The Black Sky

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The Black Sky Page 11

by Michael Dalton


  “Something is pulling them here.”

  Phareewee smiled.

  “Yes. Something. Something that not only pulled you here, but bonded you to the energies of this planet and its people. Something that gave you skills at manipulating that energy that rival the greatest practitioners of the arts. Skills that, by the way, every makalang has possessed to some degree, though yours are among the strongest we have seen. Perhaps ever.”

  “The crystals pulled me here.”

  “Taitala pulled you here, Will. What other explanation can you see?”

  I had nothing.

  “But look. There is more. Here.”

  She pointed to the second tablet, where I noticed – now that I understood how the entries were structured – that some of them were incomplete. There were gaps where the names of the makalangs were in several of the later entries, including the two before mine.

  “Do you see it?”

  For more than twenty kumala-talons, the pattern was consistent. A makalang appeared when Kumala was at her closest. But then she came, yet the makalang did not. And again. And again. And then, after Silas, Kumala came twice without a makalang appearing.

  “Yes. Why?”

  “The connection between our worlds seems to be weakening. Taitala’s energies are being disrupted by the exploitation of her crystals, by the creation of artificial crystals that are not tied to her, yet use her energies. I do not know what may be happening on your world.”

  I looked back at the entry for Silas, and the ones underneath. If the pattern was every eighty years, the next appearance should have been in 1860, and the next in 1940.

  “Since Silas, on Earth, there has been a long period of industrialization.”

  “With crystals?”

  “Well . . . some of it has used crystals. There’s been a lot of mining of them, for sure. And we can create them as well, though I don’t know much about that.”

  Phareewee shook her head, sighing.

  “The long absence of the makalang has had consequences.”

  “I know.”

  “There is a possibility you may be the last makalang, Will of Hawthorne. If that happens . . .”

  “Did the makalang bring life to Taitala? I don’t know how else your people could be inter-fertile with mine. You are . . . very similar in many ways.”

  “That is possible. Many have suggested such a thing. I do not know, myself. There will likely never be an answer to that question. What I do know is the makalang provides a vital spark, without which our people will slowly die out. It is already happening.”

  “Has the makalang always been male?”

  “Yes.”

  “Because your males are unable to support enough reproduction to sustain things on their own.”

  “Correct.”

  I nodded slowly. There was still a lot I didn’t understand, but at long last, I could see the big picture.

  “Do you believe me now?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Now let us heal your wife.”

  Chapter 12

  We regrouped in back in the sitting area around the fire. Phareewee called Narilora to her again.

  “What you did here, makalang, was repair her body by nearly destroying her spirit. There is precious little of her left in here, but it may be enough. I see energy from you, and others. Too many others.”

  I explained exactly what I had done that day. Phareewee nodded.

  “I see it. This is why you cannot conceive, child. How could you create a new life within you when there is barely any of your own left?”

  Narilora’s face was creased in distress.

  “What do we do?” she asked.

  “We must draw this foreign energy out of you, your tsulygoi and I. He did this, and he must undo it, but I will have to guide him.”

  “How?” I asked.

  “You will need your own crystal, to focus yourself. What you did before was a bludgeon. This requires a knife, a very sharp one.”

  “Okay. Where do I get one?”

  “You will need to find one yourself, and unfortunately this is no simple matter. Not any crystal will do. You must find the one that speaks to you.”

  I had two thoughts. The first was, Oh, what the fuck?

  The second was, Oh, yeah.

  ◆◆◆

  Not surprisingly, the panikang were well aware of the cavity we’d come through climbing around the waterfall. They’d been taking crystals from it for generations. When I told Phareewee about it, she nodded.

  “It is significant to me that you found that cavern. Go. Find a crystal and return to us. Quickly.”

  Narilora and I set out the next morning, while Eladra remained in the rooms the panikang had provided for us. During the hike there, I called Ayarala.

  She was thrilled to hear that the panikang were going to help Narilora, but upset at the situation back there. While the house was fine, there had been two more bombings, both of them empty buildings owned by the Long Claw. The city was as tense as it had ever been, according to Kisarat. But there had been no more messages to me from the clan leaders, and the crowd out front was behaving itself for now.

  “Do you still think you’ll be home within a few days?”

  “It’s looking like it, but there’s still a lot to happen here.”

  We arrived at the cave above the waterfall in a couple of hours. Since we had come through once before, getting back down was easy.

  When we dropped down into the cavity, I took out my flashlight and looked around at all the crystals in the walls. It hadn’t been apparent to me before, but I could see signs of activity now, where crystals had been broken off from various clusters. There were still hundreds of them left, but quite a few had been harvested.

  I found the one I’d seen before, the big multi-colored prism. It was one of the biggest and best-formed in the cavity. I hesitated for a moment or two, wondering if I had the right to take it.

  Find the one that speaks you.

  So.

  I settled my nerves and closed my eyes, trying to listen to the same energies I’d been using so carelessly up to now. I could feel Narilora next to me, could see the riot of foreign energies inside her, now that Phareewee had pointed them out.

