The Eighth Warden Ch. 009-010

Chapter 9

Two years earlier...

"I don't know why you don't go to Presentation ceremonies," Renny said. "You've got the body for it, and you've taken all the same classes as the concubines, except for the secret ones."

Treya laughed at her roommate. "They're not exactly a secret since you immediately come back and tell me all about them."

"I can't help it. It's all so...fascinating. I can't wait to be chosen!" Renny had begun concubine training four years earlier, but she hadn't actually been a resident of the orphanage before that. She was the daughter of a fisherman, but she'd wanted to become something more than the wife of a fisherman. Her parents had allowed it, hoping to give her a better future.

Back when Treya was still at the Four Roads chapter house, they'd only accepted orphan girls, but the much larger house in Tyrsall sometimes made exceptions. That happened more often with the Order of Scholars, but Renny was pretty enough that the Order of Concubines had allowed her to join.

"I only took the other classes because Mother Ola insisted I have something to fall back on in case training as a mystic doesn't work out," Treya said. "Aren't you scared of being matched up with some ugly old man?"

"We have right of refusal."

"Only to a limited extent. I was in all the same lectures as you, remember? Not all the men who can afford concubines are young and attractive. You saw who picked Kirla last month. He was twenty years her senior!"

"You mean the duke's seneschal?" Renny asked. "Yes, I'm sure Kirla is just devastated that she has to live in the palace now. Besides, maybe there'll be a bidding war for me, and then I can choose whoever I like best!"

Treya shook her head ruefully. She simply didn't understand the mindset of the concubine trainees, but she and Renny had had the same argument a dozen times and neither had ever managed to change the other's opinion.

"Well, I'll wish for the best for you," Treya said. "Do you know when the next Presentation will be?"

"No, but one could happen at any time. You know, if you joined the concubines, you could wear dresses instead of...that."

Treya laughed again. The mystic trainees—there were only three of them—wore plain, loose-fitting tunics and pants. "I like wearing this, and besides, I'm four years into my studies. I'm not going to switch now."

"Oh, fah, you're no fun! And here I was, all set to help you sew a Presentation dress."

"Sorry. Maybe next time. I'd better get down to the practice yard. Sister Shana has returned to the city, so we'll probably go late today."

"Does that mean you're going to come back all sweaty again tonight?" Renny asked.

"Oh, relax. I'll get a bath first."

The two girls split up to go their separate ways, and Treya left the building through the back door to look for her teachers. She found them waiting for her, but the other trainees were missing.

"Where is everyone?" Treya asked, without honorifics. She no longer felt the need to stand on ceremony around these two Sisters. Kelis had been her teacher for the past four years. Shana was a journeying troubleshooter who roamed between chapter houses, but Treya had known her for even longer.

"As of this morning, Enna has graduated," Kelis said. "She's out shopping, trying to figure out what she needs to bring on her journeying."

"You're not going to make her live off the land?"

Kelis grinned. "Enna's a city girl, and it'll be winter soon. We'll build up to that gradually. As for Nina—"

"Nina's too young," Shana put in. "We're going to do some full-on sparring today, and I don't want her to get too excited and hurt herself."

Treya nodded, then knelt down to remove the soft boots she wore laced up to her knees. Soon she was barefoot like the two sisters.

Once she was ready, she moved into position, facing Kelis. When Shana gave the signal, Kelis feinted toward Treya's head. Treya ducked down, sweeping her left leg around to kick toward Kelis's knee. Kelis sidestepped the kick, then they rushed toward each other, striking in a blur of motion, dodging and blocking each other's attacks.

After a few minutes of that, Shana shouted, "Stop!"

They paused, breathing heavily.

"Good, both of you," Shana said.

Treya smiled at the praise, and noticed her teacher doing the same. Kelis and Shana were the same age, but there were stories told about Shana's exploits throughout the Three Orders.

"But, Kelis, you're not going full out," Shana continued. "I know Treya's your student, but she's good enough that she won't be hurt too badly if you hit her. Better to learn now than when she's facing a group of armed men."

Treya's smile slipped. She hadn't realized Kelis was holding back.

