“YOU PROMISED THEM WHAT?”
Kadar winced as Uncle Tarik’s voice rose to a shout. They were standing in the back of the courtyard, by the stables. This was the most private spot in the family hall, where they were the least likely to be overheard. He’d waited a week until Uncle Aaron had come back from a short trading trip to the North, then asked his uncles if he could speak to them privately.
Uncle Aaron leaned against an empty stall, his expression bleak. “Quietly, Tarik,” he advised, “This isn’t something we want the neighbors to hear.”
Uncle Tarik paced and ran his hands through his hair in total exasperation.
“Do you think this is all a game, Kadar?” he asked roughly. “Do you think that our people won’t be hurt when you play savior? What you have set up is a reason for the Temple to go to war with the South. You have given them exactly what they wanted.”
“I thought you knew at least something,” Kadar said, stung. “You sent me to Ashraf and told me to ally with him. He was the one with the plans; he was the one who told me this had all been set up.”
“What exactly was Ashraf doing on his last trip to the demesne?” Uncle Aaron asked.
“He was going to see what condition Kabandha is in,” Kadar admitted. “It was a scouting mission to see how much work needed to be done before we could start sending Forsaken to their new home.”
Uncle Aaron exchanged a look with Uncle Tarik, who shook his head.
“Well, that explains what happened to Ashraf,” Uncle Aaron said. “And it explains the rumors.”
“What rumors?” Kadar asked.
“Ashraf’s family was frantic, looking for him. We expected to begin exporting their silks when I went south this past year, but they requested a delay. We’d heard it was because their heir was missing, and they were worried they’d need to ransom him. Then they announced his sister would be our representative because Ashraf was in training.”
“I don’t understand,” Kadar said. “Training for what? Kabandha’s just an abandoned city, isn’t it? I’d heard it was haunted, and maybe disease-ridden.”
“It’s a training ground for warriors of the One,” Uncle Tarik said. “Though few know it. The rumors are there to keep people from investigating.”
“Ashraf said his men had visited and found it empty but inhabitable,” Kadar said.
Uncle Aaron shook his head. “Doubtful. They were probably placed under a geas to believe they’d visited. Kabandha is far from empty. There are powerful protections around it to keep intruders away.”
“If you know this, why weren’t Sulis and I told? We’re the heirs of the family business,” Kadar asked.
“Not to these secrets, you aren’t,” Uncle Aaron said. “And not with your sister going to pledge to the deities. Kabandha is a citadel, protecting the desert and its secrets from the deities and the power they crave. It holds a well-trained, ruthless army devoted to the One.”
“Anyone seeking it would find it very much not abandoned,” Uncle Tarik said grimly. “Do you thing they recruited Ashraf?”
“It would explain the family’s reaction,” Uncle Aaron said. “The Nasirofs have always been faithful. They would not object to instating a new heir if Ashraf were recruited by the warriors of Kabandha. But that means he won’t be back to lead this so-called rebellion. Maybe that’ll put an end to the Forsaken resistance.”
“It won’t,” Kadar admitted. “Severin, the viceroy’s son, has gotten involved. And I think Farrah has taken over the planning. They’re working together now.”
Uncle Tarik swore and kicked the stone wall.
“Calm down,” Uncle Aaron ordered.
“This is my family we’re talking about,” Uncle Tarik snapped.
Kadar winced at the pain in his voice.
“Brother, it has begun,” Uncle Aaron said softly, glancing at Kadar, then focusing on Uncle Tarik. Uncle Tarik straightened and stood still, looking at the ground. “I’ve had word from Mother. She says this is the time of the prophecy.”
“Not in our lifetimes,” Uncle Tarik protested. “How many hundreds of lifetimes have passed? Not now, not in mine.”
“Sanuri plays a part though Mother was cryptic about what. None of us truly knows what part we play, but, being Hasifels, you know we will be involved.”
“Then maybe it’s best if Raella takes the boys and leaves,” Uncle Tarik said hollowly. “I won’t be able to protect myself, let alone them. Not that anywhere will be safe if war comes to Illian, but they have a better chance of surviving in the desert.”
