When Tyrian woke next, he woke all at once. He sat up sharply, his heart pounding hard in his chest. It was nighttime still, but he was no longer in Trinan. He seemed to be lying in a campsite in the middle of the sandy plains. The night felt calm and peaceful.
He slowly looked down at his hands and saw the mark branded into his right hand. He hadn't dreamed everything. His head jerked up at the thought and he looked around sharply. Where was Cassie? She had been nearly killed trying to protect him.
"She's fine," a familiar woman's voice said.
He swiftly turned his head and spotted the white haired woman who had saved them. She was no longer wearing her heavy plate armor. Instead, she wore regular leggings and a tunic. As she sat down beside him, he was suddenly amused to realize she was his height. "You're very tall."
She smiled. "That's what everyone says. My name is Laia Mitakel. I'm one of your Destined Stars. I share my destiny with my husband, Rourke. Our star is a shared one."
He took a long breath. "You would seem to know more than I do about everything."
"To some extent. I've always been a studier of the stars, and Rourke is a walking encyclopedia for legends. It's his life study." She leaned back on her hands while the night wind teased her white hair. "I can answer some questions, to be sure. But others can only come with time."
"Where's Cassie? She was hurt."
"She's out scouting the area, only minor scars as badges of her love for you." She hooked a finger in the edge of her tunic and tugged it down slightly to reveal the familiar relic mark of Medicine right over her heart. A darker outline around the mark implied it had been overclocked to its max ability. "I am as good with healing as with my sword, but without herbs, even my magic isn't infallible. Only the Pure Relic of Healing would have done any good without herbs."
He studied her. He just somehow felt unsurprised that she was powerful enough to wield three relics, particularly three that had been heavily overclocked; both the Music and Lightning Relics she wore had the same outline as her Medicine Relic. Something felt so instantly peaceful about her presence that all tension left his shoulders. He felt nearly as safe near her as Cassie. "Thank you," he said softly.
"Don't mention it." She fell over onto her back and linked her hands under her head. "There are no doubt many like me and Rourke. If you know legends, and you know how to read the stars, then it's like looking at a map. I saw you in town a few years ago and instantly recognized you for what you were. I really wanted to tell you, but I knew I couldn't. I hated it."
"How old are you?" he asked curiously.
She shot him a grin. "Twenty-nine."
She seemed nearly ageless. His eyes said she should be younger, but her eyes said she should be older. He slowly rubbed his left hand over his right and felt the dull throbbing inside his soul that was healing. There was something . . . insidious inside this new power. It was under rigid control, but it was dangerous. He knew it. "I killed those soldiers."
"Which doesn't bother you as much as the fact that you don't regret it." She sat up. "You shouldn't regret it, Tyrian. Pure Relics are affixed to the soul. When Cassie was wounded, your soul reacted. It had the power to do something, so it did. You acted within both the laws of engagement as well as the Empire's own rules about taking lifeforce from someone."
"Hell." He held up his hand. "It's an ominous feeling to know the first level spell of this relic is called Hell and can do what it did. What will it do when I reach the fourth and final level?" He dropped his hand into his lap. "Tell me honestly, Laia. You have to know. This Pure Relic . . . the Devourer. It is a part of my destiny. I had to take it."
"Such is the path of a Kaiten Star. Your reward for everything you will do and endure and survive is to have the gift of immortality. But it is a double-edged sword, Tyrian. Pure Relic bearers are sterile. Even if you ever removed the Devourer, and I can't be sure you even could, you would remain sterile. You will not have children."
"And people I love will die when I do not."
She smiled. "They would find you again. Where a Kaiten Star is, their Destined Stars will gather. Once you've shared the skies with someone, you will never be free of them." When he only looked at her, she got gracefully to her feet. "The Kentei Star is . . . special, Tyrian. And I don't think Cassie has played her cards." She linked her hands behind her back as she walked away. "I once trained with the Monk Clans. There's something she has not told you."