Kelis nodded and Treya faced her once more, indicating when she was ready. Shana gave the signal and they began again. This time, Treya had little opportunity to attack, spending all of her time trying not to get hit. Finally, Shana let them stop again.

"Treya, have you been doing your meditation exercises?" Shana asked.

Treya bit her lip. Shana was the last person she wanted to lie to. "Sometimes."

"You're thinking too much—there are too many things going on inside your head. You need to learn to let go of all your distractions. For the next few weeks, try meditating after you come out to the practice yard, but before you start sparring. But only do it for a few weeks—don't make it a habit. A large fellow with a sword isn't likely to let you sit down and clear your mind before he fights you."

Treya nodded. She knew she had trouble letting go of the world around her.

"Shall we have a go?" Shana asked, turning to Kelis.

"I think I pulled something," Kelis said, reaching over her shoulder.

"Let me see." Shana carefully touched Kelis's back through her tunic. "A muscle spasm. You should have someone massage it out. Treya, come here and feel the knot, so you know what to look for."

Treya let Shana guide her hands along Kelis's shoulder blade to find the problem.

It felt...odd, as if there was a wrongness to the muscle, something that needed to be set right.

"Treya?" Shana said. "You can let go now."

There was a roar in Treya's ears—though nobody else seemed to hear it—and then her hands glowed with a pale white light. She stepped back in shock as the light faded.

"Hey, that's great," Kelis said, rotating her shoulder before turning to face them. "Whatever you did took care of it."

"What did you do?" Shana asked.

"I...don't know. Why were my hands glowing?"

"You healed her," Shana said. "Treya, have you sworn vows to The Lady?"

"Vows? No. Why?"

"To Allosur? Arodisis? Any of the gods?"

The Three Orders were most closely associated with three of the gods—Allosur for the scholars, Arodisis for the concubines, and The Lady watched over them all. The mystics didn't follow any of the three in particular.

"No! Never. I'm not even religious."

"Well, vows or no, one of them has chosen you as a priestess. That was divine magic; I've seen it before."

Treya had no idea how to respond to that. She wasn't a priestess, and had never thought about becoming one. "That doesn't make any sense. I've never even been to one of the temples, just the little shrines we have here for our three."

"Well, I suppose some higher power could be working through you, instead...but to heal a muscle spasm? That seems unlikely."

Kelis stared at them both, concerned. "If she's a priestess, do we need to send her to a temple? What are we supposed to do?"

"We don't even know which temple," Shana said. "If some god has chosen her as a priestess, he or she doesn't seem too concerned about following convention, so I think you should just continue training her as you have been. But we should experiment. Healing isn't the only type of divine magic."

#

Shavala laughed as Lele took the pine nut she'd given him and buried it in the ground.

"You're not going to find it here, silly," she said. "We're four days away from the outpost."

He ignored her as he finished covering it back up. Then he came back and waited, staring at her expectantly, so she pulled another of the nuts from the pocket of the human-style coat she wore against the autumn chill. This time, Lele cracked the nut open and ate it.

Meritia returned from her exploration, holding a cloth wrap full of mushrooms. "I think this is a good spot for tonight. There's no sign of hunters and plenty of plants and herbs to harvest. There aren't any streams nearby, though." The other woman was never bothered by the cold, and wore only her thin tunic and leggings.

They were traveling outside the border zone, so visitors were allowed in to hunt or forage, but Meritia had been trying to avoid any outsiders. She'd said that she wanted Shavala to focus on her training and the harvest, without any distractions. They'd made a dozen trips like this as the weather grew colder, and this was to be the last one.

"When will we be returning?" Shavala asked.

"Tomorrow...but if you wish, it's a straight line to Terrillia from here. It would be faster to head to the city directly than to return to the camp first."

"Must I return? My studies are going so well."

"And they will continue going well whether you are here or there. Surely you wish to visit your family?"

Shavala's parents had asked her to come home for the winter since she hadn't returned since spring, and that had only been a brief stop.

"I suppose."

In truth, her parents—her father a painter and her mother a weaver—were still disappointed that she hadn't followed in their footsteps. The elder magic hadn't given her much of a choice in the matter, but they didn't see it that way, so the visits were always uncomfortable. It would be nice to see her older brother and his wife, though, and meet their new baby.

