Chapter 52
The return trip to Tideholm felt even longer to Aeliana than the way to the Seer’s Sanctuary.
They were forced to bury Holm on a small island with no grave marker and no ability for Iris to ever come back to pay her respects.
The Sayhleens watched as they mourned him, the confusion evident in their eyes.
Only Nori seemed to find their grief understandable, perhaps because she was the only one willing to listen to Aeliana’s full explanation of the branding done by Mayvus.
The wedge Aeliana had noticed between Nori and her parents seemed to grow wider after their visit to the sanctuary, making Aeliana wonder what Nori had seen and if she’d told her parents.
But Aeliana wasn’t ready to share her own vision with her new friend, so she couldn’t expect the same in return.
That first night, hardly anyone slept, and Iris grew feverish from her bond having been broken, requiring them to carry her on a hastily constructed litter the following day.
Paddling down the channel became a foggy test of willpower until they were back on the main island for the night.
Thankfully the Sayhleens had finally acquiesced and removed the seaweed shackles—not because they’d regained any trust, despite Nori continually fighting to clear the visitors’ names, but to allow faster travel.
Most of the Vendarans went to bed, exhausted after their day of paddling and their night of grieving, but the Sayhleens settled by a fire, and Aeliana and Sylmar sat a short way away, halfway between their sleeping comrades and Cyrus, who’d found his own space to kneel before the Stars.
“I want to focus on my somatic spoke again,” Aeliana said.
Sylmar’s eyebrows rose. “What brought this on?”
Aeliana’s face heated, and she glanced back at the tent, picturing Iris and the way Aeliana had failed her in the Seer’s Sanctuary.
“The noetic skills are interesting, and clearly they’re valuable for Gaeren and others who have developed them, but they feel like a distraction to me.
I want to be able to heal and protect again.
I don’t want to come away from battles wondering if I could have saved someone if I’d only spent more time training.
” Her voice shook, and she closed her eyes, trying to regain control.
But she hated what she had to say next even more.
“And if those skills can’t return to their full power because of my brand on Durriken, I want to remove it. ”
The murmur of the Sayhleens by the fire filled the silence, but Aeliana still felt too exposed as she laid her vulnerable remorse out before Sylmar.
“I’m not going to complain or argue if you ask to learn your magic.”
She glanced at the older man, catching a proud glint in his eyes.
“Have you discussed this option with Durriken?”
She shook her head. “I can’t reach him on this side of the barrier. I won’t do it until I talk to him. I’m hoping I won’t need to do it at all if we train hard enough.”
His eyes narrowed as he rubbed at his beard. “You like your connection with him.”
Aeliana hesitated. “I don’t like that it’s through a brand, but yes, I look forward to checking on him. I care about him the same way I care about Felk. I feel a responsibility for him.”
He hummed, but Aeliana couldn’t tell if he found that news good or bad.
“It’s interesting that you can’t reach him.
It suggests that brands weaken significantly when a barrier is between them.
It makes me wonder if it’s Mayvus who’s crossing the barrier after all.
Could she still control her brands if she did? ”
“If not her, then who?”
He shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“What about the curse?” Aeliana asked. “Did you hear it in your vision from Lady Merinnia? I’m guessing out of all of us, you’re the only other person who might want to know it more than me.”
Sylmar hesitated. “I realize now that the Seer is not as simple as we would have hoped.”
Aeliana’s heart sank. “So you didn’t see the same vision as me?”
He shook his head. “No. You want to break the curse more than anything. And while I want that too, my desires go beyond that. I want Mayvus brought to justice. I want to see her power end, whether that’s through ending the curse or some other means.”
Aeliana squeezed her eyes shut. “And because breaking the curse doesn’t actually bring about that justice, that’s not what you saw.”
He sighed. “I’m sorry. Can you tell me what you did see in your vision?”
She started from the beginning, surprised she was still able to tap into enough of her noetic skills to recall the details with perfection. When she described the woman in the sprites’ cavern, Sylmar sat straighter.
“She had tattoos on her hands?”
“Yes,” she said. “They were similar to Marnok’s.”
Sylmar frowned. “Just one more way in which that man’s past seems to matter.”
“What do you mean, ‘one more way’?” she asked.
