Quest for the Sun Orb (6 page)

“Not in the least,” Karma said.  “Are you?”

“Not really,” Tiari replied.  “I don’t truly understand what it means.”

“Good,” Karma said.  “We’ve seen a real witch, and you are nothing like her at all.  So, will you join us in our effort to save Rathira?”

“Yes, of course,” Tiari replied.  She rose to her feet and went to one of only two cupboards in the room.  She knelt on the floor and opened it, then began pulling out a motley assortment of kitchen items; a sauce pan without a handle, a dented soup pot, two chipped plates, a glazed cup with a crack down the side.  When the cupboard was empty she reached far back into it and withdrew a small package wrapped in cloth which she slipped into the pocket of her shift.  She got to her feet, crossed the room, and lifted a black, hooded cloak from a peg on the wall.  The only other garment was a shift hanging beside the cloak that looked in worse shape than the one Tiari was wearing.  She left it where it was and put the cloak on, pulling the deep hood up to cover her head.

“I am ready,” she said. 

“That’s all you want to take with you?” Karma asked as she and Kapia got up.

“It is all I have worth taking, yes,” Tiari replied. 

Karma looked around the dim hut, nodding in agreement.  She could not imagine how anyone could have lived there for a week, let alone years.

“Let’s go then,” she said. 

Tiari took a deep breath, then turned and walked to the door.  She reached for the latch and pulled it open, allowing the full light of the sun to fall on her face for the first time in several days.  She blinked rapidly as her eyes adjusted and, slowly, images began to take shape.  The shapes she saw made little sense to her, though.  Rather than the patch of bare earth outside the door of the hut, and the tall trees of the forest nearby that she was used to, there were other...things.  She blinked again, then closed her eyes for a moment before opening them.  The shapes didn’t change.  She took a small step backward and dropped her eyes to the ground, suddenly frightened and wary.

“Those are called
diplo
,” Karma said from beside her.  “They’re animals we ride on, that can walk faster than we do, and they carry things for us too.  They’re very gentle with people, and won’t hurt you.”

Tiari swallowed hard and nodded, keeping her eyes on the ground.  Inwardly she was terrified, but her determination to escape her dark prison, and at the same time do something useful, was stronger than her fear. 

“Sir Garundel,” Karma called.  “Will you please ask for a diplo to be saddled for Hara Tiari?”

“At once, Lady Techu,” Garundel replied.  He turned in his saddle and gestured to a Hunter nearby, then turned back.  “It will be but a few moments.”

“Thank you, Sir Garundel,” Karma replied before turning to watch Zakiel dismount and come forward, stopping before them.

“Tiari, this is my husband, Prince Zakiel,” Karma said.  “Zakiel, this is Hara Tiari Zora, Maiden of the Sun.”

“Greetings, Maiden of the Sun,” Zakiel said with a deep nod. “We are honored to meet you.”

“Thank you,” Tiari replied hesitantly, uncertain how to respond to such a grand person. 
Thank you
seemed safe enough.

“Tiari has agreed to join the Orb Quest,” Karma said.  “However, as her aunt has gone to raise the villagers against us, it seems prudent to be on our way as quickly as possible.”

“Agreed,” Zakiel said.  “If you will direct my man to your belongings, Hara Tiari, he will get them packed and we can be on our way.”

“I am ready to depart now, Highness,” she said, looking up at his face for the first time.  Her eyes widened in surprise, and it wasn’t just because she had no real memory of ever seeing a man before.  He was...beautiful.  It was the only word she could think of that described the man before her.  She blinked, then turned to look at Karma, then Kapia, seeing them for the first time now that they were in sunlight.  They were so beautiful she wondered how they could be real. 

Realizing that she was staring open mouthed at them she flushed hotly and dropped her eyes to the ground again.  She felt Zakiel’s eyes on her and remembered the expression of shock on his face before she’d turned to look at the women.  It took only a moment for her to realize that it was her eyes that had shocked him.

She had vague memories of people’s reactions to her eyes when she’d been a little girl, before her mother’s death.  She didn’t remember the anger and fear that Una described, but she did remember the surprise and discomfort.  She forced herself to remain still, refusing to cringe or step back.  Then she felt something soft brush against her side and looked down to see a large animal with round blue eyes looking up at her.  When the animal rubbed its head against her hand she automatically responded by rubbing its ears, smiling when it began to rumble softly.

