Unfinished, page 25
There was a flood of creatures.
Imogen had seen this kind of flood before. It was the same flood that was heading toward her people. It was the same flood that had suggested that her people were going to be destroyed. It was sweeping through a valley far below.
Lilah leaned down, staring. “What is that?” she asked, her voice a soft whisper.
“The same as we’ve faced before.”
“It looks real. Do you think—”
Lilah broke off, and Imogen realized why. A person stood among the swarming creatures. They wore a black cloak and carried a twisted staff, but it was not Aneadaz.
Imogen looked back at Lilah. “How do you feel about taking down a Sul’toral? There’s a very real possibility that when we attack any of these other Sul’toral, we will release more power to Aneadaz.”
There came a strange fluttering in her mind, and for the first time in a while, it seemed to Imogen that Benji was there, trying to speak to her, as if affirming her concern.
Was that what he feared?
No. A bright line suddenly formed, and she realized what it was. It wasn’t what Benji feared. It was what he wanted.
“This path?” she whispered.
Imogen didn’t really expect any answer, but there came another fluttering, now like the wind stirring in the back of her mind.
“If that’s the case, then should we go after Aneadaz first?” Imogen asked.
“Only if you think we can find him.”
Imogen didn’t know. The only thing she knew was that she had to start with Sul’toral.
That was what Timo had once wanted.
That fact was not lost on her. There had been a time when he would have done the same thing, when he had left the Leier in order to defeat the Sul’toral, believing the same as she did, willing to fight and die for their people to stop the threat of the Sul’toral.
Timo is gone.
The man that he had been was gone. She didn’t know what remained. Now all that was left was someone who had embraced the very magic that they had intended to fight. Now all that was left was Timo, but not her Timo.
“We start with what we can,” Imogen said. “When I was younger, one of the earliest lessons that my father gave me was to fight the fight that is put before you. If you do that, then from there, you begin to win the war. And that is what this is. A war. These Sul’toral have proven themselves dangerous, and they have harmed our people. It is time that ends.”
Imogen looked around. She couldn’t help but feel that there was some part of her that was meant to be here. There was some part of her that had always been meant to be here. And now…
Now she knew what she needed to do.
Remove the Sul’toral.
Do what her brother had claimed he was going to do.
And so she would.
She was left with other questions, though. Why would the Sul’toral add to their ranks and bring someone like Timo along? The only reason Imogen could think of was that those additions brought something to their power in the way that Timo had intended with Benji and then the branox queen. There had to be some reason for them to welcome new Sul’toral.
Imogen looked down at Zealar. In doing so, she could feel the energy around her, and she could feel what she needed to do. She jumped.
Power flowed through her as she gripped her blade.
Then she landed.
Creatures swarmed her, but she was ready for them. Tree Stands in the Forest.
They were forced back. Energy crackled along Zealar’s wings, and Imogen summoned that energy, wove it within her, adding it to Tree Stands in the Forest, and in doing so, she felt an increased surge of power flooding through her.
She used that to push back the creatures. She had no idea how many of them were real or not, but when they were gone, she looked at the Sul’toral holding the staff, with power that surged from them.
A woman. Gray-haired. Powerful, and in her own way, but a Sul’toral nonetheless.
She looked at Imogen. With her gray hair pulled back the way that it was, Imogen felt that it was surprising that she had a real sense of age. But for the first time, she recognized something else. It wasn’t just the sense of age that came from her. She suspected this woman had once been like her. Dark-haired. Perhaps similar to the Leier. Or the Koral.
Imogen braced herself, and then she darted forward.
This Sul’toral was skilled. She spun her staff quickly, but Imogen was ready. Having faced Aneadaz, she thought that she had no choice but to be ready. She brought her blade around quickly, carving toward the Sul’toral.
“You could be a part of this,” the woman said. Her voice was accented, and the words were clipped in a way that Imogen didn’t quite recognize. “You do not need to do this.”
“I could say the same to you,” Imogen said.
When the woman pointed her staff, Imogen braced, using Tree Stands in the Forest laced with the power of Zealar. In this case, she could feel the burst of power that flowed out from the Sul’toral, but Imogen also recognized that she could push back against it. She knew what she needed to do. She switched the power she was holding on to, and rather than simply weaving it within Tree Stands in the Forest, she began to try something different. She added a little bit of Lightning Strikes in the Storm. The combined energy allowed her to radiate that power outward, and in doing so, Imogen could feel the Sul’toral being pushed back.
