“When it comes to all of this kind of power, nothing really makes sense to me, but I also realize that there are many aspects that I don’t fully understand and still can understand. We need to know how much of Aneadaz remains free.”

  “I can’t tell you. I felt that fucker, but I can’t tell you.”

  “He was working with Timo, and the two of them, along with the other, pose a unique challenge.”

  “They do,” Benji said. “But what do you see?”

  Imogen had been focusing on that and hadn’t been paying much attention to the various possibilities that she had around her, but now she realized that might have been a mistake.

  She began to concentrate on the silvery possibilities, tracing them out in her mind and searching for the dangerous source of power. She saw something, though it was difficult for her to identify what she observed through those possibilities. A series of bright lights that ended in darkness.

  And that darkness continued to grow. As she focused, she realized that was the problem, and the danger. If Timo and the others were successful, the darkness would continue to stretch out.

  “They haven’t given up,” Imogen said, recognizing the power.

  “It doesn’t seem that way,” Benji said.

  “You didn’t know?”

  That surprised her, as given Benji’s conductivity for the aspect of Porapeth power that he still held on to, she had expected that he would know such things. For whatever reason, either he didn’t know, or he didn’t share it with her.

  “Unfortunately, there are some things I still cannot see. I’ve tried, but they are faded, distant, and that makes it difficult to identify them.”

  “Because I have your fragment.”

  “Something like that,” he said.

  “What if I were to return your fragment to you?” She thought about Aneadaz and how much power he had seemed to have, even if she didn’t fully know whether he was that powerful. If she were able to reconstitute Benji, building him back into whatever he once had been, uniting that magic once more, maybe there would be a way for her to hold him. Not only that, but she could help him.

  “I don’t believe that’s possible any longer.”

  “Are you sure? I’m happy to give it back. I don’t need it.”

  “Perhaps not. But I feel like I need the connection.”

  “You won’t be forgotten,” she said.

  “There are times when I think about that, when I think about whether that’s what I fear. There are times when I think that maybe the only thing I really care about is trying to make sure I’m not forgotten, but other times, I realize that isn’t what I care about. Really, it’s that I want to make sure that everything I did, everything I thought to accomplish, does not fail because I’m no longer here.”

  “You don’t have to worry about being forgotten,” she said again.

  “I doubt I will be forgotten by you, First, as I have tormented you enough that you won’t be able to forget me. I don’t know that others will feel the same, though.”

  “What if you were to rejoin whatever you were meant to be in the sky?”

  “I don’t know what I’m meant to be in the sky,” Benji said.

  “You can continue to visit,” Imogen said.

  “Oh, First, you don’t have to worry about that. I’m not going to let you get out of this so easily. But I also think having an opportunity to visit with you keeps me intact.” There was a moment of quiet, and the sense of Benji swirled, drifted, and came back toward her. “You call me a fragment, but I don’t know that I’m really a fragment in my current form. I feel intact, and it’s through my connection to you, First, that I maintain that intactness, and that I maintain my ability to be who and what I want to be. So don’t go pushing me away so quickly, First.”

  Imogen didn’t know what to say. She appreciated Benji, and she appreciated his interest, but she also worried about him, even though the fragment that was Benji suggested that she didn’t need to.

  Could he be something greater than a fragment? Maybe the connection that he shared with her permitted that. Or perhaps because he was Porapeth, there was no possible way for him to be fragmented. That didn’t feel quite right, especially considering what she had learned about Aneadaz and what the Sul’toral had done to him and his power. Still, it did leave her with questions that she did not have answers to.

  While she stared, watching the silvery lines form, feeling the still-steady influence of Benji in her mind, she recognized what was coming. She couldn’t stop it on her own. She was going to need help.

  Her people could fight, but they might not be enough.

  As she focused on the possibilities, trying to sort through them, she started to pluck at some of the other possibilities until she came up with different outcomes.

  Did it have to be just her? Did it have to be only what her people knew and could do? Or were there other ways in which they might be able to work through this? She thought of Lilah, Abigail, and even in them, there were aspects that were not enough.

  And if they were not, what hope did her people have?

  The only other possibility was…

  It formed in her mind. Bright. A confluence of silvery lines.

  The only problem was that she didn’t know what those lines were meant to represent.

  Chapter Ten

  INTERLUDE

  Gaspar had been quiet the last few days.

  Imogen kept waiting for him to share something more about what he had been doing, and more about the enchantments that he had on him, though Gaspar didn’t seem to think anything of them, as he had not mentioned anything to her. She had been tempted to ask but had hesitated, partly because she wasn’t sure if asking would be considered rude in these lands, or by Gaspar.

  The road wound through a narrow, forested section, and Imogen had begun to feel some of the strange energy around her and had been trying to make sense of the source of it, but she had so far not found anything else. There had been no further signs of sorcery, other than that night when she had detected it. It was enough to make her believe that there would be no further sorcery. At least, that was what she hoped.

