Honor and Blood

by James Galloway

  They were all quiet for a long moment, but Jasana raced up to the edge of the fountain and looked up at it in wonder. "That was the shining lady!" she said in surprise, looking at the statue. "I thought she was in there, but she wouldn't say anything!"

  "We have done it," Dolanna said, breaking the silence. "We leave from Vendaka at the summer solstice. My friends, we have found the path to the Firestaff. We now know what no one else in the world knows. And we must not repeat this, any part of this, to anyone. Not even our other friends. This is our secret, and it must remain so."

  Tarrin looked at her, then looked at the others, a strange feeling in his stomach. They had done it. They had unlocked the mystery, and now they knew, if not the exact location, then the direction in which to go to find the Firestaff. Tarrin had been seeking that ancient relic for two years now, and for the first time since he began he knew where to go in order to find it. For the first time since he had started, now his journey had a palpable, physical, foreseeable destination. They had found the path to the Firestaff, just as Dolanna has said. They had found what they were looking for.

  He felt...relieved. But he also felt even more anxious in another way, for the mystery was no longer a mystery. Everyone in the courtyard now knew the directions to the Firestaff, and that meant that it was information that they had to ferociously defend. If anyone else discovered what they knew, there would be a race on the high seas for the Firestaff. If they weren't careful, they may be attacking the ship of the clever fellow that had discovered their secret and got there before they did, and reached the prize.

  The Goddess told him that he had the best chance of success, but she had warned him on repeated occassions that it didn't prevent someone else from getting to it and getting it before he did. He had the advantage now, for the first time since they started, and he wasn't about to give that advantage up. Now he had more to lose, more to protect, and what was most important, something to live for.

  For the first time, he could see the end of the journey. And it made him even more worried.

  Chapter 33

  Because it had not taken as long as Tarrin had expected to unlock the mystery surrounding the location of the Firestaff, he found himself with plenty of spare time on his paws. That wasn't to say that he did nothing, or got lazy, though. Because he did know where to go to find the Firestaff now, he became exceptionally paranoid after that revelation, keeping his distance from anyone who wasn't included in his personal circle. He would avoid people in the halls of the Tower, he wouldn't leave the grounds, and definitely absolutely would not come within a longspan of Shiika or the Cambisi. Tarrin knew they were telepathic, that they could hear the thoughts of those around them, and despite the help they had rendered, Tarrin didn't completely trust them. Then again, it was foolishness to trust a Demon; even Shiika would admit to that. Their inhuman scents made it extremely easy for him to avoid them, for he could smell them coming at least two minutes before they arrived. That ghastly scent, to which he doubted he would ever grow accustomed, broadcast their location to anyone with a sense of smell. He was sure that Shiika and her daughters were probably getting a little annoyed with him avoiding them, but he wasn't about to let them know their secret.

  Since his days weren't taken up by reading, he found plenty of time to take Jenna out into the courtyard and practice, just as Spyder commanded them. He found himself just a tad rusty at what Spyder taught them the last time, and he had to reinforce the idea of both giving and taking when using the Weave. When he again found it to be second nature, the two of them went about their homework, and that was learning how to whisper through the Weave. Tarrin had an understanding of what had to be done to accomplish the task; it required a partial touch on the Weave, a connection to it something like joining with it, but not so complete that he entered it. A partial joining, as Jenna reasoned it, a deeper connection without having it pull their consciousnesses into it. They spent a good afternoon after a noontime shower in the courtyard working on that idea, and it was Jenna who figured out how to do it first. She taught Tarrin, and her description of it was fairly accurate. It was a strange feeling, because when he was reaching into the Weave in that manner, its strands became the dominant part of his vision, and the choral pitches of the sound they made came to his ears. It was the real world that became ghostly and immaterial to him when he was reaching into the Weave in that manner, as if his consciousness had shifted planes of reality without leaving the real one. Jenna called it bridging, spanning the gap between the real world and the interior world of the Weave, which was almost like another world unto itself, and Tarrin had to agree that her word was fairly descriptive.

