“We’ll find the connection in time,” Lee said. “Your homeland may not end up being connected to Vision, but it won’t be adrift.”
“How can you be sure?”
He gave her hand a comforting squeeze and didn’t answer.
Chapter 22
Standing outside the bordello, Danyal eyed the demon cycle. Then he turned back to Sebastian and said in a low voice he hoped wouldn’t carry, “I can walk to wherever we’re going. Shamans are used to walking.”
“Your hip is still healing, and even though it’s a stationary bridge, it will be better if you travel with one of us this time.” Sebastian gave him a sharp-edged smile. “You faced down wizards and a Dark Guide, and you’re afraid of a demon cycle?”
“The wizards didn’t have talons or that many teeth.” And he hadn’t known about the wizards’ lightning, so he hadn’t been aware of how deadly those men could be.
He glanced at the demon cycle again. The way it had cavorted when it saw Lynnea, it reminded him of the puppies with the pushed-in faces—cute in an ugly sort of way. Add to that the big red eyes and tufted ears, and it looked rather comical—until you took into account all the razorlike teeth, the muscular arms and torso, and the talons that Teaser had assured him could gut a man with one swipe. The cycles, also according to Teaser, had once had wheels and badass riders who had come to the Den to prove they were the biggest, baddest badasses around.
The demons those riders met up with discarded the wheels, ate the riders, and turned the cycles into traveling homes.
Sebastian gave him a friendly slap on the arm. “It already promised Lynnea and Glorianna that it wouldn’t eat you. What more do you want?”
He wanted a gentle horse pulling a cart, but, according to Teaser, the black horses most willing to give him a ride would also want to kill him—and maybe eat him. Teaser wasn’t sure about the last part.
“Isn’t anyone else coming for this…test?” Danyal asked.
“They’re already at the cottage,” Sebastian replied. “Except Teaser, but I think he’s still asleep or traveling in dreams, so I don’t want to disturb him.”
Danyal breathed in slowly and breathed out slowly. He thought about the wind chimes and the quiet morning rituals the Shamans performed to prepare themselves for the tasks of the day.
“All right,” he said.
Sebastian studied him. “Every part of Ephemera seems to work a bit different, but the world does the same thing in every piece of itself. It manifests the heart. So if it turns out that Glorianna can’t figure out a way to get you back to your city, maybe you should consider that you’re not meant to go back.”
Danyal stared at him. “Not go back? But my people are there. My family is there.”
“Yeah. But if the need to go is stronger than the need to stay…”
Is that what they had thought happened to Lee? That he’d needed to be away from the places his family controlled? “You still tried to find him.” He spoke the thought aloud, not expecting Sebastian to follow his thinking.
But the incubus-wizard followed his thinking quite well. “We found signs of an attack, warnings that something had happened to him. We searched so he would know he wasn’t alone, especially if he was hurt or held prisoner and was trying to get back.”
Lee had been both, because wasn’t the Asylum a kind of prison?
“Come on,” Sebastian said. “We can’t figure out what we can do to help you until you take this test for Glorianna.” He walked over to the demon cycle and mounted, setting his feet on the footrests. Then he looked at Danyal, who gingerly mounted behind him.
The demon cycle moved sedately to the corner, then turned onto the Den’s main street.
As they approached a shop, a little man with glasses stepped outside and frowned at them. Sebastian raised a hand in greeting.
“It will be ready this evening,” the little man chirped. Then he went back inside and closed the door.
“Your robe,” Sebastian said. “He’s less annoyed with you about making something so plain because Lynnea asked him to design a strut outfit that was appropriate for a pregnant woman but would still remind her incubus husband of how he got her pregnant in the first place. Mr. Finch has never had a pregnant customer before, and the challenge Lynnea provided has made up for your lack of adventure.”
“The white robe is a symbol of the Shamans,” Danyal said. “Something easily seen in the bazaar or in a village—and understood by everyone in the city.”
“You don’t have to convince me. Hold on,” Sebastian added as they reached the end of the main street and glided over a span of grass to a dirt lane.
