Darkness Risen (The Ava'Lonan Herstories Book 4) (11 page)

“So then,” she resumed, sitting up straighter, “I
got a little hysterical for a gran or two. Then the thought that I might have
killed him brought my senses back to me. My right hand and leg were trapped -
so I unbuckled the harness one-handed and managed to drag the other free once
it was slack. Then I had to take control of his body and make it shift til I could
free my leg. Then I took some of the trauma and attempted to heal him, but it
was eve and I’d given most of my strength to him for running. So I did as much
repair as I could and then tied my av’rita to him to keep him alive even as his
blood ran out to nourish the forest, and prayed that there was enough life in
me to keep him from dying without killing me. Then I prayed for a miracle.

“It was answered in the form of the Cribeau.
Entering their lons had saved us from the warru, and they themselves healed
him, sacrificing one of their own to do so. I chose to invoke the Right of Ssk’en’ato
to the Cribeau. We stayed and rested through the next turn’s light and in the
eve set out for the estern-most edge of the Cribeau’lons. Then Rilantu,” she
looked at him, “found me. He heard you coming and ran away. When you were taking
me to the av’tun I heard him scream - I thought one of the others had seriously
wounded him. And I - I lost control.” The admission was hard, shameful. She
stared at her hands for a moment, collecting herself, making sure of her
defenses.

“After that is a kind of a blur. I ask that the
others fill in the details at the time of my incoherence. The rest is perhaps
Otaga’s or Ril’s and Stav’s to tell.” She spread her hands to show she was
finished, and looked around for questions.

Luyon glanced at Audola. She nodded. “You say you
connected with this creature,” he spoke up. Jeliya held in the impulse to
flinch and object to the term, nodding calmly.

“Are you sure he did not - violate you in some way,
to make your link with him so strong? There seem to be several confused points
in your memory. Could he have put some type of wanga on you?”

“Av’lati, I am sure of nothing. But nothing in my
chi cries out to violation or forced entry. At first I was repulsed by the
connection because I thought he
had
violated me. But - I cannot say. I
do not personally believe that he did any such thing, but I truly cannot say.”

“This being - he is four hundred cycles? How is that
possible?” Jarisa asked next. “Only the Av’rujo is known to live for so long.
Are you sure
he
is not the root of the Zehj’Ba, and what you saw in his
mind was not something to throw suspicion off himself?”

“I am reasonably sure,” Jeliya replied. “I was deep
in his mind when he was injured. He did not have any reserves whatsoever to
heal himself. Or before. The reason for his long lifespan is unknown to me. He
might have the ability to hide such a connection, but when I merged with the Av’ru
at one point in our journey to locate the search egwae to give us a direction
to travel, I saw no connection leading to him. It is true that we cannot see
the link to the Zehj’Ba either, but I suspect it is because of its location and
the nature of the Zehj’Ba.”

“Where is he from?” Pentuk asked, her voice not
recovered from the tears she had shed.

Jeliya smiled. “I think he is from beyond the Av’ru.
His memories still start at being found at the Av’ru.”

“About your going into lor’den,” Dariaku cut in,
“why didn’t he feed the light of Av to you like any other healer would?”

Jeliya sighed. “I don’t think he knows about that.
He never once mentioned performing the Rite of Solu. I don’t think he needs
to.”

“No, not when stealing the life from the Av’rujo is
so much easier,” Sinyi spat.

Jeliya turned a calm face to the Voice. “Is it? I’ve
tasted his ‘rita, Sinyi, when he healed my eyes completely, and it did not
taste of the Av’ru. It didn’t even seem to be av’rita at all. I believe it was
one of the masculine ‘ritas, but stronger than the likes of which I have
encountered before.”

“No offense, High Heir, but this is a strange, dangerous
creature that has been around longer than any of us, probably from the Lora’Lons,
by your own admission. He may possess abilities that
none
of us has ever
heard about, including, if he is so strong in the male ‘ritas, mutating plants
into deadlier strains that the unsuspecting might get trapped in, or
transmuting av’rita into some unrecognizable form! And it would be a sweet
revenge on those who had made him suffer!”

