Phoenix Ascendant - eARC (16 page)

She laughed and swept him into a bear hug. “I promise, Xavier.”

Rion said nothing, just embraced the boy from Earth, and then shook his hand. But as Xavier turned back to his friends, he spoke. “Xavier?”

“Yeah, Rion?”

“I pray for you to get your vengeance. But…don’t leave your family alone.”

The smile was brilliant and the gray eyes, so like her own, were happy again. “I won’t, Rion. And when I go on the hunt again…well, I’ll say a little prayer to your Myrionar, just in case.”

Rion smiled back.

The other goodbyes didn’t take as long. While Kyri liked all of them—studious, sometimes oblivious Toshi with his razor-sharp mind, analytical, dangerous, yet cheerfully friendly Nike, the ever-charming and talented Gabriel, and strong, awkwardly loyal Aurora—they hadn’t shared adventure with Kyri and Tobimar, been part of giving her the first real chance to avenge her family. Finally, the five shouldered their packs, bowed to all of them, linked hands…and disappeared.

For a little while it was hard to accept that they’d left; no door had opened, they had simply vanished in the dining room. But as the much quieter evening began to lengthen, she accepted that the group from Zahralandar—Earth—was gone.

“Well…we’re on our own,” she said finally to Rion, Tobimar, and Poplock.

“We are,” Rion agreed. “But we knew we would be. There
has
to be some way to get to the Retreat.”

Tobimar grunted. “So far we haven’t had much luck.” He yawned. “Look at that. This early?”

“You stayed up late last night,” Poplock pointed out, “Hanging out with Xavier, as he’d put it.”

“Yeah. Well, I’m going to at least do a little sparring before I wash up and go to bed. Want to join me, Poplock?”

“Why not? You need someone to beat you once in a while.”

“How about you, Kyri, Rion?”

Kyri didn’t quite feel like sparring. “Not right now. Maybe tomorrow.”

“Okay. See you in a bit, then.”

She looked back at Rion as the two left. “Well, as they said, we haven’t had much luck. I can only think of one possibility, but unfortunately I don’t
control
that possibility.”

“What possibility is that?”

“If we could somehow get you back your…connection to Myrionar, maybe
you
could find your way there.”

Rion tilted his head, puzzled. “But…
you
are a Justiciar, and you can’t find the place.”

“True, Rion…but I haven’t ever
been
there. As a Justiciar, you
were
there. And since Myrionar was the source of your strength, it wasn’t through our enemy’s power that you could find the Retreat, it was through Myrionar’s and the fact that you were already
admitted
to the Retreat.”

Rion’s mouth dropped slightly open and he stared at her. Then a slow grin spread across his face. “You know…that’s just about simple enough an idea that it might just work.” Then his face fell. “If it
could
work.”

“Rion…”

He stood suddenly, started to walk out. Then stopped. “I want to go for a walk. But you’re welcome to come and keep an eye on me, if you want.”

“I’m not suspicious of you.”

“Your Toad friend still is. And maybe he’s right.”

They stepped out into the deepening night. The sky was awash in brilliant stars, shimmering in soft colors and sharp, infinitely small and bright points, the great arc of dark-streaked light that the Sauran’s called the Dragon’s Path crossing the entire sky. She heard the faint trilling cry of a Least Dragon in the distance, the sussuration of insects much nearer at hand. Rion was a black outline on black in the darkness.

“If
we
aren’t going to suspect you, do you need to be so hard on yourself, Rion?”

“Kyri, I can’t even
touch
holy objects. I’m surprised I can touch your hand without being scorched.” He walked towards the rear of the estate—not towards the town; obviously he wasn’t taking any more risks. “Can you
imagine
what it would do to me if Myrionar was even
willing
to take me back? I’d explode in fire.”

“There
has
to be a way around that.” The idea that her brother—that
Rion
—was barred from the thing he had dreamed of, had worked for, had
achieved
—was maddening and tragic. “We’ll
find
one. Somehow.”

He stopped, the two of them in the deeper shadows beneath the trees that shaded the rear of the estate. Even in that darkness, she saw a phantom flicker of white teeth as he laughed. “And maybe I should just accept that you
will
,” he said quietly, laying a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve been beating the odds all along.”

