AESSA'S CHILDREN: BOOK ONE -- THE LAST BORDER
By V. A. Watts (c) 1993
NOTE: This work is under a registered copyright and unauthorized distribution is prohibited and will be prosecuted. All characters are fictional and of my own invention. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Note on pronunciation: Proper Names and nouns within the language most commonly used on Aessa, Lliyassean, allow that each letter have its own sound. The first vowel in each word is long, the following vowels hold the short sound. Therefore, the name Thana is pronounced: T-HAYN-AH. Maygra is MAY-IH-G-RAH, Kieri is KI-ERR-IH, and Jael is JAY-EL. Diminutives such as Jai and Mag are pronounced as written, so Jai would be Ji (long "I") and Mag would be Mag with a short "a". The use of glottal stops is pervasive. Words ending in "I" are masculine gendered, "a" indicates feminine gender, "n" indicates plurals. Partial Glossary is at the end of each chapter.
Maygra woke to semi-darkness, a dull gloom pierced by the pure white light of stars overhead. Pain clawed at her face and side and a dozen other places in her body. A familiar hand eased some of it, but the touch was shaky and tired. Pulling on all of her reserves, she fought to sit up -- no easy task with her arm bound to her side -- but she made it and peered into the gloom trying to establish where she was. CHAPTER FOUR
It was a pit of sorts, a deep cellar for fruits and wine, the damp earthen walls rising ten feet over her head, the opening half obscured by sod covered planking. She could make out the sounds of others besides herself squinting against the dim light as she tried to identify the faces of the others.
Starlight on pale hair and a huddled body curled round two smaller ones identified Maia, her face white in the darkness, eyes wide and staring as she clutched Kuris' still form to her side. There was no sign the child was alive. Kion was laying in his mothers lap, fretting and whimpering, but not crying, not yet. Beyond her, head wrapped in a rough bandage, the slender figure huddled in the corner was Osra, either asleep or unconscious.
Three other white faces peered back at her. Sura, whose healing hands had driven Maygra's pain away, was slumped in exhaustion against the wall. Renn stood beside his mother, the left side of his face darkened by dirt or blood or bruising -- Maygra could not be sure which in such poor light. His eyes alternated fearfully between Maygra, the opening above and the small girl-child who was huddled against Sura. Maygra recognized the girl, Kiva, and wondered at her survival. She whispered and Renn came to her, dragging her axe behind him.
"What's happened, kiri?" she asked softly, her voice hoarse and pained from screaming.
"They've gone, we think," he whispered. "Jael brought me here after you saved me. Mother and Osra were already here. Mikayl found Kiva, then he and Damyn brought you. Mother says you were almost dead. Mikayl went away, though, a long time, then Jael brought Maia and Kuris and Damyn fixed your arm. Then they went away again and mother can't find Damyn," he said with a little sob and Maygra held back her own tears. If Sura could not "find" Damyn, the Healer was dead. "How long, Renn? How long since anyone has been back?"
"It's been nearly two days, Maygra," Sura answered softly, tonelessly. "You've been unconscious through yesterday and a night. It's past moonrise of the second day."
Shocked wordless, Maygra reached for Renn's hand, her eyes fixed on Sura. The older woman was staring listlessly into the darkness, exhausted by grief and effort.
Two days! Her close brush with death seemed inconsequential beside the loss of those two days. What had happened? How many of their people had survived? Her questions elicited little emotion from Sura.
"The battle was over shortly after Damyn brought you to me. He, Jael and Mikayl hid here when all our defenders had fallen, but left again at dusk; Jael to look for survivors and Mikayl to follow the raiders. Jael returned with Laric at midnight and left him here to protect us then came twice more during the night, once to check on us and once to bring food and water. At dawn he and Laric went out again to look for survivors, but haven't returned. I don't know if anyone else did survive."
"And Mikayl?" Maygra whispered, half-fearing the answer.
"I don't know, Maygra. I'm sorry," Sura murmured, her voice thick with sympathy.
