Chapter 89

"We do it quickly then leave before the alarm is raised." The Red priest standing beside Mairek's bed said. Mairek didn't need to open his eyes in order to see the blade posed to strike above him. He could smell the metal. Time was unforgiving, a parent with no love for what came from it. Mairek's mind played back everything that had ever happened to him. Since he couldn't see beyond thirty seconds of the future he sought solace in the vast past. Through his heightened perception of time he could see the very path of his fate and he spotted when he'd deviated from it and hence put into motion a variety of things that led to his imminent death. At the very place where his deviation from what was to be occurred stood Ishar and Niada.

Ishar and Niada were the reason why he was to face death in twenty seconds time. Ishar had taken him out of the Jamou village that he'd grown in and was willing to die in so as to partake in Niada's rescue mission. Ishar had left him at the Talisi camp where he'd lacked the zeal to return home alone and he'd found out about Nielda from Niada during that period. At the bonfire he'd called upon Nielda's name thinking it was Ishar's God he was worshipping and that resulted in a narcissistic God choosing him as his champion and giving him the ability to perceive his own death several minutes after regaining consciousness. He would have laughed if doing so wouldn't narrow his sixteen remaining seconds to one.

Mairek mastered all the control he could get and launched all his attention towards the south where Binoria lay. Where his Jesna was. After all this time, after all that had happened, she was what he wanted to perceive in his dying moments. Searching for her presence was like looking for a drop of blood in the ocean, there was so much happening between where he was and Binoria. There was the trotting of hooves as a solo rider cut across the Ganidan plain while approaching camp, the clanking of metal as armor was polished, the sharpening of swords, the bellow of another distant Telinete Rhino, the trampling of hooves as a cavalry gathered and further south was the smell of blood. Binoria was preparing for war.

There was nothing he could do to warn King Gans of what was coming. Any movement on his part would result in the Red priest standing above him plunging his blade into him. Veste stood next to Ishar too, both Red priests took a moment to engrave the memory of the people whose lives they were about to claim in their minds despite having emphasized haste. Mairek wondered if he would have done the same if the roles had been reversed, he'd never killed a man and of late it appeared the only way to show valiance was to take a life. What a putrid way to enter Tabrimas. As the seconds ticked down to three, he hoped he wouldn't be reincarnated with the blessing of Nielda for it was a burden surpassing all others and none deserved to wield it.

At the last second, Ishar giggled.

Suddenly, the seconds till death multiplied and became forty .

"What's wrong with that boy?" The priest beside his bed asked while turning towards Veste. Mairek's breath quickened, his heart beat faster as he perceived fate branching, weaving new futures, creating other destinies that had... Gaps.. There were gaps where nothing happened.. No.. Not where nothing happened but where he couldn't perceive time. Why couldn't he perceive said gaps? How did he not see Ishar's giggling coming? And why did Ishar giggling branch out fate? The first gap in time came in seven seconds.

"I raised him, fed him, and he repaid me by burning down my home and cutting off my hand. That's what's wrong with him." Veste replied, his voice laced with putrid hatred. Mairek wondered why he couldn't perceive anything of Ishar's except his past, his friend was veiled in mystery, everything about him defied probability. He stood outside the bubble of time yet time did not work against him. Time did not seek to eradicate Ishar as it did him, instead it avoided him while branching around him in an effort to maintain itself. Three seconds till the gap.

"Why did you raise him?" The Red priest asked. Two seconds till the gap.

"He was an investment." Veste said. One second.

The gap.

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Mairek opened his eyes at the same time Ishar did. Ishar's eyes glowed amber from where Mairek could see him, Veste took a step back with surprise etched on his face. The Red priest beside Mairek's bed made as if to attack Ishar but Mairek could see the tale his body told in accordance to time. The way the muscles of his exposed back beneath haphazardly wrapped red robes moved, the strain of his step as he prepared to lunge at Ishar and the slow raise of his blade wielding arm.

