From a Far Land Read online

  “Where is Jason Bennett?” Lenai asked.

  “No one knows,” Meryl said.

  “I must speak with the High One.” Lenai struggled to sit up.

  Carefully pushing down on her shoulders, Meryl said, “Lenai, no. You must rest. Please. I will send someone with word that you are awake, but you must stay here until Loremaster Seryn can examine you.”

  After a moment of struggling against Meryl’s grip, Lenai gave up and settled back onto the bed. Her heavy breathing betrayed her weakened state.

  “Lenai,” Meryl said, “the Circle is meeting as we speak. If you will give me your word that you will stay here and rest, I promise I will send someone immediately to tell them you have awakened.”

  For a moment she thought Lenai was going to refuse, but then the Shanthi closed her eyes and nodded. “Very well,” she said. “It would appear that I am too weak to do otherwise.”

  Meryl breathed a sigh of relief. “Good,” she said. “Rest and I will go find someone right now to notify the Circle. I will return shortly to check on you.” Then she turned and left the room, calling for someone to take a message to the Circle.

  *****

  “Loremaster Chon must be found and held accountable for his actions!” the Amethyst Loremaster demanded.

  “Of that there is no question, Loremaster Delani,” Tal said. “But his actions may have exposed an even more serious problem which must be addressed.” He looked around the Circle. “We have lived in relative peace for generations. During that time, although we have occasionally had disagreements, this body has always acted as one. Now, we are faced with what is undoubtedly our gravest hour, and one of our number has taken matters into his own hands. This must not happen. If we are to face and survive the events implied by Taleth’s prophecy, we must remain united.”

  The Circle murmured their agreement. Then the Amber Loremaster stood.

  “Perhaps Chon was not in control of his actions?” Jarril suggested. “He has ever been outspoken, but he has also always accepted the Circle’s decisions, even when differing from his own beliefs. His actions were out of character, even for him.”

  “That is, of course, one possibility,” Tal said. “However, we all know how strong Loremaster Chon was. In truth, he was one of the strongest among us. If he was being controlled, the one doing the controlling must have considerable power.”

  Kalen stood. “High One, that would suggest that others among us may also be susceptible to such control.”

  “Or perhaps are already being controlled,” T’kel added as Kalen sat down.

  The Loremasters looked at each other. “How would we know?” Reyga asked. “Chon seemed himself until this morning.”

  Tal did not answer immediately. Jarril and Kalen offered a disturbing possibility, one that had not crossed his mind. If a Loremaster could be controlled, the Circle itself would be compromised, and the one doing the controlling would be privy to everything said in this chamber.

  Just then there was a knock. Tal motioned and the door swung open, admitting one of the Warders. He entered and bowed quickly to the Circle.

  “High One, we have found Loremaster Chon.”

  “Where?”

  “He was in a store room on one of the lower levels,” the Warder said. “But—”

  “Did you bring him with you?” Delani interrupted.

  “He is dead.”

  “What? Dead? How?” Tal asked.

  The Warder shook his head. “We do not know. He appears to be unmarked.”

  Tal stroked his lower lip as he studied the floor. First Bruce Bennett, and now his apparent murderer, Chon. That would mean yet someone else must be involved, that being the person who had killed Chon. But unless he had been taken by surprise, whoever killed Chon must be very powerful indeed. He knew Chon well enough to know that, if at all possible, the man would have fought back with all of the considerable power at his disposal. That no one reported anything unusual could only mean he was unable to respond to his attacker.

  He looked at the Warder. “Have Loremaster Chon’s body taken to the healing area. I assume Bruce Bennett’s body is already there?” The Warder nodded. “Very well,” Tal said. “See to Loremaster Chon’s body.”

  “Yes, High One.”

  Tal turned to Seryn. “Loremaster Seryn, we need to ascertain the cause of Loremaster Chon’s death, if we can.”

  “Of course, High One,” Seryn said. “With your permission, I will go to the healing area now.”

  Another knock on the door to the Chamber interrupted them. Without waiting for an answer, the door opened, and another Warder stepped inside. He bowed quickly.

  “My apologies for the intrusion, High One, but Lenai has awakened.”

  “When?”

  “Just now,” the Warder answered. “The healer summoned us immediately, and we came directly here to notify you.”

  Tal turned to the Circle. “Loremasters, I am certain you will understand when I say I think it best if we cut this meeting short?”

  Several of the Loremasters nodded. “Of course, High One.” “Certainly.”

  “Thank you,” Tal said. He turned to Seryn. “Loremaster Reyga and I will accompany you to the healing area.” Reyga moved to join the High One.

  “High One,” Brin said, standing. “I would like to come with you.”

  Tal hesitated. “Loremaster Brin—”

  “My son is dead,” Brin said. “I believe I have paid the price for whatever information Lenai may be able to give.” He held Tal's eye while he waited for an answer.

  “Of course,” Tal said. He motioned for Brin to join them and the four Loremasters headed for the healing area.

  *****

  The conversation with Lenai had been brief. She was still very weak from her experience, although she was able to confirm the sequence of events relayed to the Circle by Jason. Seryn insisted they continue the discussion later, after Lenai regained her strength. The High One dispatched a messenger for the Loremasters to have their strongest students set wards about the Haven to prevent any portals other than the main ones from opening from outside the keep.

