Journey of Awakening

by Shawna Thomas

  “No. Only its name and that it was made by the Siobani, one of three. My grandfather died soon after giving it to me. Before he could... We came to the mainland to find the makers, or the other stones.”

  Maelys grunted. “He will be looking for it.”

  “Who?”

  “The one who has Crioch. He goes by many names, none of which I will utter.”

  “Crioch?” Sara’s heart pounded. “What are you talking about?” But she knew. The dreams. Someone was looking for her and they’d found Nolwen and Pierric. They’ll come here next.

  “Oh, sweet, naive girl. You will be eaten alive. And Teann brought you to me?” Maelys’s barking laughter held no mirth.

  “This is my fault.”

  Maelys settled her black gaze on Sara. “Fault? You speak as a fool. Blame will only distract you. It is a luxury you can’t afford. That distraction is more dangerous than you know. You have much to learn, and I think, not much time.”

  “Will they come here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then we need to leave.”

  “Yes. You do. It is the way of Teann.” Maelys stood, retrieved a basket and began carefully selecting herbs from the rafters and placing them inside.

  Sara rose to her feet. Where would she go? Did it matter? She wouldn’t let what happened to Tyrol... How far away were the warriors? How far away was the man in her dreams?

  “Sit back down, girl.”

  “But—”

  “Don’t ‘but’ me. You sought me out for more than information about herbs, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did my cousin tell you?”

  “Nol—”

  “We will no longer speak their names.”

  “Why?”

  Maelys’s hands paused. “Their deaths are too recent. To do so would be to call their spirits back from across the great waters. Now answer me.”

  “Only that you know the old ways.”

  “The ways of Teann can twist and turn in a manner you do not expect,” Maelys muttered.

  “Teann? You keep speaking of Teann. What the blazes is Teann?” Sara rose to her feet and began to pace in the small space. Emotions raced through her mind faster than she could keep up.

  “Respect, girl,” Maelys warned. “Now, tell me how you came by it.”

  Sara stared at Maelys. Could she really be so unaffected by the death of her cousins? “The necklace? Do you have no feelings at all?”

  Maelys froze, one hand in the basket. “My mother studied the ancient ways, the ways of the Siobani. The people of Tyrol thought she was dangerous, that she would bring the wrath of the Mother down on the village. A storm had destroyed a village not far from us. We fled in the night, not just for our own sakes, but for our family. They would have driven my entire family into the sea. Not for associating with a healer, but with a healer who holds to the old ways and does not honor the Mother. Although that reveals their ignorance too. People fear that which they do not understand. Here they know nothing of my past and I keep it that way. I don’t speak of the Siobani or Teann but I hold to the tenets in my own way.” Maelys watched the flames for a moment longer then turned to Sara. “I moved away from the only people on this earth I loved to protect them and now they are dead. I will not allow them to have died in vain. Do not accuse me of being unaffected. Now. Tell me how you came by the stone.”

  “My grandfather—”

  Maelys waved a hand. “You told me that. How did he come by it?”

  Sara gazed into the fire. “My father.” The silence stretched for many long heartbeats. The story. “My father, Arles, was a peddler. My grandfather lived up north. He was a warrior who had hung up his sword in favor of a plow. One day, my father came home with a tale almost too strange to be believed. He had been traveling through an empty land of rolling hills. The sun had begun to set when he came upon two men digging in a field. It didn’t take him long to guess they were grave robbers. He ran them off, but they had already broken into a barrow. He placed everything back in the dark hole on top of the skeleton until he came to a box. He told my grandfather the box was covered with strange markings he didn’t understand, yet he recognized the quality of the workmanship. But that’s not what caught his attention. Although everything else in the grave had suffered the ravages of time, the box looked new. My father thought that it might have belonged to one of the robbers but knew he’d never see them again and if it was theirs, it was probably stolen. He took the box back to his cart and placed it on the seat next to him.” Sara paused, almost hearing her grandfather’s rich timbre as he had related the story.

  “That night, when my father made camp, he opened the box. Inside he found a pendant on a long silver chain. When he took it out, the box crumbled into dust. There wasn’t any sign of aging on the necklace. It appeared as it does now.” She lifted the pendant. “For reasons even my father didn’t understand, he placed it around his neck, hiding it under his tunic. He said he felt odd but went on his way and shortly after, met my mother. She had been traveling with her family.”

  The fire brightened and a faint blue flame tiptoed across the blaze like a butterfly over ripe wheat. Sara cleared her throat. “He fell in love as soon as he saw her. Grandfather said he didn’t doubt it because he could see the love in my father’s eyes. How he wooed my mother, I don’t know, but he did. She left her family and all she knew to follow him. Grandfather said he asked her about it and she’d told him that in my father, she found her home and her family. She would have followed him anywhere.”

