The Stoneweaver

Chapter 15: Heart

Skarn woke. He blinked his eyes. A bright white light blinded him. He shut them quickly. He had been too long in the dim dark.

"Ahh. Of course, how inconsiderate of me. The light. Kadana, do draw the drapes," said a voice.

A disinterested, puzzled voice. Skarn knew it: Erid Gur.

The room darkened. Skarn could open his eyes now without pain. He saw that he lay in a large room with white alabaster walls. In the center of one wall, he saw a statue of the Twins. He knew where he was now: The Blessed Baths, a room in the heart of the Temple. Skarn himself had carved that sacred statue as an offering years ago.

To see Erid in this place of worship sickened him. The man defiled it just by standing here. Everything he touched, he fouled. And here he was, in the Temple!

It was too much.

Skarn closed his eyes again and summoned his Talent—and the dimsian. The hellrock answered his call eagerly, hungrily. He would use its power to destroy Erid, no matter the cost to himself. The man was a plague upon all of Darem.

"Unnnh!" Skarn grunted in pain.

Something had slammed into his chest, as though the bodyguard Dom had punched him with all his might. He could hardly breathe.

"Very good, Kadana," said Erid. The Trade Master's voice brightened. He leaned forward and scanned Skarn's body as it shook on the bed. "But, look. The eyes are bulging and the breath sounds weak. Do you not think his heart might burst?"

Skarn struggled to suck in air. It felt like Burlan the obese blacksmith was sitting on his chest.

A woman moved beside Erid and looked down at Skarn's bed. She was clothed head to foot in flowing crimson fabric. Her eyes were closed; her brow furrowed in concentration.

"Perhaps," the woman said. "But I felt the power bubbling inside him, Trade Master. Like none I'd felt before. He was about to strike."

Her voice was smooth, like liquid gold. A foreign accent played around the corners of her words.

Erid nodded. "Yes, that would be a pity. Stoneweaver," he said to Skarn loudly. "Do you hear me, stoneweaver?"

Skarn couldn't speak. He blinked at Erid. Yes, I can hear you, monster.

"Kadana is going to relax the grip on your heart. Would you like that?" Erid nearly shouted at Skarn, like he was talking to a small child.

Skarn struggled to nod.

Erid turned to Kadana. "Did you see? He could move. That was admirable, yes?"

"Yes, Trade Master. But at your command, I can smother all movement."

Erid nodded. "As you have shown me." He paused in thought, perhaps remembering another one of his victims in this woman Kadana's embrace. Perhaps wondering what it be like to see Skarn die before his eyes.

But Erid said, "Another time, Kadana. Stoneweaver! Can you still hear me?"

Skarn locked eyes with Erid.

"Good. Kadana will release you. But the moment you seize your Talent again, she will pounce. Burst your heart in two. Do you understand?"

"Ye .... Ye .... Yes," wheezed Skarn.

Erid nodded. "Let him go, Kadana."

The weight on Skarn's chest vanished. He gasped in air. His heart began to beat again.

"Keep his heart in your hands, dear," said Erid.

Kadana, her eyes still closed, nodded.

"Why am I here?" asked Skarn.