Jeliya bit her tongue to keep from refuting the
impeccable logic of the Voice. She could not tell them, except under truth rite
or truth oath, that she had touched just about every level of his mind and
being and she had found no such thing.

Have you, though?
A miniscule part of her asked.
‘Just
about.’ Even
you
don’t know that for sure. You love him, yes, but if he
is so old and so powerful, might he not have the abilities that Sinyi accuses
him of having, things that he can hide?
The thoughts were uncomfortable.

“What you say may be truth,” she replied carefully.
“I have no evidence to support or deny it.” Then a thought occurred to her and
her head came up. “But any of ill-intent cannot set foot in the Cribeau’lons.
They not only healed him, they revered him for saving one of their ancestors.
Would they not have killed him if he were guilty of these things?”

“You seem to be his advocate,” Thiam casually
mentioned. “Can it be that you are a bit taken with this - being?”

She looked him straight in the eye. “I admit that I
am. What Jur’Av’chi’n is not? I tried to break the bond between him and me, and
failed. And soon after it was too late. He saved me. He took care of me and
asked nothing in return. And even when he found out that I meant to trap him
and question him, he did not turn me out. He could have abandoned me to the
warru that sought our lives, but he ran to the end of his strength to deliver
me into my brother’s arms. And I know, Sinyi, that they sought our lives
because Mother sent Stav and Ril to fetch me - she did not make a general
announcement asking for aid. It is my belief that the ones behind the plantings
- the Moyi - and whomever they are in collusion with
knew
of my injury
and sent warru out to take me captive. And I’d wager that these same ones are
the ones responsible for the deaths of the scouts and these same ones planned
the challenge in my absence.”

“Or,” Sinyi said, “
he
could be responsible
for the plantings, and led you to an area rife with them, hoping you would make
a mistake like you did, and he
could
have made the creatures that killed
the scouts, and when friendly forces tried to rescue you from this being, he
ran from them for fear of
his
own life, taking you with him, and knowing
that your brothers were coming, ‘delivered’ you to them and in essence ‘saving’
you from warru after him. And the Cribeau - well, he may be allied to that
particular Tribe, and so was able to enter their lons. Not all are as zealous
about their obedience to the mandate of the Goddesses as is said. And this ‘connection’
could simply be his way of controlling you by some nefarious means!”

There was silence again. Jeliya sat dumbstruck by
this new perspective. She could think of nothing to say to refute the Voice’s
devastating argument. But she simply could not believe it.

“Or,” Dariaku said, “there could be more than one
hostile faction, in addition to all we know, responsible for the nih’macha or
the plants. We should not make accusations against the Lor’av’ona until we have
more information. He
is
under suspicion, but may not be responsible for
everything.”

Jeliya glanced gratefully at the fifth Voice. She
had not expected to be interrogated in this way, and acting as her Jur’Av’chi’n’s
advocate was a very touchy position in which to be. She just hoped no one asked
about her consenting to have the link severed.

A silence reigned for a few heartbeats, and then
Audola drew a breath. “We will get to the heart of this matter,” she said,
“after the beginning of the De’en’nu’a. Now we must concentrate on the
answering of the challenge made upon you,” she looked at Jeliya. “Have you been
fully apprised of the situation?”

“For the most part, Mother,” she replied, hiding her
relief from being under the spear point.

“Then hear the rest.” And Audola told all in the
returned egwae about the suspected plot to use Turo’dan to destroy the present
order of the Realm, and the possible connections between the Queens involved.
“The Av’rujo has contemplated on the intentions of these Queens that are under
suspicion, but there are clouds of uncertainty that obscure their designs.”

“Though we do have several allies from their ranks,”
Ashmisa put in, trying to insert some good into all the bad news that had been
exchanged. She passed a list to Jeliya to review and gave duplicates to the
other recently absentees. Jeliya scanned the list then stopped halfway down, closed
her eyes and lowered the scroll, her face pinched in concentration and
agitation. Then her eyes popped open and she was the center of attention again.

