The Inner Circle: Holy Spirit (9 page)

‘
Enough talk of you
and El-i-miir,’ Gez-reil snapped. ‘You’re thinking with the naïveté
of a child. Do you really expect your kind will be any more
congenial towards El-i-miir than ours have been toward
you?’

‘
But . . .’ Ilgrin
trailed off, unable to come up with a suitable
counterargument.

‘
But nothing,’
Gez-reil grumbled. ‘You will travel to Old World alone, but I will
send you armed with a secret. You see, Ilgrin, I suspect that I
know who you really are. Would you like to learn of it?’

‘
Of
course.’

‘
Very well.’ Gez-reil
nodded. ‘But first you must tell me your story. I have to be
certain.’

‘
I was raised on a
farm--’

‘
Stop, stop,’
Gez-reil cut him off. ‘You’ve mistaken my meaning. I don’t care
about your life after your parents took you in. I’m interested in
how you came to be so very far from Old World to begin
with.’

‘
I don’t know much.’
Ilgrin frowned. ‘Mother and father found me on their doorstep in
the arms of a dead silt. An arrow had been shot through her back
and pierced her heart.’

‘
A silt
arrow?’

‘
My parents thought
so,’ Ilgrin said. ‘It was tipped with silver and unlike any they’d
seen before.’

‘
Fascinating.’
Gez-reil’s eyes darted off to some distant time. ‘And how old are
you?’

‘
I’m about
twenty-three or four.’

‘
Then the timing is
right.’ Gez-reil nodded in satisfaction, only to pause and freeze.
A moment later El-i-miir gasped and shot an anxious look at
Seteal.

‘
They’re here,’
Gez-reil hissed. ‘You must leave.’

‘
Far-a-mael?’ Seteal
leapt to her feet.

‘
He’s not far west of
here, but a good portion of his hadoan have already entered
Setbrana,’ Gez-reil replied. He took Ilgrin by the shoulders. ‘Get
yourself to Old World as quickly as you can, but be cautious about
when and in which fashion you reveal yourself. They’ll kill you if
they find out who you really are.’

‘
Who am I?’ Ilgrin
asked hurriedly, but the old man had already turned to
El-i-miir.

‘
Do as I’ve told you,
my dear girl, and you’ll never want for anything.’ Gez-reil paused
to hug her. ‘Reach me by letter as soon as you’ve found a place to
live. I’ll send you as much money as I can.’

‘
Thank you,’
El-i-miir’s eyes reflected bewilderment at the elder’s
generosity.

‘
And, Seteal . . .
oh, my dear Seteal.’ Gez-reil’s eyes were filled with remorse as
they came to rest on her. ‘You have to put away that pride of
yours--do as I have said and read the Scriptures.’ He tapped at the
Tome in Seteal’s hands. ‘These are not just ancient ramblings.
They’re accurate prophesies written by Elglair more powerful than
anyone alive today. They will show you the way, the truth, and the
light.’

Loud shouting throughout the city told
Seteal and the others that the enemy was close. Unwilling to wait a
second longer, she raced for the doorway with the others at her
heels.

‘
And get rid of that
seeol,’ Gez-reil barked after them as Seteal charged out of the
room. ‘There is evil in him unlike anything this world has ever
known!’

CHAPTER Five

Distant Horizon

‘
What do you make of
what Gez-reil said?’ Ilgrin asked Seteal several days after their
escape from Setbrana. He’d been irritating El-i-miir with the same
question for days and had clearly exhausted any chance of further
conversation with her.

‘
What part of it?’
Seteal felt the rectangular protuberance of the Holy Tome in her
bag.

‘
About me,’ Ilgrin
said in bewilderment. ‘The more I stew on it, the less sense I’m
able to make of it. Why would my own kind want to kill
me?’

‘
I don’t know,’
Seteal sighed. ‘I wouldn’t worry about it. The old man believes in
the Tome, for Maker’s sake. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure
how much of what he says we can actually trust.’

‘
What is this?’
El-i-miir called from a little way ahead.

‘
It looks like . . .’
Seteal trailed off as she squinted into the distance.

‘
Get down!’ Seeol
shrieked as he landed with a thud in the leaf litter by the
road.

