Priestess of the Eggstone (29 page)

“Those plants over there are a better view,” she said as she settled on the second couch. “I like the vines with the yellow flowers.”

Tayvis sat on the couch next to her, studying me. “We’re not going away until you tell us what we can do to help.”

“You can’t do anything.” I closed my eyes and pretended I enjoyed the hot sun on my face. A trickle of water ran from my hair into one ear. I wiped it away.

“I don’t think you heard me,” Tayvis said very slowly.

“Are you going to threaten to shoot me this time?” I opened my eyes. “Or just push me around a bit first?”

Jerimon glared at the back of Tayvis’ dark head, jealousy almost turning his whole face green.

“There isn’t anything you can do,” I repeated.

“Then at least tell us what you’re planning on doing,” Jasyn said. “Where did you go last night? Why are there guards in the hall that threaten to stab us if we even look like we’re going out?”

“You don’t have to do it alone, Dace,” Tayvis said. “Besides, I left my gun behind. You’ll just have to cooperate with me without it.”

“And just why should she cooperate with you?” Jerimon plopped on the other bench. “Just because your family bought you rank, doesn’t mean—”

“I earned my rank.” Tayvis’s voice was low, quiet. I shivered from the buried threat in it. “What have you done besides cause trouble?”

“Stop it,” Jasyn said in a voice that could have cut steel. “We have enough problems without the two of you trying to show each other up all the time.” She wiggled her finger at Jerimon.

He paled and shrank down on the cushion. I made a mental note to corner Jasyn later to teach me how to do it.

“Dace, tell us what is going on.” She turned her attention back to me.

“You said we have one week,” Tayvis put in.

I sighed and closed my eyes. It wouldn’t hurt to tell them, and maybe they could think of some way to help. The Eggstone wasn’t helping. If I concentrated I could almost hear it thinking about my memories. I explained as much as I could to the others. Some of the concepts were hard to put into words, Sessimoniss behavior was especially difficult. Their biology was so central to their culture that it was hard to separate it enough to really make sense.

I summed up our position in a few short words. The only thing keeping us alive was the tolerance of some of the clans and their respect for the Eggstone and tradition.

“All of the others who have landed here were killed,” I said. “Nobody who wasn’t Sessimoniss has ever left here alive.”

“Then we’ll be the first,” Jasyn said.

“There have been others?” Tayvis asked.

I picked through memories, fuzzy now that the Eggstone was in the other room. “Three ships, I think. The most recent was about a hundred years or so ago. A Patrol Scout. Maybe. It’s hard to be certain, I’m going from the memory of a Priestess who never actually saw the ship.”

“There’s our way off,” Tayvis said thoughtfully. “We find the ship and we’re home free.”

“They didn’t take off again?” Jerimon asked.

“They were brought to Council briefly, before the priests of Sekkitass sacrificed them.” I shuddered and shoved that memory away. Sekkitass had demanded an open air sacrifice where everyone could see, or so the priests claimed. They butchered the poor Patrol crew out in the plaza.

“Where is the ship?” Tayvis asked.

“I don’t know.” I squirmed onto a drier patch of stone.

“Are there records? Anything that might give us a clue?” Tayvis asked.

“I couldn’t read them if there were any,” I said.

“Are you sure about that?” he asked.

I frowned. Some of the priestesses had known how to read. Maybe if I used their memories, I could puzzle out the language. Just thinking about it gave me a headache, but it might work. I got off the floor, shaking out my still damp dress. “I’ll ask for the records. They might decide to cooperate.”

I threatened the guards in the hall until they admitted to having records. I claimed I needed them for Council. After more threats, they finally sent someone to fetch them.

“Bring paper and writing tools,” I added, struck by an idea. If I could somehow write down key symbols, the others could help look through the records.

“What are you doing?” Tayvis asked.

“I’m going to teach you to read Sessimoniss, at least key phrases. Then you can have something to do.”

“Besides sit here and worry?” He didn’t look very happy.

“You chose to come.”

He frowned.

“I’m glad you did,” I added. “I just hope we can manage to leave in one piece.”

“We got off Dadilan, we’ll get out of here.”