  Spyder was correct; it was indeed easy. When bridged between the world and the Weave, everything they did, even in a physical sense, was translated into the Weave as well as the real world. When they spoke, the sound went into the Weave as well as the real world. When they moved, it was in the real world, but the strands of the Weave became actual physical objects to them, capable of hindering their progress. It was the strangest feeling to grab hold of a strand and feel its solidity in his paw, but it was more than possible. Jenna had even climbed about ten spans into the air on a rather low-angled strand that came out of the ground, and when he looked at her through the eyes of reality, it looked like she was climbing up an invisible rope. Whispering at its most basic form was as simple as speaking into the Weave. Since the Weave was another reality, abiding by its own laws, the sound went around a longspan before it became inaudible to any who could hear it. Since Spyder had called to him for about twenty longspans away, he realized that there had to be another trick to it, a way to make himself audible from great distances.

  It took him about two hours to figure it out. Just like the amulets, all it took was knowing just who he was trying to contact. Jenna went out to the other side of Suld, and they tested Tarrin's theory. It turned out to be correct. He found out that he could speak to her at any distance, by focusing his words on her. The Weave picked up the words and carried them to the person he wanted to hear them, but Tarrin realized that it was a method of communication that would only work with someone with an enhanced ability to touch the Weave. In other words, it only worked with Weavespinners, for they were the only ones that could sense the Weave in the manner necessary to hear the message.

  That was how Spyder knew he was ready, he realized. She had been whispering into the Weave, probably for a long time, calling out to him. When he had reached that state just before crossing over, that point where he was bursting at the seams with it, he had become sensitive enough to hear her whispers. Even though he wasn't a true Weavespinner, it seemed that when a sui'kun reached the pinnacle of their powers before crossing over, they had enough of a connection to the Weave to be able to hear the whispers.

  The question still remained as to whether da'shar could hear it. Spyder said that there were fundamental differences between sui'kun and da'shar. They'd have to wait for one of the Sorcerers to cross over before they could find out where those differences lay, however. That, or convince Spyder to tell them. That didn't seem to be very likely. The Urzani wasn't inclined to talk about history. He had the feeling that the next time she called them to a lesson, it would be all business. Something told him that da'shar probably couldn't hear whispering...mainly because the amulet weave that allowed them to talk through amulets seemed to be so popular back in the days of power. If da'shar could whisper, why did they need the weave on the amulets?

  Then again...Jegojah had asked him if he had learned the secret of distant communication. He didn't say it in a way that identified whispering or amulets; those words could apply to either whispering or amulets, or even communing through the Weave. Maybe da'shar could whisper. But then why use the amulets? Were they a crutch for Sorcerers until they crossed over, and were never taken out of the amulets when that happened?

  Any way he looked at it, he realized he wasn't going to get an answer until either Spyder told him, the Goddess to
ld him, or someone crossed over and became da'shar. From the looks of it, that person was probably going to be Keritanima. Her powers were formidable, and she never stopped looking for new things to learn, new ways to expand her ability. He knew that she'd secretly been trying to figure out how he could project an Illusion over a thousand leagues, despite his warning her not to try. But that was Keritanima. Always doing what she wanted, rather than what she should be doing. Or should not be doing.

  At the end of their practice session, after both of them had both mastered the technique of touching the Weave enough to bridge and getting the concepts of whispering down to memory, he remembered something. The Goddess had told him that he wouldn't be responsible for finding the information that would unlock the path to the Firestaff, yet he had been the one to find the poem. Had she been wrong? Never one to shy away from asking things that were best left unasked, he put his query to the Goddess' icon, knowing that she could hear him.

  "I lied, kitten," came the audible reply, as blunt and bald as the sun was bright. "I wanted to put you at ease, and lying to you was the easiest way to do it. Aren't I an evil little Goddess?" she asked with a sudden winsome smile.

  Tarrin was shocked that she lied, and that she admitted that she lied...but it had been a harmless lie. Tarrin had to laugh ruefully when he got over his sudden Cat-induced affront to being deceived. After all, he knew that the Goddess would never lie to him when it was important. She had been brutally honest with him in the past, even when they were things that he didn't want to know. Her lying over something as paltry as this was hardly a reason for him to get offended. After all, if he wouldn't have found the poem, one of the others certainly would have.

