The Way of the Blade (35 page)

Malja eased Tommy to the ground. He was unconscious and sweat-soaked, but otherwise, he appeared fine. On the horizon, she saw plumes of smoke rising as if hundreds of gigantic campfires had been lit up.

“It worked.” She stroked Tommy’s hair. “Just like Harskill said — all the wells are connected. I don’t know what you sent into that one well, but it’s destroying them all. You did it. And now, there’s no more magic for either side to fight with.”

Eruptions continued to echo into the distance, but at length, a cool silence took over. Only the peaceful hush of the tide rolling in remained.

Chapter 40

Malja always enjoyed surprising Fawbry. When he woke up and stumbled to breakfast, she couldn’t hold back her smiles.

“You certainly have something going on,” he said.

“Well, it’s been four months, and no new wells have popped up. The Scarites have lost all their snakes, and while I don’t think they’ll ever go back to what they were, they aren’t quite so different now. In fact, other than a few skirmishes, this peace seems to be holding.”

Fawbry poured himself a mug of hot keyet tea. The strong drink left much to be desired when it came to taste, but it sure cleared up a hangover and made the bowels work properly. “Guess this means you’re finally ready to move on to another world.”

“Not at all. Four months is a good start, but I think we’ll be here for a while longer. Besides, I don’t want to ruin things for Tommy.”

The girl Tommy had spent time with before the war had died in battle. Malja feared he might close off to all such things after that. But recently he had become close friends with Lynoya, a comely woman about two years his elder. They made a good pairing, both quiet, both serious yet willing to smile, both desperate to feel something other than the violence that surrounded them. Malja knew it would all have to end eventually, but why not let him enjoy his first serious girl until they had no choice but to go?

Fawbry scratched his unshaven face. “So, tell me what’s making you smile like that. And hurry, please, it’s unsettling to see you with anything more than a scowl.”

Malja ignored the jibe and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a metal badge — mostly square except for a round top. She handed it over, trying to hold back her laughter.

“Congratulations,” she said. “As leader of the town, Canto’s appointed you the town Sheriff.”

“What’s a Sheriff?”

“You’re the law enforcement here.” Malja fell back with a hearty laugh.

“Don’t laugh too hard. I’ll put you in jail.”

This made her laugh harder.

The days passed on, each one similar to the last. Reconstruction took up a tremendous amount of work. When the wells were destroyed, the floating islands came crashing down. Malja spent much of her time since helping clear the rocky land so the farmers could till the ground and attempt to grow food below.

And there were still bodies to be found. Every day brought another funeral.

Yet, on the whole, Malja thought the Carsites and Scarites were doing a good job getting back to a good life. The Scarites established a town on the coast, and while neither side wanted much to do with the other, they had begun trading goods. Mostly fish for grains, but it was a start.

One evening, as Malja set Viper under her bed, she heard a noise from behind. Her fingers rolled around Viper’s grip, and she readied to spin around with a vicious strike.

“No need trying to kill me. I’m a friend,” Harskill said.

Malja turned to face him. “What do you want?”

“To congratulate you. You did a fine job here. And to thank you. I couldn’t have helped these people without you.”

“Help them?”

Harskill leaned his shoulder against the wall. “Of course. Why else would I have gotten involved in the first place? I know my methods look harsh at times, and I can certainly get wrapped up in the ‘god’ aspects of this, but I’m still Gate. I still believe in the core principles — even if I don’t agree with the methods my fellow Gate use or fail to use.”

“So you’re just misunderstood? You don’t really want to be Emperor of All Worlds or whatever title you come up with?”

“I do want that. But only because these worlds will destroy themselves otherwise. You saw it here. Before I arrived, the Carsites would have wiped out the Scarites. I tried to balance the situation, but I only made it worse. I needed you and your boy to come fix it.”

“He’s not a boy anymore.”

“I couldn’t do it myself. They would have thought I had betrayed them all or been corrupted by the Carsites or some other mess that would’ve only made things worse. I needed an outside god, if you will, and you provided that.”

Malja shook her head. “Rewriting history won’t change what I know. I was there. You were not trying to help anybody.”

“Really? So I didn’t give you all the clues you needed to destroy the wells?”

“Get out.”

With a fake look of surprise, Harskill said, “But I thought you wanted to kill me. Isn’t that why you’re chasing me? Or is there something else? Perhaps you feel that connection between us. And not just because I’m the only Gate you know. There’s an energy here that you can only deny for so long.”

“There’s no energy.”

“I feel it. It’s there. It’s why I still propose we wed and rule together.”

