by C. R. Daems
"I hadn't thought about it before, but I have seen a couple of brown-robed men in town. None at our performances. Do you think they are connected to the others?"
"I don't believe they are. They appear to each follow a different prophet who is dedicated to a different God with a unique purpose. They don't seem related to some nobility, or guild, or unifying goal. The yellow-robes were aggressive, but the others didn't appear to be."
"People seem to seek the comfort of religion after unsettled times like we've had. Maybe that explains it."
"I hope so, mother. My logical-self agrees with you. My intuitive-self doesn't." I laughed. "Unfortunately, my logical-self is very conservative and seldom right."
* * *
We stayed in Adak for the six days the Dorian clan performed there, giving everyone an opportunity to visit old friends and for the single men and women to mingle. The time was important, since any two clans would normally only meet twice in a cycle. And to me, the Dorian clan was family. I spent every minute I could visiting.
"Night business?" Luka asked as I dressed in my blacks. The question was more, is it dangerous?
"I shouldn't be out more than a few hours, love."
"I don't think I'll wait up." He grinned. Luka needed his eight hours sleep and would have had trouble staying awake more than another hour without a clan party in progress. I kissed him lightly and exited the wagon. I saw few people as I ghosted through the town to the Earth Wizard's lodge. As usual, a young Earth Wizard stood waiting at the door.
"Good evening, Sister of Peace," he greeted me. They seemed to have all adopted the Sister of Peace greeting, certainly an improvement over Sister of Death. Hopefully, in time I could come to accept it as true.
"Good evening, Wizard...?"
"Brogan," he said, leading me into their giant hall. Each of the Earth Wizard halls were the same, yet unique. Each had a dirt floor, chairs made from branches and vines, trees, flowers, and water. But each was visually like none other. Here, a giant, three-story waterfall at one end of the hall flowed over a granite cliff. The small pond split and ran around the outer walls, which required a bridge at the entrance. Eight wizards stood waiting as we entered.
"Welcome, Sister of Peace. I'm Wizard Meabh," a very old man with a brown face that almost resembled tree bark said in a deep base voice. He was thin and slightly bent. "What can we do for you?" The others bowed slightly in my direction. I bowed back.
"I wish to confirm the Earth Wizards of Adak are willing to be my Intermediates with the Shadow Sisters."
"Yes, Sister. We are honored by your trust. We have already established contact with Ahasha."
"Thank you, Wizard Meabh. What can you tell me about the brown-robed men in Saxis?"
"They are a recent phenomenon. We are not sure whether they are a religion or a cult. They follow a prophet named Roman. He claims to have heard the word of the moon God, Konos. They have taken a vow of poverty and have caused no trouble we are aware of."
"Are they related to the religious cults in the other provinces?"
"The appearance of so many religious cults over the last half cycle is very strange; however, they appear to follow different prophets, who each worship a unique God. These are old Gods who have been worshiped on Hesland over the years."
"I'd appreciate you keeping an eye on them."
"You have concerns?"
"After the Eyes of God, cults make me nervous, and the gypsies did have an unpleasant incident with the yellow-robes in Tuska. That may only be an isolated incident, but... "
"We will keep an eye on them and relay anything we find to our brothers in the other provinces, so that you will have the latest information no matter where you are." Meabh said, receiving nods from the assembled wizards. "You should know that the Water, Fire, and Wind Wizards have reportedly worked out counters to the weaknesses you exploited, or least, that's what they claim."
"Thank you. I hope never to have to fight another wizard again. I was lucky to have survived."
"Luck is always welcome, Sister. But I doubt that is the total explanation." Meabh smiled. I spent another hour answering questions about the events at Dazel and touring the guild house.