"In any case," Meritia said, "you certainly know enough to practice on your own, and there are other druids in the city. It may be useful for you to seek out a different perspective."

"But what about Lele?"

"Now you're just making excuses. Lele will come back to the camp with me. He can amuse himself just fine on his own."

Shavala nodded, accepting the inevitable. Plus, it might be interesting to speak to some of the other druids. She'd chosen Meritia as her teacher simply because the woman lived outside the city, but each of the druids had their own skills. The last time she'd been home, old Arvillin had promised to teach her how to work with fire.

"All right, I'll leave tomorrow morning, then. If there are no streams nearby, would you like me to call up water?"

"Yes," Meritia said, "but I want to do something different this time. Come sit with me."

Meritia sat cross-legged on the ground and Shavala joined her, folding the bottom of her long coat under her.

"What would you like me to do differently?" Shavala asked.

"You're very good at calling water from underground streams, and there are plenty around here," Meritia said. "However, that isn't always the case. When you need to, you can call water from the soil itself."

"How?" Shavala said. There was moisture in the ground, certainly, but how could she call water when there was just damp soil?

"It takes longer, and you must concentrate harder, but the process is exactly the same. Go ahead and try. You'll need to reach farther, and in more places."

Shavala dug a little hole in the ground before her, then closed her eyes and reached out with her elder senses. There was an underground stream not far away, but she knew Meritia would be able to tell if she used it. Instead, she tried pulling the moisture from the earth below the hole she'd dug, but nothing happened.

"Separate it first," Meritia said. "As if you were purifying the water. It can't move if it's still attached to the soil."

Shavala tried adding the extra step. This time, she was able to call a small trickle from the earth around her. It seeped back into the ground immediately, but now it was closer so she'd be able to reach it more easily.

Meritia spoke again. "It's more efficient to start at a distance, and finish closer. That way you're not trying to pull water through soil that's already dry."

Shavala extended her senses farther away and continued her task. After twenty minutes, she was sweating and breathing heavily, but the hole she'd dug was half full of water, and the ground below it was wet enough that it didn't immediately seep out.

"Good," Meritia said. "Now put it all back where you got it from."

Shavala looked at her in disbelief.

"The plants and creatures in the earth need that moisture," Meritia said, "so you should only call the water this way when you have no other choice. Now that you know how to do it, we'll use the underground stream instead."

"Yes, Meritia." Shavala took a deep breath and returned to her task. She found it easier to replenish the water in the soil by using the stream, rather than returning the little bit she'd managed to pull. Once that was done, she called more from the stream, enough to completely fill the little hole she'd dug. It would gradually drain back into the soil, but now that she'd made the connection, she could renew it easily whenever they needed.

"That wasn't bad for your first attempt. But tell me, what would you do in a dry and barren land with no water in the soil at all?"

"Are there places like that?"

"Not many, but some. Certain deserts."

"I don't know what I'd do," Shavala admitted. She'd never been outside the forest.

"There's always moisture in the air," Meritia said. "No matter how dry it seems."

"The air? But how? It's always moving. How can you pull on it? How can you pull something out of it?"

"A complicated lesson, and one for another day, I think."

Shavala nodded.

"Don't worry about being away for a few months," Meritia said. "You're coming along quickly. You'll be ready for your travels soon—a few years, maybe less."

Shavala grinned to herself. When Meritia deemed her worthy, it would be time for her to leave the forest and go out into the world. The thought was scary but exciting at the same time. She'd be able to see humans and stoneborn outside of the caravans and hunting parties they sent into the forest. Perhaps she'd see some of the more exotic races, too—the seaborn, or demonborn, or one of the others. And she'd get to visit the massive human cities she'd heard about from others who'd left the forest.

"Oh," Meritia said, "but before the time comes, remind me to teach you about human money."

###

Chapter 10

Present day...