Hold on? Danyal wondered. Why? And to what? Then he grabbed Sebastian’s waist as the demon cycle leaped forward and flew over the lane.
A minute later, it slowed and finally stopped in front of an odd bit of road. Straight ahead of them, the lane continued. But there was also a curve with two stones set far enough apart to allow a wagon to pass between them.
“We’re going to Aurora,” Sebastian said.
The demon cycle headed for the curve. As they passed between the stones, night instantly turned to daylight.
Danyal squinted as he looked around. On their right were tall trees. A break in the trees showed him the horizon and the rolling blue of water. On their left was a two-story cottage.
It looked different, smelled different, felt different.
“Where…?”
“This is Aurora, my aunt’s home village,” Sebastian replied. “That’s the cottage where Lynnea and I live most of the time. If we’d continued down the lane on that side of the bridge, we would have reached the border between the Den and the waterhorses’ landscape. On this side, the lane turns into the main street of the village.”
Danyal frowned. “How far away is the Den from Aurora?”
“It’s a step away. That curve in the road is a stationary bridge.”
“I meant—”
“I know what you meant, but that’s the only answer I have. We’ll get off here.” After Danyal dismounted, Sebastian swung off the demon cycle, thanked it, waited until it disappeared between the two stones, then headed around the cottage. “We don’t measure distance or location like that. We can’t. According to Michael, Elandar is an island, and it would take days of sea travel to reach it—assuming ships that dock at any ports within reach of us could reach Elandar. But we can go a couple of miles down a lane, step between two cairns, and be in that part of the world. This part of the world was broken a long time ago during the battle between the Guides of the Heart and the Eater of the World. They put it back together as best they could with the pieces they could find. It’s still a puzzle with bits disconnecting and connecting. A year ago, it wasn’t easy getting from the Den to Aurora. Now there’s a bridge that connects the two.”
“What changed?” Danyal asked.
Sebastian smiled. “I did.” Reaching the back of the cottage, he whistled. “Glorianna?”
Her face appeared on the other side of a screened window. “I’ll be out as soon as—” Her face disappeared, and they heard Lynnea say, “No toast until you go back to your house.”
Danyal’s eyebrows rose. Lynnea didn’t strike him as a rude woman. Quite the opposite. But pregnant women could be moody. Or so he’d been told.
Then he heard a noise that was, for lack of a better description, a bitching scold. He looked at Sebastian, who sighed.
“It’s Bop, the keet. Apparently, he’s not happy with his humans wanting to do something besides play with him. Featherheaded tyrant.”
“Is he dangerous?” What sort of pet would an incubus-wizard have?
Sebastian snorted. “Don’t let the sound fool you.” He held up thumb and forefinger spread almost their full distance. “He’s that big, plus a tail. Doesn’t make him less of a tyrant.”
The back door opened, and Glorianna slipped outside with Michael, who was grinning.
“You do this every morning?” M
ichael asked Sebastian.
“I have sense enough not to open his cage until after breakfast. Damn bird tries to steal koffea beans. Besides being expensive, they aren’t good for him. But if a person has it, he wants it.”
“Which is why he gets toast and bits of fruit in the morning to distract him from what he’s not getting.” Michael winked at Danyal.
“Why don’t you two have a keet?” Sebastian asked. “After all, Aunt Nadia raises them.”
“We travel too much,” Glorianna replied. She headed for the back of the lawn, then crooked a finger at Danyal. “Lynnea said we could do this here if you have no objections, Sebastian.”
He shook his head as he joined her. “I have no objections. Can you do it here?”
Michael tsked. “Having grown up with her, you ask that?”
Danyal struggled to hold back impatience. They were playing with birds and teasing each other while a part of the world was under attack?
He looked into the faces of the men and felt a jolt of understanding, a realization of just how innocent and protected the Shamans had been for all these years. The wizards weren’t new to Sebastian and Michael. This battle wasn’t new. They were always aware of the danger and had already stood against the enemy. They worked and lived and laughed and loved on a battleground, while his people had tended a distant city that hadn’t been touched by that ancient war—until now.
