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

with you. Why do you need to be in stasis, and why did yousay ‘his family’ earlier?”

She smiled sadly at me. “Look at thememories—from when he put me here. You already know why I must stayin stasis. As for your other question, perhaps it would be kinderif I don’t answer, since you haven’t realized ityourself.”

“Realized what?!” I almost shouted,“Just tell me!”

“You are not Mordecai Illeniel,” sheanswered. “You are a simulacrum, a remnant. That is why his magicsdon’t recognize you. That is why you don’t have some of his specialabilities. You are a magical echo, created by Thillmarius’ spell,and the memories Mordecai left within the body you now animate.Mordecai Illeniel is dead.”

I stared at her in shock.

“That is why you have no emotions ofyour own, only those you receive from fresh human aythar. This isone of the main reasons that particular type of magic was banned bymy people,” she added. “It is also why we never used it on a livingperson.”

The truth of her words was undeniable,even though I wanted with all my heart to deny them. Being dead wasbad enough, being nothing more than a magical construct, a shadowof a dead man—the truth was too cruel. “Then I am—then Mordecaiis…,” I couldn’t fathom how to finish my question in anintelligible manner.

Somehow she understood meanyway, “Mordecai’s soul is caged within you, inside thespell-weaving I created to keep you from fading. As I said before,once you use that…” she pointed at the green stone she had given me, “…his soulwill be free to pass on, and you will cease to exist.”

I wanted to cry, or scream, surely Iwas going mad. Instead I asked numbly, “How do I useit?”

“When the time comes, you, or whoeveryou appoint to the task, need only to destroy it. It can be easilycrushed,” she said.

“Sounds just like…”

She smiled, “Yes, I borrowed themethod from your story. I quite liked his idea for linkingenchantments using glass beads. Your Mordecai was an interestingman.”

A sudden thought occurred to me. “Canhe hear us? Is he aware—in there?” I pointed at mychest.

“No one really knows. At the veryleast he should have been aware of the world briefly when youdestroyed Thillmarius’ spell-weaving, but once I rebound him—Idon’t know. He is dormant now.”

I nodded, “I think maybe…”

She didn’t let me finish. “I’ve waitedtoo long already. Put me back in stasis and obey mycommands.”

“But…”

“No more talking. Obey me—now,” shecommanded.

My mouth closed and I did as she bademe. Even my mind gave itself over, focusing entirely on the complextask of restoring the stasis enchantment.

Chapter 13

I wasn’t able to regain any autonomyuntil the enchantment was complete. My mind stubbornly refused toturn aside from the task. It was an odd sensation, and when at lastI had my freedom back, I felt sorry for Karenth for a moment. Ihadn’t treated him any better.

And apparently I’m no morehuman than he is, despite my delusions.

Straightening from my work, I surveyedthe heavy stone sarcophagus. It wouldn’t be simple to move. It hadto weigh hundreds of pounds by itself, not to mention the slightadditional weight added to it by Lyralliantha.

I silently cursed herimpatience. If I had been given a moment’s free thought, I couldhave devised several better arrangements, any one of which mighthave made it much easier to move her. Whyhad she been so rushed anyway?

Lyra had told me the answer lay in mymemories, so I took a minute to search them, following the threadshe had given me—the last few minutes before she had been put intostasis, over two thousand years ago.

The answer, once I understood it, wasso simple I was surprised I hadn’t realized sooner. The oddappearance of her feet should have clued me in immediately. She waspreparing to set down roots.

The She’Har had an interesting lifecycle. Those like Lyralliantha, who took humanoid form, wereactually immature. Although they were intelligent, animate, capableof magic, etc…, they were in reality children. They were born inpods that were grown by the mother-trees, although they did requirepollen from the father-trees to produce their livingchildren.

Once they had emerged fromtheir pods, whole and seemingly adult (at least to humanstandards), they could spend decades or even centuries beforetransitioning to their adult tree form. These children weresustained by another type of fruit produced by the mother-trees,called calmuth. Calmuth was the only nutrition the children of the She’Harrequired, although my memories showed me clearly that they hadenjoyed many human foods as well.

The mother-trees could only produceenough calmuth to feed a certain number of these children, and whenthey could no longer eat calmuth it triggered a change in theirbodies. She’Har young that stopped eating fruit from themother-trees would take root, becoming new trees and fortuitously,producing more fruit to feed the other children.

Lyralliantha had been the last of herkind. Although my ancestor had protected her from the fate thatdestroyed her people, he could not produce the calmuth that sheneeded to remain as she was. After a period of only a few weeks,she had begun the change.

He had placed her in magical stasis,protecting her from the remnants of what had destroyed her race,while simultaneously halting her transformation. Later, after hisbattle with Thillmarius he had discovered that without his enemy hehad no way to free his lover. After years of struggling to find away, he had at last surrendered his burden to his son, charging himwith finding a way to free her. His last act as a human had been totransform himself into one of the She’Har and wait to take root inthe place he had prepared for them.

Their story had been tragic, and thesons of Illeniel had failed to fulfill their father’s promise.Lyralliantha’s hurry made sense now. She had been afraid of takingroot here, hundreds of miles from her Kianthi—from the only hope ofrestoring her people.

Reaching into one of mypockets, I touched the small figurine that would allow me to callthe dragon. Come as soon as you can. Iwill meet you near my house in Albamarl. Don’t worry about avoidingobservation.

With that taken care of, I uttered aword and used my magic to lift the stone sarcophagus, levitating itin front of me. I had been