The Place of Knowing, page 22
part #5 of The Volatar Saga Series
Either that, or they were simply testing them. Maybe they were trying to determine just how powerful the Jahor could be.
“The other Hith called him Jerind,” Hevith said.
“I’m sure, but you also heard he had a brother. Or a twin. Or maybe there are more like them.” Coldan stopped, and he looked back toward some of the other Jahor soldiers. “If you can make us, imagine what the Hith can do.”
“I have imagined it,” Hevith said.
It went very much like this. Imagining what they had seen, and what they were experiencing, left him thinking that perhaps they wouldn’t be able to escape this fight.
Somehow, he would have to come up with a way.
“We need to get to the city.”
“Even when we get there, there’s no guarantee that we will find what you want,” Coldan said.
“There has to be that Movras there. We find them, we free them, and then…”
Hevith didn’t even know.
He had remained focused on the task, thinking that he would be able to get to the city, but he didn’t know if it would make a difference. He didn’t even know if reaching the Movras would make a difference. These days, Hevith wasn’t sure about much of anything. All of the time that he had spent trying to get to this point, all the time that he had intended to reach a place of safety, and now…
Hevith shook his head, staring out into the distance, focusing on the power that exploded out there. He could feel it wandering around him. That power left him uncomfortable.
“I don’t like this,” he said to Coldan.
“We will get past it,” Coldan said.
“It’s not so much getting past it as the idea that the Hith are so brutal,” Hevith said.
It was that brutality which made him nervous. Concerned about what they might have to encounter. It was that brutality which left Hevith thinking that maybe he needed to take a different approach.
Another burst of power thundered near them, exploding and tossing the ground up and around.
Hevith stared at it, focusing on the power that was used, the energy exploding within him. Even as he did, he wasn’t able to tell whether there was anything more to it other than the simple fact of power.
And it was power.
The ne’rash continued to explode around him, energy that Hevith struggled to comprehend. He could feel that power everywhere around him, a power that left him trembling.
When he turned, sweeping his gaze around the battlefield, he saw little more than dust and debris hanging in the air. The late evening sunlight seemed to catch the haze, reflecting it in a way that made it even more difficult for Hevith to see clearly. He stared at it, focusing on that sunlight, thinking about how similar it looked to the elaron.
It didn’t feel the same as the elaron, though. He wished it did. He wished he could feel as if there was a god watching over them. Maybe that would make things easier on him.
Hevith hadn’t heard from the other Jahor that the god they had believed in was the one they needed to celebrate. The only person who had really suggested that they follow Callah was Mother. He wondered if that had been her god, or if she had known something about the Jahor that the others had not revealed to him. Perhaps it was only her god. Or perhaps it was her trying to convince him that there was a god for him to follow.
“There are times when I wonder if it would be better if I believed in a higher power,” Hevith said to Coldan.
“Even after everything we’ve seen?”
“Even then,” he admitted. “If there was a higher power, if there was some god watching over us, guiding us, perhaps even choosing us the way that Mother had once tried to make it seem, I would have an easier time with all of this.”
“I don’t think you would,” Coldan said.
Hevith frowned at him. “Why not?”
“You want to believe in a higher power. I think that’s normal. I wanted to believe the same thing. When we were fighting those years ago, battling on behalf of the Jahor, thinking that I was doing something not just for my people, but for some higher power, made everything easier for me.”
“You don’t believe, either.”
“I believe,” Coldan said. “But I also recognize belief isn’t enough. We need to do what’s right for our people in the moment.”
Another explosion thundered. “The Hith probably have their own god that they follow,” Hevith said.
“Probably,” Coldan agreed.
“It occurs to me we don’t know much of anything about them.”
“The Hith have been moving steadily north over the years, conquering lands, destroying cultures, and taking over. What is there to know other than that?”
Hevith shrugged. “I guess I don’t know.”
Coldan smiled. “I don’t either.”
Another explosion thundered.
This one was close, and Hevith looked over to Coldan, watching him, worried about what might happen and what his reaction might be. Coldan showed no sign of concern.
Hevith felt concerned, though. With everything that they had seen, the ongoing Hith attack and proximity of it made him increasingly worried about what they might have to deal with.
“Aren’t you worried about these explosions?” Hevith asked.
“Should I be?”
“They seem to be getting closer,” Hevith said.
“Perhaps they are, but they are only ne’rash.”
Hevith grunted. “I would think that you would be more concerned about the ne’rash.”
“It’s not that I’m not concerned about the ne’rash,” he said, waving his hand. “It’s just that I understand the ne’rash isn’t quite the same threat it would once have been.”
“You don’t fear the Hith?”
He shrugged. “Not most of them. If we encounter one of the typical Hith, we have no difficulty dealing with them.”
