Deciding that he probably should find a way to tell Nyx that her servant was delusional—after he completed the test and joined her in the Otherworld—Kalona dismissed the Fey with a quick smile, saying, “Thank you, little one. The rest of the task I must complete on my own.” He had begun to move to the entrance to the cave when the Shaman, as if materializing from the night, appeared before him, holding a turtle rattle in one hand and an eagle-feather-decorated smudge stick in the other.
“Halt, Kalona of the Silver Wings! Do not enter the cave of Darkness. Evil will steal your spirit, and you will wander the earth empty and hopeless, having lost what you value most.”
L’ota raised up from the grass that had been concealing her, elongating her body and surprising Kalona by baring sharp, white teeth at the Shaman. You not a god! You not command him!
The Shaman whirled to face the Fey, shaking his rattle at her. “Leave this place, demon, friend of an enemy of the People. You do not belong here.” He shifted the rattle to the hand that held the smoking stick, reached into a leather pouch that was tied to a shell belt around his waist, and from it flung a handful of blue dust at the skeeaed.
L’ota shrieked and clawed at her face, tearing her flesh. The flesh that she tore writhed, as if it had life of its own. It changed, turning black and serpentine, until finally her entire body exploded, raining the ground with tendrils that continued to slither and writhe and tear at themselves until the Shaman threw another handful of blue dust at the seething nest. There was a terrible shriek that pierced the air, and the tendrils dissolved in a stinking cloud of black smoke.
“You should not traffic with demons, Winged One,” the Shaman told him.
Kalona waved a hand in front of his face, trying to dissipate the fetid smoke. “L’ota was one of the Goddess’s Fey. What did you do to her, old man?”
“I revealed her true nature, the one she has been hiding with whispers and cunning. She is demon, seduced by Darkness.”
“Shaman, none of this makes any sense to me. Have you nothing better to do than to shadow me and to cause Fey to explode?”
“I caused only the truth to be revealed. And I shadow you because you are the Kalona of the Silver Wings. You have great medicine.”
“Yes, I do. And that is why neither talking with a mad Fey, nor going into that cave will cause me harm. No one can steal my spirit.”
“Winged One, I have seen you in power dreams given to me by the Great Mother.”
“The Great Mother isn’t fond of me,” Kalona said.
“The Great Mother’s wisdom is beyond petty likes and dislikes,” retorted the Shaman.
“We may have to agree to disagree about that.”
“Kalona of the Silver Wings! You must hear me. In my dreams you are changed. You are filled with anger and despair. You know only violence and hatred. You have lost your way.”
“I know my way. It lies there.” He pointed at the cave. “And then there.” He gestured up, in the direction L’ota had disappeared.
The Shaman’s lined face looked sad. His voice lost its strength, and Kalona realized that the man must be very old indeed. “If Darkness follows you from that pit, I am bound by my power dreams and the oath I have sworn to my people to sacrifice to stop it.”
“Nothing is following me except you, a mad Fey, and some misguided black birds. Go home, Shaman. Take your woman to your bed. She will help clear your dreams.”
The old man began to shuffle his feet in a rhythm that had become familiar to Kalona. “Choose wisely, Winged One. The destiny of many changes with your fate.” Chanting in time with his dance, the Shaman finally moved off into the prairie.
Kalona shook his head and waved away more smoke, sending it wafting toward where the birds perched above the cave, making them croak at him in irritation. “At least we are in agreement about this noxious smudging,” he muttered at the birds. “The Shaman is a pest.” Silently he thought about recent events. How was he going to explain what had happened to L’ota to Nyx? And how would he not get blamed for it?
“Why do I feel Erebus doesn’t have these kinds of problems?” Ducking his head, Kalona entered the cave.
The inside of the cave opened so that Kalona could stand easily. There was no light within, and though the immortal could see through darkness, the pit made him shiver. He paused, studying the high, rocky sides, looking for evidence of crystals. Seeing none, Kalona turned his attention to the depths of the cave.
Something glittered just beyond the reach of his vision.
Though he did not like the feeling of confinement the cave gave him, Kalona moved forward. “Just get the Shaman-be-damned jewels and get out.” His voice echoed eerily around him, giving him pause.
Into that pause words coursed powerfully through his mind.
Welcome, Kalona, son of the moon, warrior and lover of Nyx. I wondered how long it would take you to come to me.
“Who is there?” Kalona called, reaching up to conjure his spear.
But Kalona’s hand remained empty. His spear did not appear.
A rumble of mocking laughter battered through his mind. You will find there is no magick of the Divine here. Here there is a different kind of power.