“He’s not getting any better, is he, Oldmother?”
Linc asked.
Jesla shook her head sadly. The sun had risen and
set since they had rescued Rayek from the gang of miners, and he had not
so much as stirred. His breathing was shallow, and his pulse was weak.
He would not wake up, she knew from eighty years of a healer’s talent.
He would wither and wane as his heart weakened and his blood chilled. Even
if his stubborn heart continued to beat and his lungs continued to draw
breath, he could not take in any nourishment, or draw any strength. It
was only a matter of time.
She decided it would be kindest to omit the fact
that with such head wounds as he had, he would never recover beyond a mindless
shell, even if he could draw strength to keep his body strong. Besides,
she imagined Ekuar knew that already, by the hollowness of his eyes. The
old elf had not moved from Rayek’s side since they had brought him in the
night before. Linc had almost thought Ekuar had died as well when he had
been confronted with the stone-silent elf that morning..
“If only Leetah were here,” Ekuar murmured, the
first words he had spoken since they had laid Rayek to rest on the small
bed in the attic the night before. “Leetah... I can remember as if it were
yesterday... how many eights... how many eights has it been, dear son,
that we’ve wandered like this... how many eights has she tormented you?”
“Have you tried to... to send?” Linc asked hesitantly.
Ekuar slow shake of the head told him that the ailing
elf was far beyond sending’s reach.
“Can’t Winnowill help him?” Jesla grated through
clenched teeth. “She’s a healer, isn’t she? I’ve seen her channel fire-magic
through his hands and make him rise and move and float against his will.
Can’t she do something to save him?”
“She wants only his death,” Ekuar reminded her unnecessarily.
“She wants only to be free.”
“He spoke of changing her...” Linc spoke softly,
mournfully. “Of curing her black heart. I suppose he was wrong. Or perhaps...
perhaps he simply didn’t have enough time.”
* * *
“So stubborn,” Winnowill marveled. “Can you not see
this will be our freedom?”
Rayek ignored her, tried to block out her voice,
her distracting presence. He struggled to focus on nothing besides his
battle, his struggle to stay grounded in the reality of his body and his
lifeforce. With each passing hour his strength failed him a little more
and he felt himself grow more lightheaded, more dizzied. Doubt told him
to stop his struggles. He was dying, nothing could stop that. Nothing save
a healer’s magic, and he knew not healer existed that would save him. Winnowill
was no help, and he knew Leetah, whereever she lived, could do nothing
for him. If she lived. It had been four hundred years since he had last
seen her. She could have died long ago, her bones lost in a forest glade
to be picked clean by Cutter’s wolves.
“Rayek,” Winnowill’s touch was gentle on his shoulder.
His concentration broke and he turned to look at her. She seemed different,
changed somehow. The dark light in her eyes seemed to be replaced by something
brighter. Her smile was no longer malicious, no longer tormenting. She
was alit with a joy he had not seen for years, not since that night under
the Vastdeep water, when she had first laid eyes on the Palace.
He had brought the Palace to her before all else.
He had offered it to her as proof of his love. He would have gladly given
its mastery to her, if it meant they could share their lives together.
But she had destroyed the Palace before sharing its power and abandoning
her dark ambition.
Winnowill looked above her, gazing into the darkness
in search of her freedom. She seemed younger somehow, the countless centuries
of hatred and misery lifting from her face. Her eyes were sparkling with
joy and anticipation. Her smile was heartbreaking in its pure elation.
He stared at her, mesmerized by her happiness. He almost let himself believe
that she was changing, that the prospect of her freedom was filling her
with a love to brighten her dark soul.
She looked back at him and blinked in confusion
at his expression. Then she smiled again, slyly. A shade fell over her
eyes and Rayek’s heart plummeted. No, it was the same Winnowill, forever
toying with him, forever teasing and taunting in an effort to remain sane
within her prison. “Afraid of what I’ll do when I’m free, are you? Ah...”
she laughed. “Afraid I’ll let your spirit wander in madness forever...
forever without home, forever without rest, as I reshape the world to my
whims. No, no, I admit the idea intrigues me.” Her face darkened. “Rayek,
once Master of the Palace, dead in a nameless human city, his spirit lost
on the world’s winds. Forever exiled, forever pursued by the demons I send
in pursuit. It would be fitting payment for what you’ve done to me all
these years. Nothing you wouldn’t deserve. Nothing you haven’t earned countless
times over.”
