Seer's Hope

By Maree Anderson

Chapter Twenty

Not even the brisk wind could dispel the lingering reek. It permeated buildings, clothing, and even hair, allowing no one respite from their painful memories. Even birds and crickets had deserted the area. Hope, too, longed to escape the stench and the oppressive quiet, but the Usehani needed her.

Because she was a stranger to them, she'd not felt comfortable confronting the grieving survivors with offers of help. She'd resorted to casting out her mind and "fishing" for those who would most benefit from a psychic healing boost. A swift dart of energy, and she was gone before her unsuspecting patient could notice anything untoward.

Unfortunately, it was an inefficient method of providing assistance. Sighing, she bent her mind to the task of helping another despair-ridden mind to heal—this time, face-to-face.

"Naytan." Her voice echoed unnaturally loudly in the deathly quiet. "I know this is a lot to ask of you, but before we go to this meeting Nerraya has called would you tell me exactly what happened while Daryon was away? I'd like to hear your version, please, uncolored by the opinions of others." And it might ease his burden to talk to someone.

The healer snorted. "Nice try. But talking about it isn't going to help."

Hope snagged his forearm with her hand and tugged him to a halt. "I've lost people I loved, too. Sometimes I fear the guilt will crush me."

He didn't respond so she took it as permission to continue. "My whole family died in an accident."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Hope. But how does that make you—?"

"I survived."

He remained silent for a long moment, and then he exhaled a weary breath. "The first cases were a month ago. Six people, all within hours of each other. The next week, another six cases. I tried every cure I could think of but nothing worked. Their bodies were in perfect working order, but they seemed... emptied of their personalities. And each victim's face was frozen in an expression of terrible pain. Some of my trainees could hardly bear to tend them. It was awful.

"After a few days, the first lot of victims stopped breathing. We thought it might have been some form of poisoning and took every step we could think of. But then the others died in the same way. Things began to escalate from there, with new sets of victims every few days—always in groups of six. That's when Daryon took off to fetch you."

Fear clawed Hope's heart. She swallowed once, twice, struggling to keep a neutral face. If she let the fear have its way she would be too paralyzed to act. "What else?"

"Geramar had some theories."

"Geramar." She closed her eyes, reliving the man's immense sacrifice to give her the information she needed.

"It was hoped he would become a Sehan but it was not to be," Naytan said quietly. "You might have met his son? Gerayne?"

Ah. The man who'd assisted her after her encounter with Willem. "Yes."

"Geramar was an historian with a passion for anything to do with Sehani. He kept his eyes and ears open—especially around Dayamar—and he'd gleaned information not known by the general populace. He was an asset to our settlement. Before he was... struck down, he told me about an ancient healing journal documenting a group of people afflicted with similar symptoms. I was going to make it public at the meeting tonight."

"Tell me now. It could be important."

"Geramar told me when the Panakeya of that era couldn't find an underlying physical cause of the sickness, he enlisted the aid of their Sehan. The Sehan couldn't detect any trace of their souls on this plane of existence. However, when he searched the spiritual dimension, he couldn't find a trace of them there, either. Their souls hadn't passed onward, as should happen when people die. Eventually he found them in some sort of limbo. It was as though something had cut each soul off from its physical body, and the body was no longer a priority. Geramar found a passage suggesting the state was self-inflicted."

Hope heard a rubbing sound and guessed Naytan was briskly chafing his arms. She risked probing his surface thoughts.

The healer had seen patients die with dignity and a smile, secure in their belief that death was merely a continuation of a great journey. But to be trapped in limbo, unable to pass on and find peace in the gods' embrace? That was the stuff of nightmares. And so much worse to deliberately court such a state. It was a horror he could barely bring himself to contemplate.

She understood his revulsion. "Naytan?"

He patted her hand. "I'm fine. The record told of six victims only. But in light of the way our people succumbed—in groups of six at a time—Geramar thought the passage might be significant."

"Did the record tell what happened to those six people?"

"That's the bizarre thing. Although he searched for many years, Geramar told me he couldn't find records of their burials. There's a brief entry from their Sehan sometime later indicating he refused to give up hope of finding a cure, and in the meantime, he'd isolated them somewhere and was caring for their bodily needs. The final mention of them is three months after that—an entry by their Panakeya noting no significant change in their circumstances. After that, nothing. Gods only know what happened to them."

An idea pricked Hope's mind but before she ran it past Naytan she needed to verify a few things. And talk to Dayamar. She dug her fingertips into her temples.

"Do you have a headache, Hope?"

"No. It's been a tough couple of days."

"I'm sorry Daryon's men were so rough."

