by F M Andrews
Opening their eyes, they finally took a good look around. They were lying on soft, green grass in a narrow gully between two gently rolling hills. A small bright sun hovered just above the hill top. The sky above was dark blue, almost indigo, and long fingers of white cloud scudded overhead, racing across their vision. Where they lay was reasonably sheltered, just a soft puff of breeze every now and then; however, it looked like there was a very strong wind racing overhead. Ela sat up, arranged her clothes, reached for her pack and took out her water bottle. She took a sip before absently offering it to Ema as she scanned her surroundings more intently. “Looks safe enough. No wild beasts or bad guys,” she observed, speaking into Ema’s mind, sounding almost disappointed. The silence was profound. The only sound was the lonely cry of birds in the distance.
“Yep, it's pretty quiet alright,” Ema agreed echoing Ela’s disappointment. Carefully they both stood, checking to make sure they had everything before making for higher ground. The first obvious priority was to get the lay of the land, and to do that they needed elevation.
Clambering up the hill, heads down, the only warning of impending danger they received was a loud cracking sound and a disembodied voice calling what sounded like an order. Ominously, the skies went dark as a huge object glided low over their heads, blocking out the sun. Both girls dropped to the ground, crouching, staring up at a gigantic wooden platform as it swept above them. More voices floated down and the creak of ropes running through pulleys could be heard before another sharp snap like a sheet hung out to dry, only this sound was about ten times louder than that. The platform tilted to one side, turning slightly away and then, it was gone.
The twins stood staring after it, baffled. Another dark shape quickly followed the first; however, this time the girls were not so surprised and had a chance to examine the object more closely. It was definitely wooden, crafted and resembled the hull of a boat. Was it their imagination or was that a face peering down at them over the side. As the girls scrambled the rest of the way up the hill, on all fours, they could see that there was actually a fleet of these boat-like structures, elevated high above the ground, sails billowing, flying before the wind.
They were all sizes. There was one huge boat or ship with a magnificent red sail in the lead, followed by a flotilla of medium sized boats. These were surrounded by small, one- to two-person skiffs that were darting everywhere. The whole scene was magnificent. The craft were all brightly coloured, and each of the sails had a symbol emblazoned on them, no two the same.
The twins found themselves standing on the top of the hill, a steady wind whipping their hair, eyes shining and mouths agape, staring at the floating armada as it swept swiftly past them. They had never in all their lives seen anything so exhilarating, exciting and wonderful.
“Look.” Ema pointed at one of the small craft, which had detached itself from the rest, turned towards them and was now making a beeline in their direction.
“Hope they are friendly,” Ela quipped.
“We’ll soon find out,” Ema replied. A creeping seed of doubt niggled at the back of both girls’ minds. These people would have to be powerful magic users; there was just so much power available on this world.
“Best to play dumb, I think,” Ela suggested. “Possibly pretend that we have lost our memory or something. Then we won't be expected to know things and won’t be asked awkward questions.”
Ema agreed before, suddenly, another terrifying thought hit her. “What if they can mind read? They will find out all about Errin and our mission!”
Ela stared at the approaching skiff, nibbling her bottom lip in thought. “If we feel them in our minds we are going to have to imagine the limbo.” She shuddered just thinking about it.
Ema nodded, hoping fervently that she would never have to use that particular strategy.
The small yacht was incredibly manoeuvrable, and it only took a few moments before it had raised its side boards, turned into the wind and had come in to land about a stone's throw from where the twins were standing. A man, dressed in a leather outfit, complete with hat and gloves, leapt over the side and ran towards them, a concerned expression written on his face. Apart from his violet eyes, he would have not looked out of place anywhere in Feld. He was tall, long limbed and slim. He was waving his arms and obviously asking them a very important question; however, they had absolutely no idea at all what he was saying. Both girls stared blankly at him, causing him to become even more agitated and animated, taking quick, nervous glances at the fast disappearing flotilla. One thing was clear he could not read their minds or communicate telepathically. Things were looking up.
“I think he would like us to go with him,” Ela thought, a huge grin splitting her face in anticipation of a ride in the yacht. “I think we should oblige the man before he has a conniption.”
Ema agreed, using a word she had heard Fenrick use often. Giggling they strode towards the craft, leaving the man behind, confused and having to run to catch up.
On the ground it looked like an ordinary, flat-hulled skiff with side boards, a rudder and a mast fitted with a sail that was flapping gently in the wind. There was no indication of what actually made it fly. Puzzled the girls pawed over it looking for answers. This had a disastrous effect on the man who was now, literally hopping on the spot with impatience, gesturing wildly for them to climb aboard and repeating what sounded like an order or command over and over again. “All right, keep your wig on!” Ema thought as they climbed over the side and sat down at the back. Once again they had done the wrong thing and were shown in no uncertain terms that they should really be sitting amidships instead. Sighing they moved forward as he positioned himself where they had been originally siting.
“Nervy types, aren't they?” Ela observed silently.
