A group of youth had gathered about the village well one late afternoon. Their mothers had sent the girls to fetch water for the evening meal, but they stood around the well laughing at Amantis' scene while a group of older boys drew the water for them, or at least for the more attractive girls.

Macander joined them as Nyrana picked up a small stone and held it near her head. "Hi, I'm a talking rock!" she squeaked in a silly voice, waggling the rock as if it were speaking. "Do you want to hear a secret?"

"Oh yes! Yes!" squealed Sjaiwa, laughing.

"Amantis wets his bed."

Everyone burst into laughter except for Macander who merely smiled. Though Amantis seemed to go out of his way to annoy people, Macander knew Amantis' behavior would not improve if he were to hear this.

Bazma's older brother Garick, who had been hanging around Sjaiwa a lot lately, joined in. "Of course I wet the bed!" He lifted his nose and imitated Amantis' voice. "All the lowland tribes wet their beds. Everyone knows that. They're very moist people. It keeps them healthy and young looking unlike all you old dried up goat turds you!"

More laughter followed until Bazma came running up.

"Garick! Have you seen Trago?" He asked, referring to his prized goat.

Garick, who only had eyes for Sjaiwa, didn't look at him. "No. Why?"

"He's missing."

"So, why are you asking me?"

Bazma grabbed his arm and wrenched him around. "You brought your animals into the paddock last. Did you close the gate?"

Garick shrugged Bazma off and turned back to Sjaiwa who filled her jug from the well's bucket. "Of course I did."

"Then how did he get out?"

Garick squared off against his brother as if ready to fight. "Are you accusing me of something?"

"You said you closed the gate. He was there when I left."

"So just what are you saying?"

"Perhaps you should have Amantis find it with his seeker stone," Macander suggested.

The girls burst into shrieks of laughter.

"Good one," Garick laughed.

"Don't be stupid," Bazma scowled.

"I think it's a great idea," Sjaiwa said.

"Me too," Garick abruptly added, "We should challenge Amantis to find it after the evening meal."

The girls took the water back and the boys hung around until the food was ready. In the spring and summer evenings, the families often ate their meals together on long trestle tables set up in the common area. Amantis usually sat with the adults or at the end of an isolated table. This time, however he found himself surrounded by all the peers that normally rejected him.

"My brother could use some help here," Garick said setting his trencher down next to Amantis. Bazma looked up at his brother from the opposite side of the table with a guarded expression. "He needs you to use your special... thing to find a missing buck."

"That's funny." Theris sitting at a nearby table, muttered around a mouthful of roasted tuber covered in goat cheese. "He usually goes after the does with his special thing." He smiled and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Amantis scowled at Theris.

"Ignore him." Garick gave a dismissive wave toward Theris. "He has no idea what we're talking about—as usual."

"Nor does he care," Theris added, waving a piece of bread.

Amantis squinted at Garick. "Does that mean you believe me?"

Garick shrugged good-naturedly. "Let's say we're willing to give you a chance."

"Fair enough. Meet me in the commons after sundown."

After the meal, Macander's mother set him to helping with the cleanup while the older boys left. It nearly drove him mad with the fear he would miss whatever happened next.

"Madra, can I help find Bazma's lost goat?"

Sairu didn't even look up from the bucket of soapy water. "Bazma's lost a goat?"

"Yes and Garick and Theris and some others are going to help him find it."

"I don't know, dear. It's almost dark. There soon won't be enough light to search."

"I know, but Amantis thinks he can find it."

"Amantis? I didn't think Theris' friends liked him much."

"They don't, but he says he can help."

"Very well, you can go, but stick with your brother—and I want you back before it gets very late!" she shouted as he raced off to the commons.

He arrived in plenty of time to join the search since, though the sun had set, plenty of summer light lingered in the sky and Amantis refused to open his pouch until the sky was completely dark. No one spoke much as they waited. Garick and Sjaiwa whispered and chuckled quietly together while the rest fiddled irritably with rocks or bits of sticks in growing boredom, eyeing Amantis with unreadable expressions as he stood apart.

Macander, lying on the grass and watching the color drain from the sky like fading autumn leaves, wondered what would happen if Amantis didn't live up to his boast and how ugly it might get.

The first stars appeared in the lavender trimmed skies and Macander remembered the creation story Uncle Arrain had told them and how the Lord of the Mountain had dredged the mantle of his glory through the elemental chaos to produce the world. He thought about the Void left behind, the Void where the n'kroi had been imprisoned, the Void over which the world hung. As the sky faded to black, he wondered whether instead of looking up into the sky he were not actually clinging to the underside of a giant ball, staring down into gaping emptiness. He felt the slightest movement would cause him to tear loose and fall forever into the endless realms of evil madness. He knew it wouldn't happen, but he couldn't help but clutch at the grass and feel a faint upward pull toward the Void.

