by Kyrja
* * * * * * * *
Chared watched from the top of a hill as everyone who had been “traveling” with him arrived. He’d been surprised to see the man and two women arrive – not to mention the dead bodies of the two men they’d brought with them. Why would they do that? Did they think Jikangai possessed some kind of power to restore the men to life? He didn’t know any of them, living or dead, but the two women were dressed in the same kind of clothing he remembered another woman wearing. Her name was Sakari, and wasn’t someone he was likely to forget. She was a student, or maybe the daughter of, Sahil, a powerful magic maker in his own right from Bila. Perhaps they were from there? Why were they here?
He was particularly pleased to see Jarles walk up to the group that was probably from Bila, even though he would have preferred that he could have been spared this particular gathering. Everyone seemed to be getting along well enough, and all he had to do was to go down there and introduce himself to find out, but his attention was on his mother, P’onyem.
According to his father, she had “sent” him to Zemer. He didn’t say why he thought she had done it, but he suspected his mother had wanted him to meet his father at least once in this lifetime. Then again, when he’d first discovered he had been separated from everyone else, he had been afraid she had sent him away from the group as some kind of punishment. So, he might be wrong about her intentions now, too. Still, she was likely to be completely unpredictable, and he was afraid of what she might do to Drena and Jonath. Especially since Jarles was here to witness whatever might happen. He was usually more level-headed than most, but probably not where his parents were concerned. Sighing to himself, he knew he better get himself down there and get things sorted out before something … happened.
Too late! He’d been relieved to see that Drena and Jonath had arrived just like the rest of them had – whole and hale – if terribly confused. P’onyem had transported them from where he’d left them in the City by the Sea, presumably resting as comfortably as they could in Sabbah’s company, to the rooftop of the Temple of Life. She’d held out her hands and they had formed in front of everyone there from the sand pouring forth from P’onyem’s hands. It had been a horrible thing to witness, and undoubtedly a much worse thing to have to experience. She had announced that since they were from another time, they would be going with her to Jikangai.
And now it looked like his mother was about to do … something. Whatever it was, he wasn’t about to let her send them back to their own time, where they would be dead. He would not let that happen!
* * * * * * * *
“That wasn’t as unpleasant as I thought it was going to be,” Eruitt remarked. Still, he found his heart beating faster than he would have liked, and his breathing more labored. Wondering how that was even possible, since he wasn’t really in his body, he chalked it up to fear playing tricks on his mind. He had been terrified of this part of Giya’s plan, but had done it just the same. It was a truly strange (and disconcerting) sensation, being here, and not here all at the same time. If he’d been smarter, he would have asked Jarles to watch over his body while he came inside of Jikangai. Nor had his “joke” about possibly being eaten by local wildlife made any of this any easier.
Using the powers invested in him by the Earth Goddess as her apprentice, he had disconnected his conscious self to burrow into the earth, actually becoming the soil itself. He had moved himself – much like a mole might do, he supposed – in the direction he knew he had to go, hoping that he wasn’t making a mistake by going in the entirely wrong direction. He’d felt the effects of the barrier, but since there was nothing “human” or “living” about him at that point, he hadn’t been harmed – just as Giya had predicted. He’d felt relieved, once he’d passed through it, to know he was, indeed, going the right way.
When she had proposed this part of the plan, he had asked Giya why she didn’t just do the same from her side. It certainly would have been much simpler for her to wiggle out of Jikangai than to have everyone come here to release her! As a god, she had explained, she was created much differently than a human was, and the magic in the barrier would detect her deception. She suggested that since Lumas was the one who had created Jikangai, it might even possible that the magic was specifically designed to keep her in, in the event Lumas had ever felt the need to contain or destroy her. That thought had turned Eruitt’s stomach. He’d thought of all the years he had spent time just looking at the moon, or using her to guide his movements. As a boy, he’d even written a poem or two to her, because she had always been so beautiful. To think that a coldhearted being who might wantonly destroy a whole planet had resided within her silvery surface … it was just too much to contemplate.
Standing before Giya now, in a body that looked like his (at least somewhat, he supposed), but was made entirely out of dirt, was troubling, but fascinating just the same. He was glad he was the one who was experiencing this instead of just watching someone else doing it.
“So you have done it,” Giya smiled. Her smile was something he wasn’t sure he would ever see, since he always seemed to be slow in learning what she wanted from him. It was a good feeling to have finally earned it.
“Jarles has come with me,” he told her.
“Good!” she nodded.
“Nieva could not be dissuaded. She is here too,” he told her, anticipating her frown.
“Not good,” she shook her head, frowning.
“In fact, she arrived before we did, and …” he started to explain.
“She is already within Jikangai. Ratio helped her through the barrier when we thought she would be lost,” she told him.
“Jarles seems very fond of her, so he will be happy to learn she is here and is well,” Eruitt assured her.
“No,” Giya shook her head. “He will think I am holding her hostage to make sure he does as I ask.”
