This Fierce Splendor (23 page)

“Hello.” The woman’s voice was mellow as dark honey and a lovely smile lit her dusky face. “I hope you will forgive my intruding on your privacy. I asked my niece to permit me to sit with you until you awakened from your nap. I am Rising Star. I am married to Dominic’s brother, Joshua.”

Elspeth sat up quickly. “I’m very happy to meet you.”

The woman before her was in her late twenties or early thirties and was as different from Silver as the sun was from the moon. The burning vitality that fueled every movement and action of her niece was missing in Rising Star. She sat in the chair as straight and graceful as a young queen, her loose white gown unable to disguise the fact that her slim body was heavy with child. Her thin high-cheekboned face was dominated by huge dark eyes that shone with humor and warmth, and her smile was truly beautiful. Glossy dark hair was pulled away from her face in a neat bun, every tendril carefully trained to smooth order.

“Dominic came to see me.” Rising Star’s lips curved in amusement. “He was most upset. I would be interested to know how you accomplished that feat. Dominic prides himself on his control. I haven’t seen him lose his composure since he was a young boy.” The smile faded. “He had reason to develop control; his life has not been easy.”

“You’ve known him for a long time? I understood he had returned to Killara only infrequently during the last ten years.”

Rising Star nodded. “Yes, but I grew to know him well the year after I married Joshua. We became very close.” She paused. “We shared … something. It became a bond.” Her lashes lowered to veil her eyes as she looked away from Elspeth’s face. “This morning he came to ask me to send a message to Quiet Thunder and tell him not to help you.”

A swift flame of anger sprang to life within Elspeth. “That wasn’t fair. He may not want to help, but he has no right to try to hinder me.”

“No, he doesn’t,” Rising Star said. “Dominic hasn’t learned that there are some patterns that can’t be altered no matter how we try. He thinks if he denies that Kantalan exists, the prophecy will not come true.”

“You
know
about Kantalan?” Elspeth’s face was alive with excitement and eagerness. “What prophecy?”

Rising Star leaned her head on the high back of the chair, her gaze on the green velvet of the canopy. “Dominic does not want you to know. He is wrong. I told him that I would not put barriers in your way, and that I might decide to tell you everything. We must make our own choices.” She shook her head wearily. “Though in the end there may be no choice for any of us. White Buffalo said the pattern was very clear.”

“The prophecy,” Elspeth said, scarcely breathing. She was so close after all these years. “Do you know where Kantalan is located? Did White Buffalo tell you?”

“Yes.” Rising Star was silent a moment. “I’ve
known about Kantalan since my fourteenth year. After my rites of womanhood White Buffalo took me to his lodge and told me of the prophecy.”

Elspeth held her breath, her heart pounding, afraid to say anything, afraid to do anything that might stop Rising Star from speaking.

Rising Star’s gaze left the canopy to return to Elspeth. “What do you know of Kantalan?”

Elspeth moistened her lips with her tongue. “It’s a city as architecturally beautiful as Babylon, whose people were peace-loving and more civilized than the ancient Greeks. They had acquired knowledge that was truly astounding. They worshiped the sun god, Ra, as the Egyptians did, and they loved beauty and art and music and—” She stopped. How could she put it into words? She finished simply. “It was paradise.”

Rising Star shook her head. “No, not paradise. Kantalan was flawed.”

“No!” The denial was as instinctive as it was violent. Elspeth drew a shaky breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to raise my voice, but I think you must be wrong. The legends say it was a perfect city.”

“A city is only as perfect as its people, and people are never perfect.” Rising Star’s lips tightened. “We work, we try, but our perfection, or lack of it, is always in the eye of the beholder.”

There was a thread of pain in Rising Star’s voice and Elspeth realized suddenly that the Indian woman was no longer speaking of either the poeple or the city of Kantalan, but something intensely personal.

Rising Star shook her head and tried to smile. “Centuries ago a young man named Cadra came to our village. He was very oddly and richly dressed and he wore around his throat a necklace of silver and turquoise. The young man knew many strange and wonderful things. Our wise men were like children compared to him. He could have become a god in their eyes, but he did not wish it. He said he had been sent by his mistress to live among them and tell the tale of Kantalan and prepare the way for the four who were to come after. Cadra became the medicine man of our tribe and lived with my people until he
died. He never took a wife and there were some who said that his love was so great for the
clairana
he had left in Kantalan that there was no room in his heart for anyone else.”

