Into the Fray: Volume 1 of The Sorcerers of Jhanvia Series (29 page)

“I trust in your judgment.”

“All will be well, my love,” he said as he kissed her on the forehead. “I have a few things to tend to. I’ll look in on you later.” He headed for the door and said, “I love you.”

“I love you,” she responded as he closed the door behind him.

She looked out the window and put her hand on her belly. She closed her eyes and asked herself, “What have I done?”

Satreka bounced off the last stair and stood silently for several minutes at the doorway to Dulica’s chamber. He watched intently through the haphazard opening in the far wall, as the three sorcerers processed
and chanted around the strange orange fire that emitted no smoke in the center of their room. He took notice of the overwhelming musty smell of this place, but never let his eyes stray from those strange men in the other room.

Dulica had noticed Satreka’s arrival, but he remained silent, waiting for the warlord to take the initiative. But it never seemed to come. He kept working on the task before him, glancing up regularly to see him staring intently through the opening in the wall. After several minutes, Dulica decided to step forward. “May I help you, my lord?”

“No, I’m just observing,” Satreka said as he maintained his constant watch on those in the other room.

“Very well,” Dulica said as he turned to go back to his work.

Satreka popped out of his semi-trance-like state, “Dulica, wait.”

“Yes, my lord,” he said as he turned back to him.

Satreka motioned him over and whispered, “They just chant and circle about that fire all day?”

“Yes.”

“And what kind of fire produces no smoke?”

“I know not, my lord.”

“Do you know what they are doing?”

“Not exactly, however, it feels like they are creating some kind of energy that is radiating out in all directions. I sense it is intended to deaden or diminish life force in some way, but I can’t be more specific than that.”

“They’ve been at this since Kutrik’s death. Whatever they are doing must require a great deal of energy to support,” Satreka surmised.

“You have a good relationship with them. Why don’t you just ask them?”

The warlord paused for a moment, and then said, “I think I will.”

He walked over and stepped through the crude opening in the wall, which immediately captured Juun’s attention. The sorcerer removed himself from the ritual in an obviously predetermined manner and walked over to him.

“How may we serve, my lord?”

“I was just interested in this ongoing ritual you are conducting. What is its intent?”

The sorcerer explained, “We concluded that it would be beneficial to your plan for breeding Valtyr if we were able to come up with a spell that could block Valtyr mind links across the region. If it works as we designed, it will make it easier to capture them. We have been feeding this spell with, may I say, a great deal of energy for several weeks now and I believe that we are having good success.”

“That is very cunning,” Satreka was surprisingly complimentary. “Their mind links give them a distinct advantage in battle. Without them they would be disoriented and their inherent abilities would be compromised. You say this spell of yours is intended to affect them even if they are far from here?”

“Yes, my lord. We believe that its influence has crossed over into their lands. Currently, its effects are strongest here at its source, but as we put more energy into it, we envision it reaching as far as Tyrkamani.”

Satreka smiled, “This could radically change the balance of power on the continent. It sounds like what you have already accomplished provides us with an enhanced level of security that makes it near to impossible for them to successfully attack us here.”

“They would find themselves greatly disadvantaged, yes.”

“Very well done, Juun. I will leave you to your work. I’m obviously not paying you gentlemen enough,” Satreka laughed as he turned and left the room.

Junn watched him up the stairs and turned back to continue his work.

Aliko looked up at him and said, “He has no idea what is happening right under his nose.”

Juun smiled at him and replied, “This is going to be far easier than any of us could have imagined.”

Dikaylia ran her shoulder into Nidreyka’s and pushed her a few steps sideways. She laughed as she hurried ahead trying to stay just a bit in front of her lover as they rounded the base of a giant oak. Most telling was the distinct lack of firewood they were carrying, along with the small leaf and handful of twigs still caught up in Dikaylia’s hair. She ran onto a small rise and stopped abruptly. Nidreyka caught up and grabbed her waist from behind.

“What is it,” Nidreyka felt the girl’s distraction.

“Look,” Dikaylia said quietly and motioned with her head.

There, standing in the stream knee deep in water, were Kidreyli and Kaitra. Kidreyli was naked and completely wet. Kaitra was naked except for her shirt and bandaging, an obvious effort to try to keep her wounds dry, and was only wet up to her hips. Nidreyka and Dikaylia watched for several moments while the couple exchanged deeply passionate kisses.

Dikaylia whispered, “The woman is very beautiful.”

“Yes, she is.”

The young warrior watched for a few moments more before continuing, “She must truly love her.”

Nidreyka spoke softly, “Kidreyli is the consummate loner. She has spent her entire life working most diligently to remain alone in the world. She left her home…our home, and traveled far and wide across the continent. For her to show such passion for another is something I never expected to see. Kaitra fills the chasm in Kidreyli’s heart. I’m sincerely happy for her.”

Dikaylia looked up over her shoulder to Nidreyka’s longing face, “You wish it was you?”

Nidreyka turned her love around by her shoulders so she could talk face-to face. “Kidreyli and I grew up together. We’ve known each other our entire lives. We tried to make a relationship…well, I tried, but it was like trying to push a sword through a tree. I was not what she needed or wanted. Understand that I will always love her because of the history we have shared, but it’s more like the love one has for a sister. You
are the one I wish to spend the rest of my life with.” Nidreyka pushed Dikaylia’s hair back over her ears and held her by her cheeks, “You are my anamhra, and I am so happy and proud and honored to have you in my life.”

Dikaylia smiled and turned back to watch the couple in the stream. Nidreyka wrapped her arms around her from behind and put her head on her shoulder.

“What do you think will happen to them when we reach home?” Dikaylia asked.

