Sleep was difficult. Every time he drifted off, his dreams played to a droning sermon in the background. The sermon spoke of the dangers of the humans and their allies. They are unyielding and close-minded, it told him. Is this some strange side effect of betraying my order? Is the Mahari somehow speaking to me without my joining her? But, no, the voice was forceful, as she was, but it had a deep echoing tone that didn’t sound right. Nonetheless, he sat up, half expecting to find a Maharin assassin poised over him with a knife. He peered into the shadows until he was sure that was alone in the run down building. Just him and the dirt and a mushrooms that had claimed the floor.

The girl had returned to the safety of her little world in a city, and Fiher had followed carefully until they entered the city.

They are the destruction of our kind and we gave them a weapon. The sermon continued, This cannot be forgiven.

The voice went on to talk about betrayal and what the options were for punishments. Fiher ignored it, choosing to think about the girl. Shara. She was kind and curious. Perhaps she would grow to be a weapon, but the kindness she showed convinced him that she would never close herself off to the idea that they could be friends. He closed his eyes and sent a thought her way, despite being way too far from her to use Intuition. Not all of us are a threat.

A presence came to him as he had his eyes closed. Not the Mahari. It was too tired and too thoughtful. He willed himself into the void and found the eyes of Merende looking back at him.

“She has sent two groups of assassins.” He said.

“How far away are they?”

“They left two days after the meeting. When you vanished, I thought she had you killed. I would have warned you sooner, but I couldn’t find you.”

“I have tried my best to hide my presence. I am near Prin. I was able to warn the girl. I caught her sneaking out of the city. I warned her not to do that, again.”

“You’ve done well. The Mahari doesn’t know that one of her assassin groups answers to me. They will join you to protect the girl. It may take some time for the winds here to change, but when they do, we can make the girl. She has the code word?”

“Yes.”

“Will she trust us?”

“She was trusting with me. That trust could be broken by the making.”

“It is a risk we will have to take” Merende paused and looked like he would vanish. His image began to waver and became transparent. Then he snapped back to solid and asked, “Are you hearing a voice?”

“It’s not just me?”

“We are all hearing it here in Shouding.”

“I thought it was the Mahari, but I didn’t think she was powerful enough to break out from the Void.”

“She isn’t. None of us are. It is a curious thing. Even so, many are convinced it is some response to us not killing the girl.”

“What do you think it is?”

Merende shrugged, “We may not be powerful enough, but that doesn’t mean that no one could be. A natural attunement to both Xenai elements and a strong link to Intuition could produce someone capable of broadcasting across space like this. Whoever it is, they are a threat. To Xenai—and likely the Pact as well.”

“Is a natural attunement possible?”

Merende shrugged again and his image wavered and began to vanish, “It does not matter. You have a task. We will worry about this new development later.”

Fiher sighed and found himself alone again. He dropped out of the void, the walls shimmering into existence before his eyes. The shadow near the entrance moved. Fiher jumped to his feet, pulling his daggers out from their sheaths on his waist. He crouched, ready to spring.

A voice whispered across the room, “Zerstörer.”

Fiher relaxed, “Come.” He waved at the shadow and it stood. As it walked into the moonlight from a nearby window, five more walked in behind it. One picked up a mushroom that grew from the ground. It popped it into it’s mouth.

The leader sat a few feet away from Fiher, and Fiher joined him on the ground. The others came and made a small circle.

“Tell us everything about the girl.”

* * *

We cannot ignore growths of treason, but execution also cannot be considered lightly.

* * *