Sage Truth [Book 2 of the Teadai Prophecies] Read online

  “I’ll bloody fly if it’ll help catch whoever used this on Eletha.” Taniras held up the deathbane stalks then stuffed them back into her pocket.

  Saldia chuckled despite everything. “When you learn to fly, let me know, singer.” She struggled to her feet and started to help Taniras up, when Haranda and Predula came running in their direction.

  Taniras gave Saldia an inquisitive look as she got to her knees.

  Predula forced them both back onto the ground and pushed Energy through their bodies, not listening to either ones’ assurance of health. Saldia smelled the lilac fragrance of Predula’s Energy as it pulsed through her body then pulled away, leaving her with the urge to rub her tingling limbs where the pilings had scratched her. Taniras’s wound closed, leaving a thin scar, hardly noticeable at all, and after she vomited up again, her coughing ceased. The short Gypsy had healed both of them at once. Saldia wondered just how strong her Energy must be to allow that.

  Predula focused on Haranda. “Nothing serious. But they need rest.”

  Haranda looked relieved. She stood, placed hands on her hips and glared down at both. “Just what were you thinking? Does either of you even know how to swim?”

  “I plan to offer that class suggestion to Ved’nuri when I see her again.” Saldia still sat on the ground and craned her head up at her former clan mother.

  Taniras chuckled. “You’d think as old as Gypsies are, someone would have thought of that sooner.”

  “I agree wholeheartedly, singer.” Saldia could tell Haranda was near her end so she gave up the folly. “How did you know where to find us?”

  Predula looked down at her, her hair disheveled as ever. “That’s a very good question. With an even stranger answer. I heard someone call for me then I got an image in my mind of where to go.”

  “Same with me,” Haranda said. “I thought perhaps one of you had gained sender Energy. Though that’s unheard of once you’ve taken oaths.” Her eyes focused on Taniras. “We don’t know very much about the wolf singer’s powers.”

  Predula studied them. “I don’t think it was either. Someone else.”

  Saldia looked at Taniras. “The wolves?” She got to her feet with Predula’s assistance as Haranda helped Taniras up.

  “No. They would have mentioned being able to send to anyone besides me.”

  Haranda got a thoughtful look on her face. “Perhaps Eletha used the trees to find you somehow. She is still a youngling so it’s possible her Energy has expanded to include sending. That’s unlikely for a treewalker, but not impossible. But she’s still unconscious so she couldn’t have harnessed the Energy.”

  Saldia’s body tensed at the news. “What happened?”

  “How is she?” Taniras said at the same time.

  Predula held up a hand. “The little snip pushed herself too far locating the text.” She shot a quick glance at Haranda, and Saldia wondered just what else had gone on. “I haven’t been able to wake her, even with the Energy. The herb mistress is there but I should get back.”

  Eletha concerned Saldia but she focused on the positive. “You found the text and Taniras found deathbane.”

  The singer pulled the plant stems from her pocket. “The flowers from these were used to poison Eletha. They bloom every seven years according to Dar’s description.”

  Haranda took the stems. “Well, seems we’ve had a productive day. Despite several misjudgments.” Her words slapped like a hand across a tender face, and Taniras dropped her eyes to the ground. However, Saldia held the Gypsy’s hardened gaze. “If neither of you is responsible for calling us here then we have another problem on our hands.”

  Saldia knew full well what that meant. “An errant,” she said in a low voice.

  “Could be.” Haranda ran her hands over each new-oathed Gypsy and dried hair and clothes.

  Taniras didn’t seem surprised by this but Saldia studied her former clan mother with interest. Haranda offered no explanation and simply assisted Taniras, while Predula offered support to Saldia. Together, they started back to the Sea Biscuit.

  Eletha’s condition weighed on Saldia’s mind and she silently asked the Goddess for assistance and strength.

  Chapter 16

  Monster Sea was rough from Dragon Island to the mainland and tossed the little boat as though it were mere driftwood. They lost two lanterns and one bag of rations. The trip took two days in sporadic rainstorms and Lyssinya emptied her stomach more times than she could count. She hadn’t traveled the waves in many seasons and had hoped her body would better handle this trip. Healing Energy couldn’t cure sea illness any more than a common headache, something Lyssinya still didn’t understand. But then, she had no healing Energy and never would. She almost kissed the sand when she stepped to shore. Walking proved a challenge when her legs trembled and nearly gave out.

