Soul of the Blade Read online

  Saydee had been speaking to herself, but Dragana felt each word keenly. Everything Saydee had said, Dragana had done. It had been in the name of justice, but she’d still done it.

  And coming from Saydee, it didn’t sound anything like justice.

  The women went to bed shortly thereafter, but Dragana’s thoughts took much longer to fade into sleep.

  15

  Raeb returned to them the next morning. His face looked drawn and weary. For the first time, Aeo could see the marks several lifetimes had left on him. He looked at Saydee, his expression unreadable, then turned to Dragana and Aeo. “Come with me. There’s something I want you to see.”

  “Is everything all right?” Saydee asked.

  Raeb’s eyes grew even more dark and hooded. “Just come.”

  Aeo felt a pang of concern. What had happened in the village to so affect Raeb?

  He led them over the hill and into the plaza on the outskirts of the village. A few merchants peddled their goods to the dozen or so people meandering around. The town extended beyond the plaza, the stone buildings small and snug, lining narrow streets. Smoke rose from many chimneys, and Aeo could almost smell the scents of bread mingling with wood smoke. The whole aura of the town was one of community and safety.

  Raeb nodded at the villagers, who smiled and offered waves in his direction. Then they saw Dragana and the Bok’Tarong. Some of them stared at the sword in terror, while others let their gazes slide off her and scurried away. At least none of them started screaming.

  One woman, short and comfortably plump, approached them. She had laugh lines around her eyes and mouth, though there was little joy in her expression now. Aeo didn’t think she was scared—her eyes didn’t widen and her breath didn’t stop when she looked at the Bok’Tarong. She seemed sad to him, and it didn’t appear to be a normal demeanor for her.

  “This is Mara,” Raeb introduced. “Her husband, Matow, has succumbed to the Entana.”

  A tear fell down Mara’s cheek, but she lifted her chin and met their eyes with hers.

  “She’s given me permission to take you to see him.”

  Dragana shifted. “I don’t think it’s appropriate …”

  “It is,” Raeb interrupted. Aeo was surprised at the conviction in his tone. “It’s important for you to understand.”

  Dragana nodded, though Aeo could feel how uncomfortable she was with this. He couldn’t blame her. Visiting a fully -taken wasn’t something the Bok’Tarong, or its bearer, was made to do.

  Raeb and Mara turned and led them toward a low building set apart from the others. Dragana and Saydee followed. No one spoke, as if the very thought of breaking the silence never crossed their minds.

  The building was sterile, empty, with an air of unhappiness around it. The silence endured as they made their way down a long, featureless corridor. Barred and locked doors lined the walls, each with a small closed window set in it.

  Mara stopped at one door and opened the window. She spoke quietly for a moment before stepping aside and allowing Dragana to approach.

  Aeo had to mentally nudge his bearer forward. She moved woodenly and her emotions were a jumble. She was revolted and angry and … frightened.

  Let me see, he requested.

  Dragana, without looking into the room, turned to Mara. “May I draw the Bok’Tarong? I would like for my sword to see this, as well.”

  Mara looked nervous, but Raeb placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She drew an uncertain breath and nodded.

  Dragana drew the Bok’Tarong, and color and definition filled Aeo’s sight. The corridor didn’t look any more appealing now than it had in the shadowy, black-and-white vision he had when not held by Dragana.

  She breathed deeply a few times, relaxing herself, before peering through the door’s window.

  A middle-aged man was curled in the corner of a completely empty, colorless room. Convulsions wracked his body and sweat poured from his skin. He bled from hundreds of gouges his fingernails had carved in his skin. His full Entana eyes were rabid with madness and terror. When he wasn’t screaming with pain or mindless rage, he whimpered and cried like a child.

  Aeo, can you show me what you see?

  Are you sure? he asked. It’s pretty terrible.

  She took a deep breath, bracing herself for whatever was to come. I’m sure. I need to see this.

