“I don’t like it when people keep secrets from me, especially when I am accompanying them on a dangerous mission that involves my own life.” Erik said bluntly. “If we are to trust each other, we need to place all our cards on the table, so that we may work together and find a solution to our problems.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Xerath may not approve but I have the authority to… bend the rules. But for obvious reasons, I am not at liberty to reveal certain issues with a foreign king.” Kyburn said. “And I too would like to know who to… trust. If it is crucial information, then I will relay it to you when I deem it necessary.”
“That’s as good an answer as I’m going to get I suppose. Since I brought the matter up, I will share what I know with you.” Erik offered. “You need but ask. As I understand your discretion, I, however, have little to lose.”
“You have much to lose.” Kyburn frowned. “Do not wallow in self-pity. Your people are alive and well. Your people need you in the days to come. You have countless men and women who would lay down their lives for you. Don’t forget that. Honestly, I don’t understand why you are here and not in Qutreth.”
“I don’t need your lectures.” Erik glared. “I only meant the information I hold, and my… unique position, gives me no reason to withhold said information. As for why I’m here, I’ve made myself clear.”
“Then, by all means, tell me what you know.” Kyburn glared. “I don’t know what sorcery you are using, but your connection to that beast does not sit well with me. The king and queen may trust you, but I do not.”
“Nor should it.” Erik responded. “I share your misgivings. If it were not I who experienced these visions, I would not believe it either.”
“It’s not necessarily that I don’t believe you, it's how you do it and with whom.” Kyburn clarified.
Erik paused, waiting for Kyburn to finish. “Let’s stop wasting time shall we? Felkuru’s memories.” he began. “As you know, I can connect with him somehow. The Vog seem to all be connected to each other and through him, I saw the battle with General Brynd. Well, I don’t see them technically, it's more of an emotional and mental imagery that bonds our minds.” He tried to explain. “Felkuru was not present in the battle himself. From what I saw and experienced, I was looking through the lens of one of the females. I believe I could directly communicate with him like I did in Vlakias but the Vog I saw through was different, I don’t know how it works but I do feel him. He’s in Vulkira, near Vori, that much I know.”
“What do you know of them?” Kyburn asked. “Back in Calchester you said you saw their planet. What do they want? Why are they here? And why now after all these years, make such an aggressive move.”
“The Vog have always been here. Though it was rare to see one, we did know of their existence.” Erik replied.
“You may have seen them in Vulkira but in Xer, I doubt you can find someone who has.” Kyburn retorted.
“Regardless, my last vision was of General Brynd. As for Fel’s memories, I can’t say for certain.” Erik continued, mostly ignoring Kyburn’s retorts. Thinking it through carefully, he tried to explain the complexity of the bond. “Think of your earliest memory. Do you remember exact detail, smells, sounds, images, etc?”
“I… I don’t really remember my earliest memory.” Kyburn admitted. “I suppose I can remember memories when I was a bit older, maybe four or five perhaps.” Kyburn looked at Erik with interest, “Why do you ask?”
“You may not remember when you were born or your first steps but they are there, somewhere in your mind. You saw the world around you but you couldn’t comprehend it as a newborn, your mind was still developing. If you saw these things, as a child, why can’t you remember the images, smells, or sounds?” Erik walked him through his thought process. “My theory thus far is this, if Fel cut our fusing short, then I have his memories but I can’t access them, possibly because of many variables, such as my mind couldn’t handle the load of information of such a creature. Who knows how old the Vog are. It would have killed me to store that much knowledge.”
“Or, perhaps because of the bond being cut off before our minds fully melded, I simply don’t have the access into his mind as he does with mine, thus removing the possibility of gaining his memories later on.” Erik squinted his eyes in deep thought. “Just as you or I don’t have memories of ourselves as newborns, I lack the capacity to remember the memories of Fel. Though I do, on occasion have the flashes of… whatever it is I see, and each time this happens I gain more images, sounds and smells of Fel’s past. Until I have another vision I am extremely limited in what I can or cannot see.”
Kyburn looked at Erik, unsure whether he was dumbfounded or he thought of Erik as an unhinged crazy maniac. Erik guessed he hadn’t followed it all but he hoped his point was made. It was complicated and painful to think about.
