Stigmata

by L M Adams

  Nyrobi motions towards me, smiling and I go to sit beside her, Jack sits beside me and lets Lucien sit next to Nassor. Henenu sits across from us.

  Keyon, the young boy, brings out the food to set on the large round table. A massive bowl of vegetables piled high on… something that looks like rice, sits in the center and then large bowls of both a gravy and cut up chunks of meat. There are also goblets filled with wine and others with water.

  “Hello,” I whisper to Nyrobi… feeling a bit shy. It has been some time since I’ve had a woman. Maybe I feel shy because I have never had a woman such as her.

  “Jaevia,” she bows her head towards me smiling.

  I look around shyly, no one seems to be touching the food or drink, I don’t understand what everyone is waiting on.

  “It is your right, Raja,” Henenu says.

  I look to Lucien.

  His eyes seem almost far away, like he’s trying to remember something. He looks around, clearing his throat, he forms a triangle with his hands, “To Ra we give our strength, to Isis our dreams, to Ishtar our love – one table, one heart, one life – our purpose.” He brings the triangle up to his forehead, exhales and then extends his hands out the center of the table, “I see you.”

  Everyone makes the same motion with their hands, echoing whispers of ‘I see you’; I glance Jack and follow suit, he does as well. After that, everyone begins digging in, talking to Lucien all at once.

  “Let us have some order,” Henenu holds up his hands and they quiet down.

  He makes a motion to Nassor, “You remember Nassor of course. There is Kondo, Imani, Kwame…”

  “The young sons,” Lucien whispers.

  “We are not so young anymore, brother,” Nassor says smiling and Lucien nods, “we are not so young.”

  “And of course, Nyrobi.”

  “I do not remember you from my youth,” Lucien says looking at the woman.

  She smiles, “No my Raja, I did not join the Madu until after you had gone.”

  Jack and I glance at one another. We had met the Madu… at least what was left of them, in New York. Madu, it means ‘the people’. They had burned the book of Thoth into their flesh, keeping it safe for Lucien until he came of age and could claim it. Azazael hunted them to extinction. The magic turned sour, became a curse instead of a blessing. That curse, Lucien now carries on his back.

  “Eat, Hari, we will have time. Enjoy being home.”

  Lucien sighs and nods.

  We turn to the food, and I get an education on how to eat couscous from Nyrobi, “See like this.”

  She takes her right hand and dips it into the bowl with the rice like concoction and forms a ball. Then she dips it into the gravy and pops it into her mouth smiling.

  When I try it, I spill it all down the front of myself, to her great amusement.

  “You will get it, sister,” her golden purple eyes twinkle.

  I smile shyly and look away, she’s totally macking me, and I’m finding I don’t mind one bit. Maybe Luey would be okay if I took up with her for a bit… she is a woman after all.

  Henenu looks to Lucien, “We would have been to meet you at the stones, but you were gone.”

  “Aye, I needed to get them to safety, I did not know you would be coming for us.”

  “Where did you go? We lost your trail heading west, further into the desert.”

  “I took them to the Oasis of Sobek for respite.”

  Henenu nods, looking proud, “Then you did remember your lessons.”

  “Yes, Master – even a difficult child such as I learned much from you.”

  Henenu chuckles, “You were one of my greatest challenges.”

  Lucien looks a bit sheepish, “I do apologize for my hardheadedness.”

  Henenu laughs a bit more, golden eyes twinkling with laughter, “You challenged me at every turn, forced me to be creative with my lessons to keep your attention – and see through new eyes. You made me young again, young lion, this is nothing to apologize for.”

  Lucien nods, but still hangs his head with regret.

  “Do not let him off the hook, Henenu! I spent many days with a sore bottom because of his… ideas.” Nassor says.

  Lucien huffs, “You were the idiot who decided to ride the ostriches.”

  “And you were the one who decided to race them.”

  “You lead them into the house!”

  “You knocked over the vase.”

  “You tried to glue it back together with honey!”

  “Well I did not want your idiot self to get in trouble! All the thanks it got me.”

  Lucien chuckles and that chuckle turns into a booming laugh and next we’re surrounded by all of their laughter and stories of the escapades of the young sons when they were still young sons and terrorized Henenu and any other adult that happened to be responsible for their care.

  Henenu nods and sighs and I see his fingers make strange movements and the air seems to become lighter, filled with magic… he’s definitely doing something, I’m just not sure what.

  We eat and drink well into the night, but soon Henenu calls an end to the evening.

  “Everyone should get rest, we sail to Atum in the morning hours.”

  Nassor, Nyrobi, Kondo, Imani and Kwame, come to touch Lucien on his shoulder gently, before they go. Each of them also having kind words and smiles for both Jack and I… but it is easy to see their hearts are filled with joy and it is because of Lucien’s return.

  The three of us and Henenu stay seated. Keyon comes to clear the table.

  “Leave it for now,” Henenu waves the boy away.

  The light magic in the air becomes heavier for some reason, the torchlight grows dimmer.

  “How bad is it, Master?” Lucien asks.

