The Inner Circle: The Gates of Hae'Evun

  'I'm sorry for what happened to Teah. Honestly, I am, but there's no time.'

  'This is your fault!' Ilgrin shouted furiously. 'You jumped off the edge. I could've saved her, but you forced me to choose. That's all you Elglair do--manipulate and control anyone foolish enough to stick around.'

  'It wasn't like that.' El-i-miir took a step back when Ilgrin bunched his hand into a fist. 'I lost control. I didn't know what I was doing.'

  'She deserved better than this,' Ilgrin uttered, dropping to his knees to dig frantically as the drizzle continued.

  'Ilgrin,' El-i- miir sneered angrily. 'We're leaving.'

  'No,' he barked, slamming his branch so hard against the earth that it cracked. 'You're an evil bitch and I want nothing more to do with you,' he hissed, snapping his head to the side, his eyes drawn constantly to Teah's blood. He bent to sniff it.

  A rock hit the side of Ilgrin's head with such force that he fell over. Warm blood trickled down his face. He spun toward El-i-miir in time to see her leap toward him, Noah's silver-bladed knife in hand. Ilgrin threw himself back, brought up his legs and thrust them out so that she was flung across the clearing. She picked herself up, dusted herself off and started back toward Ilgrin with a limp.

  'I'll kill you. I'm stronger than you.'

  'You're utterly ignorant.' El-i-miir twisted her hand.

  Ilgrin screamed, his mind filling with tortured memories, both true and untrue. He fell to his knees as she picked through his aura, tormenting and twisting his mind. Her face appeared behind his eyelids. 'I own you,' the words echoed for a hundred years. He'd been there forever. He'd never escape. But the rain continued to fall and Ilgrin rose to his feet. El-i-miir's expression became one of disbelief. She'd not anticipated that the rain could overpower her possession.

  Thrusting out his arm, Ilgrin grabbed a handful of El-i-miir's hair and lifted her off the ground. She yelped in pain and wrapped her hands around his wrist in an attempt to lessen the pull. 'You're a twig,' Ilgrin smiled callously. 'I could snap you like one. I wonder why I've let you live so long,' he mused, wrapping his freehand around El-i-miir's neck and then releasing her hair. 'I should have done this a long time ago.' He moved over to the edge of the precipice and held her out as she choked and spluttered.

  'I hate you,' she shrieked, trying to claw Ilgrin's face.

  He opened his hand, but as El-i-miir began to fall she made a wild gesture that looked as though she were throwing an invisible object. The air became cold and Ilgrin's grip on his mind failed and he fell into the night. 'I'm falling,' El-i-miir spread his wings and leapt after herself.

  Ilgrin threw his arms around herself. El-i-miir writhed, spittle flying from her mouth as she resisted every desire to rip out Ilgrin's eyes. His mouth twitched and he moved a finger. 'I can't,' El-i-miir moaned as she lost control.

  With a guttural cry, the demon released her but with a desperate reach, she managed to latch onto his ankle. Dodging and swishing through the air, he did everything he could to dislodge her, but the woman held on tight. 'Get off!' He shouted victoriously, finally kicking her free.

  El-i-miir spun through the air. Their eyes connected and Ilgrin's mind was engulfed, the connection re-established. El-i-miir swooped after herself and held her in his arms even as she slapped at his face. They screamed in harmony as they fell toward the earth, fighting and biting and scratching as Ilgrin's mind switched in and out of her control.

  'I'll kill you,' El-i-miir hissed, wrapping her hands around his neck.

  Ilgrin tried to breathe, but couldn't. Then he could. Flaring his wings, he stabilised the flight and took back control. He pushed against El-i-miir's face until her head was pressed back, coughing and spluttering in the rain. He backhanded her and the woman started to lose her grip. She affiliated Ilgrin and he yanked her back to safety, but almost immediately the connection was lost and he shook her free. She took him again and he dove after her.

  Although it couldn't be said under whose control it was accomplished, Ilgrin flared his wings as they approached the ground and the two landed clumsily. He thrust out his fist but at the last moment El-i-miir deviated his motion so that Ilgrin punched a tree instead of her. She dove for his throat but was slapped out of the way.