He let out a soft breath. Oddly, he felt a little better that she had understood the question he had been afraid to ask. An eternity without Cassie was not one he wanted. He was barely over eighteen. It was hard enough to imagine himself in twenty years let alone two hundred. He didn't doubt that would change; as he acclimated to his relic, he was sure he would feel physical changes too.
"Hey, you're awake," Ewan said in relief as he walked over. "Laia said you were." He crouched down beside Tyrian and ruffled his hair. "How do you feel?"
"Better than expected." Tyrian pushed aside the blankets and got to his feet. His staff leaned against a tree and he grabbed it to equip it once more. It seemed only his soul still hurt. "Where are we?"
"About a day away from base. You've been out of it for a few days. Cassie's been just fine since a day out."
Tyrian frowned a bit. "How did I sleep for days without need for food or water?"
"Laia says that that is a natural effect of relic exhaustion. When you hit that point, where your body can't handle the stress anymore, the relic basically shuts down everything except your breathing. As you recover, your body comes back under your control. Sometimes you'll wake in spurts, and that's when you need to eat and drink, and then you'll sleep again." Ewan sat down on the ground with a sigh. "Other times, like this, you'll just stay under until you recover wholly. It's safe, and natural. She said some doctors will deliberately induce a relic sleep for some critical patients."
"That makes me feel a little less unnerved, thank you. How did you get me here?"
"You've been riding with Cassie. Rourke and I have taken turns putting you on her horse."
"Rourke. Laia's husband."
"Yep. Can't miss him. He's my height and build. We're both descended of Northmen, so not a surprise there."
The Northmen, like the legendary Summarians, were a race long extinct, though not for the same reason. No one really knew anything about the Summarian race or what had really happened to them. On the other hand, the Northmen had migrated from high snowy mountains in Melodina a few thousand years before and settled across the world where they had mated with Humans and their bloodlines had diminished. Only a few descendants, such as Ewan and Rourke (and maybe Laia) truly showed their heritage. They had been a large race.
With a little breath, Tyrian said, "I'll meet him shortly. Where's Cassie? I need to see her."
"She's scouting the area. Bet you gold that you leave the camp area and she'll come to you." He hid a smile as Tyrian walked off determinedly. The confrontation was inevitable; the only reason Cassie had left his side at all was because they had sensed monsters approaching. Or rather, Laia had. She seemed to have some sort of radar for them.
Tyrian swung around a stack of tall rocks with the intent of climbing them for a better view when a figure materialized out of the darkness and caught him with an arm around the neck. He simply let out a long breath, relieved she was well enough to be up to her usual tricks. "Don't expect me to be afraid of you. I never could."
Cassie curled her other arm around him so that she was holding him and buried her face in his hair. "I wasn't intent on scaring you. I've been scared enough lately by you." She released him when he pulled free, though it was reluctantly. Her perch on a rock put them at eye level, and she framed his face with her hands. "How do you feel?" she asked softly. "You look relatively normal." Relatively, for even in the moonlight, his eyes seemed more haunted than usual.
He lifted his right hand and cupped her cheek. She very nearly shivered at the heat of his skin burning through her as the tingle of magic teased her nerves. "No wonder," she said softly. "No wonder it always seemed as if you had a relic. You were primed for a Pure Relic."
"More than you know," he murmured, thinking of Ben. Thinking of his brother naturally led him to thinking of Ophelia. She had made him say the same thing Ben had, but how had she known? There was still something more going on. Maybe Rourke would know, if he knew as many legends as Laia implied. Thinking of legends led him to thinking of destiny, and circled his mind back to the events in the graveyard.
Cassie started to ask a question, but the words tangled in her throat as his eyes suddenly landed on her and seemed to look all the way into her soul. A little shiver of trepidation went down her back as she realized he was very, very close to losing his temper. Slow burners tended to be the most dangerous. "Tyrian?"
"What the hell were you doing?" He gave her a quick shake. "You nearly died for me!"
