And they were nothing ...
“Legaba, him lie to I and I,” Jawai muttered bitterly. “Where him be now? Where him be?”
“Legaba is gone,” Tiyana said. “All the Jagasti are gone. A new god has come to take their place. His name is Almovaar.”
“Almovaar ... him help you take Retribution Time from we?”
“Yes. And he has helped you, too. He was the source of the ashuma that we used to destroy the plants-that-move before they pushed you into the sea. Now, these islands belong to you alone.”
Jawai shook his head as though he could not, or did not want to, comprehend what he was hearing.
“You can rebuild,” Tiyana pressed. “You can teach your children love, not hate. You can live in peace with us. The hatred between your people and mine can end. All this can be. The choice is yours.”
“Who them be?” Jawai asked abruptly, gesturing toward the Fidi who stood nearby. The Fidi were mingled with the Matile, but Tiyana knew the Uloan was referring to the outlanders.
“They are the Fidi, the people from Beyond the Storm,” Tiyana replied. “They brought Almovaar to us. Now, we bring him to you.”
Another silence followed as the Mainlanders waited and watched the islanders absorb the reality that their old way of life was gone forever, and it was their ancient enemies who were offering them a new way.
Some of the Uloans kept their eyes downcast. Others gazed openly at the blue-robed strangers, especially the Fidi, as though they could read their people’s fate in faces that were innocent of scarification.
Then, with an expression of regret and resignation on his face, Jawai bowed his head sank to his knees in front of Tiyana. One-by-one, the other Uloans followed his example.
“You have beaten we,” Jawai said softly. “Nothing left of we but the old and the young. No more huangi. No more Legaba. No more of we. I and I yours now.”
The Almovaads looked at each other in consternation. Such an abject act of submission on the part of the islanders had never been their ultimate goal. They had no desire to enslave the remaining Uloans. But now they could see that without their obsession with Retribution Time, the islanders were like children whose parents had died. Even with the menace of the animate plants gone, the Uloans had still lost their will to live.
An infant’s cry broke the silence. And that cry told Tiyana what she must do.
5
Awiwi tried to hush her baby son, but the pain from the wounds the ubias had inflicted was too much for him to bear. Then Awiwi sensed someone coming toward her. She looked up, and saw the woman who led the mainlanders standing over her.
When Tiyana reached down, Awiwi shrank away, her arms protectively cradling her infant. But when Tiyana’s hand touched the boy, his cries ceased. Turning her back on Tiyana, Awiwi raised her baby’s head so that she could see his face. He looked up at her, wide-eyed. Then he gurgled and smiled. When she looked closer, she saw that his wounds were no longer bleeding.
Awiwi felt Tiyana’s hands on her arms. Gently, the Matile woman lifted the Uloan from her knees. Awiwi turned to face the mainlander, opening her mouth to shout at her. Then she felt a faint tingle from Tiyana’s hands. Awiwi tried to pull away, but Tiyana held her firmly. Awiwi looked down at her arms ... and saw that the spider-scars were slowly disappearing from her skin. It was as though all the traces of Legaba upon her were being erased by the power of this new god, this Almovaar.
“No,” Awiwi whispered in protest as the last of the scarification faded, transforming her into a hated blankskin. But her protest was half-hearted, and was finished almost before it had begun.
Inside, Awiwi had changed even as her skin transmuted. It was as though she had shed a reeking, ragged garment that she had worn for far too long. Legaba was gone from her. She was a new person. It was as though she, and not her infant, had only recently emerged from the womb.
Tiyana smiled at the island woman. Awiwi smiled back. Around them, other Adepts were following Tiyana’s lead, lifting the Uloans from their knees and expunging the spider-scars from their bodies. Jawai was the last to accept the eradication of Legaba from his life. And he was the only one who still appeared to regret the changes the mainlanders had wrought.
It was a beginning.
The Uloans did not know the price they would ultimately have to pay for falling into the embrace of Almovaar.
Tiyana did not know it, either. Nor did the rest of the Adepts who were duplicating what Tiyana had done, not only on Jayaya but also the rest of the Uloan Islands.
Nobody knew, other than Kyroun and Gebrem.
And Almovaar ...
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Dissent
1
For all the progress that had been made in the restoration of Khambawe, the task was far from complete. Many of the interior sections of the Jewel City still lay in ruins, waiting to be reconstructed. The Emperor had decreed that the entire city was to be rebuilt by the beginning of the next rainy season – what was once known as First Calling. Although much work remained to be done, the people of Khambawe were confident that they could fulfill the Emperor’s edict, even if it did seem unreasonable to some.
But there were those in the city who bore scant regard for either the new Emperor or his many pronouncements. As well, they harbored deep-seated suspicions of the Fidi outlanders and the new god they had brought to Khambawe. They did not speak publicly about their misgivings, for their opinions were shared by only a