  Gaspar had started to watch her, to keep an eye on her, as if he questioned her hesitation. She had made a point of looking away, trying to avoid his attention, but didn’t think that she was doing quite as well as she had hoped. Every so often, he would turn and smile, flashing a wide grin and a look as if he wanted to say something more, but then he would hold off.

  When the road branched—one path taking them toward the trees, another leading them toward a wide, hilly meadow—she waited to see what Gaspar might do.

  He tipped his head back, breathing in deeply, and then let it out, looking around before focusing on her.

  “I suppose you’ll want to branch off here,” Gaspar said.

  “Is it time for us to go our separate ways?”

  “It depends upon your choice,” he said. “I don’t think we need to, but I can’t say that you need to keep traveling with me, either. I suspect you have people waiting for you.”

  He suspected. They hadn’t talked much about her people, nor had she shared that much more about her bond quest. They’d gotten to know each other a little bit, but there had been a comfortable camaraderie, a mutual understanding that had spread between them, nothing that had forced her to feel she had to explain herself. When she had wanted silence, Gaspar had granted it. When she had wanted to talk, Gaspar had talked.

  “I need to reach my land again. It is a difficult journey from here, and I suspect there is quite a way to go.”

  “I can’t help with that,” he said. “But if you are looking for an alternative path, and interested in seeing a different part of the world, you’re certainly welcome to come with me. I’ve been traveling for quite some time, and I know the road as well as anybody out here does, and…” He shrugged, his gaze drifting to her blade, sheathed at her waist. “I can’t say that I wouldn’t welcome somebody as capable as you. It can be dangerous out here on the road.”

  Imogen breathed out softly before she turned to Gaspar, and then she frowned. “I need to be honest with you. You have been kind to me on this road, and I fear that I have not been as honest as you deserve. In that, I feel I have done you a disservice and have acted less than honorably.”

  Gaspar watched her, frowning. He also played with the bracelet on his wrist, twisting it from side to side, as if he were getting ready to draw upon the power of the enchantment. Maybe he was.

  “I come from a people who train to deal with sorcery.”

  “You’ve talked about that,” he said carefully.

  “I haven’t talked about it completely,” she said. “I come from a place where we fight sorcerers. At least, we fight those who wield magic. In my land, they are referred to as shamans. In your land, they are all part of the Society.”

  Gaspar shrugged. “The Society leaves most people alone, just so long as you stay out of their way. Oh, they would love to impose their will upon you if you gave them a chance, but I don’t usually give them that chance.” He flashed a grin, and then it faded slowly as he realized Imogen wasn’t grinning with him. “But you don’t want to talk about the Society like that.”

  “My experience with the Society has been that they are brutal.”

  “They can be,” he agreed, nodding ever so slowly. “But they also do not fully understand the danger they pose, and to be honest, they are really not the threat they would have others believe them to be.”

  “When I was in Loruv, I hunted sorcerers.”

  Gaspar said nothing.

  “It’s the reason that I left my homeland. I went thinking that I needed to do so, mostly so that I could understand how to defeat the danger of the sorcerers, and…” Imogen turned away, feeling strangely ashamed of herself. Why should she feel that way? It wasn’t as if she had done anything shameful—not really. She had done what she had believed she needed to do in order to protect her people, and to complete her bond quest. There should be no shame in that. “There was a great power that I was tasked with removing. A creature of great danger, one that harmed others, and once removed, my quest was completed.”

  “So you hunted sorcerers, and you removed some enchantment dangerous to your people?”

  “It was something like that,” Imogen said, and she looked off into the distance, realizing that she had not explained herself as well as she had intended. “But there’s more. If we’re going to travel together, I need you to know that I do not care for magic. Nor do I care for enchantments.” Her gaze went to the bracelet on his wrist, and Gaspar looked down, twisting it for a moment before looking up to meet her gaze.

  “This?” He shrugged. “Well, to be honest, the land that I came from doesn’t much care for magic, either. I have come to understand that it’s a tool, little more than that, but some people want to use a tool, and other people don’t. There is nothing to be said about your choice or mine, other than that we have different choices.” He grinned, and there was something in the way that he did that was so disarming to her and made her feel she was overreacting when it came to the kind of power that she had been trained to destroy. “Now, if you are more comfortable with me keeping it off, I will do that, but it may help me if we come across something a little dangerous. I don’t have your skill with the sword, after all.”

  “I don’t mean to force my views upon you.”

  Her time in the city of Loruv had made her realize that she could not force her viewpoint on others. She had become the First. She had become the one who led her people, and she had become someone that she had never intended to be. And now…

  Now Imogen still wasn’t even sure if that was who she was meant to be, and what she was meant to be, only that she had served her purpose, completed her bond quest, and still didn’t know if she understood what she was supposed to do or be.

