Chapter XXX
Hulagu was wondering what would happen next, but he soon found out. After the men had finished bathing, the servants told them that Astrid, who he thought seemed to proprietarily regard the inn as her home, had arranged that they would all eat in the meeting room. When the men arrived the women were already there. It seemed that Bianca, Ayesha and Theodora had come along with their gear, ready to go out after they ate lightly of their meal and perform straight afterwards. The girls had brought Rani with them, but Sanjeev and Indira had re-joined their soldiers upstairs. Bianca told him that Rani had indicated to her escort that she wanted to talk about the prophecies that she and Hulagu had received and, perhaps even for their own safety the other two should not hear them.
Hulagu looked around at the others and, when none looked ready to speak, he started. “My grandfather is the chief shaman of our tuman—our totem-tribe. As I was about to set out on my wanderjahr, my year of finding myself, he revealed to me that I had to ride to a walled town on a river,” he waved his hand around vaguely, “and that I might meet someone else along the way who would come with me. He said I would face problems. I set out for here and met Bianca, you know our problems. He also said that I would meet others from different lands, that we would travel together and that we would face tests. Eventually we would face something that was very dangerous and very evil and very, very, important to us all. Bianca thinks that one of our tests might be the village that is the base for the people who destroyed her caravan.” He saw that Bianca was nodding.
“I have no proof of this, but I am inclined to agree with her.” He paused, thinking for a moment, and went on reluctantly, “I am not sure if I should mention the rest of my prophecy, but Bianca knows it already and it might be important. My grandfather also said that I might meet a woman, not of the tribes, and marry her. It isn’t Bianca. I count her as my sister and she is like a Khitan and of the tribes in so many ways, despite coming from among the settled folk.” He stopped briefly as if remembering something. “One other thing that I should have mentioned before,” he dug in his pouch and handed the rod to Bianca, “the demons that attacked us had this.” Bianca swung the rod around. When it was pointed at Hulagu it obediently went ‘beep’.
She swung it around to point at each other person. It stayed silent the whole time. She pointed it again at Hulagu. It went ‘beep’ again.
“I do not know why the demons that were sent would have this to find me, but they did. That is our entire story.”
He knew the other stories so he looked at Rani. Because he did and everyone had been looking at him, soon everyone was looking at Rani. He saw that she started as she realised this.
“I would like to see that rod later.” She paused. “Now, I have received four foretellings so far that relate to me and I think that I should cast a new reading after we have finished talking. The first reading I did for myself. It said that I would journey to the north and find the person from the east. If I did not, then disaster would happen.”
He noted that Theodora looked startled at that.
~~~
Having laid out the part others knew about, Rani decided to continue. She did that with more than a little trepidation. She knew that she was going into uncharted territory here and she knew nothing about these people. “I was not going to mention the second prophecy until Hulagu told us about his future wife. I am not sure which of you his wife to be is, if she is here now, but it is not I. My grandmother, who is one of the greatest seers of her generation, told me that I must travel north to find my life, my love and my future with the golden eyes.” She paused and looked at Theodora.
Everyone else was soon following her gaze. From the expression of confusion on her love’s face, Theodora must be wondering why everyone was looking at her. Gradually Rani saw the words sink in as a blush, very evident in her dancing clothes, started to appear.
“She was right about the love at least,” said Rani slowly and quietly. Around her she could sense everyone starting to look from her to Theodora and back. She could see Theodora’s blush deepened and she seemed not to know where to look. Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times, but nothing came out. Rani realised that she now felt a wave of relief at having revealed her feelings. Now it was up to Theodora how she would react to the news.
Silence fell over the group. She noticed the big northern girl look worriedly at the Christian priest. Yes, that was an interesting question she had not thought of, how would the priest take this? They tended to live a very sheltered life. He did look a bit flustered and he blinked a couple of times. She could almost see him thinking.
Rani continued, “The third prophecy was from the Priests of Ganesh. They are the priests of knowledge. It repeated that my destiny lay to the north and added that I might never see Sacred Gate again. It also confirmed that I would find unexpected completion with another.” Again she glanced at Theodora, who had somewhat recovered from the first comment and now started blushing all over again. “It went on to say that I must gather a group of strangers. Presumably that means those in this room. Some would know of their destiny…” she nodded towards Hulagu.
He nodded back.
“…and others would not. It ended by saying that the matter was urgent.” She paused again. “The fourth set of predictions was from the university. They had known of my fate for many years, but could only give it to me when I was ready. Again it said that I must go north. It mentioned that I would face trials preparing me for my life’s task and that I would find love and many surprises.” This time she realised that her smile at Theodora was quite broad and, for a moment, her hand moved, briefly and of its own accord towards the Darkreach woman.
She was able to stop it and instead moved her hand towards her belt pouch to remove a deck of cards, as if that had been her intent all along. “If it will not offend anyone I would like to make a reading now. If you will pardon my presumption, as the last to arrive, I understand that you now face choices as to what to do. You have met and you have decided to travel, but you do not know where to go.”