"It wasn't entirely their fault," she felt compelled to admit. "I'm not completely accustomed to my powers yet. Sometimes things just happen and I don't know why or how. It's very frustrating. I mean, I got angry because Daryon's men were scaring the young man I was with, and next thing I'd flattened them. It was like my emotion turned into a physical weapon."

He harrumphed beneath his breath. "It can happen that way with those who come to their powers late," he said. "If Sehani abilities manifest early they're easier to control. Young people are still unconsciously absorbing new things so it's often simply a matter of re-channeling certain instinctual behaviors. The older one is, the more set in one's ways, and the harder to accept and control the power before reacting."

She fist-punched the air. "Yes!"

"What's got you all fired up?" he asked.

"That's the best explanation yet for everything that's happened to me since becoming a Sehan."

"It's merely conjecture, of course. I don't pretend to be an expert. Come on. We're going to be late if we don't get a move on." He tucked her arm in his and walked her to the healing hall.

As they approached, Hope heard several voices—Daryon's among them—raised in heated disagreement. The argument broke off the instant she and Naytan entered the room.

She scanned each person and quickly identified Daryon, Rikard, Martyn, and the other men involved with her abduction. There were a dozen others also present. Delicately, Hope dipped into each person's public mind to glean a few details. The predominant emotion she detected was hope. From one woman, however, she sensed only pain and a barely suppressed hatred. The others automatically deferred to her. This must be Nerraya, the settlement's co-leader.

Hope advanced upon the woman with her hand outstretched. "I greet you, Leader Nerraya. I'm Hope, Second Sehan of the Dayamari."

Nerraya clasped her hand and released it quickly. "Welcome, Sehan. Since you claim to be blind, allow me to introduce you to the tradespeople. This is—"

"Thank you, Leader Nerraya, but introductions will not be necessary." Time to assert herself.

Hope addressed the person standing next to Nerraya and pulled his name from his mind. "I greet you, Mayson." The man stammered a response and she moved on to the next person, continuing until she had greeted each by name.

"Naytan has schooled you well on tonight's attendees."

Nerraya's tone reeked of sarcasm. Hope decided not to let that slur pass. She shrugged. "I'm sure Naytan would have done just that if he hadn't had more pressing matters to discuss."

Nerraya stalked off with an audible huff.

Daryon nudged her. "Don't take it personally, Hope. Nerraya dislikes Sehani in general."

"Why?"

"It's a long story."

"Shorten it. I need to understand the reasons behind her hostility."

"Nerraya was once a settlement elder. She set her sights on Dayamar, but Dayamar rebuffed her advances. He's always stayed aloof from personal relationships. Nerraya took it badly. She publicly announced that Sehani would never be effective spiritual leaders if they didn't take life-partners, and continued to hold themselves separate from the very people they were tasked with advising. Dayamar never rebuked her, but the other elders were so embarrassed they voted her out. Eventually she left and came to us. She's a fair leader, despite her prejudices."

"She should wholeheartedly approve of me then."

"I don't follow."

Hope extracted her kuruvinda necklace from beneath her tunic. "Even though I'm Sehani, I'm Promised to Blayne."

Daryon's sigh ruffled her hair. "If only it were that easy. Nerraya holds her prejudices close. I can't see her changing her opinion after all this time."

"Did Blayne give you that?" Naytan asked.

"Yes."

"It's beautiful. Blayne never does anything by halves."

"Uh oh," Daryon said. "Nerraya's managed to upset someone else. I'd better go talk to her." He rushed off to perform damage control.

"Do you know Blayne well, Naytan?" Hope asked.

"Yes."

She wondered why the healer sounded so terse and closed, but was distracted by a loud argument that begged to be noticed.

"Unacceptable!" a woman screeched. "She's blind. What possible use is she to us?"

Naytan audibly gulped. "Hope," he said, "it might be best if you—"

Too late. Nerraya had already descended like an avenging angel. "Girl, if you're so damn powerful, why are you standing here yapping? What are you doing to save the rest of our people?"

Daryon dogged his co-leader's heels. "We brought her here, Nerraya," he said. "The very least we can do is give her every assistance. Otherwise, why did we bother to snatch her in the first place?"

"I agree." Naytan's voice was hoarse with barely suppressed rage. "We couldn't do anything to save those other poor souls. So what do you expect us to do, Nerraya? Send her home? Stand by and do nothing while the rest of our people are struck down? Let her try to help us, for gods' sakes!"

"How?" Nerraya ranted. "Look at her! She's useless."

Hope channeled the anger churning her stomach and released it. "Enough!" Her roar boiled from her throat, took on a life of its own and smashed a couple of large pottery containers sitting in a corner to smithereens.

Complete and utter silence greeted her.

