“Why, yes, Ilisa, I was always going to return to Valistor. Even Kajo and Truloy know that. I can’t stay here. I am not of Farian. I am the Duke of Astrida. My people need me. I protect them. I want you to come with me… But we can’t talk about that right now.”
Her mind went profoundly blank, as if she purposefully pulled back her connection from me, to hide her thoughts from me, and it left a vast emptiness, a hole in my stomach, in my heart.
I shook away the feeling. I had to focus.
“What do you need to accomplish this?”
“Two blaster cannons and a small force. Commander Damox and Bravo Renin, with their Spec Ops unit will do. We can go in with stealth and freeze the waters, then confront Fenvitz with the peace-offering of unfreezing it and exile.”
“Damox? What do you think of this plan?”
The Commander stepped into view of the screen so Kajo could see him clearly. “As you know, King, my family is from the Kall, though their safety is not the only reason I think this is a good plan. Duke Skarde is thinking of what is best for the continuity of his peaceful reign in his Dukedom and for the benefit of all the people of Harthen. If we can minimize civilian casualties, that is always a positive. Duke Fenvitz has shown a disregard for his people already, as we were able to see when he slaughtered his former soldiers to get to the armory. However, I think this will be an aggressive enough move to make him back down. And we will only need a small force to make it work.”
The King thought for a moment more. “And, worst case, he doesn’t accept?”
I didn’t hesitate. “I will duel him.”
Kajo rolled his eyes and grunted. “Fine.” Then he flicked his fingers and the screen shut off.
I turned to look at Damox. “Alert your soldiers. We leave tonight.”
When Ilisa finally looked at me, she smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. It pained me to see the hurt there. She had to know, she had to have known, that I couldn’t stay on Farian. As hard as she was trying to teach me the tele skills, and I was getting pretty good at them, I would never truly be one of these people. I was an off-worlder. I would always be a charzbos to them. Ilisa re-opened the connection between us and the warmth flowing from her soul filled me with such goodness that I thought my fingertips would quiver off into the arms of the chair. “We will discuss what you said later, but what is most important is that we remain connected. We are Destins and I will always be by your side. I love you, Skarde.”
“Thank you, Ilisa. Now, let’s go look at maps to the Kall.” We stood and spun a map source up from the computer holographic imager. “I need to find a good way above ground that isn’t through the mine shafts.”
“What’s this ‘I’ business. I’m going with you!”
“But you’re still recovering--”
She stamped her foot and held her hand out straight in front of her. “No argument, Duke.”
Her face was fierce, her brown eyes glinted with those sparks of color I loved to see and I smiled.
“Fine.”
We turned back to researching the best way to get through the forests to the Kall. We had peace to broker.
Seventeen
Skarde
This would be the first time I was performing the Berzerker ceremony after undergoing intense tele arts training. Would I feel different? Would I connect to my fellow Vailstorans differently? Would I connect with nature differently?
The way the klastani herb swept through our lungs and affected the blood-brain barrier, making our physical reactions laser-sharp, but making our thoughts frenzied, intense, intent only on the battle, was a mysterious and, ultimately, intoxicating and addictive rush. I wondered if it would hit me the same now that I had built up mental blocks: maybe it would hit me even stronger.
Jalasa walked around the circle we had taken to using on the ledge before the rocky shore, the waves crashing at the prows of the tall ships, and lit the torches. The salt spray was fresh in the air. I hadn’t been out on the sea for days and I longed for it. Ilisa was a new type of freedom I had been exploring, and I had been so concerned for her while she had been unconscious, that it had left little time for me to sail, though my heart always longed for those wild waves.
Nessi and Corsin were swinging their long swords against each other already. I pulled mine from my sheath and let it capture some of the setting sun’s rays. The glint was striking. These Farians might think speed and precision only came with the aid of telekinetics, but we Vailstorans knew: the klastani could make us fire on all cylinders, creating fierce fighting machines, extreme athletes and mechanisms for death and destruction that fought purely by ego and bodily function.
Now, matching that with my new tele arts… I figured I might just be unstoppable.
Jalasa picked up the pipes, already packed, and passed them around the circle. We set our swords down on the makeshift table of driftwood we had prepared. We didn’t have long. I had assigned the Spec Ops team to already gather. They would be getting briefed by Damox and Renin while my team of four rushed klastani through our veins, took some minutes to meditate after, and then joined them for the journey to the Kall.
The sun whispered her last goodbyes to the day and flashed below the horizon. We lifted the pipes to our lips, flicked flame to the bowls, and inhaled.
The klastani hit like a storm surge trying to blast my boat asunder. It had never hit me like this before. The
