Incarnation: Wandering Stars Volume One (8 page)

They continued to close in, tightening the circle, holding their spears either in a two-handed
grip
or above the shoulder, ready to throw.

Just a little closer.  There, that should work just fine.

Keeping his body in the
T
emporal
R
ealm, Sariel began to
s
hift
his consciousness toward
the
E
ternal
, just enough to escape the limitation of the
evening
darkness
.  From this new vantage point,
where the existence of all living beings could be seen
as
glowing orbs with
tendrils
stretching
toward
the
E
ternal, Sariel watched
a
simple melody expand from his lips and drift through
the air
, bursting into tiny points of light when it reached the
Chatsiyr
men
. 
Though i
naudible within the boundaries of
the
T
emporal
R
ealm
, he could
still
watch the results as he
s
hifted
his consciousness back
to where his body remained.

All of a sudden
, birds dropped from the evening sky, diving for the insects that their senses told them were there.

The Chatsiyr men flinched, as the small, winged creatures apparently swooped to attack them.  As the
men
moved closer to the pale stranger
who stood confidently upon the river
, the
birds’
movements became more aggressive.  Finally, the
y stopped and
began to back away
. 

S
ariel smiled to himself
as he watched them retreat
. 
Surely they would be awestruck by the power of someone able to command the creatures of the sky. 
He’d shown them mystical influence with restraint.  No one had been hurt.  With any luck, the Chatsiyr elder would hear the incredible story from his subjects, and would see this stranger not as a threat, but as a potential ally
.

One step closer to
Sheyir
.

The following morning,
Sariel
had more visitors.  He knew the previous night’s confrontation would have one of two outcomes.  Either the men of the village would return in greater numbers, hoping to overwhelm him by force, or they would come peaceably, bringing their elder to make
an alliance
with the powerful stranger.
 
Sariel hoped the lat
t
er was true
and that his demonstration w
as sufficient to
prevent
any further attempts at violence.
 
When he saw the small group
of
Chatsiyram
traveling
in the open, his hope increased.

They w
alk
ed
slowly
beside t
he stream,
understandably cautious
. 
The
youngest men
with smooth faces walk
ed
in front
.  They carried
k
hafar
s
in their clenched fists
.
 
O
lder males followed close
ly
behind,
with close-cropped
,
bearded
faces
that shifted continually, looking for additional signs of danger. 
When they were within speaking distance, the group
halted.  The young men in front parted
into
two groups.

The elder,
whose
beard fell well past his chest, moved forward from the back of the group.  His
hair and
beard w
ere
braided and adorned with long blades of grass that made
a swishing sound
as he moved.
  He was slightly shorter and thicker than the rest, but his movements were still agile.
 
Stepping to the
front of the small delegation
, the elder
stood with his arms relaxed at his sides.  He carried no weapon and remained silent
.  His eyes scanned
Sariel
from head to toe, but his face betrayed no emotion.

“Welcome,” Sariel greeted.  “I have food.  Will you join me for a meal?”

The elder
’s eyes narrowed slightly.

A
meal was a clear peace offering in their culture, but it was usually prepared by the women.  Sariel was alone
, and clearly not a female
.

“We will eat with you,” the elder replied after a
long
silence.

Sariel
nodded and turned, motioning for them to follow.  He led them
slowly
toward
his temporary dwelling where he had a small pile of fruit arranged on
the ground, atop
a bed of broad leaves
.  It represented
a few hours of morning gathering.

The
Chatsiyr
males
quickly gathered
in a circle around the food and
seated themselves on the ground.  Without any formalities, each young man reached forward and
took one piece.
  The man on the
elder’s
right side grabbed two and handed one to the tribe’s leader.

“You mean us no harm,” the elder said
, accepting the cone-shaped fruit.  Then, without taking his gaze from Sariel, he expertly peeled the firm, red skin to reveal the edible flesh inside.

Sariel couldn’t tell from the inflection whether this was a question or statement, but he
thought it was a good place to start the conversation either way.  “
This is true,
” he replied.

“Why are y
ou here?” the elder asked
, then took a
bite
of his food
.

“I have journeyed from far away. 
I came to help you and your people.”