“Clairana?”
Elspeth repeated. The word was unknown to her and yet oddly familiar. “That was the name of his mistress?”

“No,
clairana
was her title. Sayan was the high priestess of Kantalan, the keeper of the flames. She saw visions of what was to come and many times predicted disasters that enabled her people to keep themselves from harm. She was the most honored woman in Kantalan, and the priests of Ra were very pleased with her.” Rising Star smiled crookedly. “Why shouldn’t they be? They shone in her reflected glory and soon came to think of it as their own. Then their docile Sayan made a mistake. She fell in love with a young soldier and they lay together. It was forbidden for the high priestess to give herself, for according to the traditions dictated by the priests, the
clairana
must remain untouched. The priests declared her no longer the
clairana
of Kantalan and told the people that Ra had taken away her powers.”

“But it wasn’t true.” It was a statement not a question. Elspeth had the strange feeling she knew every word Rising Star was going to say.

“No, it wasn’t true, but no one would listen to her.” Raising Star’s brow wrinkled thoughtfully. “I’ve often wondered how she could bear it. I don’t know if I could have borne it in her place.”

“She had pride. She was the
clairana.”

Rising Star nodded. “Yes, that must have helped, I suppose. But when she saw the last vision, the disbelief of the priests must have driven her mad.”

The last vision. The holy flames burning in the temple. The scented incense pouring slowly from her hand into the fire, causing blue sparks to fly, the flame to reveal its truth. Slowly Elspeth’s eyes closed and Rising Star’s words swept over her, painting pictures, lighting corners long darkened by time. She felt as if she could actually see the young
clairana
, her dark
hair straight and flowing to her waist, as she stared into the flames.

“Kantalan is situated in a valley surrounded by mountains. The highest mountain was known as the Sun Child, a volcano. The people of the city became accustomed to the rumbling of its voice and the quaking of the earth. The Sun Child was Ra’s child and they looked upon it with affection. The vision the
clairana
saw concerned the volcano. The Sun Child was going to spew out great billows of black smoke, poisonous smoke that would cover the entire valley and kill every living thing. Sayan went to the priests and begged them to send everyone away, to vacate Kantalan until the danger was over.”

“They laughed at her.” Elspeth could almost see them, their expressions scornful, their shaved heads adding to the ascetic sternness of their appearance. “They thought she was just trying to regain her status in the city. They called her a whore and sent her away.”

“Yes.” Rising Star’s voice held a note of surprise. “Yes, they did. She decided to stay and accept the same fate as her people, but she sent her servant, Cadra, away to the north.”

“And she died when Kantalan died, when Dalkar died.”

“Dalkar?” Rising Star’s voice was puzzled.

“Her lover.” Elspeth’s lids lifted heavily, dreamily. It was a moment before she could bring herself back from the ancient world that had seemed so real. “You told me his name was Dalkar.”

“Did I?” Rising Star was staring at her uneasily. “I suppose I had to have told you. It must have slipped my mind.” She rose to her feet and, for a fraction of a moment, she seemed flustered. Then, quite suddenly her serenity returned. “I believe I’ve given you enough to think about for the present. We’ll talk again later.” She crossed the room swiftly. “It’s only an hour until dinner. I’ll send Silver to help you dress.”

“Wait,” Elspeth called desperately. “You didn’t tell me about the prophecy.”

Rising Star paused, her hand on the doorknob. The
muscles of her back were taut and at first Elspeth thought she wasn’t going to answer. Then she slowly turned to face Elspeth and smiled with an effort. “I was running away. You’ll find I’m not a very courageous person. After all these years you’d think I’d be accustomed to the idea of—” She moistened her lips. “Sayan saw something else in the flames. She told Cadra that for centuries Kantalan would remain deserted, as if frozen in time. Then four people would once again walk its streets. When that day came, the Sun Child would tremble once more, fire would rain down, and Kantalan would be destroyed, disappearing from the face of the earth as if it had never existed.” She paused. “Four would come to Kantalan and four would return from whence they came. Yet two would die when Kantalan died.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Is it some kind of riddle?”

