by Kelley Grant
“I want to go!” Ava said.
Dani shook his head. “You’re needed here to help Sari organize.”
“Can you help with Master Anchee while I’m gone?” Lasha asked hopefully. “It would be a relief knowing someone is looking after him.”
“Yes, of course,” Ava said. “I’ll take care of him and Grandmother. They’ll be so energized by the time you get back, you won’t know them.”
“I can hope,” Lasha said, sadly. “I would like that very much.”
“Kadar is digging through the recovered tack to find some saddlebags we can use to carry supplies, and I’m trying to locate some rope,” Dani said. “I’d like to get going soon after midday, so the edge we’re climbing won’t be in the searing sun.”
Ashraf stood and handed his empty bowl to Ava. “I’ll help Kadar pack,” he said.
“Have you spoken with Sari yet?” Sulis asked. Dani shook his head. “I’ll talk to her, make certain she’s fine with us taking off like this.”
They met at the far edge of the chasm and divided up supplies. Sulis grabbed one of the packs, and Ashraf took it from her and handed her a loop of rope and a waterskin.
“You’re still recovering,” he said. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”
Sulis nodded. “I think it’s exactly what I need,” she told him. “I feel less despairing if I’m doing something. I want to get out of this chasm, see how things have changed.”
They wove their way upward. Dani was right—feli lounged around the path and darted upward, ducking out of sight as their group passed by. Djinn and the other Chosen feli loped ahead and were soon out of sight among the rocks.
Kadar sighed and Sulis glanced over at him.
“Never thought I’d miss that annoying little cat, but my shoulder is too light now,” Kadar said sadly. Amber had not made it out of the temple. Alannah suspected that she had rejoined the One with Sanuri.
A layer of dirt had fallen over everything and made the rocks more slippery rather than less. It obscured the edges of the obsidian rocks. Sulis winced as she hit her shin on a black rock. Onyeka sliced her arm on a sharp point of obsidian and cursed roundly in Tigu as Kadar laughed at her language and wrapped the cut.
They created their own path, weaving between rocks. Dani planted colorful strips of torn cloths between rocks, marking the path back. They helped each other over large rocks, continuing to spiral upward.
Dani found a place among the rocks to camp for the evening and they chewed on dried humpback strips without a fire. They’d gone far enough up that the rocks were no longer the black obsidian, and were less sharp to lie on.
Lasha sat silently. She hadn’t spoken much on the hike, only responding to Dani’s commands with one-word answers. Sulis sat beside her and nudged her.
“You’re so quiet,” Sulis said. “That isn’t like you. Are you ill?”
Lasha glanced over at her and Sulis could barely make out her silhouette in the falling darkness.
“Alannah plans on going to Illian and taking Jonas with her. They’ll be staying with the Temple,” Lasha said.
“If anything remains of the Temple,” Sulis said.
“She wants me to go with her but, Sulis, I don’t really want to return,” she said softly. “I don’t know where I belong.”
“You’ve always wanted to see the world,” Sulis said. “Come with Ashraf and me when we go to Frubia,” Sulis said. “Maybe you’ll decide you want to go back north, or maybe you’ll find something to keep you here.”
Lasha looked over at her, and Sulis could see her indecision.
“It will be dangerous,” Sulis warned. “We don’t know if the oases still exist or what we will find as we travel. But if you decide you love to travel, you can always hire on with our caravan. Ashraf plans on rebuilding the routes.”
Lasha nodded. “Maybe I will travel with you, if I won’t be considered a pest,” she said. “You’re right, I have some thinking to do.”
“Ashraf thinks we’ll have several people with us, wanting to return to Frubia to see if their families are safe, so don’t worry about disturbing us,” Sulis said.
Onyeka spoke up from Lasha’s other side. “And if you are not happy in Frubia, you should come to join the Tigus. You have a fierce heart, yes? You would be welcome with us.”
Lasha grinned at that. “Can you picture me riding to visit my parents in Illian, armed with a curved sword and Tigu tattoos on my arms?”
They laughed at the image and turned in.
