by Jen Valena
“I always forget.” Dag slid the mead in front of Huldo who gladly accepted the extra helping.
The light conversation continued over dinner. The men caught up on news of old friends. Not having anything to contribute, Ithia ate peacefully, happy to go unnoticed—a more natural state of being for her. As the plates emptied, talk turned to more somber topics.
Feron was long in the face. “The arrests of those possessing relics has become more frequent, more violent. A friend in Murland was beaten by soldiers for wearing prayer beads. It is not just the Sauvants now. People accused of loyalty to the Magians have been arrested everywhere.”
Ithia asked, “Why are these Sauvants being taken?”
All focus jarred back to her presence.
Tyrsten cast everyone a cautious glare as though warning them to be careful of what they revealed. After that, he said, “Ma’theans lived harmoniously for millennia. We governed ourselves in our towns and villages with the wisdom of our Sauvants and the local Women Sages. Over the last hundred solar-turns, our world tipped out of balance. We developed social issues and intolerance, petty disputes, fighting. Our lives became less about spiritual growth. Around fifty turns ago, disharmony progressed into greed, murder and the like.”
Tyrsten shook his head. “We had no explanation for this, but our greatest cause for concern occurred almost twenty turns ago, when Garrick took power, believing he could right the wrongs—wrongs he felt the Magians had created. It may be Garrick initially acted from a positive place, but we are unsure what his intentions really were. Many people, dejected by their troubles, supported the movement, hoping for a positive change. Only, it is obvious now his reign is a dark force.”
Dag interrupted, “I understand Garrick’s desire to rid us of what was not working.”
“His desires destroyed our way of life, destroyed our teachings, no, our very teachers.” Tyrsten narrowed his eyes. “Have you played the role of soldier for too long?”
“No. I meant that not everyone was happy with how things were. The original unrest was under Magian rule.”
“Magian Sauvants never ruled. They advised.” Tyrsten considered his point made, turned back to Ithia and continued, “This new regime now oppresses people’s freedoms. Restrictions to our way of life have prohibited our traditions. Garrick preaches it is better for us to discard our past—all of our ways. Over the last twenty solar-turns, our Sauvants and Sages have had to go into hiding. So you see, it is not your fault Sauvant Tancreed is gone. Eventually one of the people here would have exposed him out of fear or loyalty to our oppressors.”
Ithia studied the soldier’s regalia worn by Dag and Feron. Dag averted his eyes.
“This new government eliminates your spiritual leaders so you are unable to seek their counsel?”
Tyrsten was pleased she followed. “Elders guided throughout history. Several millennia of wisdom is now lost.”
“Sauvants and Sages lived in safe houses in villages sympathetic to their plight.” Feron wiped his face in frustration and threw his napkin onto his plate. “As Tancreed did here. The injustice! Of all the stars! When does this madness end?”
Huldo shrugged. “There is still resistance.”
“And a war is mounting.” Dag sighed and turned away.
Tyrsten grimaced. “How little do our people comprehend true war and all its repercussions.”
“I fear for us all now.” Feron rubbed his stubbled red facial hair.
Ithia asked, “Why doesn’t Garrick just leave these Magians alone now that he has power?”
Huldo jumped in, “Because he fears our teachers. They pose a true threat to his control.”
“But why abduct me? How could I pose a threat?”
Tyrsten shot a gag order glare at the men. He didn’t want to reveal more to her at this time. His concerns of disclosure were answered by noises and voices coming from the house next door.
“Soldiers are coming.”
Ithia’s dinner companions jumped from their seats and scrambled in different directions.
Tyrsten grabbed Ithia’s arm and pulled her across the room.
Feron threw their dishes into the large wash bucket so that the search party would not see how many of them had sat at the table.
Dag scurried over to a hidden trap door in the floor boards. The hiding space underneath barely accommodated two people. He curtly waved Tyrsten and Ithia into the hiding place. Huldo grabbed Tyrsten’s pack in the corner and tossed it to him. Within seconds, Tyrsten and Ithia lay under the wooden floor with the three men casually talking at the dinner table.
