Shadowborn Read online

  Deo swore to himself. There were days when he felt it simply was not worth the trouble of trying.

  Chapter 6

  “The All-Father and Life-Mother were childless and, desiring offspring, they created Alba and imbued it with many life forms: giants who later turned their faces from the skies and became one with the dirt and rock, trees and streams, thus blessing Aryia with their peculiar root magic known as the Grace of Alba.”

  “Mmhmm,” I murmured, only half-listening to Mayam. I pushed aside long gray-green streamers from the massive tree in front of me, and paused, considering the village that lay before us. Spirits drifted around the small huts with the languid, almost elegant movements of those who chose to remain in the spirit realm. The spirits appeared in varying shades of grey, everything from the white of their hair down to the almost-black of the cloth that clad their incorporeal forms. This was the third such village we had encountered during our time in the spirit world, and like the others, the inhabitants here paid us little attention.

  “Sylphs, ethereal beings who were a favorite of the Life-Mother, brought magic to the world, until they, too, faded away, this time into the stars that glittered in the night sky. Arcany, their magic is called.”

  “Fascinating,” I said softly, narrowing my eyes at two shades who drifted past me. They bore familiar tunics, ones that I had seen on the shades who served the Harborym.

  Mayam, who had insisted on educating me concerning the All-Father and the creation of the races of Alba, continued with her catechism. “The All-Father gave Alba the Eidolon.”

  That caught my interest. I stopped frowning at the spirits and turned back to where she was picking a bit of grey streamer frond from her shoulder. “Oh? Why?”

  She shrugged. “They were said to have been fashioned in his own image, imbued with his strength, and for millennia, they ruled the five continents.”

  So this mysterious All-Father was responsible for the Eidolon being on Alba? And yet the thane—and by extension, Nezu—wanted to destroy him? I wished I could discuss the subject with Hallow. He knew so much more about the lore of Alba than I did, and he was sure to have insights that escaped me.

  “Then the Life-Mother gave birth to twin daughters, Kiriah and Bellias, followed later by a son, Nezu.”

  I started to snort, but at a quick look from Mayam, converted it to a cough.

  “For a time, the children watched over Alba with benevolent eyes, but soon…er…soon…” Her words trailed off. One hand fidgeted with a buckle on her belt, her expression an interesting mix of discomfort and confusion.

  “Soon one of the children’s gazes wasn’t quite so benevolent?” I guessed, feeling a little sorry for her. During the day we’d been roaming the grey landscape of the spirit world together, Mayam had become more and more like the woman I remembered from Eris—less aggressive and antagonistic, more relaxed, and introspective, almost pleasant.

  “Erm…yes.” She cleared her throat and said so quickly the words were almost run together, “Nezu grew jealous of his sisters. The All-Father had made Kiriah the sun, her light touching everything that lived, blessing all growing things and providing warmth, while Bellias became the light that glowed from the stars and moons, piercing the darkness that was Nezu’s own gift. Bellias brought to Alba the power of arcany, but Nezu was given no magic to bestow. It wasn’t fair,” she added, the last sentence spoken loudly.

  “But life seldom is, don’t you find?” I asked, and after giving one last glance at the spirits, walked through the village, headed in a direction that I hoped would lead us somewhere. Anywhere. I was growing tired of the cloying sense of being smothered. Everything in the spirit realm was muffled, from the sounds on down to the slow, methodical movements of its denizens. I felt isolated, and muzzy-headed at the same time, my brain slowing down to match the rhythm of life—or lack of it—around us.

  “Life is what you make it. That’s what my old master used to say,” Mayam replied, trailing behind me.

  “What master was that?” I asked, curious. I knew she’d been a handmaiden to a noblewoman on Eris, but had little idea of what her life had been like.

  “My brother—you remember Jena?—he did not always belong to the brothership of the red hand.”

  “The blood priests?”

