A Whisper of Wings (57 page)

Zhukora imperiously pointed one finger at the ground before her feet. The warrior detatched a necklace from the body at hisfeet, flipped out his wings, and suddenly Ka flew from the houseposts to surround him in a ball of swirling light.

Daimïru stood, her face screwing up in puzzlement.

“Zhukora? Zhukora! What’s he doing?”

Zhukora turned; the warrior was whirring high up into the air, spirits rising from ther houses to follow in his wake. The warrior dove off between the huts at an astonishing turn of speed. Zhukora ran a few steps forward and gulped like a landed fish.

“No!”

*I have smelled his soul before! He was near us in the battle of the fires!*

It must be the enemy officer. Zhukora gave a shout and punched her hands towards the sky. A titanic ïsha blast exploded through the trees. The bolt engulfed her victim in a screaming storm of flame.

The watching warriors blinked as the fugitive flipped his tail and sped from view. Zhukora could almost hear the creature’s derisive whoop of laughter. She stared at her smoking fists and felt her antennae sag.

“Serpent! What in Poison’s name is happening? Why didn’t he fall? Why!”

*The spirits shielded him. At that range the attack was easily blocked.*

“Blocked? Imbecile! Do you know how powerful a creature would have to be to oppose my power?”

*He had allies! Spirits of the village who used love to block the force!*

“And where did he get allies from? Where, hey?”

*Are you stupid, girl? Can’t you feel them screaming in the ïsha all around you?*

Zhukora went stiff and cold; suddenly she wreathed herself in coils of burning light. The Serpent spirit gave a scream and sobbed for mercy as she tore it with her claws.

~Never, ever show disrespect again! I own you. I rule you! You are mine to destroy or favour as I will!~

The girl gave the beast a jerk. Serpent sobbed and whimpered in her mind.

*How? How did you gain such power?*

~I am the future! You are the past. My triumph was inevitable. Obey me and our bargain holds. Displease me and I shall consume your very soul.~

Chapter Twenty One

Father Wind blew gentle breath across a wilderness of grass, and the hillsides rippled like the soft waves of the sea. Shadarii danced amidst the endless swirls of motion. She danced because she alone could know the sorrow in her heart.

Shadarii no longer needed to eat; sun and ïsha were her sustenance, and she had set aside all need for possessions, hate and greed. But the dance was still a priceless time all to herself. For a few precious moments she became Shadarii once again; not the Silent Lady all bathed in sacred light; not the healer or the teacher come to fill the world with peace. Only a young woman with eyes of shining green. Shadarii shed her silent tears and watched the rising dawn.

Kotaru!

Each dawn I remember you. With the setting of each evening sun, I polish bright my love.

I died with you, my love. I died there in your arms…

Finally the dance drew to an end, and Shadarii slowly wilted to the grass. Bright wings covered up her naked fur as she bowed towards the horizon.

The moment of peace was over. Shadarii felt a presence kneeling in the grass behind her, and gave a rueful sigh.

Kïtashii had taken to wearing the dress of the sea peoples. She went bare breasted, with nothing but a curtain of tiny cowrie shells dangling just before her groin. The new clothing suited her. The girl reverently bowed and let her scruffy tail stick high up in the air.

“Shadarii-Zha, a woman has come to see you. She has travelled for many, many days. She has brought her son to be healed. Shall I send them away until your dance is done?”

Never! Shadarii swiftly stood and swooped downhill to where her faithful ones were waiting in a circle; of all twelve pilgrims, only Mrrimïmei was absent.

A woman with an infant child knelt at their centre, her clothes stained from many days of travel. The woman kept her gaze riveted on the ground.

“Revered one, I am of Totrepa village. I am of the Lemon-Orchid lodge. My name is Fengahïl. I have come to beg the mercy of the Silent Lady.”

The woman’s strength was almost spent. Shadarii folded her against her naked breast, while Fengahïl muffled her misery in her fur and let the words spill out with her tears.

“He’s lame! It’s my fault, all mine! I conceived out of wedlock, and the spirits punished him for my sin!”

Shadarii gently rocked the woman to and fro. The son might be lame, but it was the mother who needed healing. The Silent Lady looked down at the little boy and shared a crafty wink. He stared up at her and grinned; a little imp of three summers old, grubby, thin and perfect. If he missed the use of his twisted foot, he barely seemed to show it.

“Please! Please, I beg you, don’t turn me away! I can pay - I really can! I have conch shells, beads… I’ll give you everything I have!”

