The Amber Legacy

by Tony Shillitoe

  The ground upon which she walked was so detailed that she felt she could see every grain of sand, see even a spider scurrying across it. She felt the sun beating on her neck, and sweat beaded on her brow and nose. Shimmering in a heat haze, rising from the sand, was a black finger—a windowless ebony tower. This, whispered the bodiless voice, is the Sands of Fire in a realm that was once the empire of the Ranu Ka Shehaala. This was my home. For a while.

  Who are you? she asked.

  Your future, the voice replied.

  Where is this place?

  In the past.

  Out of the sand rose an arm, the hand clutching the hilt of a sword, the blade snapped off.

  Take the sword, the voice whispered.

  It’s broken, she protested.

  Mend it.

  ‘Pardon, Lady Meg,’ a voice whispered outside of her dream, ‘but it’s best if you leave before morning.’ In the pale moonlight seeping through the big chamber window she saw the waifish face of the pageboy, Smallone. She slipped out of the soft bed, rubbing her eyes, shivering at the touch of the chill air as her feet sank into the thick fur of the floor rug. Glancing back, she saw the Queen’s blonde hair splayed across a pillow, a bare shoulder in the pale moonlight. ‘Here are your clothes, my lady,’ Smallone murmured, and she felt material thrust into her hands.

  Dressed, still partly disoriented, she followed the pageboy from the Queen’s bedroom, across the large chamber where they’d eaten and talked and drank, to the main doors. ‘I’ll take you to your chambers, Lady Meg,’ Smallone told her.

  ‘Wait,’ Meg said. ‘Where’s Whisper?’ She found the rat curled up under the table. She picked her up, and cuddled her against her chest as she followed Smallone out of the chamber past the Guards.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Sunfire’s tongue lolled joyfully as Meg hugged him, before he wrestled loose and shook himself as she got to her feet. ‘He’s missed you,’ Blade said.

  ‘But you’ve obviously been looking after him,’ she replied.

  ‘The hardest task has been confining him to the barracks. He wants to go hunting.’

  She laughed. ‘Thank you for bringing him.’

  They watched the dingo settle beside the rat and start licking Whisper’s ears. ‘I still can’t understand that,’ he said.

  ‘Neither can I. They just became friends.’

  A blue-robed figure strolled across the grass towards them. Seer Diamond bowed politely, studied the tableau of the dingo and the bush rat, and said to Meg, ‘I’ve been sent to bring you into the temple again, my lady.’

  She turned to Blade. ‘I have to go.’

  ‘I understand,’ he said. ‘I’ll look after Sunfire until you’re free again.’ When he called the dingo, Sunfire looked at Meg, ears attentive, as if expecting her to countermand Blade’s call. Blade called again, and Sunfire’s ears lowered as he padded to the man’s side, throwing deliberate glances at Meg. Whisper sat up, sniffing the air in the dingo’s direction.

  ‘What about the rat?’ Seer Diamond asked.

  ‘She comes with me,’ Meg answered, waving to the departing Blade and Sunfire. She clicked her fingers and Whisper scampered across the grass and jumped into her hands.

  ‘If you would,’ Diamond instructed, gesturing towards the temple grounds, screwing up his face at the rat.

  Meg followed the Seer into the circular yellow temple, along the curved hall, which was empty, to the same door she’d entered the previous morning. Diamond ushered her inside, and the same three men were sitting at the table. ‘Please sit,’ Diamond requested.

  ‘Is that a rat?’ Light asked, spotting Whisper appearing from the top of Meg’s vest.

  ‘Her name is Whisper,’ she informed him.

  ‘It is a rat!’ he said, his disgust undisguised. ‘Get it outside!’

  Meg fought her nerves and fixed Light with a steady gaze, saying, ‘If Whisper goes, so do I.’ Inwardly, she was very afraid of the old man with the dark glittering eyes.

  ‘Be at peace, Light,’ said Diamond. ‘I said she could bring the rat.’

  Light looked at Diamond with astonishment.

  ‘Be at peace,’ Onyx repeated.

  Light acquiesced, mumbling. The Seers went through simple pleasantries as to how well she’d slept and whether or not she was comfortable in the palace, much to her bemusement. Then Diamond said, ‘To the point.’ He nodded to his colleagues, before he proceeded. ‘How long have you known of your Blessing?’

  ‘Not long,’ Meg replied. ‘How is the man who was here yesterday?’