Unwilling to publicly admit she couldn't fully control her Sehani abilities, Hope decided to brazen it out. "Now I've got your attention.... I understand how you feel. Truly. I'm strong in Sehani power but this is way out of my league. And that's why I've asked Dayamar to assist. He arrives tomorrow."

"Dayamar?" Nerraya said. "I don't think so. He—"

"Nerraya," Daryon interrupted, "believe me, bringing Dayamar here is absolutely necessary. So before he arrives, let's all calm down and discuss what we've discovered so far."

"Do what you like, Daryon. As you always do." And Hope didn't need to see to know that the co-leader had stalked from the hall.

~*~

Nerraya bit down hard on her lower lip. The small sharp pain did nothing to stem her agitation. Beside her, Daryon fidgeted and snatches of whispered conversations drifted to her ears. She wished they would all show some modicum of control. She was on the brink of snapping at everyone to be still but then it would be obvious that she was nervous. She allowed herself a tiny shift of weight to ease her aching back and contented herself with glaring at the young Sehani female.

Arrogant creature.

The girl stood with her eyes closed, serene and oblivious. "They're here," she said, and Nerraya's eyes widened as a patch of air shuddered. The patch then shimmered, and the shimmer expanded to a globule of around seven foot high and four foot wide. Shiny and translucent, it reminded Nerraya of a gigantic bubble.

The bubble bulged outward. Nerraya shrank back as it stretched tight across a shape. A human shape.

One by one, people burst through. She recognized Dayamar, Panakeya Blayne, and Taran, the Master Tracker. Three more men pushed through and then two women, one a plump blonde and the other a striking female who instantly drew male eyes. Nerraya's nostrils flared. That one looked like trouble.

The bubble shrank and then burst, dispersing in a fine rain-like haze of moisture. Nerraya stiffened her spine but before she could even formulate a greeting, Blayne shouldered past her.

She turned to see what, or who, could be more important than herself. And was stunned to witness the Panakeya sweep the young Sehan off her feet and kiss her. The relief on his face as he hugged the young woman, and the answering tears in the girl's eyes, convinced Nerraya as nothing else would have that the two were deeply in love.

A Sehan in love? Astounding.

She abruptly realized she was gaping and shut her mouth with a snap. And Nerraya was bracing herself to greet Dayamar when Blayne set the girl down... and advanced toward Nerraya with an expression on his face that promised physical violence.

Heart in her mouth, Nerraya shuffled back, cringing, but he brushed past her to confront Daryon. And the force of his blow laid Daryon out on the ground.

"Blayne, that's enough!" Dayamar barked.

Blayne extended a hand as Daryon sat up, fingering his jaw. "No hard feelings?"

Daryon clasped his hand. "I was going to let her go. She insisted otherwise."

Blayne favored him with a narrow-eyed, searching look before glancing back at the young Sehan. "She can be quite willful." He hauled Daryon to his feet. "It's good to see you again, Daryon. It's been too long. I'm only sorry it had to be in these circumstances."

The two men slapped each other on the back and then Daryon pulled away to massage his jaw.

"I might have hit you harder than I intended," Blayne said.

"You never were one to pull your punches."

Men. Nerraya snorted. They acted ridiculously at times. She would never understand them.

"Let me take a look at it," Blayne was saying. "Least I can do."

"I think you've caused enough damage, Panakeya." Naytan pushed forward, his posture screaming a challenge.

"Healer Naytan." Blayne inclined his head.

Naytan manipulated Daryon's jaw this way and that. "How's it feel now?"

Daryon jutted his jaw and experimentally contorted his face. "Much better."

Blayne clapped the healer on the shoulder. "Good to see you again, too, Naytan. It's no surprise to me you've become primary healer here. I always knew you had the potential. We were sorry to lose you."

"I was sorry to go. But I just couldn't stay after...." Naytan's voice trailed off into an awkward silence.

"Losing a patient is hard," Blayne said. "And the first is always the worst. Unfortunately it's something we all must learn to cope with. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist practicing healing again, though. It's in your blood."

Nerraya had always wondered what had prompted a skilled healer like Naytan to leave his settlement. They'd not even realized he was a healer until there'd been a serious accident and no one had known what to do. Naytan hadn't been able to stand by and watch the man suffer. He'd stepped in and saved his life.

"The Usehani are lucky to have you, Naytan," Blayne said.

"Yes, we are," Daryon said. "And he's ours. Hands off."

Blayne quirked an eyebrow. "What could I possibly offer him that he doesn't already have?"

"A settlement full of people." Daryon's quiet words effectively cut short the banter.

