The Sage Seed Chronicles: The Unraveling (7 page)

Gyan smiled. ‘I asked Erin and Drune to help
me in the library and already we have some pieces. We hope to have
more soon.’

The mayor was surprised. ‘I thought Drune was
presumed one of Bure’s victims. I am glad to hear he is among the
living. I liked Erin. Smart young woman with a lot of courage. They
would be a good team to help you.’

‘I’ll stay in contact and keep you up to
date, Cheroan.’

Well, at least the news tonight, thus far,
was not like last night. The storms, quakes and all were
intensifying and some people were on the verge of murder. He had to
chuckle at himself. He was about to consider that better than
yesterday. Shaking his head he concentrated on the mayor of Osily.
‘Peyr, are you free to talk? This is Gyan.’ ‘Well, who else would
just jump into my head but the realm’s Great One! You fixed things
yet?’

‘Peyr, you never have been one for small
talk. As a matter of fact I have enlisted Erin and Drune to help me
search for solutions and we are making headway toward mending
things. I will let you know details when they are worked out. How
is Pastarham?’

‘Quakes, torrential rains, lightning strikes
in the plains and extremely bad winds that have flattened a home or
two. Some blockheads telling children’s stories and getting others
worked up.’

‘Peyr, don’t take them lightly. A group
attacked the merchant caravan four nights ago and Alliz was
injured. Sawblen has had a lot of unrest. Bure is the one who
started those witch stories and he planted his seeds well
there.’

‘I didn’t say I was taking them lightly. They
are blockheads though. Will Alliz recover?’

‘We don’t know yet. Kennet threw the bunch
off their stride with the line that witches don’t bleed. Use the
idea if it comes up. I will stay in touch. I have a hunch that all
of us will have to get involved to settle the planet down.’

Peyr was calming down as he said, ‘One of
your hunches, huh? You tell me what I need to do and you’ll have
it.’

The last mayor would keep for tomorrow night.
They received hope today but there was so much they didn’t know
yet. He needed his rest. His intuition said that there was much
more to come.

The three sages breakfasted that morning with
optimism that they were making progress. Gyan brought Drune and
Erin up to date with what he had learned from the mayors. After
eating they hurried to the library and picked up where they left
off the night before. The last book in Drune’s area had the
Triskeles on the cover. It was piece number five and it read:
“/Others have the sage seed but it hasn’t activated/”
. That
brought cheers! There was a solution!

Erin and Gyan didn’t have any more Triskeles
embossed covers. That muted the enthusiasm until Drune said, “All
of the clues have been books with this embossed pattern. It might
be on the spine! That would be easy to check as we wouldn’t have to
pull the book out, just look at the books as they are in the
shelves.” That sent everyone hurrying back to their areas. Erin
found the next book. It was the seventh piece.
“
/Latent
sages can be/”
and within fifteen minutes Gyan found another
book. Piece number ten read:
“/destabilizes the planet. See
Triple Spiral.”

“Looks like that is the end of this set of
messages because it doesn’t have the diagonal line at the end.”
said Erin.

Drune was looking over the notes as he read
aloud. “Planet Ose is naturally unstable. We have found certain
individuals carry resonating elements in their bodies. Resonating
elements we call “Sage”. Others have the sage seed but it hasn’t
activated due to keeping the generational balance. Latent sages can
be activated if the sage population drops below thirteen and
destabilizes the planet. See Triple Spiral.”

Erin had the symbol book open and was trying
to find that symbol. As she located it she moved the book so all of
them could look at it. The pattern resembled a whirl pool with the
round end of each of the three droplets in the center with tails
curling out counter clock wise around each other to form a circle.
The definition read: “The Triple Spiral symbolizes the eternal
rhythm of life. Power through transition and growth. C5,
L55>>” Each sage ran back to their area and started looking
for the embossed spiral. By the time that lunch time came they had
found messages one, three and four.

As they hurriedly ate lunch, they talked of
the interesting information they had learned. “How did we have a
name for the planet and lose it in our knowledge?” asked Drune.
Gyan shrugged, “I don’t know. We see our moons so we need to be
able to call them something. Those names stayed. Perhaps we became
near-sighted, thinking only of our realm and provinces. We know it
now. Ose!”

Erin said, “I love the part that we have
latent sages. That is such a relief to me because I didn’t know how
we were going to stabilize the planet! I assume that they have the
basic characteristics but what hasn’t awakened are the special
skills and longevity.’

Gyan nodded. “That makes sense to me. I had a
nightmare the night after Bure was banished that he had some
twisted sage seed that we would have to use. It was just a dream
and the logic didn’t stand scrutiny. He had none of the
characteristics of a sage. He had one weak special skill and even
that skill was not one of the sage talents.” Gyan shuddered. “Let’s
get back and find more information. I have a hunch that there will
be a lot of work to do even after we have the whole message.”

Drune gave the Great one a grin. “Your
hunches are legendary.” he said as he pushed back from the
table.

Within a half hour Drune had found the second
spiral message. The first four together read: “There are three
Aerie/ Lintels. Rotate this pattern clockwise/ and pull.
Instructions/ are with objects. See, also, the three/”.

Gyan shot out of his seat and ran for the
door. He leaned over the stair rail and called “Sterling! Please
come to the library!” Erin and Drune had returned to their books to
try to complete the message. They were moving through the books as
quickly as they could. First glancing at all of the spines in a row
then pulling out the books to get a fleeting look at the cover.
Erin found the next two side-by-side on a shelf. She called out and
grabbing them ran down to the table just as Sterling came into the
library. Everyone waited as she located the messages. It turned out
that they were the final two for the triple spiral pattern. The
last line read:
“See also, the three Five Fold lintels and one
Shield Knot lintel.”
Gyan showed the Triple Spiral pattern to
Sterling as Erin was looking up the next two.

