by Kelley Grant
Don’t tell her, Kadar sent. There’s no reason for her to know until after the final battle. I don’t think many people are being told—only the leaders of each movement.
Sulis’s eyes filled with tears. They were kind, generous teachers, she sent.
I’m sorry, sis, Kadar said. But I thought you’d want to know.
I wonder if Grandmother and Master Anchee know, Sulis said.
I don’t know. Must go now, the sun is rising and we have another day of travel ahead. Hugs and misses.
Hugs and misses. Stay safe, Kadar.
Alannah and Ashraf were watching her when she uncurled from talking to Kadar and pushed Djinn off her lap. She filled them in on the masters’ deaths.
“I agree with Kadar,” Alannah said. “Don’t tell Ava. She will feel responsible.”
“I must tell Grandmother and Master Anchee,” Sulis said.
But they already knew. Sulis found them huddled with Palou, Sari, and Lasha.
“I felt it when Tull made her sacrifice,” Grandmother said. “I did not know what had happened at first. I thought they’d been magically attacked. Sari spoke with Abram. He told us what the masters’ plans had been. I felt it when Ursa and Bento completed their sacrifices at other oases.”
“You said nothing,” Sulis said. But Grandmother had been sadder, more withdrawn since they’d emptied Ivanha’s and Voras’s statues. Sulis had put it down to exhaustion and age.
“It was best to keep it among ourselves. We cannot let Ava know,” Master Anchee said. “Only we and the Tigu elders know, as well as the highest-level warriors of Kabandha. All the others believe they are still on their mission to protect the western cities from the army. Having our greatest energy channelers sacrifice themselves could demoralize our troops. Please do not spread this around to the people from Kabandha who are arriving now.”
Sulis gave her promise. Having those wise teachers die saddened her, and she’d known them less than a year. They were her grandmother’s colleagues and friends—if she wanted it concealed, Sulis could do nothing else.
Sulis and Ashraf were somber as they ate breakfast. There were new faces at the table from Kabandha and Sulis felt the scrutiny of the newcomers. It was no doubt because she was one of the Chosen, and she hoped she looked up to weaving the deities back into the One.
The Obsidian Temple was once again becoming full. The late summer rains had swept in from the ocean toward the mountains, soaking Frubia and the eastern coast. The rains seldom made it past the high peaks of the Girish Mountains, but the rains in the mountains replenished the chasm’s tiny trickle of water to a steady stream.
Sulis had become accustomed to a meditative solitude. Having more people around distracted her, unsettled her. The people sent by Kabandha were not clerics or scholars—they were older warriors of the One who had come to prepare for the final battle. Having fighters sparring behind the dormitories reminded her an entire world existed outside the chasm that did not revolve around the prisons of the deities in the Obsidian Temple. She longed to see the dunes of the desert instead of the black cliffs surrounding her.
She escaped Ashraf’s worried eyes after breakfast and was standing, staring at the cliffs behind the dormitories, her heart heavy. She remembered Master Ursa’s patient tutelage in scriptures and histories. Her eyes felt hot, though she held back tears, thinking of Master Tull’s sharp corrections in unarmed combat.
Master Anchee spoke behind her, startling her. She turned to see Master Anchee and Lasha watching her.
“Are you planning on doing some climbing?” Master Anchee teased. “Clawing your way up that cliff to freedom?”
Sulis sighed and took on his joking tone. “No, I will stay here and be a good Chosen,” she said. “This is hard for me. I want to move, not sit in a great crevice. Even in Kabandha, I could escape to the forest behind the city or into the plains. The dormitories are filling up with warriors from Kabandha, and I’m feeling crowded.”
“Lasha has mentioned that she, too, needs an excursion. And I believe we may be trying too hard now, to little gain. We have made no further advances on energy flow because we have nothing challenging to do.” His eyes gleamed.
“And you’ve thought of something challenging?” Sulis asked.
He nodded. “The last of the warriors of the One are shutting down Kabandha and arriving here. We can help them release the wards on the path down to the Obsidian Temple. That will give us more practice channeling energy to each other.”
“Yes,” Sulis said, seeing the sense. “We need a challenge. How do the pilgrims usually handle the wards?”
“Each group is sent with a powerful energy user. But the wards drain them to the point of exhaustion. Sharing energy means we won’t be drained.”
Sulis grinned at Lasha. “When do we go?”
“When I talk to Amon about it.”
They walked toward the temple, where Sulis last saw him.
“Why are they shutting down Kabandha?” Sulis asked.
“Kabandha’s entire purpose was to train for the final battle,” Master Anchee said. “The teachers and warriors of the One have been preparing their whole lives, and in their lives before, for this. The most able-bodied went with Master Tull and the warriors of the One, north of the Sands, but those who remained are still powerful warriors.”
“But scholars and clerics studied at Kabandha,” Sulis said.
“They are the last to leave,” Anchee said. “Most have some ability to use energy and are setting protections on the old scrolls as they store everything. Those who can channel energy will go to Frubia and the Tigu tribes to shield the Tigus against any hostile energy that could escape.”
“What hostile energy?” Lasha asked.
