“Is it gone?” she asked Damell when she stopped and realized the sword had disappeared from her grip.
“Indeed it is!” he said joyfully, and Rhuna felt elated.
“You have achieved a great accomplishment today,” Damell said in her head.
Rhuna willed her Extended Consciousness to return to her body, and after taking a deep breath, she sat up and opened her eyes. Her father sat upright in front of her, a wide and satisfied grin on his face.
“Continue to practice willing your Extended Consciousness to move around, journeying to distant places to observe as much as you can. You can be with Lozira…” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.
Rhuna rushed home through the evening darkness, looking up once more at the dazzling display of stars in the clear night sky. Once inside her home, she immediately ushered Aradin into the special room so that she could tell him at length what she and her father had done in The Infinite to prevent Lozira being sent back to Atlán.
Rhuna slept well that night, feeling great relief and with thoughts of the beautiful night sky as she fell asleep. The following day, after Aradin had met a client to discuss trade agreements, Rhuna dressed for the planned visit with Beacon of the Night. As she applied some face paint and pinned her hair with bejeweled clasps, she realized she felt slightly nervous at the prospect of entering the home of the leader of the Dark Ones.
“Be seated!” Beacon of the Night said cheerfully as Rhuna stepped inside, Aradin at her side. She looked around the house, comparing it to her own in size, comfort and decorations, noting the general appearance of Atlan styles with an influence of others she could not immediately identify. She concluded that he had travelled and seen much of the world since the time he was an Atlan Master and teacher at her school in Atlán.
As they sat down, Rhuna looked at Beacon of the Night more intently, observing his closely-cropped beard and Benshi-style clothing, both in contrast to the appearance of most Atlan men. Her eyes wandered to the colourful thick material of his kilt, common in Safu, only not of such fine textiles. She concluded that Beacon of the Night deliberately expressed his defiance of Atlan ways in his appearance.
“What happened to you after your…punishment in Atlán? I never saw you there again,” Rhuna asked carefully.
“My banishment was humiliating, I must admit, and therefore I never returned to the city of Atlán, but I travelled and resided in various places,” Beacon of the Night answered, and then began to recount the lands he had visited and places in which he had resided. At the appropriate time, Aradin mentioned his trader-clients who came from some of the places Beacon of the Night mentioned, and the two men discussed various aspects of the land and its people.
“That is how you come to wear unusual garments, unlike most Atlan men living in Safu,” Rhuna observed.
“Appearing different appeals to me,” he said casually, then reached for a small wooden item nearby which Rhuna thought resembled the smoking pipes she and The Observers used to inhale hallucinatory herbs.
“A smoking pipe,” said Beacon of the Night, holding the finely carved pipe in front of him for Rhuna and Aradin to see. Then he focused his penetrating green eyes on it, and almost immediately a small flame erupted from the wide opening. “Leaves of the Dark Evening Plant, which a trader brings me in exchange for some of my pieces of jewellery,” he explained before raising the small end of the pipe to his mouth and gently drawing a long breath. “It has a mild and pleasant stimulating effect,” he said as he exhaled.
“Would you like to try some?” he asked after a moment, and Rhuna shook her head.
“Some other time, perhaps,” Aradin answered, and Beacon of the Night bowed his head in silent acknowledgement.
“How long have you been in Safu?” asked Rhuna, trying to make conversation. Beacon of the Night answered that he arrived in Safu less than three solar cycles past, before which he had resided in lands along the Great Sea.
“I’ve heard that you are among a group of Atlans who make amulets for the Benshi…” Rhuna began carefully.
“My handiwork with precious metals led me to this new enterprise,” he explained, and then rose to his feet and invited his guests to enter his workroom. They proceeded down a short hallway which displayed wall-hangings with designs Rhuna had never seen before, and then they stopped at a large metal door. Beacon of the Night moved something that made a metallic sound, and Rhuna assumed that it was a lock of some kind.
