Doublesight (29 page)

At one point she raised her palm near her head and Hammadin placed his palm against hers. Later, she did the same with Wellock. More mixing, more singing and chanting. Oro swayed and swooned. She reached for Crob and he kneeled to reach her. Their hands stayed close.

The other doublesight chanted, each in his or her own way. A symphony of sound rose from the council tent. A drumming began. A stomping of feet. Other sounds entered the tent, screeching and clawing at Oro's ears. She knew that she heard more than any of the others. She knew that half of her sensed the physical realm and half sensed the next realm.

Tintse flew into the tent, a mirage, a mist, fading in and out of corporeal reality.

One candle blew a sudden burst of fireworks into the air above Oro's head. Another began to flicker, then another blew flames higher than the rest. Oro lifted her chin. The center candle went out. She closed her eyes, shutting out one world and entering another. She sat straighter, taller, stronger. She shifted and entered the sky above the tent where she flew around it, first to the right, then to the left.

Tintse joined her and welcomed her.

The sisters played, rose into the sky, clutched their claws together, fell, separated, and flew off in joyful free-flight. Oro shifted back into her worn body. She knew that none of those present had seen the shift, for it happened in another place, another world. The chanting and drumming grew stronger and more oppressive. She slumped in her seat and whispered her own chant once again. Holding herself in two worlds at once, so close to death and to life, made her more tired than she had been when she entered the tent early in the evening.

Oro let a long slow breath leave her body. She forced it out toward the end so that more and more air escaped her lungs as if rejected. She fell forward and felt Hammadin and Wellock grab her shoulders. The chanting slowed. The drumming stopped. Three of the five candles were out. When all the chanting stopped, the silence fell like the silence of death. But death was not upon her yet. It would be another day before she moved over completely.

Crob lifted Oro's feet. Someone took her shoulders. She felt them pick her up and lay her on a stretcher. Crob grabbed two poles at Oro's feet and Wellock grabbed the poles at the old woman's head. Hammadin stood next to Oro as they walked toward the entrance.

She saw Rend's face as he came up to her and held her hand out for his. The stretcher stopped moving. She grasped Rend's hand and he placed his other hand over her forehead.

She whispered, “My dear, dear friend. I have always loved you, as you know. Now, stay close and I will take your courage and strength with me into the other world. I will deliver it to Zimp so that she may protect your son in both realms.”

Rend shook his head and promised her that he would stay with her.

Oro glanced to his side and saw the glisten of tears in Mianna's eyes. “You have a wonderful mate,” she said.

Mianna stepped closer and placed her hand over Rend's. “We'll both be with you.”

Oro let go of Rend and Mianna by slipping her soft hand from theirs. She motioned for Crob to continue.

A small procession followed The Few and the High Sage to her wagon. Once the four of them were inside Oro sat up with some difficulty.

Arren, Storret, and Noot sat on Zimp's cot. Rend and Mianna stood at the opening at the end of the wagon.

“Come in, come in,” Oro said. “We'll make room for you.”

When they were all settled, she began to speak as if still in a trance. Her eyes remained closed. She did not need to see them in order to speak. She conferred with Tintse as she spoke to her friends.

“Noot, the Peacemaker,” she said in a shaky voice, “you are now the High Sage. You must hear me speak now and always. Listen closely to my voice as it becomes weaker in this world and stronger in the next.

“Storret, the Scout, you are to be commander of the doublesight's first army. You must train your army heavily. Hammadin will lead the recruiting outside our council gathering. There is a great change coming.”

Tintse spoke wildly. Oro hesitated to listen. “Oh, my,” she said. “You must train the doublesight to dance through battle. Whether human image or beast image, in the end, we must remember the other.”

Oro took a deep breath.

Rend asked what he could do.

“You must stay with me until I leave.” She took another breath. “I am tired. But Tintse is not. Some, some are the concerns of the other side. They care less about death. Note too, Noot, that they care less about us than themselves. I will begin to be the same.”

“Nayman,” she said to Rend and Mianna. “will be a second commander and will train a second army.”

“But his foot,” Mianna began.

