Who are you? Khollo thought angrily. Why should I obey you? You have caused me nothing but trouble in the last few days, made everyone around me question my sanity!
That would not be a problem if you did as I asked, the voice replied weakly. I kept you alive. Help me, as I have helped you.
Why me, why not someone else?
You are the only one who can hear me, the voice said, growing weaker all the time. You are my only hope. The voice faded into nothing.
No, Khollo thought desperately. “No!”
“No what?”
Khollo came back to the world abruptly. Hern and Ambal were looking at him strangely, and a cluster of villagers that had been passing by had stopped and were staring. Khollo found that he was breathing heavily.
“Carry on,” he grunted to the villagers. They moved on warily, shooting looks over their shoulders. Khollo ground the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying to make sense of it all.
“Khollo, what on earth-?”
“Hern, just listen for a moment. I will tell you, Sermas, and Janis everything. Just gather them here.”
“But – ”
“Do it!” Khollo said sharply, then sighed. “Please,” he added in a softer voice.
Ambal moved closer. “Is there anything that I – ”
“No,” Khollo replied. “This is not something that you can help me with, healer. You may return to your other patients. I have taken too much of your time already.”
“But Lord Kurkan – ”
“I will explain everything to Lord Kurkan,” Khollo replied. “But right now, you both need to do as I have asked. Time is short, and it might already be too late.”
Hern hesitated, then took off at a run. Ambal eyed Khollo steadily, then nodded once. “Very well. If you need anything, let me know.”
As the healer left, he nearly ran into Sermas coming back. The cadet looked utterly bewildered. “What’s going on? Hern went flying up to the keep like he was being chased by a horde of vertaga. And what are they thinking leaving you on your own?”
“Not now,” Khollo muttered. “Just wait. “I’ll explain.”
Sermas snorted. “No, you’ll rest. In case you’ve forgotten already, you were nearly ripped in two not that long ago. Lord Kurkan said that you were to spend today – ”
“Sermas, I’m not an invalid,” Khollo growled. “If you and Hern would just trust me like you used to and stop treating me like I might shatter at any moment, maybe we would be getting somewhere. I will explain when the others arrive, and I am done resting!”
Sermas looked away guiltily, then sank onto a stool at the nearest table, where the leftovers from their lunch still stood next to the ancient book of mining. Khollo waited for Sermas to begin arguing with him again, to keep repeating the same ‘rest and get well’ rhetoric that had made up the bulk of their conversations since Khollo’s injury. But he didn’t. He just sat there, quietly, avoiding Khollo’s eyes.
When Hern and Janis arrived moments later, both were winded, Hern especially, having run both ways.
“What’s happened? Is something wrong? Are you feeling worse? Where is that healer? I’ll – ”
“Nothing’s wrong, Janis,” Khollo replied. “We just need to talk.”
Janis frowned. “If this is about me forcing you to rest, I’m afraid you’re wasting your breath.”
“It’s not,” Khollo promised. “This is much more important. But first, I want your word that you will not interrupt until I finish explaining. All of you.”
Hern and Janis exchanged a glance. Sermas paid them no mind, but spun on his stool so that he was facing Khollo. “You have my word,” he whispered.
Khollo nodded. “Thank you, Sermas.” He looked at the others. “Well?”
“We’ll listen,” Janis said, palms outward in surrender. “Just tell us what’s going on.”
Khollo sat up and leaned forward, hands clasped between his knees. “As you know, I’ve been acting a bit . . . strange since my injury. There’s a reason for that. I’ve been seeing visions in my sleep and hearing voices in my head. It started the night of the battle. The voice came to me out of nowhere and kept me awake and alive long enough for the healers to save me. Then, as it faded, the voice asked me to free it.”
Khollo paused. “I’ve heard the voice many times now, always the same message, the same request. Free me. And I’ve seen visions of mountains, and a fortress of gray stone in a dark and snow-covered land. A room full of rotting things and darkness. And . . . a few minutes ago, the voice came to me again.” Khollo looked up. “Whoever it is, they’re dying.”
He looked to Janis first, hoping his uncle would have an answer for these strange occurrences. But the warrior was looking into the flames in the forge, pondering something. Khollo switched his gaze to Sermas and Hern. They were looking puzzled, and frightened, and Khollo didn’t blame them. He didn’t understand what was happening either.
“You’ve never heard this voice before?” Janis asked finally.
“No.”
“And . . . the visions, these are new as well?”
“Yes.”
Janis sighed. “Interesting.” He turned back to face Khollo. “Ezraan told me several times of particularly vivid dreams, similar to your visions. I always thought that perhaps he had a wild imagination. But maybe, there was something to those dreams, though they were different from yours.”
“How so?” Khollo asked, curious.
“Ezraan often dreamed of a warm, green land with thick vegetation, oaks he thought,” Janis explained. “There were mountains too, but all around. They formed a solid ring, blending into each other at their bases so that they were like one huge mountain. The peaks were steep, but worn down, smooth. Your vision sounds as