He spun on his heel, and Kadar watched in bewilderment as he strode back to the house. Kadar looked over at Uncle Aaron, who was staring down at the ground.
“What’s begun?” he asked. “I don’t understand.”
“An old prophecy,” Uncle Aaron told him. “Bringing war, but possibly peace and resolution depending on how the pawns are played.”
“How do you know this?” Kadar asked. “How did Grandmother get a message to you?”
“I’ve been preparing for this my entire life,” Uncle Aaron admitted. “I trained at Kabandha in my youth. I was assigned to your father Gadiel to learn the trade and be the eyes and ears in the North for Kabandha. I never expected to become head of the caravan, any more than Tarik expected to put roots in Illian.”
He smiled gently at Kadar’s puzzlement. “As for how I get messages, I can hear others over a distance. There is a network of us, placed around the territory, within communicating range. I often travel out of that range, but when I travel back in, I can speak with them to get messages from the elders and to pass on information. You have that ability as well.”
Kadar shook his head. “Just with Sulis, and the twin bond,” he protested. “And that went away after she healed up from being injured.”
“No,” Uncle Aaron said. “Children who have the farspeaking ability are blocked, so they don’t hear what they should not. When they become teens, they are usually sent to Kabandha to be trained.” He raised an eyebrow. “Mother decided you should stay blocked because Sulis was pledging the Temple. A deity might have used your twin bond to eavesdrop on us if we were farspeaking.”
Kadar frowned at the thought that Sulis’s destiny somehow made his less. “Couldn’t you have blocked the twin bond? It seems wrong that I didn’t get trained. Especially with a war coming.”
Uncle Aaron spread his hands. “We didn’t know a war was coming when you were little,” he said. “People have spent their entire lives training for the prophecy and died with it unfulfilled.”
“Then why wasn’t I unblocked when I was back in the desert?” Kadar demanded. “We knew a war was coming then.”
“You weren’t going to stay in the desert. You’d need to, for training.”
“So why tell me now?” Kadar said.
“I don’t agree with your Grandmother that it should be hidden,” Uncle Aaron said. “I’ve seen enough in my travels to believe war is closer than she thinks. We need you unblocked and trained. The easiest way would be to return to your Grandmother since she placed the block.”
“I’m not abandoning Farrah again,” Kadar said, shaking his head. “Couldn’t you do it?”
Uncle Aaron shook his head. “Farspeaking has to be granted by the One, and I am not powerful enough to communicate with him. It won’t hurt you to stay blocked. But you do need to tell Farrah that the desert, and especially the abandoned city, are off-limits to her people. We will help them fight here, on their ground. But they are not to enter the desert lands. Tell her you’ve heard from Ashraf that the rumors of poison and disease in Kabandha were true, and there are no other places for them.”
Kadar swallowed hard. He would help in other ways, he decided. He’d learned much about traveling and surviving harsh conditions during his apprenticeship with the caravan. Perhaps the Forsaken could find refuge in the mountains up north.
Uncle Aaron slapped him on the shoulder. “I must go south tomorrow. We will talk more when I return.” He left Kadar in the courtyard and walked back to the house.
Kadar bent down to refasten his sandal, thinking furiously. He realized that Uncle Aaron had neatly avoided telling him exactly what the prophecy said. A weight leapt onto his back, and he glanced resignedly over his shoulder to find Amber’s blue gaze and twitching tail.
“I need to stand up,” he said mildly. As he slowly straightened, she moved to his shoulder, a furry weight against his ear.
“What a mess,” he muttered, and the cat yowled, almost like she was agreeing. “I wish I was able to use this farspeak. Then maybe I could reach Sulis and find out if she knows what’s going on.”
The Flamepoint started purring. “You like that, huh,” he said, reaching up to stroke her head. “Maybe I should just go back to the desert, get the block taken off. Then I could learn how to use it.” The purr stopped. “No? Who else could do it?”
Amber jumped from his shoulder to the high wall of the courtyard, and Kadar saw the Temple rising on the hill past her slim form.
“Alannah,” he breathed. “The Counselors of the One. They’d have the power. I wonder if they’d be willing?”
