Hah! You don't trust me?
'I don't trust the Tsarevich either, if that's what you're driving at. He turned me into a monster and I will never forgive him. But how much do my feelings matter in this? He is the only one who can rebuild this sad empty world. He is the only one who has the power. I saw as much in Pennsylvania.'
Strength should never be concentrated in the hands of one man. It must always be tempered with the wisdom of those who went before.It sounded like a recitation of holy scripture. Ayaan ignored it.
'You told me he had to be destroyed, that he had a plan of ultimate evil in mind. Now that grand secret plan is revealed'he simply wants to heal his broken body! I should kill a crippled man because he wishes to be whole?'
I'm not sure you understand. He has forced me to teach him the necessary magics. He has prepared the way to absorb all the energy of the Source into himself. That kind of power can do anything. It can reshape his body, fair enough, and mayhaps that's all he wants. Yet coupled with his level of control there's not a lot he couldn't do. He could end your life with an eyeblink, lass, if he chose. Cause wanton destruction, vanquish all who stood before him without lifting a deformed finger. He could rule by fire where before he's always ruled by iron.
'He needs to take power into his own hands if he's to do anything valuable.' Ayaan scowled. Why couldn't she make the brain understand? Humanity needed a leader. It needed a leader who could work miracles. It was the only hope, for any kind of a future.
She felt the brain trying to turn over in its jar.It's an ugly stretch of road from here to there. Do you truly expect him to do his best by all the wee folk in his wake? He mutilates their corpses!
'That's true. Who ever built a mosque, though, who didn't tear down hovels to make room? If you gave me a good enough reason, if you had given me any kind of reason at all I would gladly have sacrificed myself and yes, all of his followers, to destroy him. But you didn't. You decided instead to pollute my mind with post-hypnotic suggestions. Why should I give you my loyalty, when you try to take it by force?'
The brain was silent for quite a while.
You've gone soft.
Ayaan roared with disgust.
Fathers before us. You've actually fallen for the cod's wallop that tosser spews out, haven't you? You've turned. I had our Semyon lie on your behalf but he needn't have, eh? They brainwashed you just fine.
'Be careful what you suggest,' Ayaan told him. 'I happen to be a specialist in laying the dead to rest. I've never killed a ghost before but I'm willing to learn how.'
If only it were that simple.
Ayaan stormed away from him, but only for a few paces. She was alone, all alone in the midst of monstrosity. She was enmeshed in secrets and lies and plans she didn't have a hand in forming. She could not afford to give anything up. 'What about you?' she demanded, staring at Nilla. 'What's your part in this?'
The blonde lich turned to face the sun. 'I've already told you, I'm nobody. And that's what makes me special.'
Ayaan shook her head and dropped to sit on the sand. She hated nothing more in the world than riddles. Studiously she tried to ignore them. She stared out at the water as it broke on the sand. The sun had moved visibly across the sky by the time she noticed something flailing in the surf, something yellow and red and black with a bit of silver on one end and white spars sticking out of the sides.
Its limbs extended and then dropped, digging deep into the sand. It reared up, water pouring from its orifices and crevices and nooks and crannies. It had been human, once. It looked like a portioned chicken. The silver bit had been a helmet, strapped to its head. It had slipped down to cover one of its eyes; the other eye socket was empty and raw as if it had been gnawed on. Long strips of its skin had come off in the water while the salt had washed its exposed bones quite clean. It was the ugliest thing Ayaan had ever seen.