Doira'Liim (The Beautiful Whisper of the Goddess Saga) (2 page)

    The Arnira were described as being deceivingly beautiful and cunning. Once caught in the snare of their gaze, all individual thought left a person and they were doomed to become thralls to the Arnira's pagan goddess, Aitla.

    Talliea had always found such tales of old to be awash with danger and mystery and intrigue. A whole society of women, ruled by women, with a female god? The women of the Arnira were fighters, proficient with a number of weapons.

    Or, so the old tales went. She had never believed the stories to be anything other than myths and fables. Until now. Had she actually come across such a creature? She had stared into the Arniran's spectacular eyes and still held sway over her own thoughts. She was no slave to any pagan deity.

    Yet, she could not keep her thoughts from falling on the woman from the clearing. Before the
Lat'sa'val
had come near to their position, Talliea was certain that the woman had been trying to communicate with her. Had the Arniran been attempting to give her name?

    Talliea could not remember the first word the woman had spoken. It had been too foreign for her ears to recall. The second word, Ahmanae, stayed within her mind. She knew the word. It was an Esulan word. Though it had sounded slightly different coming from the Arniran's lips with her strange accent, Talliea had picked it up and understood what it meant.

    What she couldn't get to settle in her thoughts was how an Arniran, if that was truly what the woman was, knew an Esulan word.

Ahmanae.

Beautiful whisper.

Talliea found the name fitting.

                                                                      *  *  *  *  *  *

    "You have returned," Talyn said in a clear tone of voice. Arizira lowered her eyes and dipped her head in deference of the older woman.
"Nai'iris,"
she said in way of greeting.

    Several pairs of eyes from around the inside of the hollowed out tree fell upon her and a heavy silence hushed even the shy whisperings of the wind. The structure Arizira stood in was the base of a once massive
Rae'kir
tree. The giant tree stood some two hundred feet high and had been hollowed out over the course of many years to become the home of Arizira's people. Several smaller trees lined the area around
Rae'kir
and housed different groups of the Arniran tribe.

    The
Rae'kir
tree was the most sacred of the Arnira and so was reserved for the
Nai'iris.
Special ceremonies and rituals, as well as important talks and negotiations with neighboring tribes, all took place inside the
Rae'kir
tree. Its red coloring was the focal point of the entire village.

    After Arizira had left the Esu woman, it had taken her a day and a half to return to her people. Her tribe was located at the northern-most stretch of forest and nestled beneath the shadow of a vast and imposing mountain.

    "What words have you on the strangers along our borders?" Talyn asked, her voice resonating within the
Rae'kir.

    Arizira, kneeling before her Elder, looked around at the faces of the other women present. Each face belonged to a member of the ruling Elders of the tribe. Taking a breath, Arizira braced herself for the outcry she knew would follow her declaration. "The strangers are day walkers,
Nai'iris,"
she said evenly.

Collective gasps sounded around the base of
Rae'kir
. "Day walkers?" Talyn questioned.

"Yes, the Esu walk among us, I am sure of it."

    A scoff met her statement. Arizira cut her eyes to her right and found the source of the noise. An older woman was seated against the wall of
Rae'kir's
base. An ornately decorated staff rested between her wrinkled palms and several finely crafted beads hung around her neck. Her hair was snow white, but that was no indication of her age. Apart from Arizira, all of the Arnira had silver or white hair with green or purple eyes.

    The woman with the staff, dark green eyes boring into Arizira, shook her head. "Esu, say you? What proof is carried on your shoulders that would convince us gathered here that fabled creatures of myth now walk along the edges of our forest? You are young, Child of Whispers, and cannot possibly possess any information on the Esu. I dare say that there are none gathered here now that can recall the dark skins from the South, if truly they ever once existed."

    Murmurs of approval sprang about around Arizira. Talyn raised a hand and silence quickly fell about the tree once again. "Ma'nolira speaks true, child. Our people have not encountered the Esu for many, many generations. Dreams they are now to us, nightmares of wars fought long ago. The Arnira alive today know not if any of the old tales are even true."

    Arizira felt her heart beginning to race. The words of her Elders were not without her consideration, but she knew that the strangers she had seen were Esu. How else could she explain their appearance?

    "
Nai'iris
," she started softly, "my eyes were not deceived by some trick of Co'ta." Co'ta was the spirit of the forest and was believed to be quite the jokester, often times appearing in the form of a fox. She and the Lady of the Wind, Salira, according to Arniran myth, were thought to be responsible for any type of mischief. "I saw the Esu in the valley along our borders. They are among us and they have been setting up camp. It is not hard, for even my own young eyes, to see that their skin was dark and their eyes without the light of Aitla. If not day walkers, then what are they, I beg to ask?"

    No one present had any words of wisdom to offer. The women around the tree turned toward one another and spoke in hushed voices. Talyn eyed Arizira closely but refrained from speaking her thoughts. After a moment, she raised her hand again to speak. "Your voice is strong and pure and tells me of your beliefs. I shall send out a group of our hunters on Aitla's next rising. They can confirm your tale. Meanwhile, I want you to mind your feet, Arizira. Do not wander where you should not be led."

    The Elders around the room stood and slowly began to depart. Arizira was unsure of Talyn's parting words. Why could she not join the hunters? She very much desired to see the dark skinned woman again. She was certain, given enough time,  she would be able to get the woman to understand her. Something about the tall and striking Esu refused to part from Arizira's mind.

   
First Salira and now even Co'ta herself has caught me in her trap of misfortune, she thought to herself before standing and leaving
Rae'kir
.

