City of Gods [Book 3 of the Teadai Prophecies] Read online

  LePon helped her to one of the benches and gently forced her to sit. Kin had followed and many gathered around as mothers and fathers ordered younglings to the bathhouses. Servants glanced in passing, and the smell of food made Saldia nauseous with hunger. The sun had set and torches added light to the burning fire pits. LePon sat on her right and she leaned against his hard forearm.

  Ved’mana sat the other side of her. “I need to check you, daughter.” His voice came in a gentle tone.

  The crowned man’s touch brought a scent of wet earth along with his healing Energy, and Saldia fought the urge to squirm against the tingles that ran through her already tender body. She felt bruised all over. Her senses followed Ved’mana’s Energy as it wormed through her body and quickened her life particles.

  Soon, she felt better, exhausted but whole, and she offered a weary smile to the crowned man. “Thank you, Ved’mana.”

  One dark hand stroked her forehead. “You’re strong, New-oathed Saldia Trich. You make your kin proud.” With that, he, Ved’nuri and Ved’emir turned to leave with the Fetch and several dome servants who had followed.

  Saldia stood and made a curtsey with LePon’s assistance, proud that she stayed on her feet.

  Chapter 31

  Finally, the next day came and Saldia felt much stronger. The kin stood outside the dome, ready with the seventh and last of the spells, and she took in several cleansing breaths.

  “Hold on,” Ved’mana ordered. And it was an order. “Don’t let anything deter you now. We are so close.”

  His words fueled Saldia’s fear as she concentrated on the spell in front of her and waited for the Fetch’s prompt. LePon stayed close. Her hands trembled slightly, not enough to keep her from reading, and LePon helped her steady the scroll. Part of her wanted to run as far from this recitation as her legs would allow, but she stood her place and forced fear into anger. Anger that stupid middlings had caused so much damage. Anger at Croferituus and Lombreeth for all those they had harmed. Anger that Maesa had died along with several other kin who didn’t stand here today.

  The Fetch tapped out the rhythm. Just as they began the final spell, the force Saldia had felt the previous day returned as a vengeful enemy, and it was all she could do to keep the Energy within her body and recite the words. Invisible flames consumed her again and she fought the terror that rose. How would she get through this? She tried to remain quiet but cries pushed from her lips and wetness from her eyes. Large hands steadied her and she forced the words from her throat between agonizing sobs. Thickness pressed in on her and the Energy tried to separate from her. She gripped the Energy as hard as she could and pulled more inside. It surged through her body like a giant wave overtaking a beach. But to her surprise and relief, the fire receded enough that she could recite the spell.

  Her legs trembled and weakness threatened her efforts but she held on. This raising had to be successful or else everything her kin had done, everything they planned to do, everything Saldia and others had suffered and lost, was for naught. This final spell was short in comparison to the previous ones, thank the Goddess, and Saldia forced concentration on the recitation, barely aware of going to her knees halfway through. Her chest heaved with effort and she sucked in frantic breaths to speak aloud.

  Tightness gripped her chest like a vice with every word as half-hearted flames continued to caress her skin, but she kept the recitation going. Somehow, thank the Goddess, she managed to continue.

  LePon knelt beside her as thick hands supported and kept her upright. Second and third lines. Hold on. Fourth line. Saldia could barely breathe now and she fought panic, along with agony from the invisible fire, which had renewed its strength. The fifth and final line came and she blurted out each word with great effort, her body sweat-soaked and her eyes blurring. The world around her began to spin, but not before she’d seen and memorized the end of the spell.

  As the last word left her lips, a massive wave of pain tossed her to the ground, almost separating her from the Energy. Someone stroked her hair but she couldn’t look up. Her limbs were on fire and her mind seemed unable to focus. Someone screamed and she realized it must have come from her own lips. The Energy pulsed so brightly her eyes hurt. Then, in an instant, it fled her body. She couldn’t harness it back in. Panic swelled but someone crooned to her, and she focused on LePon’s heavy voice until her senses returned and the pain receded.

  After a while, she was able to sit with his help. It was then that she realized she truly loved him. Silly how such thoughts came at inopportune occasions. She reassured his worried look with a faint smile. Was it over? Did we succeed?

