Elin returned her gaze steadily. “I understand,” she said.
“Your Majesty,” Yohalu said in a low voice. “Please allow me to speak as a former member of the Black Armor. At this time of year, the temperature drops dramatically before dawn. Our Toda won’t move until the air warms up, even if we pull on their horns and order them to. I’m sure those ridden by the Lahza are the same. The Lahza will likely have made camp and be letting their Toda rest on the riverbanks.”
The Aluhan nodded. “Yes, before dawn will be the perfect chance for the archers to catch them off guard.”
The Yojeh waved a hand at the nobles. “You heard him. Gather your men and move out!”
The nobles bowed, then hurried from the room. After watching them leave, the Aluhan turned to the warlords. “You know what you need to do. They won’t be able to manage on their own. Take your archers there, too.”
The men saluted and left. Elin was following after them when the Aluhan called her name. She stopped and looked at him. “Rest until dawn,” he said. “It’s quite far from the Makan River to Amasulu. The enemy won’t reach here until after sunrise.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I will do so.” She bowed deeply to the Aluhan and the Yojeh, nodded to Yohalu, and left.
The night air was cold and clear, and her breath turned white. Far off across the dark plains she could see the low shadows of the mountains. And far beyond them was Ialu.
Stay safe, she thought. The words rose in her mind like a murmured prayer. If they could end this battle quickly, Ialu wouldn’t need to fight. Just for now, she was glad that both Ialu and Jesse were far away. Turning to the soldier who had guided her here, she said, “Before going to bed, I wish to visit the Royal Beasts.” The soldier nodded and set off at a quick pace.
When she reached the Royal Beast enclosure, Elin went inside and looked at the sleeping Beasts one by one: Leelan, Eku, and their son Kalu, and those captured from the wild, Nola and Tohba, and the youngest, Lesseh, Kaseh, Osseh, and Fuseh. Alu, who was pregnant, and her mate, Ukalu, as well as Mina, who had recently injured her leg, and Leelan’s youngest cub, had been left behind in Kazalumu. But even the small number of Beasts here could butcher hundreds of Toda in moments if they weren’t restrained.
Elin looked up at Leelan, who slept with her jaw nestled in the fur on her chest. Will all that training work? She had drilled them to respond instantly to her commands. If her theory was correct, her ability to save them depended upon their complete obedience under any conditions. For most of her life, she had wanted to free the Royal Beasts from the prison of the Silent Whistle and the Canon, yet for the last six years she had done just the opposite.
The moist night air caressed her cheeks. A faint blush of color touched the lower edge of the sky. Soon it would be dawn. Once day broke, the war would begin. She might have very little time left.
Chills spread up from her knees, and she began to shake. She strove to remain calm, but the fear that lurked behind her rational mind and twisted in her gut spilled over, shaking her in its grasp. Unable to stay on her feet, Elin crumpled to her knees on the grass. Curling up, she buried her head in her arms with a moan.
I don’t want to die.
She couldn’t die and leave Jesse behind. Not when she knew how that would grieve him. There was so much she still hadn’t taught him, so much more she wanted to say. She longed to hold him in her arms just a little longer, to walk beside him as he lived his life. She wanted to be with him and Ialu, wanted all three of them to live and grow old together.
Ialu …
She clung to his image in her mind. She screamed to him in her heart.
Help me …
No one could change this situation. She was here by her own choice. She knew that, yet she couldn’t quell her agony, her longing to reach out for someone. Hugging herself as if clinging to Ialu, who was now so far away, she wept.
There was a snort behind her, and something nudged her in the back. Looking up, she saw Leelan’s face looming above her. Leelan stuck out her huge tongue and licked Elin’s face. Elin pushed her muzzle away with both hands, but still Leelan didn’t stop. Slowly and deliberately, she licked Elin’s arms, her hands, her face, just as if she were a newborn cub.
