The Sage Seed Chronicles: The Unraveling (19 page)

‘Gyan, I always have time for you. We have
had a quake yesterday and a violent thunder storm this afternoon.
Please tell me you have news.’

‘Well, Cesler, we are entering Duluse
tomorrow and will be stopping at Wellyn. The day after that you
should see us. If that changes I will let you know. It was pretty
turbulent in Sawblen with the witch hunters in full swing. We were
able to stop them from their first killing. It was ugly.’

Gyan shook his head with the memories of what
transpired in Yerra. ‘It makes my heart sick to see the evil that
people can inflict upon each other. Ah, such is the way of mankind,
unfortunately. We don’t have problems that bad often, because
everybody has a livelihood and guild status. Our system provides
full employment and security. It is when that is rocked that the
baser elements emerge.’

‘Anyway, I am bringing items for you to
install. They are in place in Kunscap and will soon be in Yerra.
It’s one of the things we can do to stabilize things. I think some
of your skunks have been dropped off. We have to tell the people
about them also. Any other news I need to have?’

‘We too are having more ‘witch’ rumblings. So
far we have not had mobs or threats against anyone but it is a
matter of time.’ said the mayor.

‘Well, hang in there. We’re coming. I’ll be
talking at every community and do what I can to settle things down.
Have a good night.’

Gyan stretched, got up and wandered out of
his tent. Cear had risen and was casting its orange glow. Drune and
Erin were sitting by the dying campfire, talking quietly. He
approached them and sat down. “We have been pushing so hard, I lost
track that Nuit only left two and half days ago and that we have
been out of Aerie the same amount of time! We should have the date
of the next eclipse tomorrow. All they can tell me is that it will
be soon.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “In that same period
of time, Duluse has had a quake and a violent storm and has
received half of its allotted skunks.” He shook his head. “We
needed to rush this last stretch. Technically we could have stayed
in Yerra for the public sentencing but I wanted Harra to take back
control of his own province. He needed to do that for his own
personal reasons as well as for maintaining his status as
leader.”

“We have six definite stops before we are
done. There could be more. I hope we found all of the information
we needed. We followed the trail you found, Erin, but were there
others with even more information?”

Drune looked at Gyan, “We found that trail
and followed it to the end. Lor can look for others while we are
out here on the road. We are doing what we need to do now: finding
and activating latent sages to bring our count up to fifteen or
sixteen and installing the founder city henge enhancers. Perhaps
that is not everything, but it must be most of it.”

Erin had been looking at Gyan since he came
into the firelight. Finally, after a glance at Drune, she spoke.
“You are a wise and intelligent sage who has been the realm’s Great
One for more than a couple of centuries. It’s my guess that you
aren’t usually beset by doubts. Is it because you are tired or is
your intuition niggling at you?” Both men looked at her for a
stretch of time. Gyan finally answered. “I’ve been more tired in my
life, so I’d think that’s not it. Perhaps you are right. I feel
like I’ve missed something.”

Erin nodded as if she finally decided
something. “Then I have a few questions. What is the wild henge and
where is it supposed to be? What about Ree’s henge? It is special
even if it isn’t where a founder city is.”

Gyan sat up straight then got up and started
to pace. “You raise good questions, my young sage. The wild henge
is also without a founder city. It sits, or is suppose to sit, in
the Pastarham plains. The ancients were a very, very intelligent
race. They looked at our world on many different levels, trying to
build balance with plants, habitats and such. As part of their
effort to balance they tended to see symmetry where most would not.
The way Ose’s geologic formations naturally evolved dictated where
the founder cities were placed. Henges also went there to help us
with our sage-Ose links. But the wild henge was placed where it was
because of a pattern. There has to be something to this because,
strangely enough, Wellyn and Terresville, quite coincidentally,
happen to connect with the design.” He picked up a stick and
roughly drew the map of the realm in the dirt. Then he connected
the founder cities and he had an equilateral triangle. Next he drew
lines that went from a point of the triangle to the center of a
straight edge. Those lines went through Terresville and Wellyn. All
of the lines met at a point in the Pastarham plain. “This is where
the wild henge should be. As the story goes, it plays a part in our
connectedness, though differently than the city henges.”

He looked up at his fascinated young sages.
“You bring up the thing that was ‘niggling’ my intuition. Ree’s
henge. It is very old and it is special but it wasn’t mentioned in
the research trails we found and followed. All we can do now is set
Lor on a search and complete the quest trail that we are on. I
guess the reason I was questioning if we have all of the pieces is
because of that one henge. If I were back at Aerie I would be able
to access information in a specific room that only the Great One
can enter. Well, we’ll see if Lor can find out anything and I can
talk to Ree later. Right now we will focus on the task. I will be
thinking about this though. Good night and thank you for being my
counselors on this journey.”

The sun was just shedding light on the road
when the company left their campsite and started toward the bridge.
Tempo was riding in front of Erin, curled partly on her lap and on
the saddle. There was a slight breeze that ruffled the long silky
strands of Tempo’s coat. Erin smiled at the sight.

They made good time and it wasn’t a half an
hour later when the first riders stepped onto Duluse province. They
soon were past the crossroads and moving toward Wellyn. Erin
couldn’t help but remember that the last time she was here she was
paragliding over the road to join up with the Guild Caravan with
Tempo inside a bag strapped to her chest. A lot had happened since
then. They rode all morning but stopped briefly for lunch.

