Spellkeeper

by Courtney Privett

  “There are other places?” Hael popped the dumpling in her mouth and slowly chewed. The texture was strange and it tasted like nothing she had ever eaten before, but she liked it.

  “My dear Hael, there is an entire world beyond this valley. This is only one tiny, beautiful sliver of the world above ground. You'll get to explore it once you're ready.” Rin sipped from a cup, then returned her hands to her belly. Hael thought she might be pregnant. She was rounded and her body language was similar to that of expectant mothers in the hive. Several had come with Hael from Vetarex and she wondered what would be like for them to carry and birth a free-born Uldru baby. It wasn't something she could ever experience for herself.

  Hael shook away her thoughts and forced a smile. “This place, I already forgot its name. Is it safe?”

  “It is a sanctuary. Lyssandra protects it with her magic. It is called Mountain Home.”

  “Mountain?”

  “The big rocks, the ones that reach for the sky, those are mountains.” Rin watched the physician put away her tools. “Ashala, what do you think?”

  It took Hael a few breaths to remember that Ashala was the physician's name and not another word for something she didn't know.

  Ashala studied Elan's eyes. She touched his cheek, then his wrist. “They're all emaciated, but most are surprisingly healthy given the chronic nature of their malnutrition. And they're young. Not one among them is any older than thirty.”

  “How old do you think these two are?” Rin asked.

  Ashala rubbed her nose and shrugged. “I'd say the brother is between ten and twelve. The sister is a little harder to determine, somewhere between fifteen and eighteen, and I'm leaning toward the younger end given the good condition of her teeth and her underdeveloped figure.”

  “I don't understand these numbers,” Hael said. She set her bowl aside and motioned for Elan to sit closer to her. “What do they mean?”

  “You're a curious girl, aren't you? That'll serve you well.” Ashala said.

  “She's not a girl. Not really. She's etten.” Elan said through a yawn.

  Hael elbowed his side. “Not everyone needs to know that.”

  Ashala appeared confused. “I don't mean to pry, but what does that mean? It may be important to helping you become healthier.”

  Hael's cheeks felt hot. She didn't want to explain it, not to a strange person with strange words and a strange face.

  To her dismay, Elan explained for her. “It means she can't have babies because she was supposed to be born a boy but formed wrong. It happens with Uldru sometimes. She looks like a girl but she doesn't have a womb. The Varaku wanted to make her be a breeder, but they figured out she can't make babies, so they made everyone know what she was and they said they would kill her. That's when she decided we needed to be free. She's the reason we're here and alive. She saved us.”

  “Elan, stop,” Hael begged. It was bad enough that the entire hive knew what she was. Now these strangers did, too.

  Rin gave Ashala a quizzical look. “Intersex? There is one in the forge group.”

  Ashala nodded. “I think so. I think . . . I think most of these Uldru will be fine once they're fed and get used to being outside. I'll watch the weaker ones closely, the ones I told Ragan to give small portions to so food doesn't make them sick. Where's your son, Rin? Daelis says he's good with Uldru. We could use his help here.”

  “We sent him home to sleep. He's not feeling well and we don't need our new friends to catch anything from him.”

  Hael stared at Rin's clothing. It was as strange as the rest of her, complex of design and made from a soft brown fabric that moved nothing like the ragged gray salamander leather the Uldru wore. Hael wondered what it felt like, and how comfortable it was against the skin. Maybe she'd be allowed to try it on, but it would be too big. Rin was a full head taller than Hael and much heavier.

  “What is that sound?” Elan pursed his lips and blew, creating a sound that wasn't quite a whistle.

  Rin tilted her head and listened. “I think you mean the wind. The air moves more up here and it is not as heavy to breathe. Underground is very still. Here, the air dances. Wait until you meet the rain, the water droplets that fall from the sky. Rain is Yana's favorite.”

  Hael twisted the bottom edge of her clothing between her fingers. Everything was confusing and she struggled to focus on one thing at a time. If she looked around too much, she instantly became overwhelmed. “Rin, where is my prisoner?”

  “The Varaku?”