  Kin lay strewn on the grass all around her, some sitting, others curled up as they groaned or wept, some emptying their stomachs onto the grass. Saldia looked around for Henny and the other younglings. At first, she didn’t see them and thought perhaps they had succumbed to the Energy. She finally saw Henny on her feet. Funny how the weakest kin were now the strongest.

  Wil’keive sat with Haranda and the Gypsy leaned on him for support, but the smile she gave Saldia was worth a thousand rainbows. Servants scrambled around to make certain none had taken serious wounds. They called out injuries to those trained in herbal remedies and broken bones. Two kin had fractured arms from falling. Another took a lump on his head when he hit nearby bench, but no one called out any deaths. Saldia didn’t think the kin could take more deaths after losing so many already. Maesa’s image flashed in her mind and she fought tears for her former clan sister.

  “Drink,” LePon said.

  Saldia drank the herb-laden water and her strength slowly returned. Something felt different, though, and she decided to attempt harnessing again, surprised when the Energy filled her without much effort. She sighed with relief and LePon gave her a concerned look. He appeared quite comical sitting on the ground next to her in an awkward attempt to cross his tree-sized legs. His massive body dwarfed hers and she thought of kissing him, but her attention moved quickly to the dome. Ved’emir was the only one standing there, but before she could point that out to anyone, something pulled at her from inside the dome and she stood. LePon’s large hands held her arms.

  “I’m all right,” she told the mountainous man, and he released her. Her legs no longer threatened to fold. In fact, she felt quite strong. She would be certain to find out what herbs the healers used.

  Before she could take a step, Henny wailed. Saldia snapped her head to the youngling, who had thrown herself onto Adelsik. The new-oathed slumberer lay motionless on the grass. Healers moved to the girls, along with many other kin, and Saldia had to press through them to get to her former clan sister. Adelsik’s round face looked as though she slept but she was still. Too still.

  Thad had his hands on the girl first. After a short while, his eyes opened and curses left his lips. Tears fled down his cheeks. Another girl, a new-oathed woman, put a hand on his arm and kept it there.

  Henny wailed again and Zarenia comforted her.

  Saldia’s chest tightened and water pushed from her eyes as she knelt beside Adelsik and took the girl’s hand, which was still warm. “What happened? Can you bring her back, Thad?”

  Thad only shook his head. Predula pressed him aside to make her own judgment. After several heartbeats, the short healer put her weary face in her hands. Haranda and Lyssinya knelt beside the body as kin pressed close, some with tears, others with hardened faces. Saldia embrace her former clan mother and they wept for a very long while, until one of the servants covered Adelsik’s lifeless body with a blanket.

  * * * *

  Where was Ved’mana? Surely, he could help Thad save Adelsik. Why had the Vedi retreated?

  Anger prompted Saldia to her feet and she walked toward the dome’s arched entrance. As she reached the bottom step, the handsome, young man she knew as Ved’emir pushed fingers through his thick, blonde curls and gazed at her face. Despite the sadness that filled his eyes and the tears that stained his cheeks, he smiled. Saldia’s heart flutter
ed. He reached out a hand for hers. She took it and stepped onto the top stair beside him.

  Her mind whirled and dizziness took her, but only for a heartbeat. Light folded all around her and she felt peace, pure and comforting. Then it was gone. All the pain and sadness returned.

  The man next to her wore a tunic and breeches of greens and browns with gold braiding down the front and around the buttons. A golden circlet of leaves sat atop his yellow curls. The faint image of a tree overlaying a pale, full moon, hovered above his head. His dark eyes held power and sadness. Saldia knew this man but fought in vain to recall his name.

  Another man, small and with rat-like features, stepped from the crowd and lifted a golden staff above his head. “I give you the Vedi!”

  Saldia couldn’t keep the surprise from her face when those gathered genuflected to her. When she looked down, she wore a beautiful dress of silk, inlaid with Goddess colors. Gold braiding snaked across her dress and down the long sleeves. Something sat atop her head and she reached up to find a circlet. Her feet were still bare but a gold ring encircled one of her toes, and her loose hair fell over her shoulders, no longer bound by the scarf she always wore. Memories began to reassemble in a flurry that made her dizzy. The haze began to ebb as her thoughts took shape and she glanced around at her kin.

