Darkness Splintered

“I shall see what I can do.”

It was on my tongue to snap, “You’d better do your best,” but I restrained the urge. There was no point in antagonizing him when Mirri’s life still lay in his hands.

“I’d appreciate you hurrying. The Raziq are going to know the minute I step onto the fields.”

“They will be too busy saving their puny lives to worry about your presence.”

And with that, the white light died and I found myself blinking furiously against tears as I stared at Azriel.

“You were successful?” he said.

“I think so.” I pushed upright. “Do we head over to that other warehouse now, and try to find the other gate?”

“There is no need. I can transport us to the coordinates the Aedh left us once you are on the fields.”

I frowned. “I thought you said you could only transport to a place you have some physical point of reference to, like a soul?”

“Here on Earth, not on the fields.”

“Ah. Good.” I hesitated, then added, “I take it you can’t transport me onto the fields themselves?”

“No. If I were a reaper, I could guide your soul upon death, but that is not what we desire to happen anytime soon.”

I half smiled. “Been there once, and I’m in no hurry for a repeat.” I climbed onto the bed, made myself comfortable, then added, “What about the other Mijai? Will they be able to help us at all?”

He hesitated. “In the inner reaches of the temples, no.”

“What about if the sorceress reaches the gates? There are Mijai stationed there, aren’t there?”

“There is currently only one, as breaches have fallen over the last few hours. But if our sorceress gets that far, more will be called. They will aid us to stop her.”

So at least we weren’t going to be entirely alone. Which was a damn good thing if the Raziq happened to appear. They certainly weren’t going to be pleased the moment they realized I’d deceived them.

I hesitated, then asked, curious, “How will they react to my presence on the field?”

He shrugged. “You may or may not see them, depending on whether they decide to acknowledge your presence.”

Charming. “I’ll see you on the field in a few minutes.”

He nodded and disappeared. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. As I slowly released it, I released awareness of everything around me, concentrating on nothing more than the slowing beat of my heart and freeing my psyche, my soul, or whatever else people like to call it from the constraints of my flesh. It was similar, yet very different, to stepping onto the astral plane, mainly because the plane was of this world and the gray fields were not. On the fields, the real world was little more than a shadow, a place where those things that could not be seen on the living plane became visible. It was also the land between life and death, a place through which souls journeyed to whatever gateway was their next destination, be it heaven or hell.

As the awareness of my world began to fade, warmth throbbed at my neck – Ilianna’s magic at work, protecting me as my psyche pulled free from my flesh and stepped onto the gray fields.

The Dusan immediately exploded from my arm, her energy flowing through me, around me, as her lilac form gained flesh and shape, until she looked so solid and real that I wanted to reach out and touch her. She swirled around me, the wind of her body buffeting mine as her sharp ebony gaze scanned the fields around us. Looking for trouble. I wondered if she actually sensed it, or if she merely reacted to the growing knot of tension in the pit of my stomach.

I looked around for Azriel, and spotted him easily enough. He was a blaze of sunlight in this ghostly otherworld, a force whose very presence throbbed through my body. As if he, like the Dusan and Amaya, were a part of me. And I guess, given what he’d done, he now was.

He stopped in front of me and held out a hand. Though in this place we were both energy rather than flesh, when I placed my hand in his, it felt real and warm.

Just because we wear no flesh doesn’t make us any less real. His mental tone was gently chiding. Let’s go to your father’s chambers and see if our sorceress is there.

I’d barely nodded when the fields blurred, and suddenly we were standing in a place that was ghostly and surreal. A place filled with impossible shapes, high soaring arches, and honeycombed domes sitting atop floating towers.

I frowned. This doesn’t look like living quarters.

As you know them, no. But there are divisional walls here; you just can’t see them.

He was right, I couldn’t. All I could see was the wide expanse of ghostly, glowing buildings. Oddly, the temples appeared far more structurally heavy than the ethereal beauty of the reaper buildings I’d seen, even if their shapes seemed just as far beyond the realms of possibility.

I turned around, my frown deepening. I can’t see any form of transport gate here, nor does it appear as if the sorceress has arrived. I paused. And where the hell are the Dusan?

They are not able to enter this place. They wait in the temple grounds. He paused. There is energy coming from the right. I suspect our gate might lie there.

I followed him through the ether, and tried not to get distracted by the otherworldly beauty of everything around us. Azriel swung right, and the buildings disappeared, replaced by a honeycombed tunnel, along which ran various oddly shaped doors. Some glowed, some did not. And from one of them came a strange humming sound.

What’s that noise? I reached back for Amaya. She might not be needed, given I had Azriel to protect me, but I certainly felt easier with her in my hand – not something I’d ever thought would happen when she and I were first introduced.

It is not of this place, he replied.

Flames flickered down Valdis’s sides, and an answering hum came from Amaya. Whatever that noise was, the two swords were anticipating meeting it.

Have you any idea where it’s coming from?

From the star-shaped door. He glanced over his shoulder. There is movement inside. Be ready to fight.

My grip tightened against Amaya’s hilt, and her humming ratcheted up several notches. Is it our sorceress?

It is not a reaper or Aedh, so I would think it must be.

So you can’t tell from the energy itself?

No. He hesitated. It has not the feel of anything I’ve come across before.

If our theory was right, and both the sorceress and Lucian had been using dark magic to transform their beings into energy so that they could get onto the fields, then it was logical that he wouldn’t be able to recognize whoever or whatever waited inside that door. Azriel placed a hand on the odd-shaped door. It reacted to his touch, emitting a warm, nonthreatening light. I briefly wondered how it would have reacted had we not been wearing my father’s bracelets. He glanced at me. Are you ready?

I nodded and tightened my grip on Amaya. Her humming became a hiss of expectant fury, the noise jarring against the silence that surrounded us.

He pushed the door open and stepped through. I quickly followed, Amaya raised and my gaze scanning the surrounds. The room was large and circular in shape, with ghostly honeycombed walls defining its area. There was no furniture or adornments – or nothing that I recognized as such – nor did there appear to be anyone here.

But there was something here.

I may not have been able to see it, but I could damn well feel it. It was an uneasiness, a shadow, in a place that was bright and light.

Then that shadow moved, became two, and then three, and I realized what they were.