The Five Fold symbol was made up of five
circles. The top circle touched the bottom circle on the edge so
they were stacked. Two other circles made contact with each other
on their side edges. Those four circles overlapped so the junction
point was the same. The fifth circle’s center was the the point
where the other four circles contacted. The center circle held
parts of the other four inside of its boundaries so it looked like
a flower at the center. The definition of the shape said: “This
celtic pattern represents balance of the four elements, four
directions or four seasons.”

The Shield was an elaborate celtic knot of
four looped triangles all pointing to the center like a cut pie but
a square was formed inside the pattern holding the pieces together.
It said. “This shield knot is a protection against
malevolence.”

They all looked at the three designs. Gyan
spoke. “We need to find Lintels around Aerie with these emblems on
them. There will be three with the Triple Spiral, three with the
Five Fold and one with the Shield Knot. We grasp the pattern, turn
it clock wise and pull. There are objects and instructions. When
one is found please be careful to get everything in the niche. The
Triple Spiral items will be on that table.” Erin put a book with
that pattern on the table to designate it. “The three Five Fold
items will be on that table beside us.” Again Erin moved a book
there to mark the table for that design. “There is only one Shield
Knot so it can go on this table. Sterling, you have lived in this
place your whole life. Do you know where these are? You and I can
go to the less known ones and you can tell Drune and Erin where
some are in corridors they are familiar with.”

Sterling looked very thoughtful. “It is not
like I have all of the carvings and lintels memorized but I think
that there is a spiral one on this floor past the small stairway
and there might be one or two on the third floor and perhaps on the
second. Gyan you check your wing and then meet me in the great
hall.”

“We will close the library doors behind us
each time we leave.” said Gyan. They all scattered.

Erin ran down the hallway past the small
stairway as Drune went down the stairs to the third floor. It was
harder than it sounded as everything needed to be scrutinized. Erin
found one up high, near the corner of a small door in the shadows
of the corridor. It had the Triple Spiral. She climbed up on a
bench and grasping the pattern portion tried to turn it. She could
get a small movement but no more. Erin got her boot knife out and
tried to loosen some of the centuries old encrusted debris that was
sticking to the cracks that needed to turn. It took about fifteen
minutes of careful scraping and wiggling of the piece to get it to
turn. Finally it unscrewed and the pattern plate came free.
Reaching inside she found a box about the length of her hand. She
pulled it free and screwed the plate back in place. She didn’t look
inside the box but went back to the library, let the ancient lock
scan her, entered and put it on the ‘spiral’ table, then quickly
left and closed the door. Erin searched the rest of the fourth
floor and not finding anything went down to the third floor to help
Drune.

Drune had found the one Shield Knot design.
It had a closed leather envelope. He had just reattached the disc
on to the lintel when she arrived.

“Where have you searched?”, she asked.

“I have covered the hallway from the left of
the stairway to here. Some of the doors open and I felt we should
look inside the rooms also. There was nothing to indicate that all
would be in hallways.” Drune commented as he went up the small
staircase.

“Good point”, Erin muttered to herself.

She had scrutinized the hallway where Drune
had left off, had looked in one room and was at her bedroom when
Drune returned. “I guess our rooms are next.” she said and waved as
she entered her room. She found another spiral one in the bathing
room above the window. Climbing on the chair from her room she
grasped the motif and twisted. It turned easier from the last one
and soon the plate was free. It was another box, slightly bigger
than the other one. She replaced the face plate and picking up the
box scanned the rest of the room. There were not any more of the
special designs. Drune was farther down the corridor when she
emerged from her room. “I’ll take this up and be right back”, she
called over her shoulder.

When she entered the library this time she
noticed that the ‘Triple Spiral’ table had its three items and
there was a taller square box on the “Five Fold’ table and Drune’s
find on the ‘Shield Knot’ table. Closing the door she returned to
the third floor. Drune was not there so she descended to the second
floor.

Locating Drune she asked, “Where did you
start? It looks like we need to concentrate on the “Five Fold”
motif. There are two left.”

“I have searched the dining room side. Go to
the far left side and I will meet you near the middle.” He
responded absently, keeping his attention on studying the carvings.
Erin went down the far corridor and began her inspection. There
were more meeting rooms and some storage closets. Everything needed
to be gone over.

She heard a crow of exaltation from Drune and
she poked her head out of the meeting room she was in. “I found one
and it is turning easily. I’ll be back to join you after I run this
up!” Erin resumed looking and though there was a design on every
lintel she didn’t find any of the target design. She was almost
back to where Drune stopped when he reappeared. He had a big grin
on his face. “All are found and Gyan wants us back at the library!
Now we get to see what we have brought to the light of day!” They
both hurried back to the library. Gyan and Sterling were standing
by the “Triple Spiral” table.

Since there were three items, each sage got
to hold one. Gyan opened his first. It contained a detailed set of
plans for some kind of device. The complex drawing had several
gears and rods and instructions for putting it together. Gyan
looked everything over, turning pages of schematics. The final page
was the explanation. He read it out loud.
“Construct the device
as instructed. It will, when the knob on the side is turned,
accurately predict when you will have solar and lunar eclipses. You
won’t be able to choose what kind of eclipse will have the greatest
impact due to your pressing time factor, but all remedial efforts
must be in place at the time of an eclipse to achieve the
stabilizing readjustment. Depending upon how dire the situation is
you would ideally wish to have everything in place for a total
eclipse which happens every one hundred and seventy two years. You
may not have that option.”