‘
Oh, you found us,’
El-i-miir said without the slightest bit of relief in her voice.
Seteal understood her disappointment. Since having lost Seeol in
Setbrana, their journey had been without danger or
confrontation.

‘
Yes.’ Seeol bobbed
his head. ‘I got lost but did find Far-a-mael. I’ve been following
him to see if he’s doing naughty things and then I saw you on this
road, too. See! He’s up to no good.’

Squinting at the distant horizon,
Seteal realised that what she was seeing up ahead was a massive
throng of an’hadoans traveling away from them along the same road.
‘What’re they up to?’

‘
War,’ El-i-miir said
softly.

‘
But why would they
take this road?’ Ilgrin asked in consternation. ‘It leads straight
to Veret.’

‘
I think that’s the
point.’ El-i-miir’s fingers twitched as she stopped to face the
others. ‘The Jenjen have hated our kind for as long as anyone can
remember and their conviction in doing so only ever gets stronger.
Far-a-mael is going to war, first with them and then with Old
World. I remember him saying once that New World only stood a
chance against Old World if we were united. He plans to eliminate
the Jenjen threat.’

‘
That’s not the
only one.
’ Seeol stared worriedly into
the distance. ‘I followed those men in Setbanana . . .
Set--Setbrana! They wasn’t there for you all. They was there to
have chats with the king.’

‘
What did they want?’
Seteal asked.

‘
I couldn’t know.’
Seeol looked at the ground and pecked at a passing beetle. ‘But
lots of scary men with swords and guns left and followed
Far-a-mael’s friends.’

‘
He’s formed an
alliance with Garrishnell.’ El-i-miir put a hand to her mouth. ‘I
can’t say I’m surprised. Garrishnell is the only country with which
the Elglair have maintained good relations throughout the
centuries.’

Ilgrin whistled. ‘Veret will be
conquered.’

‘
Not necessarily,’
El-i-miir replied. ‘There have been rumours for some time of the
development of a mighty Jenjen army, much larger than anything the
Elglair have managed to form.’

‘
The
Elglair have their abilities.’ Ilgrin didn’t
sound convinced.

‘
Even so . . .’
El-i-miir trailed off. ‘I have little concern either way. The
Jenjen are a horrid people. They hate everyone not living in
harmony with their precious Holy Tome. And that pretty much
includes all of us.’

‘
What do you know of
their industry?’ Seteal enquired.

‘
Not much.’ El-i-miir
shrugged. ‘I hear they’ve developed some kind of explosive. They
have pistols and guns, too.’

‘
There are more
coming,’ Seeol informed. ‘They is travelled behind you.’

‘
We’re sandwiched
between two armies?’ Seteal raised her eyebrows. ‘We’d best keep
our distance from the road.’

‘
Agreed.’ Ilgrin
nodded.

At some point in the days that
followed, they crossed the border into Jenjol, always making sure
to keep as far from the road as possible, while still being able to
keep tabs on Far-a-mael’s progress. When farmland and small towns
began to crop up to the left and right, Seteal decided that it was
too dangerous to travel any farther by day and that they should
continue into the night, hoping to find somewhere to rest the
following morning.

At around about midnight, Seeol’s claws
dug uncomfortably into Seteal’s shoulder. ‘Is a big owl!’ He
exclaimed.

‘
What?’ Seteal asked.
A tall dark shape loomed up before them.

The object stood at least twenty
strides high. It was painted and carved after the fashion of a
colourful bird that bore a striking resemblance to a horned owl.
‘What is it?’ Seteal asked, turning to El-i-miir.

‘
It looks like a
totem,’ she replied.

‘
Obviously.’ Seteal
rolled her eyes. ‘But what’s it for?’

‘
How should I know?’
El-i-miir shrugged.

‘
It’s an idol,’
Ilgrin answered from behind them, before heading passed and putting
his hand flat against the object. ‘The Jenjen worship owls. They
believe that they’re messengers from Maker.’

‘
That’s ridiculous,’
Seteal sighed.

‘
Of course!’
El-i-miir exclaimed. ‘I remember now. They take the Scriptures
literally in believing that Maker’s Holy Spirit will come to them
in the body of an owl.’

