Alecyn dashed to Jerad’s side. He was sitting up, looking dazed, his eyes searching the pool for Alecyn. He saw her and tried to struggle to his feet, but Alecyn reached him first, pushing him down.
“Do not try to stand. Sit back. I need to see if you are wounded.”
He protested, but Alecyn knew how to control a difficult patient. Soon, he was propping himself with one arm while Alecyn ran practiced hands swiftly over his body, looking for injuries.
“Thank you.” He whispered, pitching his voice for Alecyn alone. It was tightly controlled, pain soaking each word. “I was supposed to be saving you.” He groaned as her hands touched his shoulder. The joint felt dislocated. Her hands moved on, coming away wet with blood from his side where the armor had been torn. She gently probed the wound, ignoring the painful moans of her patient. His ribs were broken, and she could feel sharp edges of bone breaking the skin. More blood pulsed from a wound in his leg where the flesh looked deeply torn. Not arterial blood, but the muscle had been ripped, and she doubted he would walk on it easily again.
Alecyn raised her head, and their eyes met. “Try and stay still. I need to take care of that shoulder first.”
“You can do that and more besides, but not how you have been taught,” Eevee spoke into her mind. She padded up beside Alecyn. Around them, the silver riders circled the outer edges of the pool, their steeds suddenly mounting the circular walls, rising as they continued to spiral, their riders’ keen eyes searching for threats.
“Feel his song, Alecyn.”
“I might hurt him.”
“Not him, child.” Eevee climbed into Jerad’s lap and sat staring up at Alecyn. “You are a sorceress, child. It is about time you recognized it.”
Alecyn could hear Jerad’s theme. It soared under her touch. Bravery and sadness suffused it and drenched her. But it was still weak, muted, and faltering. She could feel where the song was weakest, where the notes trembled and broke apart. She began to murmur the soft lullaby she had sung before. One by one, she focused on the wounds she had found. She closed her eyes. Sight seemed unimportant now, a distraction. Instinctively, she knew that it was the music that was important. She focused on Jerad’s song. Bringing it to the fore of her hearing to the exclusion of all the other songs that filled her head from all around. Where her own soft song touched it, she felt it grow stronger. Discordant notes became whole and ran as true as bells. She heard how that song should sound, where it skewed from true, how it had soured through hurts and pain.
Jerad’s hands were on her upper arms, his grip growing stronger as she sang. She was lost in the music. Jerad’s theme sang proud and glorious in her mind, and she knew she had the power to heal his every hurt. She was dimly aware of Eevee’s voice, but it was a buzz that she muted, allowing no distraction. She felt lips pressing against hers and was lost in a symphony that made her head spin.
She opened her eyes as Jerad pulled back. His face shone, fresh and alive with energy. His eyes were bright and keen. His wounds were gone as though they had never been, his flesh unblemished. Alecyn breathed hard and fast, unable to look away, unwilling to speak and break this moment.
“Some pain a man needs to carry,” Jerad whispered, caressing her face. “You cannot heal me of everything. But thank you for trying.”
“By everything that is holy girl. You need to learn control!”
With Eevee’s arching voice, the moment passed. Jerad was helping Alecyn to her feet. He stood beside her, his hand finding hers as they faced the shining gateway and the figure that awaited them there. Eevee scampered around the edges of the pool towards it. She spoke into Alecyn’s mind as she did.
“I thought you were going to wipe him clean of every trauma he had ever suffered, right down to his first spanking.”
“I got carried away.”
“You would have been carried away in a box had he not the good sense to kiss you.”
Alecyn flushed.
“As well, you might blush. You mind that he knows nothing else is on the cards.”
“Eevee, not in front of our new friends.”
Eevee howled scornfully and leaped through the portal. On the other side, her feline form dissolved. She became a small woman whose long, white hair shone like starlight. A broad smile warmed her face; her eyes were unblinking green.
“You are welcome to the Heart, friends.” The Nelim figure, which had remained in the gateway during the battle, spoke. He had a tall, rigid crest of hair that bisected his bald head. His skin was deep blue. “Do you remember me, I wonder?”
“Yes, but it felt like a dream.”
“It was a dream of sorts. Come, join us.” He beckoned invitingly.