Without warning, the door burst open.
Dag stood up. “What is the meaning of this?”
The lead soldier scanned the room with a scowl and waved in two more soldiers to search. “We are looking for a young Magian traveling with a woman. Reports say you took people in tonight.”
Dag’s voice was unconcerned, “Yes, I took two friends in, but as you see they are both men. Clearly, someone wanted to make trouble for me, a soldier such as yourself. Or they were merely ridding themselves of your company.”
Ithia and Tyrsten hardly breathed, just below the soldier’s feet. Both their hearts raced. She held close to Tyrsten, fearing the worst—being captured, tortured and killed. She closed her eyes and nuzzled her face against his chest. He stroked her temple with his thumb and lightly blew an exhalation that calmed her. She was amazed at how her worries subsided, and her heart swelled nestled in his arms.
Two soldiers searched the rooms. They found nothing. The leader informed, “The Magian is tall. Has dark hair. Dangerous. He is accompanied by a young woman with long, brown hair. You will contact us, if you see them.”
“Of course.” Dag and Feron nodded.
The leader stared at Huldo, and remarked to Dag, “Fraternizing with a non-soldier?”
“He is an ally.”
The soldier grumbled, and their party left.
When Dag didn’t immediately release Tyrsten and Ithia from below, Ithia moved to push the trapdoor open. “I really don’t like confined spaces.”
He grasped her hand. “The soldiers often make surprise returns and capture people emerging from their hiding spots too quickly.”
The seconds ticked by, and with each one, the sides of the tiny compartment seemed to grow closer. Tighter. She imagined the oxygen level depleting with each shallow breath.
I am going to suffocate.
In an effort to distract herself, she asked, “They said you are dangerous. Is that true?” She hoped Tyrsten would not notice her sweat-panicked brow.
He let out a bridled sigh. “I am Magian. They claim I am dangerous. From their perspective, I am.”
“What secrets are you keeping from me?”
“I—” He didn’t finish his denial.
“I sense you don’t want to tell me things.”
“I will tell you when I can. I would rather be cautious than to tell you what I do not understand. So there are no secrets.”
“You are keeping your suspicions to yourself until you prove them, for my sake?”
“Yes.” He hoped it would be the end of it.
“Did that letter confirm your hunches?”
Tyrsten whispered, “Not now.”
Ithia glared at him for answers.
Tyrsten shook his head and expectantly stared at the floorboards. He shifted and inexplicably pulled her closer in the process. Ithia had the brief notion that perhaps he didn’t want to be rescued from their private retreat even if it wasn’t the most comfortable setting or conversation.
The trap door swung open.
Huldo shined a big grin down on them. “Oh, you have made yourselves nice and comfy. Maybe I should leave you here for the duration of our stay.” He gave Tyrsten a sly smirk as they crawled out. “You are starting to make this hiding in tight spaces a habit.”
Ithia said to Dag, “Thank you. I don’t know how I can repay you.”
Dag nodded and smil
ed. “You can sleep in my bed.”
She gaped at him. Tyrsten froze as well.
Dag recognized the assumption written on her face. “Not with me in it—of course!”
Ithia blushed and accepted his offer of hospitality.
As the men began to make their beds on the living room floor for the night, Dag showed Ithia into his bedroom. His voice was low and harsh. “If you follow Tyrsten, you tread a dangerous road.”
Ithia was startled for a moment. “Is that a threat or a warning?”
“Heed my advice.” Dag tilted his head noncommittally. “Do not trust him.”
“That’s my own business.”
“Not anymore.” He heard Tyrsten in the hall and shifted his demeanor by relaxing his stance. Dag bowed and then spoke so that Tyrsten heard him, “May your dreams have wings.”
Tyrsten squeezed past as Dag exited. He laid his pack on the ground near the bed.
Ithia scrutinized him inquisitively as he unpacked. “What are you doing?”