Creatures around her swarmed.
The Sul’toral stood, looking at Imogen, grinning. “Did you think that was going to be so easy?”
“No. But did you think I had come alone?”
Zealar dove, spreading his wings, and the razor-sharp feathers cut through the creatures, real or not. Lilah jumped, and Imogen shifted Tree Stands in the Forest to catch her, so that Lilah came to stand near her. As Lilah formed a pattern, the Sul’toral grinned, likely thinking she would have no difficulty stopping Lilah and her pattern.
Perhaps that would have been the case against a normal sorcerer, but Lilah had been trained by Abigail, regardless of what Lilah believed. Abigail had taught her so that she was no longer a normal sorcerer.
Lilah used a strange swirling of energy that exploded out from her. It targeted the Sul’toral, who stiffened and then stopped moving.
Imogen glanced at Lilah to laugh. “What did you do?”
“It’s just something that Abigail taught me.”
The Sul’toral’s eyes widened at the mention of Abigail.
“I wasn’t sure that would work,” Lilah admitted. “When dealing with Abigail, I didn’t really know how much of what she was trying to show me was a way of teaching me, and how much of it was her way of trying to control me. Either way, it worked. I just didn’t know if it would work against the Sul’toral.”
Imogen strode forward. “Good. Now that you have her trapped, what do you want to do with her?”
Lilah looked over. “I get to decide?”
“You get to decide. And then we can decide together what happens next.”
The Sul’toral strained, and Imogen could see her lips moving, as if she was trying to summon some different kind of power.
Imogen smiled at her. “Where did he go?”
“I’m not his keeper,” the Sul’toral managed to get out, barely whispering through the magical restraints that Lilah had placed upon her. “And even if I were, I would not share his location with you.”
Imogen tipped her head to the side. The creatures that were around them continued to swarm, trying to get close, but Zealar made a steady circle around them, carving through them. It was a strange thing to observe, stranger still that he barely had to do anything. His wings arced through the monsters, cutting through them and destroying them. It took little more effort than flying did. And with each passing swirl that he made, Imogen could feel the energy along his wings, the energy that radiated from him, and she could feel the power that pulsed out from him. She marveled at it.
Zealar was powerful.
Perhaps all the renral were equally powerful.
“I learned the names of the Sul’toral,” Imogen said, standing in front of the woman. She still hadn’t moved, but even if she did, Imogen held her blade out and was prepared to use Lightning Strikes in the Storm. She had opened herself to Zealar’s power and could feel that energy flowing through her. There was a burst of it, and as it exploded, she recognized just what she would have to do.
She thought of the names that she knew, but now she didn’t even know if they mattered. She had cut down several of the Sul’toral, but if others had joined their ranks, that may not make any difference.
The woman glowered at her as if Imogen was nothing to her. But then, Imogen probably was nothing compared to the life she had led by drawing upon the power of the Porapeth and using that in her command of sorcery.
Imogen turned her attention to the Sul’toral. There was a part of her that wanted this woman’s name, but it didn’t matter. Perhaps the only thing that mattered now was bringing down the Sul’toral. One was no different from another. They could be nameless to Imogen.
Much like the Leier were nameless to them.
Imogen turned. She was still holding Tree Stands in the Forest, and she had Lightning Strikes in the Storm ready, but it was more than just that. She had the energy of Zealar mixed within her sacred pattern, and she was ready for the possibility that the Sul’toral would attack her with her back turned. But Imogen was not concerned. There was no need to be. Lilah was there. She held that pattern, so when Imogen turned, she looked over at Lilah, who frowned. And then, with the flick of her wrist, she heard the Sul’toral suck in a sharp breath, and then no more.
“You wanted me to do that?” Lilah asked, waiting on Imogen.
“I wanted you to have the opportunity to choose,” Imogen said.
“What now, though? We don’t know where they are going. We don’t know what to do about them.”
The strange wave of creatures had faltered, disappearing.
But where they had traveled, there was real destruction. Magical destruction.
