Eyes of the Alchemist (6 page)

Despite the comforting thought she couldn’t sleep. The rock beneath her was too hard after the sand of the desert wilderness, which had accommodated her body. There were unfamiliar noises, water roaring nearby, slithering and sighing and the odd, high-pitched squeal from the direction of the forest. The hallucinatory lily perfume of the wilderness was replaced by a fresh odor of earth and water. The cold, clean air had a sharpening effect, so her brain remained alert to all going on around her.   

After twisting and turning half the night she was forced to resort to imagery, imagining herself on a bed of soft, warm blankets, her body growing lighter and lighter. Gradually, the rock beneath her warmed and softened and she experienced the blissful sensation of floating into oblivion.

* * * *

The darkness around her gradually filled with whispers. Had Tiana been awake she might have seen the reflection of glowing eyes which, blinked shut as if one when she murmured in her sleep. Unaware she had companions, or of her levitation, she drifted on the gentle air currents.

Once, at the prodding of its twin, one of the watching creatures scampered to her side. Reaching up, he grasped her long braid of hair and towed her carefully back from the edge of the hill. He secured her hair to a strong sapling growing from a crack, then rejoined his companion.

They whispered together, watching her float above the ground, and seemingly perfectly relaxed. When biting insects approached her, the moon lent her an aura that none could penetrate so her skin was left unscathed.

The watchers were simple hunters, and they didn’t know quite what to make of the situation. But they were under instructions from their lord not to let any harm befall her, so they watched, and they waited.

  Just before day broke they heard a high-pitched whistle from their forest companions. They scampered over the rocks and retreated back to their natural element. From a vantage point in the tall trees they saw the Pitilan return to its mistress. It moved slowly. It had gorged itself on eels, and its blood was sluggish with the narcotic juices secreted on the eel’s skin.

The watchers gazed at each other and nodded in satisfaction.

* * * *

Tiana dreamed she was floating. The experience was so pleasant the dream felt like reality when she woke. She smiled and opened her eyes. She
was
floating! Panicking, she fell. Her head was nearly wrenched from her shoulders when it abruptly jerked back. Someone had grabbed her by the braid, and she knew exactly who it was.

“
You thick-skulled bully!
” she yelled, twisting round.

She felt foolish when she encountered nothing but a wall of lichen-covered rock. A leafy twig whipped across her face from a sapling she was entangled in. In the half-light of moon shadow her hair glowed with luminosity. Dragging it free from the foliage she gazed at the fall of water in horror. If her hair hadn’t snagged she’d have drifted over the edge and fallen on to the rocks.

As much as it pleased her, she didn’t bother wondering at this new skill as she fingered the welt on her cheek. Sybilla had said her power would increase once she’d learned to fully trust her intuition. Yet to trust her intuition when unconscious in sleep was a frightening thought. She shivered at what the consequences might have been though. Now she must be on guard until she learned to control the ability.

Day arrived to chill her to the bone. Her stomach ached with hunger. She yawned and stretched, and then remembered the pool. She formed her hands into a scoop and drank deeply of the water to refresh her mouth and fill the emptiness in her stomach.

The terrain displayed a strange beauty. Behind her, a stream of water gushed over pebbles and through a meadow ringed by forest. Below, and beyond the lake and manor was a fine town. Beyond that, fields, then more forest and then towering, mountain crests. Cabrilan seemed to go on into a purple haze of forever.

Her delight in her surrounds didn’t assuage her hunger. She ventured into the meadow, and as was her habit gathered herbs as she went. They grew in abundance here, coriander, myrrh and rosemary for their antiseptic properties, balm and catnip for digestion, passionflower to sedate the senses, ginseng root to achieve the opposite effect. She tied long strands of grass around the herbal bunches and hung them from the branches of a shrub to dry.

Watercress grew wild along the bank of the stream. Pulling handfuls of it up she crammed it in her mouth, munching on the peppery leaves until she was full. A beam of sunlight touched on the stream, sending a finger of fire along its length. She sank to her knees and turned her palms towards the light, calming her spirit in order to receive the day’s blessing.

“My lady.”

