Unbroken, page 14
The fragment darted toward her.
Imogen brought her blade up, and as he surged toward her, she prepared for the possibility of needing to shoot out of the circle and then figure out a way to hold him again. However, she was starting to wonder if that was even going to be possible, given how potent this fragment now seemed and how tired she was, but thankfully, her blade held.
It was his blade.
Maybe that was why it held. Maybe he could not overwhelm his own old weapon. Or maybe there was something tied to the blade itself that kept him from carving through it.
Master Liu flickered through a series of traditional patterns. That surprised Imogen. She would have expected him to use sacred patterns, but he did not. He darted through pattern twenty-two, fifty-one, eight, seventy-three, faster than she had ever seen anybody else moving.
But Imogen was the First. She was the general. She was Imogen Inaratha.
She followed him, blocking each of the traditional patterns, using a flow that augmented the traditional patterns by countering their rigidity, and with each contact, there came a flash of silvery light.
Imogen had learned that even the traditional patterns had a bit of power in them. It was how her people had learned to fight sorcery. Without that hint of power to the traditional patterns, they would never have been able to destroy sorcery. And yet she had never felt anything quite so potent as she did now. There was a considerable amount of energy within the attack, such that as she struck, she could feel the power pulsing against her, resisting every strike that she attempted to make.
But she blocked.
She didn’t go on the offensive. Her goal was not to destroy Master Liu. It was not to overwhelm him. Her goal was to reason with him.
What he needed was to see that she was a sacred sword master.
So she followed him. He stayed inside the circle that Eleanor had made, not able to push beyond the boundaries of it, which Imogen was thankful for. But as he continued to circle, she felt the pressure that he exerted pushing against her, and against the enchantments that Eleanor had placed.
Imogen defended herself. She danced and weaved, cautiously making a circle as she did, not wanting to step beyond where Master Liu had moved. She drew upon her power and found herself flowing, getting lost in the battle.
It had been a long time since Imogen had fought somebody with equal skill to her own.
She was perfectly happy to spar, yet there were very few Leier who posed any challenge, and of the Leier who had mastered many of the sacred patterns, none had the ability to overpower her. Imogen wondered if that was due to her Porapeth connection or if it was simply due to experience. More likely the former, but she couldn’t discount the latter.
The Porapeth connection flared in her mind.
It was as if Benji, as she thought about him, provided her with a series of different possibilities, showing her what Master Liu might attempt.
But there were dozens upon dozens of possibilities. It was too distracting. It was easier for Imogen to simply follow what she felt, flow with the patterns, and move. Doing it that way made it easier to follow Master Liu’s power and feel the energy to find her way from pattern to pattern.
It was a dance.
It was strange. She had gone so long without sparring like this that she felt incredibly free.
Master Liu posed a challenge to her. He flickered from traditional pattern to traditional pattern, sometimes blending two or three or as many as five of them together in ways that Imogen had not considered before, but her mind recognized the components, and she immediately adjusted, combining those same traditional patterns.
At one point, he nearly pressed through, forcing Imogen to twist off to the side, but then he slammed into the barrier. It disrupted the flow of his own patterns, and Imogen gave herself some space. She held her blade up, at the ready, watching Master Liu’s fragment.
“Master Liu,” she said. “It is Imogen Inaratha. I know that you are in there. I know that a part of you remains. I am not with Aneadaz—”
At the mention of Aneadaz, Master Liu began to fight with renewed vigor. He spun, his blade streaking toward her, whipping around in rapid and frantic patterns, forcing Imogen to keep pace, but she wasn’t sure if she could keep up with the speed at which he was moving. She felt she had to find some way to do so, as Master Liu was beating her.
How was that possible?
She was Imogen Inaratha.
She had a fragment of a Porapeth.
She was the First.
Imogen stopped trying to fight the Porapeth possibilities.
Only then did she realize that she had been fighting them, having pushed them aside to let herself follow the flow of the various possibilities, but now she embraced them fully.
Dozens of different possibilities opened up in front of her as silvery lines, but as Master Liu shifted from one traditional pattern to the next, one of those lines would thicken, and Imogen would follow it and anticipate which pattern she would need next. She flowed, no longer paying attention to her training, and only paying attention to the Porapeth possibilities.
She didn’t even use one of the sacred patterns.
That surprised her. She was so accustomed to the sacred patterns now, having used them almost exclusively ever since she had come into that power, that devoting so much energy and time to the traditional patterns felt like a waste of her effort. But using what she could borrow from Benji and the power that he had given her, she couldn’t help but feel there were still answers there that she needed.
And then she flowed again.
Finally Master Liu stopped.
His blade remained upright. It was a single beam of silvery light. It looked to her as if he was drawing upon Porapeth power, which shouldn’t surprise her, as she knew that Master Liu was connected to the Porapeth, however weakly.
“You are the Elder,” he said.
Imogen frowned. “I am not the Elder,” she said. “I am—”
“The Elder. I can feel it.” His beam of light faded, and he tipped his head, bowing to her. “My apologies, Elder.”
