Legacy of the Blood (The Threshold Trilogy) (24 page)

Ravi’s eyes narrowed as he studied her carefully. “Ma’eve? What is
it?”

She quickly gave a dismissive gesture. “It is nothing. I was just
thinking about how to investigate the strange flux in my vision.”

“Connect to your
vyala
,” he suggested casually, but his
eyes remained shrewd.

Adesina didn’t know why she was so intent on keeping her fears
from her guardian. Perhaps she was afraid to learn the truth.

“Of course,” she said faintly.

The queen delved within herself and beckoned for her magic to come
forth. It flared to life, eager and strong. Once again, she rushed to suppress
it to a small stream, but she did not get the chance to succeed.

The Dream exploded around her, suddenly a torrential storm of
visions and emotions. She could sense the presence of hundreds of thousands of
Souls who had died on this land. Their pain and their memories were as tangible
to the L’avan as if she had experienced their lives for herself.

Her mind was not able to sort through the sheer volume of
information being forced upon it, and she let out a scream of agony.

She felt herself starting to lose consciousness.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was aware of Ravi.
She felt something wrap around
her mind in a cocoon of protection
. It shielded her just enough for her to break her connection to
her
vyala
.

The visions died as suddenly as they began.

Adesina found that she was on her knees, even though she had no
memory of moving. She gasped for breath, shaking violently from the experience.

“What was that?” Ravi asked in a grave voice.

“I do not know,” she whispered, “but I fear this Dream is more
dangerous than we imagined.”

Adesina started awake from her Dream and realized that she had
shaken forcibly. She opened her eyes to see Kendan standing over her with a
worried expression on his face.

“Adesina? Are you ill?”

She sat up, slightly dazed.

“What happened?”

“I could not wake you,” he responded. “I thought that maybe the
heat was too much for you.”

“No, it is not the heat,” said Adesina.

Her former teacher did not look convinced, but he did not argue
with her. “The hottest hours of the day are past. We should prepare to leave.”

The young queen nodded and got to her feet. She donned her
traveling robe and moved to join the others. They were passing around the
various salves to reapply them to their skin.

“Now that it is getting cooler, the insects and animals will begin
to appear,” explained Than’os. “We should apply the repelling salve for this
part of our journey.”

They were all given more water rations, and they shared a meal
from their previous supplies. The traveler’s bread and dried meat were a
flavorful change from the desert cakes that had eaten earlier in the day.

The horses seemed somewhat refreshed, although still unaccustomed
to the heat. Adesina mounted Torith and gave his neck an affectionate pat.

“You are doing well,” she encouraged the stallion. “We will not be
in the desert for too much longer.”

“I certainly hope not,” exclaimed Mar’sal jokingly. “I feel as
though the sun is draining my life away.”

They laughed good-naturedly at his complaint.

Maizah led them southeast, deeper into the desert. Even though the
sun was starting to descend the heat continued to be blistering, and Adesina
felt ill and weak. The scent of the repelling salve was strong, and she soon
developed a headache.

Her companions all seemed to be having a hard time adjusting to
their new environment, so none of them were very talkative. The party rode at a
steady pace, keeping silent.

Mar’sal gave an audible sigh of relief when the sun finally set,
and he was not alone in his sentiment. There was a brief period of time when
the air was rather pleasant, and then the temperature began to drop rapidly.
Before too long, they were wrapping themselves tightly with their robes and
huddling on the back of their horses.

“Why can this blasted land not make up its mind?” muttered
Than’os. “How can it be so hot during the day and so cold during the night?”

“It only seems cold because of the contrast from the heat of the
day,” reasoned Ravi. “It is no colder now than springtime in Sehar.”

The L’avan gave him a sour glance, but didn’t respond.

They journeyed well into the night, only stopping to rest during
the darkest hours. Adesina volunteered to take the first watch, nervous to go
to sleep again.

Ravi sat with her. “What are you going to do about your Dreams?”

“Nothing,” she said staunchly.

“You cannot shut them out, Ma’eve. Not here.”

She gazed at him with a small amount of trepidation. “What do you
mean?”

