by Ada Haynes
25
Shona was having trouble breathing. Her head was too full, as if ready to explode.
She needed to run. Run until her mind was empty.
But that was impossible in this place. There was nowhere to run except the steps going up and down the cliff. She climbed down them, tripping a few times on the tiresome long dress she’d been given. She was exhausted when she reached the bottom step, and her damaged ribs were hurting.
Even her body was betraying her.
She looked desperately around her. All she saw was an inescapable trap.
She was hurting so much inside. She fought the tears. Tears had never helped.
People were staring at her. And she had nowhere to go to evade them.
Someone was talking to her. She screamed, “Leave me alone! Leave me bloody alone!” She ran away. Ran until she found herself in a place so dark she could not even see where the next wall was.
There, there in that darkness, she could let herself go.
Some animal was howling nearby. Howling in pain. Then she realized she was the one making the noise. She dropped to her knees. Let the tears come at last.
Oh my… she just wanted to die. Forget the pain. Forever.
*
She had no clue how many hours had passed by the time she managed to regain control. The place she was in was still pitch dark. By the musty smell of it, she guessed it was a sort of cellar.
She slowly got back on her feet. Damn. It had been a long time since she had let herself go so badly. Crazy indeed. She did not have panic attacks anymore nowadays. She had herself under control. She snarled. Who was she trying to fool?
She did not even want to think of how she looked right now. She tasted dirt on her lips. Nice.
It was all because of Ekbeth and that stupid wedding proposal, of course. After all the memories the Ke’As’mirin had forced her to face, that had been the last straw. The proposal had been so unexpected! She wondered what had triggered it. Surely not because of that hour of good sex at his place!
She managed a thin smile at the thought. That would be so… “Victorian” was the only word that came to mind.
Anyway, she could not accept the offer. Not so soon after all those memories that the Ke’As’mirin had brought back. She snarled again. She was not going to marry anyone again. Ever.
Oh, Ekbeth was attractive. And intelligent. And rich. And a fantastic lover. And forgiving. He apparently had forgiven her all the trouble she had put him in.
She did not mind having sex with him. Not at all. He had been really good. But marrying him was something else. It was a commitment. The only thing left, maybe, that was sacrosanct to her.
Her commitment was still to Yeshe. Heart and soul. She had to make this clear to Ekbeth, she thought.
And hiding here was not going to help her. Someone would eventually find her. It was better to meet him on her own terms. Explain to him. But first, she supposed, she needed to clean up.
She had no clue how to get out of the room. So she walked straight until she reached a wall, then just walked through it. She ignored the startled face of the man she found in the next room. She just kept walking through the rooms and the walls until she was in the open again.
At least that drug they had given her on the Other Side was not blocking her special talent anymore. She had feared that the effect would be permanent, but it was obviously not the case. Good.
The sun was setting on the other side of the Lake. She paused for a moment to admire the view, and get her bearings.
“Kimiel?”
The young woman’s voice sounded uncertain. Shona probably looked a mess, but she had always been good at pretending nothing was wrong. She turned towards the other woman. Recognized her. Alyasini, Ekbeth’s niece, who was trying her best not to show her dismay, but failing miserably.
So much for pretending, thought Shona. She looked like a mess. “Yes?”
That had come out a bit harsher than she had intended. Alyasini took a step back and stammered. “I have been looking for you. My uncle…”
Shona interrupted her. “If it’s about that wedding thing, Alyasini, I’m not interested. Can you show me the way to the McLeans’ house? I have no clue where it is.”
Alyasini quickly nodded and started walking toward the nearest stairs. A bit too readily, thought Shona. Apparently Alyasini had not been happy with her mission, whatever it was, and was all too happy to forget about it.
She told Shona. “Kse’Annilis is a maze. I can lose my way in it and I was born here. But there are some tricks not to lose yourself completely.” She unexpectedly smiled at Shona. “Of course, you have to know where you want to go in the first place. This way.”