  I listened for the crystals. For a few moments, there was nothing. Then it slowly dawned on me that I was listening for the wrong thing. They had no energy of their own, but they shaped and focused it in different ways. As I felt the flows around me, I could begin to see the eddies and swirls that the crystals in the cave were creating. Most of the patterns struck me as discordant, chaotic, even grating. But one of them stood out. It seemed to complement the swirls around me in a way I found pleasing.

  I opened my eyes.

  I wasn’t surprised to see that it was the big one. And now that I had recognized it, I could feel a distinct pull from it.

  I found a loose stone on the floor. The crystal was at the center of a large, beautiful cluster that, unlike the rest of the cavern, was mostly untouched. Maybe one or two other crystals had been harvested from it, ones that had once been next to the big one.

  I took the big crystal in my hand, feeling it pulling and drawing the energy around me as I held it. Then, very carefully, I tapped it with the rock until it snapped off at the base.

  “Is that the one?” Narilora asked.

  “Yes. It’s . . . it’s hard to explain.”

  “All of this is.”

  ◆◆◆

  When we returned with the crystal, it was mid-day and the nocturnal panikang were all asleep. Knowing we would be up late again, we tried to get some rest. I woke up from my nap to find Narilora gone and Eladra lying next to me but awake.

  “Narilora went fishing again.”

  “Good way to clear your head, I guess. That was an awful lot to lay on her at once.”

  She rolled against me, laying her head on my chest. I played gently with her ears for a few moments.

  “Will, you don
’t seem to have picked up on this, but that panikang, the pretty one, Phareewee’s daughter, kind of seems determined to mate with you.”

  “I did pick up on it, bunny-girl. I’m just trying to focus on Narilora.”

  “I’m not sure what would happen back in the city, if you took a panikang wife. Even if you’re convinced they’re not the Black Sky.”

  “There would be issues.”

  “Also, she didn’t come right out and say it, but it’s pretty clear that Phareewee needs you to mate with her people, like the other clan leaders are doing.”

  “I know.”

  “Are you going to do it?”

  “If she asks, I don’t see how I refuse.”

  ◆◆◆

  Narilora returned with a string of fish for dinner. We ate quietly. When it started to get dark, the panikang began emerging from their homes. Eventually we were summoned to meet with Phareewee.

  They took us to a different building this time, one several houses down from meeting hall. Inside was a largely empty, featureless room. The only furnishings were several mats on the floor. Phareewee was there with several other older panikang.

  “So you found a crystal?”

  “I did.”

  I pulled out the big prism, and they gasped. Phareewee took a couple of steps forward, looking down at it.

  “This . . . this is the crystal that spoke to you?”

  “Yes.”

  She stared at it in amazement, then looked up at me.

  “Show me.”

  “How?”

  “Hold it. Focus on it.”

  I did. Her eyes swelled, and the other panikang seemed equally stunned.

  “For generations, we have visited that cavern, harvesting crystals for our work. Many have coveted this one, but it rejected all who sought to take it.”

  One of other panikang spoke up.

  “We believe our focus crystals are a gift from Taitala. She has given you a very significant one. Which tells me she is asking much of you.”

  “Okay. Then let’s take care of Narilora.”

  Phareewee had her lie down on one of the mats, then knelt down next to her.

  “In all likelihood, you will lose consciousness while we do this,” she said to Narilora. “You may have dreams. Do your best to remember them.”

  Narilora nodded. Phareewee motioned to me. I knelt on the other side. Narilora reached for my hand and squeezed it tightly.

  “We’re going to do this, babe,” I said. “Just relax.”

  Phareewee looked over at me.

  “Hold your crystal in both hands. Use it to read her. Do nothing yet. Just listen.”

  I did. I discovered immediately that the crystal gave me a far sharper sense of what was going on inside her. I saw the orgasms I’d taken from the five clan girls. I saw Merindra’s, Lorelat’s, Therani’s and the others. Merindra seemed to have provided the largest share of energy, and I wondered if that was the reason she and Narilora had bonded so closely.

  I saw energy of my own. And I saw what little remained of Narilora, the spark I’d saved that day. It was there, but weak. I could see as well that it was slowly being drowned by the rest of it. She was dying.

  “If we do this, will it undo the healing?”

  “No. But her spirit will be weakened nonetheless. So you must be exceedingly careful to take only the foreign energy. None of hers.”

  “I see it. What do I do?”

  “Grab hold of small pieces of the foreign energies. Draw them out slowly and carefully. Only a little at a time.”

  It wasn’t hard at first, because there was so much of it. It was like a siphon. The energy began flowing out, through the crystal, back into me. I felt stronger, reinvigorated after that long climb we’d made, but Narilora suddenly gasped, arching her back. Then her eyes closed.

  “She is fine,” Phareewee said. “She will sleep. Continue. But go slowly!”

