Star of Sakova

by Richard S. Tuttle

  “I am not sure that it is important,” admitted Lyra. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your work, but there is something bothering me.”

  “Actually I can use the break anyway,” smiled MoonFlow with an impish grin. “I miss getting out and I love the sunshine. What bothers you?”

  “It is about Mekin,” Lyra began. “Something does not feel right about him. He acts nicely enough to everyone, but I feel as if he is always fishing for information. I have heard him ask about the spell that guards the stronghold with at least three people besides myself.”

  “Perhaps he is just curious and very friendly,” suggested MoonFlow although she did not believe it.

  “Perhaps,” murmured Lyra, “but he also thinks it is a portal of some type. He should know that it is an illusion if he is Sakovan by blood. He wears the ring and that should have allowed him to see through the illusion as it did for me. Shouldn’t it?”

  MoonFlow’s face darkened. “Are you sure he thinks it is a portal?” she frowned.

  “Yes,” insisted Lyra. “Twice he made reference to it as a portal. That is also strange terminology for someone to use that is not a mage. I think he is lying to us.”

  “I agree,” scowled MoonFlow. “I should have been keeping a better eye on him, but there is always so much to do. StarWind will be very disappointed with me. I must discuss this with RavenWing immediately. Come to his office when your lesson is over. I am sure he will want to hear about your observations firsthand.”

  “Poor girl,” sympathized LifeTender after MoonFlow had left. “StarWind handles the information so expertly that anyone who tries to fill her shoes feels inadequate. There really should be more people involved with the information gathering. It is too much for one person.”

  “I just hope that I am not creating more work for MoonFlow with my suspicions,” sighed Lyra. “He just seems so phony to me. His father just died and yet he acts like school just got out, all giddy and carefree. I am sorry, LifeTender. My mind is just not on magic right now. I would like to go see RavenWing now and get it over with. Can we take a break?”

  “Certainly,” smiled LifeTender. “I need to ask RavenWing about getting some more supplies in anyway. I will walk over with you. Help me straighten up this mess before we go though.”

  “Sure,” Lyra replied as they started to clean up the debris left from their practice session.

  “You really learn fast,” complimented LifeTender as she swept up some wood chips. “I think you must have learned a great deal at the academy without realizing it. The way you understand the subtle manipulations of variant spells speaks of good training.”

  “I guess Master Malafar was a good teacher,” admitted Lyra. “I just didn’t understand what it was that he was teaching. I excelled at my studies, but everything seemed pointless and boring. I guess I never really thought about uses for the spells beyond what he taught.”

  “Teaching actual spells is the easy part,” LifeTender pointed out. “Teaching control and concentration is harder. I thought you lacked control when we started training, but I was wrong. It was not a lack of control I was sensing, but distraction with all that was happening to you. Your control is excellent.”

  “Thank you,” smiled Lyra, her blue eyes twinkling with the compliment. “I really appreciate all you are doing for me, LifeTender. If I ever gain RavenWing’s trust I will use these talents for the good of Sakova.”

  “As a form of repayment?” questioned LifeTender. “Or are you really one of us?”

  “I am Sakovan,” Lyra declared without hesitation. “Not just because Rhodella was Sakovan, but for the first time in my life I feel like I belong somewhere. I am ashamed of what the Omungans did to the Sakovans. That part of me that is Omungan is repelled by such behavior. The Sakovan part of me screams for revenge. I know that is not right, but that is the way I feel.”

  “There will be a day of reckoning,” promised LifeTender. “It may not be in our lifetimes, but it is foretold in the Scroll of Kaltara that it will happen.”

  “Why are the Sakovans rejected by Kaltara?” Lyra inquired. “Something must have made him angry to allow this fate for his people.”

  “We rejected him by killing the Star he sent to guide us,” LifeTender explained. “Not once, but three times. The first time an ambitious rival who wanted to rule the Sakovans killed the Star. Kaltara smote him at his coronation. Several hundred years later, another Star was murdered. That time it was a jealous lover and Kaltara was angry. That night every member of the murderer’s family died in their sleep. Four generations of that family simply ceased to exist in the blinking of an eye. Every mention of their family name mysteriously disappeared from all journals and public records. It was as if they never existed.”

