by Dana Davis
Younglings were forbidden at the lake just before sunset, and Taniras had always wondered what the Elders discussed out here, until now. Funny how she no longer had that curiosity. “What do you mean, Ved’nuri? I know Cholqhuin exists, as does Moon Mother’s daughter, Bringer of Spring.” The Bankari called her the Sea Goddess but Taniras preferred the wolves’ name for her.
The crowned woman took a seat on one of the stone benches that lined this area of the lake and motioned the others to sit. “Gods never cease to exist. They simply move on when devotion no longer entices them.” Her gaze fell on the sky.
Taniras’s heart fluttered. “If they left this world, Ved’nuri, then where did they go?”
“Beyond.” Colorful eyes found Taniras and she fought the urge to cover herself. “I’m not the Goddess, new-oathed. I only know they won’t come back. But they do exist somewhere out there.”
A long arm waved to the sky and Taniras squinted up at the marvelous blue dome above. “In the stars?”
“Perhaps.”
“Great fleas! That’s what she meant.” All eyes rested on her. “My apologies, Ved’nuri.”
“Accepted.” The woman said nothing more, but those eyes stripped Taniras to the bone and beckoned for an explanation.
“Dar—no—the ancient pack leader, the one before names existed. She told me. The previous day when I sifted through memories, the pack wept.” She carefully picked words from her own memory to coincide with the feelings she’d experienced the previous day. “The pack grieved for Moon Mother. I didn’t know what it meant then, but I think that’s when the old gods left. The huge beasts they coveted ceased to exist here on our world. I saw that in the pack memories. But Moon Mother remained, as did Her daughter and another, which must be Cholqhuin.”
Murmurs began and Ved’nuri quieted everyone with an upraised hand. “Anything else?”
Taniras tried to get hold of something more, anything, but memories were buried too deeply. The pack was now occupied by their current kill, which made her stomach grumble. “I need to go into the pack memories to see more, Ved’nuri.” She felt strangely disgusted with herself. “My apologies.”
“No need for apologies, new-oathed.”
“Yes, Ved’nuri. But if we can’t raise Cholqhuin, the Goddess may be forced to leave us. At least, that’s the impression I got from the wolves. Our devotion may not be enough. She needs to be reunited with Her daughter.”
“Yes, new-oathed. And if she abandons us, we’ll lose the ability to harness.”
That got murmurs from the Elders and Taniras’s heart drummed a frantic beat against her ribs. Ved’nuri studied her but said nothing, and she realized something even more horrible. The Vedi would no longer exist if the Goddess abandoned them. Gypsies and Sages would die like those in the mundane world, until they became only a memory for the wolf pack.
Ved’nuri moved to her, placed a comforting hand on her cheek, and offered a sad smile. “Concentrate on memories of Cholqhuin, my wolf daughter. Perhaps the pack knows more about how he was trapped. Rest first. And I want you to report everything you witness to Siri. She’ll know whether it’s important or not.”
“Yes, Ved’nuri.” Taniras stood with the others and held her curtsey until the crowned woman turned and headed toward the dome.
The Elders sauntered back to various chores, leaving Taniras alone at the lake. Snowy soon joined her and they sat beneath a tree, where she leaned against her husband and napped. Afterwards, they joined the rest of the kin at midday meal. She forced down a large portion of food, two helpings in fact.
Then she and Snowy made their way to the trees and settled down on the soft grass. Once inside the pack’s mind again, Taniras sifted through the memories in search of Cholqhuin, but the only thing she came across was an enormous statue of one of the ancient giants. Something she should remember about the statue but couldn’t quite grip kept her concentration limited, and she soon stumbled out of the fog back into Snowy’s world.
Another large figure sat nearby, silhouetted by the sun. “What did you see?”
“Elder Siri?” Of course. Ved’nuri had ordered her to report everything to the Elder.
Once she did, Siri moved closer. “You must find out where that statue lies. That must be the last sign of the coming of Cholqhuin. The one we’ve been searching for.”
