The Sage Seed Chronicles: The Unraveling (21 page)

Erin looked up to him. “How did you do this?
She is many miles away!”

“Yes, but the distance is shorter as a bird
flies. Nuit sent the message last night. It traveled in relay by
owl. This morning Ree gave this to a cousin of mine. I picked it up
from another cousin and it is here. We care about you. You needed
our help.”

“Thank you, Keir and Nuit and your extended
families. I truly appreciate the gift and effort.”

Nuit answered. “You are very welcome. Now put
it away, with your new gloves, and go get your water. You can look
at what is in there later.” She nodded and thanked them again.

Tempo was by the lake. He had found a rotted
log that had many delicious bugs and had eaten his fill. He watched
as Erin got her bucket of water then walked with her back to the
wagon. She climbed inside and getting out her soap scrubbed herself
from head to toe. Then she got into clean clothes being careful to
transfer Ree’s gifts and her mementoes into pockets and the little
bag around her neck. She stored her dirty clothes away and got out
her blanket. When she stretched out her bedroll she sat down and
looked at her new things.

The gloves were supple and could easily loop
in her belt for quick access. They were exactly what she needed.
She then opened the small bag from Ree. It contained two small
stones. One was a deep purple crystal and the other was of similar
size but an orange stone with a smooth rounded form. They fit
snugly in the small bag and she realized that Ree had made the it
for them. She put them back into it then slipped the small bag into
the pouch with the rutilated quartz. If she remembered correctly
that stone helped with energy somewhat, also. The three stones
should be compatible together. She smiled at the thought.

Tempo was
watching her. ‘Ree knows what she is doing. Look how much her other
gift helped me. This is good. It will give you some boost when you
need it.’ Erin smiled. She was very glad that Kennet and his team
hadn’t gone into the river. She lay down, closed her eyes and was
asleep before Tempo curled into her side.

At dawn the caravan was stirring. Even
without yesterday’s events they would have had to get moving
because their arrival was expected at Sherroton. Now it was more
imperative so the officials could be informed and repairs of the
bridge could start. Tempo did his rounds with everyone’s boots and
got enough vesi to make a hearty breakfast. Everyone else had their
quick early meal of jerky, fruit, nuts and biscuits. The horses
were harnessed and the caravan was moving before the sky had lost
it’s pink color.

Lor looked over at Erin and asked. “I am just
curious. You have paraglider gloves that protect the palms. Why
were you interested in new gloves?”

Erin gave him a glance out of the side of her
eyes then looked ahead. “Contact poison.” she said quietly, “If the
gloves are supple I would feel the drag of something sticky but
since it isn’t living skin, and does have a light seal coat on
them, the gloves theoretically should not transmit the poison to
the hand. Also, as a boy who works with stock it would be natural
for me to wear them occasionally. The paraglider gloves are
distinctive. Most people don’t know that that is how I arrived.
Regular gloves fit a scruffy boy’s persona.”

Lor raised his eyebrows at her. “You have
been thinking this out! Do you have anymore pieces?”

Erin sighed, “Having an animal with a keen
nose to be alert to strange scents on things delivered and on
latches or lintels. Scrubbing down those lintels or latches
frequently. Perhaps dusting them, in a cleaning routine, would have
the dust adhering to the sticky spots. Right now they are trying to
be discrete so they will be making an effort to put the poison
where their target will touch but not necessarily someone else
would. If we don’t get them all together it will get really
dangerous.”

Lor gave her a long look. “Is this
anticipating trouble? Have you had any other emotional shouts?”

She looked down at her hands and started
ticking off points on her fingers, “We missed the killing of Auntie
Jes by days and Zinar by a half a day. They are handicapped by
having to try to figure out who might be a sage. We are handicapped
by not knowing where they are, if they are together and if they
have picked out who to be their next victim. If this were a game of
chance I would say that the odds are moving in our favor but it is
not a sure thing. The frightening thing is that the stakes in this
game are so big. Our world is at risk. Their petty game of
vengeance has far greater ramifications than they know and even if
they did know I am not sure they would care.” Erin took a breath
and went on.