  So entirely focused on his present situation was Ilgrin, that he failed to notice a flurry of movement out of the caves they'd found earlier. Jakob cried out as he brought down a rock against the side of El-i-miir's head. The woman gasped and fell to the earth. Jakob dragged her unconscious body into the cave, but Ilgrin lurched after him.

  'Please.' Jakob's face twitched, spattered by rain. 'It's not you. It's the rain.' He released El-i-miir, having gotten her inside. He held Ilgrin's stare and backed away with hands raised.

  'You betrayed me,' Ilgrin hissed. 'I lost my legion. I lost my crown!' He thrust his fist into the side of the cave with such force that rocks rained down around them. 'I'll enjoy this.'

  'Stop him,' Jakob cried, wrestling a small sieift from his pocket and tossing it at Ilgrin's face.

  He stumbled as his unreasonable hatred faded away. He shook his head, confused by the memories of what'd transpired. 'Where'd you get that?'

  'Oh, thank Maker,' Jakob said in relief, resting against the wall of the cave. 'Teah was making heaps of them up there. Luckily I managed to convince a bit to come with me.'

  'Have you got one for El-i-miir?' Ilgrin asked turning to the crumpled figure on the floor.

  'That was all I had,' Jakob frowned. 'Sieifts never did tend to like me very much.'

  'El-i-miir,' Ilgrin whispered, gently taking her shoulder.

  'Don't do that.' Jakob slapped his hand away. 'Not before the grey fades from her skin.'

  CHAPTER Twenty-Nine

  involution

  The town square was filled with people duelling by fist or sword. Others raced about like madmen. Those few still unaffected peeked out from behind curtains in houses where lanterns had been put out. The clouds boiled as they rumbled. Purple lightning stained the air. Seteal shook her heavy wet hair as purple filled her vision and she was thrown backward by a string of lightning. She landed on her feet and squinted through the black staining her vision. Lightning created by whisp clouds tended to linger much longer than that which came naturally. Seteal reached out to the band of energy but it wouldn't obey her. She raised her hands to the sky and gestured sharply toward the earth. She may not have had authority over whisp lightning, but that didn't mean she couldn't create her own.

  Streaks of blinding white struck at various points around town. Seteal ran across the square, having spotted Cindi's mother, Mel, hurrying home. She threw out her hand as though she were tossing a stone and an invisible force struck the woman. She spun around several times before hitting the ground and failing to get up.

  A house was torn from its foundations and Seteal tossed it through the air so that it crashed down on the opposite side of Elmsville. She snatched up another and another, revelling in the destruction. Windows exploded and people fell from their homes. A boy hit the pavement and sprayed blood. Seteal threw one of the houses so far that it crashed down somewhere in Narvon Wood.

  With a shout, she sailed into the air to land before a man who'd been running for his life. She threw out her hands and blasted him into the sky. A woman who'd been hiding in her cellar when the house cracked away from the earth was torn to shreds with a single thought. Seteal headed toward the town hall. She knew where they'd be hiding.

  As she approached, she raised her hands. The doors were torn off their hinges and blown out into the night. The people inside cried out and tried to make themselves scarce in corners. Countless buckets had been laid out to rather ineffectively catch the leaks, but for the most part, the ceiling was holding. Seteal stood in the middle of the hall with the townsfolk huddling against the walls around her. She doubled over, taking a moment to moan as pain made itself known throughout her body. She was too fragile. Her skin was cracking.

  With a low moan, Set
eal stood upright. She screamed in frustration. The windows shattered amidst cries of terror from the locals. The lanterns blew out and the building shuddered as it crumbled. Winds of incredible force struck the building. Seteal threw up her hands and the ceiling was blasted hundreds of strides into the air. She slammed her fist into the ground and the walls blew out around them.

  People tried to run, but Seteal tossed them about like old rags as she flew into the air. She moved across town, slaughtering anyone that caught her attention. The clouds pulsed toward her. They wanted her. They'd followed her. Seteal glared at them in contempt. She was stronger than them.

  She murdered again and again, drinking it in, enjoying the scent of death. But it wasn't enough. She still felt him, there in the ground. 'Leave me alone!' A wave of pure energy burst through the porcelain cracks forming a shockwave that sped out in a circular fashion. Anyone or anything that'd thus far escaped her wrath was destroyed as the ring of energy and debris spread throughout Elmsville. People were thrust into the air, their carriages torn apart, their bodies incinerated. The remaining houses crumbled to rubble.

