A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (37 page)

Saone took a deep breath and slowly backed
away from the edge of the crowd that filled the warehouse. She bit
her tongue hard and shoved her hands into her jacket pockets,
wanting so badly to contact her father at this very moment. He had
to know about this Coming as soon as possible! If she could get as
many nuhm’ndah ready as possible before the event, before the
Mendaihu were ready, there was a better chance he would be able to
win…that thought alone made her giddy with excitement!

Dahné Lehanna,
she called from
within.
...eilee fadayin.

A stirring of her heart. She felt her father
answer her almost immediately, first without vocal acknowledgement.
That stirring, a sudden jump of her heartbeat, heightened her
awareness of the gossamer thread of spiritual link that they
shared. The connection felt more distant than usual…perhaps he’d
been traveling? Eventually she heard a humming sigh, a familial
sign that she had his attention.

What is it, my daughter?

Saone’s nerves jumped excitedly.
I have
just heard. The One of All Sacred has indeed awakened, and will be
here in the Waterfront District by this evening.

In that strange way, she felt his smile.
Very good, Saone…I had heard rumors, yet no truths until now. I
bless you for your vigilance.

She smiled inwardly as she moved farther
away from the main crowd inside the warehouse. She was in a prime
position to do anything she wanted or needed to do to further the
nuhm’ndah cause; she did not want to get sent back to her father’s
mansion on Sachers Island, nor did she want to hand this position
off to anyone else. She would allow only one other person, her
partner Kryssyna, to help her.

Shall I stay in position, Dahné?
She
continued to call her father by his Shenaihu title, rather than
‘father,’ to prove her point of being more than just his daughter.
Kryssyna Piramados shall accompany me.

Without a pause, he answered.
You shall
prove your ultimate worth as a Shenaihu nuhm’ndah, Saone, with this
simple task: take the child who is the One of All Sacred, and bring
her to me.

Saone smiled.
I shall, Dahné.
Wordlessly but with a final rush of both fatherly love and pride,
her father accepted and disconnected from her. The gossamer thread
shrank, reeling back within her until she felt complete once
more.

I shall,
she thought, and left the
warehouse. She fought back a shudder as she walked out the open
dock door. She had tried not to let all the Mendaihu in this
warehouse bother her, and her nerves had held out for this long,
yet she had to release this tension she’d felt since entering the
place. She had a score to settle with edha Usarai — a very personal
score. By cruel fate, she had been just outside the Mirades Tower
that night, having just clocked off of her late shift not fifteen
minutes before. And when Nehalé Usarai released that damned ritual,
he’d nearly killed her in the process. She’d heard him, of
course…heard his words of warning before he let loose the Rain of
Light, but by the time she could react, it was too late. The ritual
hit her with full force, knocking her up against the glass of the
north foyer.

The energy siphoned out of her…Goddess, she
never wanted to feel that again! And the Light…Goddess, the
Light…!

He had ruined her spirit. Of course, she
dared not admit what had happened to her family, knowing they’d
disown her on the spot. She was no longer pure Shenaihuza spirit,
not anymore. He had changed her.

And damn it all, he was going to pay for
that.

She walked around the smaller crowd milling
outside near the entrance, and debated her next move. There was a
possibility she could stick around the warehouse, out of range of
the sensitives, but close enough for her to stay with what was
happening. She could then lead a contingent of nuhm’ndah from
there. She looked upwards at the roof of the warehouse, judging the
distance from ground to roof, and guessed it to be between three
and four stories tall. She separated herself from the crowd and
began to circle the building, looking for any outside access to the
roof.

“Hello,” she heard ahead of her.

She had been too busy looking up that she
hadn’t noticed the young man standing a few yards away. He was not
quite grimacing at her, but his body language suggested he meant no
harm, he was merely curious. Perhaps he was security? After a
moment she recognized him as the guy who’d been fiddling with the
electronics in the warehouse for the last few hours, setting up the
sound system both inside and out. He looked like a kid just out of
university with his alma mater sweatshirt and faded jeans.

Bridgetown University,
she thought.
Must be a smart one.

