Techromancy Scrolls: Soras (11 page)

I watched in utter fascination as the ritual proceeded, I had never seen it from this side, and it was something beautiful, something reverent. The whole time, Celeste's eyes were seeking mine. I saw insecurity and longing for approval that she would show to none but me. To others she was a paragon of strength, to me, she was so beautifully human, seeking approval from one she loved.

I approved. I showed her with my smile.

When her weapon was secured on her back, and Sylvia gave her a reassuring smile and addressed her, “Mother.” I was slightly embarrassed. Her dress came down just below her knees, just covering the tops of her tall leather boots, mine hung to my ankles.

Then we all exchanged smiles and the wagon slowed to a halt. I narrowed my eyes as Johan called out, “We've arrived.”

It was sort of unnerving how all of the Lupei seemed to have this uncanny knack for timing. Almost as if it were something instinctual. That was a mystery for another day as Syl just grinned at us mischievously as Celeste and I exchanged suspiciously amused looks.

The others joined us from the partition and Elaine reached over and put my hand in the crook of Celeste's arm.

I had heard it before we exited the wagon. It sounded like our crowded market. There were hundreds of people out there. There was a knock at the door. Sylvia said, “They are ready Dru.”

The man opened the door for us and gave a genuine smile that was twinkling in his eyes. He placed both hands over his heart and bowed deeply while standing in the doorway.

Then he moved aside, still in his bow, and made an ushering motion. Celeste and I stepped out onto the back platform of the wagon to witness Gypsy wagons as far as the eye could see. In a large clearing at the very base of Heaven's Gate, which dominated the skyline. The imposing mountain disappearing into the clouds above.

But that was not what was the most surprising. I was stunned by the sea of people in front of us. When they saw us, a huge cheer went up, and oddly a small amount of boos as well. A group of heavily armed men and women stepped up, dressed all in solid green.

Sylvia whispered behind us, “Duly appointed stewards of the conclave.”

Ah, security, like the Duke's castle guard.

One woman bowed to us then said in heavily accented Gypsy, “Mothers, we are to escort you to the war council.” They didn't waste any time, did they?

Celeste nodded and they just stood there until we descended the fold down steps, our Wexbury Escort stepped up to flank us and all hell broke loose.

Mother Luna! All of the stewards drew their weapons on our knights in an instant, and more appeared from the crowd everywhere with blades drawn. From endless hours of drills, our knights, Celeste and I all had our weapons drawn moving into a half arc to protect each others backs. I was confused and scared, what in the hell was going on?

Celeste was growling dangerously at the stewards. “Stand down! What is the meaning of this?” Her emerald power was rippling down her arm and dribbled off her blade as sparks of excess energy dripped from her eyes. I knew that amber sparks were doing the same from mine as the world was alive in colors and tastes of the various metals around us. I could see a couple of the stewards glowing bright wispy white. They had much more power than Celeste and me.

One of the men hissed in Gypsy, “What are these Altii dogs doing here? They are the ones who have slaughtered innocents of the People!”

Celeste growled in English, “They are our diplomatic escort from Wexbury. They are duly appointed representatives from Prince George himself.”

The crowd was getting louder and more aggressive. It hit me like a wave.

Then a familiar, strong and melodic woman's voice sounded out in the tongue of the People, over all of the commotion and everyone including Dru and Sylvia all dropped to a knee, bowing low. “Stand down!”

Someone murmured, “Great Mother Ranelle.”

Great Mother? She was the ruler of all the families of Gypsies. Someone unanimously elected by all the clans to speak for them all. The most powerful and respected of all Gypsies.

Celeste and I looked at each other then went to a knee and lowered our heads too, our blades rested on a knee, our knights following suit. It was silent on the mountain, the only sound was the sound of padding feet getting closer.

Then some feet came into view in front of me, and the fringe of a rich green dress with forest green piping. I swallowed hard and found it hard to breathe. She was Prince George's counterpart. I was acutely aware that I was nothing but a chicken farmer playing at knight, in front of someone of such great importance.

The woman said in an amused tone in accented English, “So we meet again, Mothers. Please, get up, it does not befit your station to grovel so.”

We looked up at her and stood. My mouth just hung open in shock as I took in the young woman. She was barely older than I was. Not only was she the ruler of the Gypsies, but she was also the woman who sang with the minstrels in Owensdale.

She had a smirk on her face that matched the one on Celeste's. I sputtered, keeping my head low. “But... but you said you hailed from the Andrei clan.”

