Tanza
Tanza
The Astor Chronicles
Book
2
Amanda Greenslade
Publishing Details
Tanza by Amanda Greenslade
Published by Tigerace Books
© Amanda Greenslade
The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright restricted above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
1st Edition 2016, pbk.
ISBN: 978-1-925427-50-9
Designer: Australian eBook Publisher
A cataloguing entry is available for this book through the National Library of Australia
Also available as an ebook from major ebook vendors.
Ebook Version
1st Edition 2016, electronic
ISBN: 978-1-925427-49-3 (Mobi)
ISBN: 978-1-925427-48-6 (ePub)
Ebook creation: Converted from digital source file
Ebook files created and distributed by: Australian eBook Publisher
www.AustralianEbookPublisher.com.au
Author’s Note
Tanza follows on from Talon, a story in which a young Jarian man farewelled his village and journeyed into the world in search of allies for his people. Along with his new Rada-kin, the icetiger Rekala, and Sarlice, a warrior from Lyth, Talon travelled to the great nation of Telby.
He was betrayed and violated by the Princess Denliyan, and pursued by the enemies of his people, the Zeikas. He and Sarlice escaped through the Tanzan Chasm, heading for the safety of the legendary Kriite nation of Tanza.
Once again I would like to thank my editors, Stephen Thompson, Wendy Sargeant, Rebecca Wylie and the late Lin M. Hall.
Thanks also to Eve Doyle for the vector version of my hand-drawn map of Chryne, and artist Adele Sessler for artwork.
I hope readers all over the world will enjoy The Astor Chronicles.
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Chryne
East of the Kiayr Ranges
Tanza
Realm of the Sleffions
Chapter One—A Storm in the Morning
T
he deep mists chilled my flesh like the snow I remembered in the mountains near my home. My legs carried me forward slowly. My muscles felt stiff and strangely weakened.
I tried to remember how I came to be here, but all I could recall from my passage through the barrier was an exhilarating sensation of flying. New smells reached me through the cold, grey fog. Greenish shapes formed ahead.
The mists cleared and a thriving, exotic world came alive around me. The morning air tasted fresh and moist. Small thickets and stands of trees bobbed on a sea of glistening dark-green grass, and beyond the field was a mystical jungle. The sky was iron-grey, clouds looming low over the wild gardens.
In comparison to these forests, the scrubland I had cherished back in Jaria seemed brutish and rough. Even the almighty spruces of the Kiayr Range seemed ordinary compared with the trees of Tanza. I sensed Tiaro awakening as her curiosity was piqued by my reaction to our wild, new location.
To my right a row of trees with dark green bark gave way to a jungle filled with plants of all shapes and sizes. The ground was thick with moist leaves in varying shades from dark green to black and every now and then was a parade of striped orange fungi. Shrubs and small trees flanked the boles of the larger trees, some drooping under the weight of their yellow and purple fruit.
My quartermaster-observation skills took over as I mentally tallied the possibilities for both human and animal consumption and use. The husks from some of the palms looked strong enough to build roof shingles. Bessed would be ecstatic to see a forest filled with so many useful materials.
A pang of guilt washed over me for not contacting my foster father in so many weeks. I decided that as soon as I figured out where I was and what was going on I would get Rekala to reach back to Jaria using the network of Rada-kin between here and there.
A gust of fresh air wafted over me and on it I could smell the rich earth, water from the mists or a nearby stream and overripe fruit. Vines dangled from the canopy—they were as thin as my little finger, but some held up fallen boughs thicker than me. Moss and lichen grew densely over every fallen trunk and small black lizards darted from one to the other.
There were a lot of fallen trees, as if some giant creature had feasted here, scattering its leavings. What manner of creature would eat an entire tree?
There were faint creaking noises coming from deeper into the forest where branches rubbed against each other.
I peered into the darker reaches of the rainforest, forgetting for a moment who and what I was. A sense of deep satisfaction flowed through me.
