Rise of Legends (The Kin of Kings Book 2) (23 page)

Sanya removed the bracelet from her pocket. Light flooded out as she opened it. Not only could she now be seen easily, but master mages could sense the immense bastial energy if they were within fifty yards.

Master mages.
She scoffed. If they knew all that she was capable of, they would realize they weren’t masters at all. But as much as Sanya could do with bastial energy, she’d never had any grasp on sartious. It ruined her chances of ever being a true mage, because without that skill, there was no chance at making fire.

This would be the first time she physically entered the spiritual world. She could move her spirit there during sleep, leaving her unconscious body behind to return to, but this was far more dangerous. Spirits were meant to travel to the spiritual world. Bodies were not. At least that’s what she figured. It wasn’t like she had anyone she could speak to about this. No one had ever done this before.

The thought didn’t ease her nerves as she tried to calm herself with a few breaths.

It’s just bastial energy. It won’t kill you so long as it doesn’t burn you to death. Much of the energy of the spiritual world is in a pure and hardened state, so it shouldn’t. And there’s always the dog. He’ll be going in first anyway. Just make the portal. You’ve thought this through many times.

She wrapped her mind around the contained bastial energy trapped in the akorell metal, then ripped it free. She gasped as she stumbled backward, the heat of the swirling energy nearly too much for her to handle. She gritted her teeth as she refused to let it overpower her.

It fought against her while she burrowed her mind deep into the white sphere, reaching for the energy of the spiritual world—the same energy Basen used when he ripped open portals. Though her portal was different. Its entrance was in the physical world like his were, but its exit was in the same location of a different world. She grabbed hold and pried it open.

The white light was swallowed by expanding red as a sphere formed, roaring at Sanya in the process. She could see the spiritual world awaiting, the gold and red hue of spirits drifting around the portal’s exit in curiosity.

“Go,” she commanded the dog, and he leapt inside. The beagle landed on the red ground of the spiritual world, the energy sending out ripples of yellow and white where his paws scuffled for balance. He showed no signs of pain, only excitement. It seemed safe enough.

It was time for Sanya.

She strained her mind to keep the portal open as she jumped inside and then landed on her hands and knees. Reflexively, she pulled up her palms. But the ground had felt warm to her touch, not hot.

The portal looked strange from this side, rippling as if it were an illusion of the forest, like a mirage in the desert. In fact, this place appeared similar to a desert, except there was hardened energy instead of endless sand.

The dog jumped around excitedly at the spirits wafting around him. Sanya didn’t know why they hadn’t been pulled into the portal, but it must have some connection with the fact it now took minimal effort to keep the portal open.

A sense of power came over her. She was in control of the spirits as well as the land, as if both were puppets awaiting her commands. She felt as if she could shape the ground to her will.
And why not try?

She raised a fist and watched a pillar of amber energy shoot toward the white sky. She waved her other arm, and all the spirits swirled around each other as if caught in a whirlwind.

They became frightened and tried to break free, so she let them go. They scattered like dust. Sanya giggled and was surprised at the sound. It was dull and faint, like laughing against the whistling wind. But there was no other sound to be heard except for the dog as he rolled onto his back, enjoying the warmth of the smooth ground. A rainbow of colors came out from beneath him, settling on sky blue when he finally went still and whimpered for Sanya to rub his belly.

“Sorry,” she said and then raised a hand from her hip, ripping the dog’s spirit clean from his body.

His spirit was smaller than the others as it floated away, at peace as if preparing for a long nap after an enormous meal.

The dog’s body lay supple. She checked behind her. The portal was still open and seemed to have little impact on the spiritual world, so she didn’t need to move away from it as she figured she would.

“Mother,” she called. “Come to me.”

Her mother’s golden spirit came toward her from the ring of curious spirits floating around. But another one came with it.

Sanya grinned as she felt who it was.

“Hello, Alex.”