Shona listened to the girl’s chat until they reached the McLeans’ house. Something vaguely resembling a choir singing greeted them—a very dissonant choir singing.
Alyasini smiled. “Oh, the McLeans are singing to the Goddess again! I never heard them sing, of course, I was not even born when they came here the last time, but I heard of it. One of my aunts said they could make you cry, so beautiful was their chant.”
Shona smirked. “I’d rather cry from pain. My, this is really terrible!”
Silence met her words. Damn. She had not noticed that the choir had stopped singing.
Sarah-Lysliana appeared in the corridor and walked toward them. She did not seem angry. In fact, she looked anxious. “Kimiel. I was worried about you. And I need you. Can you please help? Aunt Fiona keeps repeating that you’re the one we need. I have some experience with leading groups of musicians, but they were experts—something very different from this group. The voices are right, everyone knows the texts, but I just can’t make it work.”
She made no comment on Shona’s clothes or the dirt with which she was covered. Shona had to give points to her cousin for that.
The last time she had led a choir seemed ages ago. But surely she couldn’t do worse than Sarah-Lysliana. Anything to keep her mind off that wedding proposal. She smiled. “Can I clean myself up a bit first?”
*
She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. Then started singing. Her voice was not as pure as it once had been. Deeper. But it was still strong. She sang alone for a time, then the choir joined in. It was not perfect, but one could not create miracles in two hours. At least they did not need so much direction from her anymore.
She led them through the first part, then Sarah-Lysliana took over. Her cousin had the voice Shona had once had. Maybe even better. Climbing to the higher notes seemed so easy for her. Shona kept her face carefully neutral.
At the agreed cue, she joined the song again. The singing went up and up. And yes, it brought tears to her eyes.
When they finally stopped singing, the silence seemed too much to bear. She reopened her eyes and found Ekbeth in the room, standing next to his niece Alyasini.
Damn. Just when she was just starting to forget about him and his ridiculous proposition. She ignored him and turned towards her cousin. “I think we won’t get any better today, Sally.”
The young woman nodded, but her expression was much more relaxed than a few hours earlier. “We would never have managed this without you, Kimiel. Thank you.”
Shona noticed that most of the others were looking at her somewhat more favorably than they had the night before. Had the naming ceremony only been yesterday? So much had happened in the meantime.
“And I think it’s dinner time,” Sarah-Lysliana added. “It’s not going to be as fancy as the Aramalinyia’s, I’m afraid, but it serves its purpose.”
“Dinner will have to wait a bit more, Kimiel,” Ekbeth responded. “The Aramalinyia has requested our presence.” He offered an arm to Shona.
Shona eyed him warily, but she had promised herself she would talk to him. Delaying would not help. So she accepted his arm and left the house with him.
Night had fallen and she was glad for his support, as walking down the barely lit steps was even tric
kier than earlier. Still, she did not forget why they were walking towards the Lake.
“What does the old woman want from us now?”
“No idea.”
“Don’t lie to me, Ekbeth. It is something to do with that ridiculous wedding idea, isn’t it?”
He did not answer her, but his grim expression was enough indication. Yeah, he seemed just as enthusiastic as she was about the coming meeting. That wedding proposal has never been his idea, she suddenly realized. That left only one alternative. It made her angry. “The Aramalinyia has no right to force us into this, Ekbeth.”
He sighed. “Sadly, she has every right. She’s Ara’s voice. The Goddess wants us to marry, according to her. And yes, I’ll admit I’m not happy about it either. But try as I might, I can’t see how we can get out of this.”
Shona furiously considered the situation. At least she now knew why he had proposed, but she was still not going to accept it, Goddess or not.
She almost missed a step again, but he was there to prevent her fall.
“Thanks. Why are you not married yet, anyway, Ekbeth? There are enough women out there who would kill rivals to get that honor!”
He shrugged. “On the Other Side maybe. Only those women are not As’mir. Because of my function, I have to wed an As’mir woman.”
“And there’s no candidate for the job in the Valley?”
