Call of Descent
Chapter Twenty-four

Renikowas packed and ready to go before Malik’s eyes even fluttered open to greet theday. When he came out of his room, carrying what belongings had found their waydown into the heart of Reflaydun, he was startled to see Reniko dozing in thecorridor.

“Didyou sleep at all?” he asked her as he slung the heavy pack over his shoulder.

“Alittle. I had some things that needed to be taken care of,” Reniko said,stretching and coming to her feet.

“Itseems that there is nothing for me to do?” his voice carried a statement aswell as a question. Reniko decided to treat it as the former.

“Unlessyou have something to request of the city that I could not think of, I guessall there is for you to do is bring your pack up to Orric so we can be on ourway, before the day breaks any more fully.”

Malikshook his head and plodded past Reniko to the door. “I gather Penumbra knowswhat is going on?”

“Yes.He told me to tell you that Blaze will be well taken care of.”

“Wellthat’s one worry off my chest,” he said as he stood impatiently in the elevatorthat promised to bring them to the top of the tower garden. One worry, whichmakes way for hundreds more, Malik thought as he glanced over at Reniko whoseemed to be devoid of the emotion all together. I just don’t understandher. She doesn’t seem at all concerned that she can’t go home, that she isstuck on Vespen for a lot longer, stuck in the midst of my problems. She evenseems to be forcing her way into them like a wedge, trying to protect me andforce me along all at the same time. She has a rich commanding air, like shewas born to the role of paladin, or at least bred to it. I would love to meetthis Dertrik of hers. If he made her what she is, he must be a commanding forceas well. Together they could create a great advantage over the Rük. Thesethoughts carried Malik to the top of the root-entangled tower. Reniko, who hadsensed his prying eyes on her during the ride up, was first to step off theplatform and into the cool breaking dawn. Uncomfortable with the silence thatseemed to grow between them, she stumbled forward, grateful when she caughtsight of Orric’s massive bulk.

Renikosmiled at the gentle hulk and sauntered over to his side where he assisted inher efforts to climb his scaly hide. Malik, on the other hand, went to Orric’shind legs to secure the pack he held in his hand with the rest of theprovisions they needed for the trip. As he secured the pack to Orric’s leg, heglanced at Reniko’s odd pack. It still felt strange looking at such a syntheticlooking pack with the rich blue and the strange closing devices that shut awaythe contents. He tested one of the sliders on the pack making sure the thingsinside were secure and walked back to Orric’s neck. There he found Renikoperched in his spot grinning down at him, her dress hiked up to her hipsleaving her legs exposed. Or not so exposed as he looked more closely, she woreher brown leather leggings underneath, more than enough protection for her legsagainst Orric’s skin.

“Iguess that means that you weren’t satisfied with sitting like a proper ladyfarther down,” Malik said as he climbed deftly onto Orric’s back and took upposition immediately behind Reniko.

“Whendid I ever give you the impression that I was a proper lady?” Reniko asked asshe slipped the goggles Malik had given her down over her shining teal eyes.There was something in Reniko that Malik had only seen glimpses of before, a sparkthat shined in her only when she was defending her beliefs against any whowould attack. It gleamed in her eyes like a jewel. It unnerved him that shesuddenly felt so comfortable riding astride Orric. What a sudden change,like she suddenly remembered something.

“Whathas gotten into you Reniko? Last time you were astride Orric you lookedpositively miserable, now you look like a child that has been given what shehas wanted most in her life.”

“Ifyou didn’t realize, last time I was on Orric, we couldn’t exactly talk. I hadsuddenly found myself in a strange world, and I was riding on a beast that I’veheard of only in stories that made dragons a thing of nightmares. No offenseOrric,” Reniko said patting Orric gently as he took to the air. Malik lookedpuzzled. There was that strange word again, dragons. He knew she could only bereferring to Orric but the term distanced him, reminded him that she was notfrom here.

“Nonetaken, my friend. But dragon?”

Renikolooked sheepish. “Sorry, Teoko.” Orric nodded his approval as he gainedmomentum and began to speed away from the glittering city.

