by Shannah Jay
'Hey, that's a good idea, Fiana! You can join my squad any time.'
'As long as I'm welcome.'
Quinna had recovered enough from her emotional moment to slap Fiana on the shoulders. 'They'd all welcome you in South Vale. One who has been a Voice for Quequere is a greatly honoured member of our community.'
The ground shivered beneath them as she spoke, a gentle movement.
'He's very lonely, Quequere is,' said Fiana. 'I shall be able to talk with him - well, talk with his new Voice, anyway. It must be hard for him to be cut off from his people.'
'You'd definitely be better coming to live with me and the boys,' Quinna said. 'Some of the other young lads are coming back with us, too. But now that Kensin's gone,' she sucked in a breath as her voice wobbled, then finished determinedly, 'we'll need to find another man or two as well, so that we can have a balanced group. I'm not having my sons grow up without a father figure, as old Davred would call it. Now, let's go and find something to eat. Fighting always makes me hungry.' She hadn’t been brought up to parade or wallow in her emotions. Grief came to everyone. So did death. And Kensin had died well. She only hoped she would, too, when her time came.
***
The following evening, Katia made her first decision as an Elder Sister Elect of Temple Tenebrak.
When it was released from stasis, she would need to go there. Lara, the Elder Sister who had replaced Herra and gone under stasis with the temple, would have to train her to take over one day. For all that she’d learned in these hard years, Katia knew there were more Sisterhood ways to learn and to adapt for use in a Kindred. That would be her main task. She and Davred could both go to live in Tenebrak.
She was sure the negotiations with the Confederation could be handled from anywhere in the Twelve Claims.
The remaining members of the central group of Kindred were eating together, after a busy day dealing with the human debris of the battle. It was a quiet subdued meal, for they were all exhausted, physically and emotionally. After it was over, Katia clapped her hands for silence and announced her decision, 'In the morning we shall have a Great Gathering to honour those who have lost their lives. At dawn.' Her grandfather would have liked that. He had, she knew, been as glad to give his life to defeat the Serpent as he had been to give his only granddaughter all those years ago to the Sisterhood.
'Good idea,' said Quinna, and the others echoed their approval.
Ivo walked over to Soo and Mak after the meal. 'Shall you be staying on Sunrise or leaving?'
'Staying,' Soo said. 'I thought I wanted to leave the planet, but now I find I don't, after all. Besides, someone will have to deal with the com-equipment the Confederation will be installing here. We need to be in charge of that, not them.' She blinked in surprise. 'I hadn't realised how much I'd changed.
And you, Ivo? What shall you do?'
He shrugged. 'I think I'll go off and work up a nice little local trading circuit near the coast. I've met a girl. A trader needs a wife. If she'll have me - if she can face a travelling life - well, I think we'll do all right together.' His eyes said that he would rather it had been Soo who travelled with him, but traders were practical folk, so he would adapt to necessity.
'I want to see Ma and Pa settled in their old circuit before I begin,' he went on, 'but Erlic has promised the deleff will take us through one of their portals whenever we like. Davred says he'll be sending some of the Kindred out to each claim now to help sort things out and release the temples from stasis. It'll all take time. But we can start building a new and better life for our world. I shall enjoy
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being part of that.'
'You don't hanker to trade with Those of the Confederation, like Jonner?' Soo asked.
Ivo shook his head vigorously. 'No. What I hanker for is a peaceful life near the sea. I'm not an ambitious fellow and I'm not going to let Pa push me into doing anything I don't want to. Ma will help me with that, I’m sure.’
Benjan and Carryn also made their way across to speak to Katia and Davred during the evening.
'It'll take a long time to get things into order again in the Hashite Guild,' he said. 'Carryn and I thought we'd go back to Tenebron soon and work with Aharri. Evren's coming with us to make a formal claim to Tenebron. We're taking Benner with us, too. He just sits there shivering and vowing never to fight anyone again.' Benjan grinned. 'I've persuaded him to abdicate in favour of Evren. It wasn't hard. He seems to be failing rapidly since the battle.'
