by Dana Davis
“Son of a stinger bush.” Ved’nuri gave her a hard look, and she realized she’d spoken aloud. She dropped into a deep curtsy. “My apologies, Ved’nuri.” She knew better than to curse in front of the woman. Younglings weren’t allowed such infringements. And Gypsies had no tolerance for breaking such a rule, though Saldia didn’t know the reason for their strictness.
The crowned woman didn’t say the usual retort. Instead, she uttered, “Stand up, youngling,” in a dangerous voice.
Saldia’s heart raced as she obeyed and she focused on several tiny insects near her feet. Before she could count, Ved’nuri cupped her chin and a blue glow surrounded her. She cried out as the crowned woman’s sparking Energy engulfed her for an instant, stinging her flesh. The servants didn’t look up.
“I will accept apologies from Gypsies and servants for cursing in my presence, but you are still a youngling. Until you’ve made your oaths to the Goddess, you’ll remember that. And I will remind you.”
“Yes, Ved’nuri.” Blazes!
“Very good. Now, we’ll have midday meal and you’ll try this exercise again.”
Saldia nodded and promised herself to do better.
Chapter 39
Emergency bells went off in the middle of the night and sent a stream of panicked younglings into the village circle. Gypsies, many with orbs hovering near their heads, ran this way and that in an attempt to catch the strays. Xiath corralled several and made them wait this side of the hill before he found the new-oathed Gypsies. They too, attempted to round up frightened younglings, and the chosen leader made his way to the hill, waving arms in the dim moonlight to attract the attention of the others. Raith Ber, one of the new teachers, bellowed instructions.
Xiath grabbed the arm of a passing girl and turned her to face him. “Henny.” The girl had a stricken, fearful look on her face. “Get to the hill now and wait to follow the new-oathed to the dome.”
She nodded and bolted that direction, tripping over her nightdress. Xiath had taken in the Energy, which helped him sense the others, somewhat, but so many kin moved in all directions that he had trouble picking out the younglings. Finally, he seized three more and sent them to the hill. Two others caught his eyes and his senses. He moved closer and recognized Kal crouched near a tree with Eletha starting to climb up. Xiath was about to step to them when Haranda beat him there.
“What in the name of the Goddess are you two doing? Get your backside down from there, Eletha.” The girl obeyed, somewhat reluctantly, and Haranda latched onto both younglings once she was down. “Get to the hill. Now!” She gave them a shove in that direction.
If that had been Saldia instead of Kal, Xiath would have thought this night was what Thad saw in a vision at the beach. The boy logged every vision, as per youngling rules, including those he could remember from his past. Another girl in a youngling dress flew toward the hill in a panic, one of Predula’s. Xiath sighed. It was one thing to implement emergency plans but quite another to carry them out smoothly.
His heart drummed against his chest and he wondered just who had entered the Means. Even the Elders on watch wouldn’t be able to sense much from here, only that someone had entered. That was enough for them to ring the bells. Xiath could see nothing but dim shadows beyond the twined oaks, and the guards and hunters had lined up, creating a barrier between that area and the cottages.
“Is that everyone?” Wren stepped to his side.
He glanced around in the flickering light of several fire pits. Now when had servants lit those? “I don’t see any more younglings,” he said to his bedfriend. “I’m having trouble sensing them since they’re flitting everywhere in panic. Has someone checked the cottages?”
“I’ll handle that. You might want to get a head count, just in case the new-oathed forgot.” She turned toward the cottages.
“Good idea.” By the time he got up the hill, the younglings were huddled, some crying, and one of the new-oathed rattled off names from a list while Raith observed.
“Everyone’s here, Xiath,” the teacher finally told him.
“All right. Send them to the dome.”
Raith barked the order. Three new-oathed circled behind the younglings, like shepherds herding a flock over the hill.
Wren stepped toward Xiath. “Everyone has been counted,” he told her. “The younglings are headed to safety. We should get to our positions.” He took his bedfriend by the arm and led her into the darkness past the twined oaks, both with orbs hovering near their heads. The other Gypsies rushed toward the area too. Most of the Elders were already gathered and the numerous orbs gave off enough light to see quite clearly now. “Have the Vedi arrived?” Xiath said to Finlor, who had a frown on his face.