Shadarii looked down at her in hurt. Fengahïl realised her mistake and clutched Shadarii’s arms.

“I-I’m sorry! Oh lady, please forgive me. Please, won’t you try? We have travelled for day and days…”

The boy giggled as Shadarii kissed his nose and plucked him high into the air. She reached down to touch his feet, smiling as she saw the ruinous club of flesh, then let him play with her antennae as she kissed his little chest. It was as though she saw nothing imperfect in him at all.

“Lady, his foot! Don’t you see? It’s warped and ugly! He cannot run, he cannot stand. How can he grow and play when he’s a cripple?”

<<ïsha comes from the world, Kïtashii. It is simply made from wonder.

<

<>

Shadarii took Kïtashii by the hands and tried to lead her over to the little boy.

<>

Kïtashii desperately tried to pull away.

“I can’t! Shadarii, you know I can’t!”

<>

“It can’t be done!”

Shadarii gave the girl a long, sad look and left her standing in the grass. She lifted the little boy atop her shoulders, reaching out to take her patient’s mother by the hand. They wandered out across the grass to lose themselves in the caressing wind.

They strolled for an hour across the dunes beside the sea, lost in the wonder of the endless ocean waves. Shadarii walked her friends beside the glistening tidal pools, where they tickled the anemones and peered at ghostly little prawns. Fengahïl smiled down at her son and helped him hop across the beach. They played together, loved together; mother and son, united and inseparable.

Shadarii finally took her two companions by the hand and led them back to the village green. Her followers were busily netting baitfish by the shore while Kïtashii taught sea people Shadarii’s alphabet. Kïtashii dropped her scrolls of paperbark and goggled in amazement.

<>

“You are Mother Rain on earth! You work miracles!”

<>

Shadarii took her student by the hand and led her off beneath the village eaves. Housewives stood on ladders high above, wetting straw in buckets to make it pliable enough to thatch. Shadarii admired their nimble skill, deeply pleased by their economy of motion. Finally she raised her hands and shaped words for her little friend.

<>

Shadarii clenched her hands, trying to find the words.

<

<>

<>

“I can feel it! I can, I just know I can. I can feel everything!”

Shadarii gave a sidewise glance and smiled as a water bucket mysteriously teetered overhead. It spilled across Kïtashii’s head with an almighty splash. Shadarii whistled between her teeth and looked innocently at the sky.

<>

***

In the dark of night, moonlight caught the barest ripples in the surf. Shadarii flew alone above the waves, enjoying the utter solitude. There was nothing quite like flying alone along a beach at night; the salt breeze whistled through her wings, and spray hissed in her ears whispering of times gone bye.

Lady Starshine looped and curled about her, dancing to the currents in the ïsha breeze. The Ka glowed, and soft words spilled into Shadarii’s mind like summer rain.

*Thou art very quiet tonight, my child. Did the healing of the little boy not please thee?*

~My heart is heavy. Forgive me; I am the only company you have. I neglect you shamefully.~

*A thousand years of silence makes one rather self reliant. However, I do feel responsible for thee. Why not let me help to bear thy burden? Tell me what is wrong.*

Shadarii closed her eyes and let the stars stream through her hair.

~I am failing even before I have begun. I meant only to preach messages of love. Now Mrrimïmei hates me. I’ve lost her love and I don’t know why.~

*Aaaaah, is that all that ails thee?*
The spirit coiled above, twinking with countless pastel lights
. *The girl is upset. She adored your lover Kotaru. She feels you have betrayed his memory by teaching what you teach.*

~But what I teach is right! It is true!~

*Tell me then, what do you teach? What do you believe, Shadarii? I want to hear you speak of it.*

Shadarii let herself drift down onto the shore. She lay back on the sand and let Father Wind blow through her fur.

~Today we wrote a tale down in the “Book of Offerings”. A parable I had invented. It was a story about fleas upon a chieftain’s rump. Would you like hear it?~

*Yes Shadarii. Tell me thy tale.*

The girl gazed into the sky and let the words form in her mind.

~There were black fleas and there were brown fleas, and all lived in harmony upon the rump of an important chief. They bit and romped all through his fur, and had a perfectly splendid time. They chased away the bedbugs and killed off ticks and lice. The chief was healthy and the flea tribes prospered deep inside his fur.

As time went by the chief grew somewhat thin, and there seemed to be less of him to go around. The fleas had grown so numerous that they had made the poor man ill. Fleas began to fight and tousle, battling for food. Finally it was obvious that something must be done. Delegates from both flea tribes held a solemn council.