by Dana Davis
The morning was alive with bird and insect songs but she kept her footsteps as quiet as possible. Haranda was right about one thing. Stupidity didn’t fit Lyssinya’s description. The Sage might have Saldia’s hide if she were caught eavesdropping. Nevertheless, she had been ordered. Despite their promises of loyalty to the Goddess and the Vedi, the Sage kin kept confidence mainly with one another. Sage men wore breeches and thin vests without tunics, revealing muscular, tanned chests. Lyssinya and the other Sage woman wore skirts that fell to their ankles and simple linen blouses. Most of their conversation came in benign whispers with occasional chuckles or huffs. They obviously didn’t approve of how the Gypsy kin managed areas of their quests.
Adelsik nodded at something Lyssinya said and headed off in another direction.
When the Sage turned her head, Saldia’s heart raced. The woman seemed to look right at her. “If I had Haranda back on Dragon Island, she would weep for her insolence towards me.”
Body-mind-healer Payatt Koi took a long drink from a pounded metal cup. “That one will give you stomach pains if you let her.” He smiled and his teeth were bright against his tanned skin. “Then again, I believe you give her just as much discomfort, Lyssinya.”
Saldia took exception of the way they spoke of former clan mother. She thought of smacking one of them but that would get her caught for certain. Siri or D’Esher would probably skin her too, just for getting caught. No, a scout didn’t interfere.
Lyssinya suddenly turned on her heels and headed straight for Saldia. She barely got out of the woman’s way and silently cursed when she came within a finger span of tripping over a bucket. She held her breath as the Sage passed and headed toward the privies.
The servants and remaining Sages, chatted about weather oddities and whether they had enough supplies. Nothing interesting.
Bel’keive passed on her way to some task and one of the Sage guards eyed the girl. She offered a brief smile to him as she twisted the gold hoop in her nostril.
“That new-oathed has a fancy for me,” the guard said. His hair was sun-lightened and blue eyes stood out against tanned skin. “Maybe I can tumble her in the grass and get some personal information about these bloody Gypsies.”
Payatt pushed his braided hair to his back. “She wears a Hunter’s ring, Yanti. I’d wager my boots she could gut you in a heartbeat.”
Yanti laughed. “Probably. I like my women with spit.”
Payatt cleared his throat. “I certainly hope you don’t mean to take her.”
The guard frowned. “Of course not. I’m not a savage. I’ve taken oaths same as the rest of you. But a new-oathed Gypsy is as available as a new-oathed Sage. And if she fancies me, I might have a chance at some fun as well as information. Besides, she’s nice to look at, even with her clothes on.”
Payatt frowned. “Just make certain she’s a willing participant.”
Yanti bowed his head respectfully. “Of course, healer.”
Saldia stayed until they broke up their group and headed to various chores. Sages seemed intent on following the Goddess laws as much as Gypsies, for which she was grateful. Nevertheless, she thought about informing Bel’keive. At the very least, she could warn the woman to be careful. But then, Bel’keive hadn’t seemed put off by the Sage guard.
Saldia could think no longer. Her stomach wanted food and she crouched behind one of the wagons to release the shade walking Energy.
When she stepped out, Henny ran toward her. “There you are, Saldia. I’ve been searching everywhere for you.”
She brushed off her skirts and snatched up a bucket. “Just finishing chores.” That wasn’t exactly a lie. Cass passed by at that very heartbeat and Saldia held her breath but her former clan sister merely nodded. If the truth-seeker sensed anything, she didn’t let on. Anyway, Gypsies could lie to younglings, just not the other way around. Henny’s footprint would have given her lies away in an instant.
“I was just at the stream.” Henny’s blonde, wavy locks were pulled back in a leather lace today, and her pale cheeks a bit flushed with whatever errands she had been sent on. “I must have just missed you.”
Saldia smiled and walked toward the stream. She took a roll from one of the food baskets on her way. “How is Zarenia?”
“Still sleeping. I feel for her.”
“Yes. So do I.”
Someone called Saldia’s name and she turned to see Lyssinya headed toward her. The Sage woman looked a bit upset. But then, she kept a frown on her face most of the day it seemed.