Rising Star shrugged. “If it is, I don’t have the answer.”

“Do you believe it?”

Rising Star hesitated and then smiled sadly. “Sometimes I believe it. I’ve been taught there is a destiny for each one of us. What else can you expect from a superstitious savage?”

Elspeth could hear the echo of Silver’s bitterness in Rising Star’s words and experienced a pang of sympathy, “You think there is danger in Kantalan?”

Rising Star rubbed her temple wearily. “Oh, I don’t know. There is danger everywhere. You must make the decision for yourself. If you still wish to go, I will draw you a map from the one White Buffalo gave me.”

“Thank you, I would appreciate that very much,” Elspeth said haltingly. She should be wildly happy, but it was difficult to throw off the chill that had struck her when Rising Star had told her of the prophecy. “Was Dominic given a map also?”

Rising Star’s brows rose in surprise. “Of course. White Buffalo was a spirit man. He knew Dominic was one of the four who would walk the streets of Kantalan.”

Elspeth’s eyes widened. “Does that mean you—?”

Rising Star’s lips twisted. “Oh, yes, from the moment of my birth White Buffalo knew that my destiny was to be fulfilled in Kantalan.” She turned and opened the door. “And now there are three of us and only one more to come. The pattern is beginning to form.” She glanced back over her shoulder. “Dominic has never known whether to believe the prophecy or not, but he has enough of his mother’s Celtic mysticism to make him wary and enough of his father’s cynicism to make it easy to ignore Kantalan’s existence. Until now. You’re forcing him to think of it again. Are you sure you want to do that?”

Elspeth shook her head. “I told him I didn’t want him to go. It would be terrible to be responsible for—” She ran shaking fingers through her hair. “It’s too wild and terrible to be true, legends become distorted and twisted through time. The prophecy could be nothing more than superstitious nonsense. I have to think.”

Rising Star nodded. “Yes, we all need to think. White men believe we do have choices. Perhaps White Buffalo was only a foolish old man. None of us
have
to go to Kantalan.” She smiled. “Do we?”

“No,” Elspeth whispered. But if she didn’t go, she would never see streets of matchless beauty, temples and pyramids of faultless symmetry, the Sun Child ribboned with glistening snow. “None of us
have
to go.”

Rising Star’s eyes were both sad and understanding as she gazed at Elspeth’s wistful expression. “I won’t see you at dinner. I prefer to have my meals in my room when Joshua isn’t here. If you decide you want the map, let me know. But it would be no sin to wait a few days and consider the possiblities, would it?”

She didn’t wait for an answer. The door closed softly behind her.

“You are very silent.” Silver ran the silver-backed brush through Elspeth’s hair with long, slow strokes. “Did my aunt’s words disturb you?”

“Yes.” Disturb seemed too mild a word to describe
the turmoil she was experiencing. “Rising Star certainly gave me a few things to consider.”

“I did not know she knew of Kantalan or I would have told you.” Silver’s gaze met Elspeth’s in the mirror of the black lacquered vanity. “I will go with you if you like. There is nothing for me here.” She smiled bitterly. “There is nothing for me anywhere that I do not take for myself. Who knows? Perhaps I will find something different in your lost city.”

Elspeth felt a surge of warm affection. “Oh, Silver, I would like that very—” She stopped. Even if Sayan’s prophecy were mere legend as she was trying to believe, the journey itself might be very dangerous. She had already taken too much from Silver without giving anything in return. Friendship was new to her, but surely this was not as it should be. Even now Silver was treating her as if she were her handmaiden. She had bathed her and was now brushing her hair. And Elspeth was sitting here in her petticoats, almost purring with contentment and behaving as if this cosseting were her due. She reached out and took the brush from Silver’s hand. “We will see. In the meantime, there is no need for you to treat me as an invalid. I’m almost well.”

Silver’s eyes widened. “It is no bother.” She stood watching uncertainly as Elspeth began to run the brush vigorously through her hair, her expression reflecting a flicker of disappointment. “You are still weak. I am not sure you should go down to dinner.”

“You’ve spoiled me far too long.” Elspeth wrinkled her nose at her image in the mirror. “And I’ve allowed it far too long. It’s time I took charge of myself.”