The Shadow Realm

by James Galloway

  Iselde would wake around noon or so every day and eat breakfast with her family. After that, she would go to Auli's house for lessons from Auli's mother, a respected teacher of Sorcery among the Sha'Kar, who was very picky about who she trained. Iselde was given a higher social worth because Auli's mother, Dayelle, was teaching her Sorcery. Of course, she lost alot of it because she was friends with Auli, but Iselde was in her rebellious phase, where part of her wanted to shock her elders. After her daily lessons in Sorcery, she and Auli would go out and socialize with the other young Sha'Kar. Sha'Kar tended to gather in social circles of roughly the same age groups, where they had the most in common and had little trouble communicating with one another about things that older or younger Sha'Kar may not deem important or may not understand. In those social groups, standing was absolutely everything. In that respect, they sounded exactly like the Wikuni and the Selani. Both races, related to the Sha'Kar, considered social standing the highest priority in their cultures. To the Selani, it was a matter of honor, with those with the most honor holding the highest social positions. In the Wikuni society, it was a matter of both nobility and wealth. One had to have both to be in the elite of the social structure in Wikuna, and every Wikuni strove all their lives to gain both.

  Tarrin realized that the Wikuni and Selani had not digressed too far from the basic tendencies of the Sha'Kar. They had changed some of those basic customs to suit their own needs, but they still existed in one form or another.

  After Iselde and Auli would pal around for a while, Iselde would return to the manor for lessons from her uncle in the other aspects of what was considered a good lady in Sha'Kar society. He would teach her how to talk and how to act to others, and how to play instruments and play certain games of strategy that were marks of intelligence among them. A high-ranking social member in the Sha'Kar culture, Tarrin reasoned, had to primarily be a good Sorcerer. That seemed to be the most important thing to them. Below that were things such as manners, behavior, reputation, and intelligence. The ability to play musical instruments, sing, or dance were also considered very important, those knowing them considered a cultured and civilized individual.

  Again, Tarrin noticed parallels with the Selani and the Wikuni. The Selani also prized games and competition, but not on game boards. They preferred direct challenges, tests of skill or strength or speed or cunning. Tarrin couldn't help remembering with a smile Var and Denai, constantly challenging each other over the most ridiculously petty things. The Wikuni also showed that trait, but the game they played was intrigue. It was a much more dangerous game than what the Selani did, but it was still there, a game whose skill of playing was a vital element of the Wikuni society. Among the Sha'Kar, the game was, surpringly enough, chess. Tarrin had thought it was a Wikuni game, but he realized that the Wikuni had brought it with them when they split from the Sha'Kar.

  After her lessons at home, she would eat dinner with her family, and then again go out with Auli after sunset to the almost nightly parties that some family held that particular night. Those parties were very organized affairs, more like a tea that Janine may hold, where Sha'Kar of different social circles would meet and mingle, and probably exchange information and rumors. Iselde would stay out until about midnight, when she would come home, bathe, read from the library for a while until she was sleepy, and then go to bed. And then get up and do it all again the next day.

  It was an eye-opening description, something that showed Tarrin a great deal of the social customs and behavior of at least a Sha'Kar youth. The older members would have some different patterns, such as Arlan's endless quest to better his skills of Sorcery and improve the social standing of his house, but he knew that there would be some basic comparisons to make between Iselde's behavior and the behavior of other Sha'Kar.

  As he thought, the Sha'Kar's life revolved around status in their society. Being trapped on the island and unable to get much if any information about the outside world, they had to find something to occupy their minds. And one can study or practice Sorcery so much without it becoming more of a chore than a lifestyle. So the Sha'Kar had concentrated on their society, turning it into the focal aspect of their lives. They weren't the first race Tarrin had seen that did that, for the Wikuni, Selani, Arkisians, Arakites, and even the Ungardt to a lesser degree did the same thing. That sense of society did make them compete for status, but it also acted to bind them together in a powerful way against any outside forces. They were all at one another's throats to improve their social standing within their society, but they would forget about their battles for status and unite against a common foe that threatened their social system. The Selani, the Wikuni, and the Ungardt all acted the same way. Ungardt fought one another just as enthusiastically as they fought outsiders, but if those outsiders harmed the Ungardt, even enemy clans would join together and wipe out the offendor. Then they'd go right back to happily fighting each other.

