Lightgiver Read online

  They placed the pharim down and stepped out of the circle. As Jez turned to face him again, he thought Shamarion smiled. Linala gave Jez an uneasy look and he nodded. The knowledge master raised her hands and began the chanting again. The runes flared up and Shamarion started to glow. He arched his back and opened his mouth to scream, though the ward prevented them from hearing a sound. Linala called Enki’s name. It echoed for several seconds, and by its end, the echo had grown louder, and the sound of it had changed into a deep voice that Jez could feel as much as hear.

  As Linala’s chanting grew louder, the room darkened until all Jez could see was the glowing runes. They brightened without illuminating the surrounding area. Fire erupted around Osmund’s hand, but even that was a dim thing Jez could barely see. Linala’s chanting became as loud as thunder. The floor rumbled beneath him. Someone screamed, and lights returned in a flash. Linala stopped chanting, and Jez had to blink several times to clear his vision. Shamarion lay on the ground, his wings covering half the circle. The binding around him was gone, and he struggled to get to his feet. Next to him lay a being shaped vaguely like a man, though it had no hair, and yellow scales like those of a lizard covered its body. Its hands and feet ended in sharp claws that Jez suspected could cut through stone. It was also completely naked. The circle of white sand had transformed into ordinary dirt.

  Shamarion rose and shivered. He drew his wings around himself and looked down at the creature next to him. He placed a hand on its head and looked up at the gathered mages. He spoke softly, as if unable to believe his own words. “You have your traitor demon.”

  Jez shifted his weight from one foot to another. “Sorry about that.”

  Shamarion gave him a half smile, though there was a tiredness in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. “It was my own fault. I see that my words implied that I wished for you to do that.”

  Jez hesitated. “And you didn’t?”

  “Of course not. As you know, I am forbidden to interfere.” He looked down at the being who, presumably, was Enki. “With your permission, however, I would like to stay and speak with this demon. I’ve not seen his like in a long time.”

  Besis took a slow step into the circle. “I don’t recognize it. What kind is he?”

  “Chanori. They were soldier demons once. When the demons rebelled, the chanori fought against the chezamuts. We had thought them all destroyed.”

  “Then, it really is a traitor demon.”

  Shamarion inclined his head. “So it would seem.”

  “Is he alive?”

  “And nearly fully here.” He nodded at Linala. “You have extracted him almost completely from the abyss. I owe you an apology, Linala, Master of Knowledge of the Carceri Academy.”

  She looked surprised, and it took her a few seconds to find her voice. “It was understandable lord Shadowguard.” She glanced at Besis and Fina who both nodded. “Of course you can remain.”

  “What about Maries?” Jez asked. “Don’t you need to watch over him?”

  “I am still aware of his prison. Where I am matters little. I can react as quickly from here as from anywhere.”

  “You know, I never understood that,” Lina said. “Maries isn’t actually at Rumar, is he?”

  “His talisman is, though it is hidden. When he was freed, that talisman broke, but when...” he eyed Jez and once again stumbled over the name. “Jez defeated him, a new talisman was created that I secreted away.”

  Enki stirred and Linala looked up. “Should we get him clothing?”

  “That...” Enki’s voice sounded like stone grinding against stone. “will not be necessary.”

  His skin shimmered, and a second later, he wore a leather vest and pants made of some thick brown fabric. He struggled to his feet. He stood four feet tall and had slitted eyes like those of a snake. He didn’t seem to have any teeth. He looked up at Linala, but when his eyes fell on Shamarion, he hissed and backed up so fast he tripped over his own feet and landed on the dirt forming the circle. His fingers sliced into the earth several times as he struggled to rise again. He seemed on the verge of tears.

  “Please. Leave me be. I have done nothing.”

  Shamarion took a step back and shook his head. “Fear not. I was neither sent here for you nor do I desire to send you back.” He spread his wings which shed a gentle light. “Provided, of course, that you are Enki.”

