Seeker (38 page)

Morning Star was watching Seeker as he made his vow, and she saw again in his aura the shimmer of gold she had noted before. This time, perhaps because of the solemnity of the occasion, she caught the sense of the color: it was a high reaching, a longing for the ideal, a hunger for what was lasting and true.

Oh, my friend,
she thought as she gazed on the fine glow that trembled about him.
You and I and the Wildman will all become Noble Warriors. But your journey will take you farther and deeper than either of us.

Then she turned to embrace her father and mother, and Seeker did the same. Morning Star cried a little, as did the two mothers; but already the thoughts of the new novices were reaching beyond this time of parting, to the new life that was about to begin. For each of them, the speaking aloud of the vow had been the moment at which their old life had ended. This lingering self that accepted kisses and words of farewell was no more than a retreating shadow.

The door to the novitiate then opened: that narrow iron-bound door that had no handle on its outer side. They passed through without looking back. Then came the clang of the door as it closed, and the scrape of the long bolts as they rang home; and they were gone.

William Nicholson
is the author of the acclaimed Wind on Fire trilogy as well as the screenplays for
Gladiator
and
Shadowlands,
both of which were nominated for Academy Awards. He lives in Sussex, England, with his wife and their three children.

www.williamnicholson.co.uk