Bells of the Kingdom (Children of the Desert Book 3) (67 page)

Staying submerged in an aqeyva trance, in that safe grey nothingness, seemed infinitely preferable to being overwhelmed by the hideous hunger rising in him.

He dropped down into the grey, twisting himself round and round until he’d worked himself into that tiny, private part of his mind where nothing existed but the steady flow of breath and pulse. Even there, tendrils of red and white snaked after his attention; he ignored them. The grey dissolved them, dispersed them, distanced murderous rage into insignificance.

After what seemed a handful of heartbeats and forever all at once, the tendrils stopped trying to prod him into action. He sensed the flood of fury draining slowly, steadily away: going from a torrential icemelt river to a muddy puddle. Intuition told him it wouldn’t get better than that. He sighed and unwound himself with fragile care, stepping around that slickness as best he could.

So aqeyva worked as a method of controlling the vast anger he’d somehow absorbed from his mother. That was a good thing to know, as was the new understanding of what happened when he drew—whatever that had been—from another creature.

He could feel Enia’s memories swirling through his mind too, now, but they were fragile and easily shredded things, scarcely strong enough to see clearly. But his mother’s memories—

Don’t look at that,
he told himself, and retreated into an aqeyva haze until the temptation to see into her agonized darkness, to understand why she’d done the things she’d done, went away. He wasn’t strong enough to look at that. He’d already begun to crumble under the least fringes of it.

She’d been right. He was a fool and a child, without any real understanding of the world he walked through. But even if he had understood entirely, he probably wouldn’t have done much differently. Whatever Kolan believed, Ellemoa had been—as Tank put it—stable as a brick balanced on a pin. The risk of her losing all restraint had been too high; and now that he understood how strong the pressure inside her had run, he knew his decision had been the right one.

Kolan was human. Like the desert lords, he only thought he understood what he’d been dealing with.

Idisio rubbed his eyes clear and looked at the open window—and into a flood of bright, warm sunlight. His overloaded eyes flooded with tears for a moment, then adjusted and dried out.

Sunlight,
his mother said, desperate, whining,
needing—

He checked to be sure he had belt pouch and knife—the only things he owned, now, as there was no point even trying to go back to Bright Bay—then went out into the warm daylight. The inn stood among a stand of thick featherpalm trees and stone pines, heavily draped with ivy; the side of the inn on which Idisio’s room had been was the only spot receiving direct sun. The front door lay bathed in cool purple-grey shade.

Idisio shivered and started for the sun-striped road beyond the inn yard, then stopped, staring.

Kolan stood on the road, watching him without any particular expression. The sunlight caught glimmers of silver from his brown hair, and he had lines on his face that belonged to a man much older than the age at which Ellemoa’s memories placed him.

For some reason, Idisio thought of Yuer; he put that aside as a distraction and focused on Kolan instead. He took a tentative step forward and said, “Kolan?”

Kolan only looked at him, gaze steady and clear and grey. Kolan didn’t speak. Kolan
—waited,
as though to see what Idisio would do now.

Had his eyes been that color before? Idisio couldn’t remember, and the uncertainty put another chill up his back. But the fastest path to get to the sunlight was to approach Kolan, and the inner pressure was growing—whining, nagging, pleading,
demanding
that he leave the cooler shadows. The
darker
shadows.

He walked forward, slowly, watching Kolan for any indication that the man planned an attack. Kolan stood still, his smoky gaze amused; his only motion to tilt his head to one side a bit. As Idisio neared, the man turned and walked east along the road a few steps, then stopped and looked back at Idisio, one eyebrow raised.

Idisio stared, speechless and bewildered. Kolan stared back, waiting with apparently infinite patience.

At last, Idisio took a step, then another; stood at the man’s side without ever quite meaning to do so. Kolan nodded and began walking, Idisio beside him. After a while, Idisio noticed the man angled his path to walk through sunlight whenever possible. Something taut inside him relaxed; he loosened his stride, and even grinned as a flock of starlings wheeled overhead, grackling their hoarse, strident cries, the sun catching iridescent patterns out of their black feathers.

