The ancient woman moved slowly, as if time bent to her will and would allow her as long as she needed. Her bare feet trod on soft grass and her arms extended as if to embrace Finn, even though it was impossible through the rock wall. He watched her from behind the peep-hole, wondering again how sunlight hit a place so deep underground. The woman smiled, her face crinkling up.
“It's called the Bird's Window, love.”
“W—what is?” Finn asked, stumbling over his words.
“The hole which you see me through. It's only a glimpse to where I reside. Not here, but somewhere else altogether.”
“Where is that?”
She laughed softly, her voice frail yet melodic. “A place where Spring never ends and animals stay babies forever.”
She sighed and looked at him with the eyes of an examining practitioner. How she could see him so well while on the other hand he had to squint one eye shut to peer through to her? Startled, he covered himself and blushed. She tapped one bent finger against her cheek and pursed her lips. As she watched him, a squirrel ran up her leg and perched on her shoulder. The little animal turned and also stared at Finn, mimicking the woman before scampering away. She sighed, looking pleased. Whatever she'd seen in Finn, she'd liked.
“Oh one who's footsteps are guided by fate! Behold Walker of Flames! The Unchosen! Truly the stars watch you as closely as bees do a flower! Well met, Finn SunRider! Well met indeed!” Her words rang of power and her chest puffed out. Behind her, birds took flight, chirping in songful delight. Finn didn't know what to say. He'd not expected to find this at the end of his quest.
“Who are you?” he asked, suddenly feeling the need to act respectful. “How do you know me?”
She shook her head and her flowing white hair danced. As her hair moved, Finn caught glimpses of grapes, leaves, and small red berries. They were woven-in like decorative beads. She crouched and plucked a flower with bell-shaped petals. She drank from it, a little golden drop escaping her lips and falling to the ground. The woman smiled in contentment.
“So long have I been witness to the changes of Lenova, young hero-to-be. For many centuries I have watched these lands grow darker. But now, I’ve been given hope! To talk to you will be sacrifice, but sacrifices are part of what makes Lenova exist.”
She wiped at her eyes and in surprise, Finn noticed silver tears dripping from her cheeks.
“I am Lady Tuliah, last of my kind, Grower of Berries, Sparrow-Speaker, Crown-Bearer to the Trees, Witness of Lenova, and Nature-kin.”
Finn took a step back, stumbling over his feet. It was as if he'd been hit by a log. His arms shook. The story was true. The three elder races. The great war. The last Nature-kin had spoken to him.
Tuliah laughed. Finn could hear her from beyond the wall as if she were only a pace away. He hurried back to the Bird's Window and peered through. Tuliah was crouching in the grass, feeding strawberries to a white-pelted boar. The creature squealed and nuzzled his head against the ground as if embarrassed. It scampered off into the brush and the elder stood.
“SunRider! How I've longed for the day to meet you, or I guess anyone to be honest.”
“Meet me? Why me? I’m nothing! You—you’re Nature-kin! You must be...be...”
“Very old.” Lady Tuliah finished, chuckling. “Yes. I feel it. Believe me.”
The knowledge she possessed. Witness to Lenova's history for countless years. Any scholar on Lenova would give all they had to spend five minutes with her.
Lady Tuliah yawned. “Why you, you ask? Lots of reasons. Mostly because talking to squirrels grows quite boring. Thank the roots you had enough brains to cross the stream! I’m glad that the one to reach this far is one who is so resilient. You were an idiot to run into the center of the Slaglands but was also too stubborn to die there. There’s nothing special about it, you just ended up being the one who stumbled into something far bigger than yourself. You’ve become part of a great cycle! Fate, destiny, sheer luck... blah, blah, blah. It doesn't matter. What matters is that you're here!” She approached the peep-hole until all Finn could see was the light green of her left eye. It glimmered at him and he felt lost within its depths. “You heeded my call quickly too! Not as dense as I imagined you to be—nope, not at all! I’ve called plenty others, not that many seem to be able to even hear me. You’ll be surprised at how many Lenovans don’t even dream!”
“Your call?” Finn stuttered.
