Elaina J. Davidson's Blog, page 361
February 11, 2016
The Mighty Cathron
There is a 'mythical' cat in my Lore Series, which the accompanying images remind me of. The other day I went through the various books to find references to the cathron - this is the result :)
The Kinfire Tree
There were birds both common and uncommon, colourful insects and reptiles, and furry creatures afraid of nothing; hares and rabbits, buck and rodents, minxes and other wild cats. The mighty cathron, indigenous to Valaris and believed to be extinct, roared on clear nights amid the mountains, although the great cat had not been seen for a thousand years.
****************************************************************
The Drowned Throne
Vannis shouted as an otherworldly creature approached him through the dust and smoke, wearing Torrullin’s face in its belly, roaring like a wild cathron.
******************************************************************
The Dragon Circle
Torrullin no longer stood still, but moved about Quilla’s chamber like a caged cathron, and as dangerous, his face pale, his eyes dark.
*****************************************************************
The Kallanon Scales
The latter shattered him, for they began with images of his mother, shifting into pawing cathrons into wolverines into demonic creatures into snakes and rats, but none of it in the known sense.
*****************************************************************
The Nemisin Star
Cat waited at the arch.“Quilla has granted you a place here, and Skye and Lowen will join you,” Torrullin said.“You’re protecting me.”“It’s better this way, for now. Saska will be like a cathron back at the Keep and it’s not safe at Skye’s in Luan.”
***************************************************************
The Sleeper Sword
Margus prowled the battlements like a caged cathron, unable to rest.
************************************************************
The Dreamer Stones
Torrullin looked at Samuel. “What did you see?”“Four tall white pillars with a silver knocker in the shape of a cathron set in the ground before them and a black floor.”“Gods. You saw different. I cannot recall it ever happening before. Primula!” The Elder, a woman, rose from alongside the tripod. “Two different readings. How do we proceed?”
************************************************************
The Nowhere Sphere
A silver knocker protruded from the blackness ahead, otherworldly because it was set in the floor and not upon a door somewhere. It was in the shape of a cathron, Valaris’ mighty predator cat. A cat no one had seen, ever, and still legends abounded.
*
Tymall pointed at the cathron knocker. “A link to Valaris. My blood was conceived and grown on Valaris and thus the connection. The black floor, the connection to Valleur power. The crucible, the connection to Grinwallin, if only as a nod at something heard of. Rough rock, the connection to Avaelyn … not that I have seen it either.” His mouth twisted briefly before he went on. “The pillars connect to Akhavar.”“Imagination draws on memory.”“Exactly, and thus it is real. But not purely memory; tales also, as well as the past, our shared past.”Tianoman stared down at the silver cathron. And looked up. “Why?”
*
“What did Samuel see?” Tymall asked.“This. Four white pillars, black floor, silver cathron. Apparently silver was a common element, therefore my name. ‘The door that shines, shining being’.”
*
“Find the place where a silver cathron lurks in the black floor.”
*
Tianoman glanced at Tristan supporting Teighlar, and Elianas doing so for Sirlasin, and added, “I must tell you there is a place below that speaks of my scrying - Samuel’s images.” In a rush then, for Tymall closed in, “Four pillars, black floor, silver cathron …” He ceased speaking and stepped aside, his expression shuttering.
*
Sabian did as bid, this time spending long minutes carefully studying the whole. When he drew back, he said, “Black floor, white pillars, silver cathron knocker …”“That’s from Tian’s Naming,” Caballa said.
*
“Gods, Torrullin, how silent can a man be and still be a man?” Teighlar whispered back, his heart bouncing in his ribcage.A low laugh. “Are you calling me an animal?”“Cathron, fucking sabre tooth.”
*************************************************************
The Master Mechanism
The man’s face was gouged and scratched as if a wild cathron had raked him repeatedly.
*
Soon hundreds and then thousands of documents and gifts arrived on Akhavar. He sent every artefact on to Avaelyn, and gradually the niches filled. Valaris too was represented, in the form of a cathron statue carved in onyx, with perfect garnets as its eyes. Torrullin murmured that he always saw the cathron in his imagination to have green eyes, not red, but was happy with the gift. The cathron indeed represented Valaris, a creature of myth, yet endemic to Valarian culture.
