Faery Worlds - Six Complete Novels (16 page)

“That’s not quite what happened,” said Gwena. At least she looked guilty. “We were—“

“I dropped my doll from the log and fell in when I tried to catch it,” Dindi said. Gwena looked at her gratefully. Hurrying on, she gestured to Kavio. “This man saved me.”

“Er, I see.” Abiono looked flustered at the presence of the stranger. “Is this true?”

Kavio inclined his head.

“Then we are most grateful,” Abiono said. “As you can see, we are on our way to the Yellow Bear tribehold for the Initiation. Are you by any chance headed in that direction?”

“As a matter of fact, I am,” said Kavio.

Abiono beamed. “Marvelous. If you wish to travel with us, we would be happy of your company. You have saved one of our clan daughters and we cannot thank you enough. In the absence of Dindi’s parents, I am her guardian, and will pay you the lifedebt.” He added, under his breath, “You cannot imagine what her great aunt would have done to me if the girl had drowned.”

That set Kemla into another fit of weeping.

“It was horrible, horrible to watch,” Kemla cried. “I still don’t think I’ve recovered.”

Several of the other girls comforted her all the way back to camp.

Dindi

The next morning, Dindi kept glancing sidelong to try to catch a peek at Kavio as everyone washed and prepared to travel. He was on the boys’ side of the river, of course, around the bend and out of sight as the girls bathed and painted on the kohl blindfolds of Initiates. Sadly, Dindi had to wear her old wrap again—she would have much preferred to wear the wonderful weave that Kavio had lent her. She still hadn’t had a chance to return it to him.

Instead of Kavio, however, Zavaedi Brena called her aside to speak with her.

“Dindi,” the older woman said. “I’m sorry. Your friend has just told us he has no name.”

“He has a name, it’s—”

“He has no clan and no tribe. Dindi, child—he’s an exile.”

She felt cold. “So?”

“So we cannot permit an exile to travel with us.”

“But he saved me…”

“Which is why you must be there when I tell him that he may not travel with us.”

Her stomach turned. “Must we do this?”

“He’s a criminal, an outcaste. He has no place with us. He must agree that the lifedebt is settled, he must agree to demand nothing else from you, or from us. He helped you, we repay him, and that’s all he can expect from us. Come with me, and bring one of the guest gifts your family gave you for barter.”

Having seen the quality of the textiles that Kavio possessed, Dindi wondered what she could possibly give him that he would consider worthy. A chert scrapper? No. A flint arrowhead? No, he probably had arrowheads made from obsidian. A set of tear-shaped stone loom weights? Fa, he didn’t build those muscles sitting on a balcony weaving.

“I have no worthy gifts,” she said.

Zavaedi Brena clucked her tongue. “He’s just a clanless beggar, child, I’m sure a simple thing will suffice. Here.” She pulled out a small pottery bowl embossed with the swan design of Dindi’s clan. “This will do. Now, come.”

Dindi took the bowl and also the cloth he had lent her. Miserably, she followed Zavaedi Brena. They crossed the log to the boys’ side of the river to find Kavio.

“Careful, Dindi!” cried out the first boy to see her, Tamio. “Don’t fall in again!”

Tamio and the other boys laughed.
Another ‘stupid Dindi trick’ I’ll never live down.
She did her best to ignore the jibe.

“Where is Kavio?” Zavaedi Brena asked severely. Tamio sobered at once.

“You mean the stranger?” Tamio jerked a thumb. “Further down the river.”

They followed the river. In the dawn light, the fae gamboling in the water were completely different in nature than those who had been churning the water the evening before. Now smiling Blue naiads and undines splashed there. They waved innocently at Dindi.

Kavio knelt over a still pool at the river’s edge, carefully applying a thick paste of ash and mud to his face and upper body. When he stood up, he no longer looked like the same warrior who had rescued her. His face looked lumpen and strange. His bright eyes sparkled eerily from the mask of mud. They seemed to pierce right through her. Then he inclined his head to acknowledge Zavaedi Brena.

He knew why they’d come.

Zavaedi Brena paused, tense and worried. In a low voice, she said to Dindi, “There is a chance he might not accept the gift. By tradition, he is entitled to demand whatever he wishes. If he demands anything…inappropriate…let me deal with it.”

Dindi nodded. She wondered what the older woman meant by “inappropriate”.

“Stranger,” Zavaedi Brena called out. “This child brings you payment for the life you saved. Will you agree that the debt is settled and move on?”