‘
Why an
owl?’

‘
I don’t know,’
El-i-miir shrugged. ‘Probably because of the anointed.’

‘
The what?’ Seteal
probed, feeling no less confused by El-i-miir’s
explanation.

‘
You really don’t
know anything about the Scriptures do you?’

‘
No.’

‘
The story goes that
when Maker anointed the first Elglair, they had a vision of the
Holy Spirit descending in the body an owl.’ El-i-miir’s voice
revealed how much stock she placed in the story.

‘
If Maker chose to
anoint your people, why do the Jenjen hate you so much?’

‘
They believe that
we’ve strayed from the path of righteousness,’ El-i-miir replied
sarcastically, ‘and will face Maker’s wrath on Judgement
Day.’

‘
Maybe Seeol is
Maker’s Holy Spirit,’ Seteal murmured with a wry smile that caused
the others to laugh. The only exception was Seeol, who probably
didn’t understand what they were talking about.

‘
There is a big
building to sleep in for the daytime,’ the bird said
solemnly.

‘
Over there?’
El-i-miir squinted through the dark. ‘It’s Sunday. That’s the day
of rest, so I suppose it should be safe enough.’

The group headed over to Seeol’s 'big
building,' which turned out to be a very small tool shed. ‘It’ll
have to do,’ Seteal muttered, cautioned by the steadily increasing
levels of daylight. ‘I’m too tired to find anything else and the
sun will soon be up.’

‘
Allow me.’ Ilgrin
stepped forward to break open the locked door with a well-placed
kick.

Once inside, the tool shed seemed
even smaller than it had before they’d entered, but there was room
enough to find a small corner in which to sleep.

Seteal pulled her legs up beneath her
chin and did exactly that. Hours later she awoke. She was drowsy
and not at all startled, even though she’d been shaken by
El-i-miir. Seteal felt unable to properly construct thoughts and
soon felt her body moving without her approval. El-i-miir was
affiliating her.

She moved slowly, as though she was
trying to stay quiet. Opening the door, Seteal slipped outside
without even breathing for fear of the noise it might make. She
walked several strides before coming to a stop in front of Ilgrin
and El-i-miir, where the woman released her aura and Seteal’s
regular consciousness returned. It was broad daylight.

‘
What’re you doing?’
Seteal hissed, fearing that they might be seen.

‘
I’m sorry,’
El-i-miir murmured almost inaudibly as she headed away from the
tool shed. ‘We couldn’t risk waking Seeol.’

‘
Who cares about
Seeol?’ Seteal spat grumpily. ‘Does he need his beauty sleep or
something?’

‘
No.’ El-i-miir
gently prodded Seteal along, as Ilgrin moved quietly by her side.
‘We need to get out of here without him knowing we’re
gone.’

‘
You’re abandoning
him?’ Seteal frowned, casting a glance back toward the shed.
‘Why?’

‘
He’s too dangerous,’
El-i-miir replied. ‘I don’t know what you did to him, but whatever
it was, I’m certain he’s responsible for everything that’s been
going wrong.’

‘
Don’t you think I
know that?’ Seteal grumbled. ‘I changed him. The darkness used to
well up and explode out. Now it just leaks
continuously.’

Ilgrin raised his eyebrows. ‘You
already knew?’

‘
I figured it out.’
Seteal sighed. ‘I just didn’t have the heart to abandon him. I know
it’s silly, but I was the one who invited him along to begin
with.’

‘
Well, now the stakes
are too high,’ El-i-miir persisted. ‘We cannot be far from Veret
and if he’s with us, we’ll most certainly get caught.’

‘
It just seems so
cruel.’ Seteal bit her lip. ‘What will he think when he wakes up to
find us all gone?’

‘
Who cares?’
El-i-miir raised her voice, having travelled far enough away from
the shed to feel confident in doing so. ‘He’s just a
bird.’

‘
I know, I know.’
Seteal shook her head. ‘I’m being silly.’

‘
We can’t go far,’
Ilgrin whispered, making sure to keep his face covered beneath a
hood. ‘We have to find somewhere else to hide until
nightfall.’