The two combatants broke apart.
And just like that, it was over.
The commander of the Falari smiled. “Well fought, prince. Come, we shall escort you to our town. There you can meet the other two challenges.”
Regar grinned from ear to ear. He looked to be the happiest that Brandt had ever seen. His joy contrasted strongly with Brandt’s misery.
“Lead us on, then,” the prince said.
16
The next morning Alena prepared to return to the gate. Overnight the gate’s power faded twice more. Though she hadn’t been using her gatestone during either attempt, she felt the loss in her bones. Now she understood why so few remained in Cardon. Closer to the gate, the effect was more pronounced. Though each incident only lasted a few heartbeats, it felt like an absence long afterward.
She and Jace broke their fast in silence. Alena’s thoughts focused on the gate and approaches she might try to restore it. Jace’s, she suspected, were focused on protecting his older sister from a threat he couldn’t fight.
Visitors arrived just as they finished their meal. Sooni and Dunne brought a young man with them. He appeared to be about Alena’s age. He possessed the wiry build so common among the nomadic clans, forged by a lifetime of endless travel.
But Alena found herself drawn to his eyes.
They were dark brown, but his gaze seemed to take in everything at once. He projected a presence Alena felt across the tent.
Sooni provided the introductions. “This is Toren. He’s not a member of our clan, but he will assist you in your task.”
“Assist me?” Alena couldn’t imagine how. This was soulwork, and there were no soulwalkers among the Etari. Or at least, so she had thought.
“Toren has shown some skill in soulwork, or at least he claims as much.”
Alena understood. “You want me to train him.”
Yes, Sooni signed.
The whole situation grated on her. Had her powers been discovered in her time here, she suspected her welcome would have been rescinded. But now that the Etari needed soulwalkers, they wanted her to train one.
She understood. Necessity often forced change.
But she didn’t like it, and Dunne didn’t either. She looked as though someone had made her sit on a needle.
Alena knew the answer, but the question escaped her lips anyway. “Why train him, if his skills will be considered a curse among his family?”
Dunne answered. “The ability to influence another’s spirit is a crime against nature. And it was soulwalkers that destroyed our gate many generations ago. But—”
“But now you need us.”
“We do,” Dunne acknowledged. “And maybe Toren can prove us wrong. But don’t confuse our necessity with our acceptance.”
“What?” Alena wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly.
Dunne didn’t back down from her statement. “Our people need your skill, and you have already earned our gratitude. But that does not mean soulwalking belongs among our people. Toren knows what he risks by undertaking this task.”
With that, Dunne turned and left, leaving a cold silence in her wake.
Sooni, for once, seemed at a loss for words. After a few moments, she tried. “Alena—”
No, Alena gestured. She took a deep breath and looked over at Jace. Two years ago, in desperation, she learned how easy it would be to destroy her brother’s spirit. Brandt had suffered some of the same. Dunne’s outburst sharpened those memories, making them fresh in her thoughts. “She’s right. Soulwalking isn’t natural.” She took a long breath. “But the affinity exists, so it must be mastered.”
Alena studied Toren. “And what about you? Why go through with this?”
Toren’s face was almost impassive, but she thought she caught a hint of respect in his voice. “Because soulwalking exists, and it must be mastered.”
Alena looked at the Etari, wondering if he was respecting her or mocking her. She truly couldn’t decide.
Jace chuckled. “I like him.”
“The grounds around the gate have been cleared today,” Sooni announced. “Is there anything you require?”
Alena thought for a moment, then signed the negative. She didn’t know what to expect.
“If there is anything, I’ll be close all day,” Sooni said. Then she left.
Curious, Alena dropped into a soulwalk. The lines leading to and from Toren did seem to glow with a more vivid brightness. He hadn’t lied about his affinity, then.
Together the three of them made their way to the center tent. Their passage was uncontested, although no small number of guards surrounded the area. As Sooni promised, the tent itself was unoccupied.
Alena pointed her question at Toren. “What do you sense?”
“The gate is alive. I feel its presence.”
An interesting observation. Alena wasn’t sure she agreed on the gate being alive, but she wouldn’t discount the possibility. She didn’t know what to expect on this soulwalk.
Precautions came first. She turned to Jace, who nodded. They’d discussed this the night before. Alena didn’t like relying on the technique, but she wasn’t aware of any other methods of staying safe in strange waters.
With the gate’s proximity strengthening her abilities, it didn’t take her long to bind her spirit to her brother’s. Once again he served as her anchor.
Then it was back to Toren. “I’ve never trained anyone. I’m still learning much of this for myself.”
“I understand.”
“Close your eyes. Remain calm.”
Alena dropped into her soulwalk, forcing herself not to look at the gate yet. That moment would come soon enough, but for now she felt it as a pulsing beacon behind her. Instead she approached Toren, creating a shared world for them. They both appeared in her mother’s kitchen back in Landow. “Open your eyes.”
He obeyed and stared in wonder. “Where are we?”
“A memory, perhaps? A world that I’ve shaped, a place that I’m comfortable with.”
Toren held out his hands and looked at them. He pinched himself.
“It’s real,” explained Alena, “but also not. Your physical body is still in the tent. Here, imagination and will shape reality. You try it. Imagine a place for us.”
She felt his power, tiny compared to her own, but she allowed it to overwhelm hers. She blinked and found herself on a hill overlooking an endless expanse of water.