It was enough that Imogen knew that they had to remove the Sul’toral that were responsible for this in order for her to protect her people, and her homeland. Until she did that, the magical creatures, and their strange attack, would continue to sweep through here and pose a danger to her people.
Chapter Thirty
They hadn’t traveled very far before Imogen began to see the danger of power spread out before her. The mountainside was empty—until it was not. It had been little more than rough rock, patches of snow and ice, and places where she could have sworn she had seen movement. Imogen had flown with Zealar, searching for signs of villages that had not yet been destroyed, and had unfortunately failed. As much as she wanted to get to those villages and save all that she could, every time she came upon a village, she found little more than destruction. The Leier—and the Koral—had been leveled.
It left her angry.
Something that Jorend had said came back to her, though she doubted that he had meant for it to stick in her mind the way that it had. He had said it in passing and had commented on how she had seemed so calm. At the time, she’d been angry, but she had known better than to reveal such anger. That was a key to fighting: hold on to anger, keep it bottled inside, and use the power that it granted.
That was a lesson that she had learned early on, but it was a lesson that Imogen had never struggled to master. Until now. She felt nothing but the rage bubbling within her.
“Imogen?”
She twisted on Zealar’s back and looked at Lilah, who was seated behind her, finally looking somewhat comfortable. “What is it?”
“Look.”
Imogen turned toward where Lilah pointed, and she realized that she was pointing toward a small ravine. It seemed to be moving.
That was surprising.
It was moving because the ravine was more than just simply a ravine.
Zealar seemed to sense that something was amiss and immediately began to turn, heading toward it.
“What are we doing?” Lilah asked.
“We are going to investigate.”
“Are you sure that’s what we should be doing?”
Imogen found herself staring at the ravine, at the nearby destruction of an entire village, before staring straight ahead. “I do.”
Lilah shook her head. “I don’t think that I can do this, Imogen. I don’t know enough to fight the way that you do. I know you’re powerful, but I’m not. And I’m not like you.”
“I’ve never asked you to be like me. No one has. All I want is for you to be like yourself. Be the shaman Abigail trained you to be.”
Even that wasn’t entirely true. Abigail hadn’t trained her to be a shaman; she had trained her to be one of her guardians. It didn’t matter. Nothing did. The only thing that mattered was stopping those who would harm their people.
“I’m not like you,” Lilah said. “And I don’t think that your people would want you to do this yourself. What happens if you fall?”
“Then I fall protecting my people.”
“What happens to them, then? Didn’t you tell me that you had prepared them for what they might need to do? But if you fall, who will lead them?”
Imogen said nothing for a long moment. “I have made certain they are ready for the possibility that I won’t be there for them. And if I’m not, there are others who are capable of leading. I would not be much of a commander if I did not prepare my people that way.”
“But I imagine they want you, not some replacement that you have trained.”
“They want me, but they also understand that there may come a time when I am not there for them.”
“But you don’t have to risk yourself like this.”
Imogen wasn’t sure whether she should be angry with Lilah for trying to talk her out of what Imogen believed she needed to do or whether she should be thankful that Lilah cared—or seemed to. She wasn’t sure if Lilah truly cared or not, and she didn’t know if this was merely fear for herself that motivated her.
“You don’t want to fight.”
Lilah shook her head. “I don’t.”
“Then you don’t have to.”
“Good. There are other places we can go—”
“I need to fight,” Imogen said, looking back at Lilah. “Even if you choose not to, I do not have that luxury. Not if there is something that I can do.”
“Even against whatever is down there?”
Imogen leaned forward, and she ran her hand along Zealar’s back. “I am capable of something they do not anticipate. That is what makes me think that I can do this.” An idea came to her, though. Perhaps it was one that she should have considered before, as there had to be a reason for all of this, but more than that, there had to be something that she could do. “I need you to do something for me.”
Lilah frowned. “What?”
“It is not unpleasant. And it’s something that you are capable of doing. I need you to return to our people. I need you to let them know what I am doing, and to help them prepare.”
“They are not my people.”
“They were. And they can be again. All I need is for you to get word to them. Tell them how to find me.”
“How would I do that?”
“The renral will show them the way.” Imogen was convinced that the renral had some way of connecting to each other. Probably through the storms, as it seemed to Imogen that they were somehow connected in that manner, though she didn’t know if that were truly the case.
