Aleron shrugged hopelessly. "I was trying to find my mother. She had gone down to the streets to help one of our neighbors, and she was lost in a mob. As I was searching for her, I was. .h.i.t on the head and knocked unconscious. When I woke up, it was morning and the High City was in ruins. Some people believe that the magic-users summoned the shadows to revenge themselves upon us."

Adesina felt sick to her stomach. She clenched her jaw, fighting the anger and horror she felt. "Are those in the camp all who survived?"

Aleron nodded with hesitation. "I believe so."

E'nes looked at his sister fearfully. "Adesina, you do not know-"

She cut him off. "I do know. I know exactly who did this. What I cannot understand is why."

Ravi gazed at her sadly. "Can you not?"

Adesina shook her head. "No! The High City bore no strategic importance, it had no enemies, bore no threat. There is nothing to be gained by destroying it so thoroughly."

"Adesina," L'iam said quietly, "it was attacked because they knew the L'avan would be blamed."

The wrath Adesina felt was amplified as she felt the truth of the statement. Aleron looked around the group uncertainly, trying to understand what they were saying.

"Who are these L'avan you have mentioned?"

Adesina was too upset to answer, leaving it to E'nes.

"We are the L'avan. It is the name of our race."

The young man still didn't understand. "If your people did not attack the High City, then who did?"

Her voice was cold and biting. "The Shimat."

Aleron frowned in confusion. "Why? Why would they want you blamed?"

"The Shimat are our mortal enemies," L'iam explained. "They have been for hundreds of years. They would go to great lengths to fuel hatred directed towards our people. If that includes destroying a city and murdering thousands of people, so much the better. It is a perfect show of their power and skill in staying undetected."

Although Adesina was afraid of the answer, she had to ask, "What of Ha.s.s and his family? Did they survive? What about Gainor and Deasa and Rina?"

Aleron looked at her sadly. "They are not in our camp." He hurried to continue, "But there may have been other survivors in other camps."

She shook her head blindly and got to her feet, walking away from the fire. It was too much to be borne. The people of the High City may have had their faults, but there was no way that they had deserved such a fate. The heat of fury burned in her chest, contrasting strangely with the tears smarting in her eyes.

Her vyala flared up in response to these emotions, strengthening them and being strengthened by them. She struggled to subdue the power swirling around her body, reprimanding herself for losing control.

Adesina stood with her back to her companions, staring at the refugee camps in the distance. As she fought her internal battle with her emotions and her vyala, something on the outskirts of her enhanced awareness caught her attention.

Something was wrong.

She instantly became more alert, scanning the scene in front of her. She let her vyala go free, tinting her vision dark green.

Hidden in the darkness were several men on horseback, quietly advancing on the refugee camps. Adesina switched her vyala to a light green and immediately felt their murderous intent. She tried to look deeper, discover who they were, but she could tell that time was short and she had to hurry.

She whipped around and sprinted back to the L'avan camp. "We have to get out of here now!" she said in a low, urgent voice.

Everyone stared at her without comprehension. L'iam was the first to respond.

"Why?"

Adesina was throwing saddles on horses and stamping out the fire. "The refugee camp is about to be attacked, and we will be as well if we do not leave as quickly as possible."

The others began helping Adesina in her rushed packing of the camp, asking questions as they worked.

"By whom?"

She shook her head. "I am not sure."

"Why would anyone attack a camp of refugees?"

"I do not know," she replied impatiently. "They could be marauders looking for an easy target, Shimat returned to finish a job, someone who has a grudge against the citizens of the High Citya"

Aleron grabbed her arm. "We have to help them!"

At first she was startled by this declaration. "What?"

He repeated himself. "We have to help them."

Adesina gave him a scathing look. This was no time for naive heroics. "How could we possibly help them?"

He struggled to find the words fast enough. "Protect them! Fight for them! Anything!"

She looked him directly in the eye as she spoke with finality. "We cannot."

Stunned disbelief filled his eyes. "What! Why?"

Adesina gestured towards the camp and spoke in a voice as if it were obvious. "We are completely outnumbered, Aleron. There is no way our help would be enough. All we would do is alert the Shimat to our presence, and then our entire mission would be for naught."

He set his jaw stubbornly. "You said you did not know if they were Shimat or not."

She let out an annoyed breath. "It does not matter who they are! If we get involved, the Shimat will hear about it!"

L'iam put a sympathetic hand on Aleron's shoulder. "She is right. We do not stand a chance against them."

Aleron sputtered. "So, we are just to leave them to die?"

"It is that, or die ourselves." Adesina said harshly.

In the distance they heard the shouts of chaos begin. Shadows could be seen darting past the campfires, the sounds of horses being charged were coupled with angry yells. Every eye in the L'avan camp turned towards the refugees, searching desperately for some way to a.s.sist the helpless people.

Adesina wanted to urge their immediate departure, but was surprised to find that she could not turn away. In the Shimat mind, self-preservation was only outweighed by the protection of the order; yet, she could not leave these people to fight for themselves.

She had a mission to fulfill. One of the utmost importancea"one that could not afford to be jeopardized by any sort of deviant action. Still, the sounds of screams rang in her ears, and she knew she could not walk away.

Did such sentiment make her weak?

"Mount your horses," she commanded curtly.

There was a moment of shocked silence before they realized her intention and did what they were told. Adesina reconnected to her vyala as she settled into her saddle. Her vision swirled red and light green as she projected her power further than she had ever attempted before.

