“I’m so sorry,” Gabriel said, pulling Olivia into a tight hug. “Sophia’s gone, too.”
Knorbis was a being who had mastered control. When one spent several millennia sorting through near-constant visions of the future while trying to live “normally” in the present, one had to develop control. Otherwise, insanity would result.
He was completely out of control now.
He had betrayed the trust of his fellow elders. He had used his abilities to harm unsuspecting Waresti. He had poisoned Zachariah. He had caused what was surely immeasurable grief to Tate’s family and was leading an already emotionally-scarred female back into the den of those who caused her such harm in the first place.
He would never forgive himself. Every inch closer they got to Kanika’s home, the lower he sank in his own esteem. But whenever he thought about changing his plan, he remembered the sound of his wife’s screams.
They tortured her for an unbearable amount of time until the being guised as Kanika was convinced he would do what she wanted.
“You will use care not to project any thoughts to anyone else regarding your plans,” she said to him as she circled the chair he was strapped to. Although she had given him enough of the debilitating brew she created that his mental powers were useless, his ears worked very well. “You will bring the two females to me, and I will allow you and your wife to live. I will dose you both so that you cannot follow us, but it will wear off and you can return to your lives as though none of this ever happened.”
“Yes,” he managed to say.
She squatted in front of the chair and held his gaze. When she reached up to touch his cheek, she studied the resulting moisture on her fingers without expression.
“I have heard of these things called tears,” she said. “I have decided I do not wish to experience them. Your wife expelled a great many of them along with her screams. Remember that as well as the eager Mercesti at my disposal if you choose to disobey me.”
Knorbis had no way to know whether the being guised as Kanika was somehow monitoring him now. She hadn’t spoken of her abilities at all except to say that she wasn’t actually Kanika and held no regard for them at all. He only knew that the idea of causing his sweet Malukali any more pain was enough to have him doing the unthinkable.
He could only pray that one day the people he loved whose trust he had betrayed would learn to forgive him.
The tray of tools fell to the floor with a crash, making everyone jump and look at Quincy. He didn’t care.
Sophia was gone.
He staggered to a nearby stool and sat down. She wasn’t dead. He had to cling to that. Sophia wasn’t dead.
“They aren’t sure where Sophia is,” Gabriel explained. “They found a feather that they think was from her eagle form. They pieced together that she saw Knorbis take Tate and Ariana, and she followed them.”
At least she was with Tate and Ariana, Quincy thought, though he was still reeling in confusion over why the elder would lead them away from the others. Maybe he had picked up a threatening thought from one of the Waresti and thought this was safer?
“What can we do?” Olivia whispered as she wiped her tears. “We have to do something.”
Quincy managed to regroup enough to respond. “You all know how pivotal these early weeks are for the babies. Both parents must be here providing as much contact with them as possible for at least a month. Three is ideal. Your bodies need to heal after the deliveries. Exerting yourselves right now would be quite dangerous. It isn’t just about your physical health.”
The sisters exchanged glances. He knew they were silently agreeing with him, even if it was a hard reality.
“There are Waresti scouts looking for Tate, Ariana and Sophia,” Gabriel said. “Tiege is attempting to connect with Tate and Sophia through their blood bonds, but it isn’t working.”
“In regards to Sophia, that might be because she’s in her shifted form,” Quincy guessed, his mind racing. “Her DNA is unique, and we’ve never had the opportunity to test the bond before. We don’t know how it will work. And it could be that Knorbis is somehow subduing Tate’s consciousness if he doesn’t want her communicating with Tiege or Zachariah.”
“I think you’re right about that, Quincy,” Gabriel said. “All of us elders are continuing to try and reach Knorbis. He’s put up a mental barrier that I think only Malukali could get through…and she’s not responding, either.”
What on the Estilorian plane was going on? Quincy couldn’t wrap his brain around any of it.
But he knew one thing with absolute certainty.
“I’m going after them,” he said.
