Gorinthians (35 page)

"I will send your supper up
with one of my daughters,” Derek told them, turning back down the
hallway. "It should be ready in about a half an hour."

After Derek had shown
Seranova and Ferrich their rooms, they rejoined Morindessa in her
room. Her pack was sitting on the side of her bed and she was
rummaging through it when they entered, closing the thick oak door
behind them. A moment later, Morindessa's head emerged from her
pack as she pulled out a strange device Seranova did not recognize.
It looked like a large supper plate made of crystal. There were
colors swirling all throughout the strange crystal plate, ranging
from a green in the center to other mellow colors covering most of
it, with two red dots on the outer perimeter.

"What's that?” Seranova
asked, fascinated as she watched the colors swirl around slowly
like oils that had been dyed and mixed with water.

"It's a mood glass.”
Morindessa pointed at the red dots on the outer edge. "The red ones
indicate people that are feeling intense emotion. The orange
indicate rage, the blue usually indicate slumber, while the yellow
shows people that are relaxed. The green and black show despair and
unhappiness."

"How does it work?” Ferrich
asked with a puzzled frown. "I can sense it with my
yar
but it doesn't feel
like anything I have ever felt before."

"That's part of how it
works,” Morindessa replied, setting the mood glass on a small
table. "It is actually made up mostly of Tramnel, the substance
that grows on your physical body so your spirit can attach itself.
Once the Tramnel was grafted on to the crystal, an Elemental was
organized, mostly made up of passive spiritual matter, but enough
active matter to still be considered an agent. The elemental was
attached to the Tramnel inside the crystal. The substance on top of
the crystal is something I am not familiar with, but it makes it so
our eyes can see what is actually spiritual energy radiating around
us."

Ferrich's eyes widened, "Are
you telling me this thing is alive?" he asked in shock.

Morindessa shrugged, "Of
course. It would not work without some kind of spiritual being. All
it is really doing is giving us a visual of what we can sense with
our own
yar
. The
difference is that this can reach out a lot further than we
can."

"Did you make it?” Seranova
asked curiously.

"No,” Morindessa replied
solemnly. "It was given to me by a very good friend."

"So what is it telling us
right now?” Ferrich asked, studying the colors that were slowly
swirling around inside it.

Morindessa stood up next to
the table and pointed at the yellow color at the center, "Just
think of it as a large eye in the sky looking down. The yellow in
the center represents us. The blue that is up here," she pointed at
a spot about an inch away from the center, "This is probably a baby
or child sleeping.” She pointed out to the edge where the red dots
were, "This is either someone that is very scared, or having a very
good time."

"I don't understand,”
Ferrich said, frowning at the mood glass. "Having a good time is an
intense emotion?"

Seranova shared an amused
look with Morindessa, "Usually the ones having the good time are a
boy and a girl,” Seranova said dryly.

"Oh,” Ferrich said, blushing
to the roots of his hair. Morindessa wore a wide smile, not far
from outright laughter. "What about the orange ones?” Ferrich
asked, obviously trying to change the subject.

"More than likely a domestic
dispute between a husband and wife,” Morindessa replied, still
smiling at Ferrich. "If you wait a while, they will probably turn
red when they begin making up."

Seranova laughed aloud as
Ferrich turned even redder, avoiding Morindessa's eyes as she
watched him with a mischievous twinkle in them. "What about the
green?” Ferrich asked, trying to ignore his burning ears. "Isn't
that a lot of green for this few people."

Morindessa's smile
disappeared as she looked down at the mood glass that was dominated
by green swirls. "Yes, it is; especially for a rural village where
people are usually happier than city folk."

"Do you think it has
anything to do with-" Seranova broke off as they heard a knock on
the door.

She felt
Morindessa's
yar
brush past her and looked down at the mood glass to see that
another yellow swirl had joined theirs in the center.

"Who is it?” Morindessa
called out, her hand gripping a dagger at her waist.

"-Esh-," a muffled,
high-sounding voice replied from the other side of the door. "I
have your supper."

Morindessa walked over to
the door and opened it, her hand still resting on her dagger hilt.
"Come in," she said, and a girl of about ten years walked into the
room with a platter of steaming food. The young girl had two long,
blonde braids hanging over each slender shoulder and a finely
featured face that almost looked as if it had been sculpted. She
wore a simple homespun gown of wool with a few small patterns woven
onto the bodice. Her eyes were a deep lavender and possessed narrow
slits instead of round pupils. She kept her eyes cast down, as if
she were trying to keep them hidden.

"What was your name?”
Morindessa asked her again gently, finally removing her hand from
her dagger.

"Jesha," the girl whispered,
still keeping her gaze to the floor. She set their dinner on the
table and turned to leave.

"Jesha, please stay for a
moment,” Morindessa said softly, her eyes strangely gentle. "I was
wondering if you could answer a few questions that we
have."

Jesha stood facing the door,
looking too afraid to leave yet terrified of staying. Morindessa
reached out and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You do not
need to be afraid of us. We are friends."

Jesha turned around slowly,
finally glancing up at each of them nervously. Seranova smiled at
her reassuringly and Ferrich winked at her. "What is it that you
want to know?” she asked, still whispering.

"How old are you?”
Morindessa asked, pulling two chairs out from the table and
offering one to Jesha. "In human years."

Jesha was half way in her
chair when Morindessa finished. She froze midway to her seat as her
eyes widened in panic. "Don't be alarmed," Morindessa said
soothingly, pushing her shoulder until she sat down in her chair.
"The woman I knew as a mother was Zeran."

Still looking uncertain,
Jesha darted looks around the room at them, her strange eyes
catching the light that was streaming through the window next to
the bed. "You are Zeran?” she asked Morindessa
doubtfully.