  “I would call that anger,” Lyra agreed. “I could not imagine anyone daring to cross Kaltara after that.”

  “Nor I,” LifeTender shook her head. “Yet there came a third time when Kaltara’s Star was murdered.”

  “Just before the Omungan invasion,” Lyra said remembering the lecture StarWind had given her when they were captured.

  “Yes only months before the invasion,” LifeTender continued. “The people had come to believe that our God, Kaltara, had abandoned us. People disdained the edicts of the Star and eventually a group sought to rid the Sakovans of his rule. Kaltara was furious. He stopped a priest on his way to the funeral and presented the Scroll of Kaltara to him so that the Sakovans would know what was coming. As a sign of his wrath, God raised his hand and rent the earth to show what he would do to the Sakovan people. The earth trembled and heaved and crumbled to dust along the banks of the Kaltara River, the River of God. The great gash is known to this day as the Wound of Kaltara.”

  “I saw the Wound,” admitted Lyra. “I never imagined anything so large and deep.”

  “Then came the invasion,” sighed LifeTender. “Thousands died the first day and still the Omungans continued to come. They destroyed everything in their path, man, woman, and child. Whole cities ceased to exist and the Sakovans were hunted like animals. Women were raped. Men were tortured. Children were slaughtered. Legends say the Sakovans thought they would be wiped out for defying God, but the leaders pointed to the Scroll of Kaltara, which foretold the coming of a new Star, and the people were heartened. The remaining Sakovans banded together in prayer and vowed to never forsake God again.”

  “I am finished here,” Lyra stated.

  “Good,” smiled LifeTender. “We can walk to RavenWing’s while I finish my telling. The people gave up their fishing. They no longer had access to the sea. They gave up their farming, as they no longer had fields to tend. The Sakovans learned to hunt and gather foods from the forest. They started learning to fight and trained their young to survive. The Omungans tried to eradicate them, but the Sakovans killed all who entered the wilderness in search of them. And so it remains to this day our way of life. We are still hunted and we will continue to hide in the wilderness until Kaltara sends us a new Star. When the Star comes, so too will come our chance for revenge. So do not feel that your feelings are wrong, Lyra. All Sakovans yearn for revenge. We desire to repay the Omungans for the thousands who were butchered and for the centuries of death that have been dealt to us. We strive to take back our land. One day the Sakovans will again stand in the good grace of Kaltara and shine as we did long ago.”

  They had entered the palace and were approaching RavenWing’s office when they heard the scream. They ran towards the office and charged through the open door. Lyra stood shocked as she took in the sight. MoonFlow lay on the floor in a pool of blood, a dagger protruding from her back. RavenWing’s white mane was just visible on the floor to one side of his desk. He was groaning in pain. Mekin stood in the middle of the room, his right arm missing and his left hand fumbling for another dagger at his belt.

  Lyra’s face twisted in rage as she finally realized what was happening. Her left hand rose automatically as Mekin grabbed his dagger and hurriedly headed for Rav
enWing to finish the job. The force bolt felt natural to Lyra as the power shot out of her fist and screamed across the room. Her mind barely registered LifeTender’s shout of “No!” as the force bolt slammed into Mekin. The killer’s body was lifted and thrown into the far wall and slid into an unrecognizable heap on the floor.

  LifeTender ran to RavenWing and knelt beside him. “Check on MoonFlow and then get me some water. Quickly!” she shouted.

  Lyra stooped and confirmed that MoonFlow was dead. She ran out of the room and swiftly returned with a basin of water. She carried the basin to the desk and set it down, her eyes straying to the form on the floor. “How is he?”

  “Chill the water,” LifeTender instructed without turning her attention away from RavenWing. “I do not think I can save him. He is bleeding internally and I am not sure what is damaged.”