The softly spoken words didn’t penetrate until it was followed by Atarta’s warning growl. Startled, Tiana sprang to her feet to gaze wildly around her. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a woman. Of regal bearing, a silver diadem kept a dark veil in place so Tiana couldn’t clearly see her face. “Come no closer if you value your life. Who are you?”

“You do not need to fear me. I am here as an emissary from Lord Kavan.” The woman placed a folded garment on the ground and set a carved box upon it. “He has charged me to present you with his cloak for warmth, and this gift.”

“What is your name, woman?”

Resentment filled the space between them. “Rowena.”

“And your function in Lord Kavan’s manor?”

“I am his mother.”

 If anything, the resentment grew stronger. The woman was not very good at masking her feelings, but considering her position perhaps she’d never had to. Tiana bowed her head as a sign of respect. “You are most welcome, Rowena. What gift does Lord Kavan send?”

“A wishing dish.”

“Why does your son not bring it himself?”

Rowena threw her veil back, revealing a face as cold and unfriendly as stone, a mouth pursed in disapproval. “He is angered by your rejection and your disregard of his wishes regarding the Pitilan. He cannot trust himself to be impartial at this time.” Her voice began to fade, her shadow blended with the forest. “Kavan honors you greatly, girl. You need only to look on the bowl’s surface and whatever you desire will be yours.”

When Rowena’s image faded away, Tiana experienced loneliness, despite the other woman’s obvious unfriendliness. Her heart ached for Sybilla as she turned to Atarta. “Check what has been offered.”

The beast’s snout probed the depth of the cloak, And then flipped the lid from the box.

“It’s exquisite,” she breathed when colors writhed like mist from a clear crystal set into the middle of the bowl’s silver surface.

After sniffing at the offerings for a few moments, Atarta made a mewing sound, indicating there was no danger evident.

She shook out the cloak Lord Kavan had sent. It floated upon the sweet air like gossamer before settling around her shoulders. She delighted in its softness. The fine fabric was colored the dusky purple of night and her hair lay against its folds like strands of moonlight. She’d expected the Cabrilan lord’s odor to be sour, but the fragrance lingering about the garment’s folds were pleasing – balm, sandalwood and a piquant undertone unfamiliar to her.

Comforted by the cloak’s warm embrace she carried the bowl back to her vantage place and set it on a rock to examine it better. Precious gems shimmered with ethereal light beneath the silver surface. She smiled with awed delight.

“These must be the gems spoken of in the legend told to me by Sybilla,” she said to the uninterested Atarta. “Endowed with the alchemist’s mystic power, they were said to have been created from rare minerals in the time before time. He who possesses them will rule with wisdom.”

She slanted her head to one side. Lost in the beauty of the gems, she murmured. “It was said they were lost when the world split asunder, and were swallowed up by the earth.”

The result had been thousands of years of chaotic darkness as each tribe had culled the other from their domain, she thought.

The library records she’d secretly studied had revealed that the Truarc had been the more civilized and intellectual of the tribes, creating the efficient Pitilan to seek out and cull the Cabrilan remaining on Truarc. From time to time it crossed her mind that the Truarc council might have feared the might of the warrior lords, and knowing they’d be defeated in combat they had taken the coward’s way out. She’d grown up believing the Cabrilan to be extinct and wondered what else had been kept concealed by the Truarc elders.

Tiana was a little disappointed that the augur had deemed Lord Kavan worthy to have such power as the gemstones offered. Surely
The High One
would be a more suitable protector.

Her senses swam as she gazed at the bowl’s splendor. Placing such power in her hands was indeed a high honor. “I would wish to thank Lord Kavan for such a gift.”

“Your thanks are appreciated, daughter of light.”

She shrank back when Kavan’s figure appeared in a void above the lake.

“You need not fear. I’m without substance.”

She breathed a sigh of relief for Kavan’s powerful presence disturbed her. He was clad in loose black breeches, his waist cinched with silver buckled leather. Boots of fine black leather clung to his calves. His tunic was woven in a soft, purple colored fabric, identical to the cloak she wore. Edged in silver it clung to his broad chest. The hilt of the silver dagger shoved casually into his belt was studded with gems and shone with a powerful radiance. Awed by the change in him Tiana averted her eyes from his magnificence.