  Aeo opened his spirit-eyes and conveyed the image to Dragana. She gasped as the black tendrils of the Entana came into her view. Even with all their experience of seeing -taken, the sight was shocking. This man was by far the worst Aeo had ever seen. The tendrils in his head were each as thick as a man’s wrist. They lashed out and ripped through the man’s soul with abandon. His spirit was little more than a tattered shred of desperation and pain. Waves of pure evil washed from the Entana, and Dragana recoiled and raised the sacred blades.

  Raeb’s iron grip stopped her before she could go more than a few inches. She didn’t resist his touch. He moved to stand beside her and, never taking his eyes from the man, spoke. “That is an Entana,” Raeb whispered. “That is your real enemy.”

  Dragana stared at the madman, and a single tear slid down her cheek. When she found her voice it was very small, and it was tainted with revulsion and fear. “What will happen to him?”

  “He’ll be given medication to make him sleep,” Mara said. “And then …”

  Raeb wrapped her in his arms as she began to sob. “There’s a plant that grows in these mountains that will give him a quick, painless death. It’s the only mercy we can give to the fully -taken.” He paused. “There’s a ceremony performed when the drug is given. It’s called the Freeing Ceremony. I’d like you all to attend.”

  It wasn’t a command, Aeo noticed. When he’d brought them to this place, he wouldn’t accept no for an answer. But now he was asking them to witness the ceremony. It was an invitation, and Aeo could tell Raeb genuinely wanted them to be there.

  Saydee, who had been quiet this whole time, nodded. “I’ll come. Of course.”

  Dragana nodded too, holding the Bok’Tarong in a respectful gesture. “As will we.”

  Their walk out of the building was as somber as a funeral procession.

  Dragana went back to their campsite alone. They’d been offered beds in Mara’s home, and she’d been sent to pack up their things and return. Instead of getting to work, she sat in front of her tent and lit a small fire in the embers from last night. The meager light only served to make the surrounding pines seem taller and darker. They looked distant and brooding—a strange mirror to Dragana’s mood.

  What’s wrong? Aeo asked. It seemed like a more appropriate way to initiate a conversation instead of intruding on her thoughts.

  Dragana sighed and huddled closer to the fire. “I don’t know what to think anymore,” she whispered.

  About the -taken?

  She nodded. “I’ve been told they’re evil for my entire life. Every lesson I was taught centered around killing the -taken. All I ever wanted to do was bear the Bok’Tarong and kill as many as I could.” She stared down at her hands as if amazed by the things they’d done.

  And now?

  There was a long pause while Dragana tried to sort through her emotions. “Now I’m not so sure. I know the Entana are evil, but the -taken …”

  They’re still people.

  Dragana heard the certainty in Aeo’s voice. “You don’t think they deserve to die, do you?”

  No, I don’t.

  She chuckled. The Bok’Tarong didn’t want to kill Entana-taken.

  Oh, the irony.

  But then again, the bearer of the Bok’Tarong wasn’t so sure about the -taken anymore, either. This village was so normal, so homey, it was hard to see these people as anything other than ordinary folks carrying on with life. And maybe that’s what they were. Her training had taught her -taken were violent, uncaring, inhuman monsters. But the only monster she’d seen in the village had been the Entana possessing Matow.

 
; If anything, she was showing herself to be more monstrous than the -taken. They’d cast aside their fear and prejudices and allowed her into their midst—her, the bearer of the Bok’Tarong, the persecutor of the -taken. It was far more generous, more humane, than she’d ever been to them.

  Everything was upside down. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. She was supposed to be the great champion of humanity, defending them from the scourge of the -taken. But it wasn’t like that at all.

  She’d achieved her greatest goal, only to find it wasn’t nearly as glorious as she’d dreamed.

  Her voice was barely louder than the crackling of the flames. “Has my whole life been a waste?”

  Why would you ask that?

  “I … I don’t think they deserve to die either, but that’s all I know how to do. My brain tells me to go into that town and slaughter them all, but my heart won’t let me.” She took a deep breath, staring into the fire. “I can’t do it, Aeo.”

  Then don’t do it.