“Simply that you will Dream as long as you are in this desert. You
cannot help but do so.”

There didn’t seem to be anything simple about it.

“How do you know that?”

Ravi’s expression was collected, but Adesina could sense his
underlying impatience. “I have told you before, Ma’eve, that this land is
special. It is scarred by the magic of the Final Battle, and the mind of a
Dreamer cannot shut it out.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Does that mean that you must
Dream as well?”

He gave a single nod. “Naturally.”

Adesina considered her options, and a thought came to her mind.

“You occasionally have visions where the images overlap each
other.”

“Yes,” he acknowledged cautiously.

“How do you sort through all of the things that you see?”

The Rashad took a deep breath and settled down. “I focus on one
image at a time.”

She waited for more explanation, but none came.

“And?” she urged him.

“And it takes a lot of effort and practice,” he added shortly.

Adesina made a noise of aggravation. “Can I learn to do it as
well?”

Ravi’s eyes turned upward to study the stars. They seemed even
more brilliant in the desert sky. “Of course.”

This time Adesina did not resist the urge to tweak his ear. “Why
did you not say so in the first place?”

He didn’t even flinch. “Because I feel that you are not focusing
on the correct things. We should be finding ways to refine our Joining, not
worrying about irrelevant Dreams.”

A spike of terror stabbed through her, and she struggled to
maintain her composure. Exploring the Joining would require her to use
vyala
,
and not just a small thread of it. What if she lost control again?

“I cannot do that until my Dreams are resolved,” she said in a
calm and reasonable voice. “After all, we do not know if my
vyala
will
react in the same way in the waking world as it does when I Dream.”

Ravi sounded doubtful. “I do not think that will happen.”

“But we do not know for sure,” she insisted. “I do not feel we
should take the chance.”

“Our Joining could make a difference in the success of our
mission,” he added softly.

This caused Adesina to hesitate.

Could she allow her personal fears to harm their chances of
rescuing L’iam? After all, she had promised herself that she would do anything
in her power to save him.

After several moments, she shook her head. She could not save him
if she was swallowed up by her own
vyala
.

“We will overcome the Dreams first, then we will work on our
Joining.”

She sensed that Ravi did not agree with her decision, but he
acquiesced. “We shall begin tonight.”

Kendan relieved her of watch, and she wearily rolled into her
blanket. Ravi laid down beside her and gave instructions in a hushed voice.

“You must enter the Dream with a clear mind. Rid yourself of
emotion or thought. Dreams are filled with enough as it is; there is no need to
add your own to it.”

Adesina tried to follow his instructions, but it was more
difficult than she anticipated.

“How?” she asked in frustration.

“You are trying to make them cease to exist, but that is not
possible. One cannot simply
will
their emotions away. In most cases, it
must be transformed into something else. Fear can turn into hope or trust,
anger can turn into determination.”

“But those are simply different emotions,” protested Adesina. “How
do I clear my mind?”

“Set them aside,” was his uncomplicated reply. “Imagine yourself
placing all of your thoughts and emotions into a container outside of yourself,
and come back to them when you awaken.”

Adesina did so, and it began to work bit by bit. It took some
effort to keep her mind clear, but she was pleased with the outcome.

“Now close your eyes, and allow yourself to enter the Dream.”

Dreaming usually took effort on Adesina’s part, but here in Zonne
she only had to let it happen.

When she opened her eyes again, she was standing the Great Desert
and Ravi was beside her. The same eerie feeling came over her, and she was
suddenly apprehensive about facing this problem.

“Now,” resumed the Rashad, “you must open yourself up, as if you
are going to connect to your
vyala
. Allow your mind to hover between
connection and isolation.”

Adesina could feel her
vyala
reaching out to her, as if it
longed to be set free. She shuddered and kept her mind just out of reach.

As she did so, she became aware of something just outside her
conscious thoughts. It felt as though she were trying to remember something,
but couldn’t.

“Good,” encouraged her guardian. “You can sense it. Reach out and
pull it into yourself.”

Adesina did so, blindly—yanking the intangible flicker of
knowledge into her own mind.