“I wish a word with you, shade walker.” She turned to Henny. “Fetch the water, youngling.” Henny took Saldia’s bucket and fled to the stream. Lyssinya latched onto Saldia’s arm none too gently. “You and I have something to discuss.”
Blazes! Did the woman know she had scouted? “I have chores, Lyssinya.” She kept her voice as calm as she could muster.
The Sage said nothing but her grip tightened as she hauled Saldia behind the nearest wagon. Once there, Lyssinya hooked one thumb in her belt and narrowed those blue eyes. A straw hat sat on her head and blotches of sun salve colored her freckled nose and cheeks. She didn’t loosen her hold on Saldia’s arm, either. “I want to know what Haranda is up to.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t play stupid with me, new-oathed. I know Haranda talks about me. I’m a Sage, worthy of her respect, and I want to know what she’s been saying about me to Elder Siri and the others.”
Thank the Goddess the woman didn’t know Saldia had been eavesdropping on her conversations. She let out a relieved breath. “You need to ask her yourself, Lyssinya.”
Gypsy Elders had ordered the kin to treat Sages with respect, unless they did something to warrant a report. Saldia didn’t intend to ruffle Lyssinya’s anger. The woman could be as intimidating as Ved’nuri. And from what Adelsik had reported, she had a temper as vile as Eletha’s or more so. The grip on her arm tightened enough to cause pain and she fought a wince. Ved’nuri’s tutelage came to mind and Saldia yanked her arm free.
Lyssinya’s eyes widened with surprise for a heartbeat before her face tensed.
“I’m not some wayward youngling, Lyssinya,” Saldia said in her best imitation of Ved’nuri. “I’ve shown respect to you, but I’m new-oathed and have also earned a certain amount of respect among my kin. I thought Sages had as much dignity in their rules as Gypsies.”
That got the woman’s attention but she didn’t relax that that hardened gaze. “My apologies, new-oathed.” The words didn’t match the tightness in her voice.
“Accepted. Now, if you want to know what Haranda says of you, I suggest you go to the Elders themselves. They don’t divulge information to every kin member, especially new-oathed Gypsies. And I have other duties today.” Her gut quivered a bit but she wouldn’t show that to Lyssinya, either.
“You are correct, new-oathed.” The Sage’s eyes flicked to Elder Siri and she pursed her lips. Freckles danced about as she wrinkled her nose in thought. “Is Elder Siri as strong as she appears?”
So, Lyssinya feared Siri. Good. “She’s a loyal Gypsy Elder of the highest rank, protective of her kin. I wouldn’t suggest crossing her. She tends to get a bit unpleasant.”
“As I thought.” One hand gave Saldia a dismissive wave. “Back to your chores.”
“Yes, Lyssinya.” Now she fully intended to warn Bel’keive of Yanti’s objective. Bel’keive could seek intimate relations now that she was new-oathed but Saldia doubted, open as Hunters were with intimacy, that the girl had ever bedded a man. And Saldia knew exactly what she would report to Haranda tonight. She headed to find Bel’keive, counting her steps as she went.
Chapter 23
Adelsik was the first to notice the slight fading of the Goddess nimbus that surrounded Gypsies and Sages in the Netherworld. Lyssinya no longer kept hers hidden while they met and performed lessons here. There was no need unless they entered another’s dreams to purge nightmares, like they’d done for Zarenia and her
aide, who had recently taken servant oaths, along with the others from Zarenia’s house.
“She’s correct.” Lyssinya spoke to Elder Siri and the other slumberers. “It has faded.” She studied Adelsik and frowned.
“I didn’t want to be right,” Adelsik mumbled.
Wren placed a brief hand on her back.
Siri studied her. “Take heart, new-oathed. At least now we can report this to the Vedi.”
“But what causes this?” Adelsik held up an arm but of course couldn’t detect the nimbus around her own otherself, only around others.
She studied the bright colors of this slumbering world—Siri had created a fair memory dream of The Betweens—but couldn’t detect a change anyplace else. She felt the void, its distant darkness, like a tiny hole in a giant wall, but that seemed almost normal to her now.
