The Vaetra Chronicles: Book 01 - Vaetra Unveiled (23 page)

I tried again. "Member." This time, the source of vaetra within me reached toward the amulet's chain and snapped back into place. The amulet started to hum again, and my awareness of the others resumed.

Sulana's explanation of channeling suddenly made complete sense to me. The process of activating the Seeker had been only a vague sensation, but activating the amulet had given me a more distinct sense of the vaetra within me and the way it could be directed.

But I wasn't done yet. Lord Thoron had activated the amulet twice. The second command had been "protector."

I was about to continue activating the amulet when I noticed that Sati and Edanos had calmed down and were looking back and forth between each other and me. Edanos shrugged and let himself fall flat on the bed. Sati continued to peer at me, holding the covers up tight to her chest. Someone pounded on the door to the hut.

Kefer's voice called from outside. "Is everyone alright in there?"

"We're fine," I shouted back.

Sati got up and padded barefoot over to the door in her nightshirt. She opened it and stepped aside to let Kefer and another villager enter the hut. I sat up, placing my hand next to the hilt of my sword.

"What happened?" Kefer asked Sati.

She shook her head and looked over at me, pushing her hair away from her face. "When I first woke up, I looked over and thought he was an outsider."

Kefer turned and looked at me intently, his hand going to the sword at his side. After a brief moment, he relaxed. "You were mistaken. Jaylan is one of the Guardians. Can't you sense him?" Kefer turned to look at Sati with narrowed eyes.

She glanced over at me and nodded. "Yes. I must have been mistaken."

So. Only the first enchantment, the Member enchantment, was necessary to establish membership in the community. My mind was still my own. The compulsion to serve the village and reject outsiders was part of the second enchantment. I had stumbled upon a way to infiltrate the village. But to what end?

***

Kefer left the hut once he was satisfied that nothing was amiss. I quickly dressed and armed myself, wondering how I was going to use my freedom and the knowledge I'd gained.

Edanos got dressed at the same time that I did, but Sati waited for us to leave. They both kept an eye on me with sidelong glances, but seemed to accept that they had been mistaken about my moment as an outsider.

My primary responsibility was to get Meldon out of this mess. I needed to figure out how I could get him out of the village and get his amulet off him. If I took it off while we were near others, he would be recognized as an outsider immediately and anyone nearby would raise an alarm.

Steps approached the hut again as I was belting on my sword. Meldon's voice came through the door after he knocked. "May I come in? Lord Thoron is ready for Sati's Contribution Ceremony."

I looked over at Sati, and she nodded to me. "Come on in," I said. Sati looked nervous, but not afraid. I wasn't sure what a Contribution Ceremony was, but it sounded like a euphemism for something unpleasant.

Meldon entered the hut. Edanos left as Meldon came in, apparently unconcerned about what his wife might be "contributing" to Lord Thoron's activities. My blood started to boil as I thought about Lord Thoron taking advantage of these simple villagers with his sorcery. I decided to learn the truth, even if I really didn't want to know it. "I'll take her over to Lord Thoron," I volunteered.

Meldon looked at me in surprise. "Okay, sure." He looked down at my amulet, which I had not yet tucked into my tunic and cocked his head. "There's something different about your amulet," he said glancing down at his and then back at mine. "Are you okay?"

I kept my face neutral, belying the anxiety that suddenly twisted in my gut. I could hear the difference between my amulet and the others, and apparently Meldon could see that difference. My amulet emitted only one pure tone, while the others had two. I casually placed my hand over the amulet protectively, shielding it completely with the back of my hand toward Meldon.

Meldon was a sight Sensitive, like Sulana. Was Lord Thoron a Sensitive? I was pretty sure that all sorcerers had to be. When I had worked the Seeker and Meghan the healer had noted that I was a Sensitive, Sulana had said I was much more than that. I was a Channeler, as it turned out. I couldn't be sure, but it seemed that all sorcerers were Sensitives, but not all Sensitives were capable of being sorcerers.

