by Dana Davis
“Saldia? Can you hear me?”
“Yes, Haranda.” Why was she so weak? The calling. “I saw the Goddess Light.”
“I need to know you’re all right, youngling.”
“I got the calling.” Excitement overtook the memory of the blue pain Haranda had administered. She sat, cool sand against her private areas, and covered her breasts with her arms. Thad had his back turned.
Haranda smiled and caressed her cheek. The Gypsy looked relieved. “Yes, you did. You had a very strong calling, Saldia. You have the ability to walk in the shade. Shade walkers are very rare among Gypsies.”
“The shade?” Events came back slowly and she worked them out in her mind. “I was hiding from you. I stood near you and you couldn’t see me.”
The Gypsy nodded. “Where are your clothes, Saldia?” She looked amused.
Saldia’s face burned. Blazes! “I buried them behind that boulder.”
“I’ll fetch them,” Thad said quickly, and he walked away. A few heartbeats later, he approached. He looked comical walking backwards with Saldia’s dress and underbreeches flung over one arm.
Haranda crossed around in front of him and took the clothes. “Thank you. These are wet. Thad, please tell one of the girls to bring a blanket.
“Yes Haranda.” He trotted away without ever looking at Saldia.
Any man Saldia ever knew from the taverns wouldn’t have taken his eyes from a naked woman. She shivered in the cold wind.
“I could dry these but that would be a waste of Energy. Lucky for you, we don’t fall ill once near the calling or afterwards,” Haranda chided. “In fact, Gypsies rarely die of illness or disease even as children, long before anyone knows their destinies.” She helped Saldia to her feet.
Another breeze caused her to shiver and she thought on the Gypsy’s words. She’d known illness, mostly colds, headaches and such, but always recovered. She had broken a bone once and had received numerous welts and bruises throughout her younger days, but never suffered a grave illness. And Zarenia had survived the plague that ravaged her home. Before she could question Haranda, Maesa came hurrying up with a blanket in her hand. Haranda placed it around Saldia and held it while she walked on shaky legs to the cave.
“I was invisible.” Saldia dusted some of the sand from her naked body. Her legs still felt weak but at least they held her.
“Yes. You walked in the shade.” Haranda smiled.
“But you saw my footprints in the sand.”
“They helped lead me to you.”
“I remember. I was very upset by that.” She wiped at her damp face.
Haranda pulled her close. “I can’t wait to find out why you stripped off your clothes.”
Saldia chuckled and allowed the two women to support her as she walked, naked as the day she was born, toward her unusual and uncertain future.
Chapter 16
The others were up from their blankets, and Kal and Eletha gathered kindling as Thad waited for Haranda to get Saldia back to the cave so he could check her over. Adelsik dressed Nym and the lad grumbled until he saw Haranda. At the fire, Henny stoked the kindling, and Thad smiled as he passed her. He felt for the girls’ experiences with the calling and remembered his own disorientation. No one had helped him through that difficult stage.
As Saldia entered the cave, Thad latched onto Nym and stepped near the fire to offer the women privacy. The lad twisted his head but Thad quickly grabbed him and forced him to turn away. He heard shuffling and murmurs but remained facing out toward ocean. The urge to look at a naked woman, especially one as pretty as Saldia, pulsed through him, but he kept his eyes on a large wave. He’d seen naked women. But childbirth was different. Saldia wasn’t heavy with a babe and screaming out in pain. At least, she wasn’t screaming now. He had no desire to experience whatever the Gypsy had done to the poor tavern woman.
“All right, boys,” Haranda said. “She’s covered.”
Thad released Nym, turned and made his way to Saldia, who lay on the ground with the blankets tucked under her chin. She was naked under there and he found himself grinning. “You know, Haranda, had you been around when I got the calling, I wouldn’t have broken my arm trying to rescue an injured squirrel from a tree. That a fact.” The Gypsy definitely would’ve kept him out of that tree, or any tree, for that matter.
Haranda chuckled.
