort me. I release my tears on his chest and keep my face hidden until I can catch my breath.

“Thank you,” I tell him, not believing that could ever be enough. He lifts my face to look at me.

“Stay with me, Eramane,” his soft words ask. “Become my companion, and we will travel to the distant lands whence these relics came. Your life will be filled with experiences from the farthest reaches of this world. I will keep you safe, from even the fiercest of things,” he says, and his eyes move from me to his encased trophy.

“My debt to you can be repaid only by an agreement of marriage?” I ask.

“You owe me nothing, Eramane. Our union would make me happy, but only if it brings you happiness as well.”

I want to make him happy, and I know that I can grow to love him one day, but I fear that once I return home to see my family, I will not want to leave again.

“I need to lie down.” I do not know what else to say. Adikiah escorts me to my chamber, where I find the bed to be extra welcoming. He says nothing before leaving, the rattling of the door filling in for unspoken words.

CHAPTER TEN

The Catalyst

“
T
HEY WILL BE DISPLEASED WITH
your actions, gatekeeper.” A cauldron of black, frothing liquid is the catalyst of the clicking, fluttering voice speaking to Adikiah. He keeps the cauldron in the chamber where the Gate is, deep in the subregions of the palace.

“They should be pleased with what I have to offer them. The blood of a summoner is worth more to them than a thousand souls,” Adikiah fires back to the voice that angers him.

“In all of eternity, she will not forgive you for this. Her memory will only be disrupted temporarily, and then you will have to explain yourself,” the voice says, fueling Adikiah’s anger.

“When she
becomes
and is like me, once she harvests, she will understand; there will be no need for explanations.” Adikiah grabs the edges of the cauldron. “She will
know
me,” he finishes.

“What if she is not like you? This has never been done before, and to a summoner. There are no guarantees, no comparative accounts,” it says.

“She will be like me. I can see it in her eyes. I can feel it!” Adikiah rages.

“And if the Orders of the Reach do not accept her blood, if they want her soul instead?”

“Then she will die!” Adikiah’s tone softens at the idea. “I will not give her up to them.” Adikiah peers at his reflection in the shiny, thick liquid. He shakes the bowl and disrupts his appearance in its contents; turning from it he says, “They will accept my offering, or they shall never receive another harvest!” The voice in the cauldron does not stifle its amusement; its throaty chuckle sends the liquid into a boil.

“When shall I retrieve your offering?” The voice from the black liquid is excited; its words crackle and click rapidly.

“When the next moon if full,” Adikiah says. “She will be ready when the next moon is full.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Crevice

ADIKIAH WAKES ME; IT IS
the first time he has entered my sleeping chamber. “Come with me, Eramane.” Adikiah’s eyes gleam with excitement—or hysteria, I cannot tell which—and I have come to dread those words: “Come with me, Eramane.” The last time he spoke them, he took me to the room where the dead beast lay. Yet I follow him, down the staircase to a chamber in the palace. A deep crevice makes a barrier between the entrance and the back of the room and casts an orange glow throughout the chamber. The walls and the floor are dark and slick, reflecting the pulsing orange radiance seeping from the crevice

“Why have you brought me down here?” I ask.

“I need to reveal something to you.” He looks at the opening in the floor, and pulls me close to the crevice. “You see, Eramane?” He motions for me to look down. Molten earth churns below, and the heat rushes my face. I step back. “I can do many things, defeat armies and bring their weapons and armor and idols home with me.” He places his finger on my forehead. “But I cannot summon the earth as you can.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, utterly dismayed by his accusation.

“I am telling you that you have a gift, Eramane, a magnificent one.” My head will not stop shaking in rejection.

“Gift, as in magic? Are you serious?” is my reply.

“Yes, Eramane. Look at the crevice. You can close or spread its girth, whichever you choose.”

“I do not believe you. You are mad.”

“And this gift is why I cannot let you go home,” he says.

“Let me go home?” I feel my body begin to heat. “You said I was not your prisoner; you said you would take me home.”

“Yes, but I am only trying to protect you, Eramane. If you return and your lord discovers your secret, who knows what he will have done with you?”

“He will have nothing done with me! I am no summoner. You are lying!”

A slender figure enters the room, a servant. It holds a silver goblet. Adikiah takes the cup from his servant but does not order it away. “I am not making false claims, Eramane,” he says and shoves the servant over the ledge into the crevice.