  Dolanna had been wise to push for caution. Tarrin had the feeling that if they threatened the Sha'Kar society, the whole island would turn against them.

  "Would you like to come with me tonight?" she offered. "Samuaena Shelisa is sponsoring the party tonight, and she's a prominent lady. She always attracts a crowd. I'm sure there would be many people there to talk with you, honored one."

  "I'm afraid not, Iselde, but thank you," he replied. "I don't do well in crowds of strangers."

  "Why is that?"

  "I'm not human, as you know," he told her, "but it goes past that. I have the instincts of an animal as well as the appearance, and that side of me doesn't like large crowds of strangers. They make me nervous if I don't feel I'm in control of the situation, and in my case, that can be dangerous for people around me. So I don't put myself in a position where someone accidentally startling me doesn't get hurt."

  "I didn't know that. The books I have on Lycanthropes only talk about Were-wolves, and the basic condition. They never talked about that."

  "I'm a rare form of Were-kin, Iselde, and we're quite a bit wilder than Were-wolves are. Cats are very strong-willed creatures, and that makes the instincts of them I have in my head very hard to control."

  "You seemed to be well when you greeted everyone at the feast."

  "I know, and I was surprised at it," he admitted. "But I think it was because they only approached from the front, and I had my friends around me. That always helps keep me calm."

  "That makes sense, I suppose," she said. "I'd still like you to come to the party, honored one. I'll warn everyone to give you all the space you need."

  "I'm sorry, but I'll probably be busy tonight, Iselde," he told her, deciding that now would be a good time to start setting his cards out on the table. "Remember, I didn't come here just to visit. I have to talk with my friends about where we're going to go after we leave here. We still have a job to do."

  "You can't be thinking of leaving already!" she protested. "You only just arrived!"

  "What I'm doing is very, very important, young one, and the Goddess herself sent me to do it," he said. "I'm not going to lay around and be lazy. I'd never forgive myself. I wouldn't be able to face the Goddess again."

  Iselde looked a little torn, but she covered it up with a smile. "Well, I think you'll be here a while longer, so you can come to the party tomorrow," she decided.

  She wasn't ready to tell him what she knew yet, and he decided that it may not be a good time to push her. Not until he knew her better and had an idea of how she would react if he did. Besides, they would have plenty of time, and there was no need to rush things.

  "Three days, at least," he told her. "We did decide that we'll give your Grand Syllis and the Council three days to look through their books and see if they can find out anything for us. If they don't have anything by then, we'll be leaving."

  "That may not be enough time, honored one," Iselde told him. "The books we brought from the towers are very, very many. It may take them two rides to go through them thoroughly."

  "Well, t
hey have three days," he said bluntly. "We're not the only ones looking for the Firestaff, Iselde. If the Zakkites or the ki'zadun find it first, it could be a disaster the likes of which hasn't been seen since the Blood War."

  "I'm sure they won't find it, honored one," she said. "The Old Ones hid it very well."

  "They didn't hide it well enough," he grunted. "If we could figure out roughly where it is, so could anyone else."

  "You're a sui'kun, honored one," she said, as if that were all the advantage he needed. "Who could possibly find it before you?"

  "You put too much faith in old stories, Iselde," he told her ruefully. "I may be a sui'kun, but I'm just as fallable as the next person. The only advantage I get from my power is that it makes me a little harder to kill, that's all."

  "Well, the old stories were true ones, so I'll go on believing that you're special, honored one. Because you are." She looked up at a clock hanging on the wall, one of the few decorations in the room. Tarrin had seen very few clocks in his time, and this one was much smaller than any other clock he'd ever seen. "Where is Allyn?" she complained. "If he missed another practice session, Uncle Arlan is going to give him the rough side of his tongue!"