“I am not letting you out my sight.” Tyrsten laid out his bedroll on the floor. “In case the soldiers come back.”
“Are you paranoid?”
“Cautious. There is a difference.”
Ithia crawled into bed fully clothed and pulled the covers up to her chest. “Can you tell me now?”
Tyrsten glanced at the door and shook his head. “Not here.”
Ithia sat up and called him near with a wave of her hand. He leaned in close, inches from her face. She was speechless. He was quite a vision at night, glowing golden and a galaxy held in his eyes. She was happy that it was dark, hoping he couldn’t see that her cheeks were suffused pink due to his proximity. However, her aura now surged with new brightness.
A moment passed before she recovered. “You don’t completely trust him, do you?”
“It is best not to compromise the safety of our allies. Information may be the death of them.”
“A need-to-know-basis?” she quipped.
He raised his eyebrows, impressed. “Yes. A great way of phrasing it.”
She huffed as she laid back, crossing her arms behind her head. “Yeah. A lot around here seems to be top secret, and I don’t have the clearance.”
Tyrsten smiled. He often didn’t understand what she meant, but she was amusing herself, and that amused him. As long as she was willing to work with him, he didn’t care how she managed it.
Before she could stop herself, her unpredictable mouth went back into action. “Do you think I’m weak?”
He blew out the failing candle and darkness took the room, making way for Ithia and Tyrsten to become their own night-lights. “Why do you ask me that?”
“Because you keep things from me.”
“As I told you before—my theories need validation.” Tyrsten sat several moments while he protected his mind from thoughts that he did not want her to find. Reflecting on her question and what he saw as he peered into her very being during the Actuation, he answered after several minutes. “No.”
“What?”
“I do not think you are weak. I believe you will prove yourself to be one of the strongest people I will ever know.”
Deflecting the compliment, Ithia said, “Ah, well then, I’d better get some sleep, I have to take on my new world tomorrow. Do you mind turning down your body light, Tyrsten?”
6 ✹ Ithia’s Initiation
There is a moment left high above on a rooftop where I forgot myself.
And with my eyes I held each of you, lights shimmering in an inky black.
— Ithia Sydran
Ithia lay awake with Tyrsten’s comment for a long time. His words frightened her. How could she be one of the strongest people he would ever know? He didn’t know her at all. She didn’t even feel she knew herself. She wished she had Tyrsten’s confidence at the moment.
Gramps, in one of his strange moods, had said to her once, as though another spoke through him, “In life there usually comes a time when you have to be stronger than you believe you can be. Believe anyway. You have untapped potential.” The statement was an empty comfort from one so detached. Staring into the hearth fire, he was lost for a long moment, as though his mind played out her future. There was an internal struggle within him as if he held something back.
Ithia glanced down to the man asleep on the floor who had vowed to protect her. Her instinct was to resist the temptation of placing trust in another person. She didn’t want to be made a fool. But, she needed an anchor. He could be that. However, first he would need to share his secrets.
✹ ✹ ✹
The smell of fresh bread roused Ithia into the common room. Tyrsten followed close behind. Dag had prepared breakfast: fresh eggs, fruits, cheeses and potatoes. Feron’s stomach received the cue. He bumped his foot against Huldo to wake him.
“Too soon.” Huldo groaned from a slight hangover—he didn’t usually drink two generous servings of mead in one night—and covered his head.
Feron pulled the pillow off Huldo’s pounding head. “The day begins without your approval.”
The sky outside was a deep indigo. The sun hadn’t yet made its way over the horizon. They all stumbled to the table and waited for Dag to place plates of food in front of them. No one opened their mouths for something so blasphemous as idle chatter at that early hour.
As everyone finished their meal, Tyrsten shot up from his seat. “Gather your things. We must leave Charlan.” Tyrsten picked up his pack. “We have already put Dag in enough peril.”
Ithia held back her question of where they were going. She didn’t want Dag to overhear the answer, but whether it was for his safety or hers, she couldn’t say.
