Seeds of Rebellion (64 page)

“So you make educated guesses,” Jason said.

She shrugged. “Some forecasts are more certain than others. Maldor’s rise has eclipsed most possible futures. Sometimes we oracles try to see the future in order to influence it. We do our best to nudge the coming years toward prosperity and away from disaster. I searched for many years to find some way to avoid Maldor’s dominion. In all those years, scouring every reality open to my awareness, I only glimpsed a single path that might lead to his premature downfall.”

Jason felt chills. “That’s why I’m here.”

“That’s why you’re here.”

He swallowed dryly. “Have I already played my part?”

“I believe we are on the proper path. I knew that you, Rachel, and Galloran would need to come here for success to be possible. I will be sure tomorrow.”

“Why me?” Jason asked.

“Imagine standing on a mountaintop. Imagine stones scattered at your feet. Imagine you have been tasked with selecting a stone or two and then throwing them for the purpose of causing an avalanche that will devastate the surrounding wilderness.

“Simeon of the Giddy Nine came to me. I considered all of the possible stones. I elected to throw him at you and Rachel. You both impacted Galloran. I hoped that you three would in turn collide with other key targets in precisely the right way. I believe that your arrival here means I selected good stones and estimated correct trajectories. But the avalanche is just beginning. Tomorrow I will know more about the possibilities.”

“How did you find us?” Jason wondered.

“I’m aware of the Beyond,” she said. “Yours is not the only other reality besides this one. Of everywhere I looked, only bringing you and Rachel here allowed me to glimpse success. Not probable success. But possible.”

“So now I wait until tomorrow?”

“I will meet the others. Then I will entomb myself in clay. To prophesy I must consume substances harmful to my health. This time I will heavily poison myself with fumes and liquids and minerals, and exert myself to touch the eternal as never before. I will search for the path to depose Maldor and share all the insight I can acquire.”

“Poison yourself? Will this kill you?”

“Not until after I deliver the prophecy.”

Rachel sat beside Galloran, lost in thought. After the others had communed with the oracle, they were escorted elsewhere. Some
had remained with her for a long time. Rachel assumed the oracle was reading their futures. Should she ask to know her future? Should she ask whether she would ever return home?

Corinne had been with the oracle for some time. Rachel had considered asking her a telepathic question, but had worried that it might cause some sort of psychic interference.

She glanced at Galloran, blindfold over his eyes, arms folded, head bowed, mouth frowning. Could he be asleep?

I am awake,
he conveyed.
You would not be able to communicate with Corinne from here. That room is shielded from prying minds.

You’ve talked to the oracle before. Should I be nervous?

Do not be afraid of her. She means to help. If you are nervous regarding what future she will see, you are not alone.

Rachel laughed softly.
I can’t picture you nervous.

Good.

Rachel laughed again.
I’ve wanted to ask you something.

Go ahead.

Rachel hesitated.
How did you defeat that torivor? I mean, I know you’re a great swordsman, but that seemed impossible.

His lips bent into a smile.
Can you keep a secret?

Sure.

I’m not sure that the secret must be kept. But I want it kept just in case.

I’ll never tell anyone. I swear.

Galloran shifted in his seat.
I wouldn’t tell you, unless I thought the information could become relevant for you someday.

Okay.

You know that I can hear your mind, even thoughts you do not intentionally send.

Yes. You did it a moment ago.

To an extent, I can do that with torivors.

She thought about the implications. The realization hit her hard.
You know what they’re going to do before they do it!

He nodded.
When we fight, I watch what they are about to do. I’m moving to counter them before they are moving to strike. I watch how they adjust, and I adjust accordingly. It requires focus and expertise with a sword. Even knowing each movement in advance, one small miscalculation would destroy me. I have always been a student of the sword, but fighting my first lurker was how I learned to fight as I do. I saw the duel as the lurker saw the duel, and learned to fight as it fought.

Rachel stared at the faint scars on his strong hands.
I noticed that you seemed to know shortcuts or something. You defeat people so easily.

I have now bested three lurkers. Each battle has been easier than the one before. That is not to say that the fourth won’t kill me. But I have learned much. I learned during this fight that I can engage a lurker more effectively with a single sword than with a pair.

You can’t read just any mind,
Rachel sent.

I can’t read most minds. Sometimes I’ll catch unpredictable glimpses of what an opponent means to do. But if I couldn’t reliably spy on the minds of lurkers, the first one who came for me years ago would have slain me in an instant.

Corinne emerged from the portal that led to the oracle. Ulani gestured to a servant, who led Corinne away. “Come,” Ulani told Rachel, motioning toward the door.