  He and Jenna went to the kitchens after their lesson, as the sun sank behind a nasty bank of dark clouds on the western horizon and a rumble of thunder shivered over the city. Late spring and early summer was the rainy season in Suld, as storm after storm rolled in off the Sea of Storms, a name aptly given, and soaked the West. That rainy season was why the West grew so much food, as the plentiful water during the critical early rides aided a plant's growth. The rain wasn't continual, but it was daily, and the cycle of sunshine and rain was perfect for growing crops. As the rainy season ended around midsummer and the rain came less frequently, it also made it perfect for the maturing crops to bask in the sunshine and grow large and tall for harvest. The Free Duchies had the best climatic variation of that cycle, and also had some of the richest soil in the world. That was why they were the bread basket of the West, growing enough food to feed the whole of the West by themselves. The excess food they produced was sold to kingdoms and nations not so fortunate, like Yar Arak, Daltochan, Ungardt, and even more distant kingdoms like Godan and Nyr.

  While Tarrin was piling some roasted beef onto his plate, an old, old friend came in from the Novices' entrance. It was Tiella. She was a little taller now, about as tall as Dolanna, but her pretty face had not changed at all since the last time he saw her. Her blond hair was even longer now, tied in a tail that drooped all the way to her backside, and her blue eyes were bright and clear. To his suprise, Tiella was wearing the Violet, meaning she was only one grade away from graduating from the Initiate and either becoming katzh-dashi or returning home if she didn't want to join the order. Initiates began in the Red, which was the lessons in Fire. Fire was a relatively easy grade in theory, but actually was one of the hardest. It was mainly an introduction to the Weave and the beginnings of the course, where an Initiate learned the basics of spellcasting. So most of the weaves learned in Fire were one-flow spells, or very simple two-flow spells. The more practical combining of flows came in the higher grades. Then they went though Blue, which was Mind; then through Yellow, which was Air; then through Indigo, which was Earth; then through Orange, which was Divine power; then through Violet, which was Water. And then they finally went through the Green, which was Confluence, but since no Sorcerer could work in that Sphere alone, the Green was actually learning how to Circle, as well as learning about very complex multi-flow spells that could only be taught to those with much more experience than other Initiates. Green was also where Initiates learned some of the tools of the trade, like weaving loose and then snapping down, and other little advanced tricks that made Sorcery more efficient, easier to use, or more effective. Red was hard in that it was the beginning, and Green was also hard in the sheer volume of things they had to learn. Tiella only had to finish the Violet and then go through the Green, and she would be done. She had progressed almost completely through the Initiate in only a little over a year and a half, a great feat. Most Initiates took four or five years to complete the training. It was a testament to how smart Tiella was. She recognized him immediately and rushed over to him, and he gave her a warm hug, having to pick her up off the floor to do so. "Tarrin!" she squealed in delight. "They said you were back, but I hadn't seen you!"

  "You're looking well, Tiella," he smiled. "And you're in the Violet! I'm amazed!"

  "Well," she said with a shy smile, "It's not all that big a deal, you know. Dar wasn't even really in the Initiate."

  "Dar was trained by a katzh-dashi," Tarrin chuckled. "How have you been? And where's Walten?"

  "I've been doing fine," she replied. "I've been studying about every waking moment, because I'm sick of school. I want to get it overwith as fast as I can."

  "I can see that. Have you decided what you want to do when you're done?"

  She nodded. "I think I'm going to stay here. Aldreth doesn't seem all that exciting to me anymore. Not after everything I've seen here." She grinned. "Walten's been a real problem," she laughed. "He's still in the Blue. He's become a real troublemaker. Some of the things he's pulled around here are going to be legendary."

  "Like what?"

  "Well, there was the time he made a cake explode on the table where the Council eats during formal meals," she said, ticking off her fingers. "Then there was the time he used a weave to summon about a thousand rats, who ran amok in the kitchen. Then there was the time that he turned about five stories of the outside of the South Tower green with red stripes, and then there was the time that--"

  Tarrin cut her off with a laugh. "I never dreamed Walten would get like that!" he told her.

  "He gets bored easily, Tarrin, you know that," she smiled at him. She looked at Jenna. "What, you're not going to say hello to me, Jenna?"