It was a struggle to direct the power to the camps without taking in any unnecessary s.p.a.ce, juggle two kinds of vyala, and keep it strong enough to reach far enough and have enough effect. It took every ounce of willpower Adesina had, but she was absolutely set on succeeding.

The shouts of the refugees were joined by cries of dismay from the attackers. Adesina was picking out all those with murderous hearts and covered their eyes with terrifying visions.

"What is going on?" asked Aleron frantically.

Sa'jan's voice was full of reverence and respect. "She is helping them."

Adesina felt the energy rapidly draining from her body. She knew she had to keep going, but she wasn't sure how long she would last. L'iam sensed her distress and summoned his own vyala to lend her aid. He gave her all the energy he could spare, which was only just enough to keep her going.

It felt like an eternity to Adesina before she heard Sa'jan say, "They have escaped to the forest!"

She withdrew her vyala and barely had enough strength to wheel her horse around. "Go!"

They all rode away from the camp at top speed. L'iam led the way, taking them through the thick undergrowth of the woods. Adesina brought up the rear with Ravi and Aleron. Ravi, because he refused to leave her side at a time like this, and Aleron, because his plow horse had a hard time keeping up with the war horses.

She had no idea how long they galloped through the darkness, nor did she have any clue where they were headed. She was merely intent on keeping herself from falling off of Torith's back. Occasionally she felt a reviving surge from L'iam's vyala, but it wasn't enough to restore her completely.

She was aware when they came to a stop, but only just so. A pair of strong arms pulled her gently from her horse and wrapped her in a blanket, whispering urges to go to sleep. The feeling of being embraced was comforting, and Adesina gratefully complied.

Chapter Thirty-six: Hidden Enemy.

When she awoke, she felt slightly ill, but much better as a whole. Of her companions, only L'iam was awake, because it was his turn to keep watch.

He noticed that she was awake and looked at her sternly. "You could have killed yourself."

She frowned in confusion. "What?"

He sighed softly and began building up the fire. "You are incredibly powerful, Adesina, but even you have your limits. You have to learn to draw from the energy around you when you use your vyala as you did last night. Your life force cannot sustain power like that."

Adesina sat up slowly, fighting the wave of nausea that washed over her. "I do not understand what you mean."

L'iam glanced at her sharply, then shook his head ruefully. "Perhaps you do not."

He rummaged through the medical kit, pulling out certain herbs and powders, and mixing them together. He put a small pot of water on the fire, waiting for it to boil before adding the mixture he had created. The steam that reached Adesina's nose was refreshing, and helped to clear her head.

L'iam sat back, keeping a close eye on the concoction as it boiled. "For most L'avan, their vyala draws its power from their own life strength. This is why L'avan grow tired and their vyala cannot be sustained indefinitely. Only those with gold in their eyes know how to take energy from their surroundings."

Adesina nodded. She remembered L'iam showing her how to do this early on in her training.

"It is possible," he continued, "to take minute amounts of energy from everything around you. Small enough that nothing is disturbed, but depending on your range of intake, those multiple small amounts are enough to feed your vyala without expending any life force of your own."

The medicine on the fire appeared to be ready, so L'iam poured it into a cup and handed it to Adesina to drink. She sipped it, savoring the warmth as it spread throughout her body. It had a slightly bitter taste, but it wasn't unpleasant.

His eyes were solemn as he watched her drink the medicine. "What you did last night, Adesina, projecting as far as you did and combining vyala as you did," he shook his head, "I have never seen anything like it."

There was awe in his voice that warmed Adesina more than the drink in her hand.

He went on in a very sober tone. "But you could have died. It was all I could do to keep your life force going until we stopped to rest."

She realized the seriousness of the situation and nodded to show that she understood. "I did not know the danger, L'iam. I will be more careful in the future."

The relief in his eyes was apparent. He smiled his brilliant smile and then turned his attention to tending the fire and preparing a meal. The rest of the camp was beginning to stir, and Adesina glanced at the sky.

"What time is it?"

L'iam shrugged. "About midday."

Her gaze turned to Aleron, who had gotten to his feet to stretch and work out his sore muscles.

She began quietly speaking in the L'avan language. "What are we going to do about him?"

L'iam also glanced over before fixing his eyes on the fire. "I do not know. He certainly cannot come with us, but we cannot leave him alone."

She nodded her head in agreement. As if he was aware that they were talking about him, Aleron walked over to join them and spoke in a rush. "I know it may be presumptuous, but I want to come with you." When he received no answer, he went on. "I have given it a lot of thought, and there is no doubt in my mind that that is where I should go."

Adesina raised an eyebrow. "Do you even know where we are going?"

He suddenly looked uncertain. "WellanoaI a.s.sumed your original destination was the High City; but now that it is destroyed, are you not going back to your homeland?"

She switched back to the L'avan tongue. "This would be an easy way out. We could tell him that no outsiders are allowed in Pevothem."

L'iam frowned, also speaking in their language. "Why not tell him the truth?"

"Because he would insist on coming and helping in any way he can."

Aleron looked between them, perplexed. "I promise I will not be a burden! In fact, I could be very helpful. Before the High City was attacked, I was training to be a healer."

L'iam studied the young man sitting across from him before replying in the common tongue. "We appreciate your desire to be of a.s.sistance, but you cannot come with us."

"Why?" he asked desperately.

Adesina threw a sideways glance at L'iam, hoping that his natural honesty would not prompt him to say more than what was necessary to put off Aleron.

"Because we are not going to our homeland. We are going into the heart of Shimat lands, and it will be very dangerous."

She repressed a sigh, wishing that L'iam would have simply lied and said that they were going to their secret home.