“You are not like the others,” Morshimon said. “You see the hidden things.”
“I see what the Weaver—”
“No,” Morshimon said. “If the future is fixed, what need have we for seers? No, we play a part in our destiny, even you, Rahami. This is an opportunity to make a difference. Did you not say yourself that the Mother does not want you?”
“I say a great many things I may not fully mean,” Rahami said. Still, she felt uncomfortable. Caste is no excuse to hide from life’s challenges, her father said from the depths of her memory.
“My station entitles me to command you,” Morshimon said, “but I find that I cannot send you unwillingly into hardship. Your safety is as dear to me as the whole of Querc. I have never encountered such a woman as you. Never. In another time and place, I would ask you to come away with me.
Rahami gaped. She wanted to run. She wanted to stay. A world took form in her imagination, green vegetation and golden skies, the spider poison gone, Morshimon beside her each morning as she woke. An ache pinched the pit of her stomach.
Morshimon sighed. “Yet, I must ask this of you, or perhaps you must ask it of yourself, Rahami. You offered me a choice, and so I offer one to you. The journey will be dangerous and is uncertain to succeed. You may perish.” He touched her arm, and time seemed to slow, the breeze, the goats, everything.
Rahami bowed her head, and the ground clarified into bedrock infused with glowing strands. A city bloomed within the glow, buildings with pristine white walls, a courtyard where many people gathered. First portion for our beloved Watcher, an elderly man said. The platter in his hands became her father’s face, no longer bloated-white, but red-cheeked, laughing. Fireworks splashed the sky.
Morshimon’s voice brought her back. “Will you undertake this quest, Rahami Honra? Will you lead our Ashim to their promised land?” Rahami felt his skin on hers, his hope entwined with hers.
The Web throbbed once, twice, thrice. What do you think, daughter, do you want to find a city above the world?
“Yes,” she said. “I will.”
Copyright © 2014 Stephen V. Ramey
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Stephen V. Ramey is an American author of contemporary and speculative fiction. His short stories and flash fictions have appeared in dozens of places, from Microliterature to Daily Science Fiction. His first collection, Glass Animals, is available from Pure Slush Books. Visit him online at stephenvramey.com.
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COVER ART
“Pillars,” by Tomas Honz
Tomas Honz is a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, who believes in the traditional approach to art. To him, painting is a science that is necessary to acquire in order to make an art of it. He has years of experience in the entertainment industry as a concept illustrator, but his desire to create his own work, as well as a serious trauma–one of those things that make you reconsider your whole life–led him to leave that career, to open his eyes and soul to the fascinating world around him and shift his attention to traditional painting. View his work at tomashonz.com.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
ISSN: 1946-1076
Published by Firkin Press,
a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Literary Organization
Compilation Copyright © 2014 Firkin Press
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