‘Why would we shelter your runaway devotee?’ Reyne asked.
‘We’ve searched our side of the ship and she’s not there. She must be with your brotherhood.’
‘Well, she isn’t. You should take better care of your devotees so they don’t want to run.’
‘You should mind your tongue!’ Oriemn reached for his weapon.
‘What’s this?’ Hueryx came down the steps. ‘Kyredeon is missing a devotee? What did she look like?’
‘She was young and beautiful.’
‘Of course she was. If we see her, I’ll be sure to send her your way. But I can tell you right now. We are not sheltering her.’
Even from a body-length away, Aravelle could feel the force of Hueryx’s gift.
Kyredeon’s hand-of-force backed down.
No one moved until the rival brotherhood’s warriors had returned to the rear-deck.
Then Hueryx’s supporters slapped him on the back and laughed as though they were drunk on power. But Aravelle thought of the poor devotee. There was nowhere she could have run to; if she was not on the ship, she must have thrown herself in the sea. How horrible to feel such desperation.
Chapter Seventeen
R
ONNYN GUIDED THEM
to an island where they pulled the boat onto the hard-packed sand revealed by low tide. He grabbed the bundle, and they climbed up the steep rocks. He’d had his eye on this island for a while, after he’d glimpsed the golden stones of an abandoned building amidst the trees.
‘Wait...’ the girl gasped.
He turned to find her flushed and breathing hard. It was no wonder she was unfit. ‘Why do they shut you up?’
She would not meet his eyes. ‘Please don’t ask.’
He gathered it was something shameful and blushed for her. ‘I’m Ronnyn.’
‘My friends call me Sar.’ She smiled. ‘Thank you, Ronnyn, I didn’t know how much I missed the sky.’ Tilting her head to the sun, she spread out her arms and breathed deeply.
He watched, happy for her. ‘Let’s explore and then we can have some lunch.’
They headed for the ruin, glimpsed through the trees.
‘Is it Mieren or T’En in origin?’ the girl asked.
‘I don’t know.’
They entered the courtyard where weeds grew thick between the paving stones. Inside the ruins, there were places where the roofs had fallen in, leaving the rooms open to the elements. But in the deepest corners they found colourful frescoes on the walls, depicting people dancing and singing.
‘T’En, like us,’ she said, eyes glittering with excitement. ‘Do you think this could have been abandoned three hundred years ago, during the first war with the Mieren?’
‘Possibly.’
‘Look.’ Sar pointed to a T’En man and woman dancing. ‘What if this place predated the covenant that divided brotherhoods from sisterhoods? Maybe they held midsummer trystings here?’
Ronnyn’s mother had told him stories, but he hadn’t spent years locked up reading books like Sar. She made him feel ignorant.
‘I wonder why it was abandoned?’ She wandered into another chamber. ‘It could be a tainted site.’
‘Tainted?’
‘In some places, the walls between this plane and the higher plane are thin. We’re lucky it’s not season cusp. That’s when the walls are thinnest. Sometimes predators come through. They crave our power, and gift-warriors have to protect us. I used to hope I’d be a gift-warrior. But...’ She turned away.
‘I don’t think it’s a tainted site,’ Ronnyn said. ‘I can’t sense anything.’
‘Is your gift manifesting?’
He looked down, avoiding her gaze. ‘I’m hungry. Come on.’
They went outside into the courtyard, where he spread the blanket in a patch of sunlight and unpacked the food.
She tucked her legs neatly underneath her. ‘This is wonderful.’
He grinned and devoured a chicken leg.
Selecting an apple, Sar nibbled it with delicate, precise bites, studying him. ‘I heard the inner circle talking. You’re All-father Hueryx’s son and your mother ran away so she could keep you. What was it like growing up free? And how did you hurt your arm?’
As Ronnyn answered her questions, he wondered what she had done that was so terrible that All-mother Reoden would keep her in seclusion.
‘W
HAT’S WRONG,
R
EE
?’ Imoshen put her notes aside. It was late afternoon and Frayvia was teaching Deyne to speak T’En language, while Umaleni joined in. Baby Aro slept in her cradle at Imoshen’s feet.
The healer glanced around the crowded cabin and gestured for Imoshen to follow her to the doorway where they could speak privately.
‘One of the rowboats is missing,’ Reoden revealed, ‘along with two children.’
‘Which children?’
‘Ronnyn, the runaway, and –’
‘You think he’s run away again?’