“Uh…hi,” she said with a hint of feigned
shyness.

“Looking for something?” he asked
plainly.

“No, uh, not really.” She smiled at him,
shrugging. “Just curious as to why this particular warehouse had
been picked as a meeting place. I would have thought a…”
A
church,
she had almost said. That wouldn’t have gone over too
well. “...well, perhaps KJS Arena would have been a more suitable
and comfortable place for this sort of thing.”

The man smirked. “Well, given the
circumstances, I think an empty warehouse would be a lot safer.” He
held out a hand towards her. “My name’s Anando Shalei.”

She took it and smiled. “Somfei, edha
Shalei. I am Saone Lehanna.”

He studied her for the moment they shook
hands, and Saone did her best to hide the shiver she suddenly felt.
She had been trained to mask her visual and spiritual emotions from
others, but rarely had the chance to use that ability, as most of
the people her father had sent her to observe were ordinary humans
and Meraladians with little or no sensitivity to such things. The
moment passed and they continued walking around the perimeter of
the warehouse, in the direction Saone had planned on going.

“You don’t see many of these warehouses in
this district anymore,” Anando said. “Ninety-nine percent of
import-export takes place over in West Brandenville near the
Nullport now. Moulding TechWear was the last resident a few years
back. That’s why this place is still in such good shape…they took
good care of it. Nearly everything including the storage racks have
been upgraded.”

Saone nodded as he continued on, pretending
to be interested in the building’s history. Every now and again she
glanced up, still trying to locate any secondary entrances for
infiltration. There were countless fire exits from the main floor.
Perhaps in the melee of the celebrating the One’s return, her
people could get in undetected, but that would demand keys, or at
least someone on the inside to let them in. Crashing through was
out of the question, at least for now; a quiet, subtle inundation
had been the main plan.

It wasn’t until they were on the western
side of the building that Saone discovered the opening they would
take. Her neck had gotten stiff from taking quick glances upwards
as Anando continued his tour, and she had dropped her head down to
rub the back of it, when she noticed the subway grates dividing the
sidewalk. The East Sprawl Line shot directly up Holgate Street,
stretching the entirety of the coastline, with older, disused lines
branching off all over the city. No doubt some of the older
buildings in the Waterfront sector had access, due to their
proximity and convenience to its workers. She knew the BMPD and the
ARU used these tunnels now and again for field training, and
certainly the nuhm’ndah used it all the time as quick passage. A
quick investigation in the back rooms of the warehouse would give
her the answer. For now, though, she was satisfied at her discovery
and the outcome of the mission so far.

Anando had been talking about the day’s
festivities and had just finished giving his take on Nehalé’s
plans, and was waiting silently for her response. She had only
half-listened, too intent on her planning, but had picked up enough
to carry the conversation on.

“Well,” she smirked playfully at him. “He
certainly knows how to sell his message, that’s for sure.”

Anando laughed. “You’re not the first person
to admit that.”

“From what I’ve heard about him, I shouldn’t
expect any less,” she said. They had come nearly to the southern
corner of the building and returned to the front entrance, and
while she talked, she took one last glance at the grates. She used
her excitement of the finding and made it as general as possible so
Anando could perceive it as joyous anticipation of the evening’s
event. Anando picked up on it instantly.

“It’s strange,” he said. “Here we all are,
all us Mendaihu and Shenaihu, knowing
in advance
of the
Ninth Coming of the One of All Sacred, knowing that it’ll be
tonight, knowing it’ll be here at this very warehouse. It’s
almost…”

“Preordained?” Saone said, grinning at
him.

“Heh. Seriously, it’s as if it’s a
blessing
from the universes themselves.”

She nodded. “A bit profound there, Anando,
but I understand the intent of your words. It is a little unnerving
to be able to know exactly when your own personal deity is going to
arrive at your doorstep.”

They walked in silence the rest of the way
back to the main entrance, where they found themselves competing
for space with a growing crowd and, across the now-closed street, a
line of vendors offering food. The pleasant mixture of spicy aromas
made her realize she was famished, and that she had not eaten since
late last night. She wandered over to a noodle stall, surprised
that Anando had followed her. She hid her irritation as she dug for
money for the vendors.

