The Sage Seed Chronicles: The Unraveling (37 page)

‘Hello Gyan, are you responsible for my
surprise?’

Gyan paused and asked, totally dumbfounded,
‘Erin, where are you?’

‘I’ve been sitting in my beautiful, new home
for about an hour. I can’t believe the love that went into the
modification and I haven’t a clue how my parent’s things could have
gotten here and into the new annex in the time since we learned of
the wild henge connection. You are responsible, aren’t you? Thank
you, Gyan. My heart is overflowing.’ Gyan shook his head, not sure
what order he should answer or ask his questions. Shrugging he
answered. ‘Cesler found out that Jes’s workshop dismantled easily
and he had just torn down an out building near Morraton. He put a
crew working on building the workshop as an annex, which it should
have been anyway. Yvon and Glori helped so the henge wouldn’t
confuse the workmen. Cheroan had already gathered your family’s
belongings after the arrest of Targ and Wras. They were stored at
one his city’s secure warehouse sheds until you needed them. All he
had to do was put everything on a wagon.’

‘Erin, I know you aren’t capable of riding a
horse into the ground and there aren’t any paraglider launch sites
near so how did you get to your home in one day?’

Erin shrugged. ‘Well, I went to the sandbar
where we found Mait and crossed there. Knocked about six hours off
my trip. I just felt an urgency.’

Gyan opened his eyes and looked at Drune’s
expression then closed them and concentrated on keeping the
contact. ‘Erin, did you get caught in that lightning storm? It went
that way and seemed to stall there for awhile.’

Erin grimaced in memory. “Yeah, it stalled
right over us. Fifteen of the longest minutes in my life. There was
so much static electricity in the air that all of Tempo’s hair was
standing on end. He looked like a round black and white ball.

But that brings up something I need to tell
you. After the storm went away I walked the few feet to where the
lightning repeatedly struck. The ground was very scorched. It had
to have been hit twenty times or more. I had a shovel. I wanted to
see what metal ore deposit had done such a good job of attracting
the lightning bolts.’

‘It wasn’t a deposit. Tempo and I unearthed a
badly deteriorated metal box. It had been there a very long time.
We couldn’t get the box out. The lightning had sort of baked the
box into the ground like a brick, except for the top which had
received all of the hits. I got into the box through the rusted and
charred lid. Inside were six miniature replicas of wild henge
posts. They had been wrapped in some sort of cloth and leather.
Only threads and bits remained. There were no messages or such with
it. The little copies weren’t of Drune’s posts but were of mine! I
checked about five minutes before you contacted me. They aren’t
granite like the real ones are but look to be brown jasper. Perfect
replicas, except they have some strange writing on the base of each
one. And you know how holding that small piece of black granite
allowed me to communicate with Drune’s posts, well these little
ones seem to do something like that, but not quite. Thought I would
stop my investigations in that area and leave it to you.’

‘Tempo wanted us away from there. I respect
his instincts. He said it wasn’t the little pieces that disturbed
him. So I packed them up in the lovely messenger bag that Chelbi
gave me and we got out of there fast.’

Gyan shook his head. ‘We’ll try to find the
spot as we head home. Put those miniatures in a safe place. When I
next can get there I would like to examine them. Wras is waiting
and winter is coming so I don’t know if I can get there this time.
I’ll do some research on them at Aerie. Erin you do have talent
with puzzles!’

‘I’m glad that you are safe and delighted
that you love your surprise. You deserve that home, Erin. You
probably haven’t had time to unpack or explore but I hope it is
everything you could wish for. Get some rest. The eclipse isn’t
scheduled until day after tomorrow. Rest up.’

Gyan looked at Drune. “There are times that
Erin totally surprises me.” He shook his head. “I’m glad that she’s
safe. Well, tomorrow is the day before the eclipse and today has
been busy. We should turn in. Sleep well, Drune.”

Erin stroked Tempo. ‘We need to put these
little posts some place safe. I’m going to explore my new home a
bit before I turn in. You can go out and hunt or stay with me. Your
choice, my friend. She got up and picking up her packs started to
move around and store things away. She draped her damp clothes near
the fireplace and stored her paraglider pack in the small shed
behind the house. By the time she climbed to the loft to store her
clothes she was personally running out of battery power. She
noticed the log beam joists in the ceiling. The two corner ones had
shadowed niches and it was there that the miniatures were tucked
away out of sight. The bed looked very comfortable. Tempo had opted
to stay with her and, after putting away her clothes the two curled
up on their new bed. It wasn’t more than a moment and both were
deeply asleep.

When she awoke it was a beautiful fall day.
She had overslept and it was at least a half hour past dawn. Erin
could hear the birds singing outside. She got up, enjoying the
novelty of having her own home, took her time picking out her
clothes and making her bed. There was food that some kind person
had stored in her pantry and some blintzes left from Chai’s bundle.
Erin ate breakfast with Tempo and together they finished exploring
the new annex before going outside to check out the garden, a shed
and the henge.

Erin was fascinated with the beautiful garden
that had been planted inside and surrounding the henge. The path to
the front door went through the garden which was really charming.
Though Jes had died a month and a half ago the garden was in
terrific shape. There were vegetables and herbs growing side by
side. Some of the plants could be used for medicines and others for
dyes with fibers. Erin saw some young mulberry plants at the edge
of the woods. She could have silk if she wished. Her parents had
trained her in both crafts and they were activities she
enjoyed.

Approaching the henge posts she paused, and
reaching out, touched one. There was an awareness that she had felt
before, but it seemed less sleepy. Puzzling, she wandered the
grounds then returned to the garden. It really was a beautiful
settling. She looked out over the prairie realizing that the light
had changed. A glance in the sky brought forth a startled
exclamation and Tempo to her side. ‘Tempo, is this the reason you
wanted us to leave the prairie yesterday afternoon?’