See you later,
Rachel conveyed.
I’ll keep your secret.

You’re the first to know it,
Galloran replied.

Rachel entered the room, and the oracle asked her to sit. The woman stared at her in silence for an uncomfortable length of time. Rachel wondered if the oracle was looking into her future.

Are we going to talk?
Rachel conveyed.

“Not that way, child. I must conserve all of my strength. Let me have your hand.”

“Are you going to read my future?”

“I just need to get a clearer sense of you. Information to use when I do try to penetrate the future.”

The oracle took one hand in both of hers. She closed her eyes, nodding faintly, her whole body rocking slightly, then let the hand fall. The oracle kept her eyes closed. Her upper lip quivered.

“I’ve waited my whole life for one who could replace me,” the oracle said.

“What do you mean?” Rachel asked.

“None of my acolytes have sufficient talent. Ulani is the closest, but she will never be more than a shadow of me, as I am but a shadow of the greatest seers. You, however, could surpass me.”

“You know I’ve been practicing Edomic?”

“Even when you were far away, in the Beyond, I could sense potential in you. I gave Erinda the task of drawing you here for that reason. Potential is not always realized, but, Rachel, you are more than I expected. I can feel the power in you. You have come a long way very quickly. Many options will be open to you.”

Rachel braced herself. She didn’t want to ask the question. The words escaped as a whisper. “Will I ever get home?”

“Do you still wish to go home, child? Consider all you could do here. All you could be.”

“I want to help Galloran. I want to stop Maldor. But if we succeed, I want to go home.”

The oracle considered her. “Part of me wishes to keep you here, whether you choose it or not. I don’t mean here in Lyrian. I mean here in this temple. Under my guidance, your skills would grow.
You would learn how to gain the knowledge needed to guide this world.”

“But you won’t keep me here?”

“Galloran needs you. And I need Galloran. Should he fail, Lyrian will fall. Despite the best efforts of the children of Certius, this temple will be overrun. Darkness will reign from the northernmost tundra to the southernmost jungle.”

“The treefolk were made by Certius, right?”

“As was this temple,” the oracle said. “Certius built two strongholds in the jungle: Mianamon in the north, and Paggatar to the southwest, in the heart. He shaped these walls with his words, raised them with his will. At Mianamon he established my order and taught us how to enhance our sight. He lived and worked at Paggatar. But Zokar came and destroyed him, much as Maldor seeks to come here and destroy us, the descendants of those who escaped the prior invasion.”

“Can we stop him?”

“I will know more tomorrow. You must continue to increase your abilities. Some here can assist you. Learn all you can while you remain with us.”

“Okay,” Rachel said.

“You want to know if you will go home. I have spent considerable time studying our respective realities. Five years and nine weeks from tomorrow our realities will be properly synchronized. I cannot speak for any other time. If you survive, and if you so choose, that would be the day I recommend for your return.”

Rachel felt a violent surge of relief. Five years might be a long time to wait, but it was much preferable to uncertainty and despair. Tears sprung to her eyes. She had not expected this particular hope to resurface. “If I go home on that day, I should be able to find my parents?”

“It should get you close to your proper time. Now leave me. I must speak with Galloran.”

“Thank you so much.”

The oracle gave her a sad smile. “My dear girl, please do not thank me yet.”

CHAPTER
28

T
he next morning, Jason and Rachel walked down a long stairway deep below the temple. Ulani led the way, flanked by a pair of hooded acolytes bearing torches. The entire delegation followed. Nobody spoke.

At the bottom of the stairs, cowled figures hauled open a pair of ornate doors, granting access to a shadowy chamber. Melting candles partially illuminated a variety of ancient carvings. A disgustingly sweet smell saturated the air.

The delegation walked toward the circular pool on the far side of the room. A scaffold over the pool allowed a group of hooded figures to raise a slick gray slab from the fragrant fluid. When the upright slab hung suspended, the acolytes departed.

The face of the oracle was visible in the center of the upper half of the slab. Her eyes were closed, her wrinkled face composed.

The ornate doors closed. The slab dripped. Fumes rose from the aromatic pool.

The eyes of the oracle opened, made iridescent by a creamy film. Those eyes did not make contact with anyone present. They seemed to stare inward or, perhaps, far beyond the confines of the room.

“All paths but one lead to Maldor’s dominion,” the oracle intoned. Her voice did not sound much like it had the day before. She spoke with a remote certainty. “A single precarious lane leads to his premature demise, encompassed by failure, littered with corpses.”