I wished I had his optimism, wished I’d never touched the Eggstone, wished I’d never gotten tangled up in any of this. But then, I wouldn’t have met him again so soon. I studied his face, not sure of what I felt. His brown eyes were warm.

“Are those the records?” Jerimon said. He pointed at the door, still hanging open. A dozen Sessimoniss carried in a very large pile of scrolls and parchments. Tayvis stepped away, the moment lost. Whatever he had been about to say, he wasn’t going to say it now.

I let the Sessimoniss in. They dumped the piles on one couch. They kept coming. The entire couch was five feet deep in scrolls before they quit. Parchment spilled onto the floor on all sides. I looked at the mound in dismay. Months wouldn’t be long enough to sort through the stack.

“How do we sort them?” Jasyn asked.

“I don’t know.” I went to fetch the Eggstone.

“Dace? You can’t leave us with this,” Jerimon said, his voice whining.

“Just start somewhere,” I said over my shoulder. “I have to learn how to read them.”

I entered the small room. The altar glowed as blue as the sky overhead in the courtyard. The Eggstone rested in the center, a glossy black ovoid. A piece of the altar flaked off, leaving a small crater behind. It was about the size of my palm, a perfectly shaped and polished skystone. I held a fortune in my hand, but it wasn’t going to do me any good on Serrimonia. I put it back down.

*Your memories, though borrowed, are most intriguing.*

“If you help me get off this planet, I’ll give you everything I have.” I hated doing it, I hated giving up control, but I didn’t see any other way out.

*And why shouldn’t I just take them anyway?* The Eggstone’s tone was cold, as distant and unreachable as any I had ever heard from it.

“You could, but I would fight you every step of the way. I need your help to escape.”

*No one escapes. Secrecy is the Sessimoniss’ best protection.*

“They’re dying, you know that. Isn’t that why you brought me here? I will do all I can in the week that they’ve given me. But I don’t want to die on the altar of Sekkitass. They need what humans can offer them.”

*Do they? Or will humans kill them?* The memories of my own cruel childhood rose to haunt me. *Humans do not treat their own very well. How can you promise they would treat others better?* The Eggstone used the Sessimoniss word that meant outsider-not clan. It was not a nice word.

“There are those who will help,” I said, choosing my words. “There are those who will not, just as there are Sessimoniss who tolerate me and those who do not.”

The Eggstone chuckled, the sound echoing in my head. *You give clever answers, and yet you believe you will find those who can help. What is it you wish?*

“You gave me the technical specs of the ship. Can you do the same for the Sessimoniss language?”

*I have. You speak as well as your human throat will allow you.*

“I need to read it.”

*So you can find the ship and find a way to leave.*

“Yes.”

*I will help you as much as I can. I find a strange sadness at the thought of you going to feed Sekkitass.*

“Thank–”

A flood of information filled my mind. I swayed dizzily. It was too much, too fast. I slid down the altar to sprawl on the floor. It was as if a thousand Sessimoniss were writing in my head, words scratching through my brain. I fought to stay conscious, sinking into darkness as the claws continued to scratch out a language older than human civilization.

Chapter Twenty-One

I woke with a pounding headache. Strange symbols and words danced in my head. I thought I understood the Sessimoniss before, but my understanding had been filtered through the Eggstone. I had another piece of their culture directly in my head now. There were deeper, richer meanings to words. I sat, leaning against the altar until my head stopped spinning.

*Do all humans have such trouble assimilating knowledge? I have found memories of a hypnoteacher in your mind. Is it not a similar thing?*

“Probably. I don’t do well with it. Most humans are fine learning that way. At least facts. Real learning takes experience.” I quoted one of the teachers at the Academy, an admiral so old he actually looked his age who taught a beginning course in ethics and philosophy. I hadn’t really understood what he meant, but I was starting to get a glimmer of understanding now.

“What now?” Tayvis held a sheaf of parchment and one of the weird inksticks the Sessimoniss used for writing.

“Crash course in the Sessimoniss language.” I rubbed my aching head.

“Jasyn and Jerimon are sorting the pile, matching the symbols at the top. It’s tough, though. If you can understand any of it, it might help.” He held out the parchment.