  “Yes. Where is he? Two of the large males took him away. I need to know where.”

  Rin tapped her fingers on the table. It made a soft and hollow sound similar to a bone drum. “There are dungeon cells beneath the keep, locked holding places where daylight can't reach. Uldru can tolerate some sunlight, and even full exposure won't kill them, but Varaku die in the sunlight. The moon and stars seem to be all right for him, so if we have to move him we'll do it at night. We're not sure what to do with him since he is your captive, not ours. Do you mean for him to live?”

  Hael gave a sharp nod. “I do. I was unsure, but now that we're in The Above and he is in a cage, I think it is okay for him to live. He is weak and needs meat from a larger animal. That's what Varaku eat. Meat and some fungus.”

  “You show mercy for someone who wronged your entire people. That is commendable.”

  “I had many thoughts about killing him.” Hael stared down at Rin's feet. She wore something to cover them, some sort of molded leather with a thick bottom. They must have been to protect her feet from sharp stones. Hael stepped on several on her way to the great hall. “I wanted to. I hurt him. I cut off some of his tentacles and starved him when he could have feasted on tunnel wolves. Then I realized penance might be better. Death is quick. Penance can last until the body stops and it makes him think. He is young and the last of his hive. He showed me fear and sorrow and an acceptance that I choose his fate. I don't want to kill him now. Now I think he can find some peace locked up alone where he can't hurt anyone. He might still die soon, and I won't mourn him if he does, but I won't kill him.”

  “You are certainly a fascinating person. I look forward to getting to know you.” Lines appeared in Rin's forehead as her eyebrows drew closer together. Hael wondered if she was already in late-stage adulthood. She must be, considering she had an adult son. Some here looked older, though, much older. The physician's hair was all white and her clay-brown skin was wrinkled like an elderly Varaku's. Maybe these people lived long like Varaku.

  “I only do what I must so my people can be free. We won't be slaves again.” Hael swallowed a yawn and rubbed her eyes. It hadn't been many breaths since the last sleep, but the continuous state of overwhelm was wearing on her. “The Varaku is called Itrek. We were born the same fungus season. He won't be mature for many more seasons. Rin, do you think in The Above that a monster might learn to be not a monster? You knew Varaku. Do you think a Varaku could learn to be at peace with free Uldru?”

  Rin looked toward the sleeping toddler near the wall. “Maybe. I think you should give him that chance.”

  Hael held her hand to her mouth to cover a reflexive smile. “The others think I am wrong to keep him alive. They choose to follow me, though, even when we disagree. I hope I can show them I am right to let him live. I hope I was right to bring them here, and that free in The Above is better than enslaved below.” She yawned and stretched her weary arms. “Everyone is tired with full bellies and relief. Will you take us to where we sleep?”

  “WHY DO THEY SPEAK OUR language? Shouldn't they have developed their own after so long isolated?”

  Hael didn't recognize the woman's voice. It was clear even through the echoes, and higher-pitched than some of the other voices she'd heard. Hael kept her eyes closed and listened. This bed they had given her, this cot, was more comfortable than anything she had ever slept on before and she didn't want to move.

  “The Jarrah.” The second voice belonged to Rin. “It seem
s they stripped the Varaku of their original language and replaced it with Bacran Common when they enslaved them, and then the Varaku taught the Uldru Common when the Jarrah decided their slaves needed slaves of their own. Whatever either culture was like before is lost to time, but I think we saw a hint of the old Varaku in the Hycinth of Aes. They were benevolent, not monsters.”

  “Do they read Common, too?” asked the unknown woman.

  “Varaku do. Uldru aren't allowed to read. Reading is one of the first things we'll teach them once they are more comfortable here.”

  Reading? Hael knew about reading, but it was forbidden. At least it was before. Now she was free and the idea that she could learn how to read excited her.

  Still, she didn't want to move. This thing she slept on, and the blankets that covered her, were the softest materials she'd ever touched. They smelled good, too. Clean and sweet, with some sort of other smell she could only identify as plant.

