by D. L. Kramer
Paki did as he was instructed. "Do Zakris or Jensina ask for any offerings?" he asked.
"Zakris asks for only love and loyalty," Isak said as he pulled out a brazier and a bag of coals. "Jensina loves nature. Leaving a handful of flowers on the steps in her temples is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give her." He handed Paki the brazier. "Set this down in the altar and fill it with coals."
Paki took the heavy cast iron and positioned it in the fire pit of the altar. He filled it with coals from the bag, then handed the bag back.
"What else?" he asked.
"Soon the girls from the kitchen will come with baskets of wildflowers," Isak explained. "They will set one bunch at the edge of each pew. Then we only have to wait until nightfall."
"Can anyone come?" Paki asked. He hadn't ever been to services before, but didn't want to intrude if it was just for certain people.
"Of course," Isak smiled. "Mo'ani would actually like it if everyone could come at once, but the cathedral isn't big enough to hold that many people. So the few days I'm here, I'll hold service at dawn and at nightfall, giving everyone a chance to come.
Paki nodded his head and traced a line of red stitching in the cloth. Something occurred to him, he and Bear had run the only wagon to the village that day and the priest hadn't been here yesterday.
"How did you get here?" he asked, looking up at Isak.
Isak looked surprised. "I have my own horse," he answered. "Because the Archbishop and I have different views on matters, I can't come by the main roads."
"Oh," Paki looked down at the stitching again. He was aware of Isak as he finished setting up behind the altar. He placed small braziers before each of the statues and poured a few coals in each one. When everything was set, Paki excused himself. He slipped out of the cathedral and into the late afternoon.
Paki kept quiet at supper that night, though Bear was talking almost non-stop and didn't seem to notice his silence. Mo'ani once again made an appearance toward the end of the meal, this time to announce that Pater Isak was at the Stronghold again and the first service would be at sunset.
"Are you going?" one of the girls asked everyone else at the table.
"I have to," Bear said. "It's the anniversary of my mother's death. Besides, the Pater made me promise to attend first service the next time he came."
"Why'd he make you promise that?" one of the boys asked, mopping up the last of his gravy with a biscuit. "I thought he didn't care if we went or not, just the students and apprentices."
"He told me the only way I'd be able to forgive the bastards who murdered my mother was to see what Zakris and his daughters really wanted from their church." Bear shrugged and began breaking his last biscuit into small pieces.
"I say," said another girl. "The only way you can forgive them is to cut their throats."
"And do it with Mo'ani's blessings!" another boy crowed.
"Or cut their hearts out," said a third boy.
Paki listened as they talked of the worst things Bear could do to avenge his mother's death. With each idea, the murderers' deaths became more violent and bloody.
Paki kept his silence, not wanting to interrupt, even though he didn't agree with the other's suggestions. He agreed that if Bear's mother was murdered, then whoever did it should be punished. The others' suggestions didn't seem like the right way, though.
After eating, Paki excused himself. He left his tray in one of the dish barrels with the other dirty dishes, then returned to the cathedral.
Pater Isak was nowhere to be seen, but Paki didn't mind. He was hoping to have a few minutes of quiet before everyone showed up for the service. The wildflowers Isak had mentioned were placed and the braziers stood ready to light. In anticipation of the dark, torches along the walls were lit and heavy drapes pulled over the windows.
The silence had become almost absolute when people started arriving. The pews slowly but steadily filled with students, apprentices and several cloaked Mo'ani. Bear showed up and soon found Paki. He plopped onto the seat beside him.
"Why'd you disappear so fast?" he asked.
Paki shrugged. "I don't like talking about ripping someone's intestines out and strangling them with them," he said. "I've seen the insides of too many animals to want to do that to a person."
Bear slumped down in the seat. "I kind of liked that idea," he confessed. "There was something poetic about it."
"I'm sorry about your mother," Paki apologized. "I didn't know she was killed."
"We didn't either until someone from another village came and told us they'd found her body."