  Seteal collapsed in the mud. She felt weak and opened her eyes to find that the rain had stopped. She gulped for air. 'I need more.' She shivered uncontrollably, the comforting hatred ebbing and the truth of what she'd done beginning to dawn on her. She clung to the hatred even as tears of remorse came to her eyes. Her killings were justified. She'd enjoyed it. It'd been right. 'Don't leave me,' she pleaded the sky as the last drops hit the dirt. 'Don't leave me,' she shrieked as Parrowun's cold, dead body called out to her from the grave.

  Grey flesh lightened as Seteal stumbled through the destruction surrounding her. Dead staring eyes accused her as she passed by. The town was in ruins. 'Hello?' she called out, but knew there'd be no response. She'd killed everyone in Elmsville. She'd done the silts' job for them.

  Seteal stumbled drunkenly toward her side of town. Remarkably--or perhaps by unconsciously intention--her house was the only one still standing. She fell onto the front steps, tears gushing down her face as the hollow loneliness of her reality returned with greater force than before. 'I'm sorry,' she wept, getting to her feet to stumble through the front door.

  Cindi's eyes stared from within the sockets of her sunken-in skull. 'What have I done?' Seteal moaned at the sight of her old friend. She moved into the next room where the floor was sagging. 'I'm sorry, Cindi,' she cried wildly, getting onto her knees. She leant forward, resting her forehead on the floorboards. 'I'm so sorry,' she sobbed the words, but no longer knew to whom they were directed. Seteal remained in place for a very long time, unable to move through her guilt. The number of lives she'd taken was innumerable.

  Something touched Seteal's arm. She looked up to find a fly cleaning its limbs. It hopped off and zigzagged this way and that, its round red eyes staring at her accusingly. She sniffled and fell back to lean against the wall with legs outstretched. A large black roach scampered across the room, probably on its way to feed on Cindi's remains.

  Seteal's head lolled to the side. She saw a fine layer of dust and dirt floating up from the far wall as though it'd been freshly disturbed. Confused by the anomaly and grateful for the distraction, Seteal wandered over and rested her hand on the wall. There was a sound. She put an ear to the wallpaper and listened to a peculiar scratching sound. The wallpaper gained a million tiny tears. Seteal stepped back in time to see it. With a shuddering crack the wall caved in on itself and crumbled to the earth outside.

  'Far-a-mael,' she gaped, too astonished by his presence to know what else to say. The old man looked up at her with cold disdain. He was surrounded by a semicircle of other wizened gils all of whom were dressed in formal attire. 'You're alive,' she said.

  Far-a-mael's robe squirmed as did his flesh, then before Seteal's eyes he dissolved into a swarming mass of fluttering insects. The moths surged forward, congregated behind her and then reassembled into Far-a-mael. 'Yes, I am,' he uttered, pushing her with a sharp jab to the back.

  Seteal yelped and hit the dirt. The gils closed in around her. Much to her surprise one of them was the high elder of the eighth cleff. 'Gez-reil,' she gasped looking up at him from her position of vulnerability.

  'I'm sorry, my child.' The old man's lips quivered with regret. Seteal's heart thundered as she fell back and raised her hands defensively. She scratched for the Ways, but the canvas was lost, the energy within her drained of all power. 'It's done.' Gez-reil raised his eyes to meet Far-a-mael's as they reappeared among a throng of flying insects.

  'Excellent,' Far-a-mael whispered as his moths writhed together, forming his mouth. 'You!' The moths flew toward Seteal, becoming a hand as they approached. 'I've waited for this day.' The fully formed Far-a-mael smiled malevolently, clutching Seteal's jaw.

  'What have you done?' she cried out, frightened by the empty weakness she felt.

  'By the look of this town, I've done what's going to be the safest thing for everyone.' Far-a-mael gazed upon the destruction. 'I've anchored you.'

  'Not that,' Seteal blubbered. 'I can't feel anything.' She'd wished so many times for Parrowun's absence from her senses, but now that he was gone it was as though he didn't exist. Painful though the connection was, it was all she'd had left of her son. 'Let me out,' Seteal shrieked, leaping to her feet and charged toward Far-a-mael.