Kolan watched the birds too, smiling as though at some fond memory, but remained silent. Idisio, not knowing what to say, settled willingly into the companionable quiet. As they neared the eastern edge of Sandsplit, Kolan finally spoke.

In a voice that belonged to a much younger man, he said, “I want to start by telling you about the bells. There were always the bells....”

A number of the words in the southern language include the glottal-stop, which is rendered here as ^. A glottal stop involves closing, to some degree, the back of the throat, resulting in a near-coughing sound when released. Sometimes this sounds as though a hard “H” has been inserted.

Aenstone
(
ayn
-stone): An Aerthraim Family-created stone composite; they hold the process secret. In sufficient quantity, aenstone blocks psychic communications, inhibits the use of psychic abilities, and weakens ha’ra’hain.

Aerth
(
ay
-erth): Rough translation:
feathers, freedom, flight.
Exact meaning dependent on dialect and context.

Aerthraim lanterns
: Any lamp filled with the peculiar green oil produced only by Aerthraim Family; gives off an unusually white light and little to no smoke when burned.

Aesa
(
ay
-sah): A common plant whose leaves, when dried and used in a pipe, produce a mild euphoria. Illegal in the north; legal south of Bright Bay.

Ahnn
(
awwn
): There is no direct northern equivalent to this word; an expression of gratitude for one’s host’s honor, patience, generosity, and grace, with overtones of
Thank you for not killing us while we sheltered under your roof.

Alli
(
ahl
-lee):
1.
The number
two
(southern).
2.
A simple two-pipe instrument, usually wooden, occasionally metal, common to the southlands.

Ana-ha, va’bit
(
ahhnah
-hah, vah-
beet
): Rough translation:
Service/apology accepted.
A very old and out-of-use phrase: ha’ra’hain accepting apologies or submission from a human.

Aqeyva
(ack-
ee
-vah, alt. ahh-
keh
-vah): A combination of martial-arts training and meditation disciplines. The combat training is often referred to as a `dance’ as it involves smooth, flowing motions that have no apparent resemblance to any fighting mode.

Asp-jacau
(
asp
-jack-
how
): A slender canine with long, thin snout and legs. Its short-haired coat tends toward fawn or brindle coloring. Its excellent sense of smell is primarily used to detect dangerous snakes and (in some cases) drugs. In Bright Bay, only royalty or King’s Guard patrols may own an asp-jacau, but below the Horn the asp-jacau is a common companion animal.

Athain
(ath-
ain
): Lit. translation:
spirit-walker.
Teyanain specially trained to manipulate energy and psychic forces; extremely dangerous people, and very rare. Athain are considered holy by the teyanain. While they have elaborate outfits for ceremonial purposes, in “ordinary” clothes athain are distinguished by a unique manner of braiding their hair: beginning as one braid, then dividing further into three smaller braids, usually laced with tiny beads.

Ayn
(
ain
): Chabi piece representing water. Cylindrical in shape, the ayn moves like a crooked stream: two spaces in one direction, three in another. It is one of the most versatile pieces on the board.

Bene
(
beh
-ne):
1.
The number
three
(southern).
2
. A relatively simple three-pipe instrument common to the southlands. Like the
alli,
it is most commonly made of wood.

Cactus-flute
: A long, thin flute made from minor branches of the same hard-skinned cactus used for making shabacas. Produces a thin, piping sound; sometimes tied together in sets of three to produce a wider range of tones.

Calcen
(
khal
-czen): The title teyanain use for their leader; not permitted to outsiders. It is considered a gross offense for any non-teyanain to use that term.

Callen
(
call
-en): One sworn to the service of a southern god.

Ceiling tube
: A skylight in the form of a wide tube lined with mirrors; developed by Aerthraim Family. The secret of their manufacture is tightly controlled; they must be installed and repaired by Aerthraim craftsmen.

