Uttuku

The Books of Darkness

by Robert N. Stephenson

Table of Contents

Chapter 41

The Ta’ibah

conclusion

“We didn’t get the horse,” I said. He’d taken shape beneath the jetty, sitting on the rocks in the darkest region.

“Next time,” he said.

“Why did you have me play this game?”

“Uri’s death required human justice. You required human justice for him.” A hint, the barest of hints in his tone. “Only this could remove the last traces of your human side, Bela. Settling human revenge removed your last contact with what you once were.”

He was partly right. Samantha’s arrest and eventual punishment brought to a close what I owed Uri. I hadn’t known this; The Dark One had. Steven’s knowledge hadn’t broken free until he released him, the one thing I didn’t know in the scheme of things.

“You could have just told me,” I said. I thought things could have been done in a simpler fashion.

“Then the effect on you would not have been what I wanted.”

“And what now?” He was right. Uri no longer occupied my thoughts.

“Diana is still new; she will not know her strengths, a chance still exists she will be useful to us. For now, continue to watch, follow them, stay in touch with the horse.” He faded into the rocks and was gone.

Looking up I longed to be held again, longed to be loved as I remembered it. Or was it that I longed to remember such needs? He had ended one human trait within me, but not the one that still influenced me the most. I was to keep watch, to keep tabs on Sarina and Diana. In the shadows I had been confined to watching love and remembering the decision I had made. In the shadows a small light still shines, one I know will be extinguished with time.

Watching the window, the eye in the wall that lets me see the creator of that light, I know the next time will be difficult, far more difficult than even he could imagine. The sun is high, and children run about me, unaware I am there; such is the nature of darkness. Sarina looked down from her window. Looking at me. I wanted to wave, to show I could see her, but there remained no place for me in her life anymore.

The Dark One would come back, would bring a new Ta’ibah into the light and into their lives. I would join them of course, become a part of the attack to destroy the Uttukes. One Uttuke in particular. Until then I will plumb the depths of faded memories and try and understand the small white light. Until the next Ta’ibah arrives, I’ll just watch and regret the love I traded for eternal darkness.

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