Maygra closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the cool earthen wall for a moment, steeling herself against the wave of loss threatening her slim grasp on control. She opened her eyes, letting her gaze focus on Maia, but there was no response to her soft, hoarse call. The older woman made no response of any kind, the vacant expression on her face never altering, her eyes staring blankly at nothing.
Sura's sudden gasp of surprise caught Maygra off-guard and she lurched painfully upright as Sura stood, her mind alert as she Heard something above. Startled, Maygra took the axe from Renn, using it to help her gain her balance, then supporting herself against the wall as Renn scurried to his mother's side.
"Sura," a voice whispered, as familiar as it was welcome, and a bag was lowered into the hole. Sura caught the bags and Laric levered himself into the cellar. His face was scored and one leg bandaged, a dark stain proof no Healer had yet seen to it. It bore him up well enough, which was good as the sight of Maygra standing, axe in hand, sent him stumbling backward in surprise.
"Goddess! I thought you dead!" he said harshly, staring at her as if she were some loathsome spirit sent to torment him.
"What's happened?" she demanded, forcing herself to remain upright, though her body protested, pain nearly severing her from consciousness again. She fought the white hot wave, clutching at the wall for support.
"They've gone. Mikayl is following them still while Jael searches for survivors," he said glaring at her, not missing Maygra's gasp of relief at seeing her brother alive. "I've salvaged what food and clothing I could find and stored it near the breach leading into Bredas Hulden. We plan to move as soon as Mikayl returns."
"The children -- any taken?" she asked, her throat closing on the thought.
Laric glared at her for a moment, before looking away. "Four we know of . . . Dark Maiden, Maygra! How could you give such an order!" he exploded, his voice harsh and ragged with fury and accusation.
"There was no choice," she grated out, her throat adding more pain to be controlled.
Laric swore, advancing on her as if to strike her, but Sura grasped his arm. "Leave her alone, Laric. She was right. I'd have killed my own rather than let him be carried off to the Dark Maiden knows what fate! Half our number were already dead when they began taking captives."
"Dark Maiden be damned!" he snapped, wrenching away from the Healer. "She couldn't hear them -- all those Voices suddenly silenced! She is as much our enemy as if she opened the gates to bid them enter! Traitor and murderer!" he snarled, whirling on Maygra once more. "You should have died! It would have been the one death which would have caused no pain."
Maygra withstood the verbal assault silently, refusing to give voice to the protest on her lips. She had not heard the children in her mind, nor marked their deaths.
Caught off guard by her silence, Laric could only glare balefully at her and it was Renn who broke the uneasy silence, coming to her defense with all the anger his eight-year old soul could muster. He pushed Laric out of the way forcibly, hugging Maygra on her uninjured side.
"You're awful, Laric!" he said in childish outrage. "Don't listen to him, Maygra, he's wrong! I would have killed myself rather than be taken by demons -- like Kerys in the stories. You won't cry, Mag, promise you won't," he pleaded.
Maygra drew a shaky breath, fighting back the sob building in her chest. She ruffled the dirty curls gratefully and stared up at Laric's still angry face.
"You are right, Laric. I did not hear them. But I did give the order and the Aessa will judge me, right or wrong. Dark Maiden take the crooked path when my time is due for what I've done," she said softly.
Laric stared at her, then ran his hands over his face and hair before sitting heavily across from her. He said no more, but buried his face in his arms against his knees.
The silence grew and Maygra slipped into a hazy pain of semi-consciousness before her battle-edged senses heard footsteps overhead. She and Laric looked up, rising stiffly to meet the threat or messenger, whichever appeared.
"Sura!" A voice called and Mikayl's inverted head appeared only to disappear again as another sound took his attention for a moment. "We found Damyn," he informed the woman waiting below. "He's alive, but hurt. Give me your hand," he added and leaned into the hole. Laric had strength enough to lift the woman out, then waited until Mikayl suddenly dropped into the hole.
"Mag!" Mikayl started, seeing his sister on her feet when only hours before she had been near death. She cried out in pain as he tried to embrace her, only to give a shaky laugh as he sprang back in dismay. She touched his cheek, feeling the tears there, and wept herself when he kissed her extended hand fervently.
"We have to get out of here," he said, breaking off their reunion not unkindly. "Jai?"