“Yes, twice! Once physically and once mentally! Didn’t you dance with me at the festival of Lith-Lamma?”
Finn jumped. He’d danced with a beautiful maiden that night. His cheeks flushed. He’d thought the girl attractive. But she wasn’t young at all.
Tuliah laughed. “I still got a hop to my step, don't I?” She frowned and tapped her lips. “Granted I wasn't really there...”
“Wait, so I was dancing by myself? In front of everybody?” Finn yelped, feeling his cheeks grow even hotter.
“I suppose so!” Lady Tuliah said with a giggle not appropriate for her age. “But everyone was drunk anyways. I doubt they'll remember!”
Finn put his hands over his face, shaking his head. He could hear the elder woman laughing uncontrollably on the other side of the wall.
“If—if you had seen your face as I had! Dancing about and gyrating with no one near you, your rear bouncing along like two lopped potatoes in a sack!”
Finn groaned and shook his head again. He heard a thump come from through the Bird's Window. All went silent. In curiosity, he peered through. Tuliah was on the ground rolling in mute laughter, her face red. The elder shimmered as if behind a mirage. At times Finn would see a budding Tuliah, at others, the elder.
“Y—you l—l—looked like a d—duck who'd been hit by a s—stone! Couldn't even call it dancing, could w—we? Wobbling and s—shaking your arms like you were having a seizure!”
Finn hit the wall. “I never danced before! Don't mock me! I thought you were supposed to be a pompous wise sage, not some perverted garden-tender!”
His words made Lady Tuliah laugh even harder. Finn huffed and waited for her to settle down. She wasn't at all like one would think an elder should be. She quieted and stood, sighing in contentment, and approached the peep-hole.
“I apologize, SunRider. I’m just happy to be able to talk to someone.” She pointed at him. “As a young orphan boy, the mine supervisors gave you the name of SunRider. Do you recall why?”
Finn shook his head, perplexed.
“When you were brought in, along with many other orphans of the Crust, your little face stared at the sky with a grin. Tiny and hardly able to walk in a straight line, you found the reflection of the sun beaming onto the dirt through a glass wind-chime one of the supervisors kept. You hopped the lines of colored light back and forth, giggling as you did so. Thus they called you SunRider. But perhaps your name will mean so much more—or nothing at all. Its your choice!”
“How—” Finn stammered, “how do you know all this?”
Tuliah looked on to a part of the garden Finn couldn't see. Her eyes were faded and suddenly, she seemed ancient. “It’s a burden and a gift all the same—vision and long age granted by Lenova itself. Last of my race, am I.” Her face grew sad. “What people we were! Our palaces and cities! One with nature! Would put the villagers of Pittance with their tree-homes to shame, yes it would. The culture and history we held, all lost to hate and fear.”
She stared off into nothing for a long time. Her words hit Finn hard, as if Tuliah’s emotions were invading him by force. He was hollow, as if his existence had been taken from him, only leaving an ancient sadness. Tuliah snapped her fingers and Finn blinked the feeling away. “We don't have the time for moping! I’ll soon be gone!
“Gone?” Finn barked, “Are you and the other two elder race survivors not immortal? And where are they? Shouldn't they be here with you?”
Tuliah gave him a small smile. “Such large questions for one so young. They would take much too long to explai
n in detail. Know this: The Seraph has long passed into another realm. The quiet Forsaken left for lands far South beyond Lenova, pregnant with twins. It was a foolish hope, for the call of the beyond reaches out. The elder races are not to stay; our cycle is over.” Tuliah pressed against the Bird's Window. “We became stuck in the cycle of repetition. What happened to us has happened many times before.”
“What do you mean?” Finn startled. “What has happened before? You fighting one another?”