  Sara paused. “My father was divided. He still wanted to be a peddler, but didn’t want to expose my mother to that lifestyle. She wouldn’t be swayed. When they left, she was pregnant with me. She died in childbirth.” It was a story she’d known her entire life, but that never ceased to fill her with longing. What would it have been like had they lived? To know a mother’s touch? A father’s love? She loved her grandfather but theirs had been a solitary existence.

  Maelys’s dark eyes gleamed but she remained quiet.

  “The next time my grandfather saw him, my father had been wounded by bandits. Grandfather treated the injury the best he could but it was too late, and my father died.”

  “Is that why your grandfather taught you Shi’ia and the healing arts? To defend yourself?” Maelys asked.

  “You know I practice Shi’ia?”

  Maelys’s gaze didn’t waver. “I have eyes.”

  Sara shook her head. Her dark braid moved against her back. “I asked him that same question. He said he only sought to prepare me, but that I had a different destiny than my father. He said...” Sara swallowed. “He said my father told him that he may have possessed the stone, but he was not a keeper, merely a vehicle to get the necklace to me. He knew it as soon as I was born. He told my grandfather to keep me safe. To prepare me.” She met Maelys’s cool gaze. “My grandfather saved the stone for me. Until I was ready.” Tears pricked her eyes. I’m ready, Grandfather. How wrong she’d been. Sara gazed at the stone, surprised by the weariness that now weighed down her body.

  Maelys set the basket aside and leaned forward. “Your grandfather was a wise man.” She gave a half smile. “There are not many of those anymore.” She regarded Sara while the fire crackled and popped. “Who was he?”

  “Willam of Ardal.”

  Maelys nodded. “Even I have heard of him. You meditated as part of Shi’ia?”

 
“Yes.”

  Maelys shook her head. “I have treated many soldiers, some of whom practiced Shi’ia. None ride the winds of Teann.”

  Shock radiated through Sara’s body. “My grandfather did.”

  Maelys moved into the living room. “Are you sure?”

  “I...” Had he? He never spoke of it and she’d never asked him about his experience.

  “You are not as observant as you think. That trait could easily lead to your death.”

  Sara only nodded. Her thoughts jumbled.

  “When you meditate, you enter into the winds of Teann,” Maelys said. “The meditation of Shi’ia is much different. It’s internal. With Teann, you step outside of yourself.”

  Sara stared at the older woman.

  “Child, there is no time to break it to you gently. You don’t have the luxury of being overwhelmed either. Snap out of it.”

  Sara’s spine straightened. “Teann. I understand.”

  “No, you don’t. I only have the barest of understandings, but I have sensed you there. I can also enter into Teann, but not as far or as deep as you. Did you meditate before you gained the stone?”

  At Sara’s nod, Maelys continued. “It’s an ability given to many but used by few. When you’ve communed with the heavens it is difficult to think yourself the center of the world, is it not?”

  Sara mouth turned slightly. It was true.

  “Teann is a powerful force when used for good, though there are those who twist it to their own purpose. Now what do you know about Ilydearta?”

  “That it was created by the Siobani.”

  “Yes. There were three stones but the Siobani retain only one.”

  “That much I’ve learned but little more. I know I’m supposed to give the stone back to the Siobani.”

  “Just like that? Your words are naive, child.” Maelys’s voice fell to a tired whisper. “You asked of Teann, I’ll tell you everything I know. Teann is sacred to the Siobani. It’s a force guiding all things. But a living force, understand, not a blind one. It sees, it knows. It’s the lifebreath of creation, the tint of death, holding every cycle in its sway.”

  “But you said people could twist Teann.”

  “Aye. If you drop a stone, it’ll fall. Right?”

  Sara nodded.

  “That’s the way of things,” Maelys said. “If you drop a stone on your brother’s head, it’ll hurt him, could very well kill him. The force hasn’t changed, only the motives of the one using the force.” Maelys shrugged. “Teann doesn’t change the natural order but works to create order from chaos.”

  The old woman stared into the flames.

  “Do you know where they are, the Siobani?” Sara asked.

  “No, no one does. At least not that I’ve heard. Legends say the Siobani fled to the north, but they could’ve gone south. I don’t know. If they can be found, Teann will guide your steps. Trust it.”

  The voices. “Before I left Tyrol, I heard a voice telling me to leave. To run. When I heard of you, I knew I should come here. It just seemed to fit.”

  Maelys nodded. “Teann led you to my doorstep. Only I don’t know what to do with you.”

  “Tell me of the Siobani. Teach me to use this.” Sara held up the pendant.

  Maelys rubbed the bridge of her nose with gnarled fingers. “I don’t know how. Has it done anything besides lighting my house up?”

  “I’ve had...” It seemed almost silly to say. “I’ve had some strange and vivid dreams. But I don’t know if that’s because of the stone or...”

  Maelys graced Sara with one of her rare half smiles, then she froze. “What kind of dreams?”

  “Of a shadowed man...” Sara groaned. “It’s him, isn’t it?”

  “I could only guess, but maybe. It makes sense.”

