Tell me again why I am here, Parchin, Jardir said. If your goal is truly as you have always said, to rid the world of alagai, then why do you oppose me? I am close to fulfilling your dream.
Not as close as you think, the Parchin said. And the way youre doing it disgusts me. You choke and threaten humanity to its own salvation, not caring the cost. Know you Krasians like to dress in black and white, but the world ent so simple. Theres color, and more than a fair share of gray.
I am not a fool, Parchin, Jardir said.
Sometimes I wonder, the Parchin said, and his aura agreed. It was a bitter tea that his old friend, whom he had taught so much and always respected, should think so little of him.
Then why did you not kill me and take the spear and crown for your own? Jardir demanded. The witnesses were honor-bound. My people would have accepted you as Deliverer and followed you to Sharak Ka.
Then why did you not kill me and take the spear and crown for your own? Jardir demanded. The witnesses were honor-bound. My people would have accepted you as Deliverer and followed you to Sharak Ka.
Irritation ran like wildfire across the Parchins calm aura. You still dont get it, he snapped. Im not the ripping Deliverer! Neither are you! The Deliverer is all humanity as one, not one as humanity. Everam is just a name we gave to the idea, not some giant in the sky, fighting back the blackness of space.
Jardir pressed his lips together, knowing the Parchin was seeing a flare across his aura at the blasphemy. Years ago he had promised to kill the Parchin should he ever speak such words again. The Parchins aura dared him to try it now.
Jardir was sorely tempted. He had not truly tested the crowns power against the Parchin, and with it at his brow, he was no longer as helpless as he seemed.
But there was something else in his ajinpals aura that checked him. He was ready for an attack, and would meet it head-on, but an image loomed over him, alagai dancing as the world burned.
What he feared would come to pass, if they did not find accord.
Jardir drew a deep breath, embracing his anger and letting it go with his exhalation. Across the room, the Parchin had not moved, but his aura eased back like a Sharum lowering his spear.
What does it matter, Jardir said at last, if Everam be a giant in the sky, or a name we have given to the honor and courage that let us stand fast in the night? If humanity is to act as one, there must be a leader.
Like a mind demon leads drones? the Parchin asked, hoping to snare Jardir in a logic trap.
Just so, Jardir said. The world of the alagai has ever been a shadow of our own.
The Parchin nodded. Ay, a war needs its generals, but they should serve the people, and not the other way round.
Now it was Jardir who raised an eyebrow. You think I do not serve my people, Parchin? I am not the Andrah, sitting fat on my throne while my subjects bleed and starve. There is no hunger in my lands. No crime. And I personally go into the night to keep them safe.
The Parchin laughed, a harsh mocking sound. Jardir would have taken offense, but the incredulity in the Parchins aura checked him.
This is why it matters, the Parchin said. Because you actually believe that load of demonshit! You came to lands that were not yours, murdered thousands of men, raped their women, enslaved their children, and think your soul is clean because their holy books a little different from yours! You keep the demons from them, ay, but chickens on the chopping block dont call the butcher Deliverer for keeping the fox at bay.
Sharak Ka is coming, Parchin, Jardir said. I have made those chickens into falcons. The men of Everams Bounty protect their own women and children now.
As do the Hollowers, the Parchin said. But they did it without killing one another. Not a woman raped. Not a child torn from its mothers arms. We did not become demons in order to fight them.
And that is what you think me? Jardir asked. A demon?
The Parchin smiled. Do you know what my people call you?
The demon of the desert. Jardir had heard the name many times, though only in the Hollow did any dare speak it openly. He nodded.
Your people are fools, Parchin, as are you if you think me the same as the alagai. You may not murder and you may not rape, but neither have you forged unity. Your Northern dukes bicker and vie for power even as the abyss opens up before them, ready to spew forth Nies legions. Nie does not care about your morals. She does not care who is innocent and who is corrupt. She does not even care for Her alagai. Her goal is to wipe the slate clean.
Your people live on borrowed time, Parchin. Loaned to you against the day of Sharak Ka, when your weakness will leave them meat for the Core. Then you will have wished for a thousand murders, a thousand thousand, if thats what it took to prepare you for the fight.
The Parchin shook his head sadly. Youre like a horse with blinders on, Ahmann. You see what supports your beliefs, and ignore the rest. Nie doesnt care because She doesnt ripping exist.
Words do not make a thing so, Parchin, Jardir said. Words cannot kill alagai or make Everam cease to be. Words alone cannot unite us all for Sharak Ka before it is too late.