Everyone turned to look at him as he rose from his stool and began collecting the dropped medical instruments as fast as he could. He started creating a mental list of anything he might need to bring even as he said, “And I think Clara Kate and
archigos
Ini-herit should be among those who come with me.”
“Quincy—” Gabriel began.
“You can’t go, so we’ll go in your stead,” Quincy said, talking over the elder in his haste to get out the door. “They might need healing, and
archigos
Ini-herit and I can help with that. Clara Kate’s ability to imbue weapons might also be needed, depending upon what evil is driving all of this.” When he saw them exchange glances, he added, “Look…we’re the only ones left here at the homeland who are properly trained for this outside of the six of you, and you can’t leave. We have to go.”
After staring at him for a moment, Gabriel nodded. “All right. Let’s go find the others and run this by them. And Quincy?”
“Yes?”
“If any harm comes to my daughter, you’ll be the one answering to me.”
Tiege didn’t think he had ever been this frustrated. They had flown west for a few hours before he finally acknowledged that he wasn’t going to be able to connect with Sophia. For some reason, the “pull” he was supposed to feel just wasn’t happening.
They landed to discuss what to do. Moonlight shone on a wide lake as they stood on the shore. The Waresti patrolled the lake by foot as well as by air. Uriel stood nearby, facing the water as he communicated an update to Tiege’s family back at the homeland. Knowing the news they received was devastating, Tiege felt like an utter failure.
As usual, Zachariah paced, running his hands through his hair and muttering to himself. The activity wore on Tiege’s nerves.
“It must have something to do with her altered DNA,” the Mercesti said eventually. “Perhaps her Gloresti nature is too suppressed by whatever gene it is that allows her to shift.”
Tiege thought Zachariah sounded intrigued despite himself. The suggestion did kind of make sense. “It’s also possible that because I’m so closely connected to Tate, I can’t extend the Gloresti bond to anyone else,” Tiege hazarded. “I mean, our dads can’t connect with us that way because they’re paired with our mothers, so their Gloresti bond is permanently attached to them.”
“You and I both have a connection to your sister,” Zachariah pointed out. “That means it can be shared.”
That was true. Tate’s vow exchange with Zachariah had been based on her protection, not on love, as their parents’ had been. Tiege supposed that meant that only avowed pairings made the Gloresti connection permanent and singular. He wasn’t sure why he couldn’t connect with Tate or Sophia, but the bottom line was he couldn’t.
“Where would the Wymzesti take them?” Zachariah mused.
That was another question Tiege couldn’t answer. He was trying to piece everything together, but Ariana’s face kept entering his mind and interrupting his train of thought. He worried about her emotional state, which had been getting stronger over these past weeks, but was still nowhere near where it had obviously once been. There was no way to know if she would get through this experience without permanent scarring.
His sister was well-trained and resourceful. For all of her vivaciousness and bright energy, Tate had their dad’s ability to think things through and do what it took to survive. Ariana, on the other hand, was a Lekwuesti through and through. As such, she thought of others before herself. This, above all, had been what caused her the most turmoil in her refusal to help find the scroll pieces. She knew her choice impacted others, but she had been unable to overcome her own fear to do something about it.
Now she had…and look where it had gotten her, he thought darkly, kicking a rock into the water with his pent-up anger.
“You have a new brother and sister,” Uriel said, looking over at Tiege. “Willa and Wesley.”
Tiege didn’t know what to say. The announcement hit him like a kick to the solar plexus. Normally, he and Tate would join their family in welcoming the new babies. They had a family ritual of sorts where each of the siblings introduced themselves to the newborns, stating what they intended to pass along to them. For the first time in their lives, he and Tate wouldn’t be around to participate in that.
“Thank you for letting me know,
archigos
,” he said at last.
He did what he could to suppress his emotions, not wanting to appear weak in front of the others. But he could admit that the knowledge that he and Tate had missed out on something so important hit hard. Tate didn’t even know they now had a new brother and sister.
“He is going to Kanika’s,” Zachariah said then, drawing everyone’s attention.
“He is?” Tiege echoed.