“I try,” she said.

They stood that way for a moment. Then Kyri became aware she could
see
his eyes, a faint shade of a shimmer in the darkness. “Your eyes are—”

“Yes, I know. Subtle, but one sign that can remind me of what I am. Is it…scary?”

“No,” she said with a faint snort of laughter. “I’ve seen things that were
actually
scary.” She concentrated on the faint discs of light. “A little eerie, but I can just about make out the detail—not just a general glow of light for the whole eye. Faint touch of blue in the center.”

“Really? You can see that much?”

“Yes.” She found herself concentrating on the eyes again.
Wait. Why am I paying so much attention to this?

But now the eyes were shimmering with yellow.

Oh, Myrionar,
NO
.
“R-Rion…”

“I…I really don’t want to hurt you, Kyri. I’m…I’m sorry, but I just realized…I don’t have a choice now. I don’t know why…”

Desperately she fought to move, feeling the same helpless fury that she had when Thornfalcon had caught her—but made worse by it being
Rion
, by the genuine regret and self-loathing in that voice.

But she could only raise a hand slowly, weakly, as Rion—or whatever it was that wore his face—bent towards her throat.

Chapter 22

“This is going to look
so
stupid, Poplock,” Tobimar said, settling his swords back into place. “We—”

“I’ll take all the blame if it looks stupid. I know that it
seemed
like we pretty much settled it just now, but there’s still that chance left, and can we afford it if you’re wrong? We can take a little embarrassment, even getting Kyri mad at us, but…”

“Fine, fine. You’re right. You generally have been. I just hope we’re all wasting our time on this one and that you’re going to have to do the apologies.”

The brown Toad bobbed his body. “Oh, believe me, I’d
much
rather end up doing abject apologies.”

It had been about fifteen minutes; they’d agreed that was the right amount. Of course, if they were misjudging…

“They’re not in the dining room anymore.”

“That much is obvious, now that we’re looking into the dining room.” Poplock nodded towards the front door. “If he went back towards the town…”

“Right. She’d go with him, of course.”

“Meaning they’re alone.”

Tobimar strode to the front door and opened it. Another warm night, some ragged, drifting clouds obscuring stars in patches of pure black edged with faint silver, but mostly clear. With a moment to adjust, he could see fairly well. But the pathway down towards the village seemed empty. “You see anything?”

Poplock wobbled side to side, his equivalent of a headshake. “Nothing. So they didn’t go this way—I’m sure they’d still be in sight. Around the side?”

“We can do a full circuit. If they’re not out here…then they probably went upstairs, and that’s okay.”

The toad grunted. “Yeah, if I’m right nothing’s going to happen indoors. Too close. Too much chance of someone stumbling on you.”

“All this because of her reactions?”

“Don’t tell me
you
didn’t notice.” They started a careful circle around Vantage Fortress.

Tobimar sighed. “Yes,” he admitted, speaking in a whisper. “Subtle at first, and perfectly reasonable I guess, but…she’s just a little
too
loyal, too accepting, too defensive of Rion.”

“Right,” Poplock said, matching his quiet tones. “Now, like you say, it
could
be natural—she practically idolized her brother, from everything I’ve heard—but I dunno; the woman who got tricked once by Thornfalcon, then got faced like the rest of us with the truth about Miri and Shae…I don’t see her taking him at face value or losing her caution—or her control—that easily.”

“Thus your plan to give him an obvious chance to move, now that our five guests are gone, and before we have a chance to get
new
suspicions.”

“Exactly. If he’s got anything planned, now’s the time to do it, when our suspicions should be at their lowest and our forces weakened.”

Tobimar was silent. He liked Rion. He
didn’t
like trying to set a trap for him, when he was about nine-tenths sure that Rion was being as straight with them as he could. But Poplock’s caution had saved them all more than once; he wasn’t going to disregard it.

He almost missed it; the movement was small, in shadow, barely visible, the motion of velvet across ebony. But he belatedly caught it out of the corner of his eye and turned, focusing on that spot.

What the…?

