Shadows Return

was—Thought he was friend—”
    “Stop, Alec. Get your breath!” Thero urged, pressing a hand to Alec’s brow with a small spell to calm him, then to his chest to heal what he could. When Alec’s breathing grew easier, he asked, “Who is Ilar?”
    Alec shook his head. “Long story. Ask Seregil, if he’ll tell you.”
    “All right. What about this creature?”
    Alec frowned up at him. “Sebrahn. He’s named Sebrahn.” He coughed again and Thero helped him take a sip from the water skin. “He’s my child…of no woman. ’kobin made him.”
    “That’s enough, Alec. Stop now.”
    But Alec was still struggling to talk through the coughing fit. “A rhekaro—Mine! He can heal.”
    “So I’ve seen,” Thero murmured, adding a bit to the spell to quiet him.
    “He can do more than that,” Seregil rasped, opening his eyes. “You were dead, Alec. He brought you back.”
    Alec looked over at him, then up at Thero again. “That’s impossible. I was just hurt. Right?”
    “I know what death looks like. I know what a dead body feels like…” Seregil’s voice cracked. “Alec, you died. You saved my life doing it, and you
died
!”
    “I’m afraid that’s probably true, Alec,” Thero told him.
    “It is.” Seregil wiped his eyes on one bare arm. “They killed Alec. I killed Yhakobin. His archers shot me. Then Sebrahn, he—He
sang.
”
    “Sang?” Alec touched the sleeping creature’s shoulder. “I don’t remember.”
    Seregil let out a ragged laugh. “You were still dead then. He killed the rest of them with his song. Then he spoke your name, Alec, and he brought you back with his tears.”
    “Yhakobin used my tears—to make him.”
    Thero patted his shoulder. “That’s enough for now. Sleep, both of you. I’d like to examine the rhekaro.”
    Alec’s eyes flew open and he clutched at Thero’s arm. “Don’t you hurt him!”
    “I won’t, I promise.” Thero held out his hand to the creature and forced a smile. “Just come out by the fire, won’t you, so I can have a better look?”
    Sebrahn looked to Alec, who gave Thero another warning look, then nodded. “It’s all right, Sebrahn. Go with Thero.”
    Only then did the rhekaro let Thero lead him out into the firelight. As soon as Thero stopped, Sebrahn hunkered down and stared back into the lean-to where Alec lay.
    Thero sat down beside him, letting himself feel the weird energy coming off the rhekaro like heat. It was obvious that the others did not see what Thero saw when they looked at this created thing. They all spoke of a child and seemed to think he was helpless and fragile.
    But Thero saw the jagged aura of scintillating white light that surrounded that little body. It shifted and danced like winter sky fire, as if it was trying to take on some larger shape. Hesitant to attempt any direct magic, Thero closed his eyes and did a sighting instead, but the image remained the same.
    Despite everything he’d seen so far, however, he sensed no evil in it, or any immediate threat. The energy that surrounded it was strong, but at the same time felt somehow empty. If he hadn’t seen the splayed, lifeless corpses still lying out there on the plain, he’d have guessed that Sebrahn was harmless. Seregil spoke of a song, but Thero doubted that’s what it had really been.
    He sat quietly with the creature until the rhekaro grew used to him and studied him in return. It was unnerving, having those strange eyes watching him so intently. There was some degree of intelligence there, but it was nothing human or ’faie.
    He heard the crunch of footsteps nearby, and the rattle of falling pebbles.
    “Hello in the camp,” Micum called softly, letting Thero know it was him. He sat down by the fire and looked at the two of them. “How are you getting along?”
    “Fine, so far. Now that you’re here, though, I want to try something. Pour a cup of water, would you? Set it down where Sebrahn can reach it.”
    When Micum had done so, Thero stuck a finger into the fire and pressed it briefly against a hot coal.
    Micum grabbed his wrist and yanked his hand away from the fire. “What are you doing?”
    “It’s all right.” Gritting his teeth against the pain, Thero held the blistered finger out for Sebrahn to see. “Will you heal me?”
    The rhekaro looked around, then picked up a small sharp stone and used it to cut the end of its forefinger. A drop of white blood oozed out and fell into the cup, making another dark flower. He scooped it