Sath didn’t bother turning around before he spoke. “Yes, we don’t beg for more mistreatment.”
The flush drained from Gin’s face. “SATH!”
Sephine narrowed her gaze as she looked at Sath. “Watch your tongue, Rajah. I will tolerate only so much.” He opened his mouth to answer, but a pointed look from Gin shut him up. “Now then, how may I help?”
“We need to find out who is controlling Daelyth, and then we need to find out where she hid the orb when she took it from the stronghold.”
“By the way, thank you for NOT warning us about touching the orb, Sephine.” She turned her attention back to Sath for a moment, a puzzled look on her idyllic features. “The reason that Daelyth had to hide it was -” He paused for a moment, looking at Gin. “I was having visions of—well, of someone I once knew and cared very much for, and it was trying to convince me that it could bring her back to me.”
Sephine’s face darkened. “Ikara is cunning, Rajah. Of course, he still retains a connection to the orb because it contains his magic. I was not aware that he could communicate through the orb, but it makes sense that his magic might be trying to find its way back to him. Our Eleinnagh had no trouble holding the orb, but perhaps that was to do with her blended ancestry. This is troubling.” Both Sath and Gin looked confused. “I may be a ‘higher being’ as you said, Rajah, but there are still things about magic that only Orana herself knows.” She moved to the cushions by the fireplace and sat, motioning for them to join her. They did, but Gin was slow to move at first—never had she imagined that she would be sitting across from the All-Mother, speaking as equals. “I gave the orb to Eleinnagh, or as you know of her, Lena and what I understood of it at the time was that it would trap Ikara’s magic within so that he was no longer able to control his Ikedrians in the battle for the Great Forest. But I feel that the orb was more than I knew. I think that it trapped a part of his soul—the worst and darkest part—and that is what was speaking to you, Rajah.”
“You gave us Ikara’s soul to carry about in our packs like a skin of water?” Sath glared at the goddess. “Am I getting this right?’
“Rajah, you are so short-tempered. Was your time in the illusion not to your liking?” Sath’s nostrils flared at her question, so Gin hopped up from her cushion and stood in between them.
“Mother, Sath, stop it, please? We need to find this orb—clearly, that is more important than even finding out who is controlling Daelyth. We cannot allow the Mother Dragon to get the orb and resurrect -” She paused a moment, the very name of the Father Dragon difficult for her to say aloud. “We cannot allow her to resurrect Taanyth.”
“Yes, and Omerith knows what his father was like. He, of all of us, knows how important it is to keep it from his mother, and he is most able to defend it against her. At least that was my reasoning. You three as Guardians should have been strong enough to stand against her. But my children, I have come here to share with you that I know how you came to be on this side of the world, and it is disturbing indeed.” Gin’s mind was already reeling, and she blinked as she looked from Sath to the goddess. “It was not only the work of the Mother Dragon. You are here because of the wizard, Taeben.”
Sath snorted. “Impossible. I killed him myself.”
“I thought that you would say that, Rajah. When a living being dies, their soul goes to the Void on the way to the afterlife. Sometimes souls are stuck there.” Sath nodded his head and made a circular gesture with his hand to encourage Sephine to get to the point. Gin reached over and pulled Sath’s hand back down to the cushions, nicking her finger on his claws as she did so. She stuck her finger in her mouth as Sath looked at her, horrified. “What you may not know is that hundreds of years ago, when the bond was more widely used, a soul could come back from the Void if there is a body for it to inhabit. You have traveled through the bond, yes?” They both nodded. “It is the same principle, only the incoming soul has to either share the body with the current inhabitant or overtake that soul.”
“But Mother, what does this have to do with Taeben—oh.” Gin blanched as the realization hit her. “So, anyone with whom he made the bond is in danger?” She unconsciously rubbed the back of her neck as she asked. Sephine held her arms out to Gin, but Sath quickly wrapped an arm around her, and she snuggled into his embrace. The Qatu raised his eyebrows in a sarcastic victory at Sephine.
“I do not think that you—or my child, Tairneanach—are in danger. I believe that he has someone already working with him, someone that you have met. She is Ikedrian, and was an apprentice to the wizard while he was still alive.” Gin looked back at Sephine. “You have met her already. She was sent by the Mother Dragon to get the orb.”
“The dark elf female!” Sath shot a pointed look at Gin. “The one you let escape, twice.”
“Enough, Rajah.” Sephine was clearly running low on patience. “You must understand, Nature Walker, that there is a reason that she is involved. Her name is Elspethe Turlach. Do you recognize that surname?” Gin nodded, but her face clouded when she couldn’t make an exact connection. “I expect that