The next question was what kind of Sensitive was Lord Thoron? Based on the few people I'd met with some form of sensitivity, the odds favored him being a sight Sensitive. I could just tuck my amulet inside my clothing, and he would not be able to see it. However, if he was a sound Sensitive, like me, he'd hear it even though it was inside my clothing. And didn't Sulana say there were other types of sensitivity?

I had to make a quick decision. I couldn't risk Lord Thoron finding me out, but activating the second spell of the amulet would restore the mind control. I had disabled the amulet once; would I be able to do it again?

I decided it was a risk I had to take. I focused my thoughts on activating the second enchantment and answered Meldon with careful wording. "I'm fine. The amulet is fine. I'm still a
protector
." I focused my thoughts on activating the Protector enchantment as I said the trigger word. I could feel the channel to the amulet expand and feed more vaetra into the device.

The heavy sense of responsibility for the village and the wariness of outsiders spread through my mind like a fog. But this time it was different. This time, the Protector spell was less pervasive. I knew that I could let it take over and guide my actions, or I could resist its influence. I nearly sighed with relief. I dropped my hand from the amulet and smiled at Meldon.

Meldon squinted at the amulet for a moment after my hand fell away from it. "You're right. It does look fine. It was probably just the lighting in here," he said looking around the dim hut.

"So, do I take Sati over to the temple?" I asked Meldon. The Protector spell made me say the word "temple" with reverence, but my true feelings mentally added a note of sarcasm.

"Yes. Lord Thoron is waiting. Thanks, Jaylan. Lord Thoron makes me nervous."

It was noteworthy that the Protector spell didn't seem to extinguish all of our natural inclinations, since Meldon was still nervous around sorcery, just as Peltor was still a cretin. That factor might be helpful if I failed to completely conceal my newfound control while I was near Lord Thoron.

Sati immediately started walking toward the door, not bothering to change out of her sleeping shift, which made me even more suspicious about the nature of her contribution. I hurried to catch up with her.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" I asked her as we walked toward the ice house.

"It is my duty," she said with a shrug.

I glanced over toward her husband, who was with the other fishermen. They were busy preparing to leave in the boats. "Doesn't your husband mind?"

"He does his duty."

I had no response to that, so I said nothing more the rest of the way to the ice house. We stepped down into the room, where Lord Thoron was standing and waiting between the stone blocks. He had a thick blanket draped over his left arm. He looked at me in surprise as we came in, and his right hand quickly went into the pocket that held his crystal sphere.

"Hello, Jaylan. I was expecting Meldon."

"Meldon seemed nervous, so I volunteered to bring Sati." It was hard to keep the disgust and anger out of my voice.

"I see. Yes, it turns out that Meldon is sensitive to sorcery, and he's what we call a Phobic. His reaction to sorcery is quite out of his control, I'm afraid."

He removed his hand from his pocket and waved Sati over. "Come here, my dear. You know how this works." Lord Thoron unfolded the blanket as Sati slipped her shift over her head. She wore nothing underneath but her amulet.

I had limited experience with being in the presence of a naked woman, so I was shocked into immobility to have Sati unclothed and so close to me that I could feel her body heat. I looked away in embarrassment, but not before concluding that Edanos was a lucky man.

I considered rushing Lord Thoron right then while his hands were occupied with the blanket, but I could feel the Protector spell immediately flare and dampen that train of thought. I'd have to disable the amulet in order to take action unhindered, and Lord Thoron, who seemed wary of me as it was, would know the instant I did. I almost turned to leave the ice house instead, but Lord Thoron had not dismissed me, and I couldn't abandon Sati until I was sure she wouldn't be harmed.

In spite of my horror and discomfort, I turned back to watch the rest of the ceremony and hoped for an opportunity to stop it.

Seemingly unembarrassed by her nudity, Sati laid herself down on the bare block of stone with a shiver. Goosebumps instantly rose all over her bare skin. Lord Thoron draped the thick blanket over her completely, and he patted her shoulder. "Sorry, I know the stone is cold. You'll feel better once the blanket warms."