  At the sound of his name, Enki stumbled back and hissed. “You know that is who I am. Why do you torment me?”

  Shamarion sighed. He motioned to Jez who followed him outside. Jez had forgotten how many people had known that three masters were doing something secret in the summoning house. No one had come close enough that they could be accused of trying to listen in, but they waited in the street, eager to get a look inside. As soon as Shamarion exited with Jez in tow, whispers erupted. Jez felt his face heat up.

  “You are...” Shamarion started, but Jez raised his hand and looked around. He felt like everyone in the Academy was staring at them. More specifically, they stared at Shamarion.

  “I’d prefer it if we didn’t speak where everyone can hear,” Jez said.

  Shamarion looked around and nodded. He waved a hand and when he spoke, his voice echoed slightly.

  “You are fortunate to have your nature obscured by human flesh.”

  “How are you doing that?” Jez asked. “I thought blocking sound was the working of an audible illusion.”

  Shamarion motioned upward. “There are many ways to achieve the same effect. This is a ward against sound. It’s no great difficulty. I’m surprised you haven’t worked it out.”

  Jez shrugged. “I guess I never thought of it that way. What did you mean I’m lucky?”

  The pharim put a hand on Jez’s shoulder. Jez was uncomfortably aware of the other students staring at him.

  “We are Shadowguard, Luntayary. Our nature is to banish demons, and that is not something we can easily suppress. Demons can detect it. Enki is not powerful, and my presence caused him pain. My utterance of his name may as well have been a sword at his neck.”

  “What will you do?” Jez asked.

  “I will leave. Be cautious, Luntayary. This demon may have rebelled, but it is still a demon. Remember that even the afur you’ve met have not departed far from their natures. Villia still guides the king, and Welb walks with the beasts. This demon may be no different.” He inclined his head, and spoke without stumbling. “Live well, Jezreel Bartinson.”

  Light shone from his wings, and when it faded, Shamarion was gone.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Jez stood before the summoning house with all of the Academy staring at him. Shamarion’s ward vanished, and the whispers assaulted him. He retreated back into the building, and found Linala waiting for him on the other side of the door. Her piercing eyes seemed to look into the depths of his soul.

  “Who are you?” she asked as soon as the door had closed.

  Jez blinked. “What?”

  “A Shadowguard knows you by another name and obviously has great respect for you. You know far more about the pharim than even being a limaph could explain. On top of that, he has things to say to you in private. I know you’ve had an extraordinary life, but there are limits to what I will accept, so answer my question. Who exactly are you?”

  “We all have the right to our own secrets, Linala,” Besis said as he walked up to them. “You don’t have the authority to demand his of him.” Linala sputtered, but Besis ignored her and inclined his head to Jez. “I take it Shamarion is gone?”

  Jez glanced at Enki. Fina was speaking to him, though his eyes kept darting around. When Jez met his gaze, he looked away. Jez nodded. “He thought Enki saw him as a threat. He wouldn’t do us any favors by staying. Have you learned anything?”

  “Not yet. I think you’d be better able to question him.”

  “Me?”

  “Jez, you’ve been obsessed with this for six months. Who else would know the right questions to ask?” />
  Jez nodded and followed Besis back to the summoning circle. Enki watched them with wide eyes. As soon as Jez came close, the demon spoke, his words tumbling over one another.

  “Can I go outside?”

  The question startled Jez. “What?”’

  “Outside.” The demon’s voice took on a longing tone. “I haven’t seen the sun in a long time.”

  “Um, yes. I think so.”

  Jez looked to the masters. They all wore bewildered expressions, but each nodded after a second. Master Fina went out first to make sure no one did anything hasty when they saw Enki. The demon walked slowly. He limped heavily and hardly seemed to lift his right leg at all. It made a grating sound as he dragged it across the floor. He blinked several times as he approached the open door. Bright sunlight streamed through, and Enki shielded his eyes with his hands. The motion caught Jez off guard. He’d seen many demons, but he’d never seen one do anything as...ordinary as shielding their eyes from the light after being in the darkness.