The wind drew a flurry of raindrops from the swelling womb of clouds above.
Despite the drama of my flight through the Tanzan Chasm, the peace of the rainforest was enough to calm me. I let the muscles in my shoulders relax, stretched and flexed my toes inside my boots, and spread my fingers out.
Anyone who could not see the hand of Krii in this place was blind—every plant, every creature had its place in the great pattern of life before me. Although the world had been changing ever since the great ash cloud, I could imagine rainforests not too different from this one being around at the dawn of creation.
I thanked Krii for reminding me of the wider world, the world that went on oblivious to human problems.
I heard a soft noise, like the puff of a bellows, reached down and felt the rough hair of my Rada-kin’s back.
‘Are you hale, beloved?’ I asked.
She rubbed against me, exuding happiness, then flopped down on her belly to rest. I crouched down and felt over her body for injuries. The fur on her majestic face was singed and her nose was dry and blistered, but—praise Krii—her eyes had not been burned by the Zeikas.
She lay with her nose up and eyes closed, flicking her ears as she drank in the unique sounds and smells of Tanza. ‘Aye,’ she replied. ‘Those Zeika scouts nearly had us, mind. They seem determined to capture you.’
‘We’re safe now,’ I said, including Tiaro in the conversation. ‘There are other Rada-kin in the distance. I can sense them mostly concentrated in an area that way—probably a town.’
‘I concur,’ Rekala said, impressed by my wave perceptions.
‘There are no Zeikas nearby,’ Tiaro confirmed.
There were soft footfalls behind me and the sound of tall grass being swished aside, but I wasn’t alarmed. I turned as Sarlice came up to me and reached for her without even thinking about it. We embraced tightly, our bodies interlocking in a familiar way, with Sarlice’s curls brushing the right side of my chin. We rested against each other for a moment, the enormity of what we had been through just sinking in. The safety of being inside the barrier of Tanza had lifted a terrible weight off my shoulders.
‘Finally we’re here,’ Sarlice sighed, stepping back. ‘And you… have a sword.’
She gestured at a white sheath buckled to the Jarian leafshard belt I was wearing.
‘I hadn’t even noticed,’ I stuttered.
I pulled the shiny scabbard off the sapphire-leaf encrusted belt, staving off Rekala’s outstretched muzzle. The muscles in my arm strained as I lifted the heavy object.
The golden hilt sported two furry skyearls, their bodies entwined, heads pointing outwards to form the cross-guard. I drew the sword from the sheath, marvelling at the cerulean-blue metal. I supposed I could get used to the weight with some training and exercise.
‘You’ve never been good with a sword,’ Rekala warned.
‘No better time than now to change that,’ I replied out loud.
‘Change what?’
‘Rekala was pointing out my uh… lack of practise in sword combat.’
I felt Sarlice’s eyes on me, stealing my next sentence, and I froze, uncertain, looking at the sword.
‘Talon, how did you get a Tolite-kin?’ she asked.
A tingling sensation passed through my body. ‘I don’t know.’
She stared at the sword. ‘The Tolites must have come here to Tanza. They could have prayed to Krii to transfer the weapon-kin magic from Watercrag’s Waterfall Catacombs to the Tanzan Barrier Shield. Anyone with the gift as yet unfulfilled who came through the barrier, would have a chance of becoming bonded to one of the vacant weapons given over to the magic by the Tolites.’
‘Why would the Tolites come here?’ I wondered. ‘Could Watercrag have fallen and we have not heard about it?’
Sarlice thought for a long time before answering. ‘If it happened within the last month, yes. I bonded with Henter at Nooneagle in Watercrag about four years ago. The Kriites there had been under constant threat from Reltland, which is just across the Zeika Strait. There was a battle some years back, which left Watercrag with no Rada and, therefore, no way to communicate rapidly with Lyth. I wonder if they were finally driven out and came to Tanza.’