Sati looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you, my lord."

Lord Thoron reached over to his work table and picked up a glass piece. The glass was a flattened oval, similar in appearance to the Veil Sulana had used, but the flattened bottom was set into a silvery metal base. Lord Thoron rubbed the stone between his hands to warm it a bit and slid the device under Sati's neck. Before releasing it, he mumbled a word I couldn't make out and stepped back. The device started to hum, building slowly in volume and pitch until it settled into a steady tone.

Lord Thoron looked over at me and saw the confused look on my face. This was not what I had expected to see, although I was glad it wasn't something worse.

"Don't worry," he said. "The ceremony doesn't harm her. She'll be good as new and ready to contribute again in a couple of days."

"Will you need me to contribute as well, my Lord?" The Protector spell encouraged me to ask the question. It wanted to serve however possible, and I allowed it, wanting to know the answer myself.

He laughed. "No, Jaylan. That won't be necessary. Women are able to regenerate vaetra, their magical essence, faster than men, and I have enough women here to provide all the additional power I need to create the sacred amulets."

I was relieved, but kept it out of my voice. "As you wish, my lord," I said with a small bow.

"You may return to your duties now. Come back at mid-morning to collect Sati, please. I'm afraid she'll need to be carried back to her home."

"Yes, my lord." I turned and left the ice house. My thoughts were in a whirl. Lord Thoron needed vaetra to create the amulets. More vaetra than he could provide on his own. Somehow, he drained what he needed from the women of the village. But where did it go? Did the device store it? I suspected he had set up his "temple" in the ice house for a specific reason. Was it the stone? If the stone stored vaetra, the entire ice house would serve as a giant reservoir of power.

I shook my head in frustration. I just didn't know enough about sorcery to figure out how I could sabotage his efforts and get us all out of this situation...without possibly getting myself killed in the process.

S
ulana tucked the last of her gear into her saddle bag and then mounted her horse. She looked around at everyone else to see that they were ready to go and waiting for her order to head out.

Daven grinned at her, and she smiled back at him. She knew he was excited to continue the adventure. Barek had watched her final preparations, hands folded loosely over the pommel of his saddle. If Barek had a motto, it would have to be, "Let's get on with it." Talon covered a yawn and squinted into the early morning sun, which sat just above the mountain peaks. For him, this was just another day's work.

Ebnik fidgeted in his saddle, tugging at his riding clothes and fumbling with his reins. The long robes he habitually wore were impractical for riding, so he had changed into loose-fitting pants and a long, flowing, hooded tunic for their journey.

The Archives Council had authorized their mission to Buckwoods late the previous afternoon. Ebnik presented Arinot's findings to the Council and convinced them that the buyer for the ring was indeed a sorcerer, he was up to something significant, and the mundane population in the area was potentially in danger. The first two arguments alone might not have been enough, but the third silenced the remaining opposition.

"Sorry we have to ride," Sulana said to Ebnik.

Ebnik sighed. "The need for haste is regrettable. Horses are such smelly beasts."

"At least we don't have to go very far," she reassured him.

"Indeed. If we had to ride the entire distance to Delta, I fear it would take me days to recover."

Sulana chuckled and motioned for Talon to lead on.

Rather than heading down the trail to the valley floor, Talon led the group toward a trail that crossed over a small pass and dropped down toward one of the nearby lakes.

Sulana looked back over her shoulder as they rode away. From the outside, the castle barely hinted its size. It looked more like a giant manor house than a true castle. The three stories of the front wall were checkered by dozens of windows that let natural light into the outermost rooms of the structure. The mountain appeared to have swallowed most of the building. The brow of a ridge extended out over the top of the castle, creating a natural peaked "roof." The observation tower she had visited with Ebnik and Arinot rose just above the top of that ridge. The true scope of the castle was hidden within the ridge behind it and in the levels that extended deep into the mountain below it.