Rayek stared up at her, fear beginning to show in
his wary expression. Winnowill took a step towards him, her fists clenched
in building rage. Suddenly, her dark mood evaporated, and she smiled, all
glowing warmth once more. “But... call it a weakness, my dear Rayek, I’m
far too fond of you to banish you forever. No... our games have been far
too intriguing for me to forget you so easily.” She laughed lightly. “You
amuse me as no other ever has. And you infuriate me as no other ever has.”
She tilted her head to one side, regarding him playfully. “Is that love?”
“You understand nothing,” he growled, turning his
back on her. She was toying with him again. He closed his eyes, despair
overwhelming him. Even now, as he hovered near death, she couldn’t help
but manipulate him for her twisted joys.
“Oh, don’t be such an ungracious loser, my love,”
she sat down next to him, idly fingering a lock of his hair. “We’re together,
we’re one, and in short heartbeats we’ll be free, bound together for eternity.
Is that not what you’ve always dreamed of? The games can continue until
time’s end, and you can spend your eternal existence trying to convert
me to your love.”
“While you fly free to destroy this world?”
Winnowill giggled much like a mischievous little
child. “You know me far too well.” She set her head on his shoulder, slipping
her arms about him. “You see how perfectly this has resolved itself.”
Rayek tore away from her embrace, rising to his feet. “What, do I repulse
you now?” Winnowill stared up at him. Something akin to genuine hurt flashed
in her eyes. “Do you still wish I was your precious Leetah? Or do you still
mourn that human child? Is the thought of winning me at last so distressing?”
“Winning...” he turned back to her. “You mock me
for your own twisted pleasure, Winnowill. I’m dying, we both know nothing
can change that. Do you think I entertain even the faintest hope that you
will spare me the merest thought – save to revenge yourself on my spirit?
Do you think I would ever willingly follow you like a human pet while your
spirit infects all it can with your cruelty.”
“But Rayek... I thought you loved me,” she teased.
“I was a fool to think you could change.”
Her playful mood evaporated. “Oh, so you love me
as long as you can change me? Mold me to suit your purpose and play your
games. Don’t think yourself so selfless, so sacrificing. You’re a selfish
as I, my beloved lord. You’ve toyed with me as I’ve toyed with you. You’ve
kept me prisoner for four centuries, you’ve locked me away in your soul
and fought me endlessly.”
“Kept you from your precious power–” he sneered.
“My freedom! My freedom!” Winnowill screamed. “I
fought the stagnation of Blue Mountain to raise the Egg of Eight Sphere
and leave this accursed world and its limitation. I battled you and your
whelp to raise the Palace from the mud of the sea and sail through the
stars. I let my body die to gain my final absolute freedom, only to be
denied that as well! How dare you claim to love me, you who have denied
me my soul’s one wish at every turn, you who have damned me to the worst
fate I could ever suffer? And all the while torturing me with your insipid
claims of love. ‘I love you Winnowill, and because of that, I will see
you suffer for eternity.’ You hypocritical wretch! You long for the same
freedom I do, and once you were willing to do anything to attain it with
me. But now you’ve humbled yourself, reduced yourself, and reduced me to
keep you company! You tore me from the Palace, from my freedom. The freedom
I fought an eternity to attain! Love? You tore my soul in two with your
‘love!’”
“If I’m so hateful why pretend to want me at your
side when you gain your freedom?” Rayek shot back.
“Indeed!” Winnowill’s hands began to glow as she
channeled her powers. “Why? Why should I spare you a passing thought? Why
should I show you far more love that you ever showed me?”
“Winnowill!” his hands went up to shield himself
as she launched a furious attack against him. “Stop this!”
“Why?” she channeled further anger into her attack.
Rayek collapsed, his shield faltering with his waning strength. “Why relent
when you would not? Why spare you a scrap of kindness you only reject?”
“Kindness?” he demanded. “You cannot even win in
silent dignity, you cannot resist twisting the knife in my soul a little
further, with more of your cursed mockery!”
“Mockery?” she hissed. “I’ll gift you with more
than mockery when this is over!” Winnowill screamed, and the full force
of her assault struck him. Unable to defend himself, Rayek collapsed, his
powers waning, his control slipping away, his last defenses crumbling.
* * *
Rayek’s body jerked once in a brief spasm, then lay still as death. Jesla hesitated for fear of what she would find, then touched his neck, searching for a pulse. For a long moment she found nothing, until a soft and faltering beat answered her. She sighed, letting her hand fall back to her side. It would not be long, now.