Prophecy, Child of Earth (37 page)

'Let it come, darling, let it all come. This—this is where we begin."

They sat thus all through the night, Rhapsody cradled in Oelendra's arms. At times she would grow silent, only to return to crying so hard that she thought she would die. All the while Oelendra spoke words of comfort that were not meant to stop the mourning, but to ease and encourage its passing, as one might hope to ease the pain of childbirth.

The morning found them still on the hillside. Rhapsody awoke to the soft singing of her mentor, who was greeting the rising of the daystar and the sun with the ancient song of their people. Her head cloudy from tears, Rhapsody joined in, her voice breaking sporadically. Her hand shook as she pulled the sword from its black ivory scabbard and held it beneath the heavenly bodies rising iri the sky, its rippling flames reflecting soft tones of blue and rose and gold as the sun crested the horizon.

When the sun stood clear in the sky and the evenstar was no longer visible through the morning light, Oelendra rose from the ground and helped Rhapsody to stand. They returned to Oelendra's house and Rhapsody settled into the pillows on the floor with the cup of tea her mentor put gently into her hands. Over breakfast they reminisced about the old world, speaking fondly of people and things that they missed and knew they would not see again. There was healing laughter, a few tears, and much plain talk. Finally, when Rhapsody was feeling better, Oelendra gave her a discerning look.

'You have not really mourned your loss until now, have you?"

Rhapsody drained her mug of tea. "No."

Oelendra nodded. "Do you mind if I ask why?"

'I was forbidden to."

'By whom?" ,

She smiled. "The leader of the expedition here. My sovereign, I guess. Someone I hated at the time, but have come to trust implicitly. One of my dearest friends."

'Why did he forbid you to cry?"

Rhapsody thought for a moment. "I'm not entirely certain; I think it offends his ears. He's rather sensitive to vibrations, that might be part of it. But he was very clear about it. I was not to cry ever again."

'An unwise order, if I have ever heard one. Rhapsody, the rules I am teaching you as your mentor in the use of Daystar Clarion are essential to your survival, but there is more to life than just surviving. This one is offered as your friend and one who has lost what you have, and so understands what it has cost you. If the first rule is listen to your body, the second is listen to your heart.

'You have a remarkable ability to keep going when both parts of you are desperately in need of rest and renewal. Take the time to attend to yourself better, not just your body, but your soul as well. The cost of not doing so is too great to endure. Grieve if you need to. Carrying that much pain will defeat you eventually as surely as going into battle overwrought physically. Look after yourself. If you don't, you will never be able to look after anyone else."

Rhapsody smiled. "I will. Thank you, Oelendra, thank you for all you've done.

Now, if you're ready, I think I'd like to get back to work." She rinsed her mug in the water barrel and went to the sword rack, belting her sword as her mentor smiled.

<_}teel clashed against steel as the two Liringlas women sparred in the courtyard of Oelendra's garden. Blow after blow Rhapsody landed, and blow after blow Oelendra parried with little effort. Now and again the Lirin warrior would lash out with the flat of her blade, smacking Rhapsody in the calf, thigh, or occasionally on her side, but most of the blows to the vital areas the Singer managed to block or dodge.

In her mind she could hear Grunthor bellowing at her.

STRIKE! Get your pretty 'end out o' yer arse and pay attention, or Oi'll rip it off
and stick it on my poleaxe!

Rhapsody grasped Daystar Clarion with both hands and pressed forward. She mustered all her strength and brought the sword down hard on the warrior.

Oelendra held up her sword with her left hand and parried the blow with ease.

Then she punched out with her right fist, landing a jab on Rhapsody's chin. The world vanished as white pain flashed before her eyes.

She stumbled and fell to the ground three feet back, hardly able to believe she could have received a harder blow from Grunthor. Rhapsody blinked the spots away from her eyes as she lay sprawled on the ground, uncertain where, or even who, she was for a moment. A time-weathered face appeared above her.

'You are not a Bolg, Rhapsody," Oelendra said as she stood over her student. "If you try to fight like one, you will be killed. I've told you before your physical strength is not your strongest point, you shouldn't rely on it so much. If you have need of strength, you can draw on it from the sword, but you shouldn't rely on it alone. You won't live long as the Iliachenva'ar if you let the sword wield you.

