Chapter Twenty Two
The woman holding the riders head burst into tears and the man held her hand for support. "We will ease your days anyway we can." Jaya said as he stood and helped Lozni up then signaled for two men to assist the injured man.
"Let me heal him." Raliena blurted, stepping forwards. She was surprised no one had asked. Perhaps they thought it presumptuous to.
“The damage is too great.” Jaya said quietly. “He cannot be healed by an Armon or otherwise.”
“But if he is not dead then...”
“Perhaps I should have explained.” Lozni said placing a hand on her shoulder gently. “I thought you knew that am Armon’s power has its limits. Permanent damage is unfixable.”
“I can heal him.” Raliena insisted.
“The effort would kill you in the process.” Jaya said. “You are too valuable.”
“Do not give him false hope. To do so would be cruel.” Yaline interrupted, trying to keep her voice low.
“I would not do such a thing.” Raliena said indignantly. “I know I can heal him and will do so with or without your consent.” She retaliated, frustrated that they were being so argumentative. She was not used to being questioned by anyone other than Dergen and she had hoped she had escaped that for the moment.
“Let her try.” Zinib’s voice broke through the muttering of the crowd and he stepped forward. His arms were still crossed and he had the same studying expression he had that morning.
“But, Zinib, it cannot be done.” Jaya answered.
“Then there is nothing to lose.”
“Only her life.” Yaline spat. She had her hand unconsciously on the grip of her sword.
Raliena shook her head and pushed them aside.
“I have spent my life hiding the good my ability can do and I refuse to continue to be ordered around by people who know so little about me.”
This made them all sigh in resignation as Raliena knelt beside the man who had been propped up against the post of the hoop structure. The woman beside him had calmed slightly and they were comforting each other quietly. She almost didn’t want to interrupt them.
“I do not want to be any trouble.” The man said to Raliena when he noticed she was beside him.
Raliena smiled kindly at him. “But how will you ever best me at this game if you cannot practice.”
The man laughed lightly and the woman with him smiled through her tears.
“I will try to be gentle.” Raliena comforted them as she held her palms out for him to take.
The only sound coming from the crowd was their steady breathing and the beating of their hearts that thumped in nervous unison. The tension increased when the man put his free hand into the Armon’s and she held it softly.
She looked over to Lozni whose expression mimicked Zinib’s, while they both studied her carefully, before she closed her eyes and concentrated on the break in the man’s spine.
As with healing Kassen, it was easy to find her way around a human body. She quickly found the break and pressed her power to it. It was much quicker as she knew where to look and unlike the illness that had plagued the general, it was in one place.
As she let her ability flood through her, she noticed other ailments in the man, a sensation she had not noticed before. They stood out for her like the sun glinting off ripples water makes in a breeze. Also, unlike when she healed the General, or indeed anything else, she did not feel fatigued from healing his back, so decided to heal the rest of him also; a bruised knee, a torn muscle in his arm, even a cut above his eye.
Raliena heard the crowd gasp and she opened her eyes and saw her whole body was glowing, not as brightly as her hands were, but enough to notice.
She let go once she was done and the glowing ceased.
“You can stand now.” She said softly to the man, whose expression was one of pure serenity.
Raliena stood back, she felt perfectly awake and energised. The healing had not affected her at all.
The man let go of his partners hand and lifted himself careful from the floor, the crowd’s mouths fell open and the woman next to him burst into tears again and embraced him.
“Thank you, Lady Armon.” He said, tears appearing in his own eyes at how grateful he was.
Raliena blushed and nodded her head in acknowledgement. This is what her powers were for and it felt amazing to be able to use them for good.
“That's not possible.” Raliena turned to see Jaya stood in a group with Yaline, Lozni and Zinib, all in awe at what they had witnessed. “Not unless she is pledged.”
“She isn't. I would know.” Zinib replied to Jaya’s speculation.
“But I know none who could have completed this without the aid of the Sinner’s pledge.” Jaya insisted. “Not without killing themselves from the strain. It is one of the reasons they pledged in the first place.”
“Perhaps it is because I have had this ability since I was a child.” Raliena offered, though she was equally as perturbed by her increase in strength. She should have felt some form of fatigue.
“There have been others younger than you when the Lagania first began and there is no record of any who could have accomplished this with as little effort as you have.” Lozni explained gently then turned to Zinib. “Was her mother as apt?”
Zinib looked thoughtful. “Chasra was more powerful than most. She was from a long line of Armon, but she could not have done this without the bonding.”
“Perhaps the Unisayan I healed gave me more power.”
“Did you say the Unisayan you healed?” Jaya asked.
“Yes. When the blood touched my hand I healed it where its horn had been taken.”
“You did not touch the horn first?” Lozni added in.