“I think you got off easy with a broken arm.” Saldia sniffed.
Thad smiled at her. “I have to touch you to check you over.” He rather liked the idea.
She grinned up at him without blushing then turned her attention on Haranda. “You are going to teach me bloody sparking skills, aren’t you?”
The Gypsy crossed her arms and stared down. “You’ll learn sparking, as I’ve told you. And you’ll experience my talent with it again if you don’t guard your language.” Her face softened and a smile lit those dark eyes.
Saldia grinned and averted her gaze. The Gypsy had intrusive and powerful eyes that stripped right through a body. It was all Thad could do to keep his own gaze focused when Haranda looked at him. He suspected it had to with the power she wielded, probably from decades of working with the Energy.
Meeting the other Gypsies in the Land of the Goddess would answer long-burning questions and he was prepared to go there. Anxious in fact. Saldia was the last to get the calling, so as soon as she was ready, they would leave. Though the Gypsy mentioned the Means on occasion, she was very evasive about just how they would find this Goddess place, but Thad had learned there were always things outside of his imaginings. The sight taught him that.
Saldia pleaded with Haranda to work with her now, and Thad watched the two a heartbeat. How could the Gypsy be as old as she claimed? She looked younger than he did. Stories about the sight taking lives early filled firesides and children’s bedrooms of Solinar, but Thad now had hope that he would forego the madness that plagued his mother until her early death. And seeing Haranda gave him hope for a long life.
“Teach me something now, Haranda.” Saldia’s brow furrowed. She had dropped the mistress title when the Gypsy had told them to simply use her given name. “I’m not a bloody invalid.”
“That will be quite enough.” Haranda’s tone reminded Thad of an irritated mother speaking to her wayward child. “You’ll do as I tell you. You had a particularly hard and late calling, my little shadow. Thad will check you over, and you’ll rest before I give you a single lesson in the Energy. And I look forward to your explanation about those.” One hand pointed to the wet clothes drying by the fire.
Saldia’s face burned and she averted her eyes again but she giggled. “I even surprise myself on occasion.”
The Gypsy laughed, much to Thad’s astonishment. The others, except Adelsik and Nym, chuckled.
Thad remembered Saldia’s brazen jokes so he leaned over her and grinned. “Had I known what you were up to, I would have come looking for you sooner.”
She laughed again and he caught the mischief in her eyes. “You be careful, healer. I might just invite you one day.”
“Enough you two,” Haranda said. “There are children present.” Amusement colored her eyes, though. She nodded to Thad. “Begin.”
He forced his attention on Saldia, but as his patient this time, and placed one hand on her forehead and the other on her wrist, feeling her strong pulse against his fingers. From the earth below, he pulled in the Energy. Awareness filled him. There were so many creatures in the sea, something that still astonished him. Their presence was different than what he felt with land animals. Ocean beasts felt, well, icy-hot. That was the only way he could explain it to himself.
He ignored the sea life and concentrated on Saldia as he pushed the healing Energy through skin, blood and muscle. Closer into the body the Energy took him, until he saw the particles that made up life. He located a fresh injured area on one of her legs, several minor scratches, probably from brushing against the boulder without clothes to protect her skin. Since Haranda wante
d her to rest, he decided to heal the scratches and he quickened the life particles, fusing them into new skin, healed skin. He then pressed the Energy around her body to find her a healthy woman, no other damage. So he pulled back, letting the Energy flow into the earth. Healing left him slightly weakened but the feeling would pass soon enough. Mostly, he wanted food.
Saldia slept as they all did when he performed a healing. He turned to Haranda. “Just some scratches. I healed those. Otherwise, she’s very healthy.”
The Gypsy smiled and placed a hand on his arm. “Take a walk, Thad. We need to get her dressed.”
He glanced at Saldia again and grinned, and Haranda gave him a curious look. Then he picked up his fishing spear and basket with one hand. “Come, Nym. Let’s catch fish for morning meal.”
