The Obsidian Temple (4 page)

“Not witless,” Dana said, studying her. “Just in her own world. My aunt had a boy like that, lost in his own thoughts. Liked to be by himself, but he was a genius with numbers and adding. Couldn't do anything else, just numbers.” She walked over and knelt beside the girl. Her nose wrinkled as Kadar's had at the odor. She spoke soothingly. “That's a powerful smell you have there, little kitten. My name is Dana; do you have a name?”

The girl seemed spellbound by the soft tone of Dana's voice and reached out a hand to pat her cheek. Her voice came out as a rasp. “Ivanha, Voras, Aryn, Parasu,” she said.

“That's good,” Dana said encouragingly. “You know your deities. But do you have a name?”

The girl seemed to think a moment. Her sad green eyes met Dana's. She shook her head.

“Well then, little kitten, we'll have to give you one,” Dana said. She slapped her forehead comically. “I know: we'll call you Sanuri, which means
kitten
in my tongue. Would you like that?”

The newly named Sanuri nodded solemnly, eyes wide, but with a smile tugging around her lips. The cat made a “mrp?” noise, like she approved, and Dana laughed. Dana held out her hand, and Sanuri cautiously put her hand in it.

“And we'll name your kitty Amber, because those beautiful ears look just like the golden jewels in the desert; do you like that?” The girl nodded. “Good. And if Kadar will help carry water, we will get you a nice cool bath, and some new clothes, and maybe some more food,” Dana said. Without waiting for an answer, she gently pulled the girl into the main part of the house.

Kadar looked at the newly named cat, who met his brown eyes with blue ones.

“Guess I better get a bucket,” he told the cat, whose body rumbled with a purr. “You're going to be a pain, aren't you?” he asked with a sigh. “I don't even like cats. Sulis is the cat lover.”

Amber yowled once and jumped down from the counter, pacing after Dana to the main house, her tail high and her loud purr following her out the door.

S
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well, Kadar thought. She was still thin but looked much better after a ­couple of meals and a good night's sleep on a real cot. They'd found space for her in the nursery with Datura and Dana's son Kris. Dana's room was connected, and she said she didn't mind keeping an eye on all three.

Dana had taken scissors to Sanuri's curly strawberry hair because it was too matted in places to save. The remaining short curls framed a thin, round face, haloed now by the morning sun. She looked to be about Ava's age, but there the similarities ended. Ava's eyes were lively, intelligent. Sanuri gazed placidly around her as she ran her hands up and down the raw silk that made up her robe, engrossed by the texture. She'd played with the tassel on the robe's tie for the past hour, examining it thoroughly before finally losing interest.

“I wonder where she comes from,” Dana said, looking up from the chair where she was nursing Datura.

Kadar watched as Dana's boy, Kris, toddled over to Sanuri and handed her the four long scraps of fabric he'd been given to keep him busy. Sanuri examined the silk, as Kris examined Sanuri. More than ever, Kadar wished it were Farrah rather than Dana nursing his child, Farrah in this scene of family and domestic bliss. He sighed.

“I've never seen such a hair color. And those green eyes are like a cat's,” Dana continued. “She wasn't wearing the brown of Forsaken, so I can only think she was abandoned because of her problems.”

“Folks in the northeastern isles are colored like her,” Kadar answered, glancing over at her. “Really pale white skin, red hair, and green eyes. Fisherfolk mostly. It rains a lot there, so I guess that skin doesn't burn like it would here. I wonder how she made it this far. Maybe she was with a group, and they just left her?”

Sanuri spoke suddenly in the Northern tongue. “You must have men to cover the outside wall. Make certain they have their
feli
with them,” she said in a strong, clear voice, staring straight ahead. “You are on your own after this.” Then her shoulders slumped, and she went back to playing with the fabric.

“She was doing stuff like that in the bath, too,” Dana said, shaking her head. “She lives in her own world, that's for certain.”

“Pretty,” Kris said, toddling over and handing something to Dana.

She took it and gasped. Kadar looked at the object in her hand. It was a rope, a perfectly formed round braid. As he looked closer, he realized it was composed of the scraps of silk Kris had given Sanuri. Kadar himself had never mastered a round braid, trusting other nimble fingers to do the work on the cords and tassels to the robes they sold. He exchanged a bemused look with Dana.

