The Sage Seed Chronicles: The Unraveling (31 page)

Gyan took a deep breath. ‘You are fantastic,
my friend! It appears that Auntie Jes’s old place and the wild
henge in the Pastarham prairie need to be homes for sages. Drune
and Erin are homeless. I can’t ask them to choose yet as they
haven’t seen the other site. They need to be in residence at the
time of the eclipse. My instincts say Erin would like Jes’s old
place and Drune would like the peaceful wildness of the prairie. I
don’t have time to be wrong. Can you get her belongings to Morraton
in less than five days?’

‘Gyan, we’ll do it if we have to drive at
night. I’ll get men loading a wagon now. And, Gyan I have always
trusted your instincts.’

Gyan pulled back. What he could set in
motion, was in motion. The rest was with the ancients.

They broke camp as the first rays of the sun
were lighting the clouds that remained from the storm. About the
time that shop owners were opening their businesses Gyan’s party of
ten riders were approaching the footbridge and got into single file
to cross.

Terresville was a town of about, fifty or
sixty buildings, many of which were two or three stories due to the
practice of citizens living above their businesses. It didn’t have
a mayor of the status of those in the founder cities but there was
an office of law with an Ombudsman and city elders. As was the
usual practice the stables were located on the left side of the
city on the outskirts.

Gyan and his party stopped at the corral and
leaving the horses and Tempo in the care of the stablemen and two
security, walked to the City Hall. As they crossed through the
streets they began to gather a crowd. Drune and Erin dropped back
to merge with the citizens. There were questions being quietly
asked among the people. “Who is it?” “Did you see the emblems on
those men? They’re security!”

Erin and Drune were casually saying to the
people around them. “It’s the Great One. He’s here to talk with the
people of Terresville.” That news spread through the crowd like
wildfire and some people split out of the crowd to run and tell
others. By the time Gyan and Bast had reached the City Hall
building there was quite a throng and more coming. The city
officials had heard the the sound of the crowd and had opened their
door to investigate only to find the Great One on their steps! He
and Bast entered to speak to the City Ombudsman.

“Great One. We had heard rumors of you
traveling through the realm but hadn’t heard you were coming
here!”

Gyan’s head bowed briefly. “I apologize for
that. There was no way that we would have left you out of the
itinerary but we have been traveling at such speed that we weren’t
sure when we would arrive. I hope you forgive me for not notifying
you. We can’t stay but a few hours. I need to share with the people
the information I have learned and to hear any of their questions.
There were a lot of rumors flying around the realm that were very
destructive. I am trying to beat back lies and misinformation with
the facts. Our society runs much smoother when our people know the
truth. Sometimes lies proliferate because the speaker gets
attention, prestige and a sort of power with repeating the
falsehoods. Such irresponsibility has turned deadly and we can’t
have that.”

The city officials all nodded. Ombudsman Peng
made a sharp decisive gesture with his hand. “Well then, let’s go
share information!”

When Gyan stepped outside the crowd had
grown. Erin and Drune were shifting through the mass of people.
They, as was their usual job, had their ‘doors’ open and were
reading the mood and emotions of the people gathered. Mostly what
they were picking up was curiosity and excitement. Gyan glanced
their way, to get a quick read and both smiled. “Sorry for the
informal visit. Due to the turbulence of the weather and quakes
there has been unease in the realm. I’ve been quickly traveling
around to listen to your concerns and to share some information
that I have from the Ancient’s archives. To be fair to all if you
have something you want to say please raise your hand. That way we
can communicate better.”

A woman in the middle raised her hand and
Gyan pointed to her. “The woman with the blue coat.”

“Great One, the weather has caused hardship,
what with the varmints, spoiled crops, stampeding herds and all.
But what can you do? I don’t believe in magic or...” and she looked
around the crowd with a touch of defiance, “witches.”

Gyan smiled. Nothing like getting to the meat
of it right away. “No, I agree. No magic or witches. I do have some
of the Ancient’s knowledge that is stored in the archives at Aerie.
That has been the reason for this whirlwind trip. There are some
things we can do. I found some information about the posts that are
in front of the founder cities. It seems that they frame energy
spots. There are suppose to be six posts in the shape of a hexagon,
but we found many had been taken down or moved. We brought to all
of those cities special glow stone caps and a disc to help focus
that energy spot and instructions to put the posts back into
position. It’s like our planet’s batteries have gotten low because
of a loose connection. Those special items, made to ancient’s
specifications, will help our planet recharge during the upcoming
total eclipse which should occur within the next four to six days.
It was knowledge that had somehow been lost. One or two of them
wouldn’t have been a problem but all together they somehow
contributed to the planet’s weakened geomagnetic energy. As to the
other part of your statement, magic and witches are in children’s
stories just like dragons and giants. It makes for a great story
but they aren’t real.”

Gyan looked over the crowd and pointed to
another raised hand. “The man in the new leather hat.”

“There was a man who shared our campfire out
when we were with our herds a week or so ago. He was scraped up
some and looked a little tattered. He was telling a good story
about witches, skunks and owls causing bad magic and how we needed
to protect our families by killing those troublemakers. I assume
that is what you were referring to?”

