City of Gods [Book 3 of the Teadai Prophecies] Page 29

  That golden head swiveled and she looked behind Lyssinya. Everyone turned to follow her gaze. “That’s where you come in, New-oathed Adelsik Nunsey.” The girl drew herself straight. “You’ve accomplished what no other Gypsy or Sage has in the Netherworld and you’ll aid me in the search for these offensive middlings.” Ved’nuri’s mouth tightened at that last word. “The other slumberers will assist, as well. Any who can enter another’s dreams without support are required.”

  Ved’mana nodded and his dark hair moved against his cheeks. “And we’ll hand out assignments to everyone, younglings included, until we’ve deciphered the texts and can finish the raising. We have few days, children. The Fetch will give our orders to the Elders on the way out. You are dismissed. May the Goddess shine Her Light upon you.”

  “And on you,” came the unison reply, with a few new kin echoing. They stood and held curtseys and bows until the Vedi exited a door behind the throne.

  Once they had filed out of the throne room, Lyssinya found her lover. “Goddess help us, Tapnut. We must succeed.” She glanced at her kin as they headed toward the dome’s exit.

  Somberly, Tapnut took her hand and led her toward the door.

  Chapter 21

  Five sunrises of failed attempts to locate the idiot middlings passed. Adelsik still couldn’t believe any middling was so stupid to try and raise a god. She decided to search alone tonight. Ved’nuri hadn’t forbidden her such a task. Well, not in so many words. Besides, the crowned woman had praised her for accomplishing what no other slumbered had when it came to Henny and Haranda, and Adelsik felt confident she could handle any trouble that might find her here in the Netherworld. She’d willed herself to sleep early tonight but the other slumberers would be here shortly to seek her out, so she vowed to do this quickly.

  She stood, as usual, on the beach near the cave where she’d received the calling and gazed at the stone ruins above. She had even created the large, marker stone Haranda had forbidden younglings to venture beyond all those moons ago. Not for the first time, Adelsik wondered what happened to those who left the ruins behind. Who were they? No one seemed to know the answer. She had even inquired to the Elders without success. Ancient peoples who died out or assimilated long before any written history told of them. Their lives and hardships gone with the ages.

  They couldn’t have been very advanced to live among stones over a cave, but Adelsik always kept her memory dream just as she recalled it. And despite the arduous horseback journey she’d taken with Haranda then, this place had a special significance for her. Her calling and her first experience as a slumberer took place at this beach.

  She turned toward the brilliant water and allowed her senses to expand with the rising tide. Wave after wave sent her awareness out among the dream bubbles that bobbed nearby. Somewhere she could feel the heat of elemental magic and she focused in that direction. Tickles of dreams, mostly those of middlings, pulsed against her senses. She allowed each to sweep through and catch just long enough to see what she needed of the dream, ignoring those with the glimmering marks, indicating slumberers had already visited. Most were a jumble of images, bits and pieces of people’s lives, with the occasional fantastic beast or mythical place among them. One middling girl had just gotten her menses and dreamed of her wedding day. Adelsik put a shimmer on that one. A middling boy ran from a huge, menacing bird, and Adelsik fought the urge to cover her ears when he screamed. Another benign dream that got a shimmering mark.

  She stood that way, eavesdropping on dreams, until she came to one that caught her interest. This one belonged to a middling man, who sat in a room among many scrolls. She kept herself as she always did, so the middling wouldn’t see her, and watched. The man sat in a large hall at a long table stacked high with food and drink. Musicians played softly from one side of the room, though Adelsik couldn’t recall the tune. This reminded her of banquets she had attended as a child in Bedlon and she smiled. Several middlings, men and women, sat around the table as they ate and chatted and clinked glasses in some acknowledged celebration. A bell tolled and the man stood. He waved to another man, a beckoning movement, before taking his seat again.