“Why did you do that?” I ask in awe. Adikiah orders other servants to enter; four more take positions next to their master.

“I am proving to you that you can control this crevice,” he says, pushing a second over the ledge.

“Stop!” I plead. His shoves a third over. “Please, Adikiah, stop killing them!” He does not seem to care about my request. I feel that familiar quaking that surges through me as my anger reaches its climax. A fourth is sacrificed. “No more!” I scream and the ground begins to tremble, the chamber walls to quake. I expel the rage inside me and gasp when I see the crevice start to open wider. My amazement halts my fit, and instantly the earth ceases movement. The fifth servant is ordered out.

“Well, that was not the intended direction, but look, Eramane, see what you did?” I am breathless and cannot speak. “And your eyes, they glow so magnificently, like the brightest of moons,” he says. He slowly walks toward me, cup still in hand.

“I am leaving,” I say, turning for the door. “I do not need your help to get home.”

“Eramane, wait!” he orders. I halt at the powerful command. “There is no need for you to be angry. If you still wish to go home, I will take you. But please, drink this to calm yourself. I do not want you bringing down my palace.” I turn back to him, take the cup, and put it to my lips. It goes down easy, leaving a sweet aftertaste.

In seconds my body goes numb, and Adikiah catches me before I collapse to the floor. What is happening?

I am aware of my surroundings, only I cannot move or speak. Adikiah has taken me to the terrace, where he has laid me on the floor. He holds my head in his arms; his expression reveals his excitement. But there is something else behind his eyes: fear, remorse, guilt—any of the three fits perfectly. Then he leans in close to me and whispers, “I have to kill you, my love.” I try to scream aloud, but my body is under siege by the toxin Adikiah gave me. Tears stream down my face. At least I can show him my tears.

“Do this for me, Eramane. Make me whole. End my loneliness, and you will have everything you have ever dreamed of. I will worship you and no other with more passion than the sun has for burning. You will be mine, and I will be yours—forever,” he claims passionately.

Adikiah moves to the edge of the terrace. He looks to the skies and spreads his arms, holding his head high, clenching his hands into fists. The wind grows stronger. He turns and hurries over to me. The winds are boisterous. Strong gusts blow through the veranda. Adikiah grabs my shoulders and commands my full attention.

“Eramane, it is time!” he shouts over the roaring winds. “Do not be afraid, my love; it will be over soon!” As he speaks, his handsome body begins to contort into his true form. His face stretches from the bones of his skull enlarging. His tan skin grows darker until it is almost black, like a slate stone. The sound of his bones breaking is softened by the loud wind. In a matter of seconds he grows taller, and huge horns coil out from above his brow. Then his long, leathery wings sprout, stretching out several feet on each side of his body. Adikiah never saved me from any beast; he is the beast. He leans over and lifts me into his arms with no effort, and once again I am in the arms of the horrifying creature.

We fly to the top of the terrace, where he places me on my back. Adikiah turns to the sky and begins chanting words I have never heard before, and the winds distort them. I cannot make them out, but as he speaks, the sky changes color: from black, to dark blues, to deep reds and purples. Lightning pulses and pierces through the montage of colors in the sky. Adikiah turns and walks over to me. He takes hold of my body, pulling me close. I focus on his eyes; they are locked on mine. “I love you, Eramane. I am sorry.” He rakes his sharp claws down the center of my arm, and I can only watch as my blood drains into a metal canister.

After a short while, my body begins to convulse, and I have no breath to scream. Adikiah sets me down and holds the metal canister containing my blood up to the heavens that have ceased changing color and are fixed in a deep crimson.

“Come and claim your offering!” he shouts, blood trickling down his forearm. Adikiah sets the canister down on the terrace top. Adikiah has summoned evil to his mountaintop. Screams pierce my ears as an entity, smelling of death and looking like the gathering of all the bugs of the earth, comes twisting and coiling from the sky. The dark mass of demise reaches us and settles just above me, hovering, looking at my body as if it wants to devour me. A face forms on this ungodly thing and speaks to me. In a clicking, cracking, low mumble, it says, “So you are the summoner.” Its face contorts as it speaks. I gaze into the eyes of this being, watching them turn to fire. It looks at me, laughing maniacally. The laugh grows stronger, more intense, but the monstrosity moves away from me to fetch the blood-filled canister.