The Labyrinth of Destiny (39 page)

He now knew the exact location of
Basha, and he had seen that the security around the tent was minimal. Guards
were probably unnecessary with Cha-sak present, but the demon would not always
be there.

Adesina would eventually face him
in battle, and that would leave Basha practically unprotected.

When that happened, Kendan would
complete his final act of penitence for his betrayal of the woman he loved.

Adesina was wrapped in a cloak of
vyala
as she floated gently above the trees. She used her
vyala
to bend the
light around herself and create an illusion of invisibility so she could watch
the movements of the Shimat army without becoming a target for their archers.

She watched with her enhanced eyes,
analyzing the deployment of the soldiers. Part of her wondered if she would spot
Kendan among the masses, but she immediately dismissed the idea. The camp had
been erected a safe distance from the battlegrounds.

The leading ranks of the Shimat
army drew closer. Adesina waited until the right moment, then sent a stream of
bright gold
vyala
downward, setting the trenches aflame. Fire lapped at
the fuel piled there—the sticks and kindling, the bodies of the enemies who had
died in the ambush.

The Seharan archers took their
signal from the appearance of the flames. They began to loose waves of arrows
into the stalled ranks of the enemy.

Mercenaries began to fall by the
dozens, and Adesina felt a fierce sense of satisfaction.

The L’avan queen sensed the wave of
vyala
before it took form. A wall of darkness formed before the Shimat
army, and the arrows of the Seharan archers could not pierce it.

Adesina bit back a curse. She
supposed it served her right for assuming that Cha-sak would remain as
disengaged from this battle as he had been in the last.

“Adesina,” boomed a voice across
the sky, “I would speak to you. Come forward in one half hour, alone.”

The young queen was surprised, to
say the least. She had just assumed that Cha-sak would send his mercenaries
forward to fight them, and that would be the end of it. The demon had not
indicated his purpose, but Adesina knew that anything Cha-sak wanted could not
be good for her and her allies.

She left her vantage point and used
her
vyala
to float gently to the ground. Ravi and L’iam were there
waiting for her.

“Please tell me that you are not considering
facing him,” pled L’iam, though his expression said he already knew the answer.

Ravi, who could sense Adesina’s
intentions, added, “At the very least, tell us that you do not plan to go
alone.”

“If I violate the terms of the
meeting, what would stop him from doing the same?” reasoned Adesina quietly.

“Nothing would stop him from
violating the terms anyway,” argued L’iam.

Adesina’s eyes narrowed
thoughtfully. “I am not certain about that. It seems to me that he has his own
code of honor, as twisted as it may seem to us. I believe that, in this case,
he will follow the terms he has set.”

Ravi shook his head instantly. “He
set terms for
you
, but made none for himself. The Shimat are known to be
liars and manipulators. You cannot trust anything Cha-sak says or does.”

“Your guardian is correct,” said a
voice approaching from behind.

Adesina turned and saw her Immortal
allies drawing near. Ruon was the one who had spoken.

“However,” the Laithur continued,
“there are laws that govern conflicts between Immortals. Cha-sak would be bound
by them.”

Adesina’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Even if he does not know that I am now a Serraf?”

Ruon inclined his head. “Even
then.”

Sitara seemed troubled by the
entire situation. “I do not like it,” she said quietly. “The Shimat may be
bound by the laws of conflict, but they have spent centuries finding their way
around every rule and restriction. He may have discovered loopholes that we
have not even considered.”

“The alternative would be to ignore
his summons and go forward with the battle,” said Riel, “which is not much
different than what we were going to be doing anyway.”

Ruon’s small eyes narrowed. “Except
Cha-sak will be very angry at being ignored, and he will make it his personal
task to make us pay for the insult.”

“Is it possible that he wants a
truce?” asked Adesina.

None of the faces of her companions
seemed very encouraging.

Sitara was the one who answered.
“The Shimat do not consider the loss of human life to be of any importance. To
them, it would be like destroying a colony of ants. I do not think that Cha-sak
is interested in sparing anyone.”

Adesina’s frown deepened. “Then
what could he hope to gain by talking to me?”