But Tuliah was shaking her head. “No, perhaps it won’t even occur in your lifetime. Much else comes first. Many quests, adventures, and battles. Prophecies, bah! I hate prophecies. Reveals too much you know. Takes the choice out of a man’s heart, it does. I can give you one. Perhaps it’ll even speak truth, but you don’t have to listen to it. There’s never been a prophecy that was always correct. Goodness, there wasn’t even anything saying whether you were going to make it all the way to me or not. There’s never been a “chosen one”, you know that right? No such thing. SunRider… there are so many paths to take…” She leaned in. “Did you know that there’s a possibility that one day you could lose all your limbs and tend to sheep for the rest of your miserable life? There’s also another one about you drowning in an ocean, one with you becoming a rich map-maker, one with you dead from the Clover’s Flu, one with you as the King of Lenova, one with you activating your bracer, one with you losing the bracer… and so on. You see? Its expectant of me to give you something. Guiding words perhaps. I can do that, I can. I just don’t think you should put much thought into a set future. Does any of this make scene to you?”
Finn, dumbfounded, shook his head.
“Of course not. You’d have to be a seer to understand. Ugh, well I’ll give you a prophecy. You know, back when my people were around, we had plenty of heroes too. It seemed every one of them had a prophecy about this or that. Most of them died or were maimed attempting to fulfil them.”
Finn closed his mouth and chewed on his cheek. “So why give me one? I won’t know what to do with it. I mean, am I even supposed to be someone special?”
Tuliah's face softened and she clucked. “If I could reach you I would kiss your forehead in a blessing, young one. Everyone can be special and a hero. But… you could also walk out of here and die of constipation. There’s no glamor to it. Do what you want with your life, but at least hear this—not a prophecy, but guiding words:”
Her face grew abnormally still.
“From breeze to storm, we pray must rise a child!
With a path made long, a journey made wild!
Evil seeks to change all we hold dear,
Will one save us, protect us, take away our fear?
“Glory or ruin, Lenova shall observe,
Lords and Kings to whom shall you serve?
Will one stop the curse, or will one see it done?
It’s all unpredictable in the long run.
“Destroy monsters and men, choose to live or to die,
Choose whatever you want, to walk or to fly.
Confront beasts made of stone, Gods made of gold,
Through trial’s hands, shall a warrior be mold!
“Let all hear the call,
each to answer or deny,
Some will choose to save Lenova,
Others to let it die.
“From breeze to storm, we pray must rise a child!
With a path made long, a journey made wild!
To follow their feet, forward through death,
And whisper the Name with a final breath.
“When earth comes to life and all shall be lost,
A power awakens, but at sanity's cost.
Remember the dream: a world uncollapsed,
A divine prediction not given, but just a perhaps.
“Men become Gods, and Gods become dust,
All in false vision they’ll put their trust!
With a path made long, a journey made wild!
From breeze to storm, we pray must rise a child!
Tuliah collapsed to the grass, heaving. Her eyes bulged and sweat poured down her face. Finn pushed against the rock, his heart hammering. “Lady Tuliah! You’re ill!”
She didn’t reply, but rested, her body shivering as if in the depths of a cold. When she rose, she looked much older and paler. “See?” she snapped, frustration twisting her face. “Visionary guidance could mean anything! Or goodness, nothing at all! Quite worthless!” Finn opened and closed his mouth. “Do you remember the words?” she huffed, quite irritated.
“Yes! They're burned into my mind!”
Tuliah slumped, panting. “Now see them erased from it.”
“What was that? What did it mean?” Finn exclaimed, feeling strange energy course through him. He wanted to run, to jump, to swim to the ends of the earth.
“An old fool’s meandering predictions.” she croaked, eyes fluttering. “They tell of potential events to come.”
Finn shivered and stuttered. There was so much to ask her, so much to know. He was so confused! But Tuliah was shaking her head and backing away from the Bird's Window. She looked very old indeed. “My time’s up, SunRider. The yonder calls to me.”
“Wait!” Finn shouted, pressing his face to the rock wall so hard he scraped his cheeks. “Don't go! What do I do? I—I don’t understand! Am I supposed to do something special?”
Tuliah gave him a sad smile and silver tears coursed from her face. “Do what you want. Be a hero, a farmer, a martyr, a rebel. But please SunRider, take care of her. Take care of Lenova better than we did.” Tuliah’s emotions swept into Finn and tears flowed from his cheeks as well.
