The Sage Seed Chronicles: The Unraveling (8 page)

Gyan turned to Sterling. “Get the best tinker
fabricators and tool makers. Have them meet me in one of the second
floor conference rooms in fifteen minutes.” Sterling left the room
at a run. “Okay. Let’s see what else we have from the ancients.
Drune, you open your box.”

Drune lifted the fastening and opened the
lid. Inside was a pendant. It was a, beautiful tawny, tigereye
cabochon etched with the triple spiral design. There was an
accompanying piece of paper, which read.
“To increase the number
of sages in the realm to a number between fourteen and sixteen you
will need to activate the latent sage seed in the individuals
identified. The only way to do this is for a sage with telekinetic
skills, wearing this pendant, to grasp both wrists of the candidate
and place his palms over the latent’s pulse points. The sage must
visualize the flow of blood in the veins. As this image becomes
bigger the image will be of round shapes in a field of light red.
The sage must focus on one of these circles until the image looks
like several spiral strands that are bumpy. One of the bumps, by a
ladder shape, will seem to glow darkly for the sage. The sage needs
to visualize it glowing with light. When it does the latent sage
will be a sage in truth. The procedure must be done carefully. You
will know it has worked if the identifier medallions pulse
warmly.”
Drune looked pale. “Gyan, how many sages have the
telekinetic skill?”

Gyan looked at Drune levelly. “It is fitting
that you opened that box, Drune. In the last forty years we have
lost three sages with that ability to Bure and his kin. You are the
only one left.” Drune sat down abruptly.

When Gyan looked at Erin, she opened her box.
Inside were two pendants with chains. Each had a purple stone
etched with the triskeles. The cabochon was set in a braid of two
strands of rhenon and one of copper. One necklace was three inches
in diameter and the other was half that size. The instructions
said.
“These two pendants are to be worn by the two sages with
intuitive or empathetic abilities. Ideally the large one would be
worn by the Great One, should that person still be alive. The stone
is purple fluorite, which is necessary for the task to identify the
individuals with the latent sage seed. The pendants will become
warm when in the presence of a latent. After the sage seed has been
activated successfully the necklace will pulse warmly.”
Erin
looked up. “I guess that is clear.”

They all moved to the “Five Fold” table. Each
took one box, as they had before. Gyan opened his leather box
first. It contained another set of drawings and instructions.
“Follow the instructions in the drawings. Six of these need to
be made. The stone must be moss agate and etched with the Five Fold
design and mounted in copper and rhenon. Five of these special
discs have to be buried in the center of each founder city henge.
They must be three feet down at least. The sixth disc must be
buried the same way in the center of the ‘Wild Henge’ of Pastarham
Province. Its placement is important.”
Erin and Drune looked at
each other blankly. Gyan had a slightly panicked look. “Oh scrum. I
hope it’s still there!”

Drune opened his next. It, too, was diagrams
and instructions. “Follow the instructions in the drawings. Thirty
of these need to be made. Each city has six posts in their henge.
Each of these pieces needs to be mounted atop each post. If you
haven’t found the amber glow stones yet the others will do but will
not be as strong.”

Erin opened her box. It contained thirteen
small tiger eye cabochons etched with the five fold motif. Her
instructions read: “Disperse these enhancers to the remaining
living sages. It will not reverse Ose’s degradation but will stop
it from getting any worse. This is only to give you some time until
you have completed all of your tasks which will set things right
again. Once Ose is stable these enhancers need to be collected and
stored again for a possible time of need in the future.” “That’s
straight forward,” said Gyan. One more to go.”

They all went over to the envelope on the
main table. Gyan opened it. The paper inside read: “In each founder
city there will be one lintel with the Shield Knot design. Behind
that decorated plate will be a selection of five enhancers. They
are for the latent sages you activate. Because each founder city
should have a minimum of two sages, you need to have a selection so
they can choose what resonates for them. Those not used should be
stored again behind the lintel discs, for the future. Anything you
use in this recovery effort should be replaced, with these
instructions, for the future.”

Gyan stood up and taking all of the plans
with him said. “I have some tinker machinists and tool makers
arriving downstairs. After that meeting I need to meet with the
glow stone and jewelry craftsmen. This all needs to be set in
motion at once. I will see you at dinner. We have things to
discuss. Please close up the library when you leave.” and he was
gone.

Erin collapsed into a chair and looked at
Drune. “Whew. That was intense. Do you know what a henge is or do I
need to find a dictionary?”

Drune shook his head. “I’m sure, particularly
after today, that there is more to the meaning than I previously
thought. We need to ask Gyan. I thought a henge was a very special
place framed by standing posts or stones. Each of the founder
cities has a henge of posts or pillars in wood, stone or metal
shaping their ceremonial or celebration courtyard out in front of
the city entrance. That much I have known. I have a feeling that
there is much more to it.”

“Okay. How about this question? What is an
enhancer?” Erin asked.

“That I can answer.” said Drune with a smile.
“It would have been part of you general sage education if you had
had one. You came into your sage skills after the death of your
parents and when you were on the run. I have to ask you. Where did
you get the bracelet you are wearing?”

Erin gave him a quizzical look. “I was
running for my life and stopped by Ree’s home. At one point she had
me choose some gifts from an assortment of things she offered.
Why?” Erin answered.

Drune was nodding with a smile. “She didn’t
have time to instruct you but she made sure that you had some tools
to help you and to strengthen the binding with the planet. What you
chose are enhancers. We all carry one or a few small talismans that
help us focus our skills and link us to... Ose.”