Panic squirmed in Nerraya's belly. All her carefully rehearsed niceties laced with hidden barbs and innuendos had fled from her mind. And as she struggled to recall the phrases, Dayamar stepped in to take over the introductions.

Nerraya had to duck her head and grit her teeth to stop herself from childishly protesting him usurping her role. She examined him furtively beneath her lashes. Regardless of his advanced age, with his feline golden eyes and spare but muscular physique, he was still a handsome man. And the grace with which he moved, combined with that indefinable aura of power and mystique, had always attracted her. Gods. How she despised him still for humiliating her, for choosing his higher calling over her. For breaking her heart.

She clenched her hands to stop them from shaking. "Thank you for your introductions, Sehan Dayamar," she said, raising her voice to be heard. "I'll have someone show you to your accommodations and we'll meet in a couple of hours to discuss what is to be done."

"Your courtesy is appreciated, Leader Nerraya. But I feel we can settle this matter without wasting precious time on meetings. I'm sure you agree."

She bristled. Unfortunately she couldn't think of a response that wouldn't make it appear she was more interested in upholding her own status than the welfare of her people. With as much dignity as she could muster she said, "Thank you for coming, Sehan Dayamar. I have no doubt our people will be in good hands."

He inclined his head to her, every inch the arrogant Sehan. He hadn't changed. He never would. Dayamaria would always come first.

Nerraya's sigh was full of regret and longing. But when she found herself silently thanking the gods for Dayamar's dedication to his people—and hers—she clamped her lips shut lest she say something she would regret.

~*~

"Thank you, Naytan." Dayamar had listened attentively to his description of Geramar's findings from the old journal and asked his usual probing questions. "I'll search the boundaries of the spiritual plane for traces of the dead," he said. "The spirits of any who have not yet passed on may still linger and be of use to us."

Effortlessly, he sank into a trance. Hope smothered her worry and blanked her expression.

Naytan lowered his voice so as not to disturb Dayamar. "That was a pretty nifty way of traveling," he said to Blayne. "I'm sure Daryon would have liked that more than the one Hope used."

"Care to enlighten me? Dayamar would only say you had assistance." Blayne grasped Hope's hand and ran his thumb over her wrist.

She leaned into him. "Shikari called mounts for us. I don't know what you call them here, but they felt similar to what I know as horses. We sat on their backs and he played with time to get us here quickly."

"Why didn't you transport everyone like Dayamar did? Surely it would have been easier."

"I think Shikari plucked the idea from my mind and I must have been wishing for horses at the time. I doubt it would have occurred to me to use the same method as Dayamar, however, because as you are well aware, I don't know everything there is about being a Sehan. How long did it take you to learn to be a healer?" Her tone wasn't as sharp as her words suggested. She was too drained to waste her energy on petty anger.

"It wasn't a criticism," Blayne said. "I've noticed you and Dayamar use completely different methods to achieve similar results. And the methods you choose often seem purely instinctual."

Naytan fidgeted. Hope suspected he had something to say but was unwilling to interrupt.

"Dayamar once commented that the things he finds challenging, I can do easily," she said. "But the converse is also true. He believes it's a strength. I'm not entirely convinced, though."

Naytan couldn't contain himself any longer. "Perhaps it's because of your blindness, Hope. You interact with the world around you very differently to a sighted person. That would have to make a huge difference to the way you use your powers, don't you think?"

"Interesting," Blayne said.

Hope didn't want to get into a philosophical discussion about the way she used her Sehani powers. Even the thought of it made her head ache. She cast about for a change of subject. "How's Varaya getting along with Willem? Do you think they've finally—?" Heat flushed her face. "You know."

"Having her wicked way with him was the last thing on Varaya's mind," Blayne said. "She was very upset about your disappearance—as were we all. If you hadn't contacted me when you did, I was contemplating murder once I caught up with your abductors."

The flat, emotionless tone of his voice told her he'd been deadly serious. "I wasn't that badly hurt," she insisted.

The thumb that was rubbing sensuous circles on the back of her hand halted. "Don't lie to me, Hope. Dayamar could barely detect your life-essence."

"It was a bump on the head. And you know I self-heal."

"Are you willing to test exactly how serious an injury you can heal, because I'm not. And your capacity for self-healing is beside the point."

She knew she'd put both herself and Degan at risk by venturing so far from the settlement. Still, it rankled that Blayne didn't trust her to take care of herself. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"You ventured out alone. You didn't tell anyone where you were going. What if you'd miscarried? You could have died out there before anyone could get to you. Anything could have happened—and it did."

"I'm not helpless. And I had Degan with me."

"A simple-minded boy?" Blayne snorted. "Some protection."