  She caught Master LePon’s expression, one of loss. A knot formed in her stomach as she gazed at her dress and back to him, tears streaming down her cheeks. They would have no life together as husband and wife, or even as bedfriends. He gave her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Why had she waited so long to accept him? This couldn’t be. She was supposed to marry LePon and live out her Gypsy life with him by her side.

  He swiped large hands across his wet face. Saldia tried to go to him but her feet wouldn’t move that direction.

  A shimmer at the lake caught her eyes, and Ved’emir led her there, with kin following as best they could manage through grief and confusion. When they arrived, the water swirled and lifted like a great funnel until it settled into a fluid image of a beautiful woman.

  Saldia recognized the image and fell to one knee. “Ved’nuri.” All of the kin, save Ved’emir, dropped with her.

  “I’m not Vedi, Saldia Trich. This image you see is just an illusion. You could not possibly look upon my true form and survive with your wits intact. Rise, my children.” Once the kin were on there feet, the fluid woman opened great watery arms. “You have given me back my existence, my world.” Another water image swirled into appearance, this one male, an exact likeness of Ved’mana, and she motioned to him. “This is Cholqhuin, my lover, my mate, or rather an image you can understand.”

  Saldia craned her neck up at the great woman. “But I don’t understand.”

  The fluid figure smiled. “You know me as the Goddess of Eternal Spring. Or the Sea Goddess, as the Bankari so named me. Candelus and Eguin were merely vessels for us to return to this world, and they have completed their task. Their essences have moved on and will be reborn. They knew what would come with the raising.”

  Murmers echoed behind Saldia as she shot a look at Ved’emir. He nodded. A single tear fled down his cheek and he brushed it away. Why hadn’t the Vedi told the rest of the kin what was to come? Why had they kept such a secret? Candelus and Eguin had loved her like a daughter, accepted her into their family, and now they were gone. Saldia’s heart ached for their return.

  Her eyes leaked and she didn’t brush the wetness away. Instead, she focused blurred vision on the water. “What of Adelsik, Sea Goddess? Did she know her fate too?”

  “I am simply Goddess now. I no longer have domain over the seas.” The fluid image cocked her head. “Adelsik made her decision. That one sacrificed herself for all of us. Through the recitation, she located the elemental magic and the middlings who worked with it, and she destroyed them. They would have won if not for New-oathed Adelsik Nunsey’s sacrifice.”

  Saldia gazed up at the image, stunned at that news. Adelsik gave her life for us, for me?

  “Yes, she did, my daughter.” Those fluid eyes moved to the image of Eguin and back to Saldia. “Adelsik gave her life to free Cholqhuin. In doing so, she guaranteed your freedom as well. Do not worry over her. She has moved on to prepare for her rebirth. All is as it should be.”

  Goddess’s eyes danced among the kin and a smile formed on wavering lips. “Never forget those who perished here today. Teach your younglings of their sacrifices and love for their kin. Without them, the middlings would have succeeded in raising Cholqhuin, my beloved, and we would have become slaves to them.” High above the world, the pregnant moon shone red against a blue backdrop and the Goddess motioned to it. “My Mother has returned to Her womb where She will rule the tides and seas for as long as this world survives. She has come full circle.”

  After several heartbeats, Saldia wrenched her gaze from the red moon and caught Haranda’s pained look as the Gypsy studied the watery images. Saldia’s heart ached for her former clan mother. Candelus and Eguin had been younglings with Haranda, and Adelsik her child. Wren put an arm about her former clan daughter’s shoulders, causing Haranda to pull her back straight and visibly stiffen her lips.

  Saldia tore moist eyes from her kin and looked back to the water. “What of our world, Goddess? And what of the Energy?” She could still feel the vibration beneath her.

