The whiteness of the explosion of deific force in her memory seemed to travel through time; Jarah became of a brightness in the cavern that seemed to be emanating from her.
Consciousness streamed into her mind with a host of pains, aches, and heartbreaks. She had forgotten how she'd lost Lillah. She had forgotten that moment of terror as she saw her precious girl snatched away by a goddess and killed. How could she have lost that memory? But she knew, even as she asked herself the question, what had happened: Deicide. By killing that acolyte the way she had, she had broken the pact between Theopolis and the mortal realm, had fractured the path back to life from the AfterWorld. The Blade--whatever else it might be--was clearly a weapon designed for the killing of deities. Guilt washed over her. The dim memories and true knowledge of what she'd done crashed against each other. She had been carrying with her the understanding that it was her fault the world was broken: That much had been true. How and why she'd broken it, however, had never been anything that she could recognize. It had simply been a fact, like the slant of her eyes or the color of her hair--an unassailable reality of her guilt. Now, at least, she knew. The pain of losing her daughter threatened to pull her into an abyss of grief and sorrow from which she would, she knew, have no desire to swim away from. But a voice cut through her despair, pulling her back to full consciousness and life. It was Tenhaim. And he was laughing derisively. "That's it?" he asked. Jarah blinked as the whiteness of her memory receded and the cavern came back into focus. She lay on the ground, the Blade next to her--as well as her dropped weapons--the pain in her chest from where she'd been pierced now a fading ache. All of her hurts from the past few hours were no longer as present. The laugh returned, filled with malice and disbelief. "Your daughter died so you broke the world?" Whatever hesitation or contemplation had been plaguing Tenhaim before he threw the Blade was gone. He stood, hands on broad hips, laughing at Jarah--mocking her pain. "I would have hoped," he said, swaggering toward her, "to at least have seen some worthwhile reason for making this world a ragged shell of its past self. If you'd done it for, say, money or power, I could understand that. But a little girl?" He made a crude sound. "There's more sport in making a girl than having one, and you could've made another one if you hadn't been so drastic." The implications that he was making made her head swim and Jarah's heart began to pound more forcefully. "She was my daughter," said Jarah, her voice cracked and dry. Tenhaim stalked closer, stooping down to retrieve the Blade. "Yeah, I got that much. We all saw what happened." He shook his head and smirked. "I really didn't think it would be such a pathetic motivation, that's all. I'm disappointed in you, Jarah." Walking toward the pool while she tried to get up, Honu at her side to help her, Tenhaim continued, "But I guess I can't be too upset about that. I mean, the result is pretty clear. If you want to ruin everything for everyone, stab this stupid thing into the ichor of an Invoked goddess--or god, I'd assume." Jarah pulled away from Honu's assisting arm. "You killed my daughter," she hissed. Seeing the woman now, she was older than in Jarah's memory--no surprise, that--but she also understood something that she hadn't before: Honu, whose religion had always been irrelevant to Jarah, was part of the Terminus Cult. "Don't touch me." Jarah wished she had the energy to kill Honu right there, but though she no longer suffered the pain of her injuries, whatever had happened that had pulled the past out of her had drained all of her energy reserves. Jarah couldn't even regain her feet; she had to settle with resting on her knees. "This has been an incredible day. I'm glad I didn't kill you before," Tenhaim said as he stood at the lip of the pool. "Your memory there put a lot of pieces together for me that I didn't fully understand." He chuckled. "I was originally thinking that this pool was part of the bowels of the planet. Now I see that it's actually a vestige of the Breaking of the World--this is the ichor from Lythra that was caught up in the original blast that came from the Blade." He nodded when he saw her confused expression. "Oh, yes, I knew that there had been some sort of explosion. It rearranged some of the land, caused a massive earthquake…and even this place here." "What do you want with us now? Why don't you do what you were thinking of doing and be done with it?" asked Honu, her jaw set and her eyes fiery. Jarah drew in a breath. What was Honu trying to do? Get them killed sooner? The longer he mumbled to himself, the more time she had to regain her energy. Though, at the rate she was going, Jarah doubted she'd be able to do anything for some days. "I…I don't know," said Tenhaim. He had replaced the Blade into its sheath and then tucked it into his sash again. The guards stared at Jarah in distrust. Rihn lay in the same position, inert. "I like to savor rare moments, yes?" He drew a finger across