Bond Breakers

Ghosts of Aradia

Merran was ordering her ideas as they rode the Discs to the highest platform. The breeze was still warm as it always was in Aradia, and the night; a starlit kaleidoscope of colours shinning in the clear night sky. Khumo and Tia were discussing their own cities and the different enchantments that made each unique. Merran would've loved to listen, to learn of new spells and share Temis's latest innovations, however, there was too much on her mind. The Caves, the kidnapped; how had it gone unchecked. And the Gift-stones, she had a sneaky suspicion...

"Merran," her name was practically shouted.

She had been lost in her musings to hear them. She blinked away the thoughts.

"Sorry what?"

Kaijan grinned at her. "You were so lost in thought you almost walked off the Disc."

"Someone's got to do the thinking when you're around Kaij," Tia elbowed him, "otherwise we'd be in trouble."

Khumo laughed at the joke. A deep melody that echoed on the breeze.

"I'll have you know I think all the time," he responded playfully pushing Khumo, who didn't move an inch.

'What do you think about?"

Kaijan ran his hands through his long black hair, pushing some of the stray stairs back into the ponytail. "Lots of stuff."

"Let me help him out," Khumo interjected, his voice a pleasant rumble in the warm wind, "what did you find Mer? tonight was... worrying..."

He trailed off, for such a gigantic presence, the hint of fear was far more chilling. Merran knew why, she had seen evidence of it tonight. Misa had two Tarkidians answer to her. It would've been utterly normal a few decades ago when Sulphites had used Gift-stones to control the minds of Khumo's brethren. Most Tarks, like Khumo were unbelievably strong and masters of combat, but it was more than that, their race had a different reaction to the Stones, when bonded the abilities Tarkidians had were enhanced one-hundred-fold, that was why while most had a chance of slipping the control, Tarkidians didn't. Once bonded, it was over. It took almost a decade to ween them off their fix. To stop them from following orders from masters who were no more. History is what it came down to, what all her theories hinged on.

But if anyone could help it was the other leaders. Those who had no choice but to study the history, to understand because it was that notion, that knowledge that would make them fight tooth and nail to prevent it from happening again.

All of their eyes were locked onto her. Wide. Expecting. Waiting for her to explain, to tell them what she had uncovered. She doubted anyone would be able to hear them as they whipped through the wind.

"Do you remember how the Bridge was created?"

Confused faces greeted her question.

"You mean the one we just jumped off?" Tia asked, curiosity winning out.

She nodded.

Khumo's voice lost all of its warmth. "The old prison."

Kaijan put a hand on his friend's shoulder, Merran was beginning to notice how close the two of them were. And it showed, it showed how far they had come. That Aradia had come.

That a Sulphite, a race that had tortured, used, and enslaved the Tarks in a war of such brutality, would console his once enemy, and that, that victim could find it to forgive.

So, she told them about her encounter with Misa, about the caves, the traps, the power and the Tarkidians.

"Were they marked?" Khumo was fierce now, his eyes like pinpricks in the darkness. All that softness gone, this man that stood before her now would do anything to protect his people. And she imagined he could tear his enemies apart with only his hands.

"I couldn't see. I didn't look. I'm sorry," she mumbled disappointed that she hadn't thought to seek the marks, "I was pretty terrified."

Khumo laid a huge hand on her shoulder. "Merran, I have heard much about you."

She doubted that.

"About the brave woman of Temis. The devoted leader. The provider. What you did tonight, how you did it, the information you have obtained will go a long way into saving more people."

Merran looked up into Khumo's eyes. The light in them had dimmed to tanzanite, flecks of gold glinting against polished brown. Respect and admiration shone in them, but Merran found she didn't need it, not that she didn't appreciate it. Khumo had been the one who had taken his people, ex-slaves, forced into servitude, hated, and prejudiced against by Aradians for doing the biddings of the Sulphites. For being the faces behind the army, the slaughter. And built a city in the forest where they'd have all the tools to build instead of break. Where he slowly and timeously weened them off their masters and their orders. And changed the way people saw them from destroyers to creators. From violent monsters to peaceful neighbours, from the enemy to Aradians.

"We all do our best for Aradia." She didn't say our people, they were one and the same now, and he got the message.

"But what do you think it all means?" Kaijan gazed intently at the Festiviva, even from this height she could still make out the swirling lights from below. All of the humour she normally saw there was gone, replaced by a leader's face, a serious expression that demanded answers to questions that concerned him.

"I don't think the prison was destroyed as a symbol; I believe it was eradicated because —

She was interrupted by an instantly recognisable face. "About time," the commander of Aradian's army said. Shè Silver stood on the highest platform looking every bit the warrior Merran knew her to be. Curling crimson locks, freckles, intelligent eyes that always seemed to weigh up everything.

The leader of the guard had trained her, and was — had been one of her closest friends before —

"Commander," the others greeted respectfully, and then laughed at the recently earned title.

"Tia, Khumo, Kaijan... Merran," she nodded at each of them in turn. "I would say we save pleasantries until later; the king has an announcement to make.

"And then we can have a drink and you can tell me what caused the rift between you and the other leaders, and why you're arriving back from the greatest party in all of Aradia looking like you've seen a ghost."