“That’s not what I mean,” Lilah said, though her frown deepened. “Although I am surprised that you think the renral would make a difference.”
“I think the renral could guide you. In fact, I’m certain that the renral could guide you. All of us. And I am optimistic that if you go to them, the renral will lead the others back to me.”
“If that works, then great, but that’s not my greatest concern. My greatest concern is that your people won’t listen to me.”
It was a valid concern, and unfortunately, it was one that Imogen did not have a good answer for. Why would any of the Leier or Koral listen?
The only way that she thought would work was to provide Lilah with enchantments, along with the means of using them, but even that might leave her people thinking that something nefarious had happened to Imogen.
What could she say to Lilah that she could pass on to the others? If Imogen could come up with an answer for that, then perhaps she could have the help that she needed.
Perhaps might not be good enough.
“Do you feel competent in your ability to use your magic?”
“More than competent,” Lilah said carefully.
“Then do you feel competent in your ability to defend yourself.”
“I don’t know where you’re going with this.”
“I’m saying that you might have to present yourself, and you might have to convince them. If you tell them that I need them, that I am facing Sul’toral and ultimately planning on heading to the Heart, I believe they will answer.”
Lilah said nothing for a moment. “What is in the Heart?”
“Perhaps nothing. But maybe answers. That’s what I hope to find, at least, though I wonder if perhaps the reason that I was urged to head to the Heart is somehow influenced.”
“Why and how would it have been influenced?”
The wind swirled around her, with Zealar flying, carrying on the breeze. Imogen listened to it, and she focused on what she could feel, her mind racing. She had expected that she would need to go to the Heart because that was where Master Liu had suggested that she go, but Imogen started to wonder if perhaps the Sul’toral had had an effect even then.
It could be a trap.
Everything that Master Liu had been after could be a trap.
He had gone looking for others, wanting to find other sacred sword masters. She needed to know if she could see anything about Master Liu, though Imogen doubted that she would find much of an answer, and she doubted even more that it would provide her with what she needed. If Master Liu was tied to the Porapeth in the way that he had claimed, it seemed unlikely that she would be able to see anything about him.
Imogen had seen this kind of flood before. It was the same flood that was heading toward her people. It was the same flood that had suggested that her people were going to be destroyed. It was sweeping through a valley far below.
Lilah leaned down, staring. “What is that?” she asked, her voice a soft whisper.
“The same as we’ve faced before.”
“It looks real. Do you think—”
Lilah broke off, and Imogen realized why. A person stood among the swarming creatures. They wore a black cloak and carried a twisted staff, but it was not Aneadaz.
Imogen looked back at Lilah. “How do you feel about taking down a Sul’toral? There’s a very real possibility that when we attack any of these other Sul’toral, we will release more power to Aneadaz.”
There came a strange fluttering in her mind, and for the first time in a while, it seemed to Imogen that Benji was there, trying to speak to her, as if affirming her concern.
Was that what he feared?
No. A bright line suddenly formed, and she realized what it was. It wasn’t what Benji feared. It was what he wanted.
“This path?” she whispered.
Imogen didn’t really expect any answer, but there came another fluttering, now like the wind stirring in the back of her mind.
“If that’s the case, then should we go after Aneadaz first?” Imogen asked.
“Only if you think we can find him.”
Imogen didn’t know. The only thing she knew was that she had to start with Sul’toral.
That was what Timo had once wanted.
That fact was not lost on her. There had been a time when he would have done the same thing, when he had left the Leier in order to defeat the Sul’toral, believing the same as she did, willing to fight and die for their people to stop the threat of the Sul’toral.
Timo is gone.
The man that he had been was gone. She didn’t know what remained. Now all that was left was someone who had embraced the very magic that they had intended to fight. Now all that was left was Timo, but not her Timo.
“We start with what we can,” Imogen said. “When I was younger, one of the earliest lessons that my father gave me was to fight the fight that is put before you. If you do that, then from there, you begin to win the war. And that is what this is. A war. These Sul’toral have proven themselves dangerous, and they have harmed our people. It is time that ends.”
Imogen looked around. She couldn’t help but feel that there was some part of her that was meant to be here. There was some part of her that had always been meant to be here. And now…
Now she knew what she needed to do.
