Wrath of the White Tigress (24 page)

"I will need at least four others to help us as before."

"We will go," Bakulus said. "We would like to become palymfar if you will teach us, Jaska. We want to see the true methods through you."

Ohzikar placed his large hand on Jaska's shoulder. "After seeing what you've been through and what Salahn has done, I want to become a palymfar as well, and right this wrong. If a palymfar can serve as a templar to a goddess as well?"

Stunned, Jaska thought for a moment then said, "I see no reason why not." Jaska asked the Farseer, "Can you make it so that they can see things through me?"

"Yes."

"We would like to aid you in this as well," Hyrkas said. He turned to face the Farseer and stood tall with pride. Hyrkas had never dared to go against the Farseer's wishes, but in this, he felt so moved and determined that he knew must. "My lady, let me go with them when they leave. I shall represent us in the world so that no one may say we failed to do our part. Many do not see this threat, yet we who can refuse to act. If our people can't be spared, spare me alone. My time for fathering children is over and I have little that I may offer to the community now."

"No. You will remain here with me."

"But if we don't act against this evil, how are we any better than the other races who fell into decay? We must do something, and I will go whether you allow it or not."

"The outside world will not accept your difference. Not everyone is as understanding as these particular humans. You will be hated and persecuted as a demon."

"I will risk that if I must, though I know you have charms that can keep me concealed, so that I will look as any other cloaked human." Hyrkas knelt. "This is my dearest wish, my lady. I beg you. You know this is right. If we fade, we fade, but let us not fade into oblivion adding nothing to the future."

"Have I not helped Jaska on his journey?"

"Yes, my lady, but we can do more."

Jaska said nothing, knowing this must be decided between them. The other two Arhrhakim warriors, Lharro and Chaolis, stepped forward.

"I would go with Hyrkas, my lady," Chaolis said.

"I as well," said Lharro. "I would like to become a palymfar and aid them in this fight. You do not need more men, my lady. You have plenty to keep us going. We need more women, and we need continued peace. The latter I can at least do something about. We have slighted Salahn, so he is sure to come against us."

When the Farseer spoke, her voice creaked under the weight of centuries of hardship and endless worry. "I am a jealous mother, and you are right. I should send all my warriors, but I am too afraid for that. There is so little chance for success and we might hold out longer otherwise. But you three may go with my blessing. Serve as palymfar and do whatever you must to oppose Salahn. Learn the palymfar art and bring it back so that our people may benefit. Only the three of you may go. No others."

"Is this acceptable to you?" Hyrkas asked Jaska.

"I-I humbly accept your aid." He didn't really want to risk their lives, though, even if he desperately needed help.

Ohzikar stepped forward and shook hands with each of them. "And I gladly accept you as brothers in arms."

"To become palymfar," Jaska said, "is a difficult path involving spiritual, mental, and physical disciplines. It won't be easy and you won't have much time to learn. It's not likely that we will survive in our quest, but if we do, I do hope that you bring the art here and keep it alive."

"I shall return to my personal chambers," said the Farseer. "Summon me, Hyrkas, when our guests are ready to explore the past again."

She stalked out and Ohzikar asked Hyrkas, "Is she going to hold this against us?"

Hyrkas shrugged. "We have never gone against her wishes before, so I do not know. I fear that she has seen a future in which we die and thus fights to keep us here."

"But you will go anyway?"

"I will help as I feel I must." The other two seconded his opinion.

Nalsyrra entered the Grand Temple of the White Tigress and bowed before Salahn. The Grand Master was angry and fatigued. He was often tired now, due to his sorcerous undertakings. That he lacked strength at times was a tribute to the massive scale of the rituals he conducted.
 

"What can I do for you, my lord?" Nalsyrra asked.

"I seek advice."

"Then I am at your service."

"I have recently seen the Farseer of Vaalshimar in the Shadowland."

"Then you have seen a being few others have ever seen," Nalsyrra said

"She was not human."

"She is Arhrhakim."

"Do you know much about them?"

"Little, my lord. But among my people, their reputation is high. In case you are wondering, the Farseer's sight is different from mine."

"She said as much. Is she a threat to me?"

"She will not risk a confrontation. Her powers are weak and her people are diminishing."

"You came to me years ago, before you joined with Karphon, and prophesied that Jaska was a danger to me. You said that I should eliminate him."

"Yes, and you should have heeded my advice. He is still a threat to you."

The Grand Master narrowed his eyes and curled his fingers through his beard. "I know what you are, Nalsyrra. Not all of us in the West have forgotten our history, and I am not a fool like Karphon."

"Or Mardha?"

"When she realized years ago that your features and the embedded qavra were the defining characteristics of a Qaiar Zindarhi, I told her that you were not, despite the evidence. I have kept your secrets just as you have kept mine.

"What I don't understand is that being a Qaiar, one of the ancients, magic comes natural to you where it is difficult for humans. You must have tremendous powers, and yet you rarely use them. What cause are you serving here?"

"I renounced all ties to my race long ago when I became an Ojaka'ari. The only cause I serve is that of the Star Spirits."

"But what is their agenda? I have never asked you before, out of respect, but now I must know."

"The Star Spirits wish to see Karphon successful and the lands of the East razed. That is why I am here. I told you to beware Bavadi years ago because Karphon would need your help."

"But why do they wish to see him conquer the East?"

"I have no idea. Just know that my presence here directly concerns Karphon and not you."

Salahn contemplated her explanation, and after a while, his tension eased. "Adynarh failed to capture Jaska. And I nearly defeated him in the Shadowland but was foiled due to an oversight in my binding of the Tigress. I now intend to pursue him myself. What do you think of this?"

