Deadly Fate [Book 1 of the Teadai Prophecies] Page 36

  Tsianina’s clan sisters whispered as they walked toward their table, and some from the other clans joined them briefly before taking seats with their own.

  Haranda made her way to the mother’s table and sat between Wren and Predula. She kept one eye on Tsianina, though. The girl still seemed shaken. Understandably so. Once the servants brought the food, she relaxed and began to chat with the other mothers. At dessert, she caught sight of Tsianina passing her honey cake under the table to Henny and she smiled. Dessert was a treat, not a requirement, so there was no need for chastisement. Besides, Haranda would have been just as reluctant to eat if she had been through Tsianina’s trials today.

  At the end of night meal, most mingled about, listening to musicians or taking walks. Haranda glanced at her youngling’s table but Tsianina was gone. She couldn’t see the girl anywhere and ask Predula and Wren to help her search. Younglings had this part of the evening to themselves but something nagged at her about the island girl.

  She pushed an orb from her fingertips and checked the girl’s cottage but it was empty. Taniras didn’t know where Tsianina had gone, either. A few shadows strolled around the lake and Haranda started in that direction when Predula called out her name. She crossed around to the back of one of the cottages and saw her youngling in Predula’s grip, illuminated by the body-healer’s orb.

  “You found her,” Haranda said with relief.

  “Yes. There’s a knife on the ground. I want to get her inside where the light is better and take a look at what she’s done to herself.”

  “What’s she—” Haranda leaned closer to study Tsianina and saw blood oozing from her left hand. “What have you done, youngling?”

  The girl’s footprint flickered as she started to tell an untruth.

  “Your youngling has been slicing herself,” Predula said. “Then she decided to lie to me about it.”

  “My cottage.” Haranda took the girl by the arm and pulled her along.

  “But Mother Haranda—”

  “Silence.” Lying wouldn’t be tolerated. Not by any youngling, under any circumstances. And no youngling was allowed to harm herself.

  Once inside Haranda’s cottage, they dipped their feet into the basin and she forced Tsianina into a chair. Predula inspected the injured hand in the light of the cottage lanterns. The youngling kept her eyes on the floor. She looked ashamed.

  The body-healer simply cleaned and wrapped the wound since it wasn’t too deep, then took Tsianina’s chin in her fingers and forced her to look up. “Why would you do this?”

  “It’s my right. I brought danger to my kin. I must sacrifice something precious to be forgiven. I want forgiveness, Mother Predula.” Tears streamed down her dark cheeks.

  Predula released her and turned to Haranda. “She’s still keeping harmful ways of her root life. I think we’ll need Wren’s help to purge her of these thoughts.” The short mother called to a servant outside and told her to fetch Wren.

  “No!” Tsianina got to her feet. “You can’t! This is my right!”

  Haranda pressed the girl back into the chair. “You’re a Gypsy-child. These old ways will only confuse you. We don’t allow kin to cut themselves like this. You must trust—”

  “No!” Tsianina bolted for the door but Wren entered and caught her by the arms.

  “Whoa, youngling. What’s wrong?” Those looped braids swung.

  “Hold her, Wren,” Predula said. “She’s hurt herself.”

  Wren gathered the struggling youngling close and stroked her back. “Calm down. It’s all right.” At least the youngling wasn’t so far distraught the calming wouldn’t work. A good sign they could still convince her to give up on hurting herself.

  Tsianina quieted, enough to explain, at least. “Please, Mother Wren. I need to finish my forgiveness sacrifice. I must be punished for endangering all of you.”

  “I see.” The white-haired woman dipped her feet in the basin and quickly ran a towel over them before she gently put Tsianina into the chair, all the while, keeping on hand on the girl’s arm. “So this,” one finger touched a bandage, “is how you plan to punish yourself? This is your sacrifice?”

  “Yes, Mother Wren. I don’t have anything else of value.”

  “We can’t have this,” Predula said.

  Wren held up a hand and the short woman fell silent. “So your body is precious? Worthy of this forgiveness sacrifice?”

  “Oh, yes, Mother Wren.” The knife lay on Haranda’s table and Tsianina eyed it.

  “And you must make a sacrifice in order to achieve forgiveness?”