  “What do I do now?”

  “What were your plans after you learned what you could from me?”

  “To use whatever information you had to determine which direction to go. Then to travel as a healer until I found the Siobani.”

  Maelys’s eyes softened. “Child, you know you are not a true healer. A healer can draw the sickness away from a person with a touch. This is something I can’t teach you. But you have a good memory and know your herbs. With those you can do much good and heal many.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me. I’m only building on a foundation that was set long before I met you. What else have you felt from the stone?”

  “I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like it’s trying to tell me something but I don’t know what or why. The bearer of the third stone is behind the massacre at Tyrol. Isn’t he?”

  Maelys shuddered. “The other stone fell into dark hands. The wearer of Dominion is dangerous.”

  “Dominion?”

  “Yes. Crioch is a Siobani word that means Dominion. The stone you wear, Ilydearta, is translated as Waymaker. The One has appointed you a dangerous path.”

  “The One? My grandfather told me stories of the One.”

  “Not many hold to the old ways or they have twisted the stories to suit their own needs and beliefs. The Siobani call the creator of all things the One. They uphold there is only one Supreme Being. The Mother is only...a part of the One.” Maelys chuckled. “Another belief that is not well received by the waveriders in Tyrol or anywhere around here, for that matter. You must be careful who you speak to about the Siobani. Some will think you simple, others crazy and some will label you dangerous.”

  “Why?”

  “Why else do people do things? Because that’s how they were raised. It’s all they know.”

  “How long before they come here?”

  “Did anyone see you in Tyrol?”

  Sara thought for a moment. “No. Pierric rescued me from the beach. I saw no one else.”

  “So no one knows if you survived.” Maelys tapped one long finger against her lips. “That buys us some time. So does this storm.” She nodded to the ceiling. Only then did Sara note the wind had begun to howl against the house, whipping the fire into a frenzy.

  “Only my cousins knew where you are,” Maelys continued. “The wearer of Crioch can sense you, but he can’t determine your exact location.

  “I’ve put you in danger.”

  Maelys laughed. “I am not without resources, child. It is as the One wills. There is much I need to tell you.”

  * * *

  Sara pulled down the bundled roots from the rafters and pinched one of the darkened bulbs. It gave slightly under her touch. Still not quite dry. The old healer insisted they use the storm to their advantage. Sara wouldn’t have a chance to dry or prepare any tinctures or healing remedies for quite some time. If that was how she’d make her living, she needed a good supply.

  Now, a few days later, the brutal winds had died to a forlorn periodic howl, and the medicine pouch she’d been so proud of was almost full. A thick layer of snow blanketed the ground, making travel difficult. Difficult but not impossible. The old healer had gone into town for supplies. The sun had already set. Sara jumped at every noise and couldn’t seem to concentrate. If Shayner had been attacked, surely she would have heard of it by now.

  The gate outside creaked and Sara dropped the basket as she whirled toward the door. Why didn’t Maelys have any windows? She reached for her sword.

  Footsteps sounded outside, getting louder as someone walked toward the door. One set. A scout? Maelys returning? The fire popped and Sara’s skin rippled with the e
ffort not to jump or make a sound. It was better her pursuers come now when she was here to protect or at least avenge Maelys.

  Please let Maelys be safe.

  A cough sounded outside the door and Sara’s shoulders relaxed. Maelys.

  “Were you planning on fighting off the troop that decimated Tyrol with a single blade?” Maelys eyed her before shutting the door.

  “I was planning to take as many out as I could.”

  “And die with honor? Is any death honorable?” Maelys nodded toward the sword. “The blacksmith would take you in. It’s a good place to start.”

  “It’s not safe. I don’t want to put Yann and his wife and child in danger.” Sara wouldn’t let more innocent people die.

  “Good decision. It might be better to face the winter storms with little or no shelter. Crioch’s keeper can find the stone wrapped around your frozen neck. Safe as can be.” Maelys filled a kettle with water and placed it on a hook over the stove.

  “If I weren’t so used to your sarcasm by now, I might be hurt.”

  Maelys’s lips turned at the edges. “I will miss you, girl.” She sat heavily in a chair near the fire and indicated the other with her head. Sara sat.

  “There will be heavy storms this winter. It will be impossible for anyone to travel much. I’d have you winter here—”

  “But I won’t.”

  Maelys scowled. “But I know you want to put as much distance as possible between yourself and Tyrol. It makes sense to head in the direction of Ohanti as you already know someone there. You won’t get much farther, especially traveling blind.” Maelys tossed a leather-wrapped scroll onto Sara’s lap.

  “Don’t bother unwrapping it. It’s a trader’s map.” Maelys took a stick and stirred the coals under the fire. “Shut your mouth, girl, you look like a caught fish. I said you could start with Yann, not stay the winter with him.”

  “But where did you get this?” Sara asked. Maps were few and far between in mainland Anatar and traders’ maps were closely guarded treasures.