Chapter 43
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Back in the Marina District, sitting across the desk from Harold, I wondered why I’d thought this was a good idea.
Harold still hadn’t said a word aloud. All the talking was done in our heads.
Ranth had been exceptionally quiet, studying the man in green as if he were a complex puzzle to solve.
Harold was dressed in the same coat as before, but today it was opened down the front, revealing a woven green shirt the color of lime zest. A golden pendant wrought with symbols rested on his collarbone, hanging from a gold rope chain.
“What is your affiliation with the Marahk, or is it the Ahknim?” I demanded.
“I’m not currently affiliated with anyone. Why did you come here?”
“Why did you show up? You know why we’re here. We need your help, or at the very least, the truth.”
“I came because you called. But perhaps my energy has been wasted.” He rose from the desk. I was about to get up, but Ranth covered my hand with his.
Ranth stood instead and then bowed at the waist. “Apologies for my partner’s rudeness, Eminence. I did not recognize you in your current form.”
Harold raised an eyebrow, and his lips widened into a grin. “This mortal skin is an uncomfortable necessity for my work here. How may I aid you, Collector?”
“I wish to return to my place, and without the Amum, I lack the understanding of the ritual.”
I looked between Harold and Ranth, as if they were both tripping on peyote. “Hang on, Eminence? Amum? What am I missing? Catch me the hellebore up, please?”
Ranth turned to me. “I didn’t see it before because I wasn’t looking, but when I recognized the symbol on his amulet, I realized how we were misguided.
It makes sense now why Harold would assist in our rescue.
In my time, Harold was Ushifar, the Vizier to Kafar.
We suspected his mysterious death had something to do with his association with our Amum, our temple head. ”
Harold covered the amulet with one hand. “It did, yes. Your Amum shared the ritual to open gates to the other worlds, and I was released from this constrictive body. But I can return for short times.”
“Why go back, Great One?”
“You know. I wish access to the Trees.”
Ranth focused on me. “Harold wishes to go to the Garden, and he’s been waiting for us to make the ritual for my return.”
Harold crossed his arms. “You are clever, boy. I expect that is why you were chosen.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to catch up. “And why does he want to… I mean, what good will it do him?”
“I seek knowledge and the ability to live as a man once more.”
Ranth shook his head, then bowed it. “I think if you are tested, you will fail. Your conscience is tainted with life-taking.”
“You killed someone?” I whirled at Harold.
Ranth replied, “He is responsible for the slaughter of thousands and the pillage of Aswan, enslaving thousands of men, women, and children.”
“That was for the good of our people.” Harold raised his voice as a king might to quiet a crowd.
I bristled. If Harold came from Ranth’s time but had been sentient since then, he would be ancient.
The rules would be different then. I couldn’t judge without context, but it didn’t sound good.
“I don’t get it, though. If Harold’s not dead and not in the Garden, then how does he have all this power? ”
Ranth tucked some hair behind his ear. “That is another reason he would not be admitted. He made choices to walk other worlds, but he stayed and gathered power there, then apparently found a place in another world. Possibly even built a world?” Ranth turned to Harold.
Power rippled off Harold, and he released a huff of breath. “I didn’t build the archive, but I will admit I am its Keeper now.”
I rubbed my forehead. “The archive is in another world? Who was the Keeper before?” The concept that I’d traveled twice to another world locked into place. If that were possible…
Harold brushed his coat back and then sat on the edge of the desk.
“There were many, but the last Keeper went to the Tene, who you call The Sisters. Since they were banished from this world, they have grown strong and still seek more power. One must be on guard around them. The archive that I took you to is an otherworldly sanctuary. Over time, I have become its Keeper and have learned much, but still, I seek to understand. To know.”
“And the Trees will give you that?” I asked.
“And eternal life.”
“Wait, what do you mean?”
Ranth crossed his arms, the flash of the tattoo reminding me he belonged more to Harold’s time than mine. “If he is able to enter the Garden, then he may be able to return to any world of his choice with a new life.”
“Reincarnation? But he has so much power now, why do you care about being alive?” I asked.
Ranth nodded at Harold. “There are other worlds where a corporeal form allows different magics. It’s all about knowledge and a hunger for power.”
I whispered to Ranth, “Why don’t you do that, then? Why not be reborn? Ask the Trees? You could be reincarnated here.” My heart skipped a beat. Ranth was so majestic. Powerful. Part of something bigger than himself.
He took my hand. “That is not my place. I have a duty to fulfill. Without me, no sages can be reborn, and the world is suffering. Can’t you see?
There have been no great leaders or wise men in hundreds of years.
