Storm Surge by R. J. Blain Page B

shuddered. How could he explain his fragmented memories? While the Yadesh could acknowledge the truth of his words, he didn’t want to speak. If he voiced what waited for them in Morinvale, it’d become all the more real.
    Honey shifted beneath him. Kalen swallowed, listening to the thunder in his effort to identify where it came from. Lifting his hand, he pointed. “Morinvale is that way, isn’t it?”
    Relas stepped forward, one of her ears pricking forward. ~Morinvale is that way.~
    “It comes from there.”
    “What is it?” Tala asked, her voice shrill.
    “I don’t know. I don’t know what they are. All I can tell you is who created it—them.” Kalen drew a deep breath and held it before releasing it slowly. He did so several more times to control his growing anxiety.
    “So who did?”
    Kalen scowled as more fragments of his memory fell into place, bring with them more names he didn’t want to remember. “Danarites. That’s why I’m here.”
    “You’re here because of the Danarites?” Tala gaped at him. “Why would a Rifter care?”
    His laughter was bitter. “Why, indeed. I just do.”
    If he acknowledged the truth of what he was, the things he had done, and the reasons why he remained in Kelsh when he should have returned home, nothing would hold back the torrent of memories. He was aware of them hammering at him, ready and waiting to return. There was something peaceful about not knowing. Once he remembered everything, he would be forced to resume his mantle.
    So long as his memories eluded him, he could have some peace.
    ~No,~ the First whispered, its regret as strong as Kalen’s.
    He sighed.
    “Surely you have a reason.”
    “Surely I do,” he agreed.
    “Tell me.”
    “Some things you don’t want to know the truth of, Knight. I suggest we wait and see what comes. When we know where it’s going, we’ll decide where we must go.” Kalen stretched his aching hand. “Relas, how fast can you run?”
    ~I am fast.~
    “As fast as a Rift horse?”
    The Yadesh snorted. ~Likely faster. I can outrun any mere horse.~
    Honey’s ears turned back as though she were listening to—and understood—the Knight’s mount and didn’t like what she heard. With deliberate pride, his mare lifted her hooves and danced in place, forcing him to adjust his seat and ride through her antics. He could’ve reined her in, but he gritted his teeth and let her show off.
    The whites of Relas’s eyes showed.
    “Why were you headed to Morinvale, Knight?” Kalen met Tala’s gaze, sitting straighter at the anger in her expression.
    “It’s my duty. I was ordered to go there.”
    Kalen sucked in a breath and dread formed a cold lump in his throat. “By whom?”
    “My king,” she snapped.
    ~Traitor,~ the First hissed, and Kalen had no doubts the creature mean the Kelshite King, not the woman before him.
    Kalen closed his eyes, sighed his regret, and let the memories come as they would. When he opened his eyes again, he stared at his hand. “Your king has sent you and your Yadesh to your deaths,” he stated, wincing as he flexed his hand. The names of those he didn’t want to remember taunted him, and he ruthlessly shoved them aside, although he didn’t deny the events that had caused him so much pain.
    The other Knight had smiled grimly as Kalen’s bones broke beneath the ministrations of the Danarite Blood Priest. It had been their greed to bring about his sire’s end that had saved his life and prevented the two who had tortured him from learning the truth of the Rift King’s line of succession. Kalen shuddered.
    ~Truth,~ Relas reported, her tone coldly neutral.
    “He wouldn’t.” Rage twisted Tala’s expression, her eyes glinting with a fierceness Kalen appreciated.
    No one wanted to believe ill of their king—unless, of course, their king was him.
    ~Truth,~ the First murmured to him.
    “You’ll have to learn that for yourself, then” he hissed between clenched teeth. Arguing with her wasn’t