Jael appeared, face fatigued and anxious, offering a hand to Laric first and pulling him free, with Mikayl pushing from below. They handed the children up next, save Kuris, for Maia would not let them take him, and whimpered like an injured animal when they tried.
"Maia," Maygra said gently, and Mikayl had to help her to her sister's side. She knelt beside her, feeling half healed wounds tear open again, and something warm trickled down her side. Mikayl hovered on the other side. "kira'sai! We have to go. Mikayl will take Kuris -- only for a moment then you'll be together again. Do you understand?"
Maia whimpered again and Mikayl tried a more direct approach, touching her face, trying to establish a link with her mind. After a moment he shook his head.
"She's blocking me out," he said desperately.
Maygra frowned, then jerked her sister's arm so she was facing her. With her good hand she slapped her across the face, the impact nearly causing her to pass out in pain.
"Maia! We have to go! They'll be back," she snapped and Mikayl pulled the woman back so he could lift up his nephew. Maia cried out in protest but Maygra grasped her arm so tightly she drew blood. A moment later, Mikayl returned for his eldest sister and lifted her up to waiting hands.
Exhausted, Maygra slumped back against the wall. She waited while Mikayl bent over Osra, speaking softly to the woman who finally stood up, arms outstretched until Mikayl caught her hands and guided her beneath the opening. He lifted the woman up, holding her until the others were able to drag her out of the cellar. A moment later she felt Mikayl pat her smartly on the cheeks.
It was a Healer's hand which grasped her and helped her out of the cellar. Damyn's face was tensed with strain, but he blocked the worst of her pain as he and Jael eased her out onto the grass.
She could not stop the gasp of dismay from escaping her throat. Bathed in pale starlight, Rhema was in ruins. The great walls gaped in half a dozen places, the melted stone smooth and glassy in a grotesque montage of shapes. Bodies could be seen outlined in the slick stuff and more bodies lay like dark shadows on the ground. Of the vegenen, n'garin, and Hai'Karin her folk had managed to kill there was no sign; they had vanished into the shadows as the sun disappeared beyond Itheron's craggy peaks.
"No one--" she started to say but Jael shook his head as he and Laric reached into the cellar to pull Mikayl free, Laric's bag of supplies gripped in one hand, Maygra's axe in another.
"I've been calling," Jael said wearily. "If anyone is alive, they either can't hear me or can't answer," he added glancing at Damyn.
Maygra stared at the Healer, remembering what Renn had told her. He was white faced beneath still bleeding scratches, his Healer's robe rent in three long tears across his chest, half-healed wounds showing through the fabric.
"What happened, Damyn?" she asked, catching the hand resting on her injured arm. In a sudden, brief flaring of her Gift, she saw the creature which had gouged him.
It was a smaller version of the winged demons, a true vegenen -- one of the soul-stealing messengers of legends -- with small burning red eyes, screeching in dark hunger as it obeyed the hand of one of the cloaked riders watching the slaughter from outside the walls. Damyn had sought the riders, realizing they controlled the attack. A bow taken from a fallen kinsman killed one of them, but the leader sent the tiny creature after him. It had aimed for his heart, talons and beak ripping at his face and chest. He had fallen beneath the attack, the vegen at his throat before he was able to wrench it away, snapping the tiny back with his hands then staggering after the riders once more. Maygra gasped as the rapport went suddenly flat, engulfing her in a darkness created not from her lack of Gift but something else, something alien. A moment later she was back, the surge gone, leaving her uncertain of what she had witnessed.
"I'm not sure," he answered, unaware of the blazing rapport. "I fell. I don't remember anything until Jael found me."
"Sura?" Maygra asked, confused. But the woman was equally puzzled and shook her head.
"I can't even guess, Mag. I thought him dead. Yet, I can Hear him now," she added but her comment held a note of concern.
"We need to leave," Mikayl said urgently. "It's nearly dawn. Where are the supplies, Laric?" he asked and offered Maygra a hand up.