  She would need to move soon, however. Her full bladder was on the verge of demanding it. She breathed in the scent of the blankets and listened. The catacombs were quiet and she heard no sleep noises coming from the others. Had they already woken?

  “Did your mother say anything further?” Rin asked. She was somewhere near, but the slight muffle of her voice revealed she wasn't in the same chamber as Hael.

  “No,” the other replied after several breaths. “She seems . . . confused. Maybe frustrated. I mean, that's a reasonable reaction, right? Thirty-six strange, starving people and their monstrous captive suddenly appear from behind a waterfall, and now she has to figure out how to feed, clothe, and house them. I guess it's the rest of us doing most of that, but this is her sanctuary.”

  “Reasonable enough. We're all a little confused. Lyssa doesn't need to do much, though. Daelis is good at this sort of thing and has done it before. He already has shifts set up for the community kitchen and he's gathering extra clothes from the elves since the sizes will be about right once Tessen's and Ragan's recipes fill them out a little bit.”

  “Well, those recipes certainly worked well enough on Tessen and Ragan. Though, I do admit they both look good with a little extra weight on them. They were too thin when I met them.”

  “They both resort to haphazard gluttony when they're stressed.” Feet scuffed on stone. Rin and her companion were now in the same chamber as Hael. “I think we should try to wake her. Her friends told me she needed sleep after what she did, but it's been nearly a full day and she should have the chance to walk around before sunrise.”

  “What's her name again? I've met so many Uldru today that I can't remember which name belongs to which face.”

  “Hael,” Rin replied. She was close now. “Hay-el. I can't pronounce it quite like she does.”

  The other woman stopped near Hael's feet. “If what the others said about her is true, she's quite extraordinary. She led the revolt that freed them, and then led them here. She's so young.”

  Hael kept her eyes closed as Rin bent close to her. “Hael? If you're ready to wake, there is food waiting for you. Everyone else is outside.”

  Hael stretched her arms, but her eyes were hesitant to open. She sat forward, then rubbed her cheeks and looked up at the woman at her feet. She was one of the people Hael had seen near the waterfall, the young obsidian-haired woman with the sapphire eyes that were unlike anyone else's. The colored part filled her entire eye and her pupils were tall instead of round like an Uldru's or diamond-shaped like a Varaku's. Tiny brown spots were splattered across her chalky nose and cheeks, but they seemed to be part of her skin and not dirt or intentional decorations.

  The woman glanced at a light that dangled from a hook on the other side of the room. The stone within was a soft blue. Hael knew this type of stone. It was one of the things the Uldru mined, and it was how the Varaku lit their homes since they had no blue magic. Why did the people Above have these stones? Maybe they were as common Above as they were below.

  “My name is Kemi. We saw each other yesterday but we haven't met yet,” said the woman.

  Hael slowly rose to her knees, then used the wall to ease herself to her feet. Her muscles were stiff from sleeping too long. “You are the child of the one called Guardian?”

  “Yes. Lyssa is my mother. I have a brother here, too. Kendrian. You met him yesterday at the waterfall.”

  “What is yesterday? Never mind. I'll learn it later. Your brother is the one with turquoise eyes and hair of citrine?

  “Citrine . . . yellow? Yes. And your brother is the little boy with the bright green eyes, right?”

  “Elan.” Hael watched Rin fill a large basin with water from a clay pitcher. “Is that to drink or to wash?”

  “To wash,” Rin replied, her lips pinched into a smile. “Some of the others went to swim in the waterfall pond, but it's crowded out there now. I thought you might want to wash your hair. It's so caked in mud that I can't tell what color it is. We brought you fresh clothes, too. We'll give you your privacy to clean up, but let us know if you need help with anything. We also have new bedding for you, so we'll take these blankets to be washed and then come back to take you outside.

  Outside. The word was as strange one, but she knew now that it meant the surface, The Above. Not the spaces inside dwellings, but instead beneath the sky.

  The water was black with mud by the time Hael finished scrubbing her hair and skin. Uldru kept themselves clean in the hive and frequently swam in the cave pools for both recreation and finding food, so she wasn't used to being as dirty as she was when they reached The Above.

