“Yes it is,” confirmed StarWind as she pondered whether is was better to say Cherri was sleeping or offer to summon her. If she said she was sleeping, they might go away. Then again they might demand to enter while she was wakened. “Should I get her for you?” StarWind asked.
The fat military man pushed the door open and stepped inside. “She is expecting me,” he stated. “I am General Kapla, Minister of Defense.”
StarWind’s mind whirled and she remembered SunChaser reporting that he was supposed to come for dinner tonight. “Oh, yes,” smiled StarWind. “Of course. Please come in.”
Kapla entered the mansion and waved the Monitors off as he handed his hat to StarWind. StarWind closed the door and hurried to get in front of the General and direct him to a sitting room. “If you will have a seat, General,” StarWind smiled, “Cherri is probably making herself beautiful. I will tell her that you are here.”
The General barely acknowledged her words as he scanned the room and finally took a seat.
Chapter 27
Message of Doom
The fog billowed around Lyra’s feet and continued growing in size until the sun overhead dimmed, blocking out most of the light.
“Send it off in the direction of the pens,” instructed Temiker.
Lyra felt a slight twinge of panic as she looked about for the pens, but could see only the fog. Instead she closed her eyes and remembered what the practice yard looked like and visualized where the pens should be. Slowly she sent the fog heading towards the pens.
“Excellent,” shouted LifeTender. “Temiker, that spell will make a great addition to our list.”
“Well done, Lyra,” congratulated Temiker. “You learn quickly. What I would have given to have had a student like you.”
“You have me now, Uncle,” Lyra smiled as the fog rolled off towards the pens and Lyra felt the sunshine on her again.
“But for how long?” frowned Temiker. “Your duties to the Sakovan people grow daily. Already the other tasks are interfering with your lessons.”
“Bah,” Lyra chuckled. “Meeting with the elders only took an hour and I had my meal at the same time. I am learning several new spells a day and that makes the Academy look like playtime. I wish I had gotten this type of training from Master Malafar.”
Temiker turned serious and his face lost its smile. “Master Malafar taught you well, Lyra,” he stated. “Without the basic control and concentration he pounded into you, none of the learning we are doing now would be possible. Ask LifeTender how many Sakovan mages could learn at the rate you are. The point is though that you will have less time for training in the future. Your new life carries many weighty duties and they will be time-consuming.”
“I know,” nodded Lyra. “That is why I am spending every free moment learning. I did not mean to imply that my father’s teaching was not good. What I meant was that I could have learned so much more than what he taught me. And Rhodella, I never knew she was a mage. She could have been teaching me too.”
“Rhodella promised your father that she would not use her magic,” Temiker explained. “Malafar has a strange outlook on life. We were raised in Okata as the children of a Minister in the government. Patriotism to Omunga was drilled into us during our childhood. I discovered early that being Omungan did not make you right. I am afraid that Malafar never outgrew it.”
“What does that have to do with Rhodella practicing magic?” questioned Lyra.
Temiker seated himself on a log and patted it to indicate that Lyra should sit next to him. “Your father fell in love with a beautiful young girl,” Temiker began. “Only later did he learn that she was Sakovan. He was furious. People in Okata are taught that the Sakovans intend to drive them out of the country. The history books we used to learn from omitted how we slaughtered the Sakovans when we arrived here. We were taught to fear and hate the Sakovans. I was always a skeptic, even in my young days, but Malafar believed what he was taught as a child. So it came down to what he would do with his newfound love. He didn’t want to lose her, but he wished that she were not Sakovan. Rhodella was very adept at reading people and she sensed what the problem with Malafar was. Eventually she agreed not to practice magic, because it was the magic that gave her away, and she would adapt to being Omungan. Malafar accepted her assurances.”
“WinterWind could never give up being a Sakovan,” interjected LifeTender. “I cannot believe it.”
“No she couldn’t,” agreed Temiker, “and she didn’t promise to, although Malafar assumed she had. She promised to adapt to Omungan life. Those were her words and that is what she did, but she was always Sakovan.”
“Did you know she was a Sakovan?” asked Lyra.”
“Oh, yes,” smiled Temiker. “As I said, I was always more open-minded than my brother. I knew well before Malafar found out and kept it secret. I also know why she chose to live among the Omungans.”
“You did?” Lyra asked with shock. “She told you that?”
“Yes,” laughed Temiker. “Rhodella and I got along very well. I guess I became her Omungan confidant. I won’t say that she confided everything in me because I do not know what everything entails, but whatever she did tell me I kept secret between the two of us. When your father broke off relations with me, it hurt me more because I would miss Rhodella than I would miss him.”
“Did you know about Alfred then?” inquired Lyra.
“Of course,” answered Temiker. “She sent him to me before he came here. I traveled with him to the border of the Sakova.”
“You went along with this even though he was going to be a Sakovan spy?” questioned Lyra.
“Why not?” retorted Uncle Temiker. “I would like to see the Sakovans and the Omungans live together as Malafar and Rhodella did. It is not the Omungan people who are the enemy of the Sakovans. It is the government that you must be wary of. If Alfred could learn something of the government’s plans by being a spy then I think that is healthy. You must put this in perspective, Lyra. The Sakovan people do not raid the Omungan cities. They do not wage war. All the Sakovan people have done is try to survive. It is the Omungan government that keeps trying to eliminate the Sakovans.”
“But Alfred was going to spy on your government,” Lyra pointed out.
“Not my government,” Temiker protested. “I am just a person and I accept other people by their actions, not by what someone else tells me. Rhodella was the first Sakovan I had met and I sure didn’t want to hurt her, so why does the Omungan government want to destroy all Sakovans? I’ll tell you. They use the supposed Sakovan threat to accelerate their own personal goals like politicians use everything. I have a general distaste for people of that ilk, so no, I did not take offense at what Alfred was going to do. In fact, I supported it.”
“Why can you think so enlightened and my father not?” Lyra asked. “You both grew up the same.”
“Every person is an individual, Lyra,” reasoned Temiker. “Master Malafar changed a great deal after Alfred’s death. It was more of a change than just breaking off relations with me and refusing to teach offensive magic. Something inside him snapped. Rhodella feared that his mind might have been damaged in some way because he didn’t act the same afterwards. His mood swings were erratic and he had temper tantrums, which were so unlike him. I do know that Alfred meant a great deal to him. He was so proud of his son.”
“After listening to you, I doubt he would be so proud of his daughter if he knew I was the leader of the Sakovans,” frowned Lyra.
“But he should be even more proud of you,” smiled Temiker. “I know I am. I have missed seeing you grow up. All of those years without seeing you just because Harcad was my student. I still cannot believe that he killed Alfred. The boy had a good heart. He was not an assassin.”
“What did Harcad have to do with it?” interrupted LifeTender.