Griffin's Destiny (31 page)

He spent an eternity choking up gobbets of dirty spit, and when at last he could breathe without coughing, he stood upright and looked around, eyes and nose streaming.

He had emerged from beneath the roots of a lightning-blasted tree that stood like a lonely sentinel atop a small hill. The moon sailed high overhead, a silver crescent amid a field of stars.

Where am I?

His head felt thick and fuzzy.

Off to his right, he saw a constellation of rosy, earthbound stars arrayed before a wall of deeper darkness.

Campfires…that’s an army out there, but which one?

Crickets sang among the shrubs bearding the hill. A nightjar swooped by overhead. Ashinji brushed dirt clods from his hair and dug a small pebble from his right ear. In his slightly befuddled state, he couldn’t decide what to do. He sank to the ground and rested his head on his knees.

I’ve got to think…

He had no explanation for how he had come to be entombed beneath a dead tree far from the walls of Tono Castle. The last clear memory he had before regaining consciousness was of going over the parapet, the creature that had been Sonoe struggling and shrieking like a mad harpy in his arms.

The world is still here…That means I did the right thing, but how did I survive?

He sat for a while longer until the fog in his head cleared.

I must be near the mouth of the pass. That camp is too small to be the Soldaran army. Besides, if they’d beaten us, why leave behind any troops out here? There’d be no reason for them to guard the pass. No, that camp must be ours.

Ashinji climbed to his feet, then took a mental inventory of his body. Aside from a few scratches on his face and neck, he seemed to be intact. No serious pain, all parts present and accounted for. He could not say the same for his clothes, however, which hung in tatters from his limbs.

He tried to conjure a magelight, but could only manage a spark, which flared on his palm for a heartbeat, then sputtered out. He reached into the well of energy that fueled his Talent, and to his dismay, found it flickering near total depletion. Pulling the shreds of his clothes around him as best he could, he started walking toward the camp. The moist ground felt good beneath his bare feet. A bark of laughter escaped his cracked lips.

What a fearsome sight I must be, all ragged and caked with dirt! No one will recognize me!

With brutal suddenness, the memory of the knife biting into Jelena’s breast flashed before his mind’s eye. He stumbled to a halt.

I’ve killed my wife and taken my child’s mother away from her! How can I live with that?

He groaned aloud and lifted his face to the coolly glittering stars. The pain simmering in his gut exploded into anger.

If I hadn’t been denied my birthright…if I’d been trained as a mage, maybe I could have found a way to defeat the Nameless One without having to kill Jelena, my one true love!

No. This is useless, raging about what might have been. What’s done is done. If we hadn’t gone through with it, then everything would have been lost, gone, devoured by the Void.

A streak of light flashed across the heavens.

A falling star…maybe it’s a sign.

Ashinji took a deep breath and let the anger drain from him.

Perhaps the Kirians will succeed in bringing Jelena back. Dare I hope for a miracle?

He started walking again.

He had gone about two dozen paces when he heard a whistle off to his right, followed closely by another to his left, then another straight ahead.

Elven sentries. Ashinji sighed with relief.

First thing…food. I need to eat. It’s been at least two days, I think. Then, some fresh clothes. Can’t very well go about naked, can I? Then…then I have to find Father…and Sadaiyo.

I wonder how Sadaiyo will react when he learns his despised little brother has returned from the dead?

How will I react when I see him?

How many times had he cursed Sadaiyo’s name the past year?

Too many to count.

Every time he had stood on the sands of the Great Arena in Darguinia, sword in hand, facing death yet again for the sport of humans.

Every time I got cut…every time I had to kill to survive…

Every time a human spat on me and called me ‘tink’.

Yet, to his surprise, despite how hard he tried to dredge up the bitter anger that had kept him going those long months, Ashinji found the fires he had just survived had burned his soul clean of hate. He would never feel anything close to affection for Sadaiyo—too much had happened between them—but he knew now he could, if not forgive, then at least choose not to seek revenge.