He stared at the cat, and the cat stared back unblinking, purring loudly now. She stood, dipped both front legs forward in a long, stretching bow, and disappeared over the wall.
“I think it’s time to go thank the Counselor of the One for saving Sulis’s life,” Kadar muttered as he walked back to the house.
IT WAS MIDWEEK, so the crowds weren’t quite as thick as usual as Kadar walked through the merchant district, past the Hasifel sales hall to the big Temple complex at the center of the city.
The last time he’d been to the Temple of the One, it had been well lighted by the pledges for their makeshift ceremony. Kadar was surprised by its dimness today. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust so that he could see more than the central pillar of candles, but when they did, he could see long tails snaking down from the ledges above him. He avoided those, not wanting to attract attention from the large feli, who usually took a dislike to him. There were two women in golden robes talking by the altar, and Kadar approached them cautiously, hoping that Alannah was one of them. He wasn’t certain he’d recognize the newest Counselor of the One. His only impression of her had come from the chaotic scene at the initiation ritual, and he’d been practically blinded by Sulis’s agony through their twin bond at the time.
One of the Counselors turned and noticed him, and he recognized her as Elida, who had urged them to flee to the desert after Sulis had been stabbed.
She said something to the tall woman beside her, who turned as well. He remembered her blue eyes and blond hair. She was tall, taller than Farrah, with a thin, pale face and high cheekbones. She smiled as Kadar approached.
“It’s Kadar, isn’t it?” she asked. “I’ve only seen you a couple of times; once at the barn fire, though you were unconscious at the time, and once when Sulis was hurt. But I recognize your sister in you. How is Sulis?”
Kadar glanced around, worried about listeners.
“No one can eavesdrop on us here,” Alannah assured him.
“When I left the desert, she was irritated she couldn’t gallop back here and cause more trouble,” Kadar said.
Alannah grinned. “I can imagine,” she said dryly. “She wasn’t one to hold still. How is the rest of your family? Is your little daughter doing well?”
Kadar was startled. “How do you know I have a daughter?” he blurted.
Elida answered. “We’ve been watching to make certain that your family came to no harm after the incident last spring. We heard about the happy event.”
“Why don’t we talk about this somewhere more comfortable,” Alannah said. “We could take tea at our private house, if Elida wouldn’t mind tending the altar.”
Elida smiled fondly at the girl. “I had to tend this shrine many years alone, my dear. It is nice to have someone to share the duties with.” She lowered her voice. “You understand what to do?”
Alannah nodded as Kadar looked at her, mystified. She took his arm. “This way, Kadar. Our house is in the first circle, beside Ivanha’s Children’s Home.”
He followed her through the doors and out of the Temple, back to the main street. Two guards in gold-tooled leather followed behind. Alannah did not seem to notice, so Kadar assumed they were expected and were guarding her. Their party turned down the first-circle road, and Alannah nodded to the guard at the crossroads. A short walk down, and they turned toward a great stone house with beautiful gardens. Running beside the house was an iron fence, and Kadar could see children playing in the next yard.
“The Children’s Home,” Alannah commented as they went up the walk. “Maidens of Ivanha and soldiers of Voras give birth there, and the home tends their children, as well as any orphans the Temple takes in.”
As they turned down the walk of the large stone house, a sinuous white shadow rose from under a tree and paced toward them. This feli was built more heavily than the desert feli and Djinn, more like the Northern cougars they’d fended off from the caravan as they traveled the mountains. But this feli was pure white, not the tan of wild cats.
“Yaslin,” Alannah said, as the feline butted its head against her hip.
Kadar was about to comment on the unusual coloring when a small shape launched itself from a nearby tree onto his shoulder, yowling. He flinched as claws dug into his robe.
Alannah gazed at the Frubian Flamepoint in surprise.
“This is Amber,” Kadar told her as the cat purred and rubbed against his ear. “She seems to have attached herself to me. I don’t know how she found me here.”
Alannah looked on in amusement as he tried to detach the cat’s claws from his shoulder. A servant opened the front door for them, and Alannah ushered him into the parlor.