“This is Nikura,” Karma said. 

“Is he yours?” Tiari asked.  The moment the words were out of her mouth she suspected she’d said the wrong thing.  When the animal stiffened beneath her fingers, she was certain of it.  But Karma only laughed.

“No, Nikura belongs only to himself,” she said.  “He is not a cat, not a pet, and not an animal.  He is a Sphin.”

“What is a Sphin?” Tiari asked as she continued to rub Nikura’s ears.

“Good question,” Karma replied.  “If I can ever get him to explain that to me, I’ll let you know.”

“He talks?” Tiari asked in surprise.

“Yes, he does,” Karma replied.  “Sometimes he talks too much, sometimes he talks too little.  The only constant is that I’m the only one that can hear him unless I use the Ti-Ank.”

“Ti-Ank?” Tiari asked, her mind whirling with all the new sights, words and ideas of just the past few minutes. 

“Don’t worry,” Karma said.  “In time we will tell you everything.  But for now we should be on our way.”

“All right,” Tiari agreed with some relief.  She needed time to assimilate all that she’d already heard anyway. 

“Stop!”

Everyone spun to look at the people pouring from the trees into the clearing, led by a panting, red faced Una.  “You will not take her!” she yelled.  “You must take me.  I am the Maiden of the Sun!”

A beefy man with broad shoulders and graying black hair stood a few paces from Una, a huge hammer in his hand.  He spent a few moments taking in the group of Hunters in the small clearing, then bowed deeply to Zakiel with recognition and understanding in his eyes.

“Una,” he said without taking his eyes from Zakiel, “you told us that your niece was being stolen against her will.  You failed to mention by whom.”

“What difference does it make who they are?” Una demanded.  “They have no right to take her!”

“She looks pleased enough to be leaving that hut you’ve kept her locked in all her life.”

 “I told them they could not take her, and you see how they defy me,” Una screamed.  “You must stop them!”

The blacksmith looked at Tiari with kind eyes.  “Tiari Zora, daughter of Orian, do you choose to leave with these people of your own will?”

“Yes, I do,” Tiari replied. 

“Fair enough,” he said.  “You are a woman, not a child, and may do as you will.  Good fortune to you.”  With that the man turned and began to walk away, the other villagers following him. 

“Wait!  You can’t do this!” Una screeched.  “You can’t let them leave with her!  It is your duty to help me and I demand that you force them to leave my niece with me!”

“Silence, woman,” the blacksmith said coldly, stopping to glare at Una.  “You lied to us Una, yet again.  As I am certain you are aware, this is the Orb Quest.  No
sane
man or woman of Rathira would interfere with them.  Even were they not, I would not interfere in this matter.  The daughter of Orian deserves to be free of you.  Now, leave us be, Una, or we will be forced to expel you from the village as an undesirable.”

Una sputtered and gaped but didn’t quite dare to speak again.  If she were expelled from the village she would be without a home, with nowhere else to go, and that was no good thing for a woman alone.

“Blacksmith,” Zakiel said before the man turned away again.

“Yes, Highness?” the man replied warily, but politely.

“Does your village have a place where we might purchase supplies before we continue our journey?” Zakiel asked.  “We left the Sirelina a few days ago, but did not wish to deplete their stores for the winter.  We could use some more supplies, if it would not cause a hardship for your village.”

“We have a dry goods market,” the blacksmith replied.  “I am certain they will appreciate your custom, and they will not sell so much that it will leave the rest of us in need.”

“Thank you, Blacksmith,” Zakiel replied.  He turned and gestured to Timon, who in turn gestured to a few lower servants before coming forward to accept a bag of coins from Zakiel.  “Sir Jenz, if you will accompany them to the village, we will wait at the crossroads.”

“Of course, Highness,” Jenz replied.

Zakiel turned to Karma.  “Will we need another tent for Hara Tiari?”

Karma glanced at Kapia who shook her head.  “If Tiari does not mind, I would like to share my tent with her,” she said, placing a gentle hand on Tiari’s shoulder.  “I have missed having a tent mate, and you would have your own sleeping chamber.  Do you mind?”