‘No... he’s very protective of his little brothers. But Imoshen, he’s taken Sardeon. I kept him in the cloister, and he’s gone.’
‘Why did you shut him away?’
‘For his own protection. His father is a brotherhood leader and for his son to be trapped in the body of a twelve-year-old boy with no gift... the shame!’
‘There is no shame, Ree,’ Imoshen said. ‘If there is any shame, it should be Kyredeon’s. He sent the warriors who killed your daughter. Sardeon saw it happen. Even though he had no training, he segued to the higher plane to escort her shade to death’s realm. If anything, he should be honoured for his bravery.’
‘But he’s crippled, Imoshen. He hasn’t grown in almost five years. And now he’s missing.’ Tears filled her eyes. ‘He’s such a good boy. He never complains. I failed him –’
‘Hush.’ Imoshen hugged her. ‘Ronnyn probably thought he was setting him free.’ Imoshen caught her devotee’s eye. Frayvia nodded; she would watch the children. ‘Ronnyn and Sardeon can’t have gone far. We –’
‘The tides!’
Imoshen went cold. It was getting close to winter’s cusp, when the moons were both full and the tides were higher than usual.
She took Reoden’s arm. ‘We’ll send out Malaunje to look for them. They’ll be all right. You’ll see.’
But when she went up on deck, the ship’s captain was not eager to send the boats out. ‘Send them out anyway. Just tell them not to venture near the rocks.’
R
ONNYN WOKE WITH
a start.
He didn’t remember falling asleep. It was twilight and he was cold. ‘We should be getting back.’
As Sar woke, she frowned and bit her bottom lip, obviously regretting their escapade. But if their absence had been discovered, then so be it. He didn’t care what the reason was, it was wrong to keep her shut away.
‘Hurry up,’ Sar pleaded, as Ronnyn rolled up the bundle.
As soon as he was ready, she darted off, running through the trees to the place where they’d climbed up from the beach.
Sar jumped down to the next rock, before they realised the tide had risen. The swirling water swept her legs out from under her. Terrified, she reached for Ronnyn. He darted forward, grabbed her arm and pulled her up to safety.
The pair of them lay panting for a moment. Then Ronnyn stood, pulling her to her feet. ‘That was close. You all right?’
Sar seemed stunned. ‘You saved my life.’
‘Not really.’ But when he studied the way the rising water swirled around the rocks, he shuddered. There was no sign of their boat, not that they could have risked launching it. ‘We’re trapped.’
‘Look.’ Sar pointed to spots of light floating in the bay. ‘Boats with lanterns. They must be looking for us.’
Ronnyn climbed onto a rock and waved.
After a few moments the nearest boat headed their way. It was clear they’d been seen, but the sea was too dangerous to venture close. Someone signalled with the lantern and the boat went back to the ship.
Ronnyn jumped down from the rock. ‘They know we’re safe. We can spend the night in the ruins. It’ll be fun.’
‘It’ll be cold.’
‘Not if we gather firewood.’
‘How can we light...?’
But Ronnyn was already running back to the ruin, grabbing fallen dry branches as he went. He thought he’d spotted a flint in the deserted kitchen.
He had and, by the time, Sar returned with an armful of firewood, Ronnyn had a small flame going.
‘We can shelter in here. We’ll have a fire. We have a blanket and two more apples. We’ll be a bit hungry.’ He grinned. ‘But it’ll be fun!’
‘All-mother Reoden –’
‘She knows we’re safe, and we’re already in trouble, so we might as well make the most of it.’
Sar’s expression lightened, just as Ronnyn hoped it would, and a mischievous smile lit her face.
‘O
N THE ISLAND
?’ Reoden repeated. ‘Why didn’t your sailors bring them back?’
‘The tide made it impossible,’ the captain said. ‘I could send a boat back later when the currents have settled.’
‘No... They’ve disobeyed me by sneaking off. Let them spend a night in the cold. I take it the island is safe?’ The captain nodded. ‘Tomorrow morning will be soon enough to bring them back. By then, they should be suitably sorry.’
He nodded and left them.
Reoden turned to stare across at the island. It was only a dark smudge on a sea silvered by the twin moons’ light.
As a child, Imoshen had roamed Lighthouse Isle, reporting to no one. ‘I imagine Ronnyn is used to coming and going as he pleases. He grew up wild on an island.’
‘You won’t convince me to forgive them, Imoshen. They could have drowned!’
