A Song of Snow and Ashes by S.J. Drew
you'd just be reasonable I wouldn't have to do this."
Eliora ended up spending three days in the Charred Lands and returned every evening after the rest of her duties had been completed in Tallis Marrom. The Council wasn't particularly happy to hear she was working in the Charred Lands, but accepted her explanation that she was trying to keep the people from allying with Dark clerics. Aidan, quite pointedly, did not ask where she was going or why. She knew that was coming, but there was something more important looming in her future. In the meantime, she continued to distract herself with the puzzle of the Charred Lands. In the summer there was no wind. The air just hung, heavy, hot, still, oppressive, and as dead as the dirt. She felt she was close to understanding what had made the land so barren when the future caught up with her.
What she had been dreading came three short weeks before the solstice. She was in the usual meeting with the Council when Hialmar presented her with a list.
"We've narrowed it down to a dozen people, in order of their likelihood of being the Dark Avatar," he said proudly. "We've got their names, who they work for, and where they live. We can find out who the Avatar is by the end of the week if we push hard enough."
She looked at the list. "How do you plan to find out?"
"We were hoping you could give us some sort of insight or spell to help us," he said.
She shook her head. "I have to do this myself."
The Council was not happy. "What? Why?" Hialmar demanded.
"It's too dangerous. I can't promise you that the Dark Avatar wouldn't be able to notice any spell I gave you. You've done so much for me already I'm not going to let you needlessly endanger yourselves."
"How are you going to find him if not a spell?"
"I don't need a spell. I will know who it is when I get close enough. And he will know who I am as well."
"That seems stupid and foolish. We can find out with no risk."
"No, Hialmar," she said. "I cannot give you a spell to find the Dark Avatar. I cannot pray for insight from the Light One because I will not receive it. I was Chosen to fight this battle, and I will do so. You Hunters have given me everything I need to fight this battle, and hopefully to win it. This is no longer a battle you should fight. You've taken enough risks for me. Now I must do what I was Chosen to do: defeat the Darkness."
"What if you fail?"
"I don't think I will."
"But what if you do?" Hialmar insisted.
"That depends on what you want to do. You will know who the Dark Avatar is after I fight him. Should he win, the world will fall into Darkness. What that will practically mean, I don't know. Right now it appears his ambitions are confined to Renfrew. You have already done so much for me I'm not going to tell you what do after the battle is resolved, one way or another. I will leave it to you to decide what is the right course of action. I feel I can ask no more of you except that you let me fight this battle alone as I was meant to."
"So what will you do if you win?"
"I'm going to go where I feel I can do the most good. I'm going to stay in the Charred Lands and try to repair the damage from the Mage Wars."
"That's a lost cause," Hialmar said. "You should stay here and help us protect the demians."
"You do a fine job of that yourselves. But if anyone can heal the Charred Lands, it would be someone wielding the power of a god." They started to protest but she silenced them. "No objections. I must do this. I appreciate your willingness to train and help me more than I can say. But I can't live in two places. I have to choose, and I choose the Charred Lands."
"When are you going to fight the Dark Avatar?"
She was silent for several moments. "Tomorrow morning."
"Why not wait until the solstice?"
"Because he'll only be stronger."
"So will you," Hialmar pointed out.
"I know. But the less powerful he is, the less damage he can do to innocent people. I hope, anyway. I will go to Renfrew tomorrow morning."
"Fine, but we'll make sure you're prepared for whatever happens."
They discussed plans and alternative plans until Eliora's head was spinning and she finally called for a lunch break an hour past noon.
Aidan was loitering outside the cottage and caught up her as she walked to the dining hall.
"So, that seems intense," he said.
"I'm going to fight the ShadowWalker tomorrow."
He stopped in his tracks. "What? So soon?"
"It's nearly the solstice. The Hunters have narrowed his identity down to a dozen people. I'll go find him tomorrow."
He trotted to catch up with her. "So that's why you've been in there so long. You're making plans to deal with every circumstance."
