Mortals & Deities (23 page)

Arderi Cor did not really care what the strange, gray-skinned girl was, or even why she was here. He had redirected his anger toward her to avoid lashing out at his brother. How could Alant have put him in this situation where he had to kill his own flesh and blood! If Alant was so power-hungry that he would become a Mah’Sukai, he was not his brother any longer, that was for sure. Still…

I do not even understand what a Mah’Sukai is! I have been following Master Rine’s words without question.

He glanced back at Alant. “I have been told that only a person of great evil would take the steps to become a Mah’Sukai. That in doing so, he gave up everything that made him Human.” Looking down, he flexed the healed fingers of his hand again before returning his gaze to his brother. “Convince me not to kill you where you stand.” The finality in his voice stunned even him. Though the realization that he meant it was the biggest shock.

The slim gray girl stepped forward, black stick in hand. “If you try, you will die.”

Holding up his hands, Alant moved between them. “Hold up! I think we all have questions.” Swiveling his head back and forth, he included them both. “And answers.”

Releasing his grip on Dorochi’s hilt, Arderi crossed his arms. “Fine. Tell your she-wench to back off.”

Instead of intimidating the girl, his comment made her smile. “She will not strike unless you do first.” Cutting her eyes at Alant, her smile grew. “Unless the Mah’Sukai tells her to. Then she will gut you like a fish.”

His brother stepped back and rubbed his hands on his shirt. “Well, I am not going to tell you that. No one is going to attack anyone until we talk this through.” He let out an exaggerated sigh. Arderi remembered that sigh well. It was the exact same sigh Alant used when mediating a fight between Arderi and Siln when they were younger. The sigh comforted Arderi greatly.

It tells me there is still a bit of my brother behind those glowing red eyes.

Turning to Arderi, Alant put out both of his hands and shrugged. “As I said, I did not choose to become a Mah’Sukai. I had not even heard that name until a few moons gone. Did you know I went to study with the Elmorians on Elmorr’eth?”

Arderi nodded, though something about his brother struck him. “Your eyes! They are normal now!”

“Aye. They only glow when I hold the Sight of the Essence. And a bit afterward.” Looking around, Alant motioned to some crates against one wall. “Can we please sit? I am exhausted!” Suiting his words, he collapsed onto the nearest box.

When the girl made no move to sit, Arderi decided he would remain standing as well. “So, what do the Elmorians have to do with this?”

“They are the ones who did this to me!” A look of outrage filled Alant. “They have a Chi’utlan under their Chandril’elian and they forced me to enter it.”

Arderi could only shrug. “Chandril’elian is the school, right?”

“Aye, it is the school where Shapers go. The Chi’utlan is an Essence Node.” At the blank look from his brother, he elaborated. “I am not sure what the Chi’utlan is exactly, though I think it is a place where the Essence spills onto Talic’Nauth. Somehow, when I entered it, the Essence…bonded to me. Or, mayhaps it filled me. I do not know!” Placing his elbows onto his knees, he cupped his chin in his hands. “Look, I have run this all through my head hundreds of times and I still do not know what any of it means. I only know that I am now able to do things that are way beyond what I learned as a Shaper. I have looked for an answer to what has happened to me ever since. That is why I came back to Mocley. I have been staying at an inn called the Fisherman’s Dock in the warehouse district since then.”

“
‘And once Bathane had beaten Maja’Kasta and driven off his brother, Alza’Dysta, he looked down on the broken god, blood pouring from the twin wounds on his back, and said, “I have the power now. And you and your people will cower down before me or I will make them suffer! The Tat’Sujen are lost, as well. I shall use the Mah’Sukai to reach such new heights, the entire Plane will bow before me.” Leaving Maja’Kasta to die, the God of Deception traveled back to his palace on his island’.
”

When the girl finished, Arderi shook his head with a laugh. “You quote from the Book of the Twelve a lot, huh?”

Planting her staff on the ground, she frowned. “She thinks it fits.”

“She does, does she?” Arderi crossed his arms high on his chest. He made a conscious effort to keep his hand from the hilt of Dorochi. Not that he feared the girl and her stick. When he attacked the Mah’Sukai—his brother—he had been so on edge, using the power of Sujen had never crossed his mind. Now, he knew he could call on the extra speed it would give him. Still, tempers had settled and he did not want things turning violent again. At least, not until he gleaned some answers. “Well, we have heard my brother’s tale. How is it you have come to this particular alleyway looking for him?”

“The passage holds the answer. It must be what the Revered Father intends. She understands now.”

There was a finality to her statement and Arderi did not think she meant to continue. “Great. I am happy that
she
has figured it out. Now, how about explaining it to the rest of us?”

She looked at him as if she could not believe he did not understand. “The Revered Father. He wants the Mah’Sukai to increase his own power. She never realized it before, yet there are several references in the Book that speak of the Mah’Sukai bringing power to those who know how to tap into them. She always assumed they meant the Mah’Sukai themselves held the power. Now, she is certain he means to take it somehow.”

