Lord of the White Hell Book One

Chapter Twenty-Three

Kiram resisted with all his will. He concentrated on flexing the muscles of his legs and digging his heels into the wet ground. Focusing all his strength, he managed to slow the strides of his body to clumsy stumbling steps.

"You willful Kir-Zakis never make it easy, do you?" Alizadeh grumbled as he dragged Kiram forward into the Irabiim camp. Irabiim women watched them with curious expressions. Young men looked away as Kiram staggered past. Rafie met them a few feet from the wagon where they had slept the night before. He glanced briefly between Alizadeh and Kiram and then scowled.

"Kiram, you swore you wouldn't try to run away," Rafie said.

"He didn't," Alizadeh replied. "At least he hasn't yet."

"Then why are you're holding him in a thrall?"

"Bait to trap for a certain duke," Alizadeh replied. Kiram had expected a different answer and clearly so had Rafie.

"What do you want with the Cadeleonian duke?"

"He opened the shajdi this morning." Alizadeh didn't release his grip on Kiram's wrist as he sagged back against the wall of the wagon. Sweat beaded his brow.

"That's not possible, is it?" Rafie asked and then he lowered his voice to a whisper. "You told me yourself that the craft of forging portals was locked away by the Bahiim."

"It was and it remains so." Alizadeh's voice was equally low. "Somehow Calixto Tornesal discovered the secret, found a sacrifice, and forged a portal. That's what the Tornesal's white hell is."

"So that's what the man on the hill is after," Rafie said quietly. "Not just a dukedom but the power of a shajdi as well."

Alizadeh nodded. "We can't allow a shajdi to fall into the hands of the Cadeleonian church, especially not the royal bishop."

Hope surged in Kiram's heart. Maybe Alizadeh would intercede on Javier's behalf after all.

"Hopefully the duke is young enough that his link with the shajdi is weak and I'll be able to break it," Alizadeh said.

Hope turned to horror. The white hell-the shajdi that powered it-was all that protected Javier from the curse. If Alizadeh broke that then Javier would die just as his mother and father had.

Kiram concentrated on jerking his arm back from Alizadeh's grasp. He felt his forearm flex. A shudder passed through Alizadeh.

"Something wrong?" Rafie asked Alizadeh.

"Ybur nephew's not any easier to enthrall than you were when we were in Hidras," Alizadeh said to Rafie.

"We're a stubborn family." Rafie glanced to Kiram. "You shouldn't fight Alizadeh. He's doing what's right."

"N…no." Kiram's lips felt like lead slabs as he struggled to form words that eventually emerged as a groan. "You'll. kill.. Javier."

"Should I fetch Nakiesh or Liahn?" Rafie asked.

"No…" Alizadeh frowned out at the distant groups of Irabiim. "They really might kill the duke. It would be the easiest way to close the portal and the Irabiim could flee to other lands before the Cadeleonians mounted a reprisal. No, we need to keep this among ourselves."

"So, what can I do?" Rafie asked.

"A draught to put your nephew to sleep would help me greatly." Alizadeh looked out past Kiram. "I don't think I'm going to have much time to prepare before the duke arrives and I'm going to need my strength."

"I'll mix a few drams of duera. That should take Kiram off your hands."

"Thank you, my dear." Alizadeh smiled and Rafie leaned close to kiss his cheek.

"Don't scowl like that, Kiram," Rafie said gently. "This is for the best, and honestly you look like you could use the sleep." Then Rafie turned and bounded into the wagon.

Kiram struggled to pull out of Alizadeh's grasp. He didn't have much time if he was going to make his escape. Alizadeh's grip tightened around his wrist and his fingers suddenly felt like brands of fire.

Be calm, Kiram. I will not harm you or your young duke. Alizadeh's voice filtered through Kiram's thoughts.

Yes, you will! Kiram could only think the words. He trembled with the frustration at his numb, mute body. He wanted to scream at Alizadeh. You'll strip Javier of the only protection he has against the curse and he'll die. He'll die in agony!

"If he no longer possesses the white hell then the man on the hill may not bother to maintain the curse," Alizadeh answered though Kiram had said nothing aloud.

You don't believe that. Kiram concentrated on Alizadeh, and the burning sensation of Alizadeh' grasp seemed to roll up from his arm to engulf his entire body. He had felt something like this, when Javier had opened the white hell for him. Javier's presence in his mind had been hot as well, but sensual and inviting. Alizadeh was a scouring flame, searing into Kiram's thoughts.

Despite the discomfort, Kiram pushed his consciousness into the scorching presence and thought hard.

I can tell from your expression. You know you're condemning Javier. You're condemning him the same way that Nazario Sagrada condemned innocent Haldiim to their deaths. You're as bad as him.

"Perhaps, but Kiram," Alizadeh looked suddenly deeply tired and Kiram was glad to have affected him, "there is more at stake here than one man's life. A shajdi is not some plaything. It is a locus where all death becomes life. It is power, pure and formless. The very soul of creation. When a shajdi comes under the dominion of humanity it changes. Over time it takes form, becoming what they will it to be. The shajdi that your friend possesses is probably already deeply corrupted by the generations of Tornesals. It is becoming the hell they have imagined it to be. If it remains in your friend's control it will bring forth the devils of his religion. He will give them form and the shajdi will give them life. They will enter our world. They will be a plague upon all living things. That must not happen. Do you understand?"