"So it seems," she said tiredly. The constant second-guessing was not making her feel better about her task.
"Well, better to get it over with, I suppose. Then everyone can come back. That'll be nice. I've missed those guys."
She smiled sadly. "I have to."
"You aren't staying, are you?"
She stopped walking. "No, I'm not. If I survive..."
"You will."
"When I win," she corrected, "I'll bring everyone back, but I can't stay here."
"Are you going home?"
"No."
"Then you are staying with Davin," he said, sounding sulky.
"I'm sorry if that hurts your feelings."
He shrugged. "Well, I did my best to win you over. How he managed to do it when he hasn't even been here for three months is baffling, but he did. So I guess he's the better man."
"It's not that, Aidan. You're a good man too. But I'm not really part of this place. I know, you taught me to fight and I'm your friend, but I don't know that I've really been accepted. I don't think the Council will be too upset to go back to the lives they had a year ago."
"Yeah, that's probably true. Men like Hialmar don't like change. You scared them all into it, but it doesn't mean they don't like it. Still, you don't have to give up on us younger guys," he said with a smile.
"I can't be torn in two. I have to go where my heart lies."
"Yeah, alright. You have to do what you have to do, I guess," he said, but didn't look happy. "But did it have to be the Charred Lands and that char-kin?"
She sort of shook her head sadly. "Hialmar and the Council expressed the same sort of feeling. Don't be like them, Aidan. Don't dismiss a whole group of people as a lost cause just because you don't really know or understand their ways."
He looked ashamed of himself. "You're right," he mumbled. "I'm just feeling a little bitter."
"That's alright, as long as it passes."
"Eliora, are you ready for this?" he asked, suddenly very sober. "You could die. You will have to kill someone."
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she said, feeling her stomach lurch uncomfortably. "I knew it would come down to confrontation a long time ago."
"Yeah, but it's one thing to be ready for confrontation when it's sometime in the future and another thing to be ready for it tomorrow."
An iridescent suddenly appeared.
Aidan yelped and jumped backwards.
It handed Eliora a note. "Where did you get this?" she asked, looking at an address.
"A Dark acolyte summoned us to carry a message to you."
"A Dark acolyte? Are you sure?"
"We could not mistake such a thing."
"What's the message?" she asked, confused.
"To come see him at this place as soon as possible."
"What did this acolyte look like?"
"Dark hair, dark eyes, pale of face like him," it said, pointing at Aidan.
He gulped.
"He had a strange silver frame with pieces of glass he held up to his eyes."
Eliora recognized the description the one Orlice had given of the young man standing next to the Dark Avatar during the equinox ceremony. "Thank you. Is there anything else?"<
br />
"Nay, mistress," it said, bowing. Then it vanished.
"Eliora, what was that?"
"An iridescent." She swallowed hard. "It looks like I don't get until tomorrow morning."
"What? You're going now? Why?"
"I have to." She smiled weakly. "I'll be back for dinner," she said, and disappeared into the Light Realm before he could protest.
She appeared in a front of a large metal gate set into a stone wall. She pushed the gate opened and walked into something that was wholly unfamiliar to her. It was a cemetery, but her people had no use for such a thing, so she was confused as she walked past row after row of shiny headstones. She figured out it was some sort of memorial for the dead but didn't understand why she would be meeting the friend of the Dark Avatar at all, or why he'd pick such a place. She wore the Armor underneath her clothes so as not to appear overly hostile but to be protected. It was a little tight. She found the young man sitting on a bench nervously cleaning his glasses.
"You sent for me," she said.
Blake jumped up from the bench. "You're really young," he said. "You can't be much older than I am."
"Why did you send for me? And why did you summon an iridescent? It's an odd thing for a Dark acolyte to even know how to do." She noted his face was pale, but could see part of that was fright.
"Well, I couldn't very send a darkling, could I?" he retorted nervously.
"Why did you send for me?"
"I know who the Dark Avatar is." He waited to see how she would take this news, but she didn't seem surprised or alarmed. "He's going to come here soon. Don't worry, it's not a trap. Not for you anyway," he said miserably.
