Doublesight (19 page)

The five new council members turned toward each other, but didn't appear to know what to do next. Lankor thanked Raik for standing when he did, and then nodded to Brok. When he went to acknowledge Zimp, she turned her head and said, “You're welcome. Now, let's get out of here. I need a good sleep before this morning meeting. I have a feeling about it.”

20

“I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS,” Brull said to his son. “What are they thinking? The doublesight can't win a battle against the humans. It doesn't matter what beast image they carry, there just aren't enough of them. Why can't they remain what they are?”

“And what's that?” Raik said.

“A symbol of our past mistakes, of what went wrong,” Brull answered while pacing their small campsite.

“We are all m-mistakes?” Raik said. “Then why would you m-marry one of us?”

Brull calmed. “You know that's not what I'm saying. The High Priest Orn of Flande has been a friend of the doublesight since the beginning. I believe in that friendship. And the Three Princes of Crell have always welcomed the doublesight.”

“As long as the d-doublesight are passive,” Raik said. “As long as we are a novelty, an intuitive, a sh-showman of some type.”

“You are one of the Guard of Flande, my son. Do you not take that position seriously? That is not a novelty.”

“Do you not take your council position seriously, father?” Raik said.

“And which loyalty would you have me take first? My family, the High Priest, the doublesight? Which would honor and be loyal to me over the others?” Brull said.

“Which do you b-believe in?” Raik said.

“I just think that your band of peaceful infiltrators should include at least one human.” Brull took one step closer to his son, his voice rising. “Someone who might know how humans think.”

Raik backed away. “Would you suggest Bennek in my stead?” he retorted. “Or C-Cis? Or perhaps yourself? Should The Few trust humans while they turn and k-kill anything more powerful than they?”

Brull lifted his fist, as Raik slid to one side in response and removed his sword.

Nebbie screamed out, “No. Why must you two always fight?”

Raik lowered his weapon and glanced over at his mother. To Bennek he said, “I'm sorry for my words.”

“I understand,” Bennek said.

“Do you trust yourself?” Brull asked Raik.

Raik felt the point of his question. “I must.”

“That is not an answer I would suggest you take on this journey of yours. They don't know anything about you.” Brull turned his back and ducked into his tent. Nebbie followed right away.

Bennek closed the space between he and his brother. “You have to understand him. I know how it is to stay awake and wonder why your body won't change, why you feel like an animal sometimes, but can't quite reach out far enough to shift. And you, so powerful and so weak.”

“It's a c-curse being like this. Why doesn't he try to understand m-me?” Raik responded. “You've seen my boys. What would you suggest I do about them? Zip will k-kill Ka one day.”

“Doublesight must be provoked to be aggressive when in beast image, you know that. And with your sons, family bond will stop them from harming each other,” Bennek said.

“I'm not so sure. The Great Land is ch-changing. Don't you worry what Idune will produce? What if your own son or daughter b-bites you one day? Humans are afraid of us. I've heard you talk with Idune about the potential p-problem. I'm surprised you married her.”

“Look Raik, I'm not our father. You aren't either. Have you ever tried to kill any of us? Have you had that thought?” Bennek said.

Raik's wife Eena poked her head from one of the tents. “Please, Raik, the children can hear you.”

He replaced his sword. “I've had the thought, but have done n-nothing about it. Perhaps you're right about family.”

“Even the doublesight are human first. Try as you might, that is a bond you cannot break easily. Of all people, the doublesight know that war brings the potential for nonexistence as a race. Your human image will never go away. That's what you are. It's what you return to when you die.” Bennek strolled over to Raik's side and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. “Let us walk a bit.”

Raik followed Bennek's lead. “I wouldn't be able to s-sleep anyway,” he said.

They walked on the moss cushion that lay over the forest floor in some areas, once they got off the winding and crossing paths between campsites. A few days before, on their way to the council, their family group crossed a small creek. Raik longed to be there now. The ripple and tinkle of slowly moving water as it folded over itself relaxed him.

“You may shift for a while, if you like,” Bennek said.

