resolve faltered. He wanted so desperately to serve.
“You will have your heart’s desires,” the woman said. But he knew she lied. She wasn’t going to save Da. She wasn’t going to spare River. He’d seen her for what she was. Of course, part of him didn’t care what she was. Most of him didn’t care.
“No!” shouted Argoth. “No good can come from this. You cannot lie with sheep and sire men.”
“Hunger,” the woman commanded.
“Trust me,” Talen said again. But he didn’t know if he could trust himself.
He turned to his sister and saw her dismay. He looked into her lovely, grief-stricken eyes. “I love you, sister,” he said. “I will see you in brightness.”
Her face fell.
“No,” said Uncle Argoth, but the heat was gone from his voice.
The living light about the woman reached out to him. “In the end,” she said, “they will see your wisdom and thank you. Now we must hollow you so that we may repair what was done. Hunger, come.”
The monster took River back to the wall and chained her with double the chains. It left her there and strode over to Talen.
Talen flexed his essence. River had told him to practice closing himself every moment he could. He had done this. He knew how to open and close himself. He only needed to fling himself wide at the right moment.
The Mother spoke into Hunger’s mind. As soon as we have the master in our control, you will take the others and quicken your brethren.
Yes, he said, and his heart fell. Hunger had done all she had commanded. He had kept his part of the bargain. But she had just lied to the boy. And if she lied to her overseer, why would she ever keep her word to him, a thing destined for the devouring?
But what could he do? He could not fight her.
In anger, he reached forward and took the boy by the throat.
Talen tensed. The monster’s hands were rough with stone. But more unsettling still was the feeling of something probing along the seams of his being.
The monster readjusted its grip.
Talen prepared to fling himself wide.
Then he was lost, floating, in his body, but out of it.
Panic rose in him. He’d missed his chance.
“River,” he called.
With a roar like rushing water, a door burst open within him and another one behind it. He could perceive the chaos of the monster outside that first door, and beyond it, behind the second door stood the woman.
Beauty. Power. Like nothing he could imagine. A being worthy of his every devotion. He longed to make her happy. But the truth sang in his bones. He knew she was an illusion. Knew her promises would turn to dust. However, it didn’t matter now as much as it had only moments before. He just didn’t care.
No, he said to himself. The link between them must be magnifying her effect. He focused on Da and River, on the monster.
“You please me,” said the woman.
He basked in her gratitude and knew he was hanging by a finger. He was slipping, sliding, falling into a powerful river from which he knew he would never return.
He had to act quickly. He could not withstand this longing.
“Come!” he shouted into the roar of noise. “Come and take me!” He threw open the fabric of his being and poured himself forth.
The Fire coursed from him through the monster’s arm.
Talen ripped himself wider, a massive rent. The Fire crashed around him like turgid rapids.
But the monster simply swallowed it up.
“Yes,” the woman said. “That is good.”
How much Fire did it take to break a man? How much did it take to break a monster? Talen had no idea, but what he was doing didn’t seem to have any effect.
Talen opened himself as wide as he could.
Black spidery lines ran up the creature’s arm, spreading down its side and along its chest. But the creature showed no sign of breaking.
Fear rose in him. This wasn’t going to work. He’d been a fool! He should have run to Uncle Argoth.
He tried to pull away but could not.
But he didn’t really want to anyway.
No, Talen thought. No! He searched for more to give, to release all that was in him. And then he felt something slip. He had been standing in the rush, watching it flow by. Now he knew he simply needed to let go, to flow with the Fire.
“What is he doing?” the woman asked in warning. “Stop it. Close him up.”