“What if we encounter one like Jerind?”
They still hadn’t seen him again, and though Hevith knew he was still out there, and worried about what would happen when they encountered him again, there wasn’t anything to be done about it. All they could do was focus on the task at hand, on fighting through this battle.
They had to reach the city. Then they had to free it. Only then would they be able to find the Jahor.
“If we encounter another like him, then you will deal with it,” Coldan said.
“I’m not so sure I can handle more than one.” And he wasn’t so sure that he could even handle one. When he had dealt with Jerind, he had very nearly not been able to do anything when it came to him.
If it came down to it, Hevith had to be ready. He had to be prepared for the possibility that he wouldn’t be able to stop Jerind.
“You know what I’ve seen since I’ve gotten to know you?”
“What is that?” Hevith asked.
It felt strange having this conversation with everything exploding all around them, but the others were dealing with most of the threat, and because of that, they didn’t have to do anything other than wait.
Waiting was difficult. Waiting was painful.
But waiting was necessary.
“I’ve seen you grow with your connection to this power.” He motioned to himself. “Even me. I think about what I was like. Do you know it’s hard to remember what it was like when I could get injured easily?”
“I could remind you,” Hevith said, smiling at him.
“I’m sure you could, but you might be one of the few who could. When I’ve been injured during our fighting, the wounds don’t last very long. The power you have connected me to seems to help restore me.”
“I might have something to do with that,” Hevith said.
Coldan frowned, cocking his head as he studied him. “Do you?”
“When others have been injured, I surge more elaron to them. I don’t know if it makes a difference or not, but it seems to me it needs to happen.”
Coldan frowned. “Perhaps that’s all it is. Either way, I don’t even have any aches or pains the way that I once did.”
“You don’t mind it.”
“I was a little unsettled at first, but the more I have come to know about this power and what it means for me, the more comfortable I am in how it works. How can I not be? I am connected to something greater. I’m serving something greater.”
There was another explosion, and this one followed by a shout.
“You’re the one who convinced me of that. I don’t even know if you remember, but you convinced many of us we’re fighting on behalf of something more. Because of you, all of the Order have come together and come to recognize there’s something more for us.”
Hevith took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He tasted the destruction in the air.
The ne’rash continued to explode everywhere, but so far no one had been injured any more than what they had already encountered. Hevith doubted anybody would be specifically hurt through this attack.
It was more the Hith’s way of demonstrating the strength of the ne’rash. Perhaps that would work against others, but against him and the rest of the Jahor, it didn’t do much of anything.
“Eventually, we’re going to have to just brace and go through this,” Coldan said.
“I don’t know how many Hith are out there,” Hevith said.
“There’s one way that you could find out.”
“I’ve been reluctant to do that so close to the city. I fear they might have some way of holding me. If they can hold the Movras, then they can hold me.”
“Maybe,” Coldan said.
Hevith smiled at him. “Maybe? You’re talking about somebody who has knowledge and power of the elaron. That makes them far more capable than me.”
Coldan looked over to him. “Knowledge, yes. Power? That’s something different, it seems. From what I’ve seen with you, you have considerable power. Besides that, you have already proven an ability to connect to the others with you. Does the Movras know how to do that?”
“I would assume he or she would.”
“Assume, but you don’t know. If Mel had been able to do that, don’t you think she would have?”
Hevith nodded. He supposed Coldan was right. Had Mel been able to connect to the others within the city, she would have been far more powerful. Why was it he could do it?
The inestar.
That was the only thing that seemed to fit for him. Hevith had enough experience holding and using the inestar that it had helped him learn how to control that power, to turn it and twist it in a way that would help him find a different connection. Because of the inestar, Hevith had come to truly understand the way that the elaron could be used to connect them.
But it seemed to him that it would be more than that. It might simply be the nature of how he used the elaron. One thing Mel had taught him, and something that he believed, was that each person was bound to the elaron in their own unique way.
Hevith still tried to understand in what way he was bound to the elaron, and though he wasn’t at all certain what it was, he did recognize that through his connection to the elaron, he was able to use it more effectively to not only protect those with him, but also to reach out to them. Perhaps that was his gift.
Another explosion thundered.
The sky was getting darker. With the attack persisting, they would have to make a decision. Would they stay and wait, knowing the Hith might continue their attack after dark, or would they push forward, risking themselves, not certain what they might find?
In the darkness, the Hith had the advantage. Their dark power could slip through the shadows and could attack the people with him. That was what he feared. He didn’t want to risk his people.
Hevith wondered if perhaps that wasn’t even a choice for him any longer.
They were his people, and he was to lead them, but it was more than just that.
He needed to guide them.
Hevith turned to Coldan. “I will see what I can find.”
“Do it quickly,” Coldan said, gritting his jaw as he did.
