Part of Sojun’s job today was to keep Kaie in his home. They all heard stories of people running away from an unwanted fate by escaping to the woods. The tribe didn’t hold anyone hostage. If that’s what he wanted, they would let him go. But, since those people invariably tried to return to the family after a day or two, it was understood that sometimes the future took some time to adjust to. That was why he was given two days. And his witnesses were supposed to ensure he didn’t do anything to hurt himself in the meantime. None of which mattered now, except that Sojun wouldn’t let Kaie run back to the Lemme. Not when there was a chance he would be seen, and certainly not alone.
He needed to wait until Sojun fell asleep before returning to her foul-smelling hut. He was going to ask her if he was a seer. She could tell him. And if she said no, there was no reason for the dishonesty at all. But if Jun was there with him Kaie knew he would lack the courage. He wouldn’t be able to face his friend, so eager to risk everything for his sake, if her answer was yes. Not knowing what Kosa would do to everyone who sheltered him.
But he didn’t want to think that. She was probably going to tell him he wasn’t a seer. They weren’t true visions, after all. Men saw directly. Not seas of blood or dragons setting the world ablaze.
When Fate, the goddess Lemme, first left her mark upon her descendants, there were men and women in equal numbers. They were tasked with leading the children of Elysium along the paths she envisioned for them.
But the genders perceived the future differently. Women saw in parables. Their glimpses of past and future were richer, could encompass far more possibilities, but they were cloaked in imagery that could take many years to sort out properly. Even then, only the gifted daughters could truly decipher what they saw. Men experienced no such troubles. While their sight was shorter than that of their sisters and mothers, they could see events the way they would unfold. Real death, real birth, real conversations. They were able to know exactly what was coming and often when. Because of the differences, the two genders drifted, neither finding much value in the way the other dealt with the future.
Then came the most gifted seer. His name, once forbidden, was now utterly lost. Not even Lodan could recall hearing of a single soul who knew it. His story remained as a warning to all that would follow in his shadow.
He was remarkable, able to see far longer and deeper than any man before him. As he grew into his ability he could surpass even the gifted daughters. And he was celebrated in every corner of Elysium for it. Until he saw Kosa, god of destruction, the one who would swallow the world on the last day.
Always before, the movements of the gods were hidden from mortal sight. The days when they warred over souls was ended. Each god held the Accord, limiting their interaction with their children and settling their disputes with their Guardians. But Kosa, who was always fond of trickery and lies, wasn’t content with waiting for the final days to reclaim the power he lost in the Accord. He began moving slowly, extending his influence by such small degrees that no one noticed. Even Lemme and her partner Maal never voiced concern over the web Kosa was weaving.
How the seer first realized it was also lost to history. But when he did, he did not wait to determine the best way to unhook Kosa’s claws from the mortal world. He acted, ripped them out with no thought to the damage done. He shared his visions with every male seer he could find. Together they undid all Kosa’s carefully crafted plans. In a single generation, nearly all of the god’s followers were dead. Those remaining were so deep in hiding that no one was ever certain what became of them.
Kosa was enraged. He moved to smite all seers from Elysium in an instant. Lemme was stirred to action, for she would never forget her children. She stood between Kosa and his vengeance, and she would not be moved. Turmoil raged in the abyss for a hundred years. The war that the Accord put an end to rose up again, pulling in the mortals as well. Soon all life was once more at the brink of extinction. Kosa, fat with his power, was preparing to open his jaws.
In the last moments, Maal’s voice was heard for the first time in mortal memory. It said one word. “Stop.”
When time resumed, a new Accord was reached. A compromise which left all parties unhappy was agreed to and bound in the blood of gods. Kosa was forbidden to kill Lemme’s line. But on the males he placed a horrible curse. They would be the center of his ire until the day the last of her descendants perished. Any who gave them shelter would suffer and die horribly. Kosa would punish all they loved, as he could not punish them, for the mistake that one man made.