The lad pushed his feet into his boots, and without bothering to tie them, bolted to Thad and took his free hand. The two walked outside and down the beach to their fishing spot.
“I want to climb on the rocks, Thad.”
“No.” Haranda had forbidden the boy to go anywhere near the pier or the water without supervision. Thad agreed. The sea could be dangerous and unpredictable. Not a place for impulsive lads.
“But I’m not as small as I was when we came here. My feet have growed. I just know it. They’re big enough to keep me on the rocks.”
“No.”
Nym pouted and pulled his hand away. “But that what I wanna do.”
“Then you should tell Gypsy Haranda your plans.” Thad dropped the basket and spear on the sand and removed his boots. The sand was beginning to warm. He retrieved his spear and stepped toward the water when he realized the lad had stopped a few paces back. Nym had his mouth open and stared, wide-eyed, at him. “There a problem?”
“Yes, Thad. I can’t tell Haranda. She’ll punish me.”
“I imagine she will.” It was all Thad could do to keep a straight face. Nym had become like a younger brother to him. “But you don’t seem to want to obey me about the rocks. So, you really should talk to Haranda about it.” He purposely turned and walked into the cool water up to his knees.
“But Thad—” Nym ran after him.
“Boots,” he said without looking. He knew the lad well enough now that some of his responses were habitual. Nym always forgot to take his boots off when they fished and Thad always reminded him. After a heartbeat or two, the lad was at his side in the water, arms out to steady his thin body against the waves. “Have you decided to talk to Haranda?”
Nym frowned and raised his voice above the sound of the waves and seabirds. “I won’t. She makes growed people cry.”
“That she does, lad.” He took aim with his left arm and pointed the spear with his right. Just as the swimming prey paused briefly, he speared it.
Nym immediately tried to grab the flailing fish and fell onto his bottom in the water, waves licking his face. He laughed and got to his feet. “That a big one.” Once the fish was motionless, Nym yanked it off the spear, carried it to shore and placed it in the basket.
Thad caught another almost immediately, though not quite as large.
Nym waited this time before he grabbed the thrashing fish. After he took it to the basket and returned, he squinted up at Thad. “Is Haranda really granmuda age?”
“Yes. But I wouldn’t call her that, if I were you.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t do that. She said she wouldn’t like it. She doesn’t look like any granmuda I ever saw.”
“No.” Thad was still grappling with that himself. He’d been attracted to her when she rode up on her horse with the others. Even now that he knew her age, she still caught his gaze. But she was old. His mind still reeled with the thought.
All of the women were nice to look at, but after knowing them a while, Thad had decided he liked Maesa most of all, even if she was too thin. At least she was marriage age. Not that he was thinking of marriage. Looking at her was pleasant. Most men might think her not as pretty as the others, but Thad liked her sharp features and the way she observed the people around her. She came from money and might never consider him for marriage, but he could still look.
The lass would be a good mind-healer once she put away her prejudices, which she’d begun to do. And he doubted those dark eyes missed much, especially where people were concerned. Mind-healing Energy certainly fit her personality, and Thad enjoyed their sessions together.
Saldia tore at him. The tavern woman put up with a lot of cruelty about her station in life. She hadn’t chosen the parents she came to, any more than anyone else. That was up to the gods—or Goddess. Thad liked her spirit. He also enjoyed looking at her, especially in the low cut bodice she wore. Henny was too young for marriage, of course, and Thad liked his women to look like women not children, so Eletha didn’t attract him that way, either.
Adelsik was another matter. The thin lass acted as though the world had been created for her alone, and she was cruel to those she thought didn’t belong, taking particular opportunities to berate Saldia. Her attitude would change now that Saldia had gone through the calling, and from what Thad had learned about Gypsies, to remain conscious during the calling was rare and a sign of great strength. Saldia would be above Adelsik in the Gypsy world. He would wager his boots on that. In fact, she would probably be above all of them, with the exception of Haranda.