"Wait," Damyn said. "Mother, have you enough strength to see to Laric's leg?" he asked and at her nod, he began untying Maygra's bandages. "Mikayl, take off Osra's bandage as well," he ordered, then turned his attention to Maygra's injury.
It took only a moment, and Maygra was not the only one to turn her head away from the wound. It was still raw, blood escaping in a steady trickle from where Damyn's initial healing had been too hasty. That the limb was attached at all was a miracle, for the cut had severed it neatly save for half a fingers-length of skin and muscle on the outside, just above her elbow. Damyn took her hand in his right, the left resting on the wound. His healing made the nerves tingle and she bit her lip, drawing blood, as the pain increased momentarily then faded again. She gasped as the limb went completely numb but she dared not look back, half fearing he had removed the arm entirely. Faintness came over her suddenly and only Damyn's steadying hand kept her from falling. It passed quickly and the tingling sensation returned accompanied by a labored expulsion of breath from the Healer. Startled, she turned, staring at the suddenly alien appendage. The lower part of her arm was death-pale but she could feel Damyn's fingers on the flesh. She gritted her teeth against the nausea still haunting her stomach and was rewarded when her fingers flexed faintly against his. The Healer was sagging in fatigue, but he managed a shaky smile and squeezed her hand. She stretched the arm, hissing at the wave of pain that washed over her.
His hands went to her face, but they trembled and Maygra ducked away, lurching to her feet with Mikayl's help. "We can think about my looks later," she said, but gently. She felt unsteady, not quite ready to stand, and took the few minutes it required Damyn to examine Osra to gather her strength.
The other woman looked unmarked but her dark hair was matted to her head behind her left ear and the collar of her tunic was blackened by dried blood. She started as Damyn touched her gently and spoke to her softly. She shook her head in response, tears glistening on her cheeks but made no other sound save a soft moan when he tried to examine the wound. Finished with Laric, Sura joined him at the woman's side, brushing the guardswoman's pale cheek with her fingers before shaking her head at her son. Damyn rubbed his eyes wearily then laid his hands on Osra's head briefly. He seemed no more optimistic than Sura when he was done and instructed Mikayl to rewrap the injury.
"She's blind," Damyn said as he staggered to his feet, leaning heavily against Sura. "I don't know if I can do anything for her yet," he added softly and glanced anxiously at Maygra.
Seeing the concern in his eyes Maygra set her teeth and got to her feet, using her axe handle as a lever and staggering forward, barely noticing when Renn came to hover by her side.
Laric pulled Osra to her feet, leading her carefully forward. Jael handed Kion to his mother, and she took him automatically, her hand still resting on Kuris' chest as Jael lifted him gently. Maygra met his eyes questioningly and he shook his head, his mouth set in a grim line. After Maia's reaction in the cellar, they dared not try to reason with her and the small, lifeless body was not much of a burden. He began walking toward the ruined gates and Maia followed, eyes vacant as she walked beside them, stumbling as she moved forward.
Sura offered a hand to Kiva but the child would not take it. She stood rooted to the spot, wide eyes casting about her wildly though she made no sound. There was no parent to comfort her and finally Sura knelt and brushed the girl's forehead with her fingertips, catching the small body as it collapsed in gently induced sleep. Damyn tried to lift the girl but Sura pushed him away.
"You can barely keep to your feet now," she said with unaccustomed harshness, and gave the child to Mikayl to carry before following Jael.
They kept to the concealing shadows of the ruined wall. Pausing only long enough to gather the patrol packs of water and food Laric had gathered, moving quickly into the welcome shelter of the hulden. A tangible sense of relief washed over the group as their presence was hidden by the dense foliage and deep shadows.
The sun had broken the horizon when Mikayl called a halt. They were all exhausted and battered, but Jael had enough strength to set a lock-Shield over them so they could sleep, his Gift sufficient to keep the survivors hidden from casual eyes even while he slept. They were oblivious to the rough ground beneath them and rested until the sun was high overhead, the dusty light sprinkling through the dense foliage like dry, warm rain.