“Did… you understand any of that?” Erik asked.
“Not really.” Kyburn shrugged. “But I understand. You’re in the dark in many areas and until we find out more, there’s not much you can do. However, this does mean we have a leak problem.”
“Leak?” Erik frowned.
“He means if Fel can freely see into your mind, he could be listening to this very conversation.” Henry stepped into the room, interrupting the conversation.
“Thank Hashem you're here.” Kyburn sighed. “Did you hear all that? Can you explain it to me in simpler terms?”
“Most of it.” Henry said, sitting down apart from them, so as to be sitting in between both of them.
“Where were you?” Kyburn changed the subject. “Did you stay out all night with Sasha?”
Erik and Kyburn smirked devilishly making Henry blush.
“I came home late.” Henry defended. “Nothing happened. Stop it.” he swiped at Kyburn’s shoulder, threatening harm if he kept teasing him.
Kyburn nearly burst into laughter but held it in with a wheeze. Erik chuckled at that, irritating Henry further.
“We talked for… a long time.” Henry tried to explain but failed miserably and groaned in frustration. Would you drop it? Please.”
“Alright alright.” Kyburn snickered. “If you say nothing happened then nothing happened.”
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“Nothing did.” Henry said, still annoyed. “Besides, we talked about it and we decided not to do… anything like that until-” he trailed off, blushing.
“Until what?” Kyburn pressed, obviously goading him. “Do tell.”
“Waiting till you’re married is an admirable trait, Henry.” Erik chimed in, defending him. “You're young, smart, and have a bright future. It’s refreshing to take things slow and seriously until you're a bit older.”
“Thank you.” Henry looked at Kyburn who was still wanting to poke fun at him. “Mrs. Kebin would kill me anyway. I do want to live after all.” he laughed at himself, which caused Erik and Kyburn to chuckle too.
“Ah yes, Mrs. Kebin. She is a force to be reckoned with.” Kyburn praised. “You should have seen her in her day. She was a wild one.” he smirked.
“Mrs. Kebin? Wild?” Henry asked in disbelief. “No.”
“Ask her about it when we return to Zulin.” Kyburn challenged.
“No way! And get my head cut off, no thank you. I like where my head is.” Henry laughed.
The room filled with laughter for several moments and Kyburn wiped away a tear from laughing so hard but the mood changed after they settled down again.
“Back to what Erik was saying.” Kyburn started.
“Right. Of course. Correct me if I’m wrong.” Henry looked at Erik. “But I believe what he was saying is that he can’t… access Fel’s memory at any given time rather only during his visions. Maybe a few memories will slip through without the visions but, if what you say is true, I doubt you will get many otherwise.”
“There are many different scenarios and we won’t know for certain, perhaps never.” Erik said. “Whatever the case, the process is extremely painful and it wears on my body and mind. It takes hours for my head to clear.”
“Yes. I think we all noticed a significant change in you. But I assumed it was from what was happening to Vulkira.” Kyburn said sympathetically. “Regent Trygve might have answers for us in Riqun. He may be able to help you.”
“Until we know more, Erik is like a newborn, unable to remember any memories even if he had them. It seems as if, whenever Fel wants to show you or see your own memories then you have temporary leeway into his.” Henry said. “As for the leak Kyburn spoke of, we can’t know what Fel sees or doesn’t see.”
“If this bond does give Fel complete access to my mind, I would be a liability, in which case we shouldn’t be having this conversation and I shouldn’t be going to Kligira.” Erik said flatly.
“Not necessarily. We can assume Felkuru does not for the time being because you don’t.” Henry said.
“What?” Erik and Kyburn said at the same time.
“You don’t have access to his memories whenever you want so we can assume Fel doesn’t have access whenever he wants either. Perhaps the only thing he does control is when the bond opens up, in which case all we have to do is take precautions whenever you have your visions as not to give away anything we don’t want him seeing.” Henry casually said as if it weren’t complicated. “I’m confident this is the case, otherwise why wouldn’t the Vog react to our plans to take back Vulkira? If they knew our intentions were to remove them from your lands, they would most definitely act on it. They would do anything to stop us from awakening the Ancients.”
“But…” Kyburn started. “What if the Vog are just waiting for us to leave Xer and kill us all when we enter into Kligira?
