by Dana Davis
Xiath didn’t think even Pim could give such a good performance. And the way Sureyah cursed, he would have wagered his boots the girl told the truth now. “Release Pim,” he said to the treewalker.
The little, flaming-haired girl hesitated but the branches that secured Pim finally loosened. Once Cass removed the rags, the girl fell to the ground at Xiath’s feet. “Thank you, Master Xiath. That be worthy of my honor. I’ll do whatever you want.”
He motioned to Siri and the Elder pulled the girl to her feet. “Pim.” He stood over her and gazed down with hard eyes. “You know what Sureyah is up to?” He still had trouble believing this girl was nineteen. She looked so young, even younger than tiny Eletha, who was now in her twentieth year.
Pim swiped an arm across her wet face and nodded. “That true. Sureyah does magic. Frightening magic. You can see in her hut. Candles, herbs, bones and such.”
Sureyah hissed. “When I’m loose, Pim Fargoodes, I’ll give you something to scream about.”
The girl ducked behind Siri’s skirts.
“Quiet,” Siri ordered and the old errant’s eyes smoldered.
“You don’t understand,” Sureyah said after several heartbeats, when she was able to talk again.
“We understand all too well.” Xiath kept a tight rein on his temper. “You’re trying to raise Cholqhuin.”
The old woman’s eyes brightened. “Yes, exactly. Then why do you stop me? Why do you interfere?”
“Are you daft, woman? Your attempts to raise the ancient god of the underworld are creating this insane weather. You’ve caused a great void in the Energy.”
The woman laughed and Xiath wondered if she had gone insane. That would certainly explain her behavior. No one, besides a mad woman, would attempt such a raising. “I thought Gypsies had better sense than that.”
Siri stepped close to her. “You had better show proper respect, errant. Or I will do more than bind you.”
Sureyah kept a smile on her lips but her eyes showed fear. “You’ve locked yourselves away too long, Elder. You could harm me, certainly, even kill me, but that won’t stop the imbalance in the weather. Or the void.”
Xiath glanced at his kin. Haranda and Elder Finlor looked a bit tired, while Taniras watched intently with Snowy by her side. The animal urger hadn’t said a word, which seemed strange given her quick temper. The Sage woman, Lyssinya, kept close to Adelsik for some reason. The flaxen-haired girl looked overly tired, and he wondered just what he’d missed during his slavery here. The others glanced at him then back to Sureyah.
“Go on, old woman,” he ordered.
“Release my head at least. My neck is sore.”
He nodded to Eletha and the branches moved away from the errant woman’s skull.
Sureyah moved her head side to side then stared up at him. “Long ago,” she said as though she spun a tale for children, “the Goddess of Eternal Spring was enamored by Cholqhuin. One night, he came for her and she ran away with him to the sea. When her mother, the Great Goddess, may She endure, found out, the skies began to darken from Her anger. She tried to get Her daughter to come home, take responsibility for spring again, but the Sea Goddess refused.”
“She lies!” a Bankari woman cried out. “The Sea Goddess was captive!” Bankari all around offered sounds of protest to Sureyah’s tale.
“Haranda turned and held her hands up for silence. “Please, dear cousins. Allow the woman to speak. Then we can separate the lies from truth.”
Xiath wondered at the cousin term and eyed Haranda. When the Bankari quieted, he nodded for Sureyah to continue.
The errant woman took in a labored breath. “As I said, the Sea Goddess refused to return home. When she told of plans to seek out the god of the underworld, to be his lover, the Great Goddess became so distraught that She pushed Cholqhuin far beneath the sea and captured him in the Fire of Eternal Flames. The Sea Goddess followed but could do nothing. She watches him through the flames, and at the exact part of the year he was imprisoned, she comes up to try and persuade the Great Goddess to free him. She brings spring with her during this brief visit. The remainder of the year, her mother keeps the world from ruin by quelling as much of the destructive forces as She can, but it taxes Her, creating winter. Each year, the Great Mother Goddess refuses Her daughter’s request and she returns to her lover until the next spring.