  She nodded. “Before that, he studied with an abjuror, a most learned man, but one who had been cast from his order due to...irregularities. He allowed me to learn from him, as well, although he told me I would never make an abjuror since I lacked the focus my brother had.”

  “What sort of irregularities can an unmaker of magic perform?” I asked, pausing when I heard the sound of hoofbeats. Hoofbeats? Here? No one rode in the spirit realm. No one who belonged here.

  With a finger to my lips to warn Mayam, I pulled her off the road and back into the tall grass that flourished around us. We lay down on our bellies, allowing the grass to cover us, although I parted a few strands to watch the road where it curved from the village we’d just left.

  Three Harborym came into view, their relaxed poses signaling either a long time in the saddle, or a lack of interest in their surroundings. Or perhaps both—either way, it was all to our good, and I waited until they were well out of earshot before whispering, “They did not appear to be hunting for us.”

  “Not for us, no, but Lord Racin instructed several Harborym to survey the residents of this world, searching for those who might be useful to him.”

  “A scouting party, hmm? Interesting.” I wondered how spirits would be useful to Nezu in the mortal world, where they were subjected to limitations, but decided that was a problem for another day. I’d have to ask…have to ask…for a moment, my mind went blank, and I couldn’t draw forth the name I wanted. “Hallow!” I finally managed to say, accompanied by a shake of my head at my addled mind.

  “What about him?”

  “Nothing. I’m just tired, and my brain is filled with this damned pervasive dust. I think it’s safe enough for us to cross. We’ll go to the east for a bit, since the Harborym appear to be sticking to the west roads.”

  We walked in silence for a half hour before Mayam said, “Did you want to hear the rest of the history?”

  “Please,” I said, tired of my own glum thoughts. “Although I didn’t know there was more.”

  “Some, not a lot. Jealousy begets jealousy, and so Nezu whispered into the ears of the three thanes, corrupting the Eidolon with his desire for what belonged to others.”

  I glanced at her, but to my surprise, her face was placid, not reflecting the discomfort that had been there earlier when she spoke of Nezu’s actions. Still, it was interesting to know that he had a history with the thanes.

  “The Eidolon, beloved of the All-Father, felt that they, too, were worthy of such power as was granted to the twin goddesses, and when the All-Father, angered by their greed, swore that he would destroy Alba before he gave in to their demands, they—the thanes—allowed desire to cloud reason.”

  “Blessed Kiriah’s toes!” I gasped, shocked at the idea that the creator of Alba should be so willing to destroy his creation rather than allow the Eidolon to live. “What sort of a god was this All-Father? No, never mind, I can guess. I see that Nezu is much like his father.”

  “In a battle that resulted in the fall of the Eidolon, the All-Father attempted to destroy that which he and the Life-Mother had created,” she said in a voice that was weary beyond words.

  I glanced in concern at her as we struggled along a path that twisted around massive boulders up a rocky hill, but she seemed to be managing well enough. I noted absently that here and there, little spots of color dotted the landscape—the dirty yellow of a weedy flower, the bright green of scrubby little flowers that sprouted between the boulders—and for some reason, it gave me a bit of hope. If life—of some sort—could cling to existence here, then we were not doomed, as Mayam was won
t to say.

  “Since we are here now—here on Alba, not the spirit realm—I assume that battle did not end well for either party?” I asked, intrigued despite myself. Sandor had confined our history lessons to those that most affected the Fireborn, with only a few mentions of other lands.

  “It did not. Kiriah and Bellias could not stand to see their beloved Alba destroyed due to the All-Father’s rage. Instead, with Nezu’s aid, they imprisoned him in the Altar of Day and Night. Then, with the Eidolon fallen, the goddesses brought the Fireborn and Starborn forth on Alba. Nezu, nettled that they did not think of his own children while they divided the continents between them, quickly claimed Eris for us. For the Shadowborn.” She fell silent again.