"Yes. I did." She held his eyes evenly. "I am your Kentei Star, Tyrian. I exist to protect you." Her eyes widened as he dragged her down off the rock. On even ground, she was shorter than he was, and it put her at more of a disadvantage. She would have to get creative with him if his temper got the better of him. "Tyrian, be reasonable," she tried to say soothingly. Her heart pounded hard. Strangely, the threat of danger inside him was wildly seductive. Perhaps because she knew it was not a danger to her. "I'll do it again if I have to. You can't stop me."
"The hell you will!" he snapped. "Do you think I even want to keep going without you by my side? If you die, then what have I got left, Cassie? Protect me if you have to, but your life is not a commodity!"
She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind, but the words never made it. He dragged her onto her toes and took her mouth with his. There was no gentleness in him this time. He devoured her, forcing her to accept his feelings or flee. Accepting what he wanted, needed, was terrifying. More terrifying was the idea of running.
She warred with herself until his right hand tightened around her arm. The blast of hot magic streaked through her body and reminded her of his even heavier burden. Resistance crumbled and she pressed upward into his kiss. His taste was wilder, sharper. The promise of wild romance and happily ever after. "Let me go," she whispered when he buried his mouth hotly against her neck.
"Never!" It was almost a growl.
"I'm not running. I want to hold you." Her arms were instantly free and she wrapped them around his neck. She feverishly trailed kisses over his face, softly breathing her love with every word. It wasn't just the hunger of their bodies. She could sense the lingering icy grasp of fear inside him. "There's barely a mark on me." She caught his face in her hands. "Do you want to inspect me personally?"
His green eyes seemed to glow in the light of the stars. "Is that an offer?"
"When we're home." She kissed him again, unable to get enough of his taste. For someone only recently eighteen, he certainly knew how to kiss like an expert. "Practicing?" she whispered huskily.
"I don't kiss and tell. You can't be courted until eighteen, but you can date at thirteen." He kissed her thoroughly to savor the way her body went weak and she arched into him. "I was rehearsing for you. If I can't keep you at my side through force, maybe I can seduce you."
She wasn't sure that would work either, though she was more than willing to let him try. What bound her to his side was so much more powerful than anything she could imagine. Her heart, her soul, and her destiny. Her very birth bound her to him. How she had been chosen for such an honor, she didn't know, but she would protect him with everything she was. Always protect his smile. Her Kaiten. "Maybe we should go back to the camp." She trailed her fingers over his face. "Else Ewan think he's won the bet."
"Can't have that." He slowly released her with visible reluctance. "I'll wait until we're home, Cassie, but not a minute more." He skimmed his fingers down her cheek. "I don't care about the betting pool anymore. I'll give Kyle the money myself. I just want you. I need you."
The nerves had fled entirely. There was nothing except a matching need inside. Nothing except the overwhelming tangle of emotions that had taken over her life. "I'm yours," she said simply.
Hands linked, they walked back to the campsite. The other four were already there. Liang was cooking something over the fire, and Ewan and Rourke traded war stories. Laia sat close by, sharpening the lethal claymore she used. She glanced up when she heard their approach and then looked down again quickly to hide a grin. "Told you she was fine."
"Some things you need to see for yourself. You'd understand."
"I would," she murmured. "I would indeed." She smiled when Rourke almost automatically curled a hand around the back of her neck. "Tyrian, meet Rourke Mitakel."
"Well met," Rourke said with a smile.
Tyrian's brows lifted. "You're from the Commune of Soldiers?"
"One of the Melodina branches, yes."
Tyrian studied him and saw no sword. In fact, he possessed no visible weapon, implying that, like Liang, his fists were his weapon. It seemed to suit his personality, and it made him an obvious balance for Laia. "As you say, then, well met. You're a Scholar, Laia tells me."
"Mm."
"Do you know the language of magic?"
Rourke's handsome face remained calm, his golden eyes watching Tyrian. "I do, in fact, know the language. I know most languages."
Tyrian took a long breath. "Askandi repulsin Devourer." As he said it, he felt a warm pulse inside from his relic responding. For a moment, just a moment, he was sure he felt both Ben and Ophelia's presence. "What does it mean? Why was I twice asked to say it, and to two people who have since died? Is it my fault?"
