“I am sorry, Gin, but I fail to see the benefit of returning magic to the Father of the Underworld. He was neutralized for a reason. His followers are still many; you know that as well as I do. No daughter of the Great Forest could possibly think that restoring Ikara is a good idea.” Nelenie folded her arms across her chest.
“I was not talking about returning it to Ikara. I was talking about turning the orb over to the gods in the Void,” Gin explained. “They are better equipped to keep him and the orb in check than we are. I don’t know where it was hidden before, I thought only Lena Calder and her descendants knew. I don’t know why the All-Mother gave it to me to bring to you—unless it was to keep it safe from the wizard while he was in the Void.” She scowled. “They have used us again. Let them sort out their own problems and look after Ikara and his power. I grow weary of being—what was it you called us, Sath? A puppet?” He nodded, a solemn look on his face. She could feel his agreement, and Nelenie was nodding at her.
Omerith met Gin’s gaze. “I approve, Nature Walker. I will send you three back to the Old World now if you like. Shall I send you directly to the Temple?”
“Please, if you would, my lord. I will contact the All-Mother to retrieve the orb. Just allow us to collect our things -”
“I already did that.” Sath retrieved Gin’s pack from the corner of the room. “We can go home now.” He handed her the bag and then wrapped an arm around her. Nelenie moved over close to them and took one each of their hands. Sath nodded at Omerith, who beamed a toothy grin back at them. He spoke words in Eldyr as a soft, white glow formed around the three of them, and then he finished the spell with the name of the place the spell was cast to send them.
“M’ndyr ka M’aanyr.”
Gin steeled herself. She had not been back to the Temple to the Mother since she was with Taeben. As the spell cast, Sath tightened his grip on her shoulders. Gin squeezed Nelenie’s hand as a blinding pain gripped her midsection. She pulled Nelenie in close to hide her reaction. She opened her eyes and had to take a deep breath—she was back in the Temple. The responses of the drakes there was very different, however. This time, they bowed reverently in her presence. “Oh, sweet friends, recover yourselves, please.” The drakes circled around them, swooping and flapping their wings, making Gin laugh happily.
“My child,” Sephine said from behind them. Gin turned around and looked up into the face of her goddess, and felt no need to kneel or even avert her eyes. “Omerith has called me here to you.”
“Mother. We came to retrieve the orb and give it back to you. Something with that kind of power should not be in the world of the living. Clearly, we are not able to manage it—you know what it did to Sath.”
“Yes, and I am proud of you. You have proven yourselves worthy of being the Guardians of Orana. I have one final test for you, but for that, you must follow me to the Void.” She held out her hand and snapped her fingers, and the orb materialized on her palm. “Now then, shall we?”
Gin looked over her shoulder at Nelenie and Sath, who both nodded. “We agree, but why do we have to -” Another snap of Sephine’s fingers and—without all of the fanfare of regular spell casting—they were in the Void. “So, what is this final test, Mother?”
“My child, I sense that you are angry with me.”
“I’m sorry, am I too subtle? I am furious!” Nelenie and Sath wore matching shocked expressions.
“Ginolwenye, I will not have you speak to me in this manner. You remind me of…”
“Of Draoch, when you left him imprisoned by Ikara? Of his daughter, when you failed to allow her to live in love with her true love and their daughter—my mother—leaving her to become Nature Walker when she was but a child?” Gin fisted her hands at her sides. “You have taken us away from our homes, our families, and our duties by allowing this farce to continue. You watched what Taeben did to me and did nothing. You saw how he drove a wedge between Sath and me with Anni, and how your latest Guardian, Nelenie was thrown out of her home for doing nothing but trying to protect -”
“That is why she is now First Caeth, Nature Walker. But I do not have to explain myself to you.” The place they had landed was the same spot where Sath and Gin had landed when they first entered the Void, and Sephine moved closer to one of the portals. “As I said before, the three of you have done well to keep the red dragon in check and to save his daughter, and you have made certain that the Mother Dragon does not have the power of Ikara. I expect that all of you will work together for this last test.” The goddess gestured to her left, and the three gasped in unison. “These two plotted to kill the Rajah and the Nature Walker, and the wizard set his sights on the Orb of Ikara to resurrect his corporeal form,” she said, her voice booming with anger as she looked at them. In the twin columns of blinding illumination, Taeben and Elspeth hung, suspended in space. Their empty eyes stared blindly out from faces frozen in horrifying masks of agony. “Taeben thought himself above the gods. Elspethe was his willing accomplice, carrying on his reprehensible work even after his life was ended.” Sath growled loudly as he looked at the high elf