  "I was giving my big brother a chance," she grinned. "We're still on for breakfast tomorrow?"

  "Sure," she replied. Tarrin realized that Jenna and Tiella, two girls from the same village, would only naturally gravitate towards one another. Tiella was two years older then Jenna, but the half-Ungardt young lady stood about a head taller than her. Jenna was very tall for her age. For that matter, she was tall for a girl.

  "I should have guessed that you two would be together," he chuckled.

  "It's too bad we didn't see much of each other in the village. We missed alot of time to gossip," Jenna grinned.

  "Well, we're old enough to appreciate it now," Tiella added. "I hate to cut this short, but I have to be in the Northeast Tower in about ten minutes," she apologized. "I just ran in for a quick bite to eat."

  "What are you studying?" Tarrin asked curiously.

  "I just started the Violet, so it's basic weaves," she fretted. "Water weaves. Right now, I'm learning how to manifest water, but my teacher promised she'd teach me weaves to freeze liquids today. I think that one would be handy, to cool my drinks if anything else."

  "As long as you don't overdo it. Then you'd need a knife to eat your water," Tarrin told her.

  Tiella laughed. "I'm still trying to figure out why Fire heats things, but Water freezes them. I thought it would be Divine that would freeze."

  "There are plenty of things about the Weave we don't really understand," Tarrin told her. "For instance, why are Water weaves harder than Divine weaves? You'd think that the Orange would be a harder grade than the Violet, you know. Or for that matter, why are lessons in Mind
before lessons in Earth?"

  "They don't teach any real Mind weaves in Blue," Tiella told him. "They teach you how to recognize them and weaves and techniques to defend against them. You only learn Mind weaves if you stay as a katzh-dashi. I guess they don't want any freelancers out there that know Mind weaves."

  Tarrin had to admit, that was a good policy. It also explained why the Blue was the second grade through which an Initiate progressed, when it should have been the last. Tarrin honestly couldn't recall how far into the Initiate he progressed, or what he had learned. What little he remembered of the Initiate was mainly what he learned from Dolanna. It seemed a lifetime ago.

  It was then that he realized that he really had very little understanding of what really went on in the Tower. He had been so against the place that he had refused to learn about much of anything, even when he was here before. But then again, he still had no real desire to learn, for he wouldn't be there much longer anyway.

  He was starting to get like Jesmind, only wanting to learn things that seemed to have practical use.

  Tarrin said his goodbyes to Tiella, and as she hurried over to the long table where the prepared food was kept warm for those drifting through the kitchens, it reminded him about Dar. Dar had shown some interest in Tiella, and he knew that Tiella had a crush on Dar. He wondered if they'd managed to get anywhere yet. He hoped so. Dar was rather cosmipolitan, being an Arkisian, but Tiella was probably still a moralistic, straight-laced village girl. She probably still wouldn't bathe when it was crowded. He'd have to work that out of her. Sometimes human morality was, if not inconvenient, highly illogical.

  Snorting, lashing his tail a few times, Tarrin started off with his plate towards one of the dining rooms.

  The mood on the Tower grounds began to get tense as the days passed. The ki'zadun was coming, and now even the Tower was openly preparing for it. The Vendari and the Knights had erected a vast breastwork and palisade that encircled the entire Tower grounds, running about the inside perimiter of the fence, and they interrogated with extreme prejudice anyone entering or leaving the grounds. More and more Aeradalla had begun to appear in the sky over Suld, ferrying scouting reports and messages from ground-based scouting patrols to and from the command structure, which had set up shop in the Tower. Shiika's Arakite Legions had joined with the Sulasians and the Wikuni on the walls of Suld, serving as the first line of defense. The Wikuni with their gunpowder and muskets, and the cannons they'd mounted on the walls to shoot down on attackers, would prove to be devastating. The Legions were some of the finest warriors in the world, just as extensively trained to defend a walled city as they were in attacking one. The elements of the Sulasian army and militia that were there probably felt a little overwhelmed by the caliber of soldiers they found sharing the walls with them, but it was not doubted that they welcomed them with open arms. Rumor and fact had filtered into every tavern and inn in the city, so everyone knew the size of the force marching on the city. It was going to be a very large battle, they thought.