You talk of unity, but you dont understand the meaning of the word, the Parchin said. What you call unity I call domination. Slavery.
Unity of purpose, Parchin, Jardir said. All working toward one goal. Ridding the Ala of demonkind.
There is no unity, if it depends on one man alone to hold it, the Parchin said. We are all mortal.
The unity I have brought will not be so easily cast aside, Jardir said.
No? Arlen asked. I learned much during my visit to Everams Bounty, Ahmann. The Northern dukes have nothing on your people. Your dama will not follow Jayan. Your Sharum will not follow Asome. None of the men will follow Inevera, and your Damaji would as soon kill one another as eat at the same table. There is no one who can sit the throne without civil war. Your precious unity is about to crumble away like a palace made of sand.
Jardir felt his jaw tighten. His teeth whined as he ground them. The Parchin was correct, of course. Inevera was clever and could hold things together for a time, but he could not afford to be gone for long, or his hard-forged army would turn on itself with Sharak Ka only just begun.
I am not dead yet, Jardir said.
No, but you wont be returning anytime soon, the Parchin said.
We shall see, Parchin. Without warning, Jardir reached out through the crown, Drawing hard on the Parchins magic. Caught off guard, the Parchins aura exploded in shock, then distorted as Jardir hauled in the prize.
Power rushed through Jardirs body, knitting muscle and bone, making him strong. With a flex, the bandages around his chest ripped and the plaster about his legs shattered. He sprang from the bed, crossing the room in an instant.
The Parchin managed to get his guard up in time, but it was a Sharums guard, for he had not been trained in Sharik Hora. Jardir easily slipped around it and caught him in a submission hold. The Parchins face reddened as he struggled for air.
But then he collapsed into mist, as he had in their battle on the cliff. Jardir overbalanced when the resistance ended, but the Parchin reformed before he hit the floor, grabbing Jardirs right arm and leg, throwing him across the room. He struck the window so hard even his magic-strengthened bones snapped, but the warded glass did not so much as crack.
There was a thin flow of magic on the surface of the wards, and Jardir instinctively Drew on it, using the power to mend his bones even before the pain set in.
The Parchin vanished from across the room, appearing in close, but Jardir was wise to the trick. Even as the mist began to reform he was moving, dodging the Parchins attempted hold and striking two hard blows before he could melt away again.
They struggled thus for several seconds, the Parchin disappearing and reforming before Jardir could do any real damage, but unable to strike in turn.
Corespawn it, Ahmann, he cried. Ent got time for this!
In this, we agree, Jardir said, having positioned himself correctly. He threw the rooms single chair at the Parchin, and predictably, the man misted when he could as easily have dodged.
Your powers are making you lax, Parchin, he thought as he sprang the open distance to the stairwell.
You ent goin anywhere! the Parchin growled as he reformed, drawing a ward in the air. Jardir saw the magic gather, hurtling at him, a blast that would knock him away from the stairs like a giant hammer. With no time to dodge, he embraced the blow, going limp to absorb as much of the shock as possible.
But the blow never came. The Crown of Kaji warmed and flared with light, absorbing the power. Without thinking, Jardir drew a ward in the air himself, turning the power into a bolt of raw heat. Enough to turn a dozen wood demons to cinders.
The Parchin held up a hand, Drawing the magic back into himself. Jardir, dizzied by the sudden drain, stared at him.
We can do this all night, Ahmann, the Parchin said, melting away and reappearing between Jardir and the stairwell. It wont get you out of this tower.
Jardir crossed his arms. Even you cannot hold me forever. The sun will come, and your demon tricks and hora magic will fail you.
The Parchin spread his hands. I dont have to. By dawn, youll stay willingly.
Jardir almost laughed, but again the Parchins aura checked him. He believed it. He believed his next words would sway Jardir, or nothing would.
Why have you brought me here, Parchin? he asked a final time.
To remind you of the real enemy, the Parchin said. And to ask your help.
Why should I help you? Jardir asked.
Because, the Parchin said, were going to capture a mind demon and make it take us to the Core.
Its time we brought the fight to the alagai.
CHAPTER 2
VACUUM
333 AR AUTUMN
Inevera wasted no time when they returned to the Krasian camp. Even as Ashan quietly selected warriors to begin the search and ordered others to break camp, she summoned Abban to her private audience chamber in the pavilion of the SharDama Ka.