  She led this quest but her bedfriend, Tapnut, hadn’t been allowed to accompany her. Many stayed behind to tutor younglings and protect the island. She missed Tapnut already but wouldn’t reveal that to the others. Two well-trained swordsmen had been assigned to her quest, loyal, hunter-warrior servants who would die protecting her if needed. Three other Sages accompanied her as well. Among them, body-mind-healer Payatt Koi. The dark man reminded her of her bedfriend but he wasn’t as tall. And Lyssinya outranked him, unlike Tapnut. She also missed having her personal servant within beckoning range, but Naru was safer on Dragon Island and would only hinder the quest had she come.

  The healer crossed to her and pushed his Energy within her body, an uncomfortable probe that she endured with seething frustration, and the smell of wet dirt that always accompanied his Energy turned her weakened stomach. Sages didn’t contract disease or illness the way middlings did but they could be harmed and certainly starve. When Payatt finally pulled his Energy from her body, she felt weak but her queasiness was gone and her stomach wanted food.

  The healer ordered one of the servants to bring a ration bag. He pulled bread, salt jerky, cheese and fruit out and offered it to Lyssinya. “Eat. You need strength.”

  She took the presented food and sat on a large mound of driftwood to eat. The others took rations, though she was the only one who had spilled her stomach on the seas. After a while, the food gave her needed strength to find shelter for the night. They would have to sleep on the beach before heading up Tandiar River in search of the ancient texts. One she knew where to find, but the others, well, their locations were anyone’s guess. Even the Sage Elder’s didn’t know where to search. And Lyssinya was determined to find the texts before those idiot Gypsies got their hands on them.

  Payatt hooked an arm in hers when she stood. “I’m sturdy, Healer,” she told him.

  His black eyes narrowed. “You’re still weak. Would you deny me my duty to the Goddess?”

  Lyssinya wanted to scream out in frustration. She didn’t like being treated as a doddering old woman, yet Payatt had authority over any he thought needed his healing ministrations. She could argue the point but that wouldn’t favor her among her followers. Especially since many had argued with the Elder’s Council that she wasn’t experienced enough to lead a quest, that a Sage of at least two-hundred years should have this opportunity. The Elders had quelled the arguments but Lyssinya knew that should she slip up, she could be replaced.

  She took in the Energy and located an overhang that would have to do as shelter for the night. Silently, with an orb hovering just in front of her, she allowed the healer to support her as she led the quest across the sandy beach. The sand was damp but the summer winds mild enough and there were no rains just now. The night sky blossomed with starlight, no moon to hinder their shine. The sporadic downpours they’d experienced on Dragon Island over the last four sunrises were unseasonable and had the Elders scrambling for explanations. Lyssinya just hoped rain didn’t hamper her quest on the mainland.

  Daylight would bring with it the summer sun and her fair and freckled skin would need Payatt’s salve, even more than she used on the island. T
here she had her hut for retreat, and many frond trees offered shade along the shore. Here, trees were sparse and the closest cave was too far out of their way. She would like to see that cave, since she had visited Adelsik’s dream version in the Netherworld numerous times, but that would have to wait.

  She gazed out toward the sea as the servants got a fire going. Awareness brought the familiar icy heat of the sea life that she was so used to. There didn’t seem to be any land creatures, except tiny crabs and insects that fled beneath the sand as they approached and the birds that rested in clusters along the water’s edge. Nothing menacing. A fire would offer protection if she were wrong. After all, her awareness didn’t extend as far as she would have liked, despite her strength in the Energy. Though she was stronger than most, her talents lay in the Netherworld. There were other Sages with greater abilities here in the mundane world, some of whom were in her quest, including her first council.