“Tea service for two, with some cakes,” she told the servant, who bowed and disappeared. By that point Kadar had wrestled Amber off his shoulder and onto his lap. Alannah reached out and stroked the cat, who arched her back and purred loudly. Yaslin settled in a corner and sighed, as though disgusted with her smaller cousin’s antics.
“She seems attached to you,” Alannah commented as the servant returned with the tea. She handed Kadar a cup and a small pitcher of milk for the tea. “That will be all. Please leave us undisturbed for the next candlemark,” she told the servant.
“I wouldn’t say she likes me,” he growled, trying to lift both the milk and the tea high enough that Amber couldn’t stick her head in. Amber stretched up his chest and attempted to hook her claws around the milk pitcher. “I’d say she loves to torment me.”
Alannah chortled and rescued Kadar by unhooking Amber’s claws from his robes and pulling the Flamepoint onto her lap. “Enough, little one. I’ll give you a saucer when we are done.”
Amber settled on her lap, purring and kneading her golden robes.
Kadar cleared his throat, uncomfortable with being alone with the acolyte of the One. He wasn’t certain how to ask what he needed done.
“I wanted to thank you for saving my twin,” he said. “I know she would have died without you, and still almost did die even after. She spoke about you and the rest of her class often. She appreciated the note you sent with the last caravan.”
“I think about her often,” Alannah said. “I would never have had the courage to offer myself to the One without her. I would have been stuck next door at the Children’s Home, tending babies and not realizing what corruption existed in the deities. She has started something that will cascade into changes we have not seen since the Great War.”
Kadar narrowed his eyes. He lowered his voice. “Have you heard of a prophecy? One that comes from the desert?” he asked.
Alannah nodded. “It was a Vrishni who originally made the prophecy after having a vision in the desert. ‘The Loom will create the foundation upon which the Weaver will stand to braid the future, and what is separate will be whole. The shuttles will dance the Weaver’s will, balancing the tapestry of life. The Guardians are their sentinels.’ This was made centuries ago. I only recently heard about it, and some variations of it, from Elida. It’s kept quiet from the deities and their Voices.”
Kadar took a sip of the tea, turning the prophecy over in his mind. “My uncles wouldn’t tell me what the prophecy said.” He told Alannah. “I wonder if it’s because they think I play a part.”
Alannah nodded. “We all do, I believe,” she said matter-of-factly. “I believe those of us who were changed by your sister will play a role. I just don’t know what.”
“Is she the Weaver?” Kadar asked, mulling over what role would fit him best.
Alannah smiled. “I can’t imagine her weaving things together. She seems much better at unraveling than weaving.”
“Can’t you ask the One which part we play?”
She shook her head, pursing her lips. “I thought when I was taken, it would be that easy. Just talk with the One, ask questions. Mostly what we get are feelings; really, hints of a greater mind pushing us toward feeling one way or another. I’ve only heard the One’s voice once, through Yaslin, when I was taken. And it made me realize just how not-us the One is. We try to pretend the One is female or male—but we weren’t created in the image of the One. She is truly Other.”
Kadar thought of the voice that had echoed in his brain through Amber, that feeling of something so vast and old and huge. That was what had terrified Aunt Raella so much, that feeling of otherness. He nodded.
“I think that’s why she communicates through the feli. Their minds are other as well, but much simpler and so more accepting of something so strange. She can, in some sense, translate through their minds to make her communication bearable, understandable. But that communication is so difficult to distill that it is only in the direst need that it is worth the effort.”
“I’ve heard that voice,” Kadar confirmed. “Through that little beast.”
He pointed at Amber, who stared back at him with her almond-shaped blue eyes.
Alannah smiled ruefully. “I thought I’d seen a hint that you were One-touched,” she admitted. “It leaves a mark on the mind.”
“That’s part of why I wanted to come to you. I guess I have some sort of communication talent, but it was blocked when I was young and can only be removed by someone with the proper training. I could return to the desert to have it removed, but . . .” Kadar said.
