Outcast Chronicles - Sanctuary Part 18

*Why were they so cruel to him?'

*Because they could be.' Saskar slowed as they reached the open hatch that led to the Malaunje deck. He sighed. *They called him beast-lover, Vella. That means he's a bestiare. His gift allows him to commune with animals.'

*So?'

He grimaced. *T'En prize intellect, culture and control above all things. They look down on us Malaunje because we have no gift, and they regard Mieren as baser creatures, little better than animals. For a T'En's gift to link him to beasts...' Saskar shuddered. *It demeans him. He has no hope of ever gaining high stature.'

*But it's not like he chose his gift. It was born in him.'

*And it's not like we chose to be born Malaunje. But we were.'

She felt the force of Saskar's anger. It didn't frighten her; she understood it. The same anger burned in her.

He gestured to the hatch. *Go on.'

She climbed down the ladder into the dimness of the Malaunje deck.

Glancing up, she saw him there in the lantern-lit fog, standing over the open hatch. Saskar... her only friend, making sure she was safely returned to the Malaunje deck. She raised a hand and waved.

He nodded and turned away.

For all that he served the brotherhood's hand-of-force and slept in the all-father's cabin, he was as trapped as she.

As Aravelle returned to Charsoria's cabin her mind was abuzz with the faces and names of Hueryx's inner circle, as well as the tug and pull of the adepts' jostling for stature.

When she opened the door, she found the children were already asleep. The women of Charsoria's inner circle sat together, talking softly. Aravelle counted four young women who wore the warrior temple plaits, as well as the older women. Redravia played a haunting melody on the pipes.

When Aravelle entered, Hariorta whispered to her half-sister and Charsoria's eyes narrowed. Redravia looked up and stopped playing.

Aravelle bowed and would have scurried to her bedroll, but Charsoria greeted her sourly. *I suppose you think you're favoured now.'

Aravelle knew it was petty, but Charsoria's resentment pleased her. She kept her eyes lowered. *I live to serve.'

*You might have charmed your way into Hueryx's good graces just like your mother did, but I know you for what you are; a scheming stature-seeker!'

There was nothing Aravelle could say. The all-father's-voice judged everyone by her own standards. Stature-seeker, indeed.

*She thinks she's clever,' Hariorta said. *But she doesn't realise. If the all-father truly honoured her, he'd keep his distance. Instead he toys with her.'

Charsoria nodded and a malicious smile split her face. *You'll end up paying for your mother's transgressions, Vella. How Sasoria would hate it, if she knew you were in his power.'

Aravelle refused to react. She was a personal scribe to the all-father of the one of the great brotherhoods. What could happen to her? She knew the dangers of the gifts.

Charsoria snorted. *I can sense their power on you from here!'

Aravelle opened her gift awareness. *I sense nothing.'

*Because you're saturated with it.'

*She needs to learn how to shield herself,' Redravia said.

*Is that so?' Charsoria asked, a nasty gleam in her dark eyes. *Have you had no training, Vella, none at all?'

Aravelle shook her head.

Hariorta and Charsoria exchanged a glance. Charsoria nodded to Redravia. *You train her. And do a better job than you did on Sasoria.'

Aravelle wanted to ask what she meant by this, but did not dare. Instead, she retreated to the bedroll she shared with Itania.

As she stroked her little sister's back, she repeated the same thing she'd repeated every night. Nothing was going to break her. Not the cruel Mieren, not her mother's spiteful half-sister...

And certainly not her charming T'En father.

IMOSHEN HEARD A clatter and a shriek. That was the problem on the overcrowded ship; there was no privacy. A cry of protest followed. The noise made her children stir in their sleep, and her devotee lifted her head.

*Stay here, Fray. I'll go tell them to be quiet,' Imoshen whispered.

As she entered the pa.s.sage, the door to the communal bathing chamber swung open. Egrayne spotted her and beckoned. Two bright spots of colour burned in the voice-of-reason's cheeks. Imoshen could sense that she was having trouble controlling her gift, which was unusual.