"Please, tell me why you've brought me here to confront the Dark Avatar, and at great personal risk if he doesn't know to expect me."
"We've been friends for a long time. A long time. We've helped each other out. I've watched out for him, he's watched out for me. He stayed my friend when I joined the Order which I think you can guess most people wouldn't do."
She nodded slightly.
"So he became the Dark Avatar. Nothing against you, since I'm sure you're very nice and full of Light and all that, but I thought it was a good thing. He'd finally be able to get somewhere in the world. He's kind of low class, and it's real hard to get ahead when you're low class here. I helped him out. I tried to watch out for him. No one knows the dangers of dealing with Darkness like the Order. He was doing well enough, quite well, for a while. But somethin' happened a couple of months ago. Around the equinox. He started doing the things he said he'd never do. He stopped being sorry about it. The Darkness in his soul was getting stronger. A lot stronger. I told him it was bad for his soul. I tried to save him. He has a brother. This is important. His brother doesn't like me but knows about the Dark Avatar. Took it pretty well. But he was watching out and he talked to me about warning the Dark Avatar. So I tried. I told him to stop doing what he was doing. I tried to warn him. He did some sort of mind-control spell on the woman he wants to marry someday. She found out and got mad and he did magic to make her forget she found out. Then he did that spell on his own brother. His brother thought he might do something like that so he came to me to see if he had been enchanted. His own brother didn't trust him anymore. I knew then he was beyond my help. I can't save him. He won't listen. He doesn't care. He just wants what he wants. He says he'll stop doing these things, but he won't. If-if his best friend and own brother can't make him listen, can't save him, then I had only one other choice." He looked up at her with eyes that were preternaturally bright. "You believe me, right? I'm telling you the truth."
She could not doubt his pain. "I know," she said, feeling tears sting her own eyes.
"Can you save him? Can-can you get him to turn from this path of Darkness? His brother is bringing him here. We thought this would be the safest place. Everyone here is already dead. He'll be here soon. He'll know you. I can see you for what you are we're so close to the solstice. He will know you're here before he sees you. Can you save him?"
"I can try," she said finally. "But the Darkness must be very strong now. He will have to want to give it up."
"You have to try. You have to," Blake said. "This can't go on. He'll attract too much attention and someone will go after him. Or he'll just keep mind controlling people. The Darkness will grow within his soul and extinguish all Light."
"You understand if he refuses to turn back, he will likely fight me and try to kill me. You understand I'll have to defend myself and may have to kill him?"
Blake nodded his head and looked away. "We knew it was a possibility when we called you. No, it's probably a near certainty." He lowered his voice. "But we in the Order are taught that there is a fate worse than death. He will suffer that fate if he falls into Darkness. Death may be the only way to save him from that fate."
"I promise I will do my best to save your friend," she said. Then she felt a chill down her spine. "But you'd better get out of here if you don't want to get hurt. He's coming."
The acolyte turned as pale as a corpse, mumbled something, and vanished.
"Alain, you said you had something to talk to me about," Donnan said impatiently. "All we're doing is walking around the city. It wasn't easy to get off of work this early you know."
"Yeah, well, it wasn't easy for me to get out of bed at this hour either," he said. "So how are things with you and Aolani?"
"Going great," he said, feeling just a little bit guilty. "After the solstice, I'm going to ask her to marry me."
"You think she'll agree?"
"Sure I do."
"With or without the spell?"
"What spell?" he asked.
"You always were a bad liar, little brother," Alain said.
"It'll have faded away by the solstice," he said irritably. "You know, if you're going to lecture me again, I'd rather get back to work."
"No, I'm not goin' to lecture you. It doesn't seem to do any good. You used to care if you made me proud," he said dejectedly.
"I do. I still do," he replied defensively.
"You don't. You just want what you want and don't care about no one else," he said, but he didn't seem angry. He just seemed sad and disappointed.