“We don’t know how long the poison stays
strong. They may be carrying around a vial of the stuff in case
they find a sage but, on the other hand, they may have to mix new
poison each time. Then you have the question of how long the
ingredients stay fresh.” Erin shrugged. “There are a lot of
unknowns. We do know they are not done killing. That, in itself,
makes me anticipate running into them, or their handiwork, at any
time. Have I gotten any feelings? Not since the ones I told you
about and at that time they pointed in the Sherroton
direction.”

They rode in silence for several miles. Lor
was running through Erin’s reasoning, in his head. Erin opened her
door but didn’t detect anything. By mid morning they pulled into
Sherroton. It was another founder city, situated in a big green
bowl of a valley with the city built into the mountain at the far
end of the basin. In the large open area in front of the city were
several large posts carved with symbols depicting Arbreton’s
resources. An open lattice of wood beams crowned the posts and
formed a large circle. The caravan stopped in a semi circle shape
outside of that, facing the city.

The mayor of Sherroton came out to greet the
caravan. His cheerfully expansive greeting changed quickly to
concern as soon as the guild member, in the first wagon, told him
about the bridge. He rapidly started to shout orders and organizing
an engineering crew to go and evaluate the damage. Then he spun
around to his assistant, who came running, to check their timber
stock and availability of skilled builders. Once he set the repair
job in motion he turned back the caravan and welcomed them. “Looks
like you will be a few extra days in Sherroton”, he said with a
smile.

Lor head whipped around and he stared at
Erin, remembering she had said that very thing. “You are over
reacting” she said, “It is a logical choice of words.” She climbed
down from the wagon and started unhitching the team. As with the
other founder cities the barn and corrals were located to the left
of the main city but Sherroton had many more out buildings spread
on the valley edges. There were workshops and business with living
quarters above them and they were like wings to the old city. On
the far right side of the big bowl was the sawmill and the large
water wheel that powered it. Erin took it all in as she lead the
horses to the corral. This was the city near her old home and the
place that started her on the path she found herself. She pulled
her mind from the emotional nostalgia and concentrated on what she
was doing. It was here that she had her greatest chance of being
recognized. She put the swagger into her step and returned to help
Lor.

“What is the plan? Do we set up and start the
gather then have several rest days?” She asked.

“The mayor is conferring with his legist and
the city elder to decide.” Lor responded, “We should hear at any
time.”

Within minutes the mayor was back out on the
steps of the city and in a booming voice he announced, “Let the
gather start at midday as we had scheduled. We will run it tomorrow
to mid afternoon. There are people from outlying places that are
coming to gather. We don’t want to upset everyones plans. Our
wonderful guild people can have an extended rest period, with us,
until they are able to head back.” He bowed to the crowd and
withdrew into the city.

“Well, that answers that”, said Lor. “We have
a little time to set up, yet. I have to run into the city to talk
to the archivist. Could you get the pedestals out? I’ll be right
back.” She reached in and ran her hand down Tempo’s back and told
him to stay low as this area was dangerous for both of them. Erin
was so familiar with the routine of setting up, she could do it
without concentrating on it. Her mind went to what Lor was doing.
This archivist would, hopefully, be able to confirm how many family
members were in existence and perhaps where those three men lived.
She shook her head. Did Lor know all archivists?

Her mind went to the three killers they knew
about. Where were Bure, Wras and Targ and what were they doing? She
opened her ‘door’ and could feel... a kind of lurking anticipation.
‘Oh scrum! Tempo stay down! I will keep my mind open to you. They
have their next target but haven’t killed yet!’ She stopped what
she was doing and pretended to arrange the glow stones. Who was the
sender? She cracked the ‘door’ a bit wider. It had a different
flavor. It wasn’t Bure, if that was her ‘seeker’. She felt a second
person now. It had a dark satisfied glee. There were two! The glee
had come from Wras. She recognized a sort of acidity in the
emotional tone. Maybe the other one was Targ. It had a sour
pungency that was what she had been picking up the last few days.
If that were the case they were near and together. She started
efficiently putting away packing material. Lor’s booth was set up
and awaiting him. She heard Tempo thumping and she reached in and
reassured him.