Kiram did understand, but he still couldn't accept the sacrifice of Javier's life.

Alizadeh seemed to see Kiram's resistance. His green eyes narrowed in anger.

"Do you know why King Nazario Sagrada tortured and murdered so many Haldiim, Kiram?" Alizadeh didn't wait for Kiram's response. "He and his bishops wanted to possess a shajdi. Had they succeeded in their quest they would have brought the tortures of the Cadeleonian church out into this world and conquered all nations. Countless Bahiim died to keep that from happening. We endured his tortures and we destroyed our own writings. At the very last we locked the knowledge away, depriving even our own people of the shajdi's healing powers rather than allowing them to become perverted. All those deaths, all that sacrifice can't have been for nothing. This shajdi must not become a Cadeleonian hell."

Kiram thought: But you're condemning Javier for something that he hasn't done. You don't know how he sees the white hell. I do. It isn't full of devils. It's light and beautiful. I saw a Bahiim tree there and words but nothing else. Javier isn't creating some terrible Cadeleonian hell with the shajdi. It's a refuge for him. If anything, that's what he'll make it into. A place of peace. Please, Alizadeh, you have to believe me.

For the first time Alizadeh looked uncertain.

"You have been inside the shajdi?"

Yes, Javier shielded me while I read a script that could only be seen in the shajdi's light.

Alizadeh nodded, apparently familiar with such script. Again, the burning sensation seemed to surge through Kiram's body. Unwillingly, Kiram's memory of that afternoon arose. Kiram felt Alizadeh searching through them as one might leaf through a book. Kiram struggled to escape Alizadeh's grasp before the sensations of that day-the feel and taste of Javier's body-rushed over him again. His resistance made no impact. In seconds, Kiram basked in the light of the white hell and read Calixto's words. Then he felt Javier's warm lips and insistent tongue and flushed with embarrassment, knowing that Alizadeh could see his pleasure in the sensations.

Then suddenly a chill swept through Kiram and he was once again standing in front of an Irabiim wagon. Alizadeh still held his wrist, but not with the enthralling grasp he had used earlier.

Alizadeh released Kiram very deliberately.

"All right, Kiram. I believe you," Alizadeh said after a moment. "But I still need to see the shajdi for myself. I'll need your help."

"The duera is prepared." Rafie stepped out of the wagon with a porcelain vial in his hands.

"There's been a change of plan," Alizadeh called to Rafie.

"Oh?" Rafie asked. "Well you'd better tell me about it quickly because I think I just caught sight of the duke and he looks like he has a few friends with him."

Across the open field Kiram spotted Javier in the midst of cleared the stone wall that surrounded the fairgrounds with Elezar close on his heels. Nestor followed behind them a little more clumsily. The three of them strode across the open field, heading towards the remains of the Irabiim camp.

"I'm putting a great deal of trust in you, Kiram," Alizadeh said.

Kiram nodded, overwhelmed with relief. He thought he might agree to anything if it meant that Javier would be safe. "I know and I can't thank you-"

"Just listen." Alizadeh caught the lotus medallion that Kiram wore. "Rafie and I will ask the duke to take you home with him-a little duera will ensure that you look worn out. Once you have the duke alone you'll need to convince him to allow you into the shajdi again. I'll be able to see the extent of the shajdi's corruption through you."

"And if you decide that the shadji is contaminated, then what?" Kiram asked.

"Then I'll have to strip the shajdi from the duke by any means possible." Alizadeh glanced to Javier briefly. Then he returned his attention to Kiram. "I don't want to harm your duke-"

"He has a name," Kiram said.

"Javier, then," Alizadeh conceded. '1 don't want to harm him. If I find that the shajdi is still intact, then there may even be a way that I can help him to destroy the shadow curse. But I must see the shajdi myself to know."

"If you're lying-if you're using me to hurt him, I won't ever forgive you."

"No, I can't imagine that you would." Alizadeh smiled for the first time since they'd left the fairgrounds. "Fortunately for us both I'm telling you the truth. So, will you help me or not?"

"Yes," Kiram said.

"Good." Alizadeh suddenly leaned close and lifted the lotus medallion to his lips. He whispered a strange word and a shudder passed through his body. Then he let the medallion fall back against Kiram's chest.

Alizadeh swayed and then caught himself. His face paled but his expression was calm. Rafie came to his side, placing a supporting hand casually on Alizadeh's back.

"Drink a just a little of the duera," Alizadeh told Kiram. He gazed up into the sky.

Kiram hesitated only an instant before he accepted the vial from Rafie and took a quick sip. "Now what?"

"Sit down," Rafie said. "Before you fall down."

Kiram took his advice and leaned back against the wagon as the familiar, lightheaded feeling of the duera came over Kiram. He didn't try to fight it. Instead, he watched Javier approach. He strode past groups of heavily bangled Irabiim youths and they averted their gazes. In the trees overhead crows took flight. Javier's dark eyes scanned the camp and in an instant Kiram found him staring straight at him. His intense expression softened and a slight smile curved his mouth.