She felt the strange pulse of power
that occasionally emanated from Seer Stone on Ruon’s forehead. He was having a
vision.

Ruon’s face suddenly became void of
any expression. Everything about him became perfectly neutral, and he closed
his mouth firmly.

“What did you See?” Adesina asked
him.

There was a glint of surprise in
his eyes, but it vanished immediately. “Nothing that concerns you.”

She knew that he was lying, and she
wanted to shake him in frustration. “Please tell me anyway,” she said with
exaggerated calm.

Ruon turned to walk away. “I have
given my opinion on this matter, and I now know the outcome. It is not needful
for me to remain any longer.”

“Ruon, wait,” called L’iam.

The Laithur left with a
determination that would not have borne challenge.

Adesina felt a mad desire to fling
a pebble at Ruon’s departing figure. She immediately dismissed it and turned
her attention to the others.

“Well,” she started briskly, “I
suppose we can assume that I agree to the meeting.”

“Not necessarily,” argued Ravi.

Adesina looked around at the faces
surrounding her, and her heart warmed at the thought of how much they each
cared for her and supported her. She knew they would do almost anything for
her, and she wanted to care for them in return.

“I know that Cha-sak does not care
about preserving lives,” she began slowly, “but I do. It matters to me when a
soldier dies, even if that soldier is fighting with our enemies. If I can stop
this fighting and save even one life, it is worth it to me.”

“Adesina…” L’iam said in a warning
voice.

She hurried on before he could
finish. “I am going to meet with Cha-sak.”

Her voice was filled with
determination, and she knew that they could see it on her face as well. One by
one, they nodded—even if they didn’t agree with the decision.

Darkness stole over the sky,
bleeding across the blue like a disease. Adesina could feel the fear radiating
from the humans as they watched the light disappear.

Sitara looked upward with an
indescribable expression on her face. She spoke with a voice that was stiff
with emotion. “The Shimat were once Children of Light. They were so beautiful
and so good. Now they bring Darkness wherever they go.” Her purple eyes shifted
to lock onto Adesina’s. “Do not let him block out the Light.”

There was so much meaning in
Sitara’s words that Adesina felt momentarily daunted by such a trust placed
upon her. She straightened her shoulders and gave a decisive nod to her mentor.

Adesina lifted herself into the air
with her
vyala
and glided toward the source of the darkness. She let her
power flow from the core of her being, radiating outward as beams of light. She
stood as a brilliant beacon in the sky, dispelling every shadow near to her.

Cha-sak looked as though he was
standing on a black platform in the air. The shadows around him roiled
feverishly, as did the wisps of darkness that formed his figure. His red eyes
glowed out from his featureless face, and Adesina felt cold under his gaze.

She brought herself to a halt
twenty feet in front of him. There was a stark division in the sky between his
darkness and her light. It was a visible representation of the struggle between
their powers as they each pressed against each other.

“You came,” rasped Cha-sak in his
chilling tone. “I thought your Immortal keepers would prevent you from assuming
such risk.”

“I am my own keeper,” Adesina
replied tautly.

His red eyes narrowed with a look
of condescension. “That is the mistaken belief of every mortal. You hold to the
lie that you are independent and that you control your own destiny, but there
are greater beings whose very existence shape your own.”

Adesina raised an eyebrow. “I
suppose you are speaking of yourself.”

“Even among the Immortals, the
Shimat are a force to be reckoned with,” Cha-sak said with insufferable pride.
“To humans, we are gods.”

A thought occurred to Adesina and
she paused to consider it.

Cha-sak didn’t know that she had
become an Immortal. He kept referring to humans and mortals as if that was the
grouping to which she belonged.

She had told him herself that she
was the Threshold Child, which implied—to those familiar with the
prophecies—that she had ascended from her mortality to a higher plane. If he
had not made that connection, it meant that he did not truly believe that she
was the Threshold Child.

Adesina tucked that information
away to consider later. Her instincts told her that it would be important in
the future.

“I thought the Ancients were the
gods,” Adesina said.