Chaal
(
chawl
): A southern servant’s term for people of high southern status; generally refers to desert lords.

Chabi
(
chah
-bee): A desert game whose underlying principles, moves and strategies reflect the principles of survival in a dry, hostile environment. In chabi, different types of pieces represent wind, water, goods, and money; different areas of the board represent compass directions, fortresses, fire, air, and water.

Chekk
(
check
): A community of ha’ra’hain openly living above ground. Extremely rare, as the genetic deterioration generally turns any such group into a human community within three generations—and the combative nature of many ha’ra’hain makes creating a balanced community a tricky process.

Chich
(
chihch
): A substance developed by the Aerthraim to assist with various drug addictions, notably dasta. Generally mixed into a tough, extremely spicy fruit or meat jerky carrier.

Chichi
(
chee
-chee): A small, hand-held clapper style of drum; generally a lightly hinged or tied striker and a metallic or wooden “head”.

Clee
: Three athain working together; extremely rare and extremely dangerous.

Coming or going
: Street-slang inquiry about a relationship; “is she coming or going” means, more or less, “is she your girlfriend or a temporary amusement?”

Comos
(
Cohm
-ohs): One of three gods honored in the southlands. Represents the neutrality/balance/questioning energies; also linked to the season of winter, the colors white and brown, and curiosity. Callen of Comos, if male, must be castrated; women must be past menopause to be allowed out in the world at large.

Dahass
(dah-
hahs
; alt., dah-
hass
): Nomadic tribes that roam the uncharted and unclaimed southlands and follow no ruler but their own leader. They are likely the source of many of the wilder tales of southern barbarism that circulate in the northlands, as they find spreading such rumors amusing.

Daimaina
(day-
may
-nah): Southern version of “housekeeper”; generally but not always shares the Head of Family’s bed. Holds considerable power in her own right, but in a sharply limited sphere. Male version is
daiman.

Dasta
(
dah
-stah): A drug originally developed by the ketarches, whose use has altered significantly over the years.

Dashaic
(dash-
ache
): So-called dasta tea is dasta powder turned into a thick, potent syrup. Dashaic travels better than the powder, as it runs less risk of being ruined by damp conditions, but is more difficult to produce and thus far more expensive.

Datda
(
Dat
-dah): One of three gods honored in the southlands, Datda represents the negative/death/change energies; also linked to the season of high summer, the colors red and black, and the emotion of anger. Commonly called “the Sun Lord”; saying the name aloud is held to be bad luck. Only Datda’s Callen may safely pronounce the holy name, but they tend to be reluctant to advertise their affiliation; everyone knows that most Callen of Datda have trained extensively as assassins and spies.

Dathedain
(
dath
-heh-
dane
): Followers of the god Datda.

Desert sage
: A tree-sized plant resembling ordinary garden sage, which has adapted for desert life; the leaves curl up during the day’s heat into thick, needle-shaped rolls, and spread out in damp weather or at night. After a long drought, even a slight breeze will stir the dead leaves into a shivery, rattling sound. The dry wood gives off a pleasant aroma when burned, but the leaves are not edible. Often holds large nests of blood-spiders and micru.

Desert truce
: An agreement to work together for mutual survival in a hostile environment; ends immediately upon reaching safety.

Devil-tree
: A tree largely found in southern wastelands, with deeply fissured bark, wildly twisted branches, and semi-soft needle-style leaves; cones are bright red and poisonous to humans, but attract a variety of wildlife. The wood does not burn easily and gives off a nasty smoke.

Druu
(
dreww
): Master drummer. Must understand and be able to use each of the numerous percussion instruments known in the south.

Eki
(
eh
-key): One of the Four Gods of the Northern Church pantheon; represents Wind. She is considered to be the most evil of the Northern gods, and her good nature is rarely appealed to, for her favors carry a heavy price. Her strength is that of the air and clouds. She is deceitful and often malicious. Thieves often call on her for protection.

Esthit
(
ess-thitt
): A drug originally developed by the ketarches, whose use has altered significantly over the years.