  Henenu sighs, “Your father is ready to transition, he has been ready for some time. The light is gone from his eyes since your mother’s death. The people cry out for him to welcome his next incarnation.”

  “Why hasn’t he?”

  Henenu hangs his head, “He cannot Hari, the power of the sunstone still moves. When his soul leaves his body, there is no one here that can accept it, there are no scion born with the ability to hold god power, Hari… you were the last. Your father’s spirit will get pulled to the sunstone and he will become trapped like all of the others.” He looks at Luey unsure, “There may be a way to save at least some of his power… if you will take up the mantle of the lion in his stead, accept him as part of you.”

  Lucien sighs, “I do not wish this, becoming Raja is not my heart-song, Henenu.”

  Henenu nods, “I was hoping it would be, but seeing you now, I know that with the people is no longer where your heart belongs. I will not force the issue because your mother believed the same, she did not believe you were meant to be the next Raja, she thought you had a greater destiny.”

  “What destiny?”

  Henenu shakes his head, “I do not know, but it was she that saw her death and your path and bade me to send you to the future, so I only can guess, your heart-song is to be found there and not here. I only ask that you come to Atum, enjoy the Ha’mara, you will be presented to your father on the solstice, perhaps your destiny will become clear and perhaps give your father the peace he needs to move on. He is heartsick with worry of what will become of the people without him.”

  Lucien nods, “This, I can do. And… and I have always wished to meet my father.”

  “He will welcome you and you will be able to see Jabari again.”

  “Jabari! He is alive?!”

  “Aye, he is, Hari, he serves the Raja now… and mourns your mother. We all mourn your mother.”

  Lucien sighs, “There has always been much anger in my heart when I think upon that night, anger at myself…”

  “Hari, you must not think you are to blame!”

  Lucien nods, “In some ways I do.”

  “No,” Henenu shakes his head, “cast this weight from your spirit Hari, I beg of you. Your mother would no
t wish this.”

  Lucien sighs, “I will try to honor her wishes.”

  Henenu nods, “I feel I must warn you; all will not welcome you home.”

  My forehead wrinkles with confusion, “Why?”

  “Some believe it is time for change, that another should take up the mantle of the lion… one who has earned it, yes? As is our way. Then there are some that no longer wish to honor the tradition any longer.”

  “What do you mean, the tradition?”

  Henenu sighs, hanging his head, “Some believe that the folly was found in allowing Hari’s mother to decide to send him away. We do not believe that a mother has any more rights to decide a young one’s future as anyone else. All children belong to the people and all people are responsible for their care. She sent him away from the people, kept him from his father’s people and there is a resentment there.”

  “She was trying to protect him, it was Apedemak’s men who came to take Lucien away. So obviously she was right!” I find myself getting angry on Lucien’s behalf for some reason.

  Henenu nods, “This is also true, and this is where the other resentment comes from. Some believe it was only a matter of time before this happened, not that they agree with the therians, but that they understand. There are a lot of men who grow weary of the lack of women.”

  And then I understand, “Your population is more male than female?”

  Henenu nods, “This is the original design, a way to control the populace for we can live for hundreds of years. This often means than multiple men must share one woman.”

  “Naturally polyamory?”

  He nods, “This is a word for it, yes. It ensures that only the best of what we have to offer procreates. A woman has many choices when deciding to breed her children, it makes the atmosphere naturally… competitive. But it is her choice and her choice is law.”

  “Women are the lead of the family unit?”

  He nods, “As Ishtar was the head of the first triad.”

  “But Ra is the strongest.”

  “And so he is, but we do not believe physical strength dictates innate ability to lead.”

  I’m liking it here more and more. I don’t want to tell him that this is not the way in the future… in the future it is women that outnumber men. Women who are believed as less than, women who a treated as broodmares in many cultures, including the Kindred. So at some point these people who believe a change in power and intent of the people is needed… win.

  “So there are men… men that believe that the betrayers were right, that the time for women to rule is over?”

  “It is about more than the lack of women, yes?” He sighs, “It was Ishtar that bade Ra to separate our world, in doing so… it took much of our majic. They believe a new leader, one that will not fall sway to the desires of Ishtar is needed. We know of the future, we know that the people are in danger.”

  “But if Ra hadn’t separated the world the old gods would have slaughtered you all.”

  He shrugs, “Some believe yes, some believe no. Some believe those that kill a god inherit their powers and this was the right of the people to try so that we could ascend. But what has been done is against the natural order of things and has cursed the people. They bade for the Raja to open the doors and heal the wound in the heart of Gaia.”

  “Heal the wound?”

  He nods, “To create Ra’suá, Ra had to fracture Gaia’s heart.”

  “The sunstone? It’s… it’s…”

  Henenu nods, “… The heart of Gaia. Half is on Ra’suá, the other half is here. One day we must rejoin the two halves… or she will be destroyed.”

  Understanding fills me, “And let me guess, the world her heart is made whole on, is the world that lives.”

  Henenu nods.

  “And what happens if the gods are not set free, and are instead killed?”

  Henenu thinks for a moment, “God majic cannot die, energy can neither be created nor destroyed.”

  “But it can be transferred,” I whisper.