“The Ancients are fools,” snapped
Cha-sak. “They have wasted their powers on useless pursuits, and they left
their servants to fend for themselves. They are so focused on their own little
hobbies that they have not realized the true power they could hold in their
hands.”

“Yet,
you
have realized it,”
asserted Adesina.

“Yes,” confirmed Cha-sak. “I have
seen the power that is in the universe, and I am not a fool. I will grasp as
much as I can hold, and I will crush all who oppose me.”

“Why have you asked me here?”
inquired the L’avan queen. “It seems to me that you believe your triumph to be
inevitable.”

“It is inevitable,” said Cha-sak
forcefully.

“Then why?”

“I am giving you the opportunity to
join me before you are destroyed,” purred Cha-sak.

Adesina almost laughed in shock.
“What?”

The demon went on as if she hadn’t
spoken. “You have been surrounded by those who walk in the Light. You do not
know anything but what they have told you. The Light is for those too weak to
face the Darkness. That is where true power lies! The Darkness is the greatest
power of all.”

Adesina shook her head. “Darkness
is only the absence of Light. That does not make it powerful. It only makes it
empty.”

“Childish words,” spat Cha-sak in
contempt. “You do not comprehend the forces at work.”

“Explain it to me,” the young woman
invited.

The demon’s red eyes narrowed. “You
think only of the tangible forms of light and dark, just as any child would.
However, the true powers of Light and Darkness are the foundation for the
universe itself. All that is, all that will be, exist only because of those two
forces. The Ancients themselves would not exist if not for those powers. Light
and Darkness are the source of
vyala
.”

“It seems to me that you are saying
the two powers are balanced. So why would I choose Darkness over Light?” asked
Adesina.

Cha-sak’s eyes took on a fanatic
glow. “Because the balance of power is shifting, and soon one shall prevail
over the other.”

“What do you mean?”

The demon gestured with his hands.
“There were times appointed in prophecy, in words older than the universe, when
the balance between the Light and Dark would become subject to change. If one
prevails over the other, it will become the new balance of the universe. One of
those prophesied times is approaching. The era of Darkness shall begin.”

Adesina’s brow furrowed. “Why do
you assume the Darkness will win?”

Cha-sak spoke as if the answer were
obvious. “Because the Darkness is more powerful than the Light. It always has
been, but the balance of the universe has prevented it from taking control.”

The demon’s logic didn’t make
complete sense to Adesina.

“I can think of some terrible times
in the history of our world,” she argued. “You cannot tell me that times like
that were balanced between Light and Dark.”

“There are times when one power
becomes more prevalent,” admitted the Shimat, “but there is always an opposing
event to bring back that balance.”

“Except, there will be a time when
that will not happen,” clarified Adesina.

“Yes,” exulted Cha-sak. “We are
fast approaching the time when the balance can be changed for good.”

“You said it was
one
of the
times,” she pointed out. “Which means that even if Darkness prevails, a time
will come when that balance can be shifted back.”

Cha-sak lifted a finger. “It is
easier to maintain a balance than to change it. Once the Darkness has hold of
the universe, it would be nearly impossible for the Light to gain it back.”

Adesina’s face became thoughtful.
“So, it would be better for me to join you now than to fight for a losing
cause.”

The demon’s voice became tightly
controlled, as if suppressing some strong emotion. “Yes.”

The L’avan queen shook her head
with a humorless smile. “The truth is that if I join you, the balance between
Light and Dark will automatically shift. By abandoning the Light, I would
enable the Darkness to win.”

“You place too much value on
yourself,” drawled the demon. “One person does not change the universe.”

“That is where you are wrong,” she
said quietly. “A single person can change everything.”

Cha-sak did not acknowledge her
words.

“I am giving you the opportunity to
save yourself and your loved ones from certain destruction. If you oppose me, I
will not rest until I see every single one of you crushed beneath my feet. If
you swear yourself to me, I will show mercy on your soldiers, your friends,
your
husband
.”

Adesina knew that he was trying to
use her fears against her. She would gladly give her life if it meant that
L’iam and those she loved would be safe. And if she had known less about the
Shimat demons his tactic might have worked, but she had seen his ruthless
nature and she knew that he was incapable of mercy.