"I do care," he said, his temper flaring. "I do care. I want you to be happy for me. I want you to be proud of the good life I've made for myself."
"You got a funny way of showin' it. Enchantin' some girl to get her to marry you don't make me proud. Enchantin' all her suitors and friends so they don't mess it up don't make me proud. Enchantin' the girl so she'd forget she found out about it don't make me proud. Enchantin' me so I forget the girl called you on enchantin' her sure as blazes don't make me proud."
Donnan stopped in his tracks but Alain kept walking. He ran a little to catch up with his brother. "How did you know that?"
"Oh, godsdamnit, that's what I'm talkin' about," he said, now sounding a little angry and a lot frustrated. "The first thing out of your mouth should have been an apology. Instead you just want to know how you got caught. How does that make me proud?"
He flushed scarlet. "Well, if you'd just be reasonable, I wouldn't have to do that. I told you the spell would be gone by the solstice."
"This isn't about what you think is reasonable. This is about what's right," Alain said.
Donnan was surprised to see his brother's eyes were bright with tears.
"You can't afford to do these kinds of things. It's turning you into some kind of monster."
"I'm just doing what I have to do to get by," he snapped.
"No, you're not. Maybe you were in the beginnin', just like your friend Blake thought he was doin' what he had to when he joined the Order. Now you're not just doin' what you have to, and you know it. You can't do this to people. They got a right to make their own choices. You take that away from them you force them to live a lie. And you live that same lie. Once y
ou start that kind of lie, you can't stop lyin'. Look what happened with Aolani. She found out, so you made her forget so you can keep lyin' to her. I found out, so you made me forget. Your own brother. This is your good life? I can't be proud of a life made of lies and forcin' people do to what you want," he said in a voice that was much more pleading than it was angry. "Stop doin' this, Donnan. Please. It's going to destroy your soul."
He had never seen his brother this upset, not even when their parents had been killed. Now that he bothered to look, he could see Alain was even more pale than the early hour would explain and looked like he hadn't been sleeping well. He felt guilty and angry and ashamed. But he felt the stirring of Dark power within his soul. He forced a smile. "Alain, I understand you're concerned, but I've got it handled. I'm sorry I used a spell on you. And I promise I'll take off all the spells on everyone else right after the solstice. I won't need to use my power anymore after that. You'll see. It'll be fine. You can be proud of me again."
Instead of looking reassured, Alain looked like he was ready to completely break down.
"Don't you believe me?"
He shook his head and walked faster.
"Alain, wait up. Alain, what is it? Look, I promised. I keep my promises. Don't be like this. It'll be better. I promise." Suddenly he felt a hot flash and he stopped walking.
Alain heard him stop and turned around.
Donnan looked up at the stone wall surrounding the cemetery. "What's she doing here?" he muttered.
"Donnan?"
He turned to his brother. "I'm sorry, Alain. I have to take care of something," he said darkly. "We can talk about this later." Then he leaped over the wall and started to creep through the cemetery.
Near the center he saw the woman from Mulago sitting on a bench, staring at a weeping willow. He ducked behind a tall obelisk marker. Before he had time to consider some sort of plan, she spoke.
"I can see you. I can feel you. I'm here to talk to you."
He noticed her accent was much less pronounced. He walked out from behind the obelisk wearing the Armor of Ice. "About what?"
She noticed his accent was much less pronounced. She stood up. "About you, and about me, and about our futures." This was not the same young man she had met in Mulago. He looked more confident and harder, somehow.
This was not the same young woman he'd met in Mulago. She looked more confident and stronger. "I think only one of us has a future."
"It doesn't necessarily have to be that way."
He gave a short laugh. "Why do you think that?"
"Because I would prefer compromise to a fight to the death. Whether my hope of compromise is in vain depends on you."
"What kind of compromise were you thinking?"
"I think you should give up the Dark power."
He laughed again. "Some compromise. I lose everything."
"You keep your soul."
"Gods, not this lecture again," he said, rolling his eyes.
"It's so very Dark now, much Darker than when I met you Mulago. You are on the edge of falling into Darkness, ShadowWalker."