“I don’t believe they would, even if they did know. From everything I've seen so far, the Vog are peaceful and do not want to fight.” Erik said. “Fel seemed completely confident in keeping the violence to a bare minimum. Apart from Tykin butting their heads in and attacking them like crazed lunatics, which most definitely angered them, they don’t want a war but rather peace. That much should be apparent by the way they treated my people.”
“What if that is what Fel wanted you to think?” Kyburn asked, skeptically.
“No. I would’ve felt it. It was a connection without lies or deceit. Pure and true.” Erik said. “I am convinced Felkuru has a plan to communicate with us further when his plans failed with me. He knows now that our human minds cannot take the strain of their form of language.”
“What does that mean?” Henry asked.
“I don’t know yet… but I do have a name he didn’t want me to see.” Erik admitted.
“And that name would be…?” Kyburn questioned.
“Kaladin.” Erik said softly. “Just a name... but he was thinking of him... when our fusing failed and Felkuru felt that he needed him more now than ever.”
Henry and Kyburn squinted their eyes, unsure what to think.
“Don’t ask me how I know, I just… do.” Erik said plainly.
“Alright.” Kyburn said while scratching his chin. “Not sure what we can do with that information apart from refusing you to entry into Kligira.”
“No. I must go with you.” Erik said quickly.
Both Henry and Kyburn raised an eyebrow at his sudden outburst.
“The Vog have been living in a ruin in Vori up until now. I’ve seen containers like the ones you described from the ruins in Riqun. I might be able to help Henry decipher the Ancients’ language.” Erik said. “You need me.”
“Hmm.” Henry stroked his chin. “Before you told us of the ruin in Vori, we believed there were only four in Isulia. The one in Riqun has been kept secret for good reasons. What if the Vog have an Ancient of their own in the ruins in Vulkira?”
“That would… complicate things.” Kyburn frowned. “Or… if that were possible, the ones in Riqun will help us come to some sort of agreement with the Vog and avoid a war altogether.”
“We still don’t know if the Ancients will help us.” Henry added. “And we don’t know what the Vog want either.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Kyburn said. “We have our orders and Erik will be coming with us. Plan for the worst and hope for the best is all we can do.”
Erik pondered everything they spoke of, his mind wasn’t clear on anything. Doubts and fears boiled up like a volcano, unsure what to do if Felkuru was manipulating him. All he did know for certain was he had to awaken the Ancients, he could feel it in his bones. There was something else that bothered him, so many questions with no answers.
“I’ve seen something else, which pushes me toward believing the Vog just want to be left alone in peace.” Erik said. “I saw their planet, from where they’re from.”
“What did you see?” Kyburn questioned, his tone curious.
“A saw a bleak planet. It glowed, red then blue, on and off. Reminding me of a heartbeat almost, but it was dying. I could feel it.” Erik whispered, recalling the intense memory. “I felt extreme guilt and pain and I can only assume, Felkuru knew he was leaving his planet for good. The Vog on Isulia may be the last of their kind. I felt... a desperation from him. Like a father feels toward a family.”
“Family?” Henry asked, his interest peaked also.
“They are all connected somehow and when they left their world, Felkuru felt extreme loss and fear. When he told me of his son’s death, I could feel an even greater pain. If Felkuru is the only male on Isulia, losing his son was far more devastating than we can imagine. Especially for them as a species.”
“What makes you say he is the only male Vog?” Erik tilted his head.
“I don’t know.” Erik frowned. “I just do. It’s what I felt from him. The smaller ones are definitely female though, that I am more certain than ever. Felkuru might be the last living male of their species.” he repeated.
“Then that would explain why they went to such an extreme to remove you from Vulkira.” Henry bit his lip. “They can’t risk another male dying.”
“Does that mean we could potentially terminate the Vog for good?” Kyburn looked at them both with a dark look. “If it comes to it. Us or them. Would killing Felkuru rid us of the Vog?”
Erik bit his lip, not wanting to answer. He had thought of this before but didn’t want to say it aloud. “If push comes to shove. Yes. I believe so.”
“But that would be our last resort.” Henry gave a worried smile. “Killing an entire species is… wrong. Right?”
Neither of the men answered him.