“A lock I myself designed,” Beacon of the Night said proudly, correctly guessing Rhuna’s thoughts. “Precious stones are kept in this room, and some attempts have been made to procure these gemstones to trade for food or other necessities,” he explained as the door opened and they stepped inside. The stale air made the room feel heavy and very quiet, and Rhuna noticed that there was only one small window, positioned to allow the sun’s morning light to shine onto the workspace. The thick stone walls and metal door they had just passed through made Rhuna think of being imprisoned, and a sudden jolt of fear shot through her as she realized they were in the presence of a powerful and dangerous man.
“Behold, my collection of genuine precious stones,” he said exuberantly, and indicated with a flowing gesture of his arm towards the shelves and containers along one of the walls.
“Here are mineral ores,” he said as he turned towards the opposite wall. “From these items I extract gold, silver and other bonding metals,” he explained.
“You make jewellery without the use of Atlan transforming powers?” Aradin asked.
“Most of the time,” Beacon of the Night answered, and then began showing them some of his self-made tools, and finally a large tray on which six complete items of jewellery had been placed. Beacon of the Night proudly explained the type of gemstone and metal he used to make each one, and Rhuna admired the designs and combination of colours.
“You make beautiful jewellery,” Aradin said, and Rhuna agreed, pointing to the pendant that appealed to her most. Then she explained that she had been to see the Benshi who showed her a very similar pendant, which they called an amulet to protect against curses.
“We are…experimenting,” he responded. “Unexplored Atlan abilities, such as re-directing harnessed energy into objects, namely these amulets, for one thing,” he added, and picked up one of the pendants on the tray.
“The Benshi are afraid of things they don’t understand, and are easy targets for your…experiments,” Rhuna said.
“This is true,” he said casually.
“But it’s not right to deceive and use people like this!” Rhuna blurted, and then feared her outburst could make Beacon of the Night suspicious of her motives and her secret activities to thwart him and the other followers of the Dark Master.
“They are and always shall be inferior to us, and it is imperative that such people continue to be in awe of Atlans for the Empire to continue thriving and improving the world,” Beacon of the Night retorted, apparently enjoying the charged verbal exchange. “You know this to be so,” argued Beacon of the Night. “You never heard anyone say it so clearly and directly as I have done,” he said with a smirk.
Rhuna felt intense annoyance with his arrogant manner, and voiced the thoughts most prominent in her mind.
“You lied about me in Atlán, telling the Council that I tried to seduce you, when it was the other way around!”
Beacon of the Night laughed lightly and turned to leave his workroom. “They should not have assigned me to teach a beautiful young woman,” he said, flashing a smile at Rhuna as they left the confined room. “It was a difficult time for me. I was young and impulsive, and meant no harm. Yet when I was confronted with discipline and chastisement, I felt angry and rebelled, speaking any lie and excuse that entered my thoughts at that moment. Do not judge me on a young man’s foolish responses so many solar cycles past.”
Rhuna’s irritation began to subside as the leader of the Dark Ones used open honesty to charm his crit
ics.
“Furthermore, you yourself have a much more infamous reputation than I!” he smirked.
“The High Council of Atlán doesn’t have all the facts or proper understanding of what happened,” Rhuna responded quickly.
“You do not owe me an explanation,” Beacon of the Night said with a smile. “Lack of facts and proper understanding are the perennial weakness of the Atlan High Council,” he said as he looked at his pipe and then inhaled again.
After some more general conversation, Rhuna and Aradin left the home of Beacon of the Night, thanking him for his hospitality. As they left, she wondered whether it was wise to be on such friendly terms, if only by pretense, with the leader of the Dark Master’s followers.