For one incredibly confusing moment, he thought he was seeing a lover’s embrace, Rion and Kyri together in a pose too close and intimate for even brother and sister. Then he saw how limply Kyri was standing, and betrayed fury flared up in him. Without even thinking of it, his
vya-shadu
were in his hands and he was sprinting like lightning across the grass.
“RION!”

The taller figure’s head snapped up, and fury now became certainty, for the eerie yellow glow of those eyes was like nothing human. But instead of just dropping Kyri and fleeing, the figure lowered her gently to the ground, coming on guard just barely before Tobimar’s swords blazed a silver-green path through the air.

Rion, or whatever it was, parried both blades almost casually, then simply flicked a glance sideways. Tobimar only
just
managed to dodge as a tree branch three inches thick hurtled at him. The longsword tried to bite through Tobimar’s armor, and even as he parried
that
, two rocks the size of his fist hammered into his side, sending him staggering. A spray of gravel and sand flew up from the ground behind the false Rion, and Poplock went tumbling away, spitting out dirt and wiping his eyes.

In that instant, Tobimar was startled to see that the impostor chose to run.
He had a perfect opening; I’m
sure
he could have run me through there.

Instead of taking the opportunity to finish him and Poplock off, Rion sprinted away, heading towards the road, at a speed that astounded Tobimar.
Even in High Center with full strength and speed enhancement I’m going to have a hell of a time catching him!

But in that moment, five figures simply
materialized
in front of Rion. “You are going
nowhere
, jerk,” Xavier said.

“Out of my way!” A fountain of stones and gravel roared towards them—

—and stopped dead in midair. Aurora lowered her hand, and the rocks dropped straight to the ground. “Oh, not
that
easy.” Her voice was low and furious; not waiting for her comrades, Aurora lunged forward, leaping up and slamming an axe-kick down.

Rion barely evaded it, but the concussion blew him off his feet and staggered Tobimar, who hadn’t yet caught up; a crater ten feet wide and three deep surrounded Aurora, radiating from her foot.
Great
Light
, she’s strong.

The false Rion did not look intimidated, though; strangely, he looked sad. “Then I must fight.”

The figure blurred into motion, so fast that Tobimar actually lost track of him. Aurora was suddenly toppling, wincing, and Xavier tumbling backward, one of his swords actually flying from his grasp. Gabriel had
barely
managed to get his own huge blade up in time, and the false Rion was again visible, driving Gabriel Dante back with sheer strength. He disappeared again, speed incarnate, as Nike and Toshi took aim, and Toshi was abruptly defending against strikes that came from every direction.

Concentrate. The power of Terian lies within me now. Call it up. Channel it with the meditation of High Center.

He could
see
his power within, now, a spark of blue-white energy that surged into a flame as he touched it.

Speed
blazed
through him, and he accelerated forward. His adversary was fast, but now Tobimar could follow his moves, track his strategy. Even as his shield smash sent Toshi’s bow spinning aside, Rion stiffened and whirled, just in time to catch Tobimar’s swords, one with his own weapon, one with his shield, and Tobimar saw him wince as the blue-white aura touched him; a wisp of white smoke rose from the unshielded hand.

His adversary sprang into the air, impossibly high, twenty-five, thirty feet, running through the sky now, heading for the shelter and cover of the trees.

Without warning, the earth
heaved
skyward, stone and soil forming a barrier that was three hundred feet tall in an instant. Rion was unable to completely halt, smacked into the solid obstacle, and then was dashing
down
as bolts of fire, accompanied by sharp, ear-shattering reports, chased barely inches behind him; out of the corner of his eye, Tobimar could see these came from Nike, who was holding a weapon that must be one of the “rifles” that Xavier had told him about once; but the rifle was spitting what looked like solidified flame, cutting holes in the rocky bulwark as though it were a hay-bale.

Tobimar wasn’t sure whether it was
wise
for him to reenter the combat. He definitely didn’t want to get in the way of either Nike or Toshi, who was now firing arrows at an impossible rate, arrows that shone like the stars and hit like bludgeons.
These five
know
what they are doing. They’re coordinating as well as we do!