  Diamond glanced at the others, before replying, ‘Fully recovered.’

  ‘Were his wounds bathed?’

  ‘There was no need,’ said Diamond.

  ‘He’s been sent back to the prison,’ Onyx added, ‘now that he is well again.’

  ‘Oh,’ Meg murmured, disappointed.

  ‘We assume that you are a devotee of Jarudha? A disciple?’ Light asked.

  The Intermediary’s warning echoed in her thoughts. She looked at Light. ‘I have the Blessing.’

  Light cleared his throat as a gesture of disapproval. ‘Hardly a satisfactory answer.’

  ‘How could she have the Blessing, if not with Jarudha’s intention?’ asked Vale, who had been silently observing. ‘Does it not say in the scriptures that “He shall only place His blessing on those who are at one with Him in all things?”’

  ‘False Potentials have come before,’ Light argued. ‘She has to be one.’

  ‘We will know soon enough,’ said Onyx.

  ‘What does that mean?’ she asked.

  ‘It means we intend to test you,’ Diamond told her.

  ‘How? You’ve already had me heal a man. You’ve seen that I have the Blessing.’

  ‘You have a very rare talent,’ said Light. ‘That makes you a Potential. It means you can do a little magic. It doesn’t mean that you can become a Seer. Besides, you’re—’ He stopped.

  ‘I’m what?’ Meg asked, remembering the Queen’s comments.

  ‘Seer Light is forgetting that you are a guest,’ said Diamond, who was casting a warning glance at his colleague. ‘The Queen has ordered that you are to begin training.’

  ‘What is the test you mentioned?’

  ‘The training will be the test,’ said Onyx.

  ‘And when am I supposed to begin training?’

  ‘Immediately,’ said Diamond.

  ‘Seer Diamond!’ blurted the acolyte, as he burst into the small reading chamber and bowed.

  ‘What is the matter, Seeker?’ Diamond asked, peeved by the interruption.

  ‘There is a problem with the new one,’ said Seeker.

  ‘Explain.’

  ‘She won’t cooperate, Seer.’

  Diamond lowered his reed ink pen, and sighed. ‘I will come.’

  Seeker stood aside as Diamond passed him in the doorway, and obediently followed the Seer along the corridor as he headed for the acolyte chambers. Diamond descended steps to the level below ground and entered the sleeping area to find Meg, in her new yellow robe, glaring defiantly at an acolyte holding scissors. ‘What is the problem?’ Diamond asked, looking at Meg for an answer.

  ‘I’m not shaving my head,’ she replied in a level voice.

  ‘Oh,’ said Diamond. He shrugged and sighed. ‘Well, that was a short test, then. Change your clothes and go back to the palace. I’ll tell my colleagues.’

  ‘I beg your pardon?’ she gasped.

  ‘The test is over. You failed. Go home,’ Diamond said perfunctorily.

  ‘Are you telling me that, because I won’t shave my head, I’m not worthy?’

  ‘Reason what you will from it. The test is ended.’

  ‘You’re doing this because I’m a woman, aren’t you?’

  Diamond laughed. ‘You’re just out of girlhood, so you’re hardly a woman, Lady Meg. Wherever did you get that pretty notion from?’

  ‘Why can’t I keep my hair?’

 
; ‘The answer is self-evident to those with eyes,’ said Diamond. ‘This farce is over. I have work to do. When I’ve finished, I’ll visit the Queen with the news that her social experiment didn’t live up to expectations. Now, excuse me, Lady Meg, while I get back to important matters.’ He turned and left the chamber.

  Meg swore. ‘I’ve stood on the front line of a battle! I’ve ploughed the field and slaughtered animals on my farm! I’m no farce!’ she declared. She spun on her heel and sat on the chair before the acolyte with the scissors. ‘Well?’ she muttered impatiently. ‘Get on with it.’

  Diamond, Light, Vale and Onyx studied the bald, yellow-robed acolyte standing in the centre of the room. Light shook his head with disapproval and muttered inaudibly, while Diamond circled Meg before rejoining his colleagues. ‘Well?’ she asked.

  ‘As an acolyte, young—lady,’ said Diamond sternly, ‘you don’t speak until you are invited to do so. If you can’t show discipline of the self, you have already failed.’

