The Way of the Black Beast (24 page)

"Stay close," Malja said. Clouds kept blocking the moon — she didn't want anybody getting lost.

She heard the mournful praying long before she saw the dark figure emerge. As they closed in, she spied a Chi-Chun woman bent over two bodies. The woman raised her arms upward and said, "Korstra, most powerful brother god, to serve you, we live and in serving, we are fulfilled. I offer you the souls of two cherished servants." She lowered her hands, touched the corpses, and began the whole thing over.

Only when they were close enough to trip over the dead did Malja recognize the woman. "Tumus?"

Tears streamed down her dark skin as she faced Malja. "There was no warning," she said. "They just came in and started killing."

"Who? Tumus, who did this?"

"They never stopped. They kept moving forward like we were in the way." Tumus got to her feet and opened a secretive smile. "Don't fear. I left Tommy with Barris. They linked so Tommy could finish his new magic easier and in good health."

Malja didn't wait for Tumus. She might have strangled the Chi-Chun if given the chance. She stormed across the stony shore, each step making her angrier. Her actions, her choices, her orders — all of it should have made her wishes clear. She did not want Barris Mont playing with Tommy's mind. Her anger at the stupidity around her only fueled her anger at her own gullibility. She should have expected this the moment she decided to leave Tumus and Tommy behind.

Of all the carnage she had witnessed in the past, nothing compared to the bizarre setting she found at the dock. Numerous Chi-Chun corpses littered the ground like smashed scarecrows. Several horses lay dead amongst them. The corpse of Barris Mont rotted in the lake. Only a small portion of his bulbous form broke the surface like an island made for vultures and minrits. One damaged tentacle stretched from the water, across the dock, to the strangest part of all — a burnt hole in the ground surrounded by fallen trees, debris, and people, and all knocked away from the hole.

Cole said, "Something exploded here."

"No," Tumus said, but she wasn't correcting Cole. She was speaking to herself, denying what her eyes told her. Throwing her body onto the hole, her words grew louder and more painful. "No, no. Please, no. I'm sorry."

Malja chilled. "Tumus? Where's Tommy?"

"I-I'm so sorry."

"Tumus," Malja said, her voice snapping the Chi-Chun name but getting little reaction. She stood tall over Tumus, as if she could will the woman to speak. "Where's Tommy?"

"He ... he ..."

"Damn Korstra, where's Tommy?"

Screaming the words out, Tumus said, "I left him here with Barris! I left him here! I-I left him."

Malja couldn't feel her hands. She slumped on the dock facing the charred darkness in the ground, and her hands just went away. Her face, too. Only the icy-hot spike of loss impaling her chest convinced her that the numbing was not a return of the magic she had drunk.

She tried to cry out, scream, make some sound — but she couldn't move. Her lungs could barely pull in enough air to keep her alive. Her eyes stung from not blinking. She stared at the black dust, the blasted dirt, unwilling to look away. When she exhaled, her breathing shook from her body like a broken machine.

She had promised him. She had held that little boy's hand as Wuchev's splashes blended with his terrified tears, and she had promised him. Yet the first moment he needed someone else, she broke that promise.

She could feel the excuses mounting and shut them down. "My fault," she whispered. She had left him with Tumus. Nothing would change that. No excuse could fix that. She had failed.

Callib's right.
She remained there, staring, petrified in pain as her thoughts trundled over each other, spiraling her deeper into doubt. She had slipped off that morning, so Tommy couldn't cause her discomfort about leaving him behind — and in the Freelands, no less. Perhaps Jarik and Callib had been right to try to kill her. She left Tommy unprotected.
I'm a monster.

She had held his hand. She had made her promise. And now, she could only wet the ground with her tears.

"Who's Tommy?" Skvalan asked Cole. "Why she cry?"

Hearing Skvalan, Malja realized she was crying, and that blew her open. Every ounce of pain released like a blast of magic scorching the charred ground. She wailed and clutched at her heart. She kept waiting for everything to stop, to end, because the idea that life would continue made no sense.

But at length, her tears did stop. Her breathing eased. And a low, growling rumbled within her. Callib's not right, it told her. Jarik's not right. They're the monsters that murdered the only right one she ever knew.

Gregor.

She lifted her head and looked around. Cole and Skvalan meandered around, waiting for her to snap back, while Tumus cried on her own.

Sure. Wait for me. They're all helpless without me.
The dead pain in her heart started to beat.
But if I say Left they all want Right.

She had tried it their way. She had tried to be peaceful. She didn't slaughter the Bluesmen, she didn't kill the Muyaza, she held back all the time — especially with Tumus. The result — the Bluesmen had been decimated, the Muyaza refused to help her, and Tommy ... she had to stop thinking about that. Gregor had taught her to follow real evidence, facts not fancies. And Gregor was usually right. He believed in her. Maybe he was right about that, too.

Facts not fancies.

The only fact she had regarding Tommy — he wasn't at the dock. But her instincts told her that if he was alive, Jarik and Callib had him.

He is alive,
she told herself, because the thought felt both right and necessary. Without it, no matter how angry she could be, she never would have stood again.

But she was standing. Angry, cold, even a bit dead inside, but standing nonetheless.

"We're going," Malja said, firm and strong. The others straightened and assembled. "Cole, you lead us to those bastard magicians. Mess it up in any way, I'll cut off your head. Anything gets in our way, it dies. This madness they brought upon me is going to end."

Wiping her eyes, Tumus said, "I wish to accompany you. I can help."

"No."

"Please. All I've known here is gone."

"I don't care."

"Let me help you. For Tommy. For what they did to him."