“We’re here,” Ved’mana said from behind them. He had a hand on Ved’nuri’s arm as they walked. Xiath started to bow but the crowned man waved him off. “No formalities.”
The Vedi led the group toward the invisible door to the Means with guards and hunters taking positions of defense. Other servants stood behind them in case a youngling came through. No one would step through without notice. The Gypsies formed the partial Energy hold in anticipation of having to use it. A hold wouldn’t keep the stranger from harnessing the Energy, only from using it. Elder Siri Nebarin joined the Vedi in making the triangle, while the others formed the circle around them, leaving a portion open near the doorway, which now appeared as solid rock.
“I sensed someone on my shift,” Finlor told the Vedi in his low, steady voice. “Not Lombreeth, thank the Goddess, but this person harnesses the Energy. I can’t tell whether we’re dealing with a youngling or an errant. And I’m afraid I can’t distinguish male from female Energy at this distance.” The Elder frowned.
The Vedi nodded and both concentrated on the closed doorway. The Means seemed to be just the other side of the passageway when a person stepped through, but in reality was quite distant, covering vast amounts of space. He also felt someone in the Means but that was all his Energy allowed.
After a heartbeat, Ved’nuri turned to her mate. “I sense only one.”
“We’re dealing with female Energy, yes?” Ved’mana asked.
“Yes, that’s what I feel too.”
Soon the rock swirled and created an opening. Xiath felt tension from the others prick at him like thousands of tiny raindrops in a hard wind. He focused on the doorway as he stood his place in the circle between Wren and Haranda. When a young girl stumbled through with a look of pure bliss on her face, Predula stepped close.
“A child,” Ved’nuri said.
They waited while the girl, not much older than nine or ten, writhed in the Goddess’s grasp. Her face contorted with effort as her body grew from child to woman, dress and underclothes flung to the ground during her intense development. She stood much taller now and naked. Xiath and the other men turned away but held their places. Soon Ved’nuri encouraged the child to release the Energy.
The new youngling cried out and the task was finished. Another Gypsy-child had come home. Women rustled around him but no one left. The doorway was still open, which meant another was inside.
“Get this youngling some clothes.”
“I’ll see to that, Ved’nuri.” One of the seamstresses led the weeping woman-child toward the cottages.
Xiath watched the retreating figures briefly before turning back to the doorway and wondered how the new youngling would cope with such rapid growth. Gypsy-children were called so young now.
Ved’nuri turned to her mate. “I don’t sense another. Must be a middling.”
They didn’t have to wait long for the answer. Soon, a man wielding a long knife stepped through and was taken down in the grasp of Ved’nuri’s urging Energy. The doorway closed. One of the guards took the intruder’s weapon. Servants bound his eyes and mouth, while others brought a goat-pulled cart. They lifted the middling onto the cart then pulled him toward the village circle. There, they removed his shirt and tied him to one of the three poles. Ved’mana gave the whipping
servant a nod and the large man stood at the intruder’s back.
Xiath saw Greges wince as the whip made contact with the intruder’s flesh. A muffled cry sounded through the rag that bound his mouth. Someone whimpered and Xiath caught a glimpse of the new youngling with her arms wrapped around Predula. Wren rubbed the girl’s back and she calmed.
Once five lashes were administered, as per Goddess law, servants took the rags from the middling’s eyes and mouth. Ved’mana nodded to his wife. She released the urging and the intruder wept openly, clinging to the pole.
“Who are you?” Ved’nuri pulled him by his graying hair. “Why have you come here?”
“He’s my mother’s husband,” the new youngling said, and all eyes turned to her. She visibly trembled at the gazes of so many Gypsies and clung to Predula for support. “I can do things. He—he tried to kill me when he found out.” Those innocent eyes widened when she saw her attacker’s knife in a servant’s hand and she pointed. “With that! I ran away to Faint Mountains and hid in a cave.” She whimpered and Wren rubbed her back again. “He found me there and followed me into the beautiful tunnel. I ran and ran.” Very young eyes focused on Ved’nuri. “Please, Mistress, don’t let him hurt me.”
