Compis: Five Tribes (12 page)

“It will be your job, Nikka, to be on your guard. See what they show you, but listen and learn. Find the hidden meanings in every word. See what they hide and what they evade. Use more than your mind and your heart—use your great magic to light your way. Iam will guide you to make the right choice. We are depending you, Nikka. Events in the Five Tribes are moving toward chaos; things aren't what they seem to be. You are the hope we have been praying to Iam for. Don't let us down.”

She stood, suddenly, standing in a more impersonal way, wiping all emotion from her face.

Nikka looked to the door and sure enough, all five of the High Council members came into the chamber. With a wave of her hand, Mordra set the room ablaze with light, and the sheltered feeling Nikka had been enjoying left her.

She shrank back in her chair, once again surprised by how their appearances had changed. Mordra sank down to her level.

“Nikka, are you feeling well?” she said, concern wrinkling her brow.

If only she can see what she looks like,
thought Nikka.

Adjudah laughed and the others looked at him.

“You all forget how it feels to have the blinding spells removed. We must look a fright. Especially you, Koen.”

It was true, council member Koen did seem the most changed. For one thing, he was as close to looking like a forest cat as he could without padding about on all fours. His ears perched atop his head and were covered in soft gray fur which also went over his head and trailed down to encircle his face in a furry ruff. His face was human and much the same as his former semblance, but his hands were covered in the same soft fur, though shaped as a normal human's and she swore she saw a tail lashing behind him.

Mordra had the same hair, but her eyes were red like flames.
Or blood
, Nikka thought. Her skin was as pale as death, and her canines came down in sharp points next to the rest of her teeth. Adjudah was much like his son, having the same violet eyes and long pointing ears. Jilli, from the Aquis, had hair that curled like strands of seaweed, light green and wrapped with bits of shell and stone. Her fingers, where she moved her hands about, were delicately webbed and her eyes were slanted. Lastly was Salia, from her own former tribe, who had wings, more beautiful than any butterfly, white and pink and gray, trailing in many patterns behind her and then there was the inevitable white halo encircling her.

“My own father had wings and I never knew it,” said Nikka, staring at them.

Adjudah laughed again.

“Young Nikka, you continue to surprise me. I don't think any of us expected to see two Compis, alive at the same time. Who knows, maybe there will be one every few years until each tribe has their own.”

“You must wonder what will happen next,” said Mordra.

Nikka almost said she knew already, but thought that Adra might not want them to know she'd talked to Nikka.

“I know only what they told us in class, and it was little enough. No one considered Compis a worthwhile topic, considering how rare they are.”

“I can tell you some, being mated to a Compis,” said Mordra. “Your powers are what most will envy, child. You can see the lines of power as they radiate from each of the Five Sacred Elements and you can harvest them all, using them as though you were Inducted into each of the tribes.

“And this is why you must pick a tribe. It would harm us all for you to use whatever power you choose to. We ask that at the time of Induction you join a tribe and choose an element to harness, so that you may benefit that tribe and keep yourself from abusing the great gift you have been given.

“My mate chose the Sanguis, because in his heart he wished to be a healer. You will spend the next year with all the tribes, each tribe in its season. During that time, you will stay with one of us, so that we may protect you and instruct you. This is also to keep you from being swayed by your tribe of birth. When you go to the Aeris, you will not see your family and you will stay with Salia, a good and gracious woman.”

Mordra rested a hand on Nikka's shoulder.

“Do you understand, my dear?” she asked.

Nikka looked at each of the faces around her, flushing when she met Adjudah's kind gaze.

It will be hard not to be influenced by my feelings for Zyander
, she thought. Though the sight of him turning away from her and pushing through the crowd without a backward glance would remain in her memory for a long time. He was so predictable in his inability to accept that they might have a future beyond the gathering.

“I am a Compis. I have powers beyond what most have. I can see lines of power flowing from the Five Sacred Elements and I can harness any one of them that I choose. At the end of the year I will choose a single tribe to benefit from my skill, so that I am not tempted to abuse my powers,” she recited.

“Good, good,” Koen nodded. He turned to Jilli, who stepped forward.

“Well, Nikka, let's go gather your things and say goodbye to your family, if that's agreeable to you,” she said.

Nikka stood and walked out of the room, leaving Adra and the others behind her. She felt more alone than she had in her entire life.

The Ocean Rushes.

The River Flows.

The Pond Ripples.

The Fog Hovers.

The Rain Falls.

The Marshes Bubble.

The Ice Crackles.

The Snow Covers.

-
A Song of the Aquis Tribe

Luka was still standing, lost in his own humiliation, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He'd glanced over and seen Nikka and her purple robes, but he was so caught up in his own misery that he only had time to curse his bad luck before he was lost in his own thoughts again. Until the tap on his shoulder, that is.

He yelped when he turned and saw Duor Hama standing behind him.

“Ah, yes, the tusks always alarm the Initiates,” he said, fondling one of the five inch tusks protruding from the sides of his mouth.

Luka could not help comparing him to a warthog. His hair stood up in bristles all over his head and fanned his face with dark hair and his feet, which somehow Luka had not noticed up until now, were hooves.

“I-” the words refused to come out of his mouth.

“Yes, you see, Initiate, as I've told about 20 before you, your eyes were masked by a powerful illusion since the day you were born. This was intended to keep you from seeing any of your tribe's secrets. Now that you have been Initiated into the Terris, we'll be able to share all our secrets with you and the Aeris will be safe from any of your idle curiosity. Although I expect that is the last thing on your mind on the moment, eh?”

He gave Luka what he must have meant for a comforting pat on the back, but ended up a gentle pounding.

“Bit of a fuss there, wasn't it?” he said, in a not at all helpful way.

