Read The Crystals of Tlalli: Awakened Affinities Page 9

she felt a connection. Some force outside of her demanded she help this girl.

  Zafira put a hand out to Rica, “Come let’s get out of this chamber.” Every mage on the planet would have felt that surge of power. They had to get away from this place. Reaching down Rica scooped up all the crystals then accepted Zafira’s hand and pulled her-self up. As they walked out of the ritual room Jim leaped up to Rica’s shoulder, scolding her as he settled there. Intense relief washed over her as Jim touched her. The feeling seemed to be coming from him. A loose tile on the floor caught her foot and she stumbled.

  What had happened in that room? Rica asked herself over and over as she walked through the caverns. She looked at the ten crystals in her hand then stuffed them into her front pocket. A residual tingling remained inside of her. It lurked there waiting. But waiting for what? She had to get out of here. She had to get home. If this were some crazy dream now would be a good time to wake up. Rica realized this strange cat person walking next to her was her only salvation. When she glanced at Zafira a pull of energy surged as though she were tied to this person with an invisible rope. What had this cat girl done to her? When she thought that it felt wrong. Zafira had done nothing but rescue her, heal her, and befriend her. No there was something else at work. I hate mysteries Rica sighed. Like it or not she was not waking up.

  The people that had accompanied Zafira were already packing when Rica left the cave with Jim on her shoulder. All the camp equipment and ritual items were packed into boxes and were being placed on a floating wagon. Rica stood and stared. She had never seen anything like this. There were two large lizard-like creatures standing there munching on what looked like orange grass. One of the lizards was harnessed to the wagon. Rica recognized them from the carvings in the cave. Over coming her apprehension of the huge reptiles Rica walked over to Nottia and asked if she could help, all the while keeping the lizards in view and as far away from them as she could get. Nottia laughed when she noticed Rica’s hesitation.

  “Are you afraid of the Yemis? They wont hurt you. ”Nottia said.

  “Yemis?”

  “These Yemis are well trained. They are great companions on the trail.” Nottia stood and gestured for Rica to follow her. She put her hand on the lizard closest to her and petted it, all the while speaking quietly to it. Not wanting to look like she was afraid, Rica walked over to the creature and cautiously stroked its hide, which was not at all like a lizard from home but covered in soft velour like fur. She felt contentment from the big animal. Rica shook her head that can’t be right.

  “Their soft.” Rica said in surprise. Trying to ignore the feelings coming at her she decided to act like everything was ok. The feelings weren’t bad, just alien. She pinched herself. WAKE UP! She thought. She looked around no one seemed to notice she was struggling with this weird inner thing. She concentrated on the animal. The fur was wonderful to touch. They were warm and Rica could feel curiosity coming from this one directed at her.

  “Haven't you ever seen a Yemis before?” Nottia asked.

  “I’m not from here. Where I come from there is only one moon and there are no creatures like this.” Had she imagined the feeling? Or was she feeling emotions from the beasts? Jim rubbed his head on her cheek. A warm feeling of belonging washed over her.

  “Hmm.” Nottia looked at her thoughtfully.

  “What are the floating wagons called? And how do you get them to float?” Might as well play along with this crazy dream.

  “They are called trebs and they are runed of course.” Nottia shrugged.

  “Ruined? They look ok to me.” Rica looked at the wagon thing and didn’t see anything wrong with it.

  “Not broken, they have runes that power them.” Nottia laughed and pointed to the carved symbols around the base of the treb. Rica flushed runed of coarse. While they looked at the treb two men walked up with a box each in their arms they put them on the back of the treb and pushed them to the back of the wagon bed. Rica thought she had seen one of them before. Nottia waved at them.

  “This is Zosimo my cousin and the other one is my brother, Melnone.” Nottia gestured at each in turn.

  “Hi!” Rica said looking at each of them. Zosimo was the one who had taken care of her in the cave. He was blond like his sister and slight of build. He moved with a grace and power she envied.

  “Thanks for taking care of me Zosimo.” She said with a smile. Zosimo smiled back at her. Rica reached up and touched her translation rune necklace. Only Zafira, Nottia and herself had them. How was it that she could understand and speak to the two men? She was about to ask but Zosimo was talking. I’ll have to remember to ask Zafira, she told herself.