Later that day, after doing some household chores and playing with Shandi, Rhuna took the position for releasing her Extended Consciousness with the intention of observing Lozira. She felt her Consciousness float out of her body and soar aimlessly for an indefinite period of time until she made an effort to concentrate on Lozira and her location. Then she saw flashes of light and dark until suddenly warm blue skies and fragrant green trees filled her senses. After a moment to become oriented, Rhuna realized she was outside the inn in the land of the isthmus. She recognized the building and surrounding fruit and vegetable gardens from her stopover several solar cycles past when she journeyed from Atlán to Safu. Directing her Point of Consciousness with her concentration, she entered the inn where she expected Lozira to be, but after a fleeting glance across the room of mostly Atlan men and woman of mature age, she realized her daughter was not inside. Mild panic began to rise until Rhuna instinctively sensed Lozira outside among the vegetation. Focussing her thoughts on her daughter, her Extended Consciousness immediately took her to a thicket of tall bushes along the edge of the garden. She saw a head of golden hair shimmering in the sunlight, and moved her Consciousness down alongside.
Rhuna felt her heart pound with excitement at being so close to her daughter again, seeing her face in every detail and noting the changes in only a few solar cycles. The adolescent girl that was torn away from her by Tozar was now a tall and slim young woman with evenly-defined features. Despite the warmth of the sun, Rhuna saw that Lozira was shivering, and her hands were sweaty as they clenched the fabric of her long, flowing dress.
“Lozira!” Rhuna cried out in her mind. “Don’t be afraid! I stopped Tozar’s message! You’re safe, Lozira! No one will stop you and make you go back to Atlán!”
The silence when she stopped calling out to Lozira was chilling, and the complete lack of response from her daughter was devastating. Rhuna reached out to touch Lozira’s anguished face, to stroke her cheek and her hair, but there were no physical sensations. Lozira kept crouching among the bushes, looking around frequently so that she would not be discovered, and Rhuna kept trying to comfort her by reaching out in every way she could. Finally, she resigned herself to the fact that her Extended Consciousness could not be sensed in any way by someone in the physical realm, exactly as Damell had told her.
Rhuna returned her Extended Consciousness to her body at the very moment Aradin entered the room in which she had been reclining.
“I’ve just been with Lozira!” she blurted. “It was so real! But she couldn’t see or hear me, or feel me…I tried to reach out and comfort her…” she said as she raised her hand the way she had done mentally in The Infinite.
Aradin quickly got down beside her and reminded her to be quiet. Rhuna took a deep breath and nodded, and then remembered Damell’s instruction to take a rest and some refreshment after accessing The Infinite.
When she had rested a while and eaten some figs, Rhuna decided to summon visions of Tozar by means of the Gazing of the Waters. As she reluctantly approached the water basin, she realized she had not summoned a vision of him in many solar cycles, and the thought of seeing him still caused her inexplicable distress.
Rhuna’s determination to help Lozira overcome her apprehensions, and she focused her mental energy on Tozar in connection with Lozira’s flight from his over-protective shelter in Atlán.
The first image that appeared in the Gazing of the Waters made Rhuna flinch.
“What in the damnable world is happening?” Tozar raged as he paced in one of his private rooms near the basin used for the Gazing of the Waters. Rhuna had never heard him use such words, nor express such deep frustration and anger.
Rhuna watched as Tozar approached the basin to summon messages, then images of certain people, and then let out a roar of annoyance.
“Uncanny forces have interfered with my messages!” he grumbled loudly to himself. Rhuna looked closely and noticed that his appearance had changed considerably in just three solar cycles, but she found it difficult to determine exactly which features were different.
When the image faded and showed only clear water, Rhuna quickly summoned visions of Lozira in the present time at the land of the isthmus. Anxious for Lozira to be safe onboard the ship to Safu, she held her breath until an image appeared. Rhuna instantly recognized the site as the dock and inn which her Extended Consciousness had visited earlier, but panic threatened to overwhelm her when she could not see Lozira anywhere. People bustled on the dock near the fleet of ships, and Rhuna realized they were loading food and other supplies onto the vessels.
