Tell Me Your Secret

Llew had continued to doze, able to while giving blood. Her connection to the Ajnai kept bothersome aches and pains at bay and, apart from having to eat, drink, and relieve her bladder and bowels, she could simply sit. Others were better equipped to keep their eyes to the sky, and when Braph finally did make an appearance, Llew wouldn’t be expected to fight him. So, although an anxiety still gnawed at her about what would happen when he showed up, she closed her eyes, relaxed, and focused all her attention on her soundscape, identifying ‘normal’ and alert to change.

Work on the farm had largely come to a halt, with only Lyneth and Elka keeping food coming during all their waking hours, taking in the occasional helper for clean up, and Karlani collecting vials from the Gravinator and spinning them out. They had moved the converted butter churn into the house; closer to Llew, but still under cover, and able to keep her energy up with frequent snacks. Karlani was inside, spinning out the latest batch – something Llew couldn’t hear over leaves in the breeze, sheep, cattle, and the occasional clothing run or boot scuff of their guard – when Llew perceived new sounds: thick material flapping, and a child’s voice.

Not knowing if anyone else had recognized the danger she shouted “Braph!” just as he touched down on the cartway, releasing his son from his grip to stand beside him.

At Llew’s exclamation, he turned to her and bowed his head with a smug smile.

Karlani burst from the kitchen.

Braph seemed to do nothing but look at her. Mid-stride, she clutched her chest, blood trickled from her nose, and she collapsed.

Llew sat shocked for a moment. Had he just killed Karlani in an instant? She unhooked her hand that had been in contact with the Ajnai, pulled the Gravinator needle from her skin, and unhooked that wrist from its sling. She allowed herself a brief contact with the Ajnai in the vain hope she did so to protect Karlani from her touch, and scrambled over to the fallen Syakaran.

Braph watched on, looking around at who else might have him in their sight. He wouldn’t see everyone, and they’d all seen what he could do. No one moved. Llew hoped that would keep his focus on her. She could probably survive whatever he threw at her, right? And, so far, he hadn’t wanted her dead. She could survive Braph.

Llew reached Karlani and felt for a pulse. The Syakaran’s eyes stared at nothing. No pulse.

Someone grunted. Sam? Llew looked to where he had been crouched. He was already toppling and soon sprawled on the ground.

Llew gaped at Braph again, somehow still surprised by his cruelty. “Why?”

“Braph.” Jonas stepped from the shadow of the farmhouse interior, drawing Llew’s attention, his gait on the new prosthetic awkward but stable.

“Ah, there you are. Looking healthier than I could’ve predicted. You will have to tell me your secret.”

Jonas shook his head, pressing his mouth into a dismissive frown. “Nah.”

A tension hung in the air while Braph considered Jonas’s attitude. Llew drew some assurance from his confidence.

Everyone else seemed to be hoping that if Braph didn’t notice them they could survive this. Llew hoped so, too. She looked down at Karlani. Her feelings about the Syakaran woman were complicated. In death, Karlani posed no threat to Llew, so all that was lost was the helper she had cast herself as and whom Llew had been increasingly relying on. And Braph had felled her with a thought.

Llew looked back at Jonas, who stood on the farmhouse porch in the midday sun, his hat shielding his eyes, which watched Braph coolly.

Braph gave a frustrated sigh.

Jonas seemed to harden, grimaced as if in pain.

He relaxed and a glassy chink sounded near Llew. As she turned to it, Braph looked down. A dark, nearly black crystal bounced to a stop on the cartway.

Llew blinked, time seeming to have slowed enough for her sluggish mind to realize what Jonas must have done. She scrambled for the crystal on hands and knees at the same time Braph bent to reclaim it.

A high-pitched yell came from near Braph and Llew had to shift her attention to the boy. He came at her, a large blade held high. Llew raised her arm to block him. He was stronger than she expected and he pushed her to her back, the blade slicing her shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the white handle in his grip. He pulled back for another blow. Jonas’s knife? This blade won’t find you today, but it will find you. And I’m sorry for that.

