Gorinthians (28 page)

Below them, all of the
students, teachers and the general population of Chasel Ri’ Aven
were arrayed on the combat fields of the Tar Ri’ San . The Elders
slowly made their way around the crowd and mounted the small stand
that stood on one side of the field. Elder Rinchav had been chosen
to address the people. He was the youngest of the five and
therefore young enough to be bullied into it by the older members
of the group.

Standing at the podium,
Rinchav looked down at the faces that were turned toward him
expectantly. He felt butterflies fill his stomach, trying to carry
him away. He had never been good at speaking in public, even on the
best of occasions, and this was far from the best of
occasions.

“
Fellow
citizens,” he began. His voice was amplified throughout the crowd
as various teachers automatically enhanced the vibrations with
their
yar
. “We
have learned of a threat that concerns all of us. The Chasel has
shown what appears to be an army approaching. It is not a regular
army, made up of men. It is an army of Elementals and beings made
of rock that stand higher than the tallest building in our
city.”

Rinchav still felt a chill
as he recalled the vision of monstrosities bearing down on Chasel
Ri’ Aven. As was the custom, the Elders of the Presidency were
chosen to visit the Chasel and then share the different visions
that they had with the Council of Elders. For the first time since
the founding of the city, all five of the Elders chosen to visit
the Chasel had witnesses the same vision.

“
We have
gathered you here today to prepare for the siege that is to come.
In the vision, we were under attack, but we were not overcome. We
do not know how it ends, but we know how it must proceed from here.
Those of you that are still attending the Tar Ri’ San shall spend
the remainder of your time learning how to use your
yar
as a weapon. Those of
you that are in the Rajan Gardens will begin harvesting the
necessary compounds for battle. I would remind all of you that we
came to this mountain to escape the wars and destruction that
filled the outer world. We were also given a duty to protect the
Chasel. Each and every one of us has spent our lives preparing for
the day that we would have to defend this city. That day has
finally come. You are the chosen generation with thousands of years
of training and study bred into our lives. I almost feel sorry for
the enemy that has made the mistake of attacking our
homeland.”

He finished and the students
began cheering, while some of the parents and older folk looked at
each other grimly, determinedly. Turning, he slowly stepped down
from the pulpit, to the waiting four Elders that had accompanied
him. Their eyes were not shining with excitement. They had seen the
same vision that he had, the same destruction that was imminent in
the years to come.

Chapter 16

Everyone had gathered in the
sitting room in the cottage, which mysteriously always had enough
furniture for the growing party. Terrance sat in a high-backed
chair at the end of the room; his eyes were lost in thought as he
unconsciously drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. Lendel
talked with Jalorm while Cha'le talked with Li and Thistledown.
Lochnar sat on Celdic's right side in another high-backed chair and
brooded silently while Selindria sat on Celdic's other side. She
watched Terrance with lidded eyes and slightly pursed lips. The
tranquility that permeated though this place had no effect on
Lochnar or Selindria and Celdic realized that he was only barely
aware of it now himself.

Terrance cleared his throat
and the others quieted, looking at him expectantly. With his
powerful gaze, he studied each of them intently before he began. "I
would like to start by apologizing for the confusion of the past
few days. I know that we rushed you all out of Chasel Ri’ Aven
without any explanation and have since revealed a lot of
information that is somewhat shocking.” He paused for a moment,
considering Lochnar. Lochnar continued staring at the floor in
front of him, ignoring Terrance’s gaze. "The time has come for you
to understand our purpose in gathering you together today. By now,
most of you have a rough idea of the last few thousand years of
history. You are aware that
yara
is returning to the earth again and with its
return the Gorinthians will once again be able to invade human
hosts. Over the last thousand years, we have developed many weapons
that can detect and sever Gorinthian hosts. Even better, we have
discovered how to prevent them from invading other hosts
altogether. While we discovered ways to prevent them from
overcoming our Aura's, they have also been devising new ways to
occupy hosts, without the need of
yara
. They have created an army of
elementals and Gorinthians that far outnumber the inhabitants of
earth today. Not only have they created an enormous army, they have
also devised a way to shield their spirits from most of the weapons
we have created to fight them when they assume human hosts. Since
the cataclysm that destroyed civilization, humans, Talons and
Zerans migrated to the only lands left on the planet that still had
the ability to sustain life. Though most kings and rulers think
that we occupy most of the world, in actuality, we only inhabit two
small continents. The rest of the world is what we refer to as the
blasted lands, where nothing grows and very few creatures live.
There, Jerard has built up the Enemy. He created hosts out of earth
and water that need no food; not the kind we know anyway. In a very
short time, they will descend on humanity and, if they can, finish
what they started two thousand years ago."

Cha'le cleared her throat
and Terrance nodded at her to speak. "I still do not understand why
you need us.” Cha'le gestured at the others from Chasel Ri’ Aven.
"If they have an army as large as you say, how are the five of us
going to make a difference."

Terrance chuckled. "To the
point, I see.” Terrance drew a deep breath as his mirth subsided.
"Your parents were members of the Derinian Order. In fact, they
were some of the last members. What I am about to tell you is known
to very few outside this room. The majority of humans have lost
their ability to use
yara
. Zerans and Talons can sense it,
but only a few can still use it. We knew that if we ever had a
confrontation with the Enemy again, we would be overcome with
little effort on their part. We spent several centuries studying
the human host and the link that exists between parents and
children. We altered your parents' hosts so that they became what
we called a Universal Link. The relationship that usually only
exists between parents and children would exist for your parents
with everyone.” Terrance shook his head slowly. "Even after
centuries of studying this new design, there were still many
unexpected surprises, the greatest being that the link would only
form on one of their offspring."

