Techromancy Scrolls: Soras (10 page)

She smiled over her cup. “You two finally opened your eyes to each other?”

I blushed and Celeste leaned forward to grasp my hand for a moment, then she nodded as she sat back in the chair. I looked down bashfully then smiled at the sleeping Ingr in my lap. The rocking of the wagon must have lulled her to sleep and her two little goats lay on either side of my legs like they were guarding their tiny leader.

Sylvia said in English, “Grand! When was the betrothal ceremony?”

I swallowed and Celeste chuckled at my reaction. “There hasn't been one, it is not uncommon for a man to sleep with man, nor woman to sleep with woman, but truthfully I have never thought of it. I am dedicated to my Laney.”

I sighed like a lovesick puppy at that. She always said things that just reminded me of the passion a fierce warrior like her was capable of. It was one of the main reasons I loved her so.

Our Gypsy friend smiled over the rim of her cup again and she said, “A pity. I have never witnessed two more suited to each other.”

I squeaked out before I died of embarrassment, “Can we please change the topic? My love life is not something I'm comfortable discussing.”

The woman actually giggled at that. “Why ever not? Sharing one's stories of amorous encounters is ever so much fun.”

I scrunched up my nose, and squinted an eye at her and asked, “Oh really? So tell us about your last amorous adventure.”

She exploded in a sharp bark of laughter and said with a chuckle, “Changing the topic it is.”

We all shared a laugh at that and it felt good, it felt like family.

Before long, Father Sol was dipping low on the horizon and the caravan made a loose circle in a large clearing where there was already a ring of rocks for a large central fire. It must have been a well used Gypsy camp.

Ingr almost sprang up like she had springs on her bottom the moment the wagon stopped. She was full of energy and excitement as she opened the door and simply jumped off the back of the wagon with her four-legged protegees. Syl laughed at her daughter then swung down the steps and we exited, I heard her mother coming through the partition to join us.

I started to stretch then froze. Heaven's Gate loomed above us and into the heavens it was named for. Mother Luna, it was almost more than I could take in. We had been traveling upward for most of the afternoon and the air had a bit of a nip in it, but I was warm in my spelled cloak.

Sylvia stepped past us and reached up to close my mouth as she chuckled. “You have never seen Father Stone before?”

I shook my head as she handed Celeste and me our swords. That knocked me out of my wonder, and I sighed as I strapped the belt around my waist. As Femeie de Sabies, Women of the Sword. It would be an insult if we did not wear our blades when we were outside. I thought that was just silly, but I would never insult our hosts.

I was acutely aware of our four shadows and wished they'd just relax, the danger had passed.

I found myself quickly slipping into the Gypsy community as everyone assisted in whatever ways they could contribute to the set up of camp and the preparation of a feast. I wound up with the children, kneading dough for flatbread as Celeste helped set up the tables. She was always better at the physical labor than I was.

I had to grin when our friends dropped their escort duty for a while to help out. It was funny watching Bex trying to lead the oxen, who were nearly as big as horses, to the nearby stream. A woman covered her mouth so she wouldn't laugh then went to go help the poor man.

I studied the camp intently and had to smile. The first time I had met the Lupei, I was confused as to how things worked in the camp until I learned that everyone is equal and there is no hierarchy other than Mother Udele being the leader. I smiled as I watched various people throw branches and wood on the central fire as they went about doing other tasks.

Men and women were giving the little ones tasks, whether they were their own children or not. The community as a whole raised all of the children as a group effort.

There were times I felt that their way of life was much simpler and ideal than life in the Keep, before and after I had raised to the rank of noblewoman. I found a familiar smile on my face as I felt I was contributing.

Celeste caught my eye after I heard her laugh heartily at something one of the men she was assisting said. I felt that familiar warmth inside, knowing that magnificent woman was mine, and she didn't seem to even notice my scars.

I looked idly at my aching hand and flexed it then continued working the dough until Ingr whispered, “Don't over knead it, Sora Laney.”

I looked at the little girl who was trying to look and sound like an adult who was instructing the young.

I crinkled my nose at her and flattened the dough and put it in the basket she was going to carry over to the men and women who were tending the meal on the huge iron grills and open fire oven. She mirrored my crinkle, which looked too adorable on her and she dashed off.

I looked around as dusted the flour off my hands and replaced my glove, looking for the next task to tackle. I was caught in mid-stride as Sylvia looped her arm in mine and dragged me to the head of the longest plank table. She was whispering, “You and Celeste should be sitting at the table, overseeing things. Then you need to announce the meal when the cooks give you the nod.”