He was right—about Degan affording her little protection, at least. But she was tired of being wrapped in... in... whatever the Dayamari used instead of cotton wool. "I managed on my own for two years after my parents died, Blayne. And—"

"Calm down," Naytan pleaded. "You're making things difficult for Dayamar."

Hope lowered her voice. "Let's fight about something really important. Like, when you planned on telling me about the other two settlements. And the Usehani, too. How am I supposed to help you all if I don't even know half of you exist?"

"Dayamar asked us not to mention it to you. I guess he thought it would be too overwhelming for you on top of everything else. I don't really know."

"Well, he was right about that. I am overwhelmed. How many people are we talking about, Blayne? Just how many people have I been brought here to try and save from who-knows-what?"

"At last count the three settlements numbered around seven thousand people."

Hope bowed her head, the responsibility weighing heavy on her soul. She'd been too late to save many of the Usehani. What if she couldn't save her friends, either? The sickness had already spread to two settlements.

She swallowed the lump that constricted her throat. If she dwelled on the very real chance she could not live up to Dayamar's expectations—that all her friends would die and she'd be to blame—she would make herself ill. She changed the subject. "How is it Varaya and Maya came with you? Surely they weren't in your original search-party."

Blayne's thumb resumed stroking her skin and the distance that'd yawned between them closed. Hope knew from the colors swirling in his aureya that he was still angry, however. She disengaged her seer-sight. Sometimes it was better to take things at face value.

"The original party had Taran, Cayl, Willem and a couple of others," he said. "After you contacted me, I sent a runner back to inform Dayamar, but he must have already been tracking us psychically. When we stopped for a meal-break, he appeared out of thin air right in front of us, along with Varaya, Maya and Lukas. It's quite a useful trick, that bulging bubble thing. Though I prefer my own two legs."

"Why?" Naytan asked.

"It's like being sucked up and encased in liquid. Your first instinct is to panic and hold your breath. Although you can breathe, it takes more effort. It's extremely cold, too. And silent—like being underwater. Anyway, Dayamar sent two of the men home. And when I quizzed him, he would only hint about making sure certain people were around in case Hope needed her friends for the task ahead."

"More secrets." Hope grimaced. "Gods I'm tired of him keeping secrets from me."

"Sshh!" Naytan said.

Too late. "Are you discussing me, Hope?" Dayamar asked.

"Have you discovered anything?"

He didn't call her on the pathetic attempt at a diversion. "I found traces of those who died," he said. "They've been prevented from passing on and they inhabit a twilight world, neither of the physical plane nor the spiritual. They're traumatized and only capable of emoting their pain and anguish. I dared not tarry any longer. Something malevolent was drawn to my essence."

"The Sehan of that era hid those six people, and the hiding place must have been disguised somehow, or his people would surely have discovered it. I can't believe they would have accepted their Sehan disappearing without doing their utmost to find him." Naytan's tone leaked his inner frustration.

"You make a good point," Dayamar said. "I'm inclined to believe the Sehan expunged all memory of himself and his six charges from his people's minds. That's what I would have done. And remember, Sehani were more numerous in those days. Likely there was a trained successor ready to assume his role."

"What now?" Naytan asked.

"We call a public meeting of everyone—Dayamari and Usehani—to discover whether anyone has heard of this valley, or recognizes the images that Hope saw."

"But it'll take months to organize that. We haven't got time!"

"I'll contact the elders of each settlement. At sundown tonight, I'll have them gather together everyone in and around each settlement's meeting hall. A simple linking of minds will accomplish the rest."

"Won't that take an awful lot of energy?" Hope asked. "And how will you transmit what I saw to everyone?"

"That'll be your task, Daughter. You will implant the images in everyone's mind and I'll lurk and See whether anyone recognizes them."

"Wonderful," she said tartly. "I'm sure I'll figure out how to do that in no time at all."

Blayne squeezed her hand.

"You already have the ability," Dayamar said. "Simply recreate the image in your mind and then join the mind-link. As long as you open your mind, everyone will be able to access what you See."

"Surely no one now living will have seen this place?" Naytan said. "Those six people were interred centuries ago."

"Everyone has a repository of past memories," Dayamar told him. "Memories that have been passed down through generations by their ancestors. I'm hoping the images Hope transmits will trigger some sort of recognition—even the tiniest bit. I'll identify those people and investigate further."

"Ah."

Hope guessed Naytan was carefully filing this information away in his orderly mind. One of these days she must ask him to tell her everything he'd learned about Sehani. It'd be useful to have another perspective.

"Let's join our hosts," Dayamar said. "We shouldn't keep Nerraya waiting any longer."

"Of course, Sehan Dayamar."

As Naytan preceded them from the room, Blayne held Hope back. "When Dayamar could barely sense you I wanted to kill somebody. I don't like to think about what I would have done to Daryon and his men if you had died."