Celdic's head was spinning.
"Are you saying that we have a link with every other human alive
today?” At Terrance’s nod, Celdic continued, "Then why have I never
felt anything?"

"What is this link supposed
to do?” Li asked curiously.

Terrance raised his hand to
forestall them. "First, you haven't felt it because you do not know
what you are looking for.” He looked at Li. "The link was created
to make it so that the rest of humanity can use
yara
through you."

"Through us.” Li repeated
blankly. She was staring at Lochnar shrewdly, as if another piece
of a puzzle had just fit into place. Lochnar continued to ignore
everyone present.

"Yes, through you,”
Thistledown said from his sprawling chair next to Cha'le. He had
his mismatched, booted feet resting on an ottoman in front of him
with his bushy head resting easily on the chair headrest. "You will
need to initiate the link with each person before they become aware
of
yara
."

Celdic wondered how they
would get more than a handful of people to become aware of
yara
if they needed to
meet each person before they could use the link. He said as much
and Terrance and Thistledown shared a look before Terrance spoke
up.

"From the moment that we
began working toward creating the Universal Link, we approached the
ruling class and introduced the concept of having every citizen
swear fealty to the leader of their nation. The four of you will
have a chance to meet just about everyone on the continent over the
next year, once you have assumed your new roles in
Shalilayo."

Celdic was already aware of
Terrance’s plan to set the four of them up as leaders throughout
the continent, so he was able to enjoy the look of stunned
incredulity on the faces of his companions. Cha'le's eyes looked as
if they might pop out they were so wide and her lips were slightly
parted. Li looked no less stunned as she stared back and forth at
Thistledown and Terrance. Lendel only allowed a slight widening of
the eyes before regaining control. Selindria just looked satisfied,
as if a piece of a puzzle had finally slipped into place. Almost
too quick for Celdic to notice, Lochnar glanced at Selindria
questioningly. She shook her head so slightly that Celdic was not
certain whether he saw the interchange or imagined it.

Terrance waited a moment
before continuing. "I know that you all have a lot of questions,
but they will have to wait. We have a long journey ahead of us,
with plenty of time to explain all of the details on the way.” He
studied them silently for several more moments, his expression a
mystery. "Relax for the rest of the day. There will be little time
for peace and quiet in the days to come. We will leave in the
morning."

With that, Terrance and
Thistledown stood up and walked out the front door. Lochnar stood
up and followed the two of them a moment later. Selindria gazed
inscrutably at his back as he left.

Jalorm stood up to walk
around and promptly fell flat on his face, followed by an eruption
of laughter from Cha'le and Li. It took Celdic a moment to realize
that Jalorm's shoestrings were tied together. Jalorm slowly rose to
his feet, looking sheepish at being caught unawares. Celdic knew
that he was one of the best Guardians, even at his young age, so he
knew how ashamed he would normally have been at having someone
sneak up and tie his shoes together. It was different when Cha'le
was the prankster though. Even the Elders could be caught by
surprise by her schemes. In school she was constantly harangued by
the teachers for what they told her was wasted talent. She was
easily one of the smartest youths of the school, but most of that
intellect was channeled into mischief.

"Very clever, Cha'le,"
Jalorm said dryly as he untied his shoestrings. "How did you do
that? I know you haven't moved since we sat down."

"I wouldn't want to give
away any secrets of the trade," Cha'le replied with a mysterious
smile.

Selindria had been studying
Jalorm's shoestrings intently from her chair. "You might want to
change your shoestrings, Jalorm," she advised with a slightly
amused expression on her face, "otherwise they may just tie
themselves together again."

"Selindria!” Cha'le cried in
anguish. "You've ruined it! He might have done it again in a
minute."

Jalorm had just finished
retying his shoestrings and sat back down when they began coming
apart and retying themselves together again. With a startled oath,
he pulled out his knife and tried to cut them off. It took him a
moment to realize that there was not a knife sharp enough to cut
through whatever it was that Cha'le had done to his shoestrings.
Sighing, he untied them again, this time removing them from his
boots.

"So what do you think of
what they told us?” Li asked Selindria curiously. "Is it true?” Li
was wearing another skirt, black with slashes of blue through it
and a high-necked, silk blouse. Celdic wondered where she had come
by the new clothing. They certainly did not have those kinds of
clothes in Chasel Ri’ Aven.

Selindria shrugged slightly.
"As far as it went, it was true.” She paused. "How much more there
is to his plan that he hasn't told us, I couldn't say. But I would
continue to caution you to think for yourselves, and not rely on
another to do it for you, including me."

Celdic stood up and walked
toward the front door, being careful to check his shoestrings as he
stood up. "I am going to go for a walk.” He said to the others,
looking at Li questioningly.

"I think that I would like
to get some fresh air as well,” Li said, standing up and walking
through the door with him.

The two of them walked side
by side down the trail that seemed to be as wide as the party
walking down it needed it to be. Celdic's thoughts tumbled around
chaotically in his head as he tried to fight down the sense that he
and Li were going to be parted.

"Celdic?” Li said quietly,
slipping her arm through his. "Do you still want to know what it
was that I told Cha'le when she stayed the night?” She looked up at
him with her dark brown eyes, vulnerable and helpless as she opened
herself up to him.

Trying to calm his beating
heart as he stared down at her, Celdic nodded his head slightly. He
could not remember a time when she had seemed more beautiful than
she did now.