Kion woke them with a sharp short cry but Maia did not react. Groggily, Jael lifted her tunic and propped the babe on blankets so he could nurse, then dropped the Shield, gasping in relief as the strain was eased. Maygra sat up as well, biting back a cry of pain as she jarred her arm. The nagging pain aside, she felt far more rested than she believed possible, and let her eyes roam over her waking companions. She stared at her sister blankly for a moment, noting how the tense, white hands were locked on Kuris' tunic front. Whether she realized the boy was dead, Maygra could not discern, but she made no protest as Jael finally carried the small body deeper into the wood, returning some time later empty handed.
It was a solemn camp, barely a word exchanged as Laric offered food from the packs. Osra was fretful, caught between wakefulness and insensibility. Damyn's touch calmed her but could not bring her to her senses and Sura stopped him with a glance when he would have tried. Mikayl paced the edge of their small camp, his eyes searching the forest around them anxiously. Maygra fretted as well, torn between her desire to flee and the need for the little group to rest. They were all filthy and fatigued despite their few hours sleep. Damyn and Sura were wan, tense lines marking their pale faces, but Maygra could not determine if the pain they felt was their own or that of their companions.
Not that it mattered, she thought rising to her feet, angrily denying her own pain and weariness. The sharp ache in her arm had dulled but her face felt swollen and heavy. She concentrated on the attack, willing herself to remember details which might have escaped her in the frenzy of battle. It disturbed her the assault had been so successful; that her people could have been taken so completely by surprise until it was too late.
"Mal," she said softly, beckoning him to her. "When you tracked the Hai'Karin, where did they go?"
"North, along the eastern side of the grae. I only waited long enough to make sure they were gone," he said, brow furrowed in thought.
"Any signs of looting -- did they search the Keep at all?"
"No, and Jael thought it odd at the time. He and Sura set a lock-Shield the moment we dropped Maia and the children in the cellar. There weren't many of us left and he wanted to be sure they would be protected if something happened. He stayed hidden in the tower rubble until he was sure no one was left. The vegenen had already gone and the Hai'Karin were leaving -- but they only stopped long enough to pick up their dead. They didn't even search the bodies of our people," he eyed her with a worried frown. "That's very peculiar for raiders."
"Very. Damn it, what did they want -- just the children? That makes no sense either, unless -- did you find anything on your scan?"
"Nothing in the sky. I'm not sure I can spot the vegenen or the n'garin -- they escaped me yesterday," he said softly.
"You weren't on watch," she reminded him gruffly. "Can you reach as far north as Tallis Fair?"
"I can try -- I'm a little tired."
"I know, kiri-love, but try. Tallis Fair, Urgen Cald, any of the Haian or M'yris settlements along Itheron or in Elerak. Jael, drop your Shield."
"Are you sure, Mag?" Jael asked. His eyes were red and damp, and Maia was slumped in his lap while Sura held the baby. Maygra stared at the baby, seeing a different, fairer child and she bit back her own urge to weep for the loss of her nephew. Sternly she took command of her emotions -- tears were of no use to them and her tears least of all.
"Yes, I'm sure. I don't want Mikayl to have to push himself any more than is necessary."
As unaware as Maygra had been of the Shield, she was very much aware when Jael released it. Her capricious Gifts allowed little inside her mind, but she was aware of a certain aspect of her Gift now alert to the others, if not able to communicate with them. It was not unlike the hum of an insect in the summer, a persistent sound easily ignored after a time and only remembered when it was gone.
"Do it, Mal," she ordered. "Let me know if there is anything odd."
Mikayl nodded and turned his senses outward, focusing his sight on those settlements he knew existed. It was far more difficult than a broad scan, requiring a strength of concentration which would leave him completely unable to defend himself if the need arose.
Maygra tried to subdue her impatience as she paced behind him in a tight path, her eyes following his, but frustratingly, her Gift gave no indication of repeating the surge she had experienced with Damyn hours before. The sun had shifted position in the sky before Mikayl came back to her, the others watching the pair uneasily.
Her brother staggered a little, faltering a step and Damyn and Jael stumbled to their feet to help Maygra ease him to the ground before he fell.
