Part 29 (1/2)

Both of them were horrified at this revelation. ”Ye dunno' say!”

She went on in a low voice. ”I have been showing her the truth of the order she formerly served. I want her to know that what the s.h.i.+mat truly are.”

The old man could see where she was going with this and started to shake his head. ”Ye be a sly one, la.s.s. Ye know I canno' deny ye now.”

She didn't reply, but waited for the man to think things through. Finally, he held out his hands to Adesina and her mother. ”Ye'll haf ta guide me a bit'o. I dunno' know what ye wan'te see.”

E'rian took one hand and gestured that her daughter should take the other. This time, when the flash of light faded, she stood with them inside the memory.

Adesina was about to question her mother why she had come along this time, but mayhem broke out around them. They were standing in the middle of the main street of a village when a man on a horse came riding into the middle of the crowd, shouting to the villagers.

”The king has been murdered!”

Shouts erupted everywhere.

”How could this have happened?”

”He was heavily guarded both day and night!”

”What of the queen?”

The man on the horse answered this last question. ”She is also dead!”

”What will become of the monarchy?”

”What of the young prince?”

The man shook his head. ”Dead! They are all dead!”

He spurred his horse onward to spread the news to the next village. The pandemonium continued long after he was gone: shouting, wailing, people running in all directions.

Off to the side of the street Adesina spotted the woman s.h.i.+mat who had stood in the king's study. She was barely visible, hiding in the shadows. There was a slight smile on her face as she watched the chaos around her.

The enveloping light took them away from the scene and placed them in another. E'rian guided Adesina through a myriad of memories all belonging to the old man. Some of them were short, others took several minutes to view. All of them showed how the old farmer's entire life had been affected by the invisible influences of the s.h.i.+mat.

Whispers of murder, neighbors blackmailed, children gone missing, rumors of shadows come to life.

The s.h.i.+mat were still called old wives' tales, but the underlying fear plagued every southern home. Even though the old farmer had not recognized all the signs of their presence in his life, Adesina did. She saw their hidden power shape the world around them for their personal gain.

The final memory shown to Adesina was of the old farmer's death.

He and his aged wife were taken from their home to a dark, unknown room. Three s.h.i.+mat began questioning them about a visitor they had had in their home.

The old man of the memory shook his head in genuine confusion. ”I dunno' know what ye mean! We be takin' no visitors!”

The first s.h.i.+mat smiled unpleasantly. ”Do not make this harder on yourselves. Tell us what we need to know, and you will be spared.”

Adesina knew from his tone of voice that the old couple would not live no matter what information they gave him.

Still, they tried to convince him that they didn't know what he was talking about. The s.h.i.+mat looked at each other in a twisted sort of antic.i.p.ation and began torturing their prisoners.

Adesina couldn't bring herself to watch the horror before her. She jerked her hand free in order to stop her ears.

The flash of light returned her to the cottage, where the old woman was patiently waiting. The abrupt return left the young woman feeling disoriented, but not enough to drive from her mind what she had seen. She gripped the armrests of the chair she occupied, feeling nauseated.

She felt her mother's arms pull her in. ”Ma'eve? Are you all right, love?”

Adesina had noticed that while Dreaming she was much more emotional. It probably had to do with the connection with her vyala. She didn't know how to handle the overwhelming feelings was.h.i.+ng over her in waves. She struggled to breath, trying to tame the grief and despair crus.h.i.+ng her chest.

She used her vyala to send her back to her own world, jerking her out of the Dream. Adesina laid on her back, staring at the night sky, sobbing quietly.

Chapter Twenty-seven: Darkness.

E'nes, who was on guard duty, was instantly at her side with his hand on her arm. ”Adesina? Are you all right?”

She managed a nod as she sat up. She hurriedly wiped away any trace of her sorrow, but found that it was soon replaced with more tears. The strengthened emotions of her Dreams had carried over into the waking part of her life, and she found she could not control them. Tears streamed freely from her eyes and, try as she might, she could not stop them.

He put his arms around her, saying nothing but letting her know that she was not alone. Once again, Adesina's instinct was to pull away from his touch, but she fought the reaction and wept into his shoulder.

For the first time since she was five years old, she allowed herself to be something other than a warrior and was grateful to be held and comforted. The night was silent, and for a few precious minutes, it seemed like they were alone.

”My entire life has been a lie,” Adesina whispered to her brother. She pushed away to look him in the eye. ”I have done terrible things, E'nes.”

He brushed her hair from her face. ”Father will understand why you did what you did, Adesina. No one blames you for being manipulated.”

She shook her head stubbornly. ”I am not just talking about the things that I did as a s.h.i.+mat. I mean the things that I did as part of my traininga”things that I chose to do to further my standing in the order.”

When E'nes didn't say anything, she continued. ”Did you know I committed my first murder when I was fourteen years old?”

The expression of stunned disbelief on her brother's face urged her to go on. ”At the time I thought it was an execution, but-”

”It does not matter, Adesina,” he interrupted. ”None of that matters now.”

New tears began to fall. ”How can it not matter?”

He gently wiped them away. ”Because you cannot change it. What matters now is how you choose to move forward.”

She found his words comforting, but was having a hard time believing them. It felt impossible to be free of her past. How could she move forward when she was so weighed down by a lifetime of misguided choices?

She was still pondering this the next morning when L'iam came to speak to her, carrying a canvas sack.

Adesina was sitting away from the group, wanting to be alone. He knelt before her, looking into her eyes with unnerving clarity.

”I am returning your weapons to you.”

The young woman studied him warily. ”Why would you do that?”