“I’vealways liked the wind,” Reniko said softly, letting the wind pull her wordsback to Malik who was settling his own goggles into place. Malik didn’t knowwhat to say; he himself had never quite gotten used to riding through the airon Orric’s back. The gait that he took as he flew through the air always madeMalik feel as if he was about to fall off, or have his insides jarred so badlyhe would drop dead on the spot. Reniko seemed to replace nothing but pleasure inthe experience. She faced the wind and embraced it as a friend. As he watchedher slender body in front of him, her braided hair flinging back almosttouching his face and her cloak billowing out to one side, he watched as herbody found Orric’s movements and matched them stride for stride. She seemedmore an extension of Orric than another being. Malik on the other hand, onlyfelt that ease of movement when he was riding on Blaze or any other horse.Orric’s movements had always felt foreign to him, whereas Reniko embraced themlike a long lost friend. Malik shrugged his contemplations aside and insteadjust scanned the horizon ahead, already bored with the journey. I must bejaded, Malik thought as he remembered how much of his life he had spenttraveling on Orric’s back.

Malikcame out of his thoughts with a start, nearly jumping from his seat. “I forgotthe storm. Orric can’t travel through a storm like that,” Malik shoutedsuddenly, causing Reniko to look back in his direction.

“Don’tworry Malik. Orric already took care of that. When I told him that we wereheading to Mo’an Delar he talked to the city about the storm. Apparently theycreated it to keep unwanted visitors away. They said that they would make itstop until we were well beyond its reach. I’m supposed to inform them when wehave reached the edge of the shale cliffs.”

“Howare you supposed to do that?”

Renikogrinned having forgotten Malik did not know about Kruok’s sphere. “I’ll showyou when we land,” she said and turned back to face the horizon. Malik shookhis head and sat back. Between the two of them, they didn’t need Malik at all.They seemed to have everything covered. Why did I agree to go back toTordaskar with this pair? Malik asked himself as he watched Reniko’s hairdance wildly in the wind. To protect her from herself, that’s why. Shedoesn’t have any idea what she is getting into. In the back of his mind anagging thought persisted and tried to make it to the surface, it finallysucceeded and Malik sighed. Because you won’t tell her anything. Hislife was getting very complicated.

Asthe sun reached its zenith and the heat started to become oppressive, even attheir high altitude, they decided to land and seek shelter until the heat recededand flying would be more comfortable for all. Orric didn’t seem to mind theheat at all, but Reniko, her water bag nearly empty, was wiping beads of sweatfrom her brow even as the wind washed over her body. She began to feel hot andcold all at the same time and it sent chills running through her body. Malikwas in no better condition and Orric, sensing that his human companions werewilting in the weather, landed into the sea of melting white snow thatsurrounded them. Seeing as there was no relief from the glare and the heatOrric fanned out his wings casting a cool shadow on the ground as his wingabsorbed the burning sunlight. Reniko looked relieved when they touched theground and as soon as she slid from Orric’s back she wandered into the shade heprovided and began stretching and doing her hypnotic movements. Malik followedher into the shade, but not having her discipline, took the time to rest hisscreaming muscles. He still couldn’t understand how Reniko caught Orric’smovements so easily. Where he felt sore and tired from the long hours oftraveling, Reniko looked rested and refreshed. Slightly jealous of this, heturned his attention away from her and began preparing a small meal for the twoof them.

Assoon as Malik pulled out some of the dried fruit and meat from his pack andReniko smelled the food, her concentration was broken and she settled onto thefrozen ground next to Malik to enjoy the simple meal. Afterward the two of thempacked snow into their water sacks and let them lie in the heat to melt.

Beforelong the small group was rested and fed and they took to the air, the heatlessening with every moment that passed.

“Iwould have liked to have found out how they controlled the weather. It’s almostsummer, I can tell by the heat, yet when that storm starts again it will be ascold as the dead of winter,” Reniko said as she reseated herself on top ofOrric.