Alecyn looked at Jerad, who had taken her hand. For a moment, she could do nothing else but look at him, and he seemed just as reluctant to take his eyes off her. She forced herself to focus. What could we have in common? He is from a different world! They walked around the pool’s edge and onto the dully shining stones, which made a golden path within the portal. They stepped through.
Alecyn felt a moment of disorientation. The world seemed to recede behind her like she was falling down a tunnel. The world within the gateway rushed towards her at the same time. Looking over her shoulder, she was shocked that the portal they had stepped through was now a small, barely visible patch of dark in the distance. All around them was a soft light, alternating silver and gold. They were far above ground. What they were standing on appeared to be the wide branch of a gigantic tree. It was very wide and extended into the distance where it reached the branch of another, merging with it. Along its length, she could see buildings and people milling. When she looked up, vertigo threatened to claim her. More branch roadways traversed the sky in all directions, holding an entire city. She was afraid of what she would see if she looked down. She felt Jerad clasp her hand tighter.
“Where are we?” he asked in an awed tone.
“This is the Heart, as I said.” replied the Nelim. “I am called Erevar, and I have met one of you but watched both of you in your journeys here. I am gladder than you can know that you have chosen the path that leads you here together and whole.”
“So are we, believe me,” Jerad replied wryly. “But that does not answer my question. I do not know much about your people, but I understood the Heart to be the Nelim afterlife.”
“It is the next life more than the afterlife. We do not give one stage of our existence more prominence than another.”
“So, you are...dead?”
“My body is dead. My spirit walks the spirit road, and the Heart is my home.”
“But how can we be here?” Alecyn asked.
“For the love of everything!” Eevee snapped. “You have been through a gateway once already, haven’t you? This is no different.”
“So, the Nelim next life can be stepped into…” Alecyn began.
“...and out of like a door. Yes. We can exist here totally. Others, like yourselves, can come here from Spirit Road, or you can enter via the door. Come, let’s go to my house. You need to rest, and we need to talk.”
They followed Erevar and Eevee along the branch, which shone silver towards the tree’s body. There, they began to descend a staircase that seemed to have grown from the trunk. Alecyn could not see the sky. The interlocking branches formed a thick, layered canopy, but everything was lit by a soft light emanating from the trees. When she dared to look down, she caught a glimpse, far below, of gardens. She commented on it.
“Our people live among the trees, but the older amongst us descend. We devote ourselves to tending the gardens, leaving the young to their building.”
“So, you continue to age?” Alecyn was surprised. She had expected the next life to be more like heaven.
“Yes, of course. There is no escape from time. When we reach the end of the next life, we journey on. If you excuse me, I will prepare the house for guests and leave you to enjoy the view. When you reach the ground, ask anyone, and they will give directions to my house.” With that, Erevar was suddenly gone.
They continued down the staircase in silence for a moment before Eevee spoke just as Alecyn opened her mouth to speak.
“You will wonder why I look human in here and a cat out there?”
“It had occurred to me, Eevee.”
“It is an agreement we reached.”
“Who?”
“Eevee and the Other.”
Alecyn felt a moment’s disquiet. “Other?”
“When we came through the gateway together, there were two powers fighting over us. Erevar was pulling us on one side towards the Heart. On the other was the Silence. And the Silence won. But at that moment, we were forced through the Argent gateway, and another entity joined us. Joined me. It came to help, seeing our need. I was the more open to the energies of this world, so it chose me.”
“So, there are two of you?” Jerad asked.
“No, we merged, becoming someone new. In the real world, it suits us to adopt Eevee’s form. Here, we choose the Other’s.”
“Does the Other have a name?” asked Alecyn.
“Tealai. Which means nothing to Erevar or me. It certainly will not mean anything to you two. I am Eevee.”
“But do you not want to know who this other person is?” Alecyn demanded.
“What difference does it make? This is me, I am happy with it, and you should be too. I have memories from Tealai. But they may as well be from a drunken duck for all the sense they make to me. You should be more like your man there; he accepts what he sees for what it is.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Stop reading my mind, Eevee.” Jerad reproved mildly.