Imogen glanced past him to where Eleanor was standing still away from the circle. Imogen realized that she had been making more enchantments and placing them around, creating a secondary circle. Obviously, Eleanor thought that she needed to do so, because if they were to lose control over Master Liu, there would be a danger, but thankfully, the primary circle still held.
“Do you know what happened?” Imogen asked.
The question seemed to catch Master Liu off guard. He blinked. The level of detail in his features was far greater now than it had been before, as if he was manifesting with much more detail. It was even greater now that he had released the power of his blade.
“I remember darkness.”
“Do you remember Aneadaz?”
As soon as she said his name, Imogen was prepared to confront Master Liu again, as the last time that she had said his name, Master Liu had grown incredibly agitated and had increased the urgency and intensity of his fighting, but he didn’t do that this time. Thankfully.
“I remember darkness,” he said again. “I do not recall much else.”
“Aneadaz is one of the Sul’toral. As far as I can tell, he may be the last of the Sul’toral.”
That might not be true. Imogen didn’t know what Timo and the other figure with Aneadaz were. She had come to believe that Timo had gained Sul’toral power, but having learned what she had of Aneadaz, she did not think that he would be willing to share that power with anyone else. That might be why he still manifested such power even in death. If it could even be called death. This was something for her to contemplate later.
“I know of Aneadaz,” Master Liu said.
“Do you remember what happened?”
“I remember feeling drawn.” He looked over at Imogen, a question in his eyes. “Was that you, Elder?”
Imogen wanted to say no, but when Master Liu had run away, leaving her, she had been surprised.
But he had said that he felt he needed to go somewhere.
And given what she had come to know about the Sul’toral, along with what she knew about Benji’s fragment, Imogen wasn’t sure if he had felt drawn because he had been drawn by someone. Perhaps that was what had happened.
“Perhaps it was Aneadaz,” she said. “You no longer exist in this world in the same form.”
Master Liu looked down at himself. “I feel… I don’t feel. I am different.”
“You are. But you can still be of help.”
“How may I be of service, Elder?”
Imogen didn’t like the idea of deceiving Master Liu, but was she? He thought that she was Benji, but with Benji’s fragment, it was possible that Imogen was at least in part Benji. It was possible that she, by holding on to his fragment, had assimilated his power, and had become a bit of the Elder.
“I need to understand Aneadaz’s plan. Anything that you might remember.”
“I don’t remember,” he said.
“Perhaps you can.”
“How?”
She reached into her pocket and withdrew the treelike enchantment that had the first fragment of Master Liu sealed inside. She didn’t know if this was going to work, and she didn’t know if this was the right thing to do, but at this point, what she needed was a way to speak to Master Liu. And more than that, she needed a way for him to remember. If his fragment attempted to disperse…
It was a risk. If she joined the fragments together, unifying the power, then there was a very real possibility that she wouldn’t be able to contain him again.
But there was also the fact that she didn’t know if she was supposed to contain him. He was her mentor. It was because of Master Liu that she had taken the journey that she had, and that she had gained the knowledge that she had. Without him, she would never have taken her bond quest, she would never have stopped the hyadan threat, and she would never have gone to Yoran and met Gaspar and the others, thus changing the course of her life.
She owed it to Master Liu.
Eleanor was watching her. “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”
“I don’t know if this is the right thing,” Imogen said. “But we need information. I don’t know if this is going to work, even.”
“You are talking about power that is unlike anything I have ever felt before,” she said. “So it is possible that it will not work.”
“I know,” Imogen said. “But it is also something I feel strongly needs to happen.”
“I cannot deny that there may be value in having his mentorship.”
Imogen glanced over, and she started to smile. “Perhaps he can teach.”
“Not him,” she said. “You claimed that the other would teach.”
Imogen nodded. She was thankful that Eleanor hadn’t mentioned Benji by name, as Imogen was not sure how Master Liu might react, if at all.
But as she focused, drawing upon the power that she had, she found herself feeling some energy. But she wasn’t sure what it was. She wasn’t sure why it was there. The only thing that she really knew was that she could still feel some part of Benji, and some part of what he had shown her, which she thought she needed to fully grasp. Perhaps if she could unify Benji as well, she might have more knowledge, and perhaps a better understanding of the Porapeth power.
Imogen held the enchantment that she had made, squeezing it. “I’m not sure how to activate it.”
“It should be no different than any other,” Eleanor said.
“But it is different. This is him.”
“But it is not him. It is only a portion of who he was, not what he is.”
And because of that, Imogen knew that she could not hold the fragment in the enchantment any longer. She focused on it and thought about what it might take to activate the fragment and release the power that was stored inside. She simply did not know. There may not be anything that she could do other than release the power so that it could do what it was meant to do.
She didn’t even have to control it. She simply had to let the fragment of Master Liu meet the other fragment of Master Liu. She set down the enchantment, and then, using Lightning Strikes in the Storm followed by Petals on the Wind, she hovered.