Remove the Sul’toral.
Do what her brother had claimed he was going to do.
And so she would.
She was left with other questions, though. Why would the Sul’toral add to their ranks and bring someone like Timo along? The only reason Imogen could think of was that those additions brought something to their power in the way that Timo had intended with Benji and then the branox queen. There had to be some reason for them to welcome new Sul’toral.
Imogen looked down at Zealar. In doing so, she could feel the energy around her, and she could feel what she needed to do. She jumped.
Power flowed through her as she gripped her blade.
Then she landed.
Creatures swarmed her, but she was ready for them. Tree Stands in the Forest.
They were forced back. Energy crackled along Zealar’s wings, and Imogen summoned that energy, wove it within her, adding it to Tree Stands in the Forest, and in doing so, she felt an increased surge of power flooding through her.
She used that to push back the creatures. She had no idea how many of them were real or not, but when they were gone, she looked at the Sul’toral holding the staff, with power that surged from them.
A woman. Gray-haired. Powerful, and in her own way, but a Sul’toral nonetheless.
She looked at Imogen. With her gray hair pulled back the way that it was, Imogen felt that it was surprising that she had a real sense of age. But for the first time, she recognized something else. It wasn’t just the sense of age that came from her. She suspected this woman had once been like her. Dark-haired. Perhaps similar to the Leier. Or the Koral.
Imogen braced herself, and then she darted forward.
This Sul’toral was skilled. She spun her staff quickly, but Imogen was ready. Having faced Aneadaz, she thought that she had no choice but to be ready. She brought her blade around quickly, carving toward the Sul’toral.
“You could be a part of this,” the woman said. Her voice was accented, and the words were clipped in a way that Imogen didn’t quite recognize. “You do not need to do this.”
“I could say the same to you,” Imogen said.
When the woman pointed her staff, Imogen braced, using Tree Stands in the Forest laced with the power of Zealar. In this case, she could feel the burst of power that flowed out from the Sul’toral, but Imogen also recognized that she could push back against it. She knew what she needed to do. She switched the power she was holding on to, and rather than simply weaving it within Tree Stands in the Forest, she began to try something different. She added a little bit of Lightning Strikes in the Storm. The combined energy allowed her to radiate that power outward, and in doing so, Imogen could feel the Sul’toral being pushed back.
Creatures around her swarmed.
The Sul’toral stood, looking at Imogen, grinning. “Did you think that was going to be so easy?”
“No. But did you think I had come alone?”
Zealar dove, spreading his wings, and the razor-sharp feathers cut through the creatures, real or not. Lilah jumped, and Imogen shifted Tree Stands in the Forest to catch her, so that Lilah came to stand near her. As Lilah formed a pattern, the Sul’toral grinned, likely thinking she would have no difficulty stopping Lilah and her pattern.
Perhaps that would have been the case against a normal sorcerer, but Lilah had been trained by Abigail, regardless of what Lilah believed. Abigail had taught her so that she was no longer a normal sorcerer.
Lilah used a strange swirling of energy that exploded out from her. It targeted the Sul’toral, who stiffened and then stopped moving.
Imogen glanced at Lilah to laugh. “What did you do?”
“It’s just something that Abigail taught me.”
The Sul’toral’s eyes widened at the mention of Abigail.
“I wasn’t sure that would work,” Lilah admitted. “When dealing with Abigail, I didn’t really know how much of what she was trying to show me was a way of teaching me, and how much of it was her way of trying to control me. Either way, it worked. I just didn’t know if it would work against the Sul’toral.”
Imogen strode forward. “Good. Now that you have her trapped, what do you want to do with her?”
Lilah looked over. “I get to decide?”
“You get to decide. And then we can decide together what happens next.”
The Sul’toral strained, and Imogen could see her lips moving, as if she was trying to summon some different kind of power.
Imogen smiled at her. “Where did he go?”
“I’m not his keeper,” the Sul’toral managed to get out, barely whispering through the magical restraints that Lilah had placed upon her. “And even if I were, I would not share his location with you.”