“A commander need not fight. Nayman will be a compassionate leader. His courage is beyond that of most others. His life is always thought of second. He can experience joy in another's accomplishments. Yes, Nayman will lead also, but in a different way than Storret. The armies must train separately.”

“He may not like this,” Mianna said.

Oro opened her eyes in a small slit. “Often the best leaders are those who are reluctant to lead. They are much more careful of decisions.”

“Like Zimp,” Rend said.

Oro allowed a smile to appear and then disappear across her lips.

No one else spoke, and Oronice The Gem began to nod off to sleep. Tintse woke her and Oro's body jerked. She opened her eyes. The others sat around her, close and quiet. “You may go,” she said. “Begin your duties now.”

As the wagon emptied except for Rend and Mianna, Oro lay back down and began to enter sleep. Oro dreamed of battles, some won, others lost. She dreamed of Zimp and her small band of spies. A great field opened in her dream, clear and fresh, but not safe. “Zimp,” she whispered. There was no reply. Had Zimp not meditated, not mixed herbs or chanted silently? “Zora,” Oro said in despair. But there was no reply from her either.

31

THE AIR LAY DENSE across the small band of doublesight. Silence came to the forest as though an army crept toward them, but they knew differently. Each, in his or her way, was a part of the forest, a part of the animal kingdom. Each knew that the wildlife sensed what was about to happen.

Brok crouched onto his legs and shifted in a few breaths, annoying everyone.

Zimp jumped back as anger pulsed out of his body during the shift. What he had done was dangerous to them all.

Therin yelped and backed away from his own brother.

Brok slipped back into his human image as quickly as he shifted out.

Zimp yelled, “Never again!”

Brok stared back at her. “Afraid?” He spun around to leave, hesitated as if waiting for a thought, then swung around and pointed at Lankor in anger. “Your brother can protect you.”

Lankor grimaced. “What did I do?”

“Nothing,” Brok said.

“It's the best choice.” Zimp knew why Brok got angry, but wouldn't announce it. The thought repulsed her. No matter how much she tried to feel comfortable around him, there was the constant image of Therin drooling or licking blood from his chops, which reminded her of Brok's beast image waiting to come out. He'd have to get used to the facts, yet now might not have been the best time for that to occur. “I didn't want to be in charge here,” she said.

“You've said that b-before,” Raik said. “I w-wish you'd stand strong or stand down. Your indecision makes me nervous.”

“Okay,” Zimp said turning and giving everyone her attention. “Fast shifts are only to be done in an emergency. We wouldn't want anyone holding too strongly to his beast image.”

“Especially a thylacine?” Brok said.

“Anyone,” Zimp said.

“Back him away,” Raik said to Brok about Therin. “I'm next to get this over with. But remember, I'll remain like this for about half an hour.

“You'd better be on your best behavior,” Brok told him.

Raik never stood. He leaned onto his back and with a deft pace shifted into his copperhead image. After fully shifting, his pink belly up, Raik rolled over. He coiled and stared at Brok and Therin. He uncoiled and slithered next to Lankor's leg.

Zimp shivered. She wondered if her shifting was as creepy as Raik's or as frightening as Brok's or Lankor's. What was it for them to see one another change shape, become part animal and part human, mold into another form as if their bodies were made of clay?

Zimp cocked her head and listened for Zora. Were the voices she heard really her sister or were they demons from the next realm? For the last two days she had felt exhausted from the hard travel. The voices came more often but were not so easy to decipher. “Danger,” was one of the few words she heard.
Danger at Castle Weilk or danger in our own camp?
Zimp asked silently, followed by,
“Who are you?”

Lankor shocked her into paying attention when she heard him begin to shift. The cracking and grinding of his bones grated against her thoughts. The odor of smoke from an ancient fire filled the air. The beaked face of the dragon protruded from Lankor's face, disfiguring it. Spikes like tree branches grew from his cheeks and along his head. Tattered wings and long single claws stretched ominously. A tail grew, scales and spikes protruded. Lankor stood for a moment and looked at the joint between wing and claw as if he didn't believe the change had actually occurred.