Erin looked at Drune with dawning
understanding and said very softly, “I am carrying mementos of my
parents. Could they be enhancers? If so, could they be used by
another sage, like an awakened latent sage?”

Drune smiled. “You do ask good questions.
Yes, those pieces could easily have been their enhancers,
especially if they always had the pieces with them. As far as
having others use them that would be a question for Gyan.”

She stood, as did Drune, and started for the
door. “One more. What is the Wild Henge?”

Drune shook his head. “I haven’t heard of
that one. That is another question for Gyan. Let’s go freshen up.
It is almost dinner time.” They left the library and closed the
door. They walked back to their rooms in companionable silence.

Tempo had returned and was curled up on the
bed. He cracked open his eyes as she came in. ‘How was your day?
Did you find the information you needed?’

‘Wow! Was it ever a packed day! The ancients,
to protect the information from being used inappropriately, hid it
well in all sorts of ways and places. Some of what we need has to
be made and Gyan is getting the necessary craftsmen right on it. We
will be discussing some of the rest of it at dinner.’ As she was
talking she was stripping off her clothes and quickly bathing.
Between handling dusty old books, opening old lintels and running
everywhere she felt she needed a total wash. In the bathing room
she found her old clothes, cleaned and folded and a few more
changes of clothes that were new but intended for her. She quickly
pulled on a pair of soft black trousers, pale blue silk shirt with
a fitted midnight blue vest. Erin carefully transferred her sage
enhancers to her fresh outfit. Returning to the bedroom she sat
down beside Tempo. ‘How was your day? What did you do? Are you
hungry?’

Tempo rubbed his head against her in
affection. ‘I explored, spoke with more of my kind and ate well.
But Erin, I seem to be always hungry now. I asked the others about
it and they laughed. Apparently, this time of year we are building
a fat layer for winter and I am growing, which adds to wanting to
munch all of the time. I would like to come to dinner with you and
have more nuts and stuff, but I also want to hear the plans. ‘Come
along then. Let’s see if Drune is ready.’

Coincidentally, as she opened her door so did
Drune. The three of them went down to dinner together. As they
entered the dining room the tantalizing aromas assailed them. It
wasn’t until that moment that the two young sages realized that
they had been eating lightly for speed the last several meals. Erin
prepared a bowl of chopped vegetables, nuts and small pieces of
poultry and fish and put it down for Tempo. Gyan wasn’t there yet
and they thought they should wait for the host. Thankfully, for
their growling stomaches sake, Gyan arrived a few minutes
later.

“I’ll fill you in while we eat. Sterling has
ordered us a wonderful meal as we have been shorting ourselves of
late.” Very quickly they were seated and enjoying the first
leisurely meal in quite a while. “We’re lucky on several counts. I
showed the schematics for the device to my tinkers and tool makers.
No parts need to be fabricated. They have gears, rods, and all of
the sizes we need. They were impressed with the clarity of the
instructions and will be working through the night assembling and
calibrating it with our mathematicians. Hopefully we will have a
working model very soon.” He took another bite and chewed
thoughtfully. “The six pieces to be buried in the center of every
henge are being worked on also. I spoke to the jewelry makers and
they have several pieces of moss agate that they can etch and quite
a quantity of rhenon and copper. It is the same story for the amber
glow stones with the hexagonal collars of copper and rhenon for
placement atop each henge. All of that should be ready within a day
at most.”

“We can’t leave right away because of the
blocked road. Hopefully we will see the guild caravan very soon. We
will need the security men with us as well as some to remain here.
I need a sage to stay here. If Alliz is not well enough it will
have to be Lor. I haven’t decided if I want Lor with us or to stay
here. I need to get in touch with all of the mayors and let them
know we are coming. We will be delivering the glow stones for the
posts and the discs to be buried, but our private task will be to
locate and activate up to six latent sages. Erin, when the caravan
is back and Keir and Nuit are here, I need to speak with them
through you about possibly delivering some of the small tigereye
enhancers.”

Gyan stopped to eat. Erin and Drune, who had
listened while Gyan talked, were finishing up their dessert. Erin
waited as he finished his meal. Just before he started his dessert
she asked, “Gyan, I have some questions, if you don’t mind.” She
waited for his nod then went ahead. “What is the significance of
the city henges?”

He paused, gathering his thoughts. “You know
that there are posts in front of every founder city and now you
know that they are, technically, henges. I am sure you know that
the founder cities were established where they were because of
geothermal vents and a certain type of rock formation that allowed
them to build the city right inside the rock face of the mountain.”
Erin and Drune nodded. “Those spots are also link points between
the planet and the sages. It is like a thin spot where the special
power that is within us is communicated to our world and stabilizes
it. That is why the mention in the ‘Shield Knot’ message that we
need at least two sages per province. Our people are free to move
around our realm but it is definitely better if we live scattered
fairly evenly across it.” Both Drune and Erin were looking at him
with their eyes wide with comprehension. It made sense.

Erin nodded then went onto her next question.
“The Wild Henge. When you heard that you became concerned that it
might not be there.”

Gyan shrugged. “We will deal with that when
we go there. We need the place. It has been a number of years since
I have seen it or even thought about it. I can’t worry about it
now. We will just have to see.”

“Because I became a sage without any guidance
there are a number of things that I am just now learning.” Erin
continued. “I asked Drune about Enhancers. Apparently Ree made sure
I had some, though I didn’t know the additional significance of the
gifts or the term. I guess they are sort of focus talismans for our
skills and for our energy toward the planet. I think I have the two
that were special for my parents. I took them as mementos. Could
they be used by some of the latents if they resonated for
them?”