A wound she couldn’t heal from. An attacker she couldn’t kill … or could she? Immortals had to eat well to keep healing. Surely she could drain him eventually. Her mother’s son. Maybe not kill him. Maybe all she had to do was drain his power into an Ajnai. Little meaty bits and pieces flying everywhere. But what else could she do? She rolled, thinking she could lead, or drag, him closer to the trees, but her hesitation had already cost her, as he swung again, faster and stronger than she was prepared for. She didn’t have the time or strength to block the blade now aimed for her heart, she did have time to relax and let her hands fall over his, and hope.

Death would never not be a shocking experience. At least this time she got to share it. As the blade broke through her ribs, pierced a lung, and tore her heart, her hands locked in place. Still, a death blow from a Syakaran blade was just that.

Llew faded into blackness.

---

No. No. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

At the flash of that knife in the boy’s hand, Jonas’s blood ran cold. Didn’t matter how confident he had felt in his ability to handle Braph, he couldn’t move fast enough to stop what was about to occur. Braph had done nothing to stop the boy, just continued to scoop up his crystal, then stood and watched. Jonas might credit Braph looked surprised, otherwise he seemed as frozen as everyone else.

The boy screamed and screamed, and tried to tug his hands free. Both of Llew’s hands clasped his in place. Braph wore gloves and his usual leather ensemble. Why wasn’t he moving?

“Get me some gloves,” Jonas instructed Garnoc over his shoulder.

The boy’s screams turned to pleas to his father to help, just about breaking Jonas’s own heart in two. If it was his son, he wouldn’t be standing watching.

Once Braph clicked the crystal into place, Jonas thought he might act, but he didn’t.

“What’re you doin’? You could save him.”

Braph glanced back at him with a pained expression.

“The world doesn’t need Immortals, Jonas. Could you make that choice? He wasn’t supposed to— Llewella could’ve siphoned his power into an Ajnai …”

The boy still fought against Llew’s hold, screaming and sobbing in pain and helplessness, which meant he still had life to give, giving Jonas time.

“She still can.”

Garnoc brought his gloves. He pulled them on and built himself a platform of concentrated air just off the edge of the porch, stepped onto it and floated across the cartway and landed himself gently by Llew. Braph watched him open-mouthed, his usual smugness gone, his eyes scanning Jonas’s arms and body, no doubt looking for a mechanical enhancement.

With a thought, Jonas triggered the crystal-release mechanism on Braph’s device again. If his brother wasn’t going to help, he wouldn’t have him hindering. This time, Jonas followed up by flinging the crystal well out of Braph’s reach. Braph growled, and dug into his pocket for another crystal. Jonas considered flicking that away, too, but no doubt Braph had several others and all it was doing was distracting Jonas from the more important task. He called on what he knew of the device he’d helped Braph make here at the farm and exerted pressure on one of the little clips that held the crystal in place, bending it.

He wished he could crouch by Llew, pull the knife and scoop her up, but wishing didn’t make it so. He bent, about to pull the knife free, hesitated. If he did that, she would bleed freely, killing the boy, Orin, even faster. The kid was Immortal, but how much did he have to give to a Syaenuk unable to heal?

Llew gasped, coughed, moaned, and went silent again, slack. Dead.

Braph growled in frustration.

“Rowan!” Jonas called on his strongest ally. Rowan wasn’t wearing gloves, but Llew was clothed in long sleeves and trousers. If he was cautious, he would be fine. Jonas glanced behind him. “Help your son,” he said to Braph.

“You broke my device!” Braph raised his right hand, the gloved fingers hanging uselessly.

“You won’t need it anymore. Help your son!”

“Dad, please, help!”

Rowan crouched by Llew, ready to scoop her up. Finally, Braph joined them.

Llew shuddered again. And, again, went limp, and Orin screamed anew.

Rowan hoisted Llew. Braph slid his left arm around Orin, helping to keep hims standing and moving in time with Rowan as they shuffled to an Ajnai.

As Rowan placed Llew down, Jonas let his unbending prosthetic slide out and eased himself to the ground beside her.

All the while Orin wailed, “Get me out! Make her let go!” and screamed in agony. He sounded strong, with no sign of the fading Anya had displayed. Braph helped ease Orin to kneeling beside Llew.