"I'm sorry, truly. But I'm a grown woman and—" She struggled to explain. "I felt stifled by the way everyone looks out for me. Since coming to Dayamaria, I've fallen into your arms and my every need has been provided for. I just needed some time away. From everything. And I chose to take Degan because he isn't so careful of me."

"You can have a place of your own if you'd prefer."

Gods. The pain in his voice. "No. It's not that. Aaaargh, I'm making a mess of this." She raked a hand through her hair and tugged on the ends. "The couple of weeks we traveled together when you first found me have been the only time we've had alone. Ever. I couldn't have you to myself so I opted for the next best thing, which was time for myself. Kind of. If you ignore the fact I dragged Degan along with me. Does that make any sense?"

His silence made her want to throw herself into his arms and beg forgiveness. "Yes, it does," he said finally. "I was hoping to whisk you off somewhere—just the two of us. But there always seemed to be some crisis looming that put my plans on hold. Maybe when this is all over?"

"Sounds wonderful." Hope hugged him, relieved he understood her needs. A pity she couldn't imagine this crisis ending any time soon.

~*~

Nerraya addressed the assemblage and pushed aside the gut-wrenching sense of loss that threatened to overwhelm her. So many faces missing.

"I am your co-leader. Any decisions regarding our welfare must go through me." Gods, that she should even have to remind them, that she should even have to justify herself. But her people were so desperate, they'd thrown themselves on Dayamar's mercy. If he told them to hang upside down from tree branches and howl like wolves they'd rush to oblige him. If he told them the sun shone out of his apprentice, they'd fall at her feet. That girl didn't deserve to be worshipped. No Sehan did. They weren't gods.

Nerraya thrust back her shoulders and tilted her jaw. "I'm not convinced this cave and these things threatening our spirit world aren't figments of an overactive imagination. The girl is embarrassed to admit she doesn't know what to do, and has concocted this tale to make herself seem important. I'll not have her wasting any more of our time."

She'd drawn a breath to continue hammering home her point when she realized her audience's attention had shifted. The back of her neck prickled. She pivoted on her heel to face the newcomers.

Naytan refused to look her in the eye. Panakeya Blayne glowered. They'd heard enough to know she believed the girl was a fake. Too bad. It needed to be said.

Her defiant gaze flit to Dayamar but his smooth countenance revealed nothing. Finally, she spared a glance for the object of her belittling speech.

The girl merely sighed.

Nerraya's lip curled. She wasn't even going to defend herself? Useless, weak-minded creature. A strong man like Panakeya Blayne deserved better.

But the young Sehan did have something to say after all. "Please Nerraya, don't force me to call on your gods to convince you. They won't be impressed with you wasting their time. And I don't believe you and Kunnandi would get on. He does like to take over—as Varon discovered. I will do it if you press me, though. Because unlike your own people, I don't have to put up with your prejudices."

Heat crawled up Nerraya's face. "How dare you speak to me like that!"

The girl's other-worldly golden eyes flashed. "How dare you, Nerraya. I haven't got time for this. Your people don't have time." Her gaze didn't waver from Nerraya's as she said, "Apparently I must convince this foolish woman of our danger, Dayamar. Else she'll be working against us the instant we turn our backs."

"Apparently so, Daughter."

Nerraya ripped her gaze from the girl. Daughter? Since when did Dayamar have a daughter?

"Later, Nerraya." Dayamar cut short the questions that had bubbled to her lips. "I suggest you resume your seat. Hope is somewhat... flamboyant when she demonstrates her abilities."

Nerraya would not to be told what to do, not even by a man who held the highest Dayamari rank. She was Usehani co-leader. Here, Dayamar was nothing. She remained standing.

"You don't have to do this, Hope."

Daryon's anxiety unsettled her and Nerraya chewed her lip. What was she missing?

"If necessary, I'll overrule Nerraya and disband our settlement," he said. "I'll move the Usehani back to the Primary Settlement. I'll do anything to help our people. Anything."

Nerraya's heart skipped a beat and settled like a lump of clay in her chest. "You wouldn't dare."

"Just watch me," he said. "I'm the founding leader of this settlement. And if I were you, Nerraya, I wouldn't put my loyalty to the test right now."

Blayne spoke into the tense silence. "You should be careful who you target, Nerraya. Hope is my Promised, and she's blood-related to all of us here save Taran and Lukas. But none of us take kindly to your insults."

A cold chill swept Nerraya's body. She darted her gaze about the room, pleading for support. But all she saw was desperation. The mass burning and her own too-public breakdown had taken their toll. They'd lost faith in her. She had to prove that she was capable of leading them or she'd lose everything she'd worked so hard to achieve.