“I don’t think the elders will want to let Kaitra out of their control. She knows all about our defenses and battle tactics, and that information in the wrong hands could spell great danger for us. I suspect that they will want her to live in our world for the rest of her life, or face the real possibility that they will want her dead. Either of those options will not set well with Kidreyli.”

“And you have agreed to defend.”

Nidreyka’s face told the tale, “For all the good it may do. I don’t think my arguments will sway them very much in this situation. All I can do is try.” Her eyes perked up, “What do you say we go down there and torture them a bit.”

Dikaylia’s mind raced through the possibilities, “That sounds like too much fun.”

They made their way quickly back to the camp. As they approached, Nidreyka called out, “Aren’t you two cold in that water?”

Kaitra abruptly pulled back from her lover, displaying those human sensibilities about sex. “Cold? I hadn’t noticed. Kidreyli’s passion keeps me warm.”

“And wet too, I see,” Dikaylia laughed.

“Is that really necessary?” Kidreyli asked. “Weren’t you two supposed to get a fire going?”

“We did,” Nidreyka confirmed. “We never explained how it would manifest.”

Kidreyli laughed. “Right. Well, could you two get a proper campfire going? It’s quite cold in this water.”

“If you insist,” Nidreyka answered. “How would you like your fire, raging or cooking or with a homey ambiance or…?”

She never got the words out before she had to dodge a stone that Kidreyli had thrown her way with the obvious intent to miss.

Nidreyka laughed and said, “You were never good with being teased.”

“You are absolutely right about that,” Kaitra said as she pulled on her pants.

Kidreyli trudged out of the water and over to her Katrion, where she retrieved her cloak and wrapped it around her. She was shivering a little as she took a seat on a rock.

Kaitra came over, sat beside her and gave her a quick kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you,” Kidreyli responded.

Dikaylia had pulled the leaves and forest debris away from a small circle of stones she had constructed. Nidreyka dropped some aged wood she had gathered into the fire pit and made an effort to spark up a fire.

“Let me do that,” Kaitra offered. Nidreyka backed away as Kaitra passed her hand over the pieces of wood, her magics setting them ablaze.

As the sun disappeared into the western horizon, it became dark very quickly in the trees. Dikaylia brought over food and drink and they all settled in around the fire.

Nidreyka looked over at Kaitra and said, “So you tamed the wild one?”

“What do you mean?”

Nidreyka explained, “The non-conformist sitting next to you. In all my lives I’ve never seen anyone so intent on redefining herself so as
not
to fit into the culture that is her birthright.”

“I don’t think I would characterize it as ‘tamed.’,” Kaitra said smiling. “I’m not sure anyone is strong enough to tame this one, but you are certainly correct about the non-conformist.”

“You know why I left,” Kidreyli looked intently at Nidreyka with a look that indicated she did not want this subject discussed openly.

“Yes, I do,” Nidreyka said with the same level of seriousness.

The several moments of silence that followed were surrounded with an overwhelming tension that seemed to get the trees to bend away.

Dikaylia chimed in, “Tell us how you met.”

Kidreyli tapped Kaitra on the shoulder and whispered, “I’m going to get my clothes.”

“I’ll come with…,” Kaitra could not get out the words before Kidreyli stood and held out her hand signaling her to stop.

“I’ll be right back,” Kidreyli looked Nidreyka in the face and walked off into the darkness toward their Katrion.

There was a long, quiet pause before Nidreyka jumped up and commanded, “Both of you stay here.”

Dikaylia let her get ten steps into the darkness before whispering to Kaitra, “I’ve seen that look before. This could be very unpleasant.”

Kidreyli was pulling on her pants when Nidreyka came up to her in a huff, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing. Leave me alone,” she said firmly.

Nidreyka pushed her shoulder, causing her to take a few steps backward to retain her balance. “I am tired of this attitude from you. You are going to talk to me
now
.”

Kidreyli smiled sarcastically at her, “You want to know why I’m unhappy? Since the obvious has apparently eluded you, I suppose I should explain it to you, shall I? Very well. I need to return to the place of my birth in order to see my…,” her voice broke, “…mother before she dies. The person I have chosen to live my life with cannot come with me in this most important moment because a few old people who run our world have come to the absurd conclusion that she is a threat to our very existence.”

“She does have critical knowledge of our culture.”

Kidreyli’s fury was surfacing, “There you go spouting the words they have so carefully beaten into your head all these years. But you and I both know she is no threat. Tell me the name of one person on this continent with the courage to attack us in our own land.”

Nidreyka’s silence was piercing.

“Ah, the truth finally prevails,” Kidreyli noted. “Between the myths we have spread about ourselves and our true passion for fighting, no one would ever be so bold as to attack us in our own province. We would decimate them in painful and horrible ways. You know this. But for some unknown reason you choose to ignore this reality and continue to perpetuate the lies. Do you still refuse to see that what our elders are really trying to protect is our racial purity and the permanence of our female-only society?”

“I believe there is benefit to our species in protecting the line. We are all that’s left of our people. If we lose that through intermingling with other species, then we lose who we truly are.”

“But this is
not
who we truly are. In the old time, the same old people of that time told us that we needed to kill the males of our species in order to bring peace and stability to the continent. Every time I think of this, I cannot believe we actually did it. I admit, they were brutal, but in my last life during that period, I remember loving my mate and he loved me with all his heart. Their passion for love was stronger than their passion for savagery. Both of us were eager to have children and we would have cherished them for all time. When the word came down that we were to kill our mates, we were told that it was necessary for the survival of our species, but I know now that it was decision based on fear and trepidation generated by the cultures that were near us, especially the Clannya and the Dhoyans. I truly believe that had we directed our efforts into tapping the passion for love and nurturing that I saw in my mate, we could have brought them into the fold and made them the best part of our people. I’m not saying that it would have been easy, but I believe it would have been the best for our species and our honor.”