The Jewel of Kamara (The Delthenon Chronicles) (32 page)

“So
that means I’m the next true Shiasa.”

“Not
so fast. The question was purely for my amusement,” she giggled. “Remove your
shoes and stockings.”

Tempani
eyed her warily.

“Hurry
up. I don’t have all day.”

She
did as she was told and removed her boots and stockings.

The
girl pointed to the cliff above them. “Climb that.”

“With
no shoes? My feet will bleed.”

She
grinned. “That’s the point. Blood will pour from your hands and feet and will
mix with the slain blood of your people who were murdered here and the tears
from your First Shiasa as she wept for her people. Only then will you be a
Kalaowin once more. And only then will you understand the people you wish to
lead. You will use no magic. Or weapons. Your triumph must be a result of the
strength of your mind and body.”

“How
will I know if I’ve triumphed?” 

“You’ll
know.” She turned towards the bushes and clapped her hands in delight as a wood
nymph poked her head through. “Now I have someone to play with.”

Tempani
shook her head as she walked away. She wasn’t sure she liked the keeper of the
dragon.

—

Back
at camp, Rando was worried. He paced back and forth, tossing up whether to go
after her or not. It was all well and good for Chae to let her slip off into
the night, but it was on
Rando’s
head if something
happened to her. He had fought against some tough opponents, but he would
gladly go another round with them than be chewed out by their leader if
something happened to her.

“We
have to go get her.” He stalked over to where Chae and Madoc were practicing
hand to hand combat.

Chae
rose from where he had just been dumped by Madoc and wiped the sweat from his
brow. “I promised her we’d give her a chance. She needs to do this.”

“And
if she gets hurt? Or killed? Then what?”

“We
can’t protect her forever. At some point she needs to stand on her own. She has
chosen to do it now, and we need to respect that.”

“
Chae’s
right,” Madoc said as he patted
Rando’s
shoulder. “She is stronger than we all give her credit for. She is the one
leading this cause. We must follow her decisions.”

“My
orders are clear,” he said. “I’m going after her.”

“Just
give her a few more hours,” said Chae. “If she’s not back, then I’ll go with
you.”

Rando
stared at him for a moment and then sighed, conceding defeat. Everyone in that
family was as stubborn as the next.

—

Tempani
winced as she reached above her with her bloodied hand, grappling for a firm
hold. Once she had it, she brought her leg up and pulled herself up. Despite
the cooler weather up here, she was drenched in sweat. Her clothes clung to her
body, her hair wet and heavy against her back. She inched higher and higher,
yet the cliff, much like the path earlier, seemed never ending. As soon as she
thought she was close to the top, it seemed to grow higher. Perhaps this was
the test - keeping her sanity against an impossible task.

Her
foot scraped along the next hold, and she bit her lip to stop from screaming
out in pain. And then she heard it. A plea for help. And then a blood curdling
scream as a life was lost. There were cries. Frantic as they begged. As they
prayed to the Goddess to spare their children’s lives. She shuddered and wanted
desperately to hide away from the noises. Block them out with her hands but
that would mean letting go.

As
her blood mixed with the blood that was shed on these cliffs, she heard their
final moments. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks, and she knew when the first
one touched the surface for that’s when she heard the First Shiasa’s reaction.
Tempani felt what her ancestor did. Her heart ached so terribly that it felt as
though it would burst. She wanted to stop, but she pushed on. Her cries echoing
with each inch she moved up the cliff.

This
was her test. They were testing her ability to control her emotions. She
wondered if she should try to stop her tears and show them how strong and
unfeeling she could be. Prove to them that she was worthy to lead the people.
But then she remembered
Dimpa’s
words. She was not to
be ruled by her feelings but not be emotionless. She could feel pain but not
let herself cower from it.

With
this running through her head, she surged up that cliff with a renewed energy.
Her tears still fell, her feet and palms still bled, but she was focused -
focused on her goal of being the Shiasa.

She
reached her hand up and felt a flat surface. She tried not to get her hopes up
that she had made it in case this was a trick and there’d be more to climb. She
shivered as she gripped the stone above her. With a grunt she swung her leg up
and over the ridge, using her arms to bear her weight and with one final effort
pulled her other leg up. She rolled onto her stomach and kissed the solid
ground beneath her. The tears she cried were no longer ones of anguish but of
pure relief. She had made it to the top.

She
crawled over to the edge and looked down, but all she saw were clouds. She had
climbed so high that she saw nothing beyond the white mounds. Exhausted, she
rested her head on the ground and closed her eyes. What was she supposed to do
now? The girl had told her she would know if she succeeded, but she didn’t know
what to expect. The Shiasa didn’t wear a crown so it’s not like one would
appear magically before her eyes.

I’m better than a crown
, a soft voice echoed in her mind. It was female. And she sounded
young, yet her voice carried a wisdom that Tempani could not describe.

She
opened her eyes and found herself peering into a pair of dull yellow eyes.
Panicked she scrambled to her feet and almost screamed at the massive form
standing over her. She had never seen a dragon before, but in her opinion this
one was the most beautiful dragon to ever exist.

Its
scales were blue in some areas and green in others, and they shimmered under
the glare of the sun. Its pale yellow eyes were wide and filled with wisdom.
Its ears were small and not dissimilar to a cow’s ears. It was smaller than she
imagined, but it still stood at least twenty feet tall.

“What’s
your name?” Tempani asked.

Aidis
.