“Stop broadcasting your feelings, Jerad.” Eevee shot back. “That goes for the two of you. I do not know how the Nelim are not all blushing every time they look at the pair of you. I do not at all.”
Alecyn was very conscious of holding Jerad’s hand still. She tried to let go, but she found his grip tightening. Her stomach skipped.
“Great bloody song! To be young again!” Eevee tossed her head irritably. “I will leave the two of you to make your way to Erevar’s house.” She vanished. Alecyn and Jerad walked on alone and in silence for a moment. She was bursting with questions while enjoying the feel of his hand in hers, his solid presence close beside her.
“I come from a place called Fearnot,” he blurted. “You should probably know something about me.” Alecyn nodded, looking at him attentively.
“It is in the Southlands, on the coast. I was born in Argent and lived there until it fell.”
“Are you wedded?” Alecyn did not know how she managed the question without a tremble in her voice.
“I was, she died,” he replied. She told us you were in Argent and in need. Then I saw her when Lucas and I escaped the city. I thought it was her ghost, but now…” He looked about him in wonder. She had reached the next life, like this place. Maybe it was this place.”
“You came for me.”
“Yes.”
“You risked your life for me? Not even knowing who I was?”
“You are the Voice. How could I not?”
“Madeleine told me about the prophecy. I do not know about that. I am no champion.”
“I do not know what that means, and I do not know about the other part either. Alyssa spoke to me from the next life and wanted me to help you. That is all I needed to know.”
Alecyn felt a pang of regret. Stop being ridiculous! Of course, he did it for her. He had not even met you! The sting of pain remained, though.
*******************
Erevar’s house is nestled within a profusion of growth. They walked a path of short, neat grass that wound between foliage of every description. Flowers bloomed in a riot of color with no apparent order imposed on their growth. They pushed aside wide, floppy leaves and stiff, serrated ones. They eventually emerged at the foot of a neat lawn, the house atop a slight rise at the far end. It sprawled over the hilltop like it had grown there rather than being built. Flowers and ivy climbed its walls and bordered the windows. A veranda ran along one side of the house, draped with climbing plants of all descriptions. Inside, they found Erevar and Eevee sitting in a room scattered with plump, comfortable-looking cushions facing another veranda, this at the opposite end of the house and looking out over a grove of trees that grew on the house itself. A small, gravel path wound into the darkness between the trees and was lost to sight in the gloom. Alecyn realized it was the first darkness she had seen in the Heart. She looked away, the overshadowed path unsettling her somehow.
“Welcome, my young friends!” Erevar was pleased as they entered. “We have much to discuss now that you have arrived. I take it your journey has left you quite refreshed?”
Alecyn frowned at the oddness of the phrase and then realized that she did feel refreshed. She felt like they had been walking for at least an hour but felt like she had just risen from a good night’s sleep.
“The trees provide all the nourishment we need in the Heart. Their energy sustains us.” Erevar explained. “Now, if you could leave us for a while, Jerad.”
“No, I would like him to stay,” Alecyn asked,
“And I wish him to leave that I may speak to you alone.” Erevar did not stop smiling, his blue face crinkling outwards from the corners of his eyes. But his tone became firmer. For a moment, the facade of the wise, jovial monk fell away, and Alecyn caught a glimpse of the steel needed to lead a people.
“It is fine. There is no danger here,” Jerad reassured her, squeezing her arm. He bowed to Erevar and Eevee and then left the room, holding Alecyn’s gaze as he passed her.
Alecyn suppressed the urge to give herself a shake. The man’s eyes turn me to jelly whenever he looks at me. This is not me! She took a seat between Eevee and Erevar, sitting upright and attentive. “You will wish to discuss what you were told by the entity who calls herself the Black Hand.”
“Have there been more besides me that have come through the gateway?”
“I would never have pretended otherwise had I been the one who greeted you first in this world. There was one other attempt to bring a human through to our world. And it was a disaster.” Darker shades of blue flowed across his face from the middle, outwards, like ink blots.
“Rose,” Alecyn stated.
“Yes. She was the one, the Voice. Or so we thought. Her music sang to us through the ether, a symphony transcending worlds.”
“What happened?”