  “But then what am I going to do?”

  Do what you promised to do, Aeo said. Go with Raeb and Saydee. Destroy the Entana—the real Entana—and free those people.

  “Do you believe it’s possible? You heard Raeb talking about sending our spirits along the links to the Entana hive. Can we do that?”

  Dragana felt Aeo shrug. Would it hurt to try?

  “It might kill us,” she pointed out.

  Aeo’s pause was brief. I’m willing to take the risk if you are.

  Dragana smiled. “And what kind of payment would Aeo the assassin ask for such a dangerous mission?”

  You wouldn’t be able to afford Aeo the assassin for this mission.

  Dragana frowned.

  But Aeo the Bok’Tarong doesn’t want any payment. Destroying the Entana will be compensation enough.

  Dragana laughed. “You can be charming at times,” she said. “When you’re not being an arrogant ass, that is.”

  They sat in comfortable silence, Dragana staring into the flickering fire. Night was falling and the air was cold enough to sting the lungs. The snow around the campsite glowed orange from the firelight, fading to silver when it was touched only by the moon and stars. She shivered and huddled closer to the flames. “I never used to feel the cold like this,” she said. “It makes my joints ache.”

  A stab of fear plunged through Aeo. With all that had happened—the -taken soldiers, the horrible medical tent where Entana were accepted, finding Raeb and agreeing to help him destroy the Entana hive—he’d forgotten about the price of the enchantment that kept him alive.

  “Don’t mourn for me, Aeo. I’ve known all along this would be my fate. I’m prepared to face it.”

  It just doesn’t seem fair, he said.

  She shrugged. “Life rarely is.”

  They were quiet for a while. Dragana, when the time comes … what happens?

  “When I can no longer fight, I’ll either die in battle or take my life with the Bok’Tarong. At that point, my spirit will be transferred to the blades and I’ll wait for the next bearer to find me.”

  And what about my spirit? What happens to me?

  For a moment, the silence was as deep as the darkness around them. “I don’t know,” she whispered at last.

  Emptiness slid into the place where Aeo had expected his emotions to be. He’d thought knowing his demise was likely, and soon, would make him feel … something. Fear, regret, anger, anything. But there was nothing. It wasn’t that he was at peace with dying—it wasn’t a thought he relished—but that he had a true lack of emotional response. His impending death was just a fact, and one that seemed insignificant next to the end of Dragana’s life.

  If we can pull this off, and destroy the Entana … will that change anything for us?

  Dragana’s heartbeat sped up. “What do you mean?”

  Will you still die, will I even be needed?

  Her pause was filled with confusion. “I don’t know.”

  The night was still around them. Aeo heard an owl, and the howls of a wolf pack in the distance. Dragana huddled closer to the fire, shivering.

  Have you ever thought … if this works, and the Entana are destroyed … what would you do?

  “You mean, if I had a whole life ahead of me?” Her voice sounded more frightened than wistful.

  Yeah.

  Dragana was silent for so long Aeo wasn’t sure she’d answer. Her thoughts spun as if she could barely comprehend the question. She’d never known another life. She knew she would either live out her life in the Taronese temple, or grow old before her time in service to the Bok’Tarong. There had never been the option for a different life.

  And, Aeo realized, she was terrified to even consider one.

  “I … I have no idea,” she whispered at last. Her voice quivered with tears. “If I didn’t have this, I wouldn’t have anything. I wouldn’t have anyone to be with, and I don’t have a trade to live on.” Her thoughts finished the statement: I’d be alone and useless if it wasn’t for the Bok’Tarong.

  Aeo ached to reach out and comfort her. Beneath the warrior he’d found a lonely, lost woman. She’d spent so long training to become to bearer of the Bok’Tarong that was all she had. Her entire identity was dependent upon the sword. Without that, who was Dragana?

  He didn’t know what was in store for them, or what would happen to his spirit, but he was sure of one thing. Whatever happens, Dragana, I’ll keep you safe, he whispered. I’ll always keep you safe.