'He was failing rapidly before the battle,' Katia said sternly. 'And he hasn’t earned the right to be healed. Let him slip away from this life gradually and earn his redemption in a new life. And may our Brother lead him to a better path next time. Evren will pass on the Gifts of his line.'
***
As the third moon rose and the tired people slept at last under the calm light of three full moons, Erlic made his way to his parents, who were still sitting quietly outside their tent. 'I need to go now,' he said.
'Go?'
His gaze was steady on his mother as he spoke. 'To cross the alignments and return to my people.'
She drew in her breath in a sharp hiss of agony. 'You're leaving us already? Completely?'
He nodded. 'I had crossed the alignments once, moved from Dsheresh to the next level - though our levels are not like yours - but I came back because there was very great need. More and more I'm becoming myself again. I think it better to return before I disintegrate completely here.'
'You helped make a difference in our struggle.' She laid one hand upon his and he pulled her to him.
It wasn't often Erlic allowed anyone to touch him, but now he gave Katia a lingering hug.
'I couldn’t have wished for a better human mother,' he said, for her ear only. 'You made the almost unbearable task I had very much easier with your love.'
She looked at him and reached out to brush a stray lock of silver hair from his forehead. The skin felt rough, almost as if it had scales and had taken on a hint of the iridescent greyness that typified the deleff. 'We shall miss you.'
'And I shall miss you. But I've gained much knowledge, much experience for my people. It will always form a link between us. As far as we're able to link. Our life paths are very different.' He turned to hug Davred, then he and Alaran moved quietly away together through the silvered moonlight and triple shadow patterns.
At the pool the two of them stopped to clasp one another close.
'It didn't happen in the battle, after all,' Alaran said.
'No. But it's a result of the battle.' Erlic managed a faint smile. 'My task is finished here. My strength is nearly used up and I can't maintain this body much longer. Others can continue the great Quest for Peace and Wisdom that we all share.'
'Where exactly are you going now?'
Erlic smiled. 'There are no words to describe it, Alaran. Across the alignments is the nearest I can come to it.'
'Are you dead or alive?'
'Both. We are not as you. But we’re close enough for you and I to have become brothers for a time.
And close enough to fight evil together.'
'Will the deleff still be drawing the traders' wagons?'
'Of course. It's good training for the young ones in their first lives. They learn a great deal as they travel. Perhaps one day, we may even send some of them out to visit other planets.'
Alaran nodded and watched as Erlic waded slowly into the pool. He didn’t look back. The water began to spray around him and as his body vanished into a rainbow-filled mist, the outline of a gigantic deleff was superimposed on it briefly.
'May light shine in your darkness,' Alaran murmured, using the words of passing from this life. 'May your lives draw ever nearer to wisdom.'
'And may the God bless your next coming.' Cheral's voice from behind him finished the Words of Passing.
He gulped and turned to bury his tear-streaked face in her soft shoulder and for a moment she let him lean against her, th
en she pushed him away and gave him a little shake. 'We mustn’t grieve for what was right for Erlic,' she admonished.
He nodded.
'I can see how tired you are, Alaran, so if you'll just come this way, I'll give you a nice mug of honeybrew and find you a soft pallet to lie on near Petur and Taslyn. You'll be glad to get back to your wife and children, I daresay, after all these horrors, and start building a proper life together. Come along now! Don't waste time standing there gaping at nothing!'
With a chuckle that was nearly a sob he drew himself up and nodded. Trust Cheral to take charge when there was someone who needed to be cared for or comforted. 'You'll be glad to get back to Tenebrak yourself, I'm sure.'
She nodded, her whole face softening with longing. 'Our Brother once promised me that I would return. And I have the Gift of Recall, so it shall be for me to write the tale of how this great evil was defeated, for our Archives. An honour and a pleasure, both. And I think we should send a group of Sisters from all the claims here to Therak Bowl, to care for Herra's grave. This place feels nice and peaceful now. We'll gradually build her a monument - though she wouldn't want one. But it's our custom. And it'll comfort us. Some of this stone will look beautiful when it's nicely carved and polished.'
