The Sage Seed Chronicles: The Unraveling (18 page)

When Gyan returned, Kaas met him at the door.
“Gyan, I would like to be a sage for the rest of my life. I want to
help my world and I understand the seriousness of my decision.”
Gyan looked levelly at the young man. In that long moment of
silence Kaas met his gaze steadily then said, “I’m sure.”

They retired to the second floor kitchen.
Drune said to Kaas. “One of my skills is telekinesis. I would like
to check something. Would you sit in this chair facing me? Erin
could you please stand behind me and place your hands on my
shoulders?” Everyone got into position and Drune put his palms on
the inside of Kaas’s wrists, over his pulse points. All was very
quiet as Drune concentrated. He could see the veins. As he went
deeper he saw the field of light red with the round things floating
in it. He concentrated on one of the round things until he started
to see some strands twisting.

There was a loud knock on the door and
Drune’s concentration was shattered. He looked at Kaas who looked
back at him. “How do you feel, lad?”

“I’m fine but you look a little pale, are you
alright?” Drune gave him the strongest shaky smile he had at the
moment. “I’m fine and I learned what I needed to know. Tomorrow,
early, I want to do this again and can get farther without
interruption.”

“Okay.” said Kaas and got up. “I hear Mayor
Harra downstairs. Coming?”

“Not at the moment. I’ll be down in a
minute.” The room emptied but for Erin and Drune.

“By the ancients, I’m glad that I didn’t get
any farther. If I had been startled a minute later I could have
done damage. As it was I was just beginning to see the strands. I
think I can do this with your help. At least I have confidence
where earlier in the evening I had nothing but trepidation. Let’s
find out what the mayor has learned.”

They came down the steps as the mayor was
saying, “Now, Gyan, return what you don’t need and I will store it
away again. The sixth post is intact behind the stable and will be
cleaned up and reset in place. I am having the public meeting
tomorrow at noon. The four will stay shaved for a year and will
lose all guild and position status. They will perform community
service for that term and will do any and all tasks required of
them. If you have what you need from us you can leave before then.
Again I heartily thank you for coming in time and bringing us hope.
I will tell the people about Ose and the purpose of our six sided
henge. Keep in touch.”

Gyan slapped Harra on his shoulder and gave
him a big smile. “Thank you, we will be leaving fairly early as we
have much ground to cover.”

From the stairs above Gyan came a low noise
with a short growl at the end. Erin burst out laughing. “Mayor
Harra, Tempo has asked that you please make it clear that skunks
are beneficial to the realm and considered protected.”

At first the mayor looked surprised then he
gave Tempo a bow. “I will definitely see to it my friend.” With a
chuckle he gave the group his good night and wished them the
blessings of the ancients on their quest.

The next morning, just after dawn and
breakfast, Gyan set some men at the front door to the shop to
prevent any disturbance. He gave money to Terk to collect their
laundry and then the four sages and Kaas went upstairs. Again Drune
and Kaas sat facing each other with Erin putting her hands on
Drune’s shoulders. Drune was able to mentally slide quickly into
the veins to the field of light red and into a round object. The
deeper he went the more he moved cautiously. He found the spiral
strands that were ladder-like with bumps. He carefully moved down
the complex formation looking the bump that was glowing darkly.
There it was! He gently moved closer and visualized it filled with
light and glowing. At first nothing happened, then, as if from a
distance, the small nob filled with a glimmer of light, gaining in
intensity until it was actually luminous. Erin and Gyan exchanged a
silent grin as they felt their pendants pulse with warmth. It
worked! The realm had a new sage! Drune backed out of Kaas’s
bloodstream cautiously, not wanting to disturb anything
inadvertently. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked into Kaas’s
curious gaze. Then he looked at Gyan and Erin and saw their big
grin. He gave a “whoosh” of relief and smiled.

Gyan patted Kaas on the shoulder.
“Congratulations Kaas. You are one of us now!”

The young man looked at the faces around him.
“Really? Wow!”

Gyan walked over to the table with Erin and
they spread out on the table the enhancers that had come from the
lintel in Yerra. There was a flat malachite oval with a triple
spiral etched into it’s deep green surface, a rusty orange
carnelian bead with a wave pattern going around it, a piece of
light green jade carved into the triangular triskeles pattern and a
chunk of smooth turquoise carved into a shape of a turtle. To that
mix Erin put her father’s copper disk with the enameled leaf and
her mother’s jasper bead etched with a feather. Six pieces. Gyan
called Kaas over to the table. “Kaas, please sit here. I would like
you to study these objects. You will be drawn to one or more of
these pieces. Separate the ones that seem to have no meaning to you
from the one or more that seem to resonate with you. We will give
you some time. Please call us when you are done.” He gave the
bemused Kaas a pat on the shoulder and they all went into the next
room.

Drune reached for the wine flask and poured a
cup then looked around to the others with a questioning lift to his
eyebrow. Erin and Gyan shook their head but Char nodded
emphatically. The two men drank a restorative swallow.

Char spoke very softly. “You have never done
that before have you?” Drune closed his eyes and shook his head and
took another swallow. Char put his cup down and squeezed Drune’s
shoulder. “You did a fine job. Thank you for not messing up.” At
Drune’s horrified look Char gave him a big grin and a wink.

At Kaas’s call they all returned to the room
where the lad waited. There were four pieces pushed away and two
still in front of Kaas. Gyan looked at the two objects. He picked
up the first chosen item. “This is a good one. The jade is a stone
of protection and healing. It is an aid for you concerning wisdom
on your life’s path. It will help you in concentration and with
insight. The symbol is the triskeles which represents
interdependence with the parts of our world and the animals
therein. I suggest you hang it around your neck.”