  Lyra stuck her hands in the basin of water and cast a spell to chill the water, never taking her eyes off of the snow-white hair cascading over the floor near the desk. A brilliant flash of blue light struck the ceiling in the form of a star and Lyra’s eyes snapped to the basin and froze. Lying in the bottom of the basin was her ring that had slid off her icy fingers. She swiftly grabbed it and shoved it back on her finger.

  “The water is cold enough,” she announced handing the bowl down to LifeTender.

  RavenWing struggled to rise and LifeTender had to restrain him. “You cannot move,” she insisted. “I am trying to keep you alive and your struggling does not help.”

  Lyra knelt to help LifeTender and RavenWing turned his head and stared at her. Strangely, he smiled at her. “Assemble the elders now,” he commanded in a weak voice. “Tell them to meet in the chapel. Tell everyone to meet in the chapel. Tell them to send someone to carry me. Go.”

  Lyra looked at LifeTender for instructions and the healer merely nodded sadly, her cherub face stained with tears. Lyra ran out of the office and towards the central part of the palace. She had no idea who the elders were or where she might find them, so she ran to the only people in the palace she knew. She sprinted into the kitchen and told them what had happened and what her instructions were. The old cook spoke calmly to her and assured her that everything would be taken care of. Lyra heard the cook shouting orders like a military commander as she left the kitchen and returned to RavenWing’s office.

  “You cannot move,” LifeTender argued as Lyra entered the office.

  “Do not argue with me healer,” RavenWing groaned. “You have done what you can for me. Roll me over so I may present my good side to those who come to carry me.”

  LifeTender mumbled under her breath as she complied with the order from the leader of the Sakovans. Lyra rushed to help her and they managed to turn RavenWing over as gently as possible.

  “LifeTender,” smiled RavenWing, “you are a breath of heaven, but you cannot heal what is willed to be broken. Wipe your tears for this is a joyous day.”

  “He must be delirious,” LifeTender sighed as she mopped the sweat from RavenWing’s brow. “He does not appear to be bleeding anymore although he cannot move his legs. The force bolt must have hit his spine.”

  “But that should have killed him,” puzzled Lyra.

  “Yes, Lyra,” nodded LifeTender, “but Mekin made the same mistake you did once. I told you that if you cast a force bolt without compensating for the ring that it would direct most of the force back into your body. It blew Mekin’s arm clear off. Still the damage to RavenWing’s spine is bad enough. I cannot say if he will live, but if he does, he will not have use of his legs again.”

  “You need not talk about me as if I were already gone,” chided RavenWing. “I will not die yet. Not yet.”

  “You live on will alone,” retorted LifeTender. “How you can find light in this dark day I do not understand.”

  RavenWing reached up and grasped LifeTender’s hand. “You will see, LifeTender,” he smiled. “You will see.”

  Two burly men entered the room with a stretcher and eased RavenWing on to it. “I want the two of you by my side,” instructed RavenWing to the Sakovan women.

  Lyra and LifeTender nodded and followed the stretcher out of the room. They went along a series of corridors and up several flights of stairs to the roof of the palace. Situated in the center of the roof was a large roundish building with a finely polished stone exterior. A ring of stone columns surrounded the building and ornate multi-colored glass windows sat in the outer wall of the building between each of the pillars. Two huge doors marked the entrance to the chapel and they stood open. Lyra could see swarms of people already inside and others were spilling out of other stairways and heading for the doors. The people stood aside as the stretcher proceeded into the chapel. Many hands reached out to momentarily touch RavenWing as he passed by and Lyra saw the love the Sakovans had for their leader.

  Once inside, Lyra saw that the building was not round but a pentagon. Each of the five sides was tiered with stone benches reaching half way up the wall with the only break being where the door was. In the center of the room was a large raised pentagonal platform with a ring of smaller pillars surrounding it. A ring of three stone steps leading up to the platform was broken only by the pillars. On the platform closest to the door was a semicircle of chairs facing the center of the platform. As the small procession wound its way around the platform, Lyra saw a lone chair facing the other chairs and a Sakovan priest standing next to it. The priest was colorfully adorned in a robe of purple and yellow and carried a large tome under his arm.