She chuckled and lifted my chin up to force my eyes to meet hers, “I do, we all must hail from somewhere don't we? And what about you, did you not fail to tell me you were the Mother's of the Lupei?”

My face heated and I heard a tinge of anger in my own voice that surprised me as I corrected her, “Soras. Mother implies we have lost Udele.” I looked down for my insolence and waited for the strike for being so presumptuous.

Instead, she nodded once, “Soras then.”

I heard approval in her tone.

Then she sounded amused as she confided, “Forgive me the deception, but I had to see this Femeie de Sabie of the Altii, who fell from the heavens and lived.”

I shuddered at the memory of my fall from the cliff, and the death of Lord Samuel.

She tilted her head at me. “Impossible stories are circulating throughout the clans about you. I knew from what I had heard that you would not let the siege of the Lupei stand, and that to liberate them, you would need to travel through Owensdale.”

She chuckled. “I had to see you for myself discreetly before the conclave met so I could form my own opinions of you. So I waited in Owensdale, to find naught but a girl full of compassion and her warrior woman.”

She made me look at her again and she smiled and said, “I approve of Udele's choice to form a blood bond with you. You have heart and passion for those less fortunate than you. Do not think what you did for the children of the village went unnoticed.”

Celeste spoke next, with humor and question in her voice, “You are little more than a girl yourself. Great Mother.”

The woman beamed with almost childish delight at that and she shot a smile and winked at me. “I will be fifty this coming season. I am of the Touched, and more power flows through me than any other of the People. It has slowed my aging.”

I blurted, “Fifty?” She could pass for my older sister. I slapped my hands over my mouth, it was always getting me into trouble. But I found myself laughing at her girlish giggle at my reaction. I whispered, “Sorry, Great Mother.”

She chuckled and said, “Do not be, I take it as a compliment.” She looked around like she hadn't noticed all the people around her taking a knee. She made frantic rising motions with her hands. “Come now everyone, get up. You know I don't like that.”

Everyone rose then she held up a finger to the steward who was about to speak again. He relaxed and stood at attention as she asked Celeste, “So please, ally our fears and tell us why knights like the very ones who attacked the Lupei and absconded with their Mother are in your party.”

Celeste began, “Great Mother...”

The Gypsy ruler exhaled heavily, dropping her eyes and shaking her head as she interrupted, “By all that is sacred. Would you two stop addressing me as such? It gets rather tedious. Please call me Ranelle and I will call you Laney and Celeste.”

I blushed. “I don't think I can do that Great Mother.” Years of proper decorum of being naught but a serf was pounded into me. Addressing nobles in the Keep, who shouted at me that it was disrespectful not to address a noble by their title.

She squinted one eye at me and said to the gathered crowd in her native tongue, “As Great Mother of the People I decree it.” Then she crinkled her nose at me in a 'so there' manner and said, “It is done.”

Celeste chuckled. I think at me. Then she started over. “Ranelle, Prince George himself...”

She pulled out the sealed scroll and handed it to her. “Has tasked them as a diplomatic escort to assure our safety in this peace mission and the rescue of Mother Udele. He pledges to you that he had not sanctioned any such attack against the Lupei, and further pledges to find who was responsible and bring them to justice.”

Ranelle broke the wax seal and unrolled the parchment and read it while she grinned and said, “Assure your safety? Do not think I do not know who you are, Lightbringer of the Altii. I witnessed your deeds at York from afar. Your blooming was like a beacon in the night that lit up the lands. You need no protection.”

Celeste blushed and again I wished I could have witnessed the great battle of York to see my lady ignite. I hear rumors that even those without magic potential were blinded by it. I smiled slyly, Lightbringer, I would have to file that away for future teasing.

My lady said in an embarrassed tone as she admitted, “It may be that we wanted a fighting force to confront the ones who perpetrated such a heinous act.”

The smirk that Ranelle gave her was almost cute. I was having a hard time reconciling the fact that someone who looked Celeste's age was really fifty and the ruler of tens of thousands. She inclined her head in acceptance of that.

Then she asked the hard question, “Can you explain why the men who did this, wear the armor of the realms?”

Celeste shook her head and admitted, “That confounds us as well. They are trained in the arts of combat like our knights, and wear fitted armor like our knights, with all recognizable markings and crests destroyed to conceal their origins.”

The woman searched Celeste's eyes and I felt power flowing and saw the barest wisp of mist touching my girl. Then she nodded in satisfaction and looked at me for a second, she grinned at me, knowing I had caught her questing for truth with her magic.