Kiram lazily lifted his hand and waved. Nestor waved back at him enthusiastically and then rushed ahead of both Javier and Elezar.

"Kiram!" Nestor shouted. "We've been looking all over for you." Nestor bounded out of the way of a sleeping dog and then skidded to a stop in front of Rafie and Alizadeh. He bowed to them.

"It's good to see you again, young Master Grunito," Rafie said in flawless Cadeleonian. Alizadeh smiled at Nestor but said nothing.

"Good to see you as well, sirs." Nestor beamed at them but frowned when he turned his attention to Kiram. "You look done in."

"His arm was hurting him," Rafie said. "I gave him a little duera for the pain but I think he may need to rest as well."

"What's this? Kiram's injured his arm?" Elezar asked. He and Javier had just reached the edge of the cooking fire. Thin trails of smoke drifted from the dying embers. Elezar waved them away from his face. Javier simply stepped past. Even in the squalor of the half-abandoned Irabiim camp, an air of elegance seemed to surround Javier. Kiram tried to remind himself that this giddy enchantment was just an effect of the drug.

Javier offered Rafie and Alizadeh a cursory half bow and Elezar followed his example. Kiram found his gaze drifting back to Javier's lips and remembering the soft heat of them against his skin.

"Now what's happened to your arm, Kiram?" Elezar demanded. Kiram opened his mouth but didn't quite trust himself to reply.

"He was wounded the first day of the tournament fighting Ariz Plunado. You lost three crowns to me in the wager, remember?" Javier glanced at Kiram with a slightly worried expression.

"I remember losing the money," came Elezar's sulky response.

"My arm started to act up again this afternoon," Kiram explained.

"You should have mentioned it," Nestor chided him.

"I didn't want to be a bother."

"It's not a bother," Nestor said. "Except that we had no idea why you vanished so suddenly. I was worried that. something.had happened to you. So were Javier and Elezar."

"I'm feeling better already," Kiram said though he thought the words came out a little slurred. He straightened and addressed his uncle. "Do you think it would be all right if I went to look around the fairgrounds with my friends?"

Rafie nodded, his expression one of quiet concern.

Alizadeh turned his attention to Javier. "You are his guardian, Lord Tornesal, so I would ask you to please look after him. You must not leave him alone while he's in this state."

Javier stepped closer to Kiram. "Of course, I'll stay beside him."

"We had planned to lodge with the Irabiim this evening but obviously that will not be possible." Rafie waved his hand at the three remaining travel wagons of the dismantled Irabiim camp. "Kiram will need somewhere to spend the night."

"He is welcome at my home," Javier offered quickly. "As are the two of you. I would be honored if you would stay at the Tornesal townhouse with me."

"We would be delighted." Alizadeh's smile became predatory. Neither Javier nor the Grunito brothers seemed to notice.

"We would be glad to accept your hospitality later this evening," Rafie said. "For now, we still have some business to arrange with our friends here. We should be able to join you before the fifth bell."

"Very good," Javier replied. "Kiram and I will see you then."

Again Alizadeh gave a pleased nod.

"Take care," Rafie told Kiram. He placed a soft leather coin pouch in Kiram's hand. "Buy yourself something to eat. It will steady you."

"I will." Kiram slipped the pouch into his pocket. "Thank you."

"No chance of Labara wine, I suppose?" Elezar asked once they were back on the fairgrounds.

"Not today," Javier replied. He caught Kiram's elbow and pulled him back from a fascinatingly large boar.

"I've seen him before," Kiram said.

"Yss, you're old friends, no doubt," Javier replied. "Duera goes straight to your head, doesn't it?"

Kiram would have disagreed but then a brilliantly plumed bird caught his attention. Javier laughed at him but Kiram was sure the bird gave him a knowing wink.

Most of the afternoon passed in a relative haze. Kiram ate several rolls stuffed with cabbage and pungent meat and he purchased an assortment of odd, glittering trinkets that struck him as wonderful gifts for his friends in Anacleto. At one point he suggested that Nestor could make a small fortune selling pictures of Javier to the gaggles of young women who were always eyeing him. Then he challenged Elezar to a game of ring toss and proceeded to throw his rings everywhere but onto the mounted bull's horns.

As the afternoon grew late, he and Javier returned to the Tornesal townhouse. When they were alone in Javier's bedroom, Kiram asked Javier to open the white hell so that he might read another passage from Calixto's diary. Javier laughed and reminded him of the price they had agreed to. Kiram pulled Javier close, kissing him deeply.

Javier embraced him tightly and Kiram was not sure if the rush of heat was the white hell or the surge of his own passion. Then the luminous depth of the white hell opened around him. From the center of his chest, just where the lotus talisman lay, an icy chill sparked and spread through him with a terrible, cold blackness. Kiram tried to grasp Javier, but he couldn't see him. He tried to call his name but nothing came out. Kiram's legs buckled. He fell but did not feel his body strike the ground.