Part 21 (2/2)

”The future is not for you to know,” he said.

”Then what of the past. My father . . . how did he die, when did he die?” she asked.

”I can tell you of the past. I can tell you the present. I cannot tell you that. No decision you make from this day forward is without consequence. Today you made a choice that wove a new thread,” he said.

The very moment the words left his mouth, the stillness around her seemed to waver, a breath of cold could be felt, and a twinge of the pain of her shoulder reappeared.

”I have overstepped my bounds. Return to your task Myranda. Tend to your friends,” he said.

His wording was awkward, purposely so. She turned his words over in her head. Was he trying to keep something from her, or trying to tell her something? She found herself, against her will, returning to her place beside the others. The cold came pouring back, the searing pain. The color streamed back to her world. Ether's fiery form began to wave and flicker again. The same faint gold color that had been painting the skies to the west when her eyes closed now adorned the east. She had slept the whole of the long night through. She closed her eyes again and focused on her ruined shoulder. The bones began to move and s.h.i.+ft, snapping back into place. Before long it was usable again. She placed her hand on the ground to help herself up, the fingers touching something hard among the crystals of snow. It was the pendant that she had pulled from Myn. She tied it around her own neck before climbing to her feet. Her motion caused Ether to step from her place among the smoldering coals and s.h.i.+ft back to her human form.

”You, human. Heal Lain,” came her command.

Myranda nodded and turned to the warrior's entranced form. The fact that he was still in this state was a testament to the severity of his injuries. Before she had set herself to the task, however, his eyes opened.

”See to Ivy first,” he said.

Myranda did as she was told. She searched the sleeping form for injury. Muscles were strained. Sections of her clothes were scorched and brittle. She had been though something severe, but there was nothing serious that needed attention.

”What happened to her?” Myranda asked.

”She ill.u.s.trated just precisely what a danger she is to our cause,” Ether fumed.

”She isn't in any danger. She was the same after she faced the wizard outside of the fort. Was she afraid? Did she run?” Myranda asked.

”She let her anger rob her of what little control she had. She abused the power afforded to her by her status as one of the Chosen and tried to destroy me,” Ether said.

”I have never seen a more destructive force,” Lain said.

Myranda looked to Lain. His injuries were many, and serious, but not beyond the healer's skills. Before long all of the wounds were sealed, completely and free of scars. Even the long, black burn along his arm was eliminated. When she was through, she finished healing her own wounds. With her task aside, she had nothing left to keep her mind from what she had learned. She s.h.i.+fted her staff to her right hand and took a deep breath. Slowly she turned her hand over. The black mark stood out against her chilled white skin as clear as day.

”Ether. I have something important to tell you,” Myranda said.

”I sincerely doubt that,” Ether said.

”This is serious, Ether . . . the Convergence has occurred,” Myranda said.

”Such things are no place for humor, human,” Ether remarked sternly.

”During the night I was visited by someone who called himself Oriech . . . ” Myranda began.

”Silence. You have no right to speak that name. So significant a figure would not waste a moment of his precious time on one such as you,” Ether reprimanded.

”You know of him?” Myranda asked.

”Of course. Oriech is he who speaks and acts for the divine. The keeper of the purpose,” Ether said, almost reverently.

”He spoke to me. He told me that the Great Convergence had occurred,” Myranda a.s.sured her.

”Why would he tell you, a common mortal, rather than Lain or I?” she asked.

”I have been Chosen. Look at my hand,” she said, offering up her palm.

”I have seen your disfigurement. It is an affront to antiquity that it may remain on your flesh,” she replied.

”No, look!” Myranda urged.

Ether s.h.i.+fted her gaze to the palm. Her eyes narrowed.

”Impossible. You are neither clever nor powerful enough to conjure such a mark falsely. Doing so would surely destroy you. It must be so. You . . . of all creatures on this face of this world, you have been Chosen. A simple human. We shall have to carry you as a weight about our necks. The fates must care little for the welfare of their world to place the burden of its protection upon your worthless shoulders,” she muttered, adding after a moment. ”You have been given a place by my side, that much is certain, but I am by no means convinced that the Convergence has yet occurred. Were it so, then that beast, Ivy, a monster who would sooner destroy me and herself in the process than hear the truth spoken, would be fated to fight by my side as well. For all of our sakes, I must believe that you are mistaken. Else, all is lost . . . ”

Lain silently hoisted Ivy to his shoulders and began to head south once again.

”Lain, there is more. This war, it is more than you think,” she said.

He continued silently.

”You can't just take Ivy south. She is Chosen, they will never stop looking for her,” Myranda urged.

”Lain, while it is true that we must be rid of this burden before the final Chosen appears and she is cemented into the group by the Great Convergence, it would be best to be keenly aware of this beast's location. If for no other reason than to have her as a last resort,” Ether reluctantly admitted.

”I do not care about the Convergence. I do not care about the Chosen. I will have the head of any who seek hers,” he said.

”You must not turn from your purpose,” Ether reminded him.

”I had only one purpose. To buy back the lives of those who had them stolen. Now I have another: to see that this creature dies the natural death that the rest of my people were denied, and perhaps . . . just perhaps . . . to see her find another and preserve our kind for one generation more. I care nothing for the rest of the world. I have lived for more years than any mortal has any right to, and in all of those years I have seen nothing worth dying for, and nothing worth living for. This place and all those in it can shrivel and die. It has nothing for me,” he said.

”You believe that concoction on your shoulders to be one of your kind?” Ether scoffed.

Lain remained silent.

”What else could she be?” Myranda asked.

”I have a.s.sumed her form. She is indeed similar to Lain. More so than mere blood relation can explain. The few alterations that make her anything short of a twin are crude, obvious, even clumsily made. She is a product of the heavy handed tinkering of a moderately skillful pract.i.tioner of the dark arts. I cannot say to what degree she has been changed. There is not enough of her original form left to serve as a basis of comparison,” she stated as a matter of fact.

Lain stopped.

”From the looks of her, she wasn't even complete,” she said. ”What disturbs me most is that she still bears the mark. It should have destroyed her the very instant they began to work on her.”

”What else do you know about her?” Myranda asked.

”The oldest tissue in her body is only a few months old. Either that is the oldest change the manipulators made . . . or that is the age of the original form. Also, Lain is most certainly the template upon which this forgery was built. There was a stain of blood on the floor of the room she was being kept in. It was nearly degraded beyond recognition, but it was undeniably his,” Ether remarked.

”You can tell that much?” Myranda said.

”Simple human. I can tell everything about a form from a single touch, provided it has not been so badly tampered with as she,” Ether said.

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