Galaxy's Edge Magazine: Issue 2, May 2013 (33 page)

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Authors: et al. Mike Resnick

BOOK: Galaxy's Edge Magazine: Issue 2, May 2013

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So we take a deep breath of Mictlan and we bring the alien presence into our lungs because we have no choice. We will slowly become Mictlan. Mictlan will become us.

And the Something that obliterated the Miccail will take a long look at us: because we are here, because we breathe, because we drink the water and eat the plants.

I wonder if that Something will like us better than it did the Miccail.

INTERLUDE: KaiSa

After leaving MasTa, Kai had gone directly to ker rooms in the TeTa house and packed the few belongings which were truly kers into ker traveling pouch: the well-used grinding stones for herbs and potions which JaqSa had given ker as a parting gift the first time ke’d left the sacred Sa island called AnglSaiye; the parchment book of medicines, written in the private language of the Sa with the sacred inks only the Sa knew how to make; the relic of VeiSaTi which was ker authorization to move freely outside the island; the tools of sacrifice. Ke left behind the fine anklet BieTe had carved for ker from redstone, with crystalline images of BieTe and MasTa’s sacred animals set in the swirling, ornate patterns. Keeping the jewelry would only remind ker of Bie and Mas, and of the children ke had helped to sire here.

It was painful enough to leave. It was even more painful to have to remember.

Kai shouldered ker pack and pushed open the door. A hand pushed ker back inside: NosXe, one of BieTe’s adopted sons. Kai stumbled and fell backward, striking ker left shoulder hard on the flagstone floor. “My father said you would try to leave,” Nos grumbled. “You don’t know how much BieTe and MasTa care for you, KaiSa.”

“I know all too well, Nos,” Kai answered. “And if I didn’t love them in return, I wouldn’t be leaving now. Cycles from now, if you become Te, you will understand that. Tell me, Nos, did BieTe or MasTa send you here?”

NosXe didn’t have to answer; the grim stubbornness on his face told Kai that the young son of Bie had acted on his own. Kai rubbed ker sore shoulder, knowing it would shame Nos even more to see that he had injured a Sa.

“I thought not. Your Ta and Te know that it’s the curse of Sa to always travel, to leave those they love most. Your Ta and Te know that no matter how much they would like me to stay, I cannot. And they cannot make me stay, not without raising the wrath of VeiSaTi Kerself. Is that what you’re willing to risk, Nos? Are you willing to defy a god?”

Always before, that had worked. It was the threat of VeiSaTi’s anger that kept all Sa safe. Kai thought that the warning, a doctrine taught to all of the CieTiLa—The People—from childhood, had worked now. Still rubbing ker shoulder, ke got to ker feet and started to walk out past the grim-faced Nos, who still blocked the doorway. But as ke brushed past, Nos reached out with a hand and grabbed Kai’s shoulder with his right hand, his talons slightly extended.

“No,” Nos started to say, but Kai had already reacted.

Kai slapped ker left hand on top of Nos’, claws out. At the same time, ke turned ker hip back and brought ker right arm on top of Nos’, dropping ker weight. Cloth tore on Kai’s shoulder, but Nos howled in pain as his wrist was torqued. The much larger Xe collapsed to his knees to escape the pressure, and Kai completed the pin, taking the struggling Nos down to the floor. Holding Nos’ wrist with one hand, ke reached out with ker long fingers and pressed them on either side of Nos’ neck, just below the ears—closing the arteries. Nos’ struggles became weaker; a few seconds later, he went limp.

Kai released the pin. Ke checked to make sure that Nos was still breathing, then stood. “The Sa are also taught to protect those they love,” Kai told the unconscious Nos. “That is another thing you must learn. What you love most is also the most dangerous to you.”

Ke stepped over Nos. Ke found that now that it was over, ke was shaking from the sudden encounter. The settlement of BieTe and MasTa, which had once seemed so peaceful and welcoming, now frightened ker.

Ke walked away, almost at a run.

BieTe had started the ceremonial fire on the bluff over-looking the sea. KaiSa could see the smear of dark smoke against the twilight sky and the silhouetted figures of BieTe’s people as they moved in the preliminary dance of welcome to the new infant. But Kai saw them only in the distance.

Ke moved quickly from the settlement into the woods. A few of the Je and Ja saw ker, but—under the bonds of servitude and at the bottom of the social structure of the CieTiLa—there was no chance that any of them would, like NosXe, challenge Kai’s right to go where ke wanted, whenever ke wanted. One of the Ja watched as ke moved away from the cluster of wood and stone buildings; Kai knew that the word would get to BieTe, either from the Ja or from NosXe, as soon as he returned to the ceremony, but by that time it would be too late.

I’m sorry that it had to be this way, Kai told the distant image of the fire. BieTe, MasTa, I’m sorry to miss the ceremony for my own daughter, but in your hearts, you understand. You must understand, You know the laws as well as I do. A Sa must give ker Gift to all CieTiLa, and that means I must hurt the two of you,

It means I must hurt myself.

KaiSa put ker back to the fire, to BieTe and MasTa, and to ker daughters and sons, and moved into the forest.