“Oh,” Eruitt frowned. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“No, but that is what he will think, no matter which words you use to tell him, and it is very important that he trust me, because transferring control of the seas to him will be difficult,” she explained calmly. “Nieva was confused when she came through the portal and flew into the barrier because Oculis is here, with Raito.”
“Because she trusted him to help her,” Eruitt surmised.
“Even though she doesn’t entirely trust him in all things, yes,” Giya agreed.
“Does Jarles trust Oculis?” Eruitt wondered, thinking.
“I think they are not enemies, nor are they friends,” she paused.
“Allies?” Eruitt suggested.
“Not yet,” Giya replied. “Although there is the possibility.”
“Because of Nieva,” Eruitt was pleased with himself for putting the pieces together.
“Oculis may help Jarles in return for taking her home,” Giya suggested.
“Oh!” Eruitt exclaimed. “I think I am beginning to fall apart!”
“Go. I will meet you at the boundary,” Giya called after him when his form began to sink back into the earth. “And thank you for your help. You’ve done a good job.”
Eruitt wished he would have still been in his body when Giya said that last, so he could have enjoyed feeling the smile on his face. Still, he felt it in his heart as he moved cautiously back towards his inert body.
* * * * * * * *
Without turning around, Giya called out, “You can come out now, Sina.” She didn’t need to know what words the girl was muttering under her breath to know she was displeased at having been found out. Her face was properly neutral by the time Sina had “unghosted” as she liked to call her gift, and she had turned around to greet the girl.
“If you knew I was here, why did you let me hear all of that?” Sina was frowning.
“Did you learn anything of value?” Giya asked, cocking her head a little to the right.
“He shouldn’t have been able to come here,” Sina replied, right away.
“And yet he d
id,” Giya returned. “You once said I shouldn’t be able to grow melons for our water dragon friend in soil which you had already harvested, and yet I did, which you saw for yourself.”
“I will never guess this one right,” Sina rolled her eyes, “so maybe you’ll just save me the frustration and tell me why you are able to do those things, but you can’t leave here.” She crossed her arms, waiting.
“First, let me tell you a little bit about the people whose names you just overheard, because whether you like it or not, if we all survive this experience – and there is a very good chance we will not – many of the people who are gathering outside of Jikangai are going to be very interested in you.“
“Me?” Sina frowned, narrowing her eyes with disbelief.
“Each of them have had complicated lives, so what I will tell you merely scratches the surface. Jarles is the Sea God, although he does not and never has had control of the seas. Some make jokes that he is nothing more than the “Sea God of the Sands,” but I assure you, Jarles is a very strong-willed, capable leader whose life has been filled with great challenges. I purposefully manipulated events for many generations so that his parents were the ones who would bring life to him. And at the very moment when I should have turned over control of the seas to him, I withheld that control out of fear. Fear that I had not, after all, considered all possibilities and that he would fail. It was I, however, who have failed him. He has valid cause to doubt and distrust me, and great cause to hate all gods, but as it turns out, he is a god himself, after all.”
“I … I don’t know what to say …” Sina replied.
“Oculis was once nothing more than an owl. An animal of the wild. But he became the favorite companion of a boy by the name of Serat Caeli, who was blind from the moment he came into the world, and suffered horrific, paralyzing visions. His twin sister, Siri Ventus, took the blindness from her brother, as well as the madness, and he gifted her with the owl. Sometime later, the sister became the Goddess of Air here, on our planet. She worked with Amphedia, the Goddess of the Seas, and together they tricked me into giving Amphedia control of the seas by giving them a chalice which saw into the future. By then, Siri Ventus was using Oculis as her eyes, so when she gazed into the chalice, Oculis became something quite more than an owl. As all creatures do, he learned what would best suit him and found he had a talent for making mischief. He has since fathered a daughter and a granddaughter, and has learned the value of what having a family means to him. Nieva is his granddaughter,” Giya concluded.
“What?” Sina was astonished. “So that’s why she can turn into an owl!”
“Although she lives with her Grandmother, the Goddess of Air, Nieva is very, very fond of Jarles, you see.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?” Sina asked, confused.
“Because Chared is on the other side of that barrier, and he has been an enemy to both Jarles and Oculis. I created Chared’s mother, P’onyem, using a man from Bila by the name of Zemer to give life to Chared. Once I was satisfied the child was conceived, I brought Zemer back here, to the Second Circle of Jikangai, where he had lived for hundreds of years, waiting to catch glimpses of his wife, Deiserin.”
“The tortoise?!” Sina gasped, her eyes wide, her mouth agape.
“I had sensed the ability to travel through time was growing within Zemer, because of all of the time he had spent here. Since I could not allow him to interfere with the plans I had made, I placed him in a bubble of time from the past. He has since called what I did a “gift,”” and here Giya paused to shake her head with a sigh.
“Because he got to spend time with his wife before she was a tortoise, right?” Sina guessed.
“Exactly so,” Giya agreed. “It was a terrible thing to do, but I did it just the same. And now … “ she shrugged, “I suppose some would say I am paying for that mistake.”
“What do you mean?” Sina asked, a puzzled frown creasing her brow.