                                                        Chapter 3: Heated Discussions

    It had been nearly two days since Talliea's encounter with the stranger in the glade. When she'd returned to the settlement, the
Lat'sa'val
questioned her actions and then sentenced her to confinement. During that time, she had been unable to commune with the rest of her people or have any sort of visitors. A watch had been set for her and her every action observed.

     Sighing, she looked up at the starry nighttime sky and wondered if the Arniran’s goddess, Aitla, truly had ensnared her senses. The moon shone down upon her face and its light reminded her once again of the woman she’d seen in the forest. What was it about the mysterious stranger that held her so intrigued? Who was she? Where was she? Did she lead such a lonely existence as Talliea?

    “There you are. What madness took you to have you traipsing off into the night? Was it worth the solidarity?”

    Talliea turned and saw a shorter woman walking up to her with a look of fury crossing her features. She was too tired to endure another fight. Since being released of her punishment, she only wished to, ironically, be left alone. “I’ve said all I wish to say to you, Mother.” She turned away and headed toward a nearby campfire.

    The fire was strong, surrounded by a ring of heavy rocks, and gave off enough light to match that of the moon. Around her, the other clanswomen went about cooking and working cloth or watching their young. What a boring existence, Talliea thought.

    Her mother came up behind her. “Your will is strong, but it avails you nothing, Talliea. Your time for joining has long since come and gone. Why will you not take a mate and relieve me of the burden of shame your actions have cast upon me?”

    Talliea sat down near the fire and absentmindedly poked at the embers and kindling with a stick. The flame’s light lit up her face and warmed her from the night’s chill. Her mother’s arguments were nothing new to her. For three summers, she and her matron had held similar feuds over her refusal to join with a man of the clan. Always the arguments were the same and always Talliea was left feeling alone, indentured, and misunderstood.

    “Your clear skin is enough for everyone to know that you are without a man,” her mother continued. Turning, Talliea met the other woman’s eyes. “And why should I have need to join with a man, Mother? What little bit of freedom Esuval has given me will be lost, gone forever, once I have been marked! My free will is my own so long as I remain un-joined.”

    The women of the Esu had very few rights and privileges among the clan. Their primary duties were the rearing of the young, cooking for the clan, outfitting the other women, bead work, and of course ensuring that the men were satisfied. Strangely enough, the laws of the Esu allowed women some small measure of freedom before she joined with her life mate. So long as Talliea remained without a man, she was able to keep the tiny amount of freedom she so coveted. As soon as she was joined and her skin marked with her mate’s house markings, all the rest of her life would belong to him.

    She’d never be allowed to walk among the trees again or stare up at the nightly sky with wonder. Her nights would be spent engaged in an entirely different manner.

“You forget your place, daughter. Esuval does not look kindly upon your unwillingness to do as you must!”

“As I must? Who are you to interpret the will of Esuval?” Talliea’s mother looked livid. “Who are you to question it?” she countered

     Sighing heavily, Talliea turned back around to gaze into the flames dancing before her eyes. She could say no more to her mother. The older woman would never understand her feelings. “I’ve said all I wish to say, Mother. The moon is high. Should you not be asleep with you mate?”

    Her dismissal only infuriated the shorter woman. Turning quickly, she crossed the settlement in a hurry and disappeared inside a low hanging temporary lodging. Talliea let her eyes become unfocused as the flames jumped higher inside their ring of rocks. She felt that she could practically hear the fire’s complaint at being confined as it was.

She could sympathize.

Where are you, I wonder, Ahmanae? she thought to herself.

                                                                   *  *  *  *  *   *

    At Aital’s rising the following night, the hunters Talyn had called left the Arniran village and made for the borders of their forest. Their task was simple: observe the strangers' settlement and either confirm or deny Arizira’s claims. Arizira had requested to lead the party of hunters, but Talyn had refused and so she now waited like the rest of her sisters.  A day passed after the hunters had left. The other women around her went about their business without so much as a hitch in the night. Only she seemed to be on edge about the possible future the hunters' task portended.

    Around her, she watched her sisters and the village come alive as Aitla rose higher in the sky. Being nocturnal by nature, the Arnira mostly slept during the day and used the dark hours for their everyday tasks. A group of archers off to her left practiced their art with expert skill. To her right, she watched a group of young girls listen to the tales of the tribe’s Dream Speaker.

    Turning, her silvery-blue eyes began to glow as Aitla was momentarily shaded by cloud cover. A small gathering of women behind her sat around a small fire and wove beads through a thin piece of string. They laughed and talked amongst themselves as their adroit fingers worked, seemingly without their knowledge, on their individual pieces of jewelry.

“Your thoughts are a burden to you this night.”

    Arizira turned back around and smiled when she noticed the Dream Speaker from before staring up at her. The woman, even by Arniran standards, was old, older than even Talyn herself. Her purple eyes were nearly white and her hair was a silvery shade. Wrinkles crossed her face and a large sea-shell necklace hung around her neck. Several rings hugged the woman’s fingers and their polished shine caught the light of the moon.

“Cynra, Honored One,” Arizira said, dipping her head to show the proper level of respect due.

    Dream Speakers were rare among the Arnira. Aitla was said to speak to them during the day when they slept and, through Her, the Dream Speakers acquired vast amounts of knowledge on a wide variety of topics ranging from best harvest times, the conception of children, and prophecy.

Cynra was the one who schooled young Arniran children on the past.

On the Esu and their history.

    Arizira had spent many moon turns sitting by a fire listening to the ancient woman weave tales about the dark skins of ages past. The stories had always captured her imagination.“Your thoughts?” Cynra asked with a sly smile cracking her lips. Arizira smiled in kind and glanced up at the moon. “My thoughts are not a burden, Dream Speaker, yet I admit I am having difficulty in reigning them in tonight.”