02 - The Barbed Rose (52 page)

A tall staff topped with a golden compass rose began to make its way through the selectors toward the dais. Doubtless it was carried by Arikon’s Head Prelate Omunda, but she couldn’t be seen among the tight-packed bodies.

“Can she move any slower?” Stone whispered as the prelate climbed up the dais stairs.

“Pompous ass,” Leyja muttered. “Always was.”

Slowly, pushing the anticipation higher with every measured step, the head prelate moved to the center of the dais. She planted the staff and took a small scroll tied with silver ribbon from the sleeve of her heavily embroidered yellow robe.

“The selectors of Adara have met,” Omunda intoned as a hush fell over the crowd. “Guided by the hand of the One, they have chosen a new Reinine to rule over Adara.”

With a flourish, she held up the scroll. “That name is written here.”

“Just get on with it.” Joh spoke so quietly, Kallista heard him mostly through the link.

The head prelate handed her staff to an acolyte standing in front of the dais. She untied the ribbon and handed it to another, then slowly unrolled the parchment.

The entire waiting crowd seemed to hold its collective breath. Kallista knew she was.

“From this moment, until the One shall take her to glory, the Ruler of all Adara is and shall be Kallista Varyl of the city of Turysh in the prinsipality of Turysh, chosen and marked by the One as the first godstruck naitan in a thousand years. May she rule with wisdom, justice and mercy.”

With the name buried in the middle of all those words, it took a moment for Kallista to realize just whose name was called. Then her knees crumpled and Torchay had to catch her.
“Breathe,”
he ordered.

One of the gathered prinsipi leaped onto the dais. “All hail, Kallista Reinine!”

The Great Hall echoed as the shout was repeated again and again. Hands pushed her, propelled all of them forward, toward the prelate and the dais. Voices spoke, jubilant, congratulating her. Faces appeared and disappeared, smiling, shouting, staring. Kallista clung tight to her links, to her ilian, too shocked to think clearly.

When they reached the dais, Kallista was lifted into the air by a thousand hands and deposited atop it. The prelate smiled, which startled Kallista—hadn’t she been campaigning for the throne?—and embraced her, kissing both cheeks. Then she bowed and backed away.

Bewildered, Kallista stared at the Great Hall, at all the people cheering, shouting her name. Only not her name.

“Kallista Reinine!” they shouted. That wasn’t her. She wasn’t the Reinine.

She turned to the prelate, panic starting to hit. “There must be a mistake. I can’t be the Reinine. I don’t know anything about it.” She held the scroll out. “Here. Take this.”

Omunda closed her hands over Kallista’s around the scroll. “No one is more qualified. Truly the One has spoken tonight, for not since Adara’s beginnings has a Reinine been chosen by unanimous vote on the first ballot. You
are
our Reinine.” She set her hands on Kallista’s shoulders and turned her to face the crowd.

This couldn’t be happening. She
hated
politics. She hated paperwork and being cooped up inside. She was a soldier. It was all she’d known up until this last year. She’d scarcely learned how to be an ilias. How could she learn to be Reinine?

She caught a strange gesture in the crowd and after a moment recognized Saminda Prinsep grinning like a madwoman, making a giant smile with both hands in front of her face. Hesitantly, Kallista smiled. The cheering swelled louder for a moment.

Where was—She followed the links and found her ilian crowded in front of the dais. Kallista held her hands out to them, beckoning them up beside her. Torchay jumped up first, taking his bodyguard’s post just behind her left shoulder.

“You know I didn’t sign up for this,” he murmured in her ear.

“Neither did I. Where do I go to resign?” Kallista caught Joh’s hand and pulled him up.

“I don’t think they’ll let you,” Viyelle said, hauling Aisse onto the dais while Fox lifted Leyja.

“This is all your mother’s fault.” Kallista showed her teeth in an almost smile. “Remind me to throttle her later.”

“Partly her fault, probably,” Viyelle agreed. “Mostly, it’s yours. You are who you are.”

