Gorinthians (3 page)

It was not easy to conceal
the sudden tension that she felt. She nodded slightly and turned
back to her students. "All right class, we are going to stop here
for the day,” she announced with a feigned calmness. "I don't want
any of you practicing evasive defense without supervision. The rest
of the day is yours to do with as you please. Try to stay out of
trouble."

Tarya Selindria followed
Tarya Dekel out of the room and into the hall where students were
already leaving their classes. The students were talking to each
other excitedly as they tried to guess what could have disrupted
class. She had to lengthen her stride to keep up with Tarya Dekel
as his short little legs pumped furiously ahead. He taught
mathematics, a subject that most of the students detested until
taking his class. He had developed a gift for introducing concepts
that made math fun for his students, such as pointing out that a
ninety-year-old man that averaged eight hours of sleep a day
throughout his life, would spend thirty years of his life sleeping.
In his class the previous year, he assigned several students the
task of tracking the amount of idle conversation versus productive
conversation that occurred throughout the day. At the end of the
year, they were able to prove that ninety-eight percent of all
conversation did not move the sum of human knowledge
whatsoever.

They made their way out of
the Building of Practical Application and moved down a path that
cut through the combat field. They headed toward the Staff Hall
that was on the far edge of the field. She saw several other
teachers and Elders moving toward the Staff Hall, all of them
looking nervous. Underneath all of the nervousness, she sensed
another emotion, almost like expectation, which made no sense at
all. She remembered teaching most of the teachers she saw moving
toward the Staff Hall when they were students. For the most part,
the teachers were among the most gifted of her students, with a few
glaring exceptions. She remembered Tarya Frasna as a rather
unfocused girl who never wanted to concentrate on her work. She
finished her education and moved on to work as a laborer for the
Department of Metals. It was there that she unexpectedly discovered
that she had a gift for locating veins of ore and other materials
that grew scarce in the mountain around them. Frasna had a complete
personality change when she was placed in charge of a team that
specialized in locating new mining sites, showing a talent for
organizing and leading other people Selindria would never have
guessed existed in the dreamy young woman who had left the Tar Ri’
San over forty years ago. After identifying enough mining sites to
last the city for several hundred years, the Council of Elders
offered Frasna a position at the Tar Ri’ San teaching geology, a
subject that had not existed before they chose Frasna to teach
it.

Within a matter of minutes,
they reached the Staff Hall, a building large enough to house
several hundred people comfortably. They entered large wooden doors
surrounded by the Snake Vine that grew along the walls of the
building. Once inside, Selindria swept her eyes swiftly around the
room and realized that the entire council of Elders had assembled
in the large hall, a rarity that usually only occurred on holidays
and the sustaining of new Elders.

The inside of the hall
consisted of two large ring-shaped tables, one facing inward and
one facing outward, so that the people seated on the inner ring
would be facing those on the outer ring. Wondering why a breach in
the barrier warranted so much attention instead of merely the
Guardian Council, Selindria made her way to her seat on the outer
ring. The hall echoed loudly as Elders and teachers talked
excitedly among themselves in little groups.

Selindria sat down, watching
the three Elders who made up the Presidency. They were sitting on
the inner ring directly across from Selindria, watching silently as
the hall filled with people. The Elders of the Presidency were the
only ones allowed to communicate with the Chasel, informing the
rest of the Council of Elders what the Chasel showed them was to
come. Selindria wondered what they saw to cause the haunted look
she could see in their eyes. The oldest of the three, Elder
Chendan, had been a boy when Selindria arrived in Chasel Ri’ Aven.
She could still remember him staring at her strange eyes with
delighted fascination as she made her way toward the Council of
Elders under the watch of a ring of heavily armed
Guardians.

The ancient Elder Chendan
slowly rose to his feet and Selindria felt his
yar
reach out to the four chimes that
stood in each corner of the hall. He began stroking their resonance
and within a few moments, she could hear their soft tones
reverberate throughout the room. By tradition, this indicated that
the meeting was to begin. The Elders and Teachers around the hall
broke off their conversations and sat at their assigned seats. Once
everyone was seated and quiet, Elder Chendan sat down too, sighing
as he did so. Selindria knew that he did not have much time left
before he would join his predecessor in the Tombs of the
Dead.

"I hope that you will
forgive me if we keep this meeting short,” Elder Chendan said in a
quavering voice. He had enhanced his voice with his
yar
so that everyone
could hear him. "My bones just can't handle these council chairs
anymore.” There was a scattering of nervous laughter.

"Most of you know why we
are here," he continued in his feeble voice, "but for those of you
who do not, I shall expound. Last night a man breached the barrier,
rendering one of our Guardian’s unconscious. We received a message
describing the event from the Guardian via pigeon about an hour
ago. The Guardian described the stranger as a black-cloaked man
that kept his face shrouded. The Guardian informed us in his
message that the man had not raised a hand against him, nor did he
use his
yar
in any
way. Yet, even so, moments after making eye contact with the
stranger, the Guardian lost consciousness.”

The ancient looking Elder
paused to take a drink of water from a glass in front of him,
allowing his words to sink in.

"The second event is the one
of which most of you are aware. This morning, the Avenry Bond awoke
for the first time since this city was established. When we came to
this mountain, the Avenry made an oath to protect the Chasel. We
were to raise our children with the skills necessary to defend
against any enemy that would try to take the Chasel. He who we made
the oath to has returned. For many ages, his coming has heralded a
dark time to come. I would caution all of you to prepare yourselves
for that which we have been trained from birth to do. The time will
soon be upon us when we must protect the Chasel from a threat more
dire than words can describe."