The elder
stopped chewing and his eyebrows
shot upward
, then quickly plummeted.  “Who sent you?”

“No one,” Sariel admitted.  “I am
only
traveling through your land
.  A
nd if I am able, I will help anyone who has need.”

“…because you have
d
athrah
,” the elder stated.

Sariel
had heard this word only once before, but he remembered it well.  Any wisdom or ability not common to the typical tribe member was
seen
as supernatural in origin, or
d
athrah
. 
“Yes
,
”
he admitted.

“How did you learn this
d
athrah
?”

Sariel thought for a moment.  “It was given to me a very long time ago.  But I see you have
d
athrah
,
as well.”  Having reached the first milestone of the conversation
—getting
the elder to recognize his powers
—Sariel
now
wanted to move on to the next
objective
.
  “You can see what others cannot.”

“Yes,” the elder confirmed.
 
His eyebrows lowered slowly w
hile the rest of his face remained unmoving
.  “
How do you know this?”

With his
confrontational
style of communication, the elder was making it difficult to steer the conversation.  Though Sariel wanted his powers to be established in their minds, he didn’t want them to dwell on it.  Instead, he hoped to progress to an understanding of their needs and how he might help.  If they invited him into their village, regardless of the terms, he would have a better chance of establishing a relationship with them and thereby gain access to regular contact with
Sheyir
.

“Because
you came to me without a
k
h
af
ar
. 
I can see that you care about the safety of your people.  Tell me,
are your people protected?  What have you seen with your
d
athrah
?
”

The elder was silent for a moment
.

Perhaps I’ve gone too fast.  I should have waited before questioning his weaknesses.

“You will come to our village and we will talk more.”

He blatantly avoided the question, but Sariel was pleased nonetheless.  The invitation
alone showed
an extraordinary amount of progress in such a short time.  Though tempted as he was to celebrate, he still had a long way to go.  The elder hadn’t yet introduced himself.  When names were finally exchanged, then he would know that he had accomplished something significant
with Sheyir’s
father.  And that accomplishment would lead him to his ultimate goal.

*   *   *   *

The
steep, rocky terrain
gave way to lush fields
and forests
again as
Enoch
moved eastward, still keeping the shoreline on his right side. 
In the silence of this solitary journey, it was the whispers of the Holy One that kept him going, fueling his tired body.  But the
sightings of large beasts roaming the land were becoming more frequent
.  They were a
constant reminder that he was not alone
or safe from danger.

Another eight
days
brought him to a
second narrow
stretch of land between two bodies of water
, which he named
Ne
-
Banyim
.
  As he moved
through this area and
away from the water, the land rose again.  Enoch’s progress slowed considerably as he encountered hill after hill, and he found his energy sapped before the end of each day.  Eating as much as he could find to maintain his strength, he continued pushing eastward.  After nearly two weeks through this
tiresome
land he crested a hill and caught the first glimpse of the mountains from his dream. 
Katan Har
-
Marah
they would be called from
that
day forward—the Lesser Mountains of My Vision.
 
Having finally reached the land of
Nowd
, Enoch stopped early that day
and rested to regain his strength.  A
fter spending the night atop the knoll with the mountains in the distance,
he
turned northeast and began the last leg of his journey with renewed vigor.

The grassy plains were gone now, replaced by dense forests
which dotted the landscape.  The mist
rising
from the ground was thicker here tha
n
in
Sedekiyr
, and
seemed to prefer lodging itself in the
trees
. 
Moving carefully through the foreign terrain, Enoch turned gradually to the north.  Using the memory of his vision, he kept the water always within sight to serve as a reference. 
A
fter a week, the taller mountain of his dream loomed on the northeastern horizon.

“
Gadol Har
-
Marah
,”
he said aloud.  T
he sound of his own voice
after so many days of silence was
almost
startling.  He stood for a moment, looking at the great uprising of land.  Mist obscured the peak, making the mountain seem all the more ominous.  And somewhere on the other side
of it
was the city of
Khanok
, home
of
the
Kahyin
tribe
. 
As he stared into the distance, h
e lifted a piece of green fruit to his lips and took a bite.  It was bitter, but it was something to fill his stomach
.