Now, are you all right?"

'Yes," Rhapsody said as her bloodied lip began to swell. "Just a little dizzy."

'Very well, we'll rest a moment before we give it another try."

'No, I'm all right." Rhapsody gingerly touched her bruised chin as she came to her feet. She assumed a ready position, and the two returned to sparring. This time Rhapsody's movements were more carefully considered, and at the end of the match Oelendra nodded in approval.

Finally the rhythm became intrinsic, and Rhapsody began to land more blows, driving her instructor back and occasionally unbalancing her. She breathed deeply and concentrated on the music she could feel in her body, and how it matched with the vibrational blur that was her opponent and friend. With her eyes nearly closed, she waited for the moment when Oelendra's hand swung up, sword poised, then slashed her across the side, following her stroke with a blazingly fast blow to her teacher's wrist. She opened her eyes in alarm when she heard Oelendra's sword clatter on the cobblestones of the courtyard.

Oelendra was uninjured and smiling broadly; it was the most delight Rhapsody had ever seen on her mentor's face. The warrior extended her hand. Rhapsody took it and received a congratulatory handshake.

'Good work. Now we'll stop fooling around and get serious."

Rhapsody looked at her in dismay. "That wasn't serious?"

The smile faded from Oelendra's face. "I'm afraid not, dear. With what you have to face, what you just accomplished was enough to keep you alive long enough to see it kill you."

'Wonderful."

'Well,'tis an improvement. Before, you wouldn't have even known what hit you."

Rhapsody grimaced. "And you think seeing it is an improvement, given that choice? No wonder they think you're insane, Oelendra."

The warrior wrapped an arm around the Singer and led her home, laughing.

C,'heir days soon settled into a quiet routine. Each morning, after devotions, Rhapsody meditated, clearing her mind of thoughts, trying to feel the rhythm of her own body and the world around her. This exercise complete, Oelendra would have her run through her sword routines, practicing her movements slowly and carefully until they seemed second nature to her. This would be followed by a sparring session, in which the two would enter mock combat, with Oelendra stopping to point out faults or where improvements could be made.

They would spend the afternoons wandering the woods or the city, talking of the history of the new world or telling stories of personal events, getting to know each other well. Rhapsody felt Oelendra to be a kindred soul, someone who understood where she had come from often better then she did herself. Though she kept some of the details of her exploits with Achmed and Grun-thor, and all of her knowledge of Ashe, to herself, she found herself confiding her fears and dreams to the Lirin champion, trusting her as she had not anyone else for as long as she could remember. Oelendra was a perfect listener; she answered questions fortfirightly and shared parts of her own heart and past as well. These times were as strengthening to the growth of Rhapsody's soul as the physical exercises were to her body and ability as a sword bearer.

The evenings were filled with mental exercises, aimed at enhancing Rhapsody's bond with the sword, as well as her own natural talents.

'As a Singer, you already know the world is made up of vibrations, waves of color, of light, of sound," Oelendra said as they entered her chambers one evening not long after Rhapsody had arrived. "The world is full of constant motion which most people never see, and'tis through such motion, such vibrations, that you are able to effect the world through music. This will be true of the use of Daystar Clarion as well. If you concentrate, focus on the patterns you can already see as a Namer, you can discover weaknesses in armor, areas of injury or vulnerability.

When you have had more experience with this kind of concentration in combat, I will ask some of the Lirin soldiers to spar with you, especially those who have technique that is not perfect. Then you can practice finding your opponent's weaknesses in combat."

Rhapsody looked perplexed. "Isn't this what we're doing now?"

Oelendra smiled. "Do you do it blindfolded?"

'Oh."

'At first I will have them go easy on you."

'There's really no point to that," said Rhapsody, smiling. "My Bolg friends never do, and I tend to doubt my enemies will either, so you may as well let them at me without holding back. If I survive, I'll be better for it."