“But ages ago, the Great Goddess gave Her daughter an ultimatum. For ten thousand years She would keep the world from destructive forces. After that, if the Sea Goddess still refused to come home, She would no longer take on that responsibility. That is what’s happening with the weather and other disasters on our world. Ten thousand years have passed. The Sea Goddess has not returned home. She won’t leave her lover, Cholqhuin, so he must return to this world.” Her old eyes fell on Ryder. “Why do you think Death has been so prevalent these past few years? You’ve noticed him too, haven’t you?”
Xiath felt stunned. From the looks of everyone around him, they shared his feelings. He studied Ryder. “Answer her.”
The errant man turned an ashen face to him then focused on Sureyah. “I have. I thought my Energy was growing to be able to see him so much.”
Sureyah clicked her tongue. “After all these years. Come man, you’re too old for that kind of change.”
Siri crossed her arms. “And just how old are you, Sureyah?” Any other Gypsy would have been reprimanded for such rudeness.
Sureyah sighed. “I turned forty at the last new moon.”
Gasps echoed all around. The woman appeared close to a century of life. Xiath had met errants in his days but never one who looked as old as Sureyah. Guilt rose in him that he or another Gypsy hadn’t found her as a youngling. Why did the Goddess save some and not others?
Ryder, who didn’t seem the least bit surprised, nodded. “Death is stronger now and has escaped me with ease the last few times I leashed him.” Thunder shook the ground but he didn’t seem to notice.
Xiath definitely wanted to speak with Haranda. What in blazes had the woman been up to? Where had she found this errant? No one could put a leash on Death.
“Don’t you understand, yet?” Sureyah said with annoyance in her voice. “The only way to get the Sea Goddess to come home again is to release her lover. And the only way I know of doing that is through elemental magic.”
Siri moved even closer to the errant woman, getting a twitch of fear in response. “Even if what you say is truth, we can’t have the god of the underworld free.”
“Why not? He’s just as much a part of this world as the rest of us? Are you so arrogant you’ve forgotten that.” Siri’s faced hardened but Sureyah ignored her this time. “You think the Great Mother Goddess rules alone? She rules the above world and sky, that’s true, but Cholqhuin rules below. He is her brother and her son.”
That got a rise from everyone and it took a while to get them calmed enough to hear anything but heated shouts.
Thad, who’d been quiet even through the cries of protests, stepped forward. “If you’re so concerned with the world, why did you slaughter innocent middlings? And don’t lie to me. I came through Solinar, Fen and the rest. I saw the remains of once thriving villages. You murdered women and children.” His hands opened and closed in tight fists. Suddenly, a great spark leapt from his right hand and exploded a nearby bench.
That caused almost as much commotion as Sureyah’s tale. When had he discovered that much power? In Xiath’s class, the boy had only enough sparking Energy to create two orbs, and that drained him after a while.
“I’ve warned you about that temper, Thad.” Siri held hard eyes on him. “You keep control.”
“Yes, Elder.” His answer was strained and veins stood out on his neck.
Another loud crack of thunder rattled the area, causing several to visibly jump. Xiath studied Thad but the look from Haranda assured him that the boy couldn’t control the weather. Thank the Goddess. At least some things remained as Xiath had left them.
&n
bsp; Sureyah peeled her gaze from the smoldering bench and back to Thad. “I didn’t murder anyone. Please, you must believe me. The destruction had already happened when we came through there. I found Pim and several others. They escaped somehow.” She eyed Pim, who was now brave enough to stand beside Siri instead of behind her. “It wasn’t me. I didn’t kill your first husband or any of those others.” Old eyes bounced between Xiath and Siri. “When we got here, these Brev villagers were untouched. I can’t say why.”
The villagers murmured.
“We were all right until the old hag came,” one Brevian man shouted.
Others spit and some shook fists at her. They were getting their senses back and Xiath hoped they didn’t try anything before he could get much-needed answers. He didn’t want to harm these middlings. After all, they had been enslaved just as he had, longer even. They moved about now and many glared at Sureyah but that was all, thank the Goddess.