Immediately they could feel a small amount of power being drawn down as the boat levitated to sit about a tree’s height above the ground. Efficiently the man turned the craft to catch the wind, the sails billowed and the yacht leapt forward, alive and playful. It was thrilling. The girls peered over the side to see the land skim past below, their shadow growing and shrinking as it raced up and down the rolling hills below. “They only use their talent to levitate the boats and the wind does the rest,” Ela observed distractedly. “What puzzles me is why they are only using such a small amount of talent. I wonder if they cannot access it as well as we can?” she mused, eyes gleaming as a world of possibilities danced before her.
She leaned further over the side to try and get a better idea of the landscape below but this elicited a short, sharp command from the pilot and she sat back down again. From what she had managed to glimpse they were travelling over a vast area of grassy, rolling hills and for as far as she could see the landscape did not appear to change at all; it all looked remarkably similar. In fact she could not even recognise the hill where the yacht had picked them up.
“Oh shit!” Ela screamed at Ema, her stomach falling away with a sickening, sinking feeling. “We didn’t mark the place where we arrived!” They stared at each other in horror. There was no way they would ever find it now.
“Great! First day on the job and we've cocked it up already,” Ema sighed, not bothering to hide her feeling of utter failure. “This whole mission is pointless now. Even if we do manage to find the shard we can’t do anything about it.” Both sat staring at the bottom of the boat in despair until an even worse thought struck them both simultaneously. “We are stuck here forever!” Clutching each other's hands they shared the myriad of consequences their moment of inattention would bring.
Caught up as they were with this revelation, they failed to notice that their yacht had re-joined the fleet until they were surprised by a loud, hailing call from someone on the deck of a huge vessel that they had come alongside. Their small craft landed neatly on what was clearly a designated landing area on its deck. Their captain leapt out with a flourish and tied the yacht down. It would seem that they had been expected, as a small crowd of o
nlookers surrounded them, curiously watching their every move. A mature woman with silver, blond hair in an elaborate top knot, dressed in a beautiful cloak of multi coloured bird feathers, stepped forward, clasped her hands before her and spoke in a voice designed to carry. The words sounded ceremonial and were delivered in a sing song voice of occasion.
Ela and Ema, not exactly sure of what was expected of them, climbed out of the small ship to stand nervously on the polished deck of the large vessel taking in their new surroundings. The full sail billowed from a tall, singular mast and proudly displayed the emblem of a large black bird in full flight on a red background. The rigging ropes were all stowed in neat coils on the deck. Everything was clean and polished with an air of great antiquity about it. There was a large structure with many windows on the deck that looked more like a cosy house than a ship’s cabin.
“What do they want us to do?” Ema whispered a thought to Ela.
“Don’t know, but I reckon we should at least say hello,” Ela replied as she stepped forward towards the lady who had addressed them, smiling and holding out her hand. She hoped that this was the universal gesture of greeting. A slight narrowing of those violet eyes was the only reaction she received; however, Ela stood her ground, hand extended. Slowly, hesitantly the woman reached out her own hand. Both took a step forward and their hands touched. Ela’s mind exploded with images, thoughts and emotions. She gasped and quickly blanked her own mind totally, thinking only of the limbo. She could sense Ema wince beside her.
The woman staggered but recovered quickly as Ela took control. She stood staring into Ela’s eyes questioningly. Neither had let go of the other's hand. It was as if instinctively they had both realised that they could make this connection work for them. Ela tried thinking a formal greeting and was rewarded by a beautiful smile that transformed the woman’s face. Her eyes sparkled and a warm greeting echoed in Ela’s head. Ela couldn’t suppress a delighted giggle as she grinned back.
They let go hands and Ela tried to communicate again, using a small nudge of talent. “My sister and I were lost. We have no memory of where we have come from but we are very grateful to you for coming to our rescue.”
The woman nodded, her serious face reflecting the occasion. The twins were elated. They could now communicate without having to learn a language and without having to actually touch the person you are talking to. The intense look on the woman’s face made Ela think that she was trying to answer but, try as she might, Ela could not hear a thing. Imagining an ear trumpet she had once seen an elder use back in Millstream, she focused her talent to a narrow beam and pointed it in the lady’s direction. It took a small amount of fine tuning, but to her delight she received a message loud and clear. “The vastness is not forgiving for a person without a clan.” Although the words were confusing the feelings and images that accompanied them left Ela in no doubt that without the security of the clan, which she gathered included all the surrounding flotilla, a lone person would suffer a wide variety of horrible deaths very quickly.
The twins shuddered. It appeared that they had been incredibly fortunate to have been found at all, let alone so quickly. “My name is Elarick and this is my sister Emarick, we are at your mercy,” Ela thought, bowing slightly. Ema followed suit. The woman stepped forward and placed a protective arm around each of the girls’ shoulders and guided them towards the cabin.