"I'm fine, LightBearer," he snapped.
"I can't help you if you don't understand this is a problem."
"You're going to help me?" he asked suspiciously.
"The Darkness is strong. It won't let go of your soul easily.
Eliora ended up spending three days in the Charred Lands and returned every evening after the rest of her duties had been completed in Tallis Marrom. The Council wasn't particularly happy to hear she was working in the Charred Lands, but accepted her explanation that she was trying to keep the people from allying with Dark clerics. Aidan, quite pointedly, did not ask where she was going or why. She knew that was coming, but there was something more important looming in her future. In the meantime, she continued to distract herself with the puzzle of the Charred Lands. In the summer there was no wind. The air just hung, heavy, hot, still, oppressive, and as dead as the dirt. She felt she was close to understanding what had made the land so barren when the future caught up with her.
What she had been dreading came three short weeks before the solstice. She was in the usual meeting with the Council when Hialmar presented her with a list.
"We've narrowed it down to a dozen people, in order of their likelihood of being the Dark Avatar," he said proudly. "We've got their names, who they work for, and where they live. We can find out who the Avatar is by the end of the week if we push hard enough."
She looked at the list. "How do you plan to find out?"
"We were hoping you could give us some sort of insight or spell to help us," he said.
She shook her head. "I have to do this myself."
The Council was not happy. "What? Why?" Hialmar demanded.
"It's too dangerous. I can't promise you that the Dark Avatar wouldn't be able to notice any spell I gave you. You've done so much for me already I'm not going to let you needlessly endanger yourselves."
"How are you going to find him if not a spell?"
"I don't need a spell. I will know who it is when I get close enough. And he will know who I am as well."
"That seems stupid and foolish. We can find out with no risk."
"No, Hialmar," she said. "I cannot give you a spell to find the Dark Avatar. I cannot pray for insight from the Light One because I will not receive it. I was Chosen to fight this battle, and I will do so. You Hunters have given me everything I need to fight this battle, and hopefully to win it. This is no longer a battle you should fight. You've taken enough risks for me. Now I must do what I was Chosen to do: defeat the Darkness."
"What if you fail?"
"I don't think I will."
"But what if you do?" Hialmar insisted.
"That depends on what you want to do. You will know who the Dark Avatar is after I fight him. Should he win, the world will fall into Darkness. What that will practically mean, I don't know. Right now it appears his ambitions are confined to Renfrew. You have already done so much for me I'm not going to tell you what do after the battle is resolved, one way or another. I will leave it to you to decide what is the right course of action. I feel I can ask no more of you except that you let me fight this battle alone as I was meant to."
"So what will you do if you win?"
"I'm going to go where I feel I can do the most good. I'm going to stay in the Charred Lands and try to repair the damage from the Mage Wars."
"That's a lost cause," Hialmar said. "You should stay here and help us protect the demians."
"You do a fine job of that yourselves. But if anyone can heal the Charred Lands, it would be someone wielding the power of a god." They started to protest but she silenced them. "No objections. I must do this. I appreciate your willingness to train and help me more than I can say. But I can't live in two places. I have to choose, and I choose the Charred Lands."
"When are you going to fight the Dark Avatar?"
She was silent for several moments. "Tomorrow morning."
"Why not wait until the solstice?"
"Because he'll only be stronger."
"So will you," Hialmar pointed out.
"I know. But the less powerful he is, the less damage he can do to innocent people. I hope, anyway. I will go to Renfrew tomorrow morning."
"Fine, but we'll make sure you're prepared for whatever happens."
They discussed plans and alternative plans until Eliora's head was spinning and she finally called for a lunch break an hour past noon.
Aidan was loitering outside the cottage and caught up her as she walked to the dining hall.
"So, that seems intense," he said.
"I'm going to fight the ShadowWalker tomorrow."
He stopped in his tracks. "What? So soon?"
"It's nearly the solstice. The Hunters have narrowed his identity down to a dozen people. I'll go find him tomorrow."