"Boys," Mo'ani's voice came from the pew behind them. "Now's not the time to talk of such things," he advised. "You have plenty of time for that during the day."
"Yes, M'lord," Bear muttered. Apparently he'd been reprimanded for this subject before.
Pater Isak appeared shortly after and began the service by lighting the braziers. The coals burned brightly and warmly, pushing out the autumn chill starting to drift into the cathedral.
Paki found himself entranced by the service. Isak spoke of the love Zakris had for all the people and condemned the sacrifices the Archbishop insisted on. He then spoke briefly of Nahtan's coming and asked the students and apprentices to work toward being cloaked, because only the cloaked Mo'ani would be his army. He also spoke of the freedom Nahtan would give to men, stopping the Archbishop and making the church what it once was.
The service ended with Isak making an offering of new wheat in each of the braziers before the statues, then inviting everyone else to make their own offerings. Most everyone stood up and filed to the front of the room. Some placed offerings in each of the braziers while others placed them in only one. Bear grabbed Paki's sleeve and pulled him into the line with him.
"I don't want to go alone," he confessed.
"But I didn't bring anything," Paki said.
"That's okay," Bear pushed Paki ahead of him onto the dais. "It won't make them mad."
Paki walked before each of the statues. He noticed that a variety of things were put into the coals. Food, flowers, stones, cloth and ribbons were the items he could identify, the others had already been consumed by the smoldering coals. Bear came behind him, placing a yellow, oddly-swirled bead into each brazier.
"What was the bead for?" he asked Bear as they stepped off the dais.
"They were from a necklace of my mother's," Bear said. "I put one in each fire so whichever god she's with can give it to her."
They were soon out in the night air. Their breath came in thin wisps in the chill as they made their way into the yard.
"It's about curfew," Bear said. "Mo'ani will be watching tonight to make sure we're all in the barracks on time."
"I just want to check on the stallion and mare," Paki said. "Then I'll be in."
Bear nodded his head and turned towards the building where their rooms were. Paki made a quick check on his horses, then followed after.
Paki's days soon fell into a comfortable routine. He spent his mornings in the library with Meda working on his reading and writing, then every third day he and Bear drove a wagon to town for supplies. The days he didn't drive a wagon, he spent his afternoons working in the stables. His friendship with Bear continued to grow, as did his acquaintances with the other boys and girls his age. By the time winter came, he and Bear knew most of each other's past and many of their hopes for the future.
Bear was determined to be a Mo'ani no matter what it took. He knew it wasn't going to be easy and seemed willing to shoulder the responsibility. He encouraged Paki to do the same. Paki still wanted to be a Mo'ani, but his need for revenge against whoever shot the stallion died soon after his arrival. He found himself wanting it for more personal reasons; honor, respect and a growing admiration for Mo'ani himself. His desire for freedom was still there, but he was learning that freedom was something that must be worked for everyday, not something that one could just achieve and keep.
Halfway through winter, the
colt took a liking to Bear, following him whenever he was in the corral. Whenever he got out, however, he would soon be running after Kile and kicking snow over him. The colt was selective of who he would let catch him, never letting the same person catch him twice. Much to Paki's frustration, the colt soon became a favorite of everyone's in the Stronghold. Even Tavish seemed to overlook his boisterousness.
Towards the end of winter, Adie left the Stronghold. She promised Paki it would only be for a few months, but wouldn't specify anything more than that. The numbers were growing every spring at the neighboring holds and she had to get accurate counts of new students and apprentices, as well as the names of those who had earned their cloaks and could now be considered a part of Nahtan's army.
Paki missed Adie's calm presence and noticed that many others missed her too. Mo'ani was quieter, Kile concentrated more on his duties and everyone else seemed to have less time for relaxing.
By the time the first spring buds appeared, Paki began to grasp what everyone meant when they referred to "Mo'ani's Way". Mo'ani taught them all, student, apprentice or hopeful, of the beliefs he held. Men had rights and whoever ruled them was there to make sure their freedom was protected. They also had a right to have their concerns heard, whether they were commoners or noblemen.