I said, “But I can help.”

She smiled and shook her head. “You help by showing strength, showing that you are looking over us. Letting us know that we are not without guidance. You are Mother, in spirit if not in name, until Udele is freed from her captors.”

She looked across the camp and narrowed her eyes and crooked her finger. Celeste paused in what she was doing, excused herself and came walking over. Sylvia pointed at the seat beside me like a parent chastising a child and she said, “Sit you, silly woman. You two do not need to busy yourself with these tasks, you need to lead.”

Celeste looked at me and I blushed and shrugged, then she sat and Syl crossed her arms in satisfaction and nodded once. “Better.”

I almost chuckled at seeing her ordering my Lady around like that. Then I complained, “Can't we best lead by example and lend what help we can?”

She lowered her voice and said with the most serious tone I had ever heard from the woman, “This is the best way you can lend support. By showing our band strength, showing them that the Lupei are not broken. By showing leadership.”

I pondered her words as I just nodded once in acceptance. These people had been attacked viciously as they slept. Their leader was spirited away, and their people killed. Then they were surrounded and held by unknown knights and sacrificed more men to get word to the only people that they felt could bring order back to their band and rescue them and their beloved Mother.

I studied the strained smiles on the adult's faces around us. I realized that they smiled and went about their business normally to ally the fears of the children. I admired these people and I said with surety, “The Lupei are not broken. You have strength beyond measure. You have each other.”

Celeste nodded in agreement and just said, “We'll do as you ask, there is wisdom in your words, Sylvia.”

I looked at our friend a moment and could now see the same strain and hope in the shadows in her eyes. She would make an amazing Mother for her people, I just felt like a charlatan but I would not let her down. I reached out and clasped her hand between mine, and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

She grinned at us then winked as she started wandering off muttering, “Now where has that lazy brother of mine gotten off to? He doesn't think I noticed he was favoring one side. He's not as invincible as he thinks.”

I grinned and watched as she made a gesture with her arms and moments later, Dru stepped out of the treeline around the camp like a specter. I hadn't had a clue where he was watching the camp from, but she obviously knew her brother.

Before long, one of the men at the fire caught my attention and nodded. I whispered to Celeste, “Were supposed to call people to the table and announce the feast or something like that.”

I looked at her expectantly and the evil woman just clasped her hands in front of her and raised her chin regally as she said, “Well then, you best be about it then, Sora Laney.” She was bound and determined for me to see my end by terminal embarrassment, see if I cuddle with her tonight.

I swallowed and stood, I hadn't said a word but all the activity in the camp ground to a halt as everyone turned to me. Over two hundred sets of eyes. I swallowed, trying to find my voice. They were all looking at me expectantly... me, a simple chicken farmer who was thrust into the role of noble, now princess.

I said in a shaky voice, “Come sit everyone. Let us feast in celebration of the Lupei and life.”

A cheer went up and everyone started to find seats as the cooks started putting trays of scintillating smelling foods on all the tables. A few who played instruments started playing a familiar jaunty tune. Hadn't we heard that recently? The minstrels in Owensdale had played it though it was slightly different.

Everyone dished up, heaping meats and cheeses, vegetables, fruits, and breads on their plates as Sylvia's family joined us at our table in the space everyone had avoided around us. I had to smile when a man with an eye patch, looking so very much more alive than the last time I saw him, sat at the next table over. Marku smiled his thanks over toward us.

Dru looked at our escort and shook his head and told them, “Sit, feast with us. Do not insult our Soras.”

I knew they would have taken shifts eating after the meal, but Dru intended to guilt them into joining.

He grabbed Verna's hand and kissed the back of it as he pulled her gently to an open area at one table. Our musclebound friend actually blushed. I had to grin at that. She sat and the others joined her.

Celeste whispered to Syl, “Nobody is eating.”

Sylvia said through her smile, not moving her lips, “You have to give a blessing.”

Celeste looked at me and I paled and shook my head. She stood and raised her glass of sweet berry juice. “I truly believe that the Lupei are blessed to have such good people, and strength of character beyond reproach. That alone is a gift beyond measure, a family unbroken. That we can be among you to share this bounty, is humbling. To whatever gods may be listening, please bless this meal and the deserving people here.”

Then she smiled and raised her cup, “Dig in!” Another cheer went up and everyone followed her advice and dug in.

Dru said, “Nicely done.”