"No," Rourke said instantly. "Askandi, in literal translation, is 'essence of life taken.' Repulsin is a verb variant of 'repulsinen' which means 'to reject.' So what you have said is a command to the Devourer, proven by your use of its name. You're telling it to reject the essence of life of whomever you're addressing."
"Why is that so important?" Liang asked quietly.
"The Devourer earned its name. You all noticed it already. It devours life energy. That's where it gets its power. Anyone exposed to it or its wielder for too long will automatically have their lifeforce absorbed by it upon their death, and often, their souls will be consumed as well."
Tyrian's hands clenched in his lap. Shadows swirled in his dark eyes. "Ben and Ophelia both knew they would die. And they both knew that they had been exposed to the relic or me for long enough that they would be absorbed. They didn't want that burden on me. Then why do I still feel them connected to the relic?"
Rourke hesitated. He and Laia shared a long look, as if communicating without words, and then he finally said slowly, "You rejected them, but their souls might as yet linger before rebirth. It is possible that until you're strong enough to fully command the relic, neither of them will be fully freed. You would need to talk to a Relic Master to be sure. I can only give you speculation."
"It's enough, for now, to know I didn't kill them." He looked up at the sky and found his star. He recognized the Kentei Star and was fairly sure he recognized the stars belonging to the companions he had already found. Ewan's and Kyle's were in fairly close proximity to each other, of course. "Which is yours?"
"There." Laia pointed to a star that seemed to shine with a touch of purple hue. "Both Rourke and I were born under that star, on the same night, three years apart. There are others who share stars, in fact. It can happen between lovers or family. Just sort of depends where your destiny falls, I suppose."
"So what else can the stars tell me?" he asked curiously. "I'd like to learn if you can teach me. Perhaps I won't be at so much a disadvantage. This whole thing of not knowing my own life anymore has grown very tiring."
"Hmm." She studied the skies. "Okay, see that one?" She pointed to a star with a soft light. "See how it moves closer? That will be one of your next Destined Stars. It has three points, so it will be female. And . . . hmm. It's on an eighty degree axis, so the person will be roughly around your age."
"That's amazing!" Ewan said. He looked up at the sky and was sure he spotted two other stars creeping in. "There are two more, right? Another with three points, so it's a girl, and since the other has six points, it's probably a boy, right?"
"Right!" Laia grinned at him and then pointed to the star that was his. "That's yours. See how it doesn't move? It's known as a fixed star. No one else will be born under it except you, ever. Your friend Kyle Raitels has a fixed star as well."
"So can you see my future or something?" he asked curiously.
She hesitated for a moment and then said slowly, "The things I read in the stars are not always able to be put into words. And there are things I see that I can't tell anyone about." She looked at Tyrian. "Some stories have to be told in their own time."
He nodded a little, knowing she referred to the possible existence of more Kaiten Stars. It was too much to think about their own war let alone any further wars. Especially wars that Ewan, and Kyle, might be destined to fight in by nature of their fixed stars. Tyrian hated the very idea. Why did there have to be war? Why couldn't there be peace for everyone?
It was late the next day when they finally returned to base. A great sense of relief arrived to just be within the walls again, and Tyrian looked at his tower with longing. It was a refuge, and he very badly needed a refuge right then. Unfortunately, it would have to wait. Everyone was cheering, and both civilian and soldier clamored to see he was alive and well.
"He's fine!" Ewan called as he and Rourke shoved their way through the crowd. "Now let the poor guy catch a breath. It was hell out there." He winced wryly. "Sorry, Tyrian. Poor choice of words."
Tyrian found himself smiling. "No offense taken."
The crowd was still pushing in, and Cassie scowled. "Damn it, we'll never make it to the castle at this rate."
"Everybody back off."
Laia didn't raise her voice. She didn't have to. It carried through the crowd like the crack of a whip so that everyone went silent. People pulled back a bit sheepishly and allowed for the party to move through easily.