  She felt like telling him that, according to his rules, she’d already failed twice—for refusing to shave her head, and from the outset for being female. Instead, she gritted her teeth and kept silent. ‘By accepting the role of acolyte as a disciple of Jarudha, you have forsaken all other worldly responsibilities,’ said Vale quietly. ‘Do you understand what this means?’ Meg shrugged.

  ‘It means,’ Light interrupted, his irritation bristling, ‘you forfeit the title of Marchlord the Queen recently promised to you, you are no longer free to come and go as you please, you are totally obedient to anyone who bears the title of Seer, any loves you might have had are no longer allowed, any wealth in your name becomes the wealth of the Holy Church. In short, the—woman who went by the name of Meg Farmer ceases to exist. You are Jarudha’s servant, unequivocally and eternally. Do you understand that?’

  Meg let the concept settle in her mind. Was she doing the right thing? What about her home? What did it really mean? ‘Can I keep Sunfire and Whisper?’

  Light looked at Diamond. ‘The rat and her pet dingo,’ Diamond explained.

  ‘No,’ said Light, turning to Meg. ‘You own nothing.’

  ‘I don’t own them,’ she argued, but she saw Diamond’s sharp glare, warning her to hold her tongue, so she went silent again. This is madness, she decided. What is the point?

  ‘You don’t have to go through with this,’ said Onyx. ‘You can leave now.’

  ‘Frankly, I think you should show some commonsense,’ said Light. ‘You don’t want to do this anyway.’

  ‘I will ask you once, and only once, if you want to serve Jarudha and walk the Path to Immortality,’ Diamond explained. ‘You can say no. If that is your answer, you can leave without recrimination. If you say yes, there is no leaving. Ever. Once you have sworn your soul to Jarudha, the marriage is eternal. You must not have any confusion about this. The only way out of the Holy Order is death. Do you really understand what I am saying?’

  Why am I doing this? Is it because Emma sent me on this path? Or is it because my mother was always hoping that she would have a daughter with the Blessing? No one ever asks me what I want. Or when they have, they haven’t listened. Am I doing this for the Queen? No. One evening wasn’t enough to make her throw away her life. Yet the Queen so passionately wanted her to join the Holy Orders and become the kingdom’s first female Seer. How long will that take? No one had told her that. ‘How long do I stay an acolyte before I become a Seer?’ she blurted.

  Diamond’s eyebrows rose. Light snorted contemptuously. ‘It depends,’ said Onyx. ‘It can take years.’

  ‘It can take a lifetime,’ growled Light.

  A lifetime? ‘Do you mean it’s possible I might never become a Seer?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Light abruptly.

  ‘Only Jarudha knows that answer,’ said Onyx.

  She considered what she had been told. Acceptance was permanent. Once in, there was no going back. ‘What if I fail once I’m an acolyte?’

  ‘The only way out is death,’ said Light brutally.

  She didn’t have to do this at all. She could accept the Queen’s accolades in the parade tomorrow, enjoy her brief sojourn in the city, and go back to Summerbrook. And she could tell Emma and her mother that it had all been a mistake about the Blessing. That’s all she had to do. ‘I understand,’ she said.

  Diamond looked at his colleagues. Light scowled. Diamond asked, ‘Are you prepared to walk the Path to Immortality?’

  Barefoot on the chilly tiles in the Queen’s Counsel Chamber, she ran her right hand across her bald pate. When Wombat had hacked off her long tresses to disguise her, the loss of her hair had been terrible. Now she had no hair at all. And she was not allowed to grow it again until she’d proven herself capable as a Seer. Or failed. And they not only took her hair but also her name. ‘The entire outer world is left at the temple door when you choose to walk the Path to Immortality,’ Seer Diamond told her. ‘Lady Meg Farmer no longer exists. As a disciple of Jarudha, you must go by a name befitting your status.’

  ‘We can give you a name, or you can choose. It must be a single name, and it must reflect something of your spirit,’ said Onyx. ‘It cannot be a name already in use by another acolyte.’

  ‘Have you a preferred name?’ Diamond asked.

  My name is Meg, she thought. What name will they give me if I don’t choose one? The acolyte who’d cut her hair called himself River, and the other was Shadow.

  ‘Perhaps Farmer is appropriate,’ said Diamond.

  His unsubtle mockery made her defy his choice. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I choose Amber.’

  ‘Amber?’ Diamond queried. ‘Why that name?’

  ‘It’s what my soul says I should be called,’ she replied, exercising her own subtle mockery.