I drew a series of symbols across the parchment. “These represent the Priestess at the time the ship landed. These four are dates. Maybe.” I needed time to assimilate the language, but time was what we didn’t have.

“Is there a title or something similar we could look for?” This was a side of him I hadn’t seen before. He crouched next to me. “Do you need scrolls to look at?”

“It can’t hurt. Take this paper to show the others.” I closed my eyes, trying to think past the pounding in my head.

Tayvis patted my shoulder, then left.

*You wish to know how they write scrolls?* The Eggstone rummaged through the information dumped into my brain, tugging at the knowledge like strings. Things shifted and settled. The knowledge came clear. I knew how the Sessimoniss kept records and which ones covered the time when the ship landed. I pulled a sheet of paper close, writing the symbols, year by year, ten years before and ten years after. I had to think hard to write the translation in Basic.

Tayvis came back with a handful of parchment scrolls.

“Let me see them,” I said. My headache was receding.

“Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”

“I’m fine,” I answered irritably, then realized I’d been speaking Sessimoniss to him. I had to concentrate to go back to Basic. “Sorry.”

“Are you going to grow three feet taller and sprout scales next?”

“Only if it will help, although the poison claws might do more.” I was relieved to hear my normal voice.

I leafed through the scrolls he brought. They were extremely similar, following the same format. Each one had the date at the top followed by a brief summary of the scroll’s contents. The dates were from several different centuries.

“Up here,” I said, pointing at the scroll. “This is the date. Don’t bother with any that are too much different from this.” I handed him the sheet I’d written. “Look for these other symbols underneath the date. The first section of the scroll should be enough.” I yawned, suddenly exhausted. I still had a very difficult night ahead; I had to keep the Council interested enough to keep me alive longer. “Tayvis?”

He paused near the door.

“You’re trained for this kind of thing, aren’t you?”

“What kind of thing? Being kidnapped by xenos we know next to nothing about?” He shook his head. “You’re the expert here.”

“The Eggstone is.”

“What do you need, Dace?”

“I want your advice. What do I tell them at Council tonight?”

“Let me give these papers to Jasyn, then you can try explaining again.”

Relief washed through me, I wasn’t going to have to do this alone. But Tayvis wouldn’t be at Council tonight. My stomach knotted. I breathed deep, trying out every relaxation technique I knew. They didn’t help.

I spent most of the rest of the afternoon talking to Tayvis. I tried to explain the Sessimoniss, to describe the problems they faced. It would have been easier if the Eggstone hadn’t been eavesdropping and making distracting observations.

“What can I tell them tonight? I don’t know what to do.” I yawned, feeling completely drained.

“Take a nap. Let me think about this. When will they come?”

“Moonrise.” I lay on the cushion behind the altar. “About an hour after they bring dinner.”

“At least they’re predictable.”

“Mm,” I managed as I fell asleep.

I woke feeling much better. I wandered out into the main room. Jerimon and Jasyn had half of the parchments sorted and stacked.

“Come check what we’ve got.” Jasyn held up a stack.

Jerimon muttered a sarcastic remark I pretended I didn’t hear.

I took the papers from Jasyn and sifted through them. The language settled in my head. I could read without having to concentrate much. The stack she’d handed me were sorted by dates, symbols in the corner. I’d guessed correctly that all of them would be the same format. The Sessimoniss culture was so old that even page layouts were bound by tradition.

“These are the wrong time. Too early.” I traded stacks.

“Those matched the ones you drew, at least we think they did.”

The dates were right for the ship’s landing, the glyph for the priestess was correct, as well. “These are the ones to look for.” I sat on the floor, then pulled a clean sheet of paper from the pile to copy the priestess’ name. “The date is here, these symbols. This one is the priestess. Give me any that match.”

“And the rest?” Jerimon asked.

“Stack them up and we can hand those back.” I scanned through the one I held, a summary of a Council that dealt with an argument over crops. I read through another. No mention of outsiders or a ship.

“What are we looking for?” Jasyn asked.

“I’m not sure.” I drew a series of symbols on the page with the priestess glyph, those for outsiders and ships and space. “Possibly one of these.”