Spin of Fate, page 14
Crushed like Kanjallen.
CHAPTER TEN
An Irregularity
There it was again. A hint of movement in the darkness, not ten feet away.
Aina crouched behind an outcrop of rock and stilled her breath. Her chitrons quivered, one lapse in concentration away from breaking the concealment.
Maybe sneaking out in the middle of the night hadn’t been the brightest decision. But she’d finally mastered the art of concealment under Hiraval’s watchful eye. The thin covering of chitrons would render her invisible—at least to other humans.
Please don’t be a nagamor… Aina’s fingers tightened around her bow, and she glanced over her shoulder. Even though she couldn’t see it, Incaraz stood less than half a mile away, behind the safety of Zenyra’s chitronic shield.
What was I thinking, leaving the hideout?
But an entire moon had lapsed since she’d joined the Balancers, and Aina’s patience wore thin as a frayed bowstring. Being able to pull off a decent concealment seemed as good of an opportunity as any to at least scout the surroundings for a trace of her mother.
I could make a run for it. Aina’s eyes darted between the Balancer hideout and the advancing form, half obscured in the shadows. Or I could stay and fight.
Run, her mother’s voice echoed in her mind, a command she had heard at least a thousand times. Run, Aina! I’ll deal with them!
But you’re not here to deal with them, Mama, Aina thought as a familiar face flashed across her mind, lines of fear and fury cutting across her mother’s skin.
Aina’s chitrons wavered at the memory. Her concealment flickered, and the shadowy figure tensed.
Aina had barely nocked an arrow to her bow when someone barreled into her, strong hands grabbing her wrists and twisting them behind her back. A hardness pressed against her throat. Aina looked down to see a blade covered in strips of thick white cloth.
“Aranel?”
Her panic dissipated in an instant, for no one else would be brainless enough to wrap their weapons.
“Aina?” Aranel released her, voice laced with confusion. “What in Sherka’s name are you doing out here?”
“I could ask you the same.” Aina turned to face him. Aranel’s keiza gleamed, the only light apart from the golden glint of a distant torana. “Aren’t you supposed to be on lookout?”
“I—I was on lookout. That’s how I noticed you creeping about. I thought you were an enemy.”
“So you decided to come down here and attack me? How noble.”
“Well, I do what I can to protect Incaraz.” Aranel gripped her arm. “Come on, then. Let’s get you back.”
Aina sighed but allowed herself to be steered in the direction of the hideout. “Could you avoid mentioning to Zenyra that you caught me out here?”
“Of course,” Aranel said. Aina was surprised at how readily he agreed but decided not to question her luck. “If I might ask, what were you doing, Aina?”
“I…” Aina kicked a stray pebble. “I was looking for my mother.”
“Ah.” Aranel’s grip loosened. “Did you ask Zenyra for help? You seem close to her.”
“Zenyra wants me to wait until I finish my training. I’ve already waited more than a year. I’m bleeding sick of waiting.” Aina stopped abruptly, chewing her lip. Why the hell was she telling Aranel all this?
But Aranel let out a soft laugh and said, “I know what that’s like. My parents ascended to Paramos when I was twelve. I haven’t seen my father since, and the last time my mother deigned to visit was over nine moons ago.”
“That’s hardly the same…”
“I know it’s not! I simply meant I understand how it feels to be helpless. To wait for something you have no control over.”
Aina remained silent, unsure how to respond. Aranel struck her as someone who always got what he wanted when he wanted it. She couldn’t imagine him feeling helpless or having to wait for anything.
The air rippled as they neared Incaraz, the shield allowing them through as if it were made of water. Aranel slowed his pace to climb alongside Aina as she stumbled up the outer wall.
“Careful,” Aranel murmured. He reached out to steady her, his hands warm on her shoulders. “You know, you really ought to use your chitrons more efficiently. I noticed you’ve a bad habit of squandering energy—”
“I don’t do it on purpose!”
“—and there’s a visualization technique my brother taught me that might improve your chitronic control. You start by focusing your thoughts on a singular image.”