“Itseems very supernatural to me,” Malik replied.

“Ohthere was an explanation. Just because we don’t know how a thing works doesn’tmean that it is suddenly some form of magic. Just like every person that isdifferent from you is not a witch,” Reniko instructed.

“Areyou saying that there is no such thing as magic?” Malik asked.

“OnEarth, everything can be explained in some way or another. So no I don’tbelieve in magic.”

“Isee, so if I was suddenly to sprout wings and transform myself into a Teoko,that wouldn’t be magic.”

“Wellyou aren’t going to sprout wings and turn yourself into a Teoko are you?”

“Wellno, but what if I could?”

“Well,I would try to replace out an explanation for it. If there was none, it would bemagic, but then again, that can’t really happen, can it.”

“Istill think that there are some things out there that can’t be explained. Whatabout Rimca?”

“Whatabout Rimca?” Reniko asked finally turning around and staring at Malik. Herface was set in a look of pure stubbornness. Malik had a feeling he knew whatto say to her to rid her of that.

“Whatabout the power she used on you that night in Mistfall?” Reniko’s mask fellinstantly and a look of terror replaced it. She instantly looked forward again.Malik was unsure if she was going to respond, but then he heard her voice softon the wind.

“Itruly think there is an explanation for everything. Maybe we just don’t havethe means to understand it yet.” Malik dropped the topic. For all he knew, shecould be right, but for now he was content to believe in forces that could notbe explained.

Thatnight, they camped at the base of the shale rocks, the waves of Radalean Lakelapping at the shore just below them. Reniko had shown Malik the small spherethat the city had given her before they had departed. She activated it by thesound of her voice and a miniature figure of the Levanith, Shyma, hovered abovethe core that was exposed as the lairs of the sphere peeled back, all aglow ina wash of silver and blue.

“We’repassed the shale cliffs now, but I was wondering if you could wait a few moredays, just until my friend Penumbra has made it safely back to the MistfallCaverns.”

“Wecan delay such, milady, for you. We wish you well on your travels. Please takeheed of our warnings, stay concealed, and do not display your true natureunless you absolutely must. The Rük are hunting you with every means they have.They will not rest until they have found you. We fear for your safety.”

“Seemsto me that you are learning human emotion,” Reniko teased the hologram.

“Wenever said we were unable to learn,” the hologram said and flickered out ofexistence. Reniko looked at Malik and smiled.

“Thatwas strange,” she said as she tucked the sphere away.

“Very,”Malik replied. “No use pondering over it now. I need some rest.” Malik gave astretch and laid down into the folds of his covers. Reniko followed his exampleand they passed the night in dreamless sleep.

Asdawn began to break early the next morning, Malik woke to a forceful nudging onhis back. He hadn’t been aware he had slept so deeply until the proddingprojectile had jolted him from his dreams. When he turned to face the intrusion,he came face to face with a very awake Reniko. The object of annoyance was thebokken that Reniko held out to the still sleepy eyed Malik.

“What’sthis?” Malik asked as he gave a forlorn stretch and pushed aside the mounds ofblankets.

“It’scalled training, and you’ve been slacking,” Reniko said matter-of-factly.

“You’reserious, aren’t you?” Malik said, resigning to his fate.

“Youare the one that wanted this, don’t get mad at me. I’m being easy on you. IfDertrik were here, you may have had no sleep at all, and you wouldn’t have hadany days off, even in Reflaydun.”

“Thattough, eh?” Malik said as he warmed-up for the coming spar.

“Tough,but he knew my limits. He never pushed me beyond what I could bear, most of thetime.”

“Mostof the time?” Malik asked as he took up his fighting stance.

“Therewere a few times when he pushed me and I wasn’t ready. We never talked about itmuch, but for a long while after those two incidents he backed off, didn’tpress as hard. He was never unkind, he instead punished himself too much. Itnever took me long to recover, but it seemed even though I took the damage, itwas Dertrik that truly suffered. I don’t think he ever let it go.” Reniko’seyes reflected a hidden sadness despite the smile that played across her face.Malik understood to some extent. Dertrik was a very important person to Reniko,maybe even more important to her than herself. He could see it in her eyes thatdeep love, a love that ran so deep your life no longer mattered as long as thatother person was alive. It was a love you died for.