There was a rushing sensation, and the L’avan found herself
standing in a brilliantly white chamber. Sunlight danced freely before her eyes
as if it were a sentient being. Dozens of figures sat or stood in a large circle,
with one figure in the center.

Adesina could hardly believe what she was seeing. None of the
figures in the room were human. Some of them had human-like features, but it
was clear that all of them were something else.

The center figure appeared to be male. He had long hair of spun
gold, a braided beard, and four arms. His body was long and willowy, and his
movements were slow and graceful.

“The time hath come, I fear, for action to be taken,” he said in a
voice that was clear and ringing like a bell. “Our dark brethren hath gone too
far for us to stay idle.”

Murmurs passed through the room, and another figure stepped
forward. This one appeared to be female, but with powerful legs and no arms at
all.

“The time is long past, Toraun. We should have taken action a
century ago.”

Mutters of approval encouraged her to continue.

“The demons have broken all trust that has been given to us by the
Creator. They use their powers for selfish gain, they act in violence against
all living things, they pervert truth to gain mortal followers, and now they
declare that this world is theirs alone to rule. We must destroy them before
they cause any more harm.”

Several cries sounded at her declaration, some in favor and some
in argument.

Toraun waved all four of his arms to regain order in the room.
“Nay, we cannot destroy our brethren. Hast thou forgot the oldest of laws?
Light cannot exist without darkness. All existence depends upon balance.”

A tiny creature with a bird-like body flitted forward. “If we
cannot destroy the demons, then how can we stop their spread of evil?”

“Separation,” came a musical voice from the back.

The crowd opened, and a breathtakingly beautiful woman stepped
into the center of the chamber. She had long, wavy hair and metallic purple
eyes with flecks of gold. Her figure was full, and the flow of her simple dress
accentuated every curve. There was an unearthly glow that surrounded her being,
and Adesina almost felt it was disrespectful to even look at her. She was
accompanied by an enormous feline with black fur and golden eyes.

“It is true that light and dark must both exist to maintain
balance,” the angelic woman continued, “but it has never been said that they
must exist together.”

“Our sister Serraf is correct,” rumbled a large, rock-like beast.
“Our efforts should be to contain the dark ones, not to destroy them.”

“How?” demanded the female with the powerful legs.

The Serraf turned her intense gaze upon the challenger and gave a
sweet smile. “By opening a Threshold.”

A stunned silence filled the room.

“Open the door to a new realm?” gasped a male with blue skin and
tentacles. “Unthinkable!”

Toraun voiced his agreement. “Such a thing hath never been
attempted, Sitara.”

“That does not mean it will not work,” replied the Serraf.

The golden-haired man inclined his head, but his expression was
still filled with doubt. “The Serraf are the Keepers of the Thresholds, and I
claim not to possess more knowledge than my learned sisters. However, I see
many potential flaws in thy plan.”

“Then let us discuss them, so all may understand,” Sitara
suggested reasonably.

“First,” began Toraun, “lies the concern that not all realms are
empty. We cannot banish evil from our world simply to send it to another.”

This was met with many nods of approval.

“Second,” he continued, “the Thresholds hath never been forced
open. In past years they hath opened only of their own accord, and for their
own purpose.”

Sitara gestured that this was also true.

“Third, thou knowest not if our dark brethren will remain in this
prison. If they were to break free, their hatred and vengeance wouldst swell
vast.”

Nervous glances were exchanged among the listeners.

“And fourth, we knowest not how to compel our dark brethren
through the Threshold.”

All attention turned to the Serraf, waiting for her to address
each of these concerns.

“I am afraid that I do not have the answers to all of your
questions. That is one of the reasons I have brought it before this council.
However, I am quite happy to share the answers that I do have.”

Sitara walked in a sedate circle around the center of the chamber,
facing all members of the council in turn.

“It is true that not all realms are empty. We have seen this in
the past, and we are evidence of it ourselves. There are realms that are void
of life, though, and we Serraf have the ability to gain a sense of what kind of
world lies on the other side of each Threshold. We would need to search for a
realm that would serve our needs.