His spirit, a bundle of red and orange energy, shook with anger. Then he whizzed around her head as if trying to attack.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” she said, “but now that you’re here, I can give you a second chance at life.”

He stopped in front of her face, curious. She could feel her mother’s tension at seeing Sanya’s body in here, but there was little time to explain. One slip of the mind and her portal might close, trapping her here.

She pointed at the dog’s lifeless body. “Get in, Alex.”

She could sense his confusion. Perhaps his mind wasn’t fully in this spirit, or if it was, it was just some semblance of his true self. She thought of talking to spirits as trying to communicate with an animal. She’d never actually had a conversation with her mother after she’d died, just as she’d never had a conversation with her bear, Muskie. But at least with him, she could use psyche to tell when he understood her. She hadn’t had the same confirmation from her mother’s spirit.

“Go,” she urged Alex. “Then we’re going back through the portal.”

His spirit seemed to turn to look at the portal, though she couldn’t be certain he saw anything. Then he drifted toward it.

“No! You’ll die.” His spirit stopped, seemingly listening. “You need a body of some kind.” Again, she pointed at the dog. “You want to see Effie again, don’t you?”

At the sound of her name, Alex’s spirit jittered excitedly. His energy was so fresh and vibrant, rich in color like a ripe berry. But her mother’s spirit was like graying hair, dull and wanting as it watched curiously. Sanya could still feel her mother’s love, but there was little else there. Sanya was thankful it was almost time to bring her back. She just hoped her mother’s mind was what it used to be.

But first, Sanya had to make sure she could put a new spirit into an old body. Alex refused or didn’t understand as she continued to point at the dog.

Eventually she grew impatient. She took hold of Alex’s energy and found it was as easy to move as normal bastial energy in the physical world. He tried to break free of her grasp, but it took little effort to force him inside the empty shell of the dog.

Fear and confusion made Alex’s spirit thrash, but she held him in there. He fought against her, making her feel like she was holding a child’s head underwater.

“Accept the dog’s body!” she shouted. “It’s the only way out of the spiritual world. I’m doing this to help you!”

Finally, he seemed to understand and stopped resisting. She could feel him trying to fit inside the dog, like a hand fidgeting to get into a glove. Alex’s spirit searched for the right gaps to squeeze into, his discomfort agonizing. But as he moved around, causing grotesque waves of the dog’s muscle and skin, she could sense him growing more and more comfortable.

Then the beagle’s eyes popped open.

“Yes!” Sanya screamed as Alex rose up onto his new legs.

With surprising agility, he ran fearlessly into the portal.

“It worked, Mother! Now I’ll come back with a body for you.”

But her mother’s spirit only bobbed indifferently. Sanya sighed. She wished she could hug her mother right then, but that would have to wait.
Soon,
she told herself.

“Goodbye,” she called to her mother. After receiving no acknowledgment, Sanya left through the portal.

Alex growled at her as she fell through, dizzy and suddenly exhausted. She got up as quickly as she could and let the portal close behind her.

“Easy,” she told him as his growling intensified. “I could kill you again. Remember that.”

His growling stopped. He understood her! She could feel it!

Joy threatened to take her down to her knees, but she shoved it away for the moment.

Alex moved his dog head in every direction, as if trying to figure out where he was.

“Raywhite Forest,” Sanya told him. “Effie should still be at the Academy for all I know. It’s that way.” She pointed north.

Alex tilted his head, then lifted each of his front legs as if to see how they worked. It was already becoming difficult for Sanya to think of him as human. She reached down to pat his head, but he growled and jumped away.

“About what I did…” she said, and his growling ceased. “I know it was wrong, but I had to stop Basen from killing my mother’s spirit.” She pointed behind her, where the portal had been. “You were in the spiritual world, so you must’ve felt what it was like for him to open a portal many miles away. I’m sure it sucked you toward it. If you had been sucked in, you would’ve ceased to exist. Imagine him opening one near you like he was doing to my mother. I didn’t want you or Nick to die. I just want her to live again. And now I’ve brought you back.”

