The Sage Seed Chronicles: The Unraveling (16 page)

Lor had related the horrible events calmly
but his eyes showed the deep sadness that told Erin that he had
known the sage and felt her loss deeply. His hands shook a bit on
the reins and he paused before going on.

“I have been thinking about what you said
concerning motives to kill Tempo and how you couldn’t see the
connection with the other deaths. That is where they could fit. I
need to find out who his children were and where they are now.
There are people who might know. If I am right this could be the
‘why’ we were looking for but we are no closer to proving it. The
longer this goes on the more dangerous it becomes.”

Erin looked at Lor in shock. “I assume.” she
said, “that at least one, or perhaps all, of the children witnessed
the repeated abuse of the mother and that final fight. Then their
father was banished. So it could be a vendetta against all
‘witches’ and all skunks.” Erin had to take several deep
breaths.

“Okay. We need to look into the family
connection. I hope you are wrong but this fits neatly into the
puzzle. If you are right then there are two other conclusions we
can make.” Lor looked over at her almost afraid to hear what she
was going to say. “It is likely that your recluse sage has died
recently of a sudden fever or will soon,” Lor closed his eyes. “and
it means that by becoming a boy I have only bought a little time
for both Tempo and myself. Tempo would be marked for death with or
without joining us. By being with us he is more protected. I have
to be very careful to treat him as a pet and to not be seen with
Nuit and Keir because they could be ‘familiars’. As long as I am
just a scruffy boy with a ‘smelly’ pet we have some time. But we
are running out.”

They traveled in silence for awhile. Lor
needed to keep in the brisk flow of the caravan yet part of his
mind continued to sift through the information. Erin was mulling
over a few points also. Finally she asked, “Can you or Alliz
contact the Great One in an emergency or do you need to be
contacted?”

Lor kept is eyes on the road, “The Great One
is linked to Alliz and contacts her. An emergency has never come up
before so I don’t know if it can work the other way. It would be a
great question for her.”

Erin looked down at her hands, flexing one
finger at a time as if counting. “Okay, that tables two related
questions for Alliz. How about these two. How does the Great One
know who is a sage and does he know when one dies?”

Lor shook his head. “All good questions but
those two fall into an area that only he could answer.”

Her fists clenched in frustration and she
slowly flattened them on her lap. Tempo put his face against her
throat. She could feel his soft breath and the tickle of his
whiskers under her jaw where he sought comfort and reassurance. “We
can use some extra help here. How is the sage population being
warned?”

“Alliz and I are warning them as we get to
them, and, yes, that puts our people at a disadvantage. Terran,
this sort of emergency has never come up. If there are contingency
plans I do not know them. Right now it is all I can do to not put
this wagon into a full gallop and race from city to town checking
the health of each and every sage. Believe me, we are all feeling
the time pressure. Alliz may have some more information this
evening.” They all fell silent. Each occupied with troubling
thoughts.

.......

In another part of the realm, the Great
One strode through a little used hall in the immense stone aerie
that was his home and the seat of power for the land. Gyan had had
the responsibility of being the Great One for several centuries but
had rarely used the room he was approaching. The mammoth doors were
made of massive slabs of labradorite granite, and had no handles.
Placing his palm on a special spot he waited. An ancient mechanism
scanned for the presence of the sage seed in his body and the
‘enhancer’ that was part of the symbol of his office. Slowly the
doors opened and then closed behind him as he entered. He
approached a large table that had the map of the realm as its
surface. Gyan stood and looked down on the extremely accurate
representation of his world. He touched a symbol on the right side
of the land mass, then he took a deep breath and placed his hands
on special plates at the table edge. Tiny beams of light floated up
from the land mass in certain areas. He knew that each was the
current location of a sage. At a glance he knew that there were
fewer than there should be. He had hours of work ahead of him to
fully assess the danger they were in.