Raik stopped walking and bent forward to listen, his hand held up to quiet his brother. “I hear others talking. We are too c-close to the camps.” He smiled and paced forward again. “I'm easier to talk with after a shift. Is that why you suggest it?”

“It's only easier after the right kind of shift. But, no, that wasn't what I was thinking. I just wanted you to have the opportunity to roam around tonight, nocturnally. I thought you'd appreciate it.”

“I wouldn't be much help in the m-morning, though. It will be difficult enough for me to sleep tonight.” Raik said. “I couldn't meet tomorrow unless I shifted t-twice. That w-would take hours.”

“Why don't you give yourself equal time between images? It's like you ignore a part of yourself. It gets the minimum amount of time you can give it, and during those few hours, you hide away. I've been with you then; you're not so bad. In fact, you're quite pleasant much of the time,” Bennek said.

“I'm not pleasant, I'm afraid. I'm angry. And I'm easily persuaded. That's the t-time when I am most apt to do something wrong, something against my n-nature. That's when I hate myself the most. Th-this life I live isn't right. I would w-wish it on no one.”

“That's not how I see it,” Bennek said.

Raik pounded his chest. “You are not in h-here. You do not have to b-battle yourself.” He turned around and Bennek followed. “Let's go back. I am afraid someone might overhear our conversation.”

“See, it's more difficult talking intimately with you now, yet this is when you are most willing to talk.” He went quiet until they were almost to their campsite again. “At least you can shift.”

“Not at will. Not like all these others. After I s-shift, I must wait hours before I can do it again. It scares me when I'm unable to change. These doublesight shift back and forth like they are blinking their eyes. Don't you see, I don't fit in here and I don't f-fit in with humans? I'm as unique a creature as the dragon image doublesight, Lankor.”

“You fit in more than I do. Staying here is uncomfortable for me. There are just too many doublesight, and they all look at me like they know I can't shift, like I'm a freak of nature, like the gargoyles of the past. I can literally feel all the different energies around me, all the different beast images just waiting to snap into existence. It scares me like you wouldn't know.”

“And h-having me scared with you would help?”

Bennek shook his head. “I don't think having you scared would help so much as having you listen and understand my vulnerability. That's how you feel, isn't it? Vulnerable?”

“I feel as vulnerable around the doublesight as I do around humans,” Raik said. “At the m-moment I am at my strongest and most able to participate. Eena understands that about me and likes me this way, before a primary shift.”

“Even the way you talk about shifting is exclusive, primary and secondary. I might suggest you switch the two,” Bennek said, “and learn a bit more about your other half.” Bennek grabbed Raik's arm. “We both know why Eena likes you closest to your primary image. I wonder if she has ever been a threat. And one more thing before we enter camp again; I suggest you consider how you will explain your double image to your new travel partners. You might consider letting The Few know as well. I would like to see you return, my brother, regardless of our differences.”

“Do you fear they will kill me rather than the dragon traveling with us?” Raik said.

“The dragon is a weapon to be used against another dragon. He must know that. But you are truly different. You know how some people are with something they don't understand. Consider a separate meeting with The Few. Let someone know. That's all I'm suggesting.”

“I'll think about it,” Raik said. He pulled his arm loose from Bennek's grip. He pointed at the soft glow of moonlight that lay across the clearing where their tents were set. “I should s-sleep if I am to leave in the morning. Eena will wish to have time with me, t-too.”

“And Idune will need my warmth this cool evening,” Bennek said. “I want you to know that we argue about the sex of our child as much as the possibility of it being doublesight or human only. Add to that the possibility of a variety of images, and we've had a few battles I'd wish on no one. But still, she is the woman for me.”

“She is that,” Raik said.

21

ZIMP RECALLED ZORA'S WARNING that the Flandeans were ‘varied in their beliefs, unsure of their position,’ and that they were ‘enemies and brothers’ and ‘liars and thieves’. She had to wonder if the thieves mentioned were her own clan, which would mean that the Flandeans were liars. But did Zora mean all the Flandeans? Apparently not, or they would not be varied in their beliefs. The problem she faced was which of the warnings included Raik, now that she would be forced to travel with him.

A wheezing sound came from Oronice as she slept.

