Wrath of the White Tigress

Chapter 27

Despite a week of hard riding, they made it back to the Yritti camp just in time. Rahazakir had begun to suffer from nightmares and low fevers several days earlier, but his symptoms started fading as soon as they entered the camp.

Jaska and Ohzikar once again argued about their plans. Ohzikar wanted to go after Zyrella immediately but Jaska insisted on helping the Yritti first.

"I thought you loved her!"

"This doesn't change that," said Jaska. "And I'm certain she would agree with me. Besides, Salahn won't kill her. He will use her as a lure and then try to make me surrender in exchange for her life. So he may even leave her alone until we arrive."

"Do you honestly believe that?"

Jaska thought of the Salahn he had come to know through witnessing the past. "No," he said with a sigh. "He will make her suffer, but he won't kill her."

"Let me go to her."

"Alone? You think you can defeat Salahn by yourself? That's what you'd have to do."

"If he captured me, at least I'd be with her."

"He would have no reason to keep you alive. In fact, he would use you to make her suffer more."

Ohzikar cursed and kicked his pack across the tent before storming toward the exit.

"Wait," Jaska said. "Do you know anything about Zyrella being a valrycca?"

Ohzikar paused. "I've never heard the term before."

"But I have," said Goat Shaman as he entered the tent uninvited. "It is an old Hareezan word and it means that she's a spirit leech, something like a vampire, though not precisely. It is a trait passed down from one of the ancient races."

"I don't understand," Jaska said.

"But I do." Ohzikar paced in thought. "Every time we..." He blushed and looked away. "Every time we made love ... afterward I felt completely drained."

"But when we--" Jaska stopped, realizing that Ohzikar didn't know what had happened during the sandstorm. The templar stared at him coldly, back stiff, jaws clenched, eyes narrowing. "In the caves during the storm..."

"It was bound to happen sooner or later." Ohzikar ground his teeth. "It doesn't matter. It was her choice."

After a long pause Jaska continued. "Well, nothing like what you described happened to me. In fact, it was quite the opposite."

"That," said Goat Shaman, "means that you're a valrycus, a feeder. These two blood traits seek to keep together those of the ancient blood. Those with the corresponding traits automatically feel a strong compulsion to be together, and they are never completely satisfied by others. The trait will slowly kill an inappropriate mate."

"If it's inherited through the mother," Jaska said, "then Mardha might also have it. But what about Salahn? Surely he wouldn't risk relations with her if she stole energies from him."

"But," said Goat Shaman, "if he is a valrycus as well..."

Ohzikar grew fearful for Zyrella. "Would more than one mate give him greater strength?"

Goat Shaman shrugged. "Such lore has not passed down to me. The only reason I know any of this is because the blood once ran among our people."

"But no longer?"

"The ancients were not fertile, and their blood runs thin. They will soon have no descendants left."

"This knowledge does us little good as far as I can see," Jaska said. "I had hoped it would give me some insight into defeating Salahn."