  They stepped into the obsidian city. Though Fina had kept people from getting too close, he hadn’t cleared the street entirely. At least twenty students stood nearby, and all of them stared with wide-eyed shock at Enki. A few raised a hand as if to strike, but Fina glared, and no one moved.

  The demon seemed not to notice the crowd. He just stared upward. Aside from a few clouds, the mid-autumn sun hung in an empty sky, making the obsidian coating everything shimmer. Enki didn’t say anything for several minutes. Slowly, the mood of the crowd went from unease to curiosity. A few took a step toward them. Fina raised an eyebrow to Jez, but when Jez didn’t respond, the destruction master let them pass. Finally, Enki let out a heavy breath, though he didn’t look down as he spoke.

  “There is a sun in the abyss, you know.”

  Silence spread through the crowd, and the people froze in their tracks. Jez looked to Besis in the doorway. The protection master motioned for him to speak. “No, I didn’t know that.”

  “It’s nothing like this. It’s a dim red ball that hangs in a sky that’s constantly full of smoke and ash. Usually, it’s barely bright enough to banish the shadows. Even at its brightest, you can’t see nearly so far. It’s like it was put there to remind us there is no hope. Perhaps it was.” He smiled, and it looked so unnatural on his face that Jez found himself taking a step back. His hand curled around the hilt of his sword, but he stopped himself from drawing. “This is light and hope. I have missed seeing your sun.”

  “How long has it been?” Jez asked.

  Enki met his eyes, and Jez resisted the urge to shiver. “When I was bound, few of your people could work with stone, and most were still making buildings out of mud.” He waved a clawed hand at the central spire of the Academy. “Look what you have wrought. How wondrous your people are to build something like this.”

  “Mages constructed the spire with terra magic,” Jez said. “We didn’t build it.”

  Enki shook his head. “Was it not your mind that imagined it? That you did it with Sariel’s power makes no difference.”

  Enki didn’t bother keeping his voice down, and people were starting to creep closer to listen. Jez looked around, and Besis cleared his throat.

  “Perhaps you can enjoy the sun later,” he said. “There are questions we need answers to.”

  Enki inclined his head. “Yes, of course. You wish to know of the demon who calls himself Sharim. I will answer any question you have.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Besis and Fina sent students from the crowd to get the other masters. Then, they went inside. Linala tried to send away Lina and Osmund, but Besis convinced her to leave them alone. Enki kept giving the summoning circle uneasy glances, so they gathered near the entrance. It didn’t take long for the masters to arrive. They each gave Enki a long look. Chancellor Balud was the last one to arrive, and after seeing the demon free of any bindings, he glanced at Besis.

  “I take it we’re not in any danger?”

  Besis quickly related what had happened, and Jez felt the weight of their attention as the masters focused on him. Finally, Balud took a step forward and inclined his head at Jez. “It seems you were right, Jezreel. Enki, what can you tell us?”

  The demon glanced at Jez as if asking permission. Jez gave him a slow nod, and Enki spoke quickly. “The one called Sharim came to me once he returned to the abyss. He pulled me out of my torment, and for the first time in thousands of years, I knew something aside from pain.” He paused for several seconds. “When the demons rebelled, the leaders clawed their way out of the abyss. Many followed them before the greater part of the army was destroyed. Sharim wished to know how the way to your world was opened.”

  “Did you tell him?” Balud asked.

  Enki shook his head. He glanced at a window through which sunlight streamed in. The light formed a line across the floor of the cavernous room and Enki passed his hand through it in wonder. Besis cleared his throat and the demon looked up. He shrank away from the protection master before continuing.

  “That knowledge was never mine. I did not lead the rebellion, and those who did guarded their secrets well.”

  “But the shadows said he would use you to get out,” Jez said.

