Love Trudi Canavan and her worlds! However, I felt that considering how often we are told how powerful and how cruel the Ichani are, the ending was a little too easy! My own opinion! Hope you enjoy my alternative ending. The order of the Ichani and Lorlen's deaths are altered. It starts and ends with Trudi.
**Please note: If you read this fic and enjoy, you may not want to read the epilogue until after you have read my second fic ( up to and including chapter 11) 'There are no easy beginnings'; then read the epilogue of this fic, then read the epilogue of the second fic - confusing I know, and not necessary unless you want extra suspense in the second fic.
Chapter one.
Sonea silently followed Faren as he led the way back to the agreed meeting place, a smugglers den under the Inner Circle. She glanced up at the empty windows and open doors of the Inner Circle houses. They stood like silent witnesses to the invasion of the Ichani; eyes unblinkingly staring, and mouths open in shock and despair.
They approached the place where they would descend onto the, now partially destroyed, Thieves Road . Sonea chewed her lip and reflected on the events of the last few days.
Eight Ichani had entered Imardin, and now only three remained, including Kariko. She couldn't help but let a faint smile of satisfaction and hope touch her lips . What days before had seemed like a hopeless situation, now did not seem so impossible. It was true that they had certainly had to be inventive in the methods in which they had dispatched the Sachakans, but more than half were now dead, and she and Akkarin were still alive.
The Guild had managed to kill one Ichani, and Richaka's demise had been brought about by a poisoning trick of Faren's. A grim smile now touched Sonea's lips as she recalled the novice who had offered himself as bait in the poison trap – Regin, the tormentor of her novice days. Maybe war brought out the better qualities of some people, she mused. Then she and Akkarin, with the help of a dwell woman, had located and ended the life of Inijaka with the healing trick she had used on Parika. The female Ichani, Avala, had been reported wondering the passages under the city and Akkarin had killed her. She had carried a blood gem and had seen Akkarin before she died. Sonea frowned; they now suspected that Kariko knew of the former High Lord's presence in the city.
Finally, this latest Ichani had been killed by dwell acquaintances of Faren and Cerys', who had led him into a trap and skewered him with spears. Sonea's frown deepened and she wondered what the King and the Houses would think of such bravery and resourcefulness, and, whether would they care about the destruction that had occurred in the Slums at the moment of the Ichani's death. The rich and the powerful had fled the city leaving the Dwells to face death or enslavement. But the poorest people of Imardin had shown their worth; even Akkarin had been surprised by their determination.
Akkarin... It had been at least an hour since he had hurried away from their box filled hideout saying there was something he must do. Something to do with Lorlen. He had told her to find the Ichani with the slaves that the scouts had brought news of, and wait for him, not knowing of Cery's plans. She had been annoyed and hurt at his secretiveness and evasion. Sonea glanced at the blood ring on her finger and realised that Akkarin would now sense these emotions in her.
"Sometimes, hearing and knowing exactly how another person regards you can be an unpleasant experience. It can end friendships, turn love to resentment..."
She sighed and touched the ring, beginning to realise what he meant.
A shuddering boom followed by an ear-splitting crack shocked Sonea out of her reverie. In front of her, Faren threw himself forwards as brick and stone work began to shower down from above them, clouding the air with dust. Sonea's shield sprang into life about her, her dark eyes narrowed as she searched for Faren through the debris filled air beyond her shield.
She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding as she saw a figure emerge from the dust cloud. Faren was alive .She let her shield drop as the debris settled. Sonea straightened from her crouched position. Immediately she was thrown backwards by a powerful strike. Pain blossomed in her body and radiated outwards until it reached her fingertips. Gasping she raised her head. Not Faren; an Ichani.
Sonea felt bile rise in her throat and her mouth went dry as he threw another strike which sent her skidding across the uneven masonry, grit and stones scrapping at her skin.
_ Sonea, shield!
Akkarin's mental voice reverberated in her head, the fear and panic in it matching her own. It snapped her into action and she threw up a strong shield. The man advanced on her, the still murky air eerily absorbing the flashes of light that exploded from the Ichani at a frightening rate, battering her shield. Sonea responded with a barrage of strikes that curved through the air attacking his shield from all angles. He continued towards her until their shields were only a finger breadth apart, buzzing in resistance in the thick air.
_Sonea, try to use healing! Stop his heart!
_I cannot lower my shield, his strikes are too strong! She frantically sent back to him.
_Hold on. I'm coming to find you. Akkarin responded.
Akkarin burst into the box filled room that was the smugglers' den. The room's occupants stared at him. A couple of Cery's men went back to talking in hushed whispers. Regin's eyes glittered with interest, and Takan approached Akkarin from where he'd been keeping his pacing vigil.