Luka nodded, but said nothing. He despised this man, and now he was supposed to follow him, and listen to everything he said. Not to mention the fact that he might be a warthog himself one day.

“Go to your residence and collect your things, then meet us over at the Terris display tent. We'll leave from there. You have until the midday bell chimes, and then we depart.”

He turned and Luka felt as though his brain had awoken from a deep sleep.

I need to catch May before she leaves,
he thought. He knew that her father was staying for Induction, which happened at sunset, so chances were, she would be at the inn for a few hours longer.

He jumped off the stage, eliciting startled cries from the multifaceted crowd around him. His subconscious noted the changes in the people around him, webbed hands, pointed ears and teeth, bright eyes, and various strange appendages, but his mind was focused on pushing his way through the crowd. Running like his feet were on fire, he made it through the square, down the road, and past the market to the inn, where he blasted through the door. It hit the wall behind him and he heard someone yell at him, but he paid no attention as he raced up the steps, two at a time.

Hesitating outside May's door, he waited, gathering up some of the courage that brought him here. He heard a muffled cry from the room, and gripped the knob, turning it to open the door. May was standing near her bed crying, with her father next to her, arm around her. They looked up when he opened the door and May's father moved away from her. For a moment it seemed he was going to usher Luka from the room, but then, without a word, he left, closing the door behind him.

May looked red and puffy from her tears, and there was a soggy handkerchief clasped in her hand as though it would somehow save her grief.

She is beautiful
, he thought, heart aflame with all the love he felt for her.

“May,” he said, moving close to her. “It doesn't have to be this way. We don't have to be separated.”

She was shaking her head through his sentence, a stubborn moue forming on her face.

“Luka, that's just silly. I'm not going to run gallivanting around the countryside with a bunch of tribeless wanderers, who for all we know live in tents somewhere in the desert! You're so eager to join up with them, but you don't even
know
them. You don't know what they eat, where they live, what they believe in.”

“I'm willing to join up with them, because I want to be with
you
, May. I don't care a bit about the tribeless, except that they're a way for us to be together and be safe. If we leave with them today, we won't have to worry about trying to find them months from now.”

She started crying again and pulled away from him.

“May, please,” he whispered, stroking her hair away from her face.

“No,” she said, looking up. “I hate the way things have ended. I hate that we can't be together, but I'm not going to leave my family behind and go off with a bunch of people I don't trust.”

“I bet you would have been singing a different tune if it were
you
that got chosen for Terris and I for Aeris,” he said, moving away from her.

“That's not true. I would have tried to accept what I'm trying to now—we were never meant to be together, and it was silly to expect the events to turn out any other way.” Her eyes held finality, and knowing her as he did, he knew it would be a useless endeavor to argue with her right now. She'd always needed time to let new ideas seep in.

“You'll change your mind, May. When you do, I'll be here. I'm not going anywhere without you,” he pulled her into his arms and kissed her with all the emotion in his heart, hoping it would convey to her the seriousness of his intentions. Then he pulled back.

She looked at him, watery eyes filling again.

“Oh, Luka, it's just not fair! It's not, it's not...” her voice trailed off and she laid her head on his shoulder.

He held her, reaching up a hand to rub her back, hoping to calm her.

“I mean it, May. I'll be here at the close of every season, hoping to see you, and hoping that you'll change your mind. The minute you do, we'll be off,” he said. Kissing her cheek, he released her, walked through the door and down the hall to his own room.

He had a lot of thinking and packing to do before the midday bells.

Zyander had just put the final fold in his tent, before he packed it away in his satchel and put it across his horse's back, when he heard his father clear his throat behind him.

“Don't say it,” he called. He was in no mood for another of his father's speeches. In his mind he was replaying the moment Nikka changed before his eyes from
untouchable
to
impossible in this lifetime
. He felt the pain in his gut as he realized he had never before been closer to something he wanted and yet so far away it seemed he would never attain it.

“Zyan,” his father began, ignoring his curt order.

Zyander whirled and strode over to where his father was standing. Adjudah's face was awash with compassion and pity and in that moment, Zyander hated him.

“We said our goodbyes yesterday, there is nothing more to be said. I didn't talk to her once today. Leave it be, father.”

Adjudah grabbed his arm.

“I can't
let it be
, Zyander. I am a member of the High Council. The girl will be living with us for the whole of
Astra Cida
. You need to keep your distance from her.

“If it comes out that there is even a
hint
of bias in our favor, we will be shamed before the whole of the Five Tribes.”

Zyander huffed and threw off his father's arm. He went over to retrieve his tent, stuffed it in his satchel, and grabbed the other bag with the belongings he'd brought to the gathering and threw them over his horse, who stamped and shied away.

“
Sorry, Twitchfoot, I didn't mean to take my ire out on you, old friend
,
”
he said, speaking in the Ignis way to his beast.

The horse seemed to nod its head and calm down—though he wasn't sure, since Twitchfoot had never answered back.

He turned to his father. “What do you propose I do, Father? Do you want me to move to other quarters? Perhaps I can go live in Abira, the forgotten city? Better yet, I'm sure one of your good friends, the elders, would be happy to shelter me. I would hate for our tribe to suffer on account of my paltry feelings for the tribes' newest Compis.

“Maybe I should renounce my tribe and join with the tribeless. Now, that's not a bad idea,” he said, considering it for a moment. If only he didn't have the spell his mother placed on him weighing on his heart. He and his sister were needed by the tribe. Iam only knew what he was supposed to do about it, but he wouldn't abandon them.

His father looked shocked. “Zyan, please, you must understand our position. Our tribe's magic is near dead. Our numbers have dwindled so far as to make our name as tribe a laughingstock and our funds are near depleted and the handful of elders that are left have all the lore of our tribe between them. If there is one more thing stacked against us, it will break us.”