“So,
does this mean I’ve passed the test? Am I the rightful successor to my
grandmother?”

In
response the dragon dropped down to its knees, allowing her to climb onto her
back. She ran her hand over the scales as she climbed aboard, nestling herself
behind her neck.

Now we return to your people.

“Wait!”
Tempani shouted as the dragon took flight. “Can I check on the girl? Your
keeper?”

She
felt the dragon’s shrill laugh inside her mind, and she shrank against her neck
at the sound of it. It was eerily similar to the girl.

The girl is my essence. She rides with us.

“I
hope you’re not as annoying as her.”

She
cringed as
Aidis
laughed again.
As a young one, I
was that annoying but it was fun, which is why my essence will never age or
change.

Tempani
shivered as they flew down through the clouds. She laughed to herself as she
remembered that as a child she had thought clouds were solid. That if she could
she would fly up and sit on them and they would be as soft as a pillow.

She
squinted her eyes against the force of the wind as it rushed past them. Her
skin pulled tight against her face, and her hair flew behind her as they
hurtled down. Riding a dragon had seemed a very romantic thought or something
straight from a fable yet it was so far from that. Her breaths were short and
sharp, her icy cold hands holding on as she kept her mouth closed. She didn’t
want to risk a bug flying into an open mouth. She guessed it would take some
getting used to.

“Can
you just put me down close by? I don’t want to scare them all.”

Where is the fun in that? We’re going to make an entrance.

Aidis
slowed as they moved closer and let out a
roar so loud that Tempani had to cover her ears. They landed with a gentle thud
in the middle of the camp’s clearing.

All
around her, people screamed. They shouted for her grandmother, who came running
out ready to fight off the danger. She came to a halt when she saw the dragon.
Her eyes travelled up until they rested on Tempani. Grandmother and
granddaughter stared at one another until Tempani raised her eyebrow and
smiled.

“There’s
no doubting it now, old woman. The dragon has chosen to protect me. I am your
true heir.”

“That
may be,” she croaked. “But you are still not one of us. You cannot lead a
people you don’t belong to.”

She belongs. Her blood mixed with the blood of your first tribe. Her
tears fell with those of your first leader. She has joined her people once
more, and I have joined her. Now you must.

The
ferocity of the dragon’s voice reverberated through her grandmother. The older
woman stood tall as her body trembled from head to toe. It would be taking the
full force of her Power to stand strong against the dragon.

Tempani
slid off her back and stood in front of her
niska
.
Her muscles screamed at her to lie down but she would not show her grandmother
she was hurting. “I want to be the Shiasa. Let me prove to you that I can do
it. Let me earn their respect. And yours.”

“You
came here expecting to follow me,” she muttered. “You did not deserve it then.
You may prove your worth to us. Now, you have earned that.”

Tempani
looked up at the dragon. “Release her.”

As you wish,
she said before taking to the sky once more.
Call when you need me.

Tempani
turned back to her grandmother and grabbed her just as she began to crumble to
the ground. “Come on, old woman. Let me show you what I can do.”

—

 “Round
them up,” Hallam said. “We can secure them in the dungeons until we know what
to do with them.”

“This
is ridiculous,” Otto interjected. “There is not enough room in the dungeons to
house them all.”

“A
camp then,” he said. “Lord Ricton, are you able to secure an area so no one can
escape?”

“Of
course,” the older man said.

“We’re
not rounding up the Kalaowins,” said Nic. “They have done nothing wrong.”

“They
killed my brother. Your father!”

“One
man did,” Nic corrected him.

“I’m
suggesting this for your own safety. You’re my nephew. I’d hate for any harm to
come to you.”

“We
will not hunt them down like animals. The man responsible has been killed and
that should be the end of it.”

“He
was acting on orders. You heard it for yourself.”

“We’ve
been over this Hallam. She is not responsible for this.”

“She
has bewitched you.”

Nic
shook his head in disbelief. “This discussion is over. I have made my decision,
and it is final. Let’s move onto other business. Where are we at with the
coronation?”

Hallam
glared at Nic from across the table. He had thought Nic would want revenge for
his father’s death. That he would see Tempani being behind it as the ultimate
betrayal, and he would seek her out at all costs. But his nephew was so blinded
by what he thought was love that he would do nothing about it.

Hallam
would just have to find another way to rid the kingdom of the Kalaowins. And
inept kings.

—

Tempani
set about showing her people that she was worth following - that she wasn’t so
different from them despite being raised with the Kamaris. She got up the next
morning at dawn and followed
Keer
to the clearing
where the warriors trained. He glared at her as she stood in formation, but she
ignored him, instead focusing on the woman in front of her.

She
missed a few moves as they made their way through their hand to hand drills,
even falling over once. But similar to her weapon drills, once she got into the
rhythm she was able to keep up. This is what Nika had been training her for.

She
tried to suppress a smile when everyone grabbed their bows. And she thought
she’d never have to use one. Then again, she wasn’t planning a war back then.
Back when she was training with the men at the convent, she hadn’t thought
about holding back. She had wanted to impress them with her skills and needed
them to understand that she would fight alongside them. As much as the
Kalaowins respected warriors, she didn’t think it wise to try and show them up
on her first training session. So when she strung her bow and let loose along
with everyone else, she misfired slightly so her arrow would miss the mark.

Keer
smiled wryly as she loosed again, and it once
more fell short of the mark. He called a halt to the training and moved to pick
up his spear. He walked over to Tempani and stood opposite her.