What’s she thinking, Elin wondered. Overcome by a strange sensation, she closed her eyes and gave herself up to Leelan. As she did so, an old memory surfaced. Leelan had done this before. Long ago, when she had plucked Elin up in her mouth and flown her to safety. She had lowered Elin onto the grass at the top of a hill and licked her all over, refusing to let anyone near for a long time.
A warm feeling oozed from a point in Elin’s chest and spread through her body.
Two different creatures can still connect like this. Despite the insurmountable gulf between us, we can still reach out and touch each other.
This bond. It would probably never have been formed in the wild. As a member of the human herd, she should never have longed for such a connection. It was this relationship that had caused everything to warp and twist. But still …
Elin opened her arms wide and hugged Leelan’s muzzle, praying that some of what she felt would reach her. Leelan had given her so much, so very much.
Leelan rumbled comfortingly for a while, then gradually the sound receded. Slowly, Elin removed her arms and sat down on the grass, gazing at the sky.
A strong wind seemed to be blowing across the heavens. Clouds flowed by, blocking the stars. Elin thought of all the countless lives under that sky. Mites burrowing in the earth, winged insects dancing like dust motes in the air, honeybees, fire ants, and humans. All those lives breathing in this darkness like myriad pulsating points of light. In its struggle to pass life on to the next generation, the human herd had extended its territory to the ends of the plains, spreading across the earth like stars scattered across the heavens. She was just one human among many; her life, just one brief moment. What would she achieve with that life before she vanished?
Herds of different creatures intertwined in an infinite number of ways, so that she couldn’t even tell what or where her tiny hand was touching. Would the actions she was about to take change anything?
Beginning with all her mother had given her long ago, she had received so much from the many lives she’d encountered along the way. Cradling each gift, she had carried on, thinking, always thinking, to reach this place.
All this is what I’m made of.
She opened her arms toward the heavens and took a deep breath. The smell of night expanded inside her. A thought rose and quietly filled her mind.
May all things be set free. All those things entangled in the long stream of history.
May the Royal Beasts be released to soar in this illimitable space.
May Jesse, Ialu, and I be freed from the fetters forged by the inexorable flow of time.
Because that is why I came this far.
She lowered her arms away from the dark, endless void through which she and the Royal Beasts had often flown. Nestling herself between Leelan’s legs, she buried her face in the Beast’s belly. Wrapped in the scent of this creature with whom she had shared so much of her life, Elin closed her eyes.
5
THE KALENTA LOH
In the afternoon of the day that Elin reached Amasulu, two men and a woman dressed in deep-hooded gray robes arrived at the Kazalumu Sanctuary. When the guard demanded to know who the three travelers were, they responded that they were Elin’s distant relations. Of the three, two had green eyes, which convinced the guard that they spoke the truth, and he allowed them into the school, although he accompanied them to the headmistress’s office.
As he led them down the corridor, which echoed with the sounds of teachers’ voices, the guard glanced repeatedly at the third traveler, a woman whose face was once again hidden by her hood. When she had removed it a moment earlier, the guard had been startled by her eyes. Impossible, he thought to himself. It must’ve been the light.
They reached the
headmistress’s room, and he opened the door to let the travelers pass through. When the woman removed her hood, he took one last look at her eyes. He had not been mistaken. One of her eyes was green, but the other was golden.
* * *
When he was told to report immediately to the headmistress’s office, the first thing that occurred to Jesse was that something had happened to his mother. Breaking the school rules, he dashed down the hall and burst into the room. Three strangers sat by the hearth. They turned to stare at him.
Esalu beckoned him to her side. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she said, “This is Elin’s son, Jesse.”
The three strangers rose, regarding him solemnly. Jesse looked at them, wide-eyed. Green eyes, and golden, too, he noted.
All three were tall and slender with finely chiseled features. The man on the right was elderly while the one on the left was young. Both somehow resembled his mother. But the one who drew his attention was the middle-aged woman between them. The light from the window clearly showed that her right eye was green while the left was golden.
