The Sage Seed Chronicles: The Unraveling (16 page)

‘I’ll do what I can to check their back
trail.’

‘Thanks, Keir.’

She ran up the steps into the city and
straight back to the offices. Quickly she glanced to Aron’s door.
Bast opened it just a bit further from the crack it had been. “Dryr
is coming with the two women. They are battered and a little
bloody. He has a knife, I think. Several of the team are discreetly
moving behind them and others are further back trying to secure the
rest of the kidnappers.” He nodded and stepped back into the
office. Seconds later four security men stepped out of the office
and moved into and around the nearby shops. Erin stepped inside the
mayor’s office. Gyan couldn’t

“Report, Erin.” said Gyan’s voice from the
chair. She told of Dryr and the two women and the positioning of
the security detail around them in the woods and inside the city.
“Alright, Erin. Good job. I would like you to go to Aron’s office.
Dryr could recognize you and I don’t want that. Tempo can be with
you. Thank you, Tempo, for sharing your time with me.” The little
animal leaped off of Gyan’s lap and ran to Erin. She peeked out of
the door then slipped out with Tempo and into the next office with
Bast.

She wasn’t there very long when she heard
voices in the inner courtyard. Dryr’s voice was raised in anger.
Bast opened the door and stepped out, motioning Erin to stay
hidden. He moved forward as if he had just completed business with
the city legist. The raised voice was from the elder trying to
control the women. He was moving tightly behind them but one was
having difficulty standing up and they were not moving quickly
enough for him. Bast moved around the trio then spun behind Dryr,
striking the elder’s wrist sharply as he completed his move into a
choke hold. Dryr’s hand went numb and his knife clattered to the
floor. The security team swarmed around with two of the men lifting
the women into their arms and carrying them to the doors of the
mayor’s office. The doors opened and the women, the security and
Dryr were swallowed into the room. In just moments the courtyard
was quiet again with no sign of the scuffle.

Minutes passed and Omin peeked out the door.
With the courtyard quiet he opened the door wider and three
security men escorted Dryr out and down a side corridor. Drune
slipped out into Aron’s office. “We haven’t the rest of them yet so
we are remaining very discreet. Dryr will have his head shaved and
tattooed but will return. He has given up the names of the other
leaders and they will be questioned. He has further punishment
coming but that will be declared on the steps of the city later.
The two women are in bad shape but haven’t been maimed. That is the
only positive thing I could say. I’m to fetch the healer who will
be treating them in this office. Gyan wants you to lounge outside
the henge and watch. Tempo will be with me. He will let us know
when you tell him they are coming.”

Erin nodded in understanding. “Keir is here
also. He is following the action in the woods.” Tempo grumbled
good-naturedly, ‘I am glad to be of help but I feel a bit like a
weaver’s shuttle, back and forth.’ Erin grinned and stroked his
head then left the inner city. Drune and Tempo ran to get the
healer as the women were led and carried to Aron’s office.

Erin leaned against a henge post. It was
funny but it seemed to pulse with energy for her. Keir landed on a
nearby post. ‘They’re coming. There were three men in a hut in the
woods. All were cleaning out the place when the security men
arrived. One separated himself as if he had been just observing.
Gyan’s men weren’t completely convinced and he is coming also.’

Erin thought for a moment, ‘Was the third man
small with long hair tied back?’ Keir looked at her. ‘Yes,
exactly.’ ‘And he was helping the other two clean out the hut?’
Keir bobbed his head. ‘He knew them and was laughing with them.
They moved quickly. One of the tall ones gave a pouch to him which
he put in his pocket. It was tied with a ribbon.’

‘Interesting. Thank you, my friend.’ Erin
then spoke to Tempo. ‘You heard all of that. Let them know they are
coming. I need to tell Drune or Gyan about the short man. Can you
get one of them into the corridor?’ The group wasn’t in sight yet
as Erin got up and moved back toward the city.

Drune was looking a little bemused when he
met her in the courtyard. “Tempo started growling and pulling on my
pant leg. I assume you want to speak to me.”