  "That's what he was doing when we met you?"

  She nodded. "He hates singing, and Uncle Arlan makes him sing. He would rather play his simbalar like me," she said, holding her stringed instrument out a little. "He's much better at it than I am, but Uncle Arlan says he's a better singer than a simbalar player."

  "Well, I think he's not hiding from his lessons today," Tarrin chuckled. "I happen to know for a fact that he and Allia are getting quite fond of each other."

  "He's not!" Iselde gasped. "Honored one, my brother is a notorious flirt! Please don't tell me that your friend is falling for his ploys!"

  "They're not ploys, Iselde," he told her. "I can tell by looking at him. He's completely entranced by Allia, and she finds his attentions to be quite flattering. It makes her happy, so I don't want him to stop."

  "I hope you're right, honored one," she said sincerely. "That Allia woman is one of the Lost. She's not one of us, and I'm afraid that my brother is going to treat her like she is. She may not understand our customs, and I'd hate to see frictions rise between us over it."

  "I don't think that's going to be a problem," Tarrin said with a light smile. "Allia's customs are different, but she finds the Sha'Kar custom of courting to be quite fun. She's more than content to let Allyn continue courting her."

  "As long as she doesn't take him too seriously, honored one, things should be alright," she said with a relieved sigh.

  "I don't think that's much of a concern, Iselde," Tarrin told her. "Allia will enjoy his attention, might take him to bed once or twice, and it will probably pan itself out about there. She's having fun with him, and I don't want to ruin it for her."

  "As long as she enjoys it, then I guess it's alright," Iselde agreed. "But if my brother starts annoying her, please tell me, and I'll make him stop."

  "Trust me, Iselde. When Allia wants him to go away, he'll find out in no uncertain terms," he promised. "My sister isn't one to play word games or say what she doesn't mean. If she wants him to leave her alone, she'll tell him so. And if he doesn't, she'll break his arm."

  Iselde looked a bit amused, but then her eyes widened when she realized he wasn't joking. "She would do violence like a human servant?" she gasped.

  "Doing violence is a core aspect of the Selani culture," Tarrin told her plainly, recalling the books he'd read and the story the Goddess told him. The Sha'Kar were pacifists, defending themselves with magic when necessary, but never raising a physical hand against another. It was repugnant to them to do so. That was a far cry from the aggressive, combat-oriented Selani. "They're very much different from your people, Iselde, but in some ways, they're actually quite similar. One of those ways is their attitude towards doing violence. They only do violence as a means of self-defense, or in the act of hunting for food. The Selani don't attack needlessly or cause harm for harm's sake. Those are very wrong things to do, and no Selani would even think about doing violence to those who don't deserve it."

  "I didn't know that," she mused. "Then again, I didn't know that the Lost would do violence either."

  "Don't worry, Allia won't hurt Allyn in any way so long as she favors him. And she'll give him plenty of warning when she doesn't favor him anymore, so if he does get hurt it'll be his own fault."

  "I knew the Lost had split from the true way long ago, but to be violent!" Iselde said in wonder.

  "They live in a very hostile land, Iselde. When you live in a harsh environment, you become harsh yourself to survive in it."

  "Our Elders always say that one must always behave properly, no matter the environment."

  "It's easy to say that when you live on this safe island and have plenty of food. If you were starving and surrounded by dangerous beasts, I think your Elders would be changing their lessons a bit. Survival is always the primary goal, Iselde. That means sometimes you have to change in order to survive. The humans do it all the time. The Selani did it to survive in their desert. The Wikuni did it when they learned how to tame the seas with their ships. And your people did it when they adapted to life on this island."

  "You speak like an Elder, honored one," she said soberly.

  Tarrin chuckled ruefully. "I'll let you in on a little secret, Iselde," he said.