Imogen tipped her head to the side. The creatures that were around them continued to swarm, trying to get close, but Zealar made a steady circle around them, carving through them. It was a strange thing to observe, stranger still that he barely had to do anything. His wings arced through the monsters, cutting through them and destroying them. It took little more effort than flying did. And with each passing swirl that he made, Imogen could feel the energy along his wings, the energy that radiated from him, and she could feel the power that pulsed out from him. She marveled at it.
Zealar was powerful.
Perhaps all the renral were equally powerful.
“I learned the names of the Sul’toral,” Imogen said, standing in front of the woman. She still hadn’t moved, but even if she did, Imogen held her blade out and was prepared to use Lightning Strikes in the Storm. She had opened herself to Zealar’s power and could feel that energy flowing through her. There was a burst of it, and as it exploded, she recognized just what she would have to do.
She thought of the names that she knew, but now she didn’t even know if they mattered. She had cut down several of the Sul’toral, but if others had joined their ranks, that may not make any difference.
The woman glowered at her as if Imogen was nothing to her. But then, Imogen probably was nothing compared to the life she had led by drawing upon the power of the Porapeth and using that in her command of sorcery.
Imogen turned her attention to the Sul’toral. There was a part of her that wanted this woman’s name, but it didn’t matter. Perhaps the only thing that mattered now was bringing down the Sul’toral. One was no different from another. They could be nameless to Imogen.
Much like the Leier were nameless to them.
Imogen turned. She was still holding Tree Stands in the Forest, and she had Lightning Strikes in the Storm ready, but it was more than just that. She had the energy of Zealar mixed within her sacred pattern, and she was ready for the possibility that the Sul’toral would attack her with her back turned. But Imogen was not concerned. There was no need to be. Lilah was there. She held that pattern, so when Imogen turned, she looked over at Lilah, who frowned. And then, with the flick of her wrist, she heard the Sul’toral suck in a sharp breath, and then no more.
“You wanted me to do that?” Lilah asked, waiting on Imogen.
“I wanted you to have the opportunity to choose,” Imogen said.
“What now, though? We don’t know where they are going. We don’t know what to do about them.”
The strange wave of creatures had faltered, disappearing.
But where they had traveled, there was real destruction. Magical destruction.
It was enough that Imogen knew that they had to remove the Sul’toral that were responsible for this in order for her to protect her people, and her homeland. Until she did that, the magical creatures, and their strange attack, would continue to sweep through here and pose a danger to her people.
Chapter Thirty
They hadn’t traveled very far before Imogen began to see the danger of power spread out before her. The mountainside was empty—until it was not. It had been little more than rough rock, patches of snow and ice, and places where she could have sworn she had seen movement. Imogen had flown with Zealar, searching for signs of villages that had not yet been destroyed, and had unfortunately failed. As much as she wanted to get to those villages and save all that she could, every time she came upon a village, she found little more than destruction. The Leier—and the Koral—had been leveled.
It left her angry.
Something that Jorend had said came back to her, though she doubted that he had meant for it to stick in her mind the way that it had. He had said it in passing and had commented on how she had seemed so calm. At the time, she’d been angry, but she had known better than to reveal such anger. That was a key to fighting: hold on to anger, keep it bottled inside, and use the power that it granted.
That was a lesson that she had learned early on, but it was a lesson that Imogen had never struggled to master. Until now. She felt nothing but the rage bubbling within her.
“Imogen?”
She twisted on Zealar’s back and looked at Lilah, who was seated behind her, finally looking somewhat comfortable. “What is it?”
“Look.”
Imogen turned toward where Lilah pointed, and she realized that she was pointing toward a small ravine. It seemed to be moving.
That was surprising.
It was moving because the ravine was more than just simply a ravine.
Zealar seemed to sense that something was amiss and immediately began to turn, heading toward it.
“What are we doing?” Lilah asked.
“We are going to investigate.”
“Are you sure that’s what we should be doing?”
Imogen found herself staring at the ravine, at the nearby destruction of an entire village, before staring straight ahead. “I do.”
Lilah shook her head. “I don’t think that I can do this, Imogen. I don’t know enough to fight the way that you do. I know you’re powerful, but I’m not. And I’m not like you.”
“I’ve never asked you to be like me. No one has. All I want is for you to be like yourself. Be the shaman Abigail trained you to be.”
Even that wasn’t entirely true. Abigail hadn’t trained her to be a shaman; she had trained her to be one of her guardians. It didn’t matter. Nothing did. The only thing that mattered was stopping those who would harm their people.
