Techromancy Scrolls: Soras (12 page)

The crowd roared as Sarafine took an open-handed stance I had never seen before. I held my hands down near my sides, palms out and said as I felt her gathering power, and white mist started roiling around her hands. “I will not fight you Sarafine, I have no quarrel with you, our quarrel is with those who have wronged the People.”

She screamed. “You are a coward you Altii dog! Do not associate yourself with the People, do not presume to think you understand us. Your kind are arrogant children who destroy all that they touch. We have tolerated you for too long!”

She thrust a hand forward and mist shot out at me faster than my eyes could follow and it struck my shoulder with as much force as being kicked by a horse and pain flashed through every nerve in my body as my system was shocked. I went tumbling across the ground and stood back up shakily. I shook off the residual buzzing of magic that mine consumed. Because I am an Adept, I have the ability to convert energy, whether it is magic or electricity, for my own use. I just let the energy dissipate from my body in a thin wispy mist.

I have no doubt that the strike would have killed me if the magic had persisted. So that had to have been one of the curses of the People I had heard about. They use their magik for constructive purposes mostly, charms and the like, but Mother Udele had shared with me once that it can also be used for malicious purposes like curses.

I gasped for air, my chest felt like it was on fire from the impact. I faced her again without raising my guard as she approached. I repeated, “But I am of the People. My father, Nicholas, was a Mountain Gypsy Rover, who became enamored with my mother and settled in Wexbury as a herder. I have Gypsy blood in my veins, that is why I can wield the magiks of the spirit element.”

That made her pause in her approach. She narrowed her eyes and said, “You lie. You are trying to save your own worthless hide. All know that you carry but a spark and no true power. You are a charlatan.”

I shook my head and tried not to allow my fear to make me start shaking. Mother taught me to never show weakness. I stood tall and raised my chin and repeated, “I am not your enemy. I will not fight you.”

She shrieked a challenge and hit me with a barrage of strikes from her magic that made me feel as though I were being trampled in a stampede. Every fiber of my being felt as if it were being held over hot coals as I tumbled relentlessly across the stone ground and collided with the people in the crowd who just pushed my body back into the arc.

I could taste blood in my mouth as I pushed away the multiple castings that were eating away at my body and mind. I staggered back to my feet as her power flowed out of me to disperse into the winds. The crowd was no longer cheering the fight on. It was silent as I slurred out, “I will not fight you. We should work together to find Mother Udele.”

The woman was panting now, I was pretty sure she had used most of her magic potential in that series of strikes since I could barely taste the sweet tang of Gypsy magik from around her.

She stepped up to me and yelled, “Yield! I have no wish to see you dead.” She struck me in the stomach and I almost gagged on the bile that rose in my throat as I doubled over. Then she spun and lashed out with her leg and her booted foot landed across my scarred cheek, sending me spinning to the ground.

I slurred out as I pushed myself up to my knees, “I will... not yield.” I got to my feet and staggered to the side a step before I could straighten up. “And I will not fight... sister. We need... to stand united. Violence is... not the way... of the People.”

She screamed in fury and started striking out with blow after blow as I was forced back, refusing to fall again. I could take the pain, mother taught me to never cry out, to never show weakness. All I wanted to do was to crawl into a hole and hide, but I would not let her down, I would not let Celeste down. I would not be the instrument of the downfall of my people because I was weak.

The memory of standing tall at the whipping post as I was flogged at thirteen came unbidden to my mind and galvanized my resolve.

She struck my face. “Why...”

She kicked me in the chest and I backpedaled a couple steps. “Won't...”

She backhanded me. “You...”

The she struck at my throat, as she finished, “Yield?”

Now, I was willing to suffer through a lot to keep the peace, but that blow would have killed me. I caught her fist with my silk gloved hand before she made contact. My arm blurring and ghosting behind the movement. I thanked Mother Luna for all the defensive drills that Celeste made me endure.

I gave my opponent a bloody smile and croaked out, “You say you know of me. Then you know that I am from the house of Celeste, we do not yield!”

She pulled her hand back and snarled in frustration as she drew her sword. She was hit instantly with a wall of white energy so thick it looked like solid stone. It hit her like a runaway horse and it sent her skidding and tumbling across the ground, her blade spinning away from her.

I turned and focused my vision, blurry with pain and from the strain of preventing my own power to rise in me, on Ranelle who had one hand up and she blazed as bright as the sun as she said in a voice filled with power, “Your life is forfeit Sarafine!” She seemed to be pulling in power from the mountain itself. Her eyes were solid white with the hints of a chaotic mist boiling beneath.

I wobbled on my feet, then walked as quickly as I could to Sarafine's side, who was trying to regain her feet. She had blood dribbling from her nose and she had abrasions across her exposed skin.

Ranelle calmed herself and she dimmed until she looked like just a pretty, young woman again. She said slowly, enunciating each word as it were a pronouncement, “You have broken the rules of engagement that you yourself invoked, by daring to draw a weapon during the contest. For that, your fate rests in the hands of MOTHER Laney of the Lupei.” She stressed the word Mother and it still made me wince, Udele would be returned to us, she had to be.

Then she turned to me and said in a tone more serious and filled with a sorrowful weight than someone her apparent age should shoulder, “You may serve the sentence at your convenience, the prescribed forfeiture of her life, or you can give mercy and allow the offense to rest.” Her eyes showed her age at that moment, and all the pain and joy she had seen in the world over many years.

I raised my chin in defiance to those who thought I should end another woman's life simply because of the games that were being played when the People should be supporting one another. I bent and retrieved Sarafine's blade and her eyes widen in fear for a moment until I presented it to her. “I choose mercy.” Then whispering to the blinking woman I said, “A Femeie de Sabie should not be seen without her sword.”