“Of course.” How could Taniras have forgotten something so important? Bloodlust filled her mind. She started to bolt after a rabbit that scurried by but Snowy held her. She turned a snarling lip to him before she realized what she was doing.
Siri clicked her tongue. “You need rest.”
“I’m all right, Elder.”
“Don’t argue with me.” The Elder’s gaze turned to Snowy before Taniras could object. “Get her to your cottage and see that she sleeps. If she gives you any trouble, have Predula administer a potion. We need whatever information she can find among the wolves, so she can resume this search after night meal.”
“Yes, Elder,” Snowy said with respect in his voice.
Taniras grunted as he lifted her to her feet. “Bloody sleep,” she uttered once Siri was out of earshot.
“You need it, love. Elder Siri’s right. The wolves must know more than we first thought. But you’ll be no good to anyone if you’re exhausted. Come on.”
He ignored her weak protests. She longed for another rest and sleep beckoned. Besides, she had no desire to taste Predula’s bitter sleep potion again. She suspected the woman of leaving out the sweet flavoring she often added for the sick just to prove a point. That disgusting tea had stayed on Taniras’s tongue half a day the last time she’d been forced to drink it. Wolf senses didn’t always bring good things.
* * * *
When she awoke, dim daylight streamed in through the twin windows. The single room cottage she shared with Snowy wasn’t as large as the one she’d shared with her youngling sisters, Tsianina and Bhrighana, but then new-oathed accommodations were meant for one. Servants had been kind enough to make a large bed, something they were accustomed to doing for Gypsies and their chosen mates, and Snowy lay beside her, his breath slow and steady.
She rolled over and rested her head and hand on his chest, causing him to stir. “So, Devin, you were the one who really needed a rest.”
Strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. She smiled at his musky scent, the scent of a familiar male, her mate. She no longer needed the pack to tell her where he was, since her own senses had become enhanced by the link. The pack rested in the back of her mind and she longed to return to the memories. Somehow, she couldn’t get her body to move from Snowy’s just yet, and the two lay there for several long heartbeats.
Finally, and with much regret, she pulled him from the bed, and the two washed up.
He eyed her. “You look rested now.”
“Yes. I feel much better. Stronger.”
“Dar confirms that.”
She shot him a look. “What? You and Dar conspire against me?” She narrowed her eyes in mock anger. “You don’t believe your own wife?”
He offered a mischievous grin, gave her a brief but passionate kiss on the lips, then pulled her by the hand outside and toward one of the tables, where servants had already set dishes for evening meal. They ate and chatted with kin until the sun was low before setting out to the trees again. When they reached their spot, they found Eletha in the tree closest to the soft, grassy area with her eyes closed and a sickly grin on her lips.
“Eletha Lavine.” Taniras craned her neck up but the little treewalker didn’t respond. “Eletha!” She put fists on her hips.
The treewalker took in a long breath and opened her eyes to peer down with annoyance. “What in blazes do you want, Taniras? I was in contact all the way to the beach.”
“I don’t care if you were in contact with seaweed. This is my place to talk to the wolves. Get down and find another tree. Somewhere over there, preferably.” She waved one arm off to her right.
Trees of every shape and texture surrounded the Land of the Goddess in all directions, as far as one could see, though the village, dome and lake had more shrubs and grasses than trees.
“I was here first, Taniras.”
“I outrank you.”
“Fine.” Eletha climbed down. Once her feet hit the grass, she stroked the tree in an apologetic manner then stepped under Taniras’s nose and craned her fiery head up. “You’re not the only one attempting to find answers, Taniras Ei’sele Nee’cher. But I wish you well.” With that, she raced off a ways, scampered up another trunk, and out of view in the waning light.
Taniras turned on Snowy with a look that dared him to say anything, but he simply sat and motioned her down. It didn’t take long to get back into the wolf memories now that she was refreshed, and she urged Dar to go deeper into the pack. Back and back until they reached the birth of the gods.