* * *
The Dorian clan left for Naze the day after their third performance, and we departed for Miffin. We would take our time going to Sebec and back to Adak to give the Dorian clan time to get several sixdays ahead of us. It took ten days to reach Sebec, which gave us additional time to work on our wooden ball routine, which we now called the Magic Balls. Dmitri had been experimenting with the balls for the past two sixdays, painting them with different colors and patterns. In the end, he had given each ball a unique color and pattern. Even against our brightly colored clothes, the balls could be easily followed as they travelled around our bodies and were flung into the air.
CHAPTER TEN
SAXIS: Sebec - A Shadow Sisters reunion
Entering Sebec was an emotional experience for me. It held bittersweet memories. The start of my first assignment, where I met Marku and the Dorian clan, and the Sister of Death had been born. I missed Ahasha, Morag, and the other Sisters who had nurtured and trained me--maybe more so because I knew I could never go back. Santo decided to rest the first day and then put on three performances, one every other day. As usual, I left the wagon as Luka rolled over ready for sleep.
I wandered slowly away from the wagons, listening to Anil and Kasi chasing food, when Kasi saw someone lurking in the shadow some fifty paces ahead. I stopped, letting my two darlings investigate. It was a Sister, but... I hated myself. I couldn't even bring myself to trust a Sister. I stood frozen, watching her move through the undergrowth like a cat, like Sister Hajna, which was confirmed when Kasi detected her wolf, Yafa, some twenty paces ahead of her. I sat and waited. Soon, Yafa came up to me and licked my face, like he was welcoming me home. I hugged him and a tear slid down my face.
"I feel like I have bells on my ankles. You knew it was me well before I knew where you were," Hajna said as she sat down next to me. "The little girl who couldn't bring herself to attack without a great deal of effort. The Sisterhood has not treated you well, Ryana. Even now you reside in the moment. We owe you a debt we will never be able to repay. Come, our senior Sister would like to talk to you." She rose and I followed her deeper into the forest. My heart pounded in my chest as I recognized Sisters Morag and Rong, and I forced myself to relax.
"Welcome, Sister Ryana," Rong said, smiling. "My star pupil. I hear province leaders and wizards seek you out for a telling, not to mention the king. That's a game I doubt I'd like to play."
"I had a good teacher. The trick is to be the person you're playing."
"Yes. You weren't pretending to be a gypsy—you were one. And you weren't pretending to be a fortuneteller—you are one. Something few can achieve."
Morag gave me a hug. "Hajna, Rong, and I are the senior Shadow Sisters. We are who you represent in the field. With our permission, your words are ours. Everyone believes you left the Sisters to get married. I know that will hurt you, but we thought that would be safer."
"I don't know. When I left Ahasha, I was two persons: the visual- and the shadow-Ryana. As I traveled with the gypsies, they merged, having a common cause. Now they are two again: the gypsy and the Sister. They fight for control—good and evil."
Morag shook her head. "I'm afraid we, the senior Sisters are also two persons—good and evil. We should take you back to Ahasha to teach, so you will never again have to think about killing. But you are right, you would make many of the other Sisters nervous. And you can't teach what you know because you use intuition. Alternatively, we should let you be a gypsy. But no, we won't let you heal. We continue to ask more of you in the name of the Sisterhood. And like you, we feel both good and evil."
"I have two clans—the Shadow Sisters and the gypsies. I do not wish to forsake either and would gladly give my life for either. I do not consider you evil. I have killed for both. It is not your fault it is
against my nature to kill or that killing has become easy." I paused to wipe the tears from my eyes. "I can't change what I've done or who I've become, but in my heart I will always be a Sister and a gypsy."
"Yes, Ryana. You will always be a beloved Sister in our hearts," Morag said.
"Always, Ryana," Rong and Hajna said together.
"All the Earth Wizard guilds in the provinces have established contact with Ahasha using Swifts. And we have disturbing news about Jelena. She has left the Sisterhood and joined a religious group in Tuska. The question is whether letting her leave constitutes a problem. She has the secrets of the Shadow Sisters which could be used for evil. You and she were friends, so unless you object, we would like you to determine whether she is a danger to the Sisters or others," Morag said, holding my head between her hands. "We are not asking you to take any action. Just locate her and tell us what you find."