“The same thing that happened to you. The Silence was too strong for us. It caught her and pulled her to the gateway to what humans now call Satan’s Kingdom. She was lost to us.”
“Just like that? Did you not try to do something? Jerad came after me on his own. You are much more powerful.”
Erevar’s face darkened further, the colors quickening in fluid motions across his long, thin features. “Do not presume to judge me, Alecyn.” He ran long fingers through his bristling mane and shook his head sharply as though dispersing a chill. “No matter. We started a war to win her back to us. Nelim and humans united. I thought I was bringing the prophecy to fruition, but in my vanity, I was wrong. We failed, and the enemy’s backlash saw the fall of Argent. Worst still, we lost the Skylands. It was the first city where humans and Nelim lived together and worked together in peace. We had such hopes. And our greatest hope was the one who betrayed us. She took Skylands away from us, and it now remains Nameless.”
Erevar bowed his head, shoulders slumping. His robes weighed him down, and Alecyn felt his great age as though she herself had lived all the years he had. She listened to his song and found its rhythms and melody foreign to her ears. She let it drift through her, feeling the enormous age, the great sadness, and the terrible power held in rigid check. Under it all, a trembling counterpoint overwhelmed by the themes of grief and despair was hope.
She allowed her mind to stroke that tiny part of Erevar’s song, not vocalizing but hearing the notes in her mind. She had not thought she could do that, but as dying embers fanned into flames, she felt that theme of hope growing louder. Erevar lifted his head, his face lightening to sky blue, the patterns ceasing their dance.
“Beautiful.” He breathed. “The conjuring of a true adept, pure and bright as the sunrise.”
Eevee moved over to sit next to Alecyn and put a maternal arm around her shoulders. She looked at Erevar with her cat’s eyes and a hint of challenge to her features.
“That’s my girl. She cannot stand to watch anyone suffer never has. It is not a war that will save this world of yours, Blue. It will be healing.”
Alecyn blushed, squeezing Eevee’s hand. “Rose mentioned others.”
“Then she lied,” Erevar replied, holding out his hands as though to show he hid nothing.
“It took two thousand years to discover your world and learn how to bring a human through the gateway. And when we failed, it took twenty years to recover the strength to try again. Rose seeks to turn you against us.”
“She spoke of a test. That I would be killed if I failed it.”
“True in a way. There is a test. And your decision may mean your life. Are you ready to hear it?”
Eevee’s hands tightened on Alecyn’s shoulders. Her eyes burned into Erevar’s.
“Yes,” Alecyn answered.
“The Heart is a gateway. Had we won our struggle against the Silence, it is here that you would have been brought to be trained in your powers before going into the world. So, that means it is a gateway which is connected... to your home world.”
The words hit Alecyn like a freight train. She had resigned herself to staying here, had even embraced it. But now, a return home was being offered.
“Just like that?” Eevee asked. “She can choose to step through and be home again.”
“Just. Like. That.” Erevar replied.
“And what about Jerad, the Southlands, the Nelim...what about the Silence?”
“We will fight the Silence for as long as we can. And we will continue looking for the one true Voice.”
“Do you believe you will find it?” Eevee asked penetratingly.
Erevar did not reply. His purple eyes bore into Alecyn.
She thought of Lake Wales, the evening barbecues, beers, and decent food with her friends and neighbors. She thought of the hospital, her work, her studies. Quiet nights on the veranda, enjoying the breeze off the lake and an enjoyable book, Eevee curled up in her lap. There was no running, no fear for her life, no battles to fight, or unspeakable evil pursuing her.
“If I chose to go home, would you come with me?” She asked.
Eevee could not meet her eye. “I cannot, little one,” she replied. “I am more here than I was back home. I cannot ever go back, even if I wanted to. This was my home from the moment we arrived. If I go home, it will be the end of magic. Here, I can help people in a way I will never be able to at home. Here, I have the power to influence.
“I will stay,” Alecyn said finally. Eevee immediately hugged her, kissing her cheek, happiness suffusing her features.
“I knew you would make the right choice, pumpkin,” she murmured. Erevar let out a sigh of relief.
“I did not know. Though I hoped.”
“Now that you have found me, will you use me to fight your war?” Alecyn demanded.