Syl nodded her agreement. I laid a hand on the arm of my blushing Celeste and gave it a little squeeze. She just grinned down at started eating a thin slice of what smelled like roast venison.

I somehow wound up with a giggling growth on my lap. Ingr helped me empty my plate. She accidentally dropped a berry here, a bean there as we ate. Her bleating cohorts in crime consumed the evidence under the table.

I wondered if it were possible to grow your family beyond blood because I was quickly falling in love with the Lupei all over again. I realized you could grow your family that way as I looked at the woman beside me, still feeling the luckiest woman in the realm that she had chosen me.

After the meal the entertainment began as people danced and laughed and sang. Then Dru and a couple others told exaggerated tales that were more fairy tale than truth, to the children who had not already retired to their beds in their wagons.

I laid my head on Celeste's shoulder as we listened, a sleeping Ingr on my lap. I had to smile, the little one was always sleeping on me. She had announced that I was her favorite pillow. My lady absently raised a hand to play with my hair, I don’t even think she realized she was doing it and I just reveled in the attention.

We sat until all the tables and gear was stowed back into the wagons except the one we sat at. Dru stood and gave us a chivalrous bow. He wiggled his eyebrows and Celeste and I chuckled at the overly flirty man. Then he faded into the woods on his steed.

I stood, Ingr cradled in my arms and I handed her to Sylvia. We started following her to her wagon and took our familiar spot on the bed with the children and goats all around us. Syl said before she went through the door in the partition to sleep with her mother, “You two really should use Mother's wagon, it would be more dignified.”

I shook my head, she had tried to get us to do that when we first started out to Heaven's Gate earlier that day, but it just didn't feel right. It felt like if we did, then we were accepting the possibility that Udele was not coming back. I whispered, “We belong here, with... family.”

Her eyes seemed to twinkle a bit as she smiled. She inclined her head to us then disappeared into the other half of the wagon which I realized I still had not seen.

I smiled up at Celeste, who had taken up her usual, protective, big spoon position and then sighed and happily cuddled into my little spoon.

I woke up to a woman screaming. I took a moment to fully awaken from a nightmarish dream to realize that I was the one screaming. Celeste was shaking my shoulders gently and Ingr was shaking my hand. The red headed knight of my heart said, “You were dreaming, Laney. Was it a vision?”

I nodded, gasping and wiping sweat from my face. “It was all broken up, jumbled. So it was farther in the future, days away as it had been on our mission to Far Reach. Mother Udele beaten and bloody. She... she was smiling. Dark Knights descending. Pain. Power. I was searching, being pursued.”

I shook my head, that was all I could remember as it faded. She held me, “Shh... it's ok. You're safe. I'm here.”

I giggled nervously when Ingr glommed onto my waist and assured cutely, “I'm here too, Sora Laney.”

Then I looked down and snorted. “Eli was still sound asleep.”

I almost jumped out of my skin and I felt Celeste reach for her sword that wasn't there when someone next to us said, “It is about time you woke up ladies.”

I glanced at the little table by the wood burning stove in by the door, and a grinning Sylvia and Elaine, who were finishing some of that divine smelling porridge they ate for breakfast. I noticed the wagon was jostling, we were moving. How long had we been on the road? We must have been exhausted from the eventful day yesterday.

Elaine added, “We will reach the Meeting Spot in a few hours, you need to eat.” She said it like Meeting Spot was a title.

Celeste noticed too and asked, “Meeting Spot?”

Sylvia said as she spooned up four bowls of porridge and drizzled maple syrup over them, “It is where the conclave meets on Father Stone. It has not been used in my lifetime, but Mother Udele often spoke of the meeting that was held during the Great Mage Wars of the Altii, where the People decided to wait it out to see what became of the Realms rather than interfere.”

She handed the three of us bowls and Ingr began shoveling it in as fast as she could bring her spoon to her mouth. Eli magically awoke at that and swung up to sit in bed and accept his breakfast. I had to grin, food usually woke up Jace too when we lived in Cheap Quarter. It struck me that little Eli was about the same age as Jace was back then.

I asked as I ate the porridge, “Why do you call Heaven's Gate, Father Stone?”

She smiled and her eyes twinkled with mischief. “It was from Father Stone that the People were saved from the cataclysm. From the Great Impact. He held the only water and forest in the barren lands which you call the uninhabitable lands. He was an oasis in all the death that followed the cataclysm that gave our people what we needed to live. Resources, food, water.”