Morindessa shook her head,
"No. I was lost in the city of Shalilayo when I was young and a
Zeran woman took me in and raised me. You have nothing to fear from
us."

"I don't understand,”
Ferrich said, looking puzzled. "Why would she be afraid that we
knew she was Zeran?"

Seranova remembered the
villagers they had passed in town and knew exactly how they would
treat someone who was different. "Because she wasn't sure whether
we suffered from tunnel vision,” Seranova said
caustically.

"People are less accepting
of non-humans in these rural communities,” Morindessa explained to
Ferrich. "They think anything that is not human must be less than
human."

"That's ridiculous,” Ferrich
scoffed, shaking his head slightly. "We are from the same
stock."

"Just think of it like the
class system at Shalilayo,” Morindessa suggested with a smile.
"Aristocrats are prejudiced against the commoners because they
think they are better for some reason. They don't have class
systems in these villages, but prejudice is just too good to keep
to the cities, so the villagers have come up with their own system
of classifying a person’s worth."

Ferrich's chin came up
slightly and he stared down his nose at them. "Aristocrats do not
think they are better than commoners.” The effect was spoiled
slightly when his lips began twitching. From her chair by the
table, Jesha giggled loudly before catching herself. Her lips still
quivered to fight back her mirth as she looked at Ferrich with her
strange eyes.

Ferrich winked at her slyly,
causing her to giggle again. "I would make introductions, but I am
not certain if we have decided on names?” He finished, looking
questioningly at Morindessa. She rolled her eyes at him, sighing at
the ceiling.

"This is Ferrich and
Seranova.” Morindessa gestured at the two of them. "You can call me
Des."

"Pleased to meet you,” Jesha
said politely, her shyness abandoned.

"How old are you?”
Morindessa asked again.

"I am twenty-two in human
years,” she replied quietly. Seranova stared at her, wondering if
all Zerans looked like children.

Ferrich was staring at her
in wonder as well. "Twenty-two? And here I thought that you weren't
a day older than ten."

"Zerans age much slower than
humans,” Morindessa told them. "She is at the same maturity as a
human her age, but she won't look twenty-two until she is about
fifty.” Looking back at Jesha, Morindessa asked her, "How did you
come to live with Derek?"

Jesha took a deep breath,
glancing at the door before answering. "I was raised in a village
that was close to the border. Some humans raided our village when I
was fifteen, killing all of the men and capturing all of the women
and girls.” Her voice was hollow as she continued, "My mother tried
to hide my sisters and me in different places around the house, but
the raiders found all of my sisters. I was lying sideways on a beam
by the roof, so they could not see me. They did terrible things to
my mother and sisters before tying them up and taking them away.” A
tear rolled down her cheek as she finished, but she blinked the
other tears back. "I stayed in my hiding place for the rest of the
day. I was afraid the humans might be hiding in the village,
waiting for any of us who had managed to stay hidden. When I
finally worked up the nerve to search the rest of our village for
survivors, I found the bodies of all of our men stacked in a pile
with their eyes torn out. The next day, a man with a wife and a
little girl came through our village. When the man began burying
the bodies, I decided I could trust him. That is how I met Derek.
They were on their way back from a visit with his brother who had
married a Zeran, and they let me join their small
family."

Seranova felt numb with
shock at the horror Jesha had gone through. Morindessa's face was
full of sympathy and she stroked Jesha's back comfortingly.
Ferrich's face was white with outrage, staring at Jesha with wide
eyes. "Where did those men go?” Ferrich demanded hotly.

Jesha cleared her throat and
wiped her eyes with her wrist. "I never found out. Derek would not
let me search for them. He said my mother didn't sacrifice herself
just so I could hand myself over to the ones who stole
her."

"It's one of the more
disgusting practices that go on near the border towns,” Morindessa
said, her voice thick with contempt. "Humans like Zeran women
because they are more attractive than human women. There is a large
market for them in Garganthon and Treola. One of these days I am
going to do something about that."

Morindessa took a deep
breath, glancing at the Mood Glass on the table. On the outer edge
of the Mood Glass, there were about fifty orange dots swirling
around each other. "Jesha, has anything strange been happening
lately?” Morindessa watched her intently, round pupils staring into
cat-like pupils.

Jesha nodded. “People have
been disappearing for the last week,” she said quietly. "Mostly
children, but some of the men as well."

"Do you have any idea what
is causing it?” Morindessa asked with a frown.

"The Trapper found tracks of
a large creature on the outside of the village,” she replied,
holding her hands apart by about a foot to indicate the size. "One
of the other men saw glowing eyes in the dark once. He said they
looked like mine."

Morindessa looked over at
the Mood Glass sharply. The conglomeration of orange dots moved
toward the center of the Mood Glass. "You two, get your stuff,” she
commanded crisply. "It looks like we might not be staying after
all."

Chapter 20

They all heard a loud bang,
as the common room door was slammed open, which was followed by the
sound of many drunken voices. Morindessa gave Ferrich and Seranova
a push to start them moving back to their rooms for their packs,
following closely on their heels. As she reached the door, she
grabbed Jesha's arm, pulling her up from her chair where she sat
wide-eyed with fear. "Stay with me,” Morindessa told her firmly.
She reached out with her
yar
to the common room, quickly counting the number of
men surrounding it. She stopped counting at thirty, cursing under
her breath at the stupidity of men. Pulling Jesha close to her, she
waited for Ferrich and Seranova to return.

"They think that the
monsters are coming because of me,” Jesha whispered in a frightened
voice. "Indrico the Tanner said that I was one of them when he saw
my eyes."