  Now they stood over the Obsidian Loremaster’s body. Reyga ran his eyes over it. “Something is not right,” he mused. Something about Chon’s body disturbed him, but he could not decide what it was.

  “Look at his face,” Tal said. The dead Loremaster’s features were frozen in a grimace of unmistakable fear.

  “He was afraid,” Brin said.

  Reyga shook his head. “I have known Chon to be many things, but ‘afraid’ is not one of them.”

  “Nevertheless,” Seryn observed, “he was clearly terrified at the moment of his death.”

  “What could have frightened him like that, and yet kill him without leaving a mark?” Brin asked.

  Reyga could not imagine anything that would have had that effect on Chon. The other Loremasters shook their heads as well.

  “Yet another puzzle we must decipher,” Tal said.

  One of Seryn’s students approached. “Loremaster Seryn,” she said, “may I have a word?”

  Seryn nodded. “Please excuse me,” she said to the three men. “I will be but a moment.” Then she followed the young woman out of the room.

  Tal motioned to a healer standing nearby.

  “Yes, High One?” the man said.

  “You examined Loremaster Chon’s body?” Tal asked.

  “Yes, High One, I performed the initial examination.”

  “Were you able to determine the cause of his death? Were there any marks on him?”

  “We believe he had his air supply cut off in some way,” he said, “although we cannot find any external evidence to support that belief. There are no marks or injuries anywhere on the body. Our conclusion is based solely on our dimsai examination of the internal organs.” He shook his head. “We are at a loss to explain it, High One. I apologize for our lack of answers.”

  “No apology is necessary. I am certain you did a th
orough job,” Tal said. “It is just another mystery among the many that have been born this past sixday.”

  Reyga was only half listening to the conversation. He was looking at Chon’s body, still trying to determine what was wrong with it. He looked up as he heard a door open, and saw Seryn re-enter the room, a look of perplexed consternation on her face.

  “You look puzzled,” he said when she reached them. Considering the events of the day, he was not sure if he really wanted to know the source of her dilemma. The questions were piling up too quickly, with no answers in sight.

  “Indeed,” she said. “’Puzzled’ would be a mild description.”

  “How so?” Tal asked.

  She indicated the door through which she had entered. “The body of Jason Bennett’s father was taken to that room.”

  The three men nodded.

  “Is there something unusual about Bruce Bennett’s body?” Brin asked.

  “I do not know,” she answered, “for the body in that room is not that of Bruce Bennett.”

  “What?”

  “What do you mean it is not Bruce Bennett?” Tal asked.

  “High One, the body in that room has been fashioned to appear to be Jason Bennett’s father, but not only is it not Bruce Bennett, the body in that room is not even human.”

  Reyga closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Another question, another mystery. He could feel a headache coming on.

  Puzzle Pieces

  Jason was back in the bed at his ancestor’s home, his emotions swinging from overwhelming grief and loss to barely controlled fury and back again. When he first came to Teleria, he’d thought he was alone. Then they found his father. Now he was alone again, his dad murdered at the hands of that obnoxious Loremaster Chon. All he wanted was to wake up and realize this had all been nothing more than a dream.

  The image of the dagger plunging into his dad’s chest ran through his mind again and again. They would pay for what they’d done. He didn’t know how yet, but they would pay.

  He thought about Bothan’s reaction when he used the summoning stone…

  ~~~

  The tears blurred his vision as he stepped out of the portal. Then he felt Bothan’s strong hands on his shoulders.

  “Laddie, what’s wrong? What’s happened that’s brought you back to me so?”

  He could barely stand. “They killed my dad!” he sobbed. “The Loremasters killed him.”

  “Oh, no. Oh, Jason, I’m so sorry.” He felt Bothan’s arms surrounding him. “Go ahead, lad, let it out. Bothan’s here for you.”

  Grief wracked his body as he buried his fists in his ancestor’s robes. Eventually, the spasms subsided. He let go of Bothan and stepped back, wiping his face.

  “You were right,” he said, looking at the ground. “Everything you said. I should have listened to you.”

  “Now, now, we’ll talk about that later,” Bothan said. “Right now you need to rest, and take time to deal with this.”

  “I don’t want to rest,” he said. “I want to get even. I want them to pay for killing my dad.”

  “Aye, lad, I’m sure you do,” Bothan nodded. “But there will be time for all that. Right now you need to get some rest and let this all get sorted out in your head.”