“Stand right there, you!” a voice commanded in Soldaran.

Ashinji froze in his tracks. In his emotionally and physically exhausted state, he had not sensed the other, out there in the dark.

“You should have run faster, human. Now, I will have your ugly round ear for trophy, yes?” The sarcastic tone cut like a lash, an old, familiar sting. Ashinji sighed. He had not wanted it to happen like this.

“Don’t shoot,” he replied in Siri-dar. His voice emerged from his throat as little more than a rusty whisper.

“Who are you and what are you doing out here so far from camp? I almost shot you, you fool!”

Ashinji remained silent, and waited. A figure emerged from the darkness and halted a stone’s throw away, leaning forward to scrutinize him.

“I said, who are you? Answer me, man!”

“Someone you never expected to see alive again, Sadaiyo.”

Ashinji’s brother recoiled in shock. “No! It can’t be you! You’re dead!”

Ashinji stepped closer so his brother’s eyes could verify the truth.

“What, no ‘welcome home, Little Brother, I missed you, I’m so glad you’re alive?’”

“I saw you die! How can you be here now?” Confusion, anger, and fear rolled off Sadaiyo in waves.

Warily, Ashinji eyed the bow in his brother’s hands. “I’m a lot tougher than you thought, Brother, and not so easy to kill. I’ve got the scars to prove it.”

Sadaiyo’s eyes narrowed. “Where’ve you been all this time, then? Why didn’t you come home sooner?”

“I couldn’t, and that’s all I feel like telling you right now. I’ve just been through something too complicated to explain and I’m worn out. All I want to do is see Father, eat a little and then sleep for a very long time.” He brushed past Sadaiyo and started toward the camp.

“Stop!” Sadaiyo growled.

Ashinji halted and turned to face his brother. He braced himself for what he knew was coming. “Sadaiyo…”

“I don’t know how you survived, nor do I care. What I do know is that I can’t allow you to return.” Sadaiyo’s hand tightened on the grip of his bow.

“I didn’t come back to expose you, if that’s what you’re afraid of,” Ashinji responded. “I couldn’t do that to our father. He needs you too much right now.”

“Liar!” Sadaiyo spat. “I’m sure you can hardly wait to tell Father about how I left you to die at the hands of the humans.”

“But that’s what you did do, Brother. I cried out to you for help and you chose to let the humans take me.
You knew…
” Ashinji faltered. An entire lifetime of hurt threatened to drown him. The very thought of Sadaiyo witnessing his tears made him sick with anger, but the pain pushed too hard and strong.

With frightening swiftness, Sadaiyo raised his bow, drew, and fired. Ashinji sensed the attack coming and threw himself sideways, but exhaustion slowed his reflexes. The arrowhead grazed his neck, slicing a stinging furrow into his skin just above his collarbone. He turned and ran.

A second arrow whistled past his ear.

Can’t fight him now. Too tired. I have to find somewhere to hide!

He stumbled on the uneven ground but somehow managed to stay on his feet. His legs felt like lead weights and his lungs burned with each breath. Even though he did his best to run in silence, he knew Sadaiyo could track him with ease, even in the dark.

A rocky outcropping loomed ahead, like the weathered bones of a giant, mythical beast. He used the last of his failing strength to scramble into the sheltering rocks. Wedging himself into a crevice, he waited.

Becomethedarkbecometherockbecomethedark…

A tiny puff of breeze tickled the back of his neck. A single bead of sweat rolled down his forehead and along the bridge of his nose, then hung suspended for a heartbeat before dripping off his face. A furtive scrabbling sound from above, like tiny claws upon rock, made him look up over his shoulder, every sense strained to the breaking point.

Sadaiyo won’t stop until he’s killed me…If only I wasn’t so tired!