Aina wondered if she’d misheard him. “Are you actually trying to help me?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?”
“You’ve only ever tried to arrest me before—” Aina tripped over a rock and grabbed Aranel’s arm for balance.
“I was trying to help you then as well,” Aranel said. “I know you didn’t see it that way, but I was worried about your soul.”
“Sure you were,” Aina mumbled, releasing him. “So. Um. How does this visualization thing work?”
“You envision your soul as an object. A lotus, or another flower might do. Then imagine your chitrons as, say, dewdrops that gather on its surface. Draw them into the flower’s core—” Aranel stopped abruptly as Aina dissolved into giggles. “What?”
“My soul is a lotus and my chitrons are dewdrops.” Aina snorted. “That’s quaint.”
They reached the top of the crater, suffused in pale light from the banyan below. It cast the fine lines of Aranel’s face into sharp relief. Aina found herself staring, a moment too long, at the slope of his nose and the way Aranel’s golden locks framed his square jaw. He’d stopped applying that ridiculous hair oil, which, to Aina’s dismay, only improved the appeal.
The Mayani was blessed in more ways than one. A part of Aina hated him for it.
“Has Zenyra given you any tips on chitronic control?” Aranel asked as they passed the thicket and began their descent. “I noticed you’re often with her. What is it you talk about?”
“She—um—she helps me train on occasion,” Aina replied, tearing her gaze from his face. “We talk about my life in Malin. My mother. Nothing you’d want to hear about.”
“I didn’t mean to pry.” Aranel sounded disappointed, though Aina couldn’t imagine why he’d care. “I understand if you don’t want to tell me.”
“I—I don’t not want to tell you.”
“Really?” Aranel looked to the side. “Well then—did you ever discuss the Balancer villages? Who’s assigned to them and what they do?”
“No.” Aina suppressed an eye roll. Sometimes Aranel could be so transparent. “Are you still worried about being stuck with us for the mission? If it helps, I don’t think Meizan’s going to stick around here that long.”
And neither am I.
At the mention of Meizan, Aranel’s brow twisted into a frown. “I’m not the slightest bit bothered what that fiend does or doesn’t do. Although he seems to detest me.”
“What makes you say that?” Aina asked, amused by how dramatic he sounded.
“Every time I’ve tried having a civil conversation with him, he’s done nothing but insult or ignore me.”
“That doesn’t mean he hates you. Meizan hates Kaldrav, Kaldrav’s soldiers, and enemy clans like Chiren. If he ignores you, he probably just finds you irrelevant.”
She meant it to cheer him up, but Aranel deflated further.
“On the bright side, I don’t—” Aina clamped her mouth shut, heat creeping up her neck.
I don’t hate you. What a pointless thing to say.
She hoped Aranel hadn’t noticed her slipup. He seemed rather preoccupied, staring straight ahead as if he’d seen a nagamor.
Meizan sauntered toward them, spinning his sword in aimless circles.
“Why aren’t you on lookout?” he asked Aranel, who jumped at being addressed.
“Y-you! How long have you been here? And why are you not in bed?”
“I was training.” Meizan shot him his most scornful look. “Not everyone needs eight hours of sleep, you ass.”
“Well, I was talking with Aina,” Aranel retorted. “Not everyone shirks pleasant human conversation.”
“Whatever. You’re in for it if Zenyra catches you ditching.”
“Zenyra’s back?” Aranel brightened. “Since when? Where did you see her last?”
“A few minutes ago,” Meizan said, gesturing vaguely across the lake. “She went that way.”
“Come on.” Aranel turned to Aina with a manic sort of gleam in his eye. “Let’s find her.”
“Um. Sure?” Aina looked at Meizan, who shrugged and returned to practicing motions with his sword.
Aina followed Aranel across the lake, bemused by his sudden enthusiasm. They found Zenyra in a stone passageway, accompanied by a small girl who looked no older than three or four. The girl cradled a musty boot in her arms as if it were made of glass. She gave a startled squeak at their appearance and darted behind Zenyra’s legs.