"What are you going to believe?" she asked. "Childlike fantasies spun by a young, untried girl, desperate for attention? Or facts laid out by a proven, dedicated leader?"

"If it's proof you need, Nerraya, then proof you will have." The young Sehan raised her arms. Her eyes glowed incandescent as she created skeins of brilliant color and manipulated them with the power of her mind.

A harsh rasping, like a piece of coarse fabric being rent in two, made Nerraya's teeth throb and ache. To her astonishment, a man-sized horizontal fissure had appeared in the air. She locked her awed gasp in her throat.

The Dayamari backed up, leaving Nerraya standing by the young Sehan. Nerraya locked her knees, unwilling to concede an inch.

The girl gestured sharply, and the fissure ripped vertically, then horizontally, and finally diagonally, with each tattered remnant of... of... whatever substance it might be, folding back on itself and molding seamlessly around the fissure's perimeter until only a large circular gap remained.

Nerraya glanced about her, saw eyes and mouths rounded in wonder. She might feel the same, but damned if she would show it. She firmed her lips and fixed her attention on the conjuring again.

Now she beheld a slowly rotating globe of blue, white and deepest green, dotted with glowing multicolored sparks. She blinked. Comprehension burst in her brain. The girl had opened a window to another plane of existence.

"Do you understand what Hope is showing you?" Dayamar asked.

"The spirit world." Nerraya knew with ever fiber of her being it was true.

"Yes. And Hope achieved this opening to the incorporeal world with an ease I could not hope to emulate."

It took a few moments to absorb the import of his words and— Nerraya's jaw sagged. How could Dayamar so casually admit his young apprentice had surpassed him?

"Look closer, Nerraya," Hope invited, her voice strangely flat. And compelling. So compelling, Nerraya couldn't resist. Her limbs moved her jerkily forward. She drew on every ounce of her stubborn will, gnawing her lip so hard she drew blood, but the Sehani compulsion was impossible to deny. Step by painful step, Nerraya moved inexorably forward until she stood before the window Hope had opened.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Y-yes," Nerraya managed through clenched teeth.

"Do you know what those little twinkling lights are?"

"No."

"They're the pure energy of soul-lights, each representing the soul of a living being on this world. Yours is there, Nerraya." Hope gestured and one of the tiny lights seemed to separate from the mass and expand. "Look at its beautiful colors. Behold your soul, Nerraya."

Nerraya gazed deep into the rift, drawn to the beauty of her soul's light. It magnified until she could see every individual strand entwining it. Wonder softened her tightly controlled expression.

Hope gestured again and the panorama shrank, moving farther away until the entire world was again visible.

Nerraya smiled. It was so beautiful....

And then it shrank still more, until a foul black mass shrouded the beauty. Something evil had enveloped the world. Only the thin band of pure white light encompassing the sphere prevented it from being entirely smothered.

The mass expanded and contracted, fingerlike tendrils pushing, searching for weaknesses in the protective veil of light. It was... disgusting. Terrifying. Nerraya dug her fingernails into her palms and clenched her jaw to keep from vomiting. "Is— Is it real?" she managed to ask. "Do you show me the truth?"

"Yes, Nerraya. This evil is real. Do you understand what we face now? Do you believe me?"

"Yes!" She dashed tears from her cheeks with the back of her wrist. Wisa's wings, when had she started crying? She sank to her knees and covered her face with her hands in a vain attempt to shut out the truth.

"I was brought here to fight this." Hope's gentle voice cut through her soul-deep horror. "I want to help, Nerraya. Please let me try."

She could only nod. And allow Dayamar to assist her to her feet because her legs shook so badly she couldn't rise on her own. It cut deep that none of her own people had offered. Nerraya supposed she deserved their censure but it hurt all the same.

Hope raised her hands and brought them together slowly, painfully slowly. Little by little, she knit the rent between the two worlds together. The sweat beading her brow was the only outward indication of the inner strength it took to perform this task. When the rift was but a rippling slash in the air, she brought both hands together with a resounding clap and the rift sealed and vanished.

Nerraya gathered the shreds of her self-control. "How is this... this... infection of the spirit world killing our people?"

Hope stepped back, seeking refuge by Blayne's side and leaving the explanations to Dayamar. "We believe the six people mentioned in the ancient histories are still alive in some fashion," he said. "And that they are imprisoned in a cave in this 'Valley of Lights'. They have melded into a six-fold entity and we believe this entity is consuming the life-forces of our people. I don't yet understand how, or why, but I suspect the darkness threatening the spirit world is a manifestation of this entity. As it feeds and grows stronger, so the darkness spreads. It's imperative we discover the whereabouts of this valley and neutralize this being, or we will all suffer the fate of those poor souls you burned."