Her senses seemed garbled, new and expansive, but somewhere in that long past, the legend found her. The sun and moon made love and the Great Mother erupted from the pregnant moon, from the Energy itself, heavy with the weight of the world and the many gods in Her belly. She floated as a swirling, many-colored light in darkness, saddened by something Taniras would never comprehend. Neither could Taniras actually see the Great Mother. She simply felt Her as Her Light ebbed and swelled, felt Her pregnancy, and then felt Her birth a fiery world that buzzed with the Energy, a world where the gods ruled for thousands upon thousands of years. One of those gods was Cholqhuin, a son, a brother, though Taniras didn’t understand those relationships, for they weren’t like the ones in the mundane world. Cholqhuin, who appeared as a blue and green light, seemed less petty than his siblings, and the Great Mother fawned over him and granted him the molten seas of Her new world.
Early on, as the world formed and changed, the fires became trapped within its center and its surface turned to ice. Light was stingy with its warmth in an ever-changing world of gods and monsters, wolves and bears, and giant sea creatures fat with protection needed in the icy waters of a world foreign to Taniras, yet familiar through the link.
Then the moon turned red as blood, the Goddess, in search of something, returned there for Taniras didn’t know how long. When She returned to Her created world below, Her belly was heavy again, and a daughter, lovely in her yellow and orange light, came forth. The moon returned to its normal pale ball and the Daughter of Eternal Spring brought warmth to the creatures and hope to the other gods. The world was now complete.
The gods began to create other beings. Middlings, covered with so much hair they looked like they wore clothing, crawled down from the trees to stand upright. Stupid creatures that middlings could hunt and eat also populated the world. The gods granted middlings fire and knowledge, knowledge like that of the wolves, but without the honor that kept them from murdering one another. When middlings began to war, the gods divided and argued among themselves and intervened where they should not.
Cholqhuin wanted none of the bickering, so he stayed to the seas. But he became lonely. Once, on a beach of long ago, he spotted the Daughter of Eternal Spring and bedded her and she followed him to the sea. Their relationship angered the Great Moon Mother and She forbad them to see each other. But Her daughter argued that she loved Cholqhuin more than the world itself and would live with him in the seas. This angered the Great Mother even more and the air around Her grew hot with temper. The skies darkened and grew cold from sadness. She feared for a lost world if Her daughter left the land, and She uttered the words that made the seas rise up and swallow Cholqhuin, trapping him in the Eternal Fires that keep the world growing and changing.
Years passed and the Daughter of Eternal Spring, who also became known as the Sea Goddess, ventured to land once each season to plead for Cholqhuin’s release. But the Great Mother refused and Her daughter returned to the sea, leaving behind a world that grew hot then cold in her absence.
Each year the Great Mother used Her will to keep the world from freezing or burning up, which left Her tired and weak until Her daughter returned and brought spring again. The Great Mother grew weaker during these days but still Her daughter refused to return, so She rebuffed the request to free Cholqhuin. The Great Mother created Gypsies by transforming chosen middlings and infused them with part of Her essence, known as the Energy, so that She might keep the world together longer.
The Great Mother could hold the world together for tens of tens plus years—the ancient pack didn’t know how long but Taniras figured about ten thousand years—and then it would fall to its fate unless Her daughter returned.
Taniras locked onto words of an ancient tongue, the language of the Goddess Herself. She focused her mind to memorize each and every line, every word, every cadence until the wolf pack howled in her mind and she ran with them. Their primal instincts latched onto her like a new babe’s closed fist on its mother’s finger. Joy! Bloodlust! Freedom! The Energy filled the earth below and the wolves sensed it, reveled in it. Taniras ran alongside the ancient pack then within the pack itself. Musk and sweat filled her nostrils until she howled honors at the moon and the Great Mother. She had come home.
Chapter 23
Snowy’s cries had everyone running toward the trees, and Thad’s heart raced faster than his legs. When he arrived, Taniras was feverish and damp with sweat. Her limbs twitched from some unseen activity. He found nothing with the Energy, nothing he could heal, and he pulled back.
Snowy latched onto his arm. “I can’t reach her, Thad. Dar can’t reach her, either.” His eyes went wild. “She’s with the ancient pack. We have to find her.”