  ~~~

  Jason looked at the ceiling over the bed. The wild swinging of his emotions had stopped, at least for now, leaving him cold and empty inside. He didn’t see how he could possibly sleep, but as he lay there staring up into the shadows, he felt his eyelids getting heavier. At least if I’m asleep I won’t have to think about it. He didn’t try to fight as his eyes closed.

  ~~~

  A dark-haired woman was smiling at him. “Because we’re not as different as you think,” she said.

  “You’re human?”

  “Once. Now we’re something else, a combination of human and dimsai.”

  “We? You mean everyone in Teleria?”

  “No, only the Altered,” she said. “I imagine you’ll have been told of us by the time you remember this. Let’s just say we’ve been here since this all began and leave it at that for now.”

  “But why was the High One so surprised to see you if you’ve been around that long?”

  She shrugged. “Most people have forgotten about us. We’ve kept to ourselves for quite some time,” she said. “At least until now.”

  “What’s different now?”

  “I can’t say, other than to tell you that things have changed recently. Forces are at work that want to reshape Teleria.”

  “So why don’t you just stop them?” he asked. “Why do you need me?”

  “The Altered agreed long ago not to interfere in human affairs. That agreement is still binding.”

  “But aren’t you interfering now?”

  “I have no choice. I’m taking a great risk, but if I don’t, this world will never be the same.”

  “Why?”

  She looked at him for a long moment before answering. “When we first became Altered, we suddenly found we had powers beyond anything we could imagine. But we didn’t have control of our newfound powers. In spite of this, some of us started thinking we were higher beings, even gods, and began changing things to suit ourselves.” She shook her head. “The results weren’t always pretty. Then we started fighting as we disagreed over matters that seemed to get more and more petty every day. Finally, in an all too brief moment of sanity, we realized that the only way we could get along, and the only way we could keep from tearing this world apart, would be to promise not to use our powers to affect this world at all. We formed a Covenant. It’s the only thing that’s kept the peace between us.”

  “Let me guess,” he said. “Someone wants out of the agreement.”

  She nodded. “One of the other Altered has been moving behind the scenes to orchestrate our return into this world to be worshipped as gods.”

  “So why not just tell the others?”

  “We rarely speak to each other anymore. But if my actions, or the actions of the other one, are discovered, I don’t know how the rest will react. It could trigger a war between the Altered that would make the Devastation look like a children’s spat. That’s why, when you begin to remember, you must not tell anyone, not even the people you trust the most. To reveal anything before you have remembered everything could place you, and possibly others, in grave danger.”

  He thought about what Reyga had told him about the Devastation. He wondered exactly how much power the Altered had.

  “So how do I fit into all of this?” he asked.

  “You have, within you, the ability to use dimsai,” she said. “In fact, you have the potential to become more powerful than any Loremaster or saiken lo in Teleria, maybe even as strong as we are.”

  “What? No way!” he exclaimed. “I don’t have any power.”

  “Yes, you do, and I’m going to teach you how to use it.”

  ~~~

  With a start, he sat up in his bed. The morning sun sent streamers of light through the window, and he could hear Bothan in the other room. He looked around, half expecting to see Nyala, but the dream memory was over.

  He absently stroked the covers as he thought about what she’d said. She had to be wrong. He knew he didn’t have any power. Then a fragment of memory came to him, of Seerka flying away from him as he held his father’s body. And the people in the training yard had been squinting against a bright light. Had it been coming from him? Had he sent Seerka flying through the air? Could it be possible?

  He shook his head. It was just too weird. But if she was right, and he really did have that kind of power, maybe he could make the Circle pay for what they’d done to his dad. He’d bring down Lore’s Haven, stone by stone. No, that wouldn’t work. If he brought down the keep, people could be hurt, or maybe even killed, that hadn’t had anything to do with his dad’s death. He’d have to come up with a way to avenge the loss of his father without hurting anyone except the Circle. Otherwise, he’d be no better
than them.

  The one thing he was sure of was that, until he knew whether or not he really had the kind of power Nyala said, he wasn’t going to tell anyone about his dreams.

  “Jason,” Bothan called. “You up yet, lad? Firstmeal is ready!”

  “I’m up,” he called back. “I’ll be right there.” Yeah, he’d keep all of this to himself for now. He struggled out of bed and went to get some breakfast.

  ~~~

  “Uh, Bothan, can we talk? If you’re not busy, that is,” Jason asked after they had finished their morning meal.

  “Of course, lad. I’m never too busy for a kinsman.” He motioned for Jason to follow him into the next room. When they were seated, he said, “Now, what’s on your mind?”

  “Well…" He wasn’t sure how to ask his question. He was a little afraid his ancestor might take it as an accusation. He decided to just blurt it out and hope for the best. “When I was at Lore’s Haven, they told me that four of their villages had been attacked while I was here. Have you heard anything about that?”

  Bothan didn’t say anything. Jason started getting nervous, but then the big man nodded. “Aye,” he said. “I’d heard something of the sort. I suppose I was hoping it was nothing more than a rumor until you asked about it.”

  “So, what happened?”

  “Well, as I hear it, there were three different races that had the undoing of those villages.”

  “Three?”

  “Aye,” Bothan said. “Two were attacked by Trellin. That’d be the lizard men that attacked your party on the way to the keep. Two different races attacked the other villages.”

  “What races?”

  “I, uh, haven’t heard the others mentioned by name,” Bothan said.

  “Why would they attack those villages?”

  “Well, lad, resentment toward the Circle has been growing for a number of years now, and not just among humans. And those particular villages have always been among the strongest supporters of the Circle.”

  “But why not just attack Lore’s Haven and the Circle, instead of villages where innocent people and children would get killed?”