Kallista shot Viyelle a startled look, then expanded it as the rest of her ilian murmured agreement. The crowd’s cheering changed, became a chant. “Speak! Speak! Speak!”

Wonderful
. A Reinine had to make speeches, too. Kallista’s stomach churned. “What do I do now?”

“I suggest you speak to them.” Torchay didn’t sound one jot sympathetic.

“Oh, Goddess.” More as a delaying tactic than anything, Kallista made a leg and swept into a deep bow. The crowd’s shout strengthened, then as she rose again, faded away.

Kallista cleared her throat. “I never wanted this.”

Random cheers broke out across the room, and behind her she heard Omunda’s quiet, “That’s why you are the perfect one for the job.”

She looked down at the scroll in her hand, her name written in careful script. She had to clear her throat again. “I don’t know why the selectors would see fit to choose me. I don’t know why the One chose me for the tasks I was given. I have never been anything more than a soldier, serving my homeland. And now, you have asked me to serve Adara in this manner, one that I do not deserve.”

More shouts interrupted her, of “No!” and “You do!”

Kallista had to stare over their heads at the great doors in the far wall until the shouting died away again and she regained her composure.

“Since you have seen fit to ask this of me, all I can say is—with the help of the One God of us all, and with my ilian at my side—” She clasped the first hands she could find—Aisse and Joh—and held on tight. “I will do the very best that I can.”

Kallista bowed again, her ilian bowing a breath behind her, and the crowd erupted into the greatest frenzy yet. Through the open windows of the Great Hall, she could hear shouts from the city beyond as heralds repeated her words from the palace walls.

“And you claim you can’t make speeches,” Torchay murmured as they straightened.

“I can’t. Dear sweet Goddess in Heaven, Torchay, how are we going to do this?”

“
We? We
aren’t the Reinine.
You
are.” Torchay caught her when she would have bolted. “You’ve destroyed demons, Kallista. If you can do that, you can do anything.”

“Ha!”

“We’ll help you,” Leyja said, easing closer. “We know the people here, who can be trusted, who can’t. You are the Reinine, but you’re not alone.”

Kallista turned to face the sea of selectors behind them and bowed. “I almost think I’d rather face demons than twenty-seven prinsipi and all those prelates.”

“Almost, so would I,” Keldrey muttered as they followed her into the bow.

“Don’t worry.” Kallista forced a smile and waved to the crowds. “I fear you’ll have your chance. We still have demons to hunt and destroy.”

“And prinsipi to deal with before then,” Viyelle said.

Kallista shuddered. “And may the One help us all.”

Pronunciation Guide:

