The Gathandrian Trilogy 01 - The Gifting

found them so vulnerable, wondered how they could fight him.
    Then as suddenly as the pain had started, it was gone.
    She drew in a harsh breath.
    “Annyeke? Are you all right?”
    “Yes. Yes, I’m fine.” She nodded and he helped her to her feet. Even now, she found herself growing warm at his touch, damn her foolishness.
    “What in the gods’ names…?”
    She spun around to follow the direction of his gaze as, behind them, the elders’ footsteps grew closer.
    What she saw took all her words away. A cloud of darkness and flame hovered over the expanse of land from the sea towards the city. Simon, Gelahn and the others were nowhere to be seen.

    Simon
    At last the sun penetrated his surroundings again.
    He brought himself up to his knees and brushed away the tiny fragments of rock nestling in his hair. Beyond him Gelahn stood, his cane still raised, its carved silver top sparkling in the sunlight.
    “You haven’t killed me yet, then,” Simon muttered. “What’s the matter? Lost the heart for it?”
    Gelahn laughed and the world disappeared.
    Simon cried out and the wind whipped the sound out of hearing. His stomach lurched as he plunged downwards. He had no way of telling how long or how far he fell and kept on falling. Or where Gathandria had gone.
    Finally the headlong tumble came to an end. Simon hit something hard, which knocked the breath from his body in a long groan. The impact caused him to roll onto his back and slide sideways. A few moments later he was motionless again.
    Above, he could see the sky—a vast expanse of blue. No clouds, no birds, no wind. Silence.
    Sitting up, he turned over and the breath left his body once more. Instead of ground, he saw emptiness. The air sparkled, but he had no means of support. It was as it had been on the journey to the Kingdom of the Air.
    Lowering over him stood the mind-executioner. This time, he was leaning on the cane and his face was suffused with darkness. Simon thought that if he dared to brush against the man’s mind again, he might be lost in a world of fire, pain and greed. Consumed by it perhaps.
    “What do you want, Gelahn?” he whispered, all bravado gone.
    “ Don’t use that name,” the mind-executioner leant forward and hissed, wild eyes glinting. “It is forbidden to you. And what I want is to understand the secrets you hold.”
    “I have no secrets.”
    “You lie.”
    Gelahn brought the cane upwards, dangerously close to Simon’s face. Its humming filled him. He didn’t know whether the cane would allow him to touch it and live as it had before. This time, he didn’t want to take that chance. His courage was gone. Simon tried to scramble to his feet, but a stinging slap from his enemy sent him reeling backwards.
    He hit the clear base beneath, but slid at an angle across the sky, one arm flung outwards and into a new sensation of emptiness. Finally, he’d reached the edge of the refuge.
    He only had a moment to let this fact register before Gelahn launched himself on top of him.
    Fighting against him to avoid plunging further, Simon could feel Gelahn’s mind-claws scrabbling at his thoughts. The mind-cane hissed and spat, but the executioner failed to gain an entry. Why didn’t Gelahn overpower him now? It should be easy.
    The scribe gasped as the pressure of his enemy’s weight propelled them both closer to the abyss. Now Simon’s shoulders were leaning into unsupported air.
    “Tell me,” the mind-executioner hissed, ignoring the danger only a heartbeat away. “Tell me the truths that you hold inside. Now .”
    “I—don’t—know—any.”
    A shadow passed over Gelahn’s face and he hauled Simon upwards. Simon could smell the wintergreen on his breath. His throat tightened and his heart began to race. What happened next was not what he expected.
    Gelahn gripped his body so the two of them were pinioned tight one to the other. Then he twisted over the edge, and plunged them both into the impossible depths below.
    “No!” Simon screamed but the words were torn away from his lips.
    The next moment, the mind-executioner pushed him away. As Simon tumbled free into empty air, his fingers slid against the cane. At once, the sound of singing within him, just as quickly cut off as Gelahn grabbed the cane back to himself. Still screaming, Simon flung out his arms. His whole body was tormented by falling. Then, without warning, his hand hit solid warmth, and something soft brushed against his cheek. Opening his eyes,