“There are so many questions to ask yet you must be hungry and thirsty, so first, we will have some refreshments. Ferna will be your guide”
The rest of the day was a blur of new impressions. There was so much to take in and so much to find out about. The girls had feigned memory loss but their complete bewilderment of this new world was alarmingly real. Everyone was so embarrassingly kind, answering any of their many persistent questions with a quiet patience. Fernawas almost annoyingly cheerful, a bubbly personality that was infectious, challenging the girls stout resistance. Rhelin, the stately woman who had greeted them, turned out to be the matriarch of the Whillnin clan. Clans lived separately in their own fleets most of the circle. The girls assumed that a circle was their name for a turn. Once a circle all the clans came together at ‘The Gathering’ to share stories, compete in sports and trade goods. The Whillnin clan had picked the girls up on their way to ‘The Gathering’ and, in fact, they were only half a moon away from reaching the hallowed grounds.
For the rest of the circle, the clans went their separate ways, using the winds to propel them across their world, following the large flocks of birds as they migrated. The myth, steeped in history, stated that this world they call Ontilla once had two moons: the small moon that now hung above them and a much larger companion. In those days Ontilla had been quite different with a temperate climate, trees, ocean and ice caps but the larger moon had slowly drifted away and the once stable world had begun to wobble. This caused major storms that raced across its surface as well as extreme temperature changes. The only life to survive was quick growing plants that were able to make the most of the short growing season, insects that could bury deep into the earth to hibernate, and swift birds that were strong enough to be constantly outrunning the seasons.
The only humans to survive were those with a small amount of talent who were able to follow the birds on their migratory path. It was a harsh world but an exhilarating one all the same. Over time, as life became more and more difficult to sustain, families banded together and clans were born. A person without the support of a clan did not last long. Lucky for the girls, it was unthinkable to leave anyone stranded and alone. It was the worst crime anyone could commit.
The ships the clan travelled in were a marvel in themselves. Made from wood, each surface was polished by a multitude of hands over the generations. Together they were a village. The Flagship was communal. This was where the clans got together for special occasions and meetings. Below decks were stored the clan’s preserved birds, vegetables, tools, water and fire coals. Fruit trees and the larger vegetable plots lined the upper decks. It was also Rhelin’s home as she was the clan leader. The medium sized boats were the family homes. They had smaller vegetable plots on their decks, and below decks they were more like a home, with a kitchen, bedrooms and a sitting area. Each of these craft had one or two small runabouts to allow them to move freely from ship to ship, to scout and to hunt. A small amount of talent was used to levitate the boats and to power the glow globes that were used instead of candles, but so far the girls had not encountered any strong talent being used.
The twins’ arrival had caused great excitement and on their first night aboard Rhelin had summoned everyone together to meet them. She had introduced the girls, explaining that they had no memory of how they came to be in the vastness alone. She speculated that given their dark hair and eyes that they might have come from a another clan that travelled a completely different path than any one of the clans that would be at the gathering, but she had no idea why they had been left to die. She went on to explain that the twins could not speak and gave a quick rundown on how to communicate with them.
The girls had shifted a little guiltily in their seats when they saw the looks of pity and sympathy this information elicited. The last thing they wanted was to announce their real reason for being here. Apart from anything else it was quite embarrassing that they had completely mucked up any chance of succeeding with their mission within the very first few moments of their arrival. Hard as it was to grasp, the reality of that small oversight meant that this was their life, their world, from now on, and it would pay to immerse themselves in it totally if they wanted to survive.
Ema scanned the room, drinking in the faces of their new clan. These were the people she would be spending the rest of her life with. They seemed ordinary and pleasant but an unexpected lump formed in her throat and tears threatened when the reality of their situation struck her and the fact that she would never again sit in her parents’ kitchen, listening to the river, eating warm bread and honey. Even Fenrick’s face swam through
her mind and, strangely, she knew that she would miss him terribly also. She and Ela had been so cocky, so certain of their abilities, but it had only taken one moment of inattention to change their lives forever. She swallowed hard, blinked away the tears and took a deep breath. No use focusing on what might have been, time to concentrate on the here and now.
Bringing her mind back to the room she realised that Ela was looking expectantly at her as if waiting for an answer. “What?” she thought defensively.
“We have just been asked if we would like to take part in tomorrow's hunt,” Ela replied, a slight hint of frustration clouding her thoughts.
Ema brightened immediately. “Well of course we would, you arse. You didn’t need to ask me for that!” she replied.
“I think it is an honour and we need to appear grateful,” Ela thought, sending her twin a meaningful look. Ema smiled and nodded as Ela replied to the woman standing at the front of the room. Clearly she was the one who had asked if they would like to join her family for the hunt. Ela supplied her name, Ralta, to Ema. She was middle aged and grey around the temples, but she had a face full of smile wrinkles and her dancing eyes were brimming with kindness.
“Great! That’s sorted then,” Rhelin stated, summing up the night. “Till tomorrow then,” she dismissed the clan.
As everyone filed out, chatting, Ralta waded against the tide and eventually made her way to the girls. “This is my partner, Bhan,” she said, introducing a tall, weathered looking man she had in tow. “We will be away at dawn on the morrow, so it would be a good idea if you came and slept on our ship tonight so we can be ready as early as possible.” Both girls sought Rhelin’s assurance and when she gave a quick nod accompanied with a reassuring smile they slung their packs over their shoulders, waved goodbye to[CL25] everyone and followed Ralta out the door.