"Very well, I think it's dark enough now."

"Yeah, Amantis, let's see this stone do its thing," Garick said.

Amantis looked up at the sky and frowned at the moons. They had risen early, full and bright. They wouldn't set for hours yet. He walked over to an old oak tree and stood in the deepest part of its shadow. "I think this will do."

All the youth silently rushed to his side, grumbling as they jostled to get close to Amantis. Macander wondered if Amantis was enjoying the attention.

Though little more than a shadow within a shadow, Macander watched him pull out his skin pouch and open it up. Everyone leaned in close and began talking excitedly until Amantis shut the bag and demanded they shut up. After much hushing and whispering the group fell silent as they held their collective breath. Amantis opened the bag again.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, then Macander thought he saw a faint silvery light reflected off Amantis' tunic. Those closest to the pouch leaned inward as the light grew brighter. A sudden gust of wind shook the trees, moaning with words that were almost intelligible. Macander felt the hairs on his arms stand up and he could have sworn the gravity had shifted and begun to pull upward.

Macander backed away, refusing to look in the bag. The light flared until he could see the expressions of rapt wonder and horror on everyone's faces, then it faded. Amantis closed the bag. Everyone stood a moment in silence, then Amantis said, "Light the torch." Someone knelt and Macander heard the lid of an ember pot rattle and saw Bazma blowing in small ceramic pot of glowing coals. He added straw which caught fire and held it to a torch. Then, without a word, they all turned and walked off to the pastures.

Sjaiwa, who hadn't been close enough to see inside the bag, asked, "Uh, where are we going?"

"To find the goat," Garick said.

"But where is it?"

"Follow Amantis, he knows."

Sjaiwa looked from one to the other, but everyone only stared ahead determinedly as they crossed the pasture into the rough hills beyond. She gave Macander a questioning look but he didn't know what to say, so he shrugged and followed the rest.

Once in the hills, Amantis turned up a narrow defile and stopped before the torn and bloody remains of Bazma's prize goat.

"Void take it." Bazma muttered his curse. No one else said anything. Sjaiwa clung to Garick who seemed to shake himself awake and pat his brother's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Baz"

The others muttered their condolences and the group broke up and wandered back across the pasture, occasionally speaking to each other in low voices.

Macander hurried home as fast as he could without actually breaking into a panicked run. He felt an urgent need to get inside and out from under the pull of the stars.

  -=====|==

The sun had set when Karux woke again, though for all he knew it may have risen and set a dozen times since he last woke. He found it a little less painful to raise his head, so he looked around and realized he had been sleeping in Theris' house, no doubt at the insistence of his aunt Sairu. The house was a typical short stone square covered in white plaster with a thatched roof. It had one rectangular great room and two smaller side rooms. The whole thing was a little over six hundred square feet and was considered quite large for the village.

Hearing him move, Theris rushed over. "I see you are back among the living now. How do you feel?"

Karux groaned. "Like someone dropped a mountain on me." Then, suddenly remembering his vision, he grabbed the front of Theris' tunic with his good hand. "I saw the future!"

"I hope not." Theris peeled Karux's hand off. "You were screaming like a madman. You scared the whole village"

"I did see it. And it was horrible. People are going to die. A lot of people."

"Look, Karux. You've just had some sort of fit. Your eyes rolled up in your head, you got all stiff and you started shaking all over. I don't think you really saw anything."

"It was the stone!" Karux tried to sit up and look around and grew dizzy. "What happened to the stone I was holding?"

Theris found it on a small wall shelf. He held it out to Karux who hesitated before cautiously taking it and shoving it back in his permanently clenched fist.

"It had to be the stone. It made me remember the mountain and it showed me the vision."

Theris shook his head. "Oh, not you too."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Why are we all suddenly plagued by mysterious stones with strange powers?"

"Theris, what are you talking about?"

Theris gave Karux a disgusted scowl. "Amantis is claiming to have found a stone that shows him things as well."

"Amantis? What?"

"He found a stone. He says it was in a cave in the sacred mountain. It supposedly talks to him and shows him things."

"Did he say anything about an attack by monsters?"

"No."

"Do you believe him?"

Theris shrugged. "Macander saw him use the stone to find Bazma's prized goat. He came back pretty spooked. The other boys seem to think it was real. Though knowing Amantis, I wouldn't be surprised if he stole the goat himself."