“Why?”
“Because something has changed.”
Hevith frowned, and he could feel it when he did. There was power out in front of him. Significant power.
That power was the energy of the ne’rash.
And it was getting closer.
18
Hevith
Hevith sat quietly, ignoring the chaos around him. The thundering persisted, now a steady drumbeat that reminded him of the thunderstorm that had blown through several days before. Within this storm, however, there was no rain. There was only the ongoing explosions of power. The Hith used their magic to cause great rents in the earth, attempting to toss the Jahor. So far, the Jahor had managed to avoid any attacks, but the ne’rash was moving toward them.
He squeezed his eyes shut as he focused in the distance, straining for the energy out there. He could feel something different and unusual. Hevith had to allow himself to focus on that power to ensure he found what they needed.
Answers. That was what they needed.
He pushed off with the elaron, separating into the Place of Knowing.
When he did, he floated above himself. The separation was easy now. There was minimal pain, though there was an awareness that he left his body behind.
That was dangerous in the best of times, but on a battlefield, with the potential dangers of the Hith attacking, Hevith worried about leaving himself unprotected. Coldan would watch over him, as would the other Jahor, but there seemed to him a limit to how much they would be able to do to keep them safe and protected.
Hevith drifted, drawing himself toward the city in the distance.
He could feel something there.
Perhaps it was only the ne’rash, or perhaps there was something else out there that he might be able to detect. Hevith focused on the energy that was in front of him, drawing himself toward it.
Distantly, he was aware of the power exploding all around him, that of the ne’rash that the Hith were using to attack. So far, the Jahor had managed to stay separated, and they had survived, but how much longer would that last?
The Hith were moving. The ne’rash pressed forward, and in time, much less time than what he dared believe, they would be there.
He had to act quickly. What he needed was to gain understanding.
The Place of Knowing was his way of gaining that knowledge and understanding, his way of trying to see what was out there and whether there was anything they could do to overcome it.
He continued floating, and the energy that was out there called to him.
Hevith focused on the elaron.
That was the only thing he had control over, and the one thing that he truly wanted to know. If there was some way for him to identify whether or not there were other Jahor working with the Hith, then he had to find out.
If his goal was to protect the Jahor, then he had to find a way to do so. He would have to ensure that any fighting they did would still protect them.
Coldan was right, too.
Hevith couldn’t change them and could not alter the Jahor who were within the city; he could not connect them to their power until he was certain that they were aligned with them.
That was the key.
But protecting them… That was something Hevith could do regardless.
Far below were hundreds of figures moving toward them.
They came slowly, drifting through the darkness, through the shadows, and Hevith remained where he was.
Soldiers.
Not Hith. These were regular soldiers.
Men who would die quickly. The Jahor were far too powerful for them.
He focused on the elaron and began to probe, searching for whether any of them were Jahor. As he did, there came a surge of energy. Dozens upon dozens of flashes of elaron surged from the battlefield below.
Many of them were Jahor.
Hevith almost withdrew to his body to warn Coldan, but he waited. The Hith knew what they were doing. More than that, they must have known what Hevith might do.
What was behind them?
He floated further. He had time, though it was limited. The longer he stayed in the Place of Knowing, the more likely it was he would end up delaying beyond the point where the battle would surge. Still, Hevith needed to know. He had to reach the far side of the battleground, and he had to understand how many of the Hith were there.
More soldiers were beneath him.
Hundreds. A thousand.
Too many.
They had sent the Jahor ahead of them, but others followed.
Even if none of them were Hith, the sheer number of soldiers would be an overwhelming onslaught. Jahor soldiers would not be overwhelmed, but it would also mean a slaughter of those without power. The people they had come to free and protect would be destroyed.
The further he floated, the more Hith he found.
At first, he came across only a pocket. Two, then three at a time. The Hith moved behind the soldiers, prodding them, forcing them ahead of them.
Dark energy flowed from them, creeping through the battlefield.
The darkness added to the growing night. That darkness made it difficult for anyone to see anything. Hevith was tempted to surge through it, to use the elaron, but not yet. He needed to know more. He continued floating.
It seemed strange, but there was a pattern to the way power stretched out across the battlefield. It protruded from the clusters of Hith, a calm of soldiers that sent them spreading along, creeping outward, long fingerlike tendrils that stretched out and swept around the battlefield.
Hevith had experienced those tendrils enough times facing the Hith that he was tempted to create a blazing blade of elaron and slice through them, but again he refrained.
Not yet.
He needed to get past the Hith.
Darkness pooled more deeply near him.
He moved further.
He found a pocket of that darkness. Within that pocket of darkness was more energy. Ne’rash pooled here. Hevith lingered for a moment, looking around and focusing on it, straining to try to decipher just what he detected, but struggling.