  “My sister was responsible for that. I knew I had to or she would have turned me into something nasty.” Just then Zafira walked up with a bag to put in the back. She huffed.

  “Zos! I would not, nor can I, turn anyone into anything they aren’t. You are so annoying sometimes.”

  “Just pulling your crystal Zaf. Don’t get all twinged.” Zosimo joked his voice light.

  “Let’s get this done so we can get out of here before sundown.” Zafira looked around as though expecting something to jump out at her.

  “As you command sister.” Zosimo grinned. The two men went to get more boxes to load and Zafira turned and walked back up to the cave doors closing them and murmuring something. As Rica watched in amazement the door shimmered and the seams disappeared giving an appearance of a seamless rock wall. The only thing indicating there had been a door there was the carved pillars on each side as though someone had started making a building but hadn’t finished. Now there were steps leading to four pillars and a blank wall. Clever cats!

  5 - Moyolehauni

  Moyolehauni moaned and thrashed in his dream, a vision of swirling energy with a young human woman in its center, her hair was dark blood red almost black, her skin was white. She was slender and beautiful the energy around her was a full spectrum of colors with a white almost blinding light surrounding her. Outside of this light was a darkness Moyo couldn’t see into; all he felt was the hatred and evil coming from it. This darkness was stalking the beautiful woman. Moyo reached out to try to help her but the vision receded away from him. He sat up in bed, his skin wet with sweat, his heart racing. Scrubbing at his face he stood up and stretched, these dreams were getting more intense. For most of his life Moyo has had these strange dreams of this girl, but this dream had been different it had felt real. The girl had been so real, Moyo felt he could have reached out and touched her; lately it was hard to think about anything else. He kept seeing her piercing green eyes, the sense of foreboding and danger was getting much harder to ignore. Moyo got dressed and headed down to the dock to work. The day went by uneventfully.

  Wind blew the hair back from Moyo’s face as he pulled the heavy net on to the dock. Not much fish today, only a couple of boxes in the hold full, fishing was starting to die down with the season. In the height of the season it was not unusual to come home with the hold full of fish and have some boxes iced on the deck as well. The fourteen-man crew of the Trident was happy to be home. They didn’t go out for the two week fishing trips this time of year but stayed close to home. Moyo knew he would have to say good-bye to the crew today. His teacher and friend Master LeaNic would expect him to return to school. As he hung the net up to dry he remembered the first time he had helped Master LeaNic with his secondary income in the fishing industry. Master LeaNic owned the fishing boat Trident and ran it out of the seaside town of Compton on Shay Isle. He often hired students to help fill spots on the boat for men that needed the time off for family or other reasons. The students earned some credits and learned a lot about the ecology of the sea and the hard work that went into catching the fish and selling them in the markets. Over the years Moyo had learned a lot about the craft and had found solace in it. It was quiet out on the bay, the dawn always bringing some new discovery for Moyo to ponder over. Today had been different, Master LeaNic was g
etting old, and that was a startling thought. Moyo had always known Master LeaNic would be there, with his quite smile and kind eyes. Now Moyo worried if the day was drawing near that his adoptive father would leave him forever to slip into the silence of death. Moyo didn’t want to think about that possibility but it lingered there in the back of his thoughts.

  Moyo fixed one of the tears in the net and then inspected it for more; he nodded his head in satisfaction all the holes were fixed. He put the tools up. He picked up the sturdy bag he had bought just two weeks ago and went to the large wooden boxes on the dock waiting for someone to load onto a treval. Moyo picked the five biggest fish he had set aside and put them in the bag. He tied the bag shut and started off with a wave to the dock Forman that all was ready to be loaded. He walked up to the town’s main street and headed west toward the heights.

  Master LeaNic was like a father to Moyo and when Moyo had heard he had been hurt in a freak accident and broken his left leg and arm; Moyo had requested he have his break from the university early to help him out. It had been two weeks now and his master was well on the mend. The healing of the spirit mages had done wonders. Master LeaNic would always walk with a limp now