  Four women, dressed in little more than thin gossamer rags, swayed into the room and took a place on the floor. The man smiled and raised a glass to the musicians. A sultry tune followed, along with gyrations that made Adelsik’s face heat. She’d seen similar movements once, when Kal had tried to distract the mothers with a tavern dance the morning after Cass attacked Adelsik. That seemed so long ago now. But this dancing went farther than anything she witnessed Kal doing. And slowly, pieces of the gossamer garments fell to the floor.

  The middling man got an eager look in his eyes and suddenly everyone disappeared, save him and the dancers. He reclined on a bed of pillows as the women proceeded to take off what little remained of their clothes. Just as the man yanked one of them onto the pillows and climbed atop her, Adelsik fled.

  She stood on the beach again, heart pounding with embarrassment and desire. Did all men dream this way? She had walked in on other such dreams, couples in bed mostly, but never anything this vivid. Even women dreamed of bedding a man, and sometimes another woman, but this one left Adelsik’s blood hot and desire caught between her legs. She had never bedded a man. Perhaps she should take a bedfriend for herself. Haranda now had Wil’keive. Taniras and Snowy were married. And Adelsik was a grown woman, no longer bound by the middling rules she’d grown up with, and free of youngling restrictions.

  As she watched several footprints advance toward her, she chided herself for allowing such a distraction. She hadn’t located the middlings involved in the raising. Failure again. Her failure. New-oathed Adelsik Nunsey, the one Gypsy who had pushed the void away, who’d restored Haranda’s Energy, and snagged Henny from Death’s grip along with Thad, had failed to locate these middlings.

  Perhaps Thad could offer more insight. In one of his recent visions, he’d seen the middlings who worked with elemental magic. But that same use of magic hid their faces from him and forced him into a deep sleep for part of a day. Adelsik had prepared to go in search of his otherself that first day home, but he came to before night meal. Thankfully, he’d come out whole. They couldn’t afford another kin’s death.

  Frustration built for her failures as much as her station. She should have gone in sooner, gone in search of Thad. By bringing him back, perhaps she would have been raised above her new-oathed status. Even the healing she did for Haranda hadn’t earned her a title of full Gypsy. What in the name of the Goddess did she have to accomplish to move up? As new-oathed, Adelsik still had to take orders from every kin above her. And now that the Sages had joined them, there were even more who outranked her. She hated to wait years, tens of years even, before being honored as a full Gypsy.

  And why should I? I’m different from the rest. Stronger.

  She grunted at the frustration that threatened her placidity and took in more Energy to put those feelings distant. Perhaps the slumberers would have luck tonight, locate these awful middlings and put things right with the world. Perhaps then, Adelsik would receive the ranking she felt she deserved.

  Other slumberers soon rattled against her memory dream and she allowed them entrance. Footprints floated to her. Ved’nuri’s rainbow over an orange sunflower, the double footprint that represented beauty, life and boldness. Ved’emir’s pale blue, moon of change and mystery. Haranda’s yellow daisy of attractiveness and heartiness. Wren’s barrel cactus, haven. Lyssinya’s silver cloud, which meant protection and life. And several others who had enough slumbering Energy to enter another’s dream.

  All seemed regal compared to Adelsik’s own blue acorn, a representation of inexperience and mystery. She was no longer the inexperienced, foolish youngling she’d been once. And her Energy came with mysterious power, like the kind she used to dominate the void and heal Haranda. She longed to become a full Gypsy, with all the rights and freedoms of that title. She would also enjoy being an Elder
one day, perhaps take Siri’s place as the highest ranking.

  The footprints landed softly near her and the slumberers shimmered into their otherselves.

  The crowned woman eyed her. “You fell asleep early, Adeslik.”

  “Yes, Ved’nuri.”

  “Were you slumbering?”

  Adelsik’s heart banged against her chest as the desire she’d felt just heartbeats ago turned to fear. Fear of being caught or perhaps fear of punishment for taking such a careless chance, and she couldn’t lie to this woman. Well, she could lie, but since Ved’nuri knew everyone’s thoughts when she slumbered from within the dome, that would be a foolish act.

  “I rummaged through some dreams, Ved’nuri.” That was the honest truth. Though she didn’t admit she had planned more. Much more.