Now that she’d explained it, she tried to shoo him. “Go to the Academy.” But then she noticed his hunger and thirst.

“Oh, I didn’t want to feed the dog too much if he was just going to die anyway after my experiment failed. But it succeeded, so take this.” She tossed some of her dried meat in front of him and Alex started devouring it, though he tried to use his paws more than other dogs would. He soon gave up and ripped the food with his teeth. She held out the water skin next.

It took him a while to trust her enough to plod over, but he finally opened his mouth below her. She poured a slow stream, his dog tongue licking the rim of her pouch as he drank.

When she could feel he was satisfied, she knelt down and took his head in her hands and gave the top of it a quick kiss. He growled and snapped at her, but she’d been prepared for such a reaction and jumped away.

“I had to make sure it’s still Alex in there. It is you, isn’t it?”

He nodded, actually nodded! She’d never seen anything like it. It really was him.

Then he darted off between the trees.

She fell to her knees as waves of joy pulsed through her body. She’d always doubted this would work, though she’d never fully admitted it to herself.

She cried without control, not needing it in this rare moment of bliss. For the first time since she was a little girl, she was completely incapacitated by emotion.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Her father was sick. At least that’s what he told Sanya from the other side of his bedroom door. Takary family guards had let her into the mansion, but the halls were mostly empty, a stark contrast from when she used to live here. She supposed most of the staff and relatives had moved into the castle in the center of the capital as she had.

“Let me in.” Sanya kept her voice low. She could sense a couple others in nearby rooms.

“Just go,” Spiro said in a raspy voice. “I don’t want to make you ill.”

It was a lie.

Keeping her psychic ability from her father had been the most difficult out of anyone. When she began to realize she could control bastial energy, the last thing she thought to do was tell him. He would take it as a sign that his experiments were working. She’d made him believe that nothing he’d done affected her in any way except to make her miserable, yet that still didn’t stop him.

But what was he really doing in there that made him want to remain unseen? Spiro was a sneaky man, not to be trusted by anyone. When the previous war was over, he’d created the illusion that he’d killed himself, though Sanya had done most of the work by pretending to mourn. The motive for his suicide made it believable—Kyrro had won the war and Spiro had invested his adult life in supporting Tegry Hiller. There would be nothing left for him once Kyrro’s army came to take the castle and put him in prison, maybe even execute him. All of this was true.

Spiro and Sanya had journeyed to the capital, where her father stayed in the Takary mansion when he wasn’t out surprising loyal comrades by still being alive, trying to recruit them. Many people had invested their lives in the expectation that Tenred would win the war. They were all too ready to latch on to a new leader, and Tauwin’s father was a smart and powerful man. If only he’d known that his biggest threat was a jealous son.

Spiro didn’t care who led so long as he had a slice of power and returned to his life of luxury. He also didn’t care about Sanya, especially not about getting her sick, which gave her even more reason to find out why she couldn’t enter his room now.

“Father, I won’t get sick,” she tried.

He feigned a cough. “Come back tomorrow.”

She had a quick peek at her akorell bracelet. It was already glowing brightly, having absorbed bastial energy from the spiritual world. It likely would be ready for another portal tomorrow. She would come back then.

“Fine. I hope you feel better.”

When she returned to the castle, a servant had orders to bring her to Tauwin. He was meeting with Cheot and the commander of his military, a man in his middle years by the name of Stanmar who looked capable of and willing to rip a man’s head clear from his neck if a subordinate went against his orders; anyone’s neck—it didn’t matter if it belonged to the one who’d defied him. Sanya heard a rumor that Stanmar had thrown his plate at servants after receiving the news that the Academy had beaten back Abith’s army. Even Tauwin often showed fear when disagreeing with Stanmar, not that it stopped him from voicing his opinion. Nothing would.