Gorinthians (41 page)

As Thistledown stared down
at Riah, Morindessa could feel him probing Riah with his
yar
. After several
moments, a puzzled crease appeared on his forehead. "There is an
element here that wasn't in the plan,” he looked at her worriedly,
and Morindessa felt his
yar
begin a complicated series of what seemed to be
tests on her spirit’s reaction to small pulses of
yar
that he shot into
her.

When Thistledown finished,
he slowly rose, looking at Lochnar in amazement. He finally noticed
the glaring difference in Lochnar's resonance. "What have you done,
Lochnar?"

Lochnar met Thistledown's
incredulous stare with a steady gaze. "What was necessary. Like
everything else we have done,” he finished in a level tone.
Morindessa had a feeling she was missing part of the
conversation.

Morindessa felt eyes on her,
and turned to find a young girl in the group Thistledown had
brought, staring at her in fascination. Morindessa did not think
she was from Chasel Ri’ Aven. She was as different from the other
youths as Thistledown was from Lochnar. When she saw Morindessa
looking at her, she looked away, blushing slightly at being caught
staring. The girl’s resonance was so strong Morindessa thought her
senses were deceiving her for a moment. The rest of Thistledown's
small group was watching the exchange between Thistledown and
Lochnar.

Thistledown and Lochnar had
grown silent, but they were looking at each other intently, as if
some silent struggle waged that no one else could see. Finally,
Thistledown turned to face her, a determined look on his face.
"Morindessa, will you set up a camp and get everyone settled in?
Lochnar and I will return before dark."

Morindessa nodded silently,
studying Thistledown closely. When he spoke to her, it was as if he
knew her well, like an old acquaintance, but she had no
recollection of ever seeing him before. It was rare that Morindessa
forgot a face, especially one as unique as
Thistledown’s.

Thistledown and Lochnar
stood across from each other, each of them reaching out to the
other with their
yar
. A moment later, a pillar of light descended from the sky,
and the two of them slowly rose into it, disappearing from sight.
Morindessa saw Ferrich with his mouth hanging open, and checked
herself to make sure she did not look the same. She had always
thought of herself as a very advanced student when it came to
understanding the spiritual realm. After today, she felt like a
person who had learned a few basic tricks as she witnessed the
casual ease with which Terrance, Thistledown and Lochnar created
complex
yar
arrangements as if it were second nature.

Sighing, Morindessa turned
to the others. "I think we should get the introductions over with
first. You can call me Des. This is Ferrich, Jesha, and Seranova.”
Morindessa pointed at each of her companions in turn.

The new arrivals smiled
politely, nodding at each of them as Morindessa made the
introductions. A young man with piercing blue eyes stepped forward
a bit, “My name is Celdic.” Morindessa gave a start as she felt his
resonance. It was the same as Terrance's resonance. "This is Li,
Cha'le, Lendel, Jalorm and Lori.” His voice had the same deep
confidence the nobles in Chasel Ri’ Aven spoke with. The young man
named Lendel was still staring up at the sky where Lochnar and
Thistledown had disappeared. His eyes had a troubled look, and he
was unconsciously caressing his sword hilt.

"Well, since no one is going
to introduce me, I'll introduce myself,” Riah said dryly, "My name
is Riah."

They all murmured hello to
Riah, studying her with fascinated eyes. She was taller than the
tallest of them by a head, though her slim form made her seem
taller. She was beautiful in a way that most people only read about
in stories. Next to her, Morindessa was merely moderately
attractive. Riah's beauty was more than just her Zeran heritage
though. She had an inner beauty so powerful that it seemed to
augment her physical beauty to something that transcended mortal
definitions of the word.

"Let's make camp,”
Morindessa broke into the silence as they gazed in awe at Riah. "We
can talk more when we have had some supper."