  ‘A good answer,’ said Onyx. ‘And no one else goes by that name here.’

  ‘Hereafter, you will be Amber,’ said Diamond, but she saw that he was miffed by her rejection of his choice.

  Boots clicked on the tiles. She turned her head to see the Queen entering, accompanied by the Intermediary in his customary black raiment, and three Elite Guards. Queen Sunset circled Meg, inspecting her. She stopped at Meg’s right and said, ‘Who ordered Lady Meg to shave her head?’

  ‘It is the custom for all acolytes, Your Majesty,’ Seer Diamond replied calmly. ‘It has always been so.’

  ‘For boys and men,’ said Sunset. ‘You are dealing with a woman.’

  ‘Would Your Majesty prefer the woman to be treated differently?’ Diamond asked, knowing his question left the Queen in an untenable position. Say yes, and she would instantly affirm that men and women deserved different treatment because they held different levels of status. Say no, and Meg would have to endure humiliation.

  ‘What do you think, Lady Meg?’ the Queen asked.

  ‘I expect to be treated as an equal,’ she replied, disguising her disappointment.

  ‘Where is she sleeping?’

  ‘Where all acolytes sleep, Your Majesty,’ said Diamond. ‘The first lesson for those who would serve Jarudha is humility,’ and he bowed his head to emphasise the point.

  ‘You don’t like having a woman to train, do you, Diamond?’ the Queen asked.

  ‘If she is truly blessed, Your Majesty, her gender is irrelevant. Jarudha’s ways are infinite. He has sent us a queen, after all.’

  ‘Yes, he has,’ Sunset said, ‘and it’s well for you to remember that.’

  ‘Yes, Your Majesty.’ Diamond bowed again. When he straightened, he announced, ‘The new acolyte’s name is Amber, Your Majesty. She has sworn herself to Jarudha and has forsaken worldly ties.’

  ‘I wish to speak in private to Amber,’ said the Queen. ‘I will send her back to the temple with Follower after we are through.’ Diamond bowed, and withdrew, accompanied by Follower and the Guards. When the chamber was empty, Queen Sunset took Meg’s hands, saying, ‘Oh, Meg! What have I done to you?’

  ‘Nothing,’ said Meg. ‘This is my choic
e.’

  ‘But your hair? And you have to sleep and share the same room with all those men.’

  Meg saw the pain in the Queen’s blue eyes and was touched by her compassion. ‘My hair will grow back one day. As for the acolytes—they can’t be worse than sleeping among soldiers.’

  ‘Is this what you want?’

  ‘I was told that it was my destiny to be a Seer. I will only ever know the truth if I do this.’

  ‘They won’t be easy on you. You’re a threat. The rank of Seer has only ever belonged to men.’

  ‘You said last night it’s time for that to change. Maybe I’m the catalyst for the change.’

  Queen Sunset reached out and embraced Meg. ‘If you find it’s too hard—if it’s too much, you only have to send for me and I’ll release you from this bond.’

  ‘They told me it was to the death.’

  The Queen pushed Meg back to arm’s length. ‘That might be their rule for their acolytes, but first and foremost you are my subject and my law supersedes theirs. You remember that, Lady Meg Farmer. I owe you for the service you did my kingdom in slaying Treasure Overbrook.’

  Meg blushed at the mistaken compliment. ‘I didn’t kill him,’ she murmured. She drew a breath, and said, ‘I’ve never been told why Treasure Overbrook was your enemy.’ Sunset released Meg’s arms and moved a couple of paces away, as if collecting her thoughts. Thinking that she was upset, Meg said, ‘I didn’t mean to ask a sensitive question.’

  Sunset shook her head, her blonde hair catching the light, but she still didn’t look at Meg. ‘Most of it is common knowledge,’ she said calmly. ‘Prince Future, who I’ve had locked away for his own good, is my son—my legitimate son. He wants my throne. He claims that he’s of the right age, and that I’m an abomination in the eyes of the Holy Church. That’s because certain Seers—all of whom are now dead—whispered lies in his ears, telling him that Jarudha only wants a man to rule, not a woman.’ She faced Meg. ‘When Future began his campaign to take my throne, he became friends with Treasure, who was a Marchlord in my army—a highly trained and remarkable warrior for his age. And then the whole horrible rumour was ignited and others turned against me to support Future and Treasure.’