Siri shook her head. Those multiple braids moved about and the gold bangles tinkled together. “Possibly the void causes it.”
“Yes. But what’s causing the void, Elder? Ved’nuri already assured us Sureyah’s use of elemental magic didn’t create it. Nor is the errant woman responsible for the idiotic weather. The ancient tales have confirmed that. There’s something else.” She allowed her awareness to spread as far as she could sense, hoping for some tiny bit of information, a spark of anything that would allow her to locate the origins of the void, but she sensed nothing unusual. She could feel the void but not tell from where it emanated. Frustrating! “Lyssinya, could we perform a seeker wave?”
The red-haired Sage gazed down on her in thought. “You’re certainly strong enough. Though I don’t think Haranda will benefit us.” Those green eyes weighed the Gypsy.
Haranda crossed her arms and raised a dark brow. Before she could speak, Siri held up a hand. Both women snapped heads to her. “I won’t have bickering.” The Elder studied them with hard, brown eyes. “From either of you. Lyssinya is right about your slumbering strength, Haranda. A seeker wave would simply drain you without adding sufficient power to the search.”
“Yes, Elder.” Haranda gave Lyssinya a sideways glance.
When the Sage gave her a smug look in return, Siri turned on her. “Overconfidence can be just as disruptive to our task as weakness.” She stared the Sage down.
Lyssinya dropped her gaze. “Yes, Elder.”
Wren looked just as perturbed by the two but said nothing.
“Good.” Siri relaxed her stance. “Now, Haranda, I want you to return to the mundane world and assist Predula, Thad and Payatt. Should they detect anything dangerous happening to our bodies, you’re to return here immediately and break the wave.”
“Yes, Elder.” Haranda disappeared.
“All right, Lyssinya. I realize we’ve practiced the wave on a few occasions, but have you ever actually used it?”
“Once. When I was in the last moon of my new-oathed level. I assisted in locating a middling whose had recently passed into the Netherworld.”
Adelsik gawked at the woman. “A specter?” She had seen one, of course, when assisting in Saldia’s nightmare, but had never sought one out. The thought chilled her.
Lyssinya nodded. “Her daughter was a youngling on Dragon Island who blamed herself for her root mother’s death. We had to seek out the woman’s essence to assure the youngling she wasn’t at fault. Luckily, she hadn’t been reborn yet. In fact, I believe she might have stayed in the Netherworld because of her daughter’s guilt.”
Siri nodded and pushed several tinkling braids over her shoulder. “How many Sages did you assist?”
“Two. Neither were as strong as Adelsik but both had decades of training behind them.” Sadness touched her voice.
Despite the proud feelings that welled up, Adelsik wondered what happened to these Sages. Lyssinya was the only Sage slumberer now. Another had slumbering Energy, a bit more than Thad, but not enough to enter dreams on his own, so not a true slumberer. She studied the woman but got no more than a brief glance in return.
Siri nodded. “All right. We should be able to do this without too much trouble. Let’s begin.”
The four joined hands in a small circle. Colors brightened all around Adelsik and she felt heat from the three other women as the Energy flared with their combined strength. The sweet scent of flowers filled her senses, like a vast meadow. Lyssinya’s essence less powerful than Siri’s, with Wren’s the weakest. Adelsik couldn’t tell just where her own power stood among these women and she put the thought from her mind. She had to force concentration on the task just as she’d done during practice lessons.
Soon, the flowery aroma felt as though it had always been with her, a combined scent, natural and potent. The familiar weightlessness seemed to lift her otherself and float her just above the ground, though she knew she hadn’t moved. Dreams tapped and bounced off her senses as the wave pushed its way outward like pond waves from a dropped rock. Cold heat pulsed against her mind, specters. But they were brief. Many didn’t desire to associate with the living, even a slumberer. Adelsik sucked in quick breaths as her awareness expanded, pressing outward at distances she could never accomplish alone.
The dreams grew in number, almost to distraction, and she forced concentration on seeking the void. Could it be here? Her question seemed to echo in her mind.