  Her hair still dripping, she reached for the clothing Rin had left on a nearby chair. Her hand jolted at the touch. Soft, so soft. Like the blankets, these things were not made of leather. What strange magic did these people possess to create material with this texture?

  The top part of the clothing was easy to figure out since its shape was similar to the shifts she had worn all her life. She slipped it over her head and arms, then looked down in confusion. It was too wide, but also too short, and the tops of her thighs were fully exposed. She picked up the second piece of clothing and held it to the light. There were no holes for arms, just a wide conical shape with a hole at either end. It looked more like a blanket than something to wear.

  Footsteps returned to the border of the chamber.

  “Rin, I don't know how to wear this,” Hael said. She studied the stitching on the top edge of the garment. It wasn't sinew, but instead something thin and soft like strands of hair.

  Rin took the clothing from Hael's hands, then lowered the smaller hole to her waist. “I thought you might have trouble with this one since you're used to one-piece shifts. This is a skirt and it covers your legs. I'm wearing pants, which are probably even odder to you, but Kemi is wearing a skirt. Do you see how it fits her? You can either pull it over your head or step into it.”

  Hael studied Kemi's waistline and then let her eyes fall downward with the folds of the patterned fabric. Hael's own skirt was a reddish color without any designs.

  Kemi startled as Hael's gaze rose to make contact with her eyes. “Oh! You're golden. I wasn't expecting that. None of the others have coloring like yours.”

  Hael stepped into the skirt, then pulled the top hole up to her waist. It was so light and soft it felt like she was wearing nothing, but when she looked down she was fully covered. “My mother did. She was the only other one in Vetarex, but she didn't come from there. Sometimes the hives trade slaves so it doesn't become needed for kin to breed with kin. That makes too many dead babies and too many etten. She was a toddler when she was sold. She didn't remember what hive she came from or what her parents looked like.”

  Hael didn't feel the need to tell them the rest of it, that her parents had been paired as breeders and the Varaku had traded all of her brothers and sisters except Elan to other hives. She didn't tell them that their designated purpose was to bring new blood to the Uldru lines within the hives because gold skin and hair were prized, and t
hey hoped the children Elan would father when he came of age would inherit the coloring he didn't. She didn't tell them that the Varaku allowed her hair to grow long so they could eventually shear it to the scalp and spin it into thread. She didn't tell them that the Varaku had planned on harvesting her skin for its golden leather and eating the rest of her once she could no longer breed, and they would have done the same to her children if she had been able to create any. Her sterility was an insult to the Varaku, an affront to the traders who had made grand plans to farm golden Uldru. She wondered if they would get what they wanted from her traded siblings, or if when they reached breeding age they would be found to be etten like her. She hoped they were. Not because the Varaku would kill them for it, but so they wouldn't be bred until their bodies gave up and so their descendants wouldn't be farmed like muckpigs. The Uldru people put so much value on fertility because so many children didn't reach maturity, but watching her own kin be abused and harvested was far worse than being mocked for barrenness.

  Kemi shifted her weight between her feet. Her eyes were half-closed and she appeared uncomfortable. “I'm sorry. Your world is much different from mine. It will be better here for all of you.”

  “It is better now. We are free.” Hael held out her arms so Rin could tie a knot at the back of her skirt. It would have fallen off with the first step otherwise. “My Uldru will birth children who know their parents, children who won't have to fear being eaten or being crushed in the mines, who might even live to be ancient. I see ancient people here. I think we could live to be that.”

  Rin circled to Hael's front. She held a knuckle beneath Hael's chin and smiled. “Sweet girl, you have so much time ahead of you now, and you don't even know what time is yet. Let's go upstairs now. The night is clear and you deserve to see the stars.”

  STARS. What a strange thing they were, those tiny twinkling lights in this expanse called sky. It was a cold light they gave, but Hael found it comforting. The whispers were real, and now she was in the world her ancestors were forced to leave behind. She didn't know why or how, but the whispers had told her it wasn't the choice of the Uldru to become Uldru.