“She speaks the truth,” Lee affirmed. “They were bound together by words in the ancient language. I have no doubt she is his only hope.”
Wileminia thought for a moment. “Come with me, then. I will take you to him. You may sit next to him and reach out as you can.”
Kaylia nodded and followed her to the healing chamber.
Ertik stretched his arms and yawned. “I need rest,” he said reluctantly. “I hate sleeping before nightfall, but I think tonight I’ll manage to sleep until dawn.” He slowly rose, grunting with each movement, and walked out.
As Ertik made his exit, a young girl entered. “Lord Starfinder?” she asked. “The High Lady would like to speak with you before you retire.”
Lee looked to Dina.
“I’ll be fine,” Dina told him. “I think I’ll walk around for a bit and maybe get something to eat.”
Lee nodded and followed the young girl out of the room and down the hallway. Lee was amazed by the sheer size of the place. He remembered Ertik saying there were about a hundred people here, but from the look of it, five times that number could live comfortably. They passed at least three dining halls and several libraries as they walked, in addition to recreation and training areas. Most of the walls were bare, aside from several elaborate tapestries and etchings near the libraries.
At the end of a long hall, the girl stopped in front of a plain wooden door. “Please go right in. She’s waiting.”
Lee thanked the girl and opened the door. Inside he saw a small study with a nicely carved wooden desk with papers scattered about it. There were a few shelves and cabinets along the wall, and brass lanterns hung in the corners; all in all, there was almost nothing to indicate that this was the office of a leader of one of the most ancient orders in existence.
The chair at the desk was facing away from the door, but Lee could tell someone was there.
“High Lady,” Lee said. “You asked to speak to me.” There was a long pause.
“I’ve wondered what I would say to you when the time came,” said the High Lady, still facing the wall. Her voice sounded strangely familiar. “Now that you’re here…I just don’t know.”
Lee was both puzzled and troubled by the High Lady’s words. Trying not to let his confusion show in his voice, he said, “I would like to thank you for what you are doing for Gewey, and for the rest of us. I am deeply grateful.”
“Are you?” she asked. “I wouldn’t be so quick to give me your gratitude.”
The High Lady then stood and faced Lee. He staggered back in shock. She was older and grayed, but there was no mistaking her.
“You…” he whispered. “How are you here? I spent years looking for you, and you were here the whole time?”
“Not the whole time, son,” she said, smiling sadly. “But most of it, yes.”
“But why?” Lee asked, trying to slow his racing mind. “Why now? Surely you could have let me know where you were before now.”
“Please sit,” she said. “I swear I’ll tell you everything. I will hold nothing back.”
Slowly, Lee pulled up a chair and sat down, unable to take his eyes off his mother’s face.
Chapter 32
“I know you must have a million questions,” Selena began. “But please wait until I tell you my story. Otherwise, I don’t know if I can get through this.”
Lee slowly nodded and sat down.
“When I was a young girl, before I met your father, my parents sent me to Althetas to study at the Temple of Saraf. My father was a blacksmith and did well enough to be able to support my studies at the temple. They hoped I would become a priestess someday, and I probably would have if not for your father.”
“I’m warning you now,” Lee interrupted. “I’ll not hear you speak ill of my father.”
“Why would I speak ill of him?” she asked. “I loved him…I still love him.”
Her voice trailed off for a moment, then she regained her composure. “I met him in Althetas during my studies at the temple. I was in the market square the first time I saw him. He had come to the city to meet with the Fisherman’s Guild. Your grandfather had died a few months before. Your father had taken ownership of his boat, and was supporting both himself and your grandmother.
“I had just bought some spices and herbs, when a young rogue snatched my purse right off my belt. It was all the money I had. My father was not rich, so the money he sent me each month had to last; without it, I had no way to feed myself and would have had to return home. I chased after the thief, but he was too fast. Then, out of nowhere, your father tackled him and took back my money. He looked so handsome and dashing, I think I must have fallen in love with him right then and there.”
Lee grumbled with disbelief.
“I know you think I might have felt differently,” she said. “But you only see things from a child’s perspective. I know you are a man now, but your memories are that of a child. I did love him. I was only fourteen at the time, but still I knew what I felt. He gave me my purse and offered to buy me a sweet apple.” She started laughing.
“I was so angry at that. A sweet apple? I wanted a candlelit dinner or a moonlight walk, and here he was buying me a bloody sweet apple as if I were a child. However, he was twenty at the time, and to him I was a child. He walked me back to the temple holding my hand. I was so excited; this handsome hero was holding my hand. We talked the whole way there, and I made him promise to write me, which he did of course. I didn’t see him again for a year.
“But just as he’d promised, he wrote me once a month. As soon as the letters arrived, I’d eagerly run back to my room at the temple to read them. He wrote mostly of his life in the fishing village and the goings on of his day-to-day life, but to me, each letter might as well have been a love sonnet. I wrote him back, careful not to be too forward and scare him away. Even then, I knew he was the man I would marry.
“The next year he came to Althetas to again meet with the Fisherman’s Guild. You could have told me the Gods themselves were coming and I would not have been more thrilled; I must have spent three hours getting ready, determined to look perfect for the man I loved. We met in the same square where my purse had been snatched. This time, I was determined not to get a sweet apple.
He was as kind and thoughtful as I’d dreamed he’d be. He took me to lunch, and we walked all over the city. At the time, it was the best day of my life. I nearly cried when it was over. I made your father promise to show me his village when I was old enough to travel on my own. He confessed to me later that it made him nervous to think of me realizing how poor he really was.
“I wept for three days when he left.
“A few months later, I was chosen to accompany the High Priestess as one of her attendants to Manisalia, to see the Oracle. I had never traveled so far, and the thought of it frightened me. The trip was long and hard, but as it turned out, I had a grand time. The High Priestess was young, cheerful, and played games with us at night. She even told us old tales of the world before the Great War. I felt lucky to have been chosen.
“When we got to Manisalia, I waited outside the pavilion with the rest of the attendants while the High Priestess went inside. She was only inside a few minutes when she came out and told me that the Oracle wanted to see me. I was terrified.
“When I went inside, she was sitting on a pillow, tossing nuts in the air and catching them in her mouth-not really what I expected, to say the least.”
Lee chuckled in spite of himself. “No puppy?” he asked. “She played tug-o-war with a puppy when I went to see her.”
His mother smiled. “No puppy. Still, as you know, she is not what one expects when you think of the Great Oracle of Manisalia. She asked me to sit and offered me some water.