Elder Chendan paused again
to take a drink from his glass, looking tired from the exertion of
talking so long. "The last thing that I have gathered you together
for is to announce that we have chosen a successor for the
Presidency. Elder Rinchav will replace me when I move on. We would
like him to join our Presidency now, so that we can teach him his
new responsibilities.” Elder Chendan finished to a shocked silence.
There were never more than five Elders in the Presidency and the
expiring Elder in the Presidency certainly never participated in
choosing his successor. Elder Rinchav, seated several seats to
Selindria's right, looked flabbergasted. Selindria realized that he
had not been told about his change in status in advance, another
unheard of breach in protocol.

Not being raised in the
mountain city, Selindria had no idea what the Avenry Bond was. It
sounded to her like the man who had breached the barrier was the
same man they thought they had made an oath to. Considering that
Chasel Ri’ Aven was almost two thousand years old, Selindria was
fairly certain the man they were looking for was long
dead.

The familiar resonances of four of her students
brought Selindria out of her musings. She could feel them outside
the building. Cursing to herself silently, she vowed to wring
Cha'le and Lendel's neck when the meeting ended. Selindria had
little doubt about who came up with the plan to eavesdrop on the
meeting. As she thought of different ways to show Cha'le and Lendel
what a bad idea it was to eavesdrop on the Council, she suddenly
felt the same flaring energy that she had during class from Celdic.
This time, however, it rushed in like a thunderclap. The whole
building shook like a leaf, causing Elders and teachers to cry out
as they jumped to their feet. Selindria jumped up and hurried
toward the doors, arriving at the front of a knot of Elders that
were rushing out of the building to see what had caused the
disruption.

Chapter 3

An excited buzz filled the
room after Tarya Selindria left. She had never cancelled class in
such an unusual manner. Everyone asked the person next to them what
they thought could have happened to cause such a
reaction.

Celdic sat at his desk
reveling in the residue of the euphoria that had filled him moments
before. He felt for a brief moment as if there was nothing that he
could not do. He struggled to find the floodgate that had almost
opened within him, but found only emptiness.

“
What’s the matter?” a
voice asked right in front of him. Startled out of his thoughts, he
saw Lendel staring down at him in concern.

Not wanting to share the
strange phenomenon that he had just experienced, Celdic shook his
head. "Nothing. I'm fine," he assured Lendel. The feelings that he
felt were too personal and confusing for him to share with anyone
else yet.

Lendel still seemed
suspicious, but the prospect of an afternoon to do whatever they
wanted seemed to outweigh his desire to probe further. “Let’s go
out to the practice yard and get some fresh air,” Lendel suggested,
stretching exaggeratedly.

Celdic nodded and stood up.
As they started toward the door, he saw Cha’le and Li appear
outside in the hall that was rapidly filling up with
students.

“
Was class cancelled for
everyone?” Lendel asked in surprise, peering up and down the
hall.

Cha’le nodded, her eyes
glowing with excitement at the prospect of an adventure. “Do either
of you know what’s going on?” she asked, her bright, green eyes
shining with anticipation.

“
Not a clue,” Lendel
replied. “We were just on our way to the practice yard to play
around for the rest of the day. It just happens to be next to the
staff building, so we might be able to overhear some of the
council.”

Celdic gave him a disgusted
look. “I should have known you had something else in
mind.”

Lendel's eyes widened
innocently. “I don’t know what you are talking about.” He rubbed
his hands together. "Shall we go before they finish?”

Not waiting for an answer,
Lendel began making his way to the practice yard. Sighing in
resignation, Celdic retrieved his book and followed Lendel, with
Cha’le and Li trailing behind him. Other students holding excited
conversations filled the halls of the complex. As Celdic and his
companions continued their trek, he began thinking about the odd
vision that he saw while standing over the washbasin. A few things
began to fall into place. He had a sudden hunch of what the council
members were discussing.

“
Celdic?” a light voice
questioned.

Celdic glanced over at Li,
who was staring at him with the same concerned expression that
Lendel gave him earlier. Celdic realized that Li had asked him a
question.

“
What did you say?” Celdic
asked her, trying to focus.

“
I asked you if you would
help me work on my technique with the bow staves,” Li repeated,
still watching him closely. Her eyes seemed unusually dark in the
morning light. Celdic thought he could spend the morning just
staring into them.

“
I would love to,” Celdic
replied, feeling a warm flush climb up his cheeks.

As they reached the Practice
yard, Lendel grabbed two wooden swords from the weapons rack and
tossed one to Celdic. "Remember, we have a duel later,” Lendel
reminded him with a grin.

"Wonderful,” Celdic replied,
rolling his eyes at Li as he snagged the practice sword out of the
air. She laughed a warm, throaty laugh that made little pinpricks
run up Celdic's neck.

Li walked up so she was
right next to Celdic, while Cha'le's tall, slim form went forward
to join Lendel. Celdic watched Cha'le suspiciously as she passed
him. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, as if Celdic had not
lived with her long enough to know when she was up to
something.

"Will you do me a favor,
Celdic?” Li asked quietly, as she walked close enough to brush
shoulders with him.

"Of course,” Celdic replied
quickly, sneaking a glance over at her. She was coyly twisting a
small blade of grass around with her slender fingers.

"Could you let Lendel win
your duel?” Li still had not taken her gaze from the blade of grass
she was toying with, but a slow blush crept into her cheeks. "I
think he wants to show off to Cha'le and he would feel a lot better
if you let him win."

Celdic was silent for a
moment as they crossed the field toward the Staff Hall. "On one
condition,” Celdic said at last, watching her sideways.