**********************************************************
Note: The Nowhere Sphere and The Master Mechanism is still to be published, coming this year ;)
The Kinfire Tree
There were birds both common and uncommon, colourful insects and reptiles, and furry creatures afraid of nothing; hares and rabbits, buck and rodents, minxes and other wild cats. The mighty cathron, indigenous to Valaris and believed to be extinct, roared on clear nights amid the mountains, although the great cat had not been seen for a thousand years.
****************************************************************
The Drowned Throne
Vannis shouted as an otherworldly creature approached him through the dust and smoke, wearing Torrullin’s face in its belly, roaring like a wild cathron.
******************************************************************
The Dragon Circle
Torrullin no longer stood still, but moved about Quilla’s chamber like a caged cathron, and as dangerous, his face pale, his eyes dark.
*****************************************************************
The Kallanon Scales
The latter shattered him, for they began with images of his mother, shifting into pawing cathrons into wolverines into demonic creatures into snakes and rats, but none of it in the known sense.
*****************************************************************
The Nemisin Star
Cat waited at the arch.“Quilla has granted you a place here, and Skye and Lowen will join you,” Torrullin said.“You’re protecting me.”“It’s better this way, for now. Saska will be like a cathron back at the Keep and it’s not safe at Skye’s in Luan.”
***************************************************************
The Sleeper Sword
Margus prowled the battlements like a caged cathron, unable to rest.
************************************************************
The Dreamer Stones
Torrullin looked at Samuel. “What did you see?”“Four tall white pillars with a silver knocker in the shape of a cathron set in the ground before them and a black floor.”“Gods. You saw different. I cannot recall it ever happening before. Primula!” The Elder, a woman, rose from alongside the tripod. “Two different readings. How do we proceed?”
************************************************************
The Nowhere Sphere
A silver knocker protruded from the blackness ahead, otherworldly because it was set in the floor and not upon a door somewhere. It was in the shape of a cathron, Valaris’ mighty predator cat. A cat no one had seen, ever, and still legends abounded.
*
Tymall pointed at the cathron knocker. “A link to Valaris. My blood was conceived and grown on Valaris and thus the connection. The black floor, the connection to Valleur power. The crucible, the connection to Grinwallin, if only as a nod at something heard of. Rough rock, the connection to Avaelyn … not that I have seen it either.” His mouth twisted briefly before he went on. “The pillars connect to Akhavar.”“Imagination draws on memory.”“Exactly, and thus it is real. But not purely memory; tales also, as well as the past, our shared past.”Tianoman stared down at the silver cathron. And looked up. “Why?”
*
“What did Samuel see?” Tymall asked.“This. Four white pillars, black floor, silver cathron. Apparently silver was a common element, therefore my name. ‘The door that shines, shining being’.”
*
“Find the place where a silver cathron lurks in the black floor.”
*
Tianoman glanced at Tristan supporting Teighlar, and Elianas doing so for Sirlasin, and added, “I must tell you there is a place below that speaks of my scrying - Samuel’s images.” In a rush then, for Tymall closed in, “Four pillars, black floor, silver cathron …” He ceased speaking and stepped aside, his expression shuttering.
*
Sabian did as bid, this time spending long minutes carefully studying the whole. When he drew back, he said, “Black floor, white pillars, silver cathron knocker …”“That’s from Tian’s Naming,” Caballa said.
*
“Gods, Torrullin, how silent can a man be and still be a man?” Teighlar whispered back, his heart bouncing in his ribcage.A low laugh. “Are you calling me an animal?”“Cathron, fucking sabre tooth.”
*************************************************************
The Master Mechanism
The man’s face was gouged and scratched as if a wild cathron had raked him repeatedly.
*
Soon hundreds and then thousands of documents and gifts arrived on Akhavar. He sent every artefact on to Avaelyn, and gradually the niches filled. Valaris too was represented, in the form of a cathron statue carved in onyx, with perfect garnets as its eyes. Torrullin murmured that he always saw the cathron in his imagination to have green eyes, not red, but was happy with the gift. The cathron indeed represented Valaris, a creature of myth, yet endemic to Valarian culture.
