Nethermost Realm: Prisoner of Arlunn

Chapter 49

Rian took a deep breath. He should never had let the Arlunni bring Kyran here. The Arlunni had never trusted him. Kye was still only 10 years old; he was just a child--no matter what the Arlunni said. Too young to spend his life as a prisoner. If only Rian had been here for him, instead of off in the Interstitium getting caught up in the Challenge ... as if that was important!

Kyran had always been a strange little kid. And he'd never been able to handle emotions. Rian could feel his fear. Uncontrolled. The room was filled with it--fear and anger.

Ehina made a movement as though getting ready to attack. "Stop," said Rian, looking her way. "Don't move."

"He has to be dealt with," she breathed, unnerved by the situation. She had no idea what to expect from Kyran.

"I'll deal with it," said Rian. He took another few steps towards his brother. He tried to fill his mind with calm, they way they'd taught him when he was meditating.

"You have to calm down, Kye," he said. "Everything will be all right." Almost, he thought he saw the red drain a little from Kyran's eyes. But then it got worse.

"No, it won't! They want to destroy me!" Kyran glanced accusingly at Ehina, and his eyes flashed bright red again.

Rian didn't doubt it, but it was the Arlunni who had brought Kyran back from the dead when Molan was killed. Ehina, in fact.

Now, Rian had to do something, before the situation got out of hand. Rian took a step towards him. It wasn't the first time he'd had to calm his brother. He was good at it--but it was the first time his brother had possession of terrible magicks.

"Kyran," he said in his most soothing big-brother tone. "Look at me." The boy looked up at him with those red eyes, the raw magic power in his left hand changed from green to red to gold, ready to cast a spell. Rian reached towards Kyran with his mind. They had done a mind-link once before and since then, Rian had mind-linked with others. If he could just get through, then he might be able to calm his brother down.

Rian felt as if he connected with something, as though he had slipped into the outer layer of Kyran's mind. It was a whorling vortex of anger, pain and fear. Rian felt a sense of panic. Perhaps too much of Molan remained in Kyran. Part of what made up Kyran's soul had come from the evil mage. But the other part had come Rian's own father, whose life had been taken when the magic-spawn had been created. Kyran looked over at Ehina, who took a few steps closer.

"Look at me," Rian commanded Kyran. Kyran's gaze snapped back to him. Slowly, Rian collected all the calm he could muster and tried to pour it into Kyran. "We'll figure this out. Everything will be fine."

Kyran stared up at Rian, almost mesmerized, as though relinquishing some of his control. Rian took a deep breath. It felt invasive, but he moved deeper into Kyran's mind. He felt the raw magical power stored in his brother. He had to diffuse it. To do that, he'd have to cast some spells. That was the only way he could think of. Rian had learned a lot about spellcasting from Arryk, but Kyran had knowledge of spells left over from his time as Molan's magic-spawn—blood magic spells. Knowledge of many of these spells now hovered near the surface of Kyran's thought, as though he planned to cast one.

Rian could see the spell Kyran had cast on the guard, a mental attack, combined with drawing the guard's life-force out in order to have spellcasting energy. There was a reverse version of this. He couldn't put the life-force back into the guard, but he might be able to free the guard's mind. Rian directed Kyran's mind to begin forming this spell.

Then, together, Rian and Kyran prepared the spell until the power in Kyran's left hand changed to a dark purple. "Cast," commanded Rian.

Kyran raised his hand and cast the spell at the guard who's mind was stuck in agony. The spell went off and hit the guard, whose muscles relaxed. He fell to the ground.