Road To Shandara (Book One of The Safanarion Order) (36 page)

There was a brief moment of silence before a voice answered, “Your guardian protector is gone, you are all within my power now.” Mactar said appearing as if by magic at Rordan’s side. What little light there was in this accursed kingdom of Shandara diminished even more.

For all that he had heard of Mactar prior to this meeting, Aaron had expected more than the wiry man with slicked back oily hair before him. Mactar reminded him of a bad used car salesman appearing harmless, but with an agenda to get the better of you. It was the eyes that didn’t fit, appearing dull and dimwitted, but when Aaron peered closer they became cold and calculating. The man looked directly at him and seemed to be aware of everything at once.
This
was the man who had helped orchestrate the events that drove his grandfather and mother from Safanar? Engineered the fall of Shandara? If Aaron would have passed him on the street he wouldn’t have given him a backwards glance, which would have been unfortunate for him. Many must have underestimated this man to their demise and the irony was not lost upon Aaron as to how the same applied to him.

“He’s not gone,” Aaron said with a small knowing smile.

Mactar frowned considering, “Well then time is short for you if the Wanderer has indeed found his way out of shadow as it were.” He said glancing in the direction of Colind’s prison.

He knows.

Aaron continued to take Mactar’s measure and added gambler to the list of attributes he was compiling for his enemy. Mactar could be nothing else. He was a puppet master of grand proportions with the appearance of someone supremely inept.

Beware...
A venomous voice whispered along a chilling breeze that danced across his neck and Mactar’s eyes widened in shock as well.

Tarimus!

Aaron tried to sense his presence but it was gone in an instant. Why now? Focus, the presence of Tarimus put Mactar off balance.

Rordan frowned looking from Aaron to Mactar, “You speak in riddles Mactar. Speak plainly if you must speak at all.”

A Ryakul screech pierced the sky above them. The Drake was getting closer. He needed to do something. Though his blades were at his side the bladesong was alive within him. He wondered if Verona or Sarik had anymore of the crystal tipped arrows? No time. The energy still churned within him waiting to be used and he drew in more.

Mactar sensed this and shouted, “Enough!” He brought up his hands sending a beam of dark energy barreling toward him. All semblance of ineptness left, revealing the cold hearted murderer of nations before him.

Aaron barely brought up the Falcons in time to deflect the beam. He could feel the energy churn through Mactar like an inferno. Aaron felt the ground slide under his feet despite the added strength he was pulling into himself.

Not here!
This was Shandara. Home to the Alenzar’seth. Aaron pulled more energy from the tree until he was surrounded with a white glow. A lone shaft of sunlight penetrated the curtain of shadow illuminating the patch of earth upon which he stood. He heaved the gathered energy out from himself swallowing Mactar’s beam and spread out to the Elitesmen. The air crackled and pulsated around them.

Aaron pushed outward and Mactar, along with most Elitesmen, were thrust into the air blown beyond the grove. Massive snapping sounds sent the ground rumbling under his feet and the bark of the tree faded to gray and split. The great tree fell with a colossal crash and Aaron turned in time to hear Jopher cry out as a man in a dark cloak pulled his sword from Sarah’s back.

Sarah began to fall to the ground as if in slow motion only to be caught by Jopher who managed to swing his sword driving her attacker back while catching her. Something broke inside him as a guttural roar of the beast within purged forth, bringing Aaron in front of Primus faster than the eye could track. The man’s head left his shoulders before surprise could even register on his face.

Aaron circled toward Rordan and the remaining Elitesmen with murder in his eyes. An Elitesmen quickly grabbed the Prince and pulled him back into the grove out of sight.

He turned back to Sarah and dropped his Falcons to the earth. A cry from the depths of his soul ripped through the air and he fell to his knees pressing his head onto her chest listening. Breathe damn it. Just breathe. Then he heard it. The barest hint of a raspy breath. She opened her red rimmed eyes toward him with a gasp.

“Aaron,” Sarah said her voice barely above a whisper.

“I’m here. I’m with you,” Aaron said grasping her hand in his, ignoring the growing patch of blood beneath her shirt.
Not again, I wasn’t fast enough.