  "What?"

  "You're older than I am," he told her. "I'm only nineteen. You're what, fifty?"

  "Forty-three," she admitted with a guilty smile. "Are all of your kind as large as you at your age? How old is Kimmie? Ten?"

  "She's about a hundred," he answered. "I'm...unique, among my kind. It's a long story that I don't think I'd like to go over right now. Maybe later, but not now."

  "A hundred? Your kind are long lived?"

  He nodded. "It's a side-effect of being Were. We have very long life spans."

  A Sha'Kar appeared at the doorway, and Tarrin saw that it was the same young Sha'Kar woman that had been wearing the see-through dress the day before, at the feast. She was very tall for a Sha'Kar woman, almost as tall as Allia, with a very lovely, fox-like face with sharp features and long wavy platinum blond hair. She was wearing a simple robe of light gold, almost the same color as her hair, tied so that it showed off the majority of her fairly large breasts. This one was the first buxom Sha'Kar he'd seen so far, and she made sure to advertise her blessing as much as she could.

  "You're late, Iz!" the girl said in a seductively slow voice, using informal Sha'Kar. "Oh, honored one, I didn't mean to intrude," she said in formal Sha'Kar when she noticed him, giving him a deep curtsy, so deep that her bosom nearly fell out of her robe. "Please forgive me."

  "It's alright. You must be Auli."

  She flushed with a smile. "I'm Auli, honored one," she admitted. "Auliandra, but Iselde calls me Auli."

  "Iz?" Tarrin asked, looking at Iselde.

  "It's what she calls me, honored one," she said with a blush. "Sometimes she calls me Izzi too."

  "Well, I won't keep you two from your party," Tarrin told them. "I need to go check on my mate anyway. She's probably wondering what happened to me."

  "Are you sure you don't want to go to the party, honored one?" Iselde pressed.

  "I'm sure," he told her. "I have some other things to do, so you two can go on without me."

  "The others will be disappointed," Iselde pouted.

  "Izzi told you about me, honored one?" Auli asked in a worried tone.

  "She did, but only the good parts," he replied with a smile.

  "Good parts, honored one?"

  "All the parts that scandalize the other Sha'Kar," he said with a sly smile. "Those are the good parts to me."

  "Honored one!" Auli gasped, then she laughed. "You have a sense of humor! I didn't expect that in someone as exalted as you!"

  "I'm full of surprises, Auli," he told her. "Now you two get along. I need to go see my mate now."<
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  "Yes, honored one," they both said, as Iselde got up and they both curtsied to him.

  "And have fun."

  "Is that an order, honored one?" Auli asked with bright eyes.

  "As long as you don't use it to get ridiculous, I guess it is," he replied with a sly look. "But if I hear you tried to set fire to the Grand's house, I'll lie through my teeth if they ask me if I said it."

  Auli laughed merrily, then winked at him. "I like you, honored one," she said. "You're not half as stuffy as I thought you were."

  "I'm full of surprises, Auli," he repeated, giving her that same sly smile. "Now go on."

  The two of them curtsied one more time, then scurried out of the room. Tarrin could hear their excited whispering as they left, long after they probably thought he couldn't hear them. He heard them talk about him, how he was nothing like they thought he would be. He was glad they thought that way.

  Tarrin was sure that Iselde knew something about the Firestaff he wanted to know, and he needed to get that information out of her. The easiest way would be to win her trust. As for Auli, well, girls like her often knew alot more than they let on. Tarrin had a gut feeling that Auli was alot smarter than her friends thought she was, and she probably had heard or seen things that would be important to him. She reminded him a little of how he was in Aldreth. Not the promiscuity, but the adventurous spirit, always going where she wasn't allowed to go and doing things she wasn't allowed to do. Tarrin had learned quite a few secrets of the villagers doing that, and he had a feeling that Auli had done the same.

  Getting on Auli's good side seemed a wise move. There may come a time when what she knew would be important to him.