“Yes. Keir said that there are three men. One
is short with long hair tied back. They were laughing and trying to
quickly clean up the hut. They gave the short man a pouch tied with
a ribbon. When the security detail arrived he acted like he had
just been a watcher. They didn’t completely buy it and he is coming
in also. Please alert Gyan.” “Will do.” he turned to go in when she
grabbed his arm and paused, listening. “Keir says there is fighting
and the small one is trying to slip away.” Drune tore open the
door. “Bast, they are fighting. The little man is trying to get
away!” Two security men ran out the door. Erin went back out to her
post and Drune reentered the office.

Five minutes later, as Erin slumped against
the post as if snoozing in the sun, the group of men crossed into
the commons. There were bruises, a bloody nose and a couple of fat
lips but most of the damage was to the three prisoners. The smaller
man was protesting loudly to the treatment he had received. Erin
sent a call to Tempo and slowly got to her feet. Everybody met in
the inner courtyard. The miscreants were led into the office with a
few security men. Most of the men waited outside in the courtyard.
Erin and Drune went in with Tempo.

Gyan met her at the door. “Erin, please check
with the healers about the condition of the women. It depends upon
how we proceed.” She nodded and went into the office next door. It
was her first close look at the women. The healers were cleaning
them and caring for their wounds. She knelt beside one of the
healers and spoke softly. “How are they?”

The healer continued to put salve on
abrasions. “Both have been beaten repeatedly. Posie is having
difficulty walking because of the severity of the thrashing.” Josy
spoke up. “We weren’t raped, cut or maimed though the threats of
that were always there. They delighted in thinking up degrading
things for us do and kept up unrelenting verbal abuse. Posie and I
fought them. She tried to protect me. They enjoyed beating us, but
particularly Posie.”

Erin sensed total honesty from the woman. She
put her hand lightly on Josy’s arm. “How many of the men beat
you?”

“All were threatening but it was Dryr, Oban
and Stel who enjoyed hitting us.” “This is a small thing Josy, but
did one of you have a ribbon they took?”

Josy nodded. “Posie has an embroidered ribbon
threaded through her underwear bodice. They taunted her by taking
the ribbon.”

Erin nodded to the woman. “Thank you. Those
men will be punished. I appreciate your help.”

Returning to the other office she let herself
in. Gyan was talking to the smaller man. He had his hand on the
smaller man’s shoulder. “Yes, I saw Mayor Harra speaking to you
after Elder Dryr left. But that isn’t what I asked you. I wanted to
know what was your part in the witch hunt and imprisoning the
women?” “I’m innocent. I was helping Mayor Harra.”

“Stev, you were seen helping Oban and Stel
clean up the hut so it wouldn’t look as bad. You were seen
accepting a pouch from them. A pouch with a ribbon tied on it. So I
want you to prove your innocence by emptying your pockets.” The man
went pale and he backed up. Unfortunately Bast was right behind him
so he couldn’t get away. “Bast can empty your pockets if you are
reluctant to do so.” Stev shook his head and started to twitch but
slowly reached into his pockets and started to empty them.
Everything was put into a large bowl. He finally pulled out a
pouch. Tied around it was an embroidered ribbon. Gyan nodded. “Do
you want to change your story?” Erin caught Drune’s eye and gave a
small nod cocking her head slightly toward Harra. Drune, who was
facing Gyan, repeated Erin’s gesture. “The ribbon belonged to
Posie. You got it from Stel and Oban who took it off of her.
Correct me if I am wrong but you were working both sides, weren’t
you?” Stev had a wide-eyed frightened look as he nodded.

Gyan turned his back to the man and walked
over to Erin. He asked very softly, “How are the women?”

Erin looked up at him. “Not raped,
technically. Abused. Humiliated. Beaten repeatedly, especially
Posie. Dryr, Stel and Oban thoroughly enjoyed the beatings and the
humiliation. They did everything they could to break the spirit of
the women, short of rape. Posie can’t walk well due to the severity
of the beatings.