Arderi shook his head as the girl spoke. “I am not the holiest of men. I will be the first to admit that. Still, there is no mention of Mah’Sukai or this…” Waving a hand, he tried to act like he was struggling to remember her words. “…Tat’Sujen in the Book of the Twelve.”

“Not in your Book of the Twelve, no. Yet, there is in the Book used by the Priests of Fatint. Theirs is more…complete than the ones found elsewhere on the Plane.” The gray girl glanced around, as if amazed she had said so much.

“What are you saying?” Arderi stared at her for a long moment. When it became apparent that she was not going to add any more, he shrugged. “Well?”

Alant rose from the box. “At least tell us who this Revered Father is you mentioned.”

Holding her staff out before her, Arderi watched in amazement as it shrank. “He is the leader of the Priests of Fatint. For reasons she will not explain, the thought of denying him that which he seeks pleases her.”

Without taking his eyes from the shrinking staff, Alant rubbed the back of his head. “So, you do not work for the Priests?”

“Yes, she does.” Now, with the staff about two hands long, the girl slipped it behind her back into a small leather sleeve that was attached to her belt. “Though she has been having…doubts.”

Alant threw up his hands. “Great! So, the Shapers here in Mocley are trying to catch me, you tell me the Priests of Fatint—whoever the heck they are—want to suck my powers away, and I am certain the Elmorians will kill me if they ever find me.” Spinning, he pointed at Arderi. “And you say you were not sent by any of them! So who
else
wants me dead?”

Arderi spotted his dagger laying a few paces away partially buried in some muck. The subject of his mission was not something he cared to answer right now. So, crossing to his weapon, he bent down and retrieved it to buy some time.

Before he straightened up, Alant grabbed his shirt just over his shoulder and jerked him around. “Well? It is obvious you did not know you were about to kill your own blood. Still, you were ready to die to kill me. Who sent you?”

Shrugging his brother’s hand off, Arderi slammed his dagger into its sheath. “It is complicated.”

This made Alant laugh out loud. “This whole damnable mess is complicated! I mean, what are the odds that one of you, let alone
both
, could find me in such a massive city?” Dropping his hands, he took a step back. “Wait. How
did
you find me?”

“The Revered Father, he put a Questing on her. She can feel the Mah’Sukai in her head even now.”

The girl’s statement struck Arderi and he whipped his head around to her. “A Questing?” Without noticing what he did, he reached up and cupped the base of his skull.

The gray girl reached out and caressed the back of Arderi’s ear, and he flinched. Her smile was not a kind one. “It felt cold, did it not?” The evil grin sitting below her slit-pupiled eyes did nothing to settle his nerves.

“So you have this
Questing
as well, Arderi. You can
feel
me in your head?”

Before his brother’s accusation, Arderi had never thought of how intrusive the Questing was. “Aye, I do.”

In a sudden flash, Alant’s eyes blazed red and lightning danced between his fingertips. “Who sent you after me, Brother? You
will
tell me now! Or I may just have reason to kill you.”

Raising his hands before him, Arderi pivoted his head back and forth between Alant and the girl. Though the look on his brother’s face was pure fury, his final words did not have the same finality to them. “Look, Alant…I cannot really say. I have—”

“Nix!” The anger in his brother’s voice amplified under the strange power he now wielded. “I am being hunted, Arderi. Like an animal! And they sent you after me. To kill your own brother! Tell me who they are. You owe me as much, at the least.”

Running a hand through his long brown hair, Arderi felt his shoulders sag and he looked down at the filthy alley they stood in. Alant was right. They had sent him here to kill. Though, he was certain they did not know the Mah’Sukai was his brother. Still, Clytus’ words and Ragnor’s warning echoed loud in his mind. The Tat’Sujen were also hunted, just as his brother was. The Order had survived through secrecy and caution. Could he really betray them to his brother? He cut his eyes to the strange gray-skinned girl who had almost finished the job of killing him that his brother had started.

I do not know anything about her. I cannot let her know anything about me…or the Order.

“I am not certain.” Arderi Cor shifted his feet, grinding a toe into something on the ground. “I fell in with a group of mercenaries. Somehow they knew there was a Mah’Sukai in Mocley and they believed that he—well, you—intended to destroy all of Talic’Nauth. They were very convincing.”

Alant Cor could not understand his brother’s hesitation.

Someone sent him here to kill me and he acts like he needs to protect
them
!

It made no sense. He had stepped into the Chi’utlan not even two moons gone! And on an island a thousand leagues from here. How could people know of this so soon? And why hunt him?

He looked at Elith. She had said very little, though her stance said she remained ready to get between him and Arderi if his brother made an aggressive action toward him.

If she is here to take me to her priests, why does she not? Why help me?

The fact that she
had
saved his life did not escape him. Still, she made him uneasy. “Well, Arderi, whoever sent you, I am not going to give them another chance. I am leaving this city.”

If this statement bothered Elith, she did not show it. She looked as if she had expected that answer and was ready to go. His brother, however, looked agitated, as if all the confidence he had shown earlier had evaporated. “Arderi, I am not asking you to go with me.” The sudden realization that he had no idea of how to get where he needed to go struck him, and he sat down hard on the crate once more. “Not that I have any idea how I am to find the place I am seeking.”