Zimp lay awake, waiting for the sun to draw out the call of the birds, robins in these woods. The mental thickness of deep sacred meditation from the evening before had slipped from her mind. The memory of her meeting with The Few and the other four doublesight shifted inside her as though she were making some of it up. The meeting may have been cut short by Lankor's questioning. If The Few changed their mind about including him because his actions proved him volatile, she would feel safer.

She rolled to her side and smelled the fresh scent of the forest wisp through the wagon. The loose canvas hanging over the end flapped in a soft breeze. Silence stood all around, beyond where she lay awake. It was possible, she thought, that all the doublesight had packed up and moved on, leaving only her wagon. She felt the presence of no other person except Oro, lying in her bunk. Zimp rolled to her back, then to her other side. Something wasn't quite right with the silence. She could sense morning as her own instinct kicked in. In a slow, easy motion, Zimp drew her blanket from her
body and slipped into her clothes. After tying her shirt, she smoothly tumbled from the wagon and landed soundlessly onto the ground. Her arms stretched from her sides. Her ears picked up a soft crunching of leaves and she turned to see Breel stepping with caution from behind a nearby tree.

Breel came close. “It's too quiet.”

Zimp nodded.

“Your guards?” Breel said.

No sooner did she ask than Storret stepped from the path that led toward the council tent. He rushed to Zimp and Breel. “There are humans advancing from all sides.”

“Why didn't you send a warning?” Breel asked.

Zimp turned to her and answered for Storret. “They would have attacked and we would have been unprepared. We must alert everyone in quiet.”

“Their weapons are not pulled. They believe they are being stealthy,” Storret said.

Breel smiled. “I'll go around the east side with Brok and Therin.”

“I'll go west,” Zimp said.

Storret reached to stop Breel, his hand brushing her gently, almost affectionately, Zimp noticed. Once he got her attention he said to them both, “Zimp, Brok, and Therin must meet with The Few immediately at the council tent.” He smiled and touched Zimp's face. “Take Oronice with you. She must be protected.”

Zimp nodded.

Breel looked as though she was about to cry. “Why both of my brothers?” She asked no one.

“I'll watch over you,” Storret said.

Zimp appreciated her cousin's gentleness in the situation. If she had not known him as well as she had, she would have thought that he felt deeply for Breel.

“Go,” he said. “I'll travel west. Zerran and Crepp will alert us if things change.” He rushed toward the path and disappeared in a moment.

Breel took Zimp's hand and squeezed it. “May your Gods be with you and ours be with my brothers,” she said. Then she let go and slinked off down the easterly path.

Zimp rushed toward the wagon to wake Oro, but her grandmother waited, sitting upright on her bunk.

Oro handed Zimp three bundles. “Take these.”

Zimp strapped the bundles to her waist. When she reached up again, Oro handed her granddaughter a sword and a dagger. Again Zimp tucked the two weapons on her body, one around her waist and the other inside her boot. After that, Oro allowed Zimp to help her down from the wagon. The two scurried off as quickly as they could.

The activity level increased as they approached the council tent, but the people remained silent. Zimp had an eerie feeling from the activity, which included flashing blade, knives, staffs, and anything that could be used as a weapon. Children were ushered along the path toward the council tent. Zimp met with Eena, Raik and their two boys. Bennek's wife Idune was with them, but Bennek was not.

Eena answered Zimp's unasked question. “The men are warriors and guards. They will fight.”

“Except for me,” Raik said from her side. “I'll hide with the children.”

“You must not be seen,” Oro said, almost breathless.

“We've got to trust The Few. We are part of the council now,” Zimp said. “Remember your oath?”

“You need not be concerned with my memory,” Raik said.

Eena pushed against his side to quiet him. “He didn't sleep well,” she said.

When Zimp and the Flandeans entered the tent, Brok and Therin greeted them. Lankor showed up only a moment after Zimp and Oro. The Few ushered the five of them out a side exit. Before letting go of Zimp, Oro said in a soft voice, “Listen for me.” Zimp noticed the want in Eena's eyes. Raik held her for a long time, then separated and followed The Few down the path and into the cabin where the door closed behind them.