“How couldn’t I see this from the city? It is huge.”
The man was tired but he grinned. “We have our own powers, but we don’t banish them for judgement. We are all useful in our own ways.”
His chains clanked as he shifted in her grip. “If you knock, they will open the walls.”
She snorted. “Where would the fun be in that?”
It was all the warning she gave them as they soared up and over the barrier, to land gently in the inner courtyard.
Fire exploded around them in a ring and men of ice and women of fire lined up to face her.
“Drop your shields and be assessed.”
She roiled her shadows and crossed her arms. “You didn’t say please.”
The man that had just arrived quirked a smile. “Please.”
She withdrew her shadows and was standing next to her two passengers. The young girl was shaking with fear, but the moment one of the men used ice to release her chains, she turned and flung her arms around Noma.
“Thank you, ma’am. Thank you so much. I know I shouldn’t have been out, but my healing doesn’t work unless there is an injury and I was looking for a stray creature to practice on.”
The man next to them rubbed his wrists as he was freed. “It was fortuitous that you were there, ma’am, or we would have been in the pit by now.”
“I believe I was where I needed to be. At least I got a nap in before I came to your rescue.” She smiled.
The man who had arrived and said please so prettily, smiled. “Thank you for bringing Hemson and our new recruit safely to our refuge. Will you walk with me?”
She inclined her head. “I might. Is there a chance for breakfast?”
He chuckled. “I do believe the kitchens are just getting underway. Please.”
She blinked at his use of the word again and followed where he led. This city was huge but nearly empty. The folk that lived there were stirring with the morning light. Bakers were plying their trade and the air was filled with the scents of a lively economy.
Noma swallowed as a memory of her grandmother’s house filled her. Every morning when the girls were there, there was fresh baked bread or biscuits. Noma associated those scents with a feeling of serenity and home.
“My name is Urad Vix. I am in charge of making sure that no one comes in that does not belong and that anyone leaving is appropriately outfitted.”
“Noma Sheewah. I have travelled a considerable distance and am still trying to determine my actual destination.”
“I am pleased to make your acquaintance. You are not from here, are you?”
She rubbed the back of her neck. “Where exactly is here?”
He paused and pulled her into an alcove. “Where are you from?”
“A world name Resicor.”
He winced. “Well, now you are on Skora-Mark. We who have powers are hunted for judgement.”
“Yeah, saw that.” She was having trouble concentrating. Where his people were shades of grey, he was gold and silver mixed with a little jade. Urad was very attractive but now was not the time to sigh like a young, foolish girl.
“It has been suspected that the judgement may not be death for those given to the pits around the world.”
“Wait, what? There is more than one?”
“Oh yes. Many. There are many of them around the globe.”
She frowned. Something was familiar about this. She needed to think. “Do you have a temple or something where things can be quiet while I think?”
He frowned. “Must it be a holy place?”
“No, just somewhere quiet where I can gather my thoughts.” And the thoughts of Resicor but that was another matter.
Urad nodded and led her to the place she was curious about and yet couldn’t resist. The huge tower in the centre of the keep was large enough to protect thousands. He led her upward on a winding staircase and she lifted the edges of her robes as she went up step after step.
Halfway up the tower, he paused and led her along a long gallery to a strange room that she hadn’t seen the like of since she was a child. “A library?”
He grinned. “It is quiet and no one will interrupt your thoughts. Is that a problem?”
“Can I read the books on the shelves?”
“If we have it, you can read it. I will have food brought to you when it is ready.”
She nodded. “Thank you for your initial acceptance.”
“If you can haul two of ours across the wastes without breaking a sweat, you can take a few days to learn our past.”
He was heading for the door when he paused and said over his shoulder, “You saved two lives today.”
She smiled. “Imagine how many I can save once I know what I am doing.”
Urad appeared surprised at her words, but he smiled and headed out to make a request for her breakfast.
She watched him go with a wistful appreciation. It was not often she was struck by a stranger’s beauty, but there was something about him that held her attention.
Noma took a seat near the window and closed her eyes, the light played across her lids, but she merely smiled and pulled together all that Resicor had whispered in the corners of her mind over the years about the Vorwings.
Keeping the contact secret from Trala had been the hardest part of her life, but once Resicor explained what she needed, what would happen to them, it was the only way to have Trala get through the days. Noma hid their eventual parting as best she was able and lived as if the planet had not touched her soul.
The key to it all was the pit. Where did it lead and why were their no burials?
Noma sat and focused. The Vorwings wanted to breed a new generation of powerful beings that could help them take over the universe. To do that, they needed women and an army. How would they go about culling talents from a population without being seen? Create a religion and create fear. They had done the same thing on Resicor but used psychics to increase the fear at the differences of physical talents, forcing those who had power to run and hide from their own people.
She had never imagined that Resicor was just the latest in a long line of worlds they had tried to take their next generation from.
Take. They had to remove the talents that they separated from the others. How would they take them from here?
She got to her feet and stared at the bookshelves. The orb inside her robes tugged itself loose and flew across the room to glitter near a huge tome. It was a census.
Noma hauled the book off the shelf, and the orb tucked itself back under her robes. She staggered to the nearest table with her burden and set the book down. It crackled as she opened it; the binding was stiff with age.
The scent of old ink, dust and parchment came to her as she began to work through the pages, waiting for something to catch her attention. The census was taken every twenty years and there was a pattern forming.
Entire family groups were disappearing. Cousins, brothers, sisters, all of them were disappearing in each generation, every fifty years throughout the ninety cities on record; there were family lines that simply ceased to exist.