Malja said nothing. Her eyes drifted to Viper. Why hadn’t she killed him? She didn’t believe he was right about anything he said — except for one point. He was the only Gate she knew. That’s why she allowed him to live. She needed to find the others.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said.

“You don’t anything about me. Just go.”

Harskill walked toward the door. He put his hands out and opened a portal in her room. “You’re coming with me.”

Malja laughed. “You try to take me, and I will kill you.”

“I won’t need to force you. I could pick hundreds of worlds to go to, and you will follow me. We’ll continue to play this silly game where I purposely break things so you can fix them, and each time I will offer my heart to you, and each time you’ll reject me, until one day, you’ll start to feel that warmth in your chest, that little tingle as you realize that I am someone you care about. It’ll take you several more worlds before you can admit it to yourself and several more after that before you’d dare admit it to Fawbry and Tommy. But in the end, we’ll end up together.”

Malja raised her mouth into a cocky grin. “Nothing more than your dreams. My nightmares.”

“I said that could be the way things happen. Or, you could step through this portal with me, right now, and I’ll prove myself to you.”

“You’ve already proven exactly what you are. I don’t need to see anymore.”

“Not even others like you? Other Gate?”

Malja’s grin faltered. She looked through the portal and saw a simple, stone room with animal skins on the floor, and a red pendant hanging on the wall. “You said our homeworld was destroyed.”

“It is. This leads to one of many worlds where you can find Gate.”

“And you’ll just take me to meet them?”

“Right now. As many as you want. I’ll bring you back here whenever you ask.”

“I can’t trust you.”

“Of course, you can. You know how I feel about you. The whole purpose of this is to build that trust. Why would I jeopardize that? Besides, I believe that when you meet the other Gate, you’ll understand that I’m the best of them all.”

She looked away. “But the Carsites and Scarites are only beginning their peace.”

“Surely, Fawbry and Tommy can handle it. Besides, peace isn’t your way. There’s no need for you and Viper right now.”

Malja picked up Viper and sheathed it. She wanted to hesitate, to give this offer her well-reasoned consideration. She hoped Tommy would understand that there was nothing to consider. If Harskill planned to trick her, she would kill him without pause. If he failed to deliver another Gate immediately, she would kill him without pause. But if he stuck to his word, if she actually could meet other people like herself — well, that was an opportunity that could not be denied.

“Lead the way,” she said.

Harskill smiled wide enough to show a dimple in his cheek. It softened his face and gave his eyes a kind twinkle.

Malja looked away. She crossed to a small table by her bed and pulled out a pencil and paper. On it, she wrote: I promise I’ll return soon.

Then she followed Harskill into the portal.

 Afterword

Thank you for reading 
The Way of the Blade
. I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to be kept up-to-date on all things Malja or any of my work, click 

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DON'T MISS MALJA'S NEXT THRILLING ADVENTURE!

THE WAY OF THE POWER

Power corrupts, and magic is power. On the world of Reo-Koll, a little girl called the Artisoll possesses all of the magic --
all of it
. Whoever can control the Artisoll controls the world, and battle ignites between three armies bent on gaining that power.

But they didn’t plan on Malja.

With the help of friends old and new, Malja must protect the Artisoll while deflecting the influence of such massive power. Even as Fawbry and Tommy fall victim to the Artisoll’s magic, Malja risks everything to restore peace to the world. But her old enemy, Harskill, is playing his own game, and he’s brought in another Gate who may be the most dangerous of all.

Get
THE WAY OF THE POWER
today!

Acknowledgments

This time around, thanks goes out to Jeff Dekal for another stunning cover, Gail Z. Martin for a wonderful day in New Orleans that inspired sections of this book, and Glory and Gabe for their constant support and input. Most of all, and for more than any novel before, I owe a big thanks to you, my readers. This book (and the two yet to come) simply would never have been written if not for your urging and desire to see it happen. Revisiting Malja has been pure joy, and I can’t wait to share with you all what I have in store.

About the Author

Stuart Jaffe is the author of 
The Malja Chronicles,
the
Max Porter Paranormal-Mysteries,
the
Gillian Boone
novels,
Real Magic,
 
After The Crash,
 and 
10 Bits of My Brain,
 as well as numerous short stories appearing in magazines and anthologies. He is the co-host of
The Eclectic Review
— a podcast about science, art, and well, everything. For those who keep count, the latest animal listing is as follows: one dog, four cats, one albino corn snake, one Brazilian black tarantula, three aquatic turtles, one lop-eared rabbit, four chickens, and a horse. Thankfully, the chickens and the horse do not live inside the house.

Stuart can be easily found online at these sites:

Website

Blog

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Twitter

Goodreads

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Copyright Notice

The Way of the Blade
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.