In a voice devoid of emotion, the paka explained, I imagine the reason for the lack of torture on your body is due to the truth-speaker’s presence. If you had answered truthfully, then he would have known. If you had not, then the truth-speaker would have tortured you to gain the information you sought to hide.
He sat up and spat, “Magic. Magic was used against me?” With a look of pure hate, he shifted away from the animal.
Though hurt radiated from the paka, the animal merely said, I believe the reason your two captors in Gharra kept you from fighting your captivity was due to magic as well. I heard Neal was one of your captors.
Her words broke through his distaste in a way nothing else could have. Skye had wondered the same thing. He was a trained fighter. Why did he not fight the woman and man in the tunnel?
“What do you mean? Neal has not the ability to hold his own against me. He is not a warrior.”
No. He is not, and he will never be. His talent brings peace to those around him. He has been found by many in this city to bring warmth and a feeling of contentment with their place. The Kurite has no room for war and hate in his heart.
“What are you saying? He brings peace?” He scoffed. No one brought peace by merely being alive.
The paka spoke sharply, lashing her tail in impatience. Pyranni, do not deny or disbelieve what you do not understand. Neal is powerful in his own right. His talent is something to behold. He kept you under control, did he not?
He was relieved to realize she was wrong. He fought Neal when they came out of the tunnels, taking his blade with an ease that belied the man’s stature. With a triumphant show of teeth, he said, “I attacked him one night.”
Amusement flashed across her face. And where were you? Inside the tunnels? In the Gais Desert?
Sensing a trap, he answered slowly, “We stopped to rest in the desert.”
Ah, my ignorant Pyranni. Neal had no power over you while above. His talent below ground is another matter.
“You mean underground you Kurites can wield magic. But not above the ground? This is why I didn’t escape in the tunnels?”
Eiren hummed. You are partially correct. The Gais Desert does not allow any magic to exist above ground. As you mentioned earlier, the land is dead. All magic is simply sucked into the ground once you reach the desert border.
His mind swam with questions, denials, and possibilities all at the same time. He leapt up from his sitting position, startling Eiren into a crouch. Skye, I will leave you for the rest of this evening. It grows late, and I have given you much to think upon.
So deep in his own thought he never acknowledged her presence.
The Kurites were able to defeat them with their magic. It wasn’t their need for light as was the prevailing theory. Questions and ideas swirled in his mind. He was beginning to wonder whether the Pyranni kingdom could defeat the Kurites with their affinity for magic. The God and Goddess had set a difficult task for Pyran—bringing the true faith to these people.
He paced a small square in his cell. Magic was strong enough to destroy an entire kingdom and everything within it. The power of that kind of magic was a testament to its incredible strength. Especially since the consequences were so catastrophic and widespread, persisting for a thousand years without any change. He remembered the feeling of oppression vanished as soon as they entered the tunnel system below. He stopped moving, staring into a deep corner of his cell, thinking. Could Pyran win a war against a magic such as this?
The next morning, he was woken by a feminine voice yelling in his head. Skye Silverhand, you must wake. Hear me! The guard is coming for you. You must wake!
Fully alert, he jumped into a crouch, peering through the opening. Please wake up. They are taking you to Areth where you will be placed with the other Pyranni captives. You are leaving Luthis. She made no attempt to hide her distress.
He soon heard the tread of heavy footsteps coming toward him. Not wanting to be found at such a disadvantage, Skye stood to his full height and rearranged his face, portraying nothing but a blank mask. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black figure running down the hall. Eiren.
A regiment of soldiers came around the bend and into sight. A gruff, golden-eyed man walked through the invisible wall and leveled his sword toward his stomach. Once the other guards were arranged into a loose circle, the guard grunted and motioned him forward, then roughly grabbed him from behind.
He raised his hands in an instinctive action to throw off the man’s hold. Skye froze when Eiren—breathless from her dash to his cell—hissed fervently. Do not. Do not attack. It is the only way you can be freed from your cell. Please trust me on this.
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When he lowered his hand and relaxed, the man grunted in satisfaction. The sharp point of a sword poked him, forcing him to step toward the waiting guards. He automatically tensed as he passed through the barrier, feeling as if he waded through a waterfall.
Before he could shake the feeling, Skye was shoved into the middle of the guards. In utter silence, they marched down the hall in the opposite direction he had taken to the cell.
<< >>
Lara found herself in the tunnels watching Chion’s tail twitch in front of her. She was unprepared for the sudden surge of overwhelming joy at seeing Chion. It was like an electrical shock pulsing through her body, zinging her with aftershocks. From the way Chion’s back arched in a full body stretch, Chion felt the same electric joy.