Thord, sitting quietly in a corner was quick to speak. “They have found, perhaps, a way to find lost Dwarvenholme. Surely that is a suitable quest?”
Bianca spoke up next. “And there is the village of Dharmal and his raiders. They are evil men and we know that someone or something gives instruction to Dharmal. He does not act on his own. It would also be good to do something about all of that…” she looked around at Thord, “…and it is in the mountains and possibly on the way to Dwarvenholme.”
Next it was the turn of Hulagu to speak as he looked at Rani. “We know about you and your walking bones and the arrow from the forest. Well, most of us were attacked on the way here and, in each case, by something or someone that was well beyond the normal hazards of travel. For us they were the bird demons, for those from Darkreach it was powerful undead.”
She noted that everyone was nodding.
“It seemed like someone was trying to stop us reaching here. Somehow I don’t think they will cease in their efforts to stop us now that we have joined. It is likely that they will get more insistent. As well, my grandfather told me that something was trying to stop him finding out more. Normally, when he visits the spirit world, he would be able to be much clearer about what lies ahead. This time he reported something like a fog lay over the whole future.”
Rani thought for a moment. “As you said we were attacked twice. Once might have been someone acting on their own, I don’t know why, but the skeletons were also unusual in their number. All of my prophecies, except the university, and their scryings were done some time ago, reported vagueness or a fog, which prevented a better reading. Now it also seems that everyone was attacked by something evil except for you, Father,” she stumbled over the word before continuing. “Astrid told us of the wolves. Wolves aren’t necessarily evil are they? We don’t have them in the south, like you have them in the north, so I don’t know.”
“Evi
l they were, but not like skeletons or other undead. That is an evil I could have at least attempted to deal with myself. I cast a miracle of protection from evil and Astrid believes that it did help us.”
Beside him Astrid nodded.
“She also tells me, and she knows more of hunting and the wild things than I do, that the wolves that attacked me are not like normal wolves and they seemed to be hunting us and not just food.”
Astrid nodded again.
“It seems that the village that Bianca talks of is full of very evil people.”
It was Bianca’s turn to nod.
“Destroying it would thus be an act of goodness. From what little I have heard Dwarvenholme was supposed to have been lost to some great evil. These storytelling ladies probably know far more than I do on this.”
He paused and both Ayesha and Theodora started to speak, but Father Christopher held up his hand. “It also seems to me that we have all just met and know very little of each other and it is likely that we have much to discover about each other and even about ourselves.” He glanced quickly at Rani and Theodora who, realising what he meant, blushed again.
Rani decided, from the quick twinkle in his eye, that maybe the priest was not totally oblivious to the world after all, or at least he had a robust sense of humour buried somewhere deep inside his robes and it was trying to find its way out.
“We would learn more about our abilities if we took on lesser evils before we tackle the greater. This means to me, that we should perhaps clean up the village and perhaps other evils that we find along the way, before we look at Dwarvenholme. I have no problem with you seeking guidance. In the Church we have our own methods of doing this, but I would have to go to the local church to use their copy of the Holy Word.” He stopped speaking and looked around.
Bianca started and reached for her belt. “Father, pardon my ignorance, but do you use the same Bible that we use?” she asked.
“Yes, my daughter,” Rani could hear the amusement in his voice. “Your people changed much when they abandoned our faith, but they did keep the True Word—or at least most of it.”
“Then I can help you.” Bianca pulled a book out of a large pouch. “It is only the old half, not the Gospels,” she said handing it over.
Father Christopher opened it and examined the closely written pages. “This is marvellous. Whoever did this had a very fine hand. It is not a beautiful work, but then a Bible that is a work of art is not readily portable.” He smiled wryly. “It is a book meant for a devout person who travels and wishes not to be far from the Holy Writ. Whoever owned this probably had a set of the Gospels with them as well. However, let us see what this lady finds out first.” He handed the Bible back to Bianca.
Rani nodded and handed the cards to Theodora. “Please my beloved,” everyone was getting used to Theodora’s blushes by now, “you are already tied to me, and so I ask you to shuffle the pack. You have fulfilled part of my destiny, so I ask you to help work out the rest.”
Theodora took the deck. Rani could see that she was nervous. She nearly dropped the cards rather than touch her hand. She made a clumsy attempt to shuffle, dropping cards several times and putting them back in the pack. Eventually Theodora thrust the cards back at Rani. She seemed almost as scared of the cards as she was of Rani.
Rani took the cards and dealt cards face down onto the table. She placed a card down with another to its left and a third to its right and finally one below the first.
“This is a simple reading and layout. I have reasons for using such a simple pattern. We shall see if we need to be more detailed later.” Rani turned over the first card. It was a picture of a woman with wind-swept hair seated on a throne coloured green, purple and yellow—as if to represent jade, amethyst and amber. The sun shone from a corner and flowers carpeted the area around the throne and a bundle of sticks leant against it. Small clouds with faces representing blowing wind were in the sky. “The Queen of Staves.”