When Imoshen stepped into the chamber, she found Iraayel on his knees, pinned by the sisterhood's hand-of-force. Fear for her choice-son roused Imoshen's gift and she read everyone in the room, all but Iraayel. She hadn't been able to read him since the day the healer's sacrare daughter was murdered in front of him.

Egrayne was furious, and hurt. Kiane felt vindicated. She believed that all T'En men were dangerous, and whatever had happened here had confirmed this for her. The two shield-sisters, Dretsune and Ysattori, were regretful but determined to see this through. And Egrayne's choice-daughter, Saffazi, was ablaze with righteous anger.

*Let him go.' Saffazi struggled against the two shield-sisters who restrained her. *We a"'

Egrayne slapped her. *How dare you shame me?'

Shocked, Saffazi stared at her choice-mother. She went absolutely white, and then her gift rose.

*No.' Imoshen held the young initiate's eyes and let her own gift rise in challenge. Saffazi was powerful and inclined to be impatient with anyone not as quick of mind as herself. *Are you a newly-empowered thirteen-year-old with no control over your gift, or an initiate with half a year's training?'

Saffazi's blazing gaze faltered, then dropped, and the threat of gift power eased. *Your pardon, all-mother.'

*Now, what's going on here?' Imoshen calmly asked, as though her heart wasn't racing fit to burst. *Why is my choice-son restrained?'

*They were...' Dretsune, the warrior-turned-scholar, glanced apologetically to Egrayne. *We came in here and found them trysting.'

*What?'

*It's not true.' Iraayel lifted his head.

*Close enough,' Dretsune said.

Imoshen took a step back.

*So what if we were?' Saffazi demanded. *We love each a"'

*Enough,' Egrayne barked. *Ysattori, fetch the rest of the inner circle.'

The younger of the two shield-sisters slipped out. With the deaths of the last hand-of-force, her shield-sister, two gift-warriors and the gift-tutor, the sisterhood's inner circle had shrunk and its nature had changed.

When Imoshen was made all-mother instead of Gift-tutor Vittoryxe, she had chosen an inner circle that included some of the gift-tutor's supporters to win them over. These women tended to be traditionalists with closed minds. Hand-of-force Arodyti and her contingent had been Imoshen's supporters and forward thinkers. Now the mix of women veered towards the conservative. This put Imoshen in a difficult position.

Ysattori returned with three T'En women.

*What's going on?' Tiasarone asked. She was one of the conservatives.

Iraayel went to speak, but Imoshen sent him a look.

Saffazi lifted her chin. *We want to make the deep-bonding a"'

*Foolish, foolish girl!' Egrayne was angrier than Imoshen had ever seen her.

*...so that Iraayel can stay with us,' Saffazi finished.

The inner circle shifted, muttering in shock and dismay.

*What makes you think Iraayel won't be going to a brotherhood?' Imoshen asked.

Saffazi glanced to Iraayel.

He lifted his chin.

*Oh, let him up, Kiane,' Imoshen said. *It's not like he's going to turn on us.'

The hand-of-force released Iraayel and stepped back. She was also one of Vittoryxe's old supporters.

*What makes you think we'd let him stay, Saffazi?' Egrayne asked. *No one has made the deep-bonding since the covenant, four hundred years ago.'

Saffazi gestured. *The all-mother a"'

*Imoshen was seventeen and a brotherhood captive,' Egrayne snapped. *She didn't know any better.'

Imoshen flushed and bit her tongue. She wanted to defend Reothe, her dead bond-partner, but now was not the time. Not when her choice-son's future hung in the balance.

*What makes you think the deep-bonding would mean Iraayel could stay with us, Safi?' Imoshen asked.

*We'd share a link. The sisters wouldn't be afraid of him if they knew I could reach into his mind and cripple his gift at a moment's notice.'

*You'd be just as vulnerable to him,' Egrayne said. *That's why we don't commit to the deep-bonding anymore.'

*Imoshen did.'

*Her bond-partner was dead when she came to us. If he had been alive, we would never have been able to accept Imoshen. Her loyalty would have been compromised. We would have executed her.' Egrayne had been a gift-warrior before she became the empowerer, and this was evident in the decisive tone of her voice. *This isn't about Imoshen. It's about you.'

