The Sage Seed Chronicles: The Unraveling (36 page)

Erin knelt down and gently scratched behind
Tempo’s ears. ‘Well, my friend I guess that answered my question. I
thought you might like to head to Ree’s home now. You’re part way
there.’

Tempo stamped a few times for emphasis. ‘I’m
going with you! Both of us can travel to Ree’s home later in the
season.’

‘Okay, then let’s get packed and go.’ Erin
said with a smile.

Omin had her horse saddled and Chai had
filled a bag with food. Hugs and good byes were exchanged and with
Tempo in front of her on the saddle they left the flurry of
activity around the Wild Henge. She had noticed, when they had
located Mait on the sandbar, that the river was low enough right
now, that she could cross there. She talked to her horse, Spark,
about it and he felt that it was possible. So that was the way that
the three headed.

Within ten minutes they were standing on the
sand bar looking across the river and picking their route. They
started across. It was deeper than it looked and half way to the
other side the water was deeper than the horse. Erin slipped off
the saddle behind Tempo, leaving him the sole passenger and swam
beside the horse. When they got to the other side she checked the
packs. They were fairly air tight for short swims and had floated.
The food and clothing in the packs were fine but she was soaked.
Erin rubbed down the horse and changed into dry clothes. She wrung
as much water as she could out of the clothing and tied them behind
her saddle. Even with the unplanned swim she had saved herself six
hours by cutting across the river instead of riding to the stone
bridge.

Now that they were in the Duluse province she
pointed herself northeast which was straight for Morraton. They
rode for about four hours before she stopped for lunch. Many times
in the last two months she had eaten as she rode. She had the time
to rest the horse, eat while not moving and Tempo had the
opportunity to hunt. Within a half an hour they were moving
again.

Erin had noticed those puffy anvil shaped
clouds developing behind her so as she rode she watched for a
hollow in the land to hide in should they need it. The afternoon
got darker as the clouds gathered. It didn’t look like there would
be much time to find shelter before the storm hit. Erin only saw
prairie. She kicked the horse into a fast lope hoping that there
would be some place ahead that would be low enough to protect them.
She almost missed the slight rise coming up due to the low light.
There was a small depression in front of it. Quickly she stopped
Spark and pulled off the packs. Tempo was on the ground looking for
the best spot for them to lie down.

Erin spoke to Spark. He knew what had
happened to Dash and was ready to lie flat and stay that way until
Erin said otherwise. The wind was coming up and she could see
flashes between the clouds. Suddenly the sky was split with a
bright flash. Moments later they heard the thunder. The storm was
moving their way very quickly. Erin had the horse down and she and
Tempo were right against it. The flashes became very intense with
immediate thunder! Again and again the lightning struck with the
deafening thunder right on top of it! Though they knew what to
expect it was still incredibly unnerving to lie there as the
lightning struck only yards away. The air smelled strange and
Tempo’s coat was standing on end, like a big black and white puff
ball, with all of the static electricity in the air. Spark’s eyes
showed whites all around and his hide was rippling with fear but he
didn’t move. Erin kept the mental conversation going between them
all reassuring. The lightning was so intense that Erin just shut
her eyes and told her friends to do the same. If the lightning hit
them they couldn’t do anything about it anyway. The effort was to
stay still.

It did not rain and the lightning storm
lasted about fifteen of the longest minutes any of them had ever
lived through. Erin counted close to twelve strikes right around
their hollow, most in about the same spot. It had to be a metal ore
outcropping or something. She was just grateful that it drew the
energy away from the metal buckles and such that were part of their
gear. Finally the storm moved further into the mountains and the
light broke through the clouds. Erin crawled up out of the hollow
to see if they were in the clear. She mentally told the horse and
Tempo they could get up. Tempo still looked like a ball of black
and white.

Erin stood at the top of the hollow and
walked the few steps to where the ground was scorched with repeated
strikes. Tempo followed her up. The ground was steaming from the
moisture in the soil being superheated. Erin returned to her pack
and got out a small shovel that was stored there. She was curious
as to what had attracted the lightning leaving them alone.

Erin started to dig. As she got the top four
or five inches off the ground was cooler and Tempo joined in. ‘Erin
there’s something down here!’ said Tempo as his claws made a
strange scraping noise against the mystery object. Both of them
working on opposite sides began to uncover a rectangular object. A
few more minutes and they had one side clear. It appeared to be a
box.

Erin could barely get her fingers under it.
Lifting it was out of the question. It had been in the ground long
enough that the metal had rusted and was disintegrating. The box
was not salvageable. The box, though it had been under the soil,
was warm. There was no telling how many lightning strikes it had
received over time. It had a lid and Erin set to work on trying to
get it open. Opening it the regular way was out of the question as
the lid was caving in. Erin hit it with her small shovel and the
rust gave way. She bent back the torn metal and she and Tempo
peering into the box. The contents had at one time been wrapped in
leather and cloth. Both had disintegrated. Erin carefully reached
in and felt stone items. She gave a quick glance at Tempo, then
pulled one out. It was a miniature henge post! She examined it
carefully. It was like one of the wild henge posts but wasn’t one
of Drune’s. It was roughly two inches in diameter and eight inches
tall. It looked as if it was an accurate rendition of an actual
post except it was on a small cylindrical stand that had strange
writing around it. She set it aside and reached down again. One by
one she pulled out six little posts. She reached down one more
time, hoping to find a scrap of paper or metal that would have
survived giving an explanation to the odd treasure.