  “All will be well, my children. You have returned balance to the Energy and given us hope. This world is still connected to us and will remain so as long as you are faithful. In return, Saldia and Emir will rule as Ved’nuri and Ved’mana.” Liquid eyes focused on Saldia. “Your offspring will bring peace with middlings, and they will trust you as they once did ages ago.”

  “I’m Ved’nuri,” Saldia said in a low voice.

  “Yes, daughter. You feel the connection even now.”

  Saldia nodded. She did feel the connection. Her ties to the dome, to the moon, to the Great Mother, the Goddess standing before her, and to Cholqhuin. But I’m not ready. I’m just a new-oathed. I can’t be ready for this.

  She didn’t need to voice those opinions, for others murmured similar epitaphs.

  “Forgive me, Goddess.” Siri stepped forward and curtseyed. “But these are children. Barely out of youngling dress. Surely, you can’t think they’re fit to lead?”

  “Ah, Siri Nebarin, my Elder-daughter. You and the others do worry so. As you should. Yes, they are young. Precisely the reason they were chosen. They are more open to guidance than those with centuries behind them. I’m certain you and the other Elders will offer wise counsel.” That last statement was a command as sure as Saldia’s feet were bare.

  The Elders’ bowed their heads and uttered in unison, “As the Goddess wishes.”

  Fluid eyes moved back to Saldia and Emir. “The Vedi will accept counsel from the Elders. But you must learn to use your own judgment, as well, and grow into your leadership as Vedi. The Energy will assist you, though it won’t hold all answers you seek.”

  Again, Saldia thought, Why me? I’m no leader. I’m just a former tavern woman. A mere girl by Gypsy standards.

  A voice filled her head, the voice of Candelus, and she stared at the Goddess as she listened to words only she could hear. You must believe and trust in your instincts, daughter. They have never led you astray. You have strength you don’t yet know you possess. Trust in that. Follow counsel and allow your kin to guide you. Love your kin. You will make a fine Ved’nuri.

  Candelus’s image smiled. “My children, I’m afraid you won’t see us again until time for your rebirth, as we will move permanently to our own realm. But know that we are always with you, connected to you, just as the Great Mother watches you from afar, and we will hear your prayers. Mother, Cholqhuin and I shall work together in a rhythm of unity and never again be separated. With your faithfulness, we will protect this world and all who live in it. The seasons shall continue as before, as the days of Eternal Spring have long passed.

  “Go forth and teach our w
ays to middlings. They will learn to respect you and the powers you possess. Be true to one another and continue to locate and guide the children who come to the Energy, for they are your future and will keep this world alive. Teach them well.” She offered a grand smile. “The New Age, the Teadai Ved’cosima, has begun. It is time for celebration. Go now and enjoy your reign.” With that, the two watery figures melted into the lake.

  A sudden and terrible earthquake shook the area so hard that Saldia pitched to the grass with Emir. Someone cried out and she turned to watch the dome crumble and sink into the ground, devoured and lost.

  Before she had time to think of mourning that loss, the entire area altered before her eyes. The brilliant sky caused her to squint, the sound of ocean waves caught her ears, and the scent of sea air filled her nostrils. The pregnant moon hung overhead like a mother protecting her children, the red hue now a pale yellow. Pale and round and beautiful. A massive area of ruins stood just beyond the kin.

  Emir started to help Saldia to her feet, but another great quake kept them on the ground. Saldia watched with awe as large pillars rose from the crumbled ruins and reached for the sky like sprouting plants. Stones that had been lost or buried for tens of tens of thousands of years renewed their existence, and Saldia felt their power, soaked it in like a lizard soaked heat on a sunning rock.

  Higher the stones rose, piece by piece reassembling to create shapes that became great buildings. Color flooded over the stones until each one glimmered with Goddess colors, bright and festive. Yellows, blues, purples, whites, reds, pinks, oranges and greens. Gilding accented the awnings and windows and doorways. Cobblestone streets cut through the city and sea birds frolicked along the brown-tiled rooftops. A blue, domed building dominated the opposite end.

  The shaking finally ceased and the kin sat dumbfounded. Above the arched entrance to the new city, a statue stood as a lone sentry, guarding all who passed through, and Saldia smiled. The Troll. The final sign of Cholqhuin’s coming.