**********************************************************
Note: The Nowhere Sphere and The Master Mechanism is still to be published, coming this year ;)
February 10, 2016
The King's Challenge #209 and #210
TKC 209 and 210
It is Hal’s turn to speak. After gently squeezing Marian’s shoulder, knowing how hard it must be for her to share, he gazes long in my direction.
The light is more shadow than illumination, but I am aware he is gauging me … or is he trying to read my thoughts? That does not sit well. “Are you reading me?” I snap out.
He smiles. “And there is the reaction I receive from everyone who knows of my ability.”
Sighing, I realise he is right. We hide what we can do because of expectation, not judgement. “Sorry,” I murmur.
“Don’t worry; I was merely illustrating.” Hal shifts his attention to Kay. “What can you do?”
Kay frowns. “I have no talent.”
“Wrong, friend. All Ilfin have something extra … hold on, let me finish. The ancient writings are largely gone now, mostly due to the ravages of time upon the materials they were written on, but some remains. It does not gift the full view of history, given parts are now forever missing, and yet pertinent knowledge is still with us. Few read now, of course, and it is a quest to actually find the old scrolls, as it is dangerous to be caught reading them.” Hal offers a grin. “Messengers get to go where others fear to enter.” His attention now moves between Kay and me. “A long time ago scribes recorded what the future was not to forget. I was as surprised as you will be to discover those scribes were Ilfin …”
“We tend to read stuff written after,” Marian inserts as my eyes grow bigger. “Some of that borrows from the old writings.”
Hal nods and continues. “Ilfin of the past needed us to remember.” Again he focuses on Kay. “In the past Ilfin grew up knowing their talents; today we discover them by accident. The four big ones are not all there is. Delver and Warrior are not alone in the sub-category. My point is; there are many variants of talent … and you have one also.”
Kay swirls his tongue over his teeth and does not speak, although he inclines his head and becomes thoughtful.
Hal lowers his head to stare into the still water in our midst. “Always I have seen images and it meant years of soul-searching for me, but today I am comfortable with what I am able to see.” He glances up. “When the Glonu went weird out there I saw the image to identify them.”
“Damin can as well,” I say. “That is how we knew to separate the host of Arc.”
“Did he tell you what he saw?”
“No, but I overheard him discussing it with Lyra.”
Hal sighs. “I need to know if the image is personal to the Delver or whether it is specific to race. Please tell me.”
“You first,” Kay says without inflection in his tone.
Hal inclines his head. “A maze etched in …”
“… stone,” I finish. “It is race related.”
“Which makes it a whole lot easier for me to communicate with Damin; we have now established common ground.” Hal spreads his hands.
“Do you ‘see’ an Ilfin image?” Kay demands.
Hal stares at him for a long while. At first I think he is unwilling to answer and then I understand he is delving for the required image. Kay stares back unflinching, and Marian and I wait it out.
“A curly, three-armed … thing,” Hal eventually says.
I burst into laughter. “A triskelion! I did not know what that is either!”
Kay grins and finally relaxes completely.
It is Hal’s turn to speak. After gently squeezing Marian’s shoulder, knowing how hard it must be for her to share, he gazes long in my direction.
The light is more shadow than illumination, but I am aware he is gauging me … or is he trying to read my thoughts? That does not sit well. “Are you reading me?” I snap out.
He smiles. “And there is the reaction I receive from everyone who knows of my ability.”
Sighing, I realise he is right. We hide what we can do because of expectation, not judgement. “Sorry,” I murmur.
“Don’t worry; I was merely illustrating.” Hal shifts his attention to Kay. “What can you do?”
Kay frowns. “I have no talent.”
“Wrong, friend. All Ilfin have something extra … hold on, let me finish. The ancient writings are largely gone now, mostly due to the ravages of time upon the materials they were written on, but some remains. It does not gift the full view of history, given parts are now forever missing, and yet pertinent knowledge is still with us. Few read now, of course, and it is a quest to actually find the old scrolls, as it is dangerous to be caught reading them.” Hal offers a grin. “Messengers get to go where others fear to enter.” His attention now moves between Kay and me. “A long time ago scribes recorded what the future was not to forget. I was as surprised as you will be to discover those scribes were Ilfin …”
“We tend to read stuff written after,” Marian inserts as my eyes grow bigger. “Some of that borrows from the old writings.”
