James West - Crown of the Setting Sun

“How did Kian come to this place, the Well of Creation?”

“A prince of Aradan hired Kian, who was a mercenary at the time, to protect him on a journey through the kingdom. Varis’s true intent was to seek out the Well of Creation-a secret revealed to him by Peropis herself. In destroying the Well of Creation, and taking within himself powers never meant for mortal hands, Varis very nearly made himself into a living god.”

“Nearly?” Leitos asked.

“Varis took some of those godly powers into himself, but for the most part they spread into all the world. As well, your grandfather always suspected that the release of such power had caused the Upheaval.

“Those powers spread like ripples in a pond,” Adham continued. “A random few, Kian included, absorbed some of those powers. In my father’s case, he gained the ability to resist Mahk’lar . As well, he told that for a short time he was able to heal the gravely wounded, seemingly by will alone. As far as he knows, he lost that ability in … in bringing his companions back from death.”

Leitos absorbed that, and Adham went on.

“There are other abilities Kian gained, which he passed to those he healed, and to me: strength, endurance, and long life.” Before Leitos could ask, Adham said, “The mines aged me, but as I am sure you have noticed, rest from constant toil has erased some of those years. I have walked this world for one hundred and sixty-seven years.”

Though Sandros had put the question into Leitos’s mind, seemingly a lifetime gone, he gaped in disbelief. “How old is Kian?”

Adham grinned. “All I know is that he has lived over two centuries. I cannot be more exact. My father often told how he stopped counting after his one hundredth year. ‘Why count single years or even scores, when they fail to mark my face?’ He usually said that in jest, but I believe it burdened him to live so long.”

“Why should that trouble him?”

Adham sighed. “Perhaps because I, his only living son, began to look older than him after my seventieth year. While I age slower than other men, I do age, where Kian does not. Without question, I will go to my grave before Kian Valara and my mother, Ellonlef.”

“How old am I?” Leitos asked.

Adham chuckled. “You have lived just sixteen summers, Leitos. Only time will tell if you are blessed with long life, but there is no question that the effects of the powers of creation dissipate through each generation.”

Leitos tried to mull all Adham had said, but taken as a whole it was too large for him. However, one thing about Adham’s tale stood out. “Do you truly believe your father and mother are still alive?”

“Unless some ill has befallen them, I am sure they are. But, as they are the face of the force that stands opposed to the Faceless One, I can only hope that they are still in the world, somewhere.”

After a pause, Adham canted his head toward Ba’Sel. “He, too, was there at the temple of the Well of Creation, and the years have not touched him.”

Leitos found that hard to believe, but did not want to think on it just now. Instead, he returned to his original question. “But why does the Faceless One seek our blood?”

Adham drew out a stone of protection from under his robes. It looked similar to the one Leitos had worn until Zera bartered it away to Suphtra. “This amulet is the answer, rather the resistance to the powers of the Mahk’lar that it grants its wearer. At some point, the Faceless One conceived that blood was the answer to that defense … but only blood from those who originally gained resistance to Mahk’lar. In some way we do not know, he joins the blood of those like us to certain kinds of stones, gaining protection for his pet humans and loyal Alon’mahk’lar against disloyal Mahk’lar .”

Adham tucked the stone away with a sigh. “That is the main purpose of the Na’mihn’teghul , the Hunters, to seek out and find those with the desired blood in their veins. It could be that the blood of the Valara line is no more special than that of others who can repel the attack of a Mahk’lar , but the Faceless One believes it to be special, and so we and our kindred are coveted above all others.”

“So we do not need stones of protection?” Leitos asked.

“No,” Adham said. “Mine was given to me by Sumahn, after he found me wandering through the Mountains of Fire.” Adham lowered his voice. “I continue to wear it because I cannot be sure who we can trust. It is a tragedy that she-Zera-spoke aloud our linage within the hearing of others, but what is done is done.”

Leitos thought about betrayers among the Brothers of the Crimson Shield. As much as he wanted to be among friends he could trust, he knew he could never again blindly accept the loyalty of others.

“Zera also said that the Faceless One did not stand unopposed in the world,” Leitos said. “And I saw with my own eyes the Alon’mahk’lar that the Mahk’lar created within a bone-town north of Zuladah. Could it truly be that some Mahk’lar are planning to make war on the Faceless One?”

“Without question,” Adham said. “It would seem,” he continued in a stark tone, “that while the balance of power has changed in the world, the struggle for power has not. Doubtless, the days ahead will be dark for all, whether they strive for dominance, or oppose it. And now, more than ever, the blood of those who can resist possession by Mahk’lar will be sought and taken. Ours is a dangerous time, my son, but we are of the north, and we will fight.”

“Did you know Zera had betrayed you when I first spoke of her?” Leitos asked Ba’Sel, who was placing a final stone upon her grave.

After landing on a slender tongue of stone that in no way could be described as a shoreline, Leitos had gathered Zera in his arms and began a grueling climb to the highest point on the island. He had picked it out long before they landed, marked it in his mind as the place she might have chosen for herself. He had not travelled far, before Ba’Sel caught up and offered to help. Leitos remembered what Adham had said about trust, and grudgingly agreed.

Now Ba’Sel straightened from his work, his dark face a mask of remorse. “I did,” he answered, arming away the sheen of sweat from his brow. “Though I wished otherwise, I knew. Had we not moved the Sanctuary after she last departed us, she would not have needed to use you to find us again. As we took her in, along with Sandros and Pathil, and even your father, she knew we would take you in. She just had to get you within the lands we patrol, and let us do the rest. As much as it pains me, it appears that I must rethink that rule.”

The breeze whipped around them, bending tall grass and rattling the green foliage of nearby brush. Where they stood, the singing of the islands and the crashing of waves lay far below them. Here the wind sang with a single, wavering note.

“Why did you keep it from me?” Leitos asked. He did not want to admit that Zera had initially used him to find where the brothers had gone. Yet, in the end, she had begged for him to love her as she loved him. It sat ill in his belly not knowing when she had given into to her feelings for him, and worse still in knowing that had she given into those feelings sooner, he would never have come to be standing at her grave.

“I chose to remain silent because I saw the love you held for her. If I had spoken any word against her, you would not have believed me. Such willful blindness is the blessing and the folly of love. You needed to learn the truth for yourself. Had I known you would run to her instead of away, even after you knew what she was, I might have reconsidered that choice.”