Arderi sat next to him and remained silent for a long time. Finally, he put his arm over Alant’s shoulders. “Nix. You are in trouble. Where you go, I go.” Rocking him gently, Arderi grinned. “The Cor Brothers! Just like you said.”

Despite himself, Alant laughed. “Not half an aurn gone you were bent on killing me. Now you want to help me?”

“Nix. Back then I was here to kill the Mah’Sukai.” He winked the way he did when he was younger—an over-exaggerated closing of one eye. “Now, I am here to save my older brother from a horrible death.”

“You always did think you were bigger than you actually are.” Stretching a kink from his leg, he looked up at Elith. “I suppose you are staying with me as well?”

“Her path lies with you. She sees this now.” Her answer did nothing to make him feel better.

Still, at least I am not alone anymore.

Snapping his fingers, he jumped to his feet. “Sarlimac! He told me that a long time ago some Shapers mounted an expedition. Mayhaps he knows how I can find Sar’Xanthia! Or, at the least, get me a map.”

“Sar’Xanthia? The lost city?” Arderi’s brow knitted.

The fact that his brother even knew the city’s name made Alant stare at him with his mouth open. “You have heard of it?”

Arderi stood, his usual mischievous grin in full regalia. “Oh, aye. Who has not heard of the fabled ancient lost city of Sar’Xanthia with all its wondrous treasures?”

“She has not.”

Both brothers turned and stared at the gray-skinned girl. With a glance at each other, they shook their heads and chuckled in unison. “Why would you need to go there, Alant? I have heard it is not the safest of places. Only fools search for it. None that I know of have returned.”

“There is someone there who can answer my questions.” Waving a hand at both the others, he made a sarcastic face. “And now, with so many people after me for one reason or another, I fear if I do not find those answers, I will not live much longer.”

Pressing his lips tight, Arderi tapped his foot. “So, what you are saying is that leagues away in an old abandoned city that almost no one has ever heard of…” Glancing at Elith, he shook his head again. “…there just happens to be someone waiting for you to drop in? And then, once you do, they will explain what happened to you on some island thousands of leagues from that same lost city?”

Alant reached up and scratched the top of his head. “Well, when you say it like that it just sounds dumb. Still, aye. That is what I am saying.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Turning, Arderi headed out of the alleyway.

Not sure if he should follow, Alant took a step after him, then stopped. “Wait! Where are you going?”

Pausing, his brother grinned over his shoulder. “I am going to gather us some horses and the supplies we will need for our trip, of course.”

“Our trip? I do not even know to where we are going.”

Looking over his shoulder, Arderi continued toward the main street. “Aye, brother. Yet, I do. I will meet you both on the morrow at your inn. The Fisherman’s Dock in the Warehouse District, if I recall.” And as fast as that, his brother disappeared around the corner.

The silence that enveloped the alleyway emphasized that Alant now stood alone with a strange, gray-skinned, cat-eyed girl. Shifting his feet, he looked over at her. “So…Do you have a place to stay?”

“Yes.” Alant felt a wave of anxiety melt away. “She will stay with the Mah’Sukai.”

His anxiety returned with interest. “Um…” He could think of nothing to say that would change her mind and not make him look the fool. After a few moments, he shrugged his shoulders. “I am renting a very small room. Yet, you are welcome to share it with me.”

Something caught her eye and she walked to the far side of the alley. Reaching up, she wrenched a black knife from the wall and slid it into a sheath on her shoulder. “She is sure it will suffice.” Pulling her hood up so it covered her face—even standing directly in front of him, he did not know if he would have been able to see her had he not known she was there—she raised an arm. “She is ready.”

Still wracking his brains to discover a reason for her not to stay with him, Alant walked out of the alley. Since he had never left the Warehouse District, it only took a moment to gain his bearings and figure out where he was in relation to the inn. Less than a quarter aurn walk brought them to the front door of the Fisherman’s Dock.

No one paid the two any mind when they entered and headed up the rickety stairs to the second floor. Entering his room, he moved to the side of the tiny room to allow her entry. The room
was
little more than a closet. Narrow enough that he could touch both walls at the same time, and just long enough for one person to lie down on the lumpy pallet that ran the length of one wall. A small window let in light from the street lamps out front.

With nowhere else to sit, Alant laid down on the pallet. “Like I said, there is not much room here. I guess we could take turns sleeping.”

Sliding to the floor, Elith rested her back against the door. “She requires little sleep. She is content to stay on guard while the Mah’Sukai sleeps.” Pulling her strange stick from its pouch behind her, the tip narrowed to a sharp point and she began cleaning underneath her fingernails. The action was far from comforting.

Still, if she wished me dead, she could have let my brother handle that back in the alley.

Pulling his blankets up around his neck, he tried to ignore the fact that she sat less than a pace from him. For a long time he would open one eye and look at her. Each time he did, he saw the light from outside his tiny window reflected in her silver slit eyes.

Over an aurn passed before sleep finally took him. It became a restless sleep, plagued with visions of either his brother intent on killing him, or the strange gray-skinned girl stuffing him into a sack. Neither gave him enough peace to rest.