Dani woke them at first light, and the way became steeper. The feli they followed could scramble up easily onto rock ledges that they had to carefully find footholds and handholds to climb. They rested often as their already drained energy flagged.
“Is it getting dark already?” Onyeka asked, puzzled.
“It’s getting cloudy,” Kadar said, glancing up. He looked at Sulis in wonder. “Those look like rainclouds.”
Late in the day they reached a rocky outcropping. Dani scouted around it, looking for handholds or something to grapple with the rope and hook. He growled in frustration.
“Where are the feli when you need them to find you a path?” he asked. “We may need to double back and find a way around this.”
Sulis realized it was true—the feli had disappeared for most of the afternoon. She’d assumed it was because they were resting in the heat of the day, but maybe their party had taken the wrong route.
“Hush,” Onyeka said, suddenly drawing her dagger. “I hear something.”
They quieted. The group stared around at each other, listening. All was silent, not even a breeze stirring against the rocks. Then they heard it—distant voices, above them and farther south along the chasm. Kadar’s face split in a grin and they all cheered.
“Hello!” Kadar yelled as loudly as he could. “Who is up there?”
No one responded, and the voices receded slightly.
Onyeka gave a great desert war whoop, and Kadar, Ashraf, and Sulis joined in until the chasm echoed with the sound. Dani and Lasha grinned.
There was a pause, and then a war whoop came down to them.
They played a game of call and response, climbing over rocks under the rock shelf, to get closer to the people above them.
There was never a break in the outcropping above them as they walked, but they reached a point where the other group was right above them.
A dark face poked over the cliff, the man lying flat on the rock to look over at them. It was their cousin, Abram.
“It’s Kadar and Sulis,” he called excitedly behind him. “Are you all well? We are tying off a rope. Can you make it up to us, or should we come down?”
“We’ll come up,” Sulis called. It wasn’t that high, only lacking in handholds they could climb. “I want out of this place,” she told the others, who nodded in agreement.
Sulis was next to last as they used the rope to climb the rocky face. Abram pulled her up onto the shelf and embraced her enthusiastically at the top.
“I knew you were alive,” he said. “Even when we found the path down collapsed and they told me no one could have survived that energy blast.”
“You must have inherited Grandmother’s energy linking talent,” Sulis said as he helped Ashraf onto the shelf and ushered both of them to his group. Half the rescue party were Tigus, and Onyeka was hugging a tall older Tigu man.
“That’s her father, Turo,” Kadar told her. “Abram says we are close to the surface. They’d just found a path down and hiked a ways when they reached this outcropping.”
Sulis eagerly followed the group, looking around at the changed landscape. Though they were close to the surface, she did not see the craggy mountains looming overhead. They reached a final ledge and Ashraf heaved himself up, then turned and gave Sulis his hand, helping her crawl out.
; “By the One,” Kadar said softly, and she stood and looked around.
The tall cliffs of the mountains were gone. It looked like a giant hand had knocked them over, leaving jagged hills behind. Rocks were strewn on vast fields to the south of the black hills. Off in the distance, Sulis could see a golden light and smoke at the top of one of the taller hills, molten rock pouring down the side.
“Our city,” Onyeka breathed, turning to her father. “Was it destroyed?”
“We don’t know,” Turo said. “The warriors of the One sent their energy channelers to the city before the weaving. We pray to the One they were able to protect our tribes. Look how all the rocks settled on the south side. We think that was from the shielding they set up.”
“Sulis,” Ashraf said. “Turn around.”
Sulis tore her eyes from the decimated mountain and turned.
“What?” she murmured, and moved around a large rock in her way.
There was a great lake spreading down the valley, clear off into the distance. Sulis could see the waymarker to the path they were on sticking out of the shallows closest to them. A large camp was set up a short way from them, spreading around the edges of the lake.
Abram stepped up beside her. “Our group had barely made it to the oasis when the weaving began. When we felt energy being drawn, and the ground shook as the mountains collapsed, suddenly water spewed out of the earth, like it was pulled to the surface by a great force,” he said. “We grabbed what supplies we could and ran, but some people were too slow and drowned. We ran clear to the waymarker and could still hear water rushing in the dark. When the sun came up, we saw the lake. We don’t know how far it goes.”
