Free Dreams of Fire and Gods 2: Fire by James Erich Page A

win that war without first sending two—no offense—inexperienced young men to accomplish what they themselves have failed to accomplish over a thousand years. Madness!” He gazed into the cold, black ashes of the fireplace and added, “I have to wonder now if the ‘help’ they’ve given me wasn’t… perhaps… dual-purposed. By teaching me their magic, the Taaweh have possibly saved my life, but they’ve also rendered me useless as a vönan . I was the only alternative to Sael, and now….”
    His voice trailed off as both he and Koreh noticed something happening in the fireplace—steam had begun to rise from the kettle. There was no fire, but the water in it now appeared to be boiling.
A soft female voice said, “Everything is as it should be, iinyana .”
    Koreh was unsurprised to see one of the Taaweh step from the shadows across the room. As Geilin turned to face her, she continued, “Your powers have changed, iinyeh Geilin, but you will discover that you still have power. Iinyeh Koreh and iinyeh Sael have been chosen because they can succeed where the Taaweh have failed.”
    “It is generally considered to be rude,” Geilin replied coolly, “for a person to slip into a man’s quarters unannounced.”
    Koreh felt his cheeks burning, feeling the reprimand was aimed at him as well as the Taaweh standing in the room. The Taaweh herself appeared to take no notice.
    “It is time for further instruction, iinyeh ,” she told Geilin. “And iinyeh Koreh must return to Gyishya.”
Chapter 6
     
    D
ONEGH was as baffled by the fact that he was still conscious on the Harleh side of the boundary as Commander Eivan. But once it became clear he wasn’t about to collapse, the commander had abandoned him to his fate and returned to camp. Donegh contemplated throwing a knife at the man’s back. Eivan could do little to retaliate, but he knew he would likely miss. The dizziness hadn’t quite left him yet.
    So he removed himself to a spot where he felt certain he couldn’t be seen by any of Eivan’s men, and sat with his head between his legs for a time, breathing slowly until the dizziness eventually passed.
    The hollow feeling inside his head remained and gnawed at him. It didn’t take long to determine the cause—he could no longer hear the ömem . For the first time in his life, there was an oppressive silence inside his head, a disturbing emptiness he’d never experienced before. Even as a small child, before the samöt found him, the voices had been there, constantly whispering, along with the sense that he could often “see” everything around him, even what should have been out of his sight. Some children who were born with the link went mad from it, but Donegh had reveled in it.
    Now it was gone. And for the first time in his life, Donegh knew what it was like to be alone. He hated it.
    But whatever allowed him to stay conscious in these woods would also allow him to get out of the valley again once he’d killed the dekan . He clung to that thought as he navigated through the forest to Harleh Keep. He was “blind” in that he could no longer get the lay of the land from the ömem , which could have made it difficult to find his way. But there was a natural basin shape to the valley that guided him to the northeast.
    After about a league, Donegh began to notice a change in the light. He’d thought little of it, at first, being too preoccupied with thoughts of finding Harleh and how he would navigate within its walls, now that he could rely only upon his own senses. But eventually it became apparent to him that something was… off. The light seemed to have an odd bluish tint to it. He glanced at his hands, now looking ghastly and corpselike, and then looked up at the sky. Heavy clouds blotted out the Eye, which wouldn’t have been all that strange, except for their strange blue color.
    It wasn’t long afterward that he came upon the enemy camp. Thousands of soldiers were camped in the forest, their