  The old man laughed as she hit him and he erupted into a mass of insects that she stumbled through. She laid her hands flat on the earth and pushed against the anchor. She felt the strands as they bulged about her aura. She pushed harder and for the barest moment felt the Ways leaning toward her. 'Hold her,' Far-a-mael barked at the red-faced, fearful looking gils surrounding Seteal. 'It's time for you to do what you were always supposed to do once your usefulness had run out, and that's to die.'

  Far-a-mael dissolved into the air. The earth below Seteal churned as countless varieties of insects pulsed up through the soil and squirmed in between her fingers and up her arms. 'No,' Seteal gasped, leaping to her feet. She turned to run, but Far-a-mael's head and torso partially reappeared to block her. He punched her in the stomach before his leg reappeared to kick her back into the churning mud.

  Seteal winced and slapped at a sting in her arm and then another to the back of her neck. She slapped at her clothing as insects made their way into the folds. 'Stop this,' she begged of Gez-reil. 'Please.' A beetle flew up her nose and started picking at the flesh within. Another insect shot into Seteal's mouth and made its way down her windpipe. Others burrowed into her ears and she fell onto her back squirming in pain.

  Insects poured up from the earth, their supply unlimited. They bit into her flesh and burrowed into her arms and legs. Seteal screamed as beads of blood appeared all over her. She clutched at her chest; the tissue in her lungs attacked by those that'd gotten inside. Seteal wheezed and thrust about in the mud. Her eyes locked on Gez-reil whose eyes, although refusing to make contact with hers, were filled with tears. 'Please,' she moaned as something burrowed beneath her eyelid and bit the flesh so that it swelled to the point of impairing her vision.

  Gez-reil turned to Seteal and for the first time he looked her in the eye. He raised his chin, ever so slightly, nodded at her and took a step back. Seteal reached out with every bit of strength she had left. Gez-reil had released his portion of the anchor. She flung herself forward as the insects squirmed deeper into her failing body. There was the canvas; so very far away. It beckoned her.

  Squeezing herself through the broken link in the anchor's chain, Seteal felt it bend, fracture and break. Tearing free of her body, she became one with the Ways. Unable as she was to contain her power, the eight gils exploded with such intense flames that they were incinerated on the spot. Seteal reached for Far-a-mael's Way, but found nothing. She turned to her body and found it to be engulfed by a squirming mass.

  'Far-a-mael,' Seteal's body cried weakly. She thrust winds at herself but only managed to sweep away a portion of the crawling insects. She took a hold of
herself and tried to drag her body up from the ground, only to find that she couldn't. Seteal's lungs rattled as the tissues were eaten away. 'Far-a-mael,' the sound was an inaudible whisper beneath the crawling mass.

  'Oh, my sweet Seteal.' Portions of Far-a-mael appeared and disappeared as the moths swarmed this way and that. 'Did you learn nothing from our time together? Have you forgotten Cold Wood? How many times must I tell you that the mind cannot exist without the body?'

  Seteal threw her spirit at the horde of moths. She reached out to them, but found only darkness. This wasn't Far-a-mael. This was a whisp-mutated version of the man who'd died weeks earlier. Seteal reached away from the canvas, groping through the dark in the hope of finding anything to latch onto, but in the end there was only one way by which to satisfy a whisp: to give life.

  The body defencelessly laying on the earth shook violently as Seteal fell back into it. Her eyes burst open. She tried to breathe but couldn't. Her heartbeat was laboured and the agony was excruciating. She was blind in both eyes and had fallen deaf. She tried to move, but her limbs didn't respond. She was dying.

  Clawing back up out of her body proved to be impossible. It resisted her will to live, so prepared as it was to die. She fell back. Her head flopped sideways and she tasted blood in her mouth, its origins having come from somewhere deep within. Her body fell silent. Her heart took its last beat. One final rattling breath breezed past swollen lips. As Seteal faded the canvas rose away, its protective warmth abandoning her to the dark.

  Overwhelmed by all that she'd done it might have been the easiest option just to let go, but the thought stayed with her in that moment between life and death, that she couldn't go without taking Far-a-mael with her. She swung at the Ways and snatched them back by the vaguest trailing strand. The strand wound around her heart and squeezed a muscle that was no longer able to beat of its own accord. Her blood moved slightly, the heart having received too many punctures to perform adequately. She twisted the Ways so that they forced air down her throat, inflating lungs that couldn't properly absorb it. But it was enough. She squeezed the heart again. She would make herself live.