by J. D. Lakey
A war broke out among the naked-tailed furries as the one tried to assimilate the other. The warehouse rats were outnumbered and their numbers dwindled. The alien rats would continue on, destroying the planet by their very presence. Were the Lowlanders like the rats, deaf to the All Mind? Would she have to resort to a the same form of psychic surgery on the Lowlanders? How much of a monster would she be if she altered the structure of their human DNA?
Cheobawn paused. Amabel had been sending medicine tabs down to Meetpoint that must be doing just that. She had seen the lighting bolt printed on the backing of the injection packets. That meant the tabs contained Little Makers. The Little Makers carried viral agents meant to perform very precise DNA surgery. What kind of changes were they making? That was the question. She needed to get Amabel aside and ask.
The night lost all its magic. She shifted her mind and found River’s house. River slept here. She could feel his mind through the connection of the bloodstone—the sister stone to the one she had worn in her omeh all her life—that he wore around his neck. Old Father Bhotta’s stone in her pocket throbbed in harmony with his sleeping heart. It had once been a simple bloodstone, one of many that had belonged to the Bhotta All Mind. But she had worn it close to her heart for too long, and it had changed as she had changed.
She had never invaded River’s privacy, but now, for some reason, such squeamishness seemed pointless. Her need seemed greater than his need for privacy. He slept with the louvered doors open to the courtyard where the tiled pattern of a Highreaches dome was inlaid in the hardened earth. He had made it in a fit of homesickness, stuck, as he was, in the strange Lowland city of Dunauken, waiting endlessly for the promised one.
With a thought, she sent two of her scarlet lizards off to find River in the flesh, in case he needed to send her a message. That would make the Coven happy for a bit and get Menolly off her back. After a moment, she sent one to Samwell Wheelwright and another to Kirr, though she was not sure why. They would find their destinations by dawn’s light, their message tubes empty—an invitation to talk.
Bodiless, she drifted out into the courtyard until her feet found the circle of stone that represented the main plaza of River’s map. A half-dozen of the tiny green lizards, disturbed by her presence in the ambient, scuttled out of her way and settled again in the cracks between the stones of the garden wall. They feared her for some reason even if she was only a ghost. Perhaps she tasted too much like a bhotta, hunting—formless and lethal—in the night air.
River’s bloodstone reminded her of the other thing Menolly had said. Lawflin. The other forerunner. He was out there somewhere, hidden in the mass of life of this Lowlander city.
Ahh. This was an itch she could actually scratch. This was the thing that annoyed her like a loose thread that wanted unraveling. She had known about him since stepping off Sam’s boat, but had not had a chance to go find him. He had been hanging off the edge of her mind for so long she had forgotten he was there. But not now. He needed her. Wanted her. The link between them grew stronger every day. It was time to find him.
She shook the ambient out of her head, shoved her fist into her pocket, closing it around Old Father Bhotta, the bloodstone she had taken from the old bhotta on the day she had become the All Mind, and opened up the arc of energy between bloodstones, between here and there, between her and Lawflin. She put more and more energy into the connection until it was a bright beacon inside her mind. Satisfied that she had the where of him, Che ran down the slope of the barn roof and leaped out into the air, stepping out of the world, turning a corner, and stepping back in again.
She landed, crouched low, upon a wooden floor, the energy of her fall from the roof turning into electricity that ran down her arms and grounding itself out in the cold, damp planks. Standing, she found herself in a machine shop. It looked and smelled like Master Finn’s workshop back in Windfall Dome. A man sat in a bright pool of light in an otherwise dark room, bent over a table, a soldering iron in one hand, a coil of fine wire in the other, a magnifying lenses over one eye held in place by a roughly-made headset. The streaks of silver at the temples of his tawny hair caught at the light. He kept it long and pulled back in a top-knot much like Zeff’s hair. She missed Zeff and his dogs, and the reminder was a dull ache she could not cure.
Wanting to get a taste of the place he called home, Cheobawn spun about, studying the room. Objects of mysterious purpose covered every surface. Was this man a Master Tinkerer? Why would the Coven send a Tinkerer down below the Escarpment? How old was he? How long had he been in the Lowlands? Long enough for his hair to start graying? A shiver of horror slid down her spine as she thought of a young dome Father left alone for so long among strangers. Surely not. Could Mora be this cruel? That was a fool’s question. Mora could and would do anything to keep the domes safe.
Cheobawn drew in a long, shuddering breath. Mora had, once again, managed to surprise her. Lawflin heard that sound. Pushing the magnifying glass to the top of his head, the Father looked up and squinted into the gloom.
“Have you come at last?” he breathed, his eyes scanning the shadows. There was so much longing in those worlds, so much need, so much loneliness.
Che moaned, wanting to weep for him. Instead she wove her way around cluttered tables and machines of mysterious purpose to stand over his work station.
“Greetings, Father. Blessed are you. Blessed is your strong heart. How can I serve you?”
His green eyes opened wide in disbelief, a fist gone to his throat to clutch the medicine bag hanging from a thick leather string around his neck. Eyes green like Alain’s eyes. It told her much about his birth dome. Without an omeh—a birth necklace—it was the only clue she had to his history.
