As Seema came up beside him, Atreus gestured down into the hollow, where Yago still held the axe over Tarch's neck.
"He's pretty beaten up, but we didn't kill him," Atreus said, glancing out over the red-laced basin. "I don't know if that will mean anything for Langdarma."
"Who can say?" Seema sounded drained and numb. "It is good you spared him. A second murder does not undo the first. What of the girls? Are they injured?"
Atreus shook his head, then pointed toward the base of the cliff and said, "Rishi has them up in a cave. They're not hurt physically, but they're not saying much." He looked down at Tarch's mangled form. "They saw a pretty bloody fight"
When Seema glanced at the devil, her eyes grew hard and surprisingly ugly. "At least they did not see a vengeance murder," she said. "They will heal better for it, but I am not sure I will. I wanted him dead. I still do."
Atreus looked away, not knowing what to say. Had she expressed such sentiments in Rivenshield he would have handed her Yago's axe and told her to take as many swings as she liked. But they were not in Rivenshield, and Atreus was as lost with his emotions as she was with hers. He had spared Tarch's life only because he did not want to corrupt the innocence of the two girls watching. Now that Seema had lost hers, he had no idea how to give it back.
Instead, he said, "Maybe you should check the girls. You'll be more comfort to them than Rishi."
The suggestion seemed to lighten Seema's burden. Her eyes grew brighter and she said, nodding, "Of course. They will need to know their mother is well, and perhaps I can explain to them how this happened." She squeezed his shoulder. "Thank you."
Seema started up the slope. Not long after, Atreus noticed a silver comet over the main valley. For a moment, it seemed to hang motionless near the far end, then it gradually began to swell and brighten. A faint sizzling echoed up the canyon, growing louder as the comet enlarged, and at last it became apparent that the shiny ball was actually moving, streaking through the air toward the Turquoise Cliffs.
The sizzle built to a roar, and the silver ball became a platinum blur arcing down toward the talus slope. Tarch's bloodshot eyes grew large and angry. He tried to roll to his feet, but Yago hammered his head with the flat of the axe blade and beat him back into submission.
The platinum blur resolved itself into a milky white oval supported by two shimmering wings. Seema and Rishi came down from the cave with the two sisters and stood next to Atreus. Together, they all waited respectfully as the figure slowed and took on the more humanlike form of the Sannyasi, then circled overhead, creating a pearly halo over the hollow where Tarch lay trapped.
After this brief inspection, the Sannyasi alighted on the boulder next to Atreus. He turned at once to the girls.
"Have no fear," he said, and touched his palms to their faces. "The devil will harm you no more."
"We are not afraid for ourselves," said the oldest sister. "We are thinking of our father."
"The devil bit him!" gasped the younger.
"I know," the Sannyasi said grimacing. He continued to touch them, but even he could not erase their pain or explain to them why Tarch had done such a terrible thing. He merely nodded and said, "He is from Outside, and there are things Outside we can never understand. Do not worry on your father's account He is with the Serene Ones now, and it makes no difference to them how he died. You were a blessing to him in life, and I have it on good authority that his only wish is for you live in peace and forget what you have seen today."
This drew some of the pain from the girls faces, and only then did the Sannyasi spread his feathery wings and glide down into the hollow. Tarch's scorched and battered body began to tremble and exude vile-smelling fumes, and he glared at the winged guardian in red-eyed hatred.
The Sannyasi took the axe from Yago and motioned him out of the hollow. He looked down at Tarch.
"How dare you bring your evil into this place." The Sannyasi's voice was filled with controlled fury. "Did you not see my wards?"
"Pike it… bubber!" Tarch barely managed to moan the words. "How long you think you can hold this little corner? This world's ours. We'll be coming for you soon enough-"
"If that is so, you will not see it"
The Sannyasi stepped on his prisoner's chest. A glowing white halo appeared beneath his foot and started to spread outward, slowly turning the devil's scaly hide pale and translucent. Tarch howled in pain and began to flail around, his thrashing fists pounding stones to powder. He struck at his captor time and again, clawed his leg, tried to drag himself free, but he was no match for the Sannyasi's strength. The white radiance continued to spread over the devil's body, turning him as clear as glass from head to toe, and when he became nothing more than a crystal ghost, he finally let out an agonized howl and stopped writhing.
The Sannyasi glared down at the devil's still form, then brought the axe down. Tarch's body shattered like ice, and began to melt away and stream off in all directions.
"Water turns the wheel, the wheel turns time," said the Sannyasi. "When the wheel brings your spirit around again, I pray you find a happier life."
Yago arched his bushy brows. "You killed him," he said. "After all we went through not to?"
"I did not kill him. I sent his spirit back to the endless river," the Sannyasi said, then returned the axe to Yago. "You were right to spare his life. It will help you find happiness Outside."
"Outside?" Seema asked.
The Sannyasi nodded. "It is not easy to subdue such a fiend without killing him," he said. "If your friends are strong enough to do this, they are strong enough to leave Langdarma."
Atreus's heart sank.
"How soon?"
The Sannyasi looked from Seema to Atreus. "Three days," he said. "The fall storms are coming soon."
"And if we don't care about the storms?" Atreus asked. He glanced at the scowl on Yago's face, then added, "What if / don't care about the storms. What if I don't want to leave… ever?"
The Sannyasi's eyes softened. "This is not your home," he said softly.
"I have never been happier in my home than I am here." Atreus took Seema's hand, then added, "I have found here what is forbidden me in Rivenshield."
"Perhaps that is so. But you are a child of Rivenshield. You have a violent heart, and we have already seen what comes of violent hearts in Langdarma." The Sannyasi gestured at the web of scarlet streams spreading over the valley and said, "It cannot be."
"Violent hearts?" Rishi scoffed. "Did we not risk our own lives to spare Tarch's?"
"Tarch was here only because of you, and you are here only because of him." The Sannyasi glanced up at the two young sisters, who were observing the exchange with blank, faraway eyes, and continued, "Violence clings to you like an aura. You carry it with you wherever you go. You may stay for three days… no more."
"Ungrateful squab!" Rishi hissed. "After all we have done for Langdarma, you dare insult us like this? You do not know who you are talking to."
"I do not need to," said the Sannyasi. "You have proven my point with your own words."
"And if they don't leave?" Yago's tone was stubborn and menacing, but it did not escape Atreus's notice that the ogre had not included himself. He, at least, knew where he belonged, and it wasn't Langdarma. "You think you can force them?"
Seema gasped at the ogre's brazenness, but the Sannyasi's silvery eyes remained calm and patient
"They will leave. That is the only possible outcome." He looked away from the ogre and asked Atreus, "What of the other two missing women?"
It took Atreus a moment to swallow his disappointment and answer, for his stomach had grown so bitter and tight that he could barely speak.