Her words broke the spell,
and the others began looking for a place to set up their camp. She
made Riah ride Nenstle, overriding her protests that she was
healthy enough to walk, and that her pony was not large enough for
a full-grown woman.

Jalorm found a flat area
next to the stream that paralleled the road, and they set up the
tents and began making a fire. Lendel joined her and Ferrich as
they set up a large tent, casting quick, discerning glances at
Morindessa when he thought that she was not watching.

"Do you know what was wrong
with Lochnar?” Lendel asked finally, meeting her eyes.

Morindessa thought of
feigning ignorance, telling him she did not know what the matter
with him was, but something inside told her to answer him. She was
not sure if it was because he seemed so lost, or if she just felt
responsible for what happened.

"When Terrance and Selindria
disappeared, Riah wasn't completely healed yet.” Morindessa still
felt shocked at what Lochnar had done. "He took elements from his
own spirit to heal Riah's."

"What does that mean?”
Lendel asked, frowning at her.

"It means he might not live
much longer,” Morindessa explained hollowly. "It means when he
dies, his spirit will continue on without the elements he gave to
Riah. He may never be able to occupy a host again."

Chapter 23

Lieutenant Sanders stood
next to the river with the File Leaders of the two shielding squads
that accompanied his men, studying the men with cold blue eyes.
They were responsible for keeping his men hidden from Morindessa's
senses until one of his archers could get close enough to hit her
with a blunt arrow. The two File Leaders stood in front of him,
shifting nervously under his cold gaze. The first File Leader was a
short man with a thick, golden beard and stocky shoulders. The
second File Leader was slightly taller, with a large round belly
that would never have survived if he were a regular soldier,
instead of a member of a special project. Sanders detested fat
people with a passion. In Sanders opinion, fat people became fat
from laziness, a trait that needed to be purged from the human race
before they became nothing better than the Zerans. If General
Newborn had given him command over the Shielding Units protocol, he
would have had the chubby soldier running the whole way from
Shalilayo. As it was, General Newborn had only given him authority
over their marching orders.

"Why do I have to go over
this twice?" Lieutenant Sanders demanded in a soft tone that barely
masked a dangerous edge. "You shield the archers, and they kill
everyone but Morindessa and Ferrich. Why are you making me repeat
myself? You aren’t afraid, are you?"

Both men swallowed, shaking
their heads quickly. "No sir," Golden beard replied curtly. "We
just wanted to know if we should wait. The people Morindessa has
joined are adept at the Arcane Arts, so they may cause more trouble
than we anticipated."

"Those are children with
her," Lieutenant Sanders laughed scornfully. "Are you afraid a few
children are going to 'cause trouble'?"

The two men looked at each
other darkly, before turning on their heels and moving back toward
their assigned squad of archers. Jerking their heads sharply for
the archers to follow them, the two File Leaders began closing in
on the small camp next to the meandering river, while the rest of
the Shielding Squad moved around to the other side of the camp with
another group of archers. They disappeared behind the cedar trees
several moments later, and Sanders turned his face toward the town
of North Fork, trying to gauge the amount of time it would take the
rest of his forces to arrive.

Lieutenant Sanders had
already studied Morindessa's camp earlier, with one of the soldiers
from the Shielding Squad following closely behind him to disguise
his
yar
. He shook
his head at the timidity of the File Leaders. A handful of children
and a sick woman, Sanders thought in disgust. The sick woman, who
had been lying on a bed of blankets, was by far the prettiest woman
that he had ever seen. Nevertheless, she was a Zeran. Sanders hated
the weak-willed Zeran race more than he detested fat
people.

Turning back to his horse,
Lieutenant Sanders rummaged through his saddle bags until he found
a small vial filled with yellow liquid. He did not intend to risk
Morindessa regaining her senses on the return journey to Shalilayo.
He had learned drugging a prisoner to the point of imbecility was
much easier than fighting them the entire journey. The thought of
the legendary Morindessa drugged, and at his mercy, brought a smile
to Sander’s lips that failed to reach his cruel eyes.