The little treewalker needed taming for other reasons and Thad shook his head. He couldn’t fault the woman, though, growing up with nine brothers. Thad had no siblings but his parents never would have allowed a daughter to act the way Eletha did. Thad was learning not every province in the world had the same beliefs. Some, in fact, had disturbing customs.
Nym squealed as he tossed shells into the waves and Thad smiled at the lad.
His thoughts turned to the tall lass, Kal. She interested him too, but for different reasons. Kal was a hunter and a good fisherwoman and had accompanied him several times to the water. Women did the hunting in Nar where she was from. She was respectful of others and not as brazen as Eletha, but Thad suspected she could hold her own against any man’s rough tongue. Kal claimed to be at the age of choice and could pick a husband, but seventeen wasn’t marriage age by Solinar’s standards. Or Thad’s.
Zarenia was beautiful and marriage age. Thad especially liked how she filled out the man’s tunic she wore, but the woman seemed more interested in learning about everyone else, especially Haranda. She’d offered to fish with Thad on a few occasions. Despite the man’s clothes she wore, Zarenia held herself as a queen might, and he’d heard enough snippets of her conversations to know she came from money and power. His breeches grew tight in the crotch and he pushed thoughts of the women away before Nym noticed. The cold water helped.
The lad pointed out another fish and Thad speared it. He had been fishing since he was younger than Nym and the task seemed instinctive to him now.
Three large fish and several clams later, they had enough for morning meal. The sea creatures, along with the bread, cheese, dried fruits and nuts Haranda brought, would keep them from starvation before they reached the Land of the Goddess.
Thad crossed to his boots and pulled out one of his knives. Nym sat on the sand and watched as he gutted and cleaned the fish in the ocean waves. The lad took a nut from his pocket and popped it into his mouth. Haranda had tried to break him of that habit, but Thad told her it was hopeless just yet. The lad had been hungry for a long while, and it would be several moons before he stopped tucking away extra morsels.
When he thought Haranda and the others had enough privacy for their task, Thad scooped up the basket of fish and his spear. “Let’s get these in for cooking, lad.” He had never thought he would tire of eating fish and clams until he came here, but now he longed for something else and hoped the Land of the Goddess offered a variety of eats.
Nym grabbed his boots then ran ahead and doubled back all the way to the cave. Thad couldn’t remember when he had that much liveliness. His childhood seemed to have disappeared so lon
g ago, just a distant memory now. The cave was only a few paces away when he felt a vision coming and quickly put down his burdens. The Energy forced its way in as it always did with visions, bringing keen awareness with it.
He stared at the fire as the image of a woman occupied his mind. She had her back turned and long hair tied in a scarf. She stood next to a large tree and had her neck craned, looking up. Something startled her and she turned around. Saldia. What was she doing? Her face looked strained and hands clenched her skirts. Then she disappeared. She was still there but Thad couldn’t see her. The tree rustled and he looked up to see Eletha balancing on an unsteady branch, her frightened gaze focused on something in the distance. Thad heard a wolf howl and a woman he didn’t recognize stepped in the direction of the tree. Her skin was dark and her hair black but he couldn’t see her face. Then, as quickly as it came, the vision was gone along with the Energy.
“Thad?” Haranda stood near and studied him with those dark, probing eyes. “What did you see?”
“Saldia and Eletha. In a forest, somewhere, I think. Eletha was up a tree.”
“Finally,” Eletha said.
Thad realized everyone watched him, except Saldia. She must still be asleep inside the cave. Of course she was. He had done the healing on her.
“Quiet, Eletha.” Haranda gave the little woman a hard look and she lowered her head for an instant. “What else, Thad?”
“Saldia walked in the shade. A wolf howled and another woman, dark-skinned appeared. I couldn’t see her face.” He shrugged. “That all I got. The message wasn’t clear like some visions. I’m not certain what to do with it.”
“All right,” the Gypsy said. “We’re not in a forest right now so the vision won’t happen here.” She wrinkled her nose. “You might want to bathe while the girls attend to morning meal.” Her tone didn’t imply a suggestion and she handed him a worn bar of soap.