She took it and slipped it back into her scabbard without looking.

There was relief and... respect, in her eyes as a murmur rippled through the crowd like a pebble thrown into a pond. She lowered her head and whispered, “Mother.”

Ranelle addressed all the people present with the flair of a showman, “It is settled, Mother Laney speaks for the Lupei.” Then she stopped and asked toward the conclave, her eyes narrowed, “Unless there is another who dares challenge.”

There was silence from the thousands gathered, the only sound I heard was the wind echoing around through the peaks, sounding like a thousand whispers from those who came before us. You could listen but not quite hear the voices, as they teased and swirled. A person could go mad trying to make out what the whispers were trying to tell us. I blinked at my own realization about something that had never been explained to me, something I had never thought to ask about. This is why they called these mountains the Whispering Walls.

I wobbled and she was by my side supporting me, as Sarafine just stared at me in confusion, like she couldn't believe I hadn't struck her down, instead choosing to show compassion. I asked the bleeding woman, “Will you be alright?”

She nodded dumbly as Ranelle started leading me toward the table, calling out, “Lupei healer?!” I looked back and caught Celeste's frantic eyes. She wanted someone to pay for my pain. I shook my head at her and smiled, then winced as I felt my lip crack. This seemed to calm her.

Sylvia made her way to the arc, then ran up to us as the Great Mother walked me over and sat me in the chair. Syl pushed past the custodians and didn't bother giving her leader a bow, then knelt in front of me. She scolded me in a whisper as she winced at my bloody face, “Why did you not just yield?”

Ranelle chuckled and said to her, “I do not think she knows how, child.” Then she looked at me and asked as she winced at my bloodied face, “Can you continue? Or do we need to postpone the vote until the morning?”

I shook my head and said, “The longer this takes, the longer Mother Udele is in the hands of the enemy. I can continue.” I sighed as Sylvia's healing magics draped over me, the silky mists forming a fabric of warmth and healing that coaxed the spirit magiks inside of me to bubble up and embrace it as they swirled around each other like a joyous dance. I started to relax as she skilfully started stripping one injury or ache away from me at a time.

Ranelle smiled and nodded with a bit of pride in her eyes. It brought to mind, the display I had witnessed just a few minutes ago. The energy she was throwing around was on the level of Prime Techromancer Donovan himself, possibly greater. She was a force unto herself, and it scared me more than a little.

She retook her throne-like chair from a time gone past, then summarized, “The conclave has been called to address egregious events that have transpired against one of our clans. The attack and murder of eight women, ten men, and two children of the Lupei clan. The unknown enemy attacked then spirited Mother Udele away, and laid siege to her band.”

I felt my lack of education embarrassing, as I stumbled over words like egregious, but I could suss out their meaning by the context. I was learning more and more each day in the great library.

She looked directly at me when she said, “Any of which is an act of war against the People.”

Then she said, “A War Council has been called for the first time in ten centuries, here at the Meeting Spot, as the possibility of all-out war against the Altii is a possibility.”

She added in warning, “I bid you all to think carefully about what has transpired, and know that I have a writ from Prince George himself, pledging that he had not ordered such a vicious attack and pledged all the aid that he and Wexbury can provide.”

She moved her hand palm up toward me then to Celeste as she added, “As a show of his earnestness, he sent a contingent of knights to accompany Udele's Soras, who broke the siege. Led by the Lightbringer herself.” That caused the murmurs in the crowd to begin anew.

She finished with, “With but twenty-two men and women, Lupei's Soras killed the forty-seven enemies and liberated their band without any loss of their own. They are now pledged to help us locate and liberate Mother Udele from her captors.”

She sat back in her chair and exhaled, I looked at all the faces around the table, the woman leading each family was diverse, some looked well into their sixties, one looked to be a girl of maybe sixteen. Some were olive skinned and two had beautiful skin as dark as midnight.

Then Ranelle turned to her apparent mother and asked, “How votes the Andrei? War or patience for the Altii?”

The woman looked around at the others in the conclave and then she turned to address the crowd, “We have sat by for centuries as the Altii invaded the lands of Father Stone, laying claim to and raping his lands. They are young, impetuous, and arrogant. We have seen them destroy each other and now they seem to not be content with that anymore and have turned their sights upon the People. The Andrei vote war! We need to send them back to the north lands of Highland and ensure the safety of our future generations.”

This got a lot more support from the crowd than I was comfortable with, as a roar of cheers made my ears ring as my heart fell. Ranelle seemed to deflate some and she inclined her head then turned to the next woman, “How votes the Romanov? War or patience?”

My heart fell farther with each vote as one after another, they made similar speeches. I didn't understand the order in which she selected each to vote, but it was beginning to look to me as if it were by age, the elders spoke first followed by the next youngest. That would leave me and the young girl for last.

The only thing holding back my rising panic was the knowledge that the vote needed to be unanimous so my vote would break the concerns, it was just disheartening that a peaceful people could be so ready to resort to violence so quickly. Had we Altii truly been so bad, so violent in their eyes, that they thought war was the only way? I know I would have contemplated that for a long time if I had the luxury of time, which I didn't.

There were eleven votes for war when Ranelle turned to me, I could not read her expression, it may as well have been carved in stone as she asked, “How votes the Lupei? War or patience?”

I looked around at everyone at the table then back out at the crowd. The silence had returned like the entire mountain were holding its breath. Celeste caught my eye, and she nodded once, showing her faith in me.

I looked down at my hands nervously then up to the leader of the Gypsies. I was half Gypsy, they were my people by blood as much as Wexbury. I felt a woman of two worlds and I could understand the outrage, I had felt it myself even if I had not learned of my heritage. But...