Chapter 37 #2
“Rynna,” Fenn looked up. “I don’t have time to argue with you.”
“Exactly,” she began, stepping forward, but Calli’s voice cut her off.
“There’s one more thing.” The girl wrung her hands.
Rynna shifted her focus from Fenn to Calli, frowning. “What’s up?”
“It’s not just Skarn out there.”
“I’d assume he has bodyguards.” Fenn nodded, already half-distracted. “Now, Rynna—”
“Yes,” Calli interrupted again. “There’s definitely something much worse than the regular horde. But that’s not it.” She hesitated, her fingers twisting nervously in front of her.
“Go on,” Fenn urged.
Calli worked her throat to speak. “It’s...Taren.”
Rynna’s brow rose, but it was Fenn who visibly froze, the blood draining from his face. His jaw clenched, and for a brief moment, his carefully constructed control cracked.
“He’s with Skarn?” Fenn’s voice was tight, disbelief warring with something darker—regret, guilt.
Before Calli could respond, though, Kaelith snorted from the corner, “I doubt that.”
Fenn’s head jerked toward Kaelith. “Explain.”
What do you know, snake? Rynna asked.
Kaelith winked at her, a smile curling at his lips before he turned to Fenn, his demeanor annoyingly relaxed. “I’m sure you’re aware the boy came looking for me after he left Ember Reach.”
“Yes,” Fenn ground out through clenched teeth, casting a brief glance at Rynna. He also knew she had followed Taren to Kaelith’s hideout.
Kaelith continued. “Poor kid was beside himself with anger after learning the charges against his parent were false. That they were executed to maintain a cover-up.”
“As I recall.” Fenn’s jaw tightened. “You were the one who put him on that trail. A whispered word during the massacre you orchestrated at the Ascension.”
Kaelith’s smile faltered, his mouth twisting into a grimace. “Yes, well. Not my finest moment...the massacre, that is.”
Just spit it out, Kae.
Kaelith sighed dramatically, his eyes sliding back to her.
“You’re no fun.” He shook his head, but there was a seriousness beneath the impish veneer as he continued.
“Ember Reach’s elders were hiding something.
..dark. His parents found out what it was.
Long before Taren, they had also sought me out, asking questions about the Source, its origins, and its limits.
They knew my experiments pushed boundaries, and that some of them involved non-Source techniques, while others worked to manipulate it. ”
Fenn’s voice was a low growl. “We’ve seen firsthand what came from those experiments.”
“Yes, the Veilroot. I heard you got to test that one firsthand,” Kaelith said, his smirk firmly in place.
KAE!!
“Anyway,” Kaelith continued, waving, “they were terrified for the future of Ember Reach. Desperate for answers.” He paused, spreading his hands in a helpless gesture.
“But I didn’t have much to offer them at the time, so they left.
It was only years later that I found out they’d been executed.
Ostensibly due to traitorous actions. I told the boy as much. ”
Fenn pinched the bridge of his nose, his patience fraying. “And what does this have to do with Taren showing up here, not aligned with Skarn?”
“Everything, my enthusiastic Commander.”
I will kill you, Kae.
Kaelith chuckled, holding up his hands in mock surrender.
“Fine, fine.” His playful demeanor slipped slightly as he caught the curious look Fenn gave him and Rynna.
“Because whatever Taren uncovered about Ember Reach about why his parents were eliminated, it’s tied to the Source.
” His voice lowered. “He found me again about three years ago and was obsessed with learning everything I knew about pre-Source Hollow-born techniques. ‘Pure’ elemental power, as he called it.”
“His parents had the same questions for you,” Fenn said, his voice cold. “But you gave them nothing.”
“I didn’t have much. And besides, their potential was limited, wolf. They didn’t have the fundamental training needed to wield that kind of power. Teaching them would’ve been a waste of time,” Kaelith replied with a dismissive wave.
“You’re a monster,” Calli whispered.
Kaelith looked around theatrically, feigning confusion. “Who, me?” He pointed to himself in mock innocence, then turned back to Fenn. “Everyone in Fang Unit had that training, Commander. And Taren...well, he was particularly gifted with it.”
“He always picked it up faster than the others,” Rynna said.
“Ha!” Kaelith pointed at her, grinning. “I knew it was you. Unit Leader over there is far too traditional to stray from the tried-and-true methods.”
Fenn raised an eyebrow, his gaze sliding toward Rynna. “So that’s what you were doing all those extra training sessions?”
Rynna shrugged. “It’s just foundational martial arts. I’ve said it before: The Source has become a crutch for Hollow-born. You depend on it too much and have forgotten the basics.”