The larger, stronger fragment of Master Liu looked up at her.
Imogen smiled tightly and then focused on the renral power and sent it down into the enchantment. It shattered. She had somehow known that it would. Renral power did something with magic, neutralizing it, inhibiting it. And she no longer needed the containment around the enchantment.
The other fragment drifted. At first it was wispy, looking much like the larger fragment had when he had first formed. Gradually the fragment began to manifest arms and legs and a head, but he didn’t wear a cloak. Rather, this fragment wore a shirt and pants, and he seemed more like a scholar than the warrior she had just faced. Maybe that was why he had been easier to hold on to. How many other fragments remained?
She had to believe that this wasn’t all of Master Liu. Perhaps the other fragments were so small that they would not be found. But maybe she could find them, and if she did, she could reunite Master Liu entirely, and then…
Imogen didn’t know what was going to have to happen then. The only thing that she knew was that she felt that this was the right course of action, and that she was doing what she needed to in order to help Master Liu.
She lowered herself to the ground to stand next to Eleanor.
“What do you think will happen?” Eleanor asked.
“I have no idea. I honestly don’t know if this is a mistake, but if we can help restore Master Liu, even just a bit of him, so that we can use his knowledge, then I think we need to do it.”
“I have never heard of anything like this happening before,” Eleanor said, looking over at Imogen. “If this works, I think you might need to be known as a high shaman.”
Imogen snorted. “I think I have quite a bit to learn before anybody could even consider me any kind of shaman.”
The fragments faced each other, and the warrior one, as Imogen had started to think of him, formed his blade of Porapeth power. But then the scholarly Master Liu did the same thing.
Imogen was not ready for the sudden surge of power. Warrior Master Liu attacked scholarly Master Liu and was met blade for blade.
The scholarly Master Liu was not nearly as fast or fluid, but that didn’t deter him.
They battled, much like the warrior and Imogen had battled, for a few moments, nothing more than that, and then they stopped, each of them regarding the other.
“You are the same,” Imogen said.
The scholarly Master Liu looked over at Imogen, while the warrior one hesitated before he finally turned and looked at his counterpart.
“You can be better, stronger, together,” she said.
“How do you think they will accomplish that?” Eleanor asked.
“I have no idea,” Imogen said.
“Do they just flow together, or do you think there is something more to it?”
“Like I said, I have no idea.”
The blades disappeared at the same time. It was as if the two of them had communicated, though neither had said anything. Then the scholarly Master Liu took a step forward. He was followed by the warrior one. They met in the middle. They stood apart from each other. They were almost mirror images, but not quite. Perhaps twins, though dressed differently.
Then, gradually, the clothing of each began to shift, as did the features, so that they were truly mirror images. They both wore long jackets, not the cloak of the warrior, nor the shirt of the scholar. Imogen couldn’t see pants, but both of them carried a slender blade, though not the sacred sword master blade, Imogen realized. Their facial features had shifted, becoming a bit leaner, so that as they looked at each other, it looked as if they truly were a reflection of one another. They had the same silvery appearance, so they could simply have been reflections.
And then one Master Liu took a step forward. At this point, Imogen wasn’t sure which it was. She thought that it was the scholar, but they looked identical, so she could not tell.
The other followed. There was a blending, and then a single Master Liu stood there, flashing with a brighter silvery light.
That fragment—and Imogen thought that it was still a fragment, regardless of how much of Master Liu they had joined together—turned and looked at her.
“We are ready to discuss Aneadaz, Elder.”
Chapter Seventeen
Imogen moved off toward the pile of rock and could feel a strange sense of energy within the rock. She tried to make sense of it, along with the strangeness of having Master Liu behind her, giving off his own unique connection to power. As she focused on what she could feel, she recognized that there was some aspect of Master Liu that she did not feel was complete, and she began to wonder if he could ever be complete again.
“How much do you remember?” Imogen asked, looking at Master Liu and then over at where Eleanor was waiting. The shaman was quiet, though she was holding an enchantment in her hand, as if she was trying to decide how dangerous it might be. “At this point, we need to know what you remember, so that we can be ready for it.”
“Aneadaz has always been after power,” Master Liu said.
There was a strangeness to his energy that she couldn’t quite identify. Perhaps it was his fragmented form that left her feeling that way, or perhaps there was something about Master Liu that had changed.
“He was one of the most feared,” Master Liu said. Imogen had the sense that he frowned, though his features were not fully defined yet. It was as if they were struggling to become more defined, as if he was trying to find a way to become something different, more, but struggled with it. “We did not deal with many Sul’toral. But he was one.”
That surprised her. “I didn’t realize that you had ever dealt with any Sul’toral.”
“The sacred temples were a place of learning, Imogen Inaratha.” When he said her name, he began to glow, forming a burst of power that emanated from him and began to sweep outward. It was as if some aspect of him had solidified and become more confident upon mentioning her name. “But one does not become a sacred sword master out of a lack of ability.”