Paki learned more about the gods each time Isak came. His devotion to them grew as subtly but as undeniably as his devotion to Mo'ani and his teachings. He couldn't remember when he started having the feelings of deep loyalty, but he knew they were as much a part of him as his soul.
Spring soon melded into summer and Paki was able to study in the library without Meda's assistance. He read voraciously, every scroll and book he could reach. He read stories of Zakris and his daughters and even found mention of Zakris' fallen brother Zared in a few of them.
When Adie returned in mid summer, she brought back many bound books for him. With some convincing, Meda gave him a shelf in the library to keep them on. When the other boys and girls his age teased him about the time he spent reading, he invited them along. By mid autumn it wasn't unusual to find them all sitting around a table in the library reading. Many heated discussions about the events in the books were carried out as they worked through the afternoon and after they had gone to their rooms at night.
The only true routine the Stronghold had was Adie. Every spring, she left to visit the other holds, not returning until autumn or even early winter. She always returned with lists of hundreds of names of new students and apprentices.
Paki's horses also went through many adjustments. The stallion became one of the best horses to take into the village. He sensed when church guards were near and with just a few subtle maneuvers, he warned any guards off harassing Paki or his friends. Word of Janec's assault at the hooves of a similar horse had reached the village and none of the guards there wanted to end up the same way.
Paki's colt was also trained. Tavish worked with the colt everyday and by the time the colt reached his second year, he was one of the best horses in the stable. He would easily be his sire's size and had a flare for prancing around the corral. His only fault was Kile. As he grew, even the corral was unable to hold him when the captain was in the yard. With a little head start, he could easily clear the fence of the corral and would be off after Kile in seconds. He also got harder to catch and harder to move when he was caught. Tavish soon learned it was easier to keep him tied on a long lead than to leave him loose.
After Paki passed his second summer at the Stronghold, the mare was taken ill and, though no one said anything to him, he knew her death was near. When she could no longer eat or drink, Kile stayed with Paki as he held the mare's head and played a long, sweet melody on his flute. Shortly after Kile left, the mare seemed to relax, her dark eyes stared at Paki and she slipped quietly away.
Nearly blinded by tears, Paki buried his face in her mane. A clattering in the next stall didn't move him, neither did Tavish moving the mischievous two year old horse Bear had started to call Chase. His master had owned the mare before he had owned Paki and her life had been hard. For as long as Paki could remember, though, the mare had looked at him with her gentle dark eyes and she had always trusted him.
In the following weeks, his days and nights melded together. Both the stallion and now-grown colt felt the loss of the mare, as did many of the other horses in the Stronghold. Even Nicho hung his head when near the spot in the corral the mare had frequented.
As summer slipped into autumn, the loss of the mare softened and Paki slowly got back into the routine he had grown accustomed to. His mind drifted easily though it wasn't long before his distraction was brought to Kile's attention.
To help him get back into the feel of the Stronghold, Paki was offered a chance to assist Kile in the training yard. By mid autumn, he was working actively in the yard with the students and apprentices, much to Bear's envy.
Eight - "We can't just go tell Mo'ani that!"
Paki watched absently as Tavish put Chase through his paces. The young horse tossed his mane proudly and lifted his oversized hooves higher as he passed by Paki and Bear. His dark coat shone brightly in the morning sun as he pranced by his sire. The stallion snorted at him, as if disliking the younger horse's presentation, then trotted over beside Paki and nuzzled him gently. Paki rubbed the stallion's greying nose. He turned when Kile leaned on the corral fence next to him.
"How are ye doin'?" Kile asked, patting the stallion's neck.
"Okay, I guess," Paki said with a slight shrug.
"I was talkin' to Mo'ani last night," Kile said. "We both think ye might do better if ye were away from here for a little while."