The man behind the stall waved the money
away and smiled. “On the house,
emha
. Compliments of KJS
Corporation.”

Anando laughed behind her. “Kindeiya Shalei!
I should have known he’d do this.”

Well then,
she thought in
frustration.
Guess I’ll have to entertain this Mendaihu a little
longer.
She would have to wait for the next opportunity to go
back inside and investigate the lower depths of warehouse. Cursed
with an incredible amount of patience and tolerance, she pushed
aside her plans and made her best attempt at enjoying the day. She
grabbed two servings of ramen from the stall and handed one to
Anando.

“Thank you,” he said, digging in. “I’ve been
so busy tailing Nehalé that I haven’t eaten all day.”

“I get the feeling he’s a bit overzealous,”
she said, more to herself than to him. His eyes widened, an
expression only made sillier with strands of ramen noodle hanging
from his lips, and she laughed. Had she just insulted a man he
looked upon as some sort of holy figure? She shook her head at the
thought. Nehalé was many things, and may in fact be a shepherd
among the masses, but he most certainly was no messiah.

Anando gathered his words eventually.
“Overzealous? Nehalé Usarai? Far from it! Zealotry is a far cry
from a pure faith in the One, my dear Saone.”

“I know,” she said, giving him a genuine
smile. “You’ll have to forgive me, my cynicism gets the best of me
sometimes.” Her eyes lingered on him for a second; perhaps getting
stuck with this particular Mendaihu wasn’t so bad after all. What
better way for a nuhm’ndah to blend in than to be seen talking with
the shepherd’s lackey himself?

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Denni - Amna

Denysia?

The voice entered her consciousness as a
whisper so quiet she almost didn’t hear it above the din of the
school cafeteria, but she didn’t have the time to answer it right
now. Not when she had yesterday’s history homework to finish off
before next period. She’d been so worried about Caren that she’d
forgotten all about it, and she’d be damned if she’d get another
low grade in this class. She pulled up the worksheet on her vidmat
and started scribbling out the answers as quickly as she could. She
could at least accept points off for bad penmanship.

To be honest, she relished all this
background white noise. She’d been distracted during all her early
classes, not just by the persistent voice but by the news her
sister had shared. It all made sense now: the dreams, the voices,
the traveling, the soulhearing…and especially what Caren had told
her about Mum and Dad. Caren had also called her this morning, just
before she’d left for school, just to make sure she’d recovered
from it all.

“Denni! There you are!”

Another interruption! She lifted her head to
see her friend Amna Ehramanis making her way through the crowded
hall towards her table, plowing her way through pockets of students
like a hurricane. Despite her petite frame, the girl was a power to
behold, and those who saw her coming always scrambled out of the
way. She never did anything quietly. It was comical to watch, but
it was also impressive. She was well aware of her tininess and made
up for it by having a larger-than-life personality. She was sweet
and cute, but she could also kick your ass if you ticked her
off.

“Girl, where have you been?” she said, still
a good four tables away. “I’ve been looking for you all
morning!”

Denni glanced down at her homework, weighed
the options of her excuses for tardy homework…certainly she could
use the influence of taking care of Caren, who happened to be on
the recently heavily burdened ARU…and smiled deftly at her own
shamelessness. “Hey yourself,” she called as she switched off the
vidmat and stuffed it in her satchel. She gestured with a nod of
the head at the number of students. “Have a seat. Insane in here
today, huh? A bit much for fourth period study, isn’t it?”

Amna grabbed the back of an empty seat and
yanked it out, nearly hitting the thigh of a passing classmate. She
dropped her load of books on the table with a resounding
thump
and grunted out of exhaustion. “Just got out of
Taylor’s history class,” she groaned. “You wouldn’t believe the
homework she’s got us doing…we have to finish up Kaalen’s
dehndarra Né
and have a ten-page paper on it by the end of
the week. If I didn’t know the tract already, I’d complain,
but…”