“The High Mother said be patient, that you would come in your own time,” he said softly. “I hardly believed it, but here you are at last. How did you know I wanted you? Did you hear my heart across the city?”
This felt like a dream, this meeting. The bloodstone in his fist was as familiar as her own mind. She had worn its sister-stone around her neck for eleven years. But that stone was gone. The ancient bhotta, king of all bhottas, had taken hers and transferred it to his crown sac, gaining a permanent connection, through her, to Old Father Bhotta’s bloodstone—which she kept close at hand in her pocket—thus ensuring the memories of his species would be passed on. Now she was connected to all life on the planet. She could feel Lawflin’s stone, feel the beating of his heart through that connection. Cheobawn reached out and touched the back of his hand. Lawflin’s eyes went wide at her touch. A sensual fire suffused them both. How long had it been since a Mother had touched him so? Forty-six stones sang to her, even the ones muted by the black containment-box high on the shelf in Mora’s office. If this was a dream it was a fever-dream. She was on fire and here was one of the reasons.
“Do you hear River’s heart through this?” she wondered aloud, listening to that Father’s sleeping mind across half a city. Cheobawn turned her head towards River and then looked beyond him to the long, low huts on the far bank of the Liff where everyone she loved slept soundly. She could not stay long. The life of the All Mind, in all its complex warp and weft, blanketed the planet, telling her everything she needed to know about where she was. Lawflin’s shop was nestled against the base of the bluffs, not far from the wealthy households that lived above him. Robert Wheelwright lived not far from here. This was not a dream. It was a real place. A place she would be able to find again even without the bloodstone to guide her.
“River?” the man asked, staring up at her in wonder.
“I came down the Escarpment before Mora was ready to send me. Mora only had a chance to send one other forerunner beside you. Did she mean for me to gather you both up? Are you to be part of my strange extended Pack?” Che asked, half to herself.
“I do not know, Mother. I was not privileged to that information.”
Che looked into his eyes and let her fingers touch the l
ine of his jaw. Lawflin closed his eyes, struggling to breathe. “No. I will use you in a different way. You will be my hidden weapon. Menolly called you Lawflin.”
The tawny-haired Father blinked away tears. Cheobawn could feel her heart breaking for him and his awful loneliness. She would have to wait until she turned twelve before she could gather his heart properly. For now, loving him would have to be enough.
“Call me Flynn,” he choked out. “I have something for you. Something that will help you stay out of the reach of spying ears.” Flynn reached into a drawer of his work table and pulled out a flat box big enough to fit in two palms. He pried off the lid to reveal five curved bits of wire and crystal. Palm-sized, they looked like silly Lowlander jewelry.
Che took one, studying it. “What are they?”
“Rumor has it that your Pack went rogue and followed you down river,” Flynn said.
Che hissed in surprise. “You have a com-sphere. The Coven has been talking to you.”
“Yes, Little Mother,” Flynn said. “I have been instructed to aid you in whatever way I can. These are com units. They are nothing like Lowlander coms.”
Flynn picked one up and settled it around his ear. Cheobawn copied his actions. It fit comfortably around the base of her ear, the crystals resting gently against the bones of her skull.
“Where are the golden balls that are supposed to enclose them?” she asked. She had grown up watching Mora handle the spheres arrayed around her office, each one a link to somewhere else. The spheres were normally two hand-spans wide, the surface meant to act as antennae activated by the electrical field of a human hand.
Flynn grinned at her. “Your skin is the antenna. As long as the crystal-mind is touching the back of your ear, it will pick up and broadcast within a reasonable distance.”
Cheobawn smiled back. His voice came to her from two directions, the com-unit echoing his voice through the bones of her ear.
“Flynn. How clever you are!”
“They are like Mora’s com-spheres but less powerful. Mora gave me a set of synced bloodstones and a sack of crystals when I came down the Escarpment. It took me a while to cobble together the rest. Lowland technology is woefully primitive and Spacer tech is hard to come by. The units hold a miniature crystalline mind. The bloodstones are small, so their range is limited, but they will talk to each other across the city. Your Pack will be able to communicate without worrying about the Spacers or the governor’s men listening in on your conversations.”
The rainbow array of bloodstones rested along the curve of her upper ear. The crystalmind lay hidden just behind her earlobe. An ornate twist of wire curled along her cheek. They were beautiful.
Flynn touched that twist on his own cheek. “This is very sensitive to sound. It will pick up even the softest of whispers.”
Again, the sound came to her ear through the air and through the vibrations of the crystalmind against the bones of her skull, his words a double echo. Cheobawn laughed, delighted.
“You are too clever by far, Flynn.”
The Father grinned.
She looked up as an idea took shape in her mind. “Thank you. Alain is going to have so much fun playing with these. But there is much more that I will need from you, Flynn.”
Flynn grinned. “Of course. Who is Alain? Your Alpha?”
“No, he is Tam’s second, but he is a competent Tinkerer.”
Flynn nodded, pleased. “I look forward to meeting him.”