“You have changed also, little Tiana. You are no longer a child. Come, you are not without courage. Raise your eyes to mine and tell me why you fled.”

Her eyes widened with surprise when they touched upon Lord Kavan’s face. The unkempt beard had gone, revealing a countenance of strength and beauty. “You are more pleasing to look upon than I remember,” she blurted out.

The corners of his mouth twitched. “And I have more vanity than I thought I possessed, for your soft words please me. You gaze through the eyes of a woman now and your scornful, childish words touched a raw nerve.” His mouth parted in a smile as he stroked his naked chin. Both were well shaped and firm. “You are just as beautiful as I remember, lady.”

She experienced only a hint of stirring against her scalp when he reached out to touch her hair, yet the nape of her neck reacted with exquisite pleasure.

“Why did you run from me?” he asked again.

“My intention was not to anger you, Lord. I had no say in the matter of our union nor the means of bringing me to Cabrilan. You are a stranger to me, and I’m apprehensive of being forced to submit to your will.”

“I understand your fear and will make allowances for your reticence. You had only to ask.”

“Thank you, Lord. I had not thought you would indulge me.”

Her sarcasm seemed to escape him for his mouth assumed a wry curve. “Consider it done. I’m not entirely without sensitivity. The mysticism of the gods resides in my genes, and is strengthened by those of the alchemist and the Cabrilan will.”

He looked so proud of himself she couldn’t help but mock. “You have certainly been endowed with a considerable amount of self-esteem, Lord Kavan.”

 A frown cut through his pride. “Take care. The god Arcus is my sire. He shapes my very thoughts and shows me the way forward.”

Did he imagine Arcus more powerful than the combination of her own mother, the Goddess
Lynx and
The High One
? “And what way is that, savage?” Losing her fear she stood at the edge of the chasm, a sweep of her hand indicating the fall. “If you seek to crush me as the water does the rock below, you will find me just as resilient.”

He gave a great, booming laugh. “The rock succumbs to the water in time, wearing away until it becomes sand. When the rock softens the water does as it will with it. I can achieve the same effect faster.” His image began to shimmer and change. “I will not wait as long as the water for the rock. You have made a pact with me, Tiana. I’m here to tell you that you have seven dawns in which to keep it. By that time the rock will be as sand to your vision.”

“And if I do not come to you?” she called as the illusion began to clear.

“If I’m forced to fetch you, I promise . . . you will not enjoy the outcome.”

Her fingers slid to the Pitilan beside her. “Neither will you, Lord,” she murmured in defiant scorn.

* * * *

There was a great deal of tension in the manor of Kavan. Some considered their lord was being too lenient with the Truarc maid.

“She is surely laughing at you,” one of his advisors said. “You do her great honor taking her to wife. If the girl was Cabrilan she’d be flogged for refusing your will.”

Kavan glowered at the man. “Tiana is not Cabrilan. She was raised to be pure in mind and body therefore she can’t give one without the other. First, I must win her heart, only then will she come willingly to the marriage bed.”

“Her beauty has addled your brain,” the man murmured. “You should enjoy many a woman before you grow old.”

“I have, and I grow weary of the game.” He rose, stretching his powerful body with an unconscious, cat-like grace. “My union with Tiana is destined by the gods. Our women are becoming increasingly barren. The majority of the young being born have defects and die shortly after birthing. This is due to inbreeding. Only the young of those with Truarc blood show strength and promise. We need the Truarc women if we’re to survive.”

“Then continue to kill the men and take the Truarc females. It’s worked thus far.”

“Too many of them are shamed and take their own lives. They must come willingly and peacefully. Besides, I have a theory that what works one way will work in another. It may be that the Truarc seed is compatible with Cabrilan women?”

A gasp went through the company.

“I’ll beat the life from any Cabrilan women who lies with a Truarc,” someone cried out.

“That will achieve nothing. “Kavan paced up and down the great hall. “The Cabrilan women have a right to bear healthy young, if that is their wish. Once I’ve repaired the rift and the planet is one again, the Truarc and Cabrilan must live as one tribe.”