Ailo, Aila: EYE-loe, EYE-lah

Aisse vo’Haav: Ah-EESS voe-HAHV

Arikon: AIR-ih-Kahn

Ashbel: ASH-bell

Ataroth: AT-ah-rahth

Boren: BORE-enn

Brodir: broh-DEER

Daryath: DAHR-ee-ahth

Dedicat: DEH-dee-kaht

Deray: deh-RAY

Di pentivas: dee pen-TEE-vahs

Domina: DOHM-nee-ah

Durissas: dur-ISS-ahss

Elliane: ell-ee-AHN

Fenetta: feh-NET-tah

Ferenday: FAIR-en-day

Filorne: fih-LORN

Gweric: GWAIR-ick

Heldring: HELL-dreeng

Huryl Kovallyk: HYUR-ill Koh-VAHL-ick

Huyis Uskenda: HOO-yis oos-KEN-da

Ilian, ilias: ILL-ee-an, ILL-ee-as

Iliasti: ill-ee-AHSS-tee

Irysta: ih-RIHS-tah

Joh Suteny: Joe su-TAY-nee

Jongliers: zhahng-LEERS

Kallista Varyl: Ka-LISS-ta VAIR-ill

Kami: KAM-ee

Karyl: KARE-ill

Katenda: kah-TEN-dah

Katreinet: ka-TRAIN-et

Keldrey: KELL-dray

Kendra: KEHN-drah

Keqwith: KECK-with

Khoriseth: KORE-ih-seth

Khralsh: KRAHLSH

Kishkim: KISH-kim

Korbin: KORE-bin

Leyja: LAY-ja

Lorynda: lore-INN-da

Maritta: mah-RITT-ah

Miel: mee-ELL

Miray: MEE-ray

Mowbray: MOE-bray

Naitan: Nye-TAHN

Niona: Nie-OWN-ah

Norenda: Nore-EN-dah

Obed im-Shakiri: OH-bed eem-shah-KEE-ree

Okreti di Vos: oh-KREH-tee dee VOHS

Omunda: oh-MOON-dah

Orestes: oh-RESS-teez

Oskina: oh-SKEEN-ah

Prinsep, prinsipi: PRIN-sep, prin-SIP-ee

Reinine: Rey-NEEN

Rozite: roe-ZEET

Saminda: sa-MIN-dah

Sanda: SAND-ah

Sarit: sah-REET

Sedil, sedili: SEH-dill, seh-DEE-lee

Serysta: se-RISS-ta

Shaden: SHAY-den

Shaluine: SHALL-you-een

Sidris: SIH-driss

Skola: SKOE-la

Sumald: soo-MAHLD

Syr: SEER

Taoling: TAH-oh-lind

Tchyrizel: CHIH-rih-zell

Terris: TAIR-riss

Tibre: TEE-breh

Tiray: TEE-ray

Tironde: tih-RAHND

Torchay Omvir: TOR-chay OHM-veer

Tsekrish: TSEH-krihsh

Turysh: TOOR-ish

Tylle: TILL-eh

Ukiny: oo-KEEN-ee

Untathel: OON-tah-thehl

Vanis Kevyr: VAN-iss KEH-veer

Veryas: VAIR-yahss

Vendra: VENN-drah

Vilaree: VILL-ah-ree

Viyelle Torvyll: vee-YELL TOR-vill

Xibyth: ZIH-bit

Zughralithiss: zoo-grah-LIH-thiss

Glossary

aila, ailo (aili)
—Sir or Madame, a title of respect in Adara

brodir
—Tibran word with a meaning similar to “blood brother”

dedicat
—Southron word indicating a person who has taken a special oath of dedication to the One

di pentivas
—an ancient Adaran rite binding a man, usually a war prize or prisoner of some sort, into an ilian, without choice. Not presently practiced except in extreme circumstances

durissas
—Adaran, a temporary agreement, rarely practiced except in rural, primitive sectors, in which additional persons are bound into an existing ilian during a crisis situation, to be dissolved when the crisis ends, unless otherwise agreed. Primarily intended for mutual protection, especially of children.

ilian (iliani)
—four to twelve Adaran adults joined into a family unit—their version of marriage

ilias (iliasti)
—spouse (spouses)

jonglier
—a musician and/or story teller, an entertainer

naitan (naitani)
—a person with a magical gift

prelate
—a religious leader in Adara

prinsep (prinsipi)
—the ruler (male or female) of one of the once independent governmental units now joined together to create Adara

prinsipas (prinsipasti)
—the ilias of a prinsep

prinsipella
—the offspring (male or female) of a prinsep

prinsipality
—the “state” or “province” ruled by a prinsep

Reinine
—the priestess-queen chosen by the collective Adaran prelates and prinsipi to rule Adara. A lifetime appointment, but not hereditary

Reinas (reinasti)
—the ilias of the Reinine

sedil (sedili)
—the relationship between children born into the same ilian. They may or may not have any blood relationship, but they are related in this manner

selectors
—the fifty-seven prinsipi and prelates (the prinsep and head prelate of each of the twenty-seven prinsipalities, plus the head prelates of Arikon, Turysh and Ukiny) who gather upon the death of a Reinine to select the next Reinine

skola
—a Southron place of learning, generally associated with the dedicats

THE BARBED ROSE

ISBN: 978-1-4268-4900-8

Copyright © 2006 by Gail Shelton

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Worldwide Library, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.