Shield of the Gods (Aigis Trilogy, Book 1) (31 page)

             
“They are?” Aerigo asked, his voice tinted with anger.

             
“The Balvadiers are planning to attack again.”

             
“I’m going to have to go back to Balvar and—!”

             
“No!” Maharaja snapped. “That is not your task. You have more pressing matters to attend to. Don not stray from your present task.”

             
“You know what’s happened?” Aerigo said, settling back onto the blanket.

             
“Not exactly,” the King said. “But this world will know before you leave, and so will I.”

             
Bad news precedes us everywhere we go
, Roxie thought gloomily, though she was feeling cozy with the warmth of the bonfire seeping just beyond her feet. The drink from the goatskin made her feel both relaxed and alert. Somehow a yawn escaped.

         “Lie down and relax, Rox,” the King said.

              Her eyes fixated on Maharaja’s as if she were being hypnotized. She heard his voice inside her head.
‘But do not fall asleep. Your friend has things to tell that you should hear, but he won’t speak until he thinks you aren’t awake.’
Roxie let her limbs relax. Without looking impulsively at Aerigo, she lay down, using the extra blanket as a pillow.

         “Comfortable?”

         “Very. You can continue your story, now.”

             
The King said, “The humans shed much blood amongst themselves, and they learned early on not to fight the Malkin. We are stronger, bigger and faster, and they cannot navigate the trees like we can. But, when they are not at war, humans show much promise in learning, for they are quick to invent useful things. With proper guidance, humans could rival the wisest of my kin. Fate has not given them such leadership, but there is still time and progress has been made. If you’ve met the current Druid, Antares, you might have noticed that he doesn’t perfectly resemble a human.

             
Roxie thought a moment, and then remembered his height and eyes.

             
“He’s part Malkin,” Maharaja said. “He shares our eyes and size, and the poor man must hide a tail under his robes. He also has the gift of foresight, which I did not expect. Few of my own people possess it. I take Antares as a good omen, though it’s still too early to tell. Only so much of the future is visible to me.”

         Roxie let out another yawn.

              “But enough about this world and its inhabitants,” he said to her with a wink. “Why don’t you rest and let Aerigo and I catch up on old times?”

             
“Okay,” she said softly, then turned over to lie with her back to them. Their soft talk rejoined the crackle of the fire, and it wasn’t long before their conversation turned to recent events that involved her, too. She listened quietly to Aerigo’s version of what had transpired over the last few weeks, but his account was less detailed than what her own would have been. During the whole conversation, Maharaja never asked what they were preparing for.

             
And then the conversation wandered in a direction Roxie hadn’t expected. She almost turned over so as to listen better.

             
“Alright, Aerigo,” Maharaja said. “Now you can tell me what is truly bothering you. I know your heart is troubled by your past.”

             
Aerigo was silent. Roxie had to concentrate real hard not to fidget. She had to know what was making him so distant ever since they’d arrived in Drio.

             
“She has been asleep for some time, now,” the Malkin said reassuringly. “I know she intuits your distress, but you’ve been trying very hard to bury the truth. Let it out. You’ll feel much better once you do.”

             
Roxie saw Aerigo in her mind vision sitting with his elbows resting on his knees, one hand clasping the other wrist. Aerigo took a long, studious glance at Roxie before looking at his feet. He sighed and bowed his head, but didn’t speak. Maharaja waited. The three of them listened to the bonfire crackle until Aerigo’s said in a pained voice, “It’s about Sandra. And about Rox.”

             
Roxie eyes went wide and she lost her concentration on Aerigo’s white outline. She felt one of Maharaja’s hands touch her shoulder, a signal to keep still and relaxed.

             
“Go on,” the King said softly.

             
“Do you remember her?”

             
“A little. She and Rox look the same, and you and Sandra were very much in love several hundred years ago. Yet your pain is fresh as ever.”

             
“She was the most beautiful woman ever. She knew how to handle me. I felt the happiest I’d ever been when we were together. We always knew what the other was thinking, and she could always make me laugh, and get my mind off the Balvadiers on a bad day. She treated me so well... I don’t have it in me to start that kind of relationship all over again.”

             
“You are still young, Aerigo.”

             
“I knew she wouldn’t live nearly as long as I can, but I was willing to live with that. She was worth any sacrifice. But when the Balvadiers raided Drio—it was just so sudden and unexpected.” He shook his head. “It’s all my fault. I failed to save her. I failed to save so many people that night. I killed more Balvadiers than I saved Durians. And I killed some innocent people in the process. The Durians think I’m a hero. But I’m not. I never was. I turned into a monster.”

             
“I remember the attack. But neither hers nor the other Durians’ deaths were your fault.”

             
“I lost control!” he choked out angrily. “I killed thousands of people before I could stop myself!
Thousands!
And none of their deaths made that horrible emptiness go away.”

             
“We all have regrets, and we all have darker sides. You are a good person, Aerigo, despite your mistakes.”

             
“I know I’m not evil, like the then-king of Balvar. But I still can’t bring myself to believe I’m any better than him.”

             
“You will in time. Losing someone you love is hard, but you cannot let it ruin your life. You have to keep moving forward.”

