noise. Zeke ignored it, heading for the door.
“Zeke, stop,” the old man snapped. “Stop this. For ten years, you’ve been acting as if I wanted this to happen, just like your father and your brothers and everyone else short of Ina here. Give it a rest. I did everything I could for Miri. Everything . You think I wanted things to turn out the way they did?”
“You let them take her!”
I blinked at the rage in Zeke’s voice.
Jirral was silent for a heartbeat. “If I hadn’t, they would’ve killed her on the spot and taken you or Ina in her place. I–”
“You don’t know that!”
“I do. I know how they operate.”
Disgust twitched across Zeke’s face. “No kidding.”
His grandfather’s face darkened. “I will not defend myself to you, Zeke. Not about that. Not when your father–”
Zeke swam for the door.
An infuriated noise left Jirral. “I know about the Sylphaen,” he called.
I looked back toward him as Zeke paused.
“There are rumors, out in the Prijoran Zone. Rumors that they’re back.”
Zeke didn’t turn around. “And do you know anything more than that?”
The old man took a breath. “They’re careful. Given that they were nearly exterminated a century ago, they’ve taken to staying well out of sight, so I can only go on the whispers I’ve heard. But there are stories they’re trying to find allies among the outcasts and the mercenaries. That they’re trying to start over again.”
“Start what?” Zeke asked.
“Their ‘cleansing’. Their new world. The Sylphaen were mostly destroyed by the time I was born, but I know what my father said they were like in his day.” He sighed. “A cult without any law or morality but their own. Their nonsense was tangled up in old legends, stories of ancient disasters and landwalkers, and some doomsday tale regarding both.”
I swallowed. Jirral’s gaze flicked to me, catching the slight motion.
“They were merciless, though,” he continued with barely a pause. “The shadow court of every territory and province from here to Lycera, ‘disappearing’ any man, woman, or child they felt violated their code. They’re obsessed with dehaian supremacy, believing that anyone who ‘consorts’ with humans or anything of the land taints our supposed purity, and back then, they had the numbers and the power to enforce that idea.”
He glanced to me again. “But as to why they’ve fixated on your friend here…” He watched me with those blue eyes that seemed to just see right through everything. “What was it they wanted from you?”
I looked to Zeke, discomforted. I didn’t know this man. True, he was related to Zeke and Ina, but then so was Ren. Given that, and the tension between him and his grandson, I wasn’t exactly certain I could trust him.
And that was assuming I even knew what to say. The Sylphaen had called me an abomination. They’d called me the daughter of a landwalker whore. They’d said a lot of things, and if Jirral was right, that probably had to do with their obsession with dehaian purity or whatever.
But they’d also injected me with drugs to make me change and talked about a ceremony. They’d dragged a bunch of human girls under the water and killed them, simply to figure out which one was me.
And before he’d died, one of them had said something about a Beast waiting…
I shivered. I didn’t want to say that. I didn’t even want to remember it. And telling a man I didn’t know about what’d happened, a man that Zeke didn’t really seem comfortable around…
“They’re crazy,” I replied with a tense shrug.
Jirral’s mouth tightened. “And this thing my grandchildren say you do?”
I tried for another shrug. “I don’t–”
“That it?” Zeke cut in.
The old man turned to him. “I want to help here, Zeke. If they’re after her, then you need to make Torvias understand: the Sylphaen won’t stop. They were single-minded as hell in their heyday, and I doubt they’ve changed.
“Zeke, stop,” the old man snapped. “Stop this. For ten years, you’ve been acting as if I wanted this to happen, just like your father and your brothers and everyone else short of Ina here. Give it a rest. I did everything I could for Miri. Everything . You think I wanted things to turn out the way they did?”
“You let them take her!”
I blinked at the rage in Zeke’s voice.
Jirral was silent for a heartbeat. “If I hadn’t, they would’ve killed her on the spot and taken you or Ina in her place. I–”
“You don’t know that!”
“I do. I know how they operate.”
Disgust twitched across Zeke’s face. “No kidding.”
His grandfather’s face darkened. “I will not defend myself to you, Zeke. Not about that. Not when your father–”
Zeke swam for the door.
An infuriated noise left Jirral. “I know about the Sylphaen,” he called.
I looked back toward him as Zeke paused.
“There are rumors, out in the Prijoran Zone. Rumors that they’re back.”
Zeke didn’t turn around. “And do you know anything more than that?”
The old man took a breath. “They’re careful. Given that they were nearly exterminated a century ago, they’ve taken to staying well out of sight, so I can only go on the whispers I’ve heard. But there are stories they’re trying to find allies among the outcasts and the mercenaries. That they’re trying to start over again.”
“Start what?” Zeke asked.
“Their ‘cleansing’. Their new world. The Sylphaen were mostly destroyed by the time I was born, but I know what my father said they were like in his day.” He sighed. “A cult without any law or morality but their own. Their nonsense was tangled up in old legends, stories of ancient disasters and landwalkers, and some doomsday tale regarding both.”
I swallowed. Jirral’s gaze flicked to me, catching the slight motion.
“They were merciless, though,” he continued with barely a pause. “The shadow court of every territory and province from here to Lycera, ‘disappearing’ any man, woman, or child they felt violated their code. They’re obsessed with dehaian supremacy, believing that anyone who ‘consorts’ with humans or anything of the land taints our supposed purity, and back then, they had the numbers and the power to enforce that idea.”
He glanced to me again. “But as to why they’ve fixated on your friend here…” He watched me with those blue eyes that seemed to just see right through everything. “What was it they wanted from you?”
I looked to Zeke, discomforted. I didn’t know this man. True, he was related to Zeke and Ina, but then so was Ren. Given that, and the tension between him and his grandson, I wasn’t exactly certain I could trust him.
And that was assuming I even knew what to say. The Sylphaen had called me an abomination. They’d called me the daughter of a landwalker whore. They’d said a lot of things, and if Jirral was right, that probably had to do with their obsession with dehaian purity or whatever.
But they’d also injected me with drugs to make me change and talked about a ceremony. They’d dragged a bunch of human girls under the water and killed them, simply to figure out which one was me.
And before he’d died, one of them had said something about a Beast waiting…
I shivered. I didn’t want to say that. I didn’t even want to remember it. And telling a man I didn’t know about what’d happened, a man that Zeke didn’t really seem comfortable around…
“They’re crazy,” I replied with a tense shrug.
Jirral’s mouth tightened. “And this thing my grandchildren say you do?”
I tried for another shrug. “I don’t–”
“That it?” Zeke cut in.
The old man turned to him. “I want to help here, Zeke. If they’re after her, then you need to make Torvias understand: the Sylphaen won’t stop. They were single-minded as hell in their heyday, and I doubt they’ve changed.
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