“Otaga, please pass me that list of Tribe names I
gave to you,” she said, and some of her urgency slipped into her voice. Otaga
complied without question, though they sat heavy in her expression. Jeliya
compared the two lists, glancing from one to the other rapidly. She lowered
both, stared at the wall, bringing forth those vivid/blurred memories of running
endlessly, catching snatches of colors, combinations of colors, distinct Tribe
colors...

“Jeliya, what is it?” Audola finally asked, when her
eyes had strayed to the lists again. Wordlessly Jeliya held her hand out for
the stylus that Ashmisa always kept about her and began making marks on both
pieces of papi’ras. When she was done, she passed both to Audola. The High
Queen looked them over, looked at Jeliya, then passed them to Luyon. They
progressed around the circle that way, without a spoken word, until they
reached Otaga. The Warru First compared them, the list of Queens who had come
to the High Queen with concerns about the happenings at the Bolorn and possible
avenues of action, and the list of warru in Tribe colors that had pursued
Jeliya and her savior through the unclaimed lons. Roughly a third of the names
of Tribe colors and Queens on both lists matched.

“If this is correct,” she said slowly, her voice low
and just a bit harsh, “what does it mean?”

Everyone glanced around. Then Jeliya put her hand
forward. “When I first saw that the warru who pursued us were wearing Tribe
colors, I also wondered why. Why would they send warru after him and me in
Tribe colors instead of nondescript clothing? I can think of a few reasons -”

“Tell us,” Luyon urged.

“One reason may have been that they
were
there to rescue me - but not once did they try to communicate or negotiate with
us. All they did was chase us. Another reason may have been that they did not
expect us to get out of the unclaimed lons alive, and therefore saw no need to
hide their identities. But I think the third reason that comes to mind is the
most likely. I think that they wore colors to implicate certain Tribes as
traitors, to make us doubt who our allies and enemies are.” She looked significantly
at the lists. “I think that they have succeeded.”

Audola closed the scrolls. “We will deal with this
later. The most immediate thing that we must focus on now is the De’en’nu’a. We
have three turns in which to prepare the High Heir for her part in the
ceremonies. We will stop here, for now, and let Jeliya get some rest. After her
instructors have been to see her, we will come again, tomorrow’s eve.” They all
drank a parting sip of gulu at that and poured one more libation to the
ancestors, all bowed to Audola, and the lorn came to a close. Otaga helped
Jeliya stand and as the others formed small groups to talk, Audola came to her
and took her into another tight embrace.

“There are things that we must discuss, just you and
I,” Audola said quietly, and Jeliya felt a shiver of apprehension. The others
politely left the room in unspoken understanding - they knew that mother and
daughter would want to talk privately for a while.

When just the two of them remained, Audola wove a
shield of privacy so tight that not even the walls of the room were visible
anymore. She helped Jeliya to sit, frowning inside at the weakness and frailty
in her daughter from her ordeals.

She has been through so much!
she thought.
Can
she hold up under what is to follow?

But she smiled on the surface as they sat facing.

“Mother, I am truly sorry,” Jeliya said again,
holding tight to her hands.

“I know,” Audola gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t
worry, it’s part of a mother’s job to go through these things. I think you are
much the wiser for what happened, and you are alive to tell about it. I think
that those two facts speak for themselves.”

“But the challenge! And this conspiracy! And the
Sign of Turo’dan - mother, it all seems to be falling apart! Why would the
Goddesses let that happen?” Jeliya shook her head.

Audola looked at her speculatively, considering the
best way to introduce what she had to say. She decided to be direct. “There are
some things that you must know about Turo’dan and the nature and origin of the
Av’ru, and the Tru’Av’ru, Jeliya.” She had her daughter’s full attention. “This
won’t be easy for you to hear or accept. But it is at the root of all that is
happening around us. The information that I am about to give you will determine
the course of our world after the Turo’dan.” She took a breath and seemed to
grow very calm. Jeliya sat up straighter, composing herself.