“The energy force that might come from here, in the final battle.” He gestured around them. “This was all rainforest. Five hundred years ago, every bit of life energy was drained by the final spell used to capture the deities. In every tribe where a channeler shielded its people, its people survived. The tribes without shields died. All of them. Frubia was a center of energy channelers and they protected the entire city. We have learned from this and each tribe of Tigu will have a channeler; each city will be shielded. After the battle is over, Kabandha will probably be a great learning center for scholars—but it could be many years before the South will be restored. So the resources will be lovingly preserved for our greater future.”
Sulis stopped walking, shocked at this assessment. “You think this final battle will destroy the Southern Territory?” she asked. She’d wondered if she would die in the battle, if the rest of the Chosen would perish in their attempts. It never occurred to her the danger could be so widespread.
Master Anchee grimaced, spreading his hands. “We don’t know. During the Great War, the damage was more widespread than we could ever imagine. The Southerners who created the spell expected it to take their lives and those of the living beings in the area around the battle. Instead, it took all life that was not shielded—even the tiniest creatures and plants and fungi in the earth below their feet. This caused the crevice we are in now and the melted stone around the area. But they did not expect it to suck most of the life from the rainforests farther out as well, creating the desert. All humans who were inside the range of the spell died. We cannot know the price of weaving the deities back to the One. But this time we can prepare our people.”
Ashraf popped out of the dormitory, feeling her worry through their bond, and she tried to get her feelings under control. She swallowed once. “Yes, let’s go practice handling energy some more,” she said. “Time to find Amon.”
Amon frowned at their request, but nodded reluctantly. “Ava and Sanuri need to remain,” he said, looking over at the statues. Ava was standing with Alannah, talking and gesturing to the statue of Ivanha, while Sanuri played with Nuisance. “Ava is making progres
s with the mandalas that will trap the deities. I don’t want you to distract her. Sanuri helps, in her own way.”
Alannah came over to them. “I’m staying here. I can see the energy Ava creates, and it helps her to talk over her ideas with Dani and me. Sanuri says the deities have left Illian. They are traveling with an army. She says they are angry. Things have not gone as they planned.”
Master Anchee nodded. “Their path will be slowed as they try to find a guide to get them to the temple. We might have a ten-day yet.”
Grandmother and Palou had already borrowed humpbacks from the new arrivals at the stables and were putting supplies on them. Sulis and Ashraf ran to pack some clothes to camp out.
“I think I’m not the only one feeling restless,” Sulis murmured as they came out of the dormitories to find Grandmother tapping her foot impatiently.
“There is a strong family resemblance,” Ashraf murmured.
They emerged on the campsite above the chasm, past the waymarker, as the sun was setting.
“We’ll stay here tonight,” Palou said as they made camp and spread their blankets.
Sulis sighed in happiness as the first of the stars appeared above her. “It is nice to see the open sky full of stars,” she told Lasha. “The cliffs were shutting me in, obscuring this magnificence.”
“It always makes me feel tiny,” Lasha said with a shiver as the night temperatures dropped with the sunset. “There are so many stars, and they are so bright.”
Sulis was up at dawn. Ashraf sat beside her as they watched the sun rise over the desert. She laid her head on his shoulder.
“Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” she asked.
He chuckled. “There is nothing to beat sailing in a boat with the sun rising over the ocean, painting the water with golden light,” he said.
“That sounds lovely,” Sulis said. “I have never been out to sea.”
“When this is over, we will go to Frubia, and my family will finally meet the love of my life,” Ashraf said wistfully.
Sulis turned to him. “You never got to say goodbye to them, did you?” she said with dawning realization. “You went on a trip to Kabandha and were never permitted to return.”
He gave her a sad smile. “They let me write a note,” he said. “We exchanged a few letters when I first came to Kabandha. They said they were proud I was serving the One, even as they made my sister heir. I would like to have seen them again, though. I would like to tell them I forgive them—I can create my own life, not dependent on them.”
“Then we will visit Frubia first thing when this is all over,” Sulis declared. “I will charm your family and you will teach me how to sail.”
“I want to learn to sail, too,” Lasha said from behind them. “I’ve never seen the southern coast or been in a rainforest.”
“Then you will come with us,” Ashraf decided. “My family would love to meet my Northern friends. There is plenty of room in our domicile. You’d both make excellent sailors.”
“That’s settled then,” Lasha said. “All we need to do is to remake the divine order and then we can nip off south and have some fun.”
“Our work here is beginning,” Master Anchee said. “I see a caravan heading this direction from the oasis. This will be a good chance to flex our channeling powers. Joisha, is that our first wards teacher Brea leading the caravan?”
“I believe it is,” Grandmother said. She stepped forward to hail the caravan when they came closer. She and Master Anchee seemed to know several of the warriors in the group and greeted them fondly.
Brea, a wizened, elderly woman, slapped Master Anchee on the back. “Ah, good to have you youngsters to shoulder this burden. I wasn’t certain this old gal still had the energy for this ward. Been decades since I made this trek.”
The pilgrims traveling with the warriors were a surprise—four green-cloaked Vrishni from the North who traveled with a handful of Kabandha warriors.