She looked back at Celeste. “Then tell me, what will your Prince do if it is found that it is one of the Altii realms...” She paused and narrowed her eyes. “Specifically Solomon... who perpetrated that act?” She knew something that we didn't though we already suspected some rogue element from Solomon.

Celeste didn't hesitate, and I saw her own thirst for vengeance, her need to right a wrong, in her burning eyes as she said, “Then Highland, Wexbury, and our allies, will bring all we have to bear against Solomon if it proves to be true.”

Ranelle inclined her head at that, accepting her word, then turned to her stewards and said, “Accord our guests of the crown all due respect.”

They all replied as one in a reluctant tone, “Yes, Great Mother.”

Then she added to us as an afterthought, “But they must surrender their weapons to the Lupei family while they are here at the Meeting Spot.”

Verna narrowed her eyes and looked at Celeste, who gave an imperceptible nod and our Knights pulled all of their weapons, Bex taking a longer to get out of his backpack and disconnect all of his gadgets. Celeste and I offered our blades and daggers as the Lupei took the weapons from the others with great respect, except from Verna.

Ranelle looked almost horrified at us and snapped out, “What are you doing? It will show great disrespect to the conclave if a Femeie de Sabie is without her blade.” She was positively pale.

Celeste inclined her head in respect and re-sheathed her blades. I followed suit. Verna hesitated then slid her oversize split broadsword, who she lovingly called Gertrude, back into her scabbard over her shoulder. The beast weighed nearly twenty pounds and she wielded it as easily as a short sword.

I snorted and winced because I did, at the show as Sir Bowyn kept pulling blades out from everywhere, concealed in pockets in his armor and boots. Then just before the Lupei woman who was being loaded down with his weapons departed, he held up a finger as he remembered something and pulled a small throwing dagger from under is armor in an unmentionable location. Ranelle chuckled at the roguish man who wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Was she blushing? I swear that man is as bad as Dru.

Then she looped her arms in ours and said, “Come, we mustn't keep the rest of the conclave waiting. They want justice and we cannot convene without all of the clans represented.”

As we moved through the wagons, I asked in amazement, “How many of the People are in attendance? There are so many wagons.” I had only expected a representative of each family.

Ranelle chuckled at me, “This is just the Lupei family, three-quarters of their number have arrived with more to come.”

She paused at a wagon, then pulled us up to stand on the drivers seat so we could see over the wagons, they seemed to go on forever. She explained, “About a half of the People have arrived for the War Council, they will still be arriving for days.”

I blanched, there were over thirty-five thousand people here? I imagined just a fraction of that number armed with bows and swords descending upon any realm and shuddered. We needed to keep the peace. Just what have these mystery knights unleashed upon the world?

The look Celeste gave her as she locked her eyes on the Gypsy's dark eyes, spoke volumes to me. She had made the same realizations I just had and she thought Ranelle didn't just satisfy my curiosity. It was also a display of strength, a warning to the realms.

The each inclined their heads slowly at each other like two warriors who had made each others will known, who had taken a measure of each other. Then Ranelle's face broke into an easy grin as she hopped down from the wagon and waited for us to join her. “Come now Soras, the conclave awaits.”

Celeste jumped down and held her hands up for me to jump. I blushed and said, “I can get down myself, woman. She kept her arms up and I rolled my eyes and hid my grin and jumped. She caught me easily and lowered me to the ground.

Then I went to move behind the ruler, our ebony haired hostess, and to her left like any noble of higher rank. She was having none of that as she looped her arms in ours and dragged us along as she hummed a merry tune.

I glanced back to see the stewards and our escort were in tow with hundreds of Lupei following behind. I know I betrayed my status as Knight and Sora of the people, but I was looking everywhere in amazement.

The wagons we passed were fascinating, I was starting to pick out the different bands of the Lupei clan by the style of painting and symbols on each wagon. Each group was clumped together and there were endless creative types of wagons, as individual as each family that lived in them. Just as we would decorate our cottages back in the Keep to give them our own unique look and feel.

Then the colors all changed after a bit, and I could tell we had moved through the Lupei and into another clan's camps. Again I was struck by the variety. They seemed to have more rugged and utilitarian wagons.

We walked in relative silence as the thousands of people we passed all quieted to bow and stare at their ruler passing through with strangers, and I could see the hate in their eyes; knights of the Altii. Ranelle didn't seem to notice the looks they were giving our knights, but I was already learning that not much slipped past her.