The image in the water reflection changed, and Rhuna let out a sigh of relief when she saw her daughter walking in line with four other women, crossing a plank to board one of the ships. Her head was bowed down, as if she were hiding her face for fear that she may still be recognized and sent home to her father in Atlán.
Rhuna felt the fear her daughter must have been experiencing, and to relay her anxiety, she summoned a vision of the innkeeper to whom Tozar had sent his two messages. She was pleased to see that the man was busy directing the dockhands, instructing them where certain supplies should be stored, and how much more would be needed for the long ocean crossing.
Feeling more at ease again, Rhuna tried to keep herself busy with mundane chores before summoning visions once more. This time, Lozira appeared in the images, her face flushed but relieved, and Rhuna could see by the motion of the cabin in which her daughter sat, that the ship was well on its way across the seas.
Tears of relief sprung into Rhuna’s eyes as joy swept over her. She rushed into the adjoining rooms to announce the news to Aradin and Faleesh that Lozira was safely onboard the ship to Safu. She hugged Faleesh, who also shed a tear of joy, and then Aradin squeezed her tightly.
“You did it,” he whispered in her ear as he held her. “You and Damell. You made it possible.”
Part Four
(The Guardians of Knowledge)
Rhuna was elated that she would soon see her first daughter again, and summoned visions of her on the ship at least once a day. Lozira spoke regular messages to her mother, telling her in more detail how restrictive the last three solar cycles had been. The more Rhuna learned about her daughter’s mental suffering, the more her outrage and anger at Tozar grew.
At times, Rhuna’s anger became so overwhelming that it was almost a welcome distraction to be reminded of the serious events taking place in and around Safu. The visions she and Aradin had summoned of the Dark Ones had revealed that their attempts to sabotage merchants and emissaries from Ubanti were becoming more daring.
She had watched with horrified fascination as the Dark Ones led by Beacon of the Night made a clay crocodile the size of a child’s toy, and then performed a strange ritual with chants and incantations. The result appeared to be an attack on a small riverboat by a large crocodile, frightening the Ubanti onboard and forcing them to return the way they had come.
“These Ubanti want to take our Knowledge, our devices!” said Progress of the Wind in one of the visions Rhuna had summoned.
“We shall defeat them, prevent them, discourage them from even coming to Safu!” spoke the Varappan man known as Charmer of Snakes.
“Look! The
ailments and mishaps we have created have come to pass, and they are becoming afraid and reluctant to venture even near the land of Safu!” said Beacon of the Night with a satisfied grin. Rhuna always shuddered when she saw her former teacher, remembering that she had been in his house, even in a confined room with solid locks on the door. She was relieved, therefore, when The Observers assembled the following day to discuss the situation together and provide reassurance.
When The Observers had settled into the special room protected by the magnetic force, Rhuna was asked to summon the latest activity by the Guardians of Knowledge by means of the Gazing of the Waters.
“Your ability to summon visions that are inaccessible to the rest of us always astounds me!” said Designer of Works. In response, Rhuna complimented him on his creation of the magnetic field generators disguised as decorative urns.
The Observers huddled together when the water began to swirl in dynamic colours, and the now-familiar setting of dark-robed men and women in a dimly-lit room appeared.
“Brother, we have a problem,” said Charmer of Snakes. “Atlán has sent a new Council for Safu after learning of our curses and amulets!”
“This is not unexpected,” said Beacon of the Night dismissively. “Many Atlans residing in Safu have become acquainted with our work,” he said.
“A fleet of many Atlans, on assignment from the Atlan High Council shall investigate our activities and banish us!” said one of the other Dark Ones.
“What shall we do, Brother?” asked Charmer of Snakes.
“Let us demonstrate our acquired power!” said Beacon of the Night, his green eyes flashing. “Brothers, let us make small models of the Atlan fleet, and then we shall utilize our newly acquired Words of Power!” he continued.
Rhuna, The Star Child Page 11