  The woman eyed her but didn’t call her down. “Anything?”

  “Nothing important.” If any of the other slumberers suspected more, they didn’t show it.

  “Very well.” Ved’nuri nodded. “Let’s continue our search.”

  They took places in a circle and held hands, sending their combined awareness and awesome strength rippling outward like a pond wave triggered by a large stone. Each night since they’d reached the Land of the Goddess, the slumberers used the seeker wave. Haranda, though her slumbering was still not as powerful as some, lasted longer each journey. The woman wouldn’t even have such strength without Adelsik’s healing.

  The wave spread outward to its potential and Adelsik focused her thoughts on the task. She could feel the elemental magic, just as the others could, so why did it take so long to locate those using it? They were middlings, not worthy in the Goddess’s eyes to harness the Energy.

  They searched as night wore on and had no luck. Once the rest left to their dreams, Adelsik decided to make another attempt on her own. Ved’nuri hadn’t forbidden her, and the woman had to know what she was up to.

  She took in more Energy, flooding her otherself to exhilaration, and she pushed off into the air. She flew around dream bubbles, allowing her senses to touch each as she went. Ignoring, of course, those they had given a shimmering mark. The added amount of Energy allowed her to feel several dreamers at once. Surely, this way she would locate those who practiced elemental magic. But after a while, she began to tire and took in more Energy to quell her exhaustion. There were few days left before the raising spells would be useless and idiot middlings would control the ancient god. Thanks to the texts, they now knew that any evil the god performed would come from the middlings who took control of him, not from Cholqhuin himself.

  Adelsik had asked whether Gypsies would be able to control Cholqhuin once the raising was complete, provided they succeeded, but the Energy used in the spells kept him a free being. Yet another disappointment. To command a god. That must be amazing! No wonder these middlings, whoever they might be, were so determined. Though she still thought them stupid.

  Dreams brushed past as she traveled faster and farther, reveling in her flight. Surely, those middlings were asleep by now. The night wasn’t young and they would be exhausted from recitations. Spells that drained them quickly since they couldn’t harness the Energy. A small consolation.

  Weariness grew, even through the amount of Energy she now possessed, and her head throbbed. But she could hold more, certainly. She had felt more pulse through her body when she’d healed Haranda, and that was in the mundane world, where the Energy tired a Gypsy more quickly than here. Granted, she had slept a while afterwards. Ignoring that uncertainty, she pulled in even more Energy and her awareness expanded farther than the seeker wave had gone. In fact, she had created her own private wave that rippled outward. It wasn’t as large as a combined wave, but she didn’t care.

  For a mere heartbeat, she thought she felt the chilling contact of elemental magic. Not the pulse of it but the actual magic. Now it was gone. She pushed the wave farther, her brow now covered in sweat, and hovered just above the brilliant beach of her memory dream, a dream she never left even once she took flight. Perhaps the dreams moved to her. Yes. Her mind began to slip. Was that from the amount Energy she held? Had she taken too much? Would she lose herself here? Slip away like Maesa had?

  Sudden fear gripped her middle and she lowered herself to the sand as the Energy flowed from her body. She tried to keep just a tiny amount but it flooded out like a waterfall and left her breathless. She soon found herself in a troubled dream state, fighting off imagined evil.

  Chapter 22

  While the rest of her kin worked on other assignments, Taniras had spent the last five days sifting through massive amounts of wolf memories, many that dwelt within an ancient fog of days past. Dar and the other wolves claimed that several ancestor packs lived when gods walked upon the dirt. Snowy had been assigned to assist Taniras and keep her from traveling too long into those earliest recollections, which she’d done on occasion and which left her exhausted.

  Once again, she entered the fog of past memories as though she had become a wolf. Sounds and scents drifted in and out of her senses as the current pack lingered in the back of her mind. She longed to join in the hunt as bloodlust of olden memories filled her, along with howling ghosts of long ago. Images, some she recognized as the moon or sun or sandy beaches that still existed along the shores of her own world, flickered before her like a dream. She reached out with her mind to embrace each one before it moved beyond her grasp. But this always proved more difficult than anticipated, and memories slipped out of her grasp like an oiled piglet, leaving her longing for more.

