There was that in Achilios’s tone that suddenly made the hair on the back of Mendeln’s neck rise. Nevertheless, he grew defiant. “I will not keep this any longer from him—or Serenthia, for that matter! At the very least—”
“At the very least,” intoned another voice behind him. “Doing that might cause great catastrophe…”
Mendeln spun around. He knew that voice. It had haunted him long enough, after all…
The tall figure was clad in a dark, cowled cloak that emphasized a face nearly as pale as Achilios’s. At a glance, he otherwise looked like any man…save that his features were, despite their angular structure, far too perfect.
“Who are you?” Uldyssian’s brother demanded. “I know you, but not your name!”
The newcomer nodded. “Yes, we have come to know each other quite well, son of Diomedes…and I thus apologize for what I must do. Unfortunately, you leave me no choice.”
“What are you blathering about?” Mendeln backed away from the figure, only to collide with Achilios. Grimy fingers seized his arms, holding him in a literal death grip. “I say again! Who are you? Who?”
“A stubborn fool, that is what I am,” returned the other with a grimace. He raised a hand toward Mendeln.
In it was a dagger…a dagger that, to Mendeln’s eye, seemed not to have been forged from metal, but rather something akin to ivory.
Bone?
His tormentor uttered three short words and although Mendeln did not understand them, he still knew the language, of course. It now constantly flowed through his head.
The dagger flared bright, illuminating the cowled face yet more. It was as Mendeln always dreamed it, yet seeing it now, he saw just how ancient it was despite a general appearance little older looking than his own.
“As for a name, once I was called else by my mother, but now I am known as… Rathma.” He gave Mendeln an apologetic nod. “And now, we must be going.”
“Going? Where—”
But before Uldyssian’s sibling could finish, both he and the being called Rathma vanished.
Only Achilios remained, just as the archer had known would happen. He stared at his empty hands, empty of the man he had gripped, but not of the infernal dirt.
“Sorry…Mendeln…” he finally murmured to the empty jungle. With some reluctance, he took up his catch again. “It had…to be…done…”
Suddenly, a sound in the distance made him look toward the camp. Moving in utter silence, Achilios vanished into the dark. He could not let anyone see him, especially Uldyssian, whom he suspected was the approaching figure.
And even more than his old friend, he dared not let her know he was near… Uldyssian stopped suddenly, aware that something was wrong. He had come in search of his brother, who had promised answers, and had been directed by one of his followers in this direction. Uldyssian had immediately sensed Mendeln’s nearness…and then the next moment had not.
At first, he wondered whether this was some trick of his sibling, some new ability. Uldyssian had no idea what sort of powers Mendeln had nor their cause. He recalled how Lucion had tried to make Mendeln seem like a demon himself or at least someone corrupted by one. Those memories haunted Uldyssian, for despite knowing better, he wondered whether there had been some truth to them after all.
Resuming his trek, Uldyssian finally located just where he had last sensed his brother. However, there was no trace that he could detect of Mendeln’s abrupt departure and that made Uldyssian worry even more. Mendeln was not the sort to play games, especially not of this type.
Unable to find his sibling through his abilities, Uldyssian resorted to a more basic approach. He called out Mendeln’s name, first as a whisper, then more pronounced when the initial attempt failed to garner results.
But still Mendeln did not appear.
Recalling the dangers of the jungle—both natural and otherwise—Uldyssian’s anxiousness grew. Yet, he noticed no hint of anything out of the ordinary.
Bending down, Uldyssian ran his fingers across the soft earth. At the same time, he finally summoned a sphere of soft blue light. Under its illumination, Uldyssian looked for any prints.
He found two that were certainly not his own. They seemed paused just a yard to his left. The stance seemed that of one person waiting for another…but then why was it facing away from the camp? Surely, Mendeln would have faced the other direction instead.
Then, another area just to the side of the first caught his eye. Only now did Uldyssian notice that the ground had been turned up as if someone had moved about much in a very short space. He could not tell with any certainty which way the feet had faced here, but the disturbance of the soil made him suspect that here was where something had gone amiss.
Here was where Mendeln had suddenly vanished from his brother’s supposedly superior senses.
Standing again, Uldyssian took a step deeper—
“Here you are!”
He glanced over his shoulder as Serenthia emerged from the jungle behind. With the light away from his face, she could not possibly see the brief look of consternation that he quickly buried. Mendeln had just disappeared; the last thing that Uldyssian wanted was to have the other person dearest to him in the vicinity. Who was to say that the same danger did not remain, waiting the chance to steal her now, too?
“Serenthia…what are you doing out here?”
“Looking for you, naturally.” She took hold of his arm, the pressure of her fingers sending his blood racing. “And I’m going to ask you the same question…this is no place to be alone.”
“I thought I heard something,” Uldyssian responded lamely. “I was wrong, I guess.”
She leaned close to him, staring into the wild. “You were afraid it was that—that demon—from across the river, weren’t you?”
He knew that he should not lie, but nonetheless, he answered, “Yes. I thought that.”
At first, that seemed to satisfy her, but then the merchant’s daughter suddenly asked, “Uldyssian, have you seen Mendeln?”
“Mendeln?”
“When I went looking for you, I also asked about him. I assumed that the two of you might be together.” Her grip tightened as she continued surveying their dark surroundings. “I thought…I thought I sensed him here…but I must’ve been wrong.”
Uldyssian smothered a curse. Of course, of all the others, Serenthia had come the closest to matching his abilities. Why would she not then be able to do as he? But the fact that she had gained that gift meant that it was harder—no, impossible, Uldyssian decided—to keep her from the truth.
He put his other hand on hers. “Serenthia…I did come out here looking for Mendeln. We were supposed to meet. He wanted to tell me about…about what he’s been having to deal with. The changes he’s been going through…”
She did not press him on those details, more concerned with the most immediate one. “Then, where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Her fingers squeezed his arm with astonishing strength. Serenthia quickly looked left and right, as if Mendeln would suddenly appear. “But he has to be nearby! I was right when I thought I sensed him! You did, too, didn’t you?”
“I did…and then he simply wasn’t…there.” Stating that now, so bluntly, shook Uldyssian to his core. His brother—his only surviving family—was nowhere to be found.
Her voice firm, the dark-haired woman declared, “We’ll search the entire area! He can’t be far! He knows he can protect himself, too! We’ll find him, Uldyssian…” She touched his cheek. “I promise that we’ll find him…”
But although the two of them spent the next several minutes utilizing their abilities as best as Uldyssian knew that they could, they found not the slightest trace. By this time, other voices began rising from the direction of the camp, foremost among them Romus’s.