Turning to face Tiege and Uriel, Zachariah asked, “When was the last time anyone heard from
archigos
Malukali?”
“I last heard from her and Knorbis just before they met with Kanika,” Uriel replied.
“Prior to this, when was the last time you remember the two of them being apart?”
There was a pause as the Waresti elder considered this. Then he said, “I believe it would have been before they were married.”
Zachariah nodded. “He would not have left his wife unless it was absolutely necessary. Something must have happened at Kanika’s that prompted him into this course of action.”
“Do you think
archigos
Malukali is dead?” Tiege asked with mounting alarm.
“No,” Uriel said. “We would all definitely know if an elder had been killed.”
“What if she had only been injured? Deliberately?”
“You think Kanika intentionally hurt
archigos
Malukali?” Tiege asked.
“It would seem the most effective way to gain the cooperation of the Wymzesti elder, would it not?” Zachariah responded. “Torture is a standard Mercesti practice. They would likely know that by torturing her, they will ensure his cooperation.”
Tiege swallowed hard, knowing only too well that he was right. “Okay,” he allowed. “Suppose that’s true. What would Kanika want with Tate and Ariana?”
“The Elder Scroll.”
Tiege puzzled over Zachariah’s matter-of-fact response.
Uriel reflected Tiege’s thoughts when he said, “Kanika was the only Mercesti commander who survived Grolkinei’s rule. She has been the acting leader over her class for nearly two decades. Why would she want to find the Elder Scroll?”
“For all of her supposed power as the Mercesti leader, she is not an elder, is she?” Zachariah replied. “Perhaps she seeks to change that.”
“That doesn’t sound like something Kanika would do,” Uriel argued. “She has never struck me as ambitious. She made a mistake and she has done what she can to make up for it.”
“There is some reason that the Wymzesti elder left his wife behind,” Zachariah pressed. “I should have considered that before, but when he said that she stayed to see to Kanika’s mental state, I did not question it. I should have wondered why he did not just remain behind with her rather than leave her to return to the Kynzesti homeland alone. His reason of not wanting to convey the thoughts across the distance for fear of them being intercepted by wayward Mercesti was flimsy at best.”
Tiege realized he was right and saw Uriel coming to the same conclusion. Looking particularly grim, the elder said, “Kanika’s home is to the north of where Knorbis left with Tate and Ariana, not the west.
“We’ve been going the wrong way.”
Sophia slowly surfaced from the deep sleep. Because she felt a pillow and the softness of a mattress beneath her and warm fabric on top of her, she gradually realized she was safe at home and in bed. Everything must have been a dream.
Whispers floated around her as she struggled to open her eyes. She felt as though she needed a couple more hours of sleep, but something in her subconscious wouldn’t allow it.
As her brain started to clear, she realized that soft light had turned the world beyond her closed eyelids a pinkish-golden hue. She took her time opening her eyes, not wanting to have to blink against the light of the dawn. Still, when she finally parted her eyes to slits, the sting of even the mild sunshine brought tears to her eyes.
She moaned, bringing a hand up to cover her eyes. Although she normally considered herself a morning being, the description was far from apt at the moment.
“Are you all right?”
Sophia jerked into a sitting position, instinctively clutching the sheet to her chest. Her eyes somehow managed to acclimate in an instant as she looked around for the source of the voice. It sounded female, but not any female she knew.
She realized she wasn’t at home, sending her already escalated heart rate soaring. The room was about the size of her bedroom, but where hers had a single window, this one sported a set of floor-to-ceiling windows that ran the length of the room to her left. Outside the windows, she saw a small, sunlight-dappled terrace surrounded by high, ivy-covered walls. The ground was a series of graduating circles that reminded her of the inside of a felled tree. On the right side of the room sat a small desk, a chair, and a nightstand with a bowl and pitcher on top of it.
The door to the room was right in front of her, about ten feet from the end of the bed. It stood partly ajar. She thought she saw a shadow in the gap between the door and jamb, making the hair on the back of her neck rise.