The guild caravan pulled into Osily just
before sunset. It was also a founder city and built into the
mountainside to take advantage of the geothermal vents. Where
Morraton had been four or more layers high and not as wide, Osily
sprawled wide but was only two sets of windows tall. It was
impressive though as it followed the contour of the mountains.
There were three arching entrances to the inner city and in front,
a paved rectangular space with beautifully fluted stone columns
around it. The caravan arranged themselves in semi circular rows
facing the city and outside of the ‘square’.

Erin had just unhitched the team and had on
their leads when lightening flashed in the mountains behind the
city quickly followed by the rumble of thunder. For a few moments
she had her hands full of startled horses. Using her lowered voice
and her mind she was able to calm them. Other horses in the paddock
were panicking and she heard one squeal of fright. As she put hers
into the corral she moved among them reassuring them that it was
just an autumn storm, that they were alright and nothing would
happen to them. She continued to talk until each had spoken to her
and settled down. When she left the paddock she turned and looked
up at the sky. She hadn’t noticed any clouds when they had pulled
in but there were a cluster of thunderheads now.

Alliz was putting a meal together with Lor
when Erin returned. Lor looked up as she came into the firelight.
“Are the animals alright? It seems that you have been working with
them a lot lately. I heard them right after the thunder but then
they seemed to quiet down.”

Erin smiled ruefully. “They have had plenty
disturbing them lately, but yes, they are fine. I checked with each
horse.” She glanced again at the sky. “That came up awfully
quickly, didn’t it?” Alliz and Lor exchanged a glance.

He said softly, “Can you set up our guard
against eavesdropping?” She nodded and silently spoke to Nuit and
Keir. Looking at Tempo, she patted the ground. He came over to her
to get petted but it was he who did the reassuring. “I will be just
inside the tree line and in sight of Keir and Nuit. I will not take
any chances but I need to eat and leave my scent for other skunks.
I am keeping my ears and nose on high alert. Do not worry.” Erin
watched his fluffy tail go out of sight in the shadows then turned
to the human companions at the fire. “I’ll wash up for dinner and
be right with you.”

They had just sat down to eat and Erin was
trying to decide how to phrase her questions to Alliz when she saw
the woman go still for a moment. Goose-bumps rose on her arms. She
looked over at Lor and realized he was watching Alliz intently but
not seeming to be talking with her. She looked down at her plate to
wait this out. Suddenly a voice came into her mind. “Erin, I am the
Great One. My name is Gyan. The situation is very serious. In the
last month six sages have died. I am contacting every sage with the
information you have been able to piece together so they can be on
alert. I realize that what we are assuming may not be correct or at
least not the whole picture. Can you describe to me the contact
poison?”

Erin swallowed her surprise in hearing the
Great One in her head and rapidly collected her thoughts. “It was
colorless and sticky. The smell was subtle. It had an oily, moldy,
putrid sort of stench. I know that it’s strength can last several
days because it did about four or five days with my parents. It is
very strong and quickly is absorbed through the skin but does not
raise blisters or anything like that.” Erin answered then added,
“Are you up to date about the latest possible puzzle piece, with
skunks and a man banished to Obsidian?”

“Go ahead and tell me” responded Gyan.

Erin went over what they had surmised
answering why and who. “I don’t know if these pieces fit together
but they may. Please let me know if I can be of any help. These
people need to be stopped!”

Gyan’s voice had very serious sound to it
when he said, “That is truly an understatement. I must continue to
reach the others and will be in touch again. Thank you for your
offer to help.” and the contact was broken.

Erin looked at Alliz and she nodded. Lor
appeared to be communicating with the Great One then he, too,
looked up. They made small talk as if to cover their previous
stillness. Because her mind had been open to her wild companions
they had listened in on the conversation. Erin checked that they
were still not being observed then said quietly, “That answered
several of my questions. I assume that that was unprecedented?”

Lor nodded “He has never done that before.
There will be several members of our community that will be
surprised tonight.”

“Is there any way we can reach out to him?”
she asked Alliz.