Oelendra returned her smile. Rhapsody's matter-of-fact nature and simple honesty reminded the warrior of herself when she was younger. The young Singer was different in her outlook on life than she had been, however. Probably because she had grown up among humans, she lacked the natural reserve of the Lirin, and instead plunged into life with an eagerness that touched Oelendra's heart in its recklessness.

It was an intense desire to celebrate the joy she saw around her, an insistence on believing there was good in situations where Oelendra herself saw none. Age and experience had taught her this was a life philosophy that guaranteed hurt, but it was scintillating to be around, exciting to be part of. She hoped Rhapsody's need to burn brightly would more reflect her tie to the stars and their enduring, steady light, than the momentary glory of the fire to which she was also tied, which roared with passion and died quickly as the fuel that sustained it was consumed.

The lack of caution that was evident in almost every move Rhapsody made did not apply to the commitment of her heart, however. That she guarded with diligent wariness. Oelendra had noticed that she was willing to smile at the young Lirin men who handed her flowers in the street when they were out on their walks, or who left small gifts on Oelendra's doorstep for her, but was unwilling to fulfill their requests for meetings in the glen or walks in the moonlight.

Whenever a man got his courage up to ask her to her face, she would either arrange for him to join the two of them for a meal, knowing how intimidating dining with the Lirin champion could be, or beg off, citing her need to train.

Oelendra respected her privacy about it but wondered all the same. She was wise enough to know that she could train Rhapsody's body but not her spirit.
Ryle hira
, she thought. Life is what it is, the old Liringlas expression. All she could do was give her tools and pray for the best.

night they sat before Oelendra's hearth, quietly drinking mugs of
dot
before the roaring fire. Oelendra stared past the flames, her mind wandering down old roads.

Rhapsody's own thoughts were closer to home, and to the world she had awoken into.

'Oelendra?"

'Hmm?"

'How can we find the F'dor? If you've been unsuccessful all this time, does that mean it might be unable to be found at all? That we will have to wait until it strikes, and react defensively?"

Oelendra put down her mug and regarded the Singer thoughtfully. "I wish I knew," she said at last. "Certainly that would be unfortunate, as it gives all the advantages to the F'dor.

'I've spent centuries pondering ways to find it. I had hoped that the Cymrians would be reunited by now; Llauron has been working on that goal for centuries.

There is a good deal of power in that population, and those that remember the Seren War would be eager to focus their talents on destroying the F'dor, if they can be convinced that it exists. 'Twould need to be a new, wiser group of leaders then we had in Anwyn and Gwylliam to do it, however.

'Without the reunited Cymrians, I suspect the crown of the Lirin might be useful in locating the demon if there were a monarch to wear it. Sadly, the greatest power the Purity Diamond would have had—the capability of trapping and holding the demon within it, is gone forever. This, no doubt, is why it sought to have the diamond destroyed.

'When I was Iliachenva'ar in the old land, I was sometimes able to see hidden evil things through the flames of Daystar Clarion. Your bond with fire may permit you to see such things through the sword in ways I am no longer able, especially since the F'dor are bound to fire. The Three may come, though I have given up hope of that. The only other thing I can think of is that we may come across a Dhracian somewhere in the world; Dhracians are the only race that can find F'dor by natural ability."

Rhapsody opened her mouth to ask about the Three, but Oelendra's final comment caused it to close rapidly. She thought back to where she had first heard of the race. It was in the darkness of the Root, on the first night she had come to think of Achmed as something other than an obstacle.

What, did you think you're the only half-breed in the world'?

Of course not.

Grunthor is half-Bengard.

And you'?

I'm half-Dhracian. So you see, we're all mongrels.

'What can you tell me about Dhracians, Oelendra?"

Oelendra rose and threw another log on the fire. "Dhracians were one of the Elder races, older indeed than all but the Firstborn, and they were the ancient enemies of the F'dor. They had a racial hatred of the demonic spirits that ran immensely deep, and they set forth on an ancient crusade to rid the world of them.

'The Dhracians, though humanlike, were also in many ways insectlike, and lived in deep caverns within the earth; some may still. They were said to be very quick, very agile, and they could see the world in shades of vibrations, as you have learned to. I am not certain, but I believe this is how they could sense the F'dor.