“Your mother implied his past connected him to us. But she wouldn’t reveal any details. I suppose the tattoos could be the same thing that connects him to us. Either way, he has some explaining to do when he shows up again.”
Aeliana winced, imagining the interrogation Marnok had coming. “The sprite said, ‘for the loss of your sister, the Wyndren sisters will pay. Each—’ and then it was cut off by a scream.”
“Iris,” Sylmar said.
“Yes.” Aeliana glanced at the bedrolls, wondering if Iris was sleeping any better that night. “I don’t think I missed much because then it picked up with ‘—cursed for their crime.’ So maybe each of them cursed for their crime?”
Sylmar stroked his beard, his gaze on the distant fire. “Were they each responsible for the death of her sister though? I can’t imagine Emeris being involved.”
Aeliana frowned, running the memory back again in her mind. “No. She said her sister died at the hands of a Wyndren priestess.”
“That could still be what you missed. They may both be considered guilty for reasons we don’t know. What came next?”
“Um, ‘a love, born of blood, doomed to wither by unfounded contempt.’ I thought maybe that’s the deterioration of their sisterhood. Why they’re enemies now instead of friends?”
He nodded but gestured for her to keep going.
“Then, ‘where love might triumph, pride will prevail. Pain will be shared, heartache doubled.’”
“That explains all their strange mirrored injuries.” Sylmar’s face grew grim, as if hearing the curse made it more real.
He’d probably been hoping this trip would prove Emeris’ theory wrong.
Aeliana would be lying if she said she hadn’t also hoped that might be true.
Then they’d be free to go after Mayvus without fear of what it might do to her mother.
“Then it said, ‘the relief of death will evade them, for their destiny is to watch the light leave each other’s eyes. Until—’ and… that’s where it cut out. I feel as if that last portion is what we need the most. It sounds like the thing that will take the curse away.”
He nodded slowly, but she sensed he wasn’t listening anymore.
“What do you make of it?” she asked.
“I think you’re right about the things you pulled out, but the thing that concerns me most is the idea that death evades them and that they must see the light leave each other’s eyes.”
“What does it mean?” she asked.
“I’m not sure we can really know, but it suggests that they must be together when they die.”
Aeliana froze. “Like, as long as they’re apart, they’re immortal?”
A strangled laugh escaped his lips before turning into a cough. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s how Mayvus interprets it. Especially after they both survived a dragon carrying her to a cave.”
Then his face grew pensive, as if even he considered the possibility. It was insanity to think a curse could be that powerful, but it would explain how they’d survived something so deadly.
“It doesn’t make any sense though,” Sylmar said. “In that scenario, I could cut off Mayvus’ head and she’d survive as long as Emeris wasn’t with her. How could that ever be possible?”
Aeliana shuddered at the image. “Maybe the sprites don’t actually change things.
Maybe they sift through the future and use that knowledge to make deals and accurate predictions.
What if this curse is more like that? Maybe they knew how my mother and aunt would die and they used that to create a curse. ”
Sylmar considered her words, staring into the sky as though it might hold the answers. “While that may be true, the sprites do have magic. We can’t ever underestimate them by thinking they can’t impact the future.”
She sat back as the hopelessness left her drained.
“I don’t know what to do with this information.
I’d hoped we’d come away with answers and clear direction.
Even the acolytes made it sound like what we’d come away with would be good.
And now I’m just more confused.” She closed her eyes, hating the way her mind dredged up a perfect memory of Iris stabbing Holm. “And angry.”
Sylmar’s grip tightened on his staff. “She did tell you the full story is documented in the archives of the Dehvlonian Oracles. Who knows who they are, but it gives us a new place to look.”
“Across the barrier.” Aeliana sighed. “It just feels like we’re wasting so much time chasing down starbridges instead of trying to defeat Mayvus once and for all.”
“But if the curse you heard is right,” Sylmar pointed out, “it confirms your mother’s intuition. Going after Mayvus now would end both of their lives. I assume you don’t want that.”
She shook her head. “Of course not.”
“Then the only option we have is to seek out more answers. We’ll have to be careful. Perhaps Holm wasn’t the only one branded. Or perhaps she’ll brand more of us. Trust was already hard to come by, but now it will be even easier to lose.”