Incarnation: Wandering Stars Volume One (24 page)

Sariel walked with his head down, seemingly unaware of his surroundings.

Sheyir’s heart beat frantically in her chest as she moved upstream toward him.

Sariel finally looked up when Sheyir was nearly close enough to touch him.  His forehead smoothed and his lips curled into a smile
.

“Weren’t you going to say goodbye?” she asked
above the sound of the
water
.
 
His bright blue eyes
almost looked as if he’d been crying.

“I was hoping you’d follow me out here
,” he said quietly
, looking over his shoulder
. 
“
You know I cannot express my feelings for you openly.  At least, not yet.”

Sheyir’s heart leaped to hear the word
feelings
.
 
“Where are you going?”

Sariel
reached out with both hands and pulled
her
close
r
. 
“Your father gave me his name last night
,
”
he said, looking down into her eyes.

“Yes.  I know,” she replied
with a smile
.
  The feeling of his touch was exhilarating, but his leaving and the look in his eyes were deeply troubling.

“I’m making great progress toward gaining
Yeduah
’s
trust,”
he
continued.  “But
he will never allow us to marry until I’m
fully
accepted into the tribe. 
I must
have his complete trust.
”

Sheyir’s face suddenly felt hot
.  She and Sariel had spent a considerable amount of time together in the past few months and had exchanged many tender moments.  But they’d never spoken of marriage.  Nor had they eve
n
spoken directly about their feelings for one another.  It was assumed, but never
voiced until this moment.

“…to marry?”
she repeated.

“That is
, of course, only
if you’re willing
,
”
Sariel added.

Now
tears
well
ed
up in
Sheyir’s
eyes.  To hear a man speak so
passionately
was
utterly foreign to her.  But she loved it.  In fact, every conversation with this man was more exciting than the last.  And even the
simplest
moments between them
—times
they sat in silence and watched the flow of the river
—were
more thrilling tha
n
the best times she’d experience
d
before they met. 
“I’m willing,” she said softly.

With his strong arms around her, he leaned down and brought his face close to hers.  For a moment, she could feel his breath against her lips. 
“I love you Sheyir,” he said.  Then he kissed her softly.

Sheyir knew instantly that she’d treasure this moment for as long as she lived.
  She
laid
her head against his chest,
and
listened to the beat of his heart.  Finally, she
looked up again.
 
“
Why do you have to go? 
Is he not satisfied with what you’ve already done?”

Sariel pulled away slightly to see her face.  “It’s not really a question of being satisfied.  I have an ability that he finds useful.  It is in the best interest of his people to gain as much benefit as possible from it.  Either someone powerful made those
figurines
or taught those men to make the
m
for themselves.
10
 
Your father and I b
oth
know that either
possibility is only a signal of
a grave
threat to your people.
”

“Can’t you ignore it?  Why do you seek out danger?” she pleaded.

Suddenly, something behind Sariel’s eyes
flashed
.  There were no visual clues or changes in expression.  But something passed over him in an instant
that he immediately concealed.  Something
that made Sheyir think she’d wounded him deeply.

He blinked heavily before speaking.  “The last time
I ignored my intuition, people died.”

Sheyir star
ed
into his eyes
, wondering when the day would come when he would tell her what had happened.  She was suddenly aware of how little she knew
of
him. 
How many lives he must have lived.  How many things he must have seen.

“
I’m
going
to find the source of this threat and learn anything that your father would consider useful.  And I’ll
continue to help
him
for as long as it takes. 
E
ventually I will be considered one of the Chatsiyram.”

Sheyir laid her head against Sariel’s chest again and watched the stream flow by, soaking in the comfort and safety of his love.  In that moment, whatever doubts were clinging to the back of her mind drifted away.  And all that was left was confidence that she wanted to be with this man, this
Baynor
, for the rest of her life.

“We could just run away,”
Sheyir
offered, not realizing what she
had
said until the words came out of her mouth.

“It would not be right for me to take you away from your people.  I want
to
do this the honorable way.”

Sheyir
smiled at this
, moved by
Sariel’s
unwavering dedication
and enjoying being the object of it. 
“Then go.  But guard yourself and come back safely to me.”

“I will
,” he answered
. 
“
And thoughts of you will sustain me.”

Enoch leaned against a tree, b
reathing heavily after cresting a hill.  It was now late in the afternoon, but the shade of the forest kept the air cool.  As his heart slowed to a comfortable pace, he began to look around him and take in the view.  The
ridge
on which he stood looked to be the southernmost of a chain of peaks that grew in height as they extended to the north.  Each peak protruded from the low-lying mist like islands
from
water.