“I guarantee he’ll do no such thing.” Ved’nuri turned her attention back to the intruder. “Why have you tried to harm that child?”
The middling studied the girl and recognition filled his face. “She’s evil. See, she has a woman’s body now so she can seduce innocent men. The girl is evil.” His voice was strained and his eyes wild. “And so are you. I’ll kill you all for what you are! For what you’ve done! I’ll kill you! Vile! Evil!”
He sounded insane. He wouldn’t be accepted. Xiath felt for the child, having a man who had taken her father’s place harbor so much animosity against her.
Ved’mana stepped near his wife and focused on the intruder. “You won’t have that chance.”
The vile man went stiff under Ved’nuri’s urging again. Ved’mana motioned to two guards, who untied the man and dragged him over the hill toward the dome with the Vedi and several Elders following. No doubt they would take his memory and send him back through the Means to let the Goddess exact Her punishment, whatever that may entail.
“Xiath, we need to get the younglings.”
He nodded at Wren, his bedmate. A glance at Haranda and Predula, who comforted the new child, then he walked with the other mothers and fathers toward the dome to bring the younglings back.
Chapter 40
The dome’s waiting room floor was cool as Taniras sat and cradled Henny. She watched the new-oathed men and women talk quietly as they tried to figure out just who had wandered into the Means and caused the Elders to ring the alarm bells. Jealousy surged and she pushed the feeling down.
Gypsies and servants were out there somewhere, protecting. Taniras worried about her friends. Birek was here, of course, but Snowy, Camlys and Greges had no Energy, no way of defending themselves against an attack from someone like Lombreeth. They had to rely on the Gypsies and the Vedi. That thought knotted Taniras’s stomach and she fought the sourness that rose in her throat.
Maesa sat the other side of Henny and caressed the girl’s hair. All three women had their nightdresses pulled around their legs. Henny had wept like a small child but she’d been afraid, was afraid, and could do nothing to calm her own fears. Her Energy worked on others but she hadn’t yet learned to use it on herself. Besides, none of them could use the Energy now, not inside the dome. They simply had to wait.
One of the dome servants filled a cup with water and pushed it to Henny’s lips. “Drink youngling,” he said. “You look as though you’ll fall over.”
“Thank you.” She drank the entire contents and handed the cup back to him.
He smiled and moved to check on others.
Then one of the female servants crouched near Taniras and wiped Henny’s face with a cool, wet cloth. “Don’t worry, youngling. The Vedi are strong. Your mothers and fathers are strong. They’ll return shortly.” She smiled.
Henny nodded and burrowed into Taniras’s embrace. A song from Taniras’s childhood filled her mind. Her root mother had sung the unusual lullaby to her on numerous occasions. She never learned what the words meant, only that they comforted her when she was frightened or upset. She rocked Henny as she sang and soon the girl relaxed.
Maesa studied her with that raven-like face. “I don’t know how you did that, Taniras. But she’s tranquil now.”
The female servant stepped close and peered down on her. “What did you do, youngling? You can’t draw on the Energy here. I know that’s not possible.”
“She’s tired and I sang to her.” The woman’s eyes narrowed. “It’s a children’s lullaby.” Why was the woman so upset? Bloody servants. “My mother used to sing it to me when I was little and had trouble sleeping. I haven’t pulled in the Energy. I can’t even feel it in the dome. Besides, I don’t have calming Energy.”
“Still, I think Ved’nuri will be interested in you.”
Taniras must have flinched or something because the servant’s voice became soothing. “Don’t fret, youngling. You’re not in trouble.”
Why would she be in trouble? She had done nothing except croon a lullaby to her youngest clan sister. Henny became heavy as she slept.
Maesa studied her with sharp eyes and smiled. “That was lovely. Sing again.”
Taniras eyed the servant and thought better of that. “Later,” she said, and Maesa nodded her understanding.