“Remember your power,” she sighed and lay still.

No...Not her...
He rocked back and forth and a crack of thunder and lightening split the sky.

“Why!”
His scream echoed throughout, “Haven’t I given enough.” The medallion flared cooly on his skin and the bladesong spread like wildfire within him.

Remember your power.

Sarah’s sweet voice whispered from the depths of his mind.

“Aaron,” Verona said from behind him.

Aaron sprang to his feet snatching his swords off the ground and began to wield the Falcons pouring his own soul into the bladesong. He would do this. Give all that he was so that she might breathe again even if it meant giving everything he had. Instead of drawing energy into himself he projected it away and into Sarah’s still form. The blade’s melody rode along the air harmonizing around them. A golden light radiated from him stretching toward Sarah’s body lifting it from the ground. Her long blond hair hung shimmering like a curtain of light beneath her head. Aaron expanded the energy within her as she had taught him to do within himself. Instead of strengthening his bones and muscles, he urged her body to repair itself using the energy from his own soul. Her body began to heal, slowly at first and then with the rigorous fervor of that which blazed within all life. When her body was whole she remained frozen in the air before him.

Breathe.

Aaron urged her body to awaken with a burst of energy and he felt himself become spent, “Please,” he whispered before collapsing and Sarah’s body gently sank to the ground.

The path is blocked.
Tarimus’s venomous whisper returned and the air stank of his presence.
 

Release me,
Tarimus beckoned.
 

Release me and I will ensure her soul returns to it’s body. Delay and she will be lost to you forever.

Release Tarimus? “How could I release you?” Aaron asked aloud to the stunned silence of those around him. “Answer me Tarimus! How can I release you?” He said quickly.

“Aaron you can’t,” Vaughn shouted but his protest fell upon deaf ears.

Tarimus appeared before him, his black eyes appearing hauntingly devoid of life at first, but the raised eyebrows and set features denoted the desperation that lay hidden behind the bitterness. Tarimus untied his dark cloak allowing it to fall into nothingness that swallowed the area below his thighs. His appearance was slightly out of phase with reality, but for the first time Aaron could see the scar that ran down the side of his hairless face that he had given him in the dream realm. A golden chain linked belt glowed around his waist and Tarimus lifted it as if he were lifting a great weight then let it fall back into place.

He had given so much. Lost so many people he loved. Would it be selfish of him to allow Tarimus back into the world so he could have Sarah? Tarimus was a monster, despite his talk of second chances with Colind whatever Tarimus did if he released him would be on his hands. Tarimus was the gatekeeper between the realms, but it had never occurred to him that Tarimus himself could have been trapped, forced to do the bidding of another.
Mactar...

“What will you do if I release you?”

“My will, will be my own for the first time in many years, but if you must know I will hunt Mactar. That should suit you,” Tarimus replied. “Hurry time is short and my hold on her is growing more feeble by the moment.”

Silence hung in the air as Aaron regarded Tarimus. “What must I do?” he finally asked, lowering his head.

“You must break the chains that bind me as only you can. The paths of the living and the dead are more intertwined here than anywhere on Safanar. Use your blades to cut through these chains. We have but one chance. Do this and my final act as gatekeeper will be to allow the soul of this one to return to this realm.” Tarimus said.

“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” Aaron asked.

Tarimus’s lips curved in a mirthless half smile, “Can you afford not to?”

Aaron clenched his teeth. No, he couldn’t take the chance, he thought to himself and nodded to Tarimus. He raised his swords and focused the energy within himself extending into the Falcons. The crystals within the pommel began to glow with a pearly light. Tarimus heaved the golden chain away from his body piercing the realm of the living. Aaron heard the surprised gasps from those around him and he immediately shut them out from his mind. He focused his will into the edge of his glowing swords and with a thunderous swing, his blades shattered the golden chains that bound Tarimus.

Aaron staggered as the energy left him gasping for breath. Tarimus stepped through with a great thud as his boots hit the earth and he fell to his knees. Aaron straightened himself and watched warily as Tarimus rose to his feet. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to as Aaron was ready to pounce upon Tarimus at the slightest hint of betrayal and they both knew it. The others gathered behind him in silence with their weapons at the ready.