“Ephemera, hear me,” Glorianna said as she pointed to the ground in front of her. “Shift the playground from the Island in the Mist to this spot.”
A rectangle of grass disappeared. In its place was a long wooden box. Part of the box was filled with sand. The other part held gravel and a bench.
“Sit on the bench,” Glorianna told Danyal. “Don’t touch the sand.”
“What will this do?” Danyal stepped into the box and sat on the bench.
“It will tell me about you, and tell me what skills you have.”
Before he could ask what that meant, she said, “Ephemera, show me this heart.”
He watched the world swiftly reveal his heart to this woman. Rough granite, like the stone that made up the mountains that formed the northern boundary of Vision. Wildflowers that grew in the northern community where he’d grown up—and where his nephew still lived. Mist. One corner changed to hard-packed earth that reminded him of the Asylum’s grounds and was filled with thorny vines. Beside it was a pile of stones with water trickling down into a pool surrounded by plants. In front of the mist, a pile of pocket watches wiggled out of the sand. The last thing that appeared was one of his favorite flowers. He used to grow them in his private courtyard when he served the Temple of Sorrow. As it appeared, he thought he heard wind chimes.
When nothing happened for a full minute, Sebastian said, “What does it mean?”
“Strength makes stone,” Glorianna replied. “Bright feelings—love, laughter—make flowers. Mist hides. Combined with the watches, it could mean there are times when you would like to put aside being a Shaman—hide that aspect of yourself—and be among friends who see the man.”
Danyal jolted. How could she know that?
The heart has no secrets from Glorianna Belladonna.
“But this?” She pointed to the barren, hard-packed earth. “That resonates with the Dark currents, which means you do have a connection to the Dark as well as the Light, Shaman. Despair made the deserts and hope the oases.” Then she looked at him.
Thorn trees with sinuous limbs.
Michael reached for her, but she shifted away from him while those cold green eyes stayed fixed on Danyal.
“Do you help make the deserts, Shaman?” Belladonna asked. “Or are you trying to shape an oasis for hearts in turmoil?”
I could do that? Can those hearts truly heal enough to return to the world?
He wanted to do more as the Asylum Keeper than keep the people there docile and caged, but he hadn’t been sure anything he might do would make enough of a difference.
The sand stirred. They all watched one more plant appear in front of the granite.
“Heart’s hope,” Glorianna murmured. She took a deep breath and blew it out on a sigh. “All right, let’s—”
“Hey-a!” Teaser rounded the corner and jogged over to them. “I connected with Kobrah, and she gave me a message from Lee.”
Danyal followed Yoshani to a bench in front of a koi pond. After a polite minute, he asked, “What are we doing here?”
“We are watching the koi,” Yoshani replied calmly.
“Why?”
“Why not?”
The answer was so like something he would have said to someone seeking his counsel, he smiled.
Sanctuary. A Place of Light where people could come to renew the spirit. And according to Yoshani, many Places of Light in the world were connected to this one.
He had crossed over a bridge and ended up here with Yoshani, Glorianna, Michael, and Sebastian. Glorianna took Michael and Sebastian to her Island in the Mist, leaving him to explore Sanctuary with Yoshani.
“You’re not from this place,” Danyal said.
“Originally? No. I come from a country that I think is in a different part of the world. Much like you.” Yoshani smiled. “I still cross the bridge to my homeland and visit the Place of Light where I trained, but mostly I am here now to welcome visitors—and to listen. Brighid, Michael’s aunt, is another who has found a home here. She is a true Guardian of the Light, but even so, her heart was troubled until she came here and realized this Place of Light could give her what she needed for herself.”
Danyal hesitated. “Did you show me Sanctuary to occupy me while we wait or to let me know there is another place besides The Temples where I might do some good?”
“Both.” Yoshani watched the koi. “Do the Shamans run all the places in your city that contain the sick hearts and minds?”