He trotted to catch up with her. "So that's why you've been in there so long. You're making plans to deal with every circumstance."
"So it seems," she said tiredly. The constant second-guessing was not making her feel better about her task.
"Well, better to get it over with, I suppose. Then everyone can come back. That'll be nice. I've missed those guys."
She smiled sadly. "I have to."
"You aren't staying, are you?"
She stopped walking. "No, I'm not. If I survive..."
"You will."
"When I win," she corrected, "I'll bring everyone back, but I can't stay here."
"Are you going home?"
"No."
"Then you are staying with Davin," he said, sounding sulky.
"I'm sorry if that hurts your feelings."
He shrugged. "Well, I did my best to win you over. How he managed to do it when he hasn't even been here for three months is baffling, but he did. So I guess he's the better man."
"It's not that, Aidan. You're a good man too. But I'm not really part of this place. I know, you taught me to fight and I'm your friend, but I don't know that I've really been accepted. I don't think the Council will be too upset to go back to the lives they had a year ago."
"Yeah, that's probably true. Men like Hialmar don't like change. You scared them all into it, but it doesn't mean they don't like it. Still, you don't have to give up on us younger guys," he said with a smile.
"I can't be torn in two. I have to go where my heart lies."
"Yeah, alright. You have to do what you have to do, I guess," he said, but didn't look happy. "But did it have to be the Charred Lands and that char-kin?"
She sort of shook her head sadly. "Hialmar and the Council expressed the same sort of feeling. Don't be like them, Aidan. Don't dismiss a whole group of people as a lost cause just because you don't really know or understand their ways."
He looked ashamed of himself. "You're right," he mumbled. "I'm just feeling a little bitter."
"That's alright, as long as it passes."
"Eliora, are you ready for this?" he asked, suddenly very sober. "You could die. You will have to kill someone."
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she said, feeling her stomach lurch uncomfortably. "I knew it would come down to confrontation a long time ago."
"Yeah, but it's one thing to be ready for confrontation when it's sometime in the future and another thing to be ready for it tomorrow."
An iridescent suddenly appeared.
Aidan yelped and jumped backwards.
It handed Eliora a note. "Where did you get this?" she asked, looking at an address.
"A Dark acolyte summoned us to carry a message to you."
"A Dark acolyte? Are you sure?"
"We could not mistake such a thing."
"What's the message?" she asked, confused.
"To come see him at this place as soon as possible."
"What did this acolyte look like?"
"Dark hair, dark eyes, pale of face like him," it said, pointing at Aidan.
He gulped.
"He had a strange silver frame with pieces of glass he held up to his eyes."
Eliora recognized the description the one Orlice had given of the young man standing next to the Dark Avatar during the equinox ceremony. "Thank you. Is there anything else?"<
"Nay, mistress," it said, bowing. Then it vanished.
"Eliora, what was that?"
"An iridescent." She swallowed hard. "It looks like I don't get until tomorrow morning."
"What? You're going now? Why?"
"I have to." She smiled weakly. "I'll be back for dinner," she said, and disappeared into the Light Realm before he could protest.
She appeared in a front of a large metal gate set into a stone wall. She pushed the gate opened and walked into something that was wholly unfamiliar to her. It was a cemetery, but her people had no use for such a thing, so she was confused as she walked past row after row of shiny headstones. She figured out it was some sort of memorial for the dead but didn't understand why she would be meeting the friend of the Dark Avatar at all, or why he'd pick such a place. She wore the Armor underneath her clothes so as not to appear overly hostile but to be protected. It was a little tight. She found the young man sitting on a bench nervously cleaning his glasses.
"You sent for me," she said.
Blake jumped up from the bench. "You're really young," he said. "You can't be much older than I am."
"Why did you send for me? And why did you summon an iridescent? It's an odd thing for a Dark acolyte to even know how to do." She noted his face was pale, but could see part of that was fright.
"Well, I couldn't very send a darkling, could I?" he retorted nervously.
"Why did you send for me?"