“I do not know what a
tent
is,” Tiari said, her voice trembling, “but if you are asking me to share living space with you, I would be most grateful, yes.” 

“As would I be,” Kapia said.  “A tent is a temporary shelter made of heavy fabric that we sleep in at night while traveling.  Karma and I shared a tent for several weeks, but now that she has married my brother, I find that I greatly miss having someone to share meals with and talk to.”

“I have never had anyone to share with,” Tiari said shyly.  “I thank you, Kapia.”

“Lashi,” Karma called.  Her personal attendant, a thirtyish woman with short red hair and hazel eyes came forward. 

“Yes, Lady Techu?” she asked.

“Hara Tiari has no more than what she wears at this moment,” Karma said.  “Please accompany Timon into the village and purchase what you can to outfit her.”

“Of course, Lady Techu,” Lashi replied.

“Caral, accompany Lashi, please,” Kapia said.

“Yes, Highness,” Caral replied.

“It is not necessary to purchase things for me,” Tiari said, her face red with embarrassment.

“Tiari,” Karma said, turning so that only Tiari and Kapia could see her face as she spoke.  “We will be travelling for a very long time on diploback, riding from morning to night, in all kinds of weather, and sleeping in tents in a different place each night.  You will need more clothing than what you have, including boots, shoes, cloaks and other necessities, particularly now that the weather is growing cold.  We are taking you from your home, where such things would not be needed.  Please allow us to provide these things for you.  It is no hardship for us, this I promise.  Our personal attendants will do the work, and they will be happy to have something with which to occupy themselves.”

Tiari knew that Karma was correct.  The shift she wore was barely decent, and her shoes wouldn’t last much longer.  She made baskets and mats of all shapes and sizes which Una sold in the village to help cover the cost of her upkeep, but Una always complained that they barely earned enough to cover her food, let alone luxuries like shoes and clothes.  Tiari had certainly never had money of her own.

“I thank you, both of you,” she said, lowering her eyes.  “I do not know how I will ever repay you, but I will find a way, somehow.”

“No repayment is needed,” Kapia said briskly.  “Now, let’s get you a diplo so we can get out of here before your Aunt Una returns.”

*****

Sir Tomas of the House of Lorin was at the back of the pack of Hunters in the small clearing when the request for a diplo to be saddled came down, so he decided to ride back to where the drovers waited near the road to deliver the message himself.  He knew that the diplo was needed for a woman only because that much information had filtered back to him, though he didn’t know who she was.  He was curious, of course, but he had lately learned that, if he was patient, whatever news there was would come to him without effort on his part, a fact that frankly amazed him.

Ever since the incident with Saigar, Tomas had made an effort to stay in the background and not draw attention to himself.  He’d spent years trying to be noticed by his cousins, Zakiel and Kapia, and his uncle, King Rhobar, so it had been a difficult habit to break.  He knew that he’d done many petty things over the years, and he knew that he had few friends because of it.  But he’d never been convinced that his behavior was entirely his own fault.  It was too easy to lay blame at the feet of those who had more than him, who had no idea what it was to be suddenly and completely alone in the world, to suffer the loss of not just one parent, but both. 

It didn’t make a lot of sense, but jealousy was not a logical emotion, and he’d never bothered to analyze his own feelings in that regard.  Or any other.  Until Saigar.

Saigar had been his best friend, the one man on all of Rathira whom he trusted more than any other.  And yet, Saigar had turned out to be
cin-sahib
.  How was such a thing possible?  How had a man that he’d known for the better part of his life turned out to be someone that he didn’t know at all? 

Of all the questions he had, Tomas knew only one thing for certain.  Selecting Saigar as his best friend had been a choice
he’d
made and, for once, he could not blame anyone else for it.  He had to accept the responsibility for this mistake himself, and the enormity of it shook him to the very core of his being.

So, now, he hung back, did his job, and kept his mouth shut.  He’d noticed that many of the other Hunters had looked at him suspiciously for awhile, but apparently they’d decided he’d had nothing to do with Saigar being
cin-sahib
and the suspicion had died.  Not that any of them became friendly with him.  But that was nothing new.  He’d never been great friends with anyone other than Saigar.  Which brought him back to his problem once again.