Chapter 50
Gaeren glanced at Sylmar, whose grip tightened on his staff.
Something was very wrong. He would have suspected foul play from the Sayhleens if it weren’t for their equal surprise.
But now his distrust in the acolytes grew, as if they’d manufactured this entire visit.
But how could they have? Even if they’d foreseen some way to use this to their benefit, they hadn’t sent the Vendarans across the barriers.
They hadn’t pushed the elders to make it such a large affair.
His fear came full circle, reminding him of all the times Orra’s ominous predictions had left him uneasy. If she were standing here, she would smile serenely and say it had all been arranged by the Sun. And who were they to question the Sun’s decision?
No one else spoke up, and the food and drinks remained untouched for several long moments, their appetites stolen by their fear.
The acolyte who’d addressed them gave a sharp nod.
“Very well, your guards can remain as well as your elders, but anyone who has called upon their right to see Lady Merinnia may step forward. It’s important that you understand you do not need to state your individual requests.
Her power is pervasive. Most come seeking answers to the future, but some come seeking judgment about the past. Her skills fall along the full length of the pneumatic spoke, so she will sift the thing you wish to know most, whether it be in your past, present, or future.
If it’s the future you wish to know, she will show you the possible paths, likely only three at most, sometimes only one. ”
Gaeren winced, unsure he would trust a single path shown.
It seemed impossible. And what was it he wished to see anyway?
He was supposed to be proving his innocence, but they’d come to find a cure for the curse.
Except he wanted that for Aeliana. Deep down he knew that wasn’t what Lady Merinnia would show him, not if she sifted through what they each truly wanted the most.
The acolyte raised her chin. “You will not all like what you see. You may not all leave here alive or sane. The things you learn may haunt you for years to come. Anyone who steps into her chambers comes with that understanding. You are choosing this knowledge. She is not forcing it on you, though it may feel that way in the moment, depending on what you see.”
Riveran snagged the hem of Gaeren’s tunic. “I don’t like this,” he whispered. “It’s too much like the sprites.”
“It makes me wonder if their source of power is the same,” Gaeren murmured, “if the Seer’s power really originates from the Sun after all.”
Their conversation was cut short as the head acolyte’s gaze rested on them. “Do you all accept this warning and agree to proceed?”
Everyone nodded.
“And do you agree not to hold Lady Merinnia accountable for seeing and sharing the truth, for she is but a messenger?”
The nods were slower to come this time.
“But you said she told you the outcome was good?” Aeliana clarified.
The head acolyte hesitated. “It is for the good of all people. I don’t know if it is good for each one of you.”
“We agree.” Nori’s voice rang out with confidence.
“Then so be it.” The acolyte turned to head down another small cavern hall.
Three of the women followed her, but the other four gestured for those seeking Lady Merinnia’s judgment to walk before them so they could take up the rear.
Gaeren and a few others were forced to hunch inside the cavern as the ceiling sloped downward, their growing discomfort representative of their growing fear.
When the hall that had become more like a narrow tube let out into a larger cavern, Gaeren had to blink several times for his eyes to adjust to the new source of light.
It came from deep within the pool of water at their feet, an unmoving cerulean glow that cast them all in a somber blue sheen.
The path they walked led around the circumference of the pool to an open area with a single chair carved from the same rock they walked on.
A woman with long kelp-like hair and scaly skin sat so still on its seat that Gaeren questioned if he was looking at a statue of one of the first Seers or the current Seer herself.
When they reached the platform, she turned ever so slightly, opening eyes that were milky white to stare unseeing at them.
Gaeren couldn’t help recoiling, and a few others around him gasped, but the woman made no sign of offense.
“Take your spots along the ring,” she instructed.
The acolytes led their group to a perfect circle cut from the rock surrounding the chair, placing each of them a few feet apart until they surrounded the Seer. Gaeren, Riveran, Aeliana, and Cyrus had all been stuck behind the chair, but Gaeren didn’t mind not seeing Lady Merinnia’s creepy eyes.
Nori, the only one in their eleven who had an inkling of what might be to come, stood directly across from them and in front of the Seer.
To her left were Iris and Holm, their hands shaking with apprehension.
On her right stood Sylmar and Velden, and even the half-Sayhleen looked a bit overwhelmed, his mother clearly not having given him details about her own visit to Lady Merinnia.
Lukai and Kendalyhn were across from each other on Lady Merinnia’s right and left, each maintaining a defensive stance.