Amantis! Karux couldn't believe it. Amantis was the last person he would ever want to turn to for help, but if he truly had such a stone, Karux would have to talk to him. Perhaps the stones were meant to work together. But Amantis... why did it have to be him?

       -=====|==

Amantis was sitting under a tree carving on a stray bit of stick with his bright copper knife when Pronos walked up and stared down at him.

"How did you do it?" Pronos demanded.

"Do what?"

"Make the stone... do all that."

"You'll have to ask the Lord of the Mountain about that." Amantis glared back. "That's where I found it."

"You mean it's not a trick?"

"No."

"And it will tell you things?"

Amantis smirked. "Yes."

Pronos seemed to slowly work over the implications in his head. "What are you going to do with it?"

"I don't know. They say that copper sometimes washes down from the mountains. I could easily find some with the stone."

Pronos' eyes lit up with the possibilities. "Yeah, I bet we could find a lot of copper with that. We could go to the river markets and trade it for anything we wanted!"

"We?"

"Well, I could help. You know, in case you needed to dig or move rocks. No offense, but I'm bigger than you. You might need my help carrying it all."

Amantis considered it. "Possibly, but the stone won't talk to anyone else. You'll have to listen to me and do what I say."

"Sure." Pronos grinned. "No problem. Er," Pronos looked at him a little sheepishly, "can Somek come as well?"

Amantis looked at the big dumb oaf. He didn't know what good a lot of copper would do him, there wasn't that much he cared to trade it for. But a couple of big oxen that would be willing to do what he said might be very useful. "Why not?"

       -=====|==

Karux stood once more in the cave of light looking out over the lands between the rivers. As he watched, shadowy black creatures rose up out of the ground, stood on their hind feet and began roving the countryside from horizon to horizon, leaving a cloud of ash behind. Wherever the ash fell everything died so that all the lands near the horizon quickly grew black, encircling the green lands nearby.

A whispering moan, like the voice of the wind itself, spoke from somewhere behind him. "The enemy has decided to destroy all that it cannot command. It will not be long before everything falls under the shadow of the Void."

A second voice, like the fluttering hiss of a mighty fire, spoke behind him. "We cannot help them if they do not call our names, and they cannot call our names if they do not know them."

A hushing gurgle replied, "There is one who knows our names. She has known our names and our shapes from birth, but she has no voice to tell them."

Karux waited, expecting to hear this person named, but no reply came. Then he recognized a fourth voice so deep and rumbling that it was more felt than heard. It had already begun speaking.

"Someone must be sent to speak for her. Someone must warn them of the approaching curse. Someone must go down there and call our names. But who will do that?"

Karux waited again for the next voice to speak out, for someone to name the messenger to be sent, but the voices had fallen silent. He watched the shadow spread across the coastal lands and begin to drift beyond the rivers. He couldn't see his tribe's hill country from where he stood, so he didn't know if his family and friends had already fallen under the killing ash, but as the shadow grew and the green lands shrank, the continued silence became oppressive. If he had not felt their gaze upon his back, he would have thought himself alone. He turned around to confront them, to demand a messenger be named, but as he looked upon the swirling spirits of fire and dust and mist he realized that the messenger had already been chosen. The whole dialog had been played out for his benefit. He, Karux, was the messenger to be sent.

Karux balked. The idea of going back down there into that land of suffering and death terrified him. He knew, without knowing why, that the shadow would not reach the mountain. Only the thought of his family and friends dying, their souls possibly lost to the Void, could make him reconsider. He pictured Charissa's smiling face and lowered his head in resignation.

"I will go. What must I do?"

The spirit beings parted and a blinding beam of light, which seemed to reduce the rest of the cave to darkness by contrast, fell upon him. With it came a presence, a sense of awareness so intense Karux felt like a mere shadow of himself. He dropped to his knees and covered his head with his arms, wishing he could sink into the stone itself–except that not even the stone could hide him.

A hand grasped him firmly by the upper arms and pulled him upwards while a human voice whispered in his ear, "Rise and look up, for you have found favor in the High One's sight."

Karux rose and looked around squinting, but could see no sign of who had helped him up. He struggled to look directly into the light, but found it easier when he stopped resisting. Forcing his eyes open, he sensed a warm complex of emotions in the gaze where before it had seemed cold and harsh. He couldn't imagine why.

"How do I find this person, and what do I do when I find her?"

"You must warn the others of the threat." The words came from within his head, the memory of words not actually spoken. "You must prepare them for the conflict to come, and you must learn to command my servants. This shall be the sign by which you will know the one who holds their names."

The light abruptly flared and in the fading afterimage left behind, Karux saw a symbol that looked like a mountain surrounded by a high wall."