The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (novels in english .TXT) 📗

had already taught her to deal with theunusual. “I’m not going to charge anything. Your mother is veryill, and I don’t think I can help her—but you can.”

That got her interest. The girl’s eyesbrightened, and she stopped edging toward the knife.“How?”

“Is that a tea kettle you left by thedoor?” I asked. I could sense the heat and steam rising from it.Apparently the child had gone to boil water, possibly over acharitable neighbor’s fire.

She nodded.

“Go ahead and make some tea for youand your mother. She’ll want some when she awakens,” Iinstructed.

The tea was merely a distraction ofcourse. I needed a moment to think and study the results of myassault on Myrtle. This time I had drained her to within moments ofher death, and I wasn’t sure she had enough aythar left to recover.While her daughter made tea, I focused my senses upon her—seekingher center, the wellspring from which her aytharemerged.

It was dangerously weak. It stillstruggled to supply her with energy, but her body was like a drylakebed now, so empty that whatever new aythar appeared wasinstantly soaked up. The flame that represented her spirit wasflickering, about to go out for good.

Her daughter, by comparison, wasablaze with aythar, like a small bonfire next to her mother’scandle-flame.

“What’s your name?” I asked as sheplaced a rough cup beside her mother’s cot.

“Megan.”

“Megan, your mother is very weak rightnow, and she needs a special kind of warmth that people make insidethemselves. I think you can help her if you can give her some ofyours,” I explained. “Does that make sense?”

“A little,” she respondedquietly.

“This warmth iscalled aythar. Iwant you to pay attention, and I’ll try to teach you some wordsthat will help you give her some of yours,” I told her.

“Why don’t you do it?” she asked, withthe embarrassing directness that children often have.

I flinched inwardly. Such a thingmight be possible, but I hesitated to dare it for fear of making amistake and killing her. “I wish I could but if I try it might makethings worse. It’s better if it comes from someone close to her,someone she loves,” I said, twisting the truth a bit. “Do youunderstand?”

She nodded again.

Over the next hour Itaught her the phrases in Lycian that would help her to pass someof her aythar to her mother. Despite her youthful vitality,Megan’s emittance, her ability to channel aythar, was very limited, just as itwas for most humans. She managed to keep her mother alive though,and that was the most important thing. Given a day or two Myrtleshould recover, assuming she wasn’t assaulted by anothershiggreth.

By me, I thought bleakly. What will happenin a few days, when my emotions finally disappear again? When I’mnothing more than an amoral emptiness, looking for something tofill the void?

I would kill her—or, if not her, someother poor soul, unlucky enough to catch my attention.

My only sure way ofpreventing such a thing was to destroy myself before it couldhappen. Or steal enough aythar from peopleto keep yourself from getting to that point, I added mentally. Such a thing would be risky. Any lapse ofself-control could lead to a tragedy. Sooner or later I’d make amistake and either take too much, or wait too long beforefeeding.

I pushed those dark thoughts aside anddecided to focus on the present. Reaching into one of my pouches, Ibrought out a handful of assorted coins. It was a pitiful gestureto make, leaving money for them as if I was trying to buyforgiveness, but I knew it was important. Even if it did nothing toassuage my guilt they needed money to live. Myrtle wouldn’t be inany shape to provide for herself and her daughter for at least afew days.

I removed the gold coins, replacingthem in my pouch. Such valuable currency would only get the childrobbed, or beaten as a thief. Even the silver would be a danger forher, but perhaps her mother could use it once she had recovered.What they really needed was a protector. No amount of money wouldhelp them in the long run, not without a patron oremployer.

In my current condition I wasn’t fitto take such a role, but I had an idea that might help.

I left the coins on the cot next toMyrtle. She and Megan were both asleep now, the child havingfinally exhausted herself. As I stepped out into the night air Icould tell that it was now closer to dawn than midnight, not thatit mattered to me.

My next goal was to find paper andink. I had a letter to send. Fortunately I had an easy place toobtain such things; after all, I owned a house in the city. I letmy feet find the way for me.

It was time to go home.

Chapter 6

Less than a half an hour later and Ifound myself standing in the street outside the house I hadinherited from the father I had never met. Now that my eyes couldlook upon it I wondered why I had waited so long to come here.Since Marc had moved out, it had been unoccupied, except for myfamily’s occasional visits to the capital.

Assuming that my family was safelyensconced at home in Cameron there was little reason I shouldn’tavail myself of its shelter and resources.

My family.

That was the trouble. If they happenedto be within or if they arrived while I was inside… nothing goodcould come of that. “I’ll just get what I need and leave,” I saidaloud, trying to reassure myself.

What aboutLyralliantha?

That thought reminded methat I had more problems than just saving the woman I had nearlykilled. I still had a dark god and Illeniel’s Promise to deal with.Technically, I also had one or two of the shining gods to worryabout, but with my current knowledge they fell into the ‘asset’category now, rather than the detriment category.So many things would have been easier if I hadovercome my fear of the secrets of the past sooner,I chided myself.

Illeniel’s Promise might be difficult.In order to satisfy my ancestor’s pledge, I needed to free the lastliving She’Har from the stasis enchantment he had used to protecther from the scourge that destroyed her people. Thanks to theknowledge granted