"Nothing. There is nothing unusual at Tallis Fair and they are laying bricks at Urgen Cald, " Mikayl said, breathing heavily from the strain, his fingers rubbing his temples to ease the taut line of pain just behind his forehead. "Jael should double check, but I could not detect any hint of anything unusual to disturb them."
"No sign of any attacks?"
"No!" he snapped, then shook his head in apology. "There's nothing, Maygra. There is no indication they even realize Rhema was attacked . . . ."
"Not that they'd care," Laric said sullenly.
"They are as much victims of the Hai'Karin as we, Laric," Jael said evenly, frowning at his brother's hostile attitude. "You've fought often enough with the farmers at Urgen Cald to know."
"Damyn," Maygra gripped his arm tightly. "I need Maia or Osra."
The Healer eyed the two women for a moment then shook his head. "Maia's in shock, Mag. I don't think I have the strength to bring her out of it and Osra . . . ," he hesitated, exchanging a glance with Sura. "If I can bring her around, would probably kill herself trying for any kind of range right now."
"Do the best you can with Maia then. I want to check north, around Rhema, and Mal's done his part."
"North?" Laric interjected from his position beside his brother. "You're not going back?"
"If it's clear I plan to salvage as much as we can, then head south toward the Ayr Riyv," she said. "We can decide to cross or head east or west then."
"We're safer in the hulden. It would take an army to track us here," the archer argued.
"They don't need a bloody army!" Maygra snapped, her green eyes flashing. "And if they did it would be all the more reason to leave. I have no intention of staying anywhere long enough for us to be found."
"Where can we go?" Laric sneered, rising to face her. "Make a home in Urgen Cald or with the southern Haian, if they'd have us, or seek out the coast and make a living from the sea? We know Bredas Hulden. Goddess knows I've hunted it often enough."
"We're the hunted!"
"You don't know that--."
"You idiot," she hissed, grasping his tunic front with her good hand. "They didn't get what they came for! You don't honestly think they'd mount such an attack and go away empty-handed. . . ," she paused seeing the blank expression on his face and released him. "You are a fool," she said harshly. "That was no simple exercise, Laric, they didn't just happen to attack Rhema. Rhema, we, our people were the only target. Tallis Fair and Urgen Cald lie along the approach they made -- they weren't attacked! Why, unless Rhema was the target -- the only target. They came after us. And why us?"
"Goddess below," Sura breathed, her eyes wide and frightened. "Because of what we are -- because we're Kieri."
"It's the only thing which makes any sense -- they wanted children, but Kieri children," Maygra said coldly, still staring at Laric. "And I would bet my arm it's not slaves they were after."
"You think they would come after us for Renn and Kiva?" Damyn asked, his arms slipping protectively around the shoulders of his brother, his glance sliding anxiously to where Kiva still slept beside his mother.
"Yes. If they ever suspect anyone got away, " Maygra said, crossing to the brothers and lifting Renn's face in her good hand. She smiled faintly at him before ruffling his dirty curls. "And I don't intend to give them the chance to find out -- which means we move and fast; as quickly and as far as we can for as long as we can."
"But they're gone!" Laric argued. "Mikayl has searched. There is no sign of them anywhere."
Maygra swore, advancing on Laric with such fierceness he stepped back. "Goddess be damned! Will you think! No, we can't see them and there is nothing to indicate they were ever here save the rotting bodies of our kinsmen. They came on us too quickly, Laric. Too quickly for anyone to notice either at Rhema or in Urgen Cald or Tallis Fair and they disappeared just as quickly. Headblind I may be, but even I can see the implications -- they were Shielded!"
It took a moment for Laric to realize the full impact of her words and then he paled even as Sura gave a small moan of fear. Maygra made eye contact with each of her companions, finally certain they were all with her reasoning. "Now you understand. We are not safe here. We can never be safe here. If we seek shelter in Urgen Cald, our presence is sure to be noted, and if I'm right, it won't be just our people who die. If we are lucky, our enemies will continue to believe we all died -- that not a single Kieri survived Rhema."
As if she had the power to pronounce their ultimate destruction, Maygra watched the hope fade from their eyes. She gave them no time to dwell on what the future held.
