Free Darkness Risen (The Ava'Lonan Herstories Book 4) by Ako Emanuel

slightest bit of resentment that he should be
made to undo what he had had to do to save himself from the other’s cruelty.
But then, Mendicuv would have to live knowing that he owed his life in part to
Gav’av’aron’s healing - the thought made some of the resentment melt away.
Without breaking rhythm, the ol’bey women made space for him. Chest muscles
still aching, hoof-shaped bruises still burning, he settled among them and laid
his hands on his paler cousin. He extended all his senses, av’rito, di’rito and
lor’rito - he could feel the damage he had done, but he did not yet see how to
repair it...
     
    the darkness
turned...
     
    Gavaron woke with the rise of the last moon, and
stretched in his bonds. With each memory, he felt a little bit more of the
learnings of his life before crossing the Av’ru return to him. He let his
awareness sink into the earth, free of fetters as his sense of Av was not. Each
time he used his lor’rita it became easier, more natural, more readily
available to his touch. He sank just below the surface of his confines and
spread his senses out, memorizing, mapping, marking his path out to freedom.
The prison he was in was not attached to any Tribal palace, but was a compound
in the wilderness, hidden far from any centers of large populations. There was
a palatial villa at one end. The compound, including the stable and fields,
were directly behind the residence and were abutted by tree-carpeted mountains.
    Gavaron laughed to himself as he took a mental walk
around the compound. He had begun planting the seeds of decay throughout the
place, rites of destruction, some of which would take immediate effect, and
some that would take many cycles, even tens of cycles to come to fruition. He
had weakened support beams and set fractures and faults into stone. He
encouraged pests in wood and cloth and food. He leached away gold from treasure
chambers and worked at the bonds within precious gems. Wherever possible, he
slowly replaced precious metals with lead or other base metals, leaving a thin
veneer to fool the eye. And then he had worked at the inhabitants of the foul
place, shifting delicate chemical balances within their bodies ever so
slightly, breaking a bond here and corrupting one there, sowing infirmity and
disease that would show with age. He felt a pang of uncertainty before touching
the servants, those who were there against their will, and decided to leave
them mostly alone. The others, the rulers of this eve-mare - he had only to
look as far as his stall-wall to dissolve any doubt about tampering with them.
The Queen and her Court were transgressors against the Goddesses. They had
fallen past redemption long ago.
    The stable was actually just a small part of an
abhorrent menagerie, filled with all conceivable specimens of Av’Touched, even
some he had never come across before. There were beautiful half-bird half-wuman
creatures, with feathers like the finest silk, in huge suspended cages. There
were feline, wuman-like beings lounging on moss-covered rocks with chained
collars around their necks. There were half-wuman half-fish people in large,
enclosed tanks without seams. There were Katari, Cribeau, even wumans, all
bound and waiting on the pleasure of their captor. And there were inimical
pre-Av’Touched, lor’ugawu, mirrli, lu’mari, and others that defied description.
    The others imprisoned with him were of some interest
to him beyond merely testing his lor’rita - while he could not ‘see’ using his
lor’rita, he could sense them, could feel their general outline, their
composition, and the shape of their minds, if not the thoughts themselves.
These other captives, on the other side of the palm, he worked to strengthen.
He enriched the food and fodder coming to the prisoners. He attacked the
rite-locks on his and their av’rita as much as he could, and tried to encourage
knowledge of the male ‘ritas. He strengthened their bodies and fanned their
defiance through