Hal nods and continues. “Ilfin of the past needed us to remember.” Again he focuses on Kay. “In the past Ilfin grew up knowing their talents; today we discover them by accident. The four big ones are not all there is. Delver and Warrior are not alone in the sub-category. My point is; there are many variants of talent … and you have one also.”
Kay swirls his tongue over his teeth and does not speak, although he inclines his head and becomes thoughtful.
Hal lowers his head to stare into the still water in our midst. “Always I have seen images and it meant years of soul-searching for me, but today I am comfortable with what I am able to see.” He glances up. “When the Glonu went weird out there I saw the image to identify them.”
“Damin can as well,” I say. “That is how we knew to separate the host of Arc.”
“Did he tell you what he saw?”
“No, but I overheard him discussing it with Lyra.”
Hal sighs. “I need to know if the image is personal to the Delver or whether it is specific to race. Please tell me.”
“You first,” Kay says without inflection in his tone.
Hal inclines his head. “A maze etched in …”
“… stone,” I finish. “It is race related.”
“Which makes it a whole lot easier for me to communicate with Damin; we have now established common ground.” Hal spreads his hands.
“Do you ‘see’ an Ilfin image?” Kay demands.
Hal stares at him for a long while. At first I think he is unwilling to answer and then I understand he is delving for the required image. Kay stares back unflinching, and Marian and I wait it out.
“A curly, three-armed … thing,” Hal eventually says.
I burst into laughter. “A triskelion! I did not know what that is either!”
Kay grins and finally relaxes completely.
Your Tarot Card Name
Empress of Infinite Spirits!
February 9, 2016
The King's Challenge #206/207/208
TKC 206, 207 and 208
We are exhausted from the race to attain safety; I hear snores and grunts from everywhere as folk sleep the oblivion of those pushed beyond the limits.
I cannot sleep, however.
This man Hal, he is Delver. I need to know if he is able to reach Damin.
“Leave it till morning, “Kay murmurs to me as we turn from the jumble of rocks. Clearly he has read my mind; I guess it does not at this time require magic to fathom where my thoughts are.
I shake my head. By morning, whatever guise ‘morning’ will assume in a dark place cavities, I will be mad with impatience.
The corners of Hal’s eyes crinkle as he smiles at me. I like him more and more. He appears gruff, but is a kind man, an understanding man. He also takes no nonsense and we need that right now.
“I am still awake enough to make an attempt or two,” he tells me. “Let us find a quiet space.”
We are in what I have already dubbed an antechamber. It feels as if someone long ago created an entrance to what lies beyond with this space. The cave is fairly large and high, and arches lead in various directions from it, with the one main ingress, the one now closed over with rocks. In fact, looking at it now in the light of the single rush torch Kay propped in a crack, it occurs to me someone did create this. It is too organised to be natural. Perhaps the ancient Ilfin hid here in times past.
Hal leads us into a small and empty cave to the left of where the families and children are deeply asleep. He points to a small pool in the centre. “I would call this the wellspring. A long time ago someone planned for fresh water.” Lifting his arm, he gestures into the dark recesses. “There is a stream. If we follow it we may find a larger source.”
“Not tonight,” Kay murmurs.
Hal laughs. “No, not tonight.”
We sit around the small pond, each cupping hands to drink our fill. Marian has joined us; she does not speak much, clearly, preferring to listen. A trait the Messengers are known for. They know how to listen.
“Tell me about your talent,” I say to Marian, thereby giving Hal time to compose himself.
The woman sighs and rubs at her cheeks. She is tired, but she is also weary of hiding her true self. Now she need no longer do so. She adjusts her greying hair into a tidier knot on top of her head and proceeds to smooth her wrinkled and travel worn tunic. It possesses no colour, for the pressures of her journey have hidden what was. I know we all appear grey now; the search for a haven has brushed us with a unifying hue.
