Priestess of the White

The goddess smiled, then her glowing form faded and disappeared. Sirri looked at Auraya, her eyes still wide, then at the gathered Siyee.

“We have heard the words of the goddess Huan. Let us wait no longer. Let us fly to war!”

She nodded to the Speakers. They immediately moved to the edge of the outcrop and flew down to join their tribes. Sirri turned back to Auraya.

“I had a stirring final speech planned, but I completely forgot what I was going to say,” she confessed quietly.

Auraya smiled and shrugged. “A visit from the gods can have that effect on a person.”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is we set off in a confident state of mind, and Huan certainly arranged that nicely. Now, it looks like my tribe is itching to get into the air. Would you like to fly with us?”

Auraya nodded. “I would, thank you.”

Sirri grinned, beckoned, and they both leapt off the outcrop. The Speaker’s tribe immediately surged into the air to join them, followed by tribe after tribe of Siyee. Auraya looked back at the cloud of flying figures and felt a thrill of amazement.

But it was followed by a stab of concern. This will be their first war, she thought. There is no way they can be fully prepared for what they will face. She sighed. And there is no way I am either.

PART THREE

33

Plains are supposed to be flat tracts of land, aren’t they? Danjin thought as he climbed the face of the hill. The Plains of Gold were better described as “undulating.” They were a little less undulating in the western part, but here in the east they could be described as flat only in comparison to the rugged mountains at their edge.

They weren’t living up to the other part of their name, either. The plains were gold only in summer when the grasses turned yellow. Now, in the aftermath of winter, they were a mix of healthy green new shoots growing up among older, darker plants.

Danjin reached the top of the hill and paused. His heavy breathing sounded loud in this quiet place. He turned around and his quibbling and discomfort were forgotten. Below was the largest army camp he’d ever seen.

The only army camp I’ve ever seen, he corrected himself. But this is certainly larger than any I’ve read of.

Men, women, animals, tarns, plattens, and tents of all sizes covered a large valley surrounded by low hills. The grass that earned the plains their pretty name was now trampled into mud. The light of the late afternoon sun touched a line of brown that led into the valley on one side and continued to the mountains on the other. A wider band of crushed grass around the western part of this road showed the direction the army had come from. In the center of the valley was a large tent, which had somehow managed to remain white despite being pitched beside the muddy main thoroughfare of the camp each night. This was where the White’s councils of war were held.

It was hard to imagine any force could match this army. Danjin looked to the mountains in the east. Even at this distance they looked fierce and unassailable. He was too far away to see the road winding up to the pass. Somewhere beyond those peaks was another army, and by all reports it was even larger than the one before him.

He took some reassurance from the fact that the Circlian army was not yet fully formed. So far it was made up of only three nations: Hania, Somrey and Genria - the latter had joined them a few days out of Jarime. The Toren army was due to arrive in a few days, the Dunwayans were not much farther away, and the Siyee... the Siyee were due any moment.

Turning his back on the army, Danjin gazed at the southern sky. It was cloudless apart from a dark smudge near the horizon. She said they had reached the plains, he thought. So where are they?

He stared at the sky until his eyes began to water from the brightness. Looking away, he dabbed at his eyes with a sleeve. Footsteps brought his attention abruptly back to his surroundings and he turned to find a soldier approaching. The man was one of the many guards patrolling the hills around the camp.

“You all right, sir?” the man enquired.

“Yes, thank you,” Danjin replied. “Just the brightness of the sky.”

The man glanced southward then stopped and shaded his eyes. “Will you look at that cloud?”

Danjin followed the man’s gaze. The dark smudge had grown larger and... fragmented into many tiny specks. He felt his heart skip a beat.

“It’s them,” he muttered.

Danjin left the soldier looking puzzled and hurried down the hill. It seemed a longer journey back to the camp despite being all downhill - though it didn’t help that he kept glancing behind, worried he wasn’t going to make it in time. When he reached the first of the tents he slowed. Soldiers watched him pass, always alert for signs of nervousness among the army’s leaders and their advisers.

Reaching the main thoroughfare, Danjin saw that Juran, Dyara, Rian and Mairae were already standing outside the white tent, their attention on the sky. The elderly Genrian king, Guire, stood nearby with his advisers and attendants. Meeran, the Moderator of the Somreyan Council, stood with the Circlian elder, Haleed. A Dunwayan ambassador, Jen of Rommel, stood beside the Dunwayan priest who always accompanied him, and whose main role appeared to be to provide the White with a way to communicate with the absent Dunwayan leaders.

Danjin quietly joined the small crowd of advisers. He noted that the new Dreamweaver adviser was present. Raeli rarely attended war councils, and when she did she remained aloof and apparently uninterested. Sensing him looking at her, she turned to meet his eyes. He nodded politely. She turned away. Danjin suppressed a sigh.

I think I may actually miss Leiard. He wasn’t much more talkative than this woman, but he was... what, exactly? Approachable, I suppose.

Raeli’s attention was on the sky. He turned just in time to see the first of the Siyee appear over the top of the hill he had just climbed. A pair of them circled the valley once, drawing murmurs from the onlookers, then suddenly a great mass of them poured over the crest of the hill. Danjin heard gasps and exclamations as thousands of Siyee swooped down to fill the valley. He realized his own heart was beating fast with excitement. The Siyee wheeled and turned then began to drop to the ground. The sound of their wings was like a rush of wind, and the smack of feet on the ground was like the patter of heavy rain.

Once they had landed, their small size was suddenly obvious. Their childlike appearance was tempered by their clothing and weapons, however. Unlike the two messengers who had come to Jarime, these Siyee had bows, quivers of arrows, knives, and what looked like blowpipes and darts strapped over leathery vests and trousers. Both men and women had short hair, muscular bodies and a proud demeanor. These were warriors, small but fierce.

“Interesting. Very interesting.”

Danjin turned to look at the speaker. It was Lanren Song-maker, the military adviser the White now favored above the others. The man glanced at Danjin and smiled grimly.

“I can see how these people might be useful to us.”

“Auraya certainly thinks so,” Danjin replied.

“Here she is.”

Danjin turned back just in time to see Auraya descend to the ground before the White. A Siyee woman