             
“I know,” Aerigo snapped, then looked away and sighed. “I know,” he repeated softly. “But my best memories are with Sandra. I’ve tried so hard to let go of her. Baku brought me to Kismet to recover. I stayed there for fifty years, but that one night corrupts everything in my mind. Now that I’ve met Rox, who looks and sometimes acts just like Sandra, I keep reliving that nightmare every night. I wish there was a magic that could remove unwanted memories.”

             
“It’s over and done with, Aerigo. You cannot change the past, and you should never forget it. You must realize that no one holds it against you—not even the Balvadiers, though they fear you and dare not speak your name. Besides, do you really think Sandra would hate you for it?”

             
Aerigo thought a moment. “She said I was perfect for her, flaws and all.”

             
“And she would want you to keep your good memories and move on. Now, what of Rox? Their physical similarity strikes me as something important for you, and not just as a reminder of your past.”

             
“I realized that only today,” Aerigo said. “Baku must have a reason for it, which leads me to a conclusion I don’t like.”

             
“More power.”

             
Aerigo nodded glumly. “I’ve been having the same vision since knowing of her existence.  At first I thought Baku was giving me the visions, trying to help me, but the message is too vague for even him.”

             
“What did you see?”

             
“A phoenix and a flaming tree in a dead land. The phoenix has Rox’s eyes.”

             
“There can be many interpretations to such objects. What is your task?”

             
“I’m trying to stop a war before it starts.”

             
“Herinas!” Maharaja exclaimed. “How?”

             
“More power, like you said. But I have no idea how to unlock the true power of an Aigis. What you saw six hundred years ago was an accident. After I left Kismet, Baku told me there was still more to discover.”

             
“What you did almost killed you.”

             
Aerigo touched the left side of his ribcage. “There’s no one to teach us, time’s running out and, on top of that, I’ve been hearing voices in my head.”

             
Maharaja chuckled. “It’s never just one or two things with you. Whom do these voices belong to?”

             
“I don’t know. They speak in riddles, and in desperate whispers—like they’re begging me to do something.”

             
“What do they say?”

             
“They’ve said ‘disobey, save our last, you cannot,’ then ‘save our last, you must try.’ And last time they said ‘to the strong ones.’ That was the only phrase easy to decipher.”

             
“It seems like these voices have changed their opinion of you over time. First they tell you to run away, then they tell you to try. Now they’re telling you where you should go next.”

             
“Do you have any idea who they are?”

             
“I think you’ve already guessed.”

             
“Other Aigis! Are you sure?” Aerigo put his hands on the ground and looked ready to push to his feet. “I should find them! They could help me and Rox reach our true potential.”

             
“I thought such powers were lost to your kind.”

             
“That’s a myth. The gods made the assumption because no Aigis has unlocked the same power the first generation did. I know I can figure it out with help from Rox.”

             
Roxie’s heart began to race. She felt a gentle, clawed hand on her shoulder a second time. Realizing she’d been holding her breath, she slowly and silently exhaled. Maharaja removed his hand.

             
“Or maybe she needs yours,” the King said. “What are your feelings for her?”

             
Roxie swallowed. She
had
to know.

             
The emotion in Aerigo’s voice changed. It sounded tender. “Ever since I first saw Rox I’ve begun to feel the same way I did for Sandra. I’ve been trying to fight it, given our task, but it seems like the harder I fight it, the more I want to take her in my arms and never let go. Rox is so much like her—it’s like having Sandra back. Almost.” His voice trailed into a whisper. “Despite our task, I don’t want to give in because I’m so scared of losing her too. I can’t go through that again. Part of me just wants to leave Rox behind, somewhere safe, but the other half of me can’t bear to let her out of my sight.” Aerigo sighed. “I don’t know what to do.”             

             
“Take my counsel, Aerigo.”

             
The bonfire crackled away, the sweet sharp scent of burning wood filling the night air.

             
“You both feel the same about one another, and have been fighting it in vain. I don’t need any special powers to see that. Baku was trying to help you when he decided on Roxie’s appearance. Now it’s your responsibility to figure out the rest.” The King’s voice changed into a mystical tone. “Starting tomorrow, you have some very important decisions to make. These decisions will lead you down the path to the power you both seek and fear. Every path has two or more choices, but they all lead to the true power hidden within every Aigis. Follow your heart, Aerigo. It will protect you from becoming the even greater monster you fear this power could make you.”

             
Maharaja shook Roxie’s shoulder. She blinked away the white outline of Aerigo and propped herself up on an elbow. A single tear was rolling down his cheek.

             
“You are worthy of love, Aerigo,” the King said. “It’s time for you to rest now. I promise you’ll feel better in the morning.” Maharaja locked eyes with Aerigo, and the Aigis’ gaze fell unfocused as if he were having another vision, but his face was relaxed, instead of frozen. His gaze wandered over to the uneaten bags of food. “Rox, you may go to him now.” The King rose.

             
Roxie sat up. Aerigo’s tear track glistened on his cheek, and the fire’s light reflected in his vacant eyes. “What did you do to him?”

             
“I hypnotized him, so to speak,” The King straightened out the cloth around his legs. “He’s not aware of his surroundings. Right now his mind thinks he’s asleep.”