Lara would have been embarrassed by her feelings except Chion was just as happy to see her. Lara beamed at Chion and rubbed his velvety soft ears. It was almost comical the way they came together like they hadn’t seen each other in years.
Finally, she commented, “I feel like I’m a kid again on Christmas day with unwrapped presents.”
His answer was a purr that rumbled through his body. Although I do not know what this Christmas day signifies for you, I do know the feeling of receiving a gift from someone. My Lady, as good as it is to see you so soon, we must continue on our way to Malkese.
With a last scratch to Chion’s ears, Lara nodded and began walking alongside the paka. With her hand lightly resting on Chion back, they walked for a few minutes before she remembered to ask, “What did you tell Juno when I disappeared?”
I left the waystation without waking him from his sleep. A deep sense of disapproval flowed through their bond with his next words. The boy sleeps too soundly for a scout.
“Well, he is just a boy. Most boys his age sleep like the dead. Their growing bodies take priority to the possible dangers they may face.”
She laughed when she received the equivalent of a very human gesture through their bond, a mental image of Chion rolling his eyes at her defense of Juno. In retaliation, she bumped him with her hip. In a more serious tone, she asked, “Why do you use children for such a dangerous job?”
Sadness bled through their bond. My Lady, the Kurites have been at war for far too many years. The young have seen more death and despair than any individual should see in an entire lifetime. Juno volunteered his services. He has no family.
Hearing a story behind his unspoken words, she glanced down at Chion in question. Two months ago, his family was killed in a raid that ended in slaughter. Juno had taken the season’s crops to a nearby village. He returned the next day to the entire village having been burned to the ground. No one was left alive.
Lara stepped back from Chion in horror. “Jesus, that’s horrible. Why would anyone want to destroy an entire village?”
Do you not have murder on your world? When she reluctantly nodded, Chion explained, I believe the reason for mass murder is essentially the same for every kingdom. Fear. Power. Religion. Once, long ago, Kureto and Pyran were strong allies. Our ancestors shared the same God and Goddess, traded in goods, and married across borders.
“What happened for that to change?”
What changes in every instance of difference and the unknown begins to take place? After the Dark War and the destruction of our homeland, we were forced underground in order to survive the Gais Desert. What was originally our homeland. Where forests, lakes, and rivers once thrived, there is only an eerie wasteland. No wind. No animals. Nothing can live in this desert. Our ancestors did not foresee the consequences. The magic used to end the Dark War against our enemy was soaked into the land itself. The heroes who survived the Dark War were able to use their natural abilities to form the tunnels and caverns to the benefit of us all.
Even now, these same tunnels have survived. Although nothing grew in the soil, strange occurrences transpired within the caverns and tunnels. The creatures that made its natural living under the ground started mutating into something else. These creatures were infused with the Dark War’s destructive magic. One of these animals you have seen, the rakir, were once small lizards.
“So, what caused the rift between the two countries,” Lara asked, trying to understand this new world.
Over several decades, the ancestors of the humans began seeing a change in their children and their children’s children. These children began exhibiting the ability to see in the dark, their eyes changed colors, and the lack of sunlight began showing its influence in their skin color. There is a debate between philosophers that this change was due to the magic affecting the humans. Other philosophers believe this was a natural evolution of humans to their environment.
“But what about the pakas? Were you able to speak telepathically with humans before?”
Yes, pakas lived with their bondmates in both Kureto and Pyran before the Dark War. My ancestors fought in the Dark War, along with the Kurites and Pyrannis. However, the changes wrought on the Kurites began to make the Pyrannis believe they were cursed. Over the three hundred years following the Dark War, the Pyrannis became purists for fear the curse would affect them. Pakas were forced to choose between losing their chance of finding their bondmates and ultimately becoming animals in Pyran. With the increasingly purist laws passed over those years, whole families of pakas fled to Kureto’s tunnels for fear of persecution. Until eventually no paka lived in Pyran. Over time, Pyran rewrote their history, thus erasing all trace of our close alliance, the magic between bondmates, and the fact pakas once lived beside Pyrannis in honor and love.
“Yes, history has always been written by the winners.”
Indeed. The Paka families still mourn their loss of Pyran. Our chance of finding our bondmates was significantly lowered when Pyran closed its mind to magic. Through time, with so many not finding their bondmates, pakas have begun neglecting the magic that flows naturally through our bodies. While he spoke, Chion moved closer to her, so much so they bumped into each other with every step.
They walked in companionable silence the rest of the day. Lara kept her hand between Chion’s shoulder blades to comfort him. That night, they slept pressed together, both in need of confirmation of the other’s acceptance. Lara because she was in another world: Chion because the resurgence of loss from the story was lessened by Lara’s presence.