“I’m not like you,” Lilah said. “And I don’t think that your people would want you to do this yourself. What happens if you fall?”
“Then I fall protecting my people.”
“What happens to them, then? Didn’t you tell me that you had prepared them for what they might need to do? But if you fall, who will lead them?”
Imogen said nothing for a long moment. “I have made certain they are ready for the possibility that I won’t be there for them. And if I’m not, there are others who are capable of leading. I would not be much of a commander if I did not prepare my people that way.”
“But I imagine they want you, not some replacement that you have trained.”
“They want me, but they also understand that there may come a time when I am not there for them.”
“But you don’t have to risk yourself like this.”
Imogen wasn’t sure whether she should be angry with Lilah for trying to talk her out of what Imogen believed she needed to do or whether she should be thankful that Lilah cared—or seemed to. She wasn’t sure if Lilah truly cared or not, and she didn’t know if this was merely fear for herself that motivated her.
“You don’t want to fight.”
Lilah shook her head. “I don’t.”
“Then you don’t have to.”
“Good. There are other places we can go—”
“I need to fight,” Imogen said, looking back at Lilah. “Even if you choose not to, I do not have that luxury. Not if there is something that I can do.”
“Even against whatever is down there?”
Imogen leaned forward, and she ran her hand along Zealar’s back. “I am capable of something they do not anticipate. That is what makes me think that I can do this.” An idea came to her, though. Perhaps it was one that she should have considered before, as there had to be a reason for all of this, but more than that, there had to be something that she could do. “I need you to do something for me.”
Lilah frowned. “What?”
“It is not unpleasant. And it’s something that you are capable of doing. I need you to return to our people. I need you to let them know what I am doing, and to help them prepare.”
“They are not my people.”
“They were. And they can be again. All I need is for you to get word to them. Tell them how to find me.”
“How would I do that?”
“The renral will show them the way.” Imogen was convinced that the renral had some way of connecting to each other. Probably through the storms, as it seemed to Imogen that they were somehow connected in that manner, though she didn’t know if that were truly the case.
“That’s not what I mean,” Lilah said, though her frown deepened. “Although I am surprised that you think the renral would make a difference.”
“I think the renral could guide you. In fact, I’m certain that the renral could guide you. All of us. And I am optimistic that if you go to them, the renral will lead the others back to me.”
“If that works, then great, but that’s not my greatest concern. My greatest concern is that your people won’t listen to me.”
It was a valid concern, and unfortunately, it was one that Imogen did not have a good answer for. Why would any of the Leier or Koral listen?
The only way that she thought would work was to provide Lilah with enchantments, along with the means of using them, but even that might leave her people thinking that something nefarious had happened to Imogen.
What could she say to Lilah that she could pass on to the others? If Imogen could come up with an answer for that, then perhaps she could have the help that she needed.
Perhaps might not be good enough.
“Do you feel competent in your ability to use your magic?”
“More than competent,” Lilah said carefully.
“Then do you feel competent in your ability to defend yourself.”
“I don’t know where you’re going with this.”
“I’m saying that you might have to present yourself, and you might have to convince them. If you tell them that I need them, that I am facing Sul’toral and ultimately planning on heading to the Heart, I believe they will answer.”
Lilah said nothing for a moment. “What is in the Heart?”
“Perhaps nothing. But maybe answers. That’s what I hope to find, at least, though I wonder if perhaps the reason that I was urged to head to the Heart is somehow influenced.”
“Why and how would it have been influenced?”
The wind swirled around her, with Zealar flying, carrying on the breeze. Imogen listened to it, and she focused on what she could feel, her mind racing. She had expected that she would need to go to the Heart because that was where Master Liu had suggested that she go, but Imogen started to wonder if perhaps the Sul’toral had had an effect even then.
It could be a trap.
Everything that Master Liu had been after could be a trap.
He had gone looking for others, wanting to find other sacred sword masters. She needed to know if she could see anything about Master Liu, though Imogen doubted that she would find much of an answer, and she doubted even more that it would provide her with what she needed. If Master Liu was tied to the Porapeth in the way that he had claimed, it seemed unlikely that she would be able to see anything about him.
