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Wiping a hand across her eyes, Ailish whispered, “What of the chosen ones? Who are the chosen ones?”
“We do not know her by a name, and him only as her complement. The way we will know her is by her mark. I am the Woman of the Village, as I have said. My mother, her mother before her and all their mothers were Woman of the Village. We are all descended from the Sisters. We all carry her mark ... the sign of our lineage.”
Haliled stood, turned, and lifted her top. In the center of her left shoulder blade was the birthmark. When she dropped the material and sat, she smiled at Ailish. “Now you understand.”
Ailish’s mouth went dry; she shook her head. “I understand even less,” she admitted, raising the sleeve of her left arm to expose the birthmark in the crook of her arm.
The look of shock on everyone’s faces could not have had a more startling affect. The color drained from Haliled’s face; while Leira’s hand rose to her mouth, covering her sudden jaw drop. Nomar stared at Ailish’s elbow, while Leoj shook his head. The only one unsurprised was Jalil.
“And you, Ailish of Morvene,” Jalil called out in a voice louder then they’d ever heard him speak with, “are of the line of the other Sister, the twin who went into Nevaeh.”
Turning to look directly at Ailish, the Woman of the Village’s twin tracks of tears sparkled in the low glow of the lanterns. “I am honored in ways I cannot express.”
Haliled looked at Nomar for a moment, her brows pushing wrinkles into her forehead, and then fixed her gaze on Jalil. “You are the second, the one who accompanies the chosen.”
It was not a question; it was a statement of fact, and spoken in a flat and factual voice, and Jalil understood it as such. “I am.”
She looked at Leoj, whose face reflected the shock of what he had heard. “Gather The People, we have much to do.”
“Leira, prepare my bag; you know what I need to bring.”
“What can I do?” Ailish asked.
Haliled smiled and covered her hand with her own. “You are here. That is what was needed.”
“What happens now?”
The Woman of the Village grasped her hand and squeezed. When we reach the Mountain of the Two Crowns, we will go to the cavern that was prepared for you. There you and he will enter a different level of ... not life, but existence. Time will have no meaning. And when She comes to call you back to us, you will show her the way.
The way to what?
To freedom. She is the one who it is said will rid us of the Dark Ones—she will defeat the Circle of Afzal. But only with your help, and his! On her last silent word, she turned to stare at Jalil and then spoke aloud.
“As I said before, the ancestors of The People were not born of this land; they crossed the sea to escape the Circle while the end came to their world. They were instructed to flee their homeland years before its destruction and come here.”
Ailish slipped her hand from Haliled’s, and then took both of the woman’s hands between her own. “Instructed? By whom?”
“No one knows. What we know is that the Sisters gathered people from many places within the region—the region of the world where all of this began—and took them from their lands and brought them here. One sister came here with half the people. The other sister went to ... to your lands. There, they became part of your people, guiding them toward the future.”
“But how—”
Jalil cut Ailish off. “They were the first of the Sorceresses outside of the Eight. They were born with the powers and abilities you have inherited. They were mutants and their mutations were caused by what my ancestors did to our world.”
“These Sisters had a foreseeing. They learned that in order to keep humanity from ending, they must cross the seas to this land, which was once known as America. One Sister came here to prepare for what the Sisters knew would happen; the other helped to keep Nevaeh from dying within the ashes of what once was.”
“What else did the Sisters command be done?” Jalil asked, his eyes locked hard on Haliled.
“It is said they instructed but two things, the care and protection of the chosen ones, and the changing of all names.”
Ailish leaned forward. “The changing of names?”
“It was ruled that we must reverse our names until our lands were free of the evil of the Circle of Afzal, so they could not use our names against us. Until such a time, our names are to be spelled backwards. My name Haliled, would be pronounced Delilah. Leoj, would be spoken as Joel.”
Ailish tried to work out her own name, but failed. She shook her head. “My name ...”