After leaving
Haragdeh
, the Fields of Slaughter as he would remember them, Enoch reverted to the habit that had been formed during his long journey from Sedekiyr.  He awoke, gathered food, ate, and looked for shelter.
Every day, he asked the Holy One for guidance and listened carefully
.  And day after day, he received some sign or message that confir
med his purpose
—to find the Myndarym.  But d
irection
continued to be a source of confusion
.

Weeks later, he reached a narrow strip of land between two bodies of water.  After crossing this, he spent the next week and a half exploring a parcel of land that was surrounded by water and attached to the mainland on three sides by land bridges.  This place, he named
Sahveyim
. 
After crossing the western land bridge, Enoch wandered along the shore of what he called the Great Waters, for they seemed to have no end. 
Eventually leaving
the shore
, he
continued north as it passed from sight into the east.  Gradually, the flat terrain began to steepen until he reached the chain of mountain peaks where he now stood.

Throughout his journey, wi
th plenty of time to me
ditate on the events he witnessed at
Mudena Del-Edha
,
Enoch
realized that
Semjaza and his soldiers were not
Myndarym
.  They never changed their forms.  They moved and even spoke with more confidence.  Perhaps pride or arrogance.  But they seemed altogether graceless
and inelegant compared to the Myndarym.  Enoch could still hear the complexity of Ananel’s voice and see the way he moved across the land. 
He was a
gile even
when no
t
in
his animal form.

If Enoch’s
message was only for the Myndarym, then the Holy One would deal separately with Semjaza.  This realization lifted a weight from Enoch’s shoulders and focused his thoughts once again on the ones who shape creation.  Though the Myndarym weren’t part of Semjaza’s open defiance, they still held themselves partially responsible for what happened to the Speaker and his escorts.

Wait.  That’s not true.  They don’t hold themselves responsible at all.  They believe that the
armies of Heaven will hold them responsible.  And that is not repentance.  That’s fear of
judgment
.

Now Enoch saw the challenge in his mission.  These magnificent creatures were still in defiance, but theirs was different from Semjaza’s.  Theirs was inward.  The kind that causes them to lie to themselves.

Denia
l
!

This kind of defiance was far more difficult to correct.  Enoch was sure of this, for it was the same problem that he’d been battling among his own tribe for years.  The
Shayeth
were a stubborn people who had lost their knowledge of the Holy One.  After years of concerning themselves with only what they could see and touch and taste, their willful ignorance of the unseen had become their way of life.
 
Now Enoch realized why he had been chosen to speak to the Myndarym.

Holy One.  Your thoughts are high above mine.  After all this time, I finally see a glimpse of what You have been preparing me for.  And may You also use this task to teach me something that I can carry back to my people.  Show me how to open their stubborn hearts.

Just as his thoughts turned to the
Shayeth
, he pictured Zacol and
Methu
. 
Tears came instantly to his eyes as he thought about them, alone, living on the outskirts of Sedekiyr, treated as people who were barely tolerable.  It was Enoch’s fault that they would never have a normal life.  They were forced to live with the consequences of Enoch’s choices.  And now, he wasn’t even there to help them.

Suddenly, Enoch felt his stomach tighten and his skin became sensitive.

Is it my family?  Holy One, are you telling me something about them?
  Please p
rotect them and provide for them.

Enoch now felt an overwhelming sense that something
was watching him. 
He turned quickly, but
the forest was still and silent.

No predators!

He looked to the sky.

No flying creatures!

Just as he exhaled in relief, he noticed something
through
the trees
.  His throat tightened at the same time his heart began to beat loudly.

In the shadows of a rock outcropping, a massive figure of hair and teeth blended almost perfectly with the surroundings.

Enoch
held his breath, unable to even scream.  Then a flicker of recognition brought
an
abrupt end to his fear.

The wolfen
form stepped silently from the rocks.  The creature whose back stood
several feet taller than Enoch’s head began to shimmer
.  Its coarse, gray fur dissolved into
tiny strands of light
which
grew in intensity,
expanding until they broke
apart into millions of
sparks.  Quickly, they
reassemble
d
into the silhouette of a human,
two
times taller than Enoch.
 
As the shimmering faded, the recognizable face of
Ananel
remained.

“
How did you find us,
Prophet?”
the
Myndar
a
sked in a soft, yet powerful voice.

Enoch
felt a surge of exhaustion, then relief in the aftermath of the fear.  He inhaled deeply
.  “It was the Holy One.”  All of a sudden, Enoch realized that
Ananel had spoken in the angelic language.  And he
had understood
the words
, and replied in the same
language
.