We finally reached a smooth stone arc that seemed inset into the base of the mountain itself, at least, a hundred yards across. I glanced past at the smooth, level surface as we walked across it. It was too flat, too level, to unnatural to have been made by the elements. I couldn't imagine the labor and stone masons involved to have hewn this from the mountainside so precisely. The Gypsies keep surprising me more and more.

The crowd seemed to avoid this arc. They ringed around it in a tight circle, everyone jockeying for a spot in which to see. Children were sitting on their parent's shoulders to get a good view.

At the far end of the arc was a huge, ancient looking table made of large dark hardwood timbers. Tied together with great straps of iron that seemed to have no rust. The wood showed age and wear of the countless years it had no doubt been resting in that spot. It radiated history like it was from a bygone era.

Seated around three sides of it were twelve people, with an empty seat in the middle of the group. On the empty side of the table, with its back to Heaven's Gate, was a huge chair made of the same great timbers as the table. It looked almost like the thrones I have seen in some of the writings in the Techromancy Scrolls in the library. Or the storybook tomes mother used to read to Jace and me from.

The crowd parted for us as they bowed to their Great Mother, and we stopped at the edge of the smooth arc and she looked back past the stewards to our knights. “You must stay here and not set foot on the grounds of the Meeting Spot.

Celeste held up her hand to stop their protests. The nodded, clearly distressed, but complied. Then Ranelle led us onto that smooth stone surface as her people stood again and the crowd started murmuring all around the arc.

She silently led us on her arm to the empty chair facing the great throne chair. The stewards followed and made a line on the opposite side of the table behind the great chair.

Ranelle bowed her head slightly to the people in rich flowing, colorful robes and said in a voice that carried almost too loud to be natural, “The Lupei.”

We were met with looks of almost open hostility from the group, but they nodded in acceptance to us and Celeste and I inclined our heads back. I realized these were the leaders of all the clans. I had to fight off the need to bow and show fealty. Ranelle offered the chair and I looked back at Celeste and she gave me a reassuring smile and inclined her head to the seat. I sat and she stood behind me.

Ranelle walked around the huge table, it must have been forty feet long and looked even more ancient and impressive up close. I wondered how it had survived the elements for so long. Then I answered my own question when I recognized misty runes all along the iron bands that tasted of ancient magiks.

She took a seat then said again in that loud tone, “The conclave is complete, the War Council can now convene.”

I blinked. Already? We had just arrived and I didn't have a clue what was expected of us.

One woman stood and said, “Point of order.”

She looked to be over sixty, and had a striking resemblance to Ranelle, except her hair was more silvery white than black.

Her voice carried like Ranelle's had. Then I realized that it was the rounded cutout in the mountain itself behind the table, it was amplifying the sounds within it like when entertainers at Carnival used a similar structure behind their stages.

Our hostess closed her eyes and sighed. Then opened them again and said almost tediously. “The People recognize the Andrei clan.”

The Andrei? Isn't that where Ranelle had said she hailed from? I looked between the two, at their similar looks and their eyes that seemed to mirror each others. Was this Ranelle's mother?

The elder woman looked at us as she said, “We do not recognize these Altii standing for the Lupei.” There were murmurs of agreement from the others.

Ranelle inclined her head, recognizing her argument but said, “Mother Udele of the Lupei clan accepted a blood bond with them, there have been many witnesses to confirm this. This makes them her mostenitors.”

The woman looked at her for a long moment and seemed to concede the point but countered, “There can be only one voice to represent the Lupei.” She narrowed her eyes almost in a challenge to Celeste before she turned her gaze on me with a smirk. “At least, the child is Touched by the magik of the People. I propose that she speak for the Lupei.”

I froze. If anyone should speak at a war council, it was Celeste. And this woman from the Andrei knew that. I started to open my mouth to protest, but my Lady squeezed my shoulders with her hands she had rested on them.

Ranelle exhaled in a long sigh then inclined her head almost reluctantly to the group, then asked, “What say you?”

She said the name of each family and each responded with a “Yea.”

Ranelle sighed again and shook her head sadly and looked past me to Celeste. “I am sorry Lightbringer, but the conclave has spoken. Mother Laney will speak for the Lupei. You must step off of the Meeting Spot.”