  Lyra looked up as they reached the far end of the room and turned to ascend to the platform. The ceiling rose sharply from the tops of the window-clad walls and ended with a five-pointed star at its apex. The star was made of blue glass and Lyra could see the illumination of the sun shining through.

  RavenWing demanded to placed in the lone chair and Lyra asked LifeTender what was happening.

  “RavenWing feels that he can no longer lead the Sakovans,” she sobbed. “The other chairs are for the Council of Elders. They will choose a successor to lead the Sakovans.”

  RavenWing heard LifeTender speak as the two attendants were seating him in the chair. “No they won’t,” he smiled. “While that is our custom, I will not ask the elders to choose a successor for me today.”

  “I am sorry, RavenWing,” LifeTender blushed. “I thought that was the purpose of the gathering. Please accept my apologies.”

  “You have nothing to be sorry for, dear LifeTender,” smiled RavenWing. “You do well to teach our new Sakovan the meanings of our rituals. I merely point out that is not the way things will go today. Both of you come and stand by my side. You are both precious to me.”

  The priest walked to the center of the platform and stood in a small pentagon inscribed on the floor and a hush grew over the assembled crowd. Lyra could see people crowding around the open door and became aware that every seat in the chapel was filled. The priest began with a ritual reading of the Scroll of Kaltara and Lyra listened intently. Lyra began to realize the devotion of the Sakovan people as she listened to the tale. She now fully understood the absolute necessity for keeping intruders out of the Sakova. The pain and anguish depicted by the Scroll was what had come to pass upon the Sakovans and the thin thread of life they clung to was evident in the prophecy. She realized that the Sakovans had been living on the brink of extinction for generations and her heart hardened against the Omungan people.

  The priest finished the reading and turned to face RavenWing. “RavenWing, selected leader of the Sakovan people, why have you called us together today?”

  RavenWing spoke from his chair and Lyra marveled at the acoustics of the room. He spoke in a normal voice and yet it was clear that even those high up on the benches could hear him. “Sakovans, forgive me for not taking my place in the pentagon to address you. I have been stricken by an assassin and am unable to move under my own power. I have called you together today to talk about new leadership for the Sakovan nation. I have served you for many years and
I hope I have done well. Before I continue, however, I would like to depart from the normal procedures of such an event. I would like LifeTender to enter the pentagon for a moment.”

  LifeTender looked at RavenWing anxiously and moved to the pentagon at his smiling insistence. “LifeTender,” RavenWing continued, “helped save my life today. Her quick assistance after I was struck down is the reason that I am able to address you today. I asked her to enter the pentagon because I think her dedication and resourcefulness typifies our nation and I want one of my last acts as your leader to be to recognize her contribution to our society.”

  Applause rang out through the chapel for several minutes while LifeTender blushed. RavenWing finally relented and allowed LifeTender to return to his side.

  “Some of you may know,” RavenWing continued, “that I violated our laws recently by allowing some outlanders into the stronghold. I did so in the belief that it was in the best interests of Sakova to do so. I thought that as long as the outlanders were never allowed to leave StarCity that I would be upholding the trust bestowed upon me by my elevation to the position of leader many years ago. Well I was struck down by one of those outlanders today.”

  Howls raged through the chapel and Lyra cringed in spite of her feelings that she was now Sakovan. Judging from the reaction to outlanders expressed in the chapel, Lyra knew that she would never be fully accepted here. In spite of the sadness she felt about that, she could not begrudge their feelings. She was an outlander and she knew that every life in this room, as well as those outside, depended on keeping outlanders away from the stronghold.

  “This does not mean that all outlanders are evil though,” RavenWing continued. “A young woman was one of the outlanders I had brought into the stronghold. Some of you have met her and for those who have not, I will present her in a moment. Her name is Lyra and her mother was WinterWind. Lyra, please enter the pentagon.”