  I had a feeling there was more to the tale, but since we were approaching another village, this one of moderate size, I didn’t press her for more. We paused on the edge of the village, watching the spirits. As with others we had encountered, these spirits took no particular notice of us while they drifted about their daily business. I was about to move on when there was a disturbance at the far end of the village, where a gabled hall towered over the other structures, and a man in long, flowing robes with spiky hair and a prodigious beard strode forward, gesturing and talking as he approached. On his heels, a short, fat, ghostly dog trotted.

  “—you always in my way? Can you not see I have important business to conduct? There are two people here whom I did not expect to see, certainly did not expect to see, and they must not be here! Do you hear me? Must not be here! You! Ghost slayer! What is her name? It was told to me, but I’ve forgotten it. The boy wed her, I heard, which is right and proper, but doesn’t help me with her name. Still, she shouldn’t be here, no, she shouldn’t. You, ghost slayer! It’s dangerous for you. Do you not know the Eidolon have risen again? Some of them have, not all, because there are legions of them, but enough to make things very uncomfortable around here, very uncomfortable indeed!”

  I stopped and blinked at the man who stood in front of me. He was the last person I’d expected to see here. “Er…Exodius?”

  “Yes, yes, it is I, but what are you doing here? Did my apprentice send you with a message for me? He shouldn’t have done that. He could have had any number of the spirits in Kelos do the job, not that I want to be bothered by them, because I have my own work to do here, very important work,” he answered, his hands fluttering as he spoke. He added in an aside, turning so he addressed himself to Mayam, “Technically the boy isn’t really my apprentice, but he could well have been so had he been born a few hundred years before. You’re Shadowborn.”

  “I am,” Mayam agreed, her eyes round. She edged a little closer to me.

  “It’s nice to see you again, Exodius, although I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced. I’m Allegria, and this is Mayam.”

  Mayam made a little bob at him.

  “Exodius was the runeseeker who…er…” For a moment my mind went blank, the information I wanted sliding away just as I tried to grab it.

  Exodius and Mayam both stared at me, obviously waiting for me to finish my sentence. I gave a little rub to my forehead, deciding I must be more tired than I thought if I couldn’t pull up the name of the man who filled my life with such joy.

  “Used to be the Master of Kelos?” Exodius finished for me after the several seconds of silence. “I was, and a right pain in the arse it was, but that master of mine insisted that he had other things to do, bigger and more important things than leading the arcanists, but I ask you, what could be more important than being the Master of Kelos? Thorn always was a few bulls short of a herd, but there, that’s what comes from being born of the Koshan.”

  “What’s a Koshan?” Mayam asked me in a whisper, her gaze firmly affixed to Exodius.

  I racked my brain. “I think they mastered the old magic, before Kiriah and Bellias.”

  “They did, and good riddance to them,” Exodius said, evidently having heard our whispered exchange. “Maddening lot, all of them. But what are you and this Shadowborn maiden doing here? Where is Hallow?”

  Hallow. My mind sighed with relief at the word. Why all of a sudden was I having such trouble holding onto his name? Just the echo of it in my head made me feel his loss. I wished I was in his arms at that moment, kissing his face, and…and…once again, my mind stuttered to a halt when I tried to bring up a mental vision of his face. I knew it as well as I knew my own, and yet, other than a vague image of bright blue eyes and blond hair, I couldn’t seem to pull it into focus.

  Mayam shot me a quick questioning look before answering Exodius. “I came with Lord Racin.”

  “Racin?” Exodius asked.

  “Nezu,” I explained. “He went by the other name on Eris.”

  “Nezu is here?” Exodius froze for a moment, his face devoid of expression.

  “Yes. He was forced to come here because he wished to consult with…er…” Mayam waved a hand in a vague gesture, her face screwed up as she obviously tried to remember something. An expression of relief filled her face as she hurriedly finished, “With…uh…oh, the thane. The Eidolon thane.”

  Panic flooded me while I tried to recall anything about Hallow. I knew his body almost as well as his face, and yet, the memories that came to mind were emotion-based, the swell of love that rose deep within me whenever I thought of him, along with the sorrow of being parted. I felt as if part of me was missing, and yet… “Blast his delectable hide, why can’t I remember what his man parts look like?”