Under the canopy of sweet-leaves, the twilight quickly shifted to full night. The wind was from the west, shivering the leaves with its chill and bringing the scent of flowers. A wingclaw called from its night roost high in one of the trees, the creature’s ululating whoop raising the hairs on Kai’s arms. The phosphorescent mosses on the many-trunked trees framed the darkness, and the double moons were up, Chali just setting, though Quali was well above the horizon in the east, bright enough that ke could almost see the colors of the leaves. The sound of ker feet shushing through the fallen leaves seemed the loudest sound, though the rhythmic
kuh-whump
of the slickskins calling for their mates in a nearby pond was a constant backdrop.

It was tempting to stop, to try and listen to the voice of VeiSaTi in the rustling and chirping of the world, but there was no time for that now.

Kai knew that there was a wayhouse not far distant. Until ke had actually made the decision to leave, ke had given no thought to where ke might go next. Now, ke determined to stop for the rest of the night at the wayhouse. Ke lengthened ker stride, falling into ker quick walking pace.

When Quali had reached the zenith, its silver light painting the edges of the leaves, Kai came upon the High Road and the wayhouse. The High Road was the main artery through the CieTiLa lands, a trail of flagged stone, a path between all the settlements of the CieTiLa designed by the legendary Sa leader NasiSaTu over six
terduva
ago, and completed by ker successors after NasiSaTu’s sacrificial death. The various segments of the road were maintained by the Te and Ta of the lands through which they passed, part of the payment for the services of the mendicant Sa order.

The
nasituda
set in front of the wayhouse declared it to be on the border of the territory of GaiTe and CiTa. For the first time since ke had left, Kai felt ker muscles relax fully, releasing a tension ke hadn’t even known ke’d been holding. A light from an oil lamp glimmered behind the translucent window, made from the
brais
of one of the huge but slow thunderbeasts: someone else was already in the wayhouse. Kai gave a low, warbling call of greeting as ke approached the building, waited the polite sequence of sixteen slow breaths, then entered, brushing aside the thunderbeast hide door covering.

The wayhouse was built along typical CieTiLa lines: a large common room where travelers could talk and eat; a small kitchen to the left for food preparation and storage, and three tiny sleeping cubicles to the right. The privacy curtain was drawn on one of those, and a Sa poked ker head out as Kai entered, rubbing ker eyes sleepily.

“Kai?”

“AbriSa!”

Abri tumbled out of the low sleeping cubicle and ran to Kai. The two Sa embraced, laughing. Kai had come to the island some time after Abri’s arrival, and the older youth had been one of Kai’s mentors, comforting the disoriented and frightened child of three cycles and helping to teach Kai the intricate structure of Sa life. It was Abri who, when Kai had taken First Vows, had taken an inked needle to Kai’s chest and marked ker with the symbol of AnglSaiye. Kai’s debt to Abri had been paid long ago, when Kai had kerself taken one of the arriving children as ker special project, passing along the knowledge Abri had given ker. Abri had left the AnglSaiye sanctuary long before Kai had been given JaqSaTu’s blessing and ker own sanction to begin ker travels through the CieTiLa lands. Kai held Abri at arm’s length, looking at ker. Ke could see the cycles and the pain of many separations in ker face, in the flesh-hewn valleys of experience VeiSaTi had etched there.

“Where are you traveling to, Abri?” Kai asked when they finally pulled apart.
Where are you going? Where have you been?
Those were the eternal questions of Sa meeting on the road.

“Actually, I was looking for you, among others.”

“For me? You’re joking. Why?”

Abri didn’t answer. Instead, ke pulled away from Kai, and the furrows in ker face deepened as ke frowned. “Let me fix some
kav
. You looked tired,” ke said.

Kai watched Abri as ke went into the kitchen and poured the bittersweet, herbal brew into two wooden mugs. “I’ve been on the island for the past two cycles,” ke said as ke placed the pottery jug back into the coldbox sunk into the kitchen’s floor. Ke brought the mugs out and handed one to Kai. Ke sipped carefully—“once for TeTa, again for XeXa, and last for Jeja,” three being the sacred number of VeiSaTi—then sank down onto one of the large pillows at the edge of the eating pit. “There have been disturbing rumors, Kai,” ke said finally. “I’m just one of several who have been sent out by JaqSaTu to bring all Sa back to the island.”

The words sent the
kav
swirling, almost spilling from the mug as Kai started.
To bring all the Sa back to AnglSaiye,
bring all of us back from our journeys.…It was something that had never been done before, in all the cycles upon cycles written down on the
nasitudas
set on AnglSaiye’s shores. It was something Kai could very nearly not comprehend. “I don’t understand…”

“You will, when you get back there.” Abri sipped ker
kav
once more, staring into the brown depths of the mug. “I really can’t say more, except to say that it is becoming a dangerous world for Sa.”

Kai, remembering BieTe and MasTa, and ker departure of only a few hours ago, opened hard-ridged lips in a grin. “Love is always dangerous, AbriSa. I have the bruises to prove it.”

But Abri didn’t share in the jest. Abri’s dark, expressive eyes regarded Kai’s, and there was pain in ker gaze.

“This is different, Kai,” ke said. “This is something no Sa has faced before.”

END OF EXCERPT

Dark Water’s Embrace copyright © 1998, 2009 Stephen Leigh. All rights reserved. This book may not be copied or reproduced, in whole or in part, by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise without written permission from the publisher except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

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