Gyan nodded then answered. “The man’s name is
Wras. He and his cousins, Bure and Targ, started killing folk in
early August. The storms and quakes started in mid-September after
they had killed eight people and almost all of the skunks in
Pastarham and Duluse. Then they started the story about witches and
their familiars causing the storms. Targ accidentally killed
himself. Wras was caught and sentenced to banishment in Obsidian.
While he was being transported to Aerie there was a rock slide.
Several people in the party were killed. We believed that he was
also dead. Bure was caught and sentenced and now is living in
Obsidian. Wras is back in our custody and will join his cousin
there shortly. The laws are very clear about murder yet there were
those who believed the nonsense that was spread. We were able to
stop an attempted murder in Sawblen. There are now twenty one
people with shaved heads and tattoos, in that province. They got
off easy. If they had murdered they would have been banished.”

“As to the skunks and owls. What do you think
is the natural predator for all of those vesi, mice and bugs that
are plaguing you?” ‘Erin, ask Tempo to come to me.’ he said in her
head. “Tempo! Tempo, come, please!” He called. He didn’t want to
have to pretend he could speak to animals again. Hopefully he would
get by with this. Tempo came running and there were startled
exclamations as many people moved out of the way. The crowd parted
and allowed the running skunk to get through. Gyan waited for Tempo
to stand beside him. “If those three cousins had not killed off the
very animals and birds that eat those pests you would not be
plagued with them now! When I learned that your skunk count was so
low I checked with a special piece of ancient technology that is
accessible to only by the Great One. You now have fifteen skunks
throughout your entire province. Leave them alone and allow them to
eat what is ‘bugging’ you. Gradually their population will rebuild.
Tempo here, is a wild skunk that has been traveling with us. He’s
been great at eating the vesi that we find in our boots every
morning and is a wonderful early warning system for quakes. He
knows several seconds ahead that a quake is coming. It makes a
difference if you can brace or prevent an accident. Please just
give skunks and owls space. I don’t want to hear of any being
killed.”

“Another question?” The crowd was quiet.
“Well if any occur to you we’ll be around until after lunch then we
must leave. But I have a question for you. Does anyone know
anything about a ‘Wild Henge’ or any standing stones in the prairie
due west of here? I heard that there used to be one by an old
shepherd’s place.” Drune and Erin had their ‘doors’ wide open. Both
were picking up confusion and bafflement. Most everybody was
shaking their head.

There was one bent old man leaning on a cane.
He raised his hand. “When I was young and a lot more stupid...” the
crowd chuckled, “I used to work out on the prairie herding cattle.
There were some funny posts a ways back from the Mear river. Some
of the fellows would practice their roping skills on those posts.
The things used to bother some. Made ’em feel feel confused if they
touched them. The horses didn’t like us riding up to the posts. It
was by the old shepherd's place. He would come out and yell at us
but we were full of ourselves and would just laugh.”

Gyan smiled. “Do you know what happened to
the posts?”

“I heard tell they got pulled out and drug
away. They were funny lookin’ things. But wherever they are,
they’re most likely intact. They were made of some kind of stone.
Why you want to know, Great One?”

“Remember when I said that certain knowledge
was lost and things were changed?” The people nodded. “The
information we lost concerned the importance of things that we saw
everyday. Things that we took for granted.” The people again nodded
following along with his reasoning. “I told you about the energy
spots that our planet needed to keep its ‘battery’ charged. Those
spots were the henges. There were five founder city henges and one
wild henge. Six spots around our realm that should not have been
altered in any way and of those six, two were left alone, three
were modified and one has disappeared. If you had six wires between
your windmill and your battery and you loosened the connection on
three and removed one wire all together, how well would your
battery stay charged? We have four to six days until the total
eclipse and everything has to be in place by then. When we leave
here we are going in search of the wild henge. Hopefully the posts
will be lying around the prairie somewhere and we can find them.”
Gyan smiled. “Thank you for coming out. I’ll try to do a better job
keeping in touch.”

He stepped down into the crowd and started to
circulate and shake hands. Drune and Erin moved around, too. The
last part of this errand would be filled if they could find one
more latent. Otherwise the planet would just have to get by with
fourteen for the eclipse. Perhaps there is one in Kunscap as they
hadn’t really checked there before they left. The crowd moved and
shifted around Gyan with the security men discouraging people that
wanted to shove to get near. The mood continued to be good and
non-threatening.

Erin’s artistic side was taken with some
really beautiful leather pieces she saw in the crowd. Leather,
tanned and dyed in some beautiful colors then cut and sewn into
lovely patterns of leaves and birds or geometric shapes and
animals. She spotted them on vests, coats and hats. There was a
woman across the way who had a slender pack over her shoulder. It
was decorated with twining leaves and small birds. Erin approached
her. She was curious who the talented craftsman was who had created
all of the lovely pieces. She was almost to her when Erin’s pendant
became warm. Not knowing the source she slowed down. People were
shifting and the pendant was warm then cooling. Shrugging Erin
pushed through to the woman with the bag then she would try to
isolate the latent. She reached out to touch the woman as she wove
through and around people standing between them. As Erin brushed
the woman’s arm her pendant became warm and stayed that way.

The woman turned and Erin said, “Hello. My
name is Erin. I am traveling with the Great One’s party, so I am
new to the area but I couldn’t help but notice all of the lovely
leather work in the crowd. I was admiring your bag. It’s beautiful!
Could you tell me about the craftsman?”

The woman smiled. She had long brown hair and
her blue eyes were an unusual shape, like a half circle. It was an
overall appealing face. “I’m the artist. My name is Chelbi. Thank
you for the compliment! I just finished this bag.” She grinned. “I
work the designs with the scraps that the cobblers and clothiers
cut away.”