  “Yes. A precious sacrifice.” Those dark eyes looked hopeful.

  “Well, I can’t allow you to continue in this manner.”

  “But—” One hard look from Wren and Tsianina held her tongue. Smart. “There are other ways to do this, youngling.” Wren’s eyes distanced in thought.

  “What do you have in mind?” Haranda thought of the memories of the volcano sacrifices from Tsianina’s mind. Tossing a precious item into the fire to attain forgiveness was deeply ingrained in the island folk.

  “This youngling wants to be purged of guilt, so why not let her sacrifice her humility.” Wren’s eyes found Tsianina again. “If you feel as guilty as you say then you should make the most of this sacrifice. You want your kin’s forgiveness, correct?”

  “Yes, Mother Wren.”

  “Well, kin don’t accept blood, youngling. I think a moon phase in the privies and the laundry should be enough of a sacrifice. The Goddess requires us to wash and keep her home clean. You would be performing duties for Her as well.”

  Tsianina thought on that for several heartbeats. “Yes, Mother Wren. I’ll consent to that. But I would like to start work tonight since I’ve already begun my sacrifice.” She held out her bandaged hand.

  “You can’t work with an injured hand. Predula will heal you tonight and you can begin at sunup. However, you must agree not to cut yourself like this again or do anything that could endanger your life. Had you hidden this from us, you would chance infection. If you need forgiveness, then you must come up with other sacrifices and they must be approved by your clan mother. We can’t allow younglings to bleed themselves.” She stood straight and focused hard eyes on Tsianina’s. “If you continue to harm yourself in this manner then I’ll be forced to purge your mind of these old ways. Now, will you abide by these rules, youngling?”

  “Yes, Mother Wren. That is as it should be.”

  Wren looked satisfied. “Predula, gather the kin in the village circle. I’ll make the announcement.”

  Haranda waited for the two women to leave then led her youngling by the arm to the village circle. Both were silent and stopped near Wren.

  The white-haired woman stood before the gathered kin and raised her arms until everyone quieted. “Gypsy-child Tsianina feels that she has brought upon you the danger the Vedi spoke of. According to her root customs, she must make a sacrifice in order to receive forgiveness. We have decided to allow her this custom. She will begin her sacrifice at dawn, where she will report to the laundry servants and work until morning meal. Each day after lessons, she will clean the privies. Her work will continue for a complete moon cycle.”

  A few brows went up and there were whispers. Several servants looked pleased. No doubt glad of the help.

  Haranda studied her youngling. The girl seemed satisfied with Wren’s choice of sacrifice and her kin’s reactions.

  “What you have heard tonight,” Wren continued, “is Gypsy-child Tsianina’s sacrifice for your forgiveness. When her obligation is fulfilled, no one shall blame this youngling for Lombreeth’s doings. Is this agreed?”

  The kin said their agreements aloud. Haranda, Wren and Predula escorted Tsianina to bed. Predula placed healing hands on the youngling until there was nothing but a thin scar across her palm, and Tsianina was asleep.

  As she stepped to the cottage door, Haranda let Taniras in and asked her to keep an eye on her cottage mate. The animal u
rger seemed quite pleased with that assignment. Tsianina would be in capable hands. Taniras had been a healer’s apprentice before the calling took her.

  “Sleep well, youngling.”

  “And you, Mother Haranda.” Taniras’s black eyes were on her cottage mate.

  Haranda shut the door and headed to her own cottage for a soothing cup of tea. The day’s activities left her with yet another headache, something she wished the healers could take. But their talents with the Energy didn’t work that way. Instead, she would have to rely on herbs.

  Chapter 32

  Taniras gathered carving rocks for Camlys’s arrows and fumed at the chore. She wasn’t a child but since Haranda and the other mothers weren’t far off, she obliged the hunter. This came as part of her punishment for yesterday when she had called Camlys “a boorish girl”. Haranda had not heard the exchange, luckily, and Taniras was careful not to do anything that would get her hauled to the dome.