The near-sighted animal paused and listened
to his senses. ‘Something is coming and we needed to be away from
there. We had to get home. I feel sort of itchy now, like a quake
is on the edge of happening. Why is it getting dark?’

Erin knelt by her striped friend. ‘We are
getting the total solar eclipse. It is happening now. If we had
remained where we had been we would still be traveling now. I know
that Gyan wasn’t pleased that we forded the river, but by doing
that, and then listening to you, we arrived in our new home in
time.’ She called to Keir and Nuit. They were in the trees on
either side of her home. Erin had somewhat frantic and very rapid
thoughts. ‘It was supposed to be tomorrow. The henge posts
confirmed that!’

Tempo looked at her. ‘They said “less than
four days”. It is.’

As it got darker and the dual moons began to
cover the sun, Tempo stomped then his tail went straight up in the
air.’ “Quake!” Erin said, loudly, out of habit. But there were no
humans around to hear. The ground shivered. The movement lasted
most of a minute. It was a long one and Erin breathed a sigh of
relief when it stopped. Looking down at her growling companion she
muttered, “Oh Scrum!” as another one hit. This one started as a
quiver then began to roll. Her new home was on mountain bedrock
with some accumulated soil from over the centuries. She wasn’t all
that far from Morraton which was a stable foundation. Erin could
imagine the roll and possible destruction that was happening over
the realm.

As it got darker she became aware of a
strange and a little uncomfortable sensation of knowing every life
form that lived near her. The bugs and worms, to the deer and owls
became clear to her. She knew where the beehive was in the woods
and that there were some wild silkworms preparing to make their
chrysalises in her mulberry bushes. The very air audibly vibrated
with energy and it centered in the henge. As minutes passed and the
quake, then the energy hum, stilled. The world seemed so incredibly
quiet.

Then she heard the birds and frogs again.
Kneeling as she was, she looked over into Tempo’s face. He moved a
few inches and put his front paws on her knees. ‘It’s over,
Erin.’

She stroked down his back. ‘We followed the
ancient’s advice and instructions. Unless we missed something
everything should be back in stasis.’ She paused thoughtfully.
‘Balance. I am still off balance a little. I need to find my niche
and this is a very nice place to do it. Yeah, I’ll find my footing
here.’

Tempo looked up at her, did a rapid pounce on
her knee then did his double eye wink. ‘It may be balance you’ll
get, but it’ll have a lot of energy and won’t necessarily be
quiet.’

‘We agree with Tempo,’ said Keir and Nuit
together. Erin broke into a smile.

The total solar eclipse occurred on the last
day of September. It has been a little over a month since then and
things are getting back to normal. Gyan has been checking around
the realm with all of the mayors and city elders. The devastation
could have been worse. Everyone was prepared for it and that helped
immensely. The communities, working together, put things to rights.
There were some ferocious tides in Sawblen, but again Mayor Harra
had let everyone know what was coming. Since then Ose has quieted.
There hasn’t been any quakes and the volcanoes have gone back to
sleep. The storms that we are getting now are the normal autumn
weather. Mayor Peyr has commissioned artists to design sculptures
for the city’s three arches and the rumble about witches and their
evil familiars have died away.

Drune’s home made it through the turbulence
fine. There were some roofing planks that hadn’t been totally
secured that fell through to his floor below but that was it. It
was a good thing that his windows hadn’t arrived before the
eclipse. Now the home structure is completely finished. He has been
here a few times getting supplies that he needs to complete a
variety of projects and to stock up for the winter.

I have been weaving. There was quite a supply
of full spools and bobbins that my father had stored and I am
enjoying creating. I harvested my first small batch of wild silk
and have been working with it in my weaving and have even begun
making tapestries. Drune has commissioned one for his place. That
will take me awhile but I have it designed. It will be the prairie
in the spring with the young grasses and wildflowers. Off center
but prominently in the design is a lovely black granite henge. He
left the design up to me so it will be a surprise. Right now I am
finishing some textured throws in wool and silk for winter solstice
gifts.

Gyan was able to come by before he returned
to Aerie. His team had found and dug up the box. They chipped away
most of the baked on dirt and will examine it closely when they
have time in the winter. He looked over the miniatures and
carefully copied the strange writing. Gyan is intrigued with the
little objects but felt, because they are replicas of this henge
that they should stay here. He still isn’t sure about me having
them openly displayed in my home so they are back in their niches
up in the joists. He has his winter research projects lined up.

Wras has joined Bure in Obsidian. I am glad
that they are contained. I can’t hear their emotions where they
are. The Obsidian, itself, seems to block the energy from getting
out. I’m grateful.

Now that the ancient’s astrological device
has been calibrated, Gyan has been keeping an eye on when the total
eclipses will occur, solar and lunar. We assumed all along that it
was a solar eclipse we were trying to hit. It could have been a
total double lunar eclipse. We were lucky with that. To be careful
he is letting Ree, Drune and I know when we need to be home. The
next total lunar one is two years from now in May. We have
time.

I have settled into my home in Morraton and
have made friends here. Tempo, who has been growing, has dug a
burrow for himself. His first home too. Glori and I have been
talking herbs and I feel like I have a family here. Roos has even
been by a couple of times to visit. Through Keir and Nuit I have
been in contact with Ree. My companions and I will be traveling to
Ree’s within a month or so and spend the winter with her. We will
be going across the bridge this time and I will be able to stop and
see Drune and Chelbi before I get to Ree’s. I’ll return in
mid-February. It’s up to my companions if they will return with me.
They all have family in Ree’s woods. She has promised to teach me
some of her skills and says she has stories to share.