The Chronicles Of Ixia (Books 1-6). Maria V. Snyder

hung heavy in the fresh air. Dewdrops sparkled in the morning sunlight. Instinctively, I knew this place hid Tula’s soul.

      “Come on.” I pulled Opal toward the Keep, waving goodbye to Fisk. A guard stood outside Tula’s door. He nodded to us as we went inside.

      “Shouldn’t we wait for Fourth Magician and the others?” Opal asked.

      “No time. I don’t want to lose the image.” I took one of Tula’s hands and held my other out to Opal. “Take my hand. Now, I want you to imagine yourself in your hiding spot with Tula. Close your eyes and really concentrate. Can you do that?”

      Opal nodded, her pale face drawn.

      I linked with Tula. The ghosts of her horrors still floated in the emptiness, but they seemed less tangible than before. Connecting with Opal, I followed the smell of honeysuckles and dew through Tula’s mind.

      The ghosts thickened with a sudden fury, flying at me, blocking my passage. The air pressed and clung like molasses. I pushed past them only to be ensnared in a row of thorn bushes. My clothing snagged on branches and the barbs dug into my skin.

      “Go away,” Tula called. “I don’t want to come back.”

      “Your family misses you,” I said.

      Vines began to wrap around my arms and waist, anchoring me.

      “Go away!”

      I showed her Opal’s memories of what her family suffered when Tula had disappeared.

      The thorny bushes thinned a bit. Through their branches I spotted Tula curled up in her childhood hiding spot.

      “I can’t face them,” Tula said.

      “Your family?”

      “Yes. I’ve done … things. Terrible things so he wouldn’t hurt me.” Tula shuddered. “But he hurt me anyway.”

      The vines climbed up my arms and circled my neck.

      “Your family still loves you.”

      “They won’t. He’ll tell them what I did. They’ll be disgusted. I was his slave, but I didn’t try hard enough for him. I couldn’t get anything right. I didn’t even die for him.”

      I controlled my anger; my desire to slaughter the beast would have to wait. “Tula, he is the disgusting one. He is the one who should die. Your family knows what he did to your body. They only want you back.”

      She drew her body into a tighter ball. “What do you know? You know nothing about what I went through. Go away.”

      “You assume too much,” I choked out as the vines around my throat squeezed tight. I struggled to breathe. Could I face my own horrors again? To find this monster, I would. I opened my mind to hers and showed her Reyad. His delight in torturing me. My willingness to make him happy so he wouldn’t harm me. And the night I slit his throat after he had raped me.

      Tula peeked at me through her arms. The vines lessened the pressure. “You killed your torturer. Mine is still out there, waiting.”

      I tried again. “Then he is free to make someone else his slave. What if Opal is his next victim?”

      Tula jumped up in horror. “No!” she screamed.

      I linked Opal’s mind with ours. For a moment, Opal stood stunned, blinking in surprise. Then she ran to Tula and hugged her. Together they wept. The vines withdrew, and the bushes died away.

      But this was just the beginning. The grassy hollow soon faded and Tula’s ghosts hovered around us.

      “There are too many,” Tula said in defeat. “I will never be rid of them.”

      I drew my bow from its holder on my back and broke it into three pieces. Handing one to Tula and the other to Opal, I said, “You’re not alone. We’ll fight together.”

      The ghosts attacked. They were tenacious and quick. I swung at them over and over until my arms felt like lead. A few of Tula’s horrors disappeared, others shrank, but some seemed to grow as they fought.

      My energy drained at an alarming pace. I felt my bow become stuck inside one of the ghosts. The spirit expanded and consumed me. I screamed as the pain of being whipped racked my body.

      “You’re weak. Tell me you’ll obey and I’ll stop,” a voice whispered in my ear.

      “No.” Near panic I reached out for help. A powerful presence formed and handed me a full-size bow that pulsed with energy. Strength returned to me and I beat at the horror until it fled.

      We had repelled the attack, but I could see that Tula’s ghosts prepared for another.

      “Tula, this is merely the first battle in an ongoing war. It will take time and effort to be free of your fears, but you’ll have plenty of help from your family. Are you coming with us?” I asked.

      She bit her lip, gazing at the piece of bow in her hands. Opal added her bow to Tula’s. Tula clutched them both close to her chest. “Yes. I’ll come.”

      Tula’s mind filled with memories of her life. Vertigo twirled in my stomach as I broke my mental links with Tula and Opal. Relief descended, and I sank into blackness.

      When I came to my senses, I felt hard stone against my back. For the third time I had collapsed on Tula’s floor. This time I had no hope of moving. My energy was completely depleted. After a while I noticed that someone gripped my hands. Strong fingers wrapped around mine, encompassing them with warmth.

      With effort I opened my eyes to see who held me. Then I closed them tight. I must still be asleep. But after hearing Irys’s insistent calls, I looked again. And there sat my brother, holding my hands and sharing his energy with me.

       17

      WEARINESS LINED LEIF’S FACE. “You’re in big trouble,” he said.

      His words didn’t seem malicious, just factual, and, as expected, past his shoulders, I saw Irys, Roze, Hayes and Bain all frowning at me. Leif released my hands, but remained on the floor beside me.

      Roze eyed him, her displeasure evident in the tight twist of her lips. “You should have let her die,” she scolded him. “One less magician to taint our land with her incredible stupidity.”

      “A little too harsh, Roze,” Bain said. “Though I agree about the stupidity. Child, why did you try that alone?” Bain asked.

      I couldn’t even speak in my defense for I hadn’t the energy to form words, let alone try and explain myself.

      “Cocky and stupid,” Roze said for me. “Since she cured Tula of her physical injuries, she must have believed she was an all-powerful magician and could do anything. The fool will probably be asking to take the Master level test next.” Roze snorted with disgust. “Maybe she’ll feel differently after we assign her to the first year’s barracks. There she can learn the basics of magic while scrubbing the floors, like every new student.”

      I glanced at Irys. Roze’s punishment sounded horrible. Irys said nothing. Disapproval pulsed off her. I braced for an outburst.

      Instead, Opal called, “Tula’s awake!”

      I closed my eyes in relief as everyone focused on Tula. When I opened my eyes, the magicians had all disappeared from my view.

      “You’re still headstrong and reckless; an out of control strangler fig,” Leif said. “I guess Ixia didn’t change everything about you.” He stood on shaking legs, and I watched him join the others by Tula’s bedside.

      I puzzled over his comment. Good or bad? I couldn’t decide. But then Roze’s harsh voice jarred me out of my reflection. She bombarded Tula with questions about her attacker, but Tula wouldn’t answer. I cringed, knowing that Tula wasn’t up to Roze’s interrogation. Thank fate, Hayes intervened.

      “Give