“How did you get here?” Sulis asked, surprised. “I thought the ways through the desert were blocked.”
“We were staying in Frubia, in different households,” a frail-looking man with a long white beard told her. “We each had a vision to go north. We came upon these travelers and knew our path was with them.”
“We are all farspeakers,” a younger woman said. “We have messages for Alannah and Clay from Counselor Elida.”
Sulis shook her head sadly. “You are too late for Clay,” she said. “But Alannah can speak with Elida through you.”
“I want you to lead the release of the wards, Sulis,” Master Anchee said, motioning her over to the waymarker. “It is more complicated than at any other waymarker. Your energy is as strong as your grandmother’s, but less developed.”
The three Shuttles gathered around, linking to their Guardians. Sulis looked around. “Djinn isn’t here,” she exclaimed. “I wonder where that devil took himself to.”
“Same place Alta is,” Lasha said ruefully. “They left after we settled in for the night, probably to do some hunting.”
“You can do without your feli,” Grandmother reproved. “You depend too much on him.”
“But it’s so much easier with him,” Sulis grumbled as she settled into place. She reached her energy out, and Grandmother and Anchee grasped onto it.
“Tell me what I need to do,” she told Master Anchee.
As he guided her through the steps, she was merely a voice for the energy that flowed through her. Anytime her energy waned, more flooded into her from the other five linked to her, replenishing her.
She reached the end of the chant and spoke the release word. The wards tried to drain her—but again energy flowed into her.
“Did it work?” she asked, turning to the pilgrims.
She was talking to their backs as they hastened down the steep trail, eager to reach their destination before dark.
“I guess it did,” she muttered to his back. “How does everyone feel?”
“I feel like I went for a brisk walk,” Lasha said. “A little tired, but still plenty of energy.”
“Better than I ever have after working with this ward,” Master Anchee said, a big grin on his face. “I’d say this was a complete success.”
Grandmother shouldered her pack and gestured to them. “Come, we need to leave now if we want to reach the oasis before the sun cooks us.”
Around the campfire that night, Sulis turned to Grandmother and Master Anchee. “Do you really think we can do it?” she asked. “Our ancestors could only trap a small part of the deities, and it cost them everything. How can we succeed?”
“Our ancestors did not have centuries to plan,” Grandmother said. “They were desperate, despairing for their lives, and constantly under attack by the followers of the deities. We have honed our skills through these centuries of relative peace. We have greater skill because only those who could work with energy survived that last battle, and we paired up with each other. Our children have been stronger each generation.”
“I believe we will succeed as well,” Master Anchee said. “This is what we were born for. We will make the One whole again.”
“But at what cost?” Ashraf asked softly.
“Whatever the cost, we must be willing to pay it,” Palou said. “For our families and for the future of all beings in our world.”
“The moon is beautiful tonight,” Lasha said, turning the conversation. “A light in the blackest night. I guess that’s what we are for each other.”
Sulis put an arm around her friend. “I will never regret the journey that brought us together,” she said, leaning against Lasha. “No matter where it takes us.”
CHAPTER 17
Kadar waited patiently on a bench outside the hall the warriors of the One were using for meetings at this depot, petting Amber, who arched against him. She purred and nipped
his hand with little love bites. The warriors of the One had abandoned the Hasifel warehouses to come to this staging area. Most of the warriors were camped out in tents. The Tigus were setting up beside their camp, combining forces with the warriors of the One. Inside the hall, commanders of both the warriors of the One and the Tigus met to decide on who would guide the deities to the Obsidian Temple and how they would get the deities to accept their guide.
“Kadar?” Abram came and sat beside him. Amber transferred her attentions to him, leaving cream fur over his blue robes. “Have they spoken to you yet?”
“Not yet. I think they’re debating my plan. It’s obvious I’m the one who should be sent. But they’re reluctant to block my memory as I’ve requested.”
“Because they might not be able to unblock it.” Abram gave a little shiver. “Doesn’t that worry you?”
Kadar shook his head. “Grandmother set blocks in my mind years ago that would prevent the acolytes of the deities from finding out secrets. But the deities could easily read my surface feelings and tell that I’m lying when I tell my story to them. Unless I don’t believe that I am lying.”
“But what if they try to dig more deeply like they did with my father?” Abram asked.
“I hope they will have learned from his death,” Kadar said. “I will appeal directly to Parasu. I know his Voice and I think he will be reasonable. I will be careful. I want to come home to my daughter.”
“Unlike my father, who will never come home to us,” Abram said sadly. “We’ve already lost so many good people. Who will be left?”
Kadar opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Turo pushing back the door flap and motioning for Kadar to follow him. Kadar squeezed Abram’s shoulder once and rose, following Turo into the building. Amber trotted at his heels. She leapt up onto the planning table, causing the people around it to snatch up valuable maps and diagrams. Kadar sighed as the little cat settled on a sheaf of papers and curled up, still purring.
“Kadar, we have discussed your plan at length,” Master Gursh said. “The warriors approve, but Master Sandiv wants you to know the full dangers you face.”