Into the Fray: Volume 1 of The Sorcerers of Jhanvia Series (31 page)

“We are going to stay here another day,” Nidreyka concluded.

“No,” the sorceress stated, “we must continue on.”

Nidreyka was firm, “I will not have you falling from your horse because of this. One day will make no difference in our journey, but it will let you get past the effects of the poison and hopefully let your wounds seal over.”

Kidreyli explained to her lover, “She can be as stubborn about things as you, but she is right. We should give you the time to heal. We need you fully capable.”

“If you insist,” Kaitra conceded.

“I do,” Nidreyka said. “We passed through a small clearing just over that ridge. I’ll take the Katrion over so they can eat.”

“I’ll go with you,” Kidreyli said. “You two stay here and watch over our things. And you,” she said to Kaitra, “just sit there and relax. We’ll be back soon.” She kissed her lover, and then she and Nidreyka buckled on their swords, mounted their Katrion and trotted off, each towing their lover’s transport.

Dikaylia said, “I’ll go get some more wood. Maybe a little fire will help ward off this morning chill.”

Kaitra watched her walk off into the nearby trees and gather several small pieces of wood that were lying on the ground. She could feel the poison still making her a little woozy and the pain emanating from the wounds in her side was much more than she wanted to consciously acknowledge. The thought entered her mind that staying here one more day would be very welcome.

Dikaylia dropped the wood she was carrying into the fire pit. “Would you mind…?”

Kaitra passed her hand over the wood and it gently erupted in flames.

“I really wish I could do that,” Dikaylia said with a smile. She sat on a stone next to the fire, took a deep breath and asked, “So, how did the two of you meet.”

“I was in the south. The temple I was in was attacked by the Rutalans and Kidreyli saved me from them. She saved my life.”

“Sounds dramatic. I’ve heard the Rutalans are a ruthless bunch. We don’t encounter them much up here.”

There was a protracted silence before Kaitra decided to step in, “How do you feel about my bonding with Kidreyli?”

“Nidreyka and I have agreed that she will be responsible for both of us in this matter.”

“But if Nidreyka were not here, how would you handle this situation?” Kaitra pressed as she pulled Kidreyli’s cloak tightly around her.

“You want the truth?”

“Yes.”

Dikaylia hesitated a little, looked at her intently with her deep blue eyes and then said, “I would have already killed you.”

Kaitra looked at her a bit stunned by her directness.

She continued, “It’s nothing personal. We as a people believe that the knowledge you gained from Kidreyli about our culture poses a serious threat to us. If someone is able to get into your mind, they would know our weaknesses and they could devise methods to exploit them.”

Kaitra let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes as her thoughts could not help but return to Kidreyli’s observation that Satreka’s sorcerers were already in her subconscious.

“What Kidreyli has done in bonding with you has always been defined as treasonous. Her life would also be forfeit.”

The sorceress looked forlorn at the flames as they leapt in front of her.

“Put this in a different perspective. How would your father react if someone in his ranks had disclosed crucial defensive information to those that might threaten him?”

“Believe me, I understand,” Kaitra said sadly. “I cannot believe I pushed her into bonding with me in this manner. We could have done this any other way.”

Dikaylia smiled and said, “But you would never have achieved our depth of interconnectedness without the bonding ritual.”

“You’re right…and I will be grateful for this experience forever. I never imagined that one individual could become so much a part of another. I know in my heart…in a truly literal sense…that I could not live without her in my life. I feel that I would simply perish if she were taken from me.”

“That is how you are supposed to feel,” Dikaylia stated. “It is very rare, but there are times when the bond is
so
strong that when one of us dies, their anamhra dies as well…her heart unable to survive in this world without the love of her mate. We call it bhascry.”

“I have touched that word in Kidreyli’s mind, but I wasn’t quite sure what it meant.”

“It is the most celebrated bond between our people. It is most sad when two are lost in this way, but they are always remembered as having experienced the strongest, purest love that we are capable of feeling.”

“Valtyr passions run deep.”

“We believe in taking advantage of all life offers,” Dikaylia agreed with her assessment. Her eyes perked up, “Are you hungry?”

