Page 70 of Brighter Than Gold

I dropped to my knees before the woman standing by the bed, and she leaned down closer to me.

“I’m going to show you something,” she said in a frail voice. “It’s going to be painful at first, but it will pass.”

I looked back over at Yates who nodded for me to continue.

“I’m going to place my hands at your temples,” the woman said. “Try to be as still as possible.”

The woman raised her hands, and the very instant her fingertips touched my temples, I felt the worst pain of my life.

It felt as though glass was splintering and shattering inside of my head, cutting and slicing and searing pain, and it was accompanied by a screeching sound so high and grinding, that I instinctually tried to pull away.

Eldrin’s hands stayed tight to my temples as I fought to remain still.

Finally, finally the pain started to ease. The sounds dulled and I felt my body relax again, and when I became aware of myself, I froze. I didn’t know where I was, it was dark, and the air was frigid. I was walking, only, I hadn’t told my legs to walk, they moved of their own accord… I looked down. I felt the ruffle of the many layers of thick skirts brushing around my legs as I walked, I heard the clipped shoes with each step, echo off the cavernous walls that surrounded me. I saw my hands clasped tightly together at my waist. This was not my body at all.

I walked through the cold empty space, and ducked by the enormous stalagmites that hung from the ceiling. I was in a cave. The ground beneath me was smooth and finished, making me think that this cave had been at least partially constructed.

I saw hands, my hands, now slight and delicate and female, as my new body crouched down to where a window looked into a well-lit room beyond. A large semi-circle of tables were centered in front of a massive dais at the far back. At least two dozen men and women sat around the tables, and one man sat upon a throne in the center of the raised platform.

My new eyes searched about the room, I could hear nothing through the window, but I caught a glimpse of a reflection in the glass. It was Eldrin’s face looking back at me. This was her memory she shared.

I became aware of my hands, Eldrin’s hands growing cold. Her breath fogged the window slightly and I could feel the heavy coats and furs she wore to ward off the freezing temperature, and then I focused back on the people in the room. No heavy furs, no boots, no thick wool coats. They were perfectly adapted to the freezing temperature.

Kala Muata.

I startled when Eldrin shoved quickly away from the window. Once more the echo of her shoes reverberated through the cavernous room she walked through. Tiny sconces were lit high above, and more candles were placed into the natural grooves and crevasses of the stone.

We pushed through the enormous daunting doors and into a well-lit corridor. I saw people walking up ahead of me, of us, they were aware of Eldrin and greeted her politely when they passed. Raven black hair, on almost every one of them. Those without the denotive dark hair were bundled tightly. I could feel how cold Eldrin was despite the many layers, the very air on her face was stingingly bitter.

We walked purposefully through the narrow tunnels until natural light began to stream in through open doors at the end of the hall. The bright light stung the backs of my eyes, and wind whipped at my face.

The view was beautiful, and utterly terrifying. The snow-covered mountains reached out over the horizon, the setting sun tinted the snow in an amber glow.

Below me was a long, winding staircase, iced over by the wicked cold. It led right down to the camps. It was an army.

Hundreds and hundreds of tents were lined in the snow, groups of men training under the instruction of decorated leaders, marching, running, drilling with weapons. I wanted to see more, but pain suddenly laced through my head once again, and my whole body seized in reaction, but it only lasted a moment.

I heaved each breath into my lungs, feeling the wooden floor beneath my knees again, and the warmth of the room I was in.

“Are you all right?” Eldrin’s soft voice asked from somewhere above me. My vision was slightly blurred but I nodded. “I’m sorry, I know it’s not a comfortable feeling.”

“They’re back, Callan,” Yates said from the bed. I glanced up at her.

“What—” I struggled to organize my thoughts. “What did the palace say?”

“They don’t know yet. Eldrin came straight here.”

“Yates, you can’t keep this from them.”

“They’ll know soon enough.”

All of the theories, the suspicions were true. The Kala Muatawereback.

“How?” I wondered aloud. “How did they grow an army so fast?”

“I don’t know.”

Fuck. Reyah.

---