“Youlove this man?” Malik asked as he lunged at Reniko trying to throw her offbalance. Her arm had healed completely during their stay in Reflaydun and shewas showing no mercy.

“Asa daughter loves her father. As a student loves her mentor. As a friend loves afriend. I would gladly give my life for him.” Reniko said, blocking Malik’soncoming attack and pulling away in a blur of speed. Malik tracked her movementas best he could and luckily turned and blocked just as she came up on hisleft. The sudden stop of Reniko’s forward movement threw Malik off balance andbefore he could recover Reniko was on top of him, her sword at his throat.

“Ishe the reason you miss Earth so much?” Malik asked as he again prepared tospar.

“Mostly,which is strange. I never thought I depended so much on him. So much forindependence,” Reniko said. This time she took up the offense startling Malikinto focus. Losing the thread of the conversation, he instead became absorbedin the battle.

Thetwo of them sparred until the sun had risen fully over the shale cliff. Renikospent the whole time correcting ingrained mistakes and showing Malik moreadvanced techniques. She was surprised and grateful with how fast he picked upwhat she taught. By the time they finally sat down to rest, both of them weresweating from the exertion and Malik had yet to best Reniko. He was frustratedwith that, but somehow glad of it. He knew that Reniko was a far superiorfighter--years of training had that affect--and if he had beaten her at all itwould have been because she let him. That she didn’t let him win showed Malikshe was not being easy on him despite what she claimed. It made Malik respecther even more.

Orric,who had woken up shortly after the sparring had begun, was mildly impressed. “Ido believe you are improving, Malik. Though it’s probably a good thing Lyss isnot your enemy.”

Malikgrinned and took a long draught from his water sack. As he set it back down hesaid, “I feel almost sorry for the Rük. Maybe we should try and convince themto surrender.” Reniko tossed him a glare, as well as a shove, as she drew closeto Orric to pack away the bokken.

“NowI know how Rimca felt,” she muttered.

Malikjust tossed a playful look in Reniko’s direction and began packing up theremaining gear. Once they were all packed up and Malik and Reniko had takentheir positions on top of Orric, he took to the air. Most of their gear was nowsecured snugly onto Orric’s back instead of around his legs for this leg of thetrip. They were passing over North Radalean Lake, which meant no more drystops. Orric planned on flying the entire time, but if an emergency landing wasin order they wanted to make sure as many things as possible remained dry.Malik and Orric had both reassured Reniko that flying for a couple days overthe body of water would be no problem. Orric had flown longer distances before,the main one being the flight from Mo’an Delar to Edonal Eclith, and since theywere going to be doing that flight soon as well, this was nothing more than asmall preparation for things to come. Begrudgingly, Reniko conceded with onlymild protest. Orric could only smile at her concern. So with full water sacksand a decent supply of food, the small group took to the air leaving the landtemporarily behind.

“Areyou sure you had enough to eat?” Reniko asked Orric.

Orricjust smiled and turned his head, his eye catching the gleam of the sun. “I wenthunting last night while you slept. I ate enough to last me for the next coupleof weeks at the least. No need to worry about me. I’ve survived on a lot less.”

Withher last worry subsided, Reniko fell into silence.

Itwas a subtle change, one that no one in the group noticed. Or rather theynoticed, but did not realize the importance of it. Reniko was the first tonotice it, since she was the only one experiencing it.