She noted small scribbles in the margins that referred twice to rising stars. Blinking rapidly, she calculated how many missing there were and how often the stars rose. Thirty-nine precisely were in every collection, but each collection took generations to accumulate.
Whatever they were doing, they had a way of storing the powers before they shipped them off world.
She carefully closed the census book and put it back on the shelf. Now that she had an idea of what was going on, she had to prove it.
“Excuse me, miss. I have some food for you.” A young man came in holding a tray.
Noma smiled at him and patted the spine of the census book before waving him to put the tray on the reading table. “Thank you.”
“Did you really fly here on shadows?”
She looked up from the tray and smiled. “Sort of. The shadows walked and I steered.”
“You aren’t from here, are you? Your skin is wrong.”
Noma laughed and took a seat in front of the tray. “That is very direct. No, I am not from around here.”
“May I stay?”
She blinked and then grinned, waving him to sit. “Please. I could use the company. What is your name?”
“Robik. I came from Kensor city. My power is armour-proof skin.”
Noma started to eat and realised how hungry she actually was. She nearly bit the eating prong in half.
Robik told her about his escape from his city and how he had huddled near the wall for almost a day before anyone noticed him. Now, he made it his job to walk the walls three times a day in case there was another power who needed to be brought in through the wall.
Noma paused. “You said
through
the wall?”
“Yes. There is usually a talent available who can walk through the walls. Your arrival was quite impressive. Almost no one ever goes over, let alone carrying two other people.”
Robik’s eyes were glowing with excitement and an enthusiasm for the conversation. Noma made a silent guess that few folk spoke to him as an equal.
He finally asked her, “How old were you when your power first sparked?”
“Sparked? Interesting word. I was ten and we were on vacation with our parents. My sister’s talent started flaring and mine rushed out to keep her quiet. We cancelled each other out.”
He perked up. “You have a sister?”
Noma swallowed the last of her tea. “Yes. She is far away now on a life with a very different course from mine.”
Robik leaned forward and put his hand on hers. “I can see that you miss her.”
She blinked back tears. “You have no idea.”
Noma smiled as Robik took the tray away. He was a good lad and on the way to an incredible power. From what Resicor told her, an armoured body was the first sign of a weapon-based power.
She looked around the library and took a book down with a well-worn cover. The binding smelled of perfume and leather; Noma found out very quickly that she was holding a romantic tale of adventure and love in very unconventional locations.
“All the women here read that at one time or another. Why did you pick it out?”
Noma looked toward Urad and quirked her lips. “The binding is worn and smooth from the touch of many hands. That means it is something a lot of people have read and that makes it important for me to read as well to pick up on the pulse of local popularity.”
He straightened from his leaning pose in the doorway of the library. “What have you read so far?”
“That having sex while riding an animal is probably uncomfortable and women swoon at the sight of broad shoulders.” She quirked her lips and put the book back on the shelf.
“That is a lot of information for a quick read.” He stepped toward her.
“I absorb information rapidly. That first chapter was enough for me for now.” She chuckled.
“Do you know why you are here?”
She rubbed her forehead. “I am getting an idea of why this place at this time.”
“I am glad for that. The council wants to speak with you.”
“Council?”
“Yes. We handle chores and other duties as a community, so a council represents all major areas of necessities.”
Noma straightened her keeper robes. “Right.”
“Are those robes your mark of rank or faith?”
She smiled. “Neither and both. Shall we go and face your council?”
He nodded. “Please. It is always easier to get it over with sooner rather than later.”
That sounded ominous, but she walked the halls with him out of the library, down stairs and into a large open space filled with curious faces of wildly varying ages.
Urad walked her through the crowd and into an open circle in front of a panel of seated folk of different genders and talents.
To her surprise, he left her, walked around and took a central position in the only empty chair.
Urad nodded. “Tell us what you bring to our community.”
“Be specific please.”
A man on the end with dark hair smiled, “Can you bake?”
Noma shook her head. “I never learned to cook. From the time I was old enough to learn, my entire life was focused on clamping down on the power and keeping folk from noticing. My energy pattern registers as a low-level psychic and that is how I survived where I came from.”
Several of the others sat back, but a woman smiled, “Would you be willing to help teach some of the younger powers? They need to learn control because all they have learned was smothering their energy until it shot out at the worst time.”
Noma grinned. “Somehow, I am fairly sure that you have hit upon my purpose.”
The woman leaned forward and Urad scowled. “Will you teach them?”
“I will. I can teach just about anyone how to control what rises in them. It is a secondary skill that came with practice.” She could not get the smile from her lips. “When do I start?”
Urad narrowed his gaze. “I had been hoping that you would join the security patrols.”
She shrugged. “If I train some of the folk to better focus their talents, you will not lack for bodies to man the walls.”
The woman cocked her head. “Why do you use
talents
instead of
powers
?”
“Because what is within us is as much a part of us as painting, singing, baking, sewing; they are talents that we are born with and have to develop over time.” She shrugged. It was something she and Trala had worked out when they were young.
The council murmured and a few nodded.
The woman smiled again. “I am Wyna. I run the school.”
“I am Noma. I have just arrived.”
A girlish giggle sounded from the left and Noma winked at the young woman who had recently been in chains.
The gathering relaxed and everyone began to go about their day.
Wyna beckoned her over and immediately began discussing a few students that would benefit from a lot of tutoring.
It seemed that Noma was about to embark on a new career.
There were six students in her first meditation class and eighteen people in her second. Just because the powers were fully adult didn’t mean they had ever gotten a grip on their talents.
Once she was certain that they had grasped the basics of calming their minds, she had to find a spot where they could practice. Two of her pupils were flame talents, so the more room the better.