Voice of the Gods

The mountains ahead gave the Siyee hope, but Auraya wasn’t so optimistic. They associated mountains with water, but that was not always true. These peaks were well eroded, yet it looked as if rain hadn’t fallen here in centuries. The sparse vegetation was bleached a pale yellow. There wasn’t a hint of green anywhere.

The group had begun to descend, though no order had been given, toward the closest of these sprawling mountains. At the base was the winding indentation of a dead river, heading toward the ocean to their right. Between it and the mountain, the land had eroded into terraces.

Then Auraya felt amazement from one of the Siyee. Seeking his mind, she read that he thought the terraces were not natural. She looked closer and realized that he was right. There were roads as well, and tiny shapes that might be the remains of ruined buildings. The spread of them across the side of the mountain suggested a city. A long-dead city.

Other Siyee noticed the ancient metropolis and pointed it out to fellow warriors. To her amusement, the sight made them intensely curious. They wanted to land and explore. She watched Sreil consider.

Exploration of ruins isn’t the purpose of our journey, he thought, but if a city once stood here then there must have been water about. Perhaps only the river, but those terraces look like they might have been fields and how would they have brought water up to them? Perhaps there once was a spring up higher... well, there’s just as much chance of finding water here as anywhere else...

At his order to head for the city, the mood of the other Siyee brightened. While the desert tested their bodies, it offered little to occupy their minds. The whistling games they had played at the beginning of the journey had been abandoned when their mouths had dried out with thirst.

Auraya looked at the Siyee priest, Teel. He did not wear the circ as it hampered flying, but instead wore a smaller circle of white material tied closely about his throat. In her opinion, he had been prematurely ordained. He was inexperienced and had less grasp of magic than an initiate. Yet the gods had given him the task of reporting to Juran every day, not Auraya. She felt vaguely irritated by that. She was a former White and the Siyee’s protector. But he was a Siyee and she a landwalker, and that must matter more.

Of course it doesn’t, she thought. It’s just another way the gods are demonstrating their distrust of me.

Searching the magic around her, she was relieved to see none of the gods were present. Though Teel hadn’t been given specific orders, she suspected the only reason this young man had been ordained early was so that a priest could keep an eye on her during this mission.

Yesterday Auraya had heard a Siyee wonder aloud why the gods hadn’t ensured there would be clean water for them. Another had muttered annoyance that the gods didn’t at least guide them to sources. A third had observed that they probably would have died here if Auraya hadn’t accompanied them.

Teel had overheard and quietly told them the gods were not their servants. Auraya had smiled at that, but she suspected the gods simply couldn’t do either. They weren’t aware of anything in the world that wasn’t observed by a human or an animal, so if no human or animal was aware of sources of water nearby, or how to get to them, then neither were the gods.

The only humans who could have given the Siyee guidance, Sennon guides, couldn’t fly. Even if the White had trusted one enough to send him or her to meet and advise the Siyee, he would not have arrived in time to help them. The distance was too great.

One of the Siyee whistled their signal for “Tracks!” and Auraya followed the direction of his gaze. A line of stirred sand led from the city to the river then along the dry watercourse toward the sea. Or in the other direction. Perhaps the city was already host to passing visitors.

It was a good sign, though. No traveller would ascend into those terraces unless there was a good reason, and water was a likely good reason.

She caught up with Sreil.

“Shall I check if they’re still there?”

He whistled an assent. Auraya propelled herself into a dive, heading through the dry air toward the tracks. She felt Mischief stir awake.

The footprints wound along the river through strange pinnacles of rock that turned out to be buried towers, then up to the beginning of a road. There they grew difficult to follow, as the roads were not always covered in sand. She flew about slowly as if searching.

Which was all for show. She could sense no minds in the city, but she couldn’t tell the Siyee that without revealing to the gods that she had developed the telepathic Gift they had previously given to her when she was a White.

Flying back to the Siyee, she whistled the signal that all was safe. The Siyee circled around the city before landing, a cautious habit rather than any distrust of her assessment. Once on the ground, Sreil ordered them to set out in pairs to explore and search for water. Auraya shrugged off her pack and opened it. Mischief blinked in the sudden bright light.

She hadn’t wanted to take him on this journey, but couldn’t bring herself to force him to stay behind. Since she had returned to the Open he was constantly by her side, and had grown distressed whenever she made him stay behind in the bower. No longer able to sense her mind, being near her was the only way he could reassure himself that she was still alive. Fortunately he was content to remain curled up in the pack during flight, and he had proved himself both useful and entertaining to the Siyee.

Whispering in his ear, she sent him a mental impression of water. His nose twitched and when she set him down he trotted away. She followed.

The sunlight beat down relentlessly and reflected off stone to assail her with heat from all directions. She realized after a few turns that Teel had chosen to follow her, and she resigned herself to the inevitability of being followed everywhere by the priest.

“How old do you think this place is?” he asked after a while.

She shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“Look.” He walked up to a large stone in a wall and pointed to markings. “Can you read this?”

“No.”

“You understand many languages, don’t you?”

“Yes. That doesn’t mean I can read them, though.”

“I should copy this,” he said. “If the priests in the Open don’t know what it says they might know someone who does.”

As he drew a scrap of leather out of a pouch she smiled, but her amusement quickly faded. He was a scholar at heart, not a warrior. She would not find it easy to forgive herself if he died in this attack, though she couldn’t be completely sure he was only here because of her.

Mischief had disappeared, not caring whether the priest followed or not. Auraya hurried around a corner and came upon a large archway that looked as if it had been carved into solid rock. The sound of her footsteps in the entrance echoed in a way that suggested a large space inside.

“Owaya?”

“I’m coming, Mischief,” she replied.

As she stepped out of the sunlight her eyes began to adjust. A short corridor led to a huge hall. At the far end an enormous figure was just visible in the gloom. A statue. She shivered at the size of it.

Drawing magic, she created a spark of light and sent it up toward the ceiling. Brightening it, she felt a thrill of wonder as the statue was illuminated. It had a muscular male body, but the face was a flat disk with one enormous lidless eye. Mischief stared up at it with wide eyes.

One of the old gods, she thought. Long dead.

She heard a gasp behind her and turned to see Teel gazing at the statue in horror. A look of disgust crossed his face.

“Things like that should be destroyed,” he said.

She stared at him, disturbed. The god was long dead. What threat did the statue hold now? To destroy something so amazing would be spiteful and pointless.

“Perhaps,” she said slowly, “such things should be kept to remind us of the Age of the Many, and of the chaos that enslaved mortal man until the Circle saved us.”

He looked at her blankly, then became thoughtful. “If the gods willed it to remain, I suppose it could be used to shock those with rebellious hearts.”