The Forlorn (11 page)

And their mother.

He had found her clutching his youngest sister against her chest. Nelciana’s sister Nalornora was dead next to his mother. She had been but sixteen, with the promise of great beauty ahead of her. But his sister had been but three years, and no piece of her soul remained. The Dark Sorcerer had devoured her.

His mother was burned and scarred and desolate. And the dark sorcerer’s fire was coming toward them. He had lifted his mother in his arms, still clutching the dead child, and he had carried her into another world.

He had buried his sister beneath a butterfly tree, knowing the little girl would have loved the bright pinks and purples of the flowers that resembled Gaian butterflies.

He had taken his mother to a place where she could be safe, where the burns upon her body could heal. He had stayed with her for three days, until he’d found help for her. Then he had returned to the world of his birth.

To Evalanedea, land of his father’s fathers. His family and the Nellanas, of which Rajna had been a daughter, had settled the world of Evalanedea.

But the dark sorcerer had wanted it.  And had taken it.

Jushua had found a band of survivors numbering less than four hundred.

His siblings and the entire Nellana family were not among them.

And his mother had lived with fear in her soul ever since.

Jushua swung his blade. Deki parried.

“Come on, little brother, you can do far better than that.”

The taunt came from behind Jushua. But he did not turn around. The voice belonged to the male that had been reborn with Kilan’s soul. Nalik Black even possessed a scar that echoed the blow the dark sorcerer had given Kilan that felled the eldest Dardaptoan brother.

Nalik was a mere seven hundred years, but thanks to his ascension to Laquazzeana in recent years, he was far older in strength and power.

Jushua wasn’t entirely certain he—even with Dekimos at his side—could defeat the Gaian Dardaptoan.

There were too many damned Laquazzeana in this world for his own comfort.

His mother was one. Nalik and his Nalik’s mate Cassandra. The prince of this world had a Laquazzeana mate who scared the shit out of Jushua, and there was the healer girl Bronwen whose male had found Dekimos.

And he suspected his brother Deki was one as well. But he had not asked, nor would he.

Laquazzeana were more powerful than any deity of any world Jushua had ever visited. They were strong, powerful, and some said bordering on insane.

Some said the power that filled them was enough to eat at their souls. That was one reason many spent time in total isolation. Deki had been alone for thousands of years before he had been found.

“The upstart waits. Think you we can take him? ”Deki asked.

“You cannot even take me on alone, dear brother.  Let alone ol’batboy.” Nalik had the unique ability to shift into multiple animals, and frequently chose the Gaian bat—a small, winged rodent—as his preferred animal. Nalik had smirked and said Jushua wouldn’t get it when Jushua had first asked about the small creature.

He could have at least chosen a hawk or other raptor. Something a bit more masculine than a cuddly mouse with wings.

“Jushua, there are things I know about that your small warrior brain will never be able to understand. I can bring you to your knees without thought.”

Deki dropped the sword then moved quicker than a spirit-blur. Jushua found his weapon yanked from his hands and imbedded in the hard stone of the castle yard—inches from Nalik’s feet.

Jushua himself ended up face down on the ground, his older brother sitting upon him. “Yield, little Jushie?”

“If the two of you are finished playing, we have business to take care of.”

Jushua looked up at Nalik and was disconcerted for just a moment at how much the reborned one looked like the original soul possessor. Did he have Kilan’s thoughts and memories? Did he remember Kilan giving Jushua his first sword? Training him in the wheat fields that had surrounded the castle that they had called home? Or was it just the physical visage the male possessed, and just a fraction of Kilan’s soul?

He did not know how it had been managed. How had his twin Kennera, goddess of the Gaian Dardaptoans, managed to rebirth their siblings’ souls?

They had found two more reborn siblings among the Gaian Dardaptoans who had been relocated to the demon world months ago—Havalana the Healer, and the Laquazzeana healer girl Bronwen.

Jushua did not know how it was he was supposed to feel about the females.

They were not the sisters he had once known and loved—but they were.

Dardaptoans believed in the notion of recycled souls. It was something Jushua and his own father had discussed eons ago. But that someone of their Kind had managed to somehow force particular souls to be reborn because of the love that someone held for the rebirthed spirit—that had never been done before the dark sorcerer’s attack. And as far as he knew, save for Kennera and Nelciana Nellana, the Gaian Druid Goddess that Jushua had once been betrothed to, it had not been done since.

His mother had embraced the reborn souls with all the fervor that only a mother with a lost child could. Havalana? Possessed the very spirit of the sister Jushua had buried beneath the butterfly tree. How was he supposed to think of that?

“What business have we?” Deki was more aware than Jushua apparently. Why was his head so clouded? He looked at Deki and saw the smirk. “What, Jushie? Think you I would not use all the weapons I possess in battle? Forgot you what father and Kilan had taught us?”

His brother held out a hand and Jushua took it, the gesture a sign of respect and trust. The fog on his mind immediately cleared.

Dekimos had learned a lot in his five plus thousand years hidden in another world. Jushua did not know exactly where his brother had been all those years, and had yet to ask.

Dekimos had made it very clear that he was not ready to divulge all of his secrets.

And Jushua had to respect that…