She led Alaran away, still talking, her voice making a soft comforting murmur of plans to reinforce the continuity of life. 'Then, of course, I'll have to train another Novice Mistress. Daranna seems very promising, though she's young yet, and she needs to bear a child or two for the good of her body. I'm not getting any younger, but if I'm spared for long enough . . . '
'Whatever would we have done without Cheral?' Katia asked Davred.
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'We'd have been sorely lost. She's such a tower of strength in her own way. And maybe you and I should get some sleep now, as well. The next few years will be very busy. The Twelve Claims won't be set to rights overnight. And we two will have to bear the brunt of it all. We'll have to take great care in building up a relationship with the Confederation.'
She took a deep breath and asked the question that had been tugging at her heart. 'You - you don't want to return to your people, Davred?'
He put his arms around her and drew her close. 'You know I don't. I'm more at home on Sunrise than I ever have been anywhere in my life before. My destiny and my love and my future happiness all lie here.'
They walked back to their tent arm in arm. Tomorrow Katia would become an Elder Sister Elect.
Tomorrow Davred would become the chief negotiator with the Confederation. But they would take tonight for themselves.
'It’ll be a joyful task,' Katia said. 'And we shall be doing it together.' She suddenly beamed at him.
'And as soon as Temple Tenebrak is released from stasis, we'll have Siri-Soo again. She'll be surprised to find she has brothers and sister so much older than her. We'll be able to bring up our family properly now without fear of violence. I'd like us to have another child or two, though not for a few years.'
She paused in the doorway of the tent to look up at the serene moonlit sky and listen to the quietly busy noises of people settling down for the night. 'Oh, Davred, it's really over. And I don't have to give you and the children up in order to become Elder Sister.'
They heard a sharp voice in the distance, scolding someone.
'Cheral never changes.' Katia smiled. 'But we shall need her practical skills when we release Temple Tenebrak from stasis.'
'Brother look down upon all our endeavours,' they said this in unison, smiling as they entered their tent and tied the flap closed.
Tomorrow, they would begin to lead their world further along the pathways of peace. But not until tomorrow.
About the Author:
Shannah Jay, who also writes as Anna Jacobs was born in Lancashire and now lives in Australia and Wiltshire.
Discover other titles by Shannah Jay at Smashwords.com:
The Chronicles of Tenebrak
Book 1. Quest http://www.annajacobs.com/book.asp?pageID=18
Book 2. Lands of Nowhere http://www.annajacobs.com/book.asp?pageID=19
Book 3. Shadow of the Serpent http://www.annajacobs.com/book.asp?pageID=19
Also
Envoy http://www.annajacobs.com/book.asp?pageID=22
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 POINT AND COUNTERPOINT
CHAPTER 2 HEART OF THE MOUNTAIN
CHAPTER 3 THE LONG DARKNESS
CHAPTER 4 CHANGES BREWING
CHAPTER 6 THE PLAINS OF NETHERON
CHAPTER 8 THE WILDWOODS HUNT
CHAPTER 9 JIRAN'S WAY
CHAPTER 10 THE SANDRIMS
CHAPTER 11 SANDRIMS COHORTS
CHAPTER 12 CRISIS IN THE SKY
CHAPTER 13 PORTALS IN DANGER
CHAPTER 14 NORTHWOODS
CHAPTER 16 QUEQUERE'S BAND
CHAPTER 18 QUEDRAS'S MARCH
CHAPTER 19 HERRA'S DREAM
CHAPTER 20 SHADOWS OVER TENEBRON
CHAPTER 22 WISDOM'S FLOWERS
CHAPTER 23 FEERA'S GIFT
CHAPTER 25 BATTLE PLANS
CHAPTER 27 FIRST ENGAGEMENT
CHAPTER 28 ROBLER'S REVENGE
CHAPTER 29 PATH TO ETERNITY
CHAPTER 30 BATTLE IN THE SKY
CHAPTER 31 SHADOWNS AND LIGHT