Angel of Storms (Millennium's Rule, #2)(113)

A sound drew Tyen’s attention to Reke. Her eyelids moved and the vague images of dreams flashed through her mind. Her breathing was more laboured, fluttering in her throat. But she did not appear to be waking, and she relaxed again, so he looked down at the page again. He began to form a question in his mind.

“It is not preventing the Traveller from ousting you that is the challenge,” a voice said close behind him. “It is doing so while retaining a position of influence among the rebels.”

Tyen’s whole body jerked, and Vella slipped from his hands. Heart pounding, he reached down to pick her up then turned to face the intruder.

The Raen’s attention was fixed on Reke. Tyen followed the direction of his gaze. The woman was awake, but her thoughts had the glamour of a dream. She was staring at the intruder, a crease between her brows. Then the crease diminished as her face relaxed. A look of recognition and amazement came over her features. Turning back, Tyen caught his breath. The Raen’s skin had darkened, and his hair was rapidly turning white. His eyes lightened to a startling yellow–a fresher shade than the dark orange of Reke’s–and his chin narrowed.

He walked over to the bed, took her hand and said one word. The meaning bloomed in her mind, in the language of her world. Rest.

She closed her eyes, nodded, exhaled and her whole body shifted, limbs settling, chest no longer struggling for breath. Tyen stared, caught between horror and wonder at both the signs of physical death, and the calm fading of her mind from his senses.

He tricked her, he thought. Pretended to be a deity of her world. But if he had not and she had realised who he was, would that have been more cruel? Would she have died in terror?

There had been no advantage to the Raen in soothing her passing. It had been an act of kindness. And an extraordinary demonstration of his abilities.

The Raen’s face, hair and eyes were returning to normal–or at least, what was familiar to Tyen. Then all started to fade. He jumped to his feet.

“Wait!”

The Raen’s gaze snapped to his and he grew substantial again. One eyebrow rose in question. Tyen paused to gather the right words.

“Baluka could as easily become a competent leader as a failure.”

“Either does not matter. Do not interfere, as any obstacles you put in his way will draw suspicion upon you.”

“But… if he does become a danger… well, he says you have taken his fiancée. I am certain he would agree to leave the rebels if you released her.”

A faint smile creased the man’s jaw. “He may, but the decision must be hers.”

“So… she doesn’t want to leave?”

“She only agreed to marry him because she thought she had no other choice.”

“Ah,” Tyen looked down. “Always two sides to a story.”

“Indeed.”

Vella’s cover was, as always, warm in his hand. He looked up again. “And your research…?”

The smile vanished. “I have encountered some difficulties and limitations I had not anticipated. It is likely we will have only one chance to restore her. She must be unmade to be remade. Unless I can find a way around this, I ought to test the process to ensure it works. I would not go to that extreme unless I have no other choice.”

Tyen nodded as the implications of that came to him. He doubted that the Raen owned other books created from a person, so the only way he could test the process was to make another. That was a prospect he didn’t want to contemplate.

“But you need to contemplate it,” the Raen said. “If that was the only way Vella could be made whole, would you agree to it?”

Tyen thought of what Tarren had asked: “… what are you prepared to do in order to fulfil your promise to her?”

“No…” he said slowly. “Doing to someone else what was done to her… that would defeat the purpose of restoring her.”

“Unless the person wanted it.”

Why would anybody want that? he thought. But then he looked at Reke. If they escaped an early death, or a damaged body, they might. If the person craved agelessness but was not powerful enough to achieve it.

Tarren might have been tempted.

He nodded. “They would have to be willing to take a great risk, but I suppose it would be better than the certainty of death or ongoing pain.”

The Raen nodded once. Then he looked towards the door. “You are about to have company.” And between one blink and the next, he was gone.





CHAPTER 15





Tyen quickly stuffed Vella into her pouch and slipped it under his shirt, but not before the healer tried the door and found it unmovable. Puzzled, as the doors here did not lock, she tried again and this time succeeded, staggering into the room when she encountered no resistance.

“Sorry,” Tyen said, taking a step back. “I was about to come out and find someone.”

She looked past him and saw Reke’s still and vacant gaze. Annoyance turned to understanding and she hurried over to inspect the dead woman. All signs pointed to a natural death.

“She woke up and was struggling to breathe,” he told her. “Then she just let out one long breath and…” He gestured helplessly.

The healer nodded. “Were you a friend?”

He shook his head. “Not a close friend. Not strangers, either. But I made a promise to bring her here.”