“Your second piece is a jasper bead. It is a
special kind of jasper called a picture jasper. This little item
will aid you in healing, is a protection stone and will lead you
toward responsibility and compassion in your choices. It is good
when your energies are low and will aid you in analyzing and
clarifying thoughts. The etched feather links together the
appreciation of wild ones and the contentment of your mind. This
should be kept in your pocket. These two objects are tokens or
tools to help you through life. We call them enhancers. Keep them
with you always. They help you form your link with our world.”

“We must leave now and find other latent
sages. Listen to Char in all things. Allow Terk to protect you and
give him your friendship. He is important to your life.” Gyan shook
the young man’s hand. Erin gave him a hug and Drune tousled his
hair and slapped him on the back.

Erin said softly, “Thank you, Kaas” then she
gave him a wink. “Now you are the youngest sage!” He burst out
laughing. Tempo walked over to Kaas and looked up. The lad knelt
down and stroked the skunks back. Erin grinned. “Tempo said that he
hopes you develop the ability to speak to wild ones, but whatever
your talents are, he is sure you will be good with them.”

Kaas nodded his head in respect for the
skunk. “Thank you, Tempo.”

Gyan picked up the rejected enhancers,
slipped the copper disk back to Erin and put the rest back into the
bag they came in. “We’ll be off. I’ll swing this by Harra’s office.
We’ll see you again. Live well.” As they were leaving, Gyan thumped
Terk on the back. “You are a good man! Thank you for all you have
done. Watch over those two as well as yourself. You are all
important to the realm!” Erin gave the man a grin and took their
laundry from him. Drune shook his hand in friendship and slapped
his shoulder. With a wave they headed to the horses.

Gyan made a brief detour and returned the bag
to Harra. “Thank you for finding these, Harra. Your new sage has
what he needs. Please put these back where you found them.
Hopefully we won’t need to access them again, ever. Get your post
up and the glow stone caps and disc in place as soon as you can. I
haven’t had a chance to check with Lor at Aerie to see how tight we
are on time, but get yours done. I will be in touch, Harra. Let me
know how the climate is in your province. Hopefully the unrest is
now nipped in the bud.” With a wave and a smile Gyan left the
founder city.

The troop was mounted outside of the henge.
Kennet was in the wagon and with Gyan mounted everyone moved out.
The people they passed as they went out of town were smiling and
waving. The tone of the province seemed lighter. They kicked into a
ground eating lope. Later in the day, they slowed to a trot as they
passed through Cana. People cheered and waved and Gyan’s party
waved and grinned back. Just outside of that hamlet they went back
into full speed. Their goal was to make it to the bridge by
nightfall. They traveled hard but ran out of light short of the
river.

By Luna’s light the bridge could be seen
glimmering in the near distance when the convoy stopped and set up
camp. The ground had become uneven and with the shifting sand they
didn’t want to injure the horses or to break a wagon wheel. With
the nights getting colder tents were set up. Drune worked with the
tent detail as Erin brushed down and cared for the horses with
Kennet, Omin, Gast and Rin. Chai and Nar cooked up a delectable
meal from their fresh supplies. Everyone ate well with camp bread,
spicy legume stew and fruit cobbler.

As the security force divided up the night
time duties, Gyan retired to his tent to contact Lor. He had
considered having Drune and Erin in on the exercise but decided to
give them the night off. He had seen Erin sending Tempo out to eat
his fill of bugs and rodents. Nuit should be showing up tonight or
tomorrow and the young woman should be free to meet with her.

He settled himself comfortable and cleared
his mind. ‘Lor, do you have any news?’

‘Good to hear from you Gyan. You’ve only been
gone two and a half days and we have much accomplished. The post
caps are up and the disc is in the ground. Alliz is recovering
nicely. You wouldn’t know she was injured except there is still
soreness and she is careful about using that arm. The technicians
have told me that they think they will have the calibrations
finished tomorrow morning. They have been pushing hard. As they are
getting closer to getting the piece accurate they are seeing that
there is an eclipse coming very soon. They are frantically working
to get you that information as soon as possible. Hopefully that
will be tomorrow night. Where are you now?’

Gyan sighed and pinched the bridge of his
nose. He had hoped to have the timeline tonight, even though it
hadn’t been long since they had left the capital city. ‘We pushed
hard, due to the urgency of the situation in Sawblen. It was a good
thing we did. We had just left Cana when Erin burst by us at a
gallop. She had been picking up an uneasy feeling and it had
crystalized into imperativeness. We followed her like we were part
of her horse’s tail. There was an incited mob that had Char and
were roughly carrying him away as we arrived. We were able to stop
them and apprehend the ringleaders. Harra’s daughter and Aron’s
wife had been taken hostage to insure the city leader’s blind
inaction. Harra had been able to maneuver in some safety measures
without them knowing it. Dryr was one of the ringleaders. The women
are back in the care of their families and the healers. They had
been beaten and abused. There were twenty-one caught. Seventeen
were punished with article one. The tattooed word was ‘witch’.
Four, including Dryr, have article one and two with a year term. It
was pretty ugly.”

“We found and activated one latent sage,
young Kaas, Char’s apprentice. Our count is now ten. He is a bright
lad but won’t be coming into his skills for a few years. We are
near the bridge and tomorrow will be in Duluse. We need to slow a
little to make sure we deliver the message and mingle with the
people. The skunks are being dispersed. That is all that I know. I
will be in touch with you tomorrow. Give Alliz my best. It’s hard
when family is hurt.’

Gyan pulled away. He thought a moment.
Perhaps he should contact Cesler since he would be entering his
province tomorrow. He took a deep breath, then let it out. ‘Cesler,
are you free to talk to me?’