  Adelsik’s story from visiting Ved’nuri was burned into Taniras’s mind. Part of her wanted to stay and learn more about her aspects of the Energy, but another part wanted to leave this awful place. Countering emotions fought for control each passing sunrise. The Vedi had forbidden younglings to venture beyond the twined oaks and guards stood on duty there. Cass hadn’t mentioned leaving in quite a while so Taniras kept her thoughts to herself. She had no idea why Cass suddenly took a liking to Adelsik when the two were ready to throttle each other just sunrises ago.

  And the night before Winter Solstice celebration, Tsianina had voluntarily agreed to clean the privies for an entire moon cycle, along with laundry duties. The island woman seemed proud of those chores though she had no control over Lombreeth’s actions anymore than she could control the weather. The man was evil, plain and simple, a Gypsy who had turned against his oaths and his kin. What in blazes was Tsianina thinking? Taniras liked her cottage mate, got along well with her, but didn’t think she would ever understand the island woman’s root customs. However, she still kept watch over her as Haranda had asked, the closest thing to a healer’s duty she had been able to do in quite a while, and the task made her feel almost normal again.

  She stepped around Camlys and grunted as she reached down for another stone. Camlys infuriated her, and she fumed every time the younger woman barked an order or called her down for something. Gypsy rules were bloody unfair! Taniras should be new-oathed by now. Though she wasn’t certain she wanted that, either.

  Her predominate Energy frustrated her no end. She harnessed the urging power, but only with bloody animals, and her sparking Energy came to her as weak as most. Two orbs didn’t impress her in the least. Thad had that ability and he also harnessed healing Energy. Blast him! Taniras had prided herself on her healing knowledge and training but that was before she got the calling. Now, many of her days were spent in the barns, which soured her mood. Barn animals weren’t exactly the smartest creatures to walk the Goddess’s earth and they were filthy beasts. She and Adelsik agreed on that point.

  Despite the fact that she trained with two other younglings and an Elder who seemed proud of his animal urging abilities, Taniras was unhappy. Two other younglings also had animal urging Energy but she didn’t associate with them outside of lessons. Though neither had any talent with people, one could grow plants with the Energy, and Taniras felt jealous even of that. At least he could grow herbs to help the sick.

  She enjoyed Adelsik’s company in the barns as a welcomed distraction, but that did little to appease her once they were back with their clan each evening. Adelsik carried out her duty as part of her punishment for threatening Cass, but she would leave the barns soon. Taniras didn’t have that luxury.

  Camlys spoke to her, had been speaking to her for the past several heartbeats, and Taniras finally decided to listen. “Please don’t make me punish you, again, Taniras. We’re still friends. That will never change.”

  She clenched her fists and took in a long breath before answering. “It has changed. And until I reach new-oathed status, I’m forced to take orders from you. I don’t care what the rules are in the Land of the Goddess, this is not right.” She placed the rocks on a stump, none too gently.

  “You’d better not let Haranda hear you speak that way, youngling. Now go to morning meal and let me get to the hunt.”

  Taniras mumbled several curses. Camlys heard her, evidently, because she hauled Taniras into her cottage and shut the door. The girl was still thin but recent training had thickened her muscles and her grip was strong.

  “I’m so weary of your behavior.” Who did Camlys think she was? Gypsy rules or not, Taniras was older. This was wrong. “Why don’t you realize we’re still friends, Taniras? Nothing about that will ever change. At least, not if I can help it.”

  Taniras could hold her temper no longer. “I don’t care what Gypsy law says. We’re Maricari women, Camlys. I’m older than you. You have no right to treat me as a wayward child. I would still be a healer’s apprentice had I not been foolish enough to run away with you and the others.”

  “We’re Gypsy kin now, and from what I’ve learned, you would’ve been pulled to this place eventually. Or died resisting.” Camlys stood about a finger-length taller and used that to her advantage on many occasions, such as now. She stepped close to Taniras and gazed down with eyes as hard as any Gypsy’s. “I took oaths to the Goddess and I intend to honor those promises.”

  “I took no such oaths. I was bloody abducted by these Gypsies.”

  Despite studying herbs in Predula’s classes, Taniras’s patience with her Energy had run out. She didn’t hate animals but they were dirty and stupid, not fit for healer work. It took little urging to get them to follow her wishes. Part of her wondered when she would be asked to take oaths. She wasn’t certain she even wanted to, but that thought she kept from Camlys. The girl would probably run straight to Haranda with her tongue flapping.