As they left, Dag ran up and carefully handed each one a package. “I made a few loaves for the road.” Dag gave Ithia hers and clasped her hands around it. “Fates be with you.” The bread beneath the linen cloth warmed her fingers as he said, “I hope you find peace.”
“I hope you find peace too.” She reciprocated with a smile.
A quiver in the air around Dag’s throat made Ithia uneasy, but she dismissed what she saw.
“Soldiers searched the streets late last night. We must hope that they are not up as early as we are,” Feron said as he headed out the door.
Without a word between them, the four navigated the fortuitously empty streets to a nearby stable.
Ithia was surprised to see four horses awaiting them. “You don’t expect me to ride one of those by myself, do you?”
“Surely, you ride?” Huldo asked.
Tyrsten patted her on the shoulders. “Where she is from, they do not often use horses.”
Stunned, Huldo asked, “How do you get around then?”
“Machines called cars. Sometimes if we travel over long distances or over water, we fly.”
“You fly?” Sheer amazement filled Huldo’s face.
Ithia couldn’t help herself. “You can’t fly?” She held stone-faced for a second and then corrected him. “No. Machines with wings, they travel thousands of feet in the air and much faster than a horse.”
Ithia could see Huldo wrapping his mind around it.
He shook his head. “That is still impressive.”
Tyrsten stepped up to her horse and extended his hand. “No time like the present to learn.”
She didn’t move. “But you’ve got to keep an eye on me.”
“You will have six eyes on you. Stay calm—your horse is well trained. She will do most of the work.” Tyrsten assisted Ithia into the saddle. He adjusted her stirrups and cheerily squeezed her elbow in affection. “All settled.”
Ithia stared back with circumspection.
Eventually, through their tutoring, she got the rhythm of riding and relaxed.
Ahead on the trail, a lone coyote darted across their path and disappeared into a rocky arroyo. Tyrsten furrowed his brow. “The trickster. Not the most auspicious sign—but do not worry.”
She did worry. Maybe it was a sign that their path was
about to get more complicated. Once again, Ithia had the sense of being followed. She appreciated complications as much as a knock upside the head.
“Are we going to see another person that can get me back to Earth?”
“I do not know of another. Now all the Sauvants I have known are gone. We are headed where we might find answers on our own.”
Seeing Ithia’s anxiousness, the men distracted her by pointing out various trees and shrubs, identifying medicinal properties. Some of the plants she vaguely recognized. Others were familiar to her, common between the two worlds. All the plants were healthier. Everything on Ma’thea was more abundant than on Earth, which she guessed was due to more rainfall and less chemical pollution.
She remembered the large tree she had encountered on the way to Charlan. “What type of tree is the giant Mother Tree that I saw a couple days ago?”
Tyrsten gazed at her for a moment. “I did not tell you her name.”
Huldo turned to Tyrsten. “You took Ithia there?”
“To test her Sight. As it turns out, she heard the Mother Tree too.”
“The song was the tree?” Ithia’s mouth fell open.
“It was.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Ithia was miffed that he didn’t have the decency to divulge the most basic of details.
“Adjusting to all this, a new world, is quite enough on its own,” Tyrsten said.
Huldo suggested they stop to eat and rest by a cluster of elm trees. All agreed they could use a break. After eating his bread and cheese, Huldo tossed pebbles at Feron until he retaliated. They tussled around, like kids. Tyrsten cleared his throat in a warning to behave.
Huldo pouted his lip slightly. “Sorry.”
Ithia chuckled at his boyish charm. “Don’t be.”
She cast her eyes with meaning at Tyrsten, hoping he would get the hint to take it easy on them. She grabbed a handful of fall leaves and threw them in their direction, raining down upon them. Huldo and Feron responded by piling fistfuls on her. Tyrsten was stern for a moment, but then joined Ithia’s side and found himself enjoying the leaf battle. He reminded her of a puppy hidden in an old wolf, wanting an excuse to play.