‘Erin, we need to leave. We can’t stay here.
We need to be home! Something doesn’t feel right.’

She looked at Tempo. ‘Is it these little
posts?’

Tempo shook his head then stamped his urgency
the gave a growl in emphasis.

‘I’ll trust your instincts, little one. Let
me grab the packs and get the bag that Chelbi gave me. These will
fit perfectly inside it.’ She rapidly did just that and scooping up
Tempo jumped onto her horse, the slim messenger bag over her
shoulder. ‘Let’s put on all speed, Spark. Run!’ The horse was more
than happy to do so. They really hadn’t been traveling hard at any
time during the day and he had reserves if he needed them. Right
now he just wanted to run as far away from the area as
possible.

They had about four hours of daylight left
and Spark was happy to gallop or lope much of it. When he tired
they slowed until he felt rested then they ran some more. They
really covered a lot of distance and were surprised to see
Morraton’s lights ahead of them as Luna was rising. Spark broke
into an easy ground eating lope and soon they were near the city.
Erin and Tempo got off and walked the horse, cooling him down.
‘Spark, I can’t believe we made this in one day. You are terrific.
As soon as you are cool enough I will take you to the stables. You
will have hay and grain tonight. Thank you, my friend!’ He nickered
his appreciation of the plan. Soon Erin walked into the stable yard
and opened the gate to bring Spark inside. A stable boy came out
and volunteered to groom the horse and feed him grain and hay. Erin
raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I appreciate the offer lad, but I
am used to doing this myself.”

The boy grinned. “Mayor Cesler was expecting
you to arrive sometime soon and asked for me to watch for you. I
would be happy to care for your horse. The mayor trusted me with
this job. He said that you have been working hard and for you to go
on home.”

With a smile and a shrug for the unexpected
courtesy Erin waved goodbye and crossed in front of the city. She
admired the soft light of the new glow stone caps atop the henge
and the new correct configuration. The fountain was now at the one
third mark of the space instead of being in the center but it
looked good. Erin and Tempo passed to the right of the city and
found the trail that headed up the hillside.

Cear had crested the hills as Erin approached
her new home. I wasn’t Auntie Jes’s home it was hers. She paused at
her henge and looked at her posts thinking of the miniatures she
had in the messenger bag over her shoulder. Tempo was walking
through the clearing and sniffing at her front door. Opening it,
she placed her packs inside, noting the smell of fresh cut wood.
She intended to get the small posts out of her pack and return
outside but something stopped her.

‘Erin, somebody has been busy here!’

Erin put the messenger bag down and moved to
the lever to bring battery power into the home. Softly the glow
stones warmed up to illuminate the great room.

There seemed to be a change from when she was
here before, and following Tempo, moved to the back right hand
corner. Except it wasn’t a corner anymore but an angled opening
into a different wing of the house. This area was new! Her fathers
loom, shuttles and spools were arranged so the daylight would fall
over the weaver’s shoulder! All of her father’s weaving equipment
was here and over there were herbs hanging. Her mother’s still room
was here and there was the book that she illustrated for her
mother’s herbology records. She slowly stepped into the room and
collapsed on the bench by the loom, tears silently running down her
face. She looked down at Tempo. She could barely see him, her eyes
were so filled. ‘Erin, people and wild ones love you. You have a
larger family now. Someone understood you well enough to know that
this would not really be a home for you unless it had memories and
meaning for you.’

‘Tempo is right.’ agreed Nuit.

‘My cousin has been watching the activity
here,’ said Keir, ‘They have been working hard to complete this for
you.’

Tempo put his front paws up on Erin’s knee.
‘Welcome home, and Erin, can I have some of the nuts that someone
left you on your table?’

Erin laughed and wiped her eyes. She looked
down into the little skunk’s face and he slowly blinked, which was
his version of a wink. She laughed again. ‘Yes let’s eat.’

Gyan was sitting in front of his tent
thinking over the day. It had been full of activity. Everything had
arrived for the home except the glass. He wasn’t sure how it had
happened but Drune’s home, with a few exceptions, was finished. At
least the structure and the power source were done. Some inside
wiring and plumbing had to be completed and there was a spot where
they had run out of roofing supplies. Most of the crews were
leaving tomorrow. The few remaining things Drune was short on would
be delivered from Sherroton in a few days. Gyan and his team were
going to remain to help Drune with the windows when they arrived,
then they were heading home to Kunscap.

The communities had donated their labor as
they understood that this needed to be done to rebalance the realm.
The materials Gyan was paying for out of his own coffers. It was
well worth it. These two sages had been invaluable. Without them he
would probably still be looking for the answers in the archives and
the realm would be shaking apart. To be able to repay them with
something that would make them whole and would do the same for the
realm, well, that was priceless.

Drune was beside himself with awe. It hadn’t
quite sunk into him yet that he had a place to put down roots. He
was working hard but he was still in disbelief. Gyan wondered where
Erin was. When that lightning storm had passed overhead and headed
into Duluse Province he had been grateful that she was probably not
quite to the stone bridge. It had stayed over the Duluse prairie
for awhile before it moved toward the pass. He should probably
contact her. It was good that she had her companions with her. If
anything went wrong they would let him know. He scanned the horizon
and didn’t see Nuit.

Drune walked over and sat down. “You going to
contact Erin?” Gyan nodded then closed his eyes and let out his
breath. He felt Drune touch his knee. ‘Erin, how are you my young
sage?’