“No, it had no horn when I healed it.” Raliena thought they knew all this already.
“And you had not come into contact with a Unisayan before?” Yaline spoke this time.
Raliena shook her head. “It was not certain I would be an Araman before my mother died.”
“She had the power before she healed the Unisayan.” Yaline clarified to the group.
“Lozni and I must speak with you in private.” Zinib growled. “Now.”
Zinib grabbed Raliena’s arm roughly and dragged her through the crowd of people, Lozni following. Too taken aback to protest, she allowed herself to be led away, hearing Jaya trying to turn everyone back to the celebrations.
When they were a safe distance away, close to the trees of the forest, Zinib turned her to face him, still holding her arm tightly.
“What did your mother say to you before she died?” He shook her and she tried to wriggle free of his strong grip. “She must have said something to you.”
Lozni placed a hand on his arm but did not pull him away. She too looked eager for information.
“Raliena it is of great importance for you to remember if your mother said anything or did anything before you gained your powers, anything at all?”
“No, I do not remember much of her as it is other than what she looked like, I was too young. What is this about?”
Zinib let her go with a grunt and turned away, yelling into the trees who shuddered in response. “That lying bitch did it! I knew she was too close to those damned Unisayan to not have figured it out!”
Lozni ignored him and turned to Raliena. “It was said that it is possible for an Armon to do a similar ritual that a Unisayan does, sacrificing her power to someone else.”
“You think my mother gave me her power?”
“Yes, if she gave her power away, she would have broken the bond between Zinib and herself by giving her power to you.”
“What does this mean if she did?” Raliena asked, she was getting tired of yet more information she did not know about herself and her mother.
“It means you have twi
ce the ability of any other Armon, you have her power and your own which Eni would have unlocked when he found you.” Lozni affirmed. “This is why you are far more powerful; Chasra’s power was a bonded power that she gave to you.”
Raliena shuffled her thoughts while they all went silent trying to digest this information. She looked up at the sky and saw the sun was starting to set. The day had gone by so quickly and she still felt overwhelmed by everything she was learning about her past and her future.
“She sent it...” Zinib’s voice was solemn, so unlike his usual self Raliena didn’t realise he had spoken at first.
He turned round and they saw he was holding a silver and gold chain in his hand, one side was swinging in the light breeze like a pendulum that could not decide which way to head.
“I suspected she might have. She was the only one who knew where I was.” Zinib had tears in his eyes and would not look at the two women watching him. Then he sniffed and crushed the chain in his hand, the links grinding against each other.
“Senette had no reason to kill her.” He spat on the floor in disgust. “And now I will kill him.”
“How can you?” Lozni said gently. “Senette disappeared long ago; no one knows where he is. He could be dead already.”
“I knew his family; he would not have just disappeared. He would have hidden himself away or started again once he thought he had lost. I will find what happened to him and if I do find him alive I will make him wish he had stayed hidden.”
“The Lagania need you here Zinib.” Lozni tried to reason with him. “We need you and Raliena to stop Dergen. Senette’s son must be stopped.”
“The Lagania don’t need us to stop some child playing war games and with Raliena away from him, there will be no problem anyway.”
“I am staying to stop Dergen.” Raliena told them.
“Enough of your disobedience! You are my daughter and you will pledge to me as you are told!” Zinib strode forward and unravelled the chain so it trailed through the grass.
“Zinib stop this stupidity.” Lozni said stepping between them.
“Step aside, Armon.” He growled. “If I have to force her, I will.”
“I will not dishonour my mother by becoming what she tried to protect me from.” Raliena gently shifted Lozni out of the firing range and faced Zinib herself. Zinib stepped forward and grabbed Raliena’s arm and pushed her to her knees, the chain ready in the other hand. He was much stronger than her as he was still a Sinner.
“Pledge to me, Armon.” Zinib said using the same tone of voice Dergen used when giving her an order. A familiar feeling of being stuck in a flood struck Raliena stronger than ever before and she even saw Lozni cringe in response. It must have been from the manipulation Sinners use on Armon and Zinib had clearly had a lot of practice, but then, so had she.
“I have lived with and resisted Dergen’s influence most of my life. You do not threaten me and I was never your daughter.”
“That is something you have little choice in.” Zinib replied.
Raliena grabbed his wrist and, almost as a reflex, used the same energy she had felt when she burnt Dergen. It surged through her just as her anger did and slowly burnt his arm. He grimaced at first but refused to let go, falling to his knees as Raliena stood once more till, once the burn reached his elbow and his skin was blistered and swollen, Zinib let go and Raliena ceased the pain.
He cradled his arm to his chest and looked up at Raliena, her mother’s chain still clutched to him.
“You are not a Sinner worth my time.” Raliena finished, walking back towards the tents, leaving him on the floor still gripping his arm.