“Don’t
kill
him!” Kyri’s shout echoed across the battlefield. “Keep him
alive!
”

Rion threw a vial into the air that detonated and sent uncountable metal spikes spearing down. “Easier said than done,” Poplock retorted. “He’s not worried about
us
!”

At first Tobimar was inclined to agree, but…
High Center. Find the danger, the menace. What is the shape of the battle, the outline of possibility and peril?

The vision finally began to flow for real, Tobimar now at one with himself, and he could see, not just what was
now
but in a sense what
might be
a few split seconds later, link that with action, and
move
.

And as Rion sent Nike sprawling—
yet with a blow that stunned, not the easier strike that could have killed
—Tobimar was already there, twin swords passing his opponent’s defenses, coming to rest on his throat. “Stop.”

For just an instant he thought that Rion wouldn’t stop—that he’d fight on, let himself be killed, a near-perfect way to maintain his silence. The impostor’s eyes flickered to the one direction he might escape in, saw Xavier there, and his shoulders slumped. He let his weapon fall and dropped to his knees. “Then finish me.”

“No,” Kyri said, anger, confusion, and obvious shock warring for dominance on her sharp features. Blood smeared her face and Tobimar couldn’t tell if it was hers or Rion’s. “No. You knew so much. You spent so much time with us. You were so much
him
. You’ll tell us the truth.”

“Or…what?”

Even through the blood, Tobimar saw the teeth flash in a tired, uncertain grin. “A good question. I won’t torture you. A part of me
wants
to. Maybe I
should
. But…”

“No,” said Toshi, studying the false Rion with an analytical gaze that if anything was sharper even than Poplock’s own. “No, he could have killed several of us. Instead I don’t think any of us are even seriously injured.”

Poplock bounced over and looked up. “Why not show your real face? It’s not like there’s any point in continuing the lie.”

The impostor gazed down, and then he gave a low, tragic sigh. “Yes. The matrix is shredded beyond recovery now. I’ve failed completely.”

With a shimmer, Rion Vantage faded away, replaced by a more slender youth. Long white hair, with perhaps a faint touch of lavender, cascaded down straight and true. The new features were definitely more delicate and defined, almost as pretty as those of Toshi, but in the straightness of the hair and something about the shape of the face there was something that echoed Xavier far more closely.

The eyes were the only inhuman feature, glowing yellow, dark-irised. But the glow was fading, less a lambent threat and now a faint flicker.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Tashriel,” he answered.

“Tashriel? Why is that…Oh!” Kyri nodded, even as Tobimar remembered where
he
had heard that name before too. “You were Wieran’s assistant. Miri mentioned you, but we never met you.”

“So what in the world got you stuck into a bottle pretending to be Rion? That doesn’t seem
anything
like what that crazy old man would be doing,” Poplock said.

Tashriel hesitated, then shrugged. “You’re not going to kill me?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” Kyri said; her voice was not steady, and Tobimar stepped to her side, put a hand on her shoulder; she reached over and gripped his fingers tightly. “Personally I would like to cut you
apart
for what you’ve done—this false hope you’ve given me and taken away. But…you
must
know something about our enemy. If you can tell us something…” Her sword slid back into its sheath. “We’ll decide…
I’ll
decide…afterward.” She wiped her face, looking even shakier, and sat down on a nearby stone.

Tashriel looked around at the whole group, and suddenly gave a low, rueful laugh. “It was
all
a trap. A trick.”

“Hey, we’d
always
planned on us coming back after apparently leaving,” Xavier said. “Or, to be honest,
Toshi
always planned on that, he’s the brains in this outfit. Stood to reason that if their enemies were going to do something, they’d do it when Kyri, Tobimar, and Poplock were basically on their own. Poplock just orchestrated the timing. He figured you’d move as soon as a couple hours had gone by, because
most
people would be expecting you to wait a little longer, maybe a day or two.”

Kyri shook her head. “And…And you had guessed he had some influence over me. I can feel it fading away now.”

“Not much influence,” Tashriel said. “Just…increasing your own reactions, mostly. Exaggerating them.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t have any choice. But…I’ll tell you everything I can about everything I know…what I did with Wieran…what my mission was…and especially what I know about your enemy…about Viedraverion.”