Into the Fray: Volume 1 of The Sorcerers of Jhanvia Series (43 page)

“I’ll try.”

As it happened, the three of them strolled about the village, talking and laughing and enjoying life to its fullest for a couple of hours. It was the first time they had done that as a family in over thirteen years.

Evening had returned once again, and the sun left the day with another perfect image of its golden light turned pink against the
bottoms of the thin wispy purple clouds above. Kidreyli had fetched some food from the table at the center of the village and was headed back to join her parents when she saw off in the distance her mother grasp at her chest and collapse. Suliya tried to catch her and they fell together to the ground, Talenyan landing in her lap.

Kidreyli dropped the food and exclaimed, “Mother!” She ran over to see Suliya sitting on the ground cradling her.

“Hold me tight one more time,” Talenyan requested, and Suliya complied.

“I’ve felt this before,” Talenyan said. “My time has come.”

“Please stay with me just a little longer,” Suliya begged.

“Look at the sky, my love,” Talenyan drew her last breath, “it’s so beautiful.”

Her spirit released its mortal ties and her body fell limp in her anamhra’s arms.

Suliya caressed her lover’s eyelids shut with her fingers. With tears dripping from her cheeks, she traced her finger along Talenyan’s eyebrows, “I love you with all that I am. I will miss you so, my love. We will meet again in another time and place. Now go, soar among the clouds and look in on me from time to time.”

The three Katrion slowly moved near the stream and assembled near the water’s edge, their heads facing together touching, and their hindquarters pointed away in three equidistant directions. They seemed to just stand motionless and silent, but Kidreyli heard a drumming howl in her mind that spiraled off into the distance. The message that a Valtyr warrior had passed, echoing through the caverns of time of the Katrion.

Kidreyli knelt down behind Suliya and wrapped her arms around her, looking down on her mother’s face. She found herself weeping uncontrollably.

Suliya reached up and cupped her cheek, “It’s all right.”

“I know. I don’t know why I’m crying like this,” Kidreyli said through her sobbing.

Suliya explained, “Because you knew she was dying, but you never came to grips with the reality of death and separation. She is gone, but she is never far away.”

Kidreyli buried her face in Suliya’s hair and cried for several minutes. Suliya let her. Then the young warrior took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her face. She grimaced as she stood and started toward the forest, holding her left side with her hand.

“Where are you going?” Suliya asked.

“To get wood,” she replied without looking back.

Kidreyli took her time, selecting the best wood she could find and piling it carefully in the chosen place. A ritual unto itself. After nearly an hour of effort, she created an acceptable platform about six feet high. Then she set off to the open field, gathering long blades of green grass. She used them to create a bedding on top of the wood about three inches deep. In the death ritual of the Valtyr, this symbolized their connection to the land.

Culain and some of the other villagers stood nearby watching quietly and reverently. Suliya had freshened up her lover’s clothing, arranging her weapons just as she liked them. She combed her hair one last time, laying the long grey locks over her shoulders and onto her chest.

The old warrior asked, “Culain, could you please help me?”

“Of course, dear lady,” he said as he came to her.

The old man strained a bit as he lifted Talenyan’s body and carried it over to the wooden structure, laying her down carefully and gently. Suliya touched her finger to her tongue and moistened her love’s now blue lips, and then touched up her eyebrows and put a few errant hairs back in their place so that everything was just so. She covered her from the neck down with a white cloth, a symbol of rebirth to the Valtyr, and then laid her sword on her chest with the blade toward her feet. Kidreyli had wrapped a piece of cloth around the end of a piece of wood and lit it on fire using the flames from the village fire pit.
She brought it over and handed it to Suliya, who, without hesitation, pushed it into the lowest part of the wooden structure in a few select locations, setting it ablaze. From behind, the villagers watched the two Valtyr silhouetted against the bright flames in the late evening darkness. Mother and daughter leaned on each other while they witnessed the fire send Talenyan’s mortal remains into the night sky.

The next morning Suliya was up with the sounds of the birds in the trees. She put on her clothes and buckled on her sword, then noticed an amber pendant lying on top of Talenyan’s things. It was one of her love’s favorite pieces. She smiled to herself and held it tightly in her hands for a moment, then draped it over her neck, knowing that it wasn’t there the night before when she went to sleep. In her thoughts she said, “Jhaytri, Dulyon, we should go now.”

Suliya picked up their belongings, stepped outside the hut and saw Kidreyli standing motionless in the morning shadows by the still-smoldering ashes of the funeral pyre, her arms folded across her waist to ward off the morning cold. Culain was standing nearby, obviously not sure what to do next. She quietly walked over and watched her for a few moments.

“Have you been out here all night?” Suliya asked.

Kidreyli nodded.

“I have to go,” Suliya addressed her daughter as the two Katrion approached.

“Please stay for a little while. We could catch up,” the young Valtyr requested.

Suliya thought about it for a moment, and then shook her head, “I can’t. Being here is…. just too hard…you know?”

Kidreyli nodded her understanding.

“What will you do next?” Suliya asked as she affixed the travel bags to her saddle.

“My Kaitra…,” Kidreyli looked at her with forlorn eyes, “I can’t live without her. I must get her back.”

Suliya held out her arms and Kidreyli fell into them. The young one had never felt such a firm hug from her. Not surprising as she was all that was left from her life with Talenyan. She smiled as she whispered, “I understand, my beautiful baby girl. Know that I love you with all my heart. When you get Kaitra back, please send word and I’ll come to you.”

“I will,” Kidreyli replied.

“Be safe and happy, always,” the old warrior said as she mounted Jhaytri.

“I love you, mother,” Kidreyli said with teary eyes. She had never called Suliya mother before.

“I love you too. Don’t fret, my dear, we’ll see each other again.” She looked to the old soldier and said, “Culain, you take care of my two girls.”

“Aye, m’ lady. You can count on it,” he promised.

“May the Old Ones watch over you both,” Suliya said as she turned Jhaytri and led Dulyon westward.