The Labyrinth of Destiny (22 page)

The Lord Governor chuckled. “A lion
does not need a mouse for an ally.”

E’nes began to argue again, but
Wakichonze cut him off impatiently. “I am weary of this conversation. My
soldiers will take you to be fitted for your new uniforms now.”

Mar’sal and E’nes exchanged
mystified glances.

“What do you mean?” Mar’sal asked
cautiously.

Wakichonze appeared to be surprised
by the question. “My daughter has given you to me, and I accept her gift. You
are now my property.”

E’nes felt his anger flare, and he
balled his hands into fists. “We are no one’s property, Lord Governor. We are
free men, and we serve the king of the L’avan.”

“I am not worried about the king of
some foreign tribe,” Wakichonze replied, and then turned away to attend to
other matters. For him, the conversation was over.

Four soldiers moved away from the
door and stood behind the two L’avan. One of them gestured for E’nes to exit
the room, but the L’avan stood his ground.

“You will not help us?” E’nes asked
for a final time.

Wakichonze looked annoyed. “I have
given you my answer and dismissed you. Perhaps I should have the etiquette
master give you instructions on the proper behavior of lower servants.”

The soldiers took hold of the arms
of each L’avan, preparing to remove them from the room forcibly.

E’nes called forth his
vyala
in desperation. He could not allow them to take him prisoner. Adesina was
relying on him.

Wren’na was waiting for him.

His anger and frustration lent
power to his
vyala
, making it flare up in anticipation. His vision
burned orange, and he hurled a wave of
vyala
forward to surround the
golden throne of the Lord Governor.

The throne began to shake and moan.

Wakichonze yelped in alarm and
jumped up much faster than seemed possible with his vast bulk. The Governor
watched in horror as his seat of power was crushed and mangled by an unseen
force.

It took almost all of E’nes’s
energy, but he made sure to keep his expression and voice strong. “You
will
let us leave this city. We do not belong to you or to any man. I am brother to
Queen Adesina of the L’avan—a woman you shall learn to revere in the years to
come. If you try to hold us, we will fight with our very lives. If you kill us,
Queen Adesina will descend upon you with a vengeance that will level this great
city. We came to you in friendship, asking for your help. You have refused our
friendship and our request, and we shall not forget that quickly. Our dealings
are done.”

Wakichonze remained speechless. He
stared at them with fear in his eyes and then nodded to his soldiers to let
them go.

E’nes and Mar’sal turned and walked
out of the glittering room, passing through the wake of shocked silence.

E’nes’s heart was heavy with
disappointment. He had been sent to gain allies for the fight against Cha-sak,
but instead he had made an enemy. Unless he was mistaken in the character of
Wakichonze, the Lord Governor of Charan would not forgive the L’avan people for
the actions E’nes had taken.

Neither L’avan spoke until they
were free from the confining walls of the Manor. When they reached the open
air, they gathered their horses and rode back the way they came.

“What do we do now?” asked Mar’sal
miserably as they approached the gate of the city.

E’nes sighed, feeling as miserable
as his friend sounded. “We will go back to Sehar and join the fight.”

Adesina had never experienced such
weariness. Her body was numb from exhaustion, and her mind was not much better
off.

“Ma’eve, are you listening?”

Ravi’s deep voice woke her from her
daze. She sat up straighter and looked around the tent. L’iam, Hestia, and
Sitara were looking at her in concern, and Ruon’s lips were pressed together in
disapproval.

Adesina cleared her throat. “I am
sorry. I am having trouble focusing right now.”

L’iam’s eyes were full of
understanding. “Why not go take an hour and meditate? You are tired.”

She shook her head. “We are all
tired. There is much to do still, and you know you cannot spare me for an hour
right now.”

L’iam did not argue with her, but
the expression on his face spoke volumes. Sitara made a gently entreating
gesture with her hands. “At the very least go outside and get a breath of fresh
air. It will help to sharpen your mind.”

Adesina was going to protest, but
she decided against it. It would take less time to step out of the tent and
come back than it would take to argue that she didn’t have time.

She smiled at her friends and
nodded, climbing slowly to her feet and walking out with feigned energy.

The battle with the Shimat advance
force had been going almost non-stop for two weeks now. The number of soldiers
in the L’avan and Seharan armies remained surprisingly high. Many were wounded,
but few had died. The Shimat commanders did not appear to be trying anything
clever in their battle tactics. Their only goal seemed to be wearing their
opponents down.

And it was working.

Everyone was exhausted, for there
was little time to sleep. L’iam had ordered shifts in the fighting, but even
then there was hardly any chance for the soldiers to eat and rest. It was even
harder on the commanders, for they saw to the needs of the soldiers before
their own. Adesina had been running herself ragged trying to ease the burdens
that weighed on L’iam and Me’shan. After all, she was the one who technically
didn’t need to sleep.