Gyan nodded. He turned back to the three men
who were prisoners in the room. “Dryr named you, Stel and Oban, as
leaders with him. Do any of you have anything to say in your
defense? Speak up now.” The room was silent. Gyan turned to Bast
and when he spoke his voice was cold. “They will be shorn and
tattooed then the four will return here. They deserve a little
extra.” Bast’s smile matched Gyan’s tone and the men were taken
from the room.

Gyan gave a deep sigh. “By the ancients,
people can do ugly things!” He shook his head. Your tattoo team is
going to be busy all day. How are you two feeling about all of
this?” he asked Harra and Aron.

Harra shook his head. “I am angry, profoundly
saddened, vengeful and tired beyond reason. I want to strip them
naked and stake them out over a patch of sand-fleas. But I also
want to be a lawful administrator and know that would make me just
like them.”

Aron spoke, “I agree with everything you said
Harra, completely. In my dreams I would add honey to attract other
biting insects. No, we will go by the law. I am tempted to make
them serve their sentence without any trousers, but that is not in
the law either. The humiliation would be fitting though.” He looked
up at Gyan. “Article one and two, right? What about the term?”

Gyan smiled. “There is flexibility in the
term. Consider a year minimum without the hair during the term. If
all things go well we should be coming back into balance by then
and people will see how irrational these behaviors were to a spate
of bad weather and quakes. That is really why we’re here. Would you
like to cover some of that now or would you prefer to start on it
tomorrow?”

Harra looked at Aron. “The healers are going
to be busy for a bit more. Let’s give them the time to work and
hear what Gyan has unearthed.” The five people sat down and Tempo
curled up by a pile of nuts that Erin provided.

Gyan took a breath then let it out. “Drune,
Erin and I found information the Ancients left for us. You
understand that part what we share with you can be basically shared
with the population. But part can not, especially the part about
the sages. With the witch hunt climate that part has to remain as
something only very few know.” The two men nodded.

“We have learned that the name of our world
is Ose. It has spots that are stronger with the geomagnetic energy.
They happen to be where the founder cities are. The posts that all
founder cities have around their ‘common’ form a six point hexagram
called a henge. This is a spot where the energy somehow focuses.”
The mayor and legist glanced at each other. “According to what we
found there are things that can increase the focus. We have brought
you a box. For each of the six posts in the henge there is a
special glow stone cap that needs to be installed. There is also a
special disc that we have made to their specifications that needs
to be buried in the center of the henge three feet down.”

Harra held up his hand in interruption. “We
only have five posts. The city elder decided to open the space up
and had one taken down.”

Gyan stared at him for a moment, nonplused.
“Scrum. Do you still have the post?”

The two officials looked at each other. “I
believe that it’s stored behind the stable.”

“Well, that will be the first thing you will
need to scrub off and reinstall.” said Gyan. “The next part is sage
stuff. I have explained to you why the planet is rocking.” Both men
nodded. “We didn’t share it with Dryr.”

“Thank you. That would have added fuel to the
fire! The problem is the amount of sages we have lost we can’t get
back quickly in the normal way of things. The archives said there
is such a thing as a latent sage. These are people who carry the
sage seed but it hasn’t activated because of the time balance that
the ancients somehow built into the system. They told us how to
find the latents. We have found one already. He is young and we are
going to be working on activating his sage seed tomorrow. There is
something hidden in your city that will help him. Do you have a
lintel with this carving on the corner?” Gyan showed both men the
shield knot.

Aron rubbed his chin. I have seen that. It
seems to me that it is near the archive record room. That would
make sense as you found mention of it in the archives. What do we
do when we find it?”

“You grasp the edges and turn it counter
clock wise. Bring me what is inside the hollow. The new sage will
need to choose from those items and the rest put back.” Harra gave
a brisk nod. “It feels good doing positive things. The witch hunts
and kidnapping, the mob and the punishments, have all been
negative. This is going the right way. Where will you be
staying?”

“We haven’t asked him yet but we hope to be
with Char. If not we have tents and can camp with the security
detail and the supply wagon.”

Harra looked like a weight was lifting off of
his shoulders. “We’ll be in touch this evening!”