“Starving,” she responded zestfully.

The Valtyr jumped up and walked over to the supplies. She grabbed a bag that contained some bread and fruit and a flask of water, brought them over and sat on the ground next to Kaitra, placing the supplies between them and leaning up to draw in warmth from the fire.

Kaitra picked up a fruit and looked at her, “You’re being very nice to me, even though you’d kill me if the opportunity presented.”

“I like you. The obligation I have to my people doesn’t preclude me from that.”

“I’m confused.”

The young Valtyr explained, “In the little time I have known you, it is obvious that you are strong, brave, passionate, powerful and very beautiful. How could I not like you?”

“Well, if these are the things you see in me, is there some kind of test or challenge I can take that will prove my love of and loyalty to the Valtyr? Something, anything, that could make me one of your people, so that my bonding with Kidreyli would be accepted?”

“Not that I am aware, but it seems like a good idea. Your situation is unique, in that your lineage might protect you. I can’t imagine that the elders would take the risk of condemning a daughter of Fionn to death. The biggest mountain in the way is the underlying belief most of us have in preserving our blood line. I’m not sure we could ever get past that.”

“But your culture breeds through a single gender,” Kaitra noted. “Couldn’t we have babies that are pure-bred Valtyr?”

“I don’t know. Normally a small part is taken from each of us and blended as part of the breeding process. The Clannya would need to be consulted on that.”

The sorceress was frustrated, “I just wish there was some way to resolve this dilemma. With all that is my being I want to be a part of your people. The deeper into Kidreyli’s spirit that I reach, my instincts tell me that I am Valtyr, not human. The things I see within her…I don’t know…it probably sounds silly…but I get this overwhelming sense that I belong to the Valtyr, that my spirit is Valtyr. Do you understand?”

“No, not really. It could simply be the effect of the bonding, making you see and feel these things within your mind,” Dikaylia posed. “The bonding ritual used with humans can have unpredictable outcomes. That is one of the reasons it is forbidden.”

Kaitra shifted around and sat facing her, taking the Valtyr’s hand, much to her surprise. “I want to tell you something I have never told anyone before. When I was a little girl, I used to have dreams of what seemed at the time to be far off places. I saw people and buildings and a great river that blended with the sea. After seeing what is in
Kidreyli’s mind, I know now that those images were of Tyrkamani. I know that I have walked her paths and alleyways.”

Dikaylia’s eyes were full of disbelief.

Kaitra continued, “A short time ago, Kidreyli taught me how to use a bow. I had never used one before in this life, as my prissy little existence in the castle growing up dissuaded such things for girls. Straight away it came very easily for me. Even Tyral noted that my proficiency was greater that Kidreyli’s when she first learned to use it. It was not two weeks later when we first encountered outlaws, a time before Kidreyli and I bonded, and she had me take all five of them on by myself. I was a little tentative when the confrontation began, but when one the outlaws pulled me from my horse and onto the ground, the human in me gave way to the warrior within. I pulled back the bow and let fly the arrows to exactly where I intended. The last outlaw was killed at a distance of about forty paces as he ran from me, and I hit him in the base of the neck. As soon as it was done, I felt that I had restored balance to our surround and I felt something you might describe as a spiritual ecstasy wash over me. It felt so warm and when I closed my eyes it felt as if even the trees were grateful.”

The Valtyr was unsure what to say, as the things she described were very familiar to her, as she had experienced them as well.

Kaitra watched her sit silently for a minute and then asked, “What are you thinking?”

Dikaylia’s deep blue’s looked into Kaitra’s gray eyes, “I have never heard of a Valtyr spirit in a human before, but I suppose that it could be possible. What you describe certainly points in that direction. There is one way to know for sure.”

“Tell me,” Kaitra requested.

“It is called labhartsin, speaking with our ancestors. Can you see within how to do it?”

Kaitra closed her eyes and took a relaxing breath, “It is a trance-like state that opens the doorway to the afterlife.”

Dikaylia laughed under her breath, “That’s a very human way of seeing it. Find a safe place in the middle of night. I usually do this next to a tree, as it makes it easier to visualize. Relax completely, silence your mind and see your spirit float downward into the earth, like fog following the roots of a tree. Then allow yourself to ask a question. If done properly, you should have your answer.”