“I grew up east of Alarn,” Marian begins. “If you know Alarn, you’ll know how conservative that city is, but we were freer where the forests ruled the land. We vanished as small communities into pretty clearings amid old trees.” She smiles. “It was a good life. My parents believed a girl should know how to read and taught me, bless them. Anyway, there I was, on a cloudy day when the wind began to howl. Never have I known such wind. It grew ever stronger, shaking even the old giants with their long-tentacled roots. Smaller trees began to fall, braches flew and the treetops started shredding. I know I was afraid, as was my sister, and we started running for home …”
“How old were you?” I insert.
“I was seventeen, my sister was ten. We had been sent out to gather the cones for their seeds. A treat, but it meant we needed many cones.” Again she smiles as memory is made fresh. “We dropped our haul and started running. We could barely keep our feet, the wind was that strong.” She pauses to stare at her hands. “We entered a clearing and there we could not stand, never mind walk. The wind was like a wall of power and attacked us. It also attacked the trees on the perimeter … groaning, creaking, tearing …” On a sob, Marian looks up. “A giant trunk lifted into the air, twisted around and hurtled straight for us … and we could not move except to cower and pray.” Swallowing, she whispers, “I threw my hands up and screamed for it to go away. It did.”
Her silence then speaks volumes.
“Your sister?” I ask in a whisper.
“We survived, both of us,” Marian says in a stronger tone. “No one believed me, about that the tree disappeared, and therefore I did not speak of it after a while. But I tested other things. A boulder underwater that always tripped us in the river’s currents … I made it go away. One day fire threatened the forest and I sent it to open land where it found no fuel and died.” She looks at me directly then. “Later I found a scroll in the Messenger archive.”
“You discovered you are an Elemental,” Kay says.
Marian nods. “Hal here opened up to me about seeing thoughts as images and …” She stops there and shrugs. “It is good to share this. A year ago already we were being rounded up for talents, no doubt to kill us.”
We are exhausted from the race to attain safety; I hear snores and grunts from everywhere as folk sleep the oblivion of those pushed beyond the limits.
I cannot sleep, however.
This man Hal, he is Delver. I need to know if he is able to reach Damin.
“Leave it till morning, “Kay murmurs to me as we turn from the jumble of rocks. Clearly he has read my mind; I guess it does not at this time require magic to fathom where my thoughts are.
I shake my head. By morning, whatever guise ‘morning’ will assume in a dark place cavities, I will be mad with impatience.
The corners of Hal’s eyes crinkle as he smiles at me. I like him more and more. He appears gruff, but is a kind man, an understanding man. He also takes no nonsense and we need that right now.
“I am still awake enough to make an attempt or two,” he tells me. “Let us find a quiet space.”
We are in what I have already dubbed an antechamber. It feels as if someone long ago created an entrance to what lies beyond with this space. The cave is fairly large and high, and arches lead in various directions from it, with the one main ingress, the one now closed over with rocks. In fact, looking at it now in the light of the single rush torch Kay propped in a crack, it occurs to me someone did create this. It is too organised to be natural. Perhaps the ancient Ilfin hid here in times past.
Hal leads us into a small and empty cave to the left of where the families and children are deeply asleep. He points to a small pool in the centre. “I would call this the wellspring. A long time ago someone planned for fresh water.” Lifting his arm, he gestures into the dark recesses. “There is a stream. If we follow it we may find a larger source.”
“Not tonight,” Kay murmurs.
Hal laughs. “No, not tonight.”
We sit around the small pond, each cupping hands to drink our fill. Marian has joined us; she does not speak much, clearly, preferring to listen. A trait the Messengers are known for. They know how to listen.
“Tell me about your talent,” I say to Marian, thereby giving Hal time to compose himself.
The woman sighs and rubs at her cheeks. She is tired, but she is also weary of hiding her true self. Now she need no longer do so. She adjusts her greying hair into a tidier knot on top of her head and proceeds to smooth her wrinkled and travel worn tunic. It possesses no colour, for the pressures of her journey have hidden what was. I know we all appear grey now; the search for a haven has brushed us with a unifying hue.