  Both Mayam and Exodius stared in surprise at me.

  “I don’t know the answer to that question,” Exodius said slowly, giving me a long, considering look. “More to the point, I don’t want to know why you should have a familiarity with the thane’s man parts, especially as you are said to be wedded to my apprentice.”

  “I am married to Hallow, not that he’s your apprentice. We are most definitely happily married, and I do not know what the thane’s man parts look like. My pronoun use is also obviously suffering from lack of sleep. What did you ask? Oh, what we’re doing here? Mayam, as she said, is here with Nezu, while I was kidnapped by the thane, he of whose man parts I remain in absolute ignorance. There was a battle at Kelos with the thane and his Eidolon attacking our spirits. And Hallow and I were just about to take down the thane—or at least drain his energy enough that he’d have to retreat to this realm—when all of a sudden, he yanked me here.”

  Exodius was silent for a minute. I studied him, making mental notes on the conversation, so that later I could describe the scene accurately to…to… “Oh, for the love of the twin goddesses, I just thought his name! It can’t slip away a few seconds later!”

  Exodius gave me a glance full of pity, shaking his head and saying, “It can, and it will.”

  “What do you mean?” Mayam asked just as I was about to do the same.

  “You are living,” he answered with a little shrug. “What is a haven to the spirits of the dead is a place of isolation for you. The longer you remain here, isolated from the world to which you have ties, the weaker those ties grow. If you diminish to a point where the physical world has no hold on you, you will in effect be caught between life and death, confined to an endless existence without hope of escape.”

  Horror filled me, driving before it the panic that had just gripped me. “Hallow! His name is Hallow of Penhallow of the region of Hallow, so named because his parents were just as quirky as he is,” I said quickly, fear giving my brain the push it needed. The image of the man I loved rose in my mind’s eye, everything from his glittering topaz blue eyes to his eye crinkles and on down to the chest that still made my knees feel like they were made of nothing more substantial than porridge. With relief, I grasped those memories, and forced my brain to dredge up a handful more. “And he has a most prodigious man part, one that stands and waves at me when Hallow is feeling amorous.”

  “Yeees,” Exodius d
rawled, his lips pursed. “Rather more information than I expected to have in a casual conversation with you, but still, it’s good to know you appreciate the boy. However, I think it’s best that you leave the sprit realm despite the fact that you are clearly even now recalling several adventures with Hallow’s man bits, which means you are not as badly affected as I first feared. That is well and good, but still, you can’t stay. And as for you…” He turned back to Mayam, who shot him a startled look in return. His eyes narrowed on her. “I want you to tell me everything that happened while you were with Nezu, most particularly what his plans are.”

  “Why?” I couldn’t help but ask, reluctantly dismissing a particularly wonderful memory of the experience Hallow and I shared against a tree on our way out to Kelos. I had a horrible desire to relive as many memories as I could lest I risk losing them, but instead I promised myself that I would move Kiriah and Bellias themselves if I had to in order to get back to my love’s side.

  Exodius was silent, once again making me wonder if he was quite so chatty as Hallow claimed he had been during the short time they were together. “He is…dangerous.”

  “To Alba?” I made a face, a bit confused by the statement. “That goes without saying.”

  “He is dangerous to you,” Exodius interrupted, then abruptly made shooing motions at us. “I’ve changed my mind. I have much work to do, a great deal of work to do, important work, but regardless of that, I will take the time to find out elsewhere what I need to know about Nezu’s plans. You must leave now, priestling. It’s not at all safe for you here. Take the Shadowborn with you, but get out.”

  “I would be happy to leave, but I have no idea how to get out of here, let alone where we are. I thought the spirit realm was a slightly altered version of our world, but this place—” I looked around at the small village, and its ghostly denizens who drifted around aimlessly. “This is unlike anywhere I’ve seen.”