“Any other surprises?” Sulis asked.
Abram shrugged. “We don’t know. We still haven’t been able to communicate with people far away,” he said. “The energy is too unstable. We don’t know what happened to our healers and the warriors of the One who were closer to the deities’ army during the sandstorm. We’ve sent out runners in each direction. Until they return or we can farspeak again, we don’t know how much our world has changed. Come, Master Yaoni will want to see you and hear that some of his friends survived. You must have quite a tale to tell.”
“We certainly do,” Sulis murmured to Ashraf as they walked toward the camp. “How are we going to get around this lake to go to Frubia?”
“We’ll manage,” he said with a grin. “It will be a new adventure, exploring this changed world.
“A new adventure indeed,” Lasha said, stepping up beside them. “We must be completely crazy.”
Sulis glanced between them and grinned. “I can’t imagine better people to go exploring with,” she said.
They paused and looked up as large raindrops began falling on them. Ashraf grabbed her hand and she grabbed Lasha’s and they ran laughing to the tents and people waiting below.
EPILOGUE
Djinn watched his people run to the human-made shelters, his tail lashing at the indignity as he considered the rain. Alta swatted at his twitching tail and dashed ahead, plunging into the waters of the lake for a swim. Pax joined her and they splashed in the shallow waters together.
Danger had passed. The One had given all his most faithful companions a choice—go back to the wild and live free, or stay with their humans. The feli’s vow to protect the humans from the deities was fulfilled. They were free. Djinn knew that many feli had returned to the wilds around them, especially those who resided in the stinky, closed-in city.
But Djinn knew his people would be lost without him. They were so clumsy, these gawky two-leggers, so much like the feli cubs before they gained their first growth. And Djinn did like his chin scratches and belly rubs. Humans could be terribly useful. He would be lonely without his Sulis, and her mate was respectful enough to him. And they did odd things that somewhat baffled him, but also kept things interesting.
The other feli of the Chosen agreed with him. They were lucky to have interesting humans to bond with. They would see what these interesting humans did in this new world.
Djinn’s ears pricked forward as he saw movement in the rock. An unwary hare peered out at him and he gave chase, finally stretching cramped legs as he overtook the creature.
A successful hunt, water to play in with his feli companions, and a human to squeal in protest as he lay his wet body down against hers in the night. Such silliness to worry about the future when now was here. Djinn gave a great sigh, laid his head on Sulis’s chest, and purred as she stroked him behind the ears.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Wow, the Desert Rising series is completed! I could not have done it without the guidance of my wonderful editor Rebecca Lucash and the entire staff of Harper Voyager who brought Sulis, Kadar, and Djinn to life. And, of course, thanks to my first reader Janice Berry Paganini who led me in the right direction once again.
I’d like to thank all my friends in my yoga community for keeping me centered and sane. A special thanks to Rebekah Walters for bringing Djinn to life in fused glass, to Judy Lensing and Rose Beach for being number one fans, and Emily Baxter for creating new fans through her book club. Thanks to Jim Gill with the Dover Public Library and Glen Welsh with The Book Loft of German Village for hosting me, and all the fans and friends who came out to show their support. Huge thanks to all my readers—there would be no Djinn without your love and encouragement.
Much thanks to my family for their love and support through the publishing process. And all my love to Brian for being my support and for driving, coaxing, and loving me through this whole crazy business.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KELLEY GRANT grew up in the hills of Ohio’s Amish country. Her best friends were the books she read, stories she created, and the forest and fields that inspired her. She and her husband live on a wooded hilltop and are owned by five cats, a dog, and numerous uninvited critters. Besides writing, Kelley teaches yoga and meditation, sings kirtan with her husband, and designs brochures and media.
www.kelleygrantbooks.com
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BY KELLEY GRANT
The World Weavers
The Obsidian Temple
Desert Rising
COPYRIGHT
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE WORLD WEAVERS. Copyright © 2016 by Kelley Grant-Kelley. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.
EPub Edition APRIL 2016 ISBN: 9780062382535
Version 04052016
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062382566
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