"I know who the Dark Avatar is." He waited to see how she would take this news, but she didn't seem surprised or alarmed. "He's going to come here soon. Don't worry, it's not a trap. Not for you anyway," he said miserably.
"Please, tell me why you've brought me here to confront the Dark Avatar, and at great personal risk if he doesn't know to expect me."
"We've been friends for a long time. A long time. We've helped each other out. I've watched out for him, he's watched out for me. He stayed my friend when I joined the Order which I think you can guess most people wouldn't do."
She nodded slightly.
"So he became the Dark Avatar. Nothing against you, since I'm sure you're very nice and full of Light and all that, but I thought it was a good thing. He'd finally be able to get somewhere in the world. He's kind of low class, and it's real hard to get ahead when you're low class here. I helped him out. I tried to watch out for him. No one knows the dangers of dealing with Darkness like the Order. He was doing well enough, quite well, for a while. But somethin' happened a couple of months ago. Around the equinox. He started doing the things he said he'd never do. He stopped being sorry about it. The Darkness in his soul was getting stronger. A lot stronger. I told him it was bad for his soul. I tried to save him. He has a brother. This is important. His brother doesn't like me but knows about the Dark Avatar. Took it pretty well. But he was watching out and he talked to me about warning the Dark Avatar. So I tried. I told him to stop doing what he was doing. I tried to warn him. He did some sort of mind-control spell on the woman he wants to marry someday. She found out and got mad and he did magic to make her forget she found out. Then he did that spell on his own brother. His brother thought he might do something like that so he came to me to see if he had been enchanted. His own brother didn't trust him anymore. I knew then he was beyond my help. I can't save him. He won't listen. He doesn't care. He just wants what he wants. He says he'll stop doing these things, but he won't. If-if his best friend and own brother can't make him listen, can't save him, then I had only one other choice." He looked up at her with eyes that were preternaturally bright. "You believe me, right? I'm telling you the truth."
She could not doubt his pain. "I know," she said, feeling tears sting her own eyes.
"Can you save him? Can-can you get him to turn from this path of Darkness? His brother is bringing him here. We thought this would be the safest place. Everyone here is already dead. He'll be here soon. He'll know you. I can see you for what you are we're so close to the solstice. He will know you're here before he sees you. Can you save him?"
"I can try," she said finally. "But the Darkness must be very strong now. He will have to want to give it up."
"You have to try. You have to," Blake said. "This can't go on. He'll attract too much attention and someone will go after him. Or he'll just keep mind controlling people. The Darkness will grow within his soul and extinguish all Light."
"You understand if he refuses to turn back, he will likely fight me and try to kill me. You understand I'll have to defend myself and may have to kill him?"
Blake nodded his head and looked away. "We knew it was a possibility when we called you. No, it's probably a near certainty." He lowered his voice. "But we in the Order are taught that there is a fate worse than death. He will suffer that fate if he falls into Darkness. Death may be the only way to save him from that fate."
"I promise I will do my best to save your friend," she said. Then she felt a chill down her spine. "But you'd better get out of here if you don't want to get hurt. He's coming."
The acolyte turned as pale as a corpse, mumbled something, and vanished.
"Alain, you said you had something to talk to me about," Donnan said impatiently. "All we're doing is walking around the city. It wasn't easy to get off of work this early you know."
"Yeah, well, it wasn't easy for me to get out of bed at this hour either," he said. "So how are things with you and Aolani?"
"Going great," he said, feeling just a little bit guilty. "After the solstice, I'm going to ask her to marry me."
"You think she'll agree?"
"Sure I do."
"With or without the spell?"
"What spell?" he asked.
"You always were a bad liar, little brother," Alain said.
"It'll have faded away by the solstice," he said irritably. "You know, if you're going to lecture me again, I'd rather get back to work."
"No, I'm not goin' to lecture you. It doesn't seem to do any good. You used to care if you made me proud," he said dejectedly.
"I do. I still do," he replied defensively.