Paki turned to look at Kile with wide eyes. "I don't want to leave!" he responded. "I don't have any place else to go."
"Calm down," Kile assured Paki with a hand on his shoulder. "I was thinkin' ye might go north with me. Mo'ani's got news that needs to get to the Dwellers and ye'd be welcome to go with Adie and me."
"What about the stallion?" Paki asked.
"Of course ye could take 'im," Kile said. "I'm certainly not goin' to wait for ye to walk to the ranches."
Paki looked over at Bear, who was watching him with a shocked expression. Bear's dark eyes told Paki he'd be crazy to tell the captain no.
"How long would it be for?" Paki asked, looking back at Kile.
"That would depend on what ye thought when ye got there," Kile shrugged. "If ye liked it, there shouldn't be a problem stayin' there for a longer time."
"I guess..." Paki said quietly.
"Adie left Bavol Hold three days ago and should be 'ere by the end of the week," Kile gave the stallion a last pat. "We'll probably set out first of next week."
Paki nodded his head as Kile walked away.
"You're sure lucky," Bear said as he turned back to watching Chase. "The captain's never taken anyone but Lady Adiella with him to the Dwellers' ranches."
"I'd rather stay here," Paki muttered. "I like staying in one place."
Paki was aware Bear was watching him, but didn't feel like explaining anymore. He had traveled almost all his life. The two years here at the Stronghold were quiet and there was something nicely routine about sleeping in the same place every night. He wasn't looking forward to sleeping on the ground again, or to the long days of riding and walking.
"How long does it take to get to the Dwellers' ranches?" he asked Bear.
"About a month, I think," Bear shrugged. "You have to go through Herridon to the road leading north, there's no easy way to the road from here." He looked over at Paki again. "How come you don't want to go?"
"I told you once that my master traveled all over," Paki reminded him. "I don't want to go back to that."
"You won't be alone," Bear suggested. "The captain and lady will be with you."
Paki picked a burr from the stallion's mane and threw it over his shoulder. He really was neglecting the two horses lately. "It's just not the same," Paki complained. "They're both so much older than me. This is t
he first time I've had friends my own age," he continued. "Before I met Kile I just had the horses."
When Bear didn't respond, Paki looked up at him. Bear sat with a thoughtful look on his face and a now-familiar shine in his dark eyes. Paki had seen that look before; it usually appeared when he was thinking of some new way to cause trouble either for himself or someone else. Swinging his legs over the fence, he dropped to the ground, then grabbed Paki's belt and pulled him over.
"Come on," he said. "Maybe you won't need to go alone."
"But--" Paki was cut off as Bear pushed him towards the keep.
"But nothing," Bear opened the heavy outer door and pushed Paki inside. "You don't want to go alone, so you shouldn't have to."
"We can't just go tell Mo'ani that!" Paki said, realizing where Bear was taking him.
"Like hell we can't," Bear responded. "He always claims any of us can go and talk to him if there's something bothering us and I'd say this qualifies."
"But--" Paki's mouth closed on its own when Bear pulled him to a stop outside Mo'ani's private office, then knocked loudly.
The door opened almost immediately and Mo'ani looked down at the two boys standing in the hall.
"It must have been you who knocked," he said to Bear. "Even your banging on doors sounds urgent."
"It is urgent, sir," Bear said. "We need to talk to you about the captain's plan to take Paki up north."
Mo'ani motioned for them to come into the room. The room was well furnished, with an achievement of arms hanging on the back wall. Paki's eyes were drawn to the shield in the center. Two gold swords were crossed in front of a silhouetted altar and tower against a white background. He hadn't ever seen a coat of arms up close and the few he'd seen from a distance weren't nearly as soul stirring as Mo'ani's.
"It used to mean my family defended the church with the crown," Mo'ani said, noticing what Paki was looking at. He closed the door behind them and came around to the desk under the achievement. "Now I see it as more of a prophecy of what's to come." He sat down at the desk and moved his inkpot and quill to one side. "What did you need to talk about?"