Farther out the combined awareness crept until she thought her breath would push from her body. But she had no body here, just her otherself. The mundane body reacted to everything a slumberer did in the Netherworld. Perhaps she truly was losing breath. She couldn’t tell. The wave slowed until it finally stopped. This was as far as they could go.
Lyssinya’s voice came to her through a haze. “Be still. Wait and listen.”
Adelsik managed to quiet her breaths. At first, nothing unusual caught her senses. Then, just as she thought Lyssinya would order them to retreat, she felt it. The empty touch of the void. “There.” Her voice sounded as though she spoke through a thick blanket. “Coming closer.”
The other three women acknowledged her and they waited. Something bounced off the wave. A footprint of a large, mountain cat. It was void of color except for yellow eyes, bereft of substance, empty and hollow. There seemed to be an intelligent presence within. It brought the reek of death combined with life, something Adelsik couldn’t explain even to herself, but she sensed that whomever this footprint belonged to was partly responsible for the void. She couldn’t be certain, but she feared this empty stranger sensed her too. Then the void hit like a tidal wave of cold death. Adelsik fought to keep from retching as nausea built.
“Pull back!” Lyssinya barked.
The four allowed the seeker wave to recede and flow back toward their otherselves. Not too quickly, for they were still joined in Energy. But the trip back seemed much faster and soon Adelsik’s awareness separated from the others. Lyssinya took her hand away and the four slumberers stood breathless and weakened.
Siri waved a hand. “Get back to your bodies.”
Adelsik wasted not a heartbeat following that order and awoke in the back of a wagon, with blankets drawn across as shelter from the sunlight.
The three healers took turns leaning over each prone woman.
“No need, Haranda,” Predula said. “They’re back.”
The chestnut-haired Gypsy sat up, a frown on her face. She had been preparing to come after them just as Siri had ordered.
What in the name of the Goddess had gone on with their mundane bodies? Adelsik sat but it took all her strength to do so. Her muscles ached and her mouth was dry. Hunger pained her stomach now. “Food.” Her voice sounded harsh, as though she hadn’t used it in several days.
“Already ordered,” Predula assured her. “What were you four doing? Blood rushes through your bodies as though you’ve been racing uphill for half a day.”
Three servants brought food and drink, and Predula insisted the patients be hand fed. An order that didn’t sit well with Lyssinya, until the Sage healer called her down.
Adelsik finished two servings
of some type of stew and unleavened bread, then washed it all down with fresh stream water. Nothing had ever tasted so good. When bellies were satisfied, they explained to Haranda and the healers what had happened.
“Do you think you can locate this footprint again, Elder?” Haranda’s eyes narrowed in concern and something that looked like fear touched them briefly.
“I have no doubt of that. But we need to regain our strength. Whoever it was traveled in a dream that seems to follow the void. I got the sense he or she can’t conceal the footprint from the four of us combined. We should be able to enter that dream as any other.” She glanced at Lyssinya and Wren, who nodded in agreement.
“You won’t do that alone,” Payatt said. The Sage healer had skin as dark as Tsianina’s and spoke in a quiet manner that forced anyone listening to lean close.
“We would go together,” Siri assured him.
Adelsik for one didn’t care to enter such a dream alone, no matter how strong a slumberer she was. “There’s something else, Elder.” All eyes focused on her. “I believe whoever that was knew we were there.” From the looks she received, the other slumberers must not have sensed that. “Didn’t you feel it?” They offered worried glances to each other.
Haranda tore her eyes from Adelsik to Siri. “You think this could be true, Elder?”
Siri studied her. “Adelsik is a stronger slumberer than either Lyssinya or I. She’s still training but I have to trust her senses.”
Haranda looked as though she would place hands on her hips but they stayed on her folded knees. “Then you need to be extremely careful when you walk in this person’s dreams, Elder.”
“Yes. We certainly do.” Fear touched her eyes for an instant. “For now, we should rest.”
* * * *
When Adelsik awoke, night had passed and dawn grew lighter. She hadn’t slumbered again, nor did she remember dreaming. Her body felt refreshed and hungry. When she sat, she realized no one else was in the wagon, so she slipped on her stockings and boots and crept outside.