Strange how attached Taniras had become to these girls and to the Gypsies. She still had thoughts of running away but wanted to hone her skills with the Energy first. Not her animal urging talents but her sparking skills, and anything else the Goddess might bless her with during these idiotic youngling days. Sparking would become very useful if she could bloody master it. Two orbs were all she could create and that still bothered her. She stretched her neck to relieve some of the tension. Henny stirred but didn’t wake. There was stillness from the dome floor, not the familiar vibration she was used to, and she felt loss at not being able to sense the Energy. That added to her frustration and she gritted her teeth. Adsagwen crossed to her and sat. The woman had her new-oathed dress on.
“You know anything, Gwen?”
The woman shook her head and the silver hair bangles tinkled. Taniras wondered at the numerous braids that fell to the new-oathed woman’s waist. Must have taken quite a while to create.
“No more than you know,” Gwen said. “Or anyone else here. The others will come for us once the danger has passed.”
“I’m not daft.” She had discovered that she was two moons older than Gwen. The woman had attained new-oathed status before Taniras arrived here seven moons ago. Had seven moons passed already?
One brow went up and Gwen studied her. “I’ll ignore that because we’re all on edge. But you had better learn to quell that temper, youngling.”
Henny mumbled in her sleep and Taniras shifted the girl’s weight. “Shh. Everything is all right.” Henny quieted. “My apologies, Gwen. I am on edge. I don’t like feeling threatened. I don’t like that my friends are out there, facing Goddess knows what.”
Gwen smiled and one crooked tooth stood out against the straight ones. “Neither do I. Apology accepted. I know it bothers you that you’re still a youngling too.” Taniras stiffened and nodded. “And you really don’t like animals, do you?”
“Filthy beasts.”
The woman snickered. “The Goddess has something planned for you, Taniras Ei’sele. You must trust that She’s given you the proper Energy.”
Taniras studied Gwen. The woman acted more and more like a full Gypsy with each passing sunrise. Of course, Taniras didn’t believe all that drivel about her Energy being chosen just for her, or she would have been a body-healer. Gwen and the other new-oathed often spouted similar words of encouragement, though. Sometimes, she wanted to smack the lot of them. She had drawn the short stick amon
g the long, as they said back in Maricar, and that was that.
A bustle out in the hallway caught her attention and she watched the large gilded door. Voices filled the quiet and soon the door opened. Mothers, fathers, teachers and advisors stepped inside.
“There’s no danger.” Xiath smiled. “We can all go back to bed.”
Taniras nudged Henny awake.
Haranda crossed and knelt in front of the girl. “Let’s get you to bed, youngling.” She pulled Henny to her feet.
Taniras got up and helped steady her youngest clan sister.
The girl yawned. “I’m so glad to see you, Mother Haranda. Is everyone all right?”
“Everyone is fine.” Haranda gave her a slight smile. “And you have a new clan sister. One even younger than you when I found you.”
That seemed to excite Henny and she walked on her own out of the dome and turned toward the hill. Younglings were allowed to create orbs now and the area lit up. Suddenly, Henny began to skip as they started toward the hill and Taniras eyed her.
Haranda placed a hand on the girl’s arm. “What are you doing, youngling?”
“I feel wonderful right now. Do I get to meet my new clan sister?” She gave the woman an expectant look. “What’s her name?”
“Bhrighana.”
“Oh, that’s lovely.” Henny focused on Taniras. “Don’t you think it’s lovely, Taniras?”
She nodded and gave Haranda a sideways look. Henny’s exuberance annoyed her and she wanted to shake the girl.
“What’s wrong with you, youngling?” Haranda kept a hand on Henny’s arm and studied her. “You haven’t been sipping cider wine have you?”
“Oh, no, Mother Haranda!” Wine was only for special occasions and very limited to younglings. “I drank water that a dome servant gave me. That’s all.”
The others glanced at her, and she focused on the grass as they made their way down the other side of the hill.
Taniras watched servants clean one of the poles. Someone had been whipped. But whom? Not the new clan sister. The poles were for intruders not kin. A middling must have come through the Means. She pushed down irritation at not knowing more.