his eye. "It's revenge…" He paused. "My eye." Jarah looked up at him, surprised at the awe in his voice. Then she saw what he realized--his eye was whole, returned. A scar still traced where her dagger had slit him, but it wasn't nearly as clear as it had been when she'd arrived in the cavern. Her injuries were gone, too, though still vestigial pains let her know where she'd been healed. Was it the Blade that had done that? Clearly, something about the Blade was special--but she already knew that. And if she were healed, and so was Tenhaim, then that might mean that Rihn… Before she knew what was happening, Tenhaim was on the ground. In his marveling over what happened to his face, he had drifted too close to Rihn, who now lashed out with his legs, toppled the large man to the cavern floor. The sound of Tenhaim's air rushing out of his lungs made Jarah smile, if only a little. Rihn was on the slumlord in a moment, punching and kicking and grappling for the Blade that was underneath Tenhaim's girth. The guards reacted instantly, jumping forward to stop Rihn's attack. Honu leveled her gunbow and triggered it, sending an explosive bolt toward the guard on the left. The man took the shot to the shoulder, spinning around and crying out in pain as he dropped to the ground. Rihn saw the charging guard and jumped free of Tenhaim, moving away from the slashing qiang. He stumbled back a few paces until he was even with Jarah. He bent down to help her to her feet. "You've looked better," he said, picking up one of the discarded butterfly swords while gently lifting her. "You're at about your best level," retorted Jarah. Her knees bent strangely and only Rihn's presence kept her from toppling. For his part, Tenhaim's guard had helped him to his feet. Blood trickled from a cut on his lip. "You have made a mistake, Rihn." "I'm not a man who makes solid choices, Tenahim." "Clearly." Tenhaim gestured at Kimhan, who was still bound and gagged on the floor. "Kill the girl." "No!" shouted Jarah, raising one hand as if that could stop the inevitable. It was happening again--her useless denial, the approaching death to a little girl whom she had promised to protect. The anger was strong, was hot, was galvanizing. Jarah stumbled forward, using her hands to keep herself upright as she sprinted forward. There wasn't anything in her body, yet she pushed herself onward. She had to…she couldn't fail again. Tenhaim easily intercepted her, wrapping a large arm around Jarah's waist and pinning her arms as he did so. Jarah tried to scream, but she'd done too much in running the few paces forward she had. It was over. "Bring the girl here," demanded the slumlord, wrenching Jarah about. "Let Jarah see the light leave Kimhan's eyes. I don't know why I kept that stupid Akathar for so long, but I can at least extract some pleasure from her death." Jarah struggled feebly. Behind her, she heard Rihn charge; effortlessly, Tenhaim kicked out, knocking Rihn down with a cough and a curse. "Don't insult me, Rihn. You may be a worthwhile teka, but you're not much of a fighter." "Honu," gurgled Rihn, "help!" The guard dragged the resisting Kimhan in front of Jarah. "Don't count on her, Rihn," Tenhaim said with a snort. "She's as eager for this girl to die as I am. Aren't you, Honu?" Jarah's mind whirled. Had she been right originally? Was Honu a traitor? Then she realized the truth: As a member of the Terminus Cult, Honu had only one reason for wanting the Blade, for being involved at all. The world wasn't broken enough. Anger at herself for having believed Honu at all, as well as fury for the past transgression, and now again for her failure to help--it was almost too much. She choked and writhed, a second wind giving her strength, Jarah kicked out. The action took the guard by surprise, who lurched off balance when Jarah struck her. With a shriek, she splashed into the pool where she promptly sank while struggling to tear off her armor. She failed. Tenhaim, also surprised, loosened his grip just enough that Jarah was able to stomp down on his booted foot hard enough to hear it crack. Shoving him off her with as much righteous anger as she could, Jarah snagged the Blade free from his sash as the slumlord fell, gripping his injured foot with one hand. Without hesitating, Jarah swiped at the ropes holding Kimhan, the Blade slicing through the hemp as easily as if it were thread. Jarah tugged the gag free from her mouth and then wrapped the little girl in a hug. "I promised you you'd be safe with me. I promised you." "Mama," said Kimhan, her voice choked with anxious tears. "You came. You came." Jarah held Kimhan at arm's length as if she were reading the girl's face. Now that she looked at her again, in light of the memories she'd had, Kimhan didn't just look like Lillah. She looked exactly like Lillah the moment that Lythra had tugged her into the sky. Jarah's heart stuttered. "Wait," she said, hesitant to believe despite wanting desperately to do so. "Wait, you're…you are my Lillah, aren't you?" Kimhan sniffed away some of her tears. "Yes, mama. I'm back."
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