Mairek didn't know how long the gap between moments of time would last, it was a brief period created in space to cater for the actions of one who couldn't be tampered by the will of time. Ishar dictated how long the gap would last as time branched around him and luckily for Mairek it branched far enough to capture all within the tent in a bubble that was void of time's dictation. Mairek was free to act without consequence but he wanted to do more than just assault the Red priest before him.

"Stop!" Mairek said and was surprised to find his voice deep and layered, he could hear Nielda's voice beneath his own. Veste froze where he was as did the Red priest but Ishar moved, he got up and punched Veste in the chest, a punch so powerful that the old man tore one side of the tent and plunged into the neighboring tent where he proceeded to bring down the whole tent after hitting and breaking the middle plank that supported it. Ishar's amber eyes turned to the Red priest before Mairek who stood still with a blade lifted in hand.

The sun's rays lit up the tent from the hole left in Veste's wake. Mairek would have been surprised by Ishar's strength but he now had a faint understanding of how his friend had managed to punch someone through two tents. Ishar stepped towards the Red priest but Mairek held up a hand.

"Ishar, I have a plan. Don't kill him." Mairek said in his usual voice. The Red priest visibly relaxed despite being the only armed man in the tent. Dhiliaf and Nohj opened the tent flap and saw the hole in the tent together with the armed Red priest wielding a short blade.

"Wha-" Dhiliaf started but Mairek held up a hand, silencing him.

Ishar's eyes faded back to violet. "Mairek, your eyes are glowing blue." He said with a goofy smile in place.

Mairek ignored the comment and the smile as he felt the gap close and time resume its normal flow around him. "Look at me." Mairek commanded the Red priest and the man complied, he visibly trembled as he peered into Mairek's eyes. Mairek could see his reflection in the man's irises, he saw the faint blue glow of his own eyes. "When I snap my fingers I want you to count four seconds then clap, count three seconds then cough, count seven seconds then scream. Then leave and never come back." Mairek ordered.

"What?" Everyone else other than Ishar asked in unison, something he'd expected.

"He attempted to kill you! He must be brought before the King." Dhiliaf started. Mairek knew he would say that, he shook his head from side to side, showing his lack of agreement.

"But Mairek-" Nohj started. It was inevitable, time saw his efforts to alter it and it fought against him, using Nohj and Dhiliaf to unconsciously prevent what he had in mind. The Red priest was clearly debating on whether or not he should just fall on his short blade. Ishar shifted from foot to foot, time did not have a say on his actions.

"Ishar." Mairek said.

Ishar stepped forward and grabbed the Red priest by the shoulder, the man was taller yet a push from Ishar ensured his knees were on the ground. "Do as you're told and your blood will not water the

Centala flowers." Ishar said. Of course Ishar would side with Mairek's attempt to alter the order of time. Proximity to Ishar was the only reason the Red Priest's subconscious hadn't caused the man to bolt or fall on his blade in an effort to avoid going against the will of time. The Red priest nodded and Mairek relayed his words that were to be followed.

Mairek waited seven seconds before snapping his fingers and the Red priest clapped after four seconds at exactly the same time a man in a grey cloak and a brown horse was seen approaching the Talisi camp. After three seconds the Red priest forced a cough at the exact same time Niada and Princess Tari started to make their way to the medical tent where they assumed Ishar and Mairek lay. After seven seconds the Red priest screamed and to the south King Vayin Vigon's eyes went red, "Nielda." He said in a feminine voice. At the same time in the depths of the Rankf Sea where light could not penetrate the waters two eyes fluttered open that glowed like two green orbs, Alietsi stirred awake from Her slumber. And in a dark chasm within a cave to the far south of Binoria where blood stained its floor, a whistle could be heard from within the empty cave.

Ishar let go of the Red priest and took a step back. The priest looked around him in confusion before bolting for the open flap. Dhiliaf and Nohj let him run away.

"What have you done?" Dhiliaf asked.

"I've sent back the messenger from whence he came." Mairek replied and lay back on his bed. The Chief Red Priest, the whole Talisi red priests were all going to perish within the hour. Ishar laughed and clapped his hands twice at Mairek's reply. Something immediately occurred to Mairek, causing him to jolt upright. "What have I done?" He whispered with his eyes wide and his hands trembling.