The green-eyed Ahlyo and the golden-eyed Yojeh. Suddenly, Jesse remembered a strange tale he had read in his mother’s diary. “Are you Kalenta Loh?” he blurted out.
Their eyes widened, and Esalu jerked her head to stare at Jesse. The elderly man gave him a stern look. “Did you hear that name from your mother?” he asked.
Jesse nodded hesitantly. The man’s eyes were hard, as if he thought Elin had told her son something she shouldn’t have. “Well, only sort of,” Jesse added hastily. “I overheard her talking to Her Majesty, the Yojeh, about it.”
At this, the visitors and Esalu looked satisfied.
“I’m Nason,” the elderly man said to Jesse. “I’m an Ao-Loh, one of the People of the Law. But these two, as you guessed, are Kalenta Loh. They have traveled for several months from a valley deep in the Afon Noah to meet your mother and the Yojeh Seimiya.”
With a determined set to her jaw, Esalu interrupted. “As I said earlier, is it not sufficient that I alone hear what you have to say?”
Nason shook his head. “I knew before we came that Elin had already left. We must see her and the Yojeh as soon as possible. But I have taken time from this precious mission specifically to come and see this young man.”
He looked at Jesse, a bitter smile rising to his lips. “You don’t know me, but I know you very well. I have watched you all these years as you snuck through the forest to spy on your mother when she was training the Royal Beasts, although the soldiers kept such a strict guard that I couldn’t speak to you.”
The hairs rose on the nape of Jesse’s neck, and his eyes narrowed.
“I was close to your grandmother and have talked to your mother before. I watched them both break the Law and take the path to destruction.”
Anger flared inside Jesse, and he scowled at the man. Seeing his expression, Nason turned to Esalu. “You see,” he said. “Look at his face. He’s still young, yet he’s his mother’s child. These two must share what they have to say with this boy now. If we wait until after his mother is dead, his mind will be closed, and he’ll be unable to judge clearly. This is the critical moment when we may still prevent him from following in her footsteps. That’s why I asked them to come here with me.”
As Jesse listened, the words in his mother’s diary clicked with the words this man had just spoken. Fury welled up from the pit of his stomach as he remembered who Nason was and what he had said to his mother.
“After she’s dead? So I won’t follow in her footsteps?” Jesse shouted. “How dare you, old man! No matter what you say, I’ll follow her! Do you expect me to listen to someone who treated my mother the way you did!”
Nason looked at him unperturbed. “And so, like your mother, you’ll take countless lives, including your own?” he said quietly.
Jesse flushed bright red and tried to retort, but no words came.
“If we don’t stop her,” Nason continued, “your mother will end up killing thousands and meet a horrible end. I brought these two here to prevent such a tragedy.” He sighed. “The Ao-Loh have abandoned hope for your mother. With the number of Royal Beasts and Toda you have now, we expect that several thousand people will die if there’s a battle. While that’s a terrible tragedy, it’s still small compared to what happened on the other side of the Afon Noah. If your mother dies here to atone for her sin, she’ll take the Handler’s Art with her to the grave, and no one else will be able to ride the Royal Beasts. If she dies now, neither Seimiya nor you will be able to fly them as you please. My people see this timing as a blessing, and so they’ve chosen not to intervene.”
His voice faltered, and he stopped to take a breath. “But if possible, I would rather save thousands from dying.” Anguish rose in his face. “I realize now that when I told your mother about the catastrophe, I should have told her the whole truth. If I had told her then, she might have chosen a different path. But at the time, I thought I shouldn’t because to do so would be to reveal that Toda can be bred by humans.”
He shook his head slowly and sighed. “In the end, my precaution was not just in vain, it made things worse. So when I learned that these two had left the Afon Noah and were traveling the Road of Mist to reach this country, I offered to guide them.”
The two travelers, who had been listening to him speak, barely stirring, looked at each other. “Nason,” the younger one said, “may we share the rest ourselves?” His voice was resonant with an odd inflection that sounded as if it vibrated deep in his throat.