  Balud glanced at Jez, but Jez refused to back down. Enki bowed his head.

  “Yes, that is why he came to me.”

  “You just said you don’t know how to get out.”

  “But I know where the knowledge can be found.”

  “Where?” Jez and Besis asked at the same time.

  Enki’s eyes went from one to the other, and he shrank back. He looked like he wanted to disappear. Finally, he spoke.

  “In a time when most of your kind hadn’t yet learned to work stone, the people of Zandra had already constructed a great civilization. Its mages summoned the leaders of those who would rebel. It was then that they first decided to turn against their nature. They worked with the mages to find a way out.”

  Linala stared at him. “You mean the great fire?”

  Enki nodded. He glanced at the circle that had been used to summon him and shivered. He took a step away from it.

  “The rebels came out of the abyss into the city, and the others followed, determined to bring all those who would dare turn against the demon lord back. By the end of the battle, the city was in flames, and those who hadn’t been banished were carried back by force. Once in the abyss, all who rebelled were destroyed.”

  “Except for you,” Jez said.

  Enki shivered. “They delight in torture, and I was a favored subject.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Jez said, “but you said something about knowing where Sharim can find the information he’s looking for.”

  Enki blinked at him and let out a long hiss. “In the Library of Zandra, of course.”

  All seven masters as well as the three students just stared at him. Enki’s eyes darted to every face, and when he met Jez’s gaze, a chill ran down his spine. He found himself wanting to summon his crystal sword.

  “The Library of Zandra? The greatest repository of knowledge the world has ever known?” Linala asked. Enki nodded. “The same library that burned to the ground along with the city nearly four thousand years ago?”

  Enki hissed, and the sound echoed through the large room. Jez half expected him to taste the air like a snake would, but he just shook his head. “The library did not burn.”

  “The entire city burned,” Linala said.

  “The library was saved by Gayel and his Lightgivers.”

  “What?”

  “They could not allow such a repository of knowledge to crumble to ash.”

  Linala’s jaw dropped. “You main they saved the volumes? Where are they? How can we get them?”

  “No, not just the volumes. The entire library.”

  The silence that followed stretched on for several minutes. Jez realized everyone was looking at him, and he wondered when he had become the person the masters would look to. Finally, he
stepped forward.

  “I thought the pharim couldn’t interfere.”

  “There was no interference. The library and everything within it would’ve gone up in flames. Rather than let it be destroyed, Gayel took it. Either way, your kind would no longer have access to it, so the result was the same.”

  Jez blinked at him. “So if we want to get the information, we have to go where? The Keep of the Hosts?”

  At the sound of the home of the pharim, Enki drew back a step and started shaking violently. He took several deep breaths as he forced himself to calm down. When he spoke, his words were quiet, and Jez had to move closer to hear him. “Of course not. The...” he winced. “The Keep is a place for pharim, and the library is a thing of mortals. It could not exist there. Gayel made a place for it where your kind would never find it.”

  “Where?” Linala asked.

  Osmund gasped, and every eye turned to him, but his gaze remained focused on Enki. “You’re being literal aren’t you? He made a place for it. He created it out of nothing.”

  “Osmund, pharim can’t create,” Rael, the secrets master, said.

  “Not in this world.” He turned to Jez. “Do you remember when Sariel saved us from Dusan? He created a place then.”

  Jez gave him a slow nod. It made sense. Short of the abyss or the Keep of the Hosts, there was only one place Jez knew about that would be all but inaccessible, though he supposed ‘place’ wasn’t the right way to describe it.

  “Between,” Enki said. “Gayel put the library Between.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Between?” Balud asked. “Isn’t that...”

  “The place between worlds,” Jez said. “Except it’s not really a place. It’s a little hard to explain, and I don’t really understand it.”

  “If Sharim can reach it, he’ll have the knowledge he needs to escape from the abyss,” Enki said.

  “I thought only pharim could reach Between.”