"Master!" he exclaimed in relief. Akkarin strode past him towards Cery, his face shadowed under the hood of his cloak.
"Is Sonea not with you?" Cery asked with concern. He had assumed that Akkarin would meet up with Sonea and Faren to deal with the Ichani slaves. He had not expected to see Akkarin alone.
Akkarin ignored Cery's question and placed his cool palms against Cery's temples. An image flashed into his mind. A ruined house, dust, and the face of a Sachakan man, his face a mixture of rage and concentration.
"Can you get me to this place by the most direct route?" Akkarin asked urgently.
There was an edge to his voice that Cery had never heard before. He looked into the shadow of Akkarin's hood. Cery saw the glint of jet eyes in a face that was paler than he remembered.
"Yes" Cery answered. "it is near one of our escape hatches – why?" A seed of dread took hold in his stomach.
"The person who is facing the Ichani you saw is Sonea – alone," he added hoarsely.
"The trap I set did not work then?" Cery muttered. He cast his eyes down and clenched his fists. He had put Sonea into this position with his notions of defeating Ichani without magic. If anything happened to her now it would be his fault.
Akkarin's voice broke his thoughts. " That Ichani is dead – along with some of your men," he added grimly. "Sonea and Faren came across another, wandering, taking power from buildings. He attacked Sonea and is quickly wearing her down. I must find her. I will not loose two people I love today."
As he spoke he glided to the exit of the den. Cery, trying to absorb this information, hurried after him
"Two people?" He asked.
"Lorlen is dead." Akkarin replied quietly and Cery thought he heard his voice catch.
As they passed through a doorway Akkarin suddenly stopped, his fingers gripping the door frame. The knuckles on his slender hand turned white. He stared at the floor as if he would bore a hole in it. "Sonea!" he hissed. "He's exhausted her. Her shield is down."
Sonea felt her power fading as her shield wavered and then finally gave way. She braced herself for the onslaught of more strikes, but the man in front of her merely stood regarding her intently. She stumbled forward as her legs started to give way, and she felt the Ichani's shield slip over her. He reached forward and grabbed a handful of her now damp and dirty hair, jerking her head so that she was forced to meet his eyes.
"I would have liked to have kept you for myself, but Kariko has other plans". He bared his teeth in a cruel grin as he reached into richly embroidered robes and pulled out a Sachakan knife.
"I will, however, take what small power you have left so that you'll give me no trouble on the way back to Kariko."
Sonea panicked; he was still holding her by her hair. She needed skin contact if she was at least to try the healing trick. She felt another minds fear on the edge of her own.
_Do it Sonea! Before he uses the knife!
Akkarin's mental voice pulsed in her already pounding head.
"Besides, it will get you used to the many cuts that are to come," the Ichani was continuing. Sonea reached forward as quickly as her exhausted strength allowed and grabbed his wrist weakly – it didn't matter, it was enough.
"You fool" he mocked, "you think you can stop me now?"
He thought that she meant to wrestle the knife off him. His malicious smile froze as, with the last of her strength, Sonea sent her consciousness forward into his body, and found his heart, constricting it. Puzzlement replaced the smile on the Ichani's face as it turned ashen. He keeled over onto the uneven ground; the knife clattered on stone. Sonea stared at him, appalled, as the last links to the mortal world flickered in his eyes.
_Take his power now!
Akkarin brought her out of her frozen state and she quickly stooped for the knife. As her fingers curled around the hilt, a booted foot savagely came down on her hand, making her cry out. A hand snatched the knife and slashed it against the dying Ichani's throat, and the same hand dropped the blade and was placed over the wound on the man's neck. Sonea's vision blurred from exhaustion and pain. She looked through a fog at the man who now stood before her: Kariko.
He had been watching from the doorway of the partially ruined house. He had been trying to find his kinsman who had wandered, seemingly to gain pleasure from the destruction of the Kryalians' homes, rather than for the power that some of the structures provided. He had been drawn to the sound of demolition and had watched, intrigued, as his fellow Ichani had engaged the woman in battle. He had tilted his head, his eyes twinkling, in a detached admiration for the determination, and no little skill, of the small female magician in front of him. Then, recognition had dawned as her face caught the light of strikes and the haze had cleared a little. Akkarin's apprentice!
He'd smiled as he had slipped something onto his finger. He'd sensed the old man's mind linked to his recoil in horror as Sonea stumbled, her shield obliterated; the inevitable outcome. As the knife was drawn, Kariko's smile had turned to a perplexed frown as his fellow invader had fallen to the ground. He'd leapt from the shadow of the doorway and acted quickly. He was surprised at the outcome, but it mattered little to him that it was he that ended the life of his companion. There had been no love between them; he had been a pawn in a greater game. And now as he stared down at the woman before him, he contemplated the opportunity for a little amusement for the first time in what seemed like weeks.