The cool night air was invigorating
to Adesina as she stepped out of the command tent. She breathed it in deeply,
glad for a break from the endless planning.

Earlier that afternoon the Shimat
army had pulled back without any explanation. They had retreated to their camp,
and there they waited. L’iam had sent spies to watch them, but the L’avan and
Seharans had taken the opportunity to fall back as well. Now every soldier was
taking advantage of this rare time to sleep or eat or make repairs to weapons
and armor.

The camp seemed strangely subdued,
and Adesina looked over it with sorrow weighing heavily on her heart. Before
this conflict was over, many of these fine men and women would lose their
lives.

Adesina’s reverie was interrupted
by Ruon. The tall, lithe figure of the Laithur came to stand by her.

“You are pushing yourself too
hard,” he said critically and without preamble.

She gave him a slightly exasperated
glance. “I am doing everything I can to make sure we succeed. Do you suggest
that I do otherwise?”

His oval head bobbed on his long
neck, making him seem even more snake-like in the dim light. “No, I suppose
not. Your cause is just and your intentions are noble, but you are not going
about it correctly.”

Adesina couldn’t help but smile.
Ruon always seemed to think that they were doing something wrong. At first it
had made Adesina frustrated—even angry—to hear him be so critical. However, she
had discovered that he often had suggestions to go with his comments—but he
never gave them unless asked.

“What do you think I should be
doing?”

The Laithur’s small, dark eyes
seemed to glitter, even though there was so little light around them. “There is
a way for you to draw energy from the world around you and take it into your
body.”

Adesina found herself nodding
before he was finished talking. “Yes, I have been taught—”

He cut her off, as he often did
when he could See what she was about to say. “No, I do not mean such primitive
practices. What I suggest is more refined, more advanced.”

She indicated her willingness to
listen.

“Take a deep breath,” Ruon
instructed, “and instead of bringing air into your body, gather in energy and
determination and all else that your body and soul need.”

“Breathe in energy?” Adesina asked
dubiously.

Ruon nodded. “Life is everywhere.
It fills the air more thickly than particles of dust. Breathe it in and let it
restore your mind and body.”

The young woman frowned
thoughtfully. “Does that not take energy away from something else?”

“No more than breathing next to
another person takes away their air,” responded Ruon. “In a contained space it
would be a concern, but the world is vast and Life is abundant. You need not
worry that you are harming others. Simply focus on what you are doing,
otherwise you will gain nothing.”

Adesina closed her eyes. She
imagined that the air around her was filled with golden particles of life
force, and she took a deep breath. The particles rushed into her body and
immediately spread to dispel her weariness.

She looked at the Laithur in
amazement. It had been many days since she had last felt so invigorated. “Why
did not Sitara teach me this earlier?”

Ruon snorted in derision. “Because,
in spite of the opinions held by both of you, Sitara does not know everything.
The Children of the Light bask in
vyala
like the sun, taking no regard
for its abundance. The Children of Night have learned to conserve and to be
more wise in how we use it.”

“This is a demon skill?” Adesina
asked, feeling rather uneasy.

“The Children of Night are not the
same as the Children of Darkness,” snapped Ruon. “The Children of Darkness are
those who willfully turn from the Light. The Children of Night are simply the
balancing force to the Children of Light.”

“Which are the Laithur?” inquired
Adesina.

After a short pause Ruon said,
“They are both.”

The young woman almost rolled her
eyes. “Why are you so upset, then?”

“Because the distinction matters,”
he insisted. “Not all Children of Darkness were once Children of Night, and not
all Children of Night became Children of Darkness. In fact, the Shimat were
once Children of Light and now they are the most dedicated to the Dark. Evil
has corrupted them so much that they are unrecognizable as what they once
were.”

This new information came as a
shock to Adesina. “The Shimat demons were once Children of Light?”

“Of course,” Ruon said, as if it
were obvious. “They were the male counterparts to the Serraf.”

Adesina was dumbfounded by this
revelation.

She suddenly saw this conflict in a
whole new light. Adesina had assumed that Sitara was fighting against Cha-sak
because they were natural enemies, but that was not the case. Once they had
been friends and partners.

How would she feel if L’iam
suddenly embraced all that was evil and sought to destroy her?

“I did not know,” Adesina said
softly.

“Your education is sorely lacking,”
said Ruon in disapproval. “You have only given attention to developing your
Serraf abilities.”

Adesina could not help but feel a
bit defensive. “Does it not make sense to focus on that first? After all, I am
now a Serraf.”