"You don't. You just want what you want and don't care about no one else," he said, but he didn't seem angry. He just seemed sad and disappointed.
"I do care," he said, his temper flaring. "I do care. I want you to be happy for me. I want you to be proud of the good life I've made for myself."
"You got a funny way of showin' it. Enchantin' some girl to get her to marry you don't make me proud. Enchantin' all her suitors and friends so they don't mess it up don't make me proud. Enchantin' the girl so she'd forget she found out about it don't make me proud. Enchantin' me so I forget the girl called you on enchantin' her sure as blazes don't make me proud."
Donnan stopped in his tracks but Alain kept walking. He ran a little to catch up with his brother. "How did you know that?"
"Oh, godsdamnit, that's what I'm talkin' about," he said, now sounding a little angry and a lot frustrated. "The first thing out of your mouth should have been an apology. Instead you just want to know how you got caught. How does that make me proud?"
He flushed scarlet. "Well, if you'd just be reasonable, I wouldn't have to do that. I told you the spell would be gone by the solstice."
"This isn't about what you think is reasonable. This is about what's right," Alain said.
Donnan was surprised to see his brother's eyes were bright with tears.
"You can't afford to do these kinds of things. It's turning you into some kind of monster."
"I'm just doing what I have to do to get by," he snapped.
"No, you're not. Maybe you were in the beginnin', just like your friend Blake thought he was doin' what he had to when he joined the Order. Now you're not just doin' what you have to, and you know it. You can't do this to people. They got a right to make their own choices. You take that away from them you force them to live a lie. And you live that same lie. Once y
He had never seen his brother this upset, not even when their parents had been killed. Now that he bothered to look, he could see Alain was even more pale than the early hour would explain and looked like he hadn't been sleeping well. He felt guilty and angry and ashamed. But he felt the stirring of Dark power within his soul. He forced a smile. "Alain, I understand you're concerned, but I've got it handled. I'm sorry I used a spell on you. And I promise I'll take off all the spells on everyone else right after the solstice. I won't need to use my power anymore after that. You'll see. It'll be fine. You can be proud of me again."
Instead of looking reassured, Alain looked like he was ready to completely break down.
"Don't you believe me?"
He shook his head and walked faster.
"Alain, wait up. Alain, what is it? Look, I promised. I keep my promises. Don't be like this. It'll be better. I promise." Suddenly he felt a hot flash and he stopped walking.
Alain heard him stop and turned around.
Donnan looked up at the stone wall surrounding the cemetery. "What's she doing here?" he muttered.
"Donnan?"
He turned to his brother. "I'm sorry, Alain. I have to take care of something," he said darkly. "We can talk about this later." Then he leaped over the wall and started to creep through the cemetery.
Near the center he saw the woman from Mulago sitting on a bench, staring at a weeping willow. He ducked behind a tall obelisk marker. Before he had time to consider some sort of plan, she spoke.
"I can see you. I can feel you. I'm here to talk to you."
He noticed her accent was much less pronounced. He walked out from behind the obelisk wearing the Armor of Ice. "About what?"
She noticed his accent was much less pronounced. She stood up. "About you, and about me, and about our futures." This was not the same young man she had met in Mulago. He looked more confident and harder, somehow.
This was not the same young woman he'd met in Mulago. She looked more confident and stronger. "I think only one of us has a future."
"It doesn't necessarily have to be that way."
He gave a short laugh. "Why do you think that?"
"Because I would prefer compromise to a fight to the death. Whether my hope of compromise is in vain depends on you."
"What kind of compromise were you thinking?"
"I think you should give up the Dark power."
He laughed again. "Some compromise. I lose everything."
"You keep your soul."
"Gods, not this lecture again," he said, rolling his eyes.
"It's so very Dark now, much Darker than when I met you Mulago. You are on the edge of falling into Darkness, ShadowWalker."
"I'm fine, LightBearer," he snapped.
"I can't help you if you don't understand this is a problem."
"You're going to help me?" he asked suspiciously.
"The Darkness is strong. It won't let go of your soul easily.