Kaelith cackled, a wild gleam in his eyes. “You make it sound so simple! I spent fifty years trying to master those so-called ‘basics,’ and the best I’ve got is a bit of self-healing and snake-shifting.”
Rynna gave him a small smile. “You’ve done well.”
“I’m so lost.” Calli rubbed at her temples.
“Rynna, we’ll discuss this later,” Fenn cut in before turning to Kaelith. “So what if Taren could use a few limited non-Source techniques?”
“Limited?!” Kaelith burst into manic laughter. “If that’s what you call Rynna’s little inferno against the horde two days ago, then sure, let’s call it limited.”
Calli’s head whipped toward Rynna. “That wasn’t Source power?”
“The Source is...gross,” she muttered. “I avoid its use if I can and usually do fine without it.”
“‘Gross?’” Fenn raised an eyebrow, but quickly refocused. “Fine. So, Taren could wield this other power effectively?”
Kaelith’s laughter tapered off, his face growing more serious.
“Yes. He mastered everything it took me fifty years to develop in a matter of months. Then...well, he decided I was a danger to the rest of his unit because of my, shall we say, interest in the basics.” He shuddered.
“Skarn found me after Taren left me for dead. Mostly dead, anyway. And, well...my lovely apprentice decided to save me by absorbing what little remained.”
Oh, Kae. The process would have shattered his soul, broken it down to its smallest components, consumed by the new body.
He would have been completely subsumed, yet still vaguely aware.
It was a living torment. That was why she’d saved him.
No one deserved to suffer like that. And a part of you still loved him, you liar.
“I always wondered why he targeted you,” Fenn nodded thoughtfully. “But what does this have to do with Skarn?”
Kaelith swallowed hard, as if pulling himself from the dark depths of those memories.
“Before he attacked me, Taren said he would find a way to destroy the Source. He said that it was a plague on the land and would eventually kill us all. Somehow, Skarn’s using Source power in an even more unnatural way than we ever did with this army of the dead. Taren would want him gone.”
“Destroy the Source?” Calli squeaked, wide-eyed. “That seems a little extreme.”
“I thought so, too,” Kaelith said, giving a nonchalant shrug.
“What do you think?” Fenn turned to Rynna.
Rynna pressed her lips together, her eyes narrowing as she studied Kaelith. She knew he wasn’t lying. He’d let her follow the threads of his thoughts throughout the conversation. “It’s a plausible story,” she said slowly. “And it aligns with what I’ve long suspected about the Source.”
“And Taren?”
“We always knew he had a bone to pick with the Ember Warden and Reach politics in general. That much was obvious as early as the Veilroot incident.”
Fenn nodded.
Rynna scratched her head, thinking back. “And he was a natural at the foundational techniques, one of the strongest Wills I’ve ever come across.”
A small smile tugged at her lips as the pieces started to fall into place. Her first life training with Kaelith. The long hours with Fang Unit. Falling in love with Fenn. It was all connected.
“If Taren joins this war,” she continued, the realization solidifying, “he’ll be fighting to stop whatever Skarn and his allies have planned. He’ll destroy those who use Source power to harm this world.”
Fenn exhaled slowly.
“But Rynna,” Calli spoke up, her voice soft but urgent. “I’ve only followed a fraction of whatever this conversation is really about, but what if his plans to destroy the Source include all Hollow-born?”
Rynna opened her mouth to respond, but the words wouldn’t come. Calli was right. It was the logical conclusion, and Taren could be as coldly calculating and driven by his mission as any of them. If he believed all Source users were a threat to the world, he might not hesitate to wipe them out, too.
“A problem for another day.” Fenn coughed. “For now, we will assume he’s an ally, no matter how temporary.”
“But—” Calli started to protest when Arthur stepped back into the tent.
“Your volunteers are ready, Commander. Awaiting your orders,” the young man said, standing at attention.
“Thank you.” Fenn nodded, then turned to Rynna. “These two will be joining us as well. I may need the snake’s expertise when it comes to enemy capabilities in the field.”
Arthur looked to Kaelith, his brow furrowing in doubt. “Are you sure? Wasn’t Skarn his apprentice?”
Before Fenn could answer, Kaelith hissed. “Don’t worry, youngling.” The sudden gleam in his eyes caused Arthur to take a step back in alarm. “If we do find Skarn, I owe him a great deal of suffering.”
Fenn’s gaze darkened, and a quiet understanding passed between the two men. “We all owe him a great deal of pain, Kaelith. In that, we are aligned.”
Then, the Commander of the Third Regiment looked around the tent, surveying his team.
“Calli, excellent work giving us a target. Get some rest. Rynna, snake, you’re with me.”