“Not that I know of,” she said softly, “It
would be dangerous to do so. The energy required to do that would
surely be detected by the seeker.” There was another snap of
lightning but a little farther away. Erin paused to listen toward
the paddock then relaxed.

“He said six. I only know of four. Do you
know the other two?”

Alliz looked at Lor as she spoke, “There are
two unaccounted for. Hormis was probably the oldest sage we had. He
lived back in the forest beyond Sherroton and spoke to animals. He
had a skunk friend, like you. Drune was younger than Lor and in the
miner’s guild. He was placer mining in the Macater headwaters.”

Lor closed his eyes. “Six gone. How can we
rebuild? Things are going to get rough.” The air snapped again with
lightning. “We need to get everything under cover in case it
decides to storm. We will see you tomorrow, Alliz.” Lor said as the
woman left for her wagon.

It did rain that night but not heavily though
there were frequent thunder and lightning episodes in the mountains
and overhead. Erin had awakened several times during the night to
listen for upset animals. Tempo was safely curled next to her and
she finally slept peacefully as the storm eased off. By morning the
sky was clear, which was great for the gather but the guild members
were all just a little short of sleep.

The gather started by mid morning with
colorful flags strung between the pillars as a sign for people
living in the area to come socialize, stock up for winter and see
the latest from the guilds. Children raced through the wagons as
parents strolled. Young people met and chatted gaily, enjoying the
day off from lessons. Erin helped Lor set up then, with Tempo, went
to groom the horses. Tempo watched from the top of a post as Erin
separated each horse, in turn, and examined and groomed them. After
doing Lor’s and Kennet’s horses she washed up and returned to the
wagon. Tempo was going to keep a lower profile and stay in Lor’s
wagon, guarding. Erin, with her two guild marks, wandered the
gather. The conversation was all about the weather and Lor and
Kennet were doing a brisk business as was Tassy.

Erin bought some hot food from Cob keeping
the conversation light and pretending that Tempo didn’t exist. Her
‘door’ was cracked open but all she was picking up was the festive
atmosphere. She circulated for another hour then swung back to
Lor’s booth. There were two couples discussing the different colors
of glow stones and which one would work in their situation. Lor saw
her coming and stepped back, letting their conversation continue.
“Lad, please take this list into the city and find the grocer-
herbalist shop. I believe it is near the left archway. There is a
long stretch of road before our next city and we need some
supplies. Here are some marks to cover the expenses.”

Lor paused as he gave her the currency. “The
man’s name is Lazin and you spoke with his half brother yesterday.”
he added with a small wink. “Off with you, now.” Lor waved then
stepped back into the conversation with the customer.

She paused at the back of the wagon and
peered inside at Tempo. “How are you doing, little one?” Tempo
stood and did a rapid stomp. There was a satisfied smile in his
voice. “I am much recovered. Lor is planning to get some travel
time in tonight so I am catching up on my sleep. I want to hunt and
walk a stretch tonight but I will be in sight of you. Go have some
fun.”

She was now, somewhat, prepared for the
fascinating arrangement of a founder inner city, but it was still
something to behold. Erin worked her way through the archway and
located the grocery right away. There was a tall man, of average
build, standing with his back to her. Since he was wearing an apron
she assumed he must be the proprietor. He seemed to be deep in
thought until the goose-bumps rose on her arms. She put her hands
in her pockets, grateful she had long sleeves to cover her arms.
Erin took the time to study him while she waited. He appeared to be
late in his fourth decade and had a thick head of dark brown hair
which he wore combed back from his face. She felt the goose-bumps
fade as he turned. He blinked in startlement. “Well, lad, why
didn’t you say something? I was completely lost in thought.”

Erin held his gaze as she held out her hand.
“My name is Terran and I work for Lor.” He shook her hand and his
friendly green eyes rounded. Erin thought, to herself, ‘Okay he has
the same ability as Lor and Alliz in that he can get information
from touch’. “Lor sent me with a list of supplies we need.”