“No, I was the first to be assigned as a Keeper.”
“Why?”
Danyal watched a flash of gold disappear beneath the floating plants, then turned to Yoshani. “I was needed.”
“Why?”
“Because…” Danyal turned back to watch the fish. “I had served as the leader at the Temple of Sorrow for several years. That work demands much from the Shamans who serve there, and it was time for me to leave. I was supposed to be free of duties for a year to rest and explore the restlessness in my own heart. But a wrongness came to Vision, and the Shaman Council felt my presence at the Asylum would draw a madman and a teacher, and they would help me see where help could be found.”
Yoshani laughed softly. “Heart wishes are powerful things to send out into the currents of the world.”
Anger surged in Danyal, and for a moment, the Dark currents in Sanctuary rippled. Then those currents were gone, a reminder that here he was only a visitor and not the voice for this part of the world.
“You think I wanted this to happen to my city?” he asked.
Yoshani shook his head. “I think you and Lee would have had an opportunity to meet, and what you chose to do with that acquaintance would resonate through your lives. But, Danyal? I’m not sure it was your heart wish that drew Lee to your city.”
Glorianna studied the triangle of grass in the part of her garden that contained the dark landscapes.
“Still not resonating with me enough,” she muttered.
“You couldn’t reach that landscape?” Michael asked.
“I could, yes. But I’m not sure going there now would do the place or the people any good. They aren’t mine yet.”
“What about you, Magician?” Sebastian asked. “I know that patch of grass is in Glorianna’s garden, but could it be resonating with you, but fit in better with her dark landscapes?”
She watched her lover and partner, the man who had used the music in his and Sebastian’s hearts to bring her out of that terrible landscape she’d created for the Eater of the World.
Michael stared at the grass triangle, his eyes softly focused. After a
minute, he shook his head, but he looked puzzled.
“It’s an odd thing,” he said. “The music I hear doesn’t fit a dark landscape—or at least doesn’t fit what I’ve seen and felt in the darker places. Maybe that’s why you’re having so much trouble pinning it down, Glorianna. It’s dark and light and something in between, and I’m thinking Ephemera is nudging it toward the Den because whatever lives there wouldn’t find much welcome in the daylight landscapes.”
“Like an incubus?” Sebastian asked.
“Maybe.” Michael tipped his head. “Not one song, but three that harmonize back into one.”
“So I’m only resonating with one or two but not all three?” Glorianna asked.
“Not yet anyway,” Michael replied. “I’m thinking it’s going to be like Lighthaven. These people are going to have to choose you before you and Ephemera can make that final connection.”
Lee’s message kept circling through her mind. They were running from the wizards and the Dark Guide and going to the landscape that belonged to Zhahar’s people. Those people needed her help. The access point was probably a triangle of grass.
He’d seen this triangle the last time he came to the island.
A triangle of grass. Three songs. A landscape that wasn’t dark but wanted to connect with a dark landscape—specifically the Den, a place that didn’t automatically pass judgment on demon races.
“The Shaman didn’t tell us much about Zhahar, did he?” Glorianna said.
“I had the impression it wasn’t his secret to tell,” Michael said.
“Are you worried because Lee stayed for the sake of a girl?” Sebastian asked.
Glorianna huffed. “He’s twenty-nine. I hope the girl is old enough to be considered a woman.”
Silence. Then Sebastian said, “Lynnea is younger than me.”
“That’s different.” But she looked at her cousin and considered Sebastian and Lynnea—two people who shouldn’t have met but were drawn together by each other’s heart wish.
Was it Lee’s heart or someone else’s that had drawn him to the city of Vision?
“From what Kobrah told Teaser, they’ve got another day’s traveling ahead of them before they reach Zhahar’s homeland,” Sebastian said. “I think we should spend that time getting ready. A daypack with a change of clothes. Water. Some food that’s ready to grab. We’ll get some rest. Can Ephemera give us some warning if the access point becomes strong enough to cross over?”