"Mal and I will return to Rhema and salvage what we can -- food, weapons, clothing. Laric, you and Jael stay here and keep them Shielded. Damyn, Sura, see if you can do anything for Osra. If we have to carry her we'll need a litter. We'll head south as soon as we return."
"Maygra," Sura began gently, laying a hand on her arm, her touch promising relief from the aching pain. "Let Jael or Laric go -- you're hurt . . . ."
"Then do what you can to ease the pain, Sura, but I go. Jael can protect you from our hunters better than I and Laric knows Bredas Hulden. If you can bring Maia around, she can be your eyes," she said quietly. "Be ready for our return because I plan to put as much distance as possible between ourselves and Rhema by dawn tomorrow."
Sura bit her lip in protest but nodded and laid her healing touch on Maygra's arm and face before releasing her. "I need time to Heal your face, Mag," she said as Maygra worked her shoulder and flexed the arm and fingers. There was still weakness there and her hand would not close tight enough to grasp even the sleeve of Sura's robe. "It's begun to fester and it needs cleaning."
"It will have to wait, kira'mai," Maygra said. "What do you need from the sick rooms?"
Sura sighed and named a half dozen powders and roots and where to find them. Mikayl nodded, repeating each one back to her.
"Jael, Laric," Maygra said when the Healer had finished. "At the first threat, or hint of threat, you leave -- you won't get a second chance."
"I understand," Jael replied "How long should we wait?"
"If we are not back by nightfall, head south toward the Ayr. We'll follow. If we get separated make for the shoals below the rocks, where the headlands cut into the river. But no more than a day, Jael, less if you think you're being followed. If we don't return, then do your best to cross the Ayr and go south or west -- do not come looking for us -- in any way."
"Mag!" Jael said, "What if you --."
"In any way, Jai, I mean it. If something happens to me, Mikayl will be able to find you -- if Mal . . . ," she hesitated and gripped her younger brother's hand fiercely. "If I'm alone, I won't be able to hear you anyway."
She turned away, not wanting to see the stricken look on her friend's face and bent to pick up her axe. She hesitated a moment then drew her knife from her belt and gave it to Renn. "Keep this, little cousin, though I pray the Goddess you never have to use it for more than practice," she said and started along the trail. Mikayl followed her, hesitating as he felt the gentle caress of his kinsmen and women brush his mind, raising his hand and smiling a little before running to catch up with his sister.
The touch eluded Maygra and it never occurred to her they would try.
to chapter 5
GLOSSARY
A'del'eva:..............Literally: "By your oaths to Aessa" A war cry and a summons. (think au seccors)asa:........................Literally: Truth. an affirmative as in, "yes" or "is it not so?"
Graen:....................pl. Mountains, (also Grae; Mountain)
hait:........................ "To Me" or "Here", imperative, a summons.
kira'sai:...................f. sister, little sister, beloved sister, [familial]
kira:........................f. little one, child (diminutive)
kiri:........................m.little one, child (diminutive)
kiri'nai:...................m.brother, little brother, beloved brother [familial]
Makyera:................f. First, as in a title.
Makyera Gen:........as in First Sword a title, overall commander ot the Watch (also: gen... sword, shield, defense)
Masyra-Maena:......f. title of rank for females, equivalent of Lord-Master, title for a member of the Elder Council (or Lady-Master)
n'gari:.......................large lizards, desert scavengers, about the size of a rhonocerous, but looking more like komodo dragons.
Shadrai:...................Literally, Shadow Speaker.
shan'nai:.................m.Wise man or brother, an affectionate term of respect. Used between equals.
shan'sai:..................f.Wise woman or sister, an affectionate term of respect. Used between equals.
theris:.......................fruit bearing tree native to Elerak and the Eastern Plains, rather like a pulpy pomegranate
uralen:.....................pl. Ural; a large cliff dwelling bird, average wingspan is about 20 feet, scavengers mostly.
varin:........................a breed of extremely stocky, sure-footed horses, powerful bodies but small heads. (pl. varinen)
vegen:........................historically they were small leather-winged creatures, not unlike bats, but with elogated snouts and long flattened tails used as messengers for the gods. (pl. vegenen)