Nason nodded and gestured with his hand for them to go ahead.
The young man turned to face Esalu and Jesse. “My name is Lyoza. My mother here is Sohyon. We have come from Paleh, the valley.”
“Lyoza? Sohyon?” Esalu whispered. “I thought Sohyon was Elin’s mother’s name.”
Nason shrugged. “It’s a name heard often among the Ao-Loh, although no one I know is named Lyoza.”
Esalu nodded and turned to the young man. “Lyoza. The same name as this kingdom?”
He nodded. “Yes, so I’ve heard. For us, Lyoza is a very common name. Do you know where it comes from?”
Esalu shook her head with a puzzled look. “No. I didn’t even know there was a source for it.”
“I see. In that case, I should start there. Although, to be honest, for us this tale is no more than a legend. We don’t know how much of it is true.”
The woman beside him spoke up, her voice soft. “But first, you should know that while we share the same roots as the Ao-Loh, we’re not one people. We’ve stayed in limited contact with people like Nason, here, but we never leave the mountains the way he and his people do. The Ao-Loh call us the Kalenta Loh because our ancestors who survived the catastrophe chose not to wander as they do, but rather to settle in one place and live in peace. To them our name means ‘the ones who remain in the valley.’ But for us, the name Kalenta Loh means ‘the ones who survived.’”
She paused and then continued quietly. “Our homes are scattered in the mountain range you call the Afon Noah, the mountains of the gods. We’d never been to this side of the mountains, so until now, we had no idea what kind of lives you lived, what oral histories you had, or what kind of worldview.”
Esalu suddenly seemed to notice that they were still standing, and she gestured for them to sit. When they had taken a seat, the woman continued. “Concerning the origin of the name Lyoza that my son mentioned earlier, this legend is the one that has been passed down in my home village. It’s deeply connected with the young woman named Jeh.
“After Jeh left the valley, she used to send a message strapped to the leg of an ochiwa every year to share news of her life. This custom of exchanging letters by ochiwa continued even after she died. If there’s anything that has connected my people and yours, it’s just these letters.
“But even though an ochiwa still bears a message to us every year, at some point in the past, the words written in that message changed to a lang
uage we couldn’t read and the content became very short. To be honest, these messages have become more of a ritual than actual communication for our people. According to legend, our ancestors believed that the same thing must have happened on the other side of the mountains due to the passage of time.”
She glanced at Nason. “Talking with Nason, that riddle was solved. It seems that the script you used suddenly became reversed.”
Esalu frowned, but Jesse let out a little yelp. He blushed as everyone’s eyes turned to him. “Sorry, it’s just that I realized something. My mother used to write while looking into a mirror. I always thought she was writing in a secret language, but now I know she was writing in your language.”
Nason sighed. “That’s right. It was Jeh, the founder of this country, who created the mirror script. But then, for some reason, she taught it to the people here as their regular script. I don’t know why she would have done so.” Nason looked at Jesse, then at Esalu. “Our people, of course, still write the same way we used to. Elin probably learned that way of writing from her mother, Sohyon. But the descendants of Jeh forgot how to read and write it.”
“Ah.” Esalu murmured. “That knowledge was lost in the fire set by the Sai Gamulu.”
The woman smiled politely. “Yes, it seems so. But we knew nothing of it. Because of that, we viewed the message borne by the ochiwa simply as a New Year’s custom, and returned it with the scent of flowers while offering our prayers for the happiness of Jeh’s descendants in that far-off land. However…”
She stopped and looked at her son. He nodded and took up the story. “This year the ochiwa came not only in the new year but also again in early summer. Moreover, it came bearing urgent questions written in our own language. Surprised, we consulted about what to do.”
Lyoza smiled at Jesse. “You see, to answer the questions asked by your mother and your ruler Seimiya, we needed to write such a long explanation that it wouldn’t have fit in the tube borne by the ochiwa.”
The Beast Warrior Page 44