“Here, try this,” he said, and rummaged around in his aunt's scrap pile, finding eight lengths of silk. He handed it to Sanuri and watched as her nimble fingers flew, twisting the silk into cords, knotting, weaving. Soon she had a very different braid, a loose belt weaving of the strands, but still beautiful and perfectly woven. She tied off the end expertly and handed it back to Kadar, cocking her head and gazing curiously up at him.

“Very good,” Kadar praised her, and a smile bloomed on her thin face. “Beautiful.”

“Fisherfolk,” Dana commented. “Are those the ones that do the finger weaving and nets and such? Looks like that might be her talent, if you can get her to do what you want. Your uncle was saying he needed someone skilled with braids for the fabric room.”

Uncle Tarik poked his head around the doorway. “Kadar?”

“Uncle Tarik, look at this!” Kadar said, handing him the two braids. “The girl did this. She might be able to do the cords we always piece out. Maybe even some finger weaving for the braiding around the cloth.”

Uncle Tarik examined the braid carefully, then looked Sanuri over as she hummed and rocked in place. Kadar had heard his aunt explaining to Uncle Tarik how the girl had come into their care. “As long as no one is out there looking for her,” he said doubtfully.

“Our family was chosen by the One to protect her,” Kadar reminded him, voice low so Dana wouldn't hear.

“We don't know what from. It could be the deities, it could be the city folk, or it could be someone in our own clans,” Uncle Tarik said, shaking his head. “But it's like I told Raella, as Hasifels, when we are called to serve, we serve the One. And if we're called on more often than other clans, it is our privilege, not our sorrow. Be very careful in your dealings while she is with us.”

“Do you think she might need to go to a safer place?” Kadar asked, thinking of Ava and Sulis.

“We've sent word to your grandmother. She will commune with the One and know where this poor child needs to be. Until then, she is ours to protect and guide.”

 

Chapter 4

SULIS GRI
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Ava stare wide-­eyed at the beast in front of her. Ava's golden hair was wrapped in a long, pale scarf, similar to the one Sulis wore. The scarf could be pulled over the mouth and nose when winds whipped the sands around.

“Watch out, they spit,” she advised, and Ava quickly stepped to one side.

Sulis patted the long, dusty nose of the humpback in front of her. It had soft lips and a leathery tongue that could latch onto desert thornplants and chew the moisture out of them. It also had long ears, long legs, and a long neck. A bony back with a tall hump completed the dun animal's strange physique.

“The hump is all fat,” Sulis told Ava. “It helps the animal survive for days without food and water.”

“But how do you even get on it?” she asked helplessly. “There aren't any stirrups on the saddled ones I've seen, and it's so tall! Can't I ride another mule?”

Sulis shook her head and turned away from the corral they were standing beside. Only golden sand met her eyes, as far as she could see.

“We've reached the Sands,” Sulis said. She gestured toward the dunes. “What you see is all that is out there. It can be two to three days between watering holes. A mule would be dead the first day. These creatures are the ‘ships of the desert,' and are about the only pack animals that can travel across these dunes. It's a lot like riding a mule—­don't worry.”

“Why do they have pegs in their nose for the reins instead of a bit? How do you even control it without a bit?” Ava asked.

“Humpbacks chew their cud, like cows, so they can't have bits in their mouths. The reins are there to guide, but they're mostly command driven. You don't want to put too much pressure, or the pegs will tear up their nostrils.” Sulis grinned. “If it gets out of control, hang on to the saddle. It's a long way down.”

Ava gave her an exasperated look, then gazed thoughtfully over the sunlit dunes. “Is there any life out there at all? What will we eat and drink?”

“Yes, there's life. Life at every watering hole, and at springs too small for us to even mark on our maps. Wild
feli
, rodents, certain types of antelope, and spiny plants only the antelope and humpbacks can eat.” Sulis stared over the dunes a moment, enthralled by the beauty of the shifting sands. Then she shook herself back to the present and reassured Ava. “As for us surviving out there, for every humpback carrying a human, there is one carrying supplies to get us through, and there are extra beasts to replace fallen humpbacks if needed, as well as humpbacks carrying bribes for the Bedu nomads, to let us pass through their territories. Our procession just quadrupled.”

Sulis looked around at the bustling outpost, so familiar from her apprentice days. “When we bring spices and merchandise from Frubia, our caravan has about five hundred loaded beasts as well as humpbacks for us and the guards. This enclosure contains only about a quarter of what the family owns. The rest are kept in a private corral, east of this outpost, and Uncle Aaron will take them back across to Frubia when he returns from Illian.”