There were murmurs among the conclave and more rippling through the crowd at the mention of Lightbringer. I snapped my eyes over to a smug looking Ranelle. Our hostess had used that name just for the reaction. She has wanted everyone to know exactly who Celeste was. It seemed there was some sort of game being played here that I didn't know all the rules to.

I looked back at my girl almost in terror, I could not do this with a war against the realms at stake, I was a nobody, a herder. She gave me a reassuring smile and she whispered. “You will do fine Laney, just follow your heart.”

She looked at Ranelle and gave her a deep bow. “Yes, Great Mother.” She added an acknowledging tilt of her head to the others and paused a moment to exchange looks with the Andrei representative. I swear she made her eyes flare with the brilliant emerald light on purpose as she smiled. The woman paled and my lady turned and stepped away, heading back to our knights on the periphery of the stone arc.

The Andrei Mother gained her wits about her and she seemed to smile back at someone in the crowd. I followed her gaze to a woman who appeared to be about thirty, with chestnut hair pulled back into a tail behind her. She was dressed similarly to the people from the Lupei camp. It seemed there were games afoot. I needed a scroll of rules for these apparent machinations.

Ranelle gave me a sympathetic smile, then straightened up and said, “NOW the conclave is complete, the War Council can now convene.”

That woman from the crowd yelled out, “Point of order.”

Ranelle rolled her eyes and hissed out, “Oh for the love of the stars above, what now?” She glared over at the woman and said, “The People recognize Sarafine of the Lupei.”

The woman bowed and said, “Thank you, Great Mother.” She walked to the center of the arc and said as she acknowledged the conclave then turned to survey the crowd, “I formally challenge Laney of the Altii for the leadership of the Lupei. She is not one of us and is not fit to hold the title of Mother.”

There was another wave of murmurs throughout the crowd. Ranelle hissed out a word that did not befit a lady of her standing. To the conclave, she almost growled, “What say you?”

But Sarafine loudly said, “By single combat.”

I noticed the sword that hung on her hip for the first time. I swallowed, keeping down my panic and my power. Not many women of the People took up the sword, those who did were looked upon with great respect.

I saw a glint of hesitation on her face as her eyes rested on Anadele, she must have heard the exaggerated rumors about her, she was nervous too. She added, “By hand and wills.”

Ranelle almost roared out, “It is customary for the conclave to vote on succession. There has not been a rite of combat in centuries.”

Sarafine just inclined her head and asked, “It is my prerogative to issue such challenge, is it not Great Mother?”

All eyes were on their leader, who looked ready to explode. I could feel immense energies building and bubbling at her surface as she began to glow brightly as she said through gritted teeth, “It is. Though nobody has used that barbaric rule in dozens of lifetimes. We have learned the way of peace since it was last employed.”

My mind was starting to speed up and catch on to everything that had transpired in the past few minutes. The conclave was mad, and rightfully so, about the Altii attacking and killing some of their own. They... they wanted war. To seek vengeance. They knew that we would vote for temperance and beg time to find out what truly transpired and to rescue Mother Udele before a final vote could occur.

That is why they argued against allowing us to represent the Lupei. I was told that a war vote needed to be unanimous. And they planned on challenging our leadership of the clan, that is why they removed Celeste, they knew of her skill and battle prowess and Sarafine would stand no chance. Once she bested me, then they could get their unanimous vote and Ranelle wouldn't have a say in the outcome.

I knew the game now and I was not going to play by their rules. Cooler minds must prevail. I understood their pain and rage, but decisions should never be made out of anger. It makes us do things not in our character, some things that we cannot take back, things we cannot live with once they are done.

Ranelle sighed and then stood and declared, “Sarafine of the Lupei challenges Mother Laney to single combat by hand and by wills for the leadership of the Lupei clan.”

Two stewards stepped over to Sarafine and two stepped behind my chair and indicated I should follow them. I walked woodenly, my legs threatening to give out under me. I looked over at Celeste, who was being held back and calmed by Bowyn and Verna. She met my eyes then calmed and just nodded once at me.

The stewards backed off, leaving us in the center of the arc as Ranelle stepped up to us, almost gliding across the floor. “This challenge will be over when one yields or is dead. The victor will gain the mantle of Mother of the Lupei.” Then she added with venom in her voice to Sarafine, “Until such time as Mother Udele is returned to us.”

She looked at me and explained, “The challenge stipulated by hand and by wills, you may use no other weapons than your innate magiks or fists. To do so would result in your life forfeit. Do you understand Mother Laney?”

I nodded hesitantly and she took four or five steps back and said, “Then begin.”