“I grew up east of Alarn,” Marian begins. “If you know Alarn, you’ll know how conservative that city is, but we were freer where the forests ruled the land. We vanished as small communities into pretty clearings amid old trees.” She smiles. “It was a good life. My parents believed a girl should know how to read and taught me, bless them. Anyway, there I was, on a cloudy day when the wind began to howl. Never have I known such wind. It grew ever stronger, shaking even the old giants with their long-tentacled roots. Smaller trees began to fall, braches flew and the treetops started shredding. I know I was afraid, as was my sister, and we started running for home …”
“How old were you?” I insert.
“I was seventeen, my sister was ten. We had been sent out to gather the cones for their seeds. A treat, but it meant we needed many cones.” Again she smiles as memory is made fresh. “We dropped our haul and started running. We could barely keep our feet, the wind was that strong.” She pauses to stare at her hands. “We entered a clearing and there we could not stand, never mind walk. The wind was like a wall of power and attacked us. It also attacked the trees on the perimeter … groaning, creaking, tearing …” On a sob, Marian looks up. “A giant trunk lifted into the air, twisted around and hurtled straight for us … and we could not move except to cower and pray.” Swallowing, she whispers, “I threw my hands up and screamed for it to go away. It did.”
Her silence then speaks volumes.
“Your sister?” I ask in a whisper.
“We survived, both of us,” Marian says in a stronger tone. “No one believed me, about that the tree disappeared, and therefore I did not speak of it after a while. But I tested other things. A boulder underwater that always tripped us in the river’s currents … I made it go away. One day fire threatened the forest and I sent it to open land where it found no fuel and died.” She looks at me directly then. “Later I found a scroll in the Messenger archive.”
“You discovered you are an Elemental,” Kay says.
Marian nods. “Hal here opened up to me about seeing thoughts as images and …” She stops there and shrugs. “It is good to share this. A year ago already we were being rounded up for talents, no doubt to kill us.”
February 8, 2016
February 6, 2016
The King's Challenge #204 and #205
TKC 204 and 205
A press of people await us in the first cave, warming the space. I am thankful for it, being thoroughly wet from the continuing downpour outside.
“This will not do,” Kay mutters as he shifts past me. “Everyone, listen now! Those with children move into the cave to the back there.” He points to a curved entrance. “Women looking after our young, please go with them.”
The space empties swiftly. Someone lights a rush torch beyond, for amber glows soon flicker in the arch.
“Couples please go left,” Kay continues.
Men and women holding hands move towards an opening to the left. Someone calls back, a man’s voice, “There’s firewood here!”
Excellent. We are able to make more light and cook food.
“Everyone else, take the right,” Kay says in a normal tone, for there are not too many left in the first cave. He grins when a younger man mutters about being put with the old folks.
Hal stands in the entrance, arms folded, legs braced, watching the rain. A sheet of water cascades from on high, but beyond is only darkness. “We need to close this.”
I join him. He is right. The entrance is not that large, but it will be visible to anyone outside. “How?” I ask.
He cranes his head backward, eyes darting. “Marian!”
The Messenger shouts from the cave to the right. “Here!” She steps out and hastens over.
“We need to close this,” Hal tells her as Kay and I glance at each other. What is the meaning of this?
Marian is quiet, staring at the older man. Then she looks at me before flicking one over Kay also. “I don’t know, Hal,” she murmurs.
I understand her dilemma. She has a talent and is uncertain as to her reception if she reveals it. “I am a Healer,” I say. “My brother is a Delver and my sister-in-law is, in my opinion, an Elemental first, although she has more talents than simply one. You will not be judged, Marian.”
Marian nods and finally smiles. “Damin married the lady Lyra, did he?”
I laugh. “Under the stars, yes.” Considering we always say ‘by the stars’ it is somewhat amusing.
“It has more worth,” Marian responds. “They chose each other.”
Indeed. I force myself not to look at Kay. I hear him clearing his throat … and a flush of heat suffuses my cheeks.
Marian winks and turns to Hal. “A rock fall?”
He seems removed from present company. Marian nudges him and he focuses to meet my gaze. “Damin Mur is a Delver?”
Kay steps in. “He is. What of it?”
“I am a Delver,” Hal states.
