The Magic Rain

Chapter Five: A Strong Desert Wind

"Jo-Bri!" he heard, as if from a long distance. "Jo-Bri!" the voice repeated. He heard himself moan, and it surprised him. "Jo-Bri!" He suddenly realized it was Kawille.

He struggled back to consciousness. It was as if he were fighting against a strong desert wind, so strong that it prevented him from even opening his eyes. Finally, finally… he was able to force his lids up and there she was – in front of him, looking down at him with concern. He smiled. Damn, he loved this girl.

She began to cry and he pulled her to him, automatically, knowing that this is what he wanted to do for the rest of his life; protect her, and keep her warm, safe and happy.

"Oh, Jo-Bri, I thought you would never come back to me!" she said, keeping her voice quiet even in her worry. He knew Hodon must be near, because he felt fear inside him as sharp as a wound, not just the natural fear of a dangerous opponent, but an unnatural fear unlike any he had ever felt, like a raging fever clawing at his insides.

As he held her head against his chest, feeling her silky hair between his fingers, he glanced about.

They were in the hills. He had no idea how they had gotten here. He saw something in the distance that looked like dust and suddenly it all came back to him.

He pushed her to arms length, studying her face. She stared back and in the midst of trying to control his panic he realized something: this young woman was strong. She might be a bit of a midget, though still taller than he was, but she was strong where it mattered: inside.

"Tell me," he said quietly and firmly.

"Your father – "

"The merging!" he said, stunned as that memory too came flooding back.

She nodded. "My father and your father had arranged everything. Your father told me what would happen, that you would go into a sort of trance but that you would obey my instructions and be able to flee with me."

He glanced back at the "dust" and suddenly realized what it really was.

"Smoke," she said, seeing his gaze.

"They burned the village," he muttered, stunned. It was real, all of it, and his family, his people, his world – everything -- was gone. He turned back to Kawille. No… not everything.

Then he felt it and he nearly passed out again. They were there. Inside him.

"Your father," she began, grabbing his shoulders with as much physical strength as he himself possessed, perhaps more, to keep him from falling. "He said that… that you would have… trouble… dealing with the… energies –"

"I can feel them," he said, astonished and afraid.

She studied his face. More tears ran down her cheeks but she did not crumble.

Good for her, he thought, even as he wanted to scream in panic. It was like hundreds of streams of thought running through his mind, faint, not screaming but muttering.

He brought his hands to his temples, squeezing. He staggered and felt Kawille’s strong hands holding him up, even as he tried to push her away, to push it all away. And then he felt it – his mother, there, somehow, inside his mind, not as a memory but as an actual presence, and he screamed.

"Jo-Bri!" Kawille said, glancing around nervously. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the thoughts, the feeling of being watched, of being possessed. He realized he was still screaming, just as Kawille’s fist struck his face and everything went dark.

***

It was dark. And someone was whispering. No, not whispering…

Jo-Bri’s eyes snapped open. It was still dark. He realized he was lying on his back, looking up into darkness that slowly lightened a little as his eyes adjusted.

It was a cave. And his back ached terribly. Who was whispering? He sat up, shaking his head, then stopping, his eyes widening. They were still there, inside his mind and he had to clamp down on the panic that threatened to overwhelm him. It’s no different than facing the Ghiri, he told himself. You feel fear and you control it.

He climbed to his feet, moaning at the aches in his body – and in his face. Then he remembered. Kawille had knocked him out. He almost laughed. Of course he knew she was at least as strong as he was, that most women were nearly as strong as men, but still… his mother would have chided him for thinking of women as being in any way lesser than men. He rubbed his jaw and realized she would have been right.

He glanced around. The cave was empty except for him. He could see the entrance a few feet away and that it was night.

Where was Kawille?

He emerged from the cave onto a rocky plateau looking down on the hills and plains below. He knew that somewhere down there the village lay destroyed, burned to the ground by Hodon.

Hodon. He felt the panic rise but was able to suppress it, even as he felt the voices inside him grow a little louder, a little more strident, as if they too were reacting to the name of the dark wizard-king.