Viper flashed out and hooked Tumus in the back. Through gritted teeth, Malja said, "You did this to him. I charged you to protect that boy. You brought him here, to Barris Mont, knowing I didn't want that. The only reason I don't kill you now is because I think you'll suffer more living with your guilt."

She released Tumus. The Chi-Chun woman dropped to her knees and new tears bellowed out.

"We're leaving now," Malja said, turning away from Tumus. Cole cast a pitiful look at Tumus before heading toward the mountains and the City of Ashes. Malja felt no pity. Only one thought echoed in her head —
I've got a promise to keep.

* * * *

Malja picked up the trail with ease — a wide swath had been cut through the trees and brush. Jarik and Callib made no attempt to hide.

Cole did better than Malja had expected. Hiking long hours with little break can be hard on the most seasoned soldiers. But Cole never quit and never complained. Skvalan held his own. Malja's expectations for him were high — after all, he had spent his days crossing the Yad over and over. He should be strong.

She spoke little during the day, letting the physical exertion work away the rest of her anguish.

That night, they circled their campfire and ate the stringy but nutritious meat of a dollad. Skvalan had caught the tunneler right before it burrowed to its freedom. Whenever he met Malja's eyes he raised the leg bone in his hand. She nodded the first few times, but his pride had become annoying. She concentrated on eating to avoid his eyes.

"I didn't see any signs of Tommy," she said. She didn't mean to say it out loud, but once started, she had difficulty stopping. "If they had taken him, he would've tried something to get my attention — drop something or leave a marker of some kind."

Cole and Skvalan exchanged looks of concern. Malja opened her mouth, ready to babble more, when a thought struck hard enough to make her smile. "If he's not with them, then he's out there somewhere. He might be just fine."

Cole touched Malja's knee. "Dear, you've suffered a loss. We understand that. If you want to turn back, it's okay. We can find some other way."

Malja's eyes flared up. "We're not going back. Tommy is not dead. I know it."

"All I'm trying to say is—"

"You just want out. Guess what Miss Watts? Everybody wants out. Nobody's ever happy with the life they were given. But some of us learn to live with it, to take control of it, and make the best of it we can. Others — they just want to cry over their wounds and go back."

Cole's face hardened. "Don't you dare lecture me, little thing." She threw her bone in the fire and plopped down next to Skvalan. "I may not have the Bluesmen under my control, but don't think I'm under yours. I have knowledge to keep me alive."

"Push me far enough, and I'll kill you anyway. I can search the City of Ashes without you. May take the rest of my life, but I'd do it."

"I believe you would. But I know more than just where to find Jarik and Callib. I know all about Barris Mont and I know the core truths of the Devastation. And I know where you come from. I've even seen your mother."

Malja shot forward, kicking through the campfire and releasing Viper in swift motions. Sparks lit up the darkness and reflected off Viper's blade as bright as the blaze in her eyes. Before Cole could react, Malja had Viper pressed against her quivering neck, a slick, trickle of blood marking the skin. Skvalan watched without comment and only mild interest.

"You'd better start sharing that knowledge now," Malja said.

"If I tell you, you might kill me."

"If you don't, I'll definitely kill you."

With her hands raised in surrender, Cole pulled back from Viper and used her worn smile. "Okay. You've convinced me." Malja held still a fraction longer while Skvalan reset the campfire. With her jaw jutting in a dare, she backed off two small steps. Despite her hands shaking, Cole continued, "You're not from here. Not this place. You were born in another world."

The words froze between them. Malja's mind pulsed with memories of the other world she had seen — the green séance table, the oddities outside the window, the people staring at her. "That was home?"

"No," Cole said, lowering her voice and her hands. "The world the Bluesmen talk with is not your world."

"How do you know?"

"Because I was there when Jarik and Callib got you. I saw them create a portal — just the two of them — and I watched you fall into our world. That world you came from — it's absolutely incredible."

Malja's mouth tasted stale and her lungs constricted. Gregor had said that someday she would learn the truth — no, that she would have the
chance
to learn the truth. "The important question," he said, "is do you really want to know?" Of course she wanted to know. But he only smiled as he served up breakfast and said, "Sometimes the truth is a heavier burden than the mystery."

Although Skvalan had built a hefty blaze, Malja could not escape the cold pressing in. "Tell me everything," she said.

Cole slouched as if the weight of sadness surrounding them had been placed solely upon her. "I told you magic caused the Devastation — the magic to create a portal. There's more. See, Barris Mont was alive back then."

"I know. He showed me. He had once been human."

"Perhaps. I wasn't there. But human or not, Barris planted the seed in all those foolish magicians' heads. Made them think they were better than all the rest. He knew of the other worlds, or at least he suspected, and he persuaded these fools to play with some very hot fire."

"Barris caused the Devastation?"

"Partly, yes. And you would think that erasing three-quarters of the world would give a person pause, but not Barris. He approached it like an equation that needed to be solved. He had no luck. Until one day, he met two brothers who were also budding magicians."

"He gave Jarik and Callib their powers?"

"He
unlocked
their powers. They had them from the start. But for all his ability to look inside a person's mind, that big fool had blinded himself to what Jarik and Callib truly were. Barris wanted to be right. He needed to be; otherwise, he had nothing to show for all the death he caused."

The campfire popped and the tower of wood fell apart on one side. Malja wondered how much more she could take before she, too, crumbled apart. "So, Jarik and Callib are trying to open a portal. But you've already done that."

"Patience, now. What you saw with the Bluesmen was nothing. Your fathers had accomplished that much long ago. They've been able to open portals to hundreds of worlds. What they can't do is travel to them. We all burn up if we touch the magic. Just like Fawbry."

Malja's stomach lurched. "But I don't."