Compared to the shock of Brok's quick shift, Lankor's shift remained the most frightening Zimp had ever seen. She understood now how a single dragon doublesight might control whole hordes of
humans. She also realized how reckless his first shift in front of the council had been. Dragons had great power, even in their shift. Lankor, if he chose, could scare a doublesight into singlesight if he changed quickly enough. After the shift, she wondered how conscious Lankor was of his human self, and how conscious was the dragon within him? She spoke slowly testing his understanding. “I have never seen you spit fire. I smell ash and smoke. Is that a truth or a myth?” She also wondered how such a large creature could fly, but upon closer inspection realized that his body was thin and emaciated. His ribs showed through his skin and looked as though they were just as spiked and dangerous as the spikes that protruded on the outside of his body. Did his skeleton cause him pain?

Lankor twisted from his standing position by coiling his body, snakelike, to the side. His great clawed feet followed after as though they needed to wait for the body to move first. The clawed wings scraped the ground and dragged through the brush.

Zimp saw how his wings would become tattered. Already the brush pulled at them just as they pulled at her cloak as she walked. Holes pushed through his wings, allowing light to shine through them in spots. In other areas a silvery scar stretched across the charcoal wings where the tears had healed.

Lankor's dragon image strained into an upright position and, facing a small bush that stood alone in the path, opened its mouth. A loud hissing slipped into the silence and a pop warned of the coming flame. Curling through the air, a white fog-like breath reached out. At first the fire appeared as a mist created from breathing on a cold day. By the time it touched its target, flames curled through the air and the bush burst into light, overcome first with white fire then blue and orange flames. After a moment, nothing but soot remained. A backwind scattered the gray dust.

Zimp and the others had retreated. The stench of fire coming from the depths of Lankor's body smelled vaguely of a dead carcass. The heat could have charred the hair on their arms. “I see,” Zimp said in a weak tone.

Lankor returned to his human image and Zimp stepped closer to him. The idea of having a creature of such power in their group, or even on The Great Land, made her understand the complete horror
people must have felt in the past. She could almost understand why the doublesight and humans might team against the dragons. Concern swallowed her thoughts for a moment. What if he joined the other dragon rather than protect their small party from its wrath?

Zimp's heightened sight allowed her to see the residue of his beast image all around him. The image receded with a calculated slowness, as if reluctant to give up its life for Lankor's. “We'll be able to remain in our human images longer, now that the hunger has been satisfied. In case we need to stay in Weilk a long while.”

“Why would that happen?” Brok said. “Run into a few pubs and grapple with a few locals and we should know as much as they know.”

“I have a feeling it won't be that easy,” Zimp said. She looked around, then into the trees overhead. She took a deep breath. “My turn,” she said. And with that announcement, Zimp felt her body energize and fold in on itself. It took concentration and will power and passion to shift. She had to feel her crow body before it could manifest. She could only guess what the others felt as she shrunk and shriveled into her beast image. Just before the change took hold in full, she leaped into the air, opened her wings and flew up into the trees overhead. She lifted higher and higher to near exhaustion, pushing against the thick forest air until she broke through the canopy and slid into the cooler night air above the trees. She glided in a wide circle, then dove below the thick uppermost branches of the trees. She cawed as though she had found intruders approaching. Yet the woods were silent, and that didn't set well with her. She struggled not to focus on why the forest appeared empty and tried to hold only to the fact. Too much focus brought her human image to mind. If she felt her human image too strongly, she'd shift, even in mid-air.

Zimp swooped toward the ground and once there decided to shift so that she could concentrate. She walked the path a short distance toward their camp. The area around them harbored no bandits. But why?

As she entered camp again, Brok spoke out. “Your warning, what did you see?” He held a sword unsheathed by his side. Raik had coiled ready for a strike, and Lankor's staff stretched behind his neck, both hands gripping it, one on either side.

“Nothing. I circled camp and there is nothing out there.”

Brok slipped his sword into its sheath. “They know we're coming.” He kicked at the path and narrowed his eyes. Swinging his entire body toward Raik he said, “Why do you think that is?”