Dave Smeds - The Sorcery Within

The T'lil consisted of five clans – the T'krt, the T'lan, the Kol, the Ena, and the Hysic. At first it astonished Alemar to learn how much territory these five families owned, until he grasped what prodigious amounts of the sere land it took to support an individual. The T'krt numbered less than a thousand, the entire T'lil nation less than three thousand, counting in Zyraii fashion: adult males only. For the most part, they strung out over the land in small knots of immediate kin, often no more than three or four adults, only to such density as could support their animals. They gathered for migration and raids on neighbors. At the moment, the cause was the annual trek to the Ahloorm Basin, the long plain split by the only continuously running stream in the nation, the Ahloorm, which meant simply "the river." The Zyraii controlled its upper portion, while the city-states of Surudain and Nyriya held the coast to either side of its delta.

"Is it like this all the way to the Demon Mountains?" Alemar asked.

"One part of Zyraii is never the same as the rest," Fumlok said, avoiding the challenge of describing his country using the High Speech.

The twins had lived among the Zyraii for ten days, long enough that the curious no longer wandered in their direction. Already teachers had taken them through myriad lessons on history, geology, weather, theology, desertcraft, martial training, and, most of all, obedience. People had started to converse with Alemar, encouraging, in their taciturn way, his stumbling attempts to speak Zyraii. Knowledge threatened to ooze out of their pores. Yet they had only touched the surface. For the moment, the instructors concentrated upon the language.

Elenya noticed a tent-maker observing her, so she deliberately scratched the bottom of one of her breasts. The man looked away.

Fumlok occasionally tried to reason with her, but to no effect. It had also been he who had originally tried to explain to her that she was really a man. It had taken a substantial amount of time, considering that his entire argument stemmed from one thesis – the laws of the So-de'es must be obeyed.

"Who makes the laws?" she had demanded.

"God, of course." It had astonished Fumlok that in other countries, men had the audacity to decide their own laws.

"What happens when a law is no longer needed? What if one needs to be changed?"

"God's laws do not need to be changed."

"What would happen if a law were not clear? Who would interpret it?"

"We must ask God."

She had made rude noises. "How does one talk to God?"

"The Zee-no-ken talk to God," he had answered matter-of-factly. "They sit alone in the hills and meditate. If they are true of spirit and do not falter, they hear God's voice. In this way God passes down His word. If the need is urgent, we call upon the High Scholar at Setan, and he journeys to God's Peak."

"Then I'd like a word with God," she had announced.

Fumlok had sighed. It was clear that Elenya was not going to make a very good man.

The first cricket of evening chirped, and in the west the sun settled into its bower behind the mountains. The front end of the caravan looped around and coupled with the rear, forming a protective circle. The animals flowed to the inside, sheep bleating, while the people moved to the edges. Soon boys took small clusters of pack animals, freed from their burdens, out to brief grazing.

Lonal weaved casually through the throng, occasionally offering suggestions to the camp-makers that would increase the impregnability of the defenses. He approached the twins.

"Nannon abat se,"he said.

"Se, gomo,"Alemar answered. Elenya looked the other way.

Lonal regarded her in a friendly manner, staring frankly at her bust. "You'll get sunburned that way," he said.

"I'm trying to wither them so I'll look like a proper male."

He nodded. "That's a good idea. I hadn't thought of that." He nudged his oeikani with his knees and resumed his tour.

Elenya stared after him with a gaze too cold to suit the climate.

"Tonight," she told Alemar.

They slept in the open, under a canopy of moons. Small tents and partially erected larger ones surrounded them, whatever was necessary to screen private activities. The tribe wouldn't remain more than one night here.

Sentries paced the perimeter. Insects and small creatures of the night became bolder, encouraged by lack of human noise. The stars of the clear, arid sky daunted illusions of significance.

Elenya turned toward Alemar. He was staring at the void.

"Ready?"

He drew off the coverlet from his fully clothed body.

They rose. The wives and children slept soundly. Hastily they re-created their bedrolls such that it appeared they still occupied them. Darting from tent to tent, they filtered their way to the edge of the camp, slipping out behind a sentry.

They glided into open desert, the night consuming them. They went east, the least likely direction. Ahead lay a slope gnawed by nature, where the land climbed into a series of rugged hills, full of cover, with plenty of rock to hide spoor.

In between remained two leagues of flat ground, where they could easily be overtaken. At first they moved slowly, hugging the earth, stopping behind brush or mounds of grass. Once they had travelled beyond the range of even sharp-eared sentries, they paused.

They reached inside their collars, and withdrew identical gold necklaces, each adorned with a single large emerald. Standing close to one another, they touched the jewels together and concentrated. First one amulet, then the other, flashed with a jubilant green light, alternating more and more rapidly until the glow became constant. Alemar and Elenya stepped away, satisfied.

Now let the Zyraii dare to give chase.

Moonlight gave them a clear view of the terrain. Sure-footed, swift, and well rested from the ten days with the tribe, they no longer had to pace themselves or hide what they could do. Elenya set the speed, her lean legs thrusting the sand and soil behind with each step.

Alemar smelled the clean desert wind, felt it caress his hair. Although there were no trees to dodge nor logs to leap, he was at home. No distance or change of nations had taken away his legs, nor the jewel at his throat.

Dawn would soon pale the silhouettes that slipped past them every few strides. Elenya, her initial, exultant burst of energy spent, had let Alemar lead for the long-term jog. As the flush of excitement leaked away, they no longer dreamed so freely of avoiding pursuers who knew the land and outnumbered them by many dozens, but no sounds of pursuit had reached them.

Still, there was a peculiar sense of unease in the air. It had become increasingly distinct within the past hour. Finally, Elenya commented on it, and Alemar pulled out his amulet to check it.

It glowed now not simply with the pleasant forest green of their own spell, but with the deep tones that warned of foreign magic being cast upon them.

They turned worried faces toward their trail, but still could detect nothing.

"They have a sorcerer," Elenya said grimly.

"They must," Alemar agreed. They heightened their speed.

The amulets were now hot with warning, yet the twins could hear no one behind them. A new shadow grew on the path. It emerged low and square, only the regularity of its shape distinguishing it from the increasing number of rocky knolls that pimpled the region. Alemar and Elenya slowed but retained their route, straight toward the feature. They were quite near before the light of the moons finally allowed them to identify it.

They stopped.

Bereft of the cooling wind of his passage, Alemar could now feel the heat radiate from his skin. The meditation born of steady exertion dissolved.

They faced a mound of stone set, without mortar, slightly higher than they could reach, and about fifteen paces along each square side. They could see no openings. Marks of weather indicated considerable age. Its surface gave no hint of recent use.