Nori stepped forward. “We come asking for your judgment, guidance, and wisdom. We ask that you bring clarity on our existence and our purpose. Show us what you will so that we may move forward with a better understanding.” The speech was given like some sort of poem the Sayhleens had all learned in childhood, a recitation that had been drilled into them along with their letters and numbers.
Nori then dropped to one knee and bowed in deference, so Gaeren did the same, and in a slow wave the others all joined them. Cyrus was the last, the indecision written on his face, and Gaeren suspected he was uneasy bowing before anyone other than the Stars.
When all eleven of them had copied Nori’s posture, Lady Merinnia rose from her chair, her movements stiff as though she’d been sitting there since the last person had come seeking her skills.
“And so you shall,” she said, her murmuring voice mirroring Orra’s in the moments when Orra seemed to almost separate from her body as she sifted for truth.
Gaeren felt a brief moment of panic, a desire to take back the request and run from the room. But then he was no longer in the room and no longer able to run.
He found himself standing on a balcony, the wind blowing in the trees around him. Beyond that, he heard a strange hum, like the background noises of a dozen other rooms and settings were filtering through his senses. Lady Merinnia’s voice echoed through his mind as he studied his surroundings.
You wish to know how to keep both Aeliana and Enla safe.
Guilt flooded through him as she cut to the heart of the matter. She wasn’t going to show him anything that helped Aeliana or their group. But a strange flicker of hope wormed its way through his guilt. Was it possible to keep them both safe?
If you try to protect both, you will fail.
He winced, but there was no way for him to question her within this vision.
There are only two paths in your future.
The first holds both women. As her voice faded from his mind, Riveran stepped out onto the balcony, pushing a chair on wheels.
Enla slumped in the chair, her hands limp in her lap and her gaze unfocused.
She looked far older, the lines on her face evidence of many years having passed, but Riveran had hardly changed.
He wheeled her to a table inlaid with jewels and locked her wheels in place before patting her arm and stepping away.
In the distance, Gaeren heard the distracting cacophony grow louder, with Lady Merinnia’s voice overlapping the sounds.
It was as if he could hear remnants of every one of his comrades’ judgments and visions as well.
It left him anxious that he’d miss something in his own vision because of the chaos.
But very little happened as Enla sat there, unmoving and seemingly unaware of her surroundings. He wanted to call out to her, but like the memories he tuned in to, he had no control over this.
The vision faded, and similar to when he crossed the barriers with the starbridges, he felt out of time and place without the grounding sensation of the floor beneath him.
Until he settled once more on a shoreline, the waves coasting in and out to compete with the other sounds echoing in the cavern where he sensed his body still stood.
Down the coast, a woman ran with two toddlers trailing behind her.
She bent forward to scoop up water, splashing them to make them giggle.
He held his breath, recognizing the long brown waves and slim form, daring to hope it might be her.
When she drew close enough for him to catch the jade glint in her eyes, he recognized the same full lips and brown locks on the girl running beside her, just before Aeliana pulled both children beneath the waves, their laughter cut short by both the water and the vision fading.
The other path only holds one woman. Lady Merinnia’s voice startled him as he tumbled through the emptiness again before the vision settled once more into the all-too-familiar throne room of his parents’ home.
Enla sat ramrod straight, the crown on her head glinting in the Sun’s light streaming through the windows.
A room full of people bowed before her, and she nodded at them, her face as stubbornly stoic as their father’s often was.
I find it fascinating that your desire is to see their safety.
Lady Merinnia’s voice blocked out any of the conversation occurring around the room.
Do you have no care for your own safety?
He was tempted to ask the clarifying question she teased him with, but he sensed it wasn’t an option.
She had filtered through what he wanted to know most, and that was what she’d given him.
He had no second chance.
I would have thought that added information would have helped you choose which path to seek. I wonder if—
Her words cut off as a scream echoed through the cavern, pulling Gaeren from the vision.
The disorientation hit hard as he reached for his empty weapons belt, and his eyes attempted to adjust to the far darker cavern before him.
Many of his comrades stood, dazed expressions on their faces as they took in whatever vision Lady Merinnia still showed them, but Iris and Holm had stepped back from the circle, their eyes blazing with equal determination.
Iris held a dagger, but Gaeren wasn’t sure where it had come from. Tears poured down her cheeks. “Please, Holm, don’t make me do this.”
But then Holm lunged for her.