  16

  Aeo had expected a ceremony that ended a person’s life to be solemn, but the -taken took the word ‘celebration’ to heart. The plaza was decorated with streamers and silk flowers, and every merchant in town had brought their finest wares to be displayed and sold. People chattered and ate and danced. Any tears shed were wiped away and replaced with smiles and the occasional laughter. Even Mara did her best to enjoy herself, though the tears flowed more often and more freely from her.

  Dragana and Saydee stood behind and a little apart from the -taken, though high enough to have a clear view. Aeo was unsheathed and viewed the plaza with a confusing mix of emotions. He loved to see the celebration, and the sense of community, but they were still -taken. Oily tendrils were everywhere. The evil of the Entana would have suffocated him, if not for the sheer joy of life each -taken showed.

  “How can they be so cheerful?” Dragana asked. “One of them is about to die.”

  “Death isn’t necessarily a horrible thing,” Saydee replied. “At this point, it’s a release.”

  “I understand that, but I don’t understand how everyone can be so happy, all the time.”

  Saydee shrugged. “It’s a choice they make. As -taken, we live every day knowing it could be our last. The Entana feast on our memories, leaving us with giant blanks in our lives. Some people would give up. But we refuse to. The Entana take away our moments of joy, so we make new ones. Always filling our minds with memories to treasure. That way, no matter what the Entana take, we still have more to build on. We continue to live.”

  Dragana fell silent, mulling over Saydee’s words as the crowd grew quiet. A group of men bore Matow from the hospital on a pallet covered in fine cloth. He was in a deep sleep thanks to the drug they’d given him, and though Aeo could still see the bloodied marks he’d inflicted upon himself in his madness, he looked at peace.

  Matow was placed on a makeshift dais at the front of the plaza, and people filed past him to say goodbye. Many left offerings of food or flowers on his pallet. Mara stood at his head, thanking the people who passed, her hand resting on her husband’s.

  Aeo felt Dragana’s gaze returning to that simple gesture over and over, as if something about it drew her like a moth to flame. No matter her feelings on the -taken, this was an act she could relate to. Mara was losing someone she loved. Dragana’s heart constricted, and Aeo could feel her take deep, calm breaths to quiet her emotions.

  At last, Raeb stepped up behind the dais. He looked at the peop
le, then down at the sleeping man. His voice, though only slightly louder than normal, carried across the plaza. “It’s my honor to free you today, Matow. I hardly remember a time when you and Mara weren’t there for me. When I’d grown weary of this existence, you taught me life could continue despite being a -taken. I owe my life to you many times over, old friend. I hate to see you leave us, but I hope you do so in peace and reach a place of rest. Wait for us there, so we can be together after this life has ended for us all.”

  He turned to Mara and spoke with the air of ritual. “You asked me to perform the Freeing Ceremony for Matow today. Do you provide me with the means to do so?”

  She nodded, choking back tears, and handed him a tiny vial. Through the clear crystal, Aeo could see a thin, greenish liquid.

  Raeb kissed Mara on both cheeks before taking the vial. He removed the cork and sniffed the contents very carefully. “The extract of the baenlo plant. Its poison is precious for the gift it gives us. With it, we can be freed from the Entana.”

  He leaned over Matow and, with shaking hands, poured a few drops from the vial into the man’s mouth.

  Every eye was fixed on the sleeping man. Nothing seemed to happen for a long time, but Aeo saw when Matow died. The Entana shivered and slid from his head, fleeing into the sky and out of sight. A moment later, Matow’s spirit lifted from the body. His eyes lingered on his corpse, then on Raeb and Mara. Then he turned his gaze to Aeo. A moment passed where they shared something Aeo could never explain. They knew and understood one another with a depth he’d never known possible. Aeo knew in that moment Matow had finally, after decades, found true peace.

  And then his spirit faded, and he was no more.

  Raeb’s voice was choked by tears. “Be free, old friend.”

  He stepped down from the dais, and the people began to mingle. The atmosphere was more subdued, but Aeo had a feeling no one would be going home for many, many hours.