“Thank you. I shall try it this night.”

Dikaylia had a second thought, “You should probably close your mind links with Kidreyli before you do this, for they will interfere if she senses you performing this task.”

“I’m not sure how to….”

The Valtyr saw her confusion and cut her off mid-sentence, “Your mind shines light in all directions…your thoughts. Just see the door close and trap the light so that none can escape. It’s an easy visualization and a bit of simple magic.”

“I don’t want Kidreyli or anyone else to know about this, please. If things are as I believe, I will tell her when the time is right.”

“Then you will need to tuck all thoughts of this in a corner and cover it over so her mind links do not find it.”

Kaitra nodded her understanding.

Dikaylia continued, “So you killed him at forty paces on a dead run? That’s impressive.”

The sorceress explained, “It was so much fun. I never realized that I had it in me. And the last outlaw alive just stood there, frozen in fear. I told him to spread the word, that if he ever did anything like that again, we would be back for him.” She mimicked her earlier actions with her hand, “I just said ‘poof’, and you never saw someone run so fast.”

Dikaylia laughed out loud, “I wish I could have been there to see it.”

Kaitra reached over and hugged Dikaylia firmly, her Valtyr eyes reflecting her surprise. “Thank you for your insight,” she said sincerely.

“You are welcome, my friend. I hope you find what you’re after.”

Kaitra looked deeply into her eyes and released her grip. She turned and faced the fire again.

Dikaylia motioned with her hand as Kaitra had, “So, you said ‘poof’, and he just ran away?”

Kaitra nodded.

“I must try that one day. Certainly better than working up a sweat,” the Valtyr conjectured.

They both laughed loudly.

Kaitra said to her new friend, “Tell me about you.”

Dikaylia went on for twenty minutes detailing her life before and after Nidreyka, as if they two of them had been friends for life.

Kidreyli called out as she approached with Tyral and Sestru in tow, “What are you two laughing about? We could hear you on the other side of the ridge.” Nidreyka was following just behind her with their Katrion.

“It was nothing,” Kaitra said coyly.

“That’s right, nothing,” Dikaylia reinforced.

Kidreyli looped Sestru’s reins over a limb, walked over and gave Kaitra a kiss. “I had no idea that ‘nothing’ could be so funny. And how dare you leave me out of a funny conversation.”

Kaitra picked up a little stone and flung it toward her, hitting her in the thigh.

“Oy, that hurt,” Kidreyli blurted out, even though it didn’t.

“Now that was funny,” Nidreyka said with a smile.

Kaitra had set her internal clock to wake her close to middle night, and middle night had now come. Her eyes had adapted to the dark. The starlight peeking through the leaves this night was especially bright, giving the forest a dim, silver glow. She gently lifted Kidreyli’s arm from her waist and slipped out from under it. Kidreyli rolled onto her back, but did not wake. The sorceress picked up her cloak, wrapped it tightly around her naked body and stepped lightly away from the camp. She took Dikaylia’s suggestion and found a tree out of sight of the others. She passed her hand over the ground until a place of comfort manifested in her mind and then she
sat with her cloak wrapped around and under her. She looked up at the black night sky and took several deep breaths. She summoned up her magics and created a light green energy pattern that she laid over and around her to protect her mind from Satreka’s sorcerers and her lover’s mind links. Then she closed her eyes and allowed herself to completely relax, all the while continuing her deep breathing rhythm. As instructed, she began to envision her spirit slowly creeping into the earth, finding easy pathways along the roots of the trees. It took several minutes before her spirit finally let go of its hold on her physical being and began drifting within the realm of the ancestors.

She floated out the message, “I seek to know my true self.”

An incoherent light formed within her vision. “Dear Kaitra, it is good to see you,” it called to her.

Kaitra squinted to try and get a clearer vision of the light before her, and then she sensed a presence, “Great grandmother?”

“Yes, my dear,” was the reply.

“Minyya…your name is Minyya,” Kaitra said.

“That is correct,” the image of light focused revealing the image of an elderly Valtyr.