Zavaedi Brena waited tensely.

“Yes,” Kavio said, without any inflection. “I understand. I’ll move on alone.”

“Go ahead, give it to him,” Zavaedi Brena nudged Dindi. “I’ll be right here.”

Dindi walked forward. How she hated this.

“Kavio,” she said. She bit her lip. He had saved her life. How could she tell him he wasn’t worthy of accompanying their party? To buy time, she held out the fabric he’d given her, neatly folded again. “Um, here’s your cloth. Thank you for lending it to me.”

He took it silently.

“You’re an exile.”
Stupid. He knows that.

“Yes,” he said. Just one word. He waited for her to go on.

“Here…this is all I have to give you,” she said, lowering her lashes because she couldn’t bear to meet his eyes when she handed him the bowl. She added in a whisper, “I’m sorry. I guess my life isn’t worth much.”

Her whole body trembled.

“I accept it,” he said. “Don’t worry. I won’t be bothering you again.”

He shouldered his traveling basket without further discussion. But the look he gave her before he walked away wounded her like a spear.

Chapter Six

Stone Hedge

Dindi

Another week’s travel brought them at last to Yellow Bear tribehold. Looking out over the valley, Dindi rocked back on her heels. She had seen this place before, through Vessia’s eyes. Perhaps the leaves crinkling beneath her feet hid the skulls stomped upon by the army of the Bone Whistler.

Abiono pointed to five tall hills that dotted a river valley.

“The Tors of Yellow Bear. Hertio the Mound Builder, War Chief of Yellow Bear tribe, has promised the matriarchs and patriarchs of the tribe he will build seven Tors in all. He’s been building up the tribehold for many years now. His ambition is make Yellow Bear tribehold rival the Rainbow Labyrinth.”

“Is that possible?” asked Tamio, his pride prickled.

Abiono shrugged. “He has added two Tors in twenty-two years, but he is old now, and was supposed to step down as War Chief already a year past. It depends if the War Chief after him wishes to complete his project.”

Dindi shivered. Hertio the Mound Builder. She recognized the name. In Vessia’s time, there had only been three Tors: the Tor of the Sun, the Tor of the Moon, and the Tor of the Stone Hedge. The fourth and fifth hills were barely older than the Initiates.

Atop the Tor of the Stone Hedge, there were no houses, only three circles of giant megaliths, one inside the other. At this distance it looked foreboding. And old. Even in the Vision, the Tor of the Stone Hedge had already looked dark and ancient.

Until now, Dindi had imagined Vessia had lived long ago and far away, in the time of legends before humans and Aelfae had fought. To find herself following just twenty years behind the footsteps of the Corn Maiden unnerved Dindi.

Vessia might still be alive. I might meet her.

The scale of the tribehold gradually sank in as they spent half a day just crossing the folded river and its fields to reach the mound next to the incomplete one. This fourth settlement looked different too; the houses weren’t beehive domes, but longhouses that formed neat parallel rows across the round, flat hill top. Once the travelers walked up the narrow raised path and into the hold, Dindi realized why. There were no ordinary families living here. All of the people who poured out of the longhouses to meet them were other Initiates or Tavaedies.

Hundreds of children had gathered for the Initiation. The majority of them, of course, were Yellow Bear tribesfolk, but there were a few other clans from the Rainbow Labyrinth present as well.

The Tavaedies assigned the children to longhouses based upon age and gender. Jensi, Gwena and Kemla were all assigned to Fourth House, while Dindi and Gwenika were assigned to Ninth House. Amidst the sea of strangers, even an extra week of acquaintance felt like familiarity, so Gwenika clung to Dindi’s side as if they were clan sisters. The long houses had no sleeping platforms, just dirt floors and reed mats. Each girl staked out her spot along the north or south wall, and marked it with her own basket of things. They both contributed a few scraps of cloth to make a separate bed for Puddlepaws, but he sniffed this once, then curled up in the middle of Dindi’s mat.

The diseased yeech had left Gwenika alone during the last week of the journey, but the day after their arrival, the yeech attacked with renewed vehemence. Gwenika broke out into a rash and a fever. While the other Initiates left to explore the tribehold, Dindi stayed by her side all day, patting her head with a damp cloth and brewing her tea. Gwenika’s grandmother had fortunately packed the leaves in the travel basket.

“I don’t know why Gwena hates me so much.”

