SWNOVELS Chapter Fireblade: Epilogue
The sun has been warming the hillside for barely an hour when Marin and Deris arrive. They must have been riding for most of the night and Marin is on the verge of passing out. Deris heaves him off the horse and onto his shoulders to carry him through the tunnel and into the training cave. Once again, the Eldrin guards posted outside the cave entrance watch us but let us through without challenge.
I sit under the glittering arch with Marin’s unconscious body for a while, holding his hands and giving him what strength I can, alarmed at how little I have managed to recover while I slept.
This is not working.
Quenching dragonfire has turned out to be far more exhausting for both of us than simply letting it flare. Rather like the difference between using the fire to kill and then trying to control the lust for dominion it provokes.
Shadow walks in and watches us for a few moments.
“I tried to warn you about the Guardian of Rahimar. You humans are too weak to deal with that kind of power.”
“Can you help me?” I watch carefully for his reaction. A few days ago I would not even have considered asking this of him, but Shadow’s cold animosity to Marin seems to have lost some of its edge now he sees his longtime adversary as exile instead of oppressor. His eyes scan slowly and deliberately to the heart of the arched cave.
“You know there is only one place I can take from. And Jantian is not here to give authority for it.”
He’s right––and I can tell he is using this opportunity to push boundaries. Too bad. Marin isn’t recovering.
“I’ll take responsibility. If Jantian decides it was wrong, his argument will be with me. Not you.”
Deris lets out a low groan. “Ariel. Please don’t make me do this.”
“Sorry. Looks like the only way.”
I suspect Shadow might well call this out as bluff but it really is all we have. I lay down my weapons and Deris holds his blade to my throat. Shadow gives a twitch of exasperation and then walks to the heart of Maratic’s source.
A long silent pause. Then he raises his arms and gives himself to the shimmering flow of power.
The intoxicating, glorious rush of his euphoria runs through me the instant it pours into him.
How could he bear so many lonely years without this?
Only now can I fully understand. He didn’t. The uncanny detachment I sensed so clearly with Zandar has changed in Shadow over those bitter centuries as he honed it into a ruthless, single-pointed drive to regain what he had lost.
I don’t want to order him to stop. It has to come from him, before this game of threat weakens and he becomes impatient enough to call Deris’ bluff.
Except… I know that Deris understands the greater risk to the Eldrin and the whole country if Shadow gains total control of Maratic. The Fae warrior’s loyalty to Samaran has been steadfast. I know he won’t hold back, regardless of his own feelings.
Shadow stops. He turns, flicking back his dark hair and directing a defiant stare in my direction as if to show he is still in control. That he will not be forced or threatened. We both know it’s an illusion, but he needs something from me, something to give him a sense of having more status here than mere supplicant.
I dip my head in gratitude. “Thank you, Shadow.”
He seems grudgingly satisfied. Deris lets out a long breath of relief and lowers his blade.
“Don’t make me do that too often, please.”
“Let’s hope this is just a learning phase on the way to something more workable.”
He frowns, glancing back to the source. “Have you tried taking from Maratic directly, just as Marin and I have been doing these last few weeks?”
I shake my head. “No. I dare not even try, in case it sets off the kind of hunger for it that you are both tormented with. I don’t have the years of Eldrin training that you have both been using to keep it under control.”
“Point. In that case you’re making the right choice. If we have to do it this way again, I’ll understand.”
“Thanks.” I push aside the unsteady feeling this precarious reprieve has left in me and turn my attention to Marin, passing on the life-force I just received. He opens his eyes and looks up, instinctively guessing who has really saved him.
A moment of understanding seems to pass between him and Shadow. I find myself daring to hope that this could be the cautious beginnings of a truce between two longtime enemies, now that the source of their conflict is at least partly resolved. It probably won’t last, but it may get us started with whatever Jantian has in store for us now.
Seems like we’re about to find out.
I don’t know how long the Eldrin commander has been watching us from the shadows near the cave entrance. He walks over to me. Not angry, but definitely judgmental.
“Ariel, I understand why you did that, but be warned. The power of Maratic is not yours to give.”
I can tell by the inflection of his voice that there will be no penalty. This time.
That was a warning for the future.
“Jantian, I need to know what you want from us. I… need to work out if I have what it takes.” Right now I barely have what it takes to hold back from all the angry things I want to say to him, but I don’t want to risk any negative outcome for Marin. Not until I know more about what Jantian has discovered.
He walks over to the faded scrolls laid out on the bench at the back of the cave.
“That is why I am here. Why I abandoned the Eldrin to the responsibility of guarding Tandarion while he directs the country’s recovery. That should show you how serious this is and make you feel determined to see it through.” He steps aside so I can see the whole surface. “The team worked all night on this and finally a pattern has emerged. Read. The section at the end.”
Everything has been rearranged with dark stones laid across the flattened scrolls. With only selected paragraphs visible the whole surface of the table presents an abbreviated overview.
I scan the new section of the display Jantian is pointing to, and then look round at him.
“You’re sending us to Rapathia? Why?”
“Rapathia is on the brink of ruin after this failed invasion. And it seems there are other dark forces at work there. An evil that could spread rapidly through a failed state and eventually spread the disaster to Samaran. We must act now.”
“You mean, as dangerous adepts we get another temporary reprieve because our strength is needed against this new threat?” I can no longer conceal my resentment.
Jantian holds my gaze and for a brief instant I catch a glimpse past the severity to see the concern beneath. Before it disappears and leaves me wondering if I imagined it.
“Ariel, you know as well as I do that a permanent reprieve depends on your ability to control the power you wield. When you can prove you are no longer a threat to the Eldrin or to Samaran, no one will be more relieved than I am. All I can do meanwhile is continue to take calculated risks with you to protect the country––and hope that in the process you can learn the skills you need.”
Marin is reading over my shoulder. He wraps an arm around me, drawing me closer. I sense the effort of will it is taking for him to accept Jantian’s direction after all that has passed. A determination not to see his commander’s actions as betrayal.
“We have to do this, Ariel. I don’t know how. But we have no alternative except to try.”
I keep staring at the text laid out in the flickering light. It is the last faded line of the retrieved archive that hints at a heavy responsibility for those of us with the strength to act. Yet at the same time, it holds a whisper of hope that something in the hidden future just might be the key to a reprieve for both of us.
.
At the end, one will come. And set them all free.