Nerraya swayed on her feet. Again, no one offered assistance. She stood alone, reaping the folly of her pride-fueled hatred for Dayamar and his kind. She'd almost rebuffed their offers of help. She'd almost sent them away, condemning every survivor in her settlement. She wanted to run away and hide, vomit up her guilt and fear. Pray to the gods for forgiveness.

She stayed on her feet. Her people needed her to be strong. She was their leader.

"Our best chance to locate this Valley of Lights is for me to winnow through everyone's past memories," Dayamar said. "And I mean everyone. No exceptions. I need you to gather your people here before last light this evening. I will contact the other settlement elders and instruct them to gather their people also." He seemed to be waiting for her to say something.

Nerraya bowed her head. "It shall be done, Sehan Dayamar."

"I will take my leave. There is much to organize."

"Of course, Sehan Dayamar."

When Daryon remained mute Nerraya almost sagged with relief. She'd half-expected him to call an immediate vote of no confidence in her. And although she deserved to be stripped of her status, it would have broken her heart.

"Do you need my help, Dayamar?" Hope asked.

"No, my dear. Rest while you have the chance."

The young Sehan turned to Nerraya. "I'm sorry," she said.

Nerraya blinked at her. "For what?" she blurted.

"For forcing you to share the burden of what I have Seen. It was unforgivable."

Nerraya swallowed and spoke the stark truth. "Frankly, Sehan Hope, I'm amazed you didn't shriek yourself hoarse and beg the gods to wipe what you've Seen from your mind. That's what I would have done. No, I'm the one who's sorry—for forcing you to relive the horror of it."

Daryon led them back to the guest quarters, a grouping of six small dwellings. Hope couldn't help feeling relieved to leave the stifling confines of the hall. At least Nerraya's startling turnabout boded well for future dealings with the Usehani leader.

She inhaled deeply through her nose. "Mmm, smell those herbs."

Earlier, Daryon had obliged her with a detailed description of the garden and the bench seating that been strategically placed around the perimeter. She appreciated his attention to detail. "Did you deliberately choose this spot because of the water here," she asked him, referring to the well that formed a centerpiece for the garden.

"Breanna, one of our original settlers, has a talent for water divination. With her advice, we designed the whole settlement around the wells."

"I would very much like to meet this woman, Daryon," Dayamar said. "Water divination is an interesting skill."

"Breanna lost her life-partner and son. Naytan is keeping her sedated."

Hope turned her face away so Daryon wouldn't see the tears stinging her eyes.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Blayne said. "If there's anything I can do—"

"There's nothing anyone can do for her. I'll leave you to settle in and return in a couple of hours for an update." The Usehani leader strode off, the pain and misery he tried so hard to keep hidden swirling through his aureya.

"I'll leave you all to your own devices," Dayamar said.

"Are you sure you don't need me?" Hope asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. Put your feet up. Rest." And with that admonishment he retired to his quarters.

"She looks a bit peaky, Blayne," Taran said, his voice gruff. "You need to make sure she rests."

"Taran's right," Maya chimed in. "You should be putting your feet up."

"I agree," Varaya said. "Make her go have a nap."

"Will you all quit fussing? I'm not an invalid."

Apparently Blayne didn't agree. He scooped her into his arms and, ignoring her protests, retired to their quarters. Inside, he dumped her on the sleeping platform and bent her to his will by the simple expedient of giving her a foot massage. It was impossible to stay cross when you were groaning with pleasure.

"Ooh, that feels wonderful."

"Good." He set her foot aside. "Rest. I'll get you a hot drink and something to eat. Uh uh—no arguments."

She snapped her mouth shut.

"Good call." He lifted a tangled lock of hair. "You're a sight, you know."

"I didn't exactly have time to pack a bag."

"Don't remind me," he growled. "But I knew I'd find you, so I packed spare clothes." Pause. "And a comb."

Thank the gods. If she had to spend one more day in these clothes she'd scream. Oh, she knew she could have asked Naytan or Daryon for a change of clothing, but they had enough to worry about already. And with all that had happened, worrying about creature comforts seemed selfish.

"Have I told you I love you?" she said.

"Not lately."

"Well, I do." Without him she'd felt lost, like a piece of her soul was missing. She needed to be close to him now, to feel alive and loved and whole.

She fluttered her eyelashes at him flirtatiously.

"You're supposed to be resting," he said.

"I'm in bed aren't I?"

"Point taken."

The mattress dipped as he crawled toward her.

~*~

Copyright 2013 Maree Anderson

www.mareeanderson.com