If Kaie was a seer then that was the fate waiting for Sojun and Amorette. For the whole family. And he would survive it. He would watch as their misery unfolded, knowing it was because he loved them. Except he wasn’t a seer. They weren’t visions. Men saw directly.
“What do you think it means, Jun? What the Lemme said?”
“It means you’re almost more trouble than you’re worth, Rosy.” Sojun dropped his hand on Kaie’s shoulder in the same comforting gesture from a few hours and another lifetime ago. “More than that, I’m not going to think on.”
Five
Sojun fell asleep quickly but it was the longest wait of Kaie’s life. His friend was out almost the moment the sun was low enough that the light stopped streaming in from the holes in the thatched roof. It was a couple of hours; more than enough time for Kaie to drive himself crazy.
Just like every night spent together since they were three years old, Jun snored. He also slept so soundly that there was no worry of waking him. Kaie could leave singing loud enough to wake the whole village and his friend wouldn’t even stir. He didn’t sing though. He slipped out of his house as quietly as if it were his mother asleep on the floor by the dying fire. He never once got past her but trying as much as he did meant that he was plenty good at sneaking around.
Impossible or not, the village seemed even quieter than before. Silent, like right before a storm that ripped apart everything in its path. It was probably just because of the gnawing fear nestled in the pit of Kaie’s stomach. Still, he couldn’t shake the image from his mind as he slipped past one darkened hut after another.
He was back at the Lemme’s in less than half the time it took the three of them to walk the distance in daylight. The path he took was a large part of that. More often than not, he was bypassing the road worn into the earth by the village’s feet walking the same places day after day in favor of a more direct route for one that passed dangerously close to the silent huts and took him through a garden or two. Not getting sick all over the place helped a lot too. But, with the way his insides were clenching and rolling, Kaie couldn’t rule that out as a possibility for this trip.
There was light seeping out from beneath the Lemme’s door. The sight of it drew Kaie up short. He almost turned back. He wanted to catch her unprepared, maybe even to wake her. He wanted the upper hand. It didn’t matter that she was an old woman, or that she was visibly sick. She was terrifying. Coming in when she was ready for him again was not an ideal arrangement. Besides, on the off chance that she really was just being cryptic before, he couldn’t think of any better way to avoid it this time then to rouse her from a sleep as deep as Sojun’s.
He needed to be sure. Before he could let Jun and Amorette risk everything for him he needed to be certain the Lemme wasn’t going to give them away. Somehow, he needed to convince her to stay quiet. Even with his mother.
Kaie pushed back in to the horrible smell.
She was sitting by her fire watching the door. When he stepped inside she locked her yellowed yes on him for all of a moment. Then she dropped them to tend to the flames.
“I expected you two hours ago.”
Despite all the curdling fear and tightly wound urge to flee Kaie found himself smiling. There was something wrong with him, that he planned to sneak up on a woman who saw into the future. “Yes Lemme. I’m sorry.”
She poked the fire with a fat stick, one too large for her fragile hands. The wood slippe
d from her fingers almost immediately. Kaie dropped to his knees and fished it out of the fire pit before it went up as well. Small flecks of heat glowed angrily as he set it aside.
Before he thought about what he was doing, he took over the whole task for her. Fingers darting in and around the flames with the culmination of sixteen years of fascination with the dangerous beasts, Kaie nudged the logs until they were settled properly. The fire threatened to die out completely. But he waited patiently. Its dramatics unanswered, the blaze flared up again, this time burning more evenly in the new arrangement. Once the need for constant care was abated he sat down across from her.
The Lemme’s eyes were locked on him as though he just did something profound. He felt heat rising in his cheeks under her scrutiny and was on the verge of protesting that it was nothing. It was, after all. His father did the same thing all the time. He nearly said so when she took pity and spoke first.
“I almost gave up on you coming.”
“I almost didn’t,” he confessed. “I didn’t want to.”
“I hoped you wouldn’t. I hoped you would refuse your friends.”
Kaie rocked backwards. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be shocked. It didn’t make much difference if he was. All he could manage to dredge up
Burnt (Blood and Fire Book 1) Page 6