Ava turned to stare at the animals again, a determined set to her chin. “Wait until Farrah and the kids hear about this,” she said. “No one I know has seen a humpback, let alone ridden one.”

Sulis glanced toward the center of the outpost. Grandmother walked out of the main trading
jetal
and strode down the path toward them, clan members touching the backs of their hands to their forehead in respect as she passed. Grandmother nodded in return. Sulis realized she'd never traveled with her grandmother before. No one in her village saluted as Grandmother walked by. It gave her a strange feeling, like her familiar and beloved grandmother was somehow a stranger, and imposing.

“Come, girls,” Grandmother ordered. “We will sleep in the family guesthouse tonight. I sent word ahead of us for this outpost to prepare the men and supplies for the trip south, and we will be able to leave before dawn tomorrow. You will want to retire early.”

They were rousted before sunrise the next morning, Sulis yawning and rubbing her eyes as a cook handed them breakfast on the way out the door. Sulis sniffed at hers: journeybread, with spices and meat baked into the center. She tucked it into the sling pouch hanging across her robes, not yet hungry enough to eat.

When Sulis got to the stables, the path lit by torches, Master Anchee was giving Ava instructions on the words to command and control her humpback. The humpback ignored Ava's soft command to kneel, and spat at her.

“Louder,” Master Anchee commanded. “More forceful.”

Ava put determination into her command, and the beast folded first its front legs, then its back legs, to kneel. Anchee helped Ava scramble on the saddle behind the hump. A humpback tender fastened a large pack in front of the saddle and a canister of water on her pommel.

“Hold on tightly to the bar in front,” he told Ava. “The reins are just there to gently direct the beast along with your commands.”

With that he slapped the humpback's rear and ordered it to rise. Ava clung to the bar as it threw her forward, unfolding its hind legs, then she settled back as the front end lifted. The tender stayed beside her, where he would walk for the trip.

Sulis located her own humpback and ordered it to kneel. Its saddle was different than Ava's. This one had a platform with soft padding in front of the hump, and the saddle behind. Her father had developed this saddle for her mother so she and her lazy
feli
could ride together. The leather had been oiled, and it looked new again. Sulis felt a pang as she thought about the day her father gave her mother that gift. She remembered the smile that spread over her father's normally taciturn face at her mother's delight with the unusual tack.

Sulis pushed the memory away, with the pain that always followed thoughts of her father. Not knowing what happened to him tore her heart open. She'd mourned her mother, but a part of her still expected Gadiel to come home, even all these years later.

Sulis firmly signaled the humpback to rise, then closed her eyes and willed Djinn to leap onto the platform as a tender held the halter. Djinn yowled once in protest, then gathered his weight onto his hindquarters and leapt up in front of her. She patted his back as he settled unhappily onto the makeshift bed. The well-­trained humpback turned its long nose to gaze at the great cat, then placidly turned forward and chewed its cud. Sulis could see Djinn's claws digging in to the padding as they set out in the long procession and knew he wouldn't ride up there for long.

She guided her beast over to Ava, who still clutched the bar in front, as they set out, moving away from the buildings and into the Sands proper.

“You can relax your grip,” she told the girl. “These guys don't buck like a mule might. The going will be steady but slow from here out.” She got her bread out and started to enjoy it.

“This is nothing like riding a mule,” Ava said as her beast lurched along, “unless the mule was sick or drunk or something. I don't know how you can even eat. I feel seasick.”

“You find a rhythm to the gait after a while,” Sulis told her. “It's never comfortable, but it becomes tolerable.”

Sulis glanced around to see her grandmother and Master Anchee deep in conversation. Guards rode to the front and back behind the supply humpbacks, which were led by beast tenders on foot. Humpbacks walked at only about the pace of a fast human, but they didn't need to stop and drink and rest like a human would. The tenders who accompanied them would trade off a space on one of the humpbacks during the day to rest.

It was just before dark when the guard signaled at a flat scrubby area where they would stop for the night. Sulis's beast knelt, and she slid off, wincing. It had been over a year since she'd ridden that long. Ava toppled off her mount when it knelt and just sat there, legs too tired to rise. Sulis unpacked some salve and brought it to her with another roll for her dinner.

Grandmother wandered by, directing the camp setup. “Do the stretch poses I taught you, girls,” she ordered. “Then quiet your minds, meditate, and begin to overcome the pain and weakness.”

Together, Sulis and Ava stretched their muscles, then did a sunset salutation and blessing before settling down to meditate in the darkness.