Tuliah began to fade into the brush. The sunlight hitting the garden grew dim. “I almost forgot:” she whispered. “The tale's promise of me granting a wish. Bah, what a load. I’ll tell you this, only half that historic story is true. I cannot grant you the power you seek in your bracer. Only you control that. I shall give you something else. Your kind nature toward your friend changes him. Return to existence, SunRider.”
She was nearly gone now, her green eyes all that was left, twinkling between tall leaves. The room was darkening. “Even in the yonder I shall remember you, Finn SunRider. Well met. Well met indeed.”
She was gone. Through the peep-hole Finn saw nothing but a black empty cave. It looked undisturbed since the dawn of time. He backed away, his mind trying to process what’d happened to him in the last hour. He wiped his face free of tears and muttered the strange guiding words she’d shared under his breath. It held no meaning, or did it? Should he even listen to it? But truly, for Lady Tuliah's sake, he would consider their counsel.
He turned, in a hurry to return to the surface. Instead of finding the tunnel he'd come from, he found a plain oak door. In puzzlement, he grabbed the iron knob and pulled it open. Beyond, was the room with three faces. The door itself was the mouth to the middle face; the Seraph. Instead of canals full of liquids, only flat floor met him. He stepped into the room, marveling at the magic.
Near the tunnel leading outside, Finn found a mound of clothing waiting for him. They were his clothes, no longer burned to ash. He smiled and thanked Tuliah under his breath, putting them on. In his pants pocket, there was a lump. He fished inside and pulled out a glass bottle made in the same shape as the flower Tuliah had drank from. Within, he could see an amber liquid sloshing about. There was a note attached to the bottle and Finn read it.
For when speed is of the essence.
He put the bottle back into his pocket, treasuring it more than he ever would the gems he'd taken from Nozgull. He stepped back out into daylight, looking back to the magic chamber for the last time. Seconds after walking back into the forest the rock mound was gone, all traces of the ancient ruins vanished. Pittance's legend was completed. Had he used up the wish?
Finn walked to the water's edge and pushed through the cattails, admiring how little the sun's position had changed. On the opposing bank, none of the villagers, nor Piscus and Goblin, were
to be seen. Finn turned around and walked backward, washing the crusted lava from his skin and reaching the other bank. Step after slow step, he returned to a quiet Pittance.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Return to Pittance
—Circa 5,607 E.E. (Economic Era-The 17th Era): Finn SunRider hears wild tales of the wonders of Lenova from new miners. The excitement and desire to explore the world seeds within him and never lets go.—
With Tuliah's words heavy in his ears, Finn approached the center of town. The outer streets were empty, as if the people had gathered in one location. Turning a corner to face the grass field where the night before festivities had abounded, Finn came across all the citizens. Looking both agitated and nervous, they moved in place, gathering into hunched groups. Finn could hear them talking in hushed voices. In the middle, Piscus and Miriam stared at Goblin, their eyes wide and their mouths open. As Finn drew near, the crowd noticed him. They turned to face him, growing silent one by one. The air became heavy with a sense of reverence and Finn’s spine tingled. Piscus, Miriam, and Goblin finally saw him and they froze, resembling the statues surrounding the village.
For a moment, no one spoke. Finn bit his lip, worried he'd done something wrong. Had by crossing the stream, his actions offended or angered the villagers? Had he been too brash? Too quick to rush into the water?
“StreamCrosser.”
The word vibrated in the silence, even though it’d been whispered. But it was more than a word—it held power. A title. Soon, others repeated it like a chant, directed at him. A few villagers even reached out, touching his wet clothes; feeling the stream water run off him. Miriam came closer, the other elders gathering around her like a cloak. Her face held a childish wonder, mixing with her aged wisdom.
“Finn, by all that binds and surrounds us, I can’t believe it! In my lifetime... I never thought... Did you make it to the other side?”
Finn thought of his experience in the underground chamber of the ancient races—how personal it’d been. “I did.” he stated with hesitance, careful with his words. He didn't think describing every detail of what’d happened would be wise.
SunRider: Book 1 (The SunRider Saga) Page 16
