The Dark Remains - Mark Anthony [152]
Travis clutched his empty cup. “Vani, these sorcerers who wanted to steal the secrets of power from Morindu. Did some of them wear gold masks?”
Vani gave a stiff nod. “There was a city in Amún called Scirath, which from the dawn of the age of the god-kings was a rival to Morindu. It was the men of Scirath who first named the city of my ancestors the Dark, for they sought to poison the minds of others—to make them fear the Morindai and hate them. Ever did the Scirathi covet the knowledge of Morindu and seek to gain it for themselves. But the Morindai took the name given them in scorn and wore it proudly. And yes.” She met Travis’s eyes. “The sorcerers of Scirath wore masks of gold.”
Grace rose. “Vani, I thought you said all the sorcerers were destroyed in this war.”
“Most. Not all.”
“But it still doesn’t add up. Why would a bunch of two-thousand-year-old sorcerers be interested in me and Travis?”
“For the same reason my people are,” Vani said.
Grace stared, then plopped back down in the chair.
Vani gazed at her wrists; her eyes traced the intricate tattoos. “Even as some of the people of Morindu survived, so did some of the men of Scirath. They have never ceased in their effort to uncover the lost secrets of Morindu. And we have never ceased in our efforts to prevent them from doing so. It was one of the Scirathi who attacked you last night. Even had you not seen him, Wilder, I would have known it. Only they ever used gorleths as their slaves.”
Grace shivered. “What are they, Vani? Gorleths.”
“I know not what shadowed sorcery the Scirathi use to create them. They are made by combining the blood and flesh of different creatures, that I know. But I have never seen gorleths such as these. They were stronger than any I have ever heard of. Faster.”
“And smarter,” Grace said. She looked up. “Aren’t they?”
Vani nodded. “In a way, I am glad the Scirathi showed himself. I have suspected these last months that it was one of his order who came through the gate.”
Now it was Farr who forgot his own rules. “The gate?” His brown eyes were intent on Vani. “You mean to tell me you know of some kind of portal between Eldh and Earth?”
Vani regarded him. “Long my people kept the artifact of Morindu hidden. However, three years ago we risked its use, and that is how I came here, to Earth, in hopes of finding Wilder and Beckett.”
“Three years? But you can’t have been on Earth that long. The Seekers would have heard of it.”
Vani’s lips twisted in a wry expression. “I believe you overestimate the swiftness with which I can learn the language of a new world. And you also underestimate my ability to stay hidden from the eyes of the Seekers.”
Farr seemed to have no answer to that.
Travis’s nerves buzzed like wires. “If you have a gate, Vani, then you can help us take Beltan back to Eldh.”
“No, I cannot.”
The flatness of her voice shocked him. He stared, as did Grace.
“The artifact of Morindu is powerful, but even as we used it, we did not fully understand it. You see, the artifact is hollow, and when my people first discovered it, it was filled with dark fluid.”
“Blood,” Grace said.
“Yes, blood. And after I used the artifact to come to Earth, I learned from my brother that it was empty.”
Travis ran a hand over his smooth head. “But I don’t understand. Can’t your brother just fill the thing up and bring us back?”
“It is not so simple, Wilder. We do not know what sort of blood was in the artifact.”
Grace spoke in a quiet voice. “Human blood?”
“No,” Vani said, turning toward Grace. “The blood of a man does not open the gate. It was another sort of blood in the artifact, blood of great power. And to open the gate again would take the same kind.”
“But doesn