She paused and then turned over the left hand card. It showed a man dressed in a toga. He had golden eyes and was surrounded by piles of coins, all golden. “The King of Talents.” Again she paused and turned the right hand card and then that underneath. The third card was of the house of swords. It had two bare blades on it. The last card showed two persons holding hands and kissing. Above them was a woman driving a chariot pulled by doves, its archer being a chubby child with wings who was looking down. Theodora stopped completely. “This is not a reading for everybody. This is a reading for Theodora alone. I will give it to her later and, like all readings that I do for a single person, it will be done privately. I need another to shuffle the cards. How about you Father, if you do not mind? It may help if you pray to your god for guidance while you are doing the shuffling.”
“Perhaps not me,” said Father Christopher. “I will use sister Bianca’s bible later for guidance. Perhaps she, as one who has strong feelings on the matter, would care to assist you?”
Rani nodded and handed the cards to Bianca. “Think hard about us and what lies ahead for us as a group,” she instructed and continued with a tiny smile sideways at Theodora. “You should be able to focus on that. Do not get distracted by more personal questions.”
Bianca took the cards gingerly. Rani thought that she looked at them as if it were her who was scared of contamination. Once she had overcome her reticence, however, she took the large parchment cards and shuffled them with a practiced ease, cutting the pack several times and reversing half of the deck each time before handing the cards back to Rani. It was obvious that this was a skill that she had learnt when working in taverns.
Rani accepted the cards and again very precisely laid out the four top cards in front of her. She paused briefly before beginning to lay them out. She turned the centre card. It showed a young man on an armoured horse. He wore the armour of Hind, but with wings on his helmet. A constellation of stars was in the top right and instead of a sword he held a wand. “The Knight of Staves,” she announced.
She next went to the card on the left and turned it. The card was upside down. It showed a woman standing in front of a wheel, which had depictions of twenty-two cards on it. Standing on its top was a figure and the same figure was depicted falling near the base of the wheel. “Chance, reversed.” She turned the card on the right. It showed a two-horse Hindi chariot with an umbrella mounted on it and under that stood an armoured man with blue skin. The charioteer was lightly armoured. One of his horses was white and the other black. Flying above the chariot was a hawk. “The Chariot.”
Finally she turned the last card that lay underneath the others. It showed a robed and blindfolded woman who held in one raised hand a jewellers scale and in the other, held down, a sword. Above her flew an owl. “And finally we have Justice.”
“This one is for all of us,” Rani said confidently before stopping and looking at the cards intently. She closed her eyes then tilted her face up and held her hands over the cards, with their palms downwards. She held that position for a minute and then began to speak. She had seen and done enough readings like this to realise that her voice was now slightly different, perhaps a trifle stilted. “The Knight of Staves stands in the position of the Enquirer, the person who asks the question. In its simplest meaning the card indicates both travellers and journeys and, I believe it stands for us. As well it also indicates both restless curiosity and a desire for change. From what I have heard these motives drive several among us.
“The card on the left stands for past history and what lies behind a question. The card of Chance, when reversed indicates strange omens and dark prophesies. There is no doubt that these have occurred and they lie behind at least some of us being here. The third card stands for the way ahead. The Chariot is a card of turmoil and battle, but it also implies that the questioner will triumph in the end. The last card tells us the final result. The card of Justice means that right will prevail over wrong and evil will be vanquished and feel retribution.
“Taken with
the other cards this is not some everyday evil, such as a stolen ring or a murder, this card means justice will come to pass over a major source of evil. These are all strong cards and their meaning is unequivocal. They offer no guidance on the direction that we should take, but given that a course of action has been discussed, and I am sure that Bianca was focussed on at least the first part, we are probably headed in the right direction or else the cards would have been less certain.”
Rani had spoken the whole time and pointed at objects with her eyes closed. Now she opened her eyes and let her shoulders slump ever so slightly as she looked around at the gathering. “Given the difficulty with getting meaningful readings at present, I think we have a good and very clear answer,” she said.
Father Christopher then took control over the meeting. “Can all of the Christians present please follow me in prayer, Bianca, if you wish to join in, I assure you that you will not find this offensive to your beliefs. Thord, Hulagu, Ayesha and Rani, please either clear your minds or pray silently to your own gods for me to receive guidance.” Rani saw him lead his small flock through the Lord’s Prayer. He looked quickly at Bianca, and then naming it for the ‘pagans and heathens present’ through another joint prayer he called the Nicene Creed.
~~~
Bianca was astonished again and began to join in. She was sure that these were all the same rituals that she would expect the priests of the true Church to perform if they were going to do the same thing. She had said these words enough times herself. What then were the differences? Why had she been taught that these people were heretics?
~~~
Rani watched Father Christopher pick up Bianca’s religious book.
Closing his eyes, he began to pray aloud. “Oh Lord, we beseech Thee for guidance. We are faced with choices as to the path that we must take and perhaps none of these are correct. We desire to do what you would have us do and so we humbly ask you to show us the way with your Divine Words. Amen.”
Intimations of Evil (Warriors of Vhast Book 1) Page 32