She slid into storytelling mode easily and I could tell from that alone, that she was Dru's sister, if their striking resemblance to each other hadn't.

“The lands that had held so much life in the Before was shattered. Father Stone stood witness to the fall of the great Wizards of the Before and the rise of the People. You could walk across the inhabitable lands in seven days in any direction.”

She smiled and wiggled her eyebrows like her brother. “Then he spread across the dead lands left behind, over the centuries he has reclaimed the lands for the living, and our world expanded and continues to grow from the life he has breathed into it. One day, the Earth will again be alive, a gift to us from Father Stone.”

She clasped her hands in front of her, lacing her fingers, and said with excitement, “Then one day, strangers visited our mountains. We were shocked, believing the People to be the only humans to have survived. We rejoiced and greeted the Others, the Altii. They came in great numbers to settle on our land and set up great kingdoms.”

She lowered her voice. “They brought violence and sickness too. But we were patient with the Altii. They were but children in the eyes of Father Stone. When they tried to claim our mountains as their own, thinking we had no teeth, the People held our first war council at the Meeting Spot.”

She grinned wickedly. “Great Mother Ezabelle taught us temperament. We had numbers that could wipe the Alti from the lands, but she bid us patience. We showed the Altii our strength, our numbers. But our magik scared them the most, they had not witnessed such power, and it gave them pause.”

She sat tall in respect, her voice strengthening. “Then a wise ruler of the Altii from Highland Reach had traveled to the lands, he ruled over all the realms of the Altii. He bid them all temperament as well. Reminding them that they were guests of our land and were there at our convenience. King Derek the Righteous set up a parlay with his people and us and forged peace that has held until the day Mother Udele was taken.”

She added an interesting fact I did not know. “He was the first of the Altii to ever bloom with the odd elemental magics of your people.”

I thought about that a moment. If he were the first, after he had come to the Lower Ten. And others started igniting after that, was it something about these lands or these mountains that awakened the magic in those with the potential throughout the realms?

I passed my empty bowl back to Elaine, who was reaching for it, my hand ghosting. I had got caught up in the excitement of the story and the power was leaking out again.

Sylvia smiled at me and asked, “You cannot control your gift? It is amazing you can wield both the magic of the Altii and the magik of the People.”

I shrugged in embarrassment. “I have no one to teach me. It just sort of does whatever it wants.”

She scowled at that and said, “I can help you understand and control your gifts. But not the sight. Only Udele or Marion can help you with that gift.”

Elaine mock spit to the side. “A curse is the sight. Some say a gift, but they have not seen what it does to Udele and Marion. Udele is strong and can handle it, but Marion... the poor girl never leaves her wagon.”

I agreed with Elaine. It was a curse I wish I were never given, but then I shuddered when I remembered how it had saved me just one day hence from that arrow. I guess you had to learn to take the good with the bad.

We spent the next couple hours with her instructing me in the basics of controlling the spirit element. She laughed heartily at my poor attempts at charming our clothing. When I told her that Dru had shown me how to construct each rune she laughed even louder then said, “That silly man. He has potential but has never bloomed. He wouldn't know a charm if it came up and bit him.”

I defended the poor man. “He knew which runes were for which purpose.”

She shook her head in amusement, she loved teasing her brother. She explained, “The magick does not act in any particular way because of a rune mark. They are simply for a frame of reference, to give the caster a focus to pour power into, and to allow others of the Touched to quickly identify each casting.”

She furrowed her brow for a moment then brightened. “As it was taught to me, magik of the spirit element follows the will of the caster the best it can and persists until its energy is fully expended, unlike magic of the Altii which is exhausted as soon as it is cast, with few exceptions, like containment vessels and limited illusions. Though illusion requires the caster to continually pour a trickle of magic into to keep it persistent.”

Then she smiled and said, “Everything in the magic of the People is intent. So if you wish a spell to imbue fabric to keep one warm, that is what you concentrate on as you allow your power to seep into the material. The runes only give you a focus. You are writing the symbol for warmth, so it is simpler for you to maintain your focus and intent on that warmth. You can accomplish the same with no symbol at all but it is harder to focus on the desired result.”

She looked at my furrowed brow as I nodded, trying to understand. “So it isn't the symbol itself that dictates what the power does, it is simply the intent of the caster?”

She nodded and I continued, “So it would have the same effect if I wrote 'warmth' with the energies in English?”

She nodded again and supplied, “Or writing nothing at all, like your hand print, but you would have to maintain your focus on the desired outcome for it to be successful.”