  “You can’t. Well, you and I can have a healthy debate about values and what constitutes magic or not, but I don’t think that you’ll impose your viewpoint on me. I think a healthy debate is always useful.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  He tipped his head to her in a polite bow, and then he turned to look off into the distance. “Is that why you were so bothered that night?”

  “I saw your enchantment. I hadn’t realized before then that you carried enchantments with you.”

  “I see,” Gaspar said. “And I suppose I should have revealed that to you, but I did not. Then again, I didn’t realize you had an issue with enchantments, so I suppose I could not have known, anyway. But knowing that you don’t care for them, I will respect you and keep them hidden unless we are under attack. Is that fair?”

  She chuckled. “You don’t need to do that. I’m not so sensitive as to fear enchantments.” That was a change for her from when she had first gone to Loruv, when she was more uncomfortable with not only sorcery but also the enchantments that she had been exposed to. Now she did not feel the same way, but she did feel she needed to be honest with Gaspar about her viewpoint if they were going to keep traveling together.

  Imogen found herself liking Gaspar, but more than that, she felt he was a friend, even if he was a travel friend only. “There was sorcery that night,” Imogen said.

  “How do you know?”

  She tapped her blade with her hand. “It’s something we are trained to detect.”

  “You are trained to find sorcerers, or—”

  “Trained to detect sorcery. And I felt something that night. At first I wasn’t sure what it was. Then I saw you with your enchantments, and I thought maybe that was what I detected, but then as the night went on, and I continued to feel it, I realized it was not from your enchantments but from sorcery that had persisted, and seemed to be potent.” She frowned, looking around, and she realized how strange that must have sounded. Still, Gaspar did not say anything to her about it. “I have not felt it since.”

  “Out here, the Society is not uncommon. There are quite a few sorcerers who travel these lands. If that’s what you encountered, then I’m not surprised. But you should be careful. If you were to attack one of the Society, you would become hunted.”

  “You say that as if you have experience.”

  “Not personal experience, but I’ve heard of others who decided they disliked the Society and thought they could take them on, do battle with them. Unfortunately, none have ever come out on the right side of the conflict. The Society can be a formidable opponent. Be careful.”

  “Thank you for the warning,” she said.

  He started to smile. “Well, since we’ve got that out of the way, how about we decide if we’re going to keep traveling together or if you’re going to make your way back home?”

  “I think it depends upon which direction you intend to go.”

  “The trees here will lead you north, and if you shoot straight north, you end up near the swamp, but don’t quote me on that. It gets a little murky for me, as I haven’t traveled that way very often. My road takes me west, through the meadow here, and it’s a little bit more open, which means that there’s less shelter if I come across others, so…” His gaze drifted down to her blade again, then up to her face. “What I guess I’m saying is that if you want to come with me, I would certainly welcome the company. However, I know you may need to travel off on your own.”

  Imogen considered for a moment, and as she did, she looked off into the trees, contemplating going north, as that would be the start of heading back to the homeland. North she could find a way that would lead her back to the east, and then reach the mountains, where she could begin her journey toward her sacred temple.

  It sounded so simple when she thought about it in those terms, but it was anything but simple. It was very complicated, even.

  As she stared, there was a strange tingling along her skin.

  Imogen tensed and tried to ignore the sensation, to ignore what she felt, but did not think that she could.

  Sorcery. Imogen was certain of it.

  She had become attuned to that power when she had been within Loruv, but after leaving the city, the feeling of that power had become so infrequent that Imogen was alerted to it immediately.

  And there was something strange about the power. Familiar, even.

  She frowned, tipping her head to the side, and she focused.

  No. That wasn’t even possible. She had destroyed the keystone for the hyadan, so there would be no reason for her to detect that power out here.

  Hadn’t she?

  Gaspar continued to watch her, though he didn’t say anything. She waited for him to do so, though, thinking that he may decide that he wanted her to answer more questions, but they were questions that Imogen did not have answers for.

  “Is everything all right?” he finally said.

  Imogen tore her gaze away, even though she had continued to feel the power, and to feel there was some sense of energy out there. She knew that she had to ignore it.

  “If what I’ve said has upset you, I didn’t mean to,” Gaspar continued. “Sometimes I forget what it’s like to be familiar with power. But in my land, we aren’t even familiar with it. The city exiled magic, and…” He flicked his gaze up, looking toward the sky for a moment. “I was a part of it. It was hard. I had to do something that I didn’t want to do, and I hurt somebody that I didn’t want to hurt.”

  “That’s why you’re out here?”

  Gaspar shrugged, and he watched her for a moment. “Well, you were kind enough to be honest with me, so I figured that I might as well be honest with you. So…” He looked off, his gaze trailing along the road that led off to the west. “I’ve been away from my home for a long time, and only recently have I started to even consider heading back. Which is where I am going. From there, I should be able to direct you back to your homeland, if that’s what you want.”

 

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