Shadows Of Destiny by Rachel Lee

Author:Rachel Lee [Lee, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780373802616
Publisher: Luna
Published: 2007-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Cilla found Ratha in his tent after the conference ended.

"Greetings, cousin," he said pleasantly. He was bent to maps on his camp table, attempting to read by the light of candles that flickered too much. Cilla waved her hand and was delighted to see the flames steady.

Ratha chuckled. "So you Ilduin do have some useful talents."

"One or two," she agreed saucily. But being a coquette was not a natural part of her nature. Cilla had risen to be a judge of her clan, a woman with great power, a priestess, and had even trained as a warrior. Like Ratha, she was not a trifler, nor was she to be trifled with.

"We get close to Bozandar," she remarked.

"Aye. Our patrols are beginning to find escaped slaves and we are bringing them into the army. Those fit to fight, anyway. The rest we send back to Anahar."

"I know it."

He chuckled. "I keep forgetting you are Ilduin, cousin. We played too often among the rocks as children, and you were not above pelting me with stones when it suited you."

She arched one brow. "I seem to recall you were not above it, either."

"Certainly not. And remember our little stone house? The very first time the three of us attempted to make a structure of our own with the skills our elders had taught us."

"Aye." Cilla closed her eyes, remembering. She and Ratha and the now-dead Giri had spent many hours playing games in the mountains near their Tel-ner, learning the ways of the rocks, and through that play learning the skills of their ancestors.

They had learned that it was necessary to find a rock that was willing to be shaped and included with others. Some rocks would become difficult to handle, their songs darkening, even their colors changing. The children had learned to seek out those that wanted to be part of a childhood playhouse.

"That is something the Bozandari never understood about us," she said.

"What?"

"That the rocks speak to us, and we do with them only what they wish. They insisted we force what they wanted, and that is why their buildings have never been as good as what we built for ourselves. They misused us in many ways."

"That they did. But it is important now to focus on correcting the wrongs of the past."

"Most definitely. But I am speaking of our youth, when we learned our most important lessons on the mountainsides."

"Lessons? In masonry, you mean?"

Cilla shook her head. "Lessons in cooperation and respect. For without that, the rock would resist us. And then, when we had the cooperation of the rocks, we needed to cooperate among ourselves, to respect one another's ideas, in order to complete a structure."

"All you say is true." He smiled faintly. "I recall all the fun we had. I did not think of it as learning."

"Nor I, at the time. Yet still we will need those lessons in the days to come."

"Aye, that we will. I hope the Bozandari who are fighting with us have learned them."

"I think they have, at least within their armies.

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