“Shhh,” said Dindi, dabbing Gwenika’s tear-stained and rash-red cheeks with a cloth. “Just rest as much as you’re able.”

Thinking of Gwena reminded Dindi of the corncob doll. The thing was definitely a menace. Just touching it appeared to set off the magic Visions. But what could she do to protect herself from the doll? She couldn’t just throw it away…

“They’re coming for me again,” Gwenika whispered. “The yeech.”

The ugly Yellow fae rode rats that scampered in the thatch of the lodge roof. A line of them crawled furtively down a wooden post, toward the girls. Unlike most fae, they didn’t want to be seen. If she looked directly, she saw nothing but the thatch and the post, but if she cocked her head, she could see the flicker of light out of the corner of her eye. As before, the yeech were following a trail of yellow light.

“It looks like something is leading them to you,” said Dindi.

Gwenika bit her lip and Dindi could tell that the same thought had already occurred to her. Then she did a double take.

“You can see them too?”

“Just a little—like a flickering candle. Do you want more of your grandmother’s brew?”

Dindi pored some more from the clay jar in the hearth into a bowl, but Gwenika pushed it away.

“No, it’s too bitter.” Suddenly, Gwenika sat up. She grabbed Dindi’s wrist. “What if I’ve been wrong all along? What if it wasn’t my sister? What if it was my grandmother?”

“Why would your grandmother hex you?”

“She and my m other were always arguing. She thought that my mother shouldn’t push both of us to be Tavaedies. One Tavaedi in the family was enough. What if she didn’t want to kill me, only to keep me from becoming a Tavaedi?”

Dindi considered. “Maybe we could follow the yellow rope of light to see where it leads.”

“Yes!” Gwenika chewed her lip. “Unless it leads to a horrible troll as tall as a tree who eats us.”

“If a troll eats a sick person, does it make the troll sick?”

“I’d rather not find out.”

The snakes of yellow light bit into golden aura around Gwenika’s body. Her aura, Dindi thought, recalling what she had seen in the Vision. They followed the thickest strand of light up the post and across the room. Gwenika could see it much more clearly than Dindi, who saw only a flicker. They had to climb into the rafters of the lodge.

“Are you sure you can do this?” Dindi asked.

“It will probably kill me,” said Gwenika. “There’s still time to talk me out of it.”

They followed the shimmery trail of light all the way down the lodge, creeping from beam to beam in the framework. The golden rope led down again and then back across the floor to the other side, then climbed once more into the rafters, then across the room…

“The fiend is clever,” huffed Gwenika. “She’s hiding her handiwork and leading us in circles!”

“Gwenika!” Dindi stopped in her tracks so abruptly the other girl bumped into her from behind. “Don’t you see what’s going on here? The strands of light are coming from you. That’s why we’re climbing in circles. Your aura is shining so brightly it’s attracting the yeech. You hexed yourself!”

She gently reached to massage Gwenika’s shoulders and neck, the area where the cords of light seemed thickest. The aura flexed and twisted under her touch. Now Dindi saw that there were several other colors embedded in the aura, just slivers, outshone by the gold, but still there. Gentle movements of her hands over Gwenika’s back strengthened the other colors. The yellow strings fell away.

The yeech howled in frustration. Without the path of light, they weren’t able to proceed any further. Hissing and growling, they skittered away.

Gwenika batted her hands away. “Leave me alone! If you don’t believe how sick I am, you could have just said so. You didn’t have to pretend to believe me and then say it was all my fault. You sound just like my mother!”

“Maybe your mother is right. You have to figure out what you’re doing to yourself and stop it. I know how terrible I would feel if anything made me miss my chance to be a Tavaedi. I wouldn’t want that to happen to you either.”

“I hope I’m
not
chosen. All my life, it’s all I’ve heard, you have to be a Tavaedi, you have to be a Tavaedi, and I’m
sick
of it!”

Gwenika clapped her hand over her own mouth. “Oh!”

Brena

“Each of you will be Tested for magic upon the Tor of the Stone Hedge,” Zavaedi Brena instructed her flock. By tradition, none were the Initiates she’d arrived with, so she could not show favoritism toward her own kin. Elsewhere, in front of the longhouses, other Tavaedies gave similar instructions to other groups of adolescents. “Those of you who have magic will learn the secrets of the Tavaedies. The rest of you will learn the responsibilities of manhood and womanhood. For some lessons, all three groups will assemble together; otherwise, Tavaedies, warriors and maidens will meet separately.