The Record of the Saints Caliber (96 page)

Verami wheezed a breath. “What shall you name this one, my dear?”

“Agana.” said Loretta. “I name her, Agana.”

After a while Agana stopped sucking and rested peacefully in Loretta’s arms. She looked up at Loretta with big, black-blue eyes and smiled through the blood that smeared her mouth and cheeks. Loretta smiled back. She stood up and brought Agana over to the shelves of mason jars. “Look Agana,” said Loretta, bouncing her in her arms. “Look at all your baby brothers and sisters. You’re going to have such a good life. You’re going to get so much love. Mama will take care of you. Mama will always take care of you, Agana.”

Agana’s eyes scanned over the shelves. She chirped a little laugh.

“You like them?” Loretta took down one of the jars and brought it close to Agana’s arms. “This one is your brother, Caleb. He died just before mama gave birth to you.”

Agana’s bloody hand reached out toward the mason jar and she smiled. The glass smeared with blood from her hand.

“But not you,” whispered Loretta. “Not you, my little Agana. You’re never going to die. You’re going to live. You’re going to grow up and be my daughter.”

— 26 —

KARINAEL

The Rock Barrens were an expanse of desolate, wasted earth that spread out eastward from Mount Empyrean to the shores of the Great Narberethan Lakes. Closer to Mount Empyrean, the Rock Barrens were littered with fragments of strange, glassy earth and stone and tremendous boulders that looked as if they had been blasted and melted into eerie formations. Further out, past the Holy Walls and its towers that circled the mountain, the Rock Barrens became a sea of rocky earth strewn with megalithic boulders and creepy rock formations. Karinael had been out in the Rock Barrens that surrounded Sanctuary before, but never out of sight of the Holy Wall and its watchful towers. Being this far out left Karinael with an exhilaration and excitement she had never felt before.

Karinael stopped and looked behind her. Mount Empyrean loomed far away in the distance. Not even the Holy Wall could be seen. She couldn’t help but smile. The sky, the earth, the air…everything was new. She had dreamed of going out into the world, and now here she was! And the best part was, she was even with Nuriel. She turned around to catch back up with her friend. She took a few clumsy steps in her new Star-Armor before something colorful amongst the dreary rocks caught her eye. She bent over, nearly toppling, and picked a frail green stem of small, yellow flowers that was poking out from beneath a stone.

“Look, Nuriel,” said Karinael, marveling at the strange flowers. “What is this?” She held it to her nose and sniffed. It didn’t really have an odor.

“It’s a weed,” said Nuriel. She looked exhausted. Even her voice had an uncharacteristic croak to it. She stopped and placed her hands up against a towering boulder and leaned over, almost panting for breath.

Karinael made a stiff-legged walk over to Nuriel. It had been two days since she got her Star-Armor and she was still having trouble walking in it. She had gotten used to the coldness of it, but it was just so
heavy
. “Are you alright? You don’t look so good this morning.”

Nuriel rubbed her face. She put her back against the boulder and slid down it until she was sitting upon the rocky earth. She looked up at Karinael. Her eyes had dark circles beneath them and she just looked exhausted, like somebody who hadn’t slept in a week. Karinael admitted that camping out overnight in the Rock Barrens left much to be desired, but Nuriel didn’t seem to be taking it so well.

“What’s wrong?” asked Karinael, coming up to her. She almost fell over and her hand shot out and grabbed the boulder to catch herself. “Whoa!”

“You need to hurry up and sync with your armor.” snapped Nuriel. She scowled and looked away.

Karinael frowned. Nuriel had been tired, snippy and irritable ever since the Call to Guard Ceremony. “I’m sorry. Geesh.”

“We left Sanctuary two days ago and we’ve barely gone twenty miles. This isn’t some game out here.” shot Nuriel. “We have to make it all the way to Jerusa. You need to get with it. You need to hurry up and sync with that armor.”

Karinael sighed and sat down next to Nuriel. She stroked her hand over the cool, smooth surface of her star-metal breastplate. It was slightly more ovular than Nuriel’s, and where Nuriel’s was rounded hers had interestingly angled facets. The matching pauldrons on her shoulders were similarly faceted, and the bracers upon her upper arms, forearms and elbows were also cut with diamond-like angles that made her Star-Armor catch the light in a pleasing way. Unlike Nuriel’s suit that had the skirt of feather-like plates all around her waist, Karinael’s had a pair of wider, heavier, faceted plates hanging off her hips, as well as a white, leather scabbard that held her star-metal broadsword. The upper and lower parts of her leg armor, as well as her boots, all matched the rest of her armor.

Karinael loved her new armor. She had inherited from Saint Sariel of the Sands, and she thought it was beautiful. Karinael was sorry that such a good Saint had died in the line of duty so that she could have it (and had been consumed into it, though that was a thought she tried not to dwell on), but she was determined to do Sariel justice and make the most out of being a Saints Caliber. She mused over her beautiful new armor for a moment more, and then looked at Nuriel with a sigh. Nuriel did not return the gaze, she just stared out ahead of her at nothing.

“Are you not feeling well?” asked Karinael.

“I’m fine.” grumbled Nuriel.

