"Can you help?" Hope is a horrible thing. It only ever leads to even greater despair.
"Biomancy is the realm of the Rand," the Djinn said. "You could always raise him as another of your ghosts."
I turned furious eyes on the Djinn. "If you won't help, then GO THE FUCK AWAY!" Shouting rarely helps anyone, but it sure does feel good to vent some rage from time to time.
Silva would have known what to do. Her body lay nearby, bloody from the wound I had given her. Lifeless. Gone. I refused to look. Too much grief, too quickly. Too many of the people I loved, dead. I choked back a sob. "What do I do?" The words came out as a whisper of pain. "WHAT DO I DO?" Then a scream of agony.
My ghosts crowded around me, so close I felt stifled. They were a swarm these days, all of them appearing at once, risen and drawn forth by a power I didn't know how to control. Necromancy was a part of me, infused into my blood. A gift and a curse, the product of the Iron Legion's torture. Isen was foremost among my ghastly retinue. His face was still a wreckage, the result of Josef's anger and jealousy. Still, he somehow managed to look sad as he looked down on his elder brother.
"I'm sorry." I've never been good at uttering those words to the living, yet they've always come so easily to the dead.
Isen's ghost leaned over his brother's body and put two hands on the big man's chest. When he pushed down, his hands went through the body.
I sobbed. I had done this. My fault. And both brothers had paid the price for my stupidity. For my powerlessness. "I killed both of you."
Isen's ghost mimed pushing down on Hardt's chest a few more times, then bent his ruined face over Hardt's and puffed out what was left of his cheeks. Then he went back to pushing his ethereal hands through Hardt's chest.
"Intriguing," said the Djinn. "Does the ghost realise it has no physical form? They do tend to be pale afterthoughts of who they once were, fading over time until nothing but the image of them remains."
"He knows." Realisation hit as the words escaped my lips. I shuffled around Hardt's body until I was occupying the same space as Isen's ghost. It felt… strange. Familiar and alien all at once. Not cold, I always felt cold inside ever since Ssserakis had possessed me. It felt as though I could almost feel all of Isen's memories, everything that had once made him him, but they were just out of reach, and the more I reached for them, the more they slipped away.
I copied Isen's position as best I could and mimicked his movements, pressing down on Hardt's chest. Then I moved with the ghost, opened Hardt's mouth, drew in a deep breath and blew it out. It was hope that drove me to it. Such an odd sight I must have made. But I had to believe that Isen's ghost knew something I didn't. That perhaps it remembered some of what his brother had once taught him. Because I knew, out of all of us, only Hardt would know how to bring himself back.
I don't know how many times I copied the actions of Isen's ghost. Enough that my arms felt wobbly from the effort and my head was spinning. Long enough that I didn't realise it had worked until Hardt's hands closed around my own to stop me. He was coughing, eyes unfocused, and sand on his lips. You're probably thinking we shared a heartfelt reunion then, full of hugs and joy. You'd be wrong. Hardt pushed me away, rolled onto his side and vomited. And my joy was short lived. Hardt was alive, but I could see Silva's body, and I knew there was no bringing her back.
"What happened?" Hardt said eventually, after throwing up clumps of wet sand.
"We lost." I couldn't seem to drag my gaze away from where Silva lay. "He beat us all in moments."
"Argh. Big Terrelan monster," Ishtar's voice was laced with pain. "Stop watering the sand with your tears and help free me. I don't know which hurts more, my foot or my head. No. No, it's my foot. Definitely my foot."
Imiko helped Tamura to his feet and the old Aspect staggered, almost pulling them both back to the ground, but Imiko has always been stronger than she looks. Together they made their way to where Ishtar lay on the ground. With her foot trapped the way it was, there was no way my sword tutor could free herself, and the pain was considerable as she was happily telling us all.
"Can you free her?" I asked the Djinn. Aerolis nodded but didn't help. "Will you?"
"I see no reason to," the Djinn rumbled.
"You're just going to wait here and watch us gather ourselves?"
"I'm curious. It's been quite some time since I've had a chance to observe your kind. And I have nothing else to do."
I struggled to standing. My left leg felt stiff, wooden and painful, and hurt whenever I put weight on it. Still, I limped closer and stared up at the Djinn. "Free her." I pointed at Ishtar.
The floating stone I took for the Djinn's head turned to the side a little. "Why?"
"Call it returning the favour. We freed you."
A rumble of laughter echoed around the amphitheatre. "You did nothing of the sort. The sphere around this place was my doing, not the Rand's. And you had nothing to do with breaking it. I am still trapped here, and Do'shan is still secured by unbreakable anchors. All you did was kill the Aspect for a greater power than the Rand offered you."
I ground my teeth together. Imiko lowered Tamura to the ground and looked at the earth that had risen to lock Ishtar's foot in place. I caught her shaking her head.
"Free her," I said to Aerolis. "And I will free Do'shan."
"Done." No sooner had the words rumbled out from wherever they came from, the earthen lock around Ishtar's foot crumbled back to sand. My sword tutor pulled her foot close and rolled over, already fumbling for her pahht shoes to inspect the injury. I turned away from Aerolis, but the Djinn spoke again. "It is no small task you agree to. So, I will grant you three days to accomplish it."
"Fuck you!" I sent the Djinn a withering stare then turned back to Hardt.
The big man had finished throwing up and looked at me with an odd stare. "What happened, Eska? I felt… encased. I couldn't breathe. Then everything just faded away."
"You weren't breathing by the time I got you free of the golem. I had to, um, breathe for you, I think."
Hardt narrowed his eyes. "How did you know how to do that? I've only ever seen one person do that before, my old ship's doctor."
I weighed up the options and decided I simply didn't have the energy to lie to him about it. "Isen showed me. His ghost has been following me since the Pit. I didn't want to tell you because… It's my fault. My power. My guilt, I guess, dragging your brother's ghost along behind us. I didn't do it on purpose. I promise, I didn't mean to…" I ran out of words. There was no excusing the pale existence I had trapped Isen in.
Hardt took a moment. I think he was mulling it over in his head, deciding whether or not he could excuse one more of my atrocities. "Is he here now? I don't see him."
"No one does, only me. And I think he's gone." I looked around for Isen's ghost. The rest of my ethereal baggage was still there, lingering close by, watching me, but Isen was gone. He never came back. Whether that was because he felt his time on Ovaeris was finally over, or because I felt I could finally let him go, I don't think I'll ever really know. But I hope he finally found peace, released of the servitude I had unwittingly forced upon him.