Asthey flew over the sunlit lake, the exertion that Malik had issued in thetraining earlier that morning caught up with him, and with lack of anything todo he began to doze, leaving Orric to do the flying and Reniko to become lostin her own company. For a long time, her thoughts dwelled on the training shehad done with Malik, reviewing his progress and preparing for the next lessonsto be taught. Along with this, she reviewed her own performance, noting theweakness that she had gathered since she had come to this planet. Hesitationwas born in her actions. She did not like this, but couldn’t figure out a wayto fight without it. So far this weakness had not been exploited. Reniko knewthe thoughts that caused her to hesitate. They were a mixture of compassion andsorrow and seeing as she could not force these feelings from her being, shebegan working on a plan to make them into a strength rather than a continuedweakness. So lost was she in these thoughts she almost didn’t notice the slightchange she was feeling in her body. It was discreet, almost unnoticeable. Hermovements already mirrored Orric’s. Having caught the general flow of his form,she consciously reacted to his movements, but it was that they were becoming asubconscious thing that was the cause for worry. As soon as she realized this,her thoughts strayed. She no longer thought about fighting, training or even ofother things that were usually on her mind. She could only think of one thing,how natural it felt to fly. With her defenses down, her mind could not recover,she slipped steadily downward into thoughts not entirely her own. Closing hereyes to the world, she began to try to understand the workings of flight. Shefelt the muscles rippling through Orric’s skin as his wings beat in strongsteady waves; soon she could see the inner workings of his wings like they wereher own. Just as suddenly she became aware of the air moving around her. Sheunderstood the exertion it took to fly over the water, thermals rose and fellin chaotic patterns as wind currents collided and shifted. She dwelt on thischaos, trying to understand how anything could fly in such a place. A breezewashed over her, and as goose pimples rose on her skin, she understood. Youdidn’t fight the thermals at all, you moved with them, as one ended yousearched for the next and let it carry you on. Not only did this cause lessstrain overall, it was exhilarating. Such was the exhilaration she felt thatshe could think of nothing more.

Malikwoke as the sun passed behind a large cloud, causing the glow on his body tostop, plunging him into a deep cold. This lack of heat woke him with a start.It was only when he was wide-awake that he realized he had been sleeping atall. He glanced at Reniko who still sat in front, her hair blowing gently inthe wind that carried them. He watched it for a time, not wishing to disturbwhatever thoughts she was absorbed in. He instead just watched her. Watched herbody as she sunk and rose in response to Orric’s flying, as she faced the windletting it caress her rather than oppress her. He watched as her whole formbecame relaxed, as her grip on Orric faltered and her hands fell limp at hersides. Malik sat straight up as he also realized that Reniko’s safety line wasloose. No, not loose at all but rather untied. It was hanging off to one side,like she had done it deliberately. He watched as her body leaned to one sideslipping from the surface of Orric’s blue-black skin and began plunging towardthe water far below. He reacted faster than he thought possible. Scrambling tohis feet, he tried to maintain a footing on Orric’s back as the wind threatenedto throw him off balance. Lunging forward as much as he could, he strainedagainst his safety line reaching for Reniko’s limp frame as she slid fromOrric’s back. He caught her by her hand just before she left his sightentirely. Orric, noticing the sudden weight shift on his back, faltered inflight.

“What’sgoing on?” Orric implored, casting a worried glance back. Malik didn’t answer,couldn’t spare the breath, having his whole strength and attention focused onnot dropping Reniko. She was dead weight, giving no help at all to thesituation. Realizing that he couldn’t stay in this position forever, he letgravity help out and leaned backward. This helped pull Reniko back onto Orric’sback, but caused Malik to slip and nearly plunge over the other side. Regaininghis balance, he crouched next to Reniko’s still frame. Reaching over her, hegrabbed her safety line and secured it around her waist. Reniko now layprostrate over Orric’s back in the same area as Malik was trying to sit.Realizing that they both were not going to fit well between Orric’s spinalridges he decided to roll her onto his lap. When he was finally comfortable,Reniko lay unconscious across him.

Thefirst thing he tried to do was shake her awake. When that didn’t work, hecalled her name softly over and over rising until his voice was a shout of panic.Orric turned to this sound, as concerned about the situation as Malik was, butwas unable to do anything but fly.

“Malik,what happened?” Orric asked trying to calm his companion down.

“Idon’t know. When I woke up she was limp. We have to stop. We have to set downnow!” Malik cried out frantically.