Karinael regarded her friend for a moment. “I’m glad you’re with me, you know.” she said. “But… I want you to be happy too. You didn’t have to give up being an Eremitic Saint to apprentice me.”

“Yes, I did, actually.” snapped Nuriel. She looked at Karinael with those darkly-circled eyes and an almost disgusted scowl.

Karinael looked away and tossed the stem of yellow flowers she had plucked. “Sorry I’m such a burden.”

“If you want to do me a favor, get with the program and sync with your armor already.”

“I’m trying. It’s not easy.” said Karinael.

“I know!” barked Nuriel. “Nothing’s easy as a Saints Caliber! Get with it already!”

Karinael rolled her eyes. “You don’t look like you can take another step anyway.” she mumbled.

Nuriel turned and looked at her, eyes narrowed. “Let’s go.” She stood up.

Karinael stood up and wobbled on her feet, catching herself on the boulder. “Whoa!”

Nuriel rolled her eyes. “Move it.” she said. “Shine your Caliber, as bright as you can.”

Karinael took a deep breath and focused on her Caliber. A faint yellow glow, hardly visible against the light of day, encompassed her.

Nuriel huffed and puffed, biting her lip and shaking her head angrily. “Is that it? Is that all you got?”

Karinael closed her eyes. She focused. Her Caliber’s shine increased slightly. “It… It hurts.”

“I know!” shot Nuriel. “But I need you to keep that up.
All day.
It’s the only way you’re going to sync with your armor.”

“I… I don’t know if I can…”

“You have to!” yelled Nuriel. She got in Karinael’s face. “You have to! Do you want to be consumed by your armor?! Do you want to die like that, not even in battle?! You have to keep it up, even if it hurts! I don’t know how much longer I can…”

Karinael looked at Nuriel. “How much longer you can what?”

Nuriel scowled and looked away. “Deal with your whining. Toughen up. Now come on, let’s go.” Nuriel began walking off.

Karinael breathed deep. Shining her Caliber this much was painful. She had been shining it as much as she could ever since she donned the armor. It was like holding a small weight in an outstretched arm. At first it was easy, but as time wore on it became more and more painful. Right now, her entire body burned and she wanted nothing more than to let it all go. But she knew Nuriel was right. She had to keep it up. The armor would kill her if she didn’t. It already almost had.

Karinael thought back to the Ceremony. After the Oracles had marked her neck with her stellaglyph and taken her blood for the Sanguinastrum, they began chanting something in the ancient tongue. They placed a shroud over her. She clenched her eyes closed as they cut the steel breastplate from her body. She could feel the Sin Eaters frantically pulling at it, and then she felt the strange sensation of her naked chest and back.

Then the frigid cold of the star-metal hit her.

She felt it wash over her body, consuming her in its arctic embrace. It hadn’t been slipped over her head, but rather somehow slipped
through
her body. Once it was around her, a sensation other than coldness grabbed her. It was a pulling sensation. She could feel her body beginning to crawl into the metal. She remembered her heart racing. She shined her Caliber with all her might, but still that terrible tugging sensation consumed her. She felt her skin tearing. She felt her bones moving. She had yelped. And then, just like that, the pulling sensation eased. It hadn’t faded completely, but it had eased enough that she was no longer panicking. Over the last two days, that sensation of being pulled into the armor had faded, and although almost non-existent now, Karinael could still detect it.

Karinael closed her eyes and rubbed the stellaglyph scarred upon the back of her neck.
“Almost there.”
she told herself.
“Don’t stop now.”
She focused on her Caliber. If she could just keep this up, by the end of the day—tomorrow at the latest—she’d be fully synced with her armor and she would no longer have to worry about it consuming her. Maybe then Nuriel would lighten up.

Part of her wondered, though. Nuriel was not the same Nuriel she had known. She wondered if her friend might one day open up to her about the things she had seen, the things she had done. Last night she had seen Nuriel taking more of that drug she called Evanescence. She wondered what had transformed the timid but caring Nuriel she had known into this colder, angrier Nuriel. She wondered if she’d ever get the old Nuriel back.

She looked ahead and made a clumsy jog to catch up with her friend.

She wondered if she too might be changed one day.

— 27 —

STOKING FIRES

Clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Ease up there, Rook.” said Callad Venzi. He stood up from polishing the sword he was working on and wiped his hands down his greasy, leather apron.

Rook brought the hammer down one more time, as hard as he could. Yellow sparks exploded from the glowing steel set upon his anvil, and bounced off his leather apron. He gripped the hot steel in a pair of rusty tongs and thrust it into the furnace by his side. With his free arm he pumped hard at the bellows and the coals roared to angry life. Even through the thick, leather gloves he wore Rook could feel the intense heat threatening to sear through to his flesh.

“Easy there, son.” said Callad, placing one of his giant, calloused, all-consuming paws upon Rook’s shoulder. “That steel isn’t going anywhere. Time and patience help forge good swords, not just strength.”

Rook tore the tongs from the furnace and twisted around, placing the glowing steel back on the anvil.
Clink…clink…clink…

Callad grabbed the hammer from Rook’s hand in mid-stroke.