---

Celdic could not seem to
keep his gaze from returning to Riah's face. He was not sure what
it was that kept drawing his eyes back to her, the perfect shape of
her giant form, or the white-hot purity of her resonance. Celdic
had slowly begun to recognize a person’s resonance, once Terrance
had given him a little direction on where to find the layer of
senses that laid hidden from his mind all of his life. He had not
stopped reaching out to feel everyone else's resonance since
learning how, causing the others to look at him oddly as they felt
his
yar
reaching
out to them over and over again. He knew why they called it
resonance now: it felt like a symphony of harmonic vibrations
emanating from each person to define him or her uniquely from
everyone else. As he felt Riah's resonance, it was as if there were
a choir of virtuosos that had banded together to make the perfect
symphony.

They set up camp between a
large cluster of cedar trees and the river, hidden from the road’s
view. Lendel and Jalorm were talking to Ferrich. They were trying
to learn more about the city of Shalilayo, while Ferrich questioned
them in turn about Chasel Ri’ Aven. Morindessa sat with Riah and
Jesha, reliving some of her childhood memories with the beautiful
giantess. The smell of food began drifting from the fire, where
Cha'le, Li, Seranova and Lori were preparing dinner for the rest of
them. After Lori's initial outburst that morning, she had latched
on to Li like an attachment, following her everywhere she went.
Celdic wondered what it was like where she came from, where women
showed the amount of leg she had been showing before Li had given
her some of her own clothing. The fire absolutely fascinated her,
and Celdic overheard her telling Li she had never been camping, as
she called it.

As Celdic's eyes inevitably
found their way back to Riah, he blushed as he found her strange
eyes staring right at him wonderingly.

"So you are Terrance's son?"
Riah asked, looking at him as if he were a priceless work of art.
"You turned out rather well after all,” she commented, her throaty
voice tinged with awe.

Morindessa looked at Celdic
speculatively, "Where did Terrance raise you?” Her dark eyes were
touched with regret and guilt.

"I was raised in Chasel Ri’
Aven," Celdic answered, clearing his throat loudly. "I was actually
raised by another family in Chasel Ri’ Aven. I only recently found
out that Terrance was my real father."

Riah nodded as if that made
sense, though Morindessa seemed puzzled by the arrangement. Jesha
was watching him silently, her delicate features studying him
seriously. He suddenly realized she had cat-like pupils, just like
Selindria and Riah. "Is this your daughter?" Celdic asked without
stopping to think.

Riah laughed a warm rich
laugh, "No, she is Morindessa's daughter."

Morindessa looked at Riah
askance, causing Riah to laugh harder. Celdic began to wonder if
the humor in their culture was different, or if they were just
crazy. Jesha looked at Morindessa with one of her eyebrows slightly
upraised, an expression Celdic would not have expected on a child
her age.

"She is a friend,"
Morindessa told him, smiling at Jesha. "She is a little too old to
be my daughter."

Celdic looked back and forth
at Jesha and Morindessa several times, wondering if Morindessa was
younger than he had first thought. "How old are you?" Celdic asked
Morindessa finally, hoping he was not being rude.

"Thirty-five," Morindessa
replied, looking over Celdic's shoulder to where Ferrich stood with
Lendel and Jalorm. "I see Ferrich has sunk his talons into your
friends already."

Celdic looked back at
Ferrich, trying to make sense of the age differences between
Morindessa and Jesha. Ferrich was asking questions almost quicker
than Lendel and Jalorm could answer them, gesticulating as he
talked excitedly. Turning back to Morindessa, Celdic tried to bring
the subject back to Jesha.

"How is she too old to be
your daughter if you are thirty-five?” Celdic asked with a puzzled
frown.

"Because she is twenty-two,"
Morindessa chuckled at the disbelieving look on his face. "She is
Zeran. They age differently than humans."