Alara Unbroken - Doug Beyer [46]
With his eye position he could see partway up the side of the cliff, but not to its top. He had fallen a sickening distance, from what he could see. Why hadn’t someone from the pride come for him? That bastard Tenoch probably hadn’t told anyone that he fell. He would have just returned to the den and acted like nothing had happened. No one would be coming for him, and that thug would take over. But Ajani couldn’t let Tenoch be kha of the pride—couldn’t let him take Jazal’s place.
“Well, he’s certainly going to take my place if you lie there like that,” said Jazal’s voice.
“My body’s broken,” said Ajani. “What else do you suggest I do?”
“Nothing. Just lie there. Let your life seep into the rocks. Let your skin shrivel away from your bones under the sun, and let the plants grow up through your ribcage.”
“It is tempting.”
“Yes, it is. So why don’t you just give in?” “Shut up,” said Ajani.
“No, really. Why not just let yourself rot here? Fertilize the world with your corpse. That’s better than the progress you’ve made so far.”
“You’re getting on my nerves, spirit.”
“So then, what’s your plan?”
“Give me a minute to think. The pain is coming back.”
“Why don’t you just mend yourself? You were always my best healer.”
“I’ve tried. It doesn’t work like that for me. It’s like when the humans hunted me, remember?”
“I remember. I found you wounded and outmatched—despite you being perfectly capable of handling those foolish creatures on your own.”
“I couldn’t do it alone. I couldn’t bring out my own—my own self, or mend my own wounds. It’s just never worked like that. I could always see the light inside you, though—I could feel the way the threads ran, and could set them right when they were arranged incorrectly. I could never see that inside myself. I’m opaque to my own eyes.”
“You have all that power inside you, Ajani. And you’re telling me none of it will help you here, when you’re stranded on a cliff?”
“Sorry to disappoint you, brother.”
“No. You never did.”
Ajani closed his eyes. He had one option.
BANT
Mardis’s sword came down end over end and hit him squarely in the back between his shoulder blades, point first. The sound was sickening as it punctured deep enough to stop only when it pierced the ground beneath him.
The knights yelled and descended on their comrade.
“Get off of him! Move!” Elspeth shouted.
Surprised by her sudden authority, they startled and moved back. She stepped forward and grabbed the sword, yanking it straight up out of him. There was a clean slit in his jerkin, but no wound. The other knights gasped.
Mardis coughed and rolled over. He took off his helmet, puzzled at their faces. “What happened?” he said.
“Are you all right? You must be hurt! We need a healer!” The others crowded around, looking for a wound, but found none.
They looked at Elspeth.
“Lucky man,” she said to them. “Just missed the skin.” She held Mardis’s sword. It had no blood on it, but the point was barely blackened by having been stuck in the earth.
They were dumbfounded. Mardis rolled over, trying to crane his neck to see his back.
“That was strange. You … did something,” said Mardis. “What did you do, Knight-Captain? You shouted something. Was that a spell?”
“You know I’m no wizard,” she said. “It was just a fluke. The sword must have only grazed you. And that’s the end of it.”
She stomped off.
Well, there goes a training day, she thought, and possibly her secret with it. The others had no idea she was a planeswalker, or that there even were other planes—and it was her sole intention to keep it that way. It was the only way to protect her adopted home. Her spell would not have been unusual on Bant—but her deception about her abilities would be. She had never displayed the use of even basic magic before, and therefore had risen through Sigiled caste rather than the spell-wielding Sighted. She was afraid her dishonesty