“You don’t want to leave your beloved and baby again,” Alannah sympathized. “Well, sit in front of me so I can see what we’ve got. We block little ones with the gift as well, so it doesn’t drive them crazy, but they’re always picked by a feli, and it gets removed by the deities when they are taken. You’d better have this little one in contact,” she said, gathering Amber up. “Yaslin, here please.”
The white feli paced over and rested her head on Alannah’s knee as Kadar sat cross-legged in front of Alannah’s chair. She plunked Amber on his lap and put her cool hands on either side of his head, by the temples. As he watched, her eyes closed and her face grew serene.
“Yes, quite a bit of talent here,” she said in a flat voice.
His vision wavered suddenly, and he closed his eyes. He could feel her rummaging around in his head and resisted the urge to shove her away. His eyes twitched as the pressure built behind them.
Then the pressure dissolved, and his mind felt light. Too light, wide open. He heard voices and automatically tuned into one. He felt a startled awareness turn toward him.
Alannah? the female voice asked. Is there an emergency? Do I need to come?
Alannah spoke through him somehow. No Tori, she reassured the woman. I’ve awakened a strong sleeper. Hold fast. The time is not now.
Kadar jerked away from Alannah’s hands, dumping Amber off his lap. “Who was that?” he demanded. “How did you talk to her through me?”
Alannah lowered her hands. “You are very strong, Kadar. Tori is way up north. Counselors communicate with other Counselors far away through men and women like you. Usually, we have to relay from one talent who is nearby, who sends to one farther away to send across that distance.”
Something clicked in Kadar’s brain. “The Vrishni,” he exclaimed. “They aren’t just wanderers are they? They work for you. You can communicate through them.”
“They work for the One,” Alannah corrected. “Tell that only to Southerners you trust to keep it to themselves. Let me touch you again, so I can show you how to block all those voices. It’ll take practice to be able to pinpoint one person to communicate with. I’ll show you how to choose a single person rather than feeling like you are shouting in a crowd.”
By the time Kadar left, his head was throbbing, but he’d still remembered to leave the tithe. Amber had disappeared into the gardens, so he assumed she would make her way home without him.
On a whim, he decided to take a wider circle around and stop by to see Farrah first. He had to tell her the Southerners would help her people fight here but wouldn’t offer them shelter in the desert. It wouldn’t become any easier to tell her if he delayed it.
She was finishing up folding laundry, and he waited as she gave her brothers the orders to deliver. Once her brothers had left the yard, she came to him.
“What is it?” she asked softly. “It’s something bad, isn’t it?”
“I’ve spoken to my uncles. They agree with Ashraf that Kabandha will not work for the Forsaken. Uncle Aaron believes the same as you—that Forsaken need to retake their own homes. I’ve recruited other Southerners to help you here. We’ll use them to scout out locations up north.”
“You told your uncles?” Farrah said, frowning. “How do we know they can be trusted?”
Kadar was startled. “They support you in this, Farrah,” he said. “Uncle Aaron has experience with Northern routes and knows where to start searching. They would never betray us to the viceroy or the Temple.”
Farrah grimaced and looked away, shaking her head. “I told Severin this would probably happen, that being accepted in the South was Ashraf’s delusion,” she said. “Why let the viceroy and townspeople herd us to the desert to die? We will make our stand here, where we belong.”
“Southerners will stand alongside you,” Kadar said. “We will help lift you to your rightful place in free society.”
She smiled wanly at him. The first of her brothers came back from deliveries, and he changed the subject, telling her he’d visited the house where the Counselors of the One lived to give tithes. She was curious about that, and about Ivanha’s Children’s Home next door—she wanted to know every detail of how he’d visited the road and where the kids were located.
“I guess I’d never get through the guards to visit,” Farrah said.
“There was just one at the crossroads,” Kadar said. “I didn’t see much more than that down the street though Counselor Alannah was heavily guarded.”
“Was she pretty?” Farrah teased.
“A bit scary, really,” Kadar said, “At least she scared me out of more tithe than I’d planned. And not nearly as beautiful as you.” He kissed her.
She laughed and pushed him away. “Give Datura a kiss for me,” she told him. “I’ll stop by to see her this evening.”
He walked back home humming, glad that he’d been able to cheer her up in spite of the bad news he brought.