He saw a path winding its way across and down the rocky hills, so he began following it, knowing better than to call Kawille’s name. Not only was Hodon somewhere near, but surely there were predators about. He wasn’t sure whether he would be to deal with a killer Ghiri or two right now. Surprisingly, several spells came to mind, ones he did not even remember learning, and he wondered if the voices inside him had suggested them.

He shook his head, the voices now like the buzzing sound of an insect – an insect crawling around inside his brain. Again he suppressed the panic, knowing at least part of it was being caused by the mere presence of Hodon somewhere nearby.

He wound his way carefully down the rocky hills and then stopped.

Kawille lay across the path.

He hurried to her side but he knew before he got there that she was dead.

The voices screamed and he grabbed his head in pain. He wanted so much to scream too but some still-sane part of him realized that his lover’s killers might still be about.

He knelt by her side, his knees flaring with pain as they slammed down onto the rocky path but he ignored that pain, so insignificant was it compared to the pain between his eyes.

He touched her bruised and battered face and suddenly felt the rage rise within him, nearly blocking out the screams inside his head.

Then he saw it – the pendant necklace he had given her, torn from her neck and cast on the ground. Why would – and then he knew. The pendant’s magic had attracted Hodon’s attention, or the attention of one of his wizards, sensing the magical power Jo-Bri had imbued the pendant with.

His gift had led Hodon to her.

He stood and now he did scream because he wanted Hodon to find him.

The voices inside him screamed even louder and he struck his own head so hard that he staggered himself and wondered if he had broken a bone in his hand against his own skull, but he didn’t care.

He screamed again and felt rather than saw the lance. The spell sprang to his mind unbidden and with such force that he shouted it out before thinking about it.

The lance burst into flame and disappeared micro seconds before striking his body.

Now he screamed even louder, sensing two groups of men, one further down the path and another behind him, coming from the direction of the cave.

They had been waiting for him. He realized they had used Kawille’s battered body as bait.

He raised his hands, shouted words and sent a flash of light tearing down the path toward the unseen enemies there.

It was as if a part of him had been torn from his body and he nearly collapsed from the instant exhaustion. He realized that in his fury he had used his own energy to fire the bolt of light, and knew that he could not do that many more times without exhausting his own life force.

He heard screams of pain and fear coming from down the path.

A spell came to mind now and this time he yelled it out and felt something happen behind him.

He twirled and saw a figure staggering about, screaming, his body engulfed in fire.

Behind the burning man were several other figures holding swords and lances.

"No!" someone shouted. Hodon stepped forward, his men parting to let him by. Jo-Bri recognized the wizard from the images imparted to him from the merging with his parents and the other villages. Hodon raised his hands and Jo-Bri again let his anger get the better of him. He shouted and felt another bolt of light rip out of him, striking Hodon.

Hodon staggered under the impact of Jo-Bri’s attack.

Jo-Bri himself staggered and nearly fell, another huge part of his life force torn from him, and he saw that Hodon had survived the blast.

Another spell leapt to his mind and Jo-Bri shouted it out as he saw Hodon shaking his head, trying to regroup, obviously surprised by Jo-Bri’s attack. Jo-Bri kept his hands raised, expecting another bolt of light to leap from them in response to the spell he had just shouted but instead light suddenly enveloped him. He could see through the light that Hodon had raised his arms and was ready to attack.

"No!" Jo-Bri shouted as he realized what was happening. Then darkness… again.

***

Jo-Bri wondered if he was dead. He couldn’t feel anything. He couldn’t open his eyes – or maybe his eyes were open and he just couldn’t see anything. Or maybe he was already buried in the ground, but then wouldn’t he feel the pressure of the earth against him?

But the voices were still there and he realized that they wouldn’t still be "whispering" (the best term he could use to describe their presence) if he were dead, would they?

Then he remembered Kawille, and he felt such pain that he wished he really was dead.

Maybe he was in hell.

Darkness descended again.