“No,” responded the Laithur
heatedly, “you are not just a Serraf.”

Adesina stared at him in surprise.
She had not expected his answer, nor the passionate way in which he said it.

“You are the Threshold Child. You
are not just a Serraf, nor do you belong to them. The Threshold Child is
all
races, and must have the best interests of all in mind. The Serraf are trying
to control how you fulfill the prophecy, but it is not their right to do so.”

Adesina felt that Ruon was being
unfair. “Sitara is only trying to help me. She is not controlling me or
manipulating me.”

He went on with bitterness in his
voice. “The Serraf and the Aurym are always trying to control everything. They
think themselves the natural leaders of us all.”

She folded her arms across her
chest. “Well, I was chosen to be leader from now on. Even you supported me,
Ruon. Perhaps you should stop blaming them for everything that goes wrong.”

“Are you suggesting that I blame
you instead?” he asked with a smile.

“If it makes you feel better,”
Adesina answered shortly.

A hissing chuckle escaped Ruon’s
thin lips. “I think it would not help as much as it would have in the past. In
spite of my best efforts, I am starting to like you.”

Adesina laughed in surprise. “How
is that possible?”

Ruon’s expression lost its
lightheartedness and he grew serious. “Anything is possible with the Threshold
Child.”

Then he turned and walked back into
the tent, leaving Adesina with her thoughts.

She could remember her frustration
with Ruon for his stubborn refusal to acknowledge her as the Threshold Child.
Now that he was placing his trust in her, she almost wished to go back to the
time of his doubt. The weight of his words wrapped around her heart, filling
her with the fear of her own inadequacies.

So many people were depending on
her. How could she possibly live up to so many expectations?

Adesina turned her purple and gold
eyes to the sky as if she could find answers written there.

 Far in the distance she could see
two hawks streaking across the sky, approaching from the south and heading in
the direction of the camp. Something tugged at the back of her mind, and she
half-turned to call into the tent.

“L’iam, I think you should come
here.”

The low murmur of voices inside the
tent ceased, and her husband appeared at her side.

“What is it?”

She pointed to the hawks, which
were speedily growing nearer. They both were descending, flying lower and lower
to the ground. Adesina could see them clearly now. One hawk was grey and the
other was a beautiful, glossy black.

The black one landed first. It
shimmered like a mirage and then transformed into human form. It was a man with
liquid black eyes and cinnamon-colored skin. He had finely chiseled features
and wavy black hair, and he wore the simple brown clothing of a Zonnese desert
dweller.

The grey hawk landed on his
shoulder, and the man walked forward to kneel before L’iam and Adesina. When he
looked up at them, his dark eyes were warm with exertion and delight. “Adesina,
you are alive! I am so pleased to see you.”

Adesina gripped his arm and brought
him to his feet. She smiled broadly in return. “I am pleased to see you as
well, Savir. You have travelled far from you home to aid us in our fight. You
did not have to do so, and it means so much to me that you did.”

Savir dropped his gaze to the
ground in natural modesty. “It is nothing,” he insisted. “You saved my life
once, and then your husband saved my life again after you had passed through
the Gateway. What could I do but pledge myself to your service?”

Adesina looked at L’iam in
curiosity. “You did not mention that you had saved his life. When did this
happen?”

L’iam brushed it aside. “He is
exaggerating…a bit.” He turned back to the Henka warrior. “I have told you
before, Savir, you are not a slave or a servant. You are our friend, and you
are welcome to stay with us as long as you like.”

Savir gave a small smile. “Friends
can serve one another as well.”

Adesina grinned at the expression
of discomfort on her husband’s face, but her smile faded as she remembered the
task Savir had been given. “Savir, you have been following the movements of the
main Shimat army.”

The Henka nodded solemnly. “Yes,
Adesina.”

“Why have you returned?”

He pointed toward the south.
“Before the sun sets, you will see the army with your own eyes.”

Adesina instinctively turned in the
direction he pointed. Fear clutched her heart, and she struggled to control the
powerful emotion.

She did not worry about herself,
but her friends and allies were not ready to meet the main force of the Shimat.
They had been fighting without relief for almost two weeks, and they were
exhausted. How could they be expected to fight mercenaries that were fresh and
rested?

L’iam could see the worry on her
face, and he guessed what she was thinking. “They are here days sooner than we
expected,” he pointed out. “That means they have been forced to march faster
than normal, and for a long period of time. They will be tired from the pace
they have maintained.”

Adesina nodded. She knew he was
right, but she couldn’t help but worry all the same. Her eyes fixed on the
horizon, searching for signs of the approaching enemy.

The Shimat were finally here.