  Then it happened again. She snared a memory somehow, like the day before, probably through the force of her own frustrated will. Snowy’s presence lingered in her mind, but he was still, waiting. The memory brought with it sounds of ancient beasts, primal and stupid, not the wolves, she realized, but other, massive creatures that once roamed the land as servants of the gods. Petty gods in some respects, for these creatures fought each other in inane sports the gods created for their own amusement. Some creatures had middling blood on their skin, a scent like faint metal mixed with something sweet, and Taniras wanted to run. She fought that urge and held onto this memory, gripping harder with her mind to keep the greased piglet from escaping.

  Images of these giant, stupid creatures grew clearer and fear caught in her throat. She let out a low growl. These beasts weren’t good eating, despite their size. Their meat was tainted and left a bitter aftertaste on the tongue, much the way a middling tasted.

  Still, she held on, which led to another pack memory, this one of a god, bright and stubborn, full of self-worth and lacking any humility. A god whose face adorned old buildings or stones here and there across the world as mere decoration. A god who had faded when his followers no longer revered him and cast him aside for another.

  This gave her a start and she slammed back into her own world so fast it caused a blinding pain in her head. She whined until someone shook her.

  “Look at me.” Snowy sounded as though he’d said those words several times. “Taniras Ei’sele Nee’cher. You look at me right now, woman, or I’ll send for Predula.”

  “Predula? Snowy?” Her own memories flooded her mind. “Great bloody fleas on a bloody cow hide!” She gripped his tunic and dragged herself up to a sitting position with his help then sat staring at her worried mate for several heartbeats. “The Goddess. She needs us. She needs us to do this raising or else she’ll disappear with all the old ones.”

  “What are you talking about? Dar became quite upset. I could feel her through the link. What did you see?”

  “I’ll explain. But I need to get to the Elders.” She tried to stand but her legs seemed made of water, and Snowy lifted her into his arms. Arms that moons of hunting and physical labor had hardened.

  He seemed surprised when she allowed him to carry her like an infant out of the trees and toward the cottages. Haranda, Predula and Siri met them at the small fountain near the kitchen cottages, where Snowy put Taniras on a bench and sat with
her. She relished his presence, his scent.

  Predula sat the other side and probed her with the Energy, a lilac tingle that left her itchy, and she rubbed at her limbs afterwards.

  “Well?” Siri, whose height was a thumb short of Snowy’s, planted large hands on padded hips. Her mouth turned down at the corners as she focused on the body-healer.

  “She’s all right,” Predula said. “A bit weak but otherwise fine.”

  Taniras focused on her former clan mother. “Haranda? I have need of the Elders’ Council.” New-oathed were expected to go through their former clan parents when requesting an audience with the Elder’s Council or the Vedi, unless that Gypsy wasn’t around or they had permission to surpass that step in etiquette.

  Elder Siri nodded and her hair bangles tinkled. “I’ll arrange it.”

  Taniras rested with Haranda and Snowy hovering and took the chance to eat and regain some of her strength.

  Once the Council sent for her, she met them at the lake, the farthest end from the waterfall, where they could convene in privacy, and recounted what she’d seen in the ancestor pack memories, all that she had discovered. When she finished, they simply murmured to each other. “You don’t seem surprised, Elders.”

  Finlor turned his small eyes to her and leaned away from Siri, to whom he’d been whispering. “We suspected something like this. A coexisting relationship, if you will.”

  When Taniras offered a questioning look, Siri said, “Gypsies and the Goddess have always existed together, as far as our records go back. We thrive on Her Energy gifts and She exists on our love and devotion. Since the wolves were here long before we were. Their knowledge comes as no great surprise.”

  “Not everyone honors just the Great Mother Goddess, Elder, yet the other gods no longer exist.”

  “Oh, they exist, new-oathed.” Ved’nuri glided to the lake and all genuflected until she waved them up.