“Look at the stars,” Ava breathed. Without the torches and oil lamps of civilization, each star was a shimmering, brilliant diamond in an ink-­black sky. The moon wasn't up yet, so every constellation shone in stark relief.

“My da used to be able to steer his ship by the stars . . .” Ava said. “One day he was going to show my brothers, and they were going to form their own shipping business. I don't know what they'll do now that Da's dead. And Ma, too. Maybe join the army.”

“Desert folk will sometimes travel the hottest part of summer at night, guided by the stars,” Sulis shared. “But it is easy to lose your way and never see the waymarker of an oasis, so travel at night is done only in emergencies.”

They didn't bother with tents, just covering themselves with a dew-­proof canvas as the temperature dropped through the night.

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they were awakened by shouts and a flurry of activity. Sulis sat up in her bedroll to find desert nomads surrounding the camp, holding their guards captive.

Sulis's grandmother greeted the leader in a different tongue, the language of the desert nomads, and he leapt down from his humpback and prostrated himself before her, forehead on the ground. She spoke again, and he rose. Master Anchee led a humpback forward, laden with packs, and the nomad bowed. He leapt up the impossible distance to his saddle, and Anchee handed him the pack humpback's lead. The nomad put the back of his hand to his forehead and said a few words, and the group disappeared into the desert as quickly as they had come.

The head guard apologized to Grandmother, shaking his head ruefully.

She grinned and smacked him on the back. “You know they have sand magic,” she told him. “There is no detecting them if they do not wish it.”

Ava nudged her mount next to Sulis after they broke camp and began the journey again.

“Who were they?” Ava asked curiously.

“The
Bedu
nomads. Fierce warrior tribes that claim territories in the Sands. They're almost as good a defense against desert intruders as the lack of water is.”

The days were searingly hot, with endless stretches of sand in front of them. Grandmother Hasifel and Master Anchee began to ride beside Ava and Sulis, giving them lessons.

“You asked me the other day, Sulis, what language it is that Anchee and I spoke,” Grandmother said, waking Sulis from her reverie. “It is an ancient language, called
Kalanda,
which is rarely spoken in this era. It is the language of those who study and dedicate themselves to the powers of the One. These long rides are a perfect time to begin studying
Kalanda
.”

“Can't you just stick it in my head, like you put
Sanisk
into Ava's?” Sulis asked.

Grandmother frowned. “Feeling lazy, are we?” she asked. “Ava's mind was not strong when she came here, making it accessible to my intrusion. Perhaps when you were recovering from your injuries, I might have been able to do the same to you. But you had not made your choice to stay in the desert, and I had no idea if you would attempt to return to Illian as your mother did.” She smiled. “I am pleased to say that both you and Ava are now too strong to be influenced. So hard work it is. Master Anchee will help drill it into your heads. Now, let's start with the word for meditation . . .”

Close to sundown, they came upon a waystone in the sand. Beyond it was a seemingly endless series of dunes, waving into the distance.

Grandmother ordered her humpback to kneel and gracefully dismounted. She waved for Sulis to do the same.

“Since you are no longer promised to the Northern Temple, I will teach you the commands to release the protections and dispel the illusion over the oasis,” she told Sulis. “They will seem familiar, as you have been studying the language all day today. Now calm your mind and focus on what is absent.”

Sulis obediently closed her eyes and quieted her breath, seeking outward with her mind. There was something hidden and waiting to be revealed, as she had felt on all her trips through the desert. Uncle Aaron had made her and Kadar stay back so they couldn't hear him speak or see his gestures. When she caught a hint of the
something
, she opened her eyes.

Grandmother nodded in approval. “Each oasis has a different gesture and command. Place your hands as so,” she said keeping her voice low. She crossed her arms over her heart and put the backs of her hands together. “Pinch the forefingers. The command is ‘
Kali assadamana. Harkane dessat!
' said with all your will focused on revealing the unseen.”

Sulis took a breath and closed her eyes, gathering her will. “
Kali assadamana! Harkane dessat!
” she commanded.

A gasp from Ava made her open her eyes. A path now led to the right of the waystone, to a lush circle of green foliage and blue water.

“No reason to tell the entire desert,” her grandmother scolded, but her eyes crinkled around the edges in approval. “Soon you will be able to give the command in a whisper or even silently.”

Grandmother waved the rest of the group forward. “Unload the humpbacks and lead them to water,” she commanded. “There is forage for them off to the right of the water. We will make camp here tonight.”