“Pull the knife,” Jonas instructed his br— Braph. “You’ve got the leverage, and the gloves. Pull it!”

With a grudging grimace, Braph reached down, hooked his fingers under Orin’s hands and dragged them up, easing the knife from Llew’s chest. Blood soaked into her shirt. Orin screamed.

Jonas grasped Llew’s hand, lifting it towards the Ajnai bark.

Braph placed his hand over Jonas’s. “Don’t. He would be another Aris. Do you want to be responsible for that?”

Orin’s cries would haunt Jonas the rest of his life.

---

After chaos, Llew woke to an apparent calm. No one screamed. There were no sounds of fighting. A leather-gloved hand pressed hers to an Ajnai, the final pulse of power drawing through that contact, reminding her of Gaemil holding her in place after she’d drained Anya. Her vision still black, she tugged at the hold. But it was good, actually, to heal after dying. What had done it this time? Jonas’s knife wielded by her half-brother. She flinched as she lined up her fading memories with what she knew of now. Had she killed him? Or had someone figured out what she had hoped to do and moved them to allow an Ajnai to take his power through her?

She lived, though, and Anya had told her what happened to Aenuks who funneled so much power. They didn’t live. Would a Syaenuk? Maybe. She hoped so. Jonas still needed her.

She allowed herself a few breaths, reassuring herself she could have survived such a challenge, even if she had been dead throughout.

A child’s anguished scream echoed in her memory. Just as she could remember stirring in the hangman’s noose, she recalled fractured moments of waking, of … living.

And Orin screaming.

It had been instinct, on seeing that knife come for her, to place her hands where they would lock him in her deadly grasp. She hadn’t had time to think if it was right for her to take his life. In that instant, she had been ready to take the life of a child. Her mother’s child.

A sob escaped her.

And Braph’s. But no matter how she felt about the man, she could hardly blame a child for his parentage.

Her hand was still pressed to the Ajnai. She concentrated on that touch, excluding all else for a blessed moment, sensing the final threads of ghi slipping through her skin.

When she was certain it was done and she could deny reality no more, she released a breath, blinked her eyes open, and glanced sideways to find Jonas beside her, leaning across to hold her hand to the tree beneath his leather gloved hand. He lived. Did that mean Braph was dead? Oh, please, make it so. He watched her expectantly.

“It’s done,” she said.

He eased his hold, lifted her hand from the bark and placed it on her chest. He rested his own hand over hers for a moment but, encased in leather, it provided minimal comfort.

Fully healed, she had no need to recuperate, no excuse to remain blissfully ignorant. She gave Jonas a nod.

He turned from her. “Rowan,” he said, and sat back from her as Rowan stepped in to help Llew sit.

When he stepped back, reality revealed itself.

A crowd gathered around them: Elka, Lyneth, Edwyn, Eirian, Delwynn, Garnoc, Ivor, Ianto, Winnie, Blink, and … Braph. Loathing and revulsion filled her. He was surrounded, but not obviously hurt, or captured. Llew didn’t know what that meant, but she had yet to comprehend her surroundings. She looked down, feeling all the guilt and sorrow she hoped was appropriate at the sight of Orin’s body beside her. She had killed another child, although … blood stained the coarse sand beneath his head. She stretched to see clearer. It seemed his throat had been sliced. She hadn’t done that.

Beside her, Rowan helped Jonas stand. His new prosthetic didn’t bend at the knee, though once standing he had excellent balance on the stiff springy action.

Jonas held his hand out to Blink who handed him a knife, his knife, Llew was sure. It had found her, just as Jonas had promised. Had it also found Orin? Why did Blink have it?

Jonas walked over to Braph, only a slight hobble to his gait. Those nearest the Karan backed up a step. “That was cruel.”

“But you would agree it had to be done.”

“Probably.” Jonas scowled. “But not like that. You should’ve done it yourself.”

Braph smirked. “I could not have done that in front of his mother.” He shifted his balance, looking far too comfortable in Llew’s opinion. “Truth be told, I thought Llew could drain his powers. You said she knew how.”

Llew stood and brushed dirt from her trouser seat. “Yeah, I know. But I don’t know if I would survive it.”