Your world spirals deeper into the abyss, closer and closer to self-destruction.
” His voice had lowered, and his fingers stroked mine.
“That’s your purpose, then? You going back allows for a wise man in this world?
A leader to be born?” My heart broke at the thought of him leaving me in that moment.
Even more because the cost was so much bigger than me.
A cost I might not even get the option to choose. Would I give my life for this?
“Time and destiny don’t work like that. It’s my position to assist the Garden. There are no promises. If a wandering soul has acquired the knowledge to make a difference to your world, then it is possible. One could be reborn here or elsewhere. Minute things can cause momentous change.”
He wasn’t entirely talking about the Garden now. “How about Harold, then? Couldn’t he be one of the future leaders?”
Ranth’s chin rose and lowered as he appraised Harold. “Possibly, but it is not my decision to make. If he were allowed into the Garden, then new paths and possibilities may open.” He squeezed my hand.
I let go of him and turned back to Harold. “The Sisters, the Tene, they have my mother, and they’re doing things I need to know about.”
“Many are with them. Where once they guided, now they take spirits against their will and keep them until they are done with them.”
“Then what happens to the spirit?”
“The depleted usually rest in their domain but are unable to travel on to the spirit world. Energy allows us to move between worlds, and without it, we are static.”
“And how do you get your energy, then?”
His green eyes leveled with mine. “I take a little here and there. You barely notice. Like how you healed. I give things, you get things. We make bargains.”
I gasped. “You stole energy from me—without me knowing?”
“A little, not enough to bother you.” His wide lips stretched into a smile.
I rubbed my forehead. “Let me get this straight. You’re an energy vampire?”
He laughed. “Vampires of your mythology feed on blood. The spirit walkers have no such ties to man. Blood is animated by energy. Without it, blood cools and dies.”
“That’s a new perspective on life. What about the unmoving souls, can they be re-animated?”
“I assume so. Everything decays, but time moves differently in the otherworld. However, it still passes. They are what you call husks, but in a spirit term.”
“How would I do that? Reanimate. Is there a spell? A method? Can you re-energize a…” I didn’t want to say the word aloud because I didn’t want to imagine my mother that way. It would make it real. I pushed the ugly word out. “A husk?”
He nodded his reply, his head bowing slightly as if he recognized the cost of the question.
I sucked in a breath and held it. Asking the next question would change everything. Ranth’s hand slid over my shoulder. “What would it take for you to find my mother?”
Harold locked eyes with me. “I will not walk the world of the Sisters. It is gated and perilous, and their hunters are strong.”
“Then who can walk there?”
“Those they take themselves, the hunters and their seekers, but no others. At least not to my knowledge.”
“What do you mean by hunters? Like the Derellers and the Essifers?” I paced, trying to find a way through the logic.
Maybe if I sat down with my friends, we could see an opening besides having the Sisters take me there or letting the Essifers capture me.
Was I strong enough to live through it and return?
And if so, what would it cost me? I had nothing to bargain with…
“You will return tonight, then?” Harold asked Ranth, ignoring me.
“If we find the way, yes. We’re close, but we need the incantation,” Ranth replied.
“Then I have something which might assist. I’ll be but a moment.” Harold stood and walked through the wall behind his desk, disappearing in a blue shimmer. He reappeared, carrying a bound leather book as long as my forearm and as thick as my middle finger. My hands itched to hold the grimoire.
“The path to the sky has been found before. To return without assistance from the temple will be more of a challenge, but you will find your way.”
I reached for the book, but Harold drew it back. “It is for Ranth of the Ahknim,” he said.
Ranth held out his hands, and Harold gave the tome to him. The book called to me, and I growled inside, angry not to have it in my possession.
“I will see you soon.” Harold turned and disappeared through the wall in a blue-tinged sizzle of sparks.
Ranth bowed to the now empty desk, and I did a double take before following him out into the hall.
“Wait. How about you explain all that?” I waved in the general direction of Harold’s office.
“I’m not sure what to say. You know the most important parts. But I don’t know why I didn’t see Harold’s real place in history before. That is disconcerting. There is something out of place here, though I can’t quite decipher it.” His attention drifted to the hall.
“Sure is.” My focus was entirely on the Sisters and the book that wasn’t for me.
Ranth clutched it like it was sacred candy.
I had to figure out how to attract the Sisters without dying.
I still felt as if Harold might have an answer, but I had nothing to offer him as a trade, and he had no reason to help me.
Except that if I’d understood what he’d asked Ranth for, I had what Harold wanted in front of me.
The same man it was going to be impossible for me to let go of. What price was I willing to pay?