Many eyes went to Pim, who had moved between Taniras and Saldia. She sniffed and wetness stood out on her dirty cheeks as the rain still fell, though it had lessened a bit. “I ran when the raiders came. That the truth. Many fled across the river and into the forests. The rest, the raiders either took or killed. I hid in that burrow Cass found me in, Master Xiath. That how I knew where it was. Raiders took my fada. I only went with Sureyah because she promised me food, clothes and safety.” She turned on the woman. “That a lie from her own bloody lips! Stinking mudworms!”
“I kept my promise, you ungrateful wretch!” Sureyah hissed.
“You gave me to Shon.”
“I needed his cooperation, you idiot girl. He was the only one the rest of the villagers listened to. He loves you.”
Pim spat. “I have the sight, you old hag. You should’ve tried to please me instead of that doddering old fool.” Her head nodded curtly to the unconscious Shon. “That a bloody fact.”
Sureyah breathed heavily. She was the driest of them all, what with the shelter of the large tree. “You refused to cooperate.”
“So you let Shon take me.” Pim’s eyes held fire now.
“Enough.” Saldia placed a protective arm around Pim’s shoulders.
Xiath studied the shade walker. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought Ved’nuri had just given a command. And to accent her words, thunder rumbled overhead.
Pim pulled from Saldia and ran to Cass. Saldia stepped toward her but the girl simply knelt and threw arms about Cass’s legs. “Can you forgive me? I put my anger on you. I won’t do it again. That a promise.”
The truth-seeker’s eyes widened in brief surprise but she didn’t give in so easily. Instead, she gazed down with hard eyes. “Let me see your footprint, Pim Fargoodes.”
A black pecan appeared above the girl’s head and she repeated her words. It burned steady. Xiath thought a footprint representing folly was appropriate given Pim’s previous behavior.
Cass lifted Pim and held her at arm’s length. “I accept your apology.” Her eyes darkened and her voice became dangerous. “But if you ever show disrespect to me again, I’ll make sure you get the nastiest chores I can possibly find to keep you busy.”
Pim’s gaze fell to her feet. “Yes, Cass. That a good warning. I’ll heed it.”
The truth-seeker seemed satisfied and allowed Saldia to take the girl to Taniras. “See that she stays out of trouble,” Saldia ordered. “After things are settled here, you, Cass and I will give her lessons in Gypsy etiquette.”
Xiath waited for Taniras’s temper to flare at the order but she nodded. “Yes, Saldia.”
What in blazes had happened since his capture? Had his entire kin gone mad?
Haranda must have caught his confusion because she turned to him. What she said brought dropped jaws from Xiath and the others. “New-oathed Taniras Ei’sele Nee’cher is the wolf singer.”
Xiath stared at the new-oathed woman along with the others of his quest. So, Taniras was the fabled wolf singer. And no longer a youngling. And she had joined Snowy in marriage. Yes, he had missed a lot.
With an amused look on her face, Haranda turned to Taniras. “And luck contacting them?”
The singer had one hand clasped around Pim’s arm as her black eyes looked to the forests. “Carnage along the river keeps them away. They sense Death, know that something is wrong. I can hear them in the distance but haven’t been able to communicate regularly since we left Hunter Forest.” She focused on Xiath. “They’ll come if I call them. But only to defend our lives.”
“Thank you, singer.” Xiath gave respectful tilt of his head. She was still below many in Gypsy ranking but her singer status deserved a certain amount of acknowledgement. Taniras respectfully returned his gesture. She had changed so much from that angry, impatient youngling he’d known in the Land of the Goddess. “Let’s hope we don’t need their assistance.”
“What about her?” Eletha nodded to Sureyah. She tugged her cloak hood tighter around her face but that red hair stuck out about her cheeks.
Xiath had nearly forgotten about the treewalker. He looked to Bel’keive and Kal. “Are those rags secure?” When the two nodded, he focused on the tiny girl. “You can release her.” The branches moved from around Sureyah’s body and the tree looked like any other in the area. Amazing! “Nice work, Eletha.”
“Thank you, Xiath. Let me know if there’s anything else you need from my friends.” One small, freckled hand patted the tree trunk and she smiled. Then she stepped close to the large man Xiath had learned was named Brak, and he placed a protective arm about her shoulders. What shocked Xiath most, was that Eletha allowed the touch. He had missed quite a lot, indeed.