He smiled thinly at that. “For different reasons, no.”
He sensed her incredulousness, because he added, “It’s nothing personal. More because of my family’s reputation. After my mother’s death, my father lived his last years with a harem of a sort. My older brother was not as bad, though he was known to cheat on his wife with women outside of the Valley. Then there was my other brother.”
Ekbeth paused briefly. “You’ll probably hear of him. And, last but not least, there’s my cousin Lyrian, who almost beat his ex-wife to death. This is giving a wrong impression.”
She kept silent for a moment, digesting the information. “I see. Still, Ekbeth, I’m sure some of the women would take the risk, nevertheless. You are one of the Akeneires’elin!”
“But not one with a lot of influence, I’m afraid.”
“You must be joking, Ekbeth! Your family is the biggest of Kse’Annilis. And on the Other Side…”
He shrugged. “What I am on the Other Side does not concern them. Here, I tend to let people make their own decisions. And this is seen as a weakness.”
“Still. There must be someone…someone you’d rather wed than me.”
They had reached the bottom of the stairs, she realized. She let go of his arm. The Aramalinyia’s house was close now.
“No. I like women, Kimiel. For fun—like that hour we spent together. But I’ve tried to avoid marriage like the plague.”
“Why? Because you’re afraid of being as bad as the rest of your family?”
“Maybe. I’m also a busy man, I don’t have time for a wife.”
Ah. Honesty. She had always liked that in a man. “Is that why you can’t keep your mistresses? Because you don’t have time for them?”
She heard his amusement when he replied, “I suppose that’s one of the reasons. And that I don’t propose.”
He took her hand. “I know this has come as a shock to you, Kimiel, but please accept. We barely know each other, but we’ll find a way to make this work, I’m sure.”
She took her hand from his. “I can’t do it, Ekbeth. I just can’t.”
It was fine to chat about this. Saying yes was still not an option for her.
Ekbeth sighed. “So, what is your plan?”
Her mind was empty. All she could come up with was: “We have to tell the Aramalinyia she’s making a mistake.”
Ekbeth seemed ready to contradict her, but it was too late, they had reached their destination.
They entered the hall of the Aramalinyia’s house. A servant was expecting them, and brought them through the maze of corridors to the main reception room of the Venerable, the very room to which Shona had been brought when she come here the first time, with Kalem.
Not good.
The Venerable was waiting for them behind a desk but she left her chair as soon as she recognized them. “You took your time!”
Ekbeth bowed. “The McLeans were rehearsing, Aramalinyia. I did not want to interrupt.”
The old woman immediately looked at Shona, who kept as straight a face as she could. “Mmh. Anyway, I heard you are doubting Ara’s wisdom, Kimiel. About marrying Ekbeth.”
Shona gritted her teeth. Rumors were spreading as fast here as on the Other Side, she thought. And the distortion was just as bad.
“I’m not doubting anyone’s wisdom, Aramalinyia. I just said no.”
The old woman simply ignored her. She clapped her hands and some servants brought a huge urn into the room. Shona was puzzled. “What’s this?”
Ekbeth was frowning when he answered, “The oracle.”
The Aramalinyia took the lid off the urn. It was filled with hundreds of pebbles made from different matters, from precious stones to simple clay.
“The oracle indeed. If you don’t believe me, maybe you will believe the stones. You are each to take a pebble from the urn.”
This was getting worse and worse! An oracle of all things! But Shona had an idea. “If the oracle is not good, will you let your ridiculous idea of having us married rest at last?”
The Aramalinyia pinched her lips, apparently not pleased by what she was hearing. But she nodded. That was enough for Shona. She plunged her hand in the vase and picked up a pebble randomly. She had almost opened her hand when Ekbeth whispered to her to wait.
He took a pebble as well, and then extended his closed fist next to hers. They opened their hands simultaneously and Ekbeth was the first to gasp loudly when he saw what was in their hands.
The Goddess Ara certainly has a strange sense of humor, was all Shona could think.
