Shadows Over Kaighal

Chapter 2-3

Freedom tasted different than he remembered, but everything in the human world seemed to taste different. Veranesh scoffed at the memory of himself, so eager to be the first one to cross, and so confident humans and their realm posed no threat to him. Always staying one step ahead of all the other yalari, he truly believed it. And he got to pay for such carelessness dearly.

The sand still poured into the hole he climbed out of, but Veranesh paid little attention to it. Instead, he spread his wings, enjoying the sensation. After centuries of nearly motionless existence, every free move was worth savoring, and he indulged in a long stretch, ignoring all the pressing issues. Yet when he lifted into the air, nothing remained in his mind but matters of importance.

The moonlit desert below him looked serene with its dunes gently brushed by wind, creating peculiar ripples in the sand. Veranesh cared little for the view itself, instead searching for tracks of people. He didn’t expect to find much, though he never doubted what the adept had relayed to him from the letter Kamira left. The destruction of the dagger he’d gifted to the mage killer suggested the confrontation with whomever the high mages sent out had already happened. Wind could have pushed sands over any trace of human presence, and Veranesh would never find anything. Yet he searched. His plans would be easier to carry out if Kamira trusted him, and that required some effort. As much as he longed to crush the mages, he could wait a day or two longer if it meant ensuring he reached his other goals as well.

His eyes caught nothing, so he focused on energies instead. An insignificant item like the lizard-shaped dagger wouldn’t be enough back in Yalarethe, but human world was so devoid of magic that the tiniest trail teased Veranesh’s senses and pulled him to the north. He followed it with caution. Kamira might have trusted the mage killer, and in the past Suzhaul had never acted against Veranesh, but centuries of imprisonment demanded healthy distrust toward everything.

Contrary to his expectations, the battlefield was clearly visible once he got closer. Human bodies and their belongings lay scattered across a small area, and their wounds looked like they were inflicted by the mage killer’s weapon, but otherwise Veranesh could make little of the scene before him. As much as he tried to study humans and their habits, the way they fought each other barely made sense to him. All he could conclude was that none of the bodies resembled that of his pactee’s companion and his weapon wasn’t in sight.

Traces of magic lingered in the area. Most of it he recognized as the high mages’ spells—his own energy stolen and twisted. But there was something else…

He drew the air deep, catching a scent too familiar to be comfortable. Another yalari had been to the battle scene. Veranesh tensed, but no immediate threat presented itself, and the scent was too faint to be recent. At the same time, he couldn’t tell whether the yalari was present during the skirmish or arrived later, to investigate. He decided on the latter. If a yalari was present, the mage killer wouldn’t have stood the chance in a fight, and his body would be among others.

Unless… Unless his brethren was cunning enough to take the mage killer with him and interrogate.

Now that Veranesh was back in the game, he had to consider enemies old and new. His pactee’s cunning gave him a few names to be wary of, but there had to be more, and with so much time having passed, he had to assume that his old allies could have turned against him or new players had joined the game. His instincts itched for him to take off and search for his adversaries, in this world or in his own. He lifted in the air, hovering over the battlefield, though the bird’s-eye view offered no more insights.

In the distance, odd shapes of human dwellings stood against the starry sky and dark ground. Within his sight, there were at least three or four, but one surpassed all of them in size. A faint trace of magic pulling him toward it confirmed this had to be Kaighal—his destination. Before he went after other yalari, he had to teach human mages a lesson and then see to his pactee.

That thought gave him pause. He had never considered her an ally, and several times she’d openly admitted to doing his bidding only because of the spell he had on her. Yet she never acted against him, and in the end, she’d agreed to the plan that put her own life and freedom at risk. At the least, she deserved to keep the pact he had made with her, but perhaps there were other possibilities. Yalari had always considered humans to be mere tools, useful but inferior in every way, and hardly any would stoop to making actual alliances with them, only beneficial pacts that required little of them. But the plot that brought together high mages and Veranesh’s enemies proved there could be more to gain, and his own agreement with Kamira brought unexpected knowledge that he couldn’t have easily gathered if he had killed her to gain his freedom.

He smirked at that. His pactee’s distrust surpassed that of many yalari, making her a perfect ally, but at the same time, her loyalty to the few other humans could cause rifts. He’d already witnessed how her friendship with the mage killer dimmed reason, and he had to consider that Suzhaul could try to use his servant… to what ends? During their brief conversation, Suzhaul seemed his usual self, but even if the hermit yalari cared little beyond his experiments, when anything threatened his solitude or his work, he proved as ruthless as any other of their kin. It would be beneficial to see him as an ally again… Veranesh shook his head. He couldn’t soothe himself with such hopes. He had to be prepared for any outcome. On the other hand, his own pactee was willing to defy Veranesh in the name of her friendship with the mage killer. If Veelk survived the battle in the desert, it would be interesting to see whether he would also be willing to defy Suzhaul for Kamira, should the circumstances require it.

But first, the mages. And once it was done, he’d see if his own experiment survived in the crystal. If his pactee was still as sane and strong as the pact bond between suggested, possibilities would open, and perhaps she’d even prove worthy of the secrets he’d kept from her.

Without any more delay, he flew toward Kaighal.