  The tall girl’s smile annoyed her too. “You may as well stop that stupid grinning, Camlys. I’ve no intention of conversing with you as long as you continue to give me these idiotic chores.” Camlys had made Taniras fetch her boots, search for proper stones to make arrowheads, and even wash her underbreeches. Insufferable!

  “I wouldn’t punish you if you acted like a woman and not a spoiled child.”

  Taniras clenched her teeth and balled her hands into fists. She wanted to hit Camlys but Haranda would probably haul her to Ved’nuri for it. “You are the child, Camlys Ei’dwinn. I won’t show respect to a child.”

  “Very well. Have it your way.” Camlys snatched a basket from the side of her bed, and Taniras eyed the thing. Pink and yellow ribbons hung freely from the handle, just like the promise baskets Maricari girls carried to the Spring Solstice dance, girls who were too young for marriage. “You will keep this with you at all times, unless otherwise instructed by a Gypsy or servant. And you will fill it with branches for my new arrows. I need good, strong ones and plenty of them. Fill it to the top.” She offered a sly grin.

  Taniras quelled a stream of curses. Gypsies might not know the humiliation of a grown woman carrying a promise basket, but Snowy, Birek and Greges would fall on the ground in laughter if they saw her with the thing. Taniras hated the thought of Snowy seeing her but she quelled throttling Camlys for fear of an even more humiliating punishment. Blazes! The girl had learned far too well from her brother.

  Taniras stepped out of Camlys’s cottage with the basket in hand and a sour countenance. Snowy was no where that she could see so she relaxed a bit. She couldn’t explain why she antagonized Camlys so much, even to herself. The girl tried to be friendly. But Taniras was Maricari, not Gypsy, and only someone older had a right to humiliate her like this.

  “You earned this.” Camlys stepped to a nearby tree. Taniras followed, biting her tongue to keep from spouting a string of curses that would make Eletha blush. “I warned you not to argue with me.” Camlys pulled her tall, lean body straight and gazed at Taniras, her face hard. “Get to morning mea
l, youngling,” she said in a beautiful imitation of Haranda. One hand snapped a long branch from the tree and she began plucking off the leaves.

  Taniras stood her place and watched the hunter’s deft fingers a heartbeat then jumped when the stick came whistling down across the trunk of the tree.

  “Something you didn’t understand, youngling?” This time the girl’s voice was dangerous, more dangerous that Taniras had ever heard.

  Have I pushed her too far? Camlys had never humiliated her like this and there was no hint of amusement on her face now. Though it stung like an angry bee to tender skin, she decided to bury her pride and not test the girl further. “No, Camlys. I understand perfectly.” She hurried to her clan table, glancing over her shoulder several times at the retreating hunter. She took a seat next to Maesa and shoved the hideous basket under the table between her feet.

  Maesa sighed. “You’re daring Mother Haranda to interfere, Taniras. Why can’t you accept Camlys for what she is and be cordial? She still wants to be your friend.” This from a girl who’d once looked down on those less fortunate. Although Maesa had never been as bad as Adelsik.

  Taniras grunted and focused on her clan sister’s sharp features. “I know. But she has authority over me. There’s something terribly wrong about that.”

  “Didn’t you tell me you disciplined her in the past? Back in your village?”

  Taniras shot her a look. Who did this girl think she was? She forced herself to calm. “That’s different. I’m older. That was my right as a Maricari woman.”

  “And now it’s her right.”

  “Oh, shut it, Maesa.” So much for calm. “Nothing about this is right. It’s just some inane Gypsy rule I have to follow until I reach new-oathed.”

  “You don’t seem to be doing very well with it.”

  “Is there a problem, younglings?” Haranda stood near the table with her arms crossed.

  “No, Mother Haranda,” the two said in unison. Those invasive eyes studied Taniras for several heartbeats. She forced herself not to look away, when in fact, she wanted to crawl beneath the table and curl up with her basket like an idiot child. “See that you keep it that way.” Haranda glanced in the direction Camlys had gone then walked toward a small crowd of Gypsies.