"Yes, senior Sister," I said, numb with shock. Jelena was a dear friend who was more like a blood sister. We had spent are growing cycles at Ahasha. I hoped what Morag asked would be as simple as it sounded but knew it wouldn't be. I remembered Morag's instructions last time, find who is killing our Sisters and get the information back to me, which sounded a lot like, locate Jelena and tell us what you find.
I made my way back to the wagons in a fog, unable or unwilling to believe Jelena would join a religious cult. She loved the idea of being an Assassin, and assassins and religion didn't mix well. Not that assassins couldn't believe in a God, just not the kind that organized religions preached. Of course, the religious cult of Tuska had no problem threatening the gypsies and appeared willing to kill in the name of their God—so they could end wars and violence. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't reconcile Jelena leaving the Sisterhood and becoming religious. Maybe Morag was wrong, I decided. Maybe, hopefully, she was spying for some noble. Back at the wagon, I undressed, slid into bed, snuggling close to Luka's warm body, and fell asleep.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
SAXIS: Sebec - Some fortunes are better than others
The clan put on three performances in Sebec, one every other day. The Magic Balls received a boisterous applause each time. After the second performance, Santo approved the act as a permanent part of the Tobar performances.
"I can't wait to see what the other clans are going to come up with to match the Magic Balls." He laughed. "We have an edge for at least a cycle, maybe longer. It will be like when Yoan and Ryana created the comic knife throwing act. We all scrambled to come up with an equivalent act, but never could match it—comedy and danger—an unbeatable combination."
"You're right. An element of danger would make the Magic Balls even better," Kata said, chewing on her lower lip. "Well, Stela's wild daughter, any ideas?" All eyes turned towards me. I just stood there with my mouth open.
"Careful, Kata. Ryana does some exciting things, but they aren't always smart. She gets away with them because she has the Trickster God watching over her. We don't." Alida laughed.
"In a way, they are somewhat dangerous," Maria said. "They are made of softwood and aren't as heavy as hardwood, but..."
"Maybe a demonstration of what happened when one hits something when dropped from a height, like when we pass the balls," Kata said, frowning in thought.
"We could have them on fire," I said, thinking of Luka's act. Fire did make it exciting, although in truth the fire presented little danger since Luka wasn't touching it directly. Everyone stared at me in silence.
"I told you," Alida said, pointing at me. "Wild but not terribly smart at times."
"I like it!" Kata said. Now everyone was staring at her.
"It's contagious," Alida said, backing away from Kata and me, laughing. Now everyone was laughing.
"Maybe, for the last couple of minutes, if we kept the balls moving between us so there was little contact," Kata said, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"What if we switched to hoops on fire for the last few minutes," I said, still thinking about Luka's act. He rubbed grease on his exposed skin, which reduced the chance of serious burns in the event of an accident. The discussion went on for hours with no resolution, but I knew Kata was determined to work an element of perceived, if not real, danger into the act.
The eight-day trip to Miffin gave us plenty of time to work on innovations in the Magic Balls act and to consider how to add an element of danger. Kata had Dmitri working with Luka on a wooden ball that could be partially lit on fire, minimizing the area of contact, while we worked on a routine where one ball—the one on fire—was being continuously passed around. Therefore, contact with exposed skin would be minimal and those areas could be treated with grease. By the time we reached Miffin, the idea was still in the design stage, but it seemed doable.
That night in the fortuneteller tent, I had the typical mix of people: predominately hard working women and a few men with business questions. I was getting ready to close up the tent when a small, broad-shouldered man in a brown robe walked in and sat. I dropped into the moment not sure what to expect after the last encounter with a robed one. Of course, he hadn't been wearing a robe and this one was. Since then, I've had Anil and Kasi with me in the tent, high up in one of the peaks caused by the poles that gave the tent its structure. Before I could greet him, he spoke.