“Soon,” Che said. “But not yet. I need other things. Armor for five. Weapons. Pulse rifles. Power cores that will not lose a charge too quickly. I will send a carrion dragon with a complete list and the address of where I need it delivered. River has a dojo on the outskirts of the Space Port. When I return to the city, it will be to return to his house.”
“Return? You are here already.”
“I have become unstuck from space and time. Where my Pack sleeps is how I measure where I am now.”
Flynn stared at her, confusion putting a furrow on his brow.
“Little Mother?”
She caught his hand and kept it prisoner.
“Can you be strong for me, for a little while longer, Flynn Blackwind?” She named him, making him a member of her Pack. Husband, it meant. It was a promise of sorts.
Flynn’s lips trembled. He stared at her wide-eyed. “What do you need, Little Mother?”
“I need you to stay here. You have a Lowlander life that has seen you well for a few years. I need you to be that person. No one can know who you are or where you are. You will be my secret weapon in this vast game of War that Mora has started. Mora is sending me reinforcements, but until they come, I cannot risk you. Can you stay hidden for just a bit longer?”
“Yes, Little Mother,” said Flynn, with the fervor of a warrior. He had not been gone from the domes so long that he had forgotten who and what he was.
Che released him and put the com units back in their box. “Blessed is your heart, Flynn.”
Che jumped into the air and stepped around a corner to the place she held bright in her mind, and stepped out onto the center stone of River’s dome-patterned courtyard.
This was magical, this place. The center stone vibrated under her feet. River had wept real tears as he laid the tiles, building a circle that contained all his memories of growing up above the Escarpment, under a dome with a Coven of Mothers at its heart. He had somehow connected this great pictogram with every dome on the planet. Was this Father’s magic, or was it just the outcome of exiling a child of the domes from everything he loved?
Cheobawn Blackwind touched the All Mind of the planet with a prayer in her heart. Keep them safe. The ones I love. Keep them all safe, she whispered.
Stepping through the open doors, she found him lying awake, eyes wide in the moonlight.
“Mother?” River whispered hoarsely, sitting up.
“Did you feel that?” Cheobawn asked curiously, sitting on the edge his bed. “I have found a Father named Flynn who holds a black bead that is sister to your own. You are of one heart, you two, and I am the third in your triangle.”
“He loves you but you frighten him. You frighten us both,” River said, nodding.
Che touched his hand where it rested on the covers. “Your mind is receptive. You cannot help this. Do not be ashamed. The bloodstone connection is extremely intimate. Did Mora not forewarn you?”
“I have forgotten much about what she said to me that day,” River breathed out. “Are you back in Dunauken?”
Cheobawn put the box of ear-coms in his hands and rose to her feet. She looked down at him.
“Hide this. Keep it safe until I return. You are in danger. My luck is shifting. The Oneverse is twisting in on itself, trying to find me. They will try to use you against me. I am sending two carrion dragons. Use them to pass messages, but be cautious. They can be followed by the Spacer sky-eyes.”
Cheobawn leaned forward and kissed him on his cheek. “Stay safe, River Blackwind.”
Leaping up into the air, she vanished.
Chapter 14
The Here and the There were very real and solid things in her mind. The place In-Between that touched the infinite Oneverse in all its glory was neither solid nor real. She paused there to consider the infinite and all its possibilities. The nature of its chaos was exquisitely beautiful. It could be easy to forget where she was supposed to go and just stay here.
Cheobawn landed next to the pair of scarlet lizards perched upon the keel-log at the peak of the barn’s roof. The sound of sails being rigged and oars sliding into oarlocks down in the pre-dawn morning told her she had stayed too long in Flynn’s shop and now she had nearly come too late. She turned, meaning to return to the loft, but the two dragons tangled around her ankles. They gurgled unhappily at her.
By all that is holy! What?
You have sent our sisters back to the city and left us here, all alone.
If I send you to R
iver, would you go?
No. You would be alone and without protection.
I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I am pretty sure two small lizards are no match for the power that the Lowlanders have moving against me.
The two scarlet lizards fluttered up to her shoulders and wrapped their tails protectively around her neck. Three is stronger than one.
Cheobawn pulled the tails away from her throat so she could breathe. Yeah? I can’t fault your logic. Now let go so I can climb down from this place.
Che flipped off the edge of the roof, shot through the loft door, and landed next to Megan. Megan was already awake and getting dressed. Jilly and Susa were gone.
“Where did you go?” Megan asked, concerned.
“No time. We have to leave. Say your goodbyes and go find supplies, enough for a week. I will go find the boys and stop them from going fishing.”
Cheobawn raced down the ladder and out the barn doors into the paddock. She did not bother with the gate. Instead, she leaped at the nearest fence, caught the top slat with her fingers, and flipped over the top, landing on the other side already running towards the sound of the departing boats.
The shore was empty, the fishing parties already cast off.
“No, no. no,” she muttered to herself as she ran her palms over the short stubble on the top of her head in dismay. “How can this be? It is too soon. I am not ready.”
“What is too soon?” Tam asked softly from over her shoulder.
Cheobawn spun around, squealing in delight as she launched herself at her Alpha and hugged him fiercely.