  He nods, “It would leave this existence and take with it the majic of our worlds.”

  I sigh, I thought he was going to say something like that. It seems no matter what, Azazael will get what he wants… sooner or later. We cannot keep the worlds separated, and I can’t imagine destroying the god powers… I just cannot imagine stripping the world of magic. When it is time to rejoin the world, I must set the gods free.

  “The time has long past since the Kindred were to release the gods, we have been waiting for the new Almasa to rise and rejoin our hearts, yet nothing, and we are unable to find out why.”

  “Almasa?” I ask.

  He looks at me with knowing, “Eventide.”

  My heart falls and keeps falling, because I know what happened, I know because the queen of the last Dragons told me – the Kindred broke faith. They decided the power of gods was theirs to have and hold and had no wish to see them free. They slaughtered the leaders of the supernaturals, they slaughtered the threes that have potential to become the Eventides… and my ancestor… Madoc, would be the one to lead that charge. It wasn’t until the Sunstone, Gaia’s heart, began to die that breeding me would become important to them. It wasn’t until their own survival was threatened that they changed their ways.

  It was the Kindred that broke faith, are we here to correct it?

  Lucien sighs, “Can you give us a moment, my loves?”

  Jack lays a hand on Lucien’s shoulder getting up, he turns to me holding out a hand, helping me to my feet.

  We leave Lucien here… alone to tell Henenu of the fall of his people.

  78

  Lucien

  “Let us walk, Hari.” Henenu stands up and I do as well, staying quiet and letting him guide me.

  Often, over the years, I have wished for his guidance, heart confused on what the correct step should be. But he was not there… there was nothing to lead me as I grew into a man and I felt cast adrift with only Jaevia as my guiding light, even as she had no wish to burn for me.

  The old man leads me back outside into the open air. I am larger than he, stronger than he, taller than he. But my steps naturally fall behind him… he is a Master of the old arts and majics, a master that has walked the path for centuries upon centuries, and yet he will find his end at the hands of such a foul creature?

  I cannot stomach the thought.

  He grabs his wrist behind his back, his thobe dusting the stone as he seems to almost glide upon the air, leading me down the stone laid port of the city Me’tangua. The city feels asleep, blanketed under the burning memories of our ancestors and the goddess Nuit. The waters of the black river seem calm, but underneath the surface I can feel the power of the god Sobek moving within his creatures. That echoing unsettledness beats within my own chest.

  “I loved your mother, as my own kin and flesh. I loved your mother far more perhaps than my own children; as shameful of a thing for a father to admit. But you should know, you should know that my heart will never mend… it does not beat the same.” I can hear the echo of sorrow in his words, and know he speaks truth.

  “She was loved, and you honor her with your faithfulness, this I know.”

  He shakes his head no, “But it is I who holds the fault with her passing, it was I who did not believe in her words strongly enough…”

  “Master…” he holds up his hand, silencing me.

  “We bickered often about the proper way to bring you up. She was a queen and gave up her throne so that she could take you away, it did not seem right in my heart, for you were of the people, for the people. Yet when the time came for her to go, her belly heavy with you…”

  “… You still came with her to live.”

  He nods, “Aye, this I did; because I loved your mother, I loved her as a daughter and you as a grandson. Even if I did not believe the visions she had would come true.” He stops walking and turns to look out at the water, I stay standing behind him my heart open to his words, “She was terrifi
ed for your safety, terrified of the therians, terrified that the Raja would try and take you away and that fear was real… and as it would seem, well founded. Yet I did not believe her, for she carried the babe of Apedemak, none would harm her, none would harm you. I could not see past my own beliefs in who and what our people were, for we were the chosen ones, made in the image of our gods – and we could do no wrong. I was foolish… for the gods are as flawed as we.”

  He sighs and turns and begins walking again, “Tell me of our people, do we learn from our mistakes?”

  My heart feels crushed that I must tell Henenu of the great fall, that the future now stands on the edge of destruction. That we the people no longer have a future.

  “The world… the future… our people are destroyed, Henenu.”

  His sigh is deep and heavy, “Are you saying that there are none of the people left?”

  “No, but who we are is a lost and broken thing, fighting amongst ourselves for what is left in the world… sister against sister, brother against brother. People have forgotten that we are all one.”

  I explain to Henenu what has happened to the people, the war, the sheer destruction that I know of. I tell him of the sickness of body and spirit, the loss of enlightenment… the pursuit of such things no longer a concern, as so many fight just to simply survive, and few succeed at the task still.

  “Children without parents, without safety. Men and women sick at heart and of spirit. There is no majic in the world, only bitterness… there is no majic in their hearts, and no connection to their souls.”

  “You say this, and yet you say the people are still there. Still sons and daughters…”

  “But they are not…”

  “Not what? What we are today? All things change Hari. Remember your lessons, we cannot resent our heart-songs, no matter the song they sing. Our purpose is our purpose. Our karma is our karma. Perhaps this hardship of a thousand years will reconnect us, perhaps it will birth a new age and you sit on the brink of it…”

  I shake my head, he still does not understand… “Your dreams are big, Henenu.”