Erevar shook his head. “Not I. War is coming whether I wish it or not. Jerad wants to fight a war to protect his home. And he hopes you will fight alongside him.”
“There is always a need for healers in wartime. That is how I will help Jerad. I am not a weapon.”
Erevar bowed his head. “So, our observations told us.”
“Jerad will need your help too, Erevar. Will you help? Help us protect Jerad’s home?”
“I will speak to the clans and urge them to give their aid. I cannot force them, but I will ask. In return, I would ask that you return to aid us here if you are victorious.”
“And what will you be doing when we are fighting and dying to protect innocent people,” Eevee demanded, her tone acerbic.
“I have always done this: I devote my strength to holding the Black Hand behind her high walls in her fortress. We have been the barricade against further expanses of the Silence into the east, but we cannot hold forever. There will come a time when we need your help, the help of the Voice.”
“So, is that what there is for me here? War and fighting and killing! Is that all your prophecy says?” Alecyn’s voice was rising in anger; with it, she could feel her power growing, ready to strike out. It took effort to hold back from unleashing it.
“There are many verses to the prophecy, and even I do not know which were influenced by the Silence and must be avoided. I will provide a complete interpretation, and you may study it. I will also give you a companion, a scholar who can help you interpret the song. Personally, a prophecy is an article of faith, a last hope for desperate people that their suffering will end and good will triumph over evil. If you remain true to yourself and your world, you will not have to worry about the prophecy. But it is your choice.”
He flourished his hands, and suddenly, in between them was a book bound in green, which he handed to her. It shone as she held it in her hands. She became aware of a gentle hum emanating from it akin to the contented purring of a cat. She put it on the floor beside her, one hand resting on it.
“For now, I would like you to rest here. A few days will make no difference to the Southlands.”
Alecyn did feel a gnawing weariness. The last few days weighed her down. She had walked miles, fought, and run. A few days’ rest in safety would not hurt.
“While you are resting here, I will help you understand the powers to which you are awakening. I think you have already learned much.”
“I want to know as much as I can.”
“The longer you stay, the more I can teach you.”
“And the more the Southlands will suffer. No, we have a long way to go.”
“As to that, we can send you through the gateway near Ilelanen, which the humans call Ghoul’s Creek. If you can wait enough for me to summon the clans, you may arrive with Nelim warriors and Singers to aid you.”
“How long would that take?”
“A month?” Erevar spread his hands. We can achieve much in a given time. But you must be willing to spend the coin.”
“And others will bear the cost,” Eevee said grimly.
“We cannot wait that long. Jerad told me that Atramen could be in the Southlands within a month.”
Erevar and Eevee looked at each other, but neither spoke. Alecyn got to her feet, picking up the book as she did.
“I am going to find Jerad.”
Eevee made to follow her, but Alecyn stopped her.
“No, I want to talk to him alone, please.”
She walked back through the house and found Jerad on the lawn in front of the house. He lay propped against the front veranda, his armor discarded around him. He was sleeping. Alecyn took off her shoes and softly walked down the wooden steps. She carefully moved the armor pieces aside and sat, legs tucked under her, looking at him. There were the faint white lines of old scars across his cheek, under one eye, and from his ear across his throat. His chin was dark and rough with stubble, and his hair was a chaos of finger-brushed locks swept back from his forehead. His cheeks were high, and his chin strong. His face had a nobility that the roughness inflicted on him by his journey could not disguise. She moved closer, her heart racing until her shoulder touched his.
His eyes opened, and she found herself staring into brown eyes, which she could now see were flecked with green. His eyes widened at her closeness, and she put one finger over his lips.
“Erevar offered me a way home, but I am staying here. Shortly, we will be traveling through a gateway to the Southlands. You saved me, and I want to help save your people.”
Jerad nodded.
“There is more to tell you, but...I am so tired, Jerad. Could we rest here for a minute?”
She lowered her head to his shoulder and felt his arm encircle hers. She moved in closer as his embrace tightened, and she felt truly safe. Jerad rested his cheek on her hair, considering the garden but seeing what lay ahead. Then his eyes closed.
They slept in each other’s arms in the peaceful garden beneath the gold and silver trees.