Snowy carried Taniras to their cottage. Predula hovered over the prone wolf singer, worry etching her features. She didn’t seem to care that her hair was falling out of its knot or that she had dirt and grass stains on her Gypsy dress. Thad told her he found nothing with his Energy, and she simply nodded as she probed the prone woman. Servants went around washing everyone’s feet as quickly as they could, but even that rule had been broken in the urgency to get Taniras to her bed.
Xiath spoke with Snowy as the singer’s husband crouched much like a wolf on its haunches near the fireplace.
Thad studied Predula after her examination but Haranda beat him to the question. “Is she all right? Predula?”
“I don’t know. Her body’s hot with fever but I can’t find anything wrong and I can’t cool her.” She gave a sharp look to one of the servants. “Get Ved’mana. Bring cold water and rags and hot water and fever herb.”
Servants scrambled out of the small cottage until only a few kin remained inside with Thad. Snowy, Haranda, Predula, Xiath, Elders Siri and Finlor. Saldia, Adelsik, Eletha, Cass, Lyssinya and Henny stood just outside the door with several others.
Predula tapped Thad’s arm. “You try again.”
He pushed his Energy into the singer but still couldn’t find anything and shook his head. Later, though he couldn’t tell just how long, he stood near one of the windows and watched as Predula, Elder Finlor, Sage Payatt Koi and Ved’mana hovered over Taniras. He was surprised to see Ved’mana’s healing Energy as it traveled into Taniras’s body. He’d never witnessed such a thing before and stepped closer to watch it travel up and down her limbs, through her head, chest and stomach and all around in search of illness. He stepped even closer and leaned over Predula’s shoulder.
“What?” the small Healer said in an irritated voice.
Thad gazed at Taniras and followed the line of Energy back to the crowned man. “I can see your Energy, Ved’mana. It suddenly appeared to me.”
“Oh? Move aside Predula. There’s nothing either of us can do. Let the boy try again.”
Thad took Predula’s place on the bed. Taniras’s limbs still quivered, though much less than before, and her skin was hot to the touch. He had no idea what he could attempt that they hadn’t already tried, but with healer’s instinct, he took Taniras’s wrist and forehead and pushed the Energy into her trembling body again. He found nothi
ng, same as before.
He decided to look where he’d seen the silver cord in Henny, the tether that had allowed him to pull her back to life. His Energy traveled to Taniras’s head and he concentrated several heartbeats before he saw the faint cord extending beyond. The top of her otherself wavered just above her head, but the translucent lower half remained within her body. Something tempted her to leave, to move beyond.
This was much different than with Henny. The youngling had been in a deep sleep and her otherself hovered in the Netherworld for days with Death nearby, waiting. Thad didn’t think Adelsik could help him with Taniras. Death wasn’t near her, not yet, anyway. Something else had a hold on her. Yet, he knew if he didn’t coax her back, Death would surely show and take her beyond his reach.
He followed the cord and wrapped Energy around her otherself, the half that extended beyond her mundane head, with his Energy. Something animal-like shoved his Energy back and he grunted. A hand landed on his shoulder and he shrugged it off. He couldn’t afford distractions. Instead, he steeled himself against the animal nature that awaited him and forced his Energy around the singer’s otherself once again.
This time, he caught hold and began to tug. She fought him. At first, she seemed annoyed, but when he didn’t let go, she grew angry, and Thad found it difficult to keep his grip on the Energy. Instead of pulling her back, she tugged him forward into her animal-like existence. He felt the wolves, hundreds of them, bite and claw at him. Something slashed his right wrist and he cried out but he held onto Taniras’s prone body, faintly aware of sitting on her bed in the cottage. His mind sharpened with the pain and his Energy strengthened. He pulled harder, which earned him another wound, this one across his left hand. He squeezed Taniras’s forehead but didn’t let go. Another pull, another bite, across his right hand this time. His fingers began to lose their grip on her wrist, but he could still feel her lifeblood pulse beneath his fingers, could feel her otherself wrapped in his Energy.