“Wecan’t, Malik. There is nothing but miles of water in front and behind us. Justkeep her comfortable until we can get to land.”

Maliklooked down at his charge, calm rising in him at Orric’s gentle words. Let’sassess the damage, he thought as he worked his hands and eyes over Reniko’sbody. Her body temperature was fine, her breathing normal, her pulse steady.For all purposes she looked like she was in a deep sleep. The only thing oddwas that she was not waking from this sleep. Malik had never known Reniko tosleep so deeply that her environment no longer registered, no longer had aneffect in waking her up. No one slept like this, no one but the dead.

“Shesleeps like the dead,” Malik shouted to Orric, “but yet she feels so alive. Idon’t understand. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Orricslowed his flying and suddenly sped up. Malik noted the change. His friend knewsomething.

“Ihave seen this before. It’s called a coma. It means that Reniko is asleep andnothing we do will wake her up. Something is unbalanced in her body and this ishow it is responding to it. She will wake when her body is again in harmony.”

“Butwhat caused this imbalance? Isn’t there anything we can do to help speed up theprocess?”

“Thereis but we cannot do it until we reach dry land.”

“Ican attempt to help now if you only tell me what to do,” Malik said.

“Itis something only I can do, my friend.”

“Whatdo you mean? What’s wrong with her?” Malik shouted, frustrated with hisinability to help.

“Youknow that connection I told you about, the one I said I share with you?” Orricasked.

“Ofcourse,” Malik said.

“WellI share one with her as well,” Orric stated.

“Thatdoesn’t explain anything, Orric. If that is the cause, why am I not in the samestate as Lyss?”

“Becausewhere our link is one sided, Reniko and mine is shared. She has Engaged mymind. I didn’t realize she had touched it until just now. She invaded sosilently, but the contact is new for her, she didn’t understand it and now sheis lost in it. I have to disengage our minds, but I cannot, not until we are ondry land. Keep her safe until then, Malik.”

“Idon’t understand. How can she share this sense of yours?”

“Itis very rare for humans to share this connection, but not unheard of. If Iwould have known she was one of the few, I could have had a chance to explainit to her. But alas she didn’t show any of the signs, not one. She guards herfeelings well, even from me. I had no idea.”

“Butwhy now, why not when she first met us? Why has she lapsed into a coma now?”

“Prolongedexposure. Her thoughts protected her before. She was always busy living herlife. Her thoughts were centred, focused, but out here with nothing to engageher mind, her defenses strayed. When she caught my thoughts she latched on andthey carried her away.”

“Youcan’t just loosen her grip on them?” Malik asked as he wrapped Reniko’s stillframe in the folds of her cloak.

“Itdoesn’t work that way. If she were in my conscious thoughts I could easily explainto her what has happened and guide her out, but she isn’t. She grabbed hold ofmy subconscious thoughts and that makes everything a lot more complicated.”

“Why?”

“BecauseI don’t have access to my subconscious thoughts until I sleep.”

Itsuddenly became clear to Malik: Orric could sense Reniko’s presence in his mindbut couldn’t talk with her. And the only way he could was to stop flying and goto sleep.

“Howdid she get there?”

“Shehas raw talent, that’s for sure. I can usually sense another presence in mymind because every time another touches a mind they have to travel through theconsciousness to get to the subconscious. Reniko didn’t do that; she just wentstraight into the subconscious. Not even Brium, our most adept Engager, can dothat.”

“Shealso isn’t a Teoko. That may constitute the difference.”

“Verytrue. She is the first non-Teoko to ever exhibit the trait in my lifetime. Iwould have to consult the elders to see if this is a common occurrence amongsthuman Engagers.”

“Idon’t think that’s really something you need to be concerned with right now,Orric. Just get us to dry land as quickly as possible.”

“No need to tell me twice,” Orric said as hesped up the pace of his flight, more worried about Reniko’s condition than helet on to Malik. He neglected to tell his human friend that the more timeReniko spent engaged in his mind, the less of Reniko there remained.