The expedition had hardly stopped at all
while they were traveling in the Sawblen province. Though they
needed to get around the realm quickly they were pacing themselves.
They didn’t want to exhaust the horses and they wanted to meet as
many people as possible at every stop. After lunch Erin was riding
beside Kennet with Drune on her other side. They were loping toward
Wellyn and would get there by late afternoon. The breeze had
sharpened and the weather was brisk. Erin had on her new jacket
that Kennet had bought her for all she had done to help the
merchant train. The rolling grey and purple clouds were looking
rather ominous in the distance and Drune, watching the horizon,
commented. “I hope we get to Wellyn before this gets worse. We’ll
either get soaked, pitch tents or huddle at Wellyn’s inns.”
Apparently Bast and Gyan were having the same thoughts because the
troop kicked into a gallop.

It became a race between shelter and the
storm as the sky became covered with the dark clouds. They could
see lightning in the distance as they sighted Wellyn. By the time
they were slowing the horses and pulling into the town the skies
opened up and the rain fell heavily! They stopped at Wellyn’s barn
and walked their horses into the corral. Erin dismounted and
started to walk her horse around the paddock to cool him down. Byan
stopped her. “We’ll take care of the horses. You, Drune and Gyan
have business in town. Head for the inn, Erin.” She smiled her
thanks and nodded as she slipped her pack over her shoulder and
scooped Tempo up and started to run for the shelter of the inn.

Tempo commented, ‘It is warm and dry at the
inn but it may be better for me to stay in the barn and catch mice.
Let Byan or Omin know where I am and they will make sure I am not
thrown out.’

Keir said, ‘I’m in the loft of the barn. No
one will harm him.’

Erin smiled and retraced her steps. “Byan, I
am leaving Tempo here to catch mice.” She waved to him and ran for
the inn. ‘Thank you my friends. Both of you eat well. I will leave
my mind open to you.’

She was soaked by the time she opened the inn
door. Upon entering she saw that it had a large great room with a
hearth on either side and cheerful fires were built in each one.
Gyan and Drune were talking to the innkeeper by the fire place on
the right side of the room. Gyan looked up and grinned at the
soaked woman. “Take off your coat and drape it by the fire over
there. The rest can dry on you by this fire and I have a warm towel
for you, too. Robb, our innkeeper was just saying that a rider had
come in from Morraton around noon and had told him we were coming.
He has rooms ready and quite the feast for us.” She gratefully
dropped her pack and shed her coat to hang it by the fire. The
clothes dangling there were dripping and steaming at the same time.
Though the coat was very wet, the part of her that it had covered
was dry.

The innkeeper approached. “There is a room up
the stairs and third door on the left that you can use. Go change
your trousers, young woman and bring the wet ones back down to dry
by the fire. We will be monitoring the clothes and making sure the
garments don’t scorch. Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.” She
nodded her thanks and did just as he suggested. She returned to the
great room in no time and joined Gyan and Drune by the fire.
Several of the security force joined them. Others of the party
would stay with the wagon and the horses at the well built and snug
barn. It looked like a quick but heavy storm so they would be able
to meet with the people in the morning. Because Cesler had notified
Robb, he in turn, had been able to get the word out for the people
in the area that the Great One was here to talk with them.

After a hearty meal they sat around the great
room and talked companionably with the folks who worked at the inn.
Gyan asked if they were having problems with pests. Robb rolled his
eyes. “They are getting into our storage areas. They are simply
getting in everywhere. There are so many of them! Aga, the old
spinner woman who lives four buildings down, was stung by two vesi
that were in her spinning tool basket. She has been very ill. Our
healers are working long hours and are concerned that they might
not have sufficient supplies to last through the winter ahead.”
There was a whoo-woo from outside the shuttered window and the man
startled.

Erin looked at him curiously. “Why does the
owl call disturb you?”

He made a subtle hand sign that she didn’t
quite catch. “They are familiars to witches and are bad luck. I’ll
go make him go away.”

Erin raised an eyebrow at Gyan. He stepped
into the silence and stopped the man from leaving the room. “Robb,
there are no witches. That is one of my messages on this journey
around the realm. That was a story started by an evil man to
justify killing several innocent people. He is very sick in the
head and is now in Obsidian, banished for the rest of his
life.”

“The witch story has caused a lot of harm.
The guild train was attacked over a week ago and Alliz, of the
Archival Guild, received a serious knife wound.” Robb gasped. “Two
days ago we rode into Yerra just in time to prevent Char, the wood
worker, from being murdered by a mob. This nonsense has to stop!”
He gave it a moment for that to sink in. “We were just talking
about pests. That owl you maligned eats those pesky varmints. You
want owls, hawks and skunks to be around. They will cut down on the
number of pests you have.”

Robb sat up in surprise. “Skunks! They’re
bad!” Erin was glad that she left Tempo in the barn.

‘I am glad to be here also, though if I had
come in with you this conversation would have started sooner. The
down side would be that it probably would have made you look like a
witch!’ Tempo said.

Gyan put a hand out and eased the man back in
his chair. There was a thoughtful look on his face. Erin knew that
Gyan had just picked up on something when he touched Robb. “Robb, I
am going to cover this tomorrow but I need you to understand this
now. Owls, hawks, skunks, ottols and other wild ones are beneficial
because they eat those pests that bug us and are causing people
problems now. Witches exist only in children’s stories. The animals
are not evil or familiars. If we leave them alone they will do what
they do best, eat the nasties. They are one of the ways the
ancients provided us with a balanced world. Their numbers are down
because people with the ‘witch’ belief have been irresponsibly
killing them. If the things that eat the pests are gone the pest
population can grow unchecked. That is exactly what has happened.”
Robb looked aghast. “Do you mean that I have to be beholden to a
skunk or an owl?”