Clarity infuses my entire being. “You can talk to him!”
He offers a wry shrug and smile. “I can try. It is a fair distance.”
Kay smacks his palms together. “By the sands, now that will help.”
Marian narrows her eyes. “By the sands?” she echoes.
Kay endows her with a cold gaze. “I am from the west. There are others here with us also from the west. Is that a problem?’
I move to stand before Kay, giving both Hal and Marian a wary look. “We are in this together.”
Marian smiles. “We are, and I am relieved we have skills from all over with us.” Hal nods apace to her words.
I deflate. Chuckling under his breath, Kay whispers in my ear, “My beautiful defender.” Again heat overcomes my face. It is as well we are not alone … for … he laughs softly again, and I force my thoughts into obedience.
Grinning, Marian faces the rain-drenched outside. She lifts her hands, fingers open. Staring out, she abruptly clenches her fingers into fists and punches the air. Instantly she opens them again.
Rock and stone tumbles into the arch and darkness takes us.
A press of people await us in the first cave, warming the space. I am thankful for it, being thoroughly wet from the continuing downpour outside.
“This will not do,” Kay mutters as he shifts past me. “Everyone, listen now! Those with children move into the cave to the back there.” He points to a curved entrance. “Women looking after our young, please go with them.”
The space empties swiftly. Someone lights a rush torch beyond, for amber glows soon flicker in the arch.
“Couples please go left,” Kay continues.
Men and women holding hands move towards an opening to the left. Someone calls back, a man’s voice, “There’s firewood here!”
Excellent. We are able to make more light and cook food.
“Everyone else, take the right,” Kay says in a normal tone, for there are not too many left in the first cave. He grins when a younger man mutters about being put with the old folks.
Hal stands in the entrance, arms folded, legs braced, watching the rain. A sheet of water cascades from on high, but beyond is only darkness. “We need to close this.”
I join him. He is right. The entrance is not that large, but it will be visible to anyone outside. “How?” I ask.
He cranes his head backward, eyes darting. “Marian!”
The Messenger shouts from the cave to the right. “Here!” She steps out and hastens over.
“We need to close this,” Hal tells her as Kay and I glance at each other. What is the meaning of this?
Marian is quiet, staring at the older man. Then she looks at me before flicking one over Kay also. “I don’t know, Hal,” she murmurs.
I understand her dilemma. She has a talent and is uncertain as to her reception if she reveals it. “I am a Healer,” I say. “My brother is a Delver and my sister-in-law is, in my opinion, an Elemental first, although she has more talents than simply one. You will not be judged, Marian.”
Marian nods and finally smiles. “Damin married the lady Lyra, did he?”
I laugh. “Under the stars, yes.” Considering we always say ‘by the stars’ it is somewhat amusing.
“It has more worth,” Marian responds. “They chose each other.”
Indeed. I force myself not to look at Kay. I hear him clearing his throat … and a flush of heat suffuses my cheeks.
Marian winks and turns to Hal. “A rock fall?”
He seems removed from present company. Marian nudges him and he focuses to meet my gaze. “Damin Mur is a Delver?”
Kay steps in. “He is. What of it?”
“I am a Delver,” Hal states.
Clarity infuses my entire being. “You can talk to him!”
He offers a wry shrug and smile. “I can try. It is a fair distance.”
Kay smacks his palms together. “By the sands, now that will help.”
Marian narrows her eyes. “By the sands?” she echoes.
Kay endows her with a cold gaze. “I am from the west. There are others here with us also from the west. Is that a problem?’
I move to stand before Kay, giving both Hal and Marian a wary look. “We are in this together.”
Marian smiles. “We are, and I am relieved we have skills from all over with us.” Hal nods apace to her words.
I deflate. Chuckling under his breath, Kay whispers in my ear, “My beautiful defender.” Again heat overcomes my face. It is as well we are not alone … for … he laughs softly again, and I force my thoughts into obedience.
Grinning, Marian faces the rain-drenched outside. She lifts her hands, fingers open. Staring out, she abruptly clenches her fingers into fists and punches the air. Instantly she opens them again.
Rock and stone tumbles into the arch and darkness takes us.