“After Lumas left our world – the Goddess of Beauty – I was terribly weak. And tired. There had been a great deal of chaos during that time. That is when Denit went to Nohoyo and discovered she was to be the Sun Goddess. And yes,” Giya nodded to Sina, looking her in the eyes, “that is when your mother was taken from you.”
Sina said nothing, much to Giya’s surprise. She just lowered her head, her chest rising and falling quickly with the emotions she was feeling.
“I sensed Ozahm was here, in Jikangai. So I traveled here, intent on making sure he did not disturb Zemer, and all of my plans.” She stopped talking, shaking her head with regret. “I just needed to rest where no one could find or hinder me. I did not know I would not be able to escape,” She exhaled a sad chuckle, “One of the many mysteries my bond with Lumas has left behind.”
“You still haven’t said why you were able to grow the melons, or get that man, Eruitt, to come here,” Sina pointed out.
“I am the earth, and the earth is me. Even here. I was very weak when I came here, and became even weaker when I had to reach outside of Jikangai to make contact with Eruitt. Ozahm’s efforts also played a role in making me weak. Every time you harvested all that energy, you also made me weaker – even though it did little to slow Deiserin. When you missed your last harvest with Ozahm, it gave me the opportunity to become stronger still. And while I am still unable to escape from this place, I am now strong enough to right the wrong of having kept control of the seas from Jarles.”
“Then let’s go do that,” Sina said, extending her hand towards Giya. “Maybe I can find a way to help, too.”
“Ah Sina,” Giya sighed with relief, engulfing the girl in her embrace, “Friendship is the greatest gift of all.”
* * * * * * * *
Denit was pacing, And pounding on the cave walls. And pacing some more. She had already lost control twice, igniting herself in order to expend some pent up energy. What if she had to stay here forever? And how would she know if forever had already passed? There was no “time” here. And nothing to do. No one to talk to. Surely this Youni person didn’t REALLY think this was going to work, did she?
Chapter Thirty-One – Chared’s Sacrifice
“There is something you need to know,” Baya said, purposefully not looking at High Priestess Khashya. There. I’ve started, she told herself, determined to keep her teeth from chattering together. By Sov’s teeth she was scared! She was terrified of how the high priestess would react to what she was going to say. She was, after all, the Record Keeper, so wielded considerable influence and control in the City by the Sea. What if she had been play acting all this time, just so she could finally get some solid evidence against her. Proof that she and the rest of Chared’s children were a danger to everyone else? Stop it! she told herself. You’ve started, now tell her!
“Baya,” the woman said, reaching out to hold her upper arm firmly, “I know it is hard to trust me, but I didn’t send my family away to be safe just so I could hurt your family. You don’t have to tell me anything at all, but if you think there is something I should know … maybe to help keep you or Aku safe? Then please tell me. Or tell me everything. We’re here now, together, in this … well … strange place, and I have a feeling none of us is safe.”
“Tell her we will be safe at the end,” Aku interjected softly, her eyes seeking out those of Khashya’ s.
“At the end?” Khashya asked, not sure which “end” Aku might be referring to.
“She means when we get back home. If we do. That you won’t hold anything I say now against us later. At home. You won’t want to hear what I have to tell you, but I … I think you need to,” Baya told her, struggling to keep her face from looking like she might stab the woman at any moment. By the gods! It was so much easier to be mad than afraid.
Khashya smiled a little, then shook her head. Inhaling deeply, she said, “I was going to say that it isn’t as if you were going to tell me that you murdered someone,” she smirked, her lips twisting. “But then … in all seriousness, it’s possi
ble that you have. So, even knowing that it may be that terrible, I promise not to hold whatever you tell me here, in Jikangai, against you or your brothers and sisters later. Does that help?”
“Yes,” Baya nodded shortly, but her forehead was still creased, and her hooded eyes made her look like she was still angry. Very angry. And yet, she hesitated. “Aku?” she asked, turning towards her sister.
Looking right at her, Aku shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, saying, “It’s not the rooster’s fault.”
“… not the rooster’s fault … “ Khashya repeated, almost whispering. “Because the rooster doesn’t control time,” she said louder, and more confident then, but her eyes were darting back and forth and suddenly she gasped, reaching out to grab Baya’s arm again. This time with a sense of urgency, instead of empathy. “The fire ball!” she practically shouted, staring at Baya. Then quieter, she repeated, “The fire ball. It should have killed us, or at least burned us badly.” She stopped, looking at Baya, seeing how the pieces fit together at last.
“The rooster doesn’t control time, you do,” she exclaimed, her facial expressions changing from excitement for understanding, then grave concern for what that might mean. “Wait!” she said, holding a hand up to her mouth, with her eyes moving back and forth again. “It was Sharun who threw that fire ball at us!” She paused, frowning. “But why would he do that if he already knew you could …”
“Because he wanted to see if I would move through time with you watching. He wanted to goad me into doing what I have told him many, many times that he must never do,” Baya said, scowling.
“And you did,” she smiled. “Thank you,” she said, surprising Baya by hugging her.