  Adelsik weighed on her mind now and she longed to see what else the youngling could do in the Netherworld. Of course, the girl still insisted she was new-oathed. She didn’t lie but Lyssinya couldn’t abide that title in the Netherworld. Those Gypsies were a bramble in her bodice, traversing the world as though they alone controlled the Energy. The fools! Adelsik had powerful slumbering Energy, stronger than any Sage since Lyssinya, but that didn’t make her sensible. In the Netherworld, she would remain a youngling until Lyssinya decided otherwise.

  The Sage Elders had made their decision clear. Her quest would find these Gypsies and drag them into service, kicking and screaming if need be. In order to defeat Cholqhuin’s followers, they needed numbers, allies. Younglings and errants, any that they found, would be taken and taught to harness the Energy safely.

  Lyssinya personally wanted to get her hands on whoever was trying to raise the old god of the underworld and beat sense into them. Idiots! And something else disturbed her greatly, something she’d found out from Adelsik. Someone was attacking Gypsies in the Netherworld. The Vedi didn’t know who, so Lyssinya kept vigilant watch when she slumbered, stayed in the shadows more, kept her footprint dim so only those of her kin could find her. Hopefully, she was adept enough in the Netherworld to ward off an attack if anyone were to strike out at her or her new youngling. And she didn’t know whether this attacker could countermand her Energy here in the middling world. She fought a shiver at that thought.

  Gypsies annoyed her, yes, but the Goddess wouldn’t abide such attacks on them. After all, they served Her as well. It was one thing to punish a disobedient youngling in the Netherworld, and quite another to send her back to her mundane body with bloodied wounds just to prove it could be done. Thad had been sent back in such a way during his youngling days. Lyssinya had seen the boy in the Netherworld but he had only the barest of slumbering Energy and needed protection there.

  Since Lyssinya was a strong slumberer, the only one among Sages who could enter another’s dreams without assistance, the Elders had ordered her to use the Netherworld to locate any who touched the Energy, and document their names and stations. That type of search tired her after a while, but if she could train Adelsik quickly enough, she would at least have help. She only wished the girl cooperated more readily instead of forcing Lyssinya to waste precious Energy chastising her.

  At least no Sages had been attacked, though the Elders thought that would happen eventually if these foes weren’t caught. Lyssinya bit back anger at that possibility. Who would dare have the audacity to attack a Sage, or a Gypsy for that matter? Slumbering Energy that strong in the hands of dissidents frightened her to her bones but she wouldn’t admit that to anyone. From details Adelsik had provided, this new enemy had knowledge even Sages didn’t.

  They must have access to some of the missing texts. That’s the only way they could get away with these horrific deeds. Lyssinya vowed to protect her new youngling and any Gypsies who might come under that type of attack. Of course, she would also use Gypsy slumberers if she had to dangle them from a cliff to get obedience.

  She studied her kin. Sages were few now—they had stayed too long in one place, stagnant, studying texts and enjoying the bounty of the island. No one could have foreseen the Vedi’s coming or Cholqhuin’s raising. These things were predicted in the Prophecies, but the interpretations led Sages to believe they would happen centuries from now. Another misjudgment that would cost them plenty.

  And Ved’nuri’s birthing must be near. The Prophesied child would soon enter this world. Lyssinya tried to get contact information from Adelsik but the youngling knew nothing. She simply waited for Ved’nuri to come to her and the others. Perhaps Haranda, Wren or Siri might know more. None showed strength like Lyssinya’s in the Netherworld, but Elder Siri had centuries to her advantage. One had to be at least three-hundred years before reaching Elder status, even among Gypsies. Wren and Haranda could be trained. And they would be trained if Lyssinya had to thrash them into obedience.

  “Leader?”

  “Yes, Healer Payatt?” Lyssinya forced her attentions on the healer.

  “We should sleep.”

  “Agreed.”

  With the two warriors rotating watch, Lyssinya bedded down and quickly urged her body into a false sleep. Once in the Netherworld, she began the search for her youngling. The girl stood on the beach, as usual, fondling her elaborate Gypsy gown. But Lyssinya had no time for childish fancies. She released the Energy barrier used to conceal her otherself and appeared from the shadows. Before Adelsik could question her, she placed a finger on the girl’s forehead and nudged memories of their training sessions to the forefront of Adelsik’s mind. These things she could never do in the mundane world, for their power came from the slumbering Energy alone. In fact, there were many things Sages couldn’t do with the Energy when it came to the mind.