"I read the omens for you before coming here, and I advise against it, my lord. Let Bavadi come to you."

"That is not my way, and he is weak now."

"You risk much."

Salahn leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. "You know this for certain?"

"Not for certain, but it is a risk, my lord."

"In what way?"

"If you go, a supernatural storm will separate you from Bavadi. And if you pursue him into that darkness, you will not return."

"Nothing can kill me."

"Beware overconfidence, my lord. I did not say that you would die, only that you would not return. There are fates worse than death, and if you enter the storm, you will become trapped there for at least a thousand years."

"Do I have a chance for success if I get him before he reaches this storm?"

"Yes, but you must hurry."

~~~

Three days passed during which Jaska didn't see his comrades. He rested alone in an apartment provided by the Arhrhakim. The jackal people brought him food but stayed out of his way. He enjoyed the much needed time alone, but to keep from thinking too much of the past, he studied and contemplated Salima's sigils for many hours.
 

On the fourth day, with the Farseer's guidance, Jaska peered into the past and observed the founding of the palymfar order by the surviving temple guards who had protected the prophet Salima. Soon after, the templars had modeled their martial forms on the sigils that she had left in the pass, believing that the forms held power.

Jaska memorized their prayers, analyzed their katas, and studied their methods. He learned as much as he could, given so little time, of the true arts of the palymfar and watched the masters adapt and alter them throughout the years, always improving them until the two generations before Salahn when their dedication and sincerity began to wane. This came at a time when the Hareezan city-states most accepted them and when the people lavished praise and gifts on them. The order had been ripe for Salahn's corruption.
 

Ohzikar, Bakulus, Caracyn, Hyrkas, and the two other Arhrhakim, Lharro and Chaolis, watched and learned the lost arts alongside Jaska, though there was much that they didn't understand since they lacked the basic knowledge Jaska had spent years mastering. When it was finished, Jaska thanked the Farseer and turned to his new students.
 

"Do you still wish to go on? There is much to learn."

Caracyn clenched his fist and placed it against chest. "More than ever, Kharos."

"I agree," said Hyrkas.

"Yes," said Ohzikar. "I'm certain this is my calling now, especially since I have no brethren of my own anymore."

Jaska turned to Zyrella who had come to see if their mission had been a success. "Do you have any problem with this?"

She avoided eye contact with him and nodded. "Ohzikar may do as he wishes. And he will need a task after I am dead."

Ohzikar replied with frustration, "You're not going to die."

"My doom will come against Salahn sooner or later. I have always known that, and it has never been clearer to me than it is now. If you wish, you can ask the Farseer about my odds of survival."

With that she left and the others declined to ask the Farseer, who had retreated into the shadows and remained silent. It was clear that she was angry with Hyrkas and the other two, but she wasn't standing in their way.
 

~~~

Within a summoning pentacle, Nurit cut the throats of three horses and fled. Salahn chanted arcane spells while Mardha sprinkled black rose petals and the crushed bones of several hawks onto the horses and backed away. Salahn opened a portal from the Shadowland and invited a specific type of demon he'd bound into his service to emerge and enter the corpses.
 

"Urhrasnah! Urhrasnah!" he chanted repeatedly until the demons came.

Mardha stood nearby and watched, with the sea winds whipping hair into her face. The Urhrasnah howled in anger as Salahn's binding caused them to animate the slaughtered horses. When the horses stood again, black flames poured from their eyes and hooves. They tossed their heads and neighed with sulfurous vapors steaming from their mouths and nostrils.

Salahn ordered them to kneel, and the horses did so. Mardha stepped forward and put her hand on Salahn's shoulder. "Another success, father."

"It becomes easier each day." He stretched, grimacing a little as he did so.

"Does your chest hurt still?"

"Only a little. Your sister will pay for that."

"It's lucky she had no better way to use that weakness against you."

"It is no longer a weakness, but I cannot guarantee there won't be others. We must never underestimate her. She knows more than I thought about sorcery and her goddess." Salahn called to Nurit and ordered buckets of animal blood be brought to feed the demon-horses. "I trust you can maintain my rituals while I'm away, Mardha."

"I won't let you down, father."

He took her face in his hands and kissed her. "I knew I could count on you. Watch Nurit and see that he manages everything well. Karphon and Nalsyrra will not return before I do, so remember that you effectively run the city if any of the bureaucrats step out of line."

Nurit brought several palymfar with him, and they saddled the horses who thirstily lapped up the blood brought to them. Salahn donned a sinuous charcoal cloak that fluttered as if it had a life of its own. He wore only pants and sandals, no shirt. A bandolier across his chest held an assortment of throwing spikes. A leather belt held a bagh nakh and a saber.
 

Salahn climbed into the saddle and took up the reins of all three horses. He chanted a spell of speed and awareness, and then commanded them to gallop. Out through the gates of the palymfar compound and then those of the city, the horses flew, like an ill wind. They traveled twice the speed of a normal mount and would never tire.

Salahn rode down onto the beach and out onto the waves. The horses' black, flame-shrouded hooves ran over the water as if it were dry land, carrying the Grand Master toward the island of Vaalshimar.

~~~

The Arhrhakim held a solemn feast to honor the three of their race who would venture out to save the world. When it was done, Hyrkas led Jaska and the others down a long tunnel that emerged on the eastern face of the mountain. In this way, they avoided Adynarh and the few palymfar yet alive who waited to ambush them.

As they traveled, the Farseer's last words echoed in Jaska's mind: "Salahn himself pursues you now. If you can escape him, you will find allies in the desert. But be wary, for they have a powerful enemy of their own."