Kariko.
If Dakova had been cruel, then Kariko was his master. If Dakova had been calculated, then Kariko was his teacher. And now, the chance to bring suffering to, not one, but to three people had just walked right into his embrace.
"Akkarin's little pet. What good fortune" he sneered. His foot pressed down on her hand and, as she felt something give way, she cried out.
"I could kill you now, but you have expended your power and it would achieve little. No, I will keep you . You are a scrawny thing, but you will entertain me for a while at least."
He released her hand and she inhaled a sharp breath of pain. Kariko grabbed her wrist and pulled her up until she was half standing on buckled knees. Sonea was dimly aware of the skin contact but she had no power – she had never been so exhausted.
Akkarin frantically pleaded, then commanded, from somewhere in her mind, to reach out and grab Kariko's heart - to do anything.
_I have no power.
She could barely hear her mental voice above the thumping behind her skull.
_I can do nothing.
She was strangely numb at the realisation, yet she felt the sting of tears as Kariko's bejewelled hand clamped down on her clammy forehead. The world spun and became a black void.
"Sonea – No!" Akkarin exclaimed in horror as he reeled back and took a step to steady himself.
Cery looked at Akkarin's twisted face, and fear clenched his heart. "What's happened?" He reached out and shook the magician, a thing he would not have dared to do only a few short weeks ago.
"Akkarin! tell me!" Cery's shout brought the taller man's eyes to his, and he almost shrank back at the dark fury that glittered there.
"Kariko has Sonea," he said in a tight, controlled, voice.
"What? How?" Cery asked, bewildered.
"I don't know. He must have been there, watching and waiting. He struck as she was about to take the other Ichani's power." Akkarin lowered his gaze and muttered as if not want wanting to believe it.
"She has no power – she is defenceless. I have to get to her Cery. Take me."
Cery moved through the door at the order, as anxious to find Sonea as her lover was. As Akkarin followed he glanced at the others in the room who had been observing with growing apprehension.
"One of the Ichani – Kariko" – his eyes locked with Takan's – " has read Sonea's mind; this place is no longer safe; you must make the best way that you can. I'm sorry." He turned away from Takan and made to go out of the door.
_Akkarin , Akkarin! What a pretty little pet you have here! I can see why you kept her. A bit small, but she will do. What double fortune that I came across her and that she is wearing a blood ring of yours. You will feel all of her fear and pain, and in vengeance for my brother's death, you can be assured that both will be great.
Kariko's voice was hard and mocking and all magicians heard the relay.
From a corner of the room where he sat, Regin saw Akkarin's eyes move from the door and then blink, once . Then, in a quick smooth movement, Akkarin swiped at the nearest pile of boxes with his arm, sending them flying. He then grabbed the closest one and smashed it against the door frame as a word escaped from his throat in a gut-wrenching roar."NO!"
The incongruity of witnessing such a controlled, powerful and aloof magician losing all physical control was not lost on Regin. He winced and looked away.
Akkarin lent against the door frame; his forehead against the wood; his breathing hard; his eyes now closed. He inhaled a long breath and addressed Cery.
"Kariko has taken my blood ring off Sonea, for the moment. I do not know for certain where he may go." His voice was now calm, if hoarse, but his face, Cery noticed, was now devoid of all colour. Cery followed Akkarin's gaze to the red glint on his hand. He had slipped on Sonea's blood ring.
"She does not respond." He stated flatly. He grimaced. "She must be unconscious – sleeping or otherwise."
"Will he kill her? If you can't sense her, she may already be ..." Cery couldn't finish.
"No, not yet" Akkarin said quickly. "But do not think that is a blessing Cery." Akkarin looked up, his eyes blazing. "I think that the best guess is that Kariko will now make for the Guild with his remaining companion. They may hope to take the power from some of the buildings there, and to gloat over their conquests. I will go there under the passages. It is time to face these last two openly. We have done all that we can here now."
As Akkarin spoke he took the outer garments that concealed the black silk of robes beneath. He stood straight and tall. He was an intimidating sight.
"Cery, if your spies have news of Kariko – or Sonea – send word immediately to me through Takan."
Cery nodded, then as the magician made to turn away, Cery grabbed his arm. "Find her," he said simply. Akkarin's head moved in a barely perceptible acknowledgement of the request. The eyes that met Cery's were now hard and set. Only the tightening muscle in Akkarin's jaw belied the barely veiled emotions boiling underneath. Cery shuddered. The Black Magician pulled up the hood of the cloak that he had thrown about his shoulders, his face now in shadow, and, with a last glance at Takan, he turned and swept from the room, quickly merging into the darkness of the passageway beyond.