She looked for Alliz. Conveniently she was
the next wagon over. Erin caught her eye and waved. “You need any
help setting up? I am done here.” Alliz waved her over. Erin took a
pile of books and set them down on the table. The two were standing
side by side as Erin said quietly, “Two of them are near and have
their target. They haven’t delivered the ‘special item’ yet but it
is soon.” She saw Lor coming out of the city and turned to Alliz.
“Glad to be of help.’ she gave a small bow then met Lor by the
wagon.

As she pointed out how she arranged the
stones she gave him the same message she had just given Alliz
ending with, “I will wander around and try to locate them. I want
to see your archivist. Where is he?”

Lor’s smile looked a little strained as he
slapped Erin on the shoulder and gave her two guild marks for the
gather. “Second lane on the left next to the jeweler.”

Erin ran into Cob and bought one of the
cheese blintzes she loved then drifted through the growing gather
crowd. She didn’t see them and wasn’t feeling them beyond what she
had gotten before. She decided to find the archivist. Erin entered
the city. It always amazed her the beauty and efficiency of the
founder cities. She took the specified lane on the left. There were
two shop doors side by side. The first was the archivist and the
second was a jeweler. Erin paused in the shops entry. There was a
man, just a little older than Lor with black hair sleeked back from
his face. He was leaning over the counter deep in conversation with
a much older man. The second man had totally grey hair and had a
pair of glasses pushed up onto the top of his head. The older gent,
for that was the feeling that Erin got from him, had a cree perched
on his shoulder. The bird’s distinctive red spot wasn’t clearly
visible from the angle that Erin was standing but she knew what it
was. Her mother had known several of the intelligent birds. The
almost totally black creatures were plentiful in the area.

She must have moved because the black haired
man looked up. “Oh sorry, lad. I didn’t see you. Have you been
waiting long?”

Erin lifted her hat a few inches in courtesy.
“Umm, no. My name is Terran and I work for Lor.” “Oh, you just
missed him,” said the fellow. “I’m Bas.” and he held out his hand.
Erin shook it and saw a subtle thought flicker quickly across his
face. “This is Holm. He is the talented jeweler that has the shop
next door.”

“Bas is flattering me because he wants me to
continue to create jewelry using his design ideas.” Holm said
gesturing to the piece of paper they had been discussing. Erin
could see sketches of ring patterns. “This fine fellow is my friend
Vaca. Bow to the lad, Vaca” and the bird bobbed his head.

Erin grinned and said silently. ‘Well met,
Vaca.’

Holm turned to Bas and said, “I will get back
to you about this design. I am expecting that new scriber. I would
need it for the intricate detail you have on the one piece.” He
turned to go and he and Vaca both nodded at Erin.

She grinned as she turned back to Bas. “What
can I do for you, lad?” he said in a hearty voice. Then he dropped
his voice down to a quiet level and looked at her closely. “You are
the person Gyan spoke of. I knew that you are disturbed about
something when I shook your hand. Yes, I can sense things with
touch.” he said cutting off her question. “Quickly, what is
wrong.”

“Do you know Wras and his cousins Targ and
Bure?” she said in a hurried whisper? He nodded. “They have
targeted someone and are near. It should be soon. Please be
alert.”

Bas said in a normal voice. “Thank you for
the invitation, lad. You tell Lor that I would love to have dinner
with you this evening.” and he gave him a wave in dismissal.

Erin was mentally shaking her head over that
brief meeting with Bas, the archivist and sage. The man was sharp,
abrupt and efficient. Invited himself to dinner, did he. That meal
was going to be interesting. Well, all of the sages had been
warned. Now all she had to do was locate those two cousins. ‘Where
is Bure?’, she said to herself as she headed back to Lor’s wagon to
tell him about the guest for dinner. She bought another blintz and
was munching it as she arrived at Lor’s booth. There was a crowd
around the pedestals. Everybody was discussing the new colors of
glow stones. Lor looked up and she gave him a grin.