He had come so far, endured so much, that to die now, like this, seemed a very bitter fate, indeed. At least he could take some small comfort in knowing his father would eventually learn the truth. Amara would not rest until she had discovered the fate of her younger son, and when she did, Sadaiyo would finally be exposed. Ashinji wished with all his heart his parents could be spared that terrible pain.

Then fight!
a voice in his head demanded, a voice that sounded very much like Jelena’s.
Don’t let Sadaiyo murder you! Fight back with everything you’ve got!

I can’t. I have nothing left. I just want to lie down and sleep.

No! Wake up, Ashi! He’s coming!

His ears detected the barest whisper of sound—a faint scuff of leather on rock. Ashinji twisted out of his hiding place just as an arrow splintered on the stone where, a heartbeat before, his head had rested. Heart in his mouth, he peered into the darkness, up to where he could now feel Sadaiyo lurking, poised to shoot again. He swallowed hard and made a decision.

Summoning the last of his physical strength, he surged upward while at the same time, he consumed the dregs of his magic to weave a cloak of temporary invisibility. He pulled himself onto the narrow, flattened top of the outcrop just as Sadaiyo raised his bow into firing position. Confused, Sadaiyo hesitated for an instant, as if he could hear but not see his target. Ashinji slammed into him, and they went down hard. The bow flew from Sadaiyo’s hands and spun over the edge of the outcrop into the darkness.

Sadaiyo let out an incoherent roar, like a crazed beast. Savagely, he pummeled Ashinji with his fists, growling with each blow. It took everything Ashinji had just to protect his face and head. An especially brutal punch to the midsection nearly did him in.

“I hate you, you sniveling little piece of
shit
!” Sadaiyo spat each word like a stone from a slingshot. He stopped beating Ashinji, but kept him pinned to the rock. “Father loved me before you came slithering out from between our mother’s legs and stole him away from me! I’ll
never
forgive you for that!”

“Father never stopped loving you, Sadaiyo, but your own poisonous jealousy made him stop liking you!” Ashinji gasped.

“
Liar! Shut your… stinking…lying… hole!”
Sadaiyo’s fingers tightened around Ashinji’s throat.

“Don’t do this to our family…Sadaiyo, please!…You know you’ll never get away with it…Mother is a
mage
, for Goddess’ sake. She’ll know…the instant she sees you!”

Ashinji had to keep Sadaiyo engaged or his brother’s rage would overwhelm him again and he knew he couldn’t hold out much longer.

This needs to end now!

“Brother,
please!
” he wheezed.“Think about your wife and son! Their lives will be ruined if you do this!”

Sadaiyo’s fierce grip loosened a tiny bit, giving Ashinji the opening he needed. With a heave and a twist, he threw Sadaiyo off him and scrambled to his feet. Blinking sweat and blood from his eyes, he dropped into a fighting crouch, struggling to stay focused through the pain.

Sadaiyo stood very still now, arms dangling at his sides, a darker shape silhouetted against the night sky. A cloud of rage still enveloped him, and the feel of it made Ashinji shiver with dread.

“Brother. Please! Stop this now before you destroy everything you hold dear.”

“The dearest thing I had was Father’s love, and you destroyed
that
the day you were born,” Sadaiyo replied, his voice dripping with bitterness. “Oh, how he mourned your death! His dear, beloved Ashi! It made me sick to my stomach to watch. I did think, though, that in time, he would get over losing you and turn to me, love
me
again. He was just beginning to, Little Brother, and you are
mad
if you think I’ll allow you to come back and ruin things now!” With those final words, he charged.

Ashinji had no time for thought, only reaction guided by years of training and the instinct for survival. As Sadaiyo slammed into him, Ashinji grappled his brother’s shoulders and went down on his back, thrusting his knees into the other’s stomach. The momentum of Sadaiyo’s charge carried him up and over Ashinji’s prone body. Ashinji heard, rather than saw, his brother skid to the edge of the outcrop.

“
Noooo!”
he screamed, and tried to grab any part of Sadaiyo he could, but he failed.