Zenyra chuckled, addressing the girl. “You need not fear them, dear. They are friends.”
The girl edged forward to peek at them out of wide blue eyes. To Aina’s surprise, Aranel knelt down and offered her his hand.
“Hello there.” He flashed the little girl a smile. “How are you today?”
What a charmer.
The girl blinked in confusion before reaching out and poking the center of Aranel’s palm with a tiny finger. “H’llo.”
“That’s a nice boot you have,” Aranel said.
“S’not a boot.” The girl held it toward them, and Aina saw the boot was filled with twigs, its stained leather covered in chalk scribbles of windows and a door. “A house. For the twig people.”
“You made that for them?” Aranel asked. “How clever of you.”
“I had to,” the girl whispered. “It keeps them safe.” She hugged the boot to her chest before dashing back behind Zenyra.
“Ummi is rather shy,” Zenyra said. She flattened the girl’s dark bangs and lowered her voice. “Her home was razed. I rescued her from a band of Kaldrav’s men on the way here. I will take her to one of the villages tomorrow, once she is fed and rested.”
“That’s good of you,” Aranel said, eyes fixed on Ummi, who was now playing with the ends of Zenyra’s long braid.
“It is only humane,” Zenyra said with a sad smile. “You two ought to rest so you are fresh for your morning training session.”
She led Ummi down a passageway. As they left, the little girl turned and waved at them wildly. “See you later!” she hollered, then disappeared with Zenyra.
“Lucky Zenyra rescued her from those men,” Aranel said once they were gone.
“Lucky those men didn’t do anything before Zenyra found them,” Aina replied darkly. That little girl, alone with those monsters. She had been lucky, indeed, to escape unharmed.
“She seemed so sweet,” Aranel said. “I wonder what she did to land in Malin?”
Any goodwill Aina had felt toward him swiftly evaporated. “She was born here, Aranel. She didn’t do anything.” Before Aranel could argue, she added, “I’m tired, and Hiraval said we’re starting stun beams tomorrow morning. Good night.”
* * *
“Come on now, Aina,” Hiraval said a week later at training. “You know the drill. Clear your mind. Empty your heart. Summon your soul.”
Aina closed her eyes and exhaled. She felt her chitrons vibrating within her and began gathering them. Not like dewdrops—she wasn’t as weird as Aranel—but more like the lava flows of Merumarth converging into a blazing stream. She opened her eyes to see her fingertips glowing with turquoise light.
“Don’t lose focus,” Hiraval encouraged. “Concentrate on the flows. Keep them packed together. Good. Now release just one beam of energy.”
Aina thrust her chitrons out with a rush of exhilaration. Turquoise light flashed, then dissipated. Across from her, Hiraval stumbled and held up a hand.
“That was progress,” the Balancer said, flexing his fingers. “You could improve your aim, but for a second there, I think you froze my fingers.”
“Stop pretending.” Aina’s shoulders slumped. “It didn’t work. I’m no good.”
She looked around the clearing at the others’ practice. Aranel seemed reluctant to attack Reimi, who was hopping on one foot and yelling, “Just get this over with and hit my forehead, Aranel! Your aim can’t possibly be that bad.”
Aranel gave her a sheepish smile. The next beam of light hit Reimi’s shoulder and paralyzed her arm. Even if his stun beams were not hitting the mark, they were powerful.
Not far from Aranel, Meizan leaned against a tree with a bored expression. Taralei lay at his feet, stiff as stone. Meizan’s stun beam had hit her straight in the keiza. He had all but mastered the Balancer’s preferred chitronic technique—concentrated blasts of energy that could knock out an opponent for up to an hour.
While Aina could see the appeal in a technique that caused minimal physical damage, she had once again fallen behind. Most of the time, her chitrons broke loose of the beam to scatter all over the place—singeing the grass and warming the air, but doing little in terms of stunning her opponent.
“Shall we try again?” Hiraval suggested.
Aina nodded, readying her chitrons. A couple weeks ago, she might have snapped at him. But Hiraval’s calm rivaled one of the manikai, and Aina found it exhausting to lash out.