‘Very true.’ She took the healer’s arm. ‘But come inside now. It’s growing cold. Perhaps this is all for the best. You can’t keep Sardeon locked away forever. His gift will corrupt.’
‘It can’t corrupt if it isn’t manifesting. Ceriane believes his gift has frozen, and that’s why he hasn’t aged.’ She pressed trembling fingers to her mouth. ‘Oh, Imoshen, what am I going to do with him?’
‘At least your inner circle won’t insist you turn him out,’ Imoshen said, thinking of her own choice-son, who was even now travelling across Chalcedonia, into the path of Mieren armies, to save a queen.
R
ONNYN LOOKED AWAY
from the fire and waited for his eyes to adjust, before making his way to the edge of the ruins to relieve himself.
‘Did you go camping on your island?’ Sar asked, coming up behind him and making him jump.
Sar unlaced her breeches and...
Ronnyn glanced down. She was a
he
.
He felt like an idiot. ‘You’re...’ he was going to say
a boy
, then he remembered the odd creature the women referred to as a ‘geldr.’ Did geldrs have any genitals? Perhaps Sar was a geldr and that was why... But then he remembered the causare’s sisterhood didn’t lock up their geldr.
Even more confused, Ronnyn laced up and went back to the fire. As he stared into the flames, Sar joined him and they shared the blanket.
After a while, Ronnyn couldn’t bear it any longer. ‘Can I ask you a question?’
‘Perhaps.’
‘What’s your full name?’
‘Sardeon Choice-son Reoden, son of All-father Paragian. We’re choice-brothers, you and I.’
Ronnyn frowned. ‘Why –’
‘We share the same choice-mother.’
‘No. Why do they keep you in seclusion?’
The silence stretched and it seemed Sardeon would not answer, then he took a deep breath and began. ‘Five years ago come spring, several brotherhood warriors murdered the all-mother’s sacrare daughter.’ His voice caught but he forged on. ‘A sacrare is a T’En born of two T’En parents. They’re very rare and have the potential for great gifts. She was my choice-sister. I saw it all. I couldn’t save her and I... I haven’t been the same since.’
That explained his sadness.
‘The Mieren raped my mother and my sister. And there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop them. It made me so angry –’
‘No one would talk about what happened that day. It was like they wanted me to forget it ever happened. But I’ll never forget her.’
‘Of course not.’ Ronnyn understood. He would never forget his Malaunje kin.
‘I’m glad we became stranded,’ Sardeon said, and his stomach rumbled.
‘Even if we have to go to bed hungry?’
He gave an elegant shrug. ‘What’s a little hunger?’
Chapter Eighteen
I
MOSHEN CLEARED THE
mid-deck of Malaunje, while Reoden lined up all the T’En children from both sisterhoods. Saffazi had wanted to be here, but she was an initiate now. Only the children, the two all-mothers and their voices-of-reason were present.
‘These two boys could have drowned,’ Reoden told the children, who watched her solemnly. ‘They were lucky they only had to spend a cold, miserable night on the island.’
‘Let this be a lesson to you, not to disobey your choice-mothers,’ Egrayne added.
Both of them came back to stand beside Imoshen.
‘I’ll have to punish them,’ Reoden muttered. ‘But how?’
‘You could send them with the Malaunje to find the missing rowboat,’ Egrayne suggested. ‘They’d have to endure the insult of doing work beneath their stature.’
A moment later Ronnyn and Sardeon climbed over the ship’s side and jumped down to the deck. They didn’t look miserable. Instead, they looked rather pleased with themselves.
Ronnyn’s two younger brothers would have run to him, but Nerazime restrained them.
As the two boys took in the children before them and the sisterhood leaders, Imoshen studied Sardeon. He was the same as he’d been the day Lyronyxe was murdered – a boy so beautiful he could pass for a girl.
According to his birth date, he would turn seventeen three days before her choice-son, but there was no hint of the man in him. All-father Paragian would be expecting the delivery of his son, ready to take his place in the brotherhood.
They would have to speak with Paragian.
Ronnyn marched straight over to All-mother Reoden and dropped to one knee. ‘I beg your forgiveness, choice-mother. It is all my fault. I teased Sardeon until he came out with me. I lured him into the rowboat and –’
‘Not true,’ Sardeon insisted. He knelt gracefully next to Ronnyn. ‘I went willingly. I went because I needed to see the sky and feel the wind on my face. I needed to be free.’ He looked up at Reoden. ‘I am sorry I went without permission, choice-mother, but I am not sorry I went.’