“I know! But what if I try and I am no good at it?” Balthazar gave him a bitter look. “I’dembarrassyou.”
Embarrass me? Why would Eyros care about that? Why does he look at me–at Caemorn–as if he cares very much about that?
“You would not embarrass me, Balthazar,” Caemorn/Kaly sounded quite certain.
“Even when I was learning to use my own powers I was hardly perfect at them! Roan used to…” Here Balthazar swallowed hard. “If you made a mistake, he… Well, he made sure we didn’t make the same mistake twice.”
“I would never do that–”
“I know! I know you’re not Roan–”
“But Iam,” Caemorn/Kaly sounded inexpressibly sad. “I am and that must be why you fear me teaching you again–”
“No, no, Caemorn,” Balthazar chuckled mirthlessly. “Roan Tithe was you in a fun-house mirror. What makes you who you are was lacking in him at the most fundamental level.”
Roan Tithe. One of my slices. Interesting. I think I recall making him.
“The truth is that even the thought of learning a new gift fills me with dread,” Balthazar admitted as if confessing this deep, dark weakness was wise. Bone Bear moaned and rubbed against his leg. He absently reached down and petted its skull. “It’s not you. It’s not your gift. It’s the thought of learninganygift that… I just can’t yet.”
“I understand,” Caemorn/Kaly answered.
Balthazar searched his face. He reached over and lightly touched his left forearm. A brief squeeze and then gone. “Please know, Caemorn, that I trust you beyond anyone to help me.”
You trust me? Then you must not know who I am, but…
“I know you are speaking the truth,” Kaly/Caemorn answered, “and it still stuns me that you can feel that way.”
“I’m right to, aren’t I, Kaly?”
“Yes, absolutely. I will let nothing happen to you, Eyros,” Kaly/Caemorn answered.
What… What is this? I… He… I am telling the truth too. But that means… that means…
“We’re a pair, aren’t we?” Balthazar grinned. “Now let’s go see Daemon. He’s going to go nuts over Julian’s bird.”
The future slipped away in a swirl of color and lights. Kaly gasped and staggered backwards. His gaze snapped to Eyros who had put up a hand to shade his eyes. No one said anything for a long time.
“Now you see what you can have,” Seeyr said. “Now you see why we must stay the course. Keep to the plan. No matter what.”
Eyros looked over at Kaly who looked back. Both their expressions were blank, but Kaly knew they were both feeling the same thing. Shock. But also…hope.
Now, in the killing field, looking up into a slice;s familiar eyes, Kaly said, “You call yourself Roan Tithe, do you not?”
The Kaly slice that sauntered towards him, hands in his pockets, easy smile on his lips, but dead, dead eyes nodded. “I am! It’s good you remember me. It’s always good to know who is going to destroy, isn’t it? And I am going to destroy you, Kaly.”
Kaly had a soul gem in his right pocket. It was a gem that could have drawn in every single slice here. But he doubted now that all of the slices were there. Yet it most certainly would have captured Roan Tithe.
But that’s not the plan. And if I don’t follow it then Eyros won’t turn into Balthazar/Eyros. And all that I saw–all that hope–won’t happen.
Kaly closed his eyes and didn’t reach for the soul gem. He would accept his fate now, because his future depended upon it.
MISSING
“We really have to take care of them,” Balthazar let out a rather hysterical sounding laugh as they all watched hundreds of glowing beings land on the ground with rumbling thuds all over Nightvallen. He turned to Caemorn. “Wecantake care of them, can’t we?”
“What are they?” Ryder asked as he took in the glowing figures that looked all too physical despite having supposedly been released from soul gems.
“Ecthrois,” Caemorn answered.