"Where have you been my whole life?" Ewan asked.
Rourke bonked him on the head. "She's taken. Get your own woman."
"He has one," Cassie offered.
"I do not." It was half a mutter, half a growl, as Ewan beat a hasty path toward the castle. His desperation to escape the conversation was very, very obvious.
"So about his destiny . . .?" Tyrian said to Laia with a lifted brow.
She shot him a grin. "Varied, complicated, and potentially highly amusing for anyone in the vicinity. You'll see it. I probably won't. Do send me letters to keep me up to date."
When they arrived at the meeting room, Ewan had already gotten there. Kyle and Kell were also present, and so was Marian. She spotted her cousin and promptly ran over to leap on him for a hug. "Oh god!" she whispered into his shoulder. "Oh god! You scared me! Word has spread fast about what happened." She grabbed his right hand and stared at the relic, stricken. "It's Pure."
"It is," he said simply. "Ben held it for me. He gave his life so that I would have it. I can't reject it, Marian. I owe it to him." He hugged her for a moment and then looked at Kyle and Kell who were eyeing Laia and Rourke in fascination. "More Destined Stars. Laia and Rourke Mitakel. She's a paladin, he's a brawler."
Kell sighed at Laia wistfully. "You make me wish I was forty years younger." He winked saucily and was rewarded by an answering wink. He had always liked sassy females with as much brain as they had beauty.
Kyle offered a hand to Rourke with a smile. "Well met."
"Well met, friend."
Introductions over, Laia and Rourke took their leave to secure rooms. Marian saw Tyrian's thoughtful frown and smiled. "Don't worry," she told him. "Since you know you'll have one hundred and eight Destined Stars, we've made sure that there are as many rooms as will be needed. If any are like R.K. and own a shop or something, we'll have somewhere for them to be as well. Those who need rooms will have them."
"Good," Tyrian said with a sigh. "That's one less thing to think about."
"So let's hear what really happened in Trinan," Kyle said softly.
It didn't take long to recap the events, and Tyrian filled in everything he had learned from Ben's memories. His voice remained steady, but his hands clenched together under the table. Cassie's hand curled around his wrist was his anchor. The others knew it, just as they knew by the shadows in his eyes that a lesser man would have already broken.
"Then we were right in thinking Blaine is the one who started the problems." Kyle drummed the fingers of his relic hand on the table. "What does she get out of making Albanion choke his people? If she hadn't done that, then we wouldn't be here."
"There's no knowing," Liang said. "It could be simple greed. Maybe she wanted the Pure Relic for power, but not knowing where Ben was, decided to get power in another way. Ben came into sight and . . . here we are."
Marian rested her arms on the table and put her head down. "I can't understand why the generals are going along with things. Uncle Donald, first and foremost, but the Lower Generals as well. They've done so much for the people."
Kyle paused and then asked slowly, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but have any of their troops been the ones causing problems in towns?"
Tyrian frowned thoughtfully. "No . . . the armies of the six Lower Generals are specialist troops. They handle the defense of borders and checkpoints. They only go into towns where there is a dire need."
"Like when the Commune of Soldiers was attacked," Liang said. "It was General Cutter's division that went in to clean up the devastation, wasn't it, Ewan?"
"I believe so. I try not to remember that time period much, but I think she was the one who helped take control of things. There were no survivors to be found, but the city could be saved," he added much softer. Kyle touched his shoulder, and he covered his hand. They were more like brothers than friends.
"To my knowledge," Kell said, "it has been the Imperial Army of the Empire that has been causing the trouble. The units directly under the command of the Prime Duke. They're dispatched for regular peacekeeping and patrol." He paused for a moment. "I see what you might be thinking, Kyle. Perhaps the corruption is only at the top. If we can talk to the generals, we might make them see reason."
"We eventually have to go to a checkpoint," Cassie decided. "If we can get our hands on a Lower General and make him or her sit down with us, then perhaps we can stave off further bloodshed."
