Jo Clayton: A Gathering Of Stones

At the end of ten years on Jal Vim he was growing restless, tired of living without ambition or effort.

4. Korimenei Piyolss, affinity: Frunzacoache

Originally her name was simply Kori (which could mean either Maiden or Heart), but when Settsimaksimin put her in school and compelled her to remain there for ten years, she took the name Korimenei (which meant Heart-in-Waiting).

The Finger Vales of Cheonea had served the Chained God since the time when the Wounded Moon was whole, which meant essentially forever, but when Kori was thirteengoing-on-fourteen, the soldier-priests of Amortis came to Owlyn Vale, tied the Chained God’s priest to a stake and lit a fire under him. Then they declared the folk on Owlyn Vale must serve Amortis instead. A few months later Kori’s youngest brother (the closest to her of all her kin) came to her with the Chained God’s mark on him, chosen for the new priest. Once that was out her brother would be burned also. She was the several times great-granddaughter of liana Hazani who carried a promise from the Drinker of Souls: She or any of her descendants could call on Brann in time of trouble and Brann would come to give whatever help she could. Kori looked into Harra’s Eye, located Brann and sent a cousin to summon the Drinker of Souls to fight Settsimaksimin and help her keep her brother alive.

Some months later she was in Silagamatys for the Lot (where three children, were chosen, a girl to serve in the Temple as teacher or priestess, a boy to serve as a priest or soldier and another-either boy or girl-to be fed to BinYAHtii, though only Settsimaksimin knew this, the people thought the third child was sent to Havi Kudush to serve in the Great Temple of Amortis); during this time, Settsimaksimin became aware of the strong Talent she had in her, plucked her from her people and sent her off to school in Sitill, half a continent away from Cheonea, getting her out of his hair and keeping her safe at the same time he liked her and was proud of her spirit. To keep her in school he imprisoned her brother in crystal and informed her only she could set him free. All she had to do was go to the Chained God’s altar in the mountain cavern where she’d found Harra’s Eye and set her hand on the crystal. No one else could wake her brother; if she got herself killed, he’d sleep forever in that spell-crystal. At the end of the ten years, when her training was finished, she could leave with his blessing; if she tried to leave before that the Mistress, one Shahntien Shere, was instructed to punish her at the first attempt and kill her at the second.

The ten years passed pleasurably enough, she, enjoyed her schooling after she’d got used to the constraints on her and she’d proved an excellent student, beyond even Settsimaksimin’s expectations (he kept an eye on her from Jal Virri, sent his eidolon to talk to her every few months), but as the time for her passing-out ordeal approached she was getting more and more anxious about her brother, more and more eager to go release him from his enchanted sleep.

5. Trago Piyolss, affinity: Harra’s Eye

Called Tre by friends and family.

A six-year-old boy used as a pawn, by the Chained God first to bring Brann into play against Settsimaksimin, then by Settsimaksimin to keep his hold on Kori Piyolss, he slept under enchantment in the Altar Cave of the Chained God.

6. Danny Blue, affinity: Klukesharna

Danny Blue was one man, two men, three men. One man, because he had a single body. Two men because he was made from two men and their memories and personalities lingered within him. Three men, because Danny Blue had developed a life of his own, a personality that was both more and less than a blend of his two half-sires with memories that belonged to him alone.

He was born in the body of the Chained God (an ancient starship) where the flesh of his two sires was merged into one man by the power of the God, where Brann Drinker of Souls was midwife to the birth of his personhood as well as his fleshbody.

AHZURDAN was once a student/apprentice of Settsimaksimin’s. When he met Brann and was drawn into the Chained God’s scheme, he was a second rank sorceror of considerable ability but regrettable habits, being addicted to dreamdust and in flight from reality. He was born into a Phrasi merchant family of considerable wealth and social ambition; his mother belonged to the minor nobility and impressed into her son all her attitudes toward lesser beings. He was a momma’s boy and didn’t get on with his older half-siblings at all well, though that was not entirely his fault, they were an intolerant lot. He was also an unsatisfactory son, being totally uninterested in the family business. When his talent came on him, he nearly burned down the house and did singe a spiteful older brother. By this time his father was quite happy to pay the fees and bond him to Settsimaksimin’s service for the usual seven years. He worked hard and learned fast, but he never managed to match his Master and left his service at the end of those seven years resenting Settsimaksimin, jealous of other apprentices, angry and unhappy.

DANIEL AKAMARINO was born in a reality where magic was fraud and wishful thinking; he made his living on assorted starships as Communications Officer, Propulsion Engineer or Cargo Superintendent/Buyer, having a Masters Rating in all three. He was a man not bothered by much, seldom felt the need to prove anything about himself or his beliefs; impatient with routine, he drifted from job to job, quitting when he felt like it or because some nit tried to make him do things that bored him like wearing boots instead of sandals and a uniform instead of the ancient shirts and trousers he got secondhand whenever the ones he had were reduced to patches and threads. He had no plans for settling down; there was always something to see another hop away and he never had trouble finding a place on a ship when he was done with groundside living. The Chained God snatched him in mid-stride and transferred him to the World, landing him in a road in Cheonea.

He joined the Owlyn Valers as they went to Silagamatys for the Lot, met Kori, through her linked up with Brann and Ahzurdan and went with them into the Chained God’s pocket reality, where he and Ahzurdan became DANNY BLUE and went with Brann to fight the final battle with Settsimaksimin. When that battle was finished and Brann was concentrating on healing the sorceror, he picked up the Talisman BinYAHtii-and was snatched back to the Chained God’s body.

That was how the Chained God acquired BinYAHtii.

Danny Blue roamed about the ancient rotting starship and struggled to relearn Ahzurdan’s magic; all the sorceror’s WORDS and mindsets had to be reconfigured to suit the new personality. When he felt strong enough, he tried to attack the God, but was seized and slammed into a coldsleep pod where he spent the next ten years in stasis.

Draw In The Catalysts: These Are The Stones Of Power, The Great Talismans:

BinYAHtii Held by the Chained God. Manifests as a rough circle of reddish stone pendant on a massive gold chain, set in a heavy ring of beaten gold.

Churrikyoo Held by the Servants of Amortis in her Temple in Havi Kudush, the holy city in central Phras. Manifests as a small glass frog, battered, chipped, filled with thready cracks.

Frunzacoache Held in the essence pouch of a shaman of the Rushgaramuv Temuengs. Manifests as a never-withering berry leaf pressed between two thin round layers of crystal set in a ring of tarnished silver cable, pendant from a silver chain.

Harra’s Eye Held in the secret, sacred Cavern of the Chained God. Manifests as a sphere of crystal about the size of a large grapefruit Not known as one of the stones of power because it is a new focus; it has lain dormant in the Cavern, waiting. None of the first rank sorcerors has learned of it or used the power locked in it.