Two pieces of jade. Of the exact same color. Ekbeth saw her consternation and whispered, “Doomed indeed. Jade stands for eternal love, Kimiel, in our tradition. And there are only two such pebbles in this urn, it is said.”
The Aramalinyia was smiling radiantly. “See! Are you doubting now? So can we announce the ceremony will take place at the end of the Aras’arisidz?”
Shona’s mind went totally blank for a minute. She was having another panic attack. White, pure panic. Twice in one day was a record. She could not allow it. She could not allow this farce happen.
She opened her mind as wide as she could. The familiar sensation of dizziness was not as strong as she was used to. But it should be enough. Bad luck if she lost herself in the between worlds! Anything was better than this!
Ekbeth put his hand on her, a horrified expression on his face. She heard him say,
“Kimiel! Don’t!”
She stared at Ekbeth. Then called herself out of this nightmare. To the only safe place she could think of.
26
Ekbeth could not believe what had just happened. Kimiel had just broken Ara’s rule, in front of the Goddess’s representative, of all things. She had called herself out of the Valley in the midst of the Aras’arisidz.
The ground shook under their feet.
He had felt Kimiel’s summon of energy. He had guessed what she intended to do. He had tried to stop her. But he was no Caller himself. One second there had been warm solid flesh under his fingers, the next, nothing.
Another ground tremor. Stronger. The Goddess was angry, no doubt about it.
Breaking Ara’s rules in such a blatant way meant death. But how could they bring punishment on someone who was not there anymore? Someone they could not Call back either, because the Caller had no memory of a transfer of that person.
Something heavy fell on Ekbeth’s head. He looked absently at the white piece of stucco at his feet, and then realized what was happening. The ceiling was falling apart.
The imminent danger brought him out of his stupor. He
looked around him. There were so many people in the room. “Aramalinyia! We have to get out of here!”
The old woman did not seem to even hear him, but her servants did, if their concerned glances toward the ceiling were any indication. They all hurried outside, to the temple.
The Aramalinyia dropped to her knees, whimpering.
From all sides, As’mirin entered the open space of the temple. They had felt the tremors. They now saw their most important lady in shock, unable to answer their urgent questions. They were confused. What was happening?
They heard the abysmal news, of course. There was no way something this terrible could be hushed down. And the community reaction was even worse than Ekbeth could have expected. That blasphemy, that outrage to their Goddess had been committed by a woman they had just accepted back, by an Oyyad.
Ekbeth felt the anger growing around him. But the anger could not find any release. Kimiel Keh Niriel was not here to pay for her crime. Anger turned into rage.
Someone shouted, “The McLeans! The McLeans have to pay for this!”
Fervent shouts answered the words. The next moment the temple was empty, except for Ekbeth, and the Aramalinyia. Even her servants had followed the crowd.
Ekbeth ran to the old woman, and kneeled at her side. “Aramalinyia! They are going to kill innocent people! You have to stop them!”
But the Aramalinyia was not hearing him. She was bent over as if in pain, her eyes closed, mumbling something he could not make out.
Ekbeth turned his attention to the Lake for a moment. The As’mir lore said that the Lake was where the Goddess lived. At this point, he had nothing to lose. He shouted, “Is this what you want, Ara? That innocents pay for someone else’s crime?”
The ground shook violently. As to whether this was a positive or negative answer, Ekbeth had no clue. He made another attempt. “We’ll bring Kimiel to you, Ara. I swear this to you. Save the McLeans. They are innocent.”
Nothing happened. Behind him, Ekbeth could hear the clamor of the angry mob. They must have reached the McLeans’ house by now. What could he do?
An image came to his mind. A clear image. Was it Ara’s answer? He had no time to ponder this. This was probably their best shot at preventing carnage. He jumped to his feet and called Kalem with his mind. His bodyguard answered him immediately. They had worked long enough together that the mental link between them had grown as strong as the one they had with Nukri na Liom, the Caller.