"It's a start, though I still feel a bit like I'm stumbling around." Tyrian looked at Kell. "Strategist?"
"Still looking. Professor Matthias used to run a school for strategists, but the school closed last year when he had to expel one of his students. He only had one left, so he might be taking him or her on a hands-on journey of experience."
"How did Lupine go?"
Kyle leaned back in his chair. "Relatively well. It's in the same condition as Teasarn, and our soldiers noted barely a single unit's worth of Empire army there. We should be able to take it fairly easily."
"I'll go along to the battle. I have to," he added when the others started to protest. "I'm the Kaiten Star. I have to find my Destined Stars. They can't all come to me. And . . . we can use my being the Kaiten Star and a possessor of a Pure Relic to our advantage. I'm not just a traitor now, leading some little rebellion."
"I'll start dropping rumors," Kell said instantly.
The meeting room doors suddenly flew open, and a young boy hurried into the room. He was barely thirteen in age and very slender over all. Blond hair capped a face that might eventually be handsome. He wore sturdy traveling clothes and had multiple backpacks strapped to his back with scrolls and maps sticking out of every opening. "Lord Tyrian!" he said urgently. "I need to find Lord Tyrian!"
Tyrian found himself smiling as he recognized the tug inside. He stood and moved around the table to be less imposing. "I'm Tyrian Southerwind. Do you need help?"
"My name is Thomas!" The boy stuck out a hand, saw it was filthy, and hastily retracted it. "I'm a mapmaker!"
"Thomas?" Ewan's brows shot up. "Wait, you're the guy who has made the majority of the maps of the world? But you're a kid!"
"Well, yeah. I'm technically Thomas Junior. My dad is the original mapmaker." He looked at Tyrian intently. "He's old and sick, and the world is changing. I have to be here to make note of it so I can make new maps for everyone! You can count on me to make sure you don't get lost, Lord Tyrian!"
Tyrian smiled. "I have every confidence in you, Thomas. You won't let us down. Maybe you can look at the maps we have here and make sure they're as recent as can be. Oh." He took off the tiny relic attached to his earring. "This has my maps in it. Can you update it too?"
"Yeah!" Thomas nearly bounced on his toes with happiness. He had known, just known, the instant he heard about Tyrian Southerwind that he had to be there. Meeting Tyrian, he felt it more. Lord Tyrian needed him. Thomas wasn't a warrior, but he absolutely wanted to protect Lord Tyrian and make sure he was happy. And if keeping him from getting lost would do it, he would rewrite the maps of the world.
To the surprise of all present, a glowing white star appeared on Thomas' shoulder. It was answered by an echoing glow from Tyrian's relic. Startled, Tyrian looked at his hand. He looked at the others, and he realized that all of them bore the white stars on their shoulder. Some were hidden by clothing, but the glow still came through. "Marked by destiny," he said softly. "We'll always know each other once we've shared the skies." Laia was officially one of his most unnerving Destined Stars. How did she know this stuff?
"Well, it's late." Ewan got to his feet and scooped up Thomas under an arm. "Let's find you a room, kid. We're going to be keeping you busy!"
"Let's get some dinner," Marian said. "You must be starving after being on the road for almost two weeks!"
"I'd rather eat in my room," Tyrian said with a shake of his head. "I need the quiet." He looked at Cassie, and something heated moved in his eyes. "Can you bring something with you on your way up?"
"Of course." She was barely breathing as he walked out of the room. The way he looked at her was enough to take her breath away. That intensity inside him was a very potent thing when turned on a woman directly.
"I get the feeling he'd rather have you for dinner," Marian said with a soft giggle. "Are you finally going to put everything the way it's supposed to be?" When Cassie glanced at her, Marian smiled. "Well, of course I accept you! Tyrian needs you. And you make him happy. And you could easily beat Liang at arm wrestling."
Cassie opened her mouth and then closed it. She had the strangest feeling that she really didn't want to know.
©Stacy J. Garrett. Do not reprint or redistribute without permission.
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