Page 27 of The Healer and the Warlord

“Alyx,” I murmured, regaining control of my movements.

“I’m here,” she confirmed, her thumbs stroking my cheekbones more insistently.

Finally, my eyes opened—opened to find her pale, silvery eyes filled with tears.

“There you are.” She sighed in relief.

“I’d never leave you,” I promised.

A breathy laugh of relief escaped her. “I have no doubt. You reshaped the very fabric of the desert for me.”

Now I blinked. Thinking of the place I had imagined—a home for me and Alyx.

“Did I…”

Alyx moved from my line of sight, instead sitting down next to me where I still kneeled in the sand. I faced the mountains, but no longer were they just a steep slope of gray rock climbing up toward the sky. Sprouting from the mountainside, were geometric squares. As I blinked in confusion, my vision started to organize itself.

Buildings and roads all stacked on top of each other, climbing up from the foot of the mountain. A city that could house hundreds—thousands—carved straight into the rock. The concentric layers climbed upward to an incredible palace, from the top of which emerged a tower with an impressive spire. From there, one would be able to look out over the whole desert. I even imagined you could see the ocean sparkling on the horizon, though, I knew it to be hundreds of miles away.

My mouth hung open as I let my gaze drift down over the geometric architecture to the sight immediately before us. Encircling the brand new city was a high wall, carved out of the same stone as every other bit of it. It appeared completely solid and unbroken, presenting a beacon of absolute safety, apart from the large, arched entrance directly in front of where Alyx and I kneeled.

I scrabbled to my feet in shock. Alyx stood next to me and slid her hand into my own. If her delicate fingers had not squeezed mine so reassuringly, I might have thought it was a dream. My boots seemed rooted to the ground, but she tugged me forward.

“Let’s go look,” she prompted.

I stared at her, dumbfounded. She just smiled.

“Can we?” I asked dumbly.

She nearly laughed, but she seemed just as dazed as I was.

“You pulled this marvel from the mountainside. I don’t know why we wouldn’t be able to,” she pointed out.

I let her tug me along. We passed under the stone archway, and something deep in my gut shivered at the magnitude of the stone around us. The familiar feel of sand giving way underfoot turned into the harsh slap of my boots against solid rock as we entered a large courtyard. Branching out from it were paths in a variety of directions, along with one large road, climbing up and up through the stacked stone levels toward the palace at the top.

I stood in the center of it all and pivoted in place, taking in my surroundings. My heart stuttered. Alyx had made me believe I could do anything, but even I had not imagined this until the desert had whispered in my mind to try it. But I had wanted a home for Alyx, and so it had become.

A growing wave of whispers and voices distracted me. I had nearly forgotten that we had been surrounded by other people—people who had fled the vicinity when the ground started to heave and shake with my efforts to reshape it.

Now, they hesitantly approached the open archway into the new city. At the front of the crowd stood Lord Avis. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. I understood the feeling of shock written on his expression, but I raised my chin. I pulled Alyx closer and exchanged my hand in hers for putting my left arm protectively around her waist.

My right arm still hung uselessly by my side, but such things barely seemed to matter right now. I hardly knew what to do with this new place I had wrought—with the fact that I could accomplish such a thing—but Alyx smiled up at me, and nothing else mattered. She was wise and kind, and I trusted her.

“Come in!” she shouted, beckoning to those who hesitated outside the arch. Slowly, the group trickled in and looked around in awe. I watched the riders warily, knowing they had been fighting just before I had gone into my trance, although it felt like lifetimes ago. The change in events seemed to have at least temporarily sapped the fight from them, though.

“What is this place?” Lord Avis asked first, stopped several meters from where I stood with Alyx.

She looked at me, and I nodded to her. This place was for her, and it could be whatever she wished it to be, as long as she and I could share it.

“This is a new beginning,” she declared, loud enough for all the gathering crowd to hear. “This new city will be a place where any rider of the desert can be at home and the divisions between clans disappear.”

She trailed off as titters ran through the crowd, but the hazy vision that had driven me forward as I shaped the rock became solid and real. “This will be a place of peace,” I shouted. “And all those who try to bring war within its walls will answer to me.”

The shuffling of feet and unsure glances people shared told me that no one here today would be quick to cross me after such a display. Still, Alyx turned her face to me and beamed. Dirt smudged and rumpled as she was, she already glowed like a queen, and I could think of no better gift for her than her own kingdom.

Now she spoke, confident and sure, all traces of the stifled woman I had abducted burned away with her power. “This great city shall be ours, and we will call it Kelvadan.”

Epilogue