Yet even Hiraval’s tenacity could not improve Aina’s volatile control. At the end of the lesson, she had barely managed to paralyze his right hand, and the ground around her was a smoking, pitted mess.
“You have power,” Hiraval said, surveying the ring of wreckage around Aina’s feet. “Too much, at times. To harness it efficiently, we must work on your control. A hand is good progress, Aina. Tomorrow, you will stun my arm. Next week, an arm and a leg. By the end of the moon, you will knock me out in one shot.”
“If that’s the goal, I could just bash your head with a rock, save us both the trouble.”
Hiraval gave a small smile, sparing Aina the usual lecture—The Balancer methods are aimed at reducing the injury suffered by our opponents—and turned to leave for dinner. He paused to look over his shoulder.
“I’ll be late,” Aina said. “Save me some stew.”
Hiraval nodded and walked over to the others. Taralei was passing Reimi a gold coin while Aranel and Meizan bickered about stun beams—“Must be embarrassing, Kirnos’s finest bested by a mere lower.” “I was being careful! I didn’t want to risk harming her keiza!”—and Aina was overcome by a sudden urge to join them.
Idiot girl, a voice not unlike her mother’s echoed in her mind. Why waste time with these fools when you should be training?
Aina skipped dinner and trained into the night with little progress. She took a break only to recharge her chitrons and sprawled on the lone patch of grass she hadn’t accidentally ruined. She lay there, bouncing a broken rock figurine on her palm—she’d tried fixing it to no avail—when Zenyra stepped into the clearing, her keiza a beacon in the darkness.
“How’s Ummi doing?” Aina asked, rolling upright. She hadn’t seen Zenyra for the past week but had often wondered about the little girl. “Did she make it to the village all right? Kaldrav’s men won’t find her, will they?”
“Worry not, Aina,” Zenyra said. “Kaldrav’s men will never touch that sweet girl again. Now, Hiraval told me of your trouble with stun beams.” She sat Aina on a log and knelt in front of her. “I wanted to have a closer look at your keiza. May I?”
Aina nodded, unsure where this was going.
Zenyra shook back her sleeves, threads of golden energy trickling from her palms. Aina shivered as they wrapped around her head.
“Forgive my intrusion,” Zenyra said before sending a stream straight through Aina’s forehead. Aina squirmed at the contact and dug her fingers into the log.
“That cannot be,” Zenyra muttered as she probed Aina’s keiza. “But of course…that would explain…never seen anything like it.”
Aina shifted on the log. “Anything like what? Is something wrong?”
Zenyra sat back and withdrew her chitrons. “Not quite wrong,” she said delicately. “Although I should have thought to inspect your keiza closer, given your trouble with channeling. I merely assumed it was a lack of practice, but…”
“But what?”
“Do not be alarmed now, Aina. It appears there is an…irregularity in your keiza.”
“An irregularity,” Aina repeated, heart sinking.
“There is a cleft in the swirl,” Zenyra clarified. “It is minute, scarcely noticeable to the naked eye, but it seems to be affecting your chitronic flows.”
“I don’t understand! How could that happen?”
“I suspect you were born with it,” Zenyra said. “I have never encountered a cleft like yours, but it would explain why you find it so hard to channel. The keiza is used both to activate chitrons and to link them to the outside world. With yours split the way it is, it is a miracle you have progressed this far. You should be proud.”
Aina felt numb. She failed to see what there was to be proud about.
Zenyra’s pretty words didn’t hide the fact that her keiza was deformed. Defective. Which meant no matter how hard she practiced, she would never be able to channel the way Aranel and Meizan could. Her mother would be forced to continue risking her own soul to protect her.
It was yet another injustice the universe had thrust upon them.
“I mean it, Aina,” Zenyra said. “For Aranel and Meizan, even for myself, chitronic control comes naturally. You have to fight for what we take for granted.” She paused, her eyes softening. “But you are used to having to fight for things, are you not?” She raised a hand and brushed away Aina’s bangs. “You have fought against adversity since the day you were born.”