  For a few minutes, the siphon slowly drew out the energies. I realized I could control the flow by squeezing it as passed through the crystal. But once started, it wanted to continue. The energy wanted to leave her.

  As I drew more and more of it from her, it became more difficult to avoid the spark of Narilora. The siphon wanted her too.

  Phareewee hissed.

  “Careful!”

  “I’m trying.”

  I reached into her, through the crystal, forcing the siphon away from her. For a few moments, it suctioned up the remaining bits of the foreign energy. I tried to pull it back.

  “No – you must get it all. Or it will continue interfering. If you want her to bear you a child, you must get it all.”

  Now it was like vacuuming up individual grains of sand. Except I had to avoid some of them. I pinched the siphon down as tightly as I could, so that it was taking one grain at a time. There were only a few left, all of them around Narilora.

  Pick

  Pick

  Pick

  Now there was only one left, right next to the spark. And the spark was scarcely any larger. Focusing as hard as I could, I let the siphon close in on it. The grain went in – and the siphon went for Narilora.

  Phareewee hissed again. I crushed the siphon with all the force I could manage.

  It stopped, just short of her. Another moment, and she would have been sucked up as well.

  I pulled everything back and exhaled. Phareewee looked up at me, then down at her.

  “Did you do it?” Eladra asked. She’d scarcely moved the entire time.

  Hands shaking, I swept over Narilora with the crystal. She was still there, and her energy was clean. But she looked dangerously weak.

  “I think so. Can I –”

  “No!” Phareewee said. “All she can do now is rest. She will recover, or she will not. There is nothing more you can do for her.”

  I looked down and brushed the hair back from her face.

  “She would really have died if we’d done nothing? Even with all the other energy in there?”

  “The thing that is her would certainly have died. Whether her body would have died with her is another question. Most likely it would have, but it is possible those other energies could have sustained it. Sustained it as something that should not exist.”

  I nodded.

  “So we wait?”

  “Yes. We wait.”

  ◆◆◆

  Phareewee asked me to come back with her to the meeting hall. Several panikang would remain with Narilora while she recovered. Mereceeree and Eladra came with us, but sat around the other side. They began talking quietly. One of the panikang brought us glasses of malvina.

  “Now that we have done what you came here for, there are things I must ask of you in return.”

  “I know what you’re going to ask. And I will make you the same offer I made the other clan leaders.”

  “Which is?”

  “Send me the members of your clan you wish me to take as wives. I will mate with them. If I put one with child, she and I will decide whether she returns, or remains with me to raise the child.”

  Phareewee grumbled softly.

  “That is not the way my people have ever done this. With Taitalan males, or with the previous makalangs. And I think you know that.”

  “I do. Still, that is my offer. The other clan leaders were unhappy with it as well, but they have agreed.”

  “I hear this agreement is beginning to chafe, in fact.”

  “Only in the sense of wanting equal representation. But they disagree on whether that means wives or children.”

  “I am not sure you appreciate what will happen should you take a number of panikang into your household.”

  “I know some will be unhappy. But I wish to demonstrate that the makalang belongs to no clan, but instead serves all of them.”

  Phareewee put her hands together and leaned forward onto them. She was silent for nearly a minute.

  “I cannot agree to this,” she said finally. “Not because I do not understand what yo
u wish to do, nor because I disagree with your motives. It is because it will place my people at risk. The wives who would remain with you – and I know some of them will choose to do so – and my people at large. Such an arrangement risks inflaming an already tense situation.”

  “You mean the Black Sky.”

  “I do.”

  “Is it you?”

  “It is not. Nor do I know who it is. I do, however, have suspicions.”

  “What are they?”

  “There are those in Phan-garad who would benefit from increased tensions between the clans. I think you know who they are. You strike me as someone who has dealt with situations like this before.”

  “Is it one of the clan leaders?” I tried to think who had been driving this. “Ceriniat?”

  “She controls the largest mercenary band in the city. Who is driving this campaign against the panikang?”

  “She is.”

  “There you are. I do not accuse her. I merely point out that she is benefiting from their actions.”

  I thought for a few moments. I wanted to serve the panikang, especially given what they’d done for Narilora. Did I really need to have the same arrangement with all the clans?

  “What is your offer, then?”

  “I will send you my people to mate with. But it must be discreet, and they cannot remain with you.” She paused, exhaling. “Save one.”

  I looked over at Mereceeree. She saw me looking and smiled. She and Eladra had continued talking as I met with Phareewee, and Eladra looked up at me now as well. For a cunelo who had once seemed terrified of the panikang, she now seemed remarkably comfortable with at least one of them.

  “Yes,” Phareewee said.

  I looked back at her.

  “What is the distinction here?”

  “The distinction here is that she is a willful child who is determined to join your collection of wives.”

  I considered that for a moment. I knew she had been watching us, so she had surely seen my living arrangements.

  “I have five wives who I consider to be my inner circle. One from each clan, save yours.”

  “She has argued that exact point to me.”

  “Do you object?”

 

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