Jonas glared at her. “You never said—”

Llew waved him off, but the way he paled …

Jonas turned back to Braph, kicked him in the back of the knees, dropping him to the ground and holding him there with a hand on his shoulder. Braph tried to peel that hand away with his one good hand. The one attached to his device hung limp.

The grim satisfaction she felt in seeing Braph brought down shocked Llew. This man was responsible for everything bad that had happened in her life; for bringing Jonas into it, and threatening to take him away again. Even this part of her that bayed for blood, that was on him.

“Now, Jonas— Brother—” Braph kept trying to grip Jonas’s fingers. His efforts appeared futile.

“Don’t ‘brother’ me.” Jonas brought the knife forward to rest on Braph’s right shoulder. “I have let you hurt too many people.”

“Let,”Braph scoffed even as the glance he leveled at the knife was fearful.

Jonas threaded fingers through Braph hair, drawing his head back.

“Look, Jonas. Orinia awaits my return. She’ll be distraught.” Braph reached across in an effort to grip the wrist of Jonas’s hand that held the knife, but Jonas pressed the blade into his neck, freeing Braph mid-reach. He peered out the corner of his eye at Llew. “Llewella. Your mother will be very disappointed—”

“That you killed her son?”

“I didn’t. He did.” Braph pointed at Blink. “You did first. It’s not my— I was trying to—”

Jonas kneed Braph in the back. “You should’ve done it, coward.”

Braph grunted and flailed, and Jonas used the moment to slice the Karan’s throat, his lips pressed tight, grim.

Braph coughed and blood flowed. His working hand groped for his throat and his mouth gaped on final words he would never speak.

Llew watched, a part of her waiting for the magician to pull out a last second defense, but all he did was splutter and slump, eventually only held up by Jonas’s grip on his hair. When Jonas released him, he collapsed to the ground. Blood pooled beneath his throat.

No one moved for several moments. When Llew was certain Braph really wasn’t going to move again, she looked up at Jonas. He stood behind his brother’s body, bloody knife still in hand, looking at her, his eyes shining. Llew went to him and pulled him into a hug. A strange mood settled over them. Llew was relieved, but it wasn’t really over. Braph may be dead, but his invention lived on in Jonas’s body, still ravaging him. They weren’t done with him yet.

Jonas’s arms squeezed her tightly to him. “I nearly killed you.” His voice was thick.

Llew squeezed him back. “I’m here.” She’d kept back the knowledge of what draining an Immortal’s power into an Ajnai might do to her to keep the option of saving the day open, knowing full well he wouldn’t just let her do it. Perhaps she should’ve told him. Thankfully he hadn’t discovered on his own.

After a few minutes, they parted, rejoining the rest of the somber crowd, who were dispersing slowly, taking in the still bodies littered around the cartway. Rowan crouched by Karlani, with Elka standing nearby, murmuring over what could’ve killed her.

Llew joined them. “What did he do to her?”

Elka shook her head. “Don’t know. Internal bleeding of s— some kind. We would need to do an autops— sy to know for sure. Cut her open,” Elka clarified when Llew screwed up her face at her own lack of comprehension.

Then Llew screwed up her face in comprehension. “I guess we don’t really need to know.”

“Not unless Jonas wants more ideas on what he could do with the magic,” Elka said, matter-of-factly.

“I’m sure he’ll be quite satisfied being able to fly and fight again.” Llew glanced over to where Sam had fallen. A lump formed in her throat at his loss. He had been so close to the future she’d promised him.

A noise drew her attention over her shoulder. Jonas sat in one of the chairs beneath the Ajnai, his head in his hands. Llew went to him and crouched before him, a hand on his back in an effort to console him.

Without lifting his head, he shook it. “I’m so sorry, Llew. It was the right thing to do, by you, by everybody …”

“But he was your brother.”

“Was …” He sniffed and looked at her, his eyes red.

“I get it.” She would never feel what he did for Braph, but she could accept that he loved who Braph had been to him at one time, who he might’ve been had he taken a different path. Who Jonas had wanted him to be. Whatever hope Jonas had held onto was gone now. Llew wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him while he felt what he needed to feel.