“In a way.”
“What way?”
“I came to learn more of the rifts. These children were here, suffering, and I thought it my duty to help them if I could.”
“Your duty…”
Nikandr said nothing, which only seemed to anger Thabash.
“Your father sent you, then?”
“He did not.”
“Of course,” he said, pacing in front of Nikandr. “Your father is still an honored guest in Galostina. Surely, then, your mother sent you.”
“She did not.”
“Is that so? Is she still hidden away in the bowels of Iramanshah?”
Again Nikandr did not speak. He did not like how very much Thabash knew, but he wasn’t surprised. The Maharraht had spies everywhere, and many of those in Iramanshah knew of his mother’s presence.
“It’s interesting how often we hear that we lost that day on Duzol, that you stopped Soroush from completing his goal, but what you fail to understand is that there is never a single goal in what we do, and that the fates watch over us, no matter how low the Landed might bring us.”
“To say that we bring you low are the words of a fool,” Nikandr replied. “You bring yourselves low.”
Thabash stopped his pacing. “Do you think yourself above us because you’ve come, as you say, to heal?”
“I merely wish to save those that can be saved.”
“And if they don’t wish to be saved? Were you to heal any one of these children, they would spit upon you for the curse you’ve laid at their feet. They would tell you that they went willingly, and that to bring them back would be an indelible stain upon their soul.”
Nikandr could only think of Wahad, how proud he was of Muqallad’s faith in him. “They were lied to.”
Nikandr could tell that these words made Thabash bristle, but he could not simply attack. There was a battle being waged here in Ashdi en Ghat for the minds of everyone involved. Few knew the truth, but many suspected Thabash and even Muqallad were leading them astray.
“They were not lied to. They were freed. Freed to make their own choice. Freed to bring this world to a higher place and a higher plane.”
“They were given no choice. What could they choose but to please Muqallad? He is no savior, Thabash. He spells our doom, not just the Landed, but all of us.”
Thabash waited for those words to settle over those nearby, waited for the echoes to die. “Not our doom, son of Iaros. Our salvation.” He motioned to the men behind him, at which point they strode forward and took Nikandr and Jahalan by the arms. “And you will have a chance to see it firsthand. At the equinox, these children will allow Muqallad to take another step forward, and Muqallad has asked that you be there to see it so that when you die, you will know the fate of this earth. You will know the fate of the world beyond.”
“He doesn’t care for the Landed.”
“ Neh, he does not, but of you he cares. You, the chosen of Khamal.”
“Khamal did not choose me.”
Thabash’s eyes opened wide. “You’re blinded if you believe it was luck.”
“Blind or not, Khamal is nothing to me.”
“Nothing?” Thabash asked. “The two of you are bound so tightly in this life that there can be little doubt you were bound in another.” He waved his hand, and the men hauled Nikandr by the arms.
Looking back, Nikandr saw Thabash standing over Wahad. Wahad could not see him anymore-most likely he would never open his eyes again-but somehow he knew Thabash was there, for he was shaking his head back and forth. When he began to pound his hands against the stone, Nikandr could watch no more, and soon he had lost sight of the cavern altogether.
Before he was placed in a cell, Nikandr’s soulstone was taken from him. When the soldiers left, they took the light and locked the heavy wooden door behind them. The light from their siraj bobbed as they left, growing dimmer and dimmer, until all was darkness.
He lay on the pallet he’d been given, wondering where they’d taken Jahalan. It was likely they’d brought him to another cell somewhere else in the village, but it was just as likely that they’d simply asked him to leave, or allowed him to stay as long as he agreed to interfere no longer.
It was a symptom of their grief that they dealt with the Landed ruthlessly, and yet treated the Aramahn with respect, even reverence. The Maharraht claimed they were doing this for their brothers and sisters who could not find it in themselves to take the same path they did. They didn’t hold it against the Aramahn for not taking up arms-the Aramahn, after all, were the ones they were trying to protect. It was not in the Maharraht to harm them as long as they didn’t stand in their way.
Whether Jahalan remained or not, it didn’t change the fact that something momentous was about to happen. It was clear that Muqallad had been working for months, perhaps years, toward this very thing. The girl, Kaleh. The beating hearts in the wilderness. The fire in the clearing. And now the children who were slowly but surely being consumed.
He couldn’t help but think that if he could have healed one of the akhoz-just one-he could have swayed opinions, enough to overpower the men from the south, who, though smaller in number, seemed to be exerting undue influence over their brethren from the north.
And yet Wahad had been so adamant in his beliefs. He had believed everything Kaleh and Muqallad had fed him, and this was a thing that would build upon itself. When a select few children believed that Muqallad was their savior, more would believe, and that in turn would make more follow, until all that remained were silent skeptics.
If only he could show Wahad what he had seen.
But he could not. He was too late to save them, and now he was powerless to stop Muqallad.
When morning came, the men who came for Nikandr-seven of them-all wore the black robes of the Hratha. They put manacles around his wrists and hobbled his legs with rope. They did not allow him his cherkesska, but instead forced him to wear only his pants and shirt and boots. They pushed him from the village and walked him southward. There were others far ahead on the road that did not wear the dark robes of the south. Surely this was something momentous. The plans Muqallad had been making were coming to fruition.
Nikandr watched for someone, anyone, he might be able to speak to. He watched the road behind, hoping a parent of one of the children would catch up with them-until the Hratha nearest him thought ill of it and struck him on the back of the head with the hilt of his dagger.
Nikandr cringed, expecting another blow, but the man only held the gleaming blade close to Nikandr’s face and said, “Look again, and I use the other end.”
Nikandr was careful to make sure the man was busy with something else before stealing a glance behind, but he never saw anyone. He assumed they would be the last to reach Siafyan.
They came to a rest only once. With his stone taken, he was unable to ignore the cold so easily. He shivered as three of the men broke away and began speaking in low tones. They had been in Ashdi en Ghat since Nikandr had arrived. Surely they were either loyal to Rahid, or at the very least not favored by Thabash. That they were speaking alone gave him no comfort at all.
They did not rest long, and soon they were into the defile and heading through the woods toward the tall trees of Siafyan. When they neared the village, Nikandr could feel a distinct demarcation. It was a subtle thing-no more than a slight pressing within his chest, a souring of the tongue-but he knew immediately what it was. It was the ring of hearts around the clearing. They felt stronger and fouler than before.
As they continued, the feeling grew, until Nikandr became nauseous from it. He stole glances at the men around him. They did not seem to show it on their faces, and he wondered whether it was only he that could feel it.
As they moved through the village, Nikandr felt watched. He looked up to the walkways, to the windows worked into the trees, but he found nothing and no one. Still, his skin crawled, until finally they moved beyond and into the trees once more.
When they came to the clearing, however, his heart stopped.