Pim’s gaze shifted between Cass, Taniras and Saldia. She watched them as though the lessons they planned to instill would mean her death, and Xiath fought a grin. The errant girl would learn all too well her status among Gypsies. Especially from what he’d seen of those three young women. Taniras reminded him of Haranda in a lot of respects. He studied his former pupil. Haranda had always monopolized a special place in his heart, first as an impatient youngling then a more confident new-oathed woman. And now an attentive Gypsy mother and formidable quest leader. She smiled at him, this Gypsy daughter of long ago, and he bowed his head slightly.
“We should get to shelter before we’re washed away by the bloody rain,” Elder Finlor said. He had been completely silent during Sureyah’s interrogation.
Xiath looked at the stocky body-healer then to the sky. Heavy, dark clouds roiled in from the south. “Just what we need. More rain. The river’s ready to overflow her banks as it is.”
Thad placed a hand on Xiath’s shoulder but his gaze was on the river. “We can still flee before that happens. But what about these middlings?”
Several looked as though they would flay Sureyah, and Xiath fought a sigh. A headache began to form behind his eyes as he thought quickly what to do with them.
Chapter 22
Gypsy kin, Sage kin, Bankari and Hunters went about chores here in the lush grasses of The Betweens, some traipsing back and forth from the clear stream, and Saldia breathed another sigh of relief that her kin had been released from bondage. She counted those who passed her. They’d been lucky enough to oath several villagers from the Tandiar River, though they had to turn away those with children. Middling children didn’t become Gypsy servants. Goddess law frowned on that. There had been occasions where an adolescent was taken as a servant and oathed once he or she reached marriage age, but Haranda had explained that things could become quite complicated, especially if a root family came in search of the child.
As it turned out, the villagers were grateful to Saldia and the others for freeing them. Some still feared Gypsies but the kin had left Brev peacefully. Though that might change once they began cleaning up the devastation along the Tandiar River. Sureyah still swore she had nothing to do with the raids and, may the Goddess help them, Saldia believed the errant woman’s story, but she couldn’t speak for what the middlings believed. Cass in
sisted she didn’t sense lies from the old woman, but Pim had fooled everyone, so the kin kept vigilant watch over the old errant.
That Sureyah was only forty still astonished Saldia and she wondered at Ryder’s true age. The man insisted he was much older than Sureyah, but he also admitted that he didn’t know exactly how old he was, since his mother never celebrated his birth.
Some of the newly sworn villagers played music and sang to entertain themselves, while others assisted where they could, an honorable feat considering the hard labor many had endured at Sureyah’s hand. LeChamb and Siri spent their free occasions conversing with several Bankari. Seemed that LeChamb, though he’d been raised outside Bankar without knowledge of the Sea Goddess tales, still had root relatives from there, including Master LePon. Those Bankari were shocked to find out he still lived, given when he was born. Evidently, LeChamb’s family had moved back to Bankar when he was old enough to take over in his family’s barrel shop. Soon after, he got the calling and took his oaths. Saldia didn’t know how he ended up with Gypsies. Perhaps she would hear that tale someday.
Master LePon set up a makeshift barrel shop in the back of one of the wagons and taught some of the younger men his craft. Every once in a while he would give Saldia a slight bow of his head, a motion that left her blushing. What was it about that man? She counted five barrels, two large chests and four smaller ones. He would no doubt create more before long.
Despite the Bankari’s sworn allegiance through the Sea Goddess, LaPon and many others took servant oaths before they left Hunter Forest. He insisted that his shop in Bankar, if anything were left after the storms and earthquakes, could be managed by his nephews. They had stayed in the forest, along with others of the family, until it was safe to return to the sea city.
As the kin awaited news from the Vedi, Saldia paced the lush ground with Gwen and counted her steps, creating a path in the moist grass. She listened to the silver bangles on Gwen’s braids as they tinkled together. The Betweens was the only area not affected by the volatile weather of late, so the Vedi had ordered them to meet here and wait for Yuri’s quest. Maesa’s news from the Netherworld about the fate of Zarenia’s home had come as a complete and utter shock, and Saldia felt for the Pashdad woman, her former clan sister.