Tarimus surveyed the group and said, “You’ve become much harder since we last met. That is good.” Tarimus turned his gaze to Aaron and with a fist across his heart he melted away into a dark mist before his eyes.

Aaron was about to call out, but at the same moment Sarah coughed sucking in air with harsh gasps. He knelt at her side. All thoughts of Tarimus purged from his mind as he held her in his arms, watching as the color returned to her face.

“I heard you calling to me,” she said shakily. “I tried to come, but the way was blocked. I could see you, but I couldn’t reach you no matter how hard I tried. Then I felt myself being pulled...up.”

“Don’t worry about that, you’re safe now. I promise.” Aaron said.

Sarah rose to her feet and looked down at her own blood on her shirt, “What happened?”

“Primus stabbed you from behind and if Jopher hadn’t been nearby it could have been a lot worse,” Aaron said.

Sarah looked at Primus’s headless body that lay sprawled a few feet away and closed her eyes for a moment.

“And Rordan?” she asked and Aaron shook his head. “Another time for him then,” she said finding and sheathing her sword forcefully.

They shared a brief look of understanding and Aaron looked at the others, “We need to move quickly. Colind doesn’t have much time.”

“What about Zeus?” Verona asked.

Aaron’s face crumpled in grief for a moment and shook his head tears brimming his eyes. Before anyone could say anything he went to retrieve the rune carved staff that stood planted into the ground where he left it. Sarah came to his side and put her hand upon his shoulder. He reached up and grasped her hand holding it for second before reaching for the staff. He felt the energy return to him as he carried it. Together they started jogging up the path to where Colind’s tomb waited. At least he managed to save her, but he was still worried about what Tarimus would do now that he was free. He glanced to his side where Sarah was. Worried though he was, he wouldn’t change anything even if he could.

They only had to run for a few minutes before the path opened to another clearing where a group of boulders stood stacked upon each other forming an odd shaped room.

“We need to spread out and search for a way inside,” Aaron said checking the creases where the boulders met, but all were sealed.

If Colind was awake in there he would be running out of air anytime now. None of them could find a way inside and Colind didn’t answer their calls. They lined up and tried to move the boulders, but they might as well try moving a mountain. The boulders wouldn’t budge even with enhanced strength. The shrieks of the Ryakuls were coming closer.

“There must be a way to move these things,” Aaron said in frustration.

“What about the ship?” Verona said. “I can signal them to come and perhaps they will have something on board that can help.

“If you send the signal you will give away our position,” Vaughn said. “Aaron can you beat the Elitesmen back as you did before?”

Aaron shook his head, “I used the energy from the tree and it’s gone. The balance of this place is fragile now. I’m afraid I’d only make things worse by drawing too heavily from the energy here.” He answered while something skated along the fringe of his thoughts. When Garret was about to speak he said, “Just give me a minute please.”

He handed the staff to Sarah and knelt facing the boulders. They weren’t a natural rock formation. Someone had put them there and he was willing to wager it was Mactar, but how? Aaron blocked out all the sounds around him so he could listen to the quiet of his mind. The barest hints of crystalized tones echoed from a great distance. He tried to focus on the sound, but it remained elusive. Reaching across the space to the boulder he felt a distinct vibration emanating from within the rock. He drew his swords and a few notes from the bladesong reverberated off the boulders and the vibration increased. He began to wield the blades into a tune that he had never played before. The energy moved through him as before, but it came out through the melody of the bladesong. He focused the energy toward a single boulder. Instead of the notes bouncing away they became infused with the stone causing it to vibrate more and small dust clouds swirled into the air.

“Ferasdiam.” Garret gasped.

The boulder lifted a few inches off the ground, groaning as it chaffed against its neighbors. Aaron kept the bladesong going and shook his head toward the boulder. Verona gestured toward Eric and Braden to follow him and they all pushed and the boulder began to move slowly over the ground. He kept the bladesong focused on the boulder lest it would fall to the earth.