She pulled out two exquisite dresses from a drawer that was part of the bed platform, I had never noticed the drawers down there, they ingeniously utilize every nook and cranny in these wonderful moving houses. Then she went about instructing me the proper way to calm my thoughts and tightly focus on constructing runes while blocking out all outside stimuli. I was happy that my attempts were much more crisp and defined than the ones I had done myself with Dru helping.

She showed me how to keep the magik inside from showing itself. I would need a lot of practice because it was exhausting to hold it back. She contemplated it. “It may be something beyond you, Sora Laney. You have but a spark of power compared to even the weakest of the Touched so maybe you will never fully master containing it.”

I exhaled in a long sigh, I was used to being under-powered. Donovan told me that given time, my abilities may get stronger, like exercising a muscle. I hoped so, because I felt so helpless at times, wishing I had more power so I could help out my allies better.

Sylvia read this in my face and covered my hand on the little table with hers and said, “Do not fret, it is not the quantity of power that you hold that matters, it is how you wield that power that matters. You believe that you are inadequate in any ability, but I believe that it is just because you have a far wider range of abilities than any I have ever heard of, both elemental magic of the Altii, and of the People.”

She smiled warmly. “Plus you hold the compassion and empathy of any three people. Only so much of each can fit inside such a tiny person like yourself, and you are already filled to capacity, that is why the spirit element spills out of you like a full cup of water sloshing out as you run.”

I smiled at her short person tease, I'd get her for it later when she wasn't expecting it. I contemplated what she was telling me. I had never thought of it before. Perhaps I wasn't truly underpowered. Perhaps all of my abilities added up would make one normal magic user. It was sort of comforting except for the fact that that knowledge didn't help me defend my friends in a battle.

Then she went and shattered that thought by repeating what Donovan, Mother Udele, and Celeste keep telling me, “Even the smallest thing can have an enormous impact on the outcome of any event.”

I smiled at that, then subconsciously flexed my damaged hand, knowing that even though I had found that to be true on many occasions, there was still a cost for every action.

She stood suddenly and clapped her hands toward the children who were fascinated with my lessons. “Off with you little scamps. The Soras need to prepare, we will be at the Meeting Spot in a few minutes.”

The giggling children and goats dashed through the connecting door.

Celeste asked, “Prepare?”

Sylvia spoke to my Lady like she was a thick child. “You cannot meet with the conclave in peasants clothing.” She inclined her head to the two beautiful dresses that now had a dozen practice charms on each. They were a rich buttercup yellow with forest green piping and sashes.

She got a basin and poured water into it from a flat bottomed pitcher, grabbed a small towel then said, “I retrieved those from Mother Udele's wagon. Please stand Sora Laney.”

I swallowed. She had done this to me before. It seemed like a ritual to me. I looked at Celeste, who just grinned at me. She was no help whatsoever. I stood bashfully.

Then Sylvia seemed to get very serious and silent as she carefully removed my dress and undergarments one at a time. I felt naked to the world in front of her and my love. I tried crossing my arms over my breasts, but the healer slapped my arm gently and I dropped them to my sides.

The look of awe on Celeste's face had me blushing as Sylvia slowly washed my entire body, She slowed at my back as she traced each scar I had received from the whipping I took so long ago for sneaking into the library of the Techromancy Scrolls. Then again, she traced the burn scars on my face, arm, and leg.

Then she dressed me in one of those requisite dresses and braided my hair. Tying the braids off with forest green ribbon. She quietly said, almost startling me in the silence, “Yellow is the color of the People. The green both represents the Lupei clan and designates you as a leader.”

She put my boots on me and slid my little dagger into the sheath inside my left boot. The other knights teased me about my dagger, calling it a paring knife.

She took up Anadele, and just as though it were a solemn ceremony, she wrapped the belt with its many pouches around my waist, my blade at my hip. She smiled at me as she hung my tool pouch over my shoulder. Then she bowed her head. “Mother.”

I looked over at Celeste and she mouthed, “Beautiful.” to me and I looks at my feet feeling bashful in such finery.

Then Sylvia said, “Please stand Sora Celeste.” That caused my lady's smile to falter. Ha, take that. I sat on the bed and watched as Celeste went through what I had.

The sight of her unclothed always made my heart hurt, I loved her with every fiber of my being. She was so sublimely feminine under her garments. She always projected such strength, but this reminded me of the soft, and gentle woman when was behind that strength.