"I'm a follower of Ronan, who speaks for Konos, the moon God. He is known as the traveler and watches over each of us as we travel the road of life and provides safe travel to His home for His followers after death. Can you tell me when I'm going to die?"
"Put your hands on the table, face down," I said. This wasn't the first time someone wanted to know when he or she would die, so it wasn’t a surprise question. When he did, I put my hands over his and closed my eyes. From the feel of his hands, I thought him serious.
"There are many futures, sir. I cannot see too many cycles ahead because the number of futures is too great to pick out one clearer than another. I see the Traveler helping to ease your way as you travel through life. He is not concerned with death but life. The path after death is easy. The path through life is hard. The future I see most clearly shows you living under His watchful eyes," I said, expressing my personal feelings about life and death.
"Will He be pleased with me and take me with Him to His home?"
"You will not always be perfect. But you will try hard, and that will please Him." Hearing no further questions, I opened my eyes. He sat there nodding slowly as if agreeing with something I said or he thought I said or maybe talking with Konos for all I knew. He rose, leaving two coppers on the table, and left. As the Earth Wizards had indicated, the robed ones appeared diverse in their religions, prophets, and attitudes. Only the yellow-robes of Tuska showed signs of aggression, which may have more to do with their leader... prophet, than their beliefs.
Right now I'd like some religion that would do my thinking for me. My life was too complicated: Luka, clan, Jelena, Morag, my shadow-self, and a feeling of trouble. I left the tent, almost running towards the firepit where the clan was gathering for the evening meal. I needed Luka, friends, and clan—family.
* * *
By the time we reached Adak, we had worked out a tentative closing routine with one Magic Ball on fire. Most of the time it was in the air, being passed from one person to another. But we had yet to work with a ball on fire. We didn't want any confusion once the ball was actually on fire.
The first man in my tent that night wore a brown robe. He stood looking at me before he sat.
"Good evening, sir. How may I help you?"
"You're the fortuneteller Ryana? The one who tells fortunes for rulers and wizards?" He asked, already knowing the answer. How many gypsies named Ryana wandered Hesland telling fortunes. I hated sessions that start that way.
"I'm that Ryana," I replied.
"I hear you are telling fortunes for the God Konos."
"Then you heard wrong. I let the Gods do their own talking. I merely tell people which of the many futures I see most clearly happ
ening to them. Whether that is what the Gods have planned for them is not for me to know." I sat watching him for any sign of aggressive movement. He surprised me and sat.
"Why don't you tell me what you see?" He said, laying down a silver.
"Put your hands on the table, palms down, sir." As he did, I placed mine over his and closed my eyes. The game had begun. I'd learned a lot over the cycles telling fortunes. Even with a robe covering his face and clothing, I knew he was a noble. He was thorough, confident, and a trained fighter. I'd wager he was the prophet Ronan.
"You are a leader of men and have a vision for the future for which you are now beginning to lay a foundation." I could feel his hands tighten ever so lightly. I had been right. The hands displayed one’s emotions better than the face, which a person could learn to control.
"When?" he asked. I could sense the smile on his face in his voice.
"Not in the near future. Large visions take time and there are other players that watch." My words surprised even me, and his hands involuntarily jerked back as if to free them from mine but stopped. The pulse in his hands increased. He remained silent and his pulse slowed. A very dangerous man to be able to control his emotions so easily.
"Who?"
"I can only tell you there is a robed one deep in the mist, so I can only see an outline, and there are others in the shadows." This time only a momentary tightening.
"What color robe? The shadows… the Shadow of Death?" If I hadn’t been in the moment and my shadow-self in control, I wouldn’t have been able to stop my hands tightening. It had certainly hit a raw emotion.
"There are many futures because each person’s future is impacted by many others. I tell people the one I see most clearly. In your case, the one I see has an individual in a robe, in a mist I cannot penetrate. Those in the shadows I can only sense, not see. That is all I can tell you, sir." I opened my eyes. The shadowed face appeared to be glaring at me.