“You are one of the chosen, your name is not reversed, it is as it is.” She glanced at Jalil. “Your name is as it has always been, for you were born of the evil.”
Jalil blinked twice. “There was once a theory that by knowing a person’s name, a curse could be placed upon it. That is one possible reason for the change.”
Nomar looked from one to the other before standing. “Enough about names and prophecies! You go to die, old man, and you, you go to do what? Follow the dictate of a woman who died a thousand years ago?”
The overwhelming sadness pouring from Nomar tore at Ailish’s heart and mind. She went to him and folded him into her arms. She held him there for several quiet seconds before putting her lips to his ear and saying, “I love you, Nomar, in ways you understand, and in those you do not. But I must do this if Nevaeh is to survive.”
Ignoring the tears slipping from her eyes, she drew back, and smiled at him. “Would this not be so, I would take you as mate, and you know such is true. But this is not our destiny.”
Before anything else could be said, Leoj came back. “They are filling the square.”
<><><>
The day after their arrival, the village swarmed with the inhabitants preparing to take Ailish and Jalil to the twin-peaked mountains. It was obvious to Ailish, Nomar, and Jalil, that most of The People would be accompanying them. When the three stood outside the house amidst the preparations, Ailish pointed to the center of the square, near the raised platform, where tables had been set out. She glanced at Haliled. “What happens next?”
“Everyone is preparing food to take with us in the morning. It will take two days to reach the mountain, and it will not be an easy journey. The path is narrow, the ground icy and wet, but passable it is. Once we reach the mountain, and go to the place of hiding, we will help you and the ... Master to prepare. When you are ready, the cavern will seal until the Chosen One comes to bring you back to us.”
“Please tell us how we can help.”
“Of course,” Haliled said, and followed those words with instructions for Ailish and Nomar, who spent the remainder of the day helping The People complete their preparations. All the while, Ailish could not help but wonder what the following days would bring.
<><><>
Early the next morning, before anyone had yet awoken, Ailish went to Jalil and knelt at his side. I know you sleep not. What see you?
Nothing, other than what we already have foreseen and know.
I do not understand how all of this could have happened without anyone knowing.
Jalil gave one of his strange smiles. Because what happened was meant to be hidden from everyone in Nevaeh. The Eight of the Island knew, but you’ve already discovered that, haven’t you?
Ailish nodded once.
Good. I only learned of it because of my passion for learning of the past. If I had not read all of the books I had discovered, I would not be here. But I do not believe I had a choice. Finding the books and being here was destined from the beginning.
You believe ... you trust this?
Jalil cupped her chin in his hand; then his long and boney fingers gently touched her cheek. Why else would I have gone from the Circle? I was the leader of the Circle, the direct descendant of its creator. I held more power in this hand, he dropped his hand from her face to hold it before her eyes, than anyone in the world. Believe me, Ailish, when I say this, for it is true.
And this Staff, he added, lifting the Staff of Afzal, is the only thing preventing the Circle from ending Nevaeh. Without it, they cannot destroy Nevaeh. With it, the entire world will be emptied of anything remotely human.
Which is the real reason you fled, is it not? You left them because you found the one thing they cannot, your humanity.
Haliled comes, Jalil said suddenly.
Ailish stood when Haliled entered. She set two dishes on the table before coming over to them. “You are up, this is good. The village is gathering. Some have come to send you off, the rest to take you and him. Come out when there is light. Perhaps an hour.”
She paused and pointed to the table. “Eat first, we will leave after.” With that, she was gone.
“I will wake Nomar, then dress for travel,” she told Jalil. “I will be back in a moment to help you.”
Two hours later, a large group of The People, with Ailish, Nomar, and Jalil in their center, began the journey to the awaiting mountain. They left the kraals behind for Nomar to take back to Nevaeh. Ailish had asked him to stay behind, to return to Nevaeh while she went on, but he refused as she knew he would.
Will he survive the return? She shook off the though with another. He will ... He must!