*And Iraayel,' Saffazi insisted. Her chin trembled and tears of fury filled her eyes. *I won't let you kill him!'

The women gasped.

*You'd put him ahead of your sisterhood?' the warrior-scholar asked.

*Of course she wouldn't.' Egrayne sprang to her choice-daughter's defence. *She's not thinking clearly.'

*Yes, I am. I know that none of the all-fathers will take Iraayel because they hate Imoshen and, if one of them accepted her choice-son, the other all-fathers would despise him.' Saffazi's beautiful eyes glistened with furious tears and she had trouble controlling her gift. *Just the other night I was on deck when a brotherhood rowboat went by. I don't think they realised how far their voices carried. They said it would be kinder if...' a" her voice caught a" *kinder if the causare's inner circle killed Iraayel themselves, rather than turn him out and let the brotherhoods hunt him for sport, or send him back to Chalcedonia and let the Mieren execute him. It's not fair. I won't let you do it.'

*Is it true?' Iraayel asked Imoshen, eyes glittering with anger. He would be seventeen soon and then she couldn't protect him. *Have all the brotherhoods rejected me?'

Imoshen flushed. *All-father Tamaron has not yet returned.'

*And may not,' Saffazi said. *That's why we tried to set up the deep-bonding.'

*It's not the physical act of trysting,' Imoshen said. *The mind, body and gift must be in alignment. It's' a" her throat closed with emotion a" *it is the greatest joy there is.'

Everyone looked down as though she'd embarra.s.sed herself. Imoshen felt sorry for them because they would never know what she had known.

*The deep-bonding is dangerous,' Egrayne said. *It's not permitted. It leaves both partners open to attack. No one, other than Imoshen, has a"'

*That we know of,' Imoshen corrected.

They all turned to look at her.

She lifted her hands in a shrug. *How do we know if others have made the deep-bonding? When the sisterhoods and brotherhoods are so paranoid about each other, we are hardly going to admit to loving and trusting a"'

*I trust Iraayel,' Saffazi insisted.

*There's no point. The deep-bonding wouldn't save him,' Tiasarone said. *It would make him more dangerous. He would have intimate knowledge of the workings of the female gift.' She shuddered. *We could not have him living alongside us.'

*Then what's going to happen to Iraayel?' Saffazi asked.

Imoshen held her tongue, wanting to hear what her inner circle would say. No one spoke for a moment.

Then Egrayne answered. *This is why, once they are empowered at thirteen, we segregate the lads and begin to distance ourselves from them. We know that when they turn seventeen and go into the brotherhoods, we must declare them dead to us and they are reborn as men of the T'En. Once their gifts have matured, we cannot have them amongst us.'

*It's wrong, cruel and wrong.' Saffazi shook her head. *What's going to become of Iraayel? You can't turn him out.'

Everyone looked to him and he looked to Imoshen.

If Ardonyx convinced Tobazim to take over Kyredeon's brotherhood and they succeeded, Iraayel would have somewhere to go. But she couldn't reveal her plans before the sisterhood's conservatives without admitting she'd made the deep-bonding with Ardonyx. If she did that, these powerful women would feel justifiably betrayed. They would be so angry... her gift surged and she knew they just might kill her.

*Imoshen?' Egrayne pressed.

*There's still time.' But time was running out for her choice-son.

NOW THAT SHE was alone, Jaraile found the chambers that formed her prison enormous. Eskarnor had left at dawn, boasting he could force-march his men to the port in four days, long before the half-blood could gather an army and be back to defend the king. She'd watched the barons' men pour out of the city, thinking, good riddance.

They were all gone by mid-morning and then the city had stood empty a" empty boulevards, empty shops, empty balconies. It was a city meant for thousands, and there were two hundred men here now. She heard distant noises, which she took to be Pataxo's men. The sounds seemed to echo up from the courtyard far below, though it was hard to tell just where they came from.

All day she had paced, trying to think of a way out.