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Lady Shang Keladry
Sorrel Rowan
Chapter Fifteen: Find Your Way
Fort Mastiff, April
Kel looked at Numair again. �Someone is sending me messages?�
He nodded.
�In my head?�
He nodded again.
�And you want to-� Kel gulped, trying to take it all in. She had a fair idea of who was the sender, but the thought of going back into that workroom chilled her. I�m a Shang warrior, she thought angrily, I should be able to handle this! I�ve seen things - been through things - almost as bad! Why am I running scared now?
Numair sighed. �Like I said, it�s dangerous. If you lose the path, you�ll be beyond our help.�
Kel looked at Dom, they both knew what he meant. An unspoken discussion passed between the two, and Dom lowered his head, while Kel lifted hers.
�It�s your choice, Kel,� Numair said.
Kel sat on a log just outside the fort. The noise and ruckus inside was giving her another headache she didn�t need.
�You�re going to do it, aren�t you?� a quiet voice said out of the shadows.
�Yes,� she replied, knowing exactly who it was when he came to sit beside her. �I have to. I�m the only connection she has.�
Dom looked at her. �I know. I know why, and how and all that� and if I was you I would do the same. That�s why I can�t ask you not to do this.�
Kel nodded, her eyes not leaving his. He took a ragged breath, his eyes very bright.
�Because I know you have to, even if I told you I love you and begged-� Dom stopped, looking away, ashamed of the fact that his voice was cracking and he was almost crying.
Kel took one of his hands and gently turned Dom to face her, then took his other hand as well.
Then she kissed him.
He pulled back, surprised. �I love you,� Kel said, her voice steady.
�Are you sure?� he asked, not wanting to rush things.
�I�m sure,� Kel replied, her eyes firm yet vulnerable. She reached up to touch his face, �I won�t get lost tomorrow.�
Dom put an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. �Tomorrow is too soon.�
Kel tilted her head. �Then why are we still talking?�
Kel sat on the bed, nervous. Dom took gave her hand a quick squeeze from where he stood, beside her. Kel stood up and hugged him, then kissed him passionately for a long time, not caring who saw. Dom clung to her, wishing they could just stay there, that Kel wasn�t about to throw herself into danger.
Numair, Alanna and Neal were in the room, politely averting their eyes. They were there to provide magical support, just in case. Neal would have loved to say something, but knew it really wasn�t the time. He was worried about Kel, too, and if all went well, he would tease them both mercilessly.
Kel broke the kiss, her eyes apologising, telling Dom a hundred things in case she didn�t come back. The she let go of his hand - reluctantly - and sat down on the bed again, sitting in a meditation position.
Alanna came over to her. �You ready?�
�As I�ll ever be,� Kel said with a shaky smile.
She sat on one side of Kel, Numair sitting on the other. Each took one of Kel�s hands.
�We just give you a start. You�re on your own after that,� Numair warned, giving her a final chance to back out.
She shook her head. With a final look at each of them, she said, �Let�s get started. The sooner we start, the sooner I get back.�
Alanna and Numair exchanged a look and then nodded. Suddenly Kel was falling, falling further and further into darkness�
�Only to be caught by a net of black material encrusted with diamonds and amethysts. It changed, melting, until Kel was standing on a black bridge, the archway bridges found in the islands, decorated with violet marble. Looking over the bridge, the stream below it was hazel, with flecks of emerald just below the surface.
She turned, looking to the road that stretched beyond her sight. The place was dark, but the reflected glow of the stream and the amethyst lit up the area. The road needed no light, it was a pure white, shining like a beacon.
With a final look at her landing place, and a sigh, Kel stepped onto the road.
Everything spun. Her general impression was of suddenly speeding up, flying faster than any wings could take her, along that white road, without touching the ground.
She saw a doorway ahead, and stopped out of the blue in front of it. Looking around, she saw no way back, and no other way forward. Kel opened the door and had that sinking feeling of falling�
� this time there was no net. It was a hard landing into her nightmare, but it was different. The workroom was beyond the white hot volcano, and a girl was strapped unconscious to a rack in front of it. Her magic flowed out of her, a stream of white flames, rushing to the fire.
Watching the play be enacted in front of her, Kel found that she was again rooted to the spot, unable to do anything to help her sister, tied and trussed while she was being drained before her eyes.
�There�s nothing you can do,� a soft voice said, coming to stand beside her.
�Pip?� Kel said, stunned. The girl was a pale spirit, an ethereal shadow, radiating light in the darkness. Her hair hung long and wavy, her face completely natural. Her dress was a simple cotton dress embroidered in cream, matching her pale skin.
She didn�t look at Kel, staring at the broken version of herself in front of her. �I�ve been trying to reach you for months. You have to stop this.� Her voice was totally expressionless, as though she was numb.
�Jodai -�
�I know you don�t know where he is. I don�t either. I�ll forget this ever happened when I wake up.�
Kel decided to listen, and not try to interrupt. She didn�t know how much effort it was costing Jodai.
�I can�t contact you like this again. I don�t have the strength to maintain it. He takes my Gift and uses it to make the machines. The Killing Machines. He kills children to use their souls to power them.�
Suddenly, her paralysis broke. She turned and grabbed Kel by the shoulders. �You must stop this. You must. I-I think Maggur is being controlled by something else. I don�t know wha -� She stopped suddenly, tilting her head to the side.
�I�m losing the connection, go back!�
Kel didn�t fall, she was thrown out of the dream. As she flew through the darkness, she had no idea where the path was. She called out to Dom, Alanna, Neal and Numair, but no one could hear her.
In an instant, she was falling, in the next, simply standing. The field was grey, the colour of mist, with a carpet of thick black poppies.
She was standing in the space in front of two figures. Both had obscured faces, one by mist the same colour as the field, one by a deep black cloak.
Gainel Dream King and the Black God.
As Kel looked between the two, her panic grew.
Am I stuck in limbo?
Am I dead?
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