  She hooked her thumbs into her belt and narrowed eyes on the girl. “I have no time for foolishness tonight, youngling.” That doll-like face soured and innocent brown eyes studied her. At least the girl had learned not to object. “We’ll continue your training but I need to find your former clan mother, Haranda. Also Wren and Elder Siri.”

  “I won’t take you to them!” That blue acorn footprint began to spin as the girl took in the Energy.

  The foolish little chit had harnessed without Lyssinya’s permission. She bit back anger and fought the urge to encase her newest youngling in a sparking blanket for another lesson in manners. Instead, she held out a hand and sent a blue spark to Adelsik’s thigh. That got a yelp. “You’ll do as I bid, youngling. Release the Energy. And you’ll call me by my proper name.”

  Adelsik’s eyes widened at the threat and her footprint became still. “Yes, Mother Atan.”

  Good. “Now, I’ve been ordered to find those who’ve been attacking Gypsies.”

  Adelsik studied her a heartbeat. “I don’t believe you, Mother Atan. You attacked me, probably just to get to the others.”

  “Foolish girl. I didn’t attack you.” Did the child actually believe that nonsense? “I caught you playing at things you barely understand. I disciplined you as any mother would. And I’ll continue to train you and any others I locate here. Now tell me where the other Gypsies are or I shall go hunting for them myself. I’ll find them, have no doubt in that, but it will take a while longer and expend Energy I have no intention of wasting. And you can look forward to punishment for disobedience.”

  Adelsik swallowed hard and pursed her lips. “I won’t let you hurt them.” Her voice was barely audible. She quickly added, “Mother Atan.”

  For an instant, Lyssinya felt for this youngling the way she did for others on Dragon Island. But that was impossible. The mother-youngling bond didn’t happen in the Netherworld, and Adelsik had already taken her oaths to the Goddess. She studied the round face in front of her and realized the girl fought tears. Instinct caused her to reach out and caress the youngling’s cheek. “I won’t harm them. But I’ll have my way. Don’t make me dangle you from a cliff again.”

  Brown e
yes held fear. “What are you going to do to them, Mother Atan?” She sounded so young, so lost.

  Lyssinya raised a brow and pulled herself straight. “They can’t defeat these attackers on their own. They need my help.” She wouldn’t admit that she needed the assistance, especially to a youngling. When Adelsik stood shaking her head, Lyssinya sighed and wrapped her in a sparking blanket. Just for an instant. But it was enough.

  “No! Please! I’ll help you!” The girl wept openly.

  Something else was wrong. Adelsik had never given in so easily and no one wept at such a short confrontation with a sparking blanket. Not that she minded the obedience but there was something besides. She cupped the girl’s chin and forced the moist face up. “What troubles you, youngling? Why do you weep?” Tears flowed vigorously now and Adelsik sobbed. Lyssinya put arms around her but the girl pulled away. “Tell me what troubles you.”

  Adelsik took several heartbeats but at least she calmed. She wiped her cheeks and looked up into Lyssinya’s eyes. Blonde brows furrowed as though deciding whether or not to talk. “One of our quests, the one Elder Siri leads, has disappeared. No one, not even the Vedi can locate them. My head hurts so much when I’m awake that I can’t even think what to do. I’m no help to my kin this way.”

  Lyssinya’s heart raced at the news. For an entire quest to lose contact meant one of two things. They were dead and hadn’t crossed over long enough to come through in the Netherworld, or someone had found the talismans of Cholqhuin. Part of her hoped for the former. Either way, Lyssinya would have to get word to the Sage Elders.

  She also worried about Adelsik’s headaches. The youngling must be trying to remember their meetings here. She would only make herself sicker doing that. Perhaps she was stronger than Lyssinya first suspected. She could try ordering Adelsik not to attempt remembering, but if the girl was as strong as she now suspected, that could make matters worse. She wouldn’t intentionally make a youngling suffer like that. The difficult decision the Elders spoke of had come and much sooner than anticipated. A great deal sooner.