The Last of the Wilds

:Yet you fear. He can only harm you with words. Hold in your mind the knowledge of his deceit. Silence his lies forever.

Taking a deep breath, Auraya drew up all her anger and determination. He is not Leiard; he is Mirar. Then another thought shot through her mind. The Dreamweavers don’t deserve to have their future and reputation ruined by this man.

Auraya dropped down through the trees. She landed a few paces in front of him. As he looked up at her his eyes widened in surprise.

“Auraya,” he said.

Then he smiled. It was such an easy, familiar smile. From somewhere deep rose all the indignation and anger she ought to have been feeling. She embraced it and felt it strengthen her resolve.

“Mirar,” she replied coolly.

At the look of realization in his eyes she felt all lingering hope that Huan was wrong the. His smile faded. They stared at each other for a long moment.

“So you know,” he said.

“Yes. You’re not denying it.”

“Would it do me any good?”

“No. Huan saw who you were during your healing lesson.”

“Oh.” He grimaced.

Suddenly she felt empty. She had hoped the gods were mistaken, that Leiard would come up with a plausible explanation and prove that he was not Mirar. But he had all but admitted it. He was not Leiard. The person she had loved had only existed as an illusion, a lie.

To her surprise the realization brought a wave of relief. She did not know this man. He was only the trickster sorcerer of legend, a man the world was once rid of and should be again.

I can kill him, she told herself. But instead of gathering magic to strike, she found herself blurting out a question.

“Why did you do it?”

His chin lifted. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

The challenge in his eyes sent a chill of warning down her spine. “No, because there is no way I can know if anything you say is true.”

Huan is right. My questions can only remain unanswered. Suddenly she wanted only to get it done and over with.

:Good, Huan said. Further talk will only leave you vulnerable to trickery. Attack him now.

Auraya looked down as she drew magic to herself. As she did she considered how she should attack. He would have created a shield, but it might not be strong enough for an attack of great power. If he wasn’t able to strengthen his shield in time it could be all over in moments. She heard him take a few footsteps closer to her.

“There is a way you can know—” he began.

Without looking up, she let loose a bolt of power. He gave a yelp of surprise and staggered backward. His shield held.

“Wait...” he exclaimed, catching his balance. “Auraya!”

She attacked again. Though she now knew who he really was, she could not help feeling surprise at his strength. She had known Leiard was powerful, but not this powerful.

“What of your promise?” he half-shouted at her. “You said I would not be harmed. You swore on the gods!”

She paused, then battered him with magic again.

“I swore that Leiard would not be harmed. You are not Leiard.”

He wasn’t fighting back. He must know he has no chance of winning, she thought. I have only to increase the strength of my attack until it overwhelms him. As she drew in more magic his expression changed to one of determination and she braced herself for a counter attack.

“But I am Leiard,” he said quietly. “It is time you knew the truth.”

Where there had been nothing suddenly there was a mind. She saw a flood of memories and images and felt intentions and emotions.

:No! Huan hissed. Don’t look!

It was too late. The answers to all Auraya’s questions were there for her to see. Mirar’s mental voice spoke to her and she could not stop herself listening.

:This is how I died...

She saw Juran fighting and felt Mirar’s disbelief and betrayal as his strength failed. He reviewed all he had done and could not see how any of it justified his execution. His only crime had been to annoy the gods. Nobody had died. Nobody had been harmed. He’d only encouraged people to question and offered them a choice. And in return...

She saw a great explosion of dust and stone and felt an echo of the agony of being crushed. She understood that Mirar had reached out for enough magic to sustain a fragment of himself, and how he had evaded the gods and Juran by suppressing his personality and creating another to replace it.

:This is what I became.

Not the man she had known as Leiard. Not at first. His body twisted and scarred, his memory gone, he had roamed the world a miserable cripple. Only after many years did his body recover. Only when he came to Jarime and became Dreamweaver Adviser did his true identity begin to stir.

:This is why I remembered.

His disguise had unravelled because of her. His instincts, created when he’d made Leiard, told him to stay away from Jarime, but the desire to stay near her was stronger. She felt her heart twist. Leiard had loved her. She had not been deceived. But Leiard was not real.

:He is. This is what I have become.

She saw what she had only glimpsed before. The link memories of Mirar were his real self returning, but Leiard had spent a century becoming a real person. After the battle he had travelled to Si with a friend. Glimpsing this beautiful young woman, Auraya felt a stab of jealousy. Who is she? The friend had helped him realize that Leiard could not be anything that Mirar was not capable of being. Accepting that if Leiard loved Auraya then he must too had been the moment he had become whole again. Knowing he could not be with her hurt, but so did the thought that he might cause her trouble, so he intended to leave Northern Ithania when the Siyee had recovered and to take himself far away.

:I am Leiard, Mirar said. I am also Mirar. Neither of us are the same as we once were. But what we—

:No! Auraya started as Huan’s voice drowned out Mirar’s. A glowing figure flared into existence beside her. Whatever you have been this last century, you are no less guilty of the crimes you committed.

:What crimes? he asked defiantly. Being annoying? Giving people an option other than worshipping you blindly? Telling them the truth about your past? You and your companions are guilty of far worse crimes than I.

Auraya frowned as she glimpsed terrible memories in Mirar’s mind. He glanced at her as he pushed them aside.

:I would show you, he said, but to do so would cause you great pain.

Yet from what she had seen she knew that he believed the gods were capable of cruelty and injustice. He also believed he had done nothing to deserve death.

She also knew he had done nothing to her or the White out of spite or malicious intent. He had been bumbling about, struggling with the return of his true identity, and getting himself into strife.

:Auraya.

She turned to the goddess, numb from shock at all she had learned.

:Is it a crime to deny a soul immortality? Mirar claims he offered mortals a choice, but he cannot offer them an existence after death. To lure a mortal away from us is to cheat them of eternity. You know