Corec and his companions followed the slow caravan as it made its way along the path to the border camp, surrounded by the giant elf trees. They'd reached the forest—the real forest—five days earlier, and Lors had given everyone the standard speech before they entered. They were allowed to hunt rabbits and bucks—male deer—but no more than three deer for the entire caravan. If they captured or killed any wild boars, the elves would pay them a bounty. They were not permitted to use snares or traps that might capture something other than the intended prey, so Corec had stowed his rabbit snares away. And while they could collect wood that had fallen, they weren't allowed to cut down any of the trees without permission.

The trip through the forest had been peaceful so far, with no sign of anyone else. Corec had spent a few hours each day riding ahead with Melos and another guard he knew slightly, but most of the time, he stayed back with Katrin and Bobo. Sometimes, Bobo would be off somewhere, or run out of things to talk about, and Corec could have a quiet conversation with Katrin. While they hadn't spoken of anything important, he thought she was less wary of him than she had been.

During the midday break, he'd gone up to the head of the column to talk with Lors, who'd mentioned that they would reach the outpost the next day. It was late afternoon, so Corec figured they'd be stopping soon.

There was a commotion ahead, rippling down the line, and the procession came to a halt earlier than he'd expected. He stepped away from the trail to see around the wagons, and realized the cause—they'd come across an elven scouting party, and had stopped to greet them.

Corec decided to try speaking to one of the elves, so he asked Bobo to watch the animals, then he and Katrin walked forward past the wagons. Lors was talking to the man who appeared to be the leader of the party, but there were several other scouts milling around.

Corec approached the nearest. "Do you speak trade tongue?"

"Little," the man said, holding his hands a few inches apart.

"We hope to talk to someone about magic. Is there anyone like that in the camp?"

"Magic?" the man asked, then said a few words that Corec didn't understand. When he didn't respond, the man said, "Shavala speaks. I find."

The scout walked away, obviously looking for someone, and a few minutes later, Corec saw a very short elf girl walking toward him.

Elves, on average, were shorter and more slender than humans, and this one was no exception. With her thin moccasins, she was less than five feet tall. She wore her hair short and loose, with the points of her ears sticking out. Like many of the wood elves, her hair was mottled with different colors of brown, appearing almost like tree bark, and she had the tan skin with a faint tinge of green that was common to her people. She wore a tight-fitting tunic and leggings, and Corec had to jerk his eyes away when he realized he was staring at the way the thin cloth draped against her chest. She carried an unstrung bow in one hand and wore a quiver on her back.

"I am Shavala," the girl said.

Corec introduced himself.

She looked at him curiously. "Kivris said you have a question about magic?"

He drew Katrin to his side. "We do. We were hoping there was someone we could ask about this rune." He didn't have to point it out, since the girl's eyes were immediately drawn to the glowing blue mark. "I have one just like it on my arm."

She stared at Katrin's forehead for a moment. "I have not studied such a thing, but you can speak with Meritia. She's at the camp. We'll be there tomorrow."

"Thank you."

#

The next morning, after a few more hours of travel, the caravan reached the outpost.

Corec had always found the border camp to be odd. While there were tales of marvelous elven cities, the outpost resembled a cross between a human village and a long-term hunting camp. The elves in the camp—there were usually between twenty and fifty at any given time—lived in plain but sturdy huts, and went about their lives in ways that wouldn't have seemed unusual to the inhabitants of any of the villages along the West Road. Corec knew that in addition to marking the border beyond which outsiders weren't allowed, the camps were also used for training scouts, but even knowing those mundane reasons for its existence, the whole place seemed...unremarkable. Anyone coming to the forest in the hopes of seeing wondrous sights and elven magic would be sorely disappointed. But Corec had seen magic here once—subtle though it was—so hopefully someone could help them.

He and Katrin followed Shavala to a hut on the far side of the camp. A woman stood outside, dressed much like Shavala in a tunic and leggings. The two spoke in a rapid burst of elven.

The woman, presumably Meritia, looked them over and said, "Come in and we'll talk."

Inside